“Besides, Devlyn, I am selecting my mate.”
“That’s what this is all about? You want to choose instead of a male choosing you?” His voice sounded as incredulous as he felt.
“This is all about not wanting to be Volan’s mate. Don’t you see?”
“He’s the leader. You should be proud a leader wants you. He’ll always safeguard you. Besides, I thought you and he shared a connection.” He couldn’t help sounding peeved. But, in truth, besides the fact she wanted a human mate and the way she denied wanting to be with Volan, he felt otherwise.
She didn’t respond. “Bella?”
“Leave it,” she snapped.
“Why do you despise him so? It’s not because he killed the boy at the lake. You hated Volan long before this, although I recall a time when that wasn’t the case.” The instance when Volan had encouraged her to eat after the death of her best friend—yet she’d bitten Devlyn when he’d tried to console her—hadn’t faded from his memory. The image of Volan’s arms snug around her and Bella’s head pressed against his chest still burned hot in Devlyn’s mind.
She abruptly changed the subject. “You never told me what happened between you and Volan the day I ran. I didn’t think you’d survive.”
“Disappointed?” He knew there was something more to the story with Volan, damn it.
She tried to wriggle out of his arms. “Don’t be an idiot. Of course I didn’t want him hurting you. I didn’t want him hurting the human boy either.”
Attempting to squash the hard knot in the pit of his stomach when the image of her lusting after the human in the lake came to mind, he redirected the conversation. “Volan was pretty angry with me for kissing you.”
“Some kiss.”
The way she said it, dreamily and with intrigue, diminished his annoyance with her over the human boy. “Did you like it?”
“It was all right,” she responded too nonchalantly—as if she were playing a role in a movie but overplaying her part a bit.
“You’ve had better?” he asked, his tone mocking. Silence greeted him.
Inwardly, he chuckled. “Thought not.”
“I’m not going to tell you about all of the guys I’ve kissed.” She tried to squirm free, but he tightened his grip. Sighing heavily, she quit her struggles. “What happened between you and Volan?”
“He planned to tear me to shreds until you ran off. Then Volan hesitated. He wasn’t sure whether to kill me or chase you. After scrapping with me for a couple of minutes to make a point, he took after you.”
“Were you badly injured?”
“Nothing that wouldn’t heal in a couple of days. When Volan returned home two days later without you, he was hell to live with. After I healed, I left the pack.”
“In search of me?”
He couldn’t reveal that a feminine red lupus garou had brought a big gray to his knees. And he didn’t want to tell her that he not only couldn’t win against Volan, but he couldn’t locate one little runaway female red wolf. This time he didn’t answer her.
When he didn’t respond, she lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it, warming him thoroughly. “Did you see a newscast about me?”
“Yeah, Argos said it was you right away.” She shrugged and muttered under her breath, “Could have been another.”
“Nope, had your trademark all over it.”
“I’ve never been caught and stuck in a zoo before.” He nudged her neck with his cheek. “No, but you’ve needed rescuing before. So, how was Big Red?”
She slugged him in the shoulder, forcing him to laugh out loud. Playing with her again felt good, but he wanted more. Resenting that he couldn’t take her for his own, the powerful need to renew the good memories of their youth and to form new ones as mates strangled him. But it wasn’t his business to want the pack leader’s intended bitch and, worse, one who wanted a human companion.
With the need for sleep tantamount, both grew quiet; his arms securely wrapped around her, and they slept soundly for a couple of hours.
Something woke Devlyn. He sat up in bed, his heightened wolf senses taking hold. The smell of men’s cologne, the sound of a keycard sliding into a slot, and the hush of men’s voices in the hallway of their hotel suite triggered adrenaline to course through his blood at racetrack speed.
He jerked the covers aside, jumped off the mattress, and seized Bella’s wrist. Clasping his hand over her mouth, he spoke against her ear in a hushed voice; her heart beat hard and her eyes were wild with fear. “Police, I think, trying to enter the living area of the hotel suite. Get dressed.”
He shoved her clothes to her and pushed the queen-sized bed against the door. Throwing on his clothes, he turned to see Bella, already dressed in the oversized men’s garments, sliding the patio door open and running onto the balcony. Before he could reach her, she climbed over the patio railing. For a moment, she hung from the concrete patio like a monkey, swinging in the cold city jungle, a drizzle coating everything in icy wetness.
He touched her hand. “Can you make it all right?”
“Yes,” she whispered, her amber eyes darkened. She dropped to the grassy ground shimmering with water droplets. Devlyn jumped down next to her and grabbed her hand. When he started to lift her, she objected.
“You’re not wearing shoes, Bella. Let me do this my way.”
“All right, boss, do it.”
Black as night, Devlyn’s eyes studied her for a moment. “It’s about time you said so.” His voice was hushed but different than Bella had ever heard it. Before she could further consider the change in his mood, he lifted her in his arms and ran across a road, the feel of his virile strength feeding her own. Skirting to the backside of an apartment complex, he headed for an SUV.
“I hope it’s yours.”
“Rental. We had several, figuring we’d give the police a good chase with all of us going in different directions. We kept this one here in case anyone discovered us at the hotel.”
Releasing her, he unlocked the vehicle’s doors with the click of the button. “I have a change of clothes for you in the backseat. Put them on while I get us out of here.”
After she slipped into the back, he took the wheel and drove out of the parking area. Unzipping the bag, she pulled out the contents—a scrappy pair of red lace panties, a bra the same color, a pair of pale blue running pants, a sweatshirt, and socks and sneakers, trimmed with hearts.
“Who picked out the red scraps of lace?”
“Tanner.”
She laughed at the thought of Devlyn’s cousin, always playing the bad boy role. “Figures. He always did have a thing for red.”
“If you don’t like the color, you don’t have to put them on.”
“Go without?”
He glanced at the rearview mirror, his eyes smoldering. She clicked the bra closed in front and frowned. “It’s a pushup bra.”
“Didn’t need anything pushed up,” he said, his voice ragged. “But it suits you.”
“Watch your driving.”
“Can’t help the distraction,” he growled. Horny and frustrated, he acted like Big Red at the zoo. She pulled the rest of the clothes on and climbed into the front seat. “I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on those cops at the front door.”
“You were still recovering from your harrowing experience at the zoo. How do you feel?”
“Like I’ll have to take another nap later on.”
“Want to crawl in the back and sleep for awhile?”
“I couldn’t right now. My skin’s still prickling from nearly getting caught.” She ran her hands over the running pants, wiping off the clamminess.
“What’s bothering you, Bella?”