Wolf Born (16 page)

“Nothing’s going to happen to me.” He held out his arms. “Come here. We both need to get some sleep.”

She lay back down. Fear beat an unpleasant tattoo in her mind. “Maybe it’s not safe for you to serve the rest of your term.”

“Maybe not. I assess things one day at a time, love. If I sent my worries spiraling too far ahead, I’d never accomplish anything.”

“My dad used to say something like that.”

“Do you know where he is?”

She shook her head. “No, but I’m pretty sure Loren does. Mom went into hiding with him. Couldn’t bear to be parted, I guess. I’m the youngest of their four kids. We didn’t really need them anymore, but I still miss having a parent to talk with. Dad was really wise.”

“Do you have any idea how old he is?”

“Not really. I did know he’d watch Mom grow old and die someday. He loved her beyond faith or reason. So much he didn’t care she couldn’t stand by his side throughout his life.” Something warm cracked open inside Audrey. Tears spilled onto Max’s chest. “I always hoped I’d find a love like that.”

“And now you have.” He kissed the top of her head and then her forehead.

“Daddy would really like you.”

“I’m sure I’d like him, too. Hopefully, we’ll clean things up so he and all the rest can finally come out of hiding.”

It was closing on noontime when a stunning woman with long, curly red-blonde hair walked through the elevator on the arm of a dishy Native American man. She wore skin tight jeans and a multi-colored top that hugged considerable curves. Gold jewelry circled her neck and wrists. Her companion was dressed in black slacks, a pale green shirt, and a battered leather vest. His hair was drawn back in a braided queue. Behind them was another tall, rangy man, with straight red hair tumbling down his shoulders and multi-colored eyes, shading to gold. He wore tan khakis and a blue and green plaid flannel shirt.

“Hello.” Audrey smiled. “Welcome to the Governor’s office. How can I help you?”

“You must be Audrey.” The woman grinned and strode forward. “I’m Kate Roman.” She rounded Audrey’s desk, pulled her to her feet, and hugged her. “I’m so happy for you,” she whispered. “Max is just the best guy. We need to throw a party once this has all blown over.”

“Thanks.” Audrey extricated herself from Kate’s embrace and gazed into dancing golden eyes. “From the sound of things, the celebration should be for you and Devon too.”

“I want to meet Audrey.” The Native American man stepped close and jostled Kate playfully.

Kate stepped aside. “Sorry. I’m hogging her. This is Devon.”

“Pleased to meet you.” The Indian man with amazing facial bone structure and liquid dark eyes held out a hand.

“I’m Ryan.” The redhead shook her hand, too.

“Max is expecting you. Will you be having lunch with us? I wasn’t certain how many to make reservations for.”

“It’ll be all of us,” Kate said. “It’s afterward that the boys have plans.”

“Of course.” Audrey eyed Devon and Ryan. She switched to mind speech a bit awkwardly.
“Take good care of him. Please.”

“We aim to,”
Ryan answered.

“If it’s all the same to you,” Devon cut in, “we’ll push off now. If all goes as planned, we’ll have time to visit over lunch and dinner.”

“I’ll look forward to it.” Audrey watched as the men disappeared into the stairwell.

“So.” Kate beamed. “We have a few minutes. Tell me everything.”

Heat surged from Audrey’s chest and swept over the top of her head. “But I barely know you,” she protested.

Kate laughed, a warm rich sound, it put Audrey more at ease. “Don’t mind me, hon. I worked as a surrogate for years. We don’t pull any punches. I thrive on juicy, intimate details.”

“Are you still working?”

“Oh my goodness, no. Once I met Devon, I knew I’d never make love with anybody else.”

“With Devon, was it sort of instantaneous, like a bolt out of the blue?”

“Exactly.” She switched to telepathic speech.
“It’s the mate bond. It has such a strong draw, it’s impossible to deny it.”

Audrey inhaled deeply once and then again, feeling more comfortable. Kate was just so likeable. Her bouncy effervescence was contagious.
“Even before the mate bond, I sort of worshipped Max from afar. Quite aside from being the most beautiful man I’d ever laid eyes on, he was kind and considerate, and I used to spin fantasies about dating him once he wasn’t governor anymore.”

Kate clapped her hands together. “Aw, I adore love stories. Even better, you had feelings for him and knew him quite well before. After all,” she lowered her voice conspiratorially, “secretaries know men much better than their wives. Just look at all the time you spent with him.”

“Ready, ladies?” Max came through the stairwell door. He walked to Kate and kissed her cheek. “You’re looking ravishing my dear, as always.”

Kate quirked a brow and gestured toward Audrey, “What about your—?”

Audrey shook her head. “Uh-uh. His
secretary
is just fine.”

“Sorry.” Kate colored. “Wasn’t thinking. This is a pretty public place.”

“Car’s waiting downstairs,” Max said. “Loren will follow us, but we’ll drive ourselves today.”

* * * *

They ate at a little Mediterranean place not far from the office. After lunch, Max returned with Loren as planned. Audrey thought she’d be alone for a bit but welcomed Kate’s company as she ferried the car to her midtown flat to retrieve enough clothes and personal effects to last a few days. Even though they’d only spent a couple of hours together, Kate already felt like an old friend.

Audrey parked as close to the door as she could and led Kate up the stairs to her apartment.

“I just love these old places,” Kate trilled. “Berkeley is full of them. You’ll have to come visit Devon and me. The cops ransacked my home, but we’ve got it looking decent again. We spent a lot of time at the shifter safe house while we were cleaning it up, and we’re still there a few nights a week. Eventually we’ll stay at my place full time. Thought it would be safer living there than at his house since I’m up in the hills—”

The door popped open before Audrey had a chance to retrieve her wrist computer from her suit jacket pocket and key in the code.

“Hey, we got lucky,” a masculine voice boomed. Three men dove at her and Kate, grabbed their arms, and dragged them inside the apartment. Someone slammed the door.

“I’ll say, two for the price of one.”

“Hell of a bargaining chip.”

Kate shrieked and clawed. Her clothes ripped as she shifted into a sleek mountain cat. The men had been ready for just such a move. All three of them dropped a net over her. The harder Kate clawed, the tighter the net clenched around her.

Fear turned Audrey’s blood to ice. Her stomach curdled, and she wondered if she’d puke up her lunch. She would have made a dash for freedom. No one had actually harmed her yet, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave Kate. Besides, she was pretty sure the second she cut and ran, one of the men would follow her. They were tall and heavily muscled; it looked like they spent a lot of time at a gym. If she made a break for it and one of them jumped her, he’d drive her face down into the pavement outside. It wouldn’t be pretty. Two of the men had short blond hair, the other dark, speckled with gray. Hard, flat, dark eyes stared at her.

“Let me out!”
To Audrey’s horror, her hands shimmered into paws with shiny, curved claws.

“Stop that! Shifting didn’t work for Kate. They trapped her.”
Her hands stabilized in their human form. Audrey’s wolf retreated, snarling imprecations at the men.

“How about it, sweetie,” one of the men leered. “You gonna shift, too?”

“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Like hell,” a second man snorted.

The light flickered when she shifted, and Kate was human again, panting and disheveled. “Let her go.” Audrey was so intimidated, she could barely articulate the words. “She’s naked.”

“It’s her own fucking fault,” the man with dark hair said.

Audrey shoved her fear to a back burner and stormed up to him, hands on her hips. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. There are three of you. It’s not like we have any chance to escape. Let me take her into the bedroom and find something to cover her.”

“I agree.” One of the blonds said as he untangled his side of the webbing. “If someone saw us hauling a naked woman out of this building, they’d call the law.” Kate snaked out a hand for her wrist computer, which had fallen on the floor. “I don’t think so, darlin’.” The blond man snapped it up and pocketed it.

If anyone sees us leave here, I’ll scream like a banshee.
Audrey helped Kate to her feet once the net had loosened enough to let her go. “Come on.” She draped an arm around Kate’s shoulders.

The men trooped after them. Kate spun and sneered. “I don’t need an audience.”

“We’ve already seen everything, doll.” A blond whistled appreciatively. “If you ever get tired of Devon, I could find a spot for you in my bed.”

Kate spit at him. Her aim was good; a glob of spittle hit his cheek. “Bitch.” He lunged forward, hand open to slap her.

“Stop.” The dark haired man barked. “No damage unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Hmph. So they don’t plan to hurt us.
Audrey’s courage edged up a degree. She tugged open drawers and handed Kate a set of sweats and some panties.

“You should put on something more like this, too,” Kate murmured, getting into the offered clothing. “High heels and silk probably won’t be very useful where they’re taking us.”

Audrey swallowed revulsion. She did not want to undress in front of the smirking group of men.

“Fine idea,” one of the blond men chortled. “Love to see what this one’s got.”

“Yeah,” the other blond muttered. “I’ve always been partial to strawberry blondes.”

“Just go for it,” Kate urged.

Teeth set together so hard they hurt, Audrey got another set of sweats from the drawer and some socks. She snagged tennis shoes from the closet and looked at Kate’s bare feet.

“My shoes should be fine,” Kate said, obviously reading Audrey’s thoughts. “They’ll be on the floor in your front room.”

Better get this over fast.
Audrey turned her back to the men and took off her suit jacket and blouse. Kate handed her the sweat top and helped her get it over her head. Audrey kicked off her shoes and reached beneath her skirt to move her nylons out of the way. When her fingers touched nothing but bare skin, she remembered her lack of underwear and got another pair of panties from the drawer, pulling them on under her skirt once she’d gotten her panty hose off.

“Hey, doll,” one of the men trilled. “You go bare bottom.”

Someone whistled. She didn’t know who since they were behind her.

“Yee-haw. My kind of woman.”

“Shut the fuck up,” she spat and tugged her sweat bottoms on beneath her skirt. Once she was covered, she undid the skirt and slid it to the floor.

“Not much of a show,” one of the men complained.

“More than you deserved,” Kate growled. “Here, hon.” She handed Audrey’s shoes and socks to her. “I’m going to go find mine. Thanks for the clothes.”

“No problem.” Audrey sat on the edge of the bed and put on her shoes and socks. Her wrist computer was in a pocket of her suit jacket.
Damn!
She wished she’d thought of it before she’d agreed to change clothes. Maybe there’d be a way she could rescue it and slip it beneath her sweats. She got up and went to her clothing piled on the floor. Thank God, she always kept the wrist computer on silent mode.

“What are you doing?” the dark-haired man asked, voice sharp. The others had followed Kate to the living room.

She smiled sweetly. “Hanging them up. My work clothes cost a fortune. So does dry cleaning.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re making a whole lot of assumptions. Like that you’ll ever see the inside of this place again. Be quick about it.”

She draped everything over her arm and walked briskly to the closet. Using her body as a shield, she hung things, taking her time arranging them.

“Tom,” one of the men called from the living room.

“Yeah.”

Audrey took advantage of what she hoped was a moment of inattention to slide the computer out of the suit pocket and into one she’d sewn into her sweat pants for just that purpose. She held her breath; adrenaline coursed, making her scalp tingle unpleasantly.

“We need to get out of here,” the living room voice continued.

“Hey.” Tom clumped to her and grabbed her arm. “We’re leaving. You did a good enough job.”

“Okay. Okay.” Exultant she’d pulled it off, Audrey went with him. Now if she could just grab a second alone to use the computer, maybe she could call in the cavalry to free them.

“No funny stuff.” One of the blonds brandished a laser pistol. The men herded them through the door. Blondie number two took off down the stairs.

“I heard you say you weren’t supposed to hurt us,” Kate said, chin high.

Tom grinned nastily. “That’s not to say one of you might not meet with an unpleasant accident.”

“All clear. Come now,” floated up to them.

There wasn’t a soul in sight when the men prodded her and Kate into the back of a large luxury car. “It’s just like mine.” Kate’s gaze roamed the inside of the vehicle. “Not many people kept these older ones.” One of the blonds sat in the back seat with them next to a door, presumably to block one of the sources of egress. The car took off at a sedate pace. Audrey tried to see what the dark-haired man tapped into the onboard nav system, but he shielded his activity with a hand.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Max would be frantic when he didn’t hear from her. She was supposed to pick up a few clothes, drop them at his house, and come back to the office.
One thing at a time. If I get too far ahead of myself, I’ll be so scared I won’t be able to do anything.
She smiled grimly. Max had said something very similar the previous night, leaving out the scared part. She suspected very little frightened him.

“So.” She straightened in her seat. “I know Tom’s name. Who are the rest of you?”