“It started when you gave me this.” He held up his hand, exposing an old scar on the inside of his right forearm.
Her face burned red hot despite the cool air.
“It matches one here.” He rubbed his collarbone.
Ah, yes, there was that one too. That was when they’d first met, before she’d even known what she was. After school one day they’d wound up wandering the woods alone together until dark. He’d told her about his country, taught her a few phrases in Lithuanian.
She’d told him she didn’t mind it when he called her Darling.
And then she’d lost control and bit him. He was still young himself, although she was not his first student. His eyes had gone black, and he’d gotten right into her face, growling.
That had been the moment that had changed everything.
Because that was the moment she knew she was no longer alone.
“Oh,” she sounded, stumbling blindly off the steps and into his waiting arms. “I marked you back then.”
“I would say so.” He smiled gently.
“Twice, I marked you.”
“Three, in total.”
“How many does it take?”
His smile widened. “Whatever is needed.”
“Is this funny?”
“Funny? Ne. But it is flattering.”
“I thought I was just being young and impulsive.” There were still too many unanswered questions. She worked up her courage and boldly blundered her way through. “But werewolves have, um, relations,” she said. “You have, well, I would assume you have them.”
His look told her that she would get nothing out of him on that account.
“Clearly is difference,” he said. “Only you smell like this to me.”
“But we aren’t compatible.”
He urged her back a step, looking her over. Her body warmed. “That would depend on definition. How much do we know? There could have been some change in venom when you bit me, or number of times.”
Nick had been born her genetic match, but what if she’d done something to Lothar.
“This is my fault,” she said. “I did this to you.”
“Taking credit?”
She leaned instinctively closer. He did smell good. “I was drawn to you from the start.”
“I know.” Pain flashed behind his eyes. She lifted her chin to his face as he stood over her. “I cannot use you for pleasure. My uncle knew. That is why he tried to separate us.”
“Then you don’t want me?”
He backed off, shaking his head as if she had him bewildered. “Had you never wondered why I kept you at arm length?”
“Because you didn’t want me in that way.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, jaw working. She winced.
“Ne?” she said.
He looked at her. “Ne.”
“Then . . .” It seemed the tables had turned. Now he was the one who had her confused.
Lothar laughed. “Is it so hard for you to see?”
She opened her mouth. Closed it.
“I felt it then. I hunt by sent.”
Danielle struggled to follow his broken English and scattered thoughts. Fear edged down her spine. “Followed who, Lothar?”
“Henry.”
Her high school boyfriend? “Oh, my God. You didn’t. I mean, it was Theron who killed him.”
“Is Theron. Taip. But only because he got to Henry first.”
She took a few steps away, her head reeling. No. Oh, no. This couldn’t be happening.
She remembered her thoughts from earlier, when she realized that Lothar called her darling like he was really saying, mine.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
“You . . . Just no. You can’t. Not like this. Not over me.” She walked in a circle, needing something to occupy herself with.
He stopped her, hands on her shoulders. “If I take you, I kill male. I kill any male that threatens what is mine.”
There it was. Mine.
His uncle had been right all along. He had Territorial Aggression. The other wolves would kill him if they found out.
“You kept it to yourself for this long?” she asked. “How did you manage it?”
“By keeping you . . .” he was searching for the right word. “Wanting.”
“You said you knew how I felt.”
He nodded. “Taip.”
“So, keep me thinking that you’ll have me someday, maybe soon, and I don’t go to anyone else?”
He nodded, wincing. “I play you. Knew you would follow my lead.”
He used her human and wolf desire to be led by a strong male. Considering her Arrested Development, she’d fallen for it completely.
“I had to keep you pure,” he said.
She felt her defenses rise over that one, but any argument was ridiculous. Of course he knew she was a virgin.
“Then why push me off on Nick?” she asked.
“I cannot give you children. And I cannot bear the thought of your line ending with me.”
“But what would you do if I did have children with him?”
“I . . . do not know.”
“Go crazy? Kill Nick? Get yourself killed too?”
“You forgive me.” He was searching again for the right word. “For teasing?”
She already knew the answer. Of course she forgave him, because this whole mess couldn’t have been avoided. Their fate had been sealed the moment he’d walked into the homeroom of a scared girl.
Danielle got into his face. “We are not normal. This is not normal.”
His mouth turned upward sardonically. “But you forgive me.”
“Unfortunately.” She lowered herself back to her heels. “How did you not, well, you know, with me?”
“I kill. They kill me. I leave you unprotected.”
His drive to protect her was stronger than his drive to mate with her. That too had Territorial Aggression written all over it. He was like a thief who had stolen a diamond ring, and then instead of wearing it, buried the ring for fear of anyone knowing what he had in the first place.
“Then who have you been sleeping with the past fifteen years?” she asked, pointing.
“I not tell you such things.”
She waved her hand. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
At least he’d had the decency to keep it to himself. Werewolves were not exactly known for their discretion.
“This just keeps getting more complicated,” she said. Feeling nauseous, she scanned around for the nearest bush. “What are we going to do? I can’t be with you. If the Council finds out about Nick . . . Lothar, I’m not prepared to die a virgin.”
“Quiet,” he said, taking her by the shoulders.
She shut her mouth, glaring at him silently instead.
“I need to think,” he said.
She nodded. Silently. Think hard, buddy.
Think really hard.
Chapter Thirteen
Nick scouted around the woods in the dark. Having the sense he was being followed, he ducked into the low boughs of a pine tree and waited, gun drawn. The shadowed outline of a man straightened from a crouch. Nick gauged him at about thirty feet away. The man tilted his chin up as if smelling the air.
Then he turned and looked straight at Nick.
Nick lifted his handgun. Despite the chill creeping up his spine, his police training kept him from pulling the trigger without due cause.
There was a blur, and Nick’s gun was knocked out of his hand. He heard something crack. Pain flashed behind his eyes. It was his arm breaking.
Before he could fully register what was happening he was thrown back, hitting the ground hard, a rock bearing into his spine. He struggled for air through seized lungs as an unnaturally strong palm flattened onto his chest.
Teeth—no—fangs, glistened in the moonlight as lips curled too far back for any normal person. Glaring eyes stared down at him. The man-beast hissed and bent low, sinking fangs into Nick’s neck.
&n
bsp; His vision blurred and he had the overwhelming urge to stop fighting, to let the beast do whatever it pleased. Warm numbness trickled through his veins. He was going to die, he thought. And he didn’t even care.
Fangs slid abruptly free and its head lifted. “You’re with them,” it said, breath smelling metallic, like blood. Nick’s blood.
He heard a low growl from nearby and the beast dropped him, turning to face something. Nick dragged himself away. As he looked back, he saw a giant wolf, followed by a second slinking alongside, black, and even larger than the first. The black wolf leaped at the creature, pinning it down. The smaller one sank teeth into its neck, digging in deep as it thrashed uselessly. When it stopped moving, the black wolf nudged her aside.
Nick’s head felt dull and his limbs numb. His vision dimmed and narrowed. The last thing he remembered was both wolves standing over him.
* * *
Nick woke up the next day with his whole body aching.
“Don’t move,” he heard.
“Danielle? Where am I?” He blinked until his vision cleared. He tried to sit up. Cringing, he changed his mind and sank back down.
“I said, don’t move. You’re home, just stay still and give your body a chance to heal.”
“How did I get here?” Last he knew he’d been ringside to some kind of living horror show. He focused past her and saw Lothar leaning against the island counter. “You,” he said.
Lothar’s eyes tightened.
“Yeah, the feeling is mutual, buddy.”
“We brought you here,” Danielle said. “Your arm was broken and Lothar set it.”
Nick carefully turned his head to see his arm. It was bound in a splint, not badly done either. He would know. Back in his military days he’d applied them on fellow soldiers.
“You’ve done this before,” he said.
“We both have,” Danielle looked over her shoulder at Lothar. “Give us a few minutes.”
Lothar’s gaze shifted to Nick in silent warning.
“Right back at you,” Nick said.
Lothar pushed away from the counter, stalking toward him.
“Lothar, prašau,” Danielle said.
He stopped, nodding. She waited until he left and the door closed behind him. Danielle turned back to Nick with a sigh.
“What happened last night?” he asked. “You took my clothes off me again. Not that I’m complaining about that part.”
“How do you know it wasn’t Lothar who undressed you?”
“Please, I’m a hurt man, one blow like that could do me in.”
“I doubt it.” She sat next to him on the bed. “You were attacked last night. I warned you to stay out of the forest.”
“That thing that attacked me, it wasn’t a man.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“What was it?”
“More than you ever dreamed of.”
“Tell me what attacked me, Danielle.”
“A vampire.”
He laughed, then sobered at the serious look on her face. “You’re not kidding.”
“You felt its bite.”
Nick touched the bandage on his neck. “Yeah.”
“You felt its venom. It made you stop caring whether you lived or died.”
“It let go of me.”
“Yes. You taste bad. You taste like me.”
“You did something when you bit me.”
“I left my venom in your system. It makes you taste bad to them.”
“Vampires won’t drink my blood?”
“That’s right. It would be like drinking sour milk. They are, however, incredibly strong.”
He glanced at his arm, recalling how easily it had snapped. “I noticed.”
“He would’ve killed you if I hadn’t stopped him in time.”
If she hadn’t stopped him.
If she hadn’t . . .
Nick felt the air drain from his lungs. She was a wolf. A wolf. She was a— “No.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not possible.”
“And vampires are?”
“You’re a werewolf?”
“Yes.” Danielle stood quickly, as if she thought it was time to put some distance between them.
“My girlfriend’s a werewolf.” He laughed and pushed himself up, gritting through the pain. “I’m hallucinating.”
She went into the kitchen and poured him a glass of water. Danielle handed it to him. He lifted the glass and looked at her through it. She was wavy and distorted. “I need something stronger than this,” he said.
“I have more to tell you, if you’re ready for it.”
“Oh, sure. Why not?”
“This is serious.”
He lowered the glass so he could see her better. “Aye, aye ma’am.”
She blew out a breath. “I don’t know what Lothar gave you for the pain when he set your arm, but you need to try and stay with me here.”
Lothar administering meds? That was a sobering thought. “I’m with you.”
“You are related to werewolves.”
“Like my grandfather was one?”
“Your mother was one.”
“But I’m not a . . . How would you know?”
“I know.” One corner of her mouth curved into a smile. “And no, you can’t change into a wolf like I can. You would’ve known by the time you’d turned eighteen. You are a Carrier.”
“Like Typhoid Mary?”
Her fingers clenched and Nick knew he was trying her patience.
“So, if I bite someone, will they turn into a werewolf?” Nick tried to remember if he’d ever bitten anyone.
“Mortals,” she muttered. “No, it means you carry the genes. You are not genetically compatible with mortal women.”
“Meaning?”
“You are compatible with me.” She winced, followed by her cheeks turning red.
“Oh.”
“These things you’ve been feeling for me, wanting to fight with Lothar, it’s a trick of nature, to make you want to be with me.”
“Yeah, pretty sure I would fight with him anyway.”
Her throat rose and fell as she swallowed. She looked at him. “Nick, I swear, if you don’t stop, I’m going to hurt you.”
“I’m sorry. It’s how I deal with stress. Come here.”
“What?”
“Come here. I might be broken, but I can still hold you.”
“Didn’t you hear me? It’s all a trick.”
“I heard you, and it explains why I’ve been acting like an idiot, but there’s more to me than that.”
“I didn’t mean it to sound personal.”
“Come here, Danielle.”
She came, like she was wading through molasses. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and urged her down. She settled herself alongside him as if she thought he might shatter.
“I’m not that bad off,” he said. Nick winced when she bumped his arm. Okay, so maybe he was. “Is the werewolf thing why I have a sixth sense?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“What about my parents?”
“They’re probably dead. You wound up in the mortal adoption system, like me. I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”
“You could have told me sooner.”
“Would you have believed me?”
“Maybe not. Jason was like me.”
“Yes. That’s why he and Kendra couldn’t have children.”
“What about Lothar?”
“What about him?”
Nick wasn’t stupid. He knew Lothar was a werewolf. “Are you and he compatible?”
“No, not like that.”
That made him smile. “So you’re saying only I can give you children.”
“Yes,” she said, sitting up.
“Good.”
“It’s a huge responsibility.”
“Hey, I’m not saying I want to start a family right here, right now.”
Danielle growled.
“Was that a good
growl, as in you want me growl, or a bad growl, as in you wish you could throttle me?”
“The second.”
He brushed her hair of her face. “I think I’m taking this all rather well. Give me some credit here.”
“It’s my pheromones.” She set her feet on the floor, her back to him. “Once I put some distance between us, you will begin to question everything.”
That would explain why his head felt clearer when she wasn’t with him. “Pheromones, huh?”
“I know it sounds strange.” She stood, turning to face him. “But it’s very real.”
“You do smell nice.”
“So do you.” Danielle shook herself like she’d actually been thinking out loud. “You understand why I didn’t say anything earlier.”
“Yeah. I can see how it could have gone badly.” He picked up the glass from the side table. He was thirstier than he’d thought.
There was a knock on the door. “Yes, Lothar,” she said.
Nick wanted to do some growling himself. The door opened and Lothar came in with a tray of food, followed by Kendra. He looked at Nick and shook his head in warning.
How stupid was he? Like he would burden Kendra with vampires and werewolves.
“Are you all right?” Kendra looked him over. “Lothar said you fell down a ravine.”
Was that the cover story? It was a little better than crazy squirrels.
“Yeah. You know me, always getting attacked by animals and tripping down ravines.”
Blonde brows narrowed. “No, you don’t.” She took the tray from Lothar, eyeing him with distrust.
Scrambled eggs, toast, bacon. Nick’s stomach growled.
“Hungry?”
“It would seem so.”
She set the tray over his lap then backed away, rubbing her hands on her jeans. “I’ll be downstairs if you need anything.” She left, skirting around Lothar.
“You make her uncomfortable,” Danielle told him.
Lothar shrugged with indifference.
Nick turned to his food and ate while thinking about how to get rid of Lothar. Then he decided to come right out and say it. “Lothar, leave.”
He turned his head and growled.
“This is my turf. Leave.”
Lothar rested his hand over Danielle’s shoulder. “You heard him. Time to go, Darling.”
Danielle glared at Nick.
“What?” he mouthed.
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