Black Hills Desperado (Black Hills Wolves Book 3)

by Jackson, D. L.

  He sat up and looked at the door. If she kept it up, he’d break. He was a wolf, not a saint, and the woman was just asking for trouble.

  “Marcus, open up.”

  “No.” Why’d he say that? His erection had long since moved past painful. The lock rattled before the door swung open. He blinked as she stood in silhouette, breathing heavy, needy. His. Fuck. “That door was locked for a reason.”

  “I picked it.”

  “Picking locks. Another fine skill set you possess. Any other secrets you’d like to share with me?”

  “Yes. I’m great in bed.”

  “Bad idea, Xio. If you’re smart, you’ll back the hell out of here before I change my mind about being a good guy, fuck you, and mate with you.”

  “I want you. I want all of you. The good, the bad—though I don’t think there is much of that—but what there is? I want it. I need you, buried inside me.”

  Every muscle in his body tensed. Now he was hearing things. Did she just say…?

  “Marcus, I want you as my mate. I know this is crazy, but I can’t fight it anymore.” She shut the door and locked the deadbolt. “Please, claim me.”

  He was on her, had her pinned against the door and his hand up the damp T-shirt in a second flat, noticing then it was the only thing she’d worn. He grabbed her wrists and pressed them over her head and tight to the cold steel, switching to one hand to restrain her. Inhaling, he caught the musk of her arousal and snapped his teeth at her.

  Xio growled back in warning.

  Let the mating dance begin. “I’m going to fuck you so hard, honey, you won’t be able to walk tomorrow.”

  “Put up or shut up.”

  No innocent virgin for him. Probably a good thing, but thoughts about her being with other men caused his beast to roar. “You’re mine.” He grabbed the neck of her shirt and ripped it down the middle. Certainly not necessary, but damn, it felt good to be a little dominant, especially with this woman, who’d had him wrapped around her pinky at first scent.

  “Marcus,” she whispered and ground her hips against him. “I need you.”

  He reached down and tore his fly open, freeing his cock. The first time would be a hard rut. They both knew it, but he’d make it up to her. It was better they got this mating out of the way before they hit the Black Hills, anyway. Otherwise, any unattached male eyeing his female could send him over the edge. Once a she-wolf was claimed, the males could smell it and should know to back off. Well, they would if they had any smarts. An unmated female in her prime, denying herself a mate, drove single lobos nuts. They’d practically be able to taste the sexual frustration on her. And she was in heat, burning for his seed, pushing him closer to losing control of his wolf than ever before.

  A sniff along her pulse and Marcus froze. What the hell? “Are you on the pill?” I smell it in your system.” Wolves didn’t need contraception.

  “Yes.” It’s a precaution. My mother wasn’t a wolf. The human genetics make it impossible for me to control unplanned pregnancies.

  Marcus nodded. Another unique quality to his mate. Who’d have thought her a hybrid? Weres didn’t fall prey to human diseases, so he didn’t bother to take it a step further and ask her if she was clean. Holding his cock, he pumped it a couple times as if racking a shotgun and then rubbed the head against her juicy cunt. She growled again, nearly causing him to come all over her pussy. “From this point forward, no one else touches you. You belong to me.” His canines elongated and he buried himself inside Xio with a single thrust, pushing her up the wall. Marcus bit down on her shoulder, puncturing the tender flesh and marking her, holding on as he began to make good on his promise.

  He lifted her to get a better angle of entry. Xio locked her thighs against his hips, bracing for what was to come. Her eyes glowed with feral heat; steam practically sizzled off her skin. The scent of her cream hung so thick in the air, he tasted it on his tongue. Releasing the bite, he focused on pounding into her.

  So damned tight. Made for him. Mine. God, mine.

  Xio bit him back, sinking fangs into his shoulder. Marcus jerked, startled, and a little bit surprised she’d mark him back. Females didn’t make a habit of it, but it showed him she was no wimp, and she’d accept nothing but an equal partner.

  She could have that. It was all he’d ever craved, wanted. A mate who would challenge him and not cower or cater to him. Someone to stand beside him and never behind. Criminal or not, there was no other woman who fit the requirements better.

  Marcus knew the second she came. Her pussy clenched him so hard, she pulled him over the edge with her, dragging out an orgasm to beat all from before. He slammed home and held her tight to his hips as cum exploded from his cock, pulsing into her core. She opened her eyes and stared into his, holding him in the moment, freezing time.

  His Alpha had told him when he found his mate, everything would be more intense. From sex to emotion, the link amplified it all, making the mating more of an addiction than a bond. Something you didn’t walk away from, and not because you didn’t want to, but because it was physically impossible.

  Now he understood why.

  Mates would crave each other until they lay in their graves. It would be no different for him. Then, he’d probably haunt her. Marcus leaned in and buried his face in her neck, sinking into her scent, everything that made her Xio. It would be a while before they could break up the party. One of the downfalls—or in this case, benefits—of being part wolf. Boners didn’t go soft for a while. Most matings took days to complete, but they didn’t have days. They’d have to finish by dawn, whether they wanted to or not.

  It would take every second of the night to dull the hunger down to controllable. Before the sun rose in the sky, Xio would have him wrapped so tight around her finger, he would move mountains to give her whatever she wanted. They would have something more than a mating. They would have an unbreakable bond, and woe to anyone that tried to get between them. Whatever lay ahead of them in the Black Hills, they’d face it together.

  Xio slid her hands into his hair and lifted his head to pull his lips to hers, kissing him while she waited for his erection to ease and they could take the rest of the night to the bed. She freed her lips from his and smiled. “I forgot how good it was to be with a wolf.”

  He growled. That wolf had not been him. God help the guy if he discovered who that other wolf was.

  ***

  Xio closed her eyes and let the shower rain down on her head. The door clicked as it opened and the curtain slid back. “We don’t have time for more.” Her mind said they didn’t, but her body didn’t care.

  “We’ll multitask.”

  “Since you put it that way, get in.”

  “When we get there, Drew is going to want to talk to you alone. That’s not happening. I’m your mate now and anywhere you go, I go.”

  “Seriously, I can do this on my own.”

  “I know, but you’re not. You don’t ever have to do anything like this alone again. I will always have your back.”

  “You say the sexiest damn things.” Anything else, and she’d have been pissed. He had her back, and that meant she was her own wolf. Damn, could she have fallen in love already? Damn straight. She slid her arms over his shoulders and locked her hands at the back of his neck to pull his lips to hers. “But I rather like it when your mouth is otherwise occupied.”

  A deep growl rumbled from Marcus’s throat and he pinned her to the shower wall.

  ***

  “Shit,” Xio said as she hopped into her jeans, her skin resistant and still wet from the shower, making it difficult to yank them up. She wiggled and tugged as Marcus watched. “We’re going to be late. My Alpha isn’t going to be happy.”

  “Our Alpha. You’re the one that suggested the blowjob, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to pass that up. I’d risk the enforcers if you wanted to do that again. Speaking of which, you keep wiggling like that, and you’re going to be on your back and even later.”

  S
he stopped what she was doing and looked at him. He grinned. She smiled right back like a lovesick fool.

  You are.

  Am not.

  He tossed her shirt to her, breaking up her inner dialogue. “As much as I’d like to have you on your back, it’s best we make a good impression. I have a lot of ponies under the hood of my car and can make up some time, but not that much. Let’s not piss off our new Alpha before the first meeting.”

  “Bummer.”

  “That’s me.” He grabbed her bag. “I’ll load the trunk and check us out.”

  She nodded and slipped an MP3 player—she’d loaded the Chinese lessons from her laptop on it the day before—into her pocket. She was nervous and hoped they would get her mind off the impending meeting that hung over her like the angel of doom. Something had to. She’d mated with Marcus and now he was part of the mess, whether she wanted him to be or not, and it amped her anxiety.

  And then there was the money. She should tell Marcus about it, but she couldn’t. She’d decided the night before that she would never touch it, but disclosing what she’d done, especially to Marcus or her Alpha, could never happen. She’d sold all of her assets—the tourist shops and chain stores—when things began to go south with Diego, before she’d been caught. The savings she’d opened for herself in Mexico was under her alias. The only way anyone would ever know about the accounts was if they figured out she and Sarah Franklin were one and the same.

  She’d paid a substantial amount of money for Ms. Franklin’s documents and a social security number to match. The identity belonged to a woman born in the same year as her who’d died. Her annual statements, from the Mexican bank that wasn’t entirely on the up-and-up, went to a P.O. Box in El Paso that she’d have forwarded to South Dakota once she did an address change and opened a box there. Everything Sarah did looked legit, down to paying taxes and reporting the profits of the sale of her businesses as income to the IRS.

  They hadn’t clued in for the last ten years. Likely wouldn’t now.

  Four hours later, they passed a sign for Hot Springs. Xio grabbed Marcus’s arm. “Pull over here, at this stream.”

  “We don’t have time for this.”

  “I know, but I need to shift and heal. I used to come to this place when I was younger.”

  He pulled over and threw the car into park. “We really don’t have time.”

  “We’re close. I won’t take long. I promise.” Xio unclipped her seat belt and hopped out before he could object further. She darted for the woods and the little spring as warm as bathwater, due to geothermal activity. The springs in this area ranged from hot to warm. Not far down the stream was a small waterfall that poured into a pool. Paradise.

  Xio pulled her clothes off as she ran, tossing them along the way. Oh, to be a wolf again and run on the ground where she’d been born.

  A twig snapped behind her. Xio glanced back to see Marcus on her tail, stripping his clothes as he followed. And sharing her retreat—all the better.

  Three steps, and she launched herself into the pool feet first. Coming up with four paws, she dog-paddled to the bank where she climbed out and shook the water from her fur. Marcus sat on the side, watching her.

  “Damn, you’re beautiful.”

  She yipped at him and jumped back in, this time resurfacing with her long hair swirling around her shoulders. Her ear no longer rang, and it was just what the doctor ordered, if he could have ordered eardrum repair. It would take a few times shifting before it returned to its pre-bomb state, but it was at least better than before.

  “Are you going to come in?”

  “We’ll never make it to the meeting.”

  “You didn’t get naked for nothing.” Xio shoved her palm across the water and splashed him. “Come on. The water is perfect. I’ll behave.”

  He grinned and shoved off the moss-covered bank, then sank under the water and came back up with his chest against hers.

  Xio slid her hands up his shoulders and locked them behind his neck. “Since you left your gun in the car, I’m going to assume that you’re happy to see me.”

  “Honey, I’ve been happy to see you since the moment we met.” He leaned in and caught her lower lip between his teeth, giving it a playful tug before he released it. “But no matter how much I’d like to enjoy this warm dip with you, we’ve got to go. Once we’ve had the meeting, I’ll be happy to bring you back here, or anywhere else you want to go.”

  She sighed. “I wish you weren’t right.”

  “Me too, sweetheart.” Marcus spun her and lifted her out of the water, then hopped out after her.

  She turned and glanced at him. “My, what a big dick you have.” As she climbed to her feet, a sharp sting radiated across her ass cheek. “Ouch.” Xio jumped. “What’d you do that for?” She twisted and spotted a handprint.

  “Torturing me.” He reached down and grabbed his jeans off a bush and stepped into them, pulling them up. “I’ll be lucky to zip these damn things, and I’ll have to sit through that meeting with wood.”

  “I’ll kiss it and make it all better later. I promise. Think of this as foreplay.”

  Marcus growled. “Trust me, this is all I’m going to be thinking about until I get you naked again.”

  Xio scooped her shirt off the ground and wiggled into it and tugged it down. She snatched up her shorts and panties as she passed them, stopping only for a moment to put them on. “Come on, let’s not keep the big bad wolf waiting.”

  Chapter Four

  Marcus’s foot tapped as he and Xio sat waiting to be called into the Alpha’s office. He glanced at the art on the walls. She reached over and grabbed his knee, stopping the nervous twitch.

  “That’s not helping.”

  “Sorry. I’ve never met this guy before. I don’t have a clue what to expect and I don’t like walking into a situation not knowing if I’m going to have to kill someone to protect you. I’ve heard stories about Magnum. Sons can be a lot like their fathers.”

  “Drew isn’t his father. I haven’t seen him in years, but when I did know him, he wasn’t a bad guy.”

  “Honey, you’ve done a lot to make him less than welcoming. He might not have a choice. His pack might not want us here. Your being here will put them at risk.”

  “Relax. If he’s the Drew I knew as a kid, he won’t be that bad.”

  “How have you been, Xio?” A man stood in the door to the office, staring at her. She looked down, breaking eye contact, careful not to challenge the man who held her future in the palm of his hand.

  “I’ve been better.”

  “So I hear.” He shifted his attention to Marcus. “And you’ve brought a mate home with you.”

  “Yes.” She looked up, avoiding his eyes. “I really didn’t have a choice in the matter.”

  Drew laughed and stepped to the side. “None of us do when it comes to mating. We are slaves to our natures.” He gestured toward a couple of chairs inside. “Please come in and have a seat. We have a lot to discuss.”

  Xio picked the chair closest to the door and sank into the cushy seat. Marcus dropped into the one next to her and grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze.

  “So, you left as Beta of the Cazador pack to join us in the Black Hills.”

  “Yes. I go where Xio goes.”

  “I understand; no explanation is needed.” Drew laced his fingers together and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk and his chin on the brace he’d created with his hands. “I, above all others, understand why you left, Xio. What I need to understand is why you want to come back.”

  “I have nowhere else to go. The pack and my brother are the only family I’ve got. And Marcus.”

  “I’m not going to tell you I’m thrilled with what you’ve been doing the last few years, but I will tell you if you can look me in the eyes now, tell me that you are leaving that life behind and won’t return to it, I’ll welcome you back with open arms and offer you the pack’s protection.”

  “I won’t
so much as jaywalk anymore. I’m not proud of what I’ve done, and I won’t make excuses for any of it.”

  “Good, because I don’t want to hear them. I only want to hear that you won’t do any of that again, that you will obey the law of the land, and the pack. Can you do that?”

  Xio looked up and held Drew’s gaze. “I can.”

  “If you have any secrets, you need to come clean now.”

  “Nothing I can think of.” Except for the massive pile of money I have in the bank as Sarah. That was something to fall back on—her exit plan, if things got too rough in the Black Hills. Foolish not to have one, so she wasn’t about to disclose what she had. Alpha or not. Doubtful she’d ever need to use it anyway.

  “Excellent. You now have a clean slate.” Drew sat up, opened his desk, and pulled out a piece of paper. He scrawled something across the surface. “You can start by getting a job in town. You’re interview is with Gee, a were-bear, tomorrow at eleven sharp at The Den. You’ll be washing dishes and waiting tables for him. Once you prove yourself, you can tend bar or do whatever it is he wants you to do. Don’t be late. He’s expecting you.”

  “Just like that, I get a job.”

  “Idle hands are never a good thing. I’m going to keep you busy, and you’re going to need some money for rent.” Drew tossed a set of keys to Marcus. “Two blocks from The Den, 1020 First Street. I took the liberty of furnishing it. Nothing fancy, but it’s clean and cozy. Perfect for starting a family.”

  Drew turned toward Marcus. “I’d like to talk to you about what you did for your brother’s pack. I already have a Beta, but I am looking for knowledgeable enforcers and you fit the bill. The pack has been without a leader for a long time. A lot of our numbers are starting to come back, trickle in one at a time. Those who don’t want to see us back in good form have been eyeballing our territory. I expect some aggression from neighboring packs and the occasional lone wolf who thinks he might like to stake a claim. Come by and see me tomorrow, after you drop Xio off at work.”