Free Hunter's Heart: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 5) by Kimber White Page B

his and we kissed. Fireworks
exploded inside my chest. My feet seemed to lift off the ground. He was warm
and good, his lips urgent, probing, but soft somehow too. Oh, God, he tasted so
good. Like honey and musk all at once. Blood roared in my ears and I wished I
had the strength to pull the bars apart. If they hadn’t been there I might have
let him take it further. I wanted him to. Oh. I wanted him to.
    “Derek,” I gasped, coming up for air. Then his lips
were on me again. We slid down until we were both seated on the floor, our
hands laced through the bars. I curled my fingers around the nape of his neck.
His hair was soft and thick, just like I knew it would be. Heaven. Mine. Down
and down I spiraled, overcome with desire so hot I thought I might melt from
the inside out.
    Fire crackled all around us. My body thrummed, throbbing between my legs
and the soft spot at the base of my neck. The place where he would mark me if I
let him. Oh, God. I wanted to let him.
    “Jessa!” My father’s shout came to me like a
gunshot. Derek pulled away first, scrambling backward.
    “What? Huh?” I shook my head to shake the lust
clouding my thoughts then hauled myself to my feet.
    Fire still crackled. I blinked hard to clear my
eyes. I turned to my father. Orange flames danced behind him, and finally, the
smell of burning rubber reached my nostrils.
    “The yard’s on fire!” Dad yelled. He threw the keys
to the cage at me. I caught them one-handed. “Time to move!”

 
    Chapter Nine
    “Open the door!” Derek shouted. Snarling behind me,
he tried to pull the cage bars apart again. Dad kept his weapon raised and
trained on him. Though he’d thrown me the keys, I wasn’t sure whether Dad would
shoot him if I let Derek out.
    “Jessa,” Derek’s voice was low, tight-lipped. “Open.
The. Door. I can’t protect you from in here. If there’s someone out there . . .
if it’s wolves.”
    My heart raced as I turned back to Dad. “He’s right.
Dad. Put that away. Or, don’t put it away but point it the other way.
Derek can help us. I’m sure Grammy’s set you straight about him.”
    A loud pop came from outside. Dad jumped and Derek
growled behind me. I turned and fumbled with the lock. He white-knuckled the
bars as I finally turned the key and let him loose. Once free, Derek moved in a
blur past my father. I went after him, grabbing Dad’s shirtsleeve and pulling
him with me. We ran out into the yard.
    Orange plumes rose above the north end of the lot.
One of the storage sheds had gone up in flames; the gas cans inside of it
exploded like grenades.
    “Molotov cocktails,” Dad shouted. “Bastards lobbed
them over the north gate. They knew right where to aim. They knew where the
fuel was.”
    Derek dropped into a crouch, still trying to shift
and unable to. He raised his chin and sniffed the air. “It’s wolves,” he said,
low and threatening. “The same ones who chased us here. At least ten of them.”
He rose and turned toward my father.
    Sofie and Brutus ran out from behind a stack of
tires. Brutus’s tail was singed. She ran to my father’s side, yelping. “Come
on. The place is wired with cameras. The monitors are in my office. Let’s
figure out what we’re dealing with.”
    “Lyle.” Derek squared his shoulders and faced my
father. “You can’t fight off ten wolves by yourself. I don’t care how many
poison-laced bullets you have. If you want a fighting chance to save this
place, you’re going to need me. So, you either need to fix me so I can shift,
or you need to give me a damn gun. You’re in over your head on this one.”
    My father clamped his jaw shut and narrowed his
eyes. He clutched his left side and his forehead broke out in beads of sweat.
He was barely staying on his feet from the beating he took just hours ago. But,
I knew just what he was thinking. He was trying to come up with a reason not to
just finish the contract and shoot Derek on the spot. I stepped forward and put
a hand on