Coveted (15 page)

 Chapter Sixteen

A
iden clamped his jaw shut
against the howl of denial working up his throat.

How much had she
heard?

She wasn’t running in
fear, so she couldn’t know the truth about his heritage. That reassurance was
the only thing enabling him to hold back his wolf. He waited for panic to crowd
her face, fear to darken her eyes. His legs trembled under the strain of not
stalking her across the room.

They couldn’t let her
go. Not yet. He hadn’t had time to seduce her into feeling something for him
and laying his claim. It was forbidden to discuss the Beloved with outsiders.
The knowledge would only put her in more danger. Unwilling to lie outright, Aiden
decided to give her a few half-truths, enough to satisfy her curiosity, and still
keep to the law.

He would tell her the
rest later.

Eventually.

Shayla narrowed her
eyes on him. “Stop thinking up lies. What is a beloved and what has it got to
do with me?”

Aiden stared at her, nonplussed
by her accurate assessment. Shayla had the right to know the risk. Too many
wolves knew about her.

“It’s because of your
talent.”

All the color drained
from her face. Aiden folded his arms across his chest, his knuckles turning
white as he resisted the urge to comfort her.

“I don’t know what
you mean.”

She lied.

“Don’t you?” Anger
thrummed through him at her audacity. He pushed away from the wall, catching
her shoulders in his hands. “How did you find me in the tunnels?”

The little chit
jerked away from him and lifted her chin. “I fell through the ceiling. I
followed the passageway, and it led me to you. It’s not like you have a lot of
options underground.”

“And fishing me out of
the sea?”

The smile she gave him
was more of a grimace. “Luck.”

“You told me you seek
things.”

“I’m good digging up
information.” She muttered and crossed her arms, not giving an inch.

Aiden leaned forward until
he was a hair’s breadth away from tasting her. “I can see your devious little
mind working. Don’t lie to me. You wanted the truth. I gave it. Don’t I deserve
the same?”

Shayla had the
audacity to snort. “You gave me some version of the truth, but you didn’t tell
me everything. Not by a long shot.”

She walked up to him,
and he straightened, trying not to back away from the fire in her eyes. She
thumped her finger on his chest. “Nothing you said explains why people would want
to hunt me.”

He couldn’t very well
tell her they were hunting for werewolf blood, so he gave her as much the truth
as it pertained to her. “Because you helped me. If you’re caught, they’ll take
you hostage.”

“But I’m innocent.”

“Doesn’t matter, not
to them. You know too much. You’ll disappear like all the rest.”

She planted her
little fists on her hips, and Aiden couldn’t help feeling a thrill at the challenge.
“How did they capture you?”

Humiliation burned
anew at the memory of being fooled and captured by a human. He wanted to say he
allowed himself to be taken on purpose, but it would be a lie. Now that he’d
decided to keep Shayla, he refused to lie to her any more than he already had.
It felt wrong. “I was investigating the report of a drug being connected to the
recent disappearances. They caught me before I could learn more.”

He caught a whiff of
sea and citrus from her that got him hard in an instant. He inhaled sharply,
relishing her scent, unable to take his eyes off her when she began pacing.

Shayla stopped suddenly
and narrowed her eyes at him. “Nora was your lead.”

She saw him jerk his
eyes away from her ass, and he stared over her head. A dull shade of red filled
his face. The reaction totally delighted her. No way was he leaving without sharing
the story. “Tell me.”

“I was stupid. I
followed a lead and got caught snooping. Most of the men seem to go missing
after going on a date. A drug is placed into their drink or food. If they don’t
react, the date ends. No harm, no foul.” Unless they turned wolf, then they
would be drained and tossed aside like roadkill.

He shrugged. “I
managed to track one of the women from information in a newspaper article. She
was the sole survivor in a recent attack. It was a trick. Before I knew it, I
was drugged and taken like the rest.”

Shayla wasn’t sure
she liked the idea of Aiden on a date. “And the other men taken? Were they
tortured like you?”

Aiden gave a curt
nod. “That would be my guess.”

“You keep saying your
men. Why are your people being targeted?” Shayla suspected she knew the truth,
but she wanted to hear him say it.

“Like you, we have a
special bloodline. They hunt us for money and kill us once they take what they
want.”

Shayla gave him
points for artfully dancing around the truth. Nothing he’d said was a lie. “Can’t
you warn your people?”

“Avamoore is primarily
a training ground. Most of the clan lives independently. We spread the word,
but what can we tell them? Stop eating, drinking or dating? My clan is very…physical.
Dangle a beautiful woman in front of a man, and they’ll fall for it every time.”

Shayla blinked at his
blatant flirtation, narrowing her eyes as she pictured him pursuing other women
with a single-mindedness that would make them fall at his feet in worship. She
quickly banished the image of a flock of women vying for his attention, but it
left a sour aftertaste. She wasn’t about to join that long line of conquests. “They
are killing people. I’d think that’d put a damper on any extra-curricular
activities.”

She didn’t care for
the sudden twinkle in his eyes.

“Or the danger would
intensify the experience.” He crept closer. “Every nerve heightened. Every
touch either a threat or a caress.” 

Shayla swallowed
hard, praying that he couldn’t hear the frantic pounding of her heart. She
shook her head to clear the images of them entwined, pressed against an alley
wall, never knowing if one touch, one kiss would be their last. Her body
heated, and she could’ve cursed her foolish imagination. She struggled to pick
up where their conversation left off. “Can’t you turn them in to the cops?”

“And say what?” Aiden
smiled ruefully. “That beautiful women are kidnapping men for nefarious
purposes? I don’t think they would exactly worry about our virtues being in
danger.”

A short smile quirked
her lips but quickly faded.

“Book me on the first
flight out of here. Hell, you can walk me on board.” Shayla’s voice was hoarse
when she spoke. As much as she hated to admit it, she wasn’t sure she wanted
him to take her up on her offer.

“If they even suspect
you are one of the Beloved, they will hunt you down. I can’t keep my pack and
you safe at the same time if you’re halfway around the world. Leaving could
lead trouble directly back to your family.”

Shayla blanched. “Then
what can we do?”

“Give me a week. One
way or another, I’ll keep you safe.”

One week of being
close to him.

Within touching
distance.

It would be heaven
and hell.

She also had a job to
finish, that was if her employer still wanted her since she blew off the
interview. She eyed Aiden. He appeared calm, as if her decision didn’t matter.
That was if you didn’t notice his unnatural stillness, the way he clasped his
hands behind his back with perfect restraint. Energy hummed under his skin, and
she could almost feel his wolf reaching for her.

Her resolve weakened.
“One week?”

Aiden gave a short
nod.

Her grandfather had wanted
her to have an adventure. Well, here it was, smacking her in the face. If she
left, she’d only put Aiden’s pack and her own family in danger. She would not
be a pawn. She would make her own choices. She could keep her distance from him,
make sure that they were never alone. Although she wasn’t a one-night-stand
type of girl, he tempted her to re-think her rules. She just needed to remember
that he wasn’t a forever type of man.

If it was a choice
between spending a week with a hunky man or running for her life, the decision
was easy.

She chose Aiden. “One
week.”

Air whooshed out of
him. Aiden hadn’t been aware of how much hinged on her answer. How much it
mattered that she chose him.

“Why don’t I get us
some food to celebrate? We can have our own private meal.” And keep her away
from his men. He’d use the time alone to convince her she couldn’t keep her
hands off him. His fingers tingled to touch her skin, spread the pheromones until
it was the truth.

Shayla blinked
innocently up at him. “Aren’t they holding dinner for us downstairs?”

Aiden gritted his
teeth. He’d forgotten she’d been listening at the door, but he could stack the
cards in his favor. He’d give her a kiss she wouldn’t forget and put his scent
all over her in the process. “As you wish.”

When she smiled and walked
toward the door, he quickly stepped in her path. She nearly smacked into him, then
frowned up at him in an adorably grumpy way. When she would’ve shuffled away,
he caught her close. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Shayla glanced up at
him blankly, and some of his joy deflated to think she so easily forgotten their
promised kiss when he could think of nothing else. “You still owe me a kiss.”

She sucked in a sharp
breath. Heat flooded her at the chance to get her hands on him, but logic
dictated she keep the kiss short.

Uncomplicated.

And if she put it off
any longer, the anticipation would only make it worse. Better to just get it
over and done so she could dismiss the darn thing from her mind.

Besides…since he was
an honest-to-goodness werewolf, he would not fit in her city lifestyle
stateside. Hell, her apartment didn’t even allow dogs. They peed on the
furniture, not to mention the whole nose in the crotch and chasing cars thing.

The silliness of her thoughts
caught up with her.

Nerves.

She had to stop
staring at his lips and just do it.

Recklessness took
hold. If this was going to be their last kiss, she decided to indulge herself
and experience everything.

What could it hurt?

She would be gone in
a week.

Determined to enjoy
the experience in full, she took a moment to really appreciate the gorgeous
specimen before her. He’d kept his hair long, tied back, a rich, dark brown
that tempted her to run her fingers through. The angles of his face invited her
gaze to linger. He was more rough-hewn than handsome, so why couldn’t she keep
her eyes off him?

Pinned under his
gaze, she saw his green eyes were like lightening, flickering with emotions.
His look made her feel exposed, showing her a hunger that wouldn’t be satisfied
with a quick peck. The realization made her skin tingle.

No other man had ever
looked at like way.

She never lacked for
dates, but they had always bored her before the end of the evening. More of a distraction
while she waited for her life to begin.

Despite the long list
of reasons that he was all wrong for her, she still wanted Aiden. Or maybe
craved was a better word. She missed the casual closeness between them while they
were on the run. She wanted that again.

But the stubborn
jackass didn’t move, as if enjoying stretching out the torture.

Anticipation was
likely to kill her.

“Let’s get this over
with.” A full minute passed before she finally looked up at him in confusion.
“Well?”

He flashed her a
devilish smile, revealing sharp, white teeth. She’d almost swear they were
longer…like fangs. Muscles shifted as he crossed his arms and raised a brow. “
You
promised to give
me
a kiss.”

The beastly man was
going to make her work for it. Shayla huffed, hating that he could remain so unaffected.
“I can’t reach you.”