by Alice Gaines
“Don’t tell me no,” he shouted. “You’ll do as I say.”
“Or what?” she asked.
“I’ll take care of things my own way,” he answered.
“Joe…” Peter warned.
“Don’t try to shut me up,” Joe said. “You agreed to this.”
“What?” she asked. “Agreed to what?”
Joe crossed his arms over his chest. Stubborn bastard. “One way or another, we’re going to get you out of this mess you’ve made.”
“How?” she demanded.
“Never mind how. We’ll do it.”
Shit. That could mean anything. From the look in Joe’s eyes, he’d commit violence if he had to. He sure as hell wouldn’t feel squeamish about destroying what he thought was a machine. He’d destroy Gray, if he got the opportunity.
“I swear, if you touch Gray, you’ll never see me again,” she said.
Peter’s eyes widened. “You can’t mean that, Cara.”
“I do, and the same goes for you if you help him.”
Peter stood and held his arms out toward her, but she gestured him away. “Leave me alone, both of you,” she ordered.
“Cara, come back with us,” Peter said. “This obsession isn’t good for you.”
She just glared at him. How like a male, even a good one, to dictate what was good or bad for her.
“I’m fine,” she answered from between clenched teeth.
“No reasoning with her.” Joe straightened to his full height. “We’ll do it my way.”
“Go to hell,” she said.
Joe’s eyes widened in an expression she’d never seen on him before. Hurt. She’d managed to hurt him? Then, his features hardened.
“See you there,” he said quietly before going to the door and letting himself out. She hugged her ribs again and glared at Peter, daring him to say a word. He didn’t. He went off after his brother.
She closed her eyes for a moment. Shit, what had she done? Maybe she had stayed away from the pack for too long. No matter. She’d better get to the lab and bring Gray home where she could get between him and Joe if she had to.
* * *
When Cara opened the hatch of her car, Gray bounded out and trotted around the front yard, his nose lifted as he took in the scents of suburban America -- newly mown lawn and a hint of auto exhaust.
“Come here, boy,” she called. “In the house.”
His ears twitched in her direction, showing he’d heard her, but he continued his explorations. Maybe he’d taken exception to “boy,” if he understood spoken language. More likely, he didn’t feel like going in and wouldn’t cooperate until he did. He wasn’t a pet dog, after all. The neighbors had better not know that.
He stopped in front of a shrub and lifted his leg, marking his property, no doubt. He didn’t actually have urine for that purpose, but he’d go through the motions because of his programming.
“Gray, come here.” She slapped her thigh. “Now.”
He lowered his leg and stood, studying her as if he couldn’t decide whether he had to obey her or not. He’d better. The last thing anyone needed was a wolf running loose in the neighborhood.
“Gray?” she said. “Please.”
His ears perked up at that, and he trotted in front of her toward the house. The bounce in his step might have been a normal canine trot, or it could reflect his satisfaction that she’d had to ask him nicely to behave himself. They’d see about that. She hadn’t gone to all the trouble of making an android mate only to have to defer to him as if he were the flesh-and-blood version.
When he got to the front door, he stopped and looked over his shoulder at her as if to say, “This was your idea, remember?”
“Watch it, pal,” she said. “I can turn you off whenever I want.”
He huffed. So, she went to him and let them both into the house.
Gray immediately headed into the living room, and when Cara caught up with him, he’d already jumped onto the couch and lay, watching her out of his silver eyes. She’d programmed him to learn, but the sensation that he was assessing her -- weighing her strengths and searching for vulnerabilities -- sent a shiver of dread through her. Or maybe, excitement. How could she not feel pride for having created such a magnificent creature?
“You’re going to have to stay here so I can protect you,” she said.
He hardly moved a muscle -- the perfect picture of ease and confidence. Taking up almost the entire couch, his body dominated the whole room. A large wolf and a beautiful one, he could command most everyone around him. She could still control him, though, and he’d better remember that.
She went to the couch, shoved him aside, and sat down. “Pretty sure of yourself aren’t you?”
He huffed and set his head in her lap. By God, he felt real. How could a synthetic fabric so resemble fur as she burrowed her fingers in it? Where had he learned to close his eyes in what looked like pleasure when she scratched at the back of his ears?
She continued stroking him when she ought to power him down so she could rewrite the programs that made him want to run and explore. He’d have to be a house pet for a while until she figured out how to make the pack accept him. If he went into other yards, he’d get trapped and taken away or worse. She’d have to wait a while until she could run and couple with her wild wolf again.
When she reached for the switch buried in the fur at the back of his neck, he snarled and sat up abruptly.
“Easy, boy,” she said. “I only need to have you quiet for a few minutes. You’ll be back soon.”
He remained rigid, staring at her.
“It’s me, Gray,” she said. “I’m only trying to protect you.”
He snorted, a noise that could turn into a growl if he became more upset.
“Enough nonsense.” She rose and reached toward him.
Before she could get her hand on the switch, he leapt over the back of the couch and went into the kitchen. Damn it all, he was going to make her chase him. She’d better get him under control, now.
By the time she got into the kitchen, he’d propped his front paws on the sink and pulled himself upward. As she watched, he batted at the faucet and turned on the cold water.
“What in hell are you doing?” she cried.
He ignored her, put his snout into the stream, and drank.
“Fuck,” she shouted as she ran to him and turned off the water. “You can’t do that. You’ll short your circuitry.”
He hadn’t, though. He stood there, his eyes nearly at the same level as hers, and gave her a defiant glare. Slowly, she reached around him with both hands, and this time, he stayed where he was and let her explore the back of his neck.
The switch had disappeared. She searched with the tips of her fingers all along from the back of his head down his spine to his shoulders. Nothing greeted her fingers but fur. Real fur, not synthetic. Her hands encountered muscle, not plastic. She was touching a real creature of flesh and blood. Impossible. She’d built a machine, and it… he had come to life.
She dropped her arms and took a step backward. Apparently unimpressed with what had happened to him, Gray turned the water back on and drank.
Of course, he’d be thirsty. She hadn’t given him anything to drink. She hadn’t fed him, either. She opened the fridge and found the steak she’d bought for dinner. After tearing it out of the plastic, she held it toward Gray. He sniffed at it and then snatched it away from her. As he dropped his front paws to the floor, he wolfed the meat down in a few bites.
Amazing. She sank down until she was sitting cross-legged next to him. “You’re alive. How in hell did that happen?”
He licked her face a few times and then allowed her to open his muzzle and look into his mouth and throat. No sign of the steak in there. He’d honestly swallowed it, even though she hadn’t given him a stomach or other internal organs.
Shit. What did she do now? She’d made an electronic wolf for a reason. She had no control over this beast. She’d resist
ed domination by any male her entire life, and now, she’d mated with a wolf big enough to overpower her and smart enough to know how to use a faucet.
He chose that moment to shove his snout in her crotch and sniff loudly. Her sex responded, clenching at the memory of their mating. Enough of that, and her body would shift whether she wanted to or not. Anyone passing by would hear the snapping and growling that accompanied a wolven mating. She had to use more care than that. He did, too, but as a wild animal, he couldn’t know that.
She couldn’t keep a wolf here, and she sure as hell couldn’t keep him cooped up in her lab. What in hell was she going to do? And, how the fuck had this happened in the first place?
The pack had had something to do with this. They’d threatened to take matters into their own hands. They’d somehow managed to force a real mate on her, after all. How they must be laughing at her expense. How proud Joe must be that he’d brought her to heel after all the years she’d defied him. Bastards. This was her life, and they ought to let her live it.
“They’ve played a nasty trick on you, too, Gray.” She got to her feet. “They didn’t give you any choice.”
He stood there, his ears cocked. With the empathy even domestic dogs had, he sensed her anger, and he tensed, waiting to see what she’d do.
“I’m going to confront them and make them fix whatever they did,” she said. “They’re not getting away with it.”
* * *
The tingling at the back of her neck followed Cara the whole way out of her suburb and onto the country road that led to the pack’s compound. Occasionally, she’d detect movement out of the corner of her eye, but it always disappeared when she turned her head to search for the cause. Now, on what wasn’t much more than a cow path of a dirt road, the woods could hide anything on either side of her SUV. She ought to know. She’d run there, undetected by humans, her entire childhood.
She pulled up in front of Ilse’s house, turned off the engine, and jumped out. Geraniums in window boxes reminded her of how her sister had so completely taken on the feminine role. Husband, children, and her place in the society of wolves. Nice for her. She had no right to foist it on someone else.
Cara strode up to the front door and pushed the bell. She’d let herself inside if no one answered, but Ilse’s husband, Sam, showed up in a few seconds, dressed in the loose robes the family wore to allow them to shift easily. When he opened the door, she pushed her way in.
“Nice to see you, finally,” he said.
“Never mind nice. I came to see my sister.”
“She has one of her headaches,” Sam said. “A bad one.”
“Does she? I think I know the reason.”
“What are you talking about?” he demanded.
“She’s been fucking with my life, and I’m here to make sure this is the last time.” She headed toward the stairs, but Sam caught her arm.
“Don’t go up there. She needs quiet.”
“She needs a lesson in leaving me alone.”
“Cara…”
She shook her arm free of him. “Stay down here if you know what’s good for you.”
Before he could try to stop her again, she climbed the stairs two at a time. Her sister had never done this kind of magic before -- giving an object life -- but maybe with her brothers’ help, she’d figured out a new kind of spell. Whatever she’d done, it had cost her dearly enough to send her to bed. No mere deciphering a combination could do that. She’d have more than a headache when Cara had finished with her.
She continued up the steps as the need to shift built inside her, fueled by anger. Tearing at her sister’s throat would feel more satisfying than words, but she needed an explanation first. How in hell did Ilse think she had the right to meddle in her life like that? What had she done to make Gray real, and what did she plan to do to change him back?
When she got to the master bedroom, she shoved the door open so hard it hit the wall behind her. “What the fuck have you done?”
With the drapes closed, the whole room lay in shadow, but a feminine form lay on the bed. Ilse, all right. She removed a washcloth from her eyes and lifted her head. “Cara?”
“Have you been screwing with anyone else’s business lately?”
“Call me later, okay?”
“We’re going to have this out now.” Cara started in on removing her clothing, because before this was over, they’d have settled things between them, wolf to wolf.
Ilse watched for a moment and then groaned. “I’m not in the mood.”
“Too bad.”
Ilse sat up, swung her legs over the side of the bed, and sat there, her shoulders hunched. “Okay, what is it you think I’ve done?”
“You changed Gray somehow. He’s flesh and blood.”
“Gray?” Ilse’s head snapped up. “You’ve given it a name?”
“Of course, I gave him a name, and he’s not an it any longer, thanks to you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You couldn’t get me to give up Gray yourself, so you sent good cop/bad cop to strong-arm me.”
“They’re your brothers,” Ilse said.
“When they failed, you took matters into your own hands.”
“Don’t shift.” Ilse moaned. “I don’t have the strength for a fight.”
“That’s your own fault, wouldn’t you say?”
“All right.” Ilse rose and pulled her nightgown over her head. Now naked, she could shift while Cara still hadn’t kicked out of her shoes.
Ilse leapt onto Cara, knocking her backward. Now wolf herself, Cara fought back, snapping her teeth at Ilse’s throat. They rolled together for a while, each fighting for dominance. Everyone in the house could probably hear the snarling and yipping, but they’d all have the good sense to stay the hell away. Even Sam.
Finally, Cara had Ilse on her back. If she truly meant to kill her sister, she could do it now by slashing Ilse’s carotid. She paused long enough to let her sister fear she was actually considering it.
“Cara, stop!” a male voice shouted from the doorway. She’d never heard it before but knew it in her heart, anyway. She looked up to find a naked human male on the threshold. A gorgeous specimen with salt-and-pepper hair and silver eyes.
“You heard me,” he said. “Let her go.”
He needn’t have ordered her. With Cara distracted, Ilse had no trouble scampering out from under her. So, she stood, dragging breath into her lungs and stared at the impossible that had become real. Not only was her wolf mate alive, he could turn human as well.
* * *
Gray had watched his mate shift before -- from human to wolf -- so seeing her reverse the process held no real surprises. Her beauty took his breath away, as it always did. Her chestnut hair, hanging in thick curls down her back, matched the color of her fur, and her brown eyes were as deep as a human as a wolf. His human body reacted to her curves -- her small breasts and ample hips -- with force his wolven mind couldn’t have imagined.
Above all, he’d recognize her by her perfume. Though the house held the scent of several wolves, hers overpowered the others, sneaking into his brain and making his already-hard member throb.
When the other female also turned human, the family resemblance jumped out at him. Sisters, pack mates. Both members of his own clan since he’d claimed Cara as his own. He had to defer to her in her own home, but as soon as he got Cara away, he’d mate with her and memorize the taste and feel of her human body.
The other female picked up a robe from the end of the bed and slipped into it. That done, she went to the door, hesitating only long enough to give him permission with her gaze to use the room -- and the woman standing in the center of it -- as he saw fit. When she closed the door behind her, he spread his legs, blocking his mate’s escape. He’d marked her as a wolf. Now, he’d do it as a man.
Cara hugged her ribs and stared at him. “How did you get here?”
“I ran. I found shortcuts through the woods.”
“Why?”
“We’re mated. We belong together.”
“I didn’t design you to shift,” she said.
“Surprise.”
She took a step backward. “What are you going to do?”
“Put my face between your legs.” He took a few steps toward her. “Do you know what your scent is doing to me?”
“This is my sister’s bedroom.”
“She doesn’t care,” he said.
“I do.”
“Don’t lie to me.” He sniffed the air and smiled. “I can smell your heat. You need to mate as much as I do.”
“Let’s go home. We can talk,” she said.
“No amount of talking can take care of me.” Enough playing around. He closed the distance between them and scooped her into his arms. She didn’t put up any resistance. If she’d honestly not wanted the coupling, she could have shifted back into her stronger and more dangerous wolf form. Of course, he could turn wolf himself and take her that way, but he didn’t have to. She’d surrender as a human, and he could slide his human organ into her and feel her wetness close around it.
He tossed her onto the bed and then knelt beside it, between her legs. This close to her sex, her aroma made him dizzy with hunger. Spicy, hot. Aroused female.
She didn’t protest as he grabbed her hips and pulled them up so that he could lap at her pussy. She moaned -- a sweet, low note of approval -- as he feasted on her. All along the lips there, he tasted her, feathering his tongue and then giving her firm strokes. With each pass of his mouth, she grew wetter, and he worked harder to give her more and more. When he hit the hardened nub at the apex of her sex, she shuddered and released a small cry.
This was a different sort of pleasure than he’d taken with her in his wolf form. Instead of the chase, he could win by playing her body. Molding it to his will until she’d beg for more. Sure enough, her fingers went into his hair, the tips digging into his scalp in a silent plea that he not stop. Her breathing turned to gasps as he continued toying with her bud. He owned her, and he wouldn’t disappoint his mate. So, when her cries rose in pitch, he sucked the sensitive flesh into his mouth and worked it with his tongue.