Haunted Wolves: Green Pines, Book 2 (18 page)

“She’s here.” Kaley wrapped her arms around her midsection. “When I was lost—no, when I was dying. I saw her.”

Zack stared, unblinking, and Eden rose into the silence, her voice trembling. “You saw Kathy? How did you know it was her?”

“Pictures.” But Kaley wouldn’t look at her, wouldn’t look at anyone. “I’ve seen Zack’s pictures.”

Clenching her hands, Eden turned to Sasha. “She’s not the only one who’s seen a ghost. Jay did too, and he
wasn’t
dying. Could the ghosts be real?”

The redhead flashed her an apologetic smile. “I don’t believe in ghosts, exactly, but I believe in energy and magic. If you put the two together in certain ways, you could definitely get what some would think of as an earthbound ghost or spirit.”

Zack closed his eyes. “Is it over now? With whatever-the-hell spell you just did?”

“It’s gone,” she confirmed. “It can’t hurt anyone else.”

“All right.” He took a deep breath before turning to look at Lorelei. Not just her, but Mae and Kaley, who stood clustered behind her. “They invited me to go up to Red Rock for a few months. Dylan thinks they can help put me back together a little less crazy. I want to go.”

“Then you should,” Lorelei whispered. Having him gone and getting well would be better than having him around and miserable. Colin squeezed her hand, and she leaned against him.

Mae’s voice came from behind them. “Jay and Eden will take care of us. We want you, Zack. We always want you. But you don’t need to stay for the pack. Just promise you’ll come home when you get better.”

He tried to smile, but it looked painful, as if even that effort threatened to snap him in two. “When I’m better,” he agreed, and Lorelei couldn’t tell if he believed that day would ever come, but she saw something new in that tortured gaze, something that hadn’t been there as long as she’d known him.

Hope.

“We’ll manage here,” Kaley told him. Her smile was easy, bright, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “We’ll be more than okay.”

“I know you will.” Zack’s focus shifted, narrowed, and suddenly the rest of them didn’t exist. He only saw Kaley, and he stared like he was fixing her in his mind, the last sip of water before a long trek through barren land. “You’ll be good. You’ll be happy.”

“Yeah.” She slipped her hand free of Mae’s and took a step back, followed by another. Finally, she turned and tossed a wave over her shoulder as she headed for the house.

Eden bustled into the awkward silence, bright-eyed and forcibly upbeat. As she hugged her half-brother, Colin drew Lorelei aside, a wary, almost nervous look in his eyes. “Are you upset?”

“I should be, maybe, but I think this is for the best.” Before they lost Zack in a much more painful way.

“I do too.” Colin’s arms folded around her, and she could hear the relief in his voice. Intense relief, as if she’d answered more than one question. “You haven’t seen how he acts with Dylan. The man knows everything to say, when to push and when to back off. Maybe the other people in Red Rock will too.”

She nodded, but all she really wanted was to be away from there, not thinking about how far they’d come…and how far they had left to go. “You promised me a run.”

“Now?” He eyed the surrounding crowd. Mae had already disappeared into the house after Kaley, and Fletcher had crouched next to Stella to help her gather supplies. Jay and Shane had joined the knot around Zack, and once Dylan rose to his feet, Eden pounced on him. “I suppose everyone will be fine without us for a little while.”

“They will.” Lorelei tugged him away from the circle, toward the woods. “
Colin.
”

He paused, but only long enough to make eye contact with Jay. Their alpha inclined his head, and Colin smiled and hurried his pace, until
he
was pulling
her
.

Lorelei broke free of his grasp. She needed to feel the wind in her hair and then her fur. No thinking, no doubt or pain. To run, away from the past or toward the future.

To be free.

She took off, trusting him to follow.

Chapter Twelve

Running through the woods on two legs was exhilarating.

Running on four was peace.

The autumn chill didn’t bother him, not with crisp leaves crunching beneath his paws and Lorelei running at his side. She was a beautiful wolf, sleek and quick, and this was the first time he’d gotten to run with her. Before he’d run behind her or beside her, but always surrounded by pack, always a part of the whole.

Tonight their pack had constricted to two, and he felt the responsibility and the joy and not one shred of fear.

Lorelei separated just long enough to circle a tree before crossing in front of him with a teasing, jubilant
yip
. He growled and snapped his teeth together just short of her tail, daring her to run.

She did—faster than he’d seen during the last two full moons. Without holding back for the others, she sailed through the night, unfettered.

Unclaimed.

Not for long.

The wolf rose, not just joining but consuming him. So rarely did he feel complete in this skin—one being with one purpose. Magic pulsed in the night, the tickle of the distant wards that protected them and the lingering buzz from the earlier spell, but none of it pounded through him with a strength comparable to his desire as he plunged through the undergrowth, reckless in his pursuit.

No need to be cautious. Not tonight, in their territory. Not tonight, with his—

Mate.

Adrenaline flooded him, and he threw back his head and howled.

Lorelei disappeared into a thicket ahead, a dark area of the woods where the pines stood so thick on the ground that their branches blocked out the light. When he followed, the damp earth beneath his paws was bare of everything but moss and ferns, his quarry nowhere in sight.

She wanted a chase, and he was more than willing to catch her.

Lowering his nose to the ground, he inhaled the scents of the woods and picked out the intoxicating thread that was Lorelei. It led deeper into the thicket, where a sudden surge of magic had him jerking his head to the left.

She stepped out from behind a tree, naked and on two human legs. “You found me.”

With his blood pounding, it took longer to shift than it should have, even with the breathtaking vision of a naked Lorelei to hurry him. The wolf wasn’t ready to relinquish its hold or its hunt, and he shuddered through pain that left him crouched and panting, feral hunger seething under his skin.

“I found you,” he rasped, staring up at her.

She returned his stare for a moment, then raked her gaze over his body. “You’re looking at me like you’re going to eat me alive.”

That would be a start. “Come over here and find out.”

“Mmm.” She bit her lip and shook her head slowly. “Not so easy. Not this time.”

Then she ran again.

Hope of a slow seduction vanished along with most of his higher thought processes. He couldn’t remember lurching to his feet, but he plunged through the trees after her, his pulse pounding in his ears.

The pounding echoed his footsteps, faster and faster, as he chased her, following the quick flashes of pale skin through the trees. He lost sight of her, whirled around—

And there she stood against a tree, her chest heaving.

Colin covered the three paces between them in a slow stalk, giving her time to watch his approach. Time to bolt.

Instead, she opened her arms and reached for him.

He caught her wrists and guided them to the tree above her head as he pressed his body to hers, skin on skin and the sweet scent of her twisting around him as he lowered his mouth to hover over hers. “Caught you.”

Her gaze locked on his mouth, and she licked her lips. “Yes.”

He followed the path of her tongue with his own and reveled in the shuddering breath she drew. “Draw your line, sweetheart.”

Her wrists flexed in his hands. “I don’t have any left.”

His heart lurched in his suddenly tight chest. “At all, or for me?”

“No.” She laughed gently. “I have more lines than ever. But not here, and not with you.”

No, not lurching. Exploding. Pain wrenched through him, sharp and abrupt, like something broken being snapped into place. Her trust made him worthy, and her need made him whole. No words could encompass what she’d given him with that lighthearted laugh, so he didn’t try to summon any.

He just kissed her.

Lorelei opened, parting her lips to meet his tongue, and melted against him, the soft lines of her body molding to the harder planes of his. He licked her lips, licked her tongue, drowned in kissing her until they were both breathless.

“I
could
eat you alive,” he whispered, dragging his mouth to her throat. “So many places I want to put my mouth.”

She tilted her head with a moan, baring the delicate arch of her neck. “You’ve already made me wait too long.”

He slid both hands under her ass and hoisted her until his hips fit hers, his cock slicking against welcoming heat and the proof that she was burning as hot as he. “You’re wet,” he rasped. “Not as wet as you will be.”

Her feet slid over the backs of his legs as she clawed his shoulders, and her hips thrust against his. “Now.”

“No.” He bit her throat instead, growled his satisfaction against ravaged skin.

The sharp bite of her nails subsided into soft, teasing caresses, and she nuzzled his temple. “Last time, I was so hungry, I had to touch myself.” She slipped one hand between them. “Want me to show you?”

The only thing he wanted more was to be inside her when she started, but he got a chokehold on his self-control and grinned at her. “Silly question.”

She froze, her expression soft and wondering. “Your eyes turn gold sometimes when you look at me,” she whispered. “Did you know that?”

“No.” It was a struggle not to close his eyes, not to try to hide how close he was to the edge. “You rile up my instincts, love. You always have.”

“Love,” she echoed, brushing her thumb over his cheek. “Let me feel it.”

He seized her thumb between his teeth and rocked against her again. “Feel what?”

“All that instinct.” She caught her breath. “Show me what it means.”

Reason slipped through his fingers. He’d wanted to go slowly with her. To be careful, to be gentle, to woo and cherish and be the hero he thought she wanted. But his body ached and the woman who had gone so pliantly soft against him wasn’t begging for his control.

Hoisting her higher, he tormented them both with the slide of his shaft over her clit before bending his head to suck one nipple between his lips.

She responded with a stifled cry. “Harder.” Her fingers tangled in his hair, holding him close, and he plied the hardened peak with his tongue, growling.

Then he thrust into her.

She went tense in his arms, but only for the span of a heartbeat. When she relaxed and opened her eyes, the usual blue was shining gold in the dim moonlight.

“You feel it too,” he whispered, savoring the way she wrapped around him. “More than bodies. More than people.”

“Colin.” As much a plea as an answer. She slipped her arms around his neck and clung to him, and there was nothing to do but answer her with another thrust, too fast, too abrupt, but so good.

The wolf agreed. A growl rumbled in his ears, his own, as instinctive as the need to bury his face against her throat and savor her trusting submission. So open to him, so hungry and willing, and he wanted her in his bed next time, under him, surrounded by his body and his scent and utterly and completely—

“Mine.”

Her moan turned into something desperate, animal, a wordless demand for
more
. She arched into his next thrust, meeting him with a snap of her hips and her teeth in his shoulder. He snarled and encouraged her with a bite of his own, closing teeth over her pulse as he drove deep.

“Colin!” His name shuddered out of her, strained and low.

No time for finesse. He gripped her hips and angled them so he could grind against her clit. “Louder. I want to hear you come.”

She shuddered again. Her head hit the tree as she arched, tense and silent, a coil wound too tightly. Tiny tremors shivered through her, the teasing warning of her release.

“Let go,” he whispered, and she did, her heart thundering as she came, clenching around his cock. The bliss of it dragged him toward the edge, but he fought back the haze long enough to fix her face in his mind—slack and relieved, full lips parted on a silent cry.

Beautiful. His.

She opened her eyes—glazed, still hungry, and shadowed by something predatory. Possessive. “Yes.”

Pleasure drove his eyes shut as he sank into her. Shorter thrusts, harder, each punctuated by a growled grunt and her helpless gasps, each winding him tighter and hotter until
he
was the spring, coiled and dangerous. Nothing would feel better than shattering to pieces, buried inside her.

Inside her.

Hell.

With his final scrap of conscious thought, he jerked free of her body, but it was too late to stop the inevitable. Groaning, he buried his face against her throat as release pulsed through him.