Ash didn’t stop running until she was home, door locked, her granddaddy’s old Remington in her hands.
She stared down at the rifle, which wasn’t even loaded. What are you gonna do? Shoot Cage when he comes?
Cause he would come. He had already come. She threw the rifle down and buried her face in her hands.
She could still taste him.
The salty-sweet.
Feel the ghost of him sliding down her throat.
Jeez. She let him fuck her like she was a doll.
Let him? She’d wanted him to. Had found it endlessly fucking hot. Even now, the need was scrabbling around in her gut. She’d had a taste of him, and she wanted more. Wanted all of him. Her lioness agreed. Was clawing at her to go back and get him.
At the same time, she was afraid. Everything had changed. They could never go back. Cage wouldn’t allow it. He’d wanted her for too long, and she’d put him off.
And off. And off.
Before, he had let her. Because no matter how dominant he was, he would never force her to go against her nature. It was one of the things she adored about him. And there were so many fucking things she adored about him.
How gentle he was, when his deputies’ kids dropped by the station; the way he watched her when he thought she wasn’t looking; that he always knew just how much force to use. Cage was the best kind of alpha. Equal parts gentle, strong, dominant and caring.
If she were more of a lioness, nothing would keep her from him. She shook her head, trying to shake the tempting thoughts free. It wouldn’t work.
She had gone over it again and again in her head. Trying to find a way she and her lioness could both have the man they craved. The man who occupied all of her thoughts. Who, over the last three years, had carved out a space in her heart that she was afraid would always be his, even past the point he finally gave up on her.
She thought about how she’d left him. The raw tone of his voice when he asked her not to run. All command, half-pleading.
She’d hurt him. Had felt the waves rolling after her.
But the need to escape, the whirlpool of her feelings had driven her forward.
Now here she was. In the place she felt safest, worried that maybe she’d finally pushed him far enough away.
Worried that Cage wouldn’t come.
He paced that fucking cell all night. Ripping into Lucas every time the moron opened his mouth. Cage could not believe he’d forgotten the wolf shifter was there.
Then he thought about what Ash had done with her mouth. What he had done with Ash’s mouth. The things he’d said . . . and he wanted to rip the fucker’s head off. No one should have been privy to that.
How the hell was he gonna tell Ash?
At one stage during the night, when he thought he was going to go insane with frustration, he’d tried ripping the bars apart. He’d known it was pointless. They were designed to withstand even the strongest of shifters.
So he paced. Bided his time. Snarled at Lucas every time the wolf needled him, and waited.
A reckoning was coming.
The next morning when one of his deputies opened the door and gaped at him in surprise, Cage roared at him to get the fucking key. The deputy scrambled to comply. As soon as Cage was free, he gave one order.
“Don’t let the fucking wolf out.”
Then he stalked out of the holding area, through the bullpen, cutting a path to the front door through a crowd of surprised shifters, aware that Ash’s scent still clung to him, intent only on one important aspect of police business.
Tracking down a missing kitten.
Ash lay on the chaise where she’d fallen asleep last night, staring at the front door in agony. Still unable to decide whether she wanted him to come or was terrified of the idea. When the phone rang, she jumped a mile.
Thought long and hard about whether to pick it up—it was a sad thing when a lioness feared answering the phone—but finally answered.
“You slept in, you lazy cat. Didn’t you?”
She blinked at the sound of Sofia’s voice. “What?’
“Hello, kitty-cat. Time to wake up. You’re supposed to be at the deli having breakfast with me and Kelly.”
“Shit. Sorry, I forgot,” she replied to Sofia. Sofe and Kels were both non-shifters and her closest friends.
“You forgot?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s not like you, Miss analytical, highly organized, scheduled into the next decade, Miss Ames.”
Ash ran a frustrated hand through her hair, fingers catching in the snarled tendrils. She hadn’t brushed it since Cage fisted it and used it to . . . she yanked her thoughts away from that dangerous path.
But it made her snap at Sofe. “Sue me. I’m not perfect.”
“Ash, what’s wrong?”
Ash swallowed. Contrition made her admit something she may not have otherwise. “I, uh, may have done something stupid.”
“We’re on our way.” The reply was instantaneous.
“No,” Ash said sharply. “Look,” she paused knowing that if she didn’t do something, Sofia and Kelly would turn up on her doorstep, determined to help her whether she asked for it or not. The last thing she wanted was them there when Cage showed. She’d stopped kidding herself that he wouldn’t.
“I’ll come to you. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” She hung up without waiting for a reply. Jumped in the shower for two minutes and didn’t bother drying her hair. Then she pulled on a skirt and a clean shirt, grabbed her keys and headed out.