by Amelia Jade
“Feeling better?” he asked as Stephanie entered the room, the door closing automatically behind her.
“Much,” she said, flopping into a chair in front of his desk without being told. “In fact, it’s nice now, because they’re all warm from the dryer.” She rubbed her clothing for emphasis.
“Good.” He looked down at the desk, not sure how to phrase this next part. “Um, where is it exactly that you’re staying now?”
She looked at him sharply. “A bed and breakfast.”
He nodded. There were a number of those around town. He knew some of them by now, but not all of them.
“Well, once it stops raining, we’re going to get your stuff and move you in here.”
“What?” she asked, sitting up straight in her chair. “Listen, I know we kissed, but I don’t think moving in with you is a good idea.”
Gabriel’s mouth hung open. He’d been about to speak, but her words stopped him cold for a second as he recovered.
“That’s not what I meant,” he said at last.
“It’s not?” Stephanie asked, her cheeks flushing red almost immediately.
“No,” he replied. “I just meant you could take a room here. That way you don’t have to risk the weather again, and you’re closer to me and the others, so it’ll be easier for you to do whatever it is you need to do.”
“Oh, yeah, of course,” she said, sounding unhappy with herself. “Come stay in a motel. That makes perfect sense.”
“Though I’m flattered you think that I want you to come stay with me,” he teased.
Stephanie opened her mouth to object, but he waved it aside. “I’m kidding, I promise. Listen, yesterday should never have happened. I’m sorry, and it won’t happen again. I know it’s not professional for you to get involved with your stories, and I need to be a more proper host. So we’ll just forget it ever happened, okay?”
Fat chance of that happening.
It was true. Whatever his words right now, Gabriel wanted the opposite. Even as he looked at her, the single most overwhelming urge in his body at that moment was to leap across the desk and take her into his arms. His lips burned with the desire to taste her once more, to feel her soft skin under his touch.
To tell her that he was wrong to kiss her was a lie. It seemed it was a necessary lie for the time being though, as neither of them truly knew what to do about their situation. Stephanie had her career to consider, and he had…well, Gabriel knew exactly what his problem was, and it wasn’t something he was going to put upon a potential lover, or even mate. They didn’t deserve to have to deal with his violence-crazed bear.
Nobody.
That didn’t stop him from wanting her, however, and Gabriel would say anything to keep her around. So if that meant he had to be good for a bit, then he would be good. Because the last thing he wanted was to watch her short hair bob as she walked away from him for good. He wasn’t sure he could take that.
“So, Captain Korver,” Stephanie said, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. She took out an audio recorder and laid it on the table, making no secret of it, and giving him every option to back out.
Formal, is it? Okay, time to work I suppose.
“Yes, Miss Holmes?’ he replied politely, nodding at the device.
“What can you tell me about the war with Fenris?”
He arched an eyebrow. “That it’s over? The formal peace document is still being drawn up, but there has been no conflict between the nations of Cadia and Fenris in weeks now.”
That was perfectly true, though it certainly omitted the details about the Fenris rebels. He wasn’t sure he was willing to admit to those on record just yet.
“And what about those from Fenris who don’t agree with the peace deal and are currently hiding out north of Cloud Lake?”
He leaned back in the chair and regarded her.
“The internet says a lot,” she replied with a shrug. “It’s hard to keep any secrets these days.”
Gabriel had known that Stephanie knew about them, but he hadn’t realized the knowledge was widespread. Well, if it was on the internet, there was no use in denying it and sounding like an idiot.
“Yes, they are there. They’ve launched several small raids against Cloud Lake that we have repelled, and we continue to monitor the situation to ensure they don’t approach the town in force.”
Stephanie nodded appreciatively.
“So the conflict is ongoing then?”
He shrugged. “Not with the nation of Fenris, no. That is over, as I said. These are outlaws. Rebels. Whatever you wish to call them. They have no nation. Nothing to fight for.”
“Does that make them more dangerous?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said, beginning to nod but then catching himself and remember that his voice was being recorded. “They fight to the death, with no sense of self-preservation.”
He felt his eyes burn as he said that, tingling with the bloodlust that had become all too much a part of him lately. Gabriel averted his eyes as casually as he could, trying to contain his body’s initial reaction, the desire to hurt, to kill, even as he spoke of it.
Things were getting worse if he couldn’t even speak of the actions of his enemies without getting worked up over it. What would happen if he found himself in an actual fight? Could he maintain control, or would he lose himself to his bear?
“They would rather die than become prisoners?” she asked.
Gabriel made sure he didn’t flinch as he heard it in her voice. She’d seen it in his eyes, even if she didn’t know what it was. Damn. He’d have to be more careful in the future, lest she think he was no more than a bloodthirsty savage.
“Yes,” he said. “We’ve only ever gained prisoners by luck, where a shifter is too hurt to fight, but not hurt enough to die.”
For the most part. Our guest downstairs being an exception. But you don’t need to know about him.
“And the relations between your men and the residents of Cloud Lake? How goes that?”
Gabriel frowned. Where was she going with this? He had a suspicion he wasn’t going to like it.
Chapter Thirteen
Stephanie
“Things are good, I would say,” he replied.
“So there have been no problems?” she pushed, ignoring the frown on his face.
“Like humans, Miss Holmes, there is going to be the possibility of a few issues with us.”
She smiled at the careful phrasing of his reply, making it very hard for her or someone else to edit it to make him sound worse.
“Can you talk about them?” she asked.
“If I do, what guarantees do I have that you won’t edit the story to make them sound worse than they are? Or that you won’t write up some piece that makes out us to be nothing but trouble?”
He reached forward and switched off the recorder.
“My men have achieved far more good here than bad. It’s not even close. We’ve rebuilt buildings and bonds between our two kinds, repairing the damage done by Fenris while they were here, and then some. But we’re like humans, Miss Holmes. We have issues, we have problems. Sometimes someone drinks too much, or they get angry. These things are unavoidable, but we crack down on them with far harsher punishment than any human would get for doing the same thing.”
Stephanie felt her temper rising as he gently berated her for something she hadn’t had any plans to do. How dare he accuse her of wanting to fabricate a story that would make his men look bad? What kind of person did he think she was?
The fact that she’d been planning to do just that about the human women that his men had taken as their mates completely slipped her mind at that moment.
“I’m surprised,” she said, her tone filled with anger.
Gabriel didn’t react to her obvious ire, however, instead simply leaning back in his chair. She didn’t miss the fact that he still had the voice recorder turned off, and in his hand.
“Meaning what, exactly?” he asked coolly.
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“Well, everyone knows that shifters are just dumb brutes. Barely capable of organized thought. Are you telling me that not only are you more than that, but that you have a justice system of some sort as well?”
“Even someone as jaded as you, Miss Holmes, should be able to look around themselves, and see the truth of the people here, the men that are under my command. You know perfectly well that we aren’t brutes and savages.”
Stephanie forced herself not to rise to the bait. Instead, she dropped the first of two big questions she’d been angling toward.
“Then explain to me what all the blood on your shirt was the first night I met you?”
He went still. She’d trapped him rather neatly, and they both knew it. If he didn’t answer, if he avoided the question, then they would both know he was hiding something that he didn’t want her to know about. Something that would help prove her point.
“Very well,” he said icily. “We maintain a number of patrols both in the city and around it. One of those, sent north to ensure we have warning of any major moves by the Fenris rebels up there, was ambushed by their forces. They were hit hard, and took some casualties. The blood on my shirt was from one of the men who somehow survived the trip back here with a wound that should have killed him a long time earlier. He died in my arms. Is that what you wanted to hear, Miss Holmes?”
She sat back in her chair. That wasn’t at all what she’d expected to hear from him. The pain in his voice, the agony he felt at the loss of his men, was palpable. It reached out and made her hurt. Made her want to go to him, to comfort him and help him mourn.
“I’m sorry,” she said heavily. “I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay,” he said with a wave. “That’s why we’re here. So we can protect the people of Cloud Lake. It’s what we do.”
Stephanie took the rebuke and let it sting her. After all, she deserved it for accusing him of being less than caring, of mistreating the population of Cloud Lake.
“We’re good people, Miss Holmes. For the most part, just like any other grouping. We have our bad apples, but we handle them in-house.”
“Not so different from us after all, are you?” she said wryly, her anger at him melting away as he smiled at her.
Why is it that as soon as he makes eye contact with me and grins, I turn into a pile of mush?
“Oh, there are a few differences,” he said with a soft laugh. “We’re faster, we heal much better, we live longer. Oh, and we can turn into massive outsized animals as we please. None of that full moon nonsense you have in so many of your books,” he said with a wave.
Stephanie felt herself grinning in response.
“And stronger,” she said. “Let’s not forget that.”
“No, let’s not forget it,” he said, his voice suddenly changing, becoming thick with memory.
Stephanie swallowed hard against the sudden lump that had formed in her throat. That hadn’t been what she’d meant. She hadn’t wanted to bring up the day before. She had enough problems calming herself down last night as her body remembered the way he’d been so close to her, his casual strength holding her off the ground, as if she were nothing.
It was a powerful aphrodisiac, and mildly scary as well. Stephanie knew that if he ever lost control and she was around, she wouldn’t stand a chance. On the flip side though, there were few men out there that could make her feel safer, she was sure. If any. And none of them seemed to drive her up the wall, and yet make her keep coming back, the way he did.
Her mind began to wander as it considered all aspects of Gabriel. He was big. The tiny word didn’t do him justice, of course, but it still applied. His biceps, stretching the white cotton T-shirt he always wore, easily had to be the size of her legs. Her waist was perhaps the size of his legs, and that was only because she had extra cushioning around hers.
Then there was his broad, flat, firm chest. A platform that practically begged her to rest her head on, promising comfort and firmness in equal amounts. That didn’t even count his stomach, where individual abs could be seen any time he stood up, his shirt practically adhered to his skin.
And somehow he was interested in short, red-headed, thick-waisted her.
How the hell did that make any sense?
Stephanie didn’t know, but she could feel the tension in the room rising as they both looked at each other, taking deep, unsteady breaths. At one point his tongue came out and he licked his lips. It was a subconscious move, one she doubted he was even aware of doing, not something designed to try and seduce her.
Was he trying to seduce her?
Of course he is, you idiot. Just like you’re trying to do the same to him.
She tried to deny it, but the tight black pants, very low-cut red shirt, and a bra that gave her some excellent cleavage all worked against her mental arguments. She had dressed so that he would look at her, and now that he was, she was getting cold feet.
Maybe he could warm me up…
Oh for fuck’s sake.
Her mind wandered once more to his strength, and his size. A part of her she could no longer control wondered if that applied to certain, ah, other parts of his body.
Well, there was only one way to find out…
Wait, am I seriously doing this? Am I about to sleep with him? Just a few minutes ago I was telling Allix how much I disliked him!
Stephanie didn’t know what to do. There was no denying that part of her, both mentally and certainly physically, wanted to proceed.
But what about her story? Her job? She still hadn’t asked him about the other women yet, about how they’d come to be shifters.
“I should, ah, find you one of my men to interview,” Gabriel said, standing up abruptly, breaking the silence that had been lingering in the room for an uncomfortably long time.
“Yes,” she said, also rising.
He nodded jerkily, moving around the desk and for the door.
Stephanie, eager to get out of his office, to put some space between them, headed for the door as well. They got there at the same time, and he pulled it open while she tried to slide between him and the door in her mad rush to escape the room.
As she did, her ass brushed against his crotch, and she felt the hard outline of his cock.
Stephanie froze.
“Uh-oh,” Gabriel said softly.
She turned, still in the doorway.
“Yeah,” she said, her voice barely audible. “Uh-oh.”
Without meaning to, her hand reached out and caressed what she’d just rubbed against, feeling the full thickness of his cock through his pants.
Gabriel hissed softly, but he didn’t pull away. His eyes were aflame with heat and need, she could see it now. The more she touched him, the more the green flames flickered to life, like a fire stirred up from the embers to roar high into the night once more. It was a powerful feeling to know that she’d stirred such a reaction in him.
“Where?” she asked as she continued to stroke him, feeling him harden under her touch.
“Not here,” he breathed, his eyes flickering open and closed as she worked him over.
“My room?” she asked.
Gabriel nodded, and then unsteadily followed her from his office. She heard him take several deep breaths along the way, attempting to keep composed as they walked past any number of his men. She didn’t see any of them giving the pair covert glimpses, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t obvious what was about to happen.
Stephanie found that she honestly didn’t care. All that mattered right then and there was getting him back to her room so that she could give in to the yearning that was filling her body. It wasn’t a need for sex. She’d felt horny before, and knew what that was like.
This was different. It was stronger. Much stronger. She felt that just his touch alone at that moment might set her off. On top of that, her need was much, much more focused too. She didn’t want sex. She wanted Gabriel. The difference was—in some ways—minor. They were still going to have sex
. But the drive within her body to do it with him, and only him, was unparalleled at that particular moment.
She knew that meant something, but at that point in time, she had no idea what. Her mind was too focused, too obsessed with getting him back to her room, and…
Her thoughts cut off abruptly as she realized something.
They were at her door.
Chapter Fourteen
Stephanie
Although he’d led the way up there, Gabriel waited off to the side now. He’d done so on purpose, she realized. It was his way of giving her the chance to back out one last time. This way she could choose whether to open the door or not, whether to let him follow her inside.
She smiled at the sweetness of the gesture, unnecessary as it was. Right then, there was no force on earth that would have changed her mind. All of her irritation, anger, frustration, disdain, and disbelief of him had simply reconfigured itself into a burning need to have him, to be taken by him, and to be together with him.
It was far stronger than she could have hoped to fight.
“Inside,” she commanded as the door swung open at her touch. “Now.”
Gabriel followed her in, closing the door behind him and sliding the lock shut.
She’d not had a chance to even turn around to look at him before his arms slid over her, pulling her tight against his body. The clothing between them didn’t seem to matter as they melded together seamlessly. His cock was still hard—she could feel it now—and he didn’t make any effort to conceal it.
Though there was no outward display of her own arousal, Stephanie knew that if he were to plunge a hand into her pants, he would find incontrovertible evidence. The warmth was beginning to get distracting.
Then his fingers slid under her shirt and caressed her sides.
“That feels nice,” she said.
Gabriel bent low, his face nuzzling into the crook of her neck, where his lips could kiss the sensitive skin there, sending teasing shivers racing through her body. His hands began to explore her entire body as best they could. Her sides, her stomach, and her upper legs… he ran his fingers over every square inch of it, leaving no area untouched.