Mate Marked(45)

Off in the distance, she heard the faint sound of barking again. The dogs were back on their trail.

“We need to go,” Roman said quickly. “I’m going to lead us back to shifter territory. If anything happens, I’ll distract them and lead them away from you.”

Before Chelsea could argue, he shifted back into wolf form again, enormous and gray. She quickly shifted too, dropping to all fours. They ran at full speed through the woods until they reached the river. Then they waded through the icy-cold water until they’d finally lost the baying hounds and the pursuing humans. Chelsea’s paws were numb and she was shivering when they climbed out of the water and began running again.

They ran through the woods for what felt like an eternity, and Chelsea’s lungs were burning when they finally stopped. They were next to what looked like a vine-covered hillside. Roman forced his way through the thick vines, and she realized it was the entrance to a cave. She followed Roman inside and they both shifted back into human form.

Chelsea crouched down in the dark, sucking in great gulps of air.

“Oh my God, my muscles are on fire. I really need to do more cardio. Where are we?”

“You’ll see. One sec.”

She heard rustling, and then a light clicked on. Roman was holding a flashlight lantern.

There were several plastic bins stored at the back of the cave. Roman opened one and began pulling out clothing, blankets, boxes of granola bars and cans of soup.

“We’ve got to lay low for now,” he said. “Tomorrow morning we’ll figure out our next move.”

“What is this place?” Chelsea asked as she pulled on a man’s oversized blue T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants.

“This is a pack hideout, in case anyone needs to suddenly lie low,” he told her.

She gave him a suspicious look. “Why would your pack suddenly need to… You know what, never mind.”

They ate cans of cold soup and granola bars, and washed their dinner down with a couple of bottles of beer from the case that he had tucked away in a cover of the cave.

“I’m glad to see you remembered the essentials,” she said, holding up her beer.

“Always.” He raised his beer and clinked it against hers. “What fun’s being on the run from the law without beer?”

“Right,” she said drily. “Because now that we have beer, it’s all a barrel of laughs.”

“I’m in a cave with the woman I love,” he said. “The woman I’m going to mate-mark.” Her breath caught in her throat.

“You lo…you lo…”

“You heard me. And if you want to get to know me a little better before you say it back, that’s fine, but I know how I feel, and there will never be another woman for me now that I’ve met you. You’re beautiful, and sexy, and kind, and funny…and did I mention sexy?”

“You did. You…” She blinked back hot tears, then forced a smile.

“Do you have anything you want to say back to me?” he asked, his voice gone low and husky.

“You already know you’re as sexy as all get-out.”

“True. But I really like hearing you say it.” He grinned at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“It’s not just the fact that you’re sex on legs, although it certainly doesn’t hurt,” she said, looking into his caramel-colored eyes. “You’re actually a really good man.”

He snorted. “Let’s keep that a secret, shall we? Don’t want to ruin my reputation.”

Chelsea flashed him a wicked smile. “So now I have something to hold over your head. Anyway, where was I? You make me laugh. You make me feel beautiful and desired and safe. I’ve never felt that way before. You feel like…” She blinked again. “You feel like home. You are my home.”

He cleared his throat and looked away, and she realized that he actually had tears in his eyes.

“Damn cave dust,” he muttered, and pretended to sneeze. He took a long pull of beer.

Then he looked at her again. “The Mate-Marking. I want it to be tonight.”

“Tonight,” she echoed dumbly.

“Now.” His voice had gone low and husky. His eyes gleamed with hunger.

This was it. The man who ran from commitment was now running towards it, full speed.

“That other woman…she’s definitely dropping her claim? And you swear to me that you didn’t Mate-Mark her?”

“I most definitely, positively did not,” he said. He explained to her what Marcus had done, and how Holly had fled when confronted.

“Marcus did that for me?” she said, touched. “That’s amazing. Out of character, isn’t it?”