Savage Instinct (14 page)

“What’s this about a fight?  Is that what you’ve been
covering up all this time?”  She snatched at the sheets wrapped around his
hips.  “Why don’t you have any bruises on your thighs or hips, Aiden?  I didn’t
hurt you with my car, did I?”

A muscle ticked in his jaw.  He cast his eyes downward. 
“No.”

“Why did you lie to me?  How much of his has been a lie? 
Is anything real?”

“I want you.  That’s real.”

She put up a hand to stop him.  “Save it.  I think after
all I’ve done that I deserve to be told the truth.  Now.  I don’t appreciate
feeling like an idiot for taking you in and caring for you when it’s obvious
you didn’t need my help.  I want to know who attacked you and why.”

He stood up and angrily pulled his pants back on, jerky
with his movements.  “That’s typical.  Eavesdropping.  I’ve never met a woman
that didn’t when given the opportunity.  You shouldn’t have been listening to
my conversation.”

“Excuse me?  Don’t turn this around on me.  You know you’re
in the wrong and that’s why you’re mad.  You’re in my house, using my cell
phone, allowing me to think that you’re hurt, and I think that gives me the
right to know what is going on.” Nydia placed her hands on her hips and put an
attitude in the jut of her chin.

“You’re right,” he said.  Aiden ran a hand through his
hair, making it messier than it had been to start with.  He paced through the
house to the living room, Nydia dogging his steps and not allowing him to
escape.  Finally, he sighed, his shoulders slumping with defeat.

“Sit down, and I’ll try to make you understand what
happened and why it happened.”

Nydia sat on the couch, tucking one leg underneath her butt
as she sat caddy corner on the sofa.

He took a deep breath, standing in front of her, then
must’ve decided he needed to get down on her level and sat beside her.  He put
his hand over hers where it rested on her knee.

 “Nydia, I’m going to explain all of this to you, but…I
need you to promise not interrupt until I’m finished.  What you’re going to
hear will be…hard for you to believe.  When I’m done, I’ll answer any questions
you have.  Can you promise to listen first and ask questions later?” he asked,
holding her gaze.

Nervousness fluttered in her belly.  She wrapped her free
hand around her middle, as if she could still the butterflies inside her
tummy.  She cleared her throat and nodded.  “I promise.”

He didn’t look away from her.  “I’m a werewolf.”

Nydia started to pull away and as she opened her mouth to
tell him that she wasn’t going to listen to  childish babble, Aiden reached out
and placed his finger on the outside of her lips.  “You promised” he reminded her.

Frowning, Nydia sat back down, and Aiden started to
explain.

“I know that you’re going to have a hard time believing
this.  Werewolves do exist.  They aren’t what the movies have made them out to
be, but we’re here.  We prefer to be called shape shifters or lycanthropes,
since werewolf has gotten a bad name from Hollywood.” Aiden swallowed.

“When the moon is full we have the ability to change our shapes
and become a powerful wolf-like creature.  We crave meat and protein more than
humans do.  Most of us hunt during the full moon cycle, but we try to avoid
killing humans, ever.  We primarily hunt deer and small game animals just like
other wolves would.” Aiden took a moment to catch his breath.

“We live in secluded areas so that we do not arouse much
suspicion from humans.  Human beings are our biggest enemy.  Not because you
are so different but because your kind is prejudiced and quick to condemn others
that are different from you.  We do everything every other upstanding citizen
of the country does.  Pay taxes, go to school, work, you name it.  We blend in,
and you would never know to look at any of us that we’re different.”

“My pack has lived in this area for hundreds of years.  We
make certain that when we change there is no chance of a human seeing us change.
 When we make a kill we’re careful to clean up all of the signs of the kill and
dispose of any of the carcass that isn’t eaten so that no one wonders what type
of animal is lurking nearby.’

“I enforce a strict code that prohibits the killing of
domestic farm animals so that we don’t draw any unnecessary attention to our
presence.  We try our best to not get romantically involved with those who
aren’t our kind.  The males of our species are naturally attracted to human
females, but we resist the urge to pursue these attractions because they can
only lead to exposure.” Aiden held her hand and tried to keep eye contact
between the two of them.

“We live in packs or clans.  We all live in separate homes
just like humans do and we have one member of the group that is the alpha male,
or leader of the group.  The alpha determines how the rest of the pack behaves.
 He has the responsibility of administering punishment to keep the clan in line
and he is looked to for guidance and protection by the rest of the clan.  I’m
the alpha male in our pack.”

“A pack is only as strong as their alpha and their
integrity.  If the alpha is killed then the pack can be taken over by another
alpha and forced to do their bidding.  This doesn’t happen often in this day
and time, but that is what caused me to be stabbed and to wind up with you.”

“I was stabbed when a rival clan attacked me just before
you hit with your car.  The blade tip you removed from my chest was meant to
render me defenseless so that they could kill me.  My rivals aim to take over
my clan while the rest of my pack was away at a mating festival.”

“You surprised them and scared them off before they could
finish the job.  That’s why I insisted on coming to your home.  I knew they
would go to my place, and when I returned they would try to finish what they
started.” Aiden looked at Nydia and watched her trying to digest what he had
said.

“Do you have questions?” he asked.

Nydia’s mind reeled with disbelief.  She had so many
questions she didn’t know what to ask first.  She felt like she stood on the
edge of a cliff trying with all of her might not to teeter over the edge.

“I don’t believe you!  Werewolves!  Shape shifters!  Rival
packs and silver knives!  This is unreal!” Nydia pulled her hands free from Aiden. 
She jumped to her feet, unable to sit beside him any longer.

Aiden reached up to his chest and tore off the bandage that
she had placed there a couple of hours earlier.  He took her hand and laid it
on the smooth flesh that the bandage concealed.  There was no wound and only a
thin line to indicate that there had ever been a wound in that place on his
chest.

“Look, Nydia.  As a shape shifter I heal quickly and
completely.”  As he talked, he took his hand.  She watched with a growing sense
of horror as one fingernail extended into an ivory claw.  He took the claw and
dug it into his forearm, drawing blood.

“My god, Aiden!” she said, gasping and taking a step
backward.  As she watched, the blood stopped.  Aiden swiped at the spot with a
finger, clearing the stain off his skin to reveal no wound marred his flesh.

A wave of dizziness swept over her.  She swayed on her feet
but caught herself from doing anything as stupid as fainting in front of him.

She swallowed and took a deep breath.  Red hot anger rushed
up her skin.  “Are you telling me you haven’t been hurt this entire time?  That
you’ve been faking your injuries to hide out at my house?”  She felt like she’d
been slapped in the face.

Aiden looked down.  His cheeks turned ruddy with
embarrassment.  “I’ve been creating a new wound with razor blades each day so
you wouldn’t send me home.  I had to have a safe place to stay until my pack
got back from their outing.  The others would have surely killed me if I hadn’t.”

Nydia stared him in utter disbelief.  She shook her head.
“You played on my emotions and pretended to be injured?  You let me miss work
and spend money to buy bandages to care for your wound?  You stepped into an
argument with Richard that you had no business getting in to?  What the hell is
wrong with you?  You’re a lowlife!  You used me!  You can’t deny it.  You told
me so yourself.  Sugarcoating it doesn’t make it taste any better.”

“No, Nydia.  When you brought me here I was injured but
once you removed the silver from the wound my body automatically went into a
healing cycle.  After I slept for a few hours the wound was gone.  I’ll always
have the scar, but I knew that you wouldn’t keep a strange man in your home
unless you thought he really needed you so I tricked you into sheltering me.” Aiden
looked pleadingly into her eyes.

She shook with rage and a multitude of other emotions.  She
couldn’t look at him anymore.  She’d been such an idiot!  Liar!  He was worse
than Richard could ever think to be.

Nydia walked away from him, feeling her anger and hatred
all over her face. “Get whatever is yours and go to the car.  I don’t want you
in my house one…more…minute.  I’ll take you wherever you need to go, but that’s
it.  You’ve lied to me, manipulated me, and made me look like a damned fool.  I
never want to see you again.”

Nydia walked to the front door, holding it open for him. 
She’d meant every single word she’d said.

Chapter
Fourteen

Nydia started the car and headed to the valley.  She didn’t
trust herself to speak to Aiden.  Tears could come just as easily as a fit of
rage, and she knew she was torn between feeling both.  The urge to rip Aiden’s
face off his head was almost too much for her.

To think, she’d had sex with him and enjoyed it.  And what
was he?  Should she believe him when he said he was a werewolf?

There had to be some scientific explanation for what he’d
shown her—she just wasn’t savvy enough to figure it out.

She was
not
going to believe that he was a
werewolf.  She just wasn’t.

She’d already demonstrated herself to be the biggest idiot
in the county.

Aiden sat quietly beside her, looking out the window as
dusk settled over the verdant mountains.  His reflection in the glass looked
pensive and troubled.  She could practically see the wheels turning in his mind
as if he searched for some way out of the hole he’d dug.

Wasn’t going to happen.  Nope.  Not this time.

The sharp line of his jaw set in determination made her
belly flutter.

Nydia frowned and returned her eyes to the road, gripping
the steering wheel with a death grip.

She’d kissed him.  She’d let him do dirty nasty things with
her.  Put his mouth all over her body and in her junk.

Better to feel anger than anything else.  Anger would keep
her warm at night when she was all alone in her bed.  Anger would keep her from
falling into the same trap again.

Angry tears stung her eyes.  She blinked rapidly, scowling
at herself.

All she had ever wanted was to be loved and treated right
by a man that was honest and dependable.  It seemed that all she ever met were
losers who wanted something from her, that wanted her to give and give and give
until she had nothing left.  She was fed up with being used and she wasn’t
going to fall for another sob story as long as she lived.

Her tender heart had been dried up, set on fire, and blown
away.

***

Aiden watched her jaw tighten as she drove.  She was really
pissed and he couldn’t say that he blamed her.  He knew that she didn’t believe
his story of shape shifters and rival packs, but he couldn’t tell her anything
more than the truth.

He’d felt guilty as hell the entire time he’d been hiding
out at her place.  Somehow, he thought unloading the truth on her would make
him feel better.

It hadn’t.  Maybe if she’d believed him it would’ve been
different.  Maybe if she’d accepted his apology he could have lived with
himself.  But she’d done none of those things.

And that’s why shifters and humans didn’t mix.

Turning his mind away from Nydia, Aiden called to his pack,
hoping that they were close enough they could come to his aid.  The mindspeak
of his brethren was not returned, making him worry.

Aiden tried to form a plan of attack as he rode.  He knew
the rivals would have found his house and they would be actively searching for
him.  He would need a plan so that his pack could catch them off guard and
avoid too much bloodshed.

Aiden didn’t want to have to kill all of the members of the
rival pack.  That’d make a lot of bodies to hide.

One grave would be enough—for Lee Riker.

He was pretty confident if they got rid of Riker, the
others would scatter.  Riker’s illusions of grandeur had gotten them all way in
over their heads.  The others didn’t seem capable of creating a complicated
plan of revenge.

Anyone could kill.  Whipping them and letting them see
they’d lost without inflicting permanent damage was the real test of strength.

As the car pulled into Misty Springs, Nydia asked, “Where
do I go from here?”

“Stay on the main road for the next three miles and then I’ll
point the turn out to you.  You would never know it’s there if I don’t,” Aiden
answered.

Nydia continued to drive, but Aiden noticed that her jaw
wasn’t as tightly clenched now.  He surmised some of her anger had dissipated. 
He wasn’t sure he was lucky enough for her to get over his betrayal, but
perhaps she’d begun to consider everything he’d told her.

She was so beautiful that he had to make himself keep his
hands on his side of the car.  He wanted to touch her hair and to stroke her
cheek bone down to her jawline.  He wanted to rub her shoulders and make the
tension leave her body.

He realized he wanted more from her than just sex.  He
wanted to make her his mate.

And it wasn’t going to happen unless he could figure out a
way to earn her trust and forgiveness.

Aiden pointed out the window.  In the deepening dusk, it
was difficult to see the overgrown road.  “See that dirt road on the left about
100 yards ahead?  Turn there.”

“Yes, I see it.”

She made the turn and drove slowly over the bumpy road.

“It is only about six miles ahead and then you’ll need to
let me out.  You can see the house from the road, but you can’t drive all the
way up to it.  And I don’t want to risk anything happening to you.”

She glanced at him, as if trying to discern the truth.

He’d created a doubt in her mind.  Hell, he didn’t know why
she’d believe anything out of his mouth now.  He’d fucked everything up
royally.

A break in the tree line marked the end of the road.  When
she came to a stop and the headlights shone on the house, even from the
distance she could see something had happened to his home.  Windows were broken
and glass littered the ground like glitter catching the light.  Flower pots
were knocked over and busted.  The door to the house hung crazily to the side
on one hinge.

Aiden got out of the car and surveyed the damage.  Every
muscle in his body tensed, prepared for attack.  He sniffed the air, catching
traces of scent, but whether or not his house was occupied he wouldn’t know
until he got closer.

Shutting the car door, he took a wary step forward,
remaining watchful of the woods that surrounded his cabin.

Nothing stirred from within the building.

The front door groaned on the remaining attached hinge,
caught by a phantom breeze that rocked the wood back and forth to hit against
the side of the house.

The stench of piss lingered on the ground.  They’d marked
his lawn like it was their territory.  Fucking assholes.

His lip curled and a growl rumbled in his throat.

The sound of the window lowering drew his attention, though
he didn’t look back at the car.  He kept his eyes fixed ahead at the abandoned
house.

“Aiden?  Is everything okay?  Should we just leave?  Are
you going to be all right?”

Despite her earlier anger, the fear and concern in her voice
were both unmistakable.

Aiden didn’t answer, but he lifted a hand to show her that
he had heard her and he understood.  His anger was so great at that moment that
he didn’t trust himself to speak to her.  He was afraid that the rage building
inside him would flood out, and he would take it all out on her.

Nydia rolled the window up and headed back up the road. 
Her tension didn’t dissipate.  If anything, it had only increased.  As much as
she wanted to remain aloof to Aiden’s situation, she didn’t like what had been
done to his home, and she didn’t like the thought of him getting hurt again.

Werewolves….

He might be a little off his rocker, but whoever had done
that damage was definitely crazier and had to be dangerous.  Someone had
stabbed him—there was no denying that.

She had the horrible feeling that she’d taken him back to
his home to die, and all because she couldn’t wait to get him out of her house
until his friends arrived.  If something happened to him because she rushed
things, she’d never be able to live with herself.

Nydia debated about calling the cops.  The more she thought
about it, the better that idea sounded in her mind.

Driving down the twisting, bumpy road, she slowed down to grab
her purse out of the center console.  She dug around in her purse, trying to
find her phone but came up empty.

Nydia stopped the car and put it in park.  The click of the
doors unlocking were jarring in the night.  She ignored her sense of the willies
being in the middle of nowhere, alone, and dumped her pocketbook out in the
passenger seat.  She pushed the center light and aimed it at the seat, then
rifled through the contents.  Still, no phone.

Damn.  She must’ve left it at home.

She gathered everything up and stuffed it back into her
purse and clicked the light off.  Straightening up behind the steering wheel,
she was shocked to discover a line of figures standing in the beam of light
from her car, blocking the road with their bodies as they stood shoulder to
shoulder.

Her heart thumped in her chest.  The hair rose on the back
of her neck.

Before she could put her car in drive or lock her doors,
the passenger door suddenly opened.

Nydia screamed as the man got in the car with her.  His
hair hung in scraggly tendrils around his face.  The confined space of the car
filled with the scent of sweat and wet dog hair.

Nydia gagged and choked back bile, a hand flying to her
mouth as she recoiled in horror.  Her eyes darted around the car, looking for a
weapon to hit him with.

The man reached over the expanse of the seat and touched
her hair.  “Now I understand what kept ole Aiden away for so long,” he said
with a throaty laugh. “If I was warming the bed of something as pretty as you I’d
take my time as well.”

She spied the umbrella stuffed between the front seats. 
She snatched it up, leaning back against her door and swinging the short piece
of plastic to keep the man at bay.

By this time, another man snatched her door open, making
her fall backwards out of the car.  She shrieked as she hit the dirt and hung
by the waist, trapped by her seatbelt.  Looking at her adversary upside down,
she was greeted by a ratty face and lank, red hair.

The man inside the car unbuckled her seatbelt, dumping her
on the ground.  She rolled, trying to recover and get to her feet, but they
moved quicker than she could.

He snatched her elbow, hauling her to her feet.

Nydia smacked him in the face with the umbrella, making his
nose turn red and swollen.  As she watched, the swelling almost instantly
disappeared.

He laughed and snatched it out of her hand, flinging it
into the surrounding woods.  The umbrella made a whistling sound as it sailed
through the air and disappeared.

“Get your filthy hands off of me!” Nydia shouted, trying to
pull away.  Behind her, someone played with her hair.  She smacked the hand
that was stroking her hair away before trying to pry the fingers off her elbow. 
She dug her nails into his hand, growling in frustration.

Seeing it was getting her nowhere, she grabbed the steering
wheel, trying to get enough leverage to pull away from him.

She was not about to allow these men to pull her from her
car.  They’d be able to do anything to her then.  The car was her only chance. 
She grabbed the wheel and held on as tightly as she could.

The long haired man in the passenger seat chuckled.  “She
is a feisty one, Lee,” he said to his companion.