Mate Marked: Shifters of Silver Peak (4 page)

It was pitch dark out, the woods illuminated only by the silver crescent of the moon. Chelsea was sprayed head to toe with Wolf’s-naught, provided by Lorena, who had an herbal section in her store. The concoction would prevent her from being scented by the pack so she could sneak up on them.

She’d left Pepper at Erika’s house, and Erika had promised to take care of her until Chelsea got back. She’d also offered to go with Chelsea, but Chelsea had refused. This was Chelsea’s mess, she’d gotten into it herself, and she wasn’t going to risk anyone’s life doing it. Also, if she died during her attempt to bring Roman to justice, she needed someone to take care of Pepper.

She was wearing jeans, a button-down denim shirt and hiking boots. She’d pinned the sheriff’s star on her shirt. She’d been told that the sheriffs here wore civilian clothes, but she figured that her frilly, lacy outfits would be pushing it.

She was hauling along the non-lethal weapons she’d selected from the arsenal dropped on her desk the previous afternoon, courtesy of the mayor. She had refused the silver bullets; she wasn’t killing anybody.

She stood in the clearing and surveyed the camp.

There was a group of tents clustered together, and others scattered throughout the surrounding woods. There was a big ring of stones circling a fire pit. There were picnic tables with benches. The tents were all big and sturdy, canvas draped over criss-cross log tent poles, and elevated with wooden platforms. Everything looked well-constructed and solid.

She moved closer to the tent on the hillside that she knew was Roman’s. Erika had introduced her to some of the outlaw groupies, shifter girls who liked to visit the camp and have a good time with the bad-boy outlaws. For those girls who didn’t want anything serious, the fact that the guys would be moving on in a few months was part of their appeal. One of the girls, who was mad at Roman because he’d turned her down, had described the layout of the camp to Chelsea.

Fortunately, his tent was set a little distance from the rest of the tents. If she was lucky, she’d be able to disable him and get him into town without any of his packmates noticing.

She could hear sounds coming from his tent…sounds of sex. Roman was having very loud, enthusiastic sex.

She felt an odd sensation of anger and frustration curling up inside her, and she paused for a moment to get it under control. She envisioned her dark feelings as a spinning ball of matter, and she wrapped it in a white gauzy substance and then shrank it, smaller and smaller, until it was nothing but a point of light.

Then she began striding towards the tent.

When she reached it, she yanked the tent flap back and tossed in a small pepper spray bomb that the mayor had given her.

Within seconds she heard shrieks of rage, and a big, naked man and a woman came staggering out of the tent. Even better, they were tangled up in sheets, which made it easier for her to run over and slap copper handcuffs on the man.

The moon swam out from behind a cloud, and the sheet fell off of the man.

Chelsea looked at him.

The woman looked at him at the same time.

The man was tall and lean and muscular, and had close-clipped black hair and a hawkish nose.

“You’re not Roman!” Chelsea and the woman both exclaimed at the same moment.

Then the woman shrugged. “Whatever. It wash pretty good,” she slurred drunkenly. “I think.”

“Hello, sweetheart. And there I thought you weren’t interested.” Roman came strolling up, wearing nothing but boxer shorts and looking highly amused.

* * * * *

Well, well, well, this was a fun turn of events. The hot redhead from town had come back.

Roman had to admit, she’d been drifting through his mind surprisingly often since he’d first laid eyes on her. It wasn’t just the fact that she hadn’t rolled right over for him like most women did. It wasn’t her lush, full figure, with its sexy rounded tummy and broad hips that he wanted to grab hold of and pull up against him. There was something more, some mysterious quality that sent his pulse racing every time he remembered her fiery amber eyes glowering at him in that alleyway.

“Good evening.” He grinned at her. “You’re on my territory now, which means we play by my rules. I see you brought handcuffs. Ready to play?”

Then he caught sight of the five-pointed star on her shirt. She was wearing jeans and a button-down denim shirt which did things to her curves that made him slightly dizzy…and a
sheriff’s star.

“Oh, come on. You’re the new sheriff?” he said as her face fell. He couldn’t help it. She was the sheriff of Silver Peak? This was the best they could come up with? God, that town was so screwed.

He burst out laughing. He laughed harder and harder as her expression grew more and more unhappy, and then suddenly she burst into loud, noisy tears, burying her face in her hands.

Oh, hell. She was crying so hard her shoulders were shaking.

He heaved a huge sigh, walked over and patted her on the shoulder. “Sweetheart, I don’t mean to be an asshole—well, yes I do, because I am. Which is why you shouldn’t be here. Bigger, stronger, meaner people have tried to arrest me, and they’ve all failed.”

In the blink of an eye, she’d slapped handcuffs on his wrists and looked up at him with an enormous grin. Copper handcuffs, so he couldn’t shift. Her eyes were completely dry; she’d faked the whole thing.

“What about sneakier?” she said sweetly. “Were any of them sneakier than me?”

Then he felt two sharp pricks, one in his collar bone and one at his waist, and he heard a crackling sound. At the same time his whole body cramped and he fell to the ground, muscles burning, body twitching. She’d tazed him. And then she tazed Leon. And now she was the one laughing her ass off.

The cool, crisp breeze rustled the leaves on the ground and ruffled Roman’s hair. This really was his favorite time of year, with the chilly nights giving way to mild, warm days. He let out a huge yawn and arched his back, stretching luxuriously.

“Stop that, you bastard!” Chelsea hissed at him. He responded with laughter.

“You doin’ all right there, darling? You’re starting to sound kinda winded,” he said, which earned him a sharp kick in the ribs.

“I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to abuse your prisoners, Miss Officer of the Law,” Roman drawled. “Or is that Mrs.? I didn’t see any wedding ring. Anyway, if you look in your Sheriffing 101 handbook, there’s a whole section about not kicking your prisoners when they’re restrained.”

“For you, I’ll make a special exception,” she growled. She tugged harder.

Sheriff Chelsea Wintergreen clearly hadn’t thought this through. Sure, she was a larger girl, but he had her beat. He weighed two-fifty, all muscle, and he was six foot five. As soon as she’d incapacitated him, she’d grabbed him by the arm and started trying to drag him through the woods. He hadn’t resisted; he was just lying there, enjoying the show. She was puffing and gasping, frantically trying to pull him.

Roman was hugely entertained and unreasonably turned on. He could feel the thick swell of his erection rubbing against his boxer shorts.

“You need some help there?” a voice called, and Chelsea jerked and looked up. They were now surrounded by his entire pack, who were standing there watching him with expressions of amusement on their faces.

“Who are you offering to help? Her, or me?” Roman called.

Avery laughed. “Her, you jackass. Why would I help you? You’re not a hot chick with a great rack.”

Roman felt a surprising flash of anger crackle through him like lightning, but he quickly swallowed it. So Avery was flirting with Chelsea. Big deal. Roman wasn’t dating Chelsea. He never dated anyone. Dating wasn’t his thing.

Roman moved quickly and tossed the handcuffs aside, then leapt to his feet. Chelsea stared at him.

“How in the hell did you do that?” she demanded, looking thoroughly miffed. Her hair was disheveled, her forehead was damp from sweat and she was breathing hard. God, she was hot.

He grinned at her. It was his own little trick and he wasn’t ever going to reveal his secrets. It involved breaking his thumb and all, but shifters heal quickly and have a high pain tolerance.

Leland sat up, still handcuffed. “Yeah, how?” he asked Roman. “And could someone for God’s sake un-handcuff me?”

Chelsea scowled, knelt down and undid his handcuffs. Leland grabbed the handcuff key and started to walk off with the cuffs and the key.

“Hey! Those are mine!” she yelled after him.

Leland tossed her an amused glance. “We’re outlaws.” He smirked. “You probably shoulda thought of that before you tried to arrest our Alpha.”

“Hi, I’m Avery and you’re gorgeous,” Avery said quickly, bustling forward and thrusting out his hand, which Chelsea refused to shake. Avery grinned, shrugged and didn’t move. He was obviously enjoying being close to Chelsea. Roman felt that murderous rage again but he swallowed it down.

Marcus was standing slightly apart from all the others, watching, with a mixture of annoyance and faint amusement on his face.

“You didn’t really put a lot of planning into this, did you?” he asked Chelsea, with a ghost of a smile.

Man. She almost had Marcus smiling? What the hell was up with that?

“I put plenty of planning into it,” she said indignantly.

“And it didn’t occur to you to bring some means of transporting him through the woods? He weighs a good two-fifty. Can you hoist that amount of weight normally? You should have brought an ATV with you. Or a posse.”

“Hey!” Roman said irritably. “Can you not help out the crazy sheriff lady who’s trying to arrest me?”

Marcus let out a rumbling growl. “Why, you scared?”

Roman gave an answering growl and glared at him. Marcus had taken it a step too far. Nobody spoke to the Alpha that way.

As if sensing it, Marcus threw up his hands and muttered, “You’re not scared of anything. Boss. Just came to see if I could help, is all. Since I’m not needed, I’m going back to bed.” He headed into the woods.

Roman turned to face Chelsea again. “Now, there’s the little matter of you trespassing on my property.”

“Your property!” she said indignantly.

“Shifter law, sweetheart—you really oughta study up on it. Gypsy packs are allowed to take up temporary residence on any unused portion of shifter territory, and everything within a one-mile radius of our camp falls under my domain.”

“Except that you’re an outlaw, wanted by the law,” she said firmly. “So I have the legal right to come here and arrest you.”

Her head was tipped back and she was staring up at him, and her breath was quickening. She was as turned on as he was. The spicy scent of her arousal tickled his nose, and he drew it in and felt warmth flood through his body.

God, she’s hot.

He grinned down at her, fiercely. “You can certainly try. By the way, do you know what happens when you embarrass an Alpha in front of his pack?”

She caught her breath and took a step back. Oh, no, she wasn’t getting away from him. He moved closer. “What?”

He slid a finger under her chin. There were numerous ways he could have punished her for her trespass, but he knew exactly which one he was going to choose.

“He returns the favor,” he growled.

* * * * *

What the hell had happened? One minute Chelsea had been kicking ass and taking names. She’d subdued the Alpha nobody else could even get close to.

And the next minute, he had completely turned the tables on her.

And now he had her slung over his shoulder as if she were a feather pillow, and was striding resolutely out of the woods.

The ground jolted at her with every step.

He sat down on a wooden bench and put her over his knee.

This couldn’t be happening.

But it was.

He raised his hand high and brought it down on her butt with a resounding smack. It was shockingly erotic. She squirmed underneath him and gave a hoarse cry that was half moan of pleasure, half yelp of outrage.

“One,” he intoned.

Then he did it again. His hand rose high and came down on her other butt cheek, and she cried out. “Oh!” The jolt of pleasure that shot through her body had scrambled her brains. She couldn’t even think.

With every smack, she squirmed and squealed and grew more aroused. Heat blazed through her body and moisture rushed between her legs.

He did it five times, counting each smack out loud. Then he dumped her off his lap onto the ground, and she scrambled to her feet. She was flushed and panting.

It suddenly occurred to her that at any time she could have shifted and probably escaped. Why hadn’t she?

He stood up and leaned in close. “Listen, beautiful, any time you want to come spend the night in my tent, be my guest. But this land is my pack’s territory for as long as we’re camping out here, and if you come here again, I’ll be the one placing you under arrest. You’ll be our prisoner for twenty-four hours. Now. You wanna join us for breakfast? Instant coffee, powdered eggs, plus wild rabbit.”

She couldn’t even speak, she was so furious.

She turned and stomped off into the woods. The fact that one of the pack members yelled, “Hey, come back any time!” didn’t help matters at all.