Find out if anyone had been getting some extra monthly pocket money. And if anyone’s been throwing around more money than usual, or has let anything slip.”

“What about this business with Larissa’s former mate?”

“He’s a dead man.”

Jake nodded. “The red pack won’t like it that you took his mate, then want to fight him for Lelandi.”

“Then they shouldn’t have allowed the bastard to beat on their women.”

Jake set the letter on the desk. “Larissa says there’s someone else—”

A rapid knock sounded on the door.

“Come in,” Darien said.

Tom shoved the door open, his eyes excited. He grinned.

“Why aren’t you watching—”

“Uncle Sheridan caught that copper-hooded guy skulking around the leather goods factory again. He sure didn’t get far.”

Darien nearly knocked his chair through the wall he got up so fast.

Tom quickly added, “You can’t talk to him.”

“Why the hell not?”

“He’s a real fighter and the boys got so riled when they tried to subdue him, they knocked him unconscious.

Doc said it would be several hours before anyone could question him now.”

“Can’t anyone do anything right? Who’s watching Lelandi?”

“Sam’s watching her.”

“Whatever anyone does, don’t let her know we caught the guy.”

Tom’s face fell. “Mason told both Sam and me in front of her.”

“Shit.” Darien stormed out of the office, expecting to find a hysterical Lelandi like she’d been in the car when they’d first gone after the man. Instead, he found her quietly sitting on the couch, staring at the coffee table. Which worried him more than when she was misbehaving.

Darien crouched in front of Lelandi, trying to use his most persuasive tone of voice. “Who is he?”

She looked up at him, eyes glaring. “He’s my mate.”

Swearing under his breath, Darien rose to his full height. “Doc examined you and found you’re a virgin, so try another story.”

Sam and Darien’s brothers chuckled, but Lelandi’s cheeks grew sunburn red. “Who the hell gave him permission to examine me?”

“Doc doesn’t need permission.”

“You arrogant bastard! You thought I wanted you and so you made sure I was available?” she screamed at him.

Everyone was deathly quiet. How could one little woman change the whole scenario around so that he was defending himself now?

“Like hell I did,” he growled.

“Well, sorry if I don’t believe you.” She rose from the couch, shoved him out of the way, and headed for the stairs.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“To get dressed!”

Darien stalked after her. “You’ll tell me who the guy is who accosted you.”

“Ask him, if he comes out of the coma your men put him into!” She stomped up the stairs.

Blowing out his breath, he stomped up the stairs after her and followed her into the guest bedroom.

Lelandi stiffened her back, whipped around, and glared at Darien.

For a moment, it was a standoff, Darien standing in the doorway, face red with barely repressed anger, and Lelandi’s feelings just as hot. Then he closed the door and a trickle of fear ran through her veins.

He had the look of a feral wolf—angered, cornered, only she was the one he was backing into a corner when he stalked across the carpeted floor in her direction.

His eyes darkened, his gaze intent, determined.

“I won’t tell you who he is no matter how much you try to intimidate me.”

His grim lips almost seemed to smile, but they didn’t exactly either. She wouldn’t give in to him though. The powerful gray pack leader had a lot to learn about a stubborn red female.

“Back off,” she growled as soon as he invaded her personal space.

He grabbed her shoulders, watched her expression intently. Did she look as terrified as she felt? Or did she put on a good enough show to hide the way her insides shook?

She knew what he wanted, what she assumed he’d craved the first time he saw her, to touch her, to kiss her, to love her—but not her, damn it. Rather, her sister.

“You don’t want me.” She meant to speak firmly, angrily, but the words came out breathlessly, almost desperate.

“You’re not mated, Lelandi.” His thumbs kneaded her shoulders in a sensuous caress, his fingers still gripping her. He leaned over and nuzzled her cheek with his smooth face. “Larissa was mated, wrongly, but still mated, and she was not the one I dreamed of loving under the pale light of the moon, naked in the woods.”

The feel of his heated skin against hers set her blood on fire, but the realization he made love to her sister, calling her by the same name…

“Don’t fight me,” he whispered against her ear, his breath warm, his tongue tickling the sensitive lobe. “Tell me about your dreams.”

Chapter 14

LELANDI MEANT TO SHOVE DARIEN AWAY, BUT SHE TOUCHED his waist tentatively instead, wanting to rip off his shirt and run her fingers over his bare chest, his face, to caress every inch of him while he touched her—just like the man had done with her in her fantasy world. She wanted to be sure he really wasn’t the man in her dreams.

Yet liquid heat pooled between her legs and fire filled her belly. No lupus garou had ever smiled so sexy-like; none had ever set her blood afire like he did.

“It’s…” She meant to tell him it wasn’t right. He didn’t really want her, just wanted to recapture the love he’d lost with her sister.

But he covered her mouth with his and stopped her objections. Kissed her—like she was the last woman on earth and he’d been deprived for years—greedily, hungrily, unabashedly.

Her heartbeat quickened. Now that she was no longer in pain or on medication that dulled her senses, she recognized the feel of him, the firmness, strength, the subtle way he touched her, claimed her, only it was so much more real. The beating of his heart sounded in her ears, the heat of his body burned at her soul, she tasted the sweetness of his lips, smelled the musky scent of him. He was her lover, his face no longer hidden in the shadows of her dreams, but genuine, his expression filled with hope and sexual craving.

Touching his tongue to the seam of her mouth, then penetrating, exploring, teasing her tongue with his, he pressed his advantage. And she let him, cherished the feel, but couldn’t give in to the lust. His fingers roamed over her arms, tracing the skin, sending trails of tiny caressing sensations up and down, while her fingers remained cemented to his waist. She was afraid to touch him further, afraid to lead him on when she knew what they were doing was wrong and no good would come of it. Bruin and Crassus, her brother even, would not permit the union between the gray and her.

He maneuvered her away from the wall toward the bed. Not good, yet she didn’t want to stop him. Her reluctance to encourage him didn’t seem to faze him. He kissed her jaw, then swept his tantalizing mouth down her neck, licking a trail to the hollow of her throat.

She melted. Not being able to stand, she collapsed on her butt on the bed. “We shouldn’t…”

He pushed her knees apart making her feel vulnerable, exposed to his desires. He moved between her legs and reached for the first button on her shirt, but she seized his wrists.

“I want to make sure you’re healed, Lelandi.”

“I am,” she said, still holding tight, having to stop this madness.

He smiled and the look was pure devil. “For what I want to do.”

She frowned. “I meant, I was healed. That’s all. You don’t have to look.”

“Doctor’s orders.” The devilish gleam intensified in his darkened eyes.

“Liar!”

“Why didn’t this Bruin select a mate for you earlier?”

He pulled his hands free and finished unbuttoning the shirt, then slipped it off her shoulders.

His gaze focused on her nudity, an appreciative gleam in his eyes, and her skin flushed. “I told you. He thought my temper was too volatile.”

“Try again.” Darien pushed her back against the mattress. Straddling her leg with his, he leaned against her, his arousal hard against her thigh as his finger outlined the tip of her breast, then the other.

Her body tingled, her nubs peaking to the barest of his touches, and a moan welled up from deep within her throat. She couldn’t fight the attraction she had for him even if she wanted to.

“Tell me the truth. You’d never come into a wolf’s heat, had you? Not until we mated in our dreams. Not until you became mine. Come to me, Lelandi, like you do in my dreams.” Darien kissed her forehead and waited, watching to see her reaction.

She studied his heavily lidded eyes, the look of lust filling them. “It was only a dream,” she insisted. “But Larissa knew I’d had the dreams of… of a man who was Adonis reborn.”

“Adonis?” He gave her a wicked smile.

She pursed her lips. “He’s extremely handsome.”

“He looks like me.” He unbuttoned his shirt, leaving it hanging open.

She looked at his chest, and yes, the corded muscles, the smattering of dark hair stretching down to his waistband, the bronze skin that took her breath away whenever she spied him in the woods of her dreams… She wanted to reach out to touch him, to feel his skin sizzling beneath her fingertips.

“Why didn’t you tell me we’ve been dream mated?”

Her gaze shifted to his eyes. “I never saw his face.”

He frowned, cupped her face, and thought for a moment. “Ah. Because I’m the one who has the gift. But you pick up on some of it because you’re my soul mate.” He pressed her hands firmly against his chest. “Do you remember the beating of my heart? The way I feel? The way my mouth feels against yours? Lelandi, you were always the one. The first time I came to you, someone had called your name and in your dream state you had mouthed your name, trying to make sense of it, unable to wake fully. You said your name against my mouth again. But I could never learn your last name.”