Betrayed (Wolf Gatherings Book 6) Page 4

  Or maybe it wasn’t that he didn’t want to shift. Maybe he couldn’t.

  Shit. “Could a wolf spend so much time shifted that they can’t shift back, do you suppose?”

  Natalie’s eyelids rose. “I suppose. We were just discussing that possibility in fact. I’ve never known anyone who did, though.” She glanced under the table. “Frankly, I don’t think it’s been too long. He’s a little ragged, but not the way I’d expect him to look if he’d been in this form for years.”

  “True.” Heather blew on a bite and sipped it. Heaven. She moaned. The wolf lifted his face. “So he’s just an ass.”

  Now he growled.

  Natalie smiled. “I wouldn’t go that far. He’s awfully protective. Not leaving your side. He knows.”

  “Yeah, he knows all right. Thought he might have a coronary when I got out of bed in my undies.”

  Natalie laughed. “Hmm. If that didn’t do it…”

  “Maybe he didn’t like what he saw.”

  The wolf growled again.

  “Okay so not that.”

  The men suddenly burst into the room from outside, letting the screen door slam behind them. The wolf sat up on his haunches and eased closer to her leg.

  “You’re awake,” Jerome said.

  “Yep.”

  He glanced at the floor. “And your mate hasn’t shifted yet.”

  “Nope.”

  The men all took seats at the table, and Natalie went to the stove to bring over the pot of soup.

  “Do you know how hot it is out there, Mom?” Scott asked.

  “Shut your mouth. This is for Heather. If you don’t want it, make a sandwich.”

  Scott lifted his arms. “Sorry. That was rude.”

  “Very.” Natalie resumed her spot at the table. She must have already eaten. She hadn’t set a place for herself.

  Scott, Jerome, and Jerrod, the youngest Spencer at only twelve, started eating.

  “Did Drake go back to his own place for lunch?” Natalie asked them.

  “Yeah.” Jerome swallowed his bite. “Said he needed to help Kenzie with the baby. She apparently didn’t get much sleep last night.”

  “That poor girl. I’ll go relieve her in a while so she can take a nap.”

  “Maybe I’ll go with you,” Heather said.

  The wolf perked up at the pronouncement. She’d known he would. In a moment he settled back at her feet. She’d only said it to get a rise out of him. It worked.

  It didn’t last long, however. Jerome spoke again. “I’ve been thinking. Do you think it’s possible your wolf has been drugged? That could explain why he hasn’t shifted. He could be held in a suspended state and can’t reach beyond the drugs yet.”

  Heather almost fell out of her chair when her wolf jumped to both feet and stared at Jerome. Bingo.

  Jerome smiled. “Okay then. That’s a possibility. Perhaps he escaped the Romulus and hasn’t been able to shift yet.”

  “Why do you suppose he came here?” Heather wondered if he knew about the ranch and came for a similar reason. Refuge. But that didn’t explain his reluctance to shift.

  Heather set her hand on the wolf’s head and wove her fingers into his fur. She hated the idea, but considering how many shifters had fallen under the influence of the Romulus, it wasn’t far-fetched to assume this wolf had been among the victims.

  “If he’s been receiving the same drugs as the other members of the Romulus, why isn’t he extraordinarily large and strong?”

  The wolf stiffened.

  “Sorry. Didn’t mean it as an insult.” She held his head and tipped his jaw up to meet his gaze. “Have you seen those superwolves?”

  He blinked at her. Okay, maybe not.

  Jerome interjected again. “Anything’s possible. Now that we know there’s some genetics involved, it’s possible he didn’t have the right genomes to convert. A simple blood test should tell us if he’s been receiving anything unusual.” Jerome looked at the wolf. “Would you agree to that?”

  The wolf stood rigid. He didn’t move for several moments. Finally he nodded subtly.

  Heather felt relieved. Making progress here. “Do you think you’ll find the same drugs in him I had in me?”

  The wolf flinched, baring his teeth.

  Heather took his head in her hands. “Relax, big guy. I’m safe now. And you are too. The Spencers are good people. Whatever happened to you in the past, you can trust everyone on this ranch.”

  Jerome shook his head. “I doubt we’ll find the same drugs in your wolf. I think the goal of the Romulus must have something to do with making the males stronger and the females weaker.”

  The wolf growled.

  Jerome chuckled. “He knows things. It’s not a coincidence he’s here.”

  Heather gripped his fur tighter. “Maybe he heard about this ranch being used as a refuge for women.”

  She couldn’t deduce anything from his reaction to her statement. She’d have to wait for him to shift to get more answers.

  When they finished lunch, Jerome went to the barn for several minutes to retrieve supplies. With all the horses they had, they kept a full supply of basic medical equipment. He returned with a syringe and a few vials. He handed them to Heather. “You should do it. You’re the nurse around here, and he’s likely to bite my arm off if I try.”

  Heather turned her chair a few inches and lowered her stiff leg to the ground to square up with the black wolf. He didn’t move. He stared at her with wide eyes. “Can I have your paw?” She held out a hand, and he lifted his front leg to her thigh. “Just a blood draw. These guys can send it to a lab and get some answers.” Her fingers shook. Drawing blood from a random stranger or a farm animal was one thing. Inflicting pain, no matter how minor, on her mate was another. Especially without his verbal commitment.

  But he didn’t flinch.

  Natalie handed her a cotton swab, which Heather used to clean a spot on his front leg. Steadying her arm, she slowly pierced her wolf’s skin and drew out three vials of blood.

  She looked him in the eye when she was done. “Okay?”

  He stared at her, narrowing his gaze as if to say, “How weak do I look?”

  “I think he needs a drink.” At the very least. She’d hoped to lure him into shifting with thirst, but if it was beyond his control, that would be cruel.

  Natalie grabbed a dish, filled it with water, and set it by the back door. “Try not to get water all over the floor, big guy. I’m the one who has to mop it.”

  The wolf padded across the floor. Heather’s heart ached. What if he couldn’t shift? What would it mean for her life? “I need some air.” Heather lifted herself up and limped toward the door next to her mate.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Natalie asked.

  “I’m fine. Getting better by the second. In fact I think I’ll find a nice, quiet, snake-free area and shift again. That should help finish off the healing.” What she really wanted to do was get her mate out of the house. In wolf form he couldn’t possibly be comfortable for such a long time inside.

  Heather walked outside into the afternoon heat and immediately thought better of her plan. But her mate had perked up at the idea and lobbed ahead of her, glancing back every few seconds to make sure she was following. “I’m coming, big guy.” She followed him to the tree line and then sat on a stump to remove her clothes. “Turn around. I know I joked about my underwear earlier, but I’m not getting naked in front of a man who hasn’t managed to reciprocate, wolf form or not.”

  The wolf sat and faced toward the barn as though he were on guard. In a way he was.

  Heather made a pile of her clothes and quickly shifted. She nudged her mate, tucking her nose up under his front paw.

  His eyes danced as he turned to her. And then he pounced, flattening her to the ground in submission, belly up. He held her down with one paw.

  Fine. Got it. You’re the alpha. You can assert your authority in that area as soon as you shift. Too bad she had no way to c
ommunicate her thoughts with him. The only thing she could do was stay still and let him assert himself. In a strange warped way, she was turned on by his dominance.

  Shifters didn’t mate in their wolf form. Their minds were advanced even shifted. It wasn’t something she would ever do. But she was nevertheless attracted to what small portion of his personality she was privy to in his natural form.

  He couldn’t talk to her, but he demonstrated his strength and virility anyway.

  •●•

  Marcus stared down at his gorgeous mate, his heart pounding, his chest heaving. He held her steady for longer than necessary, hoping to ensure she understood he wasn’t some dumb mutt. He was her mate.

  Not that he was an ass, but he wasn’t the pushover she may have perceived him to be.

  He’d conceded to the bloodwork for several reasons. To do otherwise would have been suspicious. If they happened to find traces of some substance from years ago or even last year, it would only indicate he too was a victim. If not, he would be cleared of any possible ulterior motives the Spencers may suspect of him concerning Heather. Hell, he would be relieved to have the confirmation he was not under the influence of any substance affecting his knowledge that Heather was his true mate.

  Now, if he could get her healed and then keep her safe, he’d be one hundred times more relaxed. Shifting could wait. The snake bite had shaved years off his life. Adding the knowledge she’d been drugged made his blood boil.

  He’d nearly pounced on her when he’d come inside the house, shoving the Spencers out of the way to make sure she was safe and healing. How on earth he’d thought he could leave her and walk away into the woods, he couldn’t imagine. It hadn’t taken him long to wander back toward the main house, worry eating at his gut.

  The Spencers were right about one thing, it had been a while since he’d shifted. And Natalie was astute about his state also. It hadn’t been so long that he was a bedraggled mess. He was matted for sure, but not beyond repair. Nothing a shower and a comb wouldn’t fix.

  Marcus released Heather and nudged her to stand. He pawed at her hind leg, hoping to ascertain the level of her discomfort.

  Heather picked up the afflicted paw and wiggled it. She nodded as she set it down, and then she took off running into the tree line.

  The little imp.

  Marcus bounded after her. What if she got bit again? Or fell? Or couldn’t make it back?

  Since when do you worry so much about someone else’s safety?

  Since I met my mate.

  She didn’t go far before pausing to rest her hind leg. She plopped down in a meadow and lolled in the sun. Marcus glanced around, unsure about the level of their safety. Surely Heather knew what she was doing. He hoped she wasn’t foolish enough to put herself in danger. She hadn’t done anything yet to concern him to that level, but he barely knew her.

  And he wasn’t convinced about the safety level of the ranch yet. There were a few members of the North American Reserves milling around at all times, probably remnants of whatever had gone down on the ranch before he’d arrived. NAR could only do so much. They had a few guys staying in one of the cabins on the property, but however many others had been there before, they were gone now.

  He feared whatever army his grandfather had assembled.

  He attempted to piece together Heather’s story. She was from Oregon, so it meant she’d traveled quite a distance to get to the ranch in northwest Texas. And this family was not her own.

  She’d spoken of women using the ranch as a refuge. That part fit what he suspected. So, where were they now?

  Since she’d mentioned being drugged herself, he figured she had to have been one of the women captured by this group his grandfather spearheaded called the Romulus and given experimental drugs. He couldn’t come up with a reason why she was the last one staying on the ranch. Living in the main house in fact.

  They had so much in common. Too bad he couldn’t tell her everything he knew.

  Had they received the same drugs? Under what pretense had she been told they were necessary?

  His grandfather mentioned superwolves coming here for a battle. Perhaps that had happened, considering everyone on the ranch but Marcus seemed to have seen these beings. Did Melvin Cunningham really spearhead a coup against members of their own species?

  He stared down at Heather’s peaceful body resting in the grass. Had she been held against her will? Had all the women who’d come here? So many questions he wouldn’t find answers to without shifting.

  For the first time, it occurred to him he might not have a choice. Refuge on this ranch could no longer be his only goal. He needed to tell the Spencers what he knew.

  The idea twelve women had been kidnapped from their mates and held against their will at the Spencer ranch as his grandfather had suggested to his mother no longer seemed like a viable possibility in any way, as he’d suspected. Marcus believed the women were snatched simultaneously all over the country, but he doubted they’d been previously living in any situation that involved their own free will.

  There was no way for Marcus to trust anything he’d heard his grandfather say that day. The man had said enough to make Marcus cringe.

  However, what now stood out the most of all the things he’d overheard was the idea the women had been kidnapped from their mates. Heather Peters had not been mated. She was his. If she’d been mated to another wolf, two things would have happened. He would be able to smell her unavailability on her, and his body would not recognize an alignment with hers.

  Mated couples, even those who met and fell for each other without the assistance of Fate, did not remain available to others. Their scent changed. Their hormones aligned with their mate’s, and they were literally and figuratively off the market. Even if there was someone out there who would have belonged to them as their true mate, they would never recognize it.

  That was one of the many beauties of their species. Fate had a hand in the entire glorious process.

  Heather stilled, and Marcus realized she’d gone to sleep. She rolled toward him, her tail no longer wagging, her jaw open in rest. That she trusted him to watch over her while she healed meant the world to him. She would mend.

  Now the only thing left to do was for Marcus to get over himself and take a risk. It would be the biggest risk of his life, but he owed it to the Spencers and perhaps his entire species. He feared the increased intensity of the mating call that would surely amp up his desire for this woman in human form. Facing her and telling her about his past made him wince. Imagining the look of distaste on her face when she found out who he was made his mouth dry and his stomach ache. Her rightful rejection would kill him. He wasn’t ready.

  Chapter Four

  Marcus jerked his head up from the floor when he heard the distinct piercing cry of a baby. His mate lay on the couch next to him, her foot propped up. After their romp in the woods earlier, it was swollen, but the redness had gone down.

  The back door opened, and the volume of the crying increased tenfold.

  “Bring him here,” Heather said.

  A woman stepped farther into the house.

  Marcus couldn’t see her face clearly until after she leaned over and handed the baby to Heather. Instantly the baby stopped wailing. Huh. Seemed his mate had secret powers, he mused.

  He sat up straighter to see the newcomer.

  She stared down at him bemused, her mouth quirked on one side. His eyes widened. It was Mackenzie Davis. Obviously this was the woman Heather referred to as Kenzie earlier. Drake’s mate. And the very woman Marcus first approached at his grandfather’s urging last year at The Gathering. He’d seen her from afar in the last few days, but up close and personal like this, he wanted to swallow his tongue.

  He stepped back a pace. Shit. Not that she would recognize him in wolf form.

  “So, this is the mysterious black wolf.”

  “Yep. Isn’t he the perfect mate?” Heather chuckled as she jostled the baby on her lap. “H
e doesn’t argue with me. He doesn’t take up much space. He’s a supreme body guard. Of course the sex isn’t what I had expected, but I’ve got batteries. Who needs it?” She shrugged.

  Marcus narrowed his eyes at her. How could she refer to him so flippantly? She’s goading you. Ignore it.

  His gaze wandered back to Mackenzie, who flopped onto the couch when Heather sat up straighter. “That’s a shame. You’re so good with kids.” She stared at Marcus while she spoke. “I’d hate to think you won’t have any. Vibrators are wonderful. Don’t get me wrong. But they can’t impregnate you.” She tickled the little guy on Heather’s lap.

  The baby gurgled. Almost a giggle.

  “How do you always manage to accomplish in two seconds what no one else can do in hours?” Kenzie asked.

  “What?” Heather laughed. “He likes me.”

  Marcus closed his eyes as he listened to her laugh. He loved the sound of it. And it broke through this ridiculous talk of vibrators and batteries.

  Shaking the visual from his head, he stared at Kenzie. He needed to shift. And the timetable for that had taken a drastic shift with the arrival of one of the women he’d accosted at the last Gathering. He owed her that. Wallowing around in wolf form, not man enough to apologize for his behavior was beneath him. He prayed her sister wasn’t around. He couldn’t face them both at once.

  Groaning, Marcus set his head back down on the ground. He had even more explaining to do now. And the clock was ticking. He needed to shift and take his mate in his arms so badly his skin tingled. The drive hovered beneath his skin, threatening to force him to shift. Not that he would snatch her up and claim her by any stretch of the imagination. He owed her even more explanations than Kenzie. Again, man up, wolfboy. He borrowed Heather’s term for himself in his mind as he tried to slow his heart rate.

  The back door opened again, and Drake walked in.

  He shook his head as he stared at Marcus. “The infamous black wolf is still not talking.” He propped his hands on his hips as Marcus sat up straight again. “You’ve met my mate, Kenzie, and our son Aaron, I see. So nice chatting with you.” He snickered and took a seat across from the women.