Kingpin Bear (A Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (The Agency Book 4) (11 page)

Nadia wasn’t normally overly loud, but something about the way Jared fucked her had her crying out, moaning and telling him all kinds of things that she wouldn’t normally say. It was so intensely passionate and downright dirty that another thing happened to her.

Without warning, she suddenly came all over his cock. The orgasm exploded out from between her legs and rocked her back onto the bed as she held onto Jared for dear life, pulling him tightly to her as she shook violently. His arms pulled her close as best he could, and his hips never slowed, thrusting in and out of her with a continuous rhythm that amplified her climax and elongated it past anything she was used to.

“I can’t take any more,” she managed to gasp. “Please. I want you to—”

She didn’t get to finish as Jared jerked and his cock swelled inside her. He let out a low groan as every muscle in his body tightened at once. Then in a rush he came, his cum shooting deep inside of her. It was like molten liquid that threatened to burn her up, but instead stayed warm all throughout her afterglow as they lay there in bed.

Jared eventually rolled onto his side, giving her some space, and she noticed that the heat from his skin was greatly diminished.

So it increases as he’s turned on? Good to know, since not long ago he was hotter than an active volcano!

“What’s that smug little grin about?” he asked lazily from next to her, his eyes going in and out of focus as he relaxed and enjoyed his own glow.

“You’ll never know,” she teased, leaning forward to kiss his forehead. “A girl thing.”

He arched an eyebrow, but didn’t push it when she declined to elaborate. Sometimes a girl needs to feel good about herself without explaining why. For Nadia, this was one of those times.

“Okay, well if you don’t feel the need to speak freely, let’s see if I can’t convince you.”

She wasn’t sure what he meant, until Jared rolled back on top of her and began to line his hips up with hers.

“Already?” she asked, mildly impressed. It had been no more than five minutes.

“When I have a prisoner to interrogate, I’m always ready,” he said mischievously.

Nadia grinned, but no matter how hard he tried—and Jared tried
very
hard indeed—she never gave in.

In the end, Jared was forced to concede the matter, but not before he gave her a thorough working-over.

One that she enjoyed immensely.

Jared

“I’m starting to get dehydrated!” Nadia said with a giggle, reaching past him to kill the shower.

“Yeah, water might not be a bad idea,” he said, his own throat feeling a little parched. “But it was worth it.”

“Pervert,” she said in response to him bouncing his eyebrows suggestively at her.

“Yeah, but you liked it,” he said, giving her rear a firm grab as he pushed the door open, practically tumbling the pair of them out of the small stall as cold air rushed in.

“I did n— Towel!” she shrieked, her voice rising as the cool air caressed their skin.

He tried to restrain his laughter as he pushed a towel into her frantically grasping fingers. Nadia gave him a glare, the look just washing over him as she backed into the stall and closed the door, trying to save some of the heat from their morning shower.

Jared barely noticed the cold. His hotter-than-normal circulation system warded off anything resembling a chill. He dried off in the cramped confines of the rest of the bathroom. He was done well before Nadia, so he slipped out into the main room and called down to the front desk. They needed food. There was no restaurant in the small two-level motel, but there were several places nearby. All he needed was the number of one that delivered.

With that info in mind, he called them up and—without knowing her preferences—ordered a bunch of everything, hoping he’d guess right on one front. The woman on the other end seemed skeptical, but he managed to convince her that he would, in fact, be able to pay for it all.

“I’m famished,” Nadia said as she exited the bathroom, dropping her towel in a scandalous display of flesh that instantly caught his attention.

He sat up straighter on the bed, eyes running up her long legs, across her thick hips and past her breasts, until he stopped at her eyes, making no effort to disguise the fact that he had just been grabbing an eyeful and enjoying it immensely.

“Food?” she asked innocently, putting on her clothes as if she hadn’t noticed.

He growled. “Already ordered.”

She paused. “This place has room service?”

“No,” he said, leaning back into the bed. “Nearby delivery place.”

“Well aren’t you just a gentleman this morning?”

“Just comes naturally,” he said, then threw up an arm as she grabbed a pillow from where it lay strewn on the floor and hurled it at him.

He snatched it mid-air on the rebound and put it behind his head, pretending that he was much more comfortable now thanks to her efforts.

“You’re despicable,” she teased. “We’re fugitives, and all you can do is make lewd jokes.”

Jared shrugged. “Just my nature.”

She smiled and finished getting dressed.

“Hey, why are you on the run?” he asked, deciding now was the time to pursue it.

Nadia looked shaken. “What do you mean?”

“I’m just curious,” he said. “You can tell me the real reason.”

Her look got worse as he revealed that he had known all along she was hiding something. Her lips pursed together, but she didn’t respond.

Jared sat up, frowning. “Hey, after all we’ve been through together already, what we’ve shared, you can trust me, you know that right? It’s not like things can get any worse.”

To his complete surprise, Nadia’s eyes filled with water and she began to shed tears at an alarming pace. They tracked down her cheeks and dripped to the floor as she stared at him in pained agony.

“Nadia?” he asked, swinging his legs off the bed and going to her side.

She backed away, preventing him from closing, sticking her hand out to ward him off as she continued to cry. They weren’t great, heaving sobs—she maintained her composure to that point—but she was definitely crying heavily.

“I can’t,” she said with a shake of her head, her voice wavering. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.” She kept repeating that over and over again.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, sitting back on the bed to try and make her feel comfortable. The way she had just shied away from him had rocked Jared to his core. The look of near terror in her eyes, as if she was afraid he was going to hurt her, had cut him badly. That was not him, and to his knowledge, he’d never shown an ounce of anger or otherwise toward her.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “What aren’t you telling me?”

She looked at him again, then shook her head and bolted for the door.

Jared was faster. He didn’t go for her, but instead he simply moved to the door and put his back against it.

“No,” he said. “I understand you’re upset, that something is bothering you. But it’s not worth you running off and getting in trouble over.

She paused and reached out for her hoodie that was still hanging up, pulling it on while she looked at him, her cheeks still wet. Nadia shook her head again.

“You need to tell me,” he implored her, looking deep into her watery green eyes, trying to convince her that no matter what she was hiding, it would be better once it was in the open. “You can’t hurt me.”

Nadia crumpled like she’d been hit at that statement, the tears coming even faster. She fought a losing battle in trying to blink them back and wiping them away. He longed to reach in, to help her, to pull her to him so she could dry her eyes on his shoulder. His bear was frantic, telling him to do just that, to help her.

But he could only remember the way she had drawn back from him earlier. She was afraid of what she was going to say.

“Please,” he said, switching tactics. “Whatever it is, it will be okay.”

“No it won’t,” she said in a ghost of a whisper.

“Yes it will,” he reiterated.

“It can’t be,” she told him. “Because it was me. I can’t unmake it.”

He frowned. “What was you?”

“This,” she said with a gesture. “It’s all because of me.”

Jared opened his mouth to say he still didn’t know. Then he thought about what she was saying. “You’re saying it’s your fault that we’re in a motel?”

She nodded nervously. “I caused it all. I told them where your base was,” she said, and he felt rage explode inside of him. “But I didn’t mean to. Please, I’m sorry! I didn’t know the truth. I was just doing my job.”

“Explain,” he ground out, trying to restrain himself.

How
dare
she? His team—his family—had been put in mortal danger because of her? Because she thought it would be a good idea to blab to people about them? His bear was torn in half, unsure of what to do. His human side was even worse. It crumpled under the revelation, allowing his anger to boil over.

“I used to work for the city as a data analyst on various local projects and civic cases. They asked for volunteers to work a new and different case. Said success would result in possibility of promotion and transfer to a new division. I hated where I was at, so I volunteered,” she said through a haze of tears.

Jared stared stone-faced, listening as she told him.

“I used the city’s surveillance network and a bunch of other information to backtrack you, to find the warehouse.”

His jaw dropped. “Why would you do that?”

She looked distraught now. “They told us you were terrorists! That you were formulating a plot to hurt a lot of people in King City. What did you want me to do?!”

“Think,” he ground out. “Do some research. Analyze data.”

“I did,” she protested. “Why do you think after I was ‘promoted’ and transferred that I fled to you? I realized the mistake I had made, and warned you.”

He reared back in surprise. “You warned us? How the hell did you do that?”

“The news,” she said in a small voice. “I leaked it to the news. I called them up and told them.”

“And you put my family at risk of death,” he finished.

“I’m sorry!”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it!” he replied, trying to keep his voice calm as he walked into the center of the room, running his hands through his hair.

He was furious. Beyond furious really, angry in a way that he wasn’t sure he’d ever been before. What Nadia had done was nearly unforgiveable. He had to try and think of it from her side though. To see how she had seen things. To—

The door slammed closed.

He spun on the spot, turning to look. Nadia was gone. She had fled into the hallway. He should go after her. To catch up with her. To talk to her. To tell her that it was okay that he was mad. He was allowed to be, in such a situation. He hadn’t taken it out on her, and Jared had no intentions of doing that, besides being hurt by the betrayal. But in time, with the knowledge that she hadn’t known better, and that she had—in her own way—given them enough warning to evacuate, he could forgive her.

Couldn’t he?

***

Jared sat on the edge of the bed for several long moments, contemplating what to do.

“You already know what to do,” he said aloud. “So just do it.”

He was up and out the door before the sound of his voice finished echoing through the room.

The motel had a long walkway on the second floor that reached from one end to the other, connecting all the rooms. A thin wire railing rose up to ensure no one fell off, but otherwise it was clear to the ground. He took a split-second glance to ensure there was no car or other object below him and hurled himself off the second floor, landing in a roll at the bottom. He came to his feet and looked around, but he couldn’t see her.

Instinctively his bear surged to the surface, staying just contained enough that its enhanced senses reached him. He tilted his head back, nose flaring frantically as he tested the air.

There!
He caught her scent, and he was off, following it across the parking lot and down the road. Nadia must have been running the entire way, because she had had no more than a thirty-second head start, and she was gone from view. He could track her for a long time though. His legs stretched out, beginning to eat up the distance with big loping strides that carried him down the road, across traffic, and between two buildings with a casual ease that would have stunned an observer.

He emerged into a parking lot, beyond which was another major intersection.

“Nadia!” he shouted, seeing her on the far side of the parking lot, just approaching the road.

She hesitated, turning back to see him gaining quickly. She kept running, putting her head down and speeding across the parking lot.

He growled and moved faster, feeling urgency enter into his motions. Why was he in such a hurry? What was about to go wrong?

Nadia reached the street and came to a halt, looking both ways to cross. A black SUV came screeching to a halt in front of her and the side door opened. A big man emerged, clamping his hand over her mouth. Nadia struggled, but her hoodie fell loose, tangling her arms up. Jared watched as it fell to the ground and the man hauled her back into the parking lot.

Jared roared in anger and called upon his bear, dropping to all fours as the powerful animal ripped from his skin and surged across the parking lot in a burst of speed he couldn’t have hoped to match, trying to close the gap.

He was too late though. The engine roared, rubber burned, and then it shot forward again, even as Jared leapt forward, paws outstretched. He dug his big claws into the side of the vehicle, but the flimsy metal trim simply peeled back as he hit the pavement and rolled, the metal ripped right from the frame of the SUV without slowing it down.

He hurled his anger and defiance at the Agency, wondering how the hell they had been so lucky as to spot them and chase her down. That was one hell of a coincidence. Taking a moment to concentrate, he felt his skin shift as his human side reemerged. A crowd of onlookers had gathered, but he paid them no mind.

Unsure of what to do now, feeling lost, he reached down and snagged her hoodie by the collar.

Jared frowned as his fingers encountered something hard. He lifted the hood up and examined what he had found.

It was a little metal circle with what looked like electronic components. A tracking device, it had to be. They had been following her from the start! That’s how they found the first safe house, and were able to follow them all the way out to the edge of the city.

He growled again and crushed the bug between two fingers, dropping it to the ground where he used his boot to smash it into smaller fragments. His anger subsided into an icy rage. He looked up, eyes following down the street where the SUV had disappeared.

The Agency had his girl.

The Agency had hurt his friends.

His lips pulled back in a wordless snarl that forced the crowd of pedestrians back.

It was time the Agency paid the toll.