Checkmate

by Annmarie McKenna

  Then there’d been the time when her appendix had almost ruptured. He’d seen her just after the surgery. For weeks she hadn’t looked herself, but was still more than beautiful to him.

  If he could just get her the hell out of here, he might be able to explain some of that to her.

  She had the fucking blanket wrapped so tight around her, it was a wonder she hadn’t strangled herself to death yet. He grabbed a handful near her slim hip, and gave a yank.

  She hissed in pain as the fabric pulled at her shoulder. “Christ. I’m sorry, Nikki-Raine.” He leaned over her, hovering just above where the fucker had shot her, and looked into her face. It was all scrunched up, her eyes squished closed, her teeth biting into her bottom lip. “Damn it, baby.” He rested his hand on her upper arm and tried to soothe her. Scratch or not, she’d been shot. It had to hurt. Causing her more pain wasn’t in the cards.

  “Please…just go.” Her broken whisper ripped a hole in his chest, making it difficult for him to breathe.

  “No way in hell, Nik. If I have to carry you out of this hospital, I will.”

  “No,” she sobbed, burying her head deeper into her pillow.

  Eli sighed. He should have known this wasn’t going to be easy. Hell, Derek had warned him that she wouldn’t want anything to do with a man, especially not after the things she’d seen the night before. But, damn it, he wasn’t just some run-of-the-mill man. He had years of training in this kind of stuff, co-owned a personal security company with his brother. If there was one thing he knew, it was how to keep a person safe.

  Safe from the bad guys, not from him, because she was about to learn how much the wolf and the man in him wanted her, no matter what had happened in the past.

  “Nikki, they aired a segment on the news last night and this morning. He knows you’re out here, honey. Fuck, barring that he’s a complete idiot, which is highly unlikely, he knows you’re at this fucking hospital.” A subject which his brother, Caelan, was broaching right now with the local police out in the hall. The bastards couldn’t have put out a bigger ad as to where their witness was.

  “Then I’ll go with my parents.” Her voice was muffled against her pillow, aggravating the shit out of him. She almost seemed shy.

  Fine, if she wouldn’t come to him, he’d go to her.

  “I know about what happened, Nikki-Raine.” He slid his hand along the crook of her arm and tore the blanket from her tight little fist, covering it with his own, feeling her out-of-control pulse along her wrist as he did so.

  Just as he thought. She was scared to death. Not only of the killer, but him. His throat burned when she tried to curl into a tighter ball under him. The way he had her pinned beneath his armpit only curved her more fully into his chest and arm so that he was essentially holding her, cradling her body with his own.

  “Like you said, it was just on the news.” She sniffed again and with his thumb, he flicked a tear off the only side of her nose he could see, not letting go of the hand he held.

  He pushed at the stray wisps of her beautiful, usually glossy, black hair and tucked them behind her ear. Leaning closer to her ear, careful not to touch her shoulder, he whispered to her, “I know about everything, sweetheart.”

  Her body went rigid, her breathing stopped. And then she cried, hiding her face even more, while he continued stroking her hair back from her sweaty face and caressing her fist with his thumb.

  He would not give her a chance to back away from him, not even as her soulful sobs tried to squeeze the life from him.

  “I know, and I don’t care.” It wouldn’t bother him if her arms and legs were rearranged. He certainly wasn’t going to be concerned about a scar on her cheek. Hell, he had his own share of scars.

  Eli kissed her ear, smiling as he licked the lobe. She shivered and sniffed but at least stopped crying. He moved on to her shoulder, kissing gently along the bandages peeking out from beneath the blue floral print hospital gown. Then he levered himself up on the bed with one knee so he could lean more fully over her without hurting her.

  His lips traveled up her shoulder into the sweet curve of her neck, which she granted him access to, along the curve of her jaw, and up to the corner of her mouth. Eli teased her lips with his tongue, and then licked along the path a tear had cut across her cheek, before adding a last kiss to her eyelid. She smelled so damn good.

  Beneath his jeans, his cock hardened. If he didn’t get off of her, he would do something stupid like roll her onto her back and flip that flimsy gown over her head so he could touch and sip at her small breasts. It was fucking hell imagining what color her sweet nipples would be, and how much of them he’d be able to get in his mouth.

  They’d taste like ripe berries. He’d drown in them, sucking them strongly along his tongue and biting at them until she arched her back and begged him to touch her some more. And then he’d mark her skin with his teeth, announcing to every pack in the world who she belonged to.

  Fuck. Fuck! He had to stop kissing her. Had to get her the fuck home where she’d be safe and he could ease her into his world. Having Tieran in the house would help, he hoped. His sister-in-law would at least be able to share her experiences as a somewhat new mate.

  What was he doing to her? Her heart beat so hard he had to feel it clear through her back. His lips sent tiny electrical pulses zipping across her body. Without realizing what she was doing, Nikki lifted her head so he had better access. They had to stop before Derek came barging in and found his best friend smothering his little sister. With kisses.

  “Stop, you have to…” She tilted her head an inch further but kept her eyes closed, afraid that if she opened them, he would disappear. “Right there. Oh God.” She bit into her already punished lip. He was killing her.

  Suddenly he was gone. His weight lifted completely off her, leaving her empty and mortified. She’d given in too easily and now he was backing off. He was probably disgusted with her.

  “Your mom sent some clothes for you, sweetheart. Do you need some help getting them on?”

  Oh right, like that’s gonna happen, her mind said. Her pussy begged just the opposite. Yes, rip off my clothes and take me.

  “I’m not a child, Eli.” That’s it, duck behind a cool demeanor like his kisses meant nothing to her. Anything to get him to leave her alone to wallow in her misery, before he saw her face.

  “No, I can see that you’re definitely not a little girl anymore.” His voice was funny, like he was choking on his words.

  Regretting that he’d ever touched her?

  “Can you leave then?”

  “I’ll be outside the door. Caelan’s here too. He’s gonna help get you out of here without being seen. But understand this. I won’t be leaving your side until this is over, so whatever freaky-deek notion you’ve got going on in that head of yours about not wanting to look at me, you better get over it pretty damn quick.”

  “Fine.” She flung herself to a sitting position and, ignoring the ripping pain that tore through her shoulder, let her legs dangle over the edge of the bed. “Is this what you want?” she demanded. “You want to see what happens to a person’s face when their car rolls over three or four times? Are you happy now?”

  Her face was hot with her anger, the slash probably glowing against her red cheeks. Eli stood about five feet away, staring at her like she’d grown another head, his jaw ticking. Served him right. Maybe now he’d get over this ridiculous idea of kissing her like she suddenly meant something more to him than just being Derek’s sister.

  His feet moved, stepping closer and closer to her. She couldn’t look him in the eye anymore. Instead she focused on his scuffed, leather work boots. He didn’t stop until his thighs touched her knees. His muscles rippled beneath his jeans as he took on a relaxed stance.

  “Look at me.”

  She shivered and shook her head, allowing her long hair to fall forward and cover her face. Taking a deep breath, Nikki let her gaze wander up from where their legs touched and got caugh
t on the way by the massive bulge just beneath his zipper. Swallowing was hard and her lips were suddenly dry.

  “Look at me,” he commanded her again.

  “I am.” Her words were whisper soft as she fixated on his cock and imagined what it would look like if she unzipped him and let it out.

  “My face, sweetheart.” He tilted her chin up with one long finger until her eyes met his. “As much as I’d love for you to get to know me that way, this isn’t the time or place.”

  The cocky bastard was smiling. His brown eyes, yellowed with intensity, were crinkled at the corners and she got lost in their depths. Just below one eye was a hint of a forming bruise. Her heart lurched. Somehow he’d been hurt. His thumb came up to stroke her chin, making her completely forget everything except what his touch did to her.

  “You’re beautiful, sexy, smart, and I can’t wait to bury myself inside your soft little pussy.”

  Nikki gasped. She squeezed her legs together and tried to stave off the impulses spiraling through her because of his words. He could not have just said that. Could he?

  “Yes, I did, and we will. At home, where I can lock you away until I have uncovered every inch of your delectable body.” Her heart pounded against her chest wall, her clit throbbing right along with it. “And then I’m going to taste everything I’ve just discovered.”

  “Oh my God.” The starchy hospital gown rasped her nipples, making her moan and squirm.

  “Now, get off that bed and get dressed so we can get the hell out of here.”

  Eli turned and walked out of the room, leaving her dazed. Never, in all the years she’d known him, had he ever talked to her the way he just had. Her arms and legs felt like mush and she was lightheaded.

  She was dreaming. It had to be a dream. In a minute she would wake up and find Derek standing guard. Then she could chalk the whole Eli dream thing up to an erotic fantasy and forget it, because no way could she tell Derek about the thoughts she’d done so well in hiding about Eli for the last ten years.

  “Get a move on, sis. Loverboy won’t wait long.”

  Nikki jerked her gaze toward the door where Derek stood poking his head in and slapping the doorframe.

  “How did…”

  He walked over to her. “I had to tell him, Nik. His head nearly exploded when I told him about the killer. It made me do some thinking. And some punching,” he admitted in a sheepish tone, his shoulders hunched like he was steering off a cold wind.

  “So that’s what happened to his cheek?”

  Derek moved his jaw back and forth, a pained look on his face. “Yeah. I told him I’d kill him if he hurt you.” He held up his hand when she would have spoken. “And there are things you don’t know about him. Things he does that…” He stabbed his fingers through his hair. “Jesus. I can’t believe I’m having this conversation with my little sister. Remember those times…”

  “He’s a werewolf?” Was she finally going to get her answer after all this time? There wasn’t much that would stop her from being with Eli, but shifting into an animal form? She honestly didn’t know how she felt about something that went well beyond the realm of possibility. Then again, Eli’s sister-in-law could see things before they happened.

  “You’ve known all along, haven’t you? Who the fuck told you?”

  Nikki laid her hand on his forearm. “Rumors, Derek, just rumors. And there are plenty of them circulating about Eli and his brother.” His very gorgeous, identical twin brother, Caelan, who was apparently here somewhere. “You certainly didn’t help out any, never giving me a straight answer when I asked about them.”

  Her laugh quickly turned into a groan when a pain shot up her neck.

  “Damn, sorry. The doc’s on his way in to release you. Maybe he’ll give you something for the pain.”

  She nodded, gritting her teeth, her lips pursed.

  “Anyway, please do whatever Eli tells you to. He knows what he’s doing.”

  Nikki’s left eyebrow rose sharply. “Anything?”

  Derek grunted.

  Chapter Five

  They were swarming like bees on honey. He stopped at the nurses’ station down the hall and watched the small crowd gathered outside room 4112. The bitch’s room. He eyeballed the whiteboard covered wall, found her room number and immediately had access to her name and condition.

  Nicole Taylor, GSW, discharged. Son of a bitch. He slapped his hand down on the counter. The nurse jumped with a squeak and looked at him distractedly. He smiled at her until she smiled back. Yeah, smile, you pretty little cunt. Forget I was here. “Sorry,” he said, making sure the charm dripped off the word.

  “No problem.” Two dimples appeared on her cheeks.

  Fucking clueless woman.

  There was a hallway between him and the group. He would only get as close as that. An older man, two younger men—identical muscle—and a uniform. The door was open so there was no telling how many other people were inside the room. Or how long the doctor would be before he let the bitch walk out the door.

  He’d wait her out.

  Then he’d finish what he’d started and kill her. It wouldn’t be as sweet as fucking her first then ripping her apart with his bare hands, but he didn’t have that luxury anymore.

  * * *

  “What are we waiting for?” Nikki whispered, sandwiched between Caelan in front of her and Eli behind her. Caelan was so close, her arm, which she held carefully across her belly to lessen the tension on her shoulder, rode snugly along his muscle-bound waistline. She fought the urge to spread her fingers and cop a feel of his butt cheek and wondered if Eli’s would feel the same. She giggled.

  Eli’s entire body was pressed up against her, his hard-on wedged firmly in the small of her back, making her squirm. She licked her lips, frustrated by the fact that she was turned-on at the most inopportune time by not only the man who had her heart but by his brother also. How Eli could have a boner right now, was anybody’s guess.

  He had both of her upper arms in his grasp, and for that she could kiss him. Every minute that went by, her body got heavier, her head lighter. Whatever the doctor had given her was working.

  She leaned her head around Caelan’s wide shoulders and looked out the double doors that led to the parking lot. Caelan’s SUV was parked not more than twenty feet away, Derek standing guard like a sentry.

  “Stand up,” Eli hissed behind her and yanked her back upright. She felt nothing, not even a twinge in her shoulder.

  “Geez.” She yawned. “I was just wondering if you thought your big truck was gonna sprout wings and fly over here.”

  Caelan snorted. Her brain was getting foggier and her neck was starting to feel like a wet noodle. “I just need a little snooze.” She yawned again and let her head fall forward to rest on Caelan’s back.

  “Uh-uh, not yet, sweet cheeks.” Cealan stepped forward, turned and caught her head against his chest before it could fall off and roll on the floor. “Hey, Nikki.” He snapped his fingers.

  She giggled again.

  “Oh brother. We’re gonna lose her before we get her in the car.”

  “You guys are so cute.”

  Caelan pushed her head back with a thumb under her chin and laughed. “And you are stoned out of your mind.”

  Nikki reached out with her good hand and laid it on Caelan’s chest. A deep growl reverberated down her spine. She thought the sound originated from Eli, but what kind of man could make that noise?

  A werewolf.

  Caelan cleared his throat. “It’s not me you should be touching, sweetheart.”

  “But you look just like him,” she sighed.

  “Him is standing behind you and unless you get your hands off my brother, him is going to spank your little ass.” Eli’s big hand appeared and snatched hers off Caelan. He squeezed her fingers and tucked them behind her back, keeping them hostage.

  “Poo. You’re no fun,” she pouted.

  “When we get home, I’ll show you all kinds of fun.” Eli�
�s warm, sultry words tickled her ear and her knees threatened to buckle with the insinuation. Even through the haze of drugs her body responded to him.

  Caelan snorted and turned around again. Nikki shrugged her good shoulder and let her head fall forward once more. His back shook with laughter.

  * * *

  He whistled softly, his eye pressed to the scope of the rifle he’d procured from a secret compartment in his car. It was a special rifle. One he could carry in a gym bag and assemble and disassemble quickly without anyone knowing he had it on his person. He waited for the cunt to clear the double set of doors. If her leaving was supposed to be some clandestine mission, it wasn’t working very well. Right now, Nicole Taylor was standing between the two hired muscles he’d seen outside her room. The front man turned and caught the woman who fell forward into him. She’d obviously been given some kind of sedating painkiller before her discharge.

  Good, he’d have a better shot if they were moving slower. He swept the scope to the SUV parked at the curb. Another man stood on the rear passenger side, his hand on the door handle. Any second now, they’d escort Nicole out the door and into the waiting SUV. Then she’d be whisked away and much harder to find.

  He could find her, he wasn’t worried about that, but he didn’t want to. He wanted her gone now. And he’d be conveniently missing whenever they found this little hidey-hole.

  The first set of doors finally slid open and the trio stepped through.

  “Yes, yes, come on.” His finger tightened on the trigger. “Not yet.” He took a deep breath.