Hunted Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Eight (2 page)

H
annah Lee stared
up at the dark-painted face of the wide-eyed Ranger and struggled to swallow. He was built like a house and looked like he was ready to snap the rifle he was carrying into two pieces.

Her body finally made a gulp for air. She backed up a few steps, trying to even out her breathing. Magick swirled around her like a hurricane, threatening to send her careening toward him like a lost puppy who’d just been reunited with its family.

She wanted to touch him again.
Desperately.
Her arm brushing against his had been accidental.
Maybe.
Probably.
But as fast as they’d locked gazes, he vanished from her side.

Hannah had felt the magick light a fire beneath her skin from the very second the Ranger’s plane had landed. Heat had licked at her, getting hotter and hotter as she’d watched them disembark.

If she was being honest, walking to his side hadn’t really been a choice; the magick had just pushed her that way.

He’d felt it too. There was no mistaking the surprised look that’d crossed his face, followed by anger and annoyance. Still, when Fate led wolf spirits to each other, no one in her pack ever ignored it. Fated mates were sacred and cherished. Not everyone found one.

Certainly coming across her mate just as they were about to storm a psychopath’s island wasn’t the best timing, but Fate had her own way of doing things.

Maggie was always going on and on about how everything happened for a reason. About how they were all on this mission for a reason.

The headlights on the cars went dark and then everything faded to gray. The night was dark, with only a slight glow of moonlight from the half moon high above her head.

Hannah glanced up and breathed the salty air. Her heart wasn’t racing anymore, but the magick between her and the burly barbarian-looking Ranger was making her body ache. Her family had brought her up to have excellent self-control, but this fire stoked a need inside her that would only be satisfied by a mate bond.

Maybe he just needs a minute to process.
She could give him a minute.
Right?

“What up, jumpy? You doin’ okay?” Niko rubbed his shoulder against hers.

“Yep.” She glanced over and gave him a fake smile.

Dani kept pace on the other side of him. Dani and Niko had started sleeping together weeks ago, but it was more of a friends with benefits arrangement than love. Sure they enjoyed each other’s company, that much was evident, but it wasn’t love. They weren’t mates.

Hannah had always dreamed she’d be one of the lucky ones in her family that found a Fated mate. No one else in her family, except her cousin, had been put together by magick. She wanted that too. More than
anything,
she wanted that. Most marriages in her pack were pre-arranged to align power and wealth and keep the Lee pack strong.

The small cell phone in her hip pocket buzzed. She pulled it out and the glowing screen lit up the dark night. Daddy was calling…again. This would make three missed calls since the plane she was supposed to have been on landed in Seattle without her on it.

“You can’t tell him, Hannah.”

“I hate this, Niko. He’s worried about me, and I shouldn’t be lying to him.”

“It’ll be okay. We just have to get through this together. You’ll be home soon.”

Tears welled in her eyes. Would she? Would any of them?

“Talk to me.”

“Tell you what?” She jammed her hands into the pockets of her cargo pants and kicked the sand with her toe. “That I’m concerned about everyone’s safety. That I don’t want anyone to get hurt. That I was the only one who really wanted to go home—” Hannah glanced ahead, trying to pick out the back of her Ranger’s head in the dark.

My Ranger…wow.
Could she really be that possessive so quickly?

Another flare of yearning made her body thrum.
Yes, she could.
He was hers. And she was his. The magick said so…but this bond would cost her so much.

Her parents would hate him and he
really
wouldn’t fit into her life back in Seattle. Not that he would even come back to Seattle. If she bonded with him, her whole life would change.

She loved her parents, but she wanted more than they were offering. More than being a good doctor, and a perfect wife to a man who was kind to her.

There was more to life than just settling for
okay.

Hannah had turned down several suitors over the last couple of years. She wouldn’t be so successful staving off Daddy the next time he pushed someone at her.

“These guys know what they’re doing,” Niko assured her. “You don’t have to worry. I promise we’re going to have you on a plane home by the time the sun is coming up.”

His light-heartedness jarred her from her conflicted thoughts; she looked up at the young man she’d grown fond of over the last few months. Everyone joked around calling Niko a mobster, but he was a sweet guy with a good heart who’d do anything for anyone he cared about.

She shook her head. “I know, but I’m a doctor, not a soldier. I don’t want to hurt people,” she answered. “They look like they’re here to blow up everything.” She pointed to one ranger carrying an enormous duffle bag that easily weighed more than she did. “Why did they come with so many weapons? We’re rescuing people, not murdering them.”

Niko nodded toward the weapon strapped to her hip. “You’re carrying.”

“I know
how
to use a gun. But I don’t
like
using it.”

“We have to do whatever it takes to get these girls off the island,” Dani piped up.

“I know that. And I will, but—”

“You’re fucking unbelievable.” The Ranger she wanted to glue her body against turned around with a snarl. “We’re here to dispense justice. People will die. Probably your friends if you don’t use that gun.

His anger was reinforced by the adrenaline of the situation, but every word cut through Hannah. Fate had chosen a brute of a man for her to link her soul with. Maybe this feeling she had wasn’t Fate. Maybe it was just stress. The words sounded silly in her mind. Of course it was Fate. Magick didn’t lie.

“Hey man, give it a rest. You don’t know anything about her,” Niko answered, putting his body between hers and the big Ranger’s.

“None of you belong here. You’re a liability to us. To yourselves.”

“Vipe! Can it,” one of the other Rangers at the front of the group shouted.

Hannah peeked from around Niko’s shoulder and saw the large angry Ranger, facial expression was non-existent in the darkness, but the golden heated glow of his eyes was unmistakably desire mixed with fury.

Niko growled back. “Pick on someone your own size, asswipe.”

Chuckles erupted from the other Ranger’s leading the group. “Niko, you’re biting off
way
more than you can chew, buddy,” Rain called over his shoulder. “Viper would have you on your ass before you ever saw him coming.”

Viper. My mate’s name is…Viper. Surely not.
She gulped and glanced up at the brute again. He wasn’t walking forward anymore. In fact, he was standing still, waiting for them to catch up.

“I’m gonna go talk to Maggie, you two try not to get beat up by the reinforcements, okay?” Dani said and hurried off toward the front of the unit.

“Niko.” Hannah put her arm on her friend and pushed him aside gently.

He sidestepped, giving her an eye-f of the big man trying to stare her down.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay, Hannah. He’s being a douchebag.” Niko rubbed her arm and she shuddered.

The slightest stimulation made her entire body surge with the magickal energy bubbling just below the surface of her skin.

“No way,” Niko said slowly, his shoulders slumping. “Shit. I had money on Donovan being next. Now I owe Maggie forty bucks.”

She drew her eyebrows together. Somehow it didn’t surprise her that Niko and Maggie had a pool going on who would find their mate next in the group.

“Next for what?” Viper snapped.

Hannah jumped at the sharpness in his voice. She’d almost forgotten he was standing there—staring at her.

“Maggie, make them shut up!” Rain bellowed into the quiet of the night. “We have shit to do and we need to focus.”

Viper took a step forward and Hannah mirrored, closing the gap between her and the seething soldier.

This was what she’d wanted all her life. To have a chance with a Fated mate, but this guy was not going to make it easy. He wasn’t anything like what she’d imagined her mate would be. He was big and loud and angry, and she was so…
not
. They were so different.

Even though he was so different. So sharp around the edges. She belonged with him, and she wanted that chance.

She opened her mouth to say the words her pack used to start the mating ceremony only to have Maggie’s bouncing figure come between her and Viper.

Gods, that name…was so abrasive.
Viper.
He was named after a deadly and vicious snake.

“Hey,” Maggie waved off him like he wasn’t a scary hulking dude three times her size, then turned to face Hannah. “Everything okay, back here? We really need to stay quiet. It’s only a little bit further to the boats. Andrea and Vadik should be checking in any moment. This is it, Hannah. We need you with us to finish this. Are you okay?”

She nodded, watching her mate over Maggie’s shoulder.

He turned away and hurried to catch up with the rest of the group.

“It’s fine, Maggie. Just a difference of opinion. It’s fine. I promise.” Hannah glanced at Maggie, then after Viper’s rapidly retreating figure. She wanted to run after him, tell him she was his. Hear him reciprocate.

“Do I need to have a chat with the angry asshole giving you the glowing lust-filled…Holy crap!” Her eyes widened as her voice dropped to a whisper. “Niko owes me money, doesn’t he?”

Hannah let a small sigh slip between her lips and then nodded. “Apparently, he’d bet on Donovan.”

Maggie’s face split with a wide grin. “Well it was either Donovan, Dani, you, or bet on himself.” She chuckled. “Come on, we need to catch up to the others. They’re probably already boarding.”

They plodded through the powdery sand. “Did you know immediately with Luther? Were you fine with him being so…different than you? I feel terrible. I have the overwhelming urge to—”

“Jump his bones?”

She laughed this time. “In my pack the male is supposed to approach the female and tell her that he recognizes the magick, but all he did was cut and run. I know he felt it,” Hannah whispered. “I see it in his face. But I also know we are in the middle of—”

“Not all packs are the same,” Maggie threw out. “We’ve seen that firsthand through this whole mission. You need to talk to him. Don’t expect him to know the intrinsic traditions of your pack.”

Of course.
She’d expected him to respond like someone in the Seattle pack, but that wasn’t going to happen. Maggie was right, she needed to say something.

They approached the boats, and Hannah sucked a quick breath. The magick surging between her and Viper struck like a tidal wave with their close proximity again.

She stopped walking and leaned over, breathing deeply.
In and out.
The dizziness started to fade with the intake of extra oxygen.

“You okay?” Maggie asked.

“Fine, go ahead. I just need a second.”

Maggie left her side, and Hannah closed her eyes, listening to the gentle roll of the waves.

The rhythm soothed her supercharged senses and she took several more meditative breaths before opening her eyes and moving toward the boat Viper was helping to load.

She walked straight up to where a heavy duffle bag lay on the dock. He was the only one headed back for it. No avoiding her this time.

He didn’t slow his approach, but he didn’t look directly at her either. His hard gaze focused solely on the big black bag at her feet.

Hannah moved just a tad and put the sole of her booted foot on one of the handle straps. “I’m Hannah Lee,” she said extending her hand as he came within reach. “I recognize you as my Fated mate.”

Viper ignored her completely, still refusing to make eye contact. Instead, he bent, grabbed the bag and, yanked it from beneath her foot.

Sent her flying backwards and she landed on her ass on the hard dock with an
oomph.

“Fucking shit, woman. Why were you standing on the bag?” He moved toward her, extending his hand to pull her up. “You better not be this klutzy on the mission.”

She slipped her palm into his and grit her teeth to hold in the hiss of desire swirling through her body from the contact.

His grip tightened on her hand and he pulled her quickly to her feet.

Viper tried to release her hand, but Hannah squeezed, not letting him escape so easily. She might be small and quiet; easily pushed aside, but this was too important to be ignored. “I recognize you as my Fated mate.”

T
he fuck
?

Fated mate
?

Viper shook off her hand, ignoring the heat she created in his limbs. He’d been sure he’d heard her wrong the first time. But the second time had been clear as a bell.

She had really said it.

He hoisted the hot bag onto his shoulder, without sending her to the ground this time, and walked it to the half-f boat.

Colt and Duke took it from him and settled it between them.

They knew how to handle shit. They didn’t go around standing on explosives like some careless…

“You okay, bro?” Duke nodded back toward the klutz. “Don’t hurt the civilians.”

“She shouldn’t be here.” Viper gritted his teeth. “None of them belong here.”

“I’ve heard this one before. And it goes a little sumthin’ like—”

“Fuck you.” He jumped into the boat, sliding into the seat beside Gonzales and settling his gear around him. “And the bird you rode in on.”

The whole boat laughed. Except the blond guy, and Viper unfortunately also had the seat beside him.

He apparently did not get the joke.

“Who’s manning this boat?” Viper glanced around at the passengers. The motor boat had a bench running along each side, and something like a walkway in the middle, where the hot bag had been loaded at Duke’s feet. Behind them, where the dark beach waited, the waves crashed onto the shore. And still on the dock was the peace princess.

She could stay there. Should stay there.

Don’t get on the boat
.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said when no one answered. “I’ll take the helm.”

“Colt will take the helm,” Duke said. He pointed across the aisle to Trahan and Golick. “You two, move over. We still have one more coming aboard.”

Viper shifted in his seat as the two privates moved closer to him, squishing him up against the blond dude who’d threatened to beat his ass earlier. Shit, he almost wished the mouthy jackass would have thrown a punch. Would’ve given him a chance to blow off some steam. His body was tight, coiled like a spring. He needed release—a fight would have been just the thing.

“She can sit here,” the blond dude said, standing up. “I’ll be on the end, in case there’s spray from the water.”

He eyed Viper as he walked down the boat to sit beside Golick.

There was going to be a beat down on that dude before the night was over. He could just feel it.

Then he smelled her.

She wafted past him and took the seat the dumbass had just vacated, and she smelled like fucking heaven.

There was a meadow back home. Some purple-headed grassy thing grew in it, and when he was a kid, he used to sleep in that grass. The scent would crawl inside him and relax him. The grass had been tall enough, it blocked out the rest of the world.

That was how this girl smelled. Like that meadow. A strange plug of emotion stopped his breath and he let the memory wash over him.
Home. Rest. Mom
.

Viper shook his head violently.

What the hell was this chick doing to him? She was gonna turn him back into a fuckin’ pansy.

Over my dead body
.

He turned his torso and leaned against the edge of the boat so he was facing Gonzales. This was the young private’s first real mission, and they were all supposed to keep an eye out for him. So far, he had that same green look that they’d all had on their first real life-and-death.

Determined, but shitting their pants.

He clapped Gonzales on the shoulder. “You ready, kid?”

The other Ranger nodded and his lips bulged like he was holding back bile.

Viper fully expected the kid to puke at some point. They all had. All the training in the world didn’t matter. First time a guy knew he might kill someone, his body would revolt.

“It’ll get easier.” He nudged the kid’s shoulder. “You watch Colt, and stick with Bravo team. We got your back.”

“I’m okay,” Gonzales insisted, shrugging his shoulders forward. “Cake, right?”

He pounded his offered fist. “Right.”

Rain hollered something over from the other boat and Colt started the motor. The boats ran pretty quiet for their size, and the sound of the waves almost covered them. Almost. Wolves would hear it a mile off. Maybe farther if they were honed in.

He pulled back his jacket and hit his watch. They were already behind the mission countdown by more than a minute.

Colt guided them out into open water, after Rain. The motor of the other boat made a little white ring of surf in its wake that was easy enough to follow.

Every shift in direction, Viper would get another noseful of the meadow. He couldn’t steel himself enough against it. Each inhale brought him back to the past. A place he’d worked pretty hard to bury.

Dammit.

He turned farther toward Gonzales, but Colt took a hard turn after Rain’s boat and the scent swirled around him again.

“Fuck,” he hissed with a long, hard
fffffff
.

“What?” Gonzales asked.

Viper shook his head. “Nothing, kid. Just keep getting a face full of water every time Colt jerks the boat.”

Better a lie than the truth.

“Huh,” the kid grunted. “I’m sitting right beside you and I didn’t get anything.”

He cut him a hard look, but Gonzales had a genuinely puzzled look on his face and checked out the water around them, like there was something wrong with Viper’s position.

The only thing wrong with his position was the woman sitting beside him. Between the magick shit and her
Fated mate
talk… he’d gotten pretty practiced over the years at ignoring lust when it was inconvenient. He would let it out of its cage when he had a mind. But he was in control of his own fucking body.

And he sure as shit wasn’t going to let some little ponytailed cutesy girl distract him from his mission. He was here for his pound of Rossi flesh. Or ton. Or whatever he could get.

He wasn’t here for no fucking
Fated mate
. His blood was notoriously hot on a mission, anyway. That was the only explanation.

Under the thrumming in his eardrums, the motor buzzed, the wind whipped and the land behind them disappeared into the dark. On the horizon, there was a strange glow, like there was another city out in the middle of the ocean somewhere. It couldn’t have been seen from the beach, and it probably wouldn’t even have been noticeable from a couple of miles out. But as soon as he recognized the telltale glow of artificial light, he knew they were almost there.

The island seemed to rise out of the ocean. It was ringed in light, and small bursts of brightness plunked around the dark perimeter like a football stadium. Every single inch of that beach had to be glowing.

Fuck
. No wonder they had to send someone on to turn out the lights. Any kind of approach would’ve been visible at any time of day or night.

Rain had insisted that even a bird wouldn’t have been able to light them down. And if they’d tried to drop in, missing a landing would’ve put somebody in the middle of the ocean with no way onto the island. Supposedly, the security station was watched twenty-four hours a day.

He shifted in his seat and his shoulder came into contact with the peace princess. Heat snaked through him, and Viper rolled his eyes.
Holy mother.
This was going to be a thing, then?

Was he going to have to stay away from her for the rest of the mission? Maybe he’d have to talk to Rain and see if he could trade places with Brown or Banner in Alpha Team.

She brushed against him and the heat grew.

He pushed at her, but she didn’t take the hint.
Damn
. He was going to have to change teams. Or she would.

The girl leaned her head toward him and her lips almost brushed his ear. “I’m not sure if you heard me before, but I recognize you as my Fated mate.”

Viper grunted and shook his head. Thank the Good Lord the motor was loud and none of his buddies heard her. He’d never hear the end of it if they did. She absolutely could
not
bring this up on the boat.

He dropped his head so his lips were next to her ear. With a low growl, he said, “I don’t want to hear any more about Fated mates for the rest of the mission. Whoever you are, you don’t know me, and you don’t know combat. I have a job to do. Just let me do it.”

Before he could pull back, she turned her face to his and brushed her lips across his.

Lightning cut through him at the contact—the fresh taste of her tongue sliding to meet his, the quick pressure of her mouth, the slight moan buzzing in the back of her throat.

As quick as he could, Viper broke contact and sat back. He looked around the boat in desperation. No one had caught them. The kiss had been quick. No one gave him any stinky eyes.

He found himself panting, his heart plummeting into his stomach like there was no bottom to the world anymore. He jumped to his feet and walked back to where the blond jackass sat, watching the other boat.

Viper pushed at him to scoot over, and soon enough, the seat he’d occupied was filled by Gonzales and everyone moved down.

“Shit, Vipe!” Colt yelled. “You’re rocking the boat.”

“Fucking deal with it,” he hissed. “I want to be in the back.” He gulped air and tried to calm his racing heartbeat. Damn stupid woman, doing something like that in the middle of a mission.

His leg started to bounce and he turned his body away from the blond enforcer so he was facing the land and the black, instead of the light and the other boat.

And her.

He had to get away from
her
.

H
annah licked
her lips and tried not to melt into a puddle on the floor. Her heart had nearly leapt from her chest when their lips touched—pure pleasure.

She’d never felt anything like it, and she wanted to feel more. But he’d jumped away like she carried the black plague
.
This attraction was beyond ignoring. How the hell was he just blowing it off? Hannah was practically salivating, wanting him so badly.

If her father and mother could see her now, she’d be on the first plane back to Seattle and kept under lock and key until Viper had signed a contract stating he’d never come within a hundred feet of her as long as she lived.

Then they’d probably ask her to marry the quiet, boring man who’d been trying to strike a deal with her father for months to join their private medical practice. And she would say
yes
.

Is that what you want, Hannah? A life lived with a man who you might eventually call a friend, but nothing more.
She envied her cousin, May, who’d won the jackpot. Fated mate, new home down the street from parents that adored them, baby on the way. No bumps for May. No challenges. Just the perfect addition to her already perfect life.

Not only had Hannah lied to her father about returning to Seattle, she was ducking his calls, making him worry…and she could die.

They could all die.

She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket again. Swiping the dark screen, she navigated to her message app.

She pressed
send,
and slipped the phone back into her hip pocket. She wanted to say more. Wanted to assure him that she’d be home as soon as this was over. But deep in her gut, she knew that was just another lie.

The boats pulled to a stop and the real waiting began. The minutes dragged by one long second after the other.

Hannah wished Viper had stayed next to her, at least then she would’ve had the comfort of his close presence. Now, all she could think about was not being beside him. Not smelling the spicy scent of his aftershave. Not being about to reach out and touch him.

But he didn’t want her to touch him. He’d made that abundantly clear by removing himself from the bench and sitting at the very end of the boat.

Viper thought she was a weak, soft-hearted, useless civilian, and maybe he was right. Not the weak part, but the soft heart, she’d admit to.

She’d stood through ten-hour surgeries and days where she barely got to eat or sleep. She was far from weak, but she wanted people to be well cared for, safe, and happy. She gave second chances to people who were sick or injured. That wasn’t weakness.

Hannah was able to be strong without brandishing a weapon.

Eventually he’d see that. She had to give this a chance or she’d live her life regretting what might’ve been.

“Rain!” Maggie’s voice cut through the silence of the night.

Hannah turned toward the island. A large mushroom of fire billowed up over the center of the island, then faded away, the night sky swallowing the smoke. All the bright lights that’d been screaming into the night were suddenly dark.

But there’d been no signal. Nothing from Vadik or Andrea. Maggie wouldn’t have kept that to herself. They were all waiting for the same thing.

Hannah saw Rain dart across the length of the speedboat sitting in the water next to theirs.

“I saw it too,” Rain shouted. “We’ve waited long enough, Mags. This is my show now. So either the six of you follow my orders or I’ll drop you all back on the mainland. Understood?”