I yelped as Sascha scooped me up, placing me on the bench again.
“I can walk,” I hissed.
“Can you?” he asked.
In all honesty? “Maybe not.”
“What compelled you to enter the river like that?”
The danger under the words was palpable. It was the first time I’d felt that danger myself.
His tone was calm, but he was not.
“Sascha—” Leroy said low.
“He went under and didn’t come up,” I replied with equal calm. “There wasn’t time to check for hazards.”
Sascha’s hands began to shake, and I jerked as his eyes flooded black.
“Andie, back up,” Mandy said.
A roar ripped from the man before me, and I screamed, tears squeezing from my eyes as I clamped either side of my face.
Crack.
I didn’t stop screaming as Sascha’s face fractured, his teeth lengthening. He slapped a hand down either side of my hips, and the bench groaned. Mandy’s warning registered, and I scrambled back, toppling over the other side of the bench as Sascha’s back curved forward, accompanied by a sickening series of pops and snaps.
“Sascha, stop!” someone yelled.
A howl went up, and I rolled onto my back, fear choking me silent as a monster leaped over the kitchen bench.
The huge—gigantic—wolf stalked to me on all fours, padding steps heavy and precise. Standing over me, the wolf lowered its head to mine, and I choked back a sob, tears falling freely as its hot breath hit my face.
“Andie,” Mandy hushed. “Don’t move.”
No fucking shit.
I screamed again as the dark brown wolf snarled, his fangs snapping an inch from my face. I turned my head from the savage honey eyes, waiting for death.
Instead, a rumble that was half growl and half whine met my ears. A paw the size of my head draped across my chest.
A huff and a thud. The wolf pressed his side against mine, his other paw above my head.
I was pinned in place, frozen beneath a monster.
The wolf rested his fucking massive head next to mine, a low warning growl rumbling from him.
I kept entirely still, staring at Mandy over his head for a clue of what to do.
“Just stay still,” Hairy said.
Oh, cool. That didn’t fucking occur to me.
I wheezed. His leg was heavy as shit. “Get. Him. Off.”
The wolf shifted his paw over my mouth and face. No way. I tried to push it off, and my arms shook with the effort.
Leroy crouched. “He’s just… reassuring himself. I think.”
Sascha’s low growl got louder.
“You better be messing with me,” I said, my voice muffled under the paw.
The wolf wasn’t going anywhere. I sagged against the ground that would be cold except for the sauna of a beast next to me.
I shivered, and felt his tail twitch, coming to rest over my feet.
“Hey,” I mumbled, nose twitching under the coarse texture of his foot pads—or whatever they were called. “You need to… un-fur yourself.”
The paw slid off my face and I glared as the wolf lifted its head, lazily regarding me.
Did the black only show between forms?
“You’re heavy.” I grunted and tried to wiggle out.
He leaned his weight onto me until I stopped.
I licked my lips. “Please get off. I’m scared.”
The wolf lowered its head again. Heat crept over my jaw, and I whacked his side eliciting a gasp from an onlooker.
“I didn’t nearly drown to be crushed by a werewolf. Get the fuck off now.”
The wolf was up in a beat, snarling down at me. I shouted wordlessly in his face, shoving at his huge shoulders.
I crouched, facing off with him. “You have not had a worse day than me. So try it, Greyson! I will take you out.”
A chuffing noise shook him.
“If that’s laughter, I’m warning you this is not the time,” I seethed, trying to stand.
Oh, dizzy.
Not good.
I sank forward, my grip on his fur now a clutch instead of a shove. Blood pounded in my ears as my head thumped forward against his snout.
Another gasp from those watching.
“Her mouth is at his throat.”
“I don’t feel good,” I slurred, listing.
Strong arms caught me before my head hit the ground. My head lolled and a whimper left my lips.
Lips pressed against my temple.
I regarded the man cradling me to his wide—and entirely naked—chest. Honey burned into me, and my eyelids felt unbearably heavy as a foreign warmth poured into me.
“You should show more fear around my wolf,” Sascha whispered against my ear.
Drowning could make a gal feisty. “Some warning would have been nice.”
He pressed his lips together. “Looks like the truth is out between us, little bird.”
I’d show him a bird.
… When I could operate my body.
I woke.
The darkness of the cabin brought cold last moments in the river rushing back. Breathing in, I played the memory through from sprinting down the beach to losing consciousness. Nothing good came from burying that shit.
At least I felt marginally less drowned, though my stomach was eating itself.
The door swung open, and Sascha strode in, a food tray in hand.
My chest seized, heart sputtering as I recalled the dark-brown beast.
“How long was I out?” I sat, staring at the furs covering the gigantic bed.
“An hour,” he replied.
I wasn’t in the same clothing. “Who changed me?”
“Mandy.”
“Still not cool with that. Don’t do it again.”
“Don’t drown yourself again, and we have a deal.”
I thumped the bed with a fist. “That’s exactly what I set out to do this morning; drown myself.”
Sascha set the tray on a low table at the far end of the dark-wood cabin. The bifold doors were opened wide and light streamed in, displaying the stream outside and a curtain of trees. This room was a bedroom and lounge all in one.
I ignored how insanely picturesque the setting was.
Wincing, I shuffled to the edge of the bed. Wisely, wolfman didn’t attempt to help.
“Is this your bed?” I grumbled.
“It is.”
Great. “Does this tent-like excuse for a T-shirt belong to you?’
“It does.”
I closed my eyes. “What’s going on?”
Sascha crossed the room and rested a hand on my shoulder. “Please eat something first.”
My glare was murderous. He cocked a brow, lips twitching.
“Eat,” the werewolf said. “And we’ll talk.”
When he brushed my cheek, I batted his hand away.
A grin. Bastard.
Sascha Greyson, barefoot, shirtless, and clad in dark jeans, settled into one of the wicker chairs in front of the food tray.
My stomach growled again, and I caught his gleaming enquiry. How are you going to play this?
With my foot up his ass, that’s how.
I inhaled, pushing aside how much of a screw up this was on my part. And now, Sascha wanted to talk. I’d watched Herc verbally spar with this guy for two hours on Thursday. I had no chance.
I was… dog food.
I snorted, testing my legs before forcing them to carry me to the empty chair.
“You’ll feel stronger after eating,” Sascha said.
“Twenty-one years of living has certainly showed me that.” I studied the platter.
Bread. Cheese. I took some of each.
Oh. My. God.
Corrie’s Chocolate Chip Chocos!
I dropped the bread and cheese, filling my hands with the cookies. I crammed one in my mouth, feeling the weight of Sascha’s gaze on me.
Slowing my cookie massacre, I shuffled back i
n the wicker chair, curling my legs under me. The T-shirt covered most of my legs. I dropped the treats onto my lap.
“Eat as much as you want,” Sascha said, breath hitching.
I shot him a suspicious look. “Why?”
His expression closed off. “Because you saved one of our cubs. We treasure our young. Food is a poor repayment, but it’s all I can offer.”
A dark undercurrent grated his words.
“Because I’m related to the Thanas?” I asked, biting into another choco.
Sascha fixed me with a veiled look. “Yes.”
Did that decision come from him or the pack? And what could have been offered to me otherwise? Herc remarked that the casino offered a slice of werewolf hierarchy to study. I had to wonder if that was the case. In the kitchen before, the other Luthers behaved with complete deference to Sascha’s wolf. They didn’t dare approach.
In two-legged form, could the pack outvote Sascha? Did he need to move politically and pick his battles then?
Maybe we shouldn’t assume there was just one set of rules for the Luthers.
Finishing the last choco, I reached for some bread and cheese. Sascha darted forward, holding out both. Shooting him a look, I selected different pieces.
His expression was unfathomable as he replaced both on the tray.
“You’re not telling me everything.” Something more was happening here. “Werewolf existence aside, what’s with the other stuff?”
“Like?” He cocked his head, reminding me of the dark-brown wolf. My mind stalled as I recalled my terror when he shifted to that thing and stood over me.
Me.
No one else.
Me.
Leroy had said Sascha was reassuring himself, but why would he need to do that?
“Don’t be obtuse,” I said with a bite. “Twice, I had those drop attacks in your presence. Your eyes have turned black several times around me. Then before—”
“When did my eyes first turn black?” he interrupted, leaning forward.
Excluding the time that I wrote it off. “That day in your office.”
I broke eye contact, nibbling at the cheese.
“I see. My mistake. I don’t usually slip like that.”
“Yeah, the guy who just made you orgasm is actually a werewolf. Oh, werewolves exist by the way. That was a shit day.”
Sascha stilled. “You didn’t know what I was prior to that?”
“Stop changing the subject.”
His focus lingered on my lips. “You’re very demanding.”
“I thought I died in the river. Then a wolf erupted in my face. I’m not in the mood for games, Sascha. If you don’t want to explain what’s happening, that’s fine. But I’d rather leave if that’s the case.”
The wicker chair barely accommodated him. The werewolf widened his thighs, running his thumb over his lower lip. “That’s the first time you’ve used my name.”
I shifted my gaze from that little show, tearing at the bread. “Probably because you told me another name. Trying to keep your stripper life from your personal life or something?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Essentially.”
Good for him. “Last chance. Explain or I’m outta here.”
Sascha’s face worked. “My wolf is fixated on you,” he said eventually.
“What does that mean?”
“I’m unsure. Werewolves don’t usually go for humans. No one in my pack has any experience with such a thing.”
That answered one of my questions about their kind. They tended to stick to relationships with each other. I wonder if the pack and Sascha viewed this fixation with the same disgust I did. “How did this happen?”
He surveyed me in silence.
I waited.
“I smelled you,” Sascha said gruffly.
My brows shot into the stratosphere never to be seen again. “What?”
“The night in the forest. I thought you were a steward. Then our scents met. My wolf recognised you as a good match for—”
“For what?” I asked dangerously.
Credit to him, that tone would have scared hardened drug lords.
“Breeding.” His lip curled.
Did he enjoy pissing me off? I was starting to think yes.
This officially just catapulted past the scream and run stage. I glanced at the door.
He spoke again. “If you were a wolf, you would have felt a similar drive toward me at that point.”
“Just like that, huh?” Arrogant much?
“Yes.”
Really? Was that a chemical werewolf thing?
I recalled the sudden change in his behaviour. He’d gone from trapping me, to offering his hand, to pleading in the space of ten seconds. “That’s why you tried to free me from the trap.”
The werewolf lowered his chin, gaze raking the bottom hem of the T-shirt I wore.
I couldn’t linger. Not with this breeding shit on the table. “Just so you know, I thought you were a serial killer that night. You should work on your entrance with any scents you meet in the future.”
Whatever scents meeting even meant. “In the bar that first time, did you already know who I was?”
“Your smell is unmistakeable. To me.”
Like in a compost kind of way? I scratched my cheek. “Uh, okay. So, the first drop attack I had.”
“Our eyes met for the first time.”
I pressed my lips together, but his solemn expression didn’t waver.
We weren’t going to discuss how romcom that sounded?
Okay.
“You did react that time,” Sascha said. “But not in the usual way. The female normally enters into a heat that ensnares the male.”
I choked on a mouthful of bread. Swallowing hard, I thumped my chest. “What the fuck is a heat?”
Amusement. “Exactly what you’d imagine. The couple is usually mindless for a time.”
Sex for days on end? That’s what he meant? Those words weren’t leaving the hole I called a mouth. “In your office when I had the second drop attack, what met then?”
“We touched for the first time.”
I shook my head. “Not true. You’d touched me before and after without any problem.”
“Keeping track, were you?”
My glare was answer enough.
“The touch has to be wilful on both sides. That was the first time you chose to touch me.”
He’d intercepted the movement, pressing his palm to mine. I stared, waiting for the punchline. “You did that knowing I had no idea about this.”
He held my gaze with unwavering regard. “In the interest of transparency, you should know that it’s impossible to resist the breeding call. It must be obeyed.”
Breeding call. Nope. No way.
“This girl ain’t breeding,” I said. “Unless you want your dick chopped off, bury that call double time.”
I stood, brushing off the T-shirt.
“The heat is controlled by the female, Andie. The male is a slave to it, but sex doesn’t occur without her permission. You, of course, weren’t aware of the ins and outs of the heat that day in the office. That was my fault and I’m sorry for letting the situation spin out of control.”
A big fucking mistake. My voice shook. “Where are my clothes?”
He followed after me. “You hadn’t reacted with a heat after the first two meets. When you did on the third occasion, it took me by surprise. I’d never experienced one either. Before I recognised the signs, you’d ensnared me.”
My cheeks flamed. The heat thing made me sound like an animal. “My clothes, Sascha.”
“They’re drying.”
I whirled. “Where’s my car?”
He watched, maintaining his distance. Knowing he did that to put me at ease only spurred my fury to new heights.
“I had two of my betas collect your belongings from the river. I’ll tell you where your car is when we’re done talking.”
“This conversation is over.”
Wow, the breeding call did not make him smart. “Is that so?”
If I had claws, they’d be extending right… about… now.
His eyes narrowed and the Luther remained silent. I strode to the bedroom door, yanking it open.
“I can’t fight the breeding call, Andie,” Sascha spoke to my rigid back. “I have to continue with the meets. Believe me, doing so makes no sense for my situation either. I’ve tried and failed to keep it at bay. Believe me.”
“Try Just a Little Bit Harder.” I hissed the reminder, stalking from the room.
He followed me, new urgency in his tone. “The capture meet is next. If you don’t want to talk about what’s happening, then consider this your warning. My wolf has started stalking you, and I have no idea when he’ll make a move.”
My head panged with the beginnings of a hellish headache.
This was all just too much. “Please, Sascha. Just stay away from me.”
20
I startled awake at a quiet knock.
Stumbling from bed, I straightened my tank and pyjama shorts before peering through the peek hole.
Wade.
I yanked open the door, and he took me in.
“What the hell happened to you?”
Did I look like roadkill? That’s what I felt like. “Drowned.”
He laughed, then stopped at my expression. “Are you serious?”
“Yep. Didn’t feel great.”
He gripped my forearms. “Honey, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but please don’t call me honey.” That reminded me of one thing and one thing only.
Wade’s brows shot up. “Noted.”
He walked me back and sat me down, moving to switch on the kettle before pulling out a small black device.
Pressing the side of the device, he set it in the middle of the table. “We’re good to talk if we keep our voices low.”
I craned to see. “What is that?”
“Frequency generator.”
I want one.
Settling back, I pondered how much to tell Wade. The fact—the huge fact—remained that having any connection to Sascha Greyson looked terrible—a sexual connection was worse still. The thought of telling Herc that Sascha was experiencing a breeding call for me, that I’d gone into heat in The Dens, that Sascha’s behaviour couldn’t apparently be stopped… made me want to shrivel and die.
Shifter Wars: Supernatural Battle (Werewolf Dens Book 1) Page 21