by Michelle Fox
Tao gently stroked her uninjured arm. “Trust me, he’s not capable of biting anyone at the moment. He’s out cold right now, too injured to do anything but sleep. I wouldn’t have come otherwise.”
She pulled away from Tao’s touch, no longer finding it soothing.“But what about when he heals? How long do we have before he’s on the loose again?”
Tao lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. He looked tired. “Three or four days.”
“I know he’s your brother, but he’s also a killer, Tao. He can’t be allowed to continue like this. If you can’t kill Nick, take me to him and I’ll do it.”
“Tell me what happened today,” Tao countered.
“I shot at him and missed. He took my finger and ate it. Simple as that.” She sniffed back tears. “He’s a sadistic bastard. I can’t believe he’s even related to you. Or that you would hesitate to kill him.”
“We were born together, grew up together.” Tao ran a hand through his hair, his expression anguished. “I knew him before he went crazy. He was a good wolf.”
Audrey didn’t know how to respond to that. She had no love in her heart for Nick and it made her anxious to think Tao would let his feelings cloud his judgment. She wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. “He’s bitten so many people now that you’re going to have a whole pack of wolves like me at this rate.”
Tao nodded. “I know. Everyone at the hospital is talking about it. They ran out of rabies vaccine and had to bring it in from other cities.”
“So what are we going to do?” she asked. “What’s the plan to keep, not just me safe, but the rest of the world too?”
“I don’t have a plan.” When she started to protest, he raised a hand. “But I have some ideas. I think I can take away Nick’s ability to control you.”
She gave an exasperated sigh. “What about the other people who’ve been bitten? Shouldn’t we find them?”
“Yes, but first things first. Let’s take care of you, then we can deal with everyone else.”
“Okay, so what’s your big idea?” She tried to cross her arms but gave up. The IV and the bandages around her hand made it impossible.
Tao shook his head. “Not here.”
“So where?” she asked, frustrated. Nothing good was happening. Nick wasn’t even close to being contained.
“Let’s get you out of the hospital and back to your place where we can talk.”
Chapter Twelve
Audrey insisted on taking a shower before they left, careful to wrap her injured hand in a plastic bag. Tao hunted down some clean scrubs for her to wear, sweet talking a nurse to get them. There was no way Audrey could wear her ranger uniform home. Nick’s claws had ripped holes in the shorts and blood covered the green fabric along with dust making everything but her underwear unfit to be worn.
He paced her room while he waited for her to get dressed, rehearsing what he would say when the time came. It was a crazy idea, something he wasn’t sure would work, but it was his one shot to keep Audrey safe. He couldn’t pass it up. Tao just hoped Audrey couldn’t either.
She came out of the shower, her hair wet and clinging to her face. “I’m ready,” she said. Catching sight of her clothes on the hospital bed, she went and chucked them all into the garbage can. “ So much for that.” She sighed. “Let’s get out of here.”
***
Tao’s heart pounded in his throat during the drive to Audrey’s house. Seeing her again, catching her scent in the air squeezed his heart. He had to face reality, he was interested in the woman his brother wanted to claim as his mate. He would never let Nick have her, not in a million years.
Nick was now the kind of wolf who would toy with his prey just to see it suffer. If he’d doubted that before, he knew it now after what Nick had done to Audrey. His brother was no better than a human serial killer. Stalking Audrey in the shadows, forcing her to his will and then making her bleed. It was sick.
Tao had to protect Audrey. It had become his prime objective, even ahead of his pack. That was not a good thing. A disloyal wolf was a dead wolf. The way things were going, he would violate every principle he’d been raised to uphold. All in the name of one human woman turned wolf.
His nose twitched as if to say ‘she smells worth it.’
Tao had to agree, but he didn’t see a way out of this mess without betraying loyalties he’d held sacred all his life. He was on a path that wouldn’t ever let him turn around and go back home. All he could do was keep everyone alive long enough and pray a solution presented itself. Damned if he didn’t have any better ideas than that.
They didn’t talk much on the drive home. Audrey looked pale, her face drawn from stress and fatigue. She’d been through a lot and now he was going to ask her to endure more.
Would she say yes to his plan? Would she take the chance knowing it might not work?
His stomach churned with worry.
***
When they arrived at her house, Tao escorted her inside, a steadying hand under her elbow. To her irritation, she found she needed to lean on his strength. Audrey made her way to the couch where she sank down into the cushions. Her body ached with physical fatigue and the mental toll of stress. “So tell me, what’s the big plan?”
Tao stood in front of her, shifting his weight from foot-to-foot, his hands clasped behind his back.“If Nick finds you, he’ll mate you. The bigger problem is you won’t be able to say no.”
Although his words weren’t new, Audrey processed them slowly, integrating them with the fact that Nick had literally bitten off pieces of her body. The idea of Nick touching her again agitated her. Fear gripped her shoulders. She wasn’t strong or fast enough to fight him off.
She pushed herself off the couch and distracted herself by feeding her charges. She’d been gone so long they were starving. Feeling guilty, she gave everyone extra big servings of food.
“And in this case mate means the same as rape, right?” She shuddered and fear coiled in her gut. “I can’t stop him. Can you?”
“Maybe--” He hesitated.
“Maybe? You said you had an idea.” Audrey grabbed a bag of birdseed sitting on the floor next to the cages and tossed it to the robins with more force than necessary. To her surprise, they were almost ready to be set free despite her recent neglect.
He trailed after her as she moved from cage to cage. “Yes. I do. Nick’s hold on you should be able to be replaced by a stronger wolf.”
Audrey blinked. “What does that even mean? I don’t understand the inner workings of this werewolf stuff.”
“If another wolf, one at least equally strong as him, claims you first, he won’t be able to mate you or tell you what to do.”
She gave him a doubtful look.“So claiming turns his penis off?”
“Well, no.” Tao shifted his weight from foot to foot, hands crossed over his broad chest like a shield. “But mating with another wolf makes it so you can fight him and keeps him from bonding to you even further. His power over you would be displaced.”
“Are you sure it would work?”
He shook his head. “No. It’s never been done, but it makes sense.”
She put the birdseed away and rubbed her good hand on her pants, dusting off the birdseed clinging to her palm. “Great. So the solution, which might not even work, is another werewolf. It’s hard enough for me to find a date with a regular man let alone snag a werewolf.” She glared at Tao. “Where do you suggest I find this werewolf?”
“Right here,” he said, looking her straight in the eye.
Audrey gaped at him. “You?”
He nodded. “You helped me when I was locked in that cage. Besides, we are not blameless here, the pack owes you a concession.”
“Just to be clear, when you say mate and claim, you mean that you and I,” she pointed at him and then to herself, “would be having sex? Or kissing? Or what exactly?”
“Mates are claimed through sex.” His voice remained steady as he spoke, but his gaze flickered from her t
o something behind her.
“What does it mean to be mates? Are we friends with benefits? Are we married?”
“Mating is more like getting married.” He continued to not look at her, as if afraid of upsetting her.
“I have to marry you?” She put a hand to her head, overwhelmed. “I mean, I like you, Tao, I really do, but I’m not ready to get married.”
“No, we won’t take it that far. I’ll claim you as mine and when this is over, we’ll just take it one day at a time. If we move on, we move on. If we stay together, we stay together.”
“Can we un-mate?”
“No, but it’s a bond that can be ignored.” He shrugged. “I’ve seen enough werewolf marital problems to know that.”
“What if you meet your real mate?” she asked. “You won’t be able to claim them if you’ve claimed me.”
He ran a hand through his dark, wavy hair. “Listen, don’t worry about me. I want to do this for you. I need to know you’re safe. You say you like me?”
She nodded.
“Then trust me. I want to protect you and I think I have a shot at being able to do that. Let me do this for you.”
“So you’re going to take one for the team?” She crossed her arms and glared at him. She’d said she liked him and he’d come back with ‘trust me.’ What kind of bullshit response was that? Did he even like her? She wanted to tell him he was crazy, tell him to get the hell out of her house, but werewolves were real. Nick was still out there, and she definitely wanted out from under his paw. Abject terror mixed with a bright burning rage at her situation, making her cold and hot at the same time.
He frowned. “Why are you angry? I’m helping you.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Audrey threw up her hands. “Maybe it’s werewolf PMS. Maybe I want to be more than a duty fuck.” She gestured to her body. “I know I’m big. I know you would never in a million years want me unless you had no choice.”
He held out a hand, his brow furrowed in concern. “Audrey.”
“Don’t Audrey me.” She stabbed a finger in the air. “How about this? You know where Nick is. Let’s just go take care of him and eliminate the whole mating issue.”
“I will take care of him, tomorrow. I have it all planned out. But tonight I want to be sure you’ll be safe no matter what happens.” Tao sounded frustrated, but Audrey was too worked up to care.
“What does that mean?” She didn’t like his ominous tone. “What else could happen besides Nick coming for me?”
He sighed. “For one, my pack alpha doesn’t like that there are bitten people up here. Wolf-made wolves.”
“What’s he going to do about it? Come up here and kill us?” When Tao froze, going completely still, her jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious.” She’d been basing her impressions of werewolves on Tao, discounting Nick as an aberration. But the truth seemed to be that werewolves were a bloodthirsty, murderous lot, making Tao the outlier. Well, shit on a shoe. What was she going to do now?
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’d like to protect you. I want to be able to tell my alpha you’re not under Nick’s influence. It might help change his mind.”
“Hence the pity fuck,” she said, her voice harsh as her words.
Tao stiffened. “No. Not a pity fuck, a trying-to-keep-you-alive fuck.” His tone matched hers, he was angry now.
Well, join the club, wolf-man, she thought. “What about the other people who were bitten? You going to do them, too?”
His eyes narrowed. “Nick’s not mating them, it’s you he wants. They’re just his new pack mates. They don’t have to worry about my brother like you do.” He ran a hand through his hair, brow furrowed with concern. “Look, I know it’s not ideal. I know it’s probably the last thing you want. I mean, I didn’t come out here thinking I would fall into bed with you, but here we are. I have a plan and claiming you away from Nick is just step one.”
She gave a derisive snort. “And now we’ve come full circle, right back to duty fuck. I’m not that kind of fat girl, Tao. I don’t spread my legs just because a guy looks at me twice.”
She didn’t hear what he said next because she fled to her bedroom and slammed the door shut. She leaned against the wooden door and tried to calm down. The mental pictures of a naked Tao and her in a heated embrace didn’t help. He was an attractive alpha male, there was no denying that, but she wouldn’t have him in her bed unless he wanted her the way she wanted him. It wouldn’t be right otherwise.
But, a little voice in her head chided, it might save your life, give you a chance at returning to some semblance of a normal existence. His alpha wanting to kill her, shook her. Everything was spinning out of control around her, violence on top of violence. She should sleep with him, the logical side of her brain reasoned.
And damned if she didn’t want him. Bad. It wasn’t right. Maybe it was just a case of ‘about to become a werewolf’ hormones. She wasn’t ready to ‘fuck marry’ anyone…let alone a werewolf, no matter how hot.
Life was so unfair.
Don’t be so stupid, said the voice in her head. Save yourself, worry about the rest later.
Audrey frowned. She liked the idea of living in the moment as the next person on a self-improvement kick, but this moment came with a future that frightened her. The past leading to the moment wasn’t much better.
A light knock came on the door. “Audrey?”
“What?” Her voice came out in a harsh growl.
“You’re not a duty fuck and you’re not big, you’re curvy.”
“Don’t play semantics with me, Tao.” Something rumbled in her chest and she started. This time she didn’t sound like she was growling, she was actually growling. For real. Like a dog or...a wolf. “Oh my God,” she whispered to herself.
“It’s not semantics. You’re beautiful, Audrey.”
She snorted and another growl shook her body. It felt like thunder shaking her down and it also tickled a little bit.
“I mean it. I wanted you the second I saw you.”
Audrey stiffened. “Don’t bullshit me.” Men like Tao never wanted her. Audrey wasn’t the girl who got the guy. First, he’d asked her to believe in werewolves, and now she was supposed to believe he thought she was sexy? Second, she’d said she liked him and he’d said…nothing. Audrey had her limits and Tao had just reached them.
“I’m not. Wolf’s honor.” He jiggled the doorknob. “Come on, let me in.”
She smacked the door with her good hand, the contact with the wood stinging her palm. “I’m fat, Tao. I have cellulite. I eat too much ice cream. I’m a cake snob, it’s practically my religion. You’re lying.”
“You’re not fat. Whoever thinks you’re fat is an idiot,” Tao said patiently through the door. “I don’t believe you about the cellulite. I love ice cream and I want to go to your church so we can eat cake together, okay?”
When she didn’t say anything, he sighed. “Here, I’m going to slip something under the door.”
Audrey stepped away from the door and looked at the floor as a photo appeared. She picked it up, staring at it with a frown. The picture featured a woman as large as she was, but with auburn hair. The woman smiled broadly into the camera and she wore a low cut tank top, revealing ample cleavage. Next to her stood Tao, his smile just as wide.
“What is this?” she called through the door.
“A picture of my ex-girlfriend, Celia.”
“Your ex?”
“She ditched me for a guy from another pack.”
His tone was matter-of-fact, but Audrey heard a little edge of sadness in the deep timbre of his voice. She knew what it was to be left behind. To not be good enough. That was the story of her life. “Oh. I’m sorry.”
“She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?”
“Yeah.” Audrey couldn’t deny the woman had a beautiful face and a great figure even if she wasn’t perfectly skinny.
“So why can’t you be gorgeous too?”
Audrey snorted.
“Tao, come on. We’re not the same.”
“No, you’re not the same, but you’re just as beautiful as her. Beauty doesn’t have a size.” He opened the door then and stepped into her bedroom, his blue eyes dark and stormy. “I’ve never looked at your size, all I’ve ever seen is how beautiful you are.”
“Tao,” she said, her voice soft.
“Sh.” In two steps, he was in front of her, hands going to her shoulders, pulling her close for a kiss. The photo fluttered to the floor, forgotten. Audrey fought not to swoon, but it was difficult. His musky, woodsy scent filled her nose and his lips claimed hers with a fierceness that surprised her. This was no gentle kiss, but a possession. His tongue stroked her hard and fast while his teeth sank into the full flesh of her bottom lip.
Audrey moaned and tried to keep up, sagging against him as her knees dissolved.
“I have three brothers,” he told her when he finally came up for air. “We’re all huge, bigger than other wolves. Sometimes women are afraid of us. Are you afraid of me, Audrey?” He tilted her chin up with a finger until their eyes met.
Audrey thought of the first time she’d seen him naked in the cage. He was big. All over big. Just like her, yet different. “No, I’m not afraid.”
“Will you give yourself to me? All of you?” His hands went to grip her backside.
Audrey felt the heat rising in her cheeks...among other places. “I guess so.”
Tao shook his head. “That doesn’t sound like yes. Let me ask you, do you want me?” His gaze bored into hers and something strange happened to her body. Her nipples hardened inside her bra and wetness seeped between her legs. Just like that, the man had undone her with one look.
Well, damn.
“Yes,” she whispered as a tremble of desire and fear shook her. She’d wanted him since she first saw him, but she hadn’t been able to admit that to herself until that moment. “But do you want me?”
He answered her with another kiss, his mouth urgent, his body hard against her curves. Audrey moaned and leaned into him, letting him support her. She could barely feel her knees. Her body had ceased to exist, overtaken by heat, want and desperate need.