by Ally Summers
“Sounds like you know her more than just as someone you interviewed Officer Rawlings.” The woman spoke in a sharp tone.
“Yes, I do. I've been seeing Jessa since after the incident at the library. I have spent some time at her place and she has spent some time mine. I have seen no evidence that she had anything to do with either the kidnappings or the burglary. And I know she had nothing to do with the murder because I was with her at the time of the event.”
I felt like I was spilling out my guts, they now knew everything about Jessa and I, that we were seeing each other, that we were sleeping together, and I was sure that they knew she was human, but I needed to exonerate her, and myself.
“Regardless of whether or not you believe she's innocent, you crossed the line by sleeping with someone involved in an active investigation. You're too close to this case. I've made the recommendation that you be taken off the case,” the woman at the end of the table said matter of factly as she stood.
“What?” My anger boiled beneath my skin, and my bear clawed to get at her. “Who are you to make decisions about this case?” I looked my captain for assistance but he wouldn't meet my eyes.
“I'm the human shifter liaison, from the Allied government project. I'm sorry to say that my credentials are far higher than your captain’s, so even though he did fight to keep you on the case, I'm the one making the decisions here. Hunter's Lake has been a hotbed of activity for shifters and their troubles for the past several weeks and you all aren't doing anything about it. On top of not doing anything about it, you are making some pretty terrible professional decisions. You're lucky I only have jurisdiction over this case, because otherwise I would take you off the force.”
The captain put his hand down on the table with a thud. “I told you that you don't have any ability to take him off my team, only to assign him to another case.”
“For now,” she said with a thin smile.
“You can go now Officer Rawlings, take the rest of the day to calm down. We don't need a grizzly bear standing next to the coffee pot.” She shooed me away with her hand like I was some pet. My bear roared.
I stormed out of the room and grabbed my jacket without explaining myself to Griffin. I couldn't even talk. I just had to get the hell out of there. And maybe even out of Hunter's Lake.
13
Jessa
The main door to the library slammed open and I jumped in my seat. I looked quickly over my desk and I spotted Rawlings stalking towards me. Jesus what the hell was wrong?
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he said as he reached my desk. I looked around at the empty library around us.
“Sure, no one is here,” I said laughing nervously. “What’s going on?”
I could see the anger radiating off of him as he spoke. He was struggling to keep his cool, but I could easily see the bear stalking just underneath the surface of his skin. Part of me was surprised with myself that I wasn’t nervous being around him, even when he was this angry. Deep down I knew that he would never do anything to hurt me.
"They took me off the case," he practically growled. I saw his eyes flash with anger as he continued to stalk back and forth.
“What do you mean they took you off? Aren’t you the main detective investigating it?”
“According to them I’m not allowed to work on the case anymore.”
“Why?” I asked confused.
Rawlings looked at me and then quickly looked away “A bullshit reason,” he said. I could tell he wasn’t telling me something, and that was the real reason why he was so upset. I reached out and lightly touched his arm hoping that I could coax him to tell me.
“You can tell me, Rawlings.” He let out a long sigh.
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s nothing because you can’t talk to me about it? Or you just don’t want to.”
“The commissioner thinks that things have gotten too personal for me.”
“Personal? Because you are shifter? Isn’t that what your department focuses on in the first place?”
“It’s not just that.” I watched as a wave of sadness washed over him. “It’s because it has to do with you.”
“With me?” I said with shock. “What the hell would all this have to do with me?
He let out a long sigh. “This woman from Allied seems to think that you should still be considered a suspect. And by us being involved, she thinks that will compromise my decisions when it comes to the case.”
“What?!” I practically screeched. “ I had nothing to with all this. It was literally my first night at the library and all of the power shut off.”
“I know,” he said looking down.
“You believe me right? That I had nothing to do with this?”
“Of course I believe you,” he said as looked back up at me. He reached out and pulled me into his arms. “I even tried to explain that all to them but they were so concerned about pinning this whole thing on someone they refused to listen”
“So what does that mean now?” I said looking up at him. “Are they going to come arrest me?” The thought nearly sent me into a panic. I felt my heart start to beat faster. He must have picked up on it because he wrapped his arms a little tighter around me.
“No. They won’t. Because they can’t.”
“Why not?” I said breaking his embrace and looking up at him.
“They don’t have any proof that you were involved. Your fingerprints were nowhere near the case or any of the exits besides the front door. They have got absolutely no leads which is why they are scrambling to find anything.”
“So they can’t do anything?” I asked as the panic slowly started to subside.
“Nope. The most they can do is bring you in for some more questioning. But other than that, that’s it. Besides, even though they want me off this case, doesn’t mean that I will actually stop investigating.”
“You won’t?” How could he investigate anything when he was off the case?
“No. Shifters are missing, and while my department is happy to just pin anyone for it, I am not. I want to get the bottom of what this is actually happening.”
“I’m scared,” I admitted. “I’m scared for you working on the case when you shouldn’t and I’m scared that I am still the one to blame for all of this.” I wrapped my arms around myself and looked down.
“Don’t worry about me Jessa,” he said. “I can cover my tracks so that they have no idea that I am still working on the case.”
“I feel like this whole situation is my fault, even though I know it isn’t.” He reached below my chin and moved my face up making me look into his eyes.
“Don’t worry Jessa,” Rawlings said. “We will figure this all out somehow. I will always be here to help you. No matter what.” I smiled slightly and hugged him.
“I love you Jessa,” he said whispering into my hair.
“I love you too Rawlings,” I said back. And the second that the words escaped my lips, I knew that I truly meant them. I have never felt as deeply as I did for Rawlings for anyone else before. I couldn’t explain why but it was like we were two magnets, always being drawn to one another.
“Why don’t we get out of here for the weekend?”
“Get out of here and go where?”
“You can come up to my place in Thunder Pike.”
“This is more than just a getaway isn’t it?”
“Well if I am up there, then I can keep an eye on things. But it will mainly just be us. Just imagine, all alone in the cabin. A roaring fire in the fireplace. I may even have the stuff to make s’mores.” A bright smile appeared on my face.
“You had me at s’mores.”
We reached his cabin after I finished up my shift at the library. We took a long winding road up the mountain, and I couldn’t help but continue to look out the window at the beauty surrounding us. Growing up in Denver, I never really took the chance to appreciate the mountains nearby. But these mountains were something straight out of a p
ostcard. They had dotted white peaks and lush green trees running down them. As we continued down the road the sights got prettier, and I heard Rawlings chuckle beside me.
“Never seen mountains like this huh?”
“No, I honestly haven’t. Most of the mountains near Denver were crowded with tourists. These feel like we found a secret place that no one knows about.”
“That’s why a lot of shifters end up moving here,” Rawlings said honestly.
“Because of their beauty?”
“No, because of their seclusion,” Rawlings said. I turned to look at him and I saw a small hint of sadness in his features.
“Do these shifters not like humans?” I asked.
“They just like being in their own element. In a place where they can be truly themselves without humans around them to judge their lifestyle.”
“I guess some people still haven’t gotten used to the idea of shifters.”
“No a lot haven’t. Which is why a lot of them like to be on their own.”
We continued our drive through the mountains and I wondered if Rawlings felt the way a lot of these shifters on Thunder Pike did. Did he want to sometimes get away from humans? Did he want to be in his own element? Maybe this is why he lived out here near Thunder Pike. So that he could escape society and relax in his element in his cabin.
Rawlings stopped his truck pulling me from my thoughts.
“We’re here,” he said.
I looked out in front of me. We had pulled into a rocky driveway and at the end of the road was a picturesque log cabin.
“Oh Rawlings, this place is beautiful,” I said in awe. He smiled brightly.
“Thanks. I have been working on it for years. I even built it myself.”
“You did not!” He let out a loud laugh.
“Yup. I forced Griffin several times to help out. I finally finished it up last year.”
We got out of the truck and Rawlings grabbed out bags from the truck bed. I walked up the wood steps to the door. There was a wooden porch that wrapped around the whole cabin. Two rocking chairs sat nearby the door, and I couldn’t wait to sip some hot chocolate in them later on this evening.
Rawlings opened up the door and turned on the lights. Everything was wood and leather. There were a few white accents with the cabinets, but that majority of the large space was brown. And I absolutely loved it. The large brick fireplace made me want to snuggle up in front of it with Rawlings. A small shiver went up my spine, thinking about what we could be doing in front of that fireplace later on.
“You hungry?” he asked. My stomach started to growl at the thought of food and Rawlings let out a laugh. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Rawlings rolled up his sleeves and headed into the kitchen. He opened up the fridge and assessed what he had.
“How do you feel about lasagna?” he asked. I smiled brightly.
“I love it.”
I pushed back my plate from in front of me. As good at the homemade lasagna was I couldn’t possibly eat another bite of it.
“Full?” he asked.
“Yeah, it was so good.”
“Too full for s’mores?”
“Nope. I have a second stomach for s’mores.”
Rawlings got up from the table and took our plates and placed them in the sink.
“Why don’t you grab the marshmallows and I can get the fire going?” he asked.
I headed over to the cabinet and grabbed the items for s’mores, while Rawlings threw some wood into the fireplace. I wandered back to the living room just as the first log caught fire and lit up the room around us. I grabbed a skewer and put two marshmallows on it. Just as I was about to put the stick into the fire the lights flickered around us. I looked up in confusion, so did Rawlings.
“It must be the storm outside,” he said. Just as he said it, all the power of the cabin shut off. We were only lit by the fire in the fireplace.
“Guess it has to be,” I said as I slightly chuckled. The rain outside started to come down hard and I snuggled a little closer to Rawlings.
“If you don’t mind the dark, we can just keep the fire going for awhile. The lights should kick back on soon.”
“I don’t mind, as long as I am with you,” I said.
He wrapped my arm around my waist and pulled me even closer to him.
14
Rawlings
Sitting in front of the fire, staying warm with only her, this was all I needed. She was everything to me. Screw the case, at least I got Jessa out of it all.
“Do you have any idea how much I want you?” I took her face in my hands and leaned closer to her. My bear wanted her, and one thought crossed my mind, mine. “I can’t explain it Jessa, but I think you might be my true mate.”
“I’m all yours, Rawlings,” she breathed out, leaning into me. “I can’t believe it either, but I have never felt this way about anyone else.”
I planted a kiss on her cheek, and then on her jaw, and then on her nose, going slowly, so slowly, breathing her in. She started to tremble, letting me have my way, and everything in me tightened with desire.
I grazed her lips with mine, giving her one tiny kiss, before I slid my lips over chin and continued down to her neck. A moan left her lips, and my cock hardened even more, which surprised me because I had already been as hard as I could get.
I ground myself against her, moving my lips over her neck as I let my hands trace her waist and ass. I cupped those lush ass cheeks and gave them a squeeze, pressing her lower body against me to increase the friction.
“You feel so good, Jessa, and I’m not even inside of you yet.”
“I love everything you do to me,” she said, tilting her neck to the side to allow me better access. I smiled against her skin and stopped at a tender place below her ear, sucking her flesh into my mouth.
She moaned again, her body becoming more pliable under my hands. I brought my lips back to her cheek and gave her another feathery kiss before I reached her lips and kissed them softly. I ran my tongue over the seam of her mouth before I thrust it inside, deepening our kiss. She was all honey and velvet, and it was intoxicating. She was like a fucking drug.
I stepped back and took all of her in. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, her eyes glazed over. I reached for the top button of her shirt and unbuttoned it, taking my time. I removed it off her and proceeded to take off her bra.
“Wait,” she said. “I’ll do it.”
“No.” I stopped her hands. “Let me undress you. I want you to relax and enjoy this.”
Her only response was a raspy moan. I unclasped her bra and slid the straps over her shoulder, exposing her perfect breasts to me. Her nipples were already like two pebbles, inviting me to touch them and take them into my mouth.
I brushed her nipples with my thumbs before I lowered my head and wound my mouth around her left bud, relishing in the sounds of her moans as I pleasured her. I continued to suck her other nipple as I unzipped her skirt and drew it down. She grabbed my shoulders for support and stepped out of it.
She was now almost completely naked save for her panties and high heels. I ran my hands over her breasts and waist, sucking her nipple harder and faster. I felt her over her panties and found her unbelievably wet. She had already soaked her underwear, proving to me just how much she wanted me.
“I love the way you react to my touch.”
“Each time you do it feel like fire over my skin,” she moaned.
I pushed her undies to the side and slid my fingers through her wet, swollen folds.
“Ah, yes. Oh god, Rawlings.”
She thrust her hips at me, breathing faster. I slid my fingers up and down her slit, rubbing her pussy slowly, before I reached her entrance and plunged two digits inside.
I let out a low growl as she groaned. My bear was just underneath the surface but all he kept saying was mine. She is all mine.
I felt her body start to tighten with each thrust of my fingers. With a feral smile, I s
tarted moving my fingers faster and faster. Her moans got louder, as she dug her nails into my shoulder clinging onto me for dear life as her body convulsed.
“Ah! Don’t stop. Yes! Right there… Oh my God…”
I could feel she was getting closer fast, but I wanted to make her orgasm more powerful. “Rawlings,” she said under her breath.
I moved my other hand over the smooth skin of her stomach, almost reaching her pussy, but I stopped before I made contact with her clit. She growled.
“Rawlings, please—”
“No, babe. I’m going to touch you however I want. We’re playing by my rules now.”
My harsh words seemed to turn her on even more. I repeated the same action a few times—bringing my fingers too close to her mound only to move them back. Slowly teasing her each time. I caressed her thighs, her calves, her breasts, touching her everywhere except where she needed it the most.
By the time I finally covered her clit with my fingers, she was a total mess, breathing and writhing on the chair as if she was dying to have me touch her. She whimpered when my hand made contact with her heated flesh, her body going upward to meet my hand.
I chuckled and brushed her clit a few times—not nearly enough for her. I removed my fingers from her pussy and leaned in to leave a kiss on her neck. Her pulse was drumming like crazy. I moved lower, peppering kisses over her collarbone and chest, my hand traveling over her thigh up and down.
“Oh God, Rawlings. What are you doing to me? I can’t take it anymore.”
I grinned. “I’ve barely even started, darling.” She moved her legs to close them, but I stopped her with my hands on her knees. “No. Don’t close your legs. Spread them wide. Now.”