Wolf Pack (4 page)

“Shall we go inside?” Jade asked him.

He gestured toward the door with his chin. When both women’s backs were to him, Cole quickly cupped his erection before rearranging his cock. Luckily he wore loose enough khaki pants that he shouldn’t damage his package but, fuck, he needed a few minutes alone to take care of his hard-on.

“You are coming, right?” Jade questioned while she glanced over her shoulder at him.

He grunted but strode forward.

“You might want to close your mouth,” Jade whispered when he passed her.

Cole knew better than to respond to her teasing. It would only get worse, and if she said anything to Luca he wouldn’t hear the end of it, ever. Inside the room, Kendra was across the table with her hand on the back of a chair. He made sure to sit on the far side so Jade would be in between them. Cowardly, but damn… Shit, he was at a loss. He did motion for her to sit but didn’t meet her gaze.

“Thank you for meeting with me,” Kendra said with a smile. She was looking at Jade but Cole could still feel her gaze when it shifted to him.

“Sure,” Jade replied. “Our commander didn’t tell us much about the case but we’re happy to help.”

Kendra opened her bag and dug around for a moment before she drew out a file. She passed it over, and he opened the folder before angling the pages so both he and Jade could read.

“This is the file from the original case that brought Trent Compton to us. Plus the murder of two of our fellow Marshals. It’s everything I have.”

“You weren’t involved in the original arrest?” he asked without looking up.

“No,” she answered. “Agents Black and Stanford worked the case, turned the witness to our side, and were in charge of getting everything worked out to get the intel to take down a pack of rogue wolf shifters that were targeting other lone wolf shifters.”

The case was so close to what Zak was working that Cole knew there had to be a connection. He didn’t say anything but finished scanning over the pages. The details were sparse and he wasn’t sure whether that was because the Marshals were holding back or if they didn’t have anything else. “Tell me in your own words what you think.”

“Okay.” Kendra rolled her shoulders before she intertwined her fingers in front of her. “Black and Stanford are…were both shifters that worked for the Marshals a long time. So when Trent came to them about his boss, Shawn Langford, killing two men, they knew there was more to it than a simple murder. The guys that Shawn killed were rogue shifters. There have been several attacks and killings in the last several months. We now figure that Shawn was behind the attacks and killings since they’ve stopped. We’ve got Shawn locked away but without Trent we have no witness and there’s a chance he could get away with it.”

“Shawn’s also a shifter?” Jade questioned.

“Yes.” Kendra nodded. “He never told us why he was hunting the rogues and we really want an answer to that.”

As a lone wolf himself, Cole was behind getting that intel as well. It would be a good time to tell her that the attacks hadn’t stopped and instead were now taking place in Lake Worth, but he’d hold out until he spoke to his commander and Zak. That reminded him that he’d not made Jade aware either. Shit, this really was a mess. “What exactly happened to the two agents?” he asked.

As Kendra continued to report, Cole took out his phone and sent a text to Zak, telling the tiger shifter that they needed to talk ASAP. He set his cell on the table and tried to pay attention to what Kendra was saying.

He couldn’t get past the fact that he’d slept with this woman, that she’d disappeared and that now she was sitting just feet from him. His erection was still aching for release and now he was mixed up in a case that had the potential to blow up in their faces.

They would have to work together to stop the attacks once and for all.

“You have no idea where he is now?” Jade asked Kendra once she had stopped talking.

“I’ve been checking out motels in the city all night but haven’t found him yet. Either he’s holed up in one I haven’t been to yet or somewhere else,” Kendra said.

“We can get the others to start checking around. Maybe around the bridge where a lot of the homeless hang out,” Jade suggested, looking at him.

Cole pulled out the photo of Trent that was in the file. He slid it to Jade as a knock sounded at the door. Zak’s scent reached him and he nodded. “Why don’t you take Marshal Brown to our office and get the boys on searching for Trent. I need to speak with Zak real quick.”

Jade stood and motioned for Kendra to do the same. “Sure.”

He glanced up at Kendra, only to find her gaze on him. She smiled. “Oh, Agent Babcock, I think it’ll be okay to call me Kendra.” She licked her lips.

Cole almost groaned but managed to hold it in. “Okay.” He leaned back as she approached.

Jade had walked to the door but Cole could feel her eyes still on him.

Kendra trailed a finger down his chest as she pressed against his side. “I didn’t think I’d see you again so soon,” she whispered.

Without thought, he wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “What were you doing out there last night?” He asked because her presence in the safe zone and now at his office was too weird and he didn’t know if he could trust her.

“I was out for a run,” she replied in all innocence.

He wasn’t fooled for a second. Kendra was hiding as much as he was, if not more.

“Are you part of the pack here?” he questioned. Her answer was important on so many levels. The Marshal case, Zak’s case, and his own reasons for not joining with them himself.

“Of course,” she said. She straightened but didn’t attempt to pull her arm away.

He tightened his hold for an instant in warning.

For the first time since they’d entered the room she dropped her eyes and showed some of the submission he’d witnessed the night before. God, that was an arousing sight.

Fingers still locked around her, Cole stood before he pulled her up against his chest. Her breath whooshed out and the scent of her arousal flooded his senses. “You’re not telling me everything,” he accused. “You need to think real hard about what you’re hiding. I won’t stand for anything less than loyalty.”

Kendra shuddered and he felt it through his own body.

“Yes,” she hissed.

“Good.” He released her and moved away. “Let’s get to work then.”

“Ye…yeah,” she agreed before stepping back.

He turned his back and gathered all the pages into the file folder so he wouldn’t watch her walk away. He heard the door open and Jade say something to Zak but he couldn’t concentrate enough to make out her words.

The door clicked shut again.

“What’s going on?” Zak asked.

Cole motioned him forward. “Come check this out. We’ve got a problem.”

Chapter Three

The sun was starting to set as she sat at the island in the middle of her Alpha’s kitchen while he made her a cup of coffee. Kendra’s hands were cold and she rubbed them together to try to warm up. She was still shaken from her encounter with Cole Babcock.

After being in the conference room, she’d spent the day with Jade trying to track down Trent by calling more motels around the area. She’d faxed his picture to over twenty different places as well as updating the BOLO for the local police department. Zak had been out of the office for most of the morning and early afternoon but when he’d returned he’d sent her and Jade around to the homeless shelters and churches.

She’d been happy for the company, though. Jade Adams was kind of awesome. Sure, she had tried to find out how Kendra knew Cole, but she hadn’t pushed. Jade also had a wicked sense of humor and had shared stories about Cole from the days when they were in the FBI.

Kendra had learned quite a bit about the strong wolf shifter from his partner. There was something about him that drew Kendra to him and she wasn’t sure what to do about it. She’d already confessed everything to Taylor, from her and Cole’s tryst the night before to what was going on with her case.

Taylor hadn’t looked at her with disappointment or anger. Instead he’d smiled and offered her a cup of coffee. She sat in silence as he moved around the kitchen. She’d never hidden anything, from the time that she’d moved into the Alpha house after her parents had given up on her. Now that she found herself stuck between the pack and her job, she didn’t know what her options were. When she added in the complication of Cole, it felt like she was being torn apart.

She looked up as Taylor set a steaming cup in front of her.

“I can feel how this is hurting you,” he said. “I would have never asked for your help if I knew you would be given this case from the Marshals.”

She knew that Taylor was sincere. “Why didn’t you go to the police or Coalition in the first place?”

“We try not to involve anyone in pack business. You know that,” he replied. “Even institutions that were made to help us. We’re independent and don’t want any government sticking their noses in our business.”

“But after going to the Coalition today I think they would’ve helped us,” she said.

“Are you talking about Cole?” he asked, while keeping his tone soft.

She shrugged.

“I like Cole. If he’d agreed to join the pack I would have taken this to him first.”

“You offered him pack?” She was shocked.

“Of course,” he said and took a seat next to her. He laid his hand over hers. “Cole is a good man. What happened between the two of you makes me very happy.”

“What?” She couldn’t help her voice rising.

Taylor chuckled. “You are one of the most important people in the pack to me. I’ve waited for you to find a mate worthy of you. I think you have.”

“I don’t want a mate.”

“Kendra.” Taylor gripped her hand. “You forget I know you. You crave a partner. One who will accept you as you are and won’t hold you down. One of the reasons that I wanted Cole to join us was because I wanted him for you.”

“Playing matchmaker,” she accused.

“Guilty.” He didn’t sound a bit sorry.

“I don’t know what to do,” she confessed.

“Tell him the truth. All of it,” he advised.

“But you said—”

“It’s too late now,” Taylor interrupted. “Talk to Cole and share everything with him. It’ll all work out, and now that you’re on the case officially it might help wrap this up sooner.”

“He shouldn’t know about the attacks here but the way he acted…” She took a deep breath. “He knows more than he should.”

“Drink your coffee,” Taylor said. “I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”

With that mysterious prediction, Taylor stood and left the kitchen. As much as she loved her Alpha like he was truly her father, sometimes the man irritated her.

Now that the brew had cooled, she gulped down her drink before heading to the sink to rinse out her mug. The window above the sink opened to the small parking area where she’d left her car. She spotted a figure leaning against her driver side door.

Well she could guess now what Taylor had meant.

Kendra finished washing out her cup and laid it on the counter. She’d changed after work and now she wished she’d chosen better than an old pair of jeans, a white V-neck shirt and a gray hoodie. Not really the outfit to impress a man with. Oh well, there was nothing she could do about it since Cole was blocking her way out.

She strolled to the door and pulled it open before she changed her mind. It pissed her off that he didn’t move as she stomped up to him. Instead he stood there with his arms crossed over his chest and a small smile on his face.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

He looked up and the heat from his gaze had her breath catching. She took a step closer, then another, until her breasts touched his chest.

“Come with me,” he demanded.

She nodded. All speech was beyond her.

He gripped her wrist before yanking her with him to an old truck behind her vehicle. She stumbled after him until they reached the passenger side and he opened the door. She climbed up and Cole slammed the door. She waited until Cole walked around to the other side and joined her inside.

“Where are we going?”

He glanced over at her but didn’t answer. Cole started his truck and put it in gear.

Kendra had known that Cole was mad about her hiding things, but even though he’d shown up and was all growly and quiet she wasn’t scared. She slumped down in the seat but continued to watch him.

His long, strong fingers gripped the steering wheel as Cole drove fast out of the Alpha’s property. They didn’t go right toward town. Instead Cole turned left, which would take them deeper into the woods.

“Cole?”

He growled.

She sat back once again. They crossed into the safe zone and he drove another few miles before he pulled onto the hidden path that would take them to where the rogue wolves shifted.

All of a sudden, she knew exactly where they were going. To the same place they’d met the night before. Her body ignited and need filled her. As the scent of her arousal filled the cab of the truck, she knew that Cole would pick up on it.

His foot slammed down on the gas pedal and the truck fishtailed before Cole got control of it. Seconds later, he jerked the wheel while braking hard. It was only her quick reflexes that kept her from banging up against the dash. As soon as the truck came to a stop, Cole was out and around to her side.

He yanked open her door and pulled Kendra to her feet.

Kendra didn’t fight him and allowed Cole to crowd her back into the side of the vehicle. His mouth landed on hers and she opened for him. She loved the taste of him. If she wasn’t careful she’d be in danger of becoming addicted to him.

Cole pushed her jacket off before throwing it into the truck bed. Kendra rubbed her hands down his arms until she reached his wrists. He finally lifted his head and their lips parted.

She panted against him.

“Do you want me?” he asked.

“Of course I do,” she managed.

He grinned before he took a step back. Confused, she reached out for him but he shook his head. “Undress and shift,” he ordered.

“What?” She couldn’t keep up with him.