Book 1 - Page 2 (1/2)

“You could smell his putrid fear, woman!” He pulled her against his body and kissed her hard on the mouth, no teasing or waiting for her approval — just pure l.u.s.t, conquering and decisive. And she loved him, every bit of the dangerous and feral lupus garou that he was.

Her body melted to his touch, but Volan’s musky, b.l.o.o.d.y scent drifted to her on the breeze. Panic sliced through her. Volan would claim her now. But if he caught Devlyn touching her.

Volan appeared in a couple of bounds in his ebony-pelted wolf form, his eyes narrowed with hate. He growled, and immediately Devlyn released her. She stepped back, a.s.suming Volan would kill Devlyn for his actions, the thought wrenching at her gut.

Devlyn stood his ground. “I tried to convince her how stupid she was for feeling anything for the human.”

Volan turned to Bella. He’d show her how a male wolf took a mate. The moisture from her throat evaporated. The image of him trying to take her when she was much younger still fed her nightmares. A streak of shudders racked her body.

Volan turned his attention back to Devlyn. The hair stood on end from the nape of his neck to the tip of his tail. He advanced aggressively, then stopped.

Torn between giving herself to Volan to protect Devlyn and fighting Volan herself, she knew neither would work. Devlyn would hate her either way — d.a.m.n his male wolf pride.

Volan growled again. Devlyn yanked off his s.h.i.+rt. His muscles flexed as he tugged at his belt, his golden skin s.h.i.+mmering with sweat in the summer sun. Any other day, she loved to see every bit of his handsome physique — his muscled thighs, the dark patch of curly hair between his legs, and the erection she’d encouraged. But not now, not with Volan threatening to rip him to shreds.

As soon as Devlyn stood naked, he began to change, his body twisting into the form of a wolf, his snout elongated. A thick brown pelt as rich as a mink’s covered his long legs and torso. He howled as the change took place. Volan waited patiently before he lunged.

She couldn’t watch him rip Devlyn apart. She couldn’t stomach seeing the bully hurt any other wolf of the pack. But certainly not Devlyn, with whom she’d played as a pup, not Devlyn who’d rescued her from the wildfire that took her red wolf pack’s lives. She couldn’t save him now... only maybe herself. Yet when Volan lunged for Devlyn, she dashed between them to protect him. Volan clamped his teeth down on her arm, having the ability to crush the bone with his powerful canines. She cried out when a streak of pain shot up her arm and blood dripped from the wound. Though his eyes reflected remorse at once and he released her, he growled at her to stay out of the way. And so did Devlyn.

Maybe if she ran, Volan would come after her. Maybe she could save Devlyn that way. But she would never return to the pack.

She bolted, with her legs stretched far out, her heart pounding, her breath steady, but her mind frantic — her only chance was to toss her clothes and run like the wolf.

Chapter One

Present Day Portland, Oregon

One hundred and fifty years later — aging one year for every thirty that pa.s.sed once a lupus garou reached p.u.b.erty — Bella was the equivalent of a human twenty-one-year-old. She longed more than ever to have Devlyn for her mate, wis.h.i.+ng she hadn’t had to hide from the pack all these years. The burning desire for him flooded her veins whenever she came into the wolf’s heat. Her body craved his touch, but her mind had given up hoping to ever have him for her own. If she could find a strong, agreeable human mate, she could change him into a lupus garou, and he would keep her safe from Volan.

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the image of the brutish fiend, and continued to pack her overnight bag. Any man would be better than he — a good mate who would help her establish her own pack.

She turned to look at Devlyn’s photo sitting on the bedside table, the most recent one that Argos, the old, retired pack leader, had sent her. Taking a deep breath, she threw another pair of jeans into her bag, determined to get her mind off Devlyn.

Knowing she couldn’t put off mating much longer, she realized that one’s second choice far outweighed living alone; even the sound of a dog’s howl on the night’s breeze triggered the gnawing craving to be with a pack.

She stalked into her office and left an email message for Argos, a routine she’d adopted because he insisted she keep him posted whenever she went into the woods. As a loner, she’d have no backup. Off to the cabin for the weekend again, Argos. Give the pack my love, in secret. Yours always, love, Bella

She didn’t have to tell him to keep her correspondence a secret; he knew what would happen if Volan learned where she was...

Turning off her computer, she picked up her phone and called her next-door neighbor — a woman who had partially eased Bella’s loneliness after losing her twin sister in a fire so many years ago. “Chrissie, I’m going to my cabin for the weekend again. Can you keep an eye on my place?”

“Sure thing, Bella. Pick up your mail on Sat.u.r.day, too, if you’d like. And I’ll water your greenhouse plants. Hey, I don’t want to hold you up, but did you hear about the latest killing?”

“Yeah, the police have got to catch the b.a.s.t.a.r.d soon.”