Page 17 of Frank's Felon
The faint trace of vanilla bean remained behind, clinging to his shirt where he had held her against him. Wet marks stained his shirt. He’d made her cry.
Frank sank against the wall. He had fucked up pretty bad this time. And there was no way to fix it.
As he drew his knees to his chest, he noticed a piece of paper with the WSSO’s logo laying half under an old scrunched up newspaper on the floor. Right above the logo depicting a pile of dead shifters at the feet of a human were the notations ‘CLS24’ and ‘Devil’s Peak pack’.
Hell, he knew that number, could clearly picture it in his mind’s eye. The WSSO had tattooed CLS24 along with a bar code onto the inside of Tess’s right wrist. Frank flipped the photo over. It was a picture of Tess. Given the hollow look in her eyes and how emaciated she was in the picture, the photo had been taken under a year ago, shortly after Damien had rescued Tess. Fucking Ian had been stalking her from the very first day Damien had brought her to their pack.
Frank rose, shoving the picture in his back pocket, a sudden anger rising within him. There was no way Delilah would have this photo unless. . . Hell. Ian wasn’t the only shifter working for the WSSO. Delilah was too. Damien had it right all along. The WSSO was in town asking for Tess, except she had gotten a lot closer to Tess than town. She had been crisscrossing the border for a week now, trying to find a point to breech their pack and reach Tess.
Delilah hadn’t been a honey-trap in the conventional sense, but she sure as hell had been using Frank. She had set him up, made him fall for the female in danger routine to get him not just off guard, but eager to help her. Hell, he had begged to help her tonight. It was all part of her act and he had fallen for it. Tomorrow or the next day, she’d track him down, probably show up on the border, with another story, one that would get her invited into camp, where she’d get close to Tess. Delilah had fucking used him, and he had fallen for it.
Frank was tired of being used, pissed on, and looked down on by the guards, the courts, the WSSO, and now one lone female who’d played with his heart and was a threat to his pack. Delilah was coming for Tess. There was no fucking way he was going to let the WSSO get their hands on Tess again. He’d kill anyone who threatened her. Even Delilah.
Chapter Four
FRANK
Frank added extra patrols to the border, giving his best guards extra shifts. Part of him was tempted to go against his training and lighten the patrols to draw Delilah in, but Frank couldn’t risk Tess. One female shifter he could handle, but if she brought the WSSO with her, then he needed ever able-bodied shifter alert and ready. The more guards at the border to delay a possible full-on assault, the better.
“You’ve been grumpier than usual these past three days,” Tess said as he trailed her. “And why are you guarding me, anyway?”
“Damien’s orders.”
She rolled her eyes in that cute way she had that endeared her to so many shifters here. It was hard to get Tess mad. He could tell her the truth, but he didn’t want to worry her.
“Damien said to watch out for me and the entire pack. Not to guard me personally.”
“Not in so many words.”
“No in any words,” she rebuffed as she picked up the bag of supplies and headed toward the lodge.
Sometimes he had to wonder how Damien put up with her fighting him when it came to safety. This wasn’t the first time she pushed back, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Then there was Delilah, she took risks, so many risks. . .
Frank growled. He had to stop thinking of Delilah as if she was an innocent, unable to take care of herself. She was nothing like Tess, sweet, open, sincere. Not that it mattered. When the time came, he'd take Delilah down like any other enemy combatant that threatened his pack. He had never hurt a female before, but times had changed. The WSSO employed dirty, vile tactics to rid the world of shifters, and his pack had already unearthed two traitors, shifters whose loyalty lay with WSSO, against their own kind.
“You’re not going to shadow me all day are you?”
“Haven’t decided yet.”
“Then let me decide for you. The answer is no. You’re going to go find a book and a spot to read and lose yourself in a mystery.”
“I don’t feel like reading.”
She turned to him. Hell, now she knew something was wrong. He never missed a chance to read and she knew it. Tess’s face scrunched together as she scrutinized him. Then she was poking him in the chest. “What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing.”
“Then go find a woman and work on your social skills, because they suck.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. You’ve been nothing but doom and gloom since Damien left. While I know you hate being in charge, something else is eating at you. And I’ve smelled an unusual scent on you, two days in a row. Whoever you’ve been hanging out with apparently hasn’t scratched that itch of yours. Or perhaps she scratched it wrong?”
“No itch. No scratching. Merely focusing on problems along the border, Tess. Stop reading into my behavior.”
“Fine, Frank, but if I see you hovering over me while I have the kids working on their project, I’m going to be less than pleasant to deal with for the next few days.”
Frank was starting to wonder if all females were difficult or just the ones he met. Maybe he rubbed them the wrong way. Takara and Tess both seemed to be losing their patience with him lately. And Del. . . Hell, when was he going to get her out of his mind?
