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

“You say I shouldn’t judge a species based on a bad few. If that’s truly the case and your pack is not like the others then I would think you
would
care about rules of engagement. Are you retracting what you said before?”
 

It was a dare and a gamble at that. But the vibe she got from this shifter was completely different than her previous experiences.
 

It didn’t come soaked in a cloak of human hatred. Instead, he seemed interested in her in a way that said, “you’re not really my enemy” almost as much as it said, “I want you.”

Although the second part could be her imagination. She didn’t have a lot of experience when it came to the sexual interactions between men and women and she could have easily misread his intentions.

“Why don’t you unfasten my hands and we’ll see if we can come to some sort of truce?” she suggested.

“A truce huh? Maybe I don’t need a truce.”

“Then what do you need?” She had a feeling it was a loaded question on her part, but screw it. There was something different about this situation and she fully intended to explore it, right up to the point she got free.

He leaned into her again, putting his lips directly against her ear. “Right now I only need one thing and I’ll give you want you want.”

Her heart hammered in her throat as she considered the myriad of possibilities of what he wanted. This situation could easily spiral out of her control if she didn’t tread carefully.

“What do you want, Romeo?” she asked, not caring if he didn’t like her use of a nickname. She had a feeling it suited him. No man looked as delicious as he did without earning a certain reputation with the ladies. Men like him inspired women to fall at his feet and give him the world. And apparently she was included in that list because she had half a mind to give him anything he asked for.

His breath brushed her ear as she waited for him to tell her what he wanted. The short whiskers of his neatly trimmed beard tickled her when they rubbed against her. Or maybe it was she who was swaying toward him. It was impossible to think straight with him in her personal space, invading her with his decadence.
 

Maybe it was a good thing her hands were tied otherwise she might be tempted to sink them into his hair and pull him forward until his lips touched her again.
 

“Tell me your name, beautiful. That’s all I need for now.”

Allison jerked at the soft-spoken request. His earlier hints of control and demand all but disappeared. Her head spun.
 

He only wanted her name?

Her name...
 

What did it matter? She was a nobody. In the hierarchy of their organization she didn’t even register. She couldn’t be traded for anything of value because no one would care if she disappeared tomorrow. Yet, somehow giving it up to him felt powerful.
 

“Allison Fox,” she whispered, so quiet he shouldn’t have heard her.
 

But he did.

“Such a beautiful name for a beautiful woman. Welcome to Devils Point, Allison.” The reverence in his voice stunned her. She almost melted on the spot.
 

She also didn’t understand why he kept calling her beautiful. Maybe on a good day people would describe her as cute, but at the moment she was a big sweaty, dirty mess who smelled every bit as bad as she looked. But he called her beautiful.
 

She smiled, turning away from him and melted more than a little in her chair.

He on the other hand, moved behind her and fulfilled his promise. He untied her hands and even rubbed away some of the stiffness of her joints and arms from holding them behind her back for so long.
 

Sitting back against the chair she brought her hands in front and finished rubbing them down. “So what now? You letting me go?”

“Not quite. You’re going to have to be my guest a bit longer. At least until I’m satisfied with your reasons for being here and what you plan to do next. I can’t have a hunter running free on the island.”

She contemplated what to tell him. Obviously she’d have to share something or he was going to continue wasting her time. “I’m searching for a wolf, but I doubt he’s one of yours. Although someone here must be harboring him since I briefly spotted him here a couple of weeks back and nothing since.”

She could tell by the swing of his head and the slight narrowing of his eyes that he knew exactly what wolf she referred to.

“That was you out by the bridge, wasn’t it?” he asked. “The gunshot that scared the wolf away from Faith.”

“Whose Faith?” She deflected his question with a question. She’d need more details before she gave him any more information.

“Pretty blonde, green mini cooper. Wolf bit her wrist a couple of weeks back. Mysterious gunshot scared him off before he could do worse.”

“Girl okay?” The idea of her brother turning wolf and killing innocents churned in her stomach. Almost as much as the idea of what she’d have to do to him if she found out he was indeed taking life or making other wolves.
 

“She’s fine, thanks to the mate bond she shares with my brother. Easily could have went south if not for that.”

“Mate bond?”

He nodded. “Normally I wouldn’t tell you more, but in this case, knowing how dangerous a wolf bite can be, I think I have to make an exception. A mate bond is what happens between a shifter and the person he’s in love with. Or in the case of fated mates, the special person who’s been selected by nature. Those bonds are apparently the shit and can be quite rare.”

Allison pushed her hands through her hair and scrunched up her face as she let some of what he said sink in. “A fated mate? Like an arranged marriage?”

He nodded. “Something like that. Except the only person or thing making the arrangement is mother nature herself.”

“I don’t think I like that. Why would someone want to get marr—I mean bonded to someone they didn’t love?”

“Or maybe not even know,” he finished for her.
 

This had nothing to do with finding her brother and yet she was fascinated all the same.
 

“Funny thing is…” Diego continued. “I’ve never heard of a fated mate who didn’t love their mate. My brother and Faith are out of their minds over each other. Granted, they’ve kind of known each other for a while and wasted a lot of time circling the truth. That wolf bite was a turning point for them, allowing them both to let down their guards. Now they can’t keep away from each other for ten minutes. It’s kind of nauseating.”

Allison half laughed and half snickered. Diego’s obvious distaste for this mating bond seemed half hearted.
 

“What about you then? Do you have a fated mate?”

He didn’t utter a word, but he didn’t have to. His body locked up and his stare in her direction grew intense before he turned away from her and looked out the window and toward the ocean. She had a feeling there was a hell of a story behind that reaction.

“Maybe we should talk about you and the reason you are hunting this one wolf in particular. Did he do something to you?”

With his back to her she couldn’t make out his body language as well, but his question was now tinged with something sad. Or maybe dark. She really wanted to know more about this mate bond thing and in particular how it affected the man standing in front of her. What exactly was his story?

Captor or not, she was intrigued.
 

And drawn…

Chapter Four

Diego needed out. He needed to call in one of his brothers and ask them to take care of this situation. Except Faith was still struggling with her transition and needed to be kept under guard and Damien’s wolf couldn’t stand to let unmated wolves near her right now.
 

As for Dante, he was probably in the middle of some knock down drag out marathon sex session with Rebel that Diego had no intention of wading into. Especially not if he wanted to keep on breathing. He understood the possessive streak, because they all carried it.

He could probably ask Creed, one of the pack who often handled security, to take over with little grief. That man had a way with the ladies that no one saw coming. In fact, one look at him and most of them started throwing their panties. Allison wouldn’t know what hit her until after Creed got and gave what he needed and walked out the door. Diego’s wolf growled.
 

And there lie the real problem.
 

Turning her over to an unmated male was out of the question. His wolf sat too close to the surface on this one and if he took one step away from his potential mate, his own wolf would eat him alive.
 

Taking one last deep breath of ocean air, he turned back to her. “You haven’t answered my question,” he said.

“Does it really matter? He’s not part of your pack so why worry about him?”

Diego crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “Don’t get me wrong. I love my pack and will protect them to my dying breath. But pack is not all I am. I’m also human. That rogue hurt my brother’s mate, has been stalking another one of our women and I want to know why. I’m not going to let this go or you until I’m satisfied, so you might as well tell me.”

The way her body vibrated as she sat in the chair made him wonder whether she’d run or attack first. He could see the debate going on behind her eyes. For a human she had fairly strong instincts and hers were telling her to get rid of the threat.
 

“Don’t do it.” He tried to swallow the accompanying growl and failed.

Her head swung up. “Don’t do what?”

“Whatever it is your planning in that pretty little head of yours. I’d rather not have to chase you.” Which was a big, juicy lie. He did want to chase her. So bad he could almost taste the spoils of his success.
 

Unable to resist the compulsion to be close to her, he took several steps forward again. “Do you understand what it does to a wolf when something he wants runs from him?”

She shook her head, wisely keeping her mouth shut.

“It makes you irresistible prey that he must have. Not later, not eventually, right that second. Everything else goes away. It’s the instinct that makes a new wolf especially dangerous.”

“You’re not a new wolf.”
 

“No, I’m not. But it is the last night of mating season and I’m hungry. Hungrier than I’ve ever been in my life.” That was not a lie. “While the wolf is under control for the moment, the second you jump from that chair he’s going to get what he wants. Do you understand what I mean?”

She swallowed hard, drawing his gaze to her slender throat. He zeroed in on the pulse beating there that drew him like a moth to a flame.
 

“You want to have sex with me,” she said, squirming a little in her seat, her chest rising and falling in rapid succession with each breathless word.

“That’s one way to put it.”

She shook her head, working her way into a denial.
 

“Do you understand now why you can’t run?”

She nodded.
 

“Although I am still going to fuck you, beautiful. Only not until you say pretty please.”

Her eyes widened and she drew her bottom lip between her teeth. She might deny it if he asked, but it wasn’t fear rushing through her at the moment. It was the unmistakable spicy scent of arousal.

Diego knew he’d crossed the line in this supposed interrogation. Instead of getting any useful information his pack could use against her kind or to find their rogue, he’d compromised the situation with selfish desires. And there wasn’t a damn moment of it he regretted.
 

This pretty little human named Allison with her compact, curvy body had fallen into his lap by way of gunfire and one way or another he would find a way to keep her.
 

But first, they needed to get through the immediate problem.
 

“I take it you’re not going to run?”

“No,” she said on a shaky breath.
 

He reached forward and stroked his fingers down her cheek. “That’s too bad. It would have been fun.”
 

Diego dropped his hand and turned away. Her decision was for the best—for now. It didn’t mean he wouldn’t pursue her later. Or keep trying to find out more about her.
 

“So I guess we’re back to my missing wolf,” she said.

He stared out at the horizon and back, scanning the bay for something to focus on when his eye caught on something unusual. A faint light on Deadman’s Island.
 

While Deadman’s Island wasn’t the official name for the tiny speck of land in their bay, its history as a Native American burial ground made the name stick with the locals. It was too small to sustain residents and it was illegal to stay out there beyond dusk.

He called on the wolf and forced the beginning of a partial change. Enough for his eyesight to sharpen to his wolf’s.
 

The light in the distance grew brighter and he guessed it was an extremely small fire on the southeast corner that would be invisible to most of Devils Point. Had he not brought Allison out to the park he’d never have spotted it. Whoever was out there was doing their damndest to keep a low profile.