Wild Game (Wilding Pack Wolves 1) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (19 page)

“It’s okay,” Jace said to her. “I’ll stitch him up. He’ll be fine. But we need to get him out of here, in case the police show up.”

Noah hustled up to them with keys in his hands, which were obviously useless now. He threw them to the ground. “The rest of the pack should be here soon,” he said.

Nova ignored them both and dropped to Owen’s side.
“No, no, no.”
The words wrenched out of her, and her vision was blurred again, but this time with tears. She wanted to hold him or touch him or somehow stop the bleeding, but her hands were shaking, and there was blood everywhere. Something was wrong. He was torn up more than simple bullets would do, even close range. She sobbed and ran a shaky hand along his hair.

His eyes were closed, and his face slack.

A rush of footsteps descended upon them. Nova looked up to see Brad leading the pack into the room. Brad’s arms went around her and lifted her up from the floor. Jace and Noah bent down to pick up Owen, and several of the Wylderide pack members helped lift him.

“It’s going to be okay,” Jace said to Nova, giving Brad a dark look.

Nova didn’t know what that was about, but she could barely stand, so she was forced to cling to Brad.

He dipped down to hook an arm under her legs and pick her up. “Let’s get you out of here.”

The relief of being carried, finally safe again in Brad’s arms, was so intense that she just slumped against his chest, nodding and praying that Jace could sew up Owen and keep him from bleeding out.

The pack was remarkably quiet as they all rushed out of the house, fleeing before anyone could find them. It didn’t seem right. After all,
she
was the victim here. Owen had been rescuing her. But a man had died, and they were shifters… it was all too easy to imagine that going badly for them. It was an unspoken knowledge‌—‌shifters always had to take care of their own. Relying on local law enforcement was something that ended up with dead wolves all too often. And jail was no place for a shifter.

During the ride in the pack’s van, Brad kept trying to put his arms around her, but she couldn’t stand it, so she pushed him away. She sat alone, arms wrapped tightly around herself, quivering from the after effects of the shocks and watching as Jace pulled bullet after bullet from Owen’s body and sewed him up again. Once the bleeding stopped, and the blood cleaned from his chest, Nova just gaped at what she saw. There was a multitude of slashes‌—‌giant, deep, and deadly-looking in their own right. Nova was no fool‌—‌she knew where those had come from. Owen had been in a fight with a wolf, and it wasn’t hard to figure out which one.

Nova stared hard at Brad and hoped the accusation was clear.

He ground his teeth, but finally dropped his gaze and moved to the front, next to the driver. The van was tearing through downtown in the dead of night… probably back to the office, since that was where they kept the vans. She kept watch over Owen as Jace stitched up his slashed chest. Owen moaned once or twice, but Noah held him down, and he never really awoke fully.

She was glad for that, hoping he wasn’t in too much pain.

But her heart was breaking a little more with each passing minute that he didn’t open his eyes.

Pain drenched Owen’s body, but that wasn’t what woke him up.

It was the shouting.

“He can’t be moved!”

“We’ve been moving him for the last half hour.”

“Stop being an ass just because he reached the bad guy before you. “

Owen’s head swam with pain and not a little dizziness, but he forced his eyes to creak open. He was lying on Nova’s cot, the one she kept in her office for late nights and naps. The overhead lights were too bright for his sensitive eyes, and he was still seeing double, but he could just make out the people who were arguing‌—‌Brad, Jace, and Noah. Nova stood off to the side, and his gaze connected with hers‌—‌she had been watching him sleep. Or be passed out from loss of blood on account of being shot, more likely.

“He’s awake.” Nova hurried to kneel by his side. Her beautiful face blocked out the rest of them, and Owen was almost as grateful for that as he was for the soft fingers that trailed across his cheek.

He let out a sigh, and his body felt like it might actually survive. “Hey,” he said, but then had to stop because his throat was too dry for speaking. He licked his parched lips.

“Shhhh,” she said, pressing two fingers to his lips. That simple touch sent waves of pleasure running through his body, fighting off the pain. “Don’t talk.”

She lifted a paper cup of water to his lips, and he nearly choked on the cool liquid as it went down.

“See? He’s awake.” That was Brad’s voice coming from behind her. “We should move him back to the safehouse now.” His voice shifted to a command tone. “Nova, give the man some room.” If Owen hadn’t been so weak, he would’ve launched himself off the cot and used his fist to explain to Brad why he shouldn’t boss Nova around. But that was stupid‌—‌he was her alpha now. Of course, he could exercise that command. But Owen could see the struggle flitting across her face, trying to resist Brad’s command and stay by Owen’s side. That torment held him back more than the obvious fact that he was no match for Brad in his current condition.

“Are you this much of an asshole
all
the time?” That was Noah, and Owen could hear the fight in his voice just waiting to come out.

“Like I said before, he can’t be moved.” Jace’s voice was hard as a rock.

Owen didn’t want them fighting a fight that was useless. He really should go‌—‌he wouldn’t be able to stand watching Nova under Brad’s thumb, anyway. For all Owen knew, she and Brad were already mates. Brad certainly had enough time to make that happen since Owen last saw her. And now that she was safe, alive, and back in her office, Owen’s job here was done. The bad guy who had been hunting her was dead. Owen had made sure of that much before he passed out.

Nova remained by his side, in spite of Brad’s command, but when Owen struggled to sit up, new worries flashed across her face.

“What are you doing?” she asked, aghast. “Jace just finished stitching you up. And your wounds…” Her gaze drifted down to his chest, something he would normally enjoy, given he didn’t have a shirt on… except his chest was a battlefield of scars, long straight gashes from Brad’s claws as well as sewed-tight holes from the Wolf Hunter’s bullet.

Owen wasn’t exactly at his most attractive.

Nova’s eyes snapped back up to his. “You shouldn’t be moving.”

He loved hearing the concern in her voice, but he forced himself to wave her off with one hand while the other gripped the side of the cot to counter the wave of dizziness that washed over him.

“I’m good.” The roughness of his voice made that pretty unconvincing, but if he could just get a little help from Noah and Jace, he was sure he could make it back to the car under his own power. Maybe.

Jace edged around Nova and stared hard at Owen. “I’m not letting this asshole kick you out.” He gave a skeptical look to Nova that was none too kind. “And
you
could be a little more grateful.”

“No,”
Owen barked out. He wouldn’t let anyone think Nova was at fault for how she was acting. “Jace, she’s submitted to Brad. He’s her alpha now.” The words choked him, but they were necessary so that Jace and Noah would understand‌—‌she couldn’t go against her alpha’s wishes.

Jace looked disgusted by this, and Owen knew exactly how he felt. He struggled to push off the cot without tipping it or losing his own balance.

“Could use a hand here.” Owen peered up at Jace for help.

Nova reached down to help him stand, but Jace just snarled. “Hell no. I’m not letting this happen.” He turned to Brad. “I don’t care if you’re alpha around here, Owen is in
my
pack, and I say he needs more rest before he moves. You owe him that much. Now get the hell out.”

Noah joined Jace in forming a blockade between Owen and Nova by the cot and Brad’s hot glare. For a moment, it looked like they might fight, but then Brad backed down.

He peered past them at Nova, directing his command to her. “I’ll give him a half an hour. Then I want him out of your office.” Then Brad turned on his heel and strode out the door. Jace and Noah were close behind. As Noah closed the door, he gave Owen a nod. He was pretty sure they would hold Brad off for as long as Owen wanted.

Long enough for him to say goodbye.

As soon as they were gone, Nova’s arms were around his neck. “Owen,
oh my God…
I was so scared you wouldn’t wake up.” She drew back and held his cheeks in both hands. “I’m sorry about Brad‌—‌it’s so hard for me to… to resist him. You know how it is.”

“I know. It’s not your fault.” Owen ran a hand along the silky hair at the edge of her beautiful face. He was glad to see his hand wasn’t too shaky. Her lips were trembling, and her eyes were glassing, and all that was tearing into his heart.

He swallowed. “But I have to say, it’s going to kill me to see you with him. Pretty much every time. I should probably keep away so I can keep that pain to a minimum.”

She was shaking her head. “I don’t want to be with Brad. I want to be with
you
.”

He could see how hard that was for her to say, how much she had to work to get the words out, no doubt fighting the submission bond. It wrenched his heart that she cared enough to fight it.

He let his fingertips trace a small line across her cheek. “Are you already his mate?” he whispered. Those words just about killed him to say out loud.

“No!”
There was fury in her eyes. “He tried to make me… I resisted.”

His beast surged up inside him.
“What?
” He closed his eyes briefly, focusing on keeping from shifting. He was regretting not slicing Brad to pieces when he had the chance. He kept control of his beast and opened his eyes. “If he tried to claim you by force, I’m sorry, Nova… I might have to kill him.”

She shook her head vehemently. “No, no, it wasn’t like that. He just… he was manipulating me. You know, using his alpha command. And other ways.” Her cheeks pinked up.

So Brad tried to seduce her. And it didn’t work.

Owen’s shoulders sagged, and he almost laughed‌—‌both in relief that she wasn’t mated and that Brad hadn’t tried to force himself on her, at least in that way. “You have no idea how glad I am to hear that.” Then he sobered and peered into her eyes. “But I don’t get it. If you didn’t want to be with him, why submit to him in the first place?”

She squared her shoulders. “He threatened to tear Wylderide apart. It was only after I submitted to him that I realized there were a lot worse things he could do.”

Owen nodded. Before he could say anything more, she leaned in to kiss him. Suddenly, he was lost in the soft feel of her lips. He moaned and tried to pull her closer, but she stopped the kiss and leaned away, concern on her face.

“Am I hurting you?” she asked, frowning.

Owen smiled. “Only because you stopped.”

She kissed him again, but it was brief. When she pulled away, she said, resolutely, “I want you for my mate, Owen Harding.”

A smile jumped to his face, but it couldn’t decide whether to stay. “Nova, I want you more than I can even explain, but it’s like I told you before… I really can’t take a mate.”

“But you shifted! I saw you. And I’ve been thinking about this all the way back‌—‌if you can shift, then you can mate. That’s all there is to it.”

Owen’s face twisted up. “You
saw
what I am, Nova. I don’t know what my beast is, but it’s not a normal wolf. They turned me into something else.”

Her smile didn’t dim one bit. “No, you’re no ordinary wolf. You’re the kind of wolf who charges in and saves me from a horrible death. You’re the kind of wolf who doesn’t give up on me, even when I’ve submitted to another man. I don’t know how much you saw or how much you know about your wolf form, but you’re not a monster, Owen. You’re a gorgeous white wolf with some admittedly kickass claws. Whatever they did to you, they made you into something
amazing.
And, to be honest, it doesn’t surprise me in the least. I don’t know who you were before the cages, but have no doubt you were amazing then, too.”

Her words charged him with a kind of insane hope. That, and the fact that she was right‌—‌once he shifted all the way, he knew he was truly a wolf. A different kind of wolf, to be sure, but still a wolf. And once he gained control again, that wolf was part of him. He wouldn’t lose control again, no matter how extreme the circumstances. He had killed the Wolf Hunter with these crazy blades that were now his claws, but he had done it with intention. He’d been conscious the entire time and in control, even though the rage of his wolf made the Wolf Hunter’s death at least partially an act of vengeance. But the man in him had no problem with exacting vengeance for all the experiments that created his overpowered wolf in the first place.

He let himself touch her again, fingertips to cheek. “You’ve seen what I am, and you still want me?” he asked softly, barely daring to believe it.

“Yes.”
It had to be hard to say it while she was still tied to Brad, but all her stubbornness was in full bloom on her face.