Legacy Found: Legacy, Book 3 (15 page)

“How did you get away?”

Shelley shook her head, sat back in her seat and pulled on her seatbelt. The click of the belt buckle was like a punctuation mark, ending their discussion.

James snapped on his seatbelt and put the truck in gear. After checking the traffic, he pulled back onto the highway. Shelley closed her eyes. She was done talking. The rhythm of the vehicle gradually relaxed her.

Tension thrummed through James’s body like a live wire. The things she’d shared with him were horrific. And the hunters called
them
animals. How in the hell had she survived all those years?

The only thing she knew about sex and mating was warped. She didn’t have any normal sexual experiences. It made him even more determined to show her the delights, the pleasures that could be found between a male and female if there was caring and respect between them.

He wondered what she looked like in her wolf form. She’d be delicate, but strong, just as she was as a human. He imagined her fur would be soft brown, her eyes dark and intelligent. He longed to see her.

His wolf was restless inside him, wanting to break free of the confines of civilization and run through the forest and mountains. He wanted to show Shelley the joys to be found in her wolf. From the way she spoke, he sensed nothing but shame for that part of herself.

He still didn’t know who had taken her or what had happened to her captor. Shelley wasn’t talking about him. Not yet. James was confident she would once she felt safe and secure.

He was determined to give her justice. Retribution. He also wanted to give her a safe home, with him.

He glanced over at her. Several tendrils of her hair had escaped her ponytail and were resting against her cheekbone. Her eyes were closed, her long lashes brushing against her pale skin.

Her head was resting against the seat, but he could tell she wasn’t asleep. She jerked every time he hit a bump in the road. No, she definitely wasn’t sleeping. He expected she was emotionally drained after their talk and just wanted to be left alone.

That was fine. For now.

Even after everything she’d told him, there was a sense of calm, a stillness about her that was peaceful. James felt no need to make conversation.

He left her pretending to sleep and turned his attention back to the road. He really wished that she would fall asleep for a while. There were dark circles beneath her eyes. She’d obviously been overworking and not sleeping well. And last night, he’d kept her busy until late, and today had been an emotional roller coaster.

Considering what she’d told him about herself, he was surprised she’d been able to let down her guard enough to sleep with him wrapped around her last night. Either she’d been totally exhausted or she trusted him on some level. He wanted to believe it was the latter even though it was more likely the former.

Just thinking about what she’d been through was enough to burn a hole in his gut. Blood pumped like acid through his veins. How anyone could do such a thing to another person was beyond him. He was no saint, but he killed only to survive. Actively capturing and keeping Shelley captive for all those years was pure evil. There was no other word for it.

In spite of the torture and trauma she’d been through, she was a gentle soul. But she also had a will of steel to come out of an ordeal like that and not be totally insane. He wasn’t sure that even he could have survived all those years of captivity.

His fingers tightened around the steering wheel and he took several deep breaths as his fury started to grow, yet again. Every time he thought about it, he wanted to strike out at her captor. But anger wasn’t what she needed from him.

“How much longer?”

It was the first time she’d spoken in a while. Her voice was soft and slightly slurred by fatigue, but her dulcet tones shot straight to his groin, making his cock stir.

The primitive urge to take Shelley home and protect and care for her was overriding all else. Once she was safe, he wanted to spend hours caressing her soft skin, learning the curves and hollows of her body and licking her from head to toe. He wanted to bury his cock in her moist, welcoming heat and hear her cry his name as she came.

“Almost there.” His voice was rough with desire. Shelley’s tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip. He could smell her arousal. Tightening his grip on the wheel, he pushed down a little harder on the gas pedal. The quicker he got her home, the better.

Jessup followed at a discreet distance. Last thing he wanted to do was tip off the guy in the truck that he was being followed. He was careful to keep several other vehicles between them at all times, hanging back just far enough to keep them in his sights. His truck was nondescript, dusty and basic black. There were hundreds of them on the roads around here.

For a moment, he thought he’d been caught when the guy pulled his truck off the road. He’d been forced to continue driving. He’d stopped about a mile up the road at a truck stop and waited, all the while praying the guy wasn’t about to turn around. Macmillan would kill him if he lost them.

His patience had been rewarded a short time later, and now they were both back on the road. Jessup had no idea where he was going or why he was following the guy in the truck. He didn’t know why the stranger and his female passenger were of interest.

It didn’t matter to him. He’d been told to follow them and he would. Soon as they stopped, he’d call Macmillan and let him know where they were. What happened then was up to the boss.

He suspected Macmillan thought they might be werewolves. Hard to tell from how much Jessup had seen. But it was worth a look. If they were human, they’d never even know anyone had been trailing them.

If they weren’t human…

Jessup grinned and sped up as the truck a few vehicles ahead of him picked up speed. It would be time to go hunting.

Chapter Ten

Shelley was nervous. The closer they got to Wolf Creek, the more she was finding it difficult to stay calm. She didn’t know these people. What in the world had she been thinking to agree to come here?

“Everything is going to be fine,” James reassured her. Easy for him to say. He knew what to expect. She was the one about to step off the edge of a cliff and into the unknown.

He’d turned the truck off the main road about ten minutes ago and now they were bouncing along a rutted track of hard-packed dirt that could at best be called a path. Good thing he was driving a truck. Otherwise they probably wouldn’t have made it over parts of it.

Tires dipped and she was thrown to the right. Thankfully, her seatbelt kept her from pitching forward and hitting her head.

James grinned. “Gonna have to get the road graded again.” She noticed the closer he got to his home, the lighter his mood got. She envied him that feeling. She’d never had it. Or, if she had, she certainly couldn’t remember it.

Shelley snorted. “This is hardly a road.”

“What can I say? We discourage visitors.” He manhandled the wheel to the left. Several tree branches brushed against the side of the vehicle. They were headed deep into the surrounding forest.

She was grateful she hadn’t eaten much breakfast. With all the jostling around and her nerves, she might not have been able to keep it down.

A part of her was excited. This was her first step in discovering who she really was. No matter what she found out about her past and her family, it was information she needed if she truly wanted to make a life for herself.

And if James was to be believed, she had a lot of years left to live. She planned on making the most of them.

The truck took a sharp right turn and ended up in a clearing. A large barn-like structure stood there with several padlocked doors. James stopped the truck and jumped out. “I’ll just be a second.”

He strode toward the building. Withdrawing a key from his pocket, he unlocked one set of double doors and pushed them open. Shelley leaned forward, interested in spite of her mounting trepidation.

James was back in a flash. He put the truck in gear and drove right into the building. “We keep our vehicles stored here. We’ll walk the rest of the way. It’s not far.”

“Wow. You weren’t kidding about not liking visitors.” There were several more trucks, a car and an SUV already stored in the garage. All this secrecy, the house deep in the woods was much like being with the hunters.

Shelley swallowed hard and broke out in a cold sweat.

“Shelley?” James had shut off the truck and was watching her.

She shrugged. “It’s a lot like where I came from. A secluded cabin in the middle of the woods.”

James swore under his breath. “I’m sorry about that. But this is very different.” He lightly touched her cheek with the back of his hand. “You’re free to roam here, not a prisoner. And there are lots of people to talk to.”

“I know.” She clung to his words “
not a prisoner
” and took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

She unhooked her seatbelt and climbed out of the truck. The slamming of her door echoed throughout the large structure. “This is some place.”

“Works for us. There are several privately owned vehicles and a few communal ones. Anyone who needs to go somewhere can borrow one.”

She walked around to James’s side of the truck. He slipped on his jacket and pulled out their bags from where they were stored behind the seat.

Shelley glanced out the wide open doors, enjoying the crisp, clean air. She inhaled deep and her nostrils filled with the scent of fresh pine and the more earthy smell of damp ground and rotted leaves. Most of the snow was melted, but there were still patches between the trees.

A crow cawed in the distance. Tree branches rustled and danced in the wind.

“Ready?” James was waiting, his bag slung over his shoulder and her two bags held in one hand.

“I can take those.” She grabbed the handle of the shopping bag and the top of her brown paper bag. It wasn’t much, but it was all she had.

“I can carry them for you.” James reluctantly gave up the bags after she tugged several times.

“I know you can, but I can carry them myself.” There was more at stake here than just her bags. She needed him to understand that she could look after herself, could stand on her own two feet. She’d fought to gain her independence and wasn’t about to give it up.

James leaned down and pressed a soft kiss on her forehead. “I know you can, Shelley. But all of us need some help sometimes.” He stepped back and headed to the door, leaving her to follow.

She stepped outside, looking around with interest as he shut and locked the wide doors. From the outside, the structure really did look like a barn. Unless you broke inside, you’d never know there were vehicles stored here.

“Which way?” Shelley could see two possible trails, but had no idea which one was the right one.

James put one hand on the small of her back and pointed to the left. “That way.”

They set off. Shelley had an entire colony of butterflies beating inside her stomach. Her skin tingled. Her senses were heightened.

She could smell James next to her, a combination of clean male sweat, a tinge of the woodsy-scented soap he favored, and the unique musky smell that was all hot male. All James.

Her breasts swelled and her nipples puckered. Shelley stumbled over a tree root and would have ended up face down in the dirt if James hadn’t caught her by the arm. Now was not the time to get aroused. Not when she was about to meet his family. What would they think of her?

“Careful.” He held her steady, peering down at her. His nostrils flared and his eyelids lowered. “Shelley.” He said her name, nothing more, but it sent a shaft of heat flaring from her breasts to between her thighs.

He slowly lowered his head and nuzzled the curve of her jaw. His lips grazed over her skin. “I want to touch you,” he murmured against her ear.

The bags dropped to the ground as her fingers opened of their own accord and reached for him. James. Just James. Since the moment he’d stepped into her life, he’d changed everything.

He caught her earlobe between his teeth and nibbled. She moaned as it sent sensual shivers rushing down her neck and arms. She shifted from one foot to the other as she caught his shoulders for support. The leather of his coat crinkled beneath her fingers.

“But this isn’t the time or the place. They’re waiting for us up at the compound.” His words were as effective as a bucket of ice water.

Shelley jolted back. Lungs heaving, eyes wide, she glanced around, hoping no one had seen them. She couldn’t see or sense anyone. Absently, she rubbed her hand over her ear. She didn’t know if she was trying to rub James’s touch into her skin or trying to remove it.

Their stolen moment left her feeling unsettled and too warm. She glanced in dismay at her bags sitting on the damp ground. A small sound of worry escaped as she bent down and jerked them into her hands. On examination, they didn’t appear to have soaked through.

James waited, his expression one of masculine need. His breathing was deep and slow and his muscles were tense. There was also no disguising the erection pressing against the zipper of his jeans.

Shelley glanced away and chewed on her bottom lip. She shouldn’t have come. This wasn’t going to work.

“Come on,” he all but growled.

She took a step back. “Maybe I should just go.”

James put his hands on his hips. He was a very large, very imposing man. His hair was pulled back and tied at his nape with a piece of leather. The silver mixed with brown at his temples, making him look mature, experienced. His golden-brown eyes were piercing as they watched her. She felt naked before him. Exposed.

His hard expression softened slightly. “Trust me.” He held out his hand. It was a large hand. Strong and calloused and male. It was a hand that could hurt or help, depending on his mood.

Taking a deep breath, she gripped both her bags in one hand and reached out with her free one.

His fingers closed around hers. “Come on. They’re waiting.”

For a moment, James feared Shelley was going to flee. He hadn’t meant to give in to the sensual pull that existed between them. But when she’d stumbled and he’d caught her, he’d gotten a whiff of her sweet skin. She was also slightly aroused and that had set off every primal instinct inside him.