She tapped his arm again. “Stop that, you’re certainly not to blame. I’d forgotten about the danger myself, not realizing anyone knew who I was. It’s my fault I got you into this mess.”
What a ridiculous conversation. Shaun grinned, his jaw aching. “Well, now that we both got that bit of whining out of our systems… No more blame, except where it belongs—on the shits responsible.”
The pressure restricting his hands vanished, and he brought his arms forward with a groan as the blood hit his fingers and flowed into the fatigued muscles.
“Are you okay?” Gem dropped the ropes to the floor and rubbed his arms gently, avoiding the rising bruises from where he’d been beaten. He’d never been so humiliated. Of course, three on one weren’t good odds, but still.
“I’ll be better once I shift—but first, let’s take a look around. It doesn’t sound as if we’re in a huge rush.” He stopped her before she stepped away. “I meant after I kiss you. Insane woman.”
He caught her cheeks in his hands, cradling her face tenderly before lowering his lips over hers. Gem wrapped her arms around him and pressed closer. Their contact wasn’t sexually frantic, but needy. Wanting. An affirmation of being together and being alive.
It was a heady kiss, and they were both breathing rather hard when they finished.
Gem slipped her fingers into his as they explored their prison. Near black surrounded them, making it tough to see where they were going. They shuffled forward, toes bumping into debris on the ground.
“At least it doesn’t smell too bad.”
Shaun chuckled. “That’s not always a good thing. Means there isn’t enough in here to attract animals, maybe not enough space to get in and out.”
Gem sighed. “Call me a princess if you want, but I’m glad there’s nothing dead and rotting. That would be a more than I could handle right now.”
Shaun gave her shoulder a tight squeeze. “You are more than a princess, darling, but I’m with you on that one. I’m tired enough that not even my wolf is interested in a snack.”
“Ewww, yuck.”
Her disgusted laughter was better than the frustrated one-step-away-from-tears he’d heard in her voice the moment before. Shaun tugged her deeper into the station. “Let’s find somewhere to crash. It’s been a long, long day, and we might have better luck seeing what we’re doing in the morning.”
“You sure we shouldn’t keep going tonight? Because I can, if we have to.”
He peeked around the corner of a doorframe, the second one they’d come to. This time the door was intact and not hanging half off its hinges. A single cot and chair were tucked into the room.
“Ah, the penthouse suite. Here we go.” He walked her forward and checked the bed for strength. “At least the asshats got that part right. It’s built for shifter weight.”
Gem tugged him to the bed beside her. “Are you implying I’m a heavyweight or something, Mr. Stevens?”
He leaned back without protest. He should go look around a little more, but the mattress was calling his name. “Hell no. Only this could even put up with us doing the mambo. Not that I’m saying I want to. In fact, I think for the first time in my life I will honestly say ‘Not tonight, dear, I have a headache.’”
She smoothed a hand over his head, tenderly outlining one of his cuts. “Shift to your wolf. That will let us share the bed better. If you’re sure about waiting until the morning.”
He closed his eyes in relief. “Waiting is fine. We’ve been up twenty hours already. It’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it.”
There was no response.
Shaun peeled one eye open. “What? You never seen The Blues Brothers? I thought that was like a classic southern movie and all.”
Gem shook her head, but she smiled, shifting into her wolf as she crawled beside him. He changed as well, wrapping himself around her smaller body. The steady pulse of her heartbeat slowed almost immediately, her breathing settling. He forced himself to stay awake a little longer, using his nose, his ears to examine the building as sleep rolled closer.
There was food nearby. Water. Then nothing but dust and the fading scent of bears.
Even as sleep overtook him, he realized the idiots had no idea that they were going to get the butt-whomping of their lives once he and Gem were free. One of their kidnappers was related to a bear he’d fought in Chicken? He had the contacts to take that information to the cleaners. Mess with the Takhini wolves? Mess with a Jacobs?
Hell on earth was coming down on those bear boys in very short notice. And whatever advances they’d hoped to make in their political wrangling was going to the dogs.
Or should he say wolves?
Chapter Fourteen
Caroline dealt with another customer before responding to Evan’s summons. Just because she’d become his main squeeze didn’t mean he could order her around and she’d drop everything and come running.
Although in the bedroom? Holy Toledo, she’d take his orders, with an extra side to go. Sex with a wolf of Evan’s caliber had turned out to be something to truly write home about. It made this façade they were pulling worthwhile on a whole new level.
She knocked on his office door, then walked in without waiting for a response, freezing when she discovered he wasn’t alone.
There were two visitors. One stood against the wall, dressed in a plain dark suit. The guy could have slipped unnoticed into The Matrix. The other man was the center of attention. A Colonel Sanders type, with a neat mustache and beard—traces of silver showing against his dark skin. Even the spectacles were perfect—thin-rimmed, dignified. He rose to his feet, hands remaining folded on top of the head of a polished silver cane.
Caroline nodded politely.
He…sniffed, and she couldn’t stop the smile that escaped. Wolves didn’t seem to realize they gave themselves away in the first ten seconds of greeting anyone. That sniffing thing—it simply wasn’t a human behavior. Not that she was about to say anything to them.
“Mr. Jacobs, this is my personal assistant, Caroline.”
“She’s not a wolf.” The older man narrowed his gaze and examined her thoroughly. “And she smells like you. Whatever did you do to your face, girl?”
Caroline touched her still-swollen left eye involuntarily. Evan sighed as he came to her side. “Internal pack politics. It’s been dealt with.”
One grey brow rose skyward. “I hope the other person looks worse than you.”
Bloodthirsty wolves. Caroline smiled, showing all her teeth. “She’s in a cast, sir. My black eye is significantly less than what she’s wearing.”
Mr. Jacobs gave her a curt nod. “Good for you, then.”
Evan tugged on Caroline’s elbow. “We’ve got trouble, and I need your to help make some contacts.”
“What’s up?”
The wolf in the suit moved to stand a little closer to Mr. Jacobs as she passed him en route to the desk to grab some paper. Everything about the stiff screamed bodyguard, and if they were going for inconspicuous? Major screw-up. Not up north.
“I received a call early this morning demanding money for the return of my daughter.”
Caroline frowned. “But she’s with Shaun, isn’t she?”
Jacobs nodded. “That’s where she’s supposed to be. The caller said they also had Shaun, so it’s possible they were grabbed at some point after Gem’s bodyguard lost them.”
Caroline sat in the desk chair and glanced between Evan and Mr. Jacobs in confusion. She and Gem had spent an entire day together, and she’d never noticed a guard. During their discussion times she’d also learned a few things about Gem’s father that had pushed her hot buttons. The slight dislike factor made her less polite than she probably should have been. “There was a bodyguard? I never saw him.”