“Dirty sex?” she asked, her eyes wide.

He nodded, reaching out to stroke her arm. “Yep. As dirty as we can get. And I’m feeling pretty damned inspired to get very dirty with you. It’s going to be exciting to watch you go from the prim and proper FBI agent to an insatiable primal lover.” He smiled down at her feeling that feral need inside him rise more and more with each passing second.

“You are crazy,” she said, jerking away from his touch. “I’m on duty. I came here to do a specific job and I plan to finish it. That’s it. That is the extent of my mission here. Nothing else. So stop acting like this is a done deal.”

His head lifted, focusing on her eyes instead of the lush mouth he wanted to kiss.

“And what exactly is there to finish, Agent Bishop? Because as far as I can tell, your job here as an FBI agent is complete. You know who committed the crime. The question is how far are you willing to go with the information you've learned here? And more important, how far am I going to have to go to convince you to stay with me?”

He watched her spine stiffen along with the rest of her. That starch would go a long way when she turned wolf. The pack needed more people like her. And she would be pack. She just didn't know how to accept it yet.

“I hope you're not implying what I think you're implying,” she said.

He shrugged. “Hope away.”

“Kidnapping a federal agent is a serious crime.”

He stared down at her, loving the fire now sparking in her eyes. “There are far more compelling ways to get you to stay than resorting to kidnapping.”

“And that would be?”

A smile crept across his face. “The aforementioned dirty sex comes to mind for a start.”

She rolled her eyes and it took a fair amount of his control not to bark with laughter.

“I'm hardly controlled by my libido. I am civilized after all.”

This time he couldn't control it as laughter poured out of him. He wished he could have videotaped this moment so he could show her down the road, or better yet, show their children.

That thought sobered him. Not once since his parent's death had he thought about the future like that. Not until one starched up, pant suit wearing FBI agent had stormed into his life. And just like the other major events in his life, her arrival changed everything.

“I could always bite you.” He regretted the words the moment they left his mouth. Her eyes widened further and the scent of fear drifted through his senses. Shit. Way to go, asshole. He doubted scaring her half to death would convince her to stay. That meant he needed to get them back to where they'd been when she’d straddled him in his seat. If he hadn't have been so fucked up and deep in his own memories at the moment, he could have fucked her then. A few well placed touches and his lips on her skin…

Her arousal, however, had taken him by surprise. All other thoughts had vanished from his head, forcing him to temporarily forget the fire he NEVER forgot.

“What happens if you bite me? Do I turn into a wolf, too?”

Too smart for her own good. So much for subtlety.

He started to say something and froze. He stuck his nose in the air and breathed deep, searching for something underneath the acrid smell of smoke. Bastards were using the fires to throw off their senses and it was working. Except he still managed to find something faint. Enough to elicit a growl.

They were no longer alone.

Sawyer sprung from the vehicle without answering, alarm written all over his face. The hair on the back of her neck rose as she too exited the Jeep. "Sawyer, what's wrong?" she whispered.

“It doesn't matter, because he won't be biting you or anyone else ever again.”

Penelope whirled while reaching for something at the small of her back. Probably an automatic reflex to grab her gun. Except it wasn't there. Her kidnappers had stripped her of all weapons before tying her to that chair he’d found her in.

A hot red rage crept through his blood at the memory. He'd been drugged and her taken. The anger she’d held at bay for him returned in full force. Assholes had to pay.

Finally.

“Get behind me, Agent Bishop.” He knew his words were clipped and cold, but he had to shut down his emotions to get them through this. A mate could be both a great strength and a crippling weakness depending on the situation.

“I will no—”

“Now,” he growled.

Even with his gaze trained on the small group of men now emerging from the trees, he sensed her anger over being told what to do. Only she didn’t understand exactly how long he’d waited for this moment. His hatred for these men and their actions ran a lot deeper than a fire and a few scars.

To keep their secrets his pack and others like them had been forced to keep the instincts to kill at bay, only doing so when they absolutely had to, such as when their life depended on it.

For him, this would be one of those times.

Every day since his parent’s violent deaths by a hunter in front of him, he’d bided his time. Many years had passed allowing his frustration to grow. There were even moments when he debated his own death instead of theirs. However, time had continued to march on and Sawyer’s day of reckoning had finally arrived.

“Sawyer, what are you doing?”

Penelope grabbed at his arm and pulled his attention momentarily away from the blood lust building in his head. Reminding him that fate never played fair. Revenge may burn deep inside his soul, but there were certain instincts that trumped everything else.

“Listen to me.” He lowered his voice so only she would hear. “Please stay behind me and follow my lead. When I give you the signal to run, you’re going to run. Run towards the rising moon as fast as you can until you find the pack. They won’t be far.”

She shook her head. “I’m not running and leaving you behind. I can help you.”

He didn’t need her help, but he wasn’t about to get into that right now. As much as he wanted her safe, he wanted her to watch what might happen less.

Sometimes the horror of his reality led to nightmares that wouldn’t go away. He knew a lot about that and didn’t want her subjected to that fate.

He sighed. Again with fate. Always fucking with him.

Knowing that arguing with her wouldn’t work, he gave in to the inevitable. “Will you at least stay behind me and try not to look?”

She wanted to argue, he could see the defiance in her eyes. But something made her say yes instead.

“Ma’am, if you don’t want to get hurt, I’d suggest you step away from him. We only want the mongrel.”

He didn’t get a chance to respond to the hunter who spoke before Penelope pushed her way around him and moved toward the men surrounding them.

“I think it’s a little late for that, don’t you think? I’ve already warned you that interfering with a police investigation and threatening a federal agent comes with severe consequences. Do I need to go over that again to get it through your thick skulls?” She pointed at each man individually as she swiveled toward each of them.

The asshole apparently leading this expedition began to chuckle. An annoying sound that scrapped down his spine and pulled at the animal inside him already fighting to get out. He would soon shift and there would be nothing short of his death that would stop him.

“This really isn’t funny. You’ve probably got less than five minutes to get off this island before you’re surrounded.” She shrugged. “Maybe less if they bring in the choppers.”

This got some of their attention as several of the men looked at each other, unsure what to think. His mate was doing what she did really really well. Talking. Buying time for the pack to track them here.

“Bullshit.” The leader exploded. “Lady, you’re fucked and you know it. The Feds are too fucking stupid to see what’s going on right under their noses. It’s up to us to eradicate this filth.”

“I know,” she said. “And the rest of the world will too soon enough. In the meantime, you don’t want to add murder to your already growing list of crimes.”

“Agent Bishop,” Sawyer warned.

“You should listen to your pet dog. Unless, of course, you’re dying to become his bitch like the others. Is that it? You looking to get mounted by a filthy wolf and become his breed bitch? That’s all they want, you know. They’ll use you to birth more of their kind and that’s it. They may look charming, but there is nothing sweet about their intentions. They’re filthy breeders, plain and simple. Intent on over populating our kind.”

The man grabbed for Penelope at the same time his wolf took control. Uncaring that his body had already begun to transform, Sawyer lunged toward them hell bent on keeping him away from her. Gunshots rang out as the clearing filled with the snarling sounds of bones being snapped and the scent of blood filling the air.

Penelope’s elbow connected with the hunter’s face in a brutal strike that sent the man crumpling to the ground. At least that shut him up. His grip went slack and his gun fell to the ground, but not before another round got fired. The sick thudding sound of metal piercing flesh pounded into Sawyer’s wolf ears with the force of a grenade launching in his hands.

But it was the sound of Penelope’s cry as she fell backward that tore through his heart, shredding his hope.

For a moment, time stood still as he watched blood spread across Penelope’s abdomen. He rushed to her side, but before he could reach her a bullet burned across his upper arm, tearing into his skin. A surge of anger rushed through his blood and the wolf pushed to the surface, forcing him to succumb to the beast.

Within seconds he’d made it to his much stronger half beast form that would allow him to tear the men in front of him limb from limb with ease. His mouth salivated. He could already taste their blood.

“Sawyer,” Penelope gasped from behind him, reminding him that in addition to eliminating the enemy he had to get her to medical attention damned quick. Humans were entirely too fragile.

He tried to respond to her and couldn’t get any words to form. Everything came out on a growl instead.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m okay.”

She had her hands pressed to her stomach, but it wasn’t enough. Blood still seeped through her fingers. She was definitely not okay. But, until he stopped these assholes, they were both in dire straits.

He turned back to the men all currently staring at him with a mixture of fear and hatred. His partial shift seemed to have stunned them, giving him a momentary advantage.

He took the opening, lunging for the man with the gun.

The hunter tried to react, raising his weapon, but he’d lost his momentum and Sawyer easily got to him before he could do any more damage. He grabbed the asshole by the throat and slammed him against the side of the jeep with enough force to shatter a mere human.

The agonized cries of his prey filled his ears like a sweet, satisfying song. With the hunter pinned, his beast easily dove in for the kill. Rational thought beyond the need to destroy this bastard left his mind as his teeth sliced into flesh. The primal needs of the animal that had been long denied roared to the front and took precedence. It was too late for anyone to react or fight back.

Another time and in another place, he might have savored this death. But the noises around him reminded him there were others that would fight back. He dropped one man from his mouth and rounded on the others. Whatever they saw—they knew. Instead of kill or be killed they chose the cowards way and ran, disappearing into the trees as some of his other pack crashed through the brush from the opposite direction.

Two naked men and an oversized grizzly. Fuck. The sight of the bear gave Sawyer’s wolf pause. He snarled. If the bear took a step closer to his woman, he’d kill him too. The familiar red haze of rage filled his vision as he imagined more blood and carnage.

“Easy, buddy. He’s not going near her. But somebody better cause she’s looking a little rough.”

Diego’s words had Sawyer spinning around. The sight of Penelope pale, with blood still seeping through her fingers made him drop to the ground and the wolf recede. Bones popped, hair smoothed to flesh in a matter of seconds that felt like hours as he stared down at her helpless.

“Oh dammit. Fuck. She’s going to bleed out.” Diego pushed her hand aside and replaced it with his much larger one, making sure to apply pressure as he did.

“No—I-I’m not. Just need a doctor sooner rather than later.” Her voice while audible, had weakened considerably since she’d insisted she was okay.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“We cannot take her to a hospital,” Damien insisted. “She’s seen too much.”

“Agreed,” came a gruff voice from behind him that he didn’t recognize. Apparently, the bear had shifted back as well. “Way too fucking dangerous.”

The utter fear that crossed Penny’s beautiful face took him like a surprise punch to the gut. She had nothing to fear from him no matter what the alphaholes behind him made it sound like. No one would ever hurt her again.

“It’s okay, babe. Don’t listen to them. You’re going to get whatever you need to get better.”

“Sawyer,” Damien warned in a low tone.

“I don’t want to hear it. She’s my mate and she is going to get the best of everything. I gave everything to this pack when my parents died and then again when Creed’s woman needed help. Now, it’s my turn.”

He scooped his arms under Penelope. “I’m sure this isn’t going to feel great, hon. But you can’t stay here. I’m going to lift you into the Jeep and then one of these fine upstanding men is going to drive us to the hospital, okay.”

She nodded her head, her teeth biting down on her lip as he eased her up as gently as possible. Tears sprang to her eyes, but his woman was strong. She didn’t make a single sound and he knew that had to have cost her.

“But—” The bear started to object.

“He’s right,” Diego interrupted. “We owe him this. Don’t worry. We’ll figure something out.”

Sawyer stopped listening after that as he climbed into the back seat of the Jeep and settled Penny on his lap. The amount of blood soaked through her clothes and now his frightened him. He couldn’t stop thinking about how fragile humans were. If he could just turn her…

“That would be the answer to the problem.” Damien climbed into the seat next to him as Diego and the bear took the front.

He stopped staring at Penelope’s neck and focused on her drooping eyes. Her eyes were now glazed and he could see her losing the fight with consciousness. He wasn’t even sure if she could hear them anymore.

“It could kill her.” The thought of losing her made something in him twist violently. He couldn’t go through that kind of loss again. Never again.

“And you might lose her to that gunshot anyway. She’s lost a lot of blood and we’re at least twenty to thirty minutes back to civilization. You will have to gamble with her life either way.”

“She won’t be able to shift. So she won’t heal any faster.”

Damien touched his shoulder. “I have seen miracles before. Whatever magic that enables us to be who we are could prolong her slowing heartbeat long enough for us to get her to her human doctors. It might be all you can do.”

Sawyer jerked his head toward the alpha at his words. Slowing what? He held his breath and listened. At first, all he heard was his own racing pulse in his sensitive ears. But after a prolonged moment he filtered past it and focused on the woman lying now unconscious in his arms.

Her heart did beat, but Damien was right. It had slowed considerably and continued to do so. Fuck. No. This CANNOT. Happen.

He brushed his fingers across the soft pale skin of her face and whispered in her ear. “Please don’t die. I may have just found you, but I need you now. Your life might be the only thing left to keep me sane. I promise, if you live, I will love you. Worship you. And I think you could grow to love me too.”

He paused, leaning even closer until his mouth hovered over the side of her neck. They were running out of time.

“Or at least forgive me…”