Dalton, Tymber - Doggy Tales [Doggy Tales] (Siren Publishing Classic) (6 page)

She nervously glanced at Ivan. He protectively slipped his arm around her shoulders as she answered.

“It’s an adjustment.”

Jeremy nodded. “That’s not the word I usually hear, but good. Do you have any questions for me?”

She met his eyes square on. “Can you kill those fuckers that nearly raped me?”

Ivan choked on the swallow of tea he’d taken. He’d give Jeremy credit for not reacting to that one.

Maybe this was a key to Lindsey’s deep, dark bogeyman.

“Babe,” Ivan said, “we’ll let the law take care of them.”

She glared at him. “What if they don’t find the others?”

“With their partner in the hospital, and then going straight to jail, they’ll get them.”

She tensed against him, and he nuzzled the top of her head, kissing her. “It’s okay. I promise, never again. Ever.”

She nodded.

After dinner, Ivan drove her back to her place, and they spent the night making love. In the morning he rolled over and grinned as she woke up. “What?”

He held up his collar and leash. “Want to go to the park for a run?”

* * * *

He knew if he didn’t get her back to the park now, he might never be able to. She was scared, understandably so, but he didn’t want what happened to ruin her enjoyment of a place she obviously loved.

They parked in a shaded area, and Lindsey laughed as he slipped the choker over his head. “Why now?”

He shrugged. “Who says I don’t like it?”

She carried a small backpack with a couple of bottles of water and the leash. Leading her by the hand, he quickly took her off the path into a more desolate section of woods.

He noted her sly smile while he stripped. “What?”

She kissed him, wrapping her fingers around his cock, which immediately responded. “I like you like this.”

He clipped the leash to his collar and jammed his clothes into the backpack. “Keep that up, babe, and you’ll end up flat on your back and butt naked.”

“Maybe that’s what I want.”

He carefully and reluctantly peeled her fingers off his cock. “Later, I promise, you can have as much of that as you want.” He kissed her hand and gave her the backpack. “Let’s go play. Running in the woods makes me really horny.”

“Then by all means, mister. After you.”

He would kill for her smile, to keep her this happy. He shifted, loving the pleased look on her face.

They spent two hours in the park. He could have run all day, but as he sensed the tension fully drain from her, he playfully chuffed and refused her request to shift back before they left. He happily padded at her side down the path toward the parking area, enjoying the wide berth people, especially men, gave them. Only one single man dared approach her. She tensed, but as Ivan raised his hackles, the guy suddenly veered off in a different direction.

Lindsey laughed, tangling her fingers in his fur at the scruff of his neck. “Good boy,” she murmured.

His tail eagerly wagged.

* * * *

Two weeks later, she received the call to come ID the other two attackers. Ivan held her hand as they walked into the station.

“I don’t know if I’ll recognize them,” she whispered.

“Don’t worry, babe. I will.” He kissed her hand. “I’ll let you know.”

They let him stay with her because he wasn’t a witness, not that the police were aware of, at least. As the first group of potential suspects marched in, Ivan struggled not to growl. Number two. The pants wetter.

Ivan’s large hand engulfed hers, making it easy for him to tap her fingers twice with his.

“Two,” she breathed.

Smart girl.

He gently squeezed her hand.

Lindsey turned to the officer in charge. “Number two.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely.”

They marched the second batch in a moment later, and Ivan again fought the urge to growl. Four gentle taps.

They repeated the procedure, and thirty minutes later she was curled in Ivan’s arms in his truck, sobbing as he held her, consoling her.

“When do you let me in and tell me what happened to you?”

She shuddered. “My ex-boyfriend. I left him and he stalked me.”

“Where, there?”

“No, here. I moved out there to get away from him.”

“Can’t get much farther than Washington state without needing a work visa.”

“No.”

He stroked her arms. “Why’d you come back?” He’d met her family, and while they’d welcomed him, they’d all stayed conspicuously clear of any discussion of Lindsey’s recent past or why she’d moved out West.

“He was killed in a drug deal or something a few months ago.”

Ivan gently clamped his large hands around her shoulders. “You’re coming to work with us. Jeremy gave me carte blanche. I told you, I’m not leaving your side.” In the time since his revelation, she’d quit her job and moved in with him, and he’d taken the time off from work to be with her.

“I told you, Ivan. That’s unrealistic.”

“Let me have my fun.” He stroked her cheek, fighting the urge to make love to her right there in the sheriff’s office parking lot. “I enjoy taking care of you. And I can’t stand being away from you.”

“I’ll think about it.”

* * * *

Saying he couldn’t keep his hands off her was no exaggeration. Back at their home and knowing the creeps were finally behind bars, she seemed free, somehow. She pushed him to the bed and straddled him.

“Feeling better, babe?” he asked.

She nodded, working on his jeans. “Almost.”

“Almost?”

His cock sprang free as she slid his jeans down his legs. “Yeah,” she whispered as she lowered her mouth to his throbbing cock. “Almost.”

He groaned, tangling his fingers in her hair. Fuck she was so good with her mouth. She did things with her tongue that melted him inside.

He gasped. “What can I do to make you feel better?”

To answer, she had to release his cock. “I want to make you come.”

“No problem.”

She swirled her tongue around the large plum-shaped head, caressing his sac with her fingers. It never took her long to get him off like this, and as the tightness built in his balls, he gently bucked his hips against her.

“Don’t stop,” he whispered.

She deep-throated him, finishing him and setting off an explosion behind his eyes. No woman had ever made him feel the way she did.

When he regained his senses, he looked up to her teasing smile.

“What?”

She curled next to him, nestled perfectly against his side. “You’re just a big puppy.” She took great pleasure in teasing him about that.

“You tamed my beast.”

“When do I get to meet your family?”

He kissed her, his tongue tracing a gentle path from her lips down her jaw to her ear, where a tender kiss just below her lobe always melted her. “Is that when you run screaming into the night? When faced with a houseful of shape-shifters?”

“As long as none of them chew my shoes, we’re copacetic.”

He rolled over and lifted her shirt, nuzzling her breasts. “You have to promise not to make fun of Cousin Frank.”

“Why? Does he turn into a Chihuahua?” she asked with a snicker.

He laughed. “No, I wish.”

“Then what?”

He looked up, his expression serious. “He’s from a different branch of the family.”

“Well?”

“He turns into a panther.”

“And that’s a problem…why?”

“A big cat in the middle of a pack of canines? You don’t see an issue there?”

“Should I stock up on catnip? Kitty litter? Set up a scratching post?”

He rolled over, laughing. “I cannot believe you’re accepting all of this so easily.”

“Hey, wolfman, you promised me great sex every day forever. I’m holding you to that.”

“That’s a walk in the park.” He smiled.