Protection: A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance (21 page)

T
essa skidded
to a halt in front of a busy coffee shop, using the glass door as a mirror to look for her pursuer. Her heart hammered in her chest, her breath came in shallow pants. Though she’d thought James’s talk of demons and werewolves insane, now there was no way to deny their existence. The two men had changed their forms right in front of her eyes.

Across the street, a tall figure came into view. Tessa breathed a quick sigh of relief before pushing the door open and entering the coffee shop. Instead of getting in line for a drink, she wove her way through the tables toward the back door. She exited the building onto a quiet patio, seating herself at a table facing the building.

Use your weakness to your advantage, James had advised her on the drive to New Orleans. Shifters are macho to the extreme, so the lady in distress hook pulls them in every time.

Tessa dropped her purse to the ground and buried her face in her hands. She didn’t have to pretend to be distressed. She had only to replay scenes from the last two weeks of her life. She imagined Camilla bound and gagged in some abandoned warehouse, a knife pressed against her throat. Tessa’d managed to lead her little sister right into the Legion’s snare.

She squared her shoulders. Defeat was not an option. She’d screwed up and gotten them into this mess. She could damn well get Camilla out of it.

Tessa reached in her purse and pulled out the cell phone James had given her. Camilla’s photo was splashed across the screen, her defiant face making Tessa’s heart ache.

Just as tears threatened to spill down her face, the patio door opened. Tessa dropped the phone in her purse and looked up, trying to look surprised that one of the men had found her. Her eyes narrowed on the man now entering the patio, and for a second she feared it was the blond man, McDonough.

But no. The man who stepped outside, eyes seeking her form, was not Jasper McDonough.

This man, though… this was definitely Jace Copeland.

Copeland was as big as McDonough, but his build was less dense. Jace was muscular but lean, with wavy pecan-colored hair and chocolaty brown eyes. Dark jeans clung tightly to his muscular legs. He wore a heavy black leather motorcycle jacket over a white cotton shirt that emphasized his pecs and fit, flat abs. Shiny, blue-black Doc Martens hugged his big feet, completing his dangerous look. Intricate tattoos twined up his arms to disappear under the sleeves of his t-shirt. He strolled onto the patio with a swagger that announced that he was bigger, bossier, and more dangerous than everyone else.

He was more than just intimidating. He was also the most gorgeous man Tessa had ever seen in person. He looked even more gruff and sexy than his photo had indicated, which seemed impossible. Not to mention unfair.

She had the strongest urge to walk over and touch his face, to check whether he was real or just a fantasy.

That impulse reminded Tessa that he was even more dangerous than she’d expected. Tessa understood men like Jace Copeland, knew that they took what they wanted without a second thought. Tessa wasn’t about to sacrifice herself to his ego.

The spray canister of animal tranquilizer James had given her was still in her pocket, unused. She slipped her hand into her pocket to grasp it, ready to fire if the werewolf came too close.

The man raised his hands, making it clear that he was no threat.

“I just want to make sure you’re okay,” he said. His gaze raked down her body and back up again, assessing.

Tessa was unsure how to reply. Should she fake an injury? She didn’t want him calling the authorities. James had promised painful repercussions if Tessa somehow alerted the police.

“Miss?” Copeland asked again, a hint of worry in his tone.

“Er. Sorry. I’m a little shaken up, I think,” Tessa replied. That much was true. Tessa looked up Jace Copeland, resolving to try to avoid outright lies. If the Legion’s sources were to be believed, these creatures could smell a lie.

“Can I sit down?” the man asked.

“Okay.”

The man settled in the green plastic chair across from Tessa, dwarfing it with his size. He looked uncomfortable, but said nothing. Tessa was too busy trying to take in a few deep breaths to calm herself.

“So, about those big dogs. They got loose from the animal shelter down the street-” Copeland started a rote recitation, explaining away his own impossible existence.

Tessa coughed, cutting Copeland off mid-sentence. She struggled for a full breath before speaking.

“That’s what you’re going with? You breed giant dogs right here in the city, and sometimes they escape?”

Jace paused, taken aback.

“Excuse me?” he asked.

Tessa leaned back, hugging herself as she surveyed the man.

“Don’t spin that yarn for my sake, Mr… what was your name?” Tessa asked.

“Jace will do,” the man replied. He leaned back and crossed his arms, mirroring Tessa’s position. His eyes narrowed with suspicion, if not outright distaste.

“I’m sorry,” Tessa said, softening her tone. “I was trying to be funny. It’s bad moment for humor. What I mean to say is that I’ve run into that blond gentleman before, and I know he’s more than meets the eye.”

Not a lie, to be exact. She had met McDonough before. Earlier in the week, at a popular Magazine Street bar. The fact that Tessa had arranged the chance meeting did not bear mentioning. She'd followed McDonough in from the street, ordered a drink, and spilled it in his lap.

She’d used all her best flirting techniques on McDonough, but she’d given him the cold shoulder at the end of the night. Tessa knew how to make her suitors take notice.

It didn’t hurt that the Legion had given Tessa a lot of info about werewolves. It helped knowing that they were all alpha male personalities on steroids. Know thine enemy and all that, she supposed.

Copeland studied her for a several moments. Then he gave her a slow nod.

“All right, then,” he asked, his tone gone icy. “Since you don’t need my little story about the dogs, how about you tell me who you are?”

“I don’t like to share that kind of information with strangers,” she said. She kept her tone brisk, words clipped. Giving a dangerous man too many words was like giving the hangman too much rope.

A tic pulsed in the man’s jaw.

“What can you share? What do you have to hide? I’m not sure what you think you know, little girl, but I’m willing to bet it’s a big heap of nothing much,” he said, spitting the words like poison.

“I know that big blond creep has been following me around for a while. I know that something isn’t right with him; he’s a little mental. I also know I just watched him change into a giant wolf. I watch True Blood. I can put two and two together,” she said. All true.

“Besides,” Tessa continued. “I’m not worried. You don’t look all that scary to me.”

That part might be a tiny white lie.

The man laughed, the sound sending shivers down her spine.

“Jesus, you humans. You’re frightened of your own shadows, but unafraid of things that could get you killed. Jasper McDonough is not someone you want following you around.”

“I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to do about it,” Tessa replied. She winced at her lie. She was losing the war of half-truths.

Jace cocked his head to the side, studying her again. Tessa’s face heated under his gaze, but she didn’t back down.

“I know there are groups of people like you. Or, I guess I should say… like us. I know that my bloodline is tainted, just like yours. My source said I’ll become a werewolf soon, and that I’d be better off if I’m with my own kind. I know that I’m supposed to find a pack to take care of me,” Tessa said, reciting information from the packet James had given her. It had proved to be quite an interesting read.

“You’ve got a couple of truths, buried six feet deep in the dirt,” he replied. “Still, you got one part right. You do need protection.”

“Funny, I’ve been hearing that a lot lately, but no one’s offering.”

“I’m offering, if you’d stop talking long enough to listen.”

Tessa looked up, startled.

“How are you planning to do that? Protect me, I mean,” she asked, curious.

“I belong to the Louisiana pack. We have places to lay low,” he said, eyes dark.

“Like where your, um… your pack… where they stay?” she asked, trying not to sound too eager.

“No. I don’t know you. I can’t just drag you into pack territory, but I can take you someplace safe here in town.”

Jesus, he was serious. She’d known this guy for two minutes and he was already offering to save her. If only she’d met him instead of James, things would be different. James hadn’t been wrong about these Shifters and their deep-seated savior complexes.

“I don’t know what to say,” she said, trying to find the right words. “I think I’d be bringing a lot more baggage than you could know. My situation is… well, it’s complicated.”

“Human,” Jace said with no little aggravation. “I’m not sure who your source on Shifter info is, but I hope they at least explained that you’re an Ascendant. Did your source tell you about that part?”

“The part where someday soon some Shifter is going to hunt me down and drag me off like a caveman? How I’m supposed to just accept it, and let them screw me so I can have little werewolf babies? How my genes will make me like it, and make me crave a dominant male? Yeah, I’ve heard all that. The whole thing is creepy.”

Tessa gave a dark laugh, trying to disguise the fact that she found the idea terrifying.

“Let’s back up for a second, here,” Jace said, raising his hands to deflect her repulsion. “Ascendants are often sought after by Shifters, but they’re cherished in our culture. They get their choice of the pack. It’s not some weird date-rape scenario. The males fight for an Ascendant’s attention, and of course the females fall all over them.”

“But not you?” Tessa asked, looking up from under her lashes. From her words, she guessed that Jace was either already in an ill-suited marriage, or that he was one of those guys who refused to be ‘tied down’.

“No,” was all Jace had to say on that. The scowl of disgust on his face spoke volumes, though.

For some reason, that stung. They weren’t even talking about her, but his vehement denial felt personal.

Tessa knew she wasn’t exactly a runway model, but she didn’t need the male bullshit right now. Especially from a guy who looked like Jace. Tessa needed Jace to fall into the snare she was building, and for that she needed Jace unable to resist her, unable to think. She needed him dumbstruck enough to walk right into the Legion’s trap.

Tessa didn’t know exactly what would happen after she turned him over, but it didn’t bear thinking on. A little shiver crept up her spine, and she studied Jace again. A wave of guilt hit her hard when she thought of screwing over someone who would offer help to a total stranger.

Tessa steeled herself against the feeling. She would do whatever she had to do to save her sister. She tried to think what James would tell her to do in this situation, how to play her cards just right.

Brushing away a burgeoning tear, Tessa stood up.

“I have to go. Thanks for the offer. You ought to give it to someone who deserves it,” she said.

Not even a hint of lie, this time.

Tessa turned and started toward the patio’s back exit, steeling herself not to look back.

A chair scraped behind her, and a heartbeat later a huge hand grasped her by the arm. Rough hands grabbed her shoulders, spun her around. In a heartbeat, she was flush against Jace’s big, taut body.

His skin against hers wasn’t just warm, it was scalding. He stepped forward, crowding her up against the patio wall. His arms came forward and braced on either side of her, locking around her like a cage. He looked down at her, unblinking. As if the fact that her breasts were an inch from touching his chest didn’t affect him in the least.

Tessa swallowed, caught in his flashing mahogany gaze. Maybe her false resistance had worked a little too well.

“You aren’t going anywhere.”

Tessa swallowed, unable to move. Tipping her head back, she looked up at her captor, biting her lip.

Jace’s eyes drifted down to her lips and then back up, his gaze so intense it made her burn.

“The thing is, I claimed you in front of Jasper,” he said, leaning down closer until she could feel him warm breath fan her face.

“I.. okay,” was all she could get out. She was drowning in his warmth and maleness, his very closeness.

“Under our law, I am your protector. You belong to me, and I belong to you. Anything that happens to you is my fault,” he explained.

He tilted his head. His nose brushed the top of her ear, sending little fissions of heat down her spine.

“That’s very… medieval,” Tessa murmured, unable to come up with a better response.

“Shifters aren’t known for caring much for human opinions,” he intoned. He raised his head to look in her eyes again.

“I never would have guessed,” Tessa said. Her soft, breathy tone killed her attempt at sarcasm.

“We can stand here all day discussing this. We can stay right here and let McDonough track you down. You can take a gamble, hope that he’s a better match than me. The point is still going to be the same. You need protection, and you can’t go to the human authorities. ‘See, sergeant, this crazed werewolf is out to get me because I smell so good’. They’ll put you in an institution, or worse. And that’s not even mentioning the shit I’ll be in for letting you get caught.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but Jace shook his head. The look on his face made her snap her jaw closed.

“You’re an Ascendant, I’m your protector,” Jace insisted. “Those are the only two factors here. Think of it as a test run. As soon as you’re safe, I’ll hand you over to the pack. Then you can sort things out with them. Whatever you’re mixed up in, we will fix it. You’ll be safe.”

Tessa looked up at him, wavering for a moment. Despite his harsh tone, his intentions seemed pure. She faltered, wishing she didn’t have to betray the only man who’d shown her kindness in the midst of all this craziness.

Jace gave her a sharp look, then dropped one last warning.