by Fawn Lowery
She felt fur beneath her palms, felt his face Change from something with soft lips to a long pointed muzzle. The strong aroma of male musk engulfed her senses as he Changed fully to wolf. She gazed upward, recognizing the large, towering form hovering so near her body.
Change, you fool!
She pulled in a deep breath and called upon the Magic, hoping she was making the right decision. It cascaded over her body, forcing her to roll from beneath Rick while her body transformed. Her limbs stretched, her head pounded, her heart raced in her chest as the Magic thundered through her body. Her senses became keen, her nose tipped in the air. The call of the wild gripped her wolf body. She glimpsed Rick in the shadowy form of wolf standing close by, sensed his nervousness—
She had a decision to make.
She pricked her ears and listened intently. She could hear his rapid panting. His long clawed feet were braced wide apart, as though ready to pounce into battle. His head was low, as though gauging his enemy and giving fair warning.
Suddenly she knew she had to run—run as fast as she could. Something terrible had taken place—the hastily conceived plan to fuck as wolves was out of the question. She loped off, springing long on her powerful hind legs. The forest was dense and she was forced to maneuver her wolf body erratically to avoid the trunks of trees. Her long claws tangled in the thick underbrush, slowing her pace and wearing on her energy level.
Her wolf instincts told her she was racing against an invisible assailant. Rick had not followed her for whatever reason. She slowed her pace, panting as she took refuge behind a giant oak tree. Aiming her keen gaze in the direction she had just come, she scanned the area in search of anything that moved.
The forest was still and silent. No movement caught her sharp eyesight. She lowered herself to the forest floor and breathed a ragged sigh.
What am I doing?
She wondered if she should find her way back to the building site and Rick. Why hadn’t he followed her?
Why did I run in the first place?
She closed her eyes and called upon the Magic. Within seconds she was Changed back to human form and sitting in the grass beneath the giant oak tree, naked. She got to her feet and started picking her way back through the woods wondering what had happened to Rick or how in hell she was going to explain why she had run the way she did.
She had no idea how far she had run, or if Rick would still be there when she found her way back. The dense growth scratched at her bare skin, scraping and making her wince. Being barefoot made it almost impossible to hurry; the underbrush harbored all sorts of animal burrows ready to turn an ankle, or make her sprawl head first on the ground.
Finally she spied the clearing through the cover of trees and pulled up short. Tipping her nose in the air, she sniffed.
He’s there.
Feeling a bit of reassurance, she forged on, picking her way through the foliage until she found the pine grove where Rick had undressed her. She located her clothes and pulled them on. Momentarily she was able to step from the cover of trees into the clearing. She detected no sign of Rick either in the pine grove—or in his car parked near the edge of the woods. She walked toward the construction site, her eyes alert for movement.
“Over here, babe.”
She jerked her head toward the sound of Rick’s voice and saw him leaning against one of the large machines on the site. He levered himself away from it and came toward her as she aimed her steps in his direction.
“What happened?” she asked.
He laughed out loud. “I thought you got cold feet and ran away.”
“I suppose I did,” she admitted, remembering the last thoughts she had before bolting.
“I’m sorry I forced you into agreeing with such a crazy scheme, babe. It won’t happen again.”
She went into his arms and hugged him close.
“I thought you had trouble changing, Rick. You were panting so loudly you scared me.”
“I was on fire for you! I could hardly stand still waiting for you to Change and then when you finally got around to it—you took off like a shot! I didn’t know whether to give chase or jack off!”
She laughed at his words. “So, since you didn’t come after me—“
“Yeah. You’re right. And I feel better now too.”
* * * *
“Where’s your fucking boyfriend?”
Janna jerked her head around at the angry voice. Nick Austin pulled up short at the side of her desk, his shirt and tie askew, his dress slacks wrinkled.
“What happened to you?” Janna asked, eyeing his disheveled state. Suddenly she remembered Rick’s answer when she asked him about Nick.
Nick combed one hand through his dark hair. His brows were drawn together across the bridge of his nose. His strong jaw was set in a steely grip.
“I spent the night in the office storeroom. You’re boyfriend tricked me. Where is he?”
Janna shook her head. Thoughts of Nick spending the night trapped inside the basement shot through her mind. It couldn’t have been pleasant. The room was small and cramped, and unpleasant on a good day. She could only imagine a man of his height trying to camp out down there until one of the employees came for paper supplies. A grin threatened her lips. She raised one hand and covered her mouth, lest Nick see her reaction and think she was in on it.
“I haven’t seen him this morning,” she replied. “Sorry.”
He gave her an angry scowl and marched off, heading in the direction of Elmer McCoy’s office. Janna watched him open the door and enter the room, puzzlement entering her mind. What did Nick think Elmer could do about Rick locking him in the storeroom for the night? Or was she on the wrong track?
She opened her purse and retrieved her cell phone. It was time she forced her father to end Nick Austin’s stay in Madison. She poked the button, turning the phone on and punched in his number.
“Janna, thank God! I’ve been trying to call you.”
“What’s wrong?” There was worry in his tone. She suddenly sat up very straight in her chair, expecting the worse.
“I don’t want to alarm you, honey, but the police found Nick Austin’s body in his house this morning. He’s been dead for almost a week.”
A cold shard of fear gripped her insides. She jerked her head toward Elmer McCoy’s office to see if the man she thought was Nick Austin was still inside.
“Are you sure, Daddy? Are the police sure?”
“Positive.”
All sorts of thoughts raced through her mind. Who was this man posing as Nick Austin?
“Janna, I don’t know—“
“I know, Daddy. Don’t worry. I’m safe, I promise. And now that I know the man here posing as Nick Austin isn’t who he says he is, I’ll be extra careful.”
“Janna, I suspect he’s the were from Dover Run. Honey, I think you’re in real danger.”
She was suddenly quite glad she was sitting down. Her knees felt like jelly. Her stomach pitched as if she was going to be sick. She swallowed to ease the sudden dryness in her mouth. Where was Rick? She needed Rick.
“I can handle it, Dad. Really. Don’t worry.”
As the words left her mouth she saw the impostor come out of Elmer McCoy’s office. He looked right at her and headed across the room toward her.
He doesn’t know that I know.
She watched Nick make his way across the newsroom. He still looked disgruntled. Apparently Elmer McCoy hadn’t helped him with his problem. Janna tried to steady her nerves as he drew closer. The stench of wolf musk was almost overpowering; he was angry beyond compare. He wanted to make Rick pay—in a dear way.
The thought jarred her reserve. What if he guessed she knew his secret? Weres were very sensitive to fear, able to sense it from some distance away. She quickly decided she should distance herself from him. In a panic, she rushed in the opposite direction, hurrying to make it to the bathroom before she threw up.
Her heart was nearly beating out of her chest when she
pushed through the door of the ladies’ restroom. She slumped against the heavy door, grateful for once that it weighed a ton and was difficult to get open as the full measure of fright hit her full force.
He came to Madison to kill me!
Chapter Eleven
Janna paced back and forth across the bathroom floor, her mind racing for a plan of action. Since she knew now that Nick Austin—the real Nick Austin—was dead back in Dover Run, she had to find a way to deal with the impostor—and stay alive.
She weighed the consequences of going to Lieutenant Barton. If she told him she knew the real Nick Austin had been murdered and that there was a man there in Madison impersonating him, with intentions of killing her, he would probably be a little suspicious.
She paced from the toilet stalls to the sink, and then back again, her face wreathed with worry. Barton hadn’t believed her theory of a werewolf committing the recent murders, so he was unlikely to believe there was a were passing himself off as her bodyguard. She tried to remember—had Barton ever seen Nick?
No, she decided. Nick hadn’t trailed her when she met with the Lieutenant so if she wanted the officer to find out who he really was, he would need to see him. She combed her fingers through her hair. Damn! She was caught between a rock and a hard place.
On the other hand, it really didn’t matter who the were was that was there to kill her—only that she foiled his plan. But how did she go about eluding him when all her wolf instincts told her he could sense her fear of him? She doubted she would be able to pretend otherwise in his presence.
She was getting a headache. She massaged her temples with her fingertips. She needed a plan—a plan to stay alive.
“Rick Sawyer.”
Rick would help her. After all, last night, he had said he loved her. Did he mean it? Would he still feel the same way this morning?
“Oh, men are so fickle.”
She strode to the door of the bathroom, her mind made up to leave the safety of the room and return to her desk. She bit on her bottom lip. Did she dare think she could act as though she didn’t know that she was in danger?
“Hell no.”
She dashed the idea. There was no sense in risking her life. She wasn’t capable of pretending all was well when it wasn’t. She needed to contact Rick. He had outsmarted Nick once and stood up to him when both men were Changed; he could beat him if it came to a showdown. She felt sure of it.
Her stomach quivered in nervousness. She had to contact Rick, enlist his help, and tell him everything. But how should she go about it? Surely Nick was back in the newsroom by now—perhaps waiting for her at her desk. If she didn’t return soon, he’d become suspicious.
“Fuck him!”
She turned to the window in the far end of the room. It opened onto the alley running behind the building. She could climb out of it and walk to Rick’s hotel room. The hotel was only four blocks away. She walked over to the window for a closer inspection. It was smaller than any windows in the building and higher. She’d need something to stand on in order to climb through it.
She heaved a long sigh. So far she’d been in the bathroom fifteen minutes and hadn’t come up with a good idea yet.
“Dammit.”
If it were closer to dusk, she’d just Change into wolf form and crash through the window. Never mind what anybody thought. She’d be long gone before anyone else even thought about checking for her in the bathroom. She realized suddenly she had left her purse at her desk. She neither had cell phone nor car keys.
She grimaced and felt a headache come full bloom. Pulling in a deep breath, she realized she had to take charge of the situation—or just go back into the newsroom and face Nick Austin the impostor. Maybe he’d kill her right there—amid the desks and gawking reporters.
It seemed anything but funny—but she was suddenly struck with the urge to laugh. What person in their right mind would believe she was a werewolf trying to escape being killed by another werewolf?
She bolstered her courage and dragged the waste can over to the wall beneath the window. Stepping one foot up on its lid, she stretched to reach the window. She twisted the lock open and gave the lower sash a hefty shove, managing to raise it only a few inches. She knew she had to Change into wolf form if she was going to escape the room and go find Rick.
She closed her eyes and called the Magic, waiting for the Change to morph her into full wolf form. She felt the heat rise within her body, felt the strange curling of her stomach muscles and eyed the transformation of her arms and hands into hairy appendages with ropy muscles and long claw-like fingers.
Within seconds the transformation was complete and she was raising the window with ease, throwing it open to accommodate her wolf body. She squeezed through and jumped to the ground below. Looking from side to side, she scanned the alleyway, finding it void of any people.
Quick as a wink, she called the transforming Magic and returned to human form. She would be able to race through the back alleys and make her way to the Madison Hotel in shorter time if she stayed in wolf form—but if someone saw her, she would be hard pressed to explain.
She hurried as fast as she could through the alley and onto the main sidewalk in front of the building housing the newspaper, turning her feet toward the upper portion of the city. She hoped Rick was still in his hotel room; it was almost ten o’clock in the morning.
Janna hurried through the lobby to the hotel elevator and rode up to the tenth floor. She hadn’t been back to Rick’s hotel room since spending the afternoon with him on the day of his exhibition game. She hoped she could find the right room. Her only memory was that the door of the room was near the elevator—and that memory was glued to her mind because he had almost undressed her in the elevator and once the doors slid open, he merely whisked her around the corner into his room.
She exited the elevator, her heart hammering in her chest. She hadn’t thought what she would do if Rick was gone. She didn’t have her cell phone or car. She went to the first door past the elevator and knocked, hoping her memory was on target.
She knocked a second time and heard a muffled voice from within.
“Rick. It’s Janna.”
The door opened suddenly and Rick stood before her, a towel riding low on his hips and water cascading across his muscular chest. He swiped one hand across his face, clearing the water from his eyes.
Oh my God!
Janna stepped into the room, her senses suddenly alive with another kind of emotion. Of all the times to interrupt Rick it had to be when he was in the shower—naked and—
“What’s up, babe? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Janna pulled up short on the far side of the room. Whirling around, she tried to steady her pulse.
“What I’m about to tell you can’t go beyond this room.”
A surprised look wreathed Rick’s face. He wiped at his face again, running his hand across his wet hair.
“Take it easy.” He crossed the room and grasp Janna by the upper arms. He pulled her against his chest, wetting her blouse. “What is it?”
His tone was blunt, his fingers applying a steady amount of pressure to her upper arms as he suddenly pushed her to arms length. He pinned his gaze on her face.
Janna began telling him about the phone call she had gotten from her father an hour ago, explaining all she knew about the man impersonating Nick Austin and his reason for being in Madison.
“He’s here to kill me, Rick. He’s here to kill me because of the articles I wrote about the murders he committed in Dover Run. And the ironic thing about it is that I never really discovered his identity.”
“He’s not going to kill you, honey. I won’t let him.”
She felt the sudden strength that gathered inside Rick—sensed the anger building just beneath that handsome polished exterior. She relaxed a bit in his capable embrace, allowing her senses to calm with the thought that there was a way out of the mess that surrounded her. She smoothed one palm across his che
st, conscious of the heat his skin emitted against her hand. There was a clean, soapy fragrance about him, a tangy shampoo scent clinging to his wet hair.
“I want you,” she suddenly breathed, tipping her head to look into his face.
He gave her a slanted smile. “Lucky for you, I’m only wearing a towel,” he remarked, pulling her tighter into his embrace. “And I can’t think of a better way to start my day than to have your sweet ass in my bed.”
She smiled up at him and lowered her hand to the wet towel draped across his hips. She ran one fingertip along the upper edge of the towel, softly touching his skin with just the edge of her nail.
“Remember what you told me last night?” she whispered, her eyes lowering to his waist.
He shivered at her touch and stared down at her, watching her caress his flesh with one fingertip.
“Remember when you said you wanted me to suck your dick?”
“Oh, yeah, I remember.” He pulled in a long breath. “Just the thought of your hot mouth clasped around my cock almost makes me cum.” He reached for the buttons on the front of her blouse, his knuckles grazing her collarbone as he began to unbutton them. “You’re wearing way too many clothes, sweetheart.”
Janna delved her fingertip inside the towel, tracing the warm skin beneath the thick terrycloth. He felt good to her touch, warm, masculine, comforting to her senses. She loved his body.
The admission nearly shook her senses to a whole new level.
I must be falling for the guy.
She poked more fingers of her hand inside the towel and then brought her other hand to the place where he had poked the end of the towel down to secure it around his hips. Releasing the tightness gathered there, she let the towel slide to the floor at his bare feet.
He sighed audibly, bringing a smile to Janna’s face.
She ran her palms down the length of his hips, onto his thighs and then around to his crotch. His erection was full, long, thick, leaving no room for wonder if he was aroused. She pulled back slightly, wanting to look at him in the daylight. And too, he needed room to maneuver her blouse off her shoulders. She pulled her arms free of the garment, her eyes remaining on his private parts.