Page 5 of Bound to the Wolf
Not that Reece had spotted a single feminine wile on Elise.
She reminded him more of a woodland creature, perhaps a rabbit, and he didn’t find rabbits cute.
He found them tasty.
But not tonight. He’d eaten a gigantic hamburger for dinner and wasn’t in the mood for raw, unseasoned meat.
Life had been calm ever since Elise and Nico settled into their abomination of a relationship.
The Iron Runners weren’t giving them any trouble, and Cole had made the call that they would back off on riskier jobs for now until things cooled down There was no need to ruffle feathers or fur when Dawson, the alpha of the Iron Runner pack —the most powerful and largest pack in the area —was willing to play nice.
But that meant things had been quiet. Disturbingly quiet.
Not the forest around him.Thatteemed with life and animal sounds. Everything he expected.
He was waiting for the other shoe to drop. For fallout from Elise and Nico, or from the bullshit that came when Austin, a former beta from the Iron Runner pack, had kidnapped Elise and Nico, or any of the hundred other things that could come of a risky relationship.
But things were all right at the moment. The pack was settled. Cole had fully recovered from his injury a few months ago. Nico was playing house with his little witch, but he was doing his duties as well. Everything was supposedly fine.
Reece did not trust fine.
He wished Elise would stay away. If Nico wanted to fuck her, fine, whatever. But didn’t she have a house of her own? She didn’t need to be here on pack territory, making everything confusing.
She didn’t need her coven sisters dropping by unannounced to pick her up and take her to the city or bring something she had forgotten from her own home.
Did the woman even have a car? He was certain she didn’t. How did a grown woman not have a car?
And those coven sisters? Delainey?
God damn it, he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about her.
Reece had spent most of the last four months successfullynotthinking about Delainey. With her corkscrew curls, and her rich brown skin, and the fire in her eyes and on her hands—the way she had almost killed herself to save his life, and he had been forced to drag her out of that mess by his teeth.
Reece growled low in his throat.
He was supposed to be angry about that, or neutral about it. It wasn’t supposed to make himwonder.
But there was a fire in Delainey that sparked his curiosity and made him want to know more. He refused to give in to said fire because he wasn’t a fool. He knew better than most that witches and wolves couldnotmix, that it only ended in disaster and heartbreak, and he wasn’t willing to put himself through that for even the slightest hint of curiosity.
Delainey was interesting, sure, but there were many interesting women out there. He would find one and ignore the allure of the forbidden, just as he had been successfully ignoring it for the past four months.
A scent snagged his senses.
His head jerked up, snout pointing east. That wasn’t a witch. No, he smelled wolves, and not any wolves that belonged to the Southern Basin. He could recognize every single one of his pack members by scent. He wouldn’t have cared if any were on their own runs.
But these weren’t his pack members. And he was deep in pack territory.
These were interlopers.
His hackles rose. Reece wanted to sprint toward the scent and run them off, but he forced himself to creep along slowly. If they were this deep in the territory, they were here for a reason, and he wanted to gather as much information as possible before he did damage.
He moved swiftly and quietly, no longer bumping into trees or forgetting how his body functioned. This was the kind of deliberate movement that made him a beta—an experienced wolf and a honed killer. He was downwind, which gave him the advantage, and he was quiet enough that neither of the wolves noticed him get close.
He peered at them through two trees. The spot wasn’t great for stopping; it was barely a trail, which gave Reece cover. Butit also meant he’d have to vault over vegetation and fight nature and the enemy.
Just because he didn’t recognize their scent didn’t mean he might not recognize their wolf forms.
There were two gray wolves, though one was much darker, with nearly all black fur. Both were on the smaller side, but still formidable. Thoughmostwolves were smaller than Reece. They padded around with the confidence that usually only came from wolves in their own territory, which made Reece wonder exactly who these assholes were.
