Wolfen by Madelaine Montague

Her knees were practically knocking together when she stepped outside the cabin and closed the door behind her again. Resisting the sudden urge to head next door and ask one, or all, of the bikers to go with her for added protection, she started down the steps of the porch.

     

      Con stepped from the path she'd so lately fled from before she'd covered half the distance between the cabin and the woods. She halted abruptly, staring at him shock as he staggered, or maybe stumbled? He was bare-chested and barefooted, his shaggy blond hair tousled. He was also bleeding. Xavier, who exited the woods behind him, didn't look to be in much better shape.

     

      "My god!” Danika gasped, racing toward them as her shock finally released her from paralysis. “What happened to you two?"

     

      Con stared at her for a long moment, obviously having some trouble focusing his eyes. Abruptly, his brows descended in a frown. “Woman!” he growled. “You are a menace!"

     

      Danika braked to a halt, gaping at him. “Me? What did I do?"

     

      "As if you didn't know!” Con snarled.

     

      He was drunk, Danika realized abruptly. “If you're talking about the shooting just a little while ago...."

     

      "That's exactly what I'm talking about!” Con growled. “What the hell did you think to accomplish?"

     

      "I wasn't trying to accomplish anything but to scare off the wolf pack that's been terrorizing the locals. They were after me!"

     

      "That wasn't that wolf pack!” Xavier said angrily.

     

      Danika turned to stare at him. “What do you mean it wasn't that wolf pack?” she asked blankly.

     

      A look of dismay flickered across his features. He turned to look at Con as if seeking help but apparently the look on Con's face didn't look promising. “I just remembered something,” he muttered, shoving past Danika and heading for his cabin.

     

      "Where do you think you're off to now?” Con demanded, drawing her attention back to him.

     

      "I figured as long as I'd taken some of them down I'd tag them and put a locator in their hips,” she informed him stiffly.

     

      Con glared at her in fuming silence for a moment. “I don't think they'd appreciate getting a locator in the ass any more than they liked the fucking darts."

     

      "Well, I'm not going to ask them!” Danika snapped, realizing he was too drunk to make any sense.

     

      He grabbed her with surprising strength when she tried to march past him. Before she quite knew what was happening, she found herself slung over his shoulder. Stunned, she couldn't even gather her wits to try to struggle for several moments. It was the realization that he was hauling her back to her cabin that finally penetrated her surprise. “Put me down, you ass!"

     

      "Not likely!"

     

      "I mean it, Con! Put me down!"

     

      "I don't think so."

     

      She made a growling sound of frustration in her throat as he started up the steps. “I've got work to do!” she ground out angrily. “Who do you think you are? Tarzan?"

     

      He allowed her to slip to her feet as he entered the cabin with her. “Something like that,” he growled, hooking a hand behind her head and dragging her against him.

     

      "I'm pissed at you!” she snapped as he lowered his head to match his mouth to hers.

     

      "I'm pretty damned pissed off with you, if comes to that,” he muttered, nipping at her lips with his, nibbling and sucking at them hungrily. “And I still want you like hell."

     

      "I mean it,” Danika whispered, weakening.

     

      "I do, too,” he murmured against her throat, having taken a quick detour to suck open mouthed kisses along her throat that had her gasping for breath. Heat spiraled between them like steam rising off hot pavement as he stroked one hand down her back to cup her buttocks, dragging her up almost bruisingly against his erection.

     

      He sought her mouth again, settling his lips firmly over her