The Better to Bite (Howl #1)(37)

I shoved up the window and peered down below. The rest of the hunters were being loaded into the back of the patrol cars.

The floorboard creaked behind me. I stiffened.

“I don’t need to rest.”

No, he definitely didn’t sound weak anymore.

I turned toward him. He’d put on my dad’s ancient sweats, and they clung to his hips.

“I owe you,” he said and the words sounded strangely formal.

The guy’s blood was on my hands. Literally. So, yeah, he definitely owed me. “I want to know what’s going on in this town.”

His head inclined. “You mean…you want to know how you’re standing here, talking to a reallive werewolf?”

Right, that.

I backed up a step. Hit the wall behind me.

His gaze followed the movement. “You’re scared of me.” A considering pause. “I thought you didn’t scare easily.”

“Yeah, well, I scare pretty easily when a guy with claws and fangs comes at me.”

But he wasn’t coming at me. In fact, he wasn’t moving. “If you didn’t hurt Sissy,” I asked, because I had to, “then who did?”

“A wolf.” A pause. “Another wolf.”

My chest felt tight. Wait, that tightness was because I wasn’t breathing. Doors slammed below me, and I heard the growl of an engine starting. “You’re saying there are more werewolves out there?”

“I’m saying there’s far more to Haven than meets the eye.”

“I don’t trust you.” The blurt problem again. I expected my words to make him angry.

He simply nodded. “Good. You shouldn’t.” Then he came closer, eliminating those precious inches between us. “And you should never, ever trust me when I’m in wolf form.”

An image of a black beast with glowing yellow eyes filled my mind. “The first evening in the woods…were you the one who chased me?”

A muscle flexed in his jaw.

“Were you?” I pushed.

He shook his head. “I was trying to protect you.”

Why didn’t I believe him? Oh, right, because he was a werewolf.

“Then who?” The guy had just told me not to trust him. I’d be a fool if—

“Some secrets aren’t mine to share.”

Bull. “People are dying! It’s not the time for secrets.” I realized my volume was getting way too high, and I forced my voice to lower. “At the wreck, when I was trapped in the truck with Brent…was that wolf you? Did you come at me?”

“No.” Said fast and hard.

Said with truth? I couldn’t know for certain. I wanted to believe him. “Tell me who it was. That wasn’t just some wild wolf. It was someone like you.” Oh, jeez, a town full of werewolves. Give me Chicago back, please.

Tires ground over gravel as the vehicles started to pull away.

“Tell me.”

“You have a lot of enemies in this town.”

I blinked. “What are you talking about? I haven’t done anything to anyone!” I was even trying the whole making-friends routine to make my dad happy.

“Not you.” He exhaled on a rough sigh. “But your mother made a lot of folks unhappy.”

Ice coated my skin.

“Some folks here have real long memories.” His lips twisted. “Folks like your grandmother.”

My grandmother? Why did everyone know more about my family than I did? And that knowledge just pissed me off. “Don’t talk about my family.” The words snapped out from me. “You’re a freaking werewolf, okay! You don’t have the right to—”

He grabbed my hands and yanked me against him, and I realized that I should be scared. Very, very scared. We were alone in the house. My dad and the deputies had just driven away. No way would they hear any cries for help now.

What had I been thinking?

Rafe lifted me up so that my toes barely brushed the floor. “You can’t play in this game,” he gritted, his eyes seeming to burn into mine. “You’re in way over your head.”

I’d saved his life. How was he going to repay me? Not with claws and teeth. I couldn’t even breathe right then.

He put his lips on mine. The move was the last thing I’d expected. His mouth was open, and I gasped against him. His tongue slid past my lips. It wasn’t a tentative first kiss. Not soft. But…wild. As wild as Rafe was. Hot.

I should have tried to pull away.

I didn’t.

I kissed him back.

His hands pulled me closer, and the kiss became a bit harder, a bit hungrier. I could feel him all around me and—

Rafe pulled away. His eyes were too bright as he stared at me.

I didn’t speak. I could still feel his mouth on mine. Still taste him.

“Anna…” More growl than anything else.

But then he turned and lunged for my window.

“Rafe!”

Too late. He’d leapt right through my window. Right freaking through it. I screamed but when I grabbed the window’s ledge and looked below, I saw that he’d landed on his feet. Landed perfectly. He glanced back up at me.

His face appeared stark as his gaze bored into me. “Don’t tell anyone what happened.”

Who would believe me? If I started talking werewolves, I’d get a fast ticket to a shrink’s office.