Page 6 of The Alpha Dire Wolf (Bloodlines & Bloodbonds #1)

Lincoln

C old wetness instantly matted the fur on the sides of my neck as I plunged my entire snout deep into the fresh waters of the river.

After giving my head a shake while submerged, I came up for air.

The fast-moving water was already ridding itself of all traces of the blood that had covered me.

I repeated the maneuver, again and again, until the water ran clear.

But the taste remained on my tongue. It never seemed to go away as fast, leaving a sharp acrid tang that was impossible to get rid of.

Food and drink would be ruined for at least the rest of the day.

A lime, raw and fresh would sometimes help.

But not always. I doubted I would be so lucky today.

The bear’s blood had been vile and rancid.

I studied the corpse where it lay on the banks of the river with much of its throat gone, the sands of the riverbank stained dark nearby.

Quite a coincidence it was to have just stumbled upon her in that exact spot. At that exact time. And a creature so rarely affected by the virus as well.

That was a few too many coincidences for me to believe.

Padding over to it, taking care to go easy on my hind leg until it healed, I considered the appearance of the beast and the disease it carried.

How had it come to be in this part of the forest?

Bears were not rare by any means. But here, so near town, was not an area they frequented.

The scent of my pack usually kept them at bay.

But not this one.

I contemplated my next move. Should I continue my surveillance of the Wilson woman, as was my original mission? Or did I return to discuss what had happened?

She’s going to go home and shut herself inside after this. Maybe even call the sheriff, who will call animal control to come take a look. A rabid bear, and a wolf that stepped in to protect her, is strange behavior.

I had lured the bear deep enough into the woods that I didn’t fear it being discovered, but I also didn’t want to stick around and risk it either. The corpse would have to wait until I could send some people to burn it, but that didn’t mean I had to wait around and risk being spotted.

Claws dug into the ground, protesting my attempt to spin around and head back to the den. A low whine from my wolf echoed the same sentiment.

It didn’t want to go home.

Not happening.

The whining grew louder. It was ridiculous. The woman was a danger to us all. That was why the elders had “recommended” I surveil her to see just what she was planning and how much danger she was going to be to us.

Now my wolf wanted to get closer to her? The woman that could destroy us all, according to legend. It was preposterous. All because she’d landed on top after I’d tackled her.

True, her touch was … electric. Nor did I sense any danger from her. Quite the opposite.

She was beautiful too. Tall and willowy, she smelled of blooming flowers with a subtle hint of vanilla. The tantalizing combination made my wolf drool. Drinking her scent deeply had nearly made me lose my mind in the middle of a fight.

Perhaps she is dangerous after all.

The elders would not approve of my thoughts. If I told them, or anyone, they would scream murder, that the witch had taken control of me somehow. Especially if they knew it wasn’t just my wolf that felt a pull toward her.

I needed to find out more. Somehow. Which meant having to return, to watch her, and learn just what she was doing.

In the meantime, my pack needed to be notified. There could be more of these creatures around. There was no telling what else she may have stirred up by entering the forest. If she was as powerful, and evil, as the elders said …

I paused mid-step.

Something didn’t add up. The elders were convinced she was as evil as her grandmother and had the power as well, though none had ever seen her use it.

If that were the case, why did the bear go after her?

If the power behind it was what I suspected, it didn’t make sense.

Nothing did. They should have been allies, not enemies.

Lots of coincidences and many curiosities. No answers.

The run back to the pack den helped to clear my mind and ensure I was thinking straight, but it did nothing to provide clarity to the situation that was emerging.

I still had not sorted my mind out by the time I trotted out of the thick undergrowth and into the massive awning created by the giant bur oak and Douglas fir trees.

The branches of the trees were so interlocked they created a virtual dome under the canopy, keeping out much of the weather while still allowing sunlight to filter through. My pack called this dome home.

I trotted past cabins built under the big limbs of the mighty trees, crafted from the fallen branches as they grew higher and higher. Here and there, the sounds of children at play reached my ears while adults chatted, working away at the various tasks necessary to keep our den maintained.

On the far side, the rumble of a diesel truck engine dispelled the illusion of pure nature, though it was quickly shut off without an extra second of idle. We lived among nature and in harmony with it as much as possible, but some realities of a modern world simply could not be ignored.

What would she think of this place? Would she still want to destroy it if she could see the simple existence we seek to live?

There she was again. Getting in my head.

“Linc! Linc, wait up!”

I slowed at the familiar voice chasing me.

Coming to a halt, I shifted back to my human form, the process swift and painless.

No real sensation followed the shift. So normal was it to be in either form that switching from four legs to two was as simple as closing my eyes and standing up in the blink of an eye.

“How was it?” Roman “Rome” Jackson wasted no time on greetings.

“Good to see you too,” I said wryly, not surprised by my best friend’s eager attitude.

We embraced quickly, slapping backs in a measure of testosterone to see who could do it harder. I won. I always won.

“Did you see her?” Rome prodded. “What is she up to? Do we have proof she’s come back for good, to fuck with us? Is she—”

He stopped talking midsentence to take a deep breath in through his nose. His eyes widening, he backed away from me. “Are you crazy ?”

I ignored the hissed question.

“Linc, you reek of her. I can smell her all over you. What the hell happened out there? What did you do?”

“One, calm down,” I growled, irritated at Rome’s tendency to jump to conclusions at hyperspeed, especially bad conclusions. “Two, she went into the forest while I was watching her, and I had to tackle her out of the way. During said tackle, she landed on top of me.”

Blood flowed like lava at the memory of her legs astride me, the downward pressure of her hips in that moment.

I fought down the stirring between my legs, annoyed at my own inability to keep calm.

She was the enemy, nothing more. There hadn’t been a single iota of sexuality to that moment. I knew for sure she hadn’t felt it.

“You had better hope that’s what it was,” Roman said. “Wait. Out of the way of what?”

“There’s Roman, always a day late,” I joked, before turning somber. “Believe it or not, it was a rabid black bear.”

“You’re joking.”

I shook my head. “I lured the thing halfway to the vamp’s territory before killing it. The body is still there. I didn’t have anything to burn it with. I have to get Gerratt to send people out there to do that, so nothing else gets infected. Damn suspicious that it showed up when it did, though.”

“Not at all.”

“Huh? What are you talking about, Rome? How is that timing not suspicious?”

“Don’t you get it?” Roman asked, rubbing his hands together eagerly, his brown eyes ablaze. “The forest itself understands the danger this woman represents. It sent the bear to deal with her.”

“It could have just sent a non-rabid bear,” I pointed out. “And the forest is alive, of course, but sentient, Rome? That’s a new one.”

“I’m just saying. The magic knows.” He shook his head, shaggy chestnut hair bouncing everywhere. “And you saved her from it?”

“I killed a rabid bear because it’s not natural,” I growled, not appreciating the insinuation from my best friend.

Or perhaps I was irritated because I couldn’t tell who I was trying to convince of my reasoning more—him or myself.

“Right. Well, the elders will riot if any of them smell her on you. After all, she’s the direct descendant of—”

“Yes, I know all about who she supposedly is.”

Roman’s eyes widened with that same frantic energy. “Supposedly? She absolutely is. It’s why we cut ties with them decades ago.”

“I know the history, Rome. Thank you. I am the alpha of our pack after all. It’s my job to be aware of this stuff. I don’t need the reminder.”

“Right. Of course,” he said, looking away, hurt by the sharpness of my retort.

When had he gotten so sensitive? Either way, I really didn’t have time to dwell on it, so I went to push past him and head home.

“The elders will make your life a living hell if they find out,” he offered as I stepped around him.

“I’m the alpha. Not them.”

Roman nodded. “True. But doing so will open a path for those who don’t support you to challenge that. You know they will take any opening they can get and pry it wider.”

“Let them come,” I said, but we both knew better. As much I hated to concede the point, he wasn’t wrong.

Things with the pack were precarious at the moment. Roman wasn’t the only one on edge with the death of the old witch and her granddaughter’s return. Pair that with the tension rising in the air the past few weeks, and the very forest itself was starting to press in around us by the day.

My people were antsy, and I couldn’t blame them one bit. Something was happening, and we could all feel it. We just didn’t know what.

“I’ll be okay,” I told my best friend, clapping him on the shoulder. “I promise.”

“I hope so.” Roman didn’t sound convinced.

If he knew that at that very moment I was fixated on the long, shapely legs of a woman who might be out to destroy us, he would sound even less so.

Heading home, I climbed into the shower, turning the water on as cold as possible to try to wipe away the slow stiffening her memory was bringing over me. It didn’t work.

She and I were not done. Not by a longshot. Fate was going to bring us together again. I could sense it in my very bones.

The question that lurked over my head was whether or not I could control myself when I saw her next.