Chapter Four

Karen wanted to stay just like this, in his arms, feeling his hand stroking her hair, his heart pounding in his chest, breathing in the same rhythm. She wondered what the people walking by must think, ah hell, she didn't care. She was just enjoying the feeling of his strong arms around her, their bodies pressed close. She let out a contented sigh and heard his deep laugh. God she loved that sound already. She had this sense that this was where she belonged. She'd never felt this way before. Never.

"I really have to leave now, as much as I don't want to." Karen pulled herself away slowly, not wanting to lose contact with him. She looked up into his face and smiled at the way his green eyes crinkled when he smiled down at her.

"OK, I'll let you go, but you have to make me a promise." Cole couldn't help but smile whenever he looked at her. She was everything he had ever hoped for. She had the most beautiful dark brown eyes, long thick auburn hair, and a full lush body that he couldn't wait to have underneath him. He knew she would make a spectacular wolf!

She looked up at him expectantly wondering what the promise would be. She'd already made a promise to herself that she would not screw this up. She promised to let down her guard and let this amazing man into her life.

"Promise me that you will meet me tomorrow for lunch before you go to work." She nodded her head with a wide grin on her face. "OK, then as much as I hate to do it, I"ll let you leave." Cole's wolf was pacing, and Cole could feel his wolf's apprehension about letting her go home alone. He agreed, but there wasn't much he could do about it. He had to figure out a way to get that damn lone wolf away from her. He sure hoped Trey and James had some info for him later tonight. At least he felt better that someone was tailing him, and if he went back to Karen's house, his men would be nearby.

Karen was on automatic pilot during the drive home. All she could think about was Cole, his lips, his hands, his eyes. Those green eyes were imprinted on her brain and in her soul. She couldn't stop thinking about him, and the last thing she had wanted was to drag herself away from him to come home. But she was a little afraid of how far she would have gone if she hadn't left when she did. She had never been impulsive, and certainly not an exhibitionist, but she was ready to fuck him right there in the open! What was he doing to her? Her lips were still tingling from his kisses. She could still smell him, she loved his scent. There was just something about it that made her hornier than hell!

She was on cloud nine as she walked in the front door, a dreamy look on her face that ended when she saw the scowl on Gary's face. "What? What's wrong?" She walked slowly towards the couch, almost afraid of her roommate. The last two days he'd been acting stranger than usual. She stopped in the middle of the room, not willing to move any closer.

Gary was seething. She had that dog's smell all over her. The only thing that calmed him a little was that he could tell she hadn't fucked him yet. He had taken his time this past six months and now he was having to rush. He didn't like it, and he didn't like that pack dog all over his woman. "I've been worried sick about you! You're never home late from work. I've been going crazy thinking something happened to you and then you walk in smelling like..." He stopped himself before he said what he was thinking, that she smelled like a typical pack whore.

There was a reason he and his friends didn't live in a pack. The women were all sluts, rutting with anything with a dick. It sickened him and his newly formed family. They were of like mind, that a woman needed to be of a pure heart to be their mates. That meant either a virgin or at least a woman who didn't sleep around. He had thought Karen was that type of woman. She had been divorced for two years and as far as he knew, she hadn't been with a man since. In the six months he'd been here she had never had the scent of another man on her. And he had never smelled her arousal like he had in the last two days. He stood in the middle of the room staring at her, his hands clenching and unclenching.

Karen had never seen the look in his eyes, and she didn't want to see it now. She slowly started backing away from the living room and Gary, trying to make her way to her bedroom. Unfortunately, he was between her and the front door, so she couldn't get out of the house. "I'm going to bed Gary. I appreciate your concern, and I'm sorry I upset you, but it really isn't any of your business." She turned and headed for her room, hoping to just lock the door and forget Gary was even here.

Before she could make it to her room, Gary was on her, his hands grabbing her from behind squeezing so tightly she thought her bones were going to break. "Gary, Gary, stop it, let go, you're hurting me!". She didn't realize it, but she was screaming. His face was a mask of fury. His blue eyes looked strange, like the colors were swirling. She was struggling with him, trying to escape. She wished Cole was here! "Gary, stop it! Let me go, let me go!" She felt like she was fighting for her life as she tried to pull free from his vice grip. She was pretty strong but his strength seemed inhuman.

He pulled her out to the open floor of the room and threw her face first onto the floor. His hands morphed into huge paws with long claws.His wolf was ready, he'd been waiting way too long. Well the time for waiting was over. He had to keep her for himself, he would mate with her right now. He lounged at her his claws tearing at her clothes, leaving claw marks not caring that he was hurting her, he was ready to start the mating.

He was about to close his jaws around her neck just as two black wolves jumped on him and tore him away from the bloody woman laying on the floor. The sounds of growling and howling filled the house, blood and fur everywhere.

The two wolves worked in concert, each lunging from different directions at the same time. They managed to get him away from the woman, now if they could only disable him at the very least.

Trey and his twin brother Troy were planning their strategy, poised on either side of the brown wolf. All three were gasping for breath after the brief struggle.

But Gary knew the house, they didn't. Gary launched himself through the window they didn't notice and was out of the house before they could stop him.

Trey shifted first, running to Karen's side to assess the damage done by the brown wolf. Troy, still in wolf form, ran out to the car to call Cole and tell him what happened.

He came back into the house a minute later throwing some sweats at Trey as he talked on the phone. "Yea, he jumped through a window and took off north on Mayberry Street. We figured we should stay and take care of her instead of chasing him. We'll track him, we'll get him Cole, I promise!"

"Karen, can you hear me? I'm a friend of Cole's. We're going to help you, just try to relax, we're going to take care of you." Trey gently turned her onto her side so the gashes on her back wouldn't hurt any more than they had to. He pulled a throw off the couch and draped it over her battered nude body.

Karen didn't know if she was dreaming or just insane. It seemed like forever since she had walked into the house.

She thought she had seen a brown wolf and two black wolves fighting inside her house. She could swear she saw tufts of fur and pools of blood everywhere she looked.

When she first came to, the man hovering over her had chunks of flesh torn off his face but now his face was just as smooth as if nothing had happened. This must be a nightmare. It can't be happening.

The closer to full consciousness she got, the more pain she felt. Her head hurt, her back was on fire, she felt like she had pulled every muscle in her body and she thought she might have some broken bones.

There were strangers in her house, she could hear them whispering, about her she thought. Where was Gary? Did she really want to know? She wished Cole was here. She needed to feel him near her. She was so out of it she thought she even saw Brett walk in.

Brett had gotten the mental message from his Alpha to get to Karen's house as soon as possible. He knew it was bad.

But he didn't realize how bad until he walked through the broken front door. The only thing that saved her was Cole had told Trey to follow Gary.

Trey and his brother had been parked down the street and saw Karen come home. They had been on the phone with Cole when they heard her screams. He surveyed the room, noting the broken furniture and window, and blood, everywhere.

"Hey kiddo, we're going to take good care of you, OK? He'll never come near you again!" Brett brushed the hair out of her eyes and tried to sound calm.

As a cop he was used to seeing women abused by boyfriends and husbands, but this was his friend, and she had been hurt by one of his kind! His wolf paced, ready to track that bastard and bring him to justice, Werewolf justice.

He knelt down next to her head, talking in what he hoped was a calming voice. He knew if she could hear she would be confused, if she could even think straight. "Karen, if you can hear me, Cole is on his way. You're going to be alright, I promise."

Brett got up to greet the pack doctor when he arrived. "She's got some deep lacerations and he bit her! Trey swears he didn't have a chance to mate with her though. He thinks they stopped him in time.

But I'm not a doctor so I'll leave the rest up to you. I need to get a search party together." He turned back to his battered friend, hoping he didn't look as concerned and scared as he felt. "Karen, this is Jeff, he's a doctor and he's going to make you feel better." Karen was looking at him, but he didn't really think she was comprehending anything he said.

Jeff and his nurse dressed Karen's open wounds and quickly assessed the major injuries. They needed to get her back to the compound as fast as possible.

They worked efficiently and were just loading her onto the gurney as Cole and Carr arrived. Jeff was glad Carr was with his younger brother. The Alpha was a calming influence on any pack wolf, but especially Cole.

"Oh geez, I knew I shouldn't have let her come home. I had a bad feeling, I should have gone with it. Karen, Karen, it's Cole, can you hear me?" Cole was beating himself up for allowing this to happen. It was his fault.

She was living with some rogue Were, he should have known. He was holding her hand and stroking her face, what parts of her face that weren't bruised or bleeding. It looked like every bit of her body was injured.

He was whispering to her, maybe more to calm himself since he knew she couldn't hear him in her unconscious state. And then he saw the bite mark, at the point where her neck and shoulder joined. His whole body stiffened.

Carr gently laid a hand on his shoulder. "Trey thinks its just a bite, he said he thought they got here in time, they hadn't mated Cole." Carr could feel his brother relax just a bit.

"Cole, I need to get her to the medical facility. We really need to go. You can come with us if you want. You can ride in the back of the ambulance with her." Cole slowly looked up at Jeff and nodded his head. He held Karen's hand as they got into the ambulance.

Cole's full attention was on his mate, but his brain was still working. "Brett, track that son of a bitch down, but don't kill him. I'll do that! But you find him and bring him back to the compound."

Brett looked at Cole and merely nodded. He motioned to the twins and they began planning their search. Brett wouldn't give up til he had him! He owed Karen AND Cole that.

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Karen was standing in a meadow, her hair flying around her head in the wind. She looked down when she felt something brush against her fingers and saw the most beautiful dark brown wolf she had ever seen in her life. He had gorgeous green eyes.

And he was friendly. She started gently petting his nose, stroking over his head. The wolf rubbed against her naked legs. His fur was so soft. She had expected it to be course.

She sat down in the grass, the wolf curling up next to her, keeping her warm. She threw an arm over his chest and fell asleep, feeling safe with her guardian near her.

She woke laying next to a man. When she looked, she realized it was Cole. Her head was on his chest, his arm around her shoulder, holding her tight. They lay there still in the meadow, skin to skin. Although startled at first, she felt at home and snuggled into his body.

She felt him tighten his arm around her. How did she get to this meadow? Was it a dream? She heard him talking quietly in his sleep and strained to understand what he was saying. "Mine" was all she could make out. For some reason, she felt she was where she belonged and dropped off to sleep again.

When she next awoke it was to the feel of his fingers skating along her skin. She moaned and moved closer to his hand. He bent down and brushed his lips against hers and brought his hands to her face, so gently. Her arms were around his neck, pushing her lips harder to his, pushing her hips up to meet his body. Cole stopped the kiss. "Do you want something pet?"

She giggled and nodded her head. Her hands strayed down his body, feeling his hard muscles under taut skin. She wanted to touch every bit of him. She couldn't stop her hands from moving, learning every inch of his amazing body. Her lips followed where her hands had been, down his neck, across his shoulders.

She flicked her tongue across his nipples and loved hearing his appreciative deep growl. She moved farther down, kissing past his stomach, to his hard cock, standing straight up from his body. She looked up at him with a hunger on her face and started licking his cock head, tasting him. She felt his hands stroking her hair.

Cole struggled to speak through the pleasure she was giving him. "You're mine pet, I'm not ever going to let you go."

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Cole looked down at Karen, her face so pale. He felt the need to touch her, to let her know he was there, that he wouldn't leave her. He gently trailed his fingers over any undamaged skin he could find.

Whenever he lost contact with her skin, even for a second, her features would tighten, like she was feeling more pain. Then, when he touched her again, her face would soften. He wondered if she could hear through the drug induced coma she was in.

He leaned down closely so no one could hear but her. "You're mine pet, I'm not ever going to let you go."