Taken by the Wolf: Collection (20 page)

Eva looked at his big honey-brown eyes. They were so earnest. This was a man who would never judge anything she ever said. She could tell him anything.

She took a deep breath, weakly smiling at Rowan before continuing. "Why do you have to murder so much?"

Rowan's eyes grew wide with shock and he began to sputter. "Wha...what….what do you mean?"

"I mean, I understand why you killed Axel. He had it coming. Did you really have to kill the sheriff and the deputy, though?" she asked.

"They harmed you," he said. "I was defending my mate."

"But you murdered them," she said. "A simple smacking around might have worked, or even a threat."

Rowan put his hand over his mouth and looked at the ground. She knew he was thinking hard about what he was going to say.

She closed her eyes and tried to search out his feelings in her mind, tried to figure out how this was affecting him. Finally she felt it: guilt.

"You feel bad about it," she said. "I can feel it."

"I do," he said. "But not for the reasons you think I do."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I feel bad because I let my wolf take control," he said. "I don't feel so bad that they're dead, but I feel bad that they were killed because I let the animal part of me take over."

"That's a problem for you?" she asked.

"Of course it is," he said. "I will never deny what I am—I am a wolf. I'm damn proud of being a werewolf, but at the same time I live in human society. If I lived in the wilderness, then I'm sure I'd be all too happy to run around shifted all the time, killing, humping and pissing on everything."

"Humping?" she asked, giggling.

"Well, yes," he said. "A lot of that goes on in the wilderness."

"Good to know," she said, glad she wasn't living in a cave somewhere with the pack.

"We made a choice to live in human society for the betterment of our kind," he said. "For better or worse, we've denied a lot of the animal side of us. There are some who feel torn between both sides, like Aster and Hawk. Then there are others, like Forest, who hate the human side and wish we still lived in the wilderness."

"Really?" she asked. She'd never known there was that much inner turmoil amongst the alphas.

"Why do you think all of the Oakdale pack lives on the outskirts of town on farms?" he asked. "They want to be as close to nature as possible."

"That makes sense," she said, nodding her head.

"Eva," he said, looking at her with sad eyes. "I feel terrible that my wolf took control and killed those two men. They deserved to be punished for harming my mate, but they didn’t deserve death. I'm trying to be a better man. I know the violence disturbs you, but unfortunately things are probably going to get a lot more violent soon."

"I know," she said, pulling him in close. "I accept that. You're a good man to me already, the best man I could have."

They looked at one another again, their eyes locking together. Eva felt herself getting lost in those honey-brown beauties; she didn't want to be looking at anything else.

She leaned in and kissed him again quickly, pulling back and smiling before diving back in for a longer, more passionate kiss. His hands began to explore, rubbing up and down her long, smooth, thick legs.

He's insatiable,
she thought, feeling something wonderful growing just under her lap. His cock was getting harder again, pushing against her as she sat on him.
I want him again. I want him again so bad.

Eva felt a need for Rowan, a need to be mentally linked during sex again. She had felt every emotion he felt as he released the full force of his orgasm into her, and it was wonderful.

Their kissing got more and more furious, the passion growing with each passing moment.

Suddenly she screamed as something crashed through the kitchen window, startling them both. She hit the ground on her ass with a thud as Rowan leapt out of the chair, snarling all the way to the kitchen.

Whatever had come through the window would rue the day that it entered Rowan Phoenix's home. She looked up, afraid to see what had entered. Instead she saw Rowan standing silently, staring out the window. He was shaking, his rage barely contained at whatever he saw outside his home. Then she heard it: the unmistakable roar of motorcycles speeding away.

Chapter 27

Son of a bitch,
Rowan thought as anger enveloped his entire body.

He looked down at the brick sitting on his kitchen floor surrounded by broken glass, then he looked back to see Eva huddled in his chair, a wide-eyed look of fright on her face.

It appeared they had finally come for her, and she knew it. Rowan wouldn't let them take her; he would put his life on the line to stop that.

"Sheriff?" someone called from outside. "You home?"

Rowan looked back out the window to see a lone biker standing in the middle of his yard. The intruder looked like someone out of a bad episode of
Sons of Anarchy,
complete with leather vest, too-tight jeans and skull bandana covering his mouth.

"Oh, I'm home," Rowan called, leaping out of the broken window and landing on his feet right in front of the biker.

Rowan towered over the man, who began to back away, realizing the mistake he had made. There were others; he had heard their bikes leaving down the street. Why had they left this one alone? Was he a sacrificial lamb?

"I'm just here to talk," the biker said, backing away towards his motorcycle. "I just have a message!"

"I have a message too," Rowan said, ignoring the man's pleas. "I'm sure your bloody head will send the message just fine."

"Now, wait!" the biker screamed, putting his hands up. It was obvious he hadn't expected it to go this way. "I'm not even a wolf! I'm a human! Don't kill me!"

"You're just as bad as them, human," Rowan said. The bloodlust was growing inside of him again. His wolf wanted nothing more than to see this one's guts splattered across the street. He deserved to die for scaring Rowan's mate; he deserved everything that was coming to him.

"I didn't even throw the brick!" he said, backing into his bike. "They threw it and told me to give you the message!"

"Then you can take the message back with you," Rowan said, licking his lips. "If you can go back."

"Oh, God," the biker said. He was nothing but a sacrificial lamb, a human slave for the gang. It was pretty common for wolves who formed gangs like this to keep some humans on hand to do grunt work. The humans thought they were being included in something beyond them when in reality they were just meat shields.

The human tried to run but Rowan's hand shot out, grabbing him by the throat. He struggled to get loose, but Rowan's grip was too strong. He lifted the man off the ground, holding him above his head.

"I should snap you in two!" Rowan screamed. "How dare you come to my house! How dare you come to my domain!"

"No!" a female voice screamed, distracting Rowan. He put the man on the ground, not releasing him, and turned to see Eva rushing out of the house. "Don't kill him, Rowan!"

Rowan's wolf was growling in his head now, urging him to ignore his mate. He looked back at the man and snarled, but Eva was on him quickly. She wrapped her arms around his giant forearm and tried to pull him off the biker.

"Don't kill another one of them!" she screamed. "Please, Rowan, he's not worth it."

Rowan shook his head, trying to shut his wolf out. With a mighty roar he released the man, shoving him backwards into his motorcycle. The man's legs shot out from under him and he did a backwards flip over the bike, landing on the other side.

"Please," she said, grabbing him by the t-shirt to calm him. He immediately felt soothed by her touch, his wolf growling its approval. "We don't need to kill anymore."

"You're right," Rowan said, letting the anger melt away. "He's not worth it."

Rowan could feel Eva's emotions through their link; she was calm and relaxed.

Clever girl,
he thought. She'd figured out their mental link already and had figured out how to influence him with her own emotions—she was truly a special woman.

"What's going on out here?" someone said.

Rowan looked up to see several of his pack mates exiting their homes, converging on the spot in front of his house.

"This spineless biker pet came to my home to threaten me and my mate!" Rowan yelled.

There were growls and angry taunts coming from the crowd as they advanced.

The biker was draped across his seat now, his eyes wide as he looked at the dozen or so wolves around him.

"We should string him up!" one voice said.

"Human pet!" another screamed with derision in his voice.

"Hold on, everyone," Rowan said, putting his hands up to calm the crowd. "My mate has requested mercy in this situation and we will grant it."

There were angry murmurs from the crowd. Obviously, they wanted blood and retribution.

"Return to your homes," Rowan said, stepping up to the bike and standing in front of the biker, who was still reeling from his fall. "I will deal with him personally."

There were still angry murmurs but the wolves listened to Rowan, all of them slowly backing away. All of them except Rain, who came over to put her arm around Eva.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Eva said. "He didn't do any harm to me."

"Good," Rain said, an animalistic look appearing in her eyes too. "I would have made him pay for that."

"I appreciate it," Eva said, patting her on the shoulder.

"Give me your message and leave," Rowan said, pulling the man up off his seat by the hair before releasing him again.

"Abaddon wants a meeting," the man choked out. "He wants to see you at the old Route 38 trading post."

Rowan thought quickly. That was outside of Green County, in neutral territory.

"He wants me to come alone?" Rowan asked. "Does he think I'm a fool?"

"No," the man said. "He's giving a message to your alpha too. He wants to see the two of you tonight."

"When?" Rowan asked. It was already dark outside. When did he expect this meeting to take place?

"As soon as possible," the man said. "Please let me go. I'm just a messenger."

"Very well," Rowan said. "Tell him I'm on my way."

Rowan returned to Eva, who looked even more afraid now. Her calm emotions were melting away as they were replaced by a flood of fear. He stopped, feeling something odd about the fear. She wasn't afraid for herself, she wasn't even thinking about herself, she was afraid for Rowan. She feared for her mate's safety.

"It'll be okay," Rowan said. "He won't kill us tonight, because he thinks we have Leena."

"What?" Rain asked. Rowan looked back, remembering that she didn't know anything about what had gone on that day. She was just a pup and what had happened was privileged information.

"Don't worry about it," Rowan said. "I need you to watch after Eva while I go."

"No," Eva said, pushing him away. "If you go then I go."

"Out of the question," Rowan said. "We can't allow them to get ahold of you. It'd be just like Abaddon to want a hostage exchange."

"You can say whatever you want," Eva said, crossing her arms. It was amazing how much her confidence had grown over the last few days. She was defiant to the end. "I am going with you."

Rowan almost felt helpless. She obviously had her mind made up.

"Too dangerous," he repeated.

"I'm not going to send my man out there by himself to be killed by a psycho gang leader," she said. "I want to be there to have your back. I'm not going to sit here all night wondering if you're going to come home. I'm not going to sit here all night feeling your emotions and not knowing what's causing them."

Rowan understood. It was unfair to make her feel that way. On top of all that, he'd neglected to tell her that when one of them died, the severing of the connection would be brutal and would plunge the survivor into a state of severe depression. Most wolves didn't survive after their mate passed. It was just too tough emotionally.

"Fine," Rowan said. "But you stay back."

"I'm coming too," Rain said.

Rowan threw his arms up. Did everyone have to defy him?

"Why do you need to come?" he demanded.

"I'm not sending my sister out there without some backup," Rain said. "You can have your meeting, but she'll be under my protection."

Sister?
Rowan thought.

Both of Rain's parents had been killed during the Satan's Angels attack ten years ago. She was only nine years old then, and she had been raised by the pack from that point forward. She didn't have a normal childhood and had never had a sibling. It was obvious she'd latched onto his mate and had formed a familial bond.

"Very well," he said, not wanting to deny the girl he'd had a hand in raising. "But if anything happens to her, it's your ass as well as mine."

"I understand," Rain said. He had never seen the normally carefree girl like this, determined and strong. Her jaw was tight and clenched, her hands were balled up into fists and there was a fire in her eyes that Rowan had never seen before—she was growing up right in front of him.

"Oh, pet?" Rowan said, turning back to the biker, who was trying to get his bike started to leave. "One more thing."

"What?" the biker asked, a tone of hatred in his voice. He had obviously forgotten what had happened to him a minute ago, and was feeling like a big man now that he was returning to his leader.

"You broke my window," Rowan said, smiling. "An eye for an eye."

"Hey, man," the biker said. "Don't tough my hog."

"Oh, I'm not going to hurt your bike," Rowan said, an evil smile on his face. Suddenly he glided forward, driving his fist into the man's side. The satisfying crunch of bone breaking filled the air as several of the biker's ribs cracked.

Eva gasped and the man hollered in pain, nearly falling off his bike.

"Now get the hell out of here before my mercy runs out!" Rowan screamed.

The bike roared to life and began to pull away, the man barely able to control it as he clutched at his side.