Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Merrik

I took Doyle out and told him to leave Piper the fuck alone. Then I kicked his ass just to keep the request fresh in his mind. Once I came back in, Piper and Annie were gone and the kitchen was sparkling clean. I might have kicked over one of the industrial islands we have in there out of sheer frustration.

What would have happened if we hadn't been interrupted? Where would our little introduction have led if not for the fucking idiot Doyle?

She's skittish but I don't think it is just me. I'll have to keep an extra close eye on her so Doyle doesn't try anything. I could sense the difference in her immediately when he entered the room. It was how she held her breath, the scent she naturally emits that makes my mouth water changed to one full of worry with an undertone of fear. I was issuing the threat before I realized what I was doing. Damn him!

No one makes my… I slow my roll and rewind. She isn't mine. Yet. Not technically anyway. But I still don't want her to smell of fear and worry, especially not around me. Just the thought of her feeling unsafe has me pacing the cabin I stay in when I work with the camp. It makes me want to stake my claim immediately so she will have my full protection. But as cautious as Piper is it's going to take some time for her to get used to me and then I'll drop the bomb about being more than just an ordinary man. I just need more time.

I just need… to find this fucking killer so I can leave while the fucking moon is red and not scare the shit out of her or do something stupid like…tie her to my bed and show her exactly what I am before I've told her. In the spirit of doing just that, I change and do some sniffing around but inevitably my wolf takes me back to the cabin I know Piper is in.

And I don't like what I'm scenting. Doyle has been out here. Recently. I sniff the air again. But so has another male. Larry? I pull back so my rational mind can puzzle over this one. Why would Larry be outside the cabin where my Piper is sleeping? Do I have to protect what is mine from every male in this town? A sense of anger and rage fills me and I can't hold back the snarls and growls that start coming out of my throat.

I can almost hear the moment she wakes, her heart beating faster. Immediately my own heart starts thumping in time with hers. And just like some invisible string connecting the two of us, her heartbeat starts to slow back down, even back out.

I want so badly to go to her. To say fuck it to all the responsibilities and demands I have on me and claim the woman who will be my mate for life. There is only ever one for my kind. Only one heart that beats with ours. Only one soul so attuned to mine it's entwined and inseparable. Only one.

And for me it is Piper.

I lean my head against the wooden wall of the cabin and huff out long breaths that turn to fog in the night air.

Sleep, Piper. Sleep for the both of us. Rest, knowing I will keep you safe.

I run off into the darkness of the night and finish my perimeter checks before heading back to my own cabin. My wolf is none too happy about not being allowed to go to his mate. By the time I get back and dress after changing, my phone is ringing. I can sense what I'm about to be told before I even answer the damned thing.

"There's been another one." My brother's voice fills the room since I put the thing on speakerphone.

"Great!"

"It's a wolf this time."

"One of ours?" This is the first time the killer has ever killed a wolf. This is not going to make anyone in town happy. My head starts to bang right behind my eyeballs.

"And there's more."

"Oh great! What more?" I don't think I can take any more.

"We have a witness." A long pause fills the cabin. And I try to understand what my brother is telling me. Having a witness is a good thing. How can it be…? "But we have a problem."

"A problem?" I don't need another goddamned problem. That is for sure.

I prepare myself for my brother to say something about the witness being scared and not coming forward, that the killer saw the witness just like the witness saw the killer, that the witness is a human and our killer isn't one.

"She…I…She's mine."

Oh shit!

This is so much worse than I could have even imagined. This isn't just a problem. It's a big damned complication that has my headache intensifying to maximum level!