The little one turned to the other two. “He’s not as amenable as I thought he’d be to help werekin in need of aide. He’s going to be difficult.”
“He’ll stay there until he gives us his word to at least listen to us,” Sabine stated with a belligerent thrust of her chin.
Drew considered the confident glitter in her eyes and met it with a stony glare of his own. This Sabine believed she had him right where she wanted him. In a short time, he’d disabuse her of that erroneous belief. “If you think I’m going to do anything to buy my way out of here, you can think again. I’ll be getting out of here sooner than you think.” He shot them a smile showing all his teeth. They fell silent and stared at him, wide-eyed. His nostrils flared at the sharp tang of unease emitting from the trio.
Yes, let them be afraid. They’d corralled a dangerous predatory were with a single purpose. Anything standing in his way was expendable—including these three women.
“A few days without food might change your way of thinking.” The conviction in Sabine’s tone wasn’t as firm as before.
“Hell will freeze over first.” Drew’s laconic reply brought a scowl to her face.
It was way past time to show them their plan had gone awry. With were strength, he could make the leap up to where they were. They had no inkling they were about to be eye-to-eye with him.
“I’m not about to be dictated to by a trio of girls who haven’t got a clue what they’re up against.” Drew dropped down on his haunches and began to shift into were form.
Mid-shift, he stopped, and gathered the strength of his were. He couldn’t get out of the trap as man or wolf, so he’d use the two halves of his whole. The powerful muscles in his legs bunched, and he used them to propel himself upward. He grabbed onto an outcropping of rock, biceps and massive shoulders burning under the strain of his weight. He used the stony projection to vault himself skyward. He sailed over the women’s heads, and landed directly behind Sabine with a loud, joint-rattling thud.
Drew wrapped his arm around Sabine’s neck before she had a chance to react. He dragged her back to separate her from her sisters, careful to keep an eye on them. He wasn’t in the mood to get caught with his pants down again, figuratively speaking, by a bunch of girls. His battered ego couldn’t take it.
Sabine’s heels drummed into his shins and her fingernails raked over his forearm. Drew winced but kept his mouth shut. The pain from the gouges she put in his flesh served to rekindle his rage and another unwanted emotion.
Need. The kind that sank into your soul, became ingrained, and rode you until you slaked the wanting.
The sweet curve of her butt wiggled over his groin. Drew’s cock hardened to a painful rigidity. The tart, anger-driven aroma Sabine emitted prodded him to take her there and then.
Drew whispered in her ear, “You need to stop rubbing your sweet ass against my cock like that. I might not be able to stop myself from putting you on all fours and taking you.”
“You mutt!” Her snarl accompanied another round of frantic wiggling.
A faint brush of fur over his belly alerted him that Sabine had started to slip into were form.
Drew shook her to break her concentration. “Don’t even try it. If you change, I’ll shift too. My wolf will mount you. It’s straining to shed the restraints my human psyche put on me.”
“I wouldn’t let a mongrel like you cover me,” she snarled at him. She didn’t shift, but the tension in her body told him she would the moment it was expedient.
“You can’t say I didn’t warn you,” he growled into her ear. Unable to help himself, he nipped Sabine’s neck.
The other two she-wolves rushed him. The intimate act of placing his mouth on Sabine’s neck was an insult to their sister, but he was so pissed, he wanted to do something to put some fear in her.
He tightened his arm around Sabine’s neck until she gasped for air. “Stop or I’ll snap her neck.”
Ala and Ishbel skidded to a halt, confusion on their faces.
“You wouldn’t. You are an alpha male. It’s not in you to harm a she-wolf. You’re duty-bound to protect us,” the little one declared, her tone unsure, but hopeful.
“Didn’t I mention I’m not a toe-the-line kind of guy?”
Sabine stopped struggling, but her tense body warned him she hadn’t given up. She twisted her body to face him and aimed her clawed fingertips at his vulnerable belly.
Drew caught her hand inches from wounding him. “Don’t ever try that again, or I will make you sorrier than you’ve ever been in your life,” he whispered.
Her silvery-blue eyes widened with fright at the menace in his voice, but she recovered quickly, glared at him, and tried to knee him in the crotch. A twist to the side saved his balls from being shoved up into his throat.
“I’m already the sorriest I’ve ever been in my life. I met you. There is no honor in holding a smaller wolf captive,” she fumed, her voice a little shaky, but she strained against his grip.
“Insults at every turn. You might want to keep a lid on that. Don’t talk to me about honor. You just led me into a trap using a lure you had no business using unless you were prepared to deliver.” His shaft pulsed between their bodies as if to give emphasis to his words. Sabine’s body stiffened and she fell silent.
“Where is your alpha and what the hell is he thinking allowing you to run wild on your own?” He wrapped his other arm around her waist when she tried to sink to the ground to slip out of his hold.
He had to give her credit, she didn’t give up. Drew shook her again when she refused to answer.
“He’s in our den, and he sent us out to bring another alpha to him,” Ala blurted out.
“Ala, shut up,” Sabine snapped.
“Well, he’ll be coming with us anyway. He’s the first alpha we’ve found who smells right,” Ala pointed out to her sister.
His interest caught, Drew turned to Ala. “Smells right?” The possibility of his hunt not being totally lost caught his attention. “Tell me what you meant by the wolves smelling strange and I’ll consider your request.”
“A pack of wolves exuding abnormal spoor has encroached on our territory. We’ve avoided them by cloaking ourselves. Our alpha is dying, and since he doesn’t have a son to succeed him, he sent us out to seek a viable alpha to take care of our pack.” The words spilled out of Ala’s mouth in a rush.
Her story explained a lot. They shielded themselves and inadvertently helped the Redmavens to remain undetected.
“You can go to hell. We don’t need you. I can take care of my family!” The aggrieved statement came from his captive. The intimate press of Sabine’s body was too much to bear. She wouldn’t keep still despite his warning.
Drew sighed and released Sabine. “By pack law, the strongest male in your clan can challenge your father for the position of alpha.” He stepped back to put some distance between them.
Sabine exuded hot fury. She’d take a swipe at him if she got the chance. Ala shook her head. “That’s the problem. For the last three generations, only girls have been whelped. We are now a clan of twenty women. Our father is the sole male in our pack, and he’s gravely ill. Will you come?”
Drew couldn’t dismiss her heartfelt plea. Shit, he needed to resume his hunt, but honor and pack law compelled him to see to their safety.
Drew closed his eyes and groaned inwardly. He could not leave the women out here on their own unprotected. Being in the presence of a score of women was going to play havoc on his hair-trigger libido. No, let him amend that. It was his close proximity to Sabine. Her scent roused the dormant needs and desires he thought long dead. It wasn’t just sex. A persistent singular mating call tugged at his base form. This she-wolf called to him now, and no other would do.
Drew let out a deep sigh. “I need to find the dead wolf’s den as soon as possible.”
Sabine took a step forward. “I know where their den is. Talk to Balthazar. After that, I’ll show you where it is.”
; Drew shot her a hard glare. “I think I can manage to find it on my own once I move beyond the influence you use to obscure your presence. It would have been easier to get the information from the cub, but you screwed that up for me. You could have masked yourself and let him go on his way.”
“I sent out a lure for you, and he picked up on it. He tried to take me. I had no choice but to defend myself,” Sabine said matter-of-factly. “Besides, what would you have done once you caught up with him? The two of you would’ve fought. There is so much untapped rage in you, stranger, it emanates off you in waves.”
Drew didn’t need her to point that out to him. He lived, breathed, and embraced the anger in him. It traveled with him like a constant welcome companion. He used it to keep himself focused on the only goal that mattered. Finding his sister.
“I’ll see your sire. After that, you’ll point me in the direction of the dead wolf’s den. I don’t need you getting in the way.” Drew jerked his head for her to get moving.
Sabine’s laughter raked over his raw nerves.
“You won’t get within a mile of the den without my help to mask your scent. The spot where the den is located is almost perfect. It’s in a narrow canyon, with only one way in or out. It seems you’ve got a bit of dilemma on your hands.” Her little got-you smirk annoyed him to no end. She had him over a barrel, and she knew it.
Drew gritted his teeth. Fuck, he felt like beating his head against a wall.
He’d stumbled on a tool that would allow him to creep up on his elusive enemies. That was the plus. The downside came in the form of a sharp-tongued she-wolf.
He had the feeling he’d fallen down Alice’s tunnel and his hunt had somehow turned into the Mad Hatter’s tea party.
Chapter Five
Through the dense darkness, Drew trotted behind Sabine and her sisters. He cocked his head on occasion to listen for any out-of-place sound or scent that hinted at danger.
Nothing broke the nighttime symphony of hoots, insect clicks, and rodent chitter. The absolute lack of sound from the women’s paws hitting the ground as they wove through the trees made his paw treads seem unnaturally loud in the stillness.
Drew hung back a few yards behind the female wolves. His sore pride and the persistent ache in his groin put him in a pissy mood.
He was all too aware that his reaction to Sabine presented him with a problem. The effects of her lure screwed with his head, but he still panted after her like a horny teenager who hadn’t tasted his first woman. He’d never been this punch drunk on a woman’s scent, ever.
The only cure for his ball-aching need would be a quick tumble with her. But she’d probably rip out his throat before she lifted her tail for him.
The best way to handle the painful problem between his legs was to keep his distance from the mouthy little witch and hope his erection would subside.
His decision didn’t stop him from stealing a surreptitious glance at Sabine, who ran in the lead. If the way she flashed her tail was any indication, she was furious. Damn. The girl had a chip the size of the Stanley Cup on her shoulder.
In the shadow of a mountain spur, Sabine shimmied into a woman and rose to her feet. She turned to face him and held herself like a haughty ice queen before a peasant barely worthy of her attention.
Drew transformed and took his own sweet time to amble over to Sabine’s side. He knew it would annoy her, but for some reason he couldn’t resist ruffling her fur.
Several conflicting emotions flitted across her face. Finally, she lifted her head until their gazes clashed. Her hot blue glare carried a shitload of animosity. Still torqued over the fact he’d gotten the best of her, he’d bet.
Welcome to the club, honey. Hungry, sore and fucked up by the feverish need for her rampaging through him, he was not in the best of moods himself.
Sabine reminded him of a kitten in a hissy fit, fur raised and spitting mad. He’d have to watch himself around her. She’d nail his hide to the wall for a trophy given the chance.
Drew raised his brow in question.
She flicked him an annoyed glance. “Ishbel. Ala. Go on ahead, please. I’d like a word with our…guest.”
Sabine waited until her sisters disappeared before she spoke. “I’m asking that you agree to whatever my father wants. That way he can die in peace.” Her voice cracked, but the intonation was an order rather than a request. “Why would I agree to anything you ask? You obviously don’t think much of my abilities.” He braced his legs apart, and watched Sabine’s reaction. She lifted a solemn face up to his. “You won’t have to actually do anything. He wants us taken to safety, so agree to his request, and I’ll take care of the rest. It will be easier all around if you play along and then go on your merry way.”
There was no soft plea in her voice, or look of enticement in her expression aimed at securing his agreement.
Her straightforwardness appealed to him more than if she’d used her feminine wiles on him. He’d be suspicious if she tried.
“If I give my word to him I must keep it, one alpha to another.”
Sabine let out a tsk of impatience. “Fine, but it might be something neither one of us can live with. Balthazar is stubborn and intent on having his way. I’ll do whatever he asks me to do, but in my own manner, not his and certainly not yours. I’ll take you to him now.” She gestured for him to follow.
Stifling a grin, Drew trailed in her wake. Sabine was as prickly as a cactus. If he had the time, he’d love to pluck her thorns.
Curious, Drew studied his surroundings. He observed that the Silverwolves had cleverly tucked several small dwellings within a copse of trees. Logs carefully chosen for color and shape integrated well into the surrounding foliage. Tufts of miniature ferns grew out of the hand-mixed mortar of mud and grass, filling the pockets between the staves. The air held no concentration of the odors you’d usually find in an area where a group of people lived to give away the location of the settlement.
As impressed as he was by the Silverwolves’ craftiness, it wasn’t enough to distract him from the sight of Sabine’s fairy-pale hair swishing above the cheeks of her full butt. The sleek muscles in her thighs and calves flexed as she marched away from him, agitation in every step she took. An image of those very same legs taut and bunched, clamped over his hips, seared into his mind. Already hard, his body reacted by releasing spoor in the air.
Sabine shot a tight-lipped sneer over her shoulder. He stared at her with a cool unapologetic stare. It wasn’t as if he could hide his responses. She sniffed and turned away.
Crap, his attraction to the little shrew grew by the minute, damn it, but her dismissive attitude toward him irked to no end. She showed as much sexual interest in him as she would a slug on a stump. Her reaction to him should be quite the opposite. As a mature she-wolf, the instinctive call to bear a cub should be running rampant through her. Why did her lack of interest in him bother him so much?
Sabine stopped by one of the shelters. “My father is in here. I’ll go see about some food for you.” Sabine opened her mouth to say something more, but snapped her mouth shut so hard her teeth clicked.
Drew stepped into the small, one-room shack. A few coals glowed in a fire-pit at the center of the room. The only items that personalized the space were the piles of crumbling books stacked against the walls. Resting on a simple bed, supported by ropes laced over a rustic wooden frame, lay a wolf, his pelt patchy and thin with age.
He was old, very old.
A sense of awe filled Drew. The thick powdery odor of an ancient’s essence hung in the air. The skeletal were’s shallow breathing told Drew the wolf didn’t have much time left.
The were stirred.
Palsied tremors shook him during his achingly slow shift into a man. Paper-thin skin stretched over his regal face, from which a pair of rheumy, washed-out blue eyes studied him.
“Ahh, a Lunedare. Good, good.” Relief tinged the whispered words and a wispy satisfied smile parted Balthazar’s parched lips.
“You know of my pack?” Drew sank to his knees beside the rustic pallet.
“I ran with a Lucan Lunedare when we first came to this continent. I can see you are puzzled that this pack still exists. Several centuries ago, I came to believe our kind had begun to adopt and adapt to the ways of man to our detriment. We discarded too many of our customs. I broke away from the packs and concealed our scent trails.” Balthazar paused to catch his breath. “In my arrogance I chose isolation, foolishly believing I’d preserve my clan and our way of life.” Balthazar’s eyes drifted into a dreamy vagueness. “Now my family is going to pay for my lack of foresight. My line ends with these women. The Silverwolves will be forgotten.”
Drew dipped his head as a sign of respect to Balthazar. “No, you are remembered. We howl your name when we honor the lost packs. The stories of your clan’s brave exploits are retold at our campfires. How is it you’ve survived for so long?”
A small smile twisted Balthazar’s bloodless lips. “A quirk of nature. My grandmother was a multimorph and I’m the twin of one. Through them I’ve inherited the gift of an extended life span.”
“Our supreme alpha, Justice Ambervane, will welcome the women. His mate is our generation’s multimorph. She’ll be happy to reunite with her distant cousins.”
“The supreme alpha is not here, is he? But you are. My time is short. With my final breath, I ask a boon, alpha to alpha. Take one of my daughters to mate. Save them.” Balthazar’s urgent plea came out in short, labored wheezes. He reached up and gripped Drew’s arm with spidery fingers, a silent, frantic entreaty.
Drew’s father had drummed the preservation of werekin into his head from the moment he could understand they were on the brink of extinction. The last time the clans took a count, there were less than twenty thousand werekin worldwide.
“It’s not necessary for me to take your daughter as a mate. I’ll assimilate them into my own pack or they can mark out their own territory on any land I own. That is my gift to your family to welcome you back into the fold.”
Her Wanted Wolf Page 4