She stopped walking abruptly. He watched her tilt her head and make a turn toward the west.
The waterfall. Yes, please wash the filth from your body. You smell horrible.
Everclear, was what Darian’s people called the waterfall where the woman with the short golden hair finally stopped. She scanned the forest line startling when she found him watching her.
“What? What do you want?” she demanded. “Let’s fight to the death, or leave me the hell alone,” she challenged. Her hands fisted on her hips as she stared at him.
She is beautiful.
There was no denying it. Covered in filth, and with hacked up hair, a bloody chin, and an angry scowl on her face, she was still beautiful. Her lips were tight as she stared at him. She was not stupid. Darian could see she was afraid of him, but she was facing him.
“Well?” she said again.
Darian smiled inwardly. This human thought to boss him around? Did she take him for a pet?
He lay down in the twigs and leaves several yards away, showing her that he did not intend to leave, but neither was he attacking.
She hissed out a breath, glaring at him even harder than she was before. “You’re going to wait until I’m asleep? Vulnerable? Why?”
Darian gave her no response.
The woman looked down at the bite in her wrist. Her clenched teeth, the only indication of her pain. Indigo blue eyes landed on him again. “Kill me, don’t kill me. I don’t care. I’m washing off.”
She kicked off the shoes and turned her back to him. Reaching beneath the gown she pulled out a cloth pack and dropped it next to the shoes. Next, she stripped away the bra she was wearing while keeping the gown on to shield her body from him. She folded it carefully and set it on the cloth bag.
Her spine stiffened when she stood up. She stared out at the water. He could hear her heart pounding before she stepped into the water. She was still holding the blade as she lifted the dress only high enough to avoid the water.
Inch by inch he watched the dress climb higher up her smooth fair skin. He realized he was holding his breath as his hungry gaze swept over her exposed skin.
She’s so beautiful.
Her breath shook as she exhaled. She looked over her shoulder at him to see if he was watching. The hem of her skirt was just under her ass. Darian didn’t want her to stop. His heart was pounding as he waited for more.
“Forget the shifter. Just do it, Cara,” she spoke quietly to herself but he could hear her as if she were right beside him.
Cara.
Darian’s mind clung to the tiny scrap of information. He knew her name.
The dress slid up over her heart shaped ass.
Darian couldn’t help it. He couldn’t hold the shape of his wolf when the man in him was reacting so physically to Cara. He backed up a few feet as he began to shift back into a human. Darian didn’t want her to stop, he didn’t want the sounds of his bones shifting to disturb her. The white fur of his wolf shed away from his skin as his bones shifted back to their human position.
He couldn’t stop watching her.
The curve of her lower back was every bit as sensual as the rest of her. Darian gulped as the gown was pulled free from her body. The twin curves of the sides of her fair breasts were all he could see from his angle behind her.
He wanted to see more but he held himself still. Already his shaft was hard and pulsing. Darian’s human side was merely reacting to her physical body. He would not stoop so low as to mate with a murderer. He might share a body with the soul of a wolf but Darian was a man and he wasn’t going to allow his body or his wolf to make his mind up for him.
She balled the gown up and tossed it onto the shore without looking in his direction.
Darian found himself wishing she would turn toward him and bare her naked beauty to him.
Ridiculous.
It wasn’t as though Cara was the first naked woman he’d ever seen. Many of his pack were women, he’d seen them all shift. Their nudity was natural. Somehow, this was different.
Cara dipped under the surface, bending her knees. She’d only gone waist deep into the water before she began dipping her body under.
As she rubbed her skin vigorously with her hands and continued to rinse away the filth, Darian straightened with a start. The scent that filled the air, it was the same that woke him from his sleep. It was the same sweet, alluring smell that pulled him from the comfort of his bed and into action.
Darian swallowed hard watching her in disbelief.
He’d heard of fated bonding, but he’d never seen it in his lifetime. This scent, it was as described by the elders of his pack. If a wolf found his predestined mate, his wolf would immediately form an unbreakable bond. They belonged to each other from that day forward.
Cara is my predestined mate?
His wolf confirmed it with a protective growl.
She turned around at the sound. Her wounded arm covered the peaks of her breasts from his view, and her left hand held the blade pointed at him. Her eyes were like steel as she met his gaze.
Look at her, she’s fierce, she’s strong, and she’s a warrior. She’s perfect.
CHAPTER FIVE
The wolf was gone. In his place a young man stood. He was nearly naked with torn pants or shorts hanging loosely around his waist. His golden yellow eyes reminded Cara of the orange flames in a fire. His black hair slightly on the long side fell across his forehead and over part of his left eye. His gaze was intent on her. Everywhere his eyes roamed felt like a heated caress over her cold skin.
Cara recognized desire in his features. She stiffened. The filth from the water was so rank it was making her feel nauseous, and Cara knew the wound from the wolf bite was getting infected. She’d had no choice but to wash.
Naked in front of a shifter. Not smart, Cara.
She’d be lucky if all he did was force himself on her. Surviving an attack by a shifter had to be nearly impossible. The strength wielded by the creature would break her like toast.
She took a few steps back toward the shore. If she could get her dress on maybe the shifter would be put off by the smell. Maybe he would stop looking at her like she was something to eat.
The ground below the water’s surface was slippery. Each step she took, Cara had to take slowly and carefully. As the water grew shallow, she could see his nostrils flaring. His eyes were on her waist. If she took another step he’d see more than she was willing to show.
“Stop. Staring. At. Me,” she enunciated each word in a commanding tone. “Get out of here,” she yelled. Cara hoped raising her voice would scare him off.
It didn’t.
“You have nothing to fear from me,” the shifter said. His voice was low, and heated.
“You can talk? I didn’t know you had human intelligence.”
His yellow eyes narrowed on her face. At least he was no longer trying to see her nakedness. “You know nothing of shifters.”
“I know enough,” Cara said. She let the bitterness she felt fill her voice. “You attacked me, and bit me. You’re refusing to give me privacy. You’re an animal, and as soon as I turn my back on you, I’m sure you’ll try again to kill me.”
The shifter lifted his lean, muscular arm as he pushed his hair from his eyes. The long red cut over his bicep was the cut she’d given him. “I should not have bitten you. I didn’t know who you were.”
“You still don’t know who I am.” A wave of dizziness washed over Cara and she fought to stay upright on the slippery rocks.
“You are, my Cara.”
My Cara?
She gripped the blade harder, doing her best not to drop it. Her energy was seeping away. Cara knew she’d lost some blood from the bite but not so much she should be so weak.
“Cara, you’re growing pale. Come out of the water. I swear, I won’t hurt you.”
“Stop looking at me. Then I’ll come out,” Cara growled at him.
To her surprise, the shifter turned around giving h
er his back. He’d actually listened to her.
It’s just a trick. He’s still going to try and kill me. I’m not stupid. I’m not going to fall for his trap.
Cara marched forward keeping her eyes on the defined, muscular back of the shifter. When she looked down to locate her night gown she spotted dozens of slimy black patches of mud all over her legs.
She went to swipe one off and the slippery fat thing moved under her fingers. Cara gasped as she realized her legs were covered in a slug like creatures.
“Don’t pull it off. The head of the leech will detach and burrow into your skin. It will continue to suck your blood,” the shifter told her.
“Suck my blood?” Cara felt another wave of dizziness. “How do I get them off?”
He went to the pouch the guard gave her and came back with flint and a candle. “Aldrich can’t trade for a lighter?”
“What are you going to do with that?”
“Burn them. The heat will make them let go of you.”
Cara sank to her knees. She was too light headed to stand. Too sick to her stomach to think. He lit the candle and applied the flame to the leach. The fat, black, slug-like thing fell off, dropping like a stone. A dozen tiny bleeding pin pricks marked her skin where the leech was feasting on her.
Tiny little bastard.
The shifter moved the flame to the next leech. The heat began to hurt but she refused to let the shifter see her pain. As soon as he saw weakness he would prey on it. That was what men like Aldrich, her father, and this shifter were like. They were the kind to prey on the weakness of others.
Knowing the things on her were sucking her blood made her want to cry, but she wouldn’t cry in front of him. Cara wasn’t sure why he was helping her at all.
He probably needs me alive to torture information out of me.
The shifter moved fast, going from one leech to the next. As the flame was applied higher, and higher on her legs the skin became more sensitive. The skin on the inside of her thigh hurt so much she couldn’t keep her eyes from watering. Her mouth was clamped shut to hold in the cry of pain she refused to let out.
“I’m sorry it hurts,” the shifter said as he gently lifted her leg to check the back of her thigh for any more. “Can you stand?”
Cara nodded even though she didn’t know if she could. She wasn’t about to tell the wolf she was so weak she couldn’t stand.
His hands wrapped around her waist and he lifted her easily setting her on her feet. He moved around to her back, working quickly to remove the rest.
“Finished.”
Cara heard him blow out the candle. She let out the breath she was holding, hating that it sounded like a whimper. The shifter swept her up in his arms. “Do you want to return to Aldrich Town for medicine?”
“No.” Cara fought to get free of his hold.
He stopped walking and turned in a different direction. “Then you will come to my home. You need medicine.”
“Put me down, creature,” she demanded.
The muscle in his jawline flexed and he looked down at her as he continued walking. “I am Darian. I recommend you don’t call any shifter a creature.”
Cara, crossed her arms over her chest. “I need my dress. Please, just let me go. I don’t know anything about Aldrich Town that would be of any use to you. I need to keep moving.”
“Your dress is infested with disease and is septic. Why did you swim in that water? Was the man you killed attacking you?” He sounded hopeful.
Blood-thirsty creature.
“I fell in. The man who died, he saved my life.” The shifter was looking at her again. Cara tried again to cover herself. “I demand to have clothes.”
“I will provide you with all of your needs. You may rely on me. It seems destiny has plans for us. Though I can’t say I understand them at the moment.”
He was moving fast. Too fast. A wave of nausea crashed through her stomach again. Her brow was sweaty, her palms clammy. “I’m going to be sick,” she tried to warn him but he didn’t slow down. Turning her head toward the ground she threw up.
Her body was determined to expel the poison from the dirty water. Cara’s entire body strained as she threw up again, and again.
“Your simple system can’t fight the germs on its own. You need strong medicine. Cover your eyes and I will take you to my home where there is medical help.”
If I cover my eyes he’ll probably kill me. Stab me with my own blade or something. Oh no, where is my blade?
“I don’t trust you. Please, just put me down.”
“Why not? I’m trying to help you.”
Cara shook her head. “You attacked me. You want to kill me.”
“I was wrong. I thought you were a hunter.”
“You want me to trust you? Put me down, Darian.”
He stopped walking and set her on her feet with a huff of hot breath blasting through her wet hair. “Thank you…” Her vision swallowed up in darkness and she felt herself begin to fall.
Strong arms wrapped around her, catching her. “It’s okay. I’ve got you, Cara. Stubborn, human.” His lips, pressed against her temple, was the last thing she registered before she passed out.
CHAPTER SIX
Cara lay limp in his arms. Her fever rose as her body tried to burn away the impurities from the dirty water. Cradling her close he kissed her temple again, wanting so much to taste her lips. The bond he had with her had to be the reason for his sudden desire to kiss and taste a human.
He wouldn’t.
Darian promised Cara that he would take care of her, and he meant what he’d said. He used his vast speed to race through the forest.
Darian couldn’t move as fast in his human form as he did when he was in his wolf shape, but it was close. He carried her up the incline to the Rizer pack community.
“Killian,” Darian called out for their healer. “She’s sick, and injured too,” Darian said as he lay her gently on his bed.
Killian entered the room. His chiseled jaw line tight, no doubt because of the human on Darian’s bed. Killian inclined his head to show proper respect, his curly dark brown hair falling forward as he did. He did not refuse to help as Darian knew he wouldn’t. Killian with his wide shoulders and gruff exterior had a good heart.
Darian admired long, lean, exquisite body. He knew she would be punching him or trying to claw his eyes out if she were awake. Scolding himself for his invasion of her privacy he draped a blanket over her body.
Killian pushed his hand through his hair with a growl. “You bit her?”
“I thought she was a hunter,” Darian snapped.
Killian looked up from Cara at Darian. “Is she a hunter?”
“No.”
“How can you be certain?” Killian asked, frowning at Darian, his dark blue eyes shrinking under his dark scowling brows. “She could lead others here.”
Darian smoothed the wet hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “Cara is unconscious. She doesn’t know how to get here.”
“She has fever, and signs of blood poisoning.” Killian gestured to the purple veins beneath her pale skin.
Darian grimaced at the sight of his bite on her arm. “Cara fell in the septic water surrounding Aldrich’s town. I think she may have swallowed some too.”
Killian’s frown deepened. “I will try to help her. Human medicine isn’t the same as ours. She may not be strong enough to survive our methods.”
“Cara is strong enough. She can’t die, Killian,” Darian told to his friend. “She… She is… mine.”
Killian’s brown eyes rounded at Darian. His jaw loosened and his mouth fell open. “You believe she is fated for you?”
Darian didn’t know if that was true, he just knew that he was fated to Cara. She may not ever feel the same about him. The way she looked at him when she saw him was obvious that she despised shifters.
“I will do all that I can,” Killian promised when Darian struggled for words to explain. He raced away to get whate
ver medical supplies he needed, leaving Darian to look at his mate.
Her arms were so thin and fragile, but he’d seen her strength. He’d seen her determination. She would live through this. Cara would heal and somehow, he would find a way to win her forgiveness.
“I will make this right, Cara. I promise.”
Killian returned with two packs full of supplies. “Jules is worried about you,” Killian said without meeting Darian’s gaze. Jules was a determined she-shifter who made no secret of wanting to mate with Darian. He’d flirted with the idea. They’d shared a few kisses but he’d known even before he’d met Cara, that Jules would never be his mate.
He had to think of the pack.
Jules was too quick to react. She didn’t consider the outcome of her actions or the effect it would have on the pack. Jules loved attention and she craved power. The youngest of her siblings, Jules had grown accustomed to getting what she wanted.
“My place is here with Cara,” Darian said.
“Alpha, forgive me but if you want this human to survive after she is well enough to leave this room you must address the pack. You must prepare them for her presence here in our community. She still smells of Aldrich Town. Our pack will react on instinct.” Killian began to dress the wound on her arm. His own struggle to accept her presence apparent in the set of his tight jaw.
Killian still suffered nightmares from the day their former alpha, Valor was murdered. Darian knew that Killian still blamed himself for bringing the injured man into their community. Many of the shifters even outside the Rizer wolf pack didn’t trust humans. The warring and constant shift in alliances made relying on or trusting in a human, very dangerous.
Many opposed Killian when he saved the man who he found nearly dead on the edge of the mountain. Valor, however, praised Killian for showing mercy. He said that the pack should see his willingness to help the human as a sign of respect, as life in any form is a gift.
Killian swore to be responsible for the human. Valor made the decision to allow the man to stay while he needed medical treatment. After a week, the man awoke from his coma. Killian wanted to take him to the town that was settled beyond the forest at the base of the mountain.
Love Beyond the wall (A Rizer Pack Shifter Series Book 1) Page 3
