Loyal Wolf (3 page)

She knew. She had visited it, several times. And had seen the huge chain-link fence that had been built in the middle of nowhere.

Farther down the drive, the guard at the gate had not let her through, claiming that it was private property and everything was fine there. No need for law enforcement's interference...er, help.

“That's the way to the enclave in question.” She slowed and pointed in that direction.

“All the way out here?” Ralf leaned forward so his head was between the front seats. “Guess that could make someone suspicious in itself.”

Was he questioning her thought processes? Kathlene would have expected that more from Jock—although she really didn't know Ralf any better than she knew her supposed friend from the past.

“But it looks innocent enough,” Jock observed.

Okay. No surprise. He was questioning her, too.

“From here, yes,” she acknowledged. “Farther along...well, I'm sure you'll see for yourselves soon.”
With me along
, she thought, but didn't voice it just then.

Now, though, it was time to go back.

She found the turnoff she was looking for a mile down the road, then maneuvered her SUV to return in the direction from which they'd come.

Once again, they drove along the narrow road with conifers looming overhead—lodgepole pines, junipers, cedars, firs. Every once in a while the blue sky showed through, but the roadway was mostly shaded.

Kathlene knew it would be unpleasant to come here at night, and she hadn't done so...yet. But she suspected she would. Maybe with these Alpha Force men.

Soon they again reached the area where the motel cabins lay. Kathlene smiled grimly to herself, wondering what awaited her here this time.

Was she really going to fight Jock?

Hell, yes, if that was the only way to get him to cooperate.

She had done extremely well as a rookie, training to become a deputy sheriff. She had outfought all of the other would-be deputies, male and female.

Sheriff Frawley had yet to acknowledge her skills—even though she still engaged in training exercises with other deputies more experienced than she was.

Would surprising Jock, toppling him, be enough to convince him?

Even if it didn't, it would certainly improve her frustrated state of mind.

Although, considering how sexy she found the muscular guy staring at the narrow, barely paved road in front of them, it was bound to cause her another kind of frustration.

Jock hadn't actually responded to her dare. But the moment they reached the large cabin at the front of the development that contained the offices, he jumped out.

After one cold stare and shake of his head, he turned away from Kathlene.

Fine with her. She waited until Ralf got out of the backseat. Would he try to talk her out of her challenge?

She'd gathered, from the way the two men interacted, that Jock was probably the superior-ranking military officer, with Ralf perhaps reporting to him.

That was something else she wanted to know, in addition to what Alpha Force was really about.

How could these men, members of this particular unit, help to figure out what was going on here better than other cops or military members?

Well, if she won their fight, Jock would owe her. He'd have to let her help in their investigation.

And he'd also have to tell her more, including about Alpha Force.

But would he?

He damn well better.

* * *

They'd gone back to the cabin. All three of them.

“So...thanks for showing us around, Kathlene,” Jock said, finally glancing at her. She'd been helpful, but now it was time for her to go. “We'll get more of the lay of the land tomorrow morning on our own. What's your schedule? Can we meet you for lunch? That'll fit with our cover story.”

“Yes,” she said curtly. “It will. And I'll be glad to meet you then. But my next day off is Friday, the day after tomorrow. We'll get together in between, too, when I can. You'll keep me apprised in between by phone or meeting, let me know what you learn. I'll join up with you as much as I can.”

She looked so attractive as she snarled at him, her hair still pulled back from that gorgeous face.

But she was still trying to take control of a situation that
he
controlled.

Wasn't going to happen.

“We'll keep you apprised,” he agreed mildly. “Let us know what time you can take off for lunch tomorrow. And we'll let you know every step we've taken.” After we take it. But he didn't say that aloud.

She obviously figured it out, though. “No, like I said, I'm going to be part of this. You remember my challenge?”

“Now look, Kathlene,” Ralf said. “We know you were joking, but—”

“I wasn't,” she responded curtly, still staring at Jock.

“Of course I remember it,” he retorted. “But Ralf's right. It was—”

“Then let's get started,” she interrupted. “You win and I'll comply with what you've said.
I
win, and I'm dead center in the middle of the operation. Got it?”

“Yes, but—”

He was shocked. Amused. And taken by surprise as the lovely, slim woman removed her sheriff's department jacket, belt with its holster and radio, and dropped them on the floor.

And then she approached him fast, hands out, and grabbed him by the arms.

Chapter 3

J
ock Larabey's body felt just as muscular as it looked. Kathlene wasn't surprised by that. In fact, she'd felt it before, when they'd hugged.

She'd only hoped to take
him
by surprise, here in the middle of the cabin's main room on its polished wood floor, between the beds and sitting area she had checked out previously. She had to get him to take her seriously, and defeating him like one of the guys should help.

“Hey!” Ralf shouted, and out of the corner of her eye Kathlene saw him approaching, his hands out, too, as if he intended to pull her away.

She wouldn't let him. But fighting two muscular men at once?

That could be a problem.

She was gratified, therefore, to hear Jock snap out, “Stay back, Ralf. In fact, get out of here. I've got this covered.”

He didn't, of course, but fortunately Ralf backed off and stormed out of the cabin. Good.

But why had Jock done that? So Ralf wouldn't see his humiliation? Doubtful. He had to believe he would win.

She'd inhaled as she moved and, now even more aware of her breathing and what was around her, she smelled the sweet combo of aromas of whatever had been used to clean this space for the next occupants.

But she quickly threw all of that out of her consciousness. She had to focus on what she was doing.

At the same time as she had grabbed Jock, she'd twisted her body, her legs around his, to trip him and take him down.

It was like trying to pull down a sturdy steel pipe.

“Hey!” he yelled, but he didn't fall. That was okay. She'd conducted a lot of hand-to-hand combat training with men as well as women, and some were not only muscular but big-bellied, too, unlike Jock. She'd always managed to defeat even them.

She knew her best moves.

She turned and rose at once, putting herself out of Jock's arms' reach temporarily. Or so she thought.

One of his hands was suddenly on her middle, the other grasping for her neck. Was he going to strangle her? Maybe the military was trained to do their worst, act harshly as if prepared to kill even its own, presuming that the other guy was as well trained and could get out of it.

Well, she could, too.

“No!” she yelled, another kind of distraction as she twisted away from him, then quickly turned and attempted to swing her arm and aim at his face while her leg again moved around his.

This time, he apparently let her. No resistance. At first. But before she could trip him, he moved once more and had one of his arms about her chest while the other moved farther below.

Interesting, to have him touching her there. All over. Apparently, he thought so, too, since she heard a whoosh from him that sounded like what she had heard sometimes in her training sessions with men—surprise, maybe. And interest.

His hand on her breasts moved. Squeezing just a little. Damn, but it felt good. She couldn't allow it to distract her, though—even if it distracted him.

She pretended to start going limp, then straightened, leaped back and turned, facing him again.

And noticing the thick bulge in his jeans as he, too, faced her once more, bent slightly forward, his arms at his sides, clenching and unclenching his fists.

This was definitely more heated, in many ways, than the hug they had previously shared.

Why did that position look so sexy? Or was it just her touching him—and seeing how his body appeared to be reacting?

“Enough?” he asked. He was breathing hard, even though what they'd done so far wasn't especially active.

“Not unless you give in and agree I'm part of your team.”

She anticipated his rush forward. She turned sideways to make it harder for him to grab her in crucially vulnerable spots to bring her down.

That ended with her hip pressed right against that bulge she had noticed before. She drew in her breath.

Lord, how she wanted him just then. Which was crazy. She didn't know him. And she needed him to do a job here that could protect her friends, her fellow Clifford County residents and maybe even more citizens of the United States.

Would her seducing Jock cause him to do a better job? Hardly.

Even if it did, that didn't mean he would let her help.

And she was going to help, no matter what he thought.

“Okay, then, yes,” he said. “You're part of the team.” Was it over that quickly? “The part of it that I say you are. And that means staying out of danger.” As if he believed he had distracted her, he rushed forward, upper part of his body bent, and attempted to tackle her.

She quickly moved away, grabbing at his head and smelling his musky scent as she let herself fall, pulling him down with her.

Amazingly, he fell, too. Onto the floor. Beside where she now knelt. She flipped over, heaving her entire being on top of him. Using every ounce of her weight to press him down.

Feeling his thick muscles everywhere tense beneath her. His chest. His legs.

And the protrusion at his core that thrust up at her as she refused to move.

“You're busted!” she exclaimed triumphantly. “I win. I'm a part of your team—the way
I
say I am.”

He didn't move. Didn't say anything. Not for several heartbeats—and she believed hers was somehow synced with his.

His hips moved, and his erection was thrust up against her gut, making her own insides heat and churn and ache with a desire that would not, could not, be fulfilled. Not now or ever. Not with this man.

She continued to watch his face, which, as handsome as it was, somehow remained blank, as if all thoughts, all emotions, all desires, had been erased from within him by her victory.

Even if he rocked her off him now, she still had won, so his pretending to ignore her wouldn't work. Or at least it wouldn't gain him a win over her.

And then a horrible thought struck her. “Did you let me win, Larabey?” she demanded. Well, even if he had, she was still on top—in more ways than one.

She couldn't quite read the expression that passed quickly over his face before disappearing. Smugness? Anger?

“You think I want you to join us in danger? Forget it.” The movement of his chest as he spoke bumped against her, causing her breasts to tense along his muscular body. Oh, that heat within her. She'd better get off. Quickly.

“You don't need to worry about me,” she said. “I can take care of myself.”

“So I've just learned.” She appreciated the irony in his tone. “In this kind of situation. But even so, Kathlene, you have to realize that what we're likely to be up against, if you're right about those guys being anarchists, is—”

She had to shut him up. She bent her head forward—and covered those still-moving lips of his with her own.

He responded. Oh, did he ever. His voice stopped immediately, but the movement of his lips didn't. He fastened them on her as he thrust his tongue into her mouth, hot and moving as enticingly as his body below suggested by its pressure against her, imitating the dance of sensuality that she had already imagined going on between them.

“Kathlene,” he murmured against her. She responded by drawing his tongue even farther into her mouth, teasing it with hers as suggestively as he played with her.

She couldn't think. Couldn't react with the sanity of a deputy sheriff in danger. For this was danger, maybe even a kind Jock had been warning her about.

Danger that would be magnified by her joining his team. Working with him. Seeing him often while he was here, till they had accomplished—

“Hell.” A familiar male voice from the doorway interrupted her thoughts that were already disjointed, thanks to Jock's continuing to drive her nuts with the movement of his body. She turned her head to see Ralf standing there. He'd come back. “Didn't mean to interrupt anything like...I'll go take another walk.”

Jock's body heaved slightly from beneath her. He grabbed her with his hands and lowered her gently to the floor as he stood. “Not what it looks like,” he told his fellow Alpha Force member. “We were just demonstrating some fighting moves we'd each learned.”

“Right,” Ralf said. His deep complexion had grown ruddy with embarrassment.

“It's true.” Jock was standing now. He bent to offer his hand to help her to her feet.

She accepted, still looking at the floor. Kathlene didn't dare glance toward Ralf. Not just yet.

“Kathlene and I have reached an agreement of sorts,” Jock said. “She wants to work with us. Be part of our team as we investigate those potential anarchists. She'd wanted to show me some of her fighting skills to prove that she could hold her own, and I now agree with her. Kathlene is now definitely a part of our team.”

* * *

Had he let her win? Jock didn't think so, but he had allowed her to distract him enough with her so-sexy body in motion that the result had been inevitable.

Besides, he'd felt reluctant to fight a female at all. Could that have been his wolf side reacting? Unlikely. That part of him illustrated his wildness, not holding back when it was in his best interests. Even so...well, it was over now.

She had stayed for just a short while as they planned their next meet-up—lunch the next day. Meantime, Ralf and he would do a little recon on their own before getting together with her, studying the layout of Cliffordsville and its environs even more, maybe even doing an initial check of the area containing the anarchists' habitat tonight.

Little did she know how he would check it.

And that was one of the biggest problems of her working with them as a team. That, and the potential danger.

He could protect her. Would protect her.

But what would she think if she knew what he was, and why he, rather than a member of any other military unit, had been sent here?

Now, after their brief discussion inside the cabin, he walked her to her car. She said goodbye to them—for now. It was getting late, darkness was falling and she said she was heading home.

She used her key to unlock the driver's door of her SUV, and he opened it for her.

“Sorry I embarrassed you in front of your partner,” she said as she faced him before getting inside. Her lovely face was flushed a bit, too. Her smile seemed ironic, drawing her full lips up just a bit at the corners.

He couldn't help it. He bent and gave her another kiss.

Oh, not as sensual as last time. It was, in comparison, just a peck. But it still managed to evoke the feelings he had captured before—feelings of her firm but curvaceous body against him.

She pulled away first. “Bye, Jock. I'll be thinking about you tonight.” Before he could react, she said, “About our team. And how best to investigate the anarchists together.” She ducked into the car and pulled the door shut. She turned the key in the ignition and waved to him as she drove off.

“You've got an interesting way of sealing the deal, making her part of the team.” Ralf and Click had come up to Jock as Kathlene's car vanished around a curve. “And I thought the last thing you wanted was for her to
help
us—and potentially learn what Alpha Force is all about.”

Jock turned and motioned for Ralf to follow him back toward the cabin. “I don't know yet what kind of help she might be, but she does know people around here as well as locations. Plus, she was the one who revealed that there was a potential issue here and was credible enough for those in charge to follow up. Maybe she can help, and maybe not. But as far as her learning about Alpha Force—and me—we'll just have to make sure she doesn't. At least not unless we decide it's to our advantage for her to know—which I doubt. Speaking of which, now that she's gone, I think it'll be time soon for some very special reconnaissance.”

* * *

The drive back to her home was a short distance along narrow streets now illuminated by artificial light, but Kathlene considered it a huge way from where she had left Jock. What had she been thinking?

Apparently, she
hadn't
been thinking. A hand-to-hand combat battle to convince him to let her help in finding out what was up with those anarchists?

Well, he was military, she was in law enforcement, and engaging in that kind of confrontation may have made sense...
may
being the operative word.

At least it had worked out. He had acknowledged that she would be part of his team.

Kathlene reached the cottage-style redbrick house on the residential street that she called home. She pulled into the driveway and pushed the button for the garage door to open.

She knew she wouldn't sleep much that night. She would be thinking too much about Jock Larabey, their workout together...and the feel of his body, and lips, against hers.

She made herself rehash their final conversation—and realized it felt too easy. They were going to look around. Preliminarily check out the town and the anarchists' site that she had pointed out to them. Tomorrow morning?

Maybe. But she had a feeling that these men would not wait. She turned the key in the ignition, closed her garage door and backed out of her driveway again.

They might be checking out the anarchists' location that night. If not, she'd just return here, no harm, no foul.

But if they were checking it out—well, she'd be checking
them
out.

* * *

“This should do it.” Jock had allowed Ralf to drive him back along the route they had taken when Kathlene pointed out the turnoff toward where she'd indicated the possible anarchists were living. Then they had cruised a bit longer until they had found what appeared to be a nearby solitary and abandoned home, at least from what they could tell in the near absolute darkness of this forested area. The place had been built of wood in a style that looked like some bygone era's, and that wood was rotting.

Its emptiness made it a good place to conduct what they now needed to do.

Ralf had pulled behind the structure, just in case. They didn't want their car to be seen from the road if any of the people they wanted to surveil happened to drive by.