A to Zane (7 page)

He placed a hand on either side of the door frame, caging her in. He bent down so they were eye to eye.

“How about this? If you don’t get your fine ass in my room in the next five seconds, I’m going to rip the clothes from your body and fuck you against this door.”

The smile she gave him settled low in his stomach. Abby reached out and turned the door handle.

“You should’ve just said that in the first place,” she replied over her shoulder as she walked into his room.

Cheeky little minx!

Zane followed her in, and after swooping her up into his arms, he carried her to the bedroom and threw her onto his bed.

“Hey!” Abby grumbled when she stopped bouncing.

He used his claws to slice through the belts around his chest, letting the ruined costume drop to the floor before he launched himself onto the bed, landing next to her. Abby squealed and scrambled away from him as he flew at her, but Zane caught her, rolling her onto her back. He lay on his side next to her, pinning her there with a thigh over her legs, and his mouth storming hers.

Their tongues parried, each fighting for control. Zane pulled her close, letting her feel the hardness of his cock, making sure she knew the effect she was having on him.

The corset she wore prevented him from getting to taste more of her. Using a single claw he cut through the side seam, releasing the material’s hold on the treasure he sought.

“Rhea won’t be happy with you.”

“I don’t care.” He tugged at the corset until she arched her back, offering her breasts to him. He pulled the corset away, throwing it across the room.

“You’ll get spanked.”

Zane nudged a nipple with his nose; the berry stood proud asking for his attention.

“I get spanked? So do you, baby,” he promised before sucking the nipple into his mouth. The feel of her hand slapping his ass made Zane stop.

He looked up at her, her nipple still in his mouth. Zane reached down and pulled her leg over his. With a cupped palm, he slapped her ass.

“Mm.” Abby closed her eyes and arched her back. “Again,” she ordered.

Zane released her breast. He pushed up on one arm, and with his free hand, he slapped her ass again. She clearly liked to play a little rough, and that suited him perfectly.

“Is that all you’ve got, kitty?”

He raised a challenging eyebrow at her, daring her to do worse.

Abby reached out so she could run her sharp little nails down his chest and over his stomach before moving farther down to take a firm grip on his cock.

“And what do you plan to do with that?” he asked.

Abby grinned as she started to stroke his erection. Her hand felt so good, but he needed more.

“Harder, baby.” Her fingers tightened slightly but still not enough. Zane placed his hand over hers, showing her what he wanted. “You can’t hurt me.” He removed his hand.

She moved her fist, gripping him as he’d shown her, and it pulled a groan out of him.

He let his claws peek out of the tops of his fingers, reached over, and ran them down her back.

Abby sucked in air through her teeth and ground her pussy against his thigh.

For a second he froze. “Fuck it,” he swore. “I was going to be all soft and gentle this first time, but I can’t wait.” Zane rolled away from her, stripped his shorts off in one move, and pulled open his top drawer. A box of condoms he’d found in there on his arrival were like a lifeline.

It was a few seconds’ worth of work for him to tear open the packet and roll the condom on.

Abby lay where he left her.

“You ready, baby?”

“You just going to wave that at me, or you gonna use it?”

“Ooh, my God. I’m going to fuck you so hard.”

“All words and no action, I see.”

Zane reached out and ripped the shear skirt from her body. Her panties were next. He palmed her pussy, and his index finger slid into her wet heat.

“Mm.”

“You like?”

“Yeah.”

“I can tell. This…” He pulled his hand clear and tapped her pussy once. “…belongs to me now.”

Abby reared up to her knees and grabbed his head by his hair.

“Fuck me or fuck off, pussycat.”

Zane leaned down and forced his lips on hers in a crushing kiss. He moved back and pulled her hand from his hair before gripping her waist tightly, lifting her, and dropping her on her back on the bed. In a second, he was sheathed in her core.

“Feels so good.” She moaned.

Zane lay over her, the majority of his weight held on his forearms as he started to move, thrusting in and out. This first time wasn’t going to last long, but that was okay. They had the rest of the night to make up for it.

It didn’t take long before her inner walls started to shiver as the orgasm built. Zane moved faster, needing to see her come more than anything.

Abby’s body bowed as she came, mewing out her pleasure. Zane followed quickly, shouting out his release.

He leaned his forehead against hers, their breaths mingling as his arms started to give way. He dropped down, spent, barely managing to move to the side, so he didn’t crush her under him. He lay next to her breathing hard, waiting for the feeling to return to his limbs. It took a minute before he could move enough to roll away and dispose of the condom in the bedside wastebasket.

Zane rolled back toward her and pulled her close to his side, not ready to let her go even for a second. The heat from her body matched his. Together they were combustible, and he wasn’t anywhere near done with her yet.

“Wow.” Abby closed her eyes and sighed.

“Yeah.”

“But…”

“But?” Zane looked over at her.

“Yeah, totally didn’t scream your name.”

Abby closed the door and leaned back against it and then sighed. It was good to be back in her own place. When she’d snuck out on Zane earlier, she’d found her day clothes lying in his living room like a beacon in the dark. Some guardian angel, or more likely Rhea, had left them there for her. She straightened and headed to the bathroom, shedding clothes as she went.

She needed a shower and a nap, but the nap would have to wait. Work would be demanding her attention.

The hot water eased some of the tension from her shoulders. She’d run out on Zane, but she didn’t do the morning after. That’s when guys realized who they’d slept with. It never went well for her, and she was woman enough to know she wasn’t a keeper. A fact she’d accepted a long time ago. So why stick around to deal with the inevitable aftermath?

Coffee. She needed coffee. She grabbed a robe from its place hanging on the bathroom door and headed to the kitchen.

No doubt Zane would be grateful to her. This way he wouldn’t have to deal with getting her out of his place with fake promises of calling her later. Abby didn’t think he was the type to be mean. She’d met a few of those over the years.

Abby stepped into her kitchen and stopped. Karina, Laney, and Clara sat around the table drinking her coffee and eating her food.

“Whore,” Karina greeted.

Abby looked at the three grinning faces around the table and headed to the coffee pot.

“Tired? I’d be tired too if I was riding the Z train all night,” Laney said.

Abby closed her eyes and counted to ten. Would it be so bad to kill them all? Surely it would be a service to the world.

“And just so you know, I moved the gun from your cupboard, so you can’t kill us and hide our bodies,” Karina said.

Abby turned to face the grinning bitches, and they were bitches. Evil, sadistic people who…who…who…Damn it who was she kidding? She loved them.

Abby dropped into the spare chair and sipped the life-giving caffeine elixir. “So what happened?”

“What makes you think something happened?” Laney asked.

“Because all three of you are sitting around my kitchen table. Don’t tell me you’re expecting me to dish the dirt on last night because you all know me better than that. So what happened?”

She watched the three pass glances before Laney spoke.

“There was another attack on your system last night.”

“Okay. And that concerns you because?”

“Karina called Clara, who called me.”

“Again why?”

“They broke into the system, headed straight to the staff records again. They went for one file.”

“Whose? We need to make sure they’re okay.” Her tiredness forgotten, Abby became all business.

“That’s why we’re here,” Laney said.

“They went after your file, Abby. They ignored everything else and went straight for you,” Karina explained.

Abby sat back in her chair. “Me?”

“Yep, so we’re thinking you should grab some stuff, and we’ll head back to the pack house. We can keep you safe until this is sorted out,” Laney said.

It didn’t make any sense. Why would anyone start looking for information on her?

“Abs, jump to. The quicker we get you out of here, the better.” Laney got out of the chair, walked over to the sink, and emptied her cup.

Abby watched her cousin move around her apartment. Laney was so sure of herself. Her self-confidence had risen since she’d met, mated, and married Heath.

But Abby wasn’t fooled. Under all that calm reserve was the same vicious woman who’d killed the wolf shifter who’d kidnapped her a few years back.

“Thank you for the offer, but I’m staying right here,” Abby said.

Laney didn’t stop moving, clearing off the table, and placing everything in the dishwasher.

“Clara, make sure she packs enough for a few weeks. If we need anything more, we can buy it,” Laney said.

“Stay in the chair, Clara. I said I’m not going anywhere, Laney.”

The dishwasher door slammed as Laney stood and faced her.

“You will get your goddamn clothes and get in the car. This isn’t up for discussion.” Hands on her hips, foot tapping, Laney looked ready to spit bullets.

“I’m not arguing. I’m stating fact,” Abby snapped.

“Get your shit together and get in the car, or I’ll drag you by your hair to the damn vehicle.”

Abby was aware of the two shifters in the room moving back from the table. Two people who could turn into animals they may be, but even they knew better than to get in between family.

“I’m not running because some spotty-faced teenager hacked my system, Laney.”

“How do you know it’s a teenager?”

“Because no one else would have any interest in my files. The kid probably went to my info because I own the company. You really are making more of this than is necessary. I’m going to get dressed and then head to the office.”

Abby stood and headed to the kitchen door. She should have expected the dishtowel to be thrown at the back of her head. The damp dish rag landed limply on her shoulder.

“Did you learn nothing from Christophe or Alberto?” Laney snapped. “You know…The shifters who kidnapped me and then later tried to kill Clara because Heath took over the pack when it was in desperate need of new leadership?”

Abby’s own temper, usually slow to build, came roaring to life. Family had a special skill for being able to do that. “Not everything is about packs and shifters, and not everything is about you, Laney Marsterson!”

“And not everything is so sweet and innocent, Abigail Short!”

Abby dragged the cloth off her shoulder and threw it at Laney, hitting her square in the face.

“You really want to push my buttons, Abby doll?”

“Bring it on, Laney girl.”

One second she and Laney were on either side of the kitchen, and the next they had handfuls of each other's hair. Both had been taught to fight, maim, and kill by their mothers, but this was different. This wasn’t for survival. This was a good old-fashioned family smack down.

Abby knew the slap fight wasn’t pretty, and the screaming and name calling wasn’t really required. Which was probably why Clara and Karina stepped in, forcing her and Laney apart.

“You will go to the pack house, and you will be protected, or I will kill you!” Laney screamed over Clara’s shoulder.

“You know what you can do with your pack house? You can shove it up your wolf loving ass!” Abby shot back, trying to get around Karina. “This is what I do for a living, Laney. I fix problems. How would it look if, at the first sign of a personal problem, I run? I’d lose everything, and I won’t do that just because some school kid is flexing his muscle and hacking my system.”

Laney glared at her from across the room. Abby could see her mind whirling, the cogs working on a plan to make her do what Laney wanted. But Abby wasn’t one of her pack. She didn’t have to follow orders, and she’d be damned if she was going to hide when there wasn’t a real threat.

“Fine, stay here,” Laney finally snarled, pushing Clara out of the way. “But if you end up dead, don’t come running back to me.” Laney stormed out of the apartment. The door frame rattled from the force of the slammed door.

“I’ll calm her down. But, Abby, be careful, okay?” Clara said before heading after her alpha female.

Abby pulled her robe closed around her body and dropped into a chair.

“Family, ah?” Karina asked, sitting back down.

“Yeah.”

“So I have Nico working on the problem. The last analyses he ran showed nothing. Whoever this kid is, he’s real good.”

Abby nodded and stood. Time for her to get dressed and head to the office.

“Find him, shut him down, and then we can get Laney off my back.”

“Ten four, boss lady.” Karina nodded, heading toward the door.

Once the place was empty, she headed over to her bedroom. Abby dropped onto her bed. No one could reduce a fully grown adult to an eight-year-old like family.

“Target acquired.” Karina’s voice was a whisper from the communications bud in Abby’s ear. The earpiece she wore wasn’t visible under all her hair.

Abby brushed her right hand down her left arm, making it look as if she was dusting off her top. It was a signal to let Karina know she’d heard her message.

Lately there was a theme to the problems they were solving. She suspected organized crime, but it didn’t feel exactly like that. Something was off. In her time dealing with both sides of the law, she’d learned even crime bosses had their own set of rules. The cases they’d been handed recently seemed more lawless than she would have expected. So tonight’s case would be a nice change.