“I killed them, but I swear they were wolves! How is this possible?” I whispered. My voice sounded small and scared. I’d killed wolves; they’d had fur! The fur had shed on me and I still had it on my friggin’ clothes!
Lachlan pulled me up but I shoved him away. I was covered in blood, and fur! Fucking fur! I turned and left them standing there. They could figure out what I’d done, but I had to get away from this. Now. I started running and didn’t stop until I dropped to my knees. I looked up to find Bjorn looking down at me.
“You okay?” he asked cautiously.
“I killed them,” I cried.
“Who?” he asked as he dialed numbers into a phone.
“The wolves, but they weren’t wolves, they changed…to humans…which is crazy, because wolves can’t change into humans. Right? It’s crazy! One minute they were wolves and I killed them and then they were human, which is impossible!”
“You killed wolves?” Bjorn asked.
“Emma?” Jaeden’s voice reached my ears and I bolted into his arms. “Whoa, you’re safe.”
“I killed them,” I said as my hands trembled and my body shook.
“Killed who?”
“I killed four wolves that had red eyes. I killed them, but they changed…I’m losing it, right?” I whispered against his chest. Safe; I felt safe here.
“You killed four rogues?” he asked cautiously.
“No, I killed four red eyed wolves that changed into humans!” Was he missing the whole they turned into human part?
“Impossible,” an Irish accent said from less than a foot away from us. I could sense I had heard it before, but I couldn’t place it.
I looked at the newcomer with trepidation pulsing through me. Every fiber of my being said to run away from this man. He had inky black hair, with startling violet eyes. I got a chill just looking at him. He looked ancient and yet not a day over twenty five at the same time. My skin crawled while my insides turned hot with need, as if I’d been with him before and far more intimately. Jaeden’s body seemed to stiffen up.
“She’s stunning, Jaeden,” he said as he stepped even closer.
I buried myself in Jaeden’s arms as if he’d protect me. “She is,” he confirmed. Then to my shock, he held me out as if to allow his friend a full inspection of my attributes. I struggled against Jaeden’s hold, as tears tried to push through. “Let me go!” I shouted, and Jaeden did as if my skin burned him. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I shouted as I took a small step backwards.
“Why did you come here, Emma?” Jaeden asked in a terse tone.
“My bad,” I said as I turned with as much dignity as I could and left him with his men.
I made it about twenty steps before Lachlan stepped from the woods and headed straight for me. I stopped and shook my head, warning away from him. The last thing I wanted was someone else who may suddenly run hot and cold on me. I had no idea of where to go, but after the dick move Jaeden just pulled, I just needed to get away from here.
“Emma, are ye okay?” he asked and when I nodded he continued on without me. I turned and looked back to find Jaeden glaring at me. I flipped him off and started towards the woods. Tears began to slide down my face at Jaeden’s behavior; what I had done tried to sink in, too. I say tried because I was either going crazy, or men had actually looked like wolves, which again, crazy. That kind of shit only happened in the movies.
I moved quickly into the outer edges of the woods and froze, because that same tingly warning hit me. I looked around the silent trees and stepped back into the clearing. I could feel the eyes from the men on me, but worse, I could sense a cold, malevolent evil watching me. I had no warning, but somehow I managed to side step the huge wolf that burst from the thicket. I reached for the knives, only to find the straps empty.
The wolf spun around and I kicked its jaw as my entire body spun from the blow. I punched out, and the yelp of the animal was sickening. It lunged again, but this time I was ready and I used both hands to grip its neck and twist it using its own weight against it, violently. The sharp snapping of bones made my stomach momentarily lurch.
I watched emotionlessly as it transformed to a tall brown haired man, whose neck and head were at odd angles to each other. I swallowed the sob that tried to leave my throat and turned to find the small group of men watching me in shocked silence. Some friggin’ help they’d been. I flipped them all off, as a sob escaped and I tried to put as much distance between myself and them as I could.
Maybe I was dreaming, or maybe I was actually dead and this was my hell.
*~*Jaeden*~*
All week, I had tried to stay away. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The words we had at the pond rang in my head; it was just supposed to be fucking. No attachment, nothing different than any woman before her. Except Astrid. Astrid was once an obsession, and now I find that despite my vows, the feelings I have for Emma are far stronger than anything I had ever felt for Astrid. The pond was a sharp wake-up call that I was getting in far too deep with her, and I couldn’t allow myself to get in that far. I had orders, and they always came first.
She’d run to me. The knowledge was heady. The reminder came back to me that I couldn’t let this get any deeper. I didn’t want to feel for her. I didn’t want to chance her getting too close and feeling the sting of betrayal again. My heart knows she’s loyal to her core, but everything Astrid did destroyed any chance of having faith in women again. I wanted her, but I had to re-establish what our relationship would be. I wasn’t going to be her love; that much I was sure of. Fucking; that’s all it could be. That’s all I could allow. Bond or no bond.
This want. This attachment. Desire. Fuck it, this obsession wasn’t something I could deal with, or would chance happening again. If she wanted a quick, unattached fuck, I wouldn’t say no, but that’s all it would be. She should hate me for how I held her up for Shamus to inspect her. As if she was there for the taking. The last time he’d seen her, her body had still been behaving as if she was still in the thrall of change and had been unaware of him. It gutted me to offer her to another male, but it had to be done.
I hated that I allowed myself to want her this badly. I despised it, that she was in the shelter with Lachlan and his pack of mongrels. I hated that I wanted to keep her. The longing and anticipation, like a fucking green horn with his first voyage across the ocean. This coldness I felt, I deserved. This eternal fucking hard-on I had for her, again it was deserved for thinking I could have her.
“We got company,” Shamus’s voice broke into my thoughts as I watched the wolf move to Emma; concern was written all over his face. Instead of throwing herself at him as I thought she would, she warned him away with an angry hand. I narrowed my eyes at her response. She’s almost cold to him, as he said something and then continued walking to us.
“She took on a fucking rogue squad an win. She disna see the change an noo she thinks she’s losing it. She fucking fought like a banshee possessed.” I hadn’t heard him rattled like this before; to the point that his burr was so thick his words were almost unintelligible.
“That’s impossible and you know it,” Shamus spoke the words before I could.
“Aye, ye dinna think I ken it!” he spat.
I turned and leveled her beautiful ass with a killing glare. My senses felt the attack before the others. She moved with inhuman speed, as she dodged the giant brown wolf. Her hands moved to her knives, only to grasp air. I moved to lunge to her aid, but Shamus grabbed me and refused to allow me to pass; his sharp word was binding as my sire. I fisted my hands at my sides, helpless to do anything but watch as the wolf spun with lightning fast speed. It lunged at her, only to have her kick its jaw so hard that it stopped mid-attack. I watched her small frame shake, then the wolf’s head swiveled and it stumbled momentarily with a pained yelp as she followed through with a punch to its side that seemed to carry more strength than her small body should have been able to deliver.
“Watch this,” Lachlan’s calm voice was laced with anticipation.
I glared at him briefly before turning my eyes back at Emma. She moved much like we do, and there was a cold, calculated precision to each move she made. The wolf lunged at her again, but this time she wrenched its neck sharply, snapping it in one deft move. As the carcass slumped lifelessly, her eyes filled with tears, and I wasn’t sure if anyone else noticed. Her eyes grew wide with horror as the wolf transformed back to its human shape with his death.
She turned as a sob racked her small form, and flipped us off. That’s my girl. She’s fire in the midst of a storm, brave when most would cower. She’s stubborn to the mother fucking core. I turned to Lachlan and leveled him with a glare that would make most men cower and that niggling jealousy roared to life, and I couldn’t hold back any longer. .
“Have you fucked her?” I snapped, and watched as his eyes lit up with deviltry.
“Does it matter?” he laughed.
“Answer the fucking question,” I demanded, but he just smiled.
“Boys, simmer down. That human just took down a rogue alpha, and instead of figuring out who should be fucking her, you should be figuring out if we should allow her to live. She had a full transfusion of Jaeden’s blood, and yet she didn’t change into one of us, and I know she smells too fucking hot to be a fucking wolf. Figure out what the hell she is, and how to bring her to our side, or kill her. That’s what you should be worried about,” Shamus said as the voice of reason.