Page 11 of Property of Prowler (Kings of Anarchy MC: Nevada #1)

FIVE

PROWLER

Enjoying some of the best sleep he’d had in years, Prowler was a little disturbed when he was pulled to wakefulness by soft curses.

Rubbing the fogginess from his eyes, he rolled over and searched the mostly dark room for the source.

Taylor.

She was crawling around the floor, face down, looking under the dresser. Ass all the way up in the air. Obviously searching for her clothes that had been carelessly tossed away last night.

She looked downright edible like that. Like she was begging to be taken from behind while he fisted her hair or, better yet, held her down with his mouth to her neck.

Where the hell did that come from?

As soon as he thought it, he knew the wolf smiled. The rumble the beast emitted, he could damn near feel it deep in his chest.

Prowler had always felt as if they were separate entities, disconnected, but stuck together because he was the only option at the time.

The quantum wolves he knew felt the same, so it was assumed that was just the way it was for them. However, the way it felt right then had him questioning that.

For the first time since their circumstances brought them together, they were in harmony, like two halves that were trying to come together.

When the next words left his mouth, they came out rough and wild.

“I wanna bite that ass hard enough to leave a mark.” He growled, or rather his wolf did.

Another first.

Taylor startled and turned in his direction. Her green eyes looked surprised in the low light.

Interesting, he made a mental note to mention that to Kansas, but when she stood and turned her entire body his way, his world narrowed down to her.

“Not going to happen. We start that, and I’ll forget my own name.”

He chuckled. “That’s kind of the point, sweetheart.” Prowler patted the space beside him on the mattress. “Come back to bed.”

He heard the difference or rather felt it.

It wasn’t just for round four, he wanted her there.

In his bed, his home, his life. To hell with doubts and questions.

They could figure it out together. After last night, the dinner, the effort she put into Cass, into him, it was clear their no-strings arrangement had grown friggin’ ropes, and he wasn’t mad about it.

Taylor, however, would be. She was as no-strings as he had been.

“If I come over there, you’ll pull me down to the bed and fuck me stupid. I can’t let that happen. We need to talk.”

Taylor spoke as she pulled her shirt over her head, forgoing the bra. Maybe that’s what she’d been looking for under the dresser.

“The dreaded four words no man wants to hear,” Prowler quipped as he turned on the bedside light and scooched up so he was reclined against the headboard, not bothering with covers.

“It’s about our arrangement.” She crossed her arms under her chest, leaning back against the dresser after pulling on her leggings.

Hope flared in his chest. Maybe she wanted more too.

With a smile, he reached down and gripped his shaft. Loving the way her eyes followed his movement, he slowly stroked up and down. The appreciation and longing in her gaze were all the boost he needed.

“What a coincidence. I was thinking the same thing.”

Her eyes left his cock and clashed with his.

The look in her peridot gaze most certainly didn’t mirror his own. Hers was more on the sad and disappointed side rather than hopeful and happy.

Shit, he fucked up. She must’ve thought he was ending things.

“Taylor, I?—”

She cut him off.

“Please can I go first?”

“No.”

He knew what her response would be. It was the same anytime someone told her no; she acted like she didn’t comprehend the word.

“No?”

And he knew what his response would be … the same as it was any time she used no as a question.

“Yeah, no.” Prowler stood and stalked over to her. Invading her space so she had no retreat. “Because.” He pulled one of her crossed arms down and placed it on his shoulder.

“If you go first.” He repeated the motion with the other. “You’re going to give me some it’s not you, it’s me speech.” He placed his hands under her luscious ass and lifted. “And walk out the door.”

Turning with her in his arms, he laid her on the bed, coming down half on top of her, pinning her down with his leg. Looking deep into the eyes he lov… no, really, really fucking liked … a lot.

He was experiencing weird intermittent emotions, like a radio station fading in and out, but they didn’t feel like they were solely his.

His were certainly going haywire too, but to have other bursts coming through was disturbing.

He realized it was the wolf. He was feeling the wolf’s feelings sporadically.

“And that wouldn’t give me a chance to say that I want to renegotiate our agreement.”

“First off, I wasn’t going to say it was me and not you because it was totally you, buddy. And second, what do you mean renegotiate? Isn’t that what I was going to do?”

“No.”

“No?”

There it was again. He never realized how endearing it was before.

“Yeah, no. You were about to terminate, not negotiate.” He nipped her lip. “And what do you mean it’s me? I’m a fucking delight, and you said so yourself. I can fuck you stupid. What more could you ask for in your man?” He flashed her his most predatory smile, and Wolf approved.

Something about the new connection with his wolf had him thinking of him as Wolf, not just a wolf.

“My man, huh?” He could see the skepticism in her captivating eyes. “I thought we agreed no strings. When it’s over, it’s over, and we remain neighbors and friends. My man sounds pretty stringy to me.”

Taylor tried to worm her way out from under him, but he didn’t allow it.

“Hence my use of renegotiate. But we’ll circle back to that. What do you mean it’s totally me?” Something about the hurt that flashed across her face when she’d said that had his hackles raised.

“You.” She stopped abruptly and tried to wiggle free again.

What the fuck?

As a rule, Taylor was putty in his hands when he turned up the charm, but she really wasn’t falling for his seduction. Things were going south, and fast.

“Please, Prowler, let me go. I need to think straight, and I can’t do that like this.”

What had she seen or found out about him that had her needing to think straight to kick him to the curb?

A million thoughts flew at him at once, but he shifted his body weight enough for her to move.

Did she know about the less-than-legal businesses he was involved in? The girls, the books, the gambling? How they collected when someone welched? How they dealt with threats to the club or their secrets?

Could she feel the blood on his hands when he touched her? Looking down at the hands in question, he almost expected to see crimson.

Then, an even more terrifying thought chilled him to the bone.

Did she know about Wolf?

Wolf bristled at the thought.

The only reason their kind held their secret as long as they had was because the only people who knew were either dead or family.

That was the first thing Kansas ever taught him about having a fur side.

Dead or family, and family was bound together by blood, and not the kind flowing through their own veins.

First and foremost was protecting that information.

The general population didn’t know they existed.

A shudder wobbled down his spine. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that if their secret got out, they’d be locked away and experimented on by the government, much like Domino pack had done to their own but on a much larger scale, if not just out and out eliminated due to fear, that is.

Prowler stood, grabbing his jeans. Pulling them on, he didn’t bother to button them.

He didn’t like the turn things had taken.

He felt vulnerable, a sensation he hadn’t experienced in a really long time.

Anger at the situation flooded him. He was finally ready to settle down, give a relationship a go, and the universe instead just brandished the giant dildo of not a fucking chance, sans lube.

Prowler stared at her as she chewed her lip. He couldn’t kill her, wouldn’t. Fuck the rules. He could force her to be family, but he couldn’t trust that. The only solution was to lock her away until she developed Stockholm syndrome or some shit.

But fuck him sideways, he couldn’t do that either.

While he was lost in thought, Taylor started speaking. Instead of hearing her words, he just watched her mouth move.

When he finally tuned back in, she was trying to brush past him.

“Your silence speaks loud and clear, Prowler.”

“Wait.” He caught her in his arms, but she stayed stiff.

“Why wait? So we can drag this out? You broke our agreement, and then you tried to renegotiate it. Why? To hurt me? Mission accomplished.”

He’d never heard her sound so defeated, and it damn near broke him. Wait, what did she say?

Relief and confusion warred within him. Relief his furry secret was still safe, and confusion because what the hell had she just said that he confirmed with silence?

“What are you talking about? I didn’t break shit, Taylor.

I haven’t touched another woman. Not just since we’ve been fucking but even before.

Since the first time I saw you, really saw you, and you fucking yelled at me about my trash cans.

” He hadn’t meant to confess that, but he also hadn’t meant to let his anger control him, but there they were. His temper rising.

“Wow. It took you a long time to come up with that diversion.” She took a deep breath.

“It’s better this way, really. I’m not relationship material on the best of days, and neither are you.

But let’s face it, a steady hook-up is a relationship no matter how you slice it.

That’s not what either of us wanted or needed. ”

Prowler didn’t miss the slight upward inflection she ended with. Turning her statement into more of a question. He also didn’t miss the past tense. Could that mean she wants and needs it now?

She had doubts, and he could exploit that.