Cindy Spencer Pape - [Guardian Investigations 01] (7 page)

“The reverend is dead,” I announced. “He
had a run-in with a grizzly bear. Faith Foster might still be unconscious in
the basement, but she might be on the loose. The guards were all alive but
disabled when we left, except for one who took off in a car. There’s going to
be a need for clean-up and damage control.”

“On it,” Rhys muttered. “I’d already
notified the FBI of the kidnapping. We’ve worked with them enough that they’ve
agreed to give us some time before they come in. I’ll let them go clean up the
mess and pick up Foster.”

It took the rest of the day to give
statements and get everything taken care of, but eventually, it was over. The
cops had picked up Faith and the guards. Their babble about werewolves had been
written off as cult propaganda. Jason Wilding’s death had been declared a
coincidental grizzly attack. Evan had warned the Carters about the cult’s plan
to turn their leader into a werewolf using their blood, and Derek promised to
increase his security and to warn the other members of his pack.

We were all exhausted when we were finally
cut loose by the Feds, and Evan’s cousin Gavin immediately went out to start up
the chopper.

“We’re going to head back to the cabin,”
Evan told the others with a warm look at me. “I’ll see you in the office on
Monday morning.”

“Call me after you talk to your captain,”
Will told me with a goodbye hug. “Have a good weekend—what’s left of it.”

We waved them off, said good-bye to the
Carters, then climbed into Evan’s Jeep. Neither of us said anything for most of
the moonlit ride back to the cabin. My mind was racing like crazy with all the
things I wanted to ask, and all the questions I wasn’t sure I wanted the
answers to. Evan’s hand was warm and strong on my thigh, his fingers laced
through my own, and somehow, for the moment, that was enough.

When we reached the cabin, we both moved
without a word to the bathroom, pausing only long enough to put down weaponry and
kick off our shoes along the way. As soon as we stepped into the bathroom, we
turned to each other and began peeling off clothing.

“Do you have any idea how frightened I was
when I saw that asshole holding a gun on you?” he muttered as he pulled off my
hoodie.

“Mmm.” I worked the zipper down on his
cargo pants, then shoved them down around his ankles. “Almost as scared as I
was when I saw the bullet slam into you?”

He grunted as if he hadn’t taken that
little detail into account and unsnapped my bra. “I suppose. But I didn’t like
it. Not one little bit.”

“Likewise.” My jeans hit the floor along
with my pink cotton panties, while I pushed his shirt off over his shoulders.
We stood there and stared at each other, naked and panting.

“God, you’re gorgeous.” With a low growl he
grabbed me around the waist and pulled me against his chest.

I looped my arms around his neck and met
his mouth halfway, desperate for his kiss. After just one day, I’d become
addicted to the feel and taste of him. I ground my pelvis against his thighs
while his tongue invaded my mouth, and I rubbed my stomach against the thick
ridge of his erection. Wetness slicked my inner thighs and my turgid nipples
rasped against the coarse hair of his chest.

“Gotta… Now…” His guttural sounds were
barely words, but I got the gist.

“Yeah,” I managed in return.

He lifted my ass up onto the counter and
pushed my legs apart. I instinctively wrapped them around his waist and leaned
back on my hands, opening myself for him even further. He gripped my hips and
plunged his cock inside my pussy in one long, sure stroke. We both groaned
aloud at the relief.

“Hannah…” he muttered as he began to move,
back and forth in a short, fast rhythm. He palmed my breasts with both hands
and kneaded the flesh, giving me the rough loving I needed after a day of fear
and danger. I needed this, to feel alive, to feel Evan whole and healthy and
here.

“Don’t. Talk,” I gasped. “Just. Fuck. Me.”
I was having plenty of trouble speaking myself as the pleasure began to knot up
in my womb. The last word I got out was a mewling whimper. “Please!”

“Fuck, yeah.” He pounded that thick shaft
into me almost hard enough to hurt, hard enough to let me know he felt the
intensity of our experiences as much as I was. I arched my spine and dug my
heels into his back. The sensations coursing through my nerves were so intense
I honestly couldn’t open my eyes, even though I wanted to see his face. A fine
tremor began in my fingers and toes, spreading up my legs and arms until it
encompassed my entire body. Each of Evan’s thrusts sent a jolt of electricity
from my pussy to my spine. Finally, it was all too much. I screamed his name as
every muscle I possessed convulsed and stars swam in front of my eyelids.

“Hannah!” His roar shook the walls of the
cabin as he held his cock deep inside me and let go. Hot rushes of semen filled
my channel, setting off another orgasm for me, before the first had even
subsided.

I came so hard I may have even blacked out
for just a second. When I caught my breath and opened my eyes, Evan leaned over
me with his arms propped on the counter on either side of my chest. He panted
heavily and rested his forehead against my shoulder.

My arms lay limply at my sides, and my legs
hung uselessly, while my back bent at an uncomfortable angle. I shifted, and
Evan immediately stood, drawing my unresisting body up with him and cradling me
close to his chest. His lips grazed the top of my head and his hands stroked
tenderly up and down my spine.

“Just so you know,” he murmured thickly.
“Watching you put yourself in danger was hard. But you handled it perfectly. I
was damned proud of you, and bloody glad we were on the same side.”

“Mmm. Same goes. Guardian does good work.”
I snuggled against his broad, hairy chest, content to wallow in the afterglow.
Eventually we both stretched and stood. Evan started the water in the shower,
and we both climbed inside. He took the soap and lathered up his hands before
gently washing down every square inch of my skin. When he was done, I rinsed
off and did the same for him.

When he turned so I could wash his back, I
noticed something I hadn’t seen before. On his left shoulder blade was the
small brown outline of a bear. It was very stylised, almost like a Native
American fetish. I dropped a kiss on it.

“Nice tattoo. Truth in advertising, huh?”

He laughed. “Sort of. But it’s not a tattoo.
It’s a birthmark.”

“Oh?” I lathered up my hands and soaped his
arms, loving the feel of his corded muscles. “And does your brother have one of
these, too? And your cousins?” Time to find out if the were-bear thing was
hereditary.

“Not exactly. They’re all shifters, but I’m
the only bear in my generation. We’re not like the Carters, where it’s in the
DNA. Ours is magic-based, and it’s different for each of us.”

“I see.” I didn’t, not really. I washed his
legs and paid special attention to his balls and cock, nipping his ass just for
fun. He hardened into my hand, and I couldn’t resist stroking up and down his
steely length.

“My family is Welsh, though in the last few
generations there’s been a little bit of everything else mixed in. English,
German, even a bit of Lakota. But the Welsh blood is still dominant. Somewhere
back in the Middle Ages, an ancestor befriended some of the Fae, and the family
became guardians of the local faery mound.”

I stopped playing with his penis and stood,
my arms around his waist and my cheek resting against his back. “Go on.”

“Since you’re part Navajo, you should be
familiar with the concept of spirit guardians and totem animals. The idea isn’t
unique to
North America
. In my family, each of
us is born with a spirit animal. An identifying mark shows up when we’re born. Once
we hit puberty, we gain the ability to transform into that animal. My middle
name is Arthur, by the way, which means bear.”

“Okay.” It did all make some sort of sense.
And if this relationship did go anywhere—I could live with it. “I guess that
explains why the company is called Guardian.”

“Uh-huh.” The tension in his shoulders
lightened visibly, and he turned to face me. His dark brown eyes gazed down
into mine in a way that was almost—hopeful. “I’ve never been involved with a
woman who knew what I was before. It’s a very liberating feeling, not to have
to keep secrets.”

I nodded and grimaced. “Yeah, been there,
done that. Being a cop with a knack for psychometry has been no picnic—even
before the incident at Christmas time. Do you know how often I had to invent
anonymous tips? And it’s been no fun in the romance department either. Telling
a guy that I could touch his clothes and tell if he’d been cheating—that was
just impossible.”

He chuckled warmly. “I’ll bet. I’ll make a
note of that.”

My breath hitched. Did he mean it? Was he
offering me a chance to see where we could go with this? I stared up into his
face, trying to read his thoughts. My extra senses were giving me zip—all I felt
from his skin was the strong current of sexual attraction that overwhelmed everything
else.

His brows knit together, and he touched my
cheek with his thumb, brushing away a trickle of water. By common consent, he turned
off the faucet, and I reached for a towel. We each dried off, and Evan sat on
the toilet lid watching while I dried my hair. We both brushed our teeth side
by side like an old married couple, then moved hand-in-hand to the bedroom.

The bed was still rumpled from the night
before, and I smiled, remembering the warmth of waking up with Evan. He sat
down on the edge of the bed and drew me down into his arms. I sat facing him,
my thighs straddling his. I leaned back just far enough to see his face in the
golden glow of the bedside lamp.

“So, have you made your decision yet?” he
asked, stroking a strand of my hair. “Are you going back to the police?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know of any other
way to make my living.”

“You have another choice.”

Hope filled my chest. His arms felt so warm
and right wrapped around me. I rested my hands on his shoulders and met his
gaze. “What’s that?”

“You could move to
San Francisco
. Work for a private firm that
will never doubt the validity of your gifts.”

I gasped then stopped breathing entirely as
I stared into his eyes. On a professional level, it was everything I’d ever
wanted. Working with him today and being able to use my gifts freely had been
fantastic. “You’re offering me a job with Guardian?”

His dark gaze bore into mine. I’d never
seen anyone look so intent. If I’d been a fragile little thing, I think he
would have broken my spine when his arms clenched around me. “I’m offering you
a lot more than that, although it’s a start. Another thing you need to know
about my family—we mate for life. When one of us finds the other half of our
soul, it isn’t a long, drawn-out process. It’s almost always a case of love at
first sight. I knew it was you the minute I held you in my arms, even though
you were unconscious. I was sure of it when I saw that asshole pointing a gun
at you today. I love you, Hannah. If you want to keep your job in
San Diego
, we can work it
out. I’ll give you all the time you want to get used to the idea, but one of
these days you’re going to marry me.”

I gulped. “The other half of your soul?” It
was maybe the most romantic thing I’d ever heard.

He just nodded. Sincerity radiated from his
bright dark eyes and the rigid lines of his rugged face. I squeezed his
shoulders and swallowed again, trying to catch my breath.

My lips had gone so dry I had to wet them
twice before I could form words. Then I had to clear my throat before the sound
came out.

“Cool. Works for me.”

There was a pause before he responded, as
if he’d been so sure I’d turn him down that his mind couldn’t process an
acceptance.

“What?” Now his eyes were wide, his
expression cautious.

I licked my lips again. “If that’s a
proposal, the answer is yes.”

His elated roar damn near shook the
rafters. Before I could blink he’d turned, depositing me flat on my back on the
bed. His face searched mine, his eyes anxious. “You’re sure?”

There was just the tiniest bit of
hesitation in that deep gruff voice I’d already come to love. I held up my arms
to the man I’d fallen for so quickly but so irrevocably. “I’m sure. Nana always
told me I’d know the right man the minute I met him. I love you, Evan. I think
I have from the minute I saw you naked in the hallway. That’s why I ran instead
of tossing your ass out of my cabin.”

Evan threw back his head and laughed. “And
knowing about your multiple black belts, you very likely could. God, you’re the
perfect fucking woman for me.” He pounced, pinning me to the bed.

“I damned well better be the only woman for
you,” I warned. I nipped his ear and rolled us so I was on top. “I. Do. Not. Share.
At all. Got that?”

His smile was brighter than the stars that filled
the sky outside the window. “Oh yeah. Got it. Since I don’t either, I imagine
we’re going to do just fine.”

“Better than fine.” We shifted just enough
so his cock was poised at my entrance. I slid down, impaling myself with a
little shimmy.

“I love you,” he cried as he flexed upward,
meeting my movements as I started to ride him. He palmed my breasts, squeezing
at the same time.

“Love. You. Too.” Then I was too far gone
for speech. The climax hit so fast and so hard I collapsed in a heap on his
chest when I was through. Evan rolled us over and powered into me one last
time, then he came too, long and hard and hot.

A few minutes later, we lay there snuggled
up together and making plans, when a thought occurred to me.