“You won’t have a choice, lady. Not once that mating drive gets to you. They say it’s more compelling than chocolate.”
Kira chuckled despite herself. “I can’t believe you said that.”
“Well. You might soon find out. I think he’s stirring.”
“Then let’s get him loaded in the back and I’ll knock him out again going over that rut on your driveway.” Kira shouldered the back of the truck down and together they lifted him.
“Well, maybe when you have him tamed, he can come back here and do some work around the place.” Fara looked mournfully at her house. “Goodness knows it needs it.”
“I will see what I can do. Although, no promises. Especially when he finds out you shot him.” Her arms ached, but the big bulk of a man was safely in the back of her truck. She closed the back up, kissed Fara on the cheek and then went to the driver's door. “Try not to shoot anyone else, Fara.”
“See you soon, honey. And good luck.” Fara waved. “And you’re welcome.”
“For what?” Kira asked, her hand on the key, ready to start the engine.
“For finding him for you.”
Kira shook her head. “I might be cursing you before the day is out. A damn raider. Do you know how much care I’ve taken to avoid town since all the good men left?” With that, the truck sparked into life and she drove away from Fara, who waved and then went back towards her house. Kira could tell from the rise and fall of her shoulders she was either laughing or crying.
Kira hoped it was the latter, even if it was at her own expense. Damn fated mates.
Chapter Three - Cole
Consciousness slowly returned. His shoulder hurt, but nothing compared to his head. That old battle-axe—she had wielded a shovel in her hands and hit him so hard he had blacked out. Wait until Riley heard about this one.
As he became aware of himself, he had a strange feeling. No. Two strange feelings. First, he was bumping along in the back of a truck, the driver having no regard for the cargo. The speed over this terrain was going to give him even more bruises. However, that realisation was totally obliterated next to the unwavering knowledge that the person driving the truck was his mate.
He had found her. At last. He sat up, taking in the back of the woman through the muddied window. Then he was hit by a terrifying thought. What if his mate was the old woman who had lumped him one with the shovel? Would fate be that wicked and cruel? Was this some kind of karma?
Seriously? He could not have waited all this time to be with his mate, only to discover she was too old to have his pups. That would be just … ice. Justice for all the things he had done to the people of Wolf Valley. Innocent people who probably wanted nothing more than to live their lives in peace and quiet.
Damn it. “Damn it!” he cursed out loud.
What was he supposed to do? Run. He pulled himself up to a sitting position, his shoulder sending shooting pains throughout his whole body. Looking over the side, he knew it would hurt if he threw himself out. But that would be better than being mated to an old woman. Wouldn’t it?
Even as he thought the words, he knew he was wrong. The pull was too much. He wanted her, wanted her with every fibre of his being. Now he was fully conscious, the bond between them was incredibly strong. He could pull away from it. He would find the strength. But what about her? He would be sentencing his mate to a lifetime of loneliness.
Closing his eyes, he accepted his fate. If she was his mate, then so be it. He would make the most of it. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought; she was his mate and he would love her no matter what.
Settling back down, the pain in his shoulder became his main focus once more. It hurt like hell, and he could only assume she was taking him to the hospital. Somewhere he didn’t think he wanted to go. If she took him into town, with a gunshot wound, then the chances were she would be arrested. And he wouldn’t be able to bear that.
Getting up again, he crawled towards the front of the truck. He would have to bang on the window and get her attention; somehow he had to get her to turn the truck around and take him home. He was sure Riley would be able to deal with his torn shoulder.
The truck turned sharply, sending him scooting across the floor, banging his shoulder on the side. Winded, he put his hand to his wound. Blood. That wasn’t good; maybe he needed that hospital more than he thought. Yet when the vehicle slowed and he pushed himself up, to lean awkwardly on the side of the truck, he saw they weren’t anywhere near the town. Instead, they were in the middle of nowhere, the mountains rising up to the west, and the river in the distance telling him where Wolf Valley was.
A thought struck him. Maybe she had brought him out here to kill him. If she knew who he was, then maybe the shovel round the head had been her way of knocking him unconscious before bringing him here to bury him in the middle of nowhere.
The sound of the truck door opening made him fully aware of the danger he was in. Running would be useless. That gun would tear a hole in him before he got ten feet away. Problem was, he had no way to defend himself. He was at her mercy.
Footsteps, going away from the truck. He risked a look, and sure enough, there she was, going towards a gate that was blocking their way. Ducking down, he avoided her seeing him as she opened it. Maybe this was his chance: all he had to do was throw himself out of the truck, turn wolf, and limp home.
Bracing himself, he waited until she got back into the truck, relieved that she hadn’t checked on him. Or insulted. He was her mate; she should be taking care of him. Sweeping those thoughts away—she was trying to kill him after all—he got ready to throw himself off the truck as it started moving.
“Argh.” He landed with a sickening thud. The pain in his head was making him feel nauseous, and the blood from his shoulder flowed freely. Not one of your best ideas.
Worse was the sense of loss, as though a strand ran between him and the driver of the truck, one that was being stretched. If it was real, it would have plucked him up and dragged him along behind the disappearing vehicle. Instead, it belonged to another reality, the one that bound their souls together. The sense of loss hit him in the solar plexus and made him double over.
If he could have got his feet under him, he would have run after her as fast as he could. Instead, he lay on the ground, a shivering wreck.
He needed her. If she didn’t want him, then he should have let her kill him, because anything would be better than this.
Chapter Four - Kira
A jolt passed through her body. She gripped the steering wheel and tried to keep the truck going straight, but she struggled for breath, as though someone had punched her hard in the gut.
Oh my goodness! He’d died. The man in the back of her truck, her mate, had died, and this was the awful feeling she would have to live with for the rest of her life. She had killed her mate.
Kira cursed herself for not taking more care of him: for not taking him to the hospital or at least nursing his wounds before she took him on this bumpy ride. She was so stupid. Bringing the truck to a halt, she got out, rushing around to the side to see for her own eyes the man lying dead in the truck. It was empty.
“Son-of-a-bitch.” How could she have lost him? Had he bounced out? Looking wildly around, she spotted him, trying to rise to his knees and stagger away from her. “What the hell!”
So he didn’t want her. Fair enough, she could live with that. No, she couldn’t. Her wolf was howling, urging her to go to him. When she stood still, it tried to drag her over to him. He was hurt. He needed her. But he had tried to run.
Looking at him trying to drag himself away from her, she could see it was hard for him too. Then why? Why desert her? Because he was a no-good piece of garbage. But he was her no-good piece of garbage.
Sighing heavily, she went back to the truck and climbed in. Putting it into reverse, she drove back to where he was crawling away. Running him over and ending both their miseries did cross her mind, but it was quickly replaced by the need to help him. T
hey were one. She would have to learn to live with him being a no-good coward.
As she approached him he looked up, shielding himself from her. Was she really that ugly to him? Maybe she should have second thoughts about rescuing him. Who was she kidding? Leaving him here was not going to be the answer. She had to get him to her house and patch him up before he bled to death.
“Come on, quit messing around. You are going to kill yourself if you don’t get back in the truck.” Her voice held no sympathy.
“You’re not going to shoot me?”
“Tempting. But no.”
His face was pale and he lowered his arm to look at her. “You are not old.”
Did he have a concussion too? Damn Fara for hitting him in the head.
“No. But I am old enough to get mighty irritated with you. Now let’s go.” She reached out, her hand going under his elbow to help him up. There was that familiar sensation again, electricity moving from her to him and back again. His eyes widened in wonder, although this time Kira managed to get control of herself.
But this guy hadn’t. He flinched away from her, pulling his arm back. “What the hell was that?” he asked. “You didn’t feel it?’
That gave her an idea. Maybe it was better if he had to work at this mate thing. If he didn’t know she could feel the connection between them, it would buy her some time and also make him much less self-assured.
“Feel what? Annoyed that you ran when I’m trying to save your ass?” she asked, putting just the right annoyance in her voice to make him look at her sharply.
“You really didn’t feel that shock of electricity?”
“Nope. But if you don’t cooperate, I could always get a cattle prod. That will give you all the electricity you need and get you up off your sorry knees.”
Stunned, he let her help him to his feet. All the time he kept glancing sideways at her. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, she would have laughed at him. But it was serious. Not just because he was her mate, and she didn’t want him. There was also Fara to protect.
“Where are you taking me? We’re not heading for town.”
“No, we are not. I can patch you up just fine at my house.” She opened the back of the truck. “Get in.”
“I can ride in the front,” he said, heading towards the passenger door.
“What if I don’t want you to?” she asked, not sure she could keep up the pretence of not knowing who he was when they were in such close proximity.
“So you do want to kill me.” He turned back to her, his face accusing.
“Want to kill you? If I did, I would have left you at Fara’s place so she could use your stealing hide for target practice.”
“But you didn’t? Why not?” His eyes narrowed; he was trying to read her.
Opening her mouth to respond, she had to force herself to lie. The bond between them made it more difficult than she could have imagined. “Because I didn’t want her to get into trouble. The sheriff would never have accepted she was acting in self-defence.”
“She wasn’t.”
“You went there to steal from her again. You just never expected her to have a gun.”
“I did not go there to steal from her,” he protested.
“Then why were you there? Isn’t breaking into her barn and half destroying it twice enough for you? You had to come back a third time to check you had stolen every bit of valuable equipment from her?” She was angry now, making it easier to fight the bond.
“Once. We broke into there once.” He sounded convincing, and his eyes looked honest and true. But Kira had seen the damage inflicted on the second raid.
“Don’t lie. Unless you want me to leave you here in the dirt.”
“I’m not lying. Why would I?” he said, his face creased with pain, but still he insisted. “You already have me judged and sentenced.”
“You already admitted to stealing. So, yes. I do think you are guilty.”
“I’ve changed,” he answered simply.
That knocked her back, but she was still so maddened by him she couldn’t just let it go. “Is that what you want me to believe? That you’ve changed?”
“Yes. I want you to believe it. I want you to believe that I am not a bad person. That what I did before was in the past.” His eyes: they hammered his words into her head; he was willing her to believe him. And she wanted to. But dared she hope?
Not yet. It would take more than words for her to believe him. “Get in the truck. We’ve been here too long.” She glanced up at the hills. A prickling sensation made the hairs on her neck stand on end. This would be the perfect place for an ambush. Then she reminded herself she had one of the raiders here with her, so unless the others were coming to spring their friend from captivity, they had no reason to attack. Unless he was telling the truth and he had broken free of them.
If they had parted on bad terms, he might be more trouble to her now. In his present state, she might be the one fighting for his life. In her head, her wolf stretched, liking the idea of a few broken bones to chew on. It was a good job she was never expected to be a lady.
Chapter Five - Cole
Confusion. She was his mate. He was absolutely sure of it. What he didn’t know was whether she was like him. Did she have another side? Was there an animal lurking in her head just wanting to get out? He wanted to ask her, needing to know, but her reaction to him being a raider was bad enough; if he then broke the news to her that he was a beast too, well, that might make her bury him alive.
No, he had to try to win her over first, to make her see he was a reformed character and that she could trust him. He breathed in her scent as she opened the truck door and helped him in. He could probably have managed, his wound was feeling much better now, but he liked the feel of her hands on his body as she boosted him up into the passenger seat.
Although she didn’t seem to be quite so enamoured with him and she cursed under her breath at the smudge of blood he left across the seat.
“Thank you,” he said as she buckled his seatbelt for him. Her breasts brushed his thighs, making his cock harden in his pants. If she noticed, she didn’t say a word. Only a grunt as she slammed the door shut and went around to climb in beside him.
The truck lurched forward, jolting his poor, injured body, but he didn’t mind so much now. Not when she was so close. If he breathed in deeply, her scent acted like a painkiller; adrenaline pumped around his body as he imagined chasing her down and mating with her. If he wasn’t injured, that was exactly what his wolf would do. And enjoy every earth-shattering moment of it.
“Quit staring.”
He snapped his head round to look out of the window, not realising he had been leaning towards her, his tongue hanging out at the taste of her flesh on his lips. If he wanted to take things slowly, he needed to rein in his behaviour and act civilised, not like a lovesick wolf. But heck, he was a lovesick wolf.
She stopped the truck, getting out without a word to go around and open the gate that blocked the track. Then she climbed back in and drove forward, stopping on the other side to shut it. The whole episode gave him ample time to take in the wonderfully curvy figure of his mate. Now that he saw her properly, he couldn’t believe he had taken her for the old woman. There was nothing old about her at all.
“You’re staring again.”
“Sorry.” He cleared his throat, wanting to talk to her, but his mind went blank.
“How’s your shoulder feeling?” she asked, a sideways glance at him making his insides go all wobbly. He was a wimp in the biggest way imaginable around this woman. His woman. Yeah, that would explain his reactions. Soft and malleable in her hands. Unless he toughened up.
That wasn’t going to happen anytime soon when his wolf was wagging its tail like a big puppy dog.
“Better,” he replied. “I think the bleeding has stopped again.”
“She didn’t mean to kill you. I want you to know that.”
“Really? It doesn’t feel like that.” H
e winced as he flexed his arm. “It feels as though she was aiming for my heart and she got lucky.”
She chuckled. “If she was aiming for your heart, she would have hit it. Fara is one of the best shots around.”
“I’m glad it amuses you,” he said, but liked the sound of her laugh.
“Shame she never pulled it on you-all the first time. Might have made you think twice about hitting a poor old lady again.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? The second time, it wasn’t me.”
“And today?” She looked at him again, igniting the fire in his belly and increasing the blood flow to his cock.
He went over it again, willing her to believe him. “I went to ask her if I could help her. You know, to say sorry for what I did.”
Now she laughed hard. “That is the biggest load of horseshit I ever heard.”
“It’s the truth. I went for an early run, and I don’t know… I decided that it was time to start taking things seriously. I want to be part of the community here, and it seemed the best place to start.”
“There is no community in Wolf Valley. It all went south years ago.”
“When the old alpha died?” he asked, and noticed her stiffen.
“Not at first.” There was a hitch in her voice, things she didn’t want to tell him. Well, he could bide his time. “Then a new sheriff took over, and things went downhill very rapidly. All the good people got out while they could. Now people are afraid to leave, but don’t want to stay.”
“The sheriff?” Cole hadn’t heard about him. “Isn’t he supposed to keep law and order?”
“He does,” she said bitterly. “His own kind of law and order anyway. Bribes, that kind of thing. For anyone who isn’t in his pocket, it’s hell.”
“Then it’s about time there was a new alpha in Wolf Valley.”
She laughed again; this time there was no humour in it. “That is the mystery. Who is the next alpha? No one knows, and I think people have given up waiting for him.”
Reclaim the Wolf: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Wolf Valley Raiders Book 3) Page 2