Hunter's Heart: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 5) (8 page)

Swallowing hard, I nodded. Derek took that last step
and curled his fingers around the bars just above my hands. His breath blew
sweet and hot in my face. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against the
bars. At this angle, we were eye to eye. My breath hitched. It was time. I had
to know.

“Derek,” I whispered.

“Yes, Jessa.”

“I’m scared.”

“You don’t have to be.”

I leaned forward. We had just a four-inch gap
between the bars. I pressed my lips against his and we kissed. Fireworks
exploded inside my chest. My feet seemed to lift off the ground. He was warm
and good, his lips urgent, probing, but soft somehow too. Oh, God, he tasted so
good. Like honey and musk all at once. Blood roared in my ears and I wished I
had the strength to pull the bars apart. If they hadn’t been there I might have
let him take it further. I wanted him to. Oh. I wanted him to.

“Derek,” I gasped, coming up for air. Then his lips
were on me again. We slid down until we were both seated on the floor, our
hands laced through the bars. I curled my fingers around the nape of his neck.
His hair was soft and thick, just like I knew it would be. Heaven. Mine. Down
and down I spiraled, overcome with desire so hot I thought I might melt from
the inside out.

Fire
crackled all around us. My body thrummed, throbbing between my legs
and the soft spot at the base of my neck. The place where he would mark me if I
let him. Oh, God. I wanted to let him.

“Jessa!” My father’s shout came to me like a
gunshot. Derek pulled away first, scrambling backward.

“What? Huh?” I shook my head to shake the lust
clouding my thoughts then hauled myself to my feet.

Fire still crackled. I blinked hard to clear my
eyes. I turned to my father. Orange flames danced behind him, and finally, the
smell of burning rubber reached my nostrils.

“The yard’s on fire!” Dad yelled. He threw the keys
to the cage at me. I caught them one-handed. “Time to move!”

Chapter Nine

“Open the door!” Derek shouted. Snarling behind me,
he tried to pull the cage bars apart again. Dad kept his weapon raised and
trained on him. Though he’d thrown me the keys, I wasn’t sure whether Dad would
shoot him if I let Derek out.

“Jessa,” Derek’s voice was low, tight-lipped. “Open.
The. Door. I can’t protect you from in here. If there’s someone out there . . .
if it’s wolves.”

My heart raced as I turned back to Dad. “He’s right.
Dad. Put that away. Or, don’t put it away but point it the
other
way.
Derek can help us. I’m sure Grammy’s set you straight about him.”

A loud pop came from outside. Dad jumped and Derek
growled behind me. I turned and fumbled with the lock. He white-knuckled the
bars as I finally turned the key and let him loose. Once free, Derek moved in a
blur past my father. I went after him, grabbing Dad’s shirtsleeve and pulling
him with me. We ran out into the yard.

Orange plumes rose above the north end of the lot.
One of the storage sheds had gone up in flames; the gas cans inside of it
exploded like grenades.

“Molotov cocktails,” Dad shouted. “Bastards lobbed
them over the north gate. They knew right where to aim. They knew where the
fuel was.”

Derek dropped into a crouch, still trying to shift
and unable to. He raised his chin and sniffed the air. “It’s wolves,” he said,
low and threatening. “The same ones who chased us here. At least ten of them.”
He rose and turned toward my father.

Sofie and Brutus ran out from behind a stack of
tires. Brutus’s tail was singed. She ran to my father’s side, yelping. “Come
on. The place is wired with cameras. The monitors are in my office. Let’s
figure out what we’re dealing with.”

“Lyle.” Derek squared his shoulders and faced my
father. “You can’t fight off ten wolves by yourself. I don’t care how many
poison-laced bullets you have. If you want a fighting chance to save this
place, you’re going to need me. So, you either need to fix me so I can shift,
or you need to give me a damn gun. You’re in over your head on this one.”

My father clamped his jaw shut and narrowed his
eyes. He clutched his left side and his forehead broke out in beads of sweat.
He was barely staying on his feet from the beating he took just hours ago. But,
I knew just what he was thinking. He was trying to come up with a reason not to
just finish the contract and shoot Derek on the spot. I stepped forward and put
a hand on his arm again.

“Derek’s right, and you know it. You’re not at full
strength yet. He’s here to help us whether you like it or not.”

“I don’t like it. Not one damn bit. He’s a wolf,
Jessa. You forget what his kind is capable of?”

“We can debate all of that later. Right now, we’re
under siege and we need all the help we can get. Standing out here in the open
isn’t going to help anything. Let’s head to the armory and get inside.”

“The armory?” Derek said, putting a hand on my
shoulder. My skin sizzled with pleasure, even in the midst of a crisis. “You
have an armory?”

“Dammit, Jessa. This is a mistake.”

Sirens cut through the air. Sofie and Brutus whined
and sidestepped.

“Shit!” I yelled, tugging on Derek’s arm. “This
way.”

“What the hell’s that?” he said, breaking into a
run.

“Dad’s alarm system. They’re not just lobbing Molotovs
anymore. They’ve breached one of the gates.”

Derek’s eyes glowed gold as he locked his hand in
mine. He was done arguing with my father. For the moment, Dad let it go. We
were in trouble. Big trouble if Derek’s count was right. Ten wolves. We
couldn’t fight off ten wolves without somebody getting hurt.

“This way!” I yelled. A wall of smoke rose above me
as we passed by the flaming storage shed. We had to get past it to get to Dad’s
office. He liked to call it central command because he could watch the security
monitors from there. Plus, he’d built a bunker beneath it stocked with supplies
to last us a year. I hoped to God today wouldn’t be the day we’d need it.

We were twenty feet from the armory door when the
first wolf burst through the smoke from behind. It lunged for Dad. He didn’t
get his weapon up in time, but it didn’t matter. Derek moved lightning fast.
The wolf was big and black as night. Its great fangs dripped and its eyes
glowed red with bloodlust as it went for Dad’s neck. I screamed. Derek grabbed
the wolf by the neck just before it clamped down. He hurled it backward. The
wolf skittered on the ground and did a barrel roll, but the thing was on its
feet and charging forward an instant later.

“Get inside,” Derek yelled. I grabbed my father and
we ran. Dad took three stumbling steps forward. He hurt way worse than he
wanted me to believe. Brutus and Sofie brought up the rear as Derek crouched
low, waiting for the wolf to charge again.

A scream cut through the air and ripped my heart to
shreds. Grammy. In the commotion, I’d forgotten to ask Dad where she was. She
came around the other end of one of the trailers, another large gray wolf right
behind her.

“Derek!” I yelled. I couldn’t get to her.

“Cover me!” he yelled back. I tore the gun from my
father’s hand and pointed it at the first black wolf. They’d tear him apart.
Maybe Derek could hold off one wolf. But two? Not like this. Not weakened. Good
God, between my father’s injuries, and Derek’s inability to shift, I feared we
wouldn’t have enough to fight these guys off even with Dad’s arsenal.

As Derek ran to Grammy’s aid, I leveled Dad’s weapon
at the black wolf. He was already on the move, charging at Derek. I had a split
second. One shot. If I missed, Derek might die, and Grammy too. I let out a
breath and pulled the trigger.

I didn’t miss.

I hit the black wolf in the neck. His fur ripped open
and blood poured from a great wound. He hit the ground and didn’t move,
paralyzed by the toxin coursing through his shredded veins. I didn’t wait. I
ran to the black wolf and put him down with a second shot.

I turned, meaning to shoot the other gray one. But,
Derek had him on the ground. He’d put his body between Grammy’s and the wolf
and taken the brunt of the attack. The gray wolf slashed Derek across the
chest, reopening the wound I gave him, tearing through muscle and flesh. But,
Derek stayed on his feet. He wrestled the wolf to the ground and yelled to me.

“Jessa, shoot him!”

I aimed for the wolf’s heart, but there was no way
I’d get a shot off without risking hitting Derek too. Derek rolled end over end
then managed to lock the wolf’s head in an armbar.

“Shoot!” he yelled again. “Hit him in the ass. Don’t
kill this one!”

I didn’t think. I acted. I knew I wouldn’t get
another chance. My shot went through the wolf’s right hindquarters. He yelped
then went rigid in Derek’s arms.

“Lyle, help me drag him inside!” Derek shouted to my
father. He’d gone to Grammy during the melee and helped her to her feet. All
the color drained from her face, but she was all right. She looked like she’d
seen a ghost, and I wondered if maybe she had. Seeing that wolf charge her must
have brought back memories of the day she was torn from her family and brought
down here.

“Grammy!” I shouted. “Dad, we have to get her
inside. More are coming.”

Dad went to Derek. The two of them dragged the
injured wolf toward the armory building. Derek had him by the front legs, Dad
had his hind legs. I slung Dad’s weapon over my shoulder and went to Grammy.
Hooking my hand gently under her arm, I helped her to her feet and walked her
toward the building.

Dad kicked the door open with his foot as they
heaved the limp wolf inside.

“Grammy,” I whispered, rubbing her back as she
walked up the steps. Brutus and Sofie came in right behind us. I closed the door
and bolted it.

“Over here,” Dad yelled, straining from the effort
of dragging two hundred pounds of dead weight wolf. “I’ve got another cage. He
won’t be moving anytime soon, but if he does, he still shouldn’t be able to
break out.
You
couldn’t.”

Derek made a noise low in his throat to let my
father know he was pushing his luck. But, they worked together to get the wolf
inside the cage my father kept against the wall. You see, sometimes the mission
isn’t to kill. Sometimes, he’s paid to capture them. Then, the Harlans take it
from there. Derek’s expression darkened as he tested the strength of the cage
bars. Satisfied with my father’s craftsmanship, he gave a grim nod.

The wolf let out a sickly yelp as they heaved him
inside and locked the cage door. His eyes were open, staring at a fixed point
on the wall. But, he couldn’t move a muscle. His labored breathing thundered
through the aluminum walls. The building was actually a converted WWII-era
domed Quonset hut. Here, he built most of his inventions. The other trailer with
the larger cage was newer, and he was in the process of moving things from here
to there. But, I knew this place held sentimental value for him. He and my
grandfather worked here together.

“Jesus,” Derek said. He stood over the cage and
stared down at the helpless wolf. “What the hell is in those bullets?” He
turned to me, pointing toward the wolf. “Is that what was supposed to happen to
me?”

I swallowed hard and went to him. “We made a deal,
remember? You said you’d forgive me for shooting you if I didn’t hold you
responsible for everything the Kentucky wolves do.”

He let out a breath and shook his head. “But that shit’s
still in me. I can feel it.” He eyed the weapon slung over my shoulder. I took
it off and laid it on one of the steel tables Dad had in the center of the
room.

Dad had moved to the back of the room where he had a
bank of computer monitors set up. He switched everything on so he could start
trying to get a bead on where the rest of the wolves might be. They were close.
I knew that much. We could hear their plaintive howls in the distance as they
felt the death of their comrade. The wolf in the cage whined, but couldn’t lift
his head.

Derek went to the table and gripped the side of it,
head down with a wide stance. Then, he pushed off and turned on me. “I can’t
protect you like this. Not for very long.”

I went to him. I laid my hands flat on his chest. Just
a short time ago, I might have hesitated getting this close to him. Now, I
couldn’t imagine
not
touching him. His heart thundered beneath my
fingertips and filled my head.

“Thank you,” I said. “If it weren’t for you, Grammy
would be dead. Maybe the rest of us too.”

Grammy had slowly sunk into one of the folding
chairs along the wall. Color came back into her cheeks, but her hands still
shook. Derek’s eyes met mine. He squeezed my elbow then went to her. Squatting
down to her eye level, he put a tentative hand on her knee.

“Are you all right?”

She slowly raised her eyes and smiled at him.
Lifting her hand, she cupped his jaw. Then, she leaned forward and planted a
kiss on his forehead. “You remind me of my Charles. That’s Jessa’s grandfather.
He saved me from wolves once too. He was a good man.”

Derek nodded. “I wish I could have met him.”

Grammy laughed. “Oh, he’d have tried to kill you. No
amount of explaining would have done any good. He didn’t have an open mind like
my Thomas does.”

The room went deadly silent for one beat. Then
another.

I laughed first as we all turned and looked at my
father. He hadn’t heard a thing. His eyes were glued to the monitors. “Can’t
see the bastards,” he said. “But they’re out there. I can smell ‘em.”

Derek let out a bitter laugh. “So can I.”

He moved away from Grammy and punched the side of
the steel hut. The walls shook and for half a second I feared he’d knock the
structure down. But, he got a hold of himself and started to pace the room.

“God. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Derek. I didn’t know.
I wish there were something I could do to help you. I think we’re just going to
have to wait it out until the toxin works its way through your system.”

“How long is
that
going to take?”

I looked at my father. I didn’t have an answer for Derek,
and it tore at me. I did this to him. The first chance he got, he’d been ready
to give his life for me. First, there was the wolf back at the Tucker farm.
Then, the one outside.

“You’re bleeding,” I said. “Sit up on the table.
We’ve got a first aid kit back here. At least let me clean those cuts.”

Derek gave me murderous stare. Sitting still didn’t
seem to be on his list of priorities at the moment. “I don’t need iodine,” he
said. “I need an antidote. Now.”

My turn to pound my fist into something. I picked
the table, wanting to give the walls a rest. “And I said I’m sorry. We don’t
have one!”

“Thomas,” Grammy got to her feet. Her tone was
deadly stern as she walked toward my father. “Enough already.”

A look passed between them. His face went hard and
he narrowed his eyes at her. “Ma. No. I’m still not convinced. It’s too
dangerous.”

“It isn’t, and you know it,” she said, putting a
hand on his shoulder. “What more proof do you need? Derek saved my life. He
saved yours too. It’s time.”