Awakened by the Wolf (10 page)

Doc stooped forward as if he'd taken a punch in the stomach. He braced his hands against his desk and took a deep breath. “Brice, Lexi's dead.”

A breath-stealing pain crashed through the center of Brice's being. The shock wave stemmed not only from the news of the death of a lifelong friend but also the sorrow and sympathy he felt for Rafe's utter devastation.

Brice never wanted to experience the depths of pain, despair and often guilt the loss of a mate-bonded partner would wreak on male wolfan. Thankfully, an apprenticeship with the Woelfesenat would assure he never would.

Chapter 15

B
rice came home to an empty driveway and a deserted cabin. On the answering machine playback, his tired voice cracked the silence, urging Cassie to pick up the phone. After a pause, concern rang through his message for her to call him when she got home.

For the umpteenth time, he fished the cell phone from his pocket. No missed calls.

He dialed the resort. The night auditor, Shane McQuarrie, as he identified himself, swore Cassie clocked out on time and left.

Maybe she had car trouble and called Rafe, though Brice wondered why she hadn't called him, too. He'd left several messages for her at work, asking her to do just that.

After three unsuccessful telephone attempts to reach Rafe, Brice drove to R&L Automotive. The tow truck, Rafe's old Jeep and a few other cars were parked inside the locked fence. Doc said Rafe often ran the woods at night. Brice's heart hurt for Rafe's loss, and he intended to do whatever he could for his friend. Right now, though, Brice needed to find Cassie.

He circled through town in case she'd opted for takeout over another ramen noodle supper. Not seeing her car, he drove to Taylor's Roadhouse on the outskirts of town. Mondays used to be singles night. Maybe she went for drinks after work.

Kicking back with Cassie and dancing to a song or two would be a nice way to wind down the evening, unless she wasn't alone. He hadn't considered that she might be dating someone.

Sight unseen, he immediately detested the guy. Anyone who showed the slightest interest in Cassie would have to go through him. After all, Brice had a promise to keep.

The parking lot had no open spaces, and not one of the vehicles belonged to Cassie. He drove through the residential sections of Maico, conflicted. What if he found her car parked at some yahoo's house?

His ambivalence blossomed into anxiety when he didn't. He sped over to Northeast Georgia College in Brasstown Valley, cruised the campus parking lots. He no longer cared if he found Cassie with someone. He just wanted to find her.

On the return trip to Maico, Brice searched the condemned trailer park where Cassie had lived. Each call for her that went unanswered fed his imagination of finding her broken and bleeding.

Panic frayed his self-control. His fingers gripped the steering wheel so hard that the rod inside the ring began to bend. At the red light, he pried loose his hands and shook them out.

Cas, where the hell are you?

Are you okay?

The uncertainty ate at him like a cancer, devouring him cell by cell. He turned toward the last place he knew to look. The hospital. His already fast-beating heart launched into ludicrous speed at the sight of Cassie's car parked close to the ER entrance.

He wheeled into the parking lot, jammed the gear into Park, ran inside the building, checked every bay, questioned every person. No one had seen Cassie.

The tightness in his chest threatened to put him in a hospital bed if he didn't find her soon. All the things people swore when begging God for a favor, he offered and more.

He'd promised Granny he would take care of Cassie.
Promised!
After only one day, it seemed he'd already failed them both.

Walking toward Cassie's car, Brice dug the cell phone from his pocket.

“Yeah?” Pack sentinel and sworn sheriff deputy Tristan Durrance's sleepy voice answered.

In bed asleep was not where Brice expected Mason's former best friend to be on singles' night. Tristan and Mason were notorious ladies' men. Brice had assumed Tristan, a resolute bachelor, would be at Taylor's, carrying on the tradition.

“Who's calling?” Tristan sounded more alert, suspicious.

Brice's tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. In the past, he wouldn't have thought twice about asking Tristan for help. Now Brice didn't know how well Tristan would receive him.

Reaching Cassie's car, Brice's fingers swept the cool hood. Tristan's threats about what he would do to his prank caller if he caught him assaulted Brice's ear. He peered into the driver's window. Empty, the front seat held no clues to Cassie's whereabouts.

Peeking in the rear door window, he noticed a swaddled lump in the backseat. Then he saw the ringlets of red hair fanned over the pillow. Tucked beneath a delicate chin, small hands clasped the frayed edges of the comforter. Coppery lashes fringed her porcelain skin.

Cas!
Brice snapped the phone shut. The invisible bands around his torso popped, releasing a tide of relief. Cresting on the waves came the urge to seize, to dominate, to claim.

“No.” Brice stepped away to avoid ripping the car door off its hinges.

Animal instinct would not rule him as a man. Massaging the bridge of his nose, he counted. He would count to the world's population if that's what it took to regain control.

Careful not to break the window, Brice knocked his knuckles against the glass. Cassie snuggled deeper beneath her comforter.

“Cas, wake up!”

Her eyelids eased open. Slowly she sat up. Sleepy. Sexy. Safe.

“Brice?” She yawned.

“Unlock the door, Sunshine.” He waited for the click, yanked open the door. In one swift move, he hauled her from the backseat and pinned her against the car.

“Stop that!” Fully awake, she shoved him.

“I thought something happened to you.” Brice nosed her hair, her neck, gulping her scent to calm his frantic heart. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Sleeping.” She squirmed out of his clutches.

“For God's sake, why?”

“You were going to evict me anyway.” She tucked her fists beneath her arms. “The hospital parking lot is safe. It's easy to sneak through the ER to the employee showers. The cafeteria has decent food. There's also a nice nook in the waiting area where I can study.”

“Dammit, Cas.” The blush staining her cheeks reminded him of her fragility regardless of her grit. He softened his tone. “When I said the arrangement doesn't work for me, I meant that I'm not an old woman who needs a caretaker.”

“Yeah, I got that.”

“Just because I don't need a caretaker doesn't mean I don't want your company.”

“What are you saying?” Hope flashed in her sharp, not-quite-trusting eyes.

“I don't want you to leave.” No way in hell was he going through this upheaval again.

“You aren't evicting me?” Cassie nibbled her bottom lip. Something he had a sudden hankering to do, too.

“Hell, no.” He wanted to know where she'd be at all times.

Instead of jumping for joy or hugging and kissing him in gratitude, as Brice expected, Cassie walked a few steps away. Nervous that she didn't immediately agree to share the cabin with him, he shuffled the weight on his feet.

“How much is rent and what are the rules?” she asked, her back to him.

“No rent. No rules.” He shoved his hands into his pockets so he wouldn't sling her over his shoulder caveman-style.

“I don't take freebies.” Cassie spun around, hands on her hips, shaking her head.

The sight of those wild curls bouncing against her shoulders triggered another gush of testosterone. He hardened instantly. Primal instinct strained against his restraint to comply with the wolf's demand to seize and claim. The animal was gaining strength, the mating urge growing stronger. If his wolfan nature took control, Brice wouldn't be able to stop himself from taking a mate, whether or not Cassie wanted to be claimed.

Unless you want to frighten her, hurt her, turn her against us and make her hate us...settle the fuck down!

The restless snarling quieted to a few disgruntled growls. The overwhelming urge throbbing in the forefront of his mind to take everything he could, right here, right now, retreated into the dark recesses of his wolfan consciousness, tempered. But for how long?

* * *

“Can we discuss this later?” Brice plowed his fingers through a tumble of hair falling across his forehead. “It's late and I want to get you home, safe.”

Cassie more than appreciated Brice's concern for her welfare. He awed her, actually. Kind, protective, not to mention devilishly handsome—oh, it wouldn't take much to fall hard for him, and if she didn't stay on her guard, she'd tumble all the way down Heartbreak Boulevard and land in the trash compactor of the junkyard of shattered dreams.

“What are your terms? I can cook and clean in lieu of rent. No sex, though. That's a deal breaker.”

“God, Cassie.” The planes of Brice's appalled face sharpened in the glow of the parking lot lights. “How could you think I would expect that from you?”

“Sometimes my mom slept with men so we'd have a place to live and food.” Cassie didn't actually believe Brice the type to barter for sex, but better to know now than when he tried to collect payment. “I won't do it, though. I'd rather sleep in my car.”

“I'd rather you didn't.” The deep creases between Brice's eyebrows softened. “The cabin is your home. For as long as you want it to be.”

“So, cooking and cleaning it is.” She extended her hand.

“I don't need a housekeeper.” Brice lifted her fingers to his cheek. “I don't need rent. I need to know you're safe.”

“I can take care of myself.” Cassie's typical adamancy waned under the influence of Brice's wispy breaths against her inner wrist. Her entire body stilled, though not from tension. Her muscles remained loose and pliable as he gently angled her arm slightly upward to rest her hand on his shoulder. He edged slowly into her personal space, testing her temperament toward the invasion.

“I'm not getting frisky,” he said cautiously. “I need to smell you.”

Words any woman would want to hear standing next to a wolfman in a deserted parking lot in the middle of the night.

Cassie nodded. He slowly placed his hands on her hips, lowering his face and skimming her cheek along her jaw. She concentrated on pacing her breaths to avoid sucking up the miniscule amount of air between them in one giant expectant gulp.

He nosed her earlobe, inching up to the shell. She bit her lip to stifle a gasp at the raspy pants in her ear as he nuzzled her hair.

His hands remained anchored on her hips. Despite her clothing, she felt every one of his long, tapered fingers burning into her skin. A cozy warmth spread through her body, softening her defenses like heated candle wax. She allowed Brice liberties she'd not given to any other man and wasn't quite sure why her acquiescence seemed so natural and comfortable in his presence.

A false sense of security...that's what he gave her. She shouldn't linger too long in the mirage. Better she should create her own stability by standing on her own two feet. Preferably when she wasn't swaying with Brice's every move.

“Um, while you sniff, think of something I can barter for rent. I won't accept something for nothing.” Cassie refused to fall into the trap of relying on other people. In the end, they always disappointed.

Brice's heavy sigh gusted her hair. He pulled back slightly to study her. His mouth taut, an infinitesimal twitch on his lips made her think he'd started counting again.

He seemed to do that a lot.

She watched the slow slide of his Adam's apple. Standing on her toes, she might be tall enough to chase the lump with her tongue down to the jagged scars lining the base of his throat. Not that she would risk such a behavior. It was simply something to think while Brice decided on her rent.

“Pies.” He flashed a sinful smile.

“Huh?” Cassie sank back on her heels after realizing she had rocked forward on her toes.

“Pies for rent. Sound reasonable?”

“Seriously?”

“I never joke about food,” he deadpanned.

“I suppose you wouldn't, considering you're part wolf.” Cassie slumped against the car. On her budget, she would be stupid not to take Brice's lopsided offer. Coming from anyone else, she would be suspicious. But everyone in town knew Brice's family had money, so he really didn't need hers, and she'd heard he was always a man of his word. “Deal. And you already ate my first payment.”

Brice's high-wattage smile made his previous one look like a night-light in comparison. “I would ask for a kiss to seal the bargain, but I don't want to give you the wrong impression.”

“A hug?” For crying out loud, what the heck was wrong with her? She needed to keep things strictly business with him. Wherever that irrational suggestion had come from, it was too late to retract.

Brice banded her in his warm, steely arms. Cassie intended to return the hug with a perfunctory pat on his back. Her body had other ideas, finagling as close as possible, welcoming his heat despite the moderate temperature cloying the late-night breeze.

“Let's go home, Sunshine.” He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head.

An unexpected vibration rippled down her spine, spread into nerves and dropped an electrified jumble at the apex between her thighs, a spot all too eager for the sudden stimulation.

Yes, yes. Let's go home. A nice, comfortable bed awaits. And Brice will be in it.

If Cassie kept thinking those errant thoughts, she'd be better off sleeping in her car.

So close to outrunning her mother's bad luck, come hell or high water, or the devil himself, Cassie wouldn't trip up now.

Slightly weak-kneed, Cassie keyed the old clunker's ignition and pulled out of the parking lot. Brice's truck lights reflected in her rearview mirror.

Yeah. Come hell or high water or the devil himself.

Cassie cranked up the radio to drown out the huge raspberry the evil one blew in her ear.