by Lauren Dane
She’d gone into her bedroom to get herself together and had rocked her own damned world instead.
And that was before she went back out to find him sitting on her couch, shoes off, wearing faded jeans and a very soft T-shirt. He must have run over to his place to change. To remove the armor of his uniform and be vulnerable because he trusted her.
He looked so damned good. All tousled and sexy, wearing a grin that told her he was very satisfied with his own appeal indeed. Her heart stuttered in her chest. She licked suddenly dry lips and nearly fanned herself.
“You are a hundred kinds of delicious, Jace Dooley,” she said. Out loud.
She wanted to laugh or something, but he studied her so intently she got caught up in it. Stilled. Not sure if it was because she was afraid or thrilled. Knowing it was both for lots of reasons.
Her pulse thundered and she let it. Understanding he’d hear. Giving that to him. He pushed from the couch in one fluid movement, stalking toward her. Her hormones danced, swayed with his walk. His gaze locked on hers, she caught sight of the wolf that was his other half.
She took a breath and he was there, against her, the heat of his body washing over her skin.
Katie Faith wanted everything. With Jace.
Swallowing hard, she let her head fall back, exposing the long line of her neck to him. Against her body, his hardened, he drew her to him snug. He dipped slowly until he pressed his lips to the hollow below her ear and breathed deep.
He growled and she went weak in the knees.
“I think you’re the delicious one.” He licked up her throat, nipping here and there, sending goose pimples blooming from the point of contact. Little earthquakes of sensation rolled through her body and she just held on.
His lips landed on hers, she sighed and then gasped as his tongue wandered in. It was the kind of kiss a person read about in Cosmo. The kind of kiss women argued the existence of. His taste was just right, as it had been the other times he’d kissed her, but this was more.
Things were different and that was all just fine with her.
They’d be different still once they took this next step.
Oh, she knew she was playing with fire. He was a very alpha male. He wore a laid back skin. Most of the time. It was part of his strength. His magnetism.
“Are you really all right?” Jace asked her again, locking his gaze with hers. “Because, I have to tell you, I’m not entirely sure I am.”
Katie Faith pressed kisses over his furrowed brow and down his temple.
“I’m going to be honest with you and it’s going to push all your werewolf buttons. But I want you to hold back until I get a few sentences in where the story turns and you know there’s a happy ending. Okay?”
“I can’t promise not to react. That’s not a fair thing to ask of me.”
He was so serious. She kissed him again on the spot between his eyes.
“You need me around to lighten things up, Dooley. Just know that.” Katie Faith smiled quick and circled back to the topic. “At least promise to make your very best effort to be patient enough to hear the whole of it before you react,” she demanded.
“You’re bossy,” he muttered. “Okay. Fine. I can promise that.”
Katie Faith let herself be there with him. Let herself feel safe. Made sure he understood that as well.
“He scared me. And then that pissed me off. When I got mad and reached for my magic it was just right there. It jumped to me eagerly and then it whipped out and sent him up, at least two feet and then about six or so feet away from me. Into the street. He could have gotten hit by a car.” Katie Faith shrugged. “But I don’t really care at this point. He came at me and I held my ground.” Then again, the wall had been at her back so she couldn’t move anyway. She preferred to think on that as a minor detail. “You though, well, you may as well have worn a sandwich board on Diablo Lake Avenue saying you and I are...dating? Whatever you guys call it.”
He let out a trembling breath that got surer by the end. “I wanted to beat him bloody.” Jace’s voice had gone down an octave, roughened, wild at the edges. “We guys call it, ‘you’re my woman, Katie Faith.’ Period.”
She allowed herself a satisfied smirk. “That seems like it would suck if your name wasn’t Katie Faith, though.”
He snorted before leaning in to nip at her throat. “My ability to be amused is seriously impaired at the moment.” Tipping her chin up with a fingertip, he caught her attention. Giving her his in return. “I’m not Darrell. I want you and once we take this step—together—things will change. This isn’t some fun, casual thing we’ll do until the other gets bored and we move on. This is forever.”
Her pulse seemed to boom in her head. Jace said nothing, only looked at her, waiting patiently for a response.
“I guess that means you like me, like me.” She aimed at a tease, but it wasn’t. Not really. Because it was true and it was awesome.
“It also means I come with politics and they’ll be yours too.”
She nodded. “I know. But, truth be told, it’d be politics no matter what. No matter who I choose. Or who you choose for that matter, there’d be someone with something to say about it. It may as well be you and me against all that.”
She dove in for more, giving, taking, falling into the rhythm they made with their chemicals. Swarming all around them, filling the air with heady magic of fur and energy. It was so sexy she had to moan, arched into him to get more because there was simply need she had to fill and he was the man who could give it to her.
Fuck. This woman fired every damned circuit in his body. He wanted to take her to the carpet and strip her bare to his touch. He wanted to lick every inch of that pretty skin. Her mouth on his was like a dream, a dream he’d had over and over for years and he realized, damn it all, that she’d been the one, the reason he’d held back with other women. Lovely women all, but none of them were Katie Faith. It was that simple and whoa Nelly was that something he’d have to parse over later.
He managed to maneuver them back to the couch and he settled her on his lap, facing him. All without breaking the kiss because she held on and apparently wasn’t going to let go without a fight.
She fit against him perfectly. Her body was made to be against his.
The heat of her through her jeans drove him. Her softness, the cushion of her breasts against his chest brought him higher.
“This is your last chance before I get to ravishing. Once that happens there’s no turning back.”
She grabbed the hem of her sweater and tossed it over her head, leaving her bare except for her bra. He gulped like a cartoon character and began to sweat like one too.
“No turning back why? Because you’re so amazing in bed no one wants to leave?” A smile played at the corner of her mouth.
What it meant that she teased him the way she did! He’d never had that sort of ease with a woman before. She knew what he was, respected that, but trusted him to tease and play. Trusted that he would never hurt her. A gift. “Course. But I meant once I’m in you, you’re mine. I may have entered into, erm, casual-type relations with women before and all, but I suck at sharing. And I don’t want to share you and there’s not a casual thing about the way you make me feel.”
Need crawled through him like broken glass, but he wanted her to understand the choice she was making and to make it with no doubts. She hadn’t had a choice before, hadn’t truly known the stakes when she’d hooked up with Darrell. But those stakes were a million times higher at that point because there would be major problems and a shift in power dynamics between the packs once Katie Faith was considered part of the Dooley pack.
Especially now that she’d proven herself to be a powerful witch with the way she tossed Pembry’s ass into traffic.
She tipped her head, sobering. “I do believe you’re s
weet on me.” Then a smile, pretty as anything he’d ever seen, swept over her lips and she leaned in just enough to give him a happy smacking kiss.
What else could he do but laugh? “You’re gonna cause me some big amount of tribulation before this ends, aren’t you?” he murmured against her neck where he’d let himself taste her pulse.
“Only the best kind of trouble, Jace Dooley.” The happy, sweet smile turned sultry and he felt himself react to that siren song of body language.
He stood and she wrapped her legs around him like a monkey. As she kissed his neck, he headed back toward the bedroom.
“Jace, are you in there?”
The bellow came from across the hall, the pounding fist on his door. He growled in annoyance, but kept on going. She sighed against his shoulder. “You should see who that is.”
“No.” He dumped her on the bed. The pounding got louder. “I have plans for you that don’t include any family nonsense. They’ve interrupted us enough over the last week.”
Then the knocking sounded on Katie Faith’s door. “I know you’re in there, Jace,” Damon called out.
“I don’t care,” he called back. “Go away.”
Katie Faith just lay there, looking up at him. He wanted to gobble her up. He got one knee on the mattress before Damon started in again.
“The station called because your phone is off. They need you,” he yelled through the door.
Jace slumped over with a groan.
“I guarantee this is Pembry bullshit,” he muttered as he forced himself to step away from the bed and the gorgeous witch in it.
“If it is, punch Darrell extra hard for me, okay?” she teased. “I’m not going anywhere. Deal with your job. Come back when you finish so we can finish.”
“I’m not even on call tonight. Hopefully it’ll be quick,” he tried to reassure her as he headed out. If he touched her again, even just to kiss her goodbye, he’d never find the strength to leave.
“I guess this is what it’s like to be in a relationship with a cop, huh?”
He growled. “Better get used to it, darlin’. I’ll be back.” He underlined that with a look that told her just exactly what she’d get when he returned. She smiled.
“I’ll be waiting. Be careful.”
Katie Faith watched his spectacular butt as he hurried out, snarling and grumpy. He walked with a slight limp, which probably was due to his hard-on. She was frustrated too, but at least she didn’t have to walk around with a giant cock all the time.
With a sigh, she rolled out of bed to wander out to the living room once more. It smelled like him in there and it made her smile. Even as she recalled the events of the evening before they started—yet again—to get busy, she let this thing with Jace stay in the forefront of her attention. It was better than any crap with the Pembrys and the gossip that most likely already burned through Diablo Lake like wildfire.
It wasn’t quite nine, and when she looked at her machine, she noticed some messages. One of which was from Miz Rose.
Knowing better than to avoid, Katie Faith called right back.
“Hello, sweetheart. I heard you had some trouble earlier tonight,” Rose answered.
“How’d you know it was me?”
Rose laughed. “I should tell you I divined it, but I have caller ID like everyone else on the planet.”
Duh.
She told Miz Rose about what happened with Darrell and at the police station.
“Scarlett has everyone worked up. Yapping all over the place that you’re on Dooley land. They’re spoiling for a fight,” Miz Rose said.
“So everyone keeps telling me. Where else am I supposed to live, for goodness sake! The way this town is, no matter where I moved I’d be somewhere some group got angry about.”
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Katie Faith didn’t move back to Diablo Lake so her movements could be scrutinized as some sort of power play by people she didn’t even like! If she wanted to make a power play, she’d do it on her own. Well, once she knew how to and all.
“Tongues are wagging about you and Jace Dooley too.”
Katie Faith was silent a bit, knowing she couldn’t avoid the question. Not from Rose.
“I like him. He likes me. We’re liking each other in what is an increasingly serious way.”
“Pembrys are going to want you liking them instead.”
Tough. “I don’t much care what they want. I surely don’t like many of them and none the way I like Jace.”
“It’s like that, is it? Well, all right then. We’ll be behind you on this. Back you up when you make your own choices. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. After we work, I’ll even make you breakfast.” With that, she hung up.
“Okay then.” Katie Faith put the phone down, shuffling into her kitchen to make herself a sandwich. If she couldn’t have sex—yet—she might as well have some roast beef and cheddar on sourdough.
Chapter Ten
Jace rolled up on the scene with a growl of supreme annoyance. It was not his night to work. He had a hot, willing witch back at home and this wasn’t the first time he’d been interrupted before he got to anything really good.
“I’m sorry we had to call you out,” Carl said as Jace moved his way. “I needed the bodies.”
Jace waved away the apology. Part of the job was being called out when you’d rather be doing anything else. “What’s going on?”
They stood in the parking lot of the high school. A group of werewolves, a mix of packs, stood nearby, the agitated and embarrassed energy coming off them in waves.
“Pembry peacocking. Darrell got into it with one of your cousins. Started verbally, moved to punches. Both transformed but then some Pembrys jumped in, making it three on one. Which got Dooleys mad and some of them joined the fray. When I rolled up, a lot of them ran off, but there are still several out there near the field.” Carl indicated with the sweep of his hand.
Smart man not to wade in to that mess. He could have gone in and used his magic to break things up, but if it had escalated further he could have been overwhelmed. Werewolves in the middle of a fight didn’t take kindly to interference by anyone.
However, Jace wasn’t just anyone. He’d been born to wade into fights and yank wolves out by the scruff of the neck.
“Where the fuck is the mayor then? This is his problem. He needs to deal with it.” Wolves didn’t jump other wolves. It wasn’t their way. In fact, it was considered the worst sort of cowardice to horn in on a fight between two other wolves unless it was to break it up and save a life. You came on face to face when dealing with an equal, especially when it came to the routine scuffling that let off steam.
Bloodshed and maiming were part of their world. Attacking while one’s back was turned, wasn’t. Honor was as important as sheer strength. Wolves without honor were eventually killed or exiled by their packs. Dwayne needed to get his wolves in line. As did Jace and his grandparents.
“Dwayne’s on the way I’m told,” Carl told him.
“Whatever. Let’s get this cleaned up because the longer we leave it, the more agitated things will get.”
A few steps from Carl and Jace let the force of his wolf come just shy of full transformation. Wolf showed in his eyes, paced just below the human skin. The scent of Prime hit the night air, rich and sharp, pine and rosemary.
He didn’t walk. Not as Prime. He prowled over the last few feet to the knot of wolves.
They were creatures bred and raised on hierarchy. Strength and power were their currency, the rules that made up the world that kept them all safe. So he let his wolf out to play, knowing the slap of energy would get the attention—and submission—he needed to break things up.
Because it was what he’d been raised to do.
“You!” He growled as he grasp
ed the neck of a Dooley wolf, a kid named Royce, and tossed him away, toward the sidewalk leading back to town. “Get yourself home before I beat you bloody. Damned fool.” Royce was barely seventeen. His mother was going to kick his ass.
Jace thought of the way his grandfather had been paler than usual except when he’d been plotting. JJ would be showing up soon enough so he wanted to get this mess squared away first to save him the stress.
Darrell came striding back down the field where he’d once been a star. He’d been a far less petulant quarterback than he was an adult. “What are you doing here?” He tried to hold Jace’s gaze but in the end, he dropped his eyes and pretended he didn’t.
“Dealing with cowards who jump into a fair fight because your daddy can’t be bothered to police his wolves.”
Behind him, Carl sighed heavily. Jace knew this was skirting a line. He was a cop. He should not have allowed this to get personal. But it was personal and once he took over as Prime it would be even more so. He would put his wolves first, which wasn’t his job as a cop.
Something to think over and maybe talk to Katie Faith about. She had a way of seeing things that he may not have thought about.
“It’s not your business, Dooley.” Darrell’s haughty expression went a little embarrassed. Good.
“Huh. Yeah, well, Darrell, when your wolves jump my wolves it is my business. When wolves are fighting in the middle of a high school parking lot where other kids could get hurt it’s my business. Lastly, don’t think, it’s not your strong point. One of us is Prime and it ain’t you. Now take your mongrels out of here before things get heated.”
“Before?” Carl choked out.
Jace ignored Darrell and focused on Carl. “A fight’s a fight. I don’t care about that. You take your punches and you move the hell on.” Wolves dusted up all the damned time. It was a generally accepted and time honored way to work off steam as well as solve disputes. “What gets me so riled up is breaking the rules we all agree to. Wolves don’t act like cowards. We don’t fight like ’em either. Not if we want to keep our place in the pack.” Jace had zero intention of letting any of this slide. It was something to be dealt with by the Pembry Prime because it was his wolves who’d pulled the bullshit to start with but the Dooleys who’d been involved would hear about that within the hour.