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  His eyes were darting around the room like he had to keep a constant eye on the nearest exit at all times or his ass would catch on fire.

  Finally, Sienna couldn’t take his twitchiness a second longer.

  “Brody,” she frowned at him. “What’s wrong?”

  He denied anything at first, but the more Sienna pressed, the squirmier he got.

  “Do you regret what happened?” She put the question out there despite not wanting to hear the wrong answer. Being with Brody had felt so right. Almost perfect. Sure, she was a little sketched out at their intense connection, but she wasn’t trying to self-sabotage a good thing, either. Brody, it seemed, was hell bent on just that.

  He had dressed quickly and run his hands through his hair at least a half dozen times. Sienna, meanwhile, had tried her best to keep calm at the impending hurt she felt brewing. He’d gone and made her vulnerable and she’d grown attached to him and here he was just seconds from dropping her like yesterday’s mistake.

  “I don’t regret anything, Sienna,” he began as he inched closer to the door. She forced herself to remain in her chair while her hand clutched the coffee cup in front of her. “But I need to stay focused on Liesel and finding her. I need to remember I have a pack and I can’t get caught up in a girlfriend or a mate or whatever.”

  Sienna’s cheeks blazed at his words.

  “Who said anything about mates or girlfriends or whatever?” She frowned at him. “I sure as hell didn’t. No need to insult me, Brody. I wasn’t begging you to make an honest woman out of me or anything. Calm down.”

  He drew in a deep breath.

  “I need you to understand something--I’m not interested in a mate. They’re a distraction. I’ve got a pack to take care of…I...shit...I need some air.”

  He seemed lost of all a sudden, like he was having a hard time staying focused. Without a word, he practically ran from the suite and slammed the door behind him. Sienna had been stunned. She sat alone in that room for almost two hours waiting for the idiot to come back and make even the tiniest bit of sense, but by that point she’d reached her limit. Digging all her belongings that Brody had salvaged from her purse and her car (which thankfully included her wallet and phone), Sienna picked up the hotel phone and dialed the front desk.

  “Hello? I need to book a room for myself on any floor but this one,” she’d said as soon as the desk manager picked up.

  ***

  Forty-five minutes later, Sienna was safely tucked away into her own room, albeit a smaller one, six floors below Brody’s. Once her phone had been plugged in and gotten a tiny bit of charge, she checked her voicemail and her text messages.

  Sage had left a message saying that he hoped she wasn’t too angry at him for being called away and that she and Brody weren’t at each other’s throats too bad.

  It got a snort out of her. Her insurance agent had called three times and she knew she had to get that sorted out sooner or later. Preferably later.

  It took her a second to wade through the text messages, but she finally found something interesting from her ol’ buddy, Finn, the Drug Dealing Falcon Shifter. He’d sent her a message yesterday letting her know that their mutual friends were likely going to be at a club downtown he was going to spin at. He’d put her name on the list in case she wanted to come check them, and him, out.

  It didn’t sound right and she knew immediately that the little fucker was up to something shady as hell. She’d make a few calls, mostly to her scary old boss Fallon, and find out what Finn was about these days.

  Sienna checked the clock on the television across the room from her. She had another seven hours before the club opened. Seemed like just enough time to do her damndest to forget the stupid shit (and the extreme hurt it had caused both her and her wolf) that’d come out of Brody’s mouth. Easier said than done, but she was so tired from all the excitement in the last 48 hours that she fell asleep quickly.

  Midway through her glorious catchup sleep, her cellphone rang beside her bed. Glancing at the caller, she ignored it and went back to sleep. Not a second later, it was ringing again. Sienna didn’t have to look at the caller to know that Brody probably didn’t appreciate being ignored. He was probably mad that she’d left without telling him.

  Screw him, she thought to herself with a smile before remembering that, in fact, she had and that his reaction to that was the very reason she was sleeping alone in a strange hotel room. Moron.

  To ensure that he didn’t disturb her sleep any more than he already had, Sienna turned the phone off completely and drifted back into peaceful slumber.

  ***

  A little after eight that night, Sienna had polished off a seafood alfredo from room service and was putting the final finishing touches on her outfit for the night when a pounding on the door nearly made her jump out of her skin.

  If the abrasive treatment of her hotel room door wasn’t indication enough, the emotions and scent roiling off Brody on the other side of the wood was a dead giveaway. He was livid. Sienna hesitated a moment just by the door, her hand inches from the knob.

  “I know you’re in there, Sienna!”

  Brody was yelling. Yep, he was pissed.

  “Great job, Sherlock,” she replied, still not opening the door. “You found me. Now go away.”

  She heard him muttering a curse before he spoke again.

  “Open this door or so help me, I’m going to smash it into splinters and you’re going to get us both thrown in jail for destruction of property.”

  She considered ignoring him a little longer, but the likelihood of them getting arrested from the fight that would ensue if he blew her door down like the Big Bad Wolf he was acting like was high. And Sienna didn’t need jailtime on top of everything else on her plate.

  With a sigh, she pulled the chain across the lock and opened the door.

  Three steps in the room, Brody pivoted and faced her as she shut and locked the door behind him.

  “Why did you leave--” he was finishing the question when his eyes finally took in the curve-hugging strapless black mini-dress and stilettos she was wearing. She’d done her hair in loose waves that fell down her back and her makeup was dramatic and sexy--smoky eyes and shiny, understated lips. She knew she looked good and Brody’s dilated pupils and difficulty finishing sentences only confirmed it.

  “I left because I made you uncomfortable, Brody,” Sienna said with a small sigh. She leaned back against the door and watched him start the fidget thing all over again.

  “Look,” she continued. “As much fun as it is to watch you totally fuck it all up even more, I actually have somewhere to be.”

  That got his attention.

  “Where do you need to be?” His brows furrowed and his eyes darkened.

  She considered lying, but her wolf didn’t like it. As much as a jackass as Brody was being, Sienna’s wolf was still the number one fan of Brody’s. They seemed like peas in a pod no matter how their human halves were behaving.

  “A contact called and said he had a gig at some underground spot he thought some of the Kodiaks frequent,” she began but Brody’s outburst stopped her.

  “And you were, what? Just going to head on over there yourself looking like this? Are you serious, Sienna?”

  Her hackles raised at that.

  “Looking like what, exactly? Fucking amazing? Fuck off, Brody! You’re not my Alpha. You’re searching for your lost pack member and I’m trying to hunt down the assholes who tried to kill me. Same team, right?”

  Her lips pulled back against her teeth. Sienna was a strong dominant and used to being stronger than most shifters she spent time around. But Brody seemed nonplussed by the anger radiating off her. If anything, he seemed---turned on by it? Oh, no. That’s not what she meant to have happen. If he kept looking at her with those feral eyes, they were going to be naked in her bed this time and that’s the last thing she wanted to deal with at this point.

  “Yes, actually,” he said, quieter now and eati
ng up the space between them. “You do look fucking amazing. And I’m going with you. No questions. You’ll get yourself killed with these shifters if you’re not careful and Sage would never forgive me if that happened.”

  Sienna closed her eyes. The fact that he was only worried about her safety because of her brother ate at her a little, but in all honesty, it would be helpful to have Brody as backup tonight. She didn’t know the lay of the land at this new club and, in all reality, it was likely going to be dangerous tonight.

  Brody might be an idiot and he might have written her off for no good reason earlier today, but Sienna knew he was still good for one thing—protection.

  Chapter Sixteen

  She was pissed, that much was clear. Brody knew he’d majorly screwed up the moment the jumbled mess of incoherent words had tumbled out of his mouth. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. Hell, most likely, he hadn’t meant a single thing he had said about not wanting her to get attached to him. The moment he’d come back from his little tantrum walk through the casino and found her gone, he’d raged through his hotel room in a panic.

  Her scent had been everywhere in his room—on his sheets, in his bathroom, on his couch and it pushed his wolf toward madness when she wasn’t around for him to touch, smell, or see. Brody had called Sage when Sienna went missing to see if she’d checked in and, much to his chagrin, he’d had to tell Sage most of what happened. A very G-rated version of what happened just so Sage would have a little context and offer clues as to where Sienna could be.

  “You’re an idiot,” Sage had said. Brody didn’t deny it. “You two are custom built for each other, dude. It was apparent the first night she sang to you in her underwear. I just hope you didn’t shred her heart beyond repair—she’s got major trust issues when it comes to Alphas.”

  It’d made Brody feel even worse because it was true. Sienna’s stepfather had tortured her and abused her trust when she was a teenager and what the hell had Brody gone and done? Pretty much headed down the same road.

  He felt awful and Sage couldn’t help him.

  “I haven’t talked to her,” he had told Brody. “She didn’t call me. She must be really mad.”

  Great.

  Eventually, Brody’s wolf took over the hunt because her scent was still in the air and he picked up on it in the hallway outside his room. Like Sienna had learned the day before, Brody was a master tracker. He’d walked up and down every floor, starting with the lobby, looking for a trace of her. Sure enough, just six floors below his, he’d come to stop right outside her door. And when she’d opened it? Looking at her in that sexy dress with her gorgeous eyes was like a gut punch. She was stunning.

  And, so help him, she was his.

  He was just going to have to show her—later.

  For now, they were walking down another dirty Vegas alleyway into another underground shifter club to face another round of unknown dangers. He could hardly guess what Sienna saw in Vegas. Out in Boulder, his wolves ran free under clear mountain air with trees and sky as their witness. Vegas was oppressive with its dirty air and dirty vibes. He shuddered.

  “You okay?” Sienna asked over her shoulder as they approached the door.

  Brody grunted.

  “Missing the mountains a little,” he admitted.

  When the front door to the club was in view, Brody was surprised when Sienna led him down a side alleyway toward the back of the building.

  “I thought you were on the list?”

  She nodded and kept walking.

  “I think I’m being set up,” she admitted as she led Brody to a delivery entrance that was unguarded. “I don’t trust Finn as far as I can throw his big ass and the more I dug into the Kodiaks, the more I realized Finn just always happens to be around wherever they are.”

  The growl was out before Brody could suppress it. They’d dare try to harm Sienna while there was a pulse in Brody’s body? He’d rip them limb from limb.

  Sienna stopped and put her hands on Brody’s shoulders.

  “You need to keep a calm head right now, Grumpy Wolf,” she said. “We’re going to sneak in and see what they’re hiding. I have a feeling Finn wanted me to come through the front door so his bear buddies could finally get their hands on me once and for all. I also think we might be on the trail to finding your missing pack member.”

  Brody’s wolf had his hackles raised, ready for war. Sienna must have sensed it because she ran her hand down his arm to calm him. And miracle of miracles, it worked.

  “You gotta stay calm, Grumpy Wolf,” she said with a smile. “We can’t get her out tonight. Not by ourselves. You’ll need to call your pack for backup if we find what I think we’re going to find tonight. Do you think they could be here soon?”

  Brody already had his phone out.

  “They can be here in the morning,” he said as he punched Sage’s number in. “And we can probably have backup, too.”

  Sienna nodded and waited while Brody made the phone call. Sage answered and it took him less than a minute to have his Beta up in arms and ready for a fight. He was going to call the Canyon pack, too. Sage said Grayson, their Alpha, would likely be more than willing to fight with them.

  “When were you going to tell me all this?” Brody asked as his finger paused over the buttons. “Were you planning on doing this alone tonight?”

  That Sienna would put herself in danger like that made him and his wolf crazy.

  She just smiled.

  “No,” she admitted. “I would have called you eventually—once I got over being mad. I didn’t feel like getting stuck in the neck again, honestly.”

  Brody sucked in a long breath. He struggled with the words and Sienna must have seen the emotions warring on his face.

  Brody closed his eyes, taking in the steadying scent of her. He’d make it right with her, there was no doubt of that now. But after they got through whatever hellacious night lay ahead of them.

  “I owe you an explanation about how I acted earlier,” Brody said quietly his hands capturing Sienna’s wrists. “And I owe you a claiming mark, that much I know.”

  Sienna’s eyebrows drew together and she opened her mouth to protest, but Brody cut her off.

  “Don’t argue,” he said and she closed her mouth slowly. “I’ll make it right. And I’ll make you mine.”

  He expected more of a fight than the got, but Sienna made his wolf happy when she bit her lower lip, narrowed her eyes slightly at him, and gave him a slight, sexy smile.

  “We’ll see, Grumpy Wolf,” she purred. “We’ll see.”

  Unable to help himself, he pulled her wrists down and toward him and caught her lips against his own as he slanted his mouth possessively over hers.

  He got washed away by the sensations she created in him and with a groan, he finally forced himself to pull away.

  “Don’t do anything stupid in there, Sienna,” Brody said as he pushed his forehead against hers and breathed her in. “I won’t be able to concentrate if you put yourself in danger. Promise me.”

  He held her there until she nodded at him. Sighing, he released her.

  “You’re going to have to trust me tonight, Brody,” she said as she reached for the handle of the door they stood in front of. “I won’t do anything stupid, but I do know what I’m doing tonight. Okay?”

  Against his better judgement, he and his wolf gave over and made an agreement within themselves to trust this woman—this soul that was less than 12 hours away from being his mate for the rest of their long, supernatural lives. But he would claim her later. For now, he would trust her.

  He followed Sienna inside the door where they found themselves in an abandoned industrial kitchen. He didn’t miss the fact that she grabbed an old chef knife from a pile of culinary equipment covered in cobwebs. He chuckled to himself when she checked the weight of it in her hands, looked for a place to hide it, and finding none, returned it to the counter. With her claws and strength, Sienna’s supernatural abilities made her more than efficie
nt as a killer if her wolf was let out.

  “You shift if you’re in danger,” he said quietly as they wound through the abandoned hall. He didn’t want her to hesitate if she was in danger this time.

  She didn’t speak, but he caught the nod of her head as she looked over her shoulder at him.

  Sienna had done her homework, that much was obvious. She’d managed to study the layout of the building her contact had tried to lure her to and Brody was sure Sienna knew every exit available to them at every moment. His wolf’s hackles were raised at the thought of her being in immediate danger like this, but he’d given his word—he trusted her.

  They moved toward a stairwell. Below, Brody heard the thumping sounds of club music and it surprised him when she went up instead of down.

  “We’re not going down there?” He whispered as he stopped her ascent. She shook her head and turned to whisper in his ear.

  “We know for a fact the missing women wouldn’t be in the club itself,” she said. “We just need to confirm where they are so your pack can come get them. The less we’re seen the better.”

  “Sneaky wolf,” Brody growled in her ear and she gave a breathless laugh.

  “Smart wolf,” she corrected.

  Indeed, Brody thought, indeed.

  Wordlessly they continued their search in the massive building. On the second floor, they found a common room with four bear shifters in various stages of drunkenness sprawled out in front of a giant big screen television on one wall and rows of security camera televisions on another wall—both incredibly out of place in such a rundown building.

  Brody shook his head and pulled Sienna back to the stairwell. They’d have to tread lightly now and be ready for a fight should the guards discover them.

  Two more flights of stairs up and Brody heard the first signs of distress. A woman crying, and as they got closer, he heard more women moaning and crying. The Alpha in him wanted to rage and destroy the bears downstairs with his own hands, but he knew better. He was outnumbered and bears weren’t easy to take down without a strategy.