The Alpha's Ardor by Rebecca Brochu Page A

line for even a second.
    With some hunters that didn’t even mean they had to hurt someone or anything of that nature. Declan had more than one memory of being run out of towns for various bullshit reasons, but he and Lachlan had always moved on peacefully. It was better than trying to start a fight with a group of insane assholes armed with guns and pouches of wolfsbane. Plus, any hunter who might find out who they actually were would be twice as determined to hunt them down.
    A loud howl from entirely too close behind him startled Declan, and he stumbled and went down hard. He yelped as pain flared through his side but he regained his feet quickly, turned his attention back to his surroundings and forced himself to move forward. The wind shifted suddenly, and Declan reared back in surprise and skidded to a halt as his senses screamed at him that he was about to cross the border into another pack’s territory. The sound of the wolf on his tail caused his heart to hammer even harder in his chest and Declan, trapped between a wolf out for his blood and the border to an unknown pack’s territory, had a decision to make.
    The wolf behind him snarled, low and threatening as his indecision helped it to close the distance between them even quicker, and Declan made a split second choice. He threw himself over the borderline, turned his muzzle towards the wind, and ran hell bent for where the scent of pack was strongest. He heard the wolf behind him hesitate for a moment before he followed Declan over the line. Declan did his best to ignore the pain in his side and pushed himself to run even faster.
    Declan had just skidded his way around a large oak tree when something slammed into his injured side hard. His vision darkened at the sudden burst of agony that tore through him as he went flying and hit the ground with a muffled thud. Declan’s first instinct was to come up snarling, teeth bared and hackles raised, but before he could move he caught the scent of what had hit him.
    Alpha.
    The scent was strong and thick and male. A potent mix of forest leaves and bitter dark chocolate, it made Declan want to roll over and show his belly, to offer up his neck in submission before such a powerful wolf. Instead he flattened himself out against the ground and squeezed his eyes closed tightly as he tried to fight the dizziness that was closing in around the edges of his mind. If the alpha was going to kill him, there wasn’t much Declan could do about it in the first place. Even in peak condition he didn’t stand a chance against such a powerful wolf on his own. The best he could hope for would be for the alpha to acknowledge the fact that he’d immediately backed down. Hopefully after that he would let Declan speak and plead his case before he made his choice to either kill Declan or chase him out.
    Just then Declan heard the brown wolf, the one who’d been chasing him, burst through the underbrush behind him. There was a roar and an answering bark of aggression, and Declan could feel it in the air the moment the two wolves clashed. There were the sounds of fighting, of fangs and claws on fur as they ripped at each other. Then there was a high-pitched yelp and the scent of fresh blood was in the air and the sounds faded. Declan knew the other wolf was still alive, could hear its heart beat in the air around him, but he also knew it was injured.
    He wanted to get to his feet, wanted to flee from being trapped between an alpha and a beta who, while now injured, was out for his blood. Instead he curled in on himself as much as he could despite the wound on his side because he knew better. If he ran all he would manage to accomplish would be to give the alpha a chase as well as the brown wolf, something that Declan knew would more than likely end in his death.
    In the next second the alpha let out a rumbling growl so loud and deep that Declan could feel it in his bones, and it sent a harsh shiver down his spine. When he felt the air