A SEAL Wolf Christmas (16 page)

They were nearly at the tree farm when Bjornolf got a call from Hunter.

“She’s alive, Bjornolf,” Hunter assured him. “She’s groggy from the effects of chloroform, but she was speaking on her phone with us only moments earlier.”

Guardedly relieved, Bjornolf couldn’t say anything for a minute as he wheeled into the farm’s snow-covered gravel parking lot. His emotions were so raw that he couldn’t believe he—who was always in control of them on any mission, no matter the circumstances—could be so full of anger and, at the same time, so terrified he might lose Anna.

“According to Everton’s daughter, Jessica, he just drove up in a car and parked it outside his home,” Bjornolf said, trying to keep his breathing steady when he felt sick to his stomach. “He’s taken Anna in a backhoe somewhere on the farm. The girl has shifted and hidden in the woods, proving she’s one of us.”

Hunter let out his breath. “Finn has just confirmed that Anna is at the farm. Her digital cell phone was pinged, and he’s determined its latitude and longitude via GPS, so we’ve got our police officers headed in that direction. They should be there in a couple of minutes.”

Bjornolf screeched the Land Rover to a halt. “We just arrived,” he told Hunter.

He opened his door but before he could bolt in the direction that he heard the backhoe moving, Nathan, in wolf form, squeezed between the steering wheel and Bjornolf’s chest and leaped out.

Bjornolf with gun in hand—and Nathan with canines readied—raced after the backhoe.

Somewhere in the distance in the woods, the backhoe stopped.

So did Bjornolf’s heart. He wasn’t close enough yet. If Everton dumped her in an open hole, he could have her buried before Bjornolf reached her.

Gunshots rang out. He prayed the man was a lousy shot.

Vehicles started to pull into the gravel parking lot behind him. The army had arrived. Were they already too late?

No more shots rang out. The vehicle wasn’t moving, though. The engine was running, but the backhoe was standing still.

Bjornolf raced through the trees and didn’t think he’d ever make it in time. The stillness was what killed him the most. No sounds of a woman crying out in pain. No more gunshots exploding. Just the sound of birds twittering in the trees and the backhoe engine rumbling.

He bolted out of a stand of blue spruce and saw a new section where seedlings were being planted. The backhoe rested at the edge of a huge pit. Nathan was bounding around the backhoe, smelling the scents on the vehicle and tracing them to the pit.

There was no sign of Everton. Or Anna.
Hell
. Had Everton heard Bjornolf coming and run?

Where was Anna? Everton couldn’t have run off with her, not in the drugged state she was in. What about the shots? She had to be wounded, if not dead.

Bjornolf bolted for the backhoe, believing then he might see Anna rolled up in the blanket in the digger. Shot.

She wasn’t there. Dirt and chipped yellow paint. The digger was empty. He stared at it as if thinking that if he looked long enough, she’d materialize.

A groan from the pit had him pivoting and shifting his attention down into the hole. Nathan barked and dug at the edge of the pit.

“Anna!” She was standing in the mud in the middle of the eight-foot-deep hole, which was covered by an undisturbed light layer of snow in patches. She held a gun in her hand, pointed at a body nearby, a blanket on the muddy earth beside her feet.

Everton was lying on his back, clutching his bloodied chest. Blood was also leaking down his crooked, swollen, and discolored nose. His eyes closed as he groaned again.

“Anna!” Bjornolf said again, not believing she wasn’t even wounded as he fell to his knees and reached down for her.

Nathan bounced around him, whimpering and not helping in the least, his tail wagging, just as grateful to see her alive. Then he lifted his muzzle and howled. A she-wolf howled back.

“Jessica,” Anna whispered.

“Go to Jessica,” Bjornolf said to Nathan.

Anna pocketed the gun, then reached up to Bjornolf. “You’re not rescuing me,” she said, sounding incredibly tired. Still, she was forceful enough in the pronouncement, and he had to smile. “You’re
not
,” she reiterated vehemently. “You’re just giving me a hand up.”

“For the second time,” he said, reminded of having to help her in the jungle not all that long ago. “That’s your gun.” He was surprised as he pulled her up against the muddy wall, her white jacket and sweater and jeans soaking up the wet earth. He couldn’t believe Everton hadn’t disarmed her first.

She sighed, leaning against Bjornolf as if the last bit of energy she’d mustered had been to stand and shoot Everton. “We’re a mess and we have a dinner party to throw shortly for Jessica and Nathan,” she whispered against Bjornolf’s chest.

As if
that
was happening. She had to be distraught about everything that had happened, yet she was concerned about the dinner with Jessica. He loved Anna.

He remembered Hunter then. He yanked out his phone, hit autodial, and said, “She’s alive, Hunter. Everton’s in a pit, bullet in the chest.”

“Thank God,” Hunter said and Bjornolf knew he wasn’t just relieved that they’d caught Everton and that Anna was safe. This had become something personal. “Is she all right?”

“She’s great,” Bjornolf said, not about to tell him that she was a little woozy from the drug. She wouldn’t appreciate it. And he didn’t tell Hunter that
he
was the one who was feeling shaken to the core.

“I’ve got paramedics on the way. And I’m talking to the feds. Making arrangements for new parents for Jessica also, pronto. See you in a sec.”

“Okay,” Bjornolf said. He pocketed his phone but couldn’t quit thinking about how she hadn’t been disarmed. “He didn’t remove your gun?”

She shook her head. “He must have thought the chloroform would knock me out for good. He didn’t use enough to kill me, or he just wanted to incapacitate me. Either that or our
lupus
garou
healing genetics helped me to overcome it better than a human would. I thought he intended to bury me alive.” She shuddered.

“God, Anna.” The thought gave him heart palpitations.

“But after he dumped me into the pit, he got off the backhoe and came around to the trench and aimed a gun at me.” It had taken Everton a moment to realize Anna was standing, blanket tossed aside, gun in hand, ready for him. Before he could overcome his surprise, she fired first and hit him in the chest. “I recovered his weapon and it’s in my jacket pocket,” Anna said.

Bjornolf was still tense. He couldn’t shake the fear that he could have lost her. He realized then just how much Anna meant to him.

They heard sirens and Anna pressed harder against him as if she was ready to collapse. The drug hadn’t quite worn off. “The police and the feds will take it from here,” he said, lifting her off her feet and carrying her away from the pit and into a section of Douglas firs.

Three police officers hurried in their direction: Wes Caruthers and his mate, Greta, and Allan Smith, all wolves from Portland but now residing with Hunter’s pack on the Oregon coast. Caruthers had been a Texas Ranger when the unit first started out. Most of their kind had to change occupations or locations, or find a way to “die” and be “reborn,” to keep up appearances for living so long. Often, they continued to work in the kind of jobs they’d been trained for and just updated their skills as needed.

The three Portland wolves had all joined Hunter’s pack when he desperately needed loyal police officers to keep his pack members out of trouble.

Allan, with his salt-and-pepper hair, round and jovial cheeks, and green eyes, looked more like the fatherly type than a cop. But he was all business when he was doing his job.

His sandy hair graying at the temples, Caruthers said, “Finn and Hunter will be here pronto.” He looked Anna over, concern etched in his face. “You okay?”

She nodded.

He looked at Bjornolf as if getting a second opinion, probably knowing Anna wouldn’t admit she was hurt.

“She’ll be fine. Everton’s in a pit, gunshot wound to the chest, about three hundred yards that way.”

“We’ll get on it,” Caruthers said.

The three officers hurried in the direction of the pit.

In their wolf forms, Nathan and Jessica came running to join Anna and Bjornolf.

Bjornolf started issuing orders, not wanting anyone who wasn’t their kind to see them as wolves. “Nathan, go to the Land Rover and shift and get dressed. Jessica, run to the house, shift, dress, and join Nathan in the Land Rover. Until your mother comes home, you’ll stay with us.”

Bjornolf knew the paramedics would take Everton to a hospital and patch him up, and then the police would incarcerate him. The feds would investigate now because the two men murdered were DEA officers.

Jessica and Nathan raced off together. Bjornolf thought of how they were starting their new life as mated wolves amid a world of turmoil. He carried Anna back toward the Land Rover. God, he was glad to have her tightly in his grasp, alive and well.

They’d have to answer questions. She’d have to hand over her gun and Everton’s, and show the feds her credentials.

A federal officer approached them. He eyed Bjornolf with his dark brown eyes for a moment before he said to Anna, “See you’re up to your old tricks.”

Bjornolf smelled the man was a wolf and instinctively tightened his hold on Anna.

She smiled. “Yeah. Well, someone had to do your job, Yale.” She handed over her gun and Everton’s.

The guy grinned, gave her a small salute, took the guns, and waved her and Bjornolf on. “I’ll talk to you later after the drug Everton gave you wears off. In the shape you’re in, no sense in asking what went on here until later.”

Hunter finally arrived at the scene and hurried toward them, Finn in tow, looking like they were ready to take care of Anna, too.

Anna quickly said, “I didn’t need rescuing.”

Finn and Hunter looked at Bjornolf as if confirming her claim.

“Don’t look at him. I shot Everton.” She sounded proud of herself.

He
was proud of her. “She did,” Bjornolf said. “We’re going home. We’ll take the kids with us.”

“One of the other families is taking them to their place so you can… get some rest.” Hunter tried to hide a smile but wasn’t accomplishing the task.

“We were going to have dinner,” Anna said, as if she’d been programmed and couldn’t think of changing plans at this late date. “Jessica needs to have the pregnancy test.”

“You’re in no shape to have dinner guests tonight. Someone else can take her to the drugstore and pick up the test.” Bjornolf wanted to spend time alone with her after nearly losing her. He would have provided moral support to the teens if needed, but he knew others in the pack would help out. “The kids will understand.”

She finally sighed and nodded.

Hunter got the door of the Land Rover for them.

Bjornolf set Anna in the passenger seat. “Thanks.”

“Take good care of her, Bjornolf.” Hunter headed off toward the crime scene.

“I’ll fix a nice dinner and you can take a shower,” Bjornolf said as he climbed into the Land Rover. “Then if you’re not too sleepy, we can curl up on the couch and watch a movie.

“Hmm,” she said, “I’d love that.”

As soon as he’d put the Land Rover in gear, she was sound asleep.

When they finally pulled into the driveway of the cottage, Anna raised her head and turned to look at Bjornolf, her expression saying she was ready for something more than just a movie and rest. No sparring, though. Tonight, he wanted to take it easy with her.

“Did you see the hot tub in the bathroom?” he asked.

After they parked at the cottage, Bjornolf lifted Anna from the vehicle before she could attempt to climb out. “I can walk,” she said, more amused than annoyed.

“You’re all muddy. You’ll get the carpet dirty.” He gave her a devilishly raised brow, as if he was waiting for her to argue with him.

“That
better
be the reason,” she said in her most serious voice. “What about you?” He was all muddy, too.

He smiled and lifted her out of the car. “
I
wasn’t in a mud pit.”

She unlocked the front door for him and he carried her inside.

He set her down on the tile floor, then crouched to remove her boots while she rested a hand on his shoulder to keep her balance. He leaned down to untie his boots and pulled them off. Standing, he reached over and locked the front door, and then he said, “Ready?”

Smiling, she hadn’t moved an inch from the tile floor, hoping he’d carry her. She kind of liked this treatment.

Amusement lit up his face. “Good.” He lifted her in his arms and headed for the laundry room.

Laundry
room.
She hadn’t thought of that. “Good thinking.” They could ditch their filthy clothes there, and
then
retire to the bathroom.

He flipped on the light.

A mint green, navy blue, and white braided rug ran the length of the terra-cotta tile floor. Windows made the room seem bigger. A slate hand-painted sign hung over the washer and dryer, picturing a pair of jeans, a sock, and a teddy bear drip-drying on a clothesline and proclaiming: “Everything eventually comes out in the wash.”

Yeah. Except for
this
time, she was afraid. She fretted that they’d get mud all over the place in here, too. And then there was all the stuff they were dealing with—Jessica and Nathan’s mating not the least of it.

A braided country rug of a goose and a gander eyeing each other sat on top of the dryer. White cabinets hid laundry detergents and bleach and the like. A shelf holding baskets to sort clean clothes sat above the washer and dryer and sink.

He set her down on the rug, and she was glad at least her socks were clean. Her pant legs were another story.

He stripped off his black sweater and threw it in the washing machine. “Are your jacket and sweater machine washable?”

“Yeah, delicate cycle for the sweater, regular for the jacket, and neither can go in there with your black sweater. They’ll need tons of bleach. Even then I’m not sure bleach will get the mud stains out.”

“Okay.” He fished his sweater out and tossed it in the sink between the washer and the dryer.

She pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and placed it on the shelf above. Thankfully, she’d found it in the blanket that she’d dropped in the muddy pit.

Bjornolf took her jacket and slipped it in the washer.

She removed her holster and set it on the shelf with her phone. “We could clean yours in the machine and soak mine in the sink for a while.”

“Ladies first.”

“Hmm,” she said, biting her tongue.

He slipped off his charcoal gray shirt and hesitated.

“Sink,” she said.

He tossed it in there.

She sighed. “We could have washed more at one time if we’d taken care of my sweater and jacket later.”

He shook his head and considered her sweater again. “I love it on you.”

“Thanks. It
was
my favorite.” She appreciated the way he had observed her in the sweater, like he wanted to get his hands on her and kiss her all over.

He helped pull it over her head and added it to the jacket in the washer. He touched the dirt streaking her skin. His touch was gentle, his expression dark and contemplative.

Suddenly, she didn’t really care if she was squeaky clean or not. Or if Bjornolf was. She didn’t want to think of what might have happened. Only of where they were now. Muddy, sure, but alive and well. And hot for each other in the laundry room of a cabin retreat. That’s all that really mattered.

Before they could focus on keeping things clean, they were kissing, tongues and lips colliding. He fumbled with the fastener on her white bra while his tongue was teasing hers and her fingers were unbuckling his belt. The bra went sailing and ended up inside one of the sorting tubs on the shelf above.

His large warm hands slid over her breasts, making them swell, her blood heating. Her hands took measure of his chest, feeling the ripple of muscles, his nipples hardening, his stomach tightening. Somehow they managed to get out of their jeans. She thought her white panties went into the sink when they were supposed to go into the washing machine, but when she glanced in that direction, she saw them hanging off the sign, the teddy bear peeking through the silky fabric.

His white boxers landed on the floor. He lifted her onto the top of the dryer. They weren’t going to make love in here, were they?

He saw the hesitation in her expression, and he spread her legs and moved in close to her. His gaze held hers, and she swore his amber eyes were a little misty. Dark with lust, but misty.

He took her face in his hands and rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs. “I thought I’d lost you today, Anna.”

She thought of making a smart-ass reply because she didn’t want to feel the emotions that were swirling through her—the fear of losing him, of leaving him behind—but she knew what he must have suffered.

She took his hand and kissed the palm. “I wasn’t giving up.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s what I love about you. If I’m not there to protect you, you’re going to do it yourself.” He smiled slightly. She could tell he was damn proud of her for being able to stay alive on her own.

She smiled. That was the end of the serious discussion as far as she was concerned. “Here… or in the bath… or in the bed?”

“In the living room,” he said, his hands stroking her breasts, his eyes focused on them now. He looked up at her to see her expression when she didn’t say anything.

“With the Christmas tree lights on, a fire going, and a wild sword fight on the TV. What could be better?” he asked. “When I saw you standing in front of the Christmas tree after we’d hung the lights, that’s all I could think of. If Nathan hadn’t been in the guest bedroom, I would have made love to you next to the fire.”

She loved the idea. “Sounds like a deal.”

He went over to the sink and took a cloth from the cabinet, then warmed the water and added a little hand soap to it. “We’ll clean up a bit first.”

The cleaning up involved a lot of kissing, her mouth on his and on his neck and shoulders and throat. His mouth kissing her back, then moving down her throat to her breasts. Her hands combed through his hair, while one of his hands massaged a breast and the other ran the wet cloth over the streaks of mud on her belly. Cleaning off dirt had never taken this long or been this erotic, she thought as he rubbed his stiff cock against her leg.

After they’d cleaned themselves, he tossed the rinse rag into the sink, lifted her off the dryer, and was about to carry her into the living room when she said, “No. Go get the fire going, and I’ll start the wash.”

He sighed and set her on the floor. “Don’t take too long.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Keep it warm for me. All right?”

“I’ll be ready.” He gave her another searing kiss and then took off as if he was in a race. She started the wash and then filled the sink with water to soak the rest of their garments. She snagged her underwear and his, tossing them into the machine. Their jeans had managed to land on each other—his on the bottom, hers on top, pinning his to the floor. She smiled at the image that brought to mind. She threw them into the sink.

By the time she was finished and walked into the living room, the dark room was filled with the soft twinkling lights on the tree, the reflection sparkling on the round, multicolored Christmas ornaments. The fire had just begun at the hearth, but what really stole her attention was that he’d moved the coffee table out of the way, and sitting in its place was the sofa’s foldout bed.

He was bent over the bed as he covered it in red-and-white, candy-cane-striped bedsheets. She studied his gorgeous ass. Perfectly muscled like fine art. “Are you going to climb into bed, or just ogle me?” He looked over his shoulder at her with a smug smile.

She laughed, gave him a pat on the butt, and meant to climb onto the bed, but he tackled her. In that instant, the imagery of her jeans straddling his faded and a new one came into mind—his hot, naked body straddling hers.

She grinned. “I thought we were going to do it on the floor.”

“You deserve soft.”

“I want hard.” She stroked his cock, as aroused as before. “What made you so hard?” She was curious, not thinking he could have remained that way all that time.

“You,” he said, “just thinking of you on the sofa bed with me like this.”

There were no more words after that, just the sound of the wood crackling in the fireplace, their hearts beating wildly, and their breaths ragged. The lights sparkled softly in the room, and the scent of the sweet-smelling soap they washed themselves with filled her senses.

Everything else was touch.

The heat from Bjornolf and the fire warmed her as his fingers stroked her clit, making her hot, wet, and eager to have him finish her off. His tongue teased a nipple, his other hand cupping a breast.
Faster.
She wanted him to stroke her faster. She touched him, too, wanting to reciprocate the pleasure he was giving her. She caressed his buttocks, loving the hard feel of him. She reached between them and stroked his cock. He was rigid, throbbing, engorged, and ready for her. He groaned and rubbed her faster.

“Yes,” she said in a hushed voice, as if anyone would hear them out here on the coast. Only the sounds of the ocean waves striking the beach and the wind blowing snow off the pines were audible. No other cottages were close by—just wild nature and two hot wolves.

She arched as he dipped a finger inside her, then continued to assault her senses with his strokes. Her breathing grew shallow as she felt herself lifted heavenward. So close, so close, she was almost there as he pulled at her nipple with his teeth in a gentle tug.

The climax hit, sending her senses reeling, and she loved him with every cell in her body.

“OhGodIloveyou,” she said in one string tied together, trying to capture her breath. Was that the first time she’d made the declaration of love to him?

She saw the expression in his lust-filled eyes change a little. Surprise, she thought.

Hell. She loved him.

***

Blood had rushed straight to Bjornolf’s loins as soon as he had carried Anna into the house. She needed tender, loving care, and all he could think of was getting her naked and making love to her. He’d craved having her from the moment he got up that morning and saw the way she was snuggled under the covers.

After nearly losing her, nothing else mattered but loving her, feeling her in his arms, all around him, while he buried himself deep inside her.

She came and exalted in it, and he wanted her to come again, only this time while he was submerged in her sweet, wet heat. Her declaration of love smacked him right in the solar plexus, and he couldn’t have been more surprised or happy about it.

Anna clearly worked out. She had well-toned muscles and used them to her advantage during lovemaking, arching her pelvis to capture him more deeply. She wrapped her legs around him as if she wasn’t about to let her prisoner go no matter what, tightening them like a glove around his cock. He couldn’t get enough of her. She was hot, wet, and snug. Her tongue played with his in a loving, fun-hearted way as her hands traveled all over him… first on his ass, then digging into his back and his shoulders, and then combing through his hair.

He suckled on a nipple and enjoyed its rigid contour. He treasured the way he made her gyrate underneath him and moan. He massaged the other breast, loving the softness, the size, the sexiness. All the while his cock penetrated her deeper, plunging, the couch bed squeaking as it rocked with his thrusts.

Through a haze of passion, he felt her come again, her inner muscles clenching in climax, her soft moans driving him on. She buckled underneath him, and he couldn’t hold off any longer, the pleasure sucking him in. At the breaking point, he held his breath, and then he came inside her, thrusting until she’d milked him for everything he had.

“Anna,” he breathed against her hair as she wrapped her arms around him, keeping him on top of her.

“I’ve changed my mind,” she whispered.

He studied her for a moment, not knowing what she meant.

“Let’s skip the movie and just… cuddle, like this.”

“I need to feed you.”

“You’ll cook?”

“Of course.”

“I’m glad you cook.” Then she sighed. “But I’m not hungry right now.”

He was, but he wouldn’t leave her for the world if she didn’t want him to. Instead, he rolled off her and tucked his arm under her head, his hand caressing her breastbone as he stared up at the ceiling. He kissed her forehead, then said quietly, not wanting to disturb her if she was falling asleep, “It’s nothing we have to decide anytime soon, but…”

She took a deep breath. “We have to decide where we’re going to live.”

“Right.”

“What do we do about Nathan and Jessica?”