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

accommodations. He didn’t know me. He owed
me nothing. But, he’d very likely saved my life back there and risked his own
to bring me here.
    Mal raised a brow and nodded. I noticed the cut
above his eye again. Fresh blood oozed from the corner of it. He must have
scraped it against a branch or something while we walked. It didn’t seem to
bother him as he set the lantern on a stone ledge above the fireplace. He
grabbed another one from against the wall and lit it, casting the cabin in
warm, flickering orange light.
    He stood there for a moment regarding me. His eyes
glinted as he towered over me. I hadn’t looked at him before. Not this close.
Not this way. Dark stubble peppered his square jaw. I wondered what it would
feel like brushing against my skin. As soon as the thought entered my mind,
heat flashed through me and took my breath away.
    “Are you all right?” He kept his deep voice low,
barely above a whisper. Still, the sound of it vibrated in my ears.
    I looked behind me. The only furnishings in the room
were the bed and two cane chairs against the wall. I grabbed one of those and
pulled it into the center of the room. My knees felt weak all of a sudden. This
was the first moment I’d had to take a breath since everything started. I sank
slowly into the chair.
    “Where did you come from? I mean, what were you
doing at the camp?”
    Something flickered behind Mal’s eyes. He rested one
arm on the stone mantel and brushed his chin with his fingers as he considered
my question. Then, he looked back at me, his eyes boring straight through me
hard enough to make me shudder.
    “Did he hurt you?”
    He? My breath hitched as my mind flashed to the gray
wolf as he tried to claw his way through the passenger door and get to me.
“No,” I finally said. “It just scared me. I mean, you saw. It never even
touched me.”
    Then, I finally lost it. A lump traveled from low in
my gut and settled in my throat. Tears welled in my eyes and I knew I’d go very
near the edge of hysteria if I started crying now. But, I couldn’t help it. Flood
would have hurt me, really hurt me. Cam was supposed to be my friend, and his
betrayal stung the most. He led me back to that asshole like he meant to serve
me up to him like dessert. Then there were the wolves. Except for the black
wolf, they meant to tear me apart. There was no mistaking that. I couldn’t help
the dark thoughts that rose up within me as I fantasized about the lethal force
the black wolf used to tear Flood off of me.
    “What made them do that?” I said. I drew my knees up
and hugged them, knowing full well what I must look like to Mal, huddled in
that chair like that. He came to me, kneeled down on one knee and put a hand on
my shoulder. His touch seared me and made me jolt.
    “What’s your name?” he said, that deep timbre of his
voice skittering across my skin. “I don’t even know it.”
    “What? Oh, right. It’s Laura. Laura Prince.”
    A smirk lifted his mouth and he brought his hand up
and ran the pad of his thumb across my forehead. “Princess, huh? Seems
fitting.”
    I choked back a sob and it came out as an
undignified snort. “Prince. I’m nobody’s princess.”
    Mal shrugged and rose. “We’ll see about that. In the
meantime, Princess. Why don’t you try and get some sleep? You’ve had a long
day. I’ll take you back to civilization in the morning.”
    The air seemed to go out of my lungs. Shit. It had
to be the trauma of the day. I wasn’t myself. But, the idea of Mal taking me
anywhere that wasn’t where he was filled me with cold fear. I flat out didn’t
want to leave his side. It made no sense. He was a stranger. I’d just been
through so much I latched on to the first person who acted like a human being.
    “Take the bed.”
    “What about you?”
    Mal stood near the door. He cocked his head to the
side as he regarded me. “I don’t need much sleep. Not tonight anyway. I want to
do a sweep, make sure they didn’t pick up the