Chapter Twenty-Three

Serena got back from the grocery store and parked the loaner car Nancy had finally authorized in front of the cabin. The night was chilly. Goosebumps rose on her skin as she carried her groceries and her purse to the front door. Everything was dark, and she fumbled for the key.

“Way to go, Lowell. I swear we left the light on.” She was sure she remembered thinking ahead to how dark it would be up here on this side of the mountain. With no city lights, and no neighbors in the other cabins, it was seriously black as sin at night. She put everything down to search for the still unfamiliar lock and slid the key into the door.

She turned it, but something didn’t feel right. Was the door even locked? Was she that distracted thinking about Gabe and how to fix what was wrong?

It had been all she could think about at lunch with Vince the other day, and she’d had to go back and forth from aisle to aisle in the grocery store tonight, wasting time, because she kept forgetting items on her list. Even now, she was sure she’d forgotten something.

She opened the door, groped for the switch, and froze when the light turned on and she saw what waited for her.

On the kitchen table by the front door were fresh, bloodred roses in a new vase. And on the table below was a clean, white florist’s card with one word written on it in capital letters: LOVE.

She backed out of the house and ran to the car, scratching at the door with the key trying to shove it into the keyhole until she remembered that this car had an electronic lock. She hit the button, relieved when she finally heard the loud click. She opened the door and shoved her purse and the groceries into the passenger seat, ignoring the food tumbling out of the plastic bag. Locking the door after her, she turned the car on and drove back down the hill, heading for the main ranch road and enforcer headquarters.

Checking in the rearview mirror, she thought she saw a shadow in the light of the cabin’s open door. Shit! She’d forgotten to close the door. Had he been in there the whole time? Waiting for her?

She went suddenly cold, with a deep chill that had her hands shaking.

She tightened her grip on the wheel and focused on the curvy, unfamiliar road. The little compact tore down the hill, dust from the dirt road billowing out and obscuring what was behind her. But it didn’t matter; the cabin was well out of sight by the time she made it to the ranch.

Enforcer headquarters were on the opposite side of the main compound from the dreamwalkers’ office, sharing a side road with the infirmary and a few other buildings. She’d seen them when she’d gone to check on Gabe.

Wow, had it only been three days ago? It seemed like forever.

She parked the car as close as she could to the entrance. All her instincts were on alert as she cracked the car door and looked for strangers. The area was empty, nothing but a few cars and trucks and the bright lights of the parking area. She took a big whiff of air, knowing it was useless. Her wolf had her sniffing the air for danger, even though her mere human nose was all she had. Nothing but the smell of horses and sheep and the cool night air caught her attention. Damn her human nose.

Both she and her wolf were frustrated with her lack of skills, but the distance to the door was minimal. Five feet to the stairs, then five stairs up, then a porch. She was out of the car and flying up the stairs when a wolf came racing around the corner. She screamed and slung her purse at its face. It ducked, scrambling back onto the porch and shifting into Gabe.

She’d seen it her entire life, but it wasn’t until she’d hit adolescence and been given lycanthroism by her council in the coming-of-age ceremony that she’d discovered how jealous she was of physical wolves. She shifted on the dreamscape, but it was different, effortless. In the dreamscape her body didn’t hurt. It didn’t go through the bone-crunching contortion, changing the way the spine aligned, lengthening forearms to forelegs, and growing a tail. She didn’t have to sprout fur, or a muzzle, or have her hands shorten into paws.

It looked painful, and her sister and brothers had said it could be, especially when it was too fast and uncontrolled. But it didn’t matter to her. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. And it could never truly be hers.

“Gabe, you scared the crap out of me.” Her heart was racing, and she gasped for air, but she wasn’t sure if it was the shock of having Gabe suddenly at her side, or if it was the sudden surge of desire from seeing him naked, his skin gleaming with sweat.

He stood up. “I knew you were mad at me, but hitting me with your purse?”

She looked at her purse. A laugh burst out of her. “I’m sorry. It’s all I’ve got. My claws and teeth are not nearly as effective.”

A hesitant smile crossed his face. “Are you okay?”

She wanted to rub herself against his skin. Take in his scent and roll in it. She blew out a breath and pushed her wolf back down. They had more important things to deal with than Gabe’s serious six-pack. Or the fact that his skin had a glow to it that said he’d been working out. Or the way her body took in everything about him, from the gleam in his blue eyes to the tilt of his smile, and said “yes, more please.”

“I don’t know.” She suppressed her desire for Gabe, reminding both her libido and her wolf that a minute ago they’d had survival problems on their minds, not sex. “Someone was in my house, Gabe.”

His smile vanished, replaced by a hard look. He headed for her car. “You drive.”

“Um, don’t you think clothes are in order?”

He looked down at his nudity and then back up at her. “No. If I get there and need to shift, this is better.”

She shook her head. “Shifters. Sorry, no naked guy butts on my car seats. Grab some shorts or something.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Dreamwalker, you’ve got serious issues.” He ran up the stairs to where the side of the porch was covered, coming back minutes later dressed in a pair of shorts and carrying a handful of clothes. “Happy?”

“Delirious.” They got in the car. Shorts were a necessity. She had a tough enough time concentrating on the road in pitch-dark, and being distracted by Gabe’s tensed biceps and triceps in the car seat next to her didn’t help.

But he was all business. “Tell me what you know.”

“Not much. I got back from grocery shopping. I thought I’d left the light on, but the porch was dark. I unlocked the door—at least, I think I unlocked it.” She frowned, trying to remember. “Then I turned on the kitchen light. That’s when I saw them.” She shivered.

“Saw what?”

“Fresh roses on the table.” She risked a glance at Gabe’s face.

His face was hard in the dashboard light. She reached out to touch his arm, but he jerked it away. “Don’t touch me.”

Hurt washed over her. “I don’t understand, a minute ago you were fine. What’s wrong?”

“A minute ago I’d just gotten back from a four-hour run. My wolf was exhausted. But now, I’m in the car with you and you’re in danger. It’s jacked up again.” There was a note of strain in his voice. “If you touch me, I don’t know what it will do.” He let out a careful breath. “What I’ll do.”

Her wolf howled its joy. He was hers. He wanted her. The car jerked under her hands.

“Watch it!”

“Sorry.” She straightened out and slowed the car, shoving down hard the urge to pull over and run her hands all over Gabe. She began to pant.

They turned the last corner, and she slowed down, parking so they could see the kitchen light shining on the roses framed by the open front door. “Look.”

“I see.” His voice was almost a growl.

Her wolf responded. Serena pushed her chest out and leaned over to Gabe’s side of the car. “I forgot to shut the door,” were the words that came out of her mouth, but inside she was thinking, screw the roses, let’s do it in the car.

But she held back, and Gabe exited the car and stripped out of his shorts, tossing them into the front seat.

“What are you doing?”

His eyes were bright, reflecting the kitchen light. “I’ll do better as a wolf,” he said. “Stay here. Without a real wolf, you’ll be safer.”

She stiffened. He chalked it up to fear and let the shift wash over him.

Relieved he was now in his furry form, instead of being distracted by his warm body standing too close to hers, she could focus on the real problem. At the same time, she kind of regretted his shift. She still wanted him.

Her wolf wanted Gabe, and she wanted him. But if he couldn’t understand how it felt to have a wolf and never get to experience it, she’d have to let him go. And with this heat racing under her skin, she wasn’t sure she could.

 

Gabe gave Serena a quick, reassuring tail wag, then put his nose to work sorting out the myriad smells around the cabin. Serena’s scent was everywhere, lighting the fever under his fur and distracting him from the job. He needed to take her as his mate, soon, or he’d be in just as bad of shape as Sam, whose scent was all over the outside of the cabin. Sam had been here. Recently.

Gabe growled, and he shoved down the urge to follow Sam’s scent. Now was not the time. Sam had been here, but Gabe could tell he stayed outside.

He detected the days-old scent of Rico from the night of his accident and his own scent layered under that. Finally, he found another scent, a stranger’s, that actually was fresh. He growled and followed it into the cabin. It was everywhere, old, new. He put his paws on a chair and sniffed all over the kitchen table and the flowers, recoiling from the astringent scent of industrial cleaner on the glass.

“What is it?” Serena had come in and hovered by the closed front door. The anxiety in her voice had his wolf wanting to run up to her and reassure her, but he wasn’t done yet. He swallowed his needs and went back to work, the idea of a stranger in Serena’s cabin crawling under his need to protect.

He finished checking the main room and then went into the bathroom and the bedroom. The scent was in here as well, in all her drawers and even in her bed. He pulled his lip back and snarled.

The smell of another man in her bed pushed him over the edge. He shifted back into human, too fast, too hard, a growl caught in his throat. It was the scent of Sam, fever ridden and marking his territory all over the outside of the cabin—the smell of a stranger inside, in her bed.

“Gabe, tell me.” She was right behind him.

He knew he should leave. This was the wrong time to be pressing her, but the need to take her again overrode every single logical thought he had. He shifted fast, turning and caging her with his arms, pressing her back into the wall of her bedroom with his body.

Her breath caught, and her eyes widened. “Gabe.” His name was nearly a whisper on her lips, and it was more than he could take.

He crushed his mouth to hers, ravaging and stealing what by all rights should be his, needed to be his. His cock was hard between them and the fever raged under his skin, heating up his body from the inside out.

She kissed him back, her lips taking as much as he could give. He kept her pinned against the wall with his hips, shoving her skirt up and yanking her panties down. Holding her to the wall with his hands he took his mouth was everywhere—down her thigh, behind her knee, back up to her pussy where her scent drove him crazy.

She started to move away from the wall.

“No.” He straightened, and moved her back into position, his face right next to her face. “Stay there.”

She nodded, her short panting breaths echoed his. He reached up and took the clip out of her hair, and it fell down, framing her kiss-bruised lips. Her pupils were dark, blending in with her black irises and telling him everything he needed to know—she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. His wolf howled in celebration. They were almost there. Let the dominance games begin.

He let her go, and she stayed against the wall. He tasted her neck, working his way down, his goal the wet, juicy center between her slightly spread thighs. Her scent was strong, making his mouth water. He had to taste her, take her into his mouth and savor everything Serena. But he still had enough control to draw it out, lingering on the spot between her breasts where the heavy turquoise pendant of her necklace hung. He pulled her silky shirt up and over her head and kissed down her torso to her belly button, then down over her bunched skirt and back to her thigh, right next to the hollow formed by her hipbone.

He lingered there, licking and kissing and hearing her moans. She ran her fingers through his short hair.

He moved to the spot where he’d wanted to go the entire time, finally tasting her pussy, using his mouth to spread her folds and find her clit.

She buckled, sliding down the wall, and he followed her down, unwilling to let the taste of her out of his mouth.

Once on the floor he gripped her hips, and she let her legs go wide, giving him generous access to put his fingers in. He moved them in and out, loving the taste and texture of her in his mouth and the way her juices got his hand sticky and wet.

The urge to push her over and take her from behind, to sink his teeth into her neck and give her the Bite, raged through him. This was his mate, his. And everyone would know it. Especially Serena.