by C. R. Jane
Towering over me, the man was covered in tats, his long hair white and pulled back into a ponytail, looking every part a biker gang member. He had to be in his fifties, and been in a lot of fights in his time judging by the scars on his brow and jawline.
"Can I please--"
"Don't beg, the guy will laugh in your face. He hates weaklings," Lillian whispered in my ear and then flopped down on the stool next to me.
I glanced at her, not sure what she expected me to say.
"Are you all good then?" the man asked and started to walk away.
"No, actually. I need to use your phone to call my boyfriend to come pick me up."
"Not too bad, but I doubt it'll work. You know he once turned away a nun looking for shelter in the rain because she wouldn't buy anything?"
I cut her a quick look, and she was making a cross sign over her chest. "Cross my heart and hope to die." Then she cackled. "See what I did there?"
I held back from rolling my eyes, clear no one else could see her or they would have reacted by now.
"Buy something and I'll consider it," the man stated.
"Please, I don't--"
"Trust me, girl, don't beg."
I bit my tongue and tried to think of another way to phrase how fucking desperate I was to get help. Ultimately, if this fell through, I'd ask every man in this place, though I suspected that might not necessarily work in my favor considering I’d just left a monster. Alistair’s reach was far, and any of these people could be in his pocket.
"I'll make you a deal," I said. "You let me make one quick call, and then when my boyfriend arrives, we'll order lots of drinks and food."
"We don't serve food here," he barked back, the nerves in his temple twitching, his patience thinning. What was wrong with this man? Now I started to understand why this place resembled a mortuary. No one wanted to anger Hulk over here.
“Then we’ll order drinks and even a round for everyone in the bar,” I countered.
“Smart girl, that’s going to get his interest,“ Lillian cooed, clapping as if proud of me.
The man didn't respond right away, but scrutinized me with his glare like I was somehow going to do wrong by him. Frustration billowed within me as I'd had enough of dealing with shitty people. The world was filled up enough with darkness and hatred.
Maybe I'd just had enough of being walked over by so many that I snapped back with a response, "It's just a phone call I'm asking for, not to sell me your firstborn child."
"Eeehhh. Wrong thing to say," Lillian whispered. "He's got trust issues and his wife of fifteen years tried to murder him while she cheated on him with his brother. He now hates women. I probably should have mentioned that."
"You think?" I hissed under my breath.
The man's face heated up, turning almost red. Hell, I'd hate to see what he'd be like if he got mad over something serious.
"Get the fuck out of my bar before I toss you out. Trust me, you don't want to test me."
The cruelty of his voice was like a whip against my flesh. And still no one in the bar so much as lifted their heads in our direction, making me think they might have all been drugged to make the bar appear busy.
"Get your ass moving," he barked, to which I fumbled to get off the seat.
"Oh, crap, get out of here," Lillian called out.
But the huge man was already storming around the counter, his arms clipped tight against his side, fire burning in his eyes with fury. He was coming right for me. He jerked an arm forward to grab my neck.
The movement made me panic. Echoes of the past thundered in my thoughts, and the instinct to cower took over. A tremor shuddered through my stomach.
I jutted an arm out to block him, to stop him. "Don't touch me."
His fingers barely brushed across my forearm, when I shot my arm straight out and from my palm flew a spark of white light, dust falling in its wake just like the kind that I'd leave behind from my pawprints while in my wolf form.
The currents struck the man dead straight in the solar plexus. The boom of his scream flooded the bar, seeming to even startle the zombie-patrons who twisted around and inspected the commotion.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his chest, his hand fisting his fabric.
It all happened so fast. I stood over him as he fell to his side, crying like a baby. Then in a heartbeat, he collapsed and didn't move.
"Shit!" I rushed over to his side and pressed two fingers to the side of his throat, finding his pulse beating fast and healthy. Okay, thank the Moon Goddess he wasn't dead.
Where once the silence was deafening, he suddenly gasped awake, and now only his hollers of pain filled the space. A couple of men from a nearby table approached him, one of them calling for an ambulance.
Frantically, I took this chance to run behind the counter and use the phone sitting up on the wall. No one was calling for my execution or coming at me with pitchforks, so I figured no one had seen me take down the goliath...only the aftermath.
The phone picked up on the third ring. "Yes," Wilder answered, his voice strained.
"Wilder, it's me, I need you to come pick me up, please." There’s an edge of desperation in my tone.
"Rune, shit. Babe, where are you? Are you alright?" His panicked voice sped up. I could feel his tension through the phone line.
"I'm okay for now. Not sure of the location, but I'm in a bar called the Midnight Rambler. Please come quick."
"Don't go anywhere. Hide if you have to, but I'm coming now." The phone hung up.
I returned the phone to the cradle and turned to the commotion in the room where they had the bartender sitting at a table now.
Lillian sat perched up on the bar counter, her legs crossed. She was studying me with a huge grin. "Oh, I see now." She tapped her chin, smiling at me. "You’re not a normal wolf girl after all, are you?"
5
Wilder
I hadn't told Daxon that Rune had called me. He'd been torturing one of Alistair's informants that we'd come across in a town outside of Chicago. The town had been filled with pack enforcers and he’d quickly gotten to work while I’d began searching for specifics on Alistair's location.
Not telling him was an asshole move of me, especially since Daxon's version of torturing included killing almost everyone he came across, but I was desperate to get to her. Desperate to be alone with her.
Speed limits didn't exist as I raced towards the bar where she'd called from. A quick Google search told me it was a little over an hour away in the middle of nowhere. Or at least I was hoping that the bar I'd found was the same Midnight Rambler as the bar Rune was at.
Earlier in my drive, there had only been fields of wheat as far as the eye could see. I'd preferred that, being able to see for miles in each direction, to the woods that came after. The trees were so thick, it felt like someone could appear around the next curve at any moment and take me by surprise.
Driving this fast was just asking for disaster, but I didn't care. There was nothing that was going to keep me from Rune. Not even a car crash.
I hit the outskirts of a town that had seen better days. It was one of those places where you could blink and miss the entire thing if you weren’t paying attention. I went on high alert, expecting to see more of Alistair's enforcers at any moment, scouring the streets for Rune. Daxon and I had underestimated just how many soldiers Alistair had at his disposal. It was amazing to me just how many idiots were willing to die for a megalomaniac.
There were only two streetlights in the whole town, and I'd started to become panicky when I didn't see the bar as I passed through the first one. I had just stopped at the second light, which never should have been red based on the lack of traffic in the place, when I saw it, off to my left.
The broken neon sign advertising The Midnight Rambler could have been the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. My heart started going thirty million miles a second as I screeched to a stop and fled the car, not bothering to lock up behind me. The keys could
have still been in the car for all I knew. I had one mission. One goal in life.
Rune.
I ran to the door and burst through, frantically looking around for any sign of Rune. The place was a true dive bar that looked better suited for some tourist trap beach town than the middle of Illinois. There was fish decor everywhere. And it was deathly quiet besides the soft strains of some old rock song playing from a hidden speaker.
I saw Rune then. She was seated in a chair, with no one around her. And it looked like she was talking to herself. Looking around, it appeared that the few people in the bar were eying her warily...maybe because she looked crazy carrying on a conversation with herself.
Crazy or not, the moment I saw her it was like the stars exploded in the sky and the world was put back into place. That emptiness inside of me...it shriveled up and disappeared. It was like I could breathe again. Rune was the girl of my dreams, the girl of my existence. I couldn't ever lose her again.
A rough cry that sounded more like a dying animal bleating for help burst out of me as I threw myself across the room, desperate to feel her in my arms.
She froze for a second at my touch, the sharp acrid scent of fear momentarily filling my nostrils until she realized it was me. Rune immediately relaxed against me. She buried her face into my neck, with what I hoped were relieved sobs shaking her body as I held her as tightly as I could.
I wasn't sure it was possible to let her go ever again. Someone moved out of the corner of my eye and my teeth bared in a sharp growl, all of my protective instincts on high alert to protect what was mine.
Mate. The word beat into my skull, sliding into my veins until the word was pulsing in my heart...pulsing in my soul as a matter of fact. It was so unlike before, when I'd flinched away from the very thought of Rune as my mate. This time I welcomed the word with every fiber of my being.
Whoever had moved flinched away at my warning growl and I buried my face into her hair, taking a deep inhale of her...
Her scent was off. The warm caramel that had driven me mad for weeks was all but gone, cloaked in the sharp, heavy scent of what I recognized as magic. She'd had a similar scent when she'd first arrived in town, but I hadn't recognized it for what it was since it had been so long since I'd encountered magic. If you were to smell Rune right now, you would be hard-pressed to realize she was a wolf.
The fact that the scent was back meant...
Hatred shot through my gut, so thick and strong it invaded all of my senses. They'd done it again to her.
The tickle of her tears sliding down my neck brought me to the present. I would deal with him later. Alistair would die.
But right now I had my angel back in my arms.
I let myself absorb the feel of her soft body against mine. Even when I was crazy about Arcadia, it had never been like this. It had never felt so perfect, like her body was made to be my exact match, like I was holding something immeasurably precious in my arms.
She lifted her face up to look at me, and I hungrily devoured her features. There were bruises on her face and her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, but I was pretty sure I'd never seen anything more glorious and beautiful in my entire life. Another scent hit me then. Need. It leaked out of her, dampening the scent of her magic and pain and making my dick take notice.
"You're here. You're really here," she whispered as she stared up at me. She pressed against me, a soft keen from her perfect mouth brushing against my skin. From somewhere nearby I heard someone groaning, the scent of her arousal obviously filling the room. It was so strong even humans would feel its effects. And I'd clocked as soon as I'd come in that none of the people in here were anything but humans.
It was hard to keep my head in the moment, her arousal was somehow getting stronger. All I wanted was to be inside of her, claiming her...making it so no one else could ever touch her or look at her.
I knew my thoughts were crazy but something about having her in my arms after not being sure I'd ever seen her again, and the sweet scent of her arousal was doing something to my brain. Twisting it and manipulating it until I resembled more of a feral caveman than a man at this point.
Mine, mine, mine, my wolf growled. The urge to kill everyone in the room thrummed through me until I wasn't sure I could actually stop myself. I turned my head and once again bared my teeth like a crazy person, warning everyone away.
Rune moaned, rubbing herself against me like an animal in heat.
Fuck...was that what was happening? Was she in...
It couldn't be, not with her wolf suppressed.
My mind went fuzzy as another wave of arousal hit my senses. More moans echoed around the room. We had to get out of here. Every person in here was in real danger of dying if we didn't. My brain wasn't in control anymore.
Sweeping Rune into my arms, I walked out of the bar, shooting death glares at everyone in the bar, warning them off just in case they were getting any ideas.
It was easier to think outside. There was a light breeze blowing and it took the edge off the all-encompassing lust we both seemed to experience. In the back of my mind, there was the thought that we should be talking about everything that had happened. We should be getting back to Amarok. Hell, I should be telling Daxon that I had her.
No, fuck that guy. Rune was mine.
Rune moaned again and the wisps of rational thought disappeared. I desperately searched for a place to go. There was a run down motel across the street. We could...
A door opened to one of the rooms and a fat, bald man sauntered out, sweat stains on the pits of his dirty wife beater. That was a no.
Another desperate keening sound assaulted my ears.
"Wilder," Rune moaned, as she pulled at my shirt, trying to climb me like a tree. Something I was more than willing for her to do. For a second I was tempted to tear her clothes off in the middle of the street, have her ride me right here so that everyone around would know she was mine.
I'd lost my mind. It was official.
Mine, mine, mine.
A strong breeze blew by, giving me a second of relief from the desperate need to tear Rune's clothes off.
We had to get out of here. Alistair and his men could be nearby.
I held my breath as I sprinted to the car, practically throwing Rune in and buckling her seat belt, even though I wanted to just keep her in my lap. I darted to the driver's side and leapt in, quickly starting the car and racing down the street, running right through the two red lights of the town. Both windows were down and I had my head as far out the window as I could, trying to take deep gulps of air in an attempt to not run off the road.
A torrent of words that I'd never heard Rune say before were flowing out her lips as she begged me to fuck her, to fill her...fuck, I couldn't hold back any more.
We were out of the town limits and five miles beyond that into the thick forest when I pulled the car desperately off to the side of the road and unsnapped Rune's seatbelt with a growl.
I dragged her from her seat, as we began to devour each other. Frantically, I grabbed the lever to lean back my seat so I could fit her on top of me. I was a big ass motherfucker, and even with the seat pushed back there was hardly any room for me to maneuver Rune on top of me. Rune was panting, small cries bursting out of her beautiful fucking mouth as she tried to move against me, desperate for relief.
This wasn't going to work.
I jumped out of the car, pulling her with me as I hurried into the forest. This wasn't smart, my brain was blaring it at me as loud as it could how we needed to get as far away from that town, and Illinois in general, before Alistair caught up to us.
But the rest of me was more than happy to ignore the warning.
Once we were out of sight of the road, I practically threw Rune against a tree. I groaned as she arched against me, our tongues tangling. Her hands roamed over my chest, fumbling with the buttons of my shirt desperately.
"I'll take care of you, baby. Hold on," I promised her as she whimpered with desire. I'
d never participated in a female wolf's heat before. I'd experienced the initial effects before with various pack members, but I'd always been able to keep my head and leave the room before I succumbed.
This was different. This was a cliff I had no choice but to jump off. And I was glad to do it.
She was hoisted up into my arms, her legs wrapped around me, her dress hiked up around her waist. Using the trunk of the tree behind her for balance, I slid my hands up her soft, smooth legs, finding the apex of her thighs. I hissed as I got further up; she was so wet, she had moisture dripping down the inside of her legs.
I was going to have a coronary at this rate. A brush of my fingers higher up and I realized she was completely bare. Ordinarily, that would have been a turn-on, if not for the fact that she'd just escaped a kidnapping from her abusive ex.
A growl ripped from my throat as my mind immediately went to what could have happened for her to not have underthings on.
"Rune?" I gasped as she tried to pepper my face with kisses. Still using the tree to support her, I grabbed her face between my two hands, forcing her to look at me.
"Rune...did anything?" It was impossible for me to even finish the sentence. If I was a bitten I would have shifted already, ready to destroy the world. As it was, I could feel my wolf going crazy inside of me, and the urge to kill was so strong that I could taste it.
She stilled against me, understanding my question enough for her lust to dampen. "No. He didn't get a chance," she whispered and my eyes closed, relief flooding through my body. Thank fuck.
"I can feel his hands all over me though. I can see clearly in my mind what he wanted, what he saw when he looked at me." She pulled me as close to her as she could, her lips whispering against mine as they moved. "Make me forget. Make it so all I can feel and see is you."
I stared down at this girl, this beautiful, perfect girl who I was crazy about.
Mine, mine, mine, my wolf growled again. And I agreed.
"Gladly," I growled against her lips and her arousal sparked back to life.
