The Werewolf Ranger (Moonbound Book 3) (2 page)

She sidestepped, trying to put a little distance between them, but he didn’t miss a beat and moved just as quickly so he didn’t lose the connection between them. Damn if that little fact didn’t warm her stony heart just slightly.

It was dangerous to care, and Nora wouldn’t make that mistake again. She rolled her neck took a deep breath and steeled herself against the handsome enforcer’s charm.

“Stop touching me,” she hissed. “Someone will see.”

“Are you embarrassed?” he asked, withdrawing his hand from her backside as they waited for the doors of the elevator to open.

“Nope. Just protecting you.”

“Princess, I already told you I don’t care what your f—”

She pressed a finger to his lips as the elevator doors open. “You don’t know anything about my father. And you don’t want to. So keep your mouth closed, soldier.” They stepped into the box and she dropped her hand to press the button for their floor.

Magick crackled in the air between them and Nora was sick to her stomach. The alcohol content of her blood was metabolizing, her head was clearing, and the attraction she’d felt for him at the slot machine bar was syncing in her mind as more than lust. Her wolf agreed.

She should run from Rain for his own good, but that was the last thing she wanted to do.

“Can you feel that?”

She glanced up and met his burning gaze. “No,” she growled. “You’re drunk. It’s nothing. Ignore it.”

She had to. A soldier from New Orleans. Her father would flip his switch if she didn’t choose a man for money or power. And an enforcer from the voodoo-witchy-superstitious capital of the country wouldn’t pass muster any more than the sweet man she’d lost a year ago. Her father hadn’t come right out and said he’d killed him, but it was close enough.

Nora rubbed one of the custom leather armbands she wore to hide the tattoos marking her as mated. They were easy enough to explain away to a human, but the wolf next to her wouldn’t have touched her if he’d seen them.

The doors rang and opened to their floor, jarring her back to the present. Back to her latest escape, the six-foot-plus-two-hundred-twenty-pound-werewolf itching to get his paws on her again.

She could practically taste his desire filtering to her through their magick. They needed space between them. And soon.

“This way, princess.” Rain took charge and marched off the elevator. He swung a right and she followed quickly behind him.

H
e had expected showering
with her to be sexy, but the only hardness in his shower was the annoyed look she fixed on him. She’d turned around while he’d gotten naked, which took all the fun out of getting naked, and tapped her toe in loud little raps on the granite floor of his bathroom.

“Be sure to wash behind your balls. And you’ll need to brush your teeth.” The Princess stood with her straight back to him and cleared her throat. “Is it safe for me to turn around?”

“You mean, can you see my erect penis?” Rain flipped on the water, as hot as he could stand it. “No, because it’s soft as a baby’s bottom.”

“Good.” She clicked her tongue. “There’s no time for that, now we’ve got to go back to the alphas.”

He lathered up and made sure she was watching as he soaped all around his very soft dick. Not even an eye twitch.

She really did mean business.

Shit, he’d read her
all
wrong.

While she was riding him, he kept imagining what she would look like under that long-sleeved, high-necked dress—creative moments that involved her naked and in his bed for days.

Instead, she’d flipped off the sex-switch just as quickly as she’d flipped it on, almost like she’d finished watching the Asian markets and decided it was time to fuck.

Why was that so damned hot?

“Did you clean behind your balls?” She arched one brow at him. “You know, I touched you there.”

“Would you like to check?” Rain faced her, certain that the glass shower door wasn’t foggy enough yet. She must be able to see him completely.

“If you can’t promise me you did it, then yes, I’ll check.”

“Y’know,” he said, his voice buzzing with something primal, “If you climb in this shower with me, I could make these next fifteen minutes a helluva lot more enjoyable.”

A smile flirted with her lips, but wouldn’t fully take over. “You really think you could, don’t you?” But Princess shook her head. “Are you done yet?”

He soaped up his neck and head, then dipped under the stream of water. “I’m telling you, you’ll get a lot farther with me if you take those clothes off and get in here with me.”

Her eyes rounded and she took a step back, her hand at her throat. “You think I’m kidding about my father. He will cut your balls off and feed them to you if he thinks we’ve slept together.”

Rain shrugged. “He’s welcome to try.”

She pursed her lips. “You must not value those balls of yours.”

“Well,
you
seem awful worried about them, darlin’. I can hold my own.” He ducked his head under the stream of scalding water again and blew out a breath into the stream.

“What about your balls?” A familiar voice sounded from the hallway.

Rain turned to find a frozen Princess staring at his tall, grey-haired, bearded alpha. He shook his head. “Nothing, Uncle Francis. I’m just finishing up here.”

“Yes, I can see that.” Francis looked Miss High and Mighty up and down, then passed Rain an approving smile. “Showers all around.”

The Princess shook her head. “No, sir. I was not…I did not shower…I did not…”

“No,” Rain said. “She was just on her way to her own room to get in her own shower.” He had a strange desire to force a calming emotion through the air toward her, like he was responsible for how she felt.

Fucking weird, sometimes, sex with wolves.
Did things to your insides you didn’t expect.
Humans were much safer.

“Oh, really?” Francis raised both eyebrows and looked at Princess Cavanaugh.

“Yes, she was just informing me that it was time to go back to the alpha summit.”

“How nice of her.” Francis’ smile lighted on her. “I just came in from speaking with Aria—who was also in the shower with her…well…let’s just say, it’s going around.”

“I’ve got to go get ready,” Princess Cavanaugh said.

“You’re quite welcome to shower with Rain if you’d like,” Francis said with a little smirk.

“No. Thank you, really. I should go to my own room.” She drilled Rain with a
keep-your-mouth-shut
glare as she skittered past Francis and out the door.

Rain finished rinsing off the soap and reached for the towel his uncle handed him. The hotel room door thudded shut and Francis laughed.

“That Nora. Just like her father.” Francis leaned against the sink and crossed his arms. “I’ve known that man for years, and he’s the most uptight son-of-a-bitch I’ve ever met.”

“Nora?” Rain dried his hair.
Nora
. He liked the sound of that.

“You didn’t know her name?”

“We…didn’t exactly get to that part.” Rain slipped the towel around his waist and walked past his alpha.

“But she came in here to watch you shower?” Francis followed him out into the bedroom and stood near the door that adjoined Rain’s and Aria’s suites.

“She said something about how it wouldn’t be good for her father to smell us on each other and wanted to make sure…yeah, uptight doesn’t even cover it.” Rain pulled out a pair of gray boxer-briefs from his suitcase and sniffed them. Still clean.

“Well, you honored her request. There’s nothing more you can do.”

“Wait.” Rain whirled around. “Where—what the…?” He pulled up the pillow, then the comforter. “Well, hell. She really took ‘em.”

“What?”

“My clothes.” He laughed. “She said she would get rid of them, and she did.”

“Looks like you’ve got a firecracker there, Rain.” Francis chuckled. “You keep your eye on that one.”

Rain found a clean pair of jeans and one of his gray, plain Army t-shirts and tried to ignore the part of himself that hoped he’d cleaned his balls thoroughly enough to get back in her good graces. “We shall see.”

“Before we go back to the council, I wanted to tell you.” Francis leaned on the round red hotel chair near the desk. “Aria would like to bring Marco back to the St. Charles house and I need to ask you to stay away from your team just a little longer.”

Rain found himself nodding. He’d known that Francis would need him for awhile, and pack always took priority over unit.

“I have to send you to Mexico.”

Rain smiled. He couldn’t help wanting the mission, especially if it meant a bit more time in Vegas first. As much as Rain wanted to go back to North Carolina and be with his Rangers, he had an itchy feeling under his skin after…Nora. He needed to get the itch out.

If he had the rest of the day in Vegas, he would even have some time to get Princess Cavanaugh back in here and give her the proper Ranger treatment. Get Miss Uptight out of his blood for good.

Nora.

Francis checked his watch and gestured toward the door. “Let’s get back to the conference room. They’re going to tell you to call Edward Cavanaugh, but I don’t know if I trust that man. You find what you’re looking for, you call me first.”

“What are we looking for?”

His uncle held the door open. “The bastard who ran the werewolf brothel.”

Rain’s steps slowed as they walked down the hallway. Werewolf brothel. Damn. His hands clenched and unclenched in rapid succession. He’d like to get his hands on the asshole.

And then rip him to fucking shreds.

“Carl’s wife helped us to hypnotize Mary, and we at least have the descriptions of streets and buildings she saw when they were escaping. We only have the man’s first name, so we need to send you to find the brothel and see if you can sniff out this
Adrian
, especially if he’s still…in business. The alphas want to dispense some justice.” He nodded at a stylish black woman as she came out of her room with an older black man behind her.

Rain followed his alpha’s lead and nodded a greeting. The LA family? He’d met everyone and been introduced to everyone, but damn, he was bad with names.

“Danique, Darren.” Francis inclined his head at the wolves and they traded wordless acknowledging nods. The two fell into step behind them. They were all headed in the same direction.

The closer they got to the big ball of magick at the end of the hall, the more Rain’s vision narrowed. Just like being at home. His blood had already started soaking him in adrenaline, just at the thought of a mission.

Francis patted him on the shoulder. “You should settle, son. There’s a lot of work to be done to find this man.”

“I just want to get my hands on him.”

“I don’t doubt you’ll kill him if you find him. Just make sure you call me if you do and tell me it’s done.”

With a nod, Rain opened the door to the conference room. “I will.”

“Not if I kill him first,” the LA chick chimed in as she stomped past him.

Rain offered her father a tight smile and didn’t comment. They wouldn’t let Danique go on the mission, but it was a worthy sentiment. Everyone in the room probably wanted the bastard dead.

At the head of the table, the Cavanaugh alpha glared at each of them. “You’re late,” he said to Francis.

“Everyone needed a shower, Edward.” Francis’ tone was jovial and he took his chair at the table, leaving Rain by the door with the rest of the enforcers. This time, none of them took their places behind their alphas.

“We agreed, we need to begin as soon as possible,” Cavanaugh said.

“Then by all means, begin.” Francis gestured to Mary Foster, who looked shaky and frightened.

Carl’s wife, a tall, long-haired woman, held her up almost like a backbone.

Cavanaugh acknowledged each of the alphas at the table—sixty-three in total, so it took a bit of time.

Rain recognized his own alpha, and a few of the outspoken ones, but when they’d broken to speak to Mary, the group had been whittled down to ten of the most powerful who would make the decisions, and it was obvious that some of the returning alphas had nursed hurt feelings.

The Boston windbag was still blathering on after the introductions, and Rain suddenly felt the old alpha’s eyes lasering onto him. The attention made his heart speed up, until he realized that Nora had slipped into the room and was standing at his elbow.

Maybe she hadn’t been lying about her dad. Rain had met some dictators in his time, but Cavanaugh had a presence.

He already disliked the bastard.

“Slow your heart,” she whispered out the side of her mouth. “If he notices you respond to me, he’s going to know something happened.”

Nora had changed from the conservative white dress and high bun to a slick ponytail and a conservative gray three-piece suit dress. With a fucking turtleneck.
Damn, girl.

“It would help if you didn’t stand beside me,” he side-mouthed back. “Go across the room or something.”

“I can’t now. I’m stuck here.” She smiled and looked around the room. “If I do anything now, he’ll know.”

Gods, her dad was a micro-managing prick
.

Carl Rivera, the Vegas pack alpha, brought Mary forward and Carl’s wife continued to hold the frail woman up. She looked like she’d had about enough.

“Mary will tell us her story,” Carl said, “And if any of you need to ask more questions, please be aware, this has been a trauma for her.” He touched the small, dark-skinned woman on the shoulder. “Go ahead, Mary. Start with what you remember from the brothel.”

Part of the room gasped at that word. It was the first time Rain had heard it acknowledged in the full summit, and obviously some of the wolves hadn’t expected it. Had Cavanaugh kept that hidden on purpose?

There were alphas here from all over the country. Did he suspect some of them of being involved with covering up this mess?

Rain watched old Cavanaugh as Mary started with her memories. He didn’t flinch or shudder like some of the others, and his eyes covered the whole room every few seconds, avoiding Rain’s gaze.

Aria and Marco slipped in the room, and Mary began to shake when her son appeared.

“What’s going on?” Aria asked from behind him.

“His mother is recounting what she remembers, for the full summit,” Rain said.

Nora touched his back, almost imperceptibly, but Rain could feel the electricity wrap around him.

She whispered something to Aria, but the summit continued, and Rain couldn’t hear anything. All he could think about was the heat and the pressure of Nora’s hand on him.

The pressure of her fingertips intensified and Rain took a step forward. She slipped farther behind him, pushing Marco and Aria ahead of her, undoubtedly to give Marco a better vantage point on his mother. But it also served to get Nora shielded from her father by his body. While her touch had ceased when he’d moved, he could still sense the heat of her, behind him.

He wanted to take her out of the room and get her alone somewhere. Preferably naked, or at least out of the turtleneck. It made her seem foreign—not the woman who had just climbed on top of him in a casino hallway.

More than anything, he wanted more time with her.

The crack of the magick between them was drawing him toward her, and he couldn’t help it. She wanted to ignore it—fine. He didn’t want complications, either. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t have a couple of days of fun while he waited to go on mission.

Cavanaugh cleared his throat. “We’re sending a team of ten enforcers to Guadalajara, Mexico, where Mary remembered being held.” He pointed around the table. “From all around the country, ten of you have volunteered your top enforcer to go on this mission to discover the identity of this psychopath and bring him to justice.”

As each name was called, the alpha stood. “Sureda, from Miami. McConnell, from Kentucky. VonBrandt, from Texas. Gallagher, from Colorado. Li, from Seattle. Davis, from California. Lupescu, from Chicago. Rivera, from Las Vegas. Dubois, from Louisiana.” When Francis stood, Cavanaugh paused and his big, black eyes went beady and small.

That was only nine.

“This mission will be led by one of our very own,” Cavanaugh continued.

Rain was prepared to step forward when Cavanaugh looked at him, but the big Boston man waved him aside, like an annoyance.

“My oldest daughter, Nora Cavanaugh.” He barely glanced at her as she moved out from behind Rain, keeping her head low. “Now that we know the injustice exists, we will not rest until it is righted. In order to determine the extent of the mistreatment of wolves, and the breeding of unbonded wolves…”