The Wolf's Heart Read online

  He knelt in front of her and took her hands in his. “I know you can’t. Believe me, that fact is one of your main attractions.” His bitter laugh made her jerk.

  “What?” She tilted her head to look into his eyes. Old pain and new resided there.

  “Honey, he isn’t a nice man. You know that. What do you think is going on?” he asked her for the first time.

  She took a deep breath and tried to gather her thoughts. Caulder made her see red. His head on a platter was her choice off the menu. Samuel’s balls would be a nice salad course. “He’s experimenting on them, to make them into something different.” When she said it something inside her snapped. Like a small crack in a dam that held back her thoughts, her dreams and her memories. Something was coming, she could feel it.

  Marcus sat back on his haunches at her words. He kept his mouth shut waiting for her to go on.

  “He’s doing some sort of research. I had someone on the inside, but they turned up dead.” Her eyes narrowed at the memory of the pictures from the paper’s photograph files. The ones that even they didn’t dare publish. Devoured, mauled, bloody and very much dead.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here.” He stood suddenly.

  “I thought you’d never ask.” She sighed and took his hand.

  “Don’t you like the high life?” He led her as quickly as possible toward the exit.

  “No, I’d rather just stay home with you, if you must know.” She looked over her shoulder and gasped. Right behind them were about ten men. All were large and all looked like they meant business. But the worst of it was, in the lead was Samuel Bei. She hurried after Marcus, looking back every time she had a chance. Samuel kept moving through the crush of people, his eyes never leaving her face. The blood left her head in a rush and she fought against a wave of dizziness. He mouthed something at her and smiled. It struck dread in her heart, even as short as it was.

  The word was simply, “soon”.

  Chapter Twenty

  The ride home was silent. Lainie stared pensively out the window, thinking of what she’d learned tonight. Samuel was up to his old tricks again. Her eyes drifted shut and she sighed. Long ago, she’d thought of him as a nice man. She’d learned different soon enough.

  Once, she’d hoped he would be her father-in-law. When you were a little kid, all you knew of getting married was that you and the other person were together. Marcus was the person she’d most wanted to marry. She’d been ten, but she’d known she wanted him to be with her, protect her, make her happy. As an adult, to be truthful, she still wanted those things, but she also knew that she had to bring something to the relationship besides just sex.

  There was more to Marcus than met the eye. If he had a secret, which, he must, then how could she really trust him? She’d told him her own secrets, well, most of them, but what had he actually told her about himself? Why did he run around naked, and how did he do that thing with his penis? She was no virgin, but no man had ever done that before. Also, there was the way she responded to him. The more forceful and domineering he became, the more she submitted to his every whim and desire. Fear welled up, choking her with its intensity. What wouldn’t she do for him? And what if he decided to take advantage of this weakness she seemed to have? Questions circled in her head until she became dizzy and sick. “Uh oh, I feel sick,” she choked out.

  “Mick, pull over, now!” Marcus’s voice was urgent.

  Mick pulled off onto the shoulder of the road and Lainie hurried out, bending at the waist she took deep gulps of the still night air.

  Marcus’s soft footfalls sounded behind her. “Here, this should help.” A cool wet cloth settled on the back of her neck and she sighed in relief as the nausea began to lessen. He held out a half-empty water bottle still cold from the tiny refrigerator.

  Taking a cautious sip, she waited for a minute before she stood. “Sorry.” She flushed with embarrassment. “I just got so upset at that ass Jacob.”

  “He makes me sick, too.” Marcus swiped the cloth over her throat and cheeks. “You think you can get back in the car now?” At her nod, he put his arm around her waist and led her back to where Mick stood waiting.

  The chauffeur looked worried. “She’s fine.” Marcus smiled at him. “She’s been getting carsick since we were kids. It was awful.”

  “Shut up,” Lainie grumbled. “I didn’t do it that often. But you always laughed.”

  “Yeah, I did,” Marcus admitted. “You always got carried away about it. It wasn’t like it was your fault.”

  “I know.” She shivered as a breeze slid over her skin, chilling her. “Can we go? It’s dark. What if there are wild animals out here?”

  “I’m not afraid,” Marcus told her. “I’m the scariest thing they’ll ever meet.”

  “Dear God.” She snorted as she slid back into the car.

  Marcus shoved her over and made her put her head in his lap when they got going again.

  “Sir?” Mick’s voice cut through the silence. “I think we’re being followed.”

  Sure enough, lights were coming up at them at a high rate of speed. “Shit. Step on it,” Marcus commanded.

  Lainie tried to sit up, but he pushed her back down. “What’s happening?” she began, only to be interrupted by a loud pop and the shattering of glass. Marcus slumped down on the seat, his body covering hers. “Marcus!” Warm, sticky fluid dribbled onto her cheek and she smelled the unmistakable coppery scent of blood.

  “Be still, Miss Lainie.” Mick’s voice was no longer soft but hard and full of rage.

  “He’s been shot.” She fought the panic that threatened and slid to the floor, keeping her body well out of range of the windows. Tearing a long strip off her skirt, she frantically searched for Marcus’s wound in the dark confines of the car. Another shot rang out and glass sprayed in from the side window.

  “Hold on.” The car swerved to one side as Mick fought to steer.

  She focused on Marcus lying so still but she couldn’t see a damn thing. The car swerved more sharply, throwing her across him. Her hand skidded across his shoulder and came away sticky with blood. Marcus groaned, but she was grateful she’d found the wound. She pressed the material against his shoulder but it soaked with blood too quickly for her peace of mind so she tore off more and applied that to the wound too.

  “Hold on,” Mick said again. This time there was the scream of metal on metal and the car shuddered with the impact.

  She looked out of the shattered window and a pair of glowing amber eyes stared right back at her. Someone in a large black SUV was trying to run them off the road.

  Without a thought, she hurled the water bottle at the moving car. She was shocked when it connected with the man’s forehead. She let out a triumphant whoop at the resultant thunk and muttered curse then took off her shoes and threw them too. One hit the doorframe and the other went through the other car’s window. She hoped she put someone’s eye out. Too bad she couldn’t get boomerang action with those babies.

  Mick howled with laughter. He hit the accelerator and the limo leapt ahead of the large SUV.

  “Here they come again,” she yelled.

  This time they hit the limo dead-on. She clutched at Marcus when they began to slide down the steep incline. The car rolled over. It all seemed to happen in slow motion; Marcus’s weight pressed her against the ceiling then the floor. Metal shrieked and glass shattered. She didn’t have time to do anything but hold onto his body for dear life.

  The car came to rest on its roof at the bottom of the ravine with Lainie trapped beneath Marcus’s unconscious form. Her head hurt but it was a miracle she was alive at all. She tried to get out from under him, but he had her pinned.

  Lainie turned her head to one side to look out the one remaining window. The moon was almost full, she thought idly, and then wondered if she had a concussion because of what else she saw.

  A shadow, large and looming, and coming closer.

  A growl came from the other side of the c
ar. She froze.

  Maybe she was hallucinating. Yeah, she hoped so. Or dreaming. Or—

  A large furred paw stepped into her line of sight.

  “Holy shit!” she hissed and increased her struggles to get out from under Marcus.

  Outside of the car, clearly visible on the stark red rocks were big furry creatures like the one in her nightmare. And, she recalled with sudden vivid clarity, like the one that took Jade. One of them was a wolf, but the rest were something in between. Werewolves had stepped out of the myths and legends to scare the hell out of her. They stood on two legs, and there was growling, lots of it. The car rocked back and forth and more of the furred feet appeared on the side closest to her and Marcus.

  “Damn,” a deep, gravelly voice said from above her line of sight. “The gas tank’s busted.”

  One of the werewolves leaned down to peer at her. His large furred head filled the window.

  She blinked rapidly, thinking if she did it enough, he’d disappear.

  “Hi there, sweetie, I think it’s time to blow this pop stand.” Despite the deepness of his voice, it held a southern drawl and sounded faintly familiar.

  She squeaked when a pair of black-furred hands tipped with some seriously gnarly claws reached into the window and grabbed her by the shoulders. He ignored her frantic protests, pulled her out and set her on her feet.

  She stared up into his bright amber eyes and swallowed hard. Easily two feet taller than she and heavily muscled, he was one monstrous wolf dude. He snarled, showing off a set of long ivory fangs. Fangs? Shit fire and save the matches! This was worse than any horror movie she’d watched from between her fingers. He was broad and big, and if she wasn’t mistaken, leering at her. Ew!

  “I’ll be damned.” He leaned down for a closer look, then a surreptitious sniff. “It’s Lainie!” This was met with a few chuckles from the other big wolf, men, er, things.

  “This ain’t old home week, dude. Get Marcus out before the car blows up.” The big silver werewolf shoved them aside and Lainie took in the reverent way he lifted Marcus out of the wreckage. “When we find out who the fuck did this shit, they’re gonna pay.” Silver wolf snarled, showing some impressive fangs of his own. Nice dental plan.

  “What are you?” She tried and failed to keep the quiver of fear out of her voice.

  “Wolves, sweetie,” the black one answered, squeezing her arm gently. “Well, right now, Wolfkin, except for the throwback over there.” He indicated the lone “wolf” of the bunch. That was to say the one that looked like an actual wolf, if you discounted his size and the weirdly knowing yellow eyes that stared out of his silver-furred face.

  She stood frozen with shock while they stripped Marcus out of the shirt and jacket she’d thought he’d looked so handsome in earlier. As the moon struck his bare flesh, she was horrified to see fur growing out of his smooth skin. He moaned and his mouth opened to reveal fangs growing longer before her very eyes. Marcus was one of them? A sense of betrayal made her blood boil, unfreezing her paralyzed muscles.

  Mick came around the side of the car and Lainie waited for him to shoot these freaks of nature. Instead, he lowered his head in a sign of submission and whined. Low, menacing growls reverberated from deep within the silver one’s chest. Somebody was in trouble, and she had a niggling suspicion that it might be her.

  With that thought screaming through her head, she did what any woman with more than two brain cells to rub together would do in her situation. She rammed her elbow into fur boy’s belly, lifted the hem of her tattered skirts and ran like hell. If she wasn’t so scared, she might have laughed at the comment she heard from the black Wolfkin.

  “Dammit all to hell. Why do they always run?”

  Was he serious? She didn’t stick around to find out, just poured on the speed, attempting to distance herself from the nightmare her life had just become.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Someone or something howled her name in the distance. Not enough of a distance for her peace of mind, though. Damn, why did she throw her shoes away again? She pondered this as she stepped on yet another rock. One of many that were surely throwing themselves into her path on a mission from whatever gods she’d pissed off in a former life.

  In the past few minutes, she’d begun to believe in reincarnation for the simple fact she knew she hadn’t been bad enough to deserve this. She must have been worse than Hitler, Nero and Judas all rolled into one. Whoever it was had screwed her in this lifetime for damn sure. And she didn’t even get a jar of Vaseline either!

  A particularly sharp rock sliced through her heel and pain shot up her leg. She hopped around, curses punctuating every bounce. “Ow! Fuck, shit, damn!”

  A rustle in the brush beside her was all the warning she had before the black-furred beast stepped out to block her path.

  Lainie ran in another direction only to have another werewolf, this one gold, outflank her. She whirled in place, her breath coming in short gasps. “Son of a bitch.”

  “Now, sweetie, you know it’s not nice for young ladies to use that sort of language.” The black Wolfkin shook his long furry finger and made a tsk sound at her.

  “Fuck you,” she snarled, looking for a weapon to use against them. She wouldn’t go down without a fight. They’d know she’d been there.

  “Ooh, baby, can we?” Mr. Smartass of the Year put his hands on his chest and grinned.

  “Shut up, Jordan,” an exasperated voice said from behind her.

  She screeched and whirled again, but a pair of huge arms covered in silver fur wrapped themselves around her like a vise. Her head was pressed against his chest and she could barely breathe. She froze when the name finally registered. Jordan? Jordan was Marcus’s cousin. This was too much. She bit him on the chest, ignoring the mouthful of fur.

  “Stop it,” Silver told her.

  “Let me go!” She wiggled, but he hefted her up until her feet left the ground. Fur was sticking up her nose, ick.

  “We can’t, Lainie.” The patient tone did it.

  She exploded with rage and raked her nails down his cheek, ripping into flesh with sickening ease.

  He roared, holding her until she brought her knee up in a move that never failed. He may be a fucking monster but he still had balls. At least, she thought so; she hadn’t really taken the time to look.

  He howled and dropped her like a hot potato. Yep, balls, and they’d been flatted by the knee of steel. She landed flat on her ass in the dirt and wasted no time in scrambling to her feet, but a long arm shot out of nowhere. It didn’t have fur; it was tanned, golden and heavily muscled. He grabbed her by the hair and stopped her without so much as a grunt when she fell back against him.

  The big muscled freaks probably all took steroids. She was so doing an exposé on that shit when she got back to her office. “Steroids make you grow hair in strange places and bay at the moon” by Elaine Westerbrook. That would be the byline, by God.

  She finally figured out that the arm belonged to a naked man, and hell’s bells, he was hot! She raised one brow and gave him a long look from the neck down. If she was gonna die, she wanted to do it looking at beefcake. She struggled and finally turned her head upwards to catch a glimpse of the face of the Adonis. “Ack! Gross, you’re naked!”

  David’s brow shot up to his hairline. “Well, no shit, Sherlock.” Unfortunately, for him, this might not have been such a good time to show his natural talent for sarcasm.

  She pivoted, shoving her hip against his, and flipped him over her back onto the ground. Grinning with relish at his startled whoosh of breath, she stomped on his belly using it as a springboard to run away again.

  “Goddamnit.” He sighed in exasperation and glared at the ring of amused faces staring back down at him. “Why the hell did I ever teach her that shit?”

  The others were saved from answering by the sounds of scuffling in the bushes, then a yelp. “Ow, she fuckin’ bit me!”

  After some growls and curses and a lot of screami
ng, Jordan came back into the clearing with her squirming body slung over his shoulder. Lainie was still growling when he put her down and shoved her onto her knees.

  “She bit me,” he repeated, rubbing his shoulder. Suddenly, he put his hand to his furred chest. “What if she’s contagious? What if I…” He paused for dramatic effect. “What if I become a— Oh, I just can’t say it.” His chest heaved and he shuddered. “A girl?” He ended with a whimper that did nothing to improve her opinion of males in general and these Wolfkin things in particular.

  “Idiots.” Lainie spat out black fur and sneered. “I hope you catch PMS you big, fat, furry freak!” She stood and kicked him in the shin, forgetting about her wounded foot until it was too late. They both howled.

  “Ow. Bitch. The years ain’t sweetened your disposition in the least.” He pushed her back down on the ground.

  “Forgive me for being a little put out when a bunch of furry men chase me after I’ve been in a wreck and to top the cotton, David’s naked!” She made a gagging sound and shielded her eyes.

  “She said you’re gonna have PMS, Jordie.” This came from the silver one. She had her suspicions about his identity, and that big golden one too.

  “Don’t call me Jordie, Benji.” His snarled reply confirmed it.

  Lainie shot to her feet and glared at her former pursuers. “Jordan and Ben. And who is that there?” The gold one ducked his head. “It’s Stephen! The whole time you were all these things and I never knew it?”

  “Yeah, well, Lainie, we, uh…” Ben rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the ground.

  “We uh?” She put her hands on her hips and screeched. “You all lied to me. David!” She turned on him, glaring at a point over his shoulder. “You of all people hid this from me for over fifteen years. How could you?” Her eyes filled with tears. “And Marcus too?”

  They all nodded and that was it, she lost it, not that she’d had a grip on her temper for the past five minutes or so, but before that she’d been terrified of being eaten or worse by these things. Now, she knew exactly who they were and she knew David, or she thought she did, she realized she was nominally safe. She saw red. “And you, naked ass. You’re the throwback, aren’t ya?”