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  A low growl fills the room, and I realize it's coming from me. I quickly close the distance between us and catch her around the waist, using my shifter strength to toss her easily on the bed.

  She unbuttons her pants, and I help her out of them, throwing them over my shoulder before ripping off her panties.

  I dive between her legs and feast on her juicy pussy. I'm on full throttle. This isn't foreplay, it's a full press home, and I have her first orgasm within sixty seconds. I don't stop.

  I flip her over and pull her up to hands and knees, and then I spank her—probably too hard. I slap right cheek then left while she gasps and squirms. I keep it up until her my handprints turn her ass a pretty pink, then I spread her cheeks and lick a long line from her slit to her anus and back. I slap her ass a few more times.

  "Ouch, Bo. What is that for?" She's breathless, her voice slightly strangled.

  "That's your punishment, sugar."

  "For what?"

  "For making me fall for you." I slap her ass again even though I know she's had enough. "For being so fucking gorgeous." Another slap. "And smart. And fascinating." I rub her blushing cheeks. "For captivating me."

  And making me want to mark you, when you’re human.

  "I didn't want to fall for you, either."

  Shit. Is she choking up?

  My wolf stills, aggression immediately tamped down. I tackle her down to the bed, turning her over to kiss the hell out of her. Her soft body writhes beneath mine. Our lips twist, tongues lash. When I come up for air, her lips are swollen, eyes glassy.

  I cage her throat loosely. "I'm gonna fuck the hell out of you, and then you're gonna tell me everything."

  She stops breathing, some of the focus coming back to her eyes. The knot of worry between her brows appearing.

  "You have my secrets,” I remind her. “You fucking owe me yours."

  I don't wait for her agreement. I pull out a condom and roll it on. Then I hesitate, my brain trying to rein in the wolf aggression. Trying to make sure I haven’t misread cues.

  “Clothes off,” she says, mimicking my earlier order.

  Yes. Satisfaction punches through me. She does want this.

  I grin, yanking off my shirt and shucking the jeans, torn boxer briefs and socks. "Now you're really in trouble." I crawl back over her.

  "Bring it, wolf boy."

  I rub the head of my cock over her wet slit and push a little. She's still tight as hell. Knowing I'm the only guy she's allowed between her legs does something to me.

  I lose my senses again and thrust hard, filling her completely. She gasps and grasps my arms.

  Giving my head a shake, I force myself to hold still. "You okay? "

  She arches beneath me. "I said bring it."

  With a growl, I surge inside her, rocking in and out, losing my mind even more with each thrust.

  She receives me, watching with a lidded gaze, her body rocking to meet mine. When she hooks her ankles around my back, I nearly come, but I roar instead and slam harder.

  And then I'm lost. I want it to go on forever, but it's too late. Lightning strikes at the base of my spine and my balls draw up tight.

  I come. Hard. So hard my vision turns black and spotty and my canines lengthen like my wolf wants to mark her. Which is just nuts because she’s a human.

  I turn my face away and keep my upper body lifted and fuck her with short deep thrusts until I finish.

  Shit—I've forgotten her pleasure. I bring my thumb to her clit and rub and—thank fuck—she goes off immediately, her pussy clenching around my cock, drawing another release from me.

  I wait until my vision clears to drop down and kiss her and come a little more.

  "Sloane,” I rasp. I don’t have anything to say. I’m just uttering her name like an invocation. A celebration.

  I kiss her some more, moving slowly inside her, rocking out the last of my climax as she shudders, goes limp beneath me.

  I don’t ever want to stop kissing and fucking her. I could keep this up all night, but we have shit to discuss.

  Huge fucking problems.

  So I force myself back and ease out, getting up to dispose of the condom in the bathroom.

  There’s one thing I will say about all this trouble—it’s pretty fucking awesome to have our own private place to stay for the night.

  Of course, my mom and her aunt might have a lot to say about it, if they knew.

  When I walk back in the bedroom, I pull my phone out of my jeans and text my mom: I’m in Tucson with Garrett’s pack for the night. Still working on finding Winslow. Love you.

  She texts back: Stop looking for him. I need you at home.

  I groan and stab my fingers through my hair. Be home tomorrow. Sorry, Mom.

  Mom: I love you, Bo. Be safe. Text me when you leave Tucson.

  I give her the thumbs up and climb onto the bed where Sloane is still sprawled like a limp doll.

  I crawl over her and weave my fingers into her hair. “Was I too rough?”

  She blinks at me. “You’re always too rough, but now I know why. And I think it’s pretty hot.”

  I’m not prepared for the sensations her words produce. First of all, I’m not used to that soft, intimate voice she’s using with me. Nor am I used to the way she watches me, her face open and trusting. But hearing the lust in her voice, her approval of my wolf makes him stand up and preen.

  But she’s not supposed to know about me. It’s pack law. Violations require remedies like having her mind wiped by a leech. Which I know they have plenty of in Tucson. Garrett, the Tucson pack leader and our alpha’s son has a tenuous alliance with them, but I know the wolves don’t like how many vampires have moved in.

  I sit back on my haunches and scrub my hand over my five o’clock shadow. Or in this case, I guess it’s a midnight shadow.

  “I have your word about the wolf thing,” I remind her.

  “To the grave,” she answers.

  “I’m not going to answer questions about it. The less you know, the better. Understand?”

  She doesn’t like that, I can tell from the little puff of disappointment that comes from her, but she nods.

  “Now you spill.”

  She rolls away from me and sits up, sliding off the bed.

  Stalling.

  She picks up her panties from the floor and slips them on. Armoring up with clothing for her talk with me.

  “Sloane.”

  She turns and looks at me with those stunning copper-brown eyes.

  “Leave your clothes off. Come here.” I pull the bedcovers back to offer her their shelter if she’s cold.

  But the moment of openness and trust is gone. She ignores my demand and walks back to the kitchen to get her t-shirt. She comes back with it on, although she left the bra off.

  “What’s the money for?”

  She sighs and walks back to the bed, climbing under the covers, but never meeting my gaze.

  I’ve been thinking about it a lot since she told me about her dad and how she ended up in Arizona. I even Googled to read a couple news stories about his arrest and death.

  “One of his associates… “

  My attention sharpens to a point. Somehow I know whatever she’s about to tell me is bad.

  She swallows. “I think he’s mafia. My dad was mixed up with him somehow. I don’t know—it never came out in the court case against him.

  “He showed up right after my dad died in jail, demanding his cut. He seems to think my dad had some assets that weren’t seized by the FBI and that I would know where they are. They were going to kill me, or sell me, so I lied. I told him I still had boxes of his stuff and would find it all, but I seriously don’t have a clue. The boxes were just clothes. I donated all of them and threw away any letters my dad sent from jail without opening them.

  This guy told me he’d be gone to Sicily for a few months and said I needed to have it figured it out by the time he got back. I have no idea how much time I have left. In the mean
time, his goons show up every week or so to lean on me.

  “So I’ve been stealing cars and saving up. Hoping I can produce enough to mollify him when he comes back. Or make a run for it.” Her voice chokes, and I reach for her, half certain she’ll fight me off.

  She lets me hold her, though. I lie down beside her and wrap her in my arms. She tucks her face against my chest. The scent of her tears does something crazy to me. Shreds my chest open. Makes my wolf want to howl.

  “That’s bullshit, Sloane. If you don’t have the assets, you don’t have them.”

  “I know, but I guess they think if they squeeze me hard enough I’ll magically produce them. Last time they stopped by, they threatened to sell my cousin Rikki, too.”

  White hot rage mingles with icy dread flush my system at the same time, making my skin prickle and electricity crackle in my joints. “I’ll fucking kill them,” I growl, and I mean it.

  I may have been horrified at what I did to the car jacker a few hours ago, but right now I’d be happy to murder for Sloane again. Over and over again until every threat against her is gone.

  She tries to push away from me. “No. These guys are really dangerous. And it’s probably a big network. I mean, the boss would just send someone else.”

  I go silent, my mind whipping around the problem. “How much do they say you owe them?”

  “He says my dad had six gold bars the size of an iPhone and some little painting of a bird. I don’t know what my dad was into with these guys or why they think I have this stuff. It’s all just fuck-nuts crazy.”

  I hold her tighter. I can’t believe she’s been going through this shit alone.

  “So I’m just trying to come up with anything I can give him. At first I sold off the few possessions I had that were worth anything—diamond earrings my dad gave me for my sixteenth. My mom’s wedding ring. And then I decided stealing cars would be the easiest way to get money fast. But time’s running out, and I’ve lost the last two cars.” She chokes up again.

  I curse because I don’t know how we can come up with that kind of cash so fast.

  “What happens if you go to the cops?”

  “They’ll kill my aunt and cousin. Or sell them to sick assholes to use as fuck dolls.”

  These fucking bastards. “Well... we’ll figure it out.”

  “We? No, there’s no we. Bo, I didn’t tell you about this for a reason. I don’t want you involved. They threaten anyone I’m close to. It’s why I can’t date. It’s not safe.”

  I take her hand and push it down from my chest to the place the bullet went into me a few hours ago. “Feel that, Legs? That’s what bullets do to me. Not much. I’m not afraid of them. I’m not going to let them push you around like this.”

  Despite my reassurances, Sloane’s body has grown more and more tense, and now I detect a slight tremble in her limbs.

  Fuck this. My wolf snarls inside, furious that anything would make Sloane shake with fear.

  I squeeze her tight. “It’s okay. We’ll figure something out. I promise.”

  “I don’t want your promise, Bo. This isn’t your fight.”

  “It’s not yours, either! That’s the part that doesn’t make sense. I really don’t get why they’re leaning on you. Do they really think a high school kid can generate that much cash? I mean, if the sex slave thing is real, why wouldn’t they just do that from the start?”

  “It’s because they seem to think I have the money stashed somewhere. Which, of course, I don’t. The FBI seized everything when they raided the house. All I took to Arizona was the stuff in my room—my clothes and personal effects. They took my car, my dad’s car, the house, all his bank accounts—everything.”

  “When does your time run out?”

  “I don’t know. Soon—any day now.”

  “All right. We’ll figure something out.”

  Sloane blinks back tears as she wraps her arms around my neck and squeezes too hard. Her breath makes her belly shudder against me. “Thanks,” is all she manages to say.

  “It’s okay, beautiful. I promise. It’s going to be okay,” I say, even though I don’t know how to make my words true. I hold her back tight and gently rock her until eventually she gets tired and lies down.

  I turn out the light and listen to the sound of her breath as she falls into a fitful sleep.

  Think, Bo, think. There has to be a way out of this for Sloane.

  I gave her my word we’ll figure it out, and that’s what I’m going to do.

  Chapter 12

  Sloane

  I wake up sore and scared and really fucking grateful for the guy beside me.

  He wants to be my knight.

  I want to let him.

  I really want to let him.

  But I just can’t.

  There’s no way I’m going to allow him to put his life at risk for me.

  I care about him too much.

  My mom might lose both her sons. Over me. I can’t have that.

  The sooner I can get Bo to bring me back to Cave Hills and we go our separate ways, the better.

  Or… maybe I should go jack another car right now. At least I wouldn’t show up to the meet empty-handed. They said they wouldn’t accept a stolen car, but you never know. They have to have their own contacts for fencing that kind of thing. At least they’d know I was putting in my good faith effort.

  I slip out of bed.

  And am immediately greeted by the low rumble of Bo’s voice. “You hungry?”

  Dammit. He probably has super sensitive hearing or requires zero sleep. I wish I could grill him about the wolf thing, but he made it off-limits.

  My stomach rumbles in answer to his question. “Yeah.”

  “I’m starving. Let’s go find some breakfast.” He gets up and pulls on jeans, foregoing the ripped boxer briefs.

  “What are you going to do for a shirt?” I ask, pulling on my own jeans.

  “Fuck. I don’t know. Maybe there’s something here.” He opens the closet doors, but other than extra pillows and blankets, they’re bare.

  A knock sounds at the door, and it opens before Bo gets there. Jared and two other big guys come through the door. All three are covered in tattoos and leather, looking like a badass biker gang.

  I wonder if all biker gangs are actually comprised of werewolves?

  The smaller of the three—although small probably isn’t a word anyone ever uses to describe him—carries a box of Krispy Kreme donuts and a gallon of milk. “You kids hungry?”

  “Yeah, we were just going for food. Thanks,” Bo says.

  Jared tosses him a t-shirt. “We were afraid you were thinking about squirrelling out of here without saying goodbye, so we thought we’d head you off.”

  “No, sir,” Bo says, addressing the biggest guy, rather than Jared. “This is my girlfriend, Sloane. Sloane, this is Garrett and Trey. They’re all from my hometown.”

  I assume that’s code for—they’re all wolves, or they’re all from my pack, but they don’t know that I know, so I shake hands politely. “Nice to meet you.”

  Trey sets the box of donuts on the kitchen table, and Bo and I dive into them.

  “So what happened last night?” Garrett pulls a chair back and sits in it. The other two also sit, and since there’s only three chairs, Bo and I remain standing.

  Like we’re on trial.

  Which we maybe are.

  Bo gets out five glasses and pours the milk. “Sloane’s in some trouble. It’s personal to her, and I don’t think you necessarily need to know what it is,” he explains, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

  “Does it involve the same trouble Winslow’s in?” Garrett asks.

  I stiffen.

  Bo picks up his third donut. “Yeah, it’s related. You guys heard about that, huh?”

  “Member of the former pa—uh, community—gets shot by cops, yeah, we’re gonna hear about it,” Trey says.

  Garrett narrows his eyes at Bo. “Were you involved in the car thefts?”r />
  Bo squares his shoulders. “No, sir. Well, not until last night.”

  Garrett relaxes back in his chair and crosses one ankle over a massive knee. “Okay.”

  “Like I said, Sloane’s in some personal trouble that isn’t her fault. She needs a lot of money fast. That’s how she got mixed up in stealing cars. Last night she tried to sell one to these assholes on the border, and they jacked the car instead. They tried to kill us, but, ah, we got away.”

  Garrett looks at Bo for a long time, then his glance darts at me.

  I’m pretty sure he’s trying to figure out if I know they’re wolves or not.

  “How did you get away?”

  Bo shifts on his feet.

  “You lie to me, I will beat your ass,” Garrett warns.

  Bo rubs his nose. The other men’s gazes shift to me and back.

  “Come on. You’re better off telling me than you are my dad, so spill it.”

  “I shifted when they shot me.”

  Shifted. That’s what they call it.

  Bo’s voice is quiet like he’s admitting something bad. I know he said he violated two pack rules. I’m guessing revealing himself to non-werewolves was one of them. “There were three of them. I did some damage to one guy, but I don’t think it was fatal. At least, he was alive when they left.”

  “Fuck,” Garrett says.

  Bo runs his hand through his hair. “Well, what the fuck was I supposed to do?” He drops his gaze again. “—sir.”

  “No, you did what any of us would do. You just shouldn’t have been in that situation to begin with, but I’m guessing you already know that.” Garrett takes one of the last donuts and puts half of it in his mouth.

  “And the money?” Trey asks.

  Bo shakes his head. “They took the car and the money—if they ever had any.”

  “So you’re still in trouble, then.” He directs this at me, and I straighten and nod. I’m not often out of my element, and when I am, I’m damn good at bluffing, but these guys intimidate me. I think it’s knowing they aren’t human. Not being clear on the code they live by.

  Trey toys with the piercing in his lip. “There’s a fight at two,” he muses.

  I have no idea what that means, but the rest of the guys in the room whip their heads around to stare at him.