Savage Craving - Cecilia Lane Page 0,21

his ears and the furious beat pounding in Lilah’s chest. That sound was worse. Far worse. Drove him mad worse.

Fuck, if he didn’t know better, he’d have been certain a tail lashed in agitation in his mind. He’d heard a roar in his head the moment he caught sight of her being dragged through the parking lot, and another when he slammed his fist into the fucker’s face. That clawing, biting need to protect Lilah hadn’t faded in the miles since.

His fingers itched to close the space between his side of the truck and hers. He wanted the feel of her silky skin under his rough hands. Peace existed with that connection. Uncanny peace.

Peace he couldn’t afford. He wanted to rip and tear into Jasper and his lions. War felt right. They fucked with him, he slaughtered them. He’d even invite the Crowleys to play. They deserved some blood and gore for the shit Jasper put them through.

Fucker couldn’t be allowed to keep terrorizing the planet. They’d tried the human way of justice. It was time for shifter laws to take their pound of flesh.

Seth swallowed hard and yanked back on that primal need to fight that swirled inside him. Something was wrong. It itched at his nose and demanded his attention.

He dragged down a deep breath. Citrus and lavender filled his nose, but sharper. Not the tang of Lilah’s irritation or the gentler wash of her trying to stay steady. As steady as the situation allowed, anyway. He swallowed back a growl.

Despair. That was the scent that chilled his blood.

Lilah stared out the window, chewing on her lower lip. Her fingers were tucked under the hem of her skirt, tightening until her knuckles turned white. Her heart, too, hammered away at an unnatural pace that urged him to protect her and fix everything wrong in her life.

Starting with those fucks trying to kill her.

He swallowed back another growl and cautiously reached across the cab to cover her hand with his. Heat spread through his palm and wrist and traveled up his arm. One squeeze was all he intended, but lingered there, touching her, until she turned her face toward him.

“You can get through this,” he told her.

The cresting wave of emotion fell back and ebbed to something manageable. For him, and her. His need for blood faded to nothing but concern for the woman at his side, and the sharp sting in his nose smoothed away until nothing but the crisp and soothing portions of her scent remained.

Lilah gently tugged her hand out of his and tucked her hair behind her ears. “How do you always know when I need to be pulled out of my thoughts?”

Seth opened his mouth, then closed it again. He’d denied being a shifter. He couldn’t very well tell her about his powerful senses. That’d just bring about more questions and an explanation of how he wasn’t what she hated, but still had that blood pumping through his veins. Too complicated when he was human in all the ways that mattered.

“Reading people is part of the job,” he said.

Job. Right. She was just a job, and he didn’t have a cat under his skin. And if he did, she’d probably go running in the opposite direction.

“Where are we going?”

The unsteadiness in her voice cut through his thoughts, and Seth glanced at her. “What?”

Lilah pointed at a road sign. “That says north. I thought Wolfden was south.”

“Change of plans.” He turned his attention to the cars in the rearview, then back to the road ahead. No one followed them. Then again, he’d been confident they hadn’t been followed the night before. “I don’t know how they found us,” he said carefully.

Lilah shrugged up a shoulder. “I just figured they followed us from my place.”

“Maybe. But why wait until now to try shit? Why not last night, under the cover of darkness?” Seth grunted, then fixed her with another quick look. “You haven’t told anyone where we went?”

She edged around to face him, her brows pulling together. “No. You’re looking at my current possessions. I don’t even have my phone.”

Shit. He needed to do something about that. Maybe the mates could find her a few outfits between them. He’d stuff fistfuls of money at them to head into town for everything Lilah needed.

They needed to make it there, first.

Lilah still watched him. That circling feeling in his spine wanted to preen under her attention. He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. “Something doesn’t feel