Terry Spear’s Wolf Bundle Read Free Page B

cricketed in a raucous chorus and a breeze ruffled the pine needles in a whispered hush. If there was a severe shortage of female lupus garou, was the killer trying to turn a human female in the ancient way? To make her his mate?
    Not good.
    She dashed to where he’d left his mark. No sign of him. But the urine was fresh. Too fresh. He had to be close by, but if he were stalking her he couldn’t be an alpha male. An alpha male would have already approached her and let her know he wanted her, if he needed a mate. He had to smell how ripe she was and know she was ready, too. Was that why he went after female humans, because they were easier to take than a lupus garou? Maybe he was afraid to advance on a loner who was more feral, warier, more unpredictable.
    She caught the scent of another. Also male. Except for twitching her ears back and forth and withdrawing her panting tongue, she listened and sniffed the air but stood in place.
    She smelled—water.
    Swallowing, she felt parched, and loped toward the sound of Wolf Creek, the water bubbling nearby. At the fringe of the forest she hesitated, not liking the way the stream’s banks were so exposed. For several minutes she stood watching, listening for signs of danger—human danger.
    Nothing.
    The water beckoned to her. She swallowed again, stared at the rush of the stream, then walked cautiously across the pebble bank.
    Unable to shake the feeling that someone watched her, she waited like a rabbit cornered by a wolf, cemented in place.
    Ice-cold water from melting snow off the mountains dove over rounded rock. She dipped her tongue into the water and lapped it up; the liquid cooled and soothed her dry throat.
    She couldn’t help wishing she were back in Colorado, running with Devlyn like they’d done when they were younger—chasing through the woods, nipping at each other’s hindquarters, feeling the wind ruffle their fur. God, how she wished he’d mated with her.
    Water trickled and gurgled at her feet, birds chirped overhead, and sugar-drained oak leaves rustled in the breeze all around her. But then a flash of red fur caught her attention, and she turned.
    The glitter of the sun’s fading reflection off a wolf’s amber eyes captured her, held her hostage, but her gaze held him captive, too. But only for a moment. His head whipped to the side. Another flash of fur, and another male appeared. Then, the wave of a wolf’s tail as the lupus garou made a hasty retreat. She should have heeded the instinctual warning. Instead, she gauged the remaining wolf’s posture, the way he turned his attention back to her, closed his mouth, and almost seemed to smile before dashing after his companion.
    The crashing through the underbrush couldn’t hide the most dangerous sound known to wildlife—a trigger clicking on a rifle. Nothing could disguise the sound of death.
    Immediately her tail stood upright, and the hair on her back and neck stood on end.
    A chill hurtled down her spine and she dashed through the creek, her heart thundering. Her ears twisted back and forth, trying to identify where the hunter stood.
    The sound of a crack rang across the woods and open area, and a sharp pain stabbed her in the left flank. She stumbled…then attempted to dash off again, her leg numbed with paralysis.
    The hunter shouted, “He’s still going! I’ve never seen a red wolf that big! Shoot him again!”
    Idiots. They couldn’t kill her with normal bullets.
    Running for several yards, she reached the edge of the forest, but the guarded relief she felt withered when the men splashed across the creek in hot pursuit of her. She sprinted north toward her cabin, miles away. Except going this way meant she had to cross the river. Then again, she could ford it, while she doubted they could.
    “Hurry!” one of the men shouted, his voice rife with enthusiasm, but shadowed with a hint of concern.
    She would have clenched her teeth in anger, but she was panting too hard. Her movements slowed.