by Kamryn Hart
Willow was taking in heavy breaths. One minute she was lost in pure bliss, now she felt a dull, throbbing pain. She carefully straightened her back and turned around to face Derek as she sat on the bed, bringing her legs up to her chest as she hugged her knees.
Derek was backed up into the wall in front of her. His dark eyes were wide with, dare she say, fear. Uncertainty? Bewilderment?
Willow gingerly touched the back of her neck. Her fingers came away with hot, sticky blood. She groaned from the throbbing pain concentrated on that spot. That wasn’t just any bite. He had claimed her. She sensed it, smelled it. She didn’t remember Nick being so violent with Gwen. In fact, her bite had supposedly healed up almost immediately in place of the Lunas Sigil she now had on her right hand, but blood was still running down Willow’s neck, and it didn’t seem like it planned on stopping anytime soon. This, being claimed, finding her Fated Mate, it was everything she had wanted. And it was somehow all wrong.
She brought her gaze back up to her mate to see him shaking his head.
“What the fuck just happened?” he asked, slowly meeting her gaze. His hand was at his lips. When his fingers touched blood, he drew his hand away in disgust.
It made sense now, the way he was acting. It seemed to her that her mate had no idea about being a wolf. He said he didn’t have a pack. It was possible he had never met another wolf shifter. He said he had been a wolf for years, but maybe he was in the same kind of situation as the Awakened Wolves, or maybe he was one but found his wolf much earlier. His age fit. Regardless, he seemed to have a good handle on himself, his human and wolf side—aside from what had just transpired.
He wiped the blood from his mouth furiously. He seemed to be taking this situation much worse than she was. And how couldn’t he? This meant he also didn’t understand he was her Fated Mate. He felt a pull toward her, but that’s all it was. She was ready to dive in all the way. A part of him was, but another part wasn’t. That was the source of disconnect.
“What do you know about being a wolf shifter?” Willow asked, resting her hand gently on the back of her neck.
Derek shrugged dismissively.
“Claiming?”
He shook his head, a grimace on his lips. She could sense his frustration.
“You claimed me,” she said. “As your mate. You claimed me as your mate.”
He shook his head furiously and said, “No.” The action was so fierce she caught a glimpse of something gleaming on the back of his neck. It was a familiar gleam, like the light of the Moon—or the sheen all Lunas Sigils seemed to have aside from during a New Moon when the marks disappeared along with the Moon. That was definitive proof. Derek was her Fated Mate. The Moon had made its mark. She knew she had a matching mark under the bloody mess on her own neck. This wasn’t a mistake.
“It’s true,” Willow said. “You’re my Fated Mate. The Moon picked us for each other. It marked us, sealing us together.”
She gingerly explored the back of her neck again. Derek reached up to do the same thing to his own neck, but then he forced his hand down to his side.
“You’re crazy,” he said.
“Look in the mirror!” Willow insisted desperately.
Derek huffed, but he walked over to the mirror hanging in the room and craned his neck. The shocked look on his face meant he was able to see enough of the Lunas Sigil. He had to know that Willow wasn’t making this shit up. He had to feel it.
Derek bared his teeth and growled at himself in the mirror. He was growing more agitated by the second.
“It’s okay,” Willow said, trying to soothe him. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to figure this out together. I’m new to the whole mate thing too, but the Moon picked us. We have to work out.”
Snarling, Derek turned his attention back to her. “We aren’t figuring out anything because there is no we. I don’t want you as my mate or whatever. I wasn’t picked for you by the fucking moon. This was a one-night deal. I wanted to fuck, okay? Nothing else. I don’t want to get to know you. I couldn’t care less what your personality is. All of this is like some romantic shit made up by a love sick teenage girl looking for a fairytale prince who doesn’t exist. You got the wrong guy, princess. Love, romance, whatever, that’s not me. I don’t want anything to do with it.” He grabbed his pants from off the floor and his leather jacket, not bothering with his muscle-t.
“What are you doing?” Willow asked, panic creeping into her voice as Derek gathered whatever else he wanted to take because he was obviously intent on leaving—even though this was his hotel room.
“Getting away from here,” he growled. “You’re going to have to look somewhere else for your fairytale prince, princess.”
Willow scrambled off the bed. She couldn’t let it end like this. She couldn’t let him just walk away from her. He was her Fated Mate. Did he feel nothing for her? Nothing at all?
He escaped, slamming the door behind him before Willow could catch him. She could have chased after him, but she was bare-ass naked, and Derek had torn her clothes to shreds. Chasing after him like this wouldn’t be very well received by the humans outside. She’d cause a scene.
Willow let out a frustrated cry as she pressed her forehead against the door leading out of the hotel room. Luckily, her room was next door, but was there any point in rushing after Derek? He clearly said he didn’t want her aside from a one-night fuck session.
She touched the back of her neck again, new warm blood coating her fingers. She walked to the mirror, craned her neck, and brushed away enough blood to see that she did indeed have a Lunas Sigil that matched Derek’s.
How?
How could she and Derek be Fated Mates after what he said to her? He bit her way too fucking hard when he claimed her, and she didn’t enjoy it, but she could have gotten past it. She realized how inexperienced he was at being a wolf and that instinct had blinded him to everything for those few moments. Maybe she had being in heat to blame for him losing his self-control like that, or maybe it was because of the Moon. Whatever it was, she would have been willing to work past it, to help him with his wolf. She was so ready for her mate, the mate of her dreams, but Derek wasn’t that. He wasn’t even trying to be that. He didn’t want to be that.
He made it abundantly clear that he didn’t want her. He didn’t want to try to get to know her. He didn’t want anything to do with her beyond this night.
“Fuck,” she whimpered as she wiped at her eyes. “Don’t cry over that bastard, Willow. He doesn’t deserve it. Mate or not. You don’t deserve to be treated like that.” She glared at herself in the mirror, trying to build herself up, trying to tell herself that the Moon messed up and that it really was time to forget about all of her fantasies.
But her body betrayed her. The pain she felt, physical and emotional, wasn’t enough to stop her aching need or the fire that came with being in heat. All she could see when she closed her eyes was Derek. He was the very definition of tall, dark, and handsome.
And asshole. He was an asshole.
She shook her head. She had waited too long for this to be disappointed all over again.
This wasn’t over.
Chapter 6
HIS FEET WERE ON fire. He couldn’t get away from her soon enough. He needed to before the strange nagging sensation to stay and figure out what the fuck happened won. Honestly, he was freaked to hell. Willow was trouble. So much trouble. What was it about her that made him fucking lose his shit like that?
He rushed down to the lobby, intent on escape, but all he could think about was how he had fucking bit her. So damn hard. He didn’t even realize he was doing it because he was lost in a weird blinded sensation of bliss when he was joined with her. It was like something had possessed him. She said something about claiming her, mates, fate, and other shit like that. He didn’t know how a bite like that, a bite that seemed like the tear-someone-to-shreds kind of bite, could qualify as claiming and mating or whatever.
Seemed pretty fucking
messed up to him.
Or maybe he was the one messed up. Well, he already knew that. He didn’t think he was this messed up. He wasn’t a nice guy or anything, but he had no intention of hurting Willow like that.
Fuck, and why did his heart ache? Why did a part of him want to go back to her? His feet slowed. He should have been to the lobby and out of the door by now.
My mate.
“Hell, no. Not your mate. No way. No how,” Derek hissed at himself
Yes, he didn’t know much about being a wolf shifter, but he could put two and two together. This mate business was something he wanted no part of. He couldn’t. Never again would he allow anyone to be close to him let alone a mate.
The best thing he could do for himself was get the hell out of there. When he got back to the hotel later, Willow would be gone, and then he’d check out of the place so he’d never see that beguiling woman ever again. He didn’t know what would happen if he did see her again, but he knew it wouldn’t be good. Not for him, and not for her.
There was only one person in the world Derek ever truly cared about, and she was dead because of him. Because of what he was. Maybe part of the reason he had never slept with a shifter or sought any out was because he hated himself and what he was. But what he was didn’t change anything either. It was too likely his mother would have been dead either way.
That simple fact was the root of his anger. It wasn’t what he was but who he was. He couldn’t save her.
He picked up his speed again. He flew down the stairs about to hit the lobby and ready to dash out the front door. Then a scent stopped him dead in his tracks. White lilies. Perfume. He had been too hasty. A slender hand touched his shoulder, and he knew exactly who it belonged to.
He tilted his head to get a look at Erin Smith standing behind him. She was dolled up in a glittery gold dress and wearing her money for all to see in her gold bangle jewelry. She had one of those damn gold necklaces that was thick and made a woman’s neck look longer. He doubted she missed what he took. People like her had no right to. They had too much money to.
“It wasn’t as hard to find you as I thought it might be,” she said, flashing her blinding white teeth at him. He wondered if she bleached them every night. “You travel light and know how to cover your tracks, but when you have as much money and power as I do, no one can stay hidden for long.”
She squeezed his shoulder, digging her long, pointed, manicured nails into his leather jacket like a fucking cat. This bitch was getting on his nerves. It didn’t help that the bizarre mark on the back of his neck was starting to itch. He was trying to forget that thing existed. It was in a place he wouldn’t ever see typically, but if it was going to start itching like this randomly, how was he going to manage to forget Willow?
“And just how did you find me?” Derek asked. He pretended to give her his full attention, but he was analyzing everything around him, scouting the best route of escape. He smelled shifters too.
“That’s not really important,” she replied. Then she lowered her voice. “I know what you are.” She tugged on his sleeve, and he leaned down so she could whisper into his ear. “Wolf.”
Derek’s skin prickled. Not that this surprised him exactly. He just didn’t like the way she said it.
“I want you to work for me,” she explained, sliding her hand farther down his arm. “You owe me after you stole from me like that.”
Well, shit. Derek had located a handful of other shifters in the lobby. All of them were wearing suits and sunglasses. Erin’s bodyguards. He shouldn’t have been so dismissive of her shifter bodyguards back in Vegas. They had been silent shadows, and he figured they were interested in cash, but something else was going on here. He was in a real mess.
“What have you been up to, Derek?” she crooned. “You look like you’ve hastily thrown yourself together after sex. I wonder what poor girl you stole from this time. Did you even fuck her? You left my bed cold, mister. That wasn’t very nice.”
A fleeting thought crossed Derek’s mind. All the shifters who worked for Erin, at least the ones he had seen, were male. Was she into female shifters too? Yeah, he was thinking about Willow. He hated to admit it, but it was true. He shouldn’t have cared. He shouldn’t have given a damn.
“Erin,” Derek said in a bored tone, “just because you found me doesn’t mean you’ve caught me.”
He bolted. He tore out of her grasp easily. His haste startled the other people in the hotel who had nothing to do with what was going on between Derek and Erin. The fear in the lobby ramped up when Erin’s shifter bodyguards took off as well. Derek hadn’t gotten in trouble with any shifters before. It was easy to get away from humans. Shifters? Not so much. They were right on his tail.
When he cleared the lobby and was outside in the dark of night, he ran for his bike. He skidded to a stop when he saw two other bodyguards waiting in front of his bike. He could have probably taken the two of them but not along with the three others that were just behind him.
He cursed and dashed in another direction. He looked over his shoulder at one point as he ran down the street to gauge the distance he had on these losers. The only thing he had going for him was that it was late and dark. Not many people were out to witness the chase. It also meant he’d be relatively safe to shift. He couldn’t outrun his pursuers in his current form.
After slipping into an alley, Derek shed everything on him and began to shift. He couldn’t think about saving his wallet or anything because he couldn’t afford it. Not that it mattered in the end. Survival was first. He knew how to start over from scratch. He knew how to deal with losing everything.
Derek’s entire body exploded in midnight black fur and he dropped down to his hands and knees. He sprouted a tail, his face elongated, his teeth grew long and sharp, and his ears were now pointed and alert on the top of his head. He had barely finished shifting when one of the guys made it into the alley. He leaped for Derek, but Derek dodged easily, causing the guy to crash into a dumpster. None of his pursuers had shifted yet. He had no doubt they would now. The guys were quiet as death and relentless as drones. They had this intense dead look in their eyes. It was almost like they never blinked.
They felt strange. He couldn’t smell any malice on them. He couldn’t sense the adrenaline of a hunt. He sensed… nothing. It was disconcerting enough that he was determined to do everything in his power not to tangle with them. Not to mention, every single one of them was ripped to hell. Shifters always seemed to have the strength thing going for them, but there were different sizes and strengths among them like in humans. Derek was on the ripped to hell side of things, but he was one shifter against several almost his exact size.
He darted out of the alley, jumping over another shifter that would have cut him off. His paws skidded on the sidewalk, but he was able to ground himself again and took off at full speed down the street.
He heard a zipping noise fly past his ear and saw something small hit the ground in front of him. They were shooting at him now, but not with actual bullets. The thing they shot was a tranquilizing dart of some kind. Well, it was possible it was poisoned, but he wasn’t going to stop and analyze it. He pushed his body harder, running faster than he had ever run in his life.
Erin really must have had a shit ton of money. She didn’t care about drawing attention. Yeah, it was night, but what were the odds no one would see them? Boise wasn’t that small. Then again, he supposed her bodyguards would take care of any problems that might arise. He picked the wrong woman to steal from this time. This was much more of a hassle than he wanted to deal with.
Derek made it out of Boise and onto a dying grass field by the time he had managed to lose most of the shifters who were tailing him—all but two of them. One shifted into a boar and was steadily gaining ground. The other shifted into a cheetah, and he had just tapped into his reserves of speed. He must have been waiting until after they cleared the city to avoid any sharp turns. Now he had an entire field clear of anything,
a straight-shot for Derek.
Derek couldn’t outrun a cheetah. His legs were burning and his tongue was lolling out of his mouth as his body tried to stop itself from overheating. He glanced over his shoulder, trying to gauge the exact moment the cheetah would run into him. If he stopped abruptly, the cheetah might leap and overshoot. That was the best he could hope for. Then he’d fight. He’d take out the cheetah first and then the boar. His concentration was hindered when that mark on the back of his neck started burning again. He missed his chance. The cheetah jumped into the air. Derek dug his paws in the dirt below, but he wasn’t going to be able to stop in time.
Then, out of nowhere, a light, gold tinted blur came shooting through the air, tackling the cheetah in mid-air. Finally, Derek came to a stop. He saw a wolf tearing into the cheetah. Blood was running from her neck down the back of her light, somehow blondish, fur coat. Her scent was like a refreshing rain, but sweet. Willow.
He didn’t waste another second gawking. He ran over to her and pushed her off the pinned cheetah before the shifter could bury his back claws into her stomach. Willow growled, her teeth bared and gleaming in the dark. Blood was dripping from her canines. She had ripped into the cheetah’s throat, but he wasn’t fazed. Like he didn’t feel pain. He was back on his feet with blood dripping from his neck and onto the grass, circling the wolves as they matched his movements.
Derek ran forward, determined to take care of the cheetah before the boar got to where they were—which would happen at any second. The cheetah met him head-on, lashing out with his claws. He cut Derek on his snout. Derek pressed forward through the pain and snapped his jaws at the cheetah. He caught the same paw that has scratched him in his teeth. He thought the cheetah might at least yowl as he crunched down hard, but he didn’t react. He swung at Derek with his other paw, scratching him just below his left eye.
Something was very wrong with Erin’s shifter bodyguards.