Midnight Wolf (Shifters Unbound #11)(84)

He made a tossing motion with his hand. Instantly Dion was pinned to the floor, as though a thousand invisible tethers held him down. He struggled for a moment, eyes wide with fear, and then he passed out. His head lolled on the floor, though the rest of his body remained rigid.

Tiger nudged Dion with his foot. “Did you do that?” he asked Ben.

“Knock him out? No. He fainted. Good, because I was already tired of listening to his voice. What do you want to do with him, Tamsin?”

Tamsin gazed down at Dion in worry. “I don’t know. We could tie him up and take him to Shifter Bureau, maybe leave a note pinned to him that he killed the Bureau agents, but he might get chatty about us. We could kill him, but then we’d be no better than he is.”

“We could give him to Dylan,” Tiger suggested. “He knows how to deal with out-of-control Shifters.”

Tamsin’s face lit, her moroseness vanishing. “Oh, that sounds interesting.”

“Meanwhile,” Angus broke in, “Ben, can you make sure he stays here and doesn’t make noise? While you contact Jaycee?”

“Sure thing.”

“Good,” Tamsin said, straightening up. “Then we can go try that pizza.”

Angus shook his head. “Not going anywhere if Shifter Bureau is still investigating what this guy did and is looking for you.”

“We have to eat something. I’m starving, and there’s no room service.”

“Tamsin . . .”

She laughed. “Someday, I’m going to teach you to live for the moment. But I see your point. Ben, can you—?”

“Talk to Jaycee, contain the bad guy, bring home the pizza? Yes. Ben can do it all. Even if he doesn’t get the girl.” He made poor-me eyes at Tamsin.

Tamsin sent him a smile. “One day, you’ll get the girl too. I’ll put money on it.”

“Huh. She’ll have to be pretty old. And fearless. Sassy. And cute—I gotta wish for cute.”

“Sure you do.” Tamsin enclosed him in a brief hug. “I’ll take extra pepperoni.”

Ben returned the hug enthusiastically but backed off under Angus’s glare and glanced at Dion. “He shouldn’t be able to move under that spell, even when I’m not here. But keep an eye on him, Tiger.”

Tiger gave him a grave nod. Tamsin turned back to look at Dion and wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure I want to sleep here with him on the floor.”

Ben let out another long sigh. “Take my room.” He tossed Tamsin the key. “I don’t mind terrorizing him a little. Tiger can stay and help me. My room’s next door.”

Tamsin caught the key, took up her backpack, kissed Ben on the cheek, and walked out.

Angus had to admit the pizza was good. Tamsin ate it with vast enjoyment, washing it down with an oversized soft drink. Foxes could put the food away as much as goblins could, Angus decided.

Ben had contacted Jaycee. She couldn’t leave for an unscheduled trip to Shreveport, she said, without Kendrick and other trackers knowing about it. Ben had asked her for strict secrecy—they couldn’t risk Dylan getting wind of where they were. Dimitri would know—he and Jaycee never kept anything from each other—but Jaycee promised to get the talisman Lady Aisling had given her to Ben without anyone finding out. She hadn’t been specific about how.

Dimitri had asked about his truck. Ben had replied evasively as Angus instructed him, leaving Dimitri growling on the other end.

“I’ll get it back to him in one piece,” Angus promised. “Not sure what color it will be, but it will be in one piece.”

That night, Angus lay down with Tamsin on the lumpy mattress and kissed her lips, which were a little sweet from the soda. “Remember what you said about living for the moment?”

Tamsin stretched against him, pulling him closer. “I remember,” she murmured, her eyes closing as he deepened the kiss.

Angus slid inside her, every hurt from his past fleeing as he sank into her. He loved everything about this woman—her taste, her scent, the soft noises she made as he pleasured her.

My mate. My life. I will protect you forever.

Tamsin smiled up at him, then lost the smile as the two of them dissolved into desire. Angus silenced her cries with kisses, letting out a groan as he released at the same time she did.

“See?” Tamsin whispered as they drowsed together in the darkness. “Spontaneity isn’t such a bad thing.”

Tamsin woke in the gray light of dawn to a heavy knocking on the door. The sound jerked her out of marvelous dreams where she and Angus made hot love on a cushion of air, surrounded by whipped cream, to find herself on a lumpy mattress in a dingy motel room, traffic roaring by on the highway.

Her fears rushed back at her as Angus got to his feet and cautiously peered out the door’s peephole. He inhaled at the same time, taking in the scent of the intruder before he opened the door a foot, darted out his hand, and hauled a man into the room.

Tamsin sat up, pulling the covers to her chin. Zander Moncrieff wore the long black coat Tamsin remembered over jeans and a T-shirt, his beaded white-blond braids swinging. He carried paper bags that smelled of bready things, and Tamsin’s stomach growled.

Zander took in the naked Angus and then Tamsin in the bed. “Oops. Am I interrupting something?”

“Nice to see you again, Zander,” Tamsin said. “Would you like to sit down? What are you doing here at five thirty in the morning?”