Heart of the Wolf

Chapter Nine

BEFORE DEVLYN COULD RUSH TO THE PARQUET FLOOR, the music changed to a fast-paced dance and Alfred released Bella. Curbing his temper, Devlyn sat back down at Nicol’s table.

“Hell,” Nicol said to Devlyn and motioned to another man—about the same shorter stature, around five-ten, with brown hair tinged with red. “Ross is headed this way. Guess he’ll think I couldn’t score again.”

Devlyn took his eyes off Bella and stared at Nicol. “You said you hadn’t courted any lupus garou.”

“No, human females. They’re all right, but nothing like one of our own kind. Too tame.”

“Ever thought of changing one?”

Nicol’s eyes grew big. “Why would I want to do that?”

“To have a mate. I considered it a time or two,” Devlyn fabricated—anything to convince Nicol to talk about his relationships with human women. “I thought I might find the one I liked and then, if she were agreeable, change her. Like in your pack, we have a shortage of females who are the right mating age. So ... yeah, I’ve considered it.”

Nicol nodded. “Yeah, me, too. But it wouldn’t work. A human would be afraid.”

“Ever have a problem when you’re getting it on hot and heavy and then you have the urge to change?”

Nicol stared at the table, grabbed his beer, and chugged it down. “No ... no, and you?”

“A time or two,” Devlyn lied. “You know, during the full moon.”

Nicol slid his gaze away and nodded at Ross when he sauntered over to the table. Devlyn rose from his chair and offered his hand in greeting. Ross ignored him, and, amused, Devlyn overlooked the insult and sat back down. “This is Devlyn,” Nicol said, “and Devlyn, this is Ross.”

Ross sniffed the air and then frowned. “You’re a gray. Not from around here.”

“Yep.” Devlyn wanted to add, ‘Going to make something of it?’ But this wasn’t the time to act macho.

Ross’s gaze shifted from Devlyn to Nicol and then to Alfred and Bella. He rested his hands on his hips. “Man, that’s her, eh?”

“Yeah, as you can see, Alfred got to her first.” Devlyn finished his water when Bella sat at the table with Alfred again.

“Are you going to ask her to dance?” Ross asked Nicol. Nicol rubbed the back of his neck. “And start a fight? You know Alfred won’t let any of us near her when he’s around.”

Devlyn stood. “I’ll ask her to dance.” It was time to do something with that testosterone that made him testy where Bella was concerned.

“But you’re a gray,” Ross said, his voice astounded. “And have a mate,” Nicol reminded Devlyn. Inwardly, Devlyn smiled. “Yeah, well, it’s just a dance. Not a proposal.”

“He’s got to be crazy,” Nicol said under his breath when Devlyn moved away from the table.

“He’s a gray,” Ross retorted.

Yeah, he was a gray and he would dance with that hot little red number. Nothing would stop him, certainly not one horny red pack leader.

Now what the hell? Bella stared at Devlyn stalking across the floor, forcing dancing couples to move out of his way or get run over. He was going to blow their case, yet from the way he acted, it didn’t matter. She knew he’d have a fit when Alfred moved his hand lower on her backside. And she knew he would watch Alfred’s every move and not have missed the red’s action.

But this was not the way to handle it.

Her breathing accelerated as she tried to think of how to rectify the situation.

Before she could say anything, Alfred turned and saw the lupus garou targeting his date.

“He’s a friend,” she quickly said.

Alfred didn’t look back at her but continued to stare down the impending threat. “The one who wants you?”

“No, the one who rescued me from the hospital.” He turned to her briefly. “The one who wants to take you back to the gray pack to hand you over to the leader?”

“He saved my life when I was little. He’s changed his mind about turning me over to Volan.”

Alfred shifted his attention back to the menace who stalked across the club, their eyes locked in combat, the wolf way.

When Devlyn reached him, he stretched his hand out to Alfred. “I’m Devlyn and I understand you’re Alfred. I’ve been visiting with two members of your pack. They say you’re a great leader.”

Bella waited in breathless anticipation to see if Devlyn’s words helped soften the confrontation.

Alfred took Devlyn’s hand, but his lips tightened when Devlyn squeezed hard, his own hand much larger. Devlyn’s arm muscle grew taut and Alfred’s eyes watered.

She took a deep breath, hoping Devlyn’s show of strength would make Alfred back down.

“Has Bella told you we’re from the same pack?” Alfred flashed her a satisfied look at having found out her real name. “She said grays raised her, yes, and that you’d planned to return her to your pack leader.”

Devlyn looked over at Bella for an explanation. “I also said you’d changed your mind.”

Devlyn’s lips turned up slightly. “I haven’t had the pleasure of dancing with my wolf mate,” he said to Alfred. “I hadn’t seen her in years. Never had the chance to dance with her back then.”

Devlyn showed all of the signs of wolf posturing. Instead of waiting for Alfred’s response, Devlyn pulled her from her seat, slipped his arm around her waist, and held her close as he moved her to the dance floor.

“Oh jeez, Devlyn.” She frowned at him when he drew her deeper into the mob of dancers. “Could you make it any more obvious you have the hots for me?”

Grinning at her, his hands moved down her backside and cupped her buttocks. “If you must know, yes.”

She encircled his neck with her arms. “Now listen, I wouldn’t let him get away with such behavior toward me. You’re ruining the whole thing. What will he think?”

Devlyn slipped his leg between hers and rocked against her heated core. “What he already knows. I’ve claimed you.” He glanced back at the table where the other reds sat. “Maybe this will work even better.”

She scowled at him. “What if they decide to gang up on you for trying to steal a red from their territory? They’re not going to allow it. Not from a gray.”

He grunted.

Sliding her hands down, she cupped his butt and tugged him closer. “Is this helping your plans?”

Chuckling, he kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, a few more moves like that and we’ll have to return to the vehicle and finish them.”

She breathed in his heady scent. “You sure smell good.”

“Taste good, too, if you want a bite.”

“Ah, Devlyn, what are we going to do? You know I want you, but ...”

Raising her chin, he dropped his mouth open to speak, but the words wouldn’t come.

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s all I’ve waited to hear, Bella. You said the magic words.”

He captured her mouth with passionate aggression, his tongue plundering her, claiming her as he’d done so long ago. His hands roamed over her back and then down to her buttocks again, and he pulled her against him. Adrenaline running high, she trembled. She couldn’t deny her feelings for him.

But she couldn’t take the words back now. She’d committed to him, just as if she’d said ‘I do.’

“I mean—”

“I know what you mean. Do we go home now and consummate our relationship or fake this charade a little longer?”

“I haven’t seen Argos yet. What if we miss him?”

“He can get in touch with you the same way.” Devlyn worked her toward the front exit.

“You can’t mean to take me home this instant.”

“Yeah, we have unfinished business, honey. And it’s not waiting any longer.”

She glanced at Alfred. Nicol and another wolf had joined him.

“Ross and Nicol,” Devlyn said when he saw her look at them.

“They’re planning on stopping you from taking me out of here, don’t you think?”

“Damn it.” Devlyn’s brown eyes turned black as his jaw clenched in anger.

His intense posture sent a shiver down her spine. “What’s wrong?”

“New plan. Zoo man Thompson’s near the front exit looking for you. Let’s find a back way out.”

As soon as he guided her toward a rear exit, Alfred and his wolfmates blocked their escape.

“What if Alfred says he won’t let us leave unless I’ll agree to be his mate?” she asked, her heartbeat quickened.

“You’re already spoken for.” He hurried her toward the exit.

All three reds glared at Devlyn, stood their ground at the rear door, and wouldn’t let them pass.

“We have some trouble,” she said to Alfred, trying to diffuse the fight she feared was about to erupt any second. “Thompson, the man from the zoo who tranquilized me and put me there in the first place, is standing at the front door of the club. He probably has police officers standing by.”

“Will you go with me?” Alfred asked. “I promised myself to Devlyn.”

Swallowing hard, Alfred’s Adam’s apple moved up and down. He crossed his arms. “No deal.”

“We’ll help you catch the red who’s killing the women in the area.”

He narrowed his eyes. “How do you know it’s a red lupus garou?”

“I have evidence. We’ll help you and your pack catch him.”

“Why?”

“Because,” she growled, frost surrounding each word, “he threatens to give all of us away.”

He looked over at his mates, but they waited for him to give the word. Seconds hung like hours while Thompson’s gaze shifted around the room. Her chest tightened.

“All right. Come on then,” Alfred finally said, his words ominous. But, considering that the zoo man searched for her, guarded relief washed over Bella even though Alfred didn’t seem to be buying the bit about her being Devlyn’s choice.

“What evidence do you have that it’s a red?” Alfred asked, shoving the metal door open at the back of the club. “Some of his fur.”

A dark shadow crossed Alfred’s face. “If you give it to me, we can have a DNA match done to find out which one of my pack he is.”

She glanced back at Nicol and Ross. Neither seemed worried about the notion. “I don’t have it with me. But I can meet with Ross tomorrow night as I planned—”

Devlyn squeezed her hand hard.

She frowned at him. “Devlyn will come with me, of course. Then I can turn it over to Ross.”

Alfred nodded. “Ross can let me know the details, and we’ll meet you there.”

The smell of garbage drifted to them through the doorway on the chilly breeze. One security light dimly illuminated a section of the parking area, while the rest remained dark. A cat scurried past employee vehicles parked next to a dumpster.

Dread trickled down Bella’s spine. What if Alfred and his pack ganged up on Devlyn with no one to see—no one to stop them? They could force her to give up the fur afterward. One female red lupus garou was no match for three red males. Even one would be too difficult for her to handle. “Coming?” Alfred prompted, walking outside, testing Devlyn’s steel.

Still holding Bella’s hand securely in his own, Devlyn followed. “Tomorrow night. And thanks.”

“Thank you for assisting us in this matter.” Despite the words he spoke, Alfred’s tone remained couched in hostility.

Devlyn nodded. “Tomorrow.”

When Devlyn led Bella down the back alley, they caught Nicol’s words. “You’re not going to let her be his, are you? She’s too much of a red for him.”

They’d moved too far away from the three to hear the response when other voices in the dark caught their attention.

“I really think the chief’s going to be ticked off about this. That guy and his girlfriend gotta be long gone from this area by now.”

She recognized the men’s voices. The police officers who were at the hospital—the ones Devlyn had knocked out. Her heart raced and her hands grew clammy. If they caught Devlyn ...

Her big gray steered her away from them, slipping through the area without making a sound.

Thankfully, they’d parked far enough from the dance club that no others, not even the red pack, would see them leave unless they had followed them. The breeze blew in their favor, and no scent of the reds met them on the turbulent night air.

Devlyn opened the door for Bella and then hurried for his own. After climbing into the vehicle, he drove her home, his hands clenching the steering wheel.

Reaching over, she rubbed his back. “I don’t think Alfred’s ready to give me up, do you?”

“Nope.”

“Did you get anything out of Ross or Nicol?” Devlyn’s back muscles relaxed with her massaging them. “Just that Nicol is a professional hunter—the more dangerous the prey, the better.”

“But women aren’t dangerous.”

“Maybe not to most, but if he’s afraid of their reaction to the sight of him as a wolf, perhaps so. When I asked him if he ever thought about changing a woman, he said he had.”

“He told you that? Without coercion? What with a killer on the loose, I would think he’d keep his mouth shut.”

“I fabricated that I wanted to change a human female. You know how it goes. One tells of his darkest fantasies and the other doesn’t want to be bested.”

She stared at him, not sure whether to believe he’d fibbed or not.

When her hand stilled on his back, he glanced at her. “Humans killed my family, remember?”

“Men only, remember?” She couldn’t curb the jealousy washing over her.

Reaching across the console, he squeezed her thigh. “It’s good to know you care. I’ve never had a woman envious over me before.” He winked at her. “Truly, Bella, I’ve wanted a mate for years. It’s unnatural not to desire one when you live in a pack, but you’re the only one I’ve ever wanted for keeps.”

“Okay, so you fibbed to Nicol about wanting to change a human female.” She began to rub his back again, relieved he had no interest in any other females but her.

“Yes. Then I asked if he ever started to turn wolf while he made love to a woman.”

“You said this had happened to you to convince him to talk more?”

“Yes. A couple of times during the phase of the full moon.”

She raised a brow. “And had it? For real, I mean.”

“No.” He chuckled. “You sure are suspicious of me.

I’d never make love to a human woman during the full moon. I didn’t trust anything like that could really happen, but I certainly didn’t want to risk it.”

“He said he had?”

“He didn’t really say, but I got the impression he might have.”

“Jeez. What happened?”

“Not sure. I must have gotten distracted.” She slapped his leg. “Typical man. When the story really gets good, you don’t know the ending.” She sighed. “What if Nicol had killed other women before the pattern emerged here in Portland? What if he’d done so in other countries where he’d led hunting parties? Out in the wild, where no one would suspect his actions? He could say it was a man-eating lion or something else that attacked the women.”

Devlyn shook his head.

She wished he hadn’t been so ... distracted. “So ... what about Ross?”

“I didn’t get a chance to talk to him.”

“Because?”

His lips turned up.

“What?” she asked, annoyed. “I had to dance with you, Bella.”

Frowning, she couldn’t hide her irritation. “You were supposed to find out who the killer is.”

“And you, with Alfred?”

Now that she was on the hot seat, she looked out the window and smoothed her dress. “I’m afraid I didn’t get anywhere with him.”

“Because?”

“I couldn’t seem to broach the subject.”

He snorted. “Except when you offered him the fur of the killer.”

“Yeah, sorry. I couldn’t think of any other way to solicit their help while avoiding the fight that seemed headed your way.”

After a prolonged silence, he pulled into her garage and shut the door behind them. “I’m not sure it was a good idea. What if he switches it with someone else’s fur to cover up the fact that he’s the killer?”

“I’m not giving him the whole chunk. Just a couple of strands. That’s all he’ll need.”

They climbed out of the vehicle, but before she could make it very far, he swooped her up in his arms and carried her into the kitchen. “I know it’s a human tradition, but call me a sentimentalist. I always liked the idea.”

“Carrying the lady across the threshold?”

“Yeah.”

When he crossed the dining room, she chuckled. “We crossed the threshold a while ago.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re taking me to the bedroom?”

“The wolf’s version of carrying the lady across the threshold.”

She laughed. “I like the wolf’s version much better.” She unbuttoned the top button to his shirt. “I can just guess what happens next.”