Haunted Sanctuary (Green Pines Sanctuary) Read online

  Those eyes narrowed as he buried his nose in her neck and inhaled. “You don’t smell like his bitch,” the man muttered. “You’re just a lousy fucking human.”

  The words didn’t make sense. Had he expected her to smell like her cousin? Or could he smell another wolf in the SUV? Jay—

  Jay should have come back by now.

  She pushed the useless thought away and rammed her knee into her attacker’s balls. He howled his pain, his rage, and threw her to the ground like a broken toy. His clothes ripped as he shifted, and he hit the ground on all fours, his hands and feet already turning to paws. Eden found herself staring into an open, snarling muzzle full of razor-sharp teeth.

  She scrambled back, kicking at his nose when he lunged. His teeth closed on the heel of her boot, and she twisted and tried to jerk away, wrenching her ankle in the process.

  Tears sprung to her eyes, but she bit her lip and pulled again, dragging her foot free of her shoe. Hope surged as she twisted again and landed on her hands and knees. If she could get under the car or to the house—

  A growl ripped through the air a second before a heavy weight crashed into her, driving her to the ground. Claws dug into her body, but the pain disappeared under a flood of agony as the wolf sank sharp teeth into her arm.

  Screaming. Running. A woman, a brunette dressed in flannel, yelling as she kicked at the wolf. “No!”

  The wolf reared back, and the woman swung the butt end of a shotgun so hard it sounded like a solid home run when it connected with the animal’s head. He tumbled off Eden and rolled away just far enough for the woman to ready the shotgun as he rose.

  She fired once and the wolf staggered back with a howling whine. She worked the slide, fired again, and the wolf fell.

  Eden struggled to her knees, her back on fire and her arm throbbing. “Where’s Jay? The man I came with—”

  The woman tore off her flannel shirt and wrapped it around Eden’s wound. “We have to find Zack.”

  “Zack’s here?” It was a stupid question, but it was hard to think when every heartbeat made the pain worse. “You’re with him?”

  “You’re Eden.” It wasn’t a question. The brunette pulled her to her feet. “Can you walk?”

  “I don’t know.” She took one tentative step and hissed as her ankle buckled. She pitched against the side of the SUV with a groan. “I need to find Jay. I didn’t warn him, and I should have. I need to warn him.”

  “Shh.” The woman tilted her head, then wrapped Eden’s arm around her shoulders. “Come on, this way.”

  The world went gray with every step. Eden couldn’t feel her fingers anymore, couldn’t feel much of her hand at all on her bitten arm.

  A bite. “Oh crap, the wolf bit me. Is that bad?”

  Before the woman could answer, Jay ran out of the trees, barefoot with his shirt hanging open. “Jesus Christ. Eden?”

  She stared at his chest. Beautiful light-brown skin and dark hair, muscles and strength, and if he’d been undressed, unarmed, he couldn’t be human. “You’re a wolf.”

  “You’re bleeding.” His gaze dropped to her arm, and he stepped forward to hold her up.

  He hadn’t denied it. He hadn’t even blinked. “You’re a wolf,” she said again, more quietly this time. “I got bitten. Does that mean anything?”

  He blanched. “Eden—”

  The brunette cried out, a wordless noise of relief and worry tangled together. She jerked away and ran toward the trees, where Zack had walked out of the shadows, and threw her arms around his neck.

  That it was Zack, Eden had no doubt. The eighteen-year-old hero she remembered was there, buried under blood and stress and numerous tattoos that circled his arms, crept up his shoulders and across his chest. He looked as if he’d only aged ten of the last twenty-two years, but pain had carved its mark in his eyes.

  They held little recognition as they studied her, but that made sense. She’d been only ten years old the day he’d finally fled his father’s temper.

  She wet her dry lips. “Hi, Zack.”

  “Eden. Are you all right?” His gaze snapped to Jay, and something dangerous stirred in his eyes.

  She didn’t know how to answer.

  “She’s been bitten,” Jay said evenly. “I need to take her to the hospital.”

  Finally, a normal suggestion. She clung to it with both hands, fighting back the feeling that the ground had turned to shifting sand beneath her. “Soon? I’m not doing so well.”

  “Scott’s friend got to her,” the brunette blurted in a desperate rush. “I know you told us to stay inside, but I had to stop him, Zack. I had to try.”

  Zack smoothed his hands over the girl’s hair without taking his eyes off Jay and Eden. “Take her. We’ll deal with the bodies.”

  Jay peeled back the edge of the makeshift flannel bandage and grimaced. “Let’s go, honey. You’ll do fine ’til we get there, but you’ll need stitches.” He lifted Eden off her feet and carried her to the battered SUV.

  Holding back pained whimpers kept her distracted while he settled her on the front seat and buckled her in. By the time she’d gotten her breath, Jay was pulling down the driveway.

  “You don’t have a door,” she protested belatedly.

  He glanced at her, his jaw tight. “What are they going to do, arrest me?”

  She couldn’t help it. Whether it was pain or shock or the series of emotional blows she couldn’t say, but it was too much. A hysterical, gasping laugh rasped out of her. “God, none of them would dare.”

  “I hope not.” He pulled onto the main road and reached over to pat her leg. “You’re going to be fine, Eden. The bleeding isn’t severe. They’ll be able to fix you right up.”

  Eden caught his hand and clung to it, scared that her good fingers had started to tingle. “Even though I was attacked by something they think doesn’t exist?”

  He hesitated. “As far as anyone at the ER will be able to tell, a dog bit you, okay?”

  Still avoiding. She squeezed his hand. “Are you a werewolf, Jay?”

  “I am.” He slowed for a turn toward the highway. “So’s your cousin, I guess. And the dangerous people after him?”

  Swallowing hard, Eden closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you. I don’t—I don’t know much about werewolves, or what Zack’s tangled up in. He tries to keep me and Dad out of it.”

  “I get it. You told me as much as you could without sounding crazy.”

  The tingling spread to her entire hand. If it hadn’t been so intense, she might have suspected it was nothing more than her body’s pleasure in touching Jay. Handsome, intelligent, wonderful Jay.

  The werewolf.

  “You didn’t answer me,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm. “Neither did the girl. I got bitten by a werewolf. Am I—” No, those words weren’t going to come out sounding serene, no matter what she did.

  He drew to a stop at a red light and sighed. “Eden, I don’t know. It’s not that simple. I’ve seen people with bites turn out to be completely unaffected. It doesn’t mean you’re going to turn into a werewolf.”

  “But I could.”

  “You could,” he acknowledged.

  Her toes started to itch. The pins-and-needles sensation from her arm jumped to her spine, rippling down her body in a liquid rush that made her gasp and arch. “Jay—”

  He caught her by the shoulders and turned her to look at him. “What’s happening, Eden?”

  It should have been agony. His fingers brushed the flannel wrapped around her upper arm, and she whimpered. Not pain. Prickling. Wild sensitivity so severe she wrenched away and tore the makeshift bandage free.

  Her fingers encountered sticky blood and unbroken skin.

  Jay pulled her arm toward him and ran his fingers over her flesh. “This isn’t possible.”

  She could feel the individual ridges of his fingerprints. Time seemed frozen, his stroking touch overwhelming. “Jay—Jay I don’t feel okay. I don’t feel r
eal.”

  His fingertips settled over the pulse in her wrist. Then he drew away with a curse and whirled the vehicle in a tight U-turn. “We’re going to my place.”

  Her heart was racing. She couldn’t just feel it, she could hear it. Muscle constricting, blood rushing, the air rasping in and out of her lungs. The roar could have originated inside her, or it could have been the wind whipping by the missing door of the SUV.

  The streetlights wobbled and danced, so she squeezed her eyes shut and groped for the seat and the door. Splaying her hands against something solid made it seem less like she was spinning. “What’s happening to me?”

  He cursed again. “Something that shouldn’t be. Not yet, damn it.”

  Oh God. She was turning into a werewolf.

  “Make it stop.” When she clenched her fingers, her nails scraped over the seat so loudly her head throbbed. “Please. Please, Jay, I don’t want to be a werewolf. I’m not strong enough.”

  “Yes, you are,” he argued. The firm words brooked no argument, so certain she could feel them in her gut. The pinpricks up and down her spine eased as something warmer took their place. It melted the tension in her shoulders and trickled down, light and teasing enough to raise goose bumps.

  Her nipples tightened. Arousal kindled, embarrassingly abrupt, and she pressed her thighs together. Jay was touching her everywhere and nowhere, stroking along her skin and inside her mind with an intimacy that made her squirm.

  Not touch. Not sight or smell or taste, and definitely not a sound. She couldn’t hear anything over the roar of the wind and her pounding pulse. But she could sense him, and she wanted to roll in him. Drown in him.

  Then he did touch her, strong hands sliding over her back, under her legs. “Come on.”

  She jerked away, disoriented that he was reaching for her from the right. The seat beside her was empty and the SUV was parked. “Where are we?”

  “My house.” He lifted her in his arms and kicked the passenger door shut. “We’ve got to get you inside.”

  The world dipped again, and color exploded behind her eyes. Dazzling greens and vivid golds twisted and danced as she hid her face against his throat with a not very human whimper.

  Jay pressed his lips to her temple and another wave of heat washed over her.

  Stroking. Coaxing. He was surrounding her, pushing in from all sides, and some foreign part of her pushed back. The forces collided at her skin and sparked lightning. She cried out and struggled in his arms, driven by the sudden urge to fight, to flee, to run.

  Another door slammed, and Eden felt cool wood under her hands. Jay was still whispering, only this time his fingers moved busily, tugging open the buttons on her shirt.

  Good. Her shirt was claustrophobic. Clutching, clinging fabric, trapping her in her body. Her fingers felt too clumsy, but his glided over the buttons, freeing one after another with a gentle rasp of fabric over plastic.

  Patient. She had to be patient. But when he slipped his hands under the fabric to guide it down her arms, he leaned close enough to put the vulnerable expanse of his throat at risk.

  Clumsy, arrogant male. Snarling, she lunged for him, intent on setting her teeth in his skin.

  He stopped her short with a firm hand wound in her hair. “Bite me and I’ll spank you.”

  She panted, sucking in short, sharp breaths that only served to drag his scent into her lungs. She’d never noticed it before, not really. Not enough to pick apart the clean smell of soap from the sharp undertones of his aftershave. And she’d never imagined the lower notes, the earth, the rain—like the wind when it ripped through town ahead of a bad storm. Wild nature, unchecked.

  Seductive. She strained against his grip on her hair, yearning toward his throat with a different purpose now. To bury her face in the crook of his neck and wallow in that wildness, to rub her cheek against his skin so the intoxicating memory of it would linger after he was gone.

  Instead of loosening his hold on her hair, he tugged her head back, baring the line of her throat. A brush of lips, almost like a kiss—and then he bit her.

  She only had a moment to register the stinging pain of his teeth before satisfaction roared up to consume it. Every muscle in her body melted like warm taffy as the urge to fight him dissolved.

  Quiet. So quiet. She almost remembered words. “Jay?”

  “I’m here,” he rasped. “I’ve got you.” His hand dropped to her pants and pulled them open.

  Human modesty slammed against the wall of madness, and she wriggled away with an alarmed noise. “What, why—”

  He held up both hands. “If you don’t get them off now, you’ll get tangled up in them and freak out.”

  She couldn’t make sense of the words, could barely understand them, but she understood the retreat in his upheld hands, the worry and care in his tone. Jay wouldn’t hurt her. Closing her eyes, she eased out of her shoes, pants and underwear, tossing the clothing aside until she knelt shivering and naked on the hardwood floor.

  He wrapped his arms around her and bit her again, this time a gentle press of teeth to the back of her neck. “Don’t be afraid, and don’t fight. Just feel her. Let her out.”

  The words vibrated through the room, a command and a soothing order, neither of which she knew how to obey. An anxious pressure built inside her, one uncomfortably like arousal. “Help. Help me.”

  “She’s in there, honey, I know she is. Find her.”

  Her. The wild strangeness. Eden shivered. “She’s calm now.”

  “Yeah.” He stroked a hand over her hair.

  She shivered again, only this time it didn’t stop. Shivers turned to trembling, and trembling to shaking. The tension inside seized tight without warning, bowing her back as her nails scraped helplessly over the floor.

  Pain shot down her spine. Bones cracked. Eden tried to scream and couldn’t get enough air into her burning lungs. Her body tore apart in slick, wrenching agony.

  Broken.

  Dying.

  No, not dying. Remade. Reborn. Power rode the pain, swelled and swelled until there was no way to contain the sweetness, the glory. Her wolf swept aside the last bit of human thought in a rush to claim her, and the sound of her own triumphant howl chased her into the wild.

  Chapter Two

  She was still sleeping.

  Jay knelt on his bedroom floor and peered under the bed. “Eden? You awake?”

  A muffled, sleepy noise answered him. Eden tried to curl onto her side and froze when her shoulder bumped the box spring. Her eyes snapped open. “Uh…”

  He turned his head. “I brought you a shirt.”

  “All right,” she said, voice faint. “Could—could you give me a minute?”

  “Do you need me to do anything?” He’d left her alone for most of the night. After her change, no amount of comfort or soothing magic seemed to get through to her. She’d hidden under the bed, and Jay had slept on the floor beside it.

  She squirmed a little and bit off a curse as something thudded against the bed frame. “Maybe lift the bed a little? This is awkward as a naked human.”

  “Yeah.” Better to put his eyes above the mattress anyway. He rose on his knees, lifted the frame with one hand and held out the shirt with the other.

  Her body brushed his as she crawled past him, grabbing the shirt on the way. By the time he lowered the bed, she’d tugged the garment over her head. “Thank you. Do I want to know how I ended up under there?”

  “I think you wanted to den up and hide. It’s pretty common after an initial change.”

  “So it wasn’t a dream.”

  He turned to find her kneeling a few feet away on the floor, rubbing her cheek against the sleeve of the shirt he’d lent her. “No, not a dream,” he whispered. It was too much for her to go through, for anyone to face. “I’m sorry.”

  She dragged in a shaky breath before burying her nose in the sleeve. “It smells like you. I don’t even know how I know that, but it’s comforting.”

 
“Your sense of smell will be a lot more pronounced now.” He could handle teaching, offering her information, and he knew a woman like Eden was bound to appreciate it. “People think wolves have the best sniffers out there, but it’s not true, not compared to a lot of dog breeds. Sound, though—that’s a big one. Your brain will block out the worst of it, but loud noises might be painful until you get used to them.”

  Her gaze dropped to his chest as her eyes narrowed. “I can hear your heart.”

  “You’ll be able to see in the dark too.” He rose and held out his hand. “Hungry?”

  “Starving.” She let him pull her to her feet but didn’t release his hand. “Jay… Thank you for taking care of me.”

  His skin tingled at her touch. She’d slept two feet away from him, he’d seen her naked, and now she was wearing his shirt. Not just wearing, but luxuriating in, like his scent was the only thing she wanted on her body ever again.

  He bit his tongue. Hard. “You’re welcome.”

  She swayed toward him, like she was fighting the urge to close the distance between them. Her fingers clenched tight as she turned away. “I can feel her. She’s me, but she’s separate. And she’s not confused.”

  “Good.” Too many new wolves went nuts from the sudden shift in sensory input, not to mention the lifelong implications—the transformation was irreversible, those changes unavoidable. Adjusting was hellish, and some people couldn’t do it at all.

  If Eden was one of them…

  It didn’t bear consideration. Jay would have had to end her misery, and how the hell would he explain that to Zack? To Eden’s father?

  How would he handle it himself?

  She cleared her throat. “Am I supposed to want to sniff you?”

  “If you want to check me out.” Only shit, that sounded like an invitation. “You’re going to want to test other wolves. That’s unavoidable.”

  Silence. Eden edged closer, as if she couldn’t help herself, her gaze fixed on his throat. “If you don’t want me to, I think you better run or lock me in the bathroom or something.”