Protecting His Wolfe Read online

  Protecting His Wolfe Book One of the Pigg Agency Series

  written by Melissa Keir

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Your non-refundable purchase allows you to one legal copy of this work for your own personal use. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload, or for a fee.

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Disclaimer: Some of our titles contain explicit sexual content, graphic, adult language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable which might include: male/male sexual practices, multiple partner sexual practices, strong BDSM themes and elements, erotic elements and fetish play. This book MAY contain some of those elements. This book is for sale to adults ONLY, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please do not try any new sexual practice, especially those that might be found in our BDSM/Fetish titles without the guidance of an experience practitioner. Neither Rebel Ink Press LLC nor its authors will be responsible for any loss, harm, injury or death resulting from use of the information contained in any of its titles.

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. All characters, places, businesses, and incidents are from the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual places, people, or events is purely coincidental. Any trademarks mentioned herein are not authorized by the trademark owners and do not in any way mean the work is sponsored by or associated with the trademark owners. Any trademarks used are specifically in a descriptive capacity. Final edits rest with the author of this work. We give them a bit of space. They are Rebels after all...

  A Word from Rebel: Thank you for purchasing this title. We support authors and ask you to remember that the only money most authors make from writing comes from book sales. If you like this work, please check for upcoming titles from this author via the link on our website and spread the word. If you see "free shares" offered or cut-rate sales on pirate sites, please report the offending entry to [email protected]. Thank you for not pirating our titles. Pirates suck!

  Cover Artist: Carl J. Franklin

  First Edition

  ©2012, Rebel Ink Press, LLC

  www.rebelinkpress.com

  Dedication:

  To my readers, I couldn’t be here without you.

  To Mark, I couldn’t survive without you.

  Acknowledgement: The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Arthur Murray Dance Studio: Arthur Murray Franchise Dance Studios

  Prologue

  “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” The bailiff stated.

  “I do.” The small blonde with the lavender eyes said in tight voice. With those two small words, Betsie Wolfe’s world changed forever.

  Doing the right thing had never felt so scary. When Betsie learned about the illegal activities that her boss was involved in, she had to call the police. It turns out that the police had been watching him all along. And now, she was sitting in the federal courtroom as a witness in the trial against her boss for money laundering, drug trafficking, and murder.

  Looking out at his face at the defense table, she never thought wickedness could have such an ordinary face. It frightened her each time she saw the murderous look in his gaze. Then she caught the eye of the police detective sitting in the second row and knew that she had the strength to go into detail about what she heard and saw.

  This wasn’t what the small town girl expected when she got a job with Anderson Trucking as a secretary but then, Betsie was naïve and still believed in the Tooth Fairy. She didn’t see the malevolence in the world around her.

  Chapter One

  Betsie Wolfe was raised in a tiny town along the wine fields on the shores of Northern Ohio. Her town was so small that if she was picked up for speeding in her town, her parents knew about it before she even got home. Growing up as the daughter of a local minster didn’t help either.

  During high school, Betsie was the quiet studious type who was known for her grades and not her looks. It wasn’t that she wasn’t pretty; she just didn’t stand out enough. Boys would rather pay attention to the cheerleader beauties or the socially outgoing girls. Betsie liked to blend into the background.

  After taking typing classes at the local community college, Betsie decided to leave her small town and experience life in a bigger city. She needed to see what life was like away from the quiet, peaceful wine fields of Ohio. Packing her bags, she headed south towards Columbus and landed a job with Anderson Trucking in their office on Madison Street.

  ****

  Being new to the secretarial pool, Betsie was quick to learn the ropes from the veteran secretary and manager of the secretarial pool, Miss Hildebrand. Built like a small pit bull, with silver hair pulled tightly in a bun, Miss Hildebrand ran the secretarial pool like a military campaign. While the secretaries laughed at Miss Hildebrand behind her back, no one dared to contradict her to her face.

  Everyone had their jobs and each person pulled their weight or was quickly let go. No one was silly or overly social around Miss Hildebrand. In order to get on Miss Hildebrand’s good side, Betsie worked harder than any of the other girls. She would often work during her lunch hour or stay after work to finish up some filing. It was during one of those late nights that her world became a perilous situation.

  ****

  It was a late October evening. Everyone else in the office had gone home, but there wasn’t anyone waiting at home for Betsie, so she decided to get the last of the filing done first, hoping to earn some bonus points from Miss Hildebrand. While sitting at her desk in the secretarial area she overheard a conversation between her boss, Mr. Anderson and another man.

  “Do you have the stuff, you know the drugs?”

  “Yes I do but they are hidden until you pay me twice the amount we agreed upon.”

  “That’s not the way to do business. We agreed on a fee. I did the loading and driving. I had all the risk.”

  “But it’s my company and my name on those trucks that’s taking the biggest risk if we get caught, moving your drugs. So the amount is double.”

  “I don’t have the money now. You should know, you write my paycheck. You’ll pay for lying to me!”

  “Don’t threaten me. You won’t like it when I’m threatened. Find a way to get that money by Tuesday or I’m selling them to another customer.”

  Quietly the men left the area and Betsie couldn’t hear them anymore. She wasn’t quite sure if she had heard the whole conversation correctly. Could the men have been talking about something other than drugs? Wasn’t it illegal to ship drugs across the US border? Maybe it wasn’t her boss. After all, she didn’t actually see the people talking.

  Keeping her mouth quiet in fear, Betsie hid under her desk for two hours and then snuck out the door, hoping that no one had noticed her. Keeping her eyes alert, each sound that she heard made her jump. Even though she never saw anything on the dark walk home, her heart was going off like an alarm clock. Locking each of her three locks on
the door, made Betsie feel a tiny bit safer, but it wasn’t until she climbed into bed and pushed the largest knife from the kitchen under her mattress that she fell into a deep sleep.

  Chapter Two

  For two weeks, nothing unusual happened in Betsie’s life. She was beginning to doubt that she even heard what she thought she heard. She certainly didn’t trust her safety by staying late anymore, and was often the first to leave the building when her shift ended. Miss Hildebrand began to notice.

  “Miss Wolfe, you aren’t putting forth an effort anymore. This is not the way to get ahead at Anderson Trucking. I had such high hopes for you, even sharing with Mr. Anderson about your work ethic. Now, I am disappointed and you don’t want to disappoint me.” Miss Hildebrand spoke in a somber tone.

  “I’m sorry Miss Hildebrand. I’ve been taking care of my neighbor’s dog,” crossing her fingers behind her back to negate her fib and hoping that her dad would forgive this small little lie. “I had to get home to make sure he went out.”

  Miss Hildebrand’s eyes squinted with doubt. “Just make sure to do better or else…”

  The secretaries were worse. “Who are you dating?” “Do you have another job?” They all demanded an answer for Betsie’s sudden change in job performance.

  Deciding to give into the pressure, Betsie stayed late again that night. Sitting at her desk, she tried to get her work done but her mind continued to race back to the night that she heard the threatening drug deal, making her stomach clench.

  As the rest of the secretaries left, night crept into the building. The hum of the florescent lights became more noticeable and the temperature in the office dropped with the loss of body heat. Worried and waiting for something to happen, Betsie couldn’t keep her mind on her work. She filed the Hilman contract under the letter ‘T’ and managed to snag her pantyhose on the filing drawer.

  Finally fed up with the tension, she left her desk, shut down the lights in the office, and locked the door. With her small clutch purse in one hand, she started the lonely walk to her apartment, six blocks over from the employee parking garage. Someday, I’ll have enough money for a car of my own. She thought with envy. Maybe something in a green color but with good gas mileage.

  So focused on the noises around her, Betsie tripped over a patch of broken concrete and went sprawling on the floor, her purse hit the concrete and one lipstick tube rolled across the garage floor. Crawling on her hands and knees, Betsie yelled at herself in her head for her accident. Oh no. Isn’t that my luck! Everything has gone wrong today! Where is my purse? What fell out?

  Suddenly a car appeared around the back of the garage and screeches to a halt. The sounds of yelling and gunfire erupted in the silence of the parking garage. Diving flat on the ground, Betsie begins to say all the prayers she remembered from the past twenty-three years of Catholic Mass. As a body crashed to the ground, the black sports car with the silver trim drove away.

  Betsie hid on the ground near the edge of a large blue sedan, praying no one could hear her. The silence after such a deafening noise grated on Betsie’s nerves. Without thought for herself, she rushed over to the body to see if they needed help.

  “Oh, my, gosh, it’s Johnny from the warehouse. Johnny, Johnny, are you okay?” She placed her hands on his chest to see if he was still breathing, only to pull away abruptly when she felt the wetness of his shirt.

  Looking down at her hands, “Oh no. Blood! Johnny!” But his death was as evident as the large hole in the front of his shirt gushing blood on the pavement.

  “I can’t be caught here.” Betsie realized with the dead body beside her that the garage wasn’t a safe place.

  After a long argument with her conscience over what was right and what might happen, Betsie found her purse with the office keys inside and went back into the office to call the police.

  Chapter Three

  Quickly the police, her boss, Mr. Anderson, and Miss Hildebrand arrived. Betsie didn’t want to face the horror of Johnny’s body again, so she stayed inside the receptionist’s area of the office. Mr. Anderson and Miss Hildebrand tried to talk with her when they arrived but the police wouldn’t let anyone near her until they got their statement. One nice officer gave her a woolen blanket to wrap around her body. She’d never been so chilled. Huddled in a blanket in one of those uncomfortable waiting room chairs, Betsie was shaking after the horror of what happened.

  Johnny is…was…had been such a nice guy to me. He made sure to always say good morning to me and treated me with respect. Who could’ve done this? Betsie wondered if it had anything to do with what she overheard the other night. Could Johnny have been involved with the drugs?

  With many thoughts going through her mind, Betsie didn’t hear the police detective walk over to her. He cleared his throat and put his hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

  “Yikes, you startled me!” Betsie yelped as her cheeks burned from embarrassment.

  Looking up at the detective, Betsie noticed first how tall he was, and then she noticed his broad shoulders under his tan jacket. This is a guy who looked like he could take care of himself, she thought. Betsie couldn’t seem to draw her eyes away from him. His dark hair was cut military short, drawing your gaze to his deep blue eyes. I’ve always been a sucker for blue eyes. His nose and jawline were chiseled as if they had been carved from granite. But his full lips and two small laugh lines near his mouth belied those tough features with softness. Betsie began to imagine those lips on her mouth and her shaking got worse.

  “Hello, Miss Wolfe. I’m detective Jonah Pigg. I’ve got a few questions for you.” The detective looked down at the small form huddled in the police issue green blanket and noticed her shaking body. Crouching down to be face to face, Jonah immediately noticed how delicate her features were and how her golden hair cascaded around her face like a painting of Michelangelo. She had a pixie-like face with lavender eyes that seemed to angle upwards, a small nose with a dusting of freckles, and a heart shaped pair of lips. I’d love to see her eyes sparkle with laughter. I wonder how tall she is. “You’re shaking. Here use my coat.” Taking his tan jacket off his body, Jonah pulled the blanket off Betsie than wrapped his coat around Betsie’s shoulders before returning the blanket to her body. The coat was warm with his body heat and her shaking subsided.

  “Thank you, Detective Pigg. I don’t know what came over me. I guess the whole situation was just too much for me. See, I knew Johnny. He worked here in the warehouse. He was always nice to me.”

  “Miss Wolfe, you were the person who called 911, correct? Did you notice anything about the incident— a person, a sound, a vehicle, perhaps?”

  “I was walking through the garage on my way to Sixth Street so I could walk home but I tripped and fell, sending my purse flying. As I was trying to gather it up, I heard a bunch of yelling, a loud sound- that must have been the gun shot- I’m sorry I’ve never heard a gun before, and…” squinting her eyes trying to remember everything that happened, “Yes! There was a car. A black car with silver trim. It looked like it didn’t get good gas mileage. Maybe a sports car. I’m sorry that I don’t remember more.”

  Jonah looked at the beautiful woman in the blanket and his coat with admiration. “You remembered a lot. Thanks. If you remember anything else, please call me.” With that, he handed her his business card and started to stand. “I’m going to have Officer Johnson here take you home.”

  “Nonsense. I’ll be fine. I don’t live that far.” Attempting to stand, Betsie put weight on her left knee and crumbled to the ground.

  But before she hit the floor, Jonah collected her in his arms and lifted her to his chest. “Nonsense, huh? I don’t think you are fine so I’ll just have to make sure you get home safely where someone can look at your leg.” Shouting to the other officers, “I’m going to take this lady home. She isn’t doing so well. I’ll be back in a bit.”

  Jonah carried her to a waiting tan sedan and placed her gently in the front passenger seat. Walking aro
und the other side of the car, Jonah climbed in, started the car and drove away. Laying her head back against the seat, Betsie inhaled deeply the enticing smell of Jonah. It permeated his jacket and his car, comforting her. Betsie closed her eyes and fell deeply asleep.

  ****

  The slam of the car door woke Betsie, who was a little disoriented. Seeing Detective Jonah Pigg coming around the side of the car to open the door for her, Betsie smiled. “You’re such a gentleman. Most of the guys I date don’t even open the door. How did you know where I live?” she asked curiously.

  Extending his arm for her to hold onto, Jonah said, “Here you go, Betsie. The guys that you date are losers if they don’t show some common manners. Let me help you to the door. I just looked up your address on your wallet in your purse, which I have right here along with your apartment keys, I assume.”

  Putting some weight tentatively on her left leg, Betsie grabbed hold of Jonah’s arm and climbed out of the tan sedan. When she stood up, she noticed that the top of her head only came to his chin. He really was tall, dark and dangerous. They walked awkwardly toward her apartment, with Jonah holding her tightly around the waist to keep her from falling.

  Taking hold of her purse, Betsie grabbed her keys and opened her apartment door. “Thank you again for everything. Would you like to come in for some coffee or lemonade? My grandma taught me to use my manners. That is unless you are afraid that I will bite. I am a Wolfe after all. ” She smiled up at him with mirth in her eyes, transforming her face from beautiful to extraordinary.

  “Oh I’m not afraid of your little bite, but I do want to take a look at that leg. You couldn’t put much weight on it a minute ago. I wouldn’t want to have a Wolfe out there with a broken leg. The vet will want to put you down.”