"I know." He sighed, looking at his brother forlornly. "I am afraid she will run from me when she knows."
Darian looked at his brother and shook his head. "She won't. Not if she's drawn to you like you think she is." He turned off the grill and picked up the plate with the cooked meat, and they head back in. Charlie had moved on to Loretta Lynn's 'You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man', her voice clear and sweet as they came inside. Darian paused to look at his brother, noting the leer on his face and nearly predatory way his eyes locked on to Charlie.
'Do it soon, brother. Your wolf is almost showing,' he sent with a snicker.
Damien nodded but didn't respond, walking towards the living room. He stopped at the entry, watching Charlie as she played and sang, entranced by the way her body seemed to dance with the guitar. She finished the song and looked back at Eva, holding the guitar out to her and unaware of her audience.
"That was wonderful, Charlie," Eva said, standing and taking the instrument from her. "You have a beautiful voice."
"She certainly does," Darian said, coming in to the room. "How long have you been playing?" he asked, moving to Eva to take her hand and lead her into the dining room.
"I actually don't," Charlie said, startled by Damien's hand on her shoulder. She turned to find him smirking at her. "What? I know a few songs, but I can't read music or anything." She stood and took his offered hand, letting him lead her to the dining room.
"Feel free to borrow the guitar anytime, Charlie. I'm sure you'd be able to teach yourself in no time," Darian offered as they took their seats. She glanced at him before turning her gaze to Damien.
'Easy, Darian. She is still thinking she will be leaving soon.'
'Sorry. I forgot.'
They all started in on their dinners, talking and laughing, going through four bottles of wine, taking their time to savor the food and company. Charlie relaxed completely, losing herself in the warmth of family for the first time in years. The gentle teasing, the mild discussions and the stories of the twins' childhood lulling her into a sense of belonging. After they had finished, they sat in the living room again, Darian and Eva on one couch, and Damien and Charlie on the other, laughing and talking over their wine. When Damien stood to go, pulling Charlie up with him, she was shocked to find it was after 10PM.
They said their good-byes and thank yous, and head across the landing towards Damien's apartment. He suddenly pulled her to him, wrapping her up in his arms and kissing her, taking the clip out of her hair so he could wrap his other hand in it. He put the clip in his pocket before grabbing her ass and pulling her to him, wanting her to feel how much he desired her and leaving her a bit out-of-breath when he finally ended the kiss.
"Hmmm," she purred, laying her head on his chest.
"I've been itching to do that for hours," he murmured.
"I've been thinking," she began, pausing to lean back and look at him. He looked at her, eyebrow cocked, waiting for her to continue. "You know when we were out on Hamlet yesterday?"
"Yes?"
"Well, I lost the back to my earring."
"The back to your earring."
"Right."
"The earring you were wearing.
"Yes."
"In your un-pierced ear."
"Exactly," Charlie said, smiling at him slyly. "So you can see why it would be very important to find it again. I mean, all things considered, I couldn't dream of leaving before I do."
"Of course." He smiled at her.
"So I was thinking, I would probably need to stay another few days at least."
"At least."
"I mean, it's important, you know, to have all your earring backs when you move to Oregon."
"I didn't know that."
"Oh, yeah. It's like a state law. I could be fined." She was smiling broadly at him.
"Wouldn't want that to happen, would we?" She shook her head before he continued. "You know, sometimes the moon is the best light to find things by."
"Oh?"
"Absolutely. Especially small, metallic, imaginary things," he teased, pulling her towards the back stairs.
"Is the moon bright tonight?"
"Very." They had reached the door and Damien had her in his arms again, nuzzling her neck.
"Maybe we should take advantage of that," she said, her voice husky.
"I intend to." He released her and pushed open the door, leading her past the barn to a narrow trail that struck off to the west. They walked the path, serenaded by crickets, hand in hand in the moonlight, until Charlie let go and struck off through a field of tall grass. "What are you doing?" Damien called, following her.
"Taking the road less traveled," she said, glancing back at him over her shoulder. She winked at him and then ran, her sudden speed surprising Damien and freezing him to the spot. His wolf pushed forward again, desperate to give chase and claim their mate – NOW – but Damien pushed him back.
"Oh dolcezza," he called, walking quickly. "If you only knew how much I will enjoy chasing you." He began to run after her, easily overtaking her and tackling her to the ground, twisting so his body lay beneath hers when they landed. She looked down at him laughing, her eyes twinkling in the moonlight, making them flash gold.
"If you only knew how much I will enjoy you catching me," she said. She leaned down and kissed him, sucking gently on his lower lip. She moved herself to straddle him, raising her head to look down at him as she rubbed herself provocatively on him. "This seems oddly familiar..."
"Don't tease, my love," Damien groaned.
"I have no intention of teasing," Charlie whispered. "I want you. Here. Now. In this field. Under this moon." She punctuated each sentence with a soft, lingering kiss, driving their need for each other higher.
"Dolcezza," Damien began but stopped short as the scent of two wolves – two very close wolves – suddenly hit him. He started to shift beneath her before he knew what was happening, barely registering her eyes going wide and the scent of her fear hitting him as his nose and ears elongated and he sprouted fur.
"What the FUCK?!" she cried, scrambling off him and standing up. She didn't notice the two huge wolves to her left.
"Dolcezza, please, I can explain," Damien said, sitting up slowly. He didn't want to spook her any more than she was. He could smell her fear edging to panic, and in his concern for her he had forgotten the two wolves.
"No." She started backing away, her eyes huge and her hands out in front of her. "That can't have just happened."
"Charlie - " Damien began, but she cut him off.
"No!" Charlie screamed as she turned and started running back towards the ranch house. She ran about fifteen feet when she was knocked down from behind and rolled onto her back to find herself pinned under a big tan wolf. She screamed and kicked, turning her head to the side when she saw an even bigger wolf, pure glossy black, jump at the one pinning her down. The black wolf snarled and snapped at the tan one, forcing it to back down and show its belly, before turning its attention to the woman beneath him.
Charlie was shaking as the black wolf stood over her and howled. She watched as he bent his head to her neck and tensed, expecting to feel teeth, and squealing when a wide, hot tongue licked at her neck instead. Her mind whirled when she saw the big black wolf change in front of her eyes and become Damien, and she barely had time for a thought to flit across her consciousness – can't be – before she went limp beneath him as she fainted.
"Shit," Damien muttered, looking down at Charlie's limp form. He knew she would wake up soon, but he was hoping it wouldn't be before he had time to figure out what he was going to say to her. This was not how he wanted her to find out.
'Is Charlie gonna be okay?' Lewis -- the tan wolf -- asked.
'She'll be fine. She's just fainted,' Damien sent back, trying to ease Lewis' conscience. He could feel the remorse rolling off the big guy.
'Sorry Mr. Dimeo, she ran and I couldn't help myself.' Lewis sat back and howled.
'Enough, Lew
is. No one is blaming you.' The tan wolf quieted but looked at the woman on the ground, his ears back and tail between his legs. Damien sighed and looked at the brown wolf behind Lewis. 'Adrian -- take Lewis back to the dorm and make sure he's settled for the night.'
'Yes, Mr. Dimeo.' He nudged Lewis to follow him back, pausing to look back at Damien and Charlie. 'Sorry about that, Mr. Dimeo. Lewis just kind of took off after her before I knew what was happening.'
'I understand, Adrian.'
'Congratulations on finding your one,' Adrian offered as he and Lewis head back to the dorm.
"Congratulations indeed," Damien said. He crouched next to Charlie, smoothing her hair away from her face gently. "Fuck it," he sighed, and started to gently to shake her shoulder. "Charlie? Wake up my love," he called softly. She seemed so still, if he couldn't see her heartbeat and the slight rise of her chest he would be worried. He released a breath he didn't realize he was holding when her eyes fluttered open. "Charlotte," he whispered, caressing her cheek.
Her eyes went wide and she scooted back from him. "Don't," was all she said. She quickly stood, brushing herself off and staring at Damien.
"I'm sorry," he said. She snorted at that, but didn't speak. He took a deep breath and stood as he scented her, her anger was overcoming her fear, and he decided to push forward and started moving towards her. "I am so sorry."
"You think that counts for anything? How dare you. How dare you keep something like this from me." She slapped at his shoulder, connecting with a grunt. She looked up at his face as he winced -- it didn't hurt him, but the sound surprised him -- and she went wild, slapping and punching at him uncontrollably. The only sounds were her hands hitting him and her labored breathing. This wasn't anger, it was fury, and all Damien could do was stand and let it run through her until it was spent.
It didn't take long.
One moment she was punching at his chest, her arms swinging wildly, and the next she was on her knees, head down, panting.
"I'm going to puke," she said weakly. Damien dropped to his knees beside her and gathered her hair one hand, his other running up and down her back. She sat still, not acknowledging him, concentrating on her breathing until the urge to vomit passed. "Don't touch me," she said quietly.
"I'm just trying to help," he said.
"I'm fine. Just...don't touch me." She sat back on her bottom and crossed her legs when she felt him move away.
"We need to talk, Charlie," he said, sitting next to her. He was close enough to touch her if she would let him, but not close enough to make her feel threatened by him.
"It's a little late for that," she snorted.
"I...I'm sorry. I really am. I should have told you sooner, I..." he trailed off.
"You what?"
"It never seemed to be the right time, I guess."
She gave a mirthless chuckle at that. "Here's a tip for the next girl you hook up with: tell her before you leave your ball prints embedded in her ass."
"Dolcezza-"
"You can't exist; you do know that, right?" she suddenly said, cutting him off. She turned to look at him and the pain on her face made Damien feel as if his heart was being squeezed. "You just can't." She turned away again. "And why the fuck are you naked?"
"I do exist Charlie. We do exist. What you saw was real." He paused, wanting so desperately for her to believe him. "I'm naked because the clothes tear when we change."
She shook her head in denial even as she continued to question him. "Everyone here are...they're like you?"
"Yes. Everyone on the ranch." She made an odd coughing noise at that. "What?"
"Impossible," she muttered.
"Charlotte-"
"No!" She turned to look at him. "It's not possible. You can't turn in to a giant dog at will."
"Wolf."
"Making barking noises? Really?" she gave him a cold look.
"What? No. No, not 'woof'," Damien clarified. "Wolf. With an 'l'."
"Wolf what?"
"I turn in to a wolf, not a dog. I'm a werewolf."
"Impossible." She sighed, looking away from him again. "It's not even a full moon! And -- and --who ever heard of werewolf cowboys?"
"Ranchers."
"Seriously? Correcting me? That's rich coming from a naked guy in a field." She rolled her eyes. "That can't even fucking exist!" She clenched her fists and pounded on her thighs, looking -- for all her forty years -- as if she was in the middle of a temper tantrum. "Werewolves are myths! Made up tales to account for man's baser nature. You're not fucking real."
"I am, dolcezza. I am real, I am a werewolf." He looked at her, the tension in her readily apparent. "I wish you would look at me."
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, and his heart wept at her broken tone.
"I was going to. Tonight, in fact." She looked at him at that but didn't speak. "I should have before. I should have told you at the beginning, but..."
"But what?"
"I was scared to. I was afraid I would chase you away." She raised a brow at that, but she didn't look away, and Damien took it as a good sign. "I was. I had only just found you, and I didn't want to risk losing you."
"Found me?"
"You're mine. You're my mate, my one."
"Excuse me?"
"Werewolves have one mate, one partner they are fated to be with. We can't settle down or start a family with anyone else. And we search for them until we either find them or die."
"And you believe I am the one you're fated to be with?"
"I know you are."
"I'm not a werewolf."
"No..." he said, dropping his eyes.
"What are you hiding now?"
"I can turn you."
"Turn me...?"
"Into a werewolf. Like me."
"WHAT?"
"Just...just hear me out." He got up on his knees in front of her. "Tell me you haven't felt drawn to me. Tell me that you don't feel right, feel whole when we're together. Tell me the thought of you leaving doesn't make your heart ache." It was her turn to drop her eyes. "That's the sign that we're meant to be mated. It's fate. You are mine, dolcezza, my mate, my one, the other part of me, the best part of my soul. As I am yours, completely and utterly. I will never be with another, I could never be with another now that I found you. I would forfeit my life for you, because my life would be forfeit without you. I love you and only you. I will until I die." She looked at him as he finished.
"If I stay with you."
"No, actually. Even if you don't." Her brow creased.
"But you said your life would be forfeit without me?"
"I did," he sighed, looking at her. He longed to take her into his arms and hold her until she agreed to mate with him, to force her, but he knew that path condemned them both. He sat back down next to her. "It's...it's complicated."
"And up until now it hasn't been." She rolled her eyes at him and looked away again. "Just nut up and tell me."
"You have...options, my love. Choices. I don't. You could choose to leave, to get your car Saturday and just...go." He looked away from her; not telling her that while she could physically leave, she likely wouldn't be allowed to, and he didn't want her to see that he was hiding something from her. "You most likely would be depressed for a long while, but I believe you would eventually get over it. You might even fall in love."
"You believe?"
"Well, yes. We have no way to know for sure what would happen. But -- yes -- I believe you could leave. Forget about me-" she snorted at that "- and get on with your life."
"And that would cause your life to end?"
"It might. Not right away...but eventually. It might."
"Everyone dies eventually."
"My life would end long before it should." She rolled her eyes again at that. "We live a lot longer than humans, my love. A lot longer. My parents are well into their sixth century."
"Bullshit."
"No bullshit."
"And that would make you...?"
&nbs
p; "187."
"Years?" she squeaked.
"Yes." He smiled at her and felt as if his heart was ripped from his chest when she merely looked away.
"And when I leave you would...what? Spontaneously combust?" She tried to sound sarcastic, but Damien could hear the concern in her voice.
"Not literally, no. There is a good chance it would...change me."
"Change you how?"
"It's like I would go insane. But it's so much worse for us. I would slowly lose myself. If it happened, I would lose my compassion, my sense of decency, and would likely have to be terminated."
APPETITE Page 16