Rogue Alpha: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 1) by Kimber White

fallen branches and deep divots in the road. But, he couldn’t go much
faster than thirty miles an hour. It seemed painfully slow as the five wolves
gave chase behind us. I chanced a look in the rearview mirror.
    “They’re gaining. How can they be gaining?”
    Mal kept his eyes straight ahead, white-knuckling
the steering wheel. He spoke through gritted teeth. “They’ll have to fall back
as soon as we hit pavement. If we make it that far.”
    Terror gripped my heart. The wolves kept coming. We
passed the mile marker and the trail sign pointing to the ranger station. But,
Mal veered the Jeep in the other direction toward the highway. I pressed my
eyes shut, in some childish attempt to hide from the wolves. If they I couldn’t
see them, they couldn’t see me. I could pretend the last hour hadn’t happened. That
I hadn’t nearly lost my life. My career. My friend. Fucking Cam.
    I opened my eyes and looked at Mal. God, he was big.
Strong. Shirtless, his shoulders flexed as he took a hard curve, making me
lurch toward him. He wore faded jeans that hugged his thigh muscles. I looked
down. He was barefoot. What had he been doing alone in the woods dressed like
that?
    “Where are we going?”
    Mal took his eyes off the road for an instant and
looked at me. His amber eyes sparked as he clenched the muscles of his jaw. “I
have a safe house. They can’t keep up this pace for very much longer.”
    Mal took another sharp turn down a trail heading
east. It led to nowhere. The closest paved road was a few miles in the opposite
direction. Suddenly, I understood. He meant to lead the wolves on a chase until
they wore out. Only then would he start for his true destination.
    “Why are they after us? Where did they come from?
Where did you come from?”
    “Later,” Mal said. “Let’s just focus on losing them.”
    I nodded and checked the side mirror. Sure enough,
the pack began to lose ground. They still followed, but they’d dropped back a
few yards. Mal pressed the gas as hard as he dared. A low-hanging branch
slammed against my door, startling me.
    “Hang on,” Mal said. “There’s a sharp turn coming
up. I don’t want to slow down.”
    I gripped the dashboard and braced my feet on the
floor. Mal jerked the wheel hard right. The wheels spun, and for an instant, I
thought we would tip. But, Mal executed the turn and pressed the accelerator
again, taking the Jeep up to almost forty.
    We drove through the trails like that for a few more
minutes. Mal took so many turns I knew he had to have circled back at least
once. I’d gotten hopelessly lost and hoped he knew where he was going. He
seemed to. Then finally, when I felt brave enough to turn and look, the wolves
were gone. I heard a plaintive howl; turning to Mal, I saw the hairs raise on
the back of his neck. He kept his eyes on the road and his fists gripped the
steering wheel. He made one more turn, and the dirt trail beneath our tires
gave way to gravel. We were headed toward the highway.
    I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been
holding. Mal turned on the headlights. A mile marker appeared, indicating we
were just three miles from the nearest town. For the first time, I felt my
heart begin to slow. We’d made it. Or, we’d almost made it.
    Mal made the turn onto the highway and I could
almost breathe normally again. Though my hands shook as I raised them to pull
the zipper on my hoodie. Full night now, a chill ran through me. He drove for a
few miles, then took an exit back toward the forest.
    “We’re almost there,” he said. “When we stop, stay
in the car for a minute until I make sure it’s clear.”
    “Okay.”
    Mal turned down a dirt road deeper into the woods.
He parked the Jeep beside a big oak tree and got out. Its occupant, a pissed
off owl, hooted in protest. Mal got out of the Jeep and put his finger to his
lips motioning me to keep quiet.
    He rounded the front of the Jeep and disappeared
into the brush. My heart started to pound