They would make their stand in the wilderness, Devlyn against Alfred at first and then facing the others. Whoever desired the female red would make his move.

“By the next moon,” Alfred said, clutching his stomach, the blood soaking his shirt, his eyes hostile but his face turning pale. He glanced at Bella, who was still holding the kitchen knife at the ready. “You’ll be mine, sweet thing. Be ready.” He staggered toward the front door with the others trailing behind, clutching their bloodied arms.

“They must have followed us here,” Bella said when Devlyn locked the door behind the reds’ hasty flight. “They must have had lock picks like you carry.”

Nothing mattered to him for the moment except the gun she’d wielded and the secrets she’d withheld from him. “Where did you get the gun, Bella?”

She headed for the bedroom, her hips swaying suggestively with her walk, her buttocks covered in the tight jeans, tantalizing him. But she refused to answer him.

He hastened after her, wearied from sleepless exhaustion and fighting with the red. The hyped-up adrenaline that readied him for danger started to drain as the threat vanished. Yet a new energy stirred, a deeper, more primal urge.

He chastised himself. They needed sleep more than anything else.

His gut clenched with irritation. He would kill Volan, proving to Bella and to the pack that he served as the alpha male, no other. In the ancient way they had to end this. Not with a manmade invention. Besides, only fictional tales stated that a silver bullet in the heart or brain could kill a lupus garou. Nothing in ancient lupus garou folklore made reference to such a thing, although many of his kind believed there might be a thread of truth in the fictional stories.

He combed his fingers through his unkempt hair as he entered the bedroom. Standing before the bed, Bella pulled up her T-shirt slightly, her eyes averted, her fingers unzipping her jeans.

Hell, she’d probably end up wounding herself and never get a shot off at the wolf.

“Bella,” he said, drawing closer as she pulled off her pants, invading her space. “What kind of bullets are in the gun?”

She glared at him.

Silver bullets. He knew it. Just the way her eyes darkened and narrowed into daggerlike slits. Damn her. She couldn’t take down Volan. He had to. What the hell was she thinking? “You can’t use them on him, Bella. He’s mine.”

She took a deep breath. “If he comes around and you’re not here to save me, he’s mine.” She yanked off her shirt.

She wouldn’t win this argument. He would be the alpha male of their pack. The gun and its deadly bullets would have to go.

Instantly, the sight of her perky breasts, the nipples already hardened and darker from her exertion, the quickened pace of her breath, and the redness of her cheeks turned him on. She glanced down and frowned at his erection, beckoning to her to give it release.

At once, he throbbed with a deep-seated primal lust, inspiring him to take her again. He couldn’t help that the sight of her sent his blood rushing south. She could feign being mad at him all she wanted. But the way she licked her lips and folded her arms under her creamy breasts... the way her heated eyes took in every inch of his body, she wanted him, too.

“What if they return?” she asked, her gaze shifting to his eyes.

Just the opening he was looking for.

“They won’t, sweet Bella.” God, how he loved her. “Alfred and his gang will wait for the next phase of the moon. As lupus garous, he and the others must honor this.”

“But they’re afraid of you. They’re worried about some legend to do with a gray. Do you think all of them will be honorable enough to hold up the bargain?”

“Their wounds would put them at too great a disadvantage. They wouldn’t risk it.” Devlyn frowned. “What was the legend they were concerned about?”

She ran her finger around his nipple and he sucked in his breath.

“That some big gray got rid of a red leader who was bad for the pack.”

“Ah.” His lips curved up. “My great-grandfather.”

“What? The gray couldn’t have been your greatgrandfather. He killed Alfred’s great-grandfather, so he must have been from this area, not Colorado.”

“Alfred’s great-grandfather?” Devlyn shook his head. “Ever hear of the Gold Rush?”

She tilted her chin down, giving him a look as if she knew better. “In California, not Oregon.”

“Over seventy million dollars in gold was panned out of the Rogue River. My great-grandfather had the gold fever bad, but after he had the run-in with the red pack leader living in the area and because none of our kind lived there, he returned to Colorado to be with our pack.” Devlyn combed his fingers through Bella’s hair, separating the silky strands over her shoulders. “Who would have ever thought my ancestor was the one to set things right with this same pack. But it appears the bad seed continued through Alfred, and he managed to take over like his great-grandfather.”

Bella licked Devlyn’s nipple and his groin tightened. “Alfred would have a heart attack if he knew you were a descendent of the same gray.”

He chuckled. “Maybe we should send him an email and tell him so... end his misery sooner.” Placing his hands on either side of her cheeks, he lifted her face to his. “I want you, Bella, more than I can say.”

Her hands swept down his sides, stirring him all over again. He moaned. How could a small red lupus garou female bring him so quickly to his knees?

Devlyn climbed into bed first and reached his hand out to Bella. When her fingers touched his, he wrapped his hand around hers and pulled her on top of him. His brown eyes, as dark as midnight, gazed into hers with the familiar longing of a wolf desiring the satisfaction only his mate could fulfill.

She leaned over and kissed the corner of his mouth, loving him for everything he stood for. Brushing her lips over the rest of his mouth, she ended with a kiss on the other corner. He tangled his fingers in her hair.

“I promise I won’t use the bullets on Volan, unless — “

His face darkened. He rested his hands lightly on her hips, adjusting her squarely on top of his rigid erection, and impaled her.

“Unless,” she continued, sucking in her breath as he penetrated her, stealing her thoughts briefly, “I have no other choice.”

“By no other choice, you mean that he has killed me. I won’t have you using the gun on him for any other reason.”

Damned male wolf pride.

She slid up his erection and down again, holding him tight within her, stroking his needs as he reached his fingers between her legs and began to stroke her.

She licked his nipple. “Yes, that’s what I meant.”

“That if I were dead — “

She clamped her mouth over his, not wanting him to say another word about the fact that he might die in this fated confrontation with the alpha gray.

“Make love to me, Devlyn, as if we haven’t another care in the world.”

She didn’t think either of them could manage to climax with as little sleep as they’d had, but his spine-tingling strokes over her swollen nub sent her hormones spiraling toward a cataclysmic end. She nearly sank down, so close to reaching the climax, unable to think of anything else, and then the white-hot heat washed over her. The heart-stirring waves of completion clouded her mind with awe and deep satisfaction.

She would have curled up against Devlyn’s chest and drifted off to a dream-filled, wondrous sleep if it hadn’t been for his rolling her over and finishing her off. He felt so good, every inch of him diving into her, her own body still pulsing around him, clutching him and releasing, a vague awareness drifting to her that he had finished.

He released his warm, wet seed deep inside of her and collapsed on top of her with a tired groan. “You... “ he said, his words a heavy whisper, “are unbelievably wonderful.”

She wrapped her arms around him. He turned over onto his back so she could sleep with her head against his chest, one leg propped over his.

A wolf that exposed his belly gave the other wolf complete power over him. He was all hers, every inch of the hunky, muscular, very slick gray lupus garou.

His hand swept down her backside and then touched her wet folds from behind. He could have his way with her all morning long if that’s what he desired. She raised her leg up to expose herself to him further. He hummed his pleasure against the top of her head. He pulled her leg even higher against his belly. He groggily whispered, “Hmm, Bella, one hot little red wolf.”

“Ready anytime, Devlyn.”

He chuckled. “Making up for lost years, honey.”

She wiggled against him. “Fill me up whenever you have the urge.”

His sexually hungry growl meant she wouldn’t have to wait very long, which suited her fine. She brushed her face against his cheek, smelling the spicy, male scent of him, hoping that nothing else — like red lupus garous or Volan — would disturb their sleep or other, stimulating activities they might wish to explore later that morning.

Yet she wondered what happened to Devlyn’s plan for her to stay with his cousin? Had he given up on that notion? Or would she have to fight him all over again when they woke?

Worse, the threat of Volan still hung heavy in her thoughts. Was he dead or not?

Early the next afternoon, Devlyn found Bella gone, again. Searching through the house, he found no sign of her. But the fresh, sweet fragrance of cut flowers sitting on the dining room table in a glass vase caught his eye. He glanced outside and saw the greenhouse door open. Then he noticed Bella’s silhouette against the green glass building, and the prickle in his gut dissipated. Stalking across the yard, he reached the greenhouse and, with a squeak, shut the door behind him as he entered the building.

He stared at the plants in wonder. Colorado wild-flowers from alpine columbine and aspen daisies to scarlet paintbrush and fireweed.

“Do you like it?” Bella asked, watering a trough of violets, barely looking Devlyn’s way.

He considered Bella in the ankle-length robe she wore, the forest-green velvet clinging to her curves, her hair dangling in a fiery display in contrast against the fabric, her feet bare. “What’s not to like?” His voice was already several shades huskier than normal.