Wicked Days with a Lone Wolf (6 page)

“Sir.” The doctor leaned over again. “We really need to get her upstairs.”

Lane stood. “Zoe. How did you get injured? If you tell me, I can help.”

The doctor shoved in beside him. “Someone get him out of here. Detective, we’ll call you when she’s cleared for visitors.”

Someone grabbed Lane’s arm. He didn’t look to see who. “Zoe.” He stepped back, reluctant to let go of her hand. “Who did this to you?”

A nurse reached over and grabbed her fingers, forcing them to let go of each other’s hands. “He would have hurt those kids,” she said as they wheeled her away.

T
he phone rang while Ash was in the shower. Sherri gathered the sheet around her and slid to the edge of the bed, nervous to hear from her former partner at the bureau. They hadn’t spoken in a while.

“Lisa. Hey. I’m sorry I haven’t called yet. Things have been nuts and I—”

“It’s okay. Listen, we need to talk.”

“Uh-oh.” Sherri straightened. “You’re using your ‘this is official business’ tone.”

Shit. She hadn’t given Lisa a heads-up that she was quitting. Word must have finally made it over to the old DC office somehow. “Listen, I was going to tell you I resigned. It was such a spur-of-the-moment decision, that’s all. I mean when I say things have been nuts, there’s not much exaggeration.”

A muffled breath came through the phone. “Sherri, I’m not calling because you quit. I’m calling to give you information. I wanted to be the one to tell you, before you saw it on the news.”

News. “What news?” Chills chased away the lingering warmth of Ash’s skin against hers.

“I don’t want you to worry. I made some calls. They’re on it.”

“On what?”
Sherri leaned forward on the bed, clutching the phone in one hand and the sheet in the other, like if she held on tight enough she could insulate herself from what Lisa was about to say.

Because she knew. She didn’t want to hear. But deep down, in the place where she kept her list of worst-case scenarios, she knew.

“Ryan’s out. He attacked a guard during medical transport and got away in rush hour traffic.”

No.
Sherri’s head throbbed with the denial. “Any ideas about his location?”

“Gusin’s last known location was in Brussels, so they’re watching international travel.”

Boris Gusin. The lover-slash-crime lord Ryan had left Sherri for. A logical direction to look. But... “That doesn’t sound right. Ryan’s not stupid enough to try to fly while there’s God knows how many federal agents hunting him down. Neither is Boris. It wouldn’t surprise me if he charged a ticket and a hotel room there to throw off the trail. Has anybody made a positive visual ID?”

Lisa paused. “Honey, you know it’s not actually my case. My information is limited.”

Sherri flopped back onto the bed, suddenly exhausted. Angry to have this problem laid in her lap, even if she did need the information. Angrier that she had to go back to DC and deal with her shitty condo. She wanted the past to stay where it was, dammit.

Behind her, Ash’s shower stopped and the door opened with a billow of steam. She glanced over to find a display of wet, male glory, hair slicked back and freshly shaved. Nothing but a towel slung low on his hips.

“Hey. Who’s on the phone?” He smiled slightly, but the set of his jaw gave away his worry.

Sherri couldn’t do this now. She couldn’t concern him with this when he had other problems. Ryan was busy meeting up with his money laundering boyfriend right now and had not a thing to do with her. Not anymore.

“An old friend from DC,” she said. “We’re talking about meeting up for coffee when I get into town.”

“Great. Say good things about me.” He came over for a kiss before returning to the bathroom to towel-dry his hair.

Sherri sighed, watching the flex and stretch of each muscle as he walked away.

“Who’s that?” Lisa’s voice rose an octave. Less business-y now.

“Uh, I’ll fill you in when I get to town. We can talk more then, okay? I’ll send you my details when I land.”

Her stomach cramped, hating to keep either of them in the dark. What could she say at that moment, though?
Hey, Ash? My criminal ex might be running loose somewhere in the city. Lisa? I’m sleeping with a werewolf. I’m pretty sure I’m in love. He’s not a criminal precisely, but he used to be. Most of his family still is. Since I met him, the body count is insane. Every couple has differences though, right?

“Okay, lady. Call me when you know more.”

Sherri smiled over at Ash. “Will do.”

With a quiet groan she hung up and grabbed her laptop to check on her reservations.

Ash sat next to her on the bed. “Hey. You seem nervous. You’re not upset about before, are you?”

Before? Oh.
Before.
Sherri’s hand went to the still-sore bite mark on her shoulder. Lisa’s call had almost made her forget. “It was rougher than usual, but... it was good. I understand that getting close to the full moon gets you a little edgy.”

Honestly, it had been great. A little overwhelming, but hot and sexy and the orgasm had nearly blown Sherri’s mind. Ash’s possessiveness didn’t always appeal to her intellectually, but deep down, when they were naked together, it struck a chord that made her wonder about herself. She’d never envisioned liking that sort of thing.

He leaned in for a kiss. “I’m glad you understand. Thought I might have sent you screaming for the mountains.”

A thought occurred to her. “Hey, Ash. Remember that guy who said he thought I could have latent
were
genes? Do you think there’s any possibility of that?”

He chuckled. “I think that guy was psycho. Forget that stuff.”

“But what do you think it means that I like all that stuff? I never did before.”

“Maybe it just means you’re a little kinky. Maybe I bring it out in you.”

She laughed and relaxed against him. “I suppose I can live with that.” Less scary than having latent
were
DNA, that was for sure.

Sherri took a breath. Maybe she was letting all of this recent stress cause her to see problems that weren’t really there.

***

K
yle refused to acknowledge he was looking for some lingering sign of Jett as he grabbed his prescription and his jacket. Better to think of him as Detective Hughes. The “them” in the “Us vs. Them” equation.

Hughes might be willing to use Kyle for information when he needed to, but Detective Hughes left Los Lobos Muertos for a reason. The guy wasn’t coming back, not for Kyle or anyone else. Any ridiculous fantasy that they might mean something to each other was nothing but a product of Kyle’s inability to let go of the wall of muscles with dark eyes who once helped rescue a starving teenager.

It was past time to grow up and be a man. Time to salvage the busted pieces of his life, if that was even still possible.

“Yo. Eagle Eye.”

The hairs on Kyle’s neck stood up when he heard Pete call out his nickname. He fucking hated that name and everything it meant. He turned and planted his feet, jutting his chin at the newest pack member. As a human living among
weres
for the past decade, he’d learned when to shrink and when to stand tall.

Right now, Kyle needed to show strength.

“Listen, Pete. Lemme get outside first. Whatever Ramon sent you here to do to me, you shouldn’t it do in front of witnesses, yeah?” He made a sweeping gesture around the corridor, pointing out all the nurses and whatnot bustling around.

“Hey, man. Relax.” Pete’s solid hand came down to squeeze his shoulder. It slid down to the start of Kyle’s wounds, where he fingered the edge of the dressing that peeked up from under his collar. “Now, you’re right about one thing. Ramon sent me to get the story.”

Kyle’s lip lifted in a sneer. “He didn’t send you to get the story. He sent you to take care of the loose end.” He knocked Pete’s hand away. “Fuck him. He wants to kill me? He can have the balls to do it his own damn self.”

With that he turned down the hall and headed toward the ER doors. Toward the afternoon sunshine, while he could still enjoy it on his face.

“Dammit, kid. Stop and listen.” Pete caught up as they passed through the sliding doors, swiftly pinning him to the brick wall.

Kyle’s jaw clenched. His breath sawed in and out, heavy and harsh. He worked out hard. As humans went, he could hold his own, even for a skinny guy. Even among
weres.
Still, the average werewolf could outgun him ten times over. There was no fighting superhuman genetics.

“What do you want me to say, huh?” Kyle craned his neck, getting up in Pete’s face. Matching his fierce growl. “The meeting wasn’t set up as planned. The guys from Caos y Dolor had scouts on the trail leading up to the site. I tried to go in from the back to take out their alpha, but his guys had their teeth in me before I could blink.”

Pete nodded, still in his space more than Kyle liked. “How many?”

“Five. Plus the alpha. I’m good, but I’m not that good.”

Another look at the burns on Kyle’s arm. “They let you go?”

Kyle snorted. “Obviously. Their alpha wanted me to personally tell Ramon he plans to separate his head from his shoulders.”

“Nothing else? Only the burns?”

In Kyle’s opinion, the burns were plenty. He knew it could have been worse, but they might as well have peeled his skin off. “A couple of bites on my legs. Mostly the burns.”

“All right.” Pete’s hand came to the back of Kyle’s neck. “This is fixable. The fuck up wasn’t yours. Someone knew Ramon was out to claim territory, and what happened today is on him for sending you, a human, to take out that pack’s alpha alone.” Fingertips curled into the place where Kyle’s hair touched his shirt collar. “As alpha, this falls on Ramon. He’ll understand. I’ll see that he does.”

Kyle’s skin pulled painfully when he frowned. “Why would you care?”

Pete raised an eyebrow. Didn’t move, didn’t answer. Didn’t back away. Just that one eyebrow.

Kyle cleared his throat and tried to decide if this was going in the direction it looked like. “He sent you to kill me as initiation into the pack. I’m right, aren’t I? So why bother trying to defend me? You’ll only get yourself killed, too.”

A smile spread across Pete’s face. “I like you, human. You’ve got balls. You’re smart. Tough. You’d have to be, to have made it this long. When I was with the Devil Dogs, the human pets never did last long.”

Kyle closed his eyes and tried not to think about what that meant. “I’m good at making myself useful.” He had been, anyway.

“I can see that you are. So I have a solution: As a human who’s sworn loyalty to the pack, you’re property. I’m the new guy looking to prove my loyalty.” His fingers curled in Kyle’s shirt. “I could do so by killing you and finishing the job you failed today. I could also do that by claiming you. Your protection and your results will then be my responsibility.”

“Claim— I don’t understand.” Bullshit. He understood exactly what Pete was proposing, but he didn’t see why someone he barely knew would want to claim him, a human, as his mate. Especially not after such a colossal fuck up. “Even if Ramon agrees, you’ll have a strike against you from the start. I’m human. I’m...”
I failed. I fucked up that job. I fucked up my life. Every time I think I see a way out, I realize I’m in deeper. Ten years I tried and Jett never wanted me. Why should you?

“I’m not afraid of Ramon.”

Kyle leaned his head back against the brick wall. The late-day sun he’d looked forward to having on his face now burned too hot, clogging his throat. “So my options are what? Pledge my life, my body, to a stranger until death. Or you kill me now? Today? Fucked if I do, filled full of lead if I don’t?”

Maybe he could escape. Say yes to buy himself some time, and then sneak away from the compound some night. Roll the dice. He’d considered something like that a million times before, but someone was awake and standing guard at all hours. He’d nearly done it when he was supposed to be killing the alpha of Caos y Dolor but the consequences had stopped him. So much for that shit.

To Kyle’s surprise, Pete smiled. “Is that not what you’ve already done? When you joined Los Lobos Muertos
,
you pledged your service until death. Your loyalty, your life.”

“You’re also asking for my body.”

Pete kissed him. Warm and hard, it was a claiming kiss that left no uncertainty as to what they were discussing right then. The kiss was good, and Kyle opened up to accept it because why the fuck not? It felt nice enough, and Kyle liked kissing.

Still... he remembered kissing Jett that one time. Only that one time. The need and fire that had sprung up inside Kyle didn’t compare.

Jett doesn’t want me though. He’s never going to.

Pete pulled away, only far enough to smile. “I’m not asking for anything you’re not willing to give. Still, you’re willing to give yourself to strangers at those clubs. Why not to someone who wants to protect you and treat you right?”

Kyle stiffened. “What clubs?”

“I know about your late night escapades. I don’t judge your recreational activities, Kyle, but I do my homework first. I’m a
were.
I don’t share what’s mine. If you say yes to me, there will be no more other men, or you’ll be contracting their death.”

Fucking Christ. No pressure or anything. “And if I say no?”

“I’ll still argue for you to Ramon, but I make no promises. If he orders me to kill you again, I’ll have to follow orders. On the other hand, he can’t order me to kill my mate. Pack law, you know.”

Fuck. It might be the best out he was going to get, but Kyle didn’t want to. Not this way. Not with something that bound him even more tightly to the pack he hated. The pack he’d only ever joined for a man who’d walked away years ago.

“Kyle. Hey. Everything okay here?”

He looked over and spotted Jett—Detective Hughes—and Ash coming in the door. It was Ash who had spoken. Jett stood there saying nothing, at least not out loud. His eyes spoke volumes, broadcasting all kinds of seething judgment.

“Hey,” Kyle said. He had to look up, over Pete’s shoulder. Pete, who had turned his head but still stood possessively with one hand in Kyle’s hair and his body too close for mere pack mates. “Uh.” He patted Pete on the shoulder. “Everything’s good here.”