Passion Projected (14 page)

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Marley spent hours resting her head on Cole’s lap. She looked up and noticed he smiled down at her. She had remained so consumed in her thoughts, trying to form some type of strategy, that she became oblivious to her surroundings.

“How are you feeling?” Cole whispered down to her.

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Passion Projected

103

Groggily, Marley sat up and looked around. Her body felt stiff from being in one position for so long. Zachary was driving again, looking at her in the rearview mirror. He didn’t seem upset or even angry, just concerned.

“I’m okay, I think.” Marley took a drink of her water.

She kissed Cole’s cheek and climbed in the front seat with Zachary, taking the hand he offered to her after she buckled herself in.

“Are you sure you’re all right? I know you must be starving. We haven’t stopped to eat, but I would hate to stop now. We’ll be to my estate in about twenty minutes. We crossed Virginia lines a while back. Can you wait that long? I’m going as fast as I can.”

The thought of food alone turned Marley’s stomach. “I have crackers. Don’t worry about it,” she assured him.

Cole handed them to her and she took the plastic wrapper, and kissed his knuckles. “You’re really a great guy, you know that, Cole?

When you find your mate, she’ll be the luckiest girl in the world, besides me of course. I’m not so sure I want to give you up. You might have to tell her that she’ll have to share you with me,” Marley teased.

He laughed and gripped her chin between his thumb and index finger. “I’ll be lucky if she’s half the woman you are. You’re really special, Marley. I’m happy for Zachary. I’ll continue to please you until one of you tells me to stop.”

Zachary’s finger caressed Marley’s while he stared straight ahead.

Back to her thoughts, Marley nibbled on a cracker while looking around at the scenery..

Before she could ask him if these trees surrounded his estate, something blurred on the side of the road, aligned with the trees.

Marley’s eyes darted, searching desperately until they passed where she had last seen it. It looked just like what she had seen in the post office back in Refugio.

“Did you see that?” Marley asked, shocked.

“See what?” they both echoed simultaneously.

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104

“That blurred figure that darted into the trees, almost like a ghost.

Zachary, I thought you were the only one who could do that.”

Zachary looked at Marley completely baffled. “Marley, what are you talking about? I’ve never done anything that consisted of blurring or anything ghost-like. I promise you. It wasn’t me. Where did you see this happen?”

She felt stunned. It wasn’t him that had come to her? “Well, I saw a figure at the post office the day we met. I thought maybe it was you, but if it’s not, then who is it?”

“Jordan,” they all said together.

“Dammit, how did he get here so fast? That’s fucking impossible,” Zachary bit out.

It couldn’t have been him, not physically, anyway. It looked like a ghost.
Was it possible that he could do the projection, too?
Marley wondered.

“You do have a point,” Zachary said, reading her mind. “I didn’t give him enough credit. He is quite talented, plus I told him exactly what to do. How could I have not known? Fuck!” he said, hitting the steering wheel.

Zachary picked up the phone once again and dialed.

“Kylie, send out everyone you can to guard the estate. I want them bordering the woods, no one gets past. Jordan may already have some of his pack here somewhere. We’re already coming through the woods that surround the house. Keep everyone on alert. I have a bad feeling.”

A scream pierced Marley’s throat as a light-colored wolf leaped into the middle of the road. Zachary slammed on the breaks, causing the SUV to skid off the gravel. Marley wasn’t sure what hurt worse, the impact of the tree throwing her forward into the windshield or Zachary’s iron-hard arm that clamped across her chest, trying to hold her into the seat.

Everything looked blurry as she tried to focus on the surroundings. It seemed amazing to her that they had all buckled up, Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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105

but her seatbelt never locked, holding her in. Could it have been broken? And the passenger airbag never disengaged, unlike Zachary’s. He was in the process of pushing it out of his way.

“Marley, are you all right? Oh my God, your head is bleeding.”

Zachary grasped her face.

She got pulled toward him while he examined her wound. Cole started groaning in the back, and she quickly turned her head to check on him. He seemed okay enough. There wasn’t any blood anywhere on him. He just fought endlessly with the locked seatbelt. She watched him rip the thick material apart, tearing it with his fingers like a sheet of paper. Zachary’s voice pulled her away from the shocking display of power she saw.

“Cole, hurry, we have to get her to the estate.” Zachary grabbed his phone with bloody hands and Marley quickly stopped him.

“You’re bleeding. Where are you hurt?”

“It’s just a cut on my shoulder from the glass, that’s all. Hurry, we have to go. It’s not far. If we cut through those trees there’s a trail we can follow. It’s a shortcut to the estate.”

Marley’s head shook viciously back and forth. “You are not making me run through those trees. You’ll be signing my death warrant if you do. I’m not going to be one of those brainless girls who stupidly don’t realize what’s been in front of her face the whole time.

Jordan is in those woods waiting for me. I can guarantee it. Somehow he made it here. It sounds impossible, but he found a way.”

Zachary looked confused and unsure. “Marley, it’s the only way.

If we wait in this car for one more minute, we’ll be surrounded by his pack, do you understand that? I can’t let them get you. We’ll lead you for as long as we can, but when they come, and they will, we’ll have to fight. You are going to have to run the rest of the way by yourself.”

Marley’s worst nightmare was coming true. She picked up the phone and hit redial. A young women’s voice answered.

“Oh my God, Zachary, what happened?

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“Hello, this is Marley.. I thought I would help Zachary out by calling you back. He’s busy right now. I know we’ve never officially met and I really wish the circumstances were different. ”

She followed Zachary out of his creaky door. Cole climbed out the back. The dead wolf that lay on the road a distance back made her stomach turn. At least they didn’t have to worry about the one that had run in front of them.

“I wish the situation were different, too. What’s happened?” Kylie asked, panicked.

“Kylie, we’re headed through the woods. We hit a wolf and wrecked the car. Zachary called it a shortcut to the estate. Do you know which one I’m talking about?” Marley asked, as she stepped over a fallen tree.

“Yes, it’ll be a good ten minute run for you through the woods.

I’ll send people out to meet you and bring you guys to safety. How is Zachary?”

Not trying to be discrete, Marley looked at his now blood-soaked shirt. He didn’t look very good. “His arm is cut pretty bad at the shoulder.”

“You have to tell him to shift. He’ll heal quicker that way. Plus it’ll be safer for you if he were already changed. He should know that,” Kylie snapped.

Marley turned to Zachary noticing that he grew extremely pale.

“Zachary, Kylie says you need to change. You’ll heal quicker that way.”

“I can’t, I need to tell you where to go when we get there. They’re coming, I can smell them, they’re not far now. We have to hurry.”

At the news, Marley’s heart started to pound twice as fast. She couldn’t see or hear anything, but she believed him. “Zachary, you have to change. I’ll follow the light,” she said, noticing how eerily twilight approached.

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107

Zachary’s lips crushed hers forcefully. “Listen to me, Marley.

Keep going straight, you’re going to come to a sideways tree, next to that tree is a trail.”

Marley’s first dream came back to her. The tree that she slammed into, the one that cut and bit into her shoulder, it leaned sideways.

“I know exactly what you’re talking about. I remember it from my dream. Now change and let’s hurry. I want you to go as far as you can with me. If they’re close, then we won’t have long.”

Feeling the weight in her hand, Marley picked up the phone almost forgetting about Kylie. “I’m sorry, he’s changing now. He says they’re close. We’re making our way to the trail now.”

“Marley, please be careful, tell Zachary we’re on our way. I won’t be able to have the phone on me if you call. There’s just nowhere to put it, if you know what I mean.”

Marley laughed. “Yes, I understand. See you soon, Kylie. Please hurry,” she said, already hearing the wind going by the phone as Kylie said goodbye.

Quickly, Marley shut the phone while she ran behind a black and white wolf and a blond-colored one. They both looked so beautiful it temporarily distracted her. Zachary seemed to be limping slightly, but it didn’t stop him from running at an impressive speed. One so fast Marley had a hard time keeping up.

With every step Marley could feel her head pounding, but, determined, she drove herself forward. Zachary veered to the side suddenly and she nearly tripped over the same root that she had in her dream, missing it by a split second.

Breaking through the opening of the trail in real life, Marley realized it happened to be a wolf trail, not intended for human form.

Everything low was cleared and everything level with her face connected with brute force. It felt all too familiar and painful as it scratched across her skin.

Growls in the distance caused her to run faster. She passed Zachary and Cole with such speed she skidded to a stop. One growl Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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108

from Zachary was all she heard before the wolves came into view and her heart broke into pieces. They began fighting before she could blink. Zachary lunged with amazing strength right at the throat of a dark brown wolf.

Sobs broke through Marley’s throat while she looked on in horror.

Part of her said she couldn’t leave them, but she knew if she didn’t leave it would only distract Zachary and end up getting him killed.

Sick at the thought, she spun around and ran faster than she ever had in her life. Light beamed down ahead in the far distance. It looked miles away. In reality it looked so much farther away than in her dream.

A yelp sent her sobs into full-blown hysterics. Marley cried so hard she couldn’t breathe, but she pushed herself faster, harder to reach the light. The combination of blood and tears fell down her face. Whether it came from the head injury or from the scratches, she wasn’t sure.

Something out of the corner of her vision connected with her body as soon as she saw it. The weight knocked out every ounce of air she contained and sent her flying through the thick foliage that aligned the trail. It hit so hard, blackness covered her vision for a few seconds.

After blinking a few times, she still saw nothing but black. A root pressed against the back of her shoulder, but she couldn’t move. It felt as if something held her down.

Finally, a distorted image came into view as weight lifted off her body. The black she saw happened to be the black coat of an all too familiar wolf that had landed on top of her.

“Jordan, please, don’t do this,” Marley begged before he could do anything.

She watched in fascination as Jordan morphed back into his human form, dressed in some new jeans and a black, tight, fitted t-shirt.

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109

“Marley, sweetheart, sorry about having to hit you like that. I just needed to make sure you stopped before you got out of the forest.

You’re not hurt are you?” Jordan asked, somewhat concerned.

Marley sat up feeling her body ache. Sweat covered every inch, making the fresh scratches on her arms sting like fire.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Good, let’s go.” He moved closer to her.

Marley’s heart plummeted. “Go where?” She tried to stall as best as she could. Kylie would be there soon. She had to be!

“To my home, so we can be together. You would have never been happy with Zachary, trust me. He couldn’t satisfy you like I could.

You know you enjoyed fucking me more than you ever enjoyed fucking him. I could see it in your eyes. The smile you gave me,” he shook his head smiling, “I knew you wanted to be with me then.”

Marley felt as if the ground below her dropped. Was he serious?

“Jordan, that’s not true. I want to be with Zachary. I’m having his baby.”

Laughter echoed through the trees, sending the birds into flight.

“Marley, I’ll take care of the baby. I love you. The baby never has to know Zachary is the father. I’ll raise him as my own. We’ll be happy.

You’ll see. We’ll be the strongest pack in the north.”

Chills raced down her spine. With frantic fingers, Marley desperately pulled at the root behind her. She needed something to stab or hit him with. He was insane. The last thing she would ever do would be to leave Zachary so she could be with this monster. How could he misinterpret the one sexual act they shared for love?