She pushed herself back in the seat as the truck gained speed. “Why did you steal Ruby’s body?”
“An autopsy might’ve revealed something different with her physiology since she’s a wolf shifter.” Seth glanced in the rearview mirror and hit the accelerator harder.
Mia swallowed as the lake flashed by. “Who killed Ruby? And Mandy?”
“I don’t know yet,” Seth said grimly.
“The silver in their throats? The lore is true? Silver kills wolf shifters?”
“Yes, but the silver has to reach our bloodstream.” Seth glanced in the rearview mirror. “My people claimed the silver mines early to control some of the product.”
She gulped. “So whoever killed the women knew they were shifters, thus the use of all the silver.”
“Maybe. At the moment, I have bigger problems.”
“Like what?” Mia asked.
He cut her a hard look before concentrating back on the road. “My job is to kill you now, Mia.”
She swung the gun toward him, steadying her aim with both hands. “Excuse me?”
“As the Enforcer, my main priority is to keep our secret. To keep anybody from finding out about us. You can’t know what you know,” he snapped.
“Are you going to try to kill me?” Her voice shook enough to tick her off, and an odd hurt tingled down her spine.
“No.” He checked the side mirror. “But protecting you from not only my pack but also the other three doesn’t seem possible.” His thick hair flew when he shook his head, his voice rough. “I wish you wouldn’t have come out here tonight.”
“But I did.” She breathed out, her mind spinning with plans. “I can protect myself.” As well as Gena and Dotty. They needed to get out of town and soon.
Seth chuckled, the sound dark and fatal. “No, you can’t. My people will find you, wherever you go. You can’t know what you do, and we both know you can’t go public. Nobody would believe you.” He exited the lake road, headed toward his cabin.
Mia leveled the barrel at his head. “Take me to my home, Seth.”
“No.” Without warning, and without turning his head, his arm shot out, and he grabbed the gun. “You go home, and you sign your family’s death warrants.”
Mia gasped out air. “They wouldn’t kill my family just because I know your big secret.”
Seth slammed on the brakes, and the truck skidded to a halt by his cabin. “They’d kill everyone you’d ever met if it meant keeping the secret.” He grabbed her and hauled her from the truck, shoving her gun back into her hand. “There’s only one way to save you and your family…and I guarantee you’re not going to like it.”
Chapter22
Mia perched on the couch, her gun in her hand, her gaze on the man pacing the cabin while cocking his shotgun. He’d yanked on jeans but had neglected to clasp the top button.
She shook her head. While she was willing to listen to his plan, she’d take down his entire clan if they threatened her family. But for now, knowledge equaled power. “Okay. The cabin is secured, nobody is out there…what did you mean? How can I keep your people from coming after my family?”
He slid the curtain out of the way, his gaze on the darkness outside. “The only way to keep you safe is to make you one of us.”
Her breath heated. Fog she’d been unaware of cleared from her mind. “You want to make me a wolf?” Absolutely not.
“Not exactly.” Muscles rippled along his back as he moved to gaze out of the other window. “I can’t turn you into a wolf. But I can mate you.”
“Mateme?” she coughed out. What was this, some weird sci-fi movie? “You have got to be kidding me.” While she had never researched such a thing, she did have an odd appreciation for urban fantasy and had read about matings. Who knew they actually existed? “Um, what exactly do you mean?”
He slid the curtain closed and turned the full force of those dangerous, multi-hued blue eyes on her. “What do you know about wolves?”
Apparently not enough. “Let’s see. They’re wild, there are different species, and they, uh, mate for life.”
“Yes.” The shotgun rested easily against his jean-clad thigh, the weapon not nearly as dangerous as the man. “We mate for life. While there may be a marriage, there’s no divorce. While a mate lives, the mating rules.” The air shimmered around him. “One of our strongest laws is that a mate is safe—even if he or she were human at one time. You want to live? You need to mate.”
