Mate Bond(18)

Kenzie was flushed with wind and excitement, her golden eyes sparkling.  Bowman felt the chill of the wind on her, but her skin was heated with  her own sweet warmth.

She flung her arms around Bowman and kissed his lips, her cold nose  rubbing his cheek. "That was awesome," she said happily, pushing away  from Bowman. "Better than sex!"

Jamie let out a howling laugh. Shaking his head, he sprang off into the  woods, making himself scarce. Bowman growled, and Kenzie gave him an  impish look.

"What?" she asked, one hip canted. The crash helmet made her look sexy as hell.

She was still making him pay for the vet sitting on his bed and rubbing  his leg, was she? Bowman increased his growl, which Kenzie pretended to  ignore.

Two could play at that game, Bowman decided, his heartbeat speeding heat  straight to his groin. If Kenzie wanted the payback challenge, he'd  meet it. And he'd show her he played to win.


* * *

To Kenzie's surprise, Bowman agreed to let the cop, Gil Ramirez, into  the house. No arranging a neutral location like the coffeehouse a half  mile outside Shiftertown. Bowman gave Ramirez directions when he called  Kenzie's phone, and opened the door himself when Ramirez arrived.                       
       
           



       

But then, this was Bowman's territory. He liked to control it like he controlled everything else.

"Ramirez," Bowman said. He didn't offer to shake hands or make  pleasantries; he simply filled the doorway, staring down at the man  before he took one step back and moved so Ramirez could enter.

Welcome to my territory, he was saying. I'll honor you as a guest as  long as you leave my mate and cub alone, don't nose in my business, and  don't make me want to kill you.

Ryan was still at Cade's for the cookout Cade was having tonight. Ryan  had gone on the zip line a couple more times, and Kenzie had followed to  keep an eye on him, leaving Bowman to wait less than patiently for them  at the bottom.

Bowman was on edge, and in pain, Kenzie could tell, but he'd let Ryan  have his fun when he could have simply grabbed his son by the scruff and  dragged him home. He'd agreed to let Ryan stay behind under Cade's and  Jamie's supervision, knowing he'd be well looked after by the trackers.

Bowman also didn't want Ryan here when the cop came-Kenzie understood that.

True to his word, Ramirez wasn't in his uniform, wearing jeans, a  sweatshirt, and a leather jacket against the increasing cold. The mild  day was at an end.

Ramirez gave Kenzie a nod as he shucked his jacket. "Kenzie."

"Gil," Kenzie answered.

She took the jacket and hung it up for him, because that was what humans  did. The wife in a traditional human household, she'd gleaned from  television, was a hostess who made the guest comfortable and her husband  look good-a custom Shifters didn't always share. The male Shifter and  his mate stood side by side against any stranger, keeping him from  invading their home. They wouldn't care about the invader's comfort.

Bowman shot Kenzie a look, both because she'd taken the coat and because  she'd called the man Gil. Bowman's gaze burned her as she finished  hanging the jacket on the wooden coat rack in the front hall.

"Won't you sit down?" Kenzie asked, gesturing to the couches in the living room. Bowman, behind Gil's back, rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you get him a beer, honey?" Bowman asked, the snarl in the words ruining his imitation of a TV husband.

Gil, oblivious to their tension, shook his head as he sat down. "Nothing  for me, thanks. I have a long drive back, and I don't get behind the  wheel after even one drink."

Kenzie walked past Bowman and sat on the end of the couch Gil had taken. "That's wise," she said. "What a good cop would do."

Gil's intelligent eyes fixed on her. "Yeah, that's what I think."

Kenzie only smiled at him. Bowman sank down on the other sofa, hiding  his grimace of pain. He pretended to be relaxed, but he was ready to  spring at any sign of danger.

Kenzie ran her hand along the sofa's muted brown fabric, taking comfort  from it. She'd redone the living room not long ago, finding soft but  sturdy furniture in the earthy colors she liked, adding splashes of  bright red and deep blue in pillows and pictures for contrast. The two  couches were chunky instead of elegant, but they had deep cushions and  were oh so comfortable.

Bowman had declared he didn't like them, but the day after Kenzie had  found them at the closeout store and had Cade haul them home in his  truck, Bowman had fallen asleep on one, Ryan curled on his chest. Both  males had been sleeping deeply. Kenzie had snapped some pictures. For  blackmail, she'd told Bowman when she'd shown him the printed photos.  He'd grown furious, chasing her and pinning her to snatch the pictures  away, which had led to some of the best sex she'd ever had.

"So," Kenzie asked, giving Gil a warm smile. "What news do you have for us?"

Gil turned his body to include both Kenzie and Bowman in the  conversation. Wise man. "I looked into Kenzie's idea that a truck had  picked up the . . . whatever it was . . . and drove it out of there.  There aren't any traffic cams in that remote an area, and satellite feed  is iffy. But I was able to look at cameras at traffic lights in the  towns around there. An eighteen-wheeler rolled through Asheville just  after one in the morning, which was twenty minutes after you say the  attack was over."

Bowman sat forward, adjusting his leg at the last minute so it would not  bend too sharply. "You get a plate? Company the truck was from?"

Kenzie broke in. "Did it say ‘We Move Monsters' on the side?"

Gil chuckled; Bowman scowled. "No such luck. I got a partial plate. The  truck was black, both container and cab. Hard to see at night, but still  distinctive. People remember glossy black eighteen-wheelers. Took me a  while, but I think I found it. The owner has a trucking company in  Raleigh, but when I contacted them, they said the truck had been stolen  about a year ago. They already have the insurance money for it, and  didn't care what happened to it, but they did give me the name of the  last driver. I checked him out-he's dropped out of sight, but he did own  property around here. I went up there to check it out. Found the truck,  but no monster, as you probably guessed."                       
       
           



       

"Where?" Bowman asked, his eyes changing to white gray.

"Around Leicester, outside an old farm. Farm's been abandoned, but some of the buildings are intact."

Kenzie came alert as well. She and Bowman exchanged a long look, their  earlier bantering over. The old farm near Leicester was where the  Shifters of this Shiftertown held their fight club.

"We need to get up there," Kenzie said.

"Damn right." Bowman came off the sofa and was out the door before Kenzie could catch him.





CHAPTER TWELVE




Bowman had to concede to go out to the site in Ramirez's car. He'd  started for his motorcycle, but his stiff leg, and Kenzie pointing out  he hadn't quite finished healing, made him realize he couldn't drive  himself. He turned around and ordered Gil to take them there.

He had to admit that Gil wasn't as annoying as most humans, and that  fact irritated him. Gil had nodded at Bowman and unlocked his car  without fuss or argument.

No one locked a car in Shiftertown, Bowman grumbled to himself as he  climbed inside, hiding a grunt of pain. Did Gil think one of Bowman's  Shifters was going to steal it? But Bowman knew, as he stretched out in  the backseat, that he was deliberately finding fault. He didn't want to  like Gil, because Kenzie's eyes softened whenever she looked at the man.

Kenzie rode in front beside Gil, talking in her friendly way as they  headed out of Shiftertown into twilight. Bowman pretended to doze but  kept a sharp eye on Gil.

He'd alerted Jamie before they left the house as to where they were  going, and told him to be on standby. He'd talked to Jamie because Cade  hadn't answered his phone. Bowman couldn't hear much of what Jamie said  over the background noise of music and shouting, but he thought he heard  something about "grizzlies tightrope walking." Fucking bears.

"Just don't let Ryan do it," Bowman had shouted.

"What?" Jamie had yelled back. "Oh, Ryan. No, he's fine. I'll keep him  with me until you get back." Click. The party's noise had abruptly cut  off.

Bowman let it go. He knew that his Shifters were partying hard tonight  because they'd been scared shitless last night. Reaction was setting in,  and they were letting off steam in the relative safety of Shiftertown,  which was well-guarded-better guarded than humans knew.

Good thing it wasn't fight club night, since Gil was taking them up  there. Shifters used fighting to let off tension as well, but the  schedule for this fight club was rigid: once every two weeks, and that  was it. Bowman knew the danger of letting it become a free-for-all,  anytime-they-wanted-to-fight scene. Shifters needed boundaries,  especially in this Shiftertown, where casual bouts could become clan  wars.