The Road to Wolfe (The Sanctuary Series Book 4)

by Nikita Slater

  I lift my head and stare down at her. I would tear this world apart for her. I would put it back together again for her. The power this woman has over me is unparalleled and dangerous, yet I wouldn't want it any other way.

  "Let's go home."

  Thirty

  We return to the city in subdued silence. Well, not exactly silence. One of the Primitives we captured is tied up in the trunk of the car. It’s making an unholy amount of noise. Banging on the trunk, letting out bellows of rage through the hood we wrapped around its head.

  "You want some jerky?" Skye asks, her tone bored.

  I nod and reach for it. I'm not particularly hungry, but this woman has never offered me anything before, let alone sustenance. With her, I'll take anything and everything I can get. Today, the zombie fight has put her in a good mood. Made her forget how angry she was over our sexual encounter.

  It’s now past midnight and we're looking at a few more hours of driving. The night is clear and the road is illuminated by a bright moon. The two cars behind us follow close. None of us have working lights, so they rely on the lead vehicle to guide them safely across the countryside toward Sanctuary.

  As we approach the city gates, sometime after two in the morning, I say to Skye, "Your things will be moved from the harem."

  I keep my eyes on the road so I don't see the expression on her face, though her words and tone are enough. "Why would I move out of the harem? Am I getting my own place in the city?"

  "I think you know better than that," I say dryly. "You will be moved to the Warlord's chambers."

  "Absolutely not!" she snaps, so sharply that the Primitive in the trunk hears her and responds with a series of bangs and screams.

  "Regardless, you will be moved."

  "I won't move, Wolfe," she argues angrily. "I want my own space. Just because you fucked me once doesn't mean I'm going to lay down and take it whenever you want it."

  Fury ripples through me at her words and I savour the energy. Only this woman can make me feel emotion. This is part of the reason I believe that I am deeply in love with her. No other human I have met has managed to make me feel a damn thing, let alone the kind of anger she can pull from me. Though I will admit that there are days when I wonder if my life would be easier if she hadn’t come into it.

  Without looking at her, I reach over to capture her wrist in a tight grip. "You will not describe our physical affection for each other in such terms."

  She falls silent for a few seconds and then lets out a sharp laugh which receives an answering bang from the trunk. She sends a glare over her shoulder. "That's rich coming from you. A man who can barely string three words together. I don't care how you want me to describe sex, I will do and say as I please."

  "Skye." I say her name warningly. “Despite what you think, you answer to me, and if you continue down this path, there will be consequences to that bitchy attitude.”

  "What consequences?" she demands. "You promised you wouldn't hurt me."

  "Didn't promise I wouldn't hurt anyone else," I say darkly, taking the familiar path through the darkened streets to the Sanctuary palace. "I can do plenty of damage to you without touching you."

  She gasps and yanks her wrist away from me. "So you think it's okay to hurt me mentally, even if you won’t lay a hand on me physically? You're an abusive asshole, Wolfe."

  I close my eyes for a brief moment and then open them to concentrate on the road. The last thing we need to do is wreck the vehicle this close to home. "I'm done talking about this."

  She doesn’t say anything for a few seconds and I think she's finally done speaking her mind, but then she pipes up just as we drive into the underground garage. "That's because you can't string more than three words together."

  I let her snarky comments slide. Mostly because I think it's a good sign that she continues to fight me, no matter how ineffectual she is. She doesn't realize that she'll never win against me, because she has no idea how determined I am to keep her in my life. Nothing else matters to me. I will happily lay down my life, slaughter entire hordes and claim cities for her. The day she discovers this is the day she becomes an incredibly dangerous person.

  We hand our zombie friend over to the palace guards and instruct them to take all three Primitives to Dr. Summers’s lab. A secure room was built into the lab for them. Likely, Dr. Summers is up waiting for the delivery.

  Skye and I climb the palace stairs, floor after floor toward the top. When we reach the second to top floor, which houses the harem, Skye attempts to dart past me to go through the door. I grab hold of her arm before she makes it and continue up the stairs. She stumbles behind me, catches herself and then grudgingly continues to ascend.

  "I'm not staying with you, Wolfe. Forcing me to live with you in the Warlord's chambers is too much. I won’t do it." She ruins the forcefulness of her words by yawning widely.

  I ignore her, continuing up until we reach the Warlord’s floor. I push the stairway door open and continue down the hall until we reach the entrance. I let her go once we’re safely inside and the doors are locked behind us. Skye immediately whirls around and attempts to wrench the door back open but discovers that it’s locked from the inside as well as the outside.

  "Let me out," she snaps at me.

  "No."

  I walk past her through the chambers and into the solarium. I intend to continue through to the private chambers, but she catches hold of my arm and attempts to swing me around. When I don't immediately comply, she whirls herself in front of me and glares.

  "If you don't let me out, I will set this place on fire. Just like I did the harem."

  I take a step away from her and rub the bridge of my nose. Goddamn, I'm tired. It's been a long few days. Satisfying and productive. In just 48 hours I managed to complete the mission of capturing live zombies as well as furthering my relationship with Skye. Though I'm happy that we've taken a big step in our physical relationship, I'm beginning to wonder at the wisdom of keeping her in the Warlord's chambers. Truly, I keep this place devoid of people and clutter so that I can have peace. Skye is anything but peaceful.

  Yet, even angry, I love having her near. I look down at her, sinking into the glory of her angry profile. Her long, dark auburn hair flows in waves over her shoulders, touching the leather and the more feminine garments beneath. Everything about her is so achingly beautiful I wonder how she wasn't captured long before Silas got his hands on her. I reach out to touch her, taking hold of her shoulders.

  "Not everything needs to be a war between us." I dig my fingers into her shoulder blades for emphasis, kneading her muscles, but also squeezing more tightly than necessary to get my point across.

  She shakes her head dismally and keeps her eyes averted as she says, "I think it does."

  "Why?"

  She shrugs my hands away and steps back. She begins pacing the floor, away from me toward the solarium garden, then around the tables and back toward me. I'm gratified that she's not trying to physically avoid me.

  "We’re way too different to be together," she says, almost to herself, still pacing. "Killing runs through your veins, it's who you are, it's what you do. I need a better life than that, a stable one. I want things. Things you can't give me."

  "What things," I demand. She clearly hasn't come to know me well enough if she thinks there's anything I won't do for her.

  "Things like babies," she snaps, whirling around to glare at me with her arms crossed protectively over her chest. "Just look at you, you can’t have babies!"

  Now she’s starting to piss me off. "If I'm understanding the fundamentals correctly, I damn well can have babies."

  She throws her hands up in annoyance. "You know what I mean. It's not that you can't – it’s that you shouldn't."

  "Why shouldn't I?”

  "Because you'll be a terrible father. You're impatient, you're dangerous and you hardly speak. Children need to be spoken to."

  "And you see children in your future?" I ask her.


  "Yes… no… I don't know. But I'd like the option… maybe."

  "You're searching for reasons why we shouldn’t be together," I say to her quietly. "You need to readjust your thinking."

  She whirls around and points a finger at me. "No, you need to readjust your thinking and let me out of here. I didn't agree to this, I didn't agree to any of this."

  I take several long, measured steps toward her, slowly backing her up until her ass hits the edge of the solarium table. She reaches behind herself and grips it so hard that her knuckles turn white. Like it's a lifeline.

  "I won't allow you to leave," I tell her, my eyes caressing every inch of her though I don't touch her. "This is your life now."

  "I don't accept that," she says, a chill to her voice.

  "Then our battle will continue," I say.

  Her grey eyes take on a pained expression, but she nods. "It has to."

  "That's where you're wrong. The war is in here." I tap her chest with my middle and forefinger, then I tap her temple. "And in here."

  "What's that supposed to mean?" she whispers, blinking rapidly and refusing to look at my face.

  I consider not answering. I hate answering questions people already know the answer to. But when it comes to Skye, I'm willing to give her that little extra. "It means, you're torn in different directions. Part of you wants to be with your sister in another Sanctuary. But you won't be happy there, which is why you accepted the assignment to distribute the vaccine." I fall silent for a few seconds, giving her time to absorb my first point before I continue. "Another part of you wishes you could climb into the grave with your dead husband." She opens her mouth to disagree with me, but I continue, "And the rest of you wants me as badly as I want you, but can't reconcile that desire with my previous two points. If you decide to settle down and stay with me in Sanctuary, then you’ll be giving up the ghost of your husband and the possibility of living in the same place as your only living family."

  Tears spring to her eyes, creating a jewellike gleam that mesmerizes me. The tears tell me that I'm correct in my assessment. Before she can argue or break down completely, I take her arm in a gentle grip.

  "Let's eat, then we can sleep."

  "I'm not hungry," she mumbles, but shuffles her feet in an effort to keep up with me when I start walking.

  "Eat anyway, you'll need your strength."

  "For what?" she asks curiously. "Are we going zombie hunting again?"

  I'm relieved to hear a hint of humour return to her voice. As much as I love and desire this woman, I despise seeing the muddled confusion in her. The depression. The grief that she’s spent a lifetime battling. I want to hold her close and keep her safe forever. But I can't keep her safe from herself. Until she realizes that she needs to heal, I will protect her and give her all the time she needs.

  "Not zombie hunting, but you'll need energy for the coming battle."

  "Battle?" she asks incredulously.

  "Battle," I reiterate seriously. "Because unless you intend to come to my bed easily, I anticipate one hell of a fight."

  Like the flip of a switch, her mood turns rapidly to anger and she pulls away from my grip. "If you think I'll willingly share a bed with you, you better prepare yourself for disappointment."

  "Just remember, for every hit you land, I will take a kiss in reparation."

  She gives me the finger and storms away, then realizes she’s heading toward a dead-end hallway. She halts in her tracks, lets out a huff of annoyance, turns on her heel and stomps past me toward the dining hall. I smile after her, eyes on her swaying hips. She might not be peace and serenity, but she’s mine and I’m keeping her.

  Thirty-One

  Skye

  My first night in the Warlord's chambers does not go quite as expected. After our evening meal together, I try to leave again. Without a word, Wolfe picks me up, tosses me over his shoulder, slaps my ass much harder than necessary and strides toward the Warlord’s bedchamber.

  He tosses me onto his bed but doesn’t watch to see if I land okay. Instead, he turns away from me and immediately begins stripping off his clothes. Assuming that he intends to have sex with me, I yank my knife from my belt and hold it out in front of me. I’d told him our last encounter was a one-time deal. If he so much as touches me, I’ll stab him until he understands.

  He continues to ignore me as he washes up in a bowl of warm sudsy water that had been left on the table beside the window. The same bowl where he washed my hands a few weeks ago.

  Once he finishes, he dries his hands and walks naked to the bed. I finally get a good view of his monster cock and it damn near drives me off the bed. He put that thing inside me – no wonder it hurt so much! Even flaccid it hangs down his thigh. Under my scrutiny it starts to come to life, blood slowly filling it as its true size is gradually revealed.

  Wolfe says nothing about my blatant stare, the fact that his body is becoming excited or the knife I’m holding like it’s my last line of defense. I move to the edge of the bed as he flips the blanket back, lies down, drags the bedding across his lower body and falls asleep completely nude, his engorged cock tenting the blanket.

  Feeling ridiculous, I slowly lower my arm and sheath the knife. I can tell by his deep, even snores that Wolfe is well and truly asleep. His face has softened, though soft is not a word one could apply to Wolfe. His complete lack of expression gives him a slightly more boyish look. I almost want to reach out and trace the scar that crosses over his eye. I want to lift the eyepatch to see what's beneath. I wonder if he’s sleeping with it on because I’m here or if he never takes it off. Somehow, I suspect that no matter how gruesome the sight, it won't change the way I feel about Wolfe.

  To be honest, I don't know exactly how I do feel about Wolfe. I can't honestly say I hate him, but he still makes me angrier than any other person I’ve ever met. Besides maybe Talon, the Outsider who sold me to Santa Fe Sanctuary in the first place. I'd had my revenge though, shooting him right between the eyes when he attempted to do the same with my sister.

  I slide off the bed and walk as quietly as possible to the water basin, my eyes on Wolfe. He doesn't even twitch. One arm is dangling off the side of the bed, the other bent at the elbow and stretched to curve around his head. Even in sleep his bicep bulges impressively.

  I begin to strip off my own clothes, wrinkling my nose as they fall to the floor and a dirty metallic smell wafts up. I'd forgotten about the Primitive blood splattered across my outfit. When we got back from the hunt, we come straight up here and ate without stopping to wash or change. I strip until I’m naked, confident that Wolfe won't wake up. Even if he does, he seems exhausted enough that he probably won't do anything about my nudity.

  I dip the sponge sitting next to the bowl into the water. It's cloudy with the dirt that came off Wolfe, but it's not unusable. I wash my face first, then my armpits, genitals and limbs. Feeling much better, I rifle through a clothes chest, searching for something appropriate to wear to bed. If Wolfe plans on trapping me here, then I can help myself to whatever I find in the Warlord's chambers.

  I come up with a soft shirt that looks as though it used to be white, but through age and hard wear has faded to an almost see-through off-white colour. I pull it over my head and decide that it’ll work just fine. The huge shirt gapes around my breasts, but it goes down to my knees, which is enough coverage.

  I crawl into the bed on the other side from Wolfe and wiggle under the covers. As I lie down and my eyes drift shut, the last thought I have is that the Warlord’s bed is extremely comfortable. I should have it moved to the harem where I can enjoy it in peace. I fall asleep with a sigh of contentment on my lips.

  Less than an hour later Wolfe and I are woken up by a thunderous banging sound. I sit up with a gasp and reach for the gun that I always keep beside the bed. I glance over at Wolfe, who’s blinking blearily into the darkness, holding a knife in one hand and his gun in the other. We look at each other for a few seconds and then Wolfe leaps from th
e bed, every trace of sleep gone as he strides naked from the room.

  Not wanting to be left out, I hurry after him, my gun still clutched tightly against my side. I stay at his back as he approaches the main doors of the Warlord's chambers. He glances at me before reaching high over his head and grabbing a key from the top of the door. I raise my eyebrow at him. Not a great hiding spot, I would've eventually figured out to look there.

  He unlocks the door and jerks it open, uncaring that he's completely nude as he faces Kingston and Hannah.

  "Hannah?" I say her name in confusion. She doesn't live in the palace anymore; what is she doing at the Warlord’s door? Her eyes are red-rimmed and haunted. I glance sharply at Wolfe to see if this is a new development or if she often stops by unexpectedly in the middle of the night.

  From the look on Wolfe’s face, he doesn't have any clue why she's there either. I let out a sigh of relief and then silently chastise myself for my stupid jealousy. Why, oh why, do I always have to do things the hard way? Even falling in love feels like a fight to the death.

  "Get dressed," Hannah says briskly, her voice slightly muffled as though she has a cold. "We need you down at the laboratory."

  Wolfe doesn't say anything but continues to glare at the intruders as though contemplating disposing of them so we can go back to bed. I touch his arm and decide I better chime in. "We'll be ready in five minutes."

  I reach out to close the door and then hurry back to the bedchamber. Wolfe trails behind me.

  "This better be good," he growls, scrubbing a hand over his face and rolling his shoulders back until they crack. Exhaustion is hitting him hard and he's as grumpy as I've ever seen him.

  "There's no point in questioning Hannah’s summons. She wouldn't be here unless something very big was happening. I learned that early in my career as a harem girl. Hannah is serenity personified, so if she’s shaken, then there’s something to be shook about."

  "Don't call yourself that." Wolfe’s lip lifts in disgust.