by Jenna Leigh
“Maybe he did?”
“He couldn’t have. In one born a Were, the symptoms he’s showing usually happen when the cub is around five to eight years old. They can’t change until after.” Cassidy shook her head, confused at the contradicting evidence.
“The sensitivity to light and heightened other senses are all overwhelming. Cubs are taught how to cope and control the senses. This wouldn’t be happening now if he’d been born a lycanthrope.” Cassidy turned and started pacing. “The only other way is to perform a ritual or be cursed.”
Maya focused on Cassidy. “Okay, it’s the other way, but which is it? A ritual or a curse?”
“When did he start showing signs?” Cassidy stopped pacing and stared at her friend.
“He was admitted yesterday and started to show signs this morning.”
“That’s why it’s not possible. The ritual has to take place on a full moon, which was yesterday. If he’d been turned, the patient would have shown signs when he was first admitted. Maybe the guy was attacked by someone who had taken part.”
Maya sighed. “Well, what if it’s a curse? What do I do with him?”
Cassidy snorted. “Trust me. Curses don’t run on a timetable and there are usually conditions associated with it.” She strode toward the door and spoke over her shoulder as she went. “Look, I don’t think he’ll turn, but something weird is definitely going on. Isolate him and keep an eye out. It will take time for the symptoms to disappear.”
She grabbed the door handle and turned to look at Maya. “I’ll get back to you when I’ve worked out what the hell is going on. See you later.”
Cassidy marched out, gnawing away at the claw, which extended from her nail when she was angry or upset. Why now? Lycanthropes had only become accepted fifty years ago and mainly on the basis they weren’t contagious. If this became public knowledge, it could hurt them all.
They were tolerated now in society only because they’d had the foresight to place different members of the clans in strategic political, military and support services before they were outed by the random drug and medical tests.
Thank goddess they weren’t limited like the Weres in the old Hollywood movies. Natural born werewolves didn’t have to wait until a full moon to change. But they preferred the night, since it hid them better.
You couldn’t catch lycanthropy, but if you took part in a ritual or were cursed and something went wrong, technically you could infect. However, the symptoms were temporary. There’d been hardly any episodes because the books detailing the rituals had been hidden. The last thing they needed was a spate of pseudo-Were killers. The balance between human and freaks was dodgy at best. And she didn’t want to be the one to upset the apple cart.
As she pushed through the door, Cassidy slammed into a hard wall of flesh. Flesh which carried the aroma of a tangy male and rocked only slightly from the impact.
“Hey, sorry about bashing you.” Cassidy stared into the face of a man who looked liked he’d been hewn from rock by a blunt instrument.
Brown hair with flecks of silver, grey eyes and a full-lipped mouth caught her attention. Whoopee, this one wasn’t a wimpy lawyer. Built like a brick wall, he looked like a rogue lover from a romance novel. But his natural perfume was like heaven and hell all rolled into one. A combination of the forest, sweat and gun oil. He smelled right and it made her think of settling down and having a family.
Whoa, whoa, whoa . Talk about going off the deep end. Her mother would be glad to hear Cassidy was finally thinking about a man as a mate. However, she wasn’t ready to go there yet. Especially not with a human man who didn’t even know she was a freak.
“Maybe if you looked where you were going, you wouldn’t have to apologize.”
A velvety warm masculine voice rumbled at her from underneath her cheek and seemed to wrap around her like a cocoon. It took Cassidy a moment to realize the object of her lustful fantasy wasn’t exactly rolling around gasping her name in erotic abandon. In fact, he wasn’t even trying to be nice.
Cassidy sighed. “Oh well, another daydream bites the dust.”
“Did you hit your head? Do I need to take you back to the ward, ma’am?”
The brick wall stepped back in confusion.
Cassidy reared back and stared in disgusted disbelief at this man who was implying she’d escaped from the loony ward. Besides, how old did he think she was? Weres aged more slowly than normal humans did, but she wasn’t old enough to be called ma’am.
“No, I didn’t hit my head. Did you say ma’am? Do I look like I’m sixty years old to you?” Cassidy snarled at him. The brick wall took a step back and held his hands high to placate her.
“Hey, look I’m sorry, my mother taught me to respect women. If you don’t need any help, I have to get going.”
Cassidy glared at him and tried to ignore the heat pulsing through her veins. She watched as he tried to inch around her toward the doors. When he’d almost reached them, Cassidy smiled. “Isn’t it a shame when you have this wonderful image of a person and they spoil it by opening their mouth?”
The brick wall spun around with what sounded suspiciously liked a muffled curse. Cassidy made sure she’d already turned, and tried to waggle her behind in a sassy manner as she sauntered off. Cassidy swore she felt the scrumptious man’s gaze boring into her back. Take that, you arrogant mountain of a man. Payback’s a bitch isn’t it?
Loup Garou
© 2006 Mandy M. Roth
Now Available in print
Lindsay Willows craves a simple life. One where she can make a difference without drawing too much attention to herself. As the daughter of both a vampire and a fay, the cards were already stacked against her. Finding out she’s the supposed mate of a dark fay prince doesn’t help matters. Especially when there are those who will stop at nothing to prevent her from mating with a prince she’s never even met.
When Exavier Kedmen, the incredibly sexy front man for a world-famous band, shows up wanting her to go back to a field she left three years ago, she can’t explain the strong feelings that surface for a man she barely knows.
Lindsay finds herself confronting demons from her past, coming to terms with the ones in the present and finally looking forward to a future with the man she was created for. And she discovers evil doesn’t care who it hurts to obtain its goals but even the evilest of things fear something, or in the case of Exavier, someone.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Loup Garou:
“Hey, who wouldn’t want to see me gyrate on a pole?” I asked, sarcastically. “Doesn’t everyone sit around waiting to see me make a fool of myself?”
Backing up fast, I slammed into something solid. A warmth laced with soothing power wrapped around me. My breath caught and for a moment, I could do little more than stare at Myra with wide eyes.
“We never have to wait long for you to make a fool of yourself.” A slow smile spread over her cocoa-colored face. She winked and my brow furrowed.
Turning slowly, I found myself staring up into the blue eyes of one of the sexiest men I’d ever seen. He had to look down at me and that alone was enough to do it for me because at five-nine, I had trouble finding a man I could wear pumps with and not be taller than them. This stud was about six-five so there was no way I’d end up taller than him. His tousled black hair hung to his strong chin, putting emphasis on the tiny dimple there.
I had difficulty tearing my gaze from his thick, corded neck and found my willpower only worsened as I dropped my eyes lower, tracing his broad chest displayed nicely in a snug navy T-shirt with a faint outline of a dragon on it. The thing looked like it had been worn several hundred times but I knew it was a designer piece instantly. The inner shopper in me applauded.
“Umm, sorry.” As I went to move away from him, he took hold of my arm and sent fire shooting up it. My breath hitched as my inner thighs tightened.
What?
I stared at him, confused, horny, mesmerized.
He raked his blue
gaze over me slowly, heating various portions of my already aroused body. “Lindsay?”
“Do I know you?”
Please say yes. Please say yes.
“Linds?”
I drew a blank and offered up a soft smile. “Again with the ‘do I know you’ because I really don’t think I’d forget a body…err…face like yours.”
A black brow went up as a sexy grin moved over his face. I got the feeling he was hiding something. If I wasn’t so shocked and horny from his sheer presence, I’d have thought to question him more. As it stood, I was a little more concerned with begging him to have his way with me than anything else.
“I believe we have an appointment.”
It took me a minute to register what he was saying. “Oh, you must be the guy from Loup Garou. Umm…?”
Myra leaned into me and whispered, “Exavier Kedmen.” The way she said it made me think I was supposed to just know him by his name. As much as I wished that was the case, I didn’t.
My eyes lingered on his sexy lips as I nodded. He tilted my chin upwards a bit, leaving me envisioning how it would be to kiss him. The very idea of sliding my tongue over his lush lips made my heart beat faster.
“Did you catch what she said? My name is Exavier. Not Blair.”
Instantly, heat flared through my cheeks. “You heard that, huh?”
He nodded.
“Well, in my defense, I wasn’t staring at your abs when you told me your name. I was fixated on your mouth, Xavs.” The second I realized a shortened versioned of his name had popped out of my mouth, I shook my head. “Exavier, sorry.”
There was something so familiar about him. I kept staring, studying him for anything that would trigger a memory. Nothing came to me.
His lush lips curved upwards. I bit back a sigh.
He smiled. “I know I’m early but I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop in. I brought coffee.”
I perked up. “Coffee?”
Turning, he glanced towards one of the two circular tables in the lobby. A travel carrier full of large cups of what I prayed was French vanilla flavored coffee sat there. I bit my lower lip and whimpered. The man was a dream come true. Sexy and bearing caffeine.
“Lindsay?” Myra nudged me. “I think I smell vanilla.”
“Vanilla?” It took all I had not to moan.
Exavier nodded.
I stared up at him and did the only thing I could think of doing to a man who brought me coffee, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tight. Lifting me up and off the ground, he took me by surprise. I expected him to act stunned, not to play along.
Never one to want to lose the edge, I wrapped my legs around his waist and planted a kiss on his forehead. “Trust me when I say I won’t be calling you Blair any time soon.”
“Lindsay Marie Willows, what are you doing?” Myra asked, an edge to her voice said she was doing her best not to laugh even though she didn’t agree with my choice for displaying gratitude.
“Thanking the nice man for bringing me coffee.” I wagged my brows. “You know, I was just thinking about how coffee was right up there next to sex with things I’d rather be doing.”
Myra smiled. “You certainly are well on your way to fulfilling both things then, aren’t you?”
I glanced back at the coffee and then down at the man who held me as if I weighed nothing. Visions of licking coffee off his smooth, tawny skin came to mind. I sighed.
Myra laughed. “Oh, sweetie, I can see it in your eyes. No. It will burn him. That would be bad. Now, get down off the nice man before he presses charges.”
“Hey, I hugged him. He’s the one who picked me up.” I tapped his shoulder. “He’s also the one who is putting me down now.”
Exavier set me down but kept his hands on my hips. I did my best to appear anything but happy. I think I failed.
“Okay, where was I before he went and distracted me with his lips, dimpled chin, blue eyes, broad shoulders…”
Snorting, Myra shook her head. “Gee, anything else?”
“Yes, coffee.” I gave her the evil eye. “That was just low. I think you tipped him off I’d be less than receptive about meeting with him. You told him to come bearing something I can’t turn down.”
“What’s that? A great chin? Ask to see his obliques. I’m guessing they’re as perfect as the rest of him.” She winked at me and wiggled her hips in a sassy motion.
“Bite me,” I said, blowing kisses at her.
Snarling, Myra made fake scratching motions at me.
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