Moonlight Kin: A Wolf's Tale (10 page)

Damon’s heart bounced against his ribs. He had sensed that first night that she was untouched, untainted, but he’d assumed he’d been mistaken. Now that he’d met her in person, there was no doubt in his mind that Madie was innocent. But was she truly a
virgin
?

In this day and age, it was highly unlikely. Especially given her age…
but what if she was?

His lips canted as Damon sipped his Scotch, letting the fiery liquid burn down his throat. He could
definitely
do something about that. For the good of the pack of course. The smile spread across his face.

Would fucking her actually break the cycle?

He swirled the Scotch around the glass, his mind racing with possibilities. It was certainly worth a try—or two. After all, he’d already decided that he’d take her, long before he’d come across this latest information.

Damon laughed. The sound lifted a weight from his shoulders that he hadn’t known he’d carried. He had never liked the idea of killing a woman. It didn’t sit well with him. If there were a pleasurable way to work around it, then he’d most definitely give it a try.

“Soon, mon chéri...” he whispered.

Chapter Ten

Madie’s head still throbbed. The doctor had examined her and sent her for x-rays, then given her the all clear. She returned to her apartment with a bottle of aspirin shortly thereafter. The pain wasn’t going to keep her from going on her date tonight. Wild horses—or even wolves—couldn’t keep her away. The sun shining bright outside lifted her spirits out of the glums.

She glanced in the mirror. The circles under eyes from crying last night made her look like a raccoon with water retention problems. Madie did her best to cover them with makeup, then dressed quickly, grabbed her sketchpad, then headed out the door to get some drawing in before work.

Madie practically floated into the classroom. The student’s voices dulled to a roar. Only ten people had bothered to come in on a Sunday. A quick scan of the room told her that Sarah wasn’t there. Was she just running late or had something else kept her from class?

Hopefully she’d recovered from last night’s scare as quickly as Madie had.
Scare?
The little voice in her head snorted.
You were almost killed by a wolf.
She wanted to deny it, but it
had
been a wolf, no matter what Damon said to convince them otherwise. Maybe he’d been trying to convince himself, too.

She shivered at the thought, then walked across the room and put her backpack on the stool next to hers to save Sarah a seat in case she arrived.

Madie took out her pencils and placed them in front of her pad—at least she’d managed to remember them this time. She flipped the cover of her sketchpad over and her breath caught. The chatter in the classroom faded away.

Damon’s face stared back at her, haunting in its masculine beauty. She wasn’t sure until that moment if she’d captured his eyes, but she had. They practically glowed on the page, even though the image wasn’t in color.

Breathe Madie breathe.

Madie was so wrapped up in drooling over Damon’s likeness that she didn’t hear Sarah’s approach.

“Can you believe last night?” Sarah’s voice burst with excitement.

Madie glanced at her and smiled. “It was something all right.”

“What do you mean
something
?” Sarah frowned. “We were almost killed. I came this close to death.” She held her thumb and finger an inch apart.

Not unless dying involved being licked to death.
Did wolves even do that type of stuff? Not in any documentary she’d ever seen.

“Now who’s being the drama queen?” Madie glanced at the other students and tried to downplay Sarah’s declaration. Their conversation was drawing unwanted attention.

“I think Damon likes me. What do you think?” Sarah moved Madie’s backpack and slid onto her stool. A dreamy expression flitted over her face as she glanced at Madie’s drawing. “You’ve captured him perfectly. The muscle definition in his arms, chest, even his—” Her eyebrows shot to her hairline. “You have an amazing attention to detail. Are you sure you’re a virgin?”

Several students snickered.

“Sarah Ann!” Madie squeaked. “Keep your voice down.”

Her friend’s unfocused gaze returned to her. “It was just a question.”

Madie stared at the torn carpet at her feet. In her mind, she’d gone over every square inch of Damon at least a million times. His sheer physical perfection had caught her artist eye, but it was the man who fascinated her.

She toed the small hole with her clunky black shoe. “Let’s talk about something else.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Madie don’t be such a buzzkill.”

“I’m not a buzzkill,” she said.

“Then why don’t you want to talk about Damon?” This time when Sarah looked at her there was speculation in her eyes.

“No reason.” Madie took in an uneasy breath. She didn’t think Sarah would freak when she found out about their date, but it wasn’t something she felt comfortable discussing.

 “I think I’m going to ask Damon out.” Sarah tapped the side of her chin with a dainty finger as if in contemplation. “Tonight.”

Madie’s gaze snapped to Sarah’s face. “Tonight! Why tonight? Couldn’t you give it a day or two?” Panic rose inside of her. She was going to have to say something before Sarah went any farther.

“I’m sure the professor has his number.” Sarah smirked as she tossed a glance toward the woman in question. “She practically jumped him in class.”

He’s mine,
the little voice in Madie’s head screamed out like a petulant child who’d been asked to share her favorite toy.

But it was more than that. Madie felt an uncontrollable attraction to Damon. She didn’t just want the man. She
needed
him.

Gaston’s outrageous warning rang in her head. ‘When you encounter a werewolf, you’ll be inexplicably drawn to it. This is a warning sign, the Hunter’s only defense’.

Except, Damon wasn’t a werewolf.

He was attacked by one.

There are no such things as werewolves. Do not allow Gaston to poison your mind. Madie concentrated on her drawing.

An image of the pale wolf flashed before her eyes. Madie ignored it, focusing on Damon’s perfect form instead.

The dark lines on the paper brought out the rough planes of his face. Disheveled sable-colored hair now looked black from the charcoal pencils. His washboard stomach rippled with minute detail, realistic enough to look as if she could reach out and touch the hardened muscles, run the pads of her fingers in the indents.

Madie stopped before she actually followed through with the action. She rubbed her fingers along her skirt, fighting the overwhelming urge to lean forward and sniff the sketch to see if she could detect his delicious scent.

Sarah poked her in the arm. “Earth to Madie?”

Madie jumped. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked what you were thinking,” she said. “Though it’s fairly obvious.” Sarah glanced at the drawing.

Madie blinked, clearing her mind of the erotic thoughts. The classroom felt absurdly warm. “I was just studying the drawing.”

Sarah scrutinized her for several seconds. “You have that look on your face again.”

“What look would that be?” Madie prayed her face didn’t actually show what she’d been thinking about. That would be beyond embarrassing.

“The look that the proverbial cat gets before it swallows a fat rat.” Sarah tilted her head to examine her.

Madie fidgeted.

“What gives?” Sarah pushed.

“Nothing.”

“Fine, don’t tell me,” she said. “Be right back.”

“Where are you going?” Madie reached out to stop her, but her friend was too fast.

Sarah marched up to their instructor and pulled her aside. Madie heard whispers, and then saw Sarah write something down. She returned triumphant, waving the scrawled number like a victory flag.

“I’ve got it.” Sarah chirped.

“Good for you.” Madie felt anything but happy for her friend.

“Do you want to grab a coffee tonight before I call him?” She glanced at her watch to check the time.

Madie steadfastly avoided Sarah’s eyes and shook her head. “No, I have to work.”

“What about afterwards?” Sarah asked. “You’ll get off earlier enough for us to meet up.”

“Sorry, but I have plans.” Madie dodged her friend’s sharp gaze.

“Plans? What kind of plans?” Hurt tightened her voice, making the pitch rise a register.

“I-I have to sketch out my thesis after I get off work.” She glanced at Sarah.

“Your thesis?” The hurt was quickly replaced with incredulity. “You finished your thesis last month. I helped you research it, remember?” Sarah’s eyes narrowed until only a thin slice of jade showed beneath her lashes. “What’s really going on?”

“The truth is,” Madie paused and took a calming breath, “Damon asked me out to dinner tonight. It’s not really a date, it’s just dinner. I didn’t want you to be upset.” She expelled the air in a rush.

Madie had never been good at lying to anyone, especially her best friend. Who was she kidding
?
Her only friend. She didn’t want to lose Sarah over a man. And she wouldn’t. Madie would phone Damon right this minute, if it meant keeping her friendship intact.

Sarah stared at her for what seemed like an eternity, her mouth agape. Her expression changed as a kaleidoscope of emotions swirled over her face, running the gamut from shock to genuine excitement. “Oh, Madie,” she squealed. “I am so happy for you.” Sarah jumped up and down clapping her hands together in glee.

“What? Why?”

“Because I knew you really liked him. I’ve just been waiting for you to admit it. Why do you think I flirted so hard and threw myself at him last night?”

“I thought it was because you wanted him,” Madie said.

“Oh sure, I wanted him. You’d have to be dead not to. But that’s not why I did it,” Sarah said.

“Then why?”

“I was trying to provoke you into acting on your attraction. For as long as I’ve known Madie, you’ve never been attracted to anyone. At least not like this,” Sarah said. “I didn’t want you to miss out on something special just because you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared,” Madie said. They both knew it was a lie.

“It’s okay to be scared. Everyone is at one time or another,” Sarah said.

“You’re not,” she said.

Sarah laughed. “Well I’m different. I’ve always been fearless.”

“It’s just dinner,” Madie said, overwhelmed by Sarah’s admission.

Sarah grinned. “It’s a start.”

Madie glanced around at her peers, who were doing a poor job of pretending not to listen to their conversation. She clenched her drawing pencil and heard a slight crack. Madie put the pencil down before she snapped another one in two.

“Do you think he’ll be ‘the one’?” Sarah lowered her voice and looked at her meaningfully.

“To early to tell, but I doubt it. When you don’t know how to drive, the last thing you want to do is jump behind the wheel of a Ferrari.” But Sarah’s question had already planted a bug in Madie’s ear. She could almost hear it buzzing as the idea took flight.

The class volume dropped. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you, when he knows that you’re not looking,” Sarah said. “It’s seriously intense. There’s more than lust happening. Let me tell you.”

“Really? He said that he didn’t notice me in class,” Madie asked.

“I know what he said, but it was a lie. He probably didn’t want to come off as eager in case you blew him off. As if you’re that stupid.” Sarah bent her head to Madie’s ear. “It’s hard for me to admit it since it hurts a girl’s ego, but last night at the pub Damon couldn’t take his eyes off you.”

“But—” Madie’s confusion was growing in leaps and bounds.

“Trust me, I know men.” Sarah gave her a knowing smile. “I’ve never seen a guy work so hard to show disinterest. I bet he had eye strain this morning from fighting to keep from looking at you.” She squeezed Madie’s hand. “I just want you to be happy.”

“I know but—”

“But nothing. You deserve to be happy, Madie. You can’t do that if you’re constantly trying to please everyone but yourself.” Sarah leaned in closer. “Besides, did you see the way that blond guy in the bar last night was looking at me?”

“Yes.” Madie grinned. “It was impossible to miss.”

“If you tell anyone I said this, I’ll kill you.” Sarah’s face was fierce. She looked to her right and then to her left before turning back to Madie. “He made my panties wet.”

Madie laughed. She couldn’t help it. That was the last thing she’d expected Sarah to say. As secrets went, it wasn’t a surprise, but it certainly lightened the mood.

“I’ll have Mr. Tall, Blond and Sexy eating out of my hand in no time.” Sarah sat back on the stool and crossed her arms over her chest. “So, I don’t want to hear any more protests from you. Go out with Damon. Have a good time. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She waggled her eyebrows.

Madie wasn’t so sure Mr. Tall, Blond and Sexy could be so easily manipulated. There was something different about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Well if anyone could tame the savage beast, Sarah could. Of course she had to find him first.

Since that was the only time they’d ever seen him that could be a problem. Madie decided to keep that thought to herself. A little challenge in her life might do Sarah some good.

 “Don’t get any crazy ideas,” Madie said. “It’s just dinner.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.” Sarah gave Madie’s hand a knowing pat. “I better get the lowdown Monday morning. No censoring allowed.”

“What are you going to do tonight?” Madie asked.

“Be vewy, vewy quiet,” Sarah said doing her best cartoon character impression. “I’m hunting bwonds.”

Madie laughed. “Be careful. He looks like he bites.”

“Only if I’m very lucky.” Sarah grinned.

Chapter Eleven

Damon’s day was a total wash. He hadn’t been able to concentrate on work and lost a chance to buy a valuable Renoir sketch because of it. Luc had disappeared, or was avoiding him. If he were smart it was the latter.