by Bonnie Vanak
Dread curled in my stomach. Felicia spoke with such passion and conviction, her aura swirling with colors indicating she spoke the truth. Feeling as if I needed to talk her off the ledge, I nodded.
“Your brother can be overwhelming at times.”
“At times? He’s a pain!”
Seeing the rise of bright silver in her aura, I resorted to instinct. “He’s an alpha, head of your pack. Wolf or human, you must obey him.”
The angry colors faded a little. She sank back into the seat. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“Talk to him. He’s arrogant, but I’m sure he can be reasoned with.” I smiled. “Bring food. All guys usually respond better with food. Human or wolves.”
She beamed. “Great idea!” Then she leaned close, sniffing me again. “You smell like the beach. You smell like vacation.”
I laughed. “It’s the coconut shampoo.”
“You don’t mind if I sniff you?”
“As long as I’ve showered.” I squeezed her hand.
Felicia’s smile faded and she drew away, her brows furrowing. “You should know something about me, Peyton. I’m dangerous. I’m a wolf, and I hurt skins. That’s what everyone tells me.”
Sensing this was a critical juncture, I leaned close. “Maybe you did in the past because someone hurt you. But I refuse to believe you do it deliberately.”
Amber flashed in her eyes, signaling the rise of the wolf. Claws emerged from the hand I held. I did not withdraw or loosen my grip. “You don’t?” she asked, and her tone turned deeper, like a growl. “You barely know me.”
I did not, but I did know auras. “I’d like to get to know you better. You’re a talented young director and writer, and you’re a shifter. And your aura right now tells me you’re scared of hurting me more than anything.”
The amber faded from her eyes, though her claws remained. “You can read my aura that well? What else do you see? What colors?”
“Girlish, spirited pink, tinged with pure love. Imaginative purple and murky red, which means anger.”
“I am angry a lot lately. Most at myself.” She sighed. “What else?”
For a moment I hesitated. But she should know the truth. “Cloudy gray. It means fear. There’s a lot of fear threading through all the colors, Felicia. And… there is much silver lining the green line of your aura. More than any other werewolf I’ve met.”
“Silver means my wolf. It’s controlling me,” she said slowly.
I reached over with my other hand, covered hers, claws and all. She remained motionless. “Then learn how to control it. It’s like having a bad temper, Felicity. You have to work at it. Trust Dante.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
The claws retracted as quickly as they had emerged. Felicity glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s time for my lessons. Every day I go for lessons with Ryder, one of the cowboys. He’s been teaching me to curb my wildness through barrel racing. Wanna watch?”
“For a while.” I needed to find Dante, share with him what Felicia had told me. It seemed the alpha was dangerously close to pushing his beloved sister so hard, he could lose her.
Dante didn’t give me time to find him. He hunted me down soon as I left the lodge and headed outside. Felicia was already bouncing toward the corral near the barns. She vanished around the corner of the lodge as Dante approached.
Warmth suffused me as he swung me into his arms, gave me a deep kiss. When we managed to pull apart, he set me on my feet and smiled at me.
I’d never seen such a smile on him. Usually serious, this smile made him look younger and carefree, as if the weight of the pack didn’t rest on his shoulders.
I poked him in the chest with my finger. “That was not nice, baiting me like that.”
“I know.” His smile faded. He picked up my hand and kissed each knuckle, a gentle brush of his lips. “I apologize for doing so, Peyton. But I had to be certain how you were around our young.”
“Why? Plan to ask me to babysit this weekend?”
His gaze searched mine. “I do have plans for you this weekend, but they are more of the adult nature. I was more concerned with how you acted around Felicia. She means the world to me. Forgive me?”
I forgave him. Such a deep, unselfish love was enviable. “Next time, ask. Don’t play games with me.”
His gaze twinkled. “I promise the games I will play with you shall be restricted to bed sport.”
Heat rose to my cheeks. I remembered why I needed to seek him out. “Felicia knows how concerned you are about her. You need to give her space, Dante. We had a little talk. If you don’t give her more freedom, she’ll bolt.”
A frown dented his forehead. “She’s my sister, Peyton. I must treat her as I see fit. I am her alpha as well.”
“Oh, and she’ll obey, because you’re the alpha. But I’m warning you, her aura is filled with swirling colors and they’re not all good.”
Briefly, I told him about our conversation. His frown deepened. “I thought the theater production would divert her.”
“Maybe you’re so busy trying to get her in touch with her human side that you forget she’s a werewolf and needs her wolf out now and then. You can’t cage her all the time, Dante.”
He shook his head. “Until she learns control over her wolf, I will not risk it.”
“So you’ll risk her running off instead? Shifting into a wolf and never turning back into a human? That’s asinine.”
Amber glowed in his irises, his wolf rising up. “If she were in danger of that, my people would alert me.”
His deep voice, normally so sexy, had lowered an octave. Any normal human would have squeaked “Sure” and backed off. One didn’t mess with a powerful alpha protective of his sibling.
I did not back down. “Sometimes it’s better to hear the truth from someone outside the pack who has nothing to lose.”
His mouth compressed. “I’ll take it under advisement.”
It was the best I could hope for now. Dante turned and walked toward the lodge, his aura swirling with angry red and the muddied gray of a wounded animal.
It wasn’t me. It was Felicia that had him tied in knots.
I was beginning to understand a little of pack dynamics and the troubles that layered Dante’s people.
I was beginning to care as well.
As much as I didn’t want to get involved, I fear I was already there.
19
Saturday nights at the Bar B Q Ranch were, well, barbecue feasts. Alex had told me that the entire pack ate together once a month and tonight was the night.
For the occasion, I selected a sleeveless black dress with bright turquoise stripes ringing the bottom. Somber, yet the splash of color made it both formal and summery.
I pinned my hair up with a tortoiseshell clip, shoved my feet into a pair of turquoise sandals, and went downstairs to join the party. Not that I was in a mood to party. The little fight with Dante had shaken me.
Dante waited for me at the foot of the sweeping staircase. Chinos replaced his jeans, and the long-sleeved black shirt matched my dress, and my mood.
A lightweight jacket dangled from his long fingers. “You should get a sweater. It’s chilly outside,” he advised.
I shrugged. Couldn’t be as cold as I felt inside.
Dante placed his jacket around my shoulders. It smelled like him, all spices and leather and male, but it did not warm me.
“I like you covered in my jacket,” he murmured, his voice dark and smoky. He sounded like pure sex, evoking images of bedrooms and satin sheets.
Gripping the jacket, I finally looked at him. “Are you going to listen to me about your sister?”
Dante’s jaw tightened. He scrubbed at it with a hand. “I told you, I will take it under advisement. Peyton, this is our world. It’s not perfect, but it’s ours.”
He added in a softer tone, “I love my sister. I will not let her risk her life.”
Maybe that should have made me feel better. It did not
. This strange and wonderful and frightening new world of werewolves had opened to me, and I wasn’t certain I felt comfortable within it.
Dante insisted I was different, but the heart of me remained human, psychic or not. An ability to read auras didn’t change that.
He framed my face with his hands. “Peyton, forget this afternoon and enjoy the dinner.”
He leaned closer. “They’re cooking pulled pork and chicken. With that honey sauce you love so much at the club. And freshly made garlic bread. So much garlic bread it will keep away the vampires.”
I rolled my eyes. “Everyone knows there’s no such thing as vampires.”
“Oh?” He arched a dark brow, looking thoughtful and teasing. “I suppose I should stop saving bottles of blood for the annual Vampire Ball at Halloween the Council throws.”
“Seriously? You attend a real vampire ball?” I swear my eyes nearly bugged out.
“Been avoiding them the past couple of years. Vampire balls suck.”
I gave a grudging laugh. “You idiot.”
“I made you laugh. Good.” He kissed me gently.
Then he frowned as he looked at my hair. “No. I want your hair down.”
Before I could lodge a protest, he unfastened the slip and tossed it aside. Something dark smoldered in his gaze as he studied me. “Better.”
“What if I wanted my hair up?” I challenged.
Dante wrapped a strand around his finger and gave a gentle tug. “By the end of tonight, you won’t.”
This wasn’t a battle I chose to fight, so I shrugged it off. Not when there were bigger issues at hand.
Hand on his arm, I walked out the back door with him. Beneath a white tent strung with light bulbs, big long tables had been set up. Ten barbecue grills sent curls of delicious-smelling smoke into the air, making my mouth water. Ice chests were on another table, along with a variety of soft drinks, teas and coffee. Paper plates and disposable silverware.
The barbecue looked like my annual company picnic, except the diners were sharp-fanged shifters. Yet now in human skin, you couldn’t tell them apart from humans. The aroma of smoked meat made several noses twitch, but everyone was polite as they stood in line, plates in hand.
Except when Dante arrived. Then the crowd touched their forehead with two fingers, bowed their heads a brief moment.
Dante ushered me over to a table. We sat and two chefs scurried over with plates.
“I thought you said you didn’t like to be waited on at the barbecue,” I told Dante.
His mouth twitched in a brief smile. “I don’t. They’re doing this for you, sweetheart.”
He introduced the pair. The head chef, whose hat was taller and whose body was wider, was Andre. The sous chef, a thin shifter with an earnest look, was Paul.
Andre, his white apron stained with sauce, reached us and bowed a little. “What can I get you for dinner, Miss Peyton?”
I’d rather have stood in line like the rest of them, but doing so meant an insult to these wolves eager to please. “Give me a selection of everything, please.”
Paul peered at me with friendly interest. Maybe a little too friendly, but he seemed harmless. “To drink?”
“Iced tea, please. Thank you.”
“I’ll have my usual,” Dante decided.
His hat bobbed as he nodded. “Excellent.” Then Andre beamed at Dante. “A woman with a healthy appetite is a good woman.”
Both scurried off. I snorted. “He has no idea how healthy my appetite can be.”
Dante slid his hands around my backside, reached down and cupped my ass, squeezing it. “I love your appetite, sweetheart. In bed and out of it.”
His smoky voice hinted of what he wanted later, perhaps as dessert. A shiver raced down my spine. Dante was a powerful alpha wolf, and what he wanted, he pursued with relentless passion.
The two chefs and assistants brought over platters of food to our table and place settings. The food tasted wonderful, and my appetite perked up at the aroma of smoked meat.
Dante licked barbecue sauce off his lower lip, his hooded gaze watching me.
“You do have a good appetite, Peyton. I enjoy seeing you eat.”
I set down my fork, the chicken piece still speared on it. “Oh. Guess I’m making a pig of myself.”
I made an oinking sound. Dante did not smile. With preternatural speed, he turned and seized my chin, not exactly gentle.
“Stop that. Stop mocking yourself,” he bit out.
I summoned my coolest look. “Why? You don’t like my sense of humor? Then why bring me here, Dante? This is the real me.”
“The real you is a full-figured woman with plenty of life and spark. Not this.” He speared a piece of chicken, brought it to my mouth. “Eat.”
Bristling, I pushed it away. “I’m not hungry.”
“Don’t bullshit me.”
I glared at him. “Don’t force me into something I don’t want.”
Dante considered and set down the fork, the move very careful. “I would never do that.”
His slow smile carried a warning. “But I will teach you a lesson you must learn. Get up and strip naked. Right here and now.”
I stared at him. “In…in front of everyone? The children….”
“They’re gone,” he said in a dangerously quiet voice. “They ate first and went inside to play games under the supervision of the pack nannies. Only the adults are left.”
And then I recalled what Alex had told me earlier about the Saturday barbecues and how they typically ended in sex. Lots of sex, the pack not caring who witnessed them.
Nudity was celebrated here.
I swallowed hard. One thing to undress in the privacy of a bedroom or bathroom. But here, in the open, everyone watching…
“Do it,” he ordered, leaning back. His long fingers drummed on the picnic table.
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll strip you myself, one piece of clothing at a time and take my sweet time doing so.”
Dante held some kind of sexual power over me, and so did his two betas. Forget about his order to get naked.
He had already stripped me – discarding all the barriers I’d carefully placed around myself like a barbed wire fence. Eating heartily and enjoying food was the biggest secret I’d guarded. After dating a guy who remarked he should have taken me to a buffet so I could further stuff myself, I’d refrained from eating a lot in front of men.
I need boundaries, needed them to preserve myself and keep from being hurt. One by one they tumbled down as he ruthlessly exposed my secrets.
But I understood the choices he offered. If I didn’t do as he asked, he would take control of this act, making me submit before the pack.
By removing my clothing myself, he allowed me a semblance of control.
Back at the club, Rodney the bear shifter had torn my clothing off, leaving me naked before the lusty crowd. The experience had humiliated me and shamed me.
I would not suffer that again.
Glancing around, I realized few paid attention to us. Most had finished eating and were talking, drinking or had gone over to the recreation area where a hearty game of volleyball had started. A few couples kissed in the shadows outside the tent.
Bright lights strung beneath the tent shone in my eyes as I looked upward. With a hand that trembled only a little, I reached back to unzip my dress.
Leaning back against the table, Dante watched with a hooded gaze. My fingers fumbled with the zipper. No help from him.
Finally, the zipper slid all the way down. Taking a deep breath, I shimmied out of it, feeling my body shake like Jell-O.
Damn, it was much easier to do this in the privacy of a bedroom, with muted light.
Or the dark.
The dress whispered to the concrete pavement in a pool of satin. Clad in a lacy white bra, my breasts overflowing the cups, and panties, I shivered.
Maybe if I did this quickly enough, I’d appease him. Get it over with and then we could go upst
airs…
Dante turned, beckoned to the others.
“Come see how beautiful Peyton is,” he invited.
So much for that.
A tremor raced through me. I’d thought to do this unnoticed. Gabriel and Alex weren’t there, either, to loan support.
Now, a crowd assembled, their expressions curious. Perhaps a few looked interested, but nothing like the feral hunger and cruel lust I’d glimpsed in the club.
So different from Dante, who stared at my breasts, licking his lips as if he wanted to taste them. His hand fell to his crotch, and I noticed the impressive bulge in his pants.
He was definitely turned on.
“You’re not finished. Finish,” he ordered. “Or I’ll have to spank you.”
Whoa. Oh dear heavens, was this turning me on?
It was. I felt myself grow wet between my thighs.
Hands on hips I lifted my chin. “Oh?”
He considered. “Bend over the table and grip the edge with your hands. Now.”
Never had he been like this before – masterful and dominating in public.
At the table’s edge, I did as he ordered.
He put a hand on the small of my back. “I want your ass up in the air.”
I pushed back against his hand.
“Higher.”
Biting my lip, trembling with anticipation, I lay flat against the table, and arched.
His hand descended on my ass with a loud smack. I flinched. It stung, but felt good as well.
Then he chased the move with a caress, and cupped my right ass cheek he’d just slapped.
“So sweet,” he murmured.
Dante moved to my side. He kept caressing my ass. “Mine,” he growled in a deep, dangerous voice.
His voice deepened an octave. “Ours.”
He helped me up, brought me over to our seats and then faced the crowd. “Do you understand? No one but myself, Alex and Gabriel are to touch her. Under any circumstances.”
Murmurs of assent.
The alpha’s glance dropped to my bra. “Off.”
I unfastened the hooks, pulled off the bra, letting it fall. My breasts were heavy, their nipples hard as diamonds.