Zoe Bright was a tough nut to crack. After only twenty minutes of holding her in the cabin, Rollo already felt exhausted. He had to pace himself, she obviously wasn’t going to give up any information that easily. She was protecting something. Perhaps she was still under the misguided impression that the only way to ensure her safety and freedom was to deliver the jewels to Ivanov.

If he gave her the jewels, he would be an accomplice in the crime. If she somehow managed to take the jewels and slip away, he would never see her again. He couldn’t allow either to happen. Rollo loved his job and he loved the law. But he loved Zoe even more. The revelation that he was already in love with her hit him in the chest. He had to turn away from her and stand beside the flickering fire in the hearth.

“What’s the matter?” Zoe asked from behind him. “Guilty conscience getting to you?”

Rollo let out a long breath and grabbed one of the rustic chairs from the dining set and pulled it across the floor to sit in front of Zoe on the couch. They sat only a foot and a half from each other, the energy and heat of their bodies mingling in the space between them.

“Why don’t you tell me about your connection to Dimitri Ivanov?” Rollo asked.

“What gives you the idea that I have any connection to whoever the fuck that is?” she spat.

Rollo pulled out his cell phone and brought up the photographs that Damien had sent him. He brought up one of Zoe and Dimitri kissing under the cypress trees of southern France. It sickened his bear, but he pressed his eyes together and brought his inner beast under control.

“Does this look at all familiar to you?” he asked her, showing her the image.

“Are you jealous?”

“The man in this picture is Dimitri Ivanov. How do you explain that?”

“Maybe I met him at a party once,” she mused.

“Well, how about this one from a year later?” he said showing her a second picture that showed the couple climbing into a limousine together in Paris.

“What is your point?”

“My point is that you seem to be awfully cozy with the head of a Russian mafia group,” Rollo said.

“I had no idea that Dima was involved in criminal activity. He was just fun to hang out with. He’s actually a really good dancer. You would be surprised.”

“Spare me,” Rollo growled.

“Am I sensing some envy? What’s wrong? Can’t you dance?” she asked.

“My dancing skill is irrelevant, Ms. Bright. I have all the physical evidence I need to connect you to the crime already,” he said, dangling the velvet bag of jewels in front of her.

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

Rollo pulled the jewels out of the bag, showing her each piece.

“These are exactly the items that were taken from Caitlin Somerset’s chest at her mansion. I found them on you.”

“I found them in the forest.”

“You found them? Is that why you took off running when you heard the siren. And is it why you told me that if you didn’t get them back you were dead?”

“I just wanted you to think that it was serious. I was scared of going to jail.”

“Cut the shit, Zoe. I know you’re connected to Ivanov. I know you stole the jewels for him. Just tell me the truth.”

She sighed and looked away, her mouth pressing into a hard line. How the hell was he going to get through to her? She had to understand that this was all for her own safety. He couldn’t let her go. And he couldn’t let Ivanov hurt her.

“I’m just trying to protect you.”

“There’s nothing you can do for me, Rollo,” she said in a low voice as she stared into his eyes.

“Damn you, woman. Why are you so stubborn?”

“I’m trying to protect you, Rollo. You and I both know how this ends.”

“Oh?” he asked, crossing his arms.

She was talking in circles. He was following her along the way just for the game of it but was already growing tired and wanted to end it.

“It ends with one or both of us dead,” she hissed.

“And why would that be?”

“If you don’t know already, I’m not going to tell you.”

“You’re obviously afraid that Ivanov is going to hurt you. You have reason to believe that, I’m sure. That’s why I brought you out here. You just have to accept my help.”

“You can’t free me from what I’ve done. No one can help me. If you care for me even one little bit, you will give me the jewels and let me go, now.”

“So I can become an accomplice in a crime and allow my one and only mate to run away from me forever?”

Her face fell. Now, they both knew her plan.

“This will never work, Rollo,” she said rattling her handcuffs behind her back. “I am a thief and you are a cop.”

“So you admit you’re a thief,” he said.

“I admit nothing.”

Rollo stood from his chair, not able to remember another time he felt more frustrated. He had already spelled it out for her. He knew everything from her connection to Ivanov to the fact that she had stolen the jewels.

Why was she still holding back? Maybe she didn’t trust him. Maybe she believed that Ivanov had a reach that was wider than his. Rollo wasn’t sure which hurt worse. If he played the sensitive card and gained her trust, she would see him as weak. She wouldn’t believe he couldn’t protect her. If he continued to play it hard, he’d never get her to trust him.

“I’m going to hunt something for dinner,” he said, pulling his clothes off as he stood in front of her.

Her mouth dropped as his T-shirt hit the floor. He stepped out of his shoes and yanked down his pants, boxer briefs and all. He stood proud and half hard in front of her, a slight smile on his face. He could smell her need, tight between her legs. He knew she yearned for him to bury himself in her warmth. She flicked her tongue across her lips, and her eyes darted over his body.

“Do you like what you see?” he asked in a husky voice.

“I’ve seen better,” she said, not meeting his gaze.

“Liar,” he growled. “We can already practically read each other’s minds by the scents we give off. You want me as much as I want you, little kitty. Now, sit tight while I get your ass something to eat.”

Rollo hurried off into the night, shifting in mid stride. He galloped through the clearing and into the wood, smelling the sharp scent of pine needles as they broke under his feet. He bolted through the forest, sniffing out the potential prey who lived there. He smelled the musky scent of a buck, not far down a damp ravine. It would be good meat for his mate, and they would both feast tonight and tomorrow on its flesh.

The water trickled down below him, he could smell it rising in the darkness as he approached. On quiet feet, he stepped into the ravine, blocking the buck on every side. The buck’s heartbeat thrummed in Rollo’s sensitive ears just as its head shot up in awareness of the bear’s presence.

He charged forward, growling and baring his teeth as he barreled toward the startled buck. The deer bolted on his hind legs and scurried toward the edge of the ravine, trying to climb up the steep slope to safety.

The bear swiped at the buck’s hind leg and slammed it down onto the muddy ravine floor. With a quick bite, Rollo snapped its neck, tasting its lifeblood lap over his tongue. Now he had food for his mate.

Rollo shifted into human form and slung the heavy animal over his broad shoulders, his shifter strength hefting the load. With his naked, taut body streaked in mud, Rollo climbed out of the ravine and carried his kill through the forest. It took him forty-five minutes to walk back to the cabin. When he deposited his load outside, he noticed the door was cracked open.

He growled and sniffed the air as he pushed inside. Zoe was gone. Dammit. He should have known she would break free. The cuffs were discarded on the cabin floor. He turned quickly outside and jumped into his bear form, tasting the air in an attempt to pick up her scent.

He could smell her faintly on the breeze, and followed the scent into the forest. He picked up speed as her scent grew stronger. Soon, he found himself in a grove of tall old-growth spruce trees. He inhaled the piney fragrance, trying to pinpoint her location. It was as if she was everywhere and nowhere. Rollo turned around, his massive brown grizzly body smashing over underbrush as he moved through the trees. He growled and reared up on his hind legs, letting out an intimidating roar.

His pussycat must have taken to the treetops, and he couldn’t climb all the way up the tree to get to her. He tried to locate exactly where she, sniffing from one trunk to the next. The forest towered overhead and the first rays of morning sunlight appeared in the dim dusky sky. He spotted movements about twenty feet above him and reared against the solid trunk, trying to push her out. Even with his massive size and strength, it was no match for the sixteen-foot wide tree.

The sound of her high-pitched growl fell from above him as her claws dug into his back. The velvet bag of jewels fell at his side. He swiped at her, and she went tumbling down onto the forest floor. In a frantic attempt to escape, she twisted away, trying to run. Rollo charged at her and pinned her to the ground, pressing his teeth against the back of her neck in a holding bite.

With a feline scream, Zoe shifted. Her black and yellow patterned hide melted into golden tan skin, and a pile of long black hair flowed from her head. Rollo let go of her neck but carefully held her under him as he shifted. They were entangled in each other, flesh to flesh on the damp forest floor. The golden rays of the sunrise filtered through the forest canopy and illuminated the green dew covered leaves of the underbrush around them.

Zoe twisted under Rollo, trying to push him away. His superior strength allowed him to hold her still. She whimpered, begging to be released.

“You shouldn’t have tried to escape,” he whispered into the back of her neck.

“You’re holding me prisoner,” she spat back, her cheek pressed against the soft forest floor.

Rollo stood up, bringing Zoe with him. He held her wrist in his hand and looked down at her naked form. He hadn’t seen her this way before and couldn’t help the magnetic draw he felt begging to be at one with her body. He stiffened, his eyes absorbing every beautiful curve he had only seen hinted at under her clothes.

“Why don’t you tell me the truth, Zoe? I’m only trying to protect you. To protect us.”

“Rollo, we both know that this will never work.”

“What are you so afraid of, Zoe?” he asked her.

She only turned away and stopped speaking. Rollo was at his wits end. They needed to be on the same side. Maybe he should have taken her down to the station in the first place. But now it was too late for that.

He was standing with her naked in the forest, holding her against her will. He couldn’t take that back now. He had to see this thing through. He grabbed the jewels off the forest floor. If she could just trust him and tell him the truth, if she could just believe that he could protect her from Dimitri Ivanov, they could put an end to this game.

“I’m going to have to keep you here until you tell me what’s going on. You understand that, right?” he asked her.

“I’ll never tell you anything, Rollo Morris. Just let me go.”

“Have it your way, little kitty,” he said, leading her through the forest toward the cabin.

When he looked back at her, as the yellow morning sun shone across her tanned face, he could swear he saw her smirk at him. Maybe this was a game that Zoe Bright didn’t mind playing.