by C. M. Steele
“Wait! We only get to have sex one time a month? I call some bullshit on the supernatural on that one,” she exclaimed tossing her hands up in outrage. Her face hardened in anger as she shook her head in disbelief.
I laughed. If true that would suck epically, but it wasn’t and her response was priceless. “No, the mating happens then. We can as many times as we want from now on.”
She swept her hand across her face in relief. “Oh…that was a close one. If that was the case, I wouldn’t need to eat or anything for the full moon cycle.”
I chuckled, “Me either.”
“What do you want to do?” she asked while lazily rubbing my cock through the front of my pants, causing my pre-cum to coat my boxers. They were clinging to my thighs and I wanted to toss her on the table and fuck her brains out.
“Besides take you back to bed?” I questioned. “Maybe we can go for a walk before the weather turns.”
“Okay. Will you shift for me?” She looked at me like she was ten asking for a pony. Her eyes widened and a huge grin spread over her face.
“I can if you want,” I said, kissing her forehead and taking in her scent. The emotions she brought out in me were something too deep to describe. For a month I watched her, took in her little quirks, read up on her past and damn, I was in love without even knowing it.
“Does it hurt? I mean in the movies they make it look painful.” She scrunched up her face at the thought of the pain. Everything she did was adorably sexy to me.
“No, it doesn’t. I believe we release a type of dopamine that allows the change to happen without pain and fast.”
“I feel like I have a thousand questions.” She smiled guiltily. It was only fair that she asked them.
“It’s natural for you to ask all the questions you want. Let’s go outside so you can, then I’ll strip and shift.”
“Let me get ready.” She stepped away and moved toward the bedroom.
“Maybe take a sweater. The weather is supposed to be cooler than yesterday.”
“Yes, dear.” She rolled her eyes with a smile, then walked out of the kitchen.
Chapter Six
Diana
What I just witnessed was the craziest and coolest thing I’d ever seen. My handsome Diego turned into a wolf right in front of me. One moment he was standing there naked as can be, giving me a crooked smile, then within ten seconds the transformation happened. It was so fast, I wasn’t sure what part changed first. I felt like I had to slow it down and replay it over and over. His strong physique and beauty transformed into a majestic beast. He was a sandy and grey colored wolf whose eyes were piercing.
He was coming toward me and even though I was a bit nervous, I didn’t flinch. After all, it was my Diego. It wasn’t like the movies where they transformed and had no idea who you were. This was my big bad wolf who gave me a wicked grin then buried his nose between my thighs.
“You’re a bad doggie,” I joked, which made him growl. Then he nipped my ass. It didn’t hurt, but he was going to pay for that. I was about to run from him, when he dashed away and came back twenty seconds later with clothes on, running his hands through his hair.
“What happened? I was only teasing.”
“Someone’s coming. And they’re not family.” This was private property, so to have anyone here that didn’t belong could be dangerous, especially if they saw a wolf. Most people fear the predators and rightfully so, but Diego was mine and it scared me that he came close to being seen or even shot.
“Where are they?” I asked, nervously tugging on my zipper to my hoodie.
“About a quarter mile away,” he said, looking over my head as he wrapped his arms around me. I wondered if they had binoculars or something and saw Diego. What if they did? “Sweetheart, stop shaking. I promise it’ll be okay.”
I could hear their footsteps as they crossed through brush and grass. “Hello, gentlemen. Can I help you?”
“Oh, hello. We were looking for Diana Bacon.” I turned in Diego’s arms and wondered who they were. “This is private property.”
“I’m Diana.” Diego held me closer to his side in a protective move that made me melt inside. I was turning into a dependent needy broad, but I loved it.
They were wearing thin trench coats with blue suits under them. How did they know we were here? We were in the middle of the two properties, but they were still far apart. “Sorry, sir, but we just need a moment of Ms. Bacon’s time.”
“Who are you?” I asked, thinking maybe they were some sort of X-Files type people that were on to Diego and his brothers. This man was turning me into a nutcase by the moment. The rational Diana was gone with the wind.
“I’m Detective Owens and this is Davis. We’re from the Colorado Springs Police Department. There was a break in at your property. We tried contacting you to make sure you’re unharmed, but you didn’t answer your phone. According to your records, you just received this place, so we gave it a shot.”
My heart was pounding in my chest. When those guys were coming, I could sense something was wrong. I didn’t picture this. “A break in? Why?”
“We don’t know yet. Your neighbor, Ms. Miller, noticed your door was open overnight and thought something wasn’t right. When she knocked and you didn’t answer, she pushed on the door and saw the place was ransacked. She called us because she said you were like clockwork and should have been home.” That sent chills up my spine. How would someone know I left? Or what if they thought I was there.
I shook off the fear and addressed the cops. “Ms. Miller is a sweet old lady, but I can’t believe someone would try to rob me.” The two detectives looked at each other and then back at us. It was clear they had something to say.
“Can you please come directly to the police station? We need to have you answer some questions.”
“Yes, but I’m going to need to see what’s missing.” I grabbed onto Diego’s hand that was flat on my belly. He intertwined our fingers and gave me a reassuring squeeze.
“Okay. Diana, we’ll drive back,” he whispered in my ear. Diego then addressed the cops, “We’ll stop in about five tonight.”
They gave him a nod and shook his hand then mine. “That should be good. Here’s our cards.”
“Thank you,” I muttered.
“Sorry, ma’am, but it’s good to see that you’re alive,” Detective Owens said.
All four of us walked back to the house where their vehicle was parked. We reassured them that we would make it to the police station shortly after them as they jumped back into a typical cop ride and drove off. Diego stopped, halting my steps, then grabbed his phone from his back pocket.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I’m letting my brothers know we have to leave.”
“Okay.” He texted them, put his phone away, then held my hand and took us back into the house.
“Diana, my love. It’s going to be okay.” I looked into his eyes, reading his conviction and my heart felt better. We got our things together to stay at his place in the city. Having him on my side made everything seem wonderful. As we were leaving, a car pulled up and I saw Tara riding shotgun. They jumped out and ran to us, my sisters wrapping their arms around me, squeezing like I was in danger.
“Girls, I’m fine. Remember I’ve been here the whole time,” I reminded them.
“I know, but that’s chance. What if you had been home?” They had panic written all over their faces. The men on the other hand looked ready to commit murder. I turned to see Diego and he seemed even more furious than them, if that was even possible. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it hard.
“I wasn’t. Besides, maybe that’s why the robber showed up. He probably saw me leave and thought it was a prime opportunity.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. Tara and I are going with you,” Lara said, crossing her arms.
“We all are,” Alejandro said, sliding his arm around Tara.
“Okay, so we’re all going. Let’s get this show on the ro
ad. I feel ass-kicky and everything,” Tara added, air boxing. We took two vehicles back to the city, Diego and I on our own.
Chapter Seven
Diego
The instant we arrived in town, we went straight to the station. The police took us into an interrogation room as my brothers and their mates waited outside. I wanted this over as fast as possible and my brothers weren’t the patient kind. They would interrupt and demand answers without learning to see what these cops actually had.
“Ms. Bacon, first, we’re sorry this happened. It’s a bit of a coincidence that this person knew you left, so we wondered if you’d had anybody following you?”
“None.” She didn’t tell them that I had been and would have noticed another potential stalker. “Do you know if anything was visibly missing?”
“There could be. There was a room with a desk that had nothing on the top anymore.”
Her color changed from rosy pink to a pale ghost. My poor girl looked as though they stole her world.
“That was where my drafting computer was. It had all my programs, plans, and many of the blueprints for pending projects and ones of my own design. I have the designs in my sketch pads, but those took hours to create.”
“Did you leave your sketch pad in the house? We didn’t pay any attention to something like that. We only noticed major obvious signs.”
“I took the latest with me.”
“We can go to the apartment and you can tell us what’s missing. It may help us catch the thief.”
“Okay.”
“There’s just one thing to mention. This wasn’t quite a robbery.”
“What do you mean?”
“They wrote something obscene on the walls.”
They slid over a large 8x10 image. It was the wall above her headboard. You can’t hide from me. I was ready to commit murder right then and there. My hands grabbed the photo and before I knew what I was doing, I balled it up.
“Mr. Lopez, you need to calm down. You look like you’re ready to snap someone in half.”
“I am.”
“Sir, whoever this person is you need to leave it up to us.” He gave me a stern warning, but I didn’t care. I could grab his head and crush it easily. I hid my strength with a medium build, but had the strength of three men. No one threatens my mate.
“If he comes after her and you’re not there to get him, I will protect her with my life.”
“And if that happens, it would be justified, but you can’t go looking for this guy. Right or wrong, he has to go through the system.”
“I understand. For his sake, I hope he’s not stupid enough to finish what he started.”
“Can we just go to the apartment now? I want to get this over with. I’m tired and hungry,” she griped. She stood, ready to walk out, so I joined her.
“Well, I guess it’s time to go,” I said, shrugging and pointing my head toward her to the cop because she was the boss. If she was ready to go then we were leaving. The detective followed us and the other came from the observation room. Not that there was anything to be looking at us for. We hadn’t done anything wrong; we were the victims, or rather Diana was. Someone hurt my girl’s feelings, took away her security, and stole her livelihood. I was going to do everything to make it right again. During the ride to the station, she’d fallen asleep and I was grateful for it. She wasn’t in the mood to talk at all and had been on the verge of tears the whole time.
I walked her to the truck and buckled her in. “Mi vida, I’m going to tell my brothers to meet us at the house we share.”
“You share a house?”
“Well, it wasn’t like we had anyone else to bring home. It’s why my brothers stayed at the cabin during the month. They worked from home or made the drive. They knew your sisters would make it harder for me to cope with missing my chance with you.”
“Oh…I’m sorry, I left you hurting.”
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about. It was the right time. Rest and we’ll get this over so we can eat.” I gave her a kiss, then closed the door. My brothers were standing outside their SUV.
“What’s going on?”
“We’re heading to her place to see what’s missing. I don’t want to talk about it right now because I’m ready to rip someone’s head off. We’ll meet you at the house. Order some food for us, please. Diana’s hungry.”
“Okay, and then we talk.” I nodded and walked toward my truck to take my woman to what remained of her apartment. She gave me a weak smile as I slid into the driver’s seat.
“You don’t have to put up a front for me, mi amor. I know you are sad, but I promise to make it right. You trust me, don’t you?”
She reached out and brushed her hand against my stubble. “Wholeheartedly.”
I took her hand and kissed it before placing it in mine and driving down the road. The trip was made in silence, but it was okay because it was laced with something other than sadness. My woman was feeling needy. I could smell her, but it was going to have to wait. Her house wasn’t far from the station.
When we arrived, I took in the scene and Diana’s expression. A wall of pain covered her face. It killed me to see, but I had to hold it together. When they said ransacked they weren’t kidding. But I could see clearly this wasn’t just a robbery. There was more even without the writing on the wall. The house had been turned upside down and the wall mount for a large TV was empty.
She moved away from me before I could stop her. She went into the bedroom. The sound of a scream echoed in my ears a thousand times over. I was on her before the cops could get there. Her room was torn apart. Her sheets were shredded, the mirror shattered, and drawers pulled out and dumped. Everything was ruined. She bent down and picked up a frame with her family. It was shattered, leaving the picture sliced from the broken glass. I carried her right out of the room.
“You should have warned us about the rest of the house. This looks like a fucking war zone. We’re out of here. She’ll contact the station tomorrow after she rests.” I didn’t wait for his approval. She wasn’t prepared for the sight and they hadn’t had the damn sense to tell her it was worse. She shivered in my arms and rested her head on my chest as I carried her to my truck.
Once we were on the road to my place, she spoke, “I’m sorry for losing it back there.”
“Don’t, don’t apologize for that at all.”
“It’s not like me, Diego. I’m a rational person.”
“And you had a rational reaction to your private world invaded and torn to pieces.”
“You’re so angry. I can feel it.” I tried to hide my anger the best I could, but this wasn’t the easiest thing for a man to swallow. Whoever did this didn’t do it alone. This was more than one person because they managed to steal a bunch of things without being noticed. It was personal. But who would she have pissed off? She’s a routine person with really no friends and she didn’t go out except to work. Someone there had to be involved. It was in my head from the start and from seeing her place, I knew it had to be that way.
“All of my projects for the Lopez Properties were in the system. I can’t believe this.”
“Sweetheart, did you send any drafts to the boss? Maybe we could trace a copy to email and then modify that one with the latest changes.”
“Possibly. I’d have to contact the owner tomorrow.”
“Call him now. This isn’t something that should wait. In fact, I will. As the one who gave the contract to his company.” I pulled off to the side of the road for a moment, then I dialed her boss.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Hello, Mr. Eastman, this is Diego Lopez of Lopez Properties.”
“Oh yes, Mr. Lopez, I’m surprised at the call. Is there something wrong?” I could hear the nervous concern of a business owner.
“Yes, there is. I’m here with Ms. Bacon and…”
“Diana is with you?” I was sure it came as a shock.
“Yes, she and I are engaged.” Diana looked at me
in surprise, but it was only a formality. We were mated. A wedding made it official to everyone we knew outside those that knew the truth.
“Wow, she didn’t say anything about it,” he said, sounding a bit put out. I wondered if he was jealous or just pissed that she’d gotten together with a major client.
“That’s because I haven’t asked her yet, but it’s a done deal.” I squeezed her hand gently, then gave her a wink.
“What’s the problem then?”
“It seems her apartment was burglarized.” I heard a gasp and a stutter, but I didn’t want to hear his pity right now. I wanted to make her happy. “They stole the computer with the files for my project on them. She said that she sent them to you.”
“Yes, they were in there for me to look at. Let me forward them to your email. Is she okay?”
“She will be. She was worried about the project. I just wanted to make sure we can get it settled.”
“That’s good to hear. I’m out of town, but let me boot up my laptop and send it. I can forward it in about fifteen.”
“Okay, I’ll let you know the moment I receive it.” I hung up, feeling impatient to get home. I got back on the road and went another two miles through some city traffic. It was already seven at night, but there was a bit of a jam. Once we got a little ahead, I saw there was an accident. It was a minor fender bender, but it was the typical gaper’s delay. It only served to make me more frustrated when all I wanted was my woman.
Chapter Eight
Diana
We got to his house, which of course was the largest on his block. I wondered if we would all live together now. Having my sisters around would be nice. We haven’t seen a lot of each other. They were traveling before we got the houses, then they stayed with their mates after they finally called me.
I waited for Diego to open the door for me. It was his pleasure, but I really didn’t need it. It wasn’t like I needed assistance yet. Maybe when I was pregnant and it was harder to move around. Once I took his hand, he had me out of the car and in his arms. His mouth crashed down on mine in a kiss that took my breath away.