Lone Wolf (The Wulf Pack Book 1)

He watched her lay in the bed. In HIS BED. His wolf nearly purred. The smell of her laying just feet from him made him rock hard. Something so simple had never done that before.

He watched as she whimpered and thrashed in her sleep. Not for the first time he wondered if she had nightmares often.

He stood and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Leaning closer to her, he brush dark hair from her cheek and stroke his knuckles down the side of her face. She instantly grew calm, leaning slightly into his touch. She seemed to be growing fond of his touch, as if it eased her mind. But she had yet to wake and he too was growing too fond of the sleeping she-wolf.

He just couldn’t understand how just her presence could draw these feelings from him. He was vicious and dangerous, yet he could feel the tenderness and urge to protect that seemed to bleed from his pores.

Stroking her cheekbone softly with his thumb for a moment before he pulled his hand away and stood. He moved back to the armchair that he had moved next to the bed and leaned forward, elbows on knees, with his hands pushed together, chin resting on his thumbs.

He had saved females before, but he knew something about this was different, and knew in his gut that something in him had change. The urge to protect her was deep, too strong to just be a good deed.

She whimpered softly before turning over and snuggled deeper into the blanket causing him to let out a soft growl he could no longer suppress.

He was Rage fucking Wulf, how could he feel so tender when he knew, when everyone knew, he was nothing but aggression. He was the epitome of Rage, nothing more than an uncontrollable wolf that could explode at any moment and wipe out a whole town in one black out.

Yet, she seemed to have drawn something in him that didn’t exist; a protective instinct that made him want her to keeper from ever being at the mercy of a male again.

A wicked smile over took his features as he thought back to a few hours ago.

She had come bursting from the trees, gasping as if she had run miles.

He had seen her before she spotted him and had turned as he called to her.

She had been covered in filth, dried blood and he didn’t want to know what else.

She had stumbled towards him, tripping over her own feet as if she hadn’t walked for days.

Movement had caught his eye as she headed for him. Two men had exited the trees behind her.

He had felt himself smile as he noticed their sole attention was on Willow.

He stepped forward, meeting Willow and catching her as she stumbled to a stop.

“Who the hell is that?” One of the men asked the other, who shrugged.

“Who cares,” the second man said as he hunched down, his fingers shifting, his teeth lengthening, sharpening.

The first man hesitated looking back and forth between them before he started a half-shift as well.

“Willow,” he drew her attention away from the men, “you stay right here,” he had told her, looking into her bright eyes. She was scared, he could smell it, but she nodded in understanding.

He had left her to approach the men, no they were more like pups, he thought as he watched them move, they were clumsy and untrained.

“Who the fuck are you?” The second man asked drawing a smile from Rage.

“Do you know what we are?” The question made him wonder what this Alpha was teaching his pack.

“I suggest you boys go home,” he had said, ignoring their questions. The urge to kill was creeping through him, and he didn’t want to kill these ignorant boys.

They had looked at each other and the second man laughed.

“That’s not gunna happen, man, not with out the girl,”

Rage rolled his shoulders, trying to fight the urge to rid the world of these two.

“You are going to leave without her or not at all,” Rage had responded through gritted teeth.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” The second pup asked once more, his voice deep with a growl that brought a growl rip from him.

Both boys flinched as the sound ripped through the air.

“I am Rage Wulf, and I have lost my patience with you pups,” both boys froze, jaws dropped, as they looked at him. The recollection was clear in their eyes, they knew his name.

“There is no way you are a Wulf,” the second pup snorted as he seemed to come out of his shock.

“Danny...” the other boy called, grabbing for his arm, having already shifted back.

“No,” the pup said, shrugging his friend off, “why in the hell would a Wulf be here, in this hole-in-the-wall town?” He looked from his friend back to Rage an almost dangerous grin over took his face, “he is no Wulf, he is just some Rogue using the Wulf name,”

The boy hunched down, looking up at him from his bowed head. The growl that came from him was strong, but did nothing to scare Rage.

Rage smirked as he mirrored the boy, growling in turn, so fiercely that if the boys had been in wolf form they would have been flat on the ground with their tails between their legs.

“Get lost or your friend will be dragging your body back to your Alpha,” the fear in the boys eyes brought a sweet pleasure to Rage. The smell wafting from them, causing his skin to itch with the urge to change and feel these boys blood on his claws, taste the sweet taste of their blood in his mouth.

The boy attacked, and Rage had been ready. The other pup and Willow had cried out in unison as he lunged. With one swipe of his claws, the boy was thrown to the side, bleeding from the deep scratches against his ribs and the gash on his head.

“I am not playing with you, pup,” he growled as the boy pushed himself off of the ground, “I do not fear killing you, so leave before I do just that,”

The boy looked at his friend, seeming to loose his vigor, his fear calming the urge for Rage to shift. The boys nodded to each other, before glancing once more at him, then taking off back into the woods.

Rage had turned to Willow, she was on her knees. When he approached her she let out a choked laugh, meeting his eyes.

“Thank you,” he watched ash she seemed to melt, as if the only thing holding her up was the stress of the situation. He knelt down, lifting her chin so that she met his eyes.

“Will your Alpha be coming for you?” her brows frowned as she closed her eyes and shook her head.

“I don’t know, but I am not going back,” the determination in her eyes when she opened them, shocked him, “I will be a Rogue before I go back,”

He felt himself smile, pride swelling in his chest. He was proud she wouldn’t stand for it, what ever it was that they did to her. She was standing up for herself and he would help her, protect her if they came for her.