Wolf at Law by Heather Long (13 page)

Taglioni’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he passed out. Growling, Ryan stood and walked into the room’s bathroom. Filling a plastic Dixie cup with water, he returned and tossed it into the man’s face.

He awoke sputtering and moaning. “I’m…going…to…kill you.”

“I really wish you’d try. Self-defense is a fantastic reason to gut you like a fish. Now, sign the papers.” He put the pen in his hand and lined them up.

Taglioni tried to pull his good hand from Ryan’s grasp, but the man’s pathetic strength was no match for his. He really was going to take the harder route. If he were less of a jackass, Ryan might almost admire his tenacity and determination. Three more bones later, the man had signed the papers and lay whimpering on his side when Ryan straightened.

Outside the room, four men in black suits waited. “Ryan Huston? I’m O’Rourke.”

Ryan accepted the brief handshake. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. O’Rourke. I hear tell we share a common interest in a Wisconsin land project.”

“Is that a matter of fact?” O’Rouke gave him a sly smile. “As I hear tell, there is someone with a large bid in play. It was misplaced for a time, but a little housecleaning took care of the issue.”

“Glad to hear it,” Ryan said, then tucked the papers away in his jacket pocket. “I hope you don’t mind repaying one favor with another. I don’t typically take advantage of a first introduction this way.”

“Good to know. How much of a loss am I going to take on this investment?”

“None whatsoever. I’m paying more than ten cents on the dollar higher than any other bidder.” With a handshake, Ryan closed the deal on the Wisconsin land. The pack’s interests were protected.

Ryan nodded to the room behind him. “You’ll find the first part of the proposed offer waiting in there. The rest will be couriered to you first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Excellent doing business with you, Huston. Pity you aren’t staying in Chicago.” The man’s genial tone didn’t sound half as convincing when combined with the unsettled and nervous scent rising from all of them. The game played by the crime families in the city survived because they knew all the players.

“Oh, I make visits now and again.” Better to keep them on their toes and wary of stepping on his. “But since you’ve done me this honor, I’d be willing to show you a consideration by letting you know anytime our interests might cross again.”

“Done and done,” O’Rouke said. “The wife and the child aren’t of any interest to us. We’ll make sure they’re no longer of any interest to anyone else.”

Ryan nodded and left them to their work. The O’Rourke family and Taglioni’s had been butting heads for some time. Letting them sort out the war was fine with him. He had Tiffany’s freedom in his hands and that would be filed by morning.

By the time a body turned up, well, if it ever did, Tiffany and Alexis would be in Willow Bend, with him, safe and sound. When he arrived back at the room, Zane lifted his eyebrows in silent inquiry. “It’s done,” he said softly. The hunter was off the hook. He could return to his regular route and take his apprentices with him.

The family would be too busy scrambling to deal with the O’Rourke’s to be an issue and from everything he’d learned, Tiffany and Alexis had little to do with them. The bastards hadn’t cared for Giles’ black wife.

Idiots.

All of them.

The door opened and Tiffany studied him. Her eyes were red from crying. He didn’t hesitate to open his arms. When she burrowed against him, he held her and let her sob. The first time she’d cried in his arms had damn near shredded him, but he and his wolf both recognized her need to grieve.

It was only when he’d gotten her to the car and they were on the way back to the house that she asked, “What did you do?”

He could lie. Sometimes, to protect others a lie helped, but he disliked it intensely. Besides, his wolf refused to lie to their mate. “Giles won’t be a problem anymore.”

She gripped his arm, her pupils dilating. “He was there?”

“Yes,” Ryan said, keeping his tone even. “He signed the papers. You won’t have to see him or worry about Alexis anymore. He won’t be bothering you.”

Silence filtered through the vehicle, and shock rippled through her scent. “Please tell me you didn’t kill him.”

No censure marked her tone. “No,” he told her, honestly. “I didn’t kill him.” The wolf clawed at him for stopping there. Adjusting his grip on the wheel, he glanced at her. “I did beat the crap out of him.”

“Ryan!” Surprise and worry collided in his name.

“I won’t apologize for that part. He hurt you. I knew he hurt you and someday he would have hurt Alexis. For those two things alone I wanted to kill him. You are my mate. You come first…and that is
only
reason I left him breathing.”

She bit her lip.

“Talk to me,” he said. “The worst thing in the world you can do is say nothing to me.”

The silence dragged on, and the wolf worried.

“Tiffany…”

Her sniff cut him to the core. Taking the next exit, he found a place to park. Shutting the engine off, he unbuckled his seatbelt and twisted toward her. Tears slid down her cheeks, and every one hammered at him.

“I’m not mad,” she said, the words coming out choked. He released her seatbelt and slid his chair back, then lifted her into his arms. Cradling her, he touched her face.

“I didn’t kill him,” he told her again. “I wanted to. I won’t lie about that part. I thought about it when I had my hand around his throat. He
hurt
you. He wanted to keep
hurting
you. I didn’t need any other reason to kill him. I only needed one reason to let him live.”

“You did that for me.” She touched his face. When he looked in her eyes, he saw gratitude, acceptance…and love. Relief flooded through him.

“Yes. You have a softer heart, and he is Alexis’ father.”

“No,” she shook her head then swiped at her tears. “No, he’s not. In four years, he was never half the father you’ve been in the last few weeks.”

“Then why are you crying, sweetheart?” Because now he was confused.

“Do you have any idea what it is to be afraid all the time? Terrified of the wrong thing or the wrong word? Of knowing you don’t matter…and then there’s you. You’re this—God-like being who can turn into a wolf. You’re so strong and so powerful—and you didn’t do something you wanted to do, because I didn’t want you to. Even when I wasn’t there.”

Stunned, Ryan stared at her. “You’re not mad?”

“No. I’m furious,” she told him, then contradicted the statement with a hard kiss that he willingly accepted. “You could have been hurt.”

Not hardly.
“No, sweetheart. I was never in any danger, I promise. Zane had my back and yours.” Not that it mattered. He’d face a greater threat from Toman when he let him know about his impending wedding. Then again, maybe that would be exactly what he would do—he’d request permission to marry his human. If Toman turned him down, thereby denying Ryan his mate, he could take his new family to a new pack. Hudson River would take him, or even Sutter Butte. The last thing he wanted to do, though, was leave Willow Bend.

Correction. The last thing I will ever do is leave Tiffany.
Cradling her, he whispered. “I should tell you that, while I didn’t kill him, someone else might.”

“Why do you say that?” She stilled against him.

“Because I used his presence as leverage to close another deal for my pack.” Stroking her nape, he inhaled a lungful of her sweet scent. “I’m not going to pretend that turning him over might not get him killed. But I didn’t execute him, I only made sure he would never hurt you or Alexis again.”

“You’re not sorry about it, are you?” Tiffany raised her head and studied him.

“No.” His wolf peeked out of him, and he knew his eyes shifted. She met the wolf’s gaze then trailed her fingers down his cheek. “Not sorry at all. You mean more to us than him. You’re my mate.”

“Mate sounds pretty serious.”

“Yes.”

“I know you,” she whispered, touching her nose to his. “The golden eyes, the man inside, or maybe it’s the wolf inside. I know you. You’re with me all the time, aren’t you?”

The mating
. She felt it. His wolf stretched out and Ryan’s smile grew. “Yes. You are our other half, my other half. Mating is a precious thing and it takes time to grow, but I sensed you that night on the platform.”

“Holy crap.” She straightened, clapped a hand over her mouth then laughed. “You were at the train station downtown.”

He nodded.

“I have been racking my brain ever since our first meeting, trying to remember where I’d seen you before. You were on the train platform.”

“I’d been at a meeting. I was going back to my hotel when the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen came up the stairs and took my breath away.” Ryan cupped her chin, then used his thumb to stroke over her lip. “Whatever you do, don’t ever give it to back to me, Tiffany.”

“I won’t.” She sniffled, and fresh tears leaked from her eyes.

“Your tears are killing me,” he said.

“I’m sorry.” She tried to swipe them away, but they continued to pour. “I’ve wanted you from the first moment I saw you. I thought something was really wrong with me to even be tempted. You weren’t my husband, yet my husband was this awful man.  Part of me said run, stay away because—well, you were following me and keeping track of what I was doing. Another part of me thought, that’s crazy and stalkerish and dangerous…but the rest of me thought it was sexy and sweet and overwhelming.”

“I’m really glad the second part won.” He stroked away another tear, then kissed a second and a third. He died a thousand deaths every time she shed another one, then they were kissing and her tongue stroked his. His whole body lit up with wanting her.

The soft curve of her breasts crushed against his chest before he dragged his mouth from hers. “The first time I slide inside your body will not be in this car.” He growled, and the wolf stretched the remnants of his control. The animal wanted to claim their very willing mate, cement the bond between them forever.

“When we get home then…”

“Yes,” he promised her. “When we get to Willow Bend.”

“I need to get back in my seat.” She stroked her hand down his chest. “Ryan?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t know if I can wait till we’re in Willow Bend since we’re kind of in Chicago.”

He laughed. They were still in Chicago— “The house.”

“Okay…” She nodded slowly. “Better. What about the other wolves? Are they going to be there?”

“I don’t really care where they are, Tiffany.” The whole pack could sit outside his door as long as they didn’t interrupt.

She sniffled, then laughed again. “Have I told you how much I loved you today?”

“You may have mentioned it earlier.” With great reluctance, he helped her back into her seat, then reached over her to fasten the seat belt.

“Good, I didn’t want to forget that.”

“You didn’t.” He stole another kiss, stroking her breast through the shirt, and her scent changed. The strain of resistance and worry diminished, vanishing in the heat of desire. “I love you, Tiffany.” Pulling away, he took her hands and stacked them together in her lap. “But don’t touch me again until we’re home. I want you so bad right now, I can barely think straight.”

Her gaze dipped to his lap and he growled.

Really, the woman was killing him.

A perfectly feminine smile of delight lit up her face. “I promise to be good.”

Starting the car once more, he glanced at her. “Are you really okay with the choices I made today?”

“Yes.” She said, setting free the last of his jagged worries. “Now, can you please take us back to the house so I can make love to you?”

Yes
. That he could definitely do.

The drive to the house took forever. No sooner had they arrived than Alexis raced out of the house to tackle them. Her little girl danced, yelled, laughed, and sang as she went between Tiffany and Ryan. Aching with desire, Tiffany couldn’t just abandon her daughter to run upstairs and dive into bed. Ryan didn’t say a word, scooping up her daughter and twirling her in the air.

Hours passed, and they spent them like a family…as they had so many evenings since Ryan brought her to the hotel and then the house. They ate dinner, played games and he oohed and aahed over every one of Alexis’ pictures and accomplishments. The other wolves came and went. Though they would be staying in the area, they were forgoing the house, giving them privacy.

Until Ryan came along, she’d never realized how much her daughter ached for a father’s attention. Before, it had always been about avoiding notice. Now, it was Ryan she demanded to have tuck her into bed—the bed she’d been sharing with her mother since they’d arrived here. He sat on the edge of the mattress and read her story after story until finally her eyes drooped. The child drifted off to sleep hugging the fuzzy blue pillow.

Turning off the overhead, Ryan left the low lamp on, light Alexis needed if she woke to the dark. It would never have even occurred to Giles to be that considerate of Alexis, not that he’d ever read her a story or tucked her into bed.

Enough, Tiffany
, she told herself.
Enough. That part of our lives is over. Ryan is not Giles. He never will be.

The man in question strode toward her. With a whisper of a kiss as his only warning, he scooped her up into his arms. He carried her out of the bedroom and down the hall. He’d taken the room caddy corner to hers. The space smelled like him, masculine and warm.

His mouth closed over hers, and her synapses short-circuited. Every kiss they shared seemed deeper than the last, yet none prepared her for the sensual assault as he teased and coaxed her into giving him more. When her back touched the bed, she barely had time to process it before her clothes flew. Soon, she was naked and very aware of all her shortcomings.

She pressed her thighs together and reached a hand up to try and cover the scar…one of several she’d gained over the years.

“Don’t do that,” Ryan whispered, pressing a kiss to the hard ridge of flesh where a broken rib had pierced her skin. In another, a bottle had smashed against her shoulder and glass had been embedded.  “You’re beautiful.”