Brink Of Passion (Alpine Woods Shifters)

by Sondrae Bennett

  “So you came to take me on all by yourself, huh? Brave little wolf.” Approval colored his tone.

  The compliment warmed her until she realized who gave it. She glared as he stepped closer, invading her personal space. Her feet twitched with the desire to retreat, but she held her place. No way would she give up ground to him. From the corner of her eye, she saw a man in a blue coat pass them. He can’t hurt me here, she chanted in her mind, fisting her hands at her side.

  “I admire your spirit, if misplaced. Even if I did want to be Premier—I don’t, for the record—I would never harm Max to get it.”

  “Because he’s family?”

  “That, and because I have honor. I am not a snake to hide in the grass.”

  Something about the force of his words made her pause. The word honor stuck out like a sore thumb. Tyler, cold though he seemed, always held himself with pride and respect.

  Maybe he told the truth. But if he wasn’t the one behind the attacks, who was?

  Colin. Her mind snared on the thought. Could it be possible?

  After Tyler, he was the only one poised to benefit if Max died. But that would mean getting rid of Tyler, too. Unless Colin knew Tyler didn’t want the title. Could it possibly circumvent him? Which would mean he only needed to get rid of Max.

  It almost hurt to think it, but nothing else made sense. She genuinely liked Colin. Of all Max’s family, he’d felt the most like home. The most like family. But with Max’s life on the line, she couldn’t let her feelings cloud her judgment.

  “I can already tell I’m not going to like the direction of your thoughts.” And there was the scowl she’d grown so used to.

  She opened her mouth, but paused. Tyler was Colin’s brother. Should she keep her suspicions to herself? Last time she’d shared her thoughts hadn’t gone so well. But if Tyler was determined to protect Max, maybe he’d be open to at least listen.

  “Colin.”

  “No,” he stated before she could finish the name. His certainty left no room for argument, but Laurie had never needed room to argue.

  “If it’s not you—”

  “No. I know you’re trying to help, but you’re way off base.”

  “But—”

  “No.”

  “What if—”

  “No.”

  “I’m just trying—”

  “No.”

  “Fine.” Laurie huffed out a breath. She could just go investigate him on her own. Not that she was certain it wasn’t Tyler either. After their conversations, she was inclined to believe him. But who else could it be? What else, besides the power of Premier, could motivate someone to attack Max? He was like a beacon in the darkness. A bright light in the leap. Even if she did have rose-colored glasses on, she’d seen how great he was with everyone. How much they all loved and respected him.

  She really didn’t want to believe Colin could be guilty. Unless he was a master at subterfuge, he didn’t seem the type to crave power. She’d just need to dig a little deeper. No one should mind a little investigation into their lives unless they had something to hide.

  “Laurie,” Tyler growled, a warning in his voice.

  “Yes?” she asked, molding her features into an innocent expression.

  “I mean it. Don’t go…” Tyler’s gaze shifted over her shoulder, his eyes widening in alarm.

  Then the world tilted and Laurie was falling, Tyler tackling her to the street. Screams mingled with the sound of glass shattering and metal crunching. Throbbing fire pulsed at her hip where it had slammed into the concrete.

  Opening her eyes, Laurie gazed at the sliver of gray sky between the buildings. Smoke billowed from the right. What the hell? Tyler lay over her, his arms surrounding her where they’d cushioned her back during the fall.

  A car door slammed nearby. Then the sound of running feet.

  “Shit.” Tyler rose onto his knees, the movement jostling her sore hip. “Are you hurt?”

  Laurie stared at the sky.

  “Laurie, look at me. Are. You. Hurt?” His eyes were fierce as he demanded a quick answer.

  “No.” She looked past him and saw the car on the sidewalk where they’d been standing moments before. Smoke rose from the dented hood. The window of the paper store they’d been standing in front of now in glittering pieces on the sidewalk.

  “Who…?”

  But Tyler was already barking out orders to the two leap members who had run to them after the crash. She recognized both as part of the guards Max had ordered on Ryan. Had one of them been reassigned to her?

  “Don’t let him get away,” Tyler said.

  Don’t let who get away? She tried to sit up, but the explosion of pain down her left side convinced her otherwise. Instead, she lay back and looked toward the car. The driver door stood open with no one inside. She glanced around at the gathering crowd. Where was the driver? People were pointing and staring.

  An attack? Seemed likely. But after who? Her because she was, as Tyler put it, Max’s weakness, or Tyler because he was among the leaders in the leap? Laurie closed her eyes and rested her head on the pavement. Maybe whoever it was had seen an opportunity to get two birds with one stone.

  Either way, one thing was clear. Tyler had just saved her life, making him a pretty unlikely candidate for the attacks against Max.

  Which left her back at square one.

  Chapter 15

  “Would you lay off? I’m fine,” Laurie repeated, shying away from the hand Tyler held out to help her from the elevator. As if a little bruise would stop her.

  “Max?” Laurie called, glancing in his office. No lights. Her ear twitched, picking up the sound of the television upstairs. “Wait here, I’ll get him.”

  “Why don’t I go?” Tyler offered as she hobbled over to the stairwell.

  She shot him a glare, daring him to approach. She wasn’t an invalid, and the dominant part of her refused to admit she needed help. As if sensing her thoughts, he held up his hands and stepped back, a smirk firmly in place. She lifted her lip to show him fang before turning back toward the stairs. Figured. She finally got Tyler to show some emotion and he was driving her nuts.

  It only took two steps to regret her stubbornness. Her sore hip throbbed with each stair. At least it was only bruised and not broken. A few shifts from wolf to human would work out the kinks. She just had to deal with the pain for the next few hours.

  As much as she hated to worry him, especially so soon after being released from the hospital, she needed to talk to Max. She and Tyler had argued about it on the way home. But Tyler was right. If she wanted Max to share everything with her, she couldn’t keep secrets from him. He needed to know about the crash.

  His voice drifted from upstairs.

  “See how that cheetah picked out the weak gazelle from the herd?”

  Who was he talking to? Laurie paused on the stairs, listening further. Was someone here? It sounded as if he spoke to a child. He could be babysitting some of the leap children. A bit strange so soon after being hospitalized, but he’d done it before. He’d make a great father.

  The pang of longing shook her. She leaned against the wall for support halfway up the stairs. She’d never really thought about children before. Eventually, sure. Maybe. Not now. But there was no denying the ache the idea of her child with Max caused her. She wanted that.

  In order for that to happen, she had to figure out who kept trying to kill him. No. Not him. Them. The accident this afternoon might be linked to Max, but he hadn’t been in that street. She had to assume she or Tyler, or both, had become targets.

  She continued up the stairs, hating her current task. Hating to worry him. To admit she wasn’t fully capable of taking care of herself. But it needed to be done. The faster the better. Like ripping off a Band-Aid.

  “See how she took it down while the others ran? The way a real predator does it.”

  That was how she found them. Kitty sitting upright, leaning against Max’s side. One of his arms curled over
her back, resting on her potbelly tummy. Both man and dog were focused completely on the TV as the National Geographic channel played across the screen.

  Hiding her smile with her hand, Laurie stepped further into the room. Concealing her wince was harder than she thought.

  “Max?” At her question, both pairs of eyes turned to her.

  Kitty bounded off the couch and jumped up, her paws colliding with her sensitive hip.

  Laurie hissed at the contact.

  “What’s wrong?” In an instant, Max was off the couch, pushing Kitty away.

  Laurie smiled, but the tightening of his mouth told her he wasn’t fooled.

  “Tyler’s waiting downstairs.”

  “What happened?” A thread of warning lay in his tone, but Laurie waved away his concern.

  “It will be easier to do everything at once. Come on.” Kitty tried to follow then, but Max pulled the gate across the top of the stairway. As much as she loved Kitty, Laurie was grateful knowing she wouldn’t jump and hit her hip again.

  Tyler stood from the living room couch as they made their way downstairs.

  Her hip throbbed, but she pushed the pain from her mind. She’d gotten pretty good at shielding her thoughts and feelings from the mate bond. But she knew she couldn’t hide everything. If the pain didn’t ease soon, it would start bleeding through her shield. She needed Advil, or Excedrin. Or Vicodin.

  Brushing past Tyler, she made a beeline toward the medicine drawer in the kitchen and shook out two Advil from the bottle. On second thought, she shook out a third. Another wouldn’t kill her.

  As she swallowed the pills with a bottle of water from the fridge, she heard Tyler telling Max about the accident. Max’s growl of outrage sent shivers down her spine. And not shivers of fear. Damn. Hell of a time to get turned on, but his fierceness was a potent aphrodisiac.

  Squaring her shoulders, she walked back to the living room.

  “How could this happen? I thought we had men assigned to watch her?”

  “Sam and Brian. They ran after the driver but he had too much of a lead.”

  “What do you mean a lead? They should have been there!”

  Tyler was silent. Laurie glanced at him and saw a flash of trepidation. From Tyler? Was he frightened of Max? Then he glanced in Laurie’s direction and something flickered in his gaze that she couldn’t identify.

  “I instructed them to keep their distance so as not to alert her to their presence. I put your mate at risk. I should be removed from my position.”

  “What?” It was the only thing Laurie could think to say. Tyler had just saved her life.

  “Are you saying they wouldn’t have been there in time?”

  A long silence.

  “If I wasn’t there, they wouldn’t have been able to save her.”

  Tyler’s words sent a chill down her spine. Had she not confronted Tyler, she very well might be laying on a slab in the morgue somewhere. From the corner of her eye, she saw Max stumble to the chair behind him and fall into it. He bent his head and clutched his hands into fists on his knees.

  Until now, she hadn’t stopped to think about how bad things could have been today. If Tyler hadn’t glanced up at that exact moment and saw the car bearing down on them… If he had been after Max and jumped out of the way, leaving her in the crash zone… If he hadn’t been fast enough… So many things could have gone wrong.

  But they didn’t. Everything had worked out with only a bruise on her hip that would be a mere memory in a few hours. What was the point in speculating what could have been? She took a calming breath. Another.

  “But Tyler was there to save me. So the whole thing is moot. Removing Tyler from his post would be foolish.”

  “Why was Tyler there?”

  Laurie tensed at the question. Max wouldn’t be happy if he knew the truth. He’d warned her to forget her distrust. But how could she ignore her instincts, even if they had been wrong? Could she pull off the “just ran into him” lie she’d unsuccessfully tried on Tyler earlier?

  “I—”

  “She followed me.”

  Laurie bit back the sharp retort rising in her throat. Damn it. Now Max would know she hadn’t dropped her suspicions when he’d told her to.

  And why should she have? She was a grown woman. She could think and do what she wanted. Despite what the rest of his family thought, she didn’t need a keeper.

  “Following?”

  “Now, Max—” She wasn’t sure what she’d planned to say, just that she had to say something. Had to try and explain.

  “Following?!” In his angry eyes she saw he’d come to the correct conclusion.

  “Well, what did you expect?” she retorted, her own frustration rising. She threw her arms into the air. If their positions were reversed, she had no doubt he’d do the same. Stupid double standards.

  “Not that you’d follow him! Why would you do this?”

  “To protect you.” How could he ask her why? How could he even doubt that she’d go to any length to keep him safe? He was her mate. Defending those she loved was an alpha wolf’s job.

  “I can protect myself. Putting yourself in danger is not acceptable.”

  “If you wanted a mate who’d sit at home while you’re in harm’s way, you should have mated someone else. That’s not me. That will never be me.” Couldn’t be, even if she tried. Her nature wouldn’t allow it. Trying to meekly obey would kill her slowly.

  “You’re not responsible for me!”

  “Yes, I am!” How could he say that? He was hers.

  “How could you be? You’re not even responsible enough for yourself.”

  That grated. “Hey!” she started, but he continued with his lecture as if he hadn’t heard her.

  “Following him as if you were some detective. How stupid can you be? What if your suspicions had been right and you’d gotten killed? Stupid!”

  “Call me stupid one more time,” she threatened.

  “Following someone you suspect is a killer is as stupid as it gets. He could have turned around and shot you.”

  “That wouldn’t have happened.”

  “You don’t know that! You almost got run over. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?” Max stood and stepped toward Laurie. Far from cowed, Laurie stepped toward him as well, her own blood boiling with the heat of the argument. Did he expect her to do nothing after he’d been poisoned? Didn’t he know her at all?

  “I know exactly how that feels. Probably the same as watching you writhe in pain on the floor or stuck in a hospital bed due to poisoning. Or finding out that it was not the first, not the second, but the third attempt on your life!” Laurie moved closer until she was yelling directly in front of him.

  “That’s completely different.”

  “It’s exactly the same.” They were shouting over each other. No matter how right he thought he was, Laurie saw their situation clearly. He wanted to treat her as something that belonged to him, because that’s how he saw her. As his. A possession to put safely on a shelf until he was ready to play with her. That’s why he hadn’t wanted her to get a job. Why he freaked out when she went exploring the city by herself. He wanted meek and obedient. But Laurie had never been the belonging-to type of girl. Partnership or nothing.

  “It’s different because I love you, damn it, and if something happened to you I could never get over that!” Max yelled

  “I love you, too, dumbass! You can’t ask me sit back and twiddle my thumbs!”

  “Yes, I can. It’s for your own protection.”

  “You don’t get to make that decision!”

  “As your mate, I do.”

  “Um, guys?” Tyler interrupted.

  “What?” Both Max and Laurie asked, turning on him.

  He held up his hands and took a step back with a laugh. “Never mind,” he said, then whispered, “You’ll figure it out on your own.”

  “You may be my mate, but you are not the boss of me,” Laurie continued, turning back toward Max
.

  He stared at her with a strange look on his face. “Say it again.”

  “You’re not the boss of me.” Why was he staring at her like that?

  “No. Before that.”

  Laurie thought back through their argument. What had she said that could cause Max’s strange behavior? Her mind snagged on the word love. Oh God. She’d told Max she loved him. But… Had he also said he loved her?

  “I love you?”

  “Figures you’d phrase it as question.” He laughed, then pulled her in for a long kiss. His tongue swept into her mouth, tangling with hers. She sank into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist, and letting his heat surround her. She poured every ounce of love she felt into the kiss.

  After a long moment, he pulled away and rested his forehead on hers, staring deeply into her eyes. “I love you so much it hurts sometimes. I wish I could put you in my pocket so you’d always be with me and I never had to worry about you.”

  Laurie’s heart jumped into her throat. “I don’t know what I would do without you,” she told him honestly. He’d become irreplaceable. No one else would do. Max was it for her.

  A throat clearing behind them reminded Laurie they were not alone. She felt her cheeks heat as she turned to face Tyler.

  Max held her tight, refusing to let her out of his embrace. She tried to pull away, but he held fast, pulling her back flush against his chest.

  “Why don’t I give you two lovebirds a moment? I’ll go round up Colin and Ryan and be back in, say,” he glanced at his watch, “half an hour?”

  “Make it forty-five minutes.”

  Embarrassed, Laurie slapped Max’s arm slung around her shoulders, but Tyler merely laughed, nodded, and turned back to the elevator.

  They stood, Laurie clutching Max’s forearm with both hands, until the sound of the elevator doors closed behind him. She closed her eyes as his breath warmed her ear. Her heart soared.

  He loved her. Yes, there were still problems to resolve. A killer to find. But they would solve it. Laurie refused to entertain any other option. They were strong together.

  His mouth closed over the top of her ear, causing a shiver to snake down her spine. Warm and wet, his tongue caressed the area before his teeth closed on it sharply. She gasped at the dual sensations.