Savage Hunger: Savage, Book 1 (13 page)

As she’d hoped, the house was empty and she quickly started scavenging for the keys. But after the minutes ticked by and she couldn’t find them, frustration gnawed at her gut.

She bit her lip and glanced around, listening for the sound of the men returning. Nothing. Her gaze fell on the fridge and she frowned.

Hmm. It was a long shot, but worth a try. She hurried to the fridge, and stepped on her tiptoes, running her fingers over the top of the fridge. Her pulse quickened when the brush of metal against her skin coincided with the familiar jangle.

Holy shit.
She’d done it.

She curled her fingers around the keys, jerked them down, then turned and sprinted toward the door.

The shaking and noise coming from the barn had Warrick’s gut-clenching guilt over Sienna fading some. Instead it was replaced with unease for the current situation. It was a good thing the safe house was miles from another building or someone would be calling the local authorities by now. And that was a situation they never enjoyed.

His outlook turned grim as he entered the building.
Shit.
The full moon had fucked them up, and good.

The shifters strained against the chains that held them, their howls of rage and pain filled the wood building. Claws swiped at the wood stalls, sending wood shavings flying into the air.

Right away he spotted Hilliard struggling to control the rabid wolf that had attacked Sienna earlier. The shifter’s face contorted between animal and human, but both sides showed the blatant agony the man experienced.

“Donovan,” Hilliard yelled, having spotted him. “Get your ass over here and help me tranquilize this one.”

Warrick sprang forward and into the stall, managing to push the shifter back before it could maul the other agent’s face off. Hilliard stumbled back, wiping the sweat off his forehead before grabbing the tranquilizer gun. A soft hiss rang out as the half-shifted wolf roared with anger, swiping at Warrick one last time, before he stumbled back and fell to the ground.

“Shit.” Warrick shook his head. “We’ve got to find a way to communicate with them somehow. Before we drug them up.”

Rafferty walked out of a nearby stall and gave a bitter laugh. “Yeah, well, when you figure that out let me know, buddy. Because I’m not about to risk my life trying to have a nice little chat with a shifter doped up on some crazy shit.”

Warrick touched his fingertips to his temples and shook his head. No. They’d just risk the lives of the suffering shifters. “Where’s Larson?”

The bitterness slid from Rafferty’s expression, leaving a quiet somberness in its place as he jerked his head to the right. “Back-corner stall. It’s not looking good for the female.”

Warrick’s gut tightened and he bit back a sigh. He strode silently down the pathway of the barn, his footsteps crunching the straw on the ground, as he glanced in the stalls at the now-unconscious shifters.

The screams were once again silenced, but soft whimpers lifted from the end stall that he approached.

When he arrived, Larson lifted his head from where he sat on the floor. Grace, their fellow agent, lay in human form next to him, curled in fetal position and sweat glistening on her trembling body. Her eyes were glazed and it was clear she was completely out of it and unaware of either of the men in the stall with her.

“How bad is it?” Warrick asked quietly as he knelt beside her.

Larson gave a small shake of his head. “It’s bad. She’s got a fever that I’m not sure meds or even her were side can fight. What kind of drug is doing this to them?”

Warrick shook his head and pressed the back of his hand to the woman’s forehead, wincing at the heat he found there.

“Sienna knows something. And she’ll talk,” he spoke roughly. “I’ll personally see to it if I have to damn well string her up by her toes.”

A roar ripped through the air, followed by Rafferty’s cry of pain.

Warrick jumped to his feet, running toward the front of the barn. “Goddammit, I thought you just tranquilized him!”

Rafferty clutched a bloody shoulder as he stumbled out of a stall near the front of the barn. “Fuck, man, we did. The doses don’t seem to be enough tonight. He ran outside.”

Scooping up the tranquilizer gun, Warrick shook his head and moved to the door. “I’ll get him.”

He jogged out into the night air, at ease with the knowledge that the shifter wouldn’t get far. But his calm immediately vanished.

No.

He blinked in disbelief at the sight before him. His blood chilled, and for a moment he went numb.

Sienna ran toward the van, and the wolf that was slowly stalking her was just seconds from an attack. With the state that wolf was in, she’d be dead in seconds.

The image of her bloodied and lifeless body flashed through his head, stabbing terror into his heart and adrenaline into his blood. Warrick dropped the gun and sprinted forward. A fucking tranquilizer sure as hell wouldn’t save her now.

Sienna swallowed the fear in her throat as she closed in on the van, glancing around but seeing nothing in the early dawn. They hadn’t spotted her yet. And in a moment she’d be inside and speeding off to the airport.

She reached the van door, fumbling to get the key in the lock with her hands trembling so badly. The keys slipped from her grasp, falling to the ground in a loud jangle.

“Shoot!” she muttered, her pulse quickening as she reached to retrieve them. She stood again and choked on a gasp.

The wolf stood just feet away. Foam dripping from its mouth as it watched her. In its eyes was the promise to kill and a snarl vibrated deep in its throat.

She lost the ability to breathe, her whole body went cold and the keys slid from her limp fingers once more.

“Sienna!”

Warrick.
Her head jerked up, her pulse quickening with hope, even as she knew he’d never get to her in time. The moon’s light showed that he was only halfway between the barn and the van.

She couldn’t move. Fear paralyzed every muscle in her body, and she had the feeling that Warrick’s face would probably be the last thing she saw before the wolf attacked…before she died.

Would it be horribly painful? Or would it be over quickly? The possibilities flashed through her head, horrifically gruesome, and she prayed for the latter.

Time seemed to slow, even as it appeared Warrick sped up. His body became a blur and his muscles contorted almost impossibly as he charged across the grass. Another savage roar ripped through the air. But it wasn’t from the wolf. It was from Warrick.

She blinked, convinced she was seeing things.

When her wide gaze fell where Warrick had been a moment before, he was gone. In his place was a large black wolf, eyes glowing gray as he streaked forward.

Or maybe she wasn’t seeing things.

But…

The blood drained from Sienna’s head and she stumbled back against the van, trying to deny what she was staring at
.

How…?

The world around her spun, faster and faster
.

Warrick. A wolf.

Her stomach roiled and her knees buckled.

Not human…

She struggled to hold on to the van as the staggering realization sank in.

Warrick didn’t just work with the shifters. He was one of them.

The feral wolf in front of her sprang forward with a hideous growl, its teeth flashing and claws flexed. Burning pain seared her arm, so intense the contents of her stomach pitched violently.

Fight or die.

Sienna struggled to free herself from the wolf’s grasp on her flesh. She punched at him, kicked, but his teeth sank deeper.

Fiery, sharp agony rocketed through her and her mind went white with pain.

Die.

Shit, so not the option she’d been hoping for.

Her legs buckled and she fell into the darkness that rushed up with greedy claws to drag her under.

Chapter Eight

Warrick unlocked his jaws from the dead wolf’s neck and let him drop to the ground. His stomach twisted as he shifted back into human form. It was hard not to glance down at the carcass of the wolf, see the wildness in its yellow eyes or the foam that still dripped from its mouth. Foam that was red from Sienna’s blood.

His vision narrowed and his pulse thundered with a combination of rage and fear. He turned and approached where Sienna had crumpled into a heap on the ground.

“
Holy shit
.” Footsteps sounded across the grass. Hilliard arrived to kneel down by the dead shifter. “You fucking killed him.”

Warrick didn’t respond, just slid his arms beneath Sienna’s limp form and lifted her gently from the ground. Blood spilled from the vicious bite on her arm, the cotton of her sweatshirt and some of her skin ripped to shreds.

“You killed a wolf?” Rafferty asked, out of breath, as he rushed to join them. “Damn man, this is going to be a mess.”

Right now he didn’t give a fuck about what killing one of his own entailed. He knew it was bad. That thought had slipped through his head for about half a second before he’d thrust it aside and made the decision to save Sienna.

He strode quickly toward the house, his chest tight as he stared down at her pallid face. She didn’t move in his arms, didn’t even make a whimper of pain.

But he could hear her heart, even if it had slowed and was unsteady, pumping the lifeblood through her veins.

Inside the house he made his way back to their room, kicking open the half-closed door. When he laid her on the mattress, her brows furrowed and her face tightened with pain.

Grabbing the neck of the shirt, he ripped the cotton down her arm and carefully peeled it away from the wound. Blood and skin clung to the fabric and she whimpered, her eyelids flickering as he removed the shirt.

Blood, dark and ominous, pumped violently from the two puncture wounds in her arm. Both holes were jagged from her struggle. His gut clenched with dread and sweat broke out on the back of his neck.

Dammit
. The wound was bleeding too heavily. The wolf had hit one of Sienna’s arteries.

He had to act now. No time for hesitation, Warrick brought her arm to his mouth and drew his tongue over the wound. Stroking the punctures again and again, ignoring the coppery taste that filled his mouth.

Even knowing his saliva would save her life did little to ease the ball of fear sitting heavy in his stomach. This was happening to
Sienna
. She was too pale and too still now.

Only when the blood stopped seeping from her did the tension ease from his muscles. Did the debilitating clutch of fear subside. When the skin around the punctures began to crinkle and turn pink, he stopped licking and lifted his head.

Moving his fingers to her wrist, he let out a seething breath filled with relief at the steady pulse he found. She was healing—surprisingly faster than he’d thought possible, even with his saliva. He wiped the back of his hand over his mouth to remove any trace of blood there.

Sienna’s eyelids flickered before her lashes swept up. Her gaze was disoriented, but held no pain now. As she looked into his eyes recognition flickered.

“Warrick,” she whispered.

“Just rest, kid,” he said huskily. He smoothed his thumb over her wrist, his chest still a hell of a lot tighter than he wanted it to be. “You’re going to be a little weak for a bit.”

She shook her head. “No, I feel…” Lifting her arm, she glanced down at the almost-healed wound and her brows knitted. “Oh my God. I feel fine. How is this possible? I was attacked, right? That wolf…oh please tell me I’m not crazy. I did
not
imagine nearly getting my arm ripped off.”

“No. You didn’t,” he replied quietly, not wanting that image placed back in his head. Not wanting to think about the moment of sheer panic and terror he’d experienced when seeing the shifter attack her.

Her gaze slid from her arm back to him. “I’ve always been a quick healer, but not like this. This is miraculous.”

“I healed you.”

“You healed me?” she repeated and struggled to sit up. “With the way that wolf attacked me, I’m pretty sure a bandage and some antibiotic ointment wasn’t going to cut it.”

“Don’t worry about how I saved you, and just be thankful I did, Sienna,” he bit out.

Dammit, she had no clue how much he’d just sacrificed for her. How he’d just placed his ass on the line. He shoved aside the possible consequences of his actions and focused on the situation at hand.

“I’m sorry. Of course I’m grateful, Warrick,” she said softly, but then her gaze filled with something close to horror. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

So much for hoping she wouldn’t remember seeing him shift. A chill slid through him, but Warrick nodded his head.

It had only taken seconds for him to reveal the secret he’d always kept hidden from her. Kept from most of the world. Seconds for him to risk everything to save her life at the expense of his standing within the shifter community. But along with the unease about his future, there was a sense of relief that Sienna finally knew.