Never Cry Wolf (7 page)

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Authors: Cynthia Eden

BOOK: Never Cry Wolf
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No
.
His head lowered and his mouth feathered over hers in the lightest of kisses. She hadn’t expected the sensual touch and heat flooded through her.
Even now . . . want him.
The adrenaline in her blood was spiking. The anger and fear mixed with the need the man could stir too easily. His mouth . . .
Sarah tried to pull back.
His tongue licked her lip. “Tell me . . . did you think you’d fuck me and slip past my guard?”
Her head lifted. She caught his lower lip with her teeth. Nipped him. Hard. Time for him to see that she could bite, too. “
No, dammit.
” The driving need trembled in her voice.
His tongue swiped over his lip, as if tasting her mark. “Then tell me what the fuck is really happening.”
“I have! Rafe is coming after you. He’s coming after me. He won’t stop until we’re both dead.” The hard length of his aroused flesh pressed against her sex, and Sarah couldn’t control the small arch she made against him.
His gaze searched hers, probably saw too much. Then he nodded, the move quick and grim.
Oh, great, now what—
“I guess we’ll just have to make sure we kill him first,” Lucas said, and then he gave her what she’d wanted—he pressed his mouth to hers. A hard, hot kiss.
Chapter 5
I
t wouldn’t be the first time that a woman had set him up to die. Pretty women were used as bait by all sorts of paranormals and even by humans.
So maybe Sarah was screwing him over. Maybe he’d be a fool to trust her, but right then, one thing was clear to Lucas.
He fucking wanted her.
Her scent filled his head. Drove him crazy. She was all curves and silken flesh beneath him. Her hands were on him, holding tight to his shoulders as she urged him closer.
Sarah wasn’t shoving him away because she was afraid of the beast he carried. She knew just how deadly he could be, and the woman still wanted him.
He could smell her arousal in the air.
She twisted beneath him, her hips pushing against his aroused flesh.
Fuck.
Was this the kind of response she’d given to that bastard Rafe? His hands flew away from her. He grabbed the bedcovers, and his claws sliced right through the fabric.
But he kept kissing her because he couldn’t let her mouth go. The woman’s taste was addictive.
She moaned low in her throat and the sound vibrated in his mouth. Her breasts stabbed at his chest, the nipples tight and tempting.
Sarah turned her head, tearing her lips from his. “I shouldn’t . . . want you.” The words were gasped out.
And they really pissed him off. “Because of what I am?” Maybe it was there, after all. Hiding beneath her surface.
Fuck a monster, but fear him.
But she shook her head, sending those thick locks of hair sliding back over her cheeks. “Because this isn’t me.” Whispered now. “I don’t . . . I don’t respond this way normally.”
Were her cheeks red? Her heartbeat drummed so fast it shook her chest. He stared down at her, claws still in the bed, and wondered what the hell he was supposed to do with her.
Take her.
Protect her.
Both were instincts from the beast. The same instincts he’d had from the beginning. Those instincts made him nervous. Humans were supposed to be prey to him. Easy pickings. He wasn’t supposed to care what happened to them.
But he cared about her.
Protect her.
Even from himself?
Lucas sucked in a deep breath. He caught her scent—wanted more.
Not now. Can’t.
Time was running out.
He shoved away from her and managed to rise to his feet. Her breath came too fast, making her chest heave as she stared up at him. “I told you we’d have sex,” he said because they needed to be clear about this.
Her chin lifted. “And I told you sex wasn’t part of our deal.” Her lips were red, swollen from his mouth.
“No, it’s not.” His cock was so heavy and hard that the damn thing ached.
For her.
“But you want me, I want you, and even the monsters at the gate aren’t going to stop me from taking you soon.”
“Lust is fleeting.” Her gaze seemed to look far away. Not even seeing him. “It’s just a need, just a—”
“
Sarah.
”
She blinked. Her gaze sharpened on him. Good. He spoke deliberately, wanting her to know what would come. “I don’t know what sex was like for you before, but I can tell you this . . . it won’t be fleeting with me. The need will be so strong it will feel like it’s ripping you apart, and when you think you can’t stand it anymore . . . that’s when the pleasure will come, and it’ll make your whole body burn.”
The rasp of her breath seemed loud in the room. Or, shit, maybe that was
his
breath. What was she doing to him?
Take her.
The beast was growling in his head again. But Sarah rose from the bed. She crossed her arms over her chest, staring at him a bit nervously. Did she think he was about to pounce? Again? Tempting.
“Next time, you come to me,” he said. “Come to me, and I’ll give you all the pleasure you can handle. And it won’t have a damn thing to do with our deal.” The attraction between them was a bonus, or maybe a deadly temptation. He really wasn’t sure which yet. Time would tell.
He turned away from her and headed for the door.
“I don’t sleep with every wolf I meet.”
That froze him. He looked back at her, aware that his jaw had tightened. “Good to know.”
“I’ve only been with one wolf. Just Rafe.”
And me, babe. You’ll be with me, but we’ll get to that soon enough.
“That didn’t end so well,” she murmured and he saw her blink quickly. Wait—was she blinking back tears?
Tears?
His gut clenched.
But she spun toward the window, her shoulders straight and tense. “What kind of deal did you work out with the coyotes?”
Not the question he’d expected right then. Lucas didn’t answer because, really, there wasn’t an easy way to put this.
“Lucas?” She waited a moment, then, when he didn’t answer, she turned back to him. No tears were in her eyes. Just determination. “I know they didn’t just bow their heads and leave. They knew I was here—”
“Yes.”
“So what deal did you make with them? How did you get them to walk away?”
He exhaled on a hard sigh. “You’re worth a lot of money, lady.”
Her lips curled in a humorless smile. “Too much for them to walk away.”
True. So why lie? “We reached a deal.” How would she take this?
A faint line appeared between her brows. “What did you promise?”
Not much, just . . . “To kill you.”
 
The scent of death surrounded her. Sarah stood in the medical examiner’s office, eyeing the closed metal lockers. Bodies were in there. A body was on the table next to her, the toe tagged and a sheet tossed over the victim’s face and chest.
“I don’t think we should be here,” she managed quietly, but what she really wanted to say was
This is stupid! The cops are close! We need to get the hell out of here!
But after telling her that he was planning to kill her—
um, what?
—Lucas had pulled her down the stairs, shoved her into an SUV, and driven her back to the city. One of his shifters had been waiting for them at the door. Michael, the tall, dark shifter who seemed to follow Lucas’s orders so very well.
“No one will be back here for another hour.” Michael went to the metal locker on the right and jerked it open. Cold air wafted to them, and he yanked out a slab. “Kelly gave me the schedule and the key—we’re clear.”
Lucas stalked to that slab and the dead body on it.
“That’s John, isn’t it?” Sarah forced herself to speak and was rather impressed by the even tone of her voice. Sure, her nails were digging so hard into her palms that she was pretty sure she’d draw blood soon, but she sounded normal.
Michael grunted and pulled back the sheet.
Sarah stumbled and her elbow slammed into an instrument tray. Scalpels and tweezers and she didn’t even want to
know
what else clattered to the floor.
“First dead body?” Michael drawled.
No. About the twentieth. Was she supposed to get numb to them? “A dead
friend,
” she snapped back and whirled away from him. She hadn’t realized the attack had been so . . . brutal. John’s throat had been ripped wide open. No, not ripped. Clawed.
And Michael was going to mock her?
Asshole.
How would he react if he were looking at one of his shifter buddies? Oh, wait, if he was anything like the coyotes, he’d be the one doing the killing, so he probably wouldn’t give a shit if a packmate died.
Her shoe kicked against the scalpel. She bent and began picking up the surgical instruments. She crouched low, and slid the scalpel up her sleeve, securing it with the band of her watch.
“Sarah?” Lucas’s quiet whisper.
She rose quickly, and dumped the other items back on the tray.
His fingers wrapped around her shoulder. “You okay?”
“No, I’m
not.
” She faced him. “I don’t like seeing my friend sliced open, okay? It’s not one of the highlights of my night.”
“While the coyotes are in the city, you go where I go.” His lips tightened. “And I need to check this body, so I know it sucks, but you have to stay here.”
She inclined her head in a brief nod. She understood all this, it just didn’t mean she had to like the situation. And that thick smell of disinfectant was making her sick.
He caught her chin and tipped her head back. “You hurt for him and you’re furious that this happened to him. Right now, there’s no time for the hurt. Just focus on the fury, and it’ll get you through this.” His hand fell away.
She blinked.
Focus on the fury.
Interesting. It almost seemed like the wolf cared how she felt.
No, don’t fall into that trap. He sees you as a tool he can use, just like Rafe.
“Claws ripped his throat open, no doubt.” Michael’s voice. Her gaze shot to the left. He was leaning over John’s body, his eyes slitting as he studied the wounds on John’s neck. “No knife did this.” He glanced at Lucas, nodding. “Definitely shifter.”
Lucas stepped closer to the body. “Wolf or coyote?”
Sarah’s breath froze in her throat. She couldn’t help it, she had to look at John’s face. Still handsome in death with his strong nose, high cheekbones, and that stubborn jaw. But his blue eyes were closed, no longer snapping out energy. The bronzed skin was too pale.
I’ll meet you in LA. Simone is the one we need. We can end this thing. He just has to help us. Then the road ahead is free.
She brushed past Lucas. Ran her hand over the too-icy flesh of John’s cheek. This wasn’t the kind of freedom he’d been talking about.
“I smell coyote all over the poor bastard,” Michael said.
“So do I,” Lucas agreed. “But the guy was a charmer, he worked with the coyotes.”
So their smell
would
be on him.
Sarah felt the stare on her and she looked to the left, meeting Michael’s assessing brown gaze. “He worked with them . . . like she worked with the wolves.” Not a question from the dark wolf.
But, yeah, they’d both been spies of a sort.
I’m sorry, John.
If she’d gotten to LA sooner, would she have been able to stop this?
Michael pulled back the sheet and studied John’s arms. “No defensive wounds.”
“Because he didn’t have time to fight,” Lucas said and she knew he was right. “Probably never saw the guy coming.”
No, because if he had, John would’ve fought.
She pulled her hand away from John. Her fingers balled into a fist. She could still feel the cold touch of his flesh. “If it was fast, then he didn’t suffer much.” Shouldn’t that have been comforting? Why wasn’t it?
Michael exhaled. “There’s no wolf scent on this guy, and those marks on his neck . . .” He scratched his chin. “Not quite as big as a wolf’s . . .”
Coyote.
“Then we know what got him.” Lucas yanked the sheet back over John’s body. “Close him up, Michael.” He caught Sarah’s arm. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Finally. This time, she was the one to pull him along as she hurried outside. She wanted air. Her cheeks felt too chilled, almost as cold as John’s. Her feet thudded down the hallway. The tiles gleamed up at her and the fluorescent lights dimmed a bit overhead.
Her left hand slammed against the exit door. She sucked in a deep breath of fresh air.
Not death.
She tried to rush forward—
But Lucas’s hold stopped her.
“What—”
He yanked her back, pulling her into the shadows and caging her body between his and the hard brick building. He still had her right hand, his fingers holding it tightly. “Did you think I didn’t notice?”
“Notice what?”
He shoved back her sleeve and the scalpel glinted.
The wolf saw too much. She’d remember that. Now she just snapped, “If you hadn’t taken my knife, I wouldn’t have needed a backup weapon.”
He slipped the scalpel free and tossed it on the ground.
Great. “You told me you were going to
kill
me,” she reminded him.
Don’t think about John. Not yet, don’t.
“So, yes, I took the chance to grab a weapon—”
“Is that what I said?” His thumb brushed over her wrist. Her pulse pounded quickly beneath that light touch. And since when was the alpha wolf given to light touches?
“Y-yes . . .” The heat from his body was slowly banishing the cold. “You made a deal with the coyotes. You said—”
“You really think I haven’t lied to them before?” He smiled at her then, flashing those sharp teeth. “You and I already have a deal, don’t we? And it’s a deal that doesn’t involve your death.”

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