A Wolf's Duty (4 page)

The pleading
tone of her voice tugged at his heart and he had to resist the urge
to rub his chest in a futile attempt to relieve the pain. Over the
years he had come to realise that this type of pain wasn’t his own
and there was nothing he could do to relieve it until now.
I can’t refuse my mate, especially when she asks
like that.

“I’ll do it.”

“You will?” Her voice held
a tone of disbelief, but at his confirming nod the relief that
surged through her caused her to do something completely out of
character; she hugged him.

Momentarily shocked at her
outward display of affection, it took Tobias a moment to respond
but he soon eased his arms around her smaller frame and savoured
the inner peace her proximity gave him. “I said I’ll do it, but I
won’t do it for nothing.”

The moment
broken Alex began to struggle against his grip, before he
reluctantly released her.
What the hell is
wrong with me? I hugged him; he’s a stranger!
she mentally scolded; ignoring the momentary sense of security
she had gained within his embrace.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t
pay you to do this, I've only got enough for the drinks. I can’t
give you anything on top to do this for me. I'm sorry but I just
can't afford it.”

He smiled at her and Alex
felt her skin flush with heat. “I don’t need your
money.”

“Then what do you
want?”

Closing the distance
between them, he cupped her chin and raised her face upwards to
meet his gaze. Her throat dried at the intense look in his stormy
eyes and she felt compelled to lick her lips, in anticipation or
fear she couldn’t be certain.

Watching the
unconscious movement of her tongue, Tobias felt compelled to lean
closer before he suddenly stopped. She’s
not one of us, if I do this now, I’ll scare her away.
Shaking his head to clear the fog of desire he
swallowed and rediscovered his voice. “Time. I want some of your
time.”

Her eyes narrowed in
suspicion. “And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“It means, I’ll buy what
you want me to and in exchange we’ll spend some time
together.”

“You mean like a
date?”

She hadn’t thought it
possible, but his smile became even brighter and the butterflies
multiplied correspondingly. “Yes, like a date.”

“A date with you and me?”
She swallowed.

“Yes.”

“I don’t know
you.”

“That’s exactly why we’re
going on a date.”

He’s got me
there, but Fred will never allow it and I don’t know anything about
him except his name and even that could be a lie... I need to buy
the drinks otherwise Fred will beat me again and I can’t take
another one.
She bit her bottom lip in a
nervous habit as she tried to come up with a solution, while Tobias
watched on calmly.

She’s got to
stop doing that otherwise I’ll have to kiss her,
he thought, watching her continue to gnash
away.

I’ll do
it,
she concluded.
Fred doesn’t know I have tomorrow off and this guy has no
means of contacting me so if I don’t want to go then I
won’t.
“Fine, it’s a deal. A date for the
alcohol.”

“Good,” he beamed.
“There’s a small cafe on the corner of this street, will you meet
me there for breakfast?” She nodded and he removed his fingers from
her face. She almost whimpered at the loss before she reined
herself in. “Ten o’clock?”

That’s the
time I’m meant to be in at work, Fred will never even guess that
I’m not where I’m supposed to be.
“Yeah,
ten will be fine.”

Nodding his head in
agreement, he stepped away from her and turned his head in the
direction of the store. “So what do you need?”

“I need a few bottles of
vodka, the good stuff. Some beer, and another few bottles of
whiskey if they have it, oh and some Irish cream.”

“That’s a fairly strong
list of drinks. If you drunk any of that you’d get drunk very, very
quickly and then it would be easy for someone to take advantage of
you.”

“Like I said,
it’s not for me. Will you do it or not?” she snapped, becoming
increasingly aware of the time.
If I run,
I can make it.

“Of course I’ll do it. I’m
looking forward to spending time with you tomorrow. Wait here in
the light. I’ll be back in a second.” He turned from her and began
striding towards the off licence.

“Hey!” she called, causing
him to turn around. “Don’t you want some money to pay for
it?”

“Like I said, I don’t need
your money, keep it and do something nice for yourself.” He turned
again and entered the store.

As she watched
him walk away her eyes unconsciously ran over his frame
appraisingly. His shoulders were broad and his upper body heavily
muscled, which explained why she had thought she’d ran into a wall
when they first met. His legs were long and easily covered the
distance between her and the store. Watching him walk she came to
the conclusion that he didn’t actually walk, his movements were
something all together different. He moved as though he were
hunting something. His every action seemingly directed towards a
distinct end. And as he strode back to her, his smile filling her
with nervous energy, she got the distinct feeling that she was
prey, though she couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or
not.
What have I gotten myself
into?
she gulped.

Chapter
Four

The bottles clinked gently
against each other as Alex ran home, her grip on the bags tightened
as she approached the house and saw that the lights were on,
slowing her a pace to crawl.

Crap crap
crap! I’m late.
Fighting her rising panic
she quickly inhaled a calming breath.
He’s
got his drinking friends round he doesn’t usually do anything in
front of them. I’ll just have to take a chance.

Entering her house she
quickly moved to the living room, where judging from the loud
noises, her father and his friends were. She hovered in the doorway
as she looked at her living room. The cramped room appeared even
more so with three of her father’s equally large buddies sitting on
the battered furniture. The volume on the small TV was turned up to
its highest level as they watched a sporting event for
entertainment before the drinks arrived. Although judging by the
smell, they had already consumed a large amount. Her father was
unfortunately not the first person to notice her arrival and she
shuddered as Sean’s eyes roamed over her. Sean had a very similar
build to that of her father, with a large protruding stomach. His
dirty blond hair was plastered to his scalp and his cheeks had
taken on a distinct redness.

If Fred had a best friend
then Sean would have been it, they were eerily similar in their
behaviour, but that wasn’t what had her on edge. It was the way he
looked at her that made her skin crawl and knowing that he would be
drinking the large amount of alcohol she had just bought made her
visibly shudder. When drunk he seemed to have very little
understanding of personal space and acceptable boundaries, the one
time she had been stupid enough to leave the safety of her room and
venture out while her father entertained his drunk friends had been
when her mother was still alive. She could still remember the look
of desire that had made his blue eyes seemed crazed, though she was
young, she had known something bad was about to happen. Luckily
Natasha had come across her before anything had happened, but there
was no Natasha to protect her from him anymore and so she had
learnt to stay out of the way. She had learned from her mother that
Sean was initially a friend of hers and had introduced her to Fred
and for that she could never forgive him even if he weren’t looking
at her like the best item on the menu.

“Alex,” Sean smiled, “it’s
so good to see you. It’s been a while hasn’t it?”

Choosing silence she
simply nodded and hoped he would grow bored soon.

“But look at how you’ve
grown.” He stood up and walked over to her, draping an arm over her
shoulder.

Don’t do
anything stupid,
she warned herself.
Fred might not usually do anything in front of
these guys but I’m willing to bet the money that Tobias just saved
me that if I hurt Sean he’ll won’t stay peaceful for
long.

“The brat hasn’t grown
any,” Fred inserted, his comment giving Alex the excuse she needed
to move away from Sean.

“Maybe you’re just not
seeing what I see.” His eyes dropped from her face and came to land
on her chest.

She stopped herself from
raising her hands to cover herself, instead turning to her
father.

“Where the hell have you
been? We’ve been waiting for you.”

She looked at the clock on
the wall and saw that she was only a few minutes late, but chose
not to correct him. “I had to go to a different off licence, the
one nearby wouldn’t sell me anything. But I got what you asked for
eventually,” she lied smoothly, placing the bags on the small
table.

“Vodka?” Was Fred’s only
response to her statement.

“Yes, the good stuff and
some whiskey as well.”

“Change?”

“No, it was more expensive
that it usually is.”

He snorted, reaching for a
bottle and she took that as a cue to leave them. Turning from him,
she was disconcerted to find Sean blocking her path.

“Why don’t you join us
Alex? You’re old enough to enjoy the stuff now.”

Her eyes
widened as Tobias’ words came rushing back to her.
It would be easy for someone to take advantage of
you
. As soon as his words floated through
her mind, defiance filled her.
Never!
“I don’t feel very well.” She
clutched her stomach for effect. “I’m having a few female problems
at the moment. So I’m just going to go to sleep for the night.
Besides, I’ve got work tomorrow.”

Side stepping him she
rushed to her bedroom and closed the door wishing that Fred wasn’t
so adverse to locks inside his house. Exhaling a heavy sigh she
took a quick look around her room, noting that it hadn’t really
changed since her childhood. The only difference was the missing
table she had insisted removed four years ago otherwise there was
almost no evidence that she even lived there. A few precious items
of her mother’s was all she kept and those were well hidden in the
unlikely even that Fred should make his way into her room and find
them. Sighing again she began her routine for Fred’s drinking
sessions. Removing her duvet and pillow from the mattress she threw
them under the bed and followed after them, reciting her life
lessons as she tried to get comfortable in the cramped
space.

Lesson number
one: Survive. Lesson number two: Keep your head down and always
move forward. Lesson number three: Never invite a beating. Lesson
number four: Take no chances with Sean. And lesson number five:
Escape.

A smile formed on her face
as she remembered her plans with her own gorgeous practical
stranger. “Tobias,” she whispered, closing her eyes and escaping
the brutality of her reality in dreams.

*****

Where is
she?
Sitting in a booth in the café the
next morning, Tobias consulted his watch for what seemed like the
hundredth time.
It’s ten thirty. She’s
late. Maybe something happened to her. She was clumsy enough to
walk into me yesterday; maybe she’s clumsy enough to walk out into
traffic and not look where she’s headed. She could have been run
over and I’m just sitting here.
Standing up
again, he forced himself back into the red booth once more as
reason tried to prevail within his mind.
She’s managed not to get herself killed all these years,
there’s no reason to think she’d do it now. You don’t want to have
to track her she’ll get suspicious. Just wait.

Tapping his hands against
the wooden table he was slightly taken aback to find that his claws
had unsheathed themselves and were digging grooves into the wood.
Sipping his coffee again, he breathed the smell of the warm roast
in before his sensitive nostrils caught a waft of vanilla causing
his head to shoot up and turn towards the door. Standing in the
doorway, Alex was rocking back and forth on the balls of her heels
as though deciding whether or not to enter. Her eyes locked with
his and she began to walk towards him. He stood up and watched her
move, his eyes locked on the unconscious sway of her hips, he felt
his lips curl back in the start of a growl as he watched another’s
eyes turn to her, before he regained control of his
instincts.

She came to stand in front
of him and he noticed that she had left her hair down and it curled
around her head, her face was hidden behind some of the strands and
he realised that she was nervous. His theory was confirmed when she
spoke, her voice small instead of the confidence she had exuded
yesterday in her righteous indignation.