Chapter 6

Bella reclined against her bed and sniffled, her tears undoing Devlyn. “I just wanted to know about the family, that’s all, Devlyn. That’s why I wrote to Argos.”

Wanting to force the truth from her, he knew she loved him, even if she denied it. “We’re both tired.” He pulled her hair away from her face and kissed her wet, salty cheek. “Let’s sleep.” Having every intention of making her see his way once they were well rested, he gathered her against him and inhaled the essence of her. “I want you, Bella.”

“You can’t,” she sniffled again.

“Sorry, from the moment I rescued you from the wildfire, I’d claimed you. Now you just have to agree to be my mate.” Yet the question still nagging him slipped out again: “Why do you hate Volan so?”

* * *

Early the next morning, Devlyn stretched out on the mattress, annoyed that Bella had tensed and turned away from him the night before, avoiding his question about Volan, even though he’d forced her to curl up with him anyway. No way could he sleep next to the wolf siren and not touch her. Now his fingers itched to have Bella in their grasp, but not locating her, his eyes shot open. Tearing the covers aside, he dashed out of the room and down the hall.

Unable to curb how furious he was that she’d run off, he stormed into the kitchen, his blood on fire. She’d cleaned up the broken glass, but otherwise there was no sign of her.

“Damn it, Bella!” he roared. How could he have trusted the vixen? He should have realized she wouldn’t have stayed put.

Suspecting the worst, he yanked open the kitchen door to the garage. The SUV was gone and the garage was empty except for cardboard boxes stacked up in a corner.

He rubbed his stubbled chin, formulating his next plan of action. But where in the hell would she have disappeared to?

The SUV’s engine suddenly purred in the driveway, his skin grew sweaty with anticipation, and the garage door rumbled open.

He still couldn’t curb his irritation that she would have left him, even for a short while. What if she’d been seen?

When she had parked the car, Bella smiled at him from the driver’s seat, a devilish glint in her eyes. The image of her naked in bed with him came instantly to mind. Folding his arms, he frowned at her until the woman sitting on the passenger’s side caught his attention. Her mouth dropped wide open and her eyes grew as round as the full moon while she gaped at him. Well, not at him exactly, but at a particular lower part of his anatomy that, on seeing Bella return, had already risen to greet her.

Slamming the door on his rapid retreat into the kitchen, he cursed all of the way back to the bedroom, the fire burning in his veins. How could he have thought Bella would run? Because she would, when the time was right. Who the hell was that other woman? They needed to use secrecy.

He yanked his jeans on.

Secrecy. Hell, he’d been the one caught stark naked, making a permanent impression on that shocked woman’s mind.

Light footsteps hurried down the hall. He turned.

Bella leaned against the doorjamb, her posture relaxed, an impish smile tugging at her mouth. “My next-door neighbor went home and skipped having a cup of coffee with me.” She wet her lips in a slow sensual sweep and then crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “Hmm, you sure gave Chrissie something to dream about, though I don’t think I’ve ever seen her quite that speechless before.” Her smile spread across her face.

He stalked toward Bella, backed her against the wall, and placed his hands on either side of her head, caging her in. “I thought you’d left me.” His voice was husky and more desperate than he wanted it to sound.

“Her car’s in the shop, and she needed milk for her kids.” Bella’s gaze shifted from his eyes to his lips.

“Hell, her kids were in the car?” he asked, his voice darkening with concern.

“No, they’re at school.” Running her finger down his stomach, she sent a surge of electricity straight to his groin.

He let out his breath, her touch wreaking havoc with his need to control. “Really, Bella, you have to be more careful. We can’t afford to get caught.”

She tilted her head to the side and scanned his whole body with a naughty look. “It seems you made more of an impression on her than I did on anyone this morning.”

Growling, he plundered her mouth, dominating, conquering, not willing to let her fight him, if she had any notion to do so.

She squeezed his denim-covered butt, tangled her tongue with his, and pressed her heavenly breasts against his bare chest. “She wanted to know who the iron man hunk was standing naked in my kitchen entryway.”

“I didn’t expect you to bring company home with you. In fact, I didn’t expect you to return home at all,” he growled, only it came out more like a wolfish groan. He tangled his fingers in her hair.

“She was glad to have the opportunity to meet you. Said something about maybe having a barbecue.”

“No.”

She stroked his shoulder blades, the muscles taut. “It’s okay, Devlyn. I told her you were all mine. A friend from my youth, renewing an old friendship. Just seeing the way you were dressed…or rather not…” She grinned. “Well, I think she got the point.”

He raised his brows and inclined his head.

“Oh, did I forget to mention she’s divorced and looking for husband number two?”

Ignoring her comment, he swept Bella up and carried her to the bed, having every notion of showing her how alpha he could be.

“We have work to do, Devlyn. Catch a killer and—”

He laid her on the mattress, struggling to keep his desire in check. “We have some other business to take care of, Bella. And you’re not talking me out of this.”

She tucked her arms behind her head, her red curls spread out against the green sheets.

Reaching down, he unbuttoned her shirt; their gazes locked in shared appreciation.

“What do you have in mind? You know what Volan intends to do with me.”

“He can’t have you. I want you. Always have. I told you already. You just have to say you want me, too.”

She furrowed her brows at him, her lips poked out in a sultry pout. “You know I can’t.”

“Because you’re afraid I can’t win against Volan.” The notion that she felt this way about his abilities soured him. If he couldn’t change her opinion of him, she could never love him fully. She’d proved herself an alpha female, being a loner and surviving so many years on her own, but he had to prove he could be an alpha male or lose the battle.

“I don’t want you even trying. If we mate and he learns of it, he’ll kill you.”

Devlyn shook his head, his temper rising. “If I don’t kill him first. Have you no faith in me?”

“He’s a brute. I’ve seen what he’s done to others—maimed or killed them outright. He’ll destroy you.”

“So, by looking for a human mate, you’re doing what? If Volan finds you with one, he’ll kill him like he did the boy. Would you find that any more acceptable?” he growled, unable to control his exasperation. He yanked off one of her shoes and then the other and tossed them to the floor with a clunk.

She bit her lower lip.

Leaning down, he kissed her lips tenderly, his tongue stroking the full curves, the taste of wild blackberries flavoring them, feral and sweet like her. “Maybe you wouldn’t care as much because you couldn’t really love a human like you love me.”

“You are so arrogant.” Her voice teased, turning him on faster as his groin ached with need.

He yanked off his trousers and dropped them on the floor. “That’s what you love about me…about our kind. You don’t really want some human. Believe me, if you got hold of one, he’d never satisfy you.”

She cast a raking glance over his nakedness. “The way you can?” A gleam in her eye and the smile on her lips was invitation enough, an unmistakable challenge.

He growled, “You better believe it.” Every fiber of his body was ready to prove it.

He unfastened her belt and unzipped her pants. Smiling sinfully, she never twitched a muscle to stop him. Although mating as a human could occur anytime and with relish, the wolf’s side demanded mating from January through April. And he intended to ensure that she was well satisfied for the rest of that time and beyond.

Suddenly, a deep male voice from the next room said, “You have mail, madam.”

Devlyn spun around, but seeing no one, he stormed out of the room to kill the intruder in her office.

Bella laughed and chased after him. “He’s my email butler, Devlyn.”

Staring at the monitor, he read the message Bella had posted on a local board.

Mystic Red seeks male interested in lifetime mate, who loves to hunt, free-spirited and wild in nature, Portland, Oregon.

“Damn it, Bella.”

Bella ran her hand down Devlyn’s bare back, trying to coax some of the tension out of his tight muscles.

“When did you post this message?” he growled.

“An hour after we fell asleep. I woke and couldn’t get back to sleep. I couldn’t quit worrying that the lives of other women could be at stake.”

He turned to her, his face stern, teeth clenched, jaw set. “So you decided you’d be the bait? Without asking for my input? I thought we were doing this together. What if he decides it’s a hoax? That you don’t really want him for a mate? That you only want to turn him over to his pack to determine his punishment? What if he tries to kill you?”

She traced his ribs with her fingernails, beguiling him. “I’ve never done anything useful in my life. I’m a website graphics designer, but I’ve never truly done anything that makes a difference—well, except for caring for childless human couples during my teen years by mutual arrangement. Several provided a home for me when I needed one badly. I acted the loving adopted daughter and took care of them when they grew too old to care for themselves.”

He caught her wrists to stop the sweet torture that her fingers did on his aroused body. “They never caught you slipping out of the house to take a run on the wild side?”

Shrugging, she admitted as much. “A couple of times, but they scolded me for sneaking out to see a fellow, even though, of course, I hadn’t. In each case, I took care of the couples in their advanced years until they died. When I finally reached the age of majority and could live on my own, I did so, using the money and properties they had bequeathed to me. I moved from time to time so as not to alert others that I aged so slowly and to keep Volan from finding me.”

Rubbing her face against Devlyn’s whiskery cheek, Bella loved the feel of his scratchy stubble against her skin, undomesticated and wolfish. “But I’ve never done anything for our own kind. You saved my life once. You’re a hero in my eyes. I want to help stop a killer who could expose all of us for what we truly are before it’s too late.”

“It doesn’t matter to you that I don’t want you to do it?”

“Of course it matters to me. I want you to protect me.”

His dark eyes sparkled with desire. “You want me to be your mate.”

“I don’t want you to die, Devlyn.”

“Damn it, Bella. I don’t want you to die either. You want me to allow you to jeopardize your life to save others, but you refuse to be my mate because you’re worried I’ll risk my neck? I’ve already gambled my life for you once. I wasn’t that powerful a swimmer when I was young and carried you across the swollen river. I was determined at all costs to save you. Even now, trying to protect you against this killer, I’m risking my life. So why not take the chance against Volan?”

Devlyn shook his head when she didn’t respond and searched through the thirty-two messages she’d received. “Lots of damned nutcases living here.”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect to get that much of a response.”

“I think you’ve been too cryptic.”

When she ran her hand over his toned bare butt, the muscle tightened. He flicked an interested glance her way, but she tried to keep his mind focused on the task at hand. “What would you have me say, Devlyn? ‘Red lupus garou female seeks mate. Horny right now. Only a red lupus garou male need apply’?”

“You might have half of the lupus garou population in several states applying for the position. Lord knows how many are looking for a red.” Sitting down at the keyboard, he typed, Little Red Wolf seeks mate. Preferably big gray wolf terminally in lust with her.

She hit his shoulder. “Be serious.”

Grunting, he deleted the words. “I am serious.” He typed, Rufus lupus female seeks mate in Portland, Oregon, area only.

“A red wolf seeks a mate? The humans will think she’s a nut and—”

“The lupus garou will know she’s one of them, a loner, looking for a red wolf pack to join.”

“Okay, sign it as Rosa.”

“But what if Thompson—”

She combed her fingers through Devlyn’s shoulder-length brown hair, highlighted by the sun, satiny smooth to the touch, soft, where the rest of him was hard. “He probably wouldn’t be looking at the personals for the local community. And if he did, he’d never figure it out.”

Devlyn rubbed his chin.

“Do it, Devlyn.”

He flashed her an annoyed look. “You sure are bossy.”

“You love me for it,” she teased.

He clicked on the send button and scanned the email responses to her first message.

Hello, Mystic Red. I’m High-on-Poppy. Would you be my love forever? Just blows my mind what we could do together, wild thing. Set the world on fire. Looking for your loving response. HOP

Devlyn looked back at her as she read over his shoulder. “Sounds fun loving, huh?” she asked.

“Idiot, hopped-up human.”

They looked at the next message.

Hey, Mystic Red. Want to be my sweet thing? Don’t you just hate zoos? If I could, I’d free all of the wild animals. And eat the grazers. I never did catch your name, so guess Rosa will have to do for now. Email me and we can arrange to get together. Sooner than later. Lovesick in Oregon. Al

She shuddered. “Alfred.”

Devlyn looked back at her, all at once his posture dark and wolfishly protective. “What?”

“He’s the one from the zoo. The one who wanted me.”

“Red lupus garou,” he muttered. “Damn it, Bella, what if he’s the killer?”

“What if he is? We could catch him then.”

The email butler, dressed in his tux, walked across the screen and then stopped and faced them. “You’ve got mail, madam.”

Devlyn clicked on the next message.

Hey, Rosa, I posted to your old message. Guess you were afraid I wouldn’t catch it. So how about a date? A romp through the Cascades? Email me. Al

Devlyn rose from his chair and shoved it aside. “I don’t like this guy.”

“He’s smaller than you. You can beat him if we get into a bind.”

His expression turned stormy. “Damn it, Bella. You think I can only whip smaller guys?”

The darkness in his voice startled her. She hadn’t meant to cut his masculinity in half. She touched his lightly haired chest. “I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant you could protect me.”

“Like hell you did. You think I can only whip a smaller red’s ass but that I’d buckle under when the competition’s a little more my size.” With his long stride, he stormed off to the bedroom.

She fought chasing after him to console him. It wasn’t their way, and he wouldn’t appreciate it. It would emasculate him all the more. Her stomach clenched into knotted ribbon. Damn lupus garou male pride.

Turning to the computer, she typed in a reply.

Hi, Al, hadn’t seen your previous response. Meet me tonight at the Papagalli’s Dance Club. See you there at seven. Rosa

The response was immediate.

Hey, Rosa, what’s your real name? Al

Had he been waiting for her response all of this time? Desperate to get in touch with her? Or was he an internet junkie too?

She stared at the question. What was her real name? She typed: Rosa.

All right, Rosa it is. I’ll play the game for now. Don’t you think a place a little less crowded would be better? Al

Having no intention of meeting loverboy in private, she tapped her fingers on the desk, considering the best response.

I love Papagalli’s. Besides, I believe in courtship, don’t you? Rosa

Whatever you want, Rosa. But…I don’t believe in long courtships. See ya, sweet thing. Al

Then a new message popped up.

Male rufus lupus seeking female. Have cabin in the Cascades for hunting and wild romps in the woods. Where can we meet? Charlie

She reread the message. Was it just some nutty human?

Hey, Charlie! What do you prefer to hunt? Rosa

Deer. What about you? Charlie

How about two-legged mammals? How about redheaded women? Are you the killer, Charlie? She tucked her hair behind her ear and then typed,

A male rufus lupus. Rosa

I like a lupus with a sense of humor. Can we have lunch this afternoon? Charlie

Don’t you work? Rosa

A significant pause followed. She chewed on the inside of her cheek. Come on, come on. Let me know what you do.

Independently wealthy. But if you’re working…maybe tonight? Charlie

Liar.

Do you know Papagalli’s? Rosa

The dance club? Charlie

Yep. Make it for seven? Rosa

The more the merrier.

See you there. Oh, what will you be wearing? Charlie

Something black. And you? Rosa

Something to match. Charlie

Most everyone wore black to the club, and she had no plan to stick out. Another lupus would smell her scent. Humans wouldn’t have a clue as to who she was, and best to leave it that way.

The kitchen door to the garage slammed shut, sending her heart skittering. Jumping up from the chair, she nearly knocked it over in her haste and headed for the garage. She didn’t believe Devlyn would run off and expose himself to the world while the police were looking for them just because she’d angered him. She yanked the door open.

He’d taken the SUV.

Her heart sank. Damn him!

Still, she hated herself for having said he couldn’t fight a gray, stomping his male wolf ego into the ground.

Trying not to worry about him, she toasted a slice of bread and coated it with wild blackberry jam, the smell reminding her of picking berries fresh over the summer. The tart sweet flavor touched her tongue, and instantly the image of Devlyn crowding her while she leaned over blackberry brambles filled her mind with wishful thinking. Attempting to clear her mind of the foolish notion, she finished her toast and headed out to the greenhouse.

The fragrant scent of Colorado wildflowers comforted her and she pruned, watered, and weeded for a couple of hours before she returned to the house. Because of the time she’d spent in the zoo, the website contracts she received were piling up, so she headed back to her office, trying to ignore the fact that all she really could think about was Devlyn and making up with him.

But the making up would come only after she got over being mad at him for leaving like he did and worrying her sick.

While she designed a redwood forest for a lumber company, her email butler walked across the screen.

She clicked on her email messages. Ten new messages. But the address of the sixth message caught her eye: Argos.

Bella, I’m worried that we haven’t heard from you. Can we meet somewhere? I have some news I’m sure you’ll want to hear. Argos

She rubbed her temple. Was Volan dead? That’s the only news she’d want to hear. Had another wolf infiltrated the pack and was now the leader?

Argos, where are you? Bella

I’m here, in town. I’m using the main library’s computer, but there aren’t many patrons and I fear someone’s following me. Can we meet somewhere later? Argos

She took a deep breath. Argos and Devlyn could both protect her if she were meeting the killer red wolf tonight. She considered telling him about the wolf they were trying to catch, but decided against it. He’d be just like Devlyn—his only concern would be returning her home. Argos wouldn’t agree to her risking her life over a red lupus garou from another pack.

Papagalli’s Dance Club. Seven. Bella

See you there. Argos

Email messages were an addiction. She had no ability to shut them off; instead, she began to read all of them. Most had the same kind of message. Red male lupus wishes to meet with female of his kind. Can we arrange to rendezvous and when? Like soonest? She responded to all of them:

Meet me at Papagalli’s Dance Club.

The biggest crowd Papagalli’s had ever seen on a Thursday night would show up. She sent the last of the responses zinging into cyberspace and then returned to working on clients’ web pages.

A nagging at the back of her mind gnawed at her—that Devlyn was living a James Bond life of danger when he stormed out of the house. He had no right to worry her. But she knew he had to get away, stretch his legs, work his anger out on his own. Still, she had every intention of giving him a tongue lashing when he returned home for worrying her so.

She groaned as the thought of his tongue sliding down her skin popped into her mind. Maybe a little bit of wolf courtship would smooth out the rough edges of what she’d said to hurt his ego.

Bella worked for several hours on web pages, getting so wrapped up in her designs that she hadn’t noticed the time slip away. When she realized the noon hour had arrived and Devlyn still hadn’t returned, a slice of worry cut into her heart.

She walked into the living room and stared out the picture window. No sign of the SUV. Damn him for leaving.

A knock at her front door forced a shudder down her spine. She stalked toward the door but then hesitated.

What if the police had caught Devlyn? What if they came for her now, too?