Redemption: Montana Wolves, Book Three (Montana Wolves series 3) (2 page)

He pushed himself to his feet and crossed his arms over his chest, making sure that, even though he was being nice, they all knew he was ready to go toe-to-toe with anyone who wanted to get in his face about it.

“I can tail her,” Maggie chimed in, raising a hand. “She’s never even seen me before so it seems like an easy solution.”

Bad idea. Maggie already had a biased against humans. She’d only see the worst in Amber and everything she saw would be tainted by that. “Which is why I should do it,” Billy said, hoping his alpha would see the logic in that. “We’ve done as much as we can with long range recon. Time to get in closer. Make a move to talk to her face to face. And since it was me she saw changing into wolf form, it should be me who fixes it. If she keeps pressing the issue and her research efforts catch the attention of the Kotke or the Big Sky Canyon packs, we could all be in as much physical danger as we would be if we just told her the truth.”

And that included Amber.

Liam eyed him for a long moment before tipping his head in a curt nod. “You did spend time with her that night, and she seemed to trust you to some degree. Use that to find out what she’d doing and who she’s been talking to about that night. Maybe tell her you wanted to see if she’s coping okay with everything. Depending on what you find out, we can also use this as an opportunity to place a listening device in her purse. If she’s truly onto us and flapping her gums about it to other people, we need to hear about it sooner than later.”

The thought of hiding a bug on her grated on him, but he’d cross that bridge later. He’d won the battle. There was no point in fighting the war when he wasn’t even sure if there needed to be one.

He shook off his discomfort and focused on their alpha as he called the meeting to an end.

“Okay, so we’re all in agreement with that, then. We’ll reconvene in a week and reassess the situation to see if something more drastic needs to be done. Once you’ve determined her state of mind, try again to convince her that what she saw was just a hallucination. Really work all the angles. Tell her the volatile combination of lack of sleep, shock, and the ranting of a madman had worked on her brain until it had a brief hiccup before getting back on track again,” Liam said, offering a clipped nod to the group as a whole. “See you all at dinnertime.”

The room began to clear as everyone went about their business, but Billy stayed behind, still deep in thought. This plan wasn’t much better than no plan at all, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell that to his alpha. He hadn’t just been given permission to see Amber again. He’d been given a direct order.

Whether or not he was able to convince her that what she saw was her imagination, he was going to get to spend time with her and make sure she was all right.

And, for the moment, that was enough.

CHAPTER TWO

A 
mber sat on the floor of her living room, surrounded by books. She’d spent three hours at the library that morning and she was no better off than she’d been before. So far, after a week of research and visiting three different libraries, she had zip.
Nada
about the existence of werewolves in Montana.

A blonde curl flopped in front of one eye and she blew it away on an exasperated sigh, eyeing the stack of books with disgust. Almost at the end of the pile, and it was looking like she was going to have to bite the bullet and face her second biggest fear, right behind werewolves. The internet.

Raised by her grandmother from the time she was ten, she was useless with computers. Nana had said it would be beneath the dignity of her charming old Victorian home to harbor something so modern within her elegantly papered walls and Amber never had the will to fight her on it. In fact, she’d only just bought a Keurig to replace the old coffee percolator after her grandmother’s death, and even that felt like a tiny betrayal.

In spite of the lack of modern amenities, Amber had always loved this home. Loved to pretend that the ornate glass doorknobs were diamonds and that the dumbwaiter was a secret passageway. The place had magic in it.

And speaking of magic…

She had work to do. A quick stretch and then back to it. She stood and bent low at the waist, pressing her palms flat to the floor, and letting out a groan as her muscles lengthened.

She’d made the conscious choice to start taking care of herself again after hitting rock-bottom the week before. It had gotten so bad, she’d contemplated checking into a mental institution that night. By the time she’d calmed enough to leave her dressing room and drive home, it was two in the morning. When she’d gotten there, she’d fallen into an exhausted sleep, and dreamt of Billy.

There he’d stood in her living room, just like in real life the night of the kidnapping, mussed mop of golden curls, concern shining in his amazing, emerald green eyes.

“
Where is Chandra?”
he’d asked. She opened her mouth, but her dream-self couldn’t speak. Billy shook his head. Disappointed in her? Then he’d turned and walked out the door.

She moved to the window to watch his departure, but he didn’t head for the car. Instead, he went to the side of her yard where he met up with his friends. Then, together, fueled by some sudden sense of urgency, they ran to the edge of the woods.

She’d turned away, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Billy leap high into the air. And when he landed, he was a man no more.

In his place was a giant, tawny wolf. It loped the last few steps into the forest, and was gone.

She’d awoken from the dream in a cold sweat, heart pounding. While it wasn’t entirely accurate, the reality of it had been pretty close to what she remembered.

In the weeks after the incident, she’d tried to swallow the excuses she’d been fed; shadows in the night, shock, fear, lack of sleep. All pretty convincing. Almost costing a woman her life and being tied up by a lunatic had been a lot for her mind to handle. But she was strong, had lived through some pretty bad stuff in the past, and werewolf hallucination was a first.

She’d tried to let it go and move on, but as she replayed the dream in her mind, she noted the details that had been stored away by her memory. She wasn’t crazy,
something
had happened, and she was going to prove it. Action was power, and she had a plan.

She sat back on the floor with renewed resolve and opened the next book in the pile. Then, she began to read.

B
ILLY SPENT
the thirty-mile drive to Bozeman deep in thought. How he was going to pull this whole thing off without ruining a woman’s life in the process, he didn’t know, but he was damn sure going to try.

He walked into The Naughty Kitty with grim determination despite being apprehensive about the job ahead. Amber affected him in ways he couldn’t explain or curtail, and he had a mission; clean up the mess he’d made, and get the hell out. Losing sight of that could be dangerous for them all.

He made his way into the club and headed straight for the hostess’ station.

“Here for dinner or just the show?” the pretty brunette manning the desk asked with a smile.

Her wholesome good looks and relatively conservative clothes surprised him. As he looked around, he realized the whole place was different than he’d imagined it. Clean and elegant in an old-world way, with lots of red velvet and gold accents. He’d figured he’d walk in to a dingy shit-hole to find girls sporting tassels and G-strings left and right.

Bemused, he shook his head and returned the hostess expectant smile. “Just the show.”

She led him through an archway into a separate room and gestured to a table near the front of the stage.

“This one work?”

He nodded his thanks, slipped her a twenty, and then sat, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of Amber.

Luckily, he didn’t have long to wait.

“Welcome to The Naughty Kitty. What can I get you to drin--” Amber stood next to his table, staring down at him as the smile slid from her pretty face. “Billy?”

She flicked a glance around the room like she was looking for somewhere to run, but then finally met his gaze head-on. “What are you doing here?”

His pulse rocketed the way it did every time he saw her and he willed himself to calm the fuck down. He was there to help his pack while still making sure he was able to find a way to keep Amber safe. Now wasn’t the time for distractions.

“I came here to see you, actually. To see how you were holding up,” he replied, giving her a furtive onceover.

She looked better than when he’d seen her last, looking on from afar. Less pale and thin. Still painfully beautiful. Could be that all his concern had been for nothing and she’d decided to let it go and move on. Half of him was relieved. Best case scenario was that she was happy and healthy.

But the other half? The half that was drawn to her in a way that had him tied in knots even now as he looked at her? Regretted that he didn’t have an excuse to spend more time in her presence, no matter how short-sighted and stupid it was.

Humans and wolves didn’t mix.

She straightened her shoulders and seemed to collect herself as she dragged a hand through her long, blonde hair. “I appreciate the concern. Funny, I’d been wanting to get in touch with you, too, but didn’t have your number and didn’t want to make waves by coming out to the house. I was hoping we could talk.”

Okay, so maybe she wasn’t ready to let it go after all.

“Sure. When?”

“If you plan on sticking around for the show, we can do it tonight. I’m on early rotation so I’ve only got one performance and then I’m done.”

He nodded as his groin tightened. This wasn’t the seedy strip club he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t called The Naughty Kitty for nothing. Now he was going to have to stand by and watch Amber do…whatever it was she did on that stage.

And something told him it was going to be heaven and hell in equal measure.

Low background music began to play, and she gave him a finger wiggle. “I’ve got to go. That’s the cue for the dancers to head backstage.”

He couldn’t help but watch her go. The fitted black skirt she wore was longer, coming to mid-calf, and the shirt wrapped around her like an embrace, but neither was over-the-top sexy.

Until she started walking.

Her full hips swung like a pendulum, hypnotizing him. That ass was enough to make a grown man weep and he had to close his eyes to stop the rising tide of lust building in his groin before he had a huge problem on his hands.

“Drink?”

His eyes snapped open and he found another waitress, this one a redhead, smiling down at him. “Sure, I’ll take a beer. Whatever’s on tap and ice cold.”

Just as she returned a few minutes later with his pint, the lights flickered and began to dim.

“Ooh, show’s going to start. This is a great number, you’re going to love it,” she whispered, before flitting off to the next table.

The background music slowed to a stop before strains of another song flowed from the speakers. The tune was sassy and sexy, and familiar enough that it had him tapping his toe.

When the red curtain opened and a lone figure stepped onto the stage, the toe-tapping stopped as his whole world shifted. A woman, her profile in silhouette, posed, shrouded in shadow, but he would recognize that body anywhere.

Amber.

Billy knew it as surely as he knew his own name. She was tiny, maybe 5’2”, but she was built like a brick house. Tiny waist, curvy hips, and breasts so voluptuous for someone so petite, you’d think they would have to be fake.

But, nope.

He’d held her in his arms for a brief moment and his heightened sense of touch had confirmed that she was 100% natural.

His throat went bone-dry and he took a long slug from his glass, gaze never leaving the stage. The spotlight flicked on, and Amber turned to face the audience.

The skirt was gone, and in its place was its far shorter cousin, leaving her gorgeous legs bare, all the way from thigh to tiny, black stiletto.

The blood rushed from his head to his cock, leaving him momentarily disoriented. He strained forward, his chest flush against the table as he waited for her next move.

And move she did. The next five minutes had him ready to climb the walls. She bumped, she grinded, she twitched and she turned. With each shimmy, another piece of clothing went flying, and the need clawing at him grew.

As the song wound down, she slunk to center stage in what remained of her clothing—a black, lace bra and a matching pair of panties—to give the hooting crowd a smile. Her gaze connected with his, and the smile faltered.

Had she felt it, all the way from there? The weight of his want? The pull of his need? He hadn’t wanted her to know. Hadn’t wanted her to see…

But that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was what he’d seen on her face in return.

She wanted him too.

She might not even know it consciously yet, but it was there. A recognition…an acknowledgement of his attraction and a physical response she couldn’t hide. Not from him. The delicate flare of her nostrils, the way her eyes went wide and dark, the slow drag of her tongue against that full bottom lip.

By the time the music ended and she bustled off stage, the breath was sawing in and out of his lungs and his vision was hazed in red, a sure sign that his wolf was just as aware of Amber as he was, and it wanted out. The catcalls of the men around him only made the situation worse as a jealousy unlike anything he’d ever felt pulsed through him, making his blood run hot.

He pushed back the plush leather chair and stood, dropping a ten on the table before heading down the aisle toward the sign marked “Restrooms.”

It didn’t take much to figure out which way she’d gone. One sniff of the air, and he caught the citrusy warmth that was her scent. He followed it down the long corridor to an unmarked door and stepped through. It led to a second hallway lined with doors.

He bypassed the first two and slowed to a stop in front of the third. A fading gold star marked the gleaming wood and he rapped on it sharply.

“Amber?”

The door across from him opened and a black-haired woman dressed like a Vegas showgirl stepped out.