Pack Enforcer
By Lauren Dane
Previously published under a different title
This wolf mates for life...
Nina Reyes knows trouble when she sees it, and Lex Warden, Enforcer for the local werewolf pack, is nothing but. When her brother gets in too deep with some dangerous wolves and comes to Nina for help—dragging super alpha protector Lex into her life—she can handle it. She might have put her grifter past behind her, but she’s still got what it takes. If only she didn’t find Lex—his body, his scent, even his domineering nature—so intoxicating.
As Enforcer, it’s Lex’s job to protect his people. Nina might be more capable of handling herself than he initially thought, but that doesn’t mean she’s safe from their enemies. His need to protect her is more than just pack business—Nina, a human, is his mate. Bedding her once is not even close to enough; to satisfy his wolf, he needs a true bond.
The heat between them scares Nina, but sometimes the reward is worth the risk, and the thought of living without Lex terrifies her more than any threat the werewolf mafia can pose. Lex will do anything to keep her safe. And when the Rogues catch up to them, he’ll get a chance to prove it...
Watch for more Cascadia Wolves stories coming soon from Lauren Dane and Carina Press!
This book is approximately 67,000 words
One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise! Find out more at CarinaPress.com/RomancePromise
Dear Reader,
I was supposed to write this letter in August. I procrastinated it to September. Because I didn’t want to think about December—holidays, shopping, baking, cleaning, shopping, shopping, cold and snow. I don’t know about you, but just thinking of the business of the holidays makes my chest a little tight with anxiety. And you’re probably reading this right in the middle of all those busy times! So it’s a good thing we have a few escapist reads for you this month, to help give you a respite from some of the stress of the season and take you away on a mental vacation!
Jade A. Waters brings all the sexiness in her debut erotic romance, The Assignment, first in her Lessons in Control trilogy. After freeing herself from a troubled past, independent Maya Clery explores her wildest sexual fantasies with playful, dominant Dean Sova in a dynamic that challenges her inhibitions—leading her down an intoxicating path of passion, pleasure and true emotional freedom.
Wattpad author and Harlequin’s 2015 So You Think You Can Write winner, Lauren D.M. Smith, returns to Carina Press with her next fantasy romance. In Enveloping Shadows, monsters, thieves and demons might stand between Terrwyn and the princess she’s sworn her loyalty to, but it’s the mysterious Zel who could be the most dangerous. Make sure you check out The Emperor’s Arrow, the book that won the SYTYCW contest and started Lauren’s publishing journey, available now!
We have two—yes, two!—exciting releases from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Dane this month. In the Cascadia Wolves series, we follow the Warden siblings as they find their mates. Fall in love with Layla and Sid in Reluctant Mate, and then meet Lex and Nina in Pack Enforcer. Watch for more Cascadia Wolves books in the coming months!
Adrian is an Alpha, a genetically and computer enhanced assassin who has spent years plotting revenge. The only woman he wants is the daughter of his greatest enemy. With war looming and people’s lives on the line, does he trust Charity, does he f**k her or does he kill her? Alpha’s Revenge by N.J. Walters is a futuristic erotic romance sure to heat up your holidays (and beyond)! Other titles in the Project Alpha trilogy, Embracing Silence and Assassin’s Awakening, are now available for your holiday shopping checkout-line reading!
If you love the darker side of romance, Devil’s Slave, an American Monsters erotic male/male thriller romance, is going to send your socks up in flames, not just knock them off. To save his niece and help stop a human trafficking ring, former detective Hugh Kincaid offers a rich, dark and scorching-hot dominant everything he has—himself. Dark, dirty and more than a little forbidden, this love affair from debut author Lola Hale has all the hallmarks of what readers loved about Captive Prince, but in a contemporary setting.
In the third installment of Jade Chandler’s down-and-dirty Jericho Brotherhood motorcycle club series, two hard cases deny the beyond-carnal bond that forms between them...until it’s almost too late. Deny: A Dark, Erotic Motorcycle Club Romance is sure to get all motors revving! Read the other two scorching romances in this series, Enough and Release, now available!
Don’t forget Shannon Stacey’s Holiday with a Twist holiday novella, which released last month, and we also have a full backlist of holiday titles, if you’re in the mood for some romance with a holiday flair. Visit CarinaPress.com and find reads like All She Wants for Christmas by Jaci Burton, Lone Star by Josh Lanyon, Believe by Lauren Dane, A Christmas Reunion by Susanna Fraser, Breath on Embers by Anne Calhoun and dozens more!
Whatever your celebration, wherever you are, this season the Carina Press team once again thanks you for your continued love, enthusiasm and support of our books and authors. We hope you’re surrounded by all the things you love this holiday season, and we wish you, as always, a month of reading books you love, remember and recommend.
Happy reading!
Angela James
Editorial Director, Carina Press
Dedication
This is for Anne Leveille, my first editor.
Author’s Note
Pack Enforcer was originally published some years ago with the title Enforcer. It remains one of my personal favorites to this day. While I’ve cleaned it up, the story remains the same.
The world of the Cascadia Wolves is connected to my other paranormal romance series. For reading order and information about how they’re all related to one another, head on over to my website: www.laurendane.com/faq.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Excerpt from Wolves’ Triad by Lauren Dane
Acknowledgments
Also by Lauren Dane
About the Author
Prologue
“What the heck, Tommie? I got places to go, man,” Rey said, fingers agitatedly drumming on the steering wheel.
Tommie Perkins flipped his friend the bird. “Dude, hold your horses. It’s not like you got a woman or anything.” He snorted in amusement at himself. “I have to check something out for Cade. Something big is going on, Reyes. It’s got the hierarchy all shaken up and Lex is more nervous and paranoid than usual.”
Rey snorted but kept driving. If his Alpha had business that needed tending to, he couldn’t just blow it off. Even he had a sense of duty.
Tommie looked down at the scribbled address on the paper in his hand and back at the street signs. “Make a right into that parking lot. I’m going to be across the street. It shouldn’t take me more than ten or fifteen minutes.”
Gabriel Reyes pulled the dark sedan into the lot and parked it. He sat in the car, smoking a cigarette, and waited while Tommie ran inside to do his business. After a while he got bored listening to the radio and he made a few calls, but no one was around.
Checking his watch, he narrowed his eyes when he saw that twenty minutes had passed and still Tommie had
n’t returned. It would serve the jerk-off right if he just left him. Rey got out of the car, sucked in a deep breath of the night air and heaved an annoyed sigh when he saw Tommie talking with some men he couldn’t quite see in the doorway of one of the buildings.
He resolved to make the other man buy him a beer as he watched Tommie running toward him. As he got a few feet from the car, a shot rang out and Tommie looked up at him as he clutched his side with surprised agony.
Rey saw his lips form “run” just before another shot rang out and hit his friend in the head. “Jesus!” he cried out, jumping back into the car. He made quick work of turning the car on, and then squealed out of the parking lot, heading to Bellevue, where his sister lived. She’d know what to do.
Chapter One
Annoyed, Lex Warden snapped his cell phone shut and let out a long breath as he took in the small cottage-style house. Once he pulled his bike onto the stand and got off, he dropped the helmet on the seat and ran his fingers through his hair to get rid of the helmet head he was sure he had after all that time riding over.
The house was light blue and someone obviously took great care of it. The lawn was neat and window boxes overflowed in a burst of red and white, standing out in colorful relief against the blue. There were raised beds along the front walk and a climbing rose snaked up a lattice off the front porch.
On the porch, a glider swing and a small table with a citronella candle. More pots of flowers and hanging baskets of greenery decorated the space. It was like a nice bit of the wild right there in the city. It gave the place a sense of calm, of refuge.
Shrugging off his amazement that anyone related to Gabriel Reyes could have such a neat and organized house, he stalked to the front door. Bypassing the doorbell, he pounded.
Moments later a tall, dark-haired woman answered and her eyes widened as she took him in.
Nina felt her mouth water as she got a load of the man standing on her porch. He was quite a specimen—well over six feet tall, blond-brown hair, deep green eyes. She swept her eyes down. His T-shirt and jeans were deceiving, they looked worn and faded but she could tell they were both designer, and the boots looked handmade. A gold Piaget watch decorated his wrist. Jeez, his hands were huge. She had to gather herself mentally as her normally ruthlessly tied down libido roared to life. She could feel her pulse flutter and she gave herself a hard mental smack. If there was one thing in the world Nina could recognize, it was trouble. And this guy was trouble. She’d placed herself on a trouble-free diet years before and she reminded herself that he was way off the menu.
Lex raked his glance over her from head to toe. The woman, most likely the sister, had on a white blouse buttoned up to the chin and slacks with low-heeled shoes. Her hair was tightly bound up into a bun on the top of her head and she was wearing glasses. He dismissed her as a sexual being immediately. “I’m looking for Rey.” His voice was blunt, manner straightforward and slightly threatening.
She gathered herself up and stood tall, back straight. “Why?”
“Why?”
“Did I mumble? You do seem to speak English. Are you having a problem with the word? Do I need to explain it to you?”
Lex barely held back a growl of annoyance. “Listen, I’m looking for Rey. It doesn’t have anything to do with you. Is he here or not?”
She raised a brow but remained silent, her arms crossed over her chest.
He tried to stare her down but she just snorted and started to step back and close her door in his face. “I need to talk to him,” he added quickly. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, feeling like he’d been called to the principal’s office.
“Is that so? He’s not here. If you want to leave him a note, I’ll give it to him when I see him next.” Again, she started to close the door, but he put a hand out to stop her.
“When’s that gonna be?”
“Just who are you?” Suspicious irritation was clear on her face as she examined him again, this time with a more critical eye.
“I’m Lex Warden. A friend of his.”
Understanding lit her eyes, which she narrowed at him. Lex knew for sure this wasn’t a good thing.
“No you’re not. I know who you are, Mr. Warden, and you are not Gabriel’s friend. He’s had enough people in his life leading him astray. I should know, I’ve cleaned up after him long enough. Get the hell off my porch and don’t bother coming back.” She moved her arm behind the door.
He leaned in, growling, “Listen, lady, you don’t know what you’re getting in the middle of.”
She poked him hard in the middle of his chest. Her face was hard, gaze furious. “You did not just growl at me! You listen here, I don’t care what the fuck you want. Don’t you dare try to intimidate me with your size! Growl at me! How dare you! Get the heck out of here and do it now before I shoot you.”
He’d been fascinated with her face—at the light of ferocity in her eyes, the scent of a woman in full battle mode. He stepped forward only to feel something hard poke him in the balls. He looked down and saw the shotgun she pointed at him with her free hand. With horrified fascination, he watched as she used the hand she’d poked him with to pump the gun. He heard the unmistakable click of the ammo loading. All the while, the muzzle of the gun never left the region of his balls.
She didn’t stand like a woman unused to a gun. He slid his glance back up into her face, where he met her determined and bloodthirsty gaze and felt a burst of heat bloom in his gut at the sight.
Despite his annoyance and yes, a bit of fear, he had to admit that she turned him on too. He put his hands up in surrender and took a step back. “Whoa! Let’s not be hasty here. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt Rey either but I need to talk to him.”
“I’m not hasty.” She moved the shotgun tighter against his balls. “Test me why don’t you? This is ready to roll and I’ve had a shitty day.” She narrowed her left eye at him and her lips—very nice lips, he noticed—curled up at one side in a grin.
“Look, wolf boy, he’s gone. He came by, borrowed money—” she snorted “—took money—it’s not like I’ll ever see it again—and headed out. Told me the Pack was looking for him, wanting to kill him. Even if I knew where he ran to, which I don’t, I certainly wouldn’t tell someone out to hurt him.”
“I told you, I’m not gonna hurt him. I need to talk to him.” Wolf boy? He tried his sexy smile, a smile that this frigid-looking spinster should appreciate.
“Yeah, I’m sure that works on all the puppies down at the shelter. But I don’t know you from Adam and the fact that you say you don’t want to hurt him means nothing to me.”
“Come on, Ms. Reyes. Give me a break. We can help each other out here, don’t you think? We can talk about it more over dinner.” He cocked his head in that adorable little-boy way that his mother always melted over despite the “puppies at the shelter” comment.
She actually rolled her eyes at him and slammed the door in his face.
“Shit!” he hissed and walked back down the sidewalk to where his bike was parked. Casting a glance back at the house, he saw that the spinster was looking at him from the front windows. He tipped an imaginary hat at her as he put the key in and turned the ignition, firing the bike to life. He grunted a surprised laugh when she flipped him off in return.
* * *
Nina Reyes watched the man roar away on the Harley and closed the curtains with a sigh. Men were all the same, even if they were freaking werewolves. Okay, delicious hunks of hot, gorgeous, hard werewolf flesh that she’d love to take a ride on. Oh, did she think that out loud? She winced and reminded herself that she had a battery-operated boyfriend and that was the best kind. No fuss, no muss and it never asked to borrow money.
With a snort, she put the shotgun back on the rack and removed the pins holding her hair in place. She took off the clear-
lens glasses and placed them on the table near the door and rubbed her eyes.
She knew she had the kind of looks people remembered—long curly hair, big hazel eyes, legs for miles and big boobs. So she put her hair up in a severe bun. She’d cut it once but it just accentuated her eyes so she’d given herself the pleasure of letting it stay long, even if she was the only one who ever saw it down. She wore fake glasses and buttoned her shirts to the neck and wore slacks and flat shoes. It was necessary not to call attention to herself.
She wished her brother had the same caution. Damn that Gabriel! She couldn’t believe he’d gotten her into yet another mess, and this time with werewolves. It was bad enough when he’d gotten attacked in a bar fight and had contracted the lycanthropy virus. She’d stood by him, hoping that surviving the adversity would make him stronger. He’d gotten involved with the local wolf Pack and had pretty much faded from her life. She’d gotten a card here and there, he’d borrowed money a few times, but she really didn’t know much about his life. And with Gabriel, no news was good news. When she didn’t get calls for bail at two in the morning she took it as a sign that he was alive and well, or at least not getting caught at whatever he was doing.
But really the change had only made a morally weak man physically stronger. It wasn’t altogether surprising when, out of the blue, he’d showed up on her doorstep the night before, looking like the devil himself was chasing him. He said he’d seen something he wasn’t supposed to and that the Pack was going to be looking for him to kill him for it. He’d certainly seemed scared for his life. She’d begged him to call the cops but he’d only looked at her like she was crazy. In the end, she’d given him all of the cash she had on her and in her emergency kitty and he’d gone, begging her to cover for him.
Cover for him! She snorted. Cover for him with frick-fracken werewolves. She rolled her eyes. But he was her brother, all the family she had, and she couldn’t very well just let him get killed, even if he was a turd.