Rogue Wolf (11 page)

Finding her clit, he traced the swollen bud. The urge to drop down and strip her pants fully off so he could taste her dug its claws into him. Ignoring the basic desire, he began to stroke her. Her eyes widened and the tension in her body coiled tighter. She arched her back, and he allowed himself a small smile.

Yes, she wanted the pleasure he could give her. Catching the bundle of nerves between two fingers, he increased the pressure and pushed her swiftly toward the shattering end she craved. Color rushed her cheeks, and her eyes began to close.

“No,” he snapped. “
Look
at me.”

She jerked her eyelids open, her lust-filled gaze locked on his, and his wolf surged through him. Easing her touch starvation, feeding her pleasure and exacting his control combined into one. He wanted her submission, but he wanted her to
offer
it. Her breath came in shorter, fast bursts and she rode his hand, grinding against his fingers, yet he kept her gaze captive.

“Take it.” The growl in his voice was his wolf commanding her. “Take your pleasure.”

The sweet slickness coated his fingers as he continued to stroke. He longed to dip his fingers lower until he could thrust them inside of her, but that sheath was for his cock and he would deny them both until…her throat went tight and her head pressed against the wall as her howl ripped from her.

She shook and quivered. The violence of her orgasm filled him with immense satisfaction. When she went boneless and trembling, he released her wrists and caught her with his free arm. Easing his fingers from her, he waited for the sweep of her lashes to raise, then licked her release from his fingers one at a time. The flavor was rich, like a burgundy, only far more succulent. His cock throbbed.

“Better?” he asked, keeping his voice gentle.

Her soft sigh gratified him, and she rested her hands against his shoulders. “I can’t—believe you…” She moistened her lips, and he zeroed in on the flick of her pink tongue. “…yes, I feel better, but we could—”

Setting her on her feet, he stepped back. She’d had the carrot, now it was time for the stick. His wolf bucked against the need, believing they’d proven their point. The man—the Alpha—knew better. He’d given her a taste of relief, offered to sate her, but her challenge wasn’t forgotten.

“No,” he told her. “I will be happy to cuddle you if you need it,
bella
. I suspect you need a great deal of it. If you want to be in my bed, you will ask me. Understood?”

A shudder rippled over her and she stared, disbelief etched into her features. Gradually the wolf gold bled from her eyes, and the scorching heat of her glare returned.

Gritting his teeth against the provocative picture she presented, with her tousled hair and kiss-swollen lips, he walked to her laptop and retrieved it from the floor. “We have work to do. Your job, remember?”

He half-expected her to lunge across the room at him. Instead, she trembled and his resolve to keep her at arms-length diminished. She blinked, then straightened and pushed away from the wall. Had he not been watching, he would have missed the brutal way she shut herself down, the control she possessed both incredible and terrifying. No wolf should close itself off in such a manner.

“You’re right,” she growled as though the admission cost her, then closed her eyes and took another breath. The scent of arousal warmed the air, her release and his desire tangling together in a musk he wanted to saturate her and himself in.

When she snatched the laptop from his hand, her gaze glittered, but they lacked her earlier defiance. Without looking at her machine, she said, “Would you excuse me a moment?”

Salvatore paused, then nodded his head once. She didn’t quite flee, but her rush from the room tugged at him. Did she even realize she’d asked his permission? His wolf stretched, then raked claws along the inside of his skin. He wanted to go after her, finish what they’d started.

Tempted, he took a step and his phone rang. Clenching his fists, he calmed his breathing before he answered. “What?”

“My apologies, Alpha, for interrupting.” Giuseppe sounded a million miles away, despite the number of bars he had on his connection. The fact he’d apologized said more of Salvatore’s mood leaked than he cared to admit.

“It is fine, Giuseppe. What is wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong, but your mother received a message from Luciana. She refuses to disclose the contents of the message, however, and sent the Centurions guarding her estate too far away to listen in when her phone rang.”

He didn’t curse. “Thank you Giuseppe. Put a trace on the estate’s phones. If Luciana called her once, she may call again. Then tell the Centurions they are under my orders, not my mother’s. They will stay on the property and near enough to protect her at all times.”

“Of course, Alpha. I will take care of it.” He paused.

Knowing Giuseppe well enough, Salvatore waited. His use of the titular Alpha and the deep notes of respect had already warned him of some other discovery.

“Alpha, we have one other piece of information and I hesitate to share it because I know you believe your sister the victim in this.” Which spoke volumes to Giuseppe’s opinion.

“Tell me anyway.” He kept his tone even. “Her innocence is not yours to decide, nor is what information you share with me.”

“Yes, sir.” Contrition and submission wound into two simple words. “Luciana married Signor Barrows in Florence. They paused there on their run north before they flew out of Switzerland. We have confirmation of both.”

Married?

Keeping his grip on his temper, Salvatore locked his jaw. Mates sometimes married, sometimes they didn’t. It mattered little in the pack, unless they wished to avoid issues with the local Catholic population. “Find the certificate, then track any video footage. I would be very interested in seeing them before and after.” Not waiting for Giuseppe’s confirmation, he hung up the phone.

A soft scuff of a footstep told him Margo returned. “So I should be looking for a Luciana Barrows, not Esposito?”

No comment on their shared moment. No tart challenge to his sister’s choice. Glancing sideways, he found a rough sympathy in her expression. “Yes.”

“I’m on it. Do you want to go over this tonight or would you like to get some sleep?”

What he wanted was to fuck them both into oblivion and satisfy the craving he’d tasted in her and continued to experience. If they spent any more time together that evening, it was exactly what he would do. “You need sleep. Go to bed, Margo. We will continue this in the morning.”

Surprisingly, she didn’t argue with him. Disappointment curved through him when she pivoted and walked out of the kitchen. He’d grown almost fond of their contest of wills. Dismissing the emotion, he paced over to the table and glanced at the remains of their meal. She’d only eaten about half the food. First thing in the morning, he would see her fed, then they would begin the hunt in earnest.

Why did you marry him, Luciana?
The thought tumbled through his mind over and over.
What did he do to force your obedience?

Margo’s lack of argument struck him, and he glanced toward the empty doorway. He’d asserted his dominance—and she’d dropped her gaze more than once—yet she’d continued to argue with him, pushing, poking and then this…

Leaving the dishes, he took the stairs two at a time. When he reached her door, he pressed it open and walked inside, proving what his nose already told him.

The window was open and Margo was gone.

Dammit.

An hour before dawn, he heard the scrabble of claws a moment before a sleek, gray wolf bounded through the window. She landed on the rug-covered wooden floors with a light thump. Pausing, her ears flicked toward him and her upper lip peeled away from her teeth.

Not really in the mood after dozing in the corner of her room waiting for her to return, he gave her a cool look. Apparently their little discussion downstairs hadn’t gone as in his favor as he’d hoped. If that meant he needed to force the issue…

She snapped at him, then paced over to the bathroom and butted the door open with her head. Rising, he followed her, but she whirled and her hackles raised. The wolf dropped her gaze, then fought to raise it again.

Bracing a hand on the doorframe, he said. “Margo, we cannot keep battling like this.”

Another clack of teeth. Though her gaze lowered, she resisted truly giving in and raised it once more.

“Change,” he told her. After spending the night torn between fury and worry, he settled on peacemaking. “Then let’s talk, really talk. If we continue to fight, it serves no one.”

At her growl, he crouched and seized her scruff. Lifting the powerful wolf, he glared at her. He caught the scent of other wolves on her beneath the hints of green and leaf. She’d rolled to disguise where she’d been. It also explained her direct route to the bathroom. Quashing his need to assert his territory, he focused on the issue at hand.

“I said talk and I meant talk. You keep challenging me and this will end badly for both of us, but I need your help—more—” The realization crystalized for him. “—I
want
your help. So we will talk. We will establish rules for us—not pack rules, not Lone Wolf or Enforcer or whatever other label you wish to invoke. But rules that apply to you and I.” Releasing his grip on her, he stroked his hand through her fur. “It is a concession on my part, one I do not make lightly. Do me a favor and meet me at least part of the way so that we may talk across this divide rather than shout, yes?”

Only the presence of Mason’s Hunters had kept Salvatore from pursuing her into the darkness. He’d agreed to Mason’s terms, and manners dictated he behave. The Alpha in him had been ready to eviscerate the wolves standing in his way. Neither was acceptable and both impeded his goal for being in the States in the first place.

Margo huffed, then bumped her head against his hand. The wild aggression perfuming the air dissipated and he relaxed a fraction.

“Thank you, Margo.” He scratched her lightly along her ruff and when she tipped her chin slightly he took the invitation to rub her ears. “Did you sleep at all while you were out?”

She whuffed, then bobbed her head. Suppressing his immediate irritation of her being in a helpless state away from where he could protect her, he continued to run his thumb over the shell of her ear.

Despite understanding how much she would hate his next request, he had to ask. “For as long as we work together, do not let yourself be in such a vulnerable state away from where I can keep you safe.” Her stiffening posture could be interpreted no other way, but he remained crouched and kept his hand on her fur. It was so silky, the deep gray reminded him of a stormy sky. The woman was gorgeous. The wolf, perfect. “I need this. Call me names, hate the Alpha behavior, but I need this from you. It will bring me peace to know I am there if you need me, though I suspect you will fight every step of the way to avoid needing me.”

Sitting abruptly, she canted her head to the side and studied him. The wolf’s ears pointed to him and her tail stilled. Uncertainty, not rejection, marked her response. She thumped her tail once and when she finally nodded her head, he exhaled. A marked portion of his agitation relieved, he rubbed between her ears. “I will leave you to change, then …” He had zero interest in walking out the door, as a wolf mid-change was in a deeply vulnerable state. Yet, it was for the same reason he had to leave her to change on her own.

Margo didn’t trust him fully, but the nascent bond existed, borne in part of anger and in part from concession.

“I’ll be downstairs.” Not his bedroom. He’d only been in the room once. He preferred hers, since at least it held some of her scent.

The shower turned on only a few minutes after he’d left her. Focusing not on the hot water streaming over her naked body, he prepared some espresso. He would have to leave a note of thanks for the human who set up his guest residence. The espresso machine was a nice touch.

Upstairs, her phone rang. The water continued to run, so he sipped his espresso. After four rings, her phone went silent for a few seconds, then rang again. During the second ring, the water cut off abruptly. The sliding shower door made a low thud as it slid open. Her footsteps were light, yet purposeful. She got to the phone at the end of the third ring.

She’d likely darted across the room from the shower, naked and dripping from the hot water. Tossing back the espresso as though it were a shot of Sambvka, he leashed his reaction to the mental image. The droplets would glide over her skin, skating down the planes of her belly and over the luscious curves.

Setting the demitasse down abruptly, he pulled their dinners from the fridge and slid them into the microwave. The noise from the machine would help blot out her voice. Five minutes later, Margo descended the stairs in a rush. “I know you want to talk,” she said swinging into the room dressed in the same clothes she’d worn the night before. Her damp hair clung to her face and gave him an image to accompany his earlier thoughts. He filed it away and held out the espresso to her. “But we have a lead.”

Straightening, he focused. “You know where Luciana is?”

“No I know where they were. They were in Tennessee about twenty-one hours ago. We may have another problem, but you and I can discuss it on the road.”

He frowned. “You have proof? Evidence? Who saw them?”

Not slowing until she crossed the room to him, she halted in front of him Margo pressed her fingers to his chest. “I know you have questions. I will answer everything I can. We need to get on the road.”

“Drink the espresso. Is that within Mason’s territory or do I need to approach another Alpha?” Politics could crush any advantage the news netted them.

“Tennessee is contested territory. Delta Crescent claims part of it. Willow Bend has an arguable claim to it from a few decades back, and Hudson River has been known to extend influence that far south. For the most part, it’s open because the three Alphas involved aren’t at war. You have Mason’s permission to be here, and I can go anywhere I damn well please, so you’ll be with me if there’s an issue.” She took the espresso and drank it with the same shot force he’d used earlier.