Tempted by Renee Rose

19

CAITLYN

The restof Saturday had been spent between Landry and Wade. They’d been gentle with me. Cautious. Studiously checking my skin where they’d bitten me. They’d been intense during the actual act of marking me, where they’d been wild and almost… rough. As if they couldn’t control themselves. After that, they’d been perhaps too controlled. Keeping me in bed, feeding me there. They still hadn’t been able to keep their hands off me, but now it was as if they were making love. I’d been on top with Wade, setting the pace. Landry had gone all basic and missionary.

Nothing crazy. But the orgasms. God, it didn’t matter if they were frenzied or tame. They ensured I came not once, not twice, but sometimes three times before they finished.

It was because of all this attention that I slept late Sunday morning. It wasn’t two burly, horny guys who woke me, but my cell and an annoying, bossy boss.

After I grabbed my phone from the bedside table and saw Dr. Andrews flashing on the screen, I knew this wasn’t going to be a fun call.

I sat up, tugged the sheet over me. The room smelled like sex. I smelled like sex. My muscles felt like I’d had it all night long. Which I had.

That didn’t mean I wanted to have a conversation with my boss in the middle of all that.

I grabbed the blanket off the bed, wrapped it around myself as I answered.

“Dr. Andrews,” I said.

“Good morning.”

I dropped into Wade’s reading chair in the corner, and looked out the window. Anywhere except the unmade bed where I’d been thoroughly fucked. And marked. By shifters.

“I don’t see any new targets on the monitoring program,” he said.

His words meant he was in the office. On a Sunday morning.

“That’s right. I wasn’t able to tag any yesterday.”

Or ever again.The idea of tranquilizing a friend of Landry and Wade’s, or possibly even them, made me panic a little.

“Your data will—”

“I was reminded that it’s better to have ample data on fewer sources than nominal data on many.”

Dr. Andrews was silent, so I pushed on.

“If I’m going to write this paper and publish it, then I need solid, long-term research. Continuing to tag and track new wolves is only going to… well, kick the can down the road, so to speak.”

“Are you saying you’re done with your wolf study?”

I didn’t like the tone of his words.

“I’m done with my tagging. I will write the paper from what I’ve collected.”

“My name is on your paper, Dr. Shriver.”

While I’d done all the work, he was my boss, and sponsoring the work through the grant. He’d be the paper’s headliner, that was how academia worked.

“I’m aware of that.”

“Your grant money, your time at Granger State, is dependent upon the reception this publication receives.”

I sighed, and rubbed my forehead. I was sure my hair was a wild tangle. “I haven’t thought of anything else. My dedication to the wolves is unmatched.”

Especially since I’d spent the night in bed with two of them. Even allowing them to bite and mark me. I wanted to go to see Dr. McCaffrey—Cord—and get my bloodwork done. To analyze the sample compared to before-marking. I wondered if—

“We will see, won’t we?” Dr. Andrews snapped.

“Is there a problem?” I asked. “I’ve done everything by the book. The research is thorough. Extensive.”

“And yet you are in West Springs instead of here at your office, working.”

Landry came into the room. He wore only his jeans, and they weren’t even zipped or buttoned. With bare feet, he was quiet like a cat, not the growly wolf I knew was within him.

He gave me a wink and a sly smile.

I melted. “It’s Sunday morning, Doctor,” I said into the phone, trying to stay focused on my boss and not the deep Adonis V of Landry’s that made me drool.

Landry perked up at my words, leaned against the wall, and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I shall work remotely today and be back on campus tomorrow morning. I assure you, the paper will be finished and published as soon as possible.”

It was the way Landry’s jaw clenched that let me know something was wrong. He wasn’t filling in as alpha for the pack any longer, but he was definitely the dominant one in our relationship.

* * *

LANDRY

Wadeand I heard her phone ring from the kitchen. We’d been quiet to let our mate sleep after keeping her up most of the night. We didn’t need wolf hearing to know she’d gotten a call, but it had been in our favor to pick up her half of the conversation.

Caitlyn wasn’t planning to tag any more wolves. That was good, because she’d have to go out on her own to do it. I wasn’t taking her. Neither was Wade, or anyone else from the pack. But if she went, she’d be punished for breaking one of our rules.

She knew it. Thankfully. I didn’t mind spanking her ass. Fuck, my dick got hard just thinking about how my handprint bloomed on that fair skin. Or the way her soft flesh jiggled from the impact.

“Your boss?” I asked when she’d disconnected the call.

She nodded, looked up at me from Wade’s chair. The blanket was wrapped around her like a cocoon. She was covered up to her bare shoulders.

“He’s a workaholic,” she explained.

“He’s an asshole,” I countered, not mincing words.

Her mouth fell open, then she laughed. “Yeah, he is. But he’s the one who’s sponsoring the paper. It’s his name on the top, so he wants to—”

“What do you mean, his name is on the paper? I don’t see him out here with a bag full of trackers.”

She shook her head. “It’s his name above mine. That’s how these things work.”

I frowned. “That makes no fucking sense.”

“It does if you’re in academia.”

I sighed, ran a hand down my face. What I wanted was for her to toss up her hands—and toss off that blanket—and say she was quitting her research and her job at Granger State. All of it. But we weren’t there yet. She may have let us mark her, but she still hadn’t promised to leave the human world to do her scientific research for the pack instead.

It was probably still too soon for us to even suggest that, but we had Gib breathing down our necks about her research paper. The one she still planned to write.

Dammit.

She stood, but didn’t ditch the blanket. I glared at the damned thing. “I’m not going to tag any more wolves,” she said. “You know that. So I’m going to finish my work. Get it out there.”

I stilled. This was bad. Really bad. Gib was going to lose his shit.

“You sure, sugar?” I asked.

She cocked her head to the side, her dark hair sliding over her bare shoulder. “Of course I’m sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Your research… it’s going to be a problem for the pack.” I didn’t say for us, because I didn’t want to fight with her over this.

“I’ve been working on it for two years.” She frowned, studied me. “Are you saying you don’t want me to publish?”

I dropped my arms, moved closer to her, set my hands on her biceps over the blanket. “I’ve already told you. Any population studies could change their status for hunting. We don’t want attention brought to the wolves.”

“I’m helping,” she snapped.

“You sure about that?” I countered.

“Do you trust me?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

It was as if she’d hit me with a two by four. I dropped my hands, stepped back. “Of course.”

Did I? I’d been worried all this time about her paper putting us in danger. Would I be attracted to a woman who would do that? Would my wolf want to mark someone who was a threat? Would I defend her to Gib if I didn’t trust her?

Fuck, I hadn’t. I’d wanted everything from her. Demanded it, practically. Emotionally, physically. Yet why didn’t I trust her in this? She knew what we were. She knew how we felt. How we’d all be impacted. She’d met others in the pack.

“You don’t,” she said, her voice filled with hurt.

“I—”

Wade ran in. “Gib’s pulled up. Something’s wrong.”

I heard the wheels of his truck, the slide of the tires across the dirt as he hastily stopped.

I’d been too focused on Caitlyn to notice.

Wade was gone, cutting through the house before I turned and chased after him.

Gib hopped from his truck, every line in his body full of fury. Ben flew out the other side. They stalked to the back of his pickup, where Gib dropped the tailgate.

“Another wolf’s been shot,” Gibson snarled.

I ran over, saw the grey wolf with one white paw I’d tranqed last week for Caitlyn. The bloody fur. The lifeless body.

Fuck.

“Oh my God,” Caitlyn said, her hand over her mouth. The blanket was still around her, tears pooling in her eyes. “White Paw.”

Gib turned to her. Glared. “This is the third wolf that’s been shot in the past few months. They’ve all been fucking tagged with your trackers. Every one of them has one thing in common. You.”