Her Guardian Wolf

by Jax Garren

  Anxious, she smoothed her hands down his rigid abdominals and sent her fingers into his jeans. He released the button, giving her better access. She caressed beneath the waistband of his boxers, feeling the soft skin between his hips. His erection bobbed against her knuckles, and he sucked in a breath.

  “Shit.” His hands pressed against hers, stopping her eager progress as his body stiffened in something other than lust. “Oh, shit.”

  “What?” She tried to shake off the haze, to respond to his alertness, but she’d nearly reached her prize.

  Wait, was that the sound of motorcycles slowing?

  His hands pressed harder, holding her in place. Yes. Those were motorcycles. Stopping outside their door.

  Adam leaped up, moving so fast she could barely follow in her lusty haze. Jeans and her tank top landed in her lap. “Get your clothes on.”

  Her wet underwear still hung on the shower rod. She shoved on what he’d given her as he spied out the front window then motioned her forward. “Aren’t we safer inside?”

  “No. A single werewolf could break this door down easy, and there are five of them.” His voice was still gruff from their activities, and she’d bet he sported a painful erection.

  Damn Phillip and his terrible timing.

  “We need to get out of here. As soon as the door opens, run for the bike. Start it and drive away.” He crawled under the bed to a chorus of insane hissing.

  “What about you? I’ll get the cat.” She knelt down, but he popped back up, an irate Oshun already gathered in his meaty arms. She took her cat. He’d need his hands to protect them.

  “Hopefully, I’ll be on it. If not, drive the fuck away. Bodyguard’s orders.” He glanced back at her, eyes bright in the dawn light shining in patches through the bedraggled blinds. “I’ll catch up down the road.”

  Like hell he would. It wasn’t just Phillip anymore. Shit, they were in trouble. She licked her lips and took his hand. “I’m not leaving you.”

  His hand cupped her cheek. “Elle, this is what you hired me for. Let me do my job.” Before she could answer, he kissed her, his mouth firm and caring. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, needing another moment. They were not going to end like this, not right when she’d finally figured out what she really needed from him.

  He pulled away. “We have to surprise them if this is going to work.”

  She nodded. They were going to get out and back on the road together until they could figure out a real plan. And they would succeed, as long as they were together.

  Adam opened the door.

  Chapter Five

  Five wolves in human form waited for them outside the door. Adam cursed under his breath. He’d been so distracted, he hadn’t counted the sounds, just let them get jumped. Now Elle wasn’t safe.

  He would chastise himself later. Now he had to get them out of here. He spread his hands in a gesture of mock warmth. “Anything I can help you guys with?” Other than handing over his mate. He took a better look at each wolf in turn but stopped at the two who were obviously there for the muscle. “Craig? Jim? The fuck are you doing here?” They were from Magnum’s circle, two lower-level flunkies who kissed ass and wreaked havoc on command. He couldn’t picture them leaving Magnum’s entourage to strike out on their own; neither one possessed the brainpower for it.

  Jim laughed, his gelled hair flopping in time with the cackle. He still sounded more like a hyena than a wolf. “Adam Hunt. Fancy seeing your chicken-shit ass here.”

  Craig joined in the giggling. “Thought I smelled yellow.”

  Elle touched his back, her fingers light on his shoulder and waist. “You know these guys?”

  “Yeah.” And he could kick either one of their asses. Together, he could probably still take them. With three more wolves to help? That started to get problematic. “What’re you doing so far from Magnum’s leash? Last time I saw you, you were both well under his paw.”

  They both looked confused for a moment then Craig spit on the ground, disgusted. “You don’t know.”

  “Don’t know what?” He’d assumed they’d finally done something idiotic enough even the Tao pack leader couldn’t stomach it, but the sour look on both their faces carried no shame or regret, only anger. Had something happened to Magnum? Despite the situation, a bud of hope formed in his chest. If Magnum was gone, maybe he could go home.

  But they wouldn’t let a human into Los Lobos. The hope died as soon as it formed. He wasn’t going where Elle couldn’t.

  Phillip, now in a full Italian leather bike outfit, stepped forward. His sleek racing helmet rested in the crook of his arm. and his gaze took in Elle with a predatory look Adam wanted to rip off his smug face. “As fascinating as this reunion is, we’ve got business to attend. Adam Hunt, I’ve done a little research on you. Magnum’s dead. You can go back and beg forgiveness of your enforcer. Hand over the woman, and we’ll let you return to the Black Hills in one piece.”

  “What’s he talking about, Adam?” Elle sounded so afraid, like he’d actually consider their offer.

  He grinned at her. “Long story. I’ll tell you about it later, after we ditch these assholes. Get to the bike.” And because it would piss Phillip off, he gave Elle a kiss. Her arm slid around him as she softened against him, the way he’d longed for since the day they’d met.

  Phillip howled in rage and charged.

  “To the bike,” Adam ordered as he turned to catch the raging man. As soon as she rode out of sight, he could let his wolf out and have a shot at taking these assholes.

  Phillip barreled into him. Adam sidestepped and tossed the man to the ground. If he could keep them coming one at a time—

  Craig and Jim slammed into him at once. He sensed the changes more than saw them as the remaining men turned to wolves and leapt.

  Elle screamed. The damn woman wouldn’t get the hell out of here.

  Adam struck with precision, trying to keep too many men at bay. Someone got in a punch to the back of his leg, sending him to one knee. He grabbed two heads and knocked them together. Another kick to his gut sent him doubled over. The wolves were in now, mouths open, claws stretched.

  Human skin tore easily beneath wolf teeth. Without his wolf, this would go badly.

  One wolf whined and spun, snapping behind him.

  Elle swung a tree branch like a bat.

  “Get to the bike!” he yelled, as proud of her as he was pissed at her.

  The wolf jumped for her. He grabbed its tail and pulled with every bit of his strength. The animal launched backward, bringing Adam onto the macadam beneath him.

  “I’m not leaving you,” Elle screamed back.

  Another thump as she hit someone else.

  He shoved the wolf off him and kicked at Jim, sending the man to the ground. Someone grabbed his feet, dragging him back over the broken pavement. He kicked out, but another man grabbed him, pinning him down.

  Elle’s bravery was admirable, but he needed her to leave. He couldn’t win as a human. He wasn’t sure he could win against this many even as a wolf, but he had a shot. If she stayed, he would die and Phillip would take her.

  Which meant she needed to get the hell out of here, no matter the cost.

  A painful realization hit him. She wouldn’t stay if she knew what he was.

  One of the wolves bared its teeth, wet jaws open to attack. Elle caught his gaze, her eyes widening. She raised that damn tree branch to attack as the other wolf prowled toward her.

  She could still get to the bike. Despite how well she’d held her own, everyone seemed convinced she wasn’t capable of taking care of herself. Their mistake.

  The wolf swiped at his leg, drawing blood. He ignored it.

  Heart in his throat, he shook his head at her. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed as he shrugged off his jacket.

  Her eyebrows slid together in confusion, the last look she’d ever give him before she found out she’d been living with
a monster.

  He started to shift. Her eyes widened in horror as understanding dawned. She backpedaled, dropped the branch, and finally dashed for the bike.

  She was leaving him. Good, right? He could focus on not dying. Watching her go, watching his heart run away, felt like drowning.

  His attackers lost their grip as he shifted; he’d always been fast at it. His skin toughened. His jaws elongated into teeth. The transition always felt like a homecoming, but this time the pain of knowing he’d lost Elle made the feeling bittersweet.

  The motorcycle started up. Phillip yelled for someone to stop her. A wolf leaped for her side.

  Adam moved faster. He slammed the wolf to the ground, his muzzle catching it by the nape. A sharp shake and its neck broke. One thug down, three and a prissy-boy to go.

  Jim and Craig let their wolves out, Jim with an agonizing slowness, Craig with a more efficient morph.

  The third wolf slammed into him, and they rolled. He shoved the wolf off, circling for another attack.

  To his left, Craig zeroed in, ready to join the fray.

  Craig leaped. The motorcycle slammed into him, sending the wolf flying. Elle reached down and picked up his favorite jacket. “Get your ass up here.” She circled him once, keeping the wolves at bay with his bike as Phillip screamed uselessly.

  Adam launched himself up, transitioning as he went. Elle was already zipping forward by the time he landed behind her, naked and half-human.

  She hadn’t left.

  “You should’ve told me,” she yelled back as they sped down the empty highway.

  “It’s been a weird twenty-four hours,” he yelled back as soon as his human vocal chords were working again. He tightened his arms around her and buried his face in her shoulders. She stiffened, afraid of him, but she hadn’t left him to die.

  He could work with that.

  ***

  Nearly an hour and a hundred miles northeast, they stopped at the first copse of trees they’d seen in the vast plains of eastern Wyoming. A herd of honest-to-God buffalo meandered through grass tall enough to reach his hip. Somewhere on the road, he’d gotten his coat on, but it covered the least important half of him.

  The damn cat, which Elle had stuffed back into a saddlebag before picking up the tree branch, had given up howling a good half hour ago, enduring in silent and somber dignity for once. Elle must be miserably cold without a bra and in those tattered jeans and a tank top. His wallet was back in the parking lot tucked into his pants. They were half-naked with no funds and no phones in the middle of nowhere.

  With the motorcycle off, the only sounds were the chill wind in the grass, the low munching of the herd, and Elle’s erratic breathing. He had no idea what to say to her. “I have to pee,” he finally admitted in a grunt as he shoved off the bike. Elle pulled off the helmet, and her hair exploded into a riotous mane—he thought it looked fierce, but she’d hate it. She leaned over the handlebars, looking half-dead.

  He turned back and dropped his jacket over her shoulders. It wasn’t doing him much good anyway with his dick swinging in the wind. She didn’t move.

  “Shit,” he muttered. “Thanks for saving my ass.” He stumbled off to relieve himself, unsure where to go or what to do next.

  When he came back, she looked him up and down, and he was pleasantly surprised to see a hint of desire still sparked in her eyes. He leaned against the bike. “Not exactly the way I pictured you first seeing me naked.” He sucked in a breath between his teeth and blew it out slowly. “But, hey, you’re not ditching my wolfy ass here and leaving with my bike and jacket, so that’s something.”

  “So you really are a…a….” The fear in her eyes cut him.

  “You can say the word.” It came out harsher than he wanted. He was furious at Phillip for what he’d done, not Elle for believing werewolves were bad after the only one she’d met turned out to be a fucking dickweed.

  She looked away. “You’re a werewolf. Like him.”

  “It’s still me, Elle.” He reached out slowly and touched her chin, trying to coax her back to face him. “We’re not all—”

  She kicked her leg over the bike and leaned into him. Her expression filled with a frustrated need he felt every time he looked at her, like he didn’t know what to do with so much emotion. He pulled on the sides of his jacket, tugging her closer, and kissed her. Her arms came around him and her body sank against his, her worn-out tank top barely a whisper between her skin and his. The wind cut through the plains at ferocious speeds, but he didn’t feel the cold. Elle held him, warming him up inside and out.

  She pulled away, but her hands stayed locked around his neck.

  “I wasn’t expecting that,” he managed to say.

  She stood still, stiff as hell, not the same warm, friendly Elle she’d been before all this went down, but she wasn’t running away either. He’d find a way to make it right between them. Her lips turned down in the overdone pout she used when harassing him. “I find your dick obnoxiously distracting.”

  He laughed. “You find it distracting? Try being me anywhere in your vicinity.”

  She puffed a breath of protest and pushed away. He didn’t want to let her go, but he did. Making this right meant letting her dictate their physical relationship while she got adjusted to what he was. She started to take off his jacket.

  “It’s cold. Keep it.”

  Huffing pale breaths into the air, she slapped his jacket against his chest. “I wasn’t kidding. I need you at least somewhat covered up if we’re going to have a conversation.”

  He caught the jacket and couldn’t help smiling. “Do we have to converse?”

  She flipped him off, and he smiled harder, relieved. They were going to be okay. “So,” she said carefully. “You come from a, uh, wolf pack in the Black Hills?”

  “Yeah,” he said, pulling the jacket on and tucking himself into it as best he could. “The Tao pack. Packs are usually named after their alpha. Pack leader.”

  She shrank back. “Alpha. That’s….” She sucked in a breath. “I’m going to let that go for now. You were forced to leave because of some guy named Magnum who’s dead now?”

  He leaned against the bike, uncomfortable and not just because of the cold. “Sort of. Magnum was our alpha. He went a little crazy—no, a lot crazy—after his wife died. The things he made us do.” He shook his head at memories he didn’t want to recall. “They made me sick. He had all of us in his circle bullying the pack into submission, no matter the consequences. My big brother, Cam, was…he was awful, and I followed in his footsteps, tearing the pack apart with violence and fear. After Magnum’s son left—was kicked out, actually. I wasn’t supposed to know this, but Magnum had him blackmailed. But after Drew left, it got even worse. I did terrible things trying to impress Cam, and I can’t take them back. Finally, I left, but leaving meant I couldn’t return.” He scratched his chin, his two-day stubble going on three days and getting long even for him. “If Magnum’s gone, I wonder if Drew’s back. He’d be a good leader, I think.”

  “So it’s safe for you to go home?”

  Where was she going with this? “Possibly. I did some things the others are unlikely to forget. I may not be welcome even with Magnum gone.”

  She frowned, thinking. “At this point, we’re closer to South Dakota than to Denver. I didn’t realize Phillip would bring a pack of wolves to find me. We need more of your kind to stop them.” She put her hand on his shoulder, touch tentative but still comforting. “You were amazing back there, but five on one—two if you include me and a tree branch—isn’t fair odds.”

  “They don’t allow humans into Los Lobos. Nobody’s supposed to know about us.”

  She snorted. “I already know about you. Taking me there won’t change anything. Besides, it’s your…species that’s attacking me. Where in the human world would I go? I have a werewolf problem. I need werewolves.”

  Her logic was sound, and, hell, he wanted to go
home. He wanted to take her there and hopefully show her all werewolves weren’t insane. If Drew was in charge, Los Lobos had a real chance at being some place good again, a place that would be safe to raise a family, maybe kids with Elle’s curly hair and brown skin.

  Okay, he might be getting a little ahead of himself, but now the thought had entered his head, he couldn’t get it out. Elle could work from anywhere in the world; why not Los Lobos? She appreciated the country, adored animals—mostly her stupid cat, but Oshun would love the countryside—and everyone there would fall in love with her, just like he had.

  No, not quite like he had. He took Elle’s hand. She didn’t stop him, but her expression turned so sad as she watched his fingers slide between hers that he forgot what he wanted to say. “What’s wrong?”

  She shook her head and lied to him. “Nothing.”

  “Elle—” The rumble of an eighteen wheeler stopped him. He needed clothes. The driver would have some, and he didn’t know when they’d see somebody else on this lonely road. They could keep talking after he had pants on. He grabbed Elle’s other hand. “Stand in the road. Stop the truck.”

  Her eyes widened in understanding. “He’ll have a suitcase.” They worked so well together, sharing thoughts almost as easily as words. It had to work out between them.

  “Yup.”

  “We can ask him for clothes.”

  “Y-Actually, I was thinking we’d steal some.”

  Chapter Six

  Elle looked at her bodyguard in disgust, and not because he literally wasn’t human. “We’ll what?”

  Adam ran a hand over his scruffy, far-too-sexy jaw. “He’s not going to give us an outfit.” He looked her up and down, making her all too aware of her torn jeans and her jiggling breasts. After everything, she shouldn’t want him looking at her with hungry eyes. But she did. His gaze snapped back up to hers, stubborn and strong. “I’m not letting some stranger suggest his price, either.” He practically growled the words, his wolf showing through. How had she never seen it before?