“Sure is. You’ve got the car?”
The second man jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Just on the other side. Let’s wrap her up and go.” He tossed a black bag and a length of rope over, and Paige began struggling all over again. She couldn’t let them take her away. She just couldn’t.
“If that bag touches her face, I’ll rip yours off,” a familiar voice growled, and Paige whipped her head around to see Caleb standing there, his expression cold as the wind that was starting to pick up. Relief flooded through her, especially when she saw the pistols in his hands, one trained on each of her kidnappers. “After I blow a hold through your skull, that is.”
To her surprise, the men laughed. “Come on now. You know that your bullets can’t kill us. And it’s two against one.”
Caleb showed his teeth. “I don’t need the numbers to be on my side.”
What came next happened so fast that Paige never quite figured out the order of events afterward. One moment the men were standing there, and the next they were springing for each other in a whirlwind of… claws and fur? Snarls and howls filled the alleyway, and Paige gaped as she realized all three of them had turned into what appeared to be wolves. Strong, powerful earthly beasts with thick coats of fur, teeth bared, eyes on fire in a swirl of golden ash. Growls echoed through the air, paws tipped in razor sharp claws.
The one closest to her was a dark shade of brown, with a small splotch of white on his tail and golden eyes that glowed a bright gold. The other two were a greyish-white with icy blue eyes. All three of them were ferocious and terrifying, and Paige instinctively backed up against the wall, blinded with fear of what would happen if she got too close, her mind unable to comprehend the scene that was unfolding in front of her eyes.
Am I hallucinating? She wondered in a panic. If I close my eyes, will it all go away? She squeezed them shut, but when she opened them they were still there right in front of her…growling, and battling each other in a fury of teeth and claws. Caleb seemed to be holding his own, but there was a trace of blood on his muzzle, and she didn’t know if it was his or one of the other wolves. And regardless of what he said, he was still outnumbered. She needed to do something. But what help could she possibly be?
Frantically, she looked around for something, anything. Her eyes alighted on two pistols on the ground—the ones Caleb had been holding. Before she could talk herself out of it, she darted over and snatched one up, then took aim… or tried to.
“Goddammit,” she cursed under her breath, trying to get a clear shot. It had been a long time since she’d last held a gun, and they were moving so fast it was hard to get a lock on one of them. “You bastards, stop!”
That got their attention. One of them looked up, and she squeezed off a shot, aiming for the head. It caught him in the side of the neck, and the wolf collapsed, then changed back into a human. It was the blonde who had bullied her into the alley. He didn’t look so threatening, with his eyes closed and his face covered in blood. The other wolf shifted back into a human and tossed his friend over his shoulder. His ear was bloody and there were scratches on his arms, but he didn’t seem to notice, passing a look of hatred over both of them.
“I’ll be back, Caleb. You can count on that.”
Caleb lunged for him, but the man flexed his powerful thighs and jumped straight to the top of the building. Paige gaped after him, and then looked back to see that Caleb had shifted back into human form as well. He had a gash on his forehead and blood was soaking through the shoulder of his dress shirt as he fixed his eyes on Paige. Eyes, she noticed, that were still golden.
“Are you alright?”
“I…” She wanted to yell at him, to ask a thousand questions, demand that he give her answers, but her vision narrowed, and dizziness washed over her. “You have a lot of explaining to do.” She could barely hear the sound of her own voice over the roaring in her ears.
Her vision grew black, and she pitched forward.
*
“Are you sure?” Adam demanded after Caleb had finished explaining all that had happened. “Absolutely sure?”
“Well, I can’t be completely certain,” Caleb snapped, “but I know they don’t belong to any of the clans we’re familiar with.”
Adam sat back in his chair and pressed his fingers to his temples. “I’ll have to check with the Network, see if they show up anywhere.”
The Network was a database of shifter clans, headed up by each of the clan leaders known as Alphas. Every member of a clan was registered, so if these two were or had ever been members of a clan it would be easy enough for Adam to find.
“You have no idea why they were after her, though? How does she fit into this?”
Caleb glanced down the hallway from his seat on the living room sofa. Paige was behind one of those bedroom doors, still passed out from anxiety. He’d brought her straight to Adam, not just because he was the clan leader, but because Adam’s gated mansion was one of the safest places in the city. As an ex-special forces commander, he’d outfitted it with enough security and weapons to last through World War III. The human friends he had mostly thought he was just a paranoid bastard, but Caleb knew from experience that Adam had more than enough reason to take those kinds of precautions.
“I can only imagine they were trying to get to me.”
Adam narrowed his eyes. “You have a cousin and a mother they could have gone after. Why would they choose her? Someone who isn’t connected to you?”
Caleb swallowed hard. He couldn’t lie to Adam; his clan leader could scent a lie, and he’d be skinned alive for it. Then again, he’d be skinned alive for telling the truth anyway, so what was the difference? Thankfully, the sound of footsteps padding down the hall saved him from having to answer. Paige entered the room, her face pale, her fiery curls in disarray, and Caleb’s blood fired instantly. She looked so deliciously beautiful, standing there with bed head and bare feet and a wrinkled suit, that it was all he could do not to scoop her up in his arms and carry her down the hallway into bed.
Adam’s nostril’s flared as he caught the scent of Caleb’s lust, and he gave him a dangerous snarl that clearly said we’ll discuss this later. Then he slid a mask of calm over his face as he rose to greet Paige.
“I’m glad to see you’re awake. How are you feeling?”
“Like I was nearly kidnapped by people who can turn into wolves,” she snapped. “Who are you? And what the hell happened back there?” She turned her fiery green eyes in Caleb’s direction.
“You’re welcome for saving you,” he said dryly.
“Don’t, Caleb. It’s obvious that all this has something to do with you, since you can turn into… into…” She looked pale and confused, as though she had aged in just a few short hours. Adam took her gently by the elbow and guided her to a chair, which she sank into gratefully. Caleb held back a snarl—he didn’t like the idea of Adam touching her in any way, even if it was casual, but he was in no position to speak up. Not just yet.
“Here, have some water.” Adam pressed a glass into her hand. “I know this must all be very shocking for you, so please, just try to relax.”
“You could say that.” Paige sipped her water slowly, and Caleb was pleased to see some of the color return to her cheeks. She looked up at him, her eyes mistrusting, skeptical but ever the emerald-isle that he found himself lost in.
“So, who are you people, exactly? Are you… werewolves?”
“We’re Lycans,” Adam replied quietly. “Werewolves are a completely different type of animal.”
“What he means to say,” Caleb continued before Paige could respond, “is that we don’t have the same handicaps as werewolves. We aren’t limited to changing only under a full moon, nor do we become mindless monsters that destroy everything around us. We also don’t have a weakness to silver. We just change from wolf to man, whenever we need to.”
“And we have super-regenerative healing abilities, of course.” Adam added.
Paige just star
ed at them. “And this is supposed to be better than being a werewolf? It sounds like you’re a lot harder to kill.”
Adam growled. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Paige…” Caleb replied, his voice low and calm. “We are no different from you, from any human. We are just stronger…and more capable.”
“I see.” Paige whispered in response, shaking her head in confusion. Finally, she glanced up at Adam. “What’s your name?”
“Adam… Adam Drake.” His eyes were still narrowed, but he took a seat next to her. “I’m the clan leader. They call me their Alpha.”
She was silent for a moment. “Are… are there a lot of…lycans?”
“A fair number.” Adam cleared his throat. “Now I have a question for you.” His eyes narrowed. “How is it that you know Caleb?”
“Caleb?” She glanced over at him. “We went to high school together. And we see each other at the courthouse every once in a while. Just yesterday we were even working together on the same trial.”
“I see.” Adam replied, his face set in concern. “Do you have a… relationship that I should be aware of?”
Before Caleb could reply, Paige’s tone turned frosty. “No.” She sent Caleb a venomous glare. “But I don’t see how that’s really any of your business, Adam.”
“Those wolves attacked you because of your connection to Caleb,” Adam explained with as much patience as he could muster. “There has to be more between you than either of you are claiming, otherwise they’d have no interest in you.”
“What?” Paige replied, suddenly once again afraid. “So, what happens now?”
“Now?” Adam shrugged. “I will be looking into the origin of these wolves. Where they come from, what clan they are a part of and what they want with you. But as far as I’m concerned, you’re a human with no affiliation to the clan, and I have no personal obligation toward you… or to offer our protection in any way.”
Paige shot to her feet. “What about the wolves who attacked me? How is that not your concern?”
“If they were members of my clan, I would discipline them. But they’re not, and so the best I can do is track them down to determine whether they are a risk to the clan or not.” He looked pointedly at Caleb. “You’ve involved her in this; therefore if you want to ensure she stays safe, you had better take care of her protection.”
“Yes, sir.” Caleb tried to keep the anger out of his voice—his pack leader was doing this as a kind of punishment. How the fuck was he supposed to stay out of Paige’s bed if he was supposed to be guarding her? But then how could he leave her unprotected?
“Good. Now both of you… go home and get some sleep.”
Chapter Five
The drive back to Paige’s house was absolutely silent and tension-filled. Caleb searched his mind desperately, trying to think of what to say that would dissipate the evil glares she was still sending his way, but he couldn’t think of anything that would ease her mind or make her feel better.
To be fair, he completely deserved every bit of it and he knew it. He had no right to move in on her the way he did and expect to be able to walk right back out of her life with no consequence. He had known that…the risks, yet he couldn’t control his desire for her and it had nearly killed her. She had every right to be furious with him.
He pulled into the driveway, then immediately killed the engine. They sat for a moment, before he turned to face her.
“Paige, I’m sorry.”
Crack! His head snapped to the side from the force of her hard, cold slap. He shook his head, then caught her second slap before it could connect to his face once more.
“Let go of me!” she cried, tugging her hand free as though his touch was burning her. “You are such an asshole! Do you really think a simple apology is enough for what you’ve done to me all these years.”
“I—all these years?” he replied, confused. “Paige, you’ve only been back in town for a year, and during that time I’ve hardly seen you. What are you talking about?” Watching her from the rooftop at night didn’t count, dammit.
“No. No, no, no. You put a wall up between us during our freshman year of high school when you knew how I felt about you. You’ve deliberately been distant for years, Caleb, all the while going hot and cold. I’m done with this…with you.” She wrenched open the passenger’s side door, then slammed it shut as she stalked into the house.
Caleb was stunned for only a moment; then he was out of the car and following her inside. “Are you serious, Paige? I had no idea you felt that way for me.”
She whirled around to face him, jabbing a manicured fingernail into his chest. Despite the situation, or perhaps because of it, heat flooded through his veins as he remembered how she’d raked her nails down his back last night. “If it was just that, if it was just the way you’d shut me out that day in the park, I could have handled that. But I never forgot the smoldering looks you gave me whenever you thought I wasn’t looking, or the way your eyes would flare whenever you saw me holding hands with another guy. And it drove me crazy because whenever I looked at you directly your eyes were always so cold, and I couldn’t figure out whether or not I was just imagining it all or if you had feelings for me but were…but were afraid to show them!”
“I’m afraid of nothing,” Caleb replied gruffly, his eyes lit up with fire.
“And then, after all those years of keeping your distance from me, you waltz back into my house, give me the greatest pleasure I’ve ever known, making me feel all sorts of things that a woman shouldn’t have to feel and then leave without so much as a goodbye.” Tears shimmered in her green eyes now. “I don’t know why you think I deserve this, but I don’t. My heart isn’t your plaything, Caleb.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?” He wanted to wipe away the tears that had trickled down her cheeks, but he knew that she wouldn’t welcome his touch right now. “And do you have any idea how hard it was for me to stay away from you all of these years? The reason I looked at you that way was because every time we crossed paths, I could scent your desire for me. It was torture, knowing that you wanted me just as much as I wanted you, and being unable to touch you. And then seeing you with those other guys… it’s a small wonder I didn’t lose my sanity.”
Paige’s eyes had gone wide. “You… you can smell arousal? What do you mean?” Her cheeks colored.
Caleb’s eyes flared gold as he stepped forward, reducing the space between their bodies down to a scant inch. “Yes…I can smell it on you right now.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Her pupils dilated as she took a step back. “I’m angry, not desirous of you.”
“You’re pissed and desirous.” He backed her up against the wall, boxing her in with his arms. “A very potent and dangerous combination.” He dipped his head into the crook of her neck and inhaled. “Don’t you know what you do to me, Paige? Don’t you know how you make me burn right down to my very core?”
He felt her shudder beneath him, and knew he would find her wet if he slipped his hand up down her pants, between her legs. “You… you have no right to expect me to let you back into my bed again.”
Caleb lifted his head so she could see the pain in his eyes. “I know that. But you make it damn hard for a man to keep away from you. Don’t forget, you’re the one who approached me at the courthouse. You opened this door.”
“Well then why the hell didn’t you just walk away like you always do, instead of stepping through that door, Caleb?”
“Because I’ve never been able to deny you anything you’ve asked for directly, and you know it.” He backed away, then turned before he gave into the urge to kiss her. “I’ll be on the couch tonight if you need me. Get some sleep.”
He stalked off to the living room, knowing this was going to be a very long night, after all.
*
Paige didn’t get a lot of sleep that night. Between the attack, the revelation that the man she’d lusted after for years could change into a werewol
f—lycan, she corrected herself—and the fact that said man was sleeping downstairs on her couch in order to guard her…to protect her from danger left her mind whirling. She alternated between being hurt, confused, angry, and simply exhausted.
The one thing her mind kept coming back to was the intense pain in his eyes. I’ve never been able to deny you anything, he’d told her. How ironic. So, if she’d simply come straight out and asked him to kiss her, he would have done it.
So much time lost…
When she headed for the kitchen the next morning, still dressed in pajama’s, she was greeted by the sizzle of frying bacon and the heavenly aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Standing in the doorway, she watched as Caleb deftly flipped pancakes, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. Desire flared instantly in her lower belly, and she bit her bottom lip. How could he look so good so early in the morning?
“Good morning,” he said, without turning around. “I’ve already poured you a cup.” He gestured to the steaming mug waiting on the counter for her.
She took it wordlessly, not trusting herself to speak until she’d gotten some caffeine into her system. After a few sips, she cleared her throat. “You’re a brave man, frying bacon without a shirt.”
He gave her a nonplussed look. “I think I’ll be okay,” he replied with a chuckle.
Paige raised her eyebrows. “Do lycans feel no pain?”
“I’ve always had a high tolerance to pain, but yes, we can feel pain. We just heal much faster.”
They sat together at the kitchen table, and Paige watched Caleb pile his plate high with bacon, eggs and pancakes. She took a few of each herself, and decided to give herself a few moments of silence to enjoy the food before she spoke.
“Caleb,” she finally said, “you don’t have to follow me around all day. I know you’ve got a business to run and other things to deal with. I’ll be fine. Really.” And she would never get anything done if he was constantly in her presence.
Better Mate Than Never (New Adult Werewolf Romance) Page 3