Page 10 of A Wolf's Treasure
In his Jeep.
Blethering on with him about the wolves who had come into the club and ruined his night.
Not that it hadn’t already been ruined by the fact that his mysterious stalker had been about to leave with someone else. A human, for Christ’s sake. And one wearing one of those stupid hats.
However, whoever had started the brawl? Aye, he’d be thanking him the next time he saw him. Buy the man a beer. Because of him and his temper, Duncan had had the perfect opportunity to hold the lass in his arms. To feel her soft curves and smell her sweet scent.
It was as though fate had intervened to put the two of them together. Aye, it was fate, and had nothing at all to do with the fact that he’d barreled through fists flying at his face and leapt over tables to get to her. Luckily, everyone had been too busy either fightin’ or fleein’ to pay much attention.
A quick look in the rearview mirror confirmed the lass was right. Those three wolves were running full out behind them now, not caring at all who might see them. Duncan growled low in his throat and she looked over at him, one eyebrow lifted in question. Gods, but she was bonnie. A braw female, for sure.
And she was a Faerie. Of thena maithetribe, if he were to take a guess. Because if she were anything else…
No. He wouldn’t even think of it.
He’d figured it out the first time he’d seen her when she’d run off with the speed of a vamp. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was day at the time, he couldn’t have been convinced she wasn’t one. However, vampires would never be running about in the woods in the middle of the day. Even with the canopy of the trees, it was too risky. They could be exposed to the sun, and anything more than a few seconds and they’d be a cloud of ash blowing through the pines.
And he’d known she wasn’t a shifter. He would’ve scented another of his kind a mile away out in the open like that. So, that left only one other thing he knew of that she could be.
And tonight, when he had her wee self in his arms, he’d caught a good whiff of her. She didn’t smell like a wolf, or a vamp. She smelled like primrose, blooms from his homeland.
And he would bet she tasted just as sweet.
Another growl rose in his throat, this one hungry with lust. To feel this way again shook him through and through, and he cleared his throat, trying to disguise the sound before the lass heard.
“They’re getting closer,” she said.
Duncan closed his eyes for a second, letting the sweet tones of her voice rain over him. “We’re almost tae th’ freeway. They will no’ be able tae keep up with us then.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Steel infused his back and he gripped the steering wheel as he told her, “Aye, lass. I will no’ let them get tae ye. Dinna fash yerself.”
“How are you so certain they’re after me?”
At the last minute, Duncan spun the wheel, heading east instead of north. He’d lead them out to the mountains. If this came down to a fight, it would be better to be away from his home and out of sight of the humans, and there would be less traffic this way. “I saw th’ way th’ leader latched on to ye at th’ club. They had no interest in me at all, and they knew I was there.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Aye, lass. I can smell another wolf th’ second he or she comes into th’ room. Miles away sometimes if we’re out in th’ open. It would be th’ same for any shifter.”
“Really? That far?”
“Aye.” Duncan checked the mirrors and merged onto the highway. Making his way to the far-left lane, he stomped on the gas.
“What’s your name, wolf?”
He opened his mouth to tell her, paused, and only said, “Duncan. My name is Duncan. What’s yours?”
She repeated his name, then told him hers. “Ryanne.”
He felt her eyes on him. Watching him for a reaction. “Ryanne,” he repeated. “That’s a bonnie name. It suits ye.”
He felt her visibly relax beside him. It was obvious she didn’t want him to know a lot about her. But if she was there on some kind of secret mission, why follow him around? Why expose her presence when she did?
“They shifted,” she told him. “They’re coming,” she added a little louder. “Duncan.” Facing front, she tightened her seat belt.
“Aye, I see them.” He stomped down on the clutch and shifted into fifth gear, hitting the gas hard. The fookers were fast, but he knew these roads. Knew these woods. And he was faster. He had to be. There was no way he was going to let them get their paws on Ryanne. He didn’t know why they were after her, but he assumed it was because she was Fae. Even though the war was over, there was still a lot of packs who hunted them.
