Dark Wolf Running (Bloodrunners) Read online

  “You’ve lost your freaking mind.”

  “Probably,” he muttered, scrubbing the palm of his hand against the hard angle of his jaw. “But it doesn’t change the fact that you need a keeper.”

  “I can stay with my brother!”

  He arched one perfect midnight brow. “You do realize this is his wedding night, don’t you?”

  She flushed, wracking her brain for an alternative. “With Jillian and Jeremy, then.”

  “Won’t work. They’ve already started turning their spare room into a nursery.”

  She blinked, stunned. “She’s pregnant?”

  He shook his head. “Not yet. But they’re hoping she will be soon and wanted to get a head start on things.”

  “Oh. I...I didn’t know.”

  As if he knew exactly what she was thinking, he said, “They only just decided this week to start on the nursery, or I’m sure she would have told you.”

  She chewed on the corner of her lip. “I can always sleep on their sofa.”

  Zoing! His right brow arched again, as if it was spring-loaded, those dark eyes starting to glitter with a spark of humor, as if he were beginning to find something funny in her belligerent desperation. “When I have a perfectly good spare bedroom? I don’t think so.”

  She was so frustrated she wanted to scream. “Who cares what you think, you arrogant ass? I do not take orders from you! Why can’t you just leave me the hell alone and stop trying to control me?”

  Hmm. Maybe yelling at him again wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had. He suddenly wasn’t looking as if he still found this funny, the muscle pulsing in his jaw telling her he was done with this particular argument. “I’m not interested in controlling you. I’m just trying to keep you the fuck alive. So pack your goddamn bag and start acting like an adult instead of a stubborn child. Carla and I will drive you down and she can help you get settled.”

  “Carla? Are you two bunking up together now?”

  Carla snorted from her position in the doorway, making Elise flinch, since she’d somehow forgotten the female Runner was standing there. “You think I’m gonna live with that jackass?” The blonde laughed under her breath, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. “I’m not that crazy!”

  Elise looked to Wyatt for an explanation. With a shrug, he said, “I just thought it might make you more comfortable to know that she’ll be around a lot. Her cabin is right next door to mine.”

  “But we are not an item,” Carla added, shuddering. “I love the guy, but I don’t want you putting any sick images in my head. I’ll be scarred for life.”

  It was dizzying, how she could go from being so pissed off one moment to wanting to bang her head against a freaking wall in the next. Glancing from one Runner to the other with a look of pure, disgruntled confusion, she said, “You two are so weird.”

  “Yeah, we get that a lot.” Carla laughed.

  At the same time, Wyatt growled, “Can we get a damn move on?”

  When Elise simply remained where she was standing, he exhaled a short, exasperated breath. “Stop wasting time, El. If you don’t come with me, then I’m moving in here. Which is it gonna be?”

  “Fine,” she snapped, making it sound like another sharp four-letter F word. “I’ll pack a bag, Dad.”

  He ran his tongue over the front of his teeth, but didn’t call her out on her snotty attitude. Instead, he simply said, “Good. And make sure you pack enough.”

  “Enough for what?” she asked, already walking toward her closet.

  “A few weeks, at least.”

  Oh, hell no. “A few weeks?” she growled, spinning toward him with another furious scowl. “Are you insane?”

  “Getting there,” he muttered, heading for the door, the motion making all those mouthwatering muscles do interesting things under his tight, burnished skin. Even his freaking back was gorgeous, which just struck her as incredibly unfair. “If you want to argue about it, save it for the Alley,” he said over his shoulder. “Right now we need to get the hell out of here.”

  “Why?” she whispered, his gritty words making the fear she’d been fighting down start to rise right back up. She licked her lips, struggling to stay calm, but it felt like a losing battle. “You don’t think they’re coming back, do you?”

  “I don’t know what to think, Elise. But it’s better to be safe than sorry. And you’ll be a hell of a lot safer there than you are here.”

  With her pulse pounding in her ears, Elise watched him leave the room, thinking he was probably right about her physical well-being.

  She just wasn’t too sure about the rest of her.

  Chapter 4

  After getting a still-irritated, snippy Elise settled in his spare bedroom, Wyatt grabbed a T-shirt and then walked back to the cabin’s living room, where Carla waited for him in one of the leather chairs that sat across from his sofa. Too on edge to sit down, he made his way over to the empty fireplace, crossing his arms over his chest as he braced his back against the mantel.

  “What?” he grunted, since his partner was staring at him with a bemused expression on her face.

  “Nothing,” she murmured.

  Choking back a groan, he said, “I’m tired and in a shitty mood, Reyes. So, please, just spit it out.”

  She coughed to clear her throat, then shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s just that you’re not usually this tense, Pall. You look ready to crack.”

  He shrugged, not knowing what to say.

  “So what’s going on with you two?” she asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

  “Don’t know.” He rubbed his jaw as he glanced at the bottle of whiskey that sat on the sideboard against the far wall. Rolling his shoulder in a restless gesture, he kept his voice low as he said, “I want her. But I’m worried about her, too. So I’ll put the other on the back burner for the time being and help her deal with whatever’s going on.”

  “You want her how?” Carla questioned.

  He arched a brow. “How do you think?” His tone was dry.

  Not one to mince words, his partner asked, “You’re just looking for sex?”

  Wyatt scowled. “Do we really need to have this conversation? Because not to sound juvenile or anything, but it’s kinda freaking me out, seeing as how you’re one of the closest things to family I still have. And I sure as hell wouldn’t talk about my sex life with my sister, if I had one.”

  “Yeah, I get that. And I’m sorry about the ick factor. You know I love you—but I like Elise, too.” A notch started to form between her pale brows, just visible beneath the edge of her bangs. “I don’t want to see her get hurt if you’re only looking to get laid.”

  “I’m not going to break her heart,” he muttered, shoving a hand back through his hair in a telling act of frustration. “Hell, a woman like her would never fall for a guy like me in the first place. But it doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun together.”

  The notch on her forehead got deeper. “What do you mean by ‘a guy like me’? What’s wrong with you?”

  “Nothing,” he grunted. “Just drop it.”

  She didn’t respond right away. She just sat there staring at him from the edge of her seat, studying him, making him feel like a bug pinned down under a microscope. He didn’t care for the feeling. And now he really wanted that damn drink. Heading over to the sideboard, he poured more than a little whiskey into a glass, then walked back and took a seat on the sofa.

  “Gee, thanks for offering me one, too,” she drawled wryly. “And you know what I think? I think you’re full of bullshit.” He started to argue, but she cut him off. “And you’re blind if you don’t think that Elise is interested in you. Like really interested. Yeah, she’s skittish. She has good reason to be. But when you’re not looking at her, she’s watching you. She can’t keep her eyes off you.”

  A wave of heat swept through his insides, and it didn’t have a damn thing to do with the mouthful of whiskey he’d just downed.

  “Whoa!” Carla pressed a h
and to her chest and gaped at him, really playing up the drama. “Did you just smile so big your dimples flashed? Holy shit!”

  “Lay off,” he groaned, closing his eyes as he slumped down and dropped his head against the back of the sofa. But he couldn’t stop his lips from twitching.

  “Man, and I didn’t even have my camera to document this momentous event. This is a tragedy of, like, epic proportions. I haven’t seen a genuine, full-fledged smile out of you in months!”

  He cracked one eye open to glare at the obnoxious little imp. “Are you going to keep giving me shit all night?”

  “Probably,” she admitted with a smirk.

  Cursing something foul under his breath, he tossed back another hefty drink of his whiskey, clenching his teeth as it burned his throat.

  “Whoa,” she said again, only this time she wasn’t teasing. “Easy there, Pall. It wasn’t my intention to make you want to get shit-faced.”

  “Yeah?” He snorted as he wiped his mouth with the back of his wrist, then dropped his head back again. “Then what exactly were you going for?”

  She was silent for a moment, and then she took a deep breath and said, “Look, I know the reason why this partnership between us works. Yeah, we’re friends, and I would go to the line for you. But we get along so well because we don’t push. I know you have shit in your past, and you know I have shit in mine, but we never hound each other for the gritty details.”

  Sitting up, he braced his elbows on his spread knees and stared at her over the square, rustic coffee table. “Then why are we even having this conversation?”

  The look in her brown eyes was troubled. “Because for the first time since I met you, I think there’s a reason to.”

  Swallowing the last of his whiskey, he said, “My past has nothing to do with the present, Reyes.”

  A crooked smile touched her lips. “Come on, Pall. You’re too smart to actually believe that.”

  “If we’re spilling blood here,” he muttered, setting his empty glass on the table, “why don’t you go first?”

  Quietly, she said, “Because I’m not the one playing Russian roulette with a woman on the edge.”

  The silence stretched out, both of them refusing to back down. He blew out a rough breath and finally said, “Look, I know you’re only trying to help. But stop. I don’t need it.” He moved to his feet. “And now it’s time to call it a night.”

  Carla didn’t argue. But she gave him a knowing look that said she had his number and wasn’t letting this go.

  Knowing there wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to get any sleep, Wyatt locked the door behind his irritating, if well-meaning, partner, then stretched out over the long sofa and grabbed the remote. He barely noticed what was playing on the TV as he clicked it on, too busy thinking that it was the strangest damn thing, how after a lifetime of being a werewolf, it’d taken a woman to truly awaken the savage, predatory animal inside him.

  Not that he hadn’t already possessed a primal, predaceous side. You couldn’t do the job he did without one. But that primitive, possessive, animalistic part of his nature had never bled into his sexual relationships. Being a hunter, he was one of the best, the Lycan part of his soul as skillful a predator as there could be—and he put that talent to good use. But like Carla had insinuated, his past had shaped the fabric of his character, and he knew he approached sex differently than his fellow male Runners. While they struggled to master their more aggressive desires, he’d never worried about losing control with a woman when he had her beneath him. He’d seen what violence could do to a female at an early age, and he wanted no part of that. Instead, his sexual relationships had been, for lack of a better word, fun. Something he could walk away from easily, and never something that made him feel as if he were coming out of his fucking skin.

  At least, that was how it’d always been for him before. Now, in some kind of ironic twist of fate, the one woman Wyatt needed to treat with tender restraint had awakened a side of him he’d never even known existed. A dark, savagely dominant side that wanted to conquer and possess. That wanted to take Elise Drake beneath his fevered body, drive himself into her with all the primal ferocity of his beast and make her writhe. Make her scream and shout from the searing, relentless burn of pleasure, until her cries were hoarse and her nails were raking down his back. Until she was as wild and as out of control as he felt every time he so much as thought about her.

  And now you need to cool it, you idiot, before you start howling like a sex-crazed maniac and end up scaring the hell out of her.

  Cursing under his breath, Wyatt turned the volume on the TV up a little, but he still wasn’t really watching the sitcom that was on, too focused on the redhead showering in his guest room. He’d heard the rattle of the pipes start while he’d been talking to Carla, and now he was in a world of hurt, thinking of Elise standing naked and wet beneath the steaming stream of water, her beautiful body slick and soft and in desperate need of comfort. A comfort he was more than willing to provide, if she would only give him the chance.

  Yeah. And given how pissed she is, she’d probably rather bunk down with a bloody vampire.

  Drawing in a slow, deep breath, Wyatt locked his jaw and forced his attention to the mundane TV show...knowing it was more than likely going to be the longest damn night of his life.

  *

  Elise awakened with a gasp, trying to shake off the fuzzy remnants of what had been another nightmare. She could sense the morning sunlight against her eyelids and rolled over, pressing the side of her face against the pillow. The bed was comfortable and warm, making her want to stay buried beneath the covers forever, hiding from the rest of the world. But the prickling on her skin suddenly made her realize that she wasn’t alone, and she gave another soft gasp as she opened her eyes to find Wyatt sitting in a chair by the window, only a yard or so from where she lay, watching her with that dark, intense gaze that made her breath quicken.

  “Bad dream?” he asked, his low voice deep and morning rough.

  She pushed her hair out of her eyes, ignoring his question. She didn’t want to think about what she’d been dreaming...or why. But she did want to know what the hell he was up to. “What are you doing in here, Wyatt?”

  His sexy mouth curved in a rueful, lopsided grin as he leaned forward in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees, his legs parted. He was dressed in a pair of faded jeans...and nothing else. All those lean, corded muscles and acres of bronzed skin made her damn mouth water. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “Try me,” she snapped.

  “All right.” His lashes lowered a little, shielding the look in his eyes, his tone deliberately careful. “I was watching you sleep.”

  “What?” Her face flushed with embarrassment as she sat up, clutching the sheet to her chest. “Why would you do that?”

  Gently, he said, “You were making these sounds earlier, like you were afraid. I came in to check on you, said your name, and it quieted you. My being here seemed to make you settle down, so I pulled up a chair and decided to let you get some more sleep.”

  Oh, um...wow. Her first instinct was to snap at him again for invading what was meant to be her personal space here in his cabin, but she knew that was only because she was self-conscious. So she choked down the knee-jerk response and somehow managed to say, “You didn’t need to do that, but it was...nice of you. So I’ll just say thanks.”

  He gave her a curious half smile, as if he were surprised she’d actually been civil to him for once. Noticing the dark smudges under his eyes, she shook her head and sighed. “Looks like you’re going to pay for being a good guy, Wyatt. I slept and you didn’t. Now you’ll be dragging yourself around all day.”

  He lifted his broad, powerful shoulders in an uneasy shrug. “I never actually sleep much anyway.”

  “Why not?” she asked, unable to take her eyes off the muscular expanse of his bare chest. He scratched at the russet-toned skin with his right hand, the casual action comp
letely mesmerizing. She wanted to look away, but she was transfixed, his sheer proximity enough to send her heart rate into overdrive.

  It was crazy how he could be so gorgeous and yet so ruggedly male. A sublime specimen of both beauty and primitive, visceral masculinity. Big and broad but as lean as a racehorse, his ropy muscles packed hard and tight beneath that deliciously bronzed skin. He’d been shirtless in front of her last night, but she’d been too upset to really take in the stunning details. But wow. Just wow.

  Elise didn’t know how long she’d just been sitting there, staring like some sex-crazed female who’d never set eyes on a man before, but she jolted with shock when he suddenly slapped his palms against his knees and stood. “Now that you’re up,” he said, his voice sounding kind of tight and strange, “you should probably go ahead and get dressed. We don’t have much time before we need to leave.”

  Color burned in her face as she tilted her head back. “Leave? Why? Where are we going?”

  “Everyone’s gathering for a meeting over at Mason and Torrance’s cabin, remember? We need to talk about what happened last night.” He paused, that wry twist back on his lips as he rubbed the back of his neck. “And your, uh, brother wants to talk to you.”

  “What?” she gasped, blinking up at him. “Aren’t he and Chelsea already on their way to the airport?”

  Golden beams of sunlight caught the blue-black strands of his hair when he shook his head. “They haven’t left yet.”

  Crap! The newlyweds were supposed to catch a flight down to Bermuda for a short honeymoon, since they knew they were going to be needed there in the Alley when the brewing violence finally came to a head. Their trip wasn’t meant to last for long, but damn it, she’d wanted them to have at least a bit of time to themselves to celebrate their marriage. And now they probably weren’t even getting that! Irritated as hell at her overprotective brother, Elise forgot her embarrassment at being seen in the cotton nightgown she was wearing and quickly tossed back the covers, swinging her mostly bare legs over the side of the mattress. But she stopped almost instantly as a wave of lust slammed into her, like a hot blast of wind, her skin tingling as she sucked in a sharp, startled gasp.