Savage Moon: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 4) (2 page)

Chapter
Three

Kane’s heartbeat filled my ears. Red clouded my
vision for a few seconds as he woke in a blood rage. But, it wasn’t directed at
me. As he moved toward the lake, I took a zig-zag path away from the rest of
the pack. The white wolf must have led them on a chase in the opposite
direction. God, I hoped he was fast enough. If Kane and the rest of the pack
caught up with him, it would be six against one. It wouldn’t matter how strong
he was; they’d tear him apart if they stayed feral.

My heart thundered in my chest; I couldn’t do
anything to hide it now. But, the white wolf had bought me time. For at least a
few minutes, Kane probably wouldn’t be able to sort out his own primal fury
from my adrenaline rush. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. God, please
let it be enough time, I thought. And please don’t let them hurt the white
wolf. If they did, it would be one more casualty of a mistake I’d made.

Sweat pouring down my back, I was in sight of the
cabin. Kane and the pack had made it as much as a mile away. I felt Kane’s
heartbeat slow, then fade. Whatever was happening out there, the situation had
quickly diffused. I started to breathe easier for the first time since I’d
stepped off the porch and headed for the lake. The white wolf must have gotten
away. Even from this distance, I would have sensed the pack moving in for the
kill.

I slipped inside my cabin and peeled off my clothes.
I had to shower quickly to wash away the stranger’s scent and any trace of the
fear I felt from my near miss. As the water sluiced over my body, my mind
flashed to those stolen moments at the water’s edge. I shouldn’t still feel his
touch on my hand. His forehead pressed against mine. It didn’t mean anything.
It couldn’t. It was just some residual, heightened sense from what Kane had
done to me. And yet, fear still coursed through my blood as I wondered what
happened when the pack caught up with the lone wolf.

It wasn’t my fight or my worry. It was up to the
pack to handle their own business. If I even let on that I knew a stranger had
crossed through Kane’s territory, I’d tip my hand. No. The white wolf was going
to have to take care of himself. Just like me.

I threw on a fresh t-shirt and cotton shorts, then
slipped under the covers. Too keyed up to sleep, I had to at least look like
I’d made the effort before Kane and the others came back.

God.

I’d been lucky this time. Too lucky. I was going to
have to figure out a better way to put some distance between myself and the
pack if I ever wanted to break free of Kane for good. Still, it had almost
worked tonight. I knew I could do it. Every day I’d gotten better at shielding
my feelings so Kane couldn’t tell where my head was. I’d been
so
close.

I turned to my side and stared out the window.
Clouds moved away, uncovering the bright full moon. Hot tears stung my eyes as
I stared at it. I’d hoped to watch the sunrise from the other side of the lake
or somewhere far away this morning. Instead, here I still was in the prison of
Kane’s compound. No closer to freedom or finding my family than I’d been in the
six months since he’d marked me.

Thunder cracked as my cabin door flew open.
Startled, I grabbed the covers and pulled them up to my chin. Kane filled the
doorway, blocking out the moonlight, his eyes flashing red menace.

“Wake up,” he said, his voice low and threatening.

“What is it?” I hugged my knees and edged to the far
end of the mattress, pressing my back against the headboard.

Kane slammed the door shut behind him, making me
jump, then he walked to the end of the bed. He rubbed his palms together and
bounced on the balls of his feet, reminding me of a boxer getting ready to take
the ring. He wore black drawstring pants and sweat covered him. He must have
just shifted, and the blood rage still coursed through him. He seemed to be
having a hard time keeping his wolf in check as fur still covered the tops of
his hands until he rubbed them together and then dropped them to his sides.

“Where were you?” he said, moving to the side of the
bed.

He towered over me. I’d been wrong, though. The
stranger at the lake was taller than Kane. Broader shouldered. Kane was wide
and stocky like a wrestler. He had thick, sandy hair that he cropped short. Or
rather, he made
me
crop it short. Once a week. And I shaved him with a
straight razor. A battle of wills. A test. He gave me the means to cut his
throat and dared me to do it. Every week, I kept my hands steady as a rock. One
wrong move, even a nick, and he could overpower me. He would know whether I
meant to kill him. So, every week, I trained myself to keep my thoughts calm
and still.

“I’ve been here,” I lied. “What’s going on? I heard
the pack. Is someone hurt?”

Kane lashed out; grabbing me by the wrist, he pulled
me to my feet and curled his fingers around the back of my skull, his thumb
brushing his mark. It flared hot at his touch like it always did. My body
betrayed me as my skin flushed. He kept me locked in a constant struggle
between primal attraction and revulsion. But, my head was still stronger than
any hormones his mark activated. For now, at least. He’d only marked me the one
time. But, he wanted more, and someday soon, my luck would run out.

“I told you I wanted you in my cabin tonight.”

I went rigid beneath his fingers. Kane’s hot breath
against my cheek still smelled like bourbon. But he was stone sober now. The
threat to the pack had cleared his head and brought his eyes sharply into
focus. They flashed gold for an instant. He wanted me to flinch. I wouldn’t. I
pulled against him and stepped out of his grip.

“I couldn’t sleep. You snore when you’ve been
drinking.”

Kane cocked his head to the side then straightened.
A smile played at the corners of his mouth, but I wasn’t naïve enough to think
he was pleased with me. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and planted my
feet into a wide stance. Let him think my anger stemmed from lack of sleep.

“Be careful, Olivia. When I tell you to stay put, I
mean it. It’s for your own good.”

I shook my head. “You’re in the cabin next to me.
I’d like to think your senses are strong enough to hear and react to anything
big enough to get near me from twenty yards away, Kane.”

His nostrils flared at my challenge. He took a step
toward me and his fingers twitched at his sides. I knew what he wanted. He
wanted to grab me and shake me. I could feel it coursing through him. Instead
of making me afraid, it emboldened me. I had that one thread of power left. The
minute he tried to hurt me, he’d lose the value of keeping me here. It would
work to my advantage, but not forever.

“There’s nothing wrong with my senses, baby. I don’t
miss anything where you’re concerned.”

“Is everything all right? Where’s the pack?”

Kane blew out a hard breath and narrowed his eyes.
Then, he crooked a finger under my chin and tilted my head up. I kept my breath
even, bracing for a kiss. But, he just held me like that and searched my face.

“They’re coming back now. Everything’s quiet out
there tonight. The worms aren’t even moving. You can sleep tight.”

I didn’t dare to even blink. Let him tell his lie
and think I believed it. I still felt the echoes of adrenaline flowing through
his veins, fed from the pack’s movements. They’d all been in hunt and kill mode
less than twenty minutes ago. But, Kane didn’t want me to think anything was
wrong. I put a hand up and circled it around his wrist, pulling his fingers
from beneath my jaw.

“Good. I’m really tired, Kane. I wasn’t kidding
about how you snore. It can’t be very long until the sun comes up. If I don’t
at least get a few hours of sleep in, I’ll feel like shit all day tomorrow. If
you want me to be in a good mood, I need to go back to bed.”

“Maybe I’ll stay in here with you tonight then. Keep
an eye on you. Scare away any boogie men that might try to haunt your dreams.”

He flashed me a wide smile, setting off the deep
dimples in his cheeks. My mercurial Kane could pour on the charm when it suited
him. He went from veiled threat one minute, to sweet and joking the next. This
was the side of him he chose to show me all those months ago when we first met.
My car stalled on the side of the road in a storm. Kane had appeared. A dashing
hero in his park ranger’s uniform and flashy patrol car. He’d offered me his coat
to keep me warm while he changed my tire and followed me back to my house. He’d
shot me that same genuine, dimpled smile as he tipped his hat toward me and
asked if he could call on me. Those were his exact words. Could he call on me?

He’d practiced old-fashioned courting that made my
heart beat faster. Sent me flowers. Wrote me notes. Did nothing more than hold
my hand for weeks. The first time we’d kissed had been at my urging. He was sweet
and gentle, and I still remembered the flare of heat from his light hand at the
small of my back.

When I told my father and brother I thought I might
love him, rage and fear lit my father’s eyes from within. We fought. I said
terrible things. Accused him of trying to make me live my life in a cage
because of his own issues, not mine. I was almost nineteen. I wanted a life of
my own. When Kane showed up beneath my bedroom window, it had all seemed so
romantic. Stealing away in the middle of the night for a lovers’ tryst.

Then he brought me back here. Deep in the heart of
Wild Lake Park to the ranger compound where he lived and worked. And from that
day forward, I realized it wasn’t my father trying to keep me in a cage at all.
It was Kane. Then, one night when I grew bold and believed the biggest of his
lies, I let him close. Too close.

My fingers twitched at my sides, burning to claw at
the mark he’d given me that night. The one that would chain me to him forever
if I didn’t find a way out.

“I’ll sleep better alone,” I said, pressing a hand
to Kane’s chest. I pushed him gently, keeping a light smile on my face as I
edged him toward the door. “Please. I’m anxious to hear all about the pack’s
escapades tonight. But let me have a full night’s sleep and hopefully a full stomach
in the morning.”

“You’re a shitty liar, Olivia,” Kane’s voice dripped
with menace as he closed a hand around my wrist. He tightened his grip and
brought me to the edge of pain. My heart jumped, sending an echo through his
fingertips and straight to the wolf he held inside. My fear poured through him
and made his eyes flash gold.

“Kane, please. Not tonight.”

“What are you hiding from me?”

“Nothing. Really. I just want to go to sleep.”

He jerked me forward and snaked his arms around me,
pressing me against the solid wall of his chest. “I don’t like when you push me
away. Have I ever forced myself on you? Even once?”

I bit the inside of my mouth to stop a thousand retorts
I wanted to make. Every day of my life for the last six months I’d lived under
the threat of Kane’s force. No. Save for that one night when he marked me
against my will, he’d kept his hands off me. But, we both knew that wouldn’t be
forever.

“You have no idea how patient I’ve been, Liv. More
than you warrant, probably.”

I wanted to scream in his face. Then let me leave!
Let me go back down the hill and find my father. Let me never have to see you
again!

“You belong to me.”

“Kane, stop it,” I tried to twist my wrist out of
his grip, but he held me against him.

“I made your father and you a promise. I’ll keep it.
But not forever.”

My breath hitched and I fought to keep the icy
fingers of panic from rising to the surface. It would only call to Kane’s wolf
more. “You asked for time and I’ve given it to you. But now, I’m tired of
waiting.” He pulled me forward then turned me so my back pressed against his
chest. He wrapped his arms around me whispered in my ear.

“Next month, Oliva. That’s as long as I’ll wait.”

“What are you talking about?” My heart tripped
inside my chest, and my body went rigid.

Kane pressed his cheek to mine and pointed out the
window where the moon hung low and bright. “I need to make you mine forever,
Olivia. I’ll wait for you to come to me willingly, but I want you. As my mate,
once and for all. It will be good for you. Good for the pack.”

Bile
rumbled in my stomach. He wanted to mark me again. I knew how it
worked. If he bit me again like he did the first time, the bond between us
would grow even stronger. Soon, I wouldn’t be able to know where I ended and
Kane began. The tricks I’d learned to shield my feelings from him wouldn’t work
anymore. What’s worse, if I believed some of the stories, he’d have the power
to take away my will. I wouldn’t be me anymore. I’d just be Kane’s.

“I told you. I’m not ready for that. You said you
understood. You swore you’d let me choose.”

“I swore I’d give you time. And I have. But time’s
up. You’re too important to the pack and my plans for it. So, you have until
the next full moon to come around.”

“Or what?” I couldn’t feign calm a second longer.
Kane loosened his arms just enough so I could slip out of them and turn on him.
Blood roared in my ears, and he could read the contempt on my expression even
if he couldn’t sense my rage. But, Kane stayed calm. He did nothing more than lift
the corner of his mouth in a half smirk.