Wild Heat (Wilding Pack Wolves 3) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (5 page)

“Thanks for the confidence.” She turned the growl in his direction.

“I mean it,” he said, his anger returning. “You need to stay put until this is all sorted out. For Cassie’s sake. Think about what it would do to her if you got yourself killed.” The strain in his voice just reminded her that her brother actually did care about her. And he was probably right.

She still gave him a glare. “I promise not to be stupid.”

He nodded, but still looked uncertain.

“Gotta go,” she said and closed the laptop before Trent could say anything more. With a growl, she shoved it away from her, and it slid nearly to the edge of the bed, but stopped. She started to pace her room again, but that was just making her
more
crazy. Instead, she hunted around for her boots—they were stuffed under the bed—pulled them on, and stomped out of her room.

She caught Officer Grant by surprise—he was hovering over his phone, sitting on the dingy couch—and he practically leaped to his feet, instantly alert as she barreled out of her room. She didn’t even know what she was planning, she just needed some air. She ignored his inquiring look, strode over to the window, and threw back the curtains. The afternoon sunshine leaked through the blinds, but she still couldn’t see anything, much less open the window. The cords were a tangled mess, and she yanked them to no effect—then she growled and yanked harder.

“Is there a problem?” Officer Grant asked from behind her. He’d crept up on her from the couch, and his masculine scent washed over her—earthy and sharp, like a hike on a winter’s day. Her wolf whined for her to turn around and take a bite.

Jesus.
Coming out of her room was probably a mistake.

Terra nearly yanked the blinds right off the wall. Then she curled up her fists and stared at the still-closed white slats.
“No.”

“That
no
sounds an awful lot like
yes.”
Officer Grant had moved even closer.

She gestured to the blinds. “Do you have any idea how symbolic this is?”

“Um… no?” He was right behind her now.

“My world has telescoped down to
this.”
She flicked her fingers at the blinds. “Voluntary jail bars, holding me in and blinding me by cutting off the real world. It’s an impenetrable blank slate, barren of
life.
”

“You’re trapped in a box.” The calmness of his voice and his words flushed something through her—heat, attraction, relief that he
understood.
She kept all of this locked inside, not wanting to let him know how much that affected her.

“This is a killing box. I need to get
out.
I need to…
I need my art.”
The last words came out in a whisper. She knew how weak it sounded, but she couldn’t help it. She turned around to face him. “I don’t expect you to understand.”

His face was inscrutable again, closed off and shut down. “You don’t expect much of me, do you?”

Her mouth hung open for a second.
He was right.
She was treating him horribly, especially given he obviously
did
understand, at least somewhat.

She dropped her gaze to the floor, cheeks hot. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “None of this is your fault.”

He was peering at her, trying to catch her gaze, but she couldn’t let him… that fragile feeling was back, like the pieces of her might blow apart with the slightest breeze. Or a heated look from him. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared doggedly off to the side at the blank wall of the livingroom.

He sighed, but when he spoke, his voice was soft. “It’s completely normal to go stir crazy after a while. I was hoping for more than a day—”

She whipped her gaze to meet his.
“A day?
I’ve been hiding out for months.
Months.
The box is different—smaller, tighter around my neck—but the prison is the same.”

The kindness in his eyes made her look away again.

“It’s going to be rough, but you’ll get through this, Terra,” he said. “It’s my job to make sure you do, and I’ve got a damn near perfect record in the department. I’m not screwing that up.” He was joking with her, but the humor didn’t reach her. Couldn’t unspool the tension that was tying her in knots.

“Can we at least open the blinds?” she asked, not looking at him.

“Sorry, no. Not safe.” But his voice was gentle.

“Can I look out?” Still not looking.

“Can’t risk anyone seeing you.”

“I’ll get my camera.”

“Terra—”

She turned to him, pleading for his understanding with her eyes. “I have to do
something.”

He hesitated, and in that moment, a hundred different emotions seemed to flit across his face, so fast Terra wasn’t even sure what they were. But in that moment, all she wanted was her camera in her hand, and this handsome emotive human man in her lens frame…

His face settled into something inscrutable again. “Okay. The camera. But nothing more.”

That enlivened her, and she dashed around him to nearly sprint back to her room. Maybe she would poke the lens through the blinds and hope for something other than an alley outside. Or maybe, she would turn her lens on the most alive thing in this small, dingy hideout… Officer Kaden Grant.

She dug through her bag and was halfway back to the livingroom, when her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She dug it out and glanced at the face. It was a message from her friend, Sally. Dark haired, older but still beautiful, with a taste for Terra’s art.

Officer Grant was striding quickly to her side. “What is it?”

She showed it to him, but the alert quickly faded. “A message from a gallery owner in downtown Seattle.”

Officer Grant frowned.

Terra swiped it open and quickly read. “She has a private collector who wants to meet with me. Something about being interested in my art.” She looked up. “She says it’s a friend of the mayor.”

Officer Grant’s frown just deepened. “I don’t like it.”

“But this is great! Just what I need to keep from—”

He held up a finger to stop her while pulling out his own phone. “Don’t reply. Don’t do anything. Let me check this out.”

She bit her lip while he made a call, excitement and tension taking turns pummeling her stomach. He was talking quickly with someone on the other line. The frown just grew deeper, and when he got off the phone, he hesitated before turning to her.

“Apparently, this is legit. The mayor himself has approved this contact. Says something about it being good for the city.” He frowned. “I still don’t like it.”

“Yes!” She threw her arms up in the air in victory.

That drew a small smile onto Officer Grant’s face. “All right, all right. Pack your cameras or whatever. I’ll set up the meet. Make sure we’re not taking any stupid chances. I don’t care if it’s the mayor’s illegitimate child holding him ransom, I’m not risking your safety in any way with this.”

His protectiveness flushed even more happiness through her, chasing after the glee that was already running circles through her body.

“I’ll get my stuff together.” She skipped off to the bedroom.

It wasn’t until he was out of sight that Terra realized this was the first time she’d seen Officer Grant smile.

Kaden didn’t like this at all.

He and Terra were in the car heading to downtown. Apparently this meetup had been approved all the way up the chain of command to the mayor, so it wasn’t like Kaden had an option to say no. But every fiber of his being was screaming
no fucking way!
There was something seriously off about taking someone who was in protective custody
out
of protective custody and driving them to the middle of downtown to meet a complete stranger—even if that stranger was some kind of personal friend of the mayor. Kaden was savvy enough to know how things worked, especially in the SPD—the mayor’s “personal friend” was probably a political donor. Or someone he owed a favor. Or someone’s cousin’s brother’s next-door-neighbor who had something on the mayor himself. It was political bullshit. And there were way too many ways that could get Terra killed. He just couldn’t control everything once they stepped outside the safehouse door.

But this decision wasn’t up to him.

Terra beamed in the passenger seat next to him. He couldn’t deny the change in her now that she was outside and working. She’d had her camera glued to her face almost the entire drive, snapping up shots of… something. He wasn’t quite sure what, but she had changed lenses a couple of times and swapped out the memory card at least twice. He had to admit he liked the smile on her face.

If only this weren’t so stupid-dangerous.

She seemed totally unconcerned… at least at the moment. The girl was maddening. Angry as fuck one minute, despondent with those big black eyes the next. It didn’t really matter what end of the emotional spectrum she was on—all of it triggered a huge need in him to protect her. It was his job, of course, but it was more than that. Somehow she had sunk under his skin, and protecting her had become
personal.
Not the kind of personal where he was tearing off her clothes and exploring her body with his—he kept having to remind himself that
wasn’t
on the menu—but when she had that lost look in her eyes, all he wanted to do was kiss it away.

He pulled the sedan into an underground parking garage. Terra put her camera away, tucking it into the black bag resting on the seat. Her smile dimmed as they slid into the darkness. Kaden circled around until he could find a spot that was close to both the elevator and the public exit. He wanted to have a lot of options for an easy retreat back to the car.

He put it in park and turned to her. “All right, let’s get this straight. We’re going in, we’re talking to this art collector person, and then we’re leaving. No dawdling. No hanging out any longer than we need to.”

“Understood.” Although the readiness with which she agreed unsettled him. He expected more push back.

“I mean it, Terra.” He had to hold in his frustration. “My job here is to keep you safe. To do that, you have to do what I say.”

She lifted her camera and pointed it at him, snapping a few shots of his mouth wide open because he couldn’t figure out what the hell she was doing. The impish grin on her face was almost worth the shock punching holes through his brain. Then she tucked the camera away and smiled in a way that blasted the thoughts straight out of his head.

Jesus,
he was in trouble with this girl.

“In and out,” she said around her smile. “That’s all. Promise.”

He sighed and gave her a short nod. They climbed out of the car, and before they even hit the street, she had her camera out again.

This section of downtown was pretty upscale—glitzy stores selling overpriced handbags, jewelry showcases fit for the Princess of Monaco, and several cafés with the kind of healthy food that Seattle hipsters liked to eat. The art gallery was tucked between a coffeehouse and a bookstore, only a block down from the parking garage.

Terra stowed her camera, seeming to find less of interest on the streets now. Or maybe she was just getting ready to meet the gallery owner.

Kaden held the door for her. The wide glass storefront let in all kinds of natural light, and the paintings and photographs on display were printed on oversized canvases and mounted on partitions scattered haphazardly around the open floor of the gallery. It was like a maze that forced you to wind past all the different types of art, each with their own explanatory note card. Kaden knew absolutely nothing about painting or photography, and frankly, he had no opinion about any of the actual works, but the gallery itself was a security nightmare. There could be a hundred hate-group bombers hiding behind the partitions, and he would never see them until it was too late.

He stuck close to Terra’s side, his hand hovering near the small of her back but not touching. His hand itched to bridge that final three inches, but she didn’t seem to even notice his nearness. She just strode across the gallery floor, sporting a wide smile for the older woman in back who was hurrying toward them. The gallery owner was dressed all in black, covering every square inch of her stick-thin body, all the way up to the shockingly purple scarf wound around her neck. Her giant, double-hoop earrings tinkled as she embraced Terra.

The hug went on forever. “Oh my God, Terra, I’ve been so worried and horrified by all these events.” The woman’s face was devoid of makeup, and her horrified expression was made more severe by the tightly-pulled-back bun in her hair and her squeezed-shut eyes. “These videos are an abomination! And now…” She pulled back and held Terra’s cheeks in her hands. “And now, my child, they are after
you!
How can you even endure it?”

Kaden had to hold in his growl. This woman was seriously
not helping
with the over-the-top drama about the threats to Terra. The videos themselves were bad enough.

Terra hugged the woman again, squeezing her hard. “It’s okay, Sally, I promise. I’m fine.” She drew back and gestured to Kaden behind her. “See? I’ve got my own personal bodyguard.”

Sally eyed him, head to toe. “Yes, you do.” It was more than a little creepy, being checked out by a woman three times his age. She was older than his mother, and his mother may have been many things, but she didn’t chase after younger guys. Although, truth be told, he hadn’t talked to his mother in so long, he honestly didn’t know what she did anymore. He left that life behind when he refused to get swept up in the gangs.