Never Underestimate a Wolf [Shape-Shifter Clinic 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

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  Harry’s head was whirling. He couldn’t believe he’d just fucked Tegan right at the gate to the clinic, and in front of Jayden. Hell, with Jayden. The man had held Tegan and helped bring her to orgasm, and then she’d finished him off with blowjob.

  What was he thinking? No, he wasn’t thinking. Well, likely he was, but with his other head. Certainly his dick was feeling really happy right now. His brain, not so much.

  He was the leader of the team. He was supposed to be in control, calm, cool, collected. Yeah, the exact opposite of what had just happened. It was just absolute dumb luck no one had driven up to the gate, shone headlamps on them, and taken video. Shit. He was lucky he wasn’t a porn star on YouTube right now.

  Well, he’d have eight hours to think about it while Tegan was on duty. Eight hours to get his head on straight. Assuming he could look Jayden in the eye, that was.

  There was just one thing he had to know. He hadn’t used a condom and he was really, really hoping she was a wolf. Oscar had refused to tell him but he thought she must be. He was clean but if she was human and not on the Pill he could be in an even bigger mess than he was already.

  “Um, Tegan?”

  She turned to face him. Damn, she was lovely. Even in the dull, reflected light from the clinic he could see the pink flush on her cheeks, the sparkle in her eyes, and how her lips were swollen from being kissed.

  Oh, yeah, and her shredded shirt.

  “Thank you. I’m sorry I got out of control, but it was good. So thank you.”

  “I’m not too sure how it happened either. But yes, it was good. I guess I should be thanking both of you. But since I’m on duty now, and once again without a shirt, you’d better give me yours, Harry. Do you own a shirt factory or something?”

  Jayden laughed and Harry had to smile. At least she’d kept her sense of humor. And speaking of kept, he’d kept the pieces of her other shirt so at least he’d know what size he needed to go buy her. Two of them. Control. He really needed to get himself under control. But she was just so…I don’t know why she’s under my skin. In my blood. I can’t get her out of my mind.

  He pulled off his shirt and waited while she dropped the remnants of her shirt in the trash, then tugged his shirt over her head. It came down past her hips, but she unzipped her jeans again and tucked it in tightly before zipping up. The jeans were so tight he didn’t know how she got all that extra fabric inside them, but she did.

  “Why are your clothes so tight?” he asked.

  She stared at him, and he explained. “Truly, I’m not trying to be rude. I want to know.”

  “Rapists and other assailants like loose, flowing things they can grab. Like your shirt on me, for example. All my work clothes are formfitting so there’s nothing for them to grab. That’s why I don’t wear my hair out on my shoulders or in a ponytail when I’m working either.”

  “That makes sense,” said Jayden as he picked up buttons and bits of shredded fabric from the driveway.

  “Something else.” Harry felt his face flush. He hadn’t been this embarrassed since he was a teenager but the question had to be asked. “I, um, didn’t use a condom. I wasn’t expecting—It just sort of happened—”

  He took a breath and began again. “I’m clean, I swear to you, and I’m a bear. If you’re a shape-shifter we don’t have a problem. But if you’re human, I need to know.”

  “Everyone wants to know. Yes, I’m a wolf. I work for the Alpha. I live in Wolf Central, and I’m on the Pill, so there’s no problems anyway.”

  “Can’t a bear get another shape-shifter pregnant?” asked Jayden.

  Harry swung around. He hadn’t forgotten Jayden was there, but he’d been focused on Tegan. She seemed to take all his attention whenever he was near her. But it was only fair to explain it to Jayden, who was human.

  However, Tegan answered first. “It’s rare for shape-shifters to get pregnant across species, but shifters do mate successfully with humans. Since Harry’s a bear, as a wolf I’m safe. However, anything can happen, even though it’s not very likely.”

  Harry nodded his agreement with her summing up. Then he changed the topic. “Jayden, is there anything we need to know from your shift?”

  “No, it was routine. But I did wonder if we should also patrol outside the wall, along the outside of the clinic. I was just mentioning that to Tegan when you arrived.”

  Once again Harry felt shame. They’d been concentrating on their work and he had assumed they were flirting. He was the one who’d instigated the sex, not either of them. Hell, he needed his mind washed out with soap.

  “That’s a good idea. I wonder if Ambrielle would let us borrow her motorcycle. We could do a couple sweeps around the outside of the wall each day at varying times. Walking would take a hell of a long time, but on her bike it’d be easy.”

  “We could walk a bit of a way along it tomorrow then you can ask her when she starts work,” suggested Jayden.

  “That sounds reasonable. We’ll do that at the next shift change.”

  He and Jayden walked back up the driveway, leaving Tegan to begin her shift. As soon as he came off shift tomorrow he needed to go buy her a couple more shirts. Whatever had possessed him? He must be insane. Why had he fucked her? He’d gone from hate to lust in a nanosecond. That was a bigger backflip than an acrobat in a circus. Harry shook his head. She wasn’t even all that beautiful. She wasn’t ugly or anything, but her tits could be bigger and so could her ass. Liar, liar, pants on fire. Her body was perfect just the way it was, and his dick had thought being inside her was the very best place to be. His cock was telling the truth even if his brain and his mouth were pretending they hated her.

  His dick jerked as he thought of that. Resolutely he cleared all images of Tegan from his mind. He needed to go take a nap. His shift was next, and he had to speak to Ambrielle then buy Tegan’s shirts. And he’d better pack his own brown bag lunch, too.

  And that wasn’t even touching on the most important thing, finding the link to George Thorne and nailing him for harassing the clinic staff and patients.

  But his dick still wasn’t listening. It was remembering how hot, wet, and welcoming Tegan’s cunt had been, how deep he’d penetrated her. She’d taken him right up to his balls and driven him into a frenzy. Her breasts had filled his hands and his mouth, and his cock had exploded harder than he could ever recall coming before. The seed had burst all the way up from his toes over and over again. She was perfect and he wanted her again. Soon. In a bed. Or better yet chained to the wall of a dungeon. Hmm. How am I going to organize that?

  Chapter Five

  Jayden had ridden dirt bikes a number of times, but he didn’t have a motorcycle license, so there was no way he was going to suggest he drive Ambrielle Watson’s lime-green Kawasaki Ninja 250R. It was an agile bike, and she’d used it once before to flush the bad guys out of the undergrowth near the clinic. But this time he was thinking more of actually checking the base of the wall for a weapons cache or maybe attempts to break through and make an entry. He didn’t really know in his own mind what he was looking for, but it just seemed a good idea.

  Ambrielle rode the Ninja down to the gate, then made each of them drive it under her critical eye before she agreed to them using it. Since it’d been his idea, he got to use it first, with Tegan riding behind him.

  They traveled slowly around the wall, weaving in and out of shrubs and bushes, and several times going backward and forward, stopping to check what they saw. However, although they followed the wall all the way around, there was no sign of anything that shouldn’t be there.

  “That’s good though. Eliminating possibilities of trouble is a positive,” said Tegan.

  “I just wish we could come up with the real reason for the trouble. What is in George’s head? What’s his motivation? And most of all, what is he planning next?”

  “I’d like the answers to those questions, too,” said Tegan.

  Later, as he sat at his comp
uter, his mind kept wandering to pictures of Tegan naked. Tegan tied to the bed as he and Harry fucked her. Tegan spread-eagle as he sucked her to a screaming conclusion. Tegan bent over as Harry whipped her ass then let him fuck her there.

  She certainly made him hot. She ticked every erotic box he could name, but was there any chance of a relationship with her? Harry the bear, Tegan the wolf, and him the human. The combination seemed way too far out of left field for there to be hope of a happy resolution. Just because there were a few ménages associated with people connected to the clinic didn’t mean anything as random as their threesome would succeed.

  Even when he took a nap before his shift, all his dreams were of Tegan, and in every one she was beautifully naked. Damn shame it’s not going to happen.

  Four to midnight was a good shift. There were visitors coming and going, then staff changing shift—the new shift arriving, the old one leaving. So there was plenty of excitement and action to help him stay alert until well after dark. By about ten, though, he’d noticed it was mostly quiet. The road traffic noises had died down to the occasional passing car on this unimportant side road. There were no houses close enough for their music or televisions to be heard from the property. So external sounds were limited to the rustling of small animals in the bushes, the tweeting of birds as they went to sleep, an occasional dog barking, and the intermittent traffic.

  Once again he’d left the light off in the gatehouse, letting his eyes adjust to the waning light. Actually, there was adequate light to see by all night long. The lights of the clinic up at the top of the property reflected off the concrete driveway, giving him more than enough grayish light to walk around without stomping on anything or tripping over.

  The low level of noise meant he heard a heavy vehicle lumbering toward the clinic long before it arrived. It was apparently at least partly broken down, as the engine noise was irregular and there were occasional squeaks and squeals from the metalwork and engine.

  Copying Tegan’s habit, he climbed the big tree near the gate until he could see over the wall in both directions.

  He had to blink from the bright light of the headlamps of the truck. It seemed to be some kind of construction vehicle, and the person steering it was having a great deal of difficulty making it go straight. Jayden couldn’t understand why it was coming down this road. The clinic was not on the way to any constructions zones. All right, the standing joke was that most of Ohio was one big construction zone in summer, but the truth of the matter was nothing was being built anywhere around here. Which made him think perhaps the vehicle had not broken down but been stolen, stolen, for example, by one of George Thorne’s punk kids who didn’t really know how to drive it and was going to use it to help them climb the wall into the clinic, or even ram-raid the gate.

  Even if he was being paranoid and was totally wrong, this was no time to keep his thoughts private. Too bad he’d have to wake Harry up.

  Jayden took out his cell phone and punched the number for Harry.

  “Yes.”

  The bear sounded very grumpy, so Jayden kept his message short. “There’s a construction vehicle coming our way being very badly driven. It looks suspicious to me.”

  “You could be right. I’ll wake Tegan. You tell Oscar.”

  Harry had already clicked his phone off, so Jayden called Oscar. “There’s a construction vehicle coming our way being very badly driven. It looks suspicious to me. I’ve told Harry and he said to tell you.”

  “It’s likely nothing, but better not to take the risk. Danny and I are on our way.”

  Jayden leaned back against the trunk of the tree. The vehicle was much closer now, and the headlamps had been dimmed, which suited him as they’d ruin his night vision otherwise. As it was, he could see the outline of the vehicle quite clearly. It was a big dump truck and either it had a problem with the steering, or else the person driving it wasn’t used to handling large vehicles. They also weren’t competent with a stick shift. They’d gotten it in second gear and were leaving it there even though the engine clearly wasn’t happy about that.

  He turned and looked back up the driveway and saw Harry and Tegan running toward him. At least, it looked like Tegan, but she’d hidden her salt-blonde hair. Likely she was wearing a dark-colored beanie. That was a smart move. He should have thought of that, too, as his hair was fair, but his shift had started in broad daylight and he hadn’t expected there to be any trouble. Oh well, he’d know for next time.

  Harry gestured to him, and he shimmied down the tree. Harry shinned up it and stood where he’d been a while back. Jayden grinned. He hoped the tree was sturdy. Harry weighed quite a few more pounds than he did. But the view there was a good one of the approaching dump truck. Or whatever it was.

  “Good call, Jayden. I’d say that’s trouble.”

  Now it was Tegan’s turn to climb the tree. Well, after all, it was her tree. She was the one who’d first used it as a lookout post. Jayden watched her, and she pulled something out of her jeans, and there was some clicking and light flashed. Ah, she was taking photographs. Likely they’d be very dark. That tiny camera flash wouldn’t extend anywhere near far enough. Still, anyone with a good computer program would be able to enhance the pictures.

  She slid down just as Oscar and Danny arrived. “They’re trying to turn it toward the wall, I think.”

  Harry climbed back up the tree to look for himself. Oscar looked around. Jayden wondered if he was looking for another suitable tree. Either he didn’t find one or he decided to wait until Harry got down.

  “They are going to attack,” Harry said softly.

  “Well, fuck,” said Danny.

  Oscar clicked his phone. “Ambrielle, send the truck down here and call 9-1-1.”

  “You don’t think there’s any possibility it’s a diversion and someone’s going to come over the wall somewhere else while all our attention is here, do you?” asked Tegan.

  Damn, she’s a smart woman. I didn’t think of that.

  “Ambrielle? When you’ve done that, get one of the men to go with you on your motorcycle and check the fence line. Tegan’s just pointed out this could be meant to take our attention from the real attack point.”

  “Gotcha.”

  Jayden was a professional security guard. He was paid never to be nervous or flustered. But dammit, he was nervous and worried. His palms were sweating and he wished he had a nice big weapon about now to fend off any attackers.

  Even as he was thinking that, there was the loud roar of an engine and a truck came barreling down the driveway, horn honking and lights blazing. It stopped right at the gate, the headlamps lighting up the road outside where the dump truck was still not fully into position yet, being angled partway across the road.

  Jayden heard the roar of the motorcycle and turned in time to see a couple people ride off, following the line of the wall. He felt better knowing someone had his back. Trust Tegan to think of that. He spent a bare moment wondering who’d gone with Ambrielle, before turning back to the unfolding drama in front of him.

  The people in the dump truck, clearly visible as four young men, were still trying to get the truck lined up properly. Two of them seemed to be arguing with the other two though. Yeah, well if it was him and he saw people waiting to catch him, he’d be getting the hell out of Dodge. Jayden watched very carefully. He felt certain that at least one of the young men would try to make a run for it. But they had no way of catching them because if they opened the gate wide enough for the truck to get out and chase the men, the others could come in. Dammit. They needed Ambrielle’s motorcycle here, too.

  Tegan stood beside him and said very softly, “When I come back, open the gate just enough to let me through and shut it as fast as you can.”

  Huh? But she’d already gone inside the guard house.

  What? What is she cooking up now?

  Sure enough, the dump truck door opened and one of the young men climbed down to the ground. Instantly, a gray wolf was at his side
. Jayden felt his jaw drop but he didn’t stop. He opened the gate a few inches and the wolf walked gracefully through. Damn she’s beautiful. She moved with liquid grace, her limbs lean and sleek, her body pure poetry, and her fur the prettiest color he’d even seen.

  Suddenly Oscar’s cell phone beeped. A female voice Jayden didn’t recognize yelled, “Trouble by the lake. Send some wolves.”

  Quinn Johnson and another man Jayden recognized but whose name he didn’t know jumped out of the truck. The other man disappeared into the shrubbery, but Quinn stood beside Oscar. “I’ll take over here. You’d better get going.” Quinn held up a couple of pairs of handcuffs and a length of rope.

  Jayden grinned. “It’s always good to be prepared.”

  The man who’d vanished among the bushes must be another wolf, Jayden decided.

  He looked back outside the gate and was just in time to see a flash of pale fur as a wolf bounded out from beside the wall after a young man. The man took to his heels, sprinting down the middle of the road, but he had no hope of outrunning the wolf.

  The kids inside the dump truck revved it crazily and aimed straight at the gate.

  Jayden stepped back and to the side. Any minute now the gates would smash and the construction vehicle would hit Danny’s truck. Jayden just had time to hope it was adequately insured before the dump truck ground against the gates. They held, but the three remaining men in the dump truck seemed to be arguing heatedly. Two of them were fighting for control of the truck.

  Where are the police when you need them?

  Harry tugged on Jayden’s arm. “We can’t wait while these stupid kids trash the place. I wanted to be outside with Tegan when she catches the one who’s running away, but I’ll be too heavy for you to lift. Climb on my shoulders, get over the gate, and go help her.”

  Climbing over the gate while a dump truck was trying to push it over wasn’t exactly what Jayden had planned to do, but he agreed someone needed to help Tegan and was also pretty sure it’d be easier for Harry to lift him than for him to lift Harry. Harry kneeled down and Jayden climbed on his back, then up onto his shoulders. He was high enough to haul himself up onto the gate and to climb over. The gate was swaying wildly from the truck pushing on it, but Jayden held on grimly, then jumped down on the other side.