Head Hunter

by Layla Nash

“I shouldn’t.” He swallowed the knot in his throat. He was a damn coward. “Baby, I really, really want to lie there with you, but I don’t know if...”

  “I trust you.”

  She knew how to gut him, that was for damn sure. He didn’t know what it felt like to have a woman trust him and to trust her in return. He couldn’t remember the last encounter he’d had with a woman that didn’t end abruptly or messily. He didn’t know how or why she trusted him, but it felt like the kind of gift he couldn’t overlook.

  She made him want to be a better man, the kind of man a woman like her deserved.

  Dodge dragged off his boots and turned off the main light, so only the soft glow of the lamp on the dresser lit the room. He sat on the edge of the bed and steeled himself to behave like a gentleman when all he wanted to do was tear off her clothes and taste every inch of her body. At least she was exhausted to the point of completely passing out.

  He lay down next to her and dragged the sheets and comforter up over both of them. Persephone had burrowed into his pillow but he didn’t mind. He turned on his side to face her and rested his head on his arm, gazing at her in the dim light. He didn’t trust the banshee detective a bit, but her words filled him with a lingering unease. Was she right, that maybe Persephone trusted just him and not the rest of the pack?

  Dodge had always known to pick the right pack and only stay with one he could trust. He absolutely trusted Evershaw and the rest of his people, even if he didn’t always like all of them. But he’d also had a lifetime to tune his senses to gauge someone’s intent and how they aligned with his view of the world. He’d already learned hard lessons in the military and working with mercenary companies. Persephone was still young, maybe in her mid-twenties, and didn’t have the same kind of life experience.

  He was grateful she hadn’t seen much awful stuff, at least that she’d referenced. It meant she could still enjoy the world and find goodness in people and things that he viewed in a far more jaded optic. He liked the potential of seeing the world through her eyes.

  Dodge reached out and brushed his knuckles over her cheek, and Persephone smiled in her sleep, turning into the caress. Dodge sighed. “Girl, what am I going to do about you?”

  She didn’t respond, which was just as well. Dodge tucked the comforter closer around her so she wouldn’t get cold, and settled as close as he dared. A soft wheeze whistled in her breathing; he smiled at the sound of it, reassured that she still breathed and clearly slept, and closed his eyes. The closest alligator to the boat was still Bridger and whether she’d try to kill either or both of them, though a second alligator was drawing close enough to pose a real problem: what he told Persephone about being mates, or even whether he told her at all.

  Chapter 23

  Percy

  I dozed in Dodge’s arms on the couch and barely noticed when he whispered about going upstairs. I didn’t care what happened as long as I didn’t have to wake up and talk about the awful shit that had happened. Only having Dodge next to me gave me the strength to revisit the body-choppers once more. I hoped it was the last time I had to acknowledge what I’d seen, since no one else in the situation seemed prone to courtroom justice. Even bringing in a detective didn’t make it likely that Bridger would see jail instead of a dark fate in an unmarked location.

  I vaguely remembered asking Dodge to stay with me in the room, then drifting back to sleep. I dreamed of being chased, being hunted down, by alligators. Massive, sharp-toothed alligators surrounded me in a tiny boat, rocked by waves. No matter how loudly I screamed, no one came to help. I was alone. The boat began to fall apart, one board at a time, and water seeped up from the bottom. I felt like I was already drowning, even as the alligators circled closer, snapping and thrashing until the water foamed and filled the boat even faster.

  My lungs constricted until I couldn’t breathe. Something tangled around my arms and legs until I feared drowning before the alligators tore me to pieces. I couldn’t fight back. I was stuck, confined, completely helpless. I sucked in a breath to scream and only a whimper escaped.

  Something wrapped around me and held my arms down, and a weight moved over my legs. I kicked and fought, sobbing for breath, but the weight didn’t budge.

  “Persephone.”

  The voice tried to drag me out of there, tried to pull me out of the water, but I was too deep. Too stuck. I hardly heard it. And it felt like a cruel tease, a lifesaver tossed negligently into the water too far away to reach.

  “Baby, wake up.”

  Tears burned my eyes. It was too late. Too late. The alligators were too close, the water too deep. I stopped struggling, ready to give up. I was so tired of fighting.

  Then something soft and warm brushed my lips. Some of the panic receded. The touch returned, still gentle but more insistent, and feathered kisses across my mouth and cheek and then behind my ear. I exhaled. Turned toward the reassuring caress. Felt like someone finally bailed water out of the boat and I stood a chance of surviving.

  “There we go,” he murmured, and something tight in my chest eased. Dodge.

  Dodge would save me. He had saved me.

  I dragged myself out of the dream as he kissed me again, and I turned fully toward him. I didn’t open my eyes; it was safer to linger in the darkness of half-awake, half-asleep.

  Dodge kissed the corner of my mouth and I nuzzled toward him, wanting more. He evaded and kissed my cheek, but by the time I moved to intercept his lips, he’d turned his attention to my throat. My arms linked around his neck, wanting to hold him close, and he chuckled. Dodge bumped his nose against mine and said, “Gotta open your eyes, baby.”

  “Don’t want to,” I said, sighing.

  His body moved next to me, and I realized his leg had been thrown over my thighs while I struggled with the nightmare. His elbows pressed into the mattress on either side of my chest; I could feel the weight of his chest against mine, though it was comforting more than overwhelming.

  Dodge made a grumbly growly noise that ignited heat low in my stomach, and he nuzzled behind my ear, nipping at my earlobe and all down my throat. “Gotta. I want to see your eyes.”

  It seemed a small price to pay, even though my stomach squirmed with nerves. If I opened my eyes, it meant I was really awake and really in bed and canoodling with the most handsome and intimidating man I’d ever met in my life. What if he ran away again?

  Granted, the weight of his hips against mine made it clear he was interested in staying. But I’d thought the same thing the night before and been dead wrong.

  So I cracked one eye open and caught his gaze reflecting back at me from very close. The only light in the room came from a dim lamp across the room, leaving everything in deep shadows; the window let in only darkness around the curtains. Apparently I’d slept the rest of the afternoon and into the night.

  “Halfway there,” Dodge murmured, and kissed my bottom lip.

  I arched against him, stretching and relaxing under his weight, and his hips shifted until his knee pressed into the mattress between mine. I tilted my head back so he could reach more of my throat and down to my shoulder. “You sure you’re going to stay?”

  He hesitated long enough that I opened both eyes and gazed at him in the near-dark. He didn’t move away but he didn’t give me the enthusiastic confirmation I’d wanted to hear. I studied his face and ran my nails through his beard.

  Dodge exhaled and his hand slid into my hair, cradling my head so he could tilt me how he wanted to kiss more of me. I surrendered as he ignited a fire in my blood and low in my stomach. He grumbled and his other hand slid down to grab my hip, squeezing my ass. I was suddenly cognizant that I only wore panties.

  He pulled back and trailed kisses down my throat to where my shirt gapped at the throat. “Here’s the thing.”

  My chest tightened and I braced for more rejection, the admission that he was only distracting me so I’d go along with whatever plan they came up with. I swallowed the knot in my throat and let my arm
s fall to the mattress.

  The corner of his mouth turned up and he reached down to pick up my hand and place it on his back. “I’m a cynical old dude, Persephone. I spent most of my life avoiding any kind of emotional attachment, any kind of real relationship. I don’t know if I’m even able to have a relationship with a woman that doesn’t end... badly.”

  That wasn’t what a girl wanted to hear from a guy on top of her.

  Before I could tell him to go jump in a lake, Dodge leaned down and kissed the line of my jaw. “But you’re the first woman who made me want to try.”

  I froze, my heart in my throat. Did he mean...?

  Dodge kissed behind my other ear and then down my throat, moving down my body until he toyed with the hem of my shirt. “I thought I could get you out of my system or at least hold out until you moved on to something else. I thought it might have been the adrenaline, the danger, that got me fixated on you. The wolf likes you – a lot.”

  That was a sentence I’d never heard before. I held my breath, unwilling to hope that this conversation ended anywhere near where I’d hoped.

  He pulled up the hem of the shirt so he could plant a long, slow kiss on my bare skin between it and the waist of my panties. Dodge grumbled more and dragged his teeth across my stomach, down to my side. His hands worked their way up under my shirt until he could palm my breasts. “And I didn’t want to start anything with you, to let myself... imagine, when you don’t want to be involved in the supernatural community. It wouldn’t be fair to expect you to give up everything you’ve worked for just to fuck around with me for a while.”

  “That’s not what –“ I started, but I lost the rest of the thought when his beard tickled against my ribs and he unhooked my bra. My fingers slid into his hair and I closed my eyes. I had no idea what he meant by me giving up everything, since they’d all been clear that I could try to walk away if I wanted to.

  “So here’s the deal, Persephone Lawson.” He pushed up on his elbows to fix me with a golden look, and my breath caught. I’d always thought him handsome, but the intensity in his gaze, the focus of his expression... He was more gorgeous than anything I’d ever seen in my life. “I’m yours as long as you want me. You can walk away whenever you want. I’ll take whatever you’ll give me, however many minutes or hours that might be. I’ll protect you from whatever danger we face, whether you want to fool around or not. And I’ll make sure no shifters or witches or fae bother you when you walk away from the community completely. All right?”

  I blinked. “That’s... a lot to take in.”

  “That’s what she said,” he said, then blew a raspberry on my stomach that made me jump.

  I laughed. “I have a lot of questions.”

  Dodge lay on his side next to me, tracing shapes on my stomach where my shirt had rucked up. His hand rested on my bare thigh, his fingers drifting down to just inside my knee. “I’ve got all the time in the world, babe. Ask away.”

  “They can wait,” I said. My head tilted back as his callused fingers coasted along my inner thigh, creeping up toward where my panties still kept us apart.

  “You sure?” The tip of his finger teased along the gusset of the panties, stroking so lightly I almost came out of my skin in anticipation.

  “V-very.” My thighs parted to give him more room, and Dodge’s chuckle made me flush. “Just...”

  Dodge arched his eyebrows as he lifted his head and waited for me to go on. But he kept caressing the insides of my thighs, the sweep of fabric over my lady business, around the leg of my panties. Heat kindled low in my stomach until my hips wanted to lift to meet him, to encourage a firmer touch. But when I remained silent, his hand stilled. Those gold eyes studied me with sudden seriousness.

  I stroked his cheek, suddenly uncertain. I’d meant to ask him... I didn’t even know what. He’d talked about when I wanted to walk away, whether I wanted to be with him, which left me absolutely zero insight into what he wanted. Was he just using me for sex, and didn’t have any issue fucking as long as I was interested because he had nothing to lose? But he’d said something about me making him want to try to have a relationship. Or had he meant something else entirely?

  Dodge searched my face for some sign. “Thinking awfully hard up there, babe.”

  “That makes it sound like I’m using you,” I whispered. I didn’t want to be callous with his heart and his feelings. I didn’t want to be another of the women he had a fucked up relationship with, something that ended badly.

  “I’d love for you to use me,” he murmured. His eyes glinted with what I thought was amusement or lust or... who knew. The wolf, maybe? “Baby, use me all night.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” I said. “I don’t want to be – like that.”

  Dodge lifted himself so he could lean up and plant a kiss on my lips for once, and his mouth opened until his tongue teased mine. His words came out gruff, but still managed to sound tender. “I know what you meant, Persephone. And I know exactly what I meant. Let’s just focus on tonight. We can figure the rest of it out in the morning. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I said, since it sounded like the best plan I’d heard in days. I worked my hands into his hair and dragged his mouth back to mine. “Then kiss me.”

  He chuckled and dipped his head, breathing against my lips until I lifted my chin. “Yes ma’am.”

  He did exactly that, and I got lost in the soft warmth of his mouth, the hard lines of his body, the strength of his hands as he gripped my knee to lift my thigh up and out. I closed my eyes and exhaled all the worry and fear that had gripped me, and the last remnant of uncertainty from the nightmare slipped away. I concentrated only on Dodge, only on that moment. He was right. There was no guarantee we’d get tomorrow, so maybe it was better to leave all those worries to the morning. I lifted my hips into the caress as his hand returned to its mischief around my panties and whispered encouragement as Dodge’s free hand helped pull off my shirt and laid me bare.

  I hoped morning didn’t come for a long, long time.

  Chapter 24

  Dodge

  Dodge almost made himself walk away a second time. That way there wouldn’t be as much for him to regret when, inevitably, Persephone went back to her normal life. But the thought of not having a single night with his mate drove the wolf and the man crazy. He could deal with the consequences. His heart would be shattered and his soul ripped in two, but at least he’d always have the memory of a night with her to give him comfort.

  Her heart beat rapidly against her ribs in a hummingbird flutter that told him she was still nervous, regardless of how inviting her body looked. He meant to take his time, to savor every moment. It was a good thing she’d napped most of the afternoon, because neither of them would be getting much sleep that night.

  Dodge stripped off her shirt and bra so he could appreciate all of her. Persephone tugged at his shirt at the same time. He obliged and took it off, bracing for her to recoil from his scars and maybe the generous chest hair. It seemed like women enjoyed the waxed man-scaped look, but he’d never considered letting someone rip out his hair. The wolf thought it a ridiculous conceit.

  For her, though... If Persephone liked it bare, he’d go bare.

  She ran her nails lightly down his chest, playing with his chest hair, and bit her lower lip. Dodge swallowed a groan and the urge to flip her onto her hands and knees so he could finally have her.

  He wrestled control back from the wolf and turned his attention back to Persephone. He wanted to see her at the height of passion, flushed and moaning. He wanted to taste every inch of her body, to learn how she reacted to each touch and kiss.

  He stroked the inside of her thigh, her skin like silk under his fingers. He couldn’t get over how delicate and soft all of her felt. It just reminded him how much he needed to protect her from the rest of the world. He would cherish her, coddle her, go out of his way to make sure she never faced anything ugly or rough or dangerous again. He’d make sure her world was clouds
and puppies and feather-soft everything.

  Dodge kept teasing around her slit, building the anticipation until her legs moved, then slipped one finger under the damp cotton. He bit back a groan to feel how wet she already was. The moment he stroked her skin, Persephone gave a hushed sigh that almost unleashed the wolf. It sounded like the pleased ‘hmm’ she’d made earlier when she tasted something delicious.

  He went back to teasing around the waist and legs of the panties, glad his jeans kept his own lust under wraps for the time being, and leaned down to flick his tongue over her nipple. She sucked in a breath and gripped the sheets, her heels digging into the mattress. Dodge repeated a quick taste, then breathed on her breast so the moisture cooled and her nipple hardened into a perfect pink point. He loved her breasts: small but enough for a handful, natural, soft and giving against his palm and his mouth.

  He slid his hand into her panties and pressed the heel of his hand against the top of her slit, not quite touching her clit, and eased the tip of his middle finger into her opening. Another delicious sigh escaped as she arched her back, offering up her breasts. Dodge wasn’t about to overlook an opportunity. He laved first one nipple, then the other, all while keeping up a shallow, slow in-and-out with the tip of his finger. He watched Persephone’s reactions to learn what she liked, what made the flush rise from her breasts and up her throat to her cheeks.

  He growled with pleasure as a low moan escaped her throat. She gripped his wrist and encouraged him to go deeper or harder, and when he continued to take his time, she made an irritated sound and scrambled to rip off her panties. Dodge chuckled and helped her remove the scrap of fabric, though it wreaked havoc on his self control as he gazed down at all of her, every beautiful inch, splayed out on his bed.

  She squirmed a little under his attention, then reached for his belt. “It’s not fair that I’m the only one naked.”