Page 49 of Fury

Chapter Seventeen

Forty-eight hourslater Penelope turned her car towards the bridge that would take her across to Devils Point. Despite everyone’s best effort to control her actions, she’d managed to evade them all by leaving the hospital without anyone knowing.

Apparently, all those years of sneaking out of her father’s house undetected had paid off in more ways than one. Not that she wasn’t entirely sure whether or not Sawyer had tracked her the entire time.

He was a wolf after all. With superior senses that probably made it ridiculously easy for him to keep up with her machinations. Either way, if he had followed her, he’d respected her enough to allow her at least the illusion of freedom.

There had still been moments when the hairs on the back of her neck had stood on end and an almost painful urge to do something…

Dammit. She still wasn’t entirely sure of what she wanted to do, but she’d allowed her instincts to motivate her and they’d driven her back here.

So wrapped up in her own head, Penelope almost didn’t see the man standing in her path until it was too late.

She slammed on the brakes and came to a screeching, rubber burning halt only a few inches away from him. Fuming mad, she grabbed the door handle and jerked the door open and climbed out.

“What the hell, Sawyer? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” She rounded the front of her car and stalked toward him. “You about gave me a heart attack with that stunt.” She swung forward and shoved her hands against his chest. However, when her hands connected with a wall of rock hard muscle and he didn’t budge, she knew she’d made a mistake touching him.

Every feminine instinct inside her fired to life from that inexplicable spark between them that had been driving her mad since the moment they met.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said, his voice dark and thick as he spoke.

She blinked up at him, absorbing the rakish scowl stamped across his face. Damn that was sexy. Of course, everything about him screamed the same thing. Sex.

Her hands still touched his chest and the muscles underneath fascinated her. She wanted to explore them more. Right now.

How exactly had she gotten here? Less than a week ago she’d sat across from him in the diner, barely amused by his outrageous flirting. Oh yeah, he’d bitten her. She’d woken up in a hospital with a nearly healed gunshot wound and the ability to hear, smell and see things on a level she still couldn’t fathom.

Then there was the constant rage of desire simmering under her skin. She’d slipped out of that hospital to try and get a handle on herself and her life.

“You’ve been following me,” she said.

His right eyebrow cocked up.

“I told you I needed some time to adjust. To figure things out.”

“And I gave it to you. However, I never said anything about leaving you alone. Under the circumstances that would have been irresponsible and possibly cruel.”

“Because of the bite?”

He nodded, brushing her long dark hair behind her ear and gently touching the tips of his fingers to the marked skin of her neck.

“I don’t feel that different.” Not exactly a lie and not exactly the truth.

“I wasn’t trying to turn you, only wanted to help you live.”

“What’s the difference?” Her words felt forced and thick when all she could focus on was his touch and the shiver sweeping up her spine.

“If you wanted to be turned, I would be inside you,” his voice lowered to a harsh whisper, “making you scream with pleasure when I bit you.”

She swallowed hard, trying to force the sudden lump in her throat away. The low hum of desire erupted into an inferno that made her gasp.

He touched her bottom lip, his finger leaving a burning trail in its wake. “I want you more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life.”

“Because of the mating instincts? That’s what this is, right? Some sort of primal need driven by nature. You need to mate and now that I’m bitten I do too.” Not that it mattered. She’d already made up her mind what she wanted before she’d gotten in her car tonight.

“It is mating season now. So yeah, our wolf instincts are telling us its time to get busy. But we’re human too. We can exercise restraint. And there’s the matter of free will. I’ve been through many mating seasons without feeling this intense drive.”

“Because you think I’m your mate.”

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