Wanted: Devils Point Wolves #3 (Mating Season Collection) (2 page)

He, on the other hand, had discovered no mate and was okay with that. He had a good and simple life here on the island and hadn’t reached the point he wanted to share that with anyone. Tonight changed everything.

Based on her scent and his reaction, he had a feeling he was going to get more than he bargained for. A woman who could be his mate but who also wanted to kill him and all his kind. A hunter.

Just fucking lovely.

“So how about we start somewhere easy,” he asked.

She ignored him, staring out the windshield.
 

“How did you end up on Devils Point? We don’t exactly advertise our location to your kind.”

The seconds ticked by so long, he didn’t think she would answer when she finally spoke.

“I came here looking for someone.”

His body locked up. This didn’t sound good. “Who? Your boyfriend? Husband?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“You took several shots at my pack. Almost killed my brother. Everything about you is now my business. Including your fate.”

Her head whipped to the side and he met her gaze.
 

“My fate is you need to let me go,” she said, a steel thread laced in her tone. “And I already told you that I wasn’t trying to kill your brother.”

Despite his admiration for her strength, he shook his head. “Not going to happen. All I know is that you’re one of them hunters who think we’re evil and they want nothing more than to eradicate us all. Since we’d like to keep on living in peace, and unless you convince me otherwise, you aren’t going anywhere.”

“You could escort me off island. I’d be happy to go.”

“So you can come back with reinforcements? No thanks.”

She didn’t respond and he kept his eyes on the road. He was supposed to take her to the basement for questioning and safekeeping, but the idea of being locked in a tiny confined space with her did not sound like a good idea. Her scent was already making him weird.

He could keep his baser urges under lockdown, but that didn’t mean he had to make it unnecessarily hard. No, for now the basement was out of the question.
 

Instead he turned towards the small campground/park at the south end of the island. There weren’t a lot of tourists on the island at the moment so they’d be alone in a wide open space with plenty of fresh air.
 

Perfect.

They rode in silence for the rest of the ride, but he noticed her searching the horizon when he approached the beach.

“Uhm…Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere private,” he answered.

He pulled into the end of the parking lot and circumvented the conventional parking spaces and went straight for the beach. For his sanity, he wanted to be near the water. While his wolf craved the forested areas of the island, his human half sought the serenity from the waters surrounding them.
 

With the chaos of the last of mating season still weighing down on him, he needed to get free of the confines of his truck cab—and quick.

He pulled up to one of the tiny enclosed pavilions normally reserved for birthday parties or the occasional wedding and turned off the engine. He opened the door and hopped out of the cab, rounding the front to the passenger door.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she said out the partially opened window.
 

He smirked. As if she had a choice. He yanked the door open and grabbed the woman around the waist. He easily lifted her out of the seat and tossed her over his shoulder.
 

“Hey!”

He ignored her protests and wrapped his arm around her legs so she couldn’t break free if she tried.

“You can’t do this. I have rights.”

“Then you should have thought about that before you came here and attacked. You were unprovoked.”

“You’re an animal,” she cried. “We have no choice but to take matters into our own hands. Isn’t that the law of the jungle?”

“Look, lady, I don’t know shit about the jungle. Look around you. You see any jungles here? This is civilization not some safari out in the wilds.”

Diego slammed the door to the pavilion open and dropped the woman into the nearest chair. It had been a long time since he’d had to listen to this kind of crap.

“You’re nuts,” he said. “We’re law abiding citizens. Whatever you think we do is all in your imagination.”

Her eyes bulged and her face turned red. “You do hurt people. I’ve seen it.” Her voice grew louder. “I’ve seen first hand what it looks like when your kind gets angry. I’ve seen throats ripped out, body limbs mangled and women gutted from hip to breast. It’s vicious and disgusting. Pure evil.”

Diego watched her body shake as she yelled at him. The horror she described played across her face, heartbreak and anguish etched into her eyes with every word she spoke.

He squatted down in front of her chair bringing them eye to eye. He was supposed to loathe her for every hate filled word that spewed from her mouth. But it wasn’t hate he sensed—it was pain.

“I don’t hurt people unless they hurt me first. Neither does my pack. In fact, we avoid confrontation as much as possible.” He took a deep breath and continued, hoping his voice remained steady. “But there is evil in this world. I’ve seen it too. I lost part of my family to it. I’ve even spent a fair amount of my time hating humans as much as you’ve hated shifters. Until I was forced to learn that blaming an entire species based on the reactions of a few is weakness. And weakness is unacceptable.”

He paused long enough to see the moisture shining in her eyes and he waited. But her tears never fell. An immense sensation washed through him. Pride. He couldn’t believe how happy he was when she didn’t resort to water works to sway him.

“I would hate anyone who preyed on the innocent, not just shifters,” she whispered.

“The people who come after us are far from innocent. They’re instigators looking for trouble. Or an excuse to justify their weakness. Your group is weak like that too. It’s why you’ll never win.”

Her eyes narrowed and her face turned hard. “You don’t know me or my group. You think you do, but you don’t. You assume. Talk about a weakness…”

Diego bristled, the wolf growling in his head. He tamped down on the anger building inside him. Anger, lust, the moon. It was all too much and getting more difficult by the second. He stood and walked to the open window that overlooked the ocean. The rhythmic lapping of the water against the shoreline capturing his attention. Over and over he listened to each repeating cycle. It wasn’t just mesmerizing it was comforting to count on the water to always be there, day after day, greeting him with the same patterns. There was never any need to question its intentions or debate whether it would still be there the next day. It always was.
 

The ocean was and always would be his most faithful companion.

Without turning back to the woman pulling at him, he spoke again. “Then enlighten me. Tell me what I’ve assumed about you that isn’t correct.”

She laughed. A harsh but lyrical sound that scraped against his resistance. He almost turned to her, but caught himself before he did, willing his body to behave.
 

“It’s not my job to enlighten anyone. Enlighten yourself.”
 

Unable to resist again, he turned and watched her in the moonlight. Her golden hair shone silvery like the stars in the night sky, pale skin practically glowing, and the fragile slope of her neck made his teeth ache with need. He took a step forward completely transfixed. Far more than his need to bite her, his body drew taut. The heat rushing through his blood was threatening to consume him.

What would she taste like?
 

When he took another step closer, her eyes widened but she wisely kept her mouth shut. He wanted her and it was fast becoming his single-minded focus. With the mating bond he could easily turn her and she’d never again be a threat. Her group would try to hunt her, but never find a trace of the woman they once knew. He’d make sure of it.
 

Diego would do whatever it took to protect his mate.

Thinking the word made his head snap back and some of the fog clouding his mind cleared.
 

He couldn’t do this. This took keeping your enemies close to a whole new dangerous level. And of course turning her against her will was completely out of the question. Not to mention risky. Faith had recently went through that thanks to their damned rogue running loose and it could have killed her. Fortunately, the bond between her and Damien proved true. As for this one...

“You might want to rethink that stance. It’s my job to discover every secret you have and I’m authorized to take whatever means are necessary to ensure my pack’s safety.”

“Screw you,” she spat. “You want to torture me? Go right ahead.”

He took her words as every bit of a challenge as they were meant and he closed the distance between them. Towering over her he waited for her to attack him. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind she’d fight him hard, but his superior strength meant she’d lose and lose bad.
 

“That’s what you want me to do? Torture the information out of you? Are you sure about that?”

The pain from before flashed across her face a moment before it was replaced with anger and she lowered her voice to a whisper. “You wouldn’t be the first.”

His body locked tight as the meaning of her words sank in. The wolf inside snarled in his head a moment before a rush of possessiveness washed over him. He saw red as he imagined her lush body used by another, while morphing into a vision of pure white-hot rage.

“Explain,” he growled, not caring that the word barely sounded human.

“I don’t have to—”

“Explain now,” he ordered putting more rage in his voice this time.
 

Her eyes widened letting him know that she got the message loud and clear.
 

“It was a long time ago. A shifter in Seattle captured me. A mean son of a bitch who liked to play with his prey.”

The haze of fury clouding Dante’s mind thickened. “What did he do to you?”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. He’s dead now.”

“You killed him?” he asked.
 

She nodded.

“What did he do to you?” He couldn’t let it go.
 

“Roughed me up a little.”

“What else?” He could tell she was holding back.

She turned her head away and refused to look him in the eye. “It really doesn’t matter anymore. It’s ancient history.”

“It matters to me,” he whispered.

When she didn’t respond or turn to look at him, he dipped his head close and breathed in her scent. The fact he was so close didn’t seem so dangerous anymore. Or he didn’t care. A mate no matter whether she is claimed or not deserved to be treasured.
 

“If you bite me, I WILL kill you,” she said, her words an icy threat he didn’t doubt she’d find a way to follow through on.
 

He pressed his nose to her neck and nuzzled. “I don’t have to bite you against your will. Soon you will want it.”

“Pffft. Don’t count on that. Despite what you might think, Romeo, you are not irresistible.”

“I’m not Romeo, I’m Diego.” He pressed his lips to her fevered skin with a feather light touch. Her resulting shiver made him smile. Oh yes, a mate, potential or otherwise, would not resist him for long.

She jerked her body to the side and away from his mouth. “Back off, Romeo. That kind of seduction might work on those simpering women in your club, but it sure as hell doesn’t work on me.”

Diego pulled back, allowing his little spitfire some space for now. “It’s not seduction you have to worry about, sweetheart. It’s chemistry.”

Chapter Three

Allison’s body froze on the whispered words of the wolf. What the hell was that supposed to mean. Chemistry? It had to be some trick he wanted her to fall for and she wasn’t going to allow it.
 

“Rules of engagement in any warfare type of situation don’t include sexual activities. So you might want to get that little nugget right out of your head.”

Instead of the backlash of anger she expected, Romeo laughed. A deep hearty sound that crawled down her skin and landed smack dab between her legs.
 

Her body was clearly losing its mind. She refused to believe it was acting on the wishes of her brain and instead chose to believe it acted on a completely separate capacity that she had no control over. Why else would it respond to the man holding her captive?
 

“What makes you think I care about any rules of engagement?” he asked.

She met his gaze and stared. There was something about him that she couldn’t quite put her fingers on. Honor maybe? Not exactly. He might think he was honorable but it wasn’t the whole picture. It was true she’d engaged first and he had certain rights when it came to her capture, but there was definitely something more behind those brown eyes that looked dreamier than the melted chocolate she liked to dip her strawberries in.