Embracing the Wolf

What the hell? I dropped his hand and took a step back. Maybe he had a seductive power like Nicholas and was forcing his influence onto me.

Ben smirked, holding my eyes. “I hear you almost became a member of my pack.” His eyes raked up the length of my body before they connected with mine again. “I would have loved to have you.”

“Ben Jenkins,” a deep voice said behind me, and I visibly relaxed. Adam moved past me so that his body shielded mine. “I heard you wouldn’t be able to make it.”

I moved so I could see what was going on. Adam’s possessiveness could get a little overbearing at times.

“I rearranged some things,” Ben said. “I couldn’t miss the opportunity to meet the woman who captured Adam Everwood, the notorious womanizer.”

Womanizer? Adam?

“That was a long time ago, Ben, and none of them had what Anna does.”

Nice save, playboy.

Ben rubbed his chin and shook his head back and forth as though thinking about something. “I don’t know,” he said. “You and Chloe looked pretty cozy earlier.”

Red. I saw nothing but red, or maybe it was green?

Adam snorted in disgust. “I see you’re still up to your old ways, causing trouble for entertainment. It’s not going to work this time. You see this?” Adam held his hand up, branded palm facing Ben. “Nothing you say will disprove what this woman means to me.”

Adam lowered his hand and grabbed mine. “Come on, Anna.”

“It was nice meeting all of you,” I said to the group. They nodded and smiled, turning their attention back to the wolfy games.

Adam and I walked to the sidelines, far enough away from Ben, and stopped. Whoever built the obstacle course had done a great job. There was a climbing wall, something that looked like monkey bars, and a lot of other things built to test their endurance.

Adam stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. Leaning down, he rested his chin on my shoulder. I inhaled his scent, closing my eyes as I allowed it to comfort me.

“So …” I said. “You were a ladies man, huh?” I tried to sound nonchalant, but the thought of Adam with another woman made me almost nauseous. I wasn’t a fool; I knew he had been with other women, and it was silly to get upset over it, but when it came to Adam, I was sometimes irrational.

“That was before I was an alpha of my own pack,” Adam said, kissing the side of my neck. “Every teenage wolf goes through a period like that.”

I was silent as I thought about what it would have been like to see Adam in his teen years. Did werewolves go to normal schools? There was still so much I didn’t know.

“Are you jealous, Chante?” Adam wiggled his fingers against my stomach, and I laughed.

“Stop it.”

Adam tickled me again. “Not until you tell me you understand that there is no other woman for me.”

I doubled over, held in place by Adam’s strong arms. I was laughing so hard people were starting to stare.

“O … okay,” I said through a giggle.

“Okay what?” He eased up his torture.

“I understand that I’m the only woman for you,” I said over my shoulder. “Though Chloe is trying her damnedest to change that.”

Adam turned me around and cupped my face. He stared into my eyes, a sad smile on his face. “It bothers me that you don’t trust me, Anna. I don’t know what I can do to prove to you that you are the only woman I desire.” He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. “Your body is the only one I want to kiss.” He pressed a kiss to my lips again. “To taste.” He pinned me with his eyes. “To make love to. Understand?”

I was breathless and on fire for him. I nodded, my lips parted. Reaching up, I ran my hands across the span of his broad shoulders and lifted myself up on my tiptoes to reach his mouth. Adam entrapped my body in his arms, yanking me against his hard body. A moan slipped out when his tongue slipped between my lips. The hardness of his erection pressed against his jeans and stoked the fire raging between my legs.

Then everything disappeared.

I was no longer in Adam’s arms or standing in the field by our house. I was in a meadow, surrounded by tall pine trees, and Adam was lying in a pool of blood at my feet. I fell to my knees, a scream ripping from my throat. I grasped for Adam, my fingers curling into his shirt as I fell upon him. Blood seeped through his shirt, turning white to red. His head lolled to the side, his blue eyes wide and full of disbelief.

“Adam,” I whispered, my lips trembling. “Adam!” I screamed, clutching onto his shoulders. I shook him, guiding his face to mine so I could look into those fading eyes. It was either raining, or I was crying—I couldn’t be sure. All I could focus on was Adam.

“Please don’t do this,” I pleaded, leaning down and resting my forehead against his. I leaned back and kissed his lips. “You’re going to be fine. Just hold on.”

“Chante,” he whispered, and then his eyes fell shut.

“Adam?” I shook his shoulders frantically. “Adam.”

I came back to the now, my eyes now focusing on the obstacle course.

“I think we’ll do that tomorrow,” Adam was saying. I must have missed the other part of the conversation. My vision must not have been long enough for him to notice. I whipped around in his arms and hugged him tight, squeezing his neck.

“Hey,” Adam soothed, his hands rubbing my back. “What’s wrong, Anna? You’re shaking.”

I leaned back and cupped his face.

“Why are you crying?”

“It was horrible, Adam. I …”

“What? Was it a vision?”

I nodded, though I couldn’t put to words what I’d seen. I couldn’t voice that nightmare. I kept seeing the blood and the light fading from those beautiful blue eyes. Tears continued to stream down my face.

“I need to talk to Wade.” I began to walk away when Adam gripped my arm to stop me.

“Tell me what you saw.”

I stopped and wiped a hand across my cheeks to erase the tears. When I met Adam’s eyes, another round of fresh tears dampened my face.

“Your death.”

Chapter Thirteen

I found Wade around the back of house with Chelsea. They both looked up when Adam and I approached. Adam wouldn’t let me talk to Wade alone. I couldn’t blame him; the vision affected him more than anyone.

“I need to talk to you,” I told Wade.

“Can it wait?” Wade slid a sidelong glance toward Chelsea. I understood he liked her, and she probably liked him, but now was not the time to lay the groundwork for a relationship when there was something wonky going on with my visions.

“No,” I said sternly.

Wade leaned back in his chair, his arm draped over the back of Chelsea’s. My visions weren’t a secret so I didn’t mind discussing them in front of her, but I also didn’t know whom I could trust. Chelsea and I might have been friends in high school, but she hadn’t been shy in letting me know she blamed me for her change. I didn’t expect her to come to terms with it this soon. I sure as hell didn’t.

I sat at the table, and Adam took the chair beside me. I explained the vision, making sure not to look at Adam. I could feel his unease through our bond. I couldn’t imagine the look on his face. Once I was done explaining, I stared at Wade expectantly.

“So?”

“There’s not much to go off of,” Wade said. “Did you see how he died? Who attacked him?”

I thought for a second. “No, just what I told you. You said a seer saw the past, not the future. Why am I all of a sudden seeing it?”

Wade sat up and tilted his head. He ran a hand over his buzzed head and then rested his fisted hands under his chin.

“You’re still a new werewolf, Anna. Our gifts are not set in stone; they’re constantly changing and developing. The good news is, now that you saw it, we can do something to stop it.”

“How?” I pounded my fist against the wood table. I couldn’t get the look of Adam’s dying eyes out of my mind, and it had me on edge. I could not stand by and wait while someone was out there scheming to kill my mate.

I stood up and paced the deck, enraged and frightened at the same time. I felt strong hands come around my shoulders. Adam’s fingers squeezed, and then I felt his hot breath against my neck.

“It hasn’t happened yet, which means we can do something to make sure it doesn’t.”

“How?” I asked, turning to face him. “How am I supposed to figure out who wants to kill you when I didn’t see that part? There are over two hundred wolves here, Adam. Any one of them could be responsible.”

“I say you start living up to your name, alpha,” Wade said. When Adam and I looked at him, he explained, “You’re a made wolf and the new alpha female of one of most prestigious packs. You may not have noticed yet, but a lot of wolves here are curious to meet you. A pureblood has never took a mutt—no offense—as their mate. Add to the fact that you guys bonded.”

I flicked my eyes to Chelsea’s face. Wade’s comment about purebreds not mating with mutts didn’t go unnoticed by her. Her pink lips turned down, and she kept her gaze on the table instead of Wade. I slid my eyes to Wade and motioned toward Chelsea. When he looked over, he realized what’d he’d said.

“But not because purebreds don’t want to,” he said. “I mean, they sleep with non-purebreds all the time …”

I shook my head and Chelsea stood. I’d never seen anyone put their foot into their mouth as much as I did. Wade was doing a pretty good job of it.

“I have some chores to do,” Chelsea said.

“I didn’t mean you guys are only good for sex. I just meant politics always get in the way.”

Chelsea shook her head, bouncing brown curls around her head. “I gotta go.”

Wade stood, but she was already opening the sliding glass door and heading inside. He let out a defeated sigh, sitting back down.