TUCKER: Valley Enforcers, #3 (2 page)

I wanted to toss out another snarky response, but I ended up shrugging. “I’ll live. It’s hard to kill me, so if you’re some kind of roadside serial killer… tough shit.”

“Again with the insults,” He said with a low whistle. The tone of his voice was lighter. Less angry – almost flirty.

“Get on with it, bear boy.”

I felt the button compress and the band of the seat belt retract. I went to brace myself against the fall, but instead of landing on hard plastic I ended up smashed against a warm arm. The stranger didn’t even grunt under the strain. Despite the layers that separated our bodies, I was very aware of his muscles and the proximity of his hand to my breasts. Knowing that he could scent any trace of arousal, I focused on the throbbing pain in my ankle and not the growing tingle between my legs.

Like I didn’t weigh a damn thing, he hoisted me out of the Jeep. The first thing I noticed was the absence of another vehicle. Where the hell did he come from? The second was his scent. My wolf dug into my ribs. I could feel her excitement. Her anxiety. He smelled like pine needles, animal, and soap. A normal combination, but it was uniquely him.

Whatever moment I was dreaming up inside my head between us was apparently pure imagination because he plopped me down, almost forcefully, on the ground. This time I did cry out. It felt like a dozen daggers were digging into my ankle. Unwanted tears pinched the corners of my eyes and I lurched forward.

There was a choice expletive and an arm around me in the matter of half a second. And again, I found myself curled in his arm. This time I was close enough to see the dark glow of his cholate eyes and the little dusting of stubble on his chin. “Did I hurt you?”

“It happened in the accident.” I forced myself to look at my Jeep. It was standing almost straight in the air in a snow bank. Judging by the almost filled in tire tracks I left, I hadn’t strayed too far from the road. “I think I twisted it. I’ll be fine.”

“Just your ankle?”

“Yeah,” I lied. My chest hurt like a motherfucker. When I rolled off the road and jammed against the seatbelt, I expected a few bruises. But this felt like hell.

His eyes narrowed but he left the subject alone. “Need anything from your car?”

“What?”

“Do you need anything from your car?” He repeated, voice bold. “We have to walk back to my snowmobile. I’ll carry you there, so try not to bring too much. I’ll drive you to town in the morning and we can see about getting your car fixed.”

“I’m not going back to your house. Just take me to town tonight.”

“Not gonna happen. The snow isn’t projected to stop until 3 AM. Nowhere is open right now, anyway.” When I didn’t say anything, he dusted some of the snow off his face and sighed. “Look, I’m not just going to leave you here. I know you don’t like me, but at least let me help you.”

“I never said I don’t like you,” I defended, ignoring pretty much everything else that came from his mouth. I didn’t want to be alone with him any more than I needed to. There was something about the sexy bear shifter that made me want to sink my teeth into his flesh and have him as a tasty meal. “I don’t want to impose. I’ll shift and camp out for the night. It will heal my ankle and then in the morning I can call for a tow or something.”

“No shifting!” His words were sharp and tumbled out of his mouth. They manifested with a puff of cold air. “We’re on clan land. This section is mainly my patrol, but someone may come by early in the morning. I don’t want them to scent a wolf.”

“Ashamed of me already? How sweet,” I drawled, resorting back to my sarcasm. I understood the logistics of clan policy, but for some totally unwarranted reason, it hurt my feelings that he didn’t want anyone to know he was with me. Not that we were together in any way, shape or form.

His jaw tightened. “Just let me take care of you tonight.”

“I can take care of myself, thank you very much.” To prove a point, I took a few steps away from him. My body sank into the snow with each searing step. I almost made it back to my Jeep when the snow compressed a little too much and took me off guard. My ankle twisted even more as I started to fall.

But like a regular day superhero, he was there with his arms around me. “You’re too stubborn for your own good. It won’t kill you to let me patch you up and give you some food.”

“It’ll kill me if you poison the food,” I countered. I needed some sort of barrier between us because two heavy winter jackets just wasn’t enough.

He smiled. “You’re in luck. I’m fresh out of cyanide. Used it all up on the last wolf girl I rescued from a snow storm.” He eased me to my feet, slowly and carefully. He tilted the insulated hood of his jacket down and pulled his beanie off, revealing a surprising tuft of dark hair. Then I watched – half amazed, half enamored – as he brushed some of the snow from my head and wiggled his cap down far enough so it covered the tips of my cold ears. “Do you need your purse or anything? We need to get going. My cabin isn’t too far from here.”

“My purse and my phone, please. Oh, and my keys.” I reached up and touched the beanie, still in a daze. A steady thump in my chest told me my wolf was warming up to the bear. It was the last thing I needed, but the tenderness was welcomed after an exhausting day.

Instead of staring at his backside while he climbed back into my car for me, I squinted in the darkness and tried to find the road. I had stellar night vision, but the icy wind and the snow made it hard in human form to see anything. A few seconds passed and then he was beside me again.

He passed me the brown faux-leather bag that had seen far better days. “Phone and keys are in there, captain.” Squatting and motioning towards his back, he instructed, “Jump up. My snow mobile is probably a half-mile inland and then my place is just a few minutes’ drive.”

I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to jump without injuring myself, so I was glad he lowered himself. I strapped my bag to my body and latched onto him like a bloodsucking leech. I waited until we were passing the trees before I asked, “Why did you park so far back?”

“Wasn’t sure if you were a threat.” There was a slight pause before he added, “I’m an Enforcer – uh, security – for the clan. I was finishing my shift when I saw lights and heard you go off the road.”

Satisfied with his explanation, I took a gamble and rested my head on his back. I was so tired I could feel it in my bones. I didn’t know his name, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to… but he was warm and smelled good, and his puffy winter jacket made the best makeshift pillow.

We reached his snow mobile and he quickly arranged my body in front of his before starting it up. Without the warmth he provided, I had to face the bitter cold and pray that he really wasn’t some psycho who was going to cut me up and put me in stew for Goldilocks. My wolf didn’t get any threatening vibes from him and neither did I, but we both had been known to have a lapse of judgement every now and then.

What felt like an eternity later, a building came into view. When he said cabin I imagined a little log house with a chimney and stacks of firewood around the front door. I never pictured a picturesque brick cottage with swirling scalloped trip and green accented doors and windows. It didn’t look like a house that belonged hidden away from the rest of the world. It definitely didn’t look like it belonged to a bachelor bear.

Unless he wasn’t single. I ignored the way my heart fell a few inches. I didn’t smell another shifter on him. He smelled like pure man. But all that meant was he was unmated. Or he could have a human mate. Of course the only man to interest me in months would be a) a bear and b) possibly a mated bear.

Expertly, he pulled the snow mobile to a stop in front of the snow covered steps. I waited for further instruction, forcing myself to be as docile as possible. With an aching body and a rumbling stomach, it was a lot easier than I anticipated. He climbed off and, without warning, scooped me into his arms. I was too tired to squeak, let alone protest, so I sank into his hold and let him carry me.

The house was dark and smelled distinctly like my rescuer.
Maybe he isn’t mated after all.
Not that it mattered. My attraction seemed one sided. Even if I did interest his little bear, I was totally unprepared for a one night stand – my legs hadn’t been shaved in a good two weeks. And a little whisper in my head told me that he would be so easy to get addicted to. I didn’t have time to let myself fall for someone who wasn’t my mate. Especially if that someone was a bear shifter who lived four hours away.

“Do you want me to keep calling you wolf girl all night or do you have a name?”

The lights flickered on and nearly blinded me. I adjusted to my surroundings, gushing at the exposed beams and stone fireplace, before my eyes landed back on him. He was removing his jacket and tossing it in a closet. It gave me two seconds to check him out without snow clouding my vision. He turned, a knowing smile on his lips, but I refused to let myself get embarrassed for staring at his sculpted tush. “Emily.”

“Emily,” He repeated my name. I enjoyed how it sounded on his lips entirely way too much. He nodded his head towards the closet. “Okay, Emily. You can hang up your jacket while I get you a change of clothes. Then we can see about wrapping up your ankle for the night and getting you something to eat. Fair warning – I’m never home enough to cook anything substantial, so we might have to get creative.”

Red lights flashed in my head. “Wait! Change of clothes? And you’re not going to tell me your name?”

“You’re wet,” He stated, mischief in his eyes. By some miracle, I managed to keep my libido under check.
File that under future wank bank material
. “My name is Tucker. Anything else you wanna know? My blood type? How I take my eggs? Where I keep my porn stash?”

Suddenly, it wasn’t so hard to keep myself cooled down. Rolling my eyes, I shrugged out of my jacket. My clothes were a little more than damp from the snow and wet jeans were probably up there with cottage cheese and people who don’t use turn signals on my list of ‘worst things in the world’. A change of clothes
would
be nice. “Regular day funny man, eh?”

“That’s what they tell me.”

I limped as gracefully as I could to the closet and hung up my jacket on a hook next to his. I put the beanie in one of the pockets of his coat and attempted to smooth down my curls, knowing they’d be more wild than normal after the hat. The few moments of peace were definitely needed. My insides felt jumbled as the adrenaline of the roadside slipup started to wear off leaving me with nothing but a tired, sore mess with a head full of nonsense.

There was no reason for me to love the way my jacket looked next to his. There was definitely no reason for me to feel comfortable in the home of a stranger. But Tucker didn’t feel like a stranger. Not really. It was terrifying, but I chalked it up to being exhausted. It was the only logical reason I’d be so trusting of anyone I just met, let alone a bear.

Not a bear. Not a stranger. Tucker
.

My shoulders fell a little and I leaned against the wall. Nothing good was going to come from my overnight stay in the cozy brick cottage. Nothing good at all. I could tell by the way my wolf was curling up with warmth and happiness. Not to mention, my heart, head and lady bits were totally syncing up telling me to lick the melted snow off of Tucker’s body.

All four were flashing green, but I knew I couldn’t let myself get too tangled up in Tucker. Not like I did with Connor. Just the memory of him made me want to turn into an ice queen. I took a gamble and it ended in heartache. I couldn’t do it again – couldn’t risk it again. Not even for a maybe serial killer who rescued me from the blizzard. Not even for Tucker.

Tucker

I folded the stack of clothes four damn times while I tried to calm myself down, but it was like Emily’s scent was imbedded in my nose making it impossible to forget the way she felt in my arms and how her wet clothes molded to her tiny frame. The only thing keeping me from locking myself in my bathroom to take care of the problem so I could think straight was knowing she was still in her uncomfortable wet clothes.

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to think about the mundane patrol shift I completed and walked back out into the living room. Emily was leaned against the wall next to the closet with her eyes closed. They crept open when she heard me enter and she started walking to me, a slight limp in her step. I had no claim to her – shit, I didn’t even know her – but I wanted to toss her over my shoulder and help her so she didn’t have to put pressure on her ankle.

I knew she needed to shift, but it wasn’t a risk I wanted to take. I didn’t have Deacon’s permission to have someone on clan land. It seemed like an effective rule until you had to break it. I wasn’t going to call my Alpha to tell him I was having a sleepover with a wolf shifter I dug out of the snowstorm. Especially not a week before Christmas; it was a hard time for Deacon and his mate, Elizabeth, who had been captured by some lunatic and forcefully turned into a bear. They were hitting the one year anniversary of her capture, which also represented her ill father’s death, and the stress on Deacon was evident. I wasn’t going to add to his problems.

As Justin would say, rules are meant to be broken. He’d probably already be balls deep in Emily, too. The thought brought a frown to my face.
Shit
. I was ready to bleed my best friend over a hypothetical situation. I needed to put the brakes on the Emily attraction. My bear, who was typically on edge and a pain in my ass, was a little too comfortable with her. That was red alert number one. Two, I couldn’t take advantage of her when she was hurt. And three,
I liked her
. There were women my bear liked. There were women I liked. But a woman we both liked? The best thing to do was patch her up, let her take my bed, and kick her out as soon as the snow stopped.

“Bathroom is down the hall to the right,” I said in my most dismissive voice as I passed her the stack of my clothes.

Forcing myself to do something other than watch her disappear down the hallway, I walked into the kitchen and busied myself looking for food. My bare cabinets and near empty fridge were embarrassing, but I was working almost seventy hours a week and rarely had time to eat at home. I picked up the extra hours to keep myself busy; it padded my bank account and the women of the clan were always dropping food off at the meeting hall so I didn’t have to cook. It seemed like a win-win.

I felt her before I saw her. And when I turned around,
man
did I see her.

Her wild ringlets were piled on the top of her head, defying gravity. In the light I could see strands of blonde woven into her bold copper color. The red tint the cold left on her skin was gone, revealing just how smooth her porcelain skin really was. She was like a doll in every sense: startling jade eyes, a flat round nose, and laugh lines that almost looked fake. How could someone so delicate hold such a dominant animal? Stars, she was so damn beautiful – but that isn’t all that drew me to her. Her personality was as bold and fiery as her hair. And her body? Her wet clothes molded to her like a second skin, revealing the slight flare of her hips and the tiny swell of her breasts. But staring at her in my clothes – a random graphic tee and a pair of grey sweats rolled at least three times – was way more appealing.

“Do you get reception out here? I need to text my friend and let her know I’m safe.” Emily broke my trance and I grimaced, knowing that I was definitely staring at her. She looked stripped down and vulnerable.
Probably because she’s hurt, you’re a stranger, and she’s tired. Don’t be an asshole.
Like that was possible. Asshole seemed to be my middle name these days.

I leaned against the counter and nodded. “It might be patchy with the storm. So, I’m long overdue for a grocery trip. Our options are pretty limited.”

“I’m not super hungry. Whatever you pick is fine with me.” Shifting awkwardly off her injured ankle, she hooked her thumbs towards the arch that led back into the living room. “I’m going to go text Kate.”

Making the executive decision to split the lone frozen pizza in the freezer, I turned the oven on and slid the frozen puck onto a rack. In the living room, Emily was tucked in the corner of my oversized microfiber couch with her phone in her hand. She looked good there. Wearing my clothes and on my couch. I let myself memorize the image for all of half a second before I attempted to pure the train of thought from my head. I breezed by her without saying a word and headed for my bedroom.

I changed out of my own damp clothes and grabbed the first-aid kit from beneath my bathroom sink. Emily’s scent lingered in the room and her clothes were in a soggy pile on the ground. Rolling my eyes, I tossed them over shower curtain so they’d at least have a chance to dry. Whoever said women were clean definitely never lived with a chick. Growing up, my sister Piper left a trail of crushed eyeshadow and discarded clothes everywhere she went. Our shared bathroom was always a mess and at least once a week she committed the ultimate offense – she used the same butter knife for the peanut butter and the jelly. I knew she didn’t grow out of her gross practices, either. Her husband and mate, Axel, always chewed my ear off about something or other.

Still on her phone when I came back in, Emily barely looked up. Every rational thought I had told me to stay away from her. She could easily wrap her own ankle. But I was crawling in my skin, desperate to get close to her. I’d blame my lack of judgement later. Without saying a thing, I lifted her leg and plopped down on the couch, setting her foot in my lap.

“What are you doing?” She exclaimed, trying to swing away from me.

I held up the first-aid kit. “Just until you shift.”

“Okay.” She let out a steady breath and relaxed, letting me grab her foot again.

I was careful not to squeeze her ankle too tight. Her eyes bore into me as I carefully pushed up the bottom of the sweatpants just enough to expose her very swollen ankle. “Damn.”

“It’s pretty bad, isn’t it?” She grimaced. “I feel like a shitty shifter for being in pain.”

“We’re not immortal. Even Wolverine feels pain. Have you seen Hugh Jackman when he’s trying to grown back his bones? Brutal shit.” She started to laugh, but I must’ve pushed down too hard because her lips took a sharp turn and she squeezed her eyes shut. Instinctually, I lifted her foot and kissed the half bandaged ankle. The air crackled with sexual energy and something else I was totally not prepared to deal with, so I lowered her leg and finished wrapping her foot. “Hurt like hell when my face got clawed. A few more inches to left and I’d be blind. I’m kind of surprised you uh, haven’t mentioned it. Most people don’t shut up about the damn scar.”

“I’m a nurse aid; that stuff doesn’t bother me.”

A nurse aid. My spunky spitfire had a soft side… not that I didn’t already know that. “So you want to be a nurse then?”

“Oh, no. No, no, no.” She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s a temporary thing. I want to own my own business buying and selling refurbished furniture. That’s why I’m all the way out here; I was delivering something.”

I was done wrapping her foot but I made no effort to move. “So you already have a store, then? Why keep up the nursing thing?”

“I have an online store – Emmy Lou’s Creations. It’s just too risky right now to quit. Our pack dues are outrageous and rent is high. I think once I settle some of my debt it would be more of an option.”

“You’re from the Missoula pack?” There were only so many registered shifter clans in Montana, and the closest wolf pack was in Missoula. I didn’t know much about them, just what was required as an Enforcer.

“The one and only,” Emily sighed, eyes rolling. “The Silver Shadow Pack led by the great and noble Alpha Matthew Silver.”

I quirked a brow. She didn’t seem to be a fan of her Alpha, which was incomprehensible to me. Deacon was  a fantastic leader. Even if he wasn’t, I would still show obedience. It was the way of the clan. “The pack is named after him?”

“Mmhm. The Silver family has led our pack for nearly one hundred years. Matthew will either step down or die as Alpha and one of his sons will take his spot.”

“Interesting.” I leaned my head back against the couch and closed my eyes. The long days on patrol were catching up with me, but I couldn’t fall asleep just yet. “So tell me more about your store.”

“Well I started –”

The timer on the oven started beeping, cutting her off before she could even finish a sentence. Begrudgingly, I moved her leg from my lap and started for the kitchen. “Hold that thought. Coors or water?”

“Water. Maybe some ice for my ankle too, if you have it.”

I went through the motions in the kitchen and got back to the living room as quickly as I could. Emily had tucked one of my couch pillows under her foot in my absence. I put the ice bag wrapped in a cloth over her wrapped ankle before passing her a water bottle and her plate. I sat down on the adjacent loveseat and cracked open my beer. It was probably a good idea that she put the pillow there because I didn’t have any valid reason to sit next to her with her foot in my lap.

My fascination with Emily
had
to be purely situational. Purely sexual. It had been a long time since I’d been with a woman. Justin probably had the exact date recorded just to bust my balls about it. I was stressed and she was pretty. Nothing could come from it, now or later, anyway. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.

Either not noticing my shifting emotions or choosing to ignore my scowl and inability to say more than a word or two at a time, Emily picked back up where we were before the timer went off. It was easy to forget that earlier in the night we were snapping at one another in the middle of a snow storm. I didn’t interact with a lot of wolves. My experience with the shifter species was limited pretty much to the night I took a paw to the face. I wasn’t all that thrilled when I scented wolf, but the second I saw Emily dangling in her Jeep my bear calmed. It was the wrong reaction. I wanted him to be anxious around her.
I
needed him to be anxious around her.

Emily came alive when she talked about her store. Watching her was a welcomed distraction to the cacophony inside my head. Emmy Lou’s humble beginnings could be traced to the woodshop class Emily took in high school.  She explained that she didn’t even want to take the class but it was the only elective that fit in her time slot her senior year. Her final project was a hand-built distressed bookshelf. She lost me halfway through describing the damn thing, but her enthusiasm more than made up for my lack of knowledge about paint stains and wood grain. The online store was a new development, but she had been buying and creating since the woodshop class. She didn’t just focus on furniture, either. With a smile so warm it could melt all the snow outside, she told me about how she paired up with a wedding planner over the summer to decorate a rustic barn wedding at some big name venue in Missoula.

Alexis, the Protector of my clan, brought her successful career as an interior designer with her when she moved from Michigan to Montana. I didn’t make it a point to casually hang out with my clans-people. I didn’t have the time, and there were only a few my age anyway. So my knowledge of her business was limited. On the off chance I made it to my parent’s house in the Valley for dinner, my mom would bring up redoing the kitchen or their bedroom or turning my old room into a space for her out of control scrapbooking.

I almost asked Emily if she knew of Alexis but in the end, I bit my tongue. The fewer connections we had the better. It wasn’t like it was forbidden to talk to her. There were no rules against inter-shifter relations.
No, no, no. There will be no relations with Emily
. It was easy to remind myself why I needed to leave her alone. She was hurt. She was a nice girl, despite the occasional sass. She made me smile… which was probably the biggest no-no of all. But the little shit of a devil on my shoulder kept forcing me to look at her body – to think of how her wet clothes clung to her frame. And if she lived in Missoula, she was a perfect candidate for a one-night stand. Emily could be the stress reliever I desperately needed.

How long had it been since I sat and talked to a girl? Let alone a pretty one who had something substantial to say? Every few weekends Justin managed to drag me to the bars in town or we’d meet up with his friends in Center Village. I was a shitty wing-man, but Justin was a good friend and kept inviting me, regardless.

The girls were always there. Not so much in the Valley, but always in Center Village. They were persistent and sometimes I needed release. The conversation was dull and the watered down beer always made the bottle blondes way too clingy. They asked about my scar, asked if I was with Justin, or immediately jumped into a conversation about their shitty friends, shitty life, or shitty ex.

Even though Emily was steering the conversation, I wasn’t uninterested. I just liked listening to her talk. I knew the second we finished eating that it was probably best if I let her take my bed and crashed on the couch, but I couldn’t bring myself to interrupt her. Any time I even thought about giving her a complete cold shoulder, my insides felt like fire. I settled for a few tidbits of information. A few smiles and jokes. It was near impossible to distance myself from Emily.