Cam's Fortune, page 1
CAM’S FORTUNE
WOLVES’ HEAT
BOOK 6
A Novel
Odessa Lynne
ODELYN PUBLISHING
CAM’S FORTUNE
Copyright © 2015 by Odessa Lynne
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Except for quotes used in any review, the reproduction or utilization of the work in whole or in part by electronic, mechanical or other means is forbidden without written permission of the author.
Cover design by Odessa Lynne
Cover photo of waterfall © Radovan | Dreamstime.com
Cover photo of trees © coffee999 | Dreamstime.com
Published by Odelyn Publishing
odessalynne.com
Gerald’s Lot excerpt copyright © 2015 by Odessa Lynne
First Electronic Publication November 2015
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations, events, and incidents portrayed in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales are entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold or given away to other people.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
About This Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Also by Odessa Lynne
About the Author
Excerpt from Gerald’s Lot
About CAM’S FORTUNE
Once every three years, humans become sexual prey to a species that has no control over the urge to mate because of a devastating attraction to human scent.
Cam Lujan is on a mission, but an ambush has left him injured and on the run inside the borders of the American Protectorate, where wolves roam free during their heat season, ready to claim any human foolish enough to stick around once heat season starts.
The terrain is rough, the people are treacherous, and the howls carried by the wind are enough to scare any sane man. Cam’s in trouble and he knows it.
But Cam isn’t one to give up easily, and he’ll risk anything not to fail, even the wrath of a powerful alpha who’s ready to mate.
Because Cam doesn’t need a mate, he needs a miracle . . .
Chapter 1
Cam Lujan’s head pounded as hard as his feet across the slick, wet rock in the widening creek. Evening was coming, and the gray, overcast sky meant the dark was already setting in under the forest.
He had been moving too fast for the chill in the air to truly bother him before he’d reached the creek, but with every splash of creek water soaking his pants below the knees and the wind picking up, the cold had started to seep into his bones and he shivered as often as he breathed.
A t-shirt and jeans weren’t exactly the right clothes for this kind of shit.
Of course, he hadn’t expected to end up on foot, trying to lose some wolf.
Not three miles back he’d heard the alien howl on the air, and the distinctive sound had shivered down his spine, and he’d known.
The aliens’ heat only came around once every three years, but that was still too damn often as far as Cam was concerned. Heat season had started three days ago. He’d cut it too close, told Trevor he’d meet him at that old water recycling plant too far into the protectorate, and now he was paying for that recklessness.
He couldn’t get caught inside the protectorate’s borders. The wolves believed he was a leader of the renegades; he couldn’t tell them who he really worked for. He was out of his jurisdiction, and if his superiors found out, he might very well be brought up on charges of treason. The treaty with the wolves was fragile and the actions he’d taken to get himself into the situation he was in now hadn’t exactly been legal.
Unease shimmied along Cam’s spine with every harrowing step across the slick rock. He’d crossed a ridge and in the last hard mile of travel, the shallow four foot wide creek had turned into a twenty foot wide gash in the earth while the burble and murmur of falling water had coalesced into a low rumble that tickled his eardrums.
Cam had gotten tired two miles back; he’d already started losing ground to the wolf.
The only advantage he had over the wolf following him was the fact that he had a head start and he knew where he was going. Wolves weren’t any faster than a fast human on foot. But they had stamina and they were damn good trackers.
Cam knew the area though, had studied maps until he could close his eyes and visualize every feature ahead of him. He could get away from the wolf tracking him. He just had to stay on his feet and stay ahead of the wolf.
Staying on his feet might be a problem.
The world tilted around him. The instant of vertigo unbalanced him and he had nowhere to go but down.
He hit the bed of the creek with an impact that snapped his teeth together and jolted his spine. Cold water rushed up his back, quickly soaking through his jeans and his t-shirt. He slipped sideways.
He coughed out a mouthful of water and pushed himself upright.
“Son of a bitch,” he muttered.
He’d been hit in the head by the butt end of a rifle at least once, and probably more times than that, and sweat stung the broken skin over his eye. His ear throbbed, the swollen heat intensified by his rushing blood.
He carefully moved into a crouch and waited to see if his head was going to spin again. He coughed a few more times, trying to get the rest of the water he’d sucked down into his lungs to come out. His shivering intensified as the brisk wind stole every bit of heat he’d accumulated during his run.
He was going to freeze his ass off now that he was soaked through.
Didn’t matter. It had only been a matter of time anyway.
He scooped up a handful of the clean, cold water and drank. The roar of water had grown so loud it masked the evening sounds of the woods all around him. He hadn’t heard the howl of wolves in a while, but that probably just meant the wolf following him had gotten more stealthy about it.
Cam looked through the fading light toward the bend in the creek ahead but couldn’t see much. He studied the speed of the water and thought about his options. He wouldn’t be able to see where he was going soon.
He knew what lay ahead though.
He started moving again, knowing that the water wouldn’t stop the wind from carrying his scent to the wolf behind him.
* * *
Five minutes later, a howl carried over the sound of the water falling ten feet ahead of Cam, raising every hair on Cam’s body and coming from much closer than Cam expected, probably less than fifty feet behind him.
Creek water splashed up Cam’s thighs with his every cautious step forward. His balls had gone into hiding and he damn well didn’t blame them. Rain had already started somewhere upstream and the water flowed furious and cold around him, the pressure almost more than he could handle. Only the large boulders between him and the edge of the cliff kept him from being swept off his feet by the rushing water. He grabbed the edge of a rock that stood almost as tall as him and eased along behind it, concentrating hard to make every step count.
Just a few more feet . . .
Cam could almost feel that wolf he’d heard breathing down his neck.
Something moved just inside the peripheral of his vision. He tightened his fingers on the jutting edge of the boulder and glanced back.
His heart leapt into his throat. A wolf lunged through the water toward him, his expression intent and the glow of his eyes bright. He was tall and lean, and Cam might actually be broader than him, but Cam knew not to let that fool him into thinking he could win a fight if it came down to that.
“Submit!” the wolf said, his voice deep and dark and carrying boldly over the rushing water.
Cam twisted around in the current, putting his back to the boulder, spreading his hands wide against the slick rock. “Don’t come any closer.”
The wolf stopped. The churning water swirled around his powerful thighs.
The pounding in Cam’s head beat in time with his heart, fast and hard. He hadn’t really expected the wolf to listen.
“Your scent,” the wolf said. His eyes glowed hotter and his claws came out as he flexed his fingers. “It’s so . . . enthralling.”
The water pressed Cam into the rock. “I’d ask why you’re following me, but we both know the answer to that.”
“What have you done with Matthew?” the wolf asked.
Cam stared at the wolf, not sure what the hell was going on. He’d expected something different. “Matthew?” Then it hit him.
“Are you kidding me? This is about Trevor?”
The wolf’s teeth flashed in the near dark. “You’ve committed crimes against one of our people. You’ll come back with me to face your fate.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Where is Matthew?”
“I have no idea. Somebody calling himself Jay ambushed me and used me to get to him. I was unconscious for a while, and when I woke up, the guy you’re calling Matthew was gone. There was blood. A lot of it. But no body.”
The wolf growled and surged forward another few steps.
Cam raised one hand, palm out. He refrained from mentioning that he had shot Trevor. It had been an accident, but he doubted this wolf would believe him without evidence, and evidence was something Cam didn’t have. “I didn’t do anything but try to help him. If anybody’s taking the blame for what happened to him, it should be you. You’re the ones who put him up to spying for you.” Cam flashed his teeth in a smile that contained more warning than humor. “I happen to know that’s a violation of the damn treaty you have with the States.”
The wolf surged another few feet through the water and Cam turned as fast as he could in the creek, heading for the opening on the other side of the boulder.
“Being innocent of any crime against Matthew does not make you innocent of crimes against us!” The wolf had raised his voice; if he hadn’t, Cam never would have heard him over the gush of water all around him.
“Maybe so!” Cam yelled back. He kept moving.
“Submit, and your punishment will not be so severe!”
Cam didn’t look back. He continued to take one harsh breath after another while the water rushed around him with increasing force. He could barely hear the wolf, better for him to act like he couldn’t. His hands hurt with the cold that had seeped into the bones; his legs didn’t feel any better. Every step was heavier than the last.
Almost there.
A growl sounded behind him, so close he could feel the phantom touch of breath against his skin. Just the wind, that was all it was, but Cam couldn’t shake the feeling that he was running out of time.
“Your scent is twisting my thoughts.”
Too close, or there’s no way Cam would have heard those words over the cascading water only a few feet away.
Cam focused on the gap in the rocks ahead.
“We will mate!” the wolf said, but then he growled loud enough for Cam to hear, a sound of frustration and rage. “You’ll earn forgiveness for your crimes.”
Cam laughed. “I’m not in the mood to fuck right now.”
He pushed through the last foot before the creek opened up, wide and powerful. Water gushed over the edge of the cliff.
If he stepped into its path, he would be swept over the cliff along with the waterfall and into the pool below.
“Submit!”
The wolf was so close Cam could almost feel the touch of claws at his neck.
“Go to hell,” Cam said.
He pushed into the flow of gushing, roiling water.
The wolf roared.
He’d been right. The change in pressure knocked him right off his feet and swept him forward with a gut churning ferocity for such a small creek. It was almost impossible to hold his breath through the freefall and he hit the pool with a breath-stealing force in just the right spot. Too far to the left and he would have cracked his head open on jutting rock; too far to the right and he would have broken his back on a water-eroded slab of granite that had fallen into the pool sometime in the past.
He surged toward the surface, breaking through almost directly under the fall of water. He gasped, unable to hold his breath any longer after the fall, and water rushed into his nose and mouth. He struggled to keep his head above water long enough to grab onto the ledge behind the waterfall, and although his fingers finally grasped the slick wet rock tight enough to hold on, it took him far longer than it had ever taken him when he’d just swam into the pool and under the waterfall. The jump had added a degree of difficulty he hadn’t been prepared for.
He clambered up the rock ledge that sat flush with the rock behind the waterfall and rolled into the water-soaked cave. He landed in a puddle of mud four inches deep.
Son of a—
He turned onto his side and coughed up water until he thought he was going to vomit. Then he took a second to catch his breath, rubbing mud and water off his face and trying to calm the furious beating of his heart.
He’d taken a lot of risks during his life, but this one—this one might have been the most insane one yet.
He rolled over and pushed himself to his hands and knees, taking one final deep breath before climbing carefully to his feet. The dark cave tilted around him and he had to rest his shoulder on the wall to stay upright. His ear and head didn’t hurt so much as pulse hotly, but the vertigo seemed worse than before. The fall hadn’t done him any favors.
How much time would he have before the wolf figured out he wasn’t dead at the bottom of the pool or hadn’t run off into the woods? Not long enough, that was for damn sure.
Cam shook off as much of the water as he could, tugged the multi-tool with the mini-flashlight he always carried with him out of his front pocket, turned the powerful light on, and started walking. The cave was dark, but he knew where it led and he kept one hand on the cool stone wall to his left. He would come out about a mile up the creek, and by backtracking on his own scent, he’d make it just a little bit harder for that damn wolf to track him.
He’d have to take the long way around, head into an area he didn’t know as well, but he would have a better chance of getting that wolf off his tail if he did.
He hoped to God Ava had stayed put. He had too much to worry about right now to be worrying about her too. He’d gone to that old water recycling plant to answer Trevor’s messages because he knew better than to send a traceable signal from his headquarters. Ava could complain all she wanted about his extreme caution, but the ambush had proved his caution was justified.
He pushed forward, shivering in the quiet chill of the cave, his rasping breath echoing off the narrow walls while the scent of mold and damp earth filled his nostrils.
Chapter 2
Cam walked the dark mile through the cave with thoughts of the ambush plaguing him. It was his fault Trevor was probably dead. He’d made the mistake of grabbing that rifle and not preparing for Jay to shoot indiscriminately while they struggled for control of it.
The gut-churning dread he felt came from the knowledge that if he hadn’t tried to take that rifle away from Jay, Trevor might have gotten away. The possibility was slim, but it existed. By then, Cam had been aware of the fact that Trevor was a fake identity and that Matthew had been working with the wolves as a spy. Someone had probably been in the area as support.
But Cam had believed Jay would kill him too in the end, and so he’d taken a chance. Seeing Trevor shot and bleeding out had distracted him when it shouldn’t have, and Cam had gone down under the butt of that rifle.
He hadn’t expected to wake up.
He’d never met Jay before that afternoon, but the man had claimed to be running the renegades’ organization in the southeast and Cam had heard rumors that supported Jay’s tale. He’d believed him when he’d suggested Trevor’s reason for seeking Cam out was to convince Cam to help him take control of that area by killing Jay.
Cam wasn’t a killer, although he had killed people. He didn’t like it; he never had, and if there was another way, he preferred taking it. Still, he’d known the moment he met Jay that Jay didn’t think like that. That was why Cam had tried to warn Trevor away, but it hadn’t worked.
Cam had come to to find Trevor’s body gone along with Jay and his associates. Only a pool of blood had remained to show where Trevor had fallen. Someone had dragged his body through the dying grass, leaving a trail that faded to nothing a few feet away.
The cave opened up at the end of the mile, and Cam pushed his way through the heavy pines blocking the exit. His arms itched from the scratch of the needles, and as soon as he’d cleared the overhanging branches, rain started falling on his head.
“Dammit,” he muttered. He was already soaked to the bone and chilled, and now he was going to have to trudge through the damn rain.
