Chapter Two
Zach crept along the edge of the forest in human form as the twilight colors darkened above him. This was his favorite time to be outside, when the world was full of life without the chaos of noisy people, honking cars, and ringing phones. Granted, this sanctuary was far enough from town to give a reprieve from the human noise. His extra heightened senses helped him to hear it all, feel it all. Even the distant sounds of the city. Sometimes, it overwhelmed him, and a place like this teased him with the promise of solitude. When the stars were just peeking through the canopy of the seventy-foot trees overhead, and the cacophony of human noises had reached a low whisper, he could focus on the night. Tree frogs croaked while the rest of the silent-by-day life emerged, ready to begin their own day. Even in human form, he was accepted as one of the nocturnal family, joyfully singing their nightly chorus.
The woods reminded him of his home back in the northeast beckoning him to shift and run. But there wasn’t time for that now. Currently, he was using his keen eyesight and human street smarts to follow the footprints through the long trails. He could have followed the different scents as a wolf. But after meeting the gorgeous Nissa this morning, he was off-kilter.
One minute, they had been talking about his search, and the next, his breath had been ripped right out of his chest. The way her subtle perfume of honeysuckle and cinnamon had overpowered his nostrils, making him salivate... He had literally been punched with a goddess-powered hammer, bringing his whole body to life. And the way his senses all went into overdrive had been like he had been living off bread and water for his whole life, only to be bombarded with the scents and taste of the most exquisite six-course dinner all at once!
He had grown up in luxury. As the heir to the throne of the Herne Clan, he had only had the best in life. Not only as the son of the royal princess of Herne but also the eldest son of the alpha. But the supernatural roundhouse he had received from that one meeting with Nissa… holy shit. She was his mate. His mother had tried to explain it to him, but he had never really listened. Yeah, he’d know when he found his mate, got it. He had blown that off for as long as he could.
He didn’t want a mate. His father wanted to groom him to take over the pack; his mother wanted to give him the throne. But a mate meant going back, forgetting his vows, his responsibilities. The only job he had known for the last fifteen months. He had vowed to find his sister. It was the only thing keeping him going—the vow that made him want to rip anyone to shreds who got in his way from finding her.
It’s why he had been taking these tracker jobs. Every case brought him one step closer to finding his sister. A little bit of his heart healed every time he brought someone else’s loved one home safely. And his wolf liked taking down monsters.
And it kept his mind off her. The younger sister he had vowed he would bring back, even if it killed him.
Zach cursed and punched a tree, scaring a chipmunk. He didn’t have time for a mate right now. He needed to finish this job, bring the female wolf back to her pack, and then continue on his personal mission. And a mate would just get in the way. Damn! The Mother Goddess had a wicked sense of humor to introduce them now.
He’d just do what he needed to do and get the hell out of there. Before he did something stupid like mate the woman that had made him feel more alive than if he’d been hit by a bolt of lightning.
Following the size thirteen footsteps past a fallen tree, he took note of the lion scent. It’d be easier to shift and get a real gauge on where this shifter was, but he wasn’t taking any chances on getting slammed again by the super senses that almost knocked him on his ass this morning.
Zach ticked off the questions in his head while following the footsteps before they changed into huge paw prints. Why the fuck was there a lion in Bear Paw? Why had his instincts led him here on his search for the missing female wolf? And did they have anything in common? He’d be making some phone calls in the morning. But first, he’d do a bit more digging.
A floral scent of honeysuckle stopped him in his tracks, and his body shuddered in excitement. “Are you stalking me, little bear?” he asked, turning around, already knowing who was behind him.
“I could say the same thing about you.” Nissa grinned and walked up to him. “I keep trying to get some alone time with my bear, and you keep showing up and interrupting us.” Her hair was up in a loose ponytail, tiny tendrils of copper framing her face. Her bear was visible in the gold-ringed iris of her eyes, as if excited to come out and play with him.
Zach wondered if she knew how close her bear was to the surface. Her bear was young with an innocent air about her that confused Zach’s senses. His wolf wanted to beckon her bear forward to play with her, show her how to romp and enjoy the freedom of her animal side. Zach wanted to brush that wisp of auburn hair out of her face, lick every inch of her, and have sex with her until they both passed out. His wolf suddenly agreed, leaping to the front with a happy growl. Down, boy. Now’s not the time for this. His wolf skulked to the side with one final reminder not to start something he didn’t intend to finish. As much as Zach wanted to feel her supple skin under his calloused hands, taste her honey, and claim her as his own, he wasn’t going to go there. Like he had told his other half. This wasn’t the time. He had a job to do.
“So, besides punching trees, scaring Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, and stalking bears, what else do you do for a living?” Nissa looked at the tattoos running up his wrist to his forearms.
The dark lines of the wolf, his pack’s symbol, took up his entire upper arm. The smaller symbols, like the compass and scepter, were the declaration that he was the heir to his family’s throne. The darker colors, delicate lines as if howled from the wolf’s mouth, curled up and over his shoulder, disappearing under his short sleeve. The only part she couldn’t see was the unfilled partial circle above his heart. Once mated, lines from the wolf’s mouth would meet the mating circle, and the circle would be filled in with the symbol of his mate’s pack. It’s how his family had done it for generations. His tattoo remained unfinished, empty. And it would stay that way until he finished his jobs.
“These are pretty. Kind of dark, but I like them. What do they mean?” She leaned in and ran her finger across them, causing his inner wolf to howl in delight and his body to ripple with sexual energy. She was killing him. Maybe not literally. But if you could die from the worst case of blue balls in history, then he would be dead in a few seconds.
“They’re my family’s mark and the sign of my future responsibilities,” he said through clenched teeth, wanting and not wanting her to stop touching him.
“Your life, your responsibilities are permanently etched onto your body.” She scowled and stepped back, giving him a few feet of breathing room.
He shrugged and affected a casual stance at how accurate her reply was. “It’s family stuff. It will all still be there when I get done with my job.” It’d always be there. His father reminded him of that every time they spoke.
“Tell me about your current job, the one that happens before you go back to fill in the rest of the ink.”
“I get paid to find others, sometimes to take out a threat to a pack, other times to find a missing shifter.”
“Did you hear about the shifter that saved that female tiger from the sex trafficking ring last week?”
He hadn’t anticipated word spreading that fast. He’d stumbled upon that kitten while searching for information about his missing sister. The petite, seventeen-year-old tiger shifter’s wide, amber eyes had haunted him. He killed the three males standing guard over her tiny cage, released the other women and took the kitten back to her pack. Zach didn’t answer.
“Holy crap, that was you, wasn’t it?”
“I can’t tell you about my other jobs. Client confidentiality and all that shit.”
“But it was you. I heard he was shot three times, but he kept going until he tore the throats out of the men at that warehouse.”
Zach still felt the puckered scars where the bullets had struck him. His wolf side had helped him heal, but the wounds still hurt. Especially the area closest to his chest. But maybe that was the mind-numbing pain in his heart at losing his sister. He’d find her. He just had to keep looking. And every save he made during his search, brought him one step closer to reconciling the stabbing pain in the left of his damn chest.
“I’m kind of like a private investigator for the paranormal community. My current job is to find a female wolf, like I told you this morning.”
“If she’s hiding, maybe she doesn’t want to be found,” Nissa said speculatively.
“Maybe.” He shrugged. “It’s her choice to go back to her pack. My job is to find her, let her know they are looking for her and take her home if she wants to come.”
“If she doesn’t want to go back?” She raised a brow.
“Then I give the pictures and info to the pack elders; I get paid, and I find another job to do.”
“PI, eh?” She grinned.
“I guess.”
“So you’re a dick with a—”
Zach pinned her to the tree, covering her mouth with his own. “Don’t be naughty,” he said before descending on her full lips. He stroked the inside of her cheeks, her teeth, and tongue, leaving no part of her sweet mouth untouched. His wolf clamored within, begging to be released to take charge and claim her whole body. Mate. He sucked on her bottom lip and gave her a quick nip before releasing her.
“I was going to say tail.” Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes dilated to a gorgeous black with gold irises. “But if you like it naughty, let me know.”
He shouldn’t have lost control like that, kissed her. If he stayed within a hundred feet of her, he would take her to the ground and fuck her senseless before he had time to consider the repercussions. No. That wasn’t an option right now. Not with a job to do. “Sorry, this isn’t good timing. I’ll give you and your bear some privacy.”
“Nah, I’m going to head back to my place. I wasn’t really feeling it anyway. Nice seeing you again.”
Zach saw the hunger in her eyes and wondered if she was fully aware of it. Dammit, her bear wanted him too. But he wasn’t going down that road. There was too much work to do, and he couldn’t focus. The connection with her was dizzying. “Yeah, okay. Good night.”
Was that disappointment in her eyes? They flashed so quickly he couldn’t be sure. But he felt it, and his wolf gave him a reproving nudge for pushing away their mate. “Sorry, little bear. I just need to focus on my job. See you around.”
She lifted a shoulder and gave him a half smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Yeah, whatever, good night. Good luck on your search. I really do hope you find what you’re looking for.”
Nissa turned and strode back out of the woods, and it took a full 180 seconds before he could breathe again. He knew because he counted every agonizing one. Why did it feel like he was emptier than before? With a frustrated exhale, he headed back out of the woods, got into his car, and drove back to his hotel. He wasn’t getting anything productive accomplished tonight. Not with the curvy beauty consuming his every thought. He’d try again tomorrow after breakfast. This time he’d give Nissa some extra time for her shifting attempts before he went back to the woods. Besides, if he saw her naked again, he’d probably say fuck it to everything and claim her right there. His wolf agreed.