Rogue Alpha: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 1) (9 page)

Chapter Thirteen

I don’t think I had a conscious thought about what
direction to go. It was like my feet seemed to know where to carry me. I
couldn’t sense Mal like I had when I left the cabin, and yet he seemed to call
to me, like a beacon. Faint, but still powerful. I just hoped he’d be willing
to help me when I did find him. And I hoped I could make it there before one of
Asher’s pack found me first.

I don’t know how long I ran. Long enough that my
legs started to feel numb. Long enough that my throat went dry as sandpaper.
Each breath I took stabbed through my lungs as my heart kept racing.

But no one seemed to give chase. If the rangers
noticed the Jeep parked in their lot, they hadn’t charged after me in the
woods. Absurd. Insane. How could anyone think that I was guilty of the things
Flood told them about me? Cam knew the truth. Had every single moment of what I
thought was friendship been a lie? Sure, he’d brought me back to the camp when
I wanted to go, but he knew the truth, didn’t he? Did he hate me so much he’d
let Flood ruin me like this? The moment I thought it, the answer settled in my
gut, forming a cold pit. Of course Cam hadn’t stood up for me. He covered his
own ass and his own future. His future was directly tied to Flood’s. Well, mine
wasn’t. Not anymore.

It was hard to think of anything more than the few
minutes, few seconds ahead of me. I had no allies in the world except maybe the
only one that mattered. I just hoped I could make it to Mal before it was too
late. What if he hadn’t gone back to the cabin? I pushed back the icy fingers
of panic threatening to weigh me down. I’d gotten this far. Whatever happened,
I’d find a way to deal. With each step I took I went deeper into the thick
woods. I left the ranger station and everything familiar far behind. In some
ways, it seemed like I’d been surrounded by these woods forever. My old life
was gone. What lay in front of me, no matter what, would never be the same.

I got careless as all these thoughts swirled in my
brain. I took a wrong step and thick branches entangled my ankle. I went down
hard, landing on my right hip.

“Shit.” I grimaced. I set the shotgun beside me and
freed my leg. Shooting pain went down my leg, but I knew I hadn’t broken
anything. I took a breath and looked around. I’d reached the densest part of
the forest, far from any of the ranger’s trails. Sweat poured down the back of
my neck. Leaves and twigs stuck to my clothes and tangled my hair. God, I had
to look like I belonged here now. Some wild thing thrashing on the forest
floor.

I got my feet under me and leaned down to grab my
pack. A twig cracked to my left, loud as a firecracker. I crouched low and
grabbed the gun, tucking it carefully under my right arm. At first, I couldn’t
see anything. Then, a flock of birds took flight all at once from the branches
of a large elm in front of me, shaking the leaves as they went.

Something was moving toward me. Something big.

I whirled around, sliding my left hand down the
barrel of the shotgun, I racked a round and jammed the stock into my right
shoulder. My fingers closed around the trigger as I looked through the scope.
But, the lens was fogged. I couldn’t see a damn thing.

A blur of motion came toward me. Gray fur. Cold
eyes. White fangs glinting in the sunlight. Then the wolf stopped running. He
crouched low, held his tail high and snarled as he approached.

Two seconds. Two breaths. Fire flashed in the wolf’s
eyes as he lunged. I squeezed the trigger. The recoil knocked me backward, flat
on my ass, but I kept my grip on the gun. The wolf howled once as it happened
and I saw a cloud of red burst from his right shoulder. Adrenalin propelled the
wolf forward. Though my own shoulder screamed in pain from the impact, I raised
the gun again and racked another round, ready to take the kill shot.

The wolf dropped just a few feet in front of me and
skidded, his teeth still bared, his nostrils flared from the effort of
breathing. But, he was no longer a threat.

I sank to my knees, stumbling forward. I laid the
gun on the ground and knelt in front of him. Dark blood poured out of the
gaping wound on his shoulder. I’d aimed too far to the left. I could see the
shell had not penetrated but actually grazed him, tearing a gash the size of a
baseball across his shoulder and part of his right flank. Had my shot gone just
a few inches to the right, I likely would have blown his head clean off.

Still, as blood leached out of the massive wound,
the wolf fixed his gaze on mine. He didn’t shift, but his eyes dimmed, becoming
more human than wolf as his life started to drain away. There was so much
blood. It coated the wolf’s fur, turning him more brown than gray. It matted
the leaves in front of him.

I wanted to touch him. I can’t explain it. Like
everything that had happened to me since the moment Mal stepped into my life,
my instincts turned inside out. This wolf was a killer. If I hadn’t gotten the
shot off, he would have torn me to bits. I’d seen the bloodlust clouding his
cold green eyes.

But all that was gone now. All that remained was a
creature in pain. And yet, I knew he wasn’t alone. He had a pack nearby and my
gunshot had echoed through the trees. Black crows already circled overhead as
the smell of death reached their senses.

I gave one last look to the dying wolf and found my
feet beneath me. The trauma of the last few moments disoriented me. I couldn’t
remember what direction I’d been headed. I closed my eyes and tried to slow my
wildly beating heart. I had a strange compulsion to call out to Mal, even
though I knew it was foolish. Drawing even more attention to my position could
prove deadly.

I took the first halting steps forward, trusting my
instincts to lead the way. The wolf let out pitiful whine behind me. I felt
pulled to him too, but staying here would only bring danger. There was nothing
else I could do for the creature. And after all, if he weren’t the one lying
there dying, I would be.

I took another step then froze. Wind rustled through
the trees and I saw another flash of fur in the distance. This time, I didn’t
have enough time to aim the shotgun.

My heart sank to my knees as the black wolf leaped
toward me, skidding to a halt just a few inches from me. My legs turned to
jelly and I found myself kneeling before Mal. His eyes blazed wild as I reached
for him. Before I could touch him, his fur shifted and rolled. With frightening
speed, the black wolf became the man. Mal towered over me, his sculpted from
dripping with sweat.

“Laura,” his voice sounded more animal than human.
“Are you all right?”

I nodded. I couldn’t form my own words yet. I
gestured by turning my head back toward the dying wolf. Mal looked back at me,
his eyes wide. He put a hand on my shoulder than passed me. He dropped to his
knees before the injured wolf and tore a hand through his hair.

“Jesus. Laura. What have you done?”

His words penetrated my brain and cleared the fog.
“I what? Mal, he would have ripped me apart.”

Mal nodded as he cradled the wolf’s head in his
hands. “I know. Fuck. I know.”

I readjusted the shotgun strap on my shoulder and
went to him. “Is that him? Did I kill Asher?”

Mal shut his eyes tight and swallowed hard, shaking
his head. “I wish to God you had. No. This isn’t Asher. This is Luke.”

Mal looked up toward the sky. His shoulders quaked
with an emotion I couldn’t place. Rage? Grief? Fear? Maybe all three. He threw
his head back and yelled, “Fuck!”

I knelt beside him. “What was I supposed to do?”

Mal didn’t seem to see me for a moment. He smoothed
a hand over Luke’s ears. The light had gone out of the wolf’s eyes. Blood still
poured from the wound on his shoulder so I didn’t think he was dead. Yet.

“Help me,” Mal finally said. “Do you have something
in your bag? Something we can press into the wound and try to stop the
bleeding?”

“What?”

“Laura!” Mal’s tone was harsh, commanding. It sent a
shiver through me.

“Mal, why? Didn’t I tell you this one tried to kill
me? Just like you said.”

Mal’s eyes flashed as he focused them on me. “And
now, you’re going to help me save his life. But, we have to hurry. Asher and
the others will be here any minute.”

“Wha-what are we going to do?”

“We’re going to get the hell out of here as fast as
we can. And we’re going to take him with us.”

Chapter Fourteen

I grabbed a shirt and a towel out of my pack and
tossed them to Mal. He pressed the shirt into Luke’s wound, then wrapped the
towel around his shoulder as best he could.

“We’ve got to hurry,” Mal said. “Luke? Can you hear
me? Don’t try to shift.”

The injured wolf’s head lolled to the side I saw the
faint rise and fall of his chest. His breathing was slow and shallow.

“Can you run?” Mal said to me.

I nodded.

“Good. I can’t shift. I don’t think you’re strong
enough to carry him. How good are you with that thing?” He gestured with his
chin toward the shotgun.

I cocked my head to the side as he hoisted Luke over
his shoulder. The wolf’s great head hung limp down to the middle of Mal’s back.
I gestured above my own left eyebrow and pointed to his. “I’d say I’m a hell of
a lot better with this thing than Byron Flood was. If I weren’t I’d be dead
right now.”

Mal clenched his jaw and gave me a quick nod. “Good.
Stay sharp. Step exactly where I step. You see anything on four legs bigger
than a squirrel headed our way, shoot it.”

I didn’t have a chance to answer him. Mal started
running northwest. Fast. I heaved my backpack to my other shoulder and took off
after him, trying to do as he said. Even on two legs and lugging one hundred
and forty-odd pounds of almost dead wolf over his shoulder, Mal was
unbelievably fast. I couldn’t hope to keep up, so I just tried to keep him
within my line of sight.

Every movement, every sound around us sent my pulse
spiking. In the distance, I heard a haunting howl and my blood ran cold. Mal
didn’t stop. He pushed through the dense forest, using his free arm as a
battering ram against any branches or foliage that might impede me. When we
came to a swift running stream he stopped.

I gasped for air; my lungs felt like they might
explode. Mal barely looked winded.

“We cross here,” he said. “Get wet. Up to your hips
at least if you can. The stream’s swollen now, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
We’ll stay in the water for a hundred yards or so and work our way upstream.
That ought to be enough to throw anyone following off the scent for now.”

Then, Mal plunged into the stream. I followed. The
water was deeper than I realized, coming to my chest. I held the shotgun above
my head, but my pack got drenched. I had the fleeting thought that my cell
phone was probably bricked for good now, but knew it might never matter again.
The cold stabbed through me like a thousand tiny knives, but I kept up with
Mal. For a brief moment, Luke opened his eyes. They fixed on me, then clouded
over again as Mal dragged him through the water, washing away a good deal of
the caked blood. I hoped that would help throw anyone off the scent too.

We made our way upstream then crawled up an
embankment. Mal reached back to help me up the steepest part of it. His skin
burned hot where mine was like ice. I longed to have him wrap me in his warmth
as my teeth chattered loudly.

“We’re almost there,” Mal said. “About half a mile
more. We’ll make it.”

Nodding, I hauled myself up the final steps and fell
in behind him. Mal took off running again. My thighs burned, but I managed to
keep up.

Finally, I saw Mal’s rustic cabin through the trees.
It looked like heaven. I knew we still faced danger out here exposed like this,
but my body had been pushed to its limit. If I didn’t get to stop soon, my legs
would give out.

Mal got to the front door and kicked it open with
his foot. I followed close behind and latched the door after me. Mal gently
laid Luke down on the braided rug in front of the fireplace. I leaned the
shotgun against the wall, set my soaked pack down, brought the two propane
lanterns close, and lit them.

“Keep pressure on this,” Mal said, pressing the soaked
shirt into Luke’s wound.

I knelt beside him. Hesitating at first, I took the
shirt from Mal and pressed both of my hands down hard, trying to staunch the
blood flow. I could already see it had stopped considerably, but a slow,
constant, deadly trickle oozed through the cloth.

“This won’t be enough,” I said. “He’s lost too much
blood. If you want him to live, he needs a doctor. Or a vet.”

Mal rummaged under the bed and pulled out the first
aid kit. He tore the top off the bottle of iodine and knelt beside me. I pulled
back the cloth, hissing through my teeth. The wound was ugly, jagged. I could
see bits of Luke’s shoulder bone. I had to have hit some major blood vessels.

Mal poured half the bottle of iodine into the wound
and unwound a thick wad of gauze. He pressed it against the wound and held it
tight. Then, he shifted into a seated position and leaned his head against the
stone hearth, resting Luke’s head in his lap.

“What do we do now?”

Mal let out a breath. “Just this. More of this.”

“Mal. I told you, he’s lost too much blood. I don’t
know what a werewolf’s heart rate is supposed to be, but his is weak. Erratic.”
I pressed a hand against the beast’s neck, feeling for a pulse. It was faint
and thready, just like I’d described.

“He’s not going to die,” Mal said. “Not if we can
get the bleeding to stop and keep the wound from getting infected. He’ll heal.
We’re harder to kill than that. Next time, if you ever have to, make sure you
hit the head or the heart.”

I opened my mouth to protest or ask a thousand other
questions. But, seeing the look in Mal’s eyes, I clamped my jaw shut. He would
heal. Of course he would. Luke wasn’t fully human or fully wolf. I’d seen Mal’s
inhuman strength and speed with my own eyes. If any being could survive a wound
like that with just a glorified bandage, a werewolf certainly could. I couldn’t
decide whether I was rooting for this one’s recovery or demise just at the
moment.

Nodding, I shifted my weight so I sat on the floor
directly in front of Mal. I took the roll of gauze from him and started tearing
off fresh strips, lining them side by side on the ledge of the stone hearth
beside us.

“What can I do?” I asked.

Mal looked at me. His eyes glinted in the warm,
amber light cast by the lanterns. It was still early afternoon, but clouds had
rolled in, blocking the sunlight. A storm brewed to the northeast. I heard the
first echoes of rolling thunder.

“That’s good for us,” he said. “It’ll make it that
much harder for Asher and the rest of the pack to figure out where we went.”

I nodded and drew my knees to my chest, shivering in
my wet clothes. I wished we could light the fireplace but knew that would draw
way too much attention.

“I’ll get you home,” Mal said. “I promise.”

I held up a hand. I don’t know why, but I didn’t
want to hear him promise me anything. Not then. Home would be the first place
law enforcement would look for me. Heat stabbed through me. In all of this, I
hadn’t thought about my family. By now, they had to have heard Flood’s version
of what happened. God. I wished I could call them. Explain.

“What were you doing out there?” Mal said after a
long silence. “Why didn’t you do what I told you?”

There was no accusation in his voice, but he seemed
defeated, fully of worry. Deep lines furrowed his brow. I had the urge to go to
him again, touch the tender spot where Flood’s shot had ricocheted off the tree
the other day and marred his flesh. But, something had shifted between us. The
last hour, as we ran for our lives together, a bond had formed to join the one
we made when I let him take me on the forest floor.

“I tried,” I finally said. I mulled the words I
wanted to say to find a way to explain. Then, I remembered the wanted poster. I
leaned forward and pulled it carefully out of my back pocket. It was soggy, the
edges tattered, but the text and picture were still legible. I handed it to
Mal. He reached over and took it. That now familiar spark flared through me
when his fingers touched mine. Exhausted as I was, physically and emotionally
spent, the urge to go to him, to let him touch me and claim me still burned
strong.

Mal’s eyes darted over the fragile paper. He banged
his head gently against the stone hearth and let out a sigh. “Son of a bitch.”

“Yep. Apparently, I’m a bit of an outlaw too now.”

“Laura, I’m sorry.”

“Why? This part wasn’t you. I know what you did for
me, Mal. I know if you hadn’t come when you did, Flood would have raped me or
worse.”

Mal flinched when I said it. His eyes flashed gold,
going from man to wolf then back again. He let out a low growl and curled his
fist at his side. Then, he pressed his eyes shut tight and got a hold of
himself.

“I’ll kill him,” he said, and I knew instantly it
wasn’t an empty threat.

“I hope it won’t come to that. I need him to confess
and tell the cops the truth. Unless Cam grows a pair and does the right thing,
it’s my word against his for the moment.”

“And mine,” Mal said, his voice dark with menace.

“Right. And you’re in a position to march up to the
ranger station and give a statement now? In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re in a
bit of a pickle. We’ve got a pack of killer wolves on our tail who are more
than likely in cahoots with Byron Flood
and
the ranger service. We try
to go back there now, and I’m thinking that’s walking into a trap. Plus, what
about him? If we leave Luke now, he’ll bleed out on your floor. I’m trying to
figure out why that’s supposed to bother me. Except I know it bothers you. And
why exactly do your moods seem to affect mine now?”

Mal smiled.

“Why are we doing this?” I asked. Now that it looked
like we had at least a little time to ourselves, I wanted solid answers. “Why
are we going through all this trouble to keep him alive? I thought your
objective was to defeat Asher.”

“Asher. Not the rest of the pack. Luke is . . . a
friend.”

“He sure as hell didn’t act like it.”

Mal smoothed his hand over Luke’s ear. He was
unconscious, but his breathing had eased.

“He can’t control his actions. Asher does.”

“God. Is that what it means to live as a werewolf?
You have to do your Alpha’s bidding even if you don’t like it?”

Mal looked at some unseen point over my shoulder.
“No. It’s not always like that. Alphas have the power to control a pack, but
it’s something that should only be used rarely. Only if there’s no other
choice. What Asher’s doing is a perversion of everything we are. And a good
Alpha doesn’t
have
to control members of a pack against their will.
You’re supposed to
want
to follow.”

“And you’re saying you’re sure Luke doesn’t?”

“Luke has deeper roots in Wild Lake than anyone. But
he’s been gone and under Asher’s influence for a very long time. Still, I don’t
think he’d choose this path if Asher wasn’t forcing it on him. God, it’s
complicated.”

“Why?”

“Because Asher is his brother. Well, half-brother.
They have different mothers.”

“Hmm. Once again, that seems pretty simple. So Luke
left Wild Lake and went with Asher out of family loyalty. But, it turns out
Asher is a psychopathic maniac who’s just out for revenge against anyone from
Wild Lake. Only now, Luke’s stuck because Asher can pretty much make him do
anything he wants him to whether he likes it or not.”

Mal laughed. “Okay. Yeah. I guess maybe not as
complicated as I thought.”

“So, what you have to figure out is a way to kill
Asher without either hurting the rest of the pack or getting killed yourself.”

“Right.”

“Okay. And now you’ve got a bargaining chip because
you’ve got Asher’s brother. Assuming he doesn’t die. And now
I’m
in deep
shit because I just
shot
Asher’s brother so now he’s got an extra
special reason to hate my ass other than the fact I’m kind of on your side.”

“Also right.”

“Got it. So what’s to stop Luke from trying to rip
my or your guts out again as soon as he wakes up and starts feeling frisky
again?”

“Well, I’m planning to tie him up.”

“Okay.”

“Tight.”

“Good plan. But how does Asher control him? I mean,
is it mind control?”

“In a way, yes. It’s a compulsion. An urge you can’t
suppress. In an emergency, it can save your life because the pack works as a
unit. But Asher is using his pack as his own personal army of vengeance. He
brought them to your outpost because of me.”

I folded my arms in front of me and cocked my head
to the side. “And you were there because of me?”

Mal brushed his hand across his thigh, flaking off
some of the dried mud that still clung to his jeans. “Yes.”

Butterflies took roost behind my ribcage. Mal had
come for me. I knew it mattered. There was something bigger going on between us
besides lust. But, he didn’t tell me any more. Not just then. I wasn’t sure I
was ready to hear it. It was enough that I
felt
it. Craving. That’s as
close as I can come to explaining the emotion roiling inside me. My body, my
soul
was starting to need Mal near me on some elemental level. It excited me, made
my heart race, and terrified me. I let out a breath and pivoted the
conversation. As much as I wanted to explore what was happening between us,
there was still a very real threat looming in the dark woods.