“Every time we meet with the other wolves, she’ll be able to tell us what they think.” Caleb smiled, showing off his still-sharp teeth. “Hell, yeah, we’ll watch her back forever, because we can keep her
forever—”
“You really think the woman is gonna be ‘kept’?” Dane interrupted, then whistled. “My aching cock says, uh, hell,
no
, that lady ain’t doin’ nothin’ she don’t want to do.”
No, she wouldn’t. Too much fire to be controlled. But then, he’d never cared about controlling his lovers. Not his style. He just went for the passion and the pleasure.
“I want a full check done on Rafe Santiago,” he said, bringing the pack back to the issue that mattered most. “I want to know where the asshole is,” real doubtful the guy was out of state, like he
should be,
“and I want to know who the hell is supporting him.”
Piers and Dane nodded.
Lucas stabbed a finger at Caleb. “You still got a source at the ME’s office?”
“Um, if you mean am I still sleeping with the night clerk? Then no, Kelly and I broke up.”
Lucas kept staring at him.
“But she has hooked up with Michael,” Caleb said quickly. “And I’m sure he can use the . . . uh . . . connection to get us in.”
“Good. Because I want to see that human’s body. I want to know if wolves got him or if the coyotes tore him up and left him on my doorstep.” Either way, there’d be payback. The painful kind that left a trail of blood for miles.
“She thinks the coyotes are gonna be coming after her.” Caleb scratched his chin. “But they won’t be dumb enough to come right on your turf—”
Lucas’s nostrils flared as he turned his head and looked out over the city. “Oh, yeah, those assholes will be dumb enough to come.” Because they wanted the woman too much to let her go. He glanced at the dark shifter near his side. “Dane, one more thing . . .”
His brows lifted.
“Find out just how much of a bounty is really on her head.” Had to be high, high enough for the coyotes to risk death. He exhaled, “And make sure word gets spread that anyone coming after her will find the LA wolf pack standing in the way.”
Because he’d made a deal with sexy Sarah, and he’d hold up that deal . . . for now.
But not forever.
Because he knew a lie when he scented one, and Sarah had smelled of deception.
Chapter 4
“S
tay inside.”
Sarah whirled around at the snarl and found Lucas in the doorway. His claws were out and the sharp edges of his teeth peeked behind his lips. Uh, oh. Not a good sign. “What’s happening?”
His nostrils flared. “Coyotes.”
The glass slipped from her hand and crashed on the kitchen floor. It shattered at her feet. “Al-already?” She shot a glance to the window. Oh, damn, the sky was turning red. Bloody, with the setting sun.
Lucas crossed the room with a long, gliding stride. He caught her arms and lifted her up, holding her close against his chest.
“Lucas?”
“The glass . . .”
She glanced down. The glass hadn’t hit her feet. Like the wound would have bothered her. What was a little scratch compared to the hell she’d been through?
No. Can’t tell him that. Can’t let him see . . .
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kept her lashes low, the better to shield her gaze. “Thank you.” She breathed the word against his neck and felt the hard stiffening of his body against hers.
He carried her over the glass. Held her lightly, moved easily. And she was no lightweight. But then, the guy did have shifter strength.
He put her down just outside the kitchen. “Go upstairs.” Her body brushed against his. His pupils flared, but he said, “Whatever you hear, whatever you see . . . just stay inside, understand?”
She wasn’t an idiot. If coyotes were outside, um, yeah, she’d be staying
inside.
But she didn’t rush up the stairs, not yet. “Be careful.”
He laughed at that. “I’m not the one you need to worry about.”
Right. Big, tough badass. “They’ll . . . lie to you. They’ll tell you stories about me, about the things I’ve done.” Some of those stories would be true, but Lucas wouldn’t know that. No way could he know that.
But he just shook his head and eased away from her. “Babe, they’re coyotes. That means they were born to lie.”
Most
Other
said that about all the shifters. The shifters were the ones born with two faces, some even thought two souls. Born to deceive.
“You won’t turn me over to them?” The question slipped out.
His eyes burned a bit, the blue heating with the fire of the beast. “Don’t worry, I’ve got plans for you.”
Not the giant reassurance she was hoping for. “You think you can use me, too, don’t you?” Now why did that bother her?
“You mean like you’re using me?”
Hit.
Damn the wolf.
“I think we can use each other.”
The words should have been cold, hard, and they should
not
have sent a shiver of sexual awareness over her. But they did.
“Sure you can’t read my mind?” he murmured and that bright stare slipped down her body.
Didn’t have to be a mindreader to know what he was thinking. “Not in human form.” She’d never been able to read a wolf shifter while he was human. If she had, she wouldn’t have been in this current mess.
A howl echoed outside. His lips firmed. “Go upstairs.”
“Can’t I get a weapon? I mean, you’ve got guns somewhere in this place, right?” Even he would know that sometimes claws and teeth weren’t enough.
“I’m not giving you a weapon.” He turned away and strode quickly toward the foyer.
“Why the hell not?” she called after him.
He fired a quick glance over his shoulder. “Because I don’t trust you. You might use it to shoot me in the back.”
Pretty good reason.
He reached for the doorknob. She ran for the stairs.
The leader of the Mexico coyote pack was a tall, wiry bastard named Jess Ortez. They’d tangled a few times in the past, managed to reach a truce, a rocky one, but usually they stayed out of each other’s way.
Since Jess was on his doorstep, the coyote was doing a real piss-poor job of staying out of Lucas’s way then. Of course, Lucas had known that the coyote would be coming—he’d even left orders for the coyote and his men to be allowed past the gate.
Jess raised his hands when Lucas walked down the main steps. “
Amigo
!”
“Save the bullshit.” Dane and Piers appeared at Lucas’s sides. Other wolves were in the shadows, waiting. “Just tell me why your ass isn’t below the border like it should be.”
Jess’s wide smiled dimmed a bit. He glanced back at the two pickup trucks behind him and straightened his shoulders.
Always had to put on a big front when pack was watching.
“I came to pay you my respects.”
“Your respects?” He stalked forward, aware that Piers and Dane had his back. Always. “Two of your men attacked me last night.”
“No, no!” Jess lifted his hands, palms out. Probably trying to look defenseless. Failing because the tips of his claws had already broken through the flesh. “They didn’t attack you.”
“Could have fooled me,” Lucas drawled.
Jess’s dark eyes narrowed. “They just wanted the woman.” The coyote made a real bad mistake then. He glanced up, his gaze zeroing in on the third upstairs window. The window that was in Sarah’s room. He’d caught her scent.
Lucas lunged forward and grabbed the bastard around the throat. He lifted Jess up, letting the shorter man’s feet dangle above the ground. “They’re not getting her.”
The coyotes in the pickup trucks growled.
Jess’s hands flew up and his claws sliced into the flesh on Lucas’s forearm. Lucas didn’t let him go. His blood splattered to the ground.
The coyote’s face began to turn purple. Easy to see that change, even in the waning light. Lucas tightened his hold on Jess’s neck, letting the coyote know he didn’t have control here.
Jess’s eyes burned into his.
Slowly, taking his sweet time, Lucas released the coyote. Jess sucked in deep gulps of air. “B-bring ’em!”
He tensed at that, knowing this wasn’t gonna be pretty. He wanted to glance up at that third window. To see if Sarah was there. She’d be watching, peeking through the curtains, and he didn’t want her to witness this.
Michael had damn well better be doing his job.
Two coyotes jumped from the back of the first gleaming pickup. They were carrying a long tarp. A tarp that had been rolled up, tight.
Two more coyote climbed from the second pickup. They had a tarp, too.
Jess watched him, those black eyes studying Lucas closely. “My pack owed you an apology.”
“Yeah, you did. That’s why I let you past my gates.”
Jess grunted, and motioned with his right hand. The tarps were both tossed at Lucas’s feet.
What was happening? Sarah squinted through the crack in the curtain, trying to see below. Some coyotes had jumped out of the trucks. Were they going to attack Lucas? Were they pissed that he’d choked their leader?
“You need to come away from the window.”
She jumped at the voice and spun around.
Michael.
His long, black hair brushed the collar of his shirt and his dark eyes bore into her.
“What are you doing here?” Sarah asked. “Shouldn’t you be outside?”
Protecting Lucas’s back.
Too many coyotes were out there. They way outnumbered the wolves she’d seen.
“I’m where I’m supposed to be.” He filled her doorway. “You’re not. Step away from the window.”
A chill skated down her spine. Her fingers slid over the soft edge of the curtain.
“The coyote alpha already has your scent. He knows exactly where you are.” Michael’s brows rose. “And just in case one of those dogs out there has a gun, you need to move away from that glass.”
Right. Gun. The weapon she’d wanted. She hurried forward. But still wondered . . .
what had been in those tarps?
Jess’s claws cut through the ropes that bound the tarps. “They were hunting the woman. She’s got one real high price on her head.” He glanced back at Lucas. “You’ve come into my territory following a hunt, and I never stopped you.”
Right. “I never attacked
you
during the hunt.”
Jess’s lips twisted. “True.” He sliced through the tarps. “And that’s why I brought you a little present.”
Lucas’s gaze dipped to the open tarps—to the two dead men who’d been gift-wrapped for him.
“I didn’t give the order for them to come at you,” Jess spoke quietly. “They broke the pact we had. The punishment for that was their lives.” He shrugged. “I knew you’d be coming for ’em anyway, so I figured I’d just save you the trouble.”
The men’s faces had already taken on the stark white of death. From what Lucas could see, their bodies had stiffened with rigor. They’d died hours ago. Then been hauled out to him.
“Our pact stands.” Jess stepped over the bodies. Offered his hand.
Lucas didn’t take it. “You know, I’m getting tired of bodies being dumped on my doorstep.”
Jess kept his hand up. “We’ll take the bodies with us.” And the coyotes hurried forward to drag them away. “I just wanted to give you proof, wolf. All my pack understands, you’re not to be touched.”
But Sarah was fair game?
Lucas smiled and reached for the coyote’s hand.
“Can you—can you hear what they’re saying?” Sarah asked because the curiosity was killing her.
Michael’s brows rose. “You think my hearing is that good?”
Maybe.
Michael shrugged and walked back toward the window.
“Wait! What are you doing?”
But he didn’t wait. He brushed back the curtain and stared down below.
“Bullets, man, bullets!” Why should she need to give him the reminder?
He grunted and lifted one strong shoulder. “The glass is bulletproof.”
What?
“Then why the scare tactics?” She inched closer. “Why make me pull back?”
He didn’t look at her. Just gazed below. “Because I knew Lucas wouldn’t want you seeing the bodies.”
The bodies.
Her breath caught in her throat. She’d seen her share of the dead over the years. But . . . “He’s—he’s killing them, now?”
“No.” Michael’s dark head cocked to the right. “Now . . . now he’s shaking the coyote alpha’s hand.”
She rushed forward and shoved the wolf out of her way.
I’ll be damned.
They
were
shaking hands. Her own fist slammed into the glass. Of course, it didn’t break—not the glass anyway. But her hand started throbbing like a bitch.
“Glad that’s settled,” Jess murmured. “No sense in bloodshed between our packs.”
Not when my wolves can kick your ass so easily.
“Now, about the woman . . .”
Lucas tightened his hold on the coyote’s hand. “What about her?”
The faint smile faded from Jess’s lips. He tried to pull his hand back. No dice. When it came to physical strength, Lucas could take the coyote any damn day. But when it came to underhanded backstabbing, no one beat Jess.
Well, usually no one did.
Jess stopped tugging his hand and his eyes began to glow with the light of the coyote. “I want her.”
“Um, do you?”
Those glowing eyes rose and locked on window number three. “Just have your man send her down. We’ll be even.”
“Even?” He yanked the coyote closer. “Not even fucking close,” he growled in Jess’s ear. Then he let the shifter go.
Jess stumbled back.
“You’ll have her, and you’ll have the bounty on her head.” Lucas shook his head. “Why should you get all that cash?”
But Jess locked his muscles and stood his ground, and, once more, his gaze drifted to the window. “It’s not just about the money. The bitch owes me, and she
will
bleed for me.”
The hell she would. “Pretty soon someone will be bleeding,” Lucas murmured, “but it won’t be her.” In one move, he could slice open the coyote’s throat. One fast move. Then his men could take out the others.
“Why’d you take her in?”
Behind Jess, the coyotes tossed the bodies back into the pickups.
He shrugged. “Maybe I was in the mood for a fuck.” “Bullshit. You think you can use her.” Jess laughed at that and spat on the ground. “She’ll be the one doing the using. And she’ll turn on you, just like she turned on her last lover.”
“Rafe?”
His eyelids flickered. “Know that, do you?”
Lucas didn’t speak.
“She shoved a silver knife into his chest. Another inch and she would have taken his heart.”