"That would be really tough to explain, wouldn't it? How a giant black and white wolf got onto the train? If I let myself shift, I'm likely to lose consciousness. It'll be my fourth or fifth one today. I've lost count. How would you get me off the train?"
"It wouldn't be a problem if I could shift too."
A smile touched his lips before it disappeared back under the pain. "That would be a disaster. Two wolves on the train. They'd bring out news crews."
"You don't seem like most of the shifters I've known."
"That's good, I guess."
"I don't remember you from Westervelt."
He shrugged and the movement made him grimace. "I don't remember you either."
"Why is that, do you think?"
"Because I was six years old at the time of the female mass exodus."
Her head threatened to explode. "So you're only forty years old now?"
"Only you would think that was young."
"I'm old enough to be your great-great grandmother."
"Doesn't seem to stop Cullen and Summer."
Jana closed her eyes. "Who were your parents?"
Just then another coughing fit hit Malcolm. Jana opened her eyes and grabbed his arm. "If you can't shift, tell me what I can do for you."
"You don't happen to have any hidden healing magic do you?"
She shook her head. "No. I never mated so I never came into my full powers."
"It might help if I could rest. How long is the ride up to wherever we're going?"
How the hell had he gotten on the train? "A few hours."
"Wake me when we get there." Malcolm's eyes closed instantly like he'd been struggling to keep them open. She felt guilty about all the talking she'd been making him do. His head drooped, his face still pained.
We can't lose our mate now that we've just found him.
Jana couldn't agree more. She pulled him down until he stretched over her body in lying position. He had to be more comfortable like that. Absently, she stroked his long hair as she realized it was the first time she'd ever seen it loose. Black as midnight, it felt like silk under her fingertips.
Moving his jacket, she took a look at his wounds. Besides the one she'd seen seeping, he had several others that bled through his shirt. Damn those wolves working for Kendrick. If she'd been there, she would have…
Would have what? It's been 34 years since we attacked anything except a deer.
That was true but Jana would guess it was like riding a bike. You didn't forget how to fight, not if you were half-wolf.
The train plowed on into the night, whistling into the darkness. Jana shivered and pulled Malcolm closer enjoying the feel of his warmth. She would find a way to get him off the train safely, and then he could shift. Later when he was healed, she would help him with the wolf problem, and then they could both go home to Westervelt. But this time she'd go home with a mate.
The word brought heat to her belly. What did it even mean to have a mate? Or more specifically, what would it mean to be mated to Malcolm with his blue eyes, pitch-black hair, and his rank in the pack as one of the top warriors?
She supposed she was about to find out.
The first thing Malcolm became aware of was the sound of crickets. They chirped loudly and he was surprised he could hear them at all through the window of his apartment. Next, he realized he wasn't in his apartment but partially on the ground and partially on something warm and soft.
Mate.
His wolf wasn't being particularly articulate but that word alone was enough to get his attention. His eyes flew open. He'd been right. The majority of his body was on the cool grass in an open field he didn't recognize. His head rested gently on Jana's stomach.
She stroked his hair gently, running her fingers from the top of his scalp all the way down to where the strands ended.
He couldn't remember his parents and the Kane's aunts, who had raised him, had been kind but this was the first time he could remember ever being stroked so gently.
Jana's face was turned up to the moon, her neck back, but her eyes stared down at him in amusement. He ached everywhere. Even so, he couldn't help the heat that travelled to his groin at just the look from her. In truth, he'd been perpetually hard since he'd first scented her a month earlier.
"How did we get here?" He knew he must have helped her move him but he had no recollection of it whatsoever.
"Luggage rack to a taxi."
He raised an eyebrow, the idea amusing him more than it should have. "You wheeled me on a luggage rack? Like a piece of baggage?"
She nodded and sat up. His weight shifted as she did and he grudgingly sat up, missing her scent immediately. The best he'd been able to tell, she was somehow a combination of roses and strawberries. Both 'girlie' smells, he never knew they could be so addictive or that he could like them so much.
"It was ingenious."
So our mate is clever. Every second I spend with her, I like her more.
She smiled. "I've looked at your wounds. They're mostly healed. I think you need a run to make them heal completely."
Nodding at the truth of her words, he sniffed the air around them. If the wolves had found him unscented in New York City, it could only mean that Carl had somehow found him out. That meant they weren't safe here, wherever that might be. Malcolm stood up.
"Where are we?"
"Woodstock. Well, just outside of it."
"Really?" He swung around looking around the dark field. Of all the places he thought he'd visit in his life, this had never been one of them; however it was thrilling that he actually was.
"Are you a music fan?"
He shrugged and felt his cheeks warm. He was glad it was dark outside even though she'd be able to smell his embarrassment. "Sort of."
"Let me guess, you used to play in a band?" He loved the sound of amusement in her voice.
Pulling his shirt over his head, he didn't want to destroy another set of clothes even if they were bloody. Anything was better than ending up stranded and naked. He laid it gently down on the grass. "Who said anything about 'used to'?" She stared at him, her face showing nothing while her eyes were huge. "What is it?" He reached out and grabbed her arms tightly.
"Oh." She exhaled loudly. "I guess it's just two things."
"Like what?"
"First, I'm not used to having any other wolves around anymore. When I used to do this alone, it felt a little bit like dying each time but now I'm used to it. I guess I had the feeling all of a sudden of being brought back from the dead. Silly right?"
He shook his head, his heart breaking a little. "No, it doesn't sound silly." She had been so alone for so long. Never having thought about it, he had always assumed the men left behind on the island were the ones worse off. But the women, most of them would never see another wolf or have any pack around. How had Jana stayed sane the whole time?
Clearing his throat, he continued. "What's the second thing?"
"You have a really nice looking bare chest."
Now he could smell her embarrassment and it made him feel intoxicated. Unable to think of anything even remarkably appropriate to say, he pulled her into his arms and against his chest more tightly. Leaning down, he breathed in the essence that was Jana.
Quietly, he exhaled her name like a prayer. Inside of him, his wolf paced in happiness, still anxious to get out.
Malcolm couldn't believe how perfectly she just seemed to fit with him. "I never knew you but I feel like I've missed you my whole life."