“Some kiss.”
The way she said it, dreamily and with intrigue, diminished his annoyance with her over the human boy.
“Did you like it?”
“It was all right,” she responded too nonchalantly — as if she were playing a role in a movie but overplaying her part a bit.
“You’ve had better?” he asked, his tone mocking.
Silence greeted him.
Inwardly, he chuckled. “Thought not.”
“I’m not going to tell you about all of the guys I’ve kissed.” She tried to squirm free, but he tightened his grip. Sighing heavily, she quit her struggles. “What happened between you and Volan?”
“He planned to tear me to shreds until you ran off. Then Volan hesitated. He wasn’t sure whether to kill me or chase you. After sc.r.a.pping with me for a couple of minutes to make a point, he took after you.”
“Were you badly injured?”
“Nothing that wouldn’t heal in a couple of days. When Volan returned home two days later without you, he was h.e.l.l to live with. After I healed, I left the pack.”
“In search of me?”
He couldn’t reveal that a feminine red lupus garou had brought a big gray to his knees. And he didn’t want to tell her that he not only couldn’t win against Volan, but he couldn’t locate one little runaway female red wolf. This time he didn’t answer her.
When he didn’t respond, she lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it, warming him thoroughly. “Did you see a newscast about me?”
“Yeah, Argos said it was you right away.”
She shrugged and muttered under her breath, “Could have been another.”
“Nope, had your trademark all over it.”
“I’ve never been caught and stuck in a zoo before.”
He nudged her neck with his cheek. “No, but you’ve needed rescuing before. So, how was Big Red?”
She slugged him in the shoulder, forcing him to laugh out loud. Playing with her again felt good, but he wanted more. Resenting that he couldn’t take her for his own, the powerful need to renew the good memories of their youth and to form new ones as mates strangled him. But it wasn’t his business to want the pack leader’s intended b.i.t.c.h and, worse, one who wanted a human companion.
With the need for sleep tantamount, both grew quiet; his arms securely wrapped around her, and they slept soundly for a couple of hours.
Something woke Devlyn. He sat up in bed, his heightened wolf senses taking hold. The smell of men’s cologne, the sound of a keycard sliding into a slot, and the hush of men’s voices in the hallway of their hotel suite triggered adrenaline to course through his blood at racetrack speed.
He jerked the covers aside, jumped off the mattress, and seized Bella’s wrist. Clasping his hand over her mouth, he spoke against her ear in a hushed voice; her heart beat hard and her eyes were wild with fear. “Police, I think, trying to enter the living area of the hotel suite. Get dressed.”
He shoved her clothes to her and pushed the queen-sized bed against the door. Throwing on his clothes, he turned to see Bella, already dressed in the oversized men’s garments, sliding the patio door open and running onto the balcony. Before he could reach her, she climbed over the patio railing. For a moment, she hung from the concrete patio like a monkey, swinging in the cold city jungle, a drizzle coating everything in icy wetness.
He touched her hand. “Can you make it all right?”
“Yes,” she whispered, her amber eyes darkened.
She dropped to the gra.s.sy ground shimmering with water droplets. Devlyn jumped down next to her and grabbed her hand. When he started to lift her, she objected.
“You’re not wearing shoes, Bella. Let me do this my way.”
“All right, boss, do it.”
Black as night, Devlyn’s eyes studied her for a moment. “It’s about time you said so.” His voice was hushed but different than Bella had ever heard it. Before she could further consider the change in his mood, he lifted her in his arms and ran across a road, the feel of his virile strength feeding her own. Skirting to the backside of an apartment complex, he headed for an SUV.
“I hope it’s yours.”
“Rental. We had several, figuring we’d give the police a good chase with all of us going in different directions. We kept this one here in case anyone discovered us at the hotel.”
Releasing her, he unlocked the vehicle’s doors with the click of the b.u.t.ton. “I have a change of clothes for you in the backseat. Put them on while I get us out of here.”
After she slipped into the back, he took the wheel and drove out of the parking area. Unzipping the bag, she pulled out the contents — a sc.r.a.ppy pair of red lace panties, a bra the same color, a pair of pale blue running pants, a sweatshirt, and socks and sneakers, trimmed with hearts.
“Who picked out the red sc.r.a.ps of lace?”
“Tanner.”
She laughed at the thought of Devlyn’s cousin, always playing the bad boy role. “Figures. He always did have a thing for red.”
“If you don’t like the color, you don’t have to put them on.”
“Go without?”
He glanced at the rearview mirror, his eyes smoldering.
She clicked the bra closed in front and frowned. “It’s a pushup bra.”
“Didn’t need anything pushed up,” he said, his voice ragged. “But it suits you.”
“Watch your driving.”
“Can’t help the distraction,” he growled.
h.o.r.n.y and frustrated, he acted like Big Red at the zoo. She pulled the rest of the clothes on and climbed into the front seat. “I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on those cops at the front door.”
“You were still recovering from your harrowing experience at the zoo. How do you feel?”
“Like I’ll have to take another nap later on.”
“Want to crawl in the back and sleep for awhile?”
“I couldn’t right now. My skin’s still p.r.i.c.kling from nearly getting caught.” She ran her hands over the running pants, wiping off the clamminess.
“What’s bothering you, Bella?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t tell me nothing. I can tell from the tension in your voice you’re worried, and about more than the cops almost catching us.”
She turned away from him and stared out the window; a light mist drizzled down the gla.s.s pane.
“It’s nothing.”
“If you’re considering not going home with me, think again. You’re not safe on your own. Lupus garous have to stick together to survive. Loners get themselves killed. And no matter what, you can’t expose our kind.”
She glanced at him and opened her mouth to tell him off.
Tightening his grip on the steering wheel, Devlyn cursed under his breath. “Ah, h.e.l.l — trouble, straight ahead.”
Chapter Five
A roadblock. Two police cruisers sat dead ahead on the shoulder of the road. While one policeman spoke to the driver of a compact, another eyed Devlyn and Bella’s approaching SUV.
Despite the car’s heater running on high, a chill ran down Bella’s spine, and she involuntarily shuddered. “Maybe they’re just looking for drunk drivers.”
Devlyn shook his head. “We can’t risk that they aren’t looking for us.”
“They’ll recognize us, won’t they, if they get a good look at us?”
“Yeah, I imagine so. Thompson probably gave them a rough description. That long, red hair of yours will be a dead giveaway.” Devlyn turned down a side street before they reached the checkpoint and switched off his headlights. “Hold on tight. Someone will probably check us out because we avoided the roadblock.”
She swallowed hard, not liking the situation at all. “See the carport in front of those apartments? Pull into a vacant slot. A police helicopter searching from above won’t see the SUV then.”
“I’m more concerned about the ones looking from the ground.”
“Do it, Devlyn.”
He grunted. “What happened to my being the boss?”
“You can be the boss later, stud.”
He turned to look at her, his eyes darker than usual, his expression surprised. She sensed her new nickname for him pleased him in a sensual sort of way, and her own body responded as the ache returned between her legs.
“Let’s try to find an apartment where no one’s home and get some more sleep,” she suggested.
“I hope you’re right about this.” He turned into the two-story apartment complex and parked underneath the metal carport.
“We probably couldn’t outrun them. But if they didn’t see us pull in here, they’ll probably keep driving and — “
A police car approached and Bella and Devlyn ducked down.
Seconds pa.s.sed. The vehicle continued down the road, its engine rumbling slightly.
Devlyn peered out the windshield. “They’re still going. If they come back to check the parking lots, they may find the SUV, especially if they caught sight of the license plate before we turned down the street perpendicular to the one where the roadblock was set up.”
She climbed out of the vehicle, glad the police hadn’t noticed the wet drizzle on the vehicle when the ones parked next to it were dry as the desert. “You don’t have to come.”
“You’re not running away from me again.” He slammed his door shut.
“Oh?” She darted across the parking area in the thickening mist, and he dashed after her, catching her wrist with a vice-like grip. She would have loved his possessiveness if he’d wanted her for his own. But no, he was keeping her from running away so he could turn her over to Volan. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
“When did I ever run away from you?” Dropping down behind a razor-toothed holly shrub, she listened for sounds in the apartment.
“When you left Colorado,” he said, his harsh tone hushed while he crouched beside her.