She hesitated, crossed her arms over her breasts. “For church.”
Not what he expected. The claws that had started to pierce his fingers retreated in surprise. He simply blinked at her for a moment, thinking she was joking. At her kiss-my-ass look, he realized she wasn’t kidding. “On a Wednesday night?”
One shapely brow rose. “If you remember, I missed Sunday service. I was busy tending to a wounded wolf.”
Yeah. Him. He cleared his throat, not knowing what to say. His eyes strayed from her obviously tense form to the hallway and back again. His thoughts grew dark again. “Going to repent? Ask for forgiveness.” And why couldn’t he learn to just keep his mouth shut? Always pushing. Great for completing a mission, not so great for getting the girl.
“Idiot.” From ass to idiot. He didn’t know if that was an improvement or not. “God’s not going to smite me into a pile of ash because I had sex with you. He may not be thrilled about it, but it doesn’t mean he loves me any less.”
Zan remembered Jackie and Ben verbally sparing Sunday morning about her beliefs and the jealousy he’d felt at their closeness. While he might believe in God, he was far from a church-goer. And with his almost dead innate humor restored, knowing she wasn’t leaving him to be with another man, he couldn’t keep the teasing note out of his voice. “But isn’t sex before marriage a sin? To fix that, I suggest you do the right thing and make an honest man out of me.”
The shock on her face was priceless and he almost laughed out loud. Damn but the woman made him feel alive and he relished every second he was with her.
“Adultery is a sin,” she hissed, eyes narrowing into slits. “And as neither of us are married, we’ve committed no sin.”
Zan let out a snort and once again shoved his size twelves squarely into his mouth. “Face it, Doc. If you were truly a God-fearing woman you’d have booted me out the door the second you came home.”
If looks could kill, he would be broken and bloody on the spot. “I don’t fear God. I love him. And right now, I absolutely loathe you.” Jackie shoved both hands into his chest and he stumbled out of the bathroom. The door slammed shut and he heard the lock snick into place.
Ha, he thought. As if a measly lock, or door for that matter, would keep him out if he wanted otherwise. “Yeah?” he shouted, because he simply could not let her have the last word. After all. She had become his personal mission. “Premarital sex might not be a monster sin but I know for a fact lying is.”
“False testimony,” she shot back.
“And your testimony just now was nothing but a big, fat lie.” A high shriek of frustration permeated the wood just as something thudded against the door, making him grin like a loon.
Resting his forehead against the door he imagined her naked, wet, and soapy in the shower. And as quick as a snap, the blood rushed to his pants. While he’d briefly thought about attending this evening’s service to spend more time with her, he didn’t think it appropriate to go to church with a hard-on.
No. What he needed was an ice-cold beer and some helpful insight.
Back in the living room he snatched his phone from the floor. His gaze drifted over to the far wall and his fingers halted in mid-dial.
Tendrils of wonderment brushed through his mind. “I bit her.” Once again, the implication of a split second decision on his part was changing his life. But panic didn’t come. Contentment did.
He glanced down the hall to the bathroom door, where he knew Jackie was trying, in vain, to scrub his scent from her body. But because of Zan’s mark she could use sandpaper and multiple bottles of her sweetly scented soap, which was even now wafting into his nostrils, and it wouldn’t do a damn bit of good. Every shifter in town would know she was taken, and by whom.
Perversely smug, Zan slipped something into his pocket and stepped boldly out the front door, locking it behind him. The extra pep to his step was undeniable and, with the phone glued to his ear, his eyes alight with mischievous plotting, he made his way eagerly to Thirio’s Keep.
Walking into the soft evening breeze and more focused on the conversation with his brother than his surroundings, he didn’t notice the blue sedan parked three houses down from Jackie’s. While he might not know the vehicle belonged to a stranger in this town, he would have recognized the ugly mug of the man, which had all but twisted in fury at the sight of Zan, tall, proud, and very much alive as he walked into the sunset.
Chapter Twelve
After dressing, Jackie wasted several minutes looking for her vibrator. She dug in the couch cushions, searched the floor and finally gave in to a sort of pissed-off panic. Zan had absconded with it, leaving a very clear message. If Jackie wanted release, she would have to get it from him. The bastard.
She complained all the way to church. She relived every erotic second during service, and she was thankful God didn’t strike her dead for impure thoughts in His house.
It wasn’t just the change in her and Zan’s relationship that caused her exhaustion. The constant arousal that stimulated every nerve ending was unending. She was wired all day long, only to tumble into bed to find sleep an elusive pursuit.
Then there was her internal battle. She’d wanted a mate and family desperately, but she just didn’t know if she could give up her life, her home, to be with Zan. She didn’t want her life to end up a duplicate of her aunt’s. The worry each time her husband and son were gone on deployment and the horror and pain she felt when they were killed in action.
For her uncle and cousin, it wasn’t just serving their country that urged them overseas and into one battle after another. No. It was the adrenaline rush. The feeling of invincibility each time they came home unscathed. But not even a shifter can withstand a bomb blast.
In church she had silently questioned God. She pretended not to see the knowing looks from other shifters in the congregation. They all knew she’d been marked. She might as well have foregone the gaudy mock turtle-neck tank and tattooed Zan’s name on her forehead.
With thoughts of freedom from the curious gazes on her mind, she hurried out to her truck, without looking like she was running away, only to be waylaid by Meg Sorenson, her husband Tom, and their new baby girl. The one Jackie had only days before delivered into the world.
How could anyone resist the darling baby?
Ten minutes later, and calmer, she was finally walking to her truck at the far end of the lot. Halfway there she chuckled to herself. She’d backed in the spot so the vehicle faced the church steps, and under a light. Facing out allowed an easy getaway if need be while the lighting illuminated the bed, front and sides of her vehicle from anyone attempting to hide.
Training or common sense?
Abruptly an uneasy feeling came over her. She slowed down, dug into her purse for her cell phone, using the everyday activity to surreptitiously scan the area. She might not have the same kind of super senses as a male shifter, but she was more sensitive than a human. And right now, her senses were screaming “danger” in large red block-letters.
A soft breeze blew from the west, so if the danger was east, she wouldn’t pick it up. She couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary and her sight wasn’t strong enough to penetrate the gloom outside the lit parking lot.
She turned back to the church. There was safety inside the building. Unfortunately, if the danger was directed at her—and frankly, she just didn’t know—she didn’t want it to follow inside where even now she could see the one hundred percent human pastor holding and cooing at baby Lilly through the glass doors. Lilly’s proud parents where standing protectively by while chatting with three other well-wishers. No. She had to draw whomever it was away.
Pulling out her phone, she dialed her own number, because how embarrassing was it to pretend to be talking on the phone when it rang. Okay. It had happened to Jackie. Once. She wasn’t about to shoot for a second time.
Trying hard to appear as an unwary lone female, Jackie left a message on voice mail and used the fob on her keych
ain to unlock her truck. A good thing too as her phone beeped to announce an incoming call.
Not bothering to check the display, she answered on a breathy, “Hello?”
“It’s Joe. You’re clear. But you are being watched.”
Jackie continued walking with barely a hitch in her stride. “And you would know this how?”
“Because we’re watching the watchers.”
“Why?”
A pause. “Because they’re bad men, Doc. Real bad.”
Juggling purse, phone, keys, and door, she hoisted herself into the cab and locked herself in. “Okay. Who’s we, where are you, and why am I being watched?”
“First start the truck like nothing’s wrong.”
“I know that.” Muttering, she cranked the engine, lowered the radio, and put on her seat belt. “Start talking.”
As she put the truck into gear, Joe said, “Scott and I are on the roof.”
She drove slowly through the lot to get a better look but saw nothing. “Why?”
“Told you. To watch the bad guys.”
Jackie hissed at him. “I swear I’m going to reach through this phone and choke you.”
Joe snorted. “Head to your Alpha’s house and we’ll explain everything.”
“And if he follows?”
Low, with a dark thread of anticipation he replied, “We want him to follow you.”
Well. Didn’t that make her all warm and fuzzy. He hung up before Jackie could respond and immediately her phone rang again. This time from Dean. “We’ve got a situation. I need you to come to my house, ASAP.” Then he hung up.
She tossed the phone on top of her purse, deciding there and then that all dominant male shifters needed a course in phone etiquette.
On the main road she was conscience of car lights following her. Several actually until she turned right on Lidden Street. Then there was only one. Between the dark of the night and the distance the other driver maintained, she couldn’t tell the make of the vehicle other than it was a car and not a truck. It could be Joe and Scott or one of the other locals who lived off this street.
Or not.
Her palms were damp with nerves by the time she turned into the long dirt driveway leading to Dean and Kaylie’s home. She slowed, eyes trained on the rear view mirror, and watched as a nondescript sedan crept by.
A greasy ball of fear tightened in her gut. How could anyone find all this sneaking and intrigue enjoyable? She wanted to throw up.
Reaching the large clearing in front of the two-story home, Jackie parked next to Kaylie’s truck, noting Dean’s vehicle and a third unknown one. She sat a moment, drawing air deep into her lungs.
After Kaylie’s sister, Tess, hooked up with Woodcliff’s sheriff and her mom moved out to marry the owner of Dolen’s Cafe, Dean had moved into Kaylie’s home. As Alpha, a rich one, he could easily afford to build a grand house or even buy the huge Kolter place. Instead, he chose to remain in his mate’s childhood home. Kaylie loved the house and therefore, Dean loved it.
Would Zan come to love Woodcliff as much as Jackie did?
Ack! She had some weirdo tailing her and she was sitting there thinking about a never-going-to-happen future with Zan.
Unclenching her hands from the steering wheel, she eased out of the truck, scanning her surroundings at the same time. As she headed up the steps to the porch deck, the front door opened.
She gulped at the man who, only hours before, had been inside her, giving her pleasure unlike anything she’d encountered before.
Don’t go there, she admonished herself. Act like nothing happened. Except...
“You have something that belongs to me,” she accused.
Zan didn’t smile, didn’t even show a hint of interest or understanding, other than the gleam of desire and possessiveness that darkened his eyes into flaming emeralds. “As do you.”
Racking her brain and coming up empty, she frowned at him. “I don’t have anything of yours.”
He closed the distance she purposefully left between them until she could feel the heat from his body wrapping around her in a warm embrace. The nasty knot in her belly eased and she was left with an odd feeling of safety. Deep down she knew somehow that nothing would hurt her while this man lived. It was eerie. It was unwanted. It was...wonderful.
She bit back an embarrassing whimper when he traced her lips with a fingertip, down her throat and under the high neck of her shirt. He caressed the sensitive mark he left on her mere hours ago. “This says differently.”
Her eyes narrowed into slits. Now she got it. Could she be any slower? Zan was informing her in a not-so-subtle way that she belonged to him. Her body, her mind, and her soul. It all belonged to him.
Perversely, some feminine part of her relished the idea. The other rebelled. “That changes nothing.”
His hand curved gently around her nape, drawing her closer still. Hers curled into fists on his chest, grasping hunks of his shirt as if she never wanted to let go. “That changes everything.”
Before he could kiss her and prove what a little liar she really was, he stiffened and pulled back, lips tight in frustration, eyes focused over her shoulder.
Jackie turned, first hearing and then barely making out through the thick trees a vehicle speeding down the long dirt drive, sans headlights. “I hope you know who that is.”
“Scott and Joe.”
Perfect. At least this time Scott wouldn’t be catching her topless and Zan with a mouthful of breast. Recalling why they were following her, she whispered, “Did they drive the whole way without lights?” She warily eyed her surroundings again, wondering if they were being watched even as she spoke.
His hand squeezed gently on her nape. “No. The moon’s too bright. A running vehicle on the road without lights would be obvious. Besides, Scott drove while Joe ran through the forest. Right now they’re screwing around. No doubt Joe’s got a chunk of soap in his hand. He’ll mark the car and Scott will try to determine how many times Joe marked him, whether by sight, smell, or sound.”
Brows drawn in bewilderment, she asked, “Because?”
Behind her Zan shrugged. “It’s a training maneuver, meant to teach shifters to heed every distraction as a potential help or harm while still focusing on a goal.”
A dark form bolted in front of the moving car only to bleed back into the deep shadows of the forest just as the vehicle entered the clearing.
Jackie gasped. “That was close!”
“No guts no glory.”
She glared at Zan over her shoulder. “I hate that saying.”
In the clearing, Scott exited the car, shouted the word eight, and began to peruse the marked vehicle. Joe appeared out of the dark and they started to bicker over what was considered a tag and what wasn’t.
Jackie shook her head. “Are you sure they’re old enough to be in the military?”
Zan snorted. “Chronologically? Yes. Mentally? It’s times like this I have doubts. Watch this.” He covered her right ear so his shout wouldn’t affect her hearing. “Report!”
Like the well-trained soldiers they were, Joe and Scott snapped to attention at Zan’s order and hustled over to stand at the top of the stairs. It was Scott that spoke. “The driver’s identify is confirmed. Marc Shider. Two of his henchmen are with him. Cam Arias and Lenny Denner.”
The hand on her neck squeezed again and Jackie glanced up to see tight lines around Zan’s mouth. “Are they...was it one of them that shot you?”
Green eyes met her wide-eyed brown ones. “Looks like. Let’s go inside and discuss this.” He nodded at the younger shifters who preceded them in the house. “I need to let Dean know what’s going on and find out what he wants me to do.”
Jackie scoffed. “I’ll tell you what he wants you to do. Eliminate the threat.”
His nasty smile gave Jackie the willies. “My goal as well. However, his plans might be different from my own.”
“What plan is that?”
“Getting out of tow
n.”
The thought of him leaving sent her heart thudding to her feet. “Oh.”
“And taking you with me.”
That had her stopping in her tracks. “What?”
Zan turned around to face Jackie. He cupped her cheek, rubbing his thumb gently over her shocked lips. “Angel. It wasn’t me he was following tonight.”
Very true. “Care to explain why he was following me?”
Ignoring her question, Zan dropped his hand to clasp hers. “Let’s not keep Dean waiting any longer.”
Jackie allowed herself to be dragged into the kitchen because she honestly didn’t know what else to do. Except run away screaming or curl up in the safest place possible and pray until this was all over. Barring both instinctive ideas, she let Zan pull out a chair for her at the kitchen table where Dean, Kaylie, Joe, and Scott were already seated. Zan flipped his chair around and straddled it, drawing Jackie’s gaze to the play of thick muscles under the denim as he sat, his arms resting along the back.
Turning sharply away, Jackie caught Kaylie’s smirk and wrinkled her nose. Her Lupa’s eyes were bright, and her lips swollen. Evidently Kaylie and Dean had indulged in a lip-locking session just before they were invaded. For his part, Dean gave her a curt but warm nod in greeting and turned his attention to Zan.
When Jackie followed her Alpha’s lead and looked at Zan she couldn’t help another quick peek at Dean, once again amazed at the unique color of green mirrored in their eyes.
Kaylie winked at her, no doubt having the same reaction.
“Two years ago,” Zan explained without preamble, “a small military team attempted to take out a drug ring overseas. I was sent in ahead of my team as a scout, in wolf form. Suffice it to say that the mission didn’t go as smoothly as anticipated. When things starting going to hell, I had to shift into human form before the appointed time to aid a fallen teammate. While we managed to terminate that particular location’s operation, we not only missed a key player, but it seems my,” he paused, “change didn’t go unnoticed. And now I’ve been tracked down.”
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