Kole didn’t even try to be discreet. He’d found Sarah and even if she hated him, and probably did, he had to make things right by her. He had to protect her before his stupid failure to save her parents go her killed, too. Kole pushed through the door, stepping into the dark, unlit alley, shoved back his leather jacket and rested his hand on the silver circles in the leather pouch on his belt. Leaving his gun holstered was the closest he had to discretion. He meant to kill the rebel wolves and he didn’t plan to be coy about it. His gaze shifted to the small black car to his left as Sarah slid into the backseat, followed by a male wolf. Fucking late again. He grimaced and with one eye on the direction the car was traveling, he took off for the front of the building where he’d parked his bike, swearing this time late wouldn’t be too late. The idea that Sarah could already be dead set his pulse into overdrive.
By the time the car pulled onto the highway, he was on the back of his Honda Shadow and ripping a path through the parking lot, trying to close the distance between him and the main road. He hit the highway at sixty and accelerated from there, aware the wolves were headed toward a long stretch of mostly farm land, and concerned about them turning off on some dirt road and out of sight.
Relief flooded him at the sight of the taillights of the car, and he’d contemplated his next move, the possible downsides that might get Sarah killed if he forced the car to stop, when the decision became irrelevant. Suddenly, the vehicle skidded to the side of the road and stopped. Shit-shit-shit.
Kole accelerated even faster and came in behind the car, killed the bike engine, and dismounted. He drew two guns equipped with silencers and silver bullets and stalked towards the vehicle. The back door opened and one long, sexy female leg appeared before Sarah stood up and adjusted her short mini skirt, leaving the blonde wig she’d been wearing behind in the vehicle.
She straightened to face him in the darkness that both of their wolfish stares could penetrate, and he knew the wolves were dead. As impossible as it seemed, she’d killed all four. He slid his guns back into the holsters at his ankles.
“Hello Sarah,” he said.
“Kole,” she said, softly, a sudden wind lifting her long, dark hair. “How’d you find me?”
“You leave a trail of dead bodies worse than Michael Meyers and neither of you clean up after yourself.”
“I’m not going back with you.”
“I wasn’t aware I was asking.”
“If you try to force me, I’ll fight.”
He held out his hands. “I’m all about you and me playing some touch football. Let’s get to it.”
“I’m a better fighter than you give me credit for,” she said, at the same time that she discreetly, or so she thought, easing a few inches from the car, giving herself room to dart away. “Don’t force me to prove it. My fight is not with you.” She eased another step to her right.
“Run, Sarah,” he warned, “and I will catch you.”
Chapter Five
Sarah stood completely still, weighing her options with Kole. He watched her, his body relaxed, defying the readiness she felt in him, the watchfulness of his gaze. His presence crashed into her, rocked her to the core in some indescribable way she didn’t understand. Something about him called to her and defied his new role as her enemy when he’d come here to arrest her. And while Kole wasn’t the first Society wolf to try and capture her, he was the only one she wished she could let catch her. She didn’t want to fight him, but she might have to, because she wasn’t going to be thrown behind bars, at least, not until she knew she’d achieved retribution for her family.
“So shall we stand here all night or play that game of football?” Kole asked. “Or perhaps you prefer some other...game.”
“My fight isn’t with you.”
“Not directly,” he said, “but you have to know that the King ordered your arrest.”
“The King,” she repeated, wetting her suddenly parched lips. “No. I didn’t know I was worthy of his time since he didn’t put any priority on avenging my family, who served him for generations upon generations.”
He took a step closer.
She held up a hand. “Before you come closer there’s something you should know.”
He paused, arching a brow. “What would that be?”
“If I’m exposed to a fighting technique one time, I can imitate it with the reasonable level of skill. In other words, every fight I have, I get better.”
“More magic I assume?” he asked. “Because I know that’s how you’ve been hiding.”
She shook her head. “It’s not magic, or maybe it is. It’s nothing I did to myself or have any knowledge of anyone else doing to me. Whatever the reason, I can do it, I don’t care. I just know that it’s a good thing for me and a bad thing for my enemies.” A shiver of foreboding raced down her spine.
Kole’s gaze lifted beyond her shoulder at the same instant hers lifted above his, and she knew he saw headlights just as she did, only he saw or sensed something else because he cursed. Sarah whirled around to search the darkness, and her heart leapt to her throat at what she suddenly sensed as danger when she did, though she saw nothing. An instant later the snarls filled the air and a pack of at least six wolves, all in animal form, were visible and charging.
Sarah barely registered Kole revving his motorcycle. Instinct - no, just plain logic which served her well in battle - said she had no chance of standing off against the large number of wolves headed their way. She shoved her small purse cross ways over her shoulder and took off down the incline into the roadside ditch. She came back up again on the other side before darting across a long, open field, heading toward the woods a good mile away. Coverage would be her best hope of escape. Her high-heeled boots would be her worst. They sunk into the ground but she couldn’t stop and peel them off, and even if she could, she’d resist doing so much as she would shifting. She might be faster as a wolf, but she’d destroy her clothes, she’d need them later to truly escape.
The sound of Kole’s motorcycle engine grew louder, roaring closer, and she turned to find him rapidly gaining on her. Behind him, the wolves were clearly gaining ground as well, and they’d multiplied. Now, there were wolves coming from both sides toward her. There were too many, moving too fast. Sarah kept her forward pace, but she faced the music of having two choices. Shift and end up naked and maybe dead, or turn to Kole who’d try to arrest her later. But she’d be alive and that sounded pretty darn good.
She let him catch up, not that he wouldn’t have anyway. The instant he was by her side, she turned to jump on the bike. He reached for her without slowing and she grabbed his arm and this was one time when a short skirt came in handy, freeing her legs to straddle the bike. Even so, it was all she could do to hang on to Kole and get her legs where they needed to be, but somehow she did. The instant she was somewhat stable, she wrapped her arms around him and glanced back at the wolves that had been too close for comfort, but were quickly fading into the distance. Sarah relaxed against Kole, letting the night air, the wind lightening the humidity of the Texas summer, and the feel of the wolf who’d once again saved her life, wash over her. At some point she had to face him as an enemy, as the wolf that could end her hunt for Derek. At some point. Just not now.
That moment of calm didn’t last. They were headed east, away from the highway and Kole didn’t stop for the bumpy terrain, or a rocky riverbed. He dodged and weaved through such impossible terrain that Sarah clung to him for dear life. Somehow though, he did it all safely and knew exactly how to get them back to a deserted stretch of the highway. Clearly they were no longer in Ft. Worth, but the outskirts. A mix of relief, anticipation, and dread washed over Sarah as the tires hit the pavement and there were no wolves but the two of them in sight. The instant they were back in the middle of some semblance of civilization, she had to make her escape. No sooner did she have the idea than she felt Kole wrap some kind of rope around her wrist. Suddenly, there was no way off this bike with her hand attached. Sh
e liked her hand. She like Kole too, but she had a feeling that was about to change.
***
Thirty minutes later, Sarah wasn’t surprised that Kole had kept riding through Ft. Worth and on into Dallas, nor was she surprised when they pulled to a stop in front of a downtown warehouse. The Society might be headquartered in Vegas, but their race was woven throughout the human population, and the Guard had small hubs all over the world.
He killed the engine and she climbed off the bike. Her arm was still caught in the rope he held, a common move in capture to prevent a wolf from shifting and potentially losing a hand. Kole didn’t get off. Instead, he pulled her against all that hard muscle, his blue eyes glinting with warning. “I told you that if you ran, I’d catch you. I meant it.”
There was a possessive alpha quality to the words, a heat to his hand where it molded her to his side. Desire took her off guard, though it should not have since Kole had always affected her. Nevertheless, it slammed into her, fierce in its intensity. She was burning up and frozen in place. She wanted to shove him away, she wanted to let anger control her, not her uncontrollable desire he’d soon smell. She wanted and failed because she wanted him.
“I was running from the wolves,” she declared in a voice far too raspy to be strong as she’d intended.
He lowered his head, his sensual mouth far too close to hers for comfort, far too tempting to not think about their past kiss, about kissing him now.
“But I was the wolf you really wanted to escape,” he rebutted, his warm breath grazing her cheek.
“No,” she whispered, “not you. I can’t go to jail until I deal with Derek. Don’t you understand that? Can’t you try and understand that?”
For long seconds he didn’t move, so still that she would swear he turned to stone. Abruptly, he set her away from him and dismounted. There was nothing said. He just charged toward the warehouse, towing her along with him. Sarah considered fighting him, but she didn’t. She should, too, because once they were inside the building her chances of escaping Kole were slim. But she didn’t and she didn’t know why.
Instead, she tried to keep pace as they charged up a set of steps to a steel door where he rang a bell. The door opened so quickly that it was clear whoever was inside knew they were there before they announced themselves. A wolf she didn’t know, towering and broad with long black hair streaked with red, filled the door frame.
His bright green eyes slid to the rope on her arm before he arched a brow at Kole. “Kinky Kole does Dallas,” he said dryly.
“Kinky Kole kicks Shi’s ass if he doesn’t stop with the bad jokes.”
The other wolf, Shi, snorted. “Right. Only you get to tell bad jokes.” He motioned them forward. “Room ten is all yours.” He backed away and let them enter.
Kole charged on inside, dragging Sarah with him, through what looked like offices, with two desks and a couple of chairs on each side of them. They exited another door on the other side of the room and Kole cut to the right, down a hall.
“What does ‘ten is all yours’ mean?” she asked, but he was already shoving open yet another door and pulling her with him.
Sarah had only a few seconds to take in the large training gym with weapons of all sorts hanging on the walls. Two wolves were working out, grappling. “Jacob,” Kole said with a nod to the one with light brown, wavy, collar length hair, before eying the second wolf, who, like Kole, had long blonde hair. “Eric. We need the gym.”
“Not a problem,” Eric said, heading for the door. Jacob did the same, but he cut his gaze and Sarah could feel something uneasy in him. She didn’t have time to give that much thought though.
Kole dragged her to the center of the mats and the instant the other wolves were gone, he challenged, “You want freedom? Take it.”
“What?” she asked, blinking.
“If I were Derek how would you get away?”
“I’d kill him.”
A muscle in his jaw tensed. “Then give it your best shot, sugar pie. Kill me.”
“I don’t want to kill you, Kole. I just want my freedom.”
“Then take it.”
“No, I-”
He kicked her feet out from under her and she was flat on her back with him on top of her. “So far you aren’t doing so well.”
“I wasn’t trying.”
“You want Derek?” he questioned.
“You know I do.”
“You can’t handle him.”
“I’m not like other wolves, Kole. You don’t know what I can handle.”
“Prove it.” He pushed to his feet and pulled her up with him. “If you can handle me, then I’ll believe you can handle him.”
“You’re Royal Guard,” Sarah argued. “He’s a rebel.”
“Who is a century old and good enough to be Royal Guard.”
She lifted her rope-twined wrist. “Let go of me.”
He lowered his chin, fixed her in a challenging stare. “Make me. Feel free to play rough. I like it.”
She growled in frustration. “I’m not fighting you. I’m fighting the rebels and doing what I have to do. I’m doing what you and the Guard have not.” Now she was angry. She threw a punch. He blocked it. She threw a knee. He blocked it. She stomped his damn foot with her heel and it broke off.
“That all you got?” he challenged.
She threw another punch. He shackled her free wrist and their eyes locked, “I’ve tried to get Derek,” he said. “He’s been in hiding.”
“I’ve only been at this for six months, and I, one female wolf, followed him here, when the entire Guard did not.”
“He’s not here. He’s in a rebel training camp that’s built like Ft. Knox.”
“That’s not true. I have intel-”
“Fake intel. I promised you I’d get him and I’m still going to get him. Let me handle this.”
“No,” she said. “I’m not waiting anymore and I don’t have to. I’ve got skills. I’m meant to fight.”
“Had you stayed around I would have kept you up to date on what was happening. Why did you disappear from the ambulance in the first place? You missed the funerals.”
“You think that didn’t destroy me?” Her stomach knotted just thinking about that decision, about grabbing every dime she had stashed away and then hiding.
“Then why Sarah? Why did you leave?”
Because I was on Derek’s radar and I knew the instant I took over the casino, Derek would target me again. I had to go when he was on the run, unable to track me.” It wasn’t the entire reason, but it was all he was getting.
“I would have protected you.”
“I’m not going to sit back on my hands and let some big, macho alpha wolf coddle me. I can take care of myself.”
“I saw that tonight. You would have been dead if I didn’t show up.”
“Like you’ve never made a mistake.”
”I have, but that is what Pack is for. They have your back.”
“We all have our ways of dealing with things.”
“Running away and hiding with magic, is not dealing with things.”
She growled. “I didn’t run away.”
“How’d you get your hands on magic?”
“A witch I went to school with owed me a favor.”
He considered her a long moment, his eyes narrowing, before surprising her with, “You don’t have anything to prove. You didn’t cause your family to die.”
Her stomach knotted. “I didn’t save them either. I didn’t know how. I won’t ever be weak like that again.”
“You’re not as good as you think you are, Sarah.” He kicked her legs out from under her again, as if proving his point.
“Damn it, Kole!” she shouted as she stumbled and caught herself on her hand. “You’re starting to tick me off.” She shoved to her feet. “Take the rope off and I’ll show you what I can do.”
He pulled her close and wrapped her in his arms. “Derek wouldn’t take it off.”
“I w
ould not have ever let him get the rope around my arm.” Nor would she be this aware of him as a man, or this aware of the powerful thighs pressed to hers in a wholly masculine way, she added silently.
“So I’m to believe you just let me do it?” he challenged.
“I knew the risks when I got on the bike with you, and that included being arrested, but getting ripped to pieces by those wolves back there wasn’t a good survival technique. I intend to survive.” She reached her leg around and tripped him.
He tumbled backward and took her with him. In an instant, he was on top of her, and she was on her back. Heat rushed over her at the intimate position, the heavy weight of his body framing hers, the nearness of his lips to her mouth.
“I’ll say it again,” he said in a soft, sensual challenge. “If you can’t handle me, you can’t handle Derek.”
He was hard all over and she felt suddenly soft and yielding, a willing female that she couldn’t afford to be, not if she was to avenge her family. “And I’ll say it again. I want to kill Derek, Kole. I don’t want to kill you.”
His eyes glinted with steel and fire. “And what, Sarah, do you want to do to me?”
Chapter Six
Kole didn’t give her time to reply, didn’t give her time to reject him. Driven by both the hunger he felt for her, that he had from the moment he’d met her, Kole’s mouth closed down on Sarah’s. Her response was instant. Her body softened into his, the scent of her arousal, her passion, teasing his nostrils, filing his senses, driving him insane. Hunger like he’d never known ravished him, devoured him. He yearned to devour her. His tongue pressed past her teeth, the sweet taste of her passion exploding on his taste buds, his hand caressing her slender waist. He’d wanted her before Derek had stolen her from him. He wanted her even more now that he’d lost her, now that he’d found her, this woman he’d known he was falling in love with, that he’d known – he knew– had to be his mate. He pulled her closer, molding her against him, his hands traveling her back, her slender, womanly curves.