Page 29 of Protecting The Gray Wolf
“Yeah, right.” Big talk considering Luna might well be a tracking beacon for his enemies and he was still here. It didn’t matter that none of this was her fault. The reality remained that she was a part of this. Whatever their link, there might be a way he could use it to his benefit. The tattoo on his chest began to throb. He frowned and rubbed his hand over it.
The sickle-shaped weapon that marked him as a lone wolf had appeared when he’d made his first shift. It was a reminder of all he was, what he was. Yet all his strengths and abilities were useless against the magic hurting Luna.
He was a deadly hunter, intelligent and focused. Once he’d locked onto prey, there was no stopping until he’d taken them down. Other wolves ran from him in fear. Some quivered at the mere mention of his name. He took no pride in what he did. It was simply what he had to do in order to survive.
The wolf packs took the lone wolves for granted. The alphas assumed he and the other two would handle any problems they either couldn’t or wouldn’t. His upper lip curled into a snarl. They weren’t doing their jobs. The last couple of decades, all three lone wolves had to track down more rogues, their numbers increasing at an alarming rate. To him that spoke of lack of discipline at the top levels.
Or maybe it had something to do with what was unfolding now. A precursor of things to come. Something to think about.
If the voice in his head that urged him to hunt would leave him in peace, he’d go away somewhere and leave the wolf nation to its fate. Except that would put innocents like Luna at risk. He did more than protect the packs from being detected by humans. He kept the humans safe from the rogues.
In the entirety of his life, no one had ever tried to protect the gray wolf until Luna. That made her unique. The fact that she’d dreamed about him for years, drew and painted him, took their connection to an entirely different level.
It had a mage’s influence written all over it. He had to give it to his enemies. It was the perfect trap. Having met and spent time with her, if Luna turned on him and sided with the mage, he was in deep shit. He wasn’t sure he could bring himself to harm her, even to protect himself. His wolf would fight him if he tried. The beast wanted to claim her. Kade wanted her safe. If she continued to try to protect him, she was a weakness, something his enemies would eagerly exploit. Either way, he was screwed.
A change in her breathing alerted him she was waking. Her eyelids fluttered open. She frowned, appearing confused. “What…what happened?” As she looked around the room, she licked her lips. “How did we get in here?”
Arousal roared to life within him. A primal pulse in his blood urged him to claim her, to mark her as his. His fangs began to elongate. He shook his head in denial. Every muscle in his body turned to stone as he fought with his most basic nature.
“Kade? What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
And there it was, her concern was not for herself but for him. How could he possibly resist? He tenderly brushed a damp curl away from her cheek. “You passed out from the pain.” Some color was coming back to her cheeks, but she was still too pale.
“I what? I’ve never fainted in my life.” She struggled to move off his lap, but he tightened his grip.
“Give yourself a minute. Calling the mage set off a reaction.” A muscle in his jaw began to tick.
“I remember.” She lifted her hand and studied it. “It’s like there’s some sort of built-in alarm. It kicked in the second you made contact.” She rubbed her other hand over her chest. “Up until then, I was aware of it. It ached, but nothing like that.”
“Makes sense. The last thing Solange wants is to lose track of you.”
Her brows furrowed. “Lose track of you, you mean. My value lies solely in my connection to the gray wolf, to you. My being here is putting you in danger. I should go.”
“Not without me.” When she glared, he shook his head. “My wolf won’t let you go.” She might not understand the implication of that, but he did.
“Because of the magic.” She rubbed her hand against the material of her leggings.
“Because of you,” he corrected. Solange might be a mage, but Luna was pure magic. There was no way to know whether he’d have had as strong a reaction to her if they’d randomly met. Logically, the answer was no. She would have definitely caught his eye and not only because of her unique coloring. There was something about her that calmed the beast inside him. His human side cautioned him to tread carefully while his wolf trusted her.
“What do you think will happen when Onyx and I are in the same room together if I had this kind of reaction when we talked on the phone?”
“I don’t know.” And that worried the hell out of him. “We can leave. She won’t find us.”
Luna’s laugh was brittle. “Maybe, maybe not.”
She wasn’t wrong. He hadn’t given her their room number. Maybe she’d have the desk call up when she arrived. Maybe she already knew. Who knew what fucking mages were capable of? “I don’t like this. Why is she in the city? It’s too much of a coincidence.” Something he would’ve considered if he hadn’t been so worried about Luna.
“From everything she said, she has no love for Solange.” That was an understatement. “Maybe Onyx tracked her here.”
The inaction, the lack of control, was making him snarly. He wanted to pace, but he wasn’t ready to give up his hold on Luna.
“Is there any other way?” Her voice was steadily growing stronger. “Be honest with me.”
He might have contacts and people like the broker he paid to assist him, but he was used to being on his own, being able to handle whatever life threw at him. Not this time. “I think we’re fucked without her help.”
Bleak acceptance reflected in her eyes. “I suspect you’re right.” She eased off his lap and sat on the side of the bed, staring at the floor. “I can’t live like this. Feeling tethered to that woman. Never knowing what might set off whatever it is she did to me.” A shudder made her entire body quake. Turning her head, she gave him a faint smile. “On the bright side, if trying to break the spell kills me, at least you’ll be free.”
Her macabre humor cut him to the core. “Don’t say that. Don’t even think it.” If he could, he’d snatch her words back, lest the gods somehow hear them and take them as a challenge.
