Written in the Stars: Wolffe Peak Book 3 Page 6

  “Short. Stocky. Dark hair and eyes. He always wore a checkered shirt and a stupid straw hat.”

  Harley nodded. “He’s dead.”

  Relief flickered behind her eyes.

  The sight of it sparked a new fear, and Harley couldn’t help but ask. Men like that… well, Harley was no stranger to these sorts of situations. He knew quite well the crimes these kinds of men committed. “Did he… hurt you?”

  “Not in the way you’re thinking.”

  “And what way am I thinking?”

  “No one sexually assaulted me,” she said, the words blurring by on a quick breath.

  Harley’s eyes drifted shut as he absorbed that little bit of good news. “Good. What about physically?”

  She fidgeted next to him, her downcast eyes narrowed on the ground. “They struck me a few times. Constantly drugged me, starved me, berated me.”

  Harley had to bite back a growl. Lopez is dead, he reminded himself. He couldn’t get any deader with his throat torn out. It would have to suffice.

  “But that wasn’t the worst thing they did,” Jasmine whispered.

  Harley’s pulse quickened with her words. They hadn’t raped her, which was good news. But clearly they’d done something. He could see it in the way she hung her head and the way she clutched her hands in her lap, her fingers interlocked. She was nervous, he realized. And scared.

  What the hell had they done to her?

  “You haven’t noticed yet, have you?” she whispered.

  Harley cocked his head, studying every inch of her in search of some sort of injury. Besides her minor injuries, she looked fine, other than exhausted.

  “The rope?” she prompted, gesturing to her throat.

  He eyed the burns. “What about it?”

  She sighed and turned away from him, tears shimmering in her dark eyes. It took every ounce of restraint not to pull her into his chest. He wanted nothing more than to comfort her, to ease whatever fears she was currently battling. But that wasn’t his job anymore. His job was to get her home, and that’s where this ended. No emotions. No tricks. No games. Just the job.

  “It was silver, remember? They….” Her voice broke, and her chin quivered. “My first night there, they restrained me to a post and stripped me naked.”

  Rage suddenly bubbled under the surface. She told him they hadn’t raped her—he had to remember that.

  “And then they brought in a jaguar.”

  Harley froze. A jaguar? What the hell?

  “Except, it was too big to be a natural jaguar.”

  His rage suddenly turned to ice in his veins.

  Jasmine gathered her strength and faced him as tears slipped down her cheeks. In a soft, broken voice, she whispered, “Harley, they made it bite me. They turned me into a monster.”

  6

  Harley’s fury was breathtaking to behold. Jasmine had never seen him like this—a beautiful tempest of emotion. The moment she’d admitted what Luis and his people had done, he’d surged to his feet and began pacing the length of the camp, his sharp growls stirring the rest of the team. One by one, the men startled awake and leapt to their feet, alert and ready for action, only to learn Harley was the threat.

  Her feelings for him had always been dangerously powerful. But the way she felt for him now surpassed anything she’d ever felt. It was like there was this untamed desire rising within her, a need to not only go to him, but to comfort him, to assure him everything would be fine. Even though she had no idea if that was true or not.

  “Harley—”

  He whirled on his heel and jabbed a long finger in her direction. “First things first. You are not a monster. You’re the furthest thing from that. And second, I’m going to fucking murder them.”

  “We already did that, hoss,” one of the men called out to him.

  Harley spun to them, his face contorted by dark rage. “Guess again.”

  “What are you going on about now?” another demanded, his voice full of derision.

  Jasmine shot him a glance, taking in his tall, muscular form. He looked the same as every other soldier she’d seen. Muscled, well-groomed, and standing there like he had a stick up his ass.

  “I took out the three men standing guard in front of the shack. You guys took out two others. We missed the sniper. That’s at least one. But Jasmine says there were nine men in total. Meaning we missed four. There are four men out there hunting us down.”

  “Or maybe they took off when they found their dead buddies.”

  Harley gave a sharp laugh. “I highly doubt that. We murdered their comrades and stole their cash cow from them. They’ll be looking for us.”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose and drew in a long, steadying breath. Jasmine listened to the sound of his heartbeat drumming against his ribs. Strange the things she could hear and smell now. Like his pain. It was a bitter scent carried upon the warm breeze. It sang to her a siren’s song, urging her to go to him.

  But she couldn’t.

  She refused to make herself vulnerable like that. This was the man who had taken fifty thousand dollars from her father as a payoff and left. After everything they’d been through together, he’d taken the bribe and skipped off into the sunset without her. It didn’t matter that she still loved him. He’d never loved her, and she refused to embarrass herself again. As the expression went, fool me once….

  “We also have another issue,” Harley muttered behind his hand.

  The group fell silent, their steady gazes trained on him. She had to admire their steadfastness. Most people would be losing their minds right about now, trapped in the jungle with almost half a dozen men hunting them. But she knew her father enough to know he employed the very best. And it showed.

  Harley closed his eyes and released another slow breath. His heart rate slowed as well. Once he gained control of himself, he opened his eyes and stared at Jasmine.

  She forced herself to swallow. He was going to tell the men her dirty little secret. A part of her dreaded this moment. She knew what to expect, and she couldn’t bear the thought of facing their pitying expressions. Or their fear. But the other, more logical part of her brain knew he needed to tell them. Harley was an experienced werewolf with years of control under his belt, whereas she felt like something was trapped beneath her skin, trying to rip its way free.

  What happened when it did?

  Would she lose control and attack the men? They deserved to know, if only to protect themselves.

  Holding his attention, she lifted her chin and nodded. It had to be done. They had to be told. And she would bear the brunt of their reactions.

  Harley sighed and lowered his hand. “We’re being watched by some local shifters.”

  Jasmine blinked. No, that wasn’t what he was supposed to say. Why hide the truth from them?

  “How can you tell?”

  Harley rolled his eyes. “Really, Wells? Ever heard the adage ‘ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer?’ I know, because I’m a fucking werewolf, you idiot. I can smell them.”

  A few of the men chuckled, though Wells didn’t seem to appreciate that much.

  “They’ve been following us since we entered the jungle. Right now, they’re just watching, but that could change at a moment’s notice, so be on your guard.”

  “This is why we should have immediately left instead of waiting around for Sleeping Beauty to wake up.”

  Heat suffused Jasmine’s cheeks.

  With a deranged snarl, Harley snatched Wells by the throat. Jasmine gasped and leapt to her feet, startled by this sudden turn of events. This sort of anger wasn’t like Harley. He was all teasing and jokes and flirting. He certainly wasn’t the sort of man who throttled someone.

  Lip curled, Harley dragged Wells forward, the man’s combat boots kicking up dirt. “Keep your opinions to yourself.”

  Wells barely had a chance to respond before Harley released him. He staggered backward, his hands immediately reaching for his sidearm.

  “D
on’t!” Jasmine snapped, her words tinged with a slight growl.

  The entire camp froze and turned toward her, as though she’d commanded each of their attention. Maybe she had. A trick of being a shifter?

  “Jasmine,” Harley murmured.

  She met his unblinking stare.

  “Your eyes,” was all he said.

  My eyes? What the hell was that supposed to mean? She reached up and touched her cheeks, unsure of what to expect. But all she felt was soft, smooth flesh.

  “They’re glowing,” Harley continued, defeat written on his face.

  She sucked in a sharp breath, her fingers dropping to her throat and twisting in her sweater collar. Right. She should have expected that. More than once, she’d witnessed Harley’s eyes come alive with his wolf. Strong emotions such as anger and passion had always evoked such a response from him.

  Her lashes fluttered as she turned away from the team. She knew what she’d see in their faces, and she couldn’t handle that. She couldn’t face their sympathy—or hell, their disgust.

  “Hey.” Harley’s gentle hand cupped her shoulder. “You have nothing to hide. And you have nothing to fear. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “You can’t promise that,” she whispered. Especially because she knew he’d vanish the second they were back in the US. She’d seen it before. He’d take the money her father was paying and leave. Why should she expect things to be different this time?

  “I can promise that. Do you think I’ve always found it easy to control my wolf? But I learned how. And you will too.”

  She shook her head. “That’s different. You were born into it. Harley, I heard them talking about this. And I remember the things you told me. Those who are bitten rarely survive their first change.”

  His fingers gripped her shoulder. “I won’t let that happen.”

  “You can’t stop it.”

  A dark growl spilled past his lips. “I won’t let that happen, Jasmine.”

  “Um, hello?” another voice piped in. “Sorry to intrude on your tender moment, but we have real problems here. When the hell did you become a shifter?”

  Jasmine peeked over her shoulder to find the team had closed in on them. Their twitchy fingers drew her attention down to their sides, where a few fiddled with their sidearms. Seemed pity wasn’t exactly on the docket here tonight. More like outright distrust and outrage.

  She gestured toward Wells’s hand. “What’s the game plan here? Shoot me dead in the camp? Yeah, I bet my father would really appreciate that. Pretty sure payment is delivered upon my safe return home.”

  A few of the men grumbled an apology, their hands falling away from their weapons. Wells’s remained.

  “Your father should have told us what you are,” Wells grunted.

  “Well, my father doesn’t know now, does he? The bastards here did this to me.”

  “What?” A younger man strode across the camp, easily approaching Harley’s side. He didn’t appear as disgruntled as the others. One quick glance and Jasmine already knew she liked him. He seemed… kinder than the others. Not as edgy.

  “My first night here, they had a shifter bite me.”

  “What the hell for?”

  Harley lifted a hand. “Carlisle, please.”

  “No, seriously. We were told they kidnapped you for ransom, but this…” He shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. Logically, why infect someone you’re only holding for money?”

  Harley bristled at the word “infect.” Jasmine caught the tightening of his eyes and the pinch of his mouth. She couldn’t blame him. Most were born into this lifestyle and didn’t appreciate thinking of it like a disease. But humans didn’t understand that. Neither did she.

  Especially now.

  She could feel it working its way through her system, altering her DNA, changing her body. Turning her into something else. Maybe Harley had been born into it, but for those who changed, it was exactly that. A disease.

  “None of this makes sense,” another team member said. Jasmine didn’t know his name, but he wore his opinion of her openly on his grizzled face. The way he glared, as though he took offense to her existence. Strange, considering he was part of a team being led by a werewolf. Perhaps not willingly?

  “Look, we have one job,” Harley commented, turning to eye the entire team. “Rescue Jasmine and get her home safely. We’ve completed the first part. Now, all that’s left is reaching the rendezvous location. So, might as well get some sleep.” He reached down and grabbed his pack, then pointed to Jasmine. “You’re with me.”

  “With you? Where we going?”

  “Not far, but far enough away that I can teach you how to shift.”

  “I thought she needed to rest,” Carlisle said, speaking of her as though she wasn’t present.

  “That was when she was human.” Harley crouched and began packing his bag. “Shifters are a hell of a lot stronger than humans. She’s eaten and hydrated. She’ll be fine. The most important thing now is teaching her control, so she doesn’t rip anyone’s throat out when you piss her off.”

  Jasmine forced a swallow. She certainly didn’t feel fine. Every bone in her body felt weak and brittle. But she trusted Harley—sometimes. Maybe not with matters of the heart, but she certainly trusted him with her life. If he thought it best to teach her control, then she wouldn’t argue. She wanted out of this damn hellhole, never to return, and wanted to put this entire miserable experience behind her.

  Not that she could.

  Her life had been irrevocably changed.

  She’d carry a part of this forest within her forever now.

  “What about the whole trekking off into the darkness thing? Being eaten by things larger than us?” Carlisle demanded.

  Harley rolled his eyes. “There are two shifters here, and we aren’t going far. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “Are the jaguar shifters still out there?”

  Jasmine stared out into the darkness. She couldn’t sense the shifters Harley had mentioned. But he had years of experience on her. For all she knew, he could scent them. All she could smell was her own revolting stench and the dead leaves scattered across the campsite.

  “Yes. But they haven’t attacked yet,” Harley imposed. “So, seems safe to assume they’re simply watching us, waiting to see what we’re doing. Could be we’re near their territory.”

  “That’s comforting,” Wells griped. He dropped his pack to the ground, then lay down, using it as a pillow. “Try not to kill each other. Some of us actually need the senator’s money.”

  Jasmine scoffed. What an asshole.

  “Let’s go,” Harley said, his hand brushing hers. “Don’t leave my side, okay? It’s my job to get you home safe, so no wandering off into the darkness.”

  Biting her inner cheek, she leaned forward and whispered aloud a fear that was festering within. “Do you think the jaguar shifters are watching me?”

  Harley froze, his fingers gripping his pack. “Why?”

  “Well, because I’m one of them? Or will be, right? A jaguar bit me.”

  His eyes fluttered shut, and he exhaled. “If they want you, they’ll have to go through me first.”

  Jasmine winced. That was exactly what she was afraid of. “Harley—”

  “We’re not having this conversation,” he barked. He sighed and rolled out his neck. “Just… stay by my side, all right? I won’t let anything happen to you. And I will get you home safe and sound.”

  Jasmine nodded. He sounded so sure of himself it was hard not to feel inspired. But still, she had her worries. Fears that the jaguar-shifters wouldn’t let her leave. She knew enough about shifters to know most traveled in packs. Felines were different, but if Harley could scent more than one, that told her they also traveled in groups.

  So, what if they’d come to claim her? Wasn’t that what shifters did? Take in those who belonged to them?

  She didn’t want to join them, but what would stop them from obliterati
ng Harley’s team and forcing her to? She couldn’t bear the thought.

  “All right.” Harley handed Jasmine another bottle of water, then led her into the trees. “Let’s do this.”

  Nibbling her bottom lip, she nodded. He seemed so sure of himself, so confident. The same couldn’t be said for her, considering how badly her knees shook. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember the statistics of those who survived the first shift, but it was low enough that her whole body was now trembling.

  Harley glanced back at her and offered an encouraging smile. “With luck, you’ll be a pro at shifting in no time. Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  But there was a key phrase there. One he hadn’t seemed to pick up on.

  With luck.

  Why did she have the feeling luck wasn’t in the cards tonight?

  7

  Harley unsheathed his machete and began to hack away at the surrounding vines and ferns. Shifting was no easy task. They needed a nice open clearing to work with. A place they could move around in. Sweat slipped down the back of his neck as he worked, his machete slicing cleanly through the roots. It wasn’t long before they had themselves a small glade in the middle of the jungle.

  “All right,” Harley murmured as he dropped the machete next to his pack. “You ready?”

  He turned to Jasmine, his heart breaking at the sight of her. She stood in the darkness, shielded by the thick canopy above, her arms wrapped around her sides.

  “Hey.” He strode toward her and took her hands, leading her into the glade. “I swear to you, nothing is going to go wrong.”

  “But the statistics—”

  “I’ve heard all about the statistics, and you know what?”

  She peered up at him with her big brown eyes. “What?”

  “Fuck ‘em.”

  A quiet chuckle escaped her lips.

  “Fuck the statistics. And fuck expectations. We’re going to master this because you’re the strongest woman I know. And, well, because I’m awesome.”

  Her laughter grew louder.

  “And because you’re the strongest woman I know, and because I’m awesome, I’m going to have you shifting in no time. Just wait. You won’t fear anything ever again by the time we’re finished.”