by Michele Hauf
And she had found it. Rather, it had found her.
Now to get rid of it.
Sticking the key in her door lock, she decided too late that she should have waited. The man pushed the door open and prowled inside.
“I didn’t invite you in. Now you’re going beyond a protective walk home, and entering without permission. I thought you sorts needed permission to cross a threshold.”
“‘You sorts’?” He smirked and strode to the center of her living room, his limp more apparent now with the lights on. “Just the vamps, sweet. I can cross any threshold I like. Nice place. If a bit junglelike.”
The loft had an open floor plan, the living room, kitchen and bedroom all open to share one huge room. Admittedly Bella had gone overboard with the plants, but she liked that they kept the air clean.
Severo’s gaze followed the long white chiffon drape that hung from the cathedral ceiling to the floor, separating the living room from the bedroom at the far end.
Observing the wide planter with the massive blooming cactus, he strode to the patio doors and tapped the glass. “A pool, too?”
“Yep, living the high life. So, if you’ll leave, I’ll lock the door behind you and get out my garlic. I have a cross on the wall there that I can use in a pinch. So you see? I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Bella kicked off her shoes and leaned against the kitchen counter. She wiggled her pinched toes, but her focus was not on comfort. The drawer with a butcher knife inside was a leap away.
“You won’t be fine.” He approached her so swiftly, the fear rose in her body and Bella felt it flush her cheeks. “They’ll watch you all night.”
“You don’t know that.”
“If my suspicions are correct, Elvira won’t rest until she’s satisfied.”
“Meaning?”
“She must want you dead, or at the least, injured, if she believes you a threat to her latest snack.”
“Seth is not a snack.”
He backed her against the granite kitchen counter with an arm to either side of her. She should be getting used to his urgent obsession for uncomfortable closeness, but it still made her nervous. The plastic clicks of her skirt spangles made the situation slightly strange. His size made her feel small.
But she couldn’t deny her interest in this overwhelming, in-your-face man who wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“No human can ever be anything more than a snack to a vampire. Unless she turns him.”
“Turns? You mean makes him a vampire? Oh, my God, can she do that? Will he know?”
“He’ll know. But he’ll be too infatuated to protest.” He dipped his head and ran his nose along her neck.
“Stop it. I want you to leave.”
“Make me.”
Bella swung her arm up and slapped the man hard across the cheek. The sound of flesh to flesh echoed sharply. He reared back, shook his head and delivered her a leering grin.
“Try it again,” he challenged coolly. “Come, Bella, raise my ire. Stir my blood.”
This time he caught her hand before it connected with his cheek. Gripping her wrist, he licked her palm from fleshy base to quivering fingertips. And behind the lascivious act, he grinned again.
“By now you should know your fear excites me, sweet.”
“Don’t call me that. I don’t want you here. Can’t you understand that?” Bella’s glance to the phone, which was too far away, by the couch, stoked him to action.
He pressed a palm over her throat. Bella feared he might become violent. Finally he would do what he wanted to do last night. Why had she allowed him inside the building?
Because she really was worried about the vampires.
His eyes were so intense, they stilled her. She could only gasp as he slid his hand to the red spangled neckline. His thumb slipped behind the fabric and over the top of her breast.
The sound he made was sexy and wanting, a moan for something he desired but wouldn’t take. Clinging to the counter, Bella reacted to the illicit touch with a whimper of her own.
“Bella,” he whispered as he moved nose to nose with her. “You want my touch?”
She shook her head. A squeeze of his fingers rocketed a delicious twinge of pleasure from her breast to her belly and down to her loins.
“Then remove my hand. Push it away.”
She grabbed his wrist with both hands but didn’t move it. And in her pause, he bent to kiss the top of her breast while he massaged the nipple with his fingers.
She craved the way he made her feel. The dangerous aura of his presence. The uncertainty of what he would say or do to her next. The erratic pace of her heart was caused by fear and a discomfiting desire.
“Please,” she whispered. What had he said his name was? “S-Severo. It’s…not right.”
“What? A man you just met touching you like this? I told you to take my hand away. And then I’ll leave.”
“No, you…” You’re a werewolf! Why did that bother her more than being touched so intimately? “Please just go. I can’t do this. I’m too freaked right now.”
“I understand.” His hand slid up to her neck again, and Bella regretted the lost touch at her breast. “I’ll leave, but I won’t go far. I’m keeping watch tonight.”
“Fine,” she said, not because she approved, but because she wanted him gone so she could be alone with her crazy self.
He opened the door and turned to her, but he didn’t say anything. Dark, glittering eyes held her in his grasp. Right there, still under his thumb.
“Thank you,” she said. “For looking out for me.”
“You’ve fixed yourself to my senses, Bella. I can’t get you out of my head. And I don’t wish to. Sleep well.”
He closed the door and Bella collapsed over the counter, her arms stretched out and her cheek smushed against the cool granite.
“Vampires and werewolves? Oh, my.”
Chapter 5
Following a long shower, Bella padded through the loft and switched off all the lights. The streetlights out front always cast a yellow streak across the floor. Tonight it comforted her.
After her encounter at Silver and her unnecessary escort home, she couldn’t hit the bed fast enough. But on the way, she stopped before the window and tugged aside the blue chiffon sheer.
The connection of gazes startled her, but she didn’t turn away. Severo sat across the street on a bus-stop bench, staring up at her. Her own personal security guard.
Or her own personal stalker.
Who was a werewolf.
She should be horrified, but to be honest, all she could feel was relief.
She looked but didn’t find any vampires lurking in the trees in the park across the street. Not that she would know what they were, anyway. Nevertheless, if they were out there, she was glad to have a protector on the beat.
* * *
Bella woke to sunshine. Because it was the weekend, she had all day to wonder over her strange new world.
“I have to call Seth.”
She started for the phone but paused by the window to look across the street. The bench was empty. Vampires didn’t do daylight, so her protector had left.
How could she be so accepting and calm? she wondered as she picked up the receiver and hit speed dial. Because she had proof.
Sunnyside Belladonna, Seth often called her when he wasn’t addressing her as Bellybean. Always willing to see the good, even when standing amidst a muck of bad. And if shown the truth? She believed it. It was a waste of time to deny what she’d witnessed.
“Seth, how are you?”
“It’s freakin’ ten o’clock, Bella. How do you think I’m doing?”
“You’re usually up by eight. Oh, no, are you no longer a morning person because of your girlfriend?”
“Can we have this discussion later?”
“Fine, but we do need to have it. Severo said something last night that makes me wonder about your girlfriend. I’m scared for you, Seth.”
“
Severo? Who in hell— Is that your werewolf?”
“He’s not my werewolf.”
“Yeah? Well, don’t start sucking face with the guy. I’ve always imagined you walking down the aisle someday with a mortal man. And you know how scared you are of dogs.”
“Tell me about it.”
She had mapped out her jogging routes specifically to avoid any houses with dogs behind fences. Big dogs, little dogs, didn’t matter. She didn’t like any of them. Rather, it wasn’t a question of dislike, but a real fear.
“Listen, Bella, let’s meet at the Moonstone at six, okay?”
It was their favorite restaurant and was a few miles down the strip. “Deal. I’ll see you later. Last one there picks up the check.”
A brisk swim was in order. Releasing the latch on the patio door, she slid it open to the gorgeous summer day. Birds chirped and the grass was so green, it belonged in a cartoon. Everything seemed right. Truly, she must have dreamed the world doing an upside-down flip.
Padding outside in her undies and T-shirt, Bella never worried that anyone would see. The six-foot-high fence, and the fact that she lived at the top of a hill, guaranteed privacy. And the first-and second-floor owners had but a view of the street on the other side of the building.
Tugging up her shirt, she stopped halfway over her ribs when something jumped the fence.
He landed deftly, one hand to the ground in a predatory pose. With a smirk, he noted Bella’s jumpy reaction. Severo rose, stretching back his shoulders. He utterly dominated the small backyard.
Her protector had returned.
Bella tugged her shirt down to her thighs to cover her spare pink underwear. She could make a run for it, but he’d probably beat her to the door. Then he’d crush her barely clad body against his and kiss her and—
“Good morning, sweet.” Severo strolled to the padded lounge chair angled by the pool and sat. Stretching out his legs, he twined his fingers behind his head, though the leather jacket and biker boots were hardly pool wear. “Nice day for a swim. Don’t let me interrupt. You were set on skinny-dipping?”
“Why are you here?”
“Still on the beat.”
“But the vampires don’t come out during the day.”
“You’re right. Truth is, I wanted one last look at you before leaving.”
“Well, you’ve seen me. Now you can go.”
“Your tits look great in that thin shirt. Makes me want to suck them.”
She crossed her arms high over her chest. As crude as the comment had been, she lifted her chin and looked down through her lashes at him. He liked her breasts?
Stupid, Bella. You’re playing with fire. This one is different than most men, who can tease without promising anything more.
His eyes strayed lower. It was either hug her arms across her breasts or hold the shirt down.
Bella decided to walk down the three steps and sit at the pool’s edge. The water crept through her underwear and wet the hem of her shirt. The man’s intent gaze hardened her nipples.
She plunged in. There. Now he couldn’t see anything.
“I’m not going to perform for you,” she said, frog-stroking through the water, “so you may as well leave. Go home and get some sleep.”
“You are insistent that I leave you. And after I’ve done you two favors.”
“Two?”
“Saving your life and keeping said life safe. So I think you owe me at least a chat. Aren’t you at all interested in learning more about me?”
Treading where the water dipped to eight feet, she eyed him curiously. Yes, she did want to know more. Like how he was able to track her merely by scent. Like why he felt that he had some kind of God-given right to intrude on her life.
Also, why it was that she couldn’t simply call the cops and have him arrested.
And why was it that she found him more attractive today, in full daylight, than she had last night in the dark? He was still scruffy and unkempt. The beard and long hair framed his dark gaze and bold features. The look didn’t so much say “Protector” as it screamed “Dangerous.”
Ignoring her erratic thoughts, she dove forward and did an underwater somersault. Surfacing, she spewed water and slicked back her hair. The water refreshed her. Now, if she didn’t have an audience, she would get naked.
“All I want to know is why you keep coming back.”
“Like I said, you’ve stuck yourself to my senses. I can’t shake you. So if I can’t ignore the pretty woman, then I may as well enjoy her.”
She flipped him off and did another deep dive. Touching bottom, she wished for the magical ability to breathe underwater. Not that it would make him leave. He’d probably dive in and try to rescue her.
Coming up, Bella found him squatting near the pool’s edge. Why did that not surprise her? Had flipping him the bird angered him? She’d like to see him jump in, leather jacket, big, clunky leather boots and all, and try to wrestle her into submission now.
After abandoning dancing in high school, she’d joined the swim team to fill that need for movement and to physically challenge her muscles. She’d won a few medals for her back crawl and high dives. She could so take the guy if he were in the pool.
But thank God he was not.
Swimming backward, Bella landed at the opposite side. She stretched her arms along the tiled edge. If he was going to stare at her, she could do the same.
A trim brown beard traced his jaw, and stubble darkened the front and sides of his neck. Dark chest hair peeked out at the top of his shirt. Long brown hair topped off the deviant look. Talk about hairy. Made sense if he was a werewolf.
She’d never dated a man with chest hair or a beard. The look didn’t attract her. And she had no intention of changing her preference now.
“Ask me,” he prompted.
“Ask you what?”
“The question that burns in your bewitching green eyes. I’m not going anywhere, so you might as well make the best of it. There’s nothing threatening about conversation.”
Her legs floated to the surface, and Bella flicked her big toes, scattering droplets across the water’s surface. “All right. If vampires suck blood from humans, what is it a werewolf does?”
“With humans?”
“Yes.”
He clasped his strong, wide hands together between his bent legs, focusing across the horizon above and behind her. “We avoid them mostly. The less contact we have with the mortal race, the better. If humans haven’t got proof of our existence, then you understand how much easier it is to survive?”
“I’ll buy that. So why the continued contact with me? I’m a human. I have proof of your existence.”
“I’ve already explained that.”
“Right. You have my scent bouncing about inside your nose and can’t shake it off. Peachy. So what about those three days around the full moon you mentioned?”
“In this human form I am called a were. Were means ‘man,’ you know? Then there is the wolf form, which is the caninelike animal most humans associate with wolves. The werewolf is the man and wolf combined. Understand?”
She nodded. The creature lesson was fascinating, in a stomach-curdling way. Shape-shifting and blood and fangs were not her idea of a good time, unless they were up on the big screen.
“During the full moon, the werewolf takes over as the moon peaks in the sky. All it can think to do is mate.”
“Mate?”
“Have sex.”
“With another werewolf?”
“If one is available. The female of our breed is rare. Which makes for a lot of frustrated males.”
“They don’t…try to mate with humans?”
“In werewolf form I should scare the shit out of you. Of course, during the day, when I take were form, as you see me now, I’m also horny as hell for those three days. That’s when humans come in handy.”
“I see.” Seth’s theory on the sex-freak thing was true. “So you basically live to have sex?”
Yeah, she did, too. With humans. And at her pleasure, not on demand or forced because the moon was full.
“Would you have raped me the other night?”
“Never.” A strong, sure answer. He tilted his chin up and met her gaze. “But I cannot deny I wanted you.”
Bella peered into her reflection on the water’s surface. “I know that.”
She had sensed his want. Discussing it now, in a simple poolside chat, was strange, but that didn’t dissuade her from seeking answers. “You don’t have a girlfriend? I mean a werewolf girlfriend?”
“I’ve never had a mate.”
“So you’ve not ever…”
“Not in complete werewolf form, no. And if we continue to discuss my sex life, I may have to strip down and swim over there. Being near you arouses me, Bella.”
“I’d say that’s good reason for you to leave.”
“Make me.”
Again with the bold challenge. She considered swishing a wave of water at him. Like that would deter the big, bad wolf. “What keeps back werewolves?”
He removed his jacket and tossed it on the lounge chair behind him. The black cotton shirt he wore stretched across his chest and shoulders, revealing powerful biceps.
“Silver. It must penetrate and enter the bloodstream, though. You can’t simply press a silver spoon against my head and expect me to sizzle and burst into bits.”
“So you don’t eat people?”
“You must have watched An American Werewolf in London.”
“I saw an old video when I was a teenager. I’ll never forget that scene with the dead girl and her throat ripped out.”
“That’s not going to happen. Unless you’ve tormented my kind, or are deserving of just punishment. Vampires are more likely to maul and kill humans than my breed will.”
“That’s weird, because I’d think the one closer to an animal would be more likely to do the mauling stuff.”
“It hurts me when you label me an animal.”
His confession stunned her. Men didn’t reveal their feelings. Not most.