Wolf in Heat (Mated for Life 2)

She valued all life, but this man, he took great pleasure in torturing and destroying what beauty there was in the world. Anger filled her.

He pressed his finger to the trigger and Heather cowered away, but the hit never came. A male grunt, a low growl, and the masculine screams of the man being killed filled the air.

Heather looked back and saw Maddox on the ground as David lifted the man over his shoulder. The man’s head was at an odd angle.

She went to David, cupping his face. “You saved me.”

“No, he saved you, I just finished him off.”

She turned to see Maddox on the floor, a hand to his stomach. He gave her a smile. “I’m in your debt.”

“You’re not in her fucking debt anymore. It’s been paid in full.”

“No, I took a bullet. It wouldn’t have killed her. It hit my stomach. It wasn’t a killing blow.” He groaned.

“You don’t heal fast enough,” Heather said, going toward Maddox. She didn’t touch him. David’s wolf wouldn’t allow it.

“I heal just fine,” Maddox said. “You’re the ones who always assumed I didn’t heal correctly because of all of my scars. I’ll be fine.”

“Then turn into your wolf. We’ve got to go and help the others,” David said.

She looked toward her mate, annoyed.

He rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He dropped the man’s body onto the ground and went toward Maddox, helping him to his feet. “This doesn’t change anything. You will never have Heather, do you understand me?” David asked.

“David, it’s not like that,” Heather said, following him out the door.

Caleb, Reese, Brian, and Mika were all there. She sighed in relief.

The gunshots had ceased. The hunters were dead.

“I’ll go and grab our other bounty,” David said. He dropped Maddox to the floor.

She crouched down. “You’re going to have to change.”

“I know. I failed you. You’re hurt.” He reached up as if to touch her face, but she pulled away.

“No, I’m fine.”

“He hurt you,” he said.

“It’s a flesh wound. It will heal. Don’t worry about it.”

“I owe you my life.”

“No, you don’t owe me anything.”

She stood up the moment David came out, dumping the bodies with the rest. They were going to have to dispose of them and soon. Caleb looked back at the house.

“She’s fine,” she said. “I took care of her.”

He nodded his head, but she saw the tension still in his body. He wanted to go and see his mate.

“They came here for a reason,” Caleb said. “Out of all of the places to look, they came here. Why?”

Maddox turned into a wolf and moved toward her side, nudging her.

Heather glared at him.

He was asking for a death wish. Especially as David pushed him out of the way, and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close to his naked body.

“He’s gloating. Being a prick, as usual,” David said.

“What do you mean?”

“Because he’s the one to save you. He’s rubbing it in.”

She leaned back against him, breathing him in. “You don’t ever need to be jealous, David. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He kissed her neck.

Maddox changed back into a human. “Trackers.”

She looked at him. “What?”

“It’s the only logical explanation. They said they tracked their missing wolves right here. Out of all of the places in the world, they came here. Why? The only way they can find us. Trackers. While we were knocked out, they must have put something in us, and that was what they used to find us.”

“We’ve got to check their equipment.”

David held her hand and they moved out, finding the truck full of the hunters’ equipment, and sure enough, there were two signals.

“We’re going to have to call Joe,” David said. “They’ve got a third signal and I’d put my money on that being the she-bear.”

Heather looked at the top-range equipment. “All of this needs to be destroyed.”

“Nope, we need to find that fucking tracker. Where this is one set of hunters, there is always another to replace, and I’m not having anything the humans put inside me to find me.”

Maddox stepped back, looking at his arms. “Where would it be?”

Heather reached into the truck, finding some scanners she’d seen at airports and on spy movies. “Will this work?”

Whoever these men were, they meant business.

David took the device off her and ran it down her body. Her arms were clear.

She swallowed as he moved it over her body, and she felt anger as the alarm went off on her hip.

Those evil fucking bastards had tagged her hip.

Next, he moved to Maddox. His tracker was placed in his arm.

“Why do they do that? Why not put mine in my arm?” she asked.

“We’ve got to get them out,” Caleb said.

“Do it now.” Maddox grabbed the nearest knife he could find and handed it to David. “Get it out.”

“This is going to hurt,” he said.

“I know, but right now I don’t care. They will never find me again. All my life, I thought I had been trapped with what I am. Being locked in a cage and starved has only made me realize how much I value my life. Get that fucking thing out of me,” he said.