Eight

Rance heard what the punk said, knew he needed to sit still and wait it out. They were just words after all, and Lainie and he needed to hear more to know their next move. However, his wolf was in control now, the shift giving the animal more power than his human portion and was not about to allow the man in front of them to threaten the one the wolf had already claimed as his mate. Rance’s wolf leaped out of hiding, his claws out and teeth ready to gnash at someone’s arm, a growl ripping from his chest.

The man sitting on the trunk of the car screamed, jerking himself backward further on the trunk, trying to shove himself through the rear windshield in his escape. The other kid, eyes wide, screamed as well as he darted around to the front of the car, ducking as if he could hide from the wolf. Rance knew better. There was no hiding from his wolf. Or from him.

What the hell are you doing? He heard Lainie shouting in his mind. You’re screwing everything up, damn it!

He knew he was screwing it all up, but he also knew there was no stopping his wolf when his mate was threatened. He would pay the price of it later, he was sure, but for now, since his wolf had already jumped out, he saw no reason not to go with it. The older of the two punks crawled backward still, trying to slide up the rear window and on top of the car, probably believing the higher he went, the safer he was. Rance chuckled to himself, thinking the man was an idiot. Hunching down on his back haunches, Rance shoved himself off the ground and onto the back of the car, eliciting another yelp from the gang member. The wolf growled, saliva dripping from his fangs as he walked up toward the man who threatened his mate. It was the last threat the man would ever make.

Determined to put an end to the Serpent, Rance’s wolf stepped onto the glass, inching his way closer. His attention was focused on the shaking man; nothing else was in his line of sight, which is why when he was knocked off the car, hurled to the ground, it caught him quite by surprise. The only warning he had was the growl that hit his ears just before he was slammed from the trunk of the car and down to the ground. His wolf yelped as he hit but quickly skidded around back to his feet, his legs braced, ready to take on whoever dared attack him. Yet, he came up short when he saw the tawny panther standing there, snarling at him, its own legs braced for a fight.

Get out of here. Now! Lainie sent to him through the animals’ mindspeech.

Rance’s wolf shook his head, shaking off the dirt from where he landed on the ground. She was right, and he knew it. Turning his head back to the punk on the car, he growled once more, and then turned and padded back into the woods, fading from sight. He could hear the panther behind him as he walked but refused to turn around. He’d wait as long as possible for his ass-chewing.

Lainie didn’t speak to him the entire way back to where they left their clothes hidden in the bushes near the crime scene. As soon as he reached the spot, he shifted, ready to face whatever music was thrown at him. Still, nothing was said. He turned once the shift was over, searching out Lainie. He expected to see her reaching for her clothes, but instead, she stood there, the sun breaking through the branches overhead and kissing her flesh, her hands on her hips as she glared at him. He stood facing her, his arms at his sides. Never before had he felt so vulnerable as he did right then.

She blew out a breath. “What the hell were you thinking? If you’ve scared them off, I swear, I’ll kill you myself.”

He could watch her chest heave with her heavy breathing for hours, her breasts rising and falling, his eyes drawn to her nipples, each bud shrunk in on itself and tight. He doubted she knew how beautiful she looked at that moment, standing there, clothed only in the shadows of the sun through the tree branches overhead. “Obviously, my wolf wasn’t thinking. He just reacted, and you know why he did. That punk back there threatened you. My wolf wasn’t going to allow him to get away with that.”

“I’ve been threatened before. It tends to go with the job.” He watched as she took a few steps toward him. “And I don’t need you or anyone else protecting me. I can handle myself.”

Rance sighed, his hands on his hips, shoulders slumped a little. “I know, I know, but you also know I sometimes don’t have that control. My wolf was out and after them before I even knew what was happening.” He shrugged, trying not to appear too beaten. “At the time it was done, I just went with it.” He glanced up into her eyes, hoping she understood everything he tried hard to say and failed at so miserably. “Lainie, you know I would have avoided that if possible. I know how important it is and what we need. Yet, when the mating call comes upon our animals, there isn’t anything we can really do but follow it. I know you feel the same way. Your animal has been emitting the pheromones since we met. Any shifter around us will be able to tell.”

She stared at him a moment, and he was afraid he had said way too much. However, everything he said was true, and he knew she knew it. He could smell the heat from her sex, smell the hunger of her animal, the hunger that matched the craving that flooded from his own animal. She glanced around the clearing, avoiding eye contact until he wanted to scream to get her attention. He did not leave Pensacola looking for a mate, but these things were not up to them. Their animals controlled this process, this hunger which had nothing to do with how horny their human counterparts were or how attached they were to someone else. More people had been miserable because they were denied a mating for reckless decisions they made without their animal’s approval. Rance had avoided that mistake by ignoring the possibilities for attachment with anyone, choosing one casual affair after another just to feel something, anything but the real thing. Now here he was, and the real thing stared him in the face. Or rather, stared off into the surrounding forest.

“Lainie, I…”

He didn’t have the chance to say anything else. She rushed him, each step a deliberate punch to the ground, and at first, he thought she would attack him again, only this time in human form. However, when she reached him, she threw her arms around him instead, her lips finding his as she kissed him roughly, fingers raking through his hair, with a hunger their bodies instantly grew to feel as well.

He stood, stunned, for a moment, before his wolf growled its own hunger. Then he slipped his arms around Lainie’s waist, pulling her tight against him, his cock growing against her stomach. Her body felt warm in his arms, her flesh meshed against his, her breasts pressed firmly against his chest. He slid his hand down her curves to cup her ass, never breaking the kiss as their tongues danced. He felt her hands pull at his hair, her fingers gripping it as she kissed him. No one ever felt so perfect in his arms.

When they finally broke the kiss, he looked down into her eyes, the passion reflected there. He felt the smile turn up the corner of his mouth but before he could say anything, Lainie spoke. “No one has ever wanted to protect me like that before. Thank you. But we need to get dressed and find those guys. They may have been spooked enough to move their hiding spot.”

He stared at her, his eyes narrowed in his confusion. Surely he didn’t hear what he just heard. “You’re joking, right? I mean, after that kiss you really want to go hunt bad guys?”

She kissed him one more time, then pushed off his chest as she turned and headed for where her clothes were hidden. He wanted to enjoy the way her ass swayed as she rushed away determined, but then he remembered—she was rushing away. “Get dressed. We can’t show up as our animals this time. We need to be able to take them into custody,” she said.

“For what? What are you going to use to hold them on? A panther and wolf overheard them talking about their plans? Surely that’s not enough to concern ourselves about right now, not when…” He pointed down to his rock-hard cock.

She grinned at him, her clothes dangling from her fingertips. “Do you really think after your stunt you deserve more than a kiss right now? I mean, you still screwed up back there, even if it was for the sweetest reason.”

“Well,” he sighed. “Now that you mention it and put it that way, I was trying to be protective. That should give me some brownie points. Besides, we’re back to where we were before; we can’t really charge them yet. Our animals aren’t exactly allowed to testify.”

She stared at him a moment and then shook her head. “But we know what they want, and even more, we know who they plan to use in order to obtain it.”

He watched her, his eyes staring straight at hers, fighting the tug to allow his gaze to wander downward, to caress her beasts with his gaze, letting it travel down her stomach to the valley between her legs, and then… Then it dawned on him. “You intend on using yourself for bait?”

Her grin only revealed he was right. “Well, it won’t be like they’re sneaking up on me unaware now will it. We know they’re coming for me, thinking me some scared female they can force to do their bidding, but we know better. We’ll be prepared for them, waiting for their move.” The grin grew across her face. “And we both know I am far more than a timid little country deputy.”

He ran a hand through his hair as he allowed his gaze to drop to the pine needle-covered ground. It was a gutsy move to be sure, but was it too gutsy? Something could go wrong, putting his mate in danger. Then what?

His wolf growled within him. Yeah, then we tear them limb from limb.