Controlling the panic that threatened to rise within him, Clay took two determined strides toward the road then sprinted toward the Range Rover. It would be the last thing they were expecting and he hoped to use the element of surprise to aid his escape.
The vehicle skidded to a stop, rubber squealing on asphalt, smoke rising from the wheels.
Clay leapt onto the hood of the Range Rover, then onto the roof and over the other side, landing on the road behind his enemies. They had no chance of turning around in time to stop him and the only choice left to them was to exit the vehicle. He hoped to be in the woods and running by the time they got the doors opened.
He ran along the road, arms pumping to give himself more forward momentum. Just a few yards before he got to the trees. A screeching sound ahead made him jerk his head up as a second Range Rover, identical to the first, skidded into the street. The doors opened and three men and a woman got out. The men had tazers in their hands, the woman seemed unarmed. All wore black.
Clay halted, adrenaline surging through his body. He felt confused and trapped and the crazy part was that the confusion was caused by the sight of the woman. As soon as he saw her, a part of him deep inside cried out in recognition. Did he know her? No, he had never seen her before in his life. But as he looked at her attractive face, long auburn hair tied up on her head, and womanly curves, he felt as if his inner wolf was howling with longing. He had read about this emotion and knew it was called the Call but he had never experienced it before now. Of course he wouldn't have experienced it before because the Call only happened once in a lycan's life, the moment a mate was recognized.
So this could not be the Call because the woman standing before him was one of them, a member of the Temple of Thul. She was here to capture him.
Shaking off the feeling and concentrating on his escape, he ran toward the three men. The fair-haired one had his tazer out and trained on Clay. He pulled the trigger and the electrode darts shot out, trailing wires behind them like spider webs.
Clay dropped to the road and rolled. The electrodes passed above him and the man cursed. The dark-haired man was pulling his own tazer from his belt but before he had a chance to use it, Clay had reached him and sent a fist into his face. The man went down clutching his nose, the tazer dropping harmlessly to the asphalt.
Clay whirled and sent an elbow into the gut of the fair-haired man, dropping him to the road alongside his colleague.
The woman's green eyes were wide with shock, her mouth open slightly as she watched her companions fall.
The driver pulled a pistol from his belt, shouting at Clay to freeze.
The doors of the first vehicle opened and four men spilled out, all brandishing pistols. They had obviously decided Clay was too dangerous to try and take down using tazers and were utilizing more deadly force.
Clay grabbed the woman by the throat and positioned himself behind her.
'Let me go or she dies,' he said. There was no way he would hurt her but he hoped that their preconceived ideas about him, about what he was, would make them take him seriously. Being so close to the woman set off savage sparks in his body. She was beautiful and plush and her curves seemed to form a secret geometry that awakened his inner wild lust. He could smell her fear but also arousal. No, this can't be happening. She is the enemy.
Yet his instincts told him otherwise.
The driver aimed his gun at Clay. 'You think we care of she dies?' He pulled the trigger and the gunshot sounded like a crack of thunder in the early morning.
Clay barely had time to react. He pulled her to one side and twisted his body to shield her. Every action was made instinctively, without thinking.
He felt a sudden stabbing heat in his side as the bullet hit him. The woman screamed. The searing pain almost made him black out but Clay's protective instinct kept him moving. He dragged the woman to the trees. She came willingly.
Another shot rang out and the bark of a pine tree exploded in showers of wooden shards.
'We need to get to cover,' Clay told the woman.
She nodded and followed him into the trees.
If he was alone, he could have shifted and moved much more quickly through the woods. But now he had the woman to think of. He just hoped she wouldn't hold him back enough to get them both killed.
What the hell was he thinking protecting one of the enemy? He should just leave her here and go. That was the only option that assured his safety but he couldn't bring himself to leave her.
She seemed placid enough as she followed him. How had she become involved with the Temple of Thul? He had plenty of questions but for now they had to wait. There were armed men coming through the trees behind them.
A sharp stab of pain in his left side slowed him for a moment and he grimaced against the agony of moving forward. He leaned against a tree, breathing hard, resting his forehead on his arm.
'Are you okay?' the woman asked.
'Do you really care? You came here to kill me.'
'No, that isn't true...'
'Or capture me, which is the same thing.'
She fell silent.
'What's your name?' he asked to distract himself from the pain.
'Lucinda. Lucinda Everett.'
'I guess you already know I'm Clay Adams, sheriff of the town you just invaded.'
She cast her green eyes back along the path they had travelled. 'I think they're close, we need to move.'
'What do you care? They're your friends.'
'They shot at me.' She seemed confused as if she didn't know that getting into bed with snakes would get you bitten.
'With friends like that, who needs enemies?'
'They aren't my friends,' she protested.
He managed to stand up straight, the pain subsiding. He would heal from the wound and his lycan abilities meant he would heal faster than a human but it still felt like a fire had been lit in his side.
'It's a couple of miles to where we're headed,' he said, 'but there's a place ahead we can lose those men.'
'You can just leave me here if you want,' she offered.
That would suit him just fine but he had to protect her. There were still feelings swirling around inside his head and heart that he had no explanation for.
'You're coming with me.'
She nodded and they started up the side of the mountain again.
Clay watched her as they fled their pursuers. She was a big woman and something about that appealed to him. She was also pretty and despite the circumstances seemed to have an air of innocence about her. But the biggest draw was the fact that his wolf instincts told him he had just met his mate.
CHAPTER THREE
Run
Lucinda felt breathless as they scrambled up the side of the mountain and not all of that was because of the physical exertion. The man leading her though the woods, Clay Adams, was nothing like she had expected.
He had an air of confidence and control despite the fact he had been shot and his calmness seemed to infect her because despite the armed men following them, she felt an inner sense of peace.
The air around Clay seemed to crackle with his powerful aura as he moved his lean, muscular frame. He had collar-length dark hair and his face was ruggedly handsome in a way that made her heart pound when he spoke to her. She had to remind herself that despite the fact he had rescued her from a bullet, he was a shifter. His kind were killers. He could be leading her into the wilderness to murder her.
He stopped and pointed to an outcropping of rock. 'There.'
She followed him to the rocks and he pulled at branches and bushes, revealing a tunnel that led into darkness. This was no cave; it was literally a small tunnel and she worried she wouldn't be able to fit inside.
'In there?' she asked, praying he'd say no.
He nodded. 'We can hide inside. They'll think they lost us.' He gestured to the opening in the rock. 'You first.'
'I...I don't think I'll fit inside there.'
'You're not claustro
phobic are you?'
She shook her head. 'If you'd seen some of the apartments I've lived in, you wouldn't need to ask that question.'
'So get in. Quickly.'
'In case you hadn't noticed, I'm plus-sized.'
He nodded. 'I noticed.'
'That hole isn't plus-sized.'
'It's larger inside. You'll fit. Now move.'
'Isn't there another way?'
He strode over to her and grabbed her arm, leading her forcefully to the tunnel. 'If you don't get in there now, they'll find us. They already took a shot at you, do you want to risk that again?'
She shook her head. His grip on her arm was strong and even though it hurt a little, when he released her she missed his touch. Steeling herself, she got on all fours and crawled into the hole. When she was halfway inside, she was sure she could feel Clay's eyes on her ass but discarded the notion as ridiculous. The cave was much larger inside than it looked from outside, just as Clay had said, but beyond the dim light trickling in through the small opening, the place was in blackness. She got all the way in and sat against the cool rock wall, now feeling exhausted from the scramble up the mountain. And they had barely left town. Just how far was Clay going to take her?
That thought made her feel suddenly hot and she moved her face into the shadow so he couldn't see her as he crawled into the confined space.
He put a finger to his lips and sat facing her. The cave might have been larger than it looked but it was still small enough that they were very close to each other. Lucinda felt a tightness in her throat as she felt Clay's eyes on her.
He smelled manly, a mixture of musk and nature, and she breathed him in as deep as she dared without being obvious. She guessed that since he was a shifter, his own sense of smell was heightened and wondered if he could smell the mix of fear and arousal she felt at this moment.
Stop thinking like that. He's a monster. A killer.
Yet so far he had done nothing but protect her from killers.
From outside the mouth of the cave came sounds of men talking and moving through the undergrowth. Lucinda froze and closed her eyes, silently praying they wouldn't be found. She could feel Clay's body heat against her skin and hear her own heart tripping in her chest.
The sounds came closer and she tensed, ready to flee. But she was trapped in here. Trapped with a werewolf shifter like the one that had killed her parents. She wondered if she was on the menu to be Clay's next meal. That thought sent her mind down different roads and the shiver she felt in her body was nothing to do with the cold.
Get a hold of yourself. This is crazy.
Clay leaned forward and whispered in her ear. 'They're gone.'
She had been so preoccupied she hadn't even noticed the sounds outside receding into the distance.
'What now?' she whispered.
'Now we hole up for a few days.'
'In here?'
'No, there's a place I know. A cabin.'
'Well that all sounds wonderful but I need to get home.'
He shook his head. 'You're coming with me. I don't trust you enough to let you go.'
She felt heat on her cheeks. 'You don't trust me? What the hell...'
'You came to Faith to help them capture me. Why should I trust you to keep your mouth shut about where I'm going?'
'But I don't know where you're going!'
'I just told you I'm going to hide on the mountain in a cabin. They might think I've left the area, run away to another state. I can't risk you telling them otherwise.'
'Then why the hell did you tell me where you're going? You could have just gone and left me to go home.'
He shrugged. 'They took a shot at you, Lucinda. Do you really think you'll be safe if you go home?'
He had a point. But she didn't want to spend the rest of her life running from men with guns. She didn't want to spend a few days holed up in a cabin with a shifter either, no matter how good-looking and alluring he may be.
'You don't have a choice,' he said, as if reading her mind. 'You either come with me willingly or I'll take you there by force. There's no other option.'
'Because you don't trust me,' she said.
'That's right.'
He had a point there too. She had come here to be part of his capture. But knowing he didn't trust her made her feel worse than being on the run.
Finally she weighed up her possible courses of action. Go willingly with Clay and spend a couple of days hidden away in a cabin or try to run only to have him forcibly take her there. The thought of the second option made her feel hot inside.
'Okay, let's go,' she said, crawling for the tunnel mouth. If she got out first and he was still inside when she started to run...
There was no way she could outrun him was there? And if she did, he was probably right; she wouldn't be safe at home. The Temple had contacts and agents everywhere.
Still, she could go on the run and spend her time in hotels. Much better than a cabin in the middle of nowhere, even if she would be alone.
Wriggling through the opening, she made up her mind. She was going to make a run for freedom. He could chase her down if he wanted to but she would at least be able to tell herself that she tried to escape.
The moment she got out of the small cave, she scrambled to her feet and started down the slope toward town. The descent made her run faster and she started pumping her legs and arms, letting gravity do most of the work as she flew along the leaf-covered trail. The ground was uneven and she had to mind her step as she ran but she didn't falter and she didn't fall.
She didn't slow at all until a pair of strong arms slid around her waist. She screamed with surprise. She hadn't heard him coming up behind her at all. He had been silent and fast.
Clay picked her up and hoisted her over his shoulder. Despite her weight, he handled her as if she were as light as a bag of feathers.
'And you wonder why I can't trust you,' he said, carrying her back up along the trail.
She knew he was a lycan and had an inner wolf but the way he had caught her so quickly and silently, the strength with which he carried her, was more superhuman that she had thought possible.
'I won't run,' she said, 'just put me down.' Being carried was something she had never experienced before and she was sure no ordinary man would be able to handle her the way Clay handled her. She felt uneasy in this position, totally under his control and exposed.
Yet something about Clay's manhandling of her, the way he could so easily master her, made her body tingle excitedly.
She relaxed in his grip and let him take her wherever he wanted.
CHAPTER FOUR
Haven
After a half hour, Clay set Lucinda down and let her walk. They were so deep in the woods now, so far up the mountain, that she had nowhere to run to. As soon as her feet touched the ground and she stepped away, trying to get her legs to work properly after being carried for so long, Clay already missed the feel of her against him. During the walk here, he had let his heightened senses drink in the scent of her. The subtle tones of the pheromones on her skin sent a signal to his brain that Lucinda was aroused. In response, his body tightened and hardened, yearning for her.
Fighting the need to throw her to the ground and mount her, he had gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the soft warm feeling of the back of her thigh beneath his hand. Even through the denim of her black jeans, he could feel her warmth. If he just slid his hand a few inches up, he would encounter the swell of her backside.
Now she was walking ahead of him, striding on through the trees wordlessly. Clay watched the sway of her hips and the seductive movement of her thighs and ass through her clothing. The attraction he felt was purely animal lust but he knew there was something deeper at work, something more primal that aroused his wolf nature. The desires of his wolf nature were not something he could ignore for long. Eventually, they consumed him because the wolf part of him could be much stronger than the human part.
'Just over the next ridge,' h
e told her as they ascended a rocky slope.
Pretending to ignore him, she strode ahead. For a girl with curves, she was certainly fit.
*
Lucinda reached the crest of the ridge, looked down at the view below, and gasped. A small clear lake sat nestled among the trees and next to the lake squatted a log cabin. Lucinda had to admit that the scene was idyllic. From her vantage point on the ridge, she could see the vista of mountains stretching away into the distance. She was always in awe when she saw rugged beauty like this.
Clay came to a stop beside her and she felt herself falling for another kind of rugged beauty.
Stop that, she told herself, he's one of them. They killed your parents.
Ignoring Clay, she set off down the ridge toward the cabin.
She could sense him behind her and had that feeling again that his eyes were on her, roaming over her curves and seeing through her clothing.
Probably sizing up his next meal, she thought. But Clay's eyes on her didn't worry her at all. As she scrambled down the pine-covered rocks toward the lake, she felt appreciated in a way that she had never felt in her entire life.
Get a grip, Lucinda, she chided herself, then realized she needed to literally get a grip as her hand slipped from the rock she had been holding onto and she felt gravity pulling her downward to the rocks below. She barely had time to scream before she saw the world flicker and tumble in her vision. She was falling. Down a very steep rocky ridge. This was going to hurt.
The air was suddenly knocked out of her lungs as she landed on the dirt and she made a 'whoof'ing sound. Pain shot through her back. All she could see was rocks and pine needles and sky, tumbling and revolving before her eyes. She thought she heard Clay shout, 'Lucinda!' but she could have imagined that and it might be her own inner voice shouting at her. She wasn't sure of anything anymore. Everything was tumbling and spinning and she felt pain shoot along her back. Then she felt her head hit something solid and blackness crept into her vision and mind until it engulfed everything.
Awareness came back to her slowly. The first thing that came to her through the blackness was sound. Someone moving around close to her. She heard birds in the distance, singing happily while she lay here in total darkness. Her sense of smell came alive next and she recognized the bitter odour of coffee brewing. That was a happy smell which she associated with meeting friends at Starbucks. But she was outdoors, not at Starbucks, so how could she smell coffee? She remembered being on the ridge and falling.
Clay's Instinct (BBW Paranormal Romance) (Wolf Call) Page 2