Page 5 of Taming the White Wolf
She licked her lips again. Unable to resist, he leaned toward her. When she didn’t object, he brushed his mouth against hers. Lust roared through him like a runaway freight train. He almost staggered under the onslaught. Every muscle in his chest rippled as her hand skimmed over it before settling on his shoulder.
Mine!The possessive impulse caught him off guard. Wolves mated for life, but not lone wolves. As the name implied, they were solitary creatures by necessity.
Inhaling sharply, he sorted through myriad scents. Beneath the layers of sweat, liquor, and artificial fragrance lay a richer one, sweet with a hint of arousal—hers. It went straight to his dick, making it throb. Then he caught a darker, musky scent mixed with a hint of blood.
A low growl escaped him before he could swallow it back. Everything inside him stilled as he scented his quarry. Needing to be sure, he buried his face against her neck and shoulder. It was stronger near her back. There was no mistaking it. This was no mere brush from someone passing by. The rogue had marked her with several drops of his blood.
Either she was involved with the rogue he was hunting, or the male had watched him save her life earlier and decided to draw her into their deadly game of hide-and-seek. Whatever the reason, she’d been marked. Rogues chose their victims at random to leave no pattern to track, but this was deliberate.
Gasping, she shrugged out of his grasp. The pulse in her neck fluttered wildly. She touched her fingers to her lips and backed away, her eyes wide. “Ah, I really have to go.” Spinning around, she hurried toward the relative safety of the noise and lights and people.
Not willing to lose his only link to the rogue, he went after her. The crowd had swallowed her up, and it took him several seconds to spot her. Damn, she was already halfway across the club, heading toward the exit instead of a table. He quickened his pace.
His heart jumped and began to race when she slipped out the door. Shoving people aside, he slammed the portal open. The bouncer jumped back. “What the hell, man?”
Ignoring him, Devlin hurried down the alley, looking right and then left. There. She was walking fast, heading toward the subway station. Picking up his pace, he kept her in his sights, staying far enough back not to spook her, but close enough to protect her, if necessary.
Down the stairs she went. She paid her fare and headed toward the platform. He followed. Standing behind a large post, he kept an eye out for any sign of the rogue. Not that he’d expected it. The creature hadn’t avoided him this long by being careless.
Head down, she pulled her phone out of her purse and studied it rather than paying attention to the people around her. Did she have no sense of self-preservation? She needed to be more aware of her surroundings. Of course, she’d been about to step in front of a speeding car the first time their paths had crossed. Maybe her inattention was normal. It was likely the rogue had rubbed against her without her being aware. Maybe he’d danced with her.
He ground his teeth together and swallowed a growl. Not his problem.
Only it was. His wolf would allow nothing less. Something about her called to him on a primal level that would not be denied.
This had gone from a simple hunt to something far more complicated.
Three men in their early twenties swaggered in her direction. They’d homed in on who they perceived to be the weakest person present—the lone female. They were almost salivating, as if she was prey and they were hungry wolves.
Devlin stepped out from his hiding spot long enough for them to glimpse him. He gave them the same predatory smile that made grown werewolves piss themselves. His wolf was growling inside him, not liking the threat tohiswoman. Not his woman, he countered, fighting the unwanted sensation, but a person of interest. He didn’t even know her name.
Paling, the men backpedaled so fast they almost tripped over their own feet. It would’ve been funny if he wasn’t so irritated—at them for daring to approach her and at her for not even noticing. They scurried toward the exit, taking the stairs two at a time.
Vibrations shook the platform as the train rolled in. She stepped on with him close behind. She sat with her back to him, her phone still in her hand. What was it with humans and their phones? They’d become an extension of their bodies.
He’d make sure she got home safely, question her, and then leave. There was no room in his life for a woman, let alone a human one. As the wolf scent on her proved, she was an easy target for his enemies, unable to protect herself against the creatures who’d come after her. He’d tried making connections with female werewolves when he was younger. They either betrayed him or it put a target on their backs. He was a lone wolf. His being alone was better for everyone.
The fact he’d run into this woman twice in the same day concerned him. Both times, some instinct had drawn him to her long before he’d scented the rogue on her. Little worried him, but this did. If he was smart, he’d get off at the next stop and regroup. But he wouldn’t because information was power.
The train pulled into a station, and she made her way to the exit. He trailed her across the platform and up the stairs to the sidewalk, keeping her in view. It helped that he was tall and blessed with preternatural sight.
The heat from the day had dissipated. He welcomed the slight chill in the air. It helped cool his lust. She was wearing nothing more than a thin dress. Was she cold?
Not my problem.
She stopped in front of a narrow five-story building. Whirling around, she held up her phone. “You can’t deny you’re following me, not this time. I don’t know who you are or what you want, but come any closer and I’ll call the cops.”
Well, shit. She’d been aware of him the entire time.
Chapter Three
Zoe was proud her voice didn’t break. She’d taken him at face value back at the club. The cliché that the world was a small place existed for a reason. Strange as it seemed, sometimes people ran into each other at random.
This was on purpose.
Her accusation had no effect. He didn’t seem annoyed or angry or aggressive. She read people well—a by-product of growing up in the foster care system—but he was almost impossible to get a read on. That should frighten her. Instead, she was intrigued. Maybe it was foolish, but she didn’t get the sense he meant her harm.
Get a grip, girl. Just because he warned a group of men off at the station doesn’t mean he isn’t a potential stalker.
