Liam’s expression changed from playful to concerned in a beat.
“Liam?”
He stared blankly past her at the far wall as he concentrated on who knew what. Even Mac was a little riled up, whimpering as he paced from the living room into the kitchen and back again. Liam’s nostrils flared as he inhaled a careful breath. Devon’s heart leapt up into her throat and her mouth went dry. “Liam?” she said again. “What is it?”
“We shouldn’t have come back here,” he said more to himself than to her. “My scent is everywhere.”
“What do you mean?” If she didn’t get some answers soon, she was going to blow a gasket. “Why does it matter if your scent is here? What’s going on?”
“We need to get back to Stanley. Right now.”
Leave? Right now? This was crazy. Liam pushed himself off the couch. He reached down to grab Devon’s hand and pulled her up to stand with so much force, her feet actually left the ground for a second. There was no doubt Liam was strong. More than capable to deliver an ass kicking to anyone who might have plans to hurt him. Something had him spooked though, and Devon didn’t like it one bit.
“Liam, I don’t even think the roads are open. You saw the drifts when we drove home. The highway is almost snowed shut.”
“We’ll drive as far as we can and walk the rest of the way.” His eyes flashed feral gold, which Devon had quickly learned happened in relation to intense emotion. “Get dressed. Your best boots, long underwear, hat, gloves … whatever you’re going to need to keep warm. We need to be out of here in less than fifteen minutes.”
Devon jerked her hand from Liam’s grip. She dug her toes into the thick pile of the throw rug, determined to hold her ground. “No.”
Liam’s gaze narrowed. A deep groove cut into his forehead and his lips thinned. Shadows played on the angles of his face, making him look harder—and decidedly more dangerous. Devon’s pulse skittered in her veins. She’d yet to see him angry and it was truly a terrifying sight. “I’m not playing games. Get ready to leave. Now.”
“No.” She could be as stubborn as he was frightening. “I can’t leave Mac and I’m not stepping foot out of this cabin, into what is no doubt the worst storm of the year on the worst highway in the county, until you give me some answers!”
Liam let out an exasperated huff of breath. “Mac will be safe in the house. Safer, in fact, if we’re not here. We don’t have time for this.”
Well, he was going to damn well make time. “Look, Liam. I might be your”—the word was still difficult to utter—“mate, but that doesn’t make me your property.” She’d been through that bullshit once and she vowed it would never happen again. “If you want me to do something, you’re going to give me a good reason as to why I should do it. Otherwise, you can take yourself to Stanley, because I’m staying right here.”
Liam’s jaw clenched and he bared his teeth. The words “big, bad, wolf” came to mind, and Devon was pretty damn sure that even burly tough guys cowered under that withering stare. Good thing she wasn’t a guy. “He’s coming, Devon. Get a move on.”
“Who’s coming?” She refused to be kept in the dark.
A muscle in Liam’s cheek began to tic. He stared her down, as though sheer intimidation could prompt her to action. She met him look for look. One thing Liam would have to learn about Devon was that she’d gotten to the point in her life where she didn’t take shit from anyone. And that included a high-handed werewolf who thought because she was his mate, she would follow orders without question.
His shoulders hunched as his expression transformed from anger to resignation. “I moved the pack from Colorado six months ago because a shifter named Christoph declared war on the pack. Rather than risk the pack’s safety, I took the high road and left. Apparently he held his grudge and tracked us, because he jumped the pack last night on our hunting grounds outside of Stanley and dragged me to Lowman to finish me off. He’d thrown me across the highway into that field last night right before you drove by and hit the brakes. It seems you saved my life. And now, Christoph is on his way to finish what he started.”
Even with everything she’d learned today, that was a lot to process.
“Gods.” Liam dragged his splayed fingers through his hair. “He could have killed you last night.”
The realization sent a shock of adrenaline into Devon’s system. She’d been out there in the blizzard, alone, wrestling with Liam as she tried to get him out of the nearly waist-deep snow. She’d felt a presence somewhere in the darkness. Felt the weight of eyes on her. Her knees nearly buckled under her weight. By her association with Liam, she’d inadvertently been immersed in a very dangerous world. One she knew very little about.
“What will he do if he finds you?”
“In the state I’m in now? Kill me. And then he’ll kill you.”
The air left Devon’s lungs as though sucked through a vacuum. She’d seen him as the wolf. His sheer size had been astounding. But she’d also witnessed the toll the transformation had taken on him. He said his strength waned with the moon. If Christoph found them here, they were as good as dead.
“Okay, Liam.” She wasn’t about to argue. Devon might be stubborn, but she wasn’t stupid. “I’ll get ready. I’m not sure how far we’ll get, though. The roads are bad. But what about you?” She had the snow gear necessary to stay warm in the storm, but Liam had nothing. “You can’t go out in my T-shirt and a sheet.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You won’t be fine!” He might be the big, strong, Alpha werewolf, but even supernatural creatures had to eventually feel the cold. “You’ll freeze to death.”
Liam grabbed Devon’s hand and guided her palm to his chest. The heat of his body scorched her. Okay, so his internal body temp ran a little hot. But that wasn’t enough to protect him.
“A blizzard isn’t going to put me down.”
She wondered if arrogance was a werewolf trait or if it was just Liam. “Maybe not, but if you’re cold, it’s going to slow your heart rate. If your arms and legs are numb, it’s going to slow you down. If you’re hypothermic, it’s going to affect your brain, heart, lungs, everything.”
“It’s not, because I’m not going to be walking around on two legs.”
Worry tugged at Devon’s chest and she folded her arms across her torso as though to protect herself from it. “You said that forcing the transition made you weak. I saw what it did to you. And I won’t be able to communicate with you. How am I supposed to know what to do?”
She wasn’t equipped to deal with this sort of situation. She’d just found out about the supernatural world. What if they got into trouble? Or more to the point, what if trouble found them? She didn’t have the necessary knowledge to make a snap decision.
“Liam.” Devon’s own voice sounded foreign in her ears, small. “We could die out there.”
His grim expression confirmed what she already knew. “Yeah. We could. But I’m not going to let that happen. You’re going to have to trust me, Devon. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
* * *
A mated werewolf was a dangerous creature. Devon might have accepted the fact that there was a connection between them that couldn’t be explained, but she didn’t understand it. Her world wasn’t his and until she was immersed in it, had the necessary time to learn and adjust to it, she was going to have to trust him.
“I want to, Liam.” Her doubt soured the air. It riled his wolf and a growl gathered in his chest that Liam forced away. “But we have no idea what’s going to happen once we step foot out this door. I’m scared.” Her doubt was natural. Expected. It wasn’t a reflection of her opinion of his capability to protect her. It spurred that instinctual part of him to squash that doubt. To prove to her that she would never have a reason to feel that way again. It made him even more determined to get them back to Stanley before the shit hit the fan.
“I know you’re afraid”—and gods how it rankled—“but we’re running out of time. It’s true that we won’t be able to communicate, but this is going to be simple. We’re going to get in your Jeep and drive. If we can’t drive, we’ll walk. The closer we get to my pack, the better.”
“It’s fifty miles, Liam.” Fear shone in Devon’s eyes, and cut through her soft expression. “You might be able to walk that in a blizzard, but I can’t.”
“I’ll carry you if I have to.” She opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off. “I’m strong enough to carry double your weight and then some. Your arguments are only wasting time. I’m going to keep you safe, Devon. I promise. Go get dressed. Now.”
His wolf grew more agitated by the second. The animal part of him wanted to stand and fight. To face their enemy head-on and settle this business between them once and for all. The wolf didn’t run. He didn’t cower. Fierce. Fearless. Predator.
Werewolf.
The wolf pushed and Liam’s body responded. His skin tightened on his frame and his bones creaked and cracked with the impending transition. The animal wouldn’t be denied. It didn’t matter that the moon was no longer full. He wanted control and he’d press his case until Liam gave it to him. But first, he needed to know that Devon would cooperate.
“Devon?”
“Your eyes are bright gold,” she replied. “You’re going to change, aren’t you?”
“Not until I know you’re going to go upstairs and get ready to go,” he said.
“All right.” The words came slow, as though she fought to say them. She turned and headed toward the bedroom. Liam watched her go, and she paused as her foot hit the first step. Devon looked over her shoulder at him and said, “I trust you,” before she climbed the rest of the stairs to her room.
Thank gods. One obstacle overcome, only a couple more to go. The wolf surged in his psyche, scratching to be let out. Liam’s jaw clamped down tight as his femur snapped. He went to his knees, his panting breaths the only sound in the quiet dark. He could protect Devon better this way. He could protect them both better this way. A fresh wave of pain crashed over him and stars swam in Liam’s vision. He squeezed his lids shut and his mind went blank as he gave himself over to the change.
Christoph would regret following the pack here.
* * *
Liam woke to his second consciousness. His headspace was different in this body, his perception of the world around him changed by the wolf and the magic that allowed him to become one with his animal half. His eyes opened and the dark interior of Devon’s cabin came sharply into focus. In this form, his senses became even sharper. The sweet scent of his mate hit his nostrils and he drew in a deep breath as he let out an approving growl. She was incredibly fragile. Human. Mortal. Fallible. Until Liam could change that, he would decimate anyone or anything that tried to harm her. The moment his wolf had claimed her, Devon became his top priority. The only other thing that mattered this much to him was the safety of the pack that had pledged their loyalty to him.
He let out an impatient whine as he waited at the foot of the stairs for her. The fine hairs on Liam’s undercoat stood on end. His scent covered every inch of the cabin and Devon’s scent covered every inch of him. Even with the heavy winds of the storm, Christoph would easily find them. Their only hope was to get to the protection of the pack, not because Liam couldn’t take the bear shifter on. In a fight, his strength was nearly equally matched with Christoph’s. Liam had only one disadvantage and that was Devon.
“Liam, I’m ready to go.”
He looked up to see Devon standing on the landing at the top of the staircase just outside her bedroom door. She was dressed for the storm in head-to-toe snow gear. Her puffy down coat swallowed her slight form and as she came down the stairs, the swoosh of fabric from her insulated ski pants alternated with the thick clunk of her boots. The clothes would keep her warm, but they would slow her down, make her even more susceptible to attack. A rush of anxiety-infused adrenaline coursed through Liam’s veins. It would be a mad dash from here to Stanley and at best they’d be traveling at half speed.
Devon’s eyes met his as she hit the bottom stair. She reached out a hand and laid it atop his head. Liam leaned into the contact, canting to one side as he reveled in his mate’s touch for an indulgent moment before turning and heading for the front door. No words would be spoken between them until they reached his pack. Liam prayed that the bond between them was strong enough that words wouldn’t be necessary. Otherwise, it was bound to be a very long night.
He headed for the door and turned when he realized Devon wasn’t following. She changed course and headed for the kitchen. She yanked open the drawer and pulled out the Beretta before sliding it into her coat. She took her safety seriously and Liam was glad for it. Because things were bound to get a hell of a lot worse before they made it to Stanley.
Heavy, wet snow pelted the thick fur of Liam’s coat. He dropped his head to shield his eyes as he waded toward the Jeep that was already almost buried to the grille in the accumulating drift. If Devon’s driveway was this bad, he could only imagine how treacherous the highway would be. But they had to give it a shot and put as much distance between them and Lowman as possible before they set out on foot. Devon went to the passenger side of the Jeep and opened the door. Liam moved to hop inside but she put a staying hand on his shoulder.
“Are you okay?”
He offered his reassurance by nuzzling her face. Her mouth puckered and her gaze narrowed in a rueful expression. “I think you’re just trying to placate me with sweet talk, but for now I’ll take it.”
Liam let out a slow sigh of relief as he hopped into the passenger seat. He’d absolutely been trying to placate her. He’d been worried they wouldn’t be able to communicate, but Devon proved he had nothing to fear. Their bond was strong. She was his mate. They belonged to each other and Liam was going to make sure they stayed together for a good long while.