“I’m going to see my friend again?” I question in a staggered breath and then quickly add, “Soon?”
“Of course,” he says. The answer is immediate, and relief weakens every bit of me. I struggle to keep it together as he continues, “I was going to sit back there with you, but I thought you might like some space.” His tone is light, bordering on friendly. When his stare doesn’t let up, I give a small, hesitant nod in agreement. Gratitude is a funny thing to be feeling at the moment.
“Thought so.” He shifts in his seat, but from my periphery I can tell he’s still watching me. If I wasn’t so terrified, I could think. I could make a plan. As it is, I’m entirely numb.
“You must have some questions.” This time it’s the driver who speaks.
My heart beats once, then twice as the moment passes in silence. “Who are you?” Both of them laugh. Their relaxed manner calms me, if only slightly. If they plan on killing us, they’re quite kind to their prey.
“I’m Lev,” the behemoth riding shotgun answers with a wide smile, “and this is Jude.” No matter how friendly he aims to be, his sheer size is chilling. With a quick motion to the driver, he goes quiet again but offers me a charming, yet tight-lipped smile. I nod my head again and look back at him steadily. Their easygoing manner alleviates my worry a bit more. I sit up ever so slowly, moving against the wishes of my racing heart and letting the blanket drop to my waist.
If they’re going to play this game, this version where everything is just fine, I’ll play along. Right up until they give me my friend back and pull the hell over so we can get back home. Somewhere deep inside me, I remember I have a backbone. I didn’t fight this hard so early in life to have these assholes destroy it all. Whatever it is they’re after, we’ll give them something else. I’ll find a way. I always do.
“Are you comfortable?” the first one, Lev, asks.
It’s only then that I realize the cloaks are gone and the shifter staring back at me is gorgeous. Like the other werewolves, he has silver eyes, but he doesn’t look like the shifter who held on to Lizzie back at the stadium. He doesn’t possess nearly as hard of a look as her captor did. My heart races as my palms turn clammy at the memory.
“I’m fine,” I say although my answer doesn’t come out nearly as strong as I’d like. “Is Lizzie okay?”
“She’s all right. Just scared.” His answer is dampened by something and my stare implores him for more, but he gives me nothing.
Lev has a short beard and his dark hair is long enough to grab at the top, but short on the sides. It also looks like he’s had his nose broken at least once, but the bit of imperfection on his otherwise classically handsome face only adds to his masculine appeal. I scoot around in my seat so I can get a good look at Jude. His black hair is short and he’s clean-shaven. But I can’t see much else of his face other than his full lips.
If it wasn’t for their silver eyes and large shoulders, I’d question if they were even werewolves.
Their heads nearly touch the ceiling, and their broad frames look completely out of place in the car. It reminds me of sardines stuffed in a tin. They can’t be comfortable. The two of them are almost polar opposites in the vibes they’re giving off. Lev could easily be a badass biker and Jude a clean-cut military soldier. But they’re not, they’re werewolves. I can’t let myself forget that, not even for a second.
“Are you all this big?” The question pops out of my mouth without conscious consent. Blaming it on passing out earlier and this odd light-headedness that won’t quit, I let my head fall back and try to get my balance.
Lev’s slow grin is sexy as hell as he says, “That’s what they all ask and—”
Before he can finish, Jude lands a hard blow with his fist against Lev’s chest.
“Shut it.” Lev’s only reaction is a deep, low chuckle that makes his entire upper body, and the entire vehicle, shake.
“I’m sure she’s got a better sense of humor than you,” he says and grins at me. “Did you want to hear the rest?”
My lips part, but words don’t come out. I feel like I’m on the edge of losing it. “I’m not okay.” The words are pulled from me and I hate that I spoke the sentiment aloud. The tears that prick my eyes and the coldness around me … I hate that even more. This isn’t real.
“Ah, shit.” Lev runs his hands through his hair and then looks back at me apologetically. “You all right?” His face is the epitome of concern and his silver eyes shine with sincerity. It’s been absolutely insane since we got to the stadium earlier and his kindness is my undoing. Ugly sobs start pouring out of me as I shake my head wildly. This isn’t real at all. I wish I could just wake up.
Terror cloaks my whisper. “I’m not okay.”
“Fuck.” Lev turns and somehow manages to maneuver his massive body between the two front seats to join me in the back. I immediately feel claustrophobic as my personal space dwindles to nothing.
“This is worse,” I blurt out, my response immediate as I shove a palm against his massive chest.
“I’m just going to hold you, okay?” Lev has his arms up but doesn’t move them, waiting for me to respond. His voice is calm and his arms look so welcoming that I can’t help but nod my head. His muscular arms wrap tight around me, practically consuming my body and making me feel like a small, scared child. I let go of my inhibitions and scoot closer to him, burying my head in his broad chest. Every ounce of him is pure muscle, so he’s hard as hell. But at least he’s warm and the gentle strokes up and down my back are soothing.
It takes a while with the rumbling of the car and the quiet drive, but I slowly feel myself calm down. Pulling my face away from him, I note the mascara smeared all over the white T-shirt stretched taut across his chest. Inwardly I cringe, but my breathing relaxes as I look up into his silver eyes and then back down immediately. Jude calmly tells me, “You’re going to be all right, I promise.” And Lev agrees, “You’re going to be just fine.” Their words and actions put me at ease. I must be in shock. There’s no other explanation. The realization wakes me up, sobriety heightening my anxiety once again.
Lev’s sharp silver eyes never turn from me when he asks, “You all right?” Without looking up or back at him, I nod slightly, biting my lip as I tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. I breathe in deep before I turn to stare out the window. There’s nothing to look at but trees. I continue to nervously bite my lip. “Where are you taking us?” I question without having the balls to look either of them in the eyes. My heart gallops and the pitter-patter is almost too much. I feel like I’m going to faint. They’re silent and neither seems to make an attempt to answer.
“Did you drug me?”
The quick no is followed by a sharp intake of breath and then he says, “We didn’t drug you.”
Up and down, my nerves climb and fall. All I can do is shove my hands between my thighs to keep them from trembling.
Lev’s hand lands on my arm gently, just to get my attention. “I’m sorry. I really am. I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. No one is.” I finally look at him. His brows are raised and his lips slightly parted. He looks as though he’s trying to coax a wounded animal out from under a car or something. I nod my head and steel myself to ask the only question that matters right now.
“Why did you take us?” His silver gaze takes me in briefly and then his eyes shoot to Jude’s in the rearview mirror. Jude is silent and Lev purses his lips. My breathing hitches at their hesitation.
“Well, I didn’t personally take you.” That’s the only answer Lev finally gives me, placing his hand against his massive chest for emphasis. Jude snorts in the front and then shakes his head.
Anger creeps up, causing a deep crease in my forehead as my brow furrows.
Jude asks, “We heard your friend call you Grace. Is it okay if we call you that?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” I’m surprised by how sturdy my voice is.
“Okay, Grace,” Jude starts, “our Alpha is the one who …” h
e hesitates and glances out the rear windshield before looking straight ahead again. “Um.”
“Grabbed me?” I say to complete his sentence. My shoulders stiffen at the memory of their Alpha’s hands on me. His thumb rubbing soothing circles on my neck as he commanded me to calm Lizzie down. With how tight my throat is, I don’t know how I’m breathing.
There’s no time for niceties. I need information. That’s how we’ll survive. It’s how I’ll save both myself and Lizzie. The constant thump in my chest reminds me of that. I eye Lev who’s sitting back, taking up all of the room back here while watching me with an amused expression kicking up his lips.
“Yeah, grabbed you.” Jude swallows hard and glances over his shoulder to the car behind us again. Lizzie’s in that car. I know she is. She’s safe. I’m safe. I’ll figure out a way for us to be safe. I will. I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to either of us.
“Okay.” I drawl out the word in an effort to get him to continue. He clicks his tongue and meets my eyes in the rearview.
“He doesn’t want me to talk to you about this, Grace.”
“Why not?” I can’t help getting pissed. I need to know. “I deserve to know.”
“He wants to tell you himself.” I let that sink in for a second before realizing their Alpha must have been at the offering if he’s the one who grabbed me. Why take me and then ride in a different car in that case? A frown pulls at my lips and my hands fist in my lap. I don’t have time to wait.
“Why isn’t he riding with me if he took me?”
“Because of your friend, Lizzie,” he says and my heart stops at the mention of her name.
“You said she was all right,” I blurt out, cutting him off as I lean forward in my seat a bit to get closer to him. It’s foolish, I know it is, but I can’t help the note of anger that creeps into my tone at the end. I need to be calm; I know that much. Play along, get information. I can’t let my temper get the best of the situation.
“She’s fine. Don’t worry,” Lev reassures me, gently pushing me back against the seat. “Devin wants you to put your seatbelt on.”
I stare at him like he’s gone mad and snort. Is he fucking kidding? “Who the hell is Devin?” I don’t care that my voice is raised. Completely ignoring Lev now, my head whips back to Jude. With quickened breaths and a tight throat, I say, “And what was that you were starting to say about Lizzie?” So much for keeping my calm …
“Lizzie’s perfectly fine, but she was extremely upset and got a bit physical with us after you passed out.” I nod my head. That sounds just like her.
“But she’s okay?” There’s a threat hidden in my cadence. It’s unmistakable and judging by their expressions, they don’t miss it.
“She’s all right, but that’s why Devin, our Alpha, stayed with her and her … guards.” His eyes exchange a glance with Lev’s in the rearview again. “To calm them down.”
Guards? Calm them down? Rubbing my clammy palms against my thighs doesn’t help to keep my head from spinning. I feel like I’m going to snap. I’ve lost all sense of sanity.
“Let me help you with your seatbelt.” Lev tries to push me back against the seat, but I’m still worried about Lizzie and I don’t want to just blindly do what they say. Anxiousness wreaks havoc in my mind and I’m getting increasingly upset with how secretive they’re being. I push back against Lev’s muscular arms, although I may as well be pushing on a brick wall.
“I don’t want to wear it.” I’m aware I sound like a petulant child but I’m losing it, quickly spiraling downward. I need something to grip onto. I need Lizzie. He looks like he wants to say something, but he clamps his mouth shut. “How exactly did he ‘calm her down?’” I stare into Lev’s eyes, urging him to answer me.
Finally, he says, “He really wants you to wear your seatbelt.”
Motherfucker!
Staring down the beast of a man who, I do acknowledge is being kind at the very least, I bite back, “Well, Devin’s not here, is he? So he can shove what he wants up his ass.” Jude’s loud laugh startles me and Lev covers his mouth with the back of his hand as he fakes a cough in an effort to hide his growing smile.
“Let me tell you a secret about werewolves, Grace.” Jude pipes up from the front seat sounding very happy with himself. “As long as we’re within a few miles of each other and concentrate, we can hear what the others are thinking and saying.” I suck in a sharp breath and scrunch my nose. That’s not something I’ve ever heard or read before, but I guess he did say it was a secret.
The car slows down, and the brakes slightly screech as the blur of trees lessens. Goosebumps spread across my skin and prick their way up the back of my neck.
Jude pulls over to the side of the dirt road and stops. Thump, thump. The beating quickens in my chest. I look over my shoulder through the back window to see the car that’s been following ours pull up behind us. Fuck.
I bite the inside of my cheek and ask, “Does that mean he can hear me too?” This is good, I try to convince myself, giving myself a pep talk although my body is on fire with fear.
“Well no, he can’t hear you,” Jude starts as he puts the car in park and twists his body so he can look back at me. “But he can tell what we’re thinking about what you’re saying.” I start to panic at the realization that the Alpha knows I disrespected him. That’s probably like telling a mob don to fuck off.
Fuck. Fuckity fuck. My lungs still and I look everywhere around us to find no one moving yet. Maybe I should have just shut the hell up. My temper shouldn’t be getting the best of me. My head spins with fear and desperation, my gaze shooting to the handle on the car door.
“Why …” I want to ask why we pulled over since we seem to be in the middle of nowhere, but the words are stuck in my throat. Lev opens his door and gets out first, allowing a gust of cool air to filter into the car. My body starts to shake. Bracing his hands on the roof, he leans his head into the car and smiles at me.
“Relax, Grace, we’re just switching people around. We’re only a few minutes away, but Devin thinks it’s best that you see him now.”
I don’t move. I don’t say anything as the heavy footsteps come quicker than I’m prepared for.
Devin’s faster than I can imagine. There wasn’t a moment for me to will my body to move or to run. The car tilts slightly as he climbs into the seat next to me. His masculine, woodsy scent drifts into my lungs and suffocates every thought. He’s tall, his jaw sharp and every inch of his corded muscles are showing with his sleeves rolled up. My chest rises and falls chaotically.
“You’ll be quiet until we get home.”
It’s all he says, the words spoken in a deep low tone and anger pulses inside of me, but something else takes over with a force I can’t describe.
“I’m scared,” I say, whispering the truth although it’s not for the same reasons I’ve been terrified throughout the day … this is something completely different. As if my body, even my soul, knows my life has been irrevocably changed simply because this man looked my way.
“Don’t be,” he responds and that’s when his gaze meets mine for the first time. It’s sharp and silver and all-consuming.
Devin
Shove what I want up my ass? I kept my face emotionless in front of my pack, but I couldn’t help smiling on my way over to her car. I’m glad she’s feisty. My mate, my Grace. I love the way her name sounds on my tongue.
I stare at my mate from the corner of my eye. My mate is Alpha as fuck; the powerful force is rolling off of her gorgeous body in waves. If I was a lesser wolf, I’d feel the need to bow to her. It’s unbelievably sexy and entirely unexpected from a human. She’s subdued, though. At the realization, my grin vanishes and the impassive mask returns. Something’s beaten down her Alpha, and I’m going to find out exactly what happened.
At least she’s better off than her friend. Calmer, more in control. Something’s very wrong with Elizabeth. I was two seconds away from putting her friend in the trunk. It reall
y would’ve been for the best. She won’t stop calling out for my mate and fighting, which is only causing her to hurt herself. But Dom wouldn’t have enjoyed that. Caleb wouldn’t have liked it either. I feel so fucking sorry for my betas. Having to share your mate … that’s a problem I’m not sure how to solve. Dom’s already fighting an uphill battle. Liz denied him. Screamed at him, pushed him away and beat him repeatedly. It’s unheard of for a mate to react that way. She didn’t gentle in his arms like my mate did for me. Grace only pushed away from me to get to her friend, her pack. That’s what an Alpha does. A chill runs down my spine; that better have been the only reason she pushed away.
Dom shouldn’t worry, though. Liz’s heat will come soon enough and she’ll be begging for him … or Caleb. It’s a damn mess. I’m going to have to figure something out before they kill each other.
The headaches don’t stop there. Vince felt his mate in the stadium, just like I felt Grace last year. It’s going to be hell keeping him off human territory. I should know.
In the meantime, I can’t even tell Grace she’s my mate. If I did, then Dom and Caleb would have to come up with a way to tell Elizabeth, or Lizzie rather, that she belongs to both of them. And that can’t happen until they figure out their shit.
With the strongest members of my pack distracted over their mates, I should be concerned about us being prepared for the inevitable fallout from my old pack, but all I can think about is Grace. She’ll be going into heat soon; I can smell it coming on and I can see it in the flush of her skin. All I need to do is get her alone.
Part II
The Alpha
Grace
“What do you know about werewolves?” Devin, the Alpha, looks at me expectantly, his sharp silver eyes penetrating mine. His intense stare makes my heart beat chaotically. There’s an overwhelming feeling of power radiating off of him. His elbow is planted on his large maple desk with his chin resting on his fist. Devin’s dark brunette hair has a messy look to it that’s sexy as fuck and his five o’clock shadow is begging me to rub against it. I imagine how his stubble would feel against my inner thighs while he laps at my clit, sucking it into his mouth and letting it go with a pop. I clench my thighs and swallow thickly in an attempt to suppress these sudden urges. What the fuck is going on with me? Devin’s gaze heats as a knowing grin pulls at the corners of his mouth. I purse my lips in response to his arrogance.
Wounded Kiss (To Be Claimed Saga Book 1) Page 4