Elizabeth's Wolf (Breeds 3)

She did love him. She watched him move through the thickest parts of the underbrush, teaching her what she needed to know to survive, to go after an enemy that would kill them if they were caught. He trusted her to cover his back, to fight alongside him. And despite her refusal to give him that final commitment, he hadn’t wavered in his determination to protect her and Cassie as best he could. And he knew she would have to fight, have to be a partner as well as a lover when knowledge of Cassie’s birth was revealed.

“Remember, Elizabeth, the mission comes second place to making certain we survive it. We do nothing that stacks the odds against us, because we can always fight another day. And there are other ways to protect Cassie if we have to. This is the most efficient and the most logical at the moment. If it fails, we pull out. Do you understand me?” His voice had hardened as he turned back to her.

She nodded slowly, watching him with careful intensity. His expression was somber, as he always was while training her.

“Good.” He nodded, a bleak, dark look entering his eyes for just a second. “Any questions?”

“Why do you love me?” The question seemed to surprise them both.

He stared at her in amazement for all of five seconds before his brows snapped into a fierce frown.

He grimaced then, shaking his head. “Hell, Elizabeth, why do you do that?”

“What?”

“Wait until I’m fucking distracted to ask something so idiotic. For a smart female, that was one of your dumber questions.”

Her lips thinned at the insult as she crossed her arms over her breasts and watched him angrily.

“I don’t consider it a stupid question,” she informed him heatedly. “Seriously, Dash. It’s not as though I have a lot of experience with men telling me they love me. Maybe I need a little clarification.”

“Clarification of what?” he snapped, his eyes glittering dangerously. “Figure it out. When you do, let me know, because right now I’m more inclined to turn you over my knee and paddle your ass for asking me that question. Now get your ass over here and don’t make a sound doing it.”

Her blood heated at the order. She more or less stomped over to him, stopping an inch from his body and staring up at him confrontationally.

“You’re dead,” he snarled. “If this was Grange’s estate you would have just alerted every damned guard and dog on the place.”

“Well it’s not Grange’s estate, and I asked a perfectly logical question,” she informed him furiously. Sometimes he reminded her that he was still a man, even if he was a Breed. And men were nothing if not harder than hell to get along with. “I deserve an answer.”

“If you don’t know, then you don’t deserve jackshit,” he snapped.

“Fine.” She was ready to kick his shins for being so damned stubborn. “Keep it to yourself, big boy, and I’ll keep just as quiet about why I love you. Better yet. I’ll be quiet period. I’m going back to the cabin.”

She turned to do just that, but before she moved more than a step he had gripped her arm and jerked her around.

“What did you just say?” he growled.

&n

bsp; “Not a damned thing.” She jerked her arm out of his grip. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m hot, I’m hungry and I’m mad. So you can kiss my ass. I’ve had it for the day.”

He snagged the back of her pants, pulling her to a stop as he loomed over her dangerously. “You’re going to keep teasing me with that sweet ass, baby, I’m going to take it.”

She tossed him an exasperated look. “You can stop with the threats. We both know there’s no way. Now, I’m hungry. Go away and hunt or something. You’re bothering me.”

He released her, but she was more than aware he did so not because she was able to jerk away from him, but simply because he decided to do so.

“You go right ahead and convince yourself of that, baby.” He smirked. “Go on to the cabin. If I don’t find my self-control, I’ll show you just how possible it really is. And we’ll discuss your lack of common sense in daring me later.”

An unladylike snort was her only response as she hurried away from him. It would teach her to tell that hulking, arrogant piece of male flesh that she loved him. But she realized she was smiling as she trekked back to the small cabin. She was smiling and filled with a warmth she hadn’t believed possible. He had to really love her, she thought as she came off the mountain. Otherwise, he would have been pissed rather than just irritated.

Then she stopped. For a moment, she wasn’t certain why, she came to an abrupt complete stop and slid behind the trunk of a centuries-old oak. Her heart was suddenly racing out of control, her skin prickling with a sense of danger, with an abrupt change in the air.

There wasn’t a sound. The birds weren’t singing, and it felt as if the forest was held in a suspended state of waiting as the land watched whatever new game was playing out. She felt behind her, gripping the butt of the gun Dash insisted she carry. She pulled it free, checked the clip silently and flipped off the safety.

Where was Dash? She turned, staring back from the direction she had come, but seeing nothing. Could he sense the change from above her?

Don’t do anything stupid. The refrain began to repeat through her mind. Retreat if you have to. Fight another day. But where was Dash?