“I know you’re not worried about a summer storm,” Sheriff Davies stated. “That cat, or several others, hit two other ranches. Everyone is pitching in to track them down.”
Gavin stiffened, ignoring Davies as he spotted Aislyn out in the field, walking their way. Relief swept through him, easing the tension in his muscles until she paused, staring toward them and then dashed back into the trees as if someone were after her. Disbelief turned to gut-wrenching terror for her safety and he whipped his gaze toward Cody and Drake. One look at their faces proved they too had witnessed Aislyn’s about-face.
“What the hell?” Drake growled, flicking his eyes up at the sky as the raindrops splattered down faster.
“I’ll find out. Wait here.” He took off at a sprint, ignoring the sheriff’s annoyed shout, “What gives, McCullough?” Confident his brothers would handle Davies, he vowed Aislyn would not sit for a week once he caught up with her. She was the one who had come to him, and as soon as he set eyes on her tear-ravaged face, she had become his again.
Fifteen minutes later, he paused for the third time to call her name, his voice resonating through the woods. The light rain changed to a downpour, dripping through the trees to dampen his clothes and the foliage surrounding him. Fear and anger got tangled up together inside him, fueling his wolf’s urgency to find their mate. He sucked in a deep breath, acknowledging what he should have admitted all along; he couldn’t say goodbye to Aislyn a second time. Two years of misery was enough of a sacrifice for his family, damn it. He had no right to insist she open up to him if he wasn’t willing to do the same. To hell with family, pack and duty, he swore, his skin itching and growing taut with the lustful urge to shift and claim. If he had to spend the rest of his life heartbroken it would damn well be because she rejected him, all of him, not because he refused to take a chance on them.
He needed his wolf’s heightened night vision and sense of smell to track her faster and time was of the essence out here. It took only a matter of seconds to strip. Sucking in a deep breath, he grimaced from the painful contortions, dropping to the forest floor. Raising his head, he picked up her scent and took off on all four legs, tracking her by smell.
****
Aislyn huddled behind a log, her whole body trembling with cold and terror until the faint echo of Gavin’s voice reached her ears. She blew out a relieved breath yet at the same time dreaded his reaction to whatever the sheriff had told him. Did he believe the accusations against her? Would he listen to her side or insist she leave right away? God help her, she didn’t know. She wanted to think he wouldn’t condemn her without hearing her explanation, but after submitting her body and heart to him for six months, she never thought he would walk away from her with such a flimsy excuse either.
The woods weren’t nearly as welcoming in the pitch black, with cold rain dripping through the trees dampening her tee shirt and hair. The wind rustled leaves and rocked branches, but instead of drawing her eyes overhead in search of spotting an entertaining critter, she imagined an owl swooping down to attack her or one of the bears she had heard about but never seen sneaking up on her.
When Gavin’s voice was replaced with thrashing through the ground cover and then heavy panting she couldn’t identify, Aislyn scrambled to her feet, her heart jumping to her throat as she strained to see through the dense foliage. By the time the wolf was close enough for her to realize what was stalking her, she could feel his hot breath on her cold legs and see the glow of his green eyes. Instant panic propelled her backward with an extended shaky hand, as if that would stop the huge animal from attacking.
“I must be delusional,” Aislyn muttered, shaking her head when she could have sworn the wolf’s mouth pulled back in a grin and his tail was wagging like a friendly dog. “Shoo. Go away,” she gasped, tripping back further as he inched forward. She wondered which fate would be worse, going to jail for something she didn’t do or one lethal bite from this guy.
I’m scared and not thinking straight, she decided with a burst of hysteria. A deep rumble came from the wolf, the sound ominous enough to spur her into doing something besides taking baby steps to get away. Turning, she ran several feet before tripping over a log and falling face down on the damp ground, the loud roll of thunder mingling with the low growl of the wolf as he landed next to her, his cold nose nudging her arm.
And suddenly everything was too much for Aislyn. Heath’s threat, her rash decision to run to a man who had shredded her heart, learning she was still as much in love and lust with him as she was two years ago, the cops waiting to arrest her and now a wolf threatening to eat her. A wave of fear-induced mental derangement overtook her and she rolled over, staring into green eyes that looked oddly familiar, another
