Page 27 of Hunted

But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t take down Outlaw Ridge. That’s why she’d resigned from the Enforcers, when she thought the two of them were going to be together.

She didn’t want to put her family in the position of having to choose.

Gunn was gazing at her now, his eyes almost pleading. “They can’t know, Mikey. They’d destroy my pack.”

She could hear the desperation in his voice. As tenuous as his bond was with his pack, he still felt it. They were his—his to lead, his to protect.

She suddenly realized the enormity of what he’d taken on.

Broken wolves, from all different places, violent and traumatized and barely holding it together.

She’d seen that before; she had some inkling of how hard it was.

It was possible that Gunn was the only thing keeping them on track, giving them a purpose, keeping them sane. Sane-ish, she amended, thinking of the Hounds.

Had he become their alpha voluntarily? Or out of necessity? Either way, he couldn’t take it back.

And one of them was dying, because of her. She knew what losing a wolf would do to him, and to the others.

She said, “How was Dobe when you left?”

“You heard Sanchez,” Gunn said. “The antidote didn’t work.” He looked sideways at her. “Assuming it was real.”

“Of course it was real.” He really thought she’d be that cruel? She pulled on her lower lip, thinking. “But he’s had the toxin in him a long time. I’m not sure…” She broke off. The long-term effects of the toxin could be unpredictable.

Gunn said, “Did you mean it about giving us another dose? For him?”

She could feel his wolf’s anxiety, as well as his own. She answered slowly, putting off the inevitable stupidity she knew she was about to embark on. “I could. But that may not work either. The toxin might have gotten too strong a hold.”

“Isn’t there anything you can do?” Her heart lurched at his tone—she knew it was against his nature to plead. He added, “I know you don’t think he’s worth helping, but innocent people’s lives are depending on the intel in his head.” He paused, and then added softly, “And he’s a good friend. A good man. If that matters.”

She wanted to believe him. She wanted Dobe to be a good man because she wanted Gunn to be the man she’d thought he was, once upon a time.

Mikey sighed. She muttered, “Now I can’t believe I’m doing this.” She turned to Gunn. “Take me back.”

He stared at her. “What?”

“Take me back to your damn infirmary. If he’s going to get saved, I have to do it.”

“Mikey, you can’t. If you go back there… I don’t know if I can protect you.”

She tossed her head, ignoring the cold settling in her gut. “I don’t need you to protect me. Just do it.”

“Mikey…”

She held his knife up. “Don’t make me stab you. I did this to him, I have to make it right. Now drive, before I change my mind.”

Chapter 13

Michelangela sat in Gunn’s truck, trying to figure out what the hell she’d just done. And what the hell she was feeling.

Was she being a total idiot? This was the man who’d torn her life apart, taken her to the highest mountain of happiness and hope and then thrown her off.

She’d been broken ever since. And now, one kiss from him, one stupid kiss—okay, two—and all the hatred she’d carried for the last year seemed to have died out of her. Which scared her to death, because it was all that had kept her together for a long, long time.

Except, her wolf was feeling… less. Less pain, less confusion, less anger. All the swirling, conflicting feelings that had been tearing her apart for so long seemed to be calming, like sediment settling to the bottom of a pond after a huge disruption.

Which was unsettling.