Chapter 3

“Shoot! No please don’t call him.” Maggie begged. The girl looked harmless enough if she could overlook the huge frown on her face. “Look, I don’t want to be here. Just show me the way, I need to get out of here as soon as I can.”

The girl cocked her head to the side, her mouth moved as if she was chewing a gum. She seemed to be considering Maggie’s words then suddenly threw her head back and yelled. “Asher! She’s awake!”

“I’ll pay you!” Maggie cried desperately.

“What?” There was interest in her voice now as the greedy glint came into her eyes.

Just then Asher appeared at the doorway.

“Whoopies, sorry,” the girl said not sounding sorry at all. “Here comes Asher now.” She gave Asher the stink eye as she stepped back for him to come through. “A second late and I would have sold my dignity.”

He laughed at that. “Tried to bribe you?”

“Not that I’m complaining.”

“Thanks.” The girl shrugged her shoulders and left.

Maggie had her hands on her waist as she glared at him. “If I had my way you will be in jail right now. What you did was unnecessary. I was fine on my own.”

He walked into the room making sure to remain in front of the door in case she got it into her head to bolt. He was huge, a solid wall of pure muscle that was visible even under the fray grey hoodie but Maggie stared him down with her most venomous glare yet.

“I saved your life, gave you a place to stay and clothes so - you’re welcome.”

“How much do you want? Name your price. If you have a car I can borrow I’ll take that and pay for it too.”

He watched amused as she spoke. “Unfortunately I do not have a car and even if I did I won’t be giving it to you unless I know what you need it for.”

“What do you have then? A motorcycle?”

“I can give you a lift to town…”

“I’ll buy it off you. How much?”

“It’s not for sale.”

“Everything is for sale, everything has a price. Name your price. I have the money I am wealthy enough to buy you and everyone else who lives in this shabby town.”

“I wouldn’t doubt that if I hadn’t caught you taking a nap in the woods. I’m guessing luxurious hotels were all booked out then?”

Her eyes flashed. “Are you mocking me?”

He crossed his arms across his chest with an easy smile. “On the contrary, just matching your energy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She demanded.

“You’re the one who woke up in a strange bed with the realization that you have been helped by the stranger you met in the woods. I expect that you would at least show some decency by expressing gratitude yet all you care about is buying me, my pack, my motorcycle, and bribing Ginny.” He clicked his tongue. “I’m sorry if I can’t find any redeeming qualities to mock.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered a curse under her breath. He was right but her pride was butchered and she wasn’t ready to apologize just yet.

“Fine, I’ll take the bike and be out of your hair and you can’t forget about me and my lack of redeeming qualities.”

Asher couldn’t help the smile tugging at the side of his mouth. She was rude and way past redemption but he had to give her credit. When he first met her in the woods he had attributed her sour mood to her condition but he could see that she wore her attitude as a second skin. Well, he didn’t know her, she wasn’t one of his pack members so he was just as eager to get her out of his hair.

But…

“I can’t sell my bike to you…”

“Find someone who can…”

“Because there’s only two for everyone around here to share. But I can give you a ride to town and drop you off.”

“Two!” She was aghast as if the idea of a whole community of wolves sharing two motorcycles was a strange phenomenon to understand. “Jesus! Fine if that’s the only way I can get out of here then by all means give me a ride out of here.”

Why was she so impatient? Not that he cared but he couldn’t imagine why she was so eager to get going. In his experience, someone as wounded and weak as she was when he stumbled on her in the woods should be asleep for weeks especially if the scent of her wolf was so faint. She was frail but she had the eyes and stance of a strong woman ready to tear him in bits with all her strength. Not that he would let her. He was Ptakallis, she was probably Ptakkagaris, her kind was the weaker counterpart of his.

“Well?”

He snapped back to reality. “Well, what?”

“Get on with it.”

Her commanding tone annoyed him and suddenly found himself regretting his actions. He should have left her there at the mercy of whatever wild thing was prowling out there to kill her. Scratching his head at a loss of what to do he left her there and went outside to the shed a few feet away from the settlement. One of the bikes was missing. Jax must have taken it out to town to get supplies.

He found two helmets and had just started dusting the thin film of dirt off them with a rag when Ginny entered the shed with her brow raised and a suspiciously innocent look on her face.

“That one is a piece of work, isn’t she?”

“You were listening to our conversation.” It wasn’t a question.

“The walls are thin. And here I thought I was rude.”

“I’m not going to gossip about a stranger with you if that’s what you’re trying to do, Ginny.”

“Fine, I’ll gossip and you listen. Why did you bring her here?”

“She needed help.”

“She is Ptakkagaris.”

“I know that.”

“I’m not sure you do.” She came to stand in front of him and crossed her arms with a huge scowl on her face. “Our kind and theirs don’t mix. She wants to go and I think that’s a good idea.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to let her go I’m just worried because she’s still weak.” He returned her frown. “What’s it to you anyway?”

“The boys are talking.”

“Not to me.”

“They’ll come soon and what will you tell them?”

“None of your business. Ginny, I don’t answer to you. Don’t you have something better to do like stalk Leo or something?”

Her face reddened but didn’t back off. “You’re alpha, you don’t answer to a pup like me but I hope you know what to say when Jax and the others come pounding your doors down,” she warned before storming out of the shed.

Asher hooked one helmet over the hand grip of his motorcycle and rolled it out of the shed. He didn’t want to think about what the others would say. Alpha or not, there were rules and he just broke the second most important rule. It just sucked that the girl he stuck his neck out for her was nothing but a sore pain in the ass.