AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She crawled toward the broken pieces. It was fixable, but she would need a whole lot of glue and possibly duct tape, and....who was she kidding? She needed a new phone. But that wasn’t the real issue. What mattered was whether she was really going to run from this. Especially from her deal with Rock. She stripped off her clothes and laid them next to the bathtub. The feeling of the cold tile against her naked flesh sent shivers up her spine. Crouching on her knees, she clenched her teeth. She wanted to scream, but the only real release was to shift.
13
Jace sat onthe edge of the bed with his head buried in his hands. What the hell had he gotten himself into? She was a wolf shifteranda powerful one. Not to mention, she was engaged. How much lower could he stoop? He ran his fingers through his hair and tightened them around his skull. No matter how hard he squeezed, he couldn’t hold himself together.
A small crash resonated from the bathroom, like the sound of cracking glass. Damn. He walked to the door and leaned his ear against the wood. No sound. He knocked and waited for a response. Nothing.
Worried, he knocked harder. “Francesca?”
Muffled by the closed door, nails scratched over the wood in an eerie response.
“All right, I’m coming in.” Jace opened the door and immediately stumbled back.
Francesca’s clothes lay scattered across the floor, her lacy panties hooked on the rear paw of a large ebony-colored wolf. The eyes staring at him were all too familiar, like molten liquid gold. The wolf cocked its head to the side, and its ears perked up.
No,Francescacockedherhead to the side. He fought the urge to swear under his breath. She was a wolf shifter. The wolfwasFrancesca.
“Am I still supposed to call you Francesca when you’re…you know?” He rubbed his fingers over his temples and stared at the ceiling. “I can’t believe I’m talking to an animal.”
The wolf grumbled in response.
He let out a long sigh and pushed his fingers through his hair again. “So am I supposed to call you Francesca? Bark once for no, twice for yes.”
The wolf barked twice.
“All right, then, Francesca it is.”
She huffed and trotted over to the side of the bed. She leapt onto the mattress with grace, stretched luxuriantly and then curled into a ball. Jace glanced toward the door. If she was planning to sleep, he supposed he could go check out one of the other bedrooms.
Francesca followed his gaze. She rested her head on her paws and whimpered.
“It’s okay. I’ll use one of the other beds.”
She made a noise between a growl and a whimper.
He realized that she didn’t want him to go. “I can take the floor in here, then,” he offered.
She whined again.
“Come on. I bet you’d be more comfortable without me anyway.” He took a pillow from the bed and dropped it onto the floor. It hit the carpet with an audible poof, and he realized it was probably softer than anything he’d ever slept on in his whole life.
He sat down next to it and leaned back against the wall. Reaching across the floor, he took the flask, then unscrewed the cap and lifted it to his lips, ready to chug down however much whiskey was left. When nothing came out, he threw it on the carpet next to him. Damn. He would need to restock if he was going to make it through bringing a rogue werewolf to justice with Francesca there to distract him every step of the way.
He glanced up from the stark white carpeting. Golden wolf eyes stared back at him, monitoring his every move.
“Do you distrust me so much that you need to watch me, or am I that pretty to look at?”
The wolf pawed at its muzzle and buried its head in the comforter. The thought that Francesca was in that wolf—that shewasthat wolf—made the gesture all the more human. He had a feeling she would have been blushing if she could have.
“So, if we’re going to stay organized and keep one step ahead of this sicko, we’ll need a plan.” He glanced at his watch. “The sun should be coming up soon, so we’ll get some shut-eye first, and then, when evening rolls around, we’ll head out to where the double killings were.” He looked her way to make sure she was listening. She watched him with attentive eyes. “We’ll have to touch base with David, to find out where it all went down. The bodies will be long gone, but once we examine what’s left of the crime scene, we can take it from there. Hopefully we can still catch a trace of his scent. As long as we can find the bastard, we can take him out. Locating him will be the big problem.”
He eyed her again. “Bark once for okay, twice for ‘I have a better plan.’ I’m sure you have something to say, as usual.”
The wolf snarled and barked once.
“Agreement. That’s what I like to hear. I’ll set the alarm to be sure we don’t sleep too late.” He pushed himself off the ground, walked over to the bedside clock and punched several buttons before he figured out how to program the alarm.
The sheets rustled as Francesca shifted onto her side.
