by Terry Spear
God help me.
The keeper’s door creaked opened, and she turned when Thompson walked in with the dark-haired man. Thompson folded his arms as she stared at him. “So what have they been feeding her, Joe?”
“They fast ’em once a week. Feed ’em bone or muscle meat once a week. Two-thirds canine maintenance, one third frozen feline diet the remainder of the week. She’s eating well. Don’t know what seems to be the problem. She won’t let him near her to breed.”
You’d better believe it, Joe.
She strolled off, found a protected area in the sun near the entrance to their faux cave, lay down, and rested her head on her paws.
“We’ve thought of sending her to another zoo. Several are interested in pairing her up with a male to provide some more offspring. They’re trying to introduce some more red wolves into the Smokies, but they need to be feral. She’d certainly do if they could find her a mate as wild as she is.”
She raised her head and looked back at them. If she could have glared at them, she would have.
Thompson smiled. “Seems that might interest her. But unsettling her again might do more harm than good. Let her grow used to him for a couple of more weeks. Then if she’s still not ready, we’ll move her.”
Joe pushed his baseball cap back off his forehead. “You don’t think she’s too young.”
“No, she’s ready. She’s just a little shy.” Hmpf. Shy, that’d be the day. Then she had an idea. Maybe Thompson would make a good mate. He looked strong enough to take Volan on, and he did like wolves. Maybe he could be the one, if she could get over the fact that he had shot her and stuck her in a zoo with a horny, big red wolf. She laid her head back on her legs. But then a horrible thought dawned on her. When would the moon fade from the sky? Damn. The waning crescent would pass shortly. Then it would be the new moon again. Jumping up, she began to pace.
She had to make her escape before that happened, before she became a human with no chance to remain a wolf, not until the return of the moon. It would be seven days until the new moon from the beginning of the waning crescent. But three days had passed and when she took her fatal run she’d already observed the waning crescent for...
She couldn’t remember. Two days? Three?
Damn.
“There’s been some unusual recent interest in her,” Thompson said.
She stopped pacing and turned to listen. Thompson placed his hands on his hips. “Now isn’t it interesting how she listens to our conversation?”
“She seems to sometimes. She’s really gentle.”
You should see me on a bad day.
Thompson shook his head. “A wolf is a wolf, still wild at heart. Anyway, a man was interested in transferring her to another zoo. But...” He looked at his feet. “I don’t know. I didn’t trust him. He seemed to have something else in mind.”
When he looked up, his blue eyes widened, and he straightened his back. He motioned with his head toward the railing. “In fact, there’s the man, right there.”
She turned to look at the railing, and her heart nearly stopped.
“See what I mean? It’s like she understands everything we say.”
Staring at Devlyn, she couldn’t unlock her gaze from him. So many lonely years, dreaming of his hard embrace, and now he stood across the moat from her in the flesh. Her heart beat so hard it was sure to bruise her ribs. Adrenaline coursed through her body at breakneck speeds, the thought that he’d come to free her giving her hope. What she wouldn’t give to nip him in the neck, to tackle him and force him to the ground. To have his heated kisses, his firm touch embracing her with wanton desire.
She took a steadying breath. She couldn’t deny he still held her heart captive.
Like before, a strap tied his shoulder-length dark brown hair back. A black leather jacket fitted over his broad shoulders, and denims stretched comfortably down his long, muscular legs to his well-worn western boots. He was every bit as handsome as she remembered him, only much taller and more imposing and real than the photos Argos had sent her.
She focused on Devlyn’s mouth. How many women had he kissed since he’d kissed her? Her veins turned to ice as an uncontrollable jealousy washed over her.
Was he already mated? Her gut tightened with the idea. She shifted her gaze back to his eyes. His dark brown eyes turned into black quartz, angry with a hint of concern.
Did he recognize her? Sure he did. If she caught him in his wolf suit, she’d know him any day. But how had he found her?
Unless ... unless ... somehow the fact that a red wolf was living in the Cascades, when none should, got big time media. Great. That’s how he’d found her. He must realize the predicament she faced and the danger to all of them. That’s why he’d tried to move her from the zoo. If she turned into a human by the new moon, she could be used to prove legendary werewolves truly exist.
Did he have a plan? He moved his hands over the black wrought iron posts, up and down. His actions hypnotized her. What was his plan?
“What’s he doing?” Thompson asked.
“I don’t know, but he sure has her attention. You think maybe she belonged to him once?”
“Hmm, now that sounds like a distinct possibility. And he wants her back so he can release her to the wild again. I want him checked out and watched. He’s probably one of those crazy animal rights activists. Doesn’t he realize she’s safer here, with a good diet, and no one to hunt her down? Besides, where can she find a male red to mate? She’d be stuck with scrawny coyotes.”
Joe laughed. “Guess it wouldn’t matter to her, as long as the deed is done.”
She emitted a low growl.
“Don’t think she likes your suggestion,” Thompson joked.
She turned her attention back to Devlyn. He looked kissable. He’d filled out into a man-sized hunk, but his eyes remained dark and foreboding—even more so now. Devlyn tilted his chin up as if taunting her to tell him what she thought of him, but he continued to stroke the bars. She realized then he smelled she was in heat. The urge to mate with her would be as natural to him as breathing the air or blinking an eye.
Her gaze met his, the depths of his eyes smoldering with lust. Then he scowled and turned away. He strode off, his long gait taking him away from her within seconds. She wanted to scream at him to set her free. But in the worst way she wanted him to mate with her, to fulfill the unquenchable craving that the sight of him sparked, to take her for his own, his mate forever.
“She knows him, all right, don’t you think, Joe?”
“Yeah, like a dog knows his owner.”
She whipped her head around too fast in anger, a growl rumbling in her throat.
Both Thompson’s and Joe’s mouths dropped open. Thompson said, “My God, I swear she thought you’d insulted her.”
She loped back to her den, a cement home, hidden from everyone’s view. Insult was right. A dog. And Devlyn her master? She growled again.
Then she thought what if she changed and, damn ... as a woman, albeit naked, she could open the door to the wolf’s den. Unless they locked it. Why would they lock it? The wolves couldn’t just leave.
Big Red crept closer to the entrance of the den. She growled so ferociously, he immediately backed off.
The two men laughed. Thompson studied the den. “You can see who wears the pants in the family.”
Settled down on the floor, she rested her head on her paws. But wouldn’t they lock the doors to keep others out? Sure. To protect idiot visitors who wanted to pet the nice wolves.
Bella lifted her snout and howled. She howled for the loss of freedom, for the loss of her red wolf family, for missing the affection of the grays who had taken her in, and for the love she felt for Devlyn—a hopeless, pitiful fondness for a lupus garou she could never have as a mate.
“She’s howling for him, don’t you think?” Joe asked. “If I didn’t know better, yeah, I’d think so.” Thompson folded his arms, his blue eyes studying her with sympathy.
“Hey, Thompson,” a new male voice said, “there’s some guy named Volan Smith on the phone who says he’s got transfer papers to take our new little lady out of here.”
Bella’s ears perked up. Her heartbeat increased so rapidly she feared she was having an early heart attack. Volan had arranged for Devlyn to come for her. Damn the both of them. She growled low with hatred.
Thompson shook his head. “Rosa’s not leaving here without some verification that this man has legitimate papers to move her. I’ve heard nothing about this.”
To Bella’s profound relief, the men left the pen, and she closed her eyes. When the zoo shut for the night and all of the personnel had gone home, she’d change into her human form and escape across the moat, hopefully, before anyone could turn her over to Volan.
She couldn’t believe after all these years that she’d been safe from him, one mistake in the woods could cost her much more than her freedom. Life as Volan’s mate would be a living hell.
She suspected Devlyn would return to her under the cover of night. She had to flee before then.
For some time, she slept quietly, allowing the darkness to come. But in that darkness, nightmares that had plagued her forever returned—the searing heat, the white-hot flames, the choking smoke, the fire that killed her entire red lupus garou family. Then Devlyn, a lanky immature youngster of a gray werewolf pack, nearly twice her size, arrived at the stony river’s edge. Without hesitation, he grabbed her by the scuff of the neck and swam across the river to save her.
For a moment, she felt a sense of peace. Then, instinctively, something awakened her in the wolves’ pen. A low, menacing growl? A padded footstep creeping toward her?
She opened her eyes as Big Red took a step toward her. She’d been so keyed up, so tired, and now still so groggy, she hadn’t realized what had happened right away. She stared at her changed form. No longer did she have the warm pelt of a red wolf, nor four legs, or an elongated snout. Now lying on the icy cement floor, she was a woman, cold, naked, and facing a snarling Big Red.
Hell, she hadn’t correctly calculated the days of the waning crescent of the moon. The new moon had arrived and, except for a sprinkling of stars across the black satin night, no sphere lighted the way.
This time Big Red growled at her, exposing his canines and a few front teeth. His tail stood erect, and so did the hair on the nape of his neck and back. She rose slowly from her prone position, but could only crouch because of the low ceiling in the den.
She needed to stand, to spread her arms, to make him think she was bigger and more powerful. But it was too cramped. She stared him down, intimidating him like he attempted to do to her now.
In her present form, she hated to advance on him. She had to move slowly so as not to frighten him more. He couldn’t kill her, but what a mess.
How could she explain how a woman entered the wolves’ den and survived a vicious attack if he decided to bite? How could she explain why she was naked? And how could she explain how Rosa had vanished into thin air? Further, how quickly could she heal if he injured her?
Would the legendary werewolf come to mind?
Chapter Two
DEVLYN STARED AT THE INKY SKY FROM THE BALCONY of his hotel room, his heart pounding furiously as he considered how Bella had been locked up in the zoo. He never thought he’d see her again, but she was even more beautiful than before, if that was possible. He recognized the longing in her whisky-colored eyes. Save me, they pleaded. And the smell of her—wild and ripe for the picking.
God, how he wanted to claim her heart and body for his own.
He gritted his teeth and fisted his hands. How many times did he have to rescue the woman before she recognized how...
He shook his head. It didn’t matter how he felt. She could never be his. Even if Volan didn’t lead the pack, it wouldn’t matter—Bella was so hell-bent on having a human for a mate. His neck muscles grew taut.
The door adjoining his room squeaked open. He turned. Gray-haired, wiry Argos nodded. Once the leader of the pack, he had stepped down when he’d grown too old. “Are you sure she’ll come to me?”
“She trusts you.”
Argos winced. The old leader didn’t like the idea of returning her to Volan any more than Devlyn did, but she wouldn’t be safe on her own. Worse, she threatened the secrecy of their kind with her rash decisions. She belonged to their pack for safe keeping, period.
“You were like a father to her. She was happy with us until Volan took over,” Devlyn continued. “She’ll come to you.”
“I know what you want, but you can’t have her.”
“Nobody can have her. Not while she’s got this insane notion of finding a human to love. Why does Volan want her so badly? She’ll make a lousy alpha female mate when she despises him so. He can’t lock her up or force her to mate with him.”
Argos raised his brows, but remained silent. Devlyn rubbed his temple, trying to massage away the tension that collected there. “He wouldn’t, would he?”
“He’s the pack leader. Once he gets hold of her, she’ll obey him or pay the consequences. He’s driven to have her as much as she’s driven to avoid him and find the perfect human mate. So what drives you, Devlyn?”
Hatred of male humans. Procreation of his kind, if he could ever find a suitable mate. But none of the other females in their pack were an acceptable age that he wanted. Only Bella. And searching for another of his kind—well, of the red wolf variety, as that’s what he had his heart set on—proved unachievable.
It was like looking for red wolves in the wild in the States. Nearly impossible to find. And no other kind of wolf would do. The red wolf in her had to be what drew him to her.
“I’ve heard rumors he killed his own brother,” Devlyn said, avoiding Argos’s question.
“Which one?”
In disbelief, Devlyn stared at him. “There was more than one?”
“Two, both died before you joined the pack. But no, they were accidents. A mountain lion killed his youngest triplet when he was a juvenile. He’d roamed away from the pack on a hunt and the others couldn’t reach him in time. His eldest brother died in a raging flood. Tree was uprooted, smashed into his skull. The healers said he was dead before the river pulled him under. But Volan learned his bullying from that brother, the meanest, most crotchety wolf known to lupus garou. Just surviving his brow-beating made Volan as strong as he is today.”
Devlyn made a disgruntled throaty sound. He’d always wondered why Volan was so aggressive and controlling, but as far as he was concerned, it didn’t excuse his behavior. “Are the others ready?”
“Yes.”
“Volan’s not coming for her later, is he?” Devlyn jerked his leather jacket on.
“No. He’s the leader, not stupid.”
“Some of us would argue that point.”
Volan sent Devlyn to retrieve Bella because he wanted to emphasize the point that Devlyn would reclaim her, but she belonged to Volan. The thought curdled Devlyn’s supper, a couple of hastily eaten half-raw burgers, resting like a greasy lump in the pit of his stomach.
Once they’d seen the newsflash concerning her, they had to be sure it was her, though. Finding a red wolf in the Cascades was unheard of, and to top that off, she was larger than normal. The pack knew the red wolf could only be a lupus garou, and Argos knew it had to be Bella or she would have been with a pack.
But Devlyn had to make sure. She could have been any one of a number of lone red lupus garou females all across the States. Or not. Because such a shortage existed, he sure as hell hoped Argos was right—that she was their stubborn Bella.
When Devlyn saw her in the pen at the zoo, he knew. He couldn’t be angry with her for having run away—but for her to risk proving to the world that lupus garous existed? That was irresponsible and unforgivable. At least that’s what he told himself, though his heart ached to hold her close again, only this time to claim her for his own.
Devlyn stalked toward the door of his ho
tel suite. “All right. Let’s break our little red wolf out of jail.” The notion that she was theirs, though, struck a chord. She wasn’t theirs. She belonged to Volan. Fire burned in Devlyn’s veins with the thought. Ever since Devlyn had rescued her near the river, the wildfire in hot pursuit of her, Volan had wanted her, too.
For years Devlyn had pinned her to the ground in their wolf states, avoiding her retaliatory bites, playing with her as young wolves frolicked. He still wanted to tackle her to the ground, to force her reaction, to have her pay attention to him. But the burning desire to have her for his mate drove away any notion of having another female.
He hurried his four younger male cousins out to the SUV with Argos at his side in the freezing drizzle. The black-haired, amber-eyed quadruplets, twenty-two years of age, all itched for a fight as they clenched their fists and steeled their square jaws.
Devlyn slammed his door. “If we wait much longer, she’ll have changed and be half frozen in this weather.” He’d rescue her again. He had to. Not for Volan, but for his own greedy desires. But what to do with her afterwards? He knew what he wanted to do with her. Make her his ... forever ... his mate for life.
But with Volan still living, how could Devlyn hope to take her for his own? That question had plagued him every minute of the day since he’d learned she still lived.
Backed into the confines of the wolf den, Bella spread her arms out, slowly, in her crouched position, to make herself appear larger. “Back off, Big Red.”
He continued to snarl. She took a step forward, and shivered, but it wasn’t the chill in the air that made her tremble. The notion that the zoo staff would catch her in the wolves’ den in human form forced concern to worm its way into every pore.
Big Red held his ground.
She took another step in his direction. Her eyes remained locked onto his. He didn’t back down.
