Mark of the Wolf (5 page)

But then he did finish and his hands stilled
– but he didn’t move away. His face was so close to hers that she
could feel his breath against her cheek. She turned slightly,
meeting his eyes… they were bright green and intense, staring at
her, and she couldn’t read their expression. She didn’t know what
to expect, but a thousand scenarios raced through her mind, all of
which ended in very good ways.

“
You flinch a lot,” he commented,
though his voice was deep and husky, rougher than before. Her
breath caught. She licked her lips nervously — but only then
thought of how that must look.

“
What’s your name?” she asked,
breathless, knowing it was stupid, but she was this close to him
and it seemed like she wouldn’t ever get a straight
answer.

He smiled that slow, sexy smile, where the
corner of his lips barely lifted. Then suddenly his head dipped
forward, and she gasped, his lips very gently pressing against
hers. No, not her lips – the corner of her mouth.

He pulled away, still smiling, and hovered
with his face barely and inch away. She couldn’t breathe.
Everything about him was overpowering her, stealing her senses and
making her weak and trembly. She was hot between her legs, dripping
and probably ruining his sweatpants.

“
Gareth,” he said softly. Then he
leaned towards her again, his mouth claiming hers a second time.
His tongue brushed against her lips, and Maddy froze; she didn’t
know what to do, she had never been kissed before, especially not
with a head wound and wearing some guy’s clothing. She felt like
she might just pass out from all the crazy things happening. But
the kiss was brief, only ending when his teeth – which seemed a bit
sharp, now that she thought about it – nipped her bottom lip. She
gasped in surprise and felt a drop of blood against her skin, a
thin stream running down to her chin.

She pulled away, fear abruptly tightening her
stomach, dismissing all the warm sensations she’d been
experiencing. She wiped her mouth and looked at her hand. It was
bleeding, but not a lot, just like any cut lip would…. He had sat
back as well an was gathering up his medical supplies, as though
nothing had happened.

He glanced at her. “I’ve been thinking of
that for a while now,” he said, humor in his eyes again.

She didn’t know what to think or what to say.
She just stared at him. He had kissed her – twice – and she had
never been kissed before. She had fantasized about this moment
plenty of times, but somehow she had never thought it would happen
like this. Somehow she felt… unsatisfied.

“
I should really be going to school
now,” she said, and was surprised by the husky sound of her own
voice.

He stood up and casually headed for the door.
“Your clothes should be done by now. I’ll show you to the car in a
moment.”

“
I’d rather walk, thank you,” she
sniffed, glaring in his direction. She felt a little taken
advantage of. He couldn't just cook her breakfast and kiss her
whenever he wanted, and then drive her to school. He acted as
though he owned her — as though they had always been this
way.

He glanced back. “I’ll show you to the car in
a moment,” he said again, and left the room.

Maddy stared after him, her mouth agape, then
her eyes narrowed. The bastard! What the hell did he want with her?
It was all so right, yet all so wrong. They shouldn’t be kissing,
and he should be way more obvious about his intentions so she could
at least make a decision! She couldn't tell if he was using her or
just being really, really sweet.

She glanced at the window again, but
dismissed the idea. Alright, she’d let him drive her to school, but
that was it. After that she’d stop talking to him. She wanted her
life to be normal, not even more fucked up.

“
Jerk,” she muttered, and stood up
carefully, needing to hold onto the wall to steady herself. Well,
at least now she knew his name. After seven years, it was about
time.

She left the room in search of her clothes.
Time to fix this mess and get on with her life.

Chapter 3

They had seen it. It had been hard to get a
clear view through the window, but the Mark was impossible to
mistake. Tony could recognize it immediately: the slight nip, the
sudden blossom of blood from her lips. It was a sign of
Claiming.

“
We need to tell Kane of this
immediately,” he said, turning and walking back towards his
car.

“
Maybe it’s a mistake. She’s human,
after all – wolves only mate with wolves.”

“
You’re an idiot if you believe that,
Gordy,” he replied. “If wolves only mate with wolves, then why do
we have a half-breed problem?”

“
Well….”

It was true. A wolf claiming a human as a
lifemate was rare, but it did occur, and it seemed that Gareth had
found his lifemate in this girl. It was dangerous — technically, it
meant he could start his own pack, and they didn't need more
competition in the area. The girl was young but she could still be
made into an Alpha; it was normal in the feral world to take
younger mates, and this was no exception. He moved and got into the
car, Gordy sliding into the passenger seat. He rummaged through his
glove compartment until he found the cell phone, then hit speed
dial. There was shaky reception out here in the mountains, but at
least he got a signal.

“
What’ll ya think Kane’ll do about
her?” Gordy asked, chuckling evilly.

“
We’re about to find out, dumbass,” he
replied. The phone picked up on the second ring. A gruff voice met
his ear, with the slight twang of a Southern drawl.

“
What?” the phone crackled.

“
We’re reporting a problem. It seems
that our friend has found a lifemate. It’s a human.”

There was a brief pause, but only brief.
“Kill her.”

“
As I thought, Alpha,” the man
replied.

“
I want to know the job is done,” he
growled, then the line went dead. Tony sat back, trying to hide the
shaking in his hands as he shut the phone. Kane was a rough and
violent Alpha, but it was necessary – survival demanded
it.

“
So what’s the plan?” Gordy asked. The
shorter man was getting comfy with a box of leftover French
fries.

“
You have to ask?” Tony growled.
“We’ll wait until she’s alone… then we finished her
off.”

Gordy giggled, a somewhat disturbing sound,
given the circumstances. But then again, Gordy had always been a
little off. “Sounds like today’s gonna be a good day,” he
grinned.

Tony turned back to the house, watching as
their target left through the front door, heading towards a rusty
Camaro that sat in the weedy front drive. “Indeed,” he
murmured.

* * * *

Maddy was not happy. Sure, her clothes were clean and fresh
smelling, but they smelled like
him
. His detergent, his house, his air. And she had
just remembered that she had a math test today. It was only 10am,
not late enough to have missed class, which was in the afternoon.
Fuck.

“
I don’t have my backpack,” she
grumbled.

“
You’ll be fine,” he replied.
“Remember your story?”

“
Yeah.” She didn’t understand all the
reasons why she couldn’t bring Gareth into the situation, but she
figured it made sense; it would just mean more questioning for him,
and he had done nothing but help her so far. She would get to
school, go to class, probably get sent to the principal the moment
a teacher saw her….

But on the bright side, at least she could
get on with her life. There really was no other choice, no matter
how tempting it might be to play dead.

He opened the car door for her. A small
gesture, but one she couldn’t help but notice. For all his
stoicism, he treated her with kindness, and it made her heart
flutter. Then there was that business with the kissing… she
couldn’t figure it out, but ever since that nip on the lips, her
body had begun acting strangely. She couldn’t keep her eyes off
him. He moved, and she felt a tug deep in her gut, a warmth and
wetness that soaked the area between her legs. She couldn’t help
it, and she certainly didn’t know how to stop it. She just hoped he
would wash those old sweatpants before inspecting them too
closely.

She slid into the cracked leather seats of
the Camaro and he climbed in on the other side, slamming the door
and revving up the engine. It roared to life, louder than she had
expected, but other than that it ran fine. He pulled out of his
overgrown front drive and into the narrow street, and she watched
him drive, watched his tan arms and the muscles on his chest. He
was wearing sunglasses. It made her nervous – she didn’t know if he
was looking at her or not.

“
So uh… I’ll just go home after this,”
she started talking. This might be the last time she saw him, and
she couldn’t imagine going back to her cabin alone, nor did she
know where else she could go. Those men might be dead, killed by
some lucky animal attack, but that didn’t mean her house was safe.
And her father hadn’t tried to contact her. Either he thought she
was dead and selling off all of her stuff, or he wasn’t back yet,
which probably meant he was still hiding from the same bastards
that had tried to abduct her. A shiver went through her body, and
she felt abruptly sick.

She glanced at Gareth, taking in his perfect
profile, and she rubbed her thighs together, trying to ignore the
responding sliver of heat. She absentmindedly licked her lips,
tasting the cut.

“
Anyway, thanks a lot for your help, I
guess I owe you my life… probably more than once,” she laughed
weakly, unsure of what else to say. She wanted to ask him why he
did these things for her, but that seemed to be an awkward question
given the circumstances. She opened her mouth. “So I guess I’ll
just see you around town and all that, you know, stop in at the
store if you need anything, I’ll see if I can get you a discount on
whatever, you know, supplies you need…” she laughed nervously. Wow,
that wasn't obvious. Her words started to flow faster. “I guess you
work at a garage around here? I saw the oil on your shirt this
morning – uh – yeah, cuz I don’t have a car, and so I wouldn’t know
much about the garages around here. I know there’s one
downtown….”

He wasn’t taking the bait. She knew she was
rambling, her mouth running off with her, but this was probably
going to be her only chance to talk to him. She wanted to say as
much as possible, even if it stopped making sense after a while.
She wondered if she was being obvious. Probably.

They stopped at a red light. Only three
blocks to her school. Her heart began to race. “Well I might get a
car at some point, you know, I think I might get promoted soon to
like assistant manager or something, so that way I could afford it,
but I like your car, I think it fits you, well not that I know much
about you, but I’ve seen it in your driveway before and it runs way
better than I thought it would – well, shit, I didn’t mean it like
that – and it’s not like I walk by your house often or anything,
it’s just by chance you know-“

Abruptly he moved. Her words cut off mid
sentence, and he leaned over, pushing his lips against hers.
Shocking. He was kissing her, using only his lips, but damn his
mouth was soft – and she couldn’t help but respond. Her entire body
heated up, hot and trembling, warm and desperately wet. His tongue
touched her lips, a light caress. She couldn’t breathe. His stubble
brushed her chin.

Then he pulled away, restarted the engine
because the car had stalled, and drove through the green light.

She sat in her seat, shocked and breathless,
her lips stinging. The place between her legs felt hot and swollen,
needy, and she couldn’t sit comfortably. Her breasts ached – her
nipples were hard and pressed uncomfortably against her bra. Damn,
what had he done to her? This wasn’t natural, it couldn’t be. She
was a virgin, and virgins didn’t know shit about sex – she was not
supposed to be this turned on! And especially not by him!

They drove the rest of the way in silence.
Maddy stared resolutely out the window, playing with a lock of
auburn hair, pulling and tugging at her uneven bangs. She glanced
in the mirror, trying to straighten her hair the best she could.
She tried to calm down as the gray buildings of her high school
came into view. Just another day at school. Just another day… even
if the whole town thought she was dead.

He pulled up alongside the front of the
school. Everything was silent and empty since class was currently
in session. She had to force her hands to unbuckle her seatbelt. It
felt strange arriving at school but with no backpack or supplies.
Just her and her dirty old jacket… which was now clean and warm,
thanks to the man next to her.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her
eye. He was sitting back, one arm leaned against the door, turned
slightly to look at her. But his sunglasses were still on, so she
couldn’t be sure of what he was thinking. That smile curved his
lips, the one that made her toes curl.

“
I’ll pick you up at three?” he said
casually, all confidence. He was far more sexy than he could
possibly know. She wondered if he was doing it on purpose. Guys his
age… could they read a girl easily? Did they know what strings to
pull? She wished she knew, and she wished she had more experience
to show him. Instead she just turned into a sniveling idiot every
time he kissed or touched her.