Carter set off again. Each step increased the intensity of the scent. It made him heady in a way he’d never experience before—as though he’d been downing shots of whiskey, or been smoking something he shouldn’t. The pace of his heart galloped together with his paws. He was desperate to reach the scent, needing to know with every fiber of his being what created it.
He spotted something and skidded to a halt.
It took him a moment to piece together what he was seeing.
Fallen leaves had drifted across a bundle lying on the forest floor before him, partially obscuring it from his vision. Whatever it was, he had no doubt this was the source of the glorious scent that had overtaken his senses. He caught a glimpse of something pale peeking through the crispy brown, reds, and yellows of the fallen leaves. What was that? He took a step forward. Was that a hand? And yes, what he’d first mistaken as roots of some kind was actually a tendril of almost white blonde hair.
His heart stepped up a notch. Was the person dead? No, surely a body wouldn’t smell this way. He’d scented death enough times to know it didn’t smell like this.
Unwittingly, he growled, his upper lip pulling up to expose his canines.
At the sound, the fingers twitched.
Carter fell silent, his ears pricking. The scent of her had masked his usual ability to detect the details about something he’d come across. Normally, he’d have been able to tell a person’s age and sex, if they were hurt or even in heat. He hadn’t been able to detect anything about this one, though, his mind swamped only by his need to be near whatever smelled like chocolate and warmed brandy all in one.
A gentle moan filtered to his ears and broke his paralysis. Forgetting he was still in wolf form, he trotted forward and was able to get a better look. It was a girl.
She moved, as though trying to lift her head, but finding it all too difficult, collapsed to the forest floor again. She was clearly weak. Was she sick, or hurt?
Carter whined and nudged her with his nose. The wetness of his nose caused her to gasp, and he suddenly realized she would be waking to a giant wolf standing over her, most likely wondering if she was going to be dinner.
She woke and tried to scramble away. Her eyes widened, blue, framed with thick lashes, darker than the hair on her head. Her face looked elfin, with pale skin stretched across high cheekbones and a pointed chin. Her lips were naturally pink, with a defined cupid’s bow. She wore a large smock which covered most of her frame, and smears of dirt marked the material. She was exquisite.
He whined again and took a step back, trying to tell her that she didn’t need to be scared. Her eyes only widened more. So many questions raced through his mind. How old was this young woman? Not much more than early twenties, he felt sure. Where had she come from?
He wouldn’t be able to get any answers to his questions while he was in wolf form. Though he’d been enjoying his run through the forest, relishing the quiet it brought to his mind, he had something new to distract him now. He didn’t have to think about his own problems when he was able to focus on someone who looked like they had way more issues than he did.
The longer he spent with her, the more the distracting scent of her faded, allowing him to think again, though it was never gone completely. But with relief, he could tell she was like him. She wasn’t a human, or another kind of supernatural. The girl was a wolf shifter, too.
She was in the middle of nowhere, and, though from the scent of her, he knew she was a shifter, he didn’t recognize her from any surrounding packs. How had she gotten all the way out here on her own?
Carter took a couple of steps back. She’d managed to push herself to sitting now, and was watching him with wide, wary eyes. He lowered his head, and, with a growl, pushed away his wolf. His human form pushed outward, absorbing his wolf’s fur, and his body changed shape. The change was fast—only a matter of seconds—and was as easy to him as shedding the day’s clothes before climbing into bed.
As a shifter herself, he knew this change wouldn’t frighten her. It did, however, leave him utterly naked. He’d abandoned his clothes back near the bike, where he’d first changed to wolf. Normally, his nudity wouldn’t have bothered him. Carter knew he looked good naked. He was bulked with muscle and with barely an ounce of fat on him, and his tan skin looked as though it had been glued directly to the muscles of his abdominals and pectorals. But for once he worried that this young woman would find him more frightening than sexy.
To cover his cock, he dropped to a crouch beside her, his thigh and forearm covering that part of himself. He reached out to her, but she reared back.
“It’s okay.” His voice was low, soothing, like he was talking to a wild animal. “I’m here to help you. Can you stand?”
She hesitated for a moment, her blue gaze flicking across him and over his shoulder to the area behind him, perhaps wondering if it was possible to make a bolt for it, or maybe wondering if he had others with him.
But then she shook her head.
“You can’t walk?” he prompted. Could she speak? Did she even understand English?
“Too weak,” she managed. Her voice was as fragile as a dew studded cobweb in the early morning.
“You’re too weak to walk?”
The girl nodded, strands of her white blonde hair falling over her face, her gaze slipping away from him as though her limitations embarrassed her.
He had no choice but to get back to his feet, but then he stooped again and scooped his hands beneath her body. Almost automatically, her arms seemed to find their way around his neck, holding on, so he was able to lift her from the forest floor. He held her against his torso, cradled in his arms. The oversized smock she wore protected her body from his nakedness.
She was heavier than she looked, her weight surprising him, but he was strong and fit, and he’d easily carry her back to where his bike waited. What he was about to do suddenly dawned on him. It was as though he’d been acting purely instinctively, with no conscious thought to his actions. He’d been fully intending on taking her home. Was that the right thing to do? What else could he do with her? She didn’t look as though she was hurt or injured, and, being a shifter, he didn’t want to take her to a regular hospital anyway. With her shifter genetics, she should recover from whatever had caused her exhaustion quickly enough without needing medical intervention.
She didn’t fight him, or question what he was doing. He glanced at the ground quickly, checking she hadn’t left anything behind, but there was nothing. Did she not have a purse or anything with her? It didn’t matter. There would be time for questions later. He needed to get her home. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but for some reason, the idea of her being out in the middle of the forest, weak and defenseless, did strange things to his insides. It didn’t feel right.
He set off at a fast walk, holding her firmly against him.
He glanced down into her face, and found her staring up at him with those wide blue eyes.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Piper,” the girl said. “My name is Piper.”
Chapter Four
PIPER DIDN’T KNOW HOW many days had passed since she’d run from her home town in the middle of the night. Since then, she’d done everything within her power to put as many miles as possible between her and that place. Despite being aware of the dangers, she’d hitchhiked, run, walked, dragged herself along when exhaustion had gotten too much for her. She’d used what little money she had to catch a bus as far as she could afford to go, but after that she’d been reliant on her own feet and the pity of strangers. She had no plans for where she’d end up, only that she wanted to get as far away as possible.
She gazed up at the man cradling her in his big, muscular arms. From the angle she was at, she got a perfect view of his strong jaw. He glanced down at her in concern, and she noted the green of his eyes. They were a beautiful shape, too, still wolfish even in a human face. His mouth was generous, his nose straight.
Her re
scuer marched forward, not breaking his stride, as though she barely weighed anything at all. She wondered momentarily if she should be frightened. She didn't know this man and, from the size of him, he could crush her in an instant. He could take her, break her, use her any way he wished. They were out here, in the middle of nowhere, and yet she’d allowed him to scoop her up and carry her away as though she’d known him her whole life.
“Where are we going?” she asked. Her voice sounded small, faint, and she didn’t like it.
“Home,” he replied, not even breaking his pace.
“Where’s home?”
“Not far.”
So he was taking her to his house? Again, the thought that perhaps she should be concerned went through her, but she felt safe in his arms. Able to relax for the first time in as long as she could remember. It felt good to give herself over to someone else for a while, and the warmth of his body seeped through the material of her clothes, warding away the chill of the forest floor.
Piper had reached rock bottom when he’d found her. If he hadn’t, she doubted she’d have survived the night. Temperatures dropped below freezing after the sun went down, and while she’d managed to find places to hole up against the cold weather on previous nights, she’d never have had the strength to find anywhere for the night currently encroaching. As much as she’d been determined to run, the lure of the relief of just giving in pulled on her also. She was so tired—tired of everything—and while she wanted to fight for her future, she also wanted to sleep and never wake up.
A wave of fresh exhaustion flooded over her at the steady stride of the man carrying her, his rocking gait, the warmth of his body. She struggled to keep her eyes open, the weight of her lids dragging shut. It was crazy to fall asleep in the arms of a man whose name she didn’t even know yet. He could be a murderer and rapist, for all she knew. But, in her mind, she’d left the danger behind her. Nothing could be as bad as what she’d been trying to escape.
Her eyelids fluttered open again at change in his motion. They’d reached the edge of the forest. Through the tree trunks, the gray of a road lay beyond. The sight made her heart stutter. Roads meant civilization, and civilization meant cameras, and phones, and computers. All things that could be used to track her. At least in the forest, she’d felt comparatively safe, but the forest was likely to kill her, so she had no choice but to accept help.
“I’m going to have to put you down,” the man said. “I need my clothes.”
She nodded, and he lowered her feet to the ground.
Concern glimmered in his green eyes. “Can you stand?”
“I think so.” Just the small rest she’d had between here and where he’d found her had rejuvenated her energy. That, together with his body heat having warmed her, already made her feel better. She was a shifter and healed quickly.
He stepped away from her, and she couldn’t stop her gaze from darting over to him as he strode away. His back muscles flexed as he moved, his ass a perfect, tight peach. Jesus, he was a beautiful man.
He stooped to retrieve a pile of clothing he must have left before shifting, and set about pulling on jeans and a t-shirt, shoving his feet into boots. She noted how he hadn’t put on any underwear and tried not to think too hard about how the thought made her pulse quicken. It almost seemed a shame for him to get dressed, though she had to admit it was easier to think without all that bare skin on display. Not that she’d been in much of a state to think about anything when he’d found her.
He gestured to the machine propped up beneath a tree. “That’s my bike.”
“Bike?”
“Yeah. It’s how I get around. Well, that and by wolf, of course.”
“Of course.” She’d never been on a motorcycle before. Nerves tumbled around her stomach. She must have lost her mind, but she needed help, and this man was offering it to her. She wasn’t too proud to turn it down. One night of rest, and maybe even a good meal, if she was lucky, and she’d be on her way again.
The man swung his leg over the seat, getting himself into position, and then roared the bike to life.
She hesitated. “I don’t even know your name.”
He twisted to look over his shoulder at her, his fingers still gripping the handlebars. “It’s Carter.” He jerked his head. “C’mon. I’m not gonna hurt you.”
“I bet that’s what all the crazies say,” she replied, but in her head she knew that wasn’t true. The people who’d hurt her the most had told her exactly what they planned on doing with her. Even so, she found her feet moving forward, and, before she could talk herself out of it, she’d climbed onto the back, behind the man she now knew was called Carter.
“You’re gonna have to hold on,” he told her, shouting above the roar of the bike. “Don’t worry. I don’t bite.”
She wasn’t so sure about that, but it wasn’t as though she had a whole heap of options.
Piper wrapped her arms around his waist, the hard muscle of his abs beneath his t-shirt pressing against her palms. Even though he’d been carrying her while he was completely naked only minutes before, somehow this felt more intimate. She edged her bottom away on the seat, not wanting to press up against him, knowing he might detect her secret. He might have realized it already, despite her baggy clothes—after all, he’d been carrying her this whole way—but, if he had, he hadn’t mentioned it yet.
Before she’d even caught her breath, the bike was moving. She tightened her hold on Carter, hunching into him the best she could. Her heart thumped, and she clung to him as he navigated the rough terrain out onto the road. The reverberations of the bike pulsed through her thighs and core, and she prayed it wouldn’t have any negative effects.
The bike took them down a narrow road with the forest on both sides, and no sidewalk. Within fifteen minutes, the road had widened, and a couple of other vehicles passed them in the opposite direction. They passed a homestead, and then another. On the side of the road was a signpost.
Welcome to Silver Creek: Population 98.
They were heading into a small town. They drove through Main Street, which contained a grocery store, a barber, and a coffee shop. She wondered how they stayed afloat with such a tiny population, but it looked as though they got by.
Carter turned off Main Street and navigated a couple of blocks. The plots of land were large, with maintained yards, and tidy, whitewashed houses.
When he’d reached what seemed to be the outskirts of town, he pulled over and killed the engine. “We’re here.”
He climbed off the bike and put out a hand to help her off. She took it, his fingers warm and firm. “Thanks.”
She took in the sight of the house they approached, and her jaw dropped. Unlike the more modest houses they’d passed on their way, this place was a mansion. A pillared walkway surrounded the house. Tall windows graced the frontage—she counted ten windows on this side of the house alone. Topiary shrubs took position in huge pots either side of the grand front door. This town was small, but this house dwarfed everything else.
It was clear this was the alpha’s home, which she assumed meant the man beside her now was also the alpha.
From the way he moved, she got the impression he didn’t want anyone else to see her. He ushered her forward, using his body to block her from the rest of the road. He was twice her size, so it was easy enough for him to do. Perhaps she should care more—that maybe he planned on doing something with her he didn’t want others to know about—but staying hidden worked for Piper. She didn’t want anyone to know she was here either.
Carter leaned past her to unlock the door, and then pushed it open. She stepped inside first, glancing around with curiosity. He moved in behind her, pushing the door shut, closing off the outside world. Though she was inside a house with a strange man, Piper allowed herself to breathe. Though he was big and assertive, he didn’t seem intimidating or threatening. She imagined he could be, if he wanted, but so far he’d been nothing but kind to her.
“Come thro
ugh, into the kitchen,” he said, already walking away. “I’ll make you something warm to drink, and food as well. You hungry? You look hungry.”
She nodded, following him. “Starving.”
“Great, I’ll make you something.” He gave his head a slight shake, as though mentally correcting himself. “I mean, great, because I like to cook. Not great because you’re starving.”
She gave an unsure smile. “Okay.”
“And I can find you some clothes to change into,” he said. “What you’re wearing is covered in mud.”
A spurt of adrenaline fired through her. Clothes? Women’s clothes? Did that mean a woman lived here? She hadn’t given any thought to the possibility this man might be mated already and have wolf pups of his own. She didn’t know why she had assumed he was single the moment she saw him. Perhaps it was instinct, or maybe it was wishful thinking. No, she couldn’t think like that. It was the very last thing she needed. She’d only just escaped one man; she didn’t intend on replacing him with another. Besides, considering her current situation, such a thing was impossible.
Even so, she found she couldn’t stop herself from asking. “Your mate’s clothes?”
He stared at her in confused disbelief. “Mate?” Then what she was thinking must have dawned on him as he gave a laugh. “No. No mate. This has been my family’s home for generations. I still have some of my mother’s clothes bundled away somewhere.” He glanced her up and down. “They’ll be far too large for you, but at least they’ll be dry and clean.”
A Baby for the Alpha Page 2