It was crazy, it was so crazy. I already knew that I wanted to accept that proposal from him. I was supposed to hate him, but as I spotted a strange glow run across his eyes again, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t hate him. I didn’t even know him, and yet I couldn’t reject him.
He reached his hands out to me. “It’s not a human thing. I’m not supposed to feel this, it should be ignored.” His eyes drifted to me almost in a drunken stupor.
“What is this feeling?” I asked him shaking my head.
“The call.” He took a deep breath. “You’re marked as my mate, Roxie. It’s another reason I can’t deny you to see . . . .me. Not the dashing hero. Just, me.”
My eyes did not linger on his much longer. “This, is this the feeling? The X, is he further away?”
Hero looked beside him. From outside of the door, Greg waved. “It’s not scent. He’s still annoyingly close.”
“No, it’s not scent at all.” Greg pushed his glasses up as he looked in toward me. “I could go a good ten miles away, really with no problem between you two.”
“Just stay around here outside,” Hero answered as he tucked himself past Roxie. “I want to discuss some instinct things with Roxie Malone.”
I watched him close the door on Greg. “I have to know what you want,” he said almost straining. “Do you want to try to learn to take control? Do you want Greg to marry you? Or do you want me to? Those facts can’t change.”
“Ah.” I put my purse on the couch behind me. “This calling between us, it makes it harder to think straight,” I answered truthfully. “I kind of hate you, but now, I kind of don’t. Can’t we just . . .” I gestured outside. “Pay Greg the rest of his life to be near me?” The joke didn’t get any laugh.
“I know it’s cold.” He rubbed his tongue against his front left tooth. “I was never lying, Roxie. As much as I want to be here to make sure no one hurts you, and keep coming to save the day, I can’t.”
“If something happens, I won’t blame you.”
“It’s not just that.” He gulped. “I have so many things I have to do all the time. Do you know how often someone is in trouble? From a simple purse robbing to helping retrieve others during forest fires, hurricanes, stopping projects, everything, I do everything that I can.” He let out a small cough. “One emergency falls off balance when you’re attacked and I won’t discover you in a good spot.”
I lowered my head.
“You’ll be taken savagely, Roxie, I can’t stress it enough.” I felt his hand touch my head. “Maybe marriage won’t be as bad as we both thought.”
Chapter 8: She Still Hungers For It
~Hero~
I waited for some kind of response. I had to get a yes, I was more determined than ever not to leave her to wander out there as some luscious desert for the projects.
“The place is nice.” Roxie’s voice shifted, more sultry in my ears. “There’s even an upstairs. Did my luggage make it here too?”
“Yes, everything should be put away.”
“Do you want to check with me?”
Okay, that was a strange request, but I didn’t care. Roxie was calling to me in every way possible.
I went upstairs and looked over at the bed. Decorated in lavished red silk sheets with tigers on it. Ooh, I saw visions of grabbing her and throwing her down onto that bedding. Oh, where was that coming from? Why couldn’t I just leave? She needed rest and then she’d meet with her parents tomorrow to discuss things. Hopefully they could change her mind. Tomorrow morning.
Her parents wouldn't return until morning. Hours away. There were few who even knew I was here. If I was with her, I could have her all night. In my arms. No dirty alley, no restaurant table. On that bed.
I should not be thinking about that. I remembered. I remembered her touch again, which meant I was slipping.
“You feel so familiar to me.” Roxie reached out and touched my arm. “Is it because of you being a project wolf? I would have only been maybe three or so? I don't remember anything. Where are these feelings coming from?”
I should remove her arm. Tell her to back up, but I gave her plenty of warnings. “I have an overwhelming urge to be with you and vice versa.” There, I said it. I knew it.
“Be with me?” Roxie stroked his arm. “How?”
“Gee, what's going through your mind right now?” My voice growled with anger, but I scooted toward her, bringing my arms to her. “That feeling, what is it? What fantasies are running inside? Me grabbing you and throwing you on your bed, getting as primal with you as your bedding portrays?” Half anger, half aroused, I couldn't help himself. “Why couldn't you stay away?”
“I just can't.” Roxie's mouth fell open. “I can't explain it, I just,-the restaurant and the alley.” Her eyes were becoming dazed. “That feeling, it’s indescribable. Why do I keep forgetting it?”
I stopped her babbling with a kiss, and then pulled back. “See? See how intense?” I covered my nose. What the hell, wasn’t there supposed to be something to stop . . . something? “Just get in bed, so I can get out of here already.”
Roxie rubbed her mouth. “I can't go to bed in my clothes.”
“Then change.” I turned, willing myself to look at the wall. Seeing all the natural animal spots on the wall was not helping. Why did the damn decorators have to go with a nature theme? I heard the closet door open. I should leave the room, it would have made things easier. Why didn't I do that? She never asked either, that wasn't a good sign. Neither were those words. Restaurant and alley, she was remembering and slipping like me. She would be in less control than I, I needed to stay strong. I needed to protect her, nothing else. Wolf, I should change into a wolf. That would put some dissonance between us. Then again, what if something happened and I had to change to my human form?
Looking for something else to stare at, I looked at her nightstand. Nothing but animal magazines. Damn it, more primal nature? I spread my hands through them, picking one up. Maybe a simple article about pollution and its effects on animals.
Nope, I found an article on lion mating. Reading it didn't help things. I was going to turn primal soon, I knew I would. I had hung on for so long, but she needed to hurry it up so I could get out.
“Okay.”
I turned around and saw her. She was wearing red lingerie with spaghetti straps. It looked silky, velvet. Soft to the touch. She approached me.
“I'll get in bed now,” she said. “Will I see you again?”
“I uh . . . uh . . .” I couldn't say much. I was already rock hard, saying sentences at this point was beyond my capability. “Hopefully. I mean.”
“Oh.” She reached out for a quick hug. “I am going to miss you. Tonight. I wish you’d stay.”
My breathing was getting heavy, as well as hers. Get out. Leave. My hands felt her lingerie. So soft, with such tender skin hiding beneath it. My fingers kept fondling her strap, in and out. “Roxie, you are killing me.”
“You're killing me more,” she whined. She reached onto me harder. “Stay.”
“No, I can't.” I needed to regain control. “What are you doing wearing this? These aren't pajamas.”
“They feel good against my skin.” She rubbed her cheek against my neck. “I don't like any guys at school, but I need to feel. I've been wearing it more than ever lately. Ever since the restaurant and the alley. I never remember it until I’m around you.” Her eyes lingered on me like a hungry tiger. “Even when I don’t remember, I still hunger for it.”
“How?” Not words I should have asked, but they just fell out. She grabbed one of my hands and rubbed the silky texture between her legs. As she kept up the motion, I moved my hands back and forth on her straps. She kept rubbing between, but her other hand slowly moved her lingerie away.
Feeling her bare inside, I couldn't take it. I swore I wouldn't do it, and oh how I tried.
When she slid off the two straps, the only thing holding clothes on her, I couldn't take it. Her body was completely naked.
She pushed against me, and I pushed her bedding to the side.
I grabbed her and swung her into the bedding. I unbuttoned my shirt while she worked on my belt. No one was beating down a door or there to stop us. “I just can’t get you out of my mind. I get so insane, I need to have you.”
“Ex the sanity, I just want you,” purred Roxie.
Ex . . .X . . . “X!” All at once, I came back to my senses. This time though, I had full recollection of what had happened. I moved away quickly and looked outside.
I didn’t see the X.
“Fucking shit.” I grabbed my head. I had paid Greg a ton of money, and he was getting a ton more. He would not just take off without trouble. “Other projects.” That had to be it. I heard Roxie calling me to the bed, but I knew the different between right and wrong now. I leaped out of the second story window with a hard bound and took off, picking up the light scent of Greg.
Too close. That was too fucking close.
Roxie
What just happened? How could he leave me in this state? I moaned as I curled myself up, needing more of him. It wasn’t fair. These were the only times I was able to remember the truth between us.
“Hey there, Roxie. How are you again?”
I looked to the window and saw a brown wolf leap into the room. My body was in lust and hard to control but I had curled up enough that he couldn’t see my essentials. “I want Hero.”
“Don’t worry about him.” The gray wolf came over to me and transformed. “We already saw him once before. That was enough to see his fighting moves up close. It’ll be harder to get the drop on me.”
I knew that guy. “Jason.” He tried to touch me, but my lust dimmed quickly. I moved away, trying to cover up. “Hero,” I hissed at him. I didn’t know how, but I’d figure it out later.
“Come on, Roxie Malone.” He tried to touch me again. “Greg might be able to let you go, but I can’t. Do you know how important you are? The last of your kind, and I don’t mean some lousy Z.”
“Only Hero touches me,” I growled through my teeth. A thousand times over, only Hero.
Luckily, my mate came in his wolf form and slammed him on the side, knocking him off. Oh, Hero. I tried to hold him next to me again, but he just looked at me strangely before looking back at the ridiculous gray wolf.
“You’re the other X.” Hero growled as he moved away. He only glanced back at me once before paying attention to his enemy again. “What is she? Don’t play stupid, I heard you. If she were Z, she would have been all over you since I warmed her up.” His voice was strained. “She rejected you, why? Why did you call her pure?”
The X growled back and switched to his wolf form too. “Give her to me, or be prepared to know the truth. Prepare for the whole world to know the truth about us projects.”
“That we have alien DNA. That aliens exist,” Hero said. “It may be a big surprise, but they should be fine.”
“Not once they know about the complete truth.”
“The what?” Hero’s ears folded back on his head. “What real one?”
“Give her to me. This is your last chance you betraying project,” he yelled before howling. “All you’ve ever done is kill your own kind. Just because you lust for her now, doesn’t mean that ‘human’ side of you won’t trigger you to kill her later.”
“Never,” he said firmly. “I would never let Roxie Malone get hurt.”
“Oh yeah?” The wolf chuckled and leaped for the window. “By the time everyone learns the truth, you’ll have to make that choice.”
I tried to hold onto my Hero again, now that the other wolf Jason was gone.
“A Z goes for everyone.” Hero looked at me again, questions filled his eyes. “You only wanted me. Why?” Why wouldn’t I only want him? He backed away from me. “Roxie Malone, what are you?” He growled at me. “Don’t tell me, not now. Don’t tell me you are nothing but a trap for me?”
I wanted to hold him, comfort him. Love him, but he just stared at me. He looked at me like I was no longer his mate.
“Are you nothing but a trap for me, Roxie Malone?” His eyes, so hurt. “You lost your memories of the other times. Our first kiss you remember, it was on the dance hall floor.” I did not know how to comfort him. He stood high on his haunches by the window. “I don’t know. The fact stands that I do not know enough but I will not risk your life.” Before he jumped out, he looked at me once more. “ . . . what am I doing?”
“Jumping out my window?”
He blinked and stared at me on the bed. “Shit. Where’s the X?” He took off out the window, leaving me there. No longer feeling his presence, I huddled back into my sheets. Until the next time, my white wolf.
I cried, curling myself up and biting my lip in disgust. I don’t go to bed in lingerie, yet there I was, in lingerie. I didn’t remember how the night ended. I don’t even remember saying goodnight to Hero, which meant it happened. I must have had sex again, and yet, I could not remember. Hero was nowhere near there. The X wasn’t strong enough. Maybe he only had so much power?
I really did have no choice. That proposal was a must, or for the rest of my life, I would never remember these moments. I just wish there was a way to call Hero without scaring him with the brooch. I tried to keep my crying from getting too loud, but I grabbed the lamp beside the bed and threw it. It wasn’t fair.
Then, I heard it. There was a shuffling by the window. I kept the blanket near to me. “H-Hero?”
He poked his head in, in his wolf form. “Roxie.” His voice was certainly hurt. “Greg took off, he was scared by another wolf he said. He’s back, below.” He shuffled out of view again. “I’m sorry. I just meant to walk you home.”
Oh. Yeah. What was I supposed to say?
“Wimp got scared. Apparently projects followed and instead of getting me, his instinct said flee.” I heard a small scuffle outside. “He was wrong about the ten miles, more like five blocks. I’m sorry, Roxie. Everything’s okay though, it was stopped.”
Stopped, but barely. I was in my bed in lingerie, and he was gone. “I think maybe no.” I cleared my throat.
“Maybe no what?” Hero pushed his head back in.
“Maybe no to the marriage.” I bit my lip. “You’re a good guy, I mean you are an Adventurer, but every time you are around me? You just become a-“ I couldn’t say it. I was just as bad. “We both just become villains to each other.”
He stuck his head back out. “I know it’s risky. I know it’s not great waking up finding out that-“
“I may or may not have had sex?” I finished for him. I squeezed my sheets. “The X can control himself. If I just make sure I don’t have children, then it shouldn’t be a problem. I’d call you if something happened, but it would be less frequently.”
He shoved his head back in, his teeth bared. “Great, and if something happens afterward? I’d be sleeping with a married woman.”
“Well, what do you want?” I shouted back before covering my head with the pillow. ”If I marry you, how many times would things happen before I remember? Are you sure we’d ever remember?”
“I think so. This is just a maturity phase.”
Think wasn’t good enough. I brought my head back and wiped my eyes, careful to manipulate the sheets so my body wasn’t seen. Lingerie or not, I didn’t want to trigger him. “If I marry Greg, I could go back to school safely. See my friends. See my family.”
“He can’t be around you forever,” Hero warned me. I heard a strange sound, like a high-pitched whine. ”If anything happened to you, I couldn’t take it. You, Roxie, you’re the only female project out there that isn’t some bloodthirsty animal.”
“Greg is good too,” I reminded him. “We could all be friends.”
“I don’t make friends.” I heard a deep seeded growl. “Our date is scheduled tomorrow; you can’t cancel on the press. In the meantime, I’ll talk to Greg and see what he says. I’ll see you tomorrow, Roxie.” I heard him leave the roof and the sound of four feet
running down the street. He was gone.
Chapter 9: His Name Will Be Hero
~Hero~
“If you can’t get it exact, then you can’t help,” I threatened Greg as he tried to adjust my tie. I watched Bose come into the room giving me an odd eye. “What?” He gestured to Greg who had been trying to get the tie just right.
“Just a few little adjustments. There.” Greg looked at his handiwork. “Perfect.”
Finally. Guy was such a perfectionist. Bose eyed me again. “What already?” He looked toward Greg. Getting the hint, Greg tipped his head and waited outside the door.
“Hero,” Bose strolled over to me, “I am glad to see you are making a friend, but you have to be careful.”
“Friend? I don’t make friends with projects,” I answered back. “Really.”
“A good project? You fell in love with one, I know you can be friends with another.”
“I didn’t fall in love.” I turned away, ducking him. “They are both just projects, nothing more or less, just ones I don’t have to kill.”
“I’m just saying.” Bose looked toward the door where Greg was standing. “Watch out.” He headed out the door and Greg came back in.
“So?” Greg tapped his foot slightly. “What was that about?”
“Nothing,” I uttered. “Bose just thinks you know something else you aren’t telling me.”
“Oh? What do you think?”
“I don’t know, but I will find out.” I fixed my cuffs up as straight as I could. I still needed to go over the Roxie situation, and I did not want to. Greg was a wolf that survived because he never drew attention. He didn’t fight. If anything happened to Roxie, he wouldn’t fight for her. How could he protect her? How could she want to choose him over the safety of me? I had the money to provide security, the strength to keep her safe, and even the means to make her dreams come true. Famous celebrities, visits to anywhere in the world. I’d get her anything I could, and she’d pick the shrimpy X. Why?
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