Rogue Alpha: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 1) (12 page)

Chapter Eighteen

“No way. No fucking way.” Mal stormed through the
cabin. He’d knocked chairs over, broken a mason jar in the kitchen, and kicked
a rug across the room.

“Mal, it’s a solid plan. You
need
me to do
this. You said so yourself.”

“What I
need
is for you to do what I say.”

I folded my arms in front of me. “Is that how this
works now? We’re mated so I have to follow your every command? Fuck that, Mal.
I didn’t sign up for that.”

He was on me in one quick stride. He curled his
fingers around my shoulders and jerked me forward, not hard, but forceful
enough to get my attention. He crushed his lips to mine and kissed me. Heat
rose within me as my body responded to his. God, even when he was unreasonable,
I wanted him so badly now, and he knew it. He could use my own urges against
me. Part of me wanted him to.

Yeah. He had me. The mark at the back of my neck
flared hot to match the pulsation lower down. It had been several hours since
I’d first told him about my idea. I’d been fighting the need to throttle him
for being obstinate and wanting to let him bend me over the table and fuck my
brains out.

“You know it’s a good idea. The best one we’ve got.”

“We? This is my fight, Laura. Me and Asher.”

I flapped my hands and smacked them against my
thighs. A fairly ineffective gesture, as I was wearing one of Mal’s flannel
shirts. It hung down almost to my knees and my hands disappeared inside it. I
had the fleeting thought that after all of this, I hoped life with Malcolm
Devane included a washer and dryer.

“Right. But in case you forgot, my name is mixed up
in all of this. I figure the best way to fix that is to get rid of Asher. Once
Flood doesn’t have his protection, I’m thinking you and the rest of the pack
can . . . uh . . . exert some influence over that fucker and get him to change
his story.”

Mal reared back, staring blankly at the wall. He
opened and closed his mouth like a fish. Then, he fixed his eyes back on me and
smirked. “Okay. That part is actually not a half bad idea. The rest of it
though? Laura, I am not letting you march back to that camp.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly talking about marching. I
was thinking sneaky, a little more stealth-like.”

His raised brow didn’t exactly instill confidence.

“Mal, come on. You said you needed to know Asher’s
movements without getting close enough where he can track you. Well, I can do
that. I told you. We tag Luke and set him free. He leads us straight to Asher
and shazam, element of surprise.”

I crossed my arms in front of me and leaned against
the wall. Mal shook his head and pressed his thumb into his eye, rubbing hard.

“I hate it,” he muttered.

I smiled. “You hate that I’m right.”

He growled, but the fight had gone out of him. I
pushed myself off the wall and went to him, sliding my arms around his waist.
As I pressed myself against him, I felt the slow rise of his erection against
my stomach. An answering heat flared within me.

“Is that ever going to stop?” I asked, starting to
lose the ability to think straight. Before I even knew what I was doing, I
dropped to my knees in front of him and worked on the button of his jeans. “I
mean. Mal, I want you
all
the time.”

His erection sprang free before me, huge and hard.

He laughed, low and sexy. “It’s going to be urgent
like this for a few weeks, probably. It’s called the Rise. It eases when we
mate and I mark you again and again. I’m sorry if it’s torture for you, but I
gotta say I sure as hell don’t mind.”

I slapped his ass, but the fight had gone out of me
too. Mal knew what we needed to do and recognized it as the best plan he was
likely to get. Smiling, I gently gripped the base of his cock and drew my lips
over his shaft. He ran his fingers through my hair and pulled me down the
length of him. I looked up at him just as he threw his head back in ecstasy as
I started to suck.

Torture. Delicious torture. If that’s what being
marked by my Alpha meant, I sure as hell didn’t mind either.

***

We left at just after midnight. Luke was in a deep
sleep, tied up by the hearth. Mal gauged the rest of the pack likely slept now
too. It afforded us the cover of darkness, plus I knew Flood and the others
would have turned in for the night as well.

Mal had a Range Rover of his own hidden deeper in
the woods. We drove in silence back to the G.L.U. outpost, my heart beating a
wild rhythm the entire time. I’d fought so hard to convince Mal to try my plan,
but now that we were actually doing it, my confidence leached out of me.

I didn’t want to ever see Flood again. Asher had a
pack of werewolves looking to trap me and kill me slow. Mal reached across the
console and squeezed my hand, sensing my apprehension.

“I’ll be everywhere, Laura. If anything happens, you
won’t even have to scream. I’ll know you’re in trouble.”

“And you’ll keep watch while I go in?”

“You bet your ass I will. You take the keys. I’ll be
able to sense more if I shift. When it’s time to high-tail it out of there, you
drive.”

“Got it. Your paws probably wouldn’t reach the
pedals.”

He chuffed a growl and squeezed my hand again. I
meant to crack another joke, anything to still the wildness of my heart, but we
made the last turn to the trail leading up to the outpost. Mal killed the
lights and the engine. We decided it was better to leave the Range Rover hidden
and go in on foot.

I gave Mal a nod and quietly stepped out of the car,
closing the door behind me, careful not to slam it. Mal stepped out and peeled
off his clothes, folding them neatly and placing them in the back seat. He came
around the car and stood in front of me. Under a half moon, his eyes glinted. I
reached up and ran my hands along his shoulders, marveling still at his form,
even now. He leaned down and kissed me quick.

“Nothing fancy,” he said. “You go to the lab, get
what you need, and get out. You see anyone, anyone at all, you run. You can’t
trust Cam or anyone else there. You know that, right? No matter what they might
say to you.”

I nodded. “I get it. I’m on my own.”

Mal closed his fingers around my wrists and pulled
me to him, his eyes flashed fiercely. “No. You are not. You have me. You’ll
never be alone again.”

Warmth flooded me as his strong heartbeat rose to
match mine. He dropped my wrists and stepped back. He let out a hard breath and
looked toward the moon. Then, his body dropped and shifted with speed and power
that took my breath away. The black wolf stood before me. He lowered his head
once then tore off into the woods.

“Right,” I said to no one. “Time to get her done.”

I squared my shoulders and took the first steps
toward the cabins.

Chapter Nineteen

The camp was dark and quiet. I didn’t dare walk
through the main thoroughfare. Instead, I kept to the woods, fighting brambles
and sticks. Mal circled around me, panting. Energy hummed through his body and
seemed to transmit to mine. He was keyed up but exhilarated. I understood
exactly why. We were doing something. Trying to take charge of a situation that
had us both pinned down for days. He ran ahead, cutting a zig-zag path through
the woods making sure the coast was clear. Only the humming crickets and the
occasional hooting owl remarked on our progress.

My heart beat in my throat as I stepped out of the
relative safety of the brush and entered the main compound. I pressed my back
flat against the mess hall cabin. All the lights in the camp were dark except
for a yellow flicker coming from one of the cabins at the opposite end from
where I stood. I knew it housed a few of the grad students from another school.
Flood’s cabin and Cam’s were completely dark. I’d have to pass right in front
of Flood’s cabin to get where I needed to go. Even with Mal prowling nearby,
cold terror flooded my veins.

The black Jeep was parked back in front of the lab
cabin. My heart fluttered when I saw it. I hoped Flood and the cops figured I
was long gone by now. Mal worried we might be running into a trap if the rangers
decided to put people in place to watch the camp. But, the grounds looked as
isolated as ever. Good for me, bad for Asher.

Taking a steeling breath, I moved between the
cabins, ducking low if I passed by a dark window. A pair of yellow eyes flashed
across the thoroughfare from the deepest part of the woods. This time, they
gave me comfort and renewed confidence. Mal was here and I wasn’t alone.

When I came to the lab, I stopped. Peering through
the window, I couldn’t see a thing. The place was pitch dark and empty. For the
first time since I came up with the plan, I started to feel bold. I looked back
toward Mal and gave him a slow nod. He receded deeper into the woods; he wanted
to circle the perimeter to make sure none of Asher’s pack were on the move.

I tried the door and found the lab locked. I
expected this. Luckily, I still had the key Flood gave me when we first came
out here. I felt my way along the door jamb and found the keyhole. I slipped my
key into the lock and turned it gently. The door opened soundlessly and I
stepped inside. I crouched low, planning to crawl through the lab with the
small Maglite Mal gave me between my teeth. That way, if anyone walked by or
looked toward the lab from their window, they wouldn’t see me or the bobbing
light within.

I felt my way along the cold, steel tables. We kept
the deer tags and tracking devices in the back. I hoped to God Flood hadn’t
used them all. We’d tagged fifteen fawns and had twenty microchips. Five to
spare. My fingers closed around the metal handle to the drawer where we kept
the equipment. Slowly, I opened it, pointing the flashlight straight down.

Jackpot! Flood may have been a lecherous asshole,
but his touch of O.C.D. came in handy tonight. All five microchip kits neatly
lined the bottom of the drawer. I grabbed two of them and put them carefully in
my backpack. That was the easy part. I closed the drawer, lifting it from the
bottom to keep it from noisily scraping against the sides. Next, I needed to
find one of the laptops. There were five of them as well. Flood had issued one
to me, one to Cam, and used one himself. The other two he kept in storage for
backup. I prayed he wouldn’t notice one missing. If he did, he was smart enough
to piece together who might have taken one and what I was up to. I had no idea
how much contact he and Asher maintained. But, if Asher came back here and told
Flood that Luke was AWOL, we were sunk.

I walked back to the large metal storage locker at
the back of the room. Flood may have had a touch of O.C.D., but it didn’t mean
he wasn’t careless. He never kept the thing locked. I pulled up on the metal
handle, sliding the latch to the side. I got the door open an inch before I
remembered the horrific screeching noise the rusted hinges always made when we
swung the door open. I froze, crouching low.

Shit. There was no way to get the thing open all the
way without the screech. Sticking the flashlight between my teeth again, I slid
my hand into the gap I’d made. The laptops were on the middle shelf. I reached
back, holding the door steady as my fingers felt along the shelf until I could
find the outline of one of the thin, 11-inch notebooks. Carefully, I lifted it,
turning it sideways so I could fit it through the gap in the door.

I just had to hope the thing was fully charged.
Mal’s cabin had no electricity. The laptops had eleven hours of battery life.
Once I had the laptop in my pack, I reached into the locker again and felt
around for the extra battery packs we kept, hoping between those and the juice
in the laptop itself, we’d have all the time we needed. If worst came to worst,
I could rig something to charge it from the Range Rover’s battery.

Taking a deep breath, I closed the locker door
gently and zipped up my pack. Almost over. I heard laughter outside and my
heart froze. I clicked off the flashlight. With the sparse moonlight, I still
had enough light to avoid crashing into any of the tables as I crawled along
the floor and headed for the front door. I wished to God this place had another
exit. Unless I wanted to chance crawling out the window, I’d have to wait until
whoever was out there walked by. Unfortunately, the riskiest part of this plan
was yet to come. I’d have to pass by Flood’s cabin one more time to get to the
woods and the meeting point Mal set up.

I heard more giggling and the rustling of clothes. I
crept up and peered out the bottom of the window. Two of the grad students from
the other school leaned up against the side of the mess hall where the shadows
were darkest. Bad news, they were two potential witnesses if I couldn’t make it
out quietly. Good news, they were both currently more interested in making out
than anything else going on around them.

I stayed low to the ground hopefully out of their
line of sight as I exited the lab and made my way out of the camp. There was
only Flood’s cabin up ahead then the great expanse of the forest beyond it.
Now, that forest meant safety.
Home
.

The thought flared in my mind unbidden. Home. Up
until a few days ago, I still half thought of Green Bluff, California as home.
My family. My parents. My brothers and sisters. I hadn’t really seen any of
them in almost eight months. I loved them. They were part of me. But I’d left
so much of that behind. Coming from a family of nine, I’d been raised to be
independent. As we all got older, we could go for months, even years in some
cases without seeing one another. But, family was family, and the bond was
still strong. An ache filled my heart when I thought about what my parents must
be going through if they’d heard any of the accusations thrown at me. With my
phone dead, I had no idea if they’d even tried to contact me.

The ache in my heart turned to rage as I got closer
to Flood’s cabin. Doubt started to creep in as well. If we managed to get the
tracker embedded in Luke’s skin, if we had enough battery life and luck, we’d
be able to see where Luke went. It was a good plan but based on a lot of those
what-ifs. The biggest piece scared me the most. Once Mal figured out where
Asher was holed up, what then? Even with Luke injured, it would still be four
strong werewolves against just Mal. God, for the first time, I
wished
his mark would turn me. Maybe then I could be strong enough to fight by his
side. The thought of harm coming to him made my blood turn cold. He’d warned me
Asher might not stop trying to hurt me. That I could take sanctuary at Wild
Lake. But, the idea of not having Mal by my side tore at me. Now that I’d taken
him into my heart, I flat out couldn’t imagine going back to a life without
him. It had happened so fast, so intensely, and yet, I knew it was real.

Another idea sprang up in my mind. Maybe there was a
way. He had to try to take out Asher without hurting any of the rest of his
pack. Just like the microchip trackers, there might be an answer right here
under my nose.

The tranquilizer guns.

I knew I was a good enough shot to use them. But Mal
would have to agree to let me get close enough to do it. I knew exactly how
much he’d hate the idea, just like this one.

I was thirty yards from the edge of the forest with
only Flood’s quiet cabin between me and relative safety. Mal stepped into view,
his eyes flashing, his dark fur raised along his back. I looked back to Flood’s
cabin. He kept the dart guns with him, claiming it was a liability issue with
the university. He couldn’t store them in a common area.

Before I even knew what I was doing, I stepped onto
the porch of Flood’s cabin. Mal let out a low growl of warning. I felt his
pulse quicken, thundering between my ears. But, there was no time. I was here.
Just a few feet away from what might be our best chance to stop Asher and Flood
once and for all. The side of Flood’s building shielded me from the students
making out across the thoroughfare. But, if Mal came out of the woods, he would
be in their direct line of sight. I was the only one with a quick chance of
grabbing the dart guns and getting the hell out of here.

I peered through the window. Flood slept in the
center of his bed, face down, snoring. I could see the long tranquilizer gun
leaning against the far wall. He kept a box of darts behind it. It was so
close. Flood stirred, snorting in his sleep, but he didn’t wake.

Carefully, I turned the latch to his door. A flash
of white caught my eye as Mal bared his teeth and started to walk slowly toward
me. I put a hand up and pressed my lips together. I gestured one minute with my
raised index finger and opened Flood’s door the rest of the way. Mercifully, it
didn’t creak. But, I had to close it behind me to keep it from slamming shut.
Now, I was alone in the room with Flood. If he woke. If he came after me,
there’d be no way to get out of this without Mal ripping his throat out and
then everyone would know where we were and what we’d come for.

On second thought, maybe this was a colossally bad
idea.