“My dancing skill is irrelevant, Ms. Bright. I have all the physical evidence I need to connect you to the crime already,” he said, dangling the velvet bag of jewels in front of her.
“That doesn’t prove anything.”
Rollo pulled the jewels out of the bag, showing her each piece.
“These are exactly the items that were taken from Caitlin Somerset’s chest at her mansion. I found them on you.”
“I found them in the forest.”
“You found them? Is that why you took off running when you heard the siren. And is it why you told me that if you didn’t get them back you were dead?”
“I just wanted you to think that it was serious. I was scared of going to jail.”
“Cut the shit, Zoe. I know you’re connected to Ivanov. I know you stole the jewels for him. Just tell me the truth.”
She sighed and looked away, her mouth pressing into a hard line. How the hell was he going to get through to her? She had to understand that this was all for her own safety. He couldn’t let her go. And he couldn’t let Ivanov hurt her.
“I’m just trying to protect you.”
“There’s nothing you can do for me, Rollo,” she said in a low voice as she stared into his eyes.
“Damn you, woman. Why are you so stubborn?”
“I’m trying to protect you, Rollo. You and I both know how this ends.”
“Oh?” he asked, crossing his arms.
She was talking in circles. He was following her along the way just for the game of it but was already growing tired and wanted to end it.
“It ends with one or both of us dead,” she hissed.
“And why would that be?”
“If you don’t know already, I’m not going to tell you.”
“You’re obviously afraid that Ivanov is going to hurt you. You have reason to believe that, I’m sure. That’s why I brought you out here. You just have to accept my help.”
“You can’t free me from what I’ve done. No one can help me. If you care for me even one little bit, you will give me the jewels and let me go, now.”
“So I can become an accomplice in a crime and allow my one and only mate to run away from me forever?”
Her face fell. Now, they both knew her plan.
“This will never work, Rollo,” she said rattling her handcuffs behind her back. “I am a thief and you are a cop.”
“So you admit you’re a thief,” he said.
“I admit nothing.”
Rollo stood from his chair, not able to remember another time he felt more frustrated. He had already spelled it out for her. He knew everything from her connection to Ivanov to the fact that she had stolen the jewels.
Why was she still holding back? Maybe she didn’t trust him. Maybe she believed that Ivanov had a reach that was wider than his. Rollo wasn’t sure which hurt worse. If he played the sensitive card and gained her trust, she would see him as weak. She wouldn’t believe he couldn’t protect her. If he continued to play it hard, he’d never get her to trust him.
“I’m going to hunt something for dinner,” he said, pulling his clothes off as he stood in front of her.
Her mouth dropped as his T-shirt hit the floor. He stepped out of his shoes and yanked down his pants, boxer briefs and all. He stood proud and half hard in front of her, a slight smile on his face. He could smell her need, tight between her legs. He knew she yearned for him to bury himself in her warmth. She flicked her tongue across her lips, and her eyes darted over his body.
“Do you like what you see?” he asked in a husky voice.
“I’ve seen better,” she said, not meeting his gaze.
“Liar,” he growled. “We can already practically read each other’s minds by the scents we give off. You want me as much as I want you, little kitty. Now, sit tight while I get your ass something to eat.”
Rollo hurried off into the night, shifting in mid stride. He galloped through the clearing and into the wood, smelling the sharp scent of pine needles as they broke under his feet. He bolted through the forest, sniffing out the potential prey who lived there. He smelled the musky scent of a buck, not far down a damp ravine. It would be good meat for his mate, and they would both feast tonight and tomorrow on its flesh.
The water trickled down below him, he could smell it rising in the darkness as he approached. On quiet feet, he stepped into the ravine, blocking the buck on every side. The buck’s heartbeat thrummed in Rollo’s sensitive ears just as its head shot up in awareness of the bear’s presence.
He charged forward, growling and baring his teeth as he barreled toward the startled buck. The deer bolted on his hind legs and scurried toward the edge of the ravine, trying to climb up the steep slope to safety.
The bear swiped at the buck’s hind leg and slammed it down onto the muddy ravine floor. With a quick bite, Rollo snapped its neck, tasting its lifeblood lap over his tongue. Now he had food for his mate.
Rollo shifted into human form and slung the heavy animal over his broad shoulders, his shifter strength hefting the load. With his naked, taut body streaked in mud, Rollo climbed out of the ravine and carried his kill through the forest. It took him forty-five minutes to walk back to the cabin. When he deposited his load outside, he noticed the door was cracked open.
He growled and sniffed the air as he pushed inside. Zoe was gone. Dammit. He should have known she would break free. The cuffs were discarded on the cabin floor. He turned quickly outside and jumped into his bear form, tasting the air in an attempt to pick up her scent.
He could smell her faintly on the breeze, and followed the scent into the forest. He picked up speed as her scent grew stronger. Soon, he found himself in a grove of tall old-growth spruce trees. He inhaled the piney fragrance, trying to pinpoint her location. It was as if she was everywhere and nowhere. Rollo turned around, his massive brown grizzly body smashing over underbrush as he moved through the trees. He growled and reared up on his hind legs, letting out an intimidating roar.
His pussycat must have taken to the treetops, and he couldn’t climb all the way up the tree to get to her. He tried to locate exactly where she, sniffing from one trunk to the next. The forest towered overhead and the first rays of morning sunlight appeared in the dim dusky sky. He spotted movements about twenty feet above him and reared against the solid trunk, trying to push her out. Even with his massive size and strength, it was no match for the sixteen-foot wide tree.
The sound of her high-pitched growl fell from above him as her claws dug into his back. The velvet bag of jewels fell at his side. He swiped at her, and she went tumbling down onto the forest floor. In a frantic attempt to escape, she twisted away, trying to run. Rollo charged at her and pinned her to the ground, pressing his teeth against the back of her neck in a holding bite.
With a feline scream, Zoe shifted. Her black and yellow patterned hide melted into golden tan skin, and a pile of long black hair flowed from her head. Rollo let go of her neck but carefully held her under him as he shifted. They were entangled in each other, flesh to flesh on the damp forest floor. The golden rays of the sunrise filtered through the forest canopy and illuminated the green dew covered leaves of the underbrush around them.
Zoe twisted under Rollo, trying to push him away. His superior strength allowed him to hold her still. She whimpered, begging to be released.
“You shouldn’t have tried to escape,” he whispered into the back of her neck.
“You’re holding me prisoner,” she spat back, her cheek pressed against the soft forest floor.
Rollo stood up, bringing Zoe with him. He held her wrist in his hand and looked down at her naked form. He hadn’t seen her this way before and couldn’t help the magnetic draw he felt begging to be at one with her body. He stiffened, his eyes absorbing every beautiful curve he had only seen hinted at under her clothes.
“Why don’t you tell me the truth, Zoe? I’m only trying to protect you. To protect us.”
“Rollo, we both know that this will ne
ver work.”
“What are you so afraid of, Zoe?” he asked her.
She only turned away and stopped speaking. Rollo was at his wits end. They needed to be on the same side. Maybe he should have taken her down to the station in the first place. But now it was too late for that.
He was standing with her naked in the forest, holding her against her will. He couldn’t take that back now. He had to see this thing through. He grabbed the jewels off the forest floor. If she could just trust him and tell him the truth, if she could just believe that he could protect her from Dimitri Ivanov, they could put an end to this game.
“I’m going to have to keep you here until you tell me what’s going on. You understand that, right?” he asked her.
“I’ll never tell you anything, Rollo Morris. Just let me go.”
“Have it your way, little kitty,” he said, leading her through the forest toward the cabin.
When he looked back at her, as the yellow morning sun shone across her tanned face, he could swear he saw her smirk at him. Maybe this was a game that Zoe Bright didn’t mind playing.
Chapter 11
Zoe had never been more turned on in her life, or more pissed off. The more Rollo acted like some kind of protective jailer, the more she wanted him to play out his sexy little role. But he didn’t do it. He just kept asking her to tell him about Dimitri Ivanov. She couldn’t tell Rollo about her involvement with Dima.
If she turned evidence against her ex-lover, she knew she would be dead. He and his gang would find her, no matter where in the world she ran, no matter what name she went by. Dimitri Ivanov would find her, and he would kill her. He would probably kill Rollo too.
Rollo had no idea what he was dealing with. Her sexy grizzly mate was a small town cop who thought he was doing what was best for everyone. She kept jabbing him about holding her against her will, but she knew exactly why he was doing it. He wanted to find a way to get her off the hook. But that would require her giving him concrete evidence about Dimitri Ivanov’s criminal activity. That was something she just couldn’t do.
It wasn’t out of some sort of sense of loyalty to Dima. Far from it. Her motivation was pure, unadulterated fear of the man. She had seen him shoot people in the face for lesser offenses, right in front of her.
He hurt her repeatedly. Not to mention the psychological torture he inflicted every day, reminding her what he would do to her if she failed again. He executed people who failed him, and he never missed a chance to show her exactly how cruel he could be.
She couldn’t turn him in. She couldn’t give Rollo any ammunition against the man, or it would put them both in danger. Rollo thought he was protecting her, but she was really protecting him. When they passed through the front yard of the cabin and in the door, she noticed the buck lying on the gravel below the stairs.
“Nice kill,” she said as Rollo pulled her into the cabin.
“I got it for you,” he said, pushing her into a chair.
“Ah, some girls get diamonds, and I get a dead buck.”
“You want to eat, don’t you?” he asked, tying her wrists to the chair with rope.
He had each arm tied down to one side of the chair, making it almost impossible for her to reach her claws over to the other wrist to saw herself out of the rope. Damn him. Hot puffs of his breath blew over her naked back as he restrained her to the chair. She would have to find some other way out of this. If only she weren’t so freaking turned on right now.
He straightened and walked around in front of her, looking down at her muddy, naked body. She slowly widened her legs until her pussy was only slightly revealed. He growled, showing his sharp teeth and the light of his animal in his eyes. She pursed her lips at him and then smiled.
“What about that buck?” she said.
He was naked himself and obviously as aroused as she was. She could smell the desire pumping out of his loins. He’d been hard since he’d caught her and stood before her almost completely erect. She bit her lip, imagining what he could do to her right now as she sat tied in this chair. God, she wanted him.
She wished he would just take her and mark her and be done with it. She didn’t want to think anymore, she just wanted to feel the heat of his body sliding into her wet softness over and over again until she screamed his name and scared the birds in the trees above the cabin into the sky.
“Right,” he said, pulling a sharp knife from the kitchen table.
Zoe balked at the sight of the knife, her arousal quickly turning to fear. Rollo frowned and lowered the knife to his side. He tilted his head and sniffed the air.
“I’ll go get our breakfast,” he growled. “After we eat we should get some sleep.”
Rollo turned out the front door and disappeared from view. Zoe let out a long, ragged breath. The sight of the knife had terrified her. What Dima had done to her had hurt her more than she even realized. Rollo came back a few moments later with a bowl full of fresh meat. He set the bowl on the kitchen table while he stoked up the fire. He then put venison on roasting skewers and set them above the flames. The smell of cooking meat filled the cabin and Zoe’s mouth watered.
Now that the sun was up, she was beginning to realize how exhausted she really was. Some breakfast and sleep sounded like exactly what she needed right now. But how could she let her guard down when she knew that Dima was waiting for her?
She was being held here by someone she did not want Dima to find out about. She had to get away from Rollo, take the jewels to Dimitri, and then skip town as fast as possible. It was the only way to keep either of them safe.
As the meat cooked, Rollo walked over to Zoe and looked at her naked body.
“You’re dirty,” he said. “I’ll wash you before we sleep.”
“I don’t want you to touch me,” she said, dreading the idea of his wet soapy hands all over her skin.
“I’m not trying to molest you,” he said. “I just want to keep you safe and comfortable.”
“If you want to keep me safe, then let me go,” she reasoned.
Rollo pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes closed. “I’ll go get some water,” he said.
Rollo went outside and came back with a bucket of water that he heated with a hot steel rod that had been in the fireplace. He dropped a few soap flakes in the bucket and plunged a natural sea sponge into the water. He knelt in front of her, his eyes sweeping over her curves. He looked up at her face, his expression tense. Then he swept the soapy sponge over her shoulder, bringing it down her arm.
“Do those ropes hurt?” he asked in a soft voice.
“Yes,” she said.
He plunged the sponge into the water again, wrung it out, and washed from her breast down her stomach.
“I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to keep you tied up like this. I just need answers, Zoe. Tell me about your involvement with Dimitri Ivanov.”
“He was my boyfriend,” she said. “The level of jealousy you are displaying right now is really psychotic.”
Rollo rolled his eyes and continued sweeping the sponge over her body. He dipped it between her legs and pulled it down her thigh. Every sweep of his hand over her body was like liquid magic.
Her clit swelled, tight and painful between her legs, begging to be touched. Every movement of his hand, even over innocuous places like her calves or the tops of her feet electrified her desire to such intensity, her nipples tightened and pointed into steel divots.
She bit her lip and looked into his eyes, growling. He could smell her arousal. Why didn’t he just take her? But Rollo Morris was too much of a gentleman to take this game to the next level. Damn him.
“I know he wasn’t just your boyfriend. I know you didn’t steal these jewels for yourself. Cut the shit, Zoe,” he said, standing up to quickly wash himself of the dirt streaked over his skin.
He grabbed a towel and hastily dried them both off before going to the fireplace and removing the now roasted venison from the roasting skewers. He place
d them on plates and set them at the table before pulling his boxers back on. Zoe craned her neck to look behind at what Rollo was doing at the table.
“How am I supposed to eat with my hands tied up?” she asked.
Rollo walked over with the terrifying buck knife and sliced the ropes binding her wrists to the chair. She brought them away as the ropes fell to the ground, gripping the aching flesh of her wrists. She pulled her panties and bra off the floor, and walked over to sit across from Rollo at the table.
She picked up a steak knife and fork and sliced a bite of venison before popping it in her mouth. Rollo had filled two glasses with fresh spring water, and she took a long drink from the ancient glass cup. She hadn’t had such earthy food in so long. Her jaguar reveled in the taste of fresh meat and cool water fresh from the ground.
“It’s not the Ritz, but it’ll keep your belly full,” he said, taking a bite himself.
After they finished their steaks, Rollo tied Zoe up to the bed. He went outside to harvest the rest of the meat and dispose of the carcass while Zoe remained in the cabin with both of her hands tied up behind her head to the headboard of the bed.
If Rollo didn’t think he was currently involved in some kind of kink fest, then he must have a screw loose, in Zoe’s opinion. She couldn’t help wanting him to come back and ravage her in every way possible. His willpower was better than hers, that was clear.
When he returned to the cabin, the smell of blood lingered in the air but his hands and body were clean. He closed the door and walked over to the bed, climbing in beside her.
“Am I really supposed to sleep like this?” she said, rattling her arms against the headboard.
“I could just keep you awake all day,” he said to her with his back turned.
“Torturing me with sleep deprivation would be right up your alley,” she said, taunting him.
He turned over and faced her, his eyes boring into hers as he leaned over her. Then his gaze swept down over the mounds of her breasts, now framed by her pink, lacy push-up bra. His eyes slowly traveled over her stomach and down to the V between her legs until they ran up to her face again.
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