Hunger of the Heart (Wolves of Ravenwillow Book 1)

by Magenta Phoenix

  “There you are.” Gasping in surprise, Rebecca closed her eyes, holding a hand over her racing heart as Eric’s tall frame suddenly filled the doorway. “Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “You didn’t.” Dropping her hand from her wet chest, she roughly shoved her tangled strands of hair behind her ears. “I’m just finishing up and then I’m out of here.” Gently setting the three piles of folded clothes in the square basket, she tried to slip past him; but he refused to move from his position in the doorway.

  “That can wait a second.”

  Reaching out he tried to gentlemanly extract the tan weaved basket from her delicate arms. Rebecca repositioned the basket on her opposite hip, away from him, her eyes flashing challengingly at him. Moving toward her, Eric tried once again to take the basket from her and once again she stepped aside, evading him.

  Glaring down at her, he held out his hands. “Give me the damn basket.”

  “No. I want to put these where they need to go so I can go home. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Before Rebecca could walk around him, his hand shot around her, snagging the basket from her grip. Ignoring her sound of frustration, he dropped the basket carelessly on top of the washier.

  Grasping a hold of her wrist, he tugged her out of the laundry room, causing her to stumble behind him. “Come, I want to meet some people.”

  Futilely, she tried to reclaim her hand. “Eric, you can’t introduce me to your colleges with me looking like this.”

  “Why the hell not?” coming to an abrupt halt, he turned to face her, His hand still shackling her wrist.

  “Look at me. My clothes are wet and dirty, my hair is messed up—”

  Raising a skeptic brow, Eric scoffed. “So what? It’s not as if they’d be interested in you anyway.”

  Finally fed up with being treated like a dog being led by a leach, Rebecca jerked her hand from his grasp. Shocked that she was able to pull from his hold, Eric turned to watch her quietly. Raising her chin, definitely at him, her hand reached up to shove her fall dark hair from her face.

  “Fine, I’ll meet your friends. But next time, I expect to be asked nicely and in advanced. Furthermore; you may be my boss, Eric; but that doesn’t give you the right to drag me around like a dog.” By the time she finished railing at him she was panting for breathe. Eric’s surprised face turned to his normal stern one.

  His forehead rippled with a deep frown and his full lips tensed in a hard line. Not bothering to answer her he continued the rest of the way across the living room and into the kitchen. Given no other choice, Rebecca followed him, all the while doing her best to straighten her appearance as the sound of male voices grew louder.

  “Where’d you disappear to Alpha?” shooting a warning glance at Jason’s question, Eric flicked his eyes toward Rebecca. Silently cautioning everyone to watch what they said around the human in the room.

  Walking past the three watchful wolves in the room, Eric headed to the fridge, while calling over his shoulder. “Everyone this is Rebecca. She looks after the house and my children.” Reaching into the fridge he withdrew a chilled bottle of water. Walking back to the group, he stood next to Rebecca and began introducing each male before her.

  “This is Jason; he’s my… assistant of sorts.” He explained hesitantly. Rebecca’s gaze shifted to look up at Eric’s as he quickly averted his gaze. Through his cool exterior she could see that Eric was on edge with his pack members; or at least that’s what she assumed they were, around her. Perhaps he was concerned that one may say something to endanger their secret in front of her. Regardless what the reason for his strange demeanor, she had to play along.

  As Jason stepped forward, offering his hand in greeting, Rebecca couldn’t help but stare at his handsome face. His nearly black hair fell to his shoulders, pulled back tightly in a meager ponytail. She wasn’t surprised to see his eyes mirroring the same richness of his hair color. With his dark olive skin color and his almond shaped eyes, she would guess that he had strong Native American Indian heritage in his family somewhere.

  He smiled warmly down at her as his large hand cupped her smaller one. “So you’re the elusive Rebecca? Eric talks about you all the time.”

  Rolling her eyes gently pulled her hand away from Jason’s gentle grasp. “I’m sure it wasn’t all good things. I have a habit of irritating people to the point of insanity.”

  Letting out a rumbling laugh, Jason’s lips curved into a soft smile. “I doubt that.”

  * ~ * ~ *

  Clearing his throat loudly, Eric’s hard eyes bore into Jason’s, giving a clear warning for him to back away from the small human. Nodding his head at Eric in acknowledgement, Jason turned and settled down one of the kitchen table chairs.

  Only after making one introduction, Eric was seeing that introducing Rebecca to his Beta’s and Damon was the worst mistake he’d ever made. His eye flashing over all their expressions made it clear. Every one of them watched Rebecca with a look of hunger and longing. How dare they look at her that way! He should kick them all out now, including Rebecca! How dare she look so tempting, so…something! Somehow he couldn’t fight the growl that rumbled deep in his chest, the feeling of protectiveness that flooded all his senses.

  Mine…Only mine… the thought came from deep down, from his wolf.

  Shock rocked him, nearly causing him to crust the plastic water bottle in his hand. There it was again, the invasive sound of his wolf’s thoughts. How was that possible? A shifter’s inner beast only fully emerged like that when a true mate was near. This confused him, causing his gaze to focus on Rebecca’s. Growing impatient with the nonsense of his own thoughts he quickly finished introducing the last two, barely patiently waiting wolves before him.

  “And Damon and Chris, Damon is an old friend and Chris is another assistant.” His hand gestured to each one as he rushed out their names past his snarling lips.

  “It’s great to finally meet you.” Just as Chris stepped forward to shake her hand, he was shoved back by Damon as he moved in front of him. Smiling charmingly down at her surprised face, his large hand engulfed hers. Rebecca felt her breath catch in her chest.

  “Rebecca...” he murmured her name softly as his head lowered to her hand. His firm lips brushed gently against her soft skin.

  Pulling her hand away from sinful attentions of the handsome man in front of her, Rebecca couldn’t miss the look of unrelenting anger that swam in the depths of Eric’s blue eyes. What was his problem?

  “There.” Eric snapped, his eyes flashing dangerously at each of the moonstruck idiots in the room. “You’ve met her. Now let’s get on with business.” Looking down at Rebecca, he desperately tried to reign in his wolf before it broke free and he did something he’d regret. “You can go finish your duties now. Once you’re done, you can leave for the night, no need to inform me when you leave.” Ignoring the way her eyes narrowed at him in outrage, Eric motioned for the others to follow him as he made his way to his office. But no one moved an inch. All their attention was on Rebecca as she smiled friendly at each of them.

  “It was nice to meet all of you. Good evening.” With a friendly wave goodbye she quickly left the drooling werewolves staring after her retreating form. Not that she was aware of her alluring effect on the three seasoned wolf shifters.

  Chris let out a heavy, longing breath as he continued to stare in the direction vanished mortal. “I now see why you didn’t want any of us coming over unannounced.”

  “God, I have never seen such a more tempting sight.” Damon smiled dreamily as he took a deep inhale, drawing her lingering scent inside his body.

  “She’s not off limits, is she?” Jason asked with curiosity, leaning his face against his braced hand. Out of all three of them Jason seemed to be the only one retaining some of his sense.

  Crumbling the plastic water bottle in his hand in restrained anger, Eric’s sharp eyes flashed dangerously. “Yes, she is.”

  Tossing the demolished bottle in the small trash can,
he couldn’t help but allow his gaze to follow the same direction as the others. When had she begun to smell so good? Her scent made his wolf want to rub against every part of her body, marking her skin with not only his scent, but to brand hers into his also. Maybe she was wearing a new perfume?

  Turning back the waiting trio, Eric let out a heavy breath. He couldn’t wait for tonight to end. His body felt too strung while his mind was full of anxiety. Something in his life was unbalanced, the question was; what was it?

  “Let’s get this finished.” Eric growled out.

  Without another word he strode from the kitchen, not caring whether or not the others were following. One thing was for certain, he would never be introducing Rebecca to anyone ever again. Moments ago she had seemed to turn the most vicious werewolves he’d ever met, into obedient puppies. He just prayed that he continued remained immune.

  * ~ * ~ *

  This had to be the third time in a half an hour that Eric’s eyes had shot to the small clock that sat on the edge of his desk. Chris and Jason’s voices seemed to drone on in the background of his mind. Gathered around his desk, they had been reviewing changes in the blue prints for the past half hour, but Eric couldn’t seem to get his mind to focus. For reasons he couldn’t fandom, his thoughts kept drifting to Rebecca. What was she doing right now? His keen sense of smell and hearing told him she was upstairs, moving quietly from room to room putting clothes away.

  “Alpha,” Jerking his eyes up to Jason’s studying eyes, Eric mentally shook himself. He needed to focus on the matter at hand and not on the forbidden mortal woman in his house.

  “Maybe we could just meet up later and finish these last details at a later date?” Damon suggested from his leaning position against the far wall beside the door. Stuffing his hands in his jean pockets, Damon’s hopeful eyes trailed out into the living room, no doubt hoping to catch gimps of Rebecca leaving.

  “What’s wrong, Damon? Are we making you late for a date? Don’t you ever think of anything productive?” Chris mumbled as he wrote a measurement note on the blue print before him.

  Damon smirked, “I’ll have you know my thoughts and my actions are very productive.”

  “Spare us the details, Damon. You’ve put off his project long enough and I do have more important things to do with my time than run after you to get your final approval on these.” Eric indicated to the blue prints in front of him. “If we want to start building before fall comes we have to do it soon, so get over here and look at these damn papers.”

  “I must say, Eric; you seem a bit testy tonight. Nothing a night in the naked arms of a beautiful woman wouldn’t cure.” Damon suggested teasingly.

  Rolling his eyes, Eric let out a tire groan, “If I recall correctly, there are a few females within my pack that have been dying to get their hands on your address and cell number. I recall them not sounding like they were fans of yours.”

  Holding up his hands in surrender, Damon crossed the distance between himself and the others. “Alright, Alright, Threats do not become you, my friend.”

  Smiling softly Damon looked over the spread out blue prints of his future house, while Chris described the measurements and structural design of each area and Jason suggested the best materials to choose from. Eric wasn’t all that surprised when Damon asked as few as questions as he could. He knew the only reason Damon wanted this house built was so he had a place to live as far from his own pack as possible, not that he’d shared any further information beyond that.

  “Do you have sample photos of what the living room windows could look like?” Damon asked curiously.

  Eric as well as his Beta’s narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Why do you want to see photographs of window designs, when Chris as several sketches of them in front of you?”

  “I just can’t seem to picture it right in my head. Photos may help give me a better perspective.”

  Rubbing his tired eyes, Eric nodded toward waiting Chris. Not wasting a moment Chris and Jason walked over to Eric’s tall black filing cabinet and began withdrawing several folders. As they flipped through each folder, Eric leaned his head against the headrest of his chair, none of them aware that Damon was quietly slipped from the room.

  Opening his eyes, Eric rose to his feet to stretch. His irritated gaze falling on his Beta’s as they flipped through the photos in their hands. “Did you find it?”

  “Yes, Alpha,” Jason mumbled straitening his collection of pictures.

  “Alright, Damon, No more stall—” turning Eric was greeted by an empty space that Damon had previously occupied. Looking around the room, Eric let out a low growl. Where was that idiot now?

  * ~ * ~ *

  My feet hate me. Rebecca thought to herself as she quietly walked out of Eric’s room. After today’s long day, she was looking forward to a long hot bubble bath and crawling into her warm bed. The aching of her feet made her so happy that she was off for the next two days. Emma and Travis were spending the weekend with their grandmother so obviously Eric would have no need of her until Monday.

  Softly closing the door behind her, Rebecca was surprised when she bounced back against the door after running into a hard, warm wall in front of her, a warm wall, which came with a pair of large hands that wrapped around her arms to steady her. Looking up she was surprised to see the golden eye candy; Damon blocking her path.

  He smiled warmly down at her. “Sorry. I thought you heard me call out to you.”

  “It’s okay.” She murmured, pulling her arms from his strong hands.

  “I’m glad I caught you before you left.”

  “Why? Does Eric need something?”

  Stepping closer, Damon reached out, stroking the arch of her cheek. “Don’t worry about Eric. It’s me you should worry about.” He whispered, his face moving closer and closer toward hers.

  “Excuse me?” bewildered, Rebecca tried to put space between their bodies.

  “You’re in danger of me kissing you right now. What do you think about that?” His lips hovered a mere few inches from hers.

  Slapping her hand over his hovering mouth, Rebecca slowly pushed Damon out of her personal space. Laughing softly at his flirtatious words, she shook her head. “I think your barking up the wrong tree.” In more ways than one, wolf-boy,

  Turning his face, Damon rubbed his cheek against the palm of her extended hand, causing Rebecca to jerk it back. Planting a hand on the wall beside her head, Damon leaned dangerously close to her. “Why do you say that? Am I not your type?”

  “I don’t have a type and I don’t want to be used so you can gloat to Eric.”

  “Trust me it’s you that I am interested in, not pissing off Eric. Are you free tomorrow night?”

  Stepping around him, Rebecca turned to face him with her back to the stairs. “I’m not in a habit of dating men I just met.”

  Stepping closer to her, he reached down and took possession of one of her hands, enfolding his hands around hers. His blue eyes bore into hers, beseechingly. “Then get to know me. I know a great Italian place.”

  She shook her head, befuddled. What was it going to take for this guy to take a hint? “Damon—”

  “What’s going on here?” a rumbling voice boomed from the stairs. Startled; Rebecca jerked her hand from Damon’s loose grip and spun around, coming face to face with seething Eric standing on the top step.

  “Eric. Damon and I were just—” Before Rebecca could begin explaining the awkward situation she’d found herself in, Eric’s sharp gaze shot above her head to Damon.

  “Jason has the pictures you need. Go take a look.”

  Shrugging, Damon smiled teasingly. “I don’t need to see them. Everything looks great from what I see.” His eyes trailed over Rebecca suggestively.

  Narrowing his eyes, a low growl unwillingly tore through Eric’s throat. “Wait downstairs, Damon. Now,”

  Giving Eric a smug look, Damon made his way, slowly down the stairs. Eric’s now glowing, predatory eyes following Damon’s ev
ery step until he disappeared from sight. Moving with soft, graceful movements, Rebecca neared the steps and had almost slipped past Eric before his hand shot out toward the wall, blocking her path. His eyes flashed dangerous over her startled face. She was forced to step back as Eric advanced towards her, until she was trapped between the cool wall and Eric’s hot body.

  His chest fell and rose with his rapid breaths, his hard features seemed to be carved out of granite. “What the hell was that?”

  She shrugged her shoulders, unconcerned. “Nothing, we were just talking.”

  “Talking? Talking about what?” he asked, his voice turning stone cold serious.

  Cool and calm, Rebecca crossed her arms over the swell of her breasts, “None of your business.” She instantly felt on edge by his questioning. Why should she tell him anything? She hadn’t done anything wrong. “You’re the one that introduced me to him; it stands to reason that we would talk to one another.”

  “Listen and listen carefully, Rebecca. I don’t care what you do in your personal time, but when you are in my house you will behave as though you actually possess some doctrine. I can’t have you distracting my workers with your provocative appearance.”

  Letting out a gasp of outrage, Rebecca shoved past him. “Provocative! There is nothing provocative about my appearance. Damon came on to me not the other way around.”

  “He came on to you? How?” Eric’s wolf leapt toward the surface at her words, giving Eric barely enough time to face away from her to hide his partial shifting features and glowing eyes. His wolf was enraged that another male had dared approach her and for some reason, Eric didn’t like the idea much either.

  “Just tell me something, Eric.” She continued, her voice was soft; but strung tightly. “What is so provocative about my appearance?”