Dreaming of the Wolf (Heart of the Wolf #8)(46)

But she couldn’t do that to Jake.

So why was she still running toward Silver Town? Because for the first time in her life, she really didn’t know what else to do. And she realized then just how isolated she’d become. No real friends, not after her mother had been murdered by the Mob, and no family left.

Running through the pines and spruce and ash trees, she just hoped no one would shoot her.

She’d have given anything to see those bastards’ faces after she’d bitten the one in the arm who’d swung around to shoot her, once he’d broken into the room and seen his buddy sitting dead against the wall. His jaw had sagged, his eyes had widened, and he’d lowered his gun in surprise. She’d lunged at him as if it was instinctual and bitten as hard as she could, afraid anything less wouldn’t have gotten the message across.

And the other big, burly, black-haired man had squeaked like a girl when she’d swung her head to bite him. Danny Massaro. The guy she was supposed to serve a warrant on. Ferdinand’s brother, whom Ferdinand said would kill Alicia and him if Danny had the opportunity. She recognized his cologne. He’d been at Ferdinand’s condo and had come looking for her when she had hidden under the bed. He was partly responsible for Ferdinand’s death. Maybe even the one who had ultimately killed him or given the order.

Danny had fired off three shots at the night sky as he fell on his butt, trying to avoid the snap of her jaws and her wicked teeth.

For a damned instant, she’d wanted to arrest him! As if he’d have given her time to shift, dress, grab the arrest warrant and gun, and rearrest him. But then she’d regained her senses, and too concerned he might aim the gun at her the next time, she hadn’t stayed around to find out if he was aiming at her for sure.

She thought she might have bitten the other guy a little too hard, though. She wasn’t certain, but he’d lost the gun, which was her whole reason for biting him, and her jaws were so powerful that she hadn’t realized her own strength. It felt as though she’d crushed the bones. He had cried out in the most guttural pain, then dropped to his knees and collapsed on his face. He couldn’t have died, unless she’d given him a heart attack. Right now, she didn’t care. She was alive and wanted to stay that way. And the truth of the matter was, if he had died, that meant one less killer on Mario’s payroll who’d be after her.

She’d run across the street and headed for the woods, only looking back to see Danny still sitting on his butt, staring after her as if he had seen a ghost. Then he scrambled to his feet and ran into the room, ignoring his partner in crime. She was fairly sure he was looking to take care of her—as Alicia the woman, and not in a pleasant way—not realizing Alicia was the wolf that had just escaped them.

Her werewolf condition was wrought with mixed blessings. She didn’t like the lack of control she had with shifting. Especially when she couldn’t always shift at will or fight the shift during the full moon. But this biting business could come in handy. At least she was a lot more frightening as a wolf than she’d been as a woman with a gun. And to an extent, she liked her enhanced hearing, although trying to focus on one conversation at a time had proved difficult sometimes. The sense of smell was something else. She smelled way too many odors that she didn’t want to.

For the first time as a wolf, she’d run good and long and hard, and she wasn’t even tired. As a human, she couldn’t have run half as fast or long without having gotten stitches in her side and leg cramps. She would have been doubled over, trying to catch her breath. In that sense, she loved the freedom that being a wolf gave her. Until she saw a pickup truck on the road beside the woods headed toward her.

Before she could dodge deeper into the forest, the truck applied its brakes and screamed to a halt. She nearly had heart failure and dove deeper into the woods.

A man hurried out of the truck yelling, “Alicia Greiston! Wait!”

She stumbled in surprise to hear the man calling her name, and the odd familiarity in his voice made her pause for a second.

The door slammed and the sound of crashing through the underbrush forced another healthy shot of adrenaline surging through her veins, and she bolted again.

He couldn’t think he could chase her down. And how the hell did he know her name? That she was the woman who was now a wolf? Had Ferdinand told someone that he’d turned her before he died?

That was the only reasonable explanation she could come up with. But even so, how would he know she was in these woods?

“Alicia! It’s me!”

The man’s voice sounded like Jake Silver’s. The truck, now that she thought about it further, did look like Jake’s. But it couldn’t be him. That had to be wishful thinking on her part. Wishing he’d come to her rescue. A wolf’s rescue, rather.

Whoever it was would never catch up to her. Then just as abruptly, she didn’t hear the sound of his crashing through the underbrush any longer, and she slowed to a trot. She didn’t want to get too far away from the road and lose her way.

But then she heard something else. Something quieter approaching her at a run. She whipped around and nearly had a heart attack. A big gray wolf was running toward her, and her heart skipped beats all over the place. She turned to run away, but he leaped and tackled her. Her heart stuttered.

With his heavier weight, she fell beneath him, and he pinned her down, his mouth at her throat, forcing her to hold still. He didn’t hurt her, but she knew that those wicked teeth clamped around her throat could kill her instantly.