“And how exactly do you think you’re supposed to earn that money, our keep here, huh?” Jeremy fired back at her, throwing his arms up. “I know you would do what you have to do to keep us here, if it meant a roof over head. And I don’t want you to have to be forced into sex with another alpha!”
Doll stepped towards Jeremy and he stepped back automatically. Doll stopped hurt by his rejection. “No one is forcing me to have sex Jeremy. Ever again.” She paused, wanting the meaning in her words to sink in with him. “And whilst I would do a lot to make life better for us, I won’t put either of us at risk to do it. I feel like Seattle could be a chance for us to change things around. Luke is proof of that already.”
“You like him.” Jeremy stated staring at Doll. His voice was almost accusatory. Luke waited outside their room holding his breath. His heartbeat raced as he too waited for Doll to respond to Jeremy’s accusation.
Doll remained quiet. There was no good way to respond. It’d been her and Jeremy for so long. It would be natural for Jeremy to feel threatened by the presence of another male. If Luke moved into her life, where did that leave Jeremy?
Sensing that their fight had run out of fuel, Luke knocked on the closed bedroom door. “Everything alright in there?” He asked leaning against the door frame, he hand reaching for the door handle as silence filled the other side of the door.
The door handle turned and Doll stepped back out and right into Luke’s personal space, closing the door behind her as she did so. Her nostrils flared inhaling the scent of his closeness to her. Lunar week made her nose more sensitive to scents than before. She could smell the deodorant on Luke and the natural male musk underneath it.
Luke saw the look of attraction in Doll’s eyes and he refused to move from the space he was in. He wanted her to want him to be close. Doll dragged her eyes slowly away from Luke’s strong jaw, up to his eyes. “He needs a bit of time to himself.” She said softly, her eyes again darting over his face.
“Good.” Luke said reassuringly, keeping his position in the doorframe as Doll appeared to visually drink him in.
“Yeah.” She muttered in a distracted voice. She moved closer to Luke and hesitated only momentarily, before rubbing her cheek against his Jaw line, that was beginning to show a hint of stubble.
Luke stayed still but relaxed at the contact. It made his werewolf warm. Doll’s head dipped and she sniffed along his neck, lifting her nose to touch just under Luke’s earlobe, playfully pushing at it with her nose. A small sigh of pleasure escaped him. This was the werewolf way to court. He’d heard about it, seen it in others, but never courted a werewolf before. He’d always gone directly after what he wanted. He’d never had to wait, never had to hold back. But he’d never had Doll to contend with before.
She pulled back, and when she looked back into his eyes, they were those of a werewolf she looked at. His desire had seeped through him. The wolf eyes of silver on a human body surprisingly didn’t scare her. If anything, she felt safe looking into those eyes. Her own eyes dropped to look at the rest of his body. Whilst clothed, it seemed taunt, strung with tension or maybe desire. Had she really just done that to him, whilst barely touching him? Her eyes landed on his jeans crotch and the unmistakable tenting of them.
That seemed to snap Doll back into reality and she blinked, her eye level low as she spoke to Luke.
“What just happened?”
“Seems you were giving in to your werewolf’s animal nature. Running your nose back along my jaw line again, sniffing at it, shows your interest in me and asks for trust. My compliance at letting you set the pace.”
“How do you know this stuff?”
Luke smiled softly at her. “I’m a werewolf, we get taught this stuff in our culture. Didn’t you?”
“Not really. I mean, maybe, I don’t really remember having that much knowledge about my animal behaviour. I’m also not used to letting my werewolf out so easily and take me over.”
After being in captivity, she’d practically been denied her werewolf self, for the most part, her wolf was almost dormant. But clearly there was something about Luke that her werewolf self, liked.
“Is it almost lunar week?” She asked meekly.
“Yes, we’re a few hours out from it.” Luke replied softly back at her.
“Figures.” She muttered to herself rather than him. He looked at her questioningly. “Never really been able to handle lunar week, and the past year…. So I’m sorry about…about…” Doll trailed off feeling her cheeks heat up with embarrassment.
Luke smiled at her “Don’t be. Please.” He’d love to tell her how exciting he’d found her unexpected move on him. How it’d made him feel like she was trailing fire along his skin that made his body crave more of a solid touch from her.
“Jeremy will be fine.” She said in a submissive voice. Luke straightened up, blinking back to very human brown eyes. He pushed off the door frame giving her some more space and watching as she breathed a bit heavier.
“So will you Doll, so will you.” He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Doll looked up at him all big brown eyes of wonder. “I promise you both, no one is ever going to harm you two again, while you’re under my care. No one.”
8
After an hour of sulking, Jeremy re-emerged quietly as he would have normally. Luke had decided to take the day of work and help both Jeremy and Doll find some sort of cash in hand work. So they set about looking for simple jobs that needed immediate filling. Jeremy sabotaged every potential job prospect Doll went for.
Doll couldn’t tell if he was intentionally lashing out at her for his earlier upset at her and Luke or if it was just a case of him not being able to cope, with the thought of separation from her. He’d managed to scare of any and all potential workplace she’d been trying to get interested in her.
“What am I going to do?” Doll asked Luke as they got back into his car, Jeremy already in the backseat.
“I need a job. We,” She said waving her hand back and forth, indicating Jeremy, “need a job if we’re going to get anywhere.”
“Get anywhere.” Luke muttered annoyed at the thought of Doll going somewhere else that he wasn’t. Why was she so damn keen to move on, hadn’t she just god damn got here?
“You know, food, clothes, home. That kind of anywhere.” She replied back at him quickly. Now that she had told him about her past, at the hands of the Alpha Pack, she felt lighter, more open to talking to him rather than assuming he was the natural enemy out to get her. Surely he’d understand her need for some form of normal.
“I’m going to need a job that we can both do and be around each other in.” She sighed heavily, frustrated at how crappy life was treating her.
“Maybe there’s something that you’re both good at, that we could look at?” Luke suggested as his cell phone beeped and he glanced at the screen. A text message from his father. “Why don’t we think about that, I’ve just got to go to the garage and see my father for a moment.” He said sliding into the driver side seat and starting up the car. “Till then, you guys can stay with me. That will help you save on the house, food and clothes part of your plan.”
Doll glanced across at Luke and she bit her lower lip. “I don’t want to be in debit to you.” She said in a low voice. Luke looked over at her and back out at the road ahead.
“That’s not how I see it.”
Doll remained silent. How could she explain to the only good guy that had helped her and Jeremy that she had to feel free again, not owned, not in debit and controlled. She could see the annoyance flicker into Luke’s face and hear it in his words as he answered her.
They drove to the car garage. It had old fashioned petrol pumps out the front of it and a fantastically old, retro styled sign out the front that proclaimed “Custom Classics”. Doll thought it looked stylish and very nineteen fifteens. It just lacked either a James Dean like sullen teen hanging around kicking a can out the front, or waitress in roller-skates and some sort
of cafeteria style restaurant and drive in. She spotted a half worked on Cadillac de-ville, a Shelby cobra GT and a mustang that was being prepped for a new paint job.
Troy Charleston stepped out of his office and watched his second eldest son approach. A female he didn’t recognise sat in the passenger side of his car. And another young male behind her.
“Dad.” Luke replied walking up to his father.
“Who are you friends?” Troy Charleston asked out of curiosity nodding his head back at the car. The back passenger door opened and Jeremy stepped out, looking widely around at the Garage.
“Doll and Jeremy.” Luke offered up. “What’s up?”
“Doll and Jeremy hey? I haven’t heard you mention either of them before.” Troy Charleston said watching as Jeremy began to wander around the grounds of the garage. “How do you know them?”
It was impossible for his father, a pack leader to turn off the natural instinct to have all the knowledge he could about those he did not know, when in close proximity to his own kind. Luke had a lot of friends but Troy was certain he would have remembered the two wolves he was looking at. The female, what he could see of her in the car, which was really just her shoulder and head and face looked almost meek. Definitely not Luke’s type of female to be attracted to.
“You buzzed me, remember?” Luke answered his father with. He had no intention of sharing Doll with his family just yet. He needed to get to know her first before he introduced to any of his pack. There was a long way to go to getting to know her and getting her comfortable around him, let alone other werewolves.
The sound of the car door opening, caught both men’s attention and Doll stepped out, waving a friendly hand at Luke and his father as she pointed towards the direction Jeremy had wandered off in. Troy Charleston waved back at her with a small smile as he squinted into the daytime glare of the overcast day.
“Bit skinny isn’t she?”
“Dad.” Luke implored. Although he would’ve agreed with the old man. Again, it was something he was working on, ensuring Doll and Jeremy ate regularly.
“She needs more meat on her. Pretty though. Is that you’re shirt she’s wearing? How’d you two meet?” Troy Charleston smirked at his son.
Luke sighed. “If I answer will you let up on Doll?”
Tory Charleston smiled widely at his son. “Doll? Her name is Doll? I like that. Okay.”
“So does she. “ Luke smiled back at him. “She tried to hustle me out of a pool game.” Luke stated honestly. There was no point in lying to his father he’d taste it in his words. Troy and Luke both had the ability to detect a lie. One of their werewolf senses, made it seem like an emotion that emitted something close to energy in the air. Lies tasted like salt, bitter.
“Well, that’s half the truth.” Troy Charleston replied as Luke stuck his head back out the garage and turned to see where Doll and Jeremy had wandered off exploring too. “What’s the other half?”
“I answered you’re question dad.” Luke said defensively back at his father. Doll stood, watching something, neither he nor his father could see from where they were.
“That’s where all the scrap metal and parts get housed.” Troy Charleston said as curiosity getting the better of both males, they walked out after the two beta wolves. Luke walked up beside Doll who stood with her arms crossed over her chest, watching Jeremy as he tinkered around with an old engine part.
“I’ve been meaning to pull that thing apart for parts, but there’s always something getting in the way.” Troy Charleston commented as Jeremy tweaked a part of it.
“You know if you changed out the carburettor and replaced the spark plugs, add a new muffler, run some rust free coolant through it and it’d probably work again.” Jeremy said to no one in particular. Doll and Luke looked at each other in surprised silence.
“You don’t think it’s a bit too dead? What about the timing?” Troy Charleston asked curiously. “I tried it when I first got my hands on it and it didn’t last more then ten seconds. Seems like she’s done all she can in this lifetime.”
“Don’t worry baby, he doesn’t mean that.” Jeremy said to the car engine before looking over at Troy Charleston. “A ‘vette with completely original parts and you have no faith in a car that’s been circling show rooms of the rich and famous for forty four years. She just needs a little work. Shame on you.”
Luke looked at his father who burst out laughing. “Good point, they really don’t make them like this one anymore do they?”
“American muscle can’t go wrong.” Jeremy muttered still tinkering away. Luke turned to his father,
“Dad, how’d you like a new apprentice?” He asked nodding his head at Jeremy. “At least part time?” Troy Charleston looked at Jeremy and over Luke’s shoulder at the eagerness in Doll’s expression.
“Anything I should know upfront Doll?” He asked her, sensing something Luke and her where withholding on him. Doll looked at Luke who nodded his head.
“He can get a little twitchy when he’s been away from me for a long period of time.”
Troy looked at Doll and then Luke. “Separation anxiety?” Luke nodded his head. Troy thought about it. His son seemed rather taken with Doll. Which told him they must be good wolves. He guessed he would find eventually. He looked at his son who had masked his face in calm, so his father could not deliberately read it. Which indicated to Troy that there was more to these two, than he cared to share with his father at present. Which in all likely hood meant, Luke cared about them a great deal.
“All you’d have to do would be call Luke and I’d come collect him if he has an….episode.” Doll added on quickly.
“Alright, we’ll take it day by day then.” Troy Charleston replied watching the pretty female wolf named Doll, smile back at him brightly. She slipped a hand into Luke’s and squeezed it tightly. Luke looked down at her hand in his and smiled back up at her as he wrapped his fingers through hers.
After one week of being in Seattle, Doll was beginning to feel, dare she think it, relaxed. Jeremy and her had accommodation, that was free of charge, food to eat and Jeremy even had a job. Doll would still look for work, but it seemed that life, was finally settling down the way it should for them.
Of course, Doll feared relaxing completely, there was still a big part of her that felt a need to keep on guard, especially since the start of the second week in Seattle meant, it was lunar week. That presented a whole other set of problems to overcome. Like shape shifting. The most basic of werewolf abilities and yet, she struggled. Prior to her captivity at the hands of the Alpha Pack, it had not been a problem. But since being bound in silver and denied her birth right, it was next to impossible for her to smoothly bring on the shift.
Jeremy was no better than her. It wasn’t that they forgot how to do it, was that they’re bodies natural mechanisations for shifting had been reprogrammed through denial, because of the Alpha Pack. And yet, they felt the effects of the lunar week as much, more so, than other werewolves.
“Now all we have to do, is get you a job missy.” Luke said producing a bottle of wine and a glass for her late Sunday evening. Doll bit her lip and watched him pour the white wine, before reaching back into the fridge and pulling himself out a bottled beer. Jeremy blew across the top of his steaming coffee cup.
“Maybe we could hold off until after, Lunar Week?” Doll said picking up her wine glass. Lunar week was, according to the calendar in Luke’s kitchen due to start.
Normally most werewolves were sensitive to the lunar week and could tell when it was approaching as well as upon them. But again, this was a sensitive werewolf skill that felt to Doll like it had all but been destroyed in her abilities since being shackled and kept in silver bonds.
“Problem?” Luke asked sensing hesitation in her voice.
“Yes.” Doll replied keeping her eye level low and glancing across at Jeremy. She was telling the truth It surprised him that she felt comfortable enough now to be openly honest and forthcoming wi
th him. They were supposed to be celebrating Jeremy’s job, their achievement in getting back up on their feet, so to speak. Doll didn’t want to bring the mood down with the next hurdle they had to jump. “Like?” Luke prompted as they all stood around the kitchen table.
“Let’s just toast Jeremy and him getting a job.” Doll replied looking back up. Jeremy lifted his coffee mug silently, Doll raised her glass back at him.
“Who knew you had a grease monkey in you Jer? Well done.” Luke replied taking his cue from Doll and lifting his beer bottle in salute to the other male.
“Thanks to both of you.” Jeremy replied with a small smile.
9
Lunar week and Luke Charleston was not in a werewolf club celebrating all things werewolf. It was practically unheard of. He was house bound. Out of choice. He didn’t want to take Doll and Jeremy to a club where the desire of every wolf in there would be on display and could be felt in the air. He didn’t want to freak either of them out, especially now that he’d made some sort of progress with Doll.
“Apparently I’m not allowed in the kitchen anymore, Jeremy has marked it out as his territory.” Luke chuckled sitting down on the sofa next to Doll. They were sitting in the living room with some soft music from the radio playing. He watched as she stayed where she was and tucked her bare feet on the couch, under herself. Before noticing she was unusually silent. Jeremy kind of silent.
“Doll?”
“Are we in lunar week yet?” She asked him quickly.
“Uh, yeah.”
Her eyes darted over to him. “You really shouldn’t sit so close to me.”
“Why, do I smell good or something?” He smiled charmingly at her.
Doll’s thighs clenched together and her insides tightened. He had a smiled that would knock any mere mortal woman over. How had she not really noticed that until now? Had she been too busy trying to pretend he was a bad guy and she wasn’t actually attracted to him in some way? Doll shook her head and ran her hands through her ponytail quickly, twisting it.
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