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

“Can I help you?” she asked, her gaze drifting slowly from his face downward to rest on his man-kit for a long moment before returning to meet his.

He had no plan beyond getting close to Amber again, and rocked back on his heels, unsure of what to say. “I was actually hoping to see Amber,” he said, working up what he hoped was a genial smile and shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Right.” She chuckled and cocked her head to one side. “The question is, does Amber want to see you?”

The door behind him opened and he turned to see the lady in question staring up at him. “Hey, come on in,” she said, stepping back to make room for him.

“You good, girl?” the woman in the Vegas gear called from across the way.

“Yeah, thanks, Mila,” Amber said, ushering him in before waving to her friend. “He’s good people.”

She closed the door behind her and seemed to take a deep breath before turning to face him again.

“I could’ve just met you out there…”

She sure could’ve. What the fuck was he supposed to say to that? He couldn’t wait that long? That he’d lost all control and couldn’t fight the grinding need to be near her again?

“Yeah, we hadn’t hammered out the details, so I wasn’t sure.”

She nodded, accepting his excuse without question even as he exercised every last shred of self-discipline to keep from yanking her into his arms and kissing her senseless.

She’d changed out of her clothes already and was wearing a pair of yoga pants and a hoody that made her look like she’d just stepped off a college campus, going from steamy sexpot to adorable in three minutes flat.

He resisted the urge to scoop her up and carry her out of the place as the silence stretched between them, thick as taffy on a summer day, until finally, he broke it. "Can we go somewhere private to talk?"

She glanced around the little room like she didn't know where she was for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah. I've just got to get my stuff together and then see my boss to get paid."

"I'm parked out back. I'll pull around and pick you up right at the front entrance in five."

He stepped closer and clenched his fist to keep from reaching out to stroke her hair.

"Everything is going to be okay, Amber. I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but I promise."

He hadn’t known he was going to make that vow, but once he did, it settled into his bones like only the truth could. Even if Jax wasn't quite ready to see it, Amber had more than paid for her crimes already. He would protect her, or die trying. It was the right thing to do.

He turned and jogged out to the car, the cold air a welcome shock to his overheated skin. After he took her home, maybe he'd go for a long night-run. All the stress and tension was building inside him and if he didn't work some of it off, he'd be a powder keg ready to blow by tomorrow.

A couple minutes later, he pulled up to the front of the club and Amber stepped out. She was dressed in a puffy coat and a pair of crocheted boots, but it was the hat that did it. Knit with a big red ball on top and he couldn't help but stare.

One second she was this sexy, sultry performer, slinking around on stage with the confidence of a movie star, and the next she was bundled up with a poof-ball hat and freshly-scrubbed face.

And damn if she wasn’t still just as sexy.

"Where are we going?" she asked as she climbed into the passenger’s seat.

“Up to you. We can try to find a coffee shop-”

“No!” She shot him a grim look and shook her head. “I mean, I have some things to say and if anyone heard me say them…” Her voice trailed off, but he didn’t need to hear the rest. If anyone heard her, they’d think she was insane.

Which meant she was still convinced that what she’d seen was real. He was going to have to do damage control and try to find out exactly how far she was willing to take things to get to the truth.

His conscience pricked at him hard, but he tamped it down. This wasn’t just about his pack. If Amber kept kicking up dust, she was going to get herself killed. That thought was enough to put his guilt in check.

“I keep an apartment in the city for business,” he said. “We can talk there if that’s all right?”

She eyed him for a long moment and this time, he didn’t stop himself from reaching out to tuck a golden lock of hair behind her ear.

"Do you know I would never do anything to hurt you?"

She let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes, leaning her head against the headrest with a weary sigh. "I know. I don't know how or why I do, but I do."

The words were a balm to his soul. More than the guilt, something about the thought of her being afraid of him made the bile in his belly burn.

As he glanced at the woman beside him, a sudden sense of foreboding washed over him. No matter how smoothly things went down, this couldn’t possibly end well. In order to keep his promise and protect her, he had no choice but to betray her trust and lie to her.

And if she found out, she’d surely hate him for it.

But at least she’d be alive to hate him instead of lying in an unmarked grave somewhere after getting mauled by a pack of enraged wolves.

The decision made itself.

CHAPTER THREE

^“
C 
offee? Beer?” Billy stepped back into view from the kitchen, black T-shirt stretching tight over his massive shoulders as he shrugged. “Sorry, it’s a bachelor pad and that’s pretty much all I’ve got to offer you, unless four-day old pizza is your thing.”

His smile melted just a little of the ice that had been wedged in her belly for nearly a month now. As terrified as she was about what she’d seen, she hadn’t been lying when she’d said he didn’t scare her. In fact, being around him made her feel oddly safe.

“I’ll pass on the pizza and take a beer, thanks.”

They’d talked some on the ride over to his place, but for the most part, they’d sat in silence as if they both knew the coming conversation was going to be a doozy and were content to have it wait just a little longer. Even now, her nerves were in tatters at the thought of speaking her suspicions out loud. As hard as the not knowing was, some part of her couldn’t help but wonder if the knowing was going to be even harder to take.

Couldn’t be helped, though. If she wanted to move on with her life, she had to get to the bottom of what had happened that night, and Billy was the key.

He came back into the living room with their drinks and flicked on the gas-burning fireplace before sitting across from her on a wide, leather ottoman. His closely-cropped, golden curls seemed to glow by the light of the flames, and the memory of him cradling her in his arms like an avenging angel flickered through her mind again. Whatever her fears, he’d protected her that night. If he’d wanted to hurt her, she would have known it by now.

“So talk to me,” he said, his perceptive green eyes searching her face. “How have you really been holding up? I know it can’t have been easy, after…”

She took a swallow from the bottle he handed her, needing a momentary reprieve. Every time she thought of that night she started to shake and had to remind herself that it was over. She was safe. And, more importantly, Chandra was safe. Everyone was all right.

With the likely exception of Tobias Wheeler.

There was no arrest report. No mention of the kidnapping in the paper. It was like he’d disappeared from the face of the earth. She hadn’t heard of, or from, him since that night. And, judging by the fury on Billy and his friends’ faces when they left her house that night, she would be surprised if she ever did.

A shiver ran through her as she locked gazes with Billy.

He might not be a threat to her, but there was no question, he was capable of violence.

She forced herself to speak, knowing it wasn’t going to get any easier, no matter how long she stalled.

“I’ve been having nightmares. All the time. They never stop. At first they were about Tobias. His smile, that crazy look in his eyes. But then, lately…” She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear with a trembling hand and shrugged. “I’ve been remembering these dogs.” She shook her head then, determined not to soft-sell it. “Not dogs. Wolves.” She held his gaze, and tried to keep her voice steady. “What can you tell me about that, Billy?”

A strange expression flitted across his face and the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

He knew something.

Whatever he’d told her that night, there was some truth to what she was saying. She could see it in his face.

He crossed his legs at the ankles and leaned forward to set his bottle on the table between them. When he looked at her again, his handsome features were schooled into a blank mask and the tightness of his stubbled jaw had relaxed.

“Yeah, I remember you mentioned wolves that night, too. When you were delirious and we brought you back to the house.”

“Right,” she said, “and you told me I was hallucinating.” She leaned forward until their faces were just a foot apart. “Now this time, try the truth.”

The room was silent but for their breathing and the crackle of the fire. She could see the pulse in his neck leaping like mad and wondered if he was going to tell her more lies. Already, she felt like screaming at the thought.

His jaw flexed tight again, and he shook his head. “I don’t think it was a hallucination anymore.”

“Y-you don’t?” Not at all what she expected to hear. She swallowed hard, mind racing with all the possibilities. Was this man about to tell her that there was really such a thing as werewolves?

Jesus, she’d thought she was prepared, but as the blood drained from her face she realized she was most definitely not. In fact, rather than proving her own sanity, having him validate her outrageous suspicions would only make her wonder if he was crazy too.

Maybe she shouldn’t have come after all. She tamped down the desire to up and run. Leaving now would leave her right where she started. Confused, afraid and completely alone in this. It was the last part that made her stay. For the moment, she had an ally in Billy. A friend, when she needed one so desperately.

She forced herself to relax in her seat and wait for him to continue.

“Since that night, I’ve gone out and hiked a large section of the woods near your house a couple of times,” Billy said in a low voice. “I didn’t see any wolves myself, but the area was riddled with tracks in the snow. I called the local game warden and he confirmed that a pack was moving through the area at the time of Chandra’s kidnapping.”

The words took a while to penetrate through the nerves buzzing in her ears, but when they did, they gave her pause.

Could that possibly be right? Could what he was saying even remotely explain what she’d seen? She’d grown up in Montana her whole life. Wolves were a part of the culture, albeit in an abstract way for her. Some nights, when the moon was out, she’d hear them howling their mournful songs off in the distance, but she’d sure as shit never seen one in her backyard before.

“The warden believes that, due to the particularly harsh winter, they were pushed closer to residential areas to hunt,” he said, answering her next question before she’d even asked it. He took a swig of his beer and then continued. “Since the temperatures have risen a little, and the lakes are starting the thaw, the wolves have headed back deeper into the forest. I don’t think the public is in any danger, but you might want to keep an eye out until spring has sprung.”

If that were all true, it still didn’t explain why she’d seen it when Billy and his friends hadn’t, even though they’d been far closer than she had.

And…

“I saw you-” she broke off, unable to make her mouth form the rest of the words.

I saw you turn into a wolf.

She would sound like a babbling idiot, the way she likely had that night. She let her mouth snap closed and turned her gaze toward the fireplace, tears of confusion stinging her eyes. How long was she going to feel this way? Like she was standing in a dark room by herself with no exit in sight.

“Why didn’t you let me call the police that night?” she asked dully.

“We handled it ourselves, that’s why. And the less you know about that, the safer you’ll be. But I can promise you, Tobias won’t be able to hurt anyone else ever again. And I can promise you whatever happened to him was well-deserved and necessary. I need you to trust me on that.”

Billy blew out a sigh and stood.

“And I need you to trust me on this. Amber, after what you went through, I don’t think it’s any surprise that wires might have gotten crossed in your head in some form of PTSD. It’s hard to get your head around everything that happened. But I believe you saw wolves.”

He held out a hand and drew her to her feet, his beautiful emerald eyes solemn as he spoke.

“That’s why I made the effort to go and check it out myself. Now you have to give yourself a break on the details. It was dark, you’d been tied up and traumatized, looking on from afar. No one is blaming you for questioning what was real and what was a trick of light and shadow. But you’ve got to let this go. Forgive yourself for the thing with Chandra and move on.”

She wasn’t sure if it was the genuine expression on his face, or the gentle way he spoke to her, cradling her hand in his, but something had her leaning in. Moving closer to soak in his warmth and breathe in the masculine scent of his skin. He seemed to hesitate for just a beat before closing the last of the distance between them.

“Amber…” His voice was half-whisper, half-groan, and it gave her the courage to roll up onto her tiptoes and press a soft kiss to his jaw.

“I want to let it go, Billy. Help me forget. Just for a little while.” It was like being caught in a whirlpool. The closer she got, the less able she was to escape him. The pull was that strong. The desire to be close to him, that deep.

He slipped his arms around her shoulders, his eyes flashing with a raw need that had her head spinning. “This is a bad idea.”

She didn’t have a chance to argue with him on that score, because a second later, his mouth was on hers. If her goal was to forget, it was a rousing success. He was everywhere, his scent clouding her mind, his tongue addling her senses. She curled her arms around his neck and flattened herself, flush against him.