Savannah Caine was an inch from my chest and as close to meeting my wolf as she had ever been. He fought to be released, but I held him down with difficulty.
Her aromas intoxicated my senses. A cocktail of terror and anger, and hidden beneath it all, a faint whisp of arousal.
Her nails had left scratches where her hand had hit, and my skin was tender.
The taste of cold spring water mixed with a trace of blood in my mouth, and I could smell the scent of tangerines. Her magic?
While her touch stung like frostbite, fire burned in her eyes. Everything about her in this moment made me feel alive.
“I’m the Dockside Boss, and you’re in my territory, causing trouble. That means I get to boss you around.”
“Get over yourself!” Savannah almost snarled, and my wolf liked it.
“You broke into my shop. I expect an apology.”
“No way am I apologizing. You screwed with my car—after holding it for ransom! Why was it in pieces?” Her eyes flicked to the two werewolves hanging back down the alley. As if they would be any threat, compared to me.
“It was a wreck. Your tranny is shot. Your radiator hoses are cracked. Your upholstery is disintegrating, and your radio is over thirty years old. I was installing upgrades.”
“Never, ever touch my shit without my permission. Or me.” She smacked my chest with the heel of her palm, to no effect. No magic this time.
“Says the woman who broke into my property and slapped me with her magic.”
Her eyes widened. “Your scratches are gone!”
“We heal quickly. How else do you think your attacker got up again after you ran him over? He only stayed down after you snapped his neck.”
She trembled with shock, surprise, and simmering fury, but she wouldn’t be put off the warpath. “I have half a mind to run you over. You’re using me as bait to catch the psychos behind the abductions!” She looked so furious, I wondered if claws would rip out of her hands.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snarled, but she wasn’t entirely wrong.
“You paraded me through Eclipse on purpose, you plastered signs all over Belmont to point the wolves my way, and you’ve tried to keep me on lockdown. You knew they would come back, and you’re using me to catch them. Deny it.”
“I knew that they were coming for you, and I told you as much. I’m trying to protect you as best I can. The moment they show their faces, I’ll drop a hammer on them. But you keep running straight into danger.”
“Those are justifications, not denials!”
I considered her words. She’d caught my lies before, but since wolves could smell lies, I was used to word play. “Look, Savannah, I’m not going to use you as bait.”
That plan was dead, anyway.
“I don’t trust you,” she hissed.
“I don’t care. But know this: I will protect you. You are important to me, and I’m not going to let you fall into their hands.”
Every word was true.
Her eyes burned into me, and she gritted her teeth. She didn’t believe me, but she finally relaxed.
“You might think that, Jaxson, but you’re still going to get me killed.”
I stiffened as the seer’s prophecy burned in my mind. Your adversaries hunt her, too. If you do not stop them, she will be dead before the full moon rises, and with her, the future of your pack.
I looked up at the moon. Three nights left.
“I need you to work with me,” I told her.
“I don’t give a shit about you or your needs. Is that clear?” She pushed on my chest with her free hand, but it didn’t budge me a millimeter.