McQuade: The Lone Wolf Takes a Mate

by Lynn Richards

  He lowered his head to kiss her, presenting his tongue at the parted opening of her mouth. She gave him permission to enter, eagerly accepting the slide of his tongue over hers. They both groaned as the kiss deepened. Rose’s heart pounded so hard she half expected it to burst through her chest. The familiar weakness invaded her limbs and her breasts grew heavy. Her hunger for him was out of control. She didn’t think she would ever get enough of this man. This wolf.

  He pulled back, breaking the kiss and cool air floated across her wet lips, making them tingle. There was a look of worry in his eyes as his gaze ran over her, from her uncombed hair to the flash of bare leg below the hem of his shirt. She knew she didn’t look her best, wasn’t the fashionably thin woman most men wanted, but the worried look in his eyes made her feel special just the same.

  “I’ll be fine,” she said, her hands caressing the taunt skin and soft chest hair beneath her fingertips. “How much safer could I be? I’m in the middle of pack territory and no one knows I’m here.”

  McQuade hoped that was true. He didn’t think any of the shifters at the bar that night had known what pack he belonged to, but they only had to ask around, ask about the Crater Moon pack. They were the biggest around. And the lion shifter was beyond bold. Every shifter in that bar had known McQuade was making a claim but the shit had dared to come after Rose anyway. Damn. He didn’t like leaving her for a minute even with Briggs nearby. No one messed with his mate. No one.

  Sliding his hands down her sides, he relished the feel of her lush curves under his palms. He stroked higher, finding the undersides of her breasts. He had made her come using only his mouth on those perfect peaks.

  He gathered her close, pinning her against the length of his erection. One hand fanned along the curve of her hips, the tips of his strong fingers grazing the bare skin of her left buttock under the tail of his shirt. He wanted her here, in his bedroom, wearing his clothes. Or nothing at all. And he wanted her…

  Forever. The word whispered through his mind and his wolf howled in agreement.

  He grasped the back of her head, pulling at her hair to arch her closer. “One more taste, Rose,” he rasped. She opened for him willingly, welcoming him inside. He stroked his tongue along the edges of her teeth before plunging into her deeply. She sucked hard at his tongue, using every lesson she’d learned at his hands. His kiss was neither sweet nor gentle. It was as hot as a branding iron and equally as hard.

  When their lips parted they both struggled to bring their rapid breathing under control.

  “I need to leave.”

  “So you say,” she whispered from the crook of his arm as his gaze ran slowly over her long, loose hair before returning to her eyes. They were half closed, slumberous with a desire she couldn’t hide.

  “You’re making this incredibly hard.”

  “I know,” she giggled, pressing against his rather impressive erection.

  Smiling, he kissed her forehead than stepped back, holding her a second until he was sure she could stand on her own. His felt like Briggs had just knocked his knees out from under him in a training session.

  “Briggs will be here soon. I’ve got to get ready.”

  Walking away from her, not giving into the urge—the savage need—to throw her on the bed and have her one more time, was one of the hardest things he had ever done in his life. He’d never wanted like this before. She was a fever in his blood.

  Pulling a shirt from the same drawer she’d grabbed hers, he tugged it over his head then combed his hair back with his fingers.

  “He’ll be coming in wolf form so I’ll leave a change of clothes for him on the porch. Do not, and I repeat, do not open that door until he is fully dressed.” He glared at her in warning.

  She smiled her beautiful smile and his heart turned over as his wolf sat up and grinned back.

  “Are you afraid I might make a comparison, mister lone wolf? Of course, in my apartment I really didn’t get to see his–”

  In two swift strides, he was in front of her, his mouth covering hers as he took the rest of her words. The pressure of her abundant curves against him produced a sweet ache that was becoming painfully familiar. He lifted his head, staring at her kiss-swollen lips. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “Okay,” she smiled against his lips as he continued to press kisses against her mouth, appearing as reluctant to leave as she was to have him leave.

  McQuade turned, grabbing the change of clothes he’d pulled out for Briggs and strode out of the bedroom. Away from temptation. Away from Rose.

  *****

  The night was interminable. This was the beginning of her three days off and the first day she’d been alone in the evening without McQuade. For the past four days she’d worked every day, driving herself back and forth to work in McQuade’s huge SUV. She’d been terrified to drive it, almost opting to have him pick her up on his Harley after work every day. It was the first time she’d been alone since the attack by the lion. Well, she wasn’t truly alone. Briggs was here. She’d had someone watching her twenty-four/seven since the attack. McQuade probably thought she hadn’t spotted the wolves running alongside her vehicle every morning and every evening. Nor, that she’d quickly figured out he’d spoken to the janitor and guards at the hospital about walking her to her car after each of her shifts.

  Rose jumped when her phone made a sound she had never heard. “What the heck is that?”

  “I changed your ringtone,” Briggs said from his seat at the kitchen counter. He was enjoying the last of the chocolate cake. She’d never seen two men who could eat so much and still look so damn sexy. What she wouldn’t give for a wolf’s metabolism.

  “Do you like it?”

  Her phone now played L’il Red Riding Hood by Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs.

  “You’ve got a weird sense of humor, Briggs.” She still didn’t know his first name. McQuade had just laughed when she’d asked. She opened her phone to discover Alice was calling. She sighed; she really didn’t want to talk to her.

  “Where are you?” her sister demanded as soon as she answered the phone.

  “Hello to you, too, Alice. How are you?”

  “Listen Rose, I don’t have time for chit chat. I need your necklace and I need it now.”

  Rose winched at the strident sound of Alice’s voice and glanced quickly at Briggs. How well did shifters hear? He didn’t appear to be paying any attention to her phone call, concentrating on consuming the last few crumbs of the chocolate cake.

  “I’ve told you before Alice, I’m not giving you the necklace. I don’t even know why you want it. It’s just a gold chain with a prism.”

  “You silly bitch, that prism you’ve always fawned over is a diamond. I’m tired of trying to get it. Give it to me.”

  Rose was shocked at what Alice had revealed. Was the necklace really that valuable? Rose really didn’t care about its monetary value. It was the last thing she had that connected her with her parents. Her childhood might not have been the greatest with a bitchy older sister, but she knew her parents had loved her. Did she need a diamond and piece of gold to help her remember? She knew when she walked out of McQuade’s live she’d have nothing tangible to take with her and her memories of her time with him would be as a strong in fifty years as they were at this very moment.

  “Okay. You can have it.”

  Alice laughed. “I knew you’d give it to me. Now be a good girl and bring it to the bar.”

  “What!” Her exclamation had Briggs’ head lifting from his treat. Rose turned her back and lowered her voice. “I’m never going to the bar again, Alice. One of those shifters attacked me the other day.”

  She heard what she thought was shuffling in the background. Was Alice carrying on this conversation on the dance floor?

  “Oh, come on, Rose. I’m sure that’s not what happened. I’m sure the lion just made a pass at you. Why I don’t know, but some shifters have no standards.”

  Rose froze, the hurt at her
sister’s jab overridden by a more treacherous thought. How had her sister known it was a lion shifter?

  “Alice, what have you done?”

  “Listen, you prissy little virgin, bring the damn necklace to me now.”

  Rose snapped the phone shut. Had her sister had anything to do with the attack? Dear God, had the call for help that rainy night been the start of some wild scheme of Alice’s to get Rose’s necklace? She had been wearing it the night at the bar and the day she’d been attacked by her car. She hadn’t been wearing it when the lion had accosted her in the hospital and let her go so easily.

  Briggs had finished the cake and was washing the pan when she turned back around. Were all shifters so domesticated? Maybe it came from living alone, knowing no one was going to clean up the mess for you.

  Much like what Rose needed to do now, with her sister.

  “Umm Briggs?”

  “No.” He turned away from the sink, leaning against the counter, his arms folded across his massive chest. Really, if she wasn’t so taken with McQuade, this man could make her heart turn over.

  “You don’t know what I was going to ask.”

  “Yes, I do. You want to go to the Crater Moon and meet your sister.”

  “Okay, you do know what I’m going to ask.”

  He held up his hand as if to ward off her next words. “No. Do not ask. I have no desire to have my ass kicked by a crazy wolf.”

  “McQuade wouldn’t hurt you.”

  Briggs actually laughed. “If I let you go to the bar, he’d hand me my balls and order me to–”

  “Alright, alright, I get the picture.” She chewed her fingernail.

  Briggs sighed. “I’ll try to put this nicely so it doesn’t offend your delicate sensibilities, but your sister needs a swift kick in the ass.”

  “I know, but I have to go. She’s my sister.” She didn’t share her suspicions about Alice’s part in the shifter’s attack. “Look, we could go there and be back before McQuade comes back.”

  “No.”

  “Please Briggs.”

  “Fine,” he threw up his hands and straightened from his position against the sink. “But when McQuade guts me, and puts you over his knee, I’m going to be the one saying ‘I told you so’.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  McQuade thought his shift would never end. It had been twelve long hours since he’d seen Rose’s face, since he’d kissed her. Thirteen hours since he fucked her sweet cunt.

  He shifted as soon as he was back on his own property, transforming from wolf to human in almost the blink of an eye. He remembered the awe and wonder in Rose’s face when she’d watched him shift. It was the first time he’d shifted back into human form with a hard-on.

  Near the edge of his yard, he pulled out his jeans, shirt and phone from the small wooden locker he’d installed. He had several such lockers scattered throughout his property. He sighed with relief to see the set of clothes he’d left for Briggs was gone. He would have had to kick the wolf’s butt to hell and back if he’d shown up at his front door with no clothes on.

  Opening the front door he called out. “Rose, I’m home.” He smiled thinking how nineteen-fiftyish he sounded. The man coming home to the little wife.

  Wife. Mate. Mine.

  Ours, his wolf chimed in. All ours.

  His phone rang as he walked into the living room. “McQuade,” he grunted. He’d been expecting a call from his alpha. The man had promised to contact the local pride and find out all he could about the lion who had attacked Rose. He’d bet money the lion was rogue. If he was, he was dead. No one touched his mate and lived.

  “Hey, man.”

  “Briggs?” McQuade frowned. “What the hell are you calling me for? I’m in the damn house.”

  “Well, I’m not.” A small hesitation, then “and neither is Rose.”

  “Briggs!” he roared so loud, he knew the leaves on the trees outside trembled.

  “Now calm down,” Briggs urged.

  Again McQuade growled as he sprinted to the garage and saw his SUV was gone. Where the hell had the man taken his mate? “Tell me, Briggs. Tell me now and I might not eviscerate you.”

  “See, I told Rose that’s what you’d do.”

  McQuade resisted the urge to throw his phone against the wall since it was the only connection he had with the man who had apparently lost his freaking mind and taken his mate out of his house.

  “I’m taking Rose to the Crater Moon.”

  The man had lost his fucking mind. “When I get Rose back, I’m going to–”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gut me where I stand.” A second or two of silence followed by a soft feminine chuckle had McQuade starting to shift. “Rose says hi by the way.”

  McQuade took a deep breath and stopped his shift. “I’m going to get on my bike now, Briggs. And when I get there, I’m going to give you a ten second head start before I come after you.”

  He shoved his phone into his back pocket, not even bothering with his shirt, he flipped the kill switch and his motorcycle roared to life. Speeding down the two-lane road, he allowed his wolf to merge with the man. Why the hell were they headed to the Crater Moon? Instantly the answer came to him. Alice. The damn woman had probably called Rose and asked for her help again. What neither woman understood was that those days were over. No one, no one was allowed to put his mate in danger. Not even family. Alice was getting the hell out of her sister’s life. Tonight.

  He spotted Rose the moment he stepped inside the run-down building. She was standing in the very back of the bar next to a group of shifters. The same lion shifter that had attacked her was seated at table, his arm around Alice’s shoulders. They both seemed to be laughing. Briggs had his body angled in front of Rose, even though he could see she was trying to go around him. The man better be damn glad he was at least trying to protect her, even if he’d put her directly in the path of danger.

  “Rose.”

  All heads turned in his direction. He saw a long gold necklace hanging from Rose’s hand. On the end was a diamond the size of a small pea. He’d seen it on her before.

  If Rose hadn’t been so close to the damn lion shifter, he would have simply attacked without thought to anyone’s safety. Tonight was the last time the shifter would ever put his mate in danger. The lion was dead.

  His wolf strained against the confines of McQuade’s human form. Keeping a wary eye on the hyena shifters seated close by, he walked closer to the table with the lions. He wouldn’t put it past the lion to have hired the hyenas to join take him down. The lion shifter looked up from his beer. McQuade guessed it wasn’t his first of the night.

  “This doesn’t concern you, wolf.”

  McQuade laughed. It wasn’t a pretty sound and he heard several chairs shift behind him, followed by the thud of feet and the slam of the metal door. Hyenas, besides being low on integrity, were cowardly as well.

  “Get her out of here.”

  Before anyone could react, Briggs bent over and hauled Rose over his shoulder.

  Even though Briggs had pissed him off, he knew he’d protect Rose with his life.

  His eyes never left the lion. “We have some unfinished business.”

  Instead of coming straight at him, the man’s eyes flickered to McQuade’s right. Instinctively he stepped to the side as he turned, but he wasn’t quick enough to avoid the sharp thrust of a knife. McQuade cursed himself. He should have scented the hyena. He spun out of the way, bringing his arm down and shattering the other man’s forearm. The knife twisted deeper into his side as the man fell.

  Two more shifters came at him. He threw one off and reached for the other when pain washed over him with such intensity his stomach churned. What the fuck?

  The third attacked while he was still trying to deal with the first two. The force of the blow sent him staggering into the front glass window of the bar. The give of the shattering glass threw him off balance. The second hyena shifter landed another blow and McQuade got seriously pissed. D
rawing on his anger from seeing his mate in danger, he landed a hard blow of his own to the hyena’s midsection. He needed to shift to finish this fight quickly, but he knew there wasn’t time. The hyena would be on him before he could blink.

  He looked to make sure Rose was okay. She was yelling and screaming, tearing Brigg’s arms to pieces with her nails as she tried to get away. The man cursed and held on tight. The two lions came at him. He disposed of one quickly but took his time dismantling the one that had dared to touch Rose. He smiled as the greasy shifter hit the floor. With a snarl at the remaining shifters still standing, he growled, “Anyone else?”

  The bar cleared quickly until the only other person who remained besides Briggs, Rose, and himself was the bartender. He stood behind the bar drying a shot glass. No doubt fights were a regular occurrence. He winced as he straightened. The cut on his side hurt like hell and he knew his back was riddled with shards of glass from the window.

  Alice, he was glad to see had fled as well. The way he felt, he probably would have ripped out the woman’s throat. Sister or no sister. He turned a chair around and sat down.

  “McQuade!” Briggs had released Rose and she ran toward him.

  He inhaled her scent as she dropped to her knees at his side, her eyes tearing as she assessed his injuries.

  “I’m alright, sweetheart.” His reached out to touch her face but dropped his hand quickly as he noticed the blood dripping from his palm.

  “No, you’re not.” Rose pushed a wad of napkins against his side. “You’re bleeding. Badly.”

  “Why the hell are you here? Briggs was supposed to keep you safe.”

  Rose pressed her makeshift bandages harder into his side. “Don’t get mad at poor Briggs. He brought me here.”

  “I know he did, Rose. Now I want to know why. His fucking job was to keep you safe.”

  “And he did.”