LustUndone

by Holt, Desiree

  “Does this have anything to do with the job you left the Maine State Police for?” he wanted to know.

  “Yes. It does.” Clint was taking it all in with a focused interest. Should she go into detail about the Night Seekers?

  “Can you tell me about it?”

  Sophia frowned. “Not until you tell me what this is all about. Why this unusual interest? Do you know something?”

  “Maybe. Yes. I don’t know.” He rubbed his thumb over the knuckles of the hand he was holding. “I grew up in the bayous of Louisiana, chere. We had our own legends, our own monsters.”

  He told her about the rougarou—half man, half wolf—and the legends about it that continued to grow.

  “It’s what got my family killed.”

  Sophia was shocked. “The creature killed them?”

  He shook his head. “Non. It was…what they were. What I am.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “People thought we—” He broke off. “Sophia, I’m going to show you something. I’m taking a chance here but I hope you won’t freak out.”

  “About what? Clint, you have to tell me what’s going on here.”

  “Like I said, I’m going to show you, chere. Just sit there and don’t move.” He rose from the bed and undressed slowly, his eyes on her glowing hotly.

  “Listen. If this is just some new kinky way to have sex with me—”

  “Non! Please. Listen to me. This is very important. Just…watch and listen, okay?”

  But when he was standing in front of her magnificently naked, with his glorious cock pointing straight at her, thinking was nearly impossible.

  “Close your eyes,” he told her.

  “What?”

  He clenched his fists at his side, obviously reaching for control. “Just. Close. Your. Eyes. Count to ten then open them again.”

  “Okay, okay.”

  Obediently she closed her eyes and counted. When she opened them again she almost had a heart attack. In the place where Clint had been standing was a huge wolf, its black coat shining in the last of the sunlight pouring in through the window.

  Chapter Nine

  Sophia was stunned. If not for the fact she lived and worked with shifters she might have been more shocked than she was. Or frozen with fear. But she knew exactly what had happened. The only thing surprising her was that the wolf was Clint. That he obviously was a shifter.

  He looked at her with those amber-flecked hazel eyes and there was no mistaking who was staring back out at her. Sophia reached out a hand to stroke the thick black pelt and the animal rubbed its head against her hand.

  “I know it’s you,” she said in a soft voice. “And it’s okay. I know all about who and what you are.”

  The wolf backed away from her to the center of the room. The air around it seemed to move in an accelerated current until it was nothing but swirling dust. Sophia blinked. Clint was in front of her again, still naked.

  “You don’t look frightened,” he observed, pulling his clothes back on. “You have no idea how difficult it was for me to decide to do this. I was afraid you’d have a seizure or scream down the house.” He fastened his jeans. “So what am I missing here?”

  Sophia wet her lips. “Now it’s your turn to sit down.”

  “Okay.” He grinned. “But I’m going to sit in the chair over here, because I only have so much control over myself when I see you and a bed together. So what’s the deal?”

  “You asked me about the group I work with now. The team. Night Seekers.”

  He nodded.

  She cleared her throat. “Everyone on the team, including the billionaire who funds it, has lost someone close to them to the Chupacabra. Each of us has researched it, discovered the method of killing and realized that was what happened.”

  “And no one wanted to believe you,” he guessed.

  “You are so right.” She twisted her fingers together in her lap as she remembered again the bodies of her twin nephews and the stink her supervisor made when she tried to insist she knew what had happened. “The sole purpose of the Night Seekers is to find this creature and destroy it. Which, by the way, is becoming increasingly more difficult to do. We know it migrates but the amount of territory it covers, especially within the last two years, is mindboggling.”

  “That still doesn’t tell me why a black wolf suddenly appearing next to you didn’t scare the shit out of you.”

  “Okay, so here’s the reason. Six of our team members plus the man who put it together, are shifters. And we all work and live together at our headquarters in Texas. Desolation Ranch.” When he didn’t say anything she frowned. “Clint?”

  He rubbed his hand over his face. “You live with them? You’ve seen them change?”

  “Yes to all of that.”

  “But… Didn’t it freak you out at first?”

  Sophia shrugged. “By that time I’d done so much research on the Chupacabra that I think I was ready to accept anything. And Craig Stafford, the man funding all of this, chose us carefully and was very explicit about what we two humans would be dealing with. He suggested Dante Martello—the only other nonshifter—and I do a lot of research on it before we made the commitment to join the Night Seekers.”

  “And how did that go?”

  “Fine. We talked to each other a lot, also. The two of us. Then we met each member of the team. It was a lot easier than anyone thought it would be.”

  Clint stood up and resumed his pacing. “But you slept with a…a…”

  “A wolf?” She laughed. “We’ve had two weddings recently at Desolation Ranch. Team members who married humans. Mated with them. They seem to be working out just fine.”

  “We’ve never had good luck with humans,” he told her. “That’s the reason my entire family was killed. Men in the bayous who discovered we were shifters thought we were descended from the bloodthirsty rougarou and burned down the fish camp we owned. With everyone in it but me. I was fourteen when it happened.”

  “Oh, Clint.” She could feel the pain of the young teenage boy devastated at what happened, consumed by grief.

  “So how did you get up here? You’re about as far from Louisiana as you can get.”

  “My folks were descended from the original Acadians. I thought if I got to where they came from in Canada I could find some of my relatives.” He gave a rough laugh. “I was hitchhiking and after my last ride dropped me off, I nearly froze to death. Frenchy found me.”

  “And didn’t freak out when he discovered your true nature?”

  “No. Strange, isn’t it? So.” He stopped his pacing in front of her. “Three things.” He held up one finger. “I believe your theory. Completely.” Another finger. “Second. I want to help you. I can run as wolf and get places humans can’t. And in the dark of night.”

  Sophia snapped her fingers. “It’s you that Logan saw the past couple of nights, right?”

  “Guilty as charged. I usually run when I get home from the bar. Works off excess energy and helps me sleep.”

  “I saw you yesterday morning, too. Shocked me, because I lived in Maine all my life until I moved to Texas and I never remembered seeing or hearing of any black wolves in this state.”

  “Yeah, I’ve had to be real careful when I run.”

  “So what’s the third thing?” she asked. “You said there were three.”

  He put his hands beneath her elbows and lifted her so she was standing, barely an inch of space between them. “It means I don’t have to force myself to stop seeing you. I hope. Which I knew I’d have to do. Because of…things.”

  “You being a shifter.”

  He nodded. “And that’s the last thing in the world I wanted.”

  “I told you, we have two couples back at Desolation Ranch where the male is a shifter and the female is human. It works very well for them. In fact, Dakota Grey is an herbalist, among other things, who grows the special herbs shifters need to maintain control over their body.” She cocked her head. “By the way, wh
ere do you get yours?”

  “On the internet. There’s a place I order them from.” His eyes were heated as they studied her. “Sophia, there’s something very electric between us. Something a lot more than just fantastic sex. I want to keep seeing you. And help you with this case.”

  “And when the case is over?” she wanted to know.

  “I have no ties. I can look at all kinds of options.”

  She studied his face for a long time, seeing the emotion in his eyes. Feeling the tension in his body as he waited for her to answer him.

  “Let’s find this devil beast first, before more people are killed. And hope like hell it’s the last of its kind.” She stood on tiptoe to brush her mouth against his. “Then we’ll have a lot to talk about.”

  He cradled her face in his big palms. “But we can still keep seeing each other.”

  “We do a lot less seeing and a lot more doing but yes. I’ll still answer your knock every night.”

  “What about your partner? Are you going to say anything to him?”

  “Logan?” She waved her hand in the air. “He already suspects and it doesn’t bother him. Besides, I think he’s trying to figure out how to get to first base with my sister. A much bigger challenge.”

  He slid his fingers into her hair and held her head in place as his mouth moved over hers, gently at first then harder until the pressure of his tongue made her open for him. Sophia pressed herself against him, feeling the hard length of his erection and the heat of his body through his clothes.

  Abruptly he broke away. “If I don’t go now I never will. You’re coming to The Crown, right?”

  “Oh, right. The Crown. I think we won’t have to worry about keeping secrets.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  She laughed breathlessly. “Well, Logan had planned for us to eat early so he could catch a quick nap and then go for a run. He figured he’d run late at night again and try to catch the black wolf we were sure we saw.”

  Clint chuckled. “Plan to tell him he can get his beauty sleep?”

  She sobered. “I think I should tell him everything, Clint. Otherwise he’ll be chasing a black phantom. And I’d rather he agree to let you help us. We could really use one more wolf running out there at night.”

  “Okay. When you come to The Crown we’ll go into the office and talk. Away from other ears. Okay?”

  “Won’t people ask about it?” she wanted to know.

  “I’ll tell them it’s all about the case. That you want to know if I’ve seen any suspicious people hanging out at the bar.”

  “Okay,” she agreed. “We’ll make it work.”

  * * * * *

  The beast was restless. It had stalked and chosen its prey but now it wondered if it had made the right choice. There had been so many to choose from that the creature was actually confused. It had selected one target but now, as the light faded from the day, it wondered if maybe one of the others would be better.

  It huddled in the barn, battling the pain in its head that seemed to come more and more frequently. The time for the kill was getting closer but the confusion with its selection was causing it great agony.

  Maybe when it got darker it would check the others out one more time. With its great speed it could do so quickly and still return to this place if the first choice was the right one.

  But first it had to will away the piercing pain.

  * * * * *

  Elaine Warren peered out the kitchen window, about to jump out of her skin. She didn’t know what the noise was she’d heard outside—wasn’t sure she even wanted to know. It was getting dark now, making it harder to see. She flipped the switch for the outside lights, feeling somehow more protected with the area around the house illuminated.

  Ssssh!

  There it was again. Taking another timid look through the window, she realized she hadn’t latched the double doors on the garage. The wind had caught the edge of one side and was pushing it against the snow.

  Damn!

  Harland would see that when he came home and pitch ten kinds of a holy fit. Of course, he pitched a fit about almost anything these days. Elaine just tried to keep her head down and out of the way.

  But she’d better fix this right away. Sighing, she went into the mudroom, jammed her feet into her boots, dragged on her jacket and scarf and opened the back door. She had barely made it to the first step off the porch when something roared up behind her. Elaine turned her head and barely had time for a terrified scream before something sharp jabbed into her throat.

  She was already dead when her body was torn open and her insides yanked out.

  * * * * *

  Sophia was very pleased with the way the conversation at The Crown had gone. Rebecca had been more surprised at Clint’s admission than Logan.

  “I was about to zero in on you, as it happens,” Logan told him. “When I stopped to think about where a black wolf would have come from around here and realized it was a shifter, I began to narrow the options.”

  “You didn’t think it was one of the locals?” Clint asked.

  “I would have been surprised. Only because Sophia would have had some inkling of it, having lived here as long as she did.”

  Although Sophia had indoctrinated her sister on the shifter breed, information which Bec had absorbed without much questioning, still it stunned her to realize that Clint turned out to be one. But like everything else with her, it was information she absorbed and processed and went on with things.

  “You masked your scent,” Sophia said.

  Clint nodded. “A few tricks I’ve learned. I’m always worried a stray shifter will wander into the area and turn out to be hostile.”

  They had talked at length about the area that had already been covered and Clint had offered to run at night to search for traces and identify targets.

  “That would be a big help,” Logan told him. “We can only warn people so much plus there are so many isolated residences here that pinpointing the next target will be difficult.”

  “But maybe not too far from where we found the animal carcasses,” Sophia put in. “We could start with that section.”

  “Why don’t you meet me behind the motel?” Logan suggested. “Call me when you’re, uh, ready.” He winked at Sophia.

  Heat crept up her cheeks but Clint just winked at her and said, “Sure thing.”

  They ate and spent some time visiting with Frenchy before one of his friends drove him home. Back at the motel Sophia waited impatiently until she heard the familiar knock.

  “Anxious, bebe?” Clint grinned at her as he closed the door and pulled her into his arms.

  “Scaringly so,” she admitted just before his mouth cut off any more words.

  His lips were warm against hers, his tongue even hotter as it snaked into her mouth and licked every surface. She thrust her own tongue against his, dancing with it, sucking on it, making him groan. One large hand held her body to his while the other gripped her head, angling it to give him better access.

  Sophia wound her arms around his neck, pressing herself to him so her breasts flattened against his chest. His skin was cold even from the short walk from his truck and the contrast of temperatures between the lingering chill and the heat they were generating almost steamed up the air around him.

  They were both breathless when Clint lifted his head and smiled into her eyes. “I wonder if we’ll ever get enough of each other.”

  “Not any time soon, I think.”

  He tossed his jacket onto a chair and reached down to untie his work boots. “I think I have every bit of grease from The Crown plastered to my skin. What are the chances of a shower?”

  “Depends on whether or not you want to do it solo.”

  He cupped her chin. “Definitely not solo.”

  “Then I think your chances are pretty good. Make that very good.”

  Clint stripped out of the rest of his clothes while Sophia pulled off the gown she was wearing. He took her hand and le
d her gently toward the bathroom. When he had the shower water the right temperature he stepped in and tugged her in with him.

  Even before he touched her body there was something so erotic to her about showering with Clint. So intimate. Her pulse heightened in intensity and her pussy throbbed. She wanted his hands all over her, slick with soap, touching all of her secret places.

  The first thing he did was pull her under the hot stream with him, tilt her face up and give her another hot, deep, hungry kiss, using his tongue to scrape every inner surface of her mouth. He ate at her, fusing his mouth to hers, sending jolts of heat spearing through her body. Sophia had never been kissed like this, a kiss that demanded everything from her, took everything, and gave it back.

  At last, oxygen-starved, he lifted his head and smiled that very sexy crooked smile.

  “Kissing you is addictive, chere.”

  “Same goes,” she breathed.

  Clint took the squeeze bottle of shower gel she’d left on the built-in soap dish, poured some into his palm and worked it into a rich lather. Then his hands began a slow journey over her body, first caressing her shoulders and arms, kneading gently, rubbing slowly.

  His hands slid easily to her neck, down to the hollow where her pulse was beating rapidly then across the upper slope of her beasts. When he took her nipples between thumbs and forefingers and squeezed and rubbed them the throbbing accelerated, her vaginal muscles clenching.

  Then down so slowly across her tummy, pausing to trace the indentation of her navel and the crease where hip and thigh joined. When his fingers tangled in her soft pubic curls and probed between her folds sensations rippled through her and she had to clutch at his harms to hold herself upright.

  “I think this little button needs a lot of attention,” he crooned, finding her clit and massaging it slowly, slowly, slowly.

  “Yes. Please.” She could barely get the words out.

  He insinuated one of his legs between both of hers and pressed a foot against one ankle.

  “Spread your legs for me, bebe.” His voice was guttural. Hungry.

  Still holding on to him for support she widened her stance and immediately one long finger slid into her pussy. Then two. Then he was stroking her slick walls, curving his fingers just enough to reach her sweet spot. His thumb paid busy attention to her clit as he continued to fuck her with his fingers. Sophia shook with sensation, her head spinning as Clint rubbed and stroked and squeezed. She was glad he was using his other hand to support her.