What This Wolf Wants (12 page)

Chapter Eleven

Zan stepped into the miniscule bathroom, closing the door gently behind him. His body hummed with satisfaction as he disposed of the spent condom and flushed the toilet. It wasn’t until he buttoned up his jeans that his fingers froze in realization.

He was completely dressed. He’d only taken enough time to free his dick and shuck on a condom before sliding inside Jackie’s delectably wet and willing body. Against a damn wall. He’d acted like a rutting beast, taking what he wanted when he wanted. No finesse, no wooing, just fucking.

Not only that, he’d bitten her, making his claim before she was ready. Like the greedy bastard she thought he was.

“You ass.” He laced his hands on his head and glared at himself in the vanity mirror. Muscles, so recently eased with sexual release, bunched.

But his beast rolled over onto it’s back and wiggled in ecstasy.

“You’re an ass too.” He jerked on the faucet and splashed water over his face. Slowly, the contentment felt by his wolf bled into the man.

By biting her, Zan had made a claim. In the world of shifters, Jackie belonged to him now. To hold, to protect, and to cherish.

Now he grinned at himself. It had been a long time since anything belonged only to him. Hell, the house he lived in he shared with the other shifters that made up his team. Clothes were routinely borrowed due to their propensity to get bloody, torn or shredded during a shift. Their weapons were centrally stored in a locked room for inventory purposes. He might have two special knives he kept in boot sheathes, but those could be lost at anytime. Just like the loss of his 9mm to Scott only the year before when the kid had taken a wrong step during a mission and landed in a river.

Well, no one would lose Jackie because he wasn’t sharing her. Hell no. She belonged to him. From the tips of her painted toes to the top of her silky chestnut crowned head, and every soft and creamy inch between.

His eyes closed, desire snaking through his body despite only having her minutes ago. Renewed lust tightened in his groin.

This time he’d take it slower. Savor the curves and hollows as she deserved. Nibble his way to their mutual pleasure. Make love to her slow and easy.

His eyes snapped open and he stared at the shocked eyes reflecting back. Where the hell had that come from? He didn’t make love. He had sex. His job didn’t permit anything more than casual when it came to relationships outside his team. Forming attachments were distracting and potentially deadly for a man like him. Shit. The last thing he needed right now was the thought of worrying over some female doctor when he was neck-deep in a dangerous assignment.

Abruptly his wolf stood up and growled at him.

She isn’t some female. She’s our mate.

Groaning, Zan snatched up the hand towel next to the sink and rubbed it hard over his face, digging the palms of his hands into his eyes for good measure. What the hell had he done? He couldn’t have this.

Yes you can. You were already feeling restless. Unsettled.

Unhappy. Taking too many risks. Now you have a brother, a mate ,and the
potential to start a new life. A content life. With a woman who excites you.

Both body and brain. You’re an even bigger ass if you ruin this.

God! He could practically hear his father snarling at his indecision, which brought him back to where he started. He was an ass.

Because how could he chastise Jackie for not accepting him and the mating heat when he didn’t even know what he wanted. Sex, hell yeah! But what happens after the sex? They lived on opposites sides of the country for God’s sake. Was he such an ass that he could walk away from her when the mating heat waned? Hadn’t he, not even a week ago, mentally beret the bastard who’d initialed the same without claiming his mate. Well Zan might have claimed, but now what?

The bathroom door was flung open and he swiveled just in time to feel a small fist plow into his stomach. “You ass.”

“That seems to be the general consensus,” he muttered over the pain.

“You bit me. You had no right to do that. None.” Zan forced himself upright and rubbed at his abused belly. The woman sure did pack a hell of a punch. In more ways than one. Her eyes were hot with anger, her lithe body now tucked back into her clothing and practically vibrating with fury. And was he a perverse son of a bitch for finding the sight highly arousing?

She turned and stalked out to a hall closet, yanking out a towel while muttering to herself. He’d been too dazed to catch the beginning, but now he cocked his ear.

“…for the best. It will keep the other wolves at bay, so to speak.

Which will be good considering the full moon’s in three days. Then once you leave everything should go back to normal. The scent marker will fade and I shouldn’t go into heat again until another mate comes along.” He blinked as her words sank in. “Wait. What?” Jackie slid past him and dropped the towel on the toilet lid. “You didn’t think you were the only one, did you?” She all but sneered at him.

“We aren’t cats. There isn’t just one mate per shifter. For us it’s just a chemical reaction that
will
pass.”

Something in his chest clenched hard. “You mentioned something about that on Monday. Are you telling me that you, or I, could have another mate out there somewhere?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, which is a good thing as we,” she waved a hand between them, “don’t fit.”

He thought they fit just fine. Damn fine. “Yes we do.” His words were thick, husky.

He saw awareness leap into her eyes before she squashed it.

“Sexually speaking, yes. I agree we do work well. But,” she held up a hand as he took a step toward her, “we aren’t compatible elsewhere. Our lifestyles are very different and we live a million miles from each other. As I doubt you’re ready or even able to make any significant adjustments to give me what I truly
need
, this must end tonight. Now you have to leave.

I’m already going to be late.”

An angry growl began to rumble in his chest, possession and jealousy tightening in his gut. He might be a bit confused about some things, but he damn sure knew he didn’t want another woman. He wanted Jackie. And he would fucking kill any other male that came sniffing around her.

And just that quickly he knew he was keeping her forever.

Somehow. Someway.

Decision made he ground his teeth into dust, thinking she was ditching him for a date. She was young, successful, beautiful, and single.

Well, not single anymore. He’d made sure of it. “Late for what?” She hesitated, crossed her arms over her breasts. “For church.” Not what he expected. The claws that had started to pierce his fingers retreated in surprise. He simply blinked at her for a moment, thinking she was joking. At her kiss-my-ass look, he realized she wasn’t kidding. “On a Wednesday night?”

One shapely brow rose. “If you remember, I missed Sunday service. I was busy tending to a wounded wolf.” Yeah. Him. He cleared his throat, not knowing what to say. His eyes strayed from her obviously tense form to the hallway and back again.

His thoughts grew dark again. “Going to repent? Ask for forgiveness.” And why couldn’t he learn to just keep his mouth shut? Always pushing. Great for completing a mission, not so great for getting the girl.

“Idiot.” From ass to idiot. He didn’t know if that was an improvement or not. “God’s not going to smite me into a pile of ash because I had sex with you. He may not be thrilled about it, but it doesn’t mean he loves me any less.”

Zan remembered Jackie and Ben verbally sparing Sunday morning about her beliefs and the jealousy he’d felt at their closeness. While he might believe in God, he was far from a church-goer. And with his almost dead innate humor restored, knowing she wasn’t leaving him to be with another man, he couldn’t keep the teasing note out of his voice. “But isn’t sex before marriage a sin? To fix that, I suggest you do the right thing and make an honest man out of me.”

The shock on her face was priceless and he almost laughed out loud. Damn but the woman made him feel alive and he relished every second he was with her.

“Adultery is a sin,” she hissed, eyes narrowing into slits. “And as neither of us are married, we’ve committed no sin.” Zan let out a snort and once again shoved his size twelves squarely into his mouth. “Face it, Doc. If you were truly a God-fearing woman you’d have booted me out the door the second you came home.” If looks could kill, he would be broken and bloody on the spot. “I don’t fear God. I love him. And right now, I absolutely loathe you.” Jackie shoved both hands into his chest and he stumbled out of the bathroom. The door slammed shut and he heard the lock snick into place.

Ha, he thought. As if a measly lock, or door for that matter, would keep him out if he wanted otherwise. “Yeah?” he shouted, because he simply could not let her have the last word. After all. She had become his personal mission. “Premarital sex might not be a monster sin but I know for a fact lying is.”

“False testimony,” she shot back.

“And your testimony just now was nothing but a big, fat lie.” A high shriek of frustration permeated the wood just as something thudded against the door, making him grin like a loon.

Resting his forehead against the door he imagined her naked, wet, and soapy in the shower. And as quick as a snap, the blood rushed to his pants. While he’d briefly thought about attending this evening’s service to spend more time with her, he didn’t think it appropriate to go to church with a hard-on.

No. What he needed was an ice-cold beer and some helpful insight.

Back in the living room he snatched his phone from the floor. His gaze drifted over to the far wall and his fingers halted in mid-dial.

Tendrils of wonderment brushed through his mind. “I bit her.” Once again, the implication of a split second decision on his part was changing his life. But panic didn’t come. Contentment did.

He glanced down the hall to the bathroom door, where he knew Jackie was trying, in vain, to scrub his scent from her body. But because of Zan’s mark she could use sandpaper and multiple bottles of her sweetly scented soap, which was even now wafting into his nostrils, and it wouldn’t do a damn bit of good. Every shifter in town would know she was taken, and by whom.

Perversely smug, Zan slipped something into his pocket and stepped boldly out the front door, locking it behind him. The extra pep to his step was undeniable and, with the phone glued to his ear, his eyes alight with mischievous plotting, he made his way eagerly to Thirio’s Keep.

Walking into the soft evening breeze and more focused on the conversation with his brother than his surroundings, he didn’t notice the blue sedan parked three houses down from Jackie’s. While he might not know the vehicle belonged to a stranger in this town, he would have recognized the ugly mug of the man, which had all but twisted in fury at the sight of Zan, tall, proud, and very much alive as he walked into the sunset.

Chapter Twelve

After dressing, Jackie wasted several minutes looking for her vibrator. She dug in the couch cushions, searched the floor and finally gave in to a sort of pissed-off panic. Zan had absconded with it, leaving a very clear message. If Jackie wanted release, she would have to get it from him.

The bastard.

She complained all the way to church. She relived every erotic second during service, and she was thankful God didn’t strike her dead for impure thoughts in His house.

It wasn’t just the change in her and Zan’s relationship that caused her exhaustion. The constant arousal that stimulated every nerve ending was unending. She was wired all day long, only to tumble into bed to find sleep an elusive pursuit.

Then there was her internal battle. She’d wanted a mate and family desperately, but she just didn’t know if she could give up her life, her home, to be with Zan. She didn’t want her life to end up a duplicate of her aunt’s. The worry each time her husband and son were gone on deployment and the horror and pain she felt when they were killed in action.

For her uncle and cousin, it wasn’t just serving their country that urged them overseas and into one battle after another. No. It was the adrenaline rush. The feeling of invincibility each time they came home unscathed. But not even a shifter can withstand a bomb blast.

In church she had silently questioned God. She pretended not to see the knowing looks from other shifters in the congregation. They all knew she’d been marked. She might as well have foregone the gaudy mock turtle-neck tank and tattooed Zan’s name on her forehead.

With thoughts of freedom from the curious gazes on her mind, she hurried out to her truck, without looking like she was running away, only to be waylaid by Meg Sorenson, her husband Tom, and their new baby girl.

The one Jackie had only days before delivered into the world.

How could anyone resist the darling baby?

Ten minutes later, and calmer, she was finally walking to her truck at the far end of the lot. Halfway there she chuckled to herself. She’d backed in the spot so the vehicle faced the church steps, and under a light.

Facing out allowed an easy getaway if need be while the lighting illuminated the bed, front and sides of her vehicle from anyone attempting to hide.

Training or common sense?

Abruptly an uneasy feeling came over her. She slowed down, dug into her purse for her cell phone, using the everyday activity to surreptitiously scan the area. She might not have the same kind of super senses as a male shifter, but she was more sensitive than a human. And right now, her senses were screaming “danger” in large red block-letters.

A soft breeze blew from the west, so if the danger was east, she wouldn’t pick it up. She couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary and her sight wasn’t strong enough to penetrate the gloom outside the lit parking lot.

She turned back to the church. There was safety inside the building. Unfortunately, if the danger was directed at her—and frankly, she just didn’t know—she didn’t want it to follow inside where even now she could see the one hundred percent human pastor holding and cooing at baby Lilly through the glass doors. Lilly’s proud parents where standing protectively by while chatting with three other well-wishers. No. She had to draw whomever it was away.