by Jax Garren
“Hm?” he asked.
“Love me?”
He tightened his arms around her. “Oh, yeah. I have for a long time. I’ve wanted you since the moment I first saw you.” He laughed, a little self-consciously. “Actually, since the moment I smelled you. You smell good. At the fire when we met, I took my face shield off, and boom. It was you. Only you.”
She laughed. “Silly wolf. Smell is not a reason to love someone.”
There it showed again, her worry that mate-dom interfered with love. He needed to convince her otherwise. “True, but I said I wanted you then. I fell in love with you over this year and a half, watching you relentlessly chase your dream. Watching your passion for art and your savvy for business. Watching you celebrate success and persevere after every setback. I fell in love with you eating pho and watching television. Laughing over celebrity gossip. Enjoying the sight of you dancing around the house in those work pants with the ever-expanding hole and wishing I could stick my hand up it.”
That made her laugh.
He took a deep breath. Now was the perfect time to tell her. She would take it well, and they’d figure out what to do with their lives together. He licked his lips. “See, Elle, being—”
Pounding at the door stopped his words. She lifted herself off him, alerted by the insistence of the noise.
“All hands on deck,” Drew yelled through the door. “You wanted to prove yourself, Hunt. Here’s your shot.”
Elle looked at him, eyes wide with fear. She quickly gathered clothing.
Out the window, smoke blew past their open glass. He took a big breath, smelling the air.
Fire. Phillip and his crew had started a fire.
He launched up and tossed on his clothes. Elle was buttoning up the ridiculously large top from the trucker’s bag. He grabbed her hand and tugged her with him. “A building’s burning. I have to help.”
She nodded. “Of course.” The quiver in her tone, though, told him how afraid she was.
He couldn’t take her into a fire. He also couldn’t leave her alone, not with Phillip and his men on the loose. So what did he do?
Hand in hand, they raced down the stairs. The bar had emptied out. Gee, an enormous bear of a man—literally. He was a werebear—stood outside his door, surveying the chaos as people ran away from or toward the fire, depending on how sane they were.
Adam wasn’t one of the sane ones. The fire called him forward, challenging him to conquer it. “Where’s the truck?” he asked.
“We don’t have one,” Gee answered, scowling. “No fire department.”
“What?” Adam asked, appalled. “How do you not have a fire department?” The question was rhetorical. It didn’t matter. What did matter was getting someone down there who knew what they were doing. He took Elle’s hand and placed it in Gee’s. “You’ve got a fire department now. Watch her. Please.” He touched Elle’s chin, forcing her scared eyes up to his. “She’s my life.”
She closed her eyes, scared but trusting him. “Go. Help.”
He kissed her forehead. “Stay with Gee. No one will hurt you. Okay?”
Gee snorted. “Get your fuzzy wolf ass to the fire and do something useful. I’ll watch your mate.”
Adam didn’t want to leave Elle, but he needed to go help.
“Go,” she whispered. “You saved me from fire. Save somebody else.”
Adam ran toward the fire, and Elle watched him go, a lump in her throat and a pain in her heart. It was completely irrational, but he’d found her at a fire. What if he found his true mate at this fire? Tonight had been epic, the definition of a soul connection—or so she’d have said. Her body ached in ways she’d never felt. Her soul felt at peace like she’d never known.
She wanted to be close to him, as close as she could safely get. “Can we walk that way?”
“Toward the fire?” Gee asked.
“No,” she said. “Toward Adam.” She wanted Adam, loved him. Damn the whole mate-bonding thing, Elle did not roll over and play dead. If she wanted something, she fought for it. Fuck destiny. What she and Adam shared was worth fighting for.
Gee took a too-slow pace toward the blaze, but she wasn’t stupid enough to race ahead of her protection. If Phillip had set the fire as a distraction, he’d be looking for her. She wouldn’t make it easy for him by leaving her escort. As they got closer, the sounds of yelling and the smell of smoke pervaded her senses. She’d avoided fire ever since the apartment, not even lighting her fireplace in the depth of winter. But Adam would be there, risking himself for the safety of a town that had sent him into an alcoholic spiral. She wanted to be near him, even help if she could. She definitely needed to be with him afterward to make sure the conjunction of the town and the fire didn’t trigger a relapse into a bottle. They were a team.
After a block of silence, Gee rumbled, “Somebody wanted a clear declaration.”
She frowned, unsure what he meant or even how she felt about the behemoth man. The first time they’d met, while Adam got them a key, he’d been taciturn and eyed them with suspicion. “I’ve known Adam for a while now. He’s a good man. This town would do well to give him a second chance.”
Gee laughed, a low bellow. “I meant Adam wanted a clear declaration of you. His mark’s directly on top of an old one.”
“Mark…?” Adam had bitten her sometime during their colossal round of sex. She hastily yanked the too-big shirt back over her collarbone. It kept slipping. Then his words sank in. “What do you mean old one?”
“Mate mark. Somebody claimed you before. Adam lined his bite up to cover it, ensuring the whole town knows he doesn’t share.”
Emotions crashed one after another, wild as the fire in front of them. Phillip had marked her? How horrifying. He had no right. Then Adam had covered it up with his own mark. He had no right to do so, either, but she couldn’t find it in herself to be angry, not after what they’d shared. Hell, she wanted to mark him back, claim him equally.
She touched her neck over the place he’d bitten. “I’m not his…. Wait, you can have two mates?”
Gee shrugged. “It’s rare but possible.”
Her heart pounded. “So I could be Adam’s mate even if I’m Phillip’s?”
The bear’s eyebrows shot up. “You are Adam’s mate. Isn’t that what you told us when you came here? It’s why we let you into town.”
Realizing her mistake, she shut her lips. Then she smiled. Adam had told her he’d wanted her since he first smelled her. Weird as that sounded, it indicated desire at first sight. He’d guarded her faithfully from the moment they’d met, even arguing with her every time she told him to take a night off. And yeah, he wasn’t a pushy asshole like Phillip, trying to force himself on her at every opportunity…but Adam wasn’t a pushy asshole. He was a good man who respected her wishes. A man who would never leave her for another woman or stray for even a single night.
She was Adam’s mate. Joy made her steps light even as they approached the chaos Phillip had wrought. Let him do his worst. She and Adam would take him down. Together.
They reached a corner of gawkers staring up at a two-story home. Fire consumed the back wall, sending black smoke and a tornado of sparks into the evening. Elle caught her breath at the beauty of the flame and the horrible smell of destruction. A perimeter had been erected around the block, enforced by a few young people. A group of capable-looking men and women gathered around Adam, listening as he issued orders. He looked fierce, guiding the fight against the fire. Her heart skipped at the vision he made. Her man. Her mate.
“Well?” Gee asked, bringing her back to the present. “Are you or are you not?”
She threw back her shoulders and grinned. “Fated and mated, baby.”
The expression Gee gave her was a little too smug for her liking. She had the eeriest sensation he’d guided her to the realization.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You tossing wise old man crap my way?”
His eyes shone with mirth though he never smiled. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I bet you don’t,” she muttered. Adam headed into the burning house, and she forgot all about Gee or anyone else. What the hell was her man doing going into a burning house? They didn’t even have fireman’s clothes!
“Woah, slow yourself.” Gee clapped an arm on her shoulder. She hadn’t even realized she’d gone toward the building. Gee’s hand became a clamp. “Get down!”
The roar of trucks blasted through the night. She landed face down in the dirt—when a werebear moved a person, the person moved.
“Look out!” Gee roared, yanking children out of the way as two trucks swerved through the crowd.
Two of the goons from the hotel hung out of the windows of one truck, whooping like idiots at a backwoods fair. A wolf from the crowd leaped at them, grabbed one of the men, and dragged him through the window. A fight broke out as pack members piled onto the truck, half human, half animal, like they’d tear the men apart. Cries of “Magnum’s boys!” rent the air in a frenzy of hatred.
Elle backpedaled away as terror sent every nerve on alert. She had to get out of there.
Gunfire erupted. She screamed at the repeated pops, turned, and ran.
The other truck cut her off. The door opened, and Phillip’s filthy hands grabbed onto her. “Hello, mate.”
She brought a knee up and rammed it between his legs. He groaned and bent over, releasing her just enough that she could get away.
Panicked, she ran.
“Bitch!” he yelled. His footsteps slammed onto the pavement and pounded behind her.
Phillip was coming for her.
Chapter Nine
The house still smoldered where the fire had started, but the main of it was under control. The blaze would’ve been easy to handle with a trained crew and a few basic supplies, but Los Lobos’s fire plan was only slightly better than “lots of buckets.” Even if he and Elle didn’t stay, he’d talk to Drew about organizing a volunteer crew and maybe even come back to train them, if the alpha let him. Arson wasn’t the only way a fire started, and he wanted his pack to be better prepared.
He exited the building with the roar of the fire still in his ears and the heat still stinging his skin in red reminders that neither man nor wolf was meant to run through fire.
He loved it.
Outside, the chaos reigned even harsher than the blaze had been. A truck had been overturned, and two wolves—Jim and Craig by the looks of them—had been literally torn to pieces. Apparently, the pack was keen to be rid of any trace of the old alpha. Adam didn’t blame them. Another truck rocked back and forth as townsmen tipped it over.
Where was Elle in this mess? Fear curled through him, and he scented the air. Between fire and all the bodies, he couldn’t smell her. “Elle!” Where was that fucking werebear? He turned.
Gee was nearly on top of him.
“Fuck! Where did you come from?” How did he not smell a damn bear? “Where’s Elle?”
Gee pointed toward the forest. “Phillip has her.”
Rage made his vision go red. “What? But you were supposed to—hell.” Yell later. Protect Elle now. Panicked, his wolf took over, and he charged into the woods on all fours.
Before he could see them, he smelled their scent—just the two of them—and heard their angry progress through the forest. The smell of metal and gasoline warned him Phillip had transportation nearby.
“You’ll learn respect, little mate,” Phillip said. “I wanted to do this nicely, but you wouldn’t listen.”
“I’m not your mate,” Elle spat back. “I have a mate. His name is Adam Hunt, and you are nothing compared to him.”
Adam nearly tripped at the sound of his name. She’d called him her mate. His heart soared.
“I’m your mate,” Phillip snarled. The smack of an open hand on flesh echoed in the trees, like Phillip had slapped her. That coward was so fucking dead.
“I’m going to get away from your ass,” Elle said, voice dangerously low. “And then Adam’s going to kill you.”
Damn right. His mate needed him. He howled, forced an extra burst of speed, and hit a clearing as Phillip pulled a bike to standing.
Elle saw him. Fear lit her eyes as she stiffened. Then she sighed in recognition. She knew him, even in wolf form. Of course she did. They were meant to be.
Phillip grabbed her around the waist, trying to haul her onto his motorcycle. In a move Adam had taught her, she jammed an elbow back into his stomach and snapped her head back, ramming her skull into Phillip’s nose. Blood shot out of his nostrils as the cartilage shattered. He screamed in pain and released her.
Elle ran straight for Adam. “I hope you’re Adam.”
He barked a hello, passed her, and pounced. Phillip went down. The man spun, faster than Adam had anticipated, as he morphed from man to beast.
“I made him a promise, Adam. I’m guessing you heard it,” Elle yelled, her tone full of steel. “I got away from him. Your turn.”
He snarled in acknowledgment. Nobody hurt his woman. Nobody made her afraid. Nobody owned her. Phillip had broken everything wolves held holy about mates.
Phillip growled and faced him, teeth drawn back in fear and anger. He lunged, trying for a killing blow.
Adam sidestepped him, took him by the ruff, and shook. A crack signaled Phillip’s neck had broken. With a final rush of air, Phillip went limp. Adam dropped his kill and kicked dirt onto the asshole.
Breathing heavily, he turned back to Elle. She’d said to kill him. Now, how would she feel about it?
She took a few steps into the clearing. “Is he…?”
Adam nodded and started to shift back. She’d looked absolutely terrified when he’d shown up in wolf form. He didn’t want to scare her.
“Wait. Be a wolf.”
He stopped, letting his wolf come back.
“You can still, uh, think like this, right?” Her breath came in short, fearful bursts. “Do I have to worry about setting off instinct or anything? Don’t look you in the eyes or whatever?”
He padded a few steps forward and whined as he shook his head, trying to convey that he remained in control, even if he couldn’t do convenient things like talk.
She nodded, somehow understanding anyway. “I need to get used to you like this.” She licked her lips nervously then looked askance at her ex-boyfriend, dead beside his motorcycle. The man had set fire to a house and sacrificed four wolves so he could kidnap Elle. The selfish audacity was astounding.
Adam trotted away from him and toward his mate. He wanted to get her out of here and back toward the town. Maybe via a route which didn’t take her through the remains of Jim and Craig. He slowed as he got to her, trying to appear as friendly as possible.
Her fingers curled as she eyed him speculatively. He bumped her leg in friendly greeting then looked up at her, waiting for her move. Slowly, she stuck a hand in the fur of his ruff and gripped it between her knuckles. “I’m a cat person, you know. This is love.”
He opened his mouth and panted, the closest sound to a laugh he could make. At her nod, he continued forward, leading them home.
Elle had her hands in wolf fur. Adam’s wolf fur. He was giant, coming up to her waist, with bright eyes and gorgeous, thick fur the golden blond of his hair.
Had she thought Phillip’s fur wiry? Adam’s felt as soft as the scruff of the two-day beard he typically sported. Tentatively, she stroked his head. He bumped into her again, and she nearly lost her footing. He made a huffing animal sound of amusement as he stopped and helped her right herself. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, fuzzball.”
More playful huffing as they continued forward. By the time they reached the town, the violence was over, the town celebrating victory and the saved house. Gee waved as he saw them return, and Elle returned the gesture. Adam growled, lips pulling back from fangs in a threat. Her instinct said to back away from an angry
animal. If it had been Phillip, she would’ve found the nearest exit point and run.
But it wasn’t Phillip. It was Adam. She had a choice to make right now—to run in fear and keep running or to trust Adam and act like herself around the wolf, the same way she did around the man. Swallowing her nerves, she tapped him on the head in a mock reprimand. “Hush, now. He was saving children. Give the bear a break.”
Adam stepped between her and Gee, knocking into her with that big, fuzzy body of his as he snarled at the bear. He couldn’t say, “Mine! Back off!” any more loudly with words. She supposed the next step would be pissing a circle around her. She didn’t feel threatened in the least, though. He was guarding her, not caging her.
She ignored the show of machismo. He couldn’t speak in wolf form, so she’d have to speak for him. “That’s right. Kiss and make up with Gee.” It was not even close to what he’d meant.
He barked in protest and nosed her thigh with his cold muzzle.
“What’s that?” This game had potential. She could fill in his speech with whatever she wanted. “You recommend I buy us that house at the edge of town and build a big studio? What a fantastic idea!”
Adam’s butt plopped down, and he stared up at her, head cocked, like he didn’t think she was serious. His eyes were blue, even as a wolf. Weird. And cool.
“You are moving in, right? Because I’m not living in a town full of wolves unless I’ve got one in my bedroom.”
His tail thumped twice, and she’d swear he smiled.
Drew, the pack alpha, approached them next. “Congratulations, Hunt, and welcome back to Los Lobos. I’m expecting recommendations for your fire crew on my desk in the morning.” He glanced from the wolf to Elle and back, a smile slowly growing. “Maybe in a couple of days.” He nodded at Elle. “Good to meet you.”
“You, too.” She gave him a casual two-fingered salute as he jogged off toward a pretty redhead.
Adam licked her hand with his warm tongue then nuzzled her waist, each gesture a show of canine affection.