Free Enforcer (Cascadia Wolves) by Lauren Dane

threw his hands in the air in defeat. “Fine. But we do it tomorrow. After some planning. Nina, you are too tired to carry it off right now.”
    “All right. We’ll do it tomorrow.” She didn’t want to push her luck. She’d obey him. For the time being.
    The moment stretched out between them and she started to speak when Cade interrupted. “I think I’m going to fire up the barbecue for dinner.”
    “I think I’ll take a nap,” she said. She closed the laptop and headed up the stairs to the guestroom.
    “That’s fine, hon. It’ll be about two hours before we eat. I’ll come get you when it’s ready,” Cade called out and she thanked him over her shoulder.
    Leaning against the closed door she sighed deeply, trying to calm herself. What the hell was going on with her anyway? It wasn’t that she didn’t like sex, it was just that sex came attached to men and men were trouble. She had her battery operated boyfriend and a handheld showerhead, and those had been fine until Lex Warden had lumbered his way into her life.
    “Argh!” she hissed and her head banged against the door. “Stop this!” she ordered herself and pushed into the room. Telling herself to get a grip, she pulled off her jeans and slid into bed.
    Of course, all she could do was think about the kiss in the parking lot. The way he’d felt with his hands and mouth on her earlier that morning. The way he made her lose her head in the tide of hormones he seemed to evoke.
    She lay there and tried to sleep for the better part of half an hour, tossing and turning and trying not to think about the fact that she was wet and horny and that she ached to have him inside of her. Finally, with a sigh of frustration, she sat up, threw the blankets back and rolled out of bed.
    But before she could even reach her jeans there was a tap on the door and she knew who it was.
    * * * * *
     
    Lex watched her take the stairs with a sexy sway of her hips. She probably wasn’t even aware of how sensuous she was with those big brown eyes, those lush lips and that long hair that hung ever-so tantalizing just above her heart-shaped ass.
    Cade turned to him once her door closed. “What are you waiting for?”
    “She needs to rest,” he said gruffly. “She’s had a hard few days.”
    Cade rolled his eyes and pushed his brother toward the stairs. “Your wolf wants to claim her. She’s getting ready to do something dangerous and if you don’t mark her, you won’t be able to concentrate with her around all of those other wolves.”
    “I’m not a wolf right now,” he tossed back as he began to walk up the stairs.
    “You’re always a wolf, Lex. What’s more, you’re an alpha wolf, a warrior,” Cade said quietly and went back to working on the meat, effectively dismissing him.
    Lex paced around his room for half an hour. He wanted to let Nina sleep. She was tired and upset over Gabriel’s death. At the same time, he wanted her more than he could wrap his head around. Cade was right, he could feel the wolf just beneath the surface, pushing him to mark her, to claim her as his woman. Once he came inside of her she’d be marked as his. His biological stamp would be on her and a bond would be forged. She wouldn’t be happy with anyone else and neither would he. They’d become integral to each other.
    Making his mind up, he left his room and walked down the hallway. He stood at the head of the stairs and looked down, seeing Cade in the kitchen whistling and cutting up vegetables, the tray of uncooked meat marinating on the counter.
    He went to the door to the guestroom and tapped quietly. If she were sleeping she wouldn’t hear him anyway.
    She opened the door and they stood, silently staring at each other for a few moments.
    “Nina…”
    She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside the room, shutting and locking the door behind herself, leaning on it for strength as she took him in.
    He pulled off his shirt and she greedily drank in the details of his upper