Hard Mated

Chapter Ten

No question. “I saw a fighter,” she said. “A jaguar kicking a bear’s ass. Then you turned into a powerful man covered in blood. Scary as hell.”

“You walked right up to me and handed me a bottle of water.”

“Took all my courage to do it. I had to pretend you were a horse.”

The remote look fled. Spike blinked. “A horse? What the fuck?”

“Don’t get your ego into a big twist. I have to work with difficult horses sometimes. Mean shits—the stallions can be tricky, but some mares . . . Man, you don’t want to get on their bad sides. Geldings are the easiest to work with.”

“Don’t even look at me and say gelding.”

“Calm down.” Myka grinned and held up her hands. “See? No scalpel, no anesthetic. What I meant was, when I have to approach a horse that’s dangerous, I have to walk right up to him like I’m not afraid. They sense your fear and use it against you. You have to be head of the herd and let them know you’re not going to take their shit.”

Spike’s tension didn’t ease. “You have to show you’re dominant.”

“Exactly. Just because I’m five-foot-two and they outweigh me about ten times doesn’t make any difference.”

“Huh. You’d make a good Shifter.”

“I figured, if it worked with horses, it might work with Shifters. The difference is that Shifters can think like humans do, so that makes you way more dangerous.”

“So, I’m smarter than a horse,” Spike said dryly. “Thanks.”

Myka shrugged. “It’s the way I think.”

His eyes glinted. “How long did it take you to figure out I was smarter than a horse?”

“Mmm . . . Couple minutes?”

“Dumb-ass fighter, that’s Spike.”

Myka put her hand on his thigh. “I was teasing.”

“I know.”

His voice gentled again, and Spike put his hand over hers. The warmth of him slid through her body like a soft summer night.

“It’s what Gavan sees,” Spike said after a time. “Even what Liam sees.”

“Who’s Gavan?”

“Asshole who wants me to turn on Liam and go work for him.” Spike lifted his hand from hers and stretched his arm along the back of the swing. “Gavan didn’t come out and say it, but that’s what he wants.”

“Is this something you want to do?”

“It doesn’t work that way. I’m a tracker. Means I don’t quit when I’m bored.”

“Hey, I’m new to Shifters. Don’t bite me.”

Spike slid his arm off the top of the swing to enclose her in the circle of it. Myka had a sudden, giddy vision of Spike leaning down and nipping her neck, showing her how Shifters bit, but he only caressed her shoulder.

“Trackers are top fighters of the clans,” he said. “They’re chosen by the leader, and they stick with that leader forever, and with the next Shifter who ousts that leader. Trackers are inherited.”

“And Liam inherited you?”

Spike traced another circle around her bare shoulder. “Yeah, from a Shifter called Fergus after Liam ousted him. I haven’t worked for Liam very long, ’bout a year now. That’s why I say he doesn’t really know me. Hasn’t had time yet, and he doesn’t completely trust me.”

“But you’re pledged to Liam now, right? How can he not trust you?”

“Because when I worked for Fergus, I helped him do things against Liam and his family. Fergus was always afraid of Liam’s family because he knew they had the true power in the clan. So he was always trying to hurt them. Liam says he understands that I had to do what Fergus told me, but understanding and forgiving are two different things. Gavan used to work for Fergus too. So for all Liam knows, we’re cut from the same cloth.”

Spike went silent again, caressing Myka’s skin as though drawing comfort from it.

“If you pledged yourself to Liam,” Myka said, “then there’s no decision. You can’t turn around and work for this other guy.”

“It’s all bullshit anyway,” Spike said. “I know Gavan’s stringing me along, telling me he wants me to work for him. Enforcer, my ass. He wants me to do his dirty work, then he’ll be done with me.”

“Then your answer’s easy. Don’t do it.”

“Liam expects me to do his dirty work too.”

“Don’t do either,” Myka said.

Spike’s lips quirked. “It’s more complicated than that. If I tell Liam I quit, every other Shifter will start thinking Liam can’t hold it together. There’ll be a hierarchy battle before you can say shit, then bloodshed and maybe death, never mind about the Collars. I think that’s why Gavan keeps wanting to talk to me—to make me start thinking about my place, and wanting something better.”

“Playing to your ambition and greed.” Myka sighed. “I know all about that.”

Spike’s brows went down, his attention pulled from his own problems. “What are you talking about?”

“Stables where I train. I’ve spent my whole life there, first learning to ride then learning to be a trainer. It’s the only place I’ve ever been happy. But the current owner inherited it from his dad and isn’t interested in horses. He wants to sell to a developer who will plow it over and build strip malls. The owner will get a boatload of money, and we’re out a place to train.”

Spike watched her face fall as she spoke, and his anger stirred at this nameless, faceless owner. “Can you go to another stable? Move your horses?”

“I don’t own the horses. Their owners send them to me, and I train them, show them, help sell them if that’s what wanted. I’d have to find another stable willing to hire me on or rent me the space, and owners are very, very picky about where they send their expensive, prize-winning horses. Me and the other trainers are trying to buy the place ourselves, but the price is too high. A corporation can cough up much more than underpaid trainers.”

“How high?”

“Seven figures.” Myka sighed again. “That’s why I have to go home. Tomorrow we’re going to meet with the owner and offer him at least a down payment if he’ll reconsider selling to us. Then try to get a loan for the rest.”

“Mmm.”

“I know, not as exciting as Shifter fights or chasing Jordan around, but it’s important, and I have to get some real sleep so I can be coherent at the meeting.”

Spike didn’t want her to go. He relaxed around Myka, opening up like he’d never opened up to anyone, and he liked that she was opening up to him. She listened to him—really listened. Then she thought about what he’d said and told him her true opinion, which was screw Liam and Gavan both and do what Spike thought best for himself.

Spike closed his fingers around her shoulder, her skin like warm roses. “Will you come back tomorrow?”

Goddess, he was begging again. Myka’s eyes shone in the moonlight, which turned the blue of them light and beautiful.

“To check on Jordan? Sure.”

“Yeah, to check on Jordan,” Spike said. And to talk to me. I don’t care what we say. I talk to you, and I feel strong.

Spike moved his touch to her cheek, running his thumb along her jaw to turn her face to his. He closed his other arm around her, leaned down, and kissed her.

The spark of the kiss ignited his blood and tightened in his body. He stroked fingertips across the softness of her cheek, tasted the heat of her lips. Her mouth responded to his, a hunger that matched his own.

Spike slid his hand down to Myka’s tank top, perfect for the day’s warmth but too light now for the midnight chill. He skimmed his palm over her breast, finding her nipple tight behind the thin fabric. Spike closed two fingers around the bud, tugging.

Myka put a hand on his wrist. “No, I really have to go,” she whispered.

She let out a soft moan, however, when Spike slid off the swing and to his knees, catching the tight nipple in his mouth through the fabric. Myka closed her hand around the back of his neck, fingers playing in the buzz of his hair.

Spike drew the nipple between his teeth. She would taste better without the shirt, but he was giving her time, easing her in gradually. Shifters could be rough, and Myka wouldn’t be used to it.

So why did he want to be so incredibly gentle with her?

When Spike finally released her, Myka’s breath was coming fast, her lips parted and moist. Spike caught that moisture on his tongue, cupped her cheek, and kissed the corner of her mouth.

“Come back tomorrow,” he said.

She nodded, silent, eyes fixed on him.

Spike had to help her up out of the swing, then he walked her from the porch, his arm around her, to where she’d parked her pickup on the street. A sleek black F150, very nice.

Spike drew Myka into his arms one more time and kissed the plump sweetness of her mouth. “Promise?” he said.

“Yes.” Myka rose on tiptoe to kiss him back, her lips damp and warm, small tongue darting along the seam of his mouth.

Spike guided her up into the truck. Myka landed on the seat, her fingers shaking as she slid the key into the ignition.

He shut the door for her. “Tell me how it goes tomorrow,” he said through the open window.

She nodded again and started up the truck. Spike stepped back, making himself let her go.

Myka raised her hand to him, put the truck in gear, and eased away from the curb, the engine loud in the silence of the street. Myka’s taillights burned red, then she turned a corner and was gone.

Spike’s heart went suddenly as empty as the street.

From his vantage point, alone in the darkness, he clearly saw the smaller vehicle emerge from deeper shadows and follow in Myka’s wake.

Spike didn’t recognize the car. He knew all vehicles around Shiftertown—who the hell was that?

He came alert with white-hot fury. Spike snatched out his cell phone and punched numbers as he ran for his motorcycle.

“Ellison,” he said when the phone clicked on the other end. “Watch my house for a while, will you?”

“What?” came Ellison’s sleep-clogged voice. “Hey, a wolf needs some shuteye once in awhile.”

“Just do it. I have to go, and I don’t want Jordan unguarded.” He hesitated, fixing his gaze on the corner where the car had disappeared. “Please.”

“Whoa.” Ellison came fully awake. “Did you just say please? Must be something bad.”

“It is. Get here.”

“Sure thing, friend. Want me to call Dylan too?”

“That’d be good. Thanks.” Spike clicked off the phone to Ellison’s startled exclamation that Spike was saying thank you, and started up his bike.

Spike caught up to Myka and the car that followed her when they both turned out of Shiftertown. Spike rode as quietly as he could, without his headlight, until they turned onto a main thoroughfare.

Traffic was light at this hour, but in Austin, never truly gone. Spike flowed with the cars on MLK, keeping Myka’s truck in sight. The car that followed was a generic sedan—every car company made a plain, inexpensive model, and Spike couldn’t distinguish this one. If it had been a motorcycle, he’d have known every detail about it, but sedans were all the same to him.

Myka drove through the heart of Austin and out the other side to a neighborhood along the bluffs near Shoal Creek. She turned onto a street holding a row of modest houses and pulled into a driveway, using an automatic door opener to enter the garage.

The car halted across the street and killed its lights. Spike pulled up right behind it, leapt off the bike, and started for the car. The guy behind the wheel saw him, gunned the car, and took off down the street, tires squealing.

The noise brought Myka out of her garage. She stood in her driveway, hands on hips, exposing herself to any and all danger.

Spike killed his bike’s engine and rolled it quietly across the street. Myka whirled and saw him.

“Spike, what the hell?”

Spike stopped her words with a hand on her lips. “Close that door.”

Myka gaped for a second then hit the control to lower the garage door, while Spike parked his bike next to her car.

“Now are you going to tell me what’s going on?” she asked, unlocking her back door.

Without a word, Spike shoved himself past her and went inside, checking the small back hall then moving on to the kitchen. He turned on no lights, using his Shifter sight to look over the house, room by room. He felt Myka close behind him, smelled her warm scent, tinged with anxiety.

Spike lowered blinds and closed curtains, checking every room and making sure every door was locked before he said that she could turn on a light. He didn’t need one, but light comforted humans, so he’d heard.

Myka didn’t turn on the light. “Spike, what is it? Who was in the car?”

“I didn’t recognize him, but Gavan is dead meat.”

“He had someone following me? What for?”

“To let me know he can have eyes on you any time he wants. I didn’t like the look on his face today when I didn’t immediately kiss his ass.”

Myka frowned in the darkness. “What a butthole. What about Jordan? Is he okay?”

“Ellison and Dylan are on it. You haven’t met Dylan, Liam’s dad. No one will get past those two.”

“Well, thanks for chasing the other guy away. I didn’t even see him following me.”

“He was good.” Spike went to the window in her living room and cracked the blinds to peer out. The street remained empty, but that didn’t mean Gavan didn’t have Shifters sneaking around the back. “I’m staying here.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s either that or you come back to Shiftertown with me.”

“I can’t. I have that meeting tomorrow . . .”

“That’s why I’m staying here. There’s more room, and you’ll be comfortable in your own bed.”

“Spike . . .”

“Eron.”

She fluttered her hands in exasperation. “If you’re name’s Eron, why does everyone call you Spike?”

“Long story.”

“We have all night.”

They did. The darkness held silence and stillness. Nothing moved in the front or the back, and Spike scented no other Shifters.

Didn’t mean they wouldn’t return, possibly in the small hours of the morning, when Myka would be asleep and at her most vulnerable.

“My grandmother almost died when we were first moved into a Shiftertown,” Spike said, looking out the window to the front yard. “She was already sick, she’d never lived anywhere but the middle of nowhere before, and living in a city with other Shifters was making her sicker. To distract her, I got a VCR and some tapes, and we started watching television shows. Over and over again. The only thing that kept her going was looking forward to getting up and sitting on the couch in front of the television with me every day. We watched the tapes and whatever was on the few channels we got until she started to recover. A couple different shows had a character called Spike, and that character was always some bad-ass dude—or thought he was a bad-ass dude. I said one day that if I were on a TV show, they’d probably call me Spike. Grandma thought that was funny and started calling me that, then everyone in Shiftertown picked it up.” He shrugged. “It was a joke at first, but it stuck. I’m a fighter. It fits.”

He delivered the story swiftly, without inflection, trying to hide the pain and fear he’d tasted every waking day and in every dream, that his grandmother would go to the Summerland and leave him alone. Spike had lost everyone in his life—mother and father, grandfather, as horrible as he’d been, cubs his mother had brought in who’d died as infants. Everyone but his grandmother, and the roundup and move to Shiftertown had started taking her away too.

He’d have done anything to save her, and watching videotapes of inane television shows and a new nickname had been a small price to pay.

Myka was watching him. In the dark, her eyes shone, and he saw a second later that they were filled with tears.

“What is it?” he asked softly, turning to her.

“I don’t think anyone in the world realizes how wonderful you are.”