She dropped the rifle, twisting away from the heavy weight as she came to her feet, her dagger falling into her hand from the sheath at her thigh. She grinned as she faced the bastard who aimed his rifle at her face.
Fury, thick and hot surged through her veins as she snarled, giving him a clear view of her healthy canines. She almost terrified herself with her daring as she growled low and threatening. Death didn’t frighten her now, not anymore. All the wasted years that stretched ahead of her, deprived of her mate, did though.
“Do it,” she whispered. “You die either way.”
His finger tightened on the trigger. Faith flinched as a shot broke the sudden silence, and blood sprayed around her. Not her blood. The soldier’s blood. She stood still, silent as he fell to her feet, his eyes wide in surprise.
Breathing heavily, she looked up. Jacob stood tall and fierce thirty feet from her. His eyes were narrowed in fury; his face chiseled from cold hard marble as he took in the blood that she knew marred her face and neck. He inhaled deeply, growling with a low, primal sound that echoed in her womb. His light blue eyes glittered in his dark face, his expression so taut it was savage.
She backed up.
“Go.” His voice carried a ring of fury, lust, and pain. “We have to get to the cabins. These are Bainesmith’s soldiers. I’ll deal with you later.”
Chapter Two
Dr. Delia Bainesmith was dead. That was all that mattered now. The evil she spread with her human DNA re-engineering was over. The cruel, malicious pleasure she found in their pain had been put to an end. And now, with Hope curled on his lap, Wolfe was finally reunited with the mate he had given up six years before.
His second in command and Enforcer of Pack Security, Jacob, turned from them, fighting the alternating joy and envy he felt for his leader. Wolfe had nearly waited too long to claim the woman he had been forced to leave. Now, they would be able to make up for those years they had lost.
Jacob refused to look back at the couple as he left the cabin. Anger and need rode him hard, arousal was a steady beat of blood in his c**k to torment and torture him. But it wasn’t the woman Wolfe held that kept Jacob’s body in a constant state of readiness. It was the one who awaited him outside.
As he closed the door behind him, Faith moved from her position at the end of the house, her black eyes watching him warily as he stalked toward her. She was a Wolf Breed, the slender, compact lines of her body were lightly muscular, her br**sts high and firm beneath the black T-shirt she wore with black jeans. Her reddish brown hair was a raggedly cut cap of silk and framed her slender face in a way that gave her a vulnerable, untouchable look.
“They’re all right?” she asked as he neared her.
Jacob growled, baring his teeth in warning as she stepped back from him. She was always stepping back, never forward.
“Were they not, you would have known,” he bit out, furious with her once again.
“Well, bite me, why don’t you,” she snapped, her brows lowering in a frown. “It was a reasonable question.”
“From a most unreasonable female,” he accused her harshly. “Return to the cabin and rest. You have not slept in days and I’m tired of the shadows under your eyes.”
The shadows, and the light of fear that haunted her gaze ate into his soul. She was still small, delicate, the sight of her made him tremble in hunger. The thought of how he must have hurt her before made him shudder in fear.
“You rest.” Her body came to attention immediately, anger pulsing through her, scenting the air. “Do I tell you how often to sleep?”
He turned to her more fully, fighting the need to reach out to her, to drag her to him.
“Do as I said,” he snapped.
“Fuck you, Jake, you go to sleep…”
“Do not worry, the day will come when you will do just that, Faith. Until you can handle it, I suggest you run now and run fast, or you may learn what it feels like to have your mate mount you without your permission.” Fury snapped in his body. Her continued defiance roused the beast and made it howl.
He watched her pale. Terror flashed in her eyes a second before she ran. He cursed violently, dragging his hands through his hair as he tamped down the beast that demanded he run her down. He couldn’t. He never could. She was his mate, and yet he would be forever denied her touch. His ravenous, grieving howl echoed through the mountains now, as it echoed through his soul.
Damn Bainesmith, the Labs and Faith. For those three reasons he had stayed away from his Pack, and the woman who tempted and tormented him. For two of those reasons he would leave again.
He couldn’t trust himself, couldn’t trust the lack of control that had raged through his body the first time he had taken her. And he couldn’t face her fear of him now. He saw it in her eyes each time he came near her, heard it in her voice when she spoke to him, and he hated it. Hated hearing it, and hated himself for causing it.
He stalked to the jeep awaiting him several feet away. It was already packed and ready to go. Wolfe wouldn’t need him any longer. The others could clean up the mess, and Wolfe would have them all packing up and heading out soon. There wasn’t much left for him to do. He started the ignition, stared toward the cabin Faith had stayed in and shook his head. Damn, if only she was a little older, a little more experienced. If only they had been born, rather than created, raised rather than trained. If only he could have stayed—
* * * * *
Faith watched the jeep pull out of the cabin yard, her eyes narrowing in anger and pain as Jacob drove away. He wouldn’t be back. She knew he wouldn’t be. Her mate. The thought was a silent sneer.
She hadn’t seen him in six years. Had waited each day with bated breath, thinking that would be the day he would return to claim her. That he would realize he needed her. Realize she needed him.
Her teeth clenched as anger seared her insides, as hot and devastating as the arousal that often plagued her as well. She didn’t need him. She ignored the little voice inside her that assured her she did. She could live without him easily. She tamped down the protest from her heart and from her body that she couldn’t. She had her vibrators; she had her home, her coffee and her freedom. Who needed a mate? She did of course, sarcastic and mocking, her inner voice jumped to the fore.
She sighed wearily, sadly. It would be time to return home soon. They would get Wolfe and Hope back to the Pack compound outside New Mexico, and then she would return to New York. Back to her life. Back to her job. Back to her loneliness.