Wolfe Read online

  Three featured Lily. Lily asleep, upside-down and open mouthed, and no doubt snoring. Lily chasing a butterfly. Lily with a heap of weeds dangling from her mouth. She had an infuriating habit of bringing the outside things she found inside, then chewing them up.

  “Come here.”

  That calm command had me raising my head to stare even as I put aside the sketches. He’d not bothered to command much at all, these past days.

  I sauntered over, noticing how his gaze rested on my hips. The man was in there, still.

  “Didn’t you use to read this one? The Princess Bride?” He held up and waggled a hardback copy.

  “Yes. A favorite of mine.”

  “The true romance did it for you?”

  I smiled. “Everything. The movie made me hear all the dialogue in the book in the actors’ voices.”

  “Yes, me too.” He reached forward, took my hand, and pulled me until I sat on his lap. Then he recited, in a serious tone, “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. That part I like.”

  “Mmm. Inconceivable.” I did too but I liked sitting with him even more. He encompassed me, made me feel welcome. Loved? Like true love in TPB, as I called the book for short? Hell, no.

  Wolfe thumbed open the pages as if to read from the book, with me sitting on him like a child being read to.

  “True love,” he murmured. “I remember you saying that, back then, at the rehab place.”

  Damn mind reader. Annoyed beyond reason, I wriggled and tried to stand.

  “Stay.” His arm went across my waist. “You know you can’t go, unless I say.”

  Infuriating too. I puffed out my lips and stayed, slumping.

  “What? You don’t want to share the book?”

  I shrugged. Our relationship had gone sideways. If he was my lover, maybe... How much had I changed to be thinking that? But he wasn’t and that was my doing.

  Lowering the dosage might trigger something like what’d happened the first day here. It might also give me a lover. Such a temptation. I ran my hand through my hair, untangling some knots as I sorted through my answer.

  “Why don’t you...make love to me anymore?” There, it was out.

  “I’m not inclined.”

  “Inclined? How civilized of you.” This was all my fault. If I had to be with him, why not have the fringe benefits?

  Because, dumbass, he’s dangerous.

  “Does true love require fucking?” He pulled me so I rested on his chest and tilted back my head until we were eye to eye. The forest of his loose locks twined down, swaying, and his blue eyes hypnotized me. “You want kisses and caresses?”

  “Yes.” Exquisitely aware of his scent, his masculine presence, I sank deeper into desire with each rise and fall of my breasts. I swallowed. “Both?”

  This was as far from true love as the sun from the moon. Which, scientifically was a long way. Romantically? I wasn’t sure. They were kind of entangled in myth.

  “Demanding woman.”

  Then he lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me – soft and sure, but without that wild force I craved. I twisted around to follow his mouth, and was left with my hand wrapped in his shirt when he drew away.

  How did I come to crave what was bad for me?

  I heard noises and looked up to see Lily scratching at the floor of the hallway. If she peed inside... I leapt up then looked back at Wolfe.

  “Go.”

  I’d taken three strides toward her before the answer to one of the photos arrived. Amelia had stood exactly there. There’d been no rug on the floor as there was today. Lily had moved it with her scratching. Bare timber and the outline of what I now saw had been behind Amelia.

  “Too late,” I whispered.

  A trapdoor. Lily had peed on a trapdoor.

  From the creak of the floorboards, Wolfe approached. He threw the towel from Lily’s bed over the puddle but shifted the cloth aside with his foot when he arrived.

  “A trapdoor?”

  “Uh huh. Did Magnus have a basement?”

  “Probably. He was into creating a survival place, a fallout shelter.”

  “So, what’s down there?”

  “I don’t know.” He hauled on the recessed handle and pulled the trapdoor open. “I’ll go look. You stay here.”

  It was dark, naturally, and metal stairs spiraled down.

  “Truly?”

  “Yes.”

  “But nothing is screeching at us or calling us to our doom. It’s safe.”

  Wolfe chuckled. “I like your sense of humor, Kiara, but you stay.”

  “Pfft.”

  “I’ll get a flashlight and you are to go sit and wait in the library.”

  I snorted. “Boring.”

  But I went and sat and I waited, twiddling my thumbs. When he emerged and closed the trapdoor, he wore a contemplative expression.

  “Well?” I rose.

  “I don’t want you looking down there. Not unless I take you.” His gaze was penetrating. “Understand?”

  “Of course.” How could I not? “How very cryptic. I hate mysteries.”

  “You’ll survive.” He nodded, as if to the tune of his thoughts. “Magnus had interesting tastes.”

  “Oh?” I raised an eyebrow nonchalantly – hoping for details.

  “This is the fallout shelter to rival all fallout shelters.”

  “Now I’m even more curious. I’ll wear a hole in my brain thinking about this. Tell me!”

  “I know.” He grinned evilly.

  “Bastard.”

  His eyes took on an element of wickedness and he took a step my way, with the evil grin still plastered on. “That’s not allowed.”

  “What isn’t?” Mildly alarmed, I backed away. Then he advanced on me and I panicked – almost tripping over my feet as I tried to turn and run.

  He could’ve told me to stay. He didn’t. Instead his arm flashed out and he grabbed my wrist then towed me, protesting, to the armchair. When he sat and hauled me facedown over his lap, I knew what he intended.

  “Hey! No spanking!”

  “Says who? You don’t get to call me bastard. Not today.”

  “What does today have to do with –”

  But he was yanking down my shorts.

  “It!” I clutched for the back of the shorts as they travelled over the widest part of my butt. The things were loose at my waist and with wriggling they came down without undoing anything, unfortunately. I grabbed for them, only to have Wolfe capture my hand and keep removing my shorts.

  “Fuck! Hey!”

  But this had become almost a game and I couldn’t help giggling.

  Despite a flurry of defensive maneuvers, I ended up bare-assed with both my wrists caught at the small of my back in one of his hands.

  The first smack on my butt shivered a frisson of lust through me, straight to my pussy. Glorious. After smacking me, quite hard and painfully, a few more times, Wolfe shifted and when he spoke his words came from low down. I turned my head to look back at him and found he was inches away, watching.

  The warmth of his exhalations, the burn of his weighty hands landing on me...I unraveled, pleasantly.

  “You liked that, didn’t you?”

  “Um.” I caught my lip in my teeth then let it slip. Truth? “Yes?”

  There was pain but every blow had also sent my arousal soaring, had made me wetter. My entire body throbbed with the beat of my heart and the burn on my ass.

  “Good.” He slipped his hand between my open thighs then his finger wormed inside, slowly. Slow enough to melt my brain.

  “Fuck,” I whispered.

  “I’m sure you want that, but not now. Let’s just sit here for a while.”

  He what? Me lying with his finger in me? I was about to combust.

  I wriggled and he shushed me, held me down and began to play.

  “No talking.”

  I subsided. Within a minute I was ready to beg for more than what he was doing – working me into a me
ss, pushing his finger in and out while he held my cheeks apart, or bit me, or just held me down. He’d need a fire extinguisher soon.

  Half an hour later – I wasn’t sure of the time – I had bites all over my ass and three fingers inside me, and my poor clit was abused, what with all the grinding I’d tried to do against his thighs. I couldn’t beg in words, but I’d done a ton of muted cursing and sobbing.

  At last, he spoke. “I’m not going to fuck you. You’re going to stand up and pull up your shorts and then we’re going to read some of the book.

  What did I have to do to get his cock in me? Pleading with my eyes didn’t work either.

  Desperate measures were needed.

  The drug...I was going to do it. A little variation, a tiny drop. I would experiment.

  Wolfe droned on, reading the book, toying with me still by simply being him – with his smell, his male bulk and hard muscles, and by squeezing me between his open legs. I’d ended up sitting there when he’d spread his legs. The chair was big enough. Surrounded by him again, only turned on to infinity and beyond.

  Fuck this.

  A small increment lower would be safe. Wolfe, a little crazier and with more libido. Yes. A little less drug might mean he’d want to tie me up. I tensed my thigh muscles, squirming, and my clit thanked me. After that, he could fuck me. That I could handle. Just so long as it wasn’t as nasty as the other time.

  Yet...I’d dreamed of being roped to that tree sometimes and woken with my hand between my legs. The man had screwed with my head.

  Maybe hurting was what I really wanted? True lust, if not true love.

  Lily was beside us, whining. I smiled. “Shhh, Lily.”

  She panted happily then lay down on the floor with her head on Wolfe’s foot.

  Talking to dogs – second sign of craziness. The first sign? I knew that one.

  Desiring what might prove to be one’s undoing? That was it.

  God, I think I did want him to hurt me.

  Again.

  I almost began that night, when I poured him another glass of shiraz but decided to wait until the morning, when I hoped my hands wouldn’t be shaking.

  This could go so wrong, but I wanted to ride that burning line between death and glory.

  * * * * *

  Wolfe

  Days ago, I’d recognized the taste of one of the drugs from the rehab center, in coffee of all things. It was bitter and distinctive. Maybe the concentration was higher and that triggered my memory, made me connect A to B? Either way, I knew.

  So now, I waited. I wanted to see what she’d decide, though I’d pushed her tonight. I’d been impatient. The creep of things uncurling, walking about, feeling for her, in the back of my mind, it did get to me. I had kinky spiders under my stairs. Good ones if I could keep them in check. They fed a part of me that needed the taboo, the dark, the edginess. Only, I’d stay on this side of awareness. Forgetting most of the fucking of her was not good.

  Now I knew what the drug did...I could add it to my armory. Use it.

  When I wanted to, I could stop.

  I wanted to see what she would do. Her cravings washed through her and registered way down in my balls. But I wasn’t sure and I needed that surety.

  I could recall fucking her though details were lost. Every second of the hour, of the day, I had the crawling sensation, the grabbing need, to take her. With the drug in my system, I could resist. I wanted her to decide to take the jump, didn’t want to make her, or scare her into it.

  If she didn’t act soon, maybe I’d take back control. Or walk away. That possibility ate at me too. I needed her.

  The drug made me lazy, but less crazy. And bad at rhyming.

  I stalked her.

  I waited.

  Love had made me do this stupid thing. I think I’d loved her since forever...when she stepped into my room all those months ago.

  What if she turned to the light and not the dark? Darth Vader wasn’t every woman’s love choice.

  Letting her go would be difficult.

  I was Wolfe. If the rest of my life didn’t come back to me, I’d endure. Half the world was waiting to be my plaything. The best half, the female half.

  Bullshit.

  Just seeing her walk past made me ache. I’d be lost without her.

  I’d come here to recover my past but this cabin yielded no answers. Even Magnus was a mystery. A friend, but why, when, how? Nothing I’d found in the cabin had said much.

  Except perhaps the basement.

  Things had stirred, my kinky spiders most of all, like they were reaching out and caressing all the gear he had down there – enough black leather and spiky stuff to start a heavy metal apocalypse. If this was Magnus’s idea of a fallout shelter, I knew why I liked him.

  Staying here forever, stalking Kiara, satisfied me. Moving on could wait. Making her mine was my aim and I could no longer do it without her consent.

  I wanted to try out what was in the basement...on her.

  True love didn’t always look the same to everyone.

  Inconceivable? No.

  Love sometimes meant the cruelest torture.

  Chapter 21

  Doctor Hass

  “So, this handwriting expert has decided this signature is an M and a W?”

  The doctor inclined an eyebrow and managed to look at the sketch taken from the car and the officer at the same time, or so the officer thought. Maybe all medical professionals at this level were high functioning psycho-whatsits?

  The police officer nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “And why is this relevant? The man’s been missing with the nurse for days now.”

  “He’s committed alleged rape and sexual assault after being a patient with not an aggressive thought in his head for months. We need to know why. The alterations in his medications seem to not be enough of an explanation. Knowing everything we can may facilitate his capture, sir. You submitted a report that said you didn’t believe he was Andy Carruthers. We’ve tracked down men from his unit as well as the relative, Andy’s father, who turned out to be a homeless man. We showed them recent photos. They all swore that Wolfe is not Andy. We’ve put his DNA through the police database and got nothing. Who do you think he is?”

  “M.W. That signature is fascinating. He claimed to be named Wolfe, in some early assessments made. He was ignored.” The doctor looked up at the officer and tapped the sheet of paper on his desk. “It seems likely the W would be for Wolfe. I’ve also tried to get his DNA checked by some less forthcoming secret intelligence and quasi military organizations of this glorious nation of ours. They did diddly squat for me. If you help, perhaps this can go higher. Perhaps...” The doctor leaned back into his padded chair. “We can find out who this man really is?”

  “FBI? CIA? NSA?”

  “And any other acronyms that you can think of. I’m sure we have ones I don’t know about.”

  “That sounds like a good idea. I’ll pass it on upward.” The police officer held out his hand and Dr. Hass shook it. “Thank you for your co-operation, doctor.”

  “You’re welcome. I have to admit this man makes me extremely curious. I like having my facts straight and his are damn well crooked as all hell.”

  * * * * *

  Damian, a motel in Minnesota

  “There!” He tapped the map where the download feed had updated. The drone overfly had finally picked them up. “A weak signal but it is there.”

  “Well now. That’s remarkable. Good lithium battery!” Guera had a spoonful of breakfast oatmeal in hand. Carefully she set the bowl on the table and came to Damian where he sat on the bed. “Have you the exact coordinates yet?”

  “Soon. Even if we don’t find it again, we have an approximate location. This seems correct. The car registration was tracked to a town that’s a two-hour drive away.”

  “Weeks ago.”

  “True, but it was the last location found. There’s not much up there on the mountain. If the car’s there, they might be. Suc
h a remote position will be an advantage. Less interference. And see how good my hunch was...” He moved the mouse cursor and circled a road. “Here was where that strange double killing happened.”

  “Yes. You are a very clever man.”

  “I’m concerned that the doctor won’t come here to take the sample, and of course Wolfe is likely going to be too aware by now for us to transport him far.”

  “Yes. Yes. It will be a problem. I don’t want to be arrested going across state lines with a handcuffed man in the back of our vehicle.”

  “No. And if half of the myths about him are true, he’s not someone we should take lightly. The woman is likely dead by now. But, we’ll figure this out when we need to. We have the tissue sample kit.”

  “Ugh. I’d rather just kill a man and bury him than this.” She screwed up her nose. “Brains? Makes me feel like I am a zombie.”

  “But a pretty one! And now, we wait.” Damian put the laptop aside and lay on his back on the bed. He shuffled his cellphone from his pocket. “I have a jigglypuff hatching soon. We should go for a walk.”

  Gueara tsked but lay down beside him. “Just so you can catch a new Pokémon?”

  “Of course.” Tongue out, he winked at her. “Perhaps I could catch you instead while we wait for a triangulation on the flyover?”

  She turned onto her stomach and propped herself on her elbows. “You have the best ideas. I can be your jiggle puff?”

  “Jiggly. Hmm.” He reached and caressed beneath her breast, weighing it gently and smoothing his fingers over the fabric of her top. “Depends. I think I need to see you hatch an egg first.”

  “Haha. I think I should wrestle you for that. I win, you hatch an egg, from your butt, sir.”

  Damian leaped off the bed then poised himself like a sumo wrestler about to strike. “On the count of three. One, two...”

  “Three!”

  Laughing they toppled onto each other and rolled on the bed, slowly stripping each other of clothing.

  When his phone beeped out a Pokémon notification, they were both too busy kissing to bother checking.

  Chapter 22