Page 6 of Her Convict Wolf

2

Maxim

Icharge up and down my cell, fists bunched, jaw clenched, bouncing off the bars. They hum and crackle, sending searing volts through me, but I hardly notice. I’m struggling to keep my beast inside. Its fur keeps bursting through my skin. I’m bruised and bleeding in a bunch of places, and the open wound in my shoulder is smarting. They didn’t stitch it up. Guess I’m lucky they dug the bullet out at all. Would’ve been a bitch doing it by myself.

I don’t give a shit about that anyway.

All I care about is Emory.

My ex-boss’s little girl. I haven’t seen her for ten years at least. She was just a kid the last time I saw her. Blonde, blue-eyed and cute as a button. When she was real small, she was fearless. She wasn’t scared of me, like most people were. She used to like using me as a climbing frame. I’d swing her around and around, let her stand on my shoulders. I remember thinking, I wish she could stay as a kid forever, so she’d never find out who her father really was.

But by the time she was around ten, she’d become watchful. She was starting to figure out the world she belonged to. And it made my heart ache, and I wanted to protect her from all that. But what could I do? I was just an employee. Then her father fired me, and she was out of reach behind tall gates and heavy guard.

The Emory I saw today is nothing like that little girl. Every last thing about her appearance is different. Even her eyes have changed color, somehow. And she’s gotten so beautiful. She used to be such a little tomboy. It never occurred to me that she’d grow up to be such an attractive woman. Those lush lips. Those killer curves. I even like her tattoos. Never been a guy for body art, but I can’t stop wondering where the ink on her chest finishes up. The thought of her naked is driving my beast crazy. She’s a beautiful, ripe peach, just waiting to be claimed.

Damn.I shouldn’t be thinking about her that way. She’s also a good fifteen years younger than me.

And she’s in a ton of danger.

What I need to focus on is protecting her.

How the hell has she wound up delivering lunches to a bunch of feral convicts?

She’s broken away from her family, that much is obvious.

Her father is in jail. The rumors run like wildfire in our prison network. People say he’s thinking of turning.

Everyone who’s affiliated to him in any way is in big trouble right now.

She probably thinks her disguise is enough. But she’s dead wrong.

She’s not safe. Either from her family, or their ex-associates.

I hated leaving her behind today. But here I am, caged like a beast by the federal prison service. And for good reason. My younger brother, Travis, has been in jail for the past five years. Not a human jail like this one, but a max-security, top-secret shifter prison. He got screwed with a whole life sentence for a murder he didn’t commit. But I’ve done a deal with the DA. This place is as corrupt as hell. They wanted someone on the inside to gather intel on the mob and the guards who are running it. So, I’ve gone undercover. If I help them out, they’ll release him. I’ve gotten a ton of evidence and I’m almost there—

Need to get to Emory!

My beast’s claws rip through the ends of my fingers. It wraps its paws around the bars and shakes them. Electric shocks vibrate through my body. But I hold on. The pain helps me focus.

“Keep the fucking noise down, prisoner!” bawls one of the guards. One of the pricks who beat me with a baton today. I clench my teeth, biting back a torrent of rage. I could snap his neck with my little finger. And I’d do it with pleasure. But I need to keep my cover.

There’s a big event happening in three days’ time. Human trafficking. If it all goes according to plan, I’ll have all the evidence I need to trade for Travis’s freedom.

But Emory needs me now.

Every minute she’s alone is a risk to her safety.

I’ve got to protect her.

I close my eyes, remembering the last time I saw her. Her father’s security team was marching me off the premises. Fired for some crazy bullshit. But I broke away from them. Looked for her until I found her, up in her treehouse. I explained that I was going away, and she burst into tears. She’d already lost her mama, poor little thing, and her father was an asshole, obviously. She was lonely. I think that was why she’d sought me out for friendship. I gave her a little plush rabbit. She was too old for it really, but I’d bought it on impulse, and I’d been planning to give it to her on her birthday.

“When are you coming back?” she wailed.

“Someday,” I told her. What a lie. I was never allowed back in the compound. And my life moved on in other directions. I built my own multi-million-dollar security company. Fought like hell to make it happen.

Now, fate has given me a second chance to help her.

My beast roars.Find her!

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