Page 33 of Israel

Chapter 14

For the next few days, Israel’s life on the tour fell into a routine.

Arrive at the venue sometime in the early morning. Clear the backstage area with the security team, making sure there had been no suspicious deliveries the day before their arrival.

Follow Ashley around as she took meeting after meeting, phone call after phone call.

Worry that she seemed to get a tiny bit more brittle and manic every day.

Worry about the growing signs of fatigue in her eyes.

Wonder why she never took that damned necklace off, and what the hell its purpose was.

Sit crowded in some corner of the bus every night as it rolled along the highway, while Ashley practiced new harmonies with the Malsueño brothers, or played poker, or watched movies and ate popcorn with people who weren’t him.

Sit up after she went to bed, dozing on the couch in the back lounge, and watch the closed curtain of her bunk, pretending he was protecting her, but in reality fighting the claustrophobia that sent his wolf into a tailspin whenever he was in his coffin-shaped bunk, and sometimes even when he wasn’t.

Grab a couple of hours’ sleep every evening while Ashley was onstage, wishing desperately he was listening to her sing. But it was the only time when the stalker couldn’t get to her. If he didn’t sleep then, he’d never get any sleep at all. And he had to be alert. He couldn’t fail Ashley at a crucial moment.

So he’d sit up every night as the bus grew dark and quiet, and try to imagine their life together as a mated pair. Some parts of it he could picture—holding her at night while she slept, making love to her everywhere he could think of. In the bus. In her dressing room. In his cabin at Silverlake. By the waterfall up the mountain in their territory.

He imagined being surrounded by her silky copper hair and the scent of her skin. He imagined the two of them at Silverlake Mountain during a snowstorm, lying in front of the fireplace, talking about everything under the sun.

Opening their hearts to each other.

The distance between them was a constant ache in his chest. There was never any downtime, never any time they could just get to know each other. He felt like she never stopped moving, never stopped talking, so she didn’t have to think, or feel.

Israel couldn’t understand it. He’d always been a mostly solitary person, happy alone, with a book or some music or his own thoughts. He liked to draw, and to carve wood. He’d done decorative carvings on a lot of the cabins at Silverlake, in his spare time.

He wondered if she’d care about that. He wondered if she cared about him at all. At least she’d kept the bear and bunny in her bunk. He’d even seen her pat it every now and then.

It wasn’t enough to build a mating bond on. He had to do something more.

His chance came on the fourth day.

They were slated for a two-night gig in Missouri, which meant for once they would get to spend a night in a hotel. Israel was almost giddy with the thought of a full night’s sleep in a real bed that wouldn’t give him claustrophobic nightmares.

And the first day there was Labor Day. A holiday, which meant all the people Ashley usually had phone conferences with would have the day off—or at least, they’d probably like to. He’d emailed most of them under her account to tell them she’d be taking the day off too.

She’d probably kill him when she found out.

In the meantime, he coaxed her to spend the afternoon with him.

“I have something special to show you,” he said. “I found it on the Internet. A place sacred to your people.”

“Bullshit,” she said, but she looked intrigued. “You know nothing of my people.”

“Come with me anyway,” he said. “Just for a couple of hours. For fun?”

Ashley gazed at him, eyes narrowed. “What is this ‘fun’ you speak of, Hottieguard?” she said. “‘Fun’ is not a tradition sacred to my people.”

“That sucks,” he said. “You should come to Silverlake sometime and play rock ‘em sock ‘em sausages. Now that’s fun.”

“It sounds dirty,” she said.

He just grinned at her. “Like I said, fun.”

Ashley didn’t know how she’d been talked into this. Trading sexual innuendo with her hottieguard was one thing. But going on sort-of dates with him was a bad idea. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to get to know him, to learn what was really going on inside that gorgeous head with its kissable mouth and pretty eyes.