 |
| Wolf's Man by Lynn Nodima |
Nine Years in the Making
Wolf's Man
Chapter 1
The
traffic signal at the corner north of her changed to amber, then red. Cars on
her side of the street slowed and stopped, while vehicles in the opposite lanes
slowly picked up speed. All this was peripheral awareness, while she searched
for a way to get away from the two men. She glanced behind her and muttered a curse when she saw the alley ended in a
brick wall. Anger simmered, bringing a turquoise glow to her eyes. It’s not enough they slaughtered my pack,
now they’re hunting me.
Feeling
the charge of electricity dance across her skin that preceded the change, she
realized her eyes were glowing turquoise. She looked down at the pavement and
struggled to control herself before she shifted and gave herself away. One cat
she might be able to fight off. Not two. And not in front of humans. With no
other options, she glanced at the vehicles stopped between her and the panther
shifters.
A
mom with two kids in the back. A harried cab driver arguing with his passenger.
Two young women dancing in their seats to the beat of the dashboard radio. A black SUV, windows down, a man tapping his
thumb impatiently on the steering wheel, while waiting for the light to change.
He smelled different, almost familiar. That
one. Just as the light changed, she slipped out of the alley. As he started
to slowly accelerate, she rushed to the SUV, reached through the window,
snapped the button to unlock the door, jerked the door open, slid in beside
him, and slammed the door.
Startled,
he slammed his foot on the brake. “What?”
“Hey,
you!” The shout came from behind and across the street.
Janelle
threw a glance over her shoulder and saw the two werepanthers start across the
empty lanes on the other side of the street toward the car. “Please, mister,”
she said, hating the fear that shook her voice, “there are two men trying to
catch me. If they do, I’m dead.”
In
the corner of her eye, she saw his eyebrows climb, as he turned to follow her
gaze. When he saw the two men rushing toward them, he whipped around and
accelerated, catching up with the traffic, then passing other vehicles. He
drove for several minutes. When she could no longer see her pursuers in the
back window, she let out a shaky sigh and turned to face the front of the
vehicle.
“Who
are you?” he asked.
Janelle
studied his profile. Adonis in a t-shirt,
she thought, then mentally scolded herself. He looked kind, but with humans,
you never knew. She looked away. “Nobody, really.”
“Uh
huh. Who were they?” The annoyance in
his tone pulled her gaze back to him. This time, his gray eyes caught her gaze.
She
touched her bottom lip with her tongue, trying to decide just what to tell him.
“Hunters.”
“Hunting
you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He pulled into a parking lot, nosed into a parking space, and turned off the
engine.
Janelle's
eyes grew wide when she looked up to see the Police Department sign over the
building in front of them. “Umm. Thanks for the ride.” She opened the door and
started to step out.
His
hand caught her left wrist and pulled her back into the SUV. As he stretched, a
bronze chain glinted beneath the edge of his collar. “Not going to happen,
Princess. Tell me what’s going on.”
For
a moment, Janelle thought about taking his hand off at the wrist, then realized
attacking someone on police property would not be the best idea she had today.
Besides, it would get blood on her clothes. She might not be a princess in the
way he meant the word, but she abhorred blood. Definitely not a common trait
among her kind.
She
swallowed hard and took the time to glance around. Even here, the cats would
attack. They were not concerned about human witnesses as her Alpha taught her to be. Seeing only normal human traffic and
movement in the area, she sniffed to be sure. Finally feeling safe, at least
for the moment, she settled back into the bucket seat and looked at him. The
impatience in his face was reflected by the thumb again tapping the steering
wheel.
“Tell
me why I shouldn’t drag you inside for an interrogation.”
Her
right eyebrow quirked. Insolence or
concern? she wondered. She slowly, but firmly, pulled her wrist from his grasp.
Hands folded in her lap, she bowed her head for a long, slow breath, then
tilted her head to look at him. “Who are you?”
“Kind
of late to ask, isn’t it?” He pulled his wallet from his jacket pocket and
flashed a badge at her. “Detective Nate Rollins, San Antonio PD. Now, who are
you, and what’s going on?”
Janelle
bowed her head again. Wonderful. All the
cars in San Antonio and I had to choose a cop’s car.
*****
Nate
Rollins studied the quiet blonde. With her head bowed, her long hair the color
of the full moon on a clear night obscured her face. The slender hands in her
lap were white-knuckled as if she was trying to still the fine tremors he felt
when he caught her wrist. She was terrified, and he wasn’t letting her go until
he knew why.
“I
have to go,” she finally said. “They’ll be after me.” She bit her lip as if she
realized that probably wasn’t the thing to say to a cop.
“Who
are they? Why are they after you?” He tried to infuse patience and concern into
his voice and was rewarded by a quick glance from her gorgeous blue eyes.
Mentally, he slapped the side of his head.
Yes, she’s gorgeous, he told himself, but
she’s in trouble, so cut it out.
“You
wouldn’t believe me, even if I could tell you. Please, just let me go.” Her
soft fingers touched the back of his right hand. “You can’t help me, and they
will kill you if you try.”
“I
believe they’ll try. I want to help you, anyway.” He grinned his crooked grin
at her, the one his buddies called the ‘lady-killer.’ Not that it did him any
good. He just wasn’t interested in the women he knew, but it sure seemed to
help when questioning female suspects. “Let’s go inside, and I’ll make up a
report.”
“No!
It’ll just put you all in danger. They don’t care who you are. If you’re
helping me...”
“I’m
not going to let you go without some answers.”
Janelle
sighed. She studied his eyes for a moment. He knew when she decided to trust
him. Her expression changed. Not much, but enough. “Not here. Everyone you know
is in danger if we stay here.”
Nate
frowned. The precinct was probably the safest place in town. If she was right,
and the men after her were that dangerous... “If you don’t start talking, I’m
going to drag you inside and put you into protective custody.”
“You
couldn’t, even if you tried.” She reached out and caught his wrist, just as he
had done earlier to her. “Try to get loose.”
He
chuckled and pulled his hand. Her grasp tightened, and he felt the bones
squeezed, tighter than a frail-looking woman should be able to grip. He blinked
and jerked hard. Still, he couldn’t get loose. He felt sweat bead his forehead.
His eyes narrowed, and his jaw ticked. Even using his other hand, he couldn’t
pull loose from her hold. When her clutch tightened, he forced himself to
relax. “Okay,” he said, striving to keep the pain of her vice grip around his arm from his voice. “You can let go,
now.”
She
released him. He whooshed out a breath and stared at the red fingermarks around his wrist. He stroked his
arm and could feel the indentations she left in his flesh. “How’d you do that?”
She
sucked her bottom lip between her teeth
and nibbled for a second. Finally, when he thought she would refuse to answer,
he heard her whisper, “I’m not human, Detective.”
Thank you for stepping into my world.
Take care and stay safe,
 |
| Texas Ranch Wolf Pack Series |
