“You sure that’s a good idea, Benny Boy?” a low male voice called out from the woods to the east of where she’d been hiding earlier. “How about we tell your boss what you’re planning to take a bite of?”
Shawna acted without thought and spun around, her instincts telling her to shoot first and ask questions later. They were deep in the woods. She didn’t expect company, and she wasn’t ready to die—not for Benny. A few well-placed bullets would let her get away.
But the new arrival moved too fast. In the blink of an eye, she was facing the broad, muscular chest of a werewolf when he cleared the space between them too quickly for her human mind to comprehend.
Shawna knew immediately he wasn’t an ordinary were.
This is an alpha wolf.
As if to confirm it, she heard Bennie hiss. “Shit. This isn’t what it looks like.”
The werewolf in front of her pulled her against him, and leaned down to whisper in warning, “I wouldn’t. Benny doesn’t know what you are, but I do.” He ran a hand down to her forearm before wrapping his fingers around hers on the gun hiding behind her back. His breath was warm against her ear as he went on, “So, why don’t we keep that a secret between us? The full moon is a bad time for your kind to get caught.”
He easily pried her fingers off the gun.
Chills ran over her body in an icy wave when she struggled to break out of his hold, but he wasn’t letting go. He was too strong. She swallowed hard as she fought to clear her mind and find her way out of this.
She knew better than to let one of them get their actual hands on her. Before now, she’d always used her guns to keep them at arm’s length. Feeling helpless in a way that haunted her dreams, Shawna realized she’d rather die than end up prey to an alpha wolf…not again.
“I was a friend of Ralph’s,” the new werewolf assured her in another whisper, still not letting go of her arm. “I won’t hurt you.”
He sounded sincere, and even through the mad panic, a part of her almost believed him.
There’s something about his voice.
She tried to get a better look at the alpha who had caught her. Shoulder-length blond hair, brilliant blue eyes that sparkled in the dying sunlight, strong jawline, full lips…
Shawna’s world started to fall out from under her for an entirely different reason. The chills of terror morphed into a tidal wave of emotion. It pooled painfully in the center of her chest, choking her, but that didn’t halt the hard, steady thump of fear now pounding in her ears.
She opened her mouth, still struggling to say something.
This can’t be happening.
It’s too much.
She’d been a fighter too long. She was completely overwhelmed, more than she ever expected to be. Everything in her told her to run.
Shawna kicked his shin on sheer instinct. She used the surge of adrenaline to finally jerk her arm out of his grip and take off when his hold loosened. The problem was, she was still completely thrown off, and her foot caught on a tree root before she could get more than two feet.
She heard him yell, “Oh shit!” as she threw her arms out in front of her to break her fall, at the same time he tried to catch her, wrenching one arm back in his attempt to save Shawna from herself.
She landed hard anyway. The solid crack of her head hitting something unforgiving on the forest floor was the last thing she felt or heard before everything went terrifyingly black.
Jazz cursed again and leaned over the small woman. She was unmoving, clearly knocked out. He rolled her over and brushed away the strands of red hair escaping her ponytail to find a painful looking knot already forming on her forehead. He smelled fresh blood and spied a scrape on her arm. She was hurt. He gritted his teeth and slid his hands under her, adjusting her weight, and then hauled her up his body as he stood.
“That’s not how I would’ve done it,” Miles mused drily as he approached. “But it’s your mission.”
Jazz ignored his friend and studied her pale face as he held her in his arms. Then he looked to Miles, who was still standing there with an unimpressed expression. “I’m taking her to the SUV. I know this is a mess. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“What about him?” Miles asked, looking to Benny, who stood there watching the three of them hesitantly. “We’re technically kidnapping an unconscious human. He’s probably seen too much.”
“Hey, fellas, I have enough problems. I don’t need a dominance fight with two alphas tonight. Have your fun. I didn’t see a damn thing,” Benny called out, obviously knowing they were discussing his future. “Unless you feel like sharing. I don’t mind thirds.”
“The world won’t miss him,” Miles whispered to Jazz. “I could solve this issue for you.”
“You don’t get to take your full-moon anger out on the Bakers’ problems,” Jazz snapped at him, holding the unconscious woman tighter. “We have more pressing concerns.”
Jazz moved quickly through the woods, feeling more than a little guilty for her accident. Truth was, she’d shocked him too, and he wasn’t totally sure why. She’d thrown him completely off his game. His wolf was half insane under the surface. The faster they got back into Nightwind territory, the better. He didn’t smell a lot of blood, but he could barely breathe past the primal roar inside him.
He felt very…unsteady.
The SUV was parked at the edge of the woods. He opened the back and gently lay the unconscious woman down on the seat. He turned as Miles came out from the trees behind him.
“Hurry.” Jazz tossed his keys onto the front seat. “You drive.”
Jazz climbed into the back without thinking. It was instinctive to pull her onto his lap and hold her, though it did nothing to help her. He closed the door behind him, and then stared down at the small knot growing larger on her head by the second. His heartrate deafened him when he thought of how fragile humans could be. What if he’d killed her?
“You know, Jazz, I recognize this human’s scent from somewhere,” Miles mused as he pulled the driver’s-side door closed. “Does she smell familiar to you?”
“What?” Jazz barked, because Miles’s words were hazy behind the fear. His wolf was so panicked that hair was sprouting on his arms. He was like a teen again, having a hard time staying in skin. “Start the car! What if she’s gravely injured?”
“She doesn’t smell as if she’s bleeding much, but she does smell—”
“Just drive,” Jazz growled, ignoring his friend, when usually Miles’s strong sense of smell made him an asset on a mission.
Jazz placed a hand over the hunter’s heart, feeling the steady beat. She was breathing but passed out cold. That wasn’t good, especially for humans. He wiggled out his phone from his sweatpants and placed a call to their doctor. Adam answered on the fourth ring.
“Meet us at the pack house. My room. I’m bringing in an injured human female.”
“Great, it’s one of those nights.” Adam sounded mildly alarmed. “Do I want to know how she was injured?”
Jazz winced. “Someone startled her.”
“And that someone was…”
“Me.” Jazz huffed in frustration. “I grabbed her arm. It scared her. She freaked out, tripped, and hit her head on a rock.”