by Crissy Smith
Lamont didn’t look convinced, but nodded. “Then go get our girl.”
Cain turned and left to go get her. He could guarantee that Emily would not be happy to see him and it was going to be a long fucking ride back.
He stomped through the Alpha house, ignoring the looks he received from other Pack members. If he left now, he could grab Emily and get her back tonight. He did not want to stay in the city, and there was no way in hell he could spend the night in her apartment.
It was just an order by his Alpha that he had to follow. He had no choice and neither did she. A couple of hours on the road and he’d have her back into the safety of the Pack and he could go back to avoiding her.
A simple task that he would fulfill.
As he stepped out of the front door to his vehicle, Cain knew he was kidding himself. As soon as they were locked together in the car her scent would be all over him. It would take every ounce of control he had to keep his hands off her.
Cain jogged forward, praying that he could keep his vow to himself.
Chapter Two
At the knock on the door, Emily glanced up. She had been sitting on her couch with her packed bags at her feet. It seemed like she’d been waiting for hours, although in reality, by the time she’d called a few friends and cleaned up her apartment, she’d had to rush to pack her bags. Emily had told those she’d spoken to that she’d had a family emergency that required her to go out of town. At least the university offered several online options she could take advantage of if she didn’t make it back in time for the beginning of classes. She just hoped that once the threat against her and the other females had passed she’d be able to come back.
She was twenty-two and it was time for her to let silly dreams of Mr. Right go and concentrate on what she wanted. And she wanted to finish her education so she would be a valuable member of the Pack that had taken her in.
The knock sounded again and she smiled. Nothing like an impatient wolf at the door. She opened up, still smiling until she got a look at the dark, handsome man standing there.
Damn.
Cain looked wonderful. He was over six feet tall with black hair and gold eyes. His hair was longer than she remembered and fell over his forehead. Her fingers twitched to push it back. She couldn’t do that, though. Cain wouldn’t allow her touch. But with him standing there in front of her, all those feelings that she’d tried to bury came rushing back up to the surface. He radiated strength as he leaned against the threshold, and she wondered, not for the first time, how he could be so calm.
His eyes seemed to be taking her in the same way as she was him.
“Surprised?” he asked, with a nasty twist of his lip. His voice was hard, just like it had been for the past several years. It hurt that he couldn’t look at her like he’d once done and that they couldn’t joke around. They’d once been friends, but now he acted like he couldn’t stand to be in the same room with her. Damn, she’d screwed everything up. Regret burned over the shock of seeing him. Time hadn’t made her care any less or not want him. This close, she could see the strain in his features. Emily actually had to curl her fist to keep from running her thumb over the dark circles under his eyes.
If these feelings inside were any indication, then she wasn’t over this handsome, cocky wolf in front of her. It was going to be a long drive and they both knew it. She opened the door wider to allow him in. “I was expecting Tony.”
“Well, you got me instead.” Cain stepped into the small apartment. Without turning back to her, Cain strolled through the living room, not even hiding that he was sniffing the air.
“What are you doing?” she asked as her eyes narrowed. Even though she knew exactly what he was doing. Okay, maybe she didn’t know but she suspected he was scenting for other men. He’d always done that around her. But she hadn’t been ‘dating’ anyone recently, so there were no other scents in her apartment but hers.
At one time, Emily had believed he did it because he cared, was jealous or something. Now she’d figured he only did it because he was a control freak. “Well?” she pressed.
He just smiled back at her. He rocked back on his heels then stuffed his hands in his front pockets.
“Ugh.” She stomped over to her two bags and picked them up. “Fine, let’s go.” If he was going to act like an irritating ass then she would just have to ignore him. That would drive him crazy. Cain had no problem not speaking to her but he seemed to also want her attention on him. She wasn’t going to give him what he wanted this time, though. Once they got on the road she wouldn’t have to talk to him at all.
Cain’s eyes lit in amusement, which made him look years younger. It was such a rare treat that she just stood and stared at him. What was happening? Maybe he was coming down sick or something. That was the only reason she could think of. “Cain?”
He shook his head before the serious expression of an Enforcer reappeared. Of course, she should have expected it, but his reaction hurt.
“Is there anything you want to say?” she asked. Could he be ready to talk about what had happened between them?
Cain only grunted as he strode his way over to her and yanked her bags out of her hands. He nodded toward the door. “After you.”
Emily huffed to hide her disappointment. Even when she was pissed off at him she still craved his touch. She stepped past him, making sure they didn’t touch. There was no way she could keep herself under control if she touched him. She’d made a fool of herself once and that had been bad enough. She wouldn’t repeat her mistake.
She didn’t say a word to him as she stomped into the hall and turned to wait for him to follow. As soon as he was over the threshold, Emily slammed the door closed and locked it. She absolutely was not going to talk to him as long as he was acting like an asshole. Cain was already striding down the walkway to the stairs so she had to hurry and catch up with him before he bitched about her not moving quickly enough.
* * * *
It took Emily twenty minutes in the car to finally give in. Cain knew she would. She always made the first attempt to talk. This time was no different.
“Why am I going back?” she asked.
“That’s where you belong,” Cain told her, tightening his hands on the wheel. He believed that with all his heart even if it wasn’t the reason that she was returning.
She snorted. “Says you, but Lamont wouldn’t have called me back without a good reason.”
Cain glanced over at the woman next to him. It had taken all the control he had not to grab her in his arms the moment she’d opened the door. She was everything he remembered, everything he dreamed of at night. He could swear her scent had wrapped him into a web when he’d first seen her. But his job was to protect her and he didn’t want her afraid of him. Weighing his options, he decided to tell her as little as possible.
“There have been some attacks on female weres outside Pack territory,” he said gently.
When her eyes widened with horror, he reached over and patted her leg. The moment that he touched her, Cain realized his mistake. The spark that he’d felt before ignited and he yanked his hand back, quickly trying to cover his gasp. Fuck, that was stupid. He cleared his throat. “No one in our Pack. It’s been four women so far, but Lamont wants to be careful. The latest one was from Christian’s Pack.”
She shivered. He didn’t know if it was from his touch or his words. It was better that he didn’t know.
“Who?” she asked quietly.
He frowned, thinking he should have left this for Lamont. Cain just knew he’d fuck this up some way. But he’d started down this road and she did deserve to know about the danger. Forget about not telling her everything to protect her. The more information she had, the better Emily could protect herself in case he wasn’t close by. “Mindy.”
She turned and looked out at the passing scenery. “What happened to her?”
“You don’t need to know that,” he said. That wasn’t something that she needed to think about.
<
br /> “Cain,” she said. “I think that since I was called home due to it being a danger to me, and the fact that a good friend was attacked only two territories over, I should have a good idea of what is going on. I’m a big girl, I can handle it.”
“No,” he said. “You don’t need the details. What’s important is that there is a threat and you will be taken care of. Nothing will happen to you,” he promised. “If you want to hit up Lamont for that information, that’s fine, but I’m not telling you.” He took a deep breath. This was harder than he’d expected.
Deep down, he knew she had the right to know. But the details of the attack would be hard to deal with. Emily had been through so much and she didn’t deserve to be hunted or hurt. Finding out what was happening to the other females would hurt her too.
“Just tell me if she’s okay,” she pleaded.
Cain couldn’t even give her that because he didn’t know. He reached over, turned the radio on then put both hands on the wheel. He prayed this drive would go fast. With a firm grip on the steering wheel, he pressed his foot down harder on the accelerator, hoping to make it back home as quickly as possible.
Emily just stared at him. She’d been dismissed. Just like that, he thought he could tell her that they weren’t going to talk about it and they weren’t. Well, he had another thing coming. She’d tried, she told herself. She would have been nice and polite, but his attitude just stank. She switched the radio off.
“Listen to me, Cain,” she demanded, keeping her voice low and calm.
In obvious surprise, he glanced over at her immediately.
“I’m not a child any longer. You can’t pat me on the head and send me to my room,” she told him.
He cleared his throat. “I never did that.”
She laughed. “Yes, you did. I made a pass at you, you turned me down. We are both adults, and I think it’s time you stopped holding a grudge.” It was past time for them to clear the air. How long was he going to hold that one incident against her? It wasn’t fair and she missed her friend. Cain had been so important to her and she wanted him back in her life. Even if it couldn’t be how she wished it to be.
In the years she’d been away at school she’d tried to forget him. Had had other relationships and tried to move on. One of the reasons she didn’t think she’d been successful at that was because he had cut off all ties between them.
Emily could be strong and not come on to him again, but she didn’t want to continue like they had been. It hadn’t hit her that she felt this way until she’d seen him standing at her door earlier that night. “Just get over it so we can move on,” she said as she turned her head to stare out of the window again.
“What are you talking about?” he asked sharply.
When she didn’t say anything, he whipped the car to the shoulder of the highway and slammed on the brakes. She had to put her hands out in front of her to keep from hitting her head, and the seat belt tightened around her body.
“What the hell!” she cried out.
He undid his seat belt and turned to face her. “I hate to tell you that you’re wrong, but being that you are, I’ll force myself. I crossed a line with you. I shouldn’t have, and I apologize. If the only way to make sure it doesn’t happen again is to stay away from you, then I will.”
His eyes were practically glowing. That wasn’t the reaction that she’d expected. Why was he still angry with her? Yes, she’d fallen in love with him but as soon as he’d made his wishes known and had sent her away, Emily had never pressed him again. Cain should accept that.
“What line did you cross?” she asked gently, placing her hand on his arm. The way he’d angled himself put them within touching distance and she had to reach for him. Just this once as she figured out what he was talking about.
He growled in the back of his throat. “You know damn well what I did.”
She nodded, not moving her hand. “I know what you did, Cain, and I know what you didn’t do.”
He tried to pull away, but she tightened her grip. She might not be as strong or as fast, but in the confines of a car, he couldn’t move enough to avoid her.
“You refused an eighteen-year-old girl who jumped on you, who had planned for months for the right moment to make her move. Maybe I made a mistake. I don’t think I did, but I know you do. I was eighteen and infatuated with you, Cain. You were all I could think about. When you sent me back into the house, it broke my heart.”
It was time for honesty. This had been going on with them for far too many years. “I’m still not sorry,” she told him. “And you didn’t do anything to be ashamed of. It was my doing. And”—she added with a small smile—“I can’t promise I wouldn’t do it again if I went back. No one’s ever kissed me like that again.”
He shook his head but his lips twitched in amusement. “You were a child.”
She shook her head sadly. “I stopped being a child at twelve, Cain.” She ran her gaze over him and felt warmth spread through her. God, she wished she could have him like she’d always wanted.
“That’s no excuse,” he told her. “I took advantage.”
“How?” she asked. Emily had been there that day. She’d planned the scene over and over in her head a million times. Cain hadn’t done anything wrong except for growing cold with her afterward. “I really want to know what you think you actually did.”
He growled.
“Because it was me who pushed you into training me so I could be alone with you,” she said. “I was the one who kissed you, if you’ll remember. It was what I wanted and I never said no to you. I wouldn’t have. You did.”
“You had no idea what you were doing,” Cain claimed.
“Are you kidding me!” she exclaimed. “I knew exactly what I was doing. What I wanted from you. I almost got it too.”
“You were too young to know anything,” he said, but he didn’t sound as sure as he normally did.
She blew out a breath. “Now who’s wrong?” she asked.
He sputtered, but she shook her head.
“Maybe you need to think about what happened. If you remember the details you’ll see the truth,” she said.
“Like I haven’t thought about that day a hundred times,” he muttered.
“What?” she asked, shocked. He was constantly making her unsure of his feelings with comments like that. Either he wanted her or he didn’t. It was that simple. Cain was so confident in every aspect of his life that she could not understand why he’d turned into such an asshole when he could have simply said no.
Cain didn’t answer—he just straightened in his seat then pulled his seat belt back on. “We need to get back on the road.”
“Sure,” she scoffed. He wasn’t listening to her any longer but at least she’d gotten to have her say. There was something in the way that he gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white, while he was clenching his jaw, that made her see him in a new light.
Could he be scared? Thinking back on everything that he’d ever said to her since that night when she’d been eighteen made her think that she might be on to something.
Growing up, Cain had always considered it his job to protect her. Emily wasn’t naïve enough to think it was because he didn’t care—she knew he did. However, she might not be the only one who was sitting in the vehicle trying to fight their feelings.
From the corner of her eye, she watched him as she sat back more comfortably in her seat and crossed her legs. Right there! He was watching her back. Emily ran her hands down her thighs to grip her knees, trying to make the move seem as natural as possible. She didn’t want to push him too far, but she was curious about how he’d react.
The scent of anger in the car was fading away and a stronger, sweeter smell replaced it. Holy shit! Cain was turned on.
How was it possible she’d missed these signs before? Yes, she had to admit. She’d been so broken up about Cain’s rejection that she hadn’t been around him much, and when she had been, Emily had foug
ht to control her emotions from being apparent to him.
This turn of events was something she would definitely have to think about before doing anything that would end up getting her heart broken again. She was in love with Cain, but if he denied her again, Emily wasn’t sure that she would recover. On the other hand, she finally had an opportunity to be in control of something between the two of them.
She crossed her arms over her chest, making sure to press her breasts out so he would have to notice.
Cain began to mutter under his breath as he punched at the radio dial to change the station.
Oh, this was very, very interesting.
It was one thing to play around, but she did have some serious thinking to do before she pushed Cain any further. If she wanted Cain, she was going to have to convince him that she was old enough and ready to settle down. His words earlier made that crystal clear. This time, she vowed, if she made her move she would not allow Cain push her away.
Chapter Three
Emily was still thinking about her breakfast with Lamont earlier as she made cookies with Toby, the youngest of the Alpha’s children. Lamont hadn’t held back the way Cain had the night before and had even shared more than she really wanted to know. She was hoping that spending time with the always-happy Toby would help get the images from her head.
It wouldn’t hurt and she had the added benefit that no one would bring up the attacks around Toby. He was still too young to understand fully what was going on. Well, that wasn’t true. He probably knew more than anyone else since he liked to sneak around and eavesdrop on his dad and brothers, but Emily didn’t think he knew the horrible details.
Toby giggled as he stood over the tray they’d just taken out of the oven. He was practically drooling.
Eric, one of the guards, came in, and Emily smiled at him. She didn’t know him well but they were friendly.
“Good morning,” Emily greeted him.