Page 22 of Wolf Desired
“Right. Shifter. Enhanced abilities and all.”
“Something like that,” he said with a grin that she adored. “You could come with me. Explore the area for the next time you need to hide.”
An invitation to disappear into the woods with Maddox. . . She hadn’t expected that. Nor did she totally understand it.
“Hide? Climbing that tree was strategic. All I had to do was survive the hour. It’s very easy to kick someone who’s trying to climb up.”
“It’s just as easy to fall. You took a risk.”
“Life is a risk,” she shot back.
His expression grew dark, but then he nodded, his grin gone. Another chink in the shifter’s armor. Except knowing she’d hurt him didn’t make her feel good. Not at all. If anything, she wanted to pull him back into her and hug him. Not to kiss or run her hands over all those muscles—which she indeed wanted, just not at this moment—but to hold the shifter who suddenly looked lost. Broken.
“It’s not safe down here, Artemis. Too much concrete. The floors, the walls. Sound won’t travel very well if you yell for help.” Another frown marred his handsome face.
“I’ll be fine. I have Darla.” She tapped her gun.
He raised a brow. “You named your gun?”
“Don’t guys name their swords?”
“Shifters don’t play children’s games. We have wolves to contend with. Families to protect. And we don’t use swords. Just our claws and teeth.”
He didn’t understand that human males often referred to their cocks as swords. But he was right about one thing. Shifters didn’t play games. They were serious about everything. And he wasn’t leaving. Was he worried about her? The idea of someone thinking of her welfare for a change was nice. She never had that growing up, not from the one person who should have cared.
“Seriously, Maddox. I’ll be fine. Go on your run. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He nodded slightly, hesitating. As he left her room, he stopped at the door but didn’t turn around to face her. “Sleep well, Artemis. And stay safe.”
“You too, Maddox. Sweet dreams.”
A low laugh echoed down the hall. Derisive and hauntingly foreboding. Alyssa grabbed her pillow and squeezed it tight, wishing her pillow was the dark, brooding shifter who’d taken the time to talk to her as if she mattered.
* * *
The next morningbegan at seven a.m. when Graves sent everyone on a ten-mile run. If she were home, she would have indulged in her first cup of coffee before a brutal run. No, those luxuries were for the staff, not Graves’s lab rats. The man was a sadist, making her run before coffee, but none of the others were grumbling about the early hour. Not the shifters at least. In fact, the shifters gave the humans a head start. She’d almost forgotten about them until she reached the five-mile mark when they rocketed past. The bastards hadn’t even shifted to their wolf form. Just ran past without breaking a sweat.
“This is a run, not a walk, angel,” Maddox said as he sailed by her and Nash, who kept his stride shorter for her. She didn’t know why he was running alongside her instead of his fellow FBI agents, but she wasn’t going to send him away. She hadn’t exactly bonded with the humans here, and she needed to. It could help her with her assignment. Except she couldn’t tell any of them what she was doing here, beyond the obvious.
“Pick up the pace, female,” Rafe said as he too passed them without the good grace to look the least bit winded.
“Morning, beautiful,” Tiernan said, matching her pace.
“No need to. . . slow down. . . for me.”
“Thought I’d keep you company.”
She considered telling Tiernan outright to leave her alone, but she liked his company. More than Nash’s. Tiernan was easy-going and made her smile. She didn’t want to tell Nash to buzz off, though. Well, she did, but she wasn’t going to. Instead, she gave a sideways nod toward Nash, hoping Tiernan would understand and leave.
“Your legs are too short, Artemis,” Nash said just then, sprinting ahead to join Jason and two of the other humans.
“Your running partner just left,” Tiernan said. “Lucky me.”
She chuckled, which was easier than talking while running. Tiernan’s head suddenly snapped up, like he could hear Nash and the other humans a few hundred feet ahead of them. A low rumble, a growl given Tiernan’s scowl and glare at the group, told her they’d said something about her or Tiernan.
“Go. Finish your run. I’m fine,” she said. This wasn’t the time or place for an in-depth conversation, and she didn’t want Tiernan hearing whatever lies the men were spreading about her.
“I’m staying here. With you.”
