A Mutt in Disguise

by Doris O'Connor

  She pushed open the heavy door to the shelter and stopped short at the sight that greeted her. Mary had said Ethan had worked his magic, but this was something else. Not only had the place been repainted, giving it a much fresher look, but Christmas decorations were everywhere. A six-foot Christmas tree stood in one corner, and the smell of pine filled the air, mixed in with the spicy undertones of mulled wine. Christmas carols were playing in the background, and some of the regulars were engaged in a competitive game of cards. There was an air of hope about the place, and Anja's heart lightened with every step she took farther into the building. She tracked Mary down in her office, just as she came off the phone with a big smile.

  "Hi, Anja! We just got another donation. This is so exciting." Mary drew her in for a hug. "So glad to see you back here, my dear. I've been worried about you."

  Anja returned the hug and held on to the other woman a little longer than was strictly necessary. "I just had to sort some things out in my head, that's all."

  Mary nodded and beckoned for her to sit down. "And can I assume that you have sorted them? As you're here?"

  Mary's wise eyes assessed her, and Anja slid into the chair, grateful for the support under her bum, as an all-too-familiar scent enveloped her. Her heart fluttered in her chest, and she clenched her hands around the arm supports of the chair to stop herself from showing her reaction. She didn't need to see Mary's eyes shift behind her to know that Ethan had just walked into the room. All the air seemed to have been sucked out of the little office, and the fine hairs on her body stood on end.

  "That's the banister fixed, too, Mary. Unless you have anything else for me to do, I think we're all set." Ethan's deep, gravelly voice wrapped itself around Anja's senses, and she had to remind herself to keep breathing.

  "Thank you, Ethan, but you've done more than enough. Have you thought any more about where you're going to spend Christmas Day? I have found a home for all our regulars, barring you. You're welcome to join my little group of course, but maybe you have other plans?"

  She smiled and nodded towards Anja. Surely she wasn't expecting her to offer him a bed for the night. Anja almost hyperventilated at the mere thought. The shelter always shut down for Christmas Day, to enable all the volunteers to spend the day with their families. The regulars spent the day with a member of the local community. The church had an "invite a needy person for Christmas dinner" scheme, and Mary herself offered her home to the ones who didn't have anywhere else to go for the day. The shelter itself would reopen at 10:00 P.M. for those who needed a bed, but no staff would be in attendance until the following day.

  It was an arrangement that worked well, and Anja had volunteered to take someone with her to her parents' house for Christmas dinner—much to Declan's disgust when she made that announcement—but there was no way that could be Ethan. No fucking way. Her heart would never survive it.

  "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, Mary." He moved into Anja's line of vision, and against her better judgment she allowed her gaze to roam over his frame. In clean if ill-fitting clothes, he looked devastatingly handsome. The jeans covered his long legs, and despite the baggy fit, they could not disguise the impressive physique underneath. Besides, thanks to her watching him in the shower and her subsequent daydreams, she knew exactly what he was hiding underneath the denim and the ridiculous-looking Christmas sweater. A reindeer with a huge red bobbly nose would have looked farcical on anyone less masculine, but on him it seemed to emphasize that masculinity.

  He smiled at her when she finally raised her eyes to his face, his voice a low soothing caress to her frayed nerves. "Hi, Anja."

  "Hi, Ethan is it, or should I call you Mutt?" She couldn’t quite keep the hurt out of her voice, and his eyes narrowed.

  "Either one will do, as long as you're talking to me, sweetheart."

  "I'm not your sweetheart!" Anja's voice rose in indignation, and Mary cleared her throat.

  "I'm going to give you two some space to talk this over."

  "I don't need space to talk anything over." Anja shot out of her chair and handed the present she'd all but forgotten about to a frowning Mary. "I came to give you your present and to reassure you that I'll be attending that meeting with Montagu Enterprises. I've had some ideas on how we can improve this place and set up some more help for those that want a permanent arrangement out of the homeless state."

  "That's great. I knew you would, my dear." Mary patted her arm and smiled. "There was no need for a present. You've given me so much already. You're the daughter I never had, you know that, and for that reason alone, stay and hear what Ethan has got to say."

  "No, you don't understand. He's not who you think he is. He's a—" Damn it! How did you explain to someone that the man standing next to you was in fact capable of turning into a dog/wolf or whatever he was without sounding like a complete and utter lunatic? Clearly Mary thought a lot of him, and he had done wonders with the place. They'd been lacking a strong, capable pair of male arms for far too long, but that didn't mean she would just forget about the fact that he'd lied to her, and used her body and... Heat rose in her cheeks as her dream once again came back to her in Technicolor detail.

  "He's a what, Anja?" Mary asked, and the man standing close enough to Anja for his body heat to warm her tensed. Hah, so he didn't like being exposed then, did he? Well, she didn't like being made a fool of either.

  "He's a ... a ... liar. That's what he is, Mary." The words tumbled out in a rush, and Anja couldn't look at the other woman. Mary's laugh caught her completely off-guard.

  "Like I said, talk to him. He knows I'll have his pelt if he hurts you." A look of understanding, agreement, she couldn't be sure which, passed between Mary and Ethan, and Anja had to remind herself to close her mouth.

  "You know what he is, and you never said?" Tears pricked the backs of her eyes, and she blinked furiously to not allow them to fall. There was no way she was going to cry over this.

  "I didn't at first, no, my dear. But I figured it out when he turned up as Ethan. I never told you this, but my Graham, God rest his soul, he was a shifter like Ethan here." She smiled at Anja's sharp intake of breath. "So, like I said, talk to him, and give him a chance."

  And with that Mary turned and left them on their own in the office.

  ****

  Ethan was half-expecting her to storm after Mary, but instead she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth, and Ethan suppressed a groan. His wolf had scented her the minute she had stepped out of her car. He'd stayed away for as long as he could, but the need to see her, to reassure himself that she was indeed all right, overrode all reason. He hadn't expected her to be overjoyed at seeing him. In fact, he had expected anger, but the barely concealed hurt and open vulnerability he sensed was enough to make his wolf roll over in submission.

  "So, explain if you dare. Do explain why you didn't feel it necessary to inform me of the fact that you shift into ... into Mutt and what gave you the right to ... to—" She went bright red and suddenly seemed to find the floor most interesting.

  His chest tightened, and a rush of emotion made his next words sound far too husky. "When was I supposed to have explained it to you, Anja? When you found me, injured and bleeding, and had an argument with Mary to allow me to stay here, when she was going to call the dog handlers?"

  He took a step closer to her to appease his anxious wolf, and her head swung up so fast he had to marvel at the fact that she hadn't given herself whiplash. "How would you have handled me turning into my human self then? Should I have exposed myself for all to see? Do you think humankind on the whole is ready to accept the fact that there are shifters in this world? Are you? Or would you have run away screaming?"

  She blanched at his words and shook her head.

  "I was far better served staying Mutt. Folks trust him, and they open up to him in a way they never would to the real me. I find the ones that need help the most and bring them to the shelter. It's wh
at I do."

  Her eyes widened at that statement, and her stance relaxed, marginally at least. "Why? I mean why do you do that?"

  His conscience screamed at him to tell her the truth, but he couldn't do that yet. He wanted, needed her acceptance of him on the most basic, primitive level. He needed to know she wanted him, not what and who he stood for. He needed to be sure she wasn’t like the others. That she wasn’t another Louise. After all, she had him fooled at first, too. His wolf growled his annoyance at his jumbled thought processes, and he pressed on.

  "Why do you volunteer here? Why are you giving your trust fund to Mary?" he asked, knowing the answer to that question all too well. It was one of the many reasons she'd smashed through all his defenses in record time. He refused to put a label on his feelings. Mating call be fucked, he would not be a slave to his emotions, unless they were reciprocated.

  "Because ... because I don't need the money and I know it will make a difference here and..."

  He smiled, and she nodded in understanding.

  "Okay, so I think I get that, but you should have told me when you stayed in my flat. You shouldn't have done what you did. You took advantage of me."

  He took another step closer and indulged his wolf by taking a deep sniff of her enticing scent. The fact that she did the same to him without seeming to notice it had his cock hardening instantly. She jumped at his wolf's growl in response, and he knew she was looking into his beast's eyes when she looked up at him.

  "If I had taken advantage of you, I'd still have you pinned to that bed with my cock buried deep inside you and you screaming my name, sweetheart. You wanted me then, and you want me now. I can smell you, Anja. You can protest all you want, but your body tells me otherwise. Nothing happened that night that you didn't want to happen."

  She shook her head and backed away from him, her eyes as wide as saucers. His wolf panted in excitement as he matched her step by step until the wall stopped her. He used his body to cage her in, and she whimpered her assent when he bent his knees and ground his erection into her mound. He scanned her face for any sign that she did not welcome his advances, but found none. Her breathing sped up, her heartbeat galloped, and she opened her mouth on a shaky exhale. She licked her lips, and Ethan gave into temptation.

  Chapter Five

  Anja was surrounded by the smell and the feel of Ethan. How they'd gotten from having a conversation to him pinning her against the wall of Mary's office she had no idea. All she did know was that she was going to die of want and need if he didn't kiss her. Her eyes fluttered closed in anticipation of his kiss as his hot breath fanned across her face. The kiss, when it came, wasn't the forceful invasion she'd been expecting, but a gentle exploration of warm, soft lips, and tender flicks of his slightly rough tongue. He growled his approval when she opened under his tender strokes, and he took the kiss deeper. Her hands fisted in the soft material of his jumper, and his roamed down her sides and cupped her ass. He lifted her off the floor, and her arms came around his shoulders, her legs around his waist without any conscious effort on her part in her eagerness to get closer to him.

  The thick, hard length of his cock pressed into her groin, and she rubbed herself across it with shameless abandon to the insistent ache in her pussy. His hands dug into her ass to hold her still, and his wolf's growl trembled through her. God, that had to be the sexiest sound ever. The vibrations darted through every fiber of her being and pitched her need for this man sky high. She kissed him back with all the pent-up passion of the last few days, and he slammed her back into the wall as he took the kiss deeper still and thrust his own hips against her. Anja whimpered her need for him into his mouth and matched him stroke for bold stroke until they were both breathing heavily, the combined scent of their arousal heavy in the air around them.

  The knock on the door brought them back to their senses, and Ethan smiled at her frustrated groan. He released her with a bite to her lower lip and turned around, adjusting his jeans with another rueful grin just as Mary stepped through the door.

  "I see you two have made up your differences then." She beamed at the two of them, and Anja wanted the ground to swallow her up. Ethan issued the most menacing growl she'd heard from him yet, and Mary laughed.

  "I would suggest, however, that you take your wolf home, my dear. Trust me when I say these walls are far too thin. You don't want to give that motley crew out there their very own porn show, now do you?"

  Mary giggled at Anja's embarrassed groan, and she only too gladly hid her burning face in Ethan's broad chest as he turned her around and pulled her against him.

  "Oh, and in case I don't get to see you before you leave, have a very Merry Christmas, you two."

  The sound of the door shutting signaled her departure, and Anja breathed a sigh of relief. Ethan's chest shook in silent laughter, and his arms tightened around her for an instant, before he took a step back and cupped her chin to make her look at him.

  "Are you okay?" The rich, velvet grumble wrapped itself around her senses while the devilment in his eyes had her lips twitching in answering amusement, and some of her embarrassment fled.

  "Trust Mary to point out the obvious. Guess we got a bit carried away there." The flare of heat in his eyes at her breathy words turned her insides to mush, and she stood frozen in place, unable to move.

  He swiped his thumb over her lips, and his wolf grumbled again—a low, menacing, possessive growl that vibrated through her. Instant moisture soaked her panties, and Ethan's eyes bled back to the glowing color of his wolf form.

  "You have no idea how much I want to get carried away with you, Anja. Will you let me?"

  ****

  The drive over to Anja's place completed in tense silence, Ethan took the keys to her front door from her, after her third failed attempt at inserting them into the lock. Her hands shook so much, he was surprised her teeth didn't chatter.

  "Here, let me."

  She huffed out a breath and sagged against him. He dropped a kiss on the rapid pulse in her neck, and a shudder went through her.

  She darted through the door the minute he swung it open, and he had to smile at the view that greeted him. Her flat had been transformed into an ode to all things Christmas. There wasn't a wall or surface left unadorned, and the Christmas tree taking over the entire far end of her small sitting room was decked out in a myriad of handmade decorations. Children's scribbled Christmas cards were strung across the room, and an assortment of chocolates was piled up on the small coffee table.

  "You're a teacher?" He knew she was, a well-loved one at that, but he asked her anyway. Anything to replace that terrified look in her eyes. His gut clenched. The thought that she might be afraid of him sliced through his heart like the cut of a knife.

  She nodded and wrapped her arms around herself. "Yes. Reception class. They're very sweet, and ... and ... well, they..." Her voice faltered, and her eyes grew huge as he took a step towards her.

  He could smell her fear interlaced with the sweet musk of her arousal, and he stopped just short of touching distance. He smiled at her and ruthlessly clamped down on his wolf's instincts to brand and claim her as his. Plenty of time for that in the future, if she let him.

  "Anja, relax. Nothing is going to happen that you don't want to. In fact, if you want me to leave right now, I'll leave."

  "No, no, don't leave." The speed of her whispered denial and the way she grabbed his arm to stop him from turning away had his cock hardening to the point of pain.

  He ground his teeth together to stop his wolf from growling his impatience. Her small hand trembled on his arm, and he covered it with his. Affection warred with fierce animal lust inside him, and he forced himself to unclench his teeth. Fuck it. He wanted her so badly. His skin felt tight and he ached all over, his wolf bursting to be set free. If she turned him down now, he would explode. But even as he thought that, she leaned against him and buried her face in his chest again. She inhaled deeply and this time he couldn't stop his wolf's answeri
ng growl.

  "I ... I don't want you to leave, but I'm so confused. I've never felt like this before with anyone, and I just don't understand why. I don't know you, not really, and yet ... and yet I feel as though I do." She looked up at him, and the trust he saw in her eyes finally quieted his anxious wolf. Yes, she was nervous, confused, aroused, all those things rolled into one, but it was the connection they shared that won out right now. A connection he couldn't even explain to himself.

  "Why, Ethan? Why do you smell so damn good that I want to eat you? Is that some sort of strange shifter thing you use to snare in your females or something?"

  His smile deepened, and she frowned and snatched her hand away.

  "'Cause if that's what this is, then how the hell can I trust what I'm feeling around you is real and not some mumbo jumbo designed to make me drop my knickers. And stop smiling at me like that. It's not funny, damn you."

  His heart felt lighter, and he framed her head with his hands. She went very still, and her eyes searched his face. He put all of his emotions, conflicting as they were, into his eyes, and whatever she read in his expression seemed to reassure her. Her hands bunched in his jumper, and his heart went into overdrive. He dipped his head to taste her, just a whisper of lips on lips, mindful not to scare her, and she sighed into the kiss. He traced the contours of her mouth with his tongue, and his cock twitched in excitement when her tongue flicked across his, daintily at first and then with increased vigor. She arched closer to him, pressing her breasts into his chest, and he let his hands wander, over her shoulders, down the indent of her waist, until he cupped the soft globes of her ass. He lifted her up and took charge of the kiss, still mindful to keep his wolf reined in, mindful that he owed her an explanation.