I run out into the living room to see her through the window, making a wild dash down the slope. There’s at least two feet of fucking snow on the ground. She’s strong, fast, and determined, and it seems that she’s put quite a few meters between my cabin and herself.
Oh for Fuck’s sake! That damn woman!
I race out my bedroom, burst through the cabin doors, and go after her.
“Hey, where the hell are you going?” I call after her. She doesn’t look back and gains some speed. She’s got a limp keeping her down, but she’s giving me a chase.
She chances a glance back at me, her auburn hair flying in the wind. “Leave me alone. I have to find the lodge or he’ll give my rental to someone else.” She has one of my coats on, but it barely fits her. The audacity! I charge after her, determined to have her under my wing again.
I can’t let her leave. Not yet.
I get close to her, lunge at her hips and hike her up over my shoulder. She kicks and pounds my back with her wispy balled hands. I barely feel it.
"You're not dying on my watch!" I haul her ass back to my cabin, so she doesn't cause any attention to my spot. The snow crunches under my boots as I barrel through the snow back to my front door.
This girl finally got the message and stops struggling. Instead, she lets out irritated huffs.
“Your watch? Who said you had to watch me?”
I scoff at her ignorance. “You rolled down a hill and rammed into my cabin. I don’t even know where you came from or why you came here. Furthermore, you’re in no position to be walking out here all by yourself without a weapon or anything to protect you. You are on my watch, sweetheart. So that means you do as I say and listen to me.” I smile at my own words. Yes, she has to do everything I say…
“Put me down!” She jerks her body in a weak ass attempt to break my hold or balance. My hand takes a swat at her ass and she yelps. Her flesh jiggled against my hand and I felt it against my shoulder. My cock throbs, each vein pulsing with the need to fuck her silly.
The way her auburn hair frames her face and those green emerald eyes is dangerous. I’ve never seen this combo before. And I like owning rare things.
“Listen here, you can’t go anywhere right now!” I tighten my grip on her legs, savoring the soft touch of her body.
“Why?” Her voice is low, almost like a whisper. I don’t feel where she even wants me to let her go. And I won’t.
“Did you not see that snow? There’s another blizzard due in two hours. There’s nothing remotely close to any rental lodges around here. You want to die? Be my fucking guest, but you’re not doing it on my watch. You’re gonna have to wait.”
She stays quiet. It’s annoying that I don’t even know her name still. I’m going to fix that.
“But…”
I grunt and stomp up the stairs to my door, kicking the door open and walking inside. I stomp the snow off at the stoned flooring part of my entrance and kick them off. I throw this woman back onto the couch and cross my arms. A faint whiff of her perfume hits me. It’s floral and matches her. Sitting up, she pouts and nestles herself in the corner of the couch.
“And you’re not even wearing enough to survive the cold. What—what the hell? Who does that?”
She was desperate. I had just answered my own question. Only a desperate woman would do this type of thing. Right then and there, I got the feeling that she was lying to me or at least withholding the honest truth.
I squint at her. She must realize that I'm getting suspicious because she sighs deeply.
“Look. I can’t go back home. I’d rather that no one knows that I’m even out here.”
Well, that’s weird. Still dangerous and not smart for a woman like her to be alone, but…weird that we’re both trying to keep low profiles.
She starts talking again, “You don’t seem like a bad guy at all. I’m not here to do bad things either. I just…I think I got lost looking for the lodge.”
That broken look she gives me through those emerald eyes concerns me. I want to make her tell me why, but I’d only scare her.
“It’s the morning. Let’s chat about this over some food.”
4
Lucas
I bring two plates out into the living room. She's in front of the TV, flipping through channels when she hears me coming from behind. She looks over her delicate shoulder and changes the channel again. She gasps and fumbles with the remote control in an attempt to change channels, but it was too late.
I look at the TV and see this woman’s face plastered all over it.
“Whoa, what the hell?”
She turned around swiftly, sliding her body down into the couch as if she could just disappear.
“This morning we have sad news, a girl named Claire Weston has gone missing…” There’s footage of her family and friends worrying over here. And all I can think is how this woman is going to cause my cover to be blown. Shit!
Claire, that’s her name, huh?
“Oh no…” She buries her face into her hands with a soft groan. “If I could’ve just called Peyton back to let her know I was okay…” She curses.
I sit down next to her on the couch with the plates of food. I set them down on the wooden table and stare at the TV some more until she finds the power button on the remote and cuts it off.
“Hmm, you must be special to be on TV after a few hours.” I scratch my chin and run my eyes down her body and back up to her face.
She shot me an angry glare. “How do you know I wasn’t missing for over a day?” Her body is still balled up from being outed on the news. Well, at least I know her name now.
“You wouldn’t survive out in the wilderness for more than twenty-four hours.” I point out, shoveling a fork into my eggs.
"Yes, I can! I've gone camping before. Why do you think I'm in the mountains in the first place?"
“Camping. Funny.” She was amusing, really. I like that trait in women. It was especially appealing on her.
There’s a spark in her eyes that catches me off guard. Like she learned something just now that would bring me to my knees.
I laugh off the thought since the only thing that could bring someone to their knees here is my cock. Claire can’t overshadow me. I won’t let her.
“You know, you shouldn’t be too haughty. I’m sure you’re not that good at things either.” She crosses her arms now and turns to face me more. Her emeralds are piecing me apart, revealing things to her without my permission. I get unsteady and puff my chest up.
“Say what? What do you presume to know about me?” I stop eating and stare at her. If only I could yank those legs apart and show her who’s really in charge here and show her what I’m really good at.
She smirks and lowers her head down. “That you’re not some scary mountain man or lumberjack or whatever. You don’t even look the part.” She glances at me briefly, her sexy gaze washing over my body. “Well, maybe just a little, but I bet you’re a snob, a rich one too.”
“Snob? You’re gonna insult me when it’s only a few inches between you and that snow?” Where’s she getting at? My heart races against my chest, and it confuses me that someone who isn’t even a man is making me nervous.
“And risk me telling the whole world where to find Lucas Zander?”
My body temperature drops to that of outside.
Goddamnit. How’d she know?
I groan. “Oh fuck…” and furiously dig at my temples.
“That’s right. I wasn’t going to say anything. I don’t care what you do as long as it doesn’t involve hurting me.”
“Or turning into a wolf and biting me,” she adds after a few seconds.
Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck.
Seems like this woman keeps up with the current events. She has to if she knows who I am. But I’m not going to hurt her. I’m not into hurting women. The only thing I want to do to this one is give her pussy enough cock to make her unable to walk for a week. She wouldn’t be able to run away from m
e either. She deserves it. I feel a bead of pre-cum against my groin from the excitement.
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“It took until the morning to figure it out. Like I told you, you looked familiar.” She taps her chin as if she has just solved a big mystery. And she has. I’ve worked too fucking hard to run again.
“I know that wolf looked extra big and furry when I was coming down the slope. Are you really a shifter? Or is that just a rumor? Like the other rumors about you?”
I stand and loom over her to gain control of the situation. I don’t care if I’m raging hard or if my hard cock bumps her in the face.
She tries not to stare at the obvious but swallows and looks off to the side.
“So how much?” If there’s anything valuable I’ve learned in life, it’s that there’s a price to everything and everyone.
“Huh?”
“To keep your damn mouth shut about me.” I tap my foot, waiting for an answer. “How much?”
Claire waves her hand dismissively. "I don't want your money." It comes as a shock. But then again, it shouldn't. Claire isn't like the other women I've fucked in my life. There's something under her looks that other women have lacked in. That's finesse, that's smarts. She's the whole damn package, and I want to tear it open and stick my cock in it.
"Oh, that's right?" I grin like I've suddenly obtained the upper hand. Because I have. "You're running from something, aren't you?"
She doesn’t speak. Just lowers her sexy little gaze and fumbles with a loose string on her jeans.
“Hmph. I’ll make you a deal. You stay here with me for another month. I keep you safe and don’t rat your ass out and you do the same for me. No one would think to look here for you.”
“No, absolutely not. I have places to go. I’m still too close for comfort.”
She thinks this rebellious thing is cute, doesn’t she? It’s ticking me off by the minute. Claire needs to listen. And to me only.
Does she want to become wolf food? Bear fodder? I knew for a fact that the mountain men further north were a hell of a lot grumpier than I was. And yup, I'm not the only shifter out here. I'm not worried about my own kind though. My time here revealed natural wolves were roaming around these parts.
I tighten my jaw. “You don’t have a damn choice, woman.”
Claire scowls and purses her lips. “I have a name. It’s Claire!”
My balls tighten. I like that she’s feisty. I also like that she’s not afraid of me and of that fact that I am what I am. But I was only a man standing in front of her. The wolf was different. The wolf would claim, no questions asked. I have to keep my animal at bay.
She raises an eyebrow and pouts her lips in defiance, and I see a glimpse of her fiery side which pulls my cock in further.
She’s going to be mine.
And it’s going to be the first time I let something of mine go. Because at the end of the month, she has to go. We need to split and forget this whole thing ever happened.
Heavy boots thud their way up my stairs. I glance out the window to see Sheriff Bailey's police truck out front.
“Oh fuck,” I growl under my breath.
I grit my teeth and dash over to Claire, throwing her over my shoulder. Thankfully she doesn’t put up another damn fuss.
Sheriff Bailey’s hard fat fists bang on my door about three times before he lets out an irritated gruff at the door.
“I know you’re in there, mountain boy.”
He’s lucky he’s the sheriff or else I’d have fucking knocked his face in with a studded fist. No one calls me a boy. I am a man. More man enough than he could ever hope to be.
I place Claire on my bed, and a flash of thoughts go through me about pushing her back and tearing her clothes off to expose her to me. I keep myself in line and shrug off the heady thoughts that make me growl like a starving wolf.
"You have company out here?" She doesn't move around on the bed. Instead, she looks around my room with curiosity.
“No, I don’t. Now hush up and don’t say a word.” I point my finger at her to drive my message home. Claire drags one leg over the other and gives me a heated stare.
My attention goes straight to her creamy thighs.
“Hey, wanna talk to me more gently?” she hisses.
There’s more knocking, and I know Sheriff Bailey would be the type to try to open my door. Even without a search warrant. Crooked ass cop.
“Hush your mouth, woman.”
I close the door behind me and stomp back into the living room, fists balled.
I growl, crossing my arms. “Who the fuck is it?”
This man is the bane of my fucking hatred. Ever since he knew that I purchased this big swath of land scooping it right up by bidding the highest when it went up for auction, he’d take his time out bothering me if I went into town for anything. Now he was on my fucking land. On my fucking territory. Passing the line of being an idiot to having a death wish.
I’m not just any old shifter. I’m a multi-billionaire. Sheriff Bailey, however, he hasn’t figured that out yet. I want to keep it that way.
I crack the door open, releasing my anger by crushing the brass doorknob. Bailey looks me up and down, chewing on his tobacco like a piece of trash. His resentment is hard to trace back to something. Maybe he wants this mountain to himself. But fuck, he doesn’t have the money and connections I do. I wonder if he’s the one I outbid to own this land.
“Sheriff Bailey.” I glare at him, hoping he feels the heat of my displeasure. “Came a pretty far way…” I tap my finger on the door frame.
He spits his tobacco to the side in front of my cabin, and it takes every goddamn piece of power to hold myself back from ripping out his throat. You don’t spit on a man’s fucking property.
He drags his eyes back up to mine, a smile of sorts in it. He's pushing the line. All I need to do is have an investigation on his ass, and he'd be sitting in prison for the rest of his life.
But then I’d have to leverage a new sheriff. One that might be nastier and nosier than him. And more of a problem.
He held up a paper flyer with a black and white portrait on it that resembled Claire. The abundance of wrinkles and lines in the paper looked like it had been folded about fifty-eleven times over.
“Looking for a girl, her name’s Claire Weston.” He looks around, the leather to his jacket crunching with each sick movement.
“No idea,” I mumbled.
“Her people said she may’ve ran into the woods looking for shelter from the storm,” he said.
I scratched the back of my head and pretended to be confused. “You know this isn’t much of a pit stop. Why would a girl like her come through the woods? She looks like a city girl to me.”
“Well, if you see her, give us a call. There’s a little money out for her return.” He backs down my stairs and trudges through the snow back to his vehicle.
Keep walking.
Fuck.
Once the sheriff’s cruiser is out of earshot, I returned to my bedroom to find Claire up and limping around, looking at the knife collection I had stashed in my room by my bed. Hearing the door open, she brought her eyes up to mine and the color in her face drops.
“I thought you said no one would look here?” She sounds sad, hopeless and unmotivated. I don’t like that look on her. The urge to change this unsettles me.
“Who are you?”
“No one.” She looks down and sits on the side of my bed, rubbing her thigh.
"Why are they so hell-bent on finding you?" I walk closer to her. I keep my voice to an acceptable level. I don't need her to be stressed out any more than she has to.
I understand the way she feels. It’s like I’m looking at me. She wants to run, find peace in desolation and keep running until she can’t run anymore.
“No clue.” She pulls on her shirt and plays with the tattered hem. Damn. I need to find some stuff for her to wear that isn’t ripped up.
“You
’re gonna need a disguise.” I walk to my closet and dig around for some shirts for her to wear. In comparison, my size is twelve times hers, but I know she’ll look good in anything.
“Why? Aren’t you holding me captive?”
I throw her some shirts that I think she may like.
“Despite what you’ve heard about me, I’m not that kind of man. Us shifters tend to get a bad rap. We’re not much different, you know.”
“I know. I’m not against shifters. I’ve just never actually been around any long enough to learn much about them.”
“Well, that’s your choice,” I tell her. “I have to run into town for things. But I can’t have you going into town the way that you are. You’ll get us both outed.”
“So I have to stay bound to the cabin?” She picks at the shirts.
“No, not when I return. I’m going to get you some things. Our agreement is in effect. Around here,” I turned back around to her from my closet, “you listen to me. And do everything I tell you to.”
“I saw you out there, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your wolf. I was tumbling down the slope, but now I know that was you in that form. When do I get to see you that way again?”
I turn around. “You won’t,” I declare, and walk out of the room.
5
Claire
New day, new me, same aching body. I cling around the kitchen and cook breakfast with what I could find. Lucas has a kitchen you could get lost in. It kind of reminds me of how broad his shoulders are, how big his chest is. Ugh, I need to stop thinking of this man like this. It's getting me all moody. In a weird kind of way. Suddenly, I'm all horny with no way to relieve myself, and I'm not about to masturbate in this man's crib.
Lucas must've smelled the food or heard all the banging around because he emerged from his bedroom like an un-groomed hungry bear. Er, wolf. He stretches and releases a loud yawn into the wild. His body ripples and contracts along with his body, showing off his muscles. The urge to reach out and run my hands all over them is strong, but I fight it off and remain a good girl.
What the Wolf Wants: Howls Romance (Wolf Mated Book 2) Page 3