Animal Instinct

by Paige Tyler

  They ate in silence for a little while before Heidi spoke.

  “I’ve noticed that I seem to crave meat a lot more now than I used to,” she said, picking up the root beer he’d gotten for her and taking a sip. “Is it because I’m a werewolf?”

  He picked up a fry and dipped it in ketchup. “Yup. Your body is storing up protein for your first change.”

  She was silent as she considered that. Then her brow furrowed. “I just realized something,” she said. “The full moon is tomorrow night, isn’t it?”

  At the worried tone in her voice, he reached across the table to give her hand a reassuring squeeze. “You don’t have to be afraid, Heidi. I’ll be with you the whole time.”

  She chewed on her lower lip. “But what if I don’t change? What if I can’t?”

  “You will.” Lifting her hand, he pressed a tender kiss to the back of it. “And after you do, I’ll change, too, and we’ll spend the night exploring the forest. I’ll take you places, show you things that you’ve only dreamed of.”

  Damn. He was sounding like a stupid chick flick again. Or some sappy old black-and-white movie.

  Heidi didn’t seem to notice, though. Or if she did, she didn’t seem to care. She gave him a small smile. “You make being a wolf sound so wonderful.”

  “It is. You’ll think so, too. Promise,” he said, before leaning close to kiss her gently on the mouth. “Now, let’s go find that hot cocoa mix you wanted.”

  As they wandered from one vendor to another, Heidi found a lot more to buy than just hot cocoa mix, but Luke didn’t mind. He’d never been one for shopping, but he couldn’t help but smile as he watched her “ooh” and “ahh” over the locally made arts and crafts. And the way she seemed to be able to talk to just about anyone was amazing. She had this way of making everyone smile. He’d never had so much fun doing absolutely nothing with a woman.

  Heidi was just admiring some watercolor paintings done by a local artist when Luke leaned close to whisper in her ear.

  “Yours are better.”

  She laughed, turning her head a little to look at him. “Are you sure you’re not being biased?”

  “Maybe a little,” he agreed. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not right.”

  Heidi laughed again and went back to perusing the paintings. A moment later, the artist came over to greet them. Luke was standing beside Heidi, listening with half an ear as she and the other woman talked about watercolor techniques when he caught a whiff of a familiar scent on the breeze. He lifted his head and sniffed the air as surreptitiously as he could, trying to place it. He frowned. What the hell…

  It was the were who had attacked Heidi. And he was here, in the market.

  Shit.

  Eyes narrowing behind his dark sunglasses, Luke scanned the crowd, trying to pick out the other werewolf. With so many people in the market, not to mention all the various smells, it was difficult to distinguish where exactly the scent had come from. No one seemed to be paying attention to him and Heidi, though. It could just be coincidence that the other were was at the Market. If it were, he didn’t want the werewolf picking up their scents.

  Luke’s first instinct was to immediately hustle Heidi out of the market, but he resisted the impulse. He didn’t want to alarm her. She had enough to worry about with her first change coming. So instead, he kept a watchful eye on the crowd as they slowly made their way through the maze of booths. To his relief, he didn’t pick up the other were’s scent again. Even so, he was glad when Heidi announced a little while later that she was “shopped out.”

  Though he hadn’t picked up the other were’s scent again the whole time they were at the market, Luke kept his guard up as he and Heidi walked to the parking lot. But there was no sign of the werewolf. Maybe it really had just been a coincidence that he was there.

  “I had fun,” she said once they were in the SUV. “I’m glad you suggested spending the day down here.”

  “Me, too,” he said, giving her a smile as he pulled out of the parking lot onto the street.

  When they arrived back at Heidi’s building, Sukie, the dark-haired teenager he’d met the day before, was just letting herself into her apartment, and she gave them a big smile.

  “Hey, you two!” she said. “How was your date?”

  Luke chuckled softly. How old did Heidi say the girl is again? He glanced at Heidi to see her looking just as surprised by Sukie’s forwardness as he was. When the teenager continued to look expectantly at them, he turned to Heidi and teasingly asked, “So, Heidi, how was it?”

  She smiled. “It was fun. I had a really good time.”

  Sukie’s grin broadened. “I knew you would!” she said. “I’m a really good matchmaker.”

  Luke was just glancing at Heidi to see if she was as amused by the girl’s words as he was when a dark-haired woman appeared in the doorway.

  “Who are you talking to, dear?” she said, only to smile when she saw Heidi. “Oh, hello, Heidi.” She put her arm around her daughter. “Sukie mentioned that you were going to be staying in town for a while longer. I’m glad. She really loves your art lessons.”

  Heidi gave a Sukie an appraising look. “So, Sukie said I’d be staying for a while, huh? Well, as it turns out, she’s right. I will be staying for a while longer. I couldn’t leave before finishing up our art lessons.” She glanced at Luke. “By the way, this is Luke McCall, a friend of mine.”

  “He’s her boyfriend,” Sukie said, grinning.

  “Sukie!” her mother admonished, clearly embarrassed. “Why don’t we let Heidi make the introductions?”

  Heidi laughed. “It’s okay. Luke, this is Anita Teeland, Sukie’s mother.”

  Luke extended his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  Anita smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, too. I imagine you two are probably busy, so if you don’t mind, Sukie and I will go back inside and have a talk about manners and boundaries.”

  “Oh, Mom!” the younger girl moaned, but the rest of her complaint was cut off as her mother led her inside and closed the door.

  Laughing, Heidi unlocked the door of her own apartment and pushed it open. Luke followed her inside and closed it behind them, only to tense when an all-too-familiar scent caught his nose. Reaching out, he grabbed Heidi’s arm, tugging her back when she would have walked into the living room.

  “Wait here,” he whispered.

  Heidi looked at him quizzically as he walked past her into the living room. A glance into the kitchen told him it was empty, and he quickly went into the bedroom. It was empty, too, as was the adjoining bathroom.

  “What is it?” Heidi asked when he walked back into the living room a few minutes later.

  “The werewolf who attacked you was here.”

  Her eyes went wide. “What? How do you know?”

  He clenched his jaw. “I can smell him.”

  Heidi looked surprised at that announcement, but then she cautiously sniffed the air herself. After a moment, her brow furrowed. “Wait a minute. I recognize that scent. I smelled it a few nights ago.”

  He frowned. “Where?”

  “Outside in the woods behind the apartment building,” she said. “I went out on the deck to get some air and I smelled it.”

  Luke’s gut clenched. Shit. He had thought the attack on Heidi was random, but maybe he’d been wrong. If it had been random, why would the were be stalking her? There were only two answers that Luke could think of, and neither of them were good. Either the other werewolf knew Heidi had survived the attack and had come back to finish her off. Or he had decided that Heidi would make a suitable mate and had come back to claim her. Both theories made Luke’s blood boil.

  “You’re not safe here,” he told Heidi. “You’ll have to come stay at my place. And I won’t take no for an answer.”

  Chapter 8

  The thought of saying no had never even entered Heidi’s mind. If she hadn’t needed to pack up some clothes, she would have turned right around and gotten out of there with
out wasting another minute. As it was, her hands trembled as she grabbed a stack of neatly folded panties out of the drawer and hurriedly shoved them in her suitcase on top of the rest of her clothes. The idea that a stranger had been in her apartment while she and Luke had been at the market completely creeped her out. And not just some random guy, either, but the werewolf who had bitten her. Why had he broken into her apartment in broad daylight? Nothing looked out of place, but she shivered at the thought that he might have pawed through her things. If he hadn’t been there to go through her things, then why had he come? To kill her? She swallowed hard, trying hard to quell the rising panic that thought brought with it.

  “Almost finished?”

  Startled, Heidi jumped at the sound of Luke’s voice. She’d been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she hadn’t heard him come in. Reaching up to tuck her hair behind an ear, she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Almost,” she said. “I just have to get some things out of the bathroom.”

  Going into the bathroom, she grabbed her toothbrush, face cleanser, body lotion, straightening iron, and whatever else she could carry in her arms, then went to dump it on the bed before going back to grab the rest of her toiletries.

  Luke lifted a brow at the pile of stuff on the bed. “I have a hair dryer, you know. Shampoo, too.”

  She glanced at him as she dropped the bottle of shampoo into her toiletry bag. “Yeah, but not this kind,” she said absently.

  His brow furrowed. “All shampoo is the same, isn’t it?”

  The total “guy” question pulled her free of the freak-out mode she’d been in since entering the apartment, and she stopped packing to give him an incredulous look. “No. It’s not,” she told him, then held up the bottles for him to him to see. “This is hydrating shampoo, this is hydrating conditioner, and this is to help straighten my hair when I use the iron.”

  “I don’t know about the iron thing, but my shampoo does all the other stuff,” he said.

  “Really?” she asked dryly. “And what kind of magical shampoo do you use that does everything?”

  His brow furrowed as he thought a moment. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “But it comes in a green bottle.”

  Heidi shook her head. “Thanks, but I think I’ll bring my own.”

  Zipping the toiletry bag closed, she swung it up on her shoulder while Luke picked up her suitcase. Though she reluctantly left her paintings and art supplies, the artist in her couldn’t go without her sketchbook, and she grabbed it from the living room table along with a handful of pencils and slipped them into the outside pocket of her toiletry bag. Not wanting to leave the stuffed wolf that Luke had given her, she scooped that up, too, then on impulse, picked up the bag with the hot cocoa mix, berry jam, and birch syrup in it.

  As she and Luke walked to his SUV a few minutes later, the nervousness returned and Heidi glanced anxiously at the wooded area behind the building. “You don’t think he’s out there now, just watching us, do you?”

  Luke shook his head. “No.” Opening up the back of the Mariner, he put her suitcase and toiletry bag inside. “If he were, we’d smell him.”

  Heidi kept forgetting that part. Then again, she hadn’t been a werewolf for very long, so she wasn’t quite used to having a super sniffer yet. Letting out a sigh of relief, she climbed into the Mariner when Luke held open the door, then leaned back in the seat as he walked around to his side. Her brow furrowed as an idea suddenly came to her. What if the other werewolf were sitting in a car or truck somewhere nearby instead of lurking in the woods? She and Luke probably wouldn’t be able to pick up his scent then.

  Starting to freak out all over again, Heidi glanced over her shoulder warily as Luke pulled out of the parking lot onto the street. As she turned back around in her seat, she saw Luke’s gaze flick to the rearview mirror before returning to the road again. He was concerned the other werewolf was following them, too.

  “What do you think he wants with me?” she asked softly.

  Luke’s mouth tightened. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s just curious about what happened to you after he bit you.”

  Heidi frowned. That didn’t make sense. The other werewolf had to have known what would happen to her after he bit her. There had to be some other reason he had tracked her down. But what? She had a feeling that Luke knew more than he was letting on, but she didn’t want to press him on it. Maybe because part of her didn’t really want to know what the other werewolf had in mind.

  Luke must have sensed her unease because he reached over to take her hand in his. “I won’t let him get near you again, Heidi. I promise.”

  His words made her feel warm and safe, and she gave him a small smile. “I know.”

  But despite how safe Luke made her feel, Heidi couldn’t stop thinking about the other werewolf.

  Luke took a roundabout way back to his place, checking the rearview mirror frequently. Because he was being so cautious, it took twice as long to get to his house as it normally did. Heidi was relieved when they finally pulled into the garage.

  “I’ll go put your stuff in the bedroom,” Luke said when they walked into his house a moment later.

  She nodded, but didn’t follow. Instead, she stood in the middle of his huge kitchen, lost in thought. Which was how Luke found her when he came out of the bedroom a few minutes later. After walking over to her, he put his arms around her, holding her close.

  “You okay?” he asked quietly.

  She nodded, her cheek rubbing against his chest. She could feel the heat of his body through the soft material of his T-shirt. “Uh-huh. Just a little freaked out.”

  Luke pulled back to gaze down at her, concern in his gold eyes. “You’re safe here, Heidi,” he said. “How ’bout I build a fire and you can curl up in front of it while I make us some of that hot cocoa we bought at the market?” He reached up to gently tuck her hair behind her ear. “How does that sound?”

  She gave him a small smile. “That sounds wonderful.”

  Taking her hand, Luke led her into the living room. Slipping off her sandals, Heidi took the fleece throw from the couch and settled herself on the faux bearskin rug in front of the fireplace. As she watched Luke make a fire, it occurred to her again how different he was from the other men she had known. He had completely taken charge of the situation and made her feel safe and protected, without once coming across as arrogant or overbearing. He was the perfect man for her, and she couldn’t imagine finding anyone else like him. For the hundredth time, she wondered if one of the reasons she was so attracted to him was because he was a werewolf like her. Did she instinctively recognize that they were a good match? Maybe, but that didn’t make her feelings for him any less real. And she had feelings. Lots of feelings.

  When he’d gotten the fire going to his satisfaction, Luke stood and went to her. Bending over, he kissed her lingeringly on the mouth. “Now, you stay here and relax, and I’ll go get us that cocoa.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want help?” she asked.

  “I think I can handle making hot water,” he said with a smile. “You just sit here and look beautiful.”

  Heidi smiled. He really knew how to make a girl feel special, that was for sure. From her seat on the bearskin rug, she watched as Luke moved around the kitchen. Sheesh. How could a guy look so sexy doing something as simple as making hot cocoa? She was tempted to jump up and go join him in the kitchen just to be closer to him. But before she could, he finished up and came back to join her on the rug. He handed her one of the mugs, then settled down beside her.

  “So, let’s see if this stuff was worth all the money we paid for it,” he said, giving her a grin before he took a swallow.

  “Well?” she asked expectantly.

  He nodded. “It’s not bad.”

  She blinked. “Not bad? It’s absolutely delicious.”

  He leaned close to kiss her on the mouth. “Not nearly as delicious as you.”

  Blushing, Heidi laughed.

  Luke reached up to
brush her hair back from her face. “Feeling better?”

  She nodded. “Much. Thanks.”

  “Good.” Taking the mug from her hand, he set it down on the coffee table along with his own. “But I know a way to help you relax even more. Turn around and I’ll massage your shoulders.”

  Thinking that would be absolutely heavenly, Heidi scooted around so she was sitting between his legs, her hips snug against his hard thighs, her back against his muscular chest. Reaching up with one hand, she pulled her long hair around to the front, eager for him to begin.

  Luke slowly slid his hands up her bare arms and over her shoulders to gently massage her neck, and Heidi let out a sigh. She hadn’t realized how tense she still was, but as his fingers made slow, sweeping motions along her muscles, she felt the anxiety gradually begin to fade away.

  “Mmm,” she murmured. “That feels good.”

  Luke didn’t reply, but simply continued to gently work all the tightness from her neck and shoulders with his fingers. God, he has magical hands. His mouth is pretty magical, too. He pressed his lips to the curve of her neck a moment later. Heidi tilted her head to the side, exposing even more of her neck to him. He trailed a path of hot kisses up to her ear, nibbling teasingly on the lobe before swirling his tongue inside. The move was both erotic and ticklish at the same time, and Heidi let out a little laugh as goose bumps chased up and down her arms. It was amazing the way Luke could make her forget all of her troubles with just a few simple touches.

  Chuckling softly, Luke turned her around in his arms. Cupping her face in his hands, he covered her mouth with his own in a kiss that made her dizzy. When he lifted his head, his eyes were like molten gold in the firelight as they studied her, and Heidi caught her breath at the emotion she saw in their depths. No man had ever looked at her like that before. It wasn’t just lust that she saw there, but something deeper, something she wouldn’t have thought possible could exist after knowing each other only a few days. Her heart did a little back flip in her chest. Was Luke falling for her? Maybe she wasn’t the only one who was head over heels in love.