And that was just the wrong thing to say. They wanted to take the woman so they could kill her. And from the look he’d seen in Keith’s eyes, that’s not all they wanted her for. She’d probably pray for death by the time they were done with her.
Cole released his wolf and embraced his human form. He knew he was intimidating as both a wolf and a man. He straightened to his full height of six-eight and stared at the three men until they grew restless beneath his gaze. “You’re trespassing.”
“We don’t mean any disrespect.” Keith took a step forward but stopped when Cole narrowed his eyes. “We figured we’d be in and out before you even knew we were here.” He shrugged and pointed to the woman hanging up in the tree. “Runaway female. You know how it is.”
“And how exactly is it?” Cole asked.
“She belongs to us.” Wayne stepped forward, aggression in every line of his body.
Cole kept his arms by his sides, his body relaxed. “Now that’s where you’re wrong. She’s on Salvation Pack land, so she belongs to us now. Go home while I’ve still a mind to let you.”
Wayne glanced at his buddies, but Keith’s gaze never left Cole’s face. “Afraid we can’t do that, friend.” Keith kept his tone friendly, but there was pure steel beneath it. “Just walk away and pretend you never saw us. We’ll be gone within the half hour.”
Cole slowly shook his head. “Afraid I can’t do that.”
“You’re willing to start a pack war over a bitch?” Keith asked, his tone incredulous.
“Won’t be a war if they don’t know you were ever here,” Cole calmly pointed out. He was looking at Keith but had one eye on Gene, knowing he was the one with the least control over his temper. These young males were hotheads with no discipline.
Sure enough, he’d barely finished the thought when Gene shifted and pounced in one swift motion. Ignoring the razor-sharp claws and lethal fangs that raked across his arm and side, Cole grabbed the wolf straight out of the air. Using his immense strength, Cole wrapped his forearm around the wolf’s neck and twisted. The snap echoed through the woods. He tossed the wolf’s carcass to the ground and turned his attention back to the remaining wolves, who both appeared momentarily stunned by how quickly he’d dispatched their friend. “Who’s next?”
Wayne jumped at him and Cole embraced his wolf. The fierce creature jumped to the fore and attacked Wayne with a vengeance. He slashed at his opponent, raking his claws down the other wolf’s muzzle. Wayne growled and attacked again. Cole kept one eye on Keith, expecting him to jump in and join the fight. When he didn’t, Cole turned all his attention to Wayne. It didn’t take him long to gain the upper hand. He clamped his strong jaw around Wayne’s throat and held on.
The other wolf raked Cole’s sides with his sharp claws, but Cole didn’t flinch, didn’t let go. His opponent’s struggles got weaker and weaker until the male stopped moving once and for all. Cole dropped his body and turned to face Keith, but the cowardly bastard had run, saving himself while leaving his friends to die.
He glanced up at the woman they’d called Cherise. Her face was pale and she was shaking, but she pointed off to his right. “He went that way.”
Cole dipped his head in thanks and raced off after the other wolf. He had to get to Keith before he escaped. Because if he didn’t, Cole had just started a war with another pack.
“Ohmygod. Ohmygod.” Cherise chanted over and over, her words running together, as the massive brown and blond wolf tore through the forest, racing after Keith. Her limbs were shaking. She knew she couldn’t stay here.
Tears threatened, but she blinked them back. She hadn’t cried since the night she’d returned home from her shift at the restaurant and found her mama’s throat ripped out. There’d been no time to cry, no time to mourn what she’d lost.
They’d been living under assumed names, yet again, and none of their neighbors had really known them. Her mama’s death would end up in the unsolved cases file. But she knew who was responsible. And two of the assassins had just paid with their lives.
Slowly and carefully, she worked her way down the tree to the ground, which wasn’t easy considering how badly she was shaking. The distance seemed a lot farther than when she’d climbed up only a short time ago. Her knees almost gave out when she reached the bottom, but she stiffened them and stood her ground.
She took a deep breath and shuddered. Blood and sweat, anger and fear permeated the air. She might not be able to shift into her wolf, but that didn’t mean all her other senses didn’t work as well as any other predator.
Cherise didn’t look at the fallen bodies of the two men who’d once been her friends. They’d all grown up together, playing and learning together in the wilds of Kentucky. But everything had changed when she was in her mid-teens and it was discovered that she couldn’t shift.
She pushed away from the tree and staggered off in the opposite direction of Keith and the massive wolf chasing him. It was foolish of her to have come here simply because she’d dreamed of the place. What the hell had she been thinking? She obviously hadn’t been.
But she was thinking now. She could use this distraction to escape. She had to find a town, one large enough to have a bus stop. She didn’t have much money left, but she had enough for a ticket to a larger city, somewhere she could start over.
Even better, if she could circle around and find Keith’s truck, she could take it and drive it to a major city before taking a bus to the opposite end of the country. That would throw anyone else from her old pack off her trail, at least for a few months. That’s assuming, of course, the big wolf managed to catch Keith before he got away.
Cherise rubbed her forehead, wishing the throbbing in her head and the painful memories would both go away. She pictured her mama’s smiling face, the lilt of her voice as she hummed a song. That was her mama, always smiling, always finding the silver lining in the dark cloud of despair. And now she was gone. Murdered by the three who’d come after them.
And for what? Because she’d dared to want to give her daughter a normal life, one free from danger and pack prejudice. Their pack was an old and established one that lived by unbendable rules. Weakness wasn’t tolerated. And was there anything weaker than a werewolf who couldn’t shift? Her mama’s only crime had been hiding and protecting her child.
Anger filled her until she thought she might explode. Adrenaline coursed through her veins and she staggered toward Wayne’s body. It was still in wolf form, even in death, and would not change back. She drew back her foot and kicked him with every ounce of strength she had. His body jolted, skidding a short distance across the dirt. “That’s for my mama.” Wayne’s stench had been all over her mama’s broken body.
Cherise sobbed and she caught her breath. She couldn’t break down. Not now. Not yet. It wasn’t safe here. She was no longer certain such a place even existed. Her former pack was relentless.
The knapsack with her few belongings was stashed in a depression under a downed tree. She hurried toward it without looking back. Behind her only lay death and destruction. Ahead of her was life. Or at least that’s what she prayed.
It took her precious seconds to dig away the dirt she’d hastily thrown over her things. She grabbed the knapsack and swung the strap over her shoulder. Which way should she go? Cherise took a moment to get her bearings and made her decision.
Her pace was slow at first, but as her nerves settled and her legs felt less shaky, she picked up speed until she was running.
Cole bent forward and dumped Keith’s body with the other two. It should bother him that he’d killed three wolves this morning, but it really didn’t. He knew he wouldn’t lose a moment’s sleep over any of them. Some men were just in need of killing. And anyone who would hunt down a woman and her daughter in order to kill them simply because they were different was at the top of his list.
The battle had been short and intense, but the younger wolf had been no match for Cole. Keith was a bully and a scrapper, used to chasing women
and those weaker than him, able to dominate them with little effort. Cole was neither female nor weak. He was a battle-hardened warrior.
He’d made quick work of his foe.
The gouges on his arms and legs were already beginning to heal, thanks to the power of his wolf. Not that he was concerned. He’d had worse, much worse, and survived. In the scheme of things, this was minor damage.
He didn’t even bother looking up in the tree as he passed it. He knew the woman was long gone. She’d struck him as intelligent, and that meant she’d take advantage of the situation and run. Cherise had no idea which male wolf would be the winner in the fight and she obviously hadn’t bothered to wait around to find out.
Cole knew he should take care of the dead bodies first, but finding the woman before she bolted from pack land was a priority. He easily picked up her scent, shifted back to his wolf and started tracking.
She was good, he’d give her that. She’d climbed over rocks when she could and even cut up a stream for a good half mile before taking to the woods once again. But he was a superior tracker and followed her easily.
He heard her before he saw her. Her breathing was getting labored and he knew it was a combination of exhaustion and fear. If she couldn’t embrace her wolf, he wondered just how much of the creature’s strengths she could tap into, if any, and for how long.
Cole kept up his steady pace, his long legs closing the distance between them. Less than a minute later, she came into view. She was bent over at the waist with one hand wrapped around the trunk of a maple for support. Although he made no sound, her head jerked up and her gaze locked with his.
Her eyes were gray, as gray as the morning mist. For a moment, they were filled with shock. Then anger turned them a darker shade.
When she spoke, her voice was strong and steady even though he could scent her fear. “Are you going to kill me next?”
Chapter Two
She was magnificent, with her black hair tumbling around her shoulders, her stance one of defiance. Her skin was pale, her lips a soft pink. She had a stubborn jaw, which she tilted upward the longer he stared at her, exposing the slender column of her neck. Cherise was tall for a woman, about five-nine. She had a strong, slender build, more athletic than curvy.
He embraced his human form and pushed upward to his full height. She started to take a step back but stopped herself at the last second. She shoved her hair out of her face and he noticed the fine tremor in her hand. She was exhausted. He wondered how long she’d been running.
“No,” he told her. “I’m not going to kill you.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip, and Cole bit back a moan at the unconscious sensual act. She rubbed her hands over her arms as though she was cold. “What happened to Keith?”
“He won’t be a problem any longer.” Cole suddenly wished he was more like Armand. Women young and old loved Armand, and he seemed to know how to talk to them. But Cole had always been big for his age growing up, clumsy and awkward until he’d grown into himself. By that time, he’d gotten used to keeping to himself.
Sure, it had been easy to find a willing sexual partner once he’d gotten older. For some reason, she-wolves looked at him as a sexual conquest. Once he’d found that out, he’d gotten a lot more selective in his bed partners. And even that had tapered off to nothing the few years before he’d left the pack. He had a healthy appetite for sex, but he wasn’t willing to be a notch on any female’s bedpost. It left him feeling empty and unsatisfied.
“Yeah. Okay.” Cherise blew out a breath. “I’ll just be going.”
Cole shook his head. He couldn’t just let her leave. “No. You should come home with me.”
Cherise began to slowly back away. “Ah, that’s probably not a good idea. Your alpha probably wouldn’t like it.” Her gaze narrowed. “Unless you are alpha?”
“No, I’m not alpha.” He had no interest in being the leader of this or any pack. Jacque did a fine job as alpha, had been born for it.
“Well then.” Cherise sidled a little farther to the left. “I’ll just be going.”
Cole sighed. She was going to be trouble. “I can’t allow that.”
He could smell the surge of her fear and it burnt the inside of his nostrils with its stench. He hated it. But it quickly changed, becoming spicier in tone. Anger. Anger he could handle.
“You can’t keep me here.”
He cocked his head to one side, not saying anything at all. He’d just killed three male werewolves. If he wanted to keep a female werewolf who couldn’t even shift from leaving it really wouldn’t be much of a problem.
But he didn’t want her to fight him.
He tried a different tactic. “You’re exhausted. Come back to the house with me, have something to eat and reevaluate the situation.”
She glanced down his body and quickly pulled her gaze back to his face. As a werewolf, she’d be used to seeing naked bodies whenever they shifted. As a woman facing a male she didn’t know, it was no wonder she was cautious.
“I’m Cole Blanchard,” he offered, hoping giving her his name might help put her more at ease. “And you’re on Salvation Pack land.”
“Cherise Michaels.”
He waited, but she added nothing else. “Why here, Cherise?” That had been bothering him. “Of all the places in the country you could have run to, why North Carolina, and why here?”
Was this a trick? Was she a spy sent by Pierre LaForge?
As soon as he thought it, he dismissed it. Those wolves had been hunting her. No doubt about it. And there was no faking her obvious exhaustion and fear.
She licked her lips and Cole swore under his breath. He was filled with a sudden urge to lick her lips for her. He let his claws extend, digging them into the flesh of his palms, using the pain to distract him and keep his cock from swelling. Definitely not an appropriate reaction in this situation. She already feared him.
“I—” She paused and tried again. “I don’t know. Bad luck. Good luck. Instinct. I really don’t know.”
Cole knew Jacque would want to question her. “They’ll have breakfast on by now. Why don’t you come back with me and have something to eat. We can talk out your situation. Maybe we can help.”
She looked at him as though he had ten heads, as though he was some strange creature she’d never seen the like of before. It was more than a bit disconcerting.
He kept his distance when what he really wanted to do was scoop her into his arms and carry her back to his home. That gave him pause, but only for a moment. He’d do the same for any woman in her position. Okay, maybe he wouldn’t want to carry her off in his arms, maybe he wouldn’t be fighting a hard-on while he talked with her—and at his age that was embarrassing as hell—but he’d certainly help her.
“What do you say, Cherise?”
What did she say? Wasn’t that the one-million dollar question? Cherise’s head was spinning, both figuratively and literally. She couldn’t quite come to grips with the fact that this male wolf standing in front of her had killed her stalkers as easily as she’d swat a fly. She was free, at least until they sent someone else after her. Her stomach was empty and her head ached. She’d been running for a week now with her trackers hot on her heels.
She hadn’t realized they’d seen her get onto the bus in St. Louis and had followed her across the country, waiting for her to leave the relative safety of the crowds and the bus stations. They’d been right behind her when she’d left the last bus and hitched a ride with a trucker to the small town of Salvation. It hadn’t taken them long to come after her the minute she was on her own.
Why had she run here?
That was a question she’d been asking herself too. What could she tell him? She’d dreamed it. Had a vision. He’d never believe her even though it was the unvarnished truth.
Cherise swallowed and tried not to look too closely at the intimidating male standing in front of her. She’d grown up around big, powerful men—male werewolves were much stronger than
human males—but she’d never seen one quite as large or impressive as Cole Blanchard.
If there was one word to describe him it was massive. His shoulders were impossibly wide, his biceps huge. His abs were totally ripped and his legs were as sturdy as tree trunks. And she wasn’t even going to think about his cock, which was semi-erect.
And if his body wasn’t intimidating enough, there was his face. Shaggy dark-blond hair framed ruggedly handsome features. He had a high forehead, prominent cheekbones and a stubborn jaw. But it was his eyes that dominated his face. Green as grass, they were intelligent and perceptive.
Strength and smarts. A deadly combination.
“Cherise?”
The way he said her name sent a shiver running down her spine, and it wasn’t all due to fear. His low voice stroked over her skin like a physical caress. She had no idea what was wrong with her. She’d never had this kind of reaction to a male—wolf or human—before in her life. She wasn’t sure she liked it.
Cole made her feel off-balance and uncertain. Not good things when she was running for her life.
“Come home with me,” he coaxed her as though she was a wild creature that needed to be tamed.
And maybe she was. She’d been on the run since before her sixteenth birthday, just over twelve years. With her daddy dead, there’d been no one to trust but her mama, and now she was gone. They’d lived in isolation by necessity even as they’d been surrounded by people in almost every major city in the country. They’d survived by living among humans, never able to trust any of them with their secret.
She was wavering. What would it be like to spend a few hours with others like her? No, not like her. They could shift at will while she wasn’t much different from a human. But they were her kind, her people.
And Cole already knew she couldn’t shift, and he’d protected her instead of trying to kill her. That had to mean they were a more progressive pack. At least she hoped so.
Wolf on the Run: Salvation Pack, Book 3 Page 2
