by Unknown
“Are you familiar with our laws in this situation?” “What do you mean?” She looked up curiously. “If your mother was wrongfully killed by our clan—and I’m not saying she was—you would have rights as her heir.”
Her eyes blinked. “What kind of rights?”
“Let’s not go there yet. I still have a duty to my clan, but I am willing to admit something doesn’t smell right in this whole freaking mess. It’s time to make a call.”
“No, you can’t—” She moved then, faster than he’d expected to position herself in front of the door.
“I have people I trust, Lara, someone who will seek the information that I need. Now you will have to trust me.” Kane stood and took the two strides to get to her, stopping within reach.
“I’d be a fool to trust you.” The words were sarcastic, but the delivery only sounded tired. She was more vulnerable than she knew and his cat wanted that part of her. Stripping the pain and anger away to reveal the woman underneath would give him incredible pleasure. She’d fight him every step of the way, but he suspected it would be worth every bruise and bite.
“Knowing you, if I pull something I’m confident you’ll find a way to make me pay.” The animal knew what it wanted, but the man still wasn’t convinced. This could all be a ruse. The retribution for playing him would be swift and deadly. Something they both needed to remember.
He brushed past her and walked out. She needed some time to think about what he said and he had some inquiries to make. For her sake as well as his, he wanted to get to the truth of this mess and no one would die until they did. Opting for privacy, he stepped outside into the shadowed area underneath the stairs.
He dug his cell phone out of his front pocket and dialed a quick three- number combination. He didn’t hesitate for even a moment to consider who to call; he knew who would help him.
The phone was answered on the first ring. “Speak.” “It’s me. I need some help.”
A bark of laughter sounded in his ear. “Don’t tell me she slipped away from you again.”
“No, it’s a little more complicated than that.” The door behind him swung open and Lara breezed past him. Her audacity made him smile. She definitely would keep him on his toes, that was for sure.
He covered the phone. “Where are you going?”
She turned back to face him. “Don’t get your panties in a twist, I’m not running.” She gave him a slight grin and his body instantly came to life. He liked when she gave him some of her sassy attitude. He let loose on a low growl, forgetting the phone for a second. “I’m going to get us some food, cat boy. I think we’re going to need our strength.”
Damn, he was in so much trouble with this one.
He put his phone back against his ear to howling laughter that even a snarl didn’t halt.
Chapter Four
Lara hopped into her beloved classic Impala her mother had left behind, the one tangible thing she’d refused to give up, and turned over the engine. She glanced in the rearview mirror but didn’t see Kane anywhere. Didn’t matter, she knew with every fiber of her being he watched her, waiting for her to run. Every time he looked at her with those hungry eyes she felt the impact everywhere. Her stomach quivered, her nipples tightened, and her pussy squeezed with a desire that baffled her.
She had her suspicions about his ultimate intentions at this point, but he’d abandoned his plan to kill her just as quickly as she’d been assured. So far so good. As far as he knew she’d agreed to a truce so she would abide by it for now. She doubted the circumstances between them would change, but if it bought her some time to figure out a Plan B, she’d take it. And boy, did she need a new plan and pronto.
The more time she spent with him the less she thought about revenge, and the more she thought about hot, naked sex. She had to force images of them flesh to flesh from her mind and pay attention to the road.
A few miles from the motel she found a small diner that looked promising. It better, considering it was the only option anywhere in the tiny town. Inside, she ignored the blatant staring as she moved through the dining area to the counter. The woman at the register gave her a hard once over that made Lara want to laugh. Guess they saw a stranger coming a mile away around here.
“Can I help you?” The tone wasn’t exactly friendly, but friends she didn’t need.
“Just some take out, please.” The woman handed her a menu and Lara studied the options. She hadn’t even thought to ask Kane what he might want to eat, but considering he was at the top of the food chain in these here parts he’d probably not have an issue with any kind of meat. Which was good, ’cause she craved a big juicy burger right now and the protein would keep her strong.
After handing over her limited cash, she gathered the large bags of food and headed out, trying not to look around. The last thing she wanted were questions or worse a confrontation. When she stepped outside and turned in the direction of her car she stopped short. Kane stood leaning casually against the emerald green metal of the hood, waiting for her. The shades riding the bridge of his nose hid his eyes from the rising sun and those, along with the stubble on his face, gave him that dark and dangerous look she found so appealing. Even the leather pack he carried seemed sexy. But, it was the tight t-shirt and jeans that got her. The way the denim hugged his thighs and cupped his...it should be illegal for him to look so good propped against her baby.
“What? You didn’t trust me to get food?”
He smiled at her, revealing white teeth, minus the canines of course, edging up the bad boy look that made her already hard nipples tighten more.
“I thought you might need some help.” He pushed off of his perch and moved toward her.
“Uh huh. So much for the trust and truce we agreed upon.” Not that she really blamed him. In his situation she wouldn’t have let him leave her sight, either. She fished in the pocket of her pants for her keys, determined to not be affected.
“Well then, maybe I just missed you.”
Lara hitched a step at the dazzling smile he threw in with that delivery. “No, now you’re just full of shit,” She laughed. She tossed the bags of food at him as she brushed past him for the driver’s side and climbed in.
“Sweet ride you’ve got here.”
“I’m rather fond of her. She takes good care of me.” Damn, open mouth insert foot. Lara started the engine and it purred to life. She would never tire of the smooth hum of that sound.
“I’ll bet she does.” He relaxed back against the soft leather seats and quieted down. She glanced around the lot for his truck but it wasn’t there. He must have shifted and ran to catch up with her.
“Have a nice run?”
“Actually I did. It’s always good to stretch my legs early in the morning. Gets the heart rate up and the blood pumping. Relieves the stress.” His hands stroked down his thighs, smoothing the denim as he stretched his long, long legs as much as he could inside the car.
She forced her gaze away and squirmed in her seat all over again. Her pussy tingled from arousal and she knew if he touched her she'd be wet and ready. She had a good grasp on the idea of having an itch that needed to be scratched, but jeez.
Come on, Lara, think about something else. Uhm. It doesn’t look like it’ll rain today. The guy who had checked me in yesterday had been a total sleaze ball, leering every chance he got. Yeah, that worked.
Back under a little control, she pulled smoothly into the motel parking lot and killed the engine. “So what’s the plan?”
“Well, I’m going to eat whatever you have in these bags, ’cause it smells damn good.”
“Smart ass.” She couldn’t resist poking at him.
“Anyone ever tell you how mean you are?” he asked.
“Who me?” She tried to fake a sweet innocent smile and ended up biting her lip to keep from bursting into laughter.
“Nice try, babe.”
“If someone told you I was nice, then you have been badly misinformed.” She wrenched open th
e car door and slammed it a little harder than necessary. The heavy door of her old car boomed loudly behind her.
Kane rushed from the car and moved toward her. “All right, all right. I called a friend of mine who can get some information for me. When I hear back from him I’ll make a decision about what to do.”
She turned and cocked her brow at him. “You will decide? What is this, the 1950s? Never mind, I’m going to assume you meant to say we will decide.”
“Yeah yeah, semantics.”
She unlocked the motel room and swept the room for any signs of disturbance. Habit made her cautious and she didn’t like being caught unaware. She headed to the bathroom to wash up and left Kane to take care of the food. He must have some thoughts on what their options were, although she couldn’t imagine what they would be. If she ran he’d come after her and her she would spend her life in hiding. Secluded and alone. Not exactly the plan she had for herself. Or, she could go back to her original plan and kill the black cougars. If she took care of all three of them then the clan would be left in a shambles. Her revenge would be completed and she could finally move on with her life.
She paused and looked at herself in the mirror. From the dark smudges under her eyes to the weight she’d gained lately, she looked tired. What exactly would she do with the rest of her life? Settle down somewhere, find a husband and have kids? She shuddered at the thought. She’d spent her whole life so far saving up for this day without taking time to consider what she’d do after. Lara shrugged her shoulders. No matter, she had plenty of time to make plans afterwards. If she survived.
When she returned to the room she stopped outside the bathroom door and watched Kane. He sat at the little table, his big body dominating the space. Even his legs stretched far beyond the edges of the furniture. She watched in fascination as he devoured one of the steak dinners she’d bought him like a man possessed without even noticing she’d returned.
“I take it you were hungry.” Her statement startled him and his head jerked swiftly around, a hunk of meat halfway to his mouth.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had a meal this good. That’s the charm of a small town like this. Great home cooking.”
“I guess a growing boy needs his nourishment.” He snarled at the word boy. So typical. She took the seat across from him and opened up one of the hamburger meals and doctored it up with condiments. “You don’t cook?”
“Not as often as I’d like to, but out on the road it’s been one fast food hell after another.” He clamped his lips shut when he realized what he’d said. Meaning, he’d been hunting her. Her guard slammed back into place as she reminded herself he was someone who could not be trusted.
“I hope telling them to make the steaks medium rare was to your liking.”
“It’s perfect.”
“Probably more cooked than you’re used to, huh?”
He set his fork down and scowled at her. “I’m not a beast, you know. I’d like to think I have the best qualities of both species. And eighty percent of my time is spent just like any other human male. Maybe you should bother to get to know me before you accuse me of any more heinous crimes.”
“That’s a little like the pot calling the kettle black, don’t you think?”
His face flushed an angry red as his gaze turned hard and cold. “Maybe we should change the subject for now.”
“Maybe so.” They finished their meal in silence and cleaned up the table. Now what the hell were they going to do? It was just the two of them in a small fifteen by fifteen space with a huge bed sitting in the middle. She couldn’t stop herself as she gazed at the king-sized elephant in the room. She needed to get out of here before either one of them did something they’d regret. He had her running hot and then cold from one minute to the next, driving her crazy.
“You don’t want to be in here with me, do you?” he asked.
She should have known he’d know exactly what she was thinking about. Fear was probably written all over her face. Not to mention she was damned horny, and a fucking cougar had sharpened senses including that annoying heightened sense of smell he enjoyed reminding her of. He would know. She shook her head, afraid to look at him.
“Let’s go for a walk, get back outside for a while. I think we could both use some fresh air and perspective.”
***
Hours later, they were headed back to the motel and even tenser than when they started. At least he was. Kane had walked behind her much of the time, and simply watching her fine round ass wrapped in snug denim had kept his dick harder than he could stand it. Her scent wafted back to him on the slightest breeze and her arousal had only increased with the exercise.
Did she have any idea how difficult it was to walk when you had to adjust your dick every few minutes to find a place where it wouldn’t press up against the rough denim? Would she care? Not likely, he imagined.
When they emerged from the woods not far from the motel, his cell phone vibrated against his ass. He stopped and dug it out of his pocket and flipped it open to find a text urging him to call as soon as possible. There were four other similar messages as well. They must have gotten out of cell range at some point while hiking.
When she turned to say something he waved his phone at her to let her know he needed to make a call. He watched her enter the room and waited until she closed the door behind her before he dialed the familiar number.
“Where the hell have you been?”
“Out of cell range, I guess. I just got your messages.” Kane shoved his hand in his pocket and leaned against the concrete wall.
“I hope you two aren’t doing anything stupid.” Annoyance buzzed from his friend’s tone.
“Hardly.”
“Good. I suggest you keep it that way.”
“Stop giving me shit and get to the point, dickhead.” He wanted to get inside that room.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I checked around and I don’t know, Kane, she might be right. There’s very little information available about her mother.” Damn. This was not what he had expected to hear.
“Who killed her?” His breath stilled as he waited for the answer.
“Don’t know. Can’t find the order.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. There’s only two options here, Kane. Either do what you’ve been sent to do or bring her in. You have that power. Although, I can tell you right now that’s not going to go over well at all. Damn council hates being questioned.”
“I’m not going to kill her if I don’t know for certain.” Not sure I could have in the first place.
“It’s your head, dude. You ready for that?”
“Doesn’t look like I have much of a choice.” He remembered the flash of sadness he’d seen in her eyes. The one look he suspected held the truth.
“I’m just glad it’s you and not me. Gonna be a shit storm when you bring her in.”
Despite the seriousness of his dilemma, Kane smiled. He always did have a way of finding humor in any situation. “You have such a way with words.”
“Ain’t my words you should be worrying about, Kane. What does she think about all this, anyways? She looking forward to walking into the enemy camp?”
“I haven’t told her yet.”
Laughter erupted over the line, annoying the hell out of him. He already knew she would tell him where to shove his plan. He closed the phone and rested his head against the side of the building. He really didn’t want to take her in against her will, it would make it more difficult all around, for her and for him.
However, he’d do what he had to do. He owed that much to his brother, Lucas. Mixed feelings aside, Lara had tried to kill both him and his mate multiple times. They had to get to the bottom of this. He shoved the phone back in his pocket and headed inside. Best to get this over with as soon as possible, like ripping a Band-Aid.
He expected her to be waiting impatiently for him when he went in, but what he found was far different a
nd nothing he’d prepared for. The room was warm and humid from a shower and she was sprawled out on the bed in a t-shirt and short shorts.
Oh, hell.
Skin. That’s all he saw. Bare, smooth flesh ready to be touched, licked even. Oh, yeah. He wanted to start at her cute little toes and tongue every square inch of flesh he could until she squirmed and writhed from the onslaught. His body sprang to life as yet another erection pushed to be free. His body said he should be inside her right now, sinking into the warm heat he knew waited for him. She could deny it all she wanted, but he knew the truth and so did she.
He made quick work of removing his boots and socks, then peeled the offending denim from his legs. He couldn’t stand the clothing rubbing against him for another second. Standing in nothing but his boxer briefs, he paused to consider whether or not he could get away with being in bed with her completely naked. Reluctantly he opted for restraint. She was already going to be pissed at him, why compound it with nudity?
He stretched out next to her, sure to keep some distance between them. It had been a long, stressful day for them. This wacky sexual attraction thing they had going on was like a tight string between them, threatening to snap at any moment and cause them both a whole hell of a lot of problems.
Laying this close to her, he smelled the sweet scent of vanilla from the soap she’d showered with—he was a man with a sweet tooth. He groaned and turned his head away; maybe he should go for another walk, alone, for a while. Get her out of his head.
Yeah, like that’s possible.
“What’s wrong, Kane?” Her voice sounded soft and sleepy. The sexiest damn thing he’d ever heard in his life. She definitely didn’t sound mad.
“Nothing, sweetheart, go back to sleep.”
She shifted and rolled onto her side, which left him looking at her generous backside. With a groan he turned and stared at the ceiling, desperate for a distraction. Anything but the curve of her supple back and indented waist that led to a fine round ass anyone would have a hard time resisting.