Three Hours (Seven Series Book 5) (21 page)

“I didn’t know what you like,” he said.

That made me laugh. “I’m a predator. I like protein.”

“But you’re too good for beef jerky?”

“A lady should be more refined than drooling on a dry stick of meat.”

A pickle slipped out of the burger and onto the wrapper. Wheeler pinched it between his fingers and placed it on his tongue, chewing slowly. It raised the hair on the back of my neck.

“Why did you want to come and be a part of this?” I asked.

Wheeler turned away and looked straight ahead. “Delgado is a man who needs to be stopped.”

I curled my hand around his arm and leaned against him. “Is that all?”

He didn’t answer, and I suddenly wished Reno would turn down the radio. Wheeler’s muscles tensed beneath my fingertips. I was certain he could see me breathing faster, but Wheeler made no attempts to put his arm around me. I adored his restraint, quietly laughing to myself at the absurdity of my attraction to a man who showed no interest in me. Maybe he was right; maybe I
was
a glutton for punishment. But with him I found an honesty I’d never experienced with anyone else. None of the men who had showered me with physical affection stuck around. It was only a ploy to get what they wanted, and truthfully, I got what I wanted too. I knew the game they played, and that’s one reason I’d grown cynical about love. My mama had once told me that beauty was blinding, and men were incapable of loving a ruby in their pocket. She had bewitched my father and had fallen madly in love with him, but she’d often wondered if he would have given her a second glance had she been older or less attractive.

“You sure you want to do this?” Wheeler asked.

We hit a bump and Reno fumbled with the radio.

“Are you asking me to reconsider because I’m a woman?”

Wheeler’s right hand slid over my thigh and he gave it a featherlight squeeze. “Maybe I’m asking because it’s dangerous and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“You have to say that; you’re my bodyguard.”

His chest rumbled with a deep chuckle. “Austin gave me my walking papers on that job.”

I gave him a peevish look. “Sometimes I feel like I have to beat an answer out of you.”

His eyebrow arched. “We wouldn’t want that,” he said obliquely.

Reno glanced at us in the rearview mirror as the car slowed. “Heads up, boys and girls. We’re here.”

Wheeler leaned forward and looked at the mansion in the distance. “And boom goes the dynamite.”

“What do you think he’s doing out there?” I whispered.

Wheeler laced his fingers together across his stomach. “Reconnaissance. Peeking in windows, smearing mud on his face, crawling through the flower garden, petting the dog…”

I smacked him on his knee and chuckled. We had put space between us in the backseat. I was the one who scooted away first because when Reno had glanced at us in the rearview mirror, his right eye twitched. I’m sure an exotic dancer snuggling all over the black sheep of his family was enough to raise an eyebrow, and I didn’t want to stir up trouble between the two brothers.

I’d spent years disliking Wheeler because of one incident, and while I still didn’t think he had handled himself admirably, I was discovering a secret side that Wheeler kept hidden from his own family. This man wore tattoos to cover battle scars, and despite his past fighting panthers, he had still risked his life for me.

“Do you have siblings?” he asked, breaking the silence.

“No. Panthers don’t usually have large families. My God, I don’t know how Izzy grew up with siblings close to the same age, and not even the same animal! Brave girl.”

“Crazy parents.”

“You can say that again.” I felt the urge to reach in the front seat and crack the windows; the air was growing sticky and warm. “You should at least tell Austin about your past, even if you don’t mention Ben.”

“I’d rather not talk about this right now. ’Preciate ya.”

“Perhaps we can discuss it in bed later,” I purred. “You can’t keep secrets forever. Your Packmaster needs a better understanding of where you’re coming from. You shouldn’t be shamed by something that wasn’t your fault.”

“It was my choice.”

I turned to face him. “It was your choice to save your brother.”

His lips peeled back. “At the cost of lives? There’s no justifying that.”

Wheeler’s internal conflict seemed clearer to me now. He had to deal with an ungrateful brother, but he also wrestled the demons of feeling like a murderer. Can a person justify killing another to save the life of someone they love? Cage fights were about survival, but Wheeler had already painted himself a killer.

“Family means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”

His voice softened. “It’s the only good thing I have—the only thing worth fighting for.”

“You did that in the cage, you know. Fought for your brother.”

“I murdered people!” His voice reverberated off the windows and ceiling.

I pointed my finger in his face. “You didn’t walk up to someone on the street and take their life. You and other victims—yes,
victims
—were put in a situation where you had to survive. I’m sure they were just as eager to live as you were and fought ruthlessly.”

Wheeler threw his head back. “Not the first one.” Three deep lines pressed into his forehead and he rubbed at them. “They don’t put new blood in with an experienced fighter the first time. I was caged with another wolf, and neither of us had shifted. He was just a kid. Looked my age, but I could tell he really
was
that age. He gripped the bars, screaming for them to let him out.”

“How did they get you to fight? If you were both unwilling…”

Wheeler’s hands dropped to his lap and his voice fell flat. “They threatened to kill someone in our families. They used verbal tactics to turn us against each other. When that didn’t work, they flipped on a strobe. I shifted, and they were outside the cage, prodding my wolf with electric pokers to piss him off. I could feel his confusion and anger.”

“And the other wolf?”

“He didn’t shift. I wasn’t sure if it was because he’d covered his eyes or hadn’t gone through his first change. Just as I slipped away and let my wolf take over, I remember him huddled on the slab of concrete, gripping the bars and crying.”

“
Bastards
,” I whispered. “Nothing I say is going to make a difference, but you need to put that guilt to rest. Victims always want to think they had some level of control, but that’s a lie.”

“What do you know about being a victim?”

“That it’s perceptional,” I said. “You can either live as a victim or become a survivor. The choice is yours, and it will change your life in ways you can’t imagine. Have I ever experienced anything like you have? No. But if I had lived my life as a victim of circumstance, then I might have made poorer choices. My self-confidence would be low, and maybe I’d turn tricks like some of the other girls. But I stand behind my choices and my past, and screw anyone who has a problem with it.”

A smile wound up his face, and he stared listlessly out his window.

“It’s liberating,” I pressed in soft words. “Even if your Packmaster is the only one to know, you shouldn’t continue carrying the burden of guilt. You might be surprised by what he has to say.”

“He’ll toss me out on my ass.”

“Look at what you did for Ben; do you think your brothers wouldn’t do the same for you?”

He centered his eyes on mine, pain glittering in their depths.

I stroked his cheek and pinched the hair on his chin. “I know you love him, but if Austin turns his back on you, then maybe he doesn’t love you as much as you deserve to be loved.”

“Maybe I
don’t
deserve it. Ever think of that?”

My hand slid down to his arm, and I traced my finger across the shadows of his ink. I liked the way he let me touch him even though he sat stoically, as if he didn’t deserve affection. Wheeler reminded me of the Tin Man—all rusty and impenetrable on the outside, devoid of a heart. But who could have guessed that beneath all that armor was a man capable of unwavering devotion and love? I saw it in the way he protected his pack no matter the cost to himself. Could I have done the same for another?

I wondered.

“I’ve never met anyone as dangerous and intelligent as you, Wheeler. Lexi tells me all about her brothers, and I know the kind of work you’ve done for them as well as in your past. That’s a beautiful mind to waste in that enormous head of yours.”

“I’ve never had a woman compliment me for having a big head.”

“Now
that
I doubt,” I growled sexily.

Wheeler suddenly leaned forward and gripped the seat in front of him. “Shit.”

“What is it?”

“Eleven o’clock. We’ve got company.”

Two men walked swiftly toward us—men in dark clothes with stern looks on their faces as they passed beneath a streetlight.

“What do we do?” I whispered.

Wheeler looked at me wide-eyed and suddenly gripped the back of my neck, pulling me into a crushing kiss. His tongue glided into my mouth in a velvety stroke, and the seat made a terrible sound as he shifted the weight of his body onto mine.

“Wait, not like this,” I whispered, pushing him away.

His eyes searched mine, looking like a time bomb ready to blow. The men were nearing the car, and when he turned to look at them, I straddled him and melted my lips against his.

Wheeler groaned, his fingers biting into the back of my jeans, where he held on as if he were riding a roller coaster. I shifted my hips and felt him hardening beneath me. The kiss went deeper, and suddenly I couldn’t get close enough to him. His whiskers scratched my chin, and his taste was dark and wonderful. My fingers tangled in his hair—pulling and fisting as I rubbed my body against his chest.

A fist pounded against the glass, but Wheeler ignored them. His mouth slid greedily down to my throat while lifting the hem of my shirt. Suddenly, he pulled my bra aside and sucked on my nipple.

I cried out, scraping my fingernails on the nape of his neck. I rocked my hips again, feeling a swell of desire culminating within me.

In the distance were murmurs and fading footsteps—hardly noticeable over the sound of my heart pounding against my chest or the sound his lips made as they came away from my breast before he quickly followed with a gentle bite. When I looked down and saw my nipple between his teeth and the carnal lust in his eyes, I wanted more.

His touch was electric, and Wheeler couldn’t stop running his hand over the thick curve of my hips.

I pulled back his hair and stole a kiss, whispering against his lips, “
Fuego
.”

“Huh?” he said, out of breath, not understanding I wanted him to know his touch was like fire.

The car door was wrenched open and I winked at him before climbing off. Reno got in and turned around two seconds after I’d adjusted my shirt.

His eyes darted back and forth between us. “Do I want to ask?”

Cool as a breeze, Wheeler steadied his voice and nodded toward the window. “Two of his men came up to the car. We had to throw them off.”

Reno glanced down at Wheeler’s erection. “I’d say it was a success. Look, he doesn’t appear to have any Vampires working for him. In fact, they look pretty human to me.”

“Not surprising,” Wheeler said, raking his fingers through his disheveled hair. “Men get paranoid about Vampires turning on them. Most of the big shots I worked for didn’t keep any on the premises. Fear of eavesdropping and all that.”

Reno reached into the floor of the passenger seat and pulled out a gun, turning the grip toward us. “The guard in back took a smoke break and fell asleep in a chair before I left. I saw one downstairs, two out front, and they don’t keep the back door locked. If it is, then you’ll have to search one of the guards for the key. You take the back and I’ll handle the two jokers out front. The gun is for inside use only. This is a last resort if all else fails. Naya takes the gun for protection. Think you can handle it?”

I adjusted my hair. “If one of the men in the house spots me, I have a better distraction. With you, they’ll know something is afoot,” I said, touching the gun. “Maybe you should let me go in first as a decoy. They might think the boss sent them their early Christmas bonus.”

“I don’t like that idea,” Wheeler grumbled.

Reno’s eyes swung over to his. “Why not? Sounds like a plan to me.”

I pushed Reno’s hand away. “I don’t need a gun.”

“The fuck you don’t,” Wheeler spat.

These men were too much. “Darling, I’ve got two secret weapons that will bring any man to his knees. Care to disagree?”

In the backseat of that dark Camaro, Wheeler’s cheeks flushed. He seemed aware of it and pinched the bridge of his nose, hiding his face behind his hand. “And if they make a call?”

Reno glanced over his shoulder through the windshield. “By then, we’re in. We haul ass and go through every room. When we find her, I need one of you to pull the car up front so we can get the hell out of here. Is your car fast enough?”

Wheeler patted the seat. “She’s never let me down yet.”

Reno pushed open his door. “Let’s go.”

By the time I climbed out of the car, Reno had taken off.

Wheeler grabbed my hand and we sprinted through a dense thicket of trees toward the back of the house. Delgado had money, and most wealthy men didn’t fence in their backyards. Sometimes they had low walls in the distance around the property, but usually there were acres of private land. That’s what he had, and the trees provided enough cover until we neared the side of the house. There was a large fountain making enough noise to conceal our heavy breaths.

The guard moved within sight, armed with at least two weapons I could see.

“Now what?”

“I kick some ass,” Wheeler said.

I gripped his arm tightly when he took a step forward. “He’ll see you coming. He’ll radio for help.”

“Well, kitty cat, what’s
your
plan?”

I peeled off my shirt, bent down, and tucked a leaf in my hair. “Men just love to play hero.”

Before he could argue, I jogged toward the guard, stumbling and out of breath. When he pulled out his gun, I quickly tripped to appear helpless and injured. Then I flipped onto my back, holding my chest. “Please help,” I whispered.

He peered down at me, mesmerized by the rise and fall of my ample breasts beneath the lacy fabric of my black bra. Then I heard a thwack, and his knees buckled. Wheeler had crept up behind him and smacked him over the back of the head with the butt of his gun.

I leaped to my feet and grinned victoriously.
Whee! This was fun
.

Wheeler knelt down, disarmed him, and pulled a pair of cuffs from the back of the guard’s pocket. “Well, isn’t that convenient?” He locked the man’s hands behind his back and tightened the cuffs.

“Sure you want to waste those on
him
?” I lifted my nose and sauntered around him, feeling his molten gaze on me for a fraction of a second. Then I heard fabric tearing. Wheeler held a strip of material in his hand and balled up another, shoving it into the man’s mouth before tying a gag.

“That’s not my shirt, is it?”

He winked. “Sure looks like it.”

I put my hands on my hips and feigned annoyance, but without knowing how many guards were inside, maybe a woman in a bra would temporarily stun them before they considered firing on us. It sure seemed to have worked its magic on this poor fellow.