Book 1 - Page 38 (1/2)

They would make their stand in the wilderness, Devlyn against Alfred at first and then facing the others. Whoever desired the female red would make his move.

“By the next moon,” Alfred said, clutching his stomach, the blood soaking his s.h.i.+rt, his eyes hostile but his face turning pale. He glanced at Bella, who was still holding the kitchen knife at the ready. “You’ll be mine, sweet thing. Be ready.” He staggered toward the front door with the others trailing behind, clutching their bloodied arms.

“They must have followed us here,” Bella said when Devlyn locked the door behind the reds’ hasty flight. “They must have had lock picks like you carry.”

Nothing mattered to him for the moment except the gun she’d wielded and the secrets she’d withheld from him. “Where did you get the gun, Bella?”

She headed for the bedroom, her hips swaying suggestively with her walk, her b.u.t.tocks covered in the tight jeans, tantalizing him. But she refused to answer him.

He hastened after her, wearied from sleepless exhaustion and fighting with the red. The hyped-up adrenaline that readied him for danger started to drain as the threat vanished. Yet a new energy stirred, a deeper, more primal urge.

He chastised himself. They needed sleep more than anything else.

His gut clenched with irritation. He would kill Volan, proving to Bella and to the pack that he served as the alpha male, no other. In the ancient way they had to end this. Not with a manmade invention. Besides, only fictional tales stated that a silver bullet in the heart or brain could kill a lupus garou. Nothing in ancient lupus garou folklore made reference to such a thing, although many of his kind believed there might be a thread of truth in the fictional stories.

He combed his fingers through his unkempt hair as he entered the bedroom. Standing before the bed, Bella pulled up her T-s.h.i.+rt slightly, her eyes averted, her fingers unzipping her jeans.

h.e.l.l, she’d probably end up wounding herself and never get a shot off at the wolf.

“Bella,” he said, drawing closer as she pulled off her pants, invading her s.p.a.ce. “What kind of bullets are in the gun?”

She glared at him.

Silver bullets. He knew it. Just the way her eyes darkened and narrowed into daggerlike slits. d.a.m.n her. She couldn’t take down Volan. He had to. What the h.e.l.l was she thinking? “You can’t use them on him, Bella. He’s mine.”

She took a deep breath. “If he comes around and you’re not here to save me, he’s mine.” She yanked off her s.h.i.+rt.

She wouldn’t win this argument. He would be the alpha male of their pack. The gun and its deadly bullets would have to go.

Instantly, the sight of her perky b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the nipples already hardened and darker from her exertion, the quickened pace of her breath, and the redness of her cheeks turned him on. She glanced down and frowned at his erection, beckoning to her to give it release.

At once, he throbbed with a deep-seated primal l.u.s.t, inspiring him to take her again. He couldn’t help that the sight of her sent his blood rus.h.i.+ng south. She could feign being mad at him all she wanted. But the way she licked her lips and folded her arms under her creamy b.r.e.a.s.t.s... the way her heated eyes took in every inch of his body, she wanted him, too.

“What if they return?” she asked, her gaze s.h.i.+fting to his eyes.

Just the opening he was looking for.

“They won’t, sweet Bella.” G.o.d, how he loved her. “Alfred and his gang will wait for the next phase of the moon. As lupus garous, he and the others must honor this.”

“But they’re afraid of you. They’re worried about some legend to do with a gray. Do you think all of them will be honorable enough to hold up the bargain?”

“Their wounds would put them at too great a disadvantage. They wouldn’t risk it.” Devlyn frowned. “What was the legend they were concerned about?”

She ran her finger around his nipple and he sucked in his breath.

“That some big gray got rid of a red leader who was bad for the pack.”

“Ah.” His lips curved up. “My great-grandfather.”

“What? The gray couldn’t have been your greatgrandfather. He killed Alfred’s great-grandfather, so he must have been from this area, not Colorado.”

“Alfred’s great-grandfather?” Devlyn shook his head. “Ever hear of the Gold Rush?”

She tilted her chin down, giving him a look as if she knew better. “In California, not Oregon.”

“Over seventy million dollars in gold was panned out of the Rogue River. My great-grandfather had the gold fever bad, but after he had the run-in with the red pack leader living in the area and because none of our kind lived there, he returned to Colorado to be with our pack.” Devlyn combed his fingers through Bella’s hair, separating the silky strands over her shoulders. “Who would have ever thought my ancestor was the one to set things right with this same pack. But it appears the bad seed continued through Alfred, and he managed to take over like his great-grandfather.”

Bella licked Devlyn’s nipple and his groin tightened. “Alfred would have a heart attack if he knew you were a descendent of the same gray.”

He chuckled. “Maybe we should send him an email and tell him so... end his misery sooner.” Placing his hands on either side of her cheeks, he lifted her face to his. “I want you, Bella, more than I can say.”