Hot and Dangerous (Decorah Security) (4 page)

“But I saw
you change into a wolf, because we were attacked.”

“You would
have found out anyway.” He lifted one shoulder. “I was trying to explain about
myself when we were so rudely interrupted. I told you I came to San Marcos to
outrun my destiny. And I found you waiting for me here.”

“Your
destiny?” she asked, still grappling with everything that had happened,
everything he had said—or not said. It was too much to take in. All of it.

Words came
tumbling out of him like a confession. “Around the age of thirty, the men in my
family are compelled to look for a mate. When they find her, they bond.”

She stood
facing him, stiffening her legs to keep from swaying.

“What does
that mean, exactly?”

“Wolves mate
for life,” he said in a flat voice.

“You’re
saying . . ..” She stopped short and started again. “What if I don’t want to .
. . mate with you for life? What if I was just looking for a holiday fling?”

His face and
body went rigid. “I hope that’s not true. I knew as soon as I saw you . . .” He
stopped and started again. “I think you’re my lifemate now.”

He was about
to say something else, when the sound of gunfire split the air.

Zack leaped
forward, grabbed Jenna, and threw her down to the surface of the bed, covering
her body with his, protecting her at all costs. Anyone who tried to get to her
would have to go through him first.

With that
realization, something inside her seemed to break apart. He’d told her she was
tied to him. Was that really true? Could she walk away from him? Or would that
be as bad as death?

The notion
was absurd. She’d only met him a few days ago. She’d made love to him once when
they were fleeing from danger. Yet as they lay together on the bed, she
couldn’t stop herself from wondering if they truly were bound together.
Everything about him drew her. His strong body. The woodsy scent of his skin.
Even the way he’d stumbled around trying to tell her about himself.

She could
only imagine what life was like for him. He always had to guard his secret, but
he’d revealed it to her.

He shifted
his weight off of her, keeping his body between her and the door, and she
closed her eyes and stayed in his arms.

The gunfire
went on for a long time, and she guessed that government troops had landed on
the island and were fighting it out with the gunmen.

Finally there
was a long silence.

“What do we
do now?” she whispered.

“Wait until
we know it’s safe.”

“How will we
know?”

“A wolf could
get close to the hotel without being noticed.”

She grabbed
his arm. “No! It’s too dangerous. One of the soldiers could shoot you.”

“Would you care?”
he asked in a gritty voice.

“Of course
I’d care!”

He turned
toward her, and she saw the strained look on his face, knowing that what she’d
just said meant a lot to him. How much did it mean to her? He’d said she was
his lifemate. And she’d been too shocked and frightened to deal with that
reality. But she couldn’t hide from it forever.

She was about
to speak when a blaring sound startled her.

“What?”

In the next
moment, she realized it was a loudspeaker. “This is Capitán José Mendoza of the
San Marcos military. We have secured the resort. If you are hiding in the hotel
or on the grounds, it is safe to come out,” a man’s voice boomed out.

“Is it a
trick?” Jenna asked.

“I don’t
know. Stay here while I go find out.”

“No!” she
answered as she reached for her shirt and beach skirt.

He looked
angry.

“What? You
expect your . . . mate to obey you?” she asked.

She’d said it
without thinking. Was she his mate?

“I’m not
expecting obedience, but you are precious to me,” he answered, emotion lacing
his voice.

When he
started slowly back toward the resort, she followed. At the edge of the jungle,
they both stopped.

On the lawn,
they could see armed men, but these men looked different. They were wearing
camouflage uniforms.

“Stay here,”
Zack growled, and this time she recognized an order.

“We’re
American citizens coming in from the jungle,” he called.

Immediately,
the man turned toward them. “Hands on your heads.”

Jenna stared
at Zack. “Why?”

“They don’t
know who we are, and they have to be cautious. Like when there’s a shooter in a
school, and everyone is under suspicion until the police sort it out. But it’s
going to be all right.” He put his hands on his head and stepped from the
shelter of the trees. Struggling to hold herself steady, Jenna did the same.

Twilight was falling,
which was probably a blessing, because she could make out the bodies of the
people she’d seen earlier on the beach.

Another
soldier with a gun approached them and patted them down. “Do you have your
passports?” he asked in heavily accented English.

“In my room,”
Jenna said.

“Mine also,”
Zack said.

“Which room
is that?”

“We weren’t
staying together,” she answered.

“You’re
together now.”

“Mr. Marshall
. . .saved my life by taking me into the jungle.”

“You
encountered some of the rebels?”

“I hid from them
as they came up from the beach.”

“We’re both
pretty shook up,” Zack said. “We’d like to collect our stuff and get out of
here.”

They both
gave their room numbers.

“I’m sorry.
There’s ... carnage in the lobby,” the soldier said. “You’ll have to wait outside.”

“How many
dead?” Zack asked.

“Thirty-two
guests. So far. There may be more. And all ten rebels.”

Jenna closed
her eyes for a moment. She would have been among the dead if Zack hadn’t come
along.

The soldier
led them to a patio area where other hotel guests sat in deck chairs looking
shell-shocked.

A middle-aged
man dressed in a rumpled flowered shirt and green pants glanced up as they also
found chairs among the group. “What happened to you?”

“We hid in
the jungle,” Zack said.

“We
barricaded ourselves in our room,” he replied, putting his arm around a woman
whose dyed red hair needed a good brushing. “The soldiers got here in time.”

Others chimed
in. It seemed that except for her and Zack, the guests who had been in their
rooms were the ones who survived.

The officer
came back with their passports. “We’re evacuating everyone to the mainland,” he
said. “Your bags will be packed and sent to you later. Your rooms will be paid
for by the government.”

She didn’t
love leaving her belongings, but she could see there was no point in arguing
with the soldiers.

Twenty
minutes later they were on a helicopter for a short ride to the capital, Santa
Isabella.

The flight
back was too noisy to have a conversation. And she couldn’t talk to Zack about
anything important with other people around, anyway. She sat next to him,
saying nothing, trying to work her way through everything that had happened
since she’d arrived at the resort.

They landed
at an airfield outside of town and were driven to a luxury hotel on the Grand
Plaza, where they got in line with the other refugees at the registration desk.
Knowing that everyone was staring at the people who had escaped the massacre,
she kept her gaze straight ahead. As she stood at the registration counter, the
clerk asked if she wanted a single room.

Decision
time. She turned and looked at Zack. When she realized he wasn’t breathing as
he waited for her to answer, she said, “Señor Marshall and I are together.”

She saw a
wealth of emotions flood across his face, but this was obviously not the time
for a private discussion.

oOo

When the door
of their room had closed behind her, Zack asked the question that had been
bursting inside him. “Did you change your mind about . . . us?”

She swallowed
hard. “I don’t know,” she answered. “I think I need to find out.”

He went very
still as he stared down at her. In the dimly lit hallway of the room, she
raised her hand, touching his face, then his lips, tracing their outline.

The intimacy
of that light touch flooded him with physical sensation and emotion he’d been
holding in check since they’d returned to the resort. His mouth opened, so that
his teeth could worry her fingertips, the contact sending heat through his
body.

He moved her
hand, and his lips came down on hers. This time he wasn’t as frantic as he was
at their first mating. He could let himself enjoy the taste of her, the feel of
her against the length of his body.

She spoke
against his lips, nibbling the words, “Show me how it is for your lifemate.”

Unable to
speak, he gathered her to him, rocking with her as they kissed and stroked each
other—each touch, each kiss building the incredible sensual pleasure between
them.

His hands
shook as they worked to pull off her shirt, then her bikini top, and she helped
him with her skirt before tackling his jeans and knit shirt.

Finally,
after what felt like an eternity, they were both naked, still standing near the
door.

When he bent
to press his face against her breasts, turning his head first one way and then
the other, she stroked her fingers through his hair, holding him to her. He
found one hardened nipple with his mouth, teasing her with his tongue, wringing
a glad cry from her, then another as he began to draw on her.

He could feel
his cock, hard and swollen, pressing against her middle.

“I suggest we
get horizontal,” he murmured.

He swung her
into his arms and carried her down the hall, then ripped back the covers and
took her down to the surface of the bed.

With sighs
and sounds of pleasure, they rocked together, touching, stroking, kissing.

He had
thought the first time with her had been good. Incredi_bly, this was better.
Because maybe they were on the same wavelength now.

He belonged
to her—heart, mind and soul—and he dared to hope that she felt the same.

His hand slid
along the curve of her hip, sending fire through his veins. The fire flamed
higher as his fingers dipped into the hot, slick core of her.

He took a
leisurely trip from her vagina to her clit, teasing her there before pressing
two fingers inside her. Moving between her knees, he lowered his face to her,
his fingers still working in and out of her as he lapped at her with his lips
and tongue, drinking in the wonderful taste of her, then circling her clit.

“You’re going
to make me come,” she panted.

He raised his
head far enough to say, “That’s the idea.”

“Not yet.”

She slid away
from him, then angled her body so that she could capture the hard, distended
shaft of his cock with her mouth. Closing her lips around him, she sucked on
him strongly as she slid her head back and forth.

He gasped,
his fingers digging into her shoulder.

Tremors
quivered along his length, and he knew she must feel them. Stopping before she
pushed him over the edge, she lay back on the bed and held out her arms.

He covered
her body with his, his eyes never leaving hers as he entered her slowly, inch
by erotic inch, the joining a confirmation of what he felt. He belonged to her.

“Zack. Oh,
Zack,” she breathed, her arms circling his shoulders with a possessiveness she
had never known before.

When he began
to move inside her, she matched his rhythm. He wanted the pleasure to last, but
he knew the intensity was too great for that.

He felt her
inner muscles contract around him, heard her call out his name once more. Then
he was gripping her shoulders, pumping himself into her, his whole body
shuddering as ecstasy washed over him.

Afterwards he
held her in his arms, both of them gasping for breath.

“I said it
wrong,” he whispered.

“What?”

“I said you
belong to me. I should have said, I belong to you.”

She raised
her head, her eyes meeting his. “I think it’s mutual. But . . . the wolf part
is kind of scary.”

“I know. I’m
sorry. And you didn’t exactly find out the easy way.”

She nodded
against his shoulder. “Yeah, you did it to save my life. What’s the easy way?”

He made a low
sound. “I was trying to tell you when those gunmen closed in on us, and I had
to change—to save us both.”

“I know. It
must be hard to talk about it.”