Howl For Me

by Sydney Somers, Marie Morin, Marlee Eastman (Romance)

  And he wanted to kiss her. Hell, he wanted to do a whole lot more than that. Pushing her dress up to find out what she wore beneath it, among other things. The ledge that ran along the closest wall, would be the perfect height to set her on....

  "See I told you this place was open.” The booming voice echoed in the bar, driving him and Brooke apart.

  Torn between wanting to tell the three people who had ventured inside to get the hell out, and thanking them for stopping him from making an already complicated situation a whole lot more complicated, Dash settled on heading to the corner table to grab the glasses left by the couple who had already departed. Not looking at Brooke right then was the only thing that kept him from giving into the animal within that demanded he drag her outside.

  By the time he had looked after the newcomers, who didn't try to hide the fact that they stared at Brooke, the need she unraveled inside him with nothing more than one long scorching look, was intact.

  "Night Dash."

  Dash stood in place a full minute, debating whether or not to go after her when she slipped out the door to walk back to her cabin. He couldn't leave the bar unattended, but then he recognized that for the excuse it was immediately. He knew better than to pursue anything with her, even for the short time she would be here.

  And he had every intention of following that instinct.

  * * * *

  "Duck!"

  The yelled warning barely penetrated Brooke's thoughts before a Frisbee came sailing at her head. She managed to jerk to the side enough to avoid getting nailed with it, but couldn't avoid slamming into a hard body in the process.

  "Sorry about that.” Zoe jogged up to her. She frowned at the brown haired man Brooke had smacked into. “Someone wasn't paying attention."

  "That would be me,” the man said, smiling. “Sorry. Let myself get distracted."

  Zoe picked up the Frisbee. “She's taken off before."

  The man nodded. “I know. I just wish Kelsey had told me where she was headed before she vanished. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. She's never told me when she's pulled stunts like this before.” The man sighed thoughtfully, then held out his hand. “Miles."

  "Sorry,” Zoe cut in. “Miles this is Brooke. She's a photographer and friend of Dash's."

  "Always good to be in with the boss man."

  "You work here, too?” Brooke asked.

  Miles nodded. “And love every minute of it.” He nodded down the beach. “Looks like Wes and Percy are back from snorkeling."

  Brooke followed her gaze to the two other men heading away from the small marina.

  "I'm gonna go see if either of them have talked to Toby.” He started away, then glanced back at Zoe. “Re-match later."

  "You got it.” The redhead called back before she sat down on the sand.

  Brooke joined her, not missing the fleeting look of interest that crossed Zoe's face as watched Miles head down the beach.

  "You two a couple?"

  Zoe played with the Frisbee. “Nope. He is cute, though."

  "What's stopping you?"

  Her newest friend shrugged. “Timing. He just ended things with a girlfriend back home and I haven't made up my mind whether I want to go down that road or not, dating a co-worker and all that.” She leaned back, her hands in the sand. “How's the vacation going?"

  "It's been nice."

  Zoe turned her face, but not before Brooke caught her smiling.

  "What?"

  "I heard you and Dash took a little spin around the dance floor last night."

  Her mouth dropped open. “He told you that?” Dash didn't strike her as the almost kiss-n-tell type.

  Zoe snorted. “No. People talk, though.” She winked at Brooke.

  Wonderful. It wasn't bad enough people here had the bad habit of staring at her to begin with, now they had something to talk about while doing it. All of which made her wonder if Dash routinely got caught up in the moment with lots of females guests. Maybe there was regular speculation around the resort of who the owner was screwing now.

  Her stomach twisted at the possibility, making her thankful things hadn't gone any farther. She certainly hadn't been looking to be attracted to anyone here, least of all attracted enough to make her want to make a move. Last night she'd been thinking about a lot of moves. Like the kind that involved tangled sheets and no clothing, long bone-melting kisses and hard....

  "So what's the story with you two?"

  Zoe's question pulled her thoughts from the place they'd been venturing since she walked out of the bar last night.

  "No story. Just friends.” Though she couldn't even admit they were that much. “Nothing happened last night."

  "Ah, but you wanted it to,” the all too perceptive redhead guessed.

  "No."

  Probing brown eyes studied her carefully. “You don't sound that convinced."

  To avoid the subject, Brooke picked up her camera and snapped off a few frames at no one in particular.

  "Get any good ones?"

  "Not sure. I haven't uploaded them yet, been too busy relaxing. I do think I got some good ones of the moon and the marina from the first night I was here."

  "So this is the one Dash was cozying up to last night?"

  Miles had returned, coming up behind them and bringing the two other men with him. The one with the buzzed blonde hair and dark eyes brought up her and Dash's little interlude.

  Behind him, the second man with shaggy dark brown hair opened the water bottle he was carrying and took a swig. “Leave her be, Percy."

  Percy held his hands up. “I'm just curious is all.” He scrolled his gaze up and down Zoe. “Lookin’ good today, Red."

  "Bite me, Percy.” Zoe stood up, her dislike for the blonde evident in the cool dismissal. She nodded at Brooke to follow if she'd like. “Later guys,” she mumbled to the other two.

  Not all that interested in being the subject of Percy's next leer, she followed Zoe, waving to the others in passing. They hadn't gotten far up the closest stone path when Brooke noticed Dash walking in their direction.

  Refusing to be fazed by what had happened between them last night—or more precisely what didn't happen—no one was really more surprised than her when the first words out of her mouth were, “Do you have dinner plans tonight?"

  From the corner of her eye, Brooke saw Zoe's mouth drop open before she snapped it shut and then made up some excuse about having work to do.

  Dash ignored her hasty departure. A thoughtful frown creased his forehead.

  "I did say that out loud right?” she prompted when he still hadn't said anything.

  He nodded.

  "Okay,” Brooke said slowly. “When it sinks in, you can find me around nine if you're free and feel like socializing.” She started away only to be stopped by his hand on her arm.

  "Brooke,” he started.

  "If you want to pass, it's okay to say so. I won't hold onto your soul over it,” she teased. Even as she gave him an out, she was lying about it being okay. She wanted him to say yes.

  His jaw tightened and he glanced out at the ocean before coming back to her face. “I really do have a lot of work I need to catch up on."

  Brooke had the distinct feeling she smiled a little too brightly. “In that case, I'm going back to my room and digging out my voodoo doll to punish you.” She headed past him, but couldn't stop from glancing back over her shoulder. “See you around, Dash."

  His face was unreadable but for the slight nod he offered in parting.

  Swallowing the sigh that lodged in the back of her throat, Brooke headed back to her room. She didn't know him well enough to be that disappointed, but it wasn't until the dinner invitation had left her mouth that she realized she wanted to get to know him better. The man intrigued her, right down to the way she had noticed him in the background every other hour since her arrival. Almost as though he was checking up on her throughout the day.

  She wouldn't have put it past Cole to ask his brother to
make sure she hadn't gone off the deep end. As if. There were plenty of women out there that had far worse troubles than she did. She was just lucky she had come out fairly unscathed from James’ attack. If a few nightmares were the only lingering side affect of that night, she could handle that.

  But she wasn't sure she could handle Dash continuing to shadow her. Aside from her odd run in with another guest and the whole eyes thing, she felt perfectly safe on the island. And since it was doubtful she would be having nightmares in the middle of the day while taking a swim in the pool, she couldn't help but wonder if Dash had another reason for keeping tabs on her.

  * * * *

  Dash stared out at the setting sun, content from his spot on the small back deck he'd just finished working on. He rolled his shoulders, working out the kinks. A couple of hours of piecing the boards together and nailing them in place went a long way to take the edge off his dark mood. Since passing on Brooke's dinner invite he'd spent the rest of the day finding something wrong with the way just about everyone did their jobs.

  The old saying, ‘if you want something done right, do it yourself’ preserved until Zoe growled at him to get away for the rest of the evening. He had started to argue the point of her telling him what to do, wanting work to give him something to focus his attention on instead of counting off the minutes in his head until Brooke would be gone, but had ended up leaving after he had checked in with Cole. The call resulted in nothing new which meant he was stuck with her on his island a while longer.

  Now that his muscles were tense and he'd hammered the crap out of half the boards, he felt ... better. Once she was off the resort the underlying tension he felt creeping under his skin whenever she was around would retreat, leaving him to concentrate on work without wondering where she was, what she was wearing, what she wasn't wearing.

  Cursing, he stood up and stalked to the edge of the yard. Apparently, he hadn't worked long enough.

  Dash heard the light treading of feet behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, unalarmed by the sight of the wolf seated on the edge of the grass, her head cocked.

  Thea.

  The silver and brown wolf pawed the ground, then turned, waiting for him to follow.

  A run would do him good, he decided. Let him clear his head and give him the chance to make sure everyone was playing nice beyond the resort. Seldom were there ever any serious injuries that resulted from wolves fighting, but Dash frequently saw a fair number of those who required stitches after a night of tearing through the jungle.

  Dash stripped off his shorts and shifted from man to wolf. The same image blurred through his mind, and a burning pain sank its sharp fingers into his hand, a legacy that no werewolf could escape. Since the first bite to a human from a powerful warlock in wolf form, every shift from human form to wolf brought with it the memory of the moment that marked the creation of their kind. Either born a werewolf or changed over through a bite, every person relived the fear, the pain, and the power of the change each time they let go of one form to embrace the other.

  He'd been five at the time of his first shift, but he'd grown up around his kind, had understood he was different from so many even before he could talk. He was used to the hazy memory of the wolf sinking its teeth into the villager's hand, knew to expect the pain, but that never stopped him from exhaling a sharp breath each time.

  His surroundings changed with the adjustment in vision, smell, and hearing. As a human his senses were superior to the average person's, but as a wolf they were heightened again.

  Thea had already disappeared into the undergrowth and he ran after her, embracing the heady island scents that proved that out of everywhere he'd lived in his thirty-one years, this was home. He lengthened his strides, moving fast through the trees, overtaking Thea and leaving her behind him.

  She hadn't come looking for him to run with, but to remind him that when the day was done, they each had this freedom of running across the island, pounding the ground underfoot, pushing their heart to race faster to help them deal with circumstances beyond their control.

  Circumstances like Brooke.

  Torn between wanting to make sure she was occupied somewhere and needing to forget what he would have to face if she learned too much, Dash ran deeper into the jungle.

  But even he couldn't run far enough to push her completely out of his mind, not when the music he heard as he eventually backtracked closer to the resort reminded him of holding her last night, of what he might have done if the other guests hadn't come in.

  Slowing his pace, he headed for his new home.

  It was time to see what Brooke had been up to for the evening.

  * * * *

  Brooke recognized the feeling that snaked up her spine.

  Instinct.

  Instinct telling her to run.

  She remembered it all too well from the day she had walked into her home and felt the almost paralyzing need to flee. And she felt it now, she just didn't know why. Her mind ordered her to stay calm, not to panic. There was no one here who would want to hurt her.

  Brooke went from a leisurely walk along a secluded stone walkway to a brisk pace. She glanced back over her shoulder but saw only non-threatening shadows that lengthened from the torches that bordered the pathway every few meters.

  She took another path and then another, certain someone was behind her, but couldn't see or hear anything. An over-active imagination. She wanted to believe it, but couldn't shake the cold fear that made her stomach knot.

  Brooke tried to take in her surroundings, getting more nervous when she realized she wasn't familiar with this side of the resort. The distance between the torches grew, but she knew she couldn't backtrack yet, couldn't ignore the voice in her head that told her not to stop.

  The stone pathway became an unmarked path that bordered the jungle a little too closely. In the distance she could hear the howling. Her pounding heart kicked up to a wilder rhythm.

  Dash's house? The sight of the small cabin set so far apart from the resort gave her hope. He had said his new place was on this side of the resort. The possibility of this being the home he was working on and the light on inside soothed her racing pulse.

  On the doorstep, she paused and looked back over her shoulder. As her common sense expected, nothing moved beyond the small trees and leaves caught by the evening breeze. Nothing out of the ordinary waited to grab her.

  Brooke cursed. Her paranoia was James’ fault, and she hated that. Even when the phone calls had started before she came here, she hadn't let herself get carried away like this.

  She took another minute to get her heart back to normal, then debated about whether or not to actually knock. Dash hadn't been interested in dinner, so she doubted he'd appreciate her stopping by, if he was even here.

  With another look at the path behind her, she knocked anyway. If he didn't want to walk her back, she'd go it alone, but there was no point in pretending an escort wouldn't at least keep her from getting skittish again. She might have no trouble talking herself in and around almost any situation to get what she was after, but she would not be the stupid female here. Her instincts might have been the only thing that had kept James from sneaking up on her that day in her house. She'd rather feel stupid for overreacting than walk down that path when she couldn't convince herself it was as safe as it appeared.

  When Dash didn't answer, Brooke tried the handle and assumed that since it was unlocked he must be around. She opened the door, and the light scent of fresh paint greeted her as she stepped inside. The place was empty aside from drop clothes, a couple ladders and a few cans of paint.

  Maybe he was out back?

  She noted the layout of his home was similar to the cabin she was staying in, but this was much larger. A sliding glass door led out onto a half finished deck and a breathtaking view of the ocean. No wonder Dash had chosen this location for his home. One side faced the resort, the slight incline giving him a more spread out view than she expected. The other side looked
out over a private beach and miles of the island's eastern darkening coastline.

  Brooke turned around. Her heart stopped.

  At the edge of jungle between her and the house stood a large silver wolf with a patch of black between its eyes.

  A childhood memory slammed into her mind.

  The wolf took a slow step forward, and all she could hear was the growling from her memories in her head. In instant replay she saw the three snarling dogs bearing down on her, but the reality of her present situation overshadowed even the frightening memories.

  She wanted to run, but didn't dare. She knew what would happen then, knew it would chase her.

  All the air squeezed out of her lungs, and she clenched her fists at her sides. This wasn't happening. She tried to draw in a breath, but her chest refused to expand. Her eyes burned and lights sparked behind her eyelids. The earth tilted and everything blurred. She shot an arm out to steady herself, but the world dipped and spun.

  Then everything went black.

  Part II

  Marie Morin

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  Chapter Four

  Caught off guard, it took Dash a moment to react. He bounded forward even as Brooke began to crumple toward the floor, landing on his deck in two bounds, but as fast as his reflexes were, she'd settled with a solid thud before he could break her fall. He stared at her in consternation, debating whether to abandon her to come around from her faint or stay, but he couldn't be certain she wasn't hurt.

  Shifting into his human form, he bent down and scooped her limp form into his arms then turned and carried her inside. Drop cloths spattered with paint covered the furnishings in the main room and, with barely a pause, he strode through and into his bedroom, settling her on his bed. She moaned faintly even as he bent over to lay her on the mattress, her eyelids fluttering.

  He felt a moment of relief before he realized his predicament.

  Her eyes opened even as slipped his arms from beneath her. She stared at him without recognition for a moment before her gaze focused.