Tameka's Smile (20 page)

“Meka, this dog was completely butchered. She stabbed it over and over again. How do you know the castration wasn’t part of it?” Chad questioned.

“I’m guessing she started with castration, but it triggered her rage and she ended up mutilating the dog instead.” Rome whistled. “You want a job? The department could use a profiler. Doesn’t have to be full-time. You could work as a consultant.”

“What she says makes sense,” Chad interjected.

“More than that, I think she’s dead on target,” Rome added.

“But it still doesn’t explain the land. Momma E never mentioned Mr. Ned having children. If he did, I’m sure she would have insisted he leave the property to them instead. And did this thing start with me, or was she after Momma E as well?” Tameka asked. Chad could sense her concern. “You don’t think this person had something to do with Momma E’s death, do you?”

Rome immediately assured her. “No, your grandmother died of natural causes. However, Ned’s death might bear further investigation. It might not have been poachers as we originally 131

TAMEKA’S SMILE

suspected.”

“But if she killed Ned to get to the land, wouldn’t she have gone after Tameka’s grandmother as well?” Chad wanted to know. If their stalker was a murderer, that made her infinitely more dangerous.

“Not necessarily. If this woman is as familiar with us as she seems to be, she’d know a lot of shifters grieve themselves to death after the loss of a mate. With Emma’s age, all she would have had to do was wait for Emma to die and purchase the land for unpaid taxes. Since none of Emma’s family ever visited her here, she may not have anticipated Emma willing the land to someone.”

Chad could smell Tameka’s confusion and anger combined with a touch of fear, and it pissed him off all over again.

Whoever this person was, she had to be stopped.

“Tameka, you think about my offer. Chad, this gives me an idea on some leads. I’ll be in touch,” Rome said right before he hung up.

He rested the phone back on the table and turned to his mate, pulling her into his arms.

“Was he serious?”

He couldn’t quite place her tone. It sounded like a blend of intrigue, skepticism, and confusion, as if she didn’t quite know what to make of the offer. “About the job? Rome never jokes about police work. With your degree and experience, you’d be a tremendous asset to the department. Not just ours, but surrounding counties and municipals as well.” She leaned over him until they were face-to-face. “Do you think I should?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. As a rule, we don’t see a lot of crime, but the types of cases that require a profiler are…harsh,” he inserted, for lack of a better word. “If you’re interested, I won’t stand in your way. I’ll support you fully. Are you?” She dropped her head to his chest. “I don’t know. It’s not something I’ve ever considered.”

“Give it some thought. It won’t hurt to try. If you don’t like it, or it’s too gruesome, just stop. No one will fault you. Police work isn’t for everyone.”

Silence fell and Chad found himself stroking the silky skin 132

ZENA WYNN

of her back. Tameka gave a big yawn and snuggled deeper into his embrace.

“How’d you guess what was in the pictures,” he asked lazily.

“Your reaction. If it was nothing, you would have shown them to me,” she murmured, sounding half asleep. “Tomorrow I want to see them.”

“I’ll tell Bull to bring them.”

133

TAMEKA’S SMILE

Chapter Nine

“What’s this plan of yours?”

NeeCee sat in the passenger seat of his cruiser with her arms crossed and one toe tapping against the floorboard as he drove.

“You’re going to play decoy. You and your sister are about the same height. We’re going to make whoever’s watching think you’re Tameka returning home from the clinic,” Bull stated.

He could feel the weight of her stare. “I’d applaud your brilliance, but there’s just one problem.” He arched one brow. “What might that be?” She sighed and shook her head. “Meka and I look nothing alike,” she said in disgust.

He slanted a look at her. She was serious. Was she really that blind or was there something else going on here? “I think the resemblance is remarkable,” he drawled, just to draw her out.

She snorted. “That’s ‘cause you’re white. To you, we all look the same.”

He bit back a curse. “That’s a stereotype and you know it.

I’m an officer of the law, trained to be observant. I’m also a shifter with a keen sense of smell. There’s no way I’d ever confuse you with anyone else.”

“And yet you expect this person to?” She turned in her seat to face him, as much as her seatbelt would allow.

“One, people tend to see what they expect to see. She doesn’t know about your arrival and I plan to use that to our advantage. Two, she’ll only be getting a glimpse of you from a distance.” He turned the corner and headed out of town.

“That still doesn’t change the fact that I’m fifty pounds leaner, three shades lighter, and at least three inches taller than Meka. My eyes are gray and my hair is in dreds, not loose like hers. Anyone with half a brain can see this won’t work,” she 134

ZENA WYNN

huffed.

“Do you want to help your sister or not?”

“Yes,” she snapped.

“Then quit bitching. I know what I’m doing. If I say this will work, believe me. It will,” he finished firmly.

She muttered something under her breath that even his sharp hearing couldn’t decipher.

“Lady, what’s your problem? To us whities, y’all all look alike anyway. This should be a breeze,” he drawled.

The scent of her anger filled the air. Guess she didn’t like having her words thrown back at her, he mused. She turned towards him, finger pointed, eyes narrowed and mouth ready to spew. Then she caught sight of the grin on his face and hesitated.

“Yes? You have something to say,” he taunted silkily.

The hand lowered to her lap and she turned to face the front windshield, her face set like stone. “I wouldn’t give you the pleasure. You’d enjoy it too much,” she muttered.

His grin blossomed into a full-blown smile as he bit back the laughter that wanted to break free. He let silence reign as he completed the drive to his house.

After parking the car, he turned to her. “I don’t know what you see when you look in the mirror, but besides the differences you noted, anyone with two working eyes can see the resemblance between you and your sister. Facial structure, nose, the shape of your eyes and ears—all the same. You’re a few inches taller and leaner, but there’s no denying you two are closely related,” he stated bluntly.

NeeCee looked both hopeful and skeptical. She flipped down the visor and gazed at her reflection in the mirror, turning her head this way and that.

There was a story here. One day he’d know what it was. For now, they had things to do. He got out of the cruiser and walked around to her door. Before his hand touched the handle, the door opened and she jumped out.

“
This
is where Tameka lives?”

“No, this is where I live.” Good thing his hand was already on her back. When she stopped abruptly in the drive, he used it to propel her forward.

“Why are we here? I thought you were taking me to 135

TAMEKA’S SMILE

Meka’s.” She dug in her heels.

Jeez, you’d think the woman didn’t trust him, the way she
was acting
. He grinned as he slid his arm around the bare skin of her waist and bodily lifted her off of the ground. She immediately began to struggle. “I am, but first you need a little camouflage.”

At his words, she relaxed and settled down. “Put me down.

I’ll walk.”

“I thought women like to be carried. Doesn’t it make you feel all light and feminine?” He was certainly enjoying himself, especially the way the underside of her bra-less breast rested against the back of his hand. If he lifted his thumb a little higher, he could touch her nipple and find out for himself what she was wearing under that shirt.

With a growl, she twisted around, teeth bared and mouth open to bite him.

“Do it!” He swung her around in front of him and braced her body against the front door. “Bite me!” He tilted his head to the side, exposing his neck. “I dare you.” She lunged forward and his body tensed in anticipation. A breath away she stopped, hovering over the tendon where his shoulder met his neck.

“Do it,” he demanded again, suppressing a needy groan. His cock was as hard as a rock in his pants, filled to bursting. He leaned forward, pressing his skin to her mouth.

“No.” She backed away and looked at him through narrowed, stormy gray eyes filled with suspicion. “For all I know, this is some kind of freaky foreplay with you guys.” Bull let out the breath he was holding and hid his disappointment behind a cocky smile. “Now that’s real a shame, darling. I was looking forward to biting you back.” NeeCee pressed her shoulders, back, and head into the door behind her in a vain attempt to increase the distance between them. “Shouldn’t we be going inside? It’s almost dark. I’d like to get to Meka’s and hopefully get something to eat before calling it a night.”

Bull slowly loosened his grip and she slid down the few inches needed for her feet to touch the ground. Then he stepped back. His body protested the loss of contact, but they had things 136

ZENA WYNN

to do. Playtime came later.

He opened the door and motioned her inside. His house was a simple log cabin. One big open space in the front with a fireplace taking up one wall, two bedrooms, and a bath in the back. The décor was something he liked to call “early bachelor,” lots of black leather and chrome.

She walked to the center of his living room and stopped, placing her hands on her hips. If she knew how it made her breasts jut out and drew attention to her beaded nipples, he doubted she’d do it. Not that he was going to tell her. He was enjoying the view too much.

“Now what?”

“Now we make you look bigger,” he answered. Bull went into his room and came back with one of his white t-shirts and a pair of navy blue drawstring sweatpants. “Put these on.” He tossed the garments to her.

Some primitive instinct made him choose clothing that had his scent on them rather than ones fresh from the laundry.

NeeCee wrinkled her nose. “Are these clean?”

“Do they stink?” he countered.

She brought them to her nose and sniffed, then seemed to have trouble pulling them away. He almost smiled. Somebody liked his scent. Good, cause soon she’d be wearing him and nothing else.

“You know that’s not really an answer,” she rebutted, finally lowering her hands with the garments in them.

“Just put them on. It’s not as though your clothes won’t be underneath them if you’re worried about germs or something.

Which, by the way, as a shifter I’m totally disease free. That info will come in handy later.” He winked. “Put them on so we can go.”

She shook her head. “A total dog. Like I said earlier,” she muttered as she donned the clothing.

“Dogs bark,” he informed her sagely. “Baby, you make me howl,” he told her with a lascivious grin, then demonstrated.

“You are
sick
,” she exclaimed, but he could see her biting back a smile. Oh yeah, she wanted him. She just didn’t know it yet. He was feeling smug until he got a good whiff of her.

Her features changed and she took a step back. “What the 137

TAMEKA’S SMILE

hell is wrong with your eyes?”

His jaw tightened and began to stretch. He could feel his muscles elongating as his frame changed, height lengthening.

The heady scent of her fear spiked the air as she took another step back, and another.

“Don’t run,” he bit out, reading her intentions on her face.

He fought hard against the shift. His wolf wanted out. If she ran, instinct would take over.

NeeCee’s body tensed and she glanced over her shoulder at the door.

“Don’t,” he grunted as claws emerged in place of his fingernails. He could hear his shirt straining, then ripping at the seams. “I can control it as long as you stay put,” he panted.

She took another step back and he snarled. She instantly froze.

Smart lady.

Bull closed his eyes as he negotiated with his wolf, promising it could have what it wanted—NeeCee—later, but right now they had more important things to do. He’d always had a strong sex drive and both he and his wolf loved the ladies, but this was ridiculous. When he reopened his eyes, NeeCee was by the door with her hand on the knob.

His other half surged to the forefront and he leapt the twelve feet between them in a single bound, trapping her against the door. He jabbed his claws into the wood above her head and dragged them down even with her ears, shredding the wood.

Then he bent down until he was in her face. “Going somewhere?” It was difficult to talk with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth and a tongue gone wolf.

She shut her eyes and hunched against the door, while the smell of her fear intensified. “Don’t eat me,” she squeaked out.

Bull rubbed his nose against her cheek and followed the jaw line to her ear. Once there he teasingly scraped his teeth along her neck, smiling when she flinched. “But I want to eat you. I want to lay you down, spread your legs, and gobble you up until you come screaming my name,” he growled, right before he licked her neck.