Austin’s face twisted in an anguished grimace. “I should have. You’re right. I’m just not used to anyone going to bat for me.”
“Well, get used to it, idiot. Jerk. Wuss. God, I am so angry at you right now, I can’t decide if I should punch your stupid face in or kiss you.”
He tried on a rueful smile. It looked as if it hurt his face. “Do I get a vote?”
“No, you do not. Just talk to me, Austin.”
He glanced down at Roy, who was lying there between them. “Wait.”
He climbed out of the truck and walked around to her side. Then he reached out, threw his arms around her, and pinned her up against the side of the truck.
Desire flared through her. “What are you doing?” she choked out.
“This.” He bent down and brushed his lips across hers, ever so gently, then pulled away for just a second, and then he kissed her hard. His kiss was hungry and commanding, drinking her in, tongue invading and probing, and she melted into his mouth with a moan of pleasure. The kiss stretched on and on, and when he pulled away, he cradled her face in his hands. “I’m kissing my True Mate. Because I don’t know how many days I have left, and I want to stop wasting time.”
“Please don’t talk like that.” A sob caught in Savannah’s throat.
She couldn’t have found her True Mate just to have him snatched away from her. Fate couldn’t be that cruel.
Austin sighed and stepped back away from her, and her body cried out in protest. But he wasn’t looking at her now – he was retreating into somewhere far away.
He started telling her everything. It had been going on for the last year. It had started out with terrible, realistic dreams that felt like waking nightmares. He’d suddenly come to, standing in his kitchen or out in the street, with no idea of how he’d got there.
Then he started having the nightmares while he was most definitely awake.
Even though his nightmares were bizarre and distorted, and even though there was no history of Seers in his bloodline, he’d hoped against hope that they were future visions. But, he said, they weren’t. And Korbin the healer had confirmed that.
“They’re all messed up. I see things that couldn’t possibly be – dead people walking into my visions, people I know turning into monsters, things that couldn’t happen. It’s not me being a Seer. It’s me going crazy.”
“You saw one healer, Austin! One!” Savannah yelled at him. “After we drop this jackass off, we are going to visit other healers. We’ll do research. We’ll contact that wolf shifter database.” She headed for the driver’s seat.
Austin nodded and climbed into the back seat, settling next to Roy and slamming the passenger door shut. “There’s always the possibility that the database will have answers that we don’t like.”
“And I thought I was the one who always borrowed trouble. We’ll fix this. I swear to you, Austin.” She started up the truck and pulled out onto the road.
“Okay,” Austin said quietly, but Savannah could tell he didn’t really believe it. She felt a bleakness in her, a despairing sorrow. She was deathly afraid that he wouldn’t really fight for himself. That he’d let himself go, thinking he was protecting her when really he was breaking her heart.
* * *
It took them almost an hour to get there from Rural Route 7, bouncing along a rutted dirt road deep in the woods. Several times they had to get out and clear fallen branches in the road ahead of them.
They found a tiny group of shifters – only about twenty, counting cubs – with half a dozen cabins clustered together. The windows of the cabins were cracked, the roofs carpeted in twigs and leaf litter. The area around the cabins was choked with weeds and adorned with rusting car parts.
Their Alpha, Aberthol, came out to meet them as they shuddered to a stop in front of the largest cabin. His dirty feet were bare, and he wore only stained jeans.
“Welcome, welcome,” he said as they climbed out of their truck. “Mi casa es su casa. Let’s just get the prisoner locked up safe, okay?”
The rest of the pack clustered together and stared at them with open curiosity. Apparently they didn’t get many visitors out here.
Austin opened up the back of the truck and dragged Roy out, hauling him across the ground to a small concrete block building with a thick steel door. He flashed Aberthol a look of annoyance. “You told me you didn’t have anywhere that could hold him. This looks just fine.”
Aberthol shook his head regretfully. “Look, man. We’re out in the middle of nowhere. If anything goes wrong, help is a long, long way away. The nearest pack is at least three hours from us, and that’s assuming any of us is alive to call for help. If he breaks out, every last one of us is dead, and we got six cubs here. So I’m trusting you when you say you got him under control.”
“I understand,” Austin said. “We won’t let him hurt your pack.”
He dragged him into the concrete bunker and started unwrapping the chains, because Roy would just tear them off when he shifted anyway.
A little part of him felt an odd twinge about locking a wolf up during the full moon, but Roy had brought it on himself.
Savannah insisted on leaving a couple of bottles of water and a sandwich for him, so he’d have something to eat and drink when he woke up.
“Waste of good food,” Austin muttered.
“So, what’s the plan?” Aberthol asked nervously as Austin carried out all the chains. “When the full moon is over?” He shut the door and slid an enormous bolt into place.
“You clear the area. Savannah opens the door and stands back. I shoot him with tranq darts until he falls over.”
Aberthol didn’t look particularly impressed. “Ooookay. Well, dinner is served in about an hour. We’ll be eating in the clearing outside the big house. You want some beers?”
“We’ll come join you in a few,” Austin said. “I think we’ll go for a little stroll in the woods. Stretch our legs a bit. Thanks for the offer.”
A dull roar sounded from inside the little concrete bunker, making them all start. Aberthol shook his head. “I don’t envy you,” he said. “Me, I like the simple life. No amount of money in the world would make me want to take on that kind of trouble.” And he headed back to his cabin.
Austin glanced at the bunker. It was as solid as a rock. There was no way that anyone could break out of there, even Roy.
Austin led Savannah away from the clearing, his arm draped possessively around her shoulders. A smile twitched on his lips.
“Your mood sure shifted,” Savannah said lightly as they made their way out into a clearing. “It’s nice to see.”
She sat down on a fallen log, sweeping her hair back over her shoulders, and he settled in next to her.
The moon hung huge and white overhead, and he took her hand in his. “We’ve got a little time before dinner,” he said. Then he gave her a roguish grin. “But I’m still hungry. I want to eat my dessert first.”
“Austin!” Savannah blushed, but she didn’t protest as he stripped off her T-shirt. He leaned down and kissed her shoulder. Then he nipped it, and her whimper of pleasure made him rock hard.
“That’s where I’ll mark you, if I don’t go crazy.” He was rewarded with a hard smack on the back of his head.
“What? You prefer the neck? Somewhere more visible?” he asked, straightening back up. “I like it. Make sure everybody knows you’re mine.”
“No, you idiot, I’ll be happy with your claiming mark anywhere on my body! That was for saying ‘if’!” she said fiercely. “You will not go crazy. You will drive me crazy, for sure, but you will not go crazy. I will not let you. You even try to go crazy? I’m coming after you and dragging you back.”
A sudden storm of emotion swept over him. Nobody had ever fought for him like that. Not his mother, not his brothers, not the members of the Hidden Hills Pack. She deserved someone sane. Someone who could give her a perfect, beautiful life. Someone who’d never be a threat to her.
Swal
lowing hard, he forced the terrible thoughts down as he looked away.
She squeezed his hand. “Tell me you’ll fight for me, Austin. Because damn it, I’m worth it.”
“Oh, God, yes you are,” he said, his voice husky with emotion. “I’ll fight for you. I don’t want to leave this behind.”
She threw her arms around him and kissed him, and it was wild and hungry and needy, the eagerness of her touch mirroring his own desire. He drew away slowly, watching her face as her reddish eyelashes fluttered, her eyes drifting open. She looked half-drugged and dreamy, and he felt a sudden surge of male pride at the knowledge that he did that to her. He made her feel that way. His cock twitched urgently in his pants, and he wrestled down the urge to rip off her clothes and take her right there and then, roughly and thoroughly.
Instead, he dipped his head and kissed the creamy swells of her breasts above the subtle lace trim of her bra, running his hands down her spine and pressing her closer. The way she shuddered against him was maddening.
He kissed his way down her body, unsnapping her bra behind her back and slipping the straps down over her arms, unbuttoning her pants as he dragged his lips over the soft curve of her belly, ignoring her playful, breathless half-protests.
As she wriggled out of her jeans and panties, he shucked his clothes, tossing his shirt behind him and skimming down his pants, toeing off his boots. Her gaze on his body was like a lingering caress, hot and insatiable, and he felt his cock growing impossibly harder, a slick bead of precum gathering at the head.
She reached out for him, but he shook his head, chiding her, teasing her with his eyes as he dropped to all fours and crawled towards her. She looked delicious in the moonlight, her pale skin spattered with freckles, her rosy nipples pert and erect in the cool evening air.
When he reached her, he ran his hands up her calves then pushed her knees apart, exposing her glistening pink sex. He trailed his fingers higher, watching with fascination as trails of goose bumps followed his touch, then settled his hands on her inner thighs, bracing her open to him as he lowered his head and lavished her pussy with a long, slow, erotic lick. She gasped and clutched at his hair, tugging hard enough to hurt as he suckled her moist flesh. She tasted delicious – musky and sweet – and he lapped hungrily at her molten core as she whimpered and shook, her breathing broken and irregular as he zeroed in on her clit. A few fast, hard flicks of his tongue were enough to shatter her, and she came apart, writhing against his mouth.
He drew away slowly, reluctantly, going back for another long, thorough lick before grinning up at her, the swelling sense of self-satisfaction in his chest almost enough to distract him from the urgent throbbing of his rock-hard cock.
He tried to draw her into his arms, meaning to tumble her onto the floor and drive himself inside her still-clenching body, but instead she scrambled to her feet, and the look in her eyes changed from half-stunned bliss to wicked determination. She yanked at his hands, and he allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. Then, with slow, deliberate seductiveness, she backed him up against a tree, walking him backwards until his spine bumped against its rough bark.
She smirked up at him, trailing her fingers down his chest and over his jumping stomach muscles, eyes full of mischief. “My turn.”
“What are you do— Ohhhhh, fuck…”
His question trailed away into a ragged curse as she sank to her knees.
She wrapped her hand around his length, squeezing slightly, the sensation almost too good to bear. Then she lowered her head and swirled her tongue around his swollen tip, licking up the sticky, salty liquid weeping from the slit.
He gasped sharply and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the tree. He wrapped her ponytail loosely around his fist and tried to catch his breath as she started to bob her head. At first she took in just the head, allowing her tongue to play over the silky skin before letting it pop free from her lips. Then she took him deeper, sucking in more of his length with each smooth motion of her head, hollowing her cheeks to stroke him and swirling her tongue in an undulating rhythm that made him curse and tense. Every muscle locked as he ached and shook on the cusp of orgasm, and he thought he’d die when she wrapped her fingers tightly around the base of his shaft, holding him back. He was coming but not coming, groaning with the fierceness of the sensation.
“Watch,” she whispered.
He looked down at her, kneeling at his feet, her lips shiny from sucking him. He looked straight into her magnetic eyes as she jerked him off, stroking him quickly and smoothly until he came in a spasm of blind sensation, dotting her freckled breasts and collarbone with glistening pearls of come.
Savannah reached up and used the pad of her thumb to collect a drop of fluid that had splashed her cheek. Then she sucked it off her skin, never breaking eye contact, rosy lips suckling her thumb.
It was the sexist thing he’d ever seen.
He glanced up at the sky, feeling the power of the moon wash over him. He felt wild and lusty and full of crazy energy. The full moon wasn’t for another few hours. He couldn’t wait to spend his first full moon running through the woods with his mate.
Savannah stepped back into her pants and zipped them up. “Do we have to go back and join them for dinner?” She sighed. “I just want to spend time with you alone.”
“I’m afraid so,” he said reluctantly. “They’re already not happy about having Roy on their property. Can’t say I blame them. I know that bunker’s solid, but just as a show of good faith, until we turn, we should be nearby, keeping an eye on him. We shouldn’t even have come out here like this, but, you know.” He grinned at her. “Sorry not sorry.”
“You’re right, you’re right. Duty calls. Stupid duty,” she said. Then she flashed him a quick look. “But we’ll have plenty more time. Won’t we?”
“Of course we will,” he said, because he knew that was what she wanted to hear. And because he hoped it was true, even if he feared it wasn’t.
They trudged back to the little cluster of cabins, holding hands as they tramped through the woods. He liked the feeling of her hand in his. Liked how she glanced up at him, the look on her face. So happy and contented.
They found the pack sitting in picnic chairs, gathered around a campfire. Aberthol’s mate, Louanne, fetched them a couple of ice-cold beers from a plastic cooler. She was a skinny, fierce-looking woman with stringy brown hair and scowl lines stamped across her forehead.
Aberthol ladled them each a bowl of stew, and they settled in, sitting next to each other, facing him.
Austin shifted restlessly in his chair as he tucked into the stew, feeling the full moon’s energy rushing through his veins.
“Good stuff,” he said to Aberthol. “I’ve always loved venison.”
Aberthol patted Louanne on the shoulder. “My old lady made it. Not bad, huh? I think I’ll keep her.”
“Shoo,” she snorted. “Who you calling old? And who says I’ll keep you?”
Austin looked at Savannah, and she flashed him a grin, and he knew what she was thinking.
That’ll be us in a few years. Together. Mated. Still giving each other a hard time.
She settled back into her chair with a sigh. “Tired,” she mumbled.
“I know. Me too.” It had been the day from hell. They’d both been driving too long, not getting enough sleep.
Still. Something was wrong. Should they be feeling tired right before a full moon? His thoughts were getting dull and foggy.
A feeling of lassitude seeped over him. Something is wrong. He should be feeling more energetic, not more and more relaxed.
He turned his head slowly, way too slowly, to look at Savannah.
Her head was nodding, chin resting on her chest. Eyes half closed.
His fingers felt thick and numb. He dropped his bowl of stew on the ground and tried to speak, but his lips wouldn’t move.
Drugged. They’d drugged their stew.
He struggled, trying to push the sedative from his
system, but whatever they’d used was too powerful.
He shouted wordlessly, screaming a warning that his mate would never hear. Shavannahhhh…runnnn…
The world went hazy and he could hear Aberthol yelling “Now!” and Louanne yelling “Ooh, baby! One million dollars!”
And then everything went fuzzy and the world winked out.
Chapter Twelve
Savannah was lying on something cold and hard. Her stomach was roiling and her head throbbed.
What the hell had happened?
The pull of the moon…it was gone. She must have been unconscious all night long. Panic sent her heart racing. Where was Austin? Where was Roy?
Austin’s voice echoed above her, sounding very far away. “Savannah. Talk to me. Say something.”
She groaned into the floor.
“Something,” she muttered.
“Oh good, you haven’t lost your ability to smart off at the worst possible time.” She felt his hand on her arm. “Here. Sit up.”
She sat up slowly and looked around the room.
Cold fear settled over her like an icy fog. They were locked in the concrete cell. She could see daylight through the tiny slit of a window. And Roy was pacing back and forth on the floor in wolf form, ignoring them completely.
They were in the middle of nowhere. Nobody knew where they were, no help was coming. Roy was going to notice them any minute now and tear them to little pieces.
“They drugged our food,” Savannah groaned. “Bastards.”
“Damn it. I’m an idiot. I should have seen it,” Austin cursed. “They were arguing with us about coming here, they were telling us to go anywhere but here, but then all of a sudden they welcomed us with open arms. Of course. Because they did some checking around and heard about the bounty. They decided to take it for themselves.”
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