Forever With The Wolf: An Erotic Shapeshifter Romance (Werewolf's Harem Series Book 5) (2 page)

Once inside the spacious living room, they parted ways.

“Garrett,” Tomas said, stopping him before he headed up to his bedroom.

“Yeah?” Garrett asked, feeling weary. He wasn’t even sad, really. Just worn out and in need of a break before their next operation.

“It’ll get better, you know? Today isn’t forever,” Tomas said.

“I’m fine. I just need to sleep,” Garrett mumbled, turning and taking the stairs two at a time. He stripped down to his boxer briefs and turned out the light before he laid on his bed, enjoying the welcome embrace. He brought his own sheets and comforter to every safe house, a single simple comfort that he allowed himself.

His wolf stirred, unhappy about being alone in the big bed. Garrett grabbed the bottle of tequila and took a long pull before recapping it and laying it aside. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, wincing when he realized that he found Kiley’s scent in the air. For some reason, she insisted on being on the same floor as he was in every safe house. She’d been allotted her own room here, but that just made their shared hallway all the more painful. Sometimes Garrett thought that maybe he was crazy, and she didn’t know how he felt. Or worse, she considered him as something more like a brother, and just liked being close to a good friend…

“Bullshit,” he sighed. Over the last year, especially the past month, every time he looked up he found Kiley’s eyes on his face, searching. But for what? She always gave him these desperate, pained, longing looks, but then she fled before he could open his mouth. Even if she’d ever stayed, he didn’t know what he was supposed to say.

Choose me
, or perhaps,
What can I give you?

Garrett groaned and threw an arm over his face, trying to let the ceiling fan cool off his overheated body. He kept thinking of Kiley, of her lips, of the way her ass looked in those sexy tight dresses she wore, of the way he imagined her tits would bounce when she rode him cowboy style…

His hand was on his cock before he even knew it. When she’d first joined the team Garrett had resisted fantasizing about her, thinking himself creepy. In the last few months, though, he’d been unable to help himself. If Kiley had any idea how many times he’d come in his own hand, gasping her name, she’d probably faint.

Pushing down and kicking off his boxer briefs, Garrett fisted his cock in his hand, running his thumb along the sensitive underside while he imagined Kiley stripping for him. Peeling away that lilac dress, showing him her filmy white garter belt, thin stockings against her long legs, her sheer panties, and a lacy bra. He imagined her taking off her panties first, leaving her bare when she knelt on the bed next to him, knees braced apart so he could see her pretty pink pussy.

She pulled down the straps of her bra next, pushing the cups down to reveal her firm, full breasts, her small nipples the softest pink that made his mouth water. She teased her breasts, squeezing and pinching, throwing her head back and letting her lips part on a gasp. One hand cupped a breast as the other dipped down past her flat stomach, two fingers sliding down to brush over her wet, petal-pink slit.

The mere thought of her taut, throbbing clit, of her plunging two fingers into her own tight core pushed Garrett right to the edge. He pumped his hand up and down the thick length of his cock, gasping as his balls tightened with the need to come. He let himself think of Kiley straddling him, of her hot little hand guiding his big cock to her entrance, of the way it would feel when he pressed inside her, inch by inch…

Crying out, Garrett came so hard that he couldn’t breathe. His body convulsed as he shot long, hot streams of cum straight up, heedless that they came back to cover him moments later. He released himself with a shudder, grabbing a t-shirt to wipe himself down before he crawled under his comforter and passed out.

Even in his dreams, Kiley was there. He could hear her voice, faintly, though he couldn’t see anything…

Garrett shot straight up in bed, panting for air. Every muscle in his body was tense, every hair raised, his heart pounding, his ears straining to hear—

“Garrett?” came Kiley’s whisper, and the barest knock at his door.

“Just a second,” Garrett said, jumping out of bed and pulling on his boxers. He looked around, spotting the t-shirt he’d used for cleanup earlier. He couldn’t let her in here, or she’d know what he’d been up to. Somehow he felt she’d know he’d gotten off while thinking of her.

He grabbed another shirt and opened the door, shooing her back as he stepped out into the hall.

“Can we talk?” Kiley whispered, looking up at him. She looked so anxious, her tongue darting out to wet her lips. Garrett cleared his throat and nodded toward the front door.

“Let’s go outside,” he said, leading the way onto the cement patio behind the house.

He could sense Kiley’s confusion at his refusal to let her into his room, but he just kept moving. More than he didn’t want her to know about his jerk off routine, he didn’t want her in his space. Garrett was certain that having her there, rubbing her scent on his sheets, would only lead in one direction. And if the ring on Kiley’s finger meant anything, that road was a distinctly forbidden one.

Garrett came to halt at a set of white plastic chairs, the patio’s only adornment. He watched as Kiley flipped her the long dark tumble of her curls over one shoulder, taking a seat in one of the chairs. She avoided looking at him, staring down at her lap and fidgeting with her engagement ring instead. The diamond was huge, so big that it looked leaden on her delicate fingers. It spoke of possession rather than the joining of two souls, Garrett thought.

And there was his problem, the thinking.

“So?” Garrett asked, cutting off his own self-destructive line of thought. “Why are we out here?”

Kiley sighed and shifted in her seat, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around herself.

“I thought… I mean, I owe you an explanation, don’t I?” she said at last, scanning the darkened back yard.

“I’m pretty sure that your little announcement last night means that you and I don’t owe each other a thing,” Garrett replied, fighting to keep his temper in check.

“Garrett,” Kiley said, reaching out and taking his hand. Her small fingers wrapped around his big ones and he swallowed hard, unable to pull away. His wolf preened, delighted at the touch of its chosen mate. Garrett growled low in his chest, though he wasn’t sure if the sound was a warning or a note of grief.

After a long moment he took his hand back, folding his arms across his chest.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” he rumbled, staring out into the darkness without really seeing a thing. “I never expected anything from you, never asked for anything. And you shouldn’t be looking for it, either. You have a mate now.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Garrett saw her flinch at the word
mate
. She bit her lip, looking uncertain of her response, and he growled again.

“Damn it, Kiley!” Garrett spat, banging his fist on the flimsy plastic armrest. “You’ve made it more than clear to everyone but Brad that you don’t want this. Why in the hell are you doing it? You’ve got other options, good ones.”

He licked his lips, tasting bile. Garrett was the best option, a male who could go above and beyond providing and protecting her, and she knew it well enough.

“You don’t understand,” she sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t have a choice at all.”

“Bullshit,” he snapped. “I can’t believe that you would pick that walking fucking Ken doll over—”

Garrett stopped calming himself. Kiley’s eyes were big, and he thought she was close to tears now.

“Just tell me what he has that I don’t. I have just as much money and charm as he does. If it’s social connections you need, I know he’s from an old Wolf family, but we can make those connections together.”

Kiley shook her head, cutting him off.

“No, nothing like that.”

“So you truly love him, then? Is that it?”

“No! No, of course not. He’s very nice on the outside, but on the inside… he’s empty. I think the only reason he courts me is because I know how to distract people, to keep them from seeing how fake he is. I’m just a social asset to him, nothing more.”

“So I repeat myself. Why the hell are we out here?” Garrett asked, giving her a sharp glance.

“Brad is a
lupus
sanguineus
,” Kiley said.

Garrett went silent and still, trying to take in her words.

“He—” Garrett started, then shook his head, unable to process it.

“He can make new wolves, yes. Human to werewolf. The ability runs in his family.”

“And what’s that got to do with you, exactly?”

“My half-sister is human, and she has late-stage breast cancer. Without intervention, she’ll die in a few months.”

Garrett’s jaw dropped. She’d managed to shock the hell of him twice in as many minutes.

“I— Wh— Brad has agreed to change your sister if you’ll be his mate?” Garrett asked, baffled.

“That’s the gist of it, yes. My sister Amerie is the only family I’ve got left, and I won’t let her die.”

“Brad isn’t the only
lupus
sanguineus
in the world, Kiley.”

She looked over at him with a smirk, her bright blue eyes snapping with a sick sort of humor.

“Do you really think that Brad is the first Blood Wolf I found? I tracked down half a dozen of them, breaking all kinds of laws and traveling the world. Brad is the only one that agreed to do it. He’s my last recourse.”

“We can keep looking,” Garrett said, shaking his head in refusal.

“No. The clock has run down. Amerie has very little time left, and Brad insists on doing a full ritual before he’ll change her.”

Garrett’s jaw tensed and he looked down at his lap for a moment, trying once more to suppress his anger.

“There’s no guarantee that the change will even work. It’s very dangerous, even for a human in good health,” he said at last.

“I know,” Kiley said, looking away from him again.

“You’re throwing away a very long lifetime on the chance that he
might
be able to help her. It’s a huge gamble, and the odds are stacked against you.”

“I know,” she said again, giving a helpless shrug.

“You won’t even try anything else?”

Kiley looked up at him, her bright blue eyes brimming with tears.

“I can’t. I can’t take that risk, Garrett. Brad is the only one that can help my sister, and I’ve got nothing else to bargain with.”

She sucked in a deep breath, the fingers of her right hand fidgeting with the enormous engagement ring on her left. It killed him that she was hurting so badly, but he could tell that she was determined to see her plan through. There was no use arguing with Kiley when her mind was made up.

“So you’ve made your choice, then,” he sighed, standing up. That bottle of tequila was still in his room, and it was calling his name.

“Garrett…” she said, her head dropping back as she stared up at him.

“Goodbye, Kiley,” Garrett said, turning and heading for the house. She made no move to follow, which he appreciated.

When he stepped into the living room, he found Elijah waiting, a frown on his face.

“What, you too?” Garrett joked, shaking his head. “There’s no pleasing anybody tonight, is there?”

“I know we were going to take some time off…”

Elijah stalled, looking uncertain.

“Spit it out,” Garrett prodded.

“There’s a job waiting on us, a huge payout. Arms retrieval,” Elijah explained. “It’ll be dangerous, but…”

“Let’s do it. When can we leave?”

“I moved up the interviews for Kiley and Brad’s replacements. If we leave now, we can be back in Atlanta for interviews at noon tomorrow, and be in Libya in…” He looked at his watch, calculating. “Thirty six hours.”

“Fine,” Garrett said. “I just need to pack.”

“We can stay for the night if you need,” Elijah said, gesturing to the back patio. The man was too perceptive for his own good, and had no doubt noticed Garrett and Kiley’s little powwow.

“Nope,” Garrett said, turning and heading for his room.

“You sure you don’t want to sleep on it?” Elijah said, a hint of wry humor in his tone.

Garrett didn’t answer. Instead, he returned to his room and systematically packed the two duffel bags he’d brought to Costa Rica. He emptied the room in less than ten minutes, stuffing down the roiling anger in his gut. When he came back out into the common room, Elijah waited by the door. Kiley and Brad were sitting on the couch, their expressions tense.

When Garrett glanced over at them, Brad reached out and slid his arm around Kiley’s waist, pulling her close. Garrett snorted and rolled his eyes when Kiley winced and swallowed but didn’t resist.

“The rest of the team?” Garrett asked Elijah.

“Meeting us in a few days. We’ll do the interviews and find the safe house first, and then they’ll join us,” Elijah said, his gaze darting between Garrett and the dubiously happy couple.