"Nobody gives me shit like you do," she snarled. "It's like you go out of your way to find more of it to heap on me." She maneuvered closer as if she meant to catch me off guard with one of those blades she had tucked here and there on her person. "As if I'm in your way. As if I'm the very reason your life is miserable. Well, don't think you're special or deserving of anything more than I am. Because we," she lowered her chin until the whites of her glinting eyes were barely visible, "are cut from the same Wolfskin, my friend."
Maybe. But not the stance or tone I wanted to see or hear. "Don't push me, Josie."
"You can't handle a female?" she spat through grated teeth.
Not a challenge. She's insane. "Do you have a death wish?"
"What kind of Shifter would kill a female?" she countered, her gaze still tilted in a threatening manner.
She'd lost her mind if she thought I'd stand here and allow her to attack me or force me to step away and permit her to open the fucking gate. "Return to the lodge."
"You have no right to order me around."
"On the contrary. I'm in command of this outpost. You will respect my wishes if I am to offer you sanctuary."
"You're insane."
Me? I could have laughed aloud. But that would only stoke her anger. "I am not the Normal fool forcing a standoff with a Shifter male twice my size."
"Bastard," she growled, leaping at me.
Like she could fight me off. Or wound me. I grabbed her jerking wrists and pinned them at the curve of her lower back and began plucking the knives from her body.
Talk about picking quills from a porcupine. Nasty little creatures that could cause some serious pain.
She wriggled and kicked with pure malice. "Gods-damn you! Let me fucking go."
I almost had the last damnable blade from her boot shaft when pain pinched my bicep.
She'd tried to sink her Normal teeth into my arm.
Through the thick cotton fabric of my shirt. Stupid. Was I not to become angered at the bite? "Are there any brain cells left in your brain, woman?" I shook off her pinching teeth.
Her scowl seethed at me.
How can something so beautiful look so hideous? "Sunrise, Josie. You can endanger yourself tomorrow. Tonight, you follow my rules."
"You fucking bastard." She slammed a heel into the top of my foot.
Probably aiming for my toes. But combat boots were nice and protective. "Stop playing games with me. With everyone. You're going to get us all killed." I shook her iron form with a squeeze of my arms. "Is that what you want? To kill all of us?"
Her body went rigid, her gaze sinking back into the place it had slipped off to right before something set her off at the dinner table.
What could make her so angry? She'd always been so strong. So confident.
Her eyes ringed with glistening circles.
Not tears. This female had never resorted to such cowardly weapons. There's no way I'll release her because she dribbled those acidic bombs at me.
Her heartbeat slowed.
Although a man would rather feel it race with the curves of woman like Josie's in his arms. If I wasn't so desperate to tie her to some furniture to save her tail for the night, my cock would be rock hard.
Her chest rose and fell, pressing those full firm breasts into smashed masses against my ribs.
Slowly breathing. Moving ever so slowly as if she remembered something. Tears threatening to fall if her soul suddenly flicked back into her body and lit up that distant gaze with the fraction of a blink, setting off the caustic deluge.
What haunted this Normal so renowned for her suave attitude and fighting abilities that nothing had ever manged to unseat in the past? Maybe. Just maybe. Speaking softly might jog her from the recollection enough to talk some sense into her since she had calmed down. "Come inside. Get some sleep. You'll feel better in the morning."
She blinked and her body burst into motion.
The kind of sinuous movement promising flesh against flesh that made a man hard in bed. Just at the most inopportune moment. Thank the Gods.
She wrenched loose from my grip and fell into a defensive stance three steps away, arms seemingly welcoming extended at her sides. "Come on. You think you can tell me what to do. Take a shot at it."
She's suicidal. Truly. And the best thing for her is sleep. I'd have to lock her in my room. Let her sleep off this madness. I turned as if to leave but spun and threw her tail over my shoulder.
The kicking screaming punching sack of potatoes didn't help me much in reaching the lodge's doorway. Nor did it fit easily through the doorframe of the lodge's front door or my personal quarters' doorframe. But I managed, nonetheless, and dumped her wide eyes on my long mattress where the amber glow from the fireplace, my room shared through the wall with the lodge's main communal space, danced up a storm of thoughts in those mirrors.
Dwarfed and shocked into silence, she stared up at me wearing the understanding of a woman with her legs splayed on a man's bed.
For a fraction of a second, the blood rushed to my loins. Damnable Wolf. But my brain took over and diverted it elsewhere. "Sleep it off." I whirled and slammed the door shut, shoving down the two-by-four my subconscious had the foresight to tell me to install as a lock two years ago as one of those things that helps in dealing with loco youths.
The door slammed in its frame.
Her body held more mass than any sack of potatoes.
"Gods-damn you, Hostillian. Let me out."
She needed to be punished. Have the insanity shaken out of her. With her sire in the Minnesota ground, nobody but her brothers or her clan leader had the right to do so.
Her fists pounded the rattling door furiously five times. "Are you listening? You can't hold me in here."
Yes. I can. I am. I could answer. She'd probably keep pleading for release. Or I can ignore her. I turned my back to the door.
Seven pairs of glinting golden Wolf eyes observed my actions from the table.
Good to see everyone else followed orders. I'd just finish my meal. No sense wasting food or the opportunity to eat.
The youths watched me descend into my seat.
Like all hell would break loose again in a heartbeat. Silly boys. I waved at them to pick up their forks and finish their turkey. Biscuits. Or whatever was left within arms reach.
One by one, they each begrudgingly chewed.
Probably hoping I'd buckle and brag about what happened. Couldn't they see I had to fight the little fool and imprison her for her safety, or we'd get no sleep. And keeping up with the wheat and soy crops required sleep. Or the clan wouldn't have any flour for a year.
The pounding throbbed across the room where the amber glow of the hearth couldn't drive back the darkness consuming the door barring Josie from our sight. "Please, Hostillian Please open the door. I'll behave," she groaned. "Please. Let me out."
Why a sudden change in tone? Weakening. Buckling to enclosure.
A less forceful thump from her prison cell demanded we pay it as much attention as her initial poundings.
But there are still carrots to eat and wild asparagus. Even though the teens stared at me with forkfuls of glistening apples frozen in midair. Oh, the night would be longer than the night Normals attacked my cousin's outpost when I was thirteen. I'd been there that summer, learning how to smelt copper, when Normals descended upon the outpost to pillage and plunder in a desperate scavenging act. But that seemingly endless night lay in the past.
"Look," she said absolutely calm, "I'm not crazy. You just don't understand."
What could I possibly not understand? "You just went berserk on me, Josie."
"I can see how it looks like that. But," she paused, "it just hurts to remember."
Remember?
The students cast assessing glances between one another.
As if I had erred? I don't think so. "Remember what? What could possibly make anyone react the way you just did?"
Bone-chilling silence crept into the room.
Not even one of the teens dared a blink and risked changing the subject to cause her to stop speaking.
"Something really bad," she managed loud enough to be detected by my basic human hearing. "I can't talk about it. Please, just let me go. I promise you'll never see me again." Her voice had lost its barb, gone all high-pitched and feminine.
Mine, Wolf whimpered.
Now he pulls his head out of the sand. Go to sleep. "Nothing you can tell me would make me open the Gods-damn door. Now, get some sleep." And she'd be lucky if I didn't haul her carcass back to Augustus with her hogtied over Marine's saddle. He could dole out the punishments being her cousin and alpha. Because Wolf won't allow me to do anything to hurt her.
"Bastard! Who in the hell do you think you are? You can't run my life. I'm not a fucking Shifter. And even if I was, you'd be little more than the controlling Big Bad Beast."
Maybe. Maybe not. She obviously was incapable of reason in her distressed state. Her comments didn't even deserve a shrug at the teens eyeing me while I raised my fork. No. A good night's sleep would clear her head. She'd be ready to ride out of here at sunrise. And we'd be none the worse for wear than we are sitting around the table. At least, I won't. Whereas the students might need a few more days to digest this evening.
****
How dare he think he can lock me up? In his bedroom! He'd dumped me on his damned bed. His stern mask at that moment noted there was nothing but disgust in his mind when I flopped like a fish out of water on his mattress. So he hated me. Obviously. Well, I could survive one night trapped in his bed. Alone. How awful can that be? Alone? This is nothing like the day I sat with my sire and brothers buried and no reason left to live. No. I'll just make myself at home. Taking off one piece of clothing at a time. And how would he know what I was doing wallowing nude in his bed, lacing every piece of bedding with my scent? Something he couldn't miss. Something certain to irritate him long after I'm gone by mid-morning.
Oh. Yes. He can lock me up. But I'll have the last laugh.
Chapter Three
The night dragged on, sleep evading me as I lay between Hostillian's sheets that smelled like warm strong man and smoke. Him. This choice in choosing to taunt him with my scent backfired. I merely tortured myself.
The flicking golden flames of the fire had shortened to the shape of jagged teeth wrapped around the hearth's logs, in a wicked grin. Taunting me with the knowledge of the night's encroaching darkness. A long, unending darkness.
Sabotaged.
That's me.
I'd set myself up for an agonizing wait. And now all I can do is lie here thinking about nothing but an emptiness between my legs. Wishing there was something in here I could hump. Maybe his pillow. I crammed the soft cool lump between my legs and squeezed my thighs.
Uselessly. The down in the pillowcase just squished away. Why? Why do I have to want a man who has no desire for me? I stuffed the pillow back beneath my head and pounded it into a level surface.
Damp surface. Damn it. If he strode through that door…If he stood towering overhead, I'd doubt I'd do anything but spread my legs and play with myself to lure him into settling what had to be the most amazing weight atop me. Luring him into driving this ache he caused into oblivion.
Where in the hell's the sun?
Would Hostillian be good on his word in the morning? Or am I in for another day of confinement? Why does he care enough to lock me away anyway? I'd always annoyed him. So much he couldn't stomach the sight of me. And my sire, he didn't understand. Couldn't…
My heart rammed into my throat.
All my sire wanted was for me to mate and have children. His grandbabies. But what did I do? Spend my life sobbing over a lost love. Hostillian. The warrior who'd never want me. Gods, to forget the promise I made to my sire on his deathbed. But, how could a person live and mate after vowing to carry on?
Mate. For my sire. How can I allow any other man to touch me than the Big Bad Beast? And did I even want Hostillian after he imprisoned me? The man despises me. He can't even stand looking at me. I'm obviously the proverbial thorn in his side. Weeping from the wrong hole. Gods, to just have him make the pain stop. I rolled over and faced the shadows dancing on the wall.
What is life? Loneliness in a twisted world ruined by alien invasion.
****
The biting wood of the armchair kept me awake to feed the fire after the youths had retired to bed in the bunkhouse room running the length of the lodge's back wall. And even though I could hear Augustus's eldest teenage son snore, Josie's whimper from beyond my door plagued my ears. Why wouldn't it? Wolf is so concerned about her I can't keep the Gods-be-damned cur out of my head.
Play, Wolf whined.
Go stick your head out the window. Concentrate on sounds beyond the palisade. Make yourself useful.
Anything to keep my own thoughts straight.
So, she didn't sleep. She'd only be more insane in the morning without getting any rest. Undoubtedly as stressed and foul as what we'd witnessed tonight. For what? Why can't she admit the horrible thing driving her unwarranted explosion?
The short flames of the fire trailed along the edge of a charred wedge of wood.
Low. Hungry. I could feed that need. Easy. Kneeling before the hot coals, I took care in placing three thick wedges of oak just so to allow for ventilation and fanning the small flames into golden tongues licking over the striped bands of honed hardwood.
Like muscle of the tree. Solid. Iron. Hardwood that would burn for hours. Striations from the inner growth rings noting years and years of plodding toward a future. Of what? To wind up heating my cabin? To warm the flesh of the crazed woman sobbing through the fireplace's opposite opening? To provide light. Illumination? Could something as simple as firelight drive back darkness to reveal what haunted Josie? Because it failed miserably. So, just what could turn such a strong-willed person into a pile of weeping mush?
Movement caught my eye through the arched fire-pit opening.
Above the logs.
Holy fucking shit. She walked across the room. All curves and long brown hair loosely hanging down to her waist. Nude.
Glorious. Breasts just full enough to bulge along their lower edge.
I went rock hard.
The woman was beyond fucking perfect from the view I had of her between her knees and neck.
Mine, Wolf snarled and clawed at my chest.
Sit.
She must not have noticed her audience, in her passing out of view.
But the sinuous line of her body, the globes of her breasts, the patch of dark hair I'd never forget…Not Josie. Insane Josie.
I will not mark her. Will not think about her. Never. Probably never fucking forget what I'd just seen.
Her body stepped into view again.
Why? To torment me by swinging what had to be the tightest little ass a man could imagine his hands squeezing? She could kill with more than weapons. Her looks could break a man's will.
A stream of water shot across the room like an unfurling ribbon grading into huge raindrops.
The ka-chink of a metal object trilled as it hit something hard.
The subtle sound of crying returned full force.
And so did the naked perfection a wise man wouldn't watch.
Yes. A wise man would walk away from where her body roamed. Leave the dark nipples to his imagination. Forget the dimple of a navel. Run for his life. Because life with a mad mate had to be far worse than recalling the memory of a beautiful woman. I rose and quickly strode the three steps back to my chair's hard seat beyond the worst of the fire's heat.
Bite, Wolf insisted.
Crap. To sink Wolf's fangs into he
r soft pale flesh. To taste the salty metallic tinge of her thick silken blood running across my tongue. As her lean curves thrashed wildly against my hips as my cock thrashed inside her moist heat.
My tongue slid back to fist in my throat.
No marking. Absolutely not. I gulped down the lump.
To close my eyes. Shut out the world. Pretend nothing's here. Forget everything. But how does a person forget the one thing he could never possess? And by the looks of things now, possession would be far worse than avoidance. I closed my eyes.
Welcomed the darkness within.
Sounds only magnified.
Every choke of hers. Every sniffle. Bits of speech. A question. A curse. Another deluge of tears. All besieged my senses until I couldn't stomach sitting here any longer.
Maybe I'm wrong. About her. I paced the length of the wall farthest from her barred door.
Must keep Wolf caged.
Maybe she endured an unimaginable hell. One I couldn't begin to relate to. Had she been captured? Held captive by Normals? Raped?
Kill, Wolf growled.
Don't jump the gun, Wolf. Stupid animal jumping to conclusions before even hearing the truth. Not that the truth could be had. Josie wasn't talking. Crying. Offering tears to choke a man's soul. Without a word of explanation. I could hold up to her attack. Best her. Be the victor. But what am I fighting for?
My wits.
My soul.
My choice to live the life of a man unencumbered by a female such as that.
Protect Mine, Wolf snarled.
What does a Wolf know? He's an animal. A beast with nothing on his mind but the basics of life. Eat. Sleep. Survive. Fuck. Not necessarily in that order.
Time ticked onward relentelessly for hours with the merciful creak of my Gods-be-damned footsteps that helped buffer the dissonance of Josie's anguish attempting to claw into my mind and leave me writhing on the wooden floor in agony. I just needed to open the door. Talk to her. Find out what in the hell happened to bring her to this state of sorrow.
Big Bad Beast (Werescape) Page 4