Mark of the Wolf (21 page)

She might watch him die tonight, but she had
to be there anyway. It was all she could do, after all. She owed
him as much.

Chapter 12

The directions led them to an abandoned
warehouse.

The drive had taken longer than she had
anticipated. Davenport wasn’t especially large, but the streets
were all narrow and winding, crisscrossing like a badly-planned
maze, so it had taken a full forty-five minutes to navigate
through. During that time, she had grown increasingly worried. The
moon had started to peek out from behind the trees, and immediately
she had felt a strange, alien power fill the car, an energy that
was static and electrifying. The hair on her arms and neck stood on
end, her skin prickly and cold, her heart racing. Gareth was silent
next to her, but she didn’t have to ask him what the strange energy
was. It was coming from him, and it was dense, powerful, like
sitting in the heart of a fire. She just wanted to get out of the
car, because even though she knew that she could trust him, some
human instinct told her to run. She wasn’t safe here. She was in
the company of a predator, and she could turn into prey as quickly
as he could turn into a wolf.

He parked in the abandoned lot, taking care
to hide his car from the street. The warehouse was surrounded by
scrap metal and looked like it had once been a factory of some
kind, though it had obviously been deserted for a while. Everything
was broken and rusted, including the windows and steel door, which
hung on its hinges. Gareth grabbed her hand the moment they left
the car and kept her close to him, his grip firm and impossible to
break.

They were met at the door by Isak, who had
the same hollow, drawn expression as Gareth’s face. The energy
emitted from him too, though Maddy didn’t feel it quite as
intensely, but the urge to run doubled. Although the two men looked
human, she was now firmly convinced of the fact that they weren’t.
They were wolves, barely concealed by a human exterior, like
someone wearing a costume. When they spoke, their voices were rough
growls, their vocal chords having already Changed.

“
A few minutes longer, and the moon
will be high,” Isak said. “The pack is gathered in the main room.
You should wait inside. I’ll call you when it’s time.”

Gareth nodded. “Good.” He could barely speak
through his elongated teeth. Then he turned to the door, his hand
still firm on her arm, and pulled her inside. Maddy wished that he
didn't have to struggle with her, but her body wasn’t cooperating;
she dug her feet into the ground instinctively. She didn’t want to
go into the building. Something kept telling her that she had to be
suicidal to be there. She would be surrounded by an entire pack of
transformed werewolves. It would be a miracle if she wasn’t torn to
pieces on sight.

But the room was empty when they went in. She
could hear noises, though – growls and yips mingled with the dull
shouts of human voices. It seemed that there were many people in
the building, but they were staying somewhere else, in the “main
room” or whatever Isak had called it. The room they entered was
small, dirty and cramped, full of boxes of trash and a pile of
discarded pipes. She stood on the cement floor, scuffing her shoes,
looking around anxiously. What was she doing in a place like this?
She didn’t belong.

Gareth released her once he was sure the room
was empty, then immediately began pacing. She stood back near the
wall and tried not to draw attention to herself. He seemed bigger,
somehow, though she couldn’t explain why. His presence filled more
space than just his body; it seemed to encompass the entire room, a
wildness that set her teeth on edge. He could leap at her at any
moment. Attack her and rip her to shreds as he had the wolves in
her cabin. She knew he wouldn’t - she was his lifemate, after all -
but her instincts were still overcoming her common sense. She
wanted to hide behind the boxes of junk. Dig a hole and bury
herself. Play dead.

He started pacing. She watched him move,
watched the intensity in his stance as he strode across the floor,
first one way, then the other, taking long strides. He hadn't
bothered to change clothes - he still wore the dark blue jeans and
black t-shirt, hidden beneath a broken-in leather jacket. His hair
was loose, falling wildly around his face, making her fingers itch
to touch it, even after seeing his fierce expression. He looked...
bestial. Savage.

She cleared her throat, wondering if she
should say something. It was their last few minutes before the
fight, after all. She wished he was more approachable, and that she
had the words for this kind of situation. “Are you nervous?” she
finally asked.

He tossed a glance in her direction, and the
glimmering fire in his gaze made her heart skip a beat. His eyes...
the color was changing. Instead of the usual, deep green, they were
taking on a yellow tint. Glowing through the darkened room,
reflecting the light like a cat. It sent shivers down her
spine.

The howling and barking was escalating from
the other room. She wasn't sure how close they were to the place
where the fight would happen, but the cement hallways and corridors
of the empty building rang with the sound of wolf calls. The eerie
sounds drifted to her, unnerving, unnatural. She clenched her
hands, trying to stop them from shaking. If Gareth lost this fight,
then she would be out here in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by
a pack of wild, blood-crazed animals, trapped in an abandoned
building. She could conceivably take Gareth's car, but she didn't
know how to drive.

Her eyes darted to the door. Beyond that
barrier, the dark, open night awaited her. Could she make it if she
caught him by surprise? Make a leap without warning, a quick dash
to freedom. It had never worked in the past, but she couldn't help
but consider it. She knew she owed him to stay, that he needed her
there... but more and more, the man in front of her was changing
into something she couldn't identify. This alien force was not
Gareth, the man she knew. It was a monster. A beast.

Abruptly he stopped pacing, his back to her,
and he raised his head into the air. She heard him inhale deeply,
then let out a short breath, shaking his hair back from his
head.

“
The smell of your fear is a drug,” he
growled, and this time it really was a growl, low in the throat,
rumbling, with hardly a semblance to a human voice. It was a
miracle that she understood him at all. “
God
,” he groaned.

His words made her even more fearful.
Abruptly he turned, his eyes glowing like a predator in the
darkness. It was almost pitch black in the building now - she
couldn't see him clearly, couldn't accurately judge the distance
between them, or whether there were any obstacles on the floor. She
scooted back on the metal cabinet she was sitting on, instinctively
huddling against the wall. There was light flickering from
somewhere, but it was too far away to make much of a
difference.

“
Gareth, you're scaring me,” she said
quietly, her voice quivering. He groaned in response and she heard
his growl, heard the frustration on his breath. He was walking
towards her, prowling through the darkness, stalking
her.

“
I like it when you're scared,” he
murmured, his voice rumbling through her stomach. “I like it when
you shiver, when you sweat....” He let out a moan. “You smell
delicious, Maddy.
God
.
I want to sink my teeth in....”

Maddy felt her insides squirm, and she pushed off of the
metal case she was sitting on, her sneakers hitting the ground with
a dull
thud
.
The eerie howling of the wolves hadn't stopped, and she realized
that the moon must be high in the sky by now. She didn't know much
about werewolf transformations, but it occurred to her that maybe
Gareth was acting this way because his control was close to
slipping. The wolf inside was fighting its way to the surface; she
could see it in his piercing yellow eyes, the way his voice scraped
over her skin.

Every nerve in her body was screaming at her
to run. The wolf in front of her was hungry, and she was the only
thing around on the menu. But she forced herself to stand strong,
to face him in the darkness, feeling his heartbeat as though it was
against her own chest.

Suddenly Gareth surged forward and she
yelped, dodging to one side at the last second. He rammed up
against a pile of scrap metal instead, causing old pipes and sheets
of iron to clatter across the ground, the sound deafening. Maddy
shrieked but then forced a hand over her mouth, backing up into the
darkness, looking around for a place to hide.

“
It doesn't matter, Maddy,” his voice
reached her. “Wherever you go, I will find you.”

“
Stop this!” she cried, louder than
she had intended - fear made her voice strong. “You're freaking me
out, Gareth... snap out of it!”

“
Too late for that, babe,” he murmured
back, and silence fell between them. It was a dark silence, and she
knew he was listening, quite possibly studying her heartbeat and
gaging every minute change in her body. His senses were definitely
more powerful than her own.

The second time he lunged, she wasn't
expecting it. He came from an entirely different direction – she
had thought he was standing to the left of her, but suddenly he
barreled into her from the right, taking her off-guard and tackling
her backwards, his large body rough and heavy. She let out another
scream, this one pure terror, and struck out, trying to hit him or
smack him away. He caught her hands easily; rammed her up against
the cold, cement wall. She winced as the hard stone bit into her
back through her jacket.

He leaned down to her level, his face close,
breathing fiercely through his nose. He was sniffing, scenting her,
inhaling her essence, their foreheads practically touching. She
knew she was sweating and cold with fear, her hands clammy where
they gripped his own. He let out a hot, steamy breath and she
gasped, trying to pull away, but his fingers tightened.

“
Trying to run from me?” he whispered,
his body hovering over hers. He moved his head, dipping it to one
side, nipping the air just above her collar bone. She bit her lip,
trying not to let out the whimper of fear that lodged itself in her
throat. In this position, he could rip out her neck and she
wouldn't be able to do anything to stop him. She had seen him do it
before. His teeth were already fully elongated. The slightest prick
of his canines would draw blood.

“
Please let me go,” she whispered,
unable to speak any louder because she was so terrified.

“
Never,” he murmured back. Then he
leaned his mouth close to her throat, allowing his canines to brush
gently against the skin, directly over her pounding pulse. Despite
her terror, Maddy felt a sudden, inexplicable stab of arousal, a
response to the hot breath that hit her neck. He was so close that
she could smell him now, the spicy scent of cologne and something
deeply masculine.

“
Gareth, please, the fight will start
soon... get control of yourself, stay focused!” she pleaded,
appalled by the whimper in her voice. She shrank farther and
farther against the wall, but he wouldn't let her slip away. His
arms trapped her on either side, blocking any route of
escape.

“
I am focused,” he breathed. “God, I
can hear your blood rushing through your veins... your heart
pounding. I can smell the heat in you.” At this his hand reached
down and gripped her crotch. She gasped, writhing, trying to get
away even as she felt herself grow wet. He chuckled low in his
throat, as though he could sense this reaction too. He leaned in
close then, his lips returning to her ear, feathering ever so
gently against the shell until she moaned.

“
I want to sink my teeth into you,” he
whispered, and her legs almost gave out. “I want to taste you,
Maddy... if only you knew, I would bite down... right here....” His
hand cupped her throat, his fingers playing over her skin,
traveling up to her jaw and then down to her collar bone. Her heart
was beating so fast that she thought it would fly out of her chest.
She couldn't make her mouth work to speak.

“
But where's my manners?” he drawled,
lazily running his tongue over her skin before pulling back. She
sensed that feral smile on him again, and his eyes gazed down at
her, yellow slits in the darkness. “You haven't had a fair chance,
baby. Where's the fun if you can't even experience the
hunt?”

Maddy had no idea what he was referring to until he leaned
down, his lips hovering above hers, not quite touching. “Run,
little girl,” he breathed against her mouth. “I'll give you fifteen
seconds - and you
don't
want me to catch you.”

He released her then, and she stared up at
him, a full five seconds passing as she remembered how to use her
arms and legs. Then his threat registered and she dashed around
him, blindly fumbling around the room, her instincts directing her
to a door on the far side. She slammed through it, gathering her
legs beneath her and springing into a full-on run, sprinting down a
long hallway. Apparently this hadn't been the door to the outside;
instead she found herself traveling deeper and deeper into the
musty warehouse. The full moon glinted through the windows she
passed, casting just enough dim light so she could make out the
floor in front of her – barely.