by Lauren Dane
“We should leave in about twenty minutes. Can you be ready?”
“Yes. But you can’t be in here or I’ll get distracted.”
“I’ll shower while you get ready.” He peeled his clothes off, and she made herself stop looking and finish getting dressed.
On the drive over, she watched the city out the window as she thought. She realized he’d yet again used a condom. She knew her body pretty well, and she was pretty sure she wasn’t fertile. How did you broach that in a conversation though? He’d begged her to stay in Portland to be with him so it wasn’t that he was grossed out by her.
A shiver went through her as she remembered what he’d said about her scent.
He made a sound next to her as he drove, and she looked over. One corner of his mouth was turned up as supremely male satisfaction was stamped on his features.
“I love that I can scent when you’re turned on. You’re an incredibly sexual woman. I like that.”
He kept his eyes on the road, and she was glad because she blushed down to her toes.
“What if I was thinking about Daniel Craig or something? You’re pretty ballsy to assume you’re who I was thinking about.” She hmpfed and he laughed, reaching out to tangle his fingers with hers.
“Ah, but you aren’t thinking of Daniel Craig. You’re thinking about me. Just like I’m thinking about you. Remembering the way you felt around me this morning as I fucked you.”
“If I stay in Portland, how am I ever going to get any work done if you get me hot and bothered all the time?” she mumbled.
“It’s my pleasure to get you hot and bothered. But I assume you’d get a job and I won’t be with you every moment so hopefully there’ll be no horny pussy when I’m not there. I don’t share.”
There was a pause just then. Not a spoken one. But she felt it in his demeanor.
“What?”
“Huh?” He turned down a street. “The jail is this way. Pam said to call her when we parked so can you do that now? She’ll be waiting so she can escort us through.”
She let it go and grabbed her phone, making the call. Pam, true to her word, met them, escorting Michelle through.
“Josh, you need to wait here,” Pam said quietly.
He grimaced and his wolf showed. “No, I can’t. I need to be with Michelle.”
“You’re not a cop. We’re in cop central, it’s not like anything is going to happen to me.” Michelle probably should have been annoyed by his bossiness, but she must have been crazy because it worked for him and she was flattered and touched more than annoyed.
Pam nodded. “Wait here. We’ll be out when we finish. Or go to Pacific and do your work, and I’ll bring her over when I finish.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He turned to Michelle. “You will be careful.”
“I’ll do my best. Me being all helpless and stuff.”
Pam fought a smile but managed to hold it back.
Josh snorted. “I know you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself. I’ll see you in a bit.”
It was hard to remain flustered when he was so adorable so she let it go, telling herself she’d have to continue to get used to how protective he was.
They followed him to a group of chairs in the lobby, preparing to leave him there until they’d finished with Charlie. Michelle pulled her cop all around herself like armor and turned to Pam. “I’m ready.”
But all hell broke loose before they could get on the elevators.
Cops rushed past and she felt it. Dark, ugly magic was being worked.
Michelle turned to Pam. “Shit. Get me to where he is. Now.”
“There’s a lockdown. I can’t override it.”
“They’re here. The mages. Something ugly is being worked.” She gagged, and Josh was at her side, touching her.
“What is happening?”
“Get Charlie safe. They’re here for him.”
Josh took her upper arms in his hands and shook, once, to get her attention. “What if they’re here for you? Have you thought of that?”
A blast of something very dark sent her to her knees. She heard shouts about a prisoner being down, and she knew. Josh pulled her out of the way of the traffic, shielding her with his body. Pam had rushed off to get information.
“What? Should I call Gina? Damn it, Michelle are you all right? Answer me!”
“Charlie is dead. Or close to it. I...my Craft isn’t that good, but I can tell that much.”
He patted her all over. “Are you all right? Did it hurt you?”
She pushed his hands back. She was a cop on the floor for God’s sake. “I need to stand up, and you need to back off or get kicked in the sac.”
He relaxed a little, standing and letting her do so without his assistance. “If you’re threatening to kick me in the junk, you must be all right.”
Pam hustled over. “Another prisoner killed Charlie. They were walking him to an interview room. He was in cuffs and with two guards and another prisoner walked up and snapped his neck. The other prisoner is dead too. He’d been shot several times because he wouldn’t stop. They didn’t injure anyone else. I...this is beyond my skill level.”
Hers too.
* * *
He led her to his office at Pacific. She was still pale, and his wolf noted the remnants of whatever spell that’d knocked her to the ground. Her scent was slightly off. A little dirty. And not the good kind of dirty.
“Michelle, I’d like you to meet someone.”
She looked up from where she’d been studying her phone. “Sorry. I was texting with Gage. They’re going to get in contact with Gina, and she’s going to call me when they get all that figured out.”
“No need to be sorry.” Gabe stepped into the office and the room seemed to shrink around them. “I’m Gabe Murphy. Tracy said she met you earlier. I wanted to stop in and introduce myself and extend our offer of help. Are you well?”
He took Michelle’s hand and before Josh knew what he was doing, he’d put himself in Gabe’s path, showing his teeth.
His back was to her so she wouldn’t have seen anything, but Gabe sure did. But rather than be upset or offended, he had to wrestle back a grin. Josh narrowed his eyes, promising retribution, friend to friend, if he got any teasing about this.
Josh made himself step to the side, placing his hand on Michelle’s shoulder. Her brows were up as she glanced back and forth between them both.
“Sorry, wolf stuff.” Gabe shrugged, his smile still in place.
She took his hand, shaking it.
“If you don’t mind my saying so, you don’t look well.” Gabe examined her closely.
“The spell that was used was...wrong. Gage told me it should wear off in a bit.”
“How about you eat something? I was just about to head home to see my babies. Why don’t you and Josh come along? Nick said he was going to grab some Chinese on the way to meet us. I’ll call and tell him to get extra.”
“Gabe, Nick and Tracy have two daughters. And a dopey three-legged dog named Milton who guards them with his life.”
Gabe laughed. “He’s really fond of all the food they drop. What do you say? You can fill us in on what you know. Maybe we can brainstorm something.”
“Are you sure?”
Gabe smiled, charming. “Of course. Nick would only whine about me and Tracy having met you and him not yet. He’s a handful that way.”
Her phone rang. “Excuse me a moment. This is Gina.”
She answered and turned to where she’d been sitting at his desk.
“Are you all right? Gina asked.
Michelle took a deep breath. “I think so.”
“I’d like to see you. To do a quick check of your shields and your aura. I want to be sure you’re unhar
med. I’m sure Gage told you we’re learning all this as we go.”
“Tell her to come to my house for lunch. She can check you there.” Gabe announced this without so much as a pardon me for listening in on your phone call.
“You’ll get used to that. Tell him what your limits are. He might even remember it. But don’t count on it. Wolves, especially male wolves, are ridiculously overprotective. I’ll grab Damon and we’ll meet you at their place in a few.”
She hung up and looked back at both men, who stood, arms crossed over their chests, only making them appear more imposing.
“I’ve seen that one before. Lots of perps do that.” She put the phone into her pocket and stood. She was still a little dizzy but at least nausea had retreated some and she didn’t have double vision anymore. “Also, it’s rude to eavesdrop.”
Josh grinned at Gabe, who raised a brow.
“Gina is right. We’re really nosy and overprotective. We have great hearing so it’s hard not to eavesdrop on a phone call. It comes in handy sometimes though. There’s a bright side.”
Gabe Murphy appeared to be a bigger handful than Josh, which said a lot. Little tiny Tracy must be a powerhouse to keep him in line.
“We’ll meet you at your place.” Josh nodded at Gabe, who waved one last time and disappeared.
“If you need to rest, they have extra bedrooms. It’s a soothing place they’ve got. Warded by the Owen witches just months back. It’s safe and quiet. It’ll do you good. You’ll like Nick.”
“They’re your family, right? So this is like...meeting your dad? Your other dad I guess since I already met Gabe.”
He took her face in his hands and kissed her quickly. “Sort of, I guess. Don’t be nervous, all right?”
She sighed as he took her bag. “Maybe if this last week hadn’t been filled with kidnapping, dark magic, attacks and death, I might be more worried. At this point, I’m just happy to be somewhere no one will try to kill me for a little while.” She looked him askance. “No one will, right? I mean there’s no battle for the death or anything like that?”
He burst out laughing as they headed out to his car. “Nope. Just a dog, some toddlers and alpha wolves.”
* * *
One of the girls, Rose, the two-year-old, had settled next to Michelle, reaching out to pat her hand from time to time. It was pretty freaking adorable. And it eased some of her nervousness.
Not that anyone had given her anything to be nervous about. Tracy, Nick—who looked like a model—and Gabe had been incredibly welcoming. Josh had stuck close. The girls were sweet and jolly, and the house was, just as Josh had said, soothing and calm, even with all the people in it.
People. Ha. Weres had so much energy. Power coming off them in waves. She’d have known the difference in a crowd, between a human and a shifter. Funny how she never noticed it before. There had to be shifters in Roseburg for goodness’ sake, she’d just never been in any enclosed space or near enough to one. Or maybe she didn’t notice, or attribute it to any one person in particular.
Whatever the case, when Gina arrived with another Owen witch, Rhonda, it was easy enough to tell the difference between their energy signatures.
Rhonda was a nurse much like Allie, and it sent a slice of sadness through Michelle at the thought.
“Let’s take a look at you.” Gina looked back over her shoulder to Tracy. “Can we use the office down here? It’s hard to get a good read with all this magick around.”
“Oh, of course!” She opened the door and let them in. Rhonda closed it and magick rushed through the room.
“I’m just going to look you over, all right?”
Michelle nodded, watching Rhonda and Gina, seeing how they drew energy and used it.
It didn’t take very long, less than three minutes or so, before Rhonda’s gaze sharpened and she looked into Michelle’s eyes.
“You’re all right. Nothing permanent. I expect you’ll feel nauseated for a bit. Whatever was done was unnatural. A gross misuse of energy and power. It’ll rebound eventually if the caster was human or witch. I don’t know though. There’s something else here that seems more than stolen magic. This is...” Rhonda licked her lips as she thought. “To aim a spell like that, to cause one person to harm another, much like that they did in the convenience store, it takes a lot of power and focus.”
“Do you think there’s something else helping? Another sort of paranormal we don’t know about?”
“We need to talk to Gage and Lark about this. And Josh too. He’ll want to protect the pack, as will the Alphas.” Gina ran hands through her hair and still looked gorgeous afterward. If Michelle had done that she’d look like a hobo.
“Let’s have Josh come in when we call Gage. I don’t want the children to hear.”
“Good idea.”
She went out to get Josh, Gina right behind her, but found yet another woman touching him when they got to the dining room. Only this one wasn’t touching him like a friend. She looked up into his face like she wanted him to kiss her, and her back was arched like she was trying to brush her boobs against him.
Something hot and unpleasant ran through her veins at the sight.
Tracy was speaking quietly to Josh and the woman, but it was Josh who turned and started. “Michelle.”
“So glad you remembered my name. I’m going to make a call to Owen. I thought someone from the pack might want to be present. If you’re not too busy.” She turned and walked back into the office.
Gina closed the door and leaned against it. “I need to talk to you about this whole thing. Wolves are...casual about their affections. But with the one—the one as in the forever one—it’s different.”
Josh tried to open the door, Gina poked her head out. “Back off. I’ll let you know when you can come in.” And closed it in his face.
He knocked. “Michelle, let me in. I want to explain.”
“Wolves. Pushiest motherfuckers on Earth.” Gina opened again. “Do you need to be put on a time-out? Back. Off.” This time Michelle heard Tracy’s laugh as she told Josh to be patient.
“As I was saying. I know who the female with Josh just now is. She’s been into Josh for years. But he’s never made any promises to her. You are not her. Do you understand?”
Michelle shook her head. “No. I don’t. It wasn’t anything. I just felt...jealous, I guess. It sucks. I don’t like it.”
Gina laughed. “Gurl. I hear you. It’s part of that connection you have with Josh. I can see it. Anyone can. I’m trying to say... God, how do I say this?”
Michelle rolled her eyes. “Josh got around. There will be lots of ladies everywhere we go who’ve taken him for a long ride.”
Both of them laughed at that.
“Be that as it may. You are not them. The difference will be apparent immediately if he’s standing with you. Word will get out. Once people know he’s, um, in a relationship with you, a real one, they’ll back off. Wolves are orderly even as they are bossy and possessive and overbearing. Our wolves anyway. There are beta wolves. Damon and Josh aren’t that kind.”
Gina took Michelle’s hand and squeezed it. “I like you. We’re glad you’re around and we want to keep it that way. We understand that a lot of this will be new to you and we just want to help. Explain what we can, when it’s necessary.”
“So the blonde out there used to bang Josh, but now that I’m around she’ll stop petting him?”
Rhonda laughed. “Yes, you’ll fit in just fine.”
Josh came into the office. “If you don’t mind.” He gave Gina a look and she waved it away. “I’d like to talk to Michelle alone for a few minutes.”
Rhonda and Gina strolled out. “They heal pretty fast,” Gina called out as she shut the door in her wake, leaving them alone.
“Did she just encourage you to
kick me or something?”
“Depends. Did you do something you need kicking over?”
He took a deep breath and stepped closer. “No. Will you let me explain?”
She shrugged, feeling like a dumbass.
“I was not a virgin when you came to Portland. You ought to know, I lost it with you anyway. She’s my past. On and off. Never serious.”
“Did you use a condom with her too?” Holy shit. Did she actually say that out loud?
He stilled. “What?”
“I don’t know an awful lot about shifters, but I do know they don’t get or give STDs and they can scent when a female is fertile so you guys don’t usually suit up. But when you’ve been with me you have. I’m not at the fertile part of my cycle. So is it a thing? Like you don’t want to be naked in me? Or what?”
It was like a bad dream where she was saying all this stuff and had no ability to stop herself. She finally put her hand over her mouth to stop.
She was mortified because, hello, that was not the time and place. Wolves were all over the place and they probably heard.
She gathered her tattered self-control and faced him again. “This is not my first case and I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t... I’m not prone to being jealous and saying stuff that is entirely inappropriate for the setting. I’m sorry. I’m so embarrassed.” She turned, her face in her hands.
He came to her, enfolding her, his front to her back. Given the very hard cock at her ass, he wasn’t upset with her at all.
“It’s all right. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. In fact, suffice it to say seeing you jealous and off balance actually makes me hot. Can we make this call to Owen and let them know what’s going on, and then you and I can go and talk? I’ll explain everything, I promise. Will you trust me enough to do that?” He kissed her temple and she leaned back against him.
“They all heard me. I wish a hole would swallow me up.”
He chuckled softly. “Beautiful, wolves are passionate. There’s lots of this stuff. All the time. I promise once we talk you’ll understand more.”