For Your Paws Only (Supernatural Enforcers Agency #2) (18 page)

“So close,” she gasped and pushed her hips back against him.

With a roar, Cutter buried himself inside her so deliciously deeply and exploded. His hands grasped her breasts almost painfully, and the added sensation sent her flying over the edge. She yelled his name as her beast barked in pleasure, her body writhed and pulsed in his arms before she collapsed, panting and moaning.

Cutter rested his head on her back. “Was that okay?”

“Oh, yes, definitely,” she cooed from her slumped over position on the counter. She felt boneless.

“I didn’t hurt you…”

“Heavens no, not even close. I told you, I don’t break so easily. That was… wonderful. Did I hurt you? I Mean, your wounds…”

“Of course not,” he snapped and pulled out of her; she winced at his sudden departure. Even soft, he was still pretty darn big.

“Lucie, I…”

Ugh, there was that apologetic tone again
. She sighed; he was about to give her the ‘that was great, but we’re just good friends blah, blah, blah’ speech. Her hedgehog huffed in disappointment. She really wasn’t in the mood.

“I’m fine, Cutter. I’m fine.”

She leaned down and pulled up her shorts. He really needed to stop worrying. She’d been horny for a good year now, so she was currently letting her girly parts do the thinking for her. While Cutter worried he was taking advantage of her, he couldn’t be more wrong. She’d pursued him for a year and now that he was in dire straits, she was going to take full advantage of his dependence on her to ravish his body over and over. While she couldn’t deny that she would dearly like for their relationship to be long term, there was no way she could regret what they were doing, and he was silly if he actually thought he was the one in charge of their couplings. Not that she would admit it to him -
alpha male and all that
.

Feigning nonchalance, she dipped into the freezer and pulled out a cherry flavored popsicle and started licking it suggestively. “So, what next?”

Cutter watched her with ill-concealed hunger. “I’m going to need a few moments.”

Her eyes took a slow, lingering tour of his body. “You don’t look like you need recovery time,” she teased with a wink.

The way he looked away almost in embarrassment was adorable. Although she suspected his reaction had more to do with misplaced guilt than anything else.

He cleared his throat. “Did Primrose say anything?”

“No, that woman’s more repressed than a… than a… oh I can’t think of anything.” After her earth-shaking orgasm, she was having trouble thinking at all. “But she didn’t say that she actually thought you were guilty.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think she’d help.”

“Avery told me that the II guy, Harvey Blue has taken over the investigation.”

“Fucker!” snarled Cutter as he zipped up his pants.

Sigh, what a pity – she was actually enjoying the view. “He creeps me out.”

“No big surprise, that guy’s an asshole. Speaking of which, who was that fuckwit you let hug you?”

What was he talking about? Lucie gave him a frown in between licks.

“The wildebeest!” he grunted, tapping his foot. “I could scent his unwashed ass all the way over here.”

“Oh, Geoff? He’s happily married with three kids, and he was just helping me because I almost slipped and fell on my behind.”

Cutter looked like he wanted to argue, but visibly, he held himself back. “Well, good. I don’t like seeing other men hug you. But I have to admit, I enjoyed your hug with Avery.”

“Mmmm, me too,” she said as she threw away her popsicle stick and started licking her fingers a little more zealously than she should have.

His eyes widened with lust before he scowled. “You probably shouldn’t do it again,” he said grouchily and with obvious jealousy.

Silly wolf, hadn’t she told him over and over he was the only one for her? Although, she had to admit a little possessiveness wasn’t entirely unwelcome. Her hedgehog growled disapprovingly.

“So what now?” she asked, changing the subject.

“We’ll follow Primrose; maybe she’ll lead us to Sadie.”

Lucie giggled. “Are we going to follow her in an ice cream truck?” She traced her fingers over the two fist-shaped dents in the freezer. “Not sure how to explain this to Malcolm.”

“I’ll think of an excuse for your precious Malcolm.”

“Oh for the love of…”

“And with any luck, Primrose will be looking for black SUVs and she won’t think twice about a friendly neighborhood ice cream truck.”

Cutter slid into the driver’s seat, and Lucie took the passenger seat, huffing and clucking her tongue.

“By the way, Avery wanted me to pass on a message about a case you were working on before… you know…”

He turned to face her sharply. “You didn’t tell her that I was hiding out with you?”

“No, don’t worry - you’re safe. She guessed it, and she wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about, they could throw you in jail for helping me.”

Worry etched his handsome face and her hedgehog virtually swooned. Maybe he was a little crazy, but he did care about her. It made her heart bloom with tender love and her shorts wet with excited need. Did they have time to…
uh oh, no they didn’t
. There was a steaming pile of danger marching their way.

“I’m pleased that you care but maybe we should get going because it kind of looks like there’s a lynch mob heading our way.”

Lucie pointed out the window to the six, overly large, bullish men heading their way. The one in the middle leading the charge was the panther shifter Cutter punched – identifiable by the streams of blood on his face. They all looked similar with their thick bodies, flat noses and small, squinty eyes. Perhaps they were brothers and panther shifters –
that was one hell of a litter
.

Cutter being Cutter, he just bellowed with laughter and cracked his knuckles. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, I can take them.”

“Won’t that draw attention to you?”

He creased his brow at her comment. It wasn’t that she didn’t think he was capable of winning a smack down with six angry panther shifters –
per se
. It was just that she didn’t exactly relish the thought of watching her honey bunny get hurt. He was always blathering on about how he couldn’t stand the thought of her getting hurt, so why would it be any different for her?

Thankfully, whatever deity was watching out for hedgehog shifters, decided to throw her a bone.

“Hey, look!” she cried pointing in the opposite direction. “Isn’t that Primrose’s car leaving? The game must be over.”

“Ah, shit!” exclaimed Cutter throwing the truck into drive and peeling after Primrose. He huffed as he drove past the jeering panthers. “I could have taken them,” he muttered petulantly.

Lucie rubbed his shoulder. “Of course you could,” she cooed, stroking his ego. “They wouldn’t have known what hit them.”

His lips curled upwards, and he rubbed his cheek against her hand as he drove.

Chapter Seventeen

They followed Primrose for about an hour. She seemed to be driving aimlessly and doubled back on her route several times. At first they thought she had spotted them, but they reaped their reward when she ended up at a storage depot.

They watched as she drove inside the depot, using a key code for the gate and waving at the guard who was watching a Golden Girls rerun.

Cutter drove around the outside of the depot until he found a quiet and unobserved spot to park. There only appeared to be one camera at the front gate, so the security guard wouldn’t be an issue, and given the height of the fence, Cutter was,
for the first time that day
, pleased that he was driving such a ridiculous vehicle. It was extremely handy in the circumstances. Lucie, on the other hand, didn’t seem to share his enthusiasm.

He opened his arms. “Just jump, sweetheart, I’ll catch you.”

Lucie was crouching on top of the truck chewing on her lip. “What if you don’t?”

To get over the fence, all he had to do was climb onto the roof of the ice cream truck and jump over. The stupid truck was the right height just to vault on over. Lucie wasn’t thrilled with this plan, but her concern over his wounds was soon shot down and, reluctantly, she went along with it and had allowed Cutter to help her climb onto the roof. Since he had already taken the plunge over the fence, however, her nerves seemed to be getting the better of her.

“I will.”

Her bottom lip quivered in fear. His little hedgehog really wasn’t good with heights. His wolf yowled, wanting to leap back up there, wrap her in his arms and promise her that he would always be there to protect her from pesky heights.
Sappy, right?
If this were anyone other than Lucie, he’d already be barking at them to jump, and his wolf would be sneering scornfully. It might not always show, but he had a lot of patience for her.

Lucie was wringing her hands. “Won’t it hurt?”

“No, you won’t hit the ground.”

“I mean you, won’t it hurt you when I land on top of you and turn you into a pancake?”

Cutter let out a deep belly laugh and actually had to slap his leg. It wasn’t just her comical words; it was the serious mien of her face as she said them.

“I’ll be fine,” he said through a few last twitches of laughter.

“Your funeral, wolf,” she muttered as she inched to the edge of the roof and shakily stood up. “Maybe I should shift and try and crawl through the fence.”

“You’re not getting naked outside,” he told her sternly, “and besides, you’re light as a feather, hedgehog.”

“You’re a good liar, I know I’m chubby.”

“C’mon sweetheart, you have a perfect figure – you’re just fishing for compliments.”

“Oh, snot buckets! Here I come.”

Lucie closed her eyes and with something akin to a belly flop, jumped off the truck. Cutter caught her, naturally, and hardly even buckled under her weight. He wasn’t kidding when he said she was as light as a feather to him or that her figure was perfect. Okay, maybe she packed a few extra pounds than his previous females, but boy were they packed in all the right places.

Reluctantly, he set her on her feet and took her hand. Sniffing the air for the hyena’s scent, he inclined his head and set off running in her direction. Lucie puffed and panted alongside him, but never once complained or told him to slow down. It was perhaps unfortunate that it was such a large storage depot. He did consider offering to carry her, but the sight of her jiggling, as she ran, was already pretty distracting, having her warm body pressed up against him would make him completely forget their purpose for being there.

He slowed as Primrose’s scent intensified; it was coming from a storage lockup with a slightly ajar door. Moving quietly they approached and just as Cutter tried to glance inside, Primrose appeared with a gun trained on them.

Instinctively, Cutter stood in front of Lucie, shielding her and whipped out his own gun. Or at least the gun he had liberated when he tussled with the coyote the previous night. Primrose stared at him coldly as his wolf trembled, waiting to pounce.

“Where did you get that gun?” asked a sweet voice from behind him as she tried to poke her around him to look.

He pushed her back with his free hand. “Not important. You better start talking, Primrose,” he ordered harshly.

“Me?” she spat. “You’re the one wanted for murder.”

“So call it in, tell them you caught me. Do it; I won’t shoot while you make the call.”

Primrose narrowed her eyes but didn’t make a move. Perhaps she was afraid he would shoot, but, he suspected that she didn’t want the SEA to turn up. They stood watching each other, resolutely still. He could hear Lucie shuffling from foot to foot behind him. Their standoff was interrupted by a moan floating to them from the storage lockup.

“Who was that?” he demanded roughly.

Primrose’s eye twitched, and her arm shook ever so slightly.

“Prim?” came a tremulous and weak voice.

Lucie sucked in a breath before she evaded his grasp and walked past both him and Primrose and straight into the lockup. Slowly Primrose lowered her gun, and he did the same.

“Cutter,” called Lucie.

He followed Lucie and found her standing over Sadie Beauchamp. The bobcat shifter was lying on a cot. She was pale and shaking.

“Fuck,” he breathed.

Lucie pulled back the dressing to a wound on her stomach and sucked in a breath at the bloody sight before her.

“I thought she was getting better,” mumbled Primrose as she stood next to him. Her usually hard eyes were frightened and brimmed with tears. “I took out the bullet and she seemed to be okay. She was fine last night, but now she…”

“She has a fever,” said Lucie, gently, “and her body can’t cope with both the fever and healing the gunshot wound. She needs antibiotics. We have some at the SEA building.”

“You can help her?” asked Primrose, wonderingly.

“Yes, but you have to promise not to turn Cutter in.”

Cutter looked at her in surprise, but the biggest surprise of all was when Primrose agreed to that without even hesitating.

Primrose fished a pen and paper out of her purse. “Write down what I need and I’ll go get them.”

Cutter grabbed one of the boxes piled in the corner and sat down heavily, watching Primrose warily. It occurred to him that Primrose could easily break her word and come back with a dozen agents to take him by force, but he doubted it. She seemed to be genuinely concerned about Sadie; he couldn’t sense any deception on her part.

Primrose gave Sadie a kiss on her temple. “It’s okay, babe, everything’s going to be okay.” She strode to the door and looked back at Cutter and Lucie. “I better be able to trust you.”

“Same here,” grunted Cutter as she nodded and left.

Sadie seemed to have drifted off into a fretful sleep. Cutter grabbed Lucie and pulled her back to sit on his lap, ostensibly to comfort her, but really it was for his sake. There was a slim chance that a dozen agents would come bursting through the door any moment, and this could be his last chance to be near Lucie.
He wanted to savor every moment
.

*

Primrose returned with the medicine, and thankfully no tactical team came storming into the lockup like a bunch of Tarzans on speed. True to her word, Primrose didn’t tell anyone. She encountered no problems obtaining what she needed. No one even considered questioning her.
They wouldn’t dare.

Lucie gave some pills to Sadie and within a couple of hours she was stable again. Lucie redressed the wound, and they were all relieved to note she had stopped bleeding and was starting to heal. Primrose held Sadie’s hand and intermittently stroked her cheek throughout.

“You better start giving us some answers,” rumbled Cutter.

“How did you find me here?”

“We followed you.”

Primrose groaned. “Please don’t tell me you were in that stupid ice cream truck.”

Lucie nodded sheepishly.

The hyena shifter let out a noise of disgust. “You know I saw it, and I thought it was weird, but I just assumed… I can’t believe how dumb I was.”

“Lucky we did,” growled Cutter, as his eyes dipped to Sadie’s sleeping form.

Primrose watched the gentle rise and fall of the bobcat’s body as she breathed. She turned her accusing eyes on Lucie. “Would you have refused to help her if I said I was going to turn Cutter in?”

“No,” admitted Lucie. “I could never do that.”

Cutter squeezed her shoulder, feeling inordinately proud of his selfless, little hedgehog.

“I believe you,” sighed Primrose.

“Now, what the fuck is going on? What happened to Sadie?” demanded Cutter. His beast was practically burning with eagerness.

“She was shot,” deadpanned Primrose.

“Why, though?” encouraged Lucie.

Primrose looked down at her girlfriend unhappily. “Sadie and I, we met when I was just starting at the agency. She worked at a coffee shop. We dated for a while and things, well, we were happy, and I thought she was my mate but… my parents are ultra-conservative; they couldn’t accept me being gay. I was ambitious, really ambitious when I was younger and kind of a bitch…”

Cutter snorted, and Lucie kicked him.

“I started to believe that being with Sadie would hold me back, so I broke it off. I made it easier, I acted like a screaming asshole so that she wouldn’t miss me. I moved away, accepting a job at another branch.”

Primrose paused as Sadie’s breathing hitched, but continued as she calmed. “It wasn’t until a few years later that I heard from her again. I moved back to Ursa with a promotion, and she called me out of the blue. She’d been hurt – badly - by a man but she didn’t dare go to the cops, she wanted my help…” Primrose couldn’t hide the bitterness from her tone.

Lucie placed a hand on the hyena shifter’s shoulder. She flinched a little at the contact but didn’t ask her to move away.

“What happened to her?” murmured Lucie.

“It was all Marie’s fault!” she snarled. “That fucking moron Marie and her shithead boyfriend owed money to Nicolas Maroni –
lots
of fucking money. The bastards stole a shipment of his drugs thinking they could sell them. Maroni found them high off their asses before they even had a chance to get out of the city. He was going to kill them, and since they didn’t have any money, and neither of them was in a fit state to earn it, Sadie stepped in and offered to work off the debt. I don’t think she realized how bad it would be at the time.”

She ran a finger down Sadie’s cheek, as angry tears threatened. “He had her work in one of his clubs,
servicing
his friends, letting them abuse her however their perverted minds wanted. The way they treated her…”

Primrose choked, caught between indignation and sadness. She allowed Lucie to give her a hug, and even nuzzled her neck.

“I knew I had to get her out of there, but I was so afraid of them hurting her even worse. Sadie told me that Maroni had someone on the inside of the SEA – you’d be amazed at the things she overheard. She didn’t know exactly who, but she was the one who persuaded your informant to speak to you. Sadie fed me as many tips as she could, and I did as much investigating as I could, tipping off the SEA anonymously…”

“All those tips - they were you?” interrupted Cutter, incredulously.

She nodded. “I did what I could, and I really thought that when you had all your evidence that it would all be at an end, and we’d be free. But then, all those agents died, they tortured you…” she trailed off gloomily. “At least Sadie was free. But I worried that the mole would come after her; you and Clayton didn’t know how much she actually knew about Maroni, but I wasn’t sure about anyone else. I got a transfer out of Ursa as soon as possible. I’ve been moving from branch to branch ever since, taking Sadie with me, but making sure I hide her. I always made sure people hated me enough never to ask about my private life. I was paranoid, and I didn’t risk us living together, but at least I was happy.” Primrose smiled slightly.

Cutter’s wolf prowled. Story time was all well and good, but didn't she forget a few things? “What about Clayton?”

Primrose grimaced. “The old eagle just suddenly showed up. He somehow found out where Sadie was and then he turned up at the diner where she was waitressing. He kept asking her all these questions about Maroni, about the men he made her…” She paused as an angry tremor coursed through her body. “Sadie just wanted to forget it ever happened, so she told him to get lost, but he was persistent, and after we argued about it, she agreed to meet him and talk. I was planning on going with her, but…”

“Clayton was killed,” supplied Cutter, grimly.

“Yes.”

“And then someone came after Sadie?”

“Yes. Her bitch little sister was in town, crashing on her sofa. Her asshole boyfriend got himself arrested, so the stupid girl went to a bar and brought home some random guy who offered her drugs. When he got to the apartment, he killed Marie and tried to kill Sadie. He shot her, but she managed to shift, jump out the window and run down the fire escape. She came to me, and I brought her here.”