Delta Recon (SEAL Team Phantom Series, Book 2) (24 page)

“Shut the hell up. I’m getting you out of here before you make any more of an ass out of yourself,” Shep growled.

She wiggled, hitting him harder. “You are taking me nowhere. I’ll call the cops. Put me down now. Traci, help me.”

Traci came around the bar with a shotgun in her hand. “Put her down now, Shep, or I swear to my mama, I’ll pepper your ass.”

The sound of her best friend cocking her gun had her trying to get down, but the man holding her only tightened his hold. “You better think real hard, darlin. You don’t want to make an enemy of me and my friends.”

“I don’t think the little thing wants to go with you. How bout you put her down, and I’ll buy you a drink.”

Nettie’s body froze at the deep southern drawl. She tried to see who spoke, but Shep hit her so hard on her ass, it brought tears to her eyes, making her cry out.

“Damn, I guess we do this the hard way.”

“Fucking-A, Roq. We’re here not even a minute.”

“I’ll buy you a beer after we teach these boys how to treat a woman, Axl.” Roq cracked his knuckles.

“Hell Yeah!” Axl cheered.

Roq knew without a doubt his friends had his back, and the little lady over the guy they’d called Shep, was not going to let go without a fight. He sighed and handed his Stetson to Axl. No way in hell was he going to get his favorite hat dirty or beat up in a bar fight.

The End

“I
t’s okay, little guy,” Cora soothed, shoving down her fear for the little wolf caught in the illegal trap. The device had been hidden in a shallow crevice within a couple miles of her veterinary clinic. The way his wound was bleeding she knew, if she didn’t get him free, he’d likely die. Inching closer to him, Cora watched for signs of aggression. “I’m going to get you out of there, but you have to promise not to bite me, okay?”

She squatted down until her face was almost level with his. “I’ll try not to hurt you.”

Cora swore it looked like the little guy nodded. At least Cora hoped that was a nod of agreement. His tiny body shook and shuddered. She prayed she wasn’t mistaken.

After carefully looking over the contraption, she realized the jaws were meant for a much larger animal. Luckily for this wolf, his leg wasn’t clamped between the steel jaws, only grazed. He was still stuck with his larger paw locked on the inside of the obviously modified bear trap and had a nasty gash that needed tending, sooner rather than later.

What seemed liked hours later, Cora finally got the device forced opened. Sweat trickling down her temples stung her eyes. The wolf lay panting like he’d just ran for miles. His gaze seemed to convey that he trusted her. Although it looked as though the trap only grazed his leg, she still checked to make sure it didn’t break.

With a glance up at the darkening sky, Cora shrugged out of her jacket, leaving herself in only the yoga leggings and tank top she wore for her daily jog. South Dakota, during the day, could be warm, but as soon as the sun goes down, the temperatures drop dramatically. “Okay, little guy. I’m going to wrap you in my coat, and then I’m going to take you home with me.”

Matching actions to words, she gently lifted his body. As she went to place his front right paw inside the jacket, the wolf howled the most pitiful whine, breaking her heart.

“I know it hurts, but I...” Cora jerked back in shock when the wounded animal bit down on her arm.

Once the wolf wriggled out of her coat, Cora watched in amazement as he licked her wound. If she didn’t know any better, she’d swear he was apologizing, but thought that would be crazy. She gaped at him and scooted back a step or two, or three, until she stopped herself.

He whined again before trying to stand on his own, falling down when his front leg wouldn’t hold him up.

Ignoring her own injury, she grabbed up her jacket and wrapped it around his body, being sure to pay close attention to his bleeding leg. “I know you’re hurt, but try not to bite me again.” She tried to sound stern when inside she was scared.

The walk back to her clinic took twice as long as normal since she didn’t want to jar her patient any more than necessary. Every now and then his rough tongue would peek out and lick her arm. Although she was caught up on all her shots, she still worried about diseases from animals such as the wild wolf. At first glance she thought he was a baby wolf, now with him gathered in her arms and the couple of miles trek back to her home, she discovered he wasn’t so young.

“Goodness, you must weigh close to seventy pounds, big guy.”

Cora kept up a steady dialogue as she walked. When the clinic came into view, she nearly dropped to her knees in relief. Her arms shook under the stress of holding so much weight for such a long period of time. Normally, the hike would have taken her no time at all, but holding an injured animal that weighed almost as much as she did, the entire way was taxing, to say the least, not to mention the bite on her arm burned like fire.

She stopped outside the back door, adjusting her hold to punch in the code to unlock the back door, and, exhaling in relief, she murmured, “Thank you, technology.” Cora’s breathing was ragged by the time she made it inside.

Attached to the clinic was her small apartment, with a steel door separating the two spaces. Again, she punched in the code and then used her shoulder to enter the office area.

“Almost there, big guy. I’ll have you fixed up in no time.” Sweat poured down her chest, soaking her top. Cora ignored it all to focus on getting her patient fixed up. After she’d cleaned his wound, she found he had indeed broken his front leg, which was why he had probably bitten her when she moved him.

Thankful that her training kicked in to tend to the little wolf, when all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and take a long nap, Cora placed the patched up wolf inside the padded kennel with a sense of relief. He whined when she attempted to lock the gate, his pain-filled gaze breaking her heart.

There were no other patients in the hospital area. She made the decision to leave the lock off, hoping she wasn’t making a mistake and headed to take a bath.

Cora wiped her hand across the fogged mirror and stared at her own pain-filled gaze. “How can one little bitty bite hurt so damn much?” She looked at the freshly cleaned wound for what seemed like the thousandth time and stuck a thermometer in her mouth and waited for the beep, promising herself if her temperature was too high, she’d head into town.

Even after taking meds and a cool bath, nothing was bringing her temperature down. Looking at the triple digit reading on the tiny screen she cringed. There was nothing else she could do except head into town to urgent med. Cora really hated to go to the emergency room. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, stopping when the motion made her feel like she was on a tilt-a-whirl.

Wrapping a towel around herself, she decided to check on her patient one more time before she got dressed. The door between her home and the clinic was open, but the lights were out, sending a shiver of fear down her spine. Cora flipped the switch on the wall, illuminating the walkway. Her head felt heavy, the lights overly bright, making her stumble and lose her footing.

“Shit, damn.” Rising to her feet, she reached her palm out to the wall to help steady herself and blinked a few times to bring things back into focus.

Standing in the middle of her clinic, with the injured wolf in his hands, was the most magnificent man she’d ever seen in her entire life. At over six foot tall, with short blonde hair and tattoos—lots of tattoos. The man exuded sex and menace. Yes, he definitely looked like he was angry. Even with her head feeling wonky, the sight of the unknown man made her body come alive. A whole different pulse began beating between her thighs, making Cora want to reach out and touch him, and not because she was in fear for her life.

“Who are you, and why do you have my wolf?” Cora was happy her voice didn’t come out sounding as scared as she felt.

“Your wolf?”

The big man growled, the sound making her feel things she really shouldn’t. Her nipples peaked at his deep rumble. Cora blamed the reaction on the fever.

“Listen, despite the fact you obviously broke into my clinic and I could press charges, I won’t, but only if you put the animal down and leave the same way you came. You have less than five minutes, and then my offer is gone.” Cora arched an eyebrow at him. “Do we have a deal?”

She waited for him to agree and put the sleeping wolf back down. Instead he quirked an eyebrow of his own, widened his stance, and sniffed the air.

In a move too fast for Cora to comprehend, the hunk standing a good ten feet away from her one moment, was all of a sudden crowding her space, sniffing her neck.

“Hey, have you heard of personal space?” When Cora attempted to push him back, her world spun.

* * * *

Z
ayn Malik didn’t know whether to laugh or growl at the human who tried to tell him what to do, all while she stood in nothing but a miniscule towel. Holding his nephew in wolf form, he opted for the latter. Every member of their pack knew the rules, and he couldn’t imagine Nolan, even at the young age of seven, breaking them. He’d wait until whatever drugs the woman gave Nolan wore off, and his nephew could shift back to find out what happened.

The overwhelming scent of antiseptic clouded his senses, making it hard for him to discern the unusual smells assaulting him. When she raised her hand to push him back, he watched her eyes roll back in her head. Zayn shifted Nolan to one arm, being careful of his injured leg, and caught the woman in his other arm.

That was how his alpha found him, holding an injured cub in one arm and a naked female in the other. It wasn’t his fault the towel was dislodged when he pulled her into his arm to stop her from face planting onto the ceramic tile floor.

“You want to tell me why you are holding my cub and an unconscious naked human, Zayn?”

The smile his brother suppressed didn’t make Zayn happy. He wanted to toss the human to Niall. Only fear of hurting his nephew kept him from following through on the thought. “Fuck off, Niall,” he grumbled.

“Give me Nolan. Do we know what happened to him?” Niall reached for his cub, carefully tucking him into his body.

As he handed Nolan over to Niall, Zayn watched his brother grimace at the bandage on his son’s leg, then sniff at the offending thing like he wanted to rip it off. The joking man was gone, replaced by the concerned father. Niall stood at over six foot three with more red in his blonde hair, but with the same blue eyes Zayn had. When Niall spoke as alpha, everyone in the pack listened. Although they had pack mates who were bigger than Niall, none could take him in a fight in human or wolf form.

They’d come to the Mystic River Pack in South Dakota when Niall found his mate by chance during one of their annual bike rides to Sturgis. Within a few months they’d found themselves full-fledged members of the pack, and Niall had learned he was to become a father.

His brother’s nose then turned to the woman Zayn cradled in his arms. Niall’s face got too close for Zayn’s peace of mind to a bandage wrapped around her thin arm, making his inner wolf rumble close to the surface.

“Do you smell that?” Niall sniffed again.

“What?” Zayn pulled the woman closer to his chest, using his large hand to cover as much of her bare ass from his brother as possible.

The right side of Niall's mouth quirked up for a moment before he turned serious. He bent to pick up the towel that had been dropped and draped it over the female.

“She’s been bitten.”

Narrowing his eyes, Zayn ran his gaze over the sleeping woman. “What did you say?”

The woman in his arms stirred, a feverish light in her eyes. That was when he noticed she was extremely hot to the touch. The smell of the clinic and the medicines had masked the unmistakable scent of the marking, which meant his sweet little nephew had bitten the good doctor when she had obviously tried to help him.

“You smell soooo delicious.” Cora licked her lips.

“Um, what’s your name, sweetheart?” Zayn tilted his head back from her questing lips and tongue.
Damn, her tongue is really long.

“Mmm. You taste really good too.” Another wet swipe from her tongue had him panting.

“Oh, goddess. Baby, you need to stop.” Zayn needed to get the woman to stop licking him or he was going to throw her down on the table and fuck her.

How the hell did she go from being cradled in his arms, to wrapped around him with her legs locked around his hips, and her arms around his head? Zayn swallowed. Jesus, he was ready to come in his jeans with his brother and nephew not five feet away.

“That’s enough, Cora.” The low timber of Niall’s voice reverberated around the room. A shiver went through the woman in his arms, and she swung her stare toward his brother.

Niall held an ID card with a picture of the woman in his arms. The name, Dr. Cora Welch, was at the top for Zayn to see. His brother grinned, his blue eyes dancing with mirth.

* * * *

C
ora’s pussy contracted. Holy crap, the man was hot with a capital oh-my-lawd H, and she was humping him like a cat in heat, a naked cat in fricking heat.

She unlocked her ankles from the blonde Adonis’s waist, hoping her legs would hold her up. They wobbled but didn’t buckle—thankfully. “I’m so sorry...I don’t know what came over me.”

“I know what almost came all over me.”

Sucking in a swift breath, Cora crossed one arm over her breasts and snatched the towel from the red haired man. Not that they hadn’t seen everything there was to see, but she was in control of herself now.

“Smooth, Zayn, smooth. I apologize for my brother. He’s not usually so crass, but we were worried when we couldn’t find our little one here.” He indicated the now alert wolf.

Eyes so blue peeked out between the big man’s arms, accompanied by the whine she’d become accustomed to from the cub. She reached an unsteady hand toward his head to give a little scratch between his ears.

“Luckily for him, he’s going to be okay. I found him stuck in a medieval looking animal trap made for a much larger animal. His little leg here,” she indicated his cast, “barely missed being snapped in half by the steel jaws. I set the break and cleaned the wound. He should be right as rain in a few weeks.”