Claimed by Drago Wolf (Magnificent Beasts Book 1)

by Ana Calin

  “It’s hard even now.” I press my hand to my chest. “I feel the lack of her right here.”

  “You feel the lack of her, yes. That’s it. That need you have can only be satisfied if you make her yours. Otherwise....” He doesn’t finish the sentence, but I know—if I don’t make her mine, I’m going to be miserable for the rest of my life.

  I get up to my feet, walking to the window and pushing both my hands through my hair. I stare out into the night.

  “What should I do, Nero? Help me, because this is unbearable. It’s like my whole reason for breath has moved to Darkwood Falls.”

  “You don’t have a choice, brother. You have to go and win her over. Otherwise, you’ll never have peace.”

  A tight feeling cuts through my chest—anxiety. “I’m afraid I might have blown it with Arianna because of the way I left while she slept, and my actions that followed. You see, I went to Darkwood Falls to sleep with a woman for money. But in the end I wired money to her friend for the night I spent with her, and the damage I left behind.”

  I turn to Nero so he can see my face as I share with him my worst fear. “Arianna might never forgive me for treating her like a prostitute.”

  “Calm down, maybe she didn’t even feel that way.”

  “She didn’t write to me, Nero. Not at all. The chicks before her, all of them wanted more from me, but not her.”

  “Maybe it was your intensity that scared her.”

  “Believe me, I made sure she enjoyed what happened between us to the max. She didn’t see me become a monster, she thought she was doing it with a human man.”

  “But you clawed the walls and broke the bed frame, and God knows what else. Imagine her waking up in that room, what must have gone through her head.”

  It dawns on me. It’s true.

  “You were perfectly controlled with your clients before her,” Nero continues calmly. “But with Arianna you lost it, and turned into a beast. You did things no human would do.”

  “I influenced her mood, too,” I confess, knowing full well that Nero will disapprove. Werewolves aren’t supposed to use their powers on humans unless they don’t have a choice, and I sure had one. I could have let her go when she first wanted to, in the hotel lounge. But I couldn’t bear the thought of it.

  “I know only one thing,” I say more to myself than to Nero. “I can’t let her go, no matter what.”

  “Be careful, Drago. If the elites of Darkwood Falls do indeed know the story of the hybrids, you might get in trouble.” He points to the laptop. “Remember, the data says they keep to themselves like a sect. The town’s people won’t let her have a relationship with someone who’s not from Darkwood Falls.”

  “But the town was created for the very purpose of preserving fated females for the werewolves. The women are forbidden from mating with outsiders in order to avoid diluting the hybrid genes. What better way for Arianna to keep those genes than being with me, a werewolf?”

  “We don’t know how much the town’s purpose has diluted over the centuries, Drago. The elites might actually be protecting the females from the werewolves, not preserving them for the town’s original purpose. We have to gather much more information before we expose ourselves, it might be dangerous.”

  I look out the window, peering through the night. “Okay, then I suppose I’ll have to lay low at first. But I won’t stay away from her, Drago, I can’t. Every hour that passes without her takes a piece of my heart with it.”

  CHAPTER V

  Arianna

  Princess stands in the archway between the front parlor and the living room where she, Janine and I are having a girls’ night. She’s pale, looking like a ghost with fiery red hair, her body thin and ethereal in her leather black dress.

  “Sullivan is here,” she whispers right before my ex’s fleshy form appears behind her.

  I freeze with the tumbler at my mouth, facing Sullivan Haan. He’s in my house for the first time in over a year, and I feel sick at the mere thought of it.

  I stand, staring at him in my silk cream dress that flows on my curves. I’m glad he sees me in something that makes me look good.

  “We need to talk, Arianna,” he says, his wide face with a double chin unnervingly serious.

  Sullivan Haan, my ex boyfriend and the mayor of Darkwood Falls has changed a lot in these past years. There’s grey in his hair, his opaque brown eyes are even colder, expressionless, and his hair is thinning. He’s ten years my senior, but the age gap wasn’t always obvious. It is now.

  He’s also a very desired man in Darkwood Falls, the most hunted after bachelor, to be honest. Ever since I broke up with him women have gone out of their way to get his attention. All they got were a few nights, the bastard hates commitment. And, I guess, why should he buy a whole cow, when he can have the milk for free?

  But I can see why his serious, ever-frowning face with the shrewd-man nose and the thin mouth is so attractive to young women. He expresses power, intellect and self-control, even though all the drinking and smoking shows in the unfit shape of his body and his drooping face. I guess it’s all due to the great responsibility that weighs on his shoulders as mayor of Darkwood Falls.

  “Can I have a word with you?” He glances at Janine and Princess, who’ve frozen with their glasses of wine in their hands. “Alone?”

  I blabber a little, not sure what to say. Janine and Princess make to retreat, but I stop them.

  “No, we’ll go. It’s Saturday night, you’re my guests, and you’re here to unwind and have a good time. Nothing he has to say can be important enough to let it ruin your evening.”

  I motion Sullivan to follow me to the kitchen. I lead the way confidently, but on the inside I can feel my stomach twisting. I place my drink on the kitchen counter and take a deep breath, getting ready to face Sullivan. But when I turn around and my eyes land on his face something even more unexpected happens—the memory of Drago Wolf flashes before my eyes, and I can somehow feel him close, very close.

  The girls and I were ready to dissect the subject—and mystery—of the night Drago and I spent together right before Sullivan intruded. On the one hand I can’t wait to get out there again and let them advise me for the umpteenth time about what Drago’s actions meant, why they think he might really be into me. I will never get enough of that. But on the other hand Sullivan’s seriousness sends ice through my body.

  “I know what you did a few nights ago at Janine’s hotel in the woods.”

  “Wha, what?” I sputter. If this is true, my life is over.

  “Who is he, Arianna? And how long have you been seeing him?”

  “Seeing him? How long?” I breathe, trying to make sense of my own thoughts but not quite managing to interconnect them.

  “What’s gotten into you? You know damn well you’re not supposed to date people from outside of Darkwood Falls without consulting the Council. Your father must be turning in his grave.”

  Anger at his nerve makes me snap. I poke his chest with my finger. “You’re the last person on Earth with the right to tell me what to do, Sullivan.”

  “This isn’t about you and me. This is about you dating outsiders, when you know damn well it was your father’s last wish that you don’t do that. Not without the Council first checking his background.”

  “You know what, I’m not sure that story you gave me about Dad’s last wish is even true. I was on a flight back from Paris when he died, and you were the only person by his deathbed. You could have invented it.”

  Outrage pulls his face. “You’re not actually accusing me of lying about something like that, are you?”

  “I’m accusing you of being a master manipulator.”

  “Your proof is that none of the women of this town are allowed to date outsiders without the Council’s approval. Darkwood Falls is a rich elite’s town, Arianna, our single women are prey for hustlers and cheats.”

  “Oh, and you’re not a cheat?”

  “I made a mistake, but I never stop
ped loving you.”

  “Whattt? How much nerve do you have, saying something like that? We barely even ran into each other this past year, and now you come with a love declaration? Sorry, but it’s not very believable.”

  “Arianna—” He takes a step closer, opening his arms, and I have nowhere to go because I’m already with my back against the kitchen counter. I glare at him, hoping it’s enough to keep him from touching me.

  “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but those hands won’t touch me ever again.”

  “Arianna,” he says in a softer tone now, the tone he always used when he wanted something from me, and that he uses in his speeches during election campaigns. “You must know that I always wanted you back. What happened with Christie was a stupid, stupid slip—”

  “Oh, come now.” I laugh. “A slip happens once, but you continued to fuck her for months after we broke up. You just want me back now because you feel competition breathing down your neck.”

  His face changes. “So there is someone. You’re not going to deny it?”

  Damn right I won’t deny it. I can feel my lips pulling into a wicked grin. This is my chance to finally hurt Sullivan. He hasn’t really fought for me in the past because everything in Darkwood Falls, even my life, was in his hands. He knew I wasn’t the kind of girl to go to bars and pick up men, and men in Darkwood Falls don’t usually approach me because of my past relationship with him. But all that doesn’t matter now. What matters is that I’ve regained Sullivan’s attention, a chance I’ll use to hurt him, make him sorry for what he did to me.

  I jut out my chin. “I’m going to date whomever I want, and I won’t bring the matter to the Council either. I’m a grown woman, and I don’t need protection against hustlers. Actually, if I choose to marry a hustler, it’ll be my decision.”

  Sullivan’s mouth pops open. He shakes his head, his double chin quivering, as if he’s trying to un-hear what he just heard.

  I fold my arms across my chest, staring proudly at him. “Anyway, who told you that I was seeing someone? Or how did you find out?”

  “The neighbors saw you coming home late on your birthday. In the morning, actually. It was the first time you spent your birthday somewhere other than at your place or at some fancy restaurant in town, where at least someone would have seen you. I checked where your two friends spent the night, too, and the rest wasn’t hard to deduce—they were covering your date.” He bites the word like he hates it. “But, knowing you, you wouldn’t have spent your first date at a hotel, so this must have been going on for quite some time.”

  There’s a threatening look in his eyes as he speaks out the last sentence. Fuck me, did he seriously just imply I had a fuck date? Saying that it’s not ‘like me’ to do it only stresses the fact that he would make it public if I don’t give him whatever he wants.

  “I know you well enough to understand your subliminal messages. Don’t you dare spread rumors about me in order to get the Council on my back, Sullivan.”

  His eyes glide down my frame—I’ve been feeling sexier these past few days, since Drago. Amazing, how feeling desired can change a woman’s whole self-image. The problem is that Sullivan’s drooling over me makes me sick. My mouth wants to distort, but I manage to keep a stony face.

  “Tell me the truth,” he pleads, almost whining. “Who are you seeing?”

  It takes an effort not to slap him in the face with the truth, telling him that I’ve had a man he could never even dream to compete with, but that could translate into disaster. If he makes me lose face in front of the community, I’m fried. He could even get the investors to pull their money out of my dad’s labs, and that would mean countless lost lives.

  “It isn’t anyone. We just did something...different, on my birthday, the girls and I.”

  “What? What did you do?”

  “You know what, why don’t you ask Princess? She’s your secretary, isn’t she?”

  He puckers his lips. Of course, it’s not like he hired Princess because he wanted to, her daddy forced him to put her on a payroll. Princess’s dad finances Sullivan’s campaigns and, mayor or not, he can hardly boss Princess around to do her job, let alone tell him her secrets or mine.

  “You know damn well I can’t make her tell me anything,” he grunts, confirming.

  I grin. “If you only had friends as loyal.”

  He stares hard at me, the emotion in his opaque brown eyes difficult to read. He must be both frustrated and angry.

  “Maybe I can’t discover what happened at Janine’s hotel, not immediately,” he says. “But I can keep a close eye on you from now on. If you ever see him again, Arianna, I’ll make sure all the investors pull their money from your daddy’s labs. Bankruptcy, no more curing deadly diseases, how does that sound? Just think about how many people will lose their lives, only because you chose to fuck around.” His threat punctures my brain. I swallow, but keep my eyes steady on his. He’s too close, his breath smelling of alcohol as it hits my face.

  He finally leans away, and the moment he walks out the kitchen door it’s like a rock has been lifted off my chest. I hear him arguing with Janine in the living room, then the front door slamming shut. Janine appears in the kitchen, her face outraged, her hand pointing in the direction of the door.

  “You can’t let that bastard treat you like that. He lost every right the day he dipped his cock into Christie’s pussy, don’t you let him—”

  “Janine.” I grip her hand, allowing all the anguish I feel to show in my face. “If Sullivan finds out what happened with Drago I’m screwed. He’ll tell the entire town that I screwed a gigolo, and investors will pull their cash out of Dad’s labs, and his legacy will be destroyed. I can’t let everything he worked so hard for go down the drain like that. Many people depend on his labs’ research, I can’t play with that.”

  “Calm down,” she says, cupping my cheek, her cobalt blue eyes fixed on mine. “You know you can rely on me for everything related to that. I can invest money in the labs to keep them going for awhile, and I’ll also help you get new investors.”

  “Thank you, Janine, but you know as well as I do that’s much easier said than done. And I’m pretty sure Sullivan would be working against us. God, I can’t let all of Dad’s research die just because Sullivan is an asshole.”

  I fall crying in her arms, but then a whipping sound pierces my ears, making both Janine and me yelp and jump away from each other.

  Drago Wolf jumps into the kitchen through the window he opened. The floor thuds under his feet as he lands, a wild look on his chiseled cover-model face. But despite his beauty he looks like a mad beast, stubbly, his eyes bloodshot. He looks like he’s been drinking for days. Wait a minute—is he shirtless under the leather jacket?

  “A man just left your house. Who is he?” He points to the window.

  “Drago,” I shriek. “What are you doing climbing into my house through the kitchen window?”

  “Don’t change the subject.” He stares at me with smoldering eyes. “It’s your ex, Sullivan, right? You’re still seeing him?”

  How is that any of your business? And why are you barging in here and acting crazy? More questions run through my head, but I can’t open my mouth to ask any of them. Thankfully Janine regains her composure and steps in front of me.

  “Mr. Wolf, I don’t know what you think you’re doing here, but I’m glad we meet again. You have some explaining to do about the mess you left back at my hotel.”

  Drago’s eyes move from me to Janine.

  “You mean the walls and stuff, right?” He runs his hand through his hair like he’s impatient, the leather jacket moving to reveal his naturally tanned, muscular body. I still can’t believe this guy fucked me a few nights ago like he owned me.

  “Things got wild,” he says. “I lost my head for Arianna. Let me know if you need more money, I’ll wire as much as necessary.”

  “Drago,” I cut in. “What the hell are you doing here? We were never suppose
d to see each other again, that was the deal.”

  He puts his hands on my upper arms. My eyes flutter at the feel of his rough, calloused palms on my skin, and my blood quickens at the memory of what they did to me last time.

  “Arianna, please, I need to know. Are you back with Sullivan?”

  I shake my head, trying to disperse this fog of sensations that clouds it. I have to keep a clear head. “Drago, what do you want?”

  Princess appears in the door, her mouth popping open when her eyes land on Drago.

  “I’ll be damned,” she whispers. “The hunky callboy.”

  Janine checks the window, pulling down the shade. “Did anybody see you around the house, Mr. Wolf?”

  “No,” Drago replies, his eyes fixed on my face. “I made sure no one did, don’t worry.”

  “Make sure no one sees you leave either. Which is what you’ll do now, thank you.”

  “No, not before I have another night with Arianna.”

  The words thunder in my ears.

  “You can’t possibly be serious,” I whisper.

  “What the fuck,” Princess breathes.

  “You gotta be shitting me,” Janine crowns the exchange.

  All three of us just stare at Drago for a few moments. This feels absurd. A hunk like him, a cage fighter that women are drooling over, with his irresistible chiseled face, sexy smoldering eyes, and his killer body, is standing in my kitchen and asking for sex as if I’m the only woman who can make him cum.

  I burst into laughter, overwhelmed by the situation.

  “This has to be a big fat prank—the wired money, this absurd proposition. Listen, Drago, I’m afraid it isn’t funny. If the people of Darkwood Falls find out about this, it’ll spell serious trouble for me. I’m gonna have to ask you to leave, and not come back.”

  “What kind of trouble?” He demands, as if there’s nothing he can’t handle.