“How long has it been since you’ve slept?”
“So anyway, why don’t I drive and then I can drop you back here when we finish up?”
“Why do you have to resist so hard?”
“What does it matter? My best friend is missing and she could be dead. I can’t just fucking sleep and I don’t understand why it matters to you anyway.”
God. Her voice nearly cracked and he totally heard it. Truth was, she hadn’t slept more than those four hours before she’d gone over to Allie’s place the day before. She was freaked and exhausted and on edge, and it was all bad business for a cop to get that way.
But what else could she do?
The guys back in Roseburg were on it. Her boss had given her some time to come up and look for Allie, but he’d made it clear there was an official investigation and she was too close to the missing person to be effectively on it.
“I’m driving. You can stay in my guest room. And I care because I care about you. I never stopped caring about you. I left Roseburg behind but it didn’t have a thing to do with you.”
“I’m not staying in your guest room.”
“Where are you parked?”
“I found a street spot about two blocks up.”
“I’ll drive you to it, and you can follow me to my place and park there.”
“You’re very bossy,” she muttered. It was a good plan, but he was so pushy about it.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that a few times.”
His car was waiting at the curb because someone had brought it out for him. “Must be nice.”
He grinned as he opened her door and she slid in. “It is.”
And so of course he lived in some swanky, cool loft-type building a few minutes away from the office. He’d told her to go inside the gate when it opened and to park in spot fourteen so she did. She sat there in the silence for a while.
She needed to hold herself together. To keep her eyes open and not miss anything. It didn’t matter that she was tired. That she’d been slapped in the face with one of the worst memories of her life. What mattered was finding Allie.
When all this was over, when Allie was back at home, Michelle could break down. Until then, there simply wasn’t time.
He rapped on her window, concern on his features, and she did her best to put her cop face back on as she got out.
Chapter Three
He wanted to hustle her into his bedroom, pull back the blankets and make her sleep. His wolf wanted her to be naked when that happened. The man had to push the wolf back and assure it neither was going to happen any time soon.
A great deal of his agitation smoothed once he’d locked the door behind them and she was safely in his space.
“I’m going to put the kettle on to make some tea to take with us, all right? You probably don’t need more caffeine but some tea will warm you up.”
She moved to the windows and stared out, her shoulders slumping slightly. He forced himself to get the water on and headed into his bedroom. The need to comfort her built inside as he moved, changing from his suit into more casual clothes. If he had to shift, it’d be a lot easier to shuck jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt than a button-down shirt and a tie.
She’d grown into a woman worth getting to know.
His life was radically different than he’d ever imagined growing up in that shithole house with his craptastic parents. It hadn’t been hard to walk away from that, not really. What he faced if he’d have stayed there was most likely a dead end where high school would have been the high point of his life.
Like it had been for his own father.
Because of a stupid freak-of-nature moment, Josh had risen in the ranks of Pacific. Now he was a leader. He had nice things. An excellent job. People looked to him for advice. He was strong and fast and feared as well as respected. He’d fought hard for the life he had, and he did not regret leaving Roseburg, and the limited options it had presented him behind.
He didn’t even regret that it meant leaving her behind. He couldn’t be the man he was now if he hadn’t cut all ties. But he did regret hurting her. It had been careless and irresponsible. That he’d been nineteen really wasn’t the point.
He could make it up to her. His wolf certainly wanted to. Which was interesting and most likely connected to his former relationship with her.
She was on edge. Frayed. Exhaustion ringed her eyes and he ached to fix it. Ached that most likely Allie was dead, or on her way to dead, and there was probably nothing they could do to save her.
With a sigh he went back out, and she stood at his windows still, her phone in her hand.
“I’m just checking messages. Looks like we have a sighting on the SUV here in the Portland area. So I want to go there first.” She rattled off an address.
“That’s northwest of downtown. There are some parks and wilderness areas out that way. We run out there sometimes. We’ll go there and then back to the rest stops. I want to compare the scents.”
She nodded absently. “Yes, good idea. Do you need to be in wolf form? Is that the right term? Form?”
He poured hot water into two travel mugs over the teabags. Just a small amount of black tea with some other things that would probably help.
“Form is fine. I think on it like my skin. Right now I’m wearing my human skin. When I change, my wolf is in charge and I’m wearing my wolf skin. I can get a scent without changing, but if I can shift, my senses are even better. Not always possible in public though. At least not during daylight hours. We’ll head over and see what it looks like. GiGi is really good at tracking. She and Damon both. He’s mated to a witch, by the way. I think it’s good to have him involved.”
“I feel like it’s my first day of school.” She took the travel cup, wrapping her fingers around it. “I don’t know anything really, about this world of werewolves and witches and cat shifters.”
He brushed a loose tendril of her hair back from her face. “It’s all right. I do. We’ll figure it out together, okay?”
Her gaze flicked up from where it had been at her feet, locking with his and everything stilled, even his wolf who’d been pacing, urging him to protect her. She swallowed hard and licked her lips.
“I’m so afraid I’m going to fail her.”
He sighed, slowly taking her free hand and squeezing. “I will help you in any way I can.” She might fail. Not because of anything she did, but this enemy…
His phone buzzed, and he knew Damon and GiGi were waiting downstairs. He wanted to kiss her so badly it was all he could do to step back and grab his keys. “Ready?”
She nodded.
“Drink your tea and I’ll be way happier. Think of it as keeping the wolf happy.”
“The wolf? Why would it, he, whatever, why would the wolf care?”
He guided her out and then into the elevator. “What I do, who I am now is all about protection. An Enforcer is more than just a cop. It’s my job to be sure everyone I’m responsible for is safe and in line.”
“I’m not a werewolf. I’m responsible for my own self.”
The set of her mouth screamed out for him to kiss it softer, to ease the stress lines there. She could think whatever she wanted, but his wolf believed otherwise. And frankly, so did he.
He lifted a hand to Damon, who ambled over and filled him and GiGi in on the newest developments. “We’ll
