by Afton Locke
“I’ll drive.”
She shot him a brief grin as she slid into the passenger seat. “You’re awfully alpha.”
With his heart in his throat, he drove toward the flames. If he’d just arrived from Virginia, the fire wouldn’t even faze him. Why should he care? He hadn’t even known this place existed. Now, he cared enough to battle the flames himself.
A siren split the air, and red flashing lights competed with the glow of the flames. Alan pulled off on the shoulder to let the fire truck pass.
“Good. The firefighters from Palmetto are here.” Shelley grabbed the door handle. “Stop the truck.”
“What do you plan to do? Fight the fire with your bare hands? Leave it to the professionals.”
She slapped the dash. “I need to do something. I can’t just sit here and watch it burn.”
“I’m going to keep driving so we can see how bad it is.” Alan coughed from the smoke and pulled back onto the country road.
“No, the other way.” She waved her hand. “I want to make sure Mom’s house is still okay.”
He gripped her hand as he drove, hard enough to squeeze the blood out of it.
“Do you think Starwood did this?” she asked.
“I know they did.”
This was war. Not merely against the pack or Shelley, but him personally. They wouldn’t have set the fire if he’d caved in to their demands and sold them the diner. Not your problem, a little voice told him. The Moonlight pack had a strong Alpha and plenty of capable men. They’d win the battle against the rival pack without him.
A vision of his brightly lit cubicle drifted through his mind as he drove in the dark. Was he really going to sit at his desk all day and do his job as if none of this had ever happened? Could he really bury the wolf in him again?
His fingertips dug into the steering wheel, a breath away from turning into claws. His rage against Starwood for destroying his mate’s property made him want to shift so bad he ached. He wanted to howl and scream until his throat ripped to shreds.
For the first time in his life, he welcomed the beast inside him. Even wanted to let it loose.
Maybe he should take Dad home with him so he could keep him safe. Shelley, too. But the way she perched in her seat and gripped the passenger door—as if she were about to leap through the open window—told him she’d never leave.
At last, he scooped cleaner air into his lungs, glad to see the flames hadn’t touched the whole grove. Yet. Her ranch-style home appeared in the distance, unscathed.
She clasped her hands together under her chin. “Thank God the house is still okay.”
“I’ll drop you off so you can be with your mother,” he said. “Meanwhile, I’m going to look for Starwood’s goons, evidence, or both.”
“No, I need to be involved.” With you. Alan heard her unspoken words as clearly as the spoken ones.
She slid her cell phone out of her purse. “I’ll call her again and let her know what’s going on.”
“I’m going to drive back to the blaze and see if the fire department found any evidence.” He turned off onto one of the sandy dirt roads leading into the grove. “Be on the lookout for anything unusual like strange tire tracks.”
“I wish it weren’t so dark,” she said with her head out the window as the truck bounced and squeaked over the ruts. “We’ll need to look again in the morning. I mean, I will.”
To hell she would. Before he could answer, she called her mother. The thought of her being alone in the orange grove tomorrow morning, or ever again, sent a bolt of lightning up his tailbone. His palms sweat, making the steering wheel slippery. What if the Starwood pack decided to take her hostage or kill her on the spot?
Obviously, she’d given up on begging him to stay. Well, she didn’t have to convince him anymore. He couldn’t leave. It was time to man up. Hadn’t Dad been telling him that since he’d arrived?
Alan stopped the truck so suddenly the tires skidded in the sandy soil, sending them underneath a tree. An orange, ripe and perfect, dangled over the windshield.
“What is it?” Shelley jerked her head back inside the window and faced him. “Did you find anything?”
“No,” he said, ripping open his fly. “I need to take care of something, and it can’t wait.”
Her eyes widened. “The bond? It’s all right. We don’t have to.”
“Yes, we do.” He shoved her wet shirt above her bare breasts. He swallowed. They were cool to the touch and as perfectly round as the fruit hanging over the truck. The nipples were already puckered from the wet fabric. His mouth watered to taste them, but he didn’t have much time. He dragged his thumb across one, making her shudder.
“I’m sorry this is so rushed.” He freed his erection from the damp work pants he wore. “Are you ready?”
To answer him, she knelt on the seat and pulled his hand to the cleft of her shorts. He groaned because the fabric was hot and wet from her juices. When he slid a finger inside, deep and hard, she writhed and groaned. Only she could make such practical clothes sexier than sin.
At least he’d made slow, tender love to her earlier. He should’ve done the bond then when he was more in control. Would it be safe to take her now with the beast in him so close to the surface?
He slid out from under the steering wheel. The simple movement clenched his balls. The searing smoke in his nostrils, mixed with the scent of her ripe pussy, was going to make him go off like a shot.
“Get on all fours and face the passenger window,” he ordered. “You’d better hang onto it because I’m going to take you hard. I-I might lose control.”
“I hope you do. Don’t hold anything back.”
Her words lit him up like the gasoline that had probably ignited the blaze. The sight of her bare, thrust-up derriere kindled another fire, this one in his groin. Between the two rounded globes lay her juicy center, slick and ready for him. Riper than any orange in the grove.
He pressed his hand sideways on top of her tailbone and lunged into her depths. The force of it stole his breath. Combined with the smoke, he choked and dropped forward. The movement set off a chain reaction in their bodies. His cock drove into her, high and upward like a hook. Her strangled cry tickled his ears, unchaining the beast inside him.
Her breaths whistled through clenched teeth while he pushed and thrust with unbelievable force. Slow down. Be softer. The warning voice yacking in his ear wouldn’t shut up. The beast was loose, and he couldn’t be anything but hard and rough. So hard the truck shook, shuddered, and rattled. He sunk his teeth into his bottom lip.
Please protect her from the beast because I am out of flipping control here.
Shelley’s hot cream gushed around his cock. Her walls clamped down on him. Rippling like a roller coaster.
“Shit!” he bellowed as his own climax clenched his balls like a pit bull’s jaws.
Growling, he grabbed a sheaf of her hair and exposed her neck. He shuddered when he ran his tongue across it, feeling her soft skin and tasting her orangey scent. His jaw went completely slack then closed like a vise, slow and strong. Her hips jumped under his, and she yelped when his teeth slid into her tender flesh. The coppery taste of her blood slid across his tongue.
So good. So right. Should have done it a long time ago.
After squeezing a last round of cum into her depths, his beast took over, blinding and deafening him. The truck lurched with enough force to tip over when he shifted. Fur struck his cheek. Shelley was shifting, too.
While their bodies jolted and transformed, he kept his teeth in her neck. If he let go, he’d lose her. Lose everything. She growled and whimpered. She bucked him off and leaped out the open window.
What the hell?
He leaped out after her. She tossed her head and loped away, a beautiful wolf with wheat-colored fur. He chased her as she raced between the trees like a slalom skier. Oranges dropped in the storm they left behind. With each yard she covered, she told him she wasn
’t easy. She was a challenge and a damn amazing one.
When he finally caught up with her, he lowered his head and aimed for a spot under her belly, knocking her off her feet. She rolled over, the fight gone out of her. She raised her feet, exposing her belly and her neck.
You’re my mate, Alan.
Nuzzling the bloody fur at her neck, he licked until the wound he’d made sealed over. The wildness in him finally trickled out, and he shifted. In moments, he and Shelley lay naked in the sandy dirt, their arms locked around each other.
“I’m staying,” he blurted out.
“Here in the grove?” she asked, blinking as if to clear dust from her eyes. “We should keep searching for clues, shouldn’t we?”
He brushed back a damp lock of her hair. Her body was covered with a sheen of sweat like his. Under the moonlight, it looked delicious enough to taste.
“No, here in Moonlight.” He started to add “after the crisis is over” but he wanted to stay longer, as in forever.
She squirmed out of his arms and sat up. “Don’t feel obligated. I know how badly you want to go back.”
“Not anymore.” He smiled as he shook his head. “I want to be here, with you.”
“Oh, Alan.” She clasped both sides of his face and leaned her forehead against his. “You’ve made me the happiest wolf in Florida.”
“I’m going to make sure you’re also the safest wolf in Florida. I’d kill for you.”
She brushed his cheek with her finger. “I know you would.”
A shiver went through both of them. Would he be able to focus his rage on the enemy, or was the biggest threat to the Moonlight pack him? He hated to admit it, but the fire was a blessing. Without it, he would’ve been on that plane tomorrow like the coward he used to be.
After he grasped her hand, they stood. “Let’s put some clothes on.”
On their way back to the truck, she stopped short.
By instinct, he looped a protective arm around her back. “What’s wrong? Did you see something?”
“No, I realized the prophecy I had of the pack needing you has come true.”
It took a while to get back to the truck. Had they really run so far in wolf form?
After they dressed, Shelley bit her knuckle with a cry. “The sky is still glowing orange. What if the whole grove burns up?”
He started to say he wouldn’t let that happen, but even his beast was no match against fire.
“I’m sure the fire department is doing everything it can,” Alan said instead as he rubbed her shoulders. “Let’s keep looking for clues.”
He slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. Now that he was Shelley’s true mate, would the pack finally accept him as one of their own?
***
The pack met in the diner at dawn. Shelley’s eyes felt gritty and seared from smoke as she prepared the dining room for breakfast, laying out homemade jams and warm syrup. None of them had gotten any sleep last night. One-third of the grove had burned. A third! Even if insurance reimbursed her, she felt as if an equal proportion of her body had gone with it.
After breakfast, she planned to work the rest of the day in the grove, nursing damaged trees and harvesting any salvageable oranges from the dead ones. She wished she could shake the bad feeling—wrapping itself around her neck like smoke—she’d had all morning.
She stroked the scar there from Alan’s teeth. Had he really made her his true mate? And was he really staying? Although she’d lost part of her farm, losing him would’ve been a hundred times worse. They could handle this, together.
The Palmetto County Sheriff’s Department had found a gas can near where the blaze had started, proving it was arson, but not Starwood pack’s involvement. While the Moonlight pack mainlined the coffee she’d brewed, they shared recent incidents of harassment.
Several members had received threats to sell their homes or they wouldn’t have any left. An anonymous report had been made to the Manatee County Health Department that the diner might contain harmful bacteria.
“We need to beef up security,” Derek said, attacking his steak and eggs. “Somebody grab some paper. We need to make a list of everything needing protection. I’ll pass it on to our security agency, but we all need to keep our eyes open.”
“We also need to send a couple of Defender guys into their territory to sniff around,” Rand spoke up.
“Send Alan instead,” Shelley suggested. “He’s so upset about the fire he’ll tear those wolves up.”
“I thought he was leaving,” Derek said.
“He’s decided to stay.” Pride for her mate lifted the fatigue from her shoulders.
Curtis made a sour face as he sipped some coffee. “He probably set it himself so he could look like a hero.”
She clenched the empty jelly tray, restraining herself from knocking him over the head with it. Had she really once considered marrying such a bitter man? He was the reason Alan left the pack, and she wasn’t about to let him change her mate’s mind about staying.
“No, Curtis, that’s something you would do.”
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she regretted them. The pack needed to be united against its common enemy, not to have Curtis and Alan at each other’s throats again.
“I’m glad he’s sticking around,” Derek said. “We need all the help we can get.”
Approval of her mating bond from the Alpha sent a cleansing tide through her body, washing away the lingering smoke.
“If you get tired of farming, Shelley,” Derek continued, “you might want to be a fortune teller because your prediction landed spot-on again.”
“I could never compete with Riesa.” Derek’s human mate was a true psychic.
“When she’s out of town, helping find missing persons like now, you can act as her backup.”
“I’ll try,” Shelley promised. “I wish I’d been wrong this time, though.”
She darted into the kitchen to deliver more orders the waitress had taken. Seeing Alan at the grill reminded her he planned to stay. He might even take over the diner. He thrust his cell phone into his pants pocket. When she handed him the order tickets, the sight of his worried face made her stomach sink. He hadn’t changed his mind about staying, had he?
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Did you get a threatening call?”
“No, there’s a crisis at my job. One of my programs in production is failing and the client is upset. My boss said if I didn’t go back in the next day or two, I wouldn’t have a job left. Getting a lousy reference from them wouldn’t help me find another, either.”
“I thought you were staying,” she said in a small voice.
“I am.”
“But knowing you could go back if you really wanted to gave you a security blanket?” she suggested.
He nodded. “I’m sorry. It’s not easy to switch lives so fast.”
“I’ll make it as smooth as possible.” She pressed a kiss against his temple, the end of his bandana tickling her nose.
When Curtis flung open the kitchen door, Shelley instinctively took a step away from Alan. Even though he used to help out, he really had no reason to be in the kitchen now.
“What is it, Curtis?” she asked. “Were your grits too runny?”
“You two have performed the mating bond, haven’t you?” he asked.
Shelley’s cheeks flushed. “That’s no business of—”
“We have,” Alan said calmly. “Please return to the dining room. We’re really busy here.”
Instead, Curtis stalked closer. “You don’t belong here, Scabs. Shelley’s my woman, and I fucked her a hundred times before you ever got your cock into her.”
Alan’s spatula clattered across the grill. The beast was definitely awake. “Don’t disrespect my woman that way. Apologize.”
Instead, Curtis sneered and stepped closer. Desperation and pure hatred glowed in his blue eyes. Cold sweat broke out across
Shelley’s body. She backed against the wall, clutching an arm across her belly.
“It’s all right,” she said in the most soothing voice she could muster. “Curtis, I know you’re upset, but resentment won’t help. Please return to your seat.”
“Was she good, Alan?” Curtis asked. “Did she moan when she looked at your messed-up face? Climax when you sank those snaggly fangs into her neck? Or did she throw up on you?”
Shelley bit her knuckle, feeling helpless as she watched Alan’s shoulders rise and fall with hard, ragged breaths. Several fangs popped out over his lips, slicing them, making them bleed.
“That’s it,” he bit out. After rummaging in the utensil drawer, he pulled out a long carving knife and knocked the whole metal cabinet over. It hit the tile floor with a deafening crash.
“Alan, don’t!” she called out. “He’s not worth it.”
But he’d already thrown the knife at Curtis. It bounced off the metal door and ricocheted in tight, deadly spirals. Shelley watched, too frozen to move, as the long blade reflected the overhead lights.
And screamed as it stopped at last, slicing into her throat.
Chapter Nine
After Alan threw the knife, time froze. The hiss of oil on the grill, conversation from the dining room, and traffic from the nearby road vanished. Curtis and the order tickets dangling from the carousel vanished, too. He saw nothing but his mate—covered in blood. Waves of shock slammed into him. His muscles coiled in agony and vibrated with gut-deep tremors.
“Sh-Shelley.” The words hurled into his throat, along with bile, but they made no sound.
“Holy shit!” Curtis floated in slow motion toward her. Bent down. “Oh, Shelley. Wake up, honey.” Turned his head. Glared. “You goddamn freak! She’s dead!”
When Alan’s legs finally worked, he hobbled on them toward the wreckage. She couldn’t be dead! Must be some mistake. Must be Dad. He was supposed to die soon, wasn’t he? Not his beautiful mate. Strong. Healthy. In the prime of her life.
He fell when he reached her side. Dragged his nails across his scalp, hard enough to tear it. Bent down opposite Curtis. Touched her neck. Felt her blood slide through his fingers. Reminded him of his stinging lips. He touched them, too. Her blood mixed with his. They were one.