Mark of the Wolf (17 page)

“
Maddy,
close your eyes
,” he said.

He heard a sob escape her; it ripped from her
chest. “Gareth, oh my god I can't believe you found me. I'm tied, I
can't get loose–”

“
Maddy –
close your eyes!
” He allowed a growl to enter his
words, asserting his Alpha presence. Her voice died in her throat.
He hated to scare her even more, but he couldn't allow her to watch
what he was about to do – no, not yet. Not when she was still so
fragile. She may have seen the wreckage he had caused at her
father's house, but he was about to do much worse than
that.

He didn't check to see if she obeyed him – he
knew she did. Instead he took a deep breath, turned and faced the
two men in the room, and let a cold smile spread across his lips.
He could have said something to them, but he decided to let his
actions speak.

Without any more hesitation, he relaxed his
muscles, allowing the wolf inside to take charge. The Change ran up
his spine, spreading across his shoulders and throughout his body,
firing along his veins and sinews. He let out a heavy groan as his
bones began to shift. Painful... and yet oh so satisfying.

“
You're next,” he growled, glaring at
the two men. Then he couldn't speak anymore.

Chapter 10

The sound of a door slam brought her back to
her senses.

Maddy started, unsure of how much time had
passed, then realized that she must have passed out again. She
could clearly remember the basement; it felt like everything had
happened only a few minutes ago... Gareth had stormed in, she
remembered his voice, his strong presence... and then there had
been growling and snarling, boxes flying and crashing, howls and
yelps... and blood. That had been when she'd passed out. The blood
had seemed never ending.

She kept her eyes firmly shut, not wanting
Gareth to know she had come to – at least not yet. She didn’t know
what to say, and a large part of her was dreading the confrontation
to come.

Instead she felt him lean over her, and a
moment later the seatbelt clicked, fastening her to the chair
securely. The car started. They pulled away from the curb. Away
from the massacred house.

She kept her back towards him, her head
ducked down. She could smell him – god, how was that possible? His
scent was intoxicating her, just being close to him was making her
body tingle. How could she respond so strongly after the horrors
she had just witnessed? The man next to her was a killer, just as
surely as her abductors were. She hated the way her body reacted to
him. She hated the things he did to her.

They drove for maybe fifteen minutes, then
Gareth pulled into a parking lot and turned off the engine. She
heard him unbuckle his seatbelt and open the door.

“
Are you coming?” he asked.

She hated his voice, even though she loved
the roughness to it. She didn’t answer. Yes, he had saved her...
but at what cost? He wasn't human. She knew that now.

Then suddenly he reached over, unbuckled her
seatbelt, and she felt his arms slip under her. With a firm
movement, he lifted her from the car, pulling her out through the
driver’s side. She didn’t know how he managed to tuck her past the
steering wheel without bumping her.

“
Put me down!” she shrieked, louder
than she intended. He did as she asked, and she jammed her hands in
her pockets again, still not looking at him. All she could think of
was blood. He was silent, as though he wanted to say something,
then he turned and walked toward a low, brown building. She glanced
up and saw a bright neon sign proclaiming
Motel 6
.

She sighed. After a moment of hesitation, she
followed him.

They entered the lobby. It was dimly lit by a
few lamps, and the clock on the wall said that it was already past
midnight. The carpet was thick and brown with a few waiting chairs.
They walked directly up to the front desk where an old man was
slouched over a computer screen.

“
A room for two,” Gareth said,
stopping at the desk. His voice was low and dark, and Maddy
couldn’t tell what he was feeling. Was he mad at her? Withdrawn
again? Was he thinking about Yvonne? Regretting his decision to get
involved with a human? She couldn’t be sure of the answers, and she
studied him while he was turned away from her, trying to get a clue
from his tall body and powerful stance.

The old man looked up, glancing from Gareth
to her, and a smile split his face. It was the first warm smile
Maddy had seen in a long time. “We only have queen beds available.
Would you like a cot sent up?”

Gareth glanced down at her, and for a moment
his green eyes met hers, and she blushed scarlet.

“
No cot,” Gareth said, turning back to
the man. He handed over a credit card and a moment later the man
handed back a key.

“
Room 316, it’s on the third floor.
Elevator is over there. I’ll have my boy send up the
cot.”

“
That won’t be necessary,” Gareth
repeated.

“
Actually, that would be lovely,”
Maddy cut him off, speaking up for the first time. She wasn’t about
to spend a night in bed with this wolf... saving her life or not,
she still felt like nothing was resolved. And he had been so
ruthless. What kind of person was he?

The clerk looked back and forth between them
for a moment as Gareth glared down at her, his eyes narrow. She
avoided his gaze, smiling instead at the old man behind the
counter. Finally the man shrugged. “Whatever you want, little
lady,” he said, his eyes twinkling.

Maddy allowed herself a burst of
satisfaction. Finally she had won out over him. Maybe now he would
take her seriously.

But Gareth just looked at her, finally heaved
a deep breath, and nodded towards the elevator. “As you wish,” he
murmured.

She didn’t know how to respond to that, and somehow she
felt guilty, but she steeled herself against her own emotions. She
wouldn’t let her body’s lust control her sensibility. She let out
an annoyed breath and stalked towards the elevator. The doors
opened with a quiet
ding
.
She got in and slouched into the corner, as far away from him as
she could get. Gareth followed.

They stood next to each other as the doors
slid closed. Maddy looked determinedly at the carpet, the silence
all too tense. She felt the hair rise on the back of her neck and
forced herself not to respond. She could sense that he was looking
at her. She would not give him the satisfaction of meeting his
gaze.

Then suddenly he grabbed her, his warm hands
shoving her against the wall, his body pinning her there, fiery hot
against her rain-soaked clothing. She opened her mouth to scream,
but his lips took hers and the sound was swallowed by his tongue.
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, not when he touched her like
this. Everything was on fire – her skin, her lips. His hands
traveled to her breasts, stroking and pinching as his tongue filled
her mouth, then his other hand went behind her head and angled her
for deeper penetration. He was pushing his body against hers, and
she realized that the hardness against her belly was not his car
keys after all. She gasped, and again it was taken by his
mouth.

She was angry at him, hurt and betrayed and
even more confused after the violence in the basement, but her mind
was fuzzy and it was hard to remember why exactly she had been so
upset. The bloody memories dimmed. Her fingers started to travel on
their own, inching up his back to his muscular shoulders, then up
his neck until they buried themselves in his thick, wavy hair. It
was loose and free, soft as a feather against her skin. The brush
of his stubble against her cheek was intoxicating. His lips were
warm, firm yet pliable, and he knew how to use them.

His tongue slipped along her jaw and then
down her neck, forcing a moan from low in her throat. Pleasure shot
through her and she felt herself grow wet, dripping into her
panties. His hand went under her leg, and suddenly he lifted her,
wrapping her legs around his waist as he thrust against her. She
gasped, whimpered, moaned again – he was so hard, and it felt so
good, each thrust sending a spiral of pleasure through her stomach
and straight to her crotch.

Ding.

Suddenly her feet were on the ground. She had
been wet, panting, wild against him – and then abruptly he dropped
her, setting her on her feet and stepping back so quickly that she
lost balance and bumped against the elevator wall. She looked up,
bewildered. They had reached their floor… and he was already
walking down the hall.

Her previous anger returned and a bubble of
pure rage burst in her brain. Before she could think, she dashed
out into the hall, her blood boiling.

“
You asshole, you think you can just
use me?” she demanded, her voice thick with rage. She was
practically choking on it, her thoughts no longer coherent. “You
think you can just kiss me and that’ll shut me up? Or just kill
anyone who touches me? You're sick!”

He stood back from her, watching her
carefully. “I did what was necessary,” he said slowly, holding up
his hands. He glanced around the hallway, obviously concerned that
they would be overheard. “They would have done worse to you.”

“
Worse?
Worse?
You ripped them to shreds!”

“
I told you to close your
eyes.”

“
Fuck you, you can't just tell me what
I can see and what I can't see! What, you don’t like it that I know
all your secrets now? All about your violence — or your
girlfriend?
No wonder you’re so
rough all the time, fucking around with a bitch like
her!”

Maddy didn't know where the words came from –
they just flew from her mouth and she couldn't pull them back.
Suddenly he glared at her; she saw pure fire in his eyes. His lips
were set in a firm line, and for a moment a streak of fear ran
through her. She backed up a step automatically, remembering the
blood he had spilled less than an hour before. Her heart
pounded.

Gareth started forward, walking toward her
with a controlled power that made her think of a caged animal.
Something told her the animal might break loose at any second, and
the thought terrified her, but she forced herself to stand her
ground. Her knees were shaking, but she gritted her teeth – she
wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her cower.

He grabbed her a moment later, his hands hard
and strong on her arms, biting into her skin, almost hard enough to
bruise. He put his face close to hers, and she could hear the low
rumble in his throat – his eyes were glinting with an alien
force.

“
You want to play rough?” he growled.
His voice was deeper and harsher than anything human. “Because I
can be rough.”

Smack!

Her hand moved faster than her thoughts did,
right across his face. It was pure instinct – the fear, the rage,
the pain that throbbed in her heart with each breath, the bitter
taste of betrayal… she couldn’t take it anymore. Her palm was
stinging and all she could do was look at him. She saw the surprise
that registered in his eyes for a fleeting moment, and she wished
that she had hit him harder. Something to hurt him the way he had
hurt her.

His eyes darkened.

Without a word, he grabbed her wrists with
one powerful hand and yanked her behind him, so hard that she lost
her footing and fell to the ground with a yelp. She hit hard, but
he didn’t pause – he continued to drag her by her wrists across the
carpet, pulling her easily despite her cussing and writhing. She
couldn’t see where they were going, but a moment later she heard a
key turn in a lock, and the door was kicked open to smash against
the wall.

He dragged her into the room and slammed the door behind
them, her last chance of escape gone. Then he hefted her up with
one arm and threw her forward – briefly she was weightless, flying
through the air, and then she hit the bed with an inaudible
‘
oof
.’

She tried to squirm away but he grabbed her
leg, and then he was on top of her, layering his body over her
back, pressing her down. She felt his teeth bite into the back of
her neck, not strong enough to draw blood, but enough to make her
go still. She could feel his teeth and they were sharper than they
had been before – not human teeth, but fangs.

“
You think you can just run away from
me?” he growled, his voice so low that it rumbled through her body,
sending chills of pleasure down her spine even as she fought her
rising fear. “You think you can ignore me? Walk away from me? I
told you once Maddy, I’ll tell you again – we’re
bonded
.” His hands traveled up her arms until one sank into her
hair, and he released her, laving his tongue against the tiny
pricks he had made in her neck. His tongue moved down to her
shoulder, hitting all of her sensitive areas, making her gasp from
the incredible sensations. Her body felt like it was electrified,
so energized that she couldn’t breathe properly.

He flipped her over with no trouble at all,
despite the fact that she was struggling to get away. Then he
pushed his hands under her shirt, roughly tearing at her bra until
her breasts burst free, his fingers playing with her nipples.
Streaks of hot fire shot through her, making her pant and moan, her
body throbbing with arousal. She didn’t understand fully why her
body was responding so intensely – she had heard other teens talk
about sex, but they hadn’t described anything like this. She felt
like she would die if she didn’t get close to him. She was so wet
that her underwear was soaked.