I dress as quickly as I can and after tapping Nate on the shoulder, he moves a side and allows me to exit the shed feeling much more comfortable being fully clothed.
“I changed in a hurry coming after you so my clothes didn’t survive. Luckily I have a spare set in the ute, although I’m sure I’d be able to find some in the house too. Jesse has heaps of spares lying around for any who might need them,” he states as he walks in the direction of the house at a leisurely pace.
Feeling curious, I reach through the pack bonds to see if he feels self conscious about being naked. I can't believe he wouldn't, not even a little bit. No doubt feeling me tugging at his rope he lets to a chuckle. The charming sound sends a shiver down my spine. “Sorry,” I apologise. “I wondered if you feel weird about being naked?” I admit sheepishly.
“You get used to it eventually,” he says without breaking his stride or even looking back at me. “Both being naked and seeing naked people. It’s part of werewolf life. It just becomes normal, believe it or not.”
Nope. I just can’t imagine ever feeling that way… ever.
I’ve been following Nate from the shed trying my hardest not to look at his nakedness but the perfectly round arse before me is making it pretty impossible. It keeps drawing my eye. We walk around the house and come to a stop by the front doors.
“I’ll run and get my clothes out the car,” Nate informs me as he dashes around the cars to his ute. He pulls the back door open and reaches in to the back seat. Making me remember my bag with spare clothes.
“Nate, could you grab my bag out the front, please?” I call across the drive.
“Sure thing,” he calls back before heading around the car to the passenger side.
Once Nate gets back to me, we head upstairs and he leads me into the third bedroom on the right closing the door. He walks away from the closed door before spinning on his heel and glaring at it. I open my mouth to ask what is wrong when he suddenly strides over to a heavy dresser against the wall and pulls it in front of the door so it’s effectively blocking us in.
Looking at his handy work his shoulders relax and he turns to face me. “You can grab a shower first,” he suggests nodding in the direction of the bathroom to my left as he walks towards the window, passing my bag to me and throwing his clothes on the bed as he passes.
Thinking of Nate, naked in the bedroom has me hurrying my shower. After throwing on some clean underwear, I pull my clean tank top over my head and tug up a pair of shorts before stepping back into the bedroom blindly, rubbing my hair dry with the towel.
Feeling Nate’s eyes on me, I drop my hand down and glance across at him. Our eyes connect and he looks away with a slight blush on his cheeks, not before I see an admiring look on his face. Making me feel much more attractive than I’m sure I deserve. My hair sticking up in all directions and having no make up on my face. Dropping my eyes to my feet to hide my grin, I walk across the room and I hear Nate moving, probably towards the bathroom. His feet come into view on the carpet and just as we are about to pass each other, my body steps into his path of its own accord. “Fuck!” I hop up and down on one foot, the other smarting due to Nate having stood on it.
Nate crouches down and rubs my foot. “I’m sorry, but you did jump in front of me.” He stands to his full height of six-foot-five, and I stay there blocking his route. An internal debate battling in my head - to kiss him or not to kiss him.
I want to, my wolf doesn’t. Winning the battle I place my hand on his bare chest, running up and reaching around the back of his neck as the room fills with our scents. Stretching up on my tip toes I can’t take my eyes off his lips. He bends slightly meeting me halfway. Our lips connect, causing my heart to race. My wolfs energy racing over my skin to get to his skin. I can feel his wolfs energy doing the same to me, tracing every inch of my body. With his hands on my hips he pulls me closer to his body, making me hyper aware of my thin summer clothes being the only barrier between us.
The rattle of the door handle causes me to break away, gasping for air.
Nate clears his throat before trying to talk. “Who is it?” He doesn’t take his hungry eyes off of me.
“Its me buddy. Is there something in front of the door?” Kelly’s voice calls through the door as he gives it another rattle.
Continuing to hold me in place by my hips, he glances over at the obstacle before the door. “Yeah, Frankie’s in here. I didn’t want to shower, with her alone in the bedroom so I put the dresser in front of door.” He gives my hips a gentle squeeze as he looks back at me. “That way, no one could get to her.”
“It works.” Kelly’s laugh sounding muffled behind the door. I can just picture him shaking his head, like he does. “Are you gonna move it so I can get in? There are queues in all the other rooms.”
Nate doesn’t make a move to remove the obstruction form the door. “I haven’t been in the shower yet. I was just getting in.”
The door handle rattles once again. “That’s alright, just let me in at least I'll be next.”
With a sigh Nate releases his hold on my hips and walks over to the door. He drags the dresser back to where it belongs against the wall and opens the door, allowing Kelly into the room. He Turns without a greeting and close himself into the bathroom.
Kelly enters the room, quickly closing the door behind him. “Whoa.” Kelly waves hand in front of his face and rushes over to the window, cracking it open. “What have you been doing in here?” I glance at him and open my mouth to explain, only to close it again. I can’t tell him I was making out with his naked best mate. “Actually, don’t answer that I don’t wanna know,” he adds quickly.
My stomach churns nervously as I stand where Nate had left me, wondering whether I should wait for him to finish in the shower or just go downstairs. Surely I’d be safe in Jesse’s house without someone shadowing me. I watch as Kelly wanders around the room showing off his ripped naked body. The sight’s nothing new, I often find him walking around the farmhouse naked, he’s extremely comfortable in his own skin.
Catching my eye he sits on the bed, patting the spot next to him. “How are you feeling after last night? I heard about what Colin, Bernard and the others did.”
Shaking my head, I hand my damp towel to Kelly as I take a seat next to him. “I can’t sit next to you while your naked.”
Standing he wraps the towel around his waist before sitting down once again. “I’m sorry. I totally forgot I was naked.”
I pick at a broken nail on my right hand as I answer his earlier question. “To be honest, I don’t think I’ve fully processed last night yet.” I gasp as a sudden flash of my teeth sinking into Colin’s flesh runs through my mind. “Oh my god. Is Colin okay after what I did to him?”
“It’s nothing he didn’t deserve.” Nate’s voice sounds muffled through the closed bathroom door.
Kelly stills my hands with his. “He’s healed now. He’s just got a bit of a bruised ego. Don’t you dare feel bad for it.”
I give him a grateful smile. As much as I know he deserved what he got I still feel a pang of guilt over what I did in return. “Will I be punished for what I did to him?” I ask.
Nate bursts out the bathroom with such force the door comes off it’s hinges in his hands. He stares at it with wide eyes. Seeing the water dripping from his hair and over his tense muscles has me licking my lips and thinking of the kiss we’d shared only minutes ago. Leaning the door against the wall he takes a few long stride and just in front of me. A towel wrapped around his waist, he kneels down before me ensuring our eyes are level. “You did nothing wrong. You were defending yourself. Nobody gets punished for that.”
“He’s right.” Kelly confirms, standing up. “I’m getting a shower and it looks like you’re going to get a good view.” He laughs, pointing at the doorless jamb.
Nate and I leave Kelly to enjoy his shower without an audience and hope to find some food. I’m stopped in my tracks as I catch Carters scent coming from an ajar door. Pl
acing my hand on the knob I ready myself to push it open wider, so I can confront him about not helping me when I’d been screaming his name.
Nate’s heavy hand on my shoulder makes me pause. I turn to see a sad look cross his face. “He’s not alone,” Nate mouths silently, whilst tapping his nose.
I keep forgetting to use my nose to it’s full capabilities. I breathe in Carter’s scent picking up on a mild lavender hint it has attached to it. Clarissa. She must be with him. Their scents being mixed together, means they must be kissing like Nate and I had not long ago at the least. Knowing those two they would have been much more intimate. Frozen on the spot part of me wants to go in, not caring what I may interrupt. Clarissa was in league with Colin last night, I could kill two birds with one stone confronting the pair of them.
Nate tugs on my shoulder firmly, pulling me away. “Let Jesse deal with them,” he silently mouths, seemingly having read my mind.
The door opens with a creak. “Did you have a good view?” The sound of Clarissa’s smug voice has me regretting waiting around. “I thought I could smell you. You’re the only one covered in almost every males scent. Lets see, there’s Carter’s, Nate’s, Jesse’s,” she sniffs elaborately between each name, “Big Mac’s, Colin’s, Bernard’s and Paul’s too. Wow, you have been a busy girl.”
“Bitch!” I snarl as my fist flies out on its own accord, socking her in the temple and knocking her off her feet. I look at my aching fist feeling proud and somewhat astonished. Having never been in a fight before I had no Idea I was capable of that.
Carter exits the bedroom’s ensuite in a rush and crouches next to Clarissa, a towel wrapped around his damp waist. “Frankie, what the fuck was that for?”
I turn away to leave. “Ask your girlfriend. She knows exactly what it was for.”
“You deserved everything they did to you. Now you are a slut you’ve been acting like,” she spits out venomously. Making me think she can’t have heard the plan had failed.
I smirk at her over my shoulder, excitement running through me knowing she’ll be disappointed when she hears what I have to say. “I guess you haven’t seen your fellow gang rape organizer’s since last night?”
“Gang rape?” Carter repeats hesitantly. He stands, stepping away from Clarissa and moving towards me perhaps catching on to my suggestion. “Frankie what’s going on? Are you okay?”
“She’s fine. No thanks to you,” Nate answers, grabbing my hand and leading me down the stairs. As my foot hits the bottom step, I flinch at the sound of a fist going through wood at some force. “There goes another door,” Nate states calmly.
“Another door?” Jesse’s voice close behind me causes me to jump and my wolf to stir inside me.
Nate’s hand tightens around mine and I can only guess he hadn’t sensed Jesse either. “Yeah, I kinda pulled the bathroom door off its hinges in the room we changed in. Sorry, Boss.”
“Don’t worry about it, two’s pretty good. We lost five last full moon.” I spin to face Jesse, somewhat confused at his words. “The day after a full moon we wake up one of two things, angry or horny. It doesn’t seem to matter which mood we’re in, the doors always end up casualties,” he adds, picking up on my confusion.
Opening my mouth to speak, I suddenly close it without uttering a word. My face blushing at the thought of what I’d almost blurted out. Jesse smirks and I know he’d guessed what I was thinking. He leans in towards me, the stubble o his jaw faintly scratches against my cheek as he whispers in my ear. “For me, it was the latter.” The words are barely audible, but I hear every word as though he’d shouted it from the roof tops.
Stunned, I watch him walk away without another word.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Frankie
Hours later I walk back into the farmhouse with Kelly and Nate on my heels. Nate still taking Jesse’s order of “Don’t let her out of your sight” to heart, even though Jesse has since rescinded the order…twice. We find Gareth on the sofa eating pizza, his bedding neatly folded on the arm chair. Kelly heads straight into the kitchen, no doubt to look for something yummy to cook for us. He’s always trying to feed us.
Gareth jumps up pulling me into one of his bear hugs. “Hey guys. Did you have a nice night?” he asks around a mouthful of pizza.
“It was okay, things got a little wild.” I say to his shoulder as I squeeze Gareth a little tighter feeling the safety of his big burly body. Nate’s scent flares behind me and I can hazard a guess that he’s either not happy about mine and Gareth’s hug, or the memories of the wild I was referring to from last night. Or more likely both.
“It smells like rain. Is it raining outside?” Gareth asks having caught Nate’s scent. He releases me and peers towards the window.
“I think there might be a storm coming,” I say hoping to give Gareth enough confirmation for him not to want to check things out for himself. I turn my attention to Nate. “Nate, will you help me get the horses in the stables before the storm comes?”
“I’ll help you,” Gareth offers. “I used to be a dab hand with the horses back in the day.”
“No, have your pizza before it goes cold. I’ll help Frankie,” Nate throws over his shoulder as he walks out the front door.
Giving Gareth an apologetic smile I quickly follow Nate. He’ll know there are no horses to deal with, as he’s seen the guys who run the farm dealing with them plenty of times over the last couple of weeks. Plus there is no storm coming. Nate is the only storm that’s coming.
Nate’s rant starts before the door even clicks to. “You’re not very good at making things up are you? He only needs to step out the door and he’ll know there isn't storm, the sky is so bloody clear a star gazer would be in their element.”
I step towards him menacingly, my anger easily matching his. “You’re blaming me?” I state, my voice high pitched in disbelief. “It’s your fault. You’re the one that got tetchy and filled the room with your scent. If you had a regular scent like pine or sandalwood I could have blamed it on incense. The smell of rain didn’t give me many options.”
Standing toe to toe, squaring off for a fight. I gasp in surprise as he takes my lips with his. I hadn’t even seen him move. My arms wrap around his neck of their own accord and I tuck my legs around his waist as he lifts me off the floor, all the while not breaking the kiss. The smell of rain invading my nostrils and turning me on. Regret fills me. I should never have complained about his scent. Feeling the need to apologise I lean back and break the kiss. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said the things about your scent. I love your scent.”
Giving my lips one last look he glances up at my eyes and I see a mix of emotions flit across his face. “You were right, what else could you have said to Gareth?” He sighs and his shoulders slump in defeat. “I shouldn’t have been a tetchy jerk. The shit that was pulled last night, on top of Rick’s kidnap attempt has me on edge. I don’t want you getting hurt, Frankie.” His eyes bore into mine. “I don’t like the sound of Danny. I told Jesse and he just brushed it off saying ‘Frankie’s a werewolf now, she can handle a human’.” His impersonation of Jesse was so good I throw my head back with laughter. “It’s not funny.” The irritation is clear in his voice as he places me gently on my feet.
“No, it’s not, but your impersonation of Jesse was.” I can’t help but giggle at the thought. “It was spot on. I dare you to do it in front of him.” A broad smile crosses his face and I’m relieved to realise that he can’t be that irritated at my giggling fit. “I know your worried about Danny, but Kelly is going to be sleeping in my room so he’s not going to be able to hurt me. To be honest, Danny has a temper but I don’t think he’ll ever take it out on me. I’m more worried about him taking it out on you lot.”
He rolls his eyes. “We’re werewolves, we can handle a measly human.” I glare at him with raised eyebrows and we both laugh at his contradiction.
Taking me by the hand, Nate leads me on a walk around the boundary making the most of a be
autiful night.
“Jesse is your best choice as mate you know that don’t you?” Nate asks ruining the moment in a split second. “That’s why your wolf likes him and not me. He’s the only one that can truly protect you.” The sadness in his voice is palpable but it’s the honesty that cuts through me causing a tight pain in my chest.
He knows my wolf doesn’t want him.
Of course he does. He’s seen how she reacts with Jesse. He’ll have felt that she had no interest in him when we kissed. “You saved me from being gang raped last night not Jesse. Anyway, Jesse’s my Alpha. He’ll protect me regardless of who I choose.” I take a calming breath before asking the one question that’s been running through my head for days. “His last order from my father was to protect me, how much of what he does is of his own freewill?”
“I only knew to come after you because Jesse felt you and sent me. It was Jesse that protected you.” Nate gives my hand a squeeze. “Your fathers order would have become void the moment he died, so everything Jesse does and feels is of his own freewill. ”
Realising I’m not winning this argument I try a new tactic. “I was told wolf and human don’t have to agree on a mate, that sometimes the wolf will let the human choose and the choice will grow on her eventually, she’ll learn to love him.”
He nods in agreement. “But it can also happen vice versa.”
Releasing the Wolf (The Rossi Pack Book 1) Page 16