Taken by the Wolf: Collection (3 page)

“Oh my,” was all she could manage as the sight of this mountain of a man in uniform made her heart do backflips. Embarrassment, flushed her cheeks as she clamped her hand over her mouth, still lying on the ground.

“Well, come on,” he said with an edge to his voice. “On your feet. The day isn’t going to start itself.”

She tried to stand up, but he reached down with one large hand, grasping her by the elbow, and yanked her off the ground to her feet. She’d never felt as light as she did in that moment—he’d moved her like she was a sack of potatoes.

“Thank you,” she said, still unsure what was going on. She was in a strange person’s house and the last thing she remembered was being attacked the night before by the greasy biker outside the bar. Everything after that was a complete blur.

“Your shirt is a mess,” he said, throwing a blue tank top down on the bed. “This should fit you.”

“What’s wrong with my shirt?” she asked.

“You’ll see when you take it off,” he said, shutting the door behind him.

“I think I liked him better when he was just eye candy,” she said, slipping her white t-shirt over her head. There was no warmth behind his words; he almost sounded annoyed to have her here.

She looked down at the back of her shirt; it had drops of blood all over it from her head wound the night before. A sick feeling began developing in her stomach; she reached up and felt at the back of her hair, finding it thick and crunchy with dried blood.

“Do you have a shower?” she asked, walking out of the bedroom after she had slipped the tank top on. “I need to clean the blood out of my hair.”

Her mysterious savior was standing in the kitchen, eating scrambled eggs of a plate. He looked up from his mouthful of food. Without a word he pointed down a short hallway before returning to gobbling his eggs.

“Thanks,” she muttered. The house was straight out of the 1950s. It appeared to have two bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen, dining and living rooms. There wasn’t much to it. Eva wouldn’t have been shocked if the garage was detached and sitting behind the house. Luckily her savior had shampoo in his bathroom, though it didn’t look like it got used too much. It felt great to wash the blood out of her hair and feel at least somewhat clean again after her ordeal the night before.

When she was satisfied with the job she’d done she walked back into the kitchen, finding her man waiting with his arms crossed.

“I couldn’t stand the blood in my hair,” she said.

“Understandable,” he said. “Most females don’t like blood in their fur.”

“Fur?” she said, giving him a strange look. What was this guy’s deal?

“Yes, fur,” he said, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge and tossing one to her. “We’re going to be late. We need to hurry.”

“Late to where?” she asked.

“City Hall,” he said. “We have a meeting with the mayor.”

“We?” she asked. “You’re the sheriff or deputy or whatever of this place. I have to be getting back to my car. Can you drop me there on your way to work?”

“Afraid not,” he said, giving her a cool look. “We’re going to see the mayor.”

“Why the hell am I going to see the mayor?” she demanded. Had she broken some law last night? Was this guy taking her in?

“Because we have to figure out what to do with you,” he said, looking annoyed.

“What to do with me? How about you just take me home? I have to work tonight!” she said, putting her hands on her hips and shooting him an annoyed glare.

“Nope,” he said. It was beginning to really grate on her nerves, how matter of fact he was with everything he said. She had read the confidence all over him last night—the way he carried himself, the look on his face, the smirk he’d given her when he caught her looking—but she hadn’t expected it to carry over into him being so stubborn. Did he really think he could control her like this? Because he said it was happening, then it was going to happen?

“Fine, I’ll walk home,” she said, heading for the door.

“Do you know your way back to Cedarville from Bucklin?” he asked.

Eva froze. Did he say Bucklin? She began to feel sick again, and needed to grab the nearest chair for support. Cedarville and Bucklin were the only two towns for miles in this part of the state, and they were twenty-three miles apart!

“Are you the sheriff of Bucklin?” she asked.

“The one and only,” he said, flashing her a cocky grin. “This is my town.”

“I want to go back to
my
town,” she said. The walls were starting to close in around her; she was beginning to feel trapped and alone. Sweat was beginning to bead on her forehead and her legs were shaking.

“You can’t go back to your town,” he said, his voice growing more serious. “You’ve seen too much.”

“Too much of what?” she asked.

“You know what you saw,” he said. “I was supposed to kill you, but I brought you here instead. You had better hope the mayor is feeling generous today. He doesn’t have a lot of compassion for humans.”

“Humans?” she asked. Suddenly, images from the night before began flooding back into her concussed brain. She was lying on the ground and she looked up to see Bill hit Axel, knocking him to the ground. After beating on Axel he had stepped back, his body twisting and turning into that of a large wolf. The way the wolf had looked at her as she lost consciousness roared back into her head—there’d been concern in his eyes. Yet here she was, in the werewolf’s house.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” she said, trying to steady herself.

“Whoa there!” he said, coming forward.

“Why are the lights getting dim?” she asked, and then everything went out.

* * *

“Son of a bitch,” Rowan cursed, looking at the girl splayed out on his floor. “Humans and their weak stomachs.”

She wasn’t the first human to pass out when she realized she was facing a werewolf. A lot of them didn’t come around to the idea and they ended up worse off for it. Hopefully, this one would come around. It was stupid of him to bring her here, but she would have been as good as dead if he had left her at the bar. The Satan’s Angels would have picked up her scent quickly and that would have been it for Eva and her beautiful sapphire eyes.

“Come on,” he said, lifting her off the ground and setting her in a recliner. “Wake up, it’s okay.”

He didn’t understand where this bout of temporary insanity was coming from; he was the top enforcer for the entire city, number one warrior for the Dawnguard Pack. Why should he care if a human had to lose her life during a pack war?

She’s innocent,
he thought.
And beautiful. She deserves to live.

He’d repeated those words in his head all night as he lay in his bed, shifted into wolf form. His human body was cumbersome, but because of the set-up of Bucklin he spent most of his waking hours in human form. There was no reason he couldn’t enjoy the finer points of wolf life while he slept. The only other time he was really free was when he went hunting with some of the other members of his pack.

She groaned loudly, her eyes fluttering open as he squatted down in front of her, putting a hand on her thigh to try and keep her calm. Humans seemed to calm when you touched them: it was one of their many charms.

“You’re really a werewolf?” she asked, regaining her senses.

“Yes,” he said. He could have lied and told her that she’d dreamt it all, but then she would go home and Satan’s Angels would come for her. The Bucklin packs were going to have to deal with the biker gang eventually.

“That’s cool,” she said, smiling.

“Cool?” he asked. That was not the reaction he’d been expecting.

“Yeah. I’ve never met a werewolf before,” she said.

“Then why did you pass out?” he asked. This was completely confusing. If she hadn’t passed out due to fear, then why did she go down?

“It shocked me at first,” she said, still speaking weakly, in a hushed tone. “But mainly it was because my head hurt and I was feeling dizzy.”

“You have a nasty concussion,” he said. “I’m really going to have to get you to the doc after we meet with the council. I think you need to eat something too.”

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Why did you bring me here?”

There was still no point in lying. “The man who attacked you is a member of a rival pack. They’re going to pick up your scent and then they’ll come for you. Do you want to be here in Bucklin or do you want to be back in Cedarville when they come?”

“A rival pack?” she asked. “Can you really defend me against a lot of wolves?”

“No,” he said. “But the entire town can.”

“The entire town?” she asked, sinking back into the chair and swallowing hard.

“You have a lot to learn about Bucklin,” he said, smirking at her.

Chapter 4

Her captor/savior, she wasn’t sure which, had insisted she eat something before meeting with the council. He tried to fix bacon, eggs and sausage, but she’d settled on some toast and coffee. Watching him try to work the coffee pot was right out of a comedy show—he obviously didn’t use it too often.

“Have you never made coffee?” she finally asked, trying to hold back laughter. The proud wolf might be offended if she laughed at him. 

“Not really,” he said, fumbling with it. “Wolves don’t drink caffeine. We don’t need the stimulant.”

“You also don’t drink alcohol, do you?” she asked, remembering his one Jack and Coke from the night before.

“No,” he said, standing up. “Our blood metabolizes the alcohol too fast, so we can’t get drunk. Some younger wolves claim they can, but they’re just being pups.”

“Pups,” she said, giggling. This was going to be a whole new world, and it didn’t look like she was going home anytime soon, so she needed to get used to it. Home. It seemed so far away right now.

Eva had been brave and impulsive her entire life. From the time she climbed on top of the house when she was five and subsequently fell off, shattering her arm and collarbone, to the time she dropped out of college to get married. She just
did
without thinking about the consequences and unfortunately, each time she did that she made a mess of things. It was why her life was a prison that consisted of two jobs and her tiny apartment.

She groaned as work entered her brain. The mall would open in thirty minutes and she was supposed to be there to unlock the store: then tonight she was working at the bar.

“Can I call my work and tell them I won’t be making it in?” she asked.

“No,” he said, his jaw line growing tight and stern. “No contact with the outside world.”

“Look, I was okay with you trying to protect me,” she said, feeling anger starting to well up again. “But I’m not cool with you completely cutting me off like some kind of prisoner.”

“Well, that’s too bad,” he said. “We can’t let anyone know you’re here. You don’t think they’ll try to figure out where you live and work?”

Eva slumped back in her chair, her appetite suddenly fluttering out the window. She had gone from one prison to another, only this one she hadn’t created. Bill was looking at her like he was waiting for her to explode, like he was preparing for an inevitable shitstorm. She wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction.

“Well, Bill,” she said calmly. “I’m not happy about this and I want you to know I hope you shift into a bird and fly straight up your own ass.”

Bill’s face twisted into confusion, one eyebrow shooting straight up and his upper lip curling.

Damn,
she thought.
He’s even hot when making stupid faces.This is going to be tough.

She’d never spent so much time around a guy she found so attractive without eventually giving in to her baser desires. It was evident Bill was attracted to her, but she didn’t want to give him any of the joy she knew she could provide—he didn’t deserve it.

He did save your life,
a little voice in the back of her head reminded her.

Quiet, you,
she thought, stomping the little voice of reason back down.

Bill had been looking at the table, like he was trying to figure out something she’d said. Finally he looked up, like he wanted to say something, but at the last minute he put his fist over his mouth.

“Yes?” she asked. “Spit it out.”

“Who’s Bill?” he asked.

Was this some kind of game? Was he screwing with her? She fixed her eyes on him, not breaking eye contact and said, “You’re Bill.”

“No, I’m not,” he said.

“You told my boss last night your name was Bill,” she said, growing frustrated. “Do you have a twin?”

“No,” he said, scrunching his face up as he thought hard. Still hot, even with wrinkles in his forehead. “Oh, I got it! That’s the mundane, boring human name I’ve used since I was undercover. I’m Rowan.”

Eva nearly fell out of her chair. She’d been thinking of him as Bill all morning. In the back of her mind she felt a slight bit of relief. It was such a blah name, very 1950s. Bill was your neighbor, Bill was your uncle, Bill was your dad’s golf coach, Bill was not two hundred and fifty pounds of pure, rugged, sex appeal. Rowan was.

“So where are we going?” she asked.

“To see our alpha leader and alpha council,” Rowan said. “Hopefully they’ll let me keep you here and protect you.”

“Wait a minute,” she asked. “They don’t know I’m here?”

“Nope,” he said. “And if you want them to let me keep you, then you’d better follow my lead.”

“What lead?” she asked.

“Well, look at the time,” he said, glancing at his watch. “We’re going to be late. Let’s go.”

“What lead?” she asked again.

“Just agree with everything I say!” he said forcefully, grabbing some keys off the counter and walking toward the back door. “Let’s go!”

Eva rolled her eyes and followed Rowan. She barely knew him and already he was frustrating the hell out of her. It was obvious he didn’t want to be questioned; he thought his way was the best way.

At least he’s not a dick about it,
she thought, remembering how Jason would get when she disagreed with him.
Yet.

She followed Rowan out the back screen door, finding herself in a perfect little backyard with a white picket fence and a perfectly groomed oak tree growing in the middle. As she looked around, her eyes followed Rowan to where he was walking.