Smoke

I WAS IN a hellava bind but some perverse streak made me rock up to my knees. The cops surrounding me tensed, and one kept a hand hovering over the butt of his gun. Not that it mattered much. Even with my hands cuffed behind my back, I could take them down. Hell, I could even if I wasn’t a Wolf. All that training forced on Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children didn’t evaporate once the uniforms were packed away.

“This what you been dreamin’ about, babe?” I dropped my voice to a low purr. “Me on my knees, waiting for your orders?” I was no fucking submissive but from the fiery color flooding her cheeks and the splash of her geranium and clove scent drenched in damp heat? Yeah, I wondered if maybe Leigh didn’t have at least some curiosity. I’d be happy to explore those things with her—once I got out of this mess.

“Shut up, Smo—” She choked off my name and cleared her throat. “Err, Mr. Jenner.”

“Babe.”

Her hands fisted and she looked ready to slug me. “What were you doing here tonight?”

“You gonna do this right here?”

“Yes.”

“Can I get off the fucking pavement?”

She contemplated the question longer than was necessary before nodding to my guards. Before they could latch on to help me up, I surged to my feet, standing there loose-limbed, ready to take whatever came my way.

Her eyes widened, lips parted, and the tongue that, just last night, had licked my dick like it was her favorite flavor of ice cream darted out to wet them. Said dick hardened in response. She had the motherfucker trained now. She glanced down, reddened again but damn if I’d apologize. She was mine. My scent was all over her. I’d marked my territory and there wasn’t a Wolf or man in the world strong enough to take her away from me. Too bad she hadn’t figured that out yet.

Leigh lifted her chin, eyes narrowing when she figured out that I was staring at her mouth. Her tongue immediately stopped teasing her lips. A guy walked up next to her and I almost lost her scent in his. Shit. He was a stew of scents—chili powder, burning tires, gin, plus stale beer and puke. I damn sure didn’t want to be in his head. The resentment I got. Rage? What did he have to be that pissed over? Same with why he was exuding indignation. Oh. Wait. I caught a glimpse of a tattoo—the Marine Corps emblem. Yeah, he was probably sure I’d disgraced the Corps, which explained his disgust.

Tough shit.

Hands jerked me toward a waiting squad car. Somebody mumbled their way through the Miranda Rights recitation.

“Do you wish to speak to us at this time?”

“I want my attorney.”

That shut things down in a hurry.

 

 

Leigh

I STOOD in the observation room next to Interrogation, watching through the two-way mirror. DPD took over an hour to process Smoke. Brian. No. Smoke. I’d only known him by that name and he owned it, even sitting shackled to the metal desk. He was leaning back in the uncomfortable chair, eyes closed. He could be sleeping for all we knew. The police department mostly used close-circuit feeds these days but since I knew Smoke, I wanted to be close, where I could see every nuance of his expression.

As he’d requested at the scene, he’d been allowed a phone call. We couldn’t question him until his attorney arrived. We were still waiting. The ATF agent standing next to me fidgeted. He’d bristled from the moment he set eyes on Smoke and I couldn’t figure out why. He also didn’t like me very much.

“Did you fuck him?” the agent growled under his breath.

I jerked my head around and stared at him. “Excuse me?” I could growl too.

“If you have him pussy whipped you might be able to coerce him before his fuckin’ attorney gets here.”

A plain-clothes cop nodded, obviously eavesdropping. “You’re good-looking. Soft. Go work on him, see if you can get him to talk.”

They didn’t leave me a choice. But I also knew that every word we spoke would be recorded. I exited, slamming the door as I stalked out. Bastards. I struggled to get my emotions under control before I walked into the interview room.

Smoke opened his eyes as a slow grin spread his lips over his teeth. I’d seen that expression on his face before—after going down on me. After bringing me to so many climaxes I’d lost count.

Damn him. Why did he have to be so freaking sexy? And so totally not my type. I didn’t do bad boys. Well, except for the romance novels I stashed in my backpack, yeah okay. But real life? They were nothing but heartbreak slapped on chocolate cake topped with whipped cream and salted caramel sauce. They tasted pretty darn yummy until they made your stomach ache. I’d known from the start that Smoke Jenner would do that to a girl—to me—way sooner than later. And now it was sooner. I leaned one shoulder against the wall. I wasn’t about to get any closer.

I refused to acknowledge the eyes watching through the two-way glass.

“Will you tell me why you were at that club?”

“No.”

“I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

“Got nothin’ to say, babe. I didn’t do this.”

Lord but I wanted to believe him. Just that morning, I’d awakened in his arms, warm, sated, safe. But the man now staring at me, his face stony, his eyes glinting like topaz jewels? I didn’t know him and my stomach quivered at that realization. Had I ever known him? He was a Nightrider, poster child for the baddest of the bad boys.

And God help me, I was his biggest groupie.

 

 

Smoke

SHE RUBBED her temple and cut her eyes toward the two-way mirror. I wondered who Leigh was staring at behind the glass. Her eyes met mine—a brief flicker of contact. “Talk to me, Smoke. Let me help.”

Help? Yeah, right. She’d shown her true colors standing there in that parking lot. I kept my mouth shut. It would take a hellava lot more than her lies to get me to break. I wanted to know what had happened that turned her against me.

“Don’t say much, do you?” She looked aggrieved. I almost laughed. Why the hell was she the injured party? I was the one sitting here in handcuffs.

“What’s there to say?” I shrugged. “You wouldn’t believe me anyway.” And that right there pissed me off. She had no fuckin’ clue who and what she was to me, what I was to her. All she saw was the Nightrider patch on my cut. All she saw was the bad-ass biker. I’d never shown her the Wolf. At this rate, I never would.

Someone tapped on the door and she opened it a crack. Then it was pushed open and a tall blonde walked in like she owned the joint. Leigh scowled at the woman. So did I. She was in her mid-forties, and despite the time of night, looked glossy and glamorous.

“Who are you?”

The woman looked Leigh up and down and dismissed her. “I’m Clarice Shepherd, Mr. Jenner’s attorney. You had no right to question him without me being present, once he notified you he was exercising his constitutional rights. Now get out. And turn off the video and sound while I confer with my client.”

Leigh shot me a helpless look and backed out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Clarice studied me. I studied back. She set her black leather bag on the battered table, reached inside and pulled out a small electronic device. With her back to the mirror, she held an index finger to her lips to shush me.

I hid my grin. That doohickey would not only pinpoint where the bugs were planted, it would emit a pulse that rendered them inoperable. The indicator light flashed four times. DPD was thorough. I braced for the pulse and barely managed to remain stoic. That shit hurt my ears.

Someone next door cursed. Clarice, looking like she belonged on a fashion runway, glided over, braced her very sweet ass on the table next to me and in a soft whisper, asked, “Do you know where the camera is?”

I leaned close so my face was blocked. I wouldn’t put it past the bastard to have a lip-reader in there. “Upper right corner. They can’t see your face. Can’t see mine now.”

“Good. My colleague is seeing about your bail. I’ll have you out soon and I can guarantee the charges will be dropped by morning. Now, tell me what the hell is going on.”

“Club business.”

“Shit. The nightclub—”

“No. I’m just down here to take care of Nightrider business. We have nothing to do with that nightclub.”

“Not even the locals?” Her lip curled up. Huh. She didn’t like them very much which meant she was more likely hired straight out of our National chapter. Good to know.

“Boner’s not that ambitious.”

“What were you doing there?”

“Saving people.”

She scowled at that, but more in confusion than anger. “What? You played hero?”

“Exit doors were chained shut. And there were multiple ignition points.”

Clarice stared. Then her lips thinned and her eyes glinted with ice. “Fuckers.” She inhaled deeply, showing off her very fine chest to great effect. “The Russian is not going to be very happy about this.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

“At least you’re smart. You kept your mouth shut and asked for me. Are you ready to get this circus started?”

I nodded, wondering if my ears were bleeding from the subsonic whine. “Yeah.”

She flicked the off button with a long, red nail and I breathed in relief. Clarice did her runway-model walk over to the window and tapped on it. Then she leaned in, shifting her face from side-to-side checking her makeup. I choked back a laugh as the door opened.

The first one through was Leigh. She looked pissed. And smelled jealous. My wolf liked that. The ATF agent, still nursing his hard-on for me, and a DPD detective followed her.

Clarice moved around behind me and stood, a hand on my shoulder. Leigh’s eye twitched and the acrid scent of vinegar wafted from her. I schooled my expression but my wolf was running in happy circles. She was undeniably jealous.

For almost an hour, the cop and the ATF jerk asked questions. Clarice answered for me. Whenever I even twitched like I was going to open my mouth, she squeezed my shoulder. My eyes were almost watering from the vinegar and burnt toast scents swirling in the room.

Leigh was back to leaning against the door and she jumped when someone rapped on it sharply. All eyes went to her and she opened the door a crack. There was a whispered conversation. In wolf form, my ears would have swiveled to hear. In human form, I just listened. Huh. All those witnesses saying I was a hero. How I kicked open chained exit doors. How I carried people out. How I saved their lives. That was the truth but the woman meant to be my mate would never see that side of me. She saw only the criminal. Whatever.

Leigh came over, unlocked the handcuffs. “You’re free to go. For now.”

For as long as she lived, I’d never be free. And that sucked donkey balls.