Hot and Dangerous (Decorah Security) (3 page)

He knew it,
too, because he captured her nipples between his thumbs and fingers, twisting
and squeezing them, sending hot currents downward through her body, where they
coalesced in her clit.

Lowering his
head, he swirled his tongue around one of her nipples, then sucked it into his
mouth as he kept teasing its mate with his hand.

She arched
into the caress, feeling urgency wrapping itself around them, making it hard to
breathe. Hard to think.

All she could
do was surrender to the power of the moment, to the power of the man.

Reaching
down, she clasped his cock, deliberately pushing him past the point of no
return.

In response,
his hand slid down her body again. This time his fingers parted her slick,
swollen folds, lingering there before dipping inside her.

She gasped,
moving her hips to create friction, but it wasn’t enough. Not for either of
them.

He circled
her clit with one finger, then slid lower again to circle the finger just
inside the sensitive opening of her vagina, sending jolts of heat through her.

“Please.
Now.”

He covered
her body with his as she clasped his cock and guided him to her, crying out as
he slipped inside. She felt more than physical pleasure. She was open to him,
body and soul, and in that moment, a kind of terror overtook her.

He must have
sensed her panic because he whispered, “trust me.”

Could she?
Did she have a choice?

She felt
herself settle into the rhythm of lovemaking, her hips moving with his, her
need for orgasm spiraling out of control.

Conscious
thought fled, driven out by the hot, greedy desire created by the friction of
their bodies moving together.

He slid his
hand between them, pressing his fingers over her clit, giving her the extra
jolt of stimulation that triggered her first spasm of release.

As she
reached the peak of sensation, he followed her, his hot semen pumping into her.

She heard his
shout of satisfaction. Heard herself cry out in wonder as the pleasure of it
went on and on.

When it was
over, he cradled her against himself, holding her tenderly as she struggled to
absorb the wonder of their lovemaking. Reaching to stroke damp hair back from
his forehead, she was caught by an incredible feeling of closeness that she had
never experienced before. Yet she knew so little about him.

They lay
together for long moments, until she finally broke the silence.

“That was . .
. more . . .” Words failed her, but he seemed to know what she meant.

oOo

“Yes, it
was,” Zack answered, struggling to clear his mind. He’d dreaded this moment all
his adult life. Now he wondered how he could have been so foolish.

Jenna shifted
against him. “I don’t even know where you live,” she murmured.

He laughed.
“I guess we should have exchanged some information first. I’m from Maryland.
Not too far from you. And I had to come all this way to find you.”

She blinked.
“How do you know where I live?”

He gave her a
rueful grin. “I looked you up, after I found out your name. It turned into a
compulsion. Maybe you didn’t see me around because I was in the business center
on the computers, finding out everything I could about you. I know you went to
high school in Bethesda. I know your political affiliation. You’re a PhD
biologist who works for a drug company. You own your own home. Your parents are
in Florida. You’re in the middle of a big project, but you needed to get away.”
He stopped short. There was more he could tell her, but he wasn’t going to
reveal the depth of his obsession.

She laughed
softly. “I guess I should have been doing the same thing.”

“You wouldn’t
have found much. I try to keep a low profile.” He sorted through the facts and
settled on a brief account of his life. “I live in rural Howard County. I’m an
environmental advocate. And I lead some wilderness expeditions when I want to
get away.” He cleared his throat. “But I was seriously considering making a
change. My brother, Cole, works for a detective agency called Decorah Security,
and he wants me to join them. I came down here to think about it.” He could
have added, “And to outrun my destiny.” But he kept that part to himself. For
now.

She skipped
over the last part and said, “I guess you have investigative skills.”

“Yeah.”

He saw doubts
flicker on her face.

“You
researched me. Did you find out something you didn’t like? Is that why you kept
avoiding me?” she asked.

He reached
for her hand and knitted his fingers with hers. “Not at all. I was trying
to—keep my life the way it was.”

“Which
means?”

She was
giving him an opening, but he didn’t think he could tell her the whole truth.
Not yet.

“I liked
being single. I didn’t want that to change.” He dragged in a breath and let it
out. “Then I saw you, and the pull was . . . more than I could handle.”

She stared at
him, and he was sure she was wondering about his choice of words.

Answering her
unspoken question, he said, “I know you felt the power of what just happened
between us. It wasn’t just making love.” He swallowed hard, taking the
discussion a step farther. “It was bonding.”

“What does
that mean?”

“That you
belong to me.”

As soon as
the statement was out of his mouth, he realized he’d made a bad choice of
words.

“You’re
sounding like a caveman or something,” she said.

They’d run
away from a massacre and ended up in each other’s arms. Probably she was wondering
if she’d made a reckless mistake by making love with him.

“Or
something,” he answered. Rolling to his back, he stared at the thatched ceiling
of the hut. He’d never had great communication skills. He needed them now, more
than he ever had in his life. Jesus, what if she got up and walked away from
him? The thought made a hollow place open up in his chest. He’d just found her,
and now he might lose her.

“I think
you’d better explain.”

“I’m working
my way up to it,” he answered, wondering what the hell he was going to say, and
wishing that the men in his family had clued him in to what this was like. But
all of them would have been embarrassed to discuss something so private with
him.

When he
remained silent, Jenna reached for her bikini top and put it on. Then she
grabbed her bikini bottom and wiggled into it. He stayed where he was, watching
her get partly dressed.

His nerves
were so frayed that his next words came out more like an order than anything
else.

“You’re not
going anywhere.”

Her expression
hardened. “Then tell me what’s going on with you.”

“It’s
something that happens to the men in my family when we get to the age of
thirty.”

She was about
to speak, when he suddenly sat up and tipped his head to the side, listening to
the sounds of the jungle. He’d heard birds in the trees. Suddenly they were
silent. But he was aware of something else—footsteps approaching.

“Christ,” he
whispered, climbing off the bed.

“What?”

“Someone’s
tracked us here.”

“I don’t hear
anything.”

“You will.”

oOo

To confirm the
statement, she heard harsh voices approaching. Men speaking in Spanish.

Zack walked
to the shelves along the wall, looking through the contents. “There’s an ax
handle. Use it to defend yourself if they get past me.” As he spoke, he leaped
from the bed and faced the door. Naked. He didn’t even reach for his pants,
only stood with his muscles tense.

Then
something happened that made goose bumps rise on her arms. He began to chant
words that sounded strange and ancient, words that made her throat tighten.

“
Taranis,
Epona, Cerridwen
,” he intoned, then repeated the same phrase and went on to
another.

“
Ga.
Feart. Cleas. Duais. Aithriocht. Go gcumhdai is dtreorai na deithe thu
.”

It wasn’t
just the words that made her stomach knot and her breath still. As she watched,
his body began to change. She blinked as she saw fur begin to spring up on his
skin. A tail grew from the crack above his ass. He went down on all fours as
his entire shape transmuted so that in seconds he was no longer a man but . . .
a wolf.

As she sat
there in shock, she realized she had seen the animal before—when the gunman had
come after her. A large dog or a wolf had sprung toward him, taking him down
before he could catch up with her.

Now it was
happening again. Only she was watching in horrible fascination as Zack Marshall
changed from man to beast.

She had just
made love with him. And now . . . She couldn’t allow herself to finish the
thought.

Too shocked
to turn away, she watched as he came down on all fours and sprang through the
door, streaking away, leaving her alone in the hut.

Seconds
later, two armed men came toward her, their guns in shooting position.

As she
pressed back into the shadows, she saw the wolf reappear, this time behind the
two men. With a mighty leap, he took both of them down, and they screamed as
they hit the ground.

Her heart
blocking her windpipe, she watched the fight, knowing that Zack was in serious
danger. He could have run into the jungle and escaped. Instead, he had
stayed—to defend her.

He might be a
. . . . She couldn’t say it. Not even in her mind. But she knew he could have
abandoned her. Instead he was putting up a tremendous fight, against two armed
men. He bit the gun hand of one, clawed at the other. She couldn’t let the
uneven fight go on.

But what
could she do?

Running to
the shelves, she grabbed the ax handle he’d showed her. Too bad it wasn’t the
whole ax.

Without
giving herself time to think, she sprinted out the door, into the heart of the
fight.

Swinging the
handle like a club, she brought it down on the head of one man, hearing a
satisfying clunk as it connected with flesh and bone.

The attacker
went limp, and she hit him again for good measure. The wolf and the other
gunman were still fighting. She would have snatched up the machine gun if she’d
known how to use it. Or if she’d been sure she could hit the man and not the
wolf. Instead she was forced to step back and wait for an opening to clobber
the man, but the wolf was on top of him, growling and snarling. She heard teeth
crunch through bone, and then the assailant went still.

The wolf
raised his head, looking at her, and their eyes met. All at once, she was too
stunned to speak. Stunned by the wolf and stunned by what she had done.

He took a few
steps away from her. As she watched, he reversed the process she’d witnessed in
the hut. In seconds, Zack Marshall was standing in front of her.

“You could
have gotten hurt,” he said.

She was still
in shock from seeing him change. But that hadn’t stopped her from rushing into
the fight without thinking—to save him.

Naked, he
knelt down and searched the pockets of the nearest man and pulled out a cell
phone.

“Let’s see if
I remember the San Marcos emergency number,” he said as he pressed buttons.
Punching in a number, he waited for someone to pick up. “This is a guest at
El
Sol y Enrolla
Resort,” he said when someone answered. “The resort’s been
attacked by men armed with machine guns.”

He listened
for a moment, then said, “No, I don’t know who the hell they are. I managed to
disable one of them and take his cell phone. A number of guests and staff are
dead. We need help.”

He waited for
an answer, then hung up. “The national police already got several calls from
guests. They’re on the way,” he said, then walked past Jenna. She followed him
into the hut, watching him pull on his pants and shoes, then his shirt.

Her mouth was
almost too dry to speak, but she tried. “You’re a . . .”

“I’m a
werewolf,” he said what he must have been trying to say earlier. I guess that
turned out to be convenient, under the circumstances.”

She nodded.
“And that story you told me about the wolf back near the hotel—that was total
bullshit.”

“Yeah. What
was I supposed to say?”

“You should
have told me the truth.”

“When?”

“Before . .
.”

He
interrupted her with a harsh laugh. “You think that’s a conversation I have
with a woman before we make love?”

She felt her
face flush. “I guess not.”

“Would you
have believed it?”

“Probably
not.”

“Until now,
none of them has found out because it wasn’t important to them—or to me.”