Obsession (18 page)

Grunts sounded behind a trailer he recognized as the one belonging to Darius and his mate, Sam. Raphael hurried over and saw a male Lupine hunched over, groaning. Hand fisted on his thick cock, the Lupine worked his sex hard.

Holy goddess. Ever hear of a men’s room? What the hell was going on around here?

Interrupting a delicate moment could cause the male damage. He kept watch to ensure no happy Skins with their family strolled by, and when the male finally climaxed into his bandana, Raphael gave a warning growl.

“Clean yourself up, and get the hell out of here. If I catch you near this trailer again, I’ll kick your ass.”

After the sheepish male rushed off, Raphael headed back to the arena.

He found Aiden Mitchell standing near the grandstand with his beta, Darius. Both males looked tense.

“I just broke up another fight. And one of your males was jacking off near your trailer.” He pointed to Darius.

A growl rumbled in Darius’ throat. “Sam’s coming into her heat.”

“But that shouldn’t have affected him.” Raphael rubbed his chin. “You’re mated and Sam bears your mark. Her heat should only affect you.”

“Something’s going on.” Aiden tipped back his hat and frowned. “Almost like they’re all cranked up over something. They’ve been restless, like me, but not this bad. We ran hard last night, shook out all that extra energy and testosterone.”

Darius nodded and glanced around. “Bad juju. They were fine this morning, but about thirty minutes after the opening ceremony, that’s when all the males started getting cranked up. Something’s sending out dark energy waves. I even feel edgy and lusty and I have Sam. I thought it was because she’s going into heat, but now I wonder. If it’s making me feel like this, what the hell is it doing to everyone else?”

Raphael stretched out his hands, startled to see his claws emerge. Shit.

Aiden did the same and grimaced. “I didn’t do this voluntarily.”

“Nor I. It’s a natural reaction in an alpha when your wolf senses trouble.” Raphael willed his claws to subside.

“I know, but what kind of trouble.” Aiden pointed to Raphael’s face with a clawed hand. “You shaved earlier.”

Rubbing his chin with the back of one hand, Raphael felt thick stubble covering his face. “Damn. This only happens with a full moon.”

“And the moon’s not full for another two weeks, one reason J.J. arranged this rodeo for tonight.” Aiden growled and dug his claws into a hitching post. “I’m going out of my damn mind. Feels like someone pumped me full of Liquid Viagra.”

Darius bent over, rubbing his hands against his jeans. “Me too. I feel it as well. But I’m fighting it. Gods, I need to get laid.”

Aiden’s eyes glowed amber and he snarled. “Godsdamnit, I want to tear someone up. Or fuck. Makes no difference. Where’s Nikita?”

“Good thing she stayed home. It could have been real ugly.” Darius rubbed his crotch. “Damnit, I feel like I’m going to die if I can’t fuck Sam right now.”

Raphael growled as well, his dick hard as steel beneath his jeans, his balls tight. All he could think of was sex and tearing other males apart.

Just as suddenly, the mood fled. Logic returned. Raphael flexed his fingers, relieved to see his claws had retracted. “It’s gone.”

“Like a switch was flipped off.” Aiden fisted his now-clawless hands. “What the hell’s happening?”

Raphael walked away, determined to find out if anything else odd had happened. As he patrolled the arena stands, he saw nothing unusual. And then he remembered. The moody males, violence and sexuality happened thirty minutes after the rodeo started, when Jessica had arrived.

And now suddenly everything had calmed down.

He went to where Jessica had been sitting.

She was gone.

Chapter 12

The signal was still too weak.

Earlier, Jessica had borrowed Alexa’s laptop. Her friend was oblivious of Jessica’s tangles with Raphael. Now as Jessica used the computer, she ran into a problem.

Despite her best efforts, her cell phone made a poor substitute for the WiFi. Desperate, she finally logged onto J.J.’s internet, only to find it had been turned off.

Damn
.

She dressed in plain blue jeans, and a violet sweater and put the purple belt back into her suitcase. Taking the laptop, Jessica stole out of the house. She snagged a set of keys to the truck Alexa had loaned her, and drove to a small bar down the road. Though the sign was visible, the place itself was set back from the road, hard to find.

The neon sign had advertised “Free Wifi.”

A lone cowboy sat staring into a mug of frosty beer at a table. Jessica slid onto a stool at the counter and opened the laptop. She glanced at the menu and then up at the waiting bartender. “Burger, rare, Cheddar cheese, no tomato, no bun. Side of fries.”

Clicking on the bar’s WiFi link she began to work. Screw Raphael. He thought to prohibit her from accessing the internet? She hadn’t earned a degree in computer science to have an arrogant Lupine dictate her moves.

Jessica found the firewall IP addy for the Lupine registry and began scrolling through the complex and intricate series of passwords. She wracked her brain for the archaic language of the ancient ones. Such a secretive database would not have passwords any Skin could hack. The Old Language served as a barrier to those who thought to break into the site.

Except for her, of course.

She hesitated. What if the database had more hidden traps, waiting to explode out of her laptop? Sweat trickled down her spine. She didn’t relish getting blown up in a honky tonk bar.

The photo of her father had been grainy, a good warning.
Fine. If I come across a blurred photo, I’ll click off it. But I will access this damn database and find my brother!

She cracked two passwords, using an intricate letter/symbol combination of ancient Lupine symbols she’d seen Raphael type. Jessica grinned and swallowed a big gulp of her beer. The arrogant Lupine thought he’d best her.

Oh yeah?

Watch this.

Fingers flying over the keyboard, she surfed and threaded through the passwords, chortling with secret glee as she cracked each one.

And then she came to the final password on the last firewall.

The Gatekeeper.

Jessica finished her beer, cracked her knuckles. Here goes…

And then her internet connection winked out.

Damn it!
She looked at the bartender, drying glasses behind the counter. “What gives? Your internet went down.”

The man shrugged. And then she felt the hair on her nape rise, scented a flood of testosterone. Jessica turned.

Oh crap.

The once empty bar was now packed. Cowboys crowded every table. All male, and all staring at her with avid hunger in their gazes. Very male hunger.

Jessica swallowed hard. She’d been so focused on her hacking, she hadn’t noticed them enter the bar. They were silent as gathering wolves.

Turning around, she waved a hand, her heart pounding like a war drum.

“Check, please,” she told the bartender, handing over the lone credit card she’d brought.

But when he ran her tab, he returned with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry Miss Tyrell, but your card’s been denied.”

“Denied! I don’t have any charges on that card…”

Her voice trailed off as she remembered charging expenses for this trip. She’d been in such a rush, she’d brought the wrong charge card.

Humiliation crawled through her.

The bartender cleared his throat. “That will be $35. Do you have another card? Or cash? We don’t take checks.”

She started to look through her purse. The tension in the room thickened, as if the males were wolves who recognized the prey was weakening. Jessica thumbed through her thin wallet.

Have to have something in here, come on, come on!

“Hey there, little lady.”

One of the cowhands she recognized from Aiden Mitchell’s pack ambled toward her. Boot heels clicked against the hardwood floor. Hands stuffed into the pockets of his faded jeans, he looked young, with wide eyes, smooth cheeks and a full mouth.

And then she saw his eyes. Amber flickered in them, signaling the rise of his wolf. “Can I buy you a drink?”

Innocent statement, until you saw the heat in his gaze. Jessica glanced down and saw a considerable bulge in his crotch.
Oh shit
. No sweet pickup lines here. All of these males wanted one thing only.

Her.

And it wouldn’t turn out nicely. Most of the time, males treated a female with utter deference and gentleness, but in a bar filled with lusty Lupines…

Jessica hugged her purse to her chest. “Maybe next century, cowboy.”

“Maybe now,” he said loudly. “Maybe right now, against the wall, hard and fast.” He ran his gaze over her, appraising and appreciative.

A cold shiver snaked down her spine. Low growls rippled through the room. They eyed her as if she were steak, and were very hungry. Jessica lifted her chin. “Back off,” she told him.

But he did not move, only kept staring at her. And then she caught Raphael’s spicy, fragrant scent. He came from the direction of the kitchen, his manner aggressive.

“Jessica,” he said in a deep voice. “Stay there.”

Raphael vaulted over the bar and got close to the aggressive male. “She’s mine.” He growled deep and pinned a hard stare on the other male.

Finally the guy dropped his gaze submissively.

“Go back to your seat.”

The cowboy did.

The power of a natural alpha. Raphael flexed his fingers and his claws unsheathed. “If anyone takes a step closer to her,” he thundered, “you deal with me. There’s some females arriving shortly from another pack. They’re all looking for a good time. I suggest you wait…”

He ran a clawed hand across the closest table, gouging the wood. “Unless you’d like me to carve my name on your ass.”

Murmurs threaded through the room, but everyone dropped their gazes, suddenly interested in their drinks.

Jessica’s heart beat faster as Raphael slid into the stool beside her.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

He spoke in a low, dangerous voice. “Are you quite mad? Being in this bar alone?”

“I was just having dinner.”

He spoke low, his breath tickling her ear. “This is a bar for Others, a drinking establishment for J.J.’s Lupines to blow off steam. It’s warded against Skins, and few females come here, unless they wish to hook up and have sex. Lots of sex.”

She took a deep breath and said in a small voice, “Oh. I thought it was just a bar.”

“A bar where you could access the internet without my knowledge.”

She squared her shoulders. “Doesn’t matter, because the internet connection went out.”

The bartender nodded at Raphael. “Because
he
terminated the WiFi. Miss Tyrell, you still owe $35.”

Raphael dug out his wallet and fished out a black card.
Black
. As in an “I have so much damn money” card. “Run this, Tom.”

The barkeep ran the card and returned it. Raphael scribbled a signature in his elegant writing, handed over cash for the tip. Then he replaced the card in his wallet, tucked it into his back jeans pocket and studied her.

“What the hell are you doing here and
did
you have anything to do with the WiFi going out?” she asked.

He gave a small chuckle. “I own the bar. And I suspected you would drive here, seeing it’s the first stop from the ranch that has free WiFi.”

Feeling defeated, Jessica fisted her hands. “You’re a bastard, Raphael.”

“No, I am not. Unlike you, I know who my parents were.”

Jessica slapped him, her palm stinging as it made contact with his cheek. Raphael whitened, and clenched his fists. She flinched, expecting retaliation.

Instead he nodded. “I deserved that. I am sorry for making such a crass comment.”

She blinked. Again, this wolf surprised her. He could be hard and callous one minute, charming the next and then apologetic.

“Jessica,” he said softly, the word a sensual promise. “Time to go home. I wouldn’t advise staying here any longer.” He gave a meaningful glance at the crowd. Some were growling low. “You do wish to go home, do you not?”

Raphael held out a hand. She bit her lip and took it, sliding off the stool.

He guided her out of the bar. Outside, she shivered in the cool night air. Relief made her knees weak, but she couldn’t let him know that.

He opened the door of his Lexus. “Please. After you.”

“I can drive myself back to the ranch.”

“I will send someone to get the truck,” Raphael told her. “Right now you are returning with me.”

Jessica pulled to a halt and stared at him beneath the cold, crisp moonlight. “Why? What do you want with me?”

“You should know by now.” Then he took her laptop, set it on the seat and pulled her into his arms. Raphael’s mouth descended upon hers in a hard, brutal kiss intended to claim. She sagged against him, helpless to stifle the maelstrom of emotions swirling inside her, wanting to fight the erotic pleasure.