Wolf Fever

Chapter 21

HELL, EVERYTHING IS GOING FURTHER DOWNHILL, Ryan thought when Darien called an hour after dinner with news from the vet clinic. Doc Mitchell was missing.

“I have to return to the hospital and take blood samples from Doc Weber,” Carol said, sitting at the dining table and looking ready to leap from her seat and do something, anything.

“Not without Darien’s approval.” Jake stared out the window. “And besides, Matthew said he’d do it. We’ve got men looking for the vet. Some others are watching Doc Weber in case anyone tries to take him, and some who are watching Nurse Matthew and Nurse Charlotte. Seven men are here guarding the house from the outside, and others searching for North and his men. For now, Darien doesn’t want anyone to move from his assigned job. Not until he knows what we’re up against.”

Lelandi, who had been on the go every minute the last time Ryan was here, looked tired again, slumped in her chair and quiet, with her eyes half closed. And as restless as Carol had been throughout the night, she looked exhausted. If she had to go back to the hospital in an hour or so, she needed some rest.

“The ladies look like they need to lie down for a while,” Ryan said to Jake.

He frowned at Ryan, looked at Lelandi, and then switched his attention to Carol. “All right. Come on. I’ll watch Lelandi and you guard Carol while they get some sleep.”

Ryan and Carol walked up the stairs, following Jake and Lelandi. This time, Ryan intended to sit in the recliner and watch over Carol like a dutiful bodyguard.

Both women were moving so slowly that he wanted to carry Carol and tell Jake to do the same with Lelandi. But he assumed Jake didn’t want to push his luck by overstepping his boundaries with Darien’s mate unless it was absolutely necessary.

Ryan wrapped his arm around Carol’s waist and helped her up the stairs. She slumped against him, cuddling with him. Instantly the notion of sitting in the recliner seemed not as likely.

As Jake passed Carol’s bedroom door, he gave Ryan a stern look that warned him to behave himself with Carol. Ryan told himself that he would behave himself as long as that’s what Carol wanted. He wasn’t so sure she wanted him to control his sexual urges with regard to her, not after the way she’d kissed him back at the clinic. Maybe it was damned wishful thinking on his part.

He followed her into the bedroom and closed the door as she sat on the bed and then pulled off her tennis shoes. He walked over to the recliner and sat, hoping for an invitation to lie down with her. Dog tired, he hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night, either. But she needed to sleep more than he did if her medical services might be required later that night. Unless she needed his comfort if she experienced any more night terrors, she was probably just as well off sleeping alone. Maybe even better off. Although he hated to admit it.

For a moment, Carol sat on the bed, staring at the floor and not saying a word.

“What is it? Another vision?” Ryan was ready to leave the chair and sit next to her, to coax the truth from her, if need be.

She shook her head and took a deep breath. “It’s like when you deal with one of your cases, I’m sure. Just trying to sort out what’s going on.” She pulled her scrub’s shirt over her head, exposing a silky sheer bra. Her darkened dusty-pink nipples pressed against the fabric like two perfect jewels. Did she even realize how sexy she looked?

“Your sister said you talked about me to her.” Carol stood, grabbed her waistband, and pulled her scrub pants down her hips. She let the pants slide to her feet and then stepped out of them.

His gaze latched onto the thatch of golden curls showing through the silk bikini panties.

“Ryan?”

His gaze lifted to see her brows raised. She pulled the eyelet cover aside, climbed under it, and then situated the top of it under her chin.

“What did you say to your sister about me?”

“What did I say to her?” His mind was in a fog. His thoughts were still centered on the way Carol looked in her sheer underwear—sexy, tantalizing, and inviting more than just his gaze.

“Yes. She said you kept talking about me.”

He frowned. “She called you?” The notion finally sank into his lust-filled brain. He didn’t recall the conversations he’d had with Rosalind about Carol during the investigation. He supposed he’d said he thought Carol’s psychic abilities weren’t for real.

“Not sure. Most likely about what you’d envisioned.”

“That I’d lied then?” She didn’t sound angry, just sleepy and inquisitive.

“Not lied. Just overheard conversations and incorporated them into dreams and thought you’d had a vision.”

“That’s all?”

He couldn’t believe Rosalind would bring it up. If she wanted Carol to like him, why cause a rift between them? “I honestly don’t recall anything else I discussed with her. Except maybe about another case.”

“I’ll have to ask her then.”

He ground his teeth, not liking that Rosalind intended to stir things up. Even though he’d planned on remaining on the chair and only joining Carol if night terrors revisited her, he changed his mind and began unbuttoning his shirt.

“Whatever was said before was the past. It’s not important. The future is what concerns me.”

She watched him unbutton his shirt, and he swore she was undressing him with her eyes before he could even get to his pants. Which made him work faster on his belt. He divested himself of the rest of his clothes, except for his boxers, and climbed into the canopy bed. He motioned to the eyelet canopy overhead. “I feel I’ve entered the bedchambers of a cloistered princess.”

“Hmm, as a Highland warrior of an opposing clan? This is not exactly a Highland bed or setting.” She moved closer to him and snuggled against his body, the warmth of her silky soft curves heating his blood.

He kissed the top of her head, wanting from the bottom of his heart to make her fantasies come to life. He told himself that was because of all the years of wanting and never fulfilling his own destiny. Carol, Little Miss Nightingale, and one sexy witch rolled up in one was the only woman who’d ever be right for him. Not that they didn’t have a lot of things to work out—shape-shifting and coming to grips with her werewolf half were at the top of the list.

“Do you want me to get my plaid out of the truck and toss it over us?”

“You mean you’d run outside like you’re dressed now? Wearing only your boxers? What would the men guarding the house think?”

“If this were my castle, they’d cheer me on. At Darien’s, they wouldn’t like it much.”

She chuckled, the sensuous sound teasing his senses. “It doesn’t matter as long as the Highlander is part of the setting.” She smiled up at him, and for a moment, he thought she didn’t look all that sleepy—instead, sultry and decadently wicked in her seductive lingerie.

But being honorable—or as honorable as he could be when he wanted something less than honorable—he said, “Get some sleep in case Darien calls and wants you to return to the hospital.”

With her gaze focused on Ryan’s chest, she stroked his belly with the tips of her fingers, softly tantalizing and as erotically as anything he’d ever experienced. Already his blood was running south, preparing him for a much more vigorous workout. He wanted to move her onto her back, take her as her mate would, and claim her for his own, but he assumed she wasn’t ready for that.

He cleared his throat and ran his hand through her hair, luxuriating in the silky golden strands. He hated to ask, hated to ruin the moment, but he had to know how far she was willing to take this before he did something she wasn’t prepared for.

Before he could question how far she wanted to go, she murmured, “Hmm,” and slid her fingers lower, past his navel, lower still until she slipped them underneath his waistband and gingerly caressed the skin beneath the elastic.

He sucked in a breath, waiting for her to move her fingers even lower, where his erection had curled upward begging for her touch.

Then a horrible thought occurred to him. They didn’t have much time. What if Darien called and wanted Carol to go to the hospital pronto? Yet Ryan couldn’t move, the anticipation of her touch suspending him in time.

Her fingers surged deeper into his briefs, sweeping across the tip of his penis, which jumped at her touch.

He still wanted to know how far she was willing to go. Oh, hell. Forget words. He couldn’t come up with the right ones. And he assumed she wanted what he did at this point anyway. He rolled her over on her back and straddled her leg so he could slide his fingers under her waistband. He didn’t take as long to find her sweets, slipping his fingers through her curly hairs and then lower until he found her warm wetness and began to stroke the jewel that made her arch slightly against his fingers.

He knew then that she had to be his. Or he would never have taken it this far with one of his own kind. But he also knew he had to take this slowly until she was ready to accept him all the way. After all, she was newly turned and probably still didn’t completely understand what taking a mate meant.

She barely breathed, her fingers touching his chest but not moving, just frozen in place as she concentrated on how he stroked her hard little nub, her body undulating with fever. He leaned down to kiss her gently, to savor the wine on her lips. To his surprise and delight, she devoured him as if she’d been starved for affection forever, her lips caressing his, her tongue darting around his mouth, tasting, memorizing, and tangling with his.

She drugged him with her sensuous urgency. She might not have been born a lupus garou, but she knew how to stir up the wolf in him. He plunged his tongue into her open mouth, and she sucked on it, her fingers groping for his erection. He almost forgot what he was doing, considering the way she fueled a fire deep inside him, until she gave a soft moan and writhed under his fingertips. He stroked her willing, hot little nub, as her fingers dug into his arms, her eyes closed, her lips parted. A soft moan escaped, and her body trembled with orgasm. He smiled, loving how willingly she’d responded to his touch.

But no sooner had he had those thoughts than she worked his erection, coaxing and stroking up and down with the right firmness. He couldn’t last. Before he could begin to draw the sensation out, he felt as though he were freefalling from an airplane without a parachute— free, on top of the world. Her hand on him kept up the pressure until he came. He groaned her name, wishing that he could have been inside of her as she milked him, with her eyes half lidded and her tongue sweeping over her well-kissed lips.

He pressed his mouth against hers again, savoring the softness, the sweetness, moving down to her throat and then to her silky sheer bra. Pushing her bra down with frantic urgency until he exposed a breast, he sucked on one of her firm, eager nipples that was greedy for his touch.

“Did you envision this?” he asked, his voice still husky with need, his hands cupping her other breast, fondling, and drawing his thumb over the nipple still confined in silk and loving the different textures.

She gave him a tender smile and swept her hands over his bare shoulders. “Envision, yes, when I saw you shift and standing as such a healthy specimen of a man in the woods nearby. And again, when I imagined you wearing your plaid. But a premonition of the actual act? No. If I had, Ryan McKinley, I probably wouldn’t have told you. Some things are just not meant to be said.”

“Yet we agreed you would tell me everything you perceived. Everything.” He smiled at her, and removed her bra and panties and his boxers. Then he drew her out of the bed, swept her up in his arms, and carried her to the bathroom.

“Lelandi will hear the shower running and suspect something isn’t quite right,” she whispered.

“She already knows I’ve claimed you for my mate.”

She raised a brow as Ryan set her on the bathroom floor. “I didn’t think werewolves were considered mated unless they truly consummated the relationship.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re not mine,” he said, not caring how possessive he sounded as he turned on the shower. “It just means we only have one more hurdle to cross.”

“Hurdle.”

He lifted her and set her in the tub under the pulsating showerhead. “Yeah, hurdle. You’re no longer available, even if we haven’t consummated the relationship. Once that’s done, we’ve overcome the last barrier.” He smiled down at her as she rolled her eyes.

“Darien or the others won’t go along with that.”

“He and the others will know better than to challenge me in this. I know this isn’t the time, but on a lighter subject, we have another difficulty.”

“And that is?”

“Jake’s ready to have a showdown with me.”

She frowned. “What are the two of you in disagreement over now?”

“You.”

“You guys are funny… you know that? He’s never shown any real interest in me. You’re the one who came sneaking around Darien’s house in the middle of the night, hoping to catch a glimpse of me. Only my hair wasn’t long enough to let down out of the window to give you a way up to rescue me.”

“Rescue you?”

“From Darien’s ruling that I have to have a mate—soon.”

“If I’d known how you felt, I would have brought a ladder.”

“Hmm…” she said, reaching out to grab his hand and pulling him into the shower with her, her heated gaze raking over him in a seductive pass, “… you would have been naked.”

His hands molded to her shoulders, and he caressed them with his thumb, remembering how she’d taunted him with her scandalous nightgown. He reached down and softly pulled on one of her erect nipples. “Why did you go to the window in such a see-through gown? Hell, what if I’d been bad news?”

“Ryan McKinley, you are bad news.”

He slyly smiled, and she slid her arms around his neck and leaned into his body, rubbing a little to stir him up. And hell, it did. She was arousing him with the way she touched him, pressing, demanding more.

The hot water ran over her shoulders in a silky stream and slipped down between their chests. She raised her chin and offered her tantalizing mouth. Despite not wanting to appear overzealous, he couldn’t help the way he wanted her. Again.

Quickly succumbing to her seduction, he realized he hadn’t the strength to show restraint and kissed her hard with uncontrolled yearning, his tongue deeply penetrating her mouth, tasting her, wanting her. As if of their own volition, his hands slid down her back, with the water sluicing over her skin, and firmly cupped her buttocks.

She moaned and tightened her hold around his neck, leaning against him further. Then she sighed and released him. He thought she meant to stop him in his quest for fulfillment, dashing his hopes, and for a second, he was annoyed with himself for pushing her so fast. But she separated from him only enough to squeeze some soap out of her lavender body-wash container. Then her fingers were all over him again as she ran the pearly substance over his chest, the sensuous touch making him groan with want.

Making a special stop, first on one nipple and then the other, she teased just around the edges and then rubbed the tip with a soft thumb. She was killing him softly, came to mind as his hands returned to her tantalizing behind.

He desired her more than he’d ever wanted anyone in his life. And he was so close to having her for good. But patience, he reminded himself. For her sake, he had to let her get used to the idea.

Shifting his hands to her wet hair, he gently combed his fingers through the silky strands, mesmerized with the feel of her slippery body pressed against his, and the way she licked her lips and watched him with eyes filled with desire.

She broke the spell by running soap down his penis, which reacted instantly and eagerly to her touch. He captured her mouth in a hungry kiss with no holds barred, urgent, passionate, needy. God, he was needy. Forget having the strength to let her get used to the notion of being his mate. He wanted her now, fully and forever.

He slid his fingers between her legs and began stroking where he found her wet from her own needs and from the shower. She moaned with pleasure and clenched her hands around his waist, demanding that he finish what he’d started. But he wanted to finish so much more than what he’d begun.

He stroked her sex, and his touch took her by a storm, judging from the way her knees weakened and how tightly she clutched at him.

He wanted to trap her against the tile shower wall and claim her, but he continued to stroke her, watching her eyes close as she clung fiercely to him, her breath shallow, her heart beating fast and furious. Arching against his questing fingers, she let out a little cry, right before he captured her mouth to silence her sounds of exultation. She trembled and sagged against him as the orgasm rippled through her, looking as though she wasn’t up for much more.

But her lips curved up in a wicked little grin as her eyes opened, her gaze capturing his. She huskily whispered, “Your turn.”

Only this time, he wanted her snug little feminine chamber holding him tight. Then again, her hand on his erection—sliding, touching, and tightening—held him hostage, a very willing hostage, and he was grateful to have this intimacy between them any way he could. His hands were on her hips now, his cheek against hers, his body soaring with her strokes.

Carol felt drained and, at the same time, as if she’d soared on an eagle’s wings across the world and back. She wanted to collapse in bed with Ryan and sleep the rest of the day, tight in his embrace. She loved to see his reaction when she stroked his needs, just as she could see how much pleasure he got from seeing how much she loved his touch. She knew he wanted to be inside her. She wasn’t ready. Or at least she wouldn’t admit to herself that she was. Not yet.

This touching—the sexual play between them, intimate and satisfying—was enough for her now. She hoped he would understand. Although from the way his heart was pounding and his hands were gripping her hips harder, he was having a difficult time holding on. He seemed all right about wanting just this for now.

She had claimed him, held power over him, and seen his eyes swimming with lust. He was beautiful and sexy. Hard all over, but tender of heart. She loved that he was a wolf and a man, all wrapped up in one.

Her hand squeezed his arousal just a little more as she stroked him, and he groaned and even appeared a bit weak-kneed. Then he came with a more soulful groan, which she hurriedly tried to silence with a deep kiss. He responded desperately to her kiss with the same passionate tongue strokes.

“You’re killing me, Carol,” he whispered against her ear as he hugged her tight against his chest.

If the water hadn’t begun to cool and she hadn’t shivered, she was sure he would have held her there longer in his hard embrace.

“I’m the one for you. All your patients say so. The bachelor males in the pack already know so. Tom’s out of the picture since he’s looking for a dream mate. And Jake’s too late. Even my sister informed me you would be perfect for me, nice and pliable,” Ryan said in a hushed voice, as if making a last-ditch effort to ensure she knew he wasn’t giving her up to anyone.

Carol’s brows arched at the reference to her being pliable.

“I told Rosalind you weren’t the least bit biddable.”

“What do I have to say about this? Anything?” Carol pinched his nipples lightly.

“Just agree.” He quickly rinsed them both off before the water could turn from cool to cold. “You need to learn our ways,” he added, whispering against her ear.

She backed away, but he stopped her with his hand on her wrist before she could leave the tub.

“Absolutely no way am I shifting. Not in light of what’s going on. And besides, I won’t take a mate just because…” Her eyes narrowed, and she stiffened. “Don’t tell me that it’s okay to mate with me now that you believe I’m psychic.”

“That’s not the reason at all. But you’re going to be my mate.”

She laughed, which made him frown.

“I’m serious,” he said, feigning bruised pride.

“Well, of course you are. I’ve told you all along that you want me. But more is at stake here than your needs.” She left the tub and grabbed a towel.

By the time he’d finished rinsing off and towel dried, she had dressed and left the bedroom. Hell, he knew that this business of shifting would be a sticking point with her, but he hadn’t thought he’d muddle it up so quickly.

When Carol reached the bar in the den in search of a good stiff drink, she found Jake drinking hot cocoa as he leaned back on a recliner and watched her. She frowned at him, whipped around, and headed for the kitchen, the cocoa sounding a lot better on this chilly night. Besides, chocolate always did her a world of good.

“Problems?” Jake asked, following her into the kitchen.

She really didn’t need Jake pestering her right now.

Jake took a sip of his cocoa and then set the mug down and pulled one out of the cupboard for her. “What did he say or do to upset you?”

“Nothing, Jake.”

“Your face is flushed. You’re breathing hard. If you were a wolf…”

“I’m not, damn it.” She stared at the counter, her eyes blurring with tears. She brushed away a couple that dared to slide down her cheeks.

Looking uncomfortable, Jake didn’t say anything further. He just poured her a mug of hot chocolate. She heard Ryan coming before he entered the kitchen and wished they’d both leave her alone.

When Ryan walked inside, he didn’t speak to either of them, but she knew they were exchanging knowing looks. Two men, both born lupus garous, both on the same side of the issue. She wouldn’t gain anyone’s sympathy here. She muttered a thank-you to Jake for the hot chocolate and then escaped to the solitude of the sunroom, hoping that neither of them would follow her.

The room was cold: the fire was untended, and the massive windows let in the chilly air now that the sun had disappeared for the night.

She sat on one of the sofas and threw a wool afghan over her lap and took a long sip of the hot chocolate, wishing she and Ryan were just two ordinary people who had found each other and fallen in love. Everything was so complicated with them being werewolves. Did Ryan think he could order her around because he had been born a werewolf? Because he would be her mate? She was not shape-shifting!

She gazed out the window at the darkness and saw Mervin staring off into the woods. Serving as one of their guards, no doubt. She sighed. No matter how much she wanted to avoid her wolf side, she also wanted Ryan. Unfortunately, having one meant having the other.

The room was so cold that she slipped off her shoes and tucked her feet underneath her on the velour sofa. But she still shivered as she looked out the window where she observed the growing moon, beautiful and white like a huge, exquisite pearl against the black velvet night.

She drank more of her chocolate, trying to shake the chill. The heat from the chocolate and the blanket were beginning to warm her. Warm her… no. The moon. She gritted her teeth, feeling the urge to shift, the craving to ditch her clothes, and tried to summon a vision. But nothing came to her.

She hurriedly set the mug on the coffee table and jerked the afghan aside. Her movement caught Mervin’s eye, and he smiled at her and waved.

No, no, no! She jerked off her scrubs shirt, exposing her bra-clad breasts, and felt the heat deepening as it worked its way through her bloodstream.

See something, Carol. Envision something. Make it stop!

Mervin watched her from his distant post, his mouth agape. She couldn’t leave now, couldn’t head for her bedroom, or Ryan and Jake would catch her in her current state of alarm as she made her way through the great room to the stairs. And follow her. Probably try to make her accept what she couldn’t accept.

She jerked off her socks and yanked down her scrubs pants. Oh, God, no. She couldn’t do it. The heat invaded her bones, and her skin perspired lightly. She was going to shift.

Jake didn’t say anything as Ryan fixed himself a cup of coffee, but Ryan knew he wanted to hear what had upset Carol. He’d probably figured out what it was all about anyway. Ryan didn’t owe Jake an explanation, but he offered it anyway.

“She’s mine.”

“That goes without saying.” Jake poured himself another cup of hot chocolate.

Ryan looked in the direction of the entryway to the kitchen. “I upset her when I told her she needed to learn our ways.”

Jake gave a conceited smile. “Figured that was what was bothering her. I could have told you that Darien and I have gone round and round with her over it. Tom is more subtle about it. Lelandi’s tried in a sisterly way.” He shrugged. “Her mate will have to take care of it.”

Lelandi smiled as she walked into the kitchen, looking much revived.

“Hmm, the aroma of hot cocoa. You knew what would stir me from a nice spring nap, didn’t you, Jake? So whose mate will have to take care of what?” She pulled out a mug from the cupboard, and Jake poured her a cup of chocolate.

Neither Ryan nor Jake said, but they shared looks with each other.

“Oh, Carol,” Lelandi whispered and then frowned. “Did you… you know, finalize things?”

Ryan shook his head.

“They haven’t mated. But he’s declared she’s his,” Jake said with a smile. “Better let Silva know so she can spread the word via the grapevine. But there are problems in paradise already. She doesn’t like him telling her she’s got to learn our ways any more than she likes us telling her.”

“Where is Carol now?” Lelandi asked, her voice low.

“Sunroom,” Ryan said. “I was giving her a minute to be by herself. I’ll see to her.”

The door to the sunroom slammed open, and Ryan said, “Shit. She couldn’t have run off by herself. What the hell is she thinking?” He tore off for the sunroom with Jake and Lelandi on his heels.

But when they reached the sunroom, Mervin raced inside to meet them. “She, Carol… hell, she…” He motioned to her clothes piled up on the sunroom floor next to the couch.

“Shifted?” Ryan couldn’t believe it.

“Yeah and went out the electric wolf door. I don’t have permission to leave my guard post.”

“She’s one of the ones we’re guarding!” Ryan squelched the urge to call Mervin an idiot. Instead, he began ripping off his clothes.

“I’ll call Darien,” Lelandi said. “Jake, you go with Ryan.”

“I have to stay and protect you. I’ll call in more help.”

Ryan didn’t wait to hear what else Jake decided. Instead, Ryan shifted and raced out the door. Mervin ran outside after him and pointed in the direction she had run. But Ryan could smell her just fine and took off after the footpad scent she was leaving behind.

He hoped the hell North and his men were nowhere about and that Carol wasn’t too traumatized by what she was experiencing. He had no idea how she might cope with this aspect of her life, but he wished she’d let him be a part of it.

He’d run for about a mile when he heard the sound of gunfire. Hell. And then more. A wolf yelped in the distance. Then another.

He paused. Carol’s scent headed in a different direction from the sounds of the injured wolves. Ryan lifted his head and howled. He was met with silence. He howled again, long and deep and low.

Except for the rustle of the breeze stirring the tree branches, nothing.

He took off after Carol’s trail again. He had to find her and then locate the other wolves. Just as he ran down toward the river, he saw her, a beautiful red wolf snarling, her nose wrinkled, teeth bared, ears and tail held high, as she stood backed up against the water’s edge, while three men taunted her with a fishing net.

It was North and two of his men, one of whom had grazed Ryan with a bullet.