Training Their Mate [Pack Wars-Book 1] (18 page)

As soon as he left, she sat up and swiped the
hair off her sweaty face. What had she gotten herself into? These men had a way
of altering her body and her mind.

He returned with a cloth and wiped her down.
Then he picked up her clothes and handed them to her. Using all of her energy,
she pulled her shirt over her head, donned her undies and pants, and followed
him out, carrying her bra.

Now was as good a time as any to tell him what
was on her mind. “I know that Trax is working really hard to find Couch, but I
can’t sit around here forever—as pleasant as it is.”

“Sit down and talk to me.”

His concern warmed her.

“As much as I love being here, I have a job. If
I don’t go back to work soon, I’ll get fired. That’s not fair to me because I
can’t pay my bills if I don’t work.”

He opened and closed his mouth. “I understand
what you’re saying, but Trax will not be happy. You know it’s not safe.” He
waved a hand as if to imply that didn’t matter. “But if you insist on leaving,
you’ll need to take Trax’s gun along with some bullets. As for when you should
leave, let’s wait and see what he has to say.”

“Thanks.” Right now, she’d take what she could
get.

He placed the werewolf bullets in the gun and
handed it to her. “Put this somewhere safe and for goodness sake, don’t tell him
I gave this to you. He’d kill me.”

“He’s not a violent man. He’d never hurt you.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

Chapter Fifteen

Trax and his men arrived at the same shipyard
Liz had directed them to a few days before. According to her memo, Couch was
meeting Jeffrey Wendlick who was Kurt Wendlick’s brother and a double agent for
the Pack. When Trax and his men arrived at the shipyard, they’d wired up
Jeffrey, assuring him that not only did his brother have his back, but so did
four others.

Kurt’s brother had explained how he’d spent
months infiltrating Couch’s clan, and that the Colters taught him how to bring the
drugs in from Mexico without detection. After a few trips, he’d learned the
Mexicans would heat cocaine mixed with hydrochloride and douse suitcases full
of clothes in this liquid. All he had to do was come back with the cocaine-laced
clothes. He never saw or touched the drugs himself.

When he safely passed through customs, he
turned the suitcases over to a Ricardo Ramirez, one of Couch’s flunkies. From
what he’d heard, Couch’s men ran the clothes through a machine to extract the
cocaine. The procedure was brilliant and simple. The Pack’s agent had been
doing this process for over a month and had delivered over three million
dollars in drugs, but Jeffrey had never been privy to what happened next.

“This is the proof the general needs to take
down Harvey Couch for good,” Trax said.

“I’m ready to get out. Couch is crazy, man.” Wendlick’s
pits were stained—not a good sign.

“I hear ya.” Trax tapped his shoulder. “Just go
along with what they say. We’ll hear and record everything. Don’t worry. You’ll
do fine.”

Wendlick blew out a breath. “Thanks. I’ve
dreaded meeting Couch. I hear one false move and he doesn’t think twice about
shooting you in the heart.”

“We won’t let that happen.”

After Trax nodded to his men to get into
position, he climbed on top of one of the containers and settled in for the
wait.

Because they’d been here before, he positioned
his men more effectively this time. From his vantage point, he had a visual on the
street entrance and beyond.

Kurt was located behind one of the larger
boats, Drake under a truck, and both Clay and Dirk were in wolf form, ready to
pounce. It took about five seconds to shift, and those five seconds would give
his two men an advantage. A werewolf was most vulnerable during that transition
period.

Trax couldn’t get the general’s lecture out of
his head. After the reaming out they got, they better get this SOB this time.
This morning, the general had announced that the FBI was hot on the man’s
trail. Couch had now become too dangerous not to catch. They didn’t want to resort
to gunplay but would if need be. The time was nearing.

“Jeffrey, can you read me?”

“Loud and clear.”

“This will be the last communication until
Couch arrives.”

“Understood.”

Wendlick was in plain view in his car. Several
times, trucks had come in and workers had emerged. When they began working on a
ship, Trax’s men relaxed. With each vehicle that entered, he concentrated on
whether or not a shifter was inside. So far, none had arrived.

His elbows and knees were getting sore from
lying on the hot metal. Couch should have arrived an hour ago. With each
minute, Trax’s gut soured and his mood grew blacker.

“Hey, Trax?” That was Clay who’d shifted back
to human form.

“Yeah? See something?”

“No, it’s getting hard to hide. A ton of guys
just exited from one of the ships. Looks like they’re knocking off for the
day.”

“Fuck.” Time to make the call. “We need to
abort. He knows we’re on to him.”

Trax hated to leave, but if Couch hadn’t come
by now, he probably wasn’t going to show. Trax climbed down the container and
rounded up the troops.

Wendlick got out of his car. “So now what?”

“I’m not sure. If you hear from him, let the
general know.”

“Will do.” He took off his wire and handed it
to him.

Kurt jogged up to him. “You gonna tell the
general that Couch never showed?”

His gut clenched thinking about that
conversation. “Yeah. I have to. Let’s go.” He turned to Wendlick. “Thanks and
be careful.”

Kurt gave his brother a hug. “We’ll get him.
Hang in there.”

Trax’s civility disappeared the moment he
climbed in his car. As he exited the shipyard, he checked the roads but spotted
no one waiting for his team to depart. Not only did his pride take a beating at
his failure, but that meant Liz was still in danger.

“Fuck.” He slapped the wheel and then called
the general. The resulting conversation bolstered his resolve to do better next
time.

He parked behind his building and trudged up
the steps, not relishing having to tell Dante and Liz that he’d botched the
attempt. Again. He heard the giggling before he opened the door at the top of
the steps. He stepped in the house and when he saw their lips locked he nearly
lost it.

They separated and looked up at him with such
hope in their eyes that his throat squeezed tight. “Don’t even ask. Couch never
showed.”

He stalked off to the kitchen and grabbed a
beer. Couch must suspect something was up and decided not to show at his
promised appointments. That meant he was hiding and only Couch knew when he’d
emerge.

Liz drew in her bottom lip, an action that
caused his groin to ache. She stood and faced both men. “Now that you’re both
here, there is something I need to bring up.”

She dragged her hands down her pants as if this
news wouldn’t be well received and looked right at him. “As much as I
appreciate all that you’ve done, I really have to get back to work.”

Trax’s shoulders tensed. “That’s not a good
idea.”

She held up her hands. “I knew you’d say that,
but there’s no telling when you’ll catch Couch.”

Her voice was without censure, but the pain ran
deep. His frustration bubbled out. “You’re right.” She seemed to pin everything
on his ability to get the job done. And he’d failed. “But I promise you, I will
succeed.” He had to.

“Why is it so important to you?”

That was easy. “Because the Colters killed our
father, and I want to see justice.”

She glanced at Dante to see if he’d add
anything. Wisely, his brother said nothing. She faced Trax again. “Why would
they do that? Did he chase after them like you do?”

It was time to tell her. “Yes. You see my
father was a werewolf, too. He dedicated his life to bringing the Colters under
control, and in the end they got the best of him.”

She swallowed as if she didn’t want to make the
connection. Her hand lifted as if she needed to balance.

Dante jumped up and guided her back to the
sofa. “Let’s sit you down.”

She jerked her arm out of his grasp. “Stop
patronizing me. Tell me what’s going on.” She flicked her gaze from one to the
other.

Dante ran a hand down her arm. “What my brother
is doing a bad job of saying is that we, too, are werewolves.”

Her knees buckled, but Dante caught her before
she dropped to the ground. This time Liz let him guide her to the seat. Trax
wanted to hug her, but his body wouldn’t move. Being with Liz was too good to
be true.

“What do you mean you’re werewolves? Are you
like Couch?”

Trax couldn’t stand the revulsion rippling
across her face. “No. We are members of the Pack. We’re the good guys. We
protect the humans from the likes of Couch.”

She shook her head as if to push out the
thought. “You can shift into a wolf?”

From her question, she intended to walk out of
their lives. His lungs tightened. He might as well make sure she was certain
what they said was true. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on shifting. When he
was prompted to fight or flee, changing took little effort, but to change for
no reason took effort.

He thought of Liz’s naked tits and how perfect
they were. His cock hardened and his need for her took over his brain. His
claws extended and his bones cracked. Then his body hunched, and he shifted
into a wolf.

Perhaps out of habit, he howled. She screamed.

#

This couldn’t be happening. Liz had only stated
that she couldn’t take advantage of their hospitality any longer. She never
expected them to claim they were werewolves. Blinking to make sure this wasn’t
some parlor trick, the animal in front of her was definitely a wolf-like
creature. Her heart refused to stop slamming against her ribs.

“Trax? Is that you?” Her voice cracked.

“Bro, stop it.” Dante draped his arm around her
shoulder and drew her close.

She didn’t want to even think about the fact
that he was a werewolf, too. Her vision blurred and fur spun. Human arms
replaced the furry legs. Mesmerized by the transformation, she couldn’t look
away. It was the same series of events when Couch’s men had charged away from
her. His head appeared and the spinning ended. Trax was back to the way he was
before.

“See? Are you willing to accept us this way?”

She jumped out of Dante’s grasp and edged
toward the bedroom. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“You would have run sooner, and with Couch on
the loose I didn’t want you harmed.”

It made some sense, but it was still a lame
excuse. “I need to leave.”

Trax stepped forward, but Dante’s low growl appeared
to stop him.

Dante turned to her. “I’ll drive you home.”

She shook her head and raced into Trax’s
bedroom. As quickly as she could, she locked the door though she wouldn’t be
surprised if they had some way to get in. She spotted her purse and searched
for her phone. Once she turned it on, she dialed Chelsea.

“Oh my God, Liz, are you okay?”

“Yes and no. I need you to come get me.
Please?”

“Sure, sweetie. Where are you?”

Where am
I?
“I don’t know.” She knew the
general vicinity but hadn’t learned the roads.

“Check your GPS.”

Thank goodness Chelsea was so level-headed.
“Okay. Give me a sec. While she stayed on the line, she pressed her GPS app and
her location popped up. “I got it.” She gave Chelsea the directions. “Meet me
in the alley behind Field’s Monitoring Services.”

“Will do.” Chelsea disconnected.

Her body vibrated with the need to hurry. How
could she not have known what these men were? Here she thought she’d found the
perfect men. They were fun loving—well one of them was—and kind,
sexy, and trustworthy.
Ha. Trustworthy
.
That was a joke.

She dragged her suitcase onto the bed and
dumped her clothes and toiletries inside. Seconds later, she’d gathered her
stuff. It would probably take her friend fifteen minutes to get here, but the
sooner Liz got outside, the better she’d feel. She peeked out the door and when
they spotted her, they stopped talking. From the way they were in each other’s
faces, they disagreed about something.

“I’m going to wait for Chelsea downstairs.”

Dante moved toward her. “I’ll walk you out.” He
glanced over his shoulder as if his brother would challenge his action.

Dante pressed his thumb on the sensor and the
lock unclicked. He pulled the door open, and as she grabbed the handrail to go
downstairs, he slipped her suitcase from her hands. She refused to think about
his chivalrous action.

Outside, the air was fresh, and she was happy
to be in the open again.