by Lauren Dane
“What if they know about the virus?”
Warren shrugged. “If they knew about it, they’d have sent the Enforcer out already, don’t you think? The Wardens are nothing if not proactive. I’m betting this laptop is either a fantasy or has nothing on it. Didn’t you say there were things built into the program for the lycanthropy virus that would be impossible to break and if they did, just getting in would trigger destruction of the information?”
“For anyone but the finest hackers, yes. The wolf who fed Carter information was a good friend of Tommie’s and Tommie told him that the program was unbreakable. The woman is beautiful and strong willed. But she’s a florist, she’s certainly no hacker.” Jack lit a cigar and handed another to Warren.
“You’ve taken care of the wolves who set that fire at the woman’s house and her business?” Warren asked.
“Yes. They won’t pose any more of a problem than Carter will. Idiot. Attacking the mate of the Enforcer was a stupid, stupid thing.”
“Yes, well. He’s no longer an issue for us. The time has come for us to start trials on some humans. We can’t very well ransom this virus if it doesn’t work.”
Chapter Eight
Nina slowly sank into the bath with a long satisfied sigh. The water was just hot enough. Her core body temperature was starting to rise as Lex had explained it would. That part was kind of nice as she was one of those people who was always cold.
She’d just closed her eyes and fully relaxed her body when she heard Lex enter their bedroom and kick the door closed. The new intensity of her senses was a bit overwhelming and she wondered what it would be like once she fully made the change.
He entered the bathroom and her body tightened up and her insides calmed as his scent hit her. It was like he was this cherished thing and the hottest, sexiest man to ever walk the planet—warm milk and Brad Pitt all in one.
“What are you smiling about?” he asked softly.
“Warm milk,” she answered opening her eyes to see him there with a mug and a plate with cookies on it. She certainly wasn’t going to say Brad Pitt. Lex came bearing chocolate chip cookies and chai tea, milky and sweet like she preferred it. Hell, he was better than Brad Pitt.
“Do you want some warm milk?” He started to move back toward the door and she put her hand up.
“No. Thank you, darlin’, but no. I was just thinking that you were like a hot sex symbol and comforting warm milk all at the same time.”
The worry passed from his face and those lips quirked up a grin. “You looking to get lucky, ma’am? You’re looking pretty damned good there naked and wet.”
“Oh, now, you see, I think I’m already getting lucky here with this plate of cookies in the hands of an incredibly sexy man.”
“You’re full of shit. But I like it. Cade made them, he bakes when he’s upset.”
Nina opened her mouth to say something but closed it and slid beneath the water. When she came back up Lex was staring at her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
“You were going to say?”
“You know what I was going to say, therefore it isn’t nearly as fun.” She grabbed a cookie and stuffed it into her mouth. “And anyway, his girly ways make good chocolate chip cookies so who am I to complain that he’s the amazing baking Alpha?”
Lex chuckled and started to head out.
“Uh, hello?”
He turned around. “What is it, beautiful?”
“Is the honeymoon over so fast? Before we’ve even had a wedding?”
He looked confused.
She sighed. “Lex, it’s midafternoon and a naked woman is in your bathtub. You were planning to...? Grout? Go bake? Shine your obscenely expensive shoes? Ravish your wife?”
She got to her knees and held out her hand. “I think you’re dirty. Really dirty. You need a bath.”
“Oh! Well, you were tired and you had a crappy morning and...”
“Babbling again.”
Laughing, he tossed his clothes off and got into the deep tub with her with a wince. “Damn it, Nina, this water is hot.”
Rolling her eyes, she moved over and straddled his lap. “Thank you for the cookies.” She kissed one eyelid. “And the tea.” She kissed the other. “Thank you for being concerned about me.” His lips were beneath hers and felt carnal and fleshy and delicious. She grazed them with her teeth and he opened his mouth and pulled her to his chest tightly.
“You taste so good, beautiful,” he murmured against her lips and then her chin and neck as she tipped her head back, allowing him access to the hollow of her throat. As she did it, she felt her wolf move within her. Be moved within her by the submissive act of baring her neck to him.
He growled low, the sound trickling from his lips. With gentle but firm teeth, he took the tendon at the side of her neck and bit down. A shudder of orgasmic pleasure rolled through her, she whimpered as the sensuality of the moment flooded her.
“Oh, Nina, god.” Lex moaned, leaning his forehead against her breastbone, panting.
“What? Lex, fuck me now. No foreplay, no preamble. Hard, deep and fast. I need you to.” She stood and he looked up her body into her face. His pupils were wide and his normally green eyes were deeper, the flecks of gold more pronounced.
“Nina, my wolf is very close to the surface. It’s near the full moon and with the claiming and your change, it... I don’t know if I can be gentle right now. Just let me catch my breath.”
She reached down and grabbed his cock in her hand, her face nose to nose with his. “Did I say I wanted gentle?”
He stood so quickly she didn’t even see it. She found herself facing the wall, slightly bent, hands flat against the tile above her head. He leaned over her and kissed the back of her neck while his fingers tested her readiness. His breath quickened to find her so wet and as she’d asked, the head of his cock found her gate and nudged into her body.
Hips tilting, her body gave invitation and she was unable to stop another whimper of entreaty as he braced his hands at her hips and took her the rest of the way in one long thrust.
Hard and fast, he fucked into her body, hilting with each long thrust. The excitement at being so used by him—no, not used—possessed, wanted, desired by him, was overwhelming.
Moving one of his hands, he placed it, palm cupping her pubic bone so that his fingers slipped over her clit with each dig into her body. This brought a violent shudder of sensation with each pass.
“Is this what you wanted, Nina?” he said low into her ear.
“Yes,” she hissed as the first sensations of her orgasm began to manifest. “You feel so good, Lex. Please, more.”
“More?” he asked, lips at her ear. “More what?”
“Fuck me. Harder. I need you to be in me harder.”
And he bit her again, this time across the back of her neck, essentially holding her in place as he fucked her. Climax rocketed through her system. Her eyes closed against it as the tide pulled her under. She wondered what that scream was until she realized it was her own. Her cells swelled with endorphins, pussy slick with honey to ease his way, inner walls clasping and fluttering around his invading cock.
“Jesus, Nina, that’s so good,” he growled around her neck and thrust one last time as he unleashed his own orgasm deep into her body.
For several long minutes afterward, they stood there, still entwined in each other, regaining breath. When Lex pulled out he was gentle.
Bending down, he opened the drain as he turned on the shower head. “Let me get your hair.”
He washed her hair as she leaned against him. Afterward, he helped her out, handing her a warm, fluffy towel. There was a sore spot on her neck and she turned, catching sight of the bruise where he’d bitten her.
“Oh...” she said quietly, touching it.
; He paled. “Oh, Nina, I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you beforehand. It’s...the biting...it happens when your wolf is close mpf—”
She put her fingers over his lips. “You didn’t hurt me. I liked it. It’s okay. I understand. I understood while you were doing it.”
He took her hand and kissed it. “Oh. Good. Because I liked doing it. We heal quickly but there’s some arnica in here for bruises.” He dug in the medicine cabinet and pulled out a tube.
“Do you often bruise women while fucking them in your bathroom?” she asked, surprised by the edge in her voice.
He turned quickly and she felt that tug low in her gut that she’d grown to realize was her wolf and his reacting to each other. “Beautiful, you may have noticed that my life is sort of dangerous? I have the arnica for my own bruises.” He took her chin in his palm and kissed her lips.
“There were others before you, yes. But there was no one until you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
She shook her head.
“Nina, before you I never spent the night with women. I had sex and left. I didn’t bring them here. They served a purpose and it was a body-to-body thing. You are everything. Body, soul, heart to my body, soul and heart. You’re it. We’re it.”
“Wow.” She blinked back tears. “You say the best stuff.”
He chuckled and dabbed on the arnica cream.
* * *
Back in their bedroom, Nina stood at the dresser and looked back over her shoulder at him. “You know,” she said, dropping her robe, “aside from the insurance adjuster coming out later on, I’m free for the next few hours.”
Lex hummed in agreement as he walked toward her, dropping the towel that had been wrapped around his waist. He picked her up and took her to the bed, laying her down, following her so that his body was resting on hers.
“How is it that I want you less than ten minutes after I’ve had you?” he murmured, delivering small kisses to her lips.
“I don’t know but I’m going to stock up on that soap so you keep it up. Heh, you know what I mean.”
He laughed then and rolled so that she was on top.
She’d just dipped to steal another kiss when Cade yelled up the stairs for Lex. It sounded urgent enough that she didn’t complain, just rolled off and stayed out of his way as he pulled on jeans and a T-shirt and left the room.
She quickly dressed, pulled her wet hair back and followed the voices into the office where Cade, Lex and several other Pack wolves had gathered and were having a terse discussion.
Lex looked up when she walked in. “Carter’s body was just found near my parents’ place in North Bend.”
Nina raised an eyebrow and went to pour herself a cup of coffee. She opened her mouth and then shut it again quickly. What could she say? Good? She certainly wasn’t sorry, but at the same time, she knew enough to know it couldn’t bode well for the Pack.
She sat on the arm of the chair Cade was in and, changing her mind, put the mug in front of him and got up to get herself another. She shot a look at Lex and held up the pot but he shook his head.
Settling back in, she realized that the warmth and appreciation she’d felt was from Cade and that she was supposed to still be pissed at him. She gave a mental shrug. She’d punish him later for fun. Now was the time for unity.
“This is clearly a message, Alpha. I know there’s something going on and we can’t deal with it effectively if we don’t know what is happening,” one of the other wolves—Eric? Derek?—said to Cade.
“Message?”
Lex turned to Nina. “He was shot in the back of the head with silver shot and left openly in Pack territory. That’s a not-so-good sign that the mafia is involved.”
“The mafia? What would organized crime care about werewolves and coffee?”
“The werewolf mafia.” Lex turned to Cade as Nina processed that one.
The werewolf mafia? They had to be kidding! It was so absurd she fought the urge to laugh.
“None of these wolves were Carter’s. We need to tell them. Derek is right. This has gone too far. The more secrets we keep, the worse it’s going to be.”
Cade sighed and nodded. Lex explained the missing virus, the laptop and the embezzlement, and the other wolves sat down in shock.
“And obviously at this point we know Carter had something to do with it. I mean, you don’t get tapped by the mob, furry or not, if you’re a nice wolfie boy from Seattle just minding your own business.” Nina thought it over.
“Yes. The real question is at this point, what’s next for the Rogues?” Lex paced the room as he spoke.
“Well, if I were them, I’d want to make sure the virus was ready. Was it?”
“We obviously hadn’t done human trials yet. We were trying to set something up with humans who had been infected involuntarily. It doesn’t happen all that often and there are ethics that need to be minded.”
Except for her brother. She wanted to remind them that Gabriel hadn’t been asked to be changed but she let it go. She nodded. “Okay. And what about the effect on wolves?”
Lex winced. “That would be some creepy shit, Nina, if we’d given it to wolves not knowing what would happen.”
“Duh. I didn’t ask if you’d gone all creepy evil scientist. I just didn’t know if you’d had any extrapolations by your scientists about what may happen.”
The other wolves in the room stiffened when Nina popped off to Lex. Lex brooked no disrespect and they hadn’t ever seen anyone other than Cade speak to him like that before. In fact, most of them acted utterly terrified of him, which made her laugh, but she’d seen enough of him to know that how he treated her and those who he was close to was very different than how he treated enemies.
Nina noticed and laughed. “Don’t worry, I still think he’s the big bad wolf. I’m just snotty, I can’t help it.”
“And you’re Second too,” Cade said with a shrug and a grin.
“Oh yeah, I am.”
Lex groaned. “Can we not give her any ammo right now and keep focused on the problem at hand?”
Nina snickered and nodded. “Of course, darling.”
He snorted and began to pace again.
“Back to the subject—” he shot a raised eyebrow at Nina “—the researchers were divided. Some of them felt it would be harmless because it was already in our systems, the others felt it would be like a viral agent, causing our systems to turn on themselves. Obviously we couldn’t test that and endanger wolves any more than we wanted to endanger humans.”
“Jesus, we’ve just handed a potential tool of bioterrorism to the Rogues,” Dave said.
“Worse, to the mob.” Lex pushed a hand through his hair and Nina’s insides tightened at the sight. Damn man was like a drug.
“Well, what we have to do is clear. We have to get it back. How we’re going to do it is another thing.” Nina stood and stretched her hands above her head.
“We aren’t going to do anything,” Lex growled.
Nina looked at him and then to Cade. “Listen, I have skills here. I’m not some helpless bimbo.”
“I’m not saying you’re helpless. I’m saying you aren’t going to get involved in crossfire between us, the mob and these Rogues. They’re brutal, Nina. Snotty or not, I happen to like you in one piece,” Lex said with strained calm.
“May I speak with you outside, please?” Nina asked, sugary sweet.
Lex looked at her and knew she’d say whatever it was on her mind in front of everyone if he didn’t go with her, so he sighed. “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he told Cade and waved toward the door where Nina preceded him.
Nina was waiting in their bedroom, arms crossed, tapping a foot. “Shut the door.”
He narrowed his eyes and did it. “I’m not going to argue with you about this
, Nina. I’m the Enforcer for this Pack and I say who is involved in anything like this.”
“Oh I couldn’t possibly care less, Lex. I’m going to be involved whether you like it or not. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. It’s all the same to me. My brother was killed over this. I was almost killed and now I’m a werewolf because of Carter and your stupid fucking werewolf rules. I will have my day here and if you think you can pull rank and swing your dick around and play the big macho wolf to shut me up, you’re out of your mind.”
“You think you can tell me how to do my job?” he growled through clenched teeth.
She rolled her eyes but took a deep breath for calm. “Alexander Warden, I am not telling you how to do your job. Believe it or not, I respect your job very much. I respect that you do it so well that people fall over themselves in fear and reverence every time you enter a room. But, babe, I am telling you that I have skills here that can help. Have your people gone to Carter’s and taken his computer? Have you taken his computer from his workspace? I can get in and see what he’s been up to. I can help. Please, let me help.”
How is it that she always knew just how to disarm him? He was touched and flattered and utterly frustrated by this woman. “Why are you so damned difficult? I just want to keep you safe!” he thundered.
“Look, Mister Shouty, don’t get all testosterone wild on me! I didn’t say I would go in guns a blazin’. But you need to separate your feelings for me as your mate and your understanding that I have the ability to help you here. If you wanted some sweet, easygoing woman you barked up the wrong tree. Heh, barked! Anyway, suck it up, you have me and I’m not sweet but if you play your cards right, I am easy.”
That pulled a smile from him and he sighed deeply. “Okay, so if I get you the computer stuff you’ll let me do the other stuff without interfering?”
“By stuff you mean what?”