“What are you doing here, Liza?”
She swallowed, wished she'd had another drink of that beer before he dragged her out here.
“I came to bring you home.”
He arched an eyebrow.
“So you finally came after me?”
She snorted. Only in his dreams would she beg to get him back. She had more pride than that and he'd made his opinion of her clear. Besides, he had a life here. A boyfriend. She was not a poacher. “Your father wants you to come home. He sent me to get you.” His eyes narrowed, the chill of his anger washing over her. His tone was mocking. “So you're just here to do the alpha's bidding, huh?”
Her anger rose to meet his, and her spine tingled, her useless psychic abilities making themselves known. She stomped it down, all of it, reminding herself she was there to do a job, not have the same old argument with Caleb. Don't let him get to you. Obviously neither of them had changed one damned bit over the years.
“I'm here to do my job.”
He stared at her several long heartbeats; then he smiled, a slow, sultry spread of his lips.
Her breath caught in her lungs as she remembered what he could do with that mouth. She reminded herself with a sharp stab the awful things he could say with it too. The reminder didn't help.
“Your job.” He paused with an assessing gleam in his eyes. “Your job is to convince me to come home?”
She nodded, her voice deserting her, but she had enough working brain cells left to be leery of his changed demeanor. He leaned forward, his lips grazing her neck in the lightest of kisses, the barest brush. His cock thrust against her belly.
“Convince me, Liza,” he whispered. “Entice me to come home.” He nipped at the sensitive skin under her ear and she gasped. In outrage. In lust. Her head fell back to give him better access. One of his hands was on her ass holding her against his hard thighs while the other worked up the back of her shirt, slid over bare skin in a firm caress.
Somehow she found the strength to push away from him, only a little disappointed when he let her go.
“So you're saying if I sleep with you, you'll come home?” It hurt that he thought so little of her, but it enraged her at the same time. His eyes glittered, hot and full of lust and anger.
“And you'll sleep with me when I'm back. I'll need a reason to stay, won't I?”
“What about Zach? Doesn't he get a say?”
Caleb cocked an eyebrow. “Zach likes to share women just as much as I do. You can't deny you were interested, baby.”
So she was just another warm body, was she? The man had a lot of nerve, and her palm itched with the need to slap the smug look off his face.
“I'll tell your father you wouldn't come.”
She spun around, prepared to get the hell out before she gave into the demands of her body, still clamoring for him despite how much her brain and heart protested. Zach hadn't moved from where he leaned against the wall, and she turned in his direction when he met her gaze.
Those eyes promised hot, sweaty sex. Not a distraction she needed, but she wanted to assure him that she wasn't a threat to his relationship with Caleb.
Caleb grabbed her elbow before she could stalk off, but instead of spinning her back around he led her out of the bar and into the frigid night air. Shit. Nothing was going her way tonight. Might as well escape while she could. She dug her keys out of her pocket and tried to pull free of his grasp. He didn't release her.
“Let me go, Caleb. I'll be out of your life before you know it.”
“Like hell you will,” he muttered.
He turned right into the parking lot, and she tried to dig in her heels.
“I'm not parked over here.”
He stopped at a truck, opened the door. “I am. Get in.”
“My stuff is inside. My coat? My purse?”
“Zach will bring them. Get. In. The. Truck. Liza.”
Did he have to emphasize that order so clearly? She considered refusing, but one look at his severe expression and she knew it wouldn't do her any good. Sighing, she got in the truck and buckled the seatbelt in silence while she waited for him to walk around and get in the driver's side. A couple of miles from the bar, he turned onto a driveway that twisted up the side of a mountain. It ended in front of a small, dark cabin and he got out, glaring at her until she too exited the relative safety of the cab. He ushered her inside, and she shivered.
“I'll get a fire going. It'll warm up quick in here.” She watched his broad back as he bent to the task, piling wood in the fireplace, striking a match. He stood and slowly turned to look at her. He stared, his gaze traveling up and down the length of her body several times as if memorizing her. Or comparing the reality of her to his memory of her. She shivered again, wondering what he saw. The form-fitting V-necked sweater did nothing to hide her hard nipples, and his eyes lingered over them. She ignored the temptation to cross her arms and hide her breasts from his view.
“What's wrong with Dad?”
It was just about the last thing she'd expected him to ask, and she frowned.
“Nothing. He just wants you to come home.”
He chuckled. “He could have sent you after me before if that was all.” She shrugged. She wasn't discussing the alpha's plans with anyone, not even his son. Caleb approached her, a slow stalk that kept her frozen in place. He reached out and pushed a stray strand of hair out of her face.
“He knew I couldn't resist you. Never could,” he whispered, leaning down, crowding in.
His mouth hovered over hers, close but not touching. Her breath hitched, then increased to a rapid rhythm. Anticipation overtook her. He was going to kiss her, and it had been so long since she'd let anyone kiss her. No one did it like Caleb. No one did anything like Caleb. She tilted her head to meet him, rose up on her toes, and he jerked back as if slapped.
She took a deep breath, struggled to steady her pounding heart. Okay. So he didn't want her. She'd known that, but it still hurt. He kept his back to her.
“There's a shower down the hall. First door on the left.” What the hell?
“Excuse me?”
He straightened, slowly turned to face her. She couldn't read his expression.
“You reek of magnolias. Stupid.” He shook his head. “You shouldn't have been in that bar, Liza. It didn't take Zach long to figure out what you are. How long before someone else would have?”
She scowled. She didn't need Caleb to tell her how to do her job or give her safety tips. It had been an acceptable risk. She was the Redhawke paladin and the beta's daughter—it afforded her more protection than most, and if it didn't, she could take care of herself.
“Just go take a shower. Or am I stuck with it? Is it one of your mother's spells?” Sort of. She'd bathed in the scent and her mother used her power to ensure it clung to her, but spells only went so far. Water would rinse it off. She didn't bother explaining that, just turned and walked down the hall.
Chapter Three
The door slammed behind her, and Caleb exhaled a pent-up breath, sagging with his forehead pressed against the wall. He shook with bitter disappointment. She hadn't come on her own. Hadn't finally stood up to her father and his to assert her independence. He may not have seen her in five years, but he could still read her, could still guess at her motivation. She wanted him sure, but she wanted to be fully accepted by the pack more. She'd never seemed to realize she already was.
He remembered the look on her face the last time he'd seen her, recalled his own fury and bitterness when he'd realized she'd come to him, seduced him because it was what his father wanted. His father wanted to join his family with his beta's family. Caleb had said the worst thing he could, the last thing he'd really meant, certain it would ignite her own anger, make her see how she was being manipulated.
The stupid, foolish words had the exact opposite effect. He squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to remember, but damned if the past was going to let him go that easily. Her shattered expression. The tears i
n her eyes she refused to shed. He'd been about to step forward, to apologize and comfort, when she'd nodded and left him.
And he'd known he couldn't stay with Redhawke. She was already progressing fast through the soldier ranks. She was everywhere he turned. Strong. Beautiful and smart. His. And he couldn't have her, because he could never be sure if she was truly his, if that was what she really wanted. It was better to remove himself from temptation.
At first, he'd secretly hoped she'd come to her senses and follow him. He'd nurtured that hope for a good three years before giving up. But now here she was. Again, at his father's bidding. His hands clenched when he heard the shower turn on, and he turned to look down the hall towards the closed bathroom door. The hell with that.
She was in his home.
His territory.
Far from what she knew.
He could keep her here. Could convince her she belonged to him and not because someone else thought it was a good idea. She couldn't hide her body's response to him. She still wanted him. Physically, at least. He just had to convince her it was more than that. So much more.
Before he could join her, however, there was a soft tapping on the door. Only one werewolf could have approached without his knowledge. Zach didn't wait for an invitation before entering. Shutting the door softly behind him, he set Liza's purse and coat on the side table.
Caleb couldn't help but smile. “How'd I know you'd get those?”
“'Cause I'm the details guy?” It was clear that Zach wasn't in the mood to joke around though.
He crossed his arms over his chest, his expression closed and no sign of his usual roguish charm.
Fuck. Caleb's reaction to Liza had been so over the top that he didn't blame Zach for being pissed and jealous. If the situation were reversed, he'd feel the same way. He was going to have to do some groveling to get back in Zach's good graces.
“So that's your witch.”
Caleb didn't bother with a response. In a drunken moment of pure idiocy when they'd first met, five years ago when he'd arrived here, he'd told Zach about Liza. They'd talk about her in a minute.
“I'm sorry about back there.”
Zach only nodded, giving no sign of the hurt or jealousy he must be feeling.
“Never seen you go possessive over a woman. It took me a minute to figure out.” He shook his head. “You can't let anyone know about her, man. You need to get her out of the area ASAP.”
No shit. And no way. He wasn't letting her go. “I wasn't planning on taking out a newspaper notice,” he said sarcastically.
Zach's eyes narrowed. “But you also weren't planning on sending her off, were you?”
He shrugged. What could he say? Zach knew him well enough that he'd see through a lie.
Instead of berating him, though, Zach smiled. Slow and wicked.
“Hard to blame you. She is a pretty morsel. Witch or not.” Caleb knew what he was thinking, and thankfully, unlike at the bar, his first instinct was not to smash his fist into Zach's face.
Zach spread his arms in a placating gesture, misreading Caleb's expression. “Hey, man, it's cool. You don't want to share. I get it.”
But his face made it clear that he didn't really get it and he didn't like it. They shared women all the time, and he'd told Zach about Liza, but he hadn't told him she was his mate. He hadn't told him because it was a truth he'd refused to see. Now it couldn't be denied. She was his.
He shook his head. “That's not it. Zach. I really am…sorry about the bar.” Zach laughed. “Just kills you to apologize, doesn't it?” He growled. “Keep pushing.”
Zach sobered, but it wasn't from the threat. “This changes things.”
“Not between us, it doesn't.”
He got a quick grin and short nod for his effort.
“Right. But either we're both taking a new lover or just you.” He didn't miss the question in Zach's statement and the more he thought about it, the less concerned he was about sharing her. But only with Zach. He wasn't sure how Liza would feel about that, but Caleb thought she might be willing to try it out at least. He'd seen the interest on her face when he'd interrupted Zach at the bar. Hell, he had no intention of giving Zach up either.
How would she feel about that?
Zach sent him a questioning look. “Stick around,” Caleb said, stepping forward for a hard kiss. “I really am sorry.”
One corner of Zach's mouth curved up. “You'll make it up to me.” He laughed, wondering how Zach intended to exact his payment. It was a relief to know they were still solid. His behavior at the bar hadn't changed that. Bringing Liza into the relationship would change things, but not that.
“This is a group relationship, not me involved in two separate relationships,” he murmured before kissing Zach again, letting it go slow and deep and sultry. They pulled apart when the shower turned off.
Liza didn't dally and a couple minutes later, he heard the door open, caught her clean, fresh scent. It affected him the way it had since she was a teenager, sending a carnal explosion of need through him. He'd learned to repress it, but now he let it free, embraced it, and power surged through him. That was a shock, because it wasn't his. He'd long suspected that it would be sex that unleashed her powers, but maybe it wasn't that simple. Maybe it was them together. He was so caught up in his musings, he didn't notice her enter the room until he smelled her fear.
He focused on her, saw her intense stare at Zach, and knew she had to feel at a distinct disadvantage, but her expression was almost serene. The scent of fear was already dissipating.
Her voice was light when she addressed him, and he doubted even Zach heard the tremor under it. “Turning me over?”
She moved to put her hands in her back pockets, and he knew instinctively he'd misjudged her. She wasn't the same girl he remembered, and that tremor in her voice wasn't from fear.
“I'll turn you over my knee if you draw that knife,” he drawled.
She turned her focused glare from Zach to him. “Is that right? I would suggest you keep dreaming.”
But she did lift and spread her hands so he could see she was unarmed. “I just want to go home. You stay here. We'll both die happy.”
Her words were conciliatory but her stance…that stance was a loose fighter's stance.
Ready to move. Ready to react. He had to smile. Where had she found this backbone?
“I don't think so, baby. You and I have a few past issues to work through.” She stepped farther into the room. “No, Caleb, we don't. Let me go before someone gets hurt.”
If any other woman had said that to him, he would have laughed. But he'd seen this one fight full-grown werewolves and come out on top. Zach, however, wasn't as smart. His chuckles broke the silence. Without completely turning her focus from him, she speared Zach with a look that would have made most men cry. Caleb shook his head as Zach realized his mistake. He held his hands out again and shook his head.
“Yeah. Not me. You want to mess his face up a little bit, he's all yours. I like mine fine the way it is.” Caleb watched in amazement as Zach gave a courtly bow. “Your reputation precedes you.”
“My reputation for pissing him off?” she asked with a jerk of her chin in Caleb's direction.
“That's the one,” Zach responded with a grin.
It wasn't until he saw her lips twitch in a repressed smile that he realized Zach had done just the thing to defuse the situation. His amusement mixed with respect put her at ease in a way Caleb hadn't. Caleb watched as her gaze swept over Zach's body, not bothering to hide her appreciation. She shook her head. “You're dangerous, aren't you?” she murmured.
“Never to you,” Zach responded almost as softly.
Her body language completely changed, going from alert soldier to soft woman in a second. Sighing, she turned her back on both of them and went to take a seat on the couch. Then she looked up and met Caleb's gaze with a look so full of longing all the air rushed from his lungs and his cock throbbed in insistent demand. He
wanted inside her again. Now.
If they were already mated, if she'd already accepted him, he might have expected to make the demand and get it. But at this juncture, the situation definitely required more finesse. Each step he made toward the couch was painful. She was frowning by the time he sat down next to her.
“What's wrong?”
“Nothing you can't fix,” he said as he took her hand and placed it on his cock. Her fingers convulsed around him a moment before she jerked her hand away. Even through his clothing, her touch had been hot and arousing. He gritted his teeth against the need threatening to spill in his jeans.
“Just—” She halted midthought, and he hoped her next words would be let me get my clothes off. He wasn't that lucky. “Let me leave. I need to leave, Caleb. I promise you will never see me again.”
He growled and pinned her to the back of the couch when she tried to run. “No.” He almost reconsidered when he looked into her eyes. Pools of emotion. Fear and disquiet and sorrow. But he knew he was responsible for that and suddenly his stubborn need for her to just come to him on her own didn't seem so damned important. Did it matter so much how he got her as long as he had her?
Fuck. Yes. Yes, it was that damned important, and he'd screwed it up before. He'd lashed out instead of explaining. But the past couldn't be changed. The only thing he could do now was make the future better.
“I'm not letting you go,” he whispered, lips just inches from hers, dying for a taste. He didn't wait for her to answer before doing just that.
She didn't respond when his lips pressed against hers. Didn't respond when he used his tongue to trace their outline. But when he used his teeth, when he closed them around her bottom lip, she shuddered and gasped, allowing him to thrust his tongue into her mouth. She tasted just as sweet as he remembered, felt just as hot. But her response was not the same untried timidity he remembered, and he repressed a savage surge of jealousy. Who the hell had taught her this woman's response? Who had taught her about lust and demand?
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