WithHerCraving (5 page)

“How do we do that? Tiptoe out of here?”

She liked it when he smiled. His blue eyes glowed and his
clean, happy aroma made him appear gentle. Katrin almost believed, looking at
his face, that there was nothing to worry about.

“I plan on walking,” he offered casually and focused his
attention on her hair. “Do you have a brush in that overstuffed backpack of
yours?”

Katrin unzipped the side pocket where she’d hurriedly
stuffed her toiletries. Jarvis’ hands felt so good in her hair as he gathered
all of it at her nape. He was creating a world of sensations that tightened her
insides. At the same time she was a whirlwind of nerves. She couldn’t help
thinking the police were outside waiting to take her back to the ranch.

Jarvis didn’t look up when she handed her brush to him. He
took it and began brushing her hair. In spite of the mass of confusion in her
brain she tilted her head, arched her back and enjoyed Jarvis taking care of
her.

Katrin lost track of time as Jarvis continually ran the
brush through her long hair. It took her a moment to realize he’d stopped and
the water was running in the tub. Jarvis took her hand and turned her to the
tub.

“We don’t have time for this,” she reminded him.

“We will always have time for me to clean my beautiful
female,” he said with a soft baritone.

Katrin shivered. Jarvis was going to make it really hard to
leave him. He kept his strong hands protectively on her naked body as he urged
her into the tub.

No male had ever treated her like this before. It certainly
wasn’t what she expected out of Jarvis. Her sire and mama had always cleaned
each other, in their fur and flesh. But they had been mated.

Mated.

“Shit,” she hissed. She had one foot in the tub and one on
the carpet and almost fell on her ass.

“Whoa,” Jarvis said in that soft, way too calm tone. “Not so
fast, my little red—”

Katrin rushed out of the tub and tried moving around him.
She grabbed her backpack. “We can’t. I mean you can’t.”

His large, warm hands felt so good on her body. It didn’t
matter if she suddenly smelled panicked. All that mattered was that she flee
out of that damn bathroom.

“We can and I can.” Jarvis scooped her up with one
incredibly strong arm and pressed her against his hard chest.

She wasn’t that light, or small. Jarvis easily held her
sideways with one arm wrapped tighter than a steel belt around her middle. As
tall as he was, her feet left the ground. Katrin had never known a male capable
of grabbing her so easily. Maybe she’d lowered her defenses too much. Somehow
Jarvis believed he had the right to heave her off the ground. If her reaction
to him would subside just a bit, Katrin knew she’d be able to regain control of
the situation.

However, he held her with one forearm just under her
breasts. They were instantly swollen, needy, greedy for his touch. The frantic
thoughts bombarding her brain were assaulted with a lusty need so powerful she
was twisting against him, trying to face him. At the same time she kicked out
with her legs. The part of her brain insisting she get the hell out of there
still had some control over her actions.

Jarvis cupped her ass with his other hand. She managed to
turn in his arms, but when had she spread her legs on either side of him?
Katrin wrapped her arms around his neck. His mouth was a mere breath from hers.
Those cobalt-blue eyes seemed to glow as he looked into hers.

“My female won’t go outside until she is clean,” he
whispered and kissed her.

God damn he had skills
. Jarvis did things to her
equilibrium with nothing more than a simple kiss. Her world tilted sideways.
Her pussy was instantly soaked. His fingers stretched her ass and created
sensations as he brushed his rough fingertips dangerously close to overly
sensitive nerve endings.

She was lowered into the bath before his lips left hers.
Katrin’s eyes were still closed and her mouth open when she felt herself
submerge into the hot water. Instead of getting in with her, Jarvis knelt next
to the tub, grabbed the washcloth the motel provided and ripped paper from a
thin bar of soap. He said nothing but meticulously began washing her.

“Do you have anything in your backpack to hold your hair
up?”

“No.”

“Then lift it off your back with your hands.”

Katrin resigned herself to do as he asked. Not that he was
doing anything terrible. Far from it. She lifted her hair, twisting it into a
ball with one hand and held it at the back of her head.

“Every inch of you,” he murmured, his eyes glazed as he paid
attention to his task, “is so incredibly perfect.”

He didn’t miss a spot. The contrast of the rough washcloth
and hot water, along with his large, calloused hands stroking her, filled her
with so much desire she thought she might come right there in the tub. He ran
the cloth over her nipple and she gasped. Then his fingers squeezed.

Katrin hadn’t noticed she’d leaned back in the tub until she
sprang forward. Opening her eyes, she suddenly gasped for air. “Crap!”

Jarvis’ deep baritone chuckle caressed her senses just as
the washcloth tortured her flesh.

“This is how you bathe me?” She tried for accusing.

“It might be from here on out.” His smile was beyond wicked,
his scent tantalizing.

“You make it sound as if this will be a regular thing.”

“I plan on getting you dirty often.”

He ran the cloth down her front and between her legs. Jarvis
cupped her pussy with the washcloth, and one finger pressed against her clit.

“Jarvis!”

Water splashed everywhere.

Her entire body constricted. Katrin had more energy wound up
inside her than she was able to control. From the urge to run, to the manic
desire to mount Jarvis and ride him until they both howled their release, the
two intense cravings collided in a pool of heated pleasure. She had no control.
Hot water sizzled against her tormented flesh. Katrin jerked as his finger hit
the spot again and sent her over the edge.

“God damn,” Jarvis whispered.

Both his hands held her, one firmly placed between her legs.
He leaned over the edge of the tub and cradled her with his free hand on her
back.

Katrin forgot about holding her hair. Both of her hands
gripped his between her legs. It wasn’t until her world rocked back into place
that she realized she was pressing his hand against her. She had kept his
finger pressed to her clit, and used it to rub herself with the washcloth until
her orgasm waned.

“I think my sweet little Cariboo is clean,” he growled, his
voice raspy. The smell of his lust was as strong as hers.

In the confines of the bathroom, which had filled with steam
from the hot water, the smell of sex was so thick Katrin was sure if she could
focus at that moment she’d see it floating in waves around them.

She was limp, incredibly sated, and too exhilarated to stop
him from lifting her out of the tub and drying her off.

“Use this to dry your hair,” he instructed, handing her the
second towel and reaching for her backpack.

Katrin needed to clear the fog from her brain. And as soon
as she gathered the energy to do so, she’d take charge of matters. At the
moment, she stared head-on at his cock, which pressed hard against his jeans.

Her mouth watered. “What about you?”

He was pulling a clean sweater out of her backpack. His hair
was damp and strands of it clung to his forehead and his neck just behind his
ear. That incredibly sexy wicked grin was still in place.

“I have no problem with you bathing me as soon as we have
time.”

Katrin shot up when it hit her he was going through her bag.
“I can get clothes.”

He didn’t smell suspicious or even angry when he pulled out
clean jeans and underwear for her, then handed her the pile of clothing. She
didn’t want to fight over her leaving the Toubec ranch. It would be even worse,
though, if he sniffed out the truth that she planned to run to the States.
There wasn’t any doubt in her mind telling him that would result in more than
his teeth and claws growing. The less Jarvis knew, the better. He didn’t know
it and already running would be harder to do now that she knew him. Now that
his scent was embedded in her flesh.

“I think you’d look good in these.”

Katrin dressed quickly, zipped up her backpack and walked
out of the bathroom to find Jarvis fully dressed and standing in the open
doorway facing the parking lot. He turned when she approached.

“Looks like our escorts are still waiting for us.” He walked
to her, leaving the door open, took her backpack and slung it over his
shoulder. “Don’t smell nervous, little bitch. You didn’t do anything at the
Toubec ranch before you left, did you?”

“I just left.”

“You just walked off the ranch.”

More like ran but minor details didn’t matter. Jarvis looked
wound tight, the predator on edge. He stared down at her, his expression
serious. His scent was barely noticeable. He had reined in all emotions in
preparation of going outside. It was a smart move. She did the same.

This was a life Katrin knew well. She focused on his face,
masked her own feelings. It took forcing all personal thoughts and feelings out
of her head. Since leaving her mountain, she’d focused on doing this many
times. A werewolf would react to her scent. The less someone else knew about
her the better. Survival depended on it, and she knew how to survive.

“Toubec’s mate wasn’t thrilled I was leaving, but I wasn’t a
prisoner there,” she admitted.

He nodded once, turned and took her arm. “Let’s go. Remain
silent and stay by my side.”

Tormented wasn’t quite the word for it. Jarvis could easier
growl the emotions he’d detected off Katrin when he’d first told her the cops
were still outside. She hadn’t smelled scared or pissed. But definitely not indifferent.

His little female was better at masking her feelings than
most Cariboo he’d met. There was something inside her, something stronger than
pain, possibly even rage, that he hadn’t scraped the surface of yet. There
might be only one way to get to know the silent, graceful female walking by his
side.

“What are you doing?” Katrin whispered, her tone sounding
stressed although her scent remained neutral.

He let go of her arm and took her hand. He gave it a slight
squeeze as he walked across the parking lot toward the police car instead of
away from it.

“It’s better to know the scent of your enemies than to run
from them,” he told her.

“What makes you think they are our enemies?” she asked,
keeping pace with him.

“That’s what we’re about to find out.”

Jarvis smelled the human cops before reaching them but he
still didn’t detect any emotion from Katrin. She’d successfully shut down, a
skill someone had trained her to have. He knew his adorable little red Cariboo
hadn’t been with many males. She was fresh, untrained. Jarvis knew the scent of
a female who had raised her tail for a lot of werewolves and Katrin wasn’t that
type of female. So who had taught her to cloak her feelings so well? If she’d
taught herself then her life on the run might have been worse than he’d
originally thought.

He put the curiosity out of his mind when a smell other than
that of humans hit him. The moment he spotted the Cariboo cop, Katrin squeezed
his hand. Jarvis hadn’t realized he’d growled. Not that he would apologize for
it.

It was the cop who had howled at them outside the grocery
store, McAllister. The werewolf in the human uniform didn’t impress him anymore
today than he had the first time Jarvis had sniffed him out.

Jarvis edged Katrin behind him when the Cariboo stepped forward.
He walked toward them from the police car, which he’d been sitting inside while
the human cops had remained standing outside watching them approach. Nice way
to conceal his presence until he wished it to be known.

“What do you want, cop?” Jarvis demanded. He hadn’t broken
any laws, human or Cariboo, and had no problem making sure this werewolf knew
it.

The Cariboo curled his lip in what might have been
interpreted as a smile, but there was no friendliness in it.

“Just to talk,” he answered easily.

“Talk? Like humans?” Jarvis snarled. “Shall we be civilized
about it?”

“Not with you.” The Cariboo started to walk around Jarvis.
“I want to speak with her.”

Jarvis stepped between the male and Katrin. “You’ll talk to
me,” he warned.

“What do you want?” Katrin demanded.

Jarvis should have known Katrin wouldn’t remain silent.
Suddenly the smell of her anger was spicy enough to burn his eyes. It didn’t
sway him. Whether she was pissed at the cop, him for shoving her behind him, or
both didn’t matter. The male didn’t smell mated and Jarvis would be damned if
he spoke to Katrin. That human uniform held no jurisdiction in his world.

“Back off, Cariboo,” he warned. “Don’t think for a minute a
shiny badge or loaded gun is going to gain you any power right now.”

“I don’t need a shiny badge or loaded gun to speak with the
female.” He stepped around Jarvis again. “Why are you running, Katrin?”

“I’m not running,” she informed him, putting her hand on
Jarvis’ arm and pushing him when he tried stepping between them again. “I’ve
simply decided I don’t want to live on Toubecs’ ranch anymore. I’m leaving to
go to my littermates in the States.”

Jarvis looked down at Katrin. He checked his surprise, not
allowing its smell to drift off him. Katrin held her head high. She was telling
the truth. He was able to contain most of his emotions but the weight that
swelled in his chest was unbearable. The urge to grab her, haul her away from
this Cariboo cop, McAllister, and demand an explanation was too strong. Jarvis
wrapped his arm around her shoulders, feeling her still damp hair through the
sleeve of his shirt.

“I can’t think of any other questions you might have for
her.” Jarvis pulled her close. “We’re out of the motel. That is all you
demanded of us.”

“I didn’t make that demand,” he growled, the bitterness in
his tone all that indicated he wasn’t pleased with it. “We’ve come a long way,
Cariboo. I’ve lived in Prince George for many years and I won’t have anyone
damage the progress we’ve made.”

“What progress? Assimilating with humans?” Jarvis curled his
lip and glared at the cop. “I’ll never allow any of my litter to ever stoop so
low.”

McAllister stepped into Jarvis’ space. He was inches from
his face and so damn close Jarvis smelled the fresh meat he’d eaten for
breakfast. The male’s blue eyes glowed silver as he growled fiercely at Jarvis.

“I wear this uniform to protect my city. Protect a city
filled with
lunewulf
and Cariboo
lunewulf
. The fact that humans
live here doesn’t concern me a bit. If they get out of line, I put them back
behind it. And if a Cariboo crosses over to their line,” he growled and nodded
toward the motel, “I’ll guide them back to the other side. We will always live
among humans. You don’t want a human entering your ceremonies or trying to live
among your pack or hunting your kill.”

“What’s your point, cop?” Katrin demanded. “I’m out of their
motel. There’s nothing for you to howl about now.”

Jarvis felt her stiffen and wished she would remain quiet.
Not because he believed she should do so. His little female would never be one
not to snarl louder than anyone else in a pack. But because the less attention
drawn to her the better. In spite of this cop’s nice little howling job, Jarvis
wasn’t distracted enough not to see the picture he should have sniffed out the
night before. Katrin had run from the ranch to the bar where he’d successfully
been getting drunk to tell him she was leaving. It hadn’t taken much to
conclude she’d run from the ranch, not after he’d seen the clothes and personal
items in her backpack. Jarvis hadn’t considered she planned on running from
Prince George, or from him.

“My point is there are some humans in our community who
don’t want werewolves on their property. We allow them that prerogative.”

“Seems to me if this were your town you would just run them
off,” Katrin said flatly.

McAllister growled and it might have been a chuckle. Jarvis
really didn’t care.

“If they didn’t want us in their motel, they wouldn’t have
given me a room last night.” Jarvis made a show of looking around him and didn’t
care if his words smelled a little sarcastic. “Here’s what I think,
cop
,”
he stated, and stressed the human line of work the Cariboo had. “I think you
don’t want the two of us in that motel room. And I also think it shows very
little honor to use humans wanting us off their property to get us out of that
room.”

McAllister growled and appeared to grow inside when he
started toward Jarvis.

“Go back to policing your humans,” Jarvis informed him,
holding his ground and glaring at the male. He kept Katrin pinned to his side
and turned from the Cariboo, an indication that he didn’t fear the male or
believe him a worthy opponent.

“So I’ll tell the Toubecs you’ve mated so they won’t demand
the female returned to them.”

Katrin stopped walking and refused to budge when Jarvis
tried pulling her along.

“Don’t let him get your hackles up,” Jarvis hissed and used
both arms to prevent her from facing McAllister.

“No one puts a God damn leash on me,” she informed Jarvis.
Although held firmly in his grip, she turned her head to the cop. “I’m not part
of the Toubecs’ litter,” she roared at him. “They have no right to demand I’m
returned
to them. I’m not some piece of meat someone has stolen out of their paws.”

“Katrin, enough,” Jarvis warned.

She roared, the sound incapable of coming from her true
human form. Her incisors grew, garbling her speech, and she flung her arms up,
attempting to free herself from Jarvis’ hold on her.

“Do you think you can wear that human uniform and howl to me
about Cariboo laws and traditions? Pick a side, cop,” she snapped and struggled
to free herself from Jarvis.

Her hair flew around her when she fought with everything she
had. Jarvis put more strength into it than he wanted. The urge to pick her up
and fling her over his shoulder before stalking away from the Cariboo, and the
nervous-smelling human cops, was one he almost didn’t want to fight.

When McAllister lunged at her, Jarvis reacted on instinct.
He placed Katrin behind him, barely managing to hold on to her arm. Then
growling fiercely at the male, he used his free hand to shove him in the chest.

“Lay one paw on her and I swear I’ll kill you now.”

“Katrin, calm down or it won’t be a leash I use to restrain
you,” McAllister announced. Then his attention was on Jarvis. “And if you lay a
paw on me again, you won’t like the cage I put you in. This isn’t a human
uniform I wear. It’s the uniform worn by those sworn to keep the peace in this community.
I won’t have you howling like an out-of-control cub where Cariboo can smell you
and sniff out the urge for a good fight, and humans can see you and rise up
together in a panic. That is your only warning to control yourself, or I will
haul you in and put both of you in a cage.”

Jarvis was actually surprised to see Katrin restrain her
emotions. When she managed to slide out of his grip, he turned from the cop to
face her. She grabbed her hair and pulled it behind her shoulders, then sucked
in a deep breath. Her teeth receded and she stared at both of them with
wide-open bright-blue eyes.

“Tell the Toubecs I’ve mated. Tell them I’m grateful for the
protection they offered when I first arrived in Prince George.”

“This is true?” McAllister puffed out his chest and put his
hands on his hips. His attention shifted from one to the other. “The two of you
have mated?”

“Are you challenging my words?” Katrin demanded. “Do you
smell a lie, cop? Even though you prance around humans all day, certainly you
can still smell when two people have mated.”

“I can smell that the two of you spent the night together in
a motel room.”

Jarvis would have defended his little female, but he was in
too much shock over her public announcement of their mating. The words were as
irreversible as the act of mating itself.

He should have howled the truth of it, loud enough for more
than just the Cariboo cop to hear. Katrin wasn’t going anywhere. At least he’d
thought she wasn’t, until she informed McAllister of her intention of running south
to the States. In a matter of minutes she’d contradicted herself.

What terrified him more than her announcement without
discussing it with him, was her obvious lie about the two of them mating and
his inability to smell it. Not many werewolves were able to hide the stench of
a lie.

* * * * *

Jarvis hopped out of the police car the moment it parked in
the circular drive in front of a sprawling country home just outside of Prince
George. Katrin was out of the car on her side before he made it around to her
door.

“This is your den?” Katrin asked.

“Yup.” McAllister didn’t wait for them. His boots crunched
across the gravel driveway toward the front door, which he unlocked then headed
inside. “You two will be better off staying at my den while I notify our pack
leader, Rousseau, of your mating. You’ll speak with him before leaving Prince
George.”

Jarvis shot Katrin a side glance as he started toward the
open front door. She didn’t look at him but moved ahead of him inside. She
hesitated the moment she entered, causing Jarvis to stop right behind her. He
pulled her back against him when he smelled what she smelled.

The source of that smell walked into a spacious living room
and greeted McAllister with a kiss.

“So this is our company?” a small human female said, her arm
around McAllister as she smiled at Jarvis and Katrin.

“This is my mate, Heather,” McAllister announced.

Jarvis gawked. Before he came to his senses and showed
proper respect upon entering a new den, or even decided if he wanted to, Katrin
found her ability to speak. She stated the obvious.

“You’re mated to a human.”

“Guilty as charged.” Heather continued smiling. “I’m told I
make a fairly decent raw steak in spite of my inability to change into a wild
creature and run at the speed of light.”

Jarvis prickled and swore Katrin did the same.

“Did you just try to appease us and insult us in the same
breath?” Katrin asked, her voice dangerously soft.

Heather glanced up at her mate, her emerald-green eyes
searching his face for guidance. McAllister ran his large hand down the back of
the human female’s strawberry-blonde hair and smiled at her. Jarvis was
shocked, if not a bit disgusted by the open smell of affection as the male
stared at the tiny female at his side.

“My mate tries very hard to understand who and what we are.”

“We don’t need an explanation. We are grateful to be
welcomed to your den.” Jarvis damn near had to spit the words out of his mouth
but he needed to not be watching these two hugging each other in order to get
his brain to wrap around what he was seeing with his own eyes.

“You’re both welcome. Let me show you where you’ll be
staying.” Heather walked to a flight of stairs that opened into the living
room. She reached for the large, polished wooden banister and smiled at Katrin.
“Come upstairs with me. Let the men, I mean the males, have their talk. We can
talk upstairs.”

“I don’t think—” Katrin began.