by Chloe Cole
She quickly pulled the sheets up to her neck and squeezed her eyes closed, turning her face away. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
He wanted to comfort her. To tell her it wasn’t her fault, but he was on the razor’s edge and he needed to get the fuck away from her before he did something they’d both regret. “We’ll talk about that in a few minutes.” He rifled through his dresser and threw a clean T-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts in her general direction. “Get dressed and hop back into bed. Start to work on that tray of food. The liquids will do you good and you need to eat to keep up your strength because of the injury. I’ll be back shortly and hopefully by that time we’ll both be in a better frame of mind to have this discussion.”
He retreated to the open door of the bathroom without looking back, in desperate need of some distance from her scent, her eyes, her face.
Once in his bathroom, he closed the door behind him, pausing to bang his forehead against the cool wood once, then a second time. This situation, already dire, was getting worse by the second. His wolf wanted her bad and if he didn’t get a handle on things or it could mean disaster for them all. Especially Amalie.
God, she was amazing. Those legs, that mouth, those eyes… His cock throbbed insistently. There was no way he could go back out there like this. He would take a quick, cold shower and get his shit together before facing her again.
He turned the shower on warm to lessen the shock of getting in and took off his clothes, his erection springing out in relief as he stripped off his jeans. He stepped under the spray and tried to think of anything but Amalie, inching the nozzle toward cold. But visions of her sprawled across his bed, those firm, perfect breasts on display, assailed him.
He gritted his teeth and made it colder.
He’d never felt anything sexier than his fingers moving inside her tight, wet warmth as she came.
He cranked the nozzle to full on frigid and the water steamed off his overheated body, but still he throbbed.
Fuck it.
He turned the water back to warm and took his aching cock in his fist, squeezing firmly, and let out a low groan. Pumping his hand up and down, he let the memory of her wash over him…her scent, the sound of her breath catching in her throat as he touched her, the silk of her skin.
He worked himself faster, his breath coming in pants as he pictured her stretched under him, her hips jerking and twisting, his fingers sliding in and out of her.
With a shaking hand planted firmly against the tile, he held himself up as the pressure built low in his stomach. He squeezed his cock tighter, imagining it was Amalie’s hand stroking him. Heat pooled in his belly as his movements grew more urgent. Reality morphed to fantasy and he saw Amalie on all fours, taking his cock from behind as he closed his teeth over her shoulder. Amalie on her knees, sucking his shaft deep and then pulling back to lap at the broad head. Amalie astride him, head tossed back, rounded hips working like pistons as she took her pleasure.
“Jesus!”
He came in a rush of sensation, groaning her name over and over as hot cum spurted from his swollen cock. His body shuddered with relief as the pressure that had his balls in a vice let up some. Closing his eyes, he let the warm water sluice over his face as he tried to catch his breath. Better. That was better. He should at least be able to manage a conversation with Amalie now.
The second he thought of her, everything she was crowded his senses again and his cock went hard as a stone.
He was in trouble. Big trouble.
Chapter Four
As soon as Liam left the room, Amalie fought back her mortification, threw off the covers and dove into the clothes he’d given her. The boxer shorts clung to her bottom and hugged her stomach, but at least the shirt was big. These were his clothes. She was in his room. She’d taken advantage of a stranger who had risked his life to save her own. Hell, he’d even given her his bedroom and she’d refused to take no for an answer. What had come over her?
But just as quickly as the embarrassment had come, it was gone, leaving a gnawing hunger like she’d never felt before in its wake. Her stomach growled fiercely as she surveyed the tray of food. Cold roasted chicken, coleslaw, a roll, and iced tea. She’d just put the first forkful in her mouth when she heard the sound of the shower being turned on. Liam was right in the next room. Naked. Her pulse pounded and her nipples grew taut again.
Cripes, why was it so fucking hot in this house?
Willing herself not to think about him, or what she’d just done, she took a deep drink of her cold tea. She settled in to the meal, almost on autopilot, and was just finishing the last bite when she heard what sounded like a low groan from the bathroom. Frozen, she listened intently. Another groan.
Her cheeks burned as realization set in. Liam hadn’t left because he didn’t want her. He’d left because he did. Too much maybe? A sizzle of heat went through her and she resisted the urge to knock on the door and see if she could join him.
The door opened a few minutes later and Liam came out fully dressed in a pair of gym pants slung low on his hips and a t-shirt that clung to his broad chest. She couldn’t meet his gaze as he dragged a chair next to the bed and lowered himself into it.
“Sorry. I realize now that I wasn’t as quiet as I might have been, and I can tell by the way you’re fastidiously avoiding my gaze that you heard me. I hope I didn’t embarrass or disgust you, but trust me, it was a necessary evil.” He flashed her a rueful smile.
She forgot to breathe for a moment as she took his full measure. The smile, combined with his disarming honesty and damn sexy body, stole her wits. She’d been far from disgusted by his activities, and was only disappointed she didn’t get to watch. Not that she was going to tell him that.
All of a sudden, she was really hot again.
“Something is seriously wrong with me,” she croaked. “Maybe the wolf bite is infected.” Amalie lowered her hand to the bandaged wound on her side and was surprised to feel no pain at all when she touched it gingerly. She pressed harder, still nothing.
She looked questioningly at Liam and reached down to remove the bandage. Her jaw dropped when her flesh was revealed. Aside from being a little pink like a newly healed scrape, it looked fine. No stitches, no wound, and no scar.
“What is this?” she whispered, her skin prickling with a sense of impending doom.
He met her gaze and spoke quietly, “I’m going to explain everything, but I need to ask you to be quiet until I’m done. I know you have questions but we don’t have a lot of time and we need to get through this as quickly as possible. Can you do that?” he asked.
She nodded dumbly, somehow knowing that what he said over the next few minutes was going to change her life in some profound way.
“There no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to let it rip.” He pursed his lips and crossed his muscular arms over his chest. “I’m a werewolf. And now, so are you.”
Amalie’s head began to spin as she struggled to drag air into her suddenly tight lungs. Holy crap. She’d almost had sex with a guy who was bat-shit crazy. She was in his bed right now with no weapon, no phone, and no hope of overtaking him. Frantic, she searched the room for an escape route.
“Stop,” he barked. “Look at me.”
She did as he commanded.
“Come off the bed and stand before me.”
Again, to her own confusion, she complied. It was like her body wasn’t her own. She was inclined…compelled to follow his demands despite her conscious mind urging her to fight or take flight. He was crazy, and she was serving herself up to him like a Christmas goose.
She tried to fight the pull as he urged her, wordlessly now, to meet his golden gaze. Panic lapped at her as she willed herself to look away, but couldn’t.
“I’m the alpha male of this pack,” he said. “Your instincts, though not fully developed, will not allow you to easily disobey me. My mind is going to touch yours again. Don’t be afraid, Amalie.”
; She gasped as visions rushed her consciousness, almost like forgotten memories. Wolves, a dozen or more, running together. She envied their camaraderie as she watched them in her mind’s eye, moving almost as one. A flash and the wolves became people. They gathered and talked and laughed, like a large, boisterous family. Another flash, and she saw a tiny brown wolf pup nuzzled by a large white wolf, clearly its mother. Then, an image of the wolf pup alone, howling for his mother’s return.
The final vision caused her to cry out. The white wolf, her beautiful fur matted with blood and gore, bullet holes riddling her body, dead at the feet of a man with a gun. Amalie’s heart broke, not only for the white she-wolf and her pup, but also for herself. She felt like she’d just lost a loved one. Tears streamed down her face and she turned away in embarrassment.
Jesus, what was happening to her?
Chapter Five
Liam watched Amalie and waited, guilt weighing heavily upon him. Barging into her thoughts had been a necessary evil, but that didn’t make it any more palatable. The last thing he wanted was to hurt this woman, which scared the hell out of him. He barely knew her, and he shouldn’t care one way or another about her. The family came first, before anyone or anything. But for some reason, she’d felt like a part of him from the very first. And when she looked at him, it was as if he’d found something he didn’t know he’d been looking for.
He wished there had been a kinder, gentler way to explain things, but time was of the essence. He could tell by her dazed expression and the slump of her shoulders that she accepted what he said as the truth. She just needed time to process it.
“So now what?” she asked wearily when her tears finally dried. “When the moon is full I turn into a wolf and start killing people? I don’t mean to seem ungrateful. I appreciate you saving me, but I’d rather be dead.”
Her eyes were dull with shock, the plump apples of her cheeks still flushed from the insidious changes taking place inside of her.
“No, Amalie. It doesn’t have to be that way. That’s not how we are. You have a choice. But we can talk more about that later. Here is what you need to know now.
“Your body is changing. And yes, the moon does play a role this first time. Lucky for you the next full moon will be in a few days, so this intermittent period that is causing you discomfort will be short. Turning is uncomfortable at first, mostly because you can’t control what is happening, not due to any pain. The physical aspects of transforming are mild, but it can be scary. I‘ll be with you every step of the way. After the initial change, you’ll have the ability to change at will. It takes practice, but within a few months you’ll be able to transition without much effort at all.”
“Will I know I’m human when I’m a wolf? Will I feel and think like myself? What if I hurt someone the way that wolf hurt me?” she asked, the last of the color draining from her face.
“You’ll still have conscious thought, but you’ll need to hunt and eat meat. Doesn’t have to be people.” He nearly smiled at the look of relief in her eyes. “The upside of all this is that you’ll be stronger, faster, and heal more quickly. We’re not immortal, but we’re damn hard to kill, and werewolves live exceptionally long lives. Two hundred years, sometimes more, barring an unnatural death.”
Liam paused for a moment to see if she was absorbing all of the information, or if she had tuned him out. Her clear, focused gaze met his, urging him on, so he continued, “All of your senses will be amplified. Your appetite for all things will increase and have a keener edge. Although we’re not ‘better’ than humans, we’re physically superior, and keeping our super-engines running optimally takes more of everything.”
“More of everything?” she asked, sounding wary again.
“Yes, which is why you needed that orgasm. Even so, I want to apologize. I needed to talk to you, and because of your body’s newfound hunger, you couldn’t hear me.” His smile felt tight. “Then again, maybe I’m just rationalizing my behavior because I wanted to touch you so badly, but I truly didn’t see any alternative at the time. I won’t let it happen again.”
“So, you’re saying that I only want you like this because I’m changing? And I would’ve behaved that way with anyone who’d walked into the room?” Amalie asked, her voice shrill. “Am I just going to walk around grinding myself on every guy I see?”
A stab of male satisfaction speared through him as she spoke of wanting him in the present tense, followed swiftly by a bolt of white hot fury at the thought of her rubbing her sweet, soft body against another man. Tamping down his emotions as best he could, he tried to be reasonable in his answer.
“I’m not certain. I’ve never seen anyone go through the first change. I’d like to believe it’s just because I’m so damn irresistible, but I’m not that arrogant.” Except, he was. There was no way she would’ve been that responsive, that sensual, with just anyone. That, he couldn’t swallow. “But there are deeper issues at play here. Amalie, all of the wolves in our pack were born, not turned. Turning a human into a werewolf is not only against the law within the wolf pack of Pray, it’s a violation of the Supreme Laws of Wolves.”
“So the wolf who bit me…he’s part of your pack? Will he be arrested or?”
“His name is Mikhail. He’s a member of another pack, and shouldn’t have been in our territory at all. He won’t be arrested. There are no ‘were-police’. If he’d been trying to turn you, his pack’s alpha would’ve punished him. But Mikhail wasn’t trying to turn you. He was trying to kill you. Unfortunately, hunting humans is not against our laws. Many pack leaders forbid the practice, but . . .” Liam had to look away from the horror on Amalie’s face before he could continue. “Some don’t. They say that hunting a human is no worse than a human hunting a deer for food. So, in the eyes of his alpha, the only law he broke was trespassing on our territory to hunt.”
Amalie’s eyes hardened. “Well, in the real world we call that attempted murder.”
He ignored her sarcasm and dove to the heart of the problem. “Before turning was outlawed, werewolves would ’gift’ a beloved human friend or lover with the bite, in order to bestow long life and superior health. In many cases, the human didn’t ask for it and turned against their wolf companion, resulting in accusations and witch hunts. In other cases, turned werewolves abused their newfound power.” Liam took Amalie’s hand and tried to ignore the electricity that arced between them. “I have a very real problem in that you’ve been bitten by a werewolf and are alive to tell the tale. Someone had to be held accountable for your turning. And, since I’m the one who interfered and stopped Mikhail from killing you, that person is me.”
“So you’re telling me that you’ll be punished for saving my life?” Amalie asked, her nostrils flaring. “That’s absurd. What kind of man would you be if you ignored someone getting mauled?”
“That’s the thing. I’m not a man, Amalie. I’m the alpha male of a wolf pack. I’m half animal. Things are not so black and white in my—our world.”
She swallowed visibly, her neck muscles tensing. “So what now?”
“The area packs will meet, a trial of sorts will be held, and a course of action will be voted on. There are a lot of gray areas here since it wasn’t my intention to turn you. But in the eyes of some of the elders, it won’t matter. They’ll believe that I should have let nature take its course.”
He didn’t want to tell her the rest, but most of his apprehension wasn’t for himself. What would keep the other packs from deciding to rectify his wrongdoing by eliminating the problem altogether? And from their viewpoint, Amalie was the problem. As crazy as it was, he’d felt an almost primal attraction the second he’d laid eyes on her and he seethed at the idea of someone hurting her.
She lifted her chin, steely determination lighting her eyes. “I’m coming with you. I’ll explain what happened and everything will be okay. Well, as okay as things could be, considering. I can’t let you be punished for protecting me.”
A surge of pride cours
ed through him. He’d known instinctively she would be a loyal friend and a fierce enemy. Her offer to stand by him as they faced their accusers only served to strengthen his resolve to protect her. He nodded. “They’ll want to see you anyway. And when they do, maybe they’ll understand why I had no choice.”
She tipped her head to the side, her gaze questioning.
“You have no real sense of how special you are, do you?” He longed to tell her why she was extraordinary, but he’d given her so much life-changing information. She needed time to process everything. “Enough for now. I’ve given you a lot to think about, and your body needs to rest for the changes to come.”
He got up from the chair and walked toward the door. Feeling her gaze on his back, he stopped at the doorway and turned to face her. His heart lurched at the need etched plainly on her face.
He gripped the doorknob, lust racing through him. “Fair warning: you need to stop looking at me like that. Tonight I was as much of a gentleman as a wolf like me can possibly be. But, if you’re smart, you’ll keep your distance. I can’t promise I’ll be able to manage my desire a second time.”
She met his gaze in the dim light and replied steadily, “I’ll make you a deal, Chief. If you stop looking at me like you want to bend me over something, I’ll stop looking back like I want you to.” And with that she rolled to her side, and closed her eyes.
As he walked out, Liam shook his head, his mouth twisting into a wry smile. She was amazing. He’d known it the second he’d seen her fighting off Mikhail with her thermos. Add to that her incredible beauty, strength and loyalty. And passion…he couldn’t forget the passion. She’d be a prize for any man and a credit to their pack. Now he just had to determine if she wanted him for real, or if her desire was due to her transformation.
Only time would tell.