Wolf Born (12 page)

“For the love of Fenrir, god of wolves, go after him. Don’t give me a raft of excuses.”

A tear rolled down one cheek. She brushed it away. The foyer was mercifully empty, but that could change in a matter of seconds. She gazed at her hands, poised over her keyboard.
What should I do?
Her finely honed resolved to keep her relationship with Max professional had gone to hell last night when she’d let him kiss her.

I had the strength to walk away from him last night.

But that’s not what I want.

It may not matter what I want if he’s changed his mind,
a different inner voice sniped.

Her wrist computer vibrated, followed by Max’s voice on its intercom function. “Audrey, where’s today’s work?”

“Sorry, sir. Coming right up.” She made certain to keep her face out of the camera’s range so he wouldn’t see she was crying.
Too bad I can’t gather up a stack of papers and walk them in to him.

“Get up, and go to his office.”
The wolf sounded exasperated.

Because it jived with what she wanted to do—and she wasn’t getting anything done anyway—Audrey stood. She’d always believed it was best to address things directly and get them over with. This wasn’t any different. She could ask if she’d been mistaken about his intentions. If he said yes, she’d nurse her wounds and find a way to live with the disappointment. Somehow.

Shoulders square, head high, she mounted the stairs that led to his office. Johannes hadn’t been with him today. Or maybe he was and had simply taken the elevator to the top floor, skipping hers. A ray of hope forced its way into her heart. Max could have done the same thing. He’d chosen a route to his office that led past her desk. Surely it meant something. Her heart beat against her chest wall so hard, she could barely breathe. She crossed the carpeted hall on shaky legs, wishing she hadn’t worn high heels, and knocked softly on his closed door.

It flew open, and she stood face to face with Johannes. So he was still shadowing Max. “What do you want?” he barked, sounding menacing.

“Oh, let her in,” Max said. “While you’re at it, how about if you leave for a few minutes.”

Audrey shifted from foot to foot. This wasn’t going anything like she’d planned, but then she hadn’t counted on Johannes and his protective streak. He’d told her he’d die for Max, or something very similar. Apparently, he took his bodyguard responsibilities seriously. Gazing at the fire in his hazel eyes cowed her, but she was damned if she’d let him know that.

Johannes turned so he could see both her and Max. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea, sir.”

“Well, I do. Out.” Max rose to his feet. “You can stand right outside if it makes you feel better.”

“With the door open.”

“No, with it closed.” Max sank back into his chair, intense blue gaze fixed right on her. He looked wary, as if he didn’t trust her.

After a lengthy pause, the door finally clicked shut with Johannes on its other side. Audrey inhaled raggedly. Words tumbled out almost of their own accord. “Sorry to intrude, and just tell me to go back downstairs if I’m out of line, but I had to see you.” She blew out a breath, sucked in another, and hurried on before her courage failed. “Was last night just a sham? Did you change your mind?” She held herself like a tightly wound spring and waited for his answer.

Max’s hands closed around the edge of his desk; his knuckles whitened. “Why have you been researching the shifter underground?”

Her teeth clanked together. Her first thought was to deny it, but lying didn’t sit well. “How would you know about that? It wasn’t on work time.”

“It doesn’t matter how I know. Just answer the question, Miss Westen.”

“I can’t.”

“Are you more comfortable talking this way?”
Her eyes widened. Blood roared in her ears.
“I know you can hear me,”
Max went on.
“Don’t bother to deny it.”

Joy, brighter than any sun, jolted her. If he could speak into her mind, he had to be a shifter. She knew they could communicate telepathically because of her father. Tears streamed down her face.
“I don’t want to deny it. This means my wolf was right.”

“What was she right about? Tell me why you can shift. You shouldn’t be able to.”
Max got to his feet.

“I got the drug, the serum, from the black market. I wanted to be one of you so I could help us. It’s why I resigned. The underground needs help. I figured that out from all those documents we went over. And I first shifted right after that, so…”

“Whoa, whoa.” Hope blazed from his eyes.

“Sorry, I know I was babbling, but it’s just such a relief to tell someone who might help me figure out how things work. And it means I don’t have to hide who I am from you, which means—”

“Yes, darling. It means all those things.”

She didn’t understand quite how Max covered the distance between them so quickly; he folded his arms around her shaking body. He stroked her hair and her back and murmured nonsensical words into her ear until she relaxed against him.

“It’s the shifter groups in hiding that are trying to kill me,” he explained, talking softly into her ear. “We finally figured at least that much out. They blame me and the underground for the escalation in enmity and all the shifter deaths. When Johannes hacked into your vid feed and saw where you’d been, we were afraid you were part of them.”

She moved back an inch or two and looked up at him. “I could never do that. I’m falling in love with you.”

“I know I’m falling in love with you.” He smiled, and her heart took wing. “But it’s far more than that, Audrey darling.” He bent close and whispered, “If our wolves are right, you’re my mated one.” He kissed her forehead tenderly. “All I know is I’ve never felt such an intense attraction for anyone.”

“Me, either.” She nestled against his body. Warmth, relief she’d trusted her instincts and a liquid heat vied for ascendency. She wanted to stay in his arms forever. It was the rightest place she’d ever known. She turned her face up, and Max kissed her, gently at first but with increasing urgency as his hands trailed down her back and snugged her against his body. His cock jutted into the junction between her thigh and stomach. She pressed against him, breath coming fast, tightened her arms, and opened her mouth to his kiss.

A soft tap sounded on the door. Max pulled away. “It’s Johannes. I’d know his knock anywhere. We’ll have all the time in the world to savor each other.” He kissed the tip of her nose and called, “Come in.”

Johannes came through the door, closing it behind him. Max quirked a brow. Johannes nodded, relief obvious on his face and in the relaxed set of his shoulders. “She told the truth.”

Audrey turned her head to look at Johannes. “Of course I did. I always do. You can tell things like that?”

He nodded.
“I’m a cat shifter. We have different gifts than you do. One is sensitivity to falsehoods.”
He grinned. It transformed his face. “I suppose the two of you will want to retire to our house for the rest of the day.”

Max grinned back. “Maybe the rest of our lives.”

“But we can’t just leave,” she protested. “The office is open. One of us needs to be here. There’re probably people piling up downstairs.”

“Ah, the voice of reason.” Max’s arms tightened around her. “How about a compromise? We’ll work until noon, leave for lunch, and just not come back.”

“Good plan,” Johannes said.

Both the men looked at her, waiting for her assent. Heat crept from her chest to her face. “Guess since it was my idea to keep the office manned, I’ll have to agree. First thing I’m going to do is call Personnel and see if they can send a temp in at noon.” She peeked at her wrist computer and felt her blush deepen. “It’s going to be the longest three and a half hours of my life.”

Johannes laughed. “Speak for yourself. I’ll be the one babysitting your prospective mate,
er
, lover.”

“Babysitting?” Max let go of Audrey, socked Johannes in the arm, and laughed right along with him.

“Before I go downstairs,” Audrey looked at Max, “a little while ago you said something about the shifters blaming you and the underground for how bad things are.” Concerned they might be overheard, she switched to telepathic speech.
“Are you connected to the shifter underground?”

“Perceptive of you, Miss Westen. I’m the head of it.”

Max danced a small jig around his office. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been truly happy. Maybe he’d never been happy like this, where joy spilled from every pore and made the air in the room glow.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
he asked his wolf.

“Audrey’s wolf and I discussed it. In the end, we decided it would be best to stay out of things unless we absolutely had to intervene. We couldn’t imagine a mated pair walking away from one another.”

“You could have said something.”

“Your electronic in-basket is filling up judging from all those dings,” Johannes noted, mercifully not mentioning that Max and his wolf had broken the shifter covenant. Of course, it was possible the wolf had shielded his words.

“Oh, who gives a fuck?” Max loped over to where Johannes stood next to a window and grabbed his arms. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Once I’m positive we’re mates—and I’ll know when we shift spontaneously once we start to make love—you’ll perform the ritual mating ceremony. Maybe even later tonight.”

“It would be my pleasure.” A soft smile illuminated Johannes’ face as he whispered back. “More than a pleasure, an honor. It’s been over a hundred years since I’ve joined a mated shifter pair.”

Max nodded, gave Johannes a quick hug, and stepped back, but not so far he couldn’t keep his voice soft. “I know. I felt the same way when I joined Kate and Devon. It gave me hope our kind wouldn’t die out.”

The smile disappeared. “We won’t. I don’t care if we have to kill every last one of those bastards who hung us out to dry when they penned that edict. Plus the shifters who’ve turned into Benedict Arnolds.”

“We can’t kill all of them. It’s not practical. We need to make them see reason, repeal the damned thing, and talk sense into our own kind. Not just here but around the world.”

Johannes rolled his eyes. “You’ve turned into quite the politician. Maybe you’ve overstayed your welcome here.”

“I don’t know about that. Feels like I’m just hitting my stride.”

“Spoken like a man with a perpetual hard-on.”

Max patted the front of his trousers and rearranged himself. “Okay. Fine. I’m going to try to make a dent in whatever Audrey’s sent up here. I can’t wait until it’s time to leave. Once we get home—”

“You don’t have to tell me. I’ll ward everything and try not to jack off too many times while the smell of your heat permeates the whole house.”

“Maybe you could wash your hands in between times and make us a special dinner.”

Johannes laughed. “That could probably be arranged.”

The rest of the morning actually went far quicker than Max imagined it would. A group of teachers, concerned over escalating violence on campus, took up over an hour. Johannes ushered them out and said, “It’s time.”

Max shrugged into his jacket, stuffed a few things into his briefcase, and powered down the vid feed. “When I took this job, I told myself I was doing it to,” he lowered his voice, “help us. Maybe it’s an illusion, but I think I’m improving the quality of life for everyone in the state, at least in some small ways.”

“You’ve always been a man of integrity. How could you bring less than your best to anything? Come on, let’s go get your mate.”

Max floated down the stairs and pushed through the door into the reception area. Audrey smiled shyly. A spot of color bloomed on each cheek. “Just let me close things down here. Human Resources is sending a gal to hold down the fort. She’ll be here after lunch.”

“Anything I can help with?” Max asked. Heart hammering against his ribs, he felt like a nervous adolescent about to embark on his first date.

Audrey shook her head and rose from her seat. She was lovely. Today she wore a dark green wool suit and a black blouse that looked like silk. Her long, shapely legs were encased in nylon stockings; shiny, black high-heeled pumps made her calves look divine. She cocked her head to one side. “Should I follow you with my car?”

“I’ll drive with you,” Max said.

Her smile broadened. “I was hoping you’d say that. I’ve been more than a little distracted.” She laughed. “Not that having you inches from me is going to help.”

Johannes called the elevator. The door opened, and Max gestured all of them through.
She thinks she’s been distracted. It will be a blooming miracle if we make it home in one piece.
They did the same thing they’d done the previous night and drove to her car a couple of levels deeper in the garage. She tossed her things in the trunk, and he helped her in, hands lingering on her arm and shoulder before he moved around to his side of the car.

“I was thinking about how we could use this time,” she said once they were underway.

“I love your efficiency, but I’m not sure we need it right now.”

“Of course we do. You can tell me some basic things I need to know about being a shifter.”

“Sure.” Max loosened his tie and laid a proprietary hand on her leg. “You feel so good. I can’t wait to get you out of those clothes.”

She slapped his hand playfully away. “See. This is why I thought we needed something to focus on. I won’t be much of a driver if all I’m thinking about is dragging you onto a bed and fucking your brains out.”

“You don’t need to be much of a driver,” he pointed out, placing his hand higher. “The car does most of the thinking for you.”

“Yes, but it can’t avoid accidents. The newer ones have sensors, but this one doesn’t.” She wriggled beneath his touch. “I need a basic primer on shifters. Consider it something like
Shifter 101
.”

“Anything in particular?”

She tossed her hands in the air, palms up. “I don’t know squat. You could begin anywhere.”