Rescue in the Smokies (Durham Wolves) (3 page)

Nothing made sense. It was as if he’d toyed with her. Played a game. Why?

Frustrated, Serg paused and lifted his muzzle into the air. Her scent was everywhere and her person was not. The smell wasn’t strong enough for her to be close by, and he had no idea which way to turn first. He would need to start circling the area in a spiral pattern to figure out which way she’d eventually headed.

Had McKinney purposefully staged this chaos?

Devious.

Think
. It was time for the wolf to think like a human. Time was of the essence. He needed to stop wandering in circles, chasing her smell. It was hard. In wolf form, it was what he did best. Track.

Context clues. Broken branches. Trampled leaves. Footprints.

Head back to the ground, he changed his approach. In minutes he found footprints, dainty ones that belonged to a woman’s hiking boots. And they were facing southwest.

Naturally. If McKinney was going to lure his prey, he would want to lure her away from the most populated area. Southwest would do it. If he managed to get her to cross the Sugarland Mt. Trail without realizing it, he could lead her for several miles in a southwesterly direction until she was in the middle of nowhere.

Genius, really.

Sure enough, as soon as Serg separated from the hodgepodge of smells congregating in and around the place she’d left the path, he managed to find a new lead and was back on track.

McKinney had led her quite a ways. Her scent grew stronger with each passing minute.

The vamp might have gone to ground for the day, but what would he have done with Juliana in the meantime? Why hadn’t he killed her yesterday or during the night?

According to legend, vampires needed to sleep during the day, but Serg was suspicious of this idea. He’d seen evidence of McKinney’s presence in direct sunlight over the years.

A strong whiff of his mate made Sergius lift his head.

She was close. She was also alive. If he could have sighed audibly in wolf form, he would have. Even more important, McKinney was not nearby. His smell was still distant. As though he’d left her somewhere. God, could she be restrained somewhere in the woods while that bastard slept?

Serg ran. Fear of what he would find made his blood boil.

He pushed through a grove of trees and suddenly she was there, right in front of him, sleeping on a bed of leaves, curled up in a tight ball under a shiny Mylar cover.

He stood for several seconds, staring at her. His chest heaved from the mad dash to find her. He took a deep breath in and held it.

She was slight compared to him. Long, gorgeous, red curls feathered out in every direction, some covering her face.

The urge to lurch forward and nuzzle her made his front paws twitch.

He needed to shift and get her to safety, but he also wanted to burn this moment into his memory, the second he first saw his mate. His jaw clamped down on the pack he carried, his dry mouth reminding him of its presence.

Finally, he backed away from her several yards, hiding himself amongst the bushes he’d come through to let the change take him back to human form.

In two minutes, it was over and he was dressed. And this was why he always carried the cumbersome pouch.

She was so still.

He crouched beside her. Her breaths were shallow, her face totally relaxed in deep sleep. He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Juliana?”

His fingers shook where they’d made contact with her warmth, shockwaves traveling up his arm even through the jacket and whatever she wore underneath. The urge to haul her into his embrace made him tense. He needed to know she was all right. Every bit of her.

She startled awake and bolted upright. “Ohmygod,” she gasped. A strangled sound left her throat.

Her gaze met his from only a few inches away, green eyes like deep pools of water reflecting her shock, her fear and her relief all at once.

“Are you okay?”

She smiled up at him, cute dimples forming on both cheeks. “I am now.” She inhaled, releasing it slowly.

Her heart rate slowed under his palm after the initial surprise. He could feel her pulse in her neck, the swish of blood as it coursed through her.

“Are you injured?”

“Only my pride.” Her pale face tipped back again, her cheeks now flushed. “How did you find me? Where am I?”

“You’re a long way from where you left the path, that’s for sure. Scores of people are combing the woods searching for you.”
In a completely different direction
. But she didn’t need to know that right now. “How did you get so far from where you started?”

“A man recommended I take a shortcut. When it got late I backtracked. I must have taken a wrong turn, because before I knew it, it was dark. I walked for a little longer and finally saw a light in the distance.” She dipped her head down, her face no longer visible to his perusal. “How embarrassing. I hike hundreds of miles every year. I’ve never gotten lost before. I-I’m not sure how this happened.”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re okay now. Everything is going to be fine. Did you walk all night? You must be exhausted. Hungry.” He was rambling. He never rambled. She had him tongue-tied. No, he’d never acted like this even as a youngster. Wolves didn’t fall all over themselves quite like humans did. Not until they met their mates, apparently.

She giggled. The sweetest sound he’d ever heard. “I think I’m okay. Relieved you found me. Wasn’t sure what I was going to do if I had to keep walking all night again.”

Why had she chosen to travel by night and sleep by day? Sure, it was a better idea as far as warmth was concerned, but not many people would think of such a thing under stress.

Sergius stood and extended his hand to her. She rose alongside him, steadying her slight frame. But her grip sent his mind whirling. Every hair on his body felt electrified. His heart raced. And damn if his cock didn’t jump to attention.

Lord, she was half a foot shorter than his six feet. And might weigh one fifteen, one twenty, soaking wet.

He could feel the firm muscles on her arms where his hand had landed as they stood. She was strong, apparently both physically as well as emotionally. She hadn’t started crying as he would have expected and didn’t appear to have spent the night crying either. Her eyes weren’t puffy, but weary. Stress lines marked her face.

“Why did you walk all night?”

“Well, the light for one. I thought it was a campfire, but it always remained elusive. I was sure if I followed that damn light, there had to be people around wherever it led when I got there. The strange thing was it was like a mirage. It seemed to keep moving farther away the closer I got to it. Exasperating, really.” She chuckled. “Now it seems absurd. Maybe I imagined the damn thing.”

Her brow furrowed and she bent to examine herself and brush off the twigs and leaves sticking to her body.

Serg reached to pull a leaf from her hair and tucked the unruly strand back behind her ear. When his thumb brushed her cheek, a shock jolted him. She jerked her gaze up to his and sucked in a breath.

She was so beautiful, even with tangled hair and a streak of dirt across her chin. Her round face was pale against his darker hand, a light sprinkling of freckles above her button nose. Sergius let his thumb travel across her cheek again, cupping the side of her head with his palm. His gaze traveled around her face, landing finally on her heart-shaped pink lips, which quivered as she licked the dryness away and tucked the bottom one inside, biting it between her teeth.

Her breath rate increased, in and out through her nose, while she dented that bottom lip with the tight grip of her front teeth.

Did he turn her on? He hadn’t been around mated couples for so long he’d forgotten what it was like when wolves met their mates.

His own heart was racing, threatening to pound out of his chest. He tried not to breathe too often or too deeply, because every inhale dragged more of her sweet essence into him, driving him crazy with the need to take her.

His cock was so stiff, rubbing against the zipper of his jeans. He’d picked a fine day to go commando. If he didn’t adjust soon, the tip was going to escape the top edge of his hip-riding pants and embarrass him to death.

Think, man
.

If she were a wolf herself, he would strip her sexy little body down right now, force her onto all fours in a show of dominance, and take her from behind. Claim her instantly.

Heat raced through his body, seeming to rush from every limb and his head, to gather in his groin. His blood all flowed south, leaving his palm shaking against the side of Juliana’s face.

He jerked his hand away, needing to break the moment. Had it been just a moment? It seemed like he’d been staring deep into her eyes for an hour.

“Um, how far off the path did I wander? My friends must be worried sick.” She took a step back.

“Quite a ways. It’ll be quicker if we head this way instead of back the way you came.” Serg pointed southwest, the direction she’d been heading most of the night.

Now that contact with her was broken, at least physically, he turned and faced the south, trying to adjust himself discreetly. It wasn’t as though he’d hauled a jacket around in his teeth all morning in the event he’d need to use it to hide a hard-on.

And the scent of Juliana was driving him insane. Her essence stuck out like a drug. Her pheromones called to him on a primal level, demanding he take action.

She grabbed his arm. “Are you okay?”

When he turned in her direction, he saw a hint of worry furrowing her brow. Her fingers gripped his forearm this time. Which one of them needed more support?

“I’m fine. Just—”
Just what, Sherlock
? “Thinking about the best course of action here. If we head this way…” he nodded south, “…we should be able to reach Clingman’s Dome Road in a few miles. It won’t be easy hiking without a path, but it’s the shortest route.”

“Okay. Wait. You aren’t carrying anything. Not even water.”

He gave a half chuckle while searching around inside his head for an appropriate retort.
She’s gotcha there, wiseass
.

“Didn’t expect you to be so far off the path when I started out. Still surprised you managed to wander this far in the dark.” He wasn’t surprised at all, but it sounded like the right thing to say. He could picture McKinney laughing to himself while he led this sexy vixen farther and farther from civilization.

Serg reached into his pocket and pulled out his radio. “I have one important thing.” He smiled at her.

God, he was so mesmerized by her presence, he hadn’t even had the decency to introduce himself. The woman who was going to spend the rest of her life with him, no matter she didn’t know it yet, should at least know his name.

“I’m Sergius, by the way. Sergius Durham. My friends call me Serg.”
Or they would if I had any
. The sheriff called him Serg. And his brothers.

“Juliana. But you knew that.” She bit that damn lip again.

Suddenly he didn’t feel the urgency of earlier. He had her now, by his side, at least for a few hours, because it would take that long for them to reach the road.

Where was McKinney? Sergius cringed, wondering what the vamp had planned. Not for the first time, he wished he understood the rhyme or reason of Keeton McKinney.

“I’ll radio headquarters and let them know you’re okay.” He held the receiver to his mouth and pressed the button connecting him to the sheriff. “Hardin? You there?”

“Serg? Give me good news.”

“Found her. Not a scratch. We’re heading southwest now toward the main road.”

“Thank God. I’ll meet you there.”

“Perfect.” Sergius stuffed the radio back in his pocket and glanced at the sky. It was midmorning. The sky was still overcast. It could rain. The last thing they needed was to get caught in a shower.

He needed to let his brothers know he’d found the hiker so they could stop looking. He reached out through their connection.
“Jaxon? Micah? I found her. Safe and sound. You can go on back to the house. I’ll be a while leading her off the mountain.”

“Got it. Good work,”
Jaxon responded.

“Ten four,”
Micah stated.
“Meet you back at the truck in a few, Jax.”

Sergius turned back to Juliana. She had both hands reaching up and behind her head, gathering her curls together. With her face tipped down she couldn’t see him staring, mesmerized by her. Her torso stretched, her breasts pulled high on her chest. Her jacket wasn’t zipped all the way up and he squeezed his fingers into tight fists as he watched her chest rise and fall, her pert nipples poking through the thin material of her shirt as she wrestled with a band to pull her hair back.

He glanced away before she caught him gawking and swallowed. “You okay to start walking? When was the last time you ate?” He wished he’d at least brought her some food. Water.

“I’m fine. I still have protein bars and plenty of water. But I’m very tired. This way, you say?” She pointed south, scrunched her forehead, grabbed her backpack and started walking.

Chapter Four

Juliana trod along behind the stranger. Her mind battled with conflicting thoughts.

If her gut wasn’t insisting her rescuer meant her no harm, she’d be scared out of her wits. The reality was he wasn’t hard on the eyes. In fact, he was exactly the type of man she was attracted to. Outdoorsy. Strong. Confident.

Walking behind him was no chore either. His ass was tight and firm beneath his perfectly form-fitting jeans. His physique distracted her from considering many unanswered questions.

Where had he come from? Where were all the other search and rescue team members? How was he way out here alone and she couldn’t even hear another human being in the distance calling her name?

These questions should have caused her great concern, but for whatever reason, he seemed sincere and she found herself trusting him.

Or maybe it had something to do with the fact she had no other choice. Who else was she going to follow out of the forest?

And he
had
known her name. That was something. Sergius had done nothing to raise a red flag.