Read Wolf's Vengeance (After the Crash) for Free Online

don’t need to be. You’ve been really decent to me. All your friends have been nice too.”
    “Then why? Is it my wolf?”
    Her shabby bedroom faded to be replaced by a hotel room. Randy Fosse’s hard hands dug cruelly into her shoulders to hold her down on the bed while Jim yanked on her shirt. The bruising pressure on her shoulders suddenly lifted, and a huge gray wolf tore into Jim Fosse, slinging saliva and blood over her…
    “Yeah,” Snake said in a near whisper. “There’s that scent. It is my wolf, isn’t it?”
    “No.” She curled her fingers to hide their tendency to shake, but she couldn’t quite keep her breath slow and steady. “No.”
    “My wolf would never hurt you, either. He cares so much about you, he’d rather be killed in a trap than do anything to harm you.”
    White fangs dripping with blood, shreds of flesh stuck between them. That’s what she saw in her mind’s eye when she stared at him. “I know that. Really. In the hotel room in Ellsworth you—he—could have torn me apart. But he just stood in front of me to make sure no one else could get to me to hurt me. So I know he doesn’t want to hurt me.”
    His hands went to the waistband of the shorts. “You need to meet him. When you know him you won’t be so afraid.”
    “What are you doing?”
    “Getting undressed to let my wolf out.”
    She held a hand up, palm out, and stepped back so sharply the back of her knees hit the bed, and she almost fell on the mattress. “No! I’ve already seen the wolf. Not just at the hotel, but lots of times on our trip here.”
    “That’s not the same, Mel. You haven’t had a chance to pet him or scratch behind his ears. When you get to know him, you won’t be so afraid.”
    “Not now! It’s getting late, and I’m tired. I want to get some sleep, okay?” She hated the whining note in her voice on that last word and forced calm into her tone. “Snake, really, we have plenty of time for that.”
    He stared at her for a long moment. “Okay. Which side do you usually sleep on?”
    Relief crept into her stomach. “I usually take the middle, so it doesn’t matter. Which side do you want?”
    He looked at the bed, glancing from it to the window, and then from the bed to the door. “I guess I’ll take the side by the door.”
    Mel nodded and took the gun belt she’d draped over the headboard to shift it closer to the window side. “Hope you don’t mind sleeping with Alfie.”
    One of his thick black brows arched up. “Alfie?”
    She stroked a thumb over the butt of her pistol. “Alfie, meet Snake. Snake, meet Alfie.”
    “You named your gun Alfie?”
    The incredulity in his voice was exactly what she’d wanted. “Of course. He’s my best friend.”
    Snake shook his head slightly. “If Alfie keeps to his side of the bed, I’m fine with him sleeping with us.”
    Mel had to force her lips from a smile. She tossed the sheet back. “If you keep to your side, Alfie’ll keep to his.”
    Snake stretched out on the bed, pulling the sheet up to his waist. “Alfie doesn’t need to worry. I’ll behave myself.”
    Somehow their banter lightened her heart, and she climbed into bed, careful to keep a little distance between them. “Good night, Snake.”
    She thought she’d go to sleep pretty quick, even with a near stranger lying beside her. She was tired after days of travel, safe in her own bed with her brothers down the hall, and her pistol only inches from her hand. Maybe she would have drifted off if her stupid mattress didn’t sag in the middle from so many years of holding her body in its center. Gradually, inevitably, she and Snake slid toward each other in the middle. She shifted on the mattress to hold her position on the left side, but gravity was inescapable. She found her shoulder pressed to Snake’s arm.
    “Sorry,” she muttered, squirming to move herself back to the edge.
    She noticed he wasn’t trying to move away. “Mel, Alfie can’t possibly blame me for not