Fierce (Wolf Ranch 5)

An animal-like snarl issued from my throat as I threw open the door.

She shouldn’t be in a situation like this. Not her. She was meant to have her nails done, her clothes pressed crisp. Hell, cute little earrings in her ears. It looked as if she’d slept in her clothes, or maybe hadn’t slept at all since she’d had to drive all night to be here. There was terror in her eyes. Shock, too.

She’d been on her own long enough. I’d take care of this fucker. With pleasure. My wolf was very pleased with the idea.

I shot from the car and ran for the guy. He had enough sense to recognize I was now a bigger threat than Charlie and her shovel. He was ballsy enough to keep a slick smile on his face although when I didn’t slow down on my approach, it slipped.

I punched him in the face, and he went down hard. I was pleased to hear the sound of his nose breaking. Blood spurted down his chin.

“You messing with my mate?” I asked, my voice deep and gravelly. The only person I’d spoken to since I’d left Montana was the fucking rental car agent.

“Levi,” Charlie gasped as she coughed and choked, trying to regain her breath. While she was standing, she was wobbling a bit. “What are you doing here?”

I took a deep breath and for once, for the first time in my fucking life, I smelled my mate. Sweet, bright like sunshine. The sharp tang of fear that accompanied it was what pissed me off. Nobody fucked with my mate. My wolf howled and growled at the same time. She was here with me but in danger.

“We’ve got some unsettled business, doll. Starting with this fucker.” I pointed down at the asshole.

“This doesn’t concern you.” He scrambled to his feet, nose bleeding, and produced a knife from his pocket. He opened it and swiped at me with it. “You need to leave.”

I wanted to laugh at the attempt to scare me. As if the knife would do me any kind of damage. “You think I’m asshole enough to walk away from a woman in danger?” I asked him. “My woman?”

He swiped again, his blade nearly connecting with my ribs, and I growled. It wouldn’t matter if he cut me. My wolf had emerged when Rob had goaded and prodded it to come out. My shifter genes had surfaced, and I’d spontaneously heal. But Charlie… she was in danger. From this guy.

“You think I’m going to let my woman, my mate, be threatened? What’s that you have there?” I indicated a cardboard box on the ground nearby. “Let me guess. Ketamine.”

Charlie gasped. That little sound was all the proof, all the indication I needed to know I’d been right. Clint had put it together. It made sense, even though I hadn’t wanted to admit it. All of it. Except for this fucker. She hadn’t been doing it because she wanted to. She’d done it because she had to. No woman wanted to do things against her will or be forced to defend herself with a fucking manure shovel.

The guy looked at Charlie and shook his head. “You shouldn’t have told. You’re dead now.” Spittle flew from his mouth in a rage. He charged—not for me, for Charlie again.

No fucking way. My mate was in danger. Mortal danger. I wasn’t used to the intensity of feelings coursing through me at the split second vision of my mate being attacked. I was still trying to process it as my wolf took over. He snarled and between one blink of an eye and another, I shifted.

Then attacked.

Charlie raised her shovel as if to strike his arm, to knock his knife away but I flew through the air and sunk my wolf fangs in his forearm. The forward momentum took the asshole sideways and to the ground. Charlie fell back onto her butt.

He screamed because I didn’t give him any mercy, the bite snapping one of his arm bones. I felt the crunch between my teeth. I released, then turned to look him in the eyes. He was the one who was scared now. That was the last thought he had because I went for his throat and finished him.

He’d been trying to kill Charlie. My mate. I would protect her, no matter what. Even if it meant her discovering what I really was… and risking her running away.

28

CHARLIE

Levi was a wolf.

A wolf.

A wolf.

Holy shit. He was a black wolf bigger than any dog I’d ever seen. With huge paws. Amber eyes. Big teeth. A bloody muzzle.

Dax’s blood.

A wolf. I had no idea how long my brain was going to be stuck on that because in a million years, it wasn’t something I would have ever guessed. Married, maybe. He was really a CIA agent. He had a kid. Any possible option but that because… a wolf.