"Kent?" Dani was sitting on the edge of her bed, clutching the beige motel phone against her cheek. "It's Dani. No, he doesn't know where I am and I'm hoping you aren't going to mention this call to anyone else either." Waylon had packed his bag up quickly and was lacing up his work boots as he sat on the end of his own bed, listening to the conversation that she was having that was putting the both of them at great risk."Well it's not lying if he doesn't ask you and is he even with you right now? Why the fuck would you want to help Luca anyways? It's not like you two are BFFs." There was another long silence. "Fine. Do what you have to do. But where are you? And Harding has her? Do you know for sure that she's in New York? But that's where he is. So it does make sense. And Vos is where? Oh that's just fan-fucking-tastic. Why isn't my brother helping you break your mate out of that hellhole instead of helping my mate find me?"This time Waylon could hear the response from across
Alpha Vos was driving, while Luca sat in the passenger seat and stared out the window, half expecting to see Dani out there, somewhere, staring back at him from the thick cover of the forest. The world had never felt as huge as it did now that she was missing. She could be anywhere and the more time passed the more true that statement became. It was unlikely she would be able to get a flight, what with all the security restrictions in place, and the missing person's report that he had filed, but he really didn't want to rule anything out. "How long have you known your Beta, West?" Vos' voice jerked him out of his reverie. In a half hour they would be in Fairbanks and they had driven in silence nearly the entire way, listening to only the rumble of the engine, each of them lost in their own thoughts. "My whole life really. We went to preschool and grew up together." Vos nodded at the answer. "That's lucky, that you have someone like that, that you can really trust. Is he mated?" "N
Waylon shook his head, something he'd been doing every five minutes since meeting this fiery little wolf. He forced himself to walk back across the room and sit down on his own bed. He was already breaking every code and rule for her. He was not going to make things more complicated for her than they already were by adding to her confusion.As male and female wolves, flung together in close quarters for extended periods of time, it was natural that sparks would start to fly between them, especially since their mates were absent and especially because Waylon's mate was dead and Dani's mate bond had been damaged severely by the betrayal that her wolf and that she as a human had experienced.If they'd just been working together day in and day out going home to their mates it would have been fine. Unnoticeable even. But that was not what was happening. They were in a high stress situation, sleeping in the same room and Dani was hoping to never see her mate again.Waylon's wolf was an A
Dani emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her body and another hiding her hair, releasing a cloud of steam as the door opened. She'd' been in there for a while and the pizza had arrived. Waylon had placed the pizza she'd ordered on the table near the door. He'd ordered pepperoni and had already eaten half of it while watching stories about the missing "newlywed bride," Andraste West, on the news. There weren't any interviews with Luca, only pictures of him standing next to a giant tree in his tux as Dani walked towards him for their "wedding" and Waylon assumed this could only be because the Alpha male was tracking them down, at that very moment.After a few seconds rustling through her bag, Dani disappeared back into the bathroom before emerging again in her nightly outfit of shorts paired with a thin t-shirt. Her hair was down now, and she'd combed it out. While it was still wet, Waylon could see that she'd dyed it pink."I'm so dead." he muttered, mostly to himself
Waylon stared at the back of the bright pink bob, bile rising in his throat, as he imagined a hundred and one ways he might die. He had promised to protect his Luna and what had he done? Mated and marked her less than a week after her induction ceremony, while she was in such a fragile state. "Waylon? Waylon? Are you alright?" A pillow hit him in the head for the second night in a row, although if he was honest, on the previous night he had thrown the first pillow.He jerked awake, eyes staring at the ceiling. There was just enough light coming in through the space between the curtain and the window to see where he was and he wasn't back home in his own comfortable bed and Dani most definitely was not in bed beside him. Looking over in the darkness, he was able to reassure himself that Dani was safely tucked into her own Queen sized bed, and was entirely untouched, thank the Goddess.That dream had been too much. First to have dreamed of his own sweet mate, for the first time in y
"I come here everyday and I already told the three young men who were here yesterday that she came in and ate here two days ago. Someone said they saw her leaving with this nice young man who lost his mate, Waylon, but I can't say if that's true. Are you police? I thought that they were police. I know they went and tracked down the man who saw her in Waylon's truck and then they took off. I think they said they were detectives. They were definitely wolves too. And they were driving this shiny black car." An elderly woman who was sitting outside a restaurant had looked carefully at Dani's photo before offering them an outpouring of information. "This man, Waylon, can you tell up about him?" Alpha Vos asked in a gentle tone. "Oh yes. I've known him since he was a pup." The woman smiled, obviously pleased to be sharing her thoughts with someone who would listen. "He's such a pleasant young man. He's always willing to help others. His father was a good man too and our town just hasn't b
"This is what they wear on patrol. Blue with the soft body armor over it. Or under it depending on where you are." Dani nodded. The officers were level with the back of the truck now and she had very little doubt that they knew exactly who was in the car. She felt her canines lengthened and pushed her wolf down as she took slow, deep breaths. There would be no shifting in front of humans today. "Excuse me, Sir?" The older of the two men had reached Waylon's window and Waylon smiled at him in his most friendly manor, as if it would somehow make a difference. Dani heard a sound and her attention was drawn away from what the man was saying. There was the sound of gravel popping under tires as another car pulled off the highway. This one was an SUV. Waylon had rolled her window down too when he had stopped the truck. Taking a deep breath she could smell the brakes of the truck, and the sharp scent of the evergreens in the forest. "Waylon." She whispered his name, in a voice so low sh
Dani felt teeth sinking in just above her right shoulder and snarled in pain. She kicked out with her back legs and slammed her weight backwards towards her attacker, attempting to throw him off balance. She was at a disadvantage because as a She-Wolf she was quite a bit smaller than every male in this fight. But she had one thing going for her. She was nearly certain that the three men who had arrived were sent by Alpha Harding and if that was the case then they couldn't harm her. Well, at least not too badly. If there was one thing that Dani was certain of, it was that Alpha Harding wanted her back in his hands alive and conscious so that he could begin his sadistic torture all over again. And it's always a little easier to fight someone when you can kill them, while they are trying not to hurt you too badly. Dani turned her head and nearly managed to sink her teeth into the large wolf's chest but just as she was about to make contact, he surged back onto his feet and shook her har