by Wendi Wilson
“He seemed nice to me,” Melanie said after he pulled her aside and said as much. Everyone else had gone inside the house.
“Yeah, nice to look at,” he mumbled under his breath. She heard him and grabbed his arm.
“Are you jealous, Jeremy Stevens?”
“And why not? He, quite literally, took your breath away.” She smiled brightly at him and he grouched, “Is this funny to you?”
She slipped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his chest. “I’ve spent so much time being jealous over other girls. The girls you’ve dated, the girls you’ve talked to. Heck, even the girls you’ve only looked at. It’s actually kind of nice to have the tables turned.”
He tried to pull away from her, but she just laughed and held him tighter. “Melanie, this is not funny. You were practically drooling all over him.”
“I was not,” she said indignantly, pulling her head back to look him in the eyes. “He just surprised me, is all. I mean, even you have to admit, he looks like an angel. He was even wearing white!”
“I just got a weird vibe about him. Call it instinct, or whatever you want. I think you should stay away from him.”
“Jeremy, you’re being ridiculous. He’s the son of my dad’s best friend, his beta. I don’t think I could stay away from him if I tried. He’s probably a fixture around here.”
When Jeremy looked away, she put her hand to his cheek and turned his face back to her. He closed his eyes at the feel of her hand, and she continued, “Hey, listen. There is no reason to be jealous. I love you, and some guy with a pretty face is not going to change that.”
He opened his eyes and stared at her, hard. “I love you, too,” was all he said.
Chapter 10
After Darren sent a couple of men to get their luggage from the car and take it up to their rooms, Melanie found herself standing in a long hallway upstairs. She frowned when her mom’s things were put in Darren’s room, two doors down from her own. The thought of them sleeping in the same bed made her really uncomfortable.
I’ll just have to get used to it, I guess, she thought as she looked back and saw Jeremy standing in front of a door at the other end of the hall.
He was as far away from her as possible, with her parents’ room between them. She smiled at him, gave a little wave then walked into her room. Her mouth dropped open as she looked around with wide eyes.
It was beautiful. There was a king sized bed, placed in the center of the wall directly across from the door, engulfed with a sheer, white canopy. The walls were painted a light shade of sky blue and large paintings of wooded glades graced them. To the right was a walk in closet almost as big as her bedroom at home, complete with a dresser, hanging rods and a shoe rack.
After exploring the monstrous closet, Melanie walked to a huge bay window with a padded seat. She sat down and stared in awe at the view in front of her. Rolling hills of green grass led down to a small pond, with the thick woods directly behind it. Flower beds lined either side of the huge yard, bright with spring blossoms.
Movement in the trees beyond the pond caught her eye. She stared for several moments until she saw it again. There was a white blur in the darkness of the forest, then it was gone. Further to the right, she saw a darker form move. As her eyes zeroed in on it, a large brown dog emerged from the tree line for a moment, looked around and sniffed the air, then disappeared back into the woods.
“The sentinels,” Melanie whispered to herself as the realization dawned on her.
After staring for several more minutes and seeing nothing, she gave up her post by the window and decided to explore the house. She had three hours to kill before dinner, where she’d be introduced to the rest of the pack. She went to find Jeremy, to see if he wanted to explore with her.
Melanie walked down the hall to Jeremy’s room and knocked, but there was no answer. She turned the knob and cracked the door open, calling out to Jeremy as she did. Swinging it fully open, she walked inside and realized it was empty.
His room was just as large as hers, and similarly furnished. Since his bedroom was on the same side of the hall, Melanie assumed he had the same magnificent view as her room did. Looking through his window, she took in the vast landscape, confirming her hunch.
She started to turn away to resume her search for Jeremy when a large black dog burst from the woods and came to a halt on the grass. The dog sniffed the air and turned back quickly just as another dog, this one solid white, flew from the tree line and landed in front of him. Melanie gasped as they started circling each other, heads low to the ground and teeth bared as if they were growling.
“Ace,” she whispered, then turned and raced from the room.
She took the stairs two at a time and when she reached the bottom, she ran straight through the open front door. She jumped off the porch in a single bound and raced as fast as her legs would take her around the side of the house.
“Ace!” Melanie yelled as soon as she rounded the corner into the back yard.
Ace took his eyes off the other animal for a brief second to look over at Melanie, who was running hell-bent toward them. The white dog took advantage of his distraction and pounced, jumping onto Ace and knocking him to the ground.
Melanie reached the pair just as the pale beast was attempting to clamp his jaws on Ace’s throat. She didn’t slow down, using her momentum to strengthen the kick she landed square on the dog’s ribs. With a pained yelp, he rolled off of Ace and staggered to all fours several feet away.
Melanie advanced on the animal, anger building inside her that one of her father’s pack would dare assault a guest. She felt hot all over, the rage causing a tingling in her hands and a creepy crawly feeling on her scalp. She was breathing hard, both from her mad dash from the house and her rising anger.
Just before she reached the white dog, who stood unmoving where he landed, something moved in front of her and blocked her path. She tried to shove it out of the way, but a familiar whine pulled her from whatever trance her anger had put her in. She glanced down and saw those dark brown eyes she loved so much.
She dropped to her knees and threw her arms around Ace’s neck as she asked, “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“He’s fine,” a somewhat familiar voice called out from nearby. “We were just doing a little sparring.”
Melanie looked toward the sound of the voice and froze in shock. Declan stood there, panting heavily, a large bruise blooming across the left side of his torso. A torso that was bare. It was bare because he had shifted where he landed and stood buck naked in the bright light of the sun.
Ace moved quickly to block her view and barked at Declan. Melanie closed her eyes and leaned into his side, dropping from her knees onto her butt. Her face was red again, this time from embarrassment instead of anger. She heard footsteps retreating toward the house as Declan walked away.
Oh my God, she thought as she squeezed Ace tighter. I saw my first naked man. Oh Lord, I saw my first naked man and it was Declan! Oh, God.
She was mortified, but that quickly turned to anguish when she realized what she had done. She ran into the yard like a madwoman and kicked the crap out of the beta’s son. She had probably embarrassed Jeremy, too, making him think that she didn’t believe he could take care of himself.
“Jeremy,” she whispered into Ace’s neck, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I’m so, so sorry.”
Ace pulled away and gave a little yelp before licking her face until she fell over in a fit of giggles. He jumped on top of her and continued the torture. When he wouldn’t stop, she grabbed him around the neck and jerked so that he rolled off and landed with a thud beside her.
Melanie turned her head to look at him. He lay on his side beside her, panting heavily and licking his chops. She scratched him under the chin, then let her hand drop. She turned her eyes back to the sky.
“I love you, Jeremy,” she whispered.
Ace gave a light whine and a chuff, then nuzzled his snout into
her neck.
Chapter 11
“I don’t know how I am going to do this.”
Melanie was pacing in her bedroom, wearing a track in the dark beige carpeting. Her father had tapped on her door a few minutes earlier, calling out that dinner would be served in half an hour.
She was a nervous wreck. Not only was she going to be meeting several new people, but she was also going to have to face Declan and his parents. She had no idea what to say or how to act after that spectacular display of nudity in the back yard.
“Chad. Willow. So nice to see you again. By the way, I saw all your son’s goodies earlier,” she mumbled. “Oh God, I can’t do this.”
There was a light knock on the door and in her distraction, Melanie called “Come in,” without thinking. The door opened and there stood Declan in all his angelic and, thankfully fully clothed, glory.
“What are you doing here?” Melanie asked in an accusing tone.
Declan took one step inside, but left the door open behind him. He looked around the room, his eyes shooting from one object to the next, looking everywhere but at Melanie. He cleared his throat then caught her eye.
“I just wanted to apologize for earlier. You know, for the whole shifting and being nak-”
“I know what you meant!” Melanie said, cutting him off.
“Yeah. Well, I wasn’t really thinking. You attacked me and-”
“You attacked Jeremy!”
“Melanie, we were sparring. He said he needed to shift and stretch his legs, so we went for a run and it got competitive. You’ll understand, once you go through the change.”
“Okay. I get it. I’m sorry I overreacted.” She rubbed her hands up and down her arms and shifted her weight from foot to foot.
“No need to apologize, Mel. Can I call you Mel?” At her nod, he continued, “We all know what it feels like when you approach your first shift. We all experience the crazy emotions. The anger. The fear. So you really have nothing to be sorry for. I get it.”
He smiled and held out his hand for her to shake. She stepped forward and took his hand in hers, shaking it firmly. When she tried to pull back, he squeezed her hand and pulled her a little closer to him.
With hooded eyes that suddenly seemed to smolder through thick lashes, he said in a deep, sultry voice, “As for you seeing all my ‘goodies,’ well, that was an accident. I got caught up in the moment and shifted without thinking. Won’t happen again. Unless, of course you want it to.”
Melanie felt a light shock in her palm and warm sensation flowing up her arm. She started to relax and leaned toward him. Declan slowly released her hand. He took a step back and walked through the door, shutting it quietly behind him. Melanie’s hand burned where he had held it. Her face burned worse from embarrassment.
Oh, God, he heard me talking to myself, she thought, careful to keep her mouth shut and her thoughts to herself.
Melanie resumed her pacing, across the room and back, over and over, trying to expend her nervous energy. She didn’t know how she was going to face everyone and dinner time was fast approaching.
A while later, a knock sounded at the door. This time she called out, “Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
She ran to the door and flung it open, rushing into Jeremy’s arms before he could move. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard, coaxing his mouth open and slipping her tongue inside.
“Um,” Jeremy managed to get out between kisses, “Mel, we’re in the hallway. Right next to your parents’ bedroom.”
That brought her to her senses. She pulled Jeremy inside her room and slammed the door shut behind him. Her face was red as she stammered out an apology.
“Uh, sorry about that. I guess I got carried away.”
“Hey,” he said softly as he pulled her in for a hug. “Don’t be sorry. There’s nothing I want more than you in my arms. And when you lose control like that,” he growled softly, “it does things to me. You have no idea.”
After a few moments of silence, Melanie pulled back and looked at his face with a wry smile on hers, saying, “So, should we talk about the pink elephant in the room? Or should I say the white dog in the room?”
“He’s not hiding under the bed is he?”
“Shut up,” Melanie said, elbowing him lightly in the stomach. “It was a figure of speech.”
“Mel, you can’t un-see what you saw, no matter how much I wish you could. You should just try to forget about it.”
“Yeah,” she chirped. “Forget about it.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“Well, it was the first naked boy I’ve ever seen. It’s kind of hard to forget your firsts.” She said this with a smirk, so Jeremy would know she was teasing him.
“Is that a challenge, Ms. Johnson? You think I can’t make you forget about it?”
As he asked those questions, he was stalking Melanie, backing her slowly toward the bed on the other side of the room. Her legs bumped against the edge and she came to a stop. Jeremy kept walking until his body nearly touched hers.
“I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to you trying,” she whispered.
Before she knew what was happening, she was on the bed with Jeremy laying on top of her. He nibbled lightly at her lips, pulling back slightly when she tried to deepen the kiss. After several attempts, she growled with frustration and let her head fall back to the mattress in defeat.
Jeremy kissed his way down her neck and chuckled lightly by her ear. “Bet you’re not thinking about Mr. Angel Face now, are you?”
Melanie huffed. “Well, I am now!” She rolled him over and laid her head on his chest. “How can I face his parents at dinner?”
“You’re not worried about seeing him again? Just his parents?”
“He stopped by here earlier. To apologize.”
Jeremy sat up quickly and pulled her up with him. With his hands on her shoulders, he stared into her eyes and frowned.
“He came here? To your room?”
He lifted his nose in the air and took a deep breath. Declan’s scent wafted to him and he let out a low growl. He had been so focused on Melanie, he didn’t catch it when he first walked through the door.
“Yeah. It was no big deal,” Melanie said, a nervous hitch in her voice. “He said you asked to shift and stretch your legs, and that he was running with you and things got competitive. You were just sparring.”
“Sparring, huh? That’s not exactly how I remember it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I saw him outside and asked if there was somewhere I could shift and stash my clothes so that I could have some privacy when I shifted back. He showed me a shed that the sentinels use and said he’d run with me. As we ran through the woods, he tried to exert his dominance over me. It wasn’t as simple as sparring or being competitive.”
“Maybe you misinterpreted his actions?”
“Maybe,” Jeremy conceded doubtfully. “Let’s go to dinner,” he said, pulling her from the bed.
As Melanie followed him out into the hallway, she thought, Jeremy has to be wrong. Why on Earth would Declan feel the need to exert dominance over him? It just doesn’t make sense.
Shaking off her thoughts, she smiled at Jeremy and took his hand as they descended the staircase.
Chapter 12
At dinner, Melanie kept her eyes on her plate as much as possible. Jeremy was sitting on her left, nudging her knee with his when someone spoke to her directly and she didn’t respond. The conversations floating around her were like white noise to her troubled mind.
The reason for her distress had strutted in without a care in the world and plopped down in the chair to her right. Declan didn’t speak to her directly, or even look at her, but every so often his elbow would brush against hers as he ate. Melanie was almost positive it was not accidental. She had a feeling he was trying very hard to make her uncomfortable.
“Melanie?”
“What?” she said, a little too
loud, glancing around the table to determine who had called her name.
“Honey, what’s going on with you tonight?”
Melanie’s eyes shot to her mother. There was no way she was going to answer that question. Chad and Willow were sitting directly across the table from Melanie and Declan. Elaine sat in front of Jeremy and Darren was at the head of the table. There were three other high ranking members of the pack at their table, plus an additional three tables filled with the other members of the community.
Yeah, like I’m going to admit I saw Declan naked in front of a room of people with supersonic hearing, she thought.
“Melanie saw me naked today,” Declan announced in a booming voice before she could come up with a valid excuse for her discomfort.
Her mouth dropped open as her eyes shot to him, wide with disbelief. Somewhere in the room a fork hit a plate loudly, then there was silence. Declan winked at her. Her gaze flew back to her plate and she felt Jeremy’s hand squeeze her knee.
“Oh, Declan,” Willow said softly, her voice laced with disappointment.
“What happened?” Darren asked. His voice didn’t sound angry, but was filled with authority.
“I was out running with Jeremy. He wanted to go for a run and I joined him, you know, to show him around. We started racing, which led to a little friendly competition. We were just having some fun and Melanie misunderstood. She kicked me so hard I think I might have a bruised rib.” Melanie’s eyes shot back to him in horror, but he just smiled to let her know it was okay. “Anyway, she was freaking out and I wanted to explain. I didn’t think. I just shifted, and well, you can imagine the rest.”
“Did you apologize to my daughter, Declan?”
Declan’s head shot up in shock at the alpha’s harsh tone. “Of course I did, Darren.”
He nodded at Declan then said softly, “Melanie.”
She dragged her eyes up to him with raised eyebrows. “Yes?” she squeaked out.
“This is something that happens from time to time. People forget themselves and shift, or fall asleep out in the open and wake up human and naked. It’s nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed over. Please don’t let Declan’s mistake make you feel uncomfortable. It’s his problem, not yours.”