Chapter 20
Mario swore at Danny as he paced around his condo in Breckenridge. “What the hell do you mean Rudy’s in police custody? And didn’t I tell you to… hell, disappear?”
“The police were keeping a tight lid on Rudy’s arrest. Hell, I dropped by Alicia’s apartment to see why Rudy wasn’t answering his cell phone while he was waiting there to see if she returned. Not only were the police there, but Alicia was coming out of her apartment with three other men after the police left. One was wearing a uniform, but they all took off in two vehicles.”
“And you followed them.”
“Hell, yeah. From a safe distance. They drove to Silver Town, then out through the country and pulled off on a private paved road. I couldn’t see it, but I imagine a house is tucked back into the woods.”
“Why didn’t Rudy use his phone privilege to call you so you’d tell me and we could get him a lawyer?”
“I checked with the police, and some sergeant informed me that Rudy had gotten his phone call.”
Mario stared at Danny. “You didn’t get a call.”
“No, sir.”
“Hell. I want him out of there before he says something he shouldn’t. Did Celinas say he’d gotten in touch with Rudy?”
“No. I called the lawyer right away. He hadn’t had any word, so he went down to the jailhouse, and they said Rudy already had a lawyer.”
“Who?”
“Some guy named Alistair Gray. He’s a lawyer in the area, and he convinced Rudy he’d save his hide.”
“Tell Celinas I want him down there changing Rudy’s mind. Now.”
“All right. And sir?”
Mario frowned at him.
“I got word Miss Greiston is being questioned by the Denver police. Seems she was at Ferdinand’s condo when we killed him.”
Mario stared at him, then shook his head. “Damn it, Danny. I told you Jimmy said Ferdinand had taken her before we terminated him. She must have been hiding somewhere in the place. So what did she see?”
“According to our source, she wouldn’t speak to them without a lawyer present.”
Mario rubbed his chin, then stalked over to the window and stared out. “Was she still with the men she’d been with earlier at her place?”
“Yeah. They’re sticking pretty close to her. Plus they had another SUV full of bodyguards protecting her.”
“Hell.”
“You want me to find where she’s staying? It’s probably in Silver Town. Celinas checked with the art gallery and learned Jake Silver is the artsy-fartsy lover boy.”
“He’s a dead man,” Mario grumbled under his breath.
“He’s got a home that’s even more isolated than the house I followed them to. I could put some men on it and—”
“No. Just give me the location, and I’ll check it out.” Hell, the artist would not be able to stand up to a wolf. Mario would kill him and take Alicia for his own. And then he’d hide her away from the police, from humans—his trophy mate. She was a werewolf now. And as much trouble as her mother had given him, and then Alicia, she would pay for it.
Danny was another story. Mario hated to eliminate his last cousin, but once the police learned the gun Danny had hidden in his house had killed both Missy and Tony, they were sure to link Danny to him. He just had to think of a way to get rid of Danny so that no one would ever learn of it.
***
“We’ll only do this with the promise Alicia Greiston will not have any threat of prosecution,” Sherry Slate told Detective Sanderson while Jake listened in at Massaro’s condo. Peter and Tom stayed with Alicia in the hallway until the detective had agreed to the lawyer’s terms. “She saw nothing, heard voices, but that was all. She doesn’t know who the men were who murdered Ferdinand Massaro. Although, like you, she suspects Mario Constantino had him killed.”
“All right,” the detective grudgingly said.
“Remember what I said about her delicate condition,” Sherry repeated. “I don’t want to have to go to your superiors if you make this difficult for her. She was the victim in all this.”
Sanderson nodded once, his blue eyes hard. Jake could tell the detective didn’t like being dictated to by a lawyer, particularly because she was a woman, Jake suspected.
After half an hour of questioning, Alicia appeared worn out. But she looked relieved, too, when Jake bundled her up in the car and headed on the long drive back to Silver Town. All he could think of was lighting a fire in the fireplace at his home, making her a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top, and cuddling with her in front of the fire until he could coax her into bed. He wanted to make love to her, like he always did, but he wanted to comfort her if that’s what she needed more for the time being than the lovemaking. They had a lifetime of that ahead of them.
“What are you thinking about?” Jake asked as he held her close and she snuggled against him in the middle seat of the SUV.
“How nice Sherry ended up being. I mean, she loathed me, but she really was very good at her job. Of course, I think she was trying to catch Tom’s eye and probably didn’t think she’d stand a chance if she didn’t try her best to get me out of hot water.”
“She had to or face the consequences. No newly turned wolf could be incarcerated without causing dire consequences for all of us,” Jake reminded her, rubbing her shoulder in a loving way.
“Hmm.” She turned her attention to Tom and asked, “What did you think of her, Tom? Possibilities?”
He shook his head. “She’s just like Jake said. All business through and through. I doubt she has a seductive bone in her body.”
“Sometimes all a woman needs is the right man.” Alicia ran her hand over Jake’s thigh.
He slipped his hand beneath her blouse and stroked a bra-covered breast, enjoying the way her nipple strained against the silky fabric with his touch. If they’d had more privacy, he would have taken her cue and had his way with her. Stopping at a hotel on the way was an idea, too. But he couldn’t inconvenience everyone with his insatiable need to have her.
Tom said, “Darien told me everyone in the pack is coming to the wedding. It’ll be a feast to end all feasts.”
“Lelandi said it would be in the clearing in the woods out back,” Alicia said. “Is it big enough?”
“Yeah,” Tom said. “We have pack games and other pack gatherings there.” He turned to give Jake an annoyed look. “You realize that after this wedding is over, Lelandi’s going to be on my case even more about finding a mate, don’t you?”
Jake shook his head. “Her babies are coming soon. She’ll be wrapped up in that. So you’re off the hook for a little while.”
Alicia was melting into Jake’s lap, and he was getting damned hard as he continued to massage one of her breasts. “Tell Peter to drive faster,” she whispered to Jake.
Tom shook his head, probably having overheard Alicia’s words spoken in private to Jake. “Hell, I’ve got to get me a mate,” Tom said.
***
Of all the damned things, Mario thought as he circled in his wolf form around the house that the artist lover-boy owned. Wolves lived in this area. Were they wolf-wolves or werewolves? He couldn’t tell the difference. But never having met any other werewolf types except the bastard he’d killed and the ones he’d made, although only one still lived, he hadn’t thought many more existed. They probably were regular wolves.
He sniffed the area and listened. No one was here. The place was quiet, and no one was guarding it. He figured that when Jake Silver returned with Alicia, he’d most likely have that bodyguard force with him. Mario was going to have to enlist the help of the one other man he’d turned if they had to fight a couple of wolves. Danny and a couple of others would have to be the firepower to serve as a distraction so he could grab Alicia and leave. Things were getting too hot for Mario in Colorado. A warrant had been issued for Danny’s arrest, and he was a dead man once Mario got his hands on Alicia.
Not only was that damned police chief in Breckenridge breathing down Mario’s neck, but the Denver police somehow had linked his name to Ferdinand Massaro’s death. And the Feds were looking into Tony Thomas’s death, somehow linking him to someone named Antonio Frasero.
Mario was thinking of going someplace else. Somewhere in Minnesota, maybe. Up nearer to the Canadian border where he could slip away if need be. He’d heard there were real wolves in those parts. That meant he could blend in.
All his trouble had started with that damned Tony. If he hadn’t been looking into Mario’s business dealings, and then if Missy Greiston hadn’t gotten involved, everything would have gone along like it always had. Their deaths had gotten Missy’s daughter involved, and she had created even more trouble for Mario. One little woman. Wolf now. He’d show Alicia what it meant to mess with him.
He turned and loped off to his car hidden in the woods. Time to get reinforcements.
***
After dinner at Darien’s and a much more relaxed atmosphere, except for Lelandi bringing up the wedding plans again, Alicia had had a wonderful time with the family and already felt as though she’d known them forever. When she and Jake returned to his home, guards were again posted outside. She hated that men had to stand guard detail all night, although Jake assured her no one minded doing what they needed to when they had to keep pack members safe. Even so, she did feel much safer knowing they were there.
Jake made her sit on the couch and watch the orange flames shoot up toward the chimney as he heated cups of hot chocolate. She could envision a winter-filled landscape out the big picture windows when the first snowfall began and how beautiful the woods would be. Just like her favorite poem by Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
“A penny for your thoughts,” Jake said, stalking back into the living room with two cups of steaming hot chocolate for them to drink.
“Did I tell you how much I love you? You’ve rescued me more times than I can count. Been my knight, my protector, never condemned me for having so many husbands when your kind never divorce.” She took a deep breath, then sipped her hot chocolate, the rich velvety flavor tantalizing her tongue and the aroma making her take another deep breath of it.
“That’s because our animal senses help us to find the right mate the first time around. And our loyalty is inborn,” he said, watching the way she curled her tongue around a dollop of whipped cream before it melted into the chocolate. He took a swig of his drink. “We don’t go through a phase where we feel we’re missing out if we don’t ditch the old way of life and try out someone new.”
She took another wondrous sip of the chocolate and whipped cream and sighed. She licked her lips, and his gaze switched to her mouth.
“We renew our love for each other in special ways to spark the old flame. It’s important to our kind to stay together throughout our lives. Although if we lose a mate, we’re free to find a new one. Some do. Some don’t. Besides, Alicia, the men you ended up with were real jerks. I already told you so,” Jake said, adamant about it.
But then he smiled at her with a speculative gleam in his eye. “I can’t believe anyone would prefer to watch ice hockey to watching you dance on ice like you do.” He shook his head and took another sip of his hot chocolate.
She studied the chocolate and a speck of whipped cream on his lips, tilted her chin up and licked both off his lips.
He set his half-finished cocoa down on the coffee table and took her free hand in his. She hastily finished her cocoa, not wanting to give up a drop, and set her mug down with his, knowing he had other business in mind, and she was all for it.
His hands combed through her thick curls as he pressed her back against the couch with his body and kissed her hungrily. But then he took a deep breath, rose from the couch, and lifted her into his arms. “Although the men are watching the house to protect you, I don’t want to distract them from their business. No drapes on the windows,” he added.
“I noticed.”
“Tom and I took the old ones down. They were worn and badly needed to be replaced. I actually had it in mind to leave the windows bare to show off the view. Living alone or with Tom, it wouldn’t have mattered. But with you, that’s another story.”
“Hmm,” she said, unbuttoning his shirt as he strode down the hall to the only furnished bedroom, carrying her tightly in his arms. “I didn’t think any of your pack members would look.”
He chuckled. “They’re only human, Alicia. And a lot wolf.”
He carried her into the bedroom, and before she even sank into her soft, comforting mattress, she thought of how wonderful it would be to make love again to Jake in her bed. Not in some unfamiliar motel room or in the forest, although anything would do, but still, she felt a certain possessiveness in knowing they weren’t in a strange bed, but hers. And he was hers. In her bed. And not just for a one-night stand.
The concept that anyone might want her forever still seemed foreign, but for this night and for as long as they would have each other, she knew her dream had come true. The home was quiet, too, unlike the noisy apartment she was used to. With her enhanced hearing, it would have been worse. But here…
She sighed as Jake sat her on the bed.
Here it was quiet and peaceful, the only sounds the faint rustle of tree branches fluttering in the breeze, the trickle of running water in a stream nearby, and Jake’s heartbeat ratchetting up several notches. Comforting, pleasing sounds.
Jake was unbuttoning his shirt, watching her expression. “What are you thinking, Alicia? You have kind of a lost look on your face. Like you’re a million miles away.”
“I was thinking,” she said, unbuttoning her blouse, “how I would have you in my bed again, and how wonderful that notion is.”
He smiled and lifted an arrogant brow at hearing her words. “Were you now?” He tugged off his shirt and tossed it on a chair. Then like a wolf on the prowl, he put his hands on the bed on either side of her hips, caging her in as his mouth sought hers, melded with hers, and caressed hers. His body pressed against her knees, forcing her to part her legs for him. Yet he kept his weight off her, all except his mouth kissing and loving hers, and now her thighs caressed his as he leaned between them.
All at once she didn’t feel as in control or that she had him in her bed, but that he claimed her and her bed for his own. The notion both excited and thrilled her.
Her hands went around his bare waist, loving his silky skin and hard muscles. Her bare thighs pressed against his soft stonewashed jeans, his thighs tensed beneath the fabric.
“You’re so hard,” she whispered, moving her hands down his waist to his lean hips, circling around to his buttocks, and then sweeping around to his crotch.
As soon as she caressed him, she felt him lose his measured control of the situation. He groaned and fumbled to remove her blouse, and she knew then that she had him right where she wanted him. He finally managed to pull off her blouse and toss it aside. Then he was searching blindly for the zipper on her skirt while he kept kissing her lips, maintaining the intimacy between them. She tugged to unfasten his belt, wanting to touch him skin to skin. But he clearly wanted her naked first. And she was still struggling with his belt when she heard her skirt zipper yield.
He was trying to tug her skirt down her hips while she was sitting, and he finally placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to lie on her back so he could slip the silky skirt off her. Then his belt gave! And she slid his zipper down, her fingers pressing the fastener against his arousal all the way down.
“Alicia,” he groaned, half-dying in agony, half-pleading in ecstasy.
“Hmm?” she said, with an uplifted tilt to her voice as she wiggled to help him remove her skirt.
She peeled his jeans down, but before she could slip her hand inside his boxers, he pulled off his jeans the rest of the way, then pressed his body against hers on the mattress, thwarting her, taking handfuls of her hair, and kissing her mouth again. She had the distinct impression he wanted to last, and if she kept touching him, he wasn’t going to.
He rubbed his hardness against her skimpy red thong—the one he’d bought her at the boutique in town—and she slid her hands up his boxers and caressed his bare buttocks. She thought she heard him curse under his breath as he plunged his hand into the front of her nearly nothing panties, found her sweet spot, and began to stroke her into a world of heightened pleasure she’d only been able to feel when he was touching her.
And now she was losing control, the tide of swelling pleasure rising up in her as he took her higher and higher, her hands stilled on his buttocks, his tongue plunging deeply, erotically into her mouth.
He tasted of chocolate and whipped cream delight, his masculine scent and arousal arousing her, every sense heightened because of the wolf in her, every sensation more profound then she’d ever experienced. Before she could cling to the peak, the wave of ecstasy crashed over her.
Hot, wet, sexy Alicia, Jake thought as he stroked her into climax. He swore if she had stroked him like she was about to do, he would never have lasted. She was a godsend, and he wanted to pleasure her like she should have always been loved. Like he’d always love her. With her body still shuddering with completion, he meant to strip out of his boxers, but she was already yanking them down.
He smiled as he nuzzled her cheek, then when he was free of his boxers, he eased into her and pressed homeward. The bond between them would never be broken. Her hands roamed over his back and butt, caressing and stirring him into action, as he deepened his thrusts and claimed her again as if the ritual needed to be repeated to show her he meant to be here for her forever.
Her eyes were filled with wonderment as he gazed into them, her lips full, wet, and well-kissed, her breath light and barely audible, and then her eyes closed as she arched her pelvis against him, matching his thrusts, her fingers clenching tighter on his buttocks. She cried out, “Jake, oh, Jake,” and moaned as she sank against the mattress, his seed filling her after that, and he collapsed on top of her in satiated bliss. He wrapped his arms around her, his whole posture stating she was his, and he blanketed her in his protective cocoon to ensure that.
She lay very still for several minutes while their hearts beat rapidly in unison and he continued to hold her close. Then she whispered, “They had to have heard me.”
He kissed her cheek, rolled off her, pulled her against his chest, and covered them with the sheet and comforter.
“Hmm.” He couldn’t tell her no, when he knew they had to have, and she’d probably figure they had. He couldn’t tell her yes and confirm what she had to suspect. So he’d just said hmm.
She let out her breath and toyed with his nipple. “Next time, if we have a bodyguard detail outside our windows, don’t let me make a sound. All right?” She looked up at him with her brows creased.
He chuckled and ran his hand over her silky hair. “They already know what we’re doing in here.”
“I know that. But… at least they would have to guess when it came to the um… end.”
He laughed and wrapped his arms around her.
That’s when they heard the sound of pops in the woods surrounding the house. Jake was out of the bed in a flash. For a second, he wasn’t sure what to do—dress and grab his gun, or shift.
“Jake,” Alicia said, sounding scared, her eyes huge.
“Stay here. I’ve got to see what’s happening.” Then he shifted and bumped Alicia’s hand with his nose. After she ran her hand over his head, he turned and dashed out of the bedroom, intent on getting to his men and taking care of whomever was causing trouble.
Nothing had been unpacked, Alicia thought as she hurried out of bed, pulled on her bra and panties, and then looked for a box that might have a pair of jeans and a sweater. Frantically digging clothes out of one, then another of the boxes, she finally found a pair of jeans.
But before she could put them on, she heard footfalls headed in her direction down the hall at a full-out run. Her heart went into overdrive.