Lil grumbled but took their order and headed to the kitchen.
Rebecca giggled. “For a minute I thought she was going to ask me for my driver’s license and a short bio.”
“Lil’s worked here forever. Hardy Melton, who owns the place, says Lil’s gotten to where she thinks she’s the owner. He just laughs about it. Says he gets more work out of her that way.”
They were eating their burgers and fries when a man wandered over, nodded at Rebecca and looked at Logan. “Mind if I sit down for a minute?”
“Sure, Mac.” Logan pushed a chair out with his foot. “Rebecca, meet Mac. He’s been around forever.”
The man shifted uncomfortably in his chair, glanced at Rebecca then back at Logan. “This your lady friend I heard about?”
Wow! Gossip really does spread fast around here.
She opened her mouth to say something but she heard Logan say, “This is Rebecca Black. We work together. Whatever you can say to me you can say to her.”
“Well,” Mac drawled. “The first thing a bunch of us are wondering is why the death of a park ranger would bring someone from whatever alphabet agency you two work for all the way to Overlook. We’re hardly a blip on anyone’s radar.”
“It has similarities to some other deaths we’re investigating,” Rebecca said smoothly.
“I was sent because I lived here,” Logan told him, then he added hastily, “And I still do, Mac. Maybe not all the time these days but I plan to come back to the ranch when…this is over.”
“I don’t suppose you can tell me exactly what this is?” Mac asked.
“I would if I could. Believe me.”
The older man rubbed his jaw. “Sheriff’s been passing the word about two escaped inmates who might be headed this way.”
Rebecca nodded. “So we heard when we checked in with him.”
Mac eyed both of them skeptically. “Well, we’ve been talking and we wondered if that had anything to do with this hush-hush case you’re working.”
“If everyone knows about it, it can’t be so hush-hush, can it?” Logan asked. He wondered exactly how much people were aware of and what they’d been saying.
“You know how things are here,” the older man said. “They haven’t changed that much.”
“Well, in all that chatter, are people talking about the park ranger’s death?” Logan tried to make his voice as casual as possible.
Mac looked startled. “Is that what you both are here about? The word is he was attacked by a wild animal. Maybe a big horn elk.”
Logan shrugged. “Could be, but it could also be someone he stumbled on who shouldn’t be around here.”
“And the sheriff thought he should call in whatever secret organization you work for to investigate?”
Rebecca leaned forward. “The signs are similar to other cases we’ve worked on. We offered our help with this.”
Mac’s eyes widened. “Are you saying we have a serial killer around here? Holy shit!”
“No, no, no.” Logan tried to reassure him. “That’s not it at all. But maybe a criminal on the run who doesn’t want to be found. Maybe the ranger stumbled on him and that’s what cost him his life.”
“But from what I’ve heard,” Mac objected, “the signs were definitely those of some kind of animal.”
“We’re not ruling anything out, just covering all bases,” Rebecca told him.
“So what are people saying?” Logan asked again.
“All kinds of things,” Mac said. “Even stuff as farfetched as it might be some animal not indigenous to the area. One who strayed here somehow.”
“Everything and anything is possible,” Rebecca said. “But if anyone has seen anything that is out of the ordinary—animal or man—you’d hear about it, right?”
Mac snorted. “We’d hear about it in this place, that’s for sure.”
They all sat there for a long moment, letting the sounds of the bar wash over them.
“You really mean that about stray animals?” Mac asked.
“Mac.” Logan leaned forward. “You never know what’s going to wander into your area.”
“By the way.” The old man shifted in his chair. “Did you hear Jade Robinson is back in town?”
Logan exchanged glances with Rebecca.
“Yes,” Logan answered. “We ran into her, as a matter of fact.”
“Oops.” Mac grimaced. “Didn’t mean to bring up a touchy subject.”
“Not at all,” Logan told him. “Whatever there was between Jade and me is long over. I’ve moved on and so has she.” He exchanged another look with Rebecca. “I do worry about her living all the way out of town like that though. Anything can happen, as unprotected as she is.”
“Jade can shoot the eye of an eagle at five hundred paces. I think she can defend herself pretty well.”
“Just saying,” Logan told him, “if there’s something weird wandering around in this area she probably shouldn’t be out there all alone the way she is.”
Mac laughed. “Shall I pass along your concerns?”
“We already did,” Rebecca said. “She didn’t seem to be too alarmed.”
“How about this. I’ll pass the word for folks to keep an eye on that house of hers. That do it?”
“It will help for sure. And tell people to be on the lookout for anything out of place but not to get itchy trigger fingers with people they don’t know.” He leaned forward. “I’m serious, Mac. Killing strangers is bad for tourism.”
“I’ll warn folks to be cautious. But if any of the wild animals around here wanders into someone’s backyard it’s probably dead meat.” Mac pushed his chair back and stood up. “Well, I’ve monopolized enough of your time. I’ll let you get to whatever you came for.”
Logan and Rebecca sat there for a long moment after the older man moved back to the bar. Finally Logan pushed his empty plate away.
“I can tell you that what Mac says is what everyone else is saying,” he told Rebecca. “He’s got his ear to the wall on everything.”
Rebecca sighed. “We try to diffuse the gossip about a weird animal and end up planting the idea of a serial killer. I’m not sure which is worse.”
”I just don’t want any vigilante posses ramping up, going hunting and shooting some stranger who might wander into the area.”
“At least we know where people’s heads are at. Come on. Let’s get out of here. We’ll check in with Rance Danvers in the morning. Then I want to have coffee with Ben. Someplace quiet where I can ask him some hard questions. Try to find a way to ask if my sense about him is right.”
“We can drive by Jade’s on the way home,” she said. “I know you’re worried about her.”
Logan gave her a quick hug. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“For being you.”
Chapter Nine
The beast paused in the huge stand of trees, sheltered by the huge ponderosa pines. It hated to leave the comfort of the cave it had found in a notch in the mountains but the blood hunger was rising again. The small animals it had managed to catch had barely taken the edge off. But hunters were crisscrossing the vast snow-crusted area and the devil beast knew enough to stay away from them.
And at night when it had been out searching for prey another danger had presented itself. It had spied a wolf in the area, racing through the darkness. Oh yes, it knew what wolves were. Some wolf blood ran through its veins. But this one had a completely different scent, as if it too was a mixture of breeds. And the beast had sensed danger in its presence.
But the clawing hunger drove it to seek real prey despite the danger. Something in its brain directed him to a certain area, sending signals where it was safe to hunt. So it scouted, always being careful. Staying away from the machines when they made noise, machines that skimmed the icy surface of the snow. Avoided places where dwellings were close together. But the killing need was so strong in it right now that it had a hard time obeying the signals.
Then it had foun
d this dwelling, far enough from others in the area and not protected by herds of beasts and creatures or two-legged animals riding their noisy machines. It stood not far from a town, the place isolated, surrounded by more pines.
At first, peering in the windows, it hadn’t found any evidence the prey was in residence. No movement inside its dwelling—everything dark—so the beast backed away and waited. But shortly light pierced the darkness and one of the large machines used by the prey turned in from the street and into its dwelling place at the house.
It received signals warning it away when it found more than one two-legged prey in a place. Herds spelled danger. It had been trained and programmed to seek isolated prey and destroy it. More than one and the programming in its brain went haywire, leaving it open to risk.
Wait, wait, wait.
Darting from tree to tree, it made its way closer to the house. Whatever was in its brain directing it sent warning signals to be careful. To move slowly. To be sure the prey was unprotected. The other day it had found a fresh two-legged prey but a four-legged fire-breathing dragon had frightened it away. The dragon had stomped its feet and snorted and the beast made itself vanish. Out of danger.
Finally through the lighted window the beast could see its single prey moving around, a luscious tempting morsel that made its juices flow. It could almost taste the rich blood it knew it would find. And the skin. It couldn’t wait to get its sharp fangs into that pale skin and puncture it deeply.
The air was bitter cold but the beast was used to it. The temperature didn’t bother it. The hunger was what would kill it if it didn’t satisfy it soon.
Then twin beacons of light turned in toward the dwelling, a wide entrance to the place yawned open and the vehicle moved inside. The devil beast began creeping closer, saliva dripping from its jaw. In moments he would breach the dwelling and the prey would be his.
But as it prepared to make his move it saw more beacons of light moving in its direction. The large vehicle turned in toward the prey’s dwelling place and another two-legged animal exited toward the front. And watching it, from the recesses of whatever kind of vehicle that was, yet another prey.
No! No! No!
Not now. Not when it was so close.
Anguish raced through the devil beast, an unfamiliar emotion. Its programming told it to leave. To come back when it was safer. But it was so thirsty for the blood. So hungry.
Then, as if an alarm had been triggered in its brain, a flash of pain shot through its head and it turned, racing away soundlessly into the night. Hunting for something to appease its appetite, even momentarily.
* * * * *
Rebecca huddled deeper into her warm jacket, watching Logan ring the doorbell. She saw the look of surprise on Jade’s face when she opened the door, quickly changing to one of sexual hunger. She leaned against the doorjamb, her invitation obvious in her pose. Rebecca had met a wide variety of women in her life but seldom had she seen one quite so predatory. How on earth had Logan ever gotten mixed up with her in the first place?
Well, no matter. He was hers now.
Mine!
And she was going to make damn sure things stayed that way.
Jade pushed open the storm door, gesturing Logan inside, but he shook his head. When Jade reached out to grab his hand he backed away and pointed to the truck where Rebecca waited. An angry look came over the woman’s face as she stared out at the truck, then yanked the storm door shut and slammed the inner door closed.
Logan stood there a moment, shaking his head, then jogged away from the house.
“She didn’t look too happy,” Rebecca commented as Logan backed out into the highway.
He grunted. “That’s putting it mildly. I wonder when she turned into such a bitch?”
She’s probably always been one but it’s hard to notice when you’ve got her naked.
The moment the thought popped into Rebecca’s mind she slapped it away.
“People change,” was all she said, and moved her hand to rest it on his muscular thigh. In another moment she slid it boldly toward his fly.
Logan laughed softly, deep in his throat. “Planning to get fresh with me in the truck, are you?”
“Just passing the time on a long drive,” she teased.
“Bek?” There was no laughter in his voice now. “Jade is nobody for you to worry about. Whatever we had—and looking back I’m not even sure what it was—is long gone. Believe it.”
“I know.” And she did. But she thought a little reassurance was always good. “Just…reminding you.”
He put his large hand over her small one and moved them both squarely over his fly where his cock bulged thick and hard.
“Feel that? That’s for you and no one else.” He squeezed her fingers. “But I would have felt, oh, I don’t know, call it unsettled if I hadn’t stopped to check on Jade. Made one more effort to warn her to be careful.”
“What did she say?”
He snorted. “If I wanted to keep her safe I should come inside. When I told her it wasn’t happening she told me to go to hell and slammed the door.”
“You did the best you could. We’ll just keep our fingers crossed. You said she’s a crack shot, right?”
“Uh huh. And I told her to keep her shotgun handy. That’s the best I can do.” He tightened his grip on her hand again. “Now I need to concentrate on getting home as fast as we can so I don’t pull over to the side of the road and rip your clothes off in the freezing cold.”
“If it weren’t for the cold I might let you,” she teased.
As it was she could hardly wait until Logan pulled up the driveway and parked the truck in the garage. Suddenly on adrenaline overload, her system fueled as if she’d mainlined caffeine, she had an almost urgent need to be skin-to-skin with him and danced from foot to foot in impatience, waiting for him to unlock the door.
She raced ahead of him up the stairs, yanking off her jacket in his room, and toed off her boots. She was in the process of unbuttoning her shirt when Logan caught up with her.
“Hold on.” He braceleted her wrists with his fingers and studied her face. “Tell me this isn’t just about Jade Robinson and some crazy idea you have that I still want her.”
She shook her head, ran her tongue over her lower lip. “Maybe she was the impetus but this is about you and me. About us. About knowing that you feel the same thing I do. Have the same clawing need.”
“Baby, every wolf has a clawing need. Especially for its mate.”
His face was so close she could feel his breath on her skin. See the thick spikes of his eyelashes. The heat flickering in the golden-flecked brown of his eyes.
“Is that what I am?” She barely whispered the words. “Your mate?”
He brought her hands to his chest, pressing them against his heart. “Feel that?”
The thumping of his heart knocked against her hand. She nodded.
“That’s what you do to me.” He lowered her hands to his crotch where his hard, thickened cock pressed against the fabric of his jeans. “And this.”
“Take off your clothes.”
She worked the buttons on his shirt, desperate to feel the naked flesh beneath it. She didn’t ever remember feeling like this before, frantic with need. Burning up with it. Fueled by some kind of desperation, she yanked at the uncooperative buttons.
Logan captured her hands again. “I’ll do it.”
He clamped his mouth to hers, his tongue delving inside to dance with her own. Their lips might have been fused together, clinging as they did while they each stripped off the rest of their clothes with frantic haste.
With a strength born of need Rebecca gave Logan a shove so he fell backward onto the bed. She stared avidly at his cock, standing so erect from the thick nest of curls surrounding it. Kneeling between his muscular legs, she wrapped the fingers of one hand around it and lapped at the velvety head, capturing the thick drop of fluid sitting at the slit. She scraped her teeth lightly over the surface before
probing the slit with the very tip of her tongue.
“Oh god.” The words rumbled up from deep in Logan’s voice.
She glanced up and saw his hands fisted at his sides, his eyes closed.
He tasted so good to her, as if his flavor had improved with the increasing intimacy. With that one word. Mate! They’d made intense, exquisite love before so it wasn’t that she doubted his feelings. She just seemed driven by that one word. To seal it between them. Tonight was the first time she’d been impelled by a hunger so urgent she couldn’t feed it fast enough.
She swirled her tongue over the velvety skin before closing her mouth over the head again. Slowly, very slowly, she drew him into her mouth, letting his cock slide in increments over her tongue to the back of her throat.
Rebecca wasn’t a novice at this, but she wasn’t an expert either. The few times she’d felt compelled to do it she hadn’t thought it was such a big deal. Her partner had been pleased but she herself got minimal pleasure from it.
This was so different. Much more emotional. A blending of the two of them. So powerful she didn’t think she could find words to describe it. As she held his shaft and worked it deeper into her mouth the liquid of her arousal soaked her pussy and spread to the inside of her thighs. Her pulse beat with a desire so strong it consumed her entire body.
Mate!
The word almost made her feel as if she herself were wolf, a part of the other world in which Logan lived. And how had that happened to her, such a practical woman? The thoughts spun in her brain as she worked his shaft, feeling the beat of his blood pounding in the thick vein that wound around it.
Wanting more, she slipped her hand between his thighs and cupped the soft sac with his balls, brushing her thumb over the feathery covering of hair before giving it a gentle squeeze.
“Jesus, Bek. Holy shit!”
Against her shoulders the muscles in his thighs tightened and bunched and his hips jerked in rhythm with her mouth. She knew it wouldn’t be long now. A little more. Just a little more. Faster, faster, harder.
And then with a shout he exploded, his hot semen spurting down her throat. She swallowed convulsively, determined not to lose a drop, and continued to milk him until his body went limp and a heavy sigh floated on the air. And still she kept his softening shaft in her mouth, her hands cradling his balls, unwilling to break the connection.
Branded by Lust: 4 (Night Seekers) Page 13