But she was still trying to be the nice girl. “I thought you wanted help.”
Tegan let her see the lazy draw of his eyes as he looked her up and down from head to toe. “You’re filthy. Your hair is a mess...”
“You have dirt smudged on your cheeks.” Kanon licked a finger and reached out to swab a spot when she jerked back, a laugh floating from her.
“Is that your game? Seduce the Hound meant to drag you in?”
“No, Tegan actually intends to take you to the bar.”
Her gaze flitted back to Kanon. “And you?”
Kanon lifted his shoulders in a shrug, his grin growing wider. “We can go to the bar.”
“We
are
going to the bar. Unless your witnesses are fake, then we’re all going down to Enforcement.”
Tegan snatched a piece of her hair, giving it a small tug. “Then you should probably clean up. I can show you to the bathroom.”
Her death glare would have been enough to make most men cower. It only turned Tegan on more. “I’m going as is.”
“Might as well roll you in a few mud puddles first.”
Kanon snorted. “Or dump her down a manhole along the way.”
“She does stink a little.”
“Like wet dog.” Kanon edged closer, his hand finding the back of her neck just as she flattened her palm against his chest. Her jaw went tight with warning, but she caved.
“All right. Where’s the bathroom?”
That was something Tegan had no problem showing her. They scooted her up the stairs and into the guest bathroom, even letting her shut the door and lock them out. He didn’t think for one second she’d run. She wasn’t the tuck-tail-and-bolt kind of girl.
Tegan shook his head at the sound of the lock turning over. Relief poured through him and he closed his eyes, tilting his head back. He knew Tristan and the Metro staff would clear Kanon’s name, he just hoped it’d be enough for her. He’d come too damn close to losing Kanon tonight, and the thought left him hollow. Exhausted. Kanon slipped up behind him, wrapped his arms around Tegan’s waist, holding him tight.
“We got lucky,” Tegan murmured over his shoulder, knowing damn well Lennox would hear them.
“Maybe.”
Kanon pressed a kiss to the crook of his neck, then trailed several more across his collarbone, nipping over his pulse.
“Kanon,” Tegan whispered, his voice drying up in his throat as Kanon rocked into him from behind. The tap water in the bathroom stopped.
“I figure if she reneges on our deal and turns me in, I might as well get you one last time.”
“It’s not going to happen.”
“Having you, or her breaking the deal?”
“She won’t break her word.” Tegan twisted his head around to press a kiss to the corner of Kanon’s lips. “And you always have me.”
Kanon gave a satisfied groan, and cuddled closer.
“You are
not
screwing each other outside that door.”
Tegan smiled.
Kanon pressed another kiss to his pulse and then called out, teasing, “Not yet, honey, care to join?”
“I would rather jump out the window. Put your pants on so I can come out.”
“Damn,” Kanon whispered against his ear. “Reckon we should take them off first?”
The bathroom door jerked open and Lennox stumbled straight into Tegan, catching herself on his shoulders. He shuddered at the press of her against him. She was softer than he’d thought, all that muscle yielding perfectly to such soft, sweet femininity. Kanon leaned into him from behind and Tegan groaned.
Lennox gave a small growl, stepping back, startled. “You all have no sense of...”
Her voice died in her throat and she turned away, lips pursed. “The bar, boys.”
Lennox stepped past them both and headed for the stairs. “I’ll meet you at my car. It’s by the billboard for that new grocery store in town. Behind a few bushes.”
Her sultry tone turned dark, as she glanced between them, and then met Tegan’s gaze. She’d heard everything. “I hope you’re right and you can clear your partner’s name.”
A shadow slipped over her face as she headed down the stairs.
Tegan’s gut twisted.
She hadn’t looked so sure.
Good Hounds didn’t play with lions. Especially not a pair like the two of them. Lennox leaned against her car, head tilted back to the sky. She couldn’t believe she’d let them talk her into this. Hounds weren’t the judge and jury; they were just the ones to snatch the quarry. But the thought of hand delivering a potentially innocent man to his death sentence gave her stomach cramps.
That wasn’t her gig. Lennox liked justice, fairness. Though the chances of Kanon Reyes actually being innocent were slim, her instincts told her otherwise. Guilty lion-shifters didn’t often try and wheedle their way into proving their innocence. Instead, they tended to come at her, no claws barred. And while the two of them had looked ready to fight, they hadn’t.
Restraint wasn’t a thing she was used to finding when it came to lions.
A smile tipped the edge of her lips as she saw the pair of them striding down the road, each step in sync with each other. They moved together, graceful, lazy, and powerful. Lions were the heavy artillery of the predator world and the two men striding toward her looked every bit the part.
If either one of them had ever attacked a Hound, she had a hard time picturing one of her men walking away. They looked like the kind of men who finished what they started. Her brows furrowed. So why had he let Nick walk away? The Hound had a broken arm, a few cracked ribs, and a few minor injuries, enough to lay him up in a hospital for a night, but nothing that would have killed him.
Tegan drew up short, Kanon following him a step late. Tegan’s gaze focused on hers. Perceptive. He made her uneasy. His partner seemed more playful, not quite as serious, but Tegan Sharpe fit his name. His sharp attention to detail missed little, and he watched her constantly. Stripping whatever defenses she tried to toss up.
He was going to be the difficult one, she decided.
“Changing your mind already?”
“Nope.” Lennox thought about asking why Kanon had let Nick walk away, but she bit her tongue. She’d get the story out of the witnesses. Not the ones trying to cover their own asses. She jerked her head towards her car. “Get in.”
Lennox hit the keypad in her hand and the car beeped unlocked.
“Oh fancy,” Kanon said.
Remembering the bucket of rust he’d been driving, Lennox couldn’t help but smile. “Compared to the death trap you drive, I bet.”
That drew a low laugh from both men as they approached, their large bodies drawing a half circle around her as they crowded closer. Intimidation tactics wouldn’t work on her and Lennox straightened, her lips parting to tell them just that when Tegan’s hand brushed her hip. A blaze of heat stretched out from his fingertips and her body jolted. One handed, she caught his wrist.
They so needed boundaries, but Lennox had the sinking feeling that the cats in them didn’t much care for rules. “Watch your hands or I’m cuffing you both in the back seat.”
Now that she thought about it, the idea was genius.
“Of course,” Tegan said, only to nod at the door behind her. “Then by all means, would you mind stepping aside? I figured I’d sit in the back.”
Oh.
Then he dropped his gaze to her hand, the one still holding his, almost pressing it tighter to her hip and she jerked back, letting him go. A shudder of a breath slipped out of her as she stepped away, giving him all the room he needed. Damn. She’d never felt so trapped, cornered, insane, turned on... All when she needed to do her damn job. She scrubbed a hand over her face. And where the hell was her back up? Someone was supposed to have been watching Tegan, contacting her if he came home early. So why hadn’t she gotten a warning call?
Better yet, why wasn’t someone coming to give her a hand? To make sure she didn’t do anything stupid, like help a cute lion male grope her.
“Sorry,” she muttered, turning as Kanon stepped around the car to the passenger’s side. They both stared up at her, warm, welcome smiles on their faces. Friendly.
She could do friendly. Maybe.
Lennox jerked open the driver’s side door and slid in, rolling the engine over as they both settled into their seats. “Directions?”
Tegan leaned against her seat, his breath whispering through her hair and she hunched her shoulders to drive off the shivers that followed it. “Take this street up to sixty-seven. Then we’re getting on the highway.”
Alarm twisted in her gut. “Just how far away is this bar?”
“I don’t really remember, do you, Kanon?”
“Ah, no. I don’t. A few CDs worth of a drive.”
Lennox cringed. The car kicked up dirt along the old country road, goose bumps still lingering down her back as Tegan rested in the space between the two front seats. Close. Too close.
The man had no sense of proximity.
“How far?” She merged on to sixty-seven.
Kanon shrugged. “You ever been to Utah?”
“No and I don’t plan to.”
“Relax sweetheart, enjoy the drive.” Kanon snatched her iPod out of the glove box, plugged it into the stereo and began flipping through her tunes. She’d have howled at him if she’d have thought it would do any good.
“We’re not going to Utah.”
“The bar is just over the state line. It’s probably an hour and a half drive, no biggie,” Tegan said.
No biggie? What the hell had Nick and the pack been doing in Utah?
If she had any sense at all, she’d turn the car around and head for Shifter Town Enforcement. Except, she already knew Nick’s side of the story, now Kanon and Tegan’s—what she needed was someone who wasn’t a Hound or a lion. And the office in Utah would do just as well as the one in Idaho.
She also needed a plan for when she got there. Neither man looked like the kind of guy to go peacefully if things went south. Her skin started to crawl. She couldn’t do the takedown alone if things didn’t pan out their way.
She bit her lip and feigned focus on the road, her mind spinning.
She was going to need back up.
***
He couldn’t believe it. She’d let them in her car. Lions. Dirty, filthy, dangerous lions. He stared down the road, the dust finally settling, slack jawed. A Hound should know better.
She
should know better. He paced along the edge of the road, the beast inside him scrambling, desperately trying to dig its way out. He clamped the dog down hard. Not now.
He would walk back to his car a man, and he would follow her. Idiot that she was. How could she not know? He had watched her for so long, tracking her movements. She knew how dangerous lions were. A growl rumbled up his throat, fueled hot with anger and he clenched his fists at his sides.
She’d been stupid and careless, and to make it all worse...she’d wrecked his plans. Kanon Reyes was a loose cannon. That had been part of the reason he’d picked him. The lion had a record, he’d been a rogue with an untraceable history, and was easy enough to spike into a brawl. And to top it off, he was a Reyes. Oh, he might not live with the pride, his daddy might not even know he existed—yet—but with that last name and lion running through his shifter blood, Kanon’s fall would taint them all.
Gaston Reyes and the Boulder Pride in Colorado were one of the largest prides in America. Bringing down Kanon would send them all tumbling. It should have been simple. Catch him up on a small fight charge, turn it into something greater and plaster it all over the media. Now, the lion had a Hound off gallivanting with him.
He should go back, he reminded himself. Turn it in. Call in a tip to Enforcement and tell them one of their Hounds had bailed. Except he wasn’t supposed to be tailing her and he couldn’t give himself away yet. Not when he was just getting started. A shudder worked its way through him, the dog in his gut whimpering.
Besides, he needed her.
Lennox Donnelly was one of the best. If she joined him, most of Shifter Town Enforcement would follow. He needed her. All he had to do was fix her.
Show her what she already knew.
Show her what lions were really capable of. What they’d already done. Once he’d reminded her, she’d help him.
He paused. The cold trickle of excitement slipped down his spine. Maybe they’d make it bigger this time. His tongue wet his lips with anticipation, a wild grin splitting his face as he picked up speed, heading for the highway overpass to the white Honda parked underneath.
Seeing how easily she’d nearly derailed his plan, he knew it had to be bigger this time. Much bigger. One lion, one ex-rogue, and a petty bar brawl...it wasn’t nearly enough.
He slipped behind the wheel, the ignition turning over as he started the car, his hands shaking now. He knew what he had to do. It would have to be good, really good to keep Lennox from figuring it out but he could do it.
She wasn’t going to see it coming.
***
The flash of Metro’s neon blue sign illuminated the parking lot as Lennox angled the car into an empty slot at the back of the lot. Tegan caught the flick of a muscle in her jaw, tense. Kanon snored in the front seat and Tegan grinned, stretching forward to lean between the seats.