Page 32 of Stealthy as a Wolf

So much vitriol swirled in his blue eyes that I suspected if I tried to take the girl away from him, he would remove my hand. I slowly drew back, lifting my arms in surrender, swearing when the truck swerved violently. Curses blistered the air as Grady wrestled the vehicle back under control, then the truck jolted to a stop. Matty unlatched his seat belt, looking ready to fling himself at Burke, ignoring the fact that Burke would literally shred the little house cat to bits.

“Don’t stop. Keep going.” I met Grady’s concerned gaze in the rearview mirror. “He just needs time to adjust.”

Grady glanced over at the couple, then seemed to relax.

Thank fuck he didn’t know the truth about my brother, or he wouldn’t have been so at ease. I waved Matty away, but the annoyed, possessive expression on the kitten’s face told me he wasn’t going to be appeased so easily.

I said the only thing that I knew would get him to back off. “If you try to take her from him, he will fight back, and Maggie could get hurt in the process.”

I could practically see the cat’s hair flatten, the aggression levels in the vehicle gradually tapering off, though he didn’t look happy about it. He tilted his head, his eyes never leaving Maggie, as if studying the best way to pry her away from the bigger predator.

After a minute, he finally resumed his seat, but the stubborn puss studied the couple in the side mirror, tense and ready to snatch her away as soon as Burke relaxed his hold.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him Burke wouldn’t give up his prize so easily, but nothing I said would change the kid’s mind.

Instead, I focused on the bigger issue—how to make sure Burke didn’t harm the girl in any way. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that if anything happened to her, the other two would outright kill us. The best way to resolve the situation would be to get her away from Burke as soon as possible, then try to reason with him.

He was a man of logic.

It shouldn’t take long for him to suppress his baser emotions and return to his normal jackass, analytical self.

“Stop at the next gas station,” I said, and Grady looked at me in the rearview mirror before his concerned gaze landed on Burke and saw his possessive hold on the girl in his arms. Grady’s lips tightened, the man clearly not happy to see Maggie lying unconscious and vulnerable in the clutches of an unpredictable predator.

A second later, he muttered something under his breath and flipped on the turn signal. I leaned down and grabbed both discarded collars, stiffening when Burke growled, flashing his fangs in my direction as he clutched Maggie closer. I straightened slowly, keeping my hands out in a gesture of peace.

As we pulled into a gas station, I reached for the door handle. “Stay here.”

I slipped out into the cold night air, grimacing at the rough texture of the heavy metal in my hand. Instead of chucking them into the woods as far as I could throw them, I strode past a beat-up pickup truck and tossed them into the truck bed.

Then I headed inside, planning to grab a couple of snacks I thought Maggie might like…and ended up spending more than two hundred dollars when I got a little bit of everything. I hauled my bounty back to the truck, and we were on our way in less than ten minutes. As we pulled back onto the road, I was pleased to note the pickup rumble onto the highway, heading in the opposite direction.

That should buy us at least a few extra hours, if not a couple of days, while the prison figured their shit out.

After two hours, Maggie still hadn’t regained consciousness, and Burke didn’t look like he was going to release his prize any time soon. I couldn’t wait any longer, my concern over the girl increasing with every mile. The need to check her over and make sure she was okay was riding me hard. That Burke hasn’t spoken, that his beast was still in charge, was beyond concerning.

He never gave up control for any reason.

“Take the next exit,” I said, giving Grady a pointed look. “There’s a town twenty minutes away. We can stay at the hotel and discuss where to go next.”

By the time we pulled into the parking lot, the sun was a few hours from rising. Grady turned off the truck, then twisted in his seat, carefully studying Maggie with a clinical gaze. There was no doubt in my mind that if he thought Burke was a threat, he would do whatever was in his power to eliminate it.

I tensed, not sure if I would intervene or if I would grab Maggie and run.

Thankfully, it was a decision I didn’t have to make when Grady just sighed and opened his door. “I’ll go reserve us a room.”

It didn’t take long for Grady to return with a single room key. Matty and I exited the vehicle, but Burke remained behind with the girl, watching us with narrowed eyes. When Matty ran his tongue along his small fangs, looking ready to fight, I sighed and shook my head. “You guys go ahead to the room. I’ll get Burke and Maggie.”

They both hesitated, clearly suspicious that I would just take off, but I just shooed them away with a wave of my hand. “Don’t worry. When Burke snaps out of it, he will be a hundred percent mission focused.”

Grady looked ready to protest at being dismissed, and I pushed home my point. “The only way Maggie will get out of this alive is if we finish the mission, and I suspect it’s going to require all of us just to survive.”

That seemed to appease them, and they headed to our assigned room at the back of the motel. They flicked on the lights and cleared the room, leaving the door wide open behind them—a not so subtle hint to get my ass moving. I had no doubt that if I didn’t have Maggie back to them in five minutes, they were going to come back out and remedy the situation themselves.

I turned toward the truck, then heaved a sigh, my hands on my hips as I struggled to come up with a non-confrontational way to extricate Burke from the truck without him trying to take my head off in the process. I headed toward the backdoor, then opened it quickly and stepped back, keeping the barrier of the door firmly between us.

Burke let loose a menacing snarl that echoed along the concrete. It magnified the sound, and I could only shake my head and mutter to myself, “Of course you would totally lose your shit when you finally acknowledge our potential mate.”

Then I raised my voice, doing my best to remain calm. “Maggie is hurt. She needs rest. She needs sleep. You’ll be able to protect her better inside the hotel with the others.”

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