Page 42 of Wolf Claimed
“I’m coming with you.”
“You can’t—”
“Can’t what? The entire point of this program was for shifters and humans to work together to go up against the enemy.”
“Anti-shifters.Humanenemies, angel. You’ve never gone up against shifters. Shooting off one round into a single shifter’s shoulder isn’t the same as having ten shifters charging at you at the same time. Even you can’t shoot fast enough and make every shot a kill shot. If even one shifter gets through to you, you’re dead.”
“Then live up to your reputation as a guard,” she said as she started walking in the direction of the training center. “And as a white wolf.”
“Fuck, you’re stubborn. And I’m not even sure if that was a compliment or an insult.”
“I guess you’ll have to get to know me better to figure out the answer,” she said, with a definite glint in her eye.
Determined, playful, and perhaps best of all, optimistic. He loved everything about her. This female made him want to do more than survive. He wanted to live life to the fullest at her side. He needed her in his life.
They hadn’t walked more than a mile when his curiosity got the best of him. “What precisely do you know about white wolves?”
“I’ve heard the other shifters talk, especially Kingsley’s team. White wolves are ruthless.”
“You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”
“I don’t, or I would have added that they also said white wolves have no heart. You have plenty of heart, Maddox, but I also saw what you did to Pierce back there.”
He hated that she’d seen that, that she’d cleaned the blood from his fur. Death was never easy to forget, but now she’d have those images of him and maybe look at him as if he were more animal than man. “I had no choice. I was outnumbered and—”
“And what?” she pushed.
“It doesn’t matter.”
She halted so abruptly that he almost ran into her. He grabbed her by her waist to ensure he didn’t knock her over. Her eyes grew heavy in a sultry way and the sweetest fragrance filled the air around them. His fingers slid upward to brush over her skin just beneath her shirt. Even though Isabella had been just as soft, just as pleasing to the eye, he’d never felt so aroused, so drawn to another soul as he did Alyssa. His angel.
“Tell me,” she whispered, her lips leaning toward his.
“I had to protect you, angel. I couldn’t see or hear you, but your scent and the smell of your blood were driving me mad. I needed to find you, to make sure you were safe, at any cost.”
“Then why do you always pull away from me?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t,” she said with a confidence that floored him.
His hand moved higher along her ribs. Her breathing hitched when he slid his fingers over her ribs. That sweet smell intensified and went right to his cock. This was so not the time to lose himself in the hope, the dream of getting to know her better. “We need to go. Every minute counts.”
She leaned her forehead against his chest and took a deep breath. “I know. Please, Maddox, promise me we can talk at some point. Just the two of us.”
He kissed the top of her head, drawing one last deep breath of her unique scent. He could promise to talk, but that’s where it would end. That’s where it had to end, for her sake, and those of the shifters he’d come to think of as his pack.
Chapter Eleven
ALYSSA
Maddox’s arm shot out, stopping Alyssa at the edge of the tree line before the clearing surrounding the training center. Despite it being late in the day, there was no activity anywhere between or around the dorm, gym, cafeteria, or equipment building. The admin center, where the murder occurred, remained taped off, and there were two black SUVs there still, but no movement. The agents could be inside the building, but where were the trainees? All training had been cancelled for the next two days while the investigation proceeded, but that didn’t explain why the area looked andfeltdead.
“What do you see?” Alyssa asked, wondering why he’d stopped her.
“It’s what I smell. Blood. A lot of it. Stay here.”
“We’re not having this discussion again. Where you go, I go.”
