by Rosanna Leo
The truck eased to a stop. Fleur sucked in a breath and choked back the lump in her throat. She would not show Jani weak eyes. It was bad enough being bound and vulnerable to him, in a miniskirt that was now riding up her ass. As he turned off the ignition, the rumbling of the engine died down and the radio music ceased. She waited for him to barrel out of the cab, loom into view and toss her over his shoulder again.
However, for a moment, all was still in the pickup. She picked up on the sound of a low, regular beat. Was that his heart pounding out of his chest or her own?
Maybe he regretted treating her like a sack of potatoes. Yeah, sure. And maybe he liked to play croquet in his spare time too.
The truck moved as he shifted his weight and got out of his seat, closing the door. The sound of crunching gravel landed on her ear. Her belly clenched in anticipation. She heard a masculine sigh and then long fingers peeled back the tarp. Even at night, his eyes shone as he regarded her. Did she spy remorse in the tired lines of his face?
Whatever it was, it made her eyes sting with regret over her own behavior. Stupid, stupid tears!
Jani didn’t say a word and proceeded to untie her with gentle hands. The rope must have left marks because his face was drawn by the time he was done. “We’re here.”
He held out a hand to help her out of the bed. She sat up and he gripped her by the waist, hoisting her out and down. Adjusting her tank top and skirt, she looked around. The dock at Lake Gemini. A motorboat lay on the still waters, tethered to the wooden slats. The Ursa Fishing Lodge and Resort was just a short boat ride away.
Stars twinkled in the dark sky overhead. An owl’s soft hoot sounded in the forest. Jani stood close to her, smelling of soap and heat and man. Under any other circumstances, she might feel good, almost as if she were coming home.
Only this wasn’t her home. To the shifters on Gemini Island, she was an outsider and they only tolerated her because of their regard for Jani.
He took his jacket off and put it around her shoulders. “Here. It’s grown cold.”
She didn’t refuse him this time. The September chill had already infiltrated her skin, making her wish she’d worn a sweater and some cozy slacks. Right. She wasn’t really a slacks kind of girl. As she slipped into his jacket, she couldn’t help taking a discreet whiff. It smelled like him. She resisted the urge to bury her nose in the crook of the elbow.
Jani might be a stubborn fool and he drove her crazy, but wearing his jacket helped her feel close to him, probably the closest she’d ever be to him.
Skin against skin would be better, her wolf said on a growl.
Shut up, she chastised it. The only thing the creature understood was its appetite for man meat. Why did she have to have a wolf as her spirit animal? In her next life, she was coming back as a lettuce-nibbling rabbit.
Jani helped her into the boat, righting her when she almost toppled in her heeled boots. He sat next to her, revved up the engine and sped toward Gemini Island. Even though her brain told her to ditch the vessel, jump into the lake, and swim away as fast as she could, her wolf tried to cuddle next to Jani’s tiger.
The damn dog almost purred.
Shit. In saving her life, he really had ruined everything.
Chapter 2
THEY walked in silence to the cabin Jani had been using for the past couple of months. The Ursa Fishing Lodge and Resort was quiet compared to the last time Fleur had seen it. Bear shifter Ryland Snow owned and operated the shifter resort. Or at least he did, until August Crane’s goons burned the lodge to the ground, killing a few of the staff from the Ursa. Now Ryland, Jani and their friends were involved in rebuilding the Ursa Lodge, trying to bring it back to its former state of woodsy glory. Ryland had operated a mentoring program for teen shape-shifters and was desperate to reopen. Fleur couldn’t help wondering how they were getting along. Had they finished with the rebuild?
Her wounded pride wouldn’t let her ask.
“The construction on the lodge is almost finished,” Jani said, as if reading her mind. “You should see it. It looks nice.”
“I’m sure it does.”
“Soren suggested to Ryland that he give the place an industrial feel, instead of all the plaid flannel and warm colors. Ryland almost choked when he heard the idea.”
Ah, the dueling Snow brothers. Ryland, the sensible outdoorsy one, was always at odds with his musician brother Soren. However, even Fleur knew a lot of love underscored all that sibling angst. Just like everyone else at the Ursa Lodge. They all loved each other to the moon and back, like the fricking Brady Bunch.
Jani reached for his key and unlocked the door to his cabin, holding it open for her.
She stopped on the front step. “I’m not staying with you.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Uh, no, I’m not.”
His nostrils flared. “If you think I’m going to wake Ryland up just to set you up in your own cozy cabin, think again. The man has enough to deal with right now.”
“Well, I’ll stay in the woods. I’ve slept rough before.”
He passed a hand over his face. “For the last time, Fleur, get inside. I don’t trust you not to run away.”
Tired of arguing, she walked past him and entered the cabin. He followed, tossing his keys onto a table and shutting the door behind them. Fleur didn’t look at him, couldn’t look at him. She knew if they had to have a real discussion right now when her emotions were so raw, she’d burst into tears. As he paced in front of her, flexing his fingers as if he wanted to grab her and shake her, she kept her gaze locked on the floorboards.
He stopped pacing. “Look at me.”
“No.”
“Fleur…”
“I need a shower,” she blurted, blinking over itching eyes. “I smell like fish dinner leftovers someone forgot to put in the fridge.”
“We can shower later.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, you can shower later. We need to talk.”
“Talk, talk, talk. I’ve never known any other man who wanted to talk so much.” She threw up her hands as long-withheld pain seemed to shoot from her limbs. “I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to be here with you and I certainly didn’t need you racing into that bar to save the day, ugly.”
Ugly. She cringed. She’d called him that when she’d first begrudgingly accepted his help a few weeks back. After promising herself she’d never use the derogatory term again, it had just slipped out. She didn’t mean it, she really didn’t. But as much as she wished she could take it back, she couldn’t.
Jani didn’t even flinch. “Two weeks. I’ve been looking for you for two weeks.”
She turned so he wouldn’t glimpse her remorse. “I refuse to have this conversation with you when I’m covered in fish slop.”
He spun her around. “We will have this conversation now. Fish or no fish.”
“Fine.” With a glare, she plunked herself on his couch. Inspired with a touch of devilry, she rolled around and spread her fishy self all over the upholstery. For good measure, she picked up a small cushion and rubbed it on her clothes. There. He wouldn’t be able to use the couch for a month.
Jani sat opposite her, resting his elbows on his knees, and laced his fingers. He cracked his knuckles. “Are you done putting on this childish show?”
“Show? You’re one to talk with your macho man act.” He might enjoy acting the toughie but he didn’t scare her. “Well? Care to explain the whole snatch and grab routine?”
“Two. Fucking. Weeks,” he seethed. As he spoke, his Hungarian accent thickened. “I didn’t know if you were alive or dead. You didn’t say a word. I had to follow your scent like a filthy bloodhound. You just disappeared from Gemini Island.”
Rightly so. The shape-shifters from the Ursa may have welcomed Fleur when she absconded from August’s camp, but she knew they didn’t trust her. However, Jani had lobbied for her, had encouraged them all to give her a
chance.
They had. She could give them that much.
It didn’t mean she was comfortable there. She’d never quite been comfortable around people who had their shit together. The losers and rejects of the world? Now they were her people.
“Why, Fleur?” Jani asked. “Why didn’t you talk to me?”
“I didn’t realize I had to confirm my itinerary with you.” When her words erupted in harsh tones, guilt pricked once more at her insides. See? That was why she’d needed to get away. When he was kind, she was snarky. It was all she knew and he deserved better.
And she wondered if he’d ever want to parade her in front of his fancy friends. Puh-lease.
“Don’t give me that crap. I was…concerned. August Crane might be dead, but some of his followers are still out there. What if they decide to come after you for betraying Crane?”
She inspected her fingernails. “Then I’ll kill them. I am part wolf, remember?”
“A lone wolf is no match for a bigger predator. You could never take on someone like me and hope to win.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, so your pussy friends have told me. You cats are so full of yourselves.”
“Let’s not make this a debate on who is the better shifter. You left, you ran away, and didn’t even give a shit I might be worried. What on earth was going through your head?”
Something deep in her soul had told her Jani would worry. She was no fool. She saw the way he looked at her, with a hunger that scared her. At bottom, he was no different from any other man. They all looked at her with hunger, and she was tired of feeling like a piece of meat.
Yes, Jani’s gaze also held consideration and respect, sentiments to which she was unaccustomed. She didn’t know how to deal with him and needed time. Time to figure herself out and time to decide what she wanted. There was no way in hell she was going to tumble out of one man’s bed and straight into another’s.
Besides, she had to help her mom now.
She dared a glance at Jani. The tiger shifter cracked his knuckles, but not in a threatening way. He was scared…for her.
A lump formed in her throat. What the hell? She tried to swallow it down, but the itchy ball of nerves refused to disappear. Well, damn. She was going to cry, after all, wasn’t she? She’d stopped crying years ago, and yet the thought she’d terrified Jani made her want to throw herself on the floor and sob her heart out.
What was he doing to her? First he flipped her world on its side with his kind words and gestures and now he was reducing her to tears. Fucking awesome.
She turned her face away from his searing gaze for a second and struggled to compose herself. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was leaving. I just thought it was better this way. Besides, it’s not as if I belong on Gemini Island. I saw the way they all looked at me.”
His voice softened. “They’re willing to give you a chance, Fleur, but you have to give them a chance too. The Alpha Brethren slaughtered their friends and for a long time, you were one of the Alpha Brethren.”
“I know.” She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to forget the horrible images from the day of the battle. Every night as she fell asleep, when she fell asleep, her mind forced her to remember the carnage. Bird shifters caught in the jaws of great cats. Bear claws slashing through the fur and flesh of other animals. So many screams and squawks and roars. “I know. But Jani, can’t you see? I’m not like your friends. Ryland and Lia and Suzan and all the others. They’re all so…good. I’m not. I’ve been very bad.”
“Anyone can change, and no one is completely good or bad.”
“Easy for one of the good guys to say.”
He stood and walked over to her. She looked away when she realized his crotch was right in front of her face, but Jani gently pulled her to her feet. “I want you to try again.”
“Why?”
“Because we need all the hands we can get. With the construction on the lodge coming to an end, Ryland needs support from all his friends.”
“They’re not my friends.”
“They could be, if you let them.”
Fleur got the sense Jani evaded her question so she asked it again. “Is that really why you want me to hang out on this godforsaken island? Because you think I’m a whiz with a hammer? Because you think I can have a career as a social butterfly? Tell me the truth, Jani. You should be happy to finally see the back of me. Why the fuck would you care what happens to someone like me?”
He stepped closer, crowding her, but in the best of ways. In a way that made her feel warm and hopeful and alive. In a way that made her want to explore the opening at his shirt collar and sniff at his skin. “I hate that you feel you have to ask that question.”
“That’s not an answer. Anyone else in your position would look at me the same way they look at the wad of gum on the bottom of their shoe. Why do you care so much?”
“Because if you give up, August Crane wins. Don’t let him win.”
Despite the honesty of his answer, her heart sank a little. It wasn’t so much that he cared for her. He just didn’t want Crane to have the last word. She didn’t blame him for the sentiment, but the heartbroken woman inside her had been hoping for a different reply. Perhaps a teeny part of her had wished he’d admit how much he liked her, how much he wanted her.
There was no sense in dreaming about happy endings. Fairy tales were for suckers.
“Well, I can’t stay here,” she replied, shrugging. “Even if I wanted to.”
“And why not?”
“Because I’m on a mission.”
“What mission?”
“Sorry, tiger. It’s classified information.”
For a long time, Jani just stared at her through narrowed eyes. She wished she could tell what he was thinking. Mated shifters, or those of the same family line, could use telepathy to hear each other’s thoughts. She was in no way privy to his and the lack of knowledge made her squirm.
He finally spoke. “Then I will help you with this mission.”
“What? Just like that? Don’t you want to know more first? Maybe I’m planning to rob a bank. Maybe I’m planning to hack into government records. Maybe I’m planning to open up my own brothel.”
“No, you’re not. I trust you.”
She released a frustrated breath out through her nostrils. “You said a second ago you didn’t trust me.”
“I don’t trust you not to run away,” he corrected, a finger in the air. “But I trust you.”
“That makes no sense, and you should be careful who you trust.”
“I am very careful, I assure you.” He inclined his head in a pensive gesture. “But, just so you don’t end up in a room full of horny bikers again, we will do this my way. You will stay here with me under my roof.”
“You’re a pompous ass, you know that? This isn’t even your roof. This is Ryland’s resort. You can’t just move me in when you feel like it.”
“It seems I just did.” He sat his ass back down on the chair, grabbed the remote, and flicked on a cooking show. As the TV chef droned on about searing a roast before putting it in the oven, Jani cocked an eyebrow. “And I might be a pompous ass, but you are a petulant little she-wolf who doesn’t understand when someone is trying to help her. So until you are ready to show some appreciation for my help, consider me your shadow.”
She had no comeback this time.
“Now,” Jani drawled, his nostrils flaring. “You really do stink and it’s starting to offend me. Go have your shower.”
“Maybe I don’t want to now.”
“Fleur,” he said in warning. “I will take you to the bathroom and scrub you down myself.”
Her wolf jumped to its feet and pranced in eagerness, its tongue lolling out of its mouth. Perhaps having Jani scrub her naked body wasn’t such a good idea. “But…but I don’t have any of my clothes or toiletries. I don’t even have a goddamn toothbrush.”
“When you’ve taken off y
our waitressing ensemble,” he said, sneering at the tight skirt, “toss it out the door. I’ll wash it for you. For tonight, grab whatever you need from my room. There’s an extra toothbrush in the bathroom drawer.”
“For when you entertain guests?” She’d meant the words to sound light and teasing, but they’d rushed out on a bitter cadence.
“Fleur Bissette.” Jani stood, his eyes flashing. “I will put you over my knee if you so much as utter one more word.”
Angry for reasons she barely understood, Fleur spun on her heels and headed toward the bathroom. How dare he order her around? The man always managed to put her in a mood. In her current mood, being forced to share his cabin felt like a slap in the face. Feeling she needed to get the last word in, she turned and walked back down the short hallway and peered into the living room.
Jani leaned over and sniffed the couch. Pulling a face, he backed away. He then walked into the kitchen and retrieved a bottle of fabric freshener from under the kitchen sink. Plugging his nose, he headed back and began to spray the upholstery. The scent of chemically-induced evergreen warred with the stench of dead halibut, but lost the battle.
Fleur smiled and returned to the bathroom. It seemed she got the last word in after all.
* * * *
Jani was learning many new things about his bizarre attraction to Fleur. Chief among these was the fact that having her under his roof did nothing for his peace of mind.
Around midnight, he’d begun to feel good and guilty about tying her up in the truck. Still, he’d offered her his bed and had taken the foul-smelling sofa, a clear sign of contrition if he’d ever seen one. A couple of hours of lying in evergreen-scented fish filth convinced him he would qualify for sainthood. All the air freshener in the world couldn’t disguise the stench. He’d have to put the couch outside tomorrow so it could air out properly. That, or buy Ryland a new one.
Unable to sleep, he’d gone to check on her. After all, their exchange had been the most heated ever. He might even have been ready to apologize for his outburst. The last time he’d apologized to someone…had he ever apologized to anyone?