Savage Hunger: Savage, Book 1 (11 page)

“Who was he?” Warrick asked.

Larson leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. “Leonard Perkins. The name mean anything to you?”

“No. But I suspect it will to Sienna.”

“I don’t doubt it. Keep a tight rein on her. Don’t want to catch her sneaking out again, all right?”

Warrick nodded at the warning and scrubbed a hand down his face. God, he hated the reminder of his little fuckup. Just one of many lately.

“It won’t happen again,” he finally replied.

“I saw the blankets on the floor, Donovan.” A slow smile spread across Hilliard’s face as he leaned back in his chair. “She kick you out of bed?”

Warrick scowled, his fingers clenching into a fist. “I never got in it.”

“Maybe you should reconsider that plan tonight.”

Larson’s advice had Warrick’s head snapping up and his eyes narrowing. To say that sleeping in the same bed with Sienna was a bad idea would be an understatement.

Not that Larson wasn’t right to suggest otherwise. Sienna made it no secret she wanted to bolt. And at this rate the only way any of them were going to sleep easily was if they tied her up at night or one of them slept next to her.

Larson knew Warrick’s history with her, or he suspected the commander would have been recruiting other volunteers.

“It won’t be a problem,” he said flatly. “I’ll crash with her if necessary.”

“Hell, don’t sound so depressed about it, Donovan.” Rafferty grinned, cracked his knuckles, before reaching for a handful of almonds from a can on the table. “If you’d like, I’d be more than happy to fill in for you.”

Like hell.
Warrick’s nostrils flared and his nails bit into the palms of his hands. The image flashed through his head. Rafferty in the same bed with Sienna, their bodies just inches apart. Something hot and ugly bubbled inside his stomach and Warrick’s jaw flexed.

“I’d shut the fuck up if I were you, Rafferty,” Hilliard advised with a biting laugh. “Don’t think Donovan much appreciates your offer. He’s kind of got that same feral glaze in his eyes the shifters out in the barn are sporting.”

Did he really? Warrick winced internally and forced himself to take a deep breath. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d worked with these men since he’d joined the agency years ago. Crude talk and giving each other shit was just part of the job. They were always on missions together. Sometimes literally buried up to their elbows in mud or some other filth. They knew the stink of each other’s sweat and how many push-ups it took before they started puking.

These men were his brothers. He trusted his life in any one of their hands and knew they felt the same. So where the hell was this urge coming from to rip out the throat of anyone who made a move on Sienna?

“Donovan, you do whatever you need to.” Larson stood from the table and went to refill his water. “But I think everyone should get their ass to bed soon. I’ve got a feeling it’s gonna be another short night.”

It was a couple hours until midnight and how much sleep they’d be getting was anybody’s guess. The moon was full, which could play havoc with the shifters in the barn. They were all hoping the tranquilizers held.

“Yeah, that’s my cue to catch a few hours,” Rafferty agreed and stood.

Warrick grunted and followed suit. Walking down the hall, his throat tightened as he thought of Sienna waiting in the bedroom for him. Probably in bed. Hopefully asleep.

He pushed open the bedroom door a moment later and let his gaze swing to the bed.

Sure enough, she lay on her back, the sheet around her waist. Her eyes were shut and her body still.
Too still.
Damn. He didn’t have a doubt in his mind that Sienna was wide-awake.

He shut the door with a deliberate click and then pulled off his T-shirt. Next he unsnapped the fly on his jeans, before the sound of his zipper going down filled the room.

Even though her eyes were still closed, he could see Sienna flinch and her fingers gripping the sheet turn white.

Only in his boxers now, he crossed the room toward her and stopped on the opposite side of the bed. Then reached for the sheet.

Sienna’s eyes snapped open and she jerked upright. “Oh no. Oh hell no. You’re not sleeping in this bed with me.”

“Wrong. I am sleeping in the bed with you and you’re just going to have to deal with it,” he said curtly. “I gave you way too much freedom last night and you abused it.”

“Oh, damn you, Warrick! You can sleep on
top
of the sheets,” she muttered and tugged the sheet back up to her chin. “If I even feel your leg touch mine—”

“Go to sleep, Sienna,” Warrick snapped. He shoved a hand through his hair, regretting the sharpness of his tone. “I won’t touch you.”

And, even though he was forcing them to share a bed, he damn well meant it. Bedding Sienna was
never
going to happen. Not six years ago, and not any time in the future. No matter that whenever he got within feet of her everything inside him itched to drag her into his arms and crush her pretty mouth beneath his.

Which is why sleeping in bed with her is a really shitty idea, moron.

Still, he tugged the sheet back on his side of the bed to prepare climbing in. It was probably a good thing his muscles ached and he could barely keep his eyes open.

Sienna’s eyes widened with fury, and if looks alone could wither his balls off, he’d be a eunuch.

He climbed into bed and Sienna made a soft noise of anger and began to sit up, but he caught her arm and pulled her back down, muttering a tired, “Relax, kid.”

“I said not to—”

“I heard what you said, and I’m ignoring it.” He reached above him and grabbed his pillow, fluffing it a few times, before lying back down and folding his arms beneath his head.

He closed his eyes and breathed in a calming breath. Then immediately regretted it. The soft feminine smell of Sienna’s skin assailed his senses. It had nothing to do with her perfume this time—she’d washed that off in the shower—but was the subtle underlying scent of
her
that mingled with the standard Ivory soap the house provided.

Even with his eyelids shut, he could see the way she’d looked this afternoon. The ribbed white tank top that clung to her breasts and the sexy smattering of freckles on her chest and shoulders. Since that evening she’d come on to him at her prom, he’d spent endless nights fantasizing about counting all those freckles as he anointed them with his mouth.

Get off this road, buddy, it’s taking you nowhere.

Forcing his mind on to a more somber path, he asked, “Who is Leonard Perkins?”

She seemed to stop breathing and he could feel the tension radiating off her.

“Why?” It was barely a whisper.

“He was identified as the man killed in the fire.”

Her anguished sob was quickly cut off and a moment later he felt the trembling of her body next to him.

So she knew this Leonard guy, but how? A friend? A lover? His gut clenched at the latter thought.

“Oh God,” she whispered. “I’ll never forgive myself.”

“We’ll get whoever did this, Sienna,” he promised, pushing the stab of unwanted jealousy aside.

“Retribution after the fact? It won’t bring Leo back.”

Leo
. Again his gut kicked. Definite possibility they’d been close.

“I’m sorry.”

She didn’t answer for awhile. Leaving him alone with his own dark thoughts.

“You say ‘we’. Why is this your fight, Warrick?” she finally asked, her voice laden with fatigue now. “This whole shifter thing. Why are you involved? You don’t have a horse in the race, so to speak.”

He opened his eyes and stared at the dark swirls in the wood boards of the ceiling, chewing over how to answer that. “The shifter community can’t exist, Sienna.”

“Only they do.”

“Yes. But the people in today’s world aren’t ready to accept such a controversial and extraordinary race of species.” He sighed. “The P.I.A. is an organization that regulates how many humans can know of their existence. We also help keep order over the shifters and their community.”

“Okay. I guess that makes sense.” She rolled onto her side and placed her hand between her cheek and the pillow. “The whole regulating-humans-knowing-about-them thing, I mean. It would be like telling someone the monsters they grew up fearing really do exist.”

Monsters
. Warrick’s lips twisted into a humorless smile.

“They don’t scare you at all?” she asked skeptically.

“No,” he replied without emotion. “They don’t scare me.”

She made a soft harrumph. “No. Of course they don’t. You’re Warrick Donovan. How foolish of me to even ask. I doubt you’re afraid of anything.”

Warrick grunted at the cynicism in her comment. “Fear is a useless emotion that debilitates. So no, I try not to indulge in it.”

“Right, because being afraid is a choice?” She snorted. “I swear, Warrick, you’ve got some kind of superhero complex or something.”

“The last thing I’m trying to do is save the world, Sienna.”

“Just the shifters,” she finished on a sigh.

He turned his head to glance at her and found her brows drawn together, her gaze pensive. It was kind of nice, having a normal—well, as normal as circumstances allowed—conversation with her. It dropped a few years off their history, almost put him mentally back to a time when things were more easygoing and carefree.

Though that wasn’t quite true. Even on a good day, there’d been a dark current running through his life. An anger toward his father that continued to haunt him every damn time he woke up to a new day. But being with Sienna had always been a bit of a balm to his soul. She was like a bloody therapist with her expressive blue gaze and her ability to listen without judgment.

He watched her tongue dart over her lips and his attention slid down to the fullness of her mouth. The blood pounded faster in his veins and he drew in an unsteady breath.

God, he’d swear she did that shit on purpose. That sexy little lip-licking thing. Maybe it was a flirting technique she’d mastered on the boys back in college. It was seductive as hell—

“You said you regulate how many humans are allowed to know about shifter existence.”

“Mmm hmm.”

“How so?”

If you discover them we make sure you never remember it.
Shit. How did he explain to Sienna the very thing that was under consideration for her future?

Sienna gave a nervous laugh. “That bad?”

He could lie, or hedge around the question, but this was Sienna and she wasn’t stupid. He probably shouldn’t have let that part slip, but now that he had she deserved to know. To understand what could happen to her.

“If a human discovers the existence of shifters,” he hesitated, clenched his jaw, then plunged on. “Their memories are wiped.”

Dead silence for a moment. Then Sienna let out a high-pitched laugh.

“Seriously, Warrick, I know you’ve always been a sci-fi fan, but
come on
. That kind of stuff isn’t possible.”

“Just like people who shift from human to wolf aren’t possible, right, Sienna?”

“But, I would’ve heard about something like that,” she argued, her tone uneasy now. “There’s no way the government would let you—”

Warrick gave a harsh laugh. “You don’t even want to know half the shit the government authorizes, Sienna.”

More silence and he chanced another glance at her. Her face was drawn taut and she worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

“They’re going to wipe my memory.” It wasn’t a question.

His gut clenched with regret and he wished like hell he had more control over her fate. But there was a hierarchy in the P.I.A. and in the big picture he was a pretty small fish.

“I can’t answer that,” he finally said honestly. “Nothing is certain.”

It was a tricky situation. Sienna hadn’t yet given them the information she was withholding, which was probably the only reason the specialist hadn’t been summoned to wipe her. Though Warrick was realistic enough to acknowledge that the minute she opened up there’d be no reason
not
to wipe her memory.

And now she likely knew that as well.

“That’s horrible,” she whispered angrily.

He made a silent laugh and shook his head. It was merciful compared to what the old procedure was when a human discovered a shifter.

“But they didn’t wipe
you
when you found out. Or my f—” she broke off from what she’d been about to say. “Why? Why are some humans allowed to know and not others?”

This conversation was definitely leading into dangerous waters. “It’s late, Sienna. Go to sleep.”

“How can I sleep?” she choked out. “How can I possibly sleep after hearing that?”

She started to climb out of bed and he moved swiftly, throwing an arm around her waist and hauling her back.

“You’ll just have to try.”

Sienna’s body went rigid and he heard the air hiss out between her teeth. “Really? You’re going to enforce my sleep schedule now? Fine, I’ll try. But you need to let me go.”