Wolf's Hunger (Mafia Monsters #5) - Atlas Rose Page 0,7
engine. He glanced over his shoulder at me before I answered myself. “Yeah, I get it. The damn safe house.”
Movement came from the weak yellow glow. A powerful physique was a blur of darkness, striding toward me. My heart knew who it was before it registered on my brain. I yanked the handle, shoved open the door, and all but spilled out of the vehicle, running toward the Alpha.
“Carina,” Phantom growled, opening his arms wide.
I slammed into him, my chest thudding against his, my head pressed against the thunder of his heart as I wrapped my arms around him, taking in the feel of his body. “Jesus, thank God. Thank fucking God.”
“Are you hurt?” Those calloused fingers slid down my back and over my body, searching everywhere he could.
“No.” I shook my head against him. “I’m not hurt.”
His hard exhale scattered my hair before he gently gripped my arms and pulled away. In the bright headlights of the four-wheel drive, his eyes shone silver. “I swear to you I didn’t do that.”
I closed my eyes for a second, rocked by the desperation inside me. I knew he didn’t…I just knew. But to hear him say the words…was everything. “I know you didn’t.”
“Wolf.” Ruin acknowledged the Alpha. “I’ll organize a drop-off sometime tomorrow, after the dust settles. You going to be alright out here without a ride until then?”
Phantom gave a nod, gently pulling me forward as he shook the Fae’s hand. “Yeah, we’re good.”
“Stay safe, brother,” Ruin muttered, glancing at me before he dropped the Alpha’s grip and stepped away.
I didn’t like the way he looked at me. Didn’t like the way those careful eyes seemed to say a lot more than his damn mouth did. Like he blamed me. Like he despised me. My kind. My blood. My hunger…like it was so very different from his own.
3
Movement came from every side as the Unseelie climbed into the Explorer and drove away. Tension coiled like a serpent, slithering along my spine in the fading headlights…and left me in the dark.
A low growl rippled from my right. Vitold slunk forward on one side of me, and Church on the other. But their Alpha never moved, just watched as the pack surrounded me, watching, scenting the air.
“Phantom.” I glanced from Vitold to Church. “What’s going on?”
A growl came from one of them, not Arran, nor the Russian. Church approached cautiously, silver eyes glinting as he came from the side.
But it wasn’t a warning…it was fear. Vitold licked his lips. “Fae. We can smell Fae all over you, and fear.”
“We got separated,” Arran explained as Church stopped behind me and gripped my shoulders. “Ended up in the dark city.”
There was a flared of anger in Phantom’s gaze, his top lip curled and an unmerciful sound slipped free as the Alpha jerked that savage gaze from Arran to me. Dark eyes glinted as he searched mine.
Vitold pressed his face to my hair and breathed in deep. No matter how much I tried, I wasn’t used to that…all the touching and the smelling. My body shivered as Vitold stepped closer, his gaze trailing down my body. “The dark city, not a place for someone like you to be in, Carina.”
I swallowed hard. “I’m starting to get that feeling.”
“You’re here now,” Vitold continued. “I heard you cry out as we ran, thought you caught a bullet.”
He licked his lips, eyes drifting down to that low throb in my chest. I knew what this was now, knew the desperation that rode them to breaking point. “No bullet,” I murmured.
“No blood,” Church sighed as he slid his hands down my shoulders and then along my back.
I closed my eyes to the feel of them as Vitold brushed the back of his finger along my cheek. “Thought we were going to lose you,” he growled and that finger drifted down to capture the point of my chin and tilt upwards. “Fucking mortals and their guns.”
“But you didn’t, did you?” The words trembled as the night turned cold against my skin.
“Not this time,” Phantom growled.
I opened my eyes and stared down my nose at Vitold and Phantom behind him. “Not any time.”
“Can’t take that chance,” Vitold growled. “Not with men who want to hurt you…or the fucking FBI.”
I shivered as the air turned bitter and cold. I wasn’t sure if it was from the truth or the night, either way I felt exposed now…threatened more than I’d ever felt before. But not from the Wolves…never from the Wolves.