Hard As Steele (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (Timber Valley Pack) (11 page)

             
She did tell him about how she’d overheard him and the Silver Forest shaman talking, and how Steele had told the shaman where he was from. He’d invited the shaman to stop by if he was ever in Colorodo, and given him directions to Timber Valley.

             
So that was how she’d found him.  Steele silently cursed his own foolishness.

             
“I didn’t know she was listening, but even so, I thought she’d forget,” Steele said. “I should have been more careful.” 

Loren nodded
. “Yes, you should have.”

             
He questioned Roxanne further, and she recounted how she’d gone back home, and then started having strange bouts of amnesia.

             
“How many humans did you tell that you’d seen Steele turn into a wolf?” Loren asked.

             
She looked him right in the eye. “None.”

             
He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “No offense, but I know that you’re lying.” Steele let out a low growl, and fur bristled up on his face and hands.

             
“Excuse me?” Roxanne said defensively.

             
“You told Steele that at some point you went to the hospital to get a CAT scan and an MRI. You must have told the doctors there.”

             
“No, actually, I didn’t. I told them that I kept having blank patches in my memory, but I didn’t tell them that I’d seen a man pull a car door off with his bare hands, or that I’d seen a man turn into a wolf.  I was afraid that they’d think I was crazy, which is also the reason I didn’t tell anybody else about it.”

             
Steele had the uneasy feeling that Loren was right, and she was lying, but he didn’t want to call her out about it in the Wardens.

             
Who could she have told? And what would that person have done with the knowledge? He’d question her once they left. He suspected that at least she would have told her best friend Katherine.

             
“Are you sure?” Loren asked.

             
“Asking me again isn’t going to get me to change my answer.” Roxanne met his gaze challengingly. “I have no reason to want your people to come to harm.  I told Steele, and I meant it, that if I’d known what he was, I would never have told anyone.”

             
“It’s too great a risk for us to take.” Loren gave her an appreciative glance. “Although you’re certainly an attractive woman. If you were here, I’d want to ask you out.”

             
A growl of rage ripped from Steele’s throat, and before he could stop himself, he’d leaped through the air in wolf form and knocked Loren off his chair. Loren shifted too, as did Jerrico, and for a minute, all three wolves were snarling and snapping at each other.

             
Then Loren rolled over and exposed his belly, signaling submission. All three wolves turned human again. Loren climbed to his feet.

             
Roxanne was standing halfway across the kitchen now, staring at them wide-eyed.

             
“What the heck was all that for?” she cried out.

             
“So it’s true,” Loren said to Steele. “You were involved with the human.”

             
Steele bristled with rage. Loren had deliberately provoked him to get a reaction, and Steele had fallen for it.

             
“That’s a dangerous game you’re playing,” Steele growled.

             
“We need to talk.” Loren’s eyes were snapping with fury. “Outside.”

             
All three men were now naked.  They pulled the tattered remains of their clothes back on, while Roxanne stood with her arms folded, watching them warily.

             
Steele glanced at Roxanne. “Do not say a single word to him,” he said to her, nodding his head at Jerrico.

             
He followed Loren out of the room, into his living room. Loren pulled the kitchen door shut behind him, and then spun around to glare at Steele.

             
“What the hell were you thinking?” Loren demanded. “Why would you get involved with a human?”

             
“Because I really, genuinely fell for her, from the moment I laid eyes on her.” Steele met his glare with one of his own.

             
“I can see that, but have you taken leave of your senses? You know that it’s hopeless.”

             
“You don’t have to tell me that. I’ve spent sixteen months living that reality every day.”

             
“It’s affecting your behavior.  You’re more concerned about her wellbeing than you are about ours,” Loren accused.

             
“No, I’m not.” Steele bristled at that. “I brought her here, and will be holding her here, until Cody arrives to wipe her memory properly. She wanted to leave. I told her that she couldn’t. I am doing what needs to be done to protect our people.”

             
“I don’t know, Steele. I see how protective you are of her.” Loren shook his head disapprovingly.

             
There was no point in denying it. “Those are my instincts, and I can’t help my instincts.”

             
Suddenly, coming from the kitchen, he heard the sound of crashing furniture, and then Roxanne’s voice coming from the kitchen, distressed and fearful.

“I can’t remember. I don’t remember. Who are you? Where am I?”

              Steele rushed towards the kitchen.  Loren tried to block him, but he shoved him out of the way and burst through the kitchen door.

             
Roxanne was standing, staring around her, wide eyed with panic. “Who are you? I know you,” she said to Steele. “I’ve seen you before. Who are you?”

             
Steele whirled on Jerrico, fur rippling on his face and hands. Roxanne let out a scream of terror and huddled in the corner.

             
“What did you do?” he bellowed. “You’re a shaman! You should have told me! Were you messing with her head?”

             
“I was attempting to find out what she knows, because she is clearly lying to us,” Jerrico snarled, snout thrusting forward.

             
Rage boiled through Steele, both at Jerrico and Loren, and himself.  Loren had deliberately led him out of the room so Jerrico could try to get into Roxanne’s head, and Steele should have known better than to leave her.  Whatever Jerrico had done had just screwed things up for her all over again.

             
He whirled on Loren, his fists clenched, claws shooting from his fingertips.  “You had no right! You didn’t ask me!”

             
“We don’t have to ask you! Warden law supercedes local law!” Loren barked at him.

             
Roxanne was trembling violently, her face white.  She clutched at the table, looking as if she were about to be sick.

They’d hurt his woman.

              Steele went blind with rage, and shifted.  His fangs shot from his snout, and all the colors melted into tones of black, white and gray, and his clothes fell away from his body.

He
lunged at Loren, knocking him flying.  Jerrico shifted and launched himself at Steele.

             
Roxanne grabbed a cast iron frying pan, ran across the room, and swung it at Jerrico, knocking him off Steele. Jerrico staggered, dazed, as Steele and Loren rolled on the floor.

             
Suddenly there were more snarls and growls tearing through the air.  Dash was there, running through the house in wolf form, and he also launched himself at Loren, snapping and snarling at him.  Jerrico was stumbling, trying to get his bearings. Roxanne backed away, clutching the frying pan in front of her chest.

             
A silvery gray female lynx ran into Steele’s kitchen. It was Isadora, and she had handcuffs dangling off of one leg.  She hissed at Loren, crouching low, and an ugly feline growl rumbled up from her throat. She swiped at him several times with her claws extended like long, curved daggers, and Loren froze where he crouched, his eyes moving back and forth between his opponents.

             
After a minute of growling and hissing and snarling, everyone shifted back to their human form.  Roxanne’s eyes were almost bugging out of her head.

             
“What are you?” she cried out. “Where am I? How did I get here?”

             
Jerrico groaned, rubbing his head.

             
“You son of a bitch,” Steele growled. “I should rip your throat out. You made it worse! She had her memory back and she was fine! Who knows what you’ve done to her now?”

             
“That’s because that rank amateur from the Silver Forest pack totally screwed up her head! I could see inside there. He got things all tangled up,” Jerrico snapped at him. He walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a frozen pack of peas and placed it on his head. “Your girlfriend packs a mean wallop.”

             
“Your girlfriend is human? That is so bad-ass,” Isadora said admiringly. Figures she’d approve, Steele thought; always the rebel.

             
“I’m your girlfriend?” Roxanne said wonderingly, and it made Steele’s heart ache, because he wanted it to be true so badly.

             
“What are you two even doing here?” Steele demanded, without answering Roxanne.

             
Dash looked offended. “I arrested her, but then I got a call from the station saying that a Warden was headed to your house, so I swung by to see what was going on.”

             
Isadora held up her hand and shifted it into a paw, extended a claw, and used it to pick the lock on the handcuff, which fell off her.  She bent over, picked it up, and tossed it over to Dash.

             
“I told you to stay in the car,” Dash growled at her.

             
“And I never do what I’m told. You should know that by now.” Isadora flashed an infuriating smile at him. “Besides, I came in here to help you two bozos. I thought someone was trying to murder you. You know these jerks?” she inclined her head at Jerrico and Loren with a scowl.

             
“I am the Chief Warden of the Shifter Nation, and you are all in serious trouble.” Loren’s face was dark with rage. “You don’t attack a Warden during the course of his duties.”

             
“Bring it,” Dash growled.  He was a Beta, but a mouthy one. “I was defending my pack member and boss.”

             
“You’re not Chief Warden of my nation.” Isadora leaned back against Dash’s counter. “I answer to the Council Pride, and they’ve pretty much just washed their paws of me.”  The Council Pride ruled over feline shifter matters that couldn’t be dealt with by individual prides.  A mention of the name Isadora Mosswood was enough to set them to hissing and snarling and shaking their heads in despair, Steele had been told.

             
“Why were you arresting her?” Steele demanded. He was getting sick of having to play kindergarten cop for these two.

             
“I found her on our property, with a bunch of jars, and she refused to say why, so I arrested her for trespassing.”

             
“I was there to pick berries. Accidentally crossed your property line. Oops.” Isadora shrugged. “Seriously, Dash, get the night stick out of your ass. I mean, excuse me, is your family desperately short of blackberries?”

             
“Who puts berries in jars?” Dash asked suspiciously.

             
“Anyone who wants to make them into jam. I’m sorry you don’t like my berry picking technique.” Her tone was openly scornful. “Exactly what nefarious deeds do you think I was going to carry out with those jars?”

             
He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. “With you, who knows.”

             
Steele was done listening to the two of them act like idiots.  “Both of you, get out. Dash, you will drop the charges. Isadora, next time I see you put your paw one inch over the line, you will be sitting in a jail cell for thirty days straight. If you want Dash to put handcuffs on you so bad, just ask him out on a date.
Out!
”

             
“I do not – the nerve!” Isadora looked appalled, and turned and stalked out of the room.

             
Dash followed her, spluttering and looking mortified.

             
Roxanne was still cowering in the corner. “Those men turned into wolves and attacked you.” Roxanne’s eyes were like saucers. “You turned into a wolf. I know you. Who are you?”

             
Steele shot Loren and Jerrico a look that promised death if they pushed him any further. “You two, you came into my house uninvited, treated me with disrespect, lied and manipulated me, and caused harm to this woman.  You will leave my house, now.”  He let out a long, low growl and let his snout extend, flashing fangs at them. “I will contact you when Cody comes by, and I will tell you what he finds out after he’s examined her.  Until then, I do not want to see you on my property.”