Dark Wolf: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 2) Read online

  I put the medical papers on Grandma Jesse’s nightstand. Heavy lidded, I sank into the feather mattress and pulled that quilt around me tight. Exhaustion finally won out, and I fell into the deepest sleep of my life.

  Pounding loud enough to rattle the windows woke me out of my dead sleep. I sat up so fast my head spun. I didn’t know if it was day or night or where I was for a moment. Luke’s howl still seemed to echo through me. My heart pounding, I went to the window. Then, sunlight filtered in through white eyelet curtains of Grandpa’s bedroom. The pounding started up again.

  “Luke!” I flipped the latch on the window and hoisted it open. Sun reflected off the blanket of snow below, nearly blinding me. I couldn’t be sure, but I swore I thought I saw tracks leading into the woods.

  The pounding came back. This time, I realized it came from outside, not within me. If those tracks belonged to Luke, he was long gone now. Someone was at the front door. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I threw the covers off me and padded downstairs.

  I went up on my tiptoes to peer through the keyhole Grandpa drilled into the front door. A gray-haired stranger peered back at me. I shut my eyes tight and took a deep breath before I opened the door.

  “Tamryn?”

  I didn’t have to ask who she was. She stood no more than five feet tall, nearly as round as she was wide. She piled her thick gray hair back in a top knot. A few golden wisps sprang loose around her head, and I guessed in her younger days she might have been platinum blonde. She wore heavy boots and a dark red canvas jacket with a brown corduroy collar, the kind a man would wear as a work coat. It hung almost to her knees, and she kept her hands stuffed into the pockets. She had a strong face, with full lips and a broad nose. The kind of woman my grandfather would call handsome. Deep creases lined her shining green, emerald eyes. The color matched her son’s.

  Pat Bonner didn’t wait for me to invite her in. She grabbed the doorframe and hauled herself up, waddling past me. She turned and brought two chubby fingers to her mouth and let out a piercing whistle that cleared my sinuses.

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and a current vibrated through me. Slowly, I turned back toward the open front door. There, standing at the top of the rise, just before my grandpa’s woods was the biggest red wolf I’d ever seen. He reared his head back and let out a keening howl that made me freeze.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Pat was talking. Her words came out of her like machine gun fire. But, I couldn’t process a single one. Instead, my eyes were drawn to the red wolf as he loped his way up the hill, holding his tail up, his back arched on high alert. He stopped at the edge of Grandpa’s winding driveway and scanned the horizon. Then, he threw his great head backward and pressed his ears flat as he let out another howl that rent the air and zinged straight down my spine.

  The air went dead quiet when he finished. It seemed as though even the wind in the trees knew to keep still. The red wolf sat back on his haunches and waited. Tiny beads of sweat sprang up along my temples as I held my breath and waited too. But, no one answered.

  “Well, I told him that wouldn’t work.” Pat stood with her hands on her hips halfway down the hall heading for the kitchen. She came back toward me, her face kind and her green eyes shining. She gently squeezed my upper arm and gave me a wink. Sliding a leather satchel off her shoulder, she opened it and pulled out a set of neatly folded jeans and a white t-shirt. “You mind if we talk in the kitchen?”

  “Uh. Right. Of course. Let me get a pot of coffee started.”

  Pat ran her hands across my shoulder and her smile widened. “Now you’re thinking. Let me just get him sorted out. We have a lot to talk about.” She pointed toward the open doorway with her thumb and emphasized the word “him.” Holding the folded clothes higher, she walked past me and went back onto the porch.

  Right. I turned and went to the kitchen, pushed the button on the coffee maker, and took the few spare minutes Pat gave me to run to the bathroom and scrape the fuzz off my teeth. When I came back out, Pat was seating herself at the kitchen table. A hulk of a man stood at her side. A broad-shouldered wall of muscle, he held Pat’s chair out for her. She reached up and patted his sinewy forearm. He looked at me with intense blue eyes that sent a shiver down my spine. Had I any doubt who he was, he ran a hand through his thick mass of auburn hair, the shade matching the golden-red coat of his wolf.

  “Thank you for seeing us,” Pat said. “Sorry for barging in on you like this, but you sounded pretty dire last night. When’s the last time you saw my son?”

  Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the pot of coffee and three mugs and set them out on the table. My hands shook a little as I poured and held out a cup for Pat and her companion. He just kept that laser stare on me, standing behind Pat’s chair like a colossus.

  I sank into the chair opposite Pat and tried to put on a brave smile. “It’s been almost two days. He’s been . . . having some trouble . . . er . . . shifting.”

  The big werewolf made a noise in his throat, part growl, part noise of disgust. It got my back up. Who the hell was he to roar into my house with that bullying look of disapproval? “I’m sorry, who are you again?”

  “Where are my manners?” Pat stood up and walked over toward me. She took the chair beside me and laid a hand over mine. “Sebastian Lanier, this is Tamryn Redbird.”

  “Kane,” I corrected her. “Redbird was my mother’s maiden name. My father was Thomas Kane.”

  A look passed between Pat and Sebastian that sent a chill up my spine. They knew the name.

  Sebastian’s posture shifted. He dropped his shoulders and gave me a smile that warmed my blood. God, he was so like Luke. All raw power and animal magnitude. Just the force of his stare sent my nerve endings into high alert. Understanding flooded through me. I knew on an elemental level what he was. Sebastian Lanier was most definitely an Alpha.

  He reached out a hand for me to shake. “You can call me Bas,” he said, his voice a rich tenor. Gooseflesh ran up the back of my neck when his fingers touched mine. “We’re here to try and help.”

  The minute Sebastian . . . Bas . . . let go of my hand, Pat reached up and brushed a lock of hair away from my face. The familiarity of the gesture startled me. It was protective and maternal. If she hadn’t told me who she was, I would have recognized her as Luke’s mother as soon as she got near me. It was in her eyes and the shape of her face. And there was something else, some sixth sense that told me he was part of her.

  “He’s sick,” I said. “Like I said, Luke’s been having trouble shifting back. The last time I saw him, he just couldn’t. He’s been telling me it’s easier to stay in his wolf. I’m worried about him. He pushed me away. Whatever’s got a hold of him is getting worse.”

  Bas started to pace. Once again, he made that half growl, half snort noise that sent a vibration through my jaw. He gripped one of the chair backs hard enough I thought the wood might crack beneath his fingertips.

  “I told you it was a mistake to let him go off on his own.” His blue eyes flashed silver and he looked at Pat with cold fury that might have made another woman wither. Pat just stiffened and glared right back at him. She ran a hand across her brow and new lines of worry creased her forehead when she looked back up at me.

  “What happened to him?” I asked. “He told me some. He said his brother made him do things. Things that made him stop trusting himself. He’s terrified of becoming some bad thing.”

  Once I started, I couldn’t stop. All of my fears for Luke came spilling out of me. I couldn’t tell them everything. Some of it was intensely private. I wouldn’t tell them about our night together and how Luke held something back when we made love. Whatever that thing was seemed to drive him to the madness that made him change. But, I told them enough. A knowing look passed again between Bas and Pat that managed to comfort and infuriate me all at once.

  “I know him,” I went on. “He’s hanging on by a thread and he thinks being around me or, I don’t know, peopl
e is going to make him do something bad. What happened to him?”

  “Honey,” Pat said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “How close did the two of you get?”

  A blush flamed in my cheeks. Bas stared at me with those silvery-blue eyes, and it seemed he could see straight through me. I squirmed in my chair and shot a desperate look to Pat. Bas pushed himself away from the table and punched a fist into his thigh. My blood began to simmer. I didn’t know what this guy’s problem was, but I was not about to share the intimate details of my last few minutes with Luke. That part was between him and me. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Fury could stare me down all he wanted; it was none of his damn business.

  “They got close enough,” Bas said. “I can smell him all over her.”

  The blush flaming my cheeks shot straight to the roots of my hair.

  “A little decorum, my dear,” Pat said. “I apologize for Bas, honey. He means well, but let’s just say he’s only partially housebroken.”

  Bas stopped pacing and this time, his own cheeks flamed hot. Served him right.

  “Enough,” he said. “Pat. I mean it. You’ve got to let me call him in.”

  “No! I will not. I mean it, Bas. I won’t let you impose your will on him. That’s the last thing Luke needs.”

  “You heard her!” Bas gestured toward me. “He can’t handle it out here by himself anymore.”

  “Stop it!” I squeezed my hands over my ears. “I mean it. Both of you. I let you into my house because you said you can help. All you’ve done is shoot ominous looks at each other and shout each other down. How about one of you tell me what the hell’s going on and whether you have a plan to help me find Luke or not. Because, right now, I don’t have time to manage this problem by committee. Luke’s not my only problem.”

  Bas’s face went white but he clamped his mouth shut. Pat let out a small chuckle that she tried to cover with a cough. Then, she gave me a warm smile and slid her hand beneath my hair, running her fingers along the base of my neck. The crease deepened between her eyes as she drew them away. Again, she looked at Bas and slowly shook her head. His eyes widened then his expression grew stern again. He pursed his lips together and let out a low growl.

  “Close enough,” he said, then he looked back at me. He spread his hands wide and leaned against the table, coming just inches from my face. My spine tingled with the power that came off him in waves. “Tamryn. Can you take me to the last place you saw any trace of Luke?”

  “Hey, Sebastian, I don’t think . . .”

  Bas put up a hand and gave Pat another withering look. “You don’t want me to call him in. Unless you’ve got a better idea, the girl’s our best chance.”

  This time, she clamped her jaw shut and gave him a slow nod. “It’s all right, honey. Go with Bas and help us find my boy.”

  Sebastian Lanier was a man of action. The minute I agreed to show him the trail I saw this morning, he bounced on the balls of his feet like a boxer warming up. I grabbed Luke’s coat off a hook near the mud room and led him out the back door. Pat stood on the back porch and gave me a tight-lipped smile as we made our way across the yard to the tree line. The snow had drifted over again, but I was certain I remembered which way the tracks led.

  Bas put a hand at the small of my back and led me into the woods. He towered over me like Luke did, commanding the space around him. I pointed in the direction of Luke’s cottage, but Bas no longer needed my help. He strode through the woods with calm purpose as if he knew exactly where we needed to go. I only hoped that meant he’d picked up Luke’s scent and that he was close by.

  We made it into the deeper part of the woods maybe two hundred yards from the house. Bas stopped at a natural clearing where a giant oak had fallen years ago and rotted. “I don’t think I’ve seen him come this way before,” I said. “I tracked him for a while behind the cabin, but never made it all the way to our property line. As far as I know, he stays mostly on Wild Lake lands.”

  Bas didn’t acknowledge me. He moved away from me and for a second, I thought he planned to leave me where I stood. Then, he turned on me, and his hulking form became a blur as he shifted mid-stride and bore down on me; his clothes split open and fell away as he reached for me with his giant paws, claws out. I didn’t expect it. My body reacted before my mind did and adrenaline shot through me. I turned and tried to run. Of course, I was no match for him. Before I could even scream, he had me on the ground. His great, white fangs dripped, and he clamped them shut just a fraction of an inch away from my neck.

  His claws tore into Luke’s coat, peeling it away as if it were made of tissue paper. My heart roared in my ears as Bas’s low, threatening growl drove away all other sound. His silver eyes glinted as he leaned down and nipped at my neck. Stupid. I’d been so stupid. Why had I trusted Bas or Pat? My grandfather had warned me all this time that a wolf meant to do me harm. Now, it seemed I might pay for that mistake with my life.

  Bas sunk his razor sharp teeth into the tender flesh just below my earlobe. This time, I found my voice. With my heart thundering behind my ribcage, I let out a blood-curdling scream that echoed through the woods. Bas pinned me down. His low growl seemed to make each of my nerve endings vibrate with primal fear. Even though I knew I had no hope of getting free of him, I fought anyway.

  I screamed again. Grabbing a thick hank of fur from his back, I pulled hard, trying to twist my body out from under him. It was no use. He kept me pinned beneath him with just the force of one great paw. He snapped at me again, sinking his teeth deeper into my flesh this time. My skin burned hot and I felt the first slow trickle of blood.

  I tried to push back the rising tide of panic. They were right. Everyone was right. Beau’s words came back to haunt me along with my grandfather’s. This is what happens to the women in your family when they don’t do what they’re told.

  Thrashing beneath Bas, I tried to sink my fingers into his eye. He shifted easily and snapped at me again. His silver eyes filled with cold menace as he lowered his head one final time.

  Then, a blur of motion burst through the trees. My heart exploded inside me with the strong staccato of another pulse.

  Luke.

  Chapter Nineteen

  As Bas leaned down to take a final chunk out of me, Luke’s wolf flew through the air, then slammed into Bas. Bas pitched sideways and the two of them rolled end over end with fur flying and their deadly jaws sinking into each other’s flesh.

  I scrambled backward until I pressed against a thick oak tree. My legs shaking, I got to my feet and watched in horror. Bas rounded on Luke. The two of them held their tails high, their teeth bared. The whole world seemed to erupt with the rumbling sound of their snarling growls. Luke charged, and grabbing Bas by the neck, he shook his head violently. Bas let out a shrieking howl but stayed on his feet. Bas rolled and got free of Luke’s death grip. He leaped forward, slamming his body into Luke’s center. Luke flipped over, exposing his belly to Bas for an instant.

  “Stop!” God, they were going to kill each other. They were well matched. Bas had a slight edge in size, but Luke was quicker; he lunged at Bas again and tore a patch of flesh away from his shoulder with one swipe of his sharp claws. But Bas recovered and pressed Luke backward. Luke turned. From this angle, I saw nothing but cold, predatory fury in his eyes.

  “Luke!” Pat came on the scene, running as fast as her short legs could carry her. She waved her arms wildly, trying to get Luke’s attention just for an instant. “Luke!” Breathless, she put her hand out on the tree trunk beside me to steady herself.

  “Honey,” she turned to me. “Are you okay?”

  I pressed my fingers to the wound Bas gave me. The flood still flowed, but it wasn’t deep. Pat produced a white kitchen towel and gestured to me. I nodded and let her come near me. Luke and Bas’s fight raged on before us.

  “Don’t hold it against him,” she said as she put pressure on my bite. “I’m not saying I agree with him scaring you to death, but it sure worked like crazy gettin
g Luke to show himself. Bas did his part; now you’ve gotta figure out how to get through to him. Those two are gonna end up killing each other.”

  My eyes widened as I looked at her. Trying to get between two werewolves in the middle of a death fight seemed like the last thing I should do. But, as I looked at the cold menace in Luke’s eyes as he lunged at Bas again, I knew she was right.

  I stepped out from the behind the tree and tried to concentrate on slowing my erratic pulse. Luke’s pulse. “Luke!” I called to him with my voice and my heart.

  He took a halting side step, distracted for a fraction of a second. It was all Bas needed. He threw himself forward and got control, flipping Luke to his back and pinning him down just like he’d done to me a few moments before. Even though bloodlust clouded Bas’s eyes, I sensed understanding as he looked at me. I slid across the snow on my knees until I was at Luke’s side. His chest heaved with exertion and the effort of trying to on him.

  I put a hand on Luke’s head, careful to steer clear of his mighty jaw.

  “Luke, look at me. Please. It’s me. Tamryn.”