Surrounded By Temptation(6)

“It’d be my pleasure, angel.”





Chapter Three



“You don’t have to do this,” Krista pleaded with her sister. “I know you eat, live, breathe your job, but this is going way above the call of duty.”

Ignoring her, Ariel handed over the syringe containing Jack’s initial dosage. “Swab the area with an alcohol pad first. On his hip. Then uncap the needle, tap it a few times like this,” she flicked the syringe as a demonstration. “Gently push the plunger until the air is extracted, then you’re ready.”

“You’re really going to go through with this, aren’t you?”

Ariel took a calming breath and squared her shoulders. It wouldn’t do to get into a fight with her sister, but they’d been over this and over this. “Thomas said they will not leave me alone with Rob until they are sure he is under control. I have no desire to be raped and killed. I value the work I do. I think I can help. And you asked me to in the first place. Please just let me do my job.”

“They are feral, Ariel. You got a glimpse of it earlier today. You have no idea the need they have to bond with a mate. It’s all encompassing. I know I asked for your help. I want them free of the chains that bind them to this land, but I don’t want you to get hurt. When I asked for your help, I didn’t mean I wanted you to seduce one of them!”

“I am conducting tests. Not hooking up.”

“There’s a term for a woman who uses her body in the name of work.”

Ariel walked over and grabbed her bag of goodies. Tools she’d gotten at the adult store in St. Louis before coming out here. Krista had just likened her to a prostitute and it was hard for her to deny the allegation with tricks of the trade in her hand. “I’m doing it and that’s final. You’ll thank me later. They all will.” Her heart pounded as guilt prickled. They wouldn’t thank her if she exposed them in the name of her real work.

Krista walked over to her and hugged her. “Be careful.”

Ariel released her and rubbed her arm reassuringly. “I’ll be fine. Thomas has me staying in this cabin next to Rob’s. Jack has been instructed to stay in the house and work on the south side of the property. He and I won’t cross paths. His medication will be administered by Thomas’s right hand man, Jeffery, and Thomas will observe him for any side effects. As for Rob, let me handle that, okay?”

A knock sounded on the door, allowing butterflies to swarm erratically in Ariel’s belly for the first time since coming back to the cabin.

“It’s Mikaela. They’re ready,” she announced through the door.

“Fine,” Krista whispered heatedly. “You win. I’ll let you handle Rob, but you damn well better tell me if anything goes wrong.”

“Deal.” Ariel grabbed her bag and opened the door. “I’m ready.”

Mikaela looked at her with a mixture of worry and admiration, and that little bit of guilt from earlier came back. Ariel tamped it down. She didn’t have time to worry about that right now.

“I’m coming too,” Krista said.

Mikaela chuckled. “Girl, your man has been on the warpath since your sister here made that little announcement about not being a taken woman. First, he practically beat Jack into submission, then after the meeting, he gave Jack another round of, um, brotherly encouragement to behave.”

“I can only imagine what kind of encouragement Toby provided.” Krista grinned.

Mikaela turned to Ariel. “And he’s been reading Rob his rights in Rob’s cabin ever since. We all view you as family since you’re Krista’s sister, but you’re his mate’s sister, so he feels an even stronger obligation to protect you. And he will. Especially since he knows how worried Krista is about all this. If I know Toby, he’s probably fighting every primal instinct to lock you up just to keep his mate from being upset.”

“Good,” Krista said.

“Don’t give her any ideas,” Ariel groaned.

Mikaela stepped aside and the girls followed her to the cabin next door. This estate was really very refreshing—rustic but not jarringly so. Ariel didn’t like the camo motif. She understood its need for function, but why anybody decorated in the stuff, she’d never understand.

When Krista opened the door and they stepped into Rob’s cabin, Ariel kept her expression even…with great difficulty. Rob was shirtless and bound to a wooden chair. His worn jeans hung low and showed how cut he actually was. His legs were tied to the chair too. God, his bare feet even looked sexy. But the hottest thing about him was his gaze. The way his eyes peered into her. Like they were already alone and he was ready to pounce.