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Tears sprang to my eyes, and I buried my face in my hands to hide them from the world. Wasn’t my life already difficult enough? I didn’t need yet another man who’d think he owned me and could order me around.
Chapter Two
Cujo
Soundsofthenightgreeted me when I regained consciousness. What the hell had happened? My head throbbed like someone was pounding on my skull with a hammer. From the fucking inside. I inhaled deeply and a fresh scent filled my lungs, easing the pain in my head instantly. Needing more relief before I tried to open my eyes, I took another deep breath. The essence was floral. Honeysuckle, maybe. After a third breath of the intoxicating scent, I forced my eyes to open only to discover I was lying in my wolf form on the concrete floor of a cell.
What the fuck?
Memories of the previous night came back to me. Of Jaxson shoving me in here then tranqing me when I’d lost my shit. I braced myself for my wolf to take over again and rush the bars like he’d done last night. When after a few minutes he hadn’t even attempted to move, curiosity had me lifting my head to find who, or what, was putting off the scent that was taming my wolf. A small blonde woman was curled up on the floor of the cell next to mine. There was a cot against the opposite wall, so her choice to sleep near me on the cold concrete was beyond strange. I was certain I’d never met or even seen her before last night. In her sleep, the woman’s hand had shifted to lay close to the bars. Shuffling forward, I pressed my snout through so I could sniff right up against her skin. Tingles ran down my spine as the honeysuckle aroma grew thicker and filled my lungs.
“Mate.”
Whoa. What the fuck?
I forced myself to back away from the female, shaking my head at what my wolf was telling me. She couldn’t possibly be my mate. I’d scented no wolf on her. No shifter at all. No way could I be paired with a fucking human. Fate wouldn’t be so cruel as to tie me down to someone as fragile as this woman appeared to be. She was wearing a tight, short skirt and her top barely covered her lush tits. She’d clearly been wearing a lot of makeup and it had smudged since she’d been here, not that it hid her beauty. Her feet were bare, but I could see a pair of high, pointy, heeled shoes over by the cot. She was a hooker. My mate was a fucking prostitute? A low growl rumbled from my chest. Yeah, my wolf also was not impressed at the thought my mate earned money by fucking other men.
I wanted to laugh or maybe cry. Fate was indeed a cruel bitch to pull this shit on me. At least as a human, she wouldn’t know we were mates. She’d move on with her life without giving me another thought. No mate meant no family for me, but I didn’t need or fucking want either of those, so this was all fine. My wolf growled again and pushing aside my human element, moved over to the bars again where he laid down pressed up against them, trying to get as close to her as he could.
“Mate. Needs rest.”
Fucking wolf. Clearly, he didn’t agree with my plan to remain single. This was going to be one hell of a mess to sort through, but it wasn’t anything I could deal with now. Not only was my wolf refusing to allow me to shift back to human, he was set on letting her continue to sleep. Since it was early morning from what I could sense, there were hours left before the sun would rise, and even longer before Joaquin would be able to make it here from Texas. Assuming he agreed to even come.
My wolf huffed at me, then put his snout through the bars to rest against her palm, settling in to sleep himself. Stubborn animal wasn’t taking any suggestions from my human side, but since he also wasn’t trying to break out of the cell or anything else that would have us getting tranqed again, I took it as a win for now and allowed sleep to take me away surrounded by the sweet scent of my mate.
The next time I woke it was because she was trying to slide her palm out from beneath my snout. Lifting my head, I blinked my vision clear to take in what this woman looked like in the morning light.
“Mate.”
Wish my wolf would cut that shit out. For real. The last complication my life needed right now was a mate. Especially one who fucking sold her body to other males. That had a low growl coming from my wolf and that sent the little female skittering away from me to the other side of her cell.
“I just needed to move off the cold floor. I wasn’t going to hurt you or anything.”
That had me scoffing. As if she could hurt me. Standing up, I stretched out my body before shaking out my coat. I wished I could get out of this place, but at least my wolf was calm. Which was strange enough to have me reassessing this female as a potential mate.
“Um, do you think you could shift? So we can talk.”
Interesting. Why would she want to talk to me if she didn’t know we were mates? Now that she’d asked my wolf to hand the reins over, he reluctantly did so. Calling on the magic needed to shift, I stretched up into my human form. When I could see clearly again, she was watching me, mesmerized.
“Damn, I wish I could do that.”
I cocked my head at her quietly spoken words. “You wish you were a shifter?”
She frowned and lifting her hand, began to chew on her right index fingernail as she wrapped the other arm around her middle. There was a thick band around each of her wrists. They looked to be made of simple leather, but they had symbols burned into the hide and when I focused on them, I could sense they contained magic.
I shook my head. “No, that’s not it. You are a shifter, but you can’t shift for some reason. Is it the bracelets?”
She stilled and her eyes widened to let me know I’d hit the mark. If she were a shifter, there was hope she could handle being my mate after all. Even after just the short time we’d been close to each other, I was already becoming addicted to her scent and the effect it had on me. I moved closer, wrapping my hands around the bars. A blast of her fear hit me, and I winced.
“I mean you no harm, sweetheart. What’s your name?”
She tilted her head up to look into my gaze. “Lily-Rose. What’s yours?”
“I’m Cujo. I can’t scent your animal.”
With a frown, she started to reach for one of the bands but pulled away before she came into contact with it, although it was enough to confirm it was the bracelets that were limiting her magic. Normally I didn’t like to talk, preferring silence, but I needed to know enough about this little female so I could find her later. Even if it meant breaking my promise to Jaxson about leaving the area right away.
Lily-Rose
