A Sinful Trap (Three Sinful Wishes 2)

She wanted what she’d told Kaya to be the truth. That it was only sex. But even if it wasn’t, there was no doubt in her mind this was going to happen. She could almost feel them getting closer. Almost hear their voices in her head. Had they landed? Were they on the road to her now? Closer?

Bailey took her phone from her skirt pocket and sent out a text. She wasn’t going back to the inn just yet.

Chapter Nine

The lynx raced by in a blur of red and gold, close enough for the wolf to see its spots and feel the brush of his fur against his own. He bared his teeth, accepting the challenge and giving chase as the late afternoon sun beat down on them.

Run faster. Beat him.

The white wolf pushed himself harder, dodging the strangely twisted trees and red rock boulders as their destination loomed ahead.

A warm pulse of energy told him when he’d crossed the property line and it made him fall a step behind. It wasn’t a pack boundary, but it was similar. He sniffed the air, but there were no scents or signs of danger.

He caught movement in his periphery and turned in time to watch the lynx near the house, gather itself and leap gracefully onto the second-floor balcony before disappearing inside.

Cheater.

He aimed for the patio doors that had been left ajar instead, padded inside and flopped down to lie on the cool tile, calling for the change to overtake him.

For a moment, his wolf resisted.

Bailey. Bailey. Bailey.

Then he was Cameron. Two legs not four. Man, not wolf.

He rolled onto his back and wiped the sweat off his face. They’d run hard for the last hour, and the exertion, the stress of the trip and the lack of sleep were having a cumulative effect. Even the power he felt here was no match for it.

Finding the silence jarring, Cam got to his feet. Everyone was gone, and the large space seemed hollowed out without them. Aaron had left a note informing him that he and the others had spent the first half of the day working on the inn, and were now off to visit the Grand Canyon. They wouldn’t be back until the day after tomorrow at the earliest. It was unusual for all of them to be gone at once. Together, no less, and without asking permission. Not that he required it, but they’d always asked before.

A family trip to get away from the parents.

Had they sensed how out of sorts he was from his last few calls? How on edge his trip had made him? Or did they worry it would get worse? He sure as hell did.

The old mating stories had left out a few important details. How rapidly the need to claim would progress, for one. It had only been a few days and his control was weakening by the hour. Hadn’t someone once told him it was connected to the moon? Well, that was bullshit. A month at least made sense to Cam. This didn’t.

Two or three days was barely enough time to get to know a potential mate, let alone decide whether she wanted to accept the mark and all that went with it.

His wolf needed only moments, but he was more than his wolf. More than instinct. And Bailey was completely human. He wasn’t sure if she was feeling anything beyond attraction, though there were moments he swore he could sense her agitation. As if her desire for them made her nervous.

It was Davide he was most worried about. He was feeling the same pull, only he wasn’t used to denying himself. He wanted to see Bailey, and didn’t understand why Cam was hesitating.

He found Davide in the kitchen, standing in front of the open refrigerator, wearing shorts and drinking juice straight from the bottle. The sight both amused and aroused him. Everything did these days. “Aaron won’t like that.”

“I’ll buy him another.” Davide wiped his mouth on his arm, holding out the rest for Cam and tossing him a pair of matching shorts. “It was a good run.”

“You say that because you won,” Cam said before chugging the rest of the juice.

“I usually do. You’ll always be bigger, but you’ll never be as fast.” Davide’s gloating smirk faded too quickly. “It barely took the edge off, Cam. What about you?”

The ache was still there. No amount of sex or exercise seemed to slow the rising need inside him. The wolf never settled now. Demanding what he knew was his. Demanding his mate.

Bailey.

“Not so much.”

Cam had called in his favors in Colorado, but for all their knowledge, they had let him down twice now. They’d had no information on his grandfather following his abandonment of their pack, and they’d never heard of two unrelated shifters being mated to the same woman.