Blood of Eden: A wolf shifter romantic suspense (The Guardians Book 1)

by JJ King

  “What do you know about the rogue wolf? Why is he stalking the women in my family? Who does he want? What does he want?” The questions flew from her lips.

  Quinn swallowed the small piece of sandwich he had left and wiped his hand across his mouth, ignoring the napkin just inches away. Her mother would have shot him.

  “I know him because he’s a member of my family. He’s my cousin.”

  “You’re related to that pile of decrepit rot?”

  His booming laugh did nothing to distract her from zeroing in on his knowledge of this dangerous rogue wolf. She smacked his arm, still surprised at the electric shock that zipped through her from the brief contact. “Stop laughing. I’m being serious. If he’s your cousin then tell me what he’s after, who he’s after?”

  The laughter died in his eyes. He leaned forward and spoke with rough determination. “His name is Raphael and he was recently thrown out of our family for being dangerous and scheming. The long and short of it is that he wants to be in control of my family but he doesn’t deserve it. The elders asked him to leave after he tried to manipulate his way to the top. There was this big terrible scene and he left the tribe, but not before he swore publically that he would cripple us, that he would destroy our future any way he could. He’s kind of mad, crazy mad not angry mad, although he’s kind of both.”

  Katherine sat back and sipped at her macchiato, before asking the obvious. “So, your family, your tribe, your trouble. What does my family have to do with that?”

  “Right to the point, huh, counselor?”

  She wasn’t surprised for a moment that he knew she was a lawyer. She wondered briefly if he knew what color underwear she had on too. “Look, Mr. Deschains,” she spat his name out disdainfully, trying to assume her usual whiplash tactics, “there really is no point putting off the truth now is there. How about you just fess up and let me in on what’s really happening here. Who is Raphael stalking?”

  “I have no bloody idea.”

  “How do you know that he’s after one of the women of my family then?”

  “I know because my elders told me that he would be coming after a female from the LaFlamme tribe and that if I didn’t find her and protect her then the future of my tribe would be devastated. I have no idea who I’m supposed to find or why she’s so important. That’s where you come in.”

  “You want me to help you find her?”

  “Well, since you know his scent I can assume that he’s caught yours and dismissed you as a possibility. That means that you’re safe and I figured you would know your family members best and be able to help me figure it out. Plus, I think you smell like caramel and Heaven and I might have just wanted a chance to get to know you.”

  God help her, but Katherine felt her cheeks infuse with blood in a charmingly juvenile blush. She was devastated, he grinned like a wolf.

  “Ok, so if you really are here to help my family and yours then I can help you, but you have to promise me one thing.”

  He held up his right hand and crossed his heart with his left. “I’m ready.”

  She felt herself grinning despite her determination not to. He was just too much; an amazing combination of sheer sex and boyish charm. “Promise me that you’ll follow my lead on this one. That means that I’m in control of this ship and you’re just along for the ride ok?” She wondered what kind of tantrum he’d throw.

  “Sure, no problem.” He grinned.

  So adorable. What the hell am I going to do with this one?

  Chapter Nine

  They sat in the coffee shop and talked until the sun came up and then they went to a different place for breakfast.

  Quinn told her about his life, his travels, and about his knowledge of Raphael. In between eating, drinking and strategizing, they flirted and got to know one another’s likes and dislikes. Katherine had never been on a more successful date, despite the fact that it was supposed to be a tracking expedition.

  They were just finishing up breakfast when Katherine’s cell phone began to ring obnoxiously.

  Since tracking rarely involved oversized leather purses, Katherine was able to locate and press talk on her phone quickly.

  “Hey, Tony. What’s the news?”

  “Katherine, where are you? You haven’t checked in for over sixteen hours. Rachel was supposed to meet up with you three hours ago but you didn’t show. She was worried.”

  “Well you obviously weren’t or you would have called sooner. As it happens I’ve gotten our first break in the rogue situation.” She glanced over at Quinn a few was feet away feigning an attempt to give her space. She knew faking when she saw it; he was listening to every word.

  “Yeah? Wanna fill me in now or meet up and fill in the team?”

  “Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of the rest of the team switching their attention to the hunter and me following this lead I have for a few more hours. I swear Tony, I’ll check back in with you this evening, say 7:00 pm. There’s some stuff you should know and someone you should meet. Bye Tony.”

  “Meet? Katherine, what’s going on?”

  His last words were cut off when she pressed end and slipped the phone back into a small cargo pocket on her pants. Absently feeling the wrinkled material, she realized just how long it had been since her last shower or hell, even her last bathroom break.

  “Quinn, wait here a second, will you? I have to use the ladies.”

  He didn’t answer but rather nodded his confirmation that he would stay put. Men were rarely comfortable with the thought of anything private concerning a lady unless that lady was naked. Girl stuff was apparently icky to men of all ages.

  The bathroom was small and slightly smelly but clean enough for an establishment that serviced as many people as this one did every day.

  She took care of nature, careful to first line the seat with toilet paper as her mother had taught her to do as a young girl. There was no need for a young lady of breeding to share common germs after all. Her mother might run around the forest at night as a wolf but when in human form she was a real stickler for propriety.

  The water that gushed from the faucet was cold and refreshing. She splashed some on her face and the back of her neck then used a few rolls of paper towel to scrub her face clean. She took a subtle sniff of her armpit to make sure that was ok and was glad to know that she was holding up well in that area.

  When she finished, she reached for the bathroom door handle and was surprised to find it jammed. She tried several times before resigning herself to a more physical act. She might not be the biggest or baddest wolf in the forest but she would definitely win in the fight against a doorknob. She just had to make sure that no one was outside who could see her so casually rip off part of a door.

  There was no sound from outside so she braced herself and prepared to yank the metal from the wood. She had just wrapped her hand around the handle when it rotated under her grasp and the wood around it splintered.

  The door swung open and she saw Quinn standing in the hallway with a doorknob in his hand and a grin on his face.

  “Want this?”

  Her eyes drank the sight of him in as though they’d been separated for a lifetime instead of merely minutes. The innocence of his posture was betrayed by the desire in his eyes as he watched her. She could feel the heat of his body spike and a shudder of heat traveled the length of her spine in response.

  “I want something.”

  She reached over and grasped his shirt, hauled him into the bathroom and kicked the door shut with her foot. She pushed him up against the broken door and inhaled a deep breath that took in his aroma and sent her into a spin.

  She was around a foot shorter than he was and that was saying something. She was tall for a woman so he was just tall, period.

  Her hand rested above his heart and she could feel it pounding under her palm. She inclined her head back and looked up at him. She was the aggressor in this seduction but she wanted to give him the chance to take contr
ol of her. She liked to be the boss but sometimes it was just fun to let someone else take the lead.

  She could see a war raging in his eyes as he stared down at her. His jaw muscles twitched as though he were trying to hold himself back. He failed miserably.

  She had expected fire and ice, explosions and passion, so when his lips just skimmed hers, Katherine felt her world tilt. His lips were full and soft and he did nothing more than move them slowly across hers, breathing into her mouth and accepting her breath into his.

  Katherine had never felt anything like it. It was sensual, yes, but more than anything it was a sharing of life, of breath, of souls. She took his breath into her and savored its taste.

  Her heart beat wildly in her chest but it didn’t interrupt her absolute focus on him, on his lips and his breath. She felt herself yearning for more but reluctant to break this moment. The intensity of this bond was earth shattering and she never wanted it to end.

  A knock at the door brought it to an end.

  A waitress stood outside the door looking puzzled at the gaping hole in front of her. She looked even more confused when Quinn handed her the doorknob without a word and, holding Katherine’s hand lightly, steered her down the hall and out the front door of the restaurant.

  ♀♀♀

  They spent the rest of the morning and afternoon ignoring what had happened in the bathroom, choosing instead to leave the encounter open to interpretation. Katherine didn’t want to think about it yet, not until she had time to herself to focus. If she didn’t, she felt as though the thoughts in her head would overcome her and she would lose any semblance of self-awareness she had.

  Instead, they spent the day following leads that Quinn had picked up on while following Raphael. The bastard had idiosyncrasies that would baffle Freud. He seemed to be immune to regular human / wolf necessities like sleeping and eating, which only somewhat surprised Katherine since she already knew he avoided showers like the plague.

  His trail ended on the outskirts of St. Luc. Tired, hungry and ready to find that shower that Raphael so detested, Katherine voted that they return to her hotel, shower and then meet up with her brother and the other trackers for a briefing.

  Quinn’s reaction to her suggestion was intriguing. He showed all the excitement for meeting her brother that she would have thought would come from the shower idea and all the reservation at being alone with her in a hotel room that she would have assumed he’d have for meeting a member of her family. The man was just hard to figure out.

  She liked that about him.

  Rather than taking the time to retrace their trail, they called a cab and got a quick ride back to the hotel. Quinn paid the driver before she could even reach for her wallet, which made her smile. Old fashioned was sometimes a good thing when it came to men. Especially when that man obviously respected you enough to see you as an equal but still felt the need to be chivalrous.

  Her mother would approve. She hoped.

  Katherine was surprised at her desire to introduce Quinn to her family so quickly. She had never, in her entire life, taken home a boyfriend to meet her parents.

  She had dated men they had already known of course. The immediate pack wasn’t that big after all and her father made it a point to know the wolves he led.

  Which brought her back to the question of Quinn’s origins. What family was he from? She had studied all the major pack families in her formative years with her brothers and she had never heard of the Deschains family.

  She might have some sort of soul-deep connection with this stranger but she still had wits enough to wonder about him. He was all she could think about actually.

  Her musings were interrupted as Quinn joined her outside the hotel. Together they went inside and headed for her room on the twelfth floor.

  The elevator door closed slowly and the sound of “the girl from Ipanema” filled the small room.

  Katherine’s mind flashed to her favorite television show, Grey’s Anatomy, and she had to muffle a chuckle. On the show, the elevator was a super sex charged arena that always made for a fun time.

  “Thinking about Grey’s, aren’t you?” Quinn’s voice was again filled with laughter.

  She was shocked and extremely pleased that he could read her so well and that he liked her favorite show. “How’d you know?”

  “Oh come on. Elevators are ruined now because of that show. I can’t get on one anymore with a single woman without her head filling up with fantasies of sex.”

  His over-exaggerated sigh filled her with laughter. “You know,” she turned to look at him, “you could always pretend to be a doctor.”

  His eyes darkened with desire instantly. The muscles in his jaw worked and bunched up as his body reacted to the suggestion. She shook her head in mock contempt and spoke in her best schoolmarm voice.

  “I meant for Halloween, you pervert.”

  She laughed and his eyes returned to normal. He didn’t speak at all until the doors of the elevator opened on her floor and she stepped out ahead of him. Then she heard him mutter under his breath, “Liar.” She pretended that she didn’t hear him, however, since she had been lying and she really would like to play a little doctor with him sometime.

  Her hotel room was spacious and decadent, just the way she liked it. Quinn followed her silently into the room and then walked to the window to stare out at the city.

  Katherine could feel the nerves floating off him and wondered where the confident and sexy man that had been flirting with her all night and day had gone. His body posture betrayed his physical response to being in a room alone with her.

  She could smell his arousal and see his uncertainty. His nervous reaction softened her heart and made her feel protective of him. She crossed the room and took the hand that hung by his side. She turned him around and looked up at him.

  “Quinn?”

  She watched his Adam’s apple bob in his throat at he stared down at her. He started to say something but she stopped him with a finger to his lips. She brushed her fingertip over his mouth then pulled her hand back and exhaled.

  “Let me go first. I’m attracted to you more than I can even say but there’s this part of me that doesn’t want to act on it, yet. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing I would love to do more than fall into bed with you, but I feel something for you that I can’t explain and I just want to take this slow. Can you do that for me? Can we take whatever this is slow?”

  The relief she saw in his eyes could have offended her but they had already shared too much already for her to jump to any conclusions. The connection was too deep for her to question it. Besides, his level of arousal soothed any offense that she might have taken.

  She turned away from him and walked to the bathroom. She didn’t know about him but she was in need of a cold shower. “I’m taking the first shower ok? Female prerogative.”

  “Katherine?”

  She turned to look at him and he was immediately across the room and sweeping her up into his arms. His hands plunged into her hair and pulled her mouth to his. His soft lips pressed hard against hers, his tongue took from her and his teeth bit hard. She rose up on her toes and gripped him, scraping her nails along his arms trying to bring him closer to her. She wanted more, she wanted all of him.

  She stepped back breathing hard. He stood shaking before her with his arms dangling at his sides as though he didn’t know what to do with them. He stared at her.

  “Sorry.”

  “That’s ok.” For the second time in twenty-four hours, her voice came out like Marilyn Monroe’s when she had sung Happy Birthday to the President. It might have been annoying if she’d been able to think clearly. Her head was firmly back in that fog that she’d experienced with him the night before and she honestly didn’t know if it would ever clear or if she ever wanted it to.

  Her legs were a little shaky as she walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She leaned against it like a teenage girl in a chick flick and grinned like an idio
t.

  ♀♀♀

  It was just before 7:00 pm when they walked into the restaurant where Anthony had told her to meet him. It was a big Italian place with good food, polite wait staff, and corner booths that served their purpose.

  Anthony was already there when they walked in. He was sitting with three other trackers and drinking a glass of cabernet. He caught sight of Katherine and smiled then noticed Quinn behind her. He stopped with his glass almost to his mouth, lowered it, and lowered his eyes and inhaled deeply. Katherine knew that he was trying to figure out who this man was and scent was always the first indicator.

  Anthony put his glass down and nodded to his sister. “Katherine, I’m glad you made it. Who is your friend? I would stand but I’m a little confined here.”