Her feelings for Hugh were true, honest, life altering. She’d realized over the past forty-eight hours that discovering who Jason’s killer was and why he’d died wasn’t as important as figuring out how to save Hugh.
She’d risk her life to save his, and get to the bottom of the Wolf Seekers’ vengeance on the Night Runners.
The numbers on the clock flipped to 8:30.
She had less than twenty-eight hours.
Chapter Fifteen
One emergency after another befell Hugh and he hadn’t had a moment to spare since Tess walked out on him. He hadn’t gone to San Diego. Hadn’t had more than ten minutes to talk to Trey. Hadn’t had an attempt made on his life.
Where was she?
He sat at his desk logging in the day’s flights and wished like hell he could stop thinking about her. Stop remembering her taste, her scent. Stop remembering how his life had more meaning with her in it. No matter how hard he fought it, he couldn’t shake her from his head.
Or his heart.
It was pointless trying to explain away his feelings. He’d tried rationalizing it was because she’d saved his life. But that wasn’t it. He’d fallen for her the minute he’d laid eyes on her across the crowded bar. A force positively lethal had slammed into him, causing every hair on his body to stand on edge, and he knew—knew—she was his mate. His body had never reacted with such keen awareness, such desperate need, to anyone before. She’d sucked the air right out of him, taken his senses and wreaked havoc with them.
He didn’t want to love her. He didn’t want to love anybody. He saw what love did to his brother. Yet he couldn’t help it.
When he looked down at the papers on his desk, he noticed his notations looked like chicken scratch. Writing anything coherent wouldn’t happen as long as his brain was stuck on Tess.
Before Gavin had left a half hour ago, he’d tried to convince Hugh to leave for his vacation, take the next week off, head to the Rockies and forget about all the shit clogging his head. His partner had used those exact words, reading Hugh like an open book. Never before had anyone seen through his exterior, not even his brother. Which meant Tess had infiltrated every cell of his body to the point he couldn’t pretend it didn’t matter that he missed her something crazy. That he didn’t want another minute to pass without her by his side.
For a guy who prided himself on not needing anyone, that was a heavy-duty admission.
The pen in his hand snapped in two, and with a low growl, he reached for another. Maybe the vacation was a good idea. If anything could get his mind off the heartache he suffered, it was time spent in the mountains. Running. Running until his lungs burned. His legs shook. His goddamn head cleared.
I’m a fool if I think I’ll ever shake her. She lives inside me. Always will.
Maybe it wasn’t too late to go to San Diego and find Dobson. He needed to remind himself he had the pack to look after. While things had been quiet the past two days, that by no means meant trouble wasn’t still lurking. In the back of his mind, he sensed sooner or later the Wolf Seekers would strike again. Whatever goal they were after, they hadn’t reached it yet, and the more information Hugh had, the better prepared he and his pack would be. That meant finding Dobson was as important to him as it was to Tess. There was a connection there he didn’t understand, and before he left to go anywhere, he needed to figure out what that was.
His phone rang. He startled and broke another pen. “Langston.”
“Hugh, it’s Trey. You got a minute?”
He did, finally. “Yeah. What’s up?”
“I’ve got some more information on Dobson.”
“Shoot.” Perfect timing, he thought. Did the information concern Tess as well?
“There’s some sort of meeting going down in San Diego tomorrow night. I’m not sure who all the players are, but my source tells me Dobson will be there. Supposedly, he’s playing both sides and hell if anyone knows why. It’s also very likely that the name Dobson is an alias used in connection with the Wolf Seekers. Because of that, I can’t confirm if he’s wolfen. At any rate, the hotel information I gave you before is accurate so I thought you should know.”
Hugh knew Dobson was a wolfen. Tess wouldn’t make a mistake about that. “Thanks, Trey.”
“You going to head down there?”
“I am. You keep an eye on things here.” Every instinct told him Tess would be at that meeting, and if she were there, he’d be there too.
“Will do,” Trey said with confidence.
Hugh appreciated his apprentice’s dedication to the pack. The younger wolfen took things seriously, understood loyalty and was bound by his word. Hugh trusted him, had faith in him. “I’ll be back sometime Saturday to check in.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks.” He disconnected the line and stood. His fingers punched in directory information on his cell. Two minutes later, he had a reservation at the US Grant Hotel. He took the only room available—a suite. If he left now, he’d be in San Diego before midnight, get some sleep, and get to work on uncovering the mystery behind Dobson first thing in the morning.
He closed up his office, headed into Gavin’s, and left his partner a note. On his way to the reception area, he caught a scent that nearly knocked him to his knees. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, his heart rammed into his chest, every tired bone in his body woke up.
Tess.
She sat on the couch wearing light blue jeans and a white T-shirt with some flowery design on the chest. Her posture was stiff, her legs planted at a ninety-degree angle. Her hands were folded in her lap, and her sinfully beautiful lips were trembling.
Electricity stroked the air between them, the energy in the room enough to ignite a flame. The vibe had his blood bubbling, his desire for her skyrocketing. Seeing her again confirmed everything he feared. He couldn’t live without her.
Was she ready to live without him?
“You here on official business?” Shmuck. What the hell kind of greeting was that? A necessary one, he told himself. He needed to know her agenda so he could decide how best to approach the situation.
After a few moments of staring at each other, she said, “Yes and no.”
The best answer she could give under the circumstances, he supposed. Circumstances he needed to know every detail of if he planned get them out of this mess.
He strode to the couch and sat down, a magnetic force pulling him to within touching distance. His hand brushed aside the soft waves of hair on her shoulder. “You left the other day without saying goodbye.”
She leaned into his touch. “Sorry about that.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Tiny flecks of green sparkled in her blue eyes, stirring passion and protectiveness inside him.
Without asking permission, he leaned over and kissed her. Tenderly. Tentatively. He’d missed the taste of her, and didn’t want to waste another second just thinking about it. She reciprocated as if she’d missed him too. Thank God.
The image of the two of them naked on his office floor flashed through his mind as her lips slowly parted. Sex had never riled him to his core as it had with Tess, and he desperately wanted to feel her soft, sexy skin rubbing up against his again. And again. And again.
“Stop,” she breathed, her hand pressing against his chest. “We need to talk.”
“Talk later.” His own breathless voice gave away his true intentions. He captured her bottom lip in his teeth and playfully tugged.
Those impossibly long lashes of hers sent a tremor down his spine. Her attention stayed on the heated shimmer he knew his eyes held. And by the nibble she gave back, he knew she wanted to do much more than talk, but her baby blues begged conversation first.