OtherKin: Tranquility

By Anya Bast

SMASHWORDS EDITION

PUBLISHED BY:

Anya Bast on
Smashwords

Fury © 2008
Anya Bast

All rights
reserved.

Unedited –
Please excuse any typos.

Cover Art by
Croco Designs.

This story is a
work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical
event or existing locations, the names, characters, places and
incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are
used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental

*~*

A Note from the
Author:

Hello, fair
readers, I am New York Times bestselling author, Anya Bast. This is
a free story I’ve offered on my web site for some time and am now
making available in a wider format. If you have found this short
story after reading my Elemental Witches or Dark Magick series, you
may find this story more erotic. If you’re not eighteen, please
return when you are.

I hope you
enjoy the Wolven.

www.anyabast.com

-----------------------

Roane looked
out the window of his second story apartment. Below him spread the
Main Street of Tranquility Minnesota. Like Fury, it was another
small town made up of wolf shifters. Non-shifters might move
in—there was no way to stop them—but they didn't stay long. Anyone
with a shred of sensitivity could sense on some level that this
wasn't a place for normal folk. Anywhere a pack congregated became
an area like that. It gave shivers of fear to humans. Made them
feel they were trapped in some corner with a bunch of predators
closing in on them.

He'd left Fury
to make room for his brother, Merrick, and Merrick's new mate
Nikki. Fury's elders had named Nikki queen. That meant the pack
male who mated with her would be Fury's leader. Since Merrick was
also a natural alpha, that meant trouble—competition for Nikki.
Roane had known that Merrick and Nikki already had the chemistry,
so he'd stepped aside.

So here he was
in Tranquility, making all the locals nervous as hell.

He couldn't
help who he was. He couldn't help that others sensed who he was.
The current pack leader, Marcus, was unhappy Roane had taken up
residence here. It was only a question of time before trouble
started.

Truth was, he
just wanted to be left alone, to live among his kind but not be
bothered. Maybe that was impossible, but he had only two other
options. He could go live among humans and be forever cut off from
his kind, or he could go deep into the woods and live utterly
alone.

Neither were
attractive options.

He'd hoped to
find tranquility in Tranquility, but judging by the look in Marcus'
eyes he'd doubted he'd find it.

A blue car
pulled up in front of the bar below his apartment. The door opened
and long-legged brown haired woman got out. Roane straightened and
watched her intently. She glanced up at the window, scowling, and
then walked across the street to the bank. He watched her hips with
every step and her long hair sway in the slight breeze.

And then there
was Scarlet.

Scarlet was
Marcus' sister, damn it all to hell. Roane hadn't seen a woman who
intrigued him as much as Scarlet in a long, long time.

"Fuck," Roane
cursed under his breath as he took a step back from the window. The
woman had the capability to set every nerve in his body on high
alert with just a glimpse of her.

It was about
twenty minutes later when Roane heard someone knock on his door.
Scarlet stood on other side when he opened it, her clear blue eyes
snapping with undisguised animosity.

"You want to
come in, Scarlet?" he asked with a grin. "You looked like you have
something you want to say to me."

She eased past
him, teasing Roane's nose with her rose scented perfume, then
turned. "Why did you come here?" she asked.

Roane closed
the door and turned toward her, taking his time answering. "I came
here to live," he said evenly. "I didn't come here with any agenda
other than that. I wish your brother and his muscle would believe
me."

"I don't
believe you either."

"Why?"

"You're a born
leader, Roane. You're an alpha male. You had to know that wherever
you landed, you'd stir things up." She sighed. "Look, if you really
believe you only came here to live, you're telling yourself a lie.
Eventually your true colors are going to show, whether you want
them to or not. It's inevitable. It's simply in your nature."

"Look,
Scarlet—"

She held up a
hand. "I'm as protective of my brother as he is of me. I won't have
you challenging him." Fear flickered in her eyes and Roane wondered
for a moment if she was worried he might be able to kill Marcus in
a challenge.

"I have no
plans to do that."

Scarlet stood
staring at him with her pretty lips pursed. He wanted to know what
that silky hair felt like against his skin. He wanted to know how
she would feel pinned beneath his body while he slid his cock in
and out of her eager little—

"Roane?"

He snapped out
of his fantasy.

"Keep it that
way," Scarlet growled as she pushed past him.

Roane watched
the door close behind her and knew he was in very deep shit. He
truly didn't have any intention of challenging Marcus, but not
trying to seduce Marcus' sister was going to be next to
impossible.

Scarlet walked
into the house, still all wound up from confronting Roane. The man
disturbed her. Just being in the same room with him set her on edge
in more ways than she felt comfortable identifying.

From the moment
the wolf had entered their territory, he'd start ruffling feathers.
He ruffled more than just Scarlet's feathers. They had an electric
attraction between them, chemistry. She wanted him out of
Tranquility for her brother's sake, but her thoughts, more often
than not, were carnal when turned in Roane's direction.

She slammed her
purse down on the kitchen counter in frustration, right as her
roommate Amy walked in.

"Hope you
didn't have anything breakable in there," Amy said as she eased
past her to get to the refrigerator.

"I just went to
see Roane," she huffed.

Amy popped the
top on a small container of orange juice and said, "Oh," knowingly
before drinking.

"What's that
supposed to mean?"

Amy shrugged.
"Just that, you know, he's Roane. Don't tell me you're blind or
that your libido isn't working. Plus, I know how you feel about him
entering your brother's area. Roane is an enemy, but a very
fuckable one."

"He's only an
enemy to me, or least he probably will be an enemy sooner or
later."

Amy considered
her for a moment before murmuring, "Uh, huh," then wandered
away.

Scarlet looked
down at the countertop and seriously considered banging her head
against it. Instead, she turned and walked into her bedroom. She
refused to be like every other female in this town and fall under
Roane's spell. That ability to attract female Wolven only riled her
brother up more, and for good reason.

"Hell," she
muttered. What she needed was a nice long soak in the bathtub with
a good book, a nice dinner and an early bedtime. She needed to
relax a little.

Scarlet pulled
out a drawer of her dresser and selected a comfy pair of soft
pajamas, then grabbed her current read off the night stand. With a
satisfied glance around her small, but neat, bedroom she headed
into her private bathroom to draw a bath.

She and Amy had
selected this house because the two bedrooms were on opposite sides
of the house, complete with private bathrooms. It afforded great
privacy. A spacious living room, kitchen and a third bathroom all
lay in the middle of the house. This place was roommate heaven.

After she'd run
the bath water — filling the tub with her favorite lavender bubble
bath — she took off her clothes and sank gratefully into the warm
water. After closing her eyes and wallowing for a few delicious
moments, she reached down and picked up the romantic suspense novel
she'd been reading.

But her
thoughts kept drifting back to Roane. She ended up reading one
paragraph five times without really comprehending it and finally
tossed the book down to the bath mat.

"Hell!" she
said aloud to the quiet bathroom.

She soaped her
loofah and started scrubbing her skin hard enough to hurt. That
damn man! She couldn't even think about him without thinking about
sex, and sex was the last thing she needed to be thinking about
where he was concerned.

What was it
about the man got a woman's panties in such a twist? Yes, he was
gorgeous, tall, and broad-shouldered with thick dark hair and blue
eyes. The man had a body that made a woman dream. It was just the
right amount of muscled. And his lips, there was heaven there. His
mouth was full and sensual looking. Made her want to run her
fingers over it, made her want those lips on her breasts, maybe
trailing down her stomach to her....

She splashed
the water in frustration. Just the thought of him made her body
respond. Her breasts felt heavier, her clit felt plumped between
her thighs. The thought of what Roane would be like in the throes
of passion…his fingers fisted in her hair while he spread his big
body over hers, taking her from behind in slow, deep strokes.

Before she knew
it, she had her hand between her thighs while she petted her clit.
Scarlet closed her eyes and imagined the feel of his body against
hers, his cock filling her to capacity. She imagined the sound of
his breathing in her ear and the feel of his hands on her. Her cunt
throbbed at the fantasy.

But, no.

She pulled her
hand away from her clit. There was no way in hell she was going to
get herself off by thinking of him. How the hell would she be able
to face him if she did a thing like that?

"Hell!" she
yelled.

"Uh…Scarlet?"
came a voice on the other side of the door. It was Amy. "You okay
in there?"

"Yes, I'm
fine," she answered irritably.

"Your brother's
here."

"Oh, crap. I'll
be there in a minute."

She got out of
her bath. It was clear it wasn't relaxing her anyway. After she
dressed in her fuzzy pajamas and wrapped her long hair in a towel,
she met her brother.

"Marcus, what
are you doing here so late?" she asked when she entered the living
room. Her blond-haired, blue-eyed brother had perched himself on
the armrest of their gray couch.

He stood. Amy
had given him a beer, which he held loosely in one hand. "Scarlet,
hey, I heard you quit your job at the law office."

"I did. The
hours were too long and the pay too little. I'm looking for
something else now."

"Something else
secretarial?"

"I guess," she
answered slowly, wondering where he was going with this.

"Considered the
opening down at Morgan's?"

Scarlet
frowned. Morgan's was a car repair place in downtown Tranquility.
"No, I can't say I considered Morgan's."

"Scarlet, can
we sit down a minute?"

Instantly wary,
Scarlet sat down on the couch and Marcus sat down next to her.
"What do you want, bro?"

He sighed and
pushed a hand through his hair. "Roane just got a job at Morgan's.
They're looking for someone to run the office and I was
thinking—"

Scarlet
stiffened, knowing what was coming. "Seems to me you don't think
that much, Marcus," she snapped. "Or that well."

He put his hand
on her arm. "Sis, please. I need someone to keep an eye on him.
You're the only woman I trust not to get into bed with him, both
literally and figuratively."

Scarlet
groaned.

"Please? Just
for a little while."

"I don't think
it's a good idea," she grumbled.

Marcus turned
her to face him, took her hands in his and stared into her eyes.
"You're the only one I trust, Scarlet. If the pay isn't enough,
I'll supplement our income."

Oh, god. She
sighed and stood. "I'll think about it," she grunted, and then
stomped out of the room.

This was all
she needed. It was like some conspiracy to see how much her sex
drive could take before it melted down.

Scarlet stood
in Morgan Auto Shop's front office, invoice forgotten in her hand,
and watched Roane lean over the side of a sedan to tinker with the
engine. She tipped her head to the side, considering the gorgeous
shape of his ass encased in his faded jeans...

"Scarlet?"

Scarlet jerked,
startled, and turned to find Morgan, her boss, smiling at her.