Hunter's Heart: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 5) (6 page)

I turned to Grammy. Dad had finally lowered his
weapon and came to her side. He stood behind her with both hands on her
shoulders.

“What’s going on, Grammy? Somebody better tell me.”

Grammy just smiled even though that haunted sadness
still creased her eyes. “Well, honey, you can’t say God doesn’t work in
mysterious ways. Lucky for you, it seems to have saved your life tonight.”

“Grammy?”

“Settle down, baby,” she said. “You’ll have lots of
questions. So do I. But, near as I can figure, that wolf over there? Well,
you’re his mate.”

Chapter Seven

Three things happened at once. Dad raised his
weapon, the red laser centered right over Derek’s heart. Derek charged the cage
door; dropping low, he jammed it with his shoulder. The bars bent but didn’t
give way. And Grammy started to yell.

“Thomas, stop!” She heaved herself to her feet,
waving her arms. Brutus and Sofie, drawn by the commotion, began to bark and
howl, circling between Grammy and my father.

Derek charged the cage bars again. His wolf eyes glowed,
and fur sprouted on his hands. The bones of his jaw shifted, growing long as
his wolf struggled to get out. He was getting better. In the melee, I doubted
he could feel it. His thundering pulse seemed to reverberate through me, but
that had to be my imagination. No one else seemed able to hear it.

I backed away, taking slow steps toward the door.
Too much. Too many sounds. Derek’s heartbeat. Dad’s shouts. Grammy’s pleas.
Brutus and Sofie’s yelping. I pressed my hands to my ears, turned, and fled the
pole barn.

Cool air hit my face as I ran back toward my
trailer. Grammy’s words echoed in my head.
You’re his mate. His mate. Mate.

No. No. No. No. No! My step faltered as I reached
the back porch of my trailer. I tumbled to the ground, scraping the underside
of my wrists on the stone path. I cut a deep gash in my right knee and blood
flowed freely. I scrambled to my feet and grabbed the screen door handle, nearly
ripping the thing off its hinges as I swung it open and ducked inside.

I slammed the door shut and ran to the kitchen. I
turned on the faucet, letting cold water blast out of it. I stuck my hands
beneath the stream to wash the dirt out of my cuts.
His mate!
Even
across the yard, I swore I could still hear Derek’s wild pulse thundering in my
ears. I stuck my head under the faucet, gasping and sputtering as water dripped
over my neck and down my ears. It felt good, though. A shock to my system with
a cold dose of reality.

Pulling my head back out, I cupped the cool water in
my hands and gulped it down, half choking. But, my heartbeat slowed. Whatever
imagined connection I had to Derek, it seemed to fade with the settling of my
pulse. Grabbing a towel from a hook under the sink, I patted my face dry and
walked back into the living room. I sank down on my couch and slowly let my
head fall between my knees, airplane crash position-style. It helped. The urge
to pass out slowly receded, and I came back into myself.

I blew out a hard breath and listened. Whatever was
happening out in the pole barn, I didn’t think Dad had pulled the trigger. I
hadn’t heard his weapon fire or felt anything from Derek.
Felt anything from
Derek
? I was losing it. Straight up. It had been a stressful few hours;
that was all. No wonder I was losing my damn mind.

“Jessa?” Grammy gave a soft knock at the door but
didn’t wait for me to invite her in. She pulled the door open and stepped
inside. The first rays of sunlight shone behind her like a halo. Her flip flops
smacked against her heels as she came toward me.

Tiny details I noticed. She had dainty feet.
Toenails painted siren red the way she liked from a pedicure two days ago when
I took her to the mall. Not her fingernails, though. Grammy was a biter. She
smoothed the stray hairs away from her face and smiled at me. When she took a
breath before she spoke, I wished I could stop time. That fraction of an
instant would mark the sections of my life as before and after. I wasn’t sure I
was ready for the after. But it always comes anyway.

“We need to talk, sugar,” she said. “Scoot on over
and lemme sit next to you. It won’t be as bad as you’re thinking.”

I bit my lip and moved to the end of the couch.
Grammy sat right next to me, her hip touching mine. She gathered my right hand
into hers and brought it to her lips, giving me a soft kiss across my knuckles.

“Did Dad kill him?”

Grammy smiled. “Oh, he tried. And he might not be
done trying. You were smart to make Derek get in that cage. At full strength, I
think that boy might be able to pull those bars apart. Which, all things
considered, that’s a good piece of intel for the future. Thomas is gonna have
to build something stronger for the next wolf.”

“Grammy.”

She smiled and gave me my hand back. Grammy stared
at some point on the wall, her face taking on a dark expression. Then, a smile
finally came back, crinkling the corners of her eyes.

“What do you mean I’m his mate? And what do you know
about Derek? You talked to him like you two know each other. What the hell’s
going on, Grammy?”

“Well, that’s three questions. Let’s stick to one at
a time. No. I’ve never met that boy before. But I know what he is. I’m
surprised you didn’t.”

“He’s a werewolf. What else did I need to know?”

Grammy leaned back on the couch and rubbed the top
of her thighs with her palms. She was stalling. I turned to face her. She
raised a brow.

“He’s an Alpha. A pack leader.”

I shook my head. “
A
pack leader? You mean
the
pack leader?”

“No. I would have said that if that’s what I meant.
Derek Monroe’s not a Kentucky wolf. He’s from Wild Lake. Northern Michigan.”

“So what’s he doing way down here? You’ve told me
all my life that Michigan wolves, or
any
foreign wolves, aren’t allowed
to set foot in Ohio. They have a treaty with the Kentucky pack. Kentucky stays
in Kentucky. Michigan stays in Michigan. Anybody crosses into the border
states, they’re liable to start a pack war.”

“That’s right. And I don’t know why he risked it. Or
more importantly, why he left his own pack behind. I meant to ask him, but
things got a little confusing for everybody back there.”

“So make it simple. Tell me what you
do
know.
Because I’m guessing it’s a hell of a lot. Werewolves are killers. I’ve seen
what they do in Kentucky and when they cross the border. You and Dad raised me
on it. I
know
wolves made those scars on your body. What’s different
about Derek? Because he
is
different. I can feel it, Grammy. And I don’t
understand.”

Her eyes were soft. She rested her hand on my knee.
“He’s very different. Like I said, he’s an Alpha. A strong one. I could sense him
miles away.”

“How?”

She leaned forward and pulled her long braid to the
side. Turning, she exposed the back of her neck to me. There, at the nape, she
bore a faded, crescent-shaped scar. A bite mark. I reached out and traced its
outlines with my index finger.

“That’s an Alpha’s mark,” she said, sitting back. “Jessa,
I was raised near Wild Lake. A little northern Michigan town called Oodena. My
people, the Odawa, founded it long ago. When I turned eighteen, a pack of
wolves kidnapped me and brought me down to Kentucky. It’s an old family legend,
but I was sacrificed. They claimed me against my will. Now, I don’t care to
tell you all of it. It happened so long ago, and I don’t like to remember. Truth
is, I
don’t
remember a lot of it. Pain does that. Trauma does that. But,
those wolves were brutal. They did things to me. Hurt me. Badly. I almost
didn’t survive. They thought my Odawa blood gave me special powers that would
turn me into a she-were. There aren’t many of them left, you see. But my
powers? Nonsense. Superstition. This mark was made by the Alpha of the Kentucky
Chief Pack at the time. Kentucky wolves are different. There’s only one Alpha
and he rules as a ruthless tyrant over all the wolves. But, in Michigan, it’s
different. Now, anyway.”

“Different how?”

“In the Wild Lake lands, there are many packs. Many
Alphas. They cooperate with each other. Or so I’ve heard.”

I slid my arm around her shoulder. In my
imagination, I saw Grammy as a young girl. Just two years younger than me. God.
Ripped away from everything she knew and loved. She had to be so scared and so
strong.

“How? How did you get away from them?”

A genuine smile lit her face. “Your grandfather was
a brave, brave man. Sexy as hell, too. He worked for a rescue organization
based right here in Banchory. I wasn’t the only young girl who disappeared.
Anyway, the wolves left me for dead when they figured out I wasn’t any use to
them. Grandpa found me and brought me here. I couldn’t go back home by then. It
was too dangerous. The Kentucky pack could retaliate against my family if they
ever found out I’d gone back to them. I couldn’t take that chance. And by then,
I’d been gone for two years. I was dead to them anyway. Plus, your grandpa was
a good enough reason to stay in Banchory. I was safe here. The Kentucky wolves
weren’t allowed to cross the border. Back then, they honored that pact. And any
time one or two of them
did
try and break the boundary, we were ready
for them. That’s how the Lyles got into the shifter bounty hunting business,
Jessa.”

I hugged her. I’d always known Grammy was strong.
Now, I knew she was an honest to God warrior.

“I knew Derek was an Alpha because of my mark. When
the Alpha who did it to me made it, it connected me to him. I could feel his
pulse. Hear his heartbeat. He used it as a way to keep me from running away
because he’d always know where I was. It tethered me to him until the day that
bastard finally died. Tormented me every waking hour and through most of my
dreams for an entire year after I escaped.”

“Did Grandpa kill him then?”

Grammy shook her head. “Oh, he wanted to. Tried
plenty. But no. My escape weakened him in the eyes of the pack and someone rose
to take his place. That’s how an Alpha becomes an Alpha. He has to kill an
Alpha and make the rest of the pack submit to him. I’ve heard they can break
off and start their own packs too. But the Kentucky packs don’t allow that.
It’s one Alpha and one Alpha only.”

“What about Derek? Why did you say I was his mate,
Grammy?”

“What do you mean why, sugar? Haven’t you already
figured that out?”

I rose off the couch and started pacing in front of
her. “He hasn’t touched me. I mean, he didn’t bite me like you’re saying.”

“Jessa.”

“No!” I started pacing faster. As I did, my pulse
raced. But beneath it, like a second rhythm, I felt another pulse. Derek’s. He
was
in
me somehow. Almost like I could feel his hot breath against the
back of my neck. It raised the tiny hairs there and took the air from my lungs.
Thunder inside my head. Inside my heart. I felt drawn to him, as if affected by
a gravitational pull. But, he hadn’t bitten me. He’d barely touched me. But oh,
when he did. When his fingers brushed against mine. The heat and fire I felt
when I pressed my palm against his naked chest. I breathed when he did. I hurt
when he did.

And now, I felt his pulse quicken with rage and a
layer of fear.

“Shit.” I froze, then turned to Grammy.

We spoke in unison. “Tinker’s going to shoot him.”

I shoved the screen door open and ran toward the
pole barn as fast as my legs would carry me.

Air stabbed my lungs. Red clouded my vision. No, not
my vision. Preternatural rage poured out of Derek. He was losing control. I
don’t know how I knew. But I knew. It could only mean one thing. He was
cornered and fighting for his life. In the space of a heartbeat . . . his
heartbeat, I knew what he was capable of. If my father really did pull that
trigger, Derek wouldn’t just stand there and wait to die. Shift or no shift, he
might burst through those cage bars and wring the life out of my father to save
himself. And I would lose both of my men.

I burst through the door, hearing shouting. My
father. Derek was beyond words. He gripped the cage bars, fangs out, eyes
blazing gold. Still though, his wolf stayed trapped inside. This time, I
felt
the pain of that with him. The weight of an anvil against his chest,
holding him down. Smothering. Unnatural. God. I don’t know how he could
withstand the pain of it.

“Dad!” I shouted. My father held his gun trained on
Derek. I don’t know what set him off. Or why he’d managed to hold back this
long. My father was a wolf killer. Derek was a wolf.

“Better listen to her,” Derek said, his voice
strained. The wound in his chest had closed, leaving behind an angry pink welt.
And yet, he still couldn’t shift.

“Stop!” I said. I wasn’t foolish enough to put my
body between Dad’s gun and Derek, but I put a steadying hand on my father’s
upper arm and pulled him backward.

“I’ll kill him,” Dad raged, breathing hard through flared
nostrils.

“Not right now,” I said. “There’s more going on than
either of us understand yet. I just had a long talk with Grammy. I don’t
understand all of it, but I understand enough. You can’t kill Derek. I won’t
let you.”

My father reared back as if I’d slapped him. But, he
finally lowered his weapon. The instant he did it, Derek’s pulse slowed to an
almost human rhythm.

“And why the hell not?”

This time, I did put my body between my father’s and
Derek’s. I felt Derek behind me. Tethered. That’s the word Grammy used, and
that’s what I felt. With my back turned, I felt drawn to him.

“Dad,” I said, keeping my voice level and calm. “I
need you to go outside and wait for me. Derek and I need to talk. Alone.”