Staying low, she began a slow path parallel to that of the soldiers moving in a canvassing motion through the forest. As though they expected to find one of them hiding behind a tree. Or up a tree, or in a bush. They were morons.
She kept her eyes on them, the rifle ready, her finger on the trigger. She bit her lip, wishing this mission were over, that Wolfe and his mate were safe so she could return home, return to the comforts she had surrounded herself with. They were cold comforts. Replacements for the man who had never returned, but for now, they were all she had.
The mark on her shoulder throbbed in reminder. Jacob’s mark. Her blood thundered, her cunt clenched. Faith fought to breathe. She had done that before. When the merciless bastards injected her with their drugs, making her body and her mind betray her. Her pulse thundered, rioted as arousal, stark and all consuming, filled her once again at the memory.
Her breath hitched.
“Faith. ” His voice was soft, gentle, but she could hear the command beneath the tone. “Fall behind me, Faith. ”
“I’m fine,” she whispered, almost stumbling as the dark memories poured over her.
Was it reality or a dream? How often had she questioned her memories of that evening? Jacob, his voice hard and dark, thick from his need as he touched her. His hands hadn’t been rough, yet neither had they been gentle. His mouth had been ravenous, his tongue destructive, sweeping over her cunt, plunging into her vagina.
Then his hands, harder, rougher as he turned her, positioning her before him, preparing her, not for the invasion she had expected, but one more primal, and much more dominate than she had ever expected.
A sound to her right, faint but warning, had her turning in alarm. The heavy male body tackled her. For a moment, Faith didn’t know if it was reality or memories that had her falling beneath the heavy weight as hard hands groped at her breasts. She could hear Jacob screaming in her ear, the retort of gunfire,
the screams of wounded.
She dropped the rifle, twisting away from the heavy weight as she came to her feet, her dagger falling into her hand from the sheath at her thigh. She grinned as she faced the bastard who aimed his rifle at her face.
Fury, thick and hot surged through her veins as she snarled, giving him a clear view of her healthy canines. She almost terrified herself with her daring as she growled low and threatening. Death didn’t frighten her now, not anymore. All the wasted years that stretched ahead of her, deprived of her mate, did though.
“Do it,” she whispered. “You die either way. ”
His finger tightened on the trigger. Faith flinched as a shot broke the sudden silence, and blood sprayed around her. Not her blood. The soldier’s blood. She stood still, silent as he fell to her feet, his eyes wide in surprise.
Breathing heavily, she looked up. Jacob stood tall and fierce thirty feet from her. His eyes were narrowed in fury; his face chiseled from cold hard marble as he took in the blood that she knew marred her face and neck. He inhaled deeply, growling with a low, primal sound that echoed in her womb. His light blue eyes glittered in his dark face, his expression so taut it was savage.
She backed up.
“Go. ” His voice carried a ring of fury, lust, and pain. “We have to get to the cabins. These are Bainesmith’s soldiers. I’ll deal with you later. ”
Chapter Two
Dr. Delia Bainesmith was dead. That was all that mattered now. The evil she spread with her human DNA re-engineering was over. The cruel, malicious pleasure she found in their pain had been put to an end. And now, with Hope curled on his lap, Wolfe was finally reunited with the mate he had given up six years before.
His second in command and Enforcer of Pack Security, Jacob, turned from them, fighting the alternating joy and envy he felt for his leader. Wolfe had nearly waited too long to claim the woman he had been forced to leave. Now, they would be able to make up for those years they had lost.
Jacob refused to look back at the couple as he left the cabin. Anger and need rode him hard, arousal was a steady beat of blood in his cock to torment and torture him. But it wasn’t the woman Wolfe held that kept Jacob’s body in a constant state of readiness. It was the one who awaited him outside.
As he closed the door behind him, Faith moved from her position at the end of the house, her black eyes watching him warily as he stalked toward her. She was a Wolf Breed, the slender, compact lines of her body were lightly muscular, her breasts high and firm beneath the black T-shirt she wore with black jeans. Her reddish brown hair was a raggedly cut cap of silk and framed her slender face in a way that gave her a vulnerable, untouchable look.
“They’re all right?” she asked as he neared her.
Jacob growled, baring his teeth in warning as she stepped back from him. She was always stepping back, never forward.
“Were they not, you would have known,” he bit out, furious with her once again.
“Well, bite me, why don’t you,” she snapped, her brows lowering in a frown. “It was a reasonable question. ”
“From a most unreasonable female,” he accused her harshly. “Return to the cabin and rest. You have not slept in days and I’m tired of the shadows under your eyes. ”
The shadows, and the light of fear that haunted her gaze ate into his soul. She was still small, delicate, the sight of her made him tremble in hunger. The thought of how he must have hurt her before made him shudder in fear.
“You rest. ” Her body came to attention immediately, anger pulsing through her, scenting the air. “Do I tell you how often to sleep?”
He turned to her more fully, fighting the need to reach out to her, to drag her to him.