JAYCE

I jogged as fast as I could back to my log cabin with the injured female in my arms. Her face was pressed against my me as she slept. She breathed lightly on my chest, which was my only indication that she was still with me.

I was beyond infuriated over what those Black Ridge wolves had done to her, so much so that I had killed every last one of them. When the tan wolf bit her, that was the last straw. I had snapped. The recent memories made me sick to my stomach.

Who was she? And what was she doing running through the woods? I could tell she wasn’t from around here. Even with wet clothes and mud caked on her skin, she was a beauty. Her hair was thick and curly and several hues—brown, some blond highlights, and streaks of red. Her face was oval-shaped and her lips were full, slightly parted, and tempting. I remembered her eyes mostly, which were almost surreal—a mix of blue and something else.

I growled again when my attention landed on the bite on her right shoulder. One of them had marked her. That one detail told me what they were after, but I didn’t want to think about that now. The thought of them trying to lay claim to her the way they did sickened me. She’d said something about there being more of them just before she fell asleep in my arms. I left three dead wolves on the ground, so if she was right, there were three more of those bastards searching the woods for her. If the woman wasn’t injured, vulnerable, and alone, I would’ve gone back and hunted them all down and murdered them. I didn’t care about whose territory I trespassed on. They had no right to treat anyone this way.

The door to my cabin was unlocked, just like I had left it. I had been in the middle of putting up some canned goods in the pantry and cooking a meal when I heard the woman’s screams in the distance. I had tracked her noisy struggles through the forest until I caught her scent near the stream where she had crossed.

I laid the woman on my couch and threw a few more pieces of wood in the fireplace to rekindle the blaze. I took off her wet, soggy shoes and socks, but nothing else. Instead, I hoped the fire would dry and warm her. The last thing I wanted to do was strip her clothes off and make her feel uncomfortable, especially after what happened to her.

Tired of seeing that rogue wolf’s bite on her, I grabbed a bowl of warm water and a first aid kit and tended to her wound. Bites from our kind were different. Although painful, they healed faster than a natural wolf’s bite. But her skin was still marked by his essence. Since the wolf was now dead, the essence would likely fade as the bite healed. I applied some antiseptic to her skin and covered the bite with a bandage.

I was still in my birthday suit, but I didn’t want to leave her side. I grabbed a pair of shorts from the basket of unfolded clothes sitting in the living room and tugged it on. I knelt back down near the couch and listened to her, making sure that her breathing hadn’t changed.

Some of her corkscrew curls were flattened to the side of her face and I stroked them back, notating how she sighed softly in her sleep. She looked like an angel. Why had the rogue wolves hurt her?

I leaned in and sniffed her. Among the scent of the tan wolf who bit her, I caught a spine-tingling whiff of her aura, which was so feminine and so pure. She smelled like a bed of flowers that I could roll around in for hours on end and lose myself in.

Her breasts were full and round. Neither her bra nor the fitted white tee she wore could hide the fact that her nipples were taut, probably from the cold. I felt bad for looking at her this way, but my mind wasn’t the only thing I was losing. My hard-on hadn’t subsided since she had touched me in the forest.

She shifted and moaned softly, but didn’t wake up.

I heard something outside and rose up swiftly. A branch broke and the sound of bushes rustling followed. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I went to stand by the window. I pulled the curtains aside and peered out into the dark.

No one would dare come uninvited onto my property to harm or take the woman. And if they did, they’d meet a swift demise just like the rogue wolves did back in the forest. I’d protect her with my life again if I had to. I was chosen as one of my pack’s enforcers for several reasons. Cowardliness wasn’t one of them.

Overhanging branches from the big oak tree on my front yard scraped at the side of my house. The winds were picking up and blowing all kinds of debris across the ground.

After a few minutes of staring out and seeing no signs of a trespasser, I closed the curtains and returned to the woman. I pulled out a blanket and covered her with it.

Tired of smelling blood and death all over me, I left her on the couch to take a much needed cold shower. Only this time, my shower was lightning quick. The last thing I wanted to do was lose her.

I couldn’t let her get away.