Accidentally Wolf (4 page)

“Does she know about shifters?
About what she will become?”
Leon, one of the elders, asked.

“What about her job?”

“What about her family?”

Niall held his hand up to stall
the questions being fired at him by all sides of the clearing. “They are a
newly mated pair. I’m sure there will be growing pains and issues that will
need to be worked out. But they, Zayn and Cora, are Pack, and as such they are
under my protection.” Niall’s eyes glowed, the bright color blue that marked
him as an alpha, the alpha of the Mystic Pack.

All members of the pack lowered
their eyes and presented their throats at the display of power, including Zayn.
As brothers they had a bond stronger than just pack, and Zayn knew he could
count on his brother, but he was prepared to leave to save Niall from having to
choose. He still would if it came to it. This was not just Niall’s home, but
Nolan’s.

The pack filed out of the clearing
after Niall’s declaration, once they wished Zayn the best and offered their
help if needed. Zayn had asked for time, and in no uncertain terms told them
he’d let them know when he and Cora were ready and not a moment sooner.

“You do know it’s not gonna be
easy, right?” Niall stood next to Zayn.

“No shit, Sherlock.” Zayn smiled.

Niall shoved him with his
shoulder. “Have you told her?”

Zayn shook his head, and then
explained to Niall about the marking, glossing over the amazing sex without
looking at his brother. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but Niall’s large arm
grabbing him in a headlock wasn’t it.

“Being locked inside your mate is
the best fucking feeling ever. Goddess, I remember the first time with my
Emma.” Niall choked on the last word.

Zayn grabbed his brother in a hug.
Since he’d lost his mate, Niall had sealed away many of his memories of her,
not sharing them with anyone. To hear such an intimate memory brought a wave of
sadness and happiness to Zayn.

“It was pretty great, but scarier
than shit man. I wasn’t expecting her to bite me. I thought I could wear a
condom, keep my fangs to myself just like big brother told me. Then, my world
was rocked right on its axis.”

“You’re lucky. I was lucky. So,
why are you still hanging out with me? You need to get back to your mate.”
Niall squeezed his shoulder one last time, and then stepped away.

“I’m outta here.” Zayn shifted and
ran full out for his home and his mate.

What he found was an empty house.
The smell of their lovemaking still fresh, but her bag was gone, along with his
truck.

* * * *

Cora woke alone. She was
pleasantly sore between her legs, but for the first time in what felt like
forever, she didn’t feel hot and achy. She looked around and didn’t recognize
the room she was in. “Zayn,” she whispered. Fear snaked down her spine. Did he
ship her off somewhere after they had sex?

She slipped out of the bed,
wincing a little at the pain. A quick look around and she recognized some of
Zayn’s things. Slightly relieved that she wasn’t in some stranger’s home, but
still disappointed to be alone, she tiptoed to the door. Again, the house
seemed eerily quiet.

The door to the room she’d slept
in was open, and she didn’t see any sign of Zayn. She spied her bag and without
thinking too hard, she quickly got dressed. She wasn’t an idiot. Here was a man
who didn’t want her. However, when a woman comes on as hard as she did, he
couldn’t resist. What man would? So now he left and obviously wanted her gone.
Heck, he hadn’t even kissed her or even wanted to look at her when he fucked
her. A sob escaped, but she shoved her fist in her mouth to keep the sound from
being any louder. His words rang in her head like a dull knife to her heart.
I don’t want you.
He’d thought she was
sleeping when he’d come to check on her the first day. She wasn’t his type he’d
said to his brother, and she knew from the talk in town he liked voluptuous
women on the taller size—the complete opposite of her.

There were two vehicles in the
garage. The truck she remembered riding in and a huge motorcycle. She may hate
herself right now, but she didn’t have a death wish. Zayn kept the keys on a
hook inside the garage. It was only a matter of grabbing a set that went to the
truck, pushing a button on the inside to lift the bay doors, and she was
driving out of his garage.

It wasn’t stealing, just
borrowing. She planned to leave him a message telling where he could pick his
truck up, but he knew where she lived for crying out loud. Of course, she had
no plans to be there when he did show up.

She didn’t take time to go inside
the clinic, thankful she had a bag of clothes and her purse along with her
phone. She called Zayn thru his OnStar and left a brief message. “Thank you,
technology.” The switch of vehicles took less than ten minutes, just long
enough for her to grab her car keys.

Even though she didn’t think Zayn
would come looking for her, she still wanted to get out of town as fast as her
Charger would take her. She needed a day or two to lick her wounds, and then
she’d come back and pretend nothing ever happened.

It’s not like she and Zayn ran in
the same circles. With that, she spun the fire-red car in a circle and headed
out of town. Bike Week was in a few days and inevitably there were always an
influx of injured pets that found their way to her clinic, not that she minded.
It paid the bills, and she loved her job.

Still thinking of where to go,
Cora crested the hill leading to Sturgis. The sun was high in the sky. She knew
Zayn had probably realized she had left, had probably already heard her
voicemail. “Good for him. Hopefully he had to walk all the way to pick his
truck up.”

The uncharacteristic meanness gave
her pause. She had no way of finding out if he’d found his truck, but she
reassured herself. It wasn’t like Mystic River was huge. Barely containing the
desire to turn her car around, she continued through town, past Deadwood, knowing
she preferred to get a few more miles between her and Zayn. Licking wounds
needed more than one town.

Her car Foxie did a little jerk
and sputter, making Cora look at the digital dash to see the little sign that
normally had hundreds of miles before empty. It said low fuel instead. She
hadn’t heard the annoying dinging with the music blasting. Foxie did another
rabbit type of jump before shutting down in a very precarious place. The
twisting road leading out of town had more winding turns as they led upwards
without much of a side for stalled vehicles. She let her car coast the farthest
that it would go. Pulling her cell out, she prayed there was service.

Cora reached breaking point when
her phone beeped showing she did indeed have service, but then her phone died.
“Noooooo,” she screamed.

Jerking the door open, she pushed
the trunk button. Inside she found a backpack along with the kit she always
kept for emergencies. This was what she considered an emergency. She shoved a
change of clothes from the duffel into the backpack along with the emergency
kit. By her calculations, the hike up would be a lot further than the hike back
down, or she could cut through the woods.

The story of Little Red Riding
Hood popped into her head, only she had on a purple jacket. She was wasting
time and knew it. “I’m more likely to kick the wolf in the nuts than be eaten
by him, anyways. Besides, I obviously turn guys off.” She rolled her eyes and
shook her head.

She’d stick with the highway.
Chances were good someone she knew would pass by, and she could hitch a ride,
or she’d make it to Deadwood and get some gas for her car.

The sound of a wolf howling didn’t
usually scare Cora, but the one that sounded too close for comfort made her
wish she’d stayed in her car. She glanced over her shoulder to see if she could
see the red Charger, but she was a lot further away than she’d realized. The
sun beat down on her head, only she feared if she took her sweatshirt off she’d
get sunburned. Better to sweat than get burned.

Another howl split the air, closer
than the last, shivers danced up her spine.

She ran her tongue over her teeth.
Did they feel sharper? Her skin itched, like something moved beneath the
surface. “I’m losing my ever loving mind. Maybe it’s heat stroke?” She stopped
and pulled the bottle of water off the side of the pack. She drank sparingly
and ran the somewhat cool bottle over her forehead.

The sound of something running
full out in her direction had her spinning to look toward the woods.

With her hand on her chest, Cora
held her breath and held perfectly still, like that would save her from
whatever was coming. The sight of a cute little bunny scurrying through the
underbrush made her giggle almost hysterically.

Cora walked on shaky legs to one
of the huge boulders that lined the roadway, still laughing like a hyena.
Leaning against it she wiped the sweat from her brow with her forearm.

“What do you find so amusing?”

Cora nearly fell off the rock at
the deep voice rumbling behind her. “Jumping Jehoshaphat, don’t scare me like
that!”

“What do you call what you did to
me, Cora? I come back from meeting with my brother to find you gone, my truck
gone, and no word as to where you are,” he growled. “What do you call that?” He
moved to stand in front of Cora, both arms caging her in.

“I didn’t think you’d notice,
except for your truck…and I left you a message.” She leaned backward, without
actually lying back on the rock, trying to put some space between an obviously
angry Zayn and herself.

“Oh, I noticed. I noticed a lot.”
He licked her neck, up to her earlobe to tug on it. An answering tug woke
between her thighs.

“What are you doing?” She pressed
her palms against his rock hard chest.

He leaned closer still with his
body, erasing the small space between them. “Do you know how much I have
fantasized about tasting you?” Zayn licked the seam of her lips and hummed.

“I think you should…” Whatever she
was going to say was swallowed up by Zayn’s questing mouth.

He fused his mouth over hers,
brushing back and forth teasing her with soft caresses. He didn’t just kiss
her. He claimed her lips as his own. His hands cupped her face in his palms as
he traced his tongue over her bottom lip.

For a split second he pulled away,
making her stiffen in his arms, but then he pressed his hips more firmly into
the V of her legs and nipped her lip. She groaned a low keening sound she
would’ve been embarrassed about making had she not been so turned on.

He dipped his tongue into her
mouth, licking, sucking her tongue, kissing her like none other ever had as
more wetness soaked her panties.

She met him passion for passion,
sliding her fingers into his hair, down his back to cup his ass. The denim rode
low on his hips, making it easy to slide her hands under the waist band to the
firm globes she wanted to bite. She dragged her nails back up. Pushing her
pelvis up into his, the hard press of his cock provided a warm pressure against
her sex. The pulsing organ in his pants thumped a steady beat against her,
reminding her of the sensation of having him inside her.

The sound of a horn blaring had
Zayn lifting up with a deep rumbling growl.

“What the—” Cora stumbled over her
words. She licked her swollen lips, ready to orgasm from his kiss alone. To say
the man could kiss was a major understatement.

Zayn had his back to her facing
the highway and whoever had honked. She sat up realizing her sweatshirt had
been raised at some point in their heavy petting session.

“I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”
His warm breath fanned over her lips as he gave her a brief kiss.

Cora lifted her hand to her mouth.
She really needed to stop being such a hussy when it came to Zayn Malik. She
snorted.

“Why are you laughing, my mate?”
Zayn walked back and reached out to help her off the boulder.

She ignored his words and took his
outstretched hand. “Do you know them?” She indicated the jeep on the other side
of the road.

“They belong to another…family.
They’ve offered us a ride back to town.”

“Oh, that’s great. Why are we
waiting?” Cora looked at the idling jeep. Two men who looked to be as big as
Zayn stared at her and Zayn with smiles on their faces. “Come on, big guy. I’m
hot and tired. The faster we get gas for Foxie, the faster I can get my car
back on the road.”

“Who is Foxie?”

Zayn looked so cute when he had
that puzzled look on his face, Cora couldn’t help but grab his shirt and pull
him down for another fierce kiss.

“She’s my car.
Come on, big guy, let’s go.” Cora grabbed his hand and led him across the road.

Chapter Four

Zayn didn’t like the way those
from the other pack was looking at his mate. He knew his scent was all over
Cora and was glad they’d made out like they had. The fact she still had no clue
what he was, what she was, burned like acid in his stomach. To top it off, he
had two of the biggest assholes this side of the Black Hills who turned up to
be their saviors.
Great.

There was no other choice except
to gracefully accept their help, or make his already overheated mate walk the
long trip back to town or teach her how to shift.

His mate made their decision,
marching across the road, dragging him along in her wake. Lust rode him hard,
jealousy a close second as they got closer, and he saw the unmistakable want
reflected in the other men’s eyes.

“Was that your
beauty
broken down up
the road there, gorgeous?” the driver asked Cora,
completely ignoring Zayn.

“Um, yeah…I completely spaced
getting gas when we headed out for a drive.”