Heart of the Wolf: A Wolfguard Protectors Novel Read online

  My claws came out. If anyone had the slightest thought that I’d leave Nova’s side tonight, I’d rip their damn face off. I was about to say exactly that when a second car pulled up to the curb.

  “Okay,” Edward said. “Everbody knows their job. We’ve got five men placed inside. One at the back entrance. Stay sharp. Don’t do anything dumb.”

  The driver opened the back door and Nova stepped out. Blood rushed straight between my legs when I saw her.

  One long leg went on forever as she stepped out. She wore shiny, thigh-high black boots with stiletto heels. Her dress...it barely covered her ass. More black leather. Strapless with a heart-shaped, plunging neckline. Nova’s hair was brushed to a shimmering, black sheen. She tossed it over her head and it swung down to her waist. Siren red lips. Jet-black, false eyelashes.

  My fangs dropped and my mouth watered.

  “Easy,” Edward whispered. He tapped his hidden earpiece, alerting the men inside that Nova had arrived.

  The bouncer at the door looked her up and down and I wanted to claw his eyes out of his head. She took his offered hand and stepped up to the doorway. He pushed the velvet rope aside and let her in.

  The pumping bass of the music poured out. Strobe lights flashed. Then, Nova disappeared from view.

  “Let’s go,” I said. “Do they have eyes on her?”

  “Uh...yeah,” Roy said. His expression wasn’t much better than the bouncer’s.

  Edward shoved a hundred-dollar bill into the guy’s hand and the three of us walked into the club.

  There was a long, u-shaped bar at one end of the place. A raised dance floor took up the center with a tiered balcony above it with cages off to the sides. In each of those, the house dancers ground to the beat, swinging around poles and preening for the crowd.

  The place was filled with shifters. Wolves. Bears. Tigers. I sensed a few other lions at the far end and it made Roy’s hair stand on end. The place was a damn meat market. From the outside, other than the velvet rope, you’d never think this was anything other than a dive bar. Inside, shifters ruled.

  The flashing blue and purple lights damn near blinded me. Sounds assaulted my ears. The music. The rush of the crowd. Laughter.

  At the center of it all was Nova. She’d already found a space at the bar. A big bear shifter slid off his stool and gave it to her. He was with another woman but gave Nova an admiring glance.

  The bartender was a tiger shifter. He didn’t even bother to hide his eyes. He knew what Nova was instantly. She leaned far forward, giving him a good look at her chest.

  I tasted blood.

  “Easy,” Edward said in my ear. “She’s not in any danger.”

  “Yet,” I said.

  “You go over there and piss a circle around her, every asshole in here will know Wolfguard’s here. It’ll make them think twice about making any move at all. While that would normally be a good thing, not tonight, brother. Just cool it.”

  The bartender slid a shot glass filled with vodka in front of Nova. She pulled a twenty out of the front of her dress and slid it to him. Then, she downed the drink in one smooth, graceful movement. My jeans tightened as I watched her throat work.

  There was nothing overt, yet. The press of the crowd on the dance floor grew more intense. The D.J. picked a popular track with a pulsing beat. Nova turned and watched. There were dozens of eyes watching her as well.

  Two bears at the far end of the bar. A table of three wolves just to the left. The D.J. spotted her and his lips moved as if he were answering someone through his headphones.

  I spotted ten bouncers scattered at different points in the room. Though they scanned the crowd, they all found Nova too.

  She set her empty shot glass on the bar. The shifter next to her, another tiger, whispered to her. Nova smiled, let out a lilting laugh and nodded. Then, she was on her feet.

  Her hips swayed to the rhythm as the tiger took her by the hand and led her to the dancefloor. I saw red. He had a hand on the small of her back. He twirled her and pushed into the crowd, making a small space for the two of them.

  “Leave it, Erik,” Edward snapped. “You need to get your ass outside. You’re going to blow this whole thing. She’s safe, dammit.”

  “I’m not moving,” I said.

  My eyes darted over the crowd looking for anything, anyone wrong. Even over the noise, the sweat, the adrenaline, I could sense Nova. Her blood warmed. Her heartbeat thrummed.

  Her heartbeat. I closed my eyes. There. Strong. Pulsing. It beat in time with my own.

  My eyes snapped open. No.

  Nova had her hands above her head. She undulated in time with the music. The tiger had some dance moves. He grew a little bolder and put his hands on her waist, pulling her to him. Nova went with it. She brought her arms down and rested them on his shoulders.

  His eyes sparked with pure lust and I damn near lost it. As much as I hated every second of this, I knew my brother was right. If I acted too quickly, too rashly, I would blow our cover. That might put Nova in more danger than she already was.

  She pushed against the tiger, forcing him to give her more space. He cocked his head to the side, but took the hint. They kept on dancing.

  I saw movement from the corner of my eye. The three wolves at the table were gone. They’d separated and started to flank the dance floor. I hit Edward against the chest with the back of my hand.

  “I see,” he said. He hissed into his earpiece.

  “Just wait,” he said. “It doesn’t have to mean anything.”

  Except I knew it did.

  Two more wolves moved in from a position at the bar. Each of them zoned in on Nova.

  “They’d be stupid to do anything overt here,” Roy said. “They’re just watching her, Erik. You gotta let them.”

  Nova spun away from the tiger, tired of his lewd stares. He must have also said something to put her off. She moved toward the center of the dance floor. The crowd made way for her. She climbed the spiral staircase to one of the cages. Two male dancers reached down for her.

  “Christ,” I muttered.

  “Well,” Edward said. “I suppose that’s one way to make sure nobody misses her.”

  “It’s enough,” I said. “We’ve been here too long. I’m getting her.”

  “Don’t. Bloody. Move,” Edward said. “She’s fine. She’s good at this.”

  One of the dancers slipped an arm around her waist. Shit. He was a jaguar just like her. And, he knew damn well what she was. I saw his cat eyes flash. He nipped her ear. Nova snapped back, letting her claws out for a split second. She slashed him across the shoulder.

  He took the hint and spun away. Nova started to make her way down from the cage.

  That’s when the jaguar struck. He leaped down from the cage and blocked Nova’s exit. Licking his lips, he let out a screeching growl, loud enough to cut through the music. Most of the dancers froze where they stood.

  Nova gave me a panicked look. Edward had a hold of my arm.

  Son of a bitch. The asshole was trying to force her to shift right there in the middle of the dancefloor. Why?

  The wolves bordering the dance floor moved in.

  That’s when hell broke loose. The jaguar shifted, knocking a dozen dancers to the floor, some human. The shifter closest to him, a bear, slashed him across the side, drawing first blood.

  “I’ve got to get her out of there!” I shouted. This time, my brother didn’t try to stop me.

  I tore through the crowd. Nova was at the foot of the staircase, cornered. The bear and the other jaguar squared off. The bear would kill him. Their shift stoked the instincts of the ten or so shifters around them. Wolves. More bears. Even a couple of badgers.

  I grabbed Nova by the elbow.

  “We’re getting out of here,” I snapped.

  “Yeah,” she said.

  I shielded her with my body and muscled my way through the crowd. Roy, Edward, and our other operatives had already started to clear out.

&n
bsp; I felt the wolves at my back.

  “This way!” Nova shouted. I was headed for the front door. We were closer to the hallway leading to the restrooms. We cut through it, breaking into a run.

  We found an emergency exit at the end of the hall. Nova pushed through it with me right behind. The whole place erupted into chaos with the wailing alarm we set off. The cool night air blasted me in the face. It had started to rain.

  I heard tires screech to my left. One of the SUVs pulled up. The driver, one of our long-time associates, rolled down the window.

  “Come on,” he said.

  “No,” I said, coming to the driver’s side door. “You get out.”

  He gave me a white-faced stare, but knew not to argue. He slid out from behind the wheel, raising his hands in surrender.

  Nova slipped into the passenger seat.

  “Tell Edward I’m done doing this his way. I’ll check in before morning,” I said. Then, I climbed behind the wheel and laid a strip of rubber as I peeled away from the curb.

  Chapter Ten

  Nova

  “Erik, stop! Where the hell are we even going?”

  He white-knuckled the wheel, zipping through rain-slicked side streets and blowing red lights and stop signs. He snarled and I got just enough of a look to see his fangs were out.

  At this rate, he was going to shift behind the wheel. That was entirely more reckless than anything I’d done tonight.

  Erik took a sharp right that threw me over the seat and practically into his lap. I’d had enough. I grabbed the wheel from him.

  “Stop!” I yelled.

  Finally, something got through to him. Erik slammed on the brakes and we came to a hard stop that rocked the vehicle on its chassis.

  I grabbed the keys out of the ignition before Erik got any other crazy ideas.

  We were in the middle of nowhere. He’d taken a country road. There were wheat fields on one side. About a mile behind us, we’d passed the lone house. A quarter mile ahead, a thick line of trees loomed. Erik got out of the car and went for it.

  “For crying out loud,” I muttered. I threw the keys in the glove box and tore off after him.

  Erik clawed at his shirt. He’d worn a button-down with a stiff collar. By the time he reached the woods, he’d pulled it open. About halfway to him, I gave up trying to trudge through the soft earth in four-inch heels and peeled off my boots. Sensing my delay, Erik whipped around.

  “Are you coming?” he snarled.

  That did it. I took one boot, and chucked it at his head. It caught him by surprise and bounced off his chest. I cocked my arm, ready to throw the other boot if he gave me cause.

  “You need to calm down!” I snapped. “What the hell was that back there?”

  His eyes flashed. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, but we were both still drenched. Erik’s hair was plastered to his forehead and raindrops slid down his nose.

  “You let it go too far!” His voice boomed across the field where I stood. The woods were at his back, dark and beckoning.

  “I let it go exactly far enough,” I said. “That was the whole plan. Be seen. Draw attention. I was never in any real danger. I had a handle on it.”

  “They had their hands all over you. That jaguar...you were...he was…”

  Erik lost his words. He came to me. He pushed the hair away from my shoulder. He sniffed me and ran his thumb across my clavicle. The jaguar shifter at the bar had grazed his teeth there. It had been an invitation. One I spurned by pushing away from him. If Erik had maintained his composure, my dance partner would have backed down. We had understood each other. Besides, he wasn’t the shifter we were after. It was the wolves who’d come out to play.

  I jerked away from him. “I had it under control. You’re the one who acted like a fool, Erik. I don’t think there was a shifter in there who couldn’t figure out Wolfguard showed up. They made you, Erik. That wasn’t the plan. That was the exact opposite of the plan.”

  He snarled and snapped his jaw. He came in closer and sniffed my shoulder. I knew the jaguar’s scent was still on me. When Erik caught it, he went berserk.

  He took two steps back. His shoulders bunched. I think he tried to keep it under control. For a second at least. But, his wolf was too far gone. He shifted. His wolf burst forth.

  A low growl emanated from him. The vibration of it flipped a switch inside me. I could no longer keep my own beast under control. I shifted, letting my jaguar take the lead.

  We squared off. Erik circled me, his tail high. He growled a warning that set me off.

  I answered back. His growl was low, rumbling. Mine was quick and sharp.

  He moved around me, cutting a wide circle. I flicked my tail then went low to the ground, stalking him.

  My blood heated. Desire flooded my senses. Erik turned and darted into the cover of the woods. I hesitated for a moment. Part of me thought to turn and run as far and fast in the other direction as I could.

  But, in the end, there was never any real chance that I would.

  With a powerful, arching leap, I bounded into the woods after him.

  Erik shifted again. He stood in the shadow of the moon in a small clearing at the base of a massive pine tree. I went to him, whipping my tail back and forth.

  I rubbed the length of my body against his leg. Erik reached down and ran his hand along my spine. My fur went up on end.

  “Nova,” he whispered, his voice ragged.

  Power coursed through me. I took a breath and rose on two legs.

  We stood there, no more than a foot between us. My breasts heaved as I tried to catch my breath. I’d grown wet between my legs. It seemed as though every nerve ending in my body was attuned to his.

  Erik lifted a hand and slid it along my jaw, cupping the back of my head, tilting it until I met his gaze.

  “Nova.” My whispered name on his lips sent a shudder of pleasure through me.

  I swallowed hard. Gasping, I closed my eyes and threw my head back, parting my lips. It set something off inside of him. A new growl seemed to rip from his very soul.

  I opened my eyes.

  “Erik,” I gasped. Then, there were no more words.

  I let just enough of my cat out. Instinct took hold of me. I wanted him. I needed him. I would have him.

  Erik stood stock still as I lunged forward. I bit him in the shoulder, just where the male jaguar had teased me. Erik threw his head back. Lust colored his eyes, making them shine like a pair of blue diamonds in the moonlight.

  Mine!

  The truth of it poured through me along with my own growing desire. I drew blood. Just a little. Just enough to stoke the flame inside my heart.

  Erik’s hands came up. He cupped my elbows and lifted me to the balls of my feet. His kiss came hard, insistent. A promise. A threat.

  I took it all.

  We sank to the ground. It was Erik’s turn to bare his teeth. He grazed my shoulder with his fangs sending a ripple of heat through me. My body responded. My thighs fell open and I arched my back.

  Erik sat on his heels, watching me. Drinking me in. I writhed beneath him, beckoning him to me. My nipples peaked. I ached to have him graze me there.

  My whole being vibrated with desire. Erik put a hand on each of my knees and pressed them to the ground, spreading me impossibly wide. My hips undulated in anticipation.

  “I want to taste you,” he hissed.

  Yes. Oh, yes.

  Erik bent down and nibbled at my inner thigh. I felt his growing heat. I craned my neck to look at him. He held me still, licking his way to the center of me. I could only wait and cry out with the sweet torture of it.

  When he found my sensitive folds, light exploded behind my eyes. He flicked his tongue over me and I went rigid, my hips thrust forward, my back bowed.

  Then, he was on me. Powerful. Primal. He hooked my ankles over his shoulders.

  “Yes!” I gasped.

  More. Faster. Harder.

  Erik poised himself between my legs. I
t was then I got a full view of him. I’d seen him naked before, but not like this. At the apex of his own desire, he was huge, thick and hard.

  I reached for him, wrapping my fingers around him. I guided him toward my slick opening.

  I quivered as I felt him press against me then opened for him like a flower.

  Erik plunged himself inside of me, opening me ever wider as he went. We fit. It should have been impossible. I knew of no jaguar shifter who had ever mated with a wolf shifter before.

  As he thrust inside of me, I knew in my heart my body was made for him. I wrapped my legs around his hips, pulling him in even deeper. Spurred on, Erik redoubled his pace. My teeth rocked as we found a wild rhythm.

  I raked my claws across his back. Erik went rigid, rearing up. It was almost as if I could feel his pleasure right alongside my own. He howled.

  More. I wanted more. I wanted it all.

  A new pulse thrummed at the base of my neck. No. That was impossible. I couldn’t want him like that.

  I had never meant to mate at all. My body had other ideas. Erik’s hips hitched. He was so close to the edge. So was I.

  He flipped me over so I straddled him. From this position, he plundered me even deeper. I dug my knees into the ground and fucked him with abandon.

  Erik reached up and tweaked my nipples with just enough pressure, and it undid me. I’d meant for it to last. I couldn’t. My orgasm poured from me. Every inch of my body shuddered through it. Erik held my hips in place as I took my pleasure. Over and over, wave after wave. I threw my head back. Erik ran a hand along my stomach. He reared up and caught my nipple between his lips.

  “Baby,” he whispered. “God. You’re magnificent.”

  Nearly spent, Erik wasn’t finished with me. As my pleasure crested down, he flipped me, keeping himself firmly rooted. Though my legs felt like rubber, he positioned me on all fours.

  I dropped my head, letting my hair fall to the side. Erik let out a sharp growl. I felt his teeth at my neck. But, at the last second, he used his tongue instead.

  I dug my fingers into the soft earth as Erik found yet new rhythm. Plunging into me, he held nothing back. Once again, I had the sensation that my body had been primed for this my whole life. He stretched me in the most delicious ways. He knew just how hard to use me to bring me to maximum pleasure.