Wild Love (Wilding Pack Wolves 2) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (9 page)

She frowned. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“I just… nothing.” He would explain about the chat later when they were alone. “Okay, here’s the plan. Riverwise is already in place. They’ll have eyes on you from the moment you enter the motel parking lot. You go ahead and check in, then message me the room number. I’ll follow in about fifteen minutes, so it doesn’t look like I was hanging out at the liquor store right around the corner.”

“Sounds good.” Emily glanced at Daniel, then back at Noah. “So then… what? We just wait?”

“We’ve been watching the place for the last half hour,” Daniel said. “Two couples have checked in, but that’s it. Unless the bomber miraculously got here before us, he hasn’t shown yet. But when he does, we’ll be waiting for him.”

“But you don’t know what he looks like,” she protested.

Noah’s stomach clenched. “No. Which is why I’ll be straggling in. We want to give him plenty of time to get here and see me arrive. I’ll keep my hood up, just in case he’s downloaded the profile pix from the hookup.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” she asked, her cute nose scrunching up. “I mean, what if he decides to just shoot you as you’re getting out of the car?”

Noah worked to keep the smile off his face. She wasn’t worried about herself walking into a sting operation to catch a bomber… she was worried about
him.
“I doubt he’ll do that. It’s much safer for him to wait, make sure I’m the right guy by going to the right room, then slip out of whatever cover he’s keeping to plant the bomb on my car and slip away. He could be watching from across the street or the forest preserve behind the motel or any number of places. And he’s sure to be extra careful this time because we’ve already caught his co-conspirator. He might even show up much later after he’s sure we’re…
indisposed
inside the room.”

She lifted both eyebrows. He prayed she wouldn’t mention any of their sexy chat-talk in front of Daniel. But she just said, “Okay. That sounds, well, reasonable, at least.” She glanced at her phone. “I better go.”

“Okay.” Noah wanted to hug her or reassure her or… something. Instead, he just said, “Be careful.”

She smiled, and he swore it lit up the inside of the van.

Damn,
he was in trouble with this girl. How did that happen so quickly? It must have been the hours they spent online, talking and flirting and spilling little details about their lives.

He watched her climb out of the van and back into her Prius. Just like the first time they met, he was almost hoping the bad guy wouldn’t show, or at least would take his time, just so Noah could be alone with Emily in the motel room. Only this time, he just wanted to talk. Find out how much of those chats were
her
and how much were a front. See if he really threw her with the sexy talk or not. And, okay, maybe kiss her as well.

So
much trouble.

“You like this girl.” Daniel’s voice was drenched in disapproval, as usual.

Noah closed his eyes, reining in the urge to just have it out, right here, in the van. Preferably with claws and fangs. “That’s not a crime, you know.”

“She’s human.” Daniel was still aghast.

“I noticed.” Noah forced out a breath, opened his eyes, and turned to his brother. “It’s not like I’m mate material, Daniel.”

His face grew instantly serious. “You’re talking about Afghanistan.”

Noah sighed. Fifteen minutes stuck in a van with his brother, and already they were on the worst possible topic. “Yes, because of what happened in Afghanistan. And the cages.”

Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “The experiments affected you.” He was guessing, but it wasn’t a wild leap.

“Let’s just say, I’m not the wolf you grew up with.”

“Noah.”
For once, his brother seemed genuinely distressed. Which was somehow worse than all the condescension and arrogance. Because he had to believe there was something really, seriously wrong with his brother to turn this kind of soft.

The temptation to tell Daniel about their grandfather, the white wolf of disgrace, was overwhelming… it would knock him back on his arrogant ass to know he was descended from a lying, cheating male witch. But Noah couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Some secrets really should stay buried.

“Look, I’m fine, honest,” Noah said. “You remember when Owen was afraid to shift after he’d been in the cages for a year? Because he didn’t know what kind of beast he would be?”

Daniel nodded. That story had made the rounds through Riverwise after Owen finally shifted and was revealed to be a white wolf with freakishly large, razor-sharp claws.

“Well, it’s something like that—monster claws, a different kind of wolf than I used to be—but I can control it. My new wolf form came out when I was in Afghanistan, freaked the hell out of me, and I came home. But I’m fine now—I’ve got it under control.” Not the entire truth, but maybe enough to keep Daniel off his back about it.

His brother nodded. “That’s why you think you’re…” He grimaced.

“A freak? Yes. Just say it, Daniel.”

“That’s not what I meant!” His brother’s face darkened. “I was going to say that’s why you think you’re not mate material.”

“That too.” Noah scowled at him.

“But that’s not necessarily true—”

“Come on,
bro! Don’t patronize me. We both know there aren’t enough female wolves to go around, not by a long shot, and there aren’t going to be any lining up to mate with someone who’s a genetic freak.” Not to mention that he wasn’t fully a wolf… even if there were a female shifter interested in him, he’d have to tell her the truth. It was only fair. And no reasonable girl would want to risk having half-witch pups. Hell, any girl who did, he probably wouldn’t want, just because that would be crazy.

“Don’t give up on this!” Daniel looked distraught. “Owen found a mate—”

“That was luck, man, and you know it.”

“It could happen for you. Don’t throw away—”

“Okay,
look.”
Noah got in his brother’s face. “I’m making my own path here, Daniel. And you do
not
get a vote on what it’s going to be.”

Daniel pressed his lips into a tight line, but Noah really didn’t give a fuck at this point what his brother thought of him. And if Noah wanted to be with a human, not just for a night, but maybe for longer—

His phone buzzed.

It was the WildLove chatroom app.
Room 19,
Emily’s message said.

Fuck waiting around for fifteen minutes. “We’re in Room 19,” Noah said to his brother. “Time for me to go.”

Daniel held up his hands to stop him. “I thought you were waiting.”

“I’ll take the scenic route.” Noah pushed past him, threw open the door of the van, and hopped out. Then he slammed the door in Daniel’s face for good measure.  His car was on the far side of the van, and by the time he reached it, the boiling anger inside him was surging up his wolf. He breathed through his teeth, willing his wolf to stay calm, promising him that they were going to see Emily in just a few short minutes.

It worked. He wasn’t even halfway around the scenic route to the motel before he was calm again… at least, as calm as he got with the prospect of seeing her looming ahead.

That part he really didn’t understand. It was like his wolf was drawn to her for some reason. Given his wolf was only half-wolf—the other half being witch, plus whatever altered stuff the genetic experiments threw in there—he wasn’t sure what any of it meant. All he knew was he couldn’t wait to see her. And all the disparate parts of himself settled down and pulled together in an effort to make that happen.

There were several cars in the motel parking lot, but no people. Noah parked well away from Emily’s silver Prius, as well as Room Nineteen, just in case the bomber managed to set something off and blow up his car—he didn’t want Emily or her car getting caught in the crossfire. Then he jogged up to the door. It was on the first level this time, and he took a moment, catching his breath and hopefully giving the potential bomber a good long chance to see him before he knocked.

Emily opened the door right away. She was still wearing her black t-shirt and jeans getup from the office, which made sense. She had probably come straight from there, whereas Noah had been doing their online chatting from his apartment... where he wouldn’t be tempted to follow up those sexy chats with multiple attempts at a kiss. But now that they were here…

“Hi, Trish!” Noah said, still standing outside the door, playing the role, in case the bomber was watching. “I’m Nick. From WildLove.”

“Hey, Nick.” Emily couldn’t quite contain her smile, and it practically forced one onto his face. “Nice to meet you. Come on in.” She stepped back and held the door wide for him.

“You’re just as sexy as your profile picture,” Noah said, a parting comment for the potential bomber outside.

Emily closed the door and turned to him. She folded her arms across her chest and shook her head, giving him a skeptical look. “Is that right? Because, as I recall, Trish is a heck of a lot taller and skinnier than I am.”

Was she really walking him right back into the sexy talk? Because he was
so
ready to pick up where they left off.

“I happen to like shorter with more curves.” He closed the couple feet between them, and he could tell by the way her eyes widened, that she didn’t expect it. He let his gaze travel down to where her t-shirt hugged her chest, then back up to her eyes. “And what you have under there looks very tempting to me.”

Her mouth went a little slack with surprise, and her cheeks pinked up right away. Man, she was pretty when she blushed. It brought out that innocent-kitten look to her wide blue eyes and creamy-pale skin. He eased closer, nudging her toward the door without touching her. Yet.

“Um… okay,” she said, and her voice hiked up a little. “You realize we’re not in chat anymore, right?”

His heart sank a little with that, but he didn’t give up. He pressed a hand against the door, next to her head, because by this time, she was backed all the way up against it. Her arms were still locked, protectively, across her chest.

He looked straight into her eyes. “I was hoping at least some of it was real. It felt real to me.”

She visibly swallowed. “Yeah. Me too,” she whispered.

Yes.
He leaned in closer. “I’ve never done that before. Talked like that in chat, I mean. Did I…” He licked his lips because suddenly his mouth was dry with nerves. “Did I scare you off? I kind of got carried away.”

“No,” she breathed. He was close enough that he could feel the heat of it. “Well... it
was
a little overwhelming.”

“I’m sorry.” He leaned in close enough to kiss but didn’t. God, he wanted to. “And I don’t want you to think that’s all I want. That I’m just trying to get you in bed. Because it’s not just that for me.”

She blinked. “It’s not?”

He eased back a little—any closer, and he
would
be kissing her, and that wouldn’t help in making his point. “You’re smart and funny as hell. And you’re taking all kinds of crazy chances here, just to help shifters… when you’re not even one yourself. And you… you
care,
Emily, in a big-hearted kind of way that stirs me around. So,
no,
it’s not just your smokin’ hot body that I want.”

Her eyes were wide, and her lips parted, and he could scent her arousal… which was all he needed to press forward.

“Not that I don’t want that, too. Don’t get me wrong.” He let his gaze rake down the smooth curve of her neck. He had to shut his mouth to keep in the drool again. He looked back into her eyes. “We’re here, in a motel room, alone,
again…
and believe me, I’d really like to take off your clothes. And mine. Unfortunately, the bad guy could show up any moment.”

“That’s really unfortunate.” She was whispering again.

“It is. But there’s a lot we can do with our clothes still on.”

Her breathing hitched. “Yeah?”

“Definitely.” He placed his second hand on the door next to her head. There were only inches between them. “If you’ll let me.”

He was so close he could feel her chest heave against his as she labored to breathe. “I’ll let you.”

He managed not to moan with those words, just leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to hers. They were so soft… his hand was in her silky hair before he knew it, his other one around her waist, pulling her close. He wanted her to feel more than just his growling lust for her, but he couldn’t help drawing her deeper into the kiss by crushing her to him. And his quickly growing erection was making that lust plain enough. She practically melted into him, her body hot against his through her thin t-shirt, his tongue deep inside her mouth, tasting and seeking and warring with hers. She was so short, her head had to tip back to kiss him. He slipped his mouth from hers, traveling wet kisses down her jaw and nipping at the tender skin of her neck. The moan that came from her throat reminded him that he wasn’t making anywhere near enough use of his hands. He slid the one at her back down to caress her firm, little bottom, while the other brushed the side of her breast through her shirt.

“God, Emily,” he panted between kisses, working his way back up to her sweet mouth. He cupped her breast in his hand as soon as a sliver of space opened between them. 

“Oh my God, yes,” she said before he smothered her words with his kiss.

He pressed her against the door, not caring that she felt every bit of hardness he had for her—she should know how much she affected him—but he was starting to lose himself in this kiss. His hand slipped under her shirt. Her small fingers clawed at the bottom edge of his, working it up so she had access to his bare skin. He devoured her sweet scent with his mouth and deep pulls of breath across her skin—

His earbud squawked, making him jump.

“No, no, no!” “What the hell!” “Get him!”
“Shoot him!”
“Too far!”

Noah jerked back from the kiss, blinking fast. “Something’s happening outside.”

But Emily had heard it, too, looking toward the window to the parking lot, drawn closed with drapes. The shouts were audible through the thin walls of the motel.

“Noah, get clear of the door!” That was Daniel, his voice high and hysterical.