Wild Love (Wilding Pack Wolves 2) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (6 page)

Emily shook her head and picked at her own lunch. It was her favorite chicken Caesar salad, the one she had every day, but her stomach had been a giant bundle of squirming anxiety all morning. She could hardly focus at all with a ridiculously sexy shifter looking over her shoulder. Eventually, Noah had gotten sick of her bumbling around and coming up with nothing from WildLove’s masses of data. He left, saying he had to check in with his company, Riverwise, at some safe location they had in the mountains, but she was sure he was just frustrated at her lame inability to function around him. Once he was gone, she had been able to concentrate, but she still hadn’t come up with anything that would explain how the car bomber knew she and Noah were having a hookup last night, much less where. All that data was in the secure chat room that she’d specifically designed to have ultra-tight security. Only the two WildLovers planning a hookup had access… and anyone inside the agency. Which once again pointed to a mole. Which made her stomach fist up into more knots.

“I don’t know, Soph,” Emily said, still poking at her food. “I don’t think I can hook up with Noah now.”

“What are you talking about?” Sophie stared at her like she was crazy… and she probably was for not instantly taking Noah up on his offer. “He’s hot. He’s already kissed you. He knows who you are and what you do—this is even better than a WildLove hookup. He’s
given you his number,
for God’s sake.”

“That’s just it.” Emily sighed and gave up on her salad. She simply had no appetite. “It was supposed to be a one-night thing. Now that I know him, it’s not the same.”

“Why not? You could still agree that it’s just temporary.” She flicked her fork in the air like it was a whip. “Go ride some wild wolf for a night, then move on and find a real boyfriend. One who will bring you pizza and a movie when you feel like crap, like my William.” That was Sophie’s boyfriend—they nerded-out together big time, going to cons, gaming, the works. Sophie tamed her fork and used it on her salad again. “You don’t want a relationship with a shifter, anyway—they’ve got too many problems. That whole hate group thing with people trying to blow them up. Besides, there are good
human
men out there, Emily, you just need to get over your, you know, issues.” She leaned forward again. “This could be really good for you, Em. It’s what you need.”

Her best friend was probably right about that—she usually was. And she knew more about Emily than anyone else on the planet, including Emily’s useless family. The two of them had been roommates all through college, and Emily brought her on board at Seattle Shifters as soon as she’d scored the lead programmer position. Sophie was cool, normal, and super kind—and she knew all about Emily’s past. Emily should listen to her, but her gut was saying
run away
with the volume of an eighteen-wheeler bearing down on her at sixty miles an hour.

She put down her fork and bunched up her napkin, twisting it in her hands. “I thought being with a shifter for one night would get me over the past. But now, everything’s messed up.”

“I still wish you would have told me about this hookup plan of yours,” Sophie said with a scowl. “Regardless of your complete lack of faith in me as a true friend, the plan itself is brilliance. And for the record, I would’ve totally supported you, had I known. This is exactly what you need to move past what happened with your uncle. It’s been five years, Em. It’s time. Even your therapist would agree with me.”

“I gave up on the therapist last year. Wasn’t going anywhere.” The truth was, Emily had buried herself in her work instead… and an obsession with shifters. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time—she couldn’t keep going back to her therapist, week after week, with no sign of progress. And really, no desire to change anything in her safe, comfortable life.

“Yeah, I figured.” Sophie jabbed her fork at Emily again. “And I think
that
was a mistake, too. But I’m telling you, none of that matters now. You’ve got this guy who wants to be with you. And he’s a good guy, right?”

A hot trickling feeling went through Emily. “He’s amazing, Soph. You don’t even know. Brave and selfless, and he’s got this cute sense of humor… he’s really everything I could’ve hoped for in a one-time, super-hot romantic fling.”

Sophie held her hands up. “See? That’s what I’m saying. It’s the WildLove motto—
Wild For a Night
—come to life. You know you’ll be safe, and these guys are hunkalicious—if I didn’t have my William, I’d be all over test driving some wolf myself.”

 Emily’s mouth dropped open. “It’s totally against the rules, Soph!”

“You’re kidding me right?” She smirked. “Come on, Em. You don’t even have to break the rules to be with him now—he gave you his number! He’s safe and wonderful. Perfect for you. I don’t see the problem.”

Emily groaned in frustration. “The problem is that I’m not a wolf.”

Sophie narrowed her eyes. “If you were a wolf, you’d have clawed the fuck out of that asshole uncle of yours. And you wouldn’t even be in this situation. Your point is moot.”

Emily just squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

But Sophie wasn’t giving up. “Besides, I don’t understand why that makes any difference. So, you’re human—so what? If WildLove has proven anything, it’s that humans and shifters will get it on, all day long—and have a hell of a good time doing it. Why can’t you be part of that? You, more than anyone else I know, deserves to get laid by a hot shifter.”

Emily opened her eyes but kept them fixed on her plate. “I don’t want to get hurt, Soph,” she said softly.

Sophie hesitated, then said, “I thought you believed shifters were the good guys. That’s the whole idea, right? Shifters are
safe.”

“It’s not that.” Emily peered up. “It’s because it’s temporary. And I’m human. Even if Noah wanted more than one night…” Her eyes glazed over, just thinking about it. Someone like Noah—strong and sexy and brave? Having him for real was an impossible dream. She sucked in a breath and blew it out. “He’ll take a mate someday. A
shifter
mate. He won’t want anything to do with me after one roll in the sheets. Two at the outside.”

Sophie put down her fork and threw both hands in the air. “I thought that’s what you
wanted!”

“I’ve spent all of a couple hours with him, Soph, and I’m already… let’s just say, I can already feel the heartbreak coming. And I don’t know if I can withstand it. It would have been so much easier if we’d just done it at the motel. I have to just forget about Noah that way. Once WildLove is back online, maybe I’ll try again. I’ll study the database and find the perfect wolf to be my dream one night stand.”

Sophie just shook her head. “You’re going to regret this.”

Emily picked up her fork again and took her frustrations out on her salad. “Probably.”

Her best friend pulled in a breath and, mercifully, changed subjects. “How long do you think we’re going to be shut down?”

“I don’t know.” Emily dropped her fork again, disgusted. “I’m doing everything I can. But if we don’t figure out this thing soon, I don’t see how WildLove can keep going, honestly. I mean, as long as there’s a danger to shifters, we can’t in good conscience open it up again.”

“Shit.”
Sophie grimaced. “What about our jobs?”

Emily just shrugged one shoulder. “These are people’s lives were talking about, Soph.”

“Yeah, I know.” But she worried at her lip with her teeth.

Emily pointed a finger at her. “And you need to keep all this quiet. If we’ve got a mole at the agency, I don’t want to give them a head’s up that I’m hunting for them. And don’t feed any of the rumors I’m sure are running all around the office today.” She sighed and pushed back from her seat, fumbling to get her phone and purse together. “I should get back to work. It’s hard for me to do anything when Noah’s around—my body goes into Lust Overdrive Mode just being in the same airspace. I should get stuff done now, in case he comes back.”

Sophie leaned back and crossed her arms. “I stand by my original point on this issue—you should jump that wolf as long as the offer is still open.”

Emily huffed a small, mirthless laugh. “It’s probably already expired. I’ll catch you later.”

She left her friend to finish her meal, but she could feel her worried stare on her back all the way out. Sophie really was the best. She just didn’t understand what a mess the inside of Emily’s head was… and how torn up she was already feeling, both terrified and hopeful that Noah Wilding might have returned to the office while she was out at lunch. Any more involvement, and she would tumble into a deep, dark place when he inevitably broke it off.

And that wasn’t something she could afford to do.

“I’m sure Emily can find a way to make it work,” Noah said.

He was back in the CEO’s office of Seattle Shifters, arguing with Marjorie about the need to open up WildLove again.

“I’m sure she can,” Marjorie said grimly. “I’m just not sure it’s wise.” But then she tapped something into her phone, so Noah held his next attempt to convince her at bay. After a moment, she said, “Emily, could you please come to my office? Thank you.” She hung up.

A small tightness he didn’t expect, deep in his gut, danced up and smacked him in the face. There was no denying he was attracted to Emily, but this was something more—a tingly anticipation that had been building ever since he left the safehouse. Even his wolf had perked up at the idea of seeing her again, and that caught him off-guard—Emily was
human.
His inner beast shouldn’t be reacting to her like this.

Noah shoved that aside. “We both want the same thing here, Marjorie,” he said, pouring on all the charm he possessed with an earnest look and a small smile. “To clear out this threat and get WildLove back in business.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Don’t bat those pretty eyes at me, Noah Wilding,” she said with fake admonishment. “Save that kind of thing for Emily.”

He blinked and, astonishingly, felt heat rising in his cheeks. Was it that obvious he was attracted to Emily? Or was Marjorie just trying to get them together for her own match-making reasons? He prayed she was still in the dark about their almost-hookup—Emily had been adamant about keeping that secret. Which had given him the perfect opportunity to slip her his number. After all, her boss was practically shoving them together. Was it wise to hook up with her while working this job with the agency? Um… no. Would that stop him? Probably not.

As he stumbled for something to say that wouldn’t make his thoughts completely transparent, Emily scurried into the room.

“Oh!” she said, pulling up short, obviously surprised to see him. “You’re… back.” She tugged at her t-shirt, which said
Will Write Code For Coffee.
His wolf gave a small growl of appreciation for the way it hugged her chest. Noah whipped his gaze up to her face, afraid of being caught ogling, especially with Marjorie’s keen-eyed attention on him.

“Hey,” he said, rather lamely, then forced his voice to sound at least a little professional. “Tell your boss it would be no problem to work some programming magic to open up WildLove again.”

She frowned and took two more steps into the office, coming to stand equidistant between them. “I thought it wasn’t safe?” She looked to her boss.

“That’s what I’m saying.” Marjorie gestured to him. “But Captain America here thinks he can catch the bad guys better if we’re live.”

Emily turned her pretty frown on him. “I thought you had already captured the bomber.”

Noah grimaced. “There was a second bombing just an hour ago.”

“What?”
Emily’s already pale skin lost even more color. “Is the shifter all right?”

There was that feeling again, deep inside, stirred around by her concern. “Yes.”

Her obvious relief was quickly followed by a cute scrunching up of her nose. “It must have been a prior contact.”

“Yeah.” Of course, she would figure that out right away. Noah had only spent a couple hours with Emily, but it was obvious she was crazy smart—that was part of what drew him to her, too. He edged closer. “The two of them were matched by WildLove last week.”

She scowled and dropped her gaze to the floor. “Of course. The average time from swipe to message is less than an hour. From message to chat room connection even less. But from there, the data’s all over the map. Hookups can be arranged within minutes, and the actual meet within an hour. Or it could be days. Or a week. All depends on schedules, day of contact, whether it’s coffee or…” She looked up at him with those clear blue eyes blazing. “There are hundreds of people still at risk. This is not good.”

He nodded. “Which is exactly why we need to activate some kind of dragnet to pull in this second bomber—and whoever else is involved—before anyone else gets hurt.”

She was nodding. “If there are two bombers, then there are probably more. We need to find the whole group. And shut them down.” The fierceness in her voice made that spot low in his gut tighten again. She was unbelievably cute like this, a whip-smart kitten in angry, problem-solving mode. And her protectiveness was just turning him on more.

Stay on task, Wilding.
It didn’t help that she smelled of freshly-scrubbed skin and lavender soap, no perfume of any kind, just like this morning. And the night before. He forced himself to look away before it was obvious he wanted to haul her back to that breakroom and kiss her for real.