He didn’t miss the way she fought her body’s compulsion. Little bursts of air escaped between her lips as she struggled for control over a force stronger than she could fight. How did she make it this far in such an aroused state?
“Please.” She reached out and grabbed his forearm.
His whole body constricted, driving his desire for her higher. He stared down at the slender fingers clutching his skin, her knuckles white with desperation. Shit.
“You must leave.” Somehow, Ethan managed to remove her hand.
She refused to back off. “Don’t you care?” Her eyes shone bright as if she had a fever, but he knew differently.
He shrugged.
“Greggoire kidnapped my baby brother. I can’t walk away and let him get away with that.
H-he’s all I got. My parents are dead.” He gritted his teeth, understanding her pain all too well.
She let go and dropped to her knees on the ground. Wrapping her arms around her middle, she moaned. “Please…help me make this stop.
You of all people should know what I’m going through, what I’m up against. I’ve waited, saved myself, for you. I’ve heard others in the pack tout your strength and honor my whole life. I-I’ve…I-I’ve dreamed about you, when I was alone. It was your wolf that kept me from doing something desperate.”
Ethan inhaled deeply and let his head fall back. He closed his eyes. Six years alone and a virgin she-wolf shows up out of the blue in front of him. One in heat, no less. What the hell am I supposed to do?
“I-I have a message for you.” She scrunched up her nose and moaned. The muscles along her neck rippled. “M-my dad…h-he told me growing up to run to you for help if anything happened to him. He made me promise. He said to tell you…to remember the prophecy. You must right a wrong.”
The words took his breath away, but at the same an incredible calm came over him. He lowered his chin, breaking eye contact with her.
It had been a long time since anyone had reminded him of the past. The protective nature of his wolf howled in his head. His grandfather’s face flashed in his memory.
He glanced up at the woman, whose eyes softened. He squared his shoulders and peered off into the distance. The admiration in her expression affected him more than he thought possible. Was it time to go back? Was she his mate? Did his grandfather’s prediction have to do with him foretelling that a she-wolf would approach him, seek him?
He reached out and brushed a speck of dirt off her cheek with his thumb, realizing that she’d gone through hell to get to him, and on her own. There were dark circles beneath her eyes, the kind he recognized. They’d come from worry.
Yet she was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen and he wanted to help her. He wanted the fear gone from her face.
“Please…” Her eyes were huge, begging him to agree to mate with her, to help her, to set her life back into some sort of normalcy.
He knew what he wanted to do.
What he had to do.
“Get in the truck.” He turned away, picked up his shovel, and chucked it in the back of the truck. Walking around to the driver’s side, he stepped inside the cab, buckled up, and started the engine.
And waited.
She jumped in the truck.
“Put your seatbelt on. Keep it on. Do not touch me. Don’t even look at me.”
The flimsy push button on the belt was easy enough to unlatch, but hopefully, the restraint would serve its purpose and she’d stay on her side of the cab. He’d witnessed enough she-wolves going into heat to know that nothing would stop her from trying everything possible to make him claim her.
He wasn’t the werewolf for someone so innocent.
Ethan drove to the logging road and pulled out onto the paving. He had a ten-minute ride to find out exactly what this woman wanted from him, besides to have sex with anyone with a dick between his legs.
Thick brown hair swirled around her head in unruly waves and her pint-sized body appeared to pack some muscle. Her tight jeans and T-shirt tempted him to take what she offered. He’d never denied he lived a lonely life. He shifted into third gear. Damned if he’d go through with her offer, though. The price was too high.
He wanted nothing to do with the pack.
They’d sided with Greggoire even though the proof of Ethan’s innocence was right in front of them all. Years ago, the least amount of trouble for everyone had been for him to leave after his banishment. Greggoire had stripped any bond Ethan had felt about the others in the pack.
“Tell me about this brother of yours. Why hasn’t he left Greggoire’s house on his own?” Ethan slowed down where the logging trucks had dug deep potholes. One bad rut could blow out a tire, and he didn’t want to be stuck with her longer than he had to given her condition.