Rescue in the Smokies (Durham Wolves) (11 page)

“He’s here, isn’t he?” James moved toward the door, drawing his gun and grasping it with both hands.

“Who? What’s going on?”

There wasn’t time to explain. She was about to get a first-hand view of who he was up close and personal.

“I’m sorry, Juliana. This isn’t how I wanted you to find out.” He reached down to pull off his boots, letting go of all contact with her skin. “I’d hoped to have more time. But here’s the abbreviated version. The man following you yesterday is Keeton McKinney. He’s a vampire. Don’t know why he didn’t kill you. It’s not like him. My brothers and I are shifters, wolves. That’s why we can track missing people so easily. That’s how I found you.”

She stared at him in a daze, frightened by all the hustling around her. Fear etched on her face, draining her of all color.

“We’re going to shift now. Track this bloodsucker. And try to put a stop to whatever he wants of you. Damn vamp has some balls coming around here.” Sergius pulled his shirt over his head and looked back at his mate.

She was paler than she’d been a moment ago. “He’s after me? Why?”

“I don’t know. Never seen him act like this before.” He leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead and then hovered inches from her. “Stay with James. We’ll be back as soon as possible.”

She couldn’t process it all. The whirl of chaos around her made her head spin.

Holy shit. I’ve fallen into the fucking
Twilight Zone.

One minute she was listening to a strange tale of vampires and werewolves; the next minute she found herself scrambling to become a part of the plush sofa while the sheriff stood next to the front door, holding a revolver.

And if she’d thought it couldn’t get any freakier, the three brothers started to undress. Right there before her, they stripped off their shirts. Her eyes widened. Damn. They were ripped. As they moved to unfasten their pants, her breath froze in her lungs.

Too bad they were certifiably nuts.

She zoned her gaze in on Sergius. Lord, rippling muscles were everywhere—
everywhere
. Even his ass was as tight as a board. Smooth, tanned skin covered the expanse of his chest, a light sprinkling of hair tapering down to his—
oh my God
. The man was hung like a beast. Thank goodness he had insisted on not fucking her in the cave this morning. She’d felt his cock, but without seeing it she hadn’t realized that girth would stretch her beyond comparison.

She licked her lips at the thought of just that.
What’s the matter with you, Jules? How can you even think of sex at a time like this?

She glanced away to clear her head, but that proved futile considering the room was filled with men all in the same state of nudity, all sporting similar physiques a woman would swoon over.
This is just…wrong
.

And then, holy shit. The stuff of legends jumped off the pages of any werewolf novel she’d ever read and became reality right in front of her eyes.

Sergius and his brothers paused inside the front door where the sheriff stood guard, peeking occasionally out the window. In seemingly slow motion they transformed into three of the largest wolves Juliana had ever seen.

Bones popped and snapped as they fell onto all fours. Hair instantly grew to cover their bodies with a deep rich coffee-colored fur. It was over in moments.

Juliana blinked and then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. They were still there.
Oh…my…God
. Her hands shook even though she gripped the sofa as tight as possible.

The wolf standing in the place where Sergius had been turned his head toward her and bowed gracefully toward the ground. He was majestic. Regal. His eyes seemed to plead with her to trust him, a pitiful puppy-dog look.

Hardin opened the front door and the animals bounded out of the house into the darkness. With a soft click, the sheriff pushed the door closed and then locked it.

He didn’t look back at her as he spoke, but kept his eyes trained through a slit between the curtain and the window. “Don’t worry, Juliana. They never lose. Everything will be fine.”

Don’t worry?
The man she’d made out with this morning—no, made out was too mild a term for what they’d done… The man who’d rocked her world, turned her into a sexual being she didn’t even know she was capable of becoming, made her want things she’d never dreamed about, drove her insane with the need to fuck like an animal—that man was in fact an animal. A wolf. She snickered to herself. Don’t worry…
Right
.

“So, there
is
a vampire out there?”

“Uh huh. And he isn’t a nice one either.”

“There are nice ones?”

“Well, I guess I don’t really know the answer to that. Haven’t met another.”

“How do you know he exists then?”

“I’ve seen him twice, once from a distance and another time when he had the audacity to walk into my office. And… I’ve seen the destruction he leaves in his wake.”

Juliana wrapped her arms around her body below her breasts to stop the shaking.

“What sort of destruction?” She couldn’t keep herself from asking questions better left unasked.

“He pops up every few months or so. Spreads his ‘wealth’ around the country and even Canada. But when he shows, there’s no doubt. He drains small animals and leaves their empty carcasses on the forest ground. Sometimes they aren’t so small. And occasionally they aren’t animals.”

Humans
…

Is it cold in here?
Juliana glanced around until her gaze landed on a plush blanket over the back of a chair. She finally stood, grabbed the throw and wrapped it around her. But the chill remained. She couldn’t keep the cold out with the blanket any more than she could use it to shelter herself from the bombardment of unwanted information. How could she possibly believe what she was hearing?

“What are they gonna do, exactly?” Her voice was so low she could barely hear herself. As if it were safer that way—keeping her sounds to a minimum. She tiptoed over to Hardin to barrage him with more questions.

“Run him off most likely.”

“Can’t they catch him? Kill him or something?”
Or get killed?

“Doubt it. Even with three of them, they’ve never caught him yet. He’s very fast. They threaten him every now and then, enough to get him to leave…for a while. But it’s different this time. No tellin’.”

“Different how?”

“You.” He turned his head to her for a second.

“Me?”

“Serg won’t let anybody threaten anything that’s his. None of them would.”

“His?”

He cleared his throat and looked back outside, staring into the darkness. She figured he couldn’t see a damn thing, because she couldn’t. But it must have given him something to do to feel useful and kept him from having to confront her directly.

“What does that mean?” She reworded the question.

“Look, I don’t understand it too well myself. These are the only wolves I’ve ever met. And they’ve never had…women here before. But, from what I can tell—”

“They don’t have girlfriends? Lovers? No one?”

“Nope. Stick to themselves. Like they’d rather not.”

She thought back to this afternoon when she’d first arrived. No wonder Jaxon and Micah were so stunned. Seemed like they had a “no chick” pact or something. And Sergius had broken the agreement. Maybe that wasn’t so crazy after all.

“I heard what you were saying before I walked in. What? Did Sergius like imprint on me or something?”
Is that what they call it?

“Something like that.”

“Do I have a say in the matter?”

“No idea. You’ll have to ask Serg. I know about as much as you do now. Probably less, actually.”

“So, why don’t the police catch the vampire or why doesn’t the government track him down or whatever, if he’s such a threat?”

“Hardly anyone human knows of his existence. No one in my office does. It’s not like I can put out a manhunt for McKinney. No one would know why. He’s tricky. He doesn’t leave obvious evidence.” Hardin turned to look her in the eye. “And, he’s fast. Faster than the wolves. Very difficult to track. Even harder to catch and kill. The best the wolves ever do is run him off for a while.”

“How did you find out about them?”

“I sort of stumbled on this problem with the vampire by accident years ago, and then the truth about the Durhams being shifters soon after that. The brothers had been helping us find missing people for several years. I thought one or more of them were psychic.” Hardin chuckled. “There was no other explanation for their incredible tracking skill. They’d just show up and had an uncanny ability to find people.”

Juliana stepped closer until she stood inches from Hardin. “Then what?” Her eyes burned. She couldn’t bring herself to blink, as though she’d miss part of the story if she did.

“Then a hiker was found dead, drained.” He stared unmoving out the window, still holding his gun against the pane as though prepared for anything.

“Drained?” Juliana swallowed. “Of blood?”

“Yep. I made some offhanded comment to Sergius about thinking there must be a vampire in the mountains. Only problem was, Serg didn’t react to that quite appropriately.” Finally Hardin lowered his gun and let go of the curtain to give his full attention to Juliana. “He wasn’t really surprised. Didn’t laugh at my statement like a normal human would have.”

“Did he know about this McKinney guy then?”

“Coincidentally, no. But being supernatural himself, he didn’t find the idea that outrageous. He said, and I quote, ‘I suppose it’s possible’.”

“Shit. You must have freaked out.”

“Oh yeah. I said something like, ‘You think it’s possible there’s a vampire living in my national forest? What the fuck are you, dude?’ And that was the moment I realized the Durhams weren’t ordinary humans. The look on his face was priceless. In a very serious, no-nonsense tone, he informed me that he didn’t want a vampire roaming around in this forest any more than I did and that he would look into it.
Look into it
! I nearly pissed my pants.”

“How did you find out the brothers were werewolves? Did he just tell you?”

“No. Not at all.” Hardin shook his head. “It was actually McKinney that tipped me off. The bastard wanted to rid himself of the shifters, so he waltzed right into my precinct and told me there was a trio of large wolves wreaking havoc in the mountains. He described them dangerously approaching humans and told me they should be hunted down and killed for safety reasons.

“He was a little too zealous and my hackles were raised in his presence. Undoubtedly he used his mind-altering mojo on me in order to convince me to grab my rifle and head out for the kill.”

“Geez. What kept you from being convinced?”

“His biggest mistake was sending me here. As soon as he told me I’d find three large wolves hanging around this area, I knew. A hundred-watt light bulb went off in my head. I drove straight here and waited on the front porch for the Durhams to return. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for three naked men to lope out of the woods toward me. And the rest is history, as they say.”

Hardin jerked as though he’d forgotten where he was and resumed his frantic peering out the crack between the curtain and the window frame.

He continued, “As far as we know, none of the other wolf packs have had any success catching this vampire either.”

“There are other werewolves?” Juliana held her breath. Her fingers ached where she gripped the blanket around her shoulders. She stared at the sheriff.

“Well, Sergius and his brothers at least have family. They came here from South Carolina where they left cousins, aunts and uncles to establish their own home in a new territory.”

Juliana wandered back over to the couch and lay down when the story seemed to be over. Way too much to think about. She snuggled under the soft comfort of the blanket and closed her eyes. Her brain swam with all the information she couldn’t even begin to process all at once. She fought sleep, but it didn’t help. The curtain of darkness tiptoed over her like a thief in night.

Chapter Twelve

“Juliana?” Strong arms wrapped around Juliana’s frame, and she startled when they lifted her into the air, still wrapped like a burrito in the cover she’d burrowed into.

Her eyes mere slits, she saw Sergius’s face inches from her and breathed a sigh of relief. He’d come back. At least there was that. “What happened?” she murmured.

“Nothing much. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. Sleep. Gonna carry you to bed.”

Bed
. Nice. And his bed. Even nicer. She remembered the soft sheets, the smell of him all around her as she’d slept earlier, before the craziness had turned her world upside-down.

“So tired.”

“I know. Just sleep.”

She landed gently on the firm mattress and stretched out. Without opening her eyes again, she was only vaguely aware of the tender touch that tugged her cocoon of warmth away and then covered her with the cooler sheets of the huge bed. Before she could manage to fully drift off again, she found herself surrounded in a firm embrace that chased away the chill of the sheets and lured her under.

Serg stared down at the sleeping form of the beautiful woman beside him and held her even closer. She was so small, but not fragile. Not physically or emotionally, which brought a smile to his face. She’d never be bowled over by him or his brothers. No, she’d set them in their place fast and furiously. He’d no doubt.

Her skin was smooth and perfect. Her glorious curls lay across his pillow and he leaned over to put his cheek on them and smell her scent. Not quite hers, actually. She’d used his shampoo earlier. He’d make a trip to town tomorrow to get whatever supplies she required. He wanted her to smell all feminine and Juliana-like, as she had when he’d first found her. Even before that. Hell, her scent had permeated the cruiser this morning before he’d met her.
Was that just this morning?

Well, yesterday he supposed. It was almost one in the morning now.

She was passionate. He’d known that just by seeing her hair the first time, all tousled and falling out of the band she’d started out wearing on the hike.