Driving Force

by Andrews, Jo

  Chapter Five

  He shouldn’t have done that. Ian braced himself on the counter, arms straight, and shook.

  He’d never lost control like that before. He’d only meant to kiss her. Just once. The lightest and most undemanding of kisses. Had wanted only to feel her lips against his and hold her in his arms. Just to know what it would be like. To have something to remember. Nothing more.

  But then her lips had parted and his brain had gone to lunch. Sweeter than wine, more addictive than any drug, she had flooded his senses, shorted his mind right out. If she hadn’t pulled away, he wouldn’t have been able to stop, would have taken her right then and there on the kitchen floor.

  It shocked him, how little control he had around her. Ian prided himself on his ability to master any situation. He always knew exactly what he was doing. He might fling himself into things impulsively and wholeheartedly, but his mind never stopped working out the odds. It looked for solutions coldly and clearly, checked everything around him to see how it might be turned to his advantage. What might seem to be recklessness to those who didn’t know better was always carefully calculated.

  Tigers and lions might go berserk. Leopards never did. They were cool, crafty, cunning predators, always in control, adapting to circumstance, constantly thinking.

  With Sierra, he stopped thinking. Could only feel. That had never happened to him before. He had no defenses against her except that mockery that was beyond him now. He was utterly open and vulnerable to her. She could destroy him with a glance.

  He could still feel her hands moving upon him, her body clinging to his. She had responded. Kissed him back. Wanted him.

  But then she had fled. She must have remembered the other side of him. The cat. The Shifter. Not full-human.

  He couldn’t believe that he had forgotten. Everything he had been warned about since birth had gone out of his mind with the first brush of her lips against his.

  One didn’t mate with humans. One could have brief liaisons with them, but nothing more serious. Sierra deserved more. Some casual affair wasn’t for her. He too wanted more. But being what he was, more wasn’t possible. Humans and Shifters couldn’t breed. He’d be cheating her of so much—of children, of a family. It wouldn’t be fair to her.

  But that was a moot point. She’d never let him near her again. Not after this. She must be totally horrified by what had happened. He was…other. From her angle, a monster.

  * * * * *

  Sierra leaned back against her closed door and gasped. God, she had almost dragged him right down to the ground! She was on fire, shaking and shuddering with heat, her breath panting in her open mouth. No one had ever made her feel this way before, so wanton, so needy. She was hopelessly wet between her legs, all buttery and throbbing, feeling at once so engorged and so empty. She wanted to be filled, wanted him to fill her, wanted him inside her.

  Him. Ian Raeder.

  She was insane.

  Ian, the guy with the rep. The one who never made commitments. Whose little black book would probably give her a hernia if she tried to lift it. The last person in the world with whom she should get involved. Hadn’t she learned anything when Peter had left her? And Peter had been the Rock of Gibraltar compared to Ian.

  But God! The way he made her feel! There she had been, thinking she had a low libido, thinking there was something wrong with her because nobody really turned her on. But he turned her on, didn’t he? He turned her into a freaking nympho, wanting only to rush out there and jump his bones. Even when she knew how wrong it was!

  She really, really hated the man. She did!

  Sierra fled into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her overheated face. That didn’t help much. What she needed was a shower. The coldest shower possible. But he’d hear it and know exactly why she was taking another shower so soon after the one she’d just had. Probably get a charge out of her weakness, laugh his head off in triumph.

  She heard Doc’s pickup grind to a halt outside, then the front door opening and Ian going out of the house. That was the chance she needed. She whipped her clothes off, dragged a shower cap over her hair and jumped under freezing cold water turned on full blast. A couple of minutes later, she jumped out again hurriedly because she was shivering so hard. But she had herself under control now.

  As she threw her clothes on again, she heard Ian and Doc talking outside but couldn’t make out the words. Then the front door opened once more and footsteps headed toward the kitchen.

  “You medical people always say, ‘Give it another couple of days’,” Ian said savagely. “Yeah, well, that’s getting old. I’m needed back home and that’s where I’m going today. Don’t care what you say.”

  “Look,” said Doc in a soothing voice. “You’re still on liquids. You haven’t eaten solid food yet…”

  “And that’s another thing!” snarled Ian. “I’m starving and there’s no reason why I can’t eat solid food. The way I feel right now, in a few minutes it’ll be your innards I’ll start lunching on!”

  Doc laughed. Ian made an exasperated sound and she heard the back door being yanked open.

  “Sierra told me to go hunt a deer. Well, I will. That’ll show—”

  “Ian!” said Doc sharply. “Look!”

  “Jesus!” exclaimed Ian, then a second later he yelled, “Sierra, get out here!”

  Sierra was tempted to ignore that. Who was he to give her orders? But the note of urgency in his voice piqued her curiosity. She strolled out of her room and into the kitchen.

  “What now?” she asked in a remote voice.

  “Pack your things. You’re getting out of Castleton.”

  Remoteness changed into irritation at once. “I am not! Why would I do any such thing?”

  “Look at the door.”

  She walked forward, then saw what he was pointing at. Five claw marks had been scored deeply into the wood.

  “You’re targeted. He knows about you now. That you gave me shelter. You’re not safe here anymore. You’ve got to get out of Wade County. Hell, I want you out of the damn state! That woman, what was her name? Wakanda. That potter who taught you. She’d put you up for a while, wouldn’t she?”

  “The last I heard, she was going to New Mexico on a promotional tour. I don’t know where she is right now.”

  “Well, you must have made friends in Arizona. They might take you in. Or…or just go to Denver and hole up in a hotel for a while. It won’t cost you anything. I’ll pay.”

  “I’m not accepting money from you, Ian Raeder!”

  “God dammit! The Lowes, then. The Lowes will fund you just like they’re doing for all the Shifters who’ve left Castleton.”

  “I don’t need anyone’s funding! I’m not leaving my home!”

  He slammed his fist against the door. “Dammit, Sierra! Don’t you understand? You’re in danger! Even Shifters are running and you’re only human. You don’t have any defenses against Arrhan. And you’re one hell of an easy mark, living out here all alone with no neighbors for miles. No one would hear you even if he gave you time to scream before he tore your throat out!”

  Sierra swallowed hard but didn’t give an inch. “Why should he care about me? You’re the one he’s interested in. He’s trying to drive you out, like the others. He found out that you’re here and he left that warning for you, not me.”

  “Yes, that message is for me. But it’s not to tell me to run. I don’t need a warning about that. He’s already made it perfectly clear. He’s telling me that if I don’t, he’ll kill you.”

  “He…he hasn’t been hurting humans.”

  “And you want to be the first? The other humans haven’t a clue what’s going on. He has no reason to go after them. But you helped me.”

  “Doc’s helping.”

  “And Doc’s getting a bodyguard once I talk to Kurt.”

  “Appreciate that,” muttered Doc.

  Ian gave her a grim, hard look. “I’m not gonna be run out, Sierra. The spread’s be
en in our family for generations. Our livelihood is tied up with it. I’m staying and I’m fighting, just like the Lowes are, and Abel and Nick and the others. But our war isn’t yours. It’s got nothing to do with you. So just get out of the way for a while until we can take care of it.”

  Sierra shook her head. “I’m not going to run and hide, Ian. This house with its pottery is my livelihood too. Sure, it’s small potatoes compared to that spread of yours, but it’s all I’ve got. I’m not leaving it.”

  “God! Do you have to be so stubborn? You can work anywhere!”

  She glowered at him. “This psycho’s not gonna get me running scared either.”

  “Pot, meet kettle,” murmured Doc and grinned.

  Ian felt like banging his head against the wall. He admired her courage, but he was terrified for her. Arrhan had no compunctions about killing Shifters. He would have even fewer about killing a human. Ian wanted Sierra far away from here. Not only to get her out of danger, but also to get her away from him, since it was clear now that he couldn’t trust himself near her.

  Even tying her up and getting someone to drive her out of the county wouldn’t work. She come right back like a boomerang the minute she got free. And slap a kidnap charge on him. He knew Sierra.

  “There’s malice in those slashes, child,” Doc was saying to her. “The man means harm.”

  Even Sierra couldn’t deny that, but as expected, she just folded her arms and stuck her lip out stubbornly. Damn all obstinate, foolishly courageous women!

  “Right,” said Ian. “You’re coming home with me.”

  Her eyes shot wide. “What?”

  “You can’t stay here. This place has no defenses whatsoever. To guard it would take several men posted around the clock. Even the cops wouldn’t have the manpower to give you proper protection in the unlikely event that they believed you if you called them and said there’s a fruitcake stalking you with intent to kill. And I sure don’t have the men to spare. But if you were at the ranch, there’d be hands around all the time to keep watch.”

  “But…”

  “I don’t like it either.” Not when it meant having the temptation that was Sierra around him for who knows how long. He tried to give her a soothing smile, but saw from the scowl she gave him back that it must have come across more as a snarl. “But that’s the way it’s gonna be. Either you leave Wade County or you stay at my place for the duration, where I can protect you.”

  “Actually, that makes sense,” said Doc, and Sierra glared at him. “This Arrhan wouldn’t have any problem killing humans, but he must know it’d be a dumb move. Shifters will cover up Shifter deaths for fear of calling attention to themselves, so he doesn’t have to concern himself about that. Even one or two human deaths, like yours or mine, might not be noticed if we just sort of disappeared and our bodies were never found. But several disappearances can’t help but draw attention from the authorities and he can’t afford that any more than our Shifters can. Both of us are safer with people around us.” He gave her a stern look. “You know I’m right, Sierra.”

  Sierra’s shoulders slumped in defeat. Of course he was right. The only reason she was digging in her heels was because she didn’t want Ian to win. It was just childish.

  “But I’ve got orders to fill,” she said helplessly. “I can’t just…”

  “Those orders worth your life, Mouse?” Ian snapped. “Anyway, your wheel and clay and even the kilns can be moved, can’t they? I can set you up a place to work at the ranch and send some of the hands to bring over anything you need. So just go and pack a suitcase and let’s get out of here.”

  “Better to be safe than sorry, Sierra,” Doc said gently. “It’ll only be for a while and then you can come home.”

  “You wouldn’t be in this position if you hadn’t helped me,” said Ian. “I know you hate being beholden. But remember. I’m beholden to you for everything you’ve done for me the last few days. I owe you, Sierra. This is just paying you back.”

  He had a point. The trouble was that what she was really afraid of was being near him. She didn’t want to be anywhere around him and here she was, having to live under his roof for who knows how long. But she could see she didn’t have much of a choice.

  “I’ll pack,” she said, giving in, and went to do so.

  When she came back, Ian had thrown all the things Doc had previously brought him back into his own suitcase. He took her heavy case from her and went out to dump both of them in the back of Doc’s pickup while she went around making sure that everything was turned off and all the doors and windows were locked. Just like going away on vacation, she told herself doggedly.

  Ian came back, looking very tense. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

  “What’s wrong?” asked Doc.

  “I don’t know. I’m getting a bad feeling. Anything happens, Doc, you get Sierra into the pickup and hightail it for the ranch. You don’t wait for me.”

  “No!” said Sierra sharply. “You’re not really fit yet. We’re not leaving you.”

  “I can take care of myself, but you two can’t. Not against a lion. You burn rubber and you don’t stop for anything, not until you’re at the ranch. Arrhan turns up in the road in front of you, you floor the gas and drive right over him. You don’t do like in the damn movies, stop and get out of the car and run screaming into the woods like idiots for the monster to chase down and rip apart at his leisure. Couple of tons of pickup is a great defense against anything.”

  “I’ve got a rifle under the front seat,” Doc muttered.

  “Shifters are hard to stop even with a rifle unless you get them right in the heart or the head. You drive. Hear me, Doc?”

  “I hear.”

  “Come on, then.”

  Sierra locked the front door and they headed for the pickup. Ian was scanning the area uneasily, his shoulders tense. He pulled open the passenger door for her while Doc went around to the driver’s side.

  Something shot out of the bushes at the corner of the house.

  “Ian!” gasped Sierra.

  Ian didn’t look around. He just scooped her up, tossed her onto the front seat, then slammed the door on her.

  “Doc, go!”

  She heard a thump as he threw his boots into the bed of the pickup, then he was rapidly stripping off his jeans and tee. He was commando under the jeans and the minute they were whipped off he went leopard and flung himself at the massive tawny streak barreling toward them.

  A moment later a ball of intertwined lion and leopard was rolling on the ground in front of the pickup, kicking and tearing with their powerful hind legs, viciously trying to disembowel each other.

  Both Doc and Sierra froze in shock, transfixed by the sight of two snarling, clawing big cats locked in savage battle a yard in front of them. It was something one would have expected to see in a nature program on television, not right here in real life at Sierra’s house in the middle of Colorado.

  Then Doc recovered himself. The pickup fishtailed wildly as he got it into gear and reversed as fast as he could.

  “No! Doc, stop!” Sierra shouted. “We can’t leave him alone! That’s just what Arrhan wants! To get him alone and kill him!”

  “What the hell do you think we can do?” Doc yelled back. “He’s giving us the chance to get away, can’t you see that? He’ll come after us once we’re clear.”

  Sierra knew better. Ian wouldn’t break off the fight once they were gone. Arrhan had killed and terrorized his friends. Ian wanted him dead. Arrhan was a lion, which meant that he was larger than Ian and weighed twice as much. But that wouldn’t matter to Ian. He’d just keep on trying to kill him.

  Sierra fished hurriedly below the front seat and came up triumphantly with Doc’s rifle. Peter had been shocked when he’d learned that Sierra knew how to shoot, but her mother had been all for her knowing how to defend herself and had got Taylor Weekes to teach her. She had never shot anything live, only targets, but she did know how to aim accurately

/>   Doc had slammed the pickup into forward and was veering away from the raging, battling cats. He jerked around as she wound the window down.

  “You can’t shoot, Sierra! You might hit Ian instead!”

  Leaning out of the open window, trying to draw a bead on Arrhan, Sierra realized Doc was right. The ball of lion and leopard had broken up into a whirl of slashing fangs and claws. It was easy to see which was black-maned lion and which spotted leopard, but they were both moving so fast that she couldn’t be sure a bullet wouldn’t miss and strike the wrong one.

  “We’re going!”

  “Doc, stop! There’s another one!”

  Another tawny streak was hurtling out of the trees. This one didn’t have a mane.

  “It must be one of the Lowes,” blurted Doc, braking involuntarily as he stared. “It’s a female. Maud Lowe, maybe.”

  But it wasn’t. The lioness flung itself on the leopard, not the lion. Unprepared for a second attacker, Ian was knocked right off his feet. He rolled desperately and regained his footing in a scrabble of claws just as the lion landed on him. The lioness started to leap forward to join the assault.

  “Run her down!” Sierra shouted and Doc tried. The lioness skittered sideways with a roar of fury and he missed.

  Sierra didn’t. Leaning out of the cab, she had the lioness in her sights. Ian had said that the only time a bullet would stop a Shifter was when it went right through the head or the heart. She couldn’t be sure of the heart, but she had no trouble with the head. She shot the lioness right between the eyes.

  She fell like a stone. The sound of the shot broke the other two apart and brought them whipping around in shock.

  “Ian, get in!” she screamed as Doc braked the pickup just past him.

  Ian wasn’t listening. He just crouched to throw himself back at the lion.

  “Ian, get in the car or I’m getting out!” she shrieked and cracked open the door to show that she meant it.

  He hesitated for a long, trembling, furious moment, then snarled viciously and flung himself into the bed of the pickup. The pickup rocked as his weight struck it. Doc took off at once, flooring the gas pedal, tires screeching as he tore down the dirt track and toward the main road. Looking back, Sierra saw that the lion was staring at her. She shivered at the rage and pure malignity in those glaring yellow eyes.