Heart of the Wolf (38 page)

The older wolf took him by surprise. without hesitation, he ripped out Simon’s throat, and the younger wolf was instantly killed.

Then something drew their attention toward the woods, and everyone turned to look. Standing in the mist of the forest, a red male wolf considered Bella with unspoken longing, but his neck and leg were bleeding, his tongue hanging from his bloodied mouth, as though he’d tangled with a much bigger beast and lost. Had he come to fight for the leadership but been thwarted? And now was he too torn up to fight well?

He glanced at Devlyn and bared his bloodied teeth. The new leader bowed his head to the loner. The two stared at each for a moment and then the wolf turned and dove back into the forest, disappearing in a heartbeat.

“It’s him, Leidolf,” one of the older women said, already having turned back into her human form. “He’ll be back.” She smiled with admiration. “He has the look of leadership in his eyes, his stance. And he would’ve taken on the others if he hadn’t been injured and that delayed him. He’ll be back.”

There was no time for jubilation, or for the wolves to show their allegiance to their new pack leader. Sirens sounded from a distance, creating a panic. The wolf that pinned Bella down jumped off her. She snapped at him, missing biting his leg by inches.

Devlyn rushed to join her as the other wolves scattered, quickly changing into their human forms. Some dove into the vehicles and donned their clothes. Some grabbed the lifeless, bloodied bodies of the reds, once again turned into human form, and deposited them in the trunks of their vehicles.

Only the new red alpha male leader remained for a moment, staring at Devlyn, not challenging him, but instead giving him thanks.

Devlyn bowed his head and then raised it in acknowledgement.

The wolf dashed for one of the vehicles, but before Bella and Devlyn could return to the SUV that had brought them there, the driver tore off. She realized then they’d never have taken the gray and her back with them to the city. Only if the gray had died would they have taken her into the pack.

She touched her nose to Devlyn’s, and he licked her face. They pressed their muzzles against each other. They had only one option available to them, now — run like the wind and seek shelter in her cabin.

At short spurts, they could run as fast as twenty-eight miles per hour, but because of Devlyn’s fight, they ran at a trot. Her cabin was located only a couple of miles away. They’d make it. As long as zoo man Thompson didn’t find Rosa running with the injured gray male, or they didn’t cross paths with Volan. Involuntarily, a shiver ran through her.

With the cool breeze in her face and the two of them trotting nearly shoulder to shoulder, she suddenly realized that the gun she’d so carefully hidden in her clothes still rested under the seat in the black SUV. Her security blanket was ripped away from her. Now they had nothing but to fight Volan the way the wolf would. Even wounding Volan temporarily would have been to her advantage — until she could find another old-time smithy who could fashion silver bullets.

Then she recalled the gun in her cabin. Different smithy, and maybe real silver bullets. If they could just reach it in time.

Analyzing the rustle of the wind through the trees, birds’ sweet whistling tunes, and the sound of Devlyn’s and her pads tromping on the needled floor, she listened for Volan. Tilting her nose up, she breathed in the air, smelling a deer nearby, the scent of a raccoon, the fragrance of pine... no Volan.

Devlyn acted as wary, his ears twitching back and forth, channeling in on the sounds, sniffing the air. when the cabin came into view, she filled her lungs with air and wanted to shout for joy. Instead, she whimpered in her most happy wolf way. Devlyn rubbed her face with his, sharing her tentative liberation.

As soon as they reached the front steps, they changed into their human form. Standing on the porch, Devlyn pulled Bella into his arms and kissed her thoroughly.

The tension drained from her body. Devlyn had won. He’d shown his cleverness, superiority, and prowess as a born leader by allowing the older male to take down the final rogue wolf. She wondered if the mystery red wolf would give up his loner ways and take over the pack. But then she speculated again about whether she could convince Devlyn to start a new pack.

A lone wolf could do so, with his mate, and then he wouldn’t have to fight Volan. How she wished he’d agree with her, but his heart was set on returning to the family that had taken him in. She had to admit that the notion of being with the pack again filled her with longing.

Taking an exasperated breath, she asked, “Did you hear Volan’s howl?”

“Yeah.” Devlyn rubbed her arms. “Telling us he knows where we are and that we have no choice but to return home to the pack.”

“we don’t have to, you know. we could start our own.”

Devlyn’s eyes hardened, and she knew then that she’d never be able to convince him to stay away from Volan.

“I told you years ago, Bella. He would come after you and our children. I can’t risk it.” He glanced down at her clothes still lying on the chair on the porch.

“I took a run and ended up in the zoo.” And, once she was back in Portland, she’d take a run again, away from the wolf she loved most in the world, like before, to protect him.

“I remember it well, although it seems like eons ago.” Grabbing her clothes, she headed inside the two-room cabin.

Devlyn dashed around her. “Let me take a look around first.”

She smelled it then. The slight odor that was Volan. Her skin chilled, but it had nothing to do with the cold cabin.

Devlyn quickly inspected the bedroom and bath and rejoined Bella in the living area. “He’s not here.” “But he’s been here.” “Yeah.”

“Do you think he’ll come back?”

“No. He’ll want to prove to the pack you’re his. Trying to kill me here and then returning you to the pack wouldn’t be enough.”

She dumped her clothes on a tweed-covered couch and took Devlyn’s hand. “Let’s get you washed up then. I’ll take care of those bites and... “

He leaned over and licked her neck. “I need something else. I’m a bit... tense.”

Glancing down at his full-blown erection, she lifted a brow. “After all you’ve been through?”

He wiggled his brows.

She laughed. “I know just how to handle it.”

He growled softly. “How well I know.”

They made it halfway across the living area when the front door slammed open, banging against the wall.

Volan stood in the entryway, his mouth red with blood, and she wondered if Leidolf, the loner red, had tangled with the demon. He was dressed in denims and a sweatshirt that were as black as his mood. His black hair hung loosely at his shoulders, and he looked as if he’d fallen out of bed in a hurry and hadn’t had his first cup of coffee yet. But the demonic look in Volan’s black eyes had nothing to do with missing a mug of caffeine. His unfulfilled lust for Bella showed in every angry line creasing his stern face.

Volan took in Bella’s nakedness, inhaled a deep breath, smelling the air, or rather, her — trying to tell if Devlyn had mated with her already. His look couldn’t get any harder; then he shifted his attention to Devlyn. “I gather you were straightening out a matter with a pack of red wolves in the area, which delayed your bringing Bella home to me.”

“She’s mine, Volan,” Devlyn said, moving Bella behind him. “You can’t have her.”

Volan tsked. “Fou can’t have her. Pack laws. She’s my choice.”

“Those aren’t wolf laws. She chose me. You’re out of luck.”

“My rules then. Come on, Bella.” Volan stretched his meaty hand out to her. “I’ll let him live if you come with me now.”

Devlyn gripped her arm tighter, worried she might agree to be Volan’s mate.

“However, Bella sweet, I’ll have to teach you a thing or two about wolf law. Seems you’ve forgotten some of them while living among the humans.” Volan touched his chest lightly; then she noticed his skin still seemed paler than usual.

Had she injured him after all? Why hadn’t the silver killed him?

Drops of blood trickled down his sneakers onto the wood floor. She looked up at him.

Volan turned his attention to Devlyn. “Lover boy’s too spent to fight me. Wouldn’t be a fair battle. Besides, we fight in front of the pack, end this once and for all. I challenge you to bring her home and battle me for her, Devlyn.”

“I’ll be there,” Devlyn growled.

Volan turned and stalked out of the cabin, a slight limp to his gait.

Releasing her, Devlyn stormed to the door and watched Volan disappear into the woods. Bella joined him and bent over to inspect the blood.

“He’s been wounded,” Devlyn said. “That’s why he wouldn’t fight me yet.”

“In the leg?” she guessed, wondering how her bullets managed to hit him in the leg when she was damn sure both bullets had hit his chest.

“Yeah, probably when he was in wolf form someone got a shot off.”

“It’s not hunting season.”

“Right, but some wouldn’t care if he was wearing his wolf pelt and got near their livestock.”

For now, all Bella could think of was getting Devlyn back to her home in Portland and then slipping away again so he wouldn’t ever have to fight the devil wolf.

Before long, warm water filled the tub, and Devlyn reclined on his back as she climbed on top of him.

He kissed her lips and ran his hands over her breasts, heating her deep inside. “I have to say, Bella, you made me proud.”

“I was afraid you’d be angry with me because I tried to help you.”

He leisurely licked the bathwater off her cheek. “You love me and wanted to protect me. You didn’t do it because you felt I couldn’t handle him. It was just instinctive. An alpha female quality.”

She washed his bloodied neck with care. Referring to her as having alpha qualities was the greatest compliment he could ever give. “I was so proud of you to submit to another red, to allow him to fight Simon for the right to be the leader of the pack.” Knowing how difficult it was not only to pretend to cower before a red, but in front of his mate — it had to have been the hardest thing he’d ever done. Her chest swelled with pride to think such a great gray wanted her for his very own.

“I only did what my great-grandfather had done before me.”

“Don’t be so modest. I doubt
he
had to fight four reds, one after another. You created a new legend for this clan in your own right.”

“And you, Bella. The red wolf that the gray fought for.”

She leaned over and kissed his bristly cheek.

His fingers touched her nipples, making her whole body tingle. He sighed deeply. “with only one to battle instead of four, I hoped one of the older wolves would have the courage to tackle him.”

“My clever wolf.” She ran her hand over his length in loving strokes. Finally, he’d allowed her to touch him, without stopping her. She would have rested with him instead, anything, to feel his heart beating against her breast, to have his skin touching hers, warm and alive, to feel his breath against her cheek, to taste his salty skin, and to smell him, feral and all male. Her gray, for the most part uninjured and safe with her again.

His eyes clouded with passion as he studied her with admiration, his hands massaging the small of her back. when it appeared he couldn’t handle another of her strokes, he slipped his hands down to her thighs, his fingertips drawing closer to her folds.

“You’re still awfully tense,” she said, her gaze taking in every inch of his glistening body, hard, muscled, and every bit hers.

He chuckled, the throaty sound triggering an ache between her legs. He lifted her and worked his way inside her folds. “This will definitely help.”

Her nipples brushed against the hair on his chest, sending delicious chills of desire coursing through every nerve. He cupped her face and lifted it, claiming her mouth with a deep, sizzling kiss. Their bodies slid against each other while his erection penetrated her deeply. Up and down she rose on top of him, creating tidal waves in the bathtub. water splashed over the edge of the tub and spilled onto the tile floor. They kissed and touched each other’s skin with greed, giving not a care to anything else in the world.

Just as she envisioned climbing to the top of the snow-covered Wolf Rock, she rose higher with every plunge he made deep inside her. When she felt she couldn’t take any more, he groaned out her name, filling her with his warm seed, and as she reached the peak of pleasure, her insides pulsated with orgasmic delight.

“You’re too right for me,” he whispered against her mouth, tenderly, lovingly, the sound of a lusty, satiated mate.

Their tongues tangled, and she combed her fingers through his damp hair. “For each other,” she said, still seated on top of him, never wanting to let go.

But something in his eyes told her he was concerned about some matter. It didn’t take her long to learn what still troubled him.

He cleared his throat. “I always wondered, Bella, in the old days when your friend drowned — “

“Elizabeth?”

“Yes. Why didn’t you let me console you?”

“Volan saw you with me. I bit you to get you to leave me alone. He hated when you got near me, especially after I became a teen.”