The sweet smoke filled his lungs, but nothing could calm him now. He thought back to the other night when he’d found Francesca...Frankie...whatever...in that alleyway, the way she’d reacted to the sight of his gun. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t even count how many things had gone wrong since then. Where was his head at?
In between her sweet legs, that was where.
His dick hardened as he remembered how her body felt pressed against his. The taste of her lips. A deep growl rumbled in his chest, and he sucked hard on his cigarette in a vain attempt to drown out the memories. If he was going to get her out of his head, he would need something a lot stronger than a cigarette.
“You need a minute to yourself or can I pick your brain?” David said from behind him.
“Be my guest.”
With some careful maneuvering, David lowered himself down to Jace’s side and nodded at the cigarette. “That’s gonna kill you some day, you know.”
Jace dragged in another long smoke-filled breath. “Now you sound like her. Besides, it doesn’t affect me as much as it would a human. You know that.”
“What’s going on with you and her, J? You’re usually more focused than this.”
Jace shrugged and blew out more smoke. “I don’t know.”
Sighing, David rested his elbows on his knees. “She’s beautiful, and she’s gotten under your skin.”
Jace ignored him and flicked away his ashes. They sat in silence for several minutes before Jace cleared his throat. “She’s a werewolf.”
“I know. So?”
“She’s Rochester’s packmaster, David. I hunt her kind for a living and she’s one of the head honchos. How the hell am I supposed to do my job when I’m sleeping with the enemy?”
“Since when have you cared about playing by the rules? At the rate you’re going, unless you bring this asshole’s head to Damon on a silver platter, you’re out, and even then, you better pray on bended knee that he has one forgiving bone in his body. You lied about your bloodline so you could be a hunter. Why start sweating the details now? Do as you please. You have nothing to lose.”
“When did you get so lenient about the guidelines, Mr. ‘Be at the Meeting on Time and Don’t Disrespect Damon’?” Jace mocked.
David crossed his arms over his chest, and a grim look tightened his features. “Since Damon forced me to choose between my job and my friends.”
Jace stubbed out his cigarette and clapped David on the shoulder. “Thanks for having my back.”
David relaxed a little and leaned back against the door. “You owe me big-time, like ‘sacrifice your firstborn child’ big-time.”
Jace chuckled and offered David the flask from inside his coat.
David refused but tapped his forefinger against the metal. “Take a large shot of that before we keep talking. You aren’t buzzed enough to discuss this yet.”
Jace didn’t need to be told twice. He swallowed three large gulps, nearly draining the flask dry. The warm liquid sloshed down his throat.
“You know that you seriously need to consider taking her offer, right? About learning how to shift?” David said.
Jace shook his head. “I can’t, David. You know I can’t.”
David frowned. “No. I know you don’t want to. There’s no can’t about it, J.”
Jace shot him a glare and tightened his grip on the flask, wishing there was still whiskey in it. “You should know better than anyone that I can’t, David. I refuse to be anything like that dirtbag piece of shit who was my father.”
“I hate to say it, Jace, but forget your daddy issues for a minute and screw your head on straight. Shifting doesn’t mean you’re anything like your lowlife father. You’re not a coward. You need to face any personal issues you may have and do this. The longer you wait, the more women that monster will slaughter. And the only way you’ll be like your father is if you sit around and do nothing to save them.” David slowly rose from the stoop and reached for the door.
Jace sighed. “You sure have a way with words.”
David paused. “Being a closet book nerd all those years in high school came with a few perks, aside from keeping me golden in Allsún’s eyes. She always loved it when I’d read the books she liked.”
A smirk crept across Jace’s face. “You were such a pansy back then.”
“Bite me.”
“Gladly.”
David lingered in the doorway, burning holes into Jace’s back with his heavy gaze. Jace stared at the concrete in front of him. The image of the dead women’s bodies, shredded before they were sexually violated in death, was seared into his memory. Their faces would never leave. They’d had years of life ahead of them, families and loved ones to miss them. And so would any others who that bastard targeted. Yet here he sat, wasting precious time as he sulked about his pathetic issues and tried to preserve his own sanity. And for what? So he could spend the rest of his days living like a drunken bum?
“That was a shitty move, David, playing on a guy’s emotions like that. But I’ll do it.” Then he mumbled a few creative profanities to show what he thought about that decision.
David laughed and stepped inside the building.
“We’re leaving soon, before I change my mind,” Jace yelled after him. Then he let out a long sigh. The killer knew who he was. How did Robert know him? Why would he want Jace’s attention?
Do I know him?
Robert’s cold blue eyes lingered in Jace’s mind.
A gust of cold wind slapped against Jace’s back and sent a shiver down his spine. He forced himself to remember the contorted look of rage on his father’s face as he transitioned, stopping somewhere between man and wolf, the ripping sound his claws made as they tore into his mother’s clothes. His eyes had been just as cold as Robert’s. At only ten years old, Jace had wanted to carve out the man’s heart with a dull-bladed knife. The bastard deserved a slow and painful death, and Jace hoped he’d had one. And now he was about to become a monster, just like his old man.
If there was a God, Jace really needed his help.
* * *
THE DOOR TO the apartment creaked open, and Frankie shot to her feet, scrubbing the tears away and straightening her clothes. The scrawny guy with the mop of wavy hair stepped into the room, and she sank down to the ground again. What was his name?
“Sorry, if you want me to clear out I will,” she said. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“Oh, no, by all means stay. My grandmother will be out late. She loves her bingo.”
She nodded. There was something about him. She couldn’t decide whether it was his gold-rimmed glasses, his hollowed-out cheekbones or the fact that underneath all the displays of intellect he was kind of attractive—in a nerdy way. If he took off his glasses and put his hair in a ponytail, he could even be hot.
“I don’t think I ever introduced myself. I’m Dr. Shane Gray” He nodded and gave her a nervous smile, one that clearly showed he wasn’t used to socializing.
“Frankie. Nice to meet you, Doc.” She fiddled with the hem of her shirt. “Thanks for fixing me up. Guess your years of med school worked in my favor.”
“Actually, I’m not a physician.”
She lifted her eyebrows. “Then how did you—”
“I read...a lot,” he said.
“So you’re a hunter, too, then?”
He bit his lower lip before he answered, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to share. “In theory, yes. I don’t really work out in the field often. My doctorate is in the study of the paranormal and the history of religion, specifically the occult.” He paused and glanced at his feet. “I’m more of a consultant than an actual hunter.”
“Oh. There’s nothing wrong with that.” She smiled and tried to be encouraging. A moment of silence passed. She tapped her fingernails against the floor, then looked up at him again. “No hunting at all? None?”
Shane shook his head. Silence fell over them again, but this time he broke the quiet. “He’ll change his mind,
you know.”
“Excuse me?” She tilted her head to the side.
“Jace is stubborn, but he’s not a bad person. What happened to those women will motivate him, and if it doesn’t, David will. He’ll shift.”
“And he’ll hate me.” She sighed, and her whole body deflated. “I didn’t want to lie to him, but if he knew, he might have killed me since the opportunity was there. Once he let me go and we started working together, I couldn’t admit it. I knew this would happen.”
The door opened, and they both fell silent. Frankie sat up straight as Jace stepped into the room. His gaze darted between them.
Shane cleared his throat. “I’ll go downstairs and check on David. I might’ve missed something when I was examining him earlier.” He rushed out of the apartment, cleaning his glasses with the edge of his shirt as he went.
The door closed, and Jace leaned his weight against it as soon as he’d locked it.
He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. “Shane is kind of a nerd,” he said. “A lovable nerd.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I noticed.”
A long moment passed. Frankie stared at her feet, while Jace shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. She watched him from the corner of her eye. She tried not to imagine where the zipper led. She blushed.
I shouldn’t be thinking about him like that, especially now.
He was the first to break the silence. “I’ll do it,” he said.
She glanced toward him, hoping he meant what she thought he did. “Do what?”
“You know what I’m talking about. Do I need to spell it out? I’ll learn how to shift.”
Her shoulders relaxed. “You’re serious?”
“No, I’m telling you this just for shits and giggles.” He nodded. “Yeah, I’m serious. I can’t let any more women die.”
She wanted to run to his side, throw her arms around him and thank him, but she didn’t think that would go well, so she settled for plain and simple. “Thank you.”
He pointed at her. “Listen. I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for those girls.”
She sighed. “Can’t you stop hating me for just one minute?”
He turned away.
When he didn’t respond, she stood and marched toward him. “I never wanted to lie, Jace. I’m not a liar.”
He faced her again and his jaw clenched into a sharp angle. “No? Because it sure seems to me like you lied.”
“You held a gun to my head, Jace, and you expect me to think you wouldn’t have killed me if you’d known?” She dropped her hands to her sides. How could he not understand her reasoning?
He growled as if she’d insulted his manhood. “I don’t kill women.”
“Yeah, well I’m not a normal woman. I’m a werewolf, and you hunt women like me. Remember?”
He stepped forward, towering over her. If she’d been a weaker woman, she might have been intimidated. “I’ve never hurt a woman.” He stepped away from her and moved to the other side of the room. He pulled aside the ugly flowered curtains and stared into the dark street. “I wouldn’t have killed you.”
Frustration gripped her. How could she make him understand? “How was I supposed to know that?”
He closed the curtain. “You didn’t seem to think I’d kill you when you were lying in my bed later that night.”
Her breath caught. She bit her lower lip and fought back tears. She wouldn’t let him see her cry—not again. “I am not a whore.”
“I never said you were.”
She choked on her own words. “You...you implied it.”
He shook his head as he walked back toward her. “I’d never say that.”
She covered her face with her hand and sighed. “I know it was just an easy lay for you, but for me—”
Her back hit the wall so hard all the air rushed out of her lungs. She gasped as he hoisted her ass up, pulling her legs around his hips. He ground into her until she bucked against him. A wave of heat radiated through her core. Massaging his fingers against her spine, he cradled her. Pleasure coursed through her, and she leaned into him.
Anger radiated from him, yet his touch relaxed her. He tucked his head between her neck and shoulder. Inhaling her scent, he let out a low growl. Slowly he ran the length of his tongue over her earlobe. “You like doing this to me? Making me want you?”
Frankie couldn’t form words.
His teeth grazed the tender flesh, and she moaned. He dragged his lips down the skin of her ear, her neck, her shoulder, until he nibbled on her collarbone. His tongue swirled over her skin in sensual movements.
After several moments he pulled away. Before she could comprehend what he was doing, her panties were around her ankles and his thick cock was rubbing across her entrance.
“Do you want me?” He ground himself against her as he asked.
Every logical cell in her body screamed no. But her body said otherwise as she rocked her hips against him.
Apparently that was all the response he needed. He sheathed himself inside her, stretching her wide. She took every inch of him inside her.
She breathed against his ear, tickling him, and his cock jerked. A feeling of hot need filled her, and she pushed her hips harder against his.
“Did you miss this?” He slid out and rubbed his length over her thin pink slit. “I did.”
She shivered beneath his touch. A smirk spread across his face. He drove himself inside her again. She cried out as he pounded into her, each thrust sending electricity shooting through her.
As he rode her hard, he palmed her breast outside her shirt, then slipped his hand inside and under her bra. He circled each of her soft nipples in turn, using his thumb and forefinger until they were hard and aching for his touch. Then he trailed his fingers over her skin, down the line of her abdomen until he quickly found her clit. He rolled his fingers over her in sensual circles. The seat of her sex pulsated, and her body shook.
She slickened as he slid in and out of her with increasing ease. Adrenaline raced through her veins as he claimed her. The sounds of his pleasure sent chills down her spine, and she inched closer and closer to climax.
She let out a deep-throated moan.
“Do you like it when I take you deep like that?” He thrust into her again.
His body was heaven—her own little slice of divine bliss. She nearly laughed at her own thoughts as she watched him push inside of her. “Little” had nothing to do with it. Her body ached for him.
When she didn’t say anything, he reached up and lightly tugged a strand of her hair. “You didn’t answer me.”
The small jolt sent waves of sexual desire through her. She wanted him, so badly, so...
“You still didn’t answer my question,” he whispered next to her ear.
She gasped and nodded. “Yes.”
He tugged on her hair again. “Yes, what?”
Her whole body tensed as she neared her peak.
A feral snarl ripped from Jace’s throat, and his irises flashed wolf-gold. He bared his canines and growled. “You’re going to come for me, and then you’re going to tell me just how deep you like it.”
Frankie’s heart pounded as he rubbed harder and harder against her clit with his fingers, never losing momentum as he thrust deep inside her. “Come for me.”
White-hot ecstasy rolled through her as she reached her release at last. She shook against him as wave after wave of pleasure engulfed her body, consuming her until she couldn’t take it anymore. Her entire being threatened to crumble to pieces beneath his skilled hands.
She gasped. “Jace, I can’t take any more. I can’t...” She tried to tell him that she’d never felt this much pleasure before. That her body was so overwhelmed that she...
He kept shoving into her, pounding into her flesh as he fingered her. Her whole body tensed as she felt herself climbing toward a second climax.
“Jace.” She panted. “Wait.” Already she was shattering again, and she wanted him to come with her.
A low growl ripped from his throat. “Tell me you didn’t want it the first time we were together. Tell me you don’t want me now and I’ll stop.”
She opened her mouth. A small moan escaped her lips.
“Tell me...Frankie.”
Words...words...why couldn’t she find any right now?
He pushed against her with his chest, and she melted into his touch.
She did want him. No matter what he thought of her, she still wanted him.
“Jace, I...” Closing her eyes, she tried to gather her thoughts. She wanted to... “I...I don’t want—” She didn’t want him to leave. Ever. The words were trapped in her throat by the realization that she wanted this man more than she wanted her next breath. How could she have fallen like this?
The pressure on her body eased as Jace released her. Her feet hit the fluffy carpet, and she slumped against the wall. Despite the central heating, the winter chill penetrated the air—and her. It hit her full force, the moment she’d missed out on slapping her in the face.
“Jace, wait.”
“Forget it.” He turned his back on her as he straightened his clothes. She didn’t need to see his face. The tension in his muscles told her everything.
He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry if that was unwanted. Believe me when I say I won’t bother you again.” He walked toward the door without looking at her. His hand twisted the doorknob. “Tell David where and when your pack meets.”
After a long moment she finally managed to speak. “You’re still going to shift?” Damn it. That wasn’t what she needed to say. But she couldn’t tell him now, could she? Couldn’t say she didn’t want him to go. He’d pushed her away more times than he’d claimed her.
He paused, his shoulders flexing as he inhaled. “I told you, I can’t let more women die.”
A sharp pang sliced her heart. “Jace, I don’t want—”
He interrupted her midsentence. “You don’t need to explain yourself, Frankie. I get it.”
She stepped forward and raised her voice, forcing herself to say the words. “But I...I don’t—”
He walked out and closed the door behind him. The latch clicked into place and her heart hit the floor.
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