by Odessa Lynne
He was going to have to shoot whoever came up. Regardless of how he felt about it, and regardless of the notion that the wolves had saved his life, he was going to have to hold his ground and shoot one or more of them and hope to God he could get out after he did it before they healed—if they healed, and came after him.
He wanted to run to the window and look out and see if Gerald’s car was still waiting out front, but he didn’t have time, then he realized he had his phone in hand and he flipped it around to look at the screen.
Wolf in the house. Use the window.
Heavy treads sounded on the stairs, fast moving.
The car horn blared again, unrelenting. Devon backed away from the threshold, crammed his phone into his back pocket and brought up the gun, sighting on the center of the doorway.
The footsteps halted at the landing. Devon gripped the gun tight and tried to breathe slowly, fighting the urge to look behind him at the window again. He could probably squeeze through it if he tried. He certainly couldn’t shoot the wolf and then try to walk around him on the tiny landing. Too risky with the wolves’ remarkable healing abilities.
But could he jump? He was in the attic for God’s sake. He’d break his neck.
How many times would he have to shoot before it was enough? How could he get his gear out that window? Did he want to risk a head shot? If he made it, he’d be free, but then … the wolf would die, and if he didn’t make the shot, then the wolf would probably be on him before he had time to try again, whereas he was guaranteed a body shot as close as the wolf would be when he tried to come through that door.
Too many thoughts raced through Devon’s head while he waited, but no one rounded the corner, as if the wolf knew his intent. Maybe that sharp hearing had picked up on the sound of him readying the gun.
But God Almighty, no one had ever said the wolves were stupid. Most of them had an uncanny ability to strategize. If the wolves ever decided to fight back, humans wouldn’t stand a chance. Brendan had that right. What Brendan couldn’t see was that most of the wolves didn’t want to take Earth away from humans; they wanted only to share it.
“I want to mate,” a deep, quiet voice said from the direction of the landing. “Fight for your right to deny me.”
Devon shifted the gun’s aim to the wall beside the door. The bullet would make it through the wall, he was sure of it. But he was confused. Wolves supposedly didn’t bother with talk when they were in a lust craze or a mating frenzy.
The voice came again, “Let me prove my worth as a mate.”
Devon continued to breathe too harsh and loud, and his arms started to ache from holding the heavy gun upright. Normally he didn’t think he’d be having this problem but right now he was far from being in top form.
“I’ll fight the others for you if you submit to me. I’ll protect you.”
He was unsettled by how sane the wolf sounded, how reasonable. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. No one said this was how they acted in a lust craze. The wolf must have been using the drugs, at least the older ones if not something from the new supply. Had to be. Nothing else made sense, unless half of what Devon had been told were lies.
He backed up another step, careful not to trip over his lockbox. His shoulder burned where the strap of his bag was impeding his circulation. He was going to drop the gun if he didn’t do something soon.
“Submit!”
Ah. There is was, the sound of lust, the raging wolf he’d expected.
“I’m mated,” Devon said. “Just so you know.” He was ready to take a shot.
Instead of a wolf lunging through the doorway, Devon got a sharply worded question. “Who mated you?”
He couldn’t answer that, because he couldn’t pronounce—or even remember—Kem’s actual name. So he said, “None of your goddamned business. Come on if you’re going to. If you want me to submit, you’re going to have to make me, because I ain’t doing it any other way. I’ve already had one of you stake a—”
The wolf leapt through the door, roaring with a hair-raising intensity that almost made Devon hesitate, his reaction was so visceral and immediate. But he pulled the trigger and a bullet fired and plowed right into the center of the wolf’s chest.
Then again, and again, but the wolf kept coming and Devon scrambled backward and slammed up against the wall, bleeding wolf at his neck, the wolf’s clawed fingers wrapped tightly around his own clenching the gun.
God Almighty, he should have gone for the head shot.
Hot breath at his neck and then lower, and Devon shook with the repressed need to throw a punch or land a kick, or bring up the butt of the gun, but—
The wolf wrenched the gun out of his hands and threw it across the room where it crashed into one of the many cabinets.
A nose thrust against Devon’s belly and then lower and Devon clenched his jaw and fisted his hands.
The wolf drew in a long breath through his mouth and nose. “Who mated you?”
“Kem,” Devon said, through gritted teeth. “That’s all I know him by, but if you hurt me, I’m pretty sure he’ll want to kill you. He can—I bet he’ll be able to smell you on my dead body.”
As if Kem would ever even know what had happened to Devon. Maybe Kem had been the one to send Devon away to the basement. Maybe Devon had pushed him too far and he’d decided to find another heat mate, despite all his talk of fate.
A low vibration traveled outward through Devon’s nerves. Then the wolf took another deep sniff, this time much too close to Devon’s groin.
“If he can’t protect what’s his, he doesn’t deserve you.”
“Yeah, well. You don’t either.”
“I caught you.”
“So did he, and he mated me. So—” Devon put his hands out and shoved lightly at the wolf’s shoulders. “I’m not available.”
The wolf growled and pressed Devon hard against the wall. His teeth shone bright and sharp under the light, flecked with dark red blood, and when he spoke, his breath smelled of the bright scent of iron. “Your mate, what pack?”
Devon turned his head away. “The one that claims the area over the ridge.” And then, before he could lose his nerve, “You’re drugged, aren’t you?”
“Kem,” the wolf said, leaning away from Devon and staring at him with furrowed brow. “Kem…”
And then his nostrils flared and he leaned in abruptly to sniff all the way from the side of Devon’s bandaged neck, over his chest, and he shoved up Devon’s t-shirt and buried his face against Devon’s bared stomach.
Devon’s jaw flexed so tight he could hear the grind of his teeth.
Then the wolf pulled back. “Kemeareaieskiat,” he said, almost a growl, in the wolves’ language. “Wentarki ah se Kemeareaieskiat of Alpha Craeigoer’s pack and First Alpha’s kin.”
Kin? Or son? Devon didn’t understand the translation, but he didn’t really care either.
“Yeah! Yeah, that’s it.” In reality Devon was only partly sure the names sounded right, but he was ready to grasp at straws if it meant getting this wolf off him. “That’s him. My mate. He’s the one. I—I belong to him. I’m his.” He almost choked on the words, but he said them, because they seemed to mean something to the wolves.
“The drugs are weak,” the wolf said. “I haven’t had a dose in too many hours. Your smell is—complicated.”
Devon huffed out a breath. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I don’t know.” The wolf hesitated, frown deepening, hands clasping Devon’s shoulders. “I smell your mate on you, but there’s something else…”
Devon startled, looking at the wolf with three bullet holes in his chest and blood on his teeth, and then laughed. He had to press his hand to his ribs when he did it, because his ribs ached like a son of a bitch, but he couldn’t stop his laugh at the irony of his situation.
The wolf let out a growl that turned into a vibrating tingle along Devon’s nerves, and all the fine hairs on his arms stood on end.
; Devon sucked in a breath and tried to calm his heartbeat. “Pretty goddamned sure I’m dying. They say death has a smell.”
“You should be with your mate. Why isn’t he with you? If he can’t protect you—”
“There was an attack. We were separated. That’s all. I’m trying to get back to him.” No lies in that. Just a few omissions.
“Then Wentarki will reward me if I return you to him.”
And there it was. The answer to his troubles, delivered to him as if God himself was trying to push Devon back into Kem’s arms.
Devon slid down the wall, his legs finally giving out on him. “Take me to Kem. I need to go back.”
Chapter 18
The wolf’s bright blue eyes glimmered and he looked to the window where the faint glow of headlights shone against the glass. “The other human. I’ll take him for a heat mate—”
“God, you’re kidding right?”
“It will prevent any accidents with you before I return you to Kem. I don’t have any more of the drugs and soon I won’t be able to hold off my heat. The scent of your mate and your illness is the only thing saving you from my lust right now. If I wait too long to mate, I’ll lose all reason.”
“You don’t want Gerald.”
The wolf stared down at him. “Then you’ll submit—”
“No, no. Never mind. Gerald’s a great guy. Very attractive and he sure does know how to give a blow job.” Biggest mistake Devon had ever made, letting Gerald suck his dick a few months ago. He wasn’t lying, Gerald was good, but Gerald had trouble taking no for an answer and—shit, maybe this wolf could give him a taste of his own—
Devon closed his eyes. When had he turned into such a cold-hearted son of a bitch to think something like that?
But, yeah. Gerald could be a real ass sometimes. But he was obviously not a bad guy considering he’d saved Devon’s ass twice tonight.
Him and Gerald, they’d never been friends. Just acquaintances until that night Gerald had sucked him off.
He hadn’t even been that interested but Gerald hadn’t let up and he’d had his hands all over Devon and Devon had had one too many drinks and one thing led to another until Gerald had ended up on his knees staring at Devon’s tattoo and licking his cock and then that had been that. He’d let Gerald suck him all the way and then later felt almost like a dick himself when he’d tossed the condom away, knowing he’d just used Gerald for a quick feel good moment.
But then again, Gerald could probably say the same about him.
Now he was thinking about betraying Gerald so that he could—
Devon raised his hip and dug his phone out of his pocket. “I’m asking, and if he says no, I’m telling him to run, and you’ll just have to manage with me. Got it?”
The wolf’s eyes lingered over Devon’s body and then he tore his gaze away to stare at the window again. “Then ask, but if I want him, I have the right to—”
“The hell you do. He’s human and you’re not and we don’t have to live by your—”
The wolf growled at him, his eyes narrowing in a dangerous stare that shut Devon up right quick like.
“The others are near. I can hear them over that grating sound coming from your transport. I slowed them down earlier, but we heal fast during a heat cycle. I’ll have to fight them for both of you. They were out scouting long before me and they have no resistance to your human scent at all.”
“If you look like you’re going down, I’m shooting to kill.”
The wolf raised his chin and sneered. “They have about as much chance of killing me as you do.” Then he showed his teeth in a chilling grin and hauled Devon up by his arm.
Devon couldn’t believe how tired his legs felt when he got to his feet. A shiver raced through him. He gritted his teeth and steadied himself. He might want rest, but he wasn’t getting it yet.
“Your companion. Get him in here with you.”
Devon’s fingers tightened around his phone. “Got it.”
“These aren’t the only members of that pack running loose in this area. Alpha Craeigoer will have to take them in. Their Alpha was killed in a recent raid by the human renegades.”
The wolf’s gaze flickered toward the guns and weapons crowding the room and back to Devon, suspicion in every twitch of his expression.
“Not a renegade,” Devon said immediately. “Swear to God. One of you mated me, remember?”
“Which means little—” But the wolf interrupted himself, head tilted. “It’s time.”
He turned and rushed out, leaving behind a bloody handprint on the door frame. Devon heard the wolf’s heavy footsteps loud on the stairs, taking them two and three at a time.
Devon dialed Gerald with a shaking hand and used his other to rake the nervous sweat off his face while he walked over to the gun the wolf had thrown. Devon set the phone down, speaker on, and grabbed the gun.
Gerald’s greeting came as a yell through the phone. “What the fuck!”
“Get out of here.” Devon grabbed another gun from the wall and started loading it up too.
“What are you doing?” Gerald demanded. “Get out here so we can leave! That wolf just ran out, headed for the fence row.”
“I’m not leaving. He’s going to get me somewhere I need to go but first he’s going to take out the other wolves chasing us.”
“What the hell?” Then, “I’m not leaving you with a wolf. It’s heat season. You’re out of your mind.”
Heavy breathing filled Devon’s ear.
Devon rushed over to the window and looked out. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Coming to get you.”
“Shit, Gerald. Why don’t you listen, goddammit?”
“Not my style.”
“You’re a fucking idiot. Do you know what that wolf—”
The loud slam of the front door against the wall cut Devon off and he realized Gerald had ended the call.
“Shit.”
Devon scraped his knuckles over his itching cheek. His skin felt flushed and hot now. No doubt at all his temperature was up and rising. Probably explained the chills that kept racing through him.
Feet pounded up the stairs and a few seconds later, Gerald barreled through the doorway, breathing hard. He stopped and rested his hands on his knees, bent double, sucking in air like a bellows. He managed to gasp out, “Let’s go.”
“I already said I’m not going. Here.” Devon shoved the second gun at Gerald. “Watch the door.”
Gerald’s eyebrows rose dramatically and he hesitated before accepting the gun. “I have no idea how to shoot this.”
“Shit, you’re kidding right?”
“No.” Said with a twist that implied Devon shouldn’t have had to ask.
“Hold it like this,” Devon said, and he demonstrated with the gun he held. “Just point it at chest level and pull the trigger until you’re out of bullets. Try not to miss.”
“How’ll I know it’s not this other wolf?”
“You probably won’t but we sure as hell don’t want any other wolves getting up here with us.”
“Okay then.”
Devon turned back to the window and shoved it open. A faint roar carried through on the night air. “Get the light,” he said, “I can’t see with it on.”
He stared out into the yard and along the edge of the woods, the sound of Gerald’s feet on the plywood floor followed by a sudden darkness. His eyes adjusted surprisingly quick to the glow of the moonlight.
A shape moved fast across the open ground toward the abandoned car. And then another seemed to come out of nowhere and leap at the first, a flash of skin in the moonlight and a roar so vicious Devon jerked back on hearing it.
He thrust his gun up to rest on the window sill and the dull thunk vibrated through his hands.
“You’re crazy if you think you’ll be able to hit anything in the dark like this,” Gerald said.
“Hell if I’m going to ignore an opportunity if I get one.”
A
brutal yell echoed somewhere off to the side of the house.
“God, they’re loud.” Gerald’s voice had an edge to it, one that said he was feeling the tension of their situation. “Shit, Devon. What’d you get me into here?”
“I told you to leave. You should have listened.”
“I couldn’t believe you were serious. I thought something was wrong.”
“So you run in like an idiot?” Devon could no longer see any of the wolves; their fight had taken them out of his line of sight from the window. He scanned the distance between the house and the old barn. Nothing there but a few old classic trucks that had belonged to Ian’s grandfather, the kind that used real gas and had doors that opened out. They no longer ran but Ian hadn’t been in a hurry to sell them off. Ian had a sentimental streak a mile wide and even though he’d probably never be able to afford the real gas needed to run the old trucks, he’d kept them because they belonged to his grandfather.
Sometimes Devon envied Ian so bad he almost hated him. Ian’s grandfather hadn’t even been that great of a guy according to Brendan, a homophobic bastard he said, but he’d been good to Ian and Ian had obviously loved the man to hang on to his stuff so tight.
He swallowed and tried to listen for the sound of wolves. That son of a bitch better not have been lying to him. If he died…
Devon had another plan. He’d be fine. He’d figure it all out just like he’d intended and he’d find Kem and Kem would know how to get rid of this infection.
“You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into,” Devon muttered.
A scuffle of sound came from behind him. “What?”
“Nothing. Just thinking out loud.” And talking to himself.
“So when he comes back, I’m just supposed to let you go off alone with this wolf, whoever he is, and—”
“You’re going to have to come with us now unless we can kill him, but we can’t because I need him.”
“Well that’s bullshit. I’m not going off with some wolf.”
“He’s planning to take you for a heat mate.”
“Oh fuck no he isn’t.” Gerald’s voice rose through the last word. Then he exhaled loudly. “So that’s why you told me to go.”