Dangerous (5 page)

Liv glanced around the room. Finally, she could make the bed and tidy up a bit. She rushed over to the offending quilt and pulled it back to fix the sheets and then smoothed any wrinkles from the surface. A fluff of the pillow and she smiled, satisfied she’d restored order to disorder. Xan equaled chaos. He’d turned her world upside down and threatened to destroy her calm, perfect little life. All in one fell swoop.

She spun around and slammed into a hard chest.

“Maybe I wasn’t done messing it up.” His voice held a deep, sexy tone, and could melt butter outside when the temperatures sat below zero.

Her heart took the moment to pick up the pace and pump more blood to her center and girlie bits. Way too much. Her pussy throbbed at the thought of tearing the bed up. With him. She backed away, and he grabbed her shoulders before she could completely retreat out of his space.

“Where you going?”

“I have dinner to serve. Are you hungry?” She stared into his intense eyes, unable to look away, wishing she could, wanting desperately to do anything but look into his soul. Something about this man rattled her worse than any other who came before him. She couldn’t pinpoint what, but warnings bubbled to the surface, drowning her in unease.

“Famished.”

“I left supper in the crock, so it would be warm and ready.” She smiled, but her lips kind of jerked, as though she’d forced it, and she had. Damn, the man made her nervous. And horny.
What the hell about this guy turned her upside down and inside out?
Liquid heat seeped into the crotch of her underwear to show her she didn’t imagine the attraction. “Let’s go eat.”

A ghost of a wolfish smile. “No.”

Shit.
She stepped to the side to go around him, and Xan spun her around and shoved her up against the plaster wall, caging her in with his arms. He leaned forward until their faces were a scant inch apart. “Why are you so nervous, Doc?”

“You promised not to hurt anyone, including me.” She reached into the pocket of her pajamas and curled her hand around the special Taser Drew gave her, guaranteed to take down a charging buffalo, or pissed-off were. Whichever she needed it for. Since there were no bison in the room, Xan Davis headed for deep water. She’d wanted to show him trust, give him a chance to keep his word, but this behavior made it difficult.

Ryker patrolled a mere shout away, but she felt better knowing she could take the Wolf down before he got there, if the occasion should rise.
Had it?
If she called for help, Ryker would take care of it—him.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Far from it.” He sniffed, and she stiffened—horrified at what he might have just scented. Could he smell her reaction to him? More than likely. The wolf in him wouldn’t miss it. Maybe she could blame it on adrenaline?

She pulled her hand out of her pocket, leaving the device, trusting her instincts. No, he wouldn’t hurt her. Several seconds passed and he didn’t say anything about it. Somebody had to break the checkmate. “You don’t scare me, Xander Davis. Let me go.”

“I’m not trying to scare you, sweetheart. Instead of trying to unfuck my mind, Doc, why don’t you climb on and ride me? We can make short work of your neatened bed and relieve me of a little of my pent up rage you are so determined to cure.” He lifted a brow and gave her a wicked smile.

And no. Not happening.
“I don’t have sex with my clients.”

Light in his eyes sparked, before he narrowed them on her. “A client? A patient. You gonna psychoanalyze me, Liv? You really want to get into my head? Any smart woman would not want to go there.” He drew a finger along her collarbone. “There are parts of me that are so much more interesting, I’m sure you’ll agree.”

“I don’t need to diagnose your condition, Xan, or examine your other
interesting
parts. I already know what your problem is.”

“Really?” He cocked his head. “And what’s your professional opinion?”

She licked her lips, nervous as hell. His gaze dropped at the action. She yanked her tongue in like he’d bite it.

“Well? What’s my problem, Doc?”

“You’re a dick.”

“Interesting prognosis.” He tipped his head back and laughed, stepping away from the wall and freeing her. “No, Doc. I’m not a dick, but I’ve got one. One of these days you’ll get to find out firsthand what it feels like. Patient or not.” He nodded toward the door. “Shall we grab some chow?”

She darted past him, as fast as she could go without running and alerting Ryker to the confrontation. What the hell had Drew asked her to do?
Fix him?
The man was dangerous. She couldn’t fix him, and she didn’t know why she told the Alpha she could. Hell, she could barely focus through the sex-induced haze he’d created when he’d stepped into her space. This train wouldn’t go far without jumping the track. One only need to talk to him for a short while to know the task assigned her would be impossible to complete.

“Your panties are wet,” he said from several feet behind her.

Case in point. Dangerous.

Three days later….

Drew had left, going back to Betty after Liv reminded him he had no jurisdiction over her. She didn’t belong to his pack, nor had she mated a member. She couldn’t shift, therefore, was not his to protect.

“No, you’re not part of my pack, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care what happens to you, especially when you are treating one of the Wolves who does belong to my pack. I don’t like leaving you alone with Xan Davis for multiple reasons I think you’re intelligent enough to understand. Stop for a moment and think about what you are asking me to do,” he’d said, way too quiet, way too cool. “I will grant you some space, but don’t think for a minute I’m releasing total control of the situation to you. Xander Davis is ultimately my responsibility, and if I believe at any time he is a threat, I’m ending this.” He waited quietly for her agreement. Any other man and she’d have told him to get bent, but Drew Tao clearly wouldn’t veer from his decision to the right or left, and he did speak the truth. He didn’t have to give her anything she’d asked for.

“Okay, but could you pull him back?” She pointed at Ryker, who’d managed to find shadows to cloak himself in. Leave it to the Enforcer to find a way to vanish against a wall.

“Liv….”

“Please. Give me a cell phone, a Taser. Whatever.”

“If that wasn’t Xan Davis in there, he’d already be dead.”

“The only way he’ll open up is if he feels safe to do so. That’s the reason I’m asking. I know I can help him. I know deep down he won’t hurt me. I can’t tell you why, but I feel it.”

Drew nodded and glanced over at Ryker, shooting him an odd look, almost like they had a telepathic link and there was some secret between them. Nonsense of course, but she couldn’t get over the feeling Drew held back something from her. “Ryker will hang around outside a couple days. If he feels it’s safe, he’ll leave. If not….”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. If there are any repeat performances of what I saw in Gee’s Bar, Ryker will handle Xan the way he sees fit. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

She swallowed and eyed the scary Wolf in the corner. “I understand. It won’t happen.”

Liv waited several hours after the Alpha left for the proverbial shoe to drop. After hearing how his sire behaved—she’d expected something a bit different, if not a heated discussion with him.

Liv stood her ground, when Ryker stepped forward. And if Drew didn’t like it, the damned scary Enforcer who only appeared when he wanted to be seen, sure as hell didn’t and made it perfectly clear with the way he glared right through her.

“I can’t treat him with an audience. If you want him to get better, you have to trust me. I can handle this.”

“One chance.” Ryker crossed his arms and glared. “Don’t screw it up.” He spoke to her, but stared at Xan. And attitudes like that made her job almost impossible.

Drew left the Taser, cuffs, and orders to restrain him in the manner they’d used before, if he so much as looked at her cross-eyed. He also left her a cell phone with his number preprogrammed on speed dial. And Ryker, he buried a dagger in the tree outside, a very human thing to do, and not something she’d expected from the Enforcer. Perhaps his way of saying,
I’m still watching out for this one, and she is under pack protection
—whether she wanted it or not.

She had an idea it had a lot more to do with Xan and the Enforcer’s apparent dislike of the Wolf. Her yard wasn’t the Enforcer’s territory to mark by any means, and he had a mate he adored, yet it sure as hell made Xan angry every time he saw it. He’d growl, pace, and snarl, but not once did he lose control.

Eventually, he’d go outside to get fresh air and “reconnect with nature.” But she knew why he went. They had themselves an old-fashioned Black Hills pissing match going on. Since the incident, Xan had peed on the same damn tree every morning after the Bowie disappeared “mysteriously.” At the current rate, the oak would be dead by summer.

Drew didn’t like that she lived off pack land. On the borders, her cottage sat so far from pack help, it would take a while to rescue her if she needed it. But something told her it wouldn’t be the case.

She had two ways into Los Lobos, on her snow mobile and in her VW Bug. The hippy car she’d had modified into a road-legal dune buggy, capable enough to handle the rugged trails the supply truck used, but able to go into the Springs, should she need to go shopping. And the sled, well, it came in handy when the South Dakota winters buried her car and she needed to get to her office. Neither would be necessary if she had a place in Los Lobos. But that would never happen.

Liv argued her security lights and alarms were a necessary evil she couldn’t live without. Running her house on generators all the time would get expensive, so she’d opted to live outside Hot Springs, on the grid, despite their generous invitation. She didn’t feel comfortable about the idea of living in Los Lobos.

She had no reason to take up residence with the Wolves, and never would. She only had an office there because Drew thought she could help, she knew about the Wolves, and she believed she would make a difference. Maybe, just maybe on the off chance by hanging around shifters, she could find her coyote again. She kept the last bit to herself. No sense in letting them know what a failure she really was.

She reassured the Alpha if she wanted Xan to open up and begin to heal, her bodyguard would need to go and quit hanging over him like a noose. So, with considerable hesitation, Ryker pulled back to let her do her job. It made her both anxious and relieved. She had a gut feeling he hadn’t completely gone. At times she’d catch Xan looking out the windows, as if he sensed someone there, watching the place—babysitting.

“Can I lay on something other than a pink couch? I think I’m getting hives, Doc.” Xan scratched his neck.

“Hives? Really?” Liv stroked the tip of her pen on her notepad, sketching a white alpine behind Xan’s face, using the paper’s negative space to show off his snowy coat. She’d sketched his intense expression moments before, the determined set of his jaw, the stone cold resilience in his exotic eyes. A don’t-fuck-with-me-look, which begged her to do just that.

She couldn’t get the white wolf out of her head as he spoke. What did his Wolf look like? She wanted to ask him, drop the current conversation and dig deeper into nonprofessional areas, and well, asking a Wolf what his animal looked like dipped into very risqué area. About as big a faux pas as asking what color his underwear were. She didn’t need to know what his Wolf looked like, and that would take the conversation into a more personal arena, a place she’d promised herself she’d never go again with a patient. Talking about one’s Wolf or beast treaded in intimate territory, a place she couldn’t go.

Did he have a coat like virgin snow as she imagined, or much darker, like his alter ego? Kayla told her his sister had the blackest fur she’d ever seen, and they were twins. “I think it’s best if we have these sessions here, instead of in Los Lobos at my office where my couch is brown. More privacy. You made quite a scene in town and, until things settle down, well, it’s better we talk here. Deal with the fuchsia.”
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
The pen moved over paper, carving out her wolf in two dimensions.
Her wolf?
Liv frowned and flipped the page, burying the image.

“Pink. It’s definitely pink.” He sat up. “What did you just write?”

“Lie down, Mr. Davis, and try to relax. I’m not the enemy.” She stared at the paper and lifted the pen, moving it over the page lightly, trying not to agitate him further, writing whatever sounded professional, so she might return to a more businesslike line of thought.

He blew out a breath and dropped back onto the pillow, staring at her ceiling.

“So, tell me about your childhood.” Liv glanced over at him. He seemed calm, nothing of the man, who only days before wrecked the Den and yelled like a lunatic. He seemed…. She glided the pen across the paper and started to draw again. She flipped the page quickly, returning to writing notes. Safer. Better.

“What has my childhood got to do with anything?”

“Well, a lot can happen when you’re a child, which will affect you as an adult.”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
She smacked the end of the pen on her pad.

“I was born. I have a twin. We grew up. I left. The end.”

“Hmmm.”
What are you not telling me, Xander Davis?
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
God, could the pen be any louder?

Xan jumped off the couch. “What did you write?”

He reached for the pad in her lap, and Liv bounced up, tucking her notes under her ass and sitting down on them. “Personal memos to help with our conversations. Nothing negative, I assure you.”

“If they’re not bad, why can’t I see them?”

“Because, they are personal.”

“Not when they’re about me.” He reached toward her butt, and she slapped his hand away.

“Lie down, Mr. Davis. I’d like to talk to you about your mother.”

“What about her?” He glanced at her and snorted.

“She was human.”