What This Wolf Wants(30)

This time Zan wouldn’t let the matter alone. “Who trained you?” He pushed.

She glared. “None of your business.”

“I’m making it my business.” He was heading into possessiveness but he couldn’t stop himself. He needed to know.

“And businesses fail all the time. Get used to the disappointment.” Jackie swiveled on her heel and walked away from him. Again.

Suddenly the idea of tossing her over his shoulder and taking off to some hidden lair began to make a lot of sense. It was arrogant, but honest.

Now for his next trick.





Chapter Ten

Jackie placed one hand protectively over her purse as she locked her truck, glancing furtively around her neighborhood, paranoid that someone would know what she’d stashed in there before leaving work.

Damn that Zan Sutton. This was all his fault.

If he hadn’t come looking for his brother, he wouldn’t have been shot, brought to her in need of medical attention, wouldn’t have snatched her hand in his wolf mouth and certainly wouldn’t have initiated the mating heat. And because of her reluctance—more like adamant insistence—at refusing the connection, she would face another night full of erotic dreams, restless energy, and worry.

A harsh breath blew out of her mouth as she headed up the concrete walkway to her little two-bedroom home. She was being a bitch, and not just in her head. Her words and actions to Zan since his arrival had been that of a cranky and snobbish brat, very unlike her normal demeanor. Zan had every right to seek his brother out. And getting shot wasn’t Zan’s fault either. Though knowing some wacko was out there taking potshots at shifters with silver bullets made her uncomfortable. Which only added to the sleepless nights.

Which was why she’d taken a few samples from the clinic. Sleeping pills.

She told herself it wasn’t illegal or unethical. She was a doctor after all and wouldn’t abuse them. She just needed some uninterrupted, deep sleep. Without it, she wasn’t good to anyone, especially her patients. As her assistant said this morning, no one has confidence in a doctor that looks like death warmed over.

It was ironic how one split second had changed the rest of her life. An instinctive reaction from a confused animal coupled with her own thoughtless action. She knew shifters. Knew better than to make any sudden movements when they were hurt, whether in human or wolf form. While most only changed into a beast once a month, they all carried the predator at all times. Even the females.

Now nature paired her with a man she believed unsuitable, albeit a jaw-dropping gorgeous man with a well-muscled body she itched to run her hands all over. Combine that with beautiful green eyes that threatened to melt her into a hormonal pool of goo and a scent that created erotic visions starring her tongue and every inch of his naked flesh at her mercy and it all added up to a heady mix.

But those things were only physical. His cocky attitude was, as she mentally ticked off negatives, immature. He picked fights, which meant he was overly aggressive. And his job comprised of danger and death.

So not on her Mr. Right list. As she’d flat out told him two days ago.

She refused to think of his charming smile and quick wit. Or his expression when he changed from wolf to human and came face to face with his brother for the first time in over twenty-five years. The hope and joy that lit him from the inside out was a rare gift to witness.

But sympathy only went so far. And the ache in her belly and heavy heat between her thighs that seemed to rob her of clarity wasn’t what she wanted, or needed.

Liar.

She grimaced at the internal reprimand as she unlocked the front door.

Yeah, maybe she did want a mate. Okay. Yearned for one truth be told. Growing up knowing that only about fifty percent of shifters ever found their mates should have her jumping for joy that she was one of the lucky ones. Unfortunately, she just couldn’t get past Zan’s chosen career. What he did went against her professional and personal beliefs. While she understood the need for men and women to risk their own lives to save, protect and, should the situation call for it, terminate a life, she didn’t have to like it. And to give herself to a man who could so easily leave his mate time and time again to prove his strength and stealth to those who could never truly understand him would eventually tear her soul apart. Just as it did her aunt.

Fierce arousal may have taken over her body, but she would be damned before she would let it take over her life.

“It’s not going to control me,” she muttered, slamming the door behind her.

“Something bothering you, angel?”

Jackie jerked to full alert. If her brain hadn’t been so full of angry determination and senseless blame, she might have scented the man lounging carelessly on her couch before ever stepping foot inside the house. Instead she was taken by surprise, and an almost feral wave of longing. All the air in her lungs fled as the sight and smell of Zan flooded her senses.