Animal Instincts (7 page)

His tongue never stopped moving, his mouth never stopped pressing until the last of the shudders had subsided.

She let her legs fall to the side, drawing huge gulps of air into her lungs and wondering if her heart was going to pound itself out of her chest. Drew moved up her body and brushed his mouth against hers, sharing the tart/sweet taste of her body with her. He braced himself on his forearms, staring down at her, his hot eyes burning into hers.

Mate!

The word shot through her again like a blaze of lightening. She threaded her hands through the thick silk of his hair, wondering again how this had happened and how she could be so fortunate.

But she had little time for thought. Drew rose to his knees, rolled on another condom, pressed her knees back to her chest and without giving her a chance to catch another breath, thrust into her deep and hard. She welcomed the intrusion into her body, clutching him with her internal muscles.

“Are you all right?” His voice was hoarse, evidence of the control he was forcing himself to exert.

“Yes,” she breathed. “More than all right.”

She thought he’d hammer her again, just as he had against the wall, but this time when he moved, his strokes were slow and measured. Her body, which a moment ago she’d thought exhausted, responded without any commands from her brain. She shoved her hands beneath her knees and pulled them even higher, opening herself to him as much as possible.

“Look at me,” he commanded.

When she did, his eyes still burned with that same, hot gaze.

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“Keep looking at me. Hold yourself just like that. I want all of you, Ann Marie. Nothing held back.” He punctuated each word with a slow, hard thrust. “Nothing. Held. Back.”

She took him as deep as she could, revelling in the thickness of his shaft, her body welcoming him. His strokes never varied. In. Out. In. Out. Until she felt his muscles tighten, his body tense. The waves rolled and crested and they fell on the other side of it simultaneously. It was like nothing she’d ever known before, so all-consuming she wasn’t sure either of them would survive.

At the apex of the orgasm, he pressed his mouth hard against hers, sealing in both of their screams.

When it was finally over, when he had wrung every drop from her that her body was capable of giving up, she lowered her legs and let herself melt into the bed. Drew rolled to the side, still connected to her and wrapped his arms around her. He pressed soft kisses to her face, then rested his head against hers.

“Mine,” he said in a low voice. “Mine.”

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At breakfast, Brian commented sarcastically on the fact that none of the men who’d pestered Drew the day before had called to report on their success, or lack of it.

“They were just sounding me out,” Drew told him. “Trying to figure out if I really knew anything. I didn’t expect to hear from them.”

They’d hashed over different possibilities, then Drew had made a phone call. Now Jesse Almonte, the local game warden, sat at the big dining room table with The Sentinels and looked from one to the other. Everyone stared back at him with the same impassive expression.

“I’ve been hearing rumours about just something like that,” he said finally, “but no one seemed to have any proof. Now you’re telling me you have some? How the hell did you get it?”

“Let’s just say a couple of us were out hiking the woods and stumbled on it,” Brian told him. “Trust me.
We
didn’t do anything illegal to find it.”

“And what exactly did you see?”

Drew described the type of fencing and the strange
No Trespassing
signs as well as the animal screams they’d heard. He also told him what they’d learned about the ownership of the property.

Jesse wisely didn’t ask how they’d gotten that information.

“You’re definitely right in your assumption that it would be easy for Hob Winston to bury that property as long as the taxes were paid.”

“I’m just surprised they didn’t create a shell corporation to list as the owner,” Cale put in.

“No need for it,” Jesse said. “People around here don’t ask a lot of questions. And if it’s as hidden as you say, someone would have to stumble on it the way y’all did to even find it.”

“Getting in is going to be a bitch,” Brian commented. “I’m sure there are guards wherever the gate is, and they probably have flood lights.”

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“I’ll have to clear this at headquarters in Austin,” Jesse told them. “If you can give me the coordinates, I’ll request a flyover in daylight hours and we’ll take some long range pictures. Then we’ll put together a plan and huddle with y’all.” He looked at his watch. “By the time I get to my boss and get all the requests in, we probably can’t do this until tomorrow night.”

Drew tried not to see the stricken look on Ann Marie’s face. She was barely hanging on with her concern for her brother. He reached for her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

“That will give us a chance to scope it out again tonight,” he told the game warden.

“Just don’t do anything to jeopardise what we come up with,” the man warned. “By tomorrow night, I’ll have the proper warrants. Whatever we find, I don’t want the evidence thrown out.”

“Not to worry,” Luke assured him. “They won’t even know we’re there.”

Jesse promised to call them as soon as he had everything in place. When he’d left, the table was silent for a moment.

“What if another twenty four hours is too long for my brother?” Ann Marie blurted out.

“And if he’s still alive, how will we get him out? He can’t shift in front of the warden, and in his wolf form he’s liable to be rounded up with the animals still there.”

Brian leant forward. “Not to worry. I have an idea. Listen up, everyone.”

Drew saddled two of his horses for Regan and Sierra. They brought up the rear, carrying weapons, night vision goggles, binoculars and coils of rope in their saddlebags.

They also had a pair of bolt cutters for the horses to get through the fences on Bo Sheridan’s property.

“I’ll get it fixed tomorrow,” Drew said. “Now. Everyone clear on what they have to do?

Okay. Let’s get ready.”

They had to wait until it was completely dark before leaving the house. One by one, the wolves blended into the night, following the path Drew and Ann Marie had taken the night before. The spaced themselves out, one and two at a time, keeping to trees and shadows.

When they reached the fence between Sheridan’s property and Drew’s, the wolves leapt over ANIMAL INSTINCTS

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the top and sped off. Waiting a reasonable amount of time, Sierra and Regan reached the spot. Sierra cut the fence and pulled back the two sections, and the women rode through.

Finally they were all gathered at the rendezvous spot. As prearranged, the women dismounted and led the horses deep into the trees. Ann Marie, forcing herself to ignore the fact that she’d be naked in front of strangers, shifted to human form. With a practiced grace she pulled herself up into the tall, thick tree overlooking the renegade property.

Tonight, there were no sounds, no screams. That could have been either good or bad.

Once she was perched securely, she gave a soft whistle, high-pitched, one that she and John had used to communicate with each other. There was no response, and Drew could sense her distress. He growled low, indicating she should try again. And again the whistle cut through the night.

Brian had shifted and taken a pair of the NVGs from Regan. He stood by the tree, watching for any activity past the fence. Ann Marie whistled again, and suddenly there he was, a huge grey and white wolf, limping badly and whining but making his way towards them.

Drew looked up at Ann Marie. “Tell him to shift.”

Brian had already climbed the tree, one coil of rope over his shoulder.

“John,” Ann Marie hissed. “These people are helping us. You have to shift now.”

The wolf stood there as if uncertain what to do. Maybe sensing a trap.

“Shift,” she ordered in a slightly louder voice. “I don’t know how much time we have.”

In an instant, a naked man with shoulder-length brown hair and a sculpted face stood where the wolf had been. On his left thigh was an angry wound, obviously untreated.

“John, I’m Brian. We don’t have much time. When I throw this rope down to you, tie it under your arms.”

John looked confused, but when Ann Marie nodded, he caught the rope and did as he was told. Regan handed a thick blanket up to Ann Marie, and with one toss she covered a part of the fence. Just as the night before, the electrified wire hissed and sparked. With Brian and Ann Marie pulling, bracing himself on the top where the blanket was, John was able to hoist himself up and over the fence. On the other side, Regan and Sierra helped him to land.

Sierra handed him a pair of Drew’s sweats to put on.

“W-What’s happening?” he asked Ann Marie, as they hugged each other.

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“Later,” she answered. “We have to get out of here right now. This is Regan and Sierra.

They aren’t shifters but they are married to two of these men who are. You’ll ride back with Sierra so you don’t aggravate that wound.”

John might have argued or asked more questions but the look on his face told them he realised the urgency of the situation. Once he and the women were mounted up and had headed off, Ann Marie and Brian shifted again and the wolves began the return journey.

Back at the ranch house, Cale, the medic of the group, cleaned and dressed John’s wound while Drew made him a thick milkshake.

“You look like you haven’t been fed too well,” he commented. “You’ll need to take it easy with the food. This is good to start with.”

The next hour was filled with questions and answers, as Ann Marie brought her brother up to date, and John gave them information about the preserve.

“What they really like to do,” he said in a bitter voice, “is either trap animals or bring them in from the outside, wound them so they aren’t at full capacity. Then they hunt them from pickups. Usually the shoot
at
them for a long time, frightening them, before that final shot.”

“How did you manage to stay alive?” his sister wanted to know.

“I’m good at hiding. They were usually drunk so I guess they didn’t miss me.”

From the descriptions he gave them of the men he’d seen, Drew realised it was the people he suspected. It angered him that men could use their power like that and hide behind the faces they put on for the community.

It was a long time before everyone was ready to bed down for the night. But as Drew reminded them, Jesse would be calling in the morning and they’d need to be ready for whatever he’d been able to arrange.

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John argued that he should be allowed to go on the raid, but finally accepted the fact that he was weak, and his wound needed to heal. He waited with the women for word of success.

The men rendezvoused with the state officials at nine o’clock as planned. The local sheriff and three of his deputies were also part of the group. The Sentinels were included because of their profession and reputation, and to assist the woefully shorthanded game warden. The fact that Drew lived in the area and knew it like the back of his hand was also a plus, and for this expedition the state and local officials were taking any help they could get.

The raid went off like clockwork. Drew and Brian rode in the helicopter with the men from Texas Game and Wildlife. The others all convoyed in three black vans.

Tonight, the property was lit with floodlights, and from the helo they could see two pickup trucks driving across the property, men with rifles riding in the beds and shooting at fleeing animals. Some of the shots taken were to deliberately wound, and the screams of pain filled the air. Drew knew the others in the helicopter were as sickened by the sight as he was.

When they could see the vans turning off the road and onto the approach road to the gate, the pilot hit a switch and the floodlights on the front of the bird came on full force. The men below looked up, startled. Jesse, who was riding next to the pilot, picked up the microphone for the external speakers.

“You down there. This is Texas Game and Wildlife. Put down your weapons and turn off your engines. There are three vans coming through your gate right now to place you all under arrest.”

Drew had never seen such confusion spiked with anger. The helicopter landed in the parking area next to the gate, and everyone but the pilot climbed out to assist the men in the vans. Jesse approached one of the men who was cursing in a drunken voice and showed him the warrants. Drew and Brian watched as the so-called hunters were rounded up and handcuffed. The five men, drunk and combative, were the same ones who had stood at the front of that meeting and professed to be outraged at the thought of an illegal preserve.

“Do you know who I am?” Hob Winston shouted at Jesse.

”Unfortunately I do. It’s people like you who make me sick to my stomach.”

The sky was turning from black to grey by the time the work was finished. The Big Five, as Drew thought of them, were handcuffed and placed in one of the vans. The sheriff ANIMAL INSTINCTS

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and three deputies left to take them to the county jail until their arraignment. They had broken state law, so they would have to be transported to Austin for that procedure, then confined there.

The Sentinels helped round up all the animals, check them for wounds and see what their food situation was. A vet who had arrived with the men from Austin stayed to check each animal thoroughly, and four of the state’s employees would be tending to the preserve until arrangements could be made to move the animals.