Page 9 of Runaway Wolf
Chapter Three
HIS ANIMAL WASN’T normal. Not for a natural-born shifter. His was a stalker, abnormally fixated on things, and usually it wasn’t too big of a problem.
Penny’s sister? Caitlin—gorgeous, intelligent,exhaustedperfect Caitlin—was his monster’s instant obsession. And that could be a problem.
He’d never obsessed over a female before. Especially not one who was practically related to pack. She was Penny’s sister, damn it.
Most natural shifters were one with their animals. Bitten shifters didn’t have quite the same connection. They had to bond with their beast, and sometimes it took, sometimes it didn’t. If their maker didn’t teach them how to merge, one, usually the animal, ruled during the change and the human ruled the rest of the time. There was never any learning, no growing together. They weren’t shifters, they had half-lives. Human half the time, animal the other. They would drive each other crazy battling over the body.
There was no reason for him and his wolf to think separately, other than his beast was a freaking monster. Crazy already. Not that that was a bad thing, it made him alpha of his pack. It was just that the wolf didn’t understand and these were trying times with the new state laws. If anyone would end up in shifter prison? It would be him. Because the wolf would break the newly enacted human laws. It didn’t care. Thankfully, he’d never get it in his head to turn someone because like the monsterhe was, he only hadkillon the brain. He’d killed anyone who ever challenged them.
He’d killed his own father.
But here was this woman whose father enacted the laws against shifters. She was dangerous. She could return to her father at any moment. And he still wanted her. From the very first moment he saw her, he was whipped, as crazy as the wolf. For the first time in his life, he could understand obsession.
Maybe he and his wolf were a match after all.
He was sure she felt it too. He didn’t miss the way her eyes lingered on him all through breakfast. The way she looked at him, that first shared glance… shock, like she’d been hit by the knowledge that his wolf wanted her.
And so did he.
“Turn here,” he said, pointing to the right. “It’s a shortcut. Not much, but it’s best not to push it if low on gas.”
“What do we do if we run out?” Caitlin asked, her eye glancing down to the gauge.
He shrugged. “Walk.”
“Whaat?” she screeched, her gaze finally flitting to him. “We could have taken Noah’s truck and just filled up a gas can!”
He smiled. Oh, he’d put a gas can in her trunk just in case it came to that. And yes, it was easier to take someone else’s car.
But that wouldn’t put his scent in her property. Mark his territory, reminder her and others of who the fuck he was.
“Or the guys could change and run up there while we wait in the car,” Penny said from the backseat.
“Yeah, and what would we do when we change back at the station and now there’s two guys standing buck naked?” Noah asked.
Penny giggled and Caitlin gave him a quick, wide-eyed look. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes drifted down to his lap before she yanked her gaze away.
He leaned back casually in the seat. “Imagining me naked?”
“What?! No!” she barked, as Penny and Noah laughed because her voice was full of horror.
Or lies.
“It’s okay,” he assured her. “It’s only natural to be curious.”
“I’m not curious,” she gritted.
He gave her a slow, lazy wink.
She looked into the rearview mirror and rolled her eyes. “I thought your alpha would be a little more standoffish. Professional,” she said to Noah.
He chuckled. “Nope. He’s not from the world of politics. This is about as much as we can hope for.”
“Well,” she drawled finally. “As enticing as it is to watch a dangling dickidoo flop around while you prance naked, I’ll probably pass.”
As Noah and Penny hooted in the back seat, he leaned forward. “Oh, baby. It’s not gonna dangle when it knows you’re present.”
