Wicked: Devils Point Wolves #2 (Mating Season Collection) (6 page)

“Get your filthy hands off me,” she spat in Diego’s direction without taking her eyes from her new target.

“Unless you want me to hand you over to him,” Damien pointed to Dante, “I’d suggest you put your gun down and try some manners. You are not only trespassing, but you shot my brother tonight and could have hurt our women. So we are not in a forgiving mood.”

“I could care less about your mood,” she said. “Your
pack
hurt my brother. I’ll shoot every one of you if I have to.”

Dante growled, “Unlike you, we don’t go around hurting people unless they’ve done something to deserve it. Who the hell is your brother and what did we supposedly do to him exactly?”

“One of you bastards bit him. Now I’m supposed to find him and put him down.” Her gun faltered for a split second at the last of her statement. Clearly, she was distressed about what she’d come for.
 

“Why would your people make you come here and do this? Do they not watch out for their women?” This time Diego asked the questions. He had a strange look on his face that Dante couldn’t read.
 

“We don’t coddle women where I come from. I sure as hell don’t need some man to do my hard jobs. I’m perfectly capable.”
 

Still staring at her gun, Dante responded. “I can see that. However, I don’t know where you got your information but it’s wrong. No one in our pack would bite a human unless it was an accident or they were forced to defend themselves. Besides, that’s something we would have heard about.”

“Sounds like high and might bullshit to me. My brother was tracking wolves in this area when he went missing. Then he called me a couple of weeks ago and said he was bitten. Took me that long to track him here, but make no mistake, he’s here and someone here will be held accountable.”

Dante was getting tired of listening to her excuses. He had an overdose of energy with nowhere to go at the moment and the pain of getting shot was starting to get past the extra adrenalin. Not to mention he was getting antsy to get back to Rebel. He was going to have one angry female on his hands.

Thinking of getting back home to his mate distracted him and he didn’t realize how woozy he felt until he swayed forward and Damien had to catch him.

“Whoa, big boy. You can’t pass out now. That little gun of hers may be tiny but it’ll pack a hell of a punch.”

“Already got one hole in me. Don’t need another.”

“No, you certainly don’t.” He turned to the woman still trying to threaten them. “You’ll hand over your guns to Diego and go with him now. You are outmatched by an entire pack.” As if on cue the rest of the pack emerged from the trees and filled the small clearing.

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t immediately lower her gun. “Who’s to say I put down my gun and you don’t kill me right here, right now?”

“Me,” Dante said. “If a human is bitten we need to look into it. That alone buys you a little time.” He paused. “But only a little.”

She thought about it for a few more seconds and then flipped her gun handle out and Diego scooped it up. He released the clip and threw it into the bay, followed by the gun in a different direction.

“Hey!” she yelled.

“We don’t need guns on our island.” Diego grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. “Let’s go.” He turned back to Dante. “Go get your woman out of our basement. I think I’m going to need it.”

Chapter Six

Rebel paced from one end of the room to the other. She had no idea how long she’d been cooped up in this room since there wasn’t a damn clock on the wall and her cell phone was upstairs in her purse. Although it might as well have been days as angry as she was.
 

What if Dante was dead?

The thought made her blood run cold.
 

He better be all right or she was going to kill him. She rubbed her arms as if that would help wipe away some of the worry. Nothing helped. What could be taking so long? She turned and walked in the opposite direction, surprised there wasn’t already a traffic pattern worn in the carpet.
 

A click at the door had Rebel going on alert. There was nothing in the room to use as a weapon, she’d already checked, so she sure hoped it was Dante coming in and not some stranger. She volunteered for this wild plan of her own free will, but that didn’t mean she wanted to die tonight at the hands of some crazy soaked hunter willing to shoot down anyone that got in his way.

The door flung open and Dante appeared in the doorway, clad only in a pair of jeans and caked dried blood streaking down his arm and chest.

“Oh thank God.” She rushed forward and gently grabbed his injured arm. “Are you okay? I’ve been frantic. I didn’t realize there was blood until after you’d gone.
 

“I’ll be fine. Not the first time I’ve been shot.”

Rebel ignored that. She most certainly did not want to entertain the idea this kind of thing happened all the time for him. She also refrained from screaming and punching at him for locking her in this room. For now.

“Did someone call nine-one-one? We need to get you to a hospital.”
 

“Really, it’s not that big of a deal.” His voice came out strong despite the unusually pale color of his skin and haunted look in his eyes.
 

“Well, we have to do something. You’re not going to heal with your skin hanging open like that. At the very least you need some stitches.” She leaned over and inspected the mangled wound a little closer. “Oh for Christ’s sake. There’s a bullet still lodged in there.”

He nodded. “That explains why it’s not healed yet.”

She grabbed his hand and started pulling him toward the door. “Well. C’mon then. If we can’t take you to the hospital then I’m going to at least pull that slug out of you and stitch you closed.”

His eyes widened. “You know how to do these things?”

She shrugged. “I’ve never pulled a bullet out, but I’m damned good with a pair of tweezers and a sewing kit which, unless you’ve got a doctor in your pocket, is better than nothing.”

“I don’t have a sewing kit here,” he said, stopping them both in their tracks.

She turned back to him. “Then good thing I’m here. I have a fully stocked purse for every kind of wardrobe malfunction right up those stairs.”

He pulled his eyebrows together. “What the hell is a wardrobe malfunction and what does that have to do with getting a bullet out?”

Rebel started laughing, so hard she doubled over. “You should see your face right now. Oh my God. Priceless. Forget about the wardrobe and just trust me. I got this.”

He looked down at his bare torso and she followed his line of sight. Yes, she’d noticed the rippling abs, perfectly formed pecs and the mouthwatering trail of hair that led below the waistband of his jeans. Under different circumstances she probably would’ve already tried following it. The mere thought of getting inside his pants and investigating made her wet. Talk about inconvenient.
 

As she tried to bank the building heat inside her, Dante’s head shot up and his nostrils flared.
 

“You’re aroused,” he said.

Oh crap.

“You are, I can scent it.” A slightly amused smile crossed his face.

“GD shifter senses. I am not aroused, I’m irritated. Let’s go.” She tried to pull him out of the room and he stayed rooted to the spot.
 

“You can’t lie to me.” He stared at her, looking deep.
 

She tried to out stare him but the man was tenacious beyond belief obviously oblivious to the pain in his arm. “Fine,” she said. “But it doesn’t matter because I wasn’t lying about being irritated. Although make that pissed. You locked me in a basement.”

“For your own good. And I’ll do it again if I have to. I won’t let anyone hurt what’s mine.”

“The fact you aren’t a little sorry for scaring the living hell out of me just pisses me off more. Now, let's go before I change my mind about helping you.” She ignored the little tidbit about “mine.” She chalked it up to the adrenalin talking.
 

This time when she pulled his hand, he followed.

“Better scared than dead, yes?”

How was she supposed to argue that logic? “Then the least you can do is install a stupid phone down there or something. And a clock!” She shook her head. Why on earth did she want to stay on this island? That was the million dollar question wasn’t it? And the question she already knew the answer to despite his pig headed behavior.
 

She was in love with a wolf.

***

Rebel stood back and admired her handiwork. “Not bad if I say so myself. And almost a painless process.”

“Speak for yourself. You digging in there with your pink glittery tweezers was no hunt on a full moon. It hurt like hell.”

She frowned. “Why didn’t you say something? I would have tried to be more gentle.”

He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her between his legs where he sat on a stool. “No need. It had to come out and now that it has, I’ll heal a lot faster.” His voice lowered. “I’m impressed you were willing to remove it in the first place.”

“It was no hunt on a full moon, but I survived.”

He threw back his head and laughed, a deep rumble she felt low in her belly.
 

“Already picking up the lingo. Does that mean you’ve decided to stay?”

She tried to pull away and he gripped her waist tighter.

“Don’t leave me,” he said.

“I—I can’t stay and you know it.” It was going to rip her in two to leave, but watching him try to be something he couldn’t would hurt far worse. He deserved a bond like Faith and Damien and the only way that could happen was if she left.

“Then why were you trying to get me in bed earlier?”

Rebel winced. Why couldn’t he have forgotten that part? So much had happened since that unfortunate moment out on the deck. Was it really still the same night? The way the sky was beginning to lighten outside his bank of windows the night was over and so was her chance.
 

“We’ve both been up all night and you’ve got to be ready to crash. I know I am.” Except her crash and burn was coming from a broken heart.

“Agreed. We both need sleep.” He stood and scooped her into his arms.

“Dante, what are you doing?” She grabbed his shoulders to steady herself.

“Taking you to bed so you can sleep.” He started walking up another set of stairs.

“That’s not what I meant. I need to go back to my motel.”

“No.” He must have sensed her agitation because he softened his tone. “I’m tired, babe. You are too. I have a big bed and having you next to me will assist the healing process.”

“Is that a shifter thing?”

He nudged a door at the top of the steps open and walked through it. “Mmmhmm.” He set her down on the edge of a big very soft bed that look a hundred times more inviting than her crappy motel bed. She was tired.
 

“Here.” Dante handed her a shirt. “You can sleep in that so you’ll be more comfortable. I’ll replace the shirt I ruined tomorrow.”

“That’s not necessary. I will use this one though for the night. Thank you.” She hurried to the bathroom and changed, tossing her shirt into his trash and folding her jeans and bra on the counter. The shirt said Deadman’s Island with a skull and crossbones on it and it smelled like Dante, clean with a hint of musk and the outdoors. Maybe she’d tell him she wanted to keep it in exchange for her other one.
 

With a heavy sigh she returned to the bedroom and found Dante already in the bed. Thanks to the wall of windows in this room too, she could make him out clearly. Bare except for his boxer briefs, she took a moment to admire all of his beautiful flesh. Clearly shifters were made from a different mold. One that included low body fat, thick muscles and a cock much bigger than normal men.
 

He had an arm thrown over his face and the steady rise and fall of his chest indicated he was already asleep. He’d been through hell tonight.
 

Diego let them know earlier that the hunter they captured had been secured and no one had anything more to worry about tonight. No sign of the rogue wolf. Although there was speculation that the wolf the hunter came looking for was the same as the one who bit her sister.

She yawned, turning her attention back to the big comfy bed with the beautiful man sleeping in it. Now would be the perfect time to leave. She could sneak out and be gone from the island long before he woke again.

“Stop thinking so hard, Rebel and get in the bed. We’re both tired and I need you with me.”

She groaned. Every time she thought about leaving he would say something sweet or intense that got to her. He said he needed her and that felt really good. Unable to walk away from that feeling, she did as he said and climbed in next to him. Her body barely hit the mattress before his arms came out and snatched her to his side. “Need you, baby. Now go to sleep okay?”

“Okay,” she said.
 

Dante hooked a leg over one of hers, pinning her underneath him.