AGAINST MY WISH.

chapter 3

Devlyn started the ignition with a jerk. “We’re her family,” he said abruptly,

not in the mood for hiding his feelings for her. “Besides, I doubt Volan would

have stood for it.”

Intent on freeing her before she turned into her human form, Devlyn sped

down the road. With the temperature dropping to thirty degrees and a wind-

chilled rain making it even worse, she’d be in real trouble soon.

He thought back to Volan and his desire to have Bella. Although Devlyn had

warred with him over her so many times in the past when he was an immature

lupus garou, he’d never had a chance to best him. Thinking she no longer lived,

he had long ago ended his quarrel with Volan, concentrating instead on making

his leather goods factory a success. But now, could he fight the leader and have

the female he wanted most?

His hands fisted on the steering wheel, he shook his head. The notion that

she loved humans gnawed at him as much as he fought not wanting to care.

There was no sense in wanting what he couldn’t have.

A police siren wailed behind him, shattering the otherwise quiet, and forced

a shard of anger to rip through him.

Everyone turned around to see what was wrong. Frowning, Devlyn pulled

the vehicle to the shoulder, spitting gravel out of its path.

“Speeding a little, Devlyn?” Argos asked, his voice amused.

Speeding a lot. Devlyn tightened his grip on the steering wheel, not wanting

to leave Bella in the zoo’s pen one more minute. He glanced at the rearview

mirror to see a policeman approaching. If Devlyn tore off now, he could

probably lose the cop. The officer would never guess Devlyn would hightail it to

the zoo.

He slipped his foot off the brake. Bella had been so intent on fleeing confinement that, when the night

watchmen discovered her hiding in the moat, she didn’t realize how chilled

she’d become. In her wolf form, the March temperature didn’t bother her. But,

as a n***d human, she was frozen to the bone.

“Jesus, Randolph, she’s…she’s n***d,” the younger male voice said, as he

hung over the railing where zoo patrons normally observed the animals in the. pen.

“Yeah, Mack. Call for backup. We don’t know yet how badly she’s hurt.” He

tugged off his jacket and dropped it on top of her. “Miss, we’ll reach you as soon

as we can. Are you injured?”

Her mind was fuzzy and disoriented. Hurt? Tired. Sleepy.

“She’s probably hypothermic.” He ran toward the entrance to the wolf’s pen.

His companion relayed the messages into a phone, his footsteps running

behind the other. “We have a n***d woman in Big Red’s pen, down in the moat.

Yeah, yeah!” he hollered. “I’m serious. She’s n***d. We don’t know if she’s

injured or not. Randolph says she’s got to be hypothermic as cold as it is. All

right.” He snapped the phone shut. “The boss is making all of the calls. We’re

not to move her if she’s hurt, just try to keep her warm. But how in the hell

did…” His voice faded; then the metal door squeaked open to the building

housing the inside part of the wolves’ exhibit. They disappeared inside the

building; then the door creaked open to the outer portion of the pen.

Numb and stiff, Bella couldn’t even move to put on the jacket that the man

had tossed to her. Still, the fleece helped warm her.

The men ran across the pen to the moat from the shorter concrete wall on the

opposite side. “Watch my back, Randolph, in case Big Red or Rosa get any

ideas. If either injured the woman, they may still feel threatened.”

“Rosa must be sleeping in her den. Big Red’s sitting in the corner watching

us.”

“Keep an eye on him. I’ll lift the woman to you.”

He sat at the edge of the moat, turned, and eased himself down. When his

feet hit the ground, he whipped around and ran to her. “Are you hurt?”

Trembling so hard that her teeth chattered, she couldn’t croak a word.

He ran his flashlight over her and then helped her into his jacket. “She

doesn’t appear to be injured, but she’s half frozen.” He covered her lap with the

other jacket. “She’s got hypothermia really bad.” Lifting her off the rough

pavement, he carried her to the older man, who was leaning down with his arms

outstretched.

With the two men’s heavy jackets covering her, her body warmed some

while she lay on the rough concrete above the moat, yet she still shivered out of

control, craved sleep, and could barely focus on much of anything.

Vaguely, she worried about being caught, about freeing herself from her. current predicament, about hiding before Volan found her.

Suddenly, more shouts erupted and running footsteps headed toward the

patron’s safety railing across the moat.

“Is she injured?” Thompson hollered from the iron fence.

“It appears she’s just hypothermic,” Mack shouted back. “Her pulse is

awfully slow. She has some scratches but doesn’t appear to have been bitten or

to have broken any bones.”

Mack rubbed her hand while Randolph wrapped his coat around her legs.

The door squeaked open, and she turned her head slightly when blond-bearded

Thompson dashed into the pen, his blue eyes worried.

Yanking off his coat, he laid it over her. He touched her cheek with clinical

concern. “Who are you, and how did you get in here?”

She stared at him, hearing the question and vaguely remembering that he’d

shot her with a tranquilizer and incarcerated her here. That’s how she’d gotten in

here. The men’s faces wavered in front of her, and she blinked her eyes slowly,

trying to focus.

“What’s your name?” He turned to Mack. “Has she spoken at all?”

“We heard her screaming and yelling. By the time we located her, she was

crouched against the wall of the moat and hasn’t said a word. She’s barely

conscious.”

“The ambulance is on its way,” Thompson said. “What about the wolves?”

“Big Red’s sitting over there watching. Rosa must be sleeping in the den,”

Randolph said.

Thompson crouched down in front of her and touched her wrist. “Miss,

what’s your name? What happened?”

More flashlights wavered in the night. More men were shouting, issuing

directions to the wolves’ pen. Bella blinked when two policemen in their blue

uniforms hurried into the pen; then she closed her eyes, wondering how she was

going to extract herself from this mess.

“What happened here, Mr. Thompson?” one of the policemen asked.

Thompson explained all he knew and then reached over and held Bella’s

hand. “She’s ice-cold.”

The men piled two more coats on top of her.

“Most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen in the fifteen years I’ve been a night. watchman,” Randolph said.

“Damn,” Mack said, tightening his grip on Bella’s other hand. “Here come

the media.”

Before Devlyn could step on the gas and leave the cop behind in the dust,

Argos grabbed his arm. “Wait.”

The policeman spoke into his radio. “You’ve got what?” Then he leaned into

the open SUV window and said to Devlyn, “Got another call. Slow it down, will

you, bud?”

“Yes, sir,” Devlyn said, as amicably as he could. His hands still clutched the

steering wheel with a death grip.

The policeman nodded and then hurried back to his car, shouting to the other

officer, “Problem at the zoo. You’re never going to believe this.”

Devlyn glanced at Argos, whose tanned face had turned gray.

When Devlyn finally reached the zoo’s main entrance, he shut off his

headlights and drove into the zoo’s lower parking lot. But the sight of the police

cars’ and an ambulance’s flashing lights washing the area near the zoo’s

entrance in a prism of color sent a splinter of ice into his heart. She would live.

The cold or some animal’s injury—if minor enough—wouldn’t kill her, but how

in the hell was he to secret her away?

“When the ambulance leaves, follow them to the hospital,” Argos said, as if

reading Devlyn’s mind. “We can more easily slip her out of there than we could

have here.”

Sitting in the dark, like when the pack went on a hunt, they waited quietly for

their prey to appear. The thought of hunting Bella sent a surge of heat through

his system, a longing he had no business feeling, a lustful desire for her he could

never fulfill.

The paramedics rolled her out to the ambulance; her red hair spilled over the

stretcher, the blankets burying her under the covers. Devlyn could only imagine

how close to death she’d come. His anger boiled deep inside. How could she be

so foolish as to leave the pack like she did? This is the kind of trouble she’d get

in for it. She needed a pack leader to keep her in line. No, not the pack

leader…him. Despite the knowledge that she didn’t want him, or any of his kind, she was

tied to him—bound together not only by the fire that killed her family, but by

something deeper, more primal. He sought to rise above the darkness that filled

him with wanting—with the soul-wrenching yearning for the little red wolf. But

part of him wouldn’t submit.

Argos cleared his gravelly throat. “We’ll all go into the hospital and try to

create some distraction so that we can remove her. Until then, I’ll let you find

out where she is and how serious her injuries are. If she’s too bad, we may have

to let her stay overnight and take her out sometime after that.”

Still brooding over the circumstances of her captivity, Devlyn had every

intention of moving her tonight. Their own healers could take care of her much

better than the human doctors could because of the many years they’d practiced

medicine. Devlyn and his packmates had to remove her before anyone

discovered too much about her. But it was more than that. He wanted to hold her

tightly in his grasp again, to reassure himself that she was safe in his care. He

wouldn’t wait a second longer than necessary.

They followed the string of police cars escorting the ambulance to the

hospital, their blue and red lights flashing against the blackness. The drive

seemed interminable. But finally the ambulance pulled into the brightly

illuminated emergency entrance, and Devlyn veered away from the circus of

police cars following in the ambulance’s wake. Seeing the main entrance, he

parked near the doors; the lot was fairly empty because of the lateness of the

hour.

Before he could jerk his door open, Devlyn spied Henry Thompson headed

for the emergency room doors, his stride quick and determined.

“Damn it to hell,” Devlyn swore under his breath.

He hated for any man or lupus garou to get close to Bella, but especially

some i***t who was in love with wolves. Would Bella mistake Thompson’s

wanting to help wolves with desiring to have her?

Devlyn shook his head and fisted his hands, still unable to understand what

she could see in human males. Yet he had every intention of making her realize

how mealy a human male was, how lame and weak and fearful their kind was,

and, worse, how dangerous they could be.

“What’s wrong?” Argos asked, his voice harsh with worry.

Devlyn motioned with his head toward zoo man Thompson. “He’s the one I

talked to about removing Rosa from the zoo. He’s going to wonder what the hell I’m doing here.”

Argos watched Thompson disappear inside the hospital and then let out his

breath. “Then you can stay in the vehicle.”

Devlyn jerked his door open. “Like hell I am.”. THE SMELL OF ANTISEPTICS WAFTED IN THE ROOM, AND THE air

conditioner poured out of the vents, intent on putting patients into a deep freeze,

Bella was certain. Feigning sleep, she lay quietly in the hospital bed, the highly

starched sheets scratchy against her exposed backside where the gown opened

up. The white woolen blankets, piled four or five high fresh out of a blanket

warmer, buried her, raising her internal temperature. But the knowledge that she

wasn’t safe yet chilled her all over again.

The room remained quiet, all except for the sound of hearts beating nearby.

Once she was hooked up to the I.V., the medicine whooshing through her veins,

heating her blood, the nurse left the room. But Thompson and the doctor stood

silently watching her.

“Does she have any injuries, Doctor?” Thompson finally asked.

“Just hypothermia. As low as her temperature was, it’s a good thing your

staff found her when they did. Another couple of degrees drop and she wouldn’t

have survived. She hasn’t revived yet and it might be a while before she comes

to, but as soon as she does, you can speak with her. But not too long. She needs

to rest. However, most likely she’ll be incoherent at first—effects of prolonged

hypothermia.”

“Thanks, Doctor. I’ll only speak to her for a moment.”

She didn’t believe him for an instant. The way Thompson had hunted her in

the woods was reminiscent of a bull dog, determined, dependable to a fault, not

someone easily thwarted.

Footfall sounded, moving across the room and out the door. The doctor?

His pungent cologne preceding him, Thompson moved closer to the bed.

Why did human males wear such gaudy-smelling perfumes? Their own musky. scent smelled so much more enticing.

Taking a deep breath, she was glad her kind’s unique DNA structure shifted

with the change—perfectly normal wolf DNA when they wore the wolf coat,

and human DNA when they turned back into their homo sapiens form.

Thompson touched her hair, sending a curl of warmth through her. The toasty,

thin blankets helped, but his touch caused a different kind of heat, the kind that

stirred her longing to mate.

“Miss.” Thompson’s voice was deep, rugged, and concerned. He reminded

her of a mountain man she’d once met, caring the same for nature’s habitat, the

same aura of wildness surrounding him, except that the mountain man wanted to

be left alone with no human contact. Thompson was different.

“Miss,” he said again.

She didn’t respond. This wasn’t the time or place to seduce him. Later she’d

work her charms on him. He cared for Rosa. Wouldn’t he care for the human

side of her, too?

His fingers touched her cheek and she craved opening her eyes to see the

expression in his gaze. Was it longing? Lustful? Did she intrigue him a little?

“Can you tell me what happened to you?”

The sound of boots tromping toward the room caught her attention. Two men

entered. She concentrated on the smell of them, different colognes, just as heavy,

just as nauseating.

“Officers,” Thompson said.

Her heart rate shifted to higher gear.

“Mr. Thompson,” one of the policemen said. “Has she come to?”

“Not yet. The doctor said it might be awhile.”

A chair slid over to the bed.

Great. She had a whole mess of observers, like at the zoo.

“What do you think happened?” one of the policemen asked.

“No telling, but I’m not leaving until I know. Thanks, by the way, for

keeping the media out of it for the moment,” Thompson said.

“You’re welcome. We might have an attempted r**e or even an attempted

murder case here. Don’t need the media involved quite yet. On the other hand,

she might be mentally ill.”

She fought making a face at them. “I considered that.” Thompson grasped her wrist, the strength of his touch

spiraling through her like a gigantic heated wave. “Pulse is…well, a little rapid,

but definitely better than nearly nonexistent. I thought she was too far gone there

for a while.”

A cell phone jingled in close proximity to Thompson. She held her breath,

fearful that his staff would inform him someone had stolen Rosa from the

wolves’ pen.

“Thompson here,” he said.

Too much silence followed. The seconds lingered like minutes, yet

Thompson didn’t speak a word. The suspense was killing her. When no one

conversed further, she opened her eyes. Thompson stared at her with raw

disbelief.

She swallowed hard, the moisture in her throat all but gone.

“Yeah,” he said into the phone. “The little lady just came to. I’ll ask her

where Rosa is.”

The hardness in his face and the grim set of his mouth and jaw indicated

losing Rosa had angered him. Good. Then if he wanted her back, he could

promise his undying love to her and—

“Call you right back when I have some answers.” He snapped his phone shut

and then furrowed his brow. “What were you doing in the wolves’ pen?”

Gone were the kid gloves.

What the hell was she supposed to say? Her mind was slightly muddled still

and any fabrications she might have conjured up weren’t coming to her readily.

Wondering what the police officers’ take was on the situation and wanting to

avoid Thompson’s steely-eyed glower, she glanced over at them. Both mid-

thirties, one taller than the other with questioning green eyes, both dark brown–

haired.

The green-eyed cop’s phone rang and he lifted it to his ear. “Sgt. Stevenson.

What? Detain him. I’ll be right down.” He shoved his phone into the pouch

attached to his belt. “Man at the front desk is asking about a woman brought in

half frozen from hypothermia.”

“The media?” Thompson asked, steeling his back, his voice concerned.

“Yeah, suspect so. We don’t need a media circus here. I’ll head him off.” He

turned to his partner. “You stay here. Call you in a minute.”

The other man nodded, and in five quick strides, Sgt. Stevenson disappeared. from the room.

Thompson turned his attention back to Bella. More interrogation. Didn’t the

doctor tell the zoo man to take it easy on her? At least that’s what she thought

he’d said.

She closed her eyes. How in the hell was she going to get herself out of this

mess now?

Thompson cleared his throat. “Now listen, miss, if you’re some kind of

animal rights activist and wanted to free the wolf…” He paused and then

continued. “Okay, let me tell you a little tale. Last year we had a similar

scenario. The red wolf was someone’s pet, but the owner decided he couldn’t

manage the animal when his wife had a new baby. So what did he do? Afraid the

wolf might attack his child, he released the wolf into the wild. Sure, wolves are

feral, but this one had been domesticated, too. She kept returning to Portland

neighborhoods, looking for the home life she was used to, and finally killed

someone’s toy poodle—not out of viciousness, but because she was starving. So

the dog owner shot and killed her. If she’d been brought to the zoo, she would

have been safe, protected, well fed, and content.”

And mated with Big Red.

Saddened that the dog owner had destroyed the red wolf and that his beloved

pet had to die, Bella hid her feelings and still didn’t say anything.

“Several have asked to transfer Rosa to other zoos. It wouldn’t have been

you and some of your cohorts, would it?” Thompson added.

The cop said, “If you suspect her of wrongdoing, she needs to be read her

rights and—”

Thompson interrupted him and directed his comments to Bella. “Listen, we

only want to protect Rosa. I know you and your friends do, too. If you hand her

over to us, we’ll drop the charges.”

Was he bluffing to make her tell him the truth? No, she believed he’d honor

his word.

“Okay, let’s start off all over again. My name is Henry Thompson, one of the

biggest contributors to the zoo. I oversee some of the more endangered species,

including red wolves. I’ve worked with other zoos for years, trying to return a

select number to the wild, but we can’t set Rosa loose out here. No red wolves

exist in the Cascades for her to mate. She’d end up mating with coyotes, and the

result wouldn’t be pure red wolf, which is what has happened in Texas, nearly.