Chapter 4

Which was really the reason that Dani was beginning to accept that she couldn't outrun her new mate. Not then and there anyways. She needed to think this whole thing out carefully. She'd have to get her Momma first and then once they were together they could go and build a new life on the other side of the country.

Or maybe they would throw a dart at a map and choose a totally new country. Someplace warm. Someplace with palm trees.

The pain pill that Doctor Evans had given her was kicking in and Dani's ankle felt blissfully numb. If she hadn't known better she would have thought that she could walk on it.

She saw Alpha West rising from the table and wishing Alpha Vos and Luna Emery goodnight. Emery looked over at Dani and gave her a sad smile before standing, and carefully pasteing her perfect, happy Luna business-as-usual smile back in place.

"Thank you Doctor, for healing my mate." Alpha West said smoothly as he bent and scooped Dani up into his arms, as if she weighed nothing at all. He carried her easily, stopping so she could say goodbye to the head table, where Kent raised his eyebrows at her in a way that could only be interpreted to mean "don't you wish you were coming home with me now?", causing Dani to glare at him. Emery came forward and kissed Dani's cheek, wishing her good luck in case they didn't see her the next day when it was assumed they would be heading back to Alpha West's territory. Dani frowned at the assumption.

On the way out of the restaurant she tried to concentrate entirely on not feeling the things that she was feeling. His hard chest and strong arms felt amazing pressed against her. Every inch of skin that made contact as he held her seemed to conduct the most pleasurable electricity, and his movements sent it coursing through her veins, so that by the time they got to the car she was almost driven to distraction by how good it felt with his arms wrapped around her.

And his scent must have been designed by the Goddess with Dani in mind. She was dizzy breathing him in, and she wanted to press her face against his neck and continue to breathe in his scent, while at the same time desperately wanting to push him away and get out of there as quickly as she could.

He deposited her into the passenger seat of the car, leaning over to buckle her seatbelt for her as if she'd injured an arm instead of her ankle, before pulling back and leaning against the frame of the door.

"I need to talk to my Beta for a minute before we go, Dani." he said, his eyes traveling from her lovely face to her full breasts that were nearly spilling over the thick lace bust of her uniform, down to her long, tan legs that had felt so

smooth against his arms when he'd he carried her back to his SUV. "I'll hurry."

She didn't respond and when he closed the door she breathed a sigh of relief, filling her lungs quickly with air that wasn't so intoxicatingly filled with his scent.

A moment later he was sliding into the driver's seat and pushing a button to start the engine. The SUV smoothly moved forward onto the street and Dani shifted to the far side of her seat, putting as much distance as she could between herself and Alpha West.

"I was going to take you back to the hotel we're staying at." He didn't say the words as if they were a question, but Dani shook her head.

"No. Go up here and go right. I have to go home tonight. There's no one else who can take care of my mom. And she can't be by herself."

"Oh." He sounded disappointed and she glanced over at him, surprised. She'd expected him to insist. To take her back with him anyways. She'd been half prepared to call Doctor Evans over the mind link and tell her that she needed her to stop by and help with her mom's meds. "Alpha West-" she began.

"You can call me Luca." He interrupted in a quiet voice, a half smile on his lips. "That's my name, Dani. Luca."

"Luca," she said softly, "I can't leave my mom. She needs me."

"Then tomorrow she can come with us too. She will be well taken care of in my pack. Neither of you will ever want for anything again."

Dani dug her nails into the black leather of the seat. His promises made her uncomfortable, even as her wolf longed to throw all caution to the wind and throw herself into his arms.

"Turn here, on Oak." she said so softly that he almost didn't hear. "And our house is the second from the last on the right hand side, at the end of the street. But Alpha- Luca I mean. You don't have to come in. You can pick me up tomorrow, or whenever. This car seems pretty nice and you probably shouldn't park it here overnight. At least not if you want it to be here in one piece in the morning."

He laughed but the laughter held an edge. "Don't worry about that Baby. I'll go wherever you go. And no one is going to touch it." She rolled her eyes.

He came around to her side and lifted her into his arms. This time she let her head rest lightly against his chest. It couldn't hurt to let it relax there, just a bit. After all, she couldn't run until her ankle had healed and until she could figure out a plan to get her mother and herself safely out of town.

And that might take a couple of days.

She just could not let him mark her. Then they would be bound together, forever. She shook her head. She had seen what that had done to to her mother, first losing her father and then being with unworthy men, and she was determined to make her way in the world alone, unattached.

The front door was unlocked and they headed inside, where the smell of sickness made Dani scrunch her nose and turn her head to meet Luca's eyes. "I told you you should have gone home." she whispered. "You still can?" she continued, giving him an out.

He shook his head and pressed his hand against her lower back, causing her to catch her breath.

"I'm good where I am Dani." He whispered, his lips lightly brushing against her ear, sending shivers through her body. "If you're here than I am more than happy to be right here by your side."