Past My Defenses (Taming the Pack series) (Entangled Ignite) (18 page)

Jordan snorted and shook his head. “Quit being a damn fool.”

“Me? She’s been with you a week, and the only progress you’ve made is to come up with a plan to kill her and then you actually put her in a position where she could get killed by letting her drive home alone at night, but I’m the damn fool?”

“We weren’t actually going to use her as bait. I said that so you’d get off your ass and fight for her. But that was before we knew there was still a poacher around.”

Her head ping-ponged between them. Soon they were going to start shoving each other like boys on a playground.

“Oh, right—like I can believe anything you say.” Dane shook his head.

“At least I wouldn’t have missed hitting the thing chasing her.”

“I didn’t miss! I hit the damn thing…or could you not find the blood? Because if you didn’t, I can draw you a map and let you borrow my flashlight.”

It’s a good thing looks weren’t actually able to kill. Both men would be dead on the floor. The shoving and wrestling was seconds away, and she couldn’t be here for that. She pushed off the couch, walked between them, and went out on the front porch, slamming the door behind her.

…

His mouth dropped open. She was leaving—after just running here? No. No way, and he sure as hell would be chasing her down this time. At least she was still winded. She might be slower.

“She’s just sitting out there,” Jordan said, sighing.

“What if the Lycan has a gun?” The moment the words left his mouth, he wished they were back.

Jordan carefully, oh so carefully, kept a straight face as he asked, “And we’d put it…where?” He was such an ass.

And that’s what he’d realized right when he’d said it. Dane pinched the bridge of his nose where the pressure of a headache was threatening. If only Vanessa and this particular Lycan weren’t turning out to be a package deal. “Do you have any idea how little sleep I’ve gotten in the last week?”

“Another reason why she should come home with me. You both look dead on your feet.” He winced. “Okay, I should have worded that differently. But my point still stands: I haven’t been going without sleep for a week and a half.”

“Exactly. Because you don’t care what happens to her.”

The snarl from Jordan’s mouth was too deep to be human and briefly he saw the shimmer of sharp teeth and bright eyes before the Alpha shook it off. “The hell I don’t. I just have a little perspective of the bigger picture, and I know that needs my A game…not Q or whatever you call this.” He gestured at Dane.

“I wounded it, which is more than your A game has gotten us.”

“I would have killed it.”

“Oh, yeah, I thought you were this great tracker—why haven’t you brought back its head or something?”

Another not-quite-human snarl. “Your cat marked everything from here to her place, and I lost the trail.”

“I got rid of my cat a week ago! For Vanessa!”

This took Jordan aback. Narrowing his eyes, he asked, “You killed your cat?”

Dane rolled his eyes. “No! I gave it to my sister. Unlike you, I don’t kill everything that doesn’t fit in my plan!”

“No, you just nick it or miss!”

“Oh for the love of…!” Vanessa slammed her way back into the room. “Why don’t you both pee on me and get it over with?”

Well, Jordan
had
marked his Jeep, and he could tell from that bastard’s smirk he was thinking the same thing.

He didn’t think he could hate the man more than he already did, but then Vanessa turned to Jordan and ducked her head as she asked, “Did you recognize the scent?” No matter what, she’d still recognize her damn Alpha as the final say in everything. Even with him here. Even in his house. It pissed him off.

“No. Like you said—it’s familiar, but they’re masking it somehow.” He frowned. “Something about it…unnerves me. I couldn’t…I couldn’t seem to…” Shaking his head, he glanced back toward the front of the house. “So strange. Anyway, I couldn’t peg who it was.”

“I guess that rules out members of the packs near Portland.” A smile passed her lips, and she sneaked a glance at Dane. “And Reno.”

He swallowed some of his anger. She
had
come here, instead of going to Jordan’s place—which was much closer.

“Damn cat,” Jordan muttered. “I could have tracked it down if not for
that
cat.”

It burned Jordan that he’d lost the trail. It should. It burned Dane that he’d nicked it instead of killing it—even if the shots had been blind. The thing had never breached the edge of the woods.

“I’m tired,” Vanessa said on a sigh. The exhaustion seemed to be dragging her down as fast as that first dose of allergy pills had.

“She’s staying here.” There was no way he was letting her go now that he had her here again. She
was
his, and she wasn’t leaving. It felt caveman and possibly chauvinistic, but she was his to protect, and he was going to keep her safe if it killed him.

Jordan groaned. “You’re exhausted, and I’d sent her home from work because she was so tired.”

“Yeah—you sent her home, and she came
here
.”

There was a flash of something that looked like admiration in Jordan’s eyes, but then it was gone. Jordan turned to Vanessa, who still had her chin dropped in submission—it made his fist itch to punch the other man. “You pick, Nessa. Him or me?”

Vanessa’s eyes widened, and she blinked rapidly.

Jordan cleared his throat. “I meant stay here or come with me, not an ultimatum. You’re a member of our pack, and we’ll protect you either way. I don’t mean to keep you apart—clearly you need to see each other or you’ll both need to be institutionalized soon, but I want to keep you safe.”

Dane couldn’t resist muttering, “Unless you use her as bait,” under his breath.

Her eyebrows drew together as her nose wrinkled. She was taking a long time to consider this—and his hope dropped with each second. If she left with Jordan, it was a blow he didn’t think he wanted to recover from. If she left with him, it’d always be this way. Her Alpha would always come first. Despite the hierarchy she’d listed off, he’d always be down near the bottom.

“I’m staying with Dane, but all of my purifiers are at your house, and he already complains about my snoring.”

Dane laughed in relief.

“Her snoring is nothing to laugh about,” Jordan said with a grimace that Dane suspected had nothing to do with her impressive snoring. He was losing out to Dane again. That shouldn’t make him feel good, but it did.

Vanessa yawned and stretched, the motion dragging his shirt up to expose the edge of the boxers she was wearing. The movement was unintentionally sensual—and more so because of that.

Mine
—the word whispered through his brain again, awakening the primitive desire to throw her over his shoulder and take her to bed.

Jordan had been watching Vanessa, but he glanced away at this. “I’ll do a few more patrols around here. See if I can find the trail again. I might have been anxious.” He strode out the back door without another word.

She frowned after him.

“Don’t worry. He’s probably trying to one-up me because I actually drew blood and he can’t follow a scent more than a few yards.”

“He heard that,” she said.

“I know. He’s probably pissing all over my Jeep again.”

She nodded and shrugged. “I’m tired.”

“Let’s go to bed.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him to lock the doors.

“It’s like seven o’clock,” she said, mid-yawn.

“I won’t tell anyone if you won’t.” He turned off his lights, knowing that there were things out there that would see in regardless. It disconcerted him to know there was something out there wanting to kill Vanessa, even as he felt relieved that Jordan was out there. The man might be an ass, but he’d probably deter the Lycan from finishing the job tonight. “Unless you’re hungry…I can probably find something that won’t send you into anaphylaxis.”

She was so tired that she bumped against him as they walked down the hall. So he put his arm around her and tucked her into his side. It felt…right. She felt right—by his side and in this house. “No, I’m too tired to be hungry. I saw that my list made your fridge.”

“I figured I should have some food for you when you came back.”

She stopped in the doorway and turned to him. “
When
I came back?”

A sour ache started blooming in his chest. “Are you saying you weren’t going to?”

He couldn’t see her expression in the darkness, but he heard the smile in her voice as she said, “
I
never wanted to leave.”

Reaching out, his fingers skimmed her collarbone and up her neck. He slid them across the soft skin of her jaw to the nape of her neck and pulled her toward him while leaning down. “Then stop doing it,” he whispered against her mouth…which lifted in a smile he could feel. He pressed into her body and licked along that smile. She opened her mouth with a moan that he felt clear throughout him.

Even though she wrapped her arms around his neck, she pulled back with a soft sigh that brushed across his wet lips. “Jordan is outside.”

“So.” He kissed her again, paying close attention to that delectable lower lip of hers, drawing it into his mouth. It’d been too long. Good intentions be damned. He wanted her. She wanted him. She was back.

“Mmm.” He thought he had her. Her leg slid along the outside of his, and then she tipped her head back. “I’m not going to be a trophy between you two.”

He scowled. “It’s not like that.” If he was completely honest, the idea of proving to that ass that Jordan might be Alpha, but
he
was the one she went home to, held some appeal, but Dane never intended to be that honest.

She laughed, low and deep. “Oh, yeah? Show me.”

He sighed. “Okay. Fine.” Leaning down, he grabbed her legs and pulled them around his waist as he carried her to bed. “How did you get out of the handcuffs?”

She snorted a laugh as he dumped her on her back on the bed. “Really?”

“Yes, really. There was nothing around to use. Unless you had something in your hair.” It’d been bugging him all week.

“You know what’s thinner than human hands? Wolf paws.”

He smiled as he unbuttoned his shirt in the blue light from the night-light in his bathroom. “So you admit…you are a wolf?”

She sighed.

Busted. She’d admitted it in a dozen other ways, but this was the first time she’d used the word “wolf.”

“Is it too late to plead the fifth?”

“Tonight was pretty obvious. A wolf ran by me and then you slammed into the side of my house naked. Either that was the oddest magic trick ever…”

“Ta-da!”

He laughed. “But I haven’t seen you change. I saw Jordan. He was having a hard time keeping his wolf inside tonight.”

She didn’t respond. I guess that was his answer. She didn’t intend for him to see her change. It felt like she wanted to keep that part of her separate—as much as she could. His hand went to his belt. Crap, Jordan wasn’t the only one struggling to keep things leashed. After another close call with her life, he didn’t want to sleep on the couch, but he would. This wasn’t just about one-upping Jordan. It never had been, even if that was a bit of a bonus.

He turned to ask Vanessa if he should sleep on the couch when she let out a long guttural snore. Mmm. He might be the only man on the planet excited to spend a night listening to his partner’s buzz-saw snoring, but it was such a relief. The quiet in his house had made it feel as empty as it was. He chucked everything in his hamper without even taking the three-point shots. Exhaustion was kicking his butt, and he had a snoring wolf in his bed.

Chapter Thirteen

It was like that first time she woke beside him…only this time there was no “Oh, hell no.” She didn’t open her eyes, but she ran her hand along his naked pecs.

“Oh, hell yes,” she murmured. Mmm. Dane. She could get used to this.

Mine. So mine.

He chuckled, and his hand stopped her descent down his washboard abs. Threading his fingers through hers, he lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles.

Vanessa opened her eyes to see his laughing gray ones, staring down at her. “You didn’t sleep with earplugs in?”

His grin widened. “Oh, I definitely did. I’ve been awake for twenty minutes trying to decide if it was worth waking you to get feeling back in that arm you slept on.”

“You should have just gnawed it off.” She turned her head and bit softly into his bicep.

His pupils dilated, and his breath caught for a second before he tried to breathe normally and play it off. His scent gave him away, of course. “Please tell me you’re not in heat anymore.”

And there it was…that reminder that there was this animal side to her that he wanted nothing to do with. Pulling her hand from his, she sat up with a sigh. It was fine. They didn’t need to solve all their problems right away. They were together. That was what mattered. And eventually, she wouldn’t be in heat, and they’d go at it like they both were…and it would be amazing. And it’d be right here. In his giant bed.

Gazing fondly at the bed, she said, “I like this. It’s so huge.”

“That’s what she said.” He sat up beside her, flexing his hand with a wince as feeling must’ve been returning to it. She snored, and she cut off circulation to his limbs. She was a total winner.

“So, what should we do today?” she asked. Her hormones weighed in with: pillow fight. Followed by less pillowy and more naked fighting. She inhaled. Oh, he smelled so good…and this whole room smelled warm and like both of them were good and aroused. Mmm, Dane.

Mine.

Not yet. But soon. Hopefully. Or she’d go nuts.

“We should eat breakfast,” Dane said.

“That’s a euphemism, right?”

He laughed. Okay, clearly not. Damn. “I think I have some stuff that’ll work. Eggs weren’t on the list, but what about bacon?”

Even his voice was sexy. It was all morning rough, and anything he said sounded like an invitation to carnal activities. Oh, she was definitely still in heat. It was awesome. She turned into his chest, wrapping her arms around him. He’d propped himself on his elbows, but he shifted sideways and slid one arm around her. “We’re only hugging,” she told him slowly, meeting his gaze.

One side of his mouth quirked up. “Okay, so long as you’re not hugging anyone else like this.”

Ducking her head, she nuzzled his chest. He smelled amazing. “Mmm.”

“Bacon is okay, right?” he asked, his lips brushing her forehead as he dipped his chin.

“Bacon is fantastic.” If by bacon you meant his muscles and the heat of his skin—then, yes, bacon was fantastic. She pressed herself closer. “We really don’t need to be wearing clothing to hug.”

His other arm came around her, and he pulled her to his chest, trapping her against him so the situation didn’t become clothing-optional.

She sighed and tried to relax. Last night, he’d been hot for her—when Jordan was around, and she’d been exhausted enough that her brain had argued louder than her libido, even if she still sort of wanted Dane. Now, this morning, she’d had a full night’s rest—her body was ready and rarin’ to go. Jordan could be in the living room, and she wouldn’t care if he heard Dane and her getting it on. Well, later, when she and her Alpha could never make eye contact for whole new reasons at meetings, it’d be awkward.

“Prude,” she muttered.

“I have a great-aunt Marianne who is a prude. She told me red licorice was the devil’s candy because of its shape. I haven’t eaten licorice since then.”

“Mmm, the things I could do with licorice.”

“I’ll buy some tomorrow.” He hugged her tighter. “The point is, a guy wearing only a pair of boxers, which I regret—though not enough, who wants you so bad he can’t see straight, isn’t a prude…in the strictest sense.”

He did want her. That much was rather obvious.

“I missed you,” he said suddenly.

And the intensity of her lust ebbed slightly. “You did?”

“Yes. I was going to drive over to Jordan’s last night and drag you back here.”

She wrinkled her nose. “That sounds…touching.”

Laughing, he said, “Yeah, well, that’s why I was still formulating a better plan when you arrived.”

“I missed you too.” Saying it left her feeling vulnerable, and the urge to run was back—even if she’d also run back to him when she’d fought through this need to panic.

“I heard you killed Jordan’s blender.”

“It was asking for it.”

“I’ll run and hide mine in a moment.”

She grinned and snuggled into his arms. If they kept talking like this, maybe eventually this hug would feel like a hug. “I need clothes. We should go grab some when we go out.”

“We shouldn’t go out.”

She tipped her head back so fast she hit his chin. “What? No! I’ve been trapped at Jordan’s for a week. It’s either been work or his house. Work or his house. Dane, I need out. Your blender is at stake.”

“Not today. We’ll let your pack check for that truck and the Lycan I nicked while we stick close to home.” Him using the word “home” made her body flush, and her heart beat faster.

“We? You’re not going in to work?”

“No. I called in sick.”

She scowled, but if he was staying home… “Okay, but we should seriously do something or the next time I hug you will be less PG.” She’d make sure she tore off her clothes first. She’d tear hers off and tear his off…and, oh, hell, she needed a cold shower.

“I have a puzzle we could put together.”

She laughed. Maybe if they could keep a sense of humor about this…

…

“I thought you were kidding,” she said, two hours later. The scowl was back. It was turning him on. As was every time she leaned across the table to put a piece into the puzzle, and her shirt would hang open. He kept closing his eyes and thinking of his great-aunt Marianne. Only Vanessa had ruined licorice for him in a whole different way. What could she do with licorice? He didn’t want to know. Well, he did, but… Great-Aunt Marianne. Glaciers. Puppies. Kittens.

He took a deep breath. Hopefully Jordan would drop off her clothes, soon…real soon.

It’d sounded good to have her all to himself for the day and even crowd it under the guise of keeping her safe, but then he’d realized she’d be wearing his clothes. None of his clothes looked like
that
on him, and he knew she wasn’t wearing any underwear. She looked like she’d just crawled out of bed, and he wanted to drag her back there.

Then, whenever she found a corner piece she’d do this little dance that shouldn’t have been erotic, but this was Vanessa—and she had the long slim body of a runner, and she moved like she could avoid disturbing the air. The only loud thing about her was her snoring. Otherwise she moved softly and sensually, and her victory dance hit him like a striptease.

Ice cream. Old people in bathing caps. Porcupines. Math tests.

And he’d thought doing a puzzle was a good idea.

“Did you already have this wolf puzzle or did you buy it just to mess with me?” she asked, leaning across the table.

Great-Aunt Marianne. The pope. Banana slugs. Clam chowder. Waterfalls…crap, now he had to pee. “I already had it.”

“This wolf…looks just like this guy named Rodin from my old pack near Portland—Multnomah pack. Hah! Corner piece!”

He closed his eyes for the dance.

“You know…you’re not really helping much with your eyes closed.”

He opened them to find her grinning at him with raised eyebrows. She knew. Of course she knew. He probably smelled like he was ready to drag her onto the table and have a taste of the real devil’s candy. Vanessa was all sweet and sin wrapped up together.

What could she do with licorice? And was it regular licorice or the rope kind?

Snowmen. Prostate exams. Antarctica. Cubism. Feathers…damn…feathers were sexy.

“Rodin?” he repeated, concentrating on the pieces in front of him.

“Yep. Rodin. He looked like this only he had a bit of a limp from this time I went into heat, and he misunderstood the difference between come hither and stay thither.”

The rage built in him quickly. If he found out this guy’s last name, he’d kill him, as fast as he could…or maim him severely at the very least.

How many Rodins could there be?

He cleared his throat. “What did you do?”

“Told him to take a flying leap…and then he did. There were a whole bunch of idioms he experienced. He should have looked before he leaped too. One minute, he was jumping toward me…and I just stepped aside, and he went sailing over this ledge I’d been standing near. He landed on his feet, but he broke one of them.”

Well, okay, maybe he could leave this one alone. It sounded like she’d handled it. And Jordan had said she wasn’t attracted to anyone else besides her scent-match.

“But that wasn’t the funny part,” she said.

He raised his eyebrows, but continued fitting pieces together. Vanessa’s sense of humor might be broader than his. Though admittedly, he didn’t mind that the guy had a broken foot to show for putting the moves on Vanessa. He’d break anyone else’s foot in the future who tried it, or thought of trying it, or sat too close to her… Okay, he needed to ease up. He blinked forcefully and worked on matching what looked like a talon.

“Our Alpha had sent us out to scare off a mountain lion who was hunting too close to a natural trail. Rodin and I were on our way back when he’d…gotten interested and subsequently gotten a short stop after a long drop. It was early morning, and this trail is big among the senior community. He’d shifted and was swearing up a storm as I stood above him, still on four feet, and he was so busy being pissed and checking out his foot that he didn’t see these speed-walking octogenarians heading straight for him. There he was…naked…and cursing me with every word he knew, and this little old lady pokes him with her walking stick and yells, ‘Colleen, I told you to put on some lipstick before we went out…and here it is raining men.’”

He fought a smirk as he worked on the edges of the puzzle. “Did you go for help?”

“Sort of. I went and grabbed my clothes and a phone and took pictures of them with Rodin to pass around the senior center. No one messed with me the rest of that cycle. In fact, the next cycle, the pack paid for my trip to Reno. My Alpha said it was unrelated, but I think he was relieved when I came up here.”

“You were in heat when you were in Reno?”

She looked through her lashes and smiled. “Yes…and I’d finally turned twenty-one.”

His palms were sweating.

“Of course, I wasn’t really that interested in any of them, and I was more of a tease back then.”

She leaned across the table to grab a piece right in front of him.

Icebergs. Rodeo clowns. Taffy…no, taffy was no good.

Okay, screw waiting.

Dane’s phone started buzzing against the table beside him. Christa. Damn. “I should get this. My sister told me a couple days ago if I didn’t answer the phone when she calls, she’d bring Mom on her next drop-by, and she mentioned you weren’t dressed for guests when you’d met.”

“Why didn’t you tell her I wasn’t around anymore last time?”

“I was sorta hoping you’d be around.” He answered the phone rather than explain that there’d also be no way he’d admit to his baby sister he’d screwed up a relationship that fast—even if things were looking good now. “Hey.”

“Is Vanessa there?” Christa asked.

“Geez, you’re nosy, squeaky.”

“She is, isn’t she?”

Vanessa snickered on the other side of the table.

“Maybe.”

“I’m coming to dinner!” Christa hung up.

He sighed and glanced over to see Vanessa white as a sheet. “What?”

“Your sister is coming?”

He shrugged. “She likes you. She said that.” His gaze traveled down her body. “Hopefully Jordan drops by with your clothes or she’ll wonder how tawdry our relationship is.” If only. The one thing about the last miserable, hellish week was that it put them one week closer to her being out of heat. And when she was out of heat, their relationship would be a helluva lot less complicated. He’d know he wasn’t just anyone to her.

Hopefully.

That was his working theory.

“Yeah, but… Hah! Corner!”

At least that was the last corner. He closed his eyes and pictured octogenarian speed-walkers.

True to her word, Christa arrived that night as the sun was setting.

“I don’t like you driving home in the dark,” he said as he opened the door.

“Nag. Nag. Nag.” She tipped sideways to look around him.

“Vanessa’s in the kitchen making chicken of some kind.” He’d left dinner to her. There were still a few spices on her allergy list that seemed made up, and she’d seemed less worried about meeting his sister again if she was busy.

“I like her better than Kaylee,” his sister whispered.

“Who’s Kaylee?” Vanessa asked.

Christa’s eyes widened. “Wow, she’s got great hearing.”

She had no idea. “No one!” he said. “You showered, right?” He checked his sister’s clothing for Lucifer hairs. He’d rather not have to drug Vanessa so she could hang out with Christa.

Christa laughed. “I even washed behind my ears, but I doubt she’ll check.”

“No, because of the cat.”

“Oh, yeah, right. I did. And these clothes came straight from the dryer.” Christa walked by him and headed toward the kitchen.

He took a few deep breaths. So his werewolf girlfriend was having dinner with his sister…it was no big deal. Vanessa had agreed to keep that side of her between them for now, though she’d looked slightly hurt. Maybe it went without saying that she wouldn’t tell, and she’d been insulted he’d even brought up the subject. She hadn’t been anxious to admit to
him
that she was a Lycan, and maybe that went double for his family.

“You finally did that puzzle I gave you for Christmas forever ago,” Christa called over her shoulder as she circled the table, eyeing it. She gave him an amused look before nodding in Vanessa’s direction. “You guys do…puzzles together?”