The Bucklin Wolves Next Generation: Revelations (2 page)

“Good girl,” he said, with a smile that looked more hungry than happy.

“It’s your job to know?” she asked. “Did you also know I broke it off with Seth today?”

“What’s that?”

“After the meeting I told him we weren’t going to see each other in that way anymore. I told him last night was a mistake. I’m here to do a job, dammit.” She had to say anything to convince him she wasn’t against him. She didn’t want to be on the wrong side of his fury and anger.

“You may have made a big mistake, girl,” he said.

His demeanor changed to one of concern in a split second. His hands shot up and gripped her shoulders as his forehead wrinkled with concern and his eyes softened. She didn’t trust it for one second—it was another tactic to throw her off her game. If she didn’t know better, she would open up completely to the psycho.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“You’re in danger going with him,” Jacko said. “I saw the way that alpha looked at you, Maribel. He claimed you as his own.”

“He didn’t claim me,” she protested.

“Maybe not physically, but mentally you’re all his. His wolf has imprinted on you, and it’ll never let you go. You have to understand, these monsters rely on instinct more than anything else. The beast sees you as his now and he won’t let you go. By rejecting him you’ve angered him and challenged his authority as alpha. By god, Maribel, do you know the situation you’re in? This isn’t a man who’s used to being told no.”

He was full of shit. Wasn’t he? He had to be. There was no way Seth would hurt her. He had promised to protect her—no man had ever done that before. It meant so much to Maribel.

“Let me give you this,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out what looked like a small pager.

“What’s a pager going to do for me in the forest?” she asked.

“It’s a GPS locater,” he said. “If you press the button, it’ll send a signal to me showing me exactly where you are. If you turn it on, I’ll know you’re in distress and I’ll bring the fucking thunder with me.”

“So you’re going to track me the whole time?” she asked.

“No,” he said, shaking his head and stepping away from her. “It only works when you press the distress button. Only use it if you’re in trouble. If the signal goes off, I’m coming and I’m coming hard with no questions asked.”

“Okay,” Maribel said. She should press it right now. He’d said to use it when she was in trouble and she’d never felt like she was in more trouble than she was right now.

“We’re on the same side, remember?” he asked, winking at her.

“The same side,” she said, nodding uneasily.

“Good,” he said, leaning in to her. She tried to move out of the way but he was too quick. His lips were planted firmly on her cheek before he moved to her neck, his nose nuzzling it as he sniffed her. “I wouldn’t let him hurt you, Maribel. You’re too special.”

When Seth had said the words they had meant everything to her, when Jacko said them she felt dirty and wrong. He was more animal than any wolf. But she knew he could fight and she knew he could protect her if it came down to it. She’d keep the pager—just in case his lies turned out to be the truth.

“I…I have to get ready,” she said, still looking at the ground.

“Of course you do,” he said, pulling away from her with the predatory smile returning to his face. “I’ll be there for you, Maribel. Just press the button and I’ll end Seth along with the other werewolves. They’re already dead as far as I’m concerned, but Seth can hold on to his life if he keeps his hands to himself.”

“I’ll remember that,” she said, moving away from him.

He didn’t say another word as he left, pulling the door behind him with enough strength to rattle the cabinet doors in the kitchen. As soon as the door shut she grabbed on to the table to steady herself, but it wasn’t enough. She collapsed to her knees right there on the kitchen floor and began to hyperventilate. Her life had taken a dangerous turn she had never expected. Would she make it out of this weekend alive?

Chapter 2

She turned me down,
Seth thought as he drove his King Ranch pickup across town to grab Maribel and drive to the spot where they would enter the woods. It was an old spot, down an empty road that was closed off to the general public. The old cranky bear Beorn used to use it to go back and forth between Bucklin and his territory.

However, the old bear, who was long gone from his territory these days, was the least of Seth’s worries. After Maribel had so boldly stomped on his heart, he had been confident and calm. It was a game of hard to get, that’s all. She still wanted him, but she wanted to keep up her good girl image. It was all just a big misunderstanding that they would figure out on the trip. But his wolf had smelled something else afoot and had warned him of it the moment she left the room. It smelled sincerity on her person. She
meant
it. She really did think the passionate moments they’d shared together were just one big mistake.

Now Seth was crushed and gripping the steering wheel so hard he thought he would leave indentions in it. This couldn’t be happening—not to him. He was alpha of the Bucklin pack. He was mayor of the City of Bucklin. Women didn’t reject him, women fought to get into his bed. Where did she get off?

You claimed her,
his wolf growled.
Your scent is all over her. She is yours. Take her.

He knew the wolf was just an animal, an animal that didn’t know right from wrong. He couldn’t just take her and have his way with her—that was rape. Rape was wrong. Maybe in the old days, before Bucklin, human females would be kidnapped and all but forced into a relationship. Some had volunteered for it, but for the most part they were taken and used. Seth didn’t roll like that and neither did the mayors who came before him. Sure, his father and Aster got around, but dammit, the sex was always consensual.

Now Seth’s mind was a mess as he slowly drove through Bucklin, afraid to arrive and face the woman who had ended the happiness he had been feeling. Did she not know what she had? Did she not feel what they had? It was meant to be. Seth was surer of that fact than anything else. She was his mate—it was their destiny.

Don’t act weird,
he told himself.
Don’t say anything that would upset her. Just keep it strictly professional. Maybe if she sees it doesn’t bother you, she’ll let her guard down. Then she’ll realize her feelings for you and come running to your arms.

He wanted to believe that was true, but in actuality it sounded like the reasoning of a nerdy teenage boy who had watched too many movies after the prom queen had rejected him. Seth wasn’t a teenage boy and he damn sure wasn’t a nerd. He was an alpha wolf, dammit, and she was going to realize what she had thrown away. Once she saw his strength and power, once she saw the way the bigger Rowan would defer to him and back down when he demanded answers, she would be forced to come falling back into his arms, begging that he forget everything she had said before about their love being a mistake. And he would forgive her. Together they would preside over Bucklin until the time to retire was near. Then they would steal away together to some remote, wooded mansion in the hills where they would live out the rest of their days with their pups—not a care in the whole world. It was perfect—and it was going to happen.

As he pulled onto her street he felt a pang of excitement run through him as he saw the house she was staying in. The anger and angst was gone, replaced by the thrill of the hunt. When he was apart from her, things felt hopeless and bleak, but when she came into view all his vigor returned and he knew that he was doing the right thing. She was sitting on the front porch, staring out at the street in front of her.

How many times had he driven by that house to find someone else sitting on the front porch? Someone else staring into the distance trying to find their purpose in life? So many times he had wanted to pull over and hop out, walk up to that person and lay it all on the line. He wanted to let them know they weren’t alone.

He wanted to say, “I know your sister has been kidnapped and your father was murdered by her captor, but you don’t have to feel alone anymore. Sure, Aster is like a brother, but you have an actual blood brother right here. Rowan, it’s me: your brother.”

William would have his hide if he did that. Instead, he ignored his half-brother every time he drove by, and bided his time—hoping and praying that William knew what he was doing. The chance was lost, or so Seth thought. Now he had a chance to make everything right. He was going to take his new mate and he was going to go find his brother and prove that he wasn’t attacking Bucklin like Jacko claimed. Then he would form a strong alliance with Rowan and Aster, one built on blood ties that were stronger than any human contact. It would continue to ensure the future of Bucklin for generations to come. Nobody would ever bother the town as it grew into prominence and his brothers would run checks on any shifters who tried to cause trouble.

He smiled as he hopped out of the truck. Everything he had ever wanted was coming together and it all began with the buxom beauty who was sitting on the front porch of Rowan’s old house. She was now looking at the ground, looking more bored than anything else.

She was probably doing complex calculations in her head—she seemed to get off on that kind of thing. Or she was trying to figure out the statistical probability of their survival.

“Hello, Maribel,” he said, stopping and trying to remain cool. “Where’s your bag?”

She looked up at him and took in a deep breath. He could immediately smell the arousal on her as her eyes traveled over his tight gray t-shirt and even tighter blue jeans. She knew exactly what she wanted—she just wouldn’t let herself fall that easily. He wondered if she knew how easily her body betrayed her true feelings to him.

“I haven’t packed yet,” she said.

“What do you mean, you haven’t packed yet?” he asked, looking up at the sun, which was beginning to make its descent. “It’ll be dark soon. I want to be at the entrance of the forest by then.”

“Why didn’t we just leave in the morning?” she asked.

“Because we can’t waste any time. Plus, a lot of wild shifters are nocturnal. If we sleep when they sleep, we don’t run the risk of any of them happening upon our camp. Now, why haven’t you packed?”

“Ninety-three percent of women over-pack for simple overnight trips. This is more than an overnight trip, but it’s one that I’ve never been on. I didn’t want you to laugh at me when I walked out with a giant suitcase to drag into the woods.”

How sweet. She was worried about what he would think. Another strike against the speech she had made in the conference room. “Fortunately for you, I brought a camping pack. It should be all we need. We’re not going through the woods to find the Four Seasons, I’m sorry to say. This is going to be a tough and rugged trip. I’m not even one hundred percent sure where they are. I have to follow marks and use my nose.”

“You can smell that well?”

“Not as a human.”

He watched as the color drained from her face as she realized exactly what he was implying. She wasn’t going to get to travel with human Seth for most of the trip.

“I read that shifted wolves have a forty-seven percent chance of their wolf taking over and turning them feral for a brief period. Are you going to run that risk with me there? Mr. Sokolov would never forgive you if you ate me.”

Seth rolled his eyes and sighed loudly enough that she immediately knew she was being ridiculous. “Maribel, do you actually believe that nonsense?”

“It was in a book.”

“Do you believe every book you read?”

“He had good sources.”

“What source is better than an actual alpha wolf? Tell me that.”

She smiled. It was a weak smile but a smile nonetheless. “I know you told me numbers don’t have much bearing when you’re dealing with a shifter.”

“They have even less meaning when you’re dealing with Seth of Bucklin,” he said with a sardonic smile that was dripping with confidence. He could smell her arousal grow even more as she kept her eyes firmly trained on him. But just as quickly as the moment hit them, it floated away again as Maribel regained control of her senses and shut him out.

“So, what should I pack?” she asked, standing up. “I wanted to bring my first aid kit. It’s pretty stocked up. I stopped by the only drugstore you have in this town on the way home.”

“We’ll have many more, plus other stores when the casino is built,” Seth said. Bucklin was in a sad state, but it would reclaim its once-beautiful ways someday. Every abandoned building Seth saw brought a knot to his stomach, but soon it would be over.

“Well, I got some basic necessities,” she said. “I’m not sure what to do about snakebite, although there’s only a fifteen percent chance that we’ll get bitten by one and can’t suck the venom out. You don’t have any open cuts in your mouth, do you?”

I’ll suck anything out of you that you want,
Seth thought. “No, I don’t. And you don’t have to worry about it. A wolf can’t be poisoned by a simple rattlesnake. We’ll be fine. Nothing will harm you when I’m around. I promised to protect you, remember?”

She stiffened when he said those words, like they were bringing some repressed memory back to her head. It was brief, but it was enough for Seth to catch it and cock his head in confusion. She had seemed to like his promise before, but now it upset her?

“I know you did,” she huffed out. “Can we just get on the road soon? I need to grab my flashlight if we’re going to be traveling at night.”

“No flashlight,” he said, shaking his head.

“Without a flashlight I’m sixty…”

“Yes, sixty thousand hundred percent more likely to break your knee or roll your ankle or something. Just trust me, please. We can’t go out there with a flashlight. It could attract predators. We have to use the moonlight to see. If it’s that bad, you can just ride on my back.”

Maribel curled her arm around her stomach and looked up at him. He knew she was feeling self-conscious about her size. It had probably been a stupid thing for him to say, but she had to know that he wasn’t going to let her fall off a cliff or break her ankle on a tree root in the darkness. “You’re a wolf, not a horse. I can’t ride on your back.”