Black Hills Desperado (Black Hills Wolves, #3)(6)

Super-senses came with a hefty cost. Her hearing cut in and out, and it could be days before it was back to normal if she couldn’t shift. She’d failed to catch the rest of what he’d said, but she got the gist. He knew and thought they’d mate. She hated to tell him that wasn’t going to happen. They were no good for each other. She wasn’t playing this game of cops and robbers—at least not with him.

Everything seemed to move, and focusing on trying to read what he said didn’t help. She squeezed her lids shut again, certain she’d heave otherwise.

He did the most unexpected thing. A wet, coarse tongue traveled up the bridge of her nose, stopping in the middle of her forehead.

Startled, Xio opened her eyes. What the hell? “You licked me.”

“I said, stay awake.” He grinned down at her, and continued talking at her, with only an occasional letter coming out clearly, as if he was playing some demented game of hangman.

I’d like to buy a vowel, please.

Ha-ha.

The least of her worries. As for the bomb? Diego wouldn’t chance a second attack in broad daylight. This had been a message. She got it, loud and clear. You can run, but you cannot hide.

She put her hand up to stop Marcus. “I can’t hear you.” A doctor would need to look at that since she couldn’t take care of it in the usual manner. No way could she shift where she had policemen outside her room and hospital staff monitoring her every move. More delays, more chances for Diego to catch up with her. This was not good.

He frowned. Emergency crews arrived, rushing here and there, pushing bystanders back, checking injuries. The two of them hadn’t been spotted, or at least that’s why she assumed no one had yet come over by the Dumpster.

“I need to kiss you.”

And she heard that. The bitch inside her howled and practically did backflips.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Who’s thinking?” He leaned closer, until their lips nearly touched. “You’re….”

All activity blurred together and the world ceased to exist as he captured her mouth, speaking in a language that didn’t need words. A completely inappropriate place for it, but damn. In that moment, Xio forgot to tell him he wasn’t going with her.

***

Two days in the hospital and finally she was on the road home, with hearing in one ear and a favorable prognosis she’d recover it in the other. Of course, she would—when she embraced her wolf. But that would have to wait a little longer. The best place would be the wilds. Shifting in populated areas never went well, and hotel rooms—if someone heard her howl, or her wolf went berserk trying to break free, especially with how long it had been...the secret could get out. Not a risk she’d take.

Xio stared out the window as buildings whizzed by. Up ahead, a large chain bookstore stood out against the storefronts in the small Midwestern town. She perked up. Exactly what she needed to get her mind off everything.

At the last town, where they’d stopped for lunch, a Chinese woman sitting in the booth next to her had struck up a conversation—in Mandarin. She’d never been so embarrassed as when she’d had to say she couldn’t speak Chinese.

The woman harrumphed, gave her a crusty look, and put her shoulder to her, like she was some kind of traitor. There was no sense in explaining. The woman didn’t want to hear anything from her unless it was Xio’s ancestral tongue.

She’d lost her parents as an infant, never had the chance to learn to speak Chinese, and even if she had wanted to, the pack didn’t know how to speak it. She realized then there was so much she didn’t know about herself, or the place from where she’d come. Sure, she knew about the wolf, but what about her history, her roots?

The only thing Chinese the pack recognized about her and her brother was that as pups, they’d snuggled together and looked like yin and yang. She had a thick, black coat in her wolf form, and her brother had white. It had been a running joke with the pack for years, and rarely had she been called Xio, instead of Yin. Some Chinese heritage.

She would change that. This was a new beginning. Starting today, she planned to learn new things, reach out and take control of her life, and number one on her list was learning Chinese. “Stop. At the bookstore.”

Marcus pulled to the curb. “We really don’t have time for this. The Alpha of the Black Hills pack is expecting us at eleven tomorrow morning and I wanted to at least get to Nebraska tonight, rent a room, and sit down to talk about our meeting before we go to see him. He wants to know if you’re ready to follow the rules.”

“Magnum can wait. I need to buy something.” That something being one of those learn-to-speak-a-foreign-language-in-a-few-weeks programs. Where they were going, they didn’t have bookstores and she wanted to be able to start right away, once she’d settled into her new home. Buying anything online would create a trail she couldn’t afford. Cash was her new best friend.

“Need I remind you? You don’t have any money.” He lifted a brow. “And don’t you know Magnum isn’t the Alpha anymore?”

“Um, yeah. No money.” Not exactly, but she wasn’t ready to elaborate on her financial situation.

Why not?

Don’t you say anything to him about that.

Or what? You’ll exorcise me? Good luck with that, her she-wolf snickered. Aren’t you going to ask him about the new Alpha? Hello…wolfie, you home?