Werewolf in the North Woods (33 page)
Read Werewolf in the North Woods Online
Authors: Vicki Lewis Thompson
“You should feel that way.” He dotted her shoulder with more kisses. “You are precious.”
“But I’ve never thought I was.”
He placed soft kisses on her other shoulder before moving to her breasts. “Then you were in bed with the wrong guy.”
And now she was in bed with the right guy . . . one last time. She wanted to be able to enjoy this without thinking about the inevitable parting, but the more he kissed her as if memorizing her body, the more emotional she became.
Finally she pushed him away and sat up. “Damn it, why do you have to be so good at this?”
He sat up, too, and gazed at her. “If you want me to stop, then—”
“Of course I don’t want you to stop!”
He reached for her, and she backed away. He sighed and scrubbed a hand through his wet hair. “Abby . . .”
“It’s just not fair. You’re the perfect guy, and you’re . . . you’re a
werewolf.
” She hadn’t meant to cry, but it had been a very long day and an even longer night. The more she tried not to cry, the faster the tears came.
werewolf.
” She hadn’t meant to cry, but it had been a very long day and an even longer night. The more she tried not to cry, the faster the tears came.
Roarke reached for her again, and she jumped off the bed, still crying. “I’m ruining this,” she choked out between sobs. “And I can’t seem to help it. I’m ruining our last time together, and you didn’t even get to come, and . . . I
hate
this, Roarke!”
hate
this, Roarke!”
“Maybe I should go.”
She stared at him through her tears. “Maybe you should. I thought when you left camp yesterday that was the end, but it wasn’t. Here we are again, and you’re making beautiful love to me . . . again. It’s like pulling a bandage off bit by bit, drawing out the pain, instead of ripping it off all at once.”
He nodded. “I know exactly what you mean.” Leaving the bed, he walked into the bathroom. “I’ll get dressed.”
She swore she heard the crack of her heart breaking, but instead it was the sound of the revolving panel opening about two inches. She grabbed the towel off the bed and wrapped herself in it. “Roarke! Someone’s—”
“It’s me, Abby.”
She recognized Aidan’s voice as Roarke charged out of the bathroom with his shirt half-buttoned. He pushed open the panel. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Busting you out.” Aidan stepped into the room. “If you were having sex, I apologize, but we need to get the hell out of this house. Gentry is crazy.”
Chapter 23
Roarke glanced at Abby, whose eyes were huge with distress. “It’ll be fine,” he said gently. “Just get some clothes on and we’ll go.”
“Not without Donald.”
“No, not without Donald. We’ll get him out, too.”
“Okay, then.” She scooped up the clothes she’d so recently taken off and hurried into the bathroom.
Roarke rounded on Aidan. “Could you have maybe done that without the drama? You scared her to death.”
“She needs to be scared. Gentry’s sure that she’s cracked the werewolf code and his solution is to put her under permanent house arrest for her protection and ours.”
“The hell with that shit.”
“He’s lining up support, Roarke. He’s consulted with several pack alphas and they all believe that he has no choice. She’s a security risk. Even our own father has reluctantly agreed that something has to be done, and this is the temporary solution until a better one can be found.”
“Gentry couldn’t get away with keeping her prisoner. Her grandfather would move heaven and earth to find her, and he’d start here.”
“He’s already been here.”
“What?”
“He showed up early tonight. Gentry wasn’t here, of course, because he was out collecting Abby and Donald, but the housekeeper reported that Earl was worried that he shouldn’t have been so free with the information about your trip with Abby.”
Roarke blew out a breath. “That was my mistake for not telling him to keep it quiet.”
“What’s done is done, so don’t beat yourself up. Anyway, Gentry called Earl once he returned with Abby. Got the guy out of bed with the news that the two of you had abandoned the Sasquatch hunt and eloped to Vegas.”
Roarke laughed. “Earl’s too smart to believe that.”
“It seems that soon afterward, you sent him an e-mail confirming it.”
“I couldn’t have. My BlackBerry was in the . . .” Roarke crossed quickly to the pile of camping gear, but after rummaging through it twice he had to conclude that his BlackBerry was in Gentry’s evil clutches. “Okay, so he might be able to fool Earl for a while, but Abby has a bunch of family members in Phoenix. When she doesn’t get back when she’s supposed to, they’ll start investigating.”
“Not if they get e-mails from her BlackBerry saying that she’s in love and she’s flying with you to New York to meet her new in-laws. He has her BlackBerry now, too.”
Roarke wanted to throw something. “Doesn’t he know I won’t let him keep her locked up?” Or worse. Roarke could imagine Gentry arranging for an accident to befall Abby while she was under his “protection.”
“He’s counting on pressure from the rest of the Were community to keep you in line.” Aidan studied him. “Unless you’d like to lay claim to her yourself, and settle this?”
God, that was tempting, but he would never coerce Abby like that. “And then what? Hold her prisoner in New York instead? That’s still wrong. You fought for Emma’s freedom.”
“Because I knew, from all that I’d learned about her, that she was trustworthy. I’d had her under surveillance for months, remember? You’ve known Abby a matter of days.”
Roarke realized that was true, and yet it seemed he’d known her far longer. Logically, Aidan had a point, but in his gut Roarke knew he could trust Abby. Convincing Aidan wouldn’t be easy, though.
“Couldn’t we just tell Gentry that we’re taking Abby to New York and we’ll accept responsibility for her?”
“Number one, he wouldn’t just let us go because he doesn’t trust us to do the right thing. He doesn’t approve of the freedom the Wallaces have given Emma, let alone an unknown person like Abby. Second of all, if you took Abby back home, our father would put her under lock and key, too. He doesn’t have any more reason to trust her than Gentry does.”
“Except his son’s word that she won’t betray us.”
“In order to get that blessing, you’ll have to take her back there, and I’m telling you, Gentry won’t just let her go. We’ll have to force the issue.”
Roarke gazed at his brother. “So what is going to happen after we bust her out of here?”
Aidan met his gaze. “I’m leaving that up to you.”
Roarke realized that although Aidan didn’t have reason to trust Abby, he was willing to trust him. That was a hell of a lot of responsibility. He took a deep breath. “Thanks, bro.”
“Roarke . . .” Aidan hesitated. “We could make this escape a lot better as Weres.”
“Yeah, but Abby and Donald couldn’t keep up with us.”
“I’m not thinking of the running part. I’m thinking of the fighting part.”
Roarke glanced at the bathroom doorway. “Don’t tell Abby there might be fighting.”
“I won’t, but we both know it could happen.”
“We can’t shift. I’ve promised Abby we’ll get Donald out, and he can’t see us in wolf form.”
Aidan looked at him. “So we’ll blindfold him.”
“And we’ll tell him we’re doing this because . . .”
“Because . . . it’s the only way he’s getting out of here and he has to trust us that it’s the best thing.”
Roarke frowned at him.
“Hey, don’t expect me to come up with all the answers. Maybe Abby will have an idea.”
“For what?” Abby walked out of the bathroom dressed in her rumpled hiking clothes.
Roarke turned to her. “Giving Donald a good reason why we need to blindfold him.”
“Why blindfold him at all? That’ll create a serious problem for the poor guy.”
“Because Aidan and I will be most effective for this escape if we operate as wolves. Our senses will be sharper.”
Abby stood with her hands on her hips, her gaze thoughtful. “All right. I’ll tell Donald we’re making our escape with the help of two very large, very protective dogs, which are . . . part wolf. That way you don’t have to blindfold him.”
Roarke wasn’t crazy about masquerading as a domesticated dog, but losing the blindfold would mean they wouldn’t be leading Donald around all the time. “And where did these
dogs
come from all of a sudden?”
dogs
come from all of a sudden?”
“They’re mine, but Grandpa Earl’s been keeping them up here for me until I had a place big enough for them in Arizona. They dug under the fence and tracked me here.”
Aidan nodded. “It’s flimsy, but it might work, and I have to admit it’s an improvement over the blindfold. Abby, if you don’t mind turning around, I need to take off my clothes.”
“Wait, bro,” Roarke said. “We don’t have a plan.”
“Sure we do. We shift, use the tunnels to get Donald, and leave.”
“On foot? Or in our case, on paws?”
“Of course not. I rented a Town Car, which is sitting in the circular drive. We sneak around to that and make our getaway—people in the front, wolves in the back.”
Abby glanced at the dim light filtering through the curtains. “We’re running out of darkness to sneak in.”
“I know,” Aidan said. “But that can’t be helped.”
Roarke stared at her bright red hair. “I wish you had a hat. That hair is like a beacon.”
“Well, I don’t, and borrowing Donald’s neon-green hat isn’t going to help matters.” She looked at Aidan. “I’ll drive the Town Car. Donald will be a nervous wreck by then.”
Aidan reached in the pocket of his slacks and handed her the keys. “I hope you’re as cool under fire as you appear to be, Abby Winchell.”
“Don’t worry. I am.”
“She absolutely is.” Roarke took off his watch and gave it to her. “I don’t want to leave this.”
“Good point.” Aidan took off his and handed it to Abby as well.
She looked at Aidan’s watch. “I suppose yours is as pricey as Roarke’s.”
“Not quite, but close.”
“So I’m going to be carrying two timepieces with a combined value of a million and a half smackers?”
Aidan nodded. “Close enough.”
“Cool.” She put one on each wrist and pulled her sleeves down to cover them.
“Oh.” Aidan handed her his BlackBerry. “If you’ll keep this for me, too, I’d appreciate it.”
“Sure thing.” She tucked it in the pocket of her jacket.
“I just thought of another complication,” Roarke said. “There’s the not-so-tiny matter of the Sasquatch. I left them in a cave and they’ll stay there until I come to get them.”
“That’s handled,” Aidan said. “I contacted the Seattle pack and they’re sending a helicopter to the Portland-Hillsboro airport. The pilot will await our instructions.”
Roarke wondered if he’d ever truly appreciated the strategic skills of his older brother before. “I owe you one, Aidan.”
“And never doubt I’ll collect. Okay, we need to move out. Abby, if you wouldn’t mind turning your back, I’m going to strip.”
“Hold it.” Irrational though it was, Roarke rebelled at having Abby in the same room with any naked man other than him. “Go into the bathroom. I’ll shift out here.”
Aidan shrugged. “If you say so.” He went into the bathroom, but didn’t close the door all the way.
Roarke took note. Aidan had more experience at shifting in front of humans than he did. Aidan could teach him some things about conducting human-werewolf love affairs. But that would only be necessary if Roarke pursued such an activity.
Abby stood there watching, obviously waiting to see how he planned to handle this. “Are you going to make me turn my back?” she asked.
Roarke began taking off his clothes. “Maybe, under the circumstances, I should give you the choice.” Anxiety gripped him at the thought of shifting in front of her, but she deserved to make that decision.
“Then I choose to watch. I’ve seen you as a man and a wolf. I want to know what happens when you go from man to wolf. And vice versa, when it comes to that.”
“All right.” He hesitated in the act of shucking his clothes as he thought of something he needed to say. Soon he wouldn’t be able to talk to her. “I want you to promise me something.”
“Depends on what it is.”
Roarke sighed. She was so damned independent, but then, that was one of the things he lo—Nope, wouldn’t use that word. “Here’s the deal. No matter what happens while we’re trying to escape, just worry about yourself.”
“I can’t promise that.”
He glared at her. “I mean it, Abby. Aidan and I will be fine. Donald’s a survivor and Gentry doesn’t want him, anyway. You’re the target. Get away the minute you—” Roarke paused as the bathroom door swung open.
His brother came out, and the look in his golden eyes needed no interpretation. Clearly Roarke was holding up the show. Aidan’s dark, silver-tipped fur seemed to glow in the light from the bedside lamps as he moved toward Abby and Roarke.
Other books
Still Life in Shadows by Wisler, Alice J.
Strings of the Heart by Katie Ashley
Worse Than Being Alone by Patricia M. Clark
Lord of the Grrr's by Amelia Jade, Terra Wolf, Mercy May, Kit Tunstall, Artemis Wolffe, Lily Marie, Lily Thorn, Emma Alisyn, Claire Ryann, Andie Devaux
Villain School by Stephanie S. Sanders
Flood Tide by Stella Whitelaw
Good Blood by Aaron Elkins
Savage by Thomas E. Sniegoski
Cocaine by Hillgate, Jack
Redemption of the Dead by Luke Delaney
