Having a boss who considered her the answer to a personal prayer and was desperate to ensure she didn’t get away kind of rocked. Renny made certain to express her thanks to Marjory for giving her a couple of hours off this morning for the latest meeting in the mayor’s office, but the older woman waved away her words.
“I have a vested interest in making sure you stay safe, young lady,” she said. “I’m more likely to berate the mayor for not doing enough to protect you, especially after hearing about the latest stunt those coyotes pulled. I’ve been running this library on my own for forty years now. I can manage as many more mornings as it takes to get you safe and this sorry business dealt with.”
“You are amazing,” Renny said, meaning every word.
Marjory laughed. “What I am, my dear, is desperate. You’re the first qualified librarian to come through this town in more than a decade. I would hunt this Hilliard fellow down myself before I let you get away. Now, let’s take a look at last year’s budget. You’ll want to familiarize yourself, because we’ll be starting on next year by the end of this month.”
Honestly, Renny felt grateful to spend the rest of her day working. Not only had she been dying to return to a library for months now, but focusing on learning how to take over Marjory’s role kept her too busy to worry about anything else. Such as when Geoffrey might strike again, and whether or not her mate was off doing something foolish, like going after the coyote all by himself.
He hadn’t said that’s what he had planned, but he’d been pretty evasive when he’d dropped her off at the library after they left the town hall. He had told her to have a good day, promised to pick her up at six, and tap-danced around her questions as to what he’d be doing all afternoon. Part of the time, she imagined, he’d have to spend arranging for someone to clean up the mess Geoffrey had left in their house and get the broken windows replaced, but she knew that wouldn’t take him all day. She supposed that as long as he kept his promise to return by six, there was only so much trouble he could get into.
Or at least, that’s what she kept telling herself.
He had arranged for a deputy to remain all day to guard her, which she thought was overkill and he insisted was the least paranoid plan he’d been able to come up with regarding her protection. When he’d started mumbling about cotton wool and how big a papoose it would take to hold someone her size, she’d let it drop. But her worry lingered until he pushed through the library’s heavy old door right on the dot of six.
Her face lit up in a smile, and she heard Marjory chuckle beside her. “Go on, now, young lady. We’re done for today, but I’ll expect you at nine o’clock tomorrow, barring any unforeseen emergencies.”
Renny grimaced. “Yeah, let’s hope we’re done with those.”
The women exchanged goodbyes, and Renny gathered up her things and followed her mate to the door. He kept a protective hand on her back and his gaze moving on the short walk to the curb where he had parked. His expression remained relaxed, but she could feel the tension in him and noticed that it didn’t really ease up when they got moving.
“No news about Geoffrey, huh?”
He glanced at her briefly. “No. We covered another couple of sections of our grid, but so far no one has reported anything but old tracks.”
“We?” She raised an eyebrow and fixed him with a stern gaze. “Which areas did you and your partner cover, my mate?”
“Relax, little red.” His smile flashed as he navigated past the bed-and-breakfast where they had spent last night. “I heard you when you asked me not to go running off on my own.”
Renny turned to look at the pretty blue house receding behind them, then back at her mate. “Um, did I miss the part of our day where you told me we weren’t staying here in town again?”
“I had some folks out to the house this afternoon to get things cleaned up, and to upgrade the security system. I thought we’d both be more comfortable at home tonight.”
She could definitely get behind that. It might have been only a little over two weeks, but Renny already thought of the small house in the woods as home. His den had become theirs, and she’d always feel most secure inside it.
It also didn’t hurt that she’d rather not involve any innocent bystanders in her problems until they managed to catch Geoffrey. That included sweet, kindly innkeepers who made her pots of hot chocolate and left plates of cookies on the nightstand.
“As long as they got the stink out.”
“Trust me, I gave them very specific instructions. And helped open all the damned windows myself.”
His grumpy tone made her grin and also served to distract her as they drove past the spot where the truck had been ambushed last night. No evidence lingered to indicate what had happened. Morning rain showers had even washed away the clumps of mud kicked up by their tires when Mick had steered them off the road. The forest looked empty and peaceful, but Renny couldn’t quite shake off her lingering tension.
It could be the natural wariness that came from knowing that someone who wanted to harm her was still out there somewhere, but she suspected that didn’t explain all of it. In the chaos of dealing with being attacked, finding their home invaded, and making plans to find Geoffrey, she hadn’t forgotten that she and Mick had never really finished the argument she had started about their relationship. The stubborn wolf still hadn’t told her he loved her.
At least now she felt pretty confident that he did. He had shown her that and had even hinted at it with words, but a little voice inside Renny wanted to hear it from his lips in plain English. Not for her benefit as much as for his. He had vowed to protect her, indicated that he wouldn’t survive losing her the way he had his first mate, but he still hadn’t come out and said, “Renny, I love you.” Until he did, she would be stuck wondering if he still resented having their mating thrust upon him or if he was ready to move forward and build their future together.
Mick tried to shove down the nerves boiling in his belly, but the things turned out to move faster and slipperier than a litter of baby otters. Last night, Renny had told him that she loved him, but she hadn’t exactly offered the words as a tender vow of devotion. She’d pretty much thrown them down like a gauntlet and dared him to say them back to her. As if three little words could encompass the way he felt about his redheaded she-wolf.
Love didn’t begin to describe it. He needed Renny, the same way he needed his heart to beat or his lungs to fill up with air. In fact, he wasn’t entirely sure she hadn’t wormed her way so far inside of him that she hadn’t become his heart, taking over the very act of pumping the blood through his veins. Damn it, but he could swear he felt her fingers there inside his chest, squeezing and releasing in steady rhythm.
Even before last night’s attack, he had known he was in love, and not because he recognized the feeling from his first mating. He’d actually been dealing with a profound sense of shame over the realization that what he felt for Renny eclipsed anything he’d ever had with Beth. He had loved Beth with his whole heart, but he’d never felt for her the things he did for Renny. He had killed for his first mate, but he hadn’t died for her. For Renny, he knew he wouldn’t even have the choice.
There had been no conscious choice with Beth. He had believed for a long time that it had only been the need for vengeance that had kept him from following her into the beyond. Eventually, he’d thought the bitterness of losing her would dry up, and he would go ahead and join her in death. In fact, you could say that for more than eight years now, he’d been sitting around waiting to die. Only now, because of Renny, he was living in painful, vibrant Technicolor.
His new mate had brought him back to life, but she seemed oblivious to that fact. Hell, he was an artist, wasn’t he? Maybe he could just draw her a damned picture.
Mick pulled his truck to a stop in front of the house and raced around the hood to help Renny down before she could just jump for it. Something in him compelled him to physically lead her in to her surprise, so he folded his fingers around hers and tugged her up the porch steps.
She looked down at the freshly restained boards. “Wow, remind me to make a Yelp recommendation for whoever you used to clean this place up. You can’t even tell there was ever any deer blood here. They did a fantastic job.”
Rolling his eyes, Mick pulled her to the front door and fished out his keys. He was trying to set a romantic mood here, and his mate was talking about bloodstains and deer carcasses.
“Wait till you see how they did the inside.”
Renny lifted her face and sniffed. “So far, I can’t smell a thing. I mean, I can’t smell anything out of place. No Geoffrey on the porch, at least.”
“Coyotes have been permanently banished,” he grumbled, and led the way inside. Immediately, he closed and locked the door and turned to the new and more elaborate security pad beside the entry. “The security company did a total upgrade,” he explained as he gave her the new access code. “The mayor authorized it, so now anytime the alarm activates here, it immediately notifies the Alpha Sheriff’s Department. You can call to give them a safe word in case of a false alarm, but they can be here in less than ten minutes from the time they get the signal.”
Renny wrinkled her nose. “Okay, so I know that’s a good thing from a safety standpoint, but it’s going to make me paranoid to open the door. I’ll be afraid of setting it off every darned time. One too many false alarms and the deputies will hate me.”
He looked down at her. “Deal. I don’t care if every single resident of the state of Washington hates you, as long as you’re safe. Understand?”
She sighed and patted his chest. “Okay, Cujo. Maybe I’ll just bake them preemptive cookies, or something.”
With the alarm activated, Mick hung up their coats and led her through the living room. Everything looked neat and orderly, just the way it had before Geoffrey had been there. A few knickknacks might be missing, but the furniture had been repaired, the pictures rehung, and the debris vacuumed up as if it had never happened.
Renny made approving noises as she looked around, and he could see her taking deep breaths to scent the air. Carpet steamers, open windows, furniture polish, and a lot of elbow grease had dispelled the coyote miasma. Her smile told him she had noticed.
“Come on.” He nudged her toward the bedroom. “Come and make sure the cleaners didn’t toss away anything you wanted to try to salvage.”
She dragged her feet a little on their way down the hall. “What was there to salvage? If Geoffrey touched it, I sure as hell don’t want it anywhere near me anymore. And as for the things he pissed on? Ugh, don’t make me gag.”
“Just take a look,” he urged, positioning her in the doorway and then swinging the door open in front of her.
He heard her gasp and glanced down to make sure it wasn’t for any of the wrong reasons. Her lips had parted and her eyes had gone wide, and he thought he saw a shimmer of tears glaze over them.
Panic threatened.
Renny stepped forward, staring at the changes to their den’s inner sanctum. The bedroom had been completely transformed, from new flooring and rugs to new paint and curtains. It looked like the “after” picture from one of those guerrilla home makeover shows, and it smelled of vanilla and spice and home, not a trace of coyote to be found.
The walls, once deep blue and cavelike, had been lightened to a pale, smoky slate color that managed to be both light and cozy. Navy curtains had disappeared, leaving the windows looking larger and brighter with their frames of filmy white. All of the trim in the room had been repainted white as well, giving it a cleaner, more open look that softened its formerly masculine edges. The old carpet had disappeared, replaced by dark walnut planks and accented by a subtly pattered rug in shades of gray. Its placement drew attention to the room’s new centerpiece.
Gone was the bed the coyote had broken and defiled. In its place, Mick had chosen to decorate their shared space with the bed she had bought on her shopping trip with Molly, only it, too, had been transformed. The battered, functional tester she remembered with its scratched finish and two missing top rails now stood as a graceful four-poster. She couldn’t even see where the remains of the canopy frame had been removed, because the tops of the posts had been decorated with classic acorn-style finials. The entire piece had been painted a rich ebony to match the espresso color of the dresser and nightstand Mick had already owned. The dark finish contrasted beautifully with the thick, fluffy duvet, which sported a silver-on-white, leafing branch design. A spray of pillows in shades of blue, gray, and deep burgundy added a pop of color and made Renny want to fling herself into the pile and roll around like a puppy.
Her mate had done this for her. He had transformed what had been his bedroom—a masculine bachelor’s quarters—into something for both of them, a combination of the bed she had chosen and the pieces he had owned for years. He’d made the room softer and more inviting without adding frills or girly bits that didn’t suit him, and he’d clearly looked at the items she had planned to use in her bedroom at Molly’s apartment to get an idea of her taste in colors and textures. He’d done it all in one day, and he had done it to make her happy.
Renny’s eyes welled up and she started to turn around, gratitude and praise on her lips, but something else caught her eye. She tried to remember what had been there before—nothing? a clothes hamper? a pile of muddy boots?—but her mind had gone blank. All she could see was her vanity table, looking regal and elegant and as perfect as if it had just left the cabinetmaker’s workroom, sitting in pride of place on the wall beside the bathroom door.
Gone was the peeling, discolored paint. The mirror gleamed, reflecting the light from the bedside lamps, and the surface of the table looked so smooth and shiny, she thought she could trace every single grain of the wood through the dark, polished finish. It was perfect, exactly the way she’d pictured it in her head when she’d rescued it from the bargain section of the dusty antiques shop.
The tears started in earnest, and when she finally turned to face Mick, her mate took one look at her wet cheeks and red eyes and went whiter than the new curtains.
“What is it? Baby, what’s wrong?” he demanded. He reached out to grasp her shoulder, hands rubbing soothingly up and down her arms. “Whatever you don’t like, we can change it. I can get rid of it right now. Tell me what should go. The rug? I’ll toss it. You don’t like the colors? You can pick out new paint first thing in the morning, I swear. Just don’t cry, little red. You’re killing me.”
“I’m killing you?” She half laughed and half sobbed, the sound catching in her throat. “You just destroyed me, Michael Kennedy Fischer, and I will love you forever for it.”
His mate threw herself into his arms and kissed him as if he were a soldier who had just returned from war, thus rendering him utterly and hopelessly confused. He wasn’t dumb, though. He returned the kiss, with interest. It tasted salty and sweet and absolutely perfect, just like her.
He got to savor it for only a moment before she pulled away and began peppering his face with equally enthusiastic but much less intimate kisses. He had to close his eyes to keep from taking lips to the eyeball. Huh. Maybe he hadn’t actually done anything wrong?
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she chanted in between pecks, and he finally had to pull her away for a moment in order to get a look at her and figure out what was going on.
“Can I take it this means I did something right?”
She wriggled until she could reach to give him one more smacking kiss. “You did amazing. I can’t believe this. How on earth did you get this all done so quickly? It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since this place looked like a disaster area.”
Mick didn’t need the reminder. The sight of the destruction Geoffrey Hilliard had left in his home was seared into his memory. “I called in a few favors.”
And threw money around as if it were confetti, he admitted to himself. But, so what? His mate deserved it, and he deserved to see her looking happy and excited instead of tense and worried. The history of their mating so far looked like the design schematics for a theme park thrill ride, and redecorating their bedroom was his way of trying for something more along the lines of a romantic chick flick.
Or, you know, a late-night erotic feature. He wasn’t picky.
“Okay, write down their names in the morning,” Renny said. “I’ll add them to the cookie list.”
“You want me to wait till morning?” He slid his arms around her waist and tugged until her soft curves nestled against him. “I could jot it all down now, if you’d rather. Get it done tonight.”
“Oh, no.” She stretched up on her toes and looped her arms around his neck, pulling herself up until their lips met. “I have plans for tonight.”
Mick let himself sink into the kiss and reconsidered. A little thrill ride never hurt anyone.
Renny wasn’t the kind of girl who believed in trading sexual favors for the things she wanted. She didn’t use it to get her way, and she didn’t think of it as a bargaining chip. Good sex had enough to recommend it that she’d never felt it needed any other justification.
Of course, with all that said, she saw nothing wrong with using it as a well-earned reward, especially when that reward was so easily and satisfyingly shared.
She pulled away just long enough to take Mick’s hand and tug him toward their new, magazine-ready bed. “Come on. This bed was a little rickety when I picked it up. Let’s test out the repairs.”
Her mate chuckled and scooped her up, taking two long strides and then tossing her through the air to land in the middle of the mattress. The duvet billowed up around her and pillows scattered to the floor. Renny snuggled into the pristine softness and giggled.
“So far, so good.”
Mick leaned over her, bracing his palms beside her shoulders. “Good? Let’s try for spectacular.”
He took her mouth with greedy hunger. She could feel him looming above her, his weight carefully balanced so as not to crush her. Even so, she could feel his presence like a roof over her head, sheltering and protecting her, and that’s when she knew herself to be a dirty, rotten liar.
Renny was not “most of the way” in love with him like she’d told him in his truck the night before. She was head under water, fully submerged, soaked to the skin, and drowning in love with him. It no longer mattered whether he said the words to her, because there was no going back and nothing she could change. This was it. Her story was written.
She believed now that he loved her back. What else could he have been trying to tell her with this surprise, with all the time and effort and thought he had put in to not just repairing their den, but changing it to suit her and the new life they could build together? Actions, as Marjory had tried to tell her, really did speak louder than words.
But she still wanted to say them to him. They really had been important to her when she had confronted Mick about his feelings. Even though she now realized that she could hear them with her heart instead of her ears, she would feel like a coward if she didn’t speak them. It would be as if she held something back, and she wanted nothing of that between them.
She nipped at his lips, hard enough to get his attention. When he raised his head, she looked straight into his beautiful blue eyes and bared her soul. “I love you, my mate. Completely.”
His eyes blazed and his features took on a look of fierce satisfaction. “Good, because you’re mine, little red. And I love you, too.”
His mate stared up at him in silence just long enough to make him kick himself for being an idiot. The world’s biggest idiot. For Renny to react to his declaration of love with such shock meant that she hadn’t expected to hear it. So, either she still doubted his feelings for her or she doubted he had the stomach or the balls to man up and express them to her.
Either way, it meant he had some serious work to do. Before this night was over, his mate would have no doubt in her mind that he loved and cherished her above everything else in this world. He’d show her with both actions and words, but first he needed her naked.
He knelt on the bed, straddling her legs, and reached for the buttons of her prim, striped shirt. The tailored fit and conservative neckline had been driving him crazy all day.
She probably thought of it and of her trim, gray suit as professional and conservative, but to him they served as nothing more than a constant reminder of all the luscious things they concealed. Renny might think she dressed as a librarian should, but it only made him want to chase her behind a stack of books and ravish her. He could picture how she would look when he was finished, all soft and rumpled, her hair untidy and her eyes drowsy with satisfaction.
Oh, yeah. He’d like to see that look on her face again. Right about now.
She watched him while he undressed her, and he had a hard time choosing between staring into those sweet pools of green and staring at every inch of pale skin he uncovered. She watched him with such hunger and trust and love that it made his hands shake, and by the time he got to the button of her trousers, he lost all control. He ripped the fabric from her and tossed the pieces carelessly behind him.
She grinned. “You realize I don’t have many clothes left to spare, don’t you?”
He stripped off her panties, leaving her bare and beautiful on the rumpled new duvet. “Good. I like you naked. I think I’ll keep you that way.”
“Only if you join me.” She flipped open the button on his jeans, then lay back with a smug expression while he shed his own clothes at record-breaking speed.
When he eased back down on top of her, she arched and rubbed skin to skin, as if she were a cat instead of a wolf. Not that Mick minded. The feel of her bare curves and sweet softness beneath him made him harder than tempered steel. “My pleasure.”
It felt like a punishment to have to move, because he wanted to stay right where he was forever, pinning his mate to the mattress beneath him and savoring the inviting warmth of her. But then it became a punishment not to move, because the hunger inside him demanded more.
Mick slid down her body, unwilling to break contact long enough to shift with any real efficiency. She moaned and undulated a little beneath him, which turned out to be its own reward. He trailed kisses over her skin, along the arch of her neck, the dip of her shoulder, the firm smoothness of her breastbone.
When he reached her breasts, he stopped and lingered. He couldn’t help himself.
He nuzzled against the soft inner curve, drawing her scent in deeply. It lingered here in the sweet, dark space underneath, tangy lemon, dried tea leaves the color of her eyes, and hints of piquant nutmeg. He lapped at her skin, trying to draw in the taste, but that only increased his craving.
Her nipple beckoned to him, the stiff, pink berry drawn hard and tight. He closed his lips around it and felt as well as heard her low moan of pleasure. Her legs shifted restlessly, or tried to, since his lower body held her pinned in place, and he slid his hand between them.
He found her hot and wet and ready for him, and as his fingers glided through her plump folds, he felt the way her body reacted every time he drew hard at her breast. His little red mate liked the heavy pressure. He could give her that.
Part of him wanted to draw out the moment, to tease and torment and savor the tight drawing of need in his belly. His wolf clawed at him, but even that became part of the pleasure, the tension of struggling against his own base needs even while the means to sate them melted under his touch.
As it turned out, that part of him wasn’t quite as strong as the other. The second part was all need and urgency and it was damned tired of waiting. It wanted their mate now.
Abruptly, he pulled away from her, ignoring her whimper of confusion. Her hands reached for him, but he brushed them away and seized her at hip and shoulder, rolling her onto her stomach. She didn’t need further prompting but immediately pulled her knees forward and raised her hips, offering herself to her mate.
By the Goddess, she looked gorgeous. Her back slim and straight, her ass round and firm and curving down toward his glimpse of heaven. Her sex glistened with her arousal, puffy, pink, and inviting. The sight made his mouth water.
His dick could wait a second, he decided, and leaned forward to drag his tongue across her center. Renny shuddered and turned her face into the duvet, muffling her urgent little whimpers.
Oh, no. She didn’t get to do that. His mate didn’t get to deny him the sounds of her pleasure, not when every one of them made his chest swell with pride. And his cock swell with need.
He tangled a hand in her hair and used the grip to turn her head until her cheek pressed against the smooth cotton and her breathless little cries echoed around the room. That was more like it. He continued to tease her for another minute, savoring both the music of her noises and the salty, sweet flavor that was her essence. He didn’t believe he would ever have enough of this woman.
Mate.
Mine.
Love.
Need.
Take.
Mick reared up behind her and gripped her hips with both hands. His fingers dug in with bruising pressure as he fit the head of his cock to her entrance and began to ease inside.
He intended to plunge. Dear, sweet Lady of the Moon, how he wanted to plunge, but as his mate’s body closed around him, he felt how tight and snug the position had made her, and his instincts compelled him to relish every second of sensation.
She closed around him like a fist, her body milking him with tiny little contractions he knew she couldn’t control. She wasn’t trying to drive him out of his mind; she just couldn’t help herself.
“Mate. Please.” She panted the words, quiet and high-pitched with desperation. “More.”
Mick eased forward, sinking deeper, and had to grit his teeth against the impulse to let go, to spill himself then and there and damn anything but his own pleasure. His wolf snarled at that idea, grabbing him by the balls and demanding that he satisfy their mate, that he pleasure her so thoroughly, she would never have sufficient energy to think about other males.
“Please.”
He thrust forward with a muffled shout, burying himself to the hilt in her tight, hot passage. She felt like paradise, slick and soft and snug, and he was moving before he could think, setting a hard, driving rhythm that had their new bed shaking beneath them.
Renny met him thrust for thrust, throwing her weight backward to drive him deeper inside her. Her hands braced against the mattress, fingers curling into fists as he continued to ride her toward climax. He heard the hissing tear of fabric and saw her claws emerge, puncturing through the duvet to the sheets and probably the mattress beneath. The sight didn’t bother him. It only made him hotter.
His head fell back and he struggled not to unleash his own claws, unwilling to break his mate’s pale, smooth skin. His hips snapped in a primitive beat, keeping time with the fierce pounding of his heart.
Nothing this perfect could possibly last. He felt the climax rushing toward him with the speed and power of a locomotive, but he’d be damned if he’d go over without taking his mate with him.
He released his grip on her hips, shifting one hand to the mattress beside her head and draping himself across her back like a heavy, living blanket. The other hand he slid around to cup her sex, fingers finding the place where they joined and tracing a firm path up to her clit. He circled it and drew a sharp, keening wail from her lips.
That was all it took. Her pussy clenched around him, orgasm tightening every muscle in her body until she quivered like a bowstring. It made it hard for him to move, but Goddess, he needed to move, so he threw all his power into it and hammered into her until his own body seized up. He felt like he’d been struck by lightning, or maybe just stuck his dick in a wall outlet. But he wouldn’t have been surprised to see the room light up around them as he poured himself helplessly and endlessly into his mate’s welcoming body.
By the time he was spent, gravity had taken over, and he collapsed on top of Renny like so many pounds of dead meat. She grunted but offered no protest. Instead, she snuggled deeper into the mattress and slid her arms across the cool cotton surrounding their overheated bodies. When her hands found his, she twined their fingers together and brought one pair to her lips. He felt her press a kiss to his palm and slipped into sleep thinking no moment in his life had ever felt this good.
He couldn’t wait until they managed to top it.