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

As far as she could tell, this guy followed her a lot. She didn't always see him but she trusted her instincts. She might not have superior shifter hearing or eyesight or smell, but she understood gut feelings and when she got them she didn't ignore them. Too dangerous not to pay attention when your brain is trying to tell you something.
 

You listen or you might die. Scary but often true.

Once she cleared the parking lot, there were no more cameras or lights to discourage someone from pursuing her. Which was all part of the plan.

Despite having followed this path for more nights than she could count, Rebel’s instinct was to speed up and get home quicker. Fear crawled up her spine with each new step taken. This wasn’t second thoughts about being bait, this was fight or flight instinct pushing her to run.
 

Something was wrong.

She swung her head left and then right, searching for any sign of why she was so on edge.

Her heartbeat sped up so fast her chest ached. She saw nothing more than the usual. Trees, soft leaf strewn ground with some grass growing between, and dirt that cushioned her walk.
 

Even though she was well away from the spotlights of the club there was a lot of illumination. She looked up to see the fat, full moon shining down on her. Her fear turned bitter in her mouth. Alone in the woods, waiting on a werewolf on a full moon. Maybe she hadn't thought through this stupid ass plan. She quickened her pace. Another quarter of a mile and she would be out of the woods and on the small road that led to the tiny center of town. A quarter mile after that and she'd be well within spitting distance of the diner and across the road from the diner would be the safety of her motel room.
 

For the first time since she moved to Devils Point she kind of dreaded returning to an empty hotel room alone.
 

Not alone, she reminded herself.
 

Somewhere in these woods she was surrounded by pack. They were out there to make sure she got home safe tonight. But where was the rogue? They'd zeroed in on one of her show admirers who wasn't one of her regulars, but his interest seemed intense.
 

This wasn't helping. Each step felt slower than the last and she wanted to run. Maybe she should. Dante hated the plan and would gladly come up with another idea.

What good would it do her sister if they captured the stupid wolf after he bit her or worse? Her newly wolfed out sister might kick her ass just for good measure.
 

Thinking of Faith and the reason she was doing this, eased a little of the tightness constricting her chest but not by much. Her mind still raced and her heart felt like it wanted to beat right out of her chest. Her head too. It didn't feel right. There was something slowing her brain down. A fog.
 

She just had to get a little bit farther and she'd be out in the open. Rebel paused. Being out in the open meant their plan had failed. No cover, no wolf that's what the pack had said.
 

She glanced behind her and squinted to see into the darkness. Maybe she should circle the trail, make it seem like she was going on a walk.
 

No. No. No.
Her mind screamed.
Go home. Get away.

Not paying full attention to where she put her feet, Rebel tripped and fell to her knees, slamming on a rock that tore into her flesh.
 

"Damn it," she cried.
 

Then she heard it again. Another twig crunched as if under someone's foot. She
was
being followed.
 

Logical thought fled and irrational thoughts prevailed.
Must run now
.

Blindly, she reached for the purse she dropped when she fell and began running down the trail. She tried to pull more air into her lungs and failed. Screw this. She couldn't breathe. Still her legs pumped harder and she could see the break in the trees up ahead. She was almost there.
 

The hairs on her neck were on high alert again and she swore it felt like someone was breathing on the back of her neck.
 

Don't look back.
 

Do. Not. Look. Back
.
 

She had to keep saying the words or she was going to do something dumb like look back and fall again, this time breaking her neck.
 

Moving faster than before, she burst through the trees out into the open and slammed into something hard.
 

Whoosh.
The air burst from her lungs and she started to fall backwards. Except she didn't. Something stopped her.

"Rebel." A voice she couldn't make out through the fog filling her brain said her name. Someone had caught her and was holding her tightly in their arms, keeping her captive. She struggled, barely able to move an inch. Too tight. He was holding her too tight. And it was so dark, she couldn't see a thing.
 

"Damn it, Rebel. Open your eyes and look at me." The thread of steel laced into the man's voice wiggled through her thoughts, making her want to obey.
 

She glanced up and cracked her eyes into very small slits.
 

"Dante?" she asked.
 

"Yes, everything is fine, baby. I've got you." His hands stroked her back.

She still couldn't catch her breath and her chest hurt more than ever. "Not okay," she whispered.

"Tell me. What spooked you?"

She shook her head frantically back and forth. "Not spooked."

"Uh huh. I can hear your heart beating a mile a minute, babe. You are definitely freaked out. Tell me what happened. Did we miss something?"

Rebel couldn't speak because she couldn't catch her breath. Her head grew lighter and her stomach roiled. This was not going well at all.

"You're freaking me out," Dante said just as someone else broke through the brush behind them.

Rebel didn't look to see who it was, instead letting loose with a scream guaranteed to be louder than a banshee calling for its mate.
 

Chapter Three

Dante fought the struggling woman in his arms, surprised at how strong she was when he couldn't easily contain her. At least not without hurting her. This was crazy. He and Diego were the closest to her and neither had seen a thing.
 

“What happened?” Damien came running up behind them.

“Not sure. She started panicking not long after she left the club.”

Dante ignored his brother's conversation and whispered into Rebel’s ear. “Shhh, baby. It’s okay. You’re safe with me. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

But was that true? His heart was beating as fast as hers. He’d scented her fear almost immediately when she came out of the club. It was so strong it assaulted him every bit as much as it did her. So much so the need to protect her pushed at him in every direction until he could fight it no longer. By the time he got to her, she was in a full out run and scared out of her mind. Her panic had become his and the only thing keeping him human and together was the way she clung to him for support.
 

He had to soothe his mate.

The word ricocheted through his brain before he could stop it. Except she wasn’t. At least not in the way of Dante and Faith being fated true mates. Dante shook his head. Fuck it all. The rub of trying to let go of Rebel to find something all mighty powerful was pissing him off.
 

He wanted her. Only her. She got to him in so many ways and even in her panic she aroused him.

Fuck fate.

The more she squirmed against him the harder he got. Only it wasn’t just his body that ached for her. Not when he couldn’t get her out of his brain either. Yes, mating season made lust stronger. Hell, it made everything stronger. Including his growing feelings for the woman now trembling against him.

“C’mon, let's get you home.” He scooped her into his arms and she burrowed her face in his shoulder not saying a word. When they got to his truck and he slid her into the passenger seat she realized where they were.

“I thought you were taking me home.”

“I am. To my home.”

She blinked, uncertainty filling her gaze. “Why?”

“Because that’s where you belong.” He didn’t wait for her expected argument and instead closed her door and rounded the front of the truck to the driver’s side.

By the time he opened his door, her trembling had stopped and there was fire in her eyes. He smiled, satisfied he’d distracted her.

“Don’t you smile at me like some stupid cat with a stupid secret,” she said, sarcasm dripping off of each syllable.
 

“Wolf, remember?”

She sat back in her seat and crossed her arms. “As if I could forget.”

He climbed in and fastened his seatbelt, taking his time to fish the keys out of his pocket and stick them into the ignition. If she wanted to stew over what he’d said, fine by him. As long as she realized he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
 

They’d used her as bait tonight. And even though it didn’t seem to work, they’d gotten close. The barely there scent of the strange wolf lingered on the air near where she’d burst out of the woods. He had to have figured out something was up. Either from the sheer panic attack that gripped Rebel almost from the second she emerged from the club or from the scent of his pack. It wasn’t easy hiding your scent from another wolf. When it came to smell, hearing and sight they were on a pretty level playing field.

With a sideways glance at Rebel, he turned over the engine and backed out of his parking spot as he waited for the coming explosion. If ever there was a woman who didn’t like doing as she’s told it was definitely her.

“I don’t know if me going to your place is a good idea.” She finally said. “I don’t even know where you live.”

“The island’s not that big. It wouldn’t be hard to figure out if you really wanted to.” He kept glancing over at her, shocked that she wasn’t yelling at him yet.

“It’s big enough,” she said. “The island I mean. It’s not so small I feel claustrophobic, but small enough that you pretty much know everyone who lives here. I like that.”

He stared at her. That had to be the most information he’d heard from her at one time about why she liked it here.
 

“I like it too. Not everyone here is pack, but everyone here is part of our family one way or another.”

“I’m part of your family?”

“Of course you are. Your sister is my brother’s mate. That makes you family.”

Her shoulders sagged at his answer and he puzzled over her new frown. “Of course,” she said.

“You don’t want to be family?” His instincts told him to tread carefully. Rebel didn’t like being pressed for personal information.

“I don’t know what I want. Well, I wanted to catch that jerk of a werewolf tonight but I pretty much screwed that up. Now I don’t know what to do next.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. “Don’t sweat it. It was a long shot to begin with. Rogue or not, weres having instincts humans don’t. It’s how we’ve stayed secret so long. As long as we’re careful that can continue to be the case.”

“How long? How did this even happen? Did someone get bitten and it just spread?”

Dante shrugged. “There’s a lot of hearsay and stories about how we were created and where it all started, but no one is sure anymore. Some say we’re magical and created from an ancient race and others say we came about from some sort of freak experimentation gone wrong. The stories are so convoluted now no one knows the truth anymore.”

“That sucks. If I was able to shift into a wolf I’d like to know why.”

“My brothers and I were born as shifters. It is all we’ve ever known and we like it.”

She smiled softly at him. “Pack through and through.”

“Something like that.” He turned down his drive and wound his truck through the dense vegetation until it opened up into a clearing in front of his house. There was no need for outside lights since he could see perfectly in the dark, but thanks to the full moon his home was bathed in light.
 

“Wow. I didn’t even know there was a house back here.”

“Exactly,” he said. “We like our privacy and this place ensures it. The few tourists and strangers we get on the island won’t wander back here. And the pack knows to call first before showing up.”

He used the remote clipped to his visor to open the garage door and pulled the truck inside. Before he could hop down and get to the passenger door, Rebel was already out the door and wandering through his yard.
 

When he caught up with her she turned back to him and asked, “We?”

He nodded. “I share this house with Diego and while I said the pack calls first, the exception to that is after a hunt. Everyone likes to come out here and decompress. Besides, it’s mating season and those of us not paired up need the distraction.”

Rebel scrunched up her beautiful face. “Are you saying the entire pack is going to be here tonight because we were hunting that asshole?”