***
Unwilling to risk raising suspicion in case anyone else showed up, Niko had snuck in through the back and come up the hallway leading from the bathroom. He was glad he hadn’t shut the window earlier when it had drizzled.
The first thing he needed was the woman’s story. From there, he’d decide what to do with her.
Tall and slender, with curves in all the right places, she was his walking wet dream in black leather. Every part of her, from her form-fitting jacket to the ass-hugging pants and all the way down to her knee-high, buckled boots stirred something primal inside him.
She took her helmet off and hung it on her bike, shaking a mass of light brown hair free, and with it, the sweetest smell he’d ever had the pleasure to experience. His wolf came to full attention. His blood flowed south, making his cock ache. Mine, the beast grated at him in his mind.
Her lie soured the air, but not enough to dull her underlying scent. Niko sure as shit wasn’t going to call her anything but her actual name. He asked again.
“Rylee,” she whispered as she peered up at him.
Rylee. That suited a badass biker chick a hell of a lot better than Kate.
“I’m sorry to have involved you. The less you know, the better off you’ll be,” Rylee said with a straight face.
The absurdity of her trying to protect him had him barking out a laugh, startling them both. “How about you try again?” She may believe every word she’d said, but that wasn’t going to fly. Not with him. Not where she was concerned. Both he and his wolf agreed. They would keep their mate safe from any enemy. Including a filthy vampire.
She gave him a smile that lit her entire face—except her eyes. She was good. “If you could point me to the nearest hotel, I’ll bunk down for the night and be out of your hair.”
Stubborn. Okay, he could deal with that. “Nope, still not the right answer. One more try,” he suggested expectantly. He didn’t want to get Jaxon involved, but if a vampire was going to terrorize the town he and the Wassookeag pack protected, he needed to know why.
Rylee huffed and perched a hand on her hip, staring him down. He bit the inside of his lip to keep from grinning. Like that would intimidate him. There were only two people he submitted to: his Alpha, and Maple, his Alpha’s new mate. This one—his mate… He could stare into her hazel eyes all damned night and not have the slightest urge to look away.
“I’m in Dexter to meet someone to help me with a job,” she finally admitted. “The vamp is here to try and stop me.”
Now they were getting somewhere. And even better, he liked where this was going. “I hear Blue Creek is lovely this time of year,” he said, watching her reaction to the words. If she was the one Aric Wolfe had given him the heads-up about, his tracking job was looking better by the second.
Rylee’s eyes widened. A smile blossomed on her face, this time making a dimple appear on her right cheek and her eyes sparkle. “It really is. And the locals are very friendly.”
He stuck his hand out, resisting the urge to pull her body flush against his. “Niko Garcia, tracker extraordinaire. Pleased to meet you. Looks like we’ll be working together for the next little while.”
Three
Rylee couldn’t believe it. The only luck she usually had was the kind she created for herself. It was what had seen her rise from homelessness to the woman she was today, self-sufficient and independent. That, and the fact that she was damned good at what she did. She may only be human, but she was better at retrieving than most wolves. People tended to pay well for the best when they wanted something bad enough. This time, Lady Luck had seen fit to land her right in the hands of the tracker she needed to pair up with. Add to that the fact that the man was sex on legs, and life couldn’t get much better.
“Let’s get out of here. We can go over the details while we eat dinner,” Niko suggested.
Her stomach growled at the mention of food. When had she eaten last? Had she had lunch today? Her gaze automatically flitted to her bike. She didn’t leave Ursula alone in a strange land. Ever.
Niko followed her gaze. “I have room in my trailer. Give me a sec to pull it up, and we’ll get it loaded.”
Her heart fluttered. Could the man be any more perfect?
He disappeared through the same door he’d gone to deal with the vamp, and a minute later, gravel crunched just outside. Another minute went by, then the garage door lifted.
“Get into the cab of the truck, and get down. If the vampire comes back, I don’t want him seeing you,” he instructed.
Her heart raced a little faster. The man was gorgeous, but that wasn’t happening. “No one handles Ursula but me,” she blurted out.
His lips twitched as he fought—and lost—against the grin creeping onto his face. “Ursula?”
She shook her head and grinned back at him. Damn him for being so good-looking. “Yes, that’s her name. And I’m the only one who handles her. Ever.”
His chest shook, and a chuckle broke free. “Why Ursula?”
“Because she’s pretty and pink, and she’s a badass that will chew you up and spit you out if she doesn’t like the looks of you,” she told him, repressing a chuckle trying to break free.
“What if that person has great respect for fine machinery and will handle her with the utmost care?”
“Not even then.”
He sighed and looked both ways down the street. “Okay,
