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They scrambled to get dressed, and he moved in front of her to see who was coming—and to block their view. An old pickup truck cleared the forest's edge and coasted into the meadow. It lurched to a stop, and two large men got out. They glanced at the couple and gave a halfhearted wave before grabbing fishing gear and a cooler from the truck bed.
Lucas sighed. “Well, so much for relaxing now. Let’s pack up.”
The men started drinking and fishing, stealing occasional glances at them. In a few minutes, Lucas had everything back in the truck and motioned for Sunny that it was time to go.
One of the men put his pole down and walked over. “Leaving so soon? Don’t let us scare you away. Right, Bill?!” He shouted back to his friend.
Lucas moved between him and Sunny. “That’s ok. We’re good, man. We have to get going anyway.”
He noticed the other man had put his pole down, too, and was walking over. What the fuck? Both of them were larger than Lucas and probably feeling bold. But they had no idea who and what he really was.
“You know what, she can stay here and party with us if you got things to do. Right, Bill? What do you say, pretty girl?”
Sunny looked at him with smoldering eyes. “No thanks. Like he said, we have to go. And I’m leaving with him.”
The men came closer—too close. Great… This was going to get ugly. He motioned with one hand for her to get behind him.
Quietly, Lucas said, “Walk away now, and we’ll forget all about this.”
They looked at each other with surprise, then laughed. ”Boy, you’re the one who needs to leave before we show her what real men can do. Drive away now, and we’ll let you keep your teeth.”
The wolf inside was rising. With his lips curling back from his teeth, Lucas shook his head. He tried to stop what was coming, but it was too late. Things were in motion that wouldn’t rest until he let the beast have its way.
In a deep voice, he growled to Sunny. “Turn around and close your eyes, Sunny. I’ll let you know when it’s over.”
“What the fuck, Lucas?! No! Don’t do this.”
He snarled and snapped. “Now! Close your eyes, now!”
She hesitated, standing there with a sick look on her face. Then, she nodded and slowly turned around to face the forest.
A rumble started in his chest, and Lucas twisted his neck back and forth with audible cracking. He shook his arms, and the muscles rippled and flowed in anticipation. The wolf was hungry.
“Well, to make this fair, I’ll let you make the first move. My response is in self-defense, understood? I was raised the right way, unlike you trash humans. Remember, you brought this on yourselves.”
The men chuckled but didn’t sound as confident as before. One pretended to turn to look at the other, then suddenly lunged forward to swing a wild haymaker at Lucas’s head.
With blinding speed, Lucas ducked under the man’s colossal fist and reached up to grab his forearm in an iron grip, punching his open hand up hard into the armpit under the shoulder and separating it with a sickening popping sound. The man stumbled backward, screaming as the excruciating agony of his dislocated shoulder washed over him. Lucas could smell urine as the man pissed his pants and stumbled back to fall onto the ground.
The other man whipped a knife from a belt sheath, slashing quickly across Lucas’s ribs. Blood quickly blossomed and flooded the fabric of his shirt.
Twisting, Lucas grabbed the man’s wrist and twisted it hard with a cracking sound, shattering the bones. He shrieked and dropped the knife, stepping backward. Lucas spun and lashed out with his leg to plant a heel in his ribs, breaking them with a wet crunch. The man fell, gasping and wheezing in the dirt.
Shit… Lucas gingerly felt the bleeding gash on his side. Living with humans and trying to be normal had slowed his reflexes. He'd probably be dead if these hadn’t been ordinary men. He’d have to work on this little problem soon—very soon.
“Don’t turn around, Sunny. I mean it! I’m ok. Really. Let me finish talking with these boys.”
He walked over and grabbed one man’s leg to easily drag him over next to his friend, whimpering on the ground. Kneeling between them, he grasped each man’s throat with one of his hands and squeezed hard enough to stop their breath. He leaned down with his mouth between their ears.
In an inhuman growl, he quietly rumbled, “Feel that, you little bitches? I can end you both right here and now. But today’s your lucky day. I don’t feel like disposing of your bodies.”
He released his grip a little to let the men take in gasping, shuddering breaths.
“You’re going to let this go, aren’t you? No one needs to know what happened here today. You had a stupid fucking accident because you were drunk, as usual. Right? Answer me.”
He punctuated his words with squeezes on their quivering throats. The wolf wanted nothing more than to lean down and tear their necks open, drinking the hot, spurting blood and feeling their lives leave their miserable bodies.
Oh fuck, he wanted it so badly.
Shuddering with the need, he growled, “Fucking answer me now, or die.”
In a gasping voice, one mumbled, “Yes! We won’t tell anyone.”
Lucas stood up and kicked the man with the broken ribs until he responded in a weak, pain-filled voice. “It was… an accident… man. Like… you said.”
Kicking dirt over their legs, he turned to walk back to Sunny. She was still facing away, but her back was shaking with fear.
He put a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped. “Hey, hey… I’m ok. It’s over. You can open your eyes now. Let’s go.”
They got into the truck and slowly drove away from the lake, back down the dirt road between the dark trees. The sun was setting, making the forest look more ominous now.
Quietly, Sunny said, “I saw what you did.”
His jaw tightened as he gripped the steering wheel. He shook his head. “Why did you look? I asked you not to do that.”
Her eyes were wide, and the wolf could smell her fear mixed with adrenaline… and something else. “How did you move like that? No one is that fast.”
He fixed his gaze out the windshield, turning onto the gravel road ahead. “I train a lot. You know that.”
She stared at him for a few seconds. He could feel her big, blue eyes boring into him. “MmHmm… Keep your secrets, then.”
“I’m sorry I ruined our date. I understand if you don’t want to see me again.”
She frowned at him. “You didn’t ruin it. That wasn’t your fault.” She looked out the side window. “You’d better ask me out again, though. I’ll let you make it up to me.”
He nodded and reached down to turn on the headlights. The stars were beginning to show in the dark fabric of the evening sky above.
His mind was racing. He was wondering what he should do now.
Should he trust her and tell her what he was?
Should he continue dating her, even though he would need to vanish without a trace someday?
If he listened to his rational mind, he would pack up tonight and drive away before his life became even more complicated. Unlike Drake, he had never fully embraced what he was. He genuinely wished he could live a human life.
Live, love, and die.
But he was never given that choice. And now, he faced a painful decision that wouldn’t only hurt him. He looked at the beautiful woman sitting next to him in the truck, her face lit by the glowing lights from the dash. Putting one hand on her leg, he gently squeezed it until he saw her smile.
Tomorrow.
He’d worry about it tomorrow…
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