by Chloe Cole
He walked into The Naughty Kitty with grim determination despite being apprehensive about the job ahead. Amber affected him in ways he couldn’t explain or curtail, and he had a mission; clean up the mess he’d made, and get the hell out. Losing sight of that could be dangerous for them all.
He made his way into the club and headed straight for the hostess’ station.
“Here for dinner or just the show?” the pretty brunette manning the desk asked with a smile.
Her wholesome good looks and relatively conservative clothes surprised him. As he looked around, he realized the whole place was different than he’d imagined it. Clean and elegant in an old-world way, with lots of red velvet and gold accents. He’d figured he’d walk in to a dingy shit-hole to find girls sporting tassels and G-strings left and right.
Bemused, he shook his head and returned the hostess expectant smile. “Just the show.”
She led him through an archway into a separate room and gestured to a table near the front of the stage.
“This one work?”
He nodded his thanks, slipped her a twenty, and then sat, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of Amber.
Luckily, he didn’t have long to wait.
“Welcome to The Naughty Kitty. What can I get you to drin--” Amber stood next to his table, staring down at him as the smile slid from her pretty face. “Billy?”
She flicked a glance around the room like she was looking for somewhere to run, but then finally met his gaze head-on. “What are you doing here?”
His pulse rocketed the way it did every time he saw her and he willed himself to calm the fuck down. He was there to help his pack while still making sure he was able to find a way to keep Amber safe. Now wasn’t the time for distractions.
“I came here to see you, actually. To see how you were holding up,” he replied, giving her a furtive onceover.
She looked better than when he’d seen her last, looking on from afar. Less pale and thin. Still painfully beautiful. Could be that all his concern had been for nothing and she’d decided to let it go and move on. Half of him was relieved. Best case scenario was that she was happy and healthy.
But the other half? The half that was drawn to her in a way that had him tied in knots even now as he looked at her? Regretted that he didn’t have an excuse to spend more time in her presence, no matter how short-sighted and stupid it was.
Humans and wolves didn’t mix.
She straightened her shoulders and seemed to collect herself as she dragged a hand through her long, blonde hair. “I appreciate the concern. Funny, I’d been wanting to get in touch with you, too, but didn’t have your number and didn’t want to make waves by coming out to the house. I was hoping we could talk.”
Okay, so maybe she wasn’t ready to let it go after all.
“Sure. When?”
“If you plan on sticking around for the show, we can do it tonight. I’m on early rotation so I’ve only got one performance and then I’m done.”
He nodded as his groin tightened. This wasn’t the seedy strip club he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t called The Naughty Kitty for nothing. Now he was going to have to stand by and watch Amber do…whatever it was she did on that stage.
And something told him it was going to be heaven and hell in equal measure.
Low background music began to play, and she gave him a finger wiggle. “I’ve got to go. That’s the cue for the dancers to head backstage.”
He couldn’t help but watch her go. The fitted black skirt she wore was longer, coming to mid-calf, and the shirt wrapped around her like an embrace, but neither was over-the-top sexy.
Until she started walking.
Her full hips swung like a pendulum, hypnotizing him. That ass was enough to make a grown man weep and he had to close his eyes to stop the rising tide of lust building in his groin before he had a huge problem on his hands.
“Drink?”
His eyes snapped open and he found another waitress, this one a redhead, smiling down at him. “Sure, I’ll take a beer. Whatever’s on tap and ice cold.”
Just as she returned a few minutes later with his pint, the lights flickered and began to dim.
“Ooh, show’s going to start. This is a great number, you’re going to love it,” she whispered, before flitting off to the next table.
The background music slowed to a stop before strains of another song flowed from the speakers. The tune was sassy and sexy, and familiar enough that it had him tapping his toe.
When the red curtain opened and a lone figure stepped onto the stage, the toe-tapping stopped as his whole world shifted. A woman, her profile in silhouette, posed, shrouded in shadow, but he would recognize that body anywhere.
Amber.
Billy knew it as surely as he knew his own name. She was tiny, maybe 5’2”, but she was built like a brick house. Tiny waist, curvy hips, and breasts so voluptuous for someone so petite, you’d think they would have to be fake.
But, nope.
He’d held her in his arms for a brief moment and his heightened sense of touch had confirmed that she was 100% natural.
His throat went bone-dry and he took a long slug from his glass, gaze never leaving the stage. The spotlight flicked on, and Amber turned to face the audience.
The skirt was gone, and in its place was its far shorter cousin, leaving her gorgeous legs bare, all the way from thigh to tiny, black stiletto.
The blood rushed from his head to his cock, leaving him momentarily disoriented. He strained forward, his chest flush against the table as he waited for her next move.
And move she did. The next five minutes had him ready to climb the walls. She bumped, she grinded, she twitched and she turned. With each shimmy, another piece of clothing went flying, and the need clawing at him grew.
As the song wound down, she slunk to center stage in what remained of her clothing—a black, lace bra and a matching pair of panties—to give the hooting crowd a smile. Her gaze connected with his, and the smile faltered.
Had she felt it, all the way from there? The weight of his want? The pull of his need? He hadn’t wanted her to know. Hadn’t wanted her to see…
But that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was what he’d seen on her face in return.
She wanted him too.
She might not even know it consciously yet, but it was there. A recognition…an acknowledgement of his attraction and a physical response she couldn’t hide. Not from him. The delicate flare of her nostrils, the way her eyes went wide and dark, the slow drag of her tongue against that full bottom lip.
By the time the music ended and she bustled off stage, the breath was sawing in and out of his lungs and his vision was hazed in red, a sure sign that his wolf was just as aware of Amber as he was, and it wanted out. The catcalls of the men around him only made the situation worse as a jealousy unlike anything he’d ever felt pulsed through him, making his blood run hot.
He pushed back the plush leather chair and stood, dropping a ten on the table before heading down the aisle toward the sign marked “Restrooms.”
It didn’t take much to figure out which way she’d gone. One sniff of the air, and he caught the citrusy warmth that was her scent. He followed it down the long corridor to an unmarked door and stepped through. It led to a second hallway lined with doors.
He bypassed the first two and slowed to a stop in front of the third. A fading gold star marked the gleaming wood and he rapped on it sharply.
“Amber?”
The door across from him opened and a black-haired woman dressed like a Vegas showgirl stepped out.
“Can I help you?” she asked, her gaze drifting slowly from his face downward to rest on his man-kit for a long moment before returning to meet his.
He had no plan beyond getting close to Amber again, and rocked back on his heels, unsure of what to say. “I was actually hoping to see Amber,” he said, working up what he hoped was a genial smile and shoving his hands in his pockets.
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“Right.” She chuckled and cocked her head to one side. “The question is, does Amber want to see you?”
The door behind him opened and he turned to see the lady in question staring up at him. “Hey, come on in,” she said, stepping back to make room for him.
“You good, girl?” the woman in the Vegas gear called from across the way.
“Yeah, thanks, Mila,” Amber said, ushering him in before waving to her friend. “He’s good people.”
She closed the door behind her and seemed to take a deep breath before turning to face him again.
“I could’ve just met you out there…”
She sure could’ve. What the fuck was he supposed to say to that? He couldn’t wait that long? That he’d lost all control and couldn’t fight the grinding need to be near her again?
“Yeah, we hadn’t hammered out the details, so I wasn’t sure.”
She nodded, accepting his excuse without question even as he exercised every last shred of self-discipline to keep from yanking her into his arms and kissing her senseless.
She’d changed out of her clothes already and was wearing a pair of yoga pants and a hoody that made her look like she’d just stepped off a college campus, going from steamy sexpot to adorable in three minutes flat.
He resisted the urge to scoop her up and carry her out of the place as the silence stretched between them, thick as taffy on a summer day, until finally, he broke it. "Can we go somewhere private to talk?"
She glanced around the little room like she didn't know where she was for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah. I've just got to get my stuff together and then see my boss to get paid."
"I'm parked out back. I'll pull around and pick you up right at the front entrance in five."
He stepped closer and clenched his fist to keep from reaching out to stroke her hair.
"Everything is going to be okay, Amber. I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but I promise."
He hadn’t known he was going to make that vow, but once he did, it settled into his bones like only the truth could. Even if Jax wasn't quite ready to see it, Amber had more than paid for her crimes already. He would protect her, or die trying. It was the right thing to do.
He turned and jogged out to the car, the cold air a welcome shock to his overheated skin. After he took her home, maybe he'd go for a long night-run. All the stress and tension was building inside him and if he didn't work some of it off, he'd be a powder keg ready to blow by tomorrow.
A couple minutes later, he pulled up to the front of the club and Amber stepped out. She was dressed in a puffy coat and a pair of crocheted boots, but it was the hat that did it. Knit with a big red ball on top and he couldn't help but stare.
One second she was this sexy, sultry performer, slinking around on stage with the confidence of a movie star, and the next she was bundled up with a poof-ball hat and freshly-scrubbed face.
And damn if she wasn’t still just as sexy.
"Where are we going?" she asked as she climbed into the passenger’s seat.
“Up to you. We can try to find a coffee shop-”
“No!” She shot him a grim look and shook her head. “I mean, I have some things to say and if anyone heard me say them…” Her voice trailed off, but he didn’t need to hear the rest. If anyone heard her, they’d think she was insane.
Which meant she was still convinced that what she’d seen was real. He was going to have to do damage control and try to find out exactly how far she was willing to take things to get to the truth.
His conscience pricked at him hard, but he tamped it down. This wasn’t just about his pack. If Amber kept kicking up dust, she was going to get herself killed. That thought was enough to put his guilt in check.
“I keep an apartment in the city for business,” he said. “We can talk there if that’s all right?”
She eyed him for a long moment and this time, he didn’t stop himself from reaching out to tuck a golden lock of hair behind her ear.
"Do you know I would never do anything to hurt you?"
She let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes, leaning her head against the headrest with a weary sigh. "I know. I don't know how or why I do, but I do."
The words were a balm to his soul. More than the guilt, something about the thought of her being afraid of him made the bile in his belly burn.
As he glanced at the woman beside him, a sudden sense of foreboding washed over him. No matter how smoothly things went down, this couldn’t possibly end well. In order to keep his promise and protect her, he had no choice but to betray her trust and lie to her.
And if she found out, she’d surely hate him for it.
But at least she’d be alive to hate him instead of lying in an unmarked grave somewhere after getting mauled by a pack of enraged wolves.
The decision made itself.
CHAPTER THREE
“C offee? Beer?” Billy stepped back into view from the kitchen, black T-shirt stretching tight over his massive shoulders as he shrugged. “Sorry, it’s a bachelor pad and that’s pretty much all I’ve got to offer you, unless four-day old pizza is your thing.”
His smile melted just a little of the ice that had been wedged in her belly for nearly a month now. As terrified as she was about what she’d seen, she hadn’t been lying when she’d said he didn’t scare her. In fact, being around him made her feel oddly safe.
“I’ll pass on the pizza and take a beer, thanks.”
They’d talked some on the ride over to his place, but for the most part, they’d sat in silence as if they both knew the coming conversation was going to be a doozy and were content to have it wait just a little longer. Even now, her nerves were in tatters at the thought of speaking her suspicions out loud. As hard as the not knowing was, some part of her couldn’t help but wonder if the knowing was going to be even harder to take.
Couldn’t be helped, though. If she wanted to move on with her life, she had to get to the bottom of what had happened that night, and Billy was the key.
He came back into the living room with their drinks and flicked on the gas-burning fireplace before sitting across from her on a wide, leather ottoman. His closely-cropped, golden curls seemed to glow by the light of the flames, and the memory of him cradling her in his arms like an avenging angel flickered through her mind again. Whatever her fears, he’d protected her that night. If he’d wanted to hurt her, she would have known it by now.
“So talk to me,” he said, his perceptive green eyes searching her face. “How have you really been holding up? I know it can’t have been easy, after…”
She took a swallow from the bottle he handed her, needing a momentary reprieve. Every time she thought of that night she started to shake and had to remind herself that it was over. She was safe. And, more importantly, Chandra was safe. Everyone was all right.
With the likely exception of Tobias Wheeler.
There was no arrest report. No mention of the kidnapping in the paper. It was like he’d disappeared from the face of the earth. She hadn’t heard of, or from, him since that night. And, judging by the fury on Billy and his friends’ faces when they left her house that night, she would be surprised if she ever did.
A shiver ran through her as she locked gazes with Billy.
He might not be a threat to her, but there was no question, he was capable of violence.
She forced herself to speak, knowing it wasn’t going to get any easier, no matter how long she stalled.
“I’ve been having nightmares. All the time. They never stop. At first they were about Tobias. His smile, that crazy look in his eyes. But then, lately…” She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear with a trembling hand and shrugged. “I’ve been remembering these dogs.” She shook her head then, determined not to soft-sell it. “Not dogs. Wolves.” She held his gaze, and tried to keep her voice steady. “What can you tell me about that, Billy?”
A strange expression flitted across his face and the hair on the back of her neck s
tood up.
He knew something.
Whatever he’d told her that night, there was some truth to what she was saying. She could see it in his face.
He crossed his legs at the ankles and leaned forward to set his bottle on the table between them. When he looked at her again, his handsome features were schooled into a blank mask and the tightness of his stubbled jaw had relaxed.
“Yeah, I remember you mentioned wolves that night, too. When you were delirious and we brought you back to the house.”
“Right,” she said, “and you told me I was hallucinating.” She leaned forward until their faces were just a foot apart. “Now this time, try the truth.”
The room was silent but for their breathing and the crackle of the fire. She could see the pulse in his neck leaping like mad and wondered if he was going to tell her more lies. Already, she felt like screaming at the thought.
His jaw flexed tight again, and he shook his head. “I don’t think it was a hallucination anymore.”
“Y-you don’t?” Not at all what she expected to hear. She swallowed hard, mind racing with all the possibilities. Was this man about to tell her that there was really such a thing as werewolves?
Jesus, she’d thought she was prepared, but as the blood drained from her face she realized she was most definitely not. In fact, rather than proving her own sanity, having him validate her outrageous suspicions would only make her wonder if he was crazy too.
Maybe she shouldn’t have come after all. She tamped down the desire to up and run. Leaving now would leave her right where she started. Confused, afraid and completely alone in this. It was the last part that made her stay. For the moment, she had an ally in Billy. A friend, when she needed one so desperately.
She forced herself to relax in her seat and wait for him to continue.
“Since that night, I’ve gone out and hiked a large section of the woods near your house a couple of times,” Billy said in a low voice. “I didn’t see any wolves myself, but the area was riddled with tracks in the snow. I called the local game warden and he confirmed that a pack was moving through the area at the time of Chandra’s kidnapping.”