Lone Wolf (First in Lone Wolf Series)

Chapter Nine

Grange was feeling good about the amount of territory he, Trig and Nickolai had covered. They had marked a great deal of boundaries with their scent to let any werewolf, vampire, demon or other supernatural being know that this land belonged to them.

Grange was ready to get to Dawn and didn’t want to take time to stop at his cabin but he and the other men had to get clothes. They couldn’t very well show up in town as wolves or as naked men. He wanted a kiss from his woman, he wanted to fill his nose with her scent and then he wanted a big freshly iced sugar cookie, and knowing Dawn, she would almost certainly have a whole pan ready for him.

He shook out his fur as he neared his cabin, planning to change quickly and then get to Dawn as fast as he could but the scent that reached his nose had him filling with the closest thing to panic that Grange had ever felt.

Dawn. Dawn was in his cabin. She had been bleeding and she was in pain and feverish. But the thing that frightened him the most and had the hair raising on his neck and the growl forming low in his throat was the scent of a vampire. A young vampire. The vampire wasn’t here, hadn’t been near the cabin, but Grange could smell his blood.

Grange gave no thought to the other wolves with him. He didn’t spare them a glance as he jumped through the cabin window, breaking the shutter and landing with a ear splitting growl on the floor below.

He saw his bedroom door was closed and he burst through it, faintly aware of the sound of cracking wood.

His eyes fell on Dawn and everything in him filled with terror. She was lying on his bed, wearing only her thin chemise. Her skin was pale, nearly gray in color and slicked with a sheen of sweat. Her hair was soaked and clinging to her and her neck and chest were covered in dried, cracked blood.

She was shivering and mumbling incoherently. Her blue eyes were glossy and unfocused. Grange could smell that she had soiled herself as she lay there and he could also smell the vampire venom currently coursing through her veins.

Instantly the wolf in him backed off, knowing that only the man could tend to the mate. After he shifted, he was shaking as he neared the bed.

“What the hell happened?” Trig demanded as he came into the bedroom wearing a pair of trousers. Grange dropped to his knees and ran his hand down her arm.

“Vampire.” Nickolai stated as his nostrils flared slightly. Grange felt a rage fill him like he had never felt before.

“Find him.” he snarled in a voice that was barely human. Trig and Nickolai instantly left the cabin. Grange swallowed hard.

“Dawn, love, can you hear me?” Dawn didn’t respond other than to cry out in pain. Grange could tell that the blood on her skin was old. From yesterday if he had to guess. The crumpled dress in the corner was what was covered in vampire blood.

What the hell had happened while he’d been gone?! He put his wrist to her brow and drew it back with a growl when her skin burned him. He felt desperation sinking in.

She had been bitten by the vampire. His poison was slowly eating Dawn’s body from the inside out. His mate was dying. She would already be dead if the vampire had gotten a good dose of venom in her, but judging by the wounds on her neck the vampire had not been able to really sink his fangs in before Dawn had gotten away.

But how had she managed to get away from a vampire that had been preparing to feed from her?

“Dawn… I need you to wake up.” Grange begged as he ran his knuckles along her cheek. He knew what had to be done but he didn’t want to do it. Not like this. Not with her delirious and nearly unconscious. He had wanted to turn her, to mark her, as he made love to her and held her tight.