She was embarrassed that she’d needed saving. And that Zak Armsford had been the one to do it. Santonis didn’t take help from an Armsford—ever. God, her mother was going to flip out when she heard. At least she had the statue. Not that her mother would be happy about that either.
Above her, Zak’s face still loomed at the surface. He had a layer of stubble she’d never seen on him before. Then again, last time she’d seen him, he probably hadn’t been capable of growing much facial hair. He’d been barely eighteen when he’d left for basic training. And good riddance, she’d thought then. But secretly, she’d licked a wound that no one could see. His absence had left a hole. It wasn’t until after he’d gone that she realized what it meant. Fated Mate, she’d read when she’d snuck in to read her mother’s shifter medical journals to self-diagnose her melancholy state.
She’d never told a soul. How could she—when the Mate her puma had chosen was her biggest enemy?
“You don’t actually want me to agree any more than I want to,” she said now, willing herself to mean it. “So why don’t you just go. I have my own car.”
He smirked. “You mean the one parked out by the road with all the tires missing?”
“What?!” She hadn’t even noticed it in the frenzy of watching her friends die this morning. Panic returned, knocking her off-balance and threatening to overtake her. It was a last straw in a heaping haystack. The violence, the death of her friends, and now—she would be forced to ride out of here with Zak Armsford.
“This is not happening,” she grumbled and then to Zak she said, “I’ll walk to town and catch a ride.”
“Of course you will. You mean the town full of thugs and thieves I just came through?” Zak’s eyes flashed. They were harder now than when she’d known him before. Like he’d seen more. Done more. And had learned to live with it.
“They make for more honorable company than you,” she said and saw the twitch of tension in his jaw.
Served him right for being such an ass to her right now.
“If I was going to kill you, all I’d have to do is reach down and give this ladder a nice shove.” He crouched down and extended his arm and for one harrowing second she thought he was going to do just that. But then his hand opened and he held it out for her to grab. His voice softened. “Come on, Del. Let’s argue toe to toe.”
She sighed. He had a point. And she really didn’t want to spend the day on this ladder. Reluctantly, she placed her hand in his and let him help her up. The moment she was on solid footing, she released his hand. And did her best to ignore the butterflies raging at their short contact.
She looked away and caught sight of Martha, the timid assistant that slept in the tent next to Del’s. Her arm had been ripped and blood covered her clothes and face. Del’s stomach turned at the sight of her friend lying dead in the baking sun. Tears welled in her eyes and she turned away but it wasn’t soon enough.
“What happened to your team?” Zak asked quietly.
She looked back at him, blinking back the moisture. She would not lose it in front of him. She would keep it together if it was the last thing she did. “The coyotes have been stalking our camp for weeks. They showed up right after we did but they kept their distance at first. Just trying to scare us, Janet said. When we began pulling items from the dig site, they started getting closer. Janet promised she’d handle it but…”
“Janet?”
“My cousin, the dig coordinator for Orion International.”
“Is she …here?” he asked haltingly, nodding at the bodies strewn across the site.
She shook her head in relief. “No, thank goodness. She only checks in a couple of times a week. She’s not scheduled to come by for a couple more days.”
“But she knew about the coyotes, the threats, and did nothing.”
Del raised her chin defensively. “She called my mother who apparently called your boss.”
Zak grunted at that but didn’t argue. “Are you digging up anything valuable out here?”
Del shrugged, her gaze skittering away from his as she answered. “We’ve uncovered some old ceramics. Clay pots, that kind of thing. They seem to date back to the earliest settlements out here and we’re hoping they were shifters. But they aren’t worth millions or anything. A couple hundred at most. Nothing crazy. The grant we have is for a turn of the century settlement that lived in the area. If we can identify shifters as settlers, we can petition to have it displayed at the museum in Fort Jericho. Tourism is pretty low so Janet has fingers crossed.”
If Zak’s shifter radar had detected her lie about the worth of the items, he didn’t comment. “Why not just leave back when the threats started?” he asked and she rolled her eyes, instantly fuming.
“Of course that would be your solution.” His eyes widened and she had the satisfaction of seeing her words hit home. “This is my dig site. I’m not leaving it until the job is done.”
Zak rubbed his face. “What happened to the guard they sent out for you?”
“He went out for evening patrols yesterday and never came back. The coyotes attacked us this morning.” Zak swore under his breath and Del narrowed her eyes. “I heard enough of your phone call to know you don’t want to protect me. Just say it,” she demanded.
“Not happening.” Zak shook his head. “Look, at first glance it seems they were targeting your find. If they aren’t after the artifacts here, they’re after you.”
“How do you know?”
“Your mother hired the agency I work for to bring you home. You’re the last living descendant of the Santoni clan. It makes sense.”
“You think they want to take me out and take over?” Her eyes widened as she finally considered that possibility—and who could be behind something like that. “You do realize that points to you being behind this.”
Zak went still, fists balled and Del wondered if she’d gone too far accusing him. “Darling, if I wanted to kill you, it would already be done.”
She crossed her arms, too stubborn to back down even when she knew she’d been wrong. “Prove it.”
He leaned in and she flinched at the intensity in his gaze. “I don’t need to prove a damn thing, princess. You might be pretty to look at but you’re not worth a war. I promised to bring you home and that’s what I’ll do. When we get there, you can walk away and never have to see me again. But for now, you’re coming with me. One way or another.”
“And if I refuse?” she asked, heart thudding wildly though she wasn’t afraid. Or at least that’s what she told herself.
His lips curled into a devious smile. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Chapter Four
Del’s legs flailed in the air, but Zak held her firmly in place as he balanced her over his shoulder and marched toward the car. His hands cupped her curves as he held on while she tried to wriggle free of him. He tried not to think about how smooth her bare skin would feel underneath his hands given the chance.
“What the heck do you think you’re doing?” she screeched at him, beating on him with her fists as he headed for the car.
“Saving you,” he said, grinning in spite of it all. He tried to remember if he’d ever had this much fun pissing someone off. Nah. Del was definitely special.
“You’re a caveman,” she shrieked. “A Neanderthal. This is kidnapping. A crime.” She continued to sputter but Zak tuned it out, enjoying himself much more than he’d anticipated after all with the job he’d been given.
His senses sharpened and his enjoyment over the writhing woman in his arms faded. The wind carried the sharp, unmistakable scent of shifters. He inhaled sharply and scanned but all he could see was the dust swirling around them thanks to Del’s protests and harried attempts to escape. He walked faster, opening the passenger door and tossing Del inside. Her accusations escalated to include pressing charges and jail time and possibly waterboarding if she could convince them. He snickered and slid in, hitting the master control on the door locks and revving the engi
ne.
“…and if something happens to me, it could even mean the death penalty,” she went on.
Zak cut her a look.
“If you don’t shut your mouth and let me get us out of here, a sudden death penalty is a good possibility for both of us right now,” he said.
Del paused, brows wrinkling. “What are you talking about?” Finally, she caught his meaning and her panicked glaze flicked out the window to scan their surroundings.
“There,” he said, nodding to their left as movement through the dust finally caught his eye. Two coyotes, maybe three, were sprinting toward them.
Del gasped. “Holy coyote, there are more of them?”
Zak threw the car in reverse and spun, drifting into a complete 360-degree turn. Del’s hands flailed—which might have been funny under any other circumstances—and she grabbed on to the bar above her head. Zak threw the Jeep into gear and spun tires, fishtailing back onto the road in the direction he’d come earlier. Not bad handling. Maybe he’d look into buying one of these after all.
“It seems whoever’s behind this has invested in an unlimited supply of coyotes,” he said drily.
“Ugh. They should really consider diversifying their portfolio,” she said, eyes on the side mirror and the dust bowl behind them.
For the next half mile, Zak concentrated only on putting as much distance between him and the coyotes as possible. Normally, he would have stopped to take care of the problem once and for all but with Del here, he didn’t dare risk it. Or her. When the dig site disappeared behind them, Del took out her cell and began scrolling her contacts. Zak watched as she hit the button to dial the contact labeled Janet. That was as far as he let her get—too far already in his opinion.
Zak snatched the phone out of her hands just as the call connected.
“Hey, that’s mine,” she said but he ignored her and chucked the phone out of the window without a word. “What the hell!” she demanded.
“Your phone is easily traceable as a GPS signal. In fact, if the people after you are even remotely capable, there’s a good chance that’s how they found you in the first place. We can’t risk that,” he explained calmly.
It wasn’t her fault she’d almost compromised them with a dumb stunt. He hadn’t exactly explained the most basic rules of traveling under the radar. He’d been too distracted wondering what the hell she had stuffed in her boot. But he knew better than to ask. He wasn’t exactly inside her circle of trust. He’d have to sniff it out another way.
“You know, it’s a wonder your shirt fits over your head,” she said, drawing a frown from him. “Or in this car, for that matter. That ego of yours is probably visible from space at this point.”
“I don’t have an ego,” he said, frowning.
“Bull,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You talk to me like I’m five.”
He sighed, summoning patience. “The phone isn’t safe,” he began again, slower this time.
“And you couldn’t possibly find a way to convey that without some sort of egotistical Neanderthal display, obviously.”
Zak responded with his best gorilla noises.
Del glared at him, huffed, and went back to staring out the window. He decided not to offer her the use of his own secure phone. Maybe later. If she was nicer to him.
They made it to the trading post in record time. “You can drop me off here,” Del said as they passed the single gas station, but Zak kept driving right on through.
“What are you doing? We talked about this,” Del said. “Kidnapping? Jail? Death row?”
“If we stop now, those coyotes will catch up to us in a matter of minutes,” Zak said.
“So, what are you saying?” she asked but by the sound of it she already knew.
Zak glanced at her. “I’m taking you home to Fort Jericho. Someone else can take over from there. I’m not going to let you get killed and be responsible for re-igniting the war between our clans.”
She batted her lashes dramatically and clasped her hands together. “And they say chivalry is dead.”
Zak scowled. “You’re welcome.”
She didn’t offer a thank you and Zak’s scowl only deepened as the off-road tires rolled over the last of the dirt road and finally met the asphalt of the main highway.
The GPS blinked on and Zak alternated between driving and pushing buttons to input their destination. The resulting map shone back at him on the screen and he sat back with a frown, dreading the trip ahead. It was a hard three days’ drive back to Fort Jericho. Three days stuck in the car with this woman and her secrets. As much as he secretly enjoyed their closeness after all these years apart, Del wasn’t going to make this easy. And Zak knew, no matter how much time he’d spend wishing for a moment like this, it would be much better for both of them if it never happened. The sooner he could deliver her and be done, the better off they’d both be for it. He eased his foot harder on the gas, speeding down the narrow desert highway with the baking sun and a pack of determined coyotes on their tail.
Hours later, Zak’s knuckles ached from his grip on the wheel. They’d stopped once on the side of the road for him to replenish their gas. He’d used the spare can he always traveled with out of habit from his military days. He’d spent a lot of time in the desert; although, he would almost rather return to war than face Fort Jericho again as the prodigal—bastard—son.
He shoved the thought aside, emptied the spare can into the Jeep’s tank, and continued on. He was glad Del hadn’t tried to make a break for it while he refilled. Not that she had anywhere to go. He’d chosen a deserted spot on purpose, in between the pop-up towns they’d passed through. Miles and miles of desert and sagebrush and beating sun separated her from any sort of civilization.
Not that she would have made it more than three steps before he would have caught up and hauled her back. Maybe she knew that. Either way, she stayed put and they continued driving in a tense kind of silence for the rest of the day.
As the sun sank lower toward the brown, hazy horizon, Del’s stomach growled audibly. Zak glanced over and found her golden-brown cheeks reddening. “I guess defying death can really work a girl’s appetite,” she said.
“When was the last time you ate?” he asked.
She winced. “Dinner last night. I was on my way to hunt up breakfast when we were ambushed this morning.”
Zak cursed himself for not bringing an extra day’s rations. Only a few months out of the military and he was already slipping.
“Hunt?” he echoed. Zak cocked an eyebrow, imagining her puma prowling the desert, an open target for the coyotes. For some reason, fear gnawed his gut over the idea of Del’s animal exposing herself that way. Of someone hurting her. Although, he had always wondered what her cat looked like. He’d spent way too much time wondering, in fact. He shoved that aside. She wasn’t his problem. In fact, she couldn’t be less “his” anything.
She pursed her lips in a wry expression. “Calm down. I was only stalking a bowl of oatmeal heated over my solar hotplate.
Up ahead, the road curved left and a scattering of buildings dotted either side of the highway. Zak slowed, reading the signs and eyeing the needle on his gas gauge now already nearing empty again. Reluctantly, he pulled up to a dirt-smeared pump farthest away from the other cars and the tiny convenience store where the cashier sat reading at the counter.
Across the narrow strip of dirt and a concrete curb sat a sagging motel with trim that had once been pink but was now weathered and sun-faded into an un-nameable coral color that blazed like a sunset against the late-afternoon sky. The sign by the road read “Stop & Sleep Motel.”
He turned to Del, his finger hovering over the button for the master door locks. “If I unlock this door and pump gas, can I count on you to still be in this car when I get back?” he asked.
“I’m not going to run away,” she said haughtily, meeting his gaze levelly. “But I am going to pee if that’s okay with you.”
He didn’t bother telling h
er he already knew she’d come back for whatever he’d seen her stash underneath her seat earlier. Probably the same thing that had been in her boot. “Five minutes,” he said, unlocking the doors. “Or I’m coming in after you.”
She rolled her eyes and got out, marching into the convenience store without looking back.
Zak pumped gas and refilled his reserve can. He kept a watchful eye out for Del including a scan of the back lot every few seconds to be sure she hadn’t tried to run. When she didn’t return in a couple of minutes, he gave up on snooping out whatever she’d hidden from him under the seat in favor of locating her. He sent a quick message to Kenneth to check in without giving away their location and then went in search of Del.
A bell dinged as he entered the small store. The clerk at the counter barely looked up when he entered so he kept walking straight past the racks of chips and beef jerky. He knocked on the grimy door marked “women” and waited.
Nothing.
Zak’s mouth tightened. He was not going to come this far only to have her give him the slip. He shoved inside the tiny restroom using his shoulder and pulled up short. A large woman with thick glasses stared back at him with widening eyes. She tried to back away, but there wasn’t room in the tiny space. Her lips parted and Zak knew she was about to scream bloody murder.
“Sorry, sorry,” he said quickly. He held up his hands, backing out warily. “I was just … looking for someone.”
The woman’s gaze shifted from shocked to accusing. “You bet your patootie you’re sorry. Harold!” she shrieked. “Harooold!”
She grabbed her purse and started toward him. The wall of perfume she wore knocked him back and he continued his hasty retreat back into the store. He almost stumbled on the rack of jerky and heard a muffled laugh from somewhere behind him. He recognized her laughter instantly.
Guarded By The Alpha Page 2
