Lover Claimed (9 page)

Never with another wolf and of course, never
with a human.

Lajos went back to the king size bed and
switched on the television, immediately turning to an international
news channel. It was one of the best ways to learn what the
paranormal community was up to.

Mass kidnappings meant the vamps had a rogue
group on the hunt for humans. Deadly virus outbreaks meant the
werewolves had accidently infected a human with the disease that
the werewolves carried it had spread. Unlike the folklore,
werewolves weren’t able to bite someone and turn them into one of
them. If they had that kind of power the werewolves would’ve turned
the entire human population a long time ago, in hopes of upping
their status in the paranormal world. The vamps were the only ones
with that power, and they made sure every one of the paranormals
knew it. They didn’t make a lot of new vamps, mainly because they
didn’t think many humans were worthy of becoming a vampire. But at
every turn the vamps were sure to remind everyone else that within
a week their numbers could swell and they could take over the
world.

Lajos and his pack never paid any attention
to their bluffs. If the vamps turned all the humans into vampires
they would also be getting rid of their main food source.

Lajos tried to focus on the television, but
found himself fidgeting with anything he could get his hands on. He
couldn’t stay down for too long. He kept getting up to peek out the
window. Meisha was always in the same spot. He had to give it to
her. She was a determined little minx. As the sun began to set he
knew he had to do something. He couldn’t leave her to sleep outside
during the night, even though he really shouldn’t have cared since
he hadn’t invited her to Miami in the first place.

His wolf sent him a picture of Meisha huddled
and shivering on the sidewalk in the dark.

Don’t try to make me feel bad
, Lajos
said.

Another picture was sent. This time of a man
standing over Meisha and her cowering away from him, bloody and
bruised.

That was enough to make him react.

Lajos turned off the television and headed
out his door. There was no need to wait for an elevator. His room
was on the second floor. He took the stairs and went through the
lobby. There was a high-end boutique nestled in the corner. The
lobby also had a bar and a lounge area where all the furniture was
stark-white and the tables were made of glass.

When he got to the front door, the doorman
opened it for him. “Will you need your motorcycle, Mr. Farkas?”

“Not right now, but I will in an hour or so.
I’ll have another bike for valet momentarily. Can you make sure
someone who knows how to ride is available to park it?”

“Yes, sir.”

He knew he wouldn’t have a lot of time to get
to Meisha before she tried to hide. He bounded down the front steps
and didn’t bother going to a crosswalk. He crossed the street and
dodged some cars. When she spotted him she rounded the bench she’d
been sitting on and hid behind it.

Lajos chuckled. Surely she didn’t think that
she could hide from him? He went straight for her motorcycle. “Nice
bike,” he said stopping in front of it. “I know someone who has one
just like this. Maybe I’ll steal it and keep it for myself.” He
kicked up the stand.

“Take my bike and I’ll take your hand.”

He looked up to see her coming from behind
the bench. She looked tired. They’d had a long drive and he wasn’t
sure if she’d gotten anything to eat. She held her leather jacket
in her hand and wore a tight fitting T-shirt and jeans. There was
nothing about her appearance that should’ve turned him on. She
looked like she needed a shower, she was glaring daggers at him and
her hair was wild all around her.

But she still looked good—damn good.

His wolf became attentive, watching her as
Lajos was.

“You heard me,” she said, when he hadn’t
responded.

He opened his eyes wide, feigning surprise.
“Meisha? Is that you? What a surprise seeing you here.”

She rolled her eyes and came toward him. She
tried to smooth her hair back into place. “How did you know I was
here?”

“It’s not hard to notice a crazy chick
sitting at the bus stop and not getting on any of the buses that
come by.”

“I’m not crazy,” she said. “I’m
determined.”

“To get killed? I thought I left you in
Jacksonville where you belong. You shouldn’t have come. I’m trying
to find out more about the Russian mafia, and if they notice you
here, they’ll kill you for what you did to one of their men.”

She put her hands on her hips and leaned to
one side. “Russian mafia? For real. Are you going to keep that
story up?”

He frowned. Why hadn’t his push worked on
her? He’d repeated his words three or four times just to make sure
what he’d told her stuck. “What are you getting at?”

She looked from left to right, making sure no
one was in earshot, and then she leaned closer to him. “I know what
you are. You’re a wolf shifter. And that guy I killed, he wasn’t
from the Russian mafia. He was like you.”

Shit.

“Meisha, I don—”

She put up a hand, silencing him. “But what I
don’t understand is how you planted a different memory in my head.
What did you do to me?”

“I-I didn’t do anything.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Lajos, if you
don’t tell me the truth, I will dropkick you where you stand. And
you thought me taking you tied up to my courtyard was going to be
bad, imagine what I can do to you in Miami.”

He could push another thought to her now, but
if it wasn’t working it wouldn’t do any good. She would just regain
her memory and come after him again, but the next time he could bet
it would be feet-first. “Okay, I pushed some thoughts into your
head.”

She immediately put a hand on her head. “What
do you mean by ‘pushed’?”

“I used my mind to persuade you about some
things.” Her eyes opened wide. “Don’t be alarmed. It won’t damage
your brain and I didn’t have you do anything that you shouldn’t
have been doing in the first place—going home and forgetting all
about this mess. I’ve heard of it not working on some humans, but
it works on most.” He shook his head. “Just my luck that it doesn’t
work on you.”

“So you went into my mind and told me to do
things?” she said, almost as a threat.

“I didn’t go into your head. Only mated pairs
can read each other’s thoughts. All I did was told you something
and persuaded you to do it. I couldn’t read what you were
thinking.”

She clenched her jaw and balled her fist. “I
swear to Oprah, if you do that shit again I will smack you
sideways.”

He chuckled at her ridiculous statement. “Why
are you swearing to Oprah?”

She waved a hand through the air. “My mom doesn’t
like me swearing to God, she said it’s bad. So I swear to the next
best thing—Oprah.”

He burst out laughing. “And you don’t think you’re
crazy? Not even just a little bit?”

“I’m not crazy.”

“You’re willingly heading into danger with
paranormal beings that wouldn’t hesitate to kill you. I call that
cuckoo.” He twirled a finger by his ear and rolled his eyes
upward.

She slapped his hand down. “Don’t be an ass.”
She grabbed her bike from his grasp and began walking it across the
street.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“To your room, I have to use the bathroom,”
she hollered over her shoulder.

He trotted after her. “I was about to get
room service. I figure we can go by the address where the shifters
are hiding. The Enterprise clerk gave it to me. We can take a look
in a couple of hours.”

She maneuvered her bike onto the sidewalk and
turned around. “You’re going to let me go with you?”

What harm could come with letting her tag
along? It wasn’t like he planned to raid their house and engage
them in a fight. All he planned to do was sit back and do some
reconnaissance then return to the hotel.

He raised a brow and crossed his arms. “Do I
have a choice?”

She smiled at him and his wolf grumbled
contently.

Chapter Ten

Meisha followed Lajos, their bikes
maneuvering through traffic in Miami’s Liberty City district. She
had to give it to Lajos, he rode that motorcycle like it was made
just for him. His lean legs gripped the sides of the bike when he
turned corners. His jeans hugged his nice muscular thighs. He wore
a plain black T-shirt, but there was nothing plain about his back
and arms. She shouldn’t spend this much time looking at his back
muscles. She should have her eyes on the road.

But damn that back. Um.

She imagined her hands running over his
muscles, feeling each and every one. Her legs spread wide, letting
him fill her with his cock—she imagined that would feel good too.
Damn good. Her breath hitched and a tingle began between her legs.
The engine made the seat vibrate and added more pleasure to what
she was feeling there.

She adjusted herself on her seat, pulling
forward.

Right there.

She tightened her grip on the handles.

Shit.

How long had it been since she had sex? She
frowned, her eyes still on him. A couple of months? It hadn’t been
with a boyfriend, since she really never had one of those. Why
would she get serious with someone when at any minute she might
have to pick up and leave? Granted the Yaruzi haven’t found them
yet, and it’d been twenty-four years. But still, she knew just when
she got a job at a bricks and mortar school—where she really wanted
to work—bought a house and maybe found a man, that’s when they
would show up. She would be too tied down to everything in her life
to want to leave. The Yaruzi would either kill her or take her back
to Japan.

No boyfriends. It was just the gateway to
wanting something more.

But with Lajos, she could have sex. Hot,
wild, animal sex. He’d go back to Michigan and she would go
home.

There was nothing wrong with having sex with
someone who didn’t want any strings attached either, and she
assumed that’s what it would be.

But what if he’d want more? She nibbled on
her lower lip. No, forget about it. Getting involved with Lajos
would be a bad idea.

When he looked at her through the side
mirror, she averted her eyes. She didn’t know why she did it. He
couldn’t see her eyes or face for that matter, her helmet prevented
it. Maybe it was embarrassment that had her glancing in the other
direction. But whatever it was, she developed a rush of heat across
her face.

That did it, no more thinking about Lajos is
a sexual way. Plus, she shouldn’t be thinking about him at all.
She’d lost it when Lajos told her Trudy and his brother had been
abducted. There hadn’t been anything she could’ve done to prevent
it, he’d said their plane had been hijacked. Lajos said his older
brother could sense that both Trudy and Kristof were alive and
unhurt. But hearing that did nothing to tamp down the guilt. She
still wasn’t one hundred percent sure the Yaruzi weren’t to blame
for everything that was happening. And if they were, then it meant
Meisha and her family had put Trudy in a direct line of fire. If
Meisha had never involved her, Trudy might still be at home, safe
in bed.

Lajos began to slow and she did the same. She
rode behind him as he made a right onto a residential street. It
was a lot darker than the busy street they’d just left. There were
two-story houses mixed with ranch-style homes. He pulled into the
driveway of a darkened house and shut off his engine.

She parked next to his side and did the same.
“Did we really just pull up to the house where the shifters are?”
she whispered. She glanced around warily expecting one of the
shifters to jump out at them at any moment.

“I’m not a pup, Meisha. This isn’t the
house.”

“If that’s the case, then why did we stop
here?”

He took off his helmet and turned his nose up
to the air and took three quick inhalations.

She frowned at what he was doing. Then it
dawned on her. “Oh, my god. Are you sniffing the air?”

“Of course.”

“Could you try to hide what you are a little
better?”

He tapped his nose and smiled at her. “This
is why I’m the best.”

She frowned and pulled off her helmet and set
it in her lap. “Best what? Wolf? Shifter?”

“Wolf. This is why I’m head of security for
Dark Wolf Enterprises.”

“That might be the case but there’s no reason
to advertise it to everyone. Try not to sniff out in public.”

“No one is out here but you and me.”

“Yeah, well try not to sniff in front of
me—it’s just not right.”

He rolled his eyes and focused his gaze down
the street.

“Which one is it?” she asked.

He pointed. “It’s the pale blue, two-story
house down there.”

Meisha squinted, trying to see what he saw.
It was dark and the street lights weren’t much help. On this block
all of them except for two were broken. She looked at each house,
first trying to figure out which one was pale blue and then the
easier part was to determine which house had a second floor. “I
don’t see it,” she finally said, when she couldn’t make anything
out.

“It’s on the next block, I wouldn’t expect
for you to.”

“The next block,” she exclaimed, not
bothering to whisper any longer. “How the hell can we stake out a
house that we can’t see and that’s not even on this block?”

He turned, flashing his pearly whites at her.
“I can see it just fine.”

Oh god, I love those dimples
.

She pulled her gaze away from him.
No
involvement, Meisha.

“Okay, you can see it with your super
non-human eyes, but now what? You just sit here and watch it?
Shouldn’t we try to get closer? Don’t we need to find out how many
shifters there are and maybe ambush them?”