by Lauren Dane
Lex’s nostrils flared. He could scent her anger and her frustration. “What are you mad about now?” he asked, agitation clear in his voice.
She turned on him, her arms crossed tight over her chest. Her eyebrows shot straight up with incredulity, her mouth opened but she closed it again. What on earth could she possibly say to this insufferable jerk? She snorted, turned back around and looked out the window without making a comment.
He tried to get her to speak a few more times but she just acted as if he didn’t even exist—and oh how he hated the silent treatment. He only got it from human women. Well, female humans and his sisters. Other than that, female wolves accepted his dominant nature and didn’t question it. Damn it! All of the beautiful and docile Pack females and his mate is a prickly human? Figured.
“Fine, be that way,” he mumbled and pulled up the drive to the house.
She mimicked him with her head turned, not giving him the satisfaction of getting a rise out of her, and when the car stopped she got out and went to the trunk, waiting for him to unlock it.
He came around and opened it and moved her out of the way with his body. “Don’t be silly. Let me carry the bags.”
She tsked and moved back, motioning toward the car.
He carried the stuff up to her room and put it down. “Look, I’ve offended you somehow and I’m sorry. I thought you wanted me to kiss you. You certainly seemed disappointed when I stopped. After this morning, I thought that we…well that we had some major chemistry and I…”
“I’m not mad about the kiss!” she exploded. “It’s being characterized as a mistake that I have a problem with.”
“What? I never said it was a mistake to kiss you!” He began to stalk toward her and she moved back.
“You said it was stupid!” She squeaked as her back hit the door and she had nowhere left to go to escape him. She could feel the heat radiating from his body, could see the gold ring around the pupil of his eyes, could smell his skin.
“I said it was stupid to let myself get carried away,” he said softly, leaning in and caging her with his body. “I’ve been doing this for a very long time, I made a rookie mistake by forgetting myself in a public place like that. I left us both open to attack. That was stupid. But I lose my head around you. When I touch you, smell you, I forget everything else.”
His voice was so deep and low that the vibration of it slid down her spine and she had to close her eyes against it. “Oh.” Jeez! Could she be any less articulate?
He chuckled and her nipples tightened. “Cade saw us come in. He’s going to come up here and want a report on what happened.” Regret in his face, he took a step back and cleared his throat. He also had to adjust himself—she took him from zero to rock-hard in two seconds.
Nodding, she smoothed down the front of her jeans. She walked around him to deal with the clothes she’d just purchased. He made her feel shell-shocked every time he touched her and then moved away. What was going on? It had to be grief related. That was it, grief related! It was about losing her brother and she was seeking out comfort from a man. That explained it. Satisfied, she nodded her head once and continued dealing with the packages and bags.
* * * * *
After Lex left to go deal with Cade and she put her clothes in the washer, Nina sat in the cheerful, bright eating nook in the kitchen for the rest of the afternoon, drinking coffee and working, her face a mask of intensity.
Her program had found some weaknesses in the security and she had been systematically taking it all apart for the last two hours. “Oh! You thought you were so clever, didn’t you?” she mumbled.
Lex came up behind her and kissed the back of her neck. “What?”
“Stop that,” she said, but he wouldn’t move back. Sighing, she pointed to the screen. “A honey pot.”
He slid a hand down her belly to press a long finger over the seam in her jeans, against her swollen clit. “This honey pot?” he asked in a whisper against her ear.
She grabbed his wrist and moved him away but that didn’t stop him from noticing her hardening nipples. He grinned to himself.
“No! Get over yourself already. Ego much?” She pointed to the screen. “This honey pot. It’s a program designed to look like something good, like what we’re looking for. Only it’s a trap. You open it and a virus eats everything on the hard drive or locks up critical programs.”
“So what do we do then?”
“We don’t open it. I’m almost done, or I think I am. Give me another hour,” she said, dismissing him.
He moved away from her with regret. Sitting back at the table, he scanned the plans for a home he’d been commissioned to design. Since Cade was working from home to be nearby, Lex could be an architect for a few hours, put his gun aside. Before too long, he lost himself in his work and time ceased to exist for him.
* * * * *
“Lex,” she called out two hours later.
He looked up and walked over to her, rubbed the back of her neck, pleased that she didn’t try to shy away. “What is it, love?”
“Well, it’s several things.” She pointed to the screen. “These numbers…”
“Shit, those are Swiss bank account numbers,” he said, leaning in, interrupting her.
Cade came into the room. “What’s up?”
Besides the very hard cock poking at his zipper? Lex motioned to the screen. “She’s in. It’s Swiss accounts.”
Cade came to look over her other shoulder.
“Okay,” she began as she flipped between screens of data, fingers flying over the keys. “These are Swiss accounts and those are dates of transactions and the totals moved. Don’t know what currency, that’s not noted, but let’s assume dollars.”
“Holy crap! If it is dollars, there’s quite a lot of money there,” Cade said with a whistle.
She pointed at the screen. “Yeah and money going out too. Lots of it. Someone has an expensive lifestyle.”
Cade looked at Lex and frowned.
“Jeez, you’ve got millions here coming and going. Within days of a transfer in, there’s transfers out,” she said as she worked.
She clicked to another screen.
“What on earth is that?” Cade asked, looking at the string of numbers and letters.
“Something they didn’t want anyone to see. I think this is what the security was for,” she murmured as she entered a long string of code and hit enter. The numbers and letters coalesced into something else. “It looks like a formula of some kind.”
“Jesus, that’s the lycanthropy virus,” Lex breathed out.
“The what?” Nina asked, alarmed.
“Why would Tommie have this?” Cade asked as Lex continued to rub the back of Nina’s neck.
“I don’t know but it can’t be good. He said he had something big but he couldn’t say more, there were people around. All I know is that he was supposed to meet with me later that night after he’d met with the others.” Lex looked to Nina. “We’ve known that lycanthropy is carried as a virus that can infect humans through contact with blood. Recently our scientists isolated it and began to try and work on ways to protect the immune systems of humans. So if they were infected against their will, they could take some kind of anti-viral blocker right after exposure. It’s still experimental but shows a lot of promise.”
Nina made a face. “Yeah, well. Too late for Gabriel. Of course, if you isolate the virus you can also use it to infect people. Hell, you can make it in large doses and contaminate something shot directly into the system—something as innocuous as a flu shot. Or you can use the anti-viral agent to attack werewolves, causing their system to attack itself,” Nina said.
“The Rogues,” Cade said simply.
“But why?” Lex ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. “We need to find out just exactly is going on. Rogue wolves usually just get involved with petty stuff, nothing too bad. Certainly not at this level!” He paced as he thought. “You can’t just accuse a Pack member of som
ething like this without proof, without any real idea of just exactly they are up to and why.”
“Use me as bait,” Nina said.
“No.” He rounded on her, fixing her with a glare.
“Why? Lex, it could work. You make it known that Gabriel’s sister is around. That there’s a laptop with information on it. We see if we can draw them out, if they try and grab me. They might tell me what they’re up to if they think they’re going to kill me.”
Lex looked utterly incredulous and threw his hands in the air. “Oh my god! Could that be any more of a sitcom plot? Why wouldn’t they just shoot you in the head like they did your brother?” Lex demanded and then felt immediately sorry as she winced. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to come out like that.”
She waved it away. “You’re right. I just thought of a better idea anyway. Still bring me around the Pack but leave me alone with the three prime suspects. We can let it be known that I was with Gabriel when he was killed, see if anyone approaches me for information.”
“This is over your head. You’re a florist, for god’s sake!” Lex exclaimed.
“First of all, I was running scams when you were at keggers at Kappa Kappa Werewolf. You don’t know much about me but I am way smarter than Gabriel was. I’m a consummate liar. I can street fight with the best of them and I can cheat at cards like nobody’s business. This on top of my computer skills. I may not howl at the moon and have superhuman strength but I can hold my own.”
“Whoever this person is, they are ruthless and dangerous. I don’t want you in danger,” Lex said, trying not to order and not to plead, knowing neither would work with her.
“This person murdered my brother. That makes me ruthless and dangerous. Plus, they’re up to something that is akin to bioterrorism either against humans or your own kind. Something has to be done and this is a good plan, the best you’ve got.” She said this emphatically. She wanted him to see how necessary her presence was to the situation.
“She’s right, Lex,” Cade said. “We have to expose her to the suspected parties just to see what they’ll do. You’ll have backup on her the whole time.”
“I will not ask you to risk your life,” not when I’ve finally found you. His wolf pressed against his conscience, demanding that he protect her.
“You’re not asking. I’m offering. Lex, Gabriel may not have been an exemplary citizen or anything, but he was all I had. He was my brother and I loved him. This guy can’t be allowed to get away with it.” Nina looked into his eyes, pleading.
He let out an explosive breath. “Nina, I don’t want to get you hurt. Can you understand that?” He couldn’t help but implore her to be safe.
“Lex, I know and I appreciate that. But you have no other choice.” Nina said this with finality and he accepted it. It was that or have her go off and try this stupid plan of hers on her own. He may have only known her for a brief time, but he didn’t doubt that she would take matters into her own hands if she felt she had no other choice.
He threw his hands in the air in defeat. “Fine. But we do it tomorrow. After some planning. Nina, you are too tired to carry it off right now.”
“All right. We’ll do it tomorrow.” She didn’t want to push her luck. She’d obey him. For the time being.
The moment stretched out between them and she started to speak when Cade interrupted. “I think I’m going to fire up the barbecue for dinner.”
“I think I’ll take a nap,” she said. She closed the laptop and headed up the stairs to the guestroom.
“That’s fine, hon. It’ll be about two hours before we eat. I’ll come get you when it’s ready,” Cade called out and she thanked him over her shoulder.
Leaning against the closed door she sighed deeply, trying to calm herself. What the hell was going on with her anyway? It wasn’t that she didn’t like sex, it was just that sex came attached to men and men were trouble. She had her battery operated boyfriend and a handheld showerhead, and those had been fine until Lex Warden had lumbered his way into her life.
“Argh!” she hissed and her head banged against the door. “Stop this!” she ordered herself and pushed into the room. Telling herself to get a grip, she pulled off her jeans and slid into bed.
Of course, all she could do was think about the kiss in the parking lot. The way he’d felt with his hands and mouth on her earlier that morning. The way he made her lose her head in the tide of hormones he seemed to evoke.
She lay there and tried to sleep for the better part of half an hour, tossing and turning and trying not to think about the fact that she was wet and horny and that she ached to have him inside of her. Finally, with a sigh of frustration, she sat up, threw the blankets back and rolled out of bed.
But before she could even reach her jeans there was a tap on the door and she knew who it was.
* * * * *
Lex watched her take the stairs with a sexy sway of her hips. She probably wasn’t even aware of how sensuous she was with those big brown eyes, those lush lips and that long hair that hung ever-so tantalizing just above her heart-shaped ass.
Cade turned to him once her door closed. “What are you waiting for?”
“She needs to rest,” he said gruffly. “She’s had a hard few days.”
Cade rolled his eyes and pushed his brother toward the stairs. “Your wolf wants to claim her. She’s getting ready to do something dangerous and if you don’t mark her, you won’t be able to concentrate with her around all of those other wolves.”
“I’m not a wolf right now,” he tossed back as he began to walk up the stairs.
“You’re always a wolf, Lex. What’s more, you’re an alpha wolf, a warrior,” Cade said quietly and went back to working on the meat, effectively dismissing him.
Lex paced around his room for half an hour. He wanted to let Nina sleep. She was tired and upset over Gabriel’s death. At the same time, he wanted her more than he could wrap his head around. Cade was right, he could feel the wolf just beneath the surface, pushing him to mark her, to claim her as his woman. Once he came inside of her she’d be marked as his. His biological stamp would be on her and a bond would be forged. She wouldn’t be happy with anyone else and neither would he. They’d become integral to each other.
Making his mind up, he left his room and walked down the hallway. He stood at the head of the stairs and looked down, seeing Cade in the kitchen whistling and cutting up vegetables, the tray of uncooked meat marinating on the counter.
He went to the door to the guestroom and tapped quietly. If she were sleeping she wouldn’t hear him anyway.
She opened the door and they stood, silently staring at each other for a few moments.
“Nina…”
She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside the room, shutting and locking the door behind herself, leaning on it for strength as she took him in.
He pulled off his shirt and she greedily drank in the details of his upper body. Strong, thickly muscled, not an ounce wasted. Not too much muscle—what was there wasn’t for show. It was the body of a man who worked out. Not just a body but a tool. Danger poured off him in waves—he was a big, bad man and she wanted an extra helping of it. She wanted to eat him up in great gobbling bites until she was positively stuffed with him. Oh he made her weak in the knees!
She took one step, then another until she was standing very close, then reached out a hand to stroke over his chest. She leaned in and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and had to reach out to hold on as she nearly fell over with the intensity of her reaction.
Her body tightened up, nipples stabbing the front of her shirt, skin flushed and heated. Her pussy bloomed with desire, her honey making her slick. The world became a pinpoint of focus. Suddenly it was just the two of them, nothing else existed that mattered but having him inside of her body.
Lex gripped her forearm to keep her standing. “I know. It’ll pass in a moment.”
She looked up at him with widened eyes. “You know? What do you mean, yo
u know?”
“I feel it too. The first time is the hardest, but each time I get a deep whiff of you, it nearly knocks me to the ground. I get so frenzied with lust that I have to grind my teeth to not drag you to the nearest horizontal surface and plunge inside of you.”
“What is it?”
He pulled her shirt off and unhooked her bra and they both hissed out when bare skin met bare skin. The feel of those diamond hard nipples—so pretty and delicious—pressing into his body made him delirious with want.
“Pheromones.”
“What?” This was slurred as she became drunk with him. Her eyes slowly slid closed as his hands moved up to cup her breasts, pinching her nipples between clever fingers.
“Chemicals, personal chemicals. Yours call to me, mine call to you.” He leaned down and kissed the spot just below her ear and she moaned.
“I know what pheromones are! But that’s mumbo jumbo. You’re just horny, I’m just horny. It’s not science.” Even as she said it she didn’t believe it. The totality of what she felt for him—the way her body responded when he touched her—it was more than mere horniness.
He made a tsk sound with his lips against her skin. “Liar. You know what I’m talking about and you know it’s the truth.”
“So if we fuck this…intensity will lessen?” She was breathless as she asked.
“It will always be intense, Nina. You’re my woman. Once we’re bound the intensity of our connection will deepen.” He said this in between pressing kisses down the long line of her neck.
She ignored that and arched into the questing hand that reached into her panties. She turned off her brain and just felt. Opened herself up to sensation. It was time that rational, by-the-book Nina went away for a while so Nina who hadn’t been fucked in years could get some.
Her hands slid down his chest and found the waist of his jeans and she yanked them open, satisfied as she heard each pop of the long row of buttons releasing. Suddenly he was there in her hands. Hard, velvety smooth and so hot. She encircled him with her fingers and looked down, smoothing a thumb over the head where a bead of semen pearled. He moaned and watched as she brought her thumb to her mouth.