by Lauren Dane
No, she was all he had and that meant something to her still. He was hers, for better or for worse, and she’d haul his ass out of trouble again, if only so she could give it a swift kick.
Double checking to be sure she’d locked the doors—as if that could stop a werewolf—she shrugged and reached back to grab the shotgun and headed for bed.
* * *
Lex pulled his Harley into the garage and walked up the back stairs into the main house. For the first time since he’d left earlier that day, he felt relaxed. Their home was one he’d designed to serve as a refuge from Pack business. The Pack did not come to their big wooden home in the woods. There was a Pack house in town where Lex and Cade spent several nights a week but this house was theirs and theirs alone. They’d watched Pack business take over every part of their father’s life and eat at their parents’ marriage. Neither Cade nor Lex wanted to make that same mistake.
Lex walked down the grand hallway and heard his brother, the Alpha of the Pack, clicking on the keyboard, working as usual. He walked into the home office that looked out over the lake and flopped onto the couch. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself. Did you find him?” Cade spun in his chair to look at his brother.
Lex sighed. “No. But I met his sister.”
Cade raised a brow. “Oh yeah? And? I’m guessing you charmed her into bed and she told you where he was?”
Lex barked a laugh. “Try again. She fucking pointed a shotgun at my balls and told me to get lost.”
Cade looked at him wide-eyed and then burst out laughing. “No shit?”
“She looks like a librarian. Comes to the door in some prim and proper outfit, hair so tightly bound up she probably got a headache, and gives me the evil eye. Mouth puckered up like she’d been sucking lemons. The chick has Sunday school teacher written all over her.
“First she poked me in the chest! Then she told me that Rey showed up at her place—said he was being threatened by the Pack who wanted to kill him, grabbed some cash and took off. Then she told me to get out of there or she’d shoot me. I look down and she’s got a shotgun planted in my crotch and the meanest look I’ve ever seen on a human on her face. She called me wolf boy, slammed the door in my face. Oh! And flipped me off when I was driving away,” Lex said, unable to keep the admiration out of his voice.
Cade wiped a tear of mirth from his eye. “The most feared wolf in North America and a Sunday school teacher got the jump on you? Damn, I wish I could have seen it with my own eyes. You must be slipping, Lex. Clearly getting shot at and running after Rogue wolves isn’t enough to keep your edge.” He put his hand to his chin and pretended to think carefully. “Perhaps this woman should be our new Enforcer. Should we ask her, Lex? You can teach her kids and she can handle the firearms and take down the bad guys.”
Lex shot his brother a dirty look. “Make fun while you can, dickweed. I’m telling you, despite her general level of homeliness and uptightness, she was fierce. It’s kinda admirable.”
“Admirable? And she’s related to Rey? How come he’s such a weasel then?”
“There’s a messed up weasel in every family. Look at you.” Lex smirked at his brother as he heaved himself off the couch and then headed down the hall to the kitchen. He bent to grab a beer from the fridge and then tossed one to Cade, who’d wandered in behind him.
“Ha ha, very funny. Call me Alpha when you say that,” Cade growled. “What’s your plan, then, oh scary Enforcer?” Cade asked, tossing the beer cap into the recycling and leaning back against the wall.
Shoving past Cade, Lex moved to sit down at the table. “We watch the sister. You know Rey will need help. He’s going to screw up sooner or later. Hell, she admitted that she’d cleaned up after him his whole life. When he comes to her, we’ll grab him.” Lex took a sip of the beer and shrugged his shoulders. “We have to find out what he saw.”
“Well, we’d better hope we get to him before the Rogues do,” Cade said.
“For his sake and ours. We have to find out what’s going on. Until we do, no one can be trusted, and you can’t run a Pack that way.”
* * *
The next morning, as Nina walked to her car, she noticed the steel-gray Mercedes parked across the street. Upon closer examination, she saw Lex Warden sitting inside and sighed—partly in annoyance and partly at the picture he made there. He looked cool and dangerous and undeniably sexy with his carnal lips curled up at the corner into a smug smile. Pushing her attraction down as far as she could, she pulled out of her driveway and drove to work. He made no bones about following her and did so openly, probably to rattle her a bit. It didn’t matter. She’d kept her cool under much scarier circumstances than some guy watching her. As long as Gabriel listened to her advice and had hightailed it out of town and kept his head low, everything would be all right.
She snorted to herself at that. Of course he wouldn’t. He’d mess up because it was simply part of his nature. No, she could only hope when it did happen that it wasn’t too catastrophic and that she got to him before the bad guys did.
With a sigh, she pulled into her space behind the florist shop and went inside to begin to prepare for the day. This was her realm. She’d built this business from the ground up and it was totally hers. Hers to make or break, and damn it, she’d made it through a heck of a lot of hard work and sixteen-hour days.
On her way through to the employee kitchen she took the place in, loving the little details. The antique pots and containers she picked up in little shops and garage and estate sales. The potted plants and lush greenery that made the shop seem like an oasis in the middle of a metropolitan area. The stained glass panes that she’d found last year were hung in the high windows and now morning light jeweled through them and across the floor and walls.
Smiling with satisfaction, she put her lunch into the fridge and grabbed a cup of coffee that was fresh and waiting for her, and her day officially began. Checking in with her assistant, she made sure that the wholesaler had made the early-morning delivery and that everything had arrived as ordered.
Folding the doors back, she placed pretty buckets and basins of flowers directly outside of the shop, watered the hanging plants and went back inside. She made it a point to ignore Lex, who was now leaning against his car, drinking a coffee. She fell into her daily rhythm—she loved her shop, loved flowers and plants, and taking care of the daily minutiae of it all pulled her into a sort of Zen state.
Well, she’d be lying if she said she could ignore him entirely. He made quite a sight—long, muscular body lounging against that sexy car. His thighs strained the jeans he had on and all of that gorgeous hair was tied back at the nape of his neck. His large hands cradled a cup of coffee and she imagined what they’d feel like on her body. His designer sunglasses hid those beautiful green eyes but she knew his eyes followed her every move. His casual pose did not fool her, he was tight and alert and ready for anything.
Lex watched her as she moved about her small florist shop. She had an innate grace about her. He liked the way she put the arrangements together so beautifully, like it was second nature to her. She had an eye for beauty and apparently quite the green thumb. She chatted with customers and the employees and people seemed to really like her as they stopped into the shop just to say hello or to buy flowers. He hid a smile when he watched her run out to the mail carrier and tuck a bird of paradise into his bag. There was no trace of the poker-faced uptight spinster of the night before, except for those moments when she looked up and saw him—then it returned and her entire body stiffened. He wanted to grin at her when she did that. Her ire amused him. She amused him, and surprised him too. She was a lot tougher than she looked to stand there and act as if it were no big deal that a six-and-a-half-foot-tall werewolf was watching her every move.
He made his business calls from his cell phone as he watched her take lunch while working. He�
��d grown up in a family business, knew what it meant to work so hard you ate your lunch standing up and in a hurry. She seemed to be doing pretty well for herself if the traffic was any indicator. She’d had a steady flow of customers all day long and she seemed to know ninety percent of them personally.
* * *
At four, Brad came in. He got close, trying to drop a brief kiss on her lips. She stiffened and turned her head but as usual, he didn’t catch that. “Nina, there’s a guy across the street, he’s been there all day. I think he’s watching you.”
Nina smiled at him as she stepped out of his reach. Brad Logan was the owner of the bookstore next door to the flower shop and he’d been pestering her to go out with him for months. He was actually quite good looking and Nina had no idea why he was interested in her, or rather, the public Nina anyway. She liked him well enough but he just didn’t give her the spark of interest that would lead her to letting him into her closely guarded personal life. It had been awfully long though, since she’d let anyone inside. She found herself yearning to be close to someone she didn’t have to save, protect or bail out of trouble. Someone who was an equal, a partner.
“I know. It’s nothing,” she assured him.
Brad looked at Lex again. “Who is he? Do you want me to go and talk to him?” Brad asked her, still concerned.
“He’s an associate of my brother’s. Everything’s all right, Brad. Thanks for your concern though, I appreciate it.”
“Why don’t you let me escort you to your car when you close up? We could go out to dinner afterward.”
“Not tonight, Brad. I have plans, but thanks. I’ll be fine, he won’t hurt me,” she assured him and after a few minutes more of chatting, he went back next door.
Lex watched the scene with annoyed interest. Behind the sunglasses, he narrowed his eyes as the man tried to touch her. Didn’t he see she wasn’t interested? Lex felt an irrational desire to punch the guy out. “Stupid goatee,” he snarled to himself.
It was dark when she locked up and walked out to her car. He could see her roll her eyes at his presence and he gave her a wolfish grin in return. He heard her annoyed exhalation and chuckled as he followed her to the grocery store.
At the market, she shopped and tried to ignore his presence. Of course she failed when he simply walked behind her as she pushed her cart. In the produce aisle he took a cantaloupe out of her hands and picked up another and handed it to her.
She had a look of disbelief on her face and he wanted to laugh. Instead he said, “That one wasn’t any good. I have a great sense of smell, you know. The one you have now is ripe and sweet. I promise.”
She closed her eyes for a moment and it looked like she was praying for patience. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. With a barely leashed snarl of her own, she pushed her cart around him and kept shopping, but she didn’t put the cantaloupe back.
She paid and loaded her groceries into the trunk and he followed her back to her house, where he pulled up into the driveway behind her.
She spun, hands on her hips and sparks in her eyes. “What are you doing? I told you, Gabriel is not here!” she said through clenched teeth as he approached her car, where she’d been pulling out bags of groceries.
“I was going to help you carry your groceries in. That way you won’t have to make two trips.”
She sighed and waved at the bags. If he wanted to do some grunt work to make up for her extreme annoyance with him that was fine with her. She unlocked her door and motioned him toward the kitchen. She told herself that she was only doing it to watch his spectacular ass but she admitted to herself that she liked him. Even if he was a pain.
“Go ahead, get a good look and get the hell out,” she said as he set the bags down on the counter. She began to open up cabinets and the fridge and put the food away, acting as if he wasn’t even there.
“What? No thank you for hauling your groceries?” he teased.
She looked back over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow at him. “Make it quick, wolf boy. I may just change my mind and toss you out.”
It was his turn to give her a raised brow. He was a werewolf in his prime. The most feared Enforcer in North America. Heck, people were downright scared of him. He stood there, all muscle and sinew—there was no way that she could budge him, even if she took a running leap.
“Smirk all you want, I’ve warned you,” she said in a nearly sing-song voice that made him bark out a laugh. She caught him off guard, he liked that.
He was a damned good tracker, it was one of the reasons why he was an excellent Enforcer. He always found his man. Focusing on Rey’s scent, he moved through the house, but the only place that he could get it strongly was in the kitchen near the back door. He continued through the house, through the small living room with the cozy overstuffed couch and side chairs. Pausing, he looked at her living space. It was simple but extremely warm and welcoming. She had great built-in bookshelves. The decoration was at a minimum but what she did have up—some really nice black-and-white prints—lent a touch of class to the place. He peeked into the spare bedroom, which looked like an office, and then went across the hall and into hers.
Standing in the doorway, he groaned as his senses took in the intimate space. It was soft and feminine. The bed was covered by a pale blue fluffy comforter, and pillows in various shades of complementary blue were scattered all over the room. The headboard was white wrought iron and there was a stack of books at least three feet high next to the bed. He took a step inside and her scent hit him right in the balls. He closed his eyes as he breathed her in, the soft vanilla scent of her soap, a bit of citrus from her shampoo. No perfume. Her elemental scent was everywhere and it made the wolf within want to go and roll in her blankets, to coat himself in it.
He shook his head to clear it. Oh no, it was not going to go down this way. He needed to get laid and not by some uptight spinster either. He made a mental note to seek out some company when he went to the Pack house later.
“So? Satisfied Gabriel isn’t hiding in my closet or under my bed?” she asked as she walked down the hallway toward him.
Surprised by her voice, he jumped and turned. “Look, lady, it’s really important that I talk to him.” His annoyance at being so affected by her scent rang through his voice.
She noticed and put her arms over her chest and narrowed her big brown eyes at him. “Stop calling me that,” she snapped.
“So you do have emotions under that hard shell.” He grinned.
She shook her head in disgust. “Look, wolf boy, why do you want to talk to Gabriel? What have you people, er, wolves, done to him?”
He smirked at her. “Wolf boy? You object to lady and then call me wolf boy?”
“I never said I wasn’t a hypocrite. But this is my house so I get the privilege and you don’t. Now, what do you want with Gabriel?”
He sighed and ran a hand through his thick, silky-looking hair, pulling it loose from the thong at his neck. It spilled over his hands and past his shoulders. She could smell his cologne and beneath it, his maleness. He smelled hot and hard—like sex on legs. He smelled dangerous and capable of violence and she had to take a deep breath through her mouth to stop shaking. There was such a ravenous hunger for him that it shocked her into silence for a few moments.
“He might have seen something he wasn’t supposed to have seen. I need to know if he did. His life is at stake here. Did he say anything to you?”
She snorted. Of course he saw something he shouldn’t have. Studboy the Wolf Man wouldn’t be harassing her if he hadn’t. “His life is always at stake. It has been since before one of you assholes gave him the virus. He has no common sense, no ability to function on his own. When you...people, took him into your gang, Pack—whatever—you became, for better or for worse, his parents, his government, and now whatever the hell he got into h
as chased him off. He didn’t tell me anything, he took the only money I had in cash here and left in a big hurry.”
He scrubbed his face with his hands. “We are not a gang!” Taking a deep breath, he wanted to groan as her scent crawled into his body. He had to get out of there, and right away. Before he jumped on her. “If he calls, will you tell him to contact me? He’s got my cell phone number. It’s urgent. I truly don’t want to hurt your brother but there are those who will if he saw something he wasn’t supposed to. If he can tell me what he saw, I can use that to punish the guilty parties and protect him at the same time.”
“If he calls me, which god knows if he will—I’ve only heard from him rarely over the last several years—I’ll tell him what you said. I’ll also advise him to go to the cops. I doubt he’ll listen to either suggestion.”
“The cops can’t help him.” His senses honed in on her. There was something that had changed. She now had a harder edge than he’d seen before. A less polished veneer, and it wasn’t the bird she flipped or the shotgun—her eyes were hard, even behind the glasses.
She gave a very tired sigh. “No one can, Mr. Warden. Now please go.”
He nodded and walked out into the night and drove away.
* * *
Sitting in the rare April sunshine, Nina ate her sandwich. She tipped her face up to grab all the natural light she could before having to get back to work.
“Heard from Rey?”
She sighed heavily, opened her eyes and took in the gloriously male thighs that belonged to her shadow and nemesis, Lex Warden. Damn but the man was delicious.
“I thought we went over this, wolf boy. He hasn’t contacted me. I told you that I’d relay your message if he did. Anyway, let’s not pretend that you and your furry minions haven’t been watching my every move for the last two weeks.”
For a spinster she really was funny. For the hundredth time he found himself wanting to take her hair out of that ruthlessly tight bun and toss the glasses away. Wanting to know what she was like beneath the uptight veneer. Truth was, spinster or not, he liked her. More than that, he admired her. Okay, so it was more than that, he had to admit that he was sweet on her. Each time he saw her, watched her, caught her scent on the breeze, he wanted her a bit more.