Awakened by the Wolf (18 page)

A few strands of hair fell around her face. She unfastened the silver barrette. The moment the clasp sprang open, Brice's fingers dived through the freed curls.

“Stop.” Cassie stepped back and pointed at the counter. “Don't eat those strudels. If you'll excuse me, I have things to do.” Gathering her dignity, she marched through the claustrophobic kitchen.

“That's it?” Feet planted, arms barricaded across his chest, Brice blocked her exit.

“What else is there to say?” The flush creeping over her skin undermined her forced nonchalance.

“I have a hell of a lot to say.” Brice's agitated voice bounced around the small kitchen. He rubbed the worry lines in his brow. “I'm trying to be patient, but this seesaw of you wanting me and then shutting me down is driving me bat shit crazy.”

“I made a mistake.” Cassie's own frustration sharpened her tone. “I'm not interested in becoming anything more than friends.”

Brice shoveled his fists through his hair, knotting the strands in his fingers. “Goddammit! Weren't you listening to me last night? You're my mate. My
true mate
.” The confusion and frustration in Brice's eyes drove guilt into Cassie's soul. “What are you afraid of?”

“You,” Cassie answered forcefully, because it was true. Entertaining Brice's affection would set up her heart for a long, hard fall. “You're going to wreck my life.”

“I won't, I promise.” Brice's reassurance flooded her heart and soul. All the while, her mind entertained images of him whistling a tune while she fell off the cliff at Walker's Pointe.

“I'm not your alcoholic mother. I'm not going to hustle you from place to place. I'm not going to promise you things I can't deliver. And, I'm never going to abandon you.” He blocked her against the counter. “You can depend on me.”

“I don't want to depend on you. I don't want to depend on anyone.” Cassie ducked beneath his arm to escape before his male wolfiness overpowered her good sense. Again. “I think it's best that I sleep on the couch tonight.”

“Hell no!” He towered over her, shoulders broadened, chest puffed, hands cinched at his waist, fingers thumping his hip pockets. “Even if I need to tie your hands to the headboard tonight and every night hereafter, you will sleep next to me where you belong.”

“I don't belong. Not with you. Stop pretending that I do.” Cassie bulldozed past him before he changed her mind.

“Fuck it!”

The slamming kitchen door tolled through her being like an ominous church bell.

Cassie collapsed onto the couch. Clutching the throw pillow to her chest didn't smother the ache in her heart. She'd made the right choice, for both of them. Despite his insistence to the contrary, Cassie didn't belong with him among the rich and wolfy. No matter how much she might wish that she did.

Chapter 27

B
rice lifted a tumbler to his lips and gulped plain, cold water instead of whiskey so the smell of liquor wouldn't stain his breath when he returned home to assure Cassie that his feelings weren't a fluke. No woman had gotten under his skin the way she did. No woman had plagued his thoughts or turned him inside out the way she could.

Walking out of the resort lounge, Brice watched his parents greeting the pockets of people gathered in the lobby. So far, everyone seemed genuine in their sympathies and alliances. Yet somewhere in the midst of smiles and social politeness lurked a menace. The sentinels, after relentless security drills, were on full alert.

Brice's instinct urged him to interrogate the entire room, though he conceded Tristan's effervescent charm would yield better results. Especially since Brice's mood wasn't conducive to niceties tonight.

He breathed in a lungful of cinnamon and remembered the first tease of the scent in Cassie's hair. The radiant happiness for him on her face.

Mine!
his wolf insisted.

Brice only had to convince Cassie of the same. From the start, he knew she'd be a challenge. Her resistance stemmed from her inability to trust him. He needed to find a way to prove her heart, her life, her future were safe with him.

“Nice to see you socializing.” Doc joined Brice.

“Did I have a choice?”

“You always have choices, even if you don't like them.” Doc took a handkerchief from his pocket to clean his glasses.

“Where's Rafe?” Brice had hoped to commiserate with his friend.

“Running the woods.” The sparkle Brice remembered in Doc's eyes seemed diminished. “Ever since he lost Lexi, he refuses to participate in pack events. Don't take his absence personally. You know that if you ever need him, he'll be there for you.”

“I wished I had been around for him,” Brice answered quietly.

Doc gave Brice a quick pat on the back. “All that matters is that you're here now.”

But for how long?

At any moment, the Woelfesenat could demand his presence in Romania. He needed to work fast to cement his relationship with Cassie and patch the one with his father. Granny would expect no less.

“Try to relax tonight. Doctor's orders.” Doc waved at Philip and Michael headed toward the lounge, and he left to join them.

A possessive arm latched around his waist. “Hello again, lover.”

Brice's stomach dropped in a dead armadillo roll.

Wearing a white silk gown slit up the sides to reveal mile-long legs in strappy heels, Victoria stood nearly nose to nose to him. Her flawless skin shimmered beneath the soft lighting.

Brice pried her fingers from his side. “A bit overdressed for a casual cocktail party.”

“I wanted to look divine for my mate.” Her cold lips chilled his mouth.

Brice turned his face. “Don't kiss me again or I will put you in your place.”

“My place is in your bed.” Unflappable assurance oozed from her practiced smile. An exquisite beauty most men, wolfan and human, would covet.

Before her betrayal, he'd considered her a friend. Now he found nothing remotely appealing about Victoria Phalen.

“I've said this twice before. This time, you need to listen.” Brice lowered his voice to a threatening growl. “You will never be welcome in my bed.”

“I know you're angry I tried to trick you into a mate-claim.”

Tricked?
She'd fucking drugged him, and if he had claimed her, he would've been miserably and irrevocably bound to Victoria.

He would've missed out on Cassie.

Primal wolfan hormones flooded Brice's body.

A mate-claim with Victoria would've shortened one of their lives. Only death severed a mate-claim and he'd allow nothing to keep him from Cassie for long.

“Your father commanded you to take a mate by Christmas and expects a wolfling on the way soon after, so let's forget the past and jump straight to the good stuff.” Victoria's smile turned manically Cheshire.

Brice closed his hand over hers and squeezed until she grimaced. “I'll decide when it's time to claim my mate, and she isn't you. So sink your paws into some other wolf and leave me the hell alone.”

Instead of heeding his words when he released her hand, Victoria hooked his arm. “Let's join your parents.”

Brice's temper strained against his propriety. Victoria practically floated as they navigated the lobby. Her aristocratic nod to the guests they passed tested Brice's ability to refrain from rolling his eyes. By the time Brice and Victoria reached their destination, his mother had splintered off, encompassed by several visiting Alphenas and a rather annoyed Booker Reynolds. Brice's father, Adam, Dennis Stratton, Alpha of the Eau Gallie pack from Florida, and his son, Eason, were ensconced in the pros and cons of Alpha succession versus trial by combat.

Despite the nails clamped in his bicep, Brice lifted Victoria's hand and passed her to Adam. “Please keep your packmate on a shorter leash. I'm tired of her yapping at my heels.”

Before Brice spun away, he caught the desperate look of a drowning man in the eyes of Stratton's son.

“Eason,” Brice said. “Join me in the lounge? I've heard you're researching the Bimini Road. Discovered any mermaids?”

Relief eased Eason's pinched features, and he laughed. “Not yet, but I keep hoping.” He bowed his head, first to Gavin and then to his father, before accompanying Brice.

Even though Brice couldn't see Victoria's seething glare, the volcanic heat of it seared his back as he walked away. No doubt he would later find the truck's tires slashed and the sides of the cab keyed.

Oh, well.
He grinned. It wasn't really his truck anyway.

* * *

Cassie opened the gate to the deserted high school track field. The tiny can of pepper spray tied to her wrist clanked against the ground as she grabbed her ankles to stretch her back and calves.

Her empty stomach gurgled. The fight with Brice had stolen her appetite. The harder he tried to smooth things over, the more adamant—and hysterical—she became.

She couldn't give in to the errant feelings he awakened. Doubting that she could handle heartbreak any better than her mother, Cassie refused to start down any romantic path until she was utterly and completely self-sufficient.

Cassie never knew her father, but Imogene had loved him 'til the day she died, even though he'd left her devastated. The Struthers curse, she called it when drunk. Apparently Cassie was descended from a long line of women who fell hopelessly in love with the wrong men and never recovered.

Well, she wouldn't fall victim to poor choices. Brice and his misguided notion about her being his mate was utter nonsense. She hadn't believed him for one second. The yearning in her heart meant nothing except that this had been an emotional few days. Next week, everything would get back to normal.

Returning to an upright position, Cassie pulled her foot behind her until it rested against her thigh. Counted to thirty. Switched legs.

A few more stretches, then Cassie started a light jog around the track. On the second lap, she found her groove. Tiny dots of sweat beaded on her skin and moisture seeped into her eyes. She dabbed at the sting.

By the time she finished her seventh lap, the sun had set and the field lights illuminated the track. The steady plod of her feet against the pavement hammered out all conscious thought, and Cassie was simply in her zone. The place where she had no constraints. The place where she could breathe without responsibility, without worry, without fear. The place where she was free.

Something blurred in her peripheral vision as she rounded the turn. Suddenly a large wolf with fur the color of freshly baled hay darted in front of her. Cassie skidded to a stop.

Her heart thudded from exertion, fear and more than a little irritation. Her palm tightened around the cold aluminum canister.

Cassie recognized the highfalutin disdain in the animal's glittery eyes as it jumped at her. Knowing better than to run, she stamped her foot. “Get out of here, you flea-bitten fur ball.”

The wolf's face contorted. A second later, Victoria Phalen rose from where the wolf had squatted. Her angelic features twisted in a wicked sneer. “How dare you? I have impeccable breeding.” Contempt weighted every word. “Unlike you.”

Years of enduring whispers, snubs and downright rudeness had hardened Cassie against jabs from her so-called betters.

“You shouldn't parade around naked, Miss Phalen. In the civilized world, we have laws against public indecency, so why don't you scamper into the woods where you belong.”

Elegant and proud, Victoria strode toward Cassie. “Where I belong, Little Miss Ragamuffin, is with Brice.”

“Well, he isn't here.” Cassie rocked on her toes to stretch her calves. “If you'll excuse me, I need to finish my run.”

“Trampling an asphalt loop isn't running.” Victoria snickered.

“At least I don't have to worry about ticks.” Cassie got some satisfaction in Victoria's waning smugness when the lady-wolf saw the black dot stuck to her stomach.

Victoria plucked the nuisance from her skin and flicked it at Cassie. Instead of landing on the intended target, the tick fell harmlessly to the ground. Cassie squashed it beneath her sneaker.

“Have a nice evening,” she said, not feeling the sentiment.

“Not so fast.” Victoria blocked Cassie's path. “I'm only going to say this once. Brice is mine.”

Hearing someone else claim him didn't bother Cassie.

She bit her lip. Okay, it did bother her, which prompted Cassie's mouth to disengage from her brain and operate independently of her common sense. “Brice said you meant nothing to him. And ever since I bit him, he has insisted that I'm his mate.”

“You little
bitch.
” Victoria's fingers clamped around Cassie's throat, lifting her so that she stood on her tiptoes.

Gasping, Cassie aimed the pepper spray can at Victoria's face. A faint, empty hiss escaped the nozzle.

Victoria laughed, then choked on a scream when the hiss became a potent spray. She dropped Cassie to claw her own face.

“I don't care who you are or what you are, Miss Phalen. Stay the hell away from me or you'll get more of the same.” Cassie stomped to her car.

Plopped behind the steering wheel.

Slammed the door.

“Freaking werewolves!”

Chapter 28

T
he cabin was dark, except for the light beneath the bathroom door. Brice knocked. “Cas, I'm home.”

He heard her bumping around before she answered. “I'll be out in a minute.”

The odd feeling that had preyed on him for the last hour intensified. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” She opened the door. “I'm sleeping on the couch, and I swear if you don't leave me alone, I'll sleep in my car.”

Brice's night vision sharpened. The way she clutched the collar of her worn terry cloth robe bothered him. He blocked her exit. “What's wrong? You okay?”

She stared straight through him. “Leave me alone.”

“I'm not inclined to do that.” Brice's tugged Cassie's housecoat.

“Stop!” An uncharacteristic tremble softened her demand.

The tug-of-war didn't last another second. He yanked opened the collar of her robe. “What the fuck?”

He slammed the bathroom door shut to prevent her from leaving.

“You can't do this. It's kidnapping,” she hissed.

“Sue me.” He pointed at the commode. “Sit down.”

She flipped the lid down and shot him a look that said she'd like to flip him off. Her knuckles turned white from clenching the robe beneath her chin.

Worry twisted everything inside him. “I won't touch you if that's what you want, but I need to see your neck.” Brice knelt in front of her. “Please, Sunshine.”

Finally she dropped her hands.

Brice slowly parted Cassie's robe. The bruises around the slender column of her throat appalled him. Brice's hands shook as he inspected her for a bite mark. Finding none didn't temper his anger. “Who did this to you?”

“It doesn't matter. I took care of it.” Cassie closed the robe.

“Why would you hide this from me?”

“I didn't want you to overreact.”

Overreact? She had a goddamn handprint on her throat. If there was ever a time to overreact, it was now.

“I defended myself,” Cassie continued, “and came out the better of the two of us. I don't think she'll bother me again.”

“She?” Brice screeched. Immediately he thought of Victoria.

Cassie worked her mouth over her bottom lip, her eyes anxious and uncertain.

Brice reined in his temper so she wouldn't think he was angry with her. “Are you all right? Should I call Doc? No, I'm taking you to the ER.”

“I'm fine,” she insisted. “My throat isn't swollen. I can breathe and swallow without pain. I'd rather avoid a medical bill for a stupid, ugly bruise.” She dropped her gaze, and a little color reddened her cheeks.

Cradling her against his chest, Brice pressed his lips to the crown of her head and stroked her hair.

“This isn't necessary,” she muttered into his shirt.

“It is for me.” He could've lost her so easily, and the last words they exchanged had been angry and terse.

Cassie thumped his back. “You can let go now.”

Brice touched his nose gently to her neck to verify the lingering scent on her skin. Another burst of anger surged through him. He banked it for Cassie's sake.

“I know you don't want to talk about this.” He pulled back to see her face. “But I can't ignore that someone assaulted you in our home.”

A guilty look flashed across her porcelain features. “I was at the high school track.”

“What?” Brice clamped his mouth closed. “I didn't mean to yell at you.” He'd warned her that morning about going out alone, but this wasn't the time to tackle that subject. “What happened tonight isn't your fault.”

“I know it isn't.” She frowned. “You pointing it out makes me believe that you think it is.”

God, she stretched his patience. He had to stay focused and not take the bait of her deflection. She put up a brave front, but he knew she was afraid. “Baby, trust me enough to tell me how this happened.”

“I am not your baby.” She fidgeted with her hands in her lap. “I run the track twice a week and never had a problem until tonight.”

Brice's heart squeezed. Cassie had lost another important thing in her life. From now on, she would always associate the track with the attack. “Go on.”

“A wolf cut me off.” Cassie tucked her hands beneath her legs with her feet turned inward. “It was Victoria. She said that you were hers. I told you I don't want to be anyone's competition, Brice.”

“You aren't, because I only have a nose for you,” Brice sang the last few words.

“Don't patronize me,” Cassie snapped.

“I'm not.” Frustrated, Brice rubbed his jaw. “I choose you as my mate. Not Victoria.” Brice tucked a curl behind her ear. “I'll make sure she doesn't bother you again.”

“No need.” Weariness shimmered in Cassie's eyes. “I handled the problem.”

“It isn't that simple. Wahyas have laws to protect humans.”

“This wasn't an interspecies incident, okay? She was just being bitchy, and I ended her tirade with pepper spray. Situation resolved.”

“You pepper sprayed her?” Brice felt his smile to his ears. His delicate little human mate-to-be stood up to a jealous she-wolf twice her size and bulk and came out the winner. Damn, he was proud.

“In the face.” A bashful glow brightened Cassie's skin.

“That's my girl.” Brice pressed her knuckles to his lips, then helped her stand. “Come on, let's go to bed.” He snagged her comforter off the couch on the way to the bedroom.

“You know this isn't appropriate.” She stalled at the foot of the bed. “I can understand why you wanted me to sleep next to you the first night. You were exhausted, in pain, and didn't want me to tell anyone you were home. And then Margaret died.” She paused. “Last night you were drunk and I was tired. Well, that sounds bad. You know what I mean.”

“I wasn't drunk.” He unbuttoned his shirt. “I sleep better when you're beside me.” He winked. “Admit it. You like sleeping next to me, too.”

“I admit nothing.” Cassie climbed into bed. “Except that I don't want to argue all night. Since you're too stubborn to give in, I have to. You might be able to sleep all day if you wanted, but I have places to go and things to do.”

Brice kicked off his shoes and traded his pants for the cutoff sweats he donned for her modesty. He slid beneath the covers and curled against her.

She huffed. “You're supposed to stay on your side of the bed.”

“Remember, Sunshine, both sides are mine.”

Within minutes, Cassie fell fast asleep. Once he knew she wouldn't wake, he slipped out of bed, redressed and headed to the resort.

He'd expected Victoria to retaliate by attacking his personal possessions. Instead, she'd struck straight at his heart.

Renewed anger welled inside him. He stalked to the elevator. The mechanical drone of the hydraulics intensified the molasses crawl up the shaft. Jackhammering the button didn't prod the lift to ascend any faster.

Brice slumped against the brushed gold paneling. What the hell was wrong with him? Five years ago, his carelessness had killed Mason. Tonight, his carelessness in handling Victoria could've seriously injured Cassie.

A polite ding announced arrival at the fourth floor. Brice peeled the doors apart the second the elevator stopped. Walking down the corridor, he counted silently to bank his temper.

Heads bent together in muffled conversation, his mother and Doc stood in the alcove outside Victoria's suite.

“Is Victoria all right?” he asked Doc through clenched teeth.

“No permanent damage. She'll be fine.”

“Victoria said Cassie attacked her in the parking lot without provocation,” Brice's mother said. “The accusation is ridiculous, but your father and I will need to speak to Cassie.”

“No.” Brice anchored his arms over his chest. “Victoria stalked Cassie at the high school track in her wolf form. When Cassie didn't cower, Victoria shifted and wrapped her fingers around Cassie's throat. Cassie used pepper spray in self-defense.”

“Is Cassie all right?” His mother fingered her mouth.

“Yes, except for the handprint on her throat.”

“Where is she?” Doc folded his coat over the arm carrying his medical bag. “I want to check on her.”

“She's asleep in the cabin and I don't want her disturbed. She didn't have any swelling or problems swallowing or breathing. I'll get her to the ER if anything changes.”

“Make sure you do,” Doc said.

“Your father is coming back from a patrol with Cooter and Tristan. He'll want to talk to you when he arrives.”

“He knows where to find me.” Brice glanced at the electronic lock on the door. “Mind letting me in?”

His mother held his gaze, assessing his threat level. Despite his anger, Brice had no intention of harming Victoria. However, he would make sure she left the territory tonight, even if he had to hog-tie her and toss her in the back of the truck.

Apparently satisfied Brice wouldn't physically retaliate, his mother swiped her master card through the electronic lock. A warning flashed in her green eyes before she left with Doc.

Brice punched open the door, driving the handle through the drywall. “Victoria!”

Propped in the middle of a fluffy four-poster bed, the pitiful looking she-wolf appeared almost comical. Golden hair matted around her splotchy red face, Victoria aimed her swollen eyes and pointed her puffy nose in his direction.

“See what your tramp did to me,” she howled. “I want her punished.”

Brice's nails dug into his palms, and he locked his fists behind his back.

“Consider yourself lucky, Victoria.” Brice hated that she reclined in a luxurious bed, surrounded by overstuffed pillows. Cassie deserved that kind of royal treatment, not Victoria.

“Lucky?” Hands balled in her fluffy bedding, Victoria glared. “That rabid redheaded tramp tried to kill me!”

“You should have come after me, Victoria,” Brice said. “Not Cassie.”

“I didn't lay one finger on the runt.” Victoria's haughtiness matched the smugness on her face.

“How about five?” Brice countered.

Victoria threw him a halfhearted shrug.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Brice leaned against the bedpost. “You attacked a human. One under my direct protection.”

“The gutter rat had no right to claim what is mine,” Victoria hissed.

“Cassie told you that she bit me?” Through his anger, Brice's heart thumped a happy, ridiculous beat. Whether she realized it or not, Cassie believed in their bond. And defended it.

“Her bite gives me justifiable cause. It's my right to fight for what's mine.”

“I'm not yours.”

“You will be.” Victoria's haughty eyes glittered. “Your father wants your mateship to be with someone acceptable. Something your human will never be.”

“
My
mateship isn't about what my father wants. It's about what I want.”

“What you want is irrelevant. Your father wants a suitable heir to continue the Walker lineage, and Adam wants someone by your side who won't embarrass the firm. Gutter rats need not apply, if you get my drift.” Victoria's malicious laugh soured his stomach, and he wondered how the hell he'd become involved with her.

“Get out.” Brice yanked Victoria from the bed. “Out of Walker's Run and out of my life.”

“No.” She twisted free. “If you would get your head out of that redheaded tramp's lap, you would realize we are a perfect match. We're both on the fast track at Adam's firm. We have the same tastes, the same friends, the same interests. And I have an excellent pedigree.”

“All we have in common are the projects we've worked on together. Your tastes are not mine, your friends are pretentious, your interests are tedious and I don't give a fuck about your pedigree.” Brice tossed a suitcase on the bed. “Start packing.”

When she didn't budge, he gathered some of her belongings and threw them into her luggage.

“How dare you choose that scrawny bitch over me?” Victoria gnarled her fingers in Brice's shirtsleeve. “Come the next full moon, you'll regret this, Brice Walker.”

Brice seriously doubted he would.