Primal Possession (3 page)

She stuck her chin out mutinously, but he didn’t miss the raw fear that had bled into her eyes. “I’m
not
going down to the station.”

He sighed and looked at Ryan over her head. “Go to her store,” he murmured. Then he refocused his attention on December. “We’re still calling him, Red.”

“Don’t call me that,” she snapped.

The burst of annoyance that rolled off her was exactly what he wanted. She didn’t seem to be in actual shock, but after what she’d been through, she’d be coming down from an adrenaline high. She needed to find a balance. And he needed her to answer some questions. “Where did you meet this guy?”

“Uh, my store. He’s just a tourist on a short ski vacation—or he told me he was. I’m sure that was a lie. I thought it would be a harmless date and a way to…” Her blue eyes widened as she trailed off.

“A way to what?”

“A way to convince you to leave me alone.” Her cheeks flushed, staining her ivory cheeks a deeper shade of red.

Her words stung. He didn’t want them to, but they did anyway. All he wanted to do was protect her. Yeah, they came from different worlds, but it shouldn’t matter. His inner wolf growled at him and in that moment he hated his primal side. The side that told him to just take what he wanted. His human side cared a hell of a lot more about December to ever hurt her and he didn’t like the turn his thoughts were taking. Veering the conversation in a different direction, he said, “Your purse had been dumped out and I didn’t see a wallet. He probably has your address anyway, but you’re going to need to cancel your credit cards.”

“I don’t carry a wallet. I keep my driver’s license, cash
and a credit card on me. Parker drilled that into me years ago. In case I ever got mugged or something. He’s really particular about stuff like that.” She patted her coat pocket, then stilled, presumably as the rest of his words sank in. “What do you mean he probably has my address? He picked me up from my store.”

“You were attacked in your house a few weeks ago.” Even thinking about that got his heart racing. If her brother hadn’t been there and scared off the guy, anything could have happened.

“Yeah, so?”

“Your date and that guy are probably part of the same organization.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Are you going to start in with that APL stuff again?”

“After tonight I wouldn’t think you’d need as much convincing. This is a small town and it’s not hard to find out where someone lives anyway.” With enough money anything was possible.

She started to say something, then snapped her mouth shut. A frown marred her pretty face as her eyebrows knit together in concentration.

“What is it?”

“He said something about you being an animal. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but I never said anything about you being a shifter. Still, he
knew
you were. Right after he said that, he pulled out the syringe. Then everything sort of went crazy.” Shuddering, she wrapped her arms around herself and he couldn’t help it. He slid an arm around her shoulder and pulled her tight against him. She needed comforting. Whether she admitted it or not. To his utter surprise, she didn’t fight him. For a brief moment she stiffened, then melted against him.

Like warm silk, she sank into his side and buried her
head against his neck. Her jasmine scent twined around him, making him dizzy for a moment. The feel of her warm breath on his skin made the ache between his legs impossibly painful. Reaching out his other arm, he pulled her completely against him. The position was awkward for him, but he didn’t give a shit.

Liam battled his disappointment as Ryan steered into the parking spot next to December’s car. He didn’t want to let her go. Wanted to keep holding on to her like this as long as she’d let him. But he needed to get her home.

When she realized they’d stopped, she pulled back and looked at him questioningly.

Sighing, he fished out the car keys from her purse and handed them to his packmate. “Follow me back to her place.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.

Liam ignored her as he rounded the vehicle and slid into the driver’s seat. He didn’t want to move her and he didn’t want her driving. She might not be in shock, but she was shaken up pretty bad.

“Liam, what are you doing?”

“What does it look like? We’re going back to your place and I’m calling your brother.” He’d have already made the call if he hadn’t thought it would upset her.

He found it interesting that instead of moving into the free passenger seat, she stayed where she was, in the middle seat. If anything, she actually moved a little closer toward him.

She might try to deny the chemistry they had, but she instinctively knew he’d protect her. December might not even realize it, but her most primal side trusted him. Her desire to be near him proved it. That knowledge soothed his inner wolf. And he would protect her. No matter the cost.

“You think it’s safe there?” Her voice was a whisper.

He gripped the wheel tighter. “Hell no, I don’t think it’s safe, but unless you want to come back to the ranch with me—”

“No!”

“All right, then. We’re going back to your place and I’m staying over until we can figure out what the next move is.” He knew what
his
next move was. Convince her to move to the ranch with him. Temporarily at least. Then he’d convince her to stay long enough for him to prove to her once and for all that they belonged together. That was the plan anyway.

“What?” Shock laced her voice.

He stole a quick glance at her. She’d gotten most of her color back. “You think I’m leaving you alone tonight?” Not that he actually cared what she said. He was staying with her.

“Maybe we
should
call my brother,” she hedged.

He knew what direction she was headed and he didn’t like it. “We’re going to call him, but I’m still staying over. Someone broke into your house a few weeks ago, then someone tried to kidnap you outside your store a week ago, and now some psycho tried to stab you with God knows what.”

“The guy at the store just wanted to rob me. There’s not a conspiracy behind every door, Liam. I run a business and it’s one of the risks.” Her voice was defensive.

Liam snorted at her words. That guy hadn’t wanted to rob her. He’d wanted to kidnap her. Liam knew because he’d gotten the piece-of-shit APL member to tell him exactly what he’d been up to. All it had taken to get that information was a broken thumb. Then he’d threatened to do worse if the guy told the cops the real reason he’d been at December’s store. Liam and his pack didn’t want the
cops involved with the APL. Their involvement could scare the extremists into going underground. Liam and his brother, Connor, didn’t want that. They wanted to stop the APL before their influence grew and before they hurt anyone else. And they planned to do it their way. Humans and government agencies had too many rules and regulations. Something his pack didn’t have to deal with.

As they pulled into her drive, another thought occurred to him. “Do you have your cell?”

“Yeah. I usually keep that on me too.”

“Can I see it?”

Frowning, she nodded, but at least she handed it to him.

When their fingers brushed, he cursed himself for the shock that went through him. They barely touched and his entire body reacted. “Will you stay here while I search your house?”

For a moment he thought she might argue, but she finally nodded. “Fine, whatever. You’re going to do it anyway.”

Damn right he was. “Stay here with her,” he said to Ryan as he took her key ring.

The second he stepped inside, he was accosted by her soft jasmine scent. It always subtly lingered on her and in her house it was more potent. Probably not to humans, but with his heightened senses it almost enveloped him with its purity.

As he moved from room to room, it was easy to see December’s feminine touches. Most of the rooms had pale earth tones. Soothing and soft, like her. Once he’d checked each room, every window, and all entrances, he allowed himself a small amount of relief. There were no signs of a break-in and he couldn’t smell the remnant scent of an intruder.

After the attempted kidnapping at her store Liam had tried to convince her to let him have an alarm installed there and at her house. Even her brother, who basically detested him, had agreed. But December was stubborn. Of course it might have something to do with the fact that he’d
ordered
her to let him take care of it instead of asking her. As second-in-command of his pack—well, technically third now that his brother was mated—he wasn’t used to asking for things, though. Especially not when he knew he was right.

December might not have accepted that she was his intended mate, but he knew it with every fiber inside him. He didn’t know
how
he knew—he just did. It was as if something inside him flared to life the moment they’d met. A hundred years ago—before his father had turned into a shell of a wolf due to his mate’s death and before Liam’s pack had been slaughtered—his father had told him he’d likely know his mate on sight. Not all shifters recognized their intended mates right away, but Armstrongs usually did. Just like his brother had recognized Ana as his other half. If only Liam could figure out a smoother approach with December. She didn’t come from their world and didn’t understand anything about pack law or…him. And he wanted to change that.

He might look like he was in his early thirties, but he was over a century old. In all that time Liam and his brother had lived apart from humans. They intermingled with them for business purposes, and as of twenty years ago humans had learned of their existence, thanks to the decision of his Council and a few other shifter Councils around the world. It didn’t mean he’d completely embraced his civilized, human side, however. When he wanted something, his wolf side threatened to take over.
The battle between beast and man sometimes seemed never ending.

Sighing, he flipped open her phone and scrolled to her brother’s name. Bracing himself for the reaction he’d get, he held it up to his ear.

“Hey, I was just about to call you.” Parker’s voice was friendly as he answered.

“This is Liam.”

Like a switch flipping, he went from friendly to hostile in an instant. “Why do you have December’s phone? What the hell is going on? Is she okay?”

“Someone tried to attack your sister. Again.”

“What?”

“On the way home tonight her date tried to stab her with a syringe. She doesn’t know what was in it or what he wanted, but she managed to stop him. From what I can tell, she got him to run off the road and she escaped. I found her running down the highway.”

“Were you following her?”

Liam didn’t bother to deny it. “I waited until she left the restaurant with that guy but kept my distance. I wanted to make sure she got home safe, and hell,
someone
needs to protect her.”

“Are you saying I can’t?” Parker snapped.

“Damn it, man. You know that’s not what I’m saying. I only meant I’ve been keeping an eye on her. After that bullshit with Dr. Graham and those assholes who tried to attack Ana, I just want to make sure December is safe.” Over two months ago a local doctor had poisoned the local Cordona pack, killing all the males and pregnant females. Ana Cordona—now his brother’s mate—had become leader of an all-female pack by default. Since his brother and Alpha, Connor, had been in love with Ana for over half a century, Liam and the rest of
their small pack had recently come to North Carolina and united her pack with theirs. And the poisonings had started up again. That’s when they’d discovered that the person trying to poison their pack wasn’t their only problem. The APL had targeted any humans associated with shifters or anyone they thought meant something to shifters.

“I know…. I appreciate it.” The bitter tone of his voice told Liam it had taken a lot for Parker to admit that. “So where is she?”

“We’re at her house. She’s outside with one of my packmates. I just swept her place and it’s clean. The guy she was out with tonight left his car right off the highway. It’s about two miles from Russo Ristorante on the west side of the road, down the embankment. It’s a BMW.” He quickly rattled off the license plate he’d committed to memory.

Parker swore softly. “You’re sure she’s okay?”

“She’s shaken up and I thought she might go into shock, but she’s tougher than that. I got the keys out of the ignition and I was careful to pull it out by the edges.”

“I’ll send a couple of my guys to check out the car and I’ll come by to take a statement from her. I’m going to post someone outside her place tonight, but will you be there until someone arrives?”

His mouth pulled into a thin line. Apparently even Parker didn’t understand his intentions toward December. That all changed now. “I’ll be here and I’m staying the night. Until we figure out what the hell is going on, I’m not leaving her side.”

Liam expected a fight but Parker was surprisingly silent. The moment seemed to stretch on forever. Finally he spoke. “All right. I’ll see you in a few.”

As they disconnected, Liam let his gaze linger on December’s bed. The queen-sized bed was a lot smaller
than his own, but if he was in it with her, it wouldn’t matter. Nothing else would matter other than holding her, sliding his hard length into her hot, tight sheath. Taking care of her. Claiming her. From the moment he’d seen her, it was all he’d been able to think about.

All his life he’d heard about what happened to males when they found their mates, but he’d never bought into that bullshit. The overwhelming need to protect. To mate. To
bond
. He’d never believed it until he met December.

Sighing, he shut her bedroom door behind him. One way or another he was going to find his way between her sheets and into her life. He was going to ingrain himself so deeply into her world she’d never want him to leave. Maybe not tonight, but soon. Very, very soon.

D
ecember knew she should be grateful for Liam’s presence. And she was. It was just strange to have him in her house, taking over everything. As he ushered her into the house, she felt some of her earlier tension and fear abate. He wouldn’t let her walk into a bad situation and despite the break-in a few weeks ago, her house was one of the only places she felt relatively safe. The break-in had taken some of that away from her, but it was still her haven. She’d put a down payment on the two-story colonial-style brick home a couple years ago when her business had finally taken off. She wouldn’t let anyone take away that joy.