Her half-lidded eyes snapped open. “There are wolves in Arizona?”
“A few,” he said in a carefully neutral voice.
She tilted her head at him. “Good wolves or bad wolves?”
Smart woman. He considered how to answer that one. “I reckon we’ve got some of each.”
It was true. Good wolves were the members of his pack. Bad wolves… Well, there were always rogues to contend with, though none strong enough to pose a serious threat. Not at the moment, anyway. Lana, the newest member of his pack, had fought alongside his brother Ty a few years earlier and wiped out the most recent rogue incursion.
No, bad wolves weren’t the issue these days. It was vampires, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to tell Heather that.
She listened to a few more lines of coyote communication—full of the usual nonsense about who got to start the hunt this time versus who started it last time and all the arguing that ensued.
When she spoke again, her voice was hushed. “Don’t you wish you could be free like them?”
Hell, yeah, he did. As the son of his pack’s ruling alpha, his life was tightly bound by expectations. So much that he’d tried escaping responsibility for a long, long time. It was only recently that he’d tried something new: creating his own role instead of fighting an imposed one. But that was a long, rough trail to blaze, and sometimes he wondered if he had what it took.
We can do it, his wolf swore vehemently. We can do it for her.
His squeezed his lips together. Heather was the first woman his wolf had ever wanted to prove anything to or for. Maybe she really was his destined mate.
Maybe? his wolf huffed.
“What would you do if you were free?” he asked, looking deep into her eyes. God, her soul looked caged in this light.
Her fingers twitched against his skin. Her eyes fell to the floor. A few seconds ticked by, and then she lifted her chin and shot him a weak smile. “I’d howl to the moon.”
His heart skipped a beat. Did he dare tell her? Could he? Should he? Where would he even start?
He tried picturing how it would go.
Heather, there’s something I have to tell you.
Her forest-green eyes would smile and wait, as if he had something nice or funny to say rather than the unfathomable truth.
It’s not just me who loves you. My wolf does, too.
Would she blink in confusion? Or would she giggle, thinking he was joking again?
Maybe he should come straight out with it. Heather, I’m not quite human. I’m a shifter, and my inner wolf wants you bad.
The beast nodded inside. Real bad.
Real stupid, because that would just frighten her away.
She’s already frightened, the wolf pointed out. We’re the ones keeping her safe.
Sure. All he had to do was flash his fangs and she’d be all over him, right?
Cody shook his head. Tonight was not the night to try to explain. He could never express himself properly with all the crap occupying his mind. First things first: he needed to hunt down the vampires leaving a bloody trail across the Southwest. Only once he’d killed them—easier said than done—could he concentrate on winning over his mate. For now, all he could do was relish the few quiet hours they had together.
He buried his nose in her hair and took a deep breath. “You’d make a beautiful wolf.”
He could feel her head pop up. “Wolf?”
Oops. He covered up quickly. “You’re way too classy for a coyote. I think you’d make a better wolf.”
She smiled sweetly, and a little fissure spread in his heart. “And what about you?”
“I’d be a wolf, too,” he whispered. “I’d be your mate.”
Her eyes shone as she tried the word out. “Mate.”
His soul sang just hearing her say it.
“We’d run and run and run…” she went on, dragging him into dangerous territory. His fingers tightened around her back.
“Heather…” He meant it as a warning, but she went on.
“Just the two of us…”
His wolf rumbled frighteningly close to the surface and paced the walls of his inner cage.
She’s mine. Ours. Take her!
He gritted his teeth, fighting his aching canines back.
No mating bite. Not tonight, got it?
“We could run through the desert…”
His wolf grumbled on, scratching at the walls of his mind. She’s ours. She’s our destined mate.
That part, even the human side of his mind was starting to believe. But he had to be sure, for one thing, and she had to accept his true nature, for another. And all that was meaningless if pack law forbade it. God, what could he do?
Take her! the wolf growled.
He covered her mouth with a bruising kiss he couldn’t hold back and willed his roiling emotions in a different direction. He couldn’t claim her as his mate yet, but he’d give her a night to remember.
Give, he made his wolf promise. Not take.
His wolf licked his lips, already sidetracked by the idea.
Give, it hummed greedily. We’ll give her something, all right.
***