Chapter 3
Chapter three
Welcome Home
The shift rushes through me in a jolt, and I land heavily on all four paws. The injured woman whimpers and I wince, wishing I’d been more careful. But she holds on tightly, wrapping her hands into my fur.
This is crazy. This is wild. This is the only plan I’ve got.
I can’t even remind her to hang on tight, so I will her to stay put.
There’s no way she senses my intent, but her fingers wind deeper into my fur, almost painful the way she’s gripping as I leap from rock to rock, back up the sharp embankment.
Good. I don’t give a damn if she tugs my fur, I just don’t want her to die.
Why the hell do I care so much?
That thought hits me as my wolf races through the trees. I have no answer. I’ve never cared for people. I much prefer to be alone. Just me and the wilderness.
I’ll work an odd job here and there when I need a bit more cash. Groceries don’t buy themselves, and I do like a nice cold beer after chopping the next week’s worth of firewood. And society tends to frown on going naked.
So I have to buy supplies.
But if it weren’t for that, I’d probably never go down to Cedar Run at all.
And then I’d never have found the woman currently clinging to my wolf’s coat, her breathing ragged and terrified as I bound through the night.
Every little gasp she makes sends a jolt through my body, her pain ricocheting through me, but I don’t have time to go slow.
I don’t have time to think about what it means that I can feel her there so strongly, almost like we’re linked. All that matters is getting her warm.
It’s only a matter of time before the adrenaline of surprise will wear off and true shock takes over, or maybe hypothermia. Her heartbeat is still way too slow, her body temperature too cold.
I hope it’s only bruises I’m jostling as I run, not something worse like a fracture.
But under the twisting scent of fear is something else, something warm and sweet that calls to me like nothing else ever has.
And even though I’m not looking at her, I just keep seeing her eyes in my mind. The way she stared up at me. Beneath the fear and surprise, was there something else? Something like hope. Or maybe…attraction.
God, I’m crazy. But she was surprisingly pretty, a kind of wild beauty even out here bloody and half-frozen in the moonlight.
Damn it all.
Of all the things to be thinking about now—
I pass my backpack where I left it hanging from a tree. I need the supplies. There’s more matches in my bag, and I curse myself for letting my stock run down to the last one back at the cabin, but I can’t stop and get it now.
I’ll have to come back for it later.
Willing her to hold on tight, I’m surprised when I feel her fingers respond again, weaving deeper into the fur around my neck.
It’s almost like she was responding to my plea. But it doesn’t make any sense.
Maybe if I had claimed my bloodright as alpha instead of rejecting my pack.
Or if she were my mate. Other than alphas, only mates can sense each other’s will, and only when desperate. It’s almost a legend among shifters these days, that’s how rare it is. And only through the mate bond.
But I’m sure as hell no alpha. Not anymore. I’m a sigma, a lone wolf. And she’s just a human.
I don’t have a mate.
I never will, either. I refuse to take part in any pack politics. I’m not gonna take a mate and get wrapped-up in all that drama.
Finally, the scent of the air changes from deep woods to something more familiar—fresh-chopped wood from the pile, lingering hints of smoke from this morning’s fire, even the old coffee grounds I dumped outside. Home.
As if sensing it, too, I feel the injured woman’s hands loosen in my fur.
Not yet, I will. Hold on!
Her hands tighten again, making me growl. Not in anger. Just surprise.
The fuck?
She’s definitely responding. This makes no sense.
Unless—
No. It’s not a mate bond. It can’t be.
We reach the clearing around my cabin, and I shift back abruptly, so abruptly that she slips from my back with a surprised yelp.
I curse, reaching back to catch her just in time.
“Don’t fall on me now,” I growl, the words coming out way angrier than I mean them to. “Come on. We’re home.”
We. I didn’t mean that the way it probably sounded.
Almost like she lives here, too. Ah crap, now I’m overthinking it.
It’s all because she was responding to my silent pleas as if she could sense them through the shift, which makes absolutely zero sense.
“I…can’t…” She leans her head on my shoulder, clearly exhausted, her hands growing slack on my neck. “I’m sorry.”
With that, she slides again.
I swear, scooping her into my arms.
It’s easier this way, anyway.
She must have used the last of her strength holding on. She shivers in my arms, eyes closed, head resting against my chest.
Damn it. Damn it all.
“Stay with me,” I growl, wondering if this kind of command will still get through to her in my human form, too. But whether it does or doesn’t, she’s already out, her breathing slowing again as she shivers against my chest.
I thrust my key into the lock—if it weren’t for my enemies, I’d never lock it at all—and throw open the door.
The scent of home washes over me, deep and comforting, but I can’t stop to appreciate it.
“Stay here,” I command as I lay the injured woman down on my bed. “I’ll get the fire going.”