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| Carjacked by a werewolf? |
Werewolves aren't real. Right?
Would you trust a stranger who turned your life upside down?
Nate Rollins probably should have asked himself that question.
Click Read More to read Chapter 3 of Wolf’s Man! I’m sharing the story one chapter a day, so settle in and spend a little time with my Texas wolves.
If you’re just finding the story, begin with Chapter 1—you’ve still got plenty of time to catch up.
When you finish, tell me: What keeps you turning pages—danger, secrets, or the promise of romance?
Wolf's Man
Chapter 3
Nate blinked. He didn’t want to believe her, but for some reason he did. Maybe it was the anguish in her sobs. Maybe it was the gun he saw in one of the men’s jackets. Maybe it was the menace on their faces. He didn’t know. He only knew he believed her. At least about that. About not being human? That he wasn’t sure about.
He
let her cry for a few minutes until her sobs eased.
At first, he only intended to pat her arm, but when he touched her, she turned
toward him and leaned over the console. His right arm slipped around her
shoulders, and he held her. Her right hand caught the front of his shirt and
held tight, as if she was afraid he, too, would be ripped away from her.
Realistically,
he knew she was suffering from grief, and probably didn’t even realize that she
was holding him closer to her, but he
couldn’t deny the electric shock that zinged through him when she first leaned
into him. Awkwardly, he turned in his bucket seat and patted her back with his
left hand. Slowly, her sobs became less violent. When she began to gasp to
catch her breath, shudders running through her slight frame, he leaned back and
looked at her. The fingers of his left hand curled under her chin and lifted her face.
With
her blue eyes red and swollen, and nose running, she looked human. One hundred
percent human. “Okay,” he said, his tone soothing, “take a deep breath, and
relax. It’s going to be okay.”
Fire
flashed in her eyes. Her back stiffened. “It’s not okay. It’ll never be okay,
again.”
“Whoa,
lady, I’m not the enemy here.”
She
moaned, relaxed against him, and nodded her head against his shoulder. “I know.
You’ve been nothing but kind. I just...I lost everyone, and all because they
wanted the ranch.”
“The
ranch?”
“Our
home. It’s private and secluded, away from outsiders. They wanted to buy it,
but Randal said he wouldn’t sell. So, they,” she shook her head. “I can’t
believe they killed everyone.”
“Who
is everyone?”
“My
brother, Randal, his wife, their four kids, and everyone else that was on the
ranch.”
“How
many people are we talking about?”
“Besides
me, there were sixty people living on the ranch.” She sniffed and looked at
him. “You believe me?”
“I’m
starting to. Are you sure they are all dead? All sixty?”
“I
didn’t stay around long enough to count them all. Everyone in the main house
was dead. All the kids in the schoolhouse
were dead, and everyone in the barn. When I smelled them coming back, I ran.
And I’ve been running ever since.”
“Smelled
them?” His left brow climbed his forehead. “You could smell them?”
She
nodded. “I can actually smell a lot more than you would think. My sense of
smell is even a bit stronger than theirs, but their eyesight is better.”
Nate
sighed. The not human thing again. Well,
if it’s all true, she’s been through a lot. “So, they aren’t human,
either?”
She
sniffed again and shook her head. “No. They are werecats, panther shifters.”
Nate
held very still. Were...cats? He
forced himself to breathe. “And you are?”
Janelle
raised her gaze to meet his. He caught his breath at the pain he saw in her
eyes. “We are Lycan.”
He
couldn’t help it. His right brow jumped to the same level as the left. His eyes
felt like they were going to bulge right out of his head. “Like werewolves?”
For
a moment, he thought something was wrong with his vision. Her eyes began to
glow turquoise. Her form shimmered. Her legs and arms drew up, while her face extended into a snout. He blinked several times and shook his head in disbelief. There
was a beautiful white, turquoise-eyed wolf sitting in his passenger seat,
tongue hanging out and panting. The wolf tilted her head and whined, her paw
gently tapped the back of his hand, then the wolf shimmered, arms and legs
elongating, while the snout smoothed back into the face of the young blonde
woman who carjacked him.
He
opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. His breathing became rapid and
shallow, and he felt light-headed. Werewolf?
She’s a werewolf? Distant memories
burst into his mind. Snarling growls, saliva dripping teeth, bright turquoise
eyes glowing in the dark outside his window. Remembered terror seized his mind, he could hear his childhood screams as
darkness closed in on him. He fought to regain control, but the shock was too
great. The last thing he saw was her hand moving to catch his face to keep him
from hitting the steering wheel.
*****
Janelle
caught his cheek in her hand, just before he struck his head on the steering
wheel. Of all she thought might happen, him passing out hadn’t crossed her
mind. Sighing, she gently maneuvered him, until he was leaning against her
shoulder. Since they seemed safe enough where they were, she checked that the
doors were locked, and closed her eyes for a brief rest.
*****
Nate
felt warmth beneath his cheek. Eyes still closed, he took a slow, deep breath. Ummm, she smells so good. That thought
lingered for a moment, then his eyes popped open. She? He sat up in a sudden jerk
and stared at the sleeping woman in the seat beside him. The memory of her
changing into a beautiful white wolf drifted into his thoughts, then darker,
more terrifying memories invaded. Again, he could faintly hear the snarling
growls and envision the savage teeth dripping saliva, bright turquoise eyes
glowing in the dark outside his window. He swallowed twice. The memories
started to fade. For years, he believed the memories to be a nightmare brought
on by his father’s death.
Now,
he wasn’t so sure.
He
took a calming breath and willed the tight muscles in his neck and shoulders to
relax. Okay, he thought. If it wasn’t a nightmare, what was it?
For the first time as an adult, he purposely brought the memories to the
forefront of his mind. His detective skills kicked in, and he started to
analyze every second of the memory.
The
wolf outside his window snarled and took a step toward his open bedroom window,
then another. Sudden growls sounded from further in the yard and the advancing
wolf hesitated, then jerked to the side to meet a dark form hurtling through
the shadows toward it. Breath caught in his chest, the child Nate tip-toed to
his window and pressed his nose against the screen. Snarls and growls filled
the air. Two wolves clashed, ripping and tearing each other with teeth and claws.
The fight seemed to last forever, but too soon it was over. The first wolf lay
still in the moonlight. The second staggered to his feet and turned to look at
Nate.
Nate
caught his breath and took a step back into the deeper dark of his bedroom. The
wolf whined. In the light of the moon, blood glistened blackly on his coat. He
whined again, and then turned and ran around the corner of the house. He looked
at the wolf lying in the yard, dark blood pooling beneath the torn neck. The
wolf raised his head, snarled at Nate. Nate screamed. The wolf staggered to his
feet, took a step toward Nate, then toppled back to the ground and didn’t move
again.
The
bedroom door burst open and crashed into
the wall. His mother scooped his pajama-clad body into her arms. “We have to
go, Nate.”
She
pressed his face against her shoulder as she carried him through the house.
Beneath his cheek, he could feel her heart beating at a rapid pace. He squirmed
in her arms, trying to get free.
“Where’s
Daddy?” His tremulous voice sounded tiny and weak.
“Daddy’s
not here,” she said. “We have to go.”
Nate
jerked in her arms, looked over her shoulder. The wolf that attacked the first
wolf lay on the kitchen floor, blood pooling beneath him. As Nate watched, the
wolf shimmered, then slowly elongated. The legs became a man’s arms and legs.
The snout flowed back into the head until it became his father’s face. “Daddy?”
His
mother sobbed and rushed through the back door,
barely sparing a glance at the man he knew was his father. On the way out, she
snagged a keychain from the hook above the light switch. The door slammed
behind them. Before the confused child knew what was going on, she buckled him
into the backseat, and the car was careening down the driveway. He twisted and
looked out the back glass and saw a man lying in the yard outside his bedroom
window.
As
his memories cleared away, Nate fingered the medallion hanging from the chain
around his neck. “You must wear this always, Nate. Never take it off. It was a
gift from your Daddy,” he could hear his mother say.
Oddly,
in all the years he wore it, no one asked about it. Not in school, college, the
Marines, or the police academy. Each time, he waited for someone to tell him it
wasn’t regulation, and he couldn’t wear it, but they never did. It was almost
as if they couldn’t see it. “Daddy,” he murmured, then shook his head. What’s going on? he wanted to shout but
didn’t.
Instead,
he looked at the blonde sitting beside him, her head slumped to the right
against the window, softly snoring. Maybe, just maybe, the answer to his
questions jumped into his vehicle. He slowly reached over and lifted several strands of her moonlight hair. The
electric charge that zinged up his arm surprised him, but not as much as the
thought that pushed into his mind.
Mine!
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| Texas Ranch Wolf Pack Series (12 books) |
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