The Shepard's Agony (5 page)

He hesitated. “No, he has enough to deal with, but you should tell him I’m leaving. Can you
at least do that?”

Di flinched. “Shouldn’t the p
ack be involved in the search?”

J
ohn stopped and looked up, his pack mates
were
still dragging heavy bodies away to be
burned
. He could still smell fresh blood in the air from both the attackers and pack. “They have enough work to do without
worrying about
this.”

“
Alright, fine, but I’m
going
, too.”

“Like hell you are.”

Di crossed her arms. “If you leave without me, I’ll tell Larry she’s gone.”

John’s entire body jerked back in surprise. It wasn’t often he saw Dianna in a commanding mood, much less hav
ing any power to back it up.

“
Just come with me and we’ll both tell him that we’re leaving to get supplies or something. We’ll say that we’re going to bring Gwen home so that he won’t worry. It’ll give us an excuse to be go
ne, then we can go and find her,” she said.

John blinked at her dumbly.

“
You need someone with you anyway. What if you run into a trap full of hunters? These guys were professionals, I wouldn’t be surprised
if we found
out they were Shepards.” She stopped abruptly, as though the mere mention of the name were a curse in itself. Rewards were placed on their
heads
. The rumor was that it was ten million per Shepard, set up by a wealthy vampire who’d survived an attack.

John glared hatefully at her when he gave in. “Fine, but only because you’re blackmailing me into
this
.
But
, I don’t want you in the
way
. You can’t even fight.”

Di nodded and quietly followed him into the cabin.

She broke the silence when they were outside of Bill’s room. “He’d have a right to know she’s missing, so would Bill. Please, don’t be mad.”

“It’s not just that.”

“What is it then?”

John’s hand was on the door handle, he looked up and down the halls to make sure no one was near and leaned closer to
her
. “Bill was
shot
.
Apparently
, he made Larry the new pack master.”

He didn’t bother looking at the surprise on her face when he opened the door and let himself in to see the new
alpha in charge.

Chapter Four

Shepard fought the urge to punch the shower
walls
. The hot spray couldn’t even calm him, and it certainly wasn’t doing anything to help
with
the way his cock was standing up straight, almost like it was looking at him expectantly.

Gwen’s accusation
stung
. What was worse was that she was completely justified, and he knew it.

He couldn’t explain why he’d touched her on the bed, pressed his lips to her neck
and felt the heat of her body. When her legs had parted for him just a little, he almost gave in.

Christ. He'd promised himself he would keep his distance when he had her, but he hadn’t expected the truck he’d stolen
to
break down on
him
. He’d pushed it all the way to this
motel
; the
closest
place he could find.

The plan was supposed to be simple. He’d take her while she slept and bring her someplace
safe
; a hospital or the police
station
.
Then
, he’d be gone before she knew he was there.
Now
, he was stuck, with her wide awake in the other room.
And
, even though he fought it, all he wanted to do was touch her.

He’d left his family to fight on their own for her. He
hadn't even used his gun except to smack someone in the head that’d gotten in his
way
. That someone being his brother, Allen, who’d been pointing his gun at her at the time.

To tell her the truth
about who his family actually was would be to have her hate him for the rest of his life. He would rather they part on civilized
terms
, at least. As long as she was a werewolf and he was a Shepard, they could never be together, but at least she would be
alive
.

Shepard breathed deeply, still trying to get ahold of his body. When that didn't work and the ache got to be too much, he reached down and curled his fingers around his heavy erection.

He bit his lower lip and groaned, squeezing tight as he pumped his fist back and forth.
He had to be quiet and hope Gwen couldn't hear him doing this.

He put his hand against the wall and spread his feet just a little, g
aining more balance as he pressed his thumb to the underside of the head.

"Fuck," he said, gasping the word as his cock swelled in his hand, his body shaking as he came.

Shepard gasped and breathed heavily, watching the evidence get washed away. Everything seemed so much louder now, even with the water running, and there was the momentary fear that Gwen had heard him.

He finished what he was doing and got out. Even if she had heard him, he couldn't stay in here forever. With her strength, she'd eventually break free of the ropes and handcuffs.

Shepard quickly
dressed and left the bathroom just in time to see Gwen clawing at the ropes still
retraining
one hand. The other hand was
free
, the cuffs broken apart.

He lunged across the room and grabbed her wrist, yanking it back up to the bedframe to tie and tighten them back into place. His heart pounded
. Not with the effort, but with the fear of what would happen if she were to get loose. Fear for her. The handcuffs were ruined. He would have to make due with the rest of the rope.

“
St
op it! Let me go!” Gwen yelled, struggling against
him
. He climbed on top of her to keep her legs from kicking at
him
. Despite her strength, his body weight was enough of an advantage. Werewolf or not, she was still a relatively tiny woman, and he was a trained hunter.

Still, in the back of his
mind
, Shepard couldn’t help but find her behavior to be strange. Werewolves didn’t scream for help or release. They fought to the bitter end, gnawing off limbs if
necessary
. Gwen’s reactions to her captivity were nothing at all like that, too human, and he hated to admit it, but they brought a fresh stab of guilt over his treatment of her.

Gwen’s breathing was erratic, her chest rapidly rising and falling with adrenaline. She was so close to
escape
! Why did he have to walk out of the bathroom at that last second? She wondered what he had planned for her. Her pack needed her and she was
stuck
; frightened
by
the fact that she didn’t know what his intentions with her were.

She didn’t trust him anymore.

When he had the ropes tight
again
, he gave her a hard shake to stop her squirming. “Listen! I can’t let you go because I don’t know if they left yet!” If he let her go then she was sure to go back to her
pack
. If the Shepards were still at the
cabin,
she would be walking into a trap. He couldn’t allow that.

“
Who? Who are those people? Why are you doing this?”
she demanded, terrified and angry at the same time.

Only then did Shepard see how flushed her face was from her near escape and struggle with him.

He couldn’t look away from her. Her white-blonde hair was wild and her breasts were heaving. She looked like she always did after they argued, and he liked that. His
eyes moved lower,
looking at her body. He was guiltily pleased to see that her bathrobe had come
loose
. While it still covered her body, it opened between her breasts and went all the way down to her navel.

His hand found its way to her exposed stomach and rested on her bare skin.

Gwen went still and her body throbbed expectantly, heat spreading from her belly to the rest of her body. She swallowed hard and forced herself to jerk away, trying not to pay attention to her own vulnerable
state
. Damn
him
, it felt good to have him touching her again.

Shepard didn’t move his hand despite her attempt, so she held still and let him keep it there, for now.

He hadn’t been so close to her, right on top of her, touching her, since before his shower and the last night they were together
. She was nearly ashamed to admit it, but being tied up was only making her more excited. Her hands had a life of their own and they squirmed against the ropes in an effort to touch him
back
. The ropes were too
restricting, something
she was partially glad for.
It
gave her an excuse to enjoy herself.

She chewed her bottom lip to keep from making any noise and squirmed helplessly into his touch. It was unbelievable! He was only touching her stomach! She shouldn’t be reacting like this.

He brought his eyes up to look into hers
. His blue eyes filled with lust just before he covered her mouth with his. Gwen moaned happily and pressed her lips back, forgetting everything around her, including how his stubbly goatee tickled and scratched her skin. She always used to tease him about it and bug him to shave it, but it didn’t seem to matter anymore.

She let out a choked groan under his kiss and shivered. It was as
if her body had said,
Finally!
She was deliriously happy.

He used one hand to keep himself propped over her
while
the other slid under her robe, touching her stomach and feeling her ribs before cupping her breast in his hand.

She couldn’t get enough
. Through the fog
of lust
,
she
was pleased to note that his hand felt just as she’d remembered.
As soon as
he touched her
nipple
, she groaned and snapped her eyes open.

What are you doing! Are you forgetting what he did to you?

Gwen jerked her face away from the kiss before it could go any
further. It pained her to do it, but she refused to start anything with him while being held as his prisoner.

Shepard was so caught up in the feel
ing of simply touching her again that for a few seconds it was like he couldn’t understand why she would stop him. He leaned down to kiss her again when she spoke.

“Get off me.”

The words were
sharp
, pulling him back into the motel room where he had her tied
up
with his brothers
soon
to be on their tails.

He should have been back with them by now, but he couldn’t leave her on the side of the road and run while he had the chance. Even if he wanted to leave her, the time for that ended when she saw his face.

Slowly,
Shepard removed his hand from her chest and lifted himself from the bed. For a
moment
, he stood watching her.

“
What?” Gwen asked,
self-conscious
again
. Her robe barely covered her chest and her body
felt
tingly and heated, begging for what she refused to give it.

Exhaling, Shepard loosened the recently tightened ropes around her wrists. “Go in the bathroom and change into those clothes, come back out here when you’re done.”

Gwen quickly covered herself and rubbed the circulation back into her wrists
as she sat up, eyeing him carefully. If there was a window in the bathroom she could climb out and run, sniffing her way back to her pack.
Or
, she could try knocking him over and running for the door, but that would buy her less time to escape since he probably had a vehicle.

She frowned at the idea. No, she couldn’t do that. Even if she did catch him by surprise, he would surely grab her before she made it. Contrary to popular books and movies, werewolves retained very little of their super wolf strength in their human forms. While Gwen was small, she could probably match David for strength even with all his muscles, but he was skilled and trained in … whatever it was that he did, and was sure to win in any fight she started with him.

Reluctantly, Gwen grabbed the clothes that had been tossed on her earlier and went to the
bathroom
without saying a word to
David
. The heat from his shower
still
lingered in the
air
and she was disappointed with the lack of windows she saw inside.

***

Shepard sat on the bed and sighed.
What did he expect? That
a
few kisses and grabbing at her like that would win her back after everything she knew about him? He was a killer, more of a monster than any werewolf or vampire, and he knew it, no matter what his father or brothers told him.

By the age of
twelve
, he’d hunted, killed, and skinned more werewolves than he could count, having never so much as read a book about the legends of werewolves. He’d been raised to believe they were just wolves that bred with mutts and went rabid.

He thought it was normal for his dad to carry around a sword, of all things, and use it to cut the heads off of the wolves he caught. In fact, back
then
, he even thought it was cool. The old man had even let him use it from time to
time
and Shepard had always been so proud and excited to hold onto the heavy thing.