Running From The Pack

Running from the Pack Mina Carter Published: February 2012 ISBN: 978-1-936950-67-6

Published by Summerhouse Publishing. Copyright, Mina Carter. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

Summerhouse Publishing http://summerhousepublishing.com Email [email protected] Editor Craig Kim Cover Artist Mina Carter This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental. Smashwords Edition, License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Chapter One

“Bite me!” Penny sighed and closed her eyes as a familiar voice and even more familiar demand intruded on her thoughts. Standing in the middle of the aisle at Wilkin and Sons, all she wanted to do was get some groceries, and perhaps browse the magazines. Not deal with crap. Didn’t she have enough problems without this as well? She hid her grimace. When had her life ever been simple? She’d picked stereotypical small town, Garmin, because it was so far out in the middle of nowhere even the tumbleweeds packed passports. More importantly, no one knew her. If she was going to survive, that was essential. The less people who knew where she was, the better. For them and her. She hadn’t had to kill to protect herself yet, but she feared she was getting there. She hadn’t counted on the paranormal groupies. Okay, maybe it was an insult to paranormal groupies to class Sam Davis in their number. A security guard at the local mill, he was more conspiracy theorist than paranormal nut. The kind of guy who was always on the lookout for the merest hint of government cover-ups, or discrepancies in his paycheck that might indicate he was being screwed to pay for über-secret government research. Like the combat application of the average skunk, or something equally weird and wacky. She’d stopped listening when he’d told her his suspicions about the government watching him through tiny cameras glued to butterflies. That was just a little too weird,

even for her fucked up life. Not the cameras on insects, that was at least half-plausible, but the fact that anyone would want to watch a nutjob like Davis. Then she’d gotten careless—a combination of settling in and being comfortable in Garmin, where she’d started to think her past was just a bad joke, or a nightmare she’d woken up from. She’d looked up just at the wrong moment, and the camera in the mill office had caught the reflection in her eyes. A reflection that wasn’t human. To say Sam had been in ecstasy would’ve been an understatement. The brief glimpse had been enough for him to make all sorts of connections, and despite her protestations that the camera was defective, he’d guessed she wasn’t human. Which was correct. Somehow though, he’d gotten his thinking muddled, and decided Penny was a vampire. She wasn’t, although it would surely beat her current reality. Immortal life…languishing about in the moonlight and looking romantic? Hell yeah. The need to drink a little blood every now and then was just a minor issue, and one that could be easily worked around. Her life was far more complex. She wasn‘t a vampire, or a dryad, or anything even remotely sexy and interesting. She was a werewolf, and right at the moment, she wasn’t a happy one. In fact, it was safe to say she was definitely edging into “pissed off werewolf” territory. “Look, Sam… I have no idea what you’re on about, okay? So would you quit it? I’m trying to shop here,” she snapped and turned away from the lean, lanky youth hovering in the aisle next to her, and began concentrating on the shampoo shelf.

Never let it be said that Garmin’s one convenience store lacked for shampoo choices. Jasmine and geranium, apple blossom and rose, strawberry and kiwi… She frowned at the last one. Strawberry and kiwi sounded like something she should spread on her toast. She wanted to wash her hair in the stuff, not eat it. Her hand hovered over the smaller-sized bottles, and then paused. Small wouldn’t cut it. At “that” time of month, even the family-sized bottles on display just weren’t big enough. She needed something bigger. A bucket maybe. She nibbled her lower lip. Despite the bright and cheery advertising campaigns run by the major brands, she didn’t think any of them were going to solve her problems as promised… Just wash your hair in our tropical flowers shampoo and be transported by magic to a rainforest waterfall with a hunk on tap to rinse the suds out. Pity it was an advert, because that one would solve all her problems in one fell swoop. “I know what you are, remember? I saw! And I could make things veeery difficult for you. Somehow, I don’t think Mrs. Winchester would be very happy renting her house to a bloodsucking fiend from beyond the grave.” Sam’s voice was low, and his pale, bulbous eyes glittered with purpose. In his mind, his threat probably seemed ominous, but it emerged as an irritating whine which got on Penny’s already hormonestrained nerves. What would he do if I bit him? She clamped her teeth together and did her best to ignore the temptation. Way too close to her heat to even think about biting anyone, the

only real, safe option was the chain in the basement, until she was fit for human company again. And she was running out of time. Reaching out, she grabbed a purple bottle off the shelf. She didn’t bother to read the label. It was purple. Whatever it contained, she’d like it. It was an odd logic, one which led to a bathroom filled with purple bottles of varying shapes and sizes, but it worked for Penny. She carried on down the aisle, bypassing the laundry products and heading straight for the “cakes” section. “Sam, what time is it?” “Hmm, half past twelve, I think…” He trailed after her, twisting his watch around on his thin wrist to check. “Yeah, twelve thirty-three. Why?” “And what’s the weather like outside?” Putting a chocolate cake in her basket, she paused and frowned before reaching out to add two more. They perched precariously on top of her other purchases and started to slide. She shoved them back in with a little more force than was necessary. If her heat was anything like a normal moon, then she’d be starving. Sometimes a girl just had to have chocolate cake. “Erm... It’s bright, sunny with clear skies. Why?” He frowned, confusion written on his face. Penny flicked back her dyed hair and looked at him. The cakes started to slide again. “Sunny? As in sunshine? Just so we’re clear, because last I checked, vampires don’t sunbathe. Not good for their health.”

She gave up on the “cake box puzzle” and put two back. Her hips would thank her for it later. “Ah, yes. Well, I’ve been thinking about that. You must be a Daywalker vampire.” His voice rang with triumph as he trailed her to the checkout. Penny held on to her temper with an effort as she waited for Roger, the store owner, to ring up her purchases. How the hell did she get herself into these messes? Two years ago she’d been just like everyone else. Good job, nice, neat little apartment in a prime part of town, and her family not far away. She’d been human—and werewolves had belonged in films and books. Then a bite from a “stray” dog had changed everything. Okay, maybe she should’ve known no stray looked like that. She’d never even seen a wolf before though, so how was she supposed to identify one? Especially when it was trying to make friends and cadge treats, holding up a paw with a pathetic whimper, until she’d caved in and shared her sandwich. As soon as it’d wolfed down the scrap, the ungrateful brute had nipped her. She’d cleaned it up, gotten herself a rabies shot and forgotten about it. Until the next full moon. “So, like Blade?” she asked, getting drawn into Sam’s little fantasy world, despite herself. Roger, across the counter, rolled his eyes and smiled in sympathy. Everyone in Garmin was used to Sam’s wild stories. Most of the time he was harmless, but she was just in the unfortunate position of having something to hide. A big, furry-assed secret she couldn’t afford to let get out.

“See? You admit it! You know what I’m on about!” Penny shook her head, chuckling as she paid and gathered her purchases. “Nope, I just like watching films. Thanks, Roger, see you later.” Even though she was expecting it, the heat still hit her like a physical blow. Heavy and dry, like a smothering blanket, it took her breath away for a second before she forced herself out onto the sidewalk. Why the hell had she decided on the South? She was a grey wolf, more suited to the North. However, the South was the last place Big Jimmy would think of looking for her. She’d deal with the discomfort in the interest of staying alive. Because no one left Jimmy. Ever. Until her. “C’mon…you have to bite me. I’d make such a cool vampire.” Sam carried on his whining as she headed out to her car. The only spot she’d been able to get had been halfway down the dusty street. Next to the town laundrette and opposite the currently closed bakery, it was out in the open, and well away from any of the cooling shadows cast by the row of trees a little farther down the street. She walked toward it, with Sam trailing behind her like a noisy and irritating chick. The breeze kicked up dust swirls around her ankles as she opened the car door and rushed to put her things in. It was like opening an oven. Hot air blasted from inside. She hissed and recoiled, wafting ineffectually at the heat as she tried to dissipate it. This was a game she and the car played most days. The aim was for her to load the ancient little compact without getting her arms roasted, and the car did its best to stop her.

Sticking her hand back in, she grimaced. Skin-peeling hot. She’d need to wait a couple of minutes with the door open until the car reached a bearable temperature, or she’d be one dry-roasted wolf. Opening her mouth, she was about to tell Sam to get lost, but didn’t get the chance. Two things happened at once: the scent of another wolf—musk mixed with citrus and sandalwood—hit her heat-sensitised nostrils the same time a smooth as silk voice enquired from the shadows. “This geek giving you trouble, Penny?” She stilled—every cell in her body wary. She didn’t recognise the voice. Which meant nothing. At the moment, she wasn’t pleased to see any wolf. The more of her kind knew she was here, or even that there was a female wolf living in Garmin, the greater the chance word would get back to Big Jimmy. If that happened, then she was back to square one…running for her life. And on the whole, that wasn’t something she was really fond of. A growl ready in the back of her throat, she turned to look at the speaker. Her gaze collided with a figure slouching against the wall, and her response dried up instantly. Cade Steele. She might not have recognised his voice, but no red-blooded woman ever forgot Cade Steele. She’d only seen him a few times: at a distance, or fleetingly before one of the other pack members had hurried her away, but she’d know him anywhere. Tall and handsome with a lean, muscular build, Cade had the sort of looks that hijacked a woman’s attention and took it for a joyride. Looks which couldn’t be mistaken for anything but male, it oozed virility. A potent combination of masculinity

and something else, an extra earthy edge which made Penny’s wolf sit up and take notice. The stirring started deep inside. A subtle shift and the feeling of fur brushing against the inside of her skin, all over her body, as a sharp scent flooded her sensitive nostrils. The smell of cool forests and open spaces and grass after a rain…all as her wolf wrestled with her for freedom. With a gasp, she fought the shift back down. A fine tremble racked her body as sweat beaded in her hairline, allowing the creature from within only the thinnest of connections to the world around them. It was the technique she’d been taught when newly turned, one she’d had to master before they’d let her off the pack compound. It’d come with a warning: never to let the wolf have free rein. To never, ever, let it have control. She shuddered, but nevertheless kept her composure. There was no way she could change in the middle of the high street in broad daylight, with a witness to boot. Particularly a witness like Davis. She gritted her teeth as the wolf retreated. She’d never lost control before. Not even when she’d been newly bitten. She’d always had a high level of control over her wolf, which was unusual for a bitten wolf… It was more a trait associated with born wolves. But she’d never had another wolf call hers like that. “You know this guy, Penny?” More than likely needled by the “geek” comment, Sam glared at the newcomer. He stood straighter as Cade pushed off from the wall, squaring his shoulders as the wolf approached. The natural posturing of a male whose territory was being

threatened. She had to admit, Sam had guts. Either that or he was suicidal. As a man, Cade was taller, with a longer reach. As a man. He wasn’t just a man, though. He was a wolf, and that wasn’t the half of it. He was a werewolf…a rogue wolf. Living alone, he swore allegiance to no pack. Most wolves wouldn’t consider it. Wolves needed a pack, needed the structure of society. A lone wolf was easy prey for any pack that came across them, and an exiled wolf didn’t tend to live long. The ones who did were mean as hell, creatures you really didn’t want to get into a fight with. Like Cade Steele, who’d turned “mean” into an art form, as both a human and a wolf. “Yeah, I know him.” She watched Cade move—with an appreciation she hid behind a blank expression. Human men could be pretty to look at, but there was nothing on Earth that moved like a male wolf in his prime. There were tiny, almost imperceptible differences about the way they walked, like the loose-limbed stride that held the potential of explosive power. All little clues easy to spot if you knew what you were looking for. And as a female wolf about to go into heat, Penny sure as hell knew what to look for. “Oh…right…umm… I should let you guys catch up,” Sam managed, obviously unwilling to leave her alone with the new guy. Like her, his gaze was riveted on Cade as he stalked toward them, but for very different reasons. She sensed the smell of fear seeping out of the pores of his skin as his instincts—the hardwired, primeval ones which had helped humanity out of the caves and claw its way up to the top of the food chain—screamed at him. Even if humans

didn’t believe in monsters like vampires and werewolves, their survival instincts recognised a predator when faced with one. Especially one like Cade, who was making no effort to disguise what he was. She tapped her tongue against her teeth in frustration. Sheesh, never mind her changing in the middle of the street, Cade might as well pull a full-on furry. Especially with the way he half-growled as he rounded on the human. “You do that…” His gaze dropped down to the nametag on Sam’s shirt. “Samuel Davis,” Cade added, smiling. Somehow, he managed to make Sam’s name sound like a threat. It wasn’t a nice expression, more like an excuse to bare his teeth. Teeth that were suspiciously pointed. All bravado deserted the young security guard. As if his flight instinct clubbed the fight side into submission and took over. Sam’s mouth worked, but no sound emerged. He backed up, and then tripped over his own feet in his haste to get away. Boots scrabbled at the floor, kicking up dust until the human regained his footing, running off as fast as his legs could carry him. She shook her head as he disappeared around the corner, her green eyes flicking over to his truck, parked two spaces down. Looked like he was planning to sprint all the way home. “Well, way to go.” Her slow clapping rang around the empty street. “Great little performance there. Fancy dragging me off to your cave by my hair for an encore?” His lips quirked as he looked at her. “If I didn’t fear bodily harm, then I might take you up on that offer.”

He moved to lean on the top of her open car door, his forearms resting along the strip of hot metal. She folded her arms and eyed him warily. “So how you doing?” he asked, searching her face…her appearance…with an expression of concern. Which didn’t make sense. He shunned contact with any and all other wolves. Why was he here? Perhaps it was because she was an outcast too…unable to join any pack…just in case she brought down Big Jimmy’s wrath on them. Outcasts Anonymous, banding together for protection? There was just one problem with that. Cade didn’t need anyone’s protection, much less hers. “What do you want, Cade?” She crossed her arms and tried to ignore the fact her shirt was sticking to her skin. Although petite, she’d never been a waif, not even when she half-starved herself on the latest fad diet. Since becoming a wolf, she’d more or less given up on controlling her weight. It was hard to diet when you were always ravenous. “How did you find me?” Her voice was sharper than she’d intended. She’d been so careful covering her tracks, but somehow, he’d found her. He shrugged, a one-shouldered, nonchalant movement. “I have my methods.” He studied her, his eyes intent, then frowned. He took a deep breath, lips parting a little to roll the air over his tongue. As if to taste it. Amber bled into the pale colour of his eyes, a glimpse of the wolf within. “You’re going into heat.” His voice lowered, the rough edge of a growl rounding out the sound.

“No shit, Sherlock!” Anger rose, sharp and immediate. Wolves had an excellent sense of smell. That she was going into heat would be obvious to any wolf with a nose on their face. “You hauled your hermit ass out of the wilds for that? Because you can damn well hightail it back!” He didn’t deny it, just watched her, all amusement gone from his expression. Like he was still working out the lay of the land, working her out. Fuck that. Braving the heat of the car, she slid behind the wheel and started the engine. The temperature inside the small vehicle was still just below “oven,” but she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to discuss her heat with anyone, never mind a walking wet dream like Cade. His hands slammed down, curved over the top of the door and held it still as she tried to shut it. Damn the man, she’d crush his bloody fingers if she had to. “You got a mate, Penny?” He hung on to the door easily, holding it open. She eyed him for a moment, trying to work out if she’d heard jealousy in his voice. Instantly, she dismissed the idea. She couldn’t have. He’d never shown an interest in her. Like, at all. He’d always been on the outskirts back in Roakestown, always on the edges of the pack, but never a part of it. She’d always wondered why Johnathon, the pack alpha at the time, had put up with a rogue wolf in his territory. Then someone had clued her into the family history. Johnathon’s son, Cade, had been exiled from the pack years before. No one would tell her why. He’d gone into the army and returned every few years or so, sometimes

longer. Even though the argument was long in the past, he’d refused any attempt at reconciliation, preferring his solitary existence. Then Big Jimmy had arrived, and her world had gone to shit. Shittier, anyway. She yanked the door but he held on, the two of them playing a bizarre game of tug of war. She let go as the panel started to give with a metallic crunch. She should know better. She’d ruined enough doors, amongst other things, when she’d first been turned. She knew to watch her strength. Like her eyes, it gave her away as something other than human. She glared at Cade. He had no excuse, he’d been born a wolf, he’d had his whole life to get used to it. “I’m sorted. Thanks anyway.” The evasion rolled off her tongue easily. He didn’t need to know about her plans. A female’s heat was a personal thing, but the word only had to be mentioned for every male in the vicinity to think he had a say in it. If she chose to spend it alone, rather than let it force her into sleeping with some guy just to satisfy an animalistic urge, then that was her damn decision. But she hadn’t been prepared for the flash of rage, feral and intense, that crossed his features. A gasp escaped her lips. “Who is it?” he demanded, his voice tight with control. “That human? Yeah, right. He’s far too delicate. You need a wolf in moon fever, honey, nothing else’ll do.” “What I need is none of your damn business!”

All of a sudden, she shoved the door open wider. Taken by surprise, Cade stumbled back a step. Triumphant, she slammed it shut, and leaned one arm out the open window to look up at him. “Just piss off and leave me alone, Cade. I don’t need you or any other wolf!”

Chapter Two

Thankfully, for the sake of Penny’s blood pressure, the journey home was short and uneventful. She pulled around the back of the neat, two-bed house she was renting and parked in front of the garage. Gathering her shopping from the passenger seat, she headed inside. A sigh of relief escaped her as she reached the cool interior of the house, and kicked the door shut behind her. Sanctuary. Flicking her hair back from her face, she carried her groceries through and dumped her bags on the kitchen counter. She leaned there for a long second, hands flat, and let her forehead rest on the cool surface. It felt good against her warm skin, heated by more than the blistering temperature outside. Because heat rolled within her as well, the wolf coiling restlessly, as though it could sense the coming moon and wanted out. “Fuck it. Why me, why now?” She straightened up and slammed her hands against the counter. The wood creaked in protest, not used to the stresses of werewolf strength. She knew her stay in Garmin was temporary, but it was a nice little town. Even with Sam and his mad theories and schemes to avoid “government control.” She’d hoped to be able to stay a little longer, perhaps at least until after Christmas. Christmas in a place she’d have time to make a few friends, where she’d put down a few tentative roots…surely, it wasn’t too much to ask, was it?

She turned and leaned her back against the counter, running a shaky hand through her hair. It was too much to ask and she knew it. She needed to move on. Now. If Cade had found her, then there was every chance Big Jimmy would as well. It was a simple choice. If she wanted to live, then she had to run. Again. Sighing, she pushed away and moved across to fill the kettle. The decision was out of her hands now. Three more days, just to get her heat out of the way, and she’d pack up. Move on. She’d paid up on the rent until the end of the month, so all she had to do was drop a note in Mrs. Winchester’s door on her way through, and she’d be gone. Her movements were quick and economical as she moved about the small kitchen. Ignoring the bags on the side, she collected a mug from the cupboard and set it next to the kettle. Opening another, she reached for a canister at the back. There was nothing to distinguish it from the others near the kettle—it even had “tea” in curly letters on the front. But it didn’t contain tea, not run of the mill Earl Grey, anyway. It was her “special tea,” made of Wolfsbane, and without it, she’d have gone mad years ago. She gritted her teeth and cracked the lid on the canister. The wolf inside recoiled in disgust at the smell from within. It knew what the tea did, snarling and snapping its teeth in fury. Folklore was divided on the effects of Wolfsbane. Some tales had it as an ingredient in witches’ potions, designed to turn a person into a werewolf, which as far as Penny knew, was complete baloney. The only two ways to become a werewolf were

to be born one, or to get bitten. Folklore had never been able to get its shit together as a reliable source of information. It was the other tales she was more interested in. The ones which had Wolfsbane as an herb that could suppress the wolf. A little Internet research and she was trawling the city backstreets to find a witch prepared to sell her some. Penny wrinkled her nose as boiling water hit the herbs and released a pungent aroma. The smell hit her nostrils like she’d been slapped around the face with a rotten steak. Her stomach rolled and threatened to rebel, bile rising in her throat. It was good for her, she told herself firmly, and ignored the howling in the back of her mind. Locked it away so she didn’t have to hear it. She dunked the filter ball, watching absently as the hot water infused into the tea leaves and turned the water a weird brownish colour. Maybe if she drank enough of the foul stuff, it would achieve the impossible and revert her physiology back to just plain human. Hell, if she thought that was even halfway possible, she’d take whole baths with the stuff. When the tea was ready she removed the ball, dropping it into the sink and lifting the mug to her lips. Her stomach rebelled at the smell, but she forced herself to swallow. It burnt all the way to her stomach. When she’d first started drinking it, she’d barely been able to keep it down. Not surprising. If she were human, even the smallest dose could be lethal. It wasn’t deadly for a wolf, apparently, but there was a fine line between suppressing the wolf and becoming terribly ill from it. Gave new meaning to “as sick as a dog.”

The mug fell from her fingers into the sink with a dull “clump.” She placed her palms against the cool porcelain as she felt the poison race through her system, its journey boosted by her enhanced metabolism. Her heart pounded, her muscles clenched and went into spasm as cold sweat slid down her spine. Pain was her companion and guide as the drug pulled the wolf from just under her skin and buried it, howling and screaming, deep within her. When her heart rate had slowed to near human, she opened her eyes. A sense of peace washed over her. The creature inside her calmed and was finally quiet. It still wasn’t enough. Before, she could go weeks without realising the wolf was there, the smallest presence in her mind. But so close to her heat, the wolf was restless even as the aconite forced her into sleep. It was an uneasy sleep, the beast stirring fitfully as she fought the effects of the drug. Penny sighed. It was going to be the basement, after all. Automatically, she packed her shopping away. She was going to be out of it for a couple of days, and when she “came to,” she was going to need a lot to eat. She was always starving after going furry, since the change burnt up all the resources she had. Pushing the chocolate cake onto the top shelf of the fridge, she stopped and looked around the kitchen. It would have to do. The wolf would stir again soon, despite the Wolfsbane tea still in her stomach. The closer to her heat she got the less time it was taking for it to gnaw through the calming effects, and she still had a lot to do. On silent feet, she went through the house, securing all the doors and windows. The last thing she needed was a burglar

getting in. She wasn’t worried so much about anything being stolen, because she travelled light and had nothing she couldn’t replace with ease, but there was always the risk that an intruder could make his way down into the basement. Where things could get dicey. Restrained with spelled chains, she’d be at the mercy of any Tom, Dick or Harry who turned up. Unless they were stupid enough to get within reach. In which case, she wouldn’t need to eat the chocolate cake in the fridge... She completed her rounds, and with a heavy heart, headed down to the cellar. Each step down the stairs into the darkness felt like another into the hell her life had become. A hell ruled by the animal which dwelled within her, a beast who craved flesh and blood, making the woman she’d once been shudder in disgust. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she looked around. It was a small basement, ten by sixteen feet. An ancient washing machine and slightly newer dryer sat in the corner. The rest of the area had been cleared of storage shelves, and the only things remaining were two heavy chains attached to rings, concreted right into the floor. She was proud of the rings. The modifications had taken her a weekend to complete, and some extensive research into how to mix concrete. It wasn’t a job she could just turn over to a handyman… Yeah, Bob, I need some rings right about here and here…they’re to hold the chains that’ll keep me under control when I turn into a ravening beast on each full moon. Cheers, mate. Blanking her mind of any and all thought, she crossed to the laundry area and started to undress. The counter was well out of reach of the chains, so at least she

wouldn’t chew on her own shoes like some common mutt. Quickly, she peeled her clothes off. First the casual shirt and jeans which were like a second skin, then the nononsense cotton underwear. Plain and utilitarian it might be, but there was no way she could stand to wear anything like silk or lace. Not with the heat and the sensitivity of her skin the last few days. Finally, she stood barefoot and naked on the cold concrete, shivering as she rubbed her arms. She was cold, but some of the tremors came from within. From the battle between her human and nonhuman sides. It felt good to be naked, really good. The brisk rubbing of her arms turned into more of a caress as she became lost in the sensuous slide of skin on skin. Stop that, right now. The little voice in her head snapped her back to reality. She recognised the soft tones buried deep in her memory. Morgan, the beta in the pack, who’d schooled her through her first changes, had warned her about things like that, warned her that the wolf would latch onto sensations…make her revel and delight in them if she let it. Resolutely, she dropped her hands, not brave enough to even try rubbing warmth into any of the other chilled areas of her skin. That might lead to decadence, and a chance for the wolf to distract her. To stop her from locking them both in chains, before it was too late. If that happened, neither the thin, wooden door at the top of the stairs, nor the heavy one at the back of the house, was going to stop two hundred pounds of determined she-wolf from escaping.

Ignoring the temptation, she walked to the centre of the floor and knelt on the tatty duvet. Spread out across the floor, it served as protection against the chill and roughness of the concrete. She picked the heavy manacles up, her face set as she fastened them first to one wrist, then to the other. “Lycan,” she whispered the trigger word for the cuffs, past the tears in her throat. Human tales and films had pegged werewolves as being some kind of freakish hybrid—something between human and wolf, but the reality was quite different. “Wolfmen” were more the remit of demons, or perhaps vampires. Both were likely sources of the tales which contained such creatures. Probably the former, as there were some ugly-ass demons around. True wolves were either human or wolf. Nothing in between. No half-forms or other freakish shit. Which meant once she turned, she couldn’t talk, and the wolf couldn’t unlock the spell. At the sound of her voice, the sigils inscribed on the cuffs flared brightly. A haunting three-note melody hung in the air for a second before it faded away into the darkness. The cuffs didn’t tighten or change their form, but she could feel the gheas that bound her wrists. When she changed, the magic bond would change as well, and hold her wolf form as easily as it did her human one. Giving the chains a swift tug and finding them strong she laid herself down, wrapped herself in the duvet and closed her eyes. Finally, she allowed the wave of misery buried deep inside to overwhelm her. Tears welled behind her eyelids and streamed down her cheeks. She’d become a monster, one that wasn’t fit for human

company. A monster that had to chain herself in the basement, and hide away from the world. The door at the top of the stairs crashed open, and heavy footsteps stormed down them. “Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” She shot upright, the duvet clutched protectively against her breasts as though it were a lifeline. Which it was…the preserver of her dignity. Wolves were tactile creatures, and Jimmy had used that as an excuse to drag the pack into hedonism, with all night mass orgies. Something that’d never sat well with her. She wasn’t comfortable with being naked in front of lots of people. “What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded, anger flaring as she recognised the tall form on the stairs. “Other than breaking and entering?” Cade stepped forward, his tall frame stiff with fury as he advanced on her. His silver gaze took in the chains, her clothes on the side, and the duvet loosely wrapped around her like a toga. “Just answer the damn question,” he snarled, pointing to a mug in his hand. “And what the fuck is this?” She arched an eyebrow. “I believe it’s called a mug. You drink out of it. But that would be for the more civilised among us.” “Don’t piss me about, Penny.” The growl in his voice deepened as he hurled the mug down to the floor next to her. It shattered, making her jump as the shards peppered the bare skin of her calf. The

pungent smell of the contents, still warm, rose to her sensitive nostrils, making her wrinkle her nose a little. “You know what I mean. This is Wolfsbane.” He stalked toward her, his voice dangerously low. “I’ll ask again. Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” She lifted her chin to look him in the eye. A challenging look. “None. Of. Your. Business. And don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.” Considering the situation, she didn’t know how she was so calm, faced with a furious werewolf. A furious male werewolf. Gritting her teeth, she quit talking in order to fight down the reaction of her own wolf. It was so close to the surface now she could feel the fur starting to crawl all over her skin as the female wolf tried to get out. Tried to get closer to the tantalising male she could smell he was so near. Penny snarled, backing up to the limits of the chain. She had to get rid of Cade, before the wolf broke free. “Get the fuck out!” Her fury with him, her reaction to him, with the world itself, spilled over into her voice. “No. Because if you’re doing what I think you’re doing, then you’re either some kind of a miracle hitherto unknown to wolfkind, or you’re simply out of your fucking mind. Which is it?” He reached down and grabbed the end of the chain. With a heave, he wrenched it loose from the floor. “Hey! No! You can’t do that!” Fear and frustration drove her forward, the duvet slipping down and off as she tried to put the chains back. But it was no use, the bolts were snapped and she didn’t

have time to fix them. Already, she could feel the rise of the moon outside. The insidious call as it reached for the wolf inside. “Do you know what you’ve done?” Anger rolled through her, warring with desperation. Her voice cracked and dropped as the basement filled with the scent of the forest, and something else. A deep, musky scent rolled off her skin—the scent of her change. It seemed her wolf invaded the small room. Cade’s head jerked up, amber flaring in his eyes. “Solving a problem caused by one dumb bitch who can’t see farther than the end of her nose, that’s what!” His voice was nearly a snarl as he wound the loose chain around his hand slowly, taking up the slack with each movement of his wrist. “You’re in heat. Do you know what happens to a female wolf if they can’t mate in heat?” “She turns wolf, the heat ends, and some sort of sanity returns to her life,” she threw back, her slender frame almost shaking with the effort to hold the change at bay. She refused to shift with him in the room, but it was a struggle. He was too much of a distraction. Her wolf had his scent. Penny could feel her interest as the creature stirred within her, and looked out through Penny’s eyes to see who the male was. The male who smelled so good. “Bullshit.” He pulled on the chain and dragged her toward him. His stance, his arrogant attitude, and the assumption he knew what was best for her, all screamed alpha male. It grated on her, so much so she ached to smack him soundly on the nose. Bad move. Some males just saw violence as a form of foreplay.

“She goes mad with the need to mate. If she doesn’t…the locals will be forced to hunt a feral wolf before she kills too many of their kids. Fancy that, Penny? You’ll be stalking the school playground looking for your next snack.” “No!” Disgust, fear and loathing all vied for equal footing within her. “I wouldn’t…I couldn’t do that. Never. You don’t know me, Cade, don’t know what I’m like. I couldn’t do anything like that in a million years.” She started to back up, digging her heels in and refusing to be pulled toward him. But Cade just simply wound the chain around his hand some more and moved even closer. Closer and closer until he was near enough to touch. Near enough that she could feel the heat of his breath fanning over her bare skin. She was naked in front of the guy, which didn’t seem to matter to her at the moment. In fact, she wanted him to see. Ached to arch her back and show herself off. “The human you used to be wouldn’t.” His voice was implacable as he looked down at her. Only the tiny vein pulsing in the corner of his jaw gave away the fact that he was bothered by her nakedness. “But you’re a wolf now, governed by a whole new set of laws and you have to learn to live with it. Or you’ll die. It’s as simple as that. Because I will not let you go feral. I have some morals, even if you don’t.” “You fucking bastard!” Tears of frustration and hurt welled up at his words. Without thinking, even with all the warnings about violence and alpha males, she lashed out and slapped him across the cheek. Her hand collided heavily, rocking his head back and hurting her palm. He turned back to her, a red mark across his face and a dark look in his eyes, which took her breath away.

“Aye, I am,” Cade agreed, then, “Lycan.” Penny gasped as the three note melody for the cuffs sounded. “How…” “How did I know?” He ripped the manacles from her wrists with rough movements. Stunned, she let him. “It’s a standard keyword for wolf chains.” The chains clattered onto the floor, cuffs dropping uselessly to the concrete by his booted feet. Feet that turned, taking him back toward the stairs as she watched him, dumbfounded. It’d taken her months to track down a witch prepared to set the spell on the chains, and all the while the woman was doing it, she’d acted like she was giving away national secrets or something. Now through a chance word she discovered that, far from being rare, they were so common there was a bloody standard keyword for spelled chains. Bollocks! “Hey! Where are you going?” She rubbed at her wrists, smoothing the sore spots where the heavy manacles had pressed, and called after him. He stopped to look back over his shoulder. Heat burned in his silver eyes as his gaze flicked over her naked body. “You need to mate, you said you were sorted. I’m not staying to watch you fuck someone else. See you around, Penny.”

Chapter Three

She watched, frozen, as Cade headed up the stairs two at a time, boots stomping into the wood angrily. The door slammed at the top, rattling in its frame. The sound made her jump and the wolf inside her blink in surprise. Not privy to the maelstrom of thoughts in her head, it only knew that she’d made the sexy smelling male angry, and added her snarl of displeasure to the cacophony in her mind. He was right, she needed to mate. Everything he’d said—about going feral without a mate, without sex—was true. She could feel it, on a bone-deep level. Somewhere buried inside, she’d always known. She’d tried like hell to deny it, telling herself she was an intelligent creature, not ruled by her hormones or the pull of the moon. Told herself she had a choice. But the truth was, those choices had all disappeared the instant that stray had bitten her. With a mental groan, she kicked herself again. Next time she came across a stray, she’d just walk right on by. Too much of a bleeding heart, that was her problem. Right now she had problems of a more carnal kind. Cade hadn’t tried to push her into sex. That didn’t make sense. He was an alpha wolf. If there’d been another wolf within miles of here he’d have known, and if she’d had a human boyfriend, he wouldn’t have cared. To a born wolf, humans were beneath contempt. Cattle to be bullied or ignored. But she didn’t have a boyfriend, so now she was up shit creek without a paddle.

She needed a mate, and fast. Already, she could feel the moon rising. The shivery, tingly sensation spread over her skin like butter on hot toast. She was roasting from the inside out. All she wanted was to lay on the concrete, rub her skin against its cool surface to try to bring her temperature down. It wouldn’t do any good—time was running out and she knew it. If she didn’t have sex by the time the moon fully rose, her body would force a change and send her out into the night looking for it. The wolf wouldn’t be picky about whom. Or what. A shudder racked her body. It could be any male—full wolf, human, even a vampire if one was unlucky enough to cross her path. As long as it had a cock, her heat-addled brain wouldn’t care. Her last chance at anything close to having some sort of choice in all of this was about to walk out of the door upstairs. “Fuck… Wait!” Frustration and fear lent wings to her heels as she took the stairs two at a time. “Yes?” He was by the back door, huge shoulders filling the frame as she appeared in the basement doorway. He didn’t turn. He kept his head down as he waited for her to speak. “I don’t have one,” she admitted in a low voice. “You don’t have one what?” He didn’t move, the broad expanse of his back like a slab of granite. She ground her teeth.

He was going to make this hard. Okay, she could handle that. She had to handle it. Anything was better than the picture he’d painted. She’d never asked a guy for sex before though, not in so many words. “I don’t have a boyfriend.” “I see.” She bit her lip and watched his turned back for some sort of a reaction. Silence stretched between them as the tension mounted, until she could virtually taste it, touch it. The tiles on the floor were cold as she padded over to stand behind him. “Umm, so…I was thinking…” She couldn’t say it. Her words trailed off into silence as heat engulfed her cheeks and spread out gleefully. Try as she might, she couldn’t force the words out. Couldn’t tell him she needed him to fuck her. Tears of frustration prickled at the back of her eyes as she checked the window. The moon was rising, the darkness giving way to the silvery illumination of her hated enemy. Out of time. For lack of anything better to do, she reached out to touch his shoulder. He turned around, hand snapping out faster than she could react. A cry of surprise escaped her as hard fingers clamped around her wrist in an inescapable grip. “You want me to service you, is that it? No safe little human boyfriend for you to pretend with…so you want the big bad wolf to fuck you?” An angry, hard amber gaze blazed down at her. “You want me to fuck you?” Surprise filled her at his crude words, swiftly followed by arousal. She bit back a groan as wet heat flooded her body.

“Fuck me, that’s it, isn’t it?” Triumph coloured his voice as he pulled her hand closer to run his lips across the inside of her wrist. Not touching, not quite. Instead, he breathed in the scent of her skin. Her heart stuttered in her chest, an erratic rhythm which matched her breathing as she watched his amber gaze deepen. “I can smell your need. You need it bad, don’t you, little wolf?” He drew her into his strong arms, free hand winding into the thick hair at the nape of her neck. Holding her still, he looked down into her eyes. “Why did you let it get this bad? You could’ve had any man you wanted, human or wolf, so why?” She shrugged, unable to think with heat and chills chasing over her skin wherever he touched her. He stroked along her arm and down her bare back, the touch of his skin pulling a shiver from the depths of her soul. His hand, large and warm, spread over the small of her back and pressed her against him from breast to thigh. She didn’t need any encouragement, arching her back and rubbing against him eagerly. The sensation of her naked skin against his well-worn jeans and shirt would’ve driven her out of her mind if she weren’t already there. She didn’t want to talk, the moon was rising outside and she needed him to touch her…everywhere. “You planning on talking all night?” she bit out, the edge of a growl in her voice. “Not exactly the big bad wolf you promised, are you?” “You just wanna screw? We can do that.” His voice was low and dangerous as he grabbed and lifted her. She squeaked, a short exhale of surprise as she was deposited on the counter behind her. Her backside hit the cold marble, the contrast between the warm male body in front of her and the chill against her ass, making her squirm.

Roughly, he shoved her legs apart and stepped between them to shove his groin against her. She whimpered at the hardness constrained by the soft denim, solid and insistent against the folds of her pussy. Large hands swept up the outside of her thighs as his lips descended to claim hers angrily. A fierce kiss, one designed to punish and tame her. For what, she didn’t know and didn’t care, as long as he kept kissing her. A moan escaped as he forced her lips apart and drove his tongue into the silken recesses of her mouth. Pleasure coursed through her as he explored, one hand hard in her hair as he drank from her lips, taking what he wanted. Matching him kiss for kiss, she used her tongue to duel with his and challenge his dominance. A thrill shot through her at her daring. She’d never considered herself particularly dominant, but she wasn’t submissive, either. Yet one more way she didn’t fit into life as a wolf. The fingertips of his free hand brushed along the sensitive skin over her spine. A touch so light that his fingers lifted the tiny hairs on her skin. A shiver hit her, her back arching in response as she pressed her naked breasts against the hard wall of his chest. “God, you feel good.” His whisper was ragged as he dragged her closer, mouth crashing back down on hers. Hot, open-mouthed kisses that almost bordered on desperation. He kissed her as though he wanted to crawl inside and take up residence. Each kiss, each caress, drove the heat and need between them higher. “Less talk, more kissing.”

Penny couldn’t believe this was happening. She’d been so adamant she wasn’t going to be forced into screwing some guy just because of a biological urge, but the alternative was so hideous she knew she didn’t have a choice in the screwing part. She could decide on who it would be with. Of all the people she could’ve picked from, human or wolf, Cade would’ve topped the list. She’d always found him disturbingly attractive. Desperate to touch him and feel his skin under her hands, she pulled at his tshirt. The fabric, although sturdy, wasn’t proof against a heat-driven werewolf. The sound of tearing cloth filled the room. She breathed a sigh of relief as his skin was revealed to her, satiny smooth over the heavy steel of his muscles. Tearing her lips from his, she explored the curve of his jaw, running her cheek against his and revelling in the difference between his stubbleroughened skin and her smooth cheek. A very lupine gesture as her wolf rode her hard. She opened her eyes, knowing her wolf looked from within, the greens of the creature’s eyes invading her own colour. Her hands slid up from their exploration of his broad chest to his bared shoulders in appreciation, her lips moving along the side of his neck and finding the line of his collarbone. She alternated kisses and tiny nips, which drew low growls from deep within his chest. “Playing with fire there, little one.”

She chuckled and nipped him again, the playfulness of the wolf coming out. Then she did it again, hard enough to make him flinch, then groan. She grinned and soothed the small hurt with quick brushes of her tongue. “Yeah, yeah,” she threw back, mischief clearly evident in her tone. “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?” “If I’m the big bad wolf, then you get to be the little pig…” He caught her at the nape of her neck again and kissed her deeply. By the time he lifted his head, her breathing was ragged. “Which means I get to eat you all up…” Before she could give it, her answer dried in her throat at the raw sensual promise in his voice. He slid down her body, stopping to nip at her chin before drawing the tip of his tongue down the centre of her throat and lower. The warm brush of his tongue across her skin, like the stroke of warm velvet, stole her breath away. A whimper broke from her throat as his mouth closed over her taut nipple, sucking the sensitive flesh into the warm cavern and suckling hard. She drove her hands into his hair, holding him against her, offering herself to the touch of his mouth. Pleasure whirled through her like a raging torrent, the pull of his mouth on her breasts tugging at the tension building low, down in her belly, the ache extending through her pussy, until her clit throbbed in time with his suckling. Before she could direct him to where she needed him most, he started to trail kisses down the taut skin of her stomach. She sucked her breath in sharply as his hands urged her thighs farther apart and slid to his knees between them. His hands stroked in, gentle fingers opening her dewy folds and revealing the delicate flesh within.

A moan welled up from the back of her throat and escaped before she could stop it. Anticipation held her captive, her pussy clenching as she waited for him to touch her. The first brush of his tongue was electric, pulling soft groans and gasps from the depths of her soul as he opened her further, lips and tongue sucking and kissing. Long, slow licks of his tongue were followed by swift, hard suckling on the tender nub of her clit that almost sent her through the ceiling. Her head dropped back, her hands tight in his hair as she urged him on without words. He didn’t disappoint. No one gave oral like a wolf, and as she was rapidly finding out, there was no wolf quite like Cade. His clever tongue swirled and teased until she was writhing on the counter, desperate for the climax he kept from her, pulling away just as she reached the edge, then letting her calm down a little before he started teasing her again. She bit her lip. Her hips rocked as she rode his tongue, her climax dancing just out of reach. “Cade! Please!” she cried, moaning when he pulled away just as she teetered on the edge again. Far from helping her in her time of need, he was driving her mad, instead. The rumble of his laugh vibrated against the skin just at the crease where her thigh met her groin. Her eyes all but rolled back in her head. So near and yet so far. “Please, what, Penny? What do you want?” His voice was silky in the encroaching darkness. Penny nearly howled in frustration. “Cade, please… You know what I want.” “Then tell me.” His words were an order as he swept another long lick over her from slit to clit. “Tell me what you want me to do.”

“Fuck me. Now.” It was a demand she’d have blushed at, even thinking about before. Not now. Not with the scent of aroused male and sex swirling in the air around her. Her inhibitions disappeared as though they’d never been, as the moon rose outside. He stood, white teeth flashing in the shadows. “Your wish is my command, little wolf.” The whisper of his zipper descending was loud in the room. The soft sounds of the house settling for the night, along with their breathing, were all that punctuated the silence. She smoothed her hands down his sculptured torso, reaching lower as he released himself from the confining denim. His cock sprang free to fill her hand. Immediately, she clasped slender fingers around him. Exploring him, testing his length and breadth. “Oh god…” His head fell back, baring the strong line of his throat in the pale moonlight filtering through the window. “That…feels… so good.” She smiled as she stroked him firmly. He was big…like really big. She wasn’t sure he was going to fit. Nerves hit her as she swept a finger over the sensitive head and smeared the bead of pre-cum there, over the broad tip. “Big bad wolf indeed.” “Oh yeah, I’m bad...” He looked down, his eyes bright in the darkness, alive with heat and need. Filling his hands with her hips, he yanked her to the edge of the counter. Positioning her just on the edge to press against her, rocking his hips to rub his hardened shaft against her aroused flesh. “Prove it,” she challenged, throwing down the gauntlet.

He held her eyes, dipping his knees to press the swollen head of his cock against her. Her breath hitched as he pushed, and her body yielded, stretching to accept him. Slow by deliciously slow inch, he slid inside her. Stretching and filling her until one last push of his hips met hers, with the two of them locked together as they stared into each other’s eyes. It was the most erotic thing she’d ever seen. Watching as his eyes darkened, his nostrils flaring as his cock pulsed deep inside her. “You feel good.” His words were more a growl than a whisper as he leaned down to cover her lips with his own, sliding out of her again. His next thrust wasn’t as slow as the first, a long slide into her as he seated himself to the hilt again. Groaning, he held himself still as a muscle in his jaw pulsed. She realised he was fighting for control as she reeled from the power in his thrusts and the sensations spiralling through her. Unable to resist temptation, she smiled and rocked her hips. “And what’s that feel like?” He growled, his eyes opening to blaze down at her. He didn’t answer, moving again instead, setting up a hard, fast rhythm. His thick cock pressed into her needy body with a power she found breathtaking. She clung to him, wrapping her legs around his lean hips. Pleasure radiated through her from where their bodies were joined—the sensation building into a maelstrom, an electrical storm that surged through her as he held her tight in his arms and drove into her. Time slowed and dilated as she hovered on the edge. Just one more good thrust and she’d be undone. She bit her lip, catching his gaze with hers. It was enough. Her

body stiffened, tension and need becoming ecstasy as she cried out, coming hard around him. “Fuck!” His roar filled the kitchen, rattling the mugs on the shelf behind her. Her pussy clamped down tight around him, milking his cock as she climaxed in hard waves. His big body trembled as he sped up, his hips slamming against hers as he sought his own release. She moaned as each thrust drew out her pleasure. He threw back his head and howled, his muscles locking as he thrust as deep as he could. He stiffened, back arched to drive his cock farther into her softness as he spilled his hot seed deep within her.

Chapter Four

It was a cloudless night, perfect for running. High and fully risen now, the moon shone down brightly through the window of Penny’s living room. A bright banner of silvery light sliced across the darkness of the room and fell across them as they lay entwined on the sofa. A very uncomfortable, lumpy sofa which was doing its best to drive a spring into one of Cade’s kidneys. He grimaced as he tried to shift position without waking the woman dozing across his broad chest. Cade wasn’t the cuddling sort, but with Penny, all bets seemed to be off. With most women, he left as soon as he could, often before they’d dropped off to sleep. But this time, he had no itching drive to get away. In fact, right at this moment, he couldn’t think of anywhere else he’d rather be, his arms wrapped around the curvy figure half laying over him. He gently reached out to brush a lock of her hair, darker than he’d remembered it, back from her temple. A grin spread over his face. She’d been insatiable. He’d needed every trick in the book to satisfy her desire, with her stamina surpassing that of an Olympic athlete. He wasn’t complaining. There was nothing like a female wolf in heat and he’d kept up with her, not needing to cry off for a rest. Which meant he could claim her now, if he wanted to. But did he want to? More importantly, would she accept the claim, if he did? It wasn’t guaranteed she would. She was an alpha female, even if she didn’t know it herself. Even if the

Roakestown pack, past and present, had deliberately kept the knowledge from her, in an effort to control her. His lips quirked into a wry smile. There was no way to control an alpha female. Not if you wanted to keep your hide in one piece, anyway. It was more a case of “hang on and enjoy the ride.” And hell, what a ride it was. Movement against him drew his attention. The subtle shifting of feminine limbs and soft murmurs as she came to consciousness warned him she was waking up. “Heya.” He smiled as she lifted her head, raking her tousled hair out of her face with a delicate hand to look at him. “Heya, yourself.” Her gaze met his, sultry and dark. Through the worst of her need now, she had the look of a woman who’d been well-loved. His male animal chuffed in pride. As she should, after the last few hours of hot, rather athletic sex. “Feel better?” he asked softly, already regretting what he was going to have to say next. He knew the words were going to shatter the contented look on her face, and bring back the hunted one he’d caught a glimpse of earlier. “Uh-huh. But horny again.” She wriggled against him, drawing lazy circles on his chest with her fingertip, before she trailed it downward to his rapidly waking cock. He chuckled and caught her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. “We don’t have time. I wish we did, but we don’t.” There was nothing he’d like more than to flip her over and sink into her wet heat again, lose himself in her for the

rest of his life. Surprise filled him. He wasn’t the commitment type... He shook his head and carried on. “Jimmy knows where you are.” * “What?” Fear and adrenalin hit Penny’s system like a plane flying at Mach one. She shot off the sofa in a panic, her body overriding her brain with the fight or flight response. There was no fighting Jimmy, she’d learnt that to her cost, so it skipped fight and went straight to run like fucking hell. She stopped, turning one way, then the other, in confusion. She wanted to run, but couldn’t. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t just change to wolf and flee into the night. She needed to pack, organise. Be human about it. “Shit!” She drove a shaky hand through her hair, distress making her movements jerky. “Why didn’t you say something straightaway?” Her voice was sharp as she grabbed clean clothes from the laundry basket by the chair, and started to drag them on. Ironing be damned. The werewolf equivalent of the Godfather knew where she was. Creased clothes were the least of her worries at the moment. Cade shrugged, still sprawled full-length on the sofa, hands behind his head. Naked and totally unashamed about it. “You were in no shape to go anywhere, and we had time. I figure we’re several hours ahead of them, but we need to leave within the hour. Think you can manage that?”

Penny nodded. To stay out of Jimmy’s clutches, she’d dance naked through the middle of town. Leaving in an hour was no problem. At a push, all she needed to do was grab her bag from the kitchen. Her whole life was in that bag—documents, license—and there was no way she could leave without it. “Hell yeah. I only need half an hour, less if you help.” She sat to shove her bare feet into tattered sneakers. Pausing for a second as she laced them, she looked up. “Just why are you helping me? You’ve been outside the pack for years, why get involved? Jimmy would’ve left you alone if you had just… But now, we’re both dead if he catches up with us. Why would you risk it?” He avoided her gaze as he rolled off the sofa. As a tactic, it worked well. Her attention was immediately hijacked by the grace of his movements, and the sleek glide of powerful muscles under his skin. He grabbed his boxers and jeans from the floor and pulled them on. “I know Jimmy’s type, and I was in the neighbourhood. Wasn’t any skin off my nose to warn you.” His tone was nonchalant, unconcerned, as he dressed. Leaving the top button of his jeans undone, he scouted about for the rest of his clothing. She threw his t-shirt over, arching an eyebrow. “You were in the neighbourhood? Yeah, right. Pull the other one mate, it’s got bells on.” She folded her arms over her chest, ignoring the fact his gaze went right to her cleavage. “In case you hadn’t noticed, this place is in the middle of bloody nowhere. Exactly why I picked it. “Just happened to be in the neighbourhood” doesn’t wash.”

The silence stretched between them as she waited, watching him. It was “the look,” the one she’d inherited from her mother. He sighed and caved in. “Okay, so I wasn’t in the neighbourhood.” He pulled the t-shirt over his head and picked up his shoes. Propping his ass against the windowsill to pull them on with quick movements, he looked at her, his expression serious. “Jimmy’s a nasty piece of work. I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. I won’t let him get…” He stopped suddenly, his expression shuttered. “Won’t let him get what?” His look didn’t alter from that stubborn-as-fuck one she knew so well. She wouldn’t get anything else out of him. There was nothing as stubborn as a wolf. Especially a male one. Then something he’d said registered and she frowned. “So…what happened earlier?” “Earlier?” He leaned down to look out the window, using a finger to part the blinds. “Yeah…. When you were leaving? Said you didn’t want to watch me with someone else.” “I didn’t. What about it?” he asked, his attention still focused outside. She worried her lower lip. Why was she so bothered by this? Did it even matter? Yeah, it did. As a woman, it mattered to her. “You were going to leave earlier, and you didn’t say anything about Jimmy, then.”

He stilled, wariness written in every line of his tall frame. “Ah. Would you believe me if I said I’d have waited outside until your lover had gone, then come back and told you?” “Nope.” “Neither would I. I’d probably have kneecapped the guy as soon as he arrived.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, I admit it, it was a ploy. I wanted you to come to me, make the choice about this…” He motioned toward the counter, the sofa, the floor…every place they’d visited in their passion-filled tour around the room. “A choice? You call that a choice?” She blinked in surprise. “You storm in here, destroy the plans I had in place to deal with this, and leave me with no alternative but to screw your damn brains out…and you tell me you wanted me to make a choice?” Her voice got higher pitched as her temper rose. “Penny, are you expecting anyone?” he interrupted suddenly, looking out the window again. “I was going to spend the weekend chained up naked, in the basement.” Her tone dripped with sarcasm. “It’s not the sort of state you want to be hosting a dinner party in, now is it? Since I’m trying to avoid announcing to all and sundry that I’m a werewolf, the answer’s no, I’m not expecting anyone. Why?” Cade turned from the window. The expression in his eyes stopped her dead in her tracks. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. “Three SUVs just pulled up. They’re here.”

“Oh shit.” She didn’t need to ask who “they” were. The worst had happened. Jimmy and his goons had tracked her down. “Exactly.” Cade grabbed her arm and pushed her ahead of him through the door and into the kitchen. “Out the back… If we’re lucky, we can change and go crosscountry. Lose them that way.” She managed a nod, not trusting herself to speak as she grabbed her pack. Behind her, Cade yanked the rickety back door open, holding it wide as she barrelled through ahead of him, into the shadows behind the house. “Hello, Penny, thought you could outrun me?” Penny froze. Low, with a hint of menace, it was the voice that haunted her nightmares. James Dexter, aka Big Jimmy, alpha of the Roakestown pack. Instantly, Cade stepped in front of her, silent but with an aura of danger about him. “Hello, Jimmy.” She poked Cade in the side to make him move. He held his ground, lip starting to curl as he looked at the other alpha. She gave him a firm push to make him realise she meant it. He moved less than a foot. Spreading his legs, he looked around the small backyard, hackles raised, and a low growl emanating from low in his chest. They were penned in, with Jimmy leaning against the side of Penny’s car, and his enforcers positioned in a semicircle to block their escape. “Tut-tut. You’ve been a naughty girl, Penny. I thought you were more sensible than this.”

He didn’t look at them. Instead, he rolled a smoke, his pudgy fingers working at the small, white cylinder. Tall and heavily built, he was a powerful wolf and a strong man, even if some of his muscles looked to be turning to fat. Made no difference. For a wolf, the human form was just window dressing. “Yeah, well. You just can’t tell with some people.” Her tone was flippant and light. A world away from the fear that coiled and snapped at her guts. “Let us go, Jimmy. We’re no threat to you.” She tried for calm and reasonable, even though that was the last thing Jimmy was. He was about as reasonable as a pissed off rattlesnake with a bad case of PMS and a fuck you attitude. “You don’t need to ever see us again.” He looked up and Penny knew they were lost. His eyes were flat, so dark they were almost black. A blackness filled with hate and determination. “You really think it’s that easy, Penny?” He pushed off from the car, his gaze flicking to Cade as he walked toward them. Behind him, several of his enforcers moved a step forward, their message clear: if Cade started something, they’d finish it. “Oh no, beautiful, that’s not how it works. No one walks away from me. Ever.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear. She held her ground, forcing herself to remain still and not flinch. The low growl from Cade got louder. “That’s as far as you go, buddy. Touch her and lose the hand.” Jimmy ignored him, his eyes fixed on Penny. A look that undressed her as it wandered down her body and back up again. It made her feel sick and dirty inside as

he crowded her against the wall. Even her wolf, snapping and snarling from within, tried to veer away. “Deal with the pup.” Everything happened at once. Cade snarled—the noise from his human throat deepening as the change ripped through him. She knew he would. In human form against five of Jimmy’s bullyboys, the odds were stacked against him. As a wolf, the odds would be better. As soon as the barked order left Jimmy’s lips, the men surrounding them reached inside their pockets. She screamed as he started to leap. Jimmy’s men were armed, but not with pistols. She recognised the Tasers before the first one fired. The bolts sizzled through the air and caught Cade in mid-leap, barbs snagging in his fur. As a wolf, he could take down any of the men still in human form, but the Tasers levelled the playing field. More and more fired. Cade hit the ground, yelping before falling silent. His lupine body twisted and twitched as thousands of volts of electricity poured through him. “No! Leave him alone!”” She punched and kicked, trying to fight past Jimmy to get to Cade. Even though she was smaller than he was, she was still a wolf. Heavy blows rained down on the alpha’s shoulders and chest as he fought to hold onto her. He didn’t struggle for long, turning her and using hard arms to hold her in place against his large body. His hand was over her mouth, the stink of sweat and nicotine making her gag. Instead, she turned and sank her teeth deep into the fleshy part of his hand.

“You bitch!” He snatched his hand back, shaking it as if to ease the sting of her bite. She grinned, the taste of his blood in her mouth and covering her teeth. Rebellion felt so good—for the three point five seconds it took before he raised his fist. It descended with a meaty crack and tumbled her into pain and darkness. *** Penny slid in and out of consciousness. Her head hurt, like fire was burning down the side of her face, and her body felt heavy. Everything swayed, nausea rising up into her throat. Breathing through her mouth didn’t help—the myriad of disgusting smells in the enclosed darkness nearly overwhelmed her. The floor vibrated under its foul covering, and the sound of the road and an engine running reached her ears. Wincing, she opened her eyes and squinted into the blackness that met her gaze. Instinct told her they were in the back of a van, or something similar. Cade was somewhere near, his scent wrapping around her like a child’s comfort blanket. She breathed in and tried to hold on to her sense of peace and security. But then the scent of blood shattered it. They were in danger. Terrible danger. She knew she should do something—move, try to escape—but she couldn’t. And with the threat hanging over them unable to keep her eyes open, she slid back into the darkness. She had no way of knowing if seconds or hours had passed when she opened them again. This time, the deafening roar in her head had abated to light pounding, rather than skull-splitting. She grimaced as the vibration of the vehicle rubbed the filthy mat into the sensitive skin of her cheek. Wincing, she lifted her head and blinked into the blackness. Where were they going? Panic wound cold fingers around her spine as

she tried to move, only to realise she couldn’t. She was tied up, arms behind her back and ankles bound together. The fog burned out of her brain, leaving her woozy. Jimmy had hit her hard. Hard enough that even her wolf side was taking a while to counter the damage. Short of a gunshot to the head or heart, wolves healed most things within minutes. Swearing and muttering under her breath, she pulled at the bonds, then hissed as the rope cut into her tender wrists. There wasn’t an inch of give in them, and she felt a tingling she recognised. Spelled ropes. “Lycan.” She kept her voice low, under the hum of the engine, just in case. Nothing happened. Jimmy must’ve changed the damn keyword. “Fuck.” She dropped her forehead to the mat again, resting for a second. The vibration of the vehicle shook through her skull and made her teeth chatter. Gritting her teeth, she wriggled across the mat until she rolled into a large male body. Cade. His scent, alpha wolf and masculine, under the citrus and sandalwood of his aftershave, was unmistakable. And blood. Old blood. “Cade… Cade? Are you all right?” She bit her lip, squashing her moan of distress. He was injured. How badly, she had no idea, but bad enough to be bleeding. At least he was alive. She could hear the steady rhythm as he breathed in and out… She paused and held her own breath, listening intently. Was that a rattle? She worried her lower lip, thoughts of cracked ribs and punctured lungs filling her mind. She struggled frantically against the ropes to free herself, desperate to get to him.

All she succeeded in doing was rubbing her wrists raw on the ropes and wearing herself out. The blackness swam up again, but she fought it back and breathed deeply to calm down. If Cade were going to die from his injuries, he’d have done it whilst she was unconscious. Now his breathing appeared to be settled, with his wolf having had the time to work on the worst of the damage. There wasn’t anything she could do, anyway. She wasn’t a doctor, or a vet, which was probably more appropriate for a werewolf. Exhausted, she shuffled closer to him, careful not to lean against him, in case he was hurt worse than she thought. The heat of his larger body was comforting. His scent wrapped around her and her eyelids started to drift shut. Resting her cheek on the mat again, she dropped into an uncomfortable sleep.

Chapter Five

“He’s going to die, you know. Tonight. I’m gonna kill him.” Penny ignored the low voice behind her and kept her face blank, clear of expression. She didn’t allow a flicker of emotion to show. Not even when a sharp tug on the chain around her throat jerked her back against Jimmy’s leg. He sat in one corner of the large common room of the old farmhouse that served as the Roakestown pack’s base of operations, like an old king holding court. Complete with a chained slave at his feet. “Slowly, I think…make you watch. Would you like that, Penny? Watch your new lover kill your old one?” He leaned down to whisper in her ear. Taunting her, trying to get a response. She ignored him. She was stuck here, sitting at his feet wearing a collar and chain like some kind of a dog, since she’d been roughly woken and hauled from the back of the truck hours ago. It’d taken four of them to get the collar and chain on her. Something she savoured with grim satisfaction. Her body was a mass of bruises and other hurts, but it felt good, damned good, not to have just let them chain her up. And she wasn’t finished yet, as Jimmy was going to find out at some point soon. Because if she got near enough, and allowed the half-second window she needed to change, she planned on ripping his throat out. An act that might kill her.

In fact, it probably would kill her. Even fully shifted, she was no match for Jimmy. She wasn’t stupid enough to challenge him though, and try and take him in a fair fight. No, she needed the element of surprise. Get the drop on him when he wasn’t expecting it. Relish the astonishment on his face once she had her teeth buried in his throat, and his hot blood filling her mouth. And hope he didn’t gut her whilst she did it. Even if she did manage it and survive, she was a dead wolf anyway. Pack law would demand her life in exchange for killing the male alpha. “You listening to me, Penny?” Jimmy’s voice sounded irritated, obviously annoyed by her lack of response. “Hmm, perhaps that just isn’t sexy enough for you…not kinky enough. Is that it, Penny? You want something kinkier?” He sat back, forcing her to arch her back so the chain didn’t throttle her. His tone was contemplative. “Yeah, we need something big for tonight’s festivities. It’s not often we get to execute a feral.” Penny kept her silence. Only a flicker of her eyelid hinted at the surprise that rolled through her. Jimmy planned to claim that Cade was feral. Clever, very clever, but then, Jimmy always had been. From taking over the Roakestown pack, right down to this. No other pack would get involved, or even bother to look into the situation if they thought Cade had turned feral. Each pack was responsible for dealing with feral wolves in their area, before they started hunting and killing. Since a feral wolf’s preferred prey was human, it tended to draw the attention of the human authorities, something each and every pack out there did their best to avoid. Not one of them

wanted human scientists looking too closely at any wolf kills, or worse, werewolf remains. She schooled herself to perfect stillness, but thoughts and plans whirled in her head as she assessed the wolves milling around in the common room. The pack was in even worse shape than when she’d left. Sad, empty-eyed females waited soundlessly on the men, most of them being Jimmy’s bullies. He’d brought them with him when he’d killed Jonathan, the old alpha, and taken over the pack. She frowned, looking around. In fact, she didn’t see any of the original pack males. That wasn’t the worst. As she watched, one guy reached out and groped the young girl handing him a beer. His handling was so rough that Penny winced in sympathy. The girl didn’t flinch, nothing in her face or body language to say she’d even noticed, apart from the desolation in her eyes as she turned away. Penny’s temper simmered higher. She recognised the girl. It was Mary Beth, just eighteen, and as innocent and naive as they came. Or she had been when Penny had left. Now she had the blank look of a victim who’d given up all hope. “Yeah, something kinkier…” Jimmy’s voice held a new edge, an unhealthy interest and amusement that sent chills chasing down Penny’s spine. Whatever he was thinking, it wasn’t going to be good. She was right. “I think a little show’s in order… Eh, Penny love? Show him what he’ll be missing out on…watching your new lover fuck you senseless. What do you say, Penny? That kinky enough for you?”

“You’re a sick man,” she spat back, rattled out of her emotionless act. “If you think I’ll agree to that… Or did you not understand the word no the first time I said it?” She felt—rather than saw—his shrug, the chair behind her shifting as he sat back. “Makes no difference to me whether you agree or not, sweetheart. I don’t give a fuck. You don’t even have to be conscious for me, although I admit it would be nice to see the horror in your eyes as I shove my cock into your tight little body… But not as nice as seeing the pain there when I gut your lover in front of you.” Fear froze her in place as he heaved himself upright, and dragged her bodily to her feet by the chain. “I need to get some sleep.” He threw her leash to one of his bulldog enforcers. “Throw her in the basement with lover boy. Let ‘em have some time together. It’ll be the last chance they get.” She was dragged across the room, with the wolves jeering and catcalling now that Jimmy had disappeared. It wasn’t a surprise. They were all the sorts of dropouts and degenerates who would only find a place in a pack when someone like Jimmy was the alpha. No self-respecting pack would do anything other than drive them out, teaching them the error of their ways as they did so. She managed to keep her feet despite the vicious yanking on the chain from the wolf ahead of her. The look he shot her over his shoulder said she’d have fared a lot worse down in the basement if Jimmy hadn’t already claimed her as his. He hauled her along the rough dirt floor, opening a door at the end of the corridor.

“In there, bitch, and keep your mouth shut. We’re trying to watch the game upstairs.” He shoved Penny through the door and slammed it closed behind her. Stumbling in the darkness, she hissed as she landed in a heap. Pain shot through her leg as it twisted under her. But that sting was quickly forgotten as a familiar scent hit her nostrils, and a voice sounded from the shadows ahead. “Penny?” “Ohmigod, Cade! Are you okay? What did they do to you? You were bleeding…” She scrambled through the darkness toward his voice. She’d never been more pleased to hear anyone in her whole life, not even her mother, when she was in the hospital after getting her tonsils removed at eleven years old. She collided with a solidly muscled body, his hiss warning her to be careful even if his reply was typically male. “It’s just a scratch, nothing to worry about.” As he spoke, his big hands swept over her, checking for injuries. Normally, she’d have bridled at the assumption, but right now, she was too pleased to see him. And too scared, even if she wouldn’t admit it, even to herself. He paused as he reached her neck. The chain clinked softly in the darkness. “He chained you up…like some kind of an animal?” His deep voice descended into a growl. “Fucking bastard.” She shrugged, not bothered about that now as his fingers pulled at the chain. It dropped away, slithering to the floor with a metallic tinkle. Relief filled her as she rubbed the abused skin. “Thanks. It doesn’t matter. At least I know you’re okay now.”

Leaning against him, she looked around. Her vision had started to adapt to the darkness and she could make out some details in the room. Like the corridor outside. It had a dirt floor, and a large puddle filled one corner. In the other was a tangled pile of blankets which looked suspiciously like the pile in Penny’s basement. “They’ve been keeping someone down here,” she said softly, her hands on Cade’s arms as he wrapped them around her. Just the feel of him, the tactile contact, was reassuring. “Not just that.” He nodded toward the shelves behind the door. Her eyes widened. Harnesses and chains of every description were piled up there, hanging from hooks next to whips and other things she didn’t even want to think about. “And I’ll bet the people in those don’t have much say in the matter… Jimmy’s one sick little puppy.” She nodded soundlessly, remembering Mary Beth’s blank look. “More than likely…there are people missing. Some of the pack are gone.” Her voice wavered as tears threatened. She forced them back, but her lip still quivered. She couldn’t bear to see what Jimmy had done to the pack. She might not have had any choice about joining it, about becoming a wolf, but at least under Jonathan it’d been a good pack. A decent pack. Now it was just a bunch of bullies, the monsters they were made out to be in films. It shouldn’t be like that. “And those left…it’s like they’re dead inside. There’s nothing in their eyes. Just blankness.” *

“Shh.” Cade murmured soothing noises as he pulled her into the warmth of his body and stroked her hair. She fit so easily against him, her curves fitting against the harder plains of his body so naturally that he suppressed a moan. Frustration filled him and threatened to spill over. She was his mate and he couldn’t protect her. Inside, his wolf raged and paced, wanting to fight. Someone. Anyone. He pressed his lips to her hair and fought the murderous rage back down. She trembled in his arms. She was trying so hard to be brave, but her body and her scent gave her away. The thickness in her voice told him she was close to tears. Standing, he carried her over to the blankets in the corner and sat down with her in his lap. “We’ll get out of this,” he murmured, his lips against her hair again. She curled up trustingly around him, her lusciously rounded ass dancing against his hardening cock. He gritted his teeth so hard he thought his jaw would crack under the pressure. She was the one supposed to be in heat, not him. Yet he couldn’t touch her without developing a raging hard-on. “Sorry.” Embarrassment filled him as he apologised. Normally he wouldn’t, but now was neither the time nor the place. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.” Her voice was way too breathy for his peace of mind and so too was the way she wriggled against him… If he didn’t have the solid bone structure of a werewolf, he’d have cracked his own jaw from gritting his teeth so hard.

He held his breath and counted to ten, praying for strength. Each wriggle, each inhale of her female-in-heat scent, was delicious torture. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, you’re killing me here. Just a kiss, I promise. I just need to taste you again.” His voice was ragged, filled with need as he tilted her face up to him, but he didn’t care. He had to touch her. “I’ll hear if anyone comes,” he reassured her, knowing she wouldn’t want to be caught in a delicate situation by any of the perverts upstairs. She nodded, her beautiful eyes wide and trusting. He groaned. He couldn’t wait any longer. Leaning down, his lips covered hers gently. She sighed, a soft sound lost in his mouth as he teased her lips open to explore the sweet inner recesses of her mouth. His tongue plundered, sliding along hers in a slow and sensual dance. Usually he liked it hard and fast, taking control quickly and keeping it that way. Making it all about sex, physical fulfillment with the minimum of emotional involvement. Zero, zip, nada. Usually. But not this time. All he could think about was reassuring the slender woman in his arms. He couldn’t offer her forever. He had no idea if they were even going to survive the next twenty-four hours. Right at this moment though, he’d give everything he had to offer her comfort. As any man would, for the woman he was in love with. Whoa… Love? Did he love her? Could he…after knowing her all of a few hours? He’d never believed in love at first sight. But sitting in the darkness of a basement cell with a woman he’d die for, he had to admit it was a distinct possibility.

His musings didn’t last long as Penny’s gentle response fired him up and removed every thought but taking her again. Their kiss got hotter, wetter, as she straddled him. He spread his legs, rocking his hips gently and pressing against the sensitive flesh at the juncture of her thighs. “Baby, you’re driving me mad.” He groaned as she pushed his jaw to the side and explored along his neck with hot kisses. Her wicked little tongue teased his earlobe seconds before her sharp teeth nipped it. “We shouldn’t. Not here.” Fuck. Why was he saying no? All he wanted to do was bury himself balls-deep in her softness and stay there forever. There was one simple answer: he was a fucking idiot. * “Why not?” Penny ground her hips against the hard bulge of his cock behind the denim. “Like you said, we’ll hear if someone’s coming. I really want this, Cade. I want you to make love to me, make me forget everything that’s happening…just for a little while. Please?” Smoothing her hands over his bare skin, she revelled in touching him. Just the feel of hard muscles under his shirt was a potent aphrodisiac. Her hands swept down to pull the shirt from his jeans. He flinched. Concern sliced through her need. He was injured, and she was trying to jump his bones. “Oh crap, sorry. Am I too heavy? I can get off.” Hard hands clamped down on her hips as she tried to move, pressing her back down into his lap. “Oh no, doll. You’re not going anywhere. I’m not that injured. I’ll never be that injured.”

“If you’re sure.” She wasn’t convinced, bracing her weight as she leaned down to brush her lips against his. “So,” his words were muttered softly against her lips between kisses, “you going to get your kit off, or what?” Smiling, she reached down and unbuttoned her jeans, wriggling off his lap to shrug them off before crawling back on. A small gasp of pleasure left her lips as she settled back down, rocking her hips against his. “I don’t want to take anything else off,” she motioned to her shirt and skimpy shorts, “just in case…” Cade sat up with her in his lap, his large hand sliding over the front of her thighs. “Not a problem, we can work around them.” As good as his word, his fingers slid under the cotton of her shorts, pulling them aside as he stroked along her sensitive flesh. Her eyelids drooped. Her pussy clenched hard, wanting more…far more. “You’re wet.” He nuzzled her neck. “Wet and ready. Free me, sweetheart.” She bit her lip. His order sent arousal spiralling through her as she reached down to the fastening on his jeans. Her hands trembled as she snapped them open, but she managed. His stiff cock leapt from its confinement to fill her hand. He groaned deeply as her hand closed around him, stroking his hard flesh firmly. He felt good, all hot skin and hardness. His musky, aroused scent tantalised her senses and calmed the wolf within. She’d strained and snarled whenever Jimmy had touched Penny. The wolf didn’t like the brutish alpha. She blinked in surprise as

realisation hit her. Her wolf had never accepted a man as it had Cade. There was a lesson in there somewhere, but she ignored it for now, sweeping her thumb over the sensitive head of his cock. His dick pulsed, throbbing with life. “Two can play at that game.” He reached up to snag a hand in her hair and pull her down for a hard kiss. His other hand slid into her shorts again, clever fingers teasing and circling her clit. Her eyes rolled back in her head, breathing becoming ragged as her heart pounded. She needed him. Needed to impale herself on his hard length, until he filled her completely. She smiled—like a child in a sweet shop—as she realised she could have exactly what she wanted. Shifting her hips she moved her hand, angling him so that she could sink down. The swollen head of his erection pressed against the opening to her body and she bit her lip, feeling her pussy stretching around him, stretching to accommodate his width. Feeling wicked, she stopped just as he parted her, circling her hips as she watched his face. His jaw clenched, a look of near-pain crossing his features as she teased him. “You like that?” “Witch.” His groaned accusation made her chuckle as she circled again before pressing down slowly. This time she sank all the way down, taking him deeper until she felt him pressing places inside her she’d never felt before. Her eyes locked with his and she watched every nuance, every expression and flare of desire which crossed his face as she rode him slow and steady.

The pleasure was intense. Even though their gentle movements were slower and less desperate than their encounter before, it was hotter and sweeter. Wrapped around one another, looking deep into each other’s eyes as they moved…it was the most powerful thing she’d ever known. She shivered, a long, slow movement that travelled through her entire body and closed her eyes, giving herself up to the moment. She stroked his shoulders and back as they moved together. The sound of skin on skin and their soft moans the only thing heard in the darkness. It was more than sex, it was comfort as well. Both of them seeking something from the other, and to forget the precarious situation they were in. To forget what might happen later, and the uncertainty of the future…a future they wouldn’t be sharing together if Jimmy had anything to do with it. Sadness welled within her as she held him to her. Two days ago, she’d have laughed if anyone told her she’d be considering, no, desperate, to take a mate and live with one man for the rest of her life. But that was before Cade had come storming into her basement and shouting his demands at her. Now she never wanted to let him go. Her release was bittersweet. Lazy pleasure surged through her, her back arching as her pussy milked his cock. He cried out as he came. His body stiffened, arms tightening around her as his dick pulsed and jerked deep within her. She closed her eyes, resting her head on his shoulder as the aftershocks rippled through them. She’d give anything…anything to stay here forever.

Chapter Six

Moonlight filtered through the leaves overhead to cast a mosaic of silvery light across the woodland path—a pattern that danced as the leaves rustled softly in the breeze. It reminded Penny of a kaleidoscope, always shifting and changing. Catching her toe on a rock half-buried in the dirt she stumbled, only to be hauled upright by a sharp tug on the chain around her throat. It’d been refastened as soon as she and Cade had been hauled out of the basement cell. She hadn’t fought. She needed to conserve her strength. Another pull. Wincing, she wrapped her hands around the manacle to ease the pressure on the tender skin of her throat. Her glare bored into the broad back of the enforcer who held the other end of the chain. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your asshole, dick-wipe. She didn’t like this one. She didn’t like any of them, but this guy was particularly vicious. Andy? Adrian? Something like that. She wasn’t sure and didn’t care. All she wanted to do was get out of here. Something that wasn’t going to happen. Not with both of them in restraints. Cade’s virtually covered him, making it difficult for him to walk as the small group of wolves headed deeper into the woods behind the farmhouse. He was just ahead of her, his shoulders slumped, shuffling as he walked. He was favouring his left side. Blood covered his t-shirt and she was pretty sure he had busted ribs. They had to be busted good and proper if his werewolf physiology hadn’t managed to heal them up yet.

Guilt surged through her as she bit her lip. They shouldn’t have made love. But she’d do it all again just to touch him, to store those precious moments away against whatever Jimmy had in store for them. But it couldn’t have helped. No matter how gentle they’d been, he’d still have used his stomach muscles. Fear and nausea ate at her as she trudged along the narrow woodland path. She kept within the chain’s length. Any excuse and Andy would yank on it again, hoping to bring her to her knees. Which would then give him an excuse to haul her upright and make her wince in pain as the chain bit into her bruised throat. The path was as familiar to her as the back of her hand. She’d walked it many times in the past, during happier times. It led to the pack’s challenge circle, a rough circle of stones in a glade deep in the woods. A place where challenges were issued and met according to pack law. Beyond it, the woods held the pack’s lair, a collection of caves they used during the full moon. A place for them to hide out in wolf form and return to, after they ran together. These days it was just another place for Jimmy to hold his orgies. They reached the circle of trees and her nose wrinkled. What’d once been a beautiful scene of nature had been ruined, turned into a rubbish dump. Litter lay scattered around the glade. Broken beer bottles and crushed cans were the main offenders, with discarded food packets and cigarette ends coming in a close second. Dirty and ragged sleeping bags and duvets were clustered together, the foul stench rising from them making Penny gag. She didn’t want to think about what they’d been used for, but it assaulted her nostrils anyway.

“Throw the feral into the circle,” Jimmy ordered as he lowered his bulk into a battered camping chair. Set in pride of place at the head of the circle, it was just in front of the main cave entrance. An icebox sat at a list next to it. “And bring the bitch here.” She suppressed a cry as Cade was shoved roughly into the circle, the enforcer’s Tasers connecting with his already battered side. He paled, his jaw clamped shut, a tiny muscle pulsing in the corner. He didn’t make a sound as his eyes fixed on Jimmy with hatred. A cold, hard look that made her shiver. This was not her gentle lover from earlier. Even though he looked identical, the man now crouched in the circle was a stranger to her. Her shiver was catching, passing to Jimmy as he dragged her off balance. Stumbling, she reached out instinctively, her hand on his knee to stop herself from faceplanting in the dirt. A strange expression flashed in his deep-set eyes for a moment, then he laughed. A chilling laugh that grated on her nerves. “Why the long faces?!” His voice boomed around the clearing. “Come on lads, this is a party! We’ve got beer, women and entertainment. Speaking of which, let’s get this show on the road.” He appeared to be assessing the wolves who’d sprawled themselves over blankets and sitting in camping chairs, watching proceedings with eager expressions. Their expressions sickened her. Chips and beer in hand, they seemed ready for an evening of blood and cruelty.

Jimmy reached out and ran his hand down her back. She flinched and tried to move away, but the chain tightened. A warning. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to endure his touch. “Hmm…” The chair creaked as he sat back. “Brandon, you’re up. Just leave some for the rest of us, ‘k?” * This was not good. This was so not good it wasn’t even funny. Cade swayed on his feet as the first wolf stepped into the challenge circle. He knew what was going on. Jimmy had named him feral which meant his ass was anyone’s. Physically and sexually, if there were any wolves that way inclined. Rather, they seemed more the homophobic sort, which was good for Cade, but wasn’t going to save him from a good old-fashioned beating. In this case, to death. He faced the challenger and raised his fists. Purposely, he made sure to waver on his feet, his guard lower than it should’ve been, as though his injuries were too bad to mount a proper defence. He was injured, yes, but not as badly as he made out, or as he’d made out to Penny. A stab of guilt stabbed through him for deceiving her, the raw fear on her face as she watched what was going on, piling more on his head. He couldn’t help it. He needed her reactions to be genuine, real. She was too open and honest to lie convincingly, especially in a situation like this. And he needed Jimmy and his pet wolves to buy into this too badly to risk it.

“Ooh yeah, gonna be some hurtin’ going on now!” Brandon crowed, his snaggletoothed grin cocky as he danced around Cade, showing off with some fast jabs and fancy moves. “Might as well give it up, old man, you ain’t gettin’ outta here alive.” Cade dodged, faking he was punch-drunk and making it look like a sheer fluke that he was managing to stay out of the kid’s range. Carefully he circled, keeping up his pretence and letting the kid land a few, whilst making sure he stayed well out of range of the Taser armed enforcers at the edge of the circle. He knew those bastards were just waiting for an excuse to shock him again. His teeth still ached from the going over he’d gotten outside Penny’s house. Lord only knew how many volts it’d taken to put him down and when he’d come to, already fighting as consciousness swam back painfully, the damage all but done. Bloody cowards—not one of them could take him in a fair fight. All he had to do was hang in there and stay on his feet, then wait for Jimmy to enter the circle. He knew it wasn’t going to happen until Jimmy’s bullyboys had smacked the living shit, as well as the fight, out of him. Even with the aid of his wolf— and the channel open wider than usual to give him the extra strength and speed without changing and losing his humanity—this was going to be one hell of a tough evening. “Not so ‘ard now, are ya?” Brandon grinned, landing his third punch of the bout, a solid right hook which snapped Cade’s head back and to the side. The impact stung, even though he’d rolled with it.

Right. He’d had enough of this one. Now. Stumbling away, he dropped to the grass. Spinning and rolling at the same time, his foot snapped out to smash into the front of the kid’s knee. The force of the kick locked the joint straight, then with a nasty crack, took it the other way. “Arggghhh! Fuckin’ hell! Me knee! Me knee!” Brandon wailed and rolled in the dirt, his hands fluttering uselessly around the ruined joint. Cade staggered to his feet and lurched toward the kid to finish him off. He should get a bloody award for his playacting. “Gerroff! Gerroffme!” Brandon squealed, his eyes wide as he tried to scramble away, and then moaned as he jarred the mess his knee had become. Cade hid his smile as the bullyboys stepped in, waving Tasers in his direction as they recovered the kid. When Cade fought, he fought dirty. That knee-break was a nasty, complex one. One designed to slow even a wolf down, as the body tried to heal it with all the pieces in the wrong places. It would need to be re-broken and put back together by a doctor. Or a vet. “Steve, you’re up,” Jimmy grunted from behind Cade. That was the way it carried on. A wolf would enter the circle, he’d let them land a few blows, then gradually manoeuvre them into a position where he could hurt them as badly as possible. But he wouldn’t kill them, not yet. An outright kill and he’d be toast. He’d seen the SIGs the enforcers were packing. Odds were they were loaded for wolf. Even he couldn’t shrug off silver-coated lead.

He stood back as the last wolf was dragged out of the circle, whimpering in pain and clutching at his shattered arm. Broken in three places, two of them joints, it was as much damage as he could do without actually ripping the limb off. “Enough!” Jimmy rose from his chair, his deep-set, beady eyes fixed on Cade. “I think sonnyjim here has been holding out on us, haven’t you, Mr. Steele?” he growled, throwing the chain to Penny’s collar to the hulk standing next to him. “Hold the bitch.” He watched as the alpha removed the dirty plaid shirt covering his bulk. “You wanna play with a real wolf, Steele?” Jimmy growled in challenge. “Well, I’m right here.” Cade’s lips curled back in a snarl as Jimmy stepped into the circle, dropping the punch-drunk act, snapping his fists up into a low guard. “Bring it on.” Despite his bulk, Jimmy was light on his feet as they circled each other. He also had a mean streak as wide as Cade’s own, bitterness and hatred in his eyes as the two locked gazes. He also realised something else from that beady-black stare. Jimmy wasn’t afraid. He thought he could beat Cade. Which was a distinct possibility. The first of Jimmy’s lightning fast attacks took him by surprise, a mean jab that nearly spread his nose over his face. Pain exploded as Cade’s head rocked back. “Shit.” He quickly wheeled away to avoid taking more damage and wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand. “There’s far more of where that came from, pretty boy, and you’re getting it all,” Jimmy promised, then attacked in earnest.

Cade backed up and blocked quickly, far more alert now. Jimmy was a nasty piece of work—the smallest mistake would mean it was all over. For him and Penny. But staying out of the big alpha’s reach was easier said than done. Cade was bruised and tired, whereas Jimmy hadn’t been done over with Tasers and baseball bats, nor had he spent an uncomfortable few hours drifting in and out of consciousness in the metal load-bed of a truck. Jimmy, in other words, was as fresh as a daisy and on top of his game. A fact he was using to his advantage as he wore Cade down. The twinkle in his eyes said he knew all about the exhaustion that weighed Cade’s limbs down, sapping his strength. It was impossible to avoid Jimmy’s fists altogether. Pain flared over Cade’s body as he abandoned staying out of the way, and went for trying to minimise the damage instead. In the meantime, he looked for that one opening that would end the fight. His breathing grew ragged as he got hit again. He tried to roll with the punch, but just ended up on his knees. Shaking his head, Cade clambered to his feet. Too slow. A heavy weight crashed onto his back, nearly pile-driving his face into the dirt. The air left his lungs as a hard arm wrapped around his throat. Jimmy yanked Cade’s head back with tremendous force and squeezed, cutting off the air. Pain shot through his neck as his vertebrae squeaked under the immense pressure. Jimmy grunted behind him, hauling him around to face Penny, her horrified face filling his vision as the edges started to turn dark through lack of oxygen. “Take a good, last look, pretty boy,” Jimmy taunted in a low voice, his breath warm against Cade’s ear. “’Cause when I’m done with you, I’m gonna fuck her good

and proper. Make her scream for me… How’d you feel about that, pretty boy? Me screwing the bitch carrying your pups senseless… In fact, me ‘n the boys might share her around, make a night of it, before I rip those pups right out of her soft belly.” Penny was pregnant…carrying his pups. Time froze. Cade’s world tilted on its axis as those words changed his life forever. How Jimmy knew didn’t matter. Some wolves had such acute senses of smell they could tell you what you had for lunch three weeks ago, just from your sweat. Pups. His pups. A low snarl started in the middle of Cade’s chest. He had more to lose than just his own life. He had Penny. Their pups. He was going to be a father, and he’d be damned if he was going to fall at the first fucking hurdle. Fury poured through his veins, driven by a new determination. His snarl deepened, became a full-throated howl of rage as he did the unthinkable. He opened himself fully to the wolf, not just the narrow channel as he’d been taught. Just a little, never let the wolf gain control because he will never back down. Cade didn’t want to back down. He shoved the door to his inner being wider, throwing it open and meeting his beast head-on. Energy surged through him as he flipped Jimmy from his back, easily shaking the heavier man off as he rolled. Then he changed. * Terrified, Penny caught her breath as Cade threw Jimmy off of him. Bones popped and cracked, skin receded as fur exploded over it. Within seconds, the man was

gone and a huge grey wolf stood eye-to-eye with the visibly shaking alpha. Penny’s gaze ran over the heavy lupine form in awe. He was magnificent. She’d never seen any wolf change so fast, not even an alpha. “Someone do something!” Jimmy shrieked, but it was already too late. Even as the goons started to pull their guns, Cade made his leap. His powerful legs bunched under him, claws scrabbled for purchase, and nearly three hundred pounds of wolf launched himself at the gibbering man. No time for Jimmy to change. Cade’s teeth flashed white in the gloom and sank deep into Jimmy’s throat. Screams of pain and terror filled the air. Then the sound of flesh tearing and a wet gurgling sound. Penny winced as Cade tore Jimmy’s throat out, dropping the heavy gobbet of flesh on the ground and curling his lips back, as though it were diseased. The ultimate insult. Teeth flashed again, and the crunch of bone snapping filled the clearing. She couldn’t watch, looking away as he dealt the death blow. The gurgling stopped as though a switch had been flicked, and silence fell. Opening her eyes, she looked around. Jimmy’s buddies, his wolves and enforcers, stood open-mouthed. All eyes were on the huge wolf who’d just torn out their leader’s throat. Who, even now, stood over Jimmy’s dead body. Watching them. Cade’s lips curled back into a snarl, a warning growl. His message was clear: the next wolf to move was a dead wolf.

“Fuck it man, this is too much!” The bullyboy next to Penny dropped the chain and started to back away, shaking his head. “I was only here because he was a mate.” The man made a break for it, crashing through the darkness into the trees. It was like opening a floodgate—all around the clearing, beer bottles hit the floor as Jimmy’s wolves lost their nerve and ran for their lives with their tails between their legs. Cade threw back his head and howled. It was a howl of ownership and warning. A howl that said he was alpha, and any wolf who tried to cross him would share Jimmy’s fate. He then dropped his head, his massive chest heaving as he panted. Almost gracefully, he collapsed into a heap by his enemy’s corpse. “Cade!” she screamed, her heart in her throat as she tore the collar off and raced to his side. Frantically, she checked him over, trying to locate a pulse. Nothing. He was dead. A wail escaping her, she buried her face into the thick fur of his neck and wept as her heart broke. *** Cade woke slowly, the world coming back to him in increments. First, warmth surrounded him and he stretched out, feeling comfortable and contented. Crisp sheets brushed against his skin as the soft weight of a feather duvet pressed down on him. He sighed and rolled to his side, wanting nothing more than to wrap the duvet around him and doze off for a while longer. But something tugged at him, niggling in the back of his brain. There was something he’d forgotten, something important. Sound followed next—of someone, no, several someones, moving around in the other parts of the house.

House… Whose house? Where was he? “Gnnghh.” Startled into full consciousness he sat upright, blinking as his eyes focused. He looked around, recognising it as one of the rooms in the pack farmhouse. It’d always been a bolthole, a place where new wolves were integrated into the pack, and a stopover for others who just felt the need for the company of people like themselves. Usually it was the alpha’s residence as well. With a shock, Cade suddenly realised that that was him. The fight. He’d killed Jimmy. “You’re awake!” He snapped his head around. A girl hovered in the doorway, her large, doe-like eyes fixed on him. As soon as he met them, she flushed and dropped her gaze. “I’ll get Penny.” She disappeared from the doorway before he could utter a word or stop her. Shaking his head, he threw the duvet back and swung his legs out of the bed. “Fuck!” He was naked. Grabbing the covers, he hauled them back over his lap in case the girl returned. Last thing he wanted to do was flash some poor, unsuspecting girl and get accused of sexual harassment. Jimmy might not have cared about the ages or wellbeing of his pack, but Cade wasn’t Jimmy, and he did. Running a hand through his hair, he blew out a breath. He wasn’t ready to take on a pack. But he had no choice. He’d killed Jimmy. Killing the pack alpha meant he had to replace him. That or leave what was left of the Roakestown pack open to

whatever dominant wolf breezed in. Possibly even someone worse than Jimmy, hard as that was to imagine. “Cade!” The delighted shriek gave him a scant second warning as a warm and very curvy body hit him in the chest, toppling them both back onto the bed. “Hello, little wolf.” Penny’s smile broke out in full force as he smoothed her hair back from her temple, and looked up into her beaming face. “Hello, yourself! Do you always sleep so much?” she demanded, worry and concern chasing happiness over her face. “How do you feel? Are you hungry?” “Whoa! Whoa! Slow down there a little.” He slid a hand into the nape of her neck and drew her down for a long, slow kiss. A kiss which spoke of new beginnings and a shared future. One that held a promise he intended to fulfill as soon as physically possible, his lips and tongue slowly exploring her soft mouth. With a sigh of regret, he pulled away to look at her. “Now I’m fine, so how about you fill me in on what’s happened…” A slow smile spread over her face, happiness oozing out of her pores until he could smell it on her skin. Any worry he might’ve had about how she felt carrying his pups after a heat-driven encounter eased a little, but he still kept his silence. He wanted her to say the words. Needed to hear her say she wanted him in her life and that she wanted him to be around for her and the pups.

“Soo…you any good with home decorating?” she asked, a delicate eyebrow raised. He played dumb, shrugging as he rolled her over. Already, he could smell the slight difference in her scent, at least two others crowding in. His nose wrinkled slightly as he assessed them, then grinned. “Not especially, but I’m damn good at choosing wallpaper. Especially pink nursery wallpaper. That do you?” he whispered, leaning down to kiss her again and accepting his future happily.

The End

About the Author

Mina Carter was born and raised in Middle Earth (otherwise known as the Midlands, England). After a slew of careers ranging from logistics to land-surveying she can now be found in the wilds of Leicestershire with her husband and young daughter…the true boss of the family. Suffering the curse of eternal curiosity Mina never tires of learning new skills which has led to Aromatherapy, Corsetry, Chain-maille making, Welding, Canoeing, Shooting, and pole-dancing to name but a few. A veteran Star Trek RPGer, she’s run both games and groups of games but now finds her home in Bravo Fleet, one of the internet’s oldest Star Trek simm groups. She juggles being a mum, working full time and writing, tossing another ball in the air with her cover artwork. For Mina, writing time is the wee hours of the morning before anyone wakes up and starts making demands, or any spare minute that can be begged, bought or conned. Her first stories were penned at age 11, when she used a stationery set meant for Christmas thank you letters to write stories instead. More recently, she wrote for her own amusement and to save on outrageous monthly book bills. Now she’s totally addicted and needs her daily writing fix or heads roll! http://mina-carter.com