Hungry for the wolf, p.9
Hungry for the Wolf, page 9
Kerry groaned against him, her legs going liquid. How was she supposed to stand when she had Bryan in her arms?
She wanted him everywhere.
In any other circumstances she might have been screaming at herself: too much, too fast. Slow down.
But this was Bryan. There was no such thing as too much.
She pulled him back towards the bed and they tumbled down onto it, her legs going around his hips, feeling the hard press of his cock against her as her own sensitive skin rasped against her jeans. It was torture. Kerry would have torn off her clothes right then if it didn’t mean letting go of Bryan, of not kissing him for even a second.
Impossible.
But she wanted his skin. Her nails scraped along his shirt, but they were still human, not the wicked claws she could use in her other form. She didn’t rip the shirt up, even if it was stupid and getting in her way. She let her fingers quest under it, the fabric riding up to expose his stomach, his abs, the hot skin that she wanted to feel all over her.
Bryan groaned as she explored him and every one of his sounds made her body ignite. How hot could she burn? She had a feeling she was going to find out.
Would the flames incinerate them both?
Bryan pulled away for just a second, reaching behind his head and yanking his shirt off so swiftly she thought she heard the seams rip. That would be his problem for later. Right then Kerry was going to enjoy everything he bared to her.
Between the tightness from the shift and the heat of the moment, Kerry was about to explode and she squirmed until she could get her own top off. Bryan let out an unholy sound when he realized she hadn’t been wearing a bra. She couldn’t stand the confinement immediately after a shift. She’d been planning to put one on before she left the room.
Now she was glad she hadn’t.
He pulled back and looked down at her, his eyes shifting from their normal color to something yellow and wolfish. Maybe she should have been nervous. But Kerry’s own wolf was demanding more, and nothing in her was capable of fearing Bryan.
He was hers.
He opened his mouth for a moment before clamping it shut and holding his lips tightly together, as if trying to suppress a grin.
“What?” Kerry might have felt exposed under other circumstances, but she liked the feel of Bryan’s eyes on her. And since she couldn’t tear her gaze away from him, it only seemed fair.
“I’m not about to say anything that will get me kicked out of your bed.” His voice had taken on a rough undertone, as if he wasn’t completely in control.
It made her shiver.
“Then use your mouth for something else.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. He kissed her again, before sliding down her body and worshiping her breasts. His mouth was on one of her nipples, his fingers on the other, doing wicked things that made her squirm and pant for more.
She wanted everything that he could give her. She wanted to invent new ways to take pleasure, just so they could give that much more to one another. But most of all, she wanted this, now, and if she didn’t get it, she might go mad with want.
Bryan had moved further down her body, his fingers teasing the button of her jeans, when something pinged at the edge of her awareness. It pinged again and Bryan stiffened.
Then he pulled back and cursed.
It was a ringing phone.
He cursed again. “That’s the boss. He doesn’t call if it’s not important.” He reached into his pants and pulled out his phone. “Please don’t kill me for answering this. This could be about your case.”
Kerry let herself sink into the mattress for a moment while Bryan took the call. Then she groped for her shirt and pulled it back on, quickly covering herself back up. She fled the room, even when he tried to hold her hand and keep her there.
But it was a harsh reminder. The outside world could intrude at any moment.
And she wasn’t safe.
Or satisfied.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Kerry thought she knew the definition of sexually frustrated. She’d had her dry spells before.
She didn’t realize how much worse it could be when the spell wasn’t dry, it just wasn’t… complete.
She could see the New York skyline in the distance as they got closer to the city, two days at the farm fading away as if they hadn’t happened at all. The call from Bryan’s boss hadn’t had anything to do with her case, after all, but was instead a notification that one of Bryan’s co-workers, Jackson, would be available if he needed help.
The smart thing to do at that point would have been to pull back. Bryan was supposed to be protecting her. Could he do that effectively if he was busy trying to get into her pants?
Unfortunately, Kerry couldn’t make herself care. Not when the feel of his lips on hers was like coming home.
But his phone was a freaking torture device.
She’d tried to play it cool after Gibson called. That had lasted all of an hour. Then they’d been sitting beside one another on the couch, one thing had led to another, and his lips had been on hers and his hand in her pants in minutes.
Until his phone buzzed again.
And again the next day when he’d had her pressed up against the wall, had sunk down to his knees, and had a promise of paradise in his eyes.
Then Owen called.
Phones were the devil and if she had a time machine, she was gunning for Alexander Graham Bell.
But now they were headed back into the city to stay with Stasia and Owen while those two planned their infiltration of AR Selby’s penthouse.
“I should get in touch with Michaels,” she realized as she said it out loud. “She’s probably going crazy ever since we ditched my phone. I guess I could have used yours to call her.” But truthfully, Kerry had liked the break from the prosecutor’s calls. She’d spent the last year wrapped up in this case and it had taken over her life.
Three days away, even with armed gunmen chasing them, was its own kind of vacation.
Bryan’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel and his jaw ticked. Despite that, he nodded. “You’re probably right. And you’ll need to call Detective Harper and see if he’s made any headway on the shooting. Maybe they know who’s after you. I should talk to him, too.”
She could tell him to detour to the police station so they could get at least part of that chore done with, but Kerry didn’t suggest it. She had a feeling both Harper and Michaels would yell at her when she finally got in touch, and if she could put it off for a few more hours, she would.
Besides, it was still early in the day. She had plenty of time.
“Is Stasia really okay with us staying at her place? She understands what happened at mine?” Kerry didn’t want to bring trouble to the other woman. She would have been happy to stay at the farm house forever. Or at least until she got bored of country life and pizza. But her problems weren’t going to go away by ignoring them.
She wasn’t sure what AR Selby had to do with the night of the shooting. Even now she was doubting her recollection. Had he really been the one she’d seen? Or was her mind playing tricks on her?
Either way, it didn’t matter. He was shady in his own ways and he might have hurt Bryan and his pack. Kerry didn’t like that at all.
AR had to be investigated to protect Bryan. So he’d be investigated.
“She’ll be fine with it,” Bryan assured her, reaching over and squeezing her hand. He didn’t pull away. “We upped the security tenfold after everything went down last year. Now you’d need an army to get in. Two armies, really. Bulletproof windows, super high tech security system, lasers,” he grinned big at that, “and an automatic alert to everyone in the pack if the system is triggered. Not to mention that Owen and Stasia are both shifters and are a security system in and of themselves. It’s probably the safest place in the city for you. And it’s super swanky. The Selby corporation’s crimes have definitely paid, and Stasia isn’t too conflicted about using the money in her trust fund.”
Must be nice.
Kerry kept that thought to herself. But, really, did she have room to complain? Her father financed most of the gallery and she’d been taking his money her entire life. If she was living on the gallery’s real income, rather than the supplement that came from distributing whatever was in those boxes for her dad, she’d be living in a shack. Or worse. Even shacks were unaffordable in Manhattan.
Bryan parked the car in a garage near Stasia’s place. “I know it’s difficult to keep a car in the city, but I don’t think we should return it just yet. Could come in handy.”
“Sure.” She didn’t care. Her mind was too full and she couldn’t make a decision as inconsequential as whether or not to keep the car for now. She’d let Bryan handle that.
Bryan led her down the block to a beautiful white stone building. The doorman let them in with a smile and they took an ancient, though gorgeously maintained elevator to the third floor. There were only two doors in the hallway and Bryan knocked on one.
A moment later, Stasia was there, letting them in with a small smile. “Welcome. I’m glad you made it safely.” She shut the door behind them and engaged an impressive set of locks.
Kerry looked around and tried not to guess how expensive this place had to be. She spotted an honest to god dining room off the hallway. Stasia had square footage to spare.
“There’s two full bathrooms upstairs, if you want to wash your faces or anything. One in the hallway, one in the master bedroom. And dump all your stuff in the guest room. We’ll figure out an extra bed later. I’m pulling some food out of the oven, so meet me in the kitchen.” She led them as far as the staircase and there they split off.
Upstairs, Kerry took a look at the guest room and then glanced at Bryan. “Plenty of room for two. No need for Stasia to make up another bed somewhere.”
He grinned and kissed her cheek. “You know I don’t sleep well on couches.”
Her heart flipped and she wanted to kiss him right there, but she forced herself to behave. It was bad enough to get interrupted by phone calls. She might actually attack Stasia without meaning to if the woman interrupted them.
She and Bryan took their time, washing off the grime of travel before heading downstairs, where the smell of garlic and meat sauce was enough to make her stomach rumble.
Stasia and Owen waited there, standing close, Stasia leaning against her mate’s side as he wrapped an arm around her and nuzzled her hair. It was shockingly intimate, especially the soft looks on their faces, and Kerry had to look away before she blushed.
She would have rather caught them making out.
Bryan clambered down the stairs, making enough sound to wake the dead, and Stasia and Owen parted, though Owen kept an arm around her. When Bryan entered the kitchen, he put a hand on the small of her back and Kerry liked it so much she almost stepped away to try and resist temptation.
Screw that. Temptation was awesome.
“Food’s ready,” said Owen, handing out plates as Stasia cut into the lasagna. And Kerry smiled in relief when she saw the size of the portions doled out. Big enough for shifter appetites. No need to hide here.
They ate in the dining room, but didn’t waste time talking as they dug in. Food came first. And it went fast. Once it was done and the plates clean, Stasia summoned them to her library, an ornate room with dark paneling and red leather furniture, and held up a flash drive.
“This is what we found,” Owen said, taking the drive from his mate and plugging it into a computer on the desk.
“I thought you were waiting until we got here in case you needed backup.” Bryan sounded like he was edging toward the edge of anger. “What if something went wrong?”
“The opportunity presented itself,” Stasia said calmly, but her tone brooked no argument. “He invited us to dinner last night.” She held up a hand before Bryan could say anything more. “And that’s not the first time. We’ve had dinner with him several times, so it’s not like he invited us because he thinks something is up. He is still my brother. We’ve been making an effort to mend our relationship. Well. We were.”
Owen reached out and took his mate’s hand. She squeezed it back.
“What did you find?” Kerry asked. She wasn’t a part of their pack. This only related to her if AR really had been there the night of the shooting, and it wasn’t like they were likely to find evidence of that. But this was a mystery that needed solving.
“A lot of encrypted data. But seriously, remind me to never piss off Gibson.” Owen shuddered. “He called in a favor and had it cracked before midnight. I was up all night going through files. There’s a bunch of stuff that would probably greatly interest anyone doing corporate espionage, but I don’t think we care about cratering the Selby corporation.”
“Not today, love,” Stasia said with a fond grin.
Owen continued. “But then there were some very hidden files. Very, very hidden. Data disguised behind encryption and cloaked file types. That’s where we found something.”
“What?” Bryan was bouncing where he stood, and Kerry felt just as nervous. Or excited. She wasn’t sure which.
Owen reached over to the keyboard and pressed a few buttons and nodded towards the television on the other side of the room. It was practically a mini-movie screen. But Kerry wasn’t measuring the size when the picture popped up, dark, a little grainy, and on a night she’d never forget.
She was pretty sure it came from a dashboard camera, and it didn’t give a full view of the scene. AR stepped out of a dark sedan and took cover while the men down the street exchanged fire. She couldn’t see herself, but she knew she was just out of frame, cowering behind a dumpster.
He was holding something cupped in his hands, but she couldn’t tell what it was. There was no sound, so she didn’t know if he said anything, but after a moment whatever it was started faintly glowing. He jerked to the side, as if a bullet had gotten too close, but he stayed standing.
And then a wolf came bounding out of the park. It came right up to AR, and the thing in his hands glowed brighter.
Then AR looked towards where she was hiding and the wolf took off, running right towards her.
Owen cut the video. “He drives away about five minutes later, but not before the wolf comes back to him and then runs back into the park.”
“Only five minutes?” Kerry hadn’t realized she’d spoken until she saw the others looking at her. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and offered what she hoped looked like a brave smile. “It felt like a lot longer. But Harper said the whole firefight took less than ten minutes. And the cops just happened to be on patrol and heard the gunshots. Lucky timing. Or unlucky, I guess, depending on your perspective.”
She was babbling. She wanted to get up, run, and never stop. Every time she was reminded of that night, she relived it. And she was reminded a lot.
Would it ever be over?
Bryan pulled her closer to where he sat on the couch and wrapped his arms around her. She surrendered to his touch, letting him give her the strength she needed to keep going.
“That’s not all,” Owen said after she’d disentangled herself.
“What else?” Bryan asked. He sounded ready to fight, and she was sure he wanted to hunt AR down right then and give him a piece of his mind. Or his fists.
Or his claws.
Owen scrolled through the files and brought one up, though this was just a PDF, no video. But there was a picture embedded in the file, and she recognized him. “How did you know what the guy who shot at me looked like?” She was looking at the gunman from her apartment, plain as day.
“Security footage from a restaurant across the street caught a good look at him.” Owen didn’t mention how he’d gotten that video and Kerry didn’t ask. “This man, Paolo Diaz, is not currently employed by AR or the Selby Corporation, but he’s done security work for them in the past.”
“Diaz?” Stasia interjected.
“Shit,” Owen winced. “I knew I was forgetting something.”
“What’s the matter?” Kerry asked. Her brain was going to pop with this much info.
“My brother’s family,” Stasia explained. “He’s got a lot of cousins named Diaz. Of course, it’s a common name, so could just be a coincidence.”
Kerry tried to parse that, but at this point her brain was having trouble keeping up. “Your brother who you just stole this information from? Why does he have cousins that you don’t?”
Stasia laughed hollowly. “Short story. Dad’s been married seven times. All of my siblings are half-siblings. Selby, the brother between me and AR, is Selby Diaz. Dad had an affair with an employee. Maybe Selb’s involved, but he usually stays far away from family shit.”
“Are you sure you weren’t born into a soap opera?” Kerry’s filter was offline and she couldn’t care whether or not that question was offensive.
But Stasia just smiled. “I know it’s messed up. I’ll call Selb and try and suss things out. Instinct says that if this guy is related, it’s either a coincidence or Selb doesn’t know about the messed up stuff AR is doing. They don’t get along.”
“There are more files on security personnel not currently officially employed by AR’s company,” Owen said. “It wouldn’t be weird if these files were on a computer in the HR department, but there’s not a good reason for AR to be keeping them. Unless he’s hiring off the books. And all of these guys have histories of violence—military or private contractors.” He scrolled through the document too fast for Kerry to process anything but blurred images of a bunch of scary men.
“An off the books private army,” said Bryan.
Owen nodded.
“Anything about Germany?” Stasia asked. “Any hints?”
The question made Owen’s shoulders slump. “Not yet. But I haven’t gone through everything. We have to call Gibson and tell him what we found.”
They went through more of the files and Kerry’s mind reeled, still trying to process what she saw.
