by Rae Foxx
“I heard that, female. Do you still think I’m going to kill you or kidnap you? If I wanted to, I would’ve already.”
I whirled on him, “How in the hell did you hear that?”
He chuckled, the sound full and rich as he ran his hand through his hair. That bright yellow light in his eyes flashed in the headlight from my car and I jumped, that live wire I usually felt when he touched me snapping through my spine. I shook it off like a cat, but it wasn’t going anywhere.
“Seriously. What the fuck are you doing to me?” Even my voice was breathless.
“Why don’t you sit down. I will try to do this the right way this time.” I did as he asked, although I made sure to sit far enough away that I could make a break for it if needed.
“When I was talking about my wolf, I was talking about the animal inside of me.” I raised my eyebrows, seriously not understanding what he was talking about. “I’m a shifter. I turn in to a wolf.”
And I was up.
All of that lightning and fire that being around him normally gave me turned into a low, panic-ridden, simmer.
“You turn into a wolf?” I seriously could not be hearing him correctly. “Are you high?”
“No, I’m a shifter.”
“Is that some new term for cocaine?”
“No. A shifter is…” He grunted and shifted his weight. He almost seemed uncomfortable. “Like a werewolf.”
He said the last word like it was dirty, don’t know why. That one I understood, well understood it in that I had seen Twilight a time or two. Didn’t mean I believed any of that.
“So you change into a wolf on the full moon?” I couldn’t believe I was asking that question. Like I was buying into this bullshit.
“Nothing like that.” He chuckled and pulled out some sandwiches, handing me a cellophane-wrapped triangle. I took the one he offered and took a bite while he put his sandwich on his lap. “I can change at will. I’m in charge of my wolf, and we have a symbiotic relationship. Give and take. We share this existence.”
I nodded and swallowed the bite I was chewing. I still had no idea what he was talking about or how sane he was.
“And your wolf gives you super hearing?”
“Yes, my wolf is why I could hear you a minute ago. Plus, my wolf is especially attuned to your voice. I can hear you for miles away in a crowd of millions.”
“My voice?” I tried to laugh it off, but it was making my stomach swirl. This was getting weirder and weirder.
“Yes, yours.” How in fuck’s name could he make two words so low and seductive?
“What’s so special about my voice?”
I pulled my knees up to my chest as the wind picked up around us and the scent of pine and cedar swam around me. It filled my head and made everything spin like it was surrounding me in a lasso and pulling me in.
It took me a second to realize it was his scent that was filling me; it was something about him that was pulling me closer to him.
“You feel it don’t you?” Luke leaned closer to me, his yellow eyes beaming into me like they were their own headlights and not reflecting the light from some.
“Your wolf?” Gods, did I say that out loud?
He smiled and for a second, I could have sworn I saw a little of a wolf in the broad showing of his teeth. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
I shook my head, “Tell me more about your wolf. What other superpowers do you have?”
He chuckled and leaned back, his t-shirt pulling tighter over his muscles.
“Enhanced hearing. Speed. Strength. Sense of smell. I have a greater awareness of my surroundings. I can read people, not like read their minds but my wolf picks up intentions. That’s why I decided to go ahead and get dinner. You were damned near starving.”
I squinted, taking in the fact that he thought he was telling the truth. And I was believing him. Idiot.
“Wait a damned minute. You know if people are hungry? That’s a weird superpower.”
He shrugged and pulled a hairband off his wrist and put his hair back. Gods, just when you think the guy can’t get any sexier.
Why is it always the sexy ones that are off their rocker?
“Not anyone, Cami. Only you. My wolf is attuned to you already. It’s the bond. I can’t read your mind, but it’s like I can sense things about you.”
Damn. I was starting to think that I should have followed Vanessa’s advice and called the cops. This wolf was obsessed with me. I was going to choose to ignore that.
“Okay. So... some wolf shifter thing bit you and you turned into one? How does that work?” If I was going to sit here and listen to all of this, I was going to get all the info I could.
Luke bit into his sandwich before pulling out bags of chips and drinks.
“You don’t get bit. Shifters don’t work that way. I was born a shifter. My father and mother are shifters. I am the son of the Alpha of The Silver Moon Wolf pack.”
“Shut the fuck up. So you are like a prince or something?” This was like those books.
I took a long swig of my drink while looking up at the moon, wondering if they worshipped it or something. More questions.
“I guess you could call it that.”
It didn’t escape my attention that he had scooted closer, and his thighs were now touching mine and I shifted away a little, simply to garner control again. “And you think I am your mate... or... whatever.” Yeah, saying that word wasn’t getting any easier.
He turned his head and looked at me, everything in his face softening to something you wouldn’t expect from a rough and tumble biker like him. Gods, the man was gorgeous, and my body practically sang every time he looked at me.
As unbelievable as this was, there was definitely a part of me that believed him. A part of me that could feel the pull of him. That trusted him.
“I don’t think you are my mate, Cami. I know. I knew from the first moment I saw you...however awkward the circumstances might have been.” He cleared his throat and shifted his weight. “There was no denying the fact that my wolf recognized you as our mate. There is only one mate for us in this whole world, and you are it.”
Talk about laying it on thick. I was starting to wonder why I was still here.
“So what are you doing in town? Vanessa said you were just passing through.”
Gods, I sounded eager. Truth was, I was completely eager for him to stay around--to explore whatever this was between us.
Except there was nothing there… no mates or whatever.
“My Betas and I were on a road trip of sorts--to find my mate, and I did. Well, you found me.”
The man scared me and thrilled me all at the same time. I’d never had such a confusing bundle of emotions inside me all at once.
“Okay, I found you. What now?”
He looked at me and nudged my shoulder with his. “That depends on you, I suppose. I know for a human, it’s so soon, but do you feel anything for me? Do you feel the bond at all? I mean, I know you do. I can practically scent the lust coming off you in waves.”
My eyes widened and I sniffed. “I smell nothing.”
“Nothing?” He turned and looked at me, those eyes boring holes into me. “Close your eyes.”
I gave him a look, but he chuckled and closed his first, as if this made it all easier.
This was it… the moment I die.
“Now, breathe in deeply through your nose, let your other senses take over.”
I heard the wind as it rustled the leaves in the tree above us, the chill of the night causing goosebumps all over my skin. Luke’s warm breaths fanned over my face, his rough hands now gripping my hands in his.
“What am I supposed to be feeling?” I asked, trying to restrain the shiver that was taking over.
“Hmm, it’s so different for a human. Let me tell you what I feel and maybe you can relate to some of it. Nope, eyes closed.” He tightened his grip on my hands as I opened my eyes.
“I can hear your heart flutter whe
n I move closer. I know you use some kind of honey and oat shampoo. Your skin is soft, but there are calluses on your palms--the sign of a hard worker. You smell incredible, like cinnamon and sunshine though those two things don’t do it justice.”
My eyes snapped open, but he was already looking at me. He was already leaning into me. I didn’t move back.
“I told you that my wolf can sense things about you. You’re still a little scared though it’s fading by the second. But mostly there’s the raw passion. It almost blinds me. Tell me you feel it.”
The man was a pro at getting under my skin. By the time he was done talking, I was a melted pile of goo at his feet and I wanted nothing more than for him to kiss me--fuck me--wreck me.
What was worse, I did smell it.
I had smelled it before, the pine and cedar. But now it was even stronger. It was filled with security. With home. It was terrifying and wonderful at the same time.
“I do. I feel it.”
Luke made a weird growling noise and pulled me onto his lap. My knees grazed the ground before I settled, my core against his hardness as I faced him. My hips bucked out of instinct alone as his mouth captured mine. Strong hands cupped my ass and pulled me closer to him until my breasts pressed against his chest, the rhythm of our breaths, ebbing and flowing as one.
“I knew you were mine. I knew I would find you. Mate,” He murmured into my ear before his teeth grazed the sensitive skin of my earlobe. His lips ventured down, tasting the skin of my neck while his hands roamed from my ass to my ribs, running the length of them until he reached the underside of my breasts.
“Mate,” I repeated the word, although it didn’t feel quite so scary that time. It roared through me like some kind of invisible tether between us, minute by minute sealing my fate to his.
Wait. What the hell was I doing?
No, my fate was my own.
“Wait, I can’t…” I yelled, backward crab-walking away from him like he was the monster, and I was the girl with the red cape.
“Yes, you can. Cami, I can help--”
“No, you can’t… I just can’t.”
My feet pounded the ground as I took off in a sprint toward my car and jumped inside. Peeling the car away with screeching brakes and flashing lights I looked behind me to see Luke on top of the hill, hands on his hips, looking down as though the ground would provide answers for my flight. Painting and shaking, I pressed down on the accelerator, needing the car to take me as far away as possible, before I changed my mind because driving away from him was ripping myself in two.
6
Luke
“Jesus, let’s get out of here. That girl is fucking you over and not in the good way.”
It took an hour for Grant to stop laughing at the fact that my girl had left me high and dry on a hill in the middle of fucking nowhere. I’d had to walk back to the dinky motel in human form to reduce the risk of being seen.
It was dawn, and I was dust-covered, but it had been worth it.
I knew that she was mine. I knew she had felt something when I first saw her, and now I was certain. She felt the bond between us, so why in the fuck was she so stubborn and scared?
Now that I knew where she was, it wasn’t settling my wolf down. He wanted her now more than ever. The one kiss had not been enough. He needed to claim her.
“I’m not leaving without her, Grant. We’ve been over this.” I said it confidently as I changed my shirt, throwing the other in the backpack that I kept my supplies in; the thing landed right on my still wet toothbrush.
We had been away from my pack long enough. I needed to get back, but I wasn’t going to abandon what I had found.
“She’s coming with us.”
Grant breathed out a sigh while stuffing his clothes into the duffel he’d brought with him. “Are you sure about this, Luke? There are other females. Ones that understand our ways. Ones that wouldn’t make this shit so difficult.”
I hated how right he was, but I hated more that he refused to let this go. Every time I saw him, he was hounding me about leaving Cami behind.
I picked up one of my boots and targeted his face, but hit his chest instead. “Yes, because it’s possible to go find another fucking mate. They would never be her, and you know it. I’m not going to bond with anyone who isn’t my true mate. Cami is my true mate.”
Cami is mine.
My wolf was growling at the thought of leaving her behind. I knew my betas could hear the sound, not that they paid it any mind.
Even Trevor shook his head.
“What? You both can’t agree on this? I don’t fucking settle! I finally found her, and I’m not giving up on that because of a few bumps in the road.”
“Bumps in the road? That’s what we’re calling this?” Grant threw the boot back at me, but I caught it easily, wolf snarling.
“Yes!”
“Luke, hear us out,” Trevor began and I rounded on him, my wolf snarling. He didn’t back down. “You remember Jesse? He brought home a human mate, and we all know what happened. She couldn’t hack it.”
I remembered Jesse well. He’s one of the people I’d thought about after meeting Cami. Jesse had brought home Dena. He was so fucking proud of having found his mate, the smile on his face one of pure satisfaction--until the other pack members got wind of her. They didn’t like her one bit, and they showed it every chance they got. She tried to fit in and conform to pack ways for about six months before she basically broke down and told Jesse that it was her or the pack. We hadn’t seen him since. He and his mate, now wife, lived on the outskirts of a human town in a cabin. Had to give up everything for his mate’s sanity and well-being.
We joked about it, but at the core of the subject, it was life or death.
He left to save his mate.
But I was the alpha…
She is mine.
“Jesse’s mate is not my mate,” I stubbornly snapped, turning back to continue packing. “I know Cami can handle it. If you had seen her stand up to me, you would know it too. She’s coming with us one way or the other. I won’t have anything less.”
Trevor nodded and turned back to his pack; his role done. Grant wasn’t going to let it slide.
“What’s the plan then? You going to kidnap her?”
I finished packing up my shit and put my hands on my hips, looking out the window. My wolf already knew what to do, he was desperate to shift, to carry her out of here on his back, or between his jaws if necessary.
I needed to play my cards right.
“No. It won’t come to that. We need to go to the bar, and I’ll convince her. Deep down she knows what I am to her. I’ll make her come with me. She doesn’t have a choice. I’m the fucking Alpha. What I say goes and as my mate, she’s one of us now. Period.”
“Okay, so kidnapping it is,” Grant said, clearly bristling. “I’ve got a length of rope in my saddlebag. If needed, we’ll hogtie her and take her home.”
“No, she will come.” I was stubborn, but I was already starting to understand my mate. Plus, I knew how mating worked. She was mine. She was coming with me.
“Fine. Whatever works. That place opens at four. We’ll be there.” Grant put his duffel over his shoulder. “In the meantime let’s check out of this dump and get something to eat. I’m fucking hungry.”
---
My chest got tight as Cami pulled up in the beat-up Corolla, the front covered with dirt. I was beaming at the sight of her, but the look she gave me was a mix between regret and anger, and maybe a bit of desire.
I could taste it all in her scent, the strong pull of it dragging me into protective mode.
“What the fuck are you doing here? I will call the cops this time,” she began, clearly raising her voice more than was needed as she bolted out of her car. Damn it all if she looked like she was going to rush me.
Damn. I needed that firecracker. I needed her in my life. Beneath me. Tamed. All of it.
My wolf bristled at the thought, my hairs prick
ling as the creature tried to take control. I was going to need to give my shifter what he wanted, or we were going to run into trouble.
“Cami, we need to talk,” I tried to keep my voice casual, placing myself between her and the bar.
“No,” she shook her head, charging toward the bar as she tried to find a way around me. “We don’t. Look, last night was a mistake. Never should’ve happened. I know you think I’m your…”
“You are my mate. I don’t think. It is, Cami. I thought we were clear about that.” I reached out and grabbed her wrist as she tried to dart past me, but she jerked it away from me and almost toppled back in the process.
“What do you want, Luke?” Her voice was clipped and monotone like she was forcing herself to be robotic. “I mean, I know what you want from me, but you can get that from any woman in the vicinity. You can drop all of this mate crap.”
I growled, couldn’t be helped. Cami’s eyes widened, and she took a few steps back. Shit, maybe I wasn’t as good at this as I thought I was.
“Look at me, mate of mine. Look at me,” I forced some of my Alpha power into my voice, hoping it would work. It did. She jerked as she turned, her eyes meeting mine. My skin prickled at her gaze, no matter how angry she was, I could feel her inside of me. Feel everything for her.
“This isn’t a joke, Cami.” I was still snapping, even though my hand was soft as I captured her chin, the contact surging through both of us as she sighed. “I’m not playing some fucking game. I know you felt our connection last night. Why can’t you admit it?”
“Because it scares the shit out of me, Luke. It’s fucking insane. I meet you one night and next…”
“Next, I’m asking you to come with me.” It was as much of a plea as I could make it, the growl of my wolf was making my voice much harsher than it usually was.
Her nose scrunched up as though the idea of coming with me was so repulsive.
“What?” She looked visibly upset before she shook her head and her entire expression changed, as though she had pulled a mask over her features. “Good. We had our dinner and you said you would leave. So goodbye!”