Chapter Two

Whatever had killed Landon Todd had done him a favor. Because if Ashley’s father had still been alive, Blake would have found a very, very painful way to relieve him of the condition.

The girl was starving, maybe literally. God only knew how long she’d been trapped in that basement, burning up with the fever of the mating heat. She was still flushed with it, but the rules of survival—food, then sex—seemed to have taken the edge off for the moment.

But watching her eat her cheeseburger wasn’t taking the edge off his rage. It wasn’t hard to starve a werewolf. A few hours without food ramped up his temper. Four days would have him chewing through concrete. And that was just the latest of too many atrocities, the final fucking outrage.

She burned with magic. Burned so, so bright. Dumbing themselves down with human lives and human urges might have worked for the Todds, but they were idiots for thinking it would work for their daughter. Blake could feel her wolf from here, a wild, hungry creature determined to break free.

He wondered if she’d ever changed. Most of the wolves who lived along humans didn’t. They forgot what they were, where they came from. They forgot how to be anything but helpless sheep, and they raised their offspring to be ashamed and controlled.

If you stifled magic long enough, it died like a flame deprived of oxygen.

Usually.

Ashley finished her burger. He dragged her empty plate toward him and pushed his own into its place. "Eat that, too."

Her dark brows drew together over darker eyes. "No, thank you."

The defiance grated. He could only handle so much, and he’d been choking down his instincts since setting foot in that basement. She was in pain. So many different kinds of pain, and the worst—

Even here, in the restaurant, surrounded by sleepy waitresses and even sleepier truckers, she was turned on. He could smell her arousal. He could damn near taste it. He wanted to slide under the table and shove her thighs wide. Then he could taste her for real, feel that sweet wetness on his tongue. Make her come hard enough to ease the fever.

Or maybe getting off without getting fucked would just make it worse. Maybe the only way to ease it was to work his cock into her. He didn’t know. Most wolves wouldn’t. That had been the first sign of the failing bloodlines—fewer and fewer females going into heat. Fewer and fewer wolves finding mates.

She had an ache he couldn’t fix, but there was one hunger he could cure. Meeting her gaze, he leaned across the table and put the harsh edge of command in his voice. "Eat the burger, Ashley. You need it."

Fire sparked in her eyes, and the faintest growl formed low in her throat. She broke the spell a moment later by looking away. "I haven’t had a meal in days. If I eat too much, too fast, I’ll be sick. Trust me."

Rage spiked again, not at the words but at the resigned experience behind them. She knew. She knew because it wasn’t the first time she’d been starved.

He wanted to drive back to her house and kill her worthless father a second time.

"Fine." He was too pissed off to mess with the waitress. Some of the others in the pack could pass, even when they were angry, but Blake wasn’t one of them. Humans sensed the predator in him, and had a tendency to get nervous, even call the cops.

He couldn’t afford that hassle, not tonight. So he dug too many bills out of his wallet and dumped them on the table. That was the useful thing about humans—they ignored their survival instincts when you waved enough money under their noses.

The room wasn’t far. The motel was a dump, but dumps were useful for the same reason—a lot of cash up front and no one spared you a second glance. Blake steered Ashley toward their room and didn’t relax until they were both locked on the other side. "I’ll pick us up something else to eat in a few hours."

"Okay." She nodded too fast. She was breathing too fast.

Her arousal was inescapable. Her flushed cheeks, her tight nipples, the unsteady gulps of air that lifted those full, beautiful breasts. Somewhere, lost under his rage and the hunger triggered by her own, he knew it was wrong. She was on shaky ground, weakened by the mistreatment and neglect of a father she was probably still mourning. Those were excellent reasons not to put his hands on her.

But she’d like having his hands on her, and that was one reason to do it anyway.

Groaning, he shoved his hand into his pocket and rescued his phone. He hated the fucking thing, so he only kept one number programmed into it. The only person he was willing to call.

"Stay here," he ground out as he dialed. He didn’t wait for her reply, whatever mouthy thing it would undoubtedly be. If she backtalked him right now, he’d start having fantasies that went far past getting his tongue in her cunt. Fantasies that involved that ass he’d seen while she was changing, and spanking it pink until she squealed and promised to behave.

The call connected with a click, and Lucas’s slow drawl spilled through the speaker. "Not having trouble, are you, Blake?"

Werewolves had good hearing. She could listen through the door if she pressed up close to it, so Blake paced a few feet away. Only a few—he couldn’t make himself go farther. "She’s in heat, Lucas. Already."

"Kind of a one-in-four shot, wasn’t it?"

"I don’t mean she’s fertile. I mean she’s in heat. Primed to mate." Past primed, by the state of her.

Lucas cursed savagely. "Do you have time to get her back here tonight?"

"We’re clear of her house, but…" It took a deep, calming breath, but he managed to relay the circumstances without crushing his phone in frustration. He finished with, "I don’t think I can put her back on my bike. Not like this."

"What does she smell like?"

Sweet. Tempting. Ready. "Wet," he snapped. "She doesn’t know what’s going on or who I am, but she’s ready to ride my leg—or anything else I’ll let her climb on."

Lucas barked out a laugh. "If she’s creaming her panties already, you’re gonna have to take care of her. Now."

"It’s not funny," Blake snarled. "She’s been through too much. If I can get her through the night—"

"You’ve been fucking human women too long," Lucas cut in. "If she’s in heat like you say? That’s not the same goddamn thing as being hot and bothered, man. It’s a biological drive, like food and sleep. If she doesn’t get it, she’ll be hurting."

Not giving it to her was hurting him. He could weather a little pain, but he didn’t want to force the same thing on her. Though if she’d been locked up in the cellar every time she got horny, he doubted she’d ever touched a man, much less another wolf.

"What will ease it?" he asked, striding back to the door.

"I’ve got a revolutionary idea," Lucas replied. "Ask her." Then the phone clicked, and the line went dead.

Sometimes his alpha could be a real fucking asshole…but maybe he had a point.

Gritting his teeth, Blake stepped back into the room and engaged all the locks. Her scent curled around him, shooting straight to his cock, and Lucas was right. Even in just a few minutes, it was so much worse.

When he turned, she was sitting on the edge of one bed, bouncing one leg. She’d taken her hair down, and the strands framing her face were damp, as if she’d splashed herself with water. But she was still flushed, her cheeks rosy.

She looked up, her eyes glazed. "I thought it would get better," she whispered. "When you went outside, I mean. Distance. But it got—" Her voice broke, and she fidgeted on the bed with a moan. "It got hotter."

He couldn’t turn away from her. Not like this. He tossed his phone on the ancient, wobbly table and draped his jacket over the chair. But he didn’t go to her. Instead, he sat on the opposite bed and held open his arms, silently inviting her to come to him.

Ashley trembled. "You don’t want this. I can tell."

"Shh." He crooked two fingers. "If you want this, come here. And I’ll show you what I want. As much of it as you can handle."

She rose. She was still shaking, but there was an animal grace in the steps that brought her in front of him, so close she was standing between his knees. In his space, filling his senses. "I don’t just want," she confessed. "I need."

"I know." He gripped the curve of her hips and gave in, lowering his face to drag the scent of her deep into his lungs. She was everything he’d told Lucas she was—tempting, ready to be filled. By his tongue and his fingers and his cock and his seed.

She needed. And if he never did anything else right in his life, Blake wanted to be the first to give sweet little Ashley Todd everything she needed.