She reached out and stroked Sam’s back. “Shh, it’s okay. I’m okay.”
He shook her off and backed away. Underneath his pelt, muscles bunched. Strange lumps and bumps formed and reformed. His skin and fur roiled, the fur shrinking into itself, pulling away and disappearing as Sam’s human skin stretched over contorted muscle and bone.
There was a series of crunching sounds and his whole body shuddered. When it was all over the wolf was gone. Sam stood in its place. “I can smell blood.” He moved to touch her shoulder. “Where are you hurt?”
This time his shift wasn’t a shock and it sent a wash of pride through her. This was Sam, and he had come for her.
“It’s nothing.” As if his words brought the pain to life, her shoulder began to throb. “He shot me, but it’s fine.” It hurt like hell but she could see Sam was on the edge.
His fear ignited something within her. Her skin began prickling with heat.
The other wolf shifted into a tall, naked man with long black hair and tawny skin, much slimmer than Sam, but lean with muscle. “Are you okay?”
Glenna smiled, and he flashed his white teeth back. She forgot about her aches and pains, forgot about Marsden lying dead at her feet. She forgot about her recent brush with danger. Her skin flashed hot, then cold, then back to hot as her wolf saw another potential mate.
“Hey, Sam, let’s go back to the truck and get her to Lana’s.”
Sam whipped around, teeth bared, shoulders bunched. “You stay the fuck away from her!”
“She needs medical treatment.” The man’s nose quivered. “Man, she smells good.” His black eyes gleamed.
She wanted to move closer to him, to bury her nose in his skin and see if he tasted as good as he smelled. “Mmm, now who are you?” The growl in her voice was almost a purr. She went to move around Sam’s large body to get a better line on the newcomer, but Sam stepped in front of her.
“Hey, baby, I’m Caleb.”
“Where has Sam been hiding you?”
“A better question is where is Sam going to hide you?” Glenna winked at Caleb over Sam’s shoulder while pressing her breasts into his back. She rubbed against him, the feel of his body sending electricity through her. All her aches and pains receded, even the pain in her shoulder becoming just a buzz in the background.
Sam growled. “You said you’d back off, Caleb.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t realize she’d smell so good, or look so good. Don’t you think she deserves a choice?”
“She can’t make a choice in this condition.”
The two men snarling at each other sent a rush of exhilaration through her. She broke away from Sam. Her wolf wanted to flirt, wanted to drive Sam crazy. Wanted a brush with danger. Curving her hips in broad swivels, she approached Caleb, keeping his eyes pinned with hers, fully aware of the increased tension in Sam’s body and reveling in his response. She smelled the musky scent of testosterone on the air, it crackled though her like fresh ozone before a lightning strike.
“Glenna, get away from him.” Sam’s voice was dark and strained.
“Hush, Sam.” She circled the other man, leaning in and sniffing deeply. “He smells delicious. Like hot fires and honey-wine.”
“Man, she’s something.” Caleb ran his eye over her and she preened at his attention. “Tall, strong. She’d be a hell of a mate.”
“Mine.” Sam growled, his voice vibrating with wolf.
Glenna caught the nuance and darted a glance back at him. Something inside her stretched and luxuriated in the coming battle. These men would fight for the right to be her mate. And she would pick the strongest. The winner.
She had no doubt it would be Sam.
Somewhere, under the chaos of the changes rushing through her bloodstream she knew that at this moment, she could push him away and take the other man. Or maybe, find a new mate. But she didn’t want to. Sam was hers. She knew it, like she knew the feel of the beast crawling under her skin.
“She’s not yours, not yet. And I can smell the change on her. Otherwise I’d be challenging you for sure.” Caleb shook his head and backed up a step. Glenna faltered in her circling. “Man, you are just lucky I’m not the kind to take advantage of a woman. We need to get her somewhere safe, or she’ll be shifting here while we’re duking it out.”
“Back away from her or I’m going to lose it.” Sam’s breathing was heavy and fast. The cords on his neck stood out like wires.
“Hey, man, you’re almost gone, aren’t you?” Caleb sounded incredulous. “The fever has you in its teeth. If you don’t claim her, you’re fucked.”
“I won’t do it while she’s unchanged. She needs to be clear minded. Otherwise, she will resent me. If you don’t back up, I won’t be able to stop myself and she’ll be claimed before we’re done here.” Sam’s voice broke. “I can’t lose another mate.”
“Man, this isn’t like Serena.”
Glenna growled. “I knew I smelled you on her.” She left Caleb and went back to Sam, the fierce bite of jealousy stinging in her soul. She ran her hands over Sam’s bare shoulder, down his muscled arm, where all the detailing stood out from the blood pumping through his muscles. She forgot about the hot Latino shifter. All she wanted now was to get Sam to focus on her, see her and not his ex, Serena.
“Sam?” She rubbed his tense chest, slid her palms over his slick, sweat-soaked skin. She nibbled along his neck and up his jaw line.
Sam’s breathing came hard and fast. She licked his pulse, flicking her tongue in time to the beat.
“Hey, man, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Are you claiming her, or are we taking her to Lana’s?” She barely heard Caleb’s words, she was so focused on Sam.
“She hasn’t changed yet.” He pushed Glenna back and held her away from his body. “I won’t let her take me as a life mate when her brain is clouded. I’d never know for sure if she wanted me, or if I was just convenient.”
Somewhere in behind the desire shooting thorough her like a star, Glenna heard the anguish in his voice. She ran her hands along Sam’s chest and trailed her fingers down, across his washboard stomach aiming for his cock. “You’re sad, Sam. I can fix that.”
His hand grabbed hers, holding it in a bruising grip. “Stop. I’m taking you to Lana’s, before we both go too far.” He caught her other hand, but it didn’t stop her from rubbing her body against his bare leg. He gritted his teeth. “Caleb, if we get in that truck together I’ll kill you. And I can’t let you take her. I’m going to have to leave you here, man.”
“Hell.” Caleb gave a disgusted shake of his head, his long hair moving from side to side. “I’ll text Ian again. He’ll have dropped off Alastair at the school by now. He can swing by and help me clean up this mess. You just get her the hell away from me before you either do it right in front of me, or kill me for thinking of it.” He wiped a hand across his brow. “Go on, get! The two of you are killing me already.”
“Come on.” Sam pulled Glenna forward.
A thrill shot through her. Even with Caleb giving in, Sam didn’t want the other man near her. He wanted her.
Need ran under her skin through her veins, throbbing until she knew that she wasn’t giving up. Sam was what she wanted, and she would have him. Despite his reluctance, she knew he wanted her too. She’d have him on her own in the Jeep. She’d make him take her as his mate.
Inside she felt a strong sense of agreement. She didn’t question where it came from. It seemed natural, as if the wild and crazy side of her had become sentient.
Chapter Forty-seven
Sam wanted nothing more than to shift back to wolf and take on Caleb, but he’d been here before and he knew, nothing good came from fighting over a woman who didn’t really want him. Once they’d moved out of sight and smell of Caleb, the tight muscles in the back of his neck relaxed.
Glenna leaned into him and glided her hand up the skin of his arm, causing all the small hairs to stand erect.
He snagged her hand and moved her a
foot away. “You need to stop touching me.”
“No.” He couldn’t see her smile, but he felt it in the dark. “I’ve been alone far too long, I need to feel you.” Glenna’s hand stroked down his back, and along his ass, sliding between his legs.
He shuddered, his breathing going ragged. They’d finally reached the Jeep, thank God. “Glenna, we need to get you to Lana’s.”
“I don’t want to go back there. I want to do it here.”
He walked her around to the passenger side and unlocked it, unwilling to let her be far away from him until he had her safely inside the vehicle. The door opened and the smell of Caleb flooded his nostrils. The urge to go back and take out his rival shot through him and his lips pulled back.
“Shush, shush.” Glenna framed his face with her hands and pulled him down to her lips. He sank in, drowning in the flavor of her mouth.
Hands roaming, tearing what remained of her shredded t-shirt from her body. He needed to be close to her. The fever pulsed inside him and he didn’t care anymore. He would have her and he would bite her and then she would be his.
“Aren’t you gone yet?” Sam whipped around at Caleb’s voice coming up the hill and tore himself away from Glenna to face his rival.
“Wait,” she said.
“No.” He turned back to Caleb. “Stay the fuck away, man.”
“Well, then you’d better get her ass in the truck and drive because between her pheromones and your challenge I’m about to come up there and take you on. Then she’d have a choice.”
“No!” He picked Glenna up and wedged her into her seat.
“I want to stay here.” She tried to get out. He pushed her in and slammed the door.
“Stay.” The fever had him in its grip. It thundered in his ears. The world blurred and the shift threatened.
Then it all receded.
Caleb backed down the hill. “Get in the fucking truck, man, and go!”
Sam went. He threw the Jeep in reverse and peeled out of the dirt road.
Glenna’s hand crept onto his knee and slid up his thigh, stroking the sensitive spot nestled in the space between his hard-on and his leg.
“Pull over, Sam.” The fever and his wolf both agreed with her.
“If we stop now, I will fuck you and I will bite you. And you will be mine.”
“Mmm, that sounds lovely.” She crawled over the emergency brake and tried to sit in his lap. He pushed her back.
“You need to finish your change and choose me when you can think clearly.” She had to choose him, there was no other alternative. If he thought she’d go through the change and not choose him, he couldn’t do this—couldn’t take her back to the cabin and let Lana lock her away from him. The only thing letting him fight the fever rising within was the lie he told his wolf, that she’d choose him.
“I want you, Sam. I know you think it is just the change pushing me, but it’s not. It’s you.”
She leaned in closer, taking his cock in her hand. The heat burned him, and the car wavered out of its lane.
He dragged it back, and then he did as she asked and found a pullover. He turned the car off, pushed his seat back and yanked her onto his lap where she could ride him.
He anchored his hands in her curls and crushed her lips to his mouth. Savagely grinding his lips and tongue, knowing deep in his brain that he needed to stop. Needed to pull away from her and knowing he couldn’t.
She rubbed against him. His hands moved down her back, down to her sweet ass. He gripped her, rubbing her again and again against him in a dry fuck until she shrieked in pleasure, shuddered against him, and came.
He pushed her back into her side of the truck, reached into the back and grabbed his clothes. “Will that hold you until we can get you somewhere safe? Or do you need me to put you on the gearshift?”
Her quick indrawn breath showed he’d scored a hit.
“You jackass.”
“Look, this isn’t you, it’s the change. You just want me for a quick fuck.” He opened the door and began to get dressed on the side of the road.
“That’s not fair.”
“It’s more fair than you’re being to me. You don’t know me. It’s the chemicals changing your body and when they stop you won’t want me. And I can’t do that again.” Memories of the pain of Serena’s rejection pulsed through him. “You don’t know what the hell you’re doing. You are screwing with my life.”
Her temporarily sobered face stared at him in the poorly lit cab.
“When the fever possesses a wolf and he doesn’t get his mate, he goes insane. I’ve been there and I’m not going there again.”
She drew back to her side of the truck, almost plastered against the metal door. “I love you, Sam. I realized it when I was alone, running from everything. You were the only one I wanted to see.”
Her words tore at his resolve. “You don’t know what you’re saying. You aren’t one of us and you don’t understand what the bite means. You will never have another man. There will never be anyone for you but me.”
“And what’s wrong with that?”
“Everything!” He hit the roof of the Jeep with his fist. “You didn’t pick me, you didn’t have a choice. You only want me because your wolf says you want a mate. It’s the change pushing you, just like the fever pushed me to Serena, even though she didn’t want me.”
“I am not Serena. I do want you and I’ll want you when this is over.”
He looked at her swollen mouth and hungry eyes. For a moment he considered taking her at her word. Then he remembered how strongly she’d come on to Caleb and he knew it would be a mistake. He’d claim her, and then he’d regret it for the rest of his life. Better to go to the dark side and never be human again for the rest of his life than to feel the pain of that kind of rejection.
“I’m taking you to Lana’s and then I’m getting the fuck away from you. Then you’ll be able to choose the right mate, not some half-wild reject.”
She shook her head and growled. “You aren’t listening to me. Again.” Something wild slid behind her eyes. And he really looked at her. She’d gone from horny to angry, fast. Too fast.
“Damn, we’re out of time. I can’t stay here and argue with you. We have to get somewhere now.” She was closer to the change than he’d realized and they were too far away from Lana’s.
“Glenna, I need to take you somewhere you’ll be safe.” He had no choices anymore. He was out of time. They’d never make it. If she shifted here, she’d be out and running wild. He had no backup—he’d lose her in the trees. Or, even worse, he’d bite her and take her, despite her vulnerability.
His phone rang. “Shit, I forgot to check in. Sam here.”
“Where are you?” The fear and concern in Lana’s voice stroked his tension higher.
“Sorry, we had a problem. I was going to call.”
“You were supposed to be back here by now. What’s going on?”
“Lana. She’s too close. We won’t make it back to your place.”
“Where are you taking her, Sam?”
“I have no idea.”
“Ridge School. It’s closer and they have facilities.”
“You want me to take a female about to change to a school filled with adolescent werewolves? Are you crazy?” And Alastair. Always fucking Alastair. He held back his growl.
“They have a place off the main campus. I’ll call ahead and they’ll direct you there when you get to the gate. You won’t even have to take her within sniffing distance of the dorms. Unless you can make it back here?”
“Make the call, tell them I’m on my way, but, Lana, make it someone other than Alastair who meets us.”
God, he must be desperate. He was too far gone not to be lost to the fever, and she was too far gone for him not to take her somewhere. He’d drop her off at the school and then he’d shift to wolf and run wild. He’d never see her again, but she’d have a chance at happiness—with someone else. Just not the spelltalker. He could face al
most anyone, but not Alastair. If he saw him, he didn’t know if he could turn her over.
***
Glenna’s temper ran high.
“I don’t understand. Why can’t we go back to the cabin? It was only an hour drive to get there from the school.”
“We’re in the wrong direction. It’s another hour’s driving and we won’t make it.” Sam wasn’t even looking at her. “I won’t make it.”
Her lips pursed. She wanted him flush against her skin that flamed with heat. “I’m so hot.” She pulled her t-shirt off.
“Damn it, Glenna, put that on.”
“No. Don’t say you want me to. I know you don’t.” Her hand curled on the back of his neck. “I can smell the need in you.” The truck shimmied.
“Glenna, stay on your side. We’re going to get into an accident.”
“Pull over and we’ll do it right here.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. She knew he wanted to pull over, why was he fighting her? Fighting her need?
“Glenna, we’re almost there. If you can’t control yourself I’m going to have to put you in the back.”
She pouted. “But I want to be here, with you.” She ran her hand over his thigh. She loved the feel of him pressing against the tight fabric of his jeans. “God, you are so hard.”
“Put the shirt back on.” He gritted out. “I’m pulling over and putting you in the back.”
“No. I’ll be good.” She didn’t want to be good. She wanted to be bad. Very, very bad. She wanted to strip him down and roll in him. Smell that enticing smell that teased her nose and had her dying to taste his skin. Sink her teeth into his flesh and suck hard.
The gates of the school came into view.
“Thank God.”
They drove up to the guard. Sam rolled down the window.
“Hi there, bet you didn’t think you’d ever see this.”
“Hi there!” Glenna waved at the old security guard. He smelled good too. Like warm leather.
“You’d better take her in.” The guard glared at them. “You’re supposed to drive to the old stable.”
Blood Enforcer (Wolf Enforcers Book 2) Page 22