Chasing a Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Four (4 page)

He slipped them on quickly and then ran after the translator. He hoped the man knew where he was going, because Tomás was flying blind. He wondered for a moment if one of them should shift, but before he could really process the thought, he heard a shimmer, and then the drop of the wooden spear on the ground.

Then, the howl of Zolin’s wolf.

A
wolf howl
carried through the cool crisp darkness. Citlani’s skin tingled under the filtered light of the moon. Her magick swirled around her, alerting her to the approaching presence of one of her pack. She recognized the angry howl. No amount of covering her tracks would hide her from Zolin’s overbearing possessiveness.

She leapt down from a large rock and paused, regret stabbing her gut. Had Zolin killed Tomás? He wouldn’t have really killed him…would he? She glanced over her shoulder and frowned. Then she looked back down the side of the mountain. Choaca waited. Her mother needed help. No one else would go.

If Zolin caught her, she wouldn’t be able to do anything.

Her husband was a strong man. He would come through this and Zolin wasn’t a murderer. He just wanted…her. Always. The man had been obsessed with her since she’d come of age. She’d lost count of how many times he’d asked her mother for permission to take her as his wife. Zolin had said that her mother saw a ghost from the past in the market and disappeared, but he’d done nothing. And he had the
cojones
to say her mother
gave
her to him.

She looked down the mountain again and sighed. It didn’t matter. Citlani was linked to Tomás. She couldn’t abandon him. What if Zolin had left him wounded and exposed to predators in the jungle? As an outsider, he didn’t know what lived in the trees.

Citlani darted to her left, through some underbrush, and came out into a small clearing. Her feet drummed a ground-eating pace. She could circle back around to the stream and find Tomás and they could take another path down the mountain. But she had to move fast. Speed would be the only thing that
might
keep her ahead of Zolin’s wolf.

Or not.

Snarls and angry growls from too close behind drove her feet faster. The burning in her lungs and legs was completely forgotten. She dodged his first leap and let an angry snarl tear from her throat, warning him she’d fight.

He didn’t care.

A heavy, furry form leapt onto Citlani’s back, knocking her off balance. Before she hit the ground, she felt the warmth of his magick change around her and instead of fur, bare skin and very male arms encircled her body, cushioning her fall on the stony earth.

“Get off of me.” She wriggled, but he didn’t release her.

“You’re still under my protection. What were you thinking running off with a stranger?”

Citlani kicked and bucked as he stood and hauled her off the ground with him. An arm was locked in a vise grip around her torso, but that didn’t stop her from flinging her head backward. She winced as pain skewered through her skull, but the satisfying crunch and growl of his pain made it worth it. “Put me down! I have a husband. We were joined in the sex tent. You can’t have me.”

“You ran from your husband,” Zolin roared. “You shame him. You left a stranger in the jungle unprotected.”

“I was coming back.”

“You ran.”

“I have to get my mother back. You’re certainly not going to do it for me.”

“She said not to come after her. She made me swear to keep you away.”

“I don’t believe you!” she screamed, kicking again and arching against his grasp.

He released her body and she whirled to face him. Blood ran from his nose, streaking most of his mouth and chin. He’d heal quickly, but she’d definitely hit home with her headbutt.

“My mother and I were inseparable. She would never.”

“The man who she ran from would hunt you too. She said you would be in danger if you ever came down from the mountain again.” Zolin took a step forward and reached.

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed.
Never come down the mountain again?
She lived for those trips. Citlani loved the town and its people. The buildings and beautiful things intrigued her. There was so much more to the world than the tiny little village where her mother had run to hide all those years ago. She would stay for her mother. She would do anything for her…anything but stay with a man she had no connection with at all.

At least with Tomás in the sex tent, there had been a spark. She’d felt interest. She didn’t know what to do with that interest, but it was better than being indifferent. For the first time in her life, she’d felt
something.

“I only wish to fulfill my promise to your mother. She wished you to be bonded and protected. She said it was the only way to keep you safe.”

“Our magick does not speak when we are together.” Citlani crossed her arms and took a backward step.

Zolin glanced at the ground and sighed. “With a bond, it would’ve grown together slowly. Fate would’ve blessed my vow to protect you. You would’ve loved me in time. as I already care for you.”

She dashed to the left, but he reacted faster than she estimated. “No!” Citlani kicked again, clawing at his arm as it tightened around her waist. “Let me go. I have a husband of my own choosing.”

“You tricked him.”

Yes, but… there was something.

“He didn’t bond with you. He has no intention of protecting you from what is coming.”

Her magick crackled around her. Something was coming. Something was almost here. “Let me go!”

A terrifying growl tore through the darkness and a flash of yellow eyes emerged from the undergrowth to her right before a body slammed into Zolin, knocking Citlani loose from his hold.

Tomás was in human form as he tumbled on the ground with Zolin, but his eyes glowed bright, revealing the wolf spirit that lived within every Moonbound man or woman.

He wouldn’t have come after Zolin if he didn’t want her, right?

She cringed at the punches being landed. Tomás was smaller than Zolin, but he didn’t seem to be letting that slow him down.

“How dare you touch her like that!” her husband snarled, and landed a solid uppercut to Zolin’s jaw.

The big Indian shook his head and then spit blood from his mouth. “You did not bond.” He showed his white teeth and growled from deep in his chest. “She is not protected without a bond.”

“You leave her alone,” Tomás growled back, crouching, prepared for the next advance.

Citlani shivered.
He wanted her. She’d tricked him, but he wanted her still.
Everything was overwhelming. The shouting and growling and punching.

She’d only wanted to find her mother. She hadn’t considered how permanently her actions would affect her life and the life of another. What she’d done had been utterly selfish and thoughtless.

A tear ran down her cheek. This whole thing situation was a disaster and it was Zolin’s fault. And her fault.

He’d abandoned her mother. He didn’t tell her…and still wouldn’t tell her what really happened. She’d made a rash choice without thinking it through. Typical Citlani.

“There’s more going on here than either of you can possibly understand.” Zolin lunged. His fist connected with Tomás’s face and sent the younger man sailing into the trunk of a tree.

Tomás leapt up as if he hadn’t just body-slammed a tree and snarled. His wolf magick was so close to the surface that Citlani could see it shimmering around him. “She is not your concern,” he growled, his voice somewhere between fury and determination.

He was claiming her?

There hadn’t been a great rush of magick between them. Fate had not spoken in the sex tent. Perhaps there’d been a whisper of something, but Citlani had acted on her own. Hadn’t she? Or had Fate pushed her to the tent? Was Tomás meant to help her all along?

Zolin’s eyes flared. “If she’s going to be your concern, you’re going to have to claim her.”

A mate bond was so much more than a marriage. Sharing souls? She hadn’t planned on that.
Ever.

Citlani didn’t like to touch people, talk to people. Sex had been surprisingly pleasant, but with a mate bond, Tomás would know every deep dark emotion that she kept hidden.

Her mother had taught her to keep everyone at arms length. It was the only way to be safe. Those were the words she heard the woman say every day for nearly thirty years.

Marriage and linking herself to a man was unsafe.

A mate bond made her vulnerable.

T
omás breathed through his unsettled
, pounding pulse. The big stranger was still staring at him, but it was all he could do to keep the wolf leashed.

“If she’s going to be your concern, you’re going to have to claim her,” Zolin said.

Claim her?

Holy shit. But…holy…shit.

Whatever glass had been holding the emotions of the night at bay shattered with those words.

This wasn’t a ceremony anymore. It wasn’t a game.

This was a woman’s life. And his life. The mate bond was…

Tomás reached for the words, but they wouldn’t come.

He’d never been faced with a mate bond before. His father had been preparing him his whole life to recognize it, but he didn’t feel that magick rope in the sex tent. He had felt
something
. Intense attraction. Desire. Passion. But had it been magick?

“I don’t want to be bonded.” Lani’s voice was strong and cut through Tomás’ thoughts like the thunk of a cleaver.

“That settles that.” He crossed his arms and stepped in front of her, glaring at Zolin. “She doesn’t want to be bonded.”

The big warrior looked around on the ground, kicking at dirt and rocks. The moon filtered his movements, making his anger look more surreal.

Tomás moved back a step, putting out his arms. “Don’t worry, I won’t let him hurt you.” He turned slightly to catch her in his peripheral vision, and was surprised to see her edging away.

“He’s not going to hurt
me
,” she hissed.

It took a moment for those words to settle in and Tomás found his wolf at the surface again when he caught her meaning. “You think he’ll hurt me?” He scoffed at the searching man. “Let him try. I’ve got brothers.”

“So does he. And they’re bigger than he is.” Lani continued to take small steps to her right.

“Where is my spear?” Zolin’s voice was almost a growl.

Tomás whipped around to face Lani. Every time he saw her, he was almost speechless at her beauty, and the frame of her face with that dark hair, the amber eyes, the cut-glass cheekbones.

God, she’s gorgeous
.

Wait. What was he just going to say? Was he still high? Fuck. He was still high, wasn’t he?

With gentle hands, he took her by the shoulders. “Listen to me. I’ll fight him again if I have to. I’ve beaten him once. But he’s not going to lay another finger on you. And we’re going to find your mother. I promise you.”

Her eyes went molten, like hot lava on a mountainside, and she cocked her head at him, almost in a question. “We?” Lani’s tone was low and hot, and she took the tiniest of steps toward him.

“Yes. We.” Tomás tried to smile at her, but he just found himself staring into her eyes. They were familiar, like he’d been looking at them his whole life. Was this the magick? Was the passion he felt the magick, as well? Was that what made his blood heat to a burning blaze when he had his hands on her?

“You’ll help me find my mother?”

“I promised, didn’t I?” He felt himself leaning into her, almost able to forget the crashing and thudding behind him. Let Zolin get pissed, and let him make a challenge again. Tomás would fight him, and he would win. He could beat anyone at anything in that moment.

His lips hovered toward hers and she raised her chin just the smallest touch. Tomás took her mouth in a hot kiss and reveled in the soft press of her body against his. He didn’t care if there was another man around; he just wanted to be inside her again.

Her hands found his and moved his fingers onto her breasts. The gesture surprised Tomás and he leaned back from the kiss to find her eyes again.

It felt like a dance, this parry of his and response of hers, but something was off about it. Just when he opened his mouth to speak, he felt a strong hand on his wrist and looked down to see Zolin’s dark fingers gripping him. And gripping Lani. All while she held Tomás’ on her breasts.

He couldn’t move.

With quick-moving lips, Zolin said, “
Chun tú Geallaim mo chroí agus anam go deo
.” Then he closed his eyes and repeated, “
Chun tú Geallaim mo chroí agus anam go deo
.”

Tomás shook his head and tried to move back, but Zolin held him and Lani in place as an invisible cord wrapped around his body and took his breath. He felt a tightening, a binding, then a releasing.

They all stepped back, panting hard. The strangest sensation wound its way around his wrists. When Tomás looked down, he saw the sizzle of green that he recognized from his parents’ skin.

Holy Mary, Mother of God.

He was bonded.