Grayslake: Furrever Yours(6)
“No, no, it’s not broken. Look, I can move it.” She wiggled her foot, then quickly manufactured a wince. “Can you just carry me into the break room?”
Amelia hurried up to her and handed her an ice pack, then ran across the hall to convince a naked granny that she needed to get back into bed.
Knox carried her into the break room and kicked the door shut behind him. She looked around; there was nobody else there.
She and Knox were alone in a small room, and she was nestled in the arms of the man she’d been lusting after for the past year.
He stood there, not making any move to put her down, and she rested her head on his shoulder. She could feel his hard muscles bunching up, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. He breathed in deeply – inhaling the scent of her hair, she realized.
So he didn’t find her smell repugnant.
After what felt like a full minute, he sighed and very carefully set her down on the couch. Then he sat down next to her, broke the capsule inside the ice pack, shook the pack, and wrapped it around her ankle. His big hands were surprisingly gentle.
“How’s that?” His voice was a deep, sexy rumble, and he looked her right in the eye.
“Much better, thanks.” She smiled at him gratefully and leaned back against the couch arm. “You’re good at that.”
He leaned back against the couch and looked at her with an odd mix of tenderness and longing. She could see it burning in his eyes. She wasn’t imagining it.
“I’ve got to go,” he said with a heavy sigh. “Don’t want to leave you here like this, but I need to find that girl.”
“You didn’t say what her story was,” she said. “You must at least have an idea of who hurt her like that. I imagine you can’t wait to make an arrest.”
She wanted to hear that he wasn’t really working with whoever had hurt Margaret. Craved it.
But instead of reassuring her, he stood up and looked down at her resting on the couch. “You have any idea where she might go?” he asked.
Heather felt a rush of disappointment. It didn’t matter how hot Knox was, or how much she yearned for him; her job was to help people like Margaret. She had to put her feelings aside until she knew what was what.
She sat straight up, swinging her legs down. “You keep avoiding my questions about her,” she said. “Why?”
“Active investigation.” He shrugged. “Heather. Listen. If you see her, you need to call me. She’s in danger, and if you get involved, you could be too. And just…be careful.”
“What do you care?” she said. She was starting to get annoyed with all his secrecy and mumbo-jumbo.
“What do you mean?” He actually looked hurt. “Of course I care about your welfare.”
“Since when? From the minute you first met me, you’ve acted like I have a case of full-body herpes.”
He made a spluttering noise at that. “I have not!”
“Excuse me, I am on the receiving end, and you most definitely have. You run a mile the minute I walk into a room.”
He gave her a pained look. “It’s not like that. I don’t want it to be this way between us. It’s…complicated.”
Us? He’d said “us”. So he thought about her too. But never did anything about it.
“Complicated like you’ve got a girlfriend?”
“No!” he blurted out. “God, no. I haven’t been with a woman since— Heather, I have to go. Please remember what I said about being careful.”
He rushed for the door, but then stopped and looked back at her with a look of pure, aching longing. “I just want you to know one thing. If anyone tried to hurt you, I’d kill them.”
Heather sat there staring after his retreating back and wondering. He hadn’t been with a woman since…when?
* * * * *
It had been a long, frustrating night. Knox had traced the girl’s scent from behind the hospital and down to the creek, and then he’d lost her. Smart girl. The Southeast Alpha, who was the Territorial Alpha for all the packs in the Southeast, including Knox’s, was pissed. The Northeast Alpha, whose son was supposed to be marrying Margaret next week, was beyond pissed – he was boiling with rage. The dark was melting away now, and the glowing orb of the sun in the east bathed the distant hills in glowing red and yellow, but Knox was in no mood to enjoy the sunset.
He paced back and forth in front of the Grayslake Itan’s home. It was a large, Southern-style residence with columns and a broad front porch.
Knox’s Beta, Clarence, stood there with his arms folded across his broad chest, scowling. He didn’t like being in bear territory. Neither did Knox, but he had no choice at the moment. Fortunately, Ty Abrams, Itan of the Grayslake clan, had recently reached a truce with the local wolf pack, which made it easier for all the wolves in the area to have a semi-civil conversation with the bears.