Weremones (16 page)

He got out of the truck and inhaled deeply, sorting through the night air. He didn’t have Grady Dobbs’ scent, but he had to start somewhere. Plus, Adam wanted a head start on any trouble. Like, say, a stray with delusions of becoming Canis.

With the background noise from the man’s phone call, Adam guessed that he’d been in a bar. Western music narrowed down his list. He didn’t think that this place would be where he found Grady. Maybe he was prejudiced, but the guy sounded like scum.

The wolf rose, bringing his body to full alert, as one scent brought him up short.

The saloon wasn’t too upscale for one particular human female psychic. The wolf growled.
His female.

Adam went inside, his work boots making no sound on the wooden steps. Inside the music assaulted his ears. The bright light of the entry temporarily blinded him.

Beyond the interior door, the bar was dim.

Scents of smoke, liquor, sweat, and arousal permeated the place, though not as bad as some places he’d been in. Adam usually avoided congested places like this because of the sensory overload. He barely suppressed the urge to sneeze.

“Do you have a membership?” A cute twenty-something cowgirl in a cutout western blouse asked. She grinned and leaned on the window ledge so that the cutout over her bosom offered him a view of firm, young breasts.

Adam dug in his back pocket for his wallet. He pulled out a bright orange card and handed it to the girl.

Bouncing in time to the song, her tiny ass punctuated the beats. She handed him back the card with a sassy smile. He could smell cowgirl on the make.

“You want to renew your membership? It expires in a couple of weeks.”

Adam shook his head. He’d waste the money the next time he let Mack drag him inside.

“Okay. It’s a good thing you got here early. After the band starts at nine, it’s five dollars to get in. That’s when I get off.”

She added the last with a flutter of homecoming queen eyelashes and handed the card back.

He replaced the card and his wallet and homed in on the one scent that mattered.

Inside the bar, Adam let his eyes adjust. He ignored the lingering looks of the bar bunnies and scanned the tables, the bar, and the dance floor, where he found his quarry.

Diana Ridley looked out of place in her sexy black dress and high heels among the boot-clad crowd. Men stopped to stare at her. Adam growled.

The short filmy black dress seemed to float around her over her short, but oh so, curvy legs. Little sparkles like trapped stars shone under the mirror ball. The black strapped on high heels also glittered, their height adding inches to her legs.

The man touching her wore a suit, minus the jacket. He danced well enough to the music, leading Adam’s woman across the dance floor. Yes, they were both out of place, but while he stuck out like a sore thumb, Diana shone.

Adam walked to the dance floor, ignoring the hopeful glances of some of the women. He tapped the man holding her on the shoulder.

“Excuse me.”

Adam slipped in, spinning her into his arms and leaving the bemused man behind.

Diana squeaked.

“What do you think you are doing?”

“Dancing. I don’t have a commitment to you.”

Matthew had been right. Adam Weis was out of her league. But it had been a nice fantasy for one night.

Adam pressed her close, resting his cheek against hers so that he could smell her hair. He wanted her to feel the effects of his body through the sheer material of her dress.

“I like this dress.”

He rubbed his hands over her shoulders and down her waist. He wouldn’t be so crass as to cup her butt in public. But he wanted to, badly.

He wanted to prove that she belonged to him. Instead, he held her close, letting that make his statement.

To his happy surprise, she leaned into him, allowing the closeness when he’d expected her to pull away. She was full of contradictions, his little human psychic.

“I told you not to date.”

“You just had to spoil it.” She bristled in his arms and tried to pull away from his tight hold. “Mind your own business and leave me alone.”

He chuckled and kept moving, forcing her to move with him.

“Can’t do that. You belong to me, not that schmuck,” he rumbled, the growl vibrating though them both. “He has no right to have his hands on you.”

“Schmuck?” Diana slapped at his chest with one hand. He captured it underneath his own, trapping her hand over his heart.

“Bob happens to be a very respectable man.
And
,” she added for emphasis. “He is my date. So don’t get any ideas.”

His voice was deadly soft in her ear. Sending shivers down her body. “Bob is a shmuck. And you are not leaving with him. You are mine.”

Diana had never let anyone intimidate her before. Richard’s and Laina’s money and influence meant nothing to her. She was determined that Adam Weis with his teeth and claws would not bother her, either. She was her own woman.

“No, Adam. I belong to myself. You’re not my boyfriend or anything else.”

She tried to extricate herself for a dignified exit and failed dismally. Other than causing a scene, which she was loath to do. Damn him, Adam knew she didn’t know how to escape.

“I’m no boy, darling.”

He pressed his groin tight against her belly. Proving that, yes indeed, he was all man. Her hormones cheered in relief.

Bob had been fabulous company, but there’d been no spark. He knew it and so did she. After a very nice dinner at the Coffee Landing in Coffee City they’d driven back to Palestine. The company had been pleasant enough, but there was no attraction.

Bob wasn’t broad shouldered enough. He didn’t gaze at her with hunger in his eyes. She felt cold in his presence. He couldn’t compete with the hot hunk of werewolf, Adam Weis.

Bob and Diana had stopped in town for a beer and more chitchat rather than going home. Both knew without saying that they wouldn’t be going out again.

She wasn’t about to stroke Adam’s ego with the knowledge. He was the type of alpha male that could run a woman over. The type that men like her ex, The Dick, only wished they could be. “Adam, no. You are making this hard.”

He chuckled in her ear. His hand drifted up and down her back following the shivers he put there.

“No, you’re the one making it hard.”

He pressed the noticeable bulge in his jeans against her, pointing out his double entendre.

“Arrrgh.” The man was sooo frustrating. So dense. “You are such a
man
.”

He laughed again. “It’s about time you noticed. Let’s go and I’ll show you exactly how much.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Dammit.” The man was a jerk, bringing out the worst in her. She hardly ever cursed, yet every time she got around him she ended up loosing it. “I am not going anywhere with you. Especially, after what you did last night. I’m very upset at you.”

He peered into her face, one eyebrow raised in question. “Mad at me? For giving you the best orgasm you’ve ever had? Honey, let me tell you, that wasn’t even my best.”

She turned bright red, her face and chest mottling under the fractured light of the mirror ball. “No.” she hissed. “For almost attacking Matthew.” Her voice rose to lecture quality. “Anyone who messes with my kids, messes with me. I don’t take kindly to violence of any kind, Rover.”

“Rover?” His booming laugh drew the envious gazes of several of the twostepping cowgirls.

“Yeah, as in,
all men are dogs
. And you’re the worst.”

“Babe, for the record. I’m always in control. In no way was your son in any danger.” He danced them in a tight circle. “I’ve never raised hand, paw, or claw, to an innocent. I don’t plan to start.” He flashed a roguish dimpled grin. “Besides, my dad would come loaded for bigger game than bear. And believe me, he’s a damn good shot.”

Diana let that bit of information digest, then tried to wriggle away. She spotted Bob watching them, concern darkening his face.

Diana panicked as Bob set down his beer and started their way. Belatedly, she realized that she and Adam had been out on the floor for several songs.

She pushed at his chest.

“Let go. I have to go to the restroom.” And she did too. He watched her, suspicion in his wild blue eyes. Diana ducked through the crowd, avoiding Bob.

She needed a moment to figure out how to deal with this situation. She passed under the neon sign blinking the word, Cowgirls, in hot pink and darted into a stall.

Alone at last.

Tottering forward on her three-inch heels, she steadied a hand against the stall in an
eeek
moment. She’d left Bob, an accountant, to deal with a possessive werewolf. Now that was smart.

A grumbling line outside drove Diana from her sanctuary. Washing her hands, she stalled, using the damp paper towel to cool her cheeks. She prayed for some sanity.

Well, there really was nothing to do about it. She wasn’t going to be rude and leave Bob in the lurch. It had been a nice date and she’d end it that way. She’d march out there, collect Bob, and go home. Easy, right?

Right.

Hopefully, the bouncers were paid up on their health insurance policies. Heck, in this area, the poor men were lucky if they
had
health insurance.

Anyway, she wasn’t going to let some howling at the moon son of a gun order her around.

Good grief
, she was beginning to sound like a country and western song.

Diana squared her shoulders. She took a deep, fortifying breath. She pasted on a smile and exited the ladies, er, cowgirl-room.

Underneath the blow-up beer bottle, Adam and Bob stood side by side. Both men’s arms were crossed over their chests, though, Adam’s stance was the more impressive of the two. He wore a smug expression, while Bob looked pained and upset.

Lovely
, she thought,
abso-frigging lovely
. Diana crossed her arms, as well, and faced Adam with a pointed stare, using the same tone of voice reserved for stubborn children. “Goodnight.”

He had the audacity to smirk. Diana began to fume.

“I’m not really sure what’s going on here.” Bob cleared his throat and shot a glance at Adam. “But I don’t like feeling used.”

“What?” Diana wrinkled her brow? What had he done now?

“What I mean is, that I don’t think its right for you to be going out with one man while you’re engaged to another.”

Diana gasped. “Engaged?”

On the heels of shock came full-blown fury.

Her fingers curled around the forty-dollar manicure she’d splurged for her date with Bob. She raised them in Adam’s direction, unconsciously mimicking claws.

“Engaged?”

Her voice rose. She didn’t care who heard. Maybe the bouncers would throw Adam out on his big fat hairy backside.

“You!” She jabbed one silvery tipped finger in the troublemaker’s direction. “So help me God I’m going to make a rug out of your hide.”

Make a rug out of him? Adam grinned, just to piss her off more. When they were mated properly, he’d have a fine of a time teasing her.

Their pups would be a living terror. He grinned wider, imagining a house full of loud rambunctious youngsters, both two and four footed, and a pack that laughed and loved.

Diana’s angry growls amused the hell out of him. Wielding her painted nails as if they were claws that could rip through metal was cute.

“Laugh it up while you have the chance, Fuzzball.”

Peripherally, Adam kept tabs on the bouncers, who were edging closer, attracted by the scene they were making. Or rather the scene his quiet proper, mate-to-be, was making.

“I ... uh ... don’t want to get in the middle of some lover’s quarrel,” Bob began, trying for a soothing voice to calm Diana.

It didn’t work.

“Then don’t.” Adam didn’t bother looking at the human.

“Lovers!” Diana burst out.

“But, she came with me, so I’ll take her home.” The edge in Bob’s tone made Adam glance over.

He’d dismissed the schmuck as a minor irritation. But now, apparently ol’ Bob wanted to play in the big league. Adam was a fair man. But he didn’t plan to tolerate any other male making moves on his chosen female. The instinct to protect her was paramount, especially now, before the mating ceremony was complete.

Until she used her psychic abilities to finish the mate-bond, the possibility of another male claiming her attentions was very real. She could complete the bond with a normal like Bob or another psychic.

“Back off while you still have the chance, little man.” Adam curled his lip into a sneer. “She belongs to me.”

Bob pulled himself up straight, reaching for one of his shirt cuffs. Finding it already folded up to his forearm, he twitched it straight and crossed his arms again.

“Well, since she came in my car, I’d say she’s my date.”

One of the bouncers discreetly moved into Adam’s vision. The warning was clear.

Another bouncer drifted closer, alert for any real trouble they might cause.

The first bouncer, a decent sized human, dressed in long sleeves despite the heat both outside and from the press of bodies inside the bar, offered a good ol’boy smile.

“Why don’t you guys cool down or take it outside?”

Diana shot a glare at her date. “I think we need to leave, Bob.”

“Good idea
, Bob
,” Adam drawled. “Go home, Bob, before you get hurt.”

He knew he shouldn’t egg the guy on. But damn, she wasn’t supposed to be looking at the other man that way. She should be tucked under
his
arm, her sultry brown gaze staring up into
his
face with admiration.

Bob’s chest puffed under his button down dress shirt. Anger rolled of the human in waves.

“I’ll show you hurt.” He headed for the door, pausing to look over his shoulder at Adam. “You coming or not?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” Adam sauntered after him, the bouncers providing a discreet escort.

“Wait!”

Remembering the night before, Diana rushed to catch up. She grasped the back of Adam’s shirt and was pulled along.

“Don’t you dare hurt him. I mean it.”

Ever so carefully, Adam detached the female. His strong hands gripped her shoulder. He gave her a feral smile, dark, dangerous, and all the more sinister for his pale coloring.