Gator shook his head and took a sip of his coffee, totally unconcerned about the threat of Cole glaring at him. “No. I’ve never seen you get this worked up about a woman before. Your wolf wants her even though she can’t shift?”
Cole raked his fingers through his hair. “Yeah. That just doesn’t seem to matter.”
Gator rose and put his mug in the sink. “Then that’s that.” He slapped Cole on the back as he passed. “Don’t worry so much. It will all work out. I’m heading to bed. Shout if you need anything.”
“Keep an eye on Cherise. I’m going out on patrol.” He was feeling restless and knew if he went back to bed he’d end up waking Cherise and making love to her. And she needed her rest.
“Jacque is patrolling. I passed him on my way in.”
Cole shrugged. “I’ll be back in a bit.” He let himself out the back door, knowing Gator would guard Cherise with his life. His wolf howled inside him, not wanting to be away from her at all. He gritted his teeth as he stripped off his jeans and tossed them over the railing.
He raised his arms up and embraced the change. His wolf lunged forward, snapping and snarling. The beast actually turned toward the door before Cole exerted enough mental control over the creature to make him patrol. Cherise’s safety came before anything else. And Cole wouldn’t rest until he knew the threat to her was past.
Cole padded toward the trees, a silent shadow. He raised his nose to the air and caught Jacque’s scent off to the left. Turning in that direction, he raised his head and howled, the sound low and mournful. When it was answered, he trotted off in that direction.
He’d send Jacque home to his mate.
What about your mate? He ignored the voice in the back of his head. She wasn’t his. Yet. And he couldn’t crowd her too much or she’d run. It would take a delicate balancing act if he wanted to keep her here with him.
Pushing aside his worries for now, Cole let the wolf have his head. The large beast took off through the woods, racing around trees, under fallen logs and through low shrubs. There was a partial moon and many stars to guide his way. He saw every obstacle before it became a problem and deftly avoided it.
Even as he ran and embraced the freedom of the night, his mind was back in his bedroom with Cherise.
Cherise woke with a start and sat up in bed. Her heart raced and a fine sheen of sweat covered her body. Had she been dreaming? What had awakened her? A wolf howled and she bolted out of bed, standing naked in the middle of the room as she searched for any threat. Had they found her?
Where was she? She peered around, her enhanced vision making it easy for her to see the masculine space around her. She took a deep breath and was immediately assailed by a hot, spicy masculine scent.
Cole.
He was gone, but his presence remained.
She hurried to the window and pressed her nose against the glass. It was extremely dark here in the wilderness, away from civilization. But seeing was no problem for her.
The yard was empty, Cole obviously gone. Why had he left? Was something wrong?
Cherise rubbed her face with her hand and made her way back to the king-sized bed. Her knees were a little shaky, so she sank down onto the mattress to rest.
What had she done?
“Oh, Cherise,” she whispered. She’d slept with Cole. Not just slept with him, she’d had smoking-hot sex with him. Her body still ached in places she’d never ached before. Her skin felt overly sensitized and the cool air in the room made her nipples pucker.
Swearing under her breath, she grabbed the comforter off the bed and wrapped it around her. What had she been thinking?
She snorted. Obviously, she hadn’t been thinking at all. There was something about Cole that messed with her common sense. She never did impulsive things. Had learned to live with caution from the earliest age.
But Cole made a mockery of her level-headedness.
Oh, she could explain it away by blaming it on her near brush with death combined with the grief over her mama’s murder. At times like this it was only natural to want to grab on to life with both hands. And when both people involved were werewolves, it was doubly, if not triply so. Animal instincts combined with human ones and the results were explosive.
She’d certainly celebrated life in the age-old tradition—making love.
Cherise shoved her hair out of her face and took a deep breath. Okay, what was done was done. And she couldn’t regret it. Cole had been so good to her, holding her while she cried and then making love to her with a quiet intensity that had simply left no room for anything other than what he was making her body feel.
She’d stopped thinking and just lost herself in the physical sensations he’d provoked in her.
Her pussy began to throb and she jumped to her feet and began to pace the room, the long end of the comforter trailing behind her. She couldn’t stay here. Her being here put everyone else in danger. When Keith and his friends didn’t return home or contact anyone in Kentucky, they’d send others to search for them.
Cherise shivered at the thought.
She needed to leave while Cole was gone.
The thought almost crippled her, but there was no other choice. Thick bands of emotion made her chest constrict to the point of pain. It wasn’t fair. She hadn’t done anything wrong, hadn’t asked for any of this. It wasn’t her fault her wolf wasn’t there, that she couldn’t shift.
But as her mama had told her many times, life simply wasn’t fair. It was what it was. She could either whine about it or face it bravely and do what needed to be done.
Cherise threw off the comforter and went in search of her clothing, stopping when she saw her knapsack on the floor by the bed. She knew Cole had left it there for her, knowing how important it was to her to have her belongings close by. It was just another tangible reminder of what a good and decent person he was.
It didn’t take her long to dress and gather her belongings. She didn’t have much. She didn’t even feel guilty about wearing the shirt Cole’s had loaned her earlier. It had been draped over the arm of a chair and still faintly smelled like him. It was missing a few buttons, but she didn’t care.
She closed her eyes as a wave of regret swept over her. She’d never see Cole again once she left him. He didn’t seem like the type of wolf who’d enjoy living in the city. He was too rugged, too untamed to be confined by towers of concrete and glass. And that was precisely the reason she and her mama had always lived in large cities.
A dream had led her to Salvation and to Cole. On one hand, coming here had been the smartest thing she’d ever done. She’d be dead if Cole hadn’t found her. On the other hand, it was breaking her spirit to leave Cole and his pack. They’d welcomed her for a short time. She’d forgotten what it was like to belong somewhere.
Cherise plucked the comforter off the floor and held it to her face for a moment, breathing deeply. Then she tossed it aside.
It had been a dream, nothing more. She couldn’t stay here and risk their lives. And there was a part of her that kept expecting them to turn on her. She didn’t want to wait around until that happened. She was better off alone. It was what she knew, what she was used to.
She grabbed her knapsack and hooked it over her shoulder before creeping to the door and putting her ear against the wood. She waited for long seconds until she was certain no one was up and about. It was late at night, or early in the morning, depending on how you looked at it. Everyone was either in bed or out patrolling.
How would she get past whatever wolves were running around outside?
“You can do this,” she whispered. It stood to reason they wouldn’t pay as much attention to the main road, never expecting an attack to come from such an obvious direction. She’d go that way but still be cautious. She wouldn’t underestimate Cole or his packmates.
Cherise held her breath as she turned the knob, cringing when it made a slight clicking noise. She carefully pulled the door open and waited. When no one confronted her, she crept
down the hallway to the front door. It was locked. It seemed to take her forever to unbolt it and open the door. Cold air rushed in and she tiptoed outside and shut the door behind her.
The night surrounded her, but there was no comfort to be found. Comfort was behind her in the big bed she’d shared with Cole. “Don’t think about it.” She wrapped her arms around her waist and stealthily made her way down the stairs to the ground.
When no hue and cry was raised, she relaxed and began to quickly walk toward the road. She had no idea where she was going. Salvation didn’t even have a bus station. She wasn’t sure how she was going to get to the next town that did have one. She was running low on money, but she had to get to a big city. There were shelters there that helped women in need. She hadn’t had to use one of those places in years, not since the early years with her mama. But she’d swallow her pride and do it in order to survive. When she was back on her feet, she’d repay them.
A tear rolled down her cheek and she flicked it away, angry with herself for crying. She never cried, or rather she hadn’t in years. Being here had wrenched open a part of herself she’d kept locked up for such a long time. She couldn’t afford to be emotional, not if she was going to survive. She shoved aside all softer emotions and squared her shoulders. She would get through this the same way she had everything else in her life.
But she’d never been truly alone before. She’d always had her mama. The two of them had drawn strength from one another, facing every ordeal together.
A lump of dread settled in her belly, but she ignored it and kept putting one foot in front of the other. She passed by their vehicles, wishing for one moment she had a set of keys for one of them. She wouldn’t have stolen it, simply borrowed it and left it in town for them to find.
It was too late to go back and search for keys now. Turning her face away from the trucks, she concentrated on the dirt road before her. It wouldn’t take her too long to get to the main road. She’d run from there into town. She was hungry and still tired and had to conserve her energy as much as possible until she could eat and replenish her strength.
It was a simple fact of life that she wasn’t quite as strong as most werewolves. Not being able to shift was a huge drawback at times like this.
“Going somewhere?” A shadow detached itself from the side of a tree, startling her. It was Gator, and there was no smile, no welcome on his face as there’d been earlier. With his cold blue eyes and tattoos, he looked fierce and none too happy with her.
Cherise jumped back a step and her body immediately went into fight-or-flight mode. And since she knew she was no match in a fight with a full-blooded werewolf male, flight was her only option. With no destination in mind, she went from zero to a full-out run in the blink of an eye. She heard Gator swearing and knew he was on her tail.
The road. She had to get to the road. Maybe there would be a truck passing by that she could flag down for help. And maybe that would get an innocent human killed. She was under no delusions. This pack would do whatever it had to in order to protect itself.
No, she couldn’t risk anyone else, least of all an innocent stranger. She was on her own.
Behind her, a wolf howled. He was calling the others.
Panic slammed into her with the force of a sledgehammer to the stomach. Once again, she was racing through these woods, running for her life with a group of male wolves in pursuit. Fear ate at her. She no longer remembered that this pack had been kind to her. All she knew was that she was running for her life.
She’d spent the last twelve years looking over her shoulder with never a moment’s peace. She could see her mama’s still body, smell the blood that had been spilled.
No, she wouldn’t let them take her. She would be like her mama, like her daddy. She would fight to the death. She would fight to live.
Instinct carried her deep into the woods. She veered right and then left, jumping over fallen logs and hopping from rock to rock whenever she could.
Her heart was pounding so loudly in her ears she couldn’t hear her pursuer. But he was there. Of that, she had no doubt. Wolves never gave up the chase, especially when they knew they were stronger than their prey. He would run her to ground unless she could somehow lose him.
Ahead, she caught a flash of something in the trees. Another wolf. She skidded to a halt, almost stumbling to her knees in her haste. Her gaze darted from side-to-side. Which way? Left. Her lungs burned and her heart felt as though it might burst any second, but she didn’t let up. She couldn’t.
“Cherise.”
The male voice was familiar, but she didn’t stop. She’d recognized their voices before. They were friends, people she’d known in her childhood. But that hadn’t stopped them from hunting her, from murdering her mama.
Branches slashed at her face and arms as she barreled through them at top speed. She didn’t even feel the sting, but she smelled the blood. That wasn’t good. They’d be able to track her even better now.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a massive wolf loomed before her. She would have screamed, but she didn’t have any breath left. She stumbled and fell. The wolf started toward her and she scuttled back, digging her hands and feet into the damp ground. She had to get up. Had to run.
It took everything she had to push herself to her feet. She swayed but somehow managed to stay upright. She reached into the side pocket of her knapsack and withdrew a knife. It wasn’t much, only six inches in length, but it was better than nothing.
A noise from behind her sent her spinning around in a circle. She was surrounded. Three wolves watched her, moving steadily closer. “Stay back,” she warned. Hysterical laughter threatened. What could she do against three wolves?
Bitterness welled up inside her. “I’ll kill you,” she threatened. It was an empty threat, but it was all she had.
One of the wolves shifted and a giant of a man stood in front of her. She knew him, didn’t she? She shook her head to clear it. “Cole?” He hadn’t hurt her. He’d protected her.
He held out one hand to her. “I won’t hurt you, Cherise. Come to me.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I have to leave. Have to go away.” She turned pleading eyes to him. “Just let me go.”
He shook his head and she could see the sadness in his eyes. “I can’t.”
Behind her, leaves rustled. She whirled to face the threat. Cole had made her forget the two other wolves behind her. They were much closer now and prowling nearer by the second. “Please stay back.” She didn’t want to hurt anyone, but she would if she had to.
God, she was tired. So tired. And weak. Cherise couldn’t remember ever being this weak before. Her mind felt fragmented with the past and present getting all confused.
A muscular forearm banded around her waist, and before she could blink the knife was taken from her and tossed aside. Fury erupted inside her and Cherise attacked, fighting with all she had. She tried to headbutt whoever was holding her, but he was so big her head simply hit his shoulder. He grunted but otherwise didn’t flinch.
Panicked, she kicked and flailed until she had no strength left to fight. She slumped in her captor’s arms. A voice reached out to her, promising her she was safe, that everything would be all right. She didn’t believe it. Couldn’t.
He lifted her into his strong arms. She recognized the scent of the person holding her. It was the scent of safety. Cherise curled closer, trying to absorb his warmth. She was so cold.
“I’ve got you.”
Something inside her let go. Cherise gave up the fight and let herself fall into oblivion.
Chapter Eight
“Jesus Christ.” Cole looked at his best friend and his alpha, both men staring in disbelief at the woman who’d passed out in his arms. “Did she think we were going to kill her?” The expression of horror on her face, the way she’d run from them suggested that’s exactly what she’d thought.
“It’s my fault.” Gator vibrated with barely suppressed energy. “I heard her leave th
e house and went after her. She was just past the trucks when I stepped out from behind a tree. She might have thought some wolf from her former pack had found her. Because she can’t shift, I’m not sure how good her night vision is.”
“She’s exhausted.” Jacque strode toward Cole and touched Cherise’s pale skin. “I’m not sure she even knew who we were.” He shook his head, his disgust plain on his face. “She’s been through more than any woman should have to face, and she’s done it alone.” He pinned Cole with a searching gaze. “But she’s not alone anymore.”
Cole nodded in agreement. He knew Jacque was offering Cherise a permanent place in their pack. “No, she’d not alone anymore.”
Guilt assailed Cole. He should never have left her alone during the long night hours. Hell, he shouldn’t have made love with her earlier. She needed food, rest and care, not him pounding into her body until they were both exhausted with pleasure. As much as he’d enjoyed himself and had hoped to tie her to him with physical bonds of mutual desire, she’d needed something different from him.
And he’d let her down.
“Let’s go.” Jacque led the way.
Gator grabbed Cherise’s backpack and hung back to walk beside Cole. “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t mean to frighten her badly enough to run. I was pissed she’d snuck out.” He dragged his hand over his face and released a ragged sigh. “She was out the door before I even heard her, for fuck sake.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” He wouldn’t let Gator take the blame for something that was solely his fault. “I shouldn’t have left her alone. She’s exhausted and undernourished. She’s been running for days and—” He broke off. He didn’t need to spell things out for his friend. Gator knew Cole had slept with her earlier this evening instead of letting her rest.
Gator slapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll feed her and have her back to full strength in no time.”
But what would happen then? Would she try to run again?
Cole peered down at the almost lifeless woman draped bonelessly against him. The only hope he had was that she had seemed to recognize him at the end and had actually curled into his body. He took hope in that.
Wolf on the Run: Salvation Pack, Book 3 Page 8
