Dark Wolf Running (Bloodrunners) Page 18

  “Fuck,” he snarled, rolling off the bed. He grabbed an old pair of jeans and yanked them on, hiking them over his hips as he headed toward the hallway. “I’ll see what he wants,” he said over his shoulder, forcing himself not to look at her. If he did, Wyatt knew he’d be on her again in a heartbeat, her brother be damned.

  “What the hell is so important?” he growled as soon as he ripped his front door open.

  Eric’s dark gaze sliced over him with the sharpness of a blade, his nostrils flaring as he scented the lust still rolling off Wyatt’s body. But the Runner didn’t give him shit about it. Instead, he muttered, “We’ve got to go.”

  “Go where?”

  Eric’s guttural voice shook with rage. “I just got a call from Shadow Peak. Elise’s house is burning to the ground.”

  *

  Two hours later, Wyatt was finally pulling back into the Alley. What had undeniably been on its way to becoming the best damn night of his life had turned to shit. By the time he and Eric had made it up to Shadow Peak, Elise’s house had been engulfed in flames...and Browning was presumed dead. From what they’d been able to piece together, her well-meaning neighbor had tried to save as many of her things as he could, only to get trapped inside the structure by the quickly spreading flames. They hadn’t found the body yet, but Mason and Brody were still there, searching.

  He dreaded telling Elise about the death, worried about how she would react. He knew she was going to blame herself, and he hated it. Hated that there was nothing he could do to make it right.

  He and the others didn’t have any doubt that the fire had been arson, and Wyatt wanted the bastards who were responsible so badly he could taste the violence of his need on his tongue. Wanted their damn blood on his hands. The only thing that had kept him from taking off like a madman to hunt them down was the fact that she was here, waiting for him. He’d left her with Carla for protection, and after helping out with the fire, Cian had come back down to join them.

  With a harsh sigh, Wyatt parked the Jeep in front of his cabin, eager to get inside and just hold her, assuring himself that she was safe, even though he was going to have to tell her about Browning. But the instant that he and Eric climbed out of the Jeep, he knew something was wrong. Cian was coming down the front steps of his porch, looking grim-faced and pissed, and a thousand scenarios started running through Wyatt’s head, none of them good.

  “Before you try to kill me,” the Irishman muttered, his hands braced on his hips, “I haven’t called you because we only just realized a few minutes ago.”

  “Realized what?” he growled, slamming the Jeep’s door. “Where’s Elise? What’s going on?”

  Cian shook his head. “She’s fucking gone, man.”

  “What? How the hell can she be gone?” he roared, while a sickening wave of fear cut through his insides, nearly bringing him to his knees. “Carla was meant to be watching her!”

  Shoving his hair back from his face with a frustrated growl, Cian said, “I came over to check on them when I got back, and Carla and I were in the kitchen, putting some food together. I’d left my keys on your coffee table and Elise took them. I don’t know how she did it, but she got the Land Rover out of the Alley without any of us noticing. We’ve tried calling her cell phone, but she’s got the bloody thing turned off.”

  He swallowed, his throat too fucking tight to shout obscenities the way that he wanted to. But Eric wasn’t having any trouble, cursing a streak so blue it was probably hanging over their heads like a toxic cloud, a deep scowl wedged between his dark brows as he snarled about needing to put a bloody wall around the Alley to keep people in. But Wyatt just stood there with his hands fisted at his sides, his chest rising and falling, while a muscle rapidly pulsed in his cheek.

  “Pall, are you okay?” Carla asked, coming up beside him with Jillian just behind her.

  He was only distantly aware of Cian’s phone ringing as he cut a cold, narrow look in his partner’s direction. “I asked you for one goddamn thing, Reyes.”

  She flinched, color leaching from her already pale face. “I know. I’m so sorry.”

  He clenched his jaw to keep from saying anything more, knowing his words would only hurt her. They weren’t going to undo what had been done. He just had to focus on how to get Elise back. On figuring out where the hell she would run to. He knew damn well that she hadn’t gone back up to Shadow Peak because they had scouts monitoring every road in and out of the town.

  She’d definitely gone south, out of their territory, which meant anyone could get to her. The males who had broken into her house. The ones who had burned it down, most likely to draw her back to town and away from the Alley. Christ, she might have already fallen right into the bastards’ hands, like a ripe piece of fruit slipping from a tree.

  A thick, guttural sound scraped up the back of his throat, and Carla and Jillian both cast him worried looks, no doubt thinking he was about to lose his shit and go ballistic. He wasn’t entirely sure that he wasn’t, his wolf prowling beneath his surface, its visceral fury no doubt burning in his eyes, making them flash with gold.

  “I don’t believe it,” Cian said with a gruff laugh, drawing his attention. “It must be your lucky day, you son of a bitch. That was Max.”

  “And?” he snapped.

  Cian shook his head wonderingly as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “He and Elliot were down in Wesley tonight, following a few leads on the blackmail tapes. They passed Elise on the highway and were worried enough about her being on her own that they turned around and followed her. She just pulled into that cheap-ass motel on Highgate Road and has taken a room. My Land Rover is parked in front of it.”

  “Tell them not to leave until I get there,” he called over his shoulder, already heading back to his Jeep.

  Eric caught his arm, yanking him to a stop. “And when you get there?” he demanded. “What then?”

  Wyatt met the Runner’s worried gaze with one that was hard and steady. “Then I’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back.”

  Eric’s chest lifted as he pulled in a deep breath, and then he let go of Wyatt’s arm, hitched his chin at him and said, “Good.”

  “You realize,” Cian murmured a few minutes later, after he’d climbed into the Jeep with him and they were tearing down the road, “if Max and Elliot hadn’t seen her, you might have never found her.”

  “Trust me, I know,” he growled, pressing his foot down even harder on the accelerator. “And I’m never going to forget it.”

  Chapter 13

  Lying on the ugly blanket that covered the motel-room bed, Elise stared up at the water-stained ceiling with her bleary eyes and tried not to feel. Or think. Or...anything. But it was impossible. All she could do was think. About what an idiot she was. What a miserable, pathetic coward.

  In the end, she’d run, just like her mother.

  Funny, how she’d never wanted to be anything like the woman, and now she was a spitting image. But at least Helen Drake had been trying to survive, in her own twisted way. Elise was just...

  Well, hell. She didn’t even know what she was. Empty? Draining away?

  Stop the pathetic bullshit. You know you ran for more than one reason.

  Yeah, well, at least there was that. The phone call on her cell phone from Eddie’s stepfather about the fire and his son’s death had come just in time. If she hadn’t run tonight when she did, she might have never gotten another chance. At least not before it was too late and more innocent people had paid with their lives because of her. The Runners and their loved ones had enough problems of their own. Last thing they needed was her bringing more doom and gloom down on their heads.

  She was already deep in the process of working herself up for a freaking kick-ass pity party when someone started banging the hell out of her door. With a sense of déjà vu hitting her hard in the chest, she lurched up into a sitting position in the middle of the bed, staring at the door with wide eyes.

  “I know you’re
in there, Elise. If you don’t want the management calling the cops when I break this fucking door down, then you’ll open it. Now!”

  “Wyatt?” she whispered, her voice too soft for him to have heard.

  “I’m giving you three seconds, Elise. Open the goddamn door!”

  She scrambled off the bed and hurried across the room, her hands shaking as she twisted the lock, removed the chain and pulled the door open. Before she could get a single word out, Wyatt was gripping her shoulders, pushing her back so that he could enter. Then he let go of her, turned and slammed the door shut, and locked them both inside. Lifting his muscular arms, he braced his big hands against the door for a moment, head hanging forward, his breathing rough and heavy in the quiet stillness of the room.

  “Do you have any idea how badly you scared me?” His low voice vibrated with emotion, graveled and thick. “Any idea at all, Elise?”

  A fresh wave of guilt twisted through her insides like a blade, making her feel even shittier than she already had. Which was really saying something. “Wyatt, I’m sorry,” she whispered, licking her lips. “I...I didn’t mean to worry you.”

  He let out a sharp, explosive breath, then pushed away from the door and turned to face her, his jaw clenched so hard it had to hurt. He wore his scuffed leather boots, jeans and a gray T-shirt, the seams on the sleeves stretched tight around his impressive biceps—the furious expression on his face just as equally impressive. His dark eyes burned with rage.

  “You didn’t worry me,” he growled, his hands curling into fists at his sides. “You scared the holy living fuck out of me. Christ, Elise. Do you have any idea how lucky you are that it was me standing outside your door and not some asshole intent on ripping you to pieces?”

  She swallowed and tried to respond, but her throat was locked too tightly.

  His eyes narrowed to piercing slits of onyx, his burnished skin stretched tight over his cheekbones. “Answer me, damn it!”

  “Yes, I know, and I’m sorry!” she blurted, panting, her face burning. “Did you... Are you here alone?”

  He shook his head. “Max and Elliot are the ones who saw you come here, but I sent them back. Cian is still here, though, waiting in my Jeep in the parking lot across the street.”

  “And Eric?”

  His jaw clenched even tighter. “Ready to put you over his bloody knee for pulling this stunt. Be thankful as hell that he didn’t come down with us.”

  She winced, hating that she’d upset Eric, as well. “I’m sorry to have caused so much trouble,” she told him, her quiet voice not even close to steady, “but I’m trying to do the right thing. I... What are you even doing here, Wyatt?”

  He stared back at her as if she’d grown a second head. “What am I doing here? What the hell, Elise? Did you think I was just going to let you run off like a child trying to get herself killed and not come after you? You might not give a flying shit about me, but I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you alive.” He came a step closer, forcing her to tilt her head back if she wanted to keep holding his blistering glare. “So why don’t you tell me what you’re doing here?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” she mumbled. “I was running.”

  He looked stricken by her confession and so incredibly angry. “Why? Damn it, you told me you trusted me!”

  “I do,” she breathed out, wrapping her arms around herself.

  “Then why did you run away?”

  She gave a choked sob and sniffed, tears spilling from the corners of her eyes. But she didn’t answer him.

  “Did I hurt you?” he rasped, his thick voice cracking at the end. He stared over her head, as if he couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eye when he asked the question. “Did I scare you?”

  “No,” she whispered, hating that she’d made him doubt himself, when he’d been so patient with her. When he’d done nothing but give of himself. When he’d made her feel such unbelievable pleasure. “It wasn’t anything you did, Wyatt. It’s me. I’m the problem, not you.”

  Feeling as if he’d been put through a goddamn emotional wringer, Wyatt shook his head. “Running isn’t going to solve your problems, El.”

  She sniffed again, looking adorably defiant as she lifted her chin. “How the hell do you know?”

  “Because I’ve tried it,” he muttered, shoving an unsteady hand back through his hair, then dragging it down his face. “But problems have a way of following you. Trust me.”

  She shuddered, wrapping her arms even tighter around her middle.

  “Now tell me why you ran.”

  “Because I don’t want anything to happen to the people I care about!” she suddenly shouted, unable to keep the frantic, emotional words from pouring out of her. “Eddie’s stepfather called my phone and told me what happened to him. Eddie had tried to call me today, but I ignored the call. I didn’t want to think about what was happening up in Shadow Peak, which probably got him killed. If I’d told him to stay away from my house, he wouldn’t have been inside!”

  “That’s bullshit, Elise! You know what he was like. I doubt he would have listened to you, no matter what you told him. For all you know the ones responsible for that fire forced him to call you, trying to draw you out.”

  “I still feel responsible,” she snapped. “And I have other reasons, too.”

  “Yeah? Then let’s hear them,” he growled, still so angry he could feel his blood pounding through every cell of his body, hot and raging. His pulse was a deafening roar in his ears, his wolf so furious it wanted nothing more than to throw back its head and let out a bloodthirsty howl. Then it wanted to take her, claim her and make the primal, possessive bite that would bind them together for all eternity, body and soul. The bite that Wyatt knew, no matter what happened between them, she would never ask him to make.

  And that he could never, no matter how badly he wanted it, ask her for himself.

  “You want to know my reasons, Wyatt? I ran because my life is shit!” she screamed. “And because I want to have sex with you!”

  He stared back at her, his eyes wide and unblinking, unable to believe she’d just said that. It was a moment before he trusted himself to respond, his voice little more than a hard, husky rasp. “Nothing is going to happen to the people you care about, El. The Alley is the safest place for your brother and Chelsea. And yeah, this sucks that it’s happening to you, but running isn’t going to solve a damn thing.” He paused to pull in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “And if you’re finally ready to go to bed with me, then why the hell did you leave me?”

  Her gaze slid away from his, darting to random places in the miserable little room. She ran her tongue over the lush, biteable curve of her bottom lip and whispered, “Because I want to, but I can’t.”

  “How many times do I have to say it? I will fucking wait until you’re ready, woman. I’m not pushing you. I wouldn’t— Fuck!” He rubbed a hand over his mouth, struggling to put his chaotic thoughts in order so that he could make her understand. Grasping her chin, he waited for her to bring that glistening, tear-drenched gaze back to his before he said, “I want more than just to get in your pants, Elise. That’s not what this is about. Yes, I want you so badly I can barely think straight anymore. But there’s more to it than that. A hell of a lot more.”

  “You won’t feel like that for long, Wyatt. Because I can’t sleep with you without telling you the truth,” she said brokenly, swiping at her tears. “I wanted to earlier, because I lost my head. But I can’t, because it wouldn’t feel right. Not when there are things you need to know.”

  “Then tell me now.”

  “I will.” Her breath shuddered out, her expression defeated. “I have to. But when I do, just... I want you to know that I won’t hold you to what you’ve said. You’re going to change your mind, and I...I understand.”

  His nostrils flared, jaw so tight he was surprised his teeth hadn’t cracked. “You think I won’t want you? What the fuck, baby?”

  “Can we just get out of this
place first?” she whispered. “I don’t want to do this here.”

  Moving his hand from her chin to the side of her face, Wyatt rubbed his thumb against the quivering edge of her mouth, hating to see her so upset. “Putting it off isn’t going to make it any easier, El.”

  “I know. I just... I don’t feel safe here.”

  He closed his eyes, struggling for patience, then forced them back open and lowered his hand. “Come on, then.”

  It took only a few minutes to get El and the small bag she’d brought with her into Cian’s Land Rover. Before they headed out, he called the Irishman to let him know they were heading back up to the Alley, telling him to go on ahead of them. Whatever was coming, Wyatt didn’t want an audience for it. Hell, there was a good chance he wouldn’t even be able to make it back to the Alley before needing to get his hands on her.

  “You okay over there?” he asked, sliding a concerned look over her flushed face as they headed out of the parking lot. “Want the AC on?”

  Elise shook her head. “No, I’m fine,” she murmured, wondering if maybe there were a way out of this. A way that she could actually have what she wanted, without it all falling apart. Maybe even...

  Oh, hell. Who was she trying to fool? She knew damn well how dangerous maybes could be. When was she going to learn? There was no magical maybe for her in this scenario. Wyatt Pallaton was never going to give her his heart, which meant he would never be able to accept her the way she was now. Yeah, it sucked. But it was a dose of reality she needed to grow up and swallow.

  Why? Why tell him anything? Why not just enjoy him? Even if it’s only for one night?

  God, she would have loved to. But she couldn’t. Maybe it was pride. Maybe she just couldn’t stomach having to pretend in the midst of their passion, since there was always the chance he would notice that her senses weren’t quite...right. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t go through with it without telling him the truth. But if she told him the truth, he wouldn’t want her anymore, and she’d be right back where she started. Alone. Starved for him.