by Cynthia Eden
She flinched. Be strong. Life sucks, just like vampires. Yeah vamps were real, too. All the monsters that people feared—they existed.
Lucas’s hand dropped. “He was human.”
“No, he wasn’t.” Time for her big confession. “And neither am I.” Okay, just say it. “Lucas, I need you to—”
His nostrils flared. Then he jerked her behind him in a move she barely felt, much less saw. “Lucas? What—”
“We’re not alone.”
She heard the growl then. The hair-raising sound came from the thicket of trees that Lucas faced, hands loose at his sides, his body still.
The dark hadn’t fallen yet.
But it looked like the monsters had decided it was time to come out and play.
Chapter 2
They sprang from the bushes, bodies tense, fur up, snarls on their lips. Two coyotes with muddy brown coats and red-rimmed eyes. Saliva dripped off their teeth. Their bushy tails brushed the ground as they crouched, preparing to attack.
Oh, damn, damn, damn.
Sarah grabbed the back of Lucas’s shirt. Her nails ripped through the fabric. “You need to shift!” What was the guy waiting for? Two against one! Not the best odds. They didn’t have time to waste. The change from man to beast wasn’t instantaneous and those coyotes were less than ten feet away and—
They attacked.
Sarah didn’t bother screaming. She bent low, her fingers automatically going for her ankle sheath. The knife might not be much, but it was all she had. And the weapon had saved her ass more than a few times.
Lucas grunted when the first beast came at him. He didn’t retreat, didn’t so much as stumble. He just lifted his arm, caught the coyote around the neck, and threw him against a tree.
“Come on,” he said, and Sarah blinked, realizing he wasn’t talking to her. He was inviting the second shifter—because Sarah knew they weren’t being attacked by simple animals, no, these creatures had the minds of men—to attack.
Inviting the attack? Maybe the wolf shifter was psychotic, after all. Figured. That would be her luck.
The beast’s pointed ears twitched. He let out a loud barking cry, then he sprang forward.
Lucas raised his hand and his claws—claws that Sarah had hoped never to see so close to her—sank into the coyote’s body.
The creature fell, hard, his body thumping into the ground as blood darkened his brown fur.
Color her impressed. Sarah pushed her knife back into the sheath and rose quickly. “Nice job.”
Lucas glanced back at her and growled.
The wolf was in his eyes, glowing brightly. Lucas might not have shifted fully, but he’d definitely let his beast off the leash a bit.
The bloody coyote pushed to his feet with a whimper.
“What the hell is going on?” Lucas demanded as his gaze flew back to the other shifter. “You bastards know who I am and you know you’re damn well supposed to stay out of my territory.”
“Uh, Lucas . . .” Her eyes searched the thick brush. They only had about thirty minutes of sunlight left, if that much. “Can we please get out of here?”
“No, these assholes are gonna shift and explain exactly why they attacked—” He took a step forward, turning slightly as he held up his hands, and Sarah saw the waning light glint off the claws extending from his fingertips. “Or I’m gonna skin ’em.”
As far as threats went, Sarah thought that one was pretty good. Mostly because she knew that Lucas meant exactly what he’d said.
The coyote shifters must have known it, too. The creature who’d been tossed against the tree gave a half-hearted howl, and, as Sarah watched, fascinated and horrified at the same time, his body began to change. No matter how many times she saw a shift, she’d never get used to the brutal transformation. Bones snapped. Fur disappeared. His muzzle shortened. His ears flattened.
In moments, a man stood before her. Tall, thin, skin tanned a deep brown, and, of course, naked.
His head was bowed. Shaggy brown locks of hair covered his face. The pose was one of submission—like Lucas was gonna buy that. She inched to his side. The better to watch.
“Why did you attack me?” Fury vibrated in Lucas’s voice.
“Not you.” One long, bony finger lifted and pointed toward her. “The woman.”
Goosebumps rose along her arms. “We really need to get out of here.” So the bastard had followed through on his threat. He’d put a price on her.
Lucas’s blue eyes focused on Sarah. “Why are you after her?”
She held his stare. She’d explain everything to him when they were somewhere nice and safe and out of the open.
The coyote shifter said, “There’s two hundred grand being offered for her.”
No, being offered for her dead body. But, of course, the jerk coyote wasn’t going to admit that part. Surely Lucas understood though, he knew these games.
“Lucas . . .” His name slipped past her lips. She couldn’t look away from his eyes. Okay, this wasn’t his fight, so maybe he probably should just turn his back on her and walk away.
But if he did that, she might as well just jump into a grave. Without a pack to aid her in this mess, she wouldn’t survive. All her allies had vanished. Or been killed.
“I saved you at that jail,” she reminded him, and dammit, that was partly true. “Pack law says you owe me now.” She licked her lips and tasted her fear. “Help me.” She wouldn’t beg. Not yet, anyway. But maybe in about five more minutes, if more of those smelly coyotes burst from the bushes and came at her with claws and teeth.
Lucas stared down at her. Watching. Weighing. After one very long moment, his gaze tracked down her body. No expression passed across his face.
“Help me.”
When his gaze rose again, he inclined his head in the faintest of moves, then he turned his attention back to the coyote.
Oh, Christ, please let that have been a yes.
Lucas crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the trembling man. “You caught my scent the minute you crept into the park.”
The shifter glanced up at him from beneath thick clumps of hair.
“You knew I was a wolf.” Lucas’s lips curled down in a hard frown. “And I’d bet that you knew exactly who I was.” A pause. “But you attacked anyway.”
“Her! Not you—her!”
The snarl that burst from Lucas had the guy stumbling back. “She was with me, and you attacked.” Lucas shook his head. “Wrong move, asshole.”
Sarah straightened her shoulders.
“You don’t ever, ever come at me again with bloodlust in your eyes and teeth bared, you understand?” The words vibrated with rage. “If you do, I guarantee it will be the last fucking mistake you ever make.”
The shifter gave a quick nod.
“Get out of here, and take your dog,” Ooh, big insult that, the coyotes hated being called ‘dogs’, “with you.”
The guy scrambled. He grabbed the bleeding coyote and tossed the “dog” over his shoulders. That second shifter had to be injured pretty badly if he hadn’t been able to transform back to human form.
Lucas waited for the man to turn away with his bleeding buddy before saying, “I’ve got your scents now. You’ll have two hours to get out of town. If I see you after that—you’re both dead.”
The shifter broke into a run.
“And you . . .” He slanted a dark glance her way. “Pack protection doesn’t come as cheaply as you seem to think. I don’t give a shit about the old laws.”
Her stomach dropped. “If you don’t help me, then I’m the dead one.”
A shrug.
What? “You can’t be that cold of a bastard. I need your help, and I’ve traveled over seventeen hundred miles to find you.” Just like John had. Hopefully, her quest wouldn’t end the same way.
She wasn’t ready to die.
Sarah sucked in a deep breath. “I know who set you up for murder. If you give me protection, I’ll give him to you.”
>
Both brows rose. “Oh, you’ll most definitely give him to me, one way or another.”
Her back teeth clenched. “I could have left you in jail,” she gritted.
A hard smile. “And I could have let the coyotes have you.”
She flinched. Okay, he had a point there. A rather nasty, cold-hearted one, but . . .
“You must have done something pretty bad to get a price on your head.”
Not really. She’d actually tried to do something good. That just hadn’t worked out so well.
“Sarah King . . .” He drew out her name, as if tasting it. “Are you a bad woman?”
Yes. Don’t trust me. She bit back the words. Now really wasn’t the time for that much honesty between them. So she didn’t speak but she managed to hold his stare.
After a moment, he lifted his hand and offered it, palm-up, to her. “Once you come with me, there’s no going back.”
The heated look in his eyes told her he wasn’t just talking about a few days of protection.
But right then, she would have traded what was left of her soul to walk away with Lucas Simone.
“I don’t want to go back.” The rumors she’d heard over the years, about humans being absorbed into the packs—women, mostly, who disappeared after they were linked with male shifters—those stories drifted through her mind once more.
Some wolf shifters roamed on their own. The Lones. Some Lones existed in society, blending almost seamlessly with the humans. But most of the Lones didn’t blend so well. They had breakdowns. They’d been known to go on killing rampages. Often, they were tagged as serial killers and put down.
The rest of the wolves . . . they were pack. Pack was sacred. Pack was strong.
What would she have to do in order to belong? What would she have to sacrifice?
And did it matter?
Sarah took Lucas’s hand and kissed her old life good-bye.
Lucas didn’t take the woman back to his house on Bryton Road. The place was probably still crawling with cops and reporters, and he didn’t feel like dealing with all that crap.
He called his first in command, Piers Stratus, to let him know that he was out of jail and to tell him that there were two unwanted coyotes in town.
The woman—Sarah—didn’t speak while he drove. He could feel the waves of tension rolling off her, shaking her body.
She was scared. She’d done a fair job of hiding her fear back at the police station and then at the park, at first anyway. But as the darkness had fallen, he’d seen the fear. Smelled it.
Sarah had known she was being hunted.
He pushed a button on his remote. The wrought-iron gates before him opened and revealed the curving drive that led to his second LA home. In the hills, it gave him a great view of the city below, and that view let him know when company was coming, long before any unexpected guests arrived.
When the gate shut behind him, he saw Sarah sag slightly, settling back into her seat. The scent of her fear finally eased.
Like most of his kind, he usually enjoyed the smell of fear. But he didn’t . . . like the scent on her.
He much preferred the softer scent, like vanilla cream, that he could all but taste as it clung to her skin. Perhaps he would get a taste, later.
With a flick of his wrist, he killed the ignition. The house was right in front of them. Two stories. Long, tall windows.
And, hopefully, no more dead bodies waited on the steps here.
He eased out of the car, stretching slowly. Then he walked around and opened the door for Sarah. As any man would, Lucas admired the pale flash of thigh when her skirt crept up. And he wondered just what secrets the lovely lady was keeping from him.
“We’re going in to talk.” An order. He wanted to know everything, starting with why the dead human had been at his place.
She gave a quick nod. “Okay, I—”
A wolf bounded out of the house. A flash of black fur. Golden eyes. Teeth.
Shit. It wasn’t safe for the kid. Not until he found out what was going on—
The wolf ran to him. Tossed back his head and howled. Sarah laughed softly.
Laughed.
His stare shot to her just in time to catch the smile on her lips. His hand lifted, and almost helplessly, he traced that smile with his fingertips.
Her breath caught.
Lucas ignored the tightening in his gut. “Shouldn’t you be afraid?” After the coyotes, he’d expected her to flinch away from any other shifters. And Jordan was one big wolf, with claws and teeth that could easily rip a woman like Sarah apart.
She looked back at the wolf who watched them. “He’s so young, little more than a kid. One who is glad you’re—”
No.
Understanding dawned, fast and brutal in his mind. I’m more than human. She’d told him that, he just hadn’t understood exactly what she was. Until now.
His hands locked around her arms and Lucas pulled her up against him. Nose to nose, close enough so that he could see the dark gold glimmering in the depths of her green eyes. “Jordan, get the hell out of here.” He gave the order to his brother without ever looking away from her.
The wolf growled.
“Go!”
The young wolf pushed against his leg—letting me know he’s pissed, ’cause Jordan hates when I boss his ass—and then the wolf backed away.
“Now for you, sweetheart.” His fingers tightened. “Why don’t we just go back to that part about you not being human?”
Her lips parted. She had nice lips—sexy and plump. He shouldn’t be noticing them, not then, but he couldn’t help himself. He noticed everything about her. The gold hoops in her dainty ears. The streaks of gold buried deep in her dark hair. The lotion she’d rubbed on her body—that vanilla scent was driving him wild.
He was turned on, achingly hard, for a woman he barely knew. Not normally a big deal. He had a more than healthy sex drive. Most shifters did. The animal inside liked to play.
But Sarah . . . he didn’t trust her, not for a minute, and he didn’t usually have sex with women he didn’t trust. A man could be vulnerable to attack when he was fucking.
“You know what I am, Lucas,” she said and shrugged, the move both careless and fake because he knew that she cared, too much.
“Tell me.” Her mouth was so close. He could still taste her. That kiss earlier had just been a tease. Want more.
“I’m a charmer,” she whispered.
A charmer. The weakest of the paranormals, and, in his mind, the damn sneakiest. Charmers blended the best with the humans. They got to live in the bright, fake world of date nights and football games. They passed as humans all the time, had all the perks of human life, but charmers had magic inside, weak, but still there.
Charmers were able to communicate telepathically with animals. To “talk” with them. Each charmer had one type of animal that she or he could talk with—some spoke to bears, tigers, hell, he’d even known one lady down in the South who could talk snake to a Burmese python.
“Who do you talk to?” Because his suspicion couldn’t be right. No way. It was impossible.
She bit her lower lip. That sexy, red lip—
Shit.
He kissed her. Lucas crushed his mouth against hers and let the hunger take over—the hunger that had been building the whole time he’d been trapped beside her in that SUV, trapped with her soft flesh so close and her sexy scent surrounding him.
He’d had a piss-poor day. Time to stop playing nice and get back to doing things his way.
Hard and dirty.
Her mouth opened, lips quivering. Perfect. His tongue swept inside, driving deep. Her kiss wouldn’t be as good as before. Couldn’t be. He’d imagined that lick of fire, that wild arousal, that—
His cock jerked. Dammit.
Her breasts pushed against him, nipples tight and pebbled. The scent of her arousal teased his nostrils, and Lucas realized he was in serious trouble.
Just as bad as before. No, ju
st as good, and that equaled one big-ass problem.
Growling, he pulled back. “Who . . .” He swallowed, and tried to sound more like a man than a beast as he demanded, “Who do you talk with?” Who, what—same thing in his world.
Her lips were red, swollen, and her eyes were so wide. “Wolves.” Her voice was husky, tinged with the same need that had him aching.
Hell.
A new worry shot through him. “My kind . . . can you—” He wanted her mouth again. Soon. “Can you read us when we’re in human form?”
A slow shake of her head. “No. Only when you’re the wolf.”
He wasn’t sure he believed her.
But he still freed her and stepped back. Because if he didn’t, Lucas knew he would have taken those lips again, and he wouldn’t have stopped with such a simple taste.
“Go inside. There’s a room on the second floor, to the right of the stairs—you can use it, for now.” Until he figured out exactly what was happening and how to get the price off her head.
Why do I care?
Because she had saved him at the jail. While he’d denied it to her, he did follow pack law. Up to a point.
Lucas turned away from her. He’d need to send Jordan someplace safe. Until this shit was smoothed over, he wasn’t going to risk his brother.
He’d almost lost him before. No way was he going to put his brother in harm’s way again.
“Is having sex with you the price of protection?”
Her voice froze him. Then anger ripped through his gut. He glanced back at her, frowning. “If it is?”
The wind tossed her hair. The moonlight glittered in her eyes. “I didn’t realize you were that hard up, wolf.”
He almost smiled. Nice bite. He loved women who knew how to fight. “You’re not gonna have sex with me because you want a safe place to hide.” And hiding, yeah, he knew that was what his little charmer was doing. Hiding with the big, bad wolf.
“Good to know, I—”
“You’re gonna have sex with me because you want me, just as badly as I want you.” Immediate attraction. Animal lust—that’s what his kind called it. Sometimes, the beast inside just recognized a perfect sensual partner.