by Michele Hauf
The simple room was huge, as big as her whole loft. The walls stretched to a barrel-vaulted ceiling painted with pastoral scenes. All the overstuffed, overlarge furniture was upholstered in the same navy velvet as the curtains.
A painting on the wall opposite the bed attracted her interest. Looked like birch trees. The face of a wolf was cleverly hidden among the birches, so a glance might have never picked it out.
At the end of the room were two doors—the closet and the bathroom. Bella went to shower.
After the shower, with a towel wrapped around her, she found Severo waiting at the end of the bed. He wore boxer briefs and no shirt. Daylight surfed across his broad chest, glinting on the dark hairs.
“Waiting for the shower?” Bella asked.
She boldly stepped between his legs and he eased his hands about her hips. His hopeful gaze pleased her.
“I would have liked to join you, but I just got in. Will this work, then? You staying with me?”
“I think it will,” she said. “You’re unsure?”
“Only because I don’t want you to feel forced into anything. I would never do that.”
“Oh, really, Mr. I Like To Tell Bella What To Do?” She smiled and kissed him. “I’m here of my free will.”
“Good. If you should ever change your mind—”
“I’ll be gone before you can argue otherwise. So! After that nap, I’m starving. I don’t think a piece of toast is going to cut it.”
“Heloise is making something savory right now. She’s my cook and housekeeper.”
“Does she know what you are?”
“Yes, and she’s a faerie, so she’s cool with that.”
“A faerie?” Bella chirped in an entirely too wondrous tone. “Does she have wings?”
“No, she’s more of the brownie persuasion. You’ll meet her. She’s great. Been with me for years. If you need anything, just ask Heloise. You don’t mind staying in my room? There are other bedrooms, but I’d prefer if you slept with me.”
“Of course you do. You like to be the one in control. The man on top.”
“Is there any other position?” He clasped her wrists before him and squeezed.
“I think you’d like it rough, wouldn’t you?”
“Mmm, Bella, you would be pretty tied up.” His eyes glittered with desire.
The suggestion startled her, but only because she didn’t react offensively to it. Tied up and at his mercy? Warmth spread up her neck and hardened her nipples. “I won’t rule anything out with you. But let’s take things slow, lover.”
“You undo me with your acceptance, sweet. Why are you so accepting?”
“I’m not sure. I just… I said I love you earlier.”
“You made me feel like I’d been given the greatest gift.”
“And I mean it, even if it still feels a little crazy to fall in love so quickly and with a man who isn’t even the same species as me.”
“There’s a lot you still don’t know about me. Things you haven’t seen.”
“Like the werewolf?”
“Yes. Your tumble down the rabbit hole has only begun. The full moon is in three days. I’ll want to get myself far away from you before then.”
“Why? I want to see you as you are. Is it the wolf? Would you, or he, or whatever you call it, be violent toward me?”
“I don’t suspect so. When I am the wolf, I am in canine form, but I, this man, am in there, as well. But I don’t ever remember what the werewolf has done after I’ve shifted.”
“Really? So the werewolf can go out and do something and you wouldn’t know?”
She straddled his legs and ran her fingers through his chest hair. “It’s interesting that you talk about this other part of you as another entity.”
“I do and I don’t. I have a subtle influence over the werewolf. I mean, part of my were mind is present in that form, but it’s mostly instinctual. Bella, listen to me.”
Again he gripped her wrists, but gently, and kissed her knuckles.
“When the full moon is out, the werewolf comes out, too. You wanted to know what werewolves do if they don’t drink blood? We seek to mate. Unfortunately, there aren’t many female wolves to satisfy my werewolf. Let’s say the werewolf has been going through a dry spell—an exceedingly long one—and is very frustrated. I sense it lashes out and does other things that I wouldn’t be proud of.”
“Like killing?”
“Not humans. Rabbits and such.”
“So…it needs a mate?”
“Yes, and…” Kissing her knuckles, he held them to his lips. “I’ve found one.”
“And that means the werewolf…?” Bella swallowed. She didn’t want to think what she was thinking.
“Yes. It would expect as much.”
“Ah.”
So if she was Severo’s girlfriend, that also made her the werewolf’s girlfriend. Which disturbed her on a new level. Because if the were part of Severo enjoyed mating with her, well then, it was likely the werewolf would, too.
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep it from you. I promise. If I can be away from you the day preceding and following the full moon, we’ll have beaten it for the month.”
She nodded, not having words to say anything hopeful or promising. For the month? So that meant this would become a monthly thing.
“Though there are ways to keep the werewolf at bay entirely,” he said, his tone becoming less serious and more playful.
“Such as?”
“Sex until I’m sated.”
She delivered him a tight but wicked grin.
“It’s true. If I have copious sex on the day preceding the full moon, then the werewolf will be kept at bay. I’ve never tried it before. It would require a lot, from any woman, to sate me.”
“You don’t think I’m up for the challenge?”
“I’m sure you are. But there’s always the risk of what would occur if we were not successful.”
The werewolf would come out to play.
Bella could deal with the man. She didn’t want to deal with the animal.
“So, what’s to eat?” she asked.
He leaned in and nipped her earlobe. “Besides you? I think Heloise has stew simmering. Let’s go check.”
* * *
With his bare feet propped on the black granite coffee table, Severo settled in the overstuffed easy chair and nursed a plate of beef stew. He never sat at the kitchen table. Too formal. Even the bar stools before the counter held no interest for him. Heloise could huff about his messy eating habits all she liked.
Bella did sit at the counter and had the neatest manners. It was fascinating to watch her interact with the elder servant.
Heloise was short, dark-skinned and jolly. Cleanliness was a vocation to her kind, and she cooked as if she were a four-star chef. But she didn’t approve of profuse thanks. That would result in his white shirts being laundered with a red towel in punishment. House brownies were hard workers with little pride. A simple thank-you went a long way.
After a taste of the delicious stew, Bella wanted to know what the brownie had put in it. She didn’t fawn but seemed genuinely curious, which, instead of bothering Heloise, brightened her disposition even more.
The brownie was currently showing Bella the fridge full of beef cuts she’d picked up at market the other day.
“Filet mignon!” Bella called to him and displayed the plastic-wrapped meat cut. “I’m in heaven.”
And he was, too.
Suddenly life seemed bearable. Beyond bearable. He could venture to label it right. It hadn’t felt this way for a long time. Since Aby.
He glanced to the wall beside the plasma television. Photographs hung in gold frames, put there by Aby. The one of him and Aby still hung there. He wouldn’t dream of taking it down. He hadn’t spoken to her for months, and he…missed her.
Friends were not easy to come by, especially for a man who’d been born and raised in a pack. The pack mentality did not allow for companionship, onl
y constant competition and attempts to become the alpha. He’d been the principal alpha in the Northern pack for decades. And while they’d had their scuffles with the vampires over the years, Severo was proud his leadership had seen the wolves protected from humans.
After finding Aby, he had left the Northern pack. He’d found what had been missing from his life. Compassion. Companionship. And infatuation.
He had been more than willing to make Aby his mate. She had not.
Bella’s giggle redirected his thoughts. She sat before the counter, soaking up the stew gravy with a slice of freshly baked oat bread.
To think, he had Elvira to thank for sending her thugs after Bella—and pushing her into his arms.
That was as far as his gratitude reached toward the vampiress. Today he would locate the mistress of the night and determine exactly what her intentions were toward Bella. And if Bella cared about the milquetoast Seth, he’d see about him, too.
“You have a pool, too,” Bella said as she settled into the oversize chair alongside him. He set his plate on the floor and pulled her onto his lap. She wiped some gravy off his beard and stuck that finger into his mouth. He licked it clean. “Want to go for a swim tonight?”
Perhaps Elvira could wait.
* * *
Severo had told Bella that Heloise spent her evenings in the basement, laundering clothes, and usually left in time to get home for the late news. Still, Bella had been reluctant to strip naked and dive into the pool. Until her lover had done the stripping for her. With his teeth and tongue.
Now she surfaced in his arms and received a long, wet kiss. The weight of his embrace begged for entrance, so she wrapped her legs about him. His shaft slid into her, filling her. Severo was strong; he could tread water in the middle of the pool, allowing them to keep their heads above the water, while he pumped inside her. It was like floating and drowning at the same time.
They came together. Bella stretched her arms out across the water’s surface, releasing her climax in a shivery cry.
“Severo,” she murmured and then repeated his name.
He nipped at her chin. “Yes, love?”
“Is that your real name? It’s so interesting.”
“Strange, you mean?”
She gave him a nodding smile. “Is it your first name or last?”
“My surname, but I’ve never used my first. You don’t think it suits me?”
“It does. Is it Italian?”
“It is. My parents immigrated at the turn of the twentieth century.”
“What’s your first name? I promise I won’t tell if it’s Percival or Eugene.”
“It’s Stephan,” he offered. “But I don’t use it, because it reminds me of my father. That was his name, as well.”
“Your father? You have parents? Well, of course you do. Were you born a werewolf?”
“Yes. Both my mother and father were of the breed.”
“Are they still alive?”
“No.” He released her and swam backward.
The water temperature fell at the loss of contact with his warm flesh. She’d said something wrong. His parents must be a sore spot with him.
“I’d prefer you didn’t use my first name,” he said and heaved his body up to sit on the edge of the pool. Reaching back, he snagged a towel and sopped at his hair and chest. “Unless it’s important to you.”
What memories could he have of his father that made him want to renounce his name? She wanted to ask but sensed he’d put up a wall. “Severo works for me.”
Bella dove deep, leaving him alone. The water muffled her senses, and the depths, which glowed aquamarine before her eyes, blocked out the world.
Here she swam, deep within the rabbit’s adventure. Would he see her as a mere rabbit if the werewolf managed to find her?
* * *
Severo drove Bella to town for dance practice and promised to return for her in two hours. He shifted the Mercedes into Drive and rolled slowly down the street toward Minneapolis proper.
He wasn’t sure where to find Elvira. She moved about the country but made her home in Minneapolis. Probably because she’d be laughed out of vampiredom in any other metropolitan area. He couldn’t figure out if the chick knew she was copying the television personality, or if she genuinely believed the mistress-of-the-night look worked for her.
Vamps. He’d never figure them out, nor did he want to.
It had felt great ripping those two vampires apart in Bella’s home last night. They’d had it coming, and he hadn’t felt his energy like that for a while. The werewolf took a lot out of him during the three nights a month it reigned.
That was probably why he was so forceful with Bella. He needed an outlet for all that aggression. Sure, sex helped some, but he’d never lie to himself that romping the countryside as the wolf wasn’t the ultimate.
With the full moon so close now, the dilemma arose of leaving Bella for three days, or remaining and seeing if he could sate the werewolf into submission. But he’d want to do that only for two days, the ones preceding and following the night of the full moon. The werewolf did need to roam at least once a month, and he wouldn’t deny it.
That meant endangering Bella. Because Severo sensed that should the werewolf be anywhere within a sixty-mile radius of Bella, it would recognize her scent and seek her out—and then attempt to claim her as its mate.
And wouldn’t that be grand? Finding a mate for the werewolf was all he could hope for. The culmination to a quest most males never achieved. Females of the breed were rare, and mortal females, well, they were too fragile. And to be approached by a werewolf for sex? Mortal women would run screaming.
Would Bella?
She’d wanted to quickly change the conversation about that. She might not think it, but much as she liked to believe she could accept him in his werewolf form, she never could.
He’d leave her this month. He must if he wanted to keep her.
Parking, because he preferred to walk outside and scent the surroundings, Severo got out and locked the car. Walking along Washington Avenue, he perused the bar offerings. A couple of strip joints flashed sexy pink neon. He could only feel pity for the women who danced inside.
Vampires were about this evening, both male and female, indulging in blood and lust. Their scent was nasty, like regurgitated blood.
Spying the black limo, he congratulated himself on an easy job. He wondered if Seth was inside the nearest bar, spinning discs. Probably. Which meant a confrontation was now or never.
An erratic techno beat filtered outside and must have disguised Severo’s near-silent approach, because the two thug vamps in dark sunglasses standing outside the limo didn’t turn until he was upon them.
The click of a semiautomatic alerted him, and Severo raised his hands in compliance but didn’t stand down. “I promise I can break your wrist before you can pull the trigger,” he offered slyly.
The thug glanced toward the back passenger window, blacked out with dark film.
“I want to talk to your mistress.” Severo held up his hands in placation. “No funny stuff, promise.”
The vamp snarled, revealing a yellow fang.
The back window rolled down and the scent of cheap perfume assaulted Severo’s olfactories. “What does he want?” snapped the female.
“To chat,” Severo said. He put down his arms and leaned over the window. “Mind if I join you?”
Her pale breasts, stuffed with silicone and barely concealed by the tight black sheath dress, rose and fell with a huffy sigh. Long black fingernails waved him around to the other side. The door unlocked and Severo gave the other thug a sneer before sliding inside.
Christ, but he wouldn’t last long in this boudoir of perfume and vampire reek. Rolling down his window, Severo kept his distance from the vampiress, not because he suspected she’d slash him with those nails, but because he required the fresh air to keep his senses clear.
“Severo,” she drawled with a classic night-mistress
burr. “Long time. Thought I’d seen the last of you after that bloody debacle in the seventies.”
He’d thought the same, but the woman was far from subtle. He caught wind of her whenever she blew into town, though he had to give her credit for keeping her messes to a minimum and being quick to clean up those that were not.
“Guess why I’m here?” he prompted.
“I saw you groping the mortal female the other night. Since when does one of the most powerful werewolves in the country stoop so low?”
He’d relinquished that “most powerful” title years ago to Amandus Masterson, after he’d left the Northern pack. No longer did he get off on conflict and pack politics. Nor could he conceive of indulging in the blood sport the wolves participated in. He was a lone wolf, and happy for it.
“She’s mine, not the boy’s—Seth, your plaything. The mortal woman poses no threat to you.”
“They have a certain relationship that disturbs me.”
“Leave her alone. Or next time I smell vamps around her, I’m coming after you.”
She pursed her glossy black lips. “You’re such a bully, Severo. Sexual frustration tends to do that to a man. Makes him rigid and aggressive.” Fanning a black-nailed finger down her cleavage, she cooed, “You sure you don’t want to try some luscious vampire flesh?”
He eyed the white breasts, which seemed to glow in the darkness. “Not if my life depended on it. Your kind is vile, Elvira.”
“Don’t call me that. It’s Evie.”
He sighed. “So will you comply? The woman is his friend. That is all.”
“Make them stop being friends, and I’ll consider it.”
What a pouty, insolent vamp. “Just get over it, longtooth. You don’t want the hurt I can promise you, so be smart and suffer your new toy his mortal friends. You know he won’t last much longer. The thing is so drained, you can read by his flesh.”
“I’m turning him.”
Hell. Not good news for Bella or for the guy. “Haven’t you enough sycophants?” he asked.
“I like this one. He’s humorous. You know our sort can be so dreadfully dreary.”
Like the chick next to him, clad in black and looking the queen of the Goths?
“I’ve said what I have to say. Whether or not you choose to take my words to heart will determine your fate. Nice talking to you, Elvira.”