“Where to, sweetheart?”
“Anywhere but here.” She’d leave wearing nothing but her cutoff shorts, black combat boots, and the thin T-shirt she’d stormed out of the lodge wearing, and that would be more than enough. The stranger didn’t look like the kind that would be opposed to a little shoplifting if she needed to stock up on supplies. If what he’d ridden up on reflected what he had in the bank, she could do worse. She couldn’t risk tapping into her bank accounts and triggering an enforcer pursuit. Her money didn’t matter anyway. It looked like she might’ve just found herself a bad-ass sugar daddy.
She normally wouldn’t go anywhere with a stranger. But Magnum had caught her smoking a joint behind the lodge, in a rather intimate post-coital moment with an enforcer’s son. And after the Alpha had told her to stay away from him. Something about him not being good enough for her.
The term off-limits had worked like bait, and she hadn’t been able to leave him alone. To be honest, Magnum had been right. The enforcer’s son wasn’t good enough for her, and her wolf had found the sex ho-hum. What a way to lose her cherry, and that should have been regret enough, but Magnum had made living with her mistake worse.
Since her mother had been human, not wolf, and the hybrid genetics tossed the possibility of an unexpected pregnancy into the equation, he’d ordered her to piss on one of those pregnancy tests every week for the last month. Fucker.
To punish her further, he’d clamped down on her freedom, and made it his mission to find her a mate—someone worthy of her family’s genetics.
Fat chance that would happen now. He’d have to find her first. She smiled at the man on the bike, who cocked a brow. Magnum was going to explode when he discovered she’d escaped and the thought turned her smile into a grin. She swung her leg over the seat and settled behind him, closing her eyes. Inhaling deeply. The stranger—her new best friend—smelled like trouble. Whatever. Couldn’t be worse than what she planned to leave behind. Adios, Los Lobos.
“What’s your name, handsome?”
“Diego Sanchez. What’s yours?”
“Lena Ming. You ever been to prison?” No sense in giving him her real name. For all she knew, he lied about his as well.
“I pity the man who ever tries to put me there.”
A shiver ran through her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her breasts to his back. It didn’t take wolf senses to tell this man was dangerous, and that suited her just fine. Actually, it excited her a little. “I think we are going to get along great,” she leaned in and whispered in his ear before the bike pulled back onto the highway. “Take me away, cowboy.”
From that moment on, she never looked back.
Chapter Two
“Okay, let’s review the charges you’re facing before you tell me to go fuck myself again.”
Xio rolled her eyes. “Whatever gets you off.”
Agent Marcus Cazador hadn’t sat at the table since he’d come in, but continued to pace in front of her. He stopped, placed both palms on the surface, and leaned in until he was almost nose-to-nose with her. The muscle in his jaw twitched. Even so, his next words came out so softly, she had to strain to hear him.
“Two counts of armed robbery for the banks in the United States. The Mexican government wants you for sixteen more. Assault with a deadly weapon. Possession of an illegal firearm. Discharging said firearm in a public location. Smuggling of illegal substances into the United States, fraud, shoplifting, and that knife you carried in your boot had a blade at least ten inches long.
“Personal protection.” As for the smuggling, not her fault. She hadn’t known Diego’s boys had a drug shipment in the BMW, or she’d have put the proverbial brakes on that. Yes, she might have smoked a joint in the past, but she’d grown up since, and didn’t agree with the stuff Diego moved over the border and pushed to kids. Call her traditional. It wasn’t her thing and she’d told him countless times not to involve her in it. Bastard.
“Why am I not buying that?”
She opened her mouth, but he raised his hand to cut her off.
“Regardless what it’s for, it is way over legal length. There’s more, but what I listed will get you an easy three-hundred-to-life. This looks real bad for you…but I can help you, Xio.” He lowered his voice further and glanced at the two-way glass. “You’re in deep shit. I’ve contacted your Alpha, and if you don’t fully cooperate, I have orders to administer punishment according to pack law. That makes three-hundred-to-life look like a party in the Bahamas.”
“There’s always a but, isn’t there?” She sat back and blew out a breath. He had her. Without his help, she was screwed. It would behoove her to stow her attitude and hear what he had to say. The pack hadn’t raised a fool. “Go on.”
“We’ve been after Diego Sanchez for a long time, and you’re his girl. An insider.”
“What’s Diego got to do with this?”
“We want to go across the border and take down your boy, but the Mexican government won’t let us pass go and collect two hundred dollars, not unless we have solid evidence to present to them. He’s got half the Mexican government in his pocket and the small stuff isn’t going to do. I need something substantial—irrefutable.”
“Why not his men? You captured two at the bank.”
“They were executed by their cell mates last night. Since you are female and were alone, we lucked out. But don’t hold your breath. You’re next. If you don’t cooperate, and go to prison, there’s a good chance there won’t be enough left of you to administer pack justice to.” His nostrils flared and his eyes dilated as he stared at her.
The heat seemed to reflect back on her. Xio squirmed. Noooo. Please no. Is nature playing a sick joke? Pieces of the puzzle snapped into place—why she’d been so bent since El Paso. Him. It was him. How the hell did she manage to get herself into these situations?
Time to see if her instincts were on target. “So you’ve got a boner for Diego and want me to help—in exchange for what? A private cell where he can’t find me? You know if I go to prison, he will find me, and I will die.”
“We’ll put you in the witness-protection program, give you a chance to start over, but don’t think for a minute I won’t be watching your every move.” He growled low in his throat. The vibrations pulsed through her body, and she barely stopped herself from groaning. Shitty timing.
“I’d rather stay with my pack.”
“That can be arranged, and it’s not a bad idea. You and I know they are better equipped to hide and protect you. So, will you turn evidence against Diego? The cartel? Provide us the information we need to get cooperation from the Mexican government?”
Xio swallowed. She was so dead. Diego wouldn’t let this go. He’d search the globe if he had to, but eventually he’d find her. Her only chance, and it was a small one, would be to exist as a wolf where her pack resided, and Agent Cazador offered the one way she might be able to save her hide. “I will.” Besides, Diego had already broken her trust by hiding the drugs in her car. He didn’t deserve her loyalty anymore.
“You worry about helping us take him down, and I’ll make sure you are safe.”
She’d no doubt he would try. A wolf would protect its mate to the death.
***
Ten months later
As they left the back of the courthouse with an armed escort, Xio looked both ways.
“Relax. We have agents everywhere.”
“You want me to drop my guard when I just put Diego away for life in an American prison? Do you have any idea how pissed he is right now? He’s going to kill me. Just because he’s locked up doesn’t mean he can’t reach me. We’re talking about the Mexican cartel.”
“That’s why I’m going with you.”
Xio stopped in her tracks. When he’d said he’d be watching her every move, she’d assumed it would be from a distance, with all the agency’s high-tech gadgets and technology, or with spies. Not in person. “Excuse me?” She turned toward him. Did
he know? It didn’t usually happen like that. In most cases, you discovered your mate after you’d had sex. It wasn’t that way with Marcus. Even as he was arresting her, she’d felt it, the pull. She could deny it as much as she liked; that didn’t change anything. He was her mate and if he went with her, they’d eventually give in to the attraction. “You can’t. The FBI needs you here.”
“I handed my resignation to my division chief today. I go wherever you go.”
Shit.
A Hummer pulled up in front of them, apparently to take them to some safe house so they could switch vehicles and start out for her new home. “I didn’t ask you to come along.”
Liar, her wolf whined, like a small child stomping its foot.
Shut up.
Who asked for your opinion?
Someone needs to say something.
Not you.
Yes, me. Xio blinked when she realized what she was doing. Arguing with myself? Gah!
You know, they have medication for that.
“Shut up!” She reached up and scrubbed her face, as though the act would remove the insanity that had started to settle in. The man was already making her crazy. Having him as a constant companion would ensure she’d need a room with rubber walls.
Oh, kinky.
Stop. Just stop. I’m not going there.
Marcus was staring at her. “Shut up?”
“I wasn’t talking to you.” She sighed, realizing how nuts she sounded. “Look, I don’t want you to come with me.”
“You don’t have a choice.” He stared back, daring her to try to stop him. Seconds later, he nodded toward the Hummer. “Let’s go.”
“What about your pack? What does your Alpha have to say?”
“My brother. He’s abreast of the situation and understands.”
“I’ll bet.” Could Marcus sense the same thing she had? Was that why he’d decided to follow her home? “Why?”
“That’s my business. Get in.” He reached around her for the door.
What is that smell? Xio grabbed Marcus’s arm and stopped him from touching the vehicle. She sniffed, inhaling deeply. How could she forget? It was the same smell that had come off the fertilizer bomb when Diego had made a run on his competitors, blowing up their processing centers. The FBI wasn’t the only one with men everywhere. And it was things like this that made her want to get as far from Agent Cazador as she could.
“Bomb!” she yelled. The driver threw the door open and jumped out, bolting for cover. Everyone in the vicinity scattered. She spun and sprinted as fast as she could, with Marcus on her heels, hoping they could get far enough away before the triggerman detonated it.
They weren’t fast enough.
Boom!
Her shoulder hit first, taking some of the impact, but not all. Her head kissed the pavement next and thudded against the concrete. Bright bursts of light filled her vision. A loud ringing echoed in her ears, and the world began to spin. Xio rolled to her back and groaned, reaching up to wipe a trickle of blood from her nose. Lovely. Just lovely. The only way she could heal would be to shift, and that wasn’t happening in a densely populated area.
“Xio.” Marcus crawled over to her and grasped both sides of her face to stare down at her. Soot covered his jaw and concern creased his forehead. “Don’t close your eyes. Stay awake.”
She’d only caught half of what he’d said. His mouth moved, but it was as though nothing came out. And damn if the man doesn’t have sexy lips.
For once, we agree.
“Xio.”
He held her, forcing her to focus on his face, continuing to talk, but little of what he said made sense.
“Baby, stay awake.”
“Okay.” Her lids dropped shut and he leaned in, until she could feel his breath wash across her face. “Stay awake,” he growled.
Her eyes snapped open; the grogginess faded with his close proximity. Wonder what he’d look like naked? Reality hit, snapping her out of her goo-goo trance. “I told you he’d try to kill me. At least one of us was paying attention or we’d both be dead.” She blinked to settle the spinning.
“I assure you, I’ll never be caught off guard again. I was distracted, and I almost got you killed.”
Distracted by what? Does he know? “A smart man would get as far away from me as he could.” She gave him a soft smile, but he didn’t return it.
“I…you. I’m…n—going….”
Super-senses came with a hefty cost. Her hearing cut in and out, and it could be days before it was back to normal if she couldn’t shift. She’d failed to catch the rest of what he’d said, but she got the gist. He knew and thought they’d mate. She hated to tell him that wasn’t going to happen. They were no good for each other. She wasn’t playing this game of cops and robbers—at least not with him.
Everything seemed to move, and focusing on trying to read what he said didn’t help. She squeezed her lids shut again, certain she’d heave otherwise.
He did the most unexpected thing. A wet, coarse tongue traveled up the bridge of her nose, stopping in the middle of her forehead.
Startled, Xio opened her eyes. What the hell? “You licked me.”
“I said, stay awake.” He grinned down at her, and continued talking at her, with only an occasional letter coming out clearly, as if he was playing some demented game of hangman.
I’d like to buy a vowel, please.
Ha-ha.
The least of her worries. As for the bomb? Diego wouldn’t chance a second attack in broad daylight. This had been a message. She got it, loud and clear. You can run, but you cannot hide.
She put her hand up to stop Marcus. “I can’t hear you.” A doctor would need to look at that since she couldn’t take care of it in the usual manner. No way could she shift where she had policemen outside her room and hospital staff monitoring her every move. More delays, more chances for Diego to catch up with her. This was not good.
He frowned. Emergency crews arrived, rushing here and there, pushing bystanders back, checking injuries. The two of them hadn’t been spotted, or at least that’s why she assumed no one had yet come over by the Dumpster.
“I need to kiss you.”
And she heard that. The bitch inside her howled and practically did backflips.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“Who’s thinking?” He leaned closer, until their lips nearly touched. “You’re….”
All activity blurred together and the world ceased to exist as he captured her mouth, speaking in a language that didn’t need words. A completely inappropriate place for it, but damn. In that moment, Xio forgot to tell him he wasn’t going with her.
***
Two days in the hospital and finally she was on the road home, with hearing in one ear and a favorable prognosis she’d recover it in the other. Of course, she would—when she embraced her wolf. But that would have to wait a little longer. The best place would be the wilds. Shifting in populated areas never went well, and hotel rooms—if someone heard her howl, or her wolf went berserk trying to break free, especially with how long it had been...the secret could get out. Not a risk she’d take.
Xio stared out the window as buildings whizzed by. Up ahead, a large chain bookstore stood out against the storefronts in the small Midwestern town. She perked up. Exactly what she needed to get her mind off everything.
At the last town, where they’d stopped for lunch, a Chinese woman sitting in the booth next to her had struck up a conversation—in Mandarin. She’d never been so embarrassed as when she’d had to say she couldn’t speak Chinese.
The woman harrumphed, gave her a crusty look, and put her shoulder to her, like she was some kind of traitor. There was no sense in explaining. The woman didn’t want to hear anything from her unless it was Xio’s ancestral tongue.
She’d lost her parents as an infant, never had the chance to learn to speak Chinese, and even if she had wanted to, the pack didn’t know how to speak it. She realized then there was so much
she didn’t know about herself, or the place from where she’d come. Sure, she knew about the wolf, but what about her history, her roots?
The only thing Chinese the pack recognized about her and her brother was that as pups, they’d snuggled together and looked like yin and yang. She had a thick, black coat in her wolf form, and her brother had white. It had been a running joke with the pack for years, and rarely had she been called Xio, instead of Yin. Some Chinese heritage.
She would change that. This was a new beginning. Starting today, she planned to learn new things, reach out and take control of her life, and number one on her list was learning Chinese. “Stop. At the bookstore.”
Marcus pulled to the curb. “We really don’t have time for this. The Alpha of the Black Hills pack is expecting us at eleven tomorrow morning and I wanted to at least get to Nebraska tonight, rent a room, and sit down to talk about our meeting before we go to see him. He wants to know if you’re ready to follow the rules.”
“Magnum can wait. I need to buy something.” That something being one of those learn-to-speak-a-foreign-language-in-a-few-weeks programs. Where they were going, they didn’t have bookstores and she wanted to be able to start right away, once she’d settled into her new home. Buying anything online would create a trail she couldn’t afford. Cash was her new best friend.
“Need I remind you? You don’t have any money.” He lifted a brow. “And don’t you know Magnum isn’t the Alpha anymore?”
“Um, yeah. No money.” Not exactly, but she wasn’t ready to elaborate on her financial situation.
Why not?
Don’t you say anything to him about that.
Or what? You’ll exorcise me? Good luck with that, her she-wolf snickered. Aren’t you going to ask him about the new Alpha? Hello…wolfie, you home?
Xio screwed up her face. Right. Her alter ego had a point. “Excuse me? Did you say Magnum isn’t the Alpha?
“I did.”
“Hmm. I guess things change.” She picked up a strand of her hair and examined the ends. Her nervousness about going home catapulted. Who was he and would he give her a chance? Would he like her, or despise the burden she was, as his predecessor had?
Black Hills Desperado (Black Hills Wolves Book 3) Page 2