by Lisa Kessler
Adam brought his other hand down and pushed my jeans and underwear lower, sliding them free of my legs until I was naked on the bed. He stood up, his eyes feeding on me while he got rid of his pants. I stared up at him, drinking in every inch of his naked flesh.
His legs were tanned and muscular, matching his chiseled torso, and now that he was naked, there was no hiding how badly he wanted me. My gaze moved farther up and my lips parted slightly as our eyes met. I couldn’t look away. His hungry stare possessed me. I’d been with other men before, but this intense desire and palpable need was completely new.
He positioned his body over me, and my legs parted instinctively, my hips tilting up toward him as I felt his body sink even closer. I could feel the tip of him, teasing me, pulsing against me. I’d never ached for someone like this.
I moaned and my fingers moved up his torso. “Take me, Adam.”
He growled against my lips and plunged into me, sliding so deep that I cried out, my nails digging into his back. Breaking the kiss, his lips brushed my cheek until they were right against my ear. “Put your legs around me.”
I wrapped my legs around his waist as he rose up from the bed, our bodies never separating. His hands gripped my buttocks as he turned and pressed my back against the wall.
The coolness of the drywall surprised me, and I gasped as his hips slammed into me harder. Adam bent his head to take my hardened nipple into his mouth. My back arched, offering myself to the heat of his mouth while I tangled my fingers in the back of his hair. Our bodies were slick with sweat when he finally held me tight and turned so we were back on the bed. His hand slid down between us and found a perfect spot inside my wet folds.
“Oh, yes, right there,” I gasped.
His hips thrust deeper and faster, as his fingertips massaged until I was writhing underneath him. My fingernails scratched down his back, gripping him harder as my muscles started to clench.
He growled against my ear. “Give me what I want, Lana.”
And in that instant my body gave him everything. Every muscle tightened, and my inner core spasmed around him so tightly that I felt him explode inside of me. Adam’s hips kept grinding against mine as he moaned my name until our aftershocks quieted, and we finally lay tangled up in an exhausted heap.
My fingers stroked though his hair slowly. Blood flow gradually returned to my brain, and with it, rational thought.
Oh, shit. No condom. My brain had disengaged the moment his hand slid under my shirt. “Adam?”
“Yeah?” His voice was soft and deep, warming my blood all over again.
“We forgot a condom.”
I expected him to leap back like I might have the pregnancy plague or something, but instead he tightened his hold on me, his head still resting over my heart. “We’re safe. I haven’t bitten you, so we can’t have a baby, remember?” He lifted his head to meet my eyes. “I’m also clean. I get tested every six months. Jason insists on it.”
Now I remembered. No conversion, no werewolf, no baby. “I’m clean too.” I breathed out my concern and stared at the ceiling.
This didn’t have to change anything. I wanted him, but it didn’t make the situation any different. Passions ran high during life and death situations. We were struggling for someone to hold onto, to remind ourselves we were still alive. Acting on the attraction between us didn’t mean the situation had changed.
So why did everything feel different?
Adam lifted his head and leaned up on his elbow. A tender smile curved his lips as his thumb brushed my hair back at my temple. “I don’t know what you’re thinking,” he whispered, “but I’m not sorry about any of this.”
I searched his eyes. “I’m not sorry either. Just not sure what happens next.”
Adam smiled. “Spaghetti.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. And inside of me somewhere, I felt a very dangerous part of the wall around my heart started to crumble.
I had to keep my distance. Everyone walked out eventually, and it was going to hurt like hell when Adam was gone. He’d warned me himself the first night I met him.
But when he bent to kiss me one more time, I ignored my inner voice and wrapped my arms around him instead.
We ate our candlelight dinner in our underwear. I moaned when I tasted the homemade meat sauce Adam had in the Crock-Pot for a few hours. The cheesy garlic bread was pretty amazing, too.
“I had no idea wolves could cook.” He threw a piece of the bread at me. “Hey! I was giving you a compliment.” I grinned.
He raised a brow with a, for lack of a better word, wolfish grin. “Wolves can do all sorts of things.”
He lifted his frosty beer mug to his lips slowly, his eyes never leaving mine, and my body reacted. Just a look. Damn him. I was in so much trouble.
“So are you going to let me ride a horse?”
“Do you want to ride sometime?”
“I’d love to.” I smiled. “But I’ll need a horse who understands I’ve never ridden before.”
Adam laughed. “I think that could be arranged.”
I didn’t ask him when. We both knew it would be tricky to actually make happen. He could only have me over when no one else was around, or even coming over soon so my scent could fade. He was probably thinking the same thing. It was hard not to feel sorry for myself. It wasn’t my fault I was a jaguar. I hadn’t done anything wrong, and yet, I needed to be a secret.
We ate the rest of our food in silence.
When I set down my fork and looked up, Adam was staring at me. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” he said. “For once, everything’s right.”
My brow furrowed a little. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I mean, I want my life to be like this. I want to laugh and eat dinner together and not be worried about the Pack finding out, or the Organization finding you.” He paused, his lips pressing together for a second. “But I know this isn’t real. I know that I need to take you back to the hotel tonight and open all my windows so your scent will be gone by morning. I know we still need to find out who the Nero Organization is and what they want with you.” He reached across the table and took my hand. “And I already know I don’t want you to go.”
More of the wall protecting my heart cracked. “I don’t want to go either, Adam, but we’ve known from the first night that I can’t stay here. And that was before we knew Sebastian was tracking me. I care about you, but if I stayed I would only be hurting you and your family. I don’t know who I really am or where I come from, but you do. Your family is right here. You need to hang on to that.”
He let go of my hand and stood up, raking his fingers back through his hair. “There’s gotta be a way to make this work. We’re just not seeing it.”
I looked up at him, watching him pace back and forth. After all my worry that he would leave me, all I could see now was how much it was going to hurt when I had to be the one to walk away.
Chapter Eighteen
Adam
I tossed and turned until the damned sheets were tethered around my legs. Lana’s scent lingered on my pillows, reminding me of the spicy taste of her lips, the way her nails raked down my back, the way our bodies rocked together. I groaned and sat up, rubbing my hands down my face. I knew I needed to change the sheets. If one of the Pack wandered in here I’d be fucked, and not in a good way.
But I wasn’t ready.
Having her scent around me made it easier to imagine she was still in my bed, not miles away in her hotel room. I didn’t want to forget how perfectly she fit in my arms, the way our bodies had joined together. Seeing her eyes full of passion, hearing her moaning my name, it cemented her into my soul.
She was mine. I had claimed her.
But she had no idea.
How could I tell her? The wolf inside of me stated it as fact, but the human part of me knew nothing in life was black and white. Lana had been right about my family. If I introduced her as my mate, I couldn’t stay here any longer.
They wouldn’t accept her into the Pack. I might be able to keep them from physically hurting her, to protect her, but I wouldn’t be able to stand by and watch them treat her like an outcast. A trespasser who shouldn’t be trusted.
No, I would have to leave the Pack behind.
I shook my head with a bitter chuckle. It wasn’t like I really had a choice. Fate was one heartless bitch.
Malcolm had been right. My instincts knew in an instant that Lana was the other half of my soul. When we made love, it wasn’t just a physical need to scratch an itch, at least not for me. My soul reached out to hers, and I felt her love in return. Or I thought I did.
Reality stole that moment from me when I drove her back to her hotel like it had all been a one-night stand. I tried to talk to her, but what could I say? This wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to wake up in the morning and feel her naked body beside me. I needed to reach out and touch her.
Fuck. I couldn’t take it anymore.
I got up and stripped my sheets from the bed and opened the windows to air out the room. Once I had everything stuffed into the washing machine, I yanked on my jeans. I was a grown man, goddammit. I finally found my mate. I wasn’t going to pretend like I hadn’t. Lana was my future.
Before I could grab a shirt, my cell phone rang. The clock said it was after three a.m. I frowned. No good news ever came this late at night. Snagging my phone off the nightstand, my heart sank when I saw Aren’s number flashing.
“Hey, Aren.” I frowned. “Everything okay?”
My brother’s voice sounded sleepy. “Yeah. I was calling to see if you were all right.”
“Me?” My brow furrowed. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”
“I was sound asleep, and then I woke up in a hurry to get out of here. Since I’ve been zonked out for a few hours now, I figured you must be the one in a hurry to go someplace.”
Maybe it was a twin thing, but if one of us was feeling strong emotions, sometimes the other felt them too, like a residual echo of the emotion.
“I can’t sleep.” That much was true.
“Look,” Aren replied. “I’ll get dressed and come over. Maybe we can go out to the lake. The fish’ll be biting in a couple hours.”
I rubbed my forehead, trying to think. I knew Aren was worried about me, and it killed me to keep secrets from him. Normally I’d jump to go fishing with my brother.
“There’s no reason for you to give up your sleep just because I’ve got insomnia. You rest up. I’ll catch you next time for fishing, okay?”
“You sure?” Aren didn’t sound convinced.
“Yeah. I’m gonna try to sleep a little longer. Thanks for calling. I’m sorry things have been so…off lately.”
My brother was quiet for a moment. “You can tell me anything, Adam. We’re brothers, remember.”
“I know.” I nodded. “I’ll get through this.”
“You better.”
“I will. Night, Aren.”
“Night.”
The phone line went dead, and I sat on the edge of my bed. It was hard to believe how quickly my life turned upside down. I really wished I could confide in Aren. I was dying to tell someone about Lana. But I knew I couldn’t. Not now. Maybe not ever.
Chapter Nineteen
Lana
Once I was back in my room at the neon-pink Circus Circus hotel, I opened my laptop and got right to work. The more I worked, the less I would think about Adam, or at least that was the idea. But every time I shifted in my chair, parts of my body ached, reminding me of our lovemaking, which in turn led to remembering the way we shared a candlelight dinner in our underwear and snuggled together on his couch to watch late-night television.
Until he brought me back to the hotel.
I rolled my eyes at myself. No sense feeling bad now. I knew before I went to bed with Adam that we’d have to hide our relationship. But the harsh reality didn’t really hit until we both got dressed again and he kissed me goodbye. He’d insisted on coming up to be sure my room was secure and untouched. After he was satisfied it was safe, I told him I was tired to save myself from awkward small talk. He was leaving. This was something I was used to.
Besides, now that I knew every inch of his body, I hungered for his attention even more than before. I could feel myself getting worked up just thinking about it. No way we could be trusted alone in my room. And he couldn’t spend the night anyway. His business started with the sunrise.
I tried to silence my inner voice. I needed to find out about the Nero Organization and that damned lion head insignia. Sebastian would come for me again soon—I could feel it.
But instead of dreaming up new internet searches, there I was pining for a guy that I knew I couldn’t have. Perfect.
Before I realized what I was doing, I started clicking through pictures of Adam. Lots of the horseshow photos I’d seen on his wall were right there in my Yahoo! image search. I enlarged one and stared at his smile, his green eyes looking right at me. My heart pounded and I shook my head, clicking to the next photo.
I was hopeless.
Then I found a picture of Adam and his father at Lake Tahoe in some fishing tournament together. My eyes welled up with tears. They were laughing at Malcolm’s tiny excuse for a fish. I tried not to dwell on things I couldn’t control. I didn’t know why my parents gave me up, and wishing they hadn’t wasn’t going to change anything. But sitting alone in my hotel room, staring at photos of Adam with his dad made my chest ache.
I didn’t fit in anywhere.
I closed my laptop and wiped my eyes. Hopefully I’d hear from the PI in San Antonio tomorrow. If I could get some information about my birth parents I might be able to find out a little more about their connection to Nero, and therefore my own.
Exhaustion gnawed on the edge of my nerves, but my mind was too active to sleep. I clicked on the television and started flipping channels when the phone in my room rang. I almost fell off the bed. Who would be calling at this time? Adam would’ve called my cell phone.
Frowning, I picked up the receiver. “Hello?”
“I must speak with you.”
Sebastian. I hung up and ran over to engage the security latch on the inside of my door.
The phone rang again. I stared at it, contemplating my options. He knew where I was staying and most likely knew my room number since he’d called again so quickly. He could already be inside by now. It rang again. Shit. Now, he also knew I was in my room. I glanced at the door and slid the pepper spray from my pocket. If I could keep him on the phone, it might keep him out of my room.
I snatched the receiver. “How did you find me?”
“I am a tracker, Little One. I watched you leave the hotel after me, but you returned again later. With the proper encouragement, the concierge was very helpful.”
“You murdered a man and tried to pin it on me. I have nothing to say to you.”
“I killed a wolf who would have killed me first if he had the chance. I need to talk to you.”
“Tough. Goodnight.”
“It’s about the Nero Organization. I cannot talk over the phone.”
I closed my eyes. I knew I should hang up. I shouldn’t meet with my stalker in the middle of the night. I could almost hear Adam screaming in my head telling me it was too reckless. But what came out of my mouth was, “I’ll meet you in the twenty-four-hour café downstairs in five minutes.”
I hung up the phone and shook my head. I knew I shouldn’t do it, but what choice did I have? Sebastian had my room number, he’d come up if I didn’t go down. At least this way we’d be in a public place. At this hour the café wouldn’t have many people inside, but there would be staff, so we could talk quickly, and then I’d get a security guard to walk me back up to my room. Simple.
I ran my fingers back through my hair, trying to tame it a little, and then opened the deadbolt and started to turn the knob when the door slammed into me, knocking me backwards into the room.
Sebastian was inside with the deadbolt
set behind him before I could scream. I reached in my pocket for my cell phone, but he anticipated my movement and grabbed my wrist. Hard.
“Let go,” I gasped.
Instead of releasing his iron grip, he yanked me in closer to him, burrowing his face into my hair. He shoved me away just as suddenly. I fell onto the bed. My cell phone flew from my grip and slipped off the other side.
He looked disgusted as he surveyed me. “His scent is all over you.” Suddenly his eyes narrowed, lips pressed in a tight line as he approached me. I scrambled to get back onto my feet. “Did he hurt you?”
Now it was my turn to look disgusted. “You broke into my hotel room, jerked my wrist, and now you’re worried about me?”
“I am sorry for my entrance, but you are in danger, and I need to speak with you.”
“I think danger just walked through my door.”
Concern drained from his eyes and his expression hardened. “If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead.”
A chill shot down my spine and all my adrenaline-laced bravado drained from my bloodstream. “Can’t get much more dangerous than that, right?”
He shook off my comment. “I work for the Nero Organization. They raised me and trained me, and I do what must be done. Tracking is my specialty. They send me out to locate and eliminate targets.”
“Eliminate?” My heart was pounding again. If I could just get to my phone I could… I could what? Sebastian wasn’t going to let me dial 911, or anyone else for that matter. Instead I slipped a couple fingers in my pocket, praying I could reach my pepper spray.
“Yes,” he said. “But my instructions were to bring you back to our headquarters unharmed. Bring you back. They made it sound as if you had escaped. Since our recent meetings, I have come to realize that you have no memory of the Organization.”