by A. D. Ryan
Laughing, I nudged her. “It’s fine. I’m the kind of person who would prefer to have all the details. I feel it makes me better prepared.”
Colby and I continued to talk about the upcoming moon, and after tidying up, we made a standing date for the next night. She seemed excited by this since she was the only one up until now who still struggled with this part of her life.
We walked upstairs together and said goodnight before turning our separate ways, and I waited until Colby disappeared in her room to the far right before turning left and heading back to my own. Just as I turned, a door to the right of the master suite opened, and Karl’s scent hit me, making my stomach roll.
“Well, hey there,” he greeted, leaning against the frame of his door and crossing his arms. “What a coincidence, running into you here.”
“In the hall? On the way to my room? Where my mate is currently waiting for me? That’s what you call a coincidence?” I stared at him, dumbfounded. “Is there a dictionary in the library here? Or do you have the intellectual capacity to operate Google? You might want to look that word up.”
He took a step forward, but I remained in place. I refused to let him think he held any power over me. I would stand my ground and let him know I wasn’t afraid of him.
“You’re a little firecracker, aren’t you, dollface?” he asked, circling me, his eyes always on me. It unnerved me, but I held steady. I would not give him the satisfaction of thinking he was getting to me. He stopped right in front of me, leaning down so his hulking frame was more in line with my own height. I felt his scraggly cheek catch on my hair as his nose nudged my ear. I flinched, and he found humor in it. “Tell me, though. Is your bite as vicious as your bark?”
Gritting my teeth, I took a deep breath, preparing my reserve of strength. I could feel my skin warm and my muscles tighten. I didn’t think I would shift, but I recognized the strength and power that even this slight change in my body brought. “If you wish to keep your limbs attached to your body,” I began to threaten, “I suggest you back the hell off. I won’t hesitate to finish what I started earlier.”
He inhaled deeply before standing up straight again. He wore a cocky smirk on his face that I wanted to tear off. “You know, you and Nick are doing a great job of making everyone think you’re his…”
Even though I hated that exact terminology, I argued his implication. “I am.”
He smirked again. “Yeah. You keep saying that…even your actions imply it. Yet”—his eyes moved up and down my body, lingering just a little too long on the juncture between my legs as his nostrils fared. I wanted to puke—“you don’t smell like a mated pair would.”
I crossed my arms confidently. “And how should a mated pair smell?”
His left eyebrow lifted. “Freshly fucked. All the time. And, let’s face it, dollface, you smell fresh as a daisy.” I wanted to slap his smug face. “You know, like you smelled this morning.”
Revolted, I shook my head and finally just walked away. “You’re disgusting. Don’t ever come near me again, or I won’t hesitate to rip your arms off and beat you with them.”
“See you in the morning, sunshine. I look forward to the next time we meet,” Karl called after me, and then his door shut behind him.
As soon as I knew he wasn’t watching me, I let the shudder I’d been holding in overcome me. I felt dirty, like I’d just rolled around in a porn star’s bed. I was proud of myself for standing my ground, but I hated how I’d let him affect me this viscerally.
I stopped dead in my tracks when I reached my bedroom to find Nick standing in the doorway, the look in his eyes murderous as he stared past me and down the hall. “It’s fine,” I whispered, approaching him and laying a hand on his bare chest. I knew he’d heard everything just based on how hot his skin was. He was on the verge of losing control again. I needed to do for him what he did for me; I needed to help him calm down.
I took his hand and tried to coax him back into our room. “Nick, please.”
His stiff body finally turned, following me, but he still wasn’t relaxed. “I should have known he would doubt our story based on…on…”
“On what?” I asked, pushing him onto the edge of his bed as I stood before him. “On how I don’t smell like I’ve just had sex for days on end? Forgive me for being a fan of a shower.” I sucked in a breath, embarrassed by my slip. “I mean, to get clean, not to…” I was stammering, and my face burned like it was on fire, so I decided to quit trying to save face. “Anyway, I suppose being hygienic is awfully human of me.”
Finally, Nick smiled, and I breathed a sigh of relief when his temperature dropped slightly. “I don’t give a shit what that overgrown ape thinks about us. Eventually, it has to sink in that I’m not available.”
Nick’s smile fell, an ominous and foreboding look reflecting in his eyes. “As much as I want to believe that, I don’t think he’s going to give in that easily.”
Even though I really didn’t want to have to keep enduring Karl’s repulsive advances, I felt confident that I could handle myself against him if it came down to that. “Well then, let him try.”
The minute the threat slipped from my tongue, an overwhelming sense of dread seeped into my bones, and I regretted tempting fate the way I so often did.
Chapter 11 | distraction
After breakfast the next morning, Marcus called a meeting with the guys downstairs. None of the other women seemed put out by this, but I was. If this meeting had anything to do with the dead wolf and the message to Nick, then I figured I should have been involved.
When I voiced this to Nick, he only smiled and told me he’d fill me in. He said not to take it personally, and that he would talk to Marcus if I really felt like I wanted to take a more active role within the Pack. Which I did. Very much. I truly believed it might help me accept everything that had happened that much quicker.
Once they all headed to the basement, I helped the girls clean up the kitchen, and while we worked, Colby suggested we all hang out in the pool for a bit while the guys were all preoccupied.
It sounded great in theory, there was just one problem…
“What do you mean, you don’t have a suit?” Colby asked, astounded that such a thing was even possible. “You lived in the land of in-ground pools!”
I laughed, wiping off the island counter. “While I’m not sure that’s exactly what Arizona is most known for,” I said, “I didn’t really think to pack my suits. I didn’t realize there was a pool here.”
Colby looked at me like I was crazy before shrugging. “You can borrow one of mine, then.”
With that decided, we all headed up to change. Colby handed me this tiny little bikini that made me wonder if skinny-dipping would be slightly more modest. She saw my hesitation and laughed it off, telling me I’d look hot in it.
While that wasn’t really my top priority, I smiled and thanked her before going to change in my room. The suit she gave me was never worn based on the tags still attached. The strapless, deep seafoam green bandeau and the low-rise bottoms left little to the imagination. Once they were on, though, I had to admit that Colby was right. I did look good.
I’d always taken care of myself and stayed in shape for my career on the force, but ever since the night I was bitten, my body composition had changed for the better. I was leaner, and my muscles were slightly more defined. I looked stronger. Felt stronger.
I grabbed a towel as I exited my washroom and wrapped it around my lower half. The ladies were waiting in the hall. Colby and I hung back while Miranda and Layla led the way through the manor and out to the poolhouse.
This extension of the house was incredible. The walls were made entirely of windows, so all you could see was the yard and the mountains beyond. Like the rest of the house, it was unreal. The pool was huge, complete with a slide and diving board.
The three of them heading to the hot tub versus the pool didn’t surprise me, and truthfully, I was glad they did. I looked forward to relaxing and
letting all of the tension from the last few days melt away.
I tossed my towel with the others on a nearby chair before stepping into the hot tub. Colby and Miranda had already made themselves comfortable while I parked myself near one of the jets and Layla sat on the edge with her legs dangling in.
“You’re not coming in?”
Layla smiled. “The heat tends to make me a little dizzy nowadays,” she replied blissfully, rubbing her stomach. That was when I saw the slight bulge of her lower abdomen beneath her one-piece black swimsuit, and I understood.
“You’re pregnant? Congratulations. How far along are you?”
“Only a couple months,” Layla said. “We’ve been trying for a couple years, though. The one downfall to this life, if I had to name one.”
Confused, I looked up at her. “What do you mean?”
Miranda spoke up then. “Unlike the human reproductive cycle, we’re only fortunate enough to have one or two fertile times a year.”
As a woman who wasn’t sure if she ever wanted kids, this didn’t actually sound unappealing, but I understood the difficulty this posed when actually trying to procreate.
“Needless to say, the timing has to be exactly right,” Miranda said.
This revelation floored me, but I guess it also explained why there weren’t a ton of kids running around here. I let this news swim around in my head with everything else, filing it away with everything else I’d learned, as we sat around and talked.
The four of us were having such a good time, and I loved that I was finally making some kind of connection with someone other than Nick, that we lost track of time. We hadn’t even noticed until we heard the raucous laughter of some of the men approaching.
“There you are!” Nick announced as he spotted us in the hot tub. Behind him were Marcus and Vince, probably here to see their wives. Nick knelt behind me, and I stood and turned around to face him. I could barely smell the crisp winter air on him with the chlorine in the air messing with my nose, but it was there. As always, I was drawn into his gaze, his eyes bright and alive; the color almost identical to that of my borrowed suit. “You have a good morning?”
I nodded. “Yeah. How about you? Good run?”
Smirking, Nick shrugged. “I wouldn’t call a routine perimeter check a good time. But, yeah. It’s always nice to get out there and run. I’ve missed this place.”
The door opened behind Nick, drawing my eyes up to find Karl walk through it. As if it was his sole purpose for being here, he stared at me as he started to strip down. Nick turned his head slightly, checking through his periphery. A low growl started to build as Nick moved to stand, but I reached out and grabbed his wrist, splashing a little water from the hot tub on his shoe.
“Don’t,” I whispered, ignoring the fact that Karl had absolutely zero qualms getting naked in front of everyone and pulling his suit on. He was obviously looking for me to be impressed by what he had to offer, but truthfully, I started to wonder if maybe he had an addiction to anabolic steroids.
I released Nick’s wrist and brought my hand to the back of his neck, drawing his face to mine. He knew what I was doing, and it excited him—even if it was mostly for show. I brushed my lips over his cheek as I moved for his ear and whispered, “Kiss me, and make it good.”
I felt Nick smirk against my cheek. “I aim to please.”
His massive hand came up to cup my face as he pressed his lips to mine. His mouth crashed against mine so hard my eyes flew open in surprise. I guessed he was hell-bent on not disappointing, and that was fine by me. Standing on the tips of my toes, I curled my fingers into his hair, deepening the kiss and bringing my other arm up and wrapping it around his neck. When he started to pull back, I held on a little tighter. I leveraged myself out of the water slightly and returned the kiss hard enough to garner a low moan from him in return. As if possessed by the desire I felt burning beneath his cool exterior, he wrapped his arms around my exposed waist and lifted me from the hot tub. Water dripped from my legs as he swung me up, his hands going to the back of my thighs and guiding them around his waist.
A loud splash tried to break through our building fog of lust as Nick continued to kiss me, and it wasn’t until Colby told us to get a room that we finally came up for air. One look around, and I noticed that Karl had been the source of the splash as he swam lengths, his strokes long and angry as they sliced through the water.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Nick said, his voice low and gravelly. I recognized the tone, and it sent a warm tingle straight through me, making me shiver.
Nick released my legs, allowing me to slide to the floor. Blushing, I snatched up my towel from the bench and thanked the girls for keeping me company. Before I could say anything else, Nick picked me up and threw me over his shoulder like a caveman and carried me through the door leading to the house.
I laughed as he bounded up the stairs and tossed me onto the bed after closing our door. “Think he got the message?”
Nick stood above me, his eyes dark and hungry. I could see he was barely holding himself back, and the idea that he was so close to letting go thrilled me. I wanted him to give in, but I knew he wouldn’t until I was ready, and part of me still wasn’t.
No harm in a little flirting, though.
I propped myself up on my elbows, bending my left leg slightly and letting my towel fall from around it. “Yes?”
Nick inhaled deeply, his eyes closing as he took in the scents around him. He seemed frustrated. Maybe because all he could smell was chlorine. That was all I could smell, and it burned my nose now that we weren’t in the poolhouse.
“I’ll go hop in the shower,” I said, wrinkling my nose distastefully. The smell of pool water never used to bother me, but I found that I’d favored natural smells over the last several weeks. Anything that masked those scents—like cologne and other chemical scents—made me dizzy, disorienting my thoughts and instincts.
Abandoning my flirtation attempt, I slid off the bed and moved to walk around Nick and into the bathroom, but before I made it a step past him, he grabbed my towel and yanked it from my body. Shocked, I turned to him, wide-eyed.
“Nick!” I admonished with a laugh.
He shrugged. “Sorry,” he apologized—not that he looked remorseful. “But that suit…”
“Is Colby’s,” I informed him, and his face screwed up in disapproval.
“Well that makes this awkward,” he replied. “She’s been like a kid sister all these years.” He shuddered. “To think she owns something that revealing…” Another shudder.
“Oh, please. I’ve worn far more revealing things at seventeen.” I paused, smirking devilishly. “Which I’m sure you remember. I mean, that is when you developed a crush on me, isn’t it?”
Nick feigned innocence. “I think you’ve got that a little backward, babe. Besides, I have a feeling that maybe you wore those tiny bathing suits while sunning yourself by your parents’ pool knowing I was going to be there.”
I pressed my lips together contemplatively, pretending to try and remember that far back. “See, that’s not how I remember it.”
Nick took a step forward, his eyes heavily hooded as he looked down at my body. His hand came up, the back of his finger brushing my lower abdomen and hipbone softly. “You’ve always had a problem with that selective memory.”
My eyes fluttered closed as his touch caused my skin to warm. A ripple of goosebumps spread all over my body, and it wasn’t until his finger toyed with the waistband of my swimsuit that I snapped out of my dazed state of mind. I stepped back, smiling nervously as my heart raced and my breathing stuttered. “I’m…shower…yeah.”
Nick looked disappointed and repentant as he nodded. “Sure.”
After seeking refuge from the storm of desire that had been percolating in our bedroom, I closed and leaned against the bathroom door for a minute to catch my breath. Unfortunately, my blood was still pumping and I craved his hands on me. Again.
That par
ticular train of thought wasn’t helping my current state of arousal, so I quickly stripped out of my damp suit and flipped the shower on as cold as I could handle it. The second the water hit my body, I gasped and the heat beneath my skin began to wane. When my teeth started chattering and that ember of desire had been mostly extinguished, I turned the heat up a little and washed my hair and body.
Nick was standing by the window when I exited the bathroom. Opening my top dresser drawer, I grabbed some underwear and took it into the closet where I picked out my clothes. “So,” I called out as I dropped my towel and started dressing. “What’s on the agenda for tonight?”
“Hmm?” Nick responded. “Oh, um, Marcus suggested a game of poker to lighten the mood. Everyone’s been so stressed about these threats, and a night of mindless fun is usually the cure.”
“Rightfully so,” I interjected.
“Agreed. But he wants us to unwind a little. Too much stress in this house can only escalate in the worst way,” he explained, his voice sounding like he was close.
I pulled on a pair of jeans and a red V-neck sweater before emerging. “So, poker, huh? Sounds fun.”
Nick seemed hesitant to say whatever was on his mind. “It’s usually only the guys who play,” he finally spat out.
My eyebrows lifted and I looked at him a little taken aback. “Oh, really? And the women?”
“Usually bring us snacks.”
“Huh.”
“And I’m sure they do other things.”
I nodded, crossing my arms in front of me. “Uh huh. Like, what? Kitchen things? Sounds a little sexist, don’t you think?”
“I suppose. But no one’s ever complained before, so I’m sure they’re fine with the arrangement.”
“The arrangement?” I knew Nick well enough to know he didn’t mean for this to sound as misogynistic as it did. Instead of making a bigger deal out of it than it was, I decided to drop it. I’d had a good time with the girls earlier, so I felt confident we could carry on while the men did their bonding thing.