Big Bad Wolf (4 page)

Jumping from her bed, Eleana rushed around the room getting dressed. She found a clean but torn pair of jeans in her closet and threw on a plain white t-shirt without bothering to put on a bra. She didn’t bother with her shoes either. If things got wild tonight, she probably wouldn’t need a bra or her shoes.

Eleana crept down the stairs certain Steven, with his perfect wolf hearing was going to come out of his room at any moment, but he didn’t. Out on the front lawn in her bare feet, she took a big whiff and suppressed a giddy laugh.
Finally, after all these years, I feel like the werewolf I am!
Pure bliss rushed into her heart filling her with a new sense of power and purpose.

She had to find the source of that musk!

Cautiously, she padded out onto the cul-de-sac but everything looked quiet and tranquil, just as it did most nights. Clearing her mind, she closed her eyes and tried to let her instinct guide her. A charge of lust filled her so unexpectedly she gave a tiny gasp. Like a demon possessing her body, the instinct took hold, guiding her footsteps to the rear of the house and the alley beyond. Tiny gravel pebbles stabbed into her bare feet as if trying to warn her she was in danger. And just as a pleasant dream can turn abruptly into a nightmare, every step Eleana took closer to that alley filled her with a shocking sense of foreboding.

Then she spotted the source of the beguiling scent. Eleana stopped and put a hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t cry out in fright.

There before her, mounted on his large black motorcycle, was the man who only a few short hours ago was to be her murderer.

“Hello, Eleana,” he said in a voice as smooth as melted chocolate.

“
You
.” Ice froze her blood, stripping away all her enchanting awareness leaving her a shaken husk. She took a terrified step back. “This is a vicious trick. You bewitched me.”

“No one forced you out into this beautiful night. You came of your own will,” he said.

“I would never have come out here if I had known it was
you
waiting for me.”

“You didn’t come out here to meet me specifically. You came out here to mate with a male of your own kind.” Gregor lowered the kickstand and dismounted the bike. “There’s nothing supernatural about what you are experiencing.”

Eleana couldn’t believe what he was saying. Was he trying to imply she was one of them? A Dire Wolf?
There is no way in hell
. “I’m not one of you.”

“How else can you explain why you’ve come out here and endangered yourself? Do you often wake up from sleep to wander the neighborhood at night?”

Eleana didn’t think it was possible to hate this man more than she had this afternoon. Now she knew she was wrong. “You’re a clever devil,” she said. “But this is just a coincidence.”

“No,” he said in a somber baritone. “This is no coincidence.” Gregor took a few bold steps forward and Eleana’s body hummed with sweet agony. She looked up into his light blue eyes and for a moment, no words would come. None that made any sense anyway. Closing the distance between them, Gregor seized her, enveloping her in his arms and claiming her mouth with his own. The kiss was everything Eleana thought it would be with her first real lover: penetrating; demanding; passionate. But she wanted none of those things from a vicious killer like Gregor. She didn’t care if the angels themselves flew down from the heavens and declared he was her mate with golden trumpets. He was a bloodthirsty maniac and a constant threat to her people. There was nothing about him she wanted.

Planting her hands firmly on his massive chest, she pushed him off. The memory of his lips lingered on her mouth. His eyes blazed with dark emotions she really hoped he’d keep to himself.

“I’m going back inside now,” she said.

“Wait.”

Eleana sighed wishing her body would calm the heck down. “What?”

“You’re not a werewolf, Eleana,” he said.

She folded her arms and stared at him. Her stomach jumped nervously. “Yes I am.”

“If you believe that, you’re lying to yourself.”

“This,” she said, impatiently gesturing to him then herself. “This is an illusion, a trick. You’ve manipulated my hormones somehow and I’m not going to…”

“Think about what you’re saying. Why would I bother to do that?”

A cool breeze rippled her t-shirt making her nipples erect. Eleana lifted her folded arms higher across her chest but it was too late. He’d seen everything and his gaze burned with a fire she wasn’t sure she could continue to ignore. Deep within her, desire had planted a seed and it had grown roots. Would there ever again be a time when she looked upon this colossal male and didn’t want to tear all his clothes off? She really needed to get away from him.

“You’re evil,” she said dismissively. “I’m sure you do a lot of things just to amuse yourself.”

Gregor took a step forward and held his hand out to her. “I can awaken you, Eleana. I can help you achieve the change that has so long eluded you. All I need is for you to trust me.” His voice sent shock waves of hunger through every nerve in her body. It was deep and held within its silken pitches every conceivable black sin.

“Should I have trusted you this afternoon, when you were coming to kill me and that girl from my pack? Well, you’ll forgive me if
trust
is a word I find impossible to reconcile when it comes to matters of you and yours. And, as much as I want the change, I’m not willing to serve up everyone I know and love for it. If the change you’re offering is turning me into a Dire Wolf bitch so I will kill my kin, you can forget it!”

“No one is expecting you to turn on your family. But you can’t fight what you are. If you truly are a werewolf, then why have none of your werewolf lovers been able to help you achieve your change?”

“Well, there haven’t been
that
many…no, listen, I’m done. This is a pointless discussion. I’m going in,” she said. But instead of walking off, she stayed where she was.
What the heck is wrong with me?

“I’ll tell you why, because you are not one of them, Eleana. You are Dire Wolf, no matter what you choose to tell yourself. I can prove it to you with one mating,” he said, lowering his hand. He’d apparently begun to feel this seduction was hopeless.

“I guess I’ll never know because I have no intention of mating with you.”

Gregor stalked back to his bike, his body moving with that sleek animal grace she’d seen so often among werewolf males. “The mating instinct is strong. Your agony will only get worse the longer you deny what nature demands of you.”

“I’ve dealt with being alone this long. I think I can handle a little physical discomfort. It’ll pass,” she said, taking a few cautious steps back as he started his motorcycle.

He gave her a wicked smile that showcased his large, predatory teeth. “No, Eleana. That is the biggest lie you’ve told yourself. Your first season has only just begun, and until you are mated by your genetic match, it will not pass.” He revved the bike and a few moments later, the big bad wolf was gone.

Eleana sure hoped Gregor the Wicked was gone for good.

Chapter 6

“He was here last night, wasn’t he?” Steven said as Eleana sat down at the breakfast table to eat her toast. Her eight-year-old nephew Robert gave her that you-are-in-so-much-trouble look, grabbed his Pop Tart from the toaster and hurried out.

“Yeah, so what?” she said

“I don’t
smell
him on you.”

Eleana cringed uncomfortably. “Steven, please! What the hell do you think I am? I wouldn’t have slept with him.”

“The instinct to mate is a strong one. I wouldn’t have been surprised if you had. What I mean is…well, never mind,” he said, abandoning the subject.

“I know what you mean, and if you must know I sent him away.” She took two big bites of her toast. Talking about her love life, or lack thereof, was about as much fun as visiting her gynecologist.

Steven cut his sausage into tiny bite-sized pieces. “So what did he say?”

“Who? The Dire Wolf?”

“Yeah. I heard you leave the house last night. I know you met with him. What did he say to you?”

Eleana pushed her plate aside.
What is this line of questioning leading to anyway?
“He asked me about the last books I’d checked out from the library. What do you think he said?”

“Come on, Eleana,” Steven said defensively. “I’m just curious what the two of you talked about.”

“No, you come on. You know exactly what he wanted. What does any adult male wolf of any species want from a female?” Eleana stared at her brother and, not for the first time, saw no family resemblance between them. Where Steven was five foot eleven and stocky, she was six foot even and rather thin. Where he had light brown eyes and hair, she had green eyes and dark blond hair. Even their faces didn’t look anything alike. Sometimes she’d wondered if there was really any blood between them at all, and now, with all this happening…

“He’s brought you into your first season,” Steven said. “I’m kind of surprised the two of you didn’t…” he let the sentence trail off.

That was true and the unsettling truth that she might have some Dire Wolf in her made her stomach queasy.
Could I be adopted?
This whole thing was getting so confusing. “He’s the enemy of everything I hold dear. I’d never mate with him, no matter how he made me feel.”

Steven got up and gave her a strange smile. “Good. I was worried he’d be able to seduce you away from us but I’m glad you chose to stay.” He was just about to leave the kitchen when Pam appeared in the doorway with her arms folded. “Hello, dear,” he said, leaning in to kiss her.

She dipped back away from him. “This has gone on long enough,” she said. “You need to tell her the truth.”

Eleana felt the nervous sickness seep deeper into her stomach.
Oh I don’t like the sound of this already.
“What truth?”

Steven tried to push past his angry wife. “This isn’t really the time.”

“This is exactly the time,” he wife snapped. “She needs to know the truth before her body goes into full estrus. You owe her that much. Let her decide what to do knowing the full truth.”

Steven turned around and took his seat again. All her life, Eleana had always seen Steven as strong, competent and in control, but at this moment he looked close to tears. His Adam’s apple rose and fell as he swallowed several times.

Eleana tensed.
Oh, I don’t know if I’m ready for this. This must be very bad news indeed.

“First off let me tell you that I’m sorry for the pain this information is going to cause you, but at the time it seemed like the best course of action.” He took a breath that lifted his chest and then he began. “As you may have suspected, you are not a werewolf like the rest of us. You are, just as I’m sure the Dire Wolf told you, one of them, taken from your mother after she was killed by my parents. They took you because the enormous Dire Wolves were a constant threat to our people even though their packs were small. But they had one great weakness—they don’t have as many females as our people do. Often in their packs, the one alpha female is mated by several pack males even though most of the offspring come from her mating with the alpha male. There is no jealousy among them, it’s just customary. If the female happens to breed with one of the other shifter males besides the alpha, the children are all treated equally. Whatever children she has are brought up by the whole pack, who share responsibility equally in caring for them.

“My parents knew how vital their females were to their survival so a plan was hatched to cull their numbers. We decided to capture all the female Dire Wolves we could find and raise them as our own. Because we are a different species, the females would never come into season and never be able to breed.”

“They’d never be able shift either,” Pam said. “But there were unexpected consequences.”

Eleana sat there feeling like her belly had been sliced open and her guts spilled on the floor.
But this is my family. I trusted them…
She closed her eyes for a moment trying to rein in her emotions. Of course the Dire Wolves didn’t attack her. They could sense she was one of them, just like Gregor had told her. “What consequences?” Eleana asked.

Steven frowned and traced the patterns on the tablecloth with his index finger. “With no females to breed with, the Dire Wolf males began killing themselves in large numbers. By the last census our territory was just about free of them.”

“I’ve been living a lie all these years. Your parents killed off most of my
real
species…” Eleana said, trying to get the facts straight in her aching head.

“We didn’t count on loving you so much, Eleana,” Steven said. “We just thought this would be in the best interest of everyone.”

Pam pulled up a chair and sat between Steven and Eleana. “You were never meant to know all this. You could have been
happy
with us if that big bastard and those other two ancients hadn’t showed up here.”

“You mean Gregor,” Eleana said stiffly.

“That’s right,” Steven replied. “And he knew what we had done. Someone must have told him. So he vowed to kill every last one of us just as we had destroyed his kind. And he’s been hunting down unprotected werewolves ever since.”