The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

by Trisha Telep

  I’d put off so many things thinking I had to have my life set up just perfectly first. It’s why I stayed at my job as a paralegal instead of continuing my education to be a lawyer (I wanted to decide on the perfect branch of law to practise before making that leap). It’s why I’d waited so long to take this camping trip (I wanted to pay my car off before splurging on a vacation). It’s also why I hadn’t moved to Manhattan with Paul when he’d asked me. No, I’d wanted to be further along in my career before taking my relationship with him to the next level.

  Staring at Brandy’s twisted ankle that day, thinking that again I was going to have to put my plans on hold, had been the last straw. I’d decided to hell with waiting. Even if I was doing it alone, I was hiking through Yellowstone like I’d planned.

  And look where that decision got me.

  “You wouldn’t understand,” was all I said.

  His gaze was steady. “I thought we’d just established that we’re both capable of understanding a lot more than the other realizes.”

  I let out an impatient sigh. “All right, then how’s this? I don’t want to tell you. I don’t know why I’m even talking to you. You’re my kidnapper.”

  “Not really.” Softly, but the words still resonated. “You’re part of the Pack now. And as enforcer, I keep the Pack safe. Even if it’s from themselves.”

  This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to explore. I yawned, hoping he’d take the hint.

  He did. Daniel pushed his chair back and stretched. “Are you going to give me trouble if I take a shower?”

  I eyed him warily. “I won’t throw a radio in with you, if that’s what you’re talking about.”

  He grinned. “Good to know, but I meant can I trust you not to run away while I’m in the shower? I don’t want to have to tie you to a chair, but I also don’t feel like chasing after you with soap in my eyes.”

  I looked away from his smile, which was charming, sexy and dangerous all at the same time. It wasn’t the dangerous part that unnerved me; it was the other things.

  “I’ll stay put.” But only because you’d hear me if I didn’t.

  Daniel went into the bathroom and I sat on the bed, debating whether to climb under the covers, since the room was chilly. Finally I decided to wait. I’d shower once Daniel was done, then I’d borrow one of his shirts to sleep in again. At least they were long enough that modesty wasn’t an issue.

  I cast one longing look at the window and the freedom that lay beyond it, but then sighed. Daniel would chase after me, stark naked and soapy, then he’d probably tie me to a chair after all. The thought of sleeping sitting up while duct-taped didn’t appeal to me. No, I’d wait for another chance to escape. One had to come up.

  After about ten minutes, Daniel appeared in the door frame. His hair looked darker wet, and drops of water still beaded his skin. All he had on was a towel slung low on his hips, the white colour emphasizing his tan. He ran a hand through his hair, flinging more droplets away. With that simple, muscle-rippling gesture, he made me forget everything for a moment and just stare.

  No wonder he isn’t human. No normal person could be this sculpted and gorgeous.

  It occurred to me that I was still staring even though several seconds had ticked away. Look away, stupid! flashed through my mind. So I did, dragging my gaze up his chest to meet his face.

  He wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t scowling. No, he was just staring at me with such an open hunger that a painful clench grabbed me below the waist. All at once, I wasn’t chilled. I was warm, bordering on sweating.

  This is wrong. All wrong. Don’t you dare! You need to snap out of this right now.

  “Stockholm syndrome,” I whispered. It could only be that. Who in their right mind got turned on by their kidnapper, no matter what he looked like?

  “Or something else.” Daniel’s voice was equally soft, but it contained an undertone that sent a shiver through me. “Wolves can tell their intended mate by scent, sometimes before they’ve even sighted them. Once the two meet. . . things are inevitable from there.”

  That wildness was lurking in his eyes again. It made me twist the bed sheets with my fingers.

  “I’m not a wolf.”

  Daniel just smiled, dark and sensual and promising. “You will be soon.”

  Six

  There was a tentative knock on the door. “Can I come in?”

  The voice was feminine. I would have said no, but as there was no lock, what was the point?

  “Fine.”

  A girl with auburn hair came in. It took a moment, but then I recognized her from the other night. Daniel’s cousin. Damned if I remembered her name.

  “I brought you some clothes,” she said. “Hope they fit, but if they don’t, you can take them back. The store’s right down the street.”

  The girl set a couple of bags on the bed. I’d barely left this room for two days since the night of the gauntlet. Confusion and uncertainty overwhelmed me. What had started out as a twisted hostage scenario had changed into something more: I could now sense the rain before it started, hear noises from further away than humanly possible, and had recurring dreams about turning into a wolf that had turned from terrifying to strangely exhilarating instead.

  No, what had me hiding in my room at the moment was that I was increasingly drawn to Daniel. I craved his scent more than food, followed him with my gaze whenever he entered the room, and had to literally fight with myself not to touch him when he was near. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. The worst part was, I was pretty sure Daniel knew what I was going through.

  He’d tried to talk to me for the past two days, but I refused to speak with him. I didn’t trust myself. I should be focusing on the fact that I was changing into a monster, and not be secretly fascinated by my new senses, or lusting after the person who held me prisoner. The night of the full moon loomed in front of me like an executioner’s axe. Whatever control I had over myself now, I knew it would be gone as soon as that ghostly orb rose in the sky. Some primal, burgeoning part of me was looking forward to that.

  “. . . thought we could have a soak,” the girl was saying. “That always helps me when I’m upset.”

  “What?” I hadn’t been paying attention to a word she was saying.

  “The hot springs,” she repeated. “We have indoor and outdoor ones. I bought you a swimsuit. Anything’s got to be better than being cooped up in this room day and night.”

  Outside. With just her. I gave her a quick, cagey look. Maybe this was my chance. She was petite, looked about nineteen or twenty, and seemed nice. Let’s hope she was gullible, too.

  “Sure. Thanks,” I added, smiling. “What’s your name again? I’m sorry, I don’t remember.”

  “Laurel,” she said with an answering smile. “Here, I’ll leave so you can change.”

  “Can we go to whichever spring has the least amount of people? I’m, ah, shy about being in a bathing suit around strangers.”

  Growing up spending my summers at Lake Michigan, that was a lie, but she didn’t know that. She nodded. “Sure.”

  I lowered my voice. “He doesn’t need to come, does he?” I asked, with a nod towards the rest of the cabin, where Daniel was. “I’m so tired of him shadowing my every move.”

  She lowered her voice as well. “I’ll talk to him.”

  My smile widened. Nice and gullible. My luck was changing.

  If circumstances were different, I would have been awed at how beautiful this place was. The cabins were set near the end of the mini-town and spaced well apart for privacy. The mountains loomed majestically around all of it. Forests bridged the bottom of the mountains, adding a more secluded feel, and the steam rising up from the rock-bed hot springs looked both soothing and inviting.

  But, sinking into the warm mineral water, I was reminded of my tub at home in my apartment. A stab of longing went through me when I thought about my parents, who I’d meant to call before leaving on my camping trip; my older sister, Leigh; my ne
phew, who’d just turned one last month; my co-workers, who made the long hours from nine to five pass much more quickly; my best friend Brandy; her boyfriend Tom, who told me in confidence right before they left that he was going to pop the question. Would I see any of them again?

  I will, I promised myself. I’ll get away. I’ll . . . I’ll find a doctor to cure me. I just have to get away. No matter what.

  “Feeling better?” Laurel asked. She leaned back, settling her arms around the edge of the rock lip.

  “Yes.” And I did. I’d committed myself to a course of action and I’d follow it through. No matter what.

  “I don’t know why you’d be embarrassed to be seen in a swimsuit, Marlee,” she went on. “You’re very pretty. Finn’s already interested.”

  “Finn?” I asked blankly.

  “My cousin. The guy with the long black hair. You met him the same night you met me.”

  Oh yeah. “He looked young,” I said neutrally.

  She laughed. “He’s forty-two.”

  My jaw dropped as I remembered the smooth-skinned, flirty Finn. “Can’t be.”

  Laurel gave me a slanted look. “There are advantages, you know,” she said in a casual tone. “You know how one year equals seven in a dog’s life? Well, we have the reverse of that. And you already know we heal a lot faster than normal people. Plus, when we change, we experience the world in ways no one else can. I don’t know how anyone would rather be just a human.”

  I gaped at her. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any stranger. “How old are you?” I managed.

  She settled back more comfortably. “Oh, I’m only twenty, but the good news is, I’ll look like this for a long time. The age slowing doesn’t happen until puberty’s over, thank God. Imagine being a teenager for forty years?”

  I couldn’t. “And Daniel?”

  “I’ll let him tell you how old he is,” Laurel replied. She had a little smirk that made me wary.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  Like hell. She was obviously itching to say more. I scooted closer, lowering my voice.

  “What?”

  Laurel’s smirk widened. “Normally, when someone’s exposed to us like you were — which is very rare, by the way -Daniel is the one to bring them in, but he doesn’t watch that person the whole time. He’s big on privacy. He’s never had someone stay at his cabin for four days straight, not even a girlfriend. Add his refusal to let Finn visit you and, well. . . he’s acting possessive. Like a wolf with his future mate.”

  I was alternating between feeling shocked and triumphant. Daniel, seeing me as a future mate? So it wasn’t just me who’d been so affected the past few days.

  But that presented a whole new set of problems. It was one thing when I thought Daniel was just doing his job as the Pack’s enforcer. Knowing he might be feeling the same thing towards me would decimate the slim hold I had on my control, and I still needed to get away. It complicated things to a fantastic degree.

  Or, Laurel could be wrong. Daniel could be keeping me close because he knew I hadn’t really accepted this as my new life. Either way, I had to take advantage of my chance, which brought me to why I’d agreed to this outing.

  I hunched a little, letting an expression of pain spasm on my face.

  “What’s wrong?” Laurel asked.

  “Cramps,” I said with another grimace. “I’m getting my period. Could you do me a huge favour? I don’t want to embarrass myself by springing a leak while walking back to town. Can you get me some tampons? I’ll wait here.”

  I climbed out of the hot water and sat on one of the large rocks, wrapping a towel around me. Here’s hoping the universal sympathy every woman had for that time of the month would result in Laurel doing something stupid.

  She gave me such an odd look that I cursed myself for not coming up with a better reason for her to go away. Well, I didn’t have much time to think up a clever ploy. But then she smiled. “Be right back.”

  Laurel got up, fastened a towel around herself, and walked away. I waited, barely breathing, until she rounded a cabin that took her out of sight, then I bounded up, running flat out towards the nearest line of trees.

  Seven

  I didn’t have shoes on so rocks cut into my feet, but I ignored them. It would only take Laurel ten to fifteen minutes to return. That’s all the time I had to get away.

  I ran like I was on fire, noting with a growing sense of awareness that I was moving faster than I ever had before. Maybe it was the werewolf curse inside me that would help me get away. Go faster. Head for the mountains. It’ll be harder for them to track your scent over all the rock.

  The forest was alive with sounds; the cry of birds, the rustling of branches as they rubbed together in the wind, the thuds my feet made on the drying leaves strewn over the uneven ground. That feeling of fright began to lessen, replaced with an inexplicable joy over running as hard and as fast as I could. I might be running away from this life, but right now, I felt strong, free and wild, like the forest itself was spurring my steps. I went faster, forgetting the pain in my feet, until the trees were almost a blur around me. Giddiness bubbled inside me. This felt right. Like I’d been waiting my whole life to run this way.

  Something hard collided with me, snatching me up. My heart was already pounding, but it kicked into another gear as I glimpsed who’d grabbed me. Daniel. He whirled me around to face him, those blazing hazel eyes pinning me as tightly as his grip did.

  “What were you thinking?” he asked, giving me a shake. “You’re in a bathing suit and a towel! I should have waited and gone after you tomorrow. Maybe spending the night freezing out here would have knocked some sense into you.”

  My emotions were on overload from the dizzying adrenaline rush of my escape, the frustration of being caught and the residual exhilaration of the run. I didn’t feel like myself. I felt as if something hiding inside me had finally taken over.

  I grabbed Daniel’s hair and yanked his head down, slanting my mouth across his. There was a split second where he froze -then his mouth opened, his tongue twisting with mine. His hand tangled in my hair, jerking me closer, while the other hand moulded our bodies together. The heat coming from him made me gasp, but I pressed against him, wanting more of it. He growled, kissing me deeper, harder, unleashing a flood of lust even as it shook me from my earlier recklessness.

  If you don’t stop now, you’ll end up having sex here on the ground just like the animal you’re turning into . . .

  “No!”

  I wrenched away, panting. Daniel let me out of his arms, but his hand tightened on my wrist, not letting me get entirely free.

  “What’s wrong?”

  I gave a bark of laughter. “You. Me. Everything.”

  He pushed his hair out of his face, staring at me with an intensity that made me shiver.

  “It’s right, even if you don’t want to admit it.”

  My towel had fallen to the ground, leaving me in just the bathing suit. Daniel’s eyes slid over me like a rough caress. A tremor ran through me and gooseflesh rippled, as if my skin were trying to arc towards him with a will of its own.

  Daniel’s grip on my wrist softened to a light stroke of his fingers. “You want me,” he said in a low voice. “Why are you pushing me away?”

  That stiffened my spine. “Because I can. You’ve stolen all my other choices, but this one’s still mine. And I say no.”

  He let me go. That warm amber light in his eyes hardened to something darker. He picked up my towel, handed it to me, and turned his back.

  “I’m not the one who stole your choices. Gabriel did. If you stay in these woods, you’ll probably die of exposure. If you don’t, then in a week, you’ll change, but you won’t know how to change back. Eventually you’ll go insane, trapped in your new form, controlled by urges you can’t imagine. You’ll end up mauling whoever you come across, be it man, woman or child. Then people will hunt you. They’ll kill other wolves trying to get to y
ou, but sooner or later, they’ll find you. You’ll get shot or caught in a trap, but either way, it will be horrible. Walk away now and people are guaranteed to die, including you. Come back with me and no one dies. There’s your choice.”

  “I can get to a doctor, find a cure,” I replied stubbornly.

  Daniel laughed, but it was harsh. “We’ve had doctors within the Pack try to find a cure for decades. Not for ourselves, but to fix people who’ve been unwillingly infected, like you. There is no cure, Marlee. If there was, we’d have given it to you already.”

  Hopelessness crashed over me. “You’re telling me I’ll never see my family and friends again. You’re so willing to do anything for your pack, but you expect me to just forget about anyone who’s ever meant anything to me in my life!”

  He still didn’t turn around. “If you wouldn’t have refused to speak to me for days, I’d have told you that you only need to be quarantined for a couple months. Once you’ve learned control, you can see your family and friends. They can come here, or you can move away. You’d need to live somewhere close to wolves, though, so when you change, you’re not running on four legs down a city street attracting unwanted attention.”

  My brain whirled with this new information. I didn’t have to be trapped here forever. I could go home, see my parents, my sister, Brandy, even my nephew again. I could wait it out. Get control. Could I actually learn to live as both a woman and a wolf?

  Daniel started walking away, the dried leaves crunching under his feet. I stared after him, not moving. Was he really giving me a choice? If I walked the other way, would he truly not stop me?

  I tested it. Turned and walked in the other direction. There wasn’t the slightest hesitation in his steps as he kept going. He’s tricking you, my cynicism whispered. He’ll come back.

  I kept walking. So did he. Soon the sounds of Daniel’s footsteps began to lessen as we moved further away from each other. After ten minutes, I couldn’t hear him at all.