Page 25 of Hunted

He’d given up what they’d had together for this? Loyalty to a pack that didn’t even trust him?

“I’ll take care of it,” Gunn said, his voice tight. “Boomer, cover her until we’re in the truck, and then go with the Hounds.”

He grabbed Michelangela’s arm—the bad one. Pain shot through her whole body and she hissed her breath through her teeth, but he paid no attention. He just dragged her off to the truck, idling by the side of the road.

She went. If she didn’t, she knew they’d kill her—no matter what orders Gunn gave.

Gunn shoved Michelangela into the passenger seat, then went around and climbed into the driver’s seat. He pushed a button and Michelangela heard the locks engage.

Gunn raced the motor, did a fast u-turn, and took off back towards the base camp.

The minute they were out of sight of the wolves, Michelangela tried the door. Nothing. The lock wouldn’t disengage. She was trapped.

Her wolf started to panic—being locked in a room was one thing, but a tiny space like a truck cab freaked her out.

“Open the locks,” she said. She rattled the door handle. “Open them!” She turned and started pounding on his shoulder, reaching for the steering wheel.

Gunn swerved, trying to fend her off, and finally slammed on the brakes, slewing the truck over to the side of the road onto a gravel verge.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he yelled. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? Why can't you just fucking do what you're told for once? Why couldn’t you just stay in my damn cabin for a few fucking hours?”

His anger gave her something to anchor herself to. She yelled back, “You really expected me to just sit there and—what? Be your ‘private wolf pussy’? You don't even want me. You never wanted me.”

Gunn was done. He shoved the truck into Park, grabbed Mikey, and dragged her across the seat. A second later his mouth was on hers, crushing her lips, his anger and passion crashing over him like an ocean wave.

For ten blissful seconds, she took fire beneath him. Then she shoved him away, sliding his own knife out of its sheath and holding it to his throat.

She said, “I should fucking kill you myself, right here, right now. Trusting you was the biggest mistake of my life. I thought—never mind the stupid shit I thought. It was all a con job, and now you expect me to fall for it again? You never cared about me then, and you don’t now.”

She’d said that last night, but the shock hit him just as hard the second time around. She really thought that? She was the only woman he’d ever cared about. So much it was tearing him apart inside. He’d never been right since he left her.

But how the fuck could he explain that? He couldn’t even put words to the mess of need and want and loyalty and necessity all tangled up inside him.

“Don’t I?” he said, his voice coming out low and thick. He pulled her toward him, slowly, feeling the cold steel slide against his skin, pressing against the hot throbbing pulse in his neck.

And he kissed her again.

This time was slow and deep and fed the need in his belly until his dick throbbed and strained against his jeans. It had been so long, and he’d thought he’d never see her again.

Never wanted to see her again, and fuck up his life even more than it was. How the hell could he give her up a second time? The first time had wrecked him.

Finally they had to come up for air. Gunn closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. “You have no fucking clue how hard it was for me to walk away. Why the hell did you have to come here, and blow things up all over again?”

He was hyperaware of every physical reaction in her body. The pounding of her heart, the delicate beat of blood through her carotid artery, so close to his teeth.

Her voice was shaky and breathless. “I told you. I came to fucking kill you.”

Wild recklessness filled him. She’d always done that to him. “Then do it.”

Chapter 12

Her knife was still at his throat. Slowly, softly, she drew the blade across his jugular, just deep enough to barely break the skin. The smell of blood exploded into his nostrils. His wolf gave a soft whine.

This is what he’d come to. He’d fucking let her kill him, if she wanted.

Instead, she moved her head and ran her tongue along the cut. Heat flashed through him, and he shivered, all the way down to his belly.

He whispered the words out loud this time. “Leaving you wrecked me.”