Shifter’s Surrender (17 page)

At the sound of her alarm clock, Kaylie popped her eyes open, yanked from the strangest dream. A dream where she had felt safe, protected. Her guardian none other than a large black wolf. It had seemed so real that she actually glanced around the room, looking for the beast. Seeing no evidence of a four-legged creature, she pushed from the bed, padded to the bathroom, and readied for the day.

Mondays were the worst, she thought, heading down the stairs. She smelled the coffee—thank you Mom! —but she missed the weekend scents of frying bacon, or sausage or fresh bread or …

She froze, one foot hanging in mid-step.

Missing scent? Could that even be possible?

As a vet, she knew that a dog’s sense of smell was so sensitive that, for example, while a human might smell a pie as a whole, a canine could scent each individual ingredient. Which meant, if the animal knew what belonged in the pie, it could tell what was missing by smell alone.

Which was the same for wolves. Kaylie knew from her research that a wolf’s olfactory sense was just a sensitive and could even detect a scent trace from up to a mile away. So they to could scent the absence of something that belonged, right?

Soooooo …

“Well, hell.” Excited by the theory, she continued into the kitchen where she dug out her traveling coffee mug from a cabinet and filled it up. She had priorities after all. Then she stared at her cell phone, contemplating. She wanted to contact Dean, not only about her idea but because, well, she missed him, the jerk. She wanted to hear his voice. See his face. Breathe in his scent. Run her hands through his dark hair. And screw his brains out.

Damn!

Kaylie thunked her head on the counter. She should have known this would happen. If her emotions were ruled only by the mating heat, she would have wanted to screw his brains out first rather than last. But, while that urge was undeniably strong, simply hearing his voice was stronger.

She cursed again, following that with another thunk, uncaring if she showed up at work with a welt on her forehead because frankly, she’d fallen in love. In love with a stubborn, sexy shifter.

Who’d kissed her in front of the world yesterday.

A shaky hand covered her aching forehead, because if Dean followed that kiss up with a claim, Kaylie would become the Lupa. Ben had already referred to her as such, shocking her to the core.

And a Lupa had to be strong, smart, and protective of her pack.

Which brought her back to wolves, scents, and her theory.

Only now she wasn’t quite ready to hear Dean’s voice. Her realization was just a bit too fresh, her emotions a little too raw. So she dialed her sister.

“What’s wrong?” Tess asked immediately.

“What makes you think something’s wrong?”

“‘Cause you’re calling first thing in the morning.”

Kaylie heard a male voice and then Tess’s undecipherable answer. At the same time Kaylie blew out a breath and muttered, “Where do I start?”

“What?”

“Nothing.” Shaking her head, Kaylie refocused. “I need to ask a question, a shifter one.”

A pause. “Okay.”

Kaylie hesitated, formulating the question. Then she explained the pie theory.

“The absence of a scent? Why are you asking if a shifter can smell a missing ingredient?”

Kaylie frowned at Tess’s tone, thinking she was on the wrong track when something heavy dropped over the line, then came a male curse, then: “You’re a genius!”

Tess’s confused exclamation was cut short by what sounded like a passionate kiss, if the moaning sounds that drifted to Kaylie’s ear were any indication. Kaylie flushed, hoping she didn’t sound like that when Dean kissed her, but had a sneaking suspicion she did.

“Hey!” Kaylie yelled into the phone to cover her embarrassment. “I’m the genius. Why am I not being kissed?”

More muted conversation and then her sister gave a blissful sigh. “Get your own shifter, sister. Oh, wait. You already have.”

Kaylie was so not ready to go there. “Whatever. So tell me what Caleb said.”

“The lack of a scent is just as important as a new scent, and can actually be traced. If, for example, it’s Kyle Kolter producing the non-scent, he’s actually covering normal scents, and that makes him traceable.”

Kaylie took a sip of coffee before answering. “Because the absence is actually a marker. I know what my house smells like, nothing like with a shifter sensitivity, but enough to know if something is missing.”

“Yeah. Caleb was calling Dean as he ran out the door. Even though it’s been hours, they’re probably going to try and see if they can scent out a non-scent at the bar. That sounds so weird.”

“Not really. The olfactory …”

“Don’t even go scientist on me,” Tess interjected. “I’m already going to be late to work. Which makes me wonder. Caleb was so frustrated last Friday, when Dean’s office was ransacked. No scent marker. Maybe that was Kyle as well, and not Rita as both he and Dean suspected.”

Kaylie leaned back against the counter. “Maybe. But why would Kyle want to mess up Dean’s office?” A sudden thought hit her and she tilted her head back, knocking her noggin into one of the cabinets, again. At this rate she was going to give herself another concussion. “Shit! I’m such an idiot. Dean’s office was once Frank’s office, Kyle’s father.”

“Yes, so?”

Kaylie placed a hand on her head and let out an agonized groan. “Sooooo. Frank hated Dean for publicly humiliating him and taking over the position of Alpha. Then, when all that happened to you back in December, Dean was the one who, and as per pack law, killed Frank.”

“And what? You think Kyle is trying to gain revenge on Dean? It was Caleb who fought Kyle and won, not Dean. Besides, we all know Kyle’s no longer in his right mind, not with all those drugs running through his system. Which is probably the reason for his non-scent now. He used to smell like watermelons.” The last was more of a murmur.

“And may change yet again, which is why he needs to be found now. But that’s not what I’m getting at. Pay attention.” Kaylie ignored her sister’s snarl. “What was Frank good at?”

“Being a bastard.”

“Exactly. A manipulative bastard. He knew he could never beat Dean in a fair fight. So, he had to do something else. He needed to do something to turn the pack and the people of Woodcliff against Dean.” But what?

Then she recalled the thickened flesh of Dean’s ankle, his quick temper, and Tess’s words on the Alpha’s unknown history. Not to mention Dean’s own vampire comments. “Oh, hell.” She slammed her palm onto her forehead. Yep. Another concussion was eminent. “His past.”

“His past?”

“Yes. I’m going to summarize. Let’s say Frank dug into Dean’s past and found something that could harm Dean’s present? Frank would wait until the right moment and then
boom
, he’d strike, hard and fast.”

“So, what?”

“Ugh! Kyle was searching for those documents and when he couldn’t find them in the office that once belonged to his father, he set about framing Dean for murder.”

“But nobody believes Dean killed that woman.”

“Yeah, but you said it yourself. Kyle’s not right in the head.”

“So we need to find those documents and somehow draw Kyle out? They could be anywhere, Kaylie. A bank lock box, the Kolter home, buried in the middle of the forest. Or they might be nothing but a fantasy in your mind.”

Or in a secret compartment in the knee well of Dean’s desk. “How soon can you get to the lumber yard?”

“As talking with you has made me late, twenty minutes.”

“I’ll meet you there in ten.”

Heart racing, Kaylie dialed Dr. Thomas and let him know she was going to be late and raced out the door, not even noticing a very startled shifter clearly on morning guard duty.

Nine minutes later, Kaylie pulled into the Woodcliff Lumber Yard with a sense of déja-vu. The last time she’d been here she left a butt print on Dean’s desk. Remembering just how that print had gotten there sent a warm flush of longing to her nether regions. She pushed the feelings to the side with a muttered, “not now,” then she headed for the building. Though Tess’s vehicle was nowhere in sight, Kaylie was too impatient to wait. Besides, if there really wasn’t a secret compartment underneath the desk, she at least wouldn’t make a fool of herself in front of her sister.

Kaylie passed a sleepy receptionist. A shifter one, who stood up as she dashed by with a muttered “morning.” Normally the woman, Kathy, would stop, forcefully if need be, anyone who came into the building, but Kaylie knew the gossip mill. Knew the woman probably didn’t know what to think. Not only was Kaylie the sister of the CFO—aka Tess—she was rumored to be Dean’s mate. Which made Kaylie Kathy’s Lupa.

Kaylie’s exhilaration was dashed when she reached Tess’s office. Locked. And with a new, fancy, key-needing doorknob. She let out a growl of frustration and kicked the door.

“What is wrong with you?” Tess hurried down the hall.

Kaylie looked over, noting that while dressed like Kaylie in jeans and a sweater, Tess oozed model chic, from her expensive half boots to her dangly earrings. Kaylie wanted to hit her. In love of course. “I need to check something.”

“Are you going to tell me what that is?” Tess opened the door.

“Only if I’m right.” Kaylie was confronted with another locked door at Dean’s office. “You guys wasted no time. This one too.”

“Kaylie.” Tess’s tone was clearly exasperated, but she did as requested. “You’re starting to piss me off.”

Kaylie dropped her purse, key ring in her hand, and moved to the desk. She yanked the chair away and went to her knees, using the mini flashlight on her key ring to light her way.

“Kaylie?”

Ignoring her sister she played the blue light over the wood. There! High up on the left side was a flat metal emblem. One that had a tiny slit in it. Damn. She needed a key. What was it with keys today!?

Tess knelt beside her, squeezing her way until she was under the desk as well. “What are we doing,” she whispered. Then she flicked her gaze to where Kaylie’s light pointed. “What is that?”

“I’m not going to tell you how I know about this, but I need a key.”

Tess snickered. “I can guess about the how and might I just say, ‘naughty,’ little sister. As for the second.” She unhooked an earring. “Scoot.”

“That only works in movies, moron.” Kaylie hissed, but she backed out and around her sister.

“Ye of little faith.” Tess straightened the long end and stuck it in the small opening of the emblem. She leaned in close, eyes narrowed in concentration as she carefully twisted the metal.

After a minute of silence, Kaylie felt her excitement fade and her frustration mount. “It’s not working. We have to find the key.”

“Shut up.”

They stayed that way for another minute, hunched over, Tess wiggling the stupid earring and Kaylie holding the stupid light. Not that Tess was even using it. No. Her sister’s eyes were closed. Kaylie didn’t know if Tess was actually doing anything real or was trying to placate her little sister. Impatience kicked again. “Tess.”

“Aha!” To Kaylie’s total and utter shock, Tess pressed her fingers against the emblem and twisted it to the right. A wide, shallow drawer sprung open and nearly clocked her sister in the head.

“Holy crap.”

“You can say that again.” Tess reached in and pulled out a manila folder, handed it to Kaylie. Then she felt around the drawer. “That’s the only thing in there.” She shut the drawer and they shifted to sit, their backs to the desk. Kaylie handed the light to Tess and opened the folder. And, burrowed together in the knee well like mischievous children, they began to read.

Kaylie shut the folder. “Well.”

“Poor Dean.”

“Poor Dean?” Kaylie looked over at Tess with a glare. “His childhood sucked, definitely, but then he screwed half of Atlanta. For money. I don’t know if that’s worse than just because he could or not.”

“Like you’ve never done anything you regretted. Oh, wait. I forgot who I was speaking to. Miss Perfect.”

Kaylie fumed. “Oh, shut up. Besides, how do you know he regrets it? Maybe that’s why he doesn’t want a mate. He wants to screw half of Colorado. Maybe next month he’ll move on to Florida.”

“Idiot. Does he act like a man who wants to screw half of Colorado?”

Kaylie hunched her already drawn up shoulders. “No,” she sulked, knowing the man now was not the boy depicted in that impersonal report.

“Exactly. Think of it as practice.”

“Practice? For what?”

“For the real deal.”

Confused, Kaylie asked, “What’s the real deal?”

Tess nudged her with her shoulder. “You are, silly.” Suddenly Tess stiffened. Too late. Legs appeared at the desk, followed by the barrel of a nasty looking gun.

“And you’re going to be a dead deal, Kaylie Gentry, if either of you make any sudden moves.”

Kaylie knew that voice, had in fact heard it once before while in the same damn position. Rita Williams. With a gun. Which for some reason didn’t upset her as much as … “How did you know which one was me?”

Rita kicked her foot. “Shoes. Tess wouldn’t be caught dead in those ugly things.”

Kaylie looked down at her well-worn sneakers. All right. Maybe it was time for a new pair. Her eyes flew back to that cold steel held in the other woman’s hand. If she lived through today that was.

“Why do people insist on pointing guns at my family members?” Tess asked sullenly but she shook her head at Kaylie, as if trying to tell her something.

“Maybe because your family members have something they want. Now, both of you. Get out. Slowly.”

Rita moved back to let the sisters slowly edge out from under the desk.

“Now what?” Kaylie eyed Rita, and the gun, with tamped down anger.

“Now set the folder on the far edge of the desk.”

While Kaylie complied she couldn’t refrain from saying, “And then you’re just going to leave with it? We’ve seen you. Everyone in the office has. Once you walk out that door, cops will be all over town, looking for you. You’re not going to get away with it.”

“That’s so cliché.” Rita tossed her head to the side. “Besides. I haven’t gotten that far.”

“Great,” Tess said, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. “We’re being robbed by a woman without a plan.”

“Or bullets.”

The deep, slightly accented male voice had all three women turning to the office door. There stood Caleb and Dean, both looking utterly handsome. Dean mouth-wateringly so with a day’s worth of scruff on his face. Yum!

Kaylie jerked her gaze away from the predatory gleam in Dean’s eyes and glared at Rita. “No bullets?’

Rita sighed. “Yeah. I hate these things. I’m always afraid I’ll shoot someone.”

Kaylie shoved the palms of her hands into her eyes and let out a frustrated growl. At the same time, Caleb strode over and confiscated Rita’s weapon. “I’ll take that.”

Kaylie’s eyes found their way back to Dean, now standing at the desk and flipping through the folder. She saw his throat move and then as if he felt her gaze, his swung to her. Damn those eyes! They pierced into her very soul. Always hot, intense, and mesmerizing when he looked at her, there was now an emotion in them that had her heart squeezing in her chest. A resignation mixed with sadness. Her throat clogged up. He looked defeated.

“What’s going on Rita?” Caleb’s eyes were hard, flat as he focused on the woman. “We know you picked the lock last Thursday, even though you said the door was unlocked. We also know you didn’t ransack the office last Friday. That was Kyle.”

Sorrow filling her, Kaylie turned her gaze to Rita. She would deal with Dean later.

Rita only sent them all a mulish look.

“Are you Kyle’s lover?” Tess wanted to know.

Rita made a gagging sound. “Hell no. He’s my brother.”

Kaylie gaped at the unexpected response.

Tess on the other hand, sent Caleb an indecipherable look. “Then Matt West is your brother as well.”

“Unfortunately.” Rita replied.

“And your sister, Gina, slept with Matt,” Caleb put in, obviously making some connection that had Kaylie frowning.

Rita only nodded, her mouth twisted in anger.

Kaylie and Tess looked at each other and said as one, “Eeww.”

“They’re not blood related.” Rita snapped out. “Gina and I have the same mother. Matt, Kyle and I share the same father.”

Tess turned to Caleb and jabbed him in the shoulder. “I told you Frank Kolter was sleeping around on his wife.”

Caleb merely rolled his eyes.

“Good God. How many of his kids are out there?” Kaylie whispered, knowing full well about the rumored extra-marital activities of Woodcliff’s former, and now dead, Alpha. Seems some mated pairs didn’t work out after all. But then Frank had been a snake to begin with.

Rita only shrugged.

Dean, who’d been silent all this time, sat down heavily on the couch. “And I thought my family was bad.”

Rita glared at him. “They are! You are not fit to be an Alpha. You come from a line of violent, murdering shifters, and you were raised by whoring vampires.”

Dean raised one brow at the woman quivering with rage. “But not one adulterous member in the bunch. And when you offended them in some way they didn’t hide or sneak behind your back. They had the balls to get in your face and tell you why they were going to rip your throat out.”

Something in Dean’s expression made Rita glance away and stare at the floor. “Yeah, well it’s not like Kyle could be the Alpha anymore. He’s too far gone.”

“And wants revenge on Dean I take it,” Caleb stated calmly.

After a moment she shrugged again, all the fight drained out of her. “When neither of us could locate the information Frank had on Dean, Kyle decided to try and frame Dean for murder. When I told him that wasn’t going to work he nearly bit my head off. Literally. Said that his next move was to kill Kaylie. After he had his way with her.” Rita glanced up at Kaylie, her face hard. “That pissed me off. I might steal, but I sure as hell don’t condone rape. I thought I’d try one more time to find that report and give it to Kyle to keep his mind off you.”

Dean’s voice was hard enough to cut glass. “But you never thought about going to Caleb, to me. Hell, to anybody, to let them know what Kyle was planning?”

Rita stared back at the floor. “He told me he’d kill me if I did.” Her chin trembled. “It only took one punch to believe him.”

Caleb blew out a harsh breath. “Jesus Christ.” Then he looked at his Alpha who sent him a slow nod. Wrapping a hand over Rita’s arm, Caleb said, “You need to come with me.”

“Are you arresting me?”

Another look passed between the two male shifters. “Not sure yet, but until Kyle is caught you’ll have round the clock protection. Tess, I could use your help.”

Tess nodded, turning to hug Kaylie. “Go easy with him,” she whispered in her sister’s ear before following Caleb and Rita out of the office.

Finding herself alone with Dean, she looked at him, and he looked everywhere but at Kaylie. After several silent and tense minutes he spoke. “You were never supposed to know.”

The crack in his voice nearly undid her. “Why, Dean?”

His head lifted and his lips tightened as if to refuse her question. Pain was evident in every inch of his drawn face.

Kaylie’s stomach clenched. She wanted to run to him, hold him in her arms, love him. But she was also pissed. Because of those women, but more importantly, because he’d planned never to tell her.

Her temper flared and she was suddenly straddling him, grasping his shirt in angry fists. “Tell me.”

His hands were at her hips, flexing as if he didn’t know whether to push her away or keep her there. “I was young, confused and so full of hate. At myself, at the world. I did—”

Kaylie yanked on his shirt, eyes blazing with fury, even as her body reacted to his closeness. Her hips had a mind of their own, wiggling over the growing bulge in his jeans. He groaned, his hands tightening, his fingers curling into her waistband to caress bare skin. “Not why you screwed all those women, which just pisses me off, but why you weren’t going to tell me the circumstances that led to such a decision.”

He swallowed. “I made mistakes …” He stopped and squeezed his eyes shut, as if it were too hurtful to say anything more. That’s when Kaylie got it. Unbelievably, Tess was right. And Kaylie was right. Dean had been one of those kids, albeit with extremely odd and cruel circumstances, who’d grown up without a proper shifter upbringing, feeling cursed and worthless. Which was so far from the truth she could just scream.

It wasn’t a calm thing, the need that arose inside her. It was as wild as a raging inferno, scorching through dried kindling. Wanting, no
needing
, him to know what he was to her, she stood up and ripped off her clothes.

Dean gaped, his eyes burning with lust and disbelief as he drank in her nakedness. “What are you doing? Kaylie?” Her name came out as a needy groan as she tackled his jeans. His hands fisted at his side, but he didn’t stop her. “I thought you were angry.”

“Pissed actually.” When his cock sprang free she wrapped a hand around the heavy length, stroking him, sending his body into uncontrolled thrusts. “But you need to know, Dean.” She settled over his lap once again, taking his face in one hand as she guided him through her creamy folds with the other. “You need to know that this is where you belong.” The engorged tip of his cock parted her, causing a spasm of pleasure to burn through them both.

Dean wrapped a hand over the back of her neck, his hips rising to met her descending ones, slowly working his way into her sheath. “Kaylie. God. How could you still want me?”

Kaylie dug her hands into his hair, flinging the leather tie aside as she rose up and down on his thick cock. Working him deeper with every succulent stroke. “I’ve always wanted you, Dean. I’ll always want you.” Her head fell back when he was seated to the hilt, stretching her to her absolute limit. She began to rock, the movements causing an erotic friction of swollen tissue against his hard pelvis. Pleasure built and burned. Holding his head, his gaze, she gave him everything. “I love you.”

Muscles tensed under her hands, his hungry expression giving way to shock. Then he growled and flipped her on her back. She let out a small squeak of surprise and pleasure as he began to move over her, his hips thrusting hard and sure and possessive. “Mine,” he snarled out, the ring of ownership music to her ears.

“Yours,” Kaylie agreed hoarsely. Sweat glistened on her forehead, her body burning as he drove his shaft into her pussy. She wrapped her legs around his waist, the heels of her feet digging into his ass as she lifted her hips to meet him stroke for stroke. Each thrust rasped over delicate flesh, sending a flush of agonizing pleasure through her, building the ever-increasing fire for complete possession.

His head was buried in her neck, kissing and licking her flesh. She was drowning in a violent storm of lust, need and love. Greedy for him, she snarled out a demand of her own. “And you’re mine.”

The sound that came from him was nothing close to human, the vibrations rumbling against her flesh. His eyes burned into hers, the edges bleeding with amber. “Forever,” he choked out before dropping his head once again to her neck.

Love swamped her. He may not have stated it, but she felt it. In his kiss, in the pounding of his cock, in the way he twined his fingers with hers.

Dean whispered her name over and over, keeping time to the pounding of his cock. Her belly clenched as an orgasm loomed. Greedy for it, she clung to him, begged him. Vaguely she felt sharp teeth scrape over her skin. Her eyes shut to welcome heaven when those teeth pierced her flesh, and she screamed as she was hurtled through darkness and light, her body shattering as she came in great wracking shudders.

Dean continued to flex his hips hard and fast through her orgasm, forging through fluttering muscles to increase the pleasure to such a pitch she figured she passed out. Because when she came to earth again, Dean was laying very still above her. Sure, his heart was beating so fast she thought it might burst from his chest, his harsh breathing ruffled her hair, but he was so very still.

“Dean?” She felt him stiffen slightly and bit back a smile, knowing he was probably bracing for her questions about his past. Yes. She wanted to know, but she absolutely needed to know something else first. “How did Caleb know there weren’t any bullets in Rita’s gun?”

For a second there was only that tense silence, then Dean started chuckling. “After everything, that’s the question you ask me?” He rose up on his forearms to look at her.

Kaylie blinked up at him, loving his hair in disarray from her fingers, the affectionate warmth and amusement that made his eyes glow. She traced his lips with her fingertips. “The other questions can wait until you’re ready.”

He searched her eyes for a moment. Then he kissed her, soft and sweet. “There was no smell of gun powder. Thus, no bullets.”

“Oh. So the super sniffer comes in handy.”

Smiling, he nudged her nose with his. “Sometimes.” Then he simply looked at her, one emotion chasing another in his eyes. With his shaft still buried in her warmth, he said softly, “I’m ready to tell you.”

And for once she listened without interruption.