Chapter Two

 

“Adam! Stop that fucking truck right now. She’s not worth it. Don’t do this!” His father screamed. Adam shook his head. Over my fucking dead body. Asshole. Hannah was worth everything, and when he’d scented her in that diner, for the first time since they’d come of age, he’d almost lost his skin and shifted into his wolf right there. It had taken every ounce of his control to contain his wolf. Hannah Martin was his mate. He needed to get her far away from his father and the Hillbrooke Pack as quickly as possible.

As the Alpha’s son it was his duty to choose a mate and breed. There was no way in hell his father was going to allow his only son to have a human mate, and it scared Adam to death to think that his father might have known this entire time. This must have been some sort of test, but Adam wasn’t playing games with his mate’s life. With his preternatural speed his father was almost on them, and Adam willed the truck to move faster.

“Shit! Hang on!” Adam called out to Hannah when he cut the steering wheel.

Hannah hugged the passenger door and struggled to remain seated, but he couldn’t take his hands off the wheel to help her. He got them onto the road and put the truck into drive and floored it again. They quickly outpaced his old man on the open road, and when they turned the corner he was out of sight.

 “Adam?”

Mate! His wolf was too excited. The need to claim washed over him. Afraid to speak, Adam resisted the urge to look at her and kept his eyes on the road. All the while his heart pounded in his chest as he struggled with his wolf. The steering wheel creaked under his grip. Adam was afraid he wouldn’t be able to hide him from her as he clawed to the surface.

Gods, she smells good. His balls tingled, and his cock strained against his jeans. Pure lust pulsed through his veins. He’d never wanted to fuck so badly in his life. He tried to slow his breathing.

“Adam?”

Fuck! Adam could feel pre-cum leaking from the tip of his cock, and his entire body clenched as the urge to mark her and claim her overwhelmed him. No one warned him the pull would be this strong.

“Adam? Look at me!” she snapped.

Unable to deny her, Adam reluctantly turned his head, and her eyes and mouth opened wide in surprise.

“Your eyes! Adam, your eyes are yellow!” She reared back and pushed herself against the door.

“Fuck!” he bit out and straightened the truck when they swerved.

Adam took a deep breath, which just made matters worse. Fuck, she must be affected, too. He’d made sure to be a complete bastard to her in high school, so any arousal she was feeling was because of the mating pull, not because she wanted him. At least not yet, not until he’d made things right, he assured himself and rolled down his window. He breathed deep and tilted his head out, and that helped, a little. Her scent was still strong, and Adam started to despair. He didn’t want to hurt her. The last thing he wanted to do was claim her against her will.

“Please, stop it.”

“Stop what?” she squeaked out.

“I can smell you.” He gritted out between clenched teeth, his control ready to snap. “I can smell … you.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You can smell me?”

“I can smell how much you want me, and I’m having a hard time controlling … myself.” He hesitated, but now was not the time to tell her about his wolf. He didn’t want her freaking out on him any more than she already was. He braved to look at her again, and her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment he didn’t mean to cause. To his relief, she turned and quickly rolled down her window.

“Thank you,” he croaked out, once the cab had cleared.

“Why are your eyes glowing, Adam?”

“Where’s your mom?” He ignored her and could practically feel her narrow her eyes at him, but she wasn’t ready to hear that truth.

“She’s on vacation. Why?” She turned to face him, her earlier embarrassment forgotten as she frowned at him.

“Well, why in the hell didn’t you go with her?” He barked at her, frustrated. She might not be in danger if she’d gone.

“We couldn’t afford for us to both be off work at the same time.”

“I’m sorry.” She already hated him, and he didn’t want to add unadulterated loathing to that because he was being an insensitive bastard. Hannah and her mom had struggled to make ends meet since her father had died, and she had started working at the diner as soon as she legally could.

“It’s okay, she’s just visiting some friend, so I doubt I’m missing much. Besides I didn’t want to go. I really needed the tips this weekend. Or I did need them, that is, if I still have a freaking job, Adam!” Adam cringed when her voice grew more heated with her righteous anger. “What in the hell is going on?”

Her voice became shrill, and his wolf whimpered and retreated, giving him a moment’s reprieve. Adam was just glad he was no longer compelled to breed her right there in the cab.

“I’m sorry, Hannah. Let me just get us somewhere safe and I’ll explain everything.” He pleaded. He didn’t think the cab of his truck was the place to drop this bombshell.

“Somewhere safe! Why do we need to get somewhere safe? And why should I believe you, Adam? Huh? Why should I believe anything you say? This is freaking insane! You know that, right?”

“I know. Please.” He wasn’t sure what else he could say to make this better. He’d just irrevocably changed her life.

She let out a deep frustrated breath, crossed her arms, and sat back in a huff. Adam resisted the urge to reach out and comfort her, but he didn’t want to tempt his wolf or upset her any more than he already had. He kept his hands to himself and tried to concentrate on the road.