As soon as she caressed him, she felt him lose his measured control of the situation. He groaned and fumbled to remove her blouse, and she knew then that she had him right where she wanted him. He finally managed to pull off her blouse and toss it aside. Then he was searching blindly for the zipper on her skirt while he kept kissing her lips, maintaining the intimacy between them. She tugged to unfasten his belt, wanting to touch him skin to skin. But he clearly wanted her naked first.

  And she was still struggling with his belt when she heard her skirt zipper yield.

  He was trying to tug her skirt down her hips while she was sitting, and he finally placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to lie on her back so he could slip the silky skirt off her. Then his belt gave! And she slid his zipper down, her fingers pressing the fastener against his arousal all the way down.

  “Alicia,” he groaned, half-dying in agony, half-pleading in ecstasy.

  “Hmm?” she said, with an uplifted tilt to her voice as she wiggled to help him remove her skirt.

  She peeled his jeans down, but before she could slip her hand inside his boxers, he pulled off his jeans the rest of the way, then pressed his body against hers on the mattress, thwarting her, taking handfuls of her hair, and kissing her mouth again. She had the distinct impression he wanted to last, and if she kept touching him, he wasn’t going to.

  He rubbed his hardness against her skimpy red thong—

  the one he’d bought her at the boutique in town—and she slid her hands up his boxers and caressed his bare buttocks. She thought she heard him curse under his breath as he plunged his hand into the front of her nearly nothing panties, found her sweet spot, and began to stroke her into a world of heightened pleasure she’d only been able to feel when he was touching her.

  And now she was losing control, the tide of swelling pleasure rising up in her as he took her higher and higher, her hands stilled on his buttocks, his tongue plunging deeply, erotically into her mouth.

  He tasted of chocolate and whipped cream delight, his masculine scent and arousal arousing her, every sense heightened because of the wolf in her, every sensation more profound then she’d ever experienced. Before she could cling to the peak, the wave of ecstasy crashed over her.

  Hot, wet, sexy Alicia, Jake thought as he stroked her into climax. He swore if she had stroked him like she was about to do, he would never have lasted. She was a godsend, and he wanted to pleasure her like she should have always been loved. Like he’d always love her. With her body still shuddering with completion, he meant to strip out of his boxers, but she was already yanking them down.

  He smiled as he nuzzled her cheek, then when he was free of his boxers, he eased into her and pressed homeward. The bond between them would never be broken. Her hands roamed over his back and butt, caressing and stirring him into action, as he deepened his thrusts and claimed her again as if the ritual needed to be repeated to show her he meant to be here for her forever.

  Her eyes were filled with wonderment as he gazed into them, her lips full, wet, and well-kissed, her breath light and barely audible, and then her eyes closed as she arched her pelvis against him, matching his thrusts, her fingers clenching tighter on his buttocks. She cried out, “Jake, oh, Jake,” and moaned as she sank against the mattress, his seed filling her after that, and he collapsed on top of her in satiated bliss. He wrapped his arms around her, his whole posture stating she was his, and he blanketed her in his protective cocoon to ensure that.

  She lay very still for several minutes while their hearts beat rapidly in unison and he continued to hold her close.

  Then she whispered, “They had to have heard me.”

  He kissed her cheek, rolled off her, pulled her against his chest, and covered them with the sheet and comforter.

  “Hmm.” He couldn’t tell her no, when he knew they had to have, and she’d probably figure they had. He couldn’t tell her yes and confirm what she had to suspect. So he’d just said hmm.

  She let out her breath and toyed with his nipple. “Next time, if we have a bodyguard detail outside our windows, don’t let me make a sound. A ll right?” She looked up at him with her brows creased.

  He chuckled and ran his hand over her silky hair. “They already know what we’re doing in here.”

  “ I know that. But… at least they would have to guess when it came to the um… end.”

  He laughed and wrapped his arms around her.

  That’s when they heard the sound of pops in the woods surrounding the house. Jake was out of the bed in a flash. For a second, he wasn’t sure what to do—dress and grab his gun, or shift.

  “Jake,” Alicia said, sounding scared, her eyes huge.

  “Stay here. I’ve got to see what’s happening.” Then he shifted and bumped Alicia’s hand with his nose. After she ran her hand over his head, he turned and dashed out of the bedroom, intent on getting to his men and taking care of whomever was causing trouble.

  Nothing had been unpacked, Alicia thought as she hurried out of bed, pulled on her bra and panties, and then looked for a box that might have a pair of jeans and a sweater. Frantically digging clothes out of one, then another of the boxes, she finally found a pair of jeans.

  But before she could put them on, she heard footfalls headed in her direction down the hall at a full-out run.

  Her heart went into overdrive.

  Chapter 21

  Jake smelled the scent of the damn wolves before he could locate them in the woods. Peter and three other members of his pack were looking for the men who had been shooting at them. Sam had been hit, damn it.

  He was sitting in the grass, holding someone’s bunched-up shirt against the leg wound. “Go,” Sam said, the bearded, burly man’s expression one of barely suppressed rage. “Find them. Get rid of them.”

  Jake knew that Silver Town’s bartender, a gruff man who looked like he lived as a mountain man in the wilderness most of the time, meant for him to go after the two wolves. The others were strictly human. Probably more of Mario’s henchmen. Jake’s men would be targeting them while in their human forms. He would bet Mario was one of the wolves.

  Jake was worried about Sam’s injury, though. The bullet hadn’t been silver or he could have smelled its particular metallic scent. But even so, if the bullet hit a major artery, Sam could bleed out and die before they could get him help.

  “Darien’s sending Doc,” Sam growled. “Peter already called him.” Sam detested being injured like this while everyone else got to hunt down the bastards. “Hell, Jake, I mean it. I’m going to live. Quit giving me them puppy-

  dog eyes.”

  Jake shook his head and tore off after the scent of the two intruding wolves.

  Peter was the sheriff, and Heston was a new deputy.

  The rest of the men, even Sam, were deputized whenever they needed to go on a manhunt or wolf hunt.

  So there wasn’t any need to call in anyone else to apprehend the human bastards. And if they died in the shoot-out, they died. Simple as that. Lawmen had a right to protect themselves. In Silver Town, that’s just what they did.

  As for the wolves…

  Jake was hot on their trail. Or at least one of them.

  He finally discovered the wolf backed up against a pine tree and growling at him. Jake didn’t know if it was Mario or someone else, but he didn’t care. The wolf represented trouble for Alicia and for their kind. If he was ever arrested, and since he was either Mario or one of his men and eventually would be, he couldn’t be allowed to live. Still, Jake couldn’t, with a human conscience, just outright kill without the wolf first attacking.

  They’d figure out something else to do with him, but what, Jake wasn’t sure. It wasn’t the first time he’d been glad Darien and Lelandi were the pack leaders. Tom and Jake and others of the pack advised them, but ultimately, decisions of this nature were left up to Darien and Lelandi.

  The gray wolf continued to snarl and growl at Jake, his nose wrinkled in a hideous display of ferocity, his canines fully exposed, the fur on his back standing on end.

  Another couple of shots were fired off some distance in the woods. Jake wasn’t sure if that prompted the wolf to attack, or if Jake’s failure to look ferocious made the wolf believe Jake was not someone to fear. But the attack came and Jake tore into him, showing the wolf he wasn’t one to mess with as his teeth tore at the wolf’s neck. The villain shook him loose and skittered away with a yelp.

  Then he uttered a low growl right before he dove for Jake for a second time. He wasn’t a skilled wolf at attacking, which meant he probably hadn’t used his wolf instincts in wolf-to-wolf combat much, if ever. A lthough some instincts would come into play in a fight to the death.

  But the guy was much heavier than Jake, and the damned beast actually knocked him off his feet with the second charge. A drenaline coursing through his blood, Jake scrambled to get to his feet, knowing he could have been dead meat if the wolf had known how to attack him just right. Not wanting the wolf to learn from his mistakes or to put Jake in too vulnerable a position again, he attacked the bigger wolf this time. But it was like slamming into a damned brick wall. Jake dodged before the wolf could take a bite. The man reminded Jake of a bully with more brute strength than brains.

  The wolf looked pleased, like he was smiling at Jake, and that pissed Jake off. Sure, the guy was a bigger wolf, but he wasn’t going to win this battle. Not with Alicia’s life at stake.

  And with his attack on Jake, the deal was off. The pack leaders wouldn’t decide this guy’s fate. He was Jake’s for the taking.

  Jake lunged at the wolf, going for his throat again. The wolf’s and Jake’s teeth clashed in a wicked snapping of canines. Enamel hit enamel with resounding whacks, snarls ricocheting off the trees like a wolves’ warning to others to stay away. Then like two fighters in the ring, neither of them making any headway, they both fell away.

  Two wolves were out here, Jake reminded himself.

  Two wolves and he had to get the other also. He had to end this now. Easier said than done as he again attacked and the wolf matched Jake’s skill with more brute force.

  Jake whipped around in a circle, and before the wolf realized he was attacking again, Jake grabbed him by the throat. The wolf tried to yank away and nearly succeeded. But Jake held on, tightened his grip, and crushed him.

  He didn’t wait to see what happened next. It didn’t matter whether Mario or the other man lay dead on the ground and would return to his human form. One was still on the loose as a wolf, as far as Jake knew. And his time to locate the bastard was growing short.

  Jake tore off, trying to track the footpad scent of the other wolf who wasn’t part of their pack. That’s when he realized the wolf had gone straight to the damned front door! The shooters were the diversionary force. Damn it!

  Alicia was alone and unprotected.

  * * *

  Not having time to dress any further, except for putting on the red panties and bra, Alicia dropped her jeans and looked around the bedroom for her purse, not remembering where she’d left it while everyone was still moving furniture. Kitchen? Living room? That’s where her pepper spray and stun gun were tucked away.

  Jake’s gun! But where was it now? After he’d taken it into her apartment to use as protection, she didn’t remember him doing anything with it. Had he returned it to the glove compartment?

  With the sudden rush of footfalls toward the bedroom, it was too late to go for the gun. She raced to the window and had only managed to unlock it when someone barged into the bedroom.

  She whipped around and stared aghast at Mario Constantino. He was naked, tall, and big, but mostly naked. She was so startled at the sight of him in the raw that she didn’t react fast enough. He took two quick strides into the room and struck her in the temple with his meaty fist. Astab of pain shot through her temple before blackness cloaked her and she crumpled to the floor.

  * * *

  Jake whipped around to the back of the house and slipped through the wolf door, then raced down the hall to the bedroom where he heard someone rummaging around.

  When he peered into the room, he saw a naked-assed Mario Constantino dumping all of Alicia’s things from the boxes onto the floor. Alicia was dead to the world, lying on the bed.

  Jake growled low and threatening. Mario swung around, and Jake swore the bastard was about to have a heart attack. He quickly looked back at Alicia.

  Yeah, you’ll pay, bastard.

  Mario’s mouth dropped open as his attention returned to Jake. “Hell, you’re a wolf? The artist?”

  So Mario had thought Alicia had turned into the wolf.

  That was the reason for him looking back at her on the bed.

  Jake growled even lower, pushing Mario to shape-shift.

  But the bastard wouldn’t. Maybe he couldn’t. Damn him.

  Jake couldn’t let him live.

  Jake advanced, still growling, his hackles raised and his posture as menacing as he’d ever been. A ngry didn’t begin to describe how he felt about Alicia and the way this bastard had hurt her. Or what Mario planned to do with her in the future, if Jake let him live.

  Mario was scowling and livid, probably because he’d been caught, but he still didn’t shift.

  Jake drew closer, growling, threatening.

  Mario grabbed one of the half-empty boxes and threw it at Jake. He dodged it and turned his focus back on Mario as he shape-shifted into the wolf. Like the other wolf, he was bigger than Jake, but this time Jake wasn’t going to give him time to make the first move.

  He went for the wolf’s throat and sent him crashing into the closet door, but Mario somehow managed to scramble over one of the cardboard boxes and slip away.

  Relentlessly, Jake went after him again. Jake bit at him, got a mouthful of fur, and broke the skin on Mario’s shoulder. Mario yelped and skittered away. For being a tough bastard as a Mob leader, he was a cowardly wolf.

  He probably felt much more capable with a gun in his hand. Or having others doing his dirty work for him.

  Jake leaped over the cardboard box in his way, and Mario tried to reach the door.

  But there stood Alicia in her red push-up bra and silky red thong, her hand against her temple, unsteady on her feet, her face pale, her expression pained. Mario stopped for an instant. With her free hand, she shut the door, sealing his fate.

  Worried Mario would hurt Alicia, Jake tackled him from behind. Mario whipped around with Jake clinging to his back, holding on with both paws, trying to get a better grip on his neck.

  The voices of men hollering outside caught Jake’s attention, but he remained focused on Mario and bringing him down. He heard the box springs squeak and figured Alicia had collapsed on the bed before she passed out again.

  Mario was still trying to wriggle free, and Jake kept losing his grip on the massive wolf’s neck.

  “Where’s Jake?” Darien hollered outside the back of the house.

  “In the house,” Sam shouted back. “He’s fighting someone as a wolf.”

  Not for long.

  Mario stumbled over a box and got his feet tangled in Alicia’s jeans, and Jake bit him hard in the throat. Killing him. For Alicia. For her mother. For her father.

  * * *

  The next day, Alicia’s temple was black and blue from where Mario had struck her. She was seated on the couch in Darien’s home with Jake’s arm around her. Darien, Tom, Lelandi, and Peter offered her moral support as two federal agents sat down to talk with her.

  One was a pretty blond with a short bobbed haircut and a smart black suit-skirt and pretty hazel eyes. The man was dark haired and dark eyed, also wearing a black suit.

  Both were probably in their early thirties and both professional, yet instead of appearing as though they wanted to grill Alicia, they seemed…

  She wasn’t sure. Sympathetic, maybe?

  That didn’t make any sense to her because she figured they would tie her into Mario’s death and his henchman’s, too. Peter had rounded up the men who had been the diversionary force for Mario at Jake’s home and turned them over to the federal authorities because they’d been involved in killings across state lines, racketeering, money laundering, and even lucrative Medicare scams.

  But a couple of the men had to heal from their bullet wounds before they appeared in court, Danny being one of them.

  “Miss Greiston,” the woman said, identifying herself as A gent White and the man as A gent Stone, “we want to commend you for bringing Constantino and his men down.”

  Alicia looked at Jake. He smiled at her and tightened his arm around her shoulder in a warm embrace.

  “Your father, Antonio Frasero, started the work.”

  “He… was working for you?”

  “Yes, as an informant. He was working for Constantino, but only to get the goods on him. That little black book you found in your mother’s safe-deposit box? It had all the records we needed to put the whole lot away for life.”

  A gain she looked at Jake.

  “I gave it to Peter to give to the authorities,” Jake said.

  “The sheriff must have turned it over to the Feds.”

  “But helping you got my father killed,” Alicia said to the woman agent.

  “We gave him a deal. He was working for another crime boss when we caught up with him. We had enough on your father to give him a life sentence for his own crimes. He’d only been married to your mother for a couple of years, and you were not even two years old.

  They agreed he’d work for us so he’d stay out of prison.”

  “But my mother was dating other men.”

  “Only undercover. They were Feds whose job was to make it appear Antonio wasn’t her husband or too close to her while watching out for her. We knew Mario would go after her if he thought Antonio was selling him out.”

  “Which Mario did.”

  The woman took a deep breath and exhaled. “She loved your father and didn’t want to see anybody else any longer. She wanted to pretend she was Antonio’s lover when she was really his wife. We couldn’t convince them how dangerous it was. Mario must have thought she knew about Antonio’s working with us and had them both murdered. Then you came along. You wouldn’t have anything to do with Antonio, so we figured you were safe. But then when your mother was murdered, you tried to arrest Mario and…” A gent White shook her head.