Wolf Moon (14 page)

She
laughed after swallowing the food in her mouth. “All too well,” she replied,
waving her hands over the food.

“Mind
if I join you?”

Colby
shook her head, looking more than willing for a late-night snack partner. “Not
at all. Plates are in the corner cabinet, above the coffee maker.”

I
grabbed a large plate and pulled out the stool next to her. “What are we having?”

“Um,
there’s turkey, potatoes—they’re not so good cold, and I don’t feel like
reheating anything—some ham, leftover roast from a couple days ago that
I’m surprised the guys haven’t polished off yet…” As Colby listed our snack
menu, my mouth watered. It all sounded good—even the cold potatoes.

I
loaded my plate up until it rivaled her own “snack,” and we ate for a couple of
minutes in silence before I decided to see how she was doing after the night
before.

“Better,
I suppose,” she responded. “It’s still kind of freaky, but I’m trying to forget
about it.”

“You
know,” I said around a mouthful of cold potatoes—Colby was right, by the
way; they were only subpar when not reheated. “In my experience, it’s best not
to forget about that sort of thing completely. This isn’t advice I’d give just
anyone, but since you’re part of this Pack, I think everyone’s involvement is
essential. There could be something you could contribute that nobody else can.”

Colby
regarded me curiously, letting what I said settle before rolling her eyes and
letting her shoulders slump in defeat. “I can’t even master shifting on my own
most days, so I don’t know what kind of help I could ever offer to this Pack other
than to cook and clean up.”

“Come
on, now. I’m sure that’s not true.”

“Corbin
could shift on demand before he was fifteen,” Colby griped. “Here I am, seventeen,
and I’m still waiting for the damn moon to force it so I can feel even the
slightest bit relieved for the rest of the month.”

Nodding
along my sympathy, I agreed with her. “I’ve shifted twice when it wasn’t a full
moon,” I confessed, making Colby look at me with a mixed expression of shock
and envy. “It wasn’t the best experience. The first time was the night my partner
died. I went into a blind rage and was in and out of consciousness.”

“Ugh.
That’s the worst.”

“You’re
telling me.”

“And
the second time?”

“Was
with Nick in the desert. He was trying to teach me how to channel it. I
struggled for hours before he instigated the change by exposing me to the scent
of the vampire that killed my partner.”

“Whoa,”
Colby exhaled. “Heavy.”

I
laughed at myself humorlessly. “So, in hindsight, I guess I haven’t really
shifted on my own yet, either. Both events were brought on by stress and
survival instincts.”

“Those
ones aren’t actually so bad,” Colby said, tearing a chunk of ham off in her fingers
and eating it. “I find the change happens a little quicker if you feel like
you’re being threatened.”

“I
guess.”

“When
doing it on your own, it can be a long process, which means more time to live
with the pain of your body changing.” She must have caught the look of abject
horror on my face, because she was quick to tack on, “Oh, shit. I didn’t mean
to make it sound that bad…I mean, yeah, it sucks, but I hear it gets easier.
It’s just rough to be in that vulnerable in-between stage during the transformation.”
She groaned and pushed her face into her hands. “I’m making this worse.”

Laughing,
I nudged her. “It’s fine. I’m the kind of person who would prefer to have all
the details. I feel it makes me better prepared.”

Colby
and I continued to talk about the upcoming moon, and after tidying
up,
we made a standing date for the next night. She seemed
excited by this since she was the only one up until now who still struggled
with this part of her life.

We
walked upstairs together and said goodnight before turning our separate ways,
and I waited until Colby disappeared in her room to the far right before turning
left and heading back to my own. Just as I turned, a door to the right of the
master suite opened, and Karl’s scent hit me, making my stomach roll.

“Well,
hey there,” he greeted, leaning against the frame of his door and crossing his
arms. “What a coincidence, running into you here.”

“In
the hall?
On the way to my room?
Where my
mate
is currently waiting for me? That’s
what you call a coincidence?” I stared at him, dumbfounded. “Is there a
dictionary in the library here? Or do you have the intellectual capacity to operate
Google? You might want to look that word up.”

He
took a step forward, but I remained in place. I refused to let him think he
held any power over me. I would stand my ground and let him know I wasn’t
afraid of him.

“You’re
a little firecracker, aren’t you,
dollface
?” he
asked, circling me, his eyes always on me. It unnerved me, but I held steady. I
would
not
give him the satisfaction
of thinking he was getting to me. He stopped right in front of me, leaning down
so his hulking frame was more in line with my own height. I felt his scraggly
cheek catch on my hair as his nose nudged my ear. I flinched, and he found
humor in it. “Tell me, though. Is your bite as vicious as your bark?”

Gritting
my teeth, I took a deep breath, preparing my reserve of strength. I could feel
my skin warm and my muscles tighten. I didn’t think I would shift, but I recognized
the strength and power that even this slight change in my body brought. “If you
wish to keep your limbs attached to your body,” I began to threaten, “I suggest
you back the hell off. I won’t hesitate to finish what I started earlier.”

He
inhaled deeply before standing up straight again. He wore a cocky smirk on his
face that I wanted to tear off. “You know, you and Nick are doing a great job
of making everyone think you’re his…”

Even
though I hated that exact terminology, I argued his implication. “I am.”

He
smirked again. “Yeah. You keep saying that…even your actions imply it.
Yet”—his eyes moved up and down my body, lingering just a little too long
on the juncture between my legs as his nostrils fared. I wanted to
puke—“you don’t
smell
like a mated pair would.”

I crossed my arms
confidently. “And how should a mated pair smell?”

His left eyebrow lifted.
“Freshly fucked.
All the time.
And, let’s face it,
dollface
, you smell fresh as a daisy.” I wanted to slap his
smug face. “You know, like you smelled this morning.”

Revolted,
I shook my head and finally just walked away. “You’re disgusting. Don’t ever
come near me again, or I won’t hesitate to rip your arms off and beat you with
them.”

“See
you in the morning, sunshine. I look forward to the next time we meet,” Karl
called after me, and then his door shut behind him.

As
soon as I knew he wasn’t watching me, I let the shudder I’d been holding in overcome
me. I felt dirty, like I’d just rolled around in a porn star’s bed. I was proud
of myself for standing my ground, but I hated how I’d let him affect me this
viscerally.

I
stopped dead in my tracks when I reached my bedroom to find Nick standing in
the doorway, the look in his eyes murderous as he stared past me and down the
hall. “It’s fine,” I whispered, approaching him and laying a hand on his bare
chest. I knew he’d heard everything just based on how hot his skin was. He was
on the verge of losing control again. I needed to do for him what he did for
me; I needed to help him calm down.

I
took his hand and tried to coax him back into our room. “Nick, please.”

His
stiff body finally turned, following me, but he still wasn’t relaxed. “I should
have known he would doubt our story based on…on…”

“On
what?” I asked, pushing him onto the edge of his bed as I stood before him. “On
how I don’t smell like I’ve just had sex for days on end? Forgive me for being
a fan of a shower.” I sucked in a breath, embarrassed by my slip. “I mean
,
to get clean, not to…” I was stammering, and my face
burned like it was on fire, so I decided to quit trying to save face. “Anyway,
I suppose being hygienic is awfully
human
of me.”

Finally,
Nick smiled, and I breathed a sigh of relief when his temperature dropped
slightly. “I don’t give a shit what that overgrown ape thinks about us. Eventually,
it has to sink in that I’m not available.”

Nick’s
smile fell, an ominous and foreboding look reflecting in his eyes. “As much as
I want to believe that, I don’t think he’s going to give in that easily.”

Even
though I really didn’t want to have to keep enduring Karl’s repulsive advances,
I felt confident that I could handle myself against him if it came down to
that. “Well then, let him try.”

The minute the threat slipped from my tongue, an
overwhelming sense of dread seeped into my bones, and I regretted tempting fate
the way I so often did.

A
fter breakfast the next
morning, Marcus called a meeting with the guys downstairs. None of the other
women seemed
put
out by this, but I was. If this meeting
had anything to do with the dead wolf and the message to Nick, then I figured I
should have been involved.

When
I voiced this to Nick, he only smiled and told me he’d fill me in. He said not
to take it personally, and that he would talk to Marcus if I really felt like I
wanted to take a more active role within the Pack.
Which I
did.
Very much.
I truly believed it might help
me accept everything that had happened that much quicker.

Once
they all headed to the basement, I helped the girls clean up the kitchen, and
while we worked, Colby suggested we all hang out in the pool for a bit while
the guys were all preoccupied.

It
sounded great in
theory,
there was just one problem…

“What
do you mean, you don’t have a suit?” Colby asked, astounded that such a thing
was even possible. “You lived in the land of in-ground pools!”

I
laughed, wiping off the island counter. “While I’m not sure that’s exactly what
Arizona is most known for,” I said, “I didn’t really think to pack my suits. I
didn’t realize there was a pool here.”

Colby
looked at me like I was crazy before shrugging. “You can borrow one of mine,
then.”

With
that decided, we all headed up to change. Colby handed me this tiny little
bikini that made me wonder if skinny-dipping would be slightly more modest. She
saw my hesitation and laughed it off, telling me I’d look hot in it.

While
that wasn’t really my top priority, I smiled and thanked her before going to
change in my room. The suit she gave me was never worn based on the tags still
attached. The strapless, deep
seafoam
green bandeau
and the low-rise bottoms left little to the imagination. Once they were on,
though, I had to admit that Colby was right. I did look good.

I’d
always taken care of myself and stayed in shape for my career on the force, but
ever since the night I was bitten, my body composition had changed for the better.
I was leaner, and my muscles were slightly more defined. I looked stronger.
Felt
stronger.

I
grabbed a towel as I exited my washroom and wrapped it around my lower half.
The ladies were waiting in the hall. Colby and I hung back while Miranda and
Layla
led the way through the manor and out to the
poolhouse
.

This
extension of the house was incredible. The walls were made entirely of windows,
so all you could see was the yard and the mountains beyond. Like the rest of
the house, it was unreal. The pool was huge, complete with a slide and diving
board.

The
three of them heading to the hot tub versus the pool didn’t surprise me, and
truthfully, I was glad they did. I looked forward to relaxing and letting all
of the tension from the last few days melt away.

I
tossed my towel with the others on a nearby chair before stepping into the hot
tub. Colby and Miranda had already made themselves comfortable while I parked
myself near one of the jets and
Layla
sat on the edge
with her legs dangling in.

“You’re
not coming in?”

Layla
smiled. “The heat
tends to make me a little dizzy nowadays,” she replied blissfully, rubbing her
stomach. That was when I saw the slight bulge of her lower abdomen beneath her
one-piece black swimsuit, and I understood.

“You’re
pregnant? Congratulations. How far along are you?”

“Only
a couple months,”
Layla
said. “We’ve been trying for
a couple years, though. The one downfall to this life, if I had to name one.”

Confused,
I looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

Miranda
spoke up then. “Unlike the human reproductive cycle, we’re only fortunate
enough to have one or two fertile times a year.”

As
a woman who wasn’t sure if she ever wanted kids, this didn’t actually sound
unappealing, but I understood the difficulty this posed when actually trying to
procreate.

“Needless
to say, the timing has to be exactly right,”
Miranda
said.

This
revelation floored me, but I guess it also explained why there weren’t a ton of
kids running around here. I let this news swim around in my head with everything
else, filing it away with everything else I’d learned, as we sat around and
talked.

The
four of us were having such a good time, and I loved that I was finally making
some kind of connection with someone other than Nick, that we lost track of
time. We hadn’t even noticed until we heard the raucous laughter of some of the
men approaching.

“There
you are!” Nick announced as he spotted us in the hot tub. Behind him were
Marcus and Vince, probably here to see their wives. Nick knelt behind me, and I
stood and turned around to face him. I could barely smell the crisp winter air
on him with the chlorine in the air messing with my nose, but it was there.
As always, I was drawn into his gaze, his eyes bright and alive;
the color almost identical to that of my borrowed suit.
“You have a good
morning?”

I
nodded. “Yeah. How about you? Good run?”

Smirking,
Nick shrugged. “I wouldn’t call a routine perimeter check a
good
time.
But, yeah.
It’s always nice to get out there and run. I’ve missed this place.”

The
door opened behind Nick, drawing my eyes up to find Karl walk
through it. As if it was his sole purpose for being here, he stared at me as he
started to strip down. Nick turned his head slightly, checking through his periphery.
A low growl started to build as Nick moved to stand, but I reached out and
grabbed his wrist, splashing a little water from the hot tub on his shoe.

“Don’t,”
I whispered, ignoring the fact that Karl had absolutely zero qualms getting
naked in front of everyone and pulling his suit on. He was obviously looking
for me to be impressed by what he had to offer, but truthfully, I started to
wonder if maybe he had an addiction to anabolic steroids.

I
released Nick’s wrist and brought my hand to the back of his neck, drawing his
face to mine. He knew what I was doing, and it excited him—even if it was
mostly for show. I brushed my lips over his cheek as I moved for his ear and
whispered, “Kiss me, and make it good.”

I
felt Nick smirk against my cheek. “I aim to please.”

His
massive hand came up to cup my face as he pressed his lips to mine.
His mouth crashed against
mine so hard my eyes flew open in surprise. I guessed he was hell-bent on not
disappointing, and that was fine by me. Standing on the tips of my toes, I
curled my fingers into his hair, deepening the kiss and bringing my other arm
up and wrapping it around his neck. When he started to pull back, I held on a
little tighter. I leveraged myself out of the water slightly and returned the
kiss hard enough to garner a low moan from him in return. As if possessed by
the desire I felt burning beneath his cool exterior, he wrapped his arms around
my exposed waist and lifted me from the hot tub. Water dripped from my legs as
he swung me up, his hands going to the back of my thighs and guiding them
around his waist.

A loud splash tried to
break through our building fog of lust as Nick continued to kiss me, and it
wasn’t until Colby told us to get a room that we finally came up for air. One
look around, and I noticed that Karl had been the source of the splash as he
swam lengths, his strokes long and angry as they sliced through the water.

“I think that’s a good
idea,” Nick said, his voice low and gravelly. I recognized the tone, and it
sent a warm tingle straight through me, making me shiver.

Nick released my legs,
allowing me to slide to the floor. Blushing, I snatched up my towel from the
bench and thanked the girls for keeping me company. Before I could say anything
else, Nick picked me up and threw me over his shoulder like a caveman and
carried me through the door leading to the house.

I laughed as he bounded
up the stairs and tossed me onto the bed after closing our door. “Think he got
the message?”

Nick stood above
me, his eyes dark and hungry
. I could see he was barely holding
himself back, and the idea that he was so close to letting go thrilled me. I
wanted him to give in, but I knew he wouldn’t until I was ready, and part of me
still wasn’t.

No harm in a little
flirting, though.

I propped myself up on my
elbows, bending my left leg slightly and letting my towel fall from around it.
“Yes?”

Nick inhaled deeply, his
eyes closing as he took in the scents around him. He seemed frustrated. Maybe
because all he could smell was chlorine. That was all I could smell, and it
burned my nose now that we weren’t in the
poolhouse
.

“I’ll go hop in the
shower,” I said, wrinkling my nose distastefully. The smell of pool water never
used to bother me, but I found that I’d favored natural smells over the last
several weeks. Anything that masked those scents—like cologne and other
chemical scents—made me dizzy, disorienting my thoughts and instincts.

Abandoning my flirtation
attempt, I slid off the bed and moved to walk around Nick and into the
bathroom, but before I made it a step past him, he grabbed my towel and yanked
it from my body. Shocked, I turned to him, wide-eyed.

“Nick!” I admonished with
a laugh.

He shrugged. “Sorry,” he
apologized—not that he
looked
remorseful. “But that suit…”

“Is Colby’s,” I informed
him, and his face screwed up in disapproval.

“Well that makes this
awkward,” he replied. “She’s been like a kid sister all these years.” He
shuddered. “To think she owns something that
revealing
…” Another shudder.

“Oh, please. I’ve worn
far more revealing things at seventeen.” I paused, smirking devilishly. “Which
I’m sure you remember. I mean
,
that is when you developed
a crush on me, isn’t it?”

Nick feigned innocence.
“I think you’ve got that a little backward, babe. Besides, I have a feeling
that maybe you wore those tiny bathing suits while sunning yourself by your parents’
pool knowing I was going to be there.”

I pressed my lips
together contemplatively, pretending to try and remember that far back. “See,
that’s not how I remember it.”

Nick took a step forward,
his eyes heavily hooded as he looked down at my body. His hand came up, the
back of his finger brushing my lower abdomen and hipbone softly. “You’ve always
had a problem with that selective memory.”

My eyes fluttered closed
as his touch caused my skin to warm. A ripple of
goosebumps
spread all over my body, and it wasn’t until his finger toyed with the
waistband of my swimsuit that I snapped out of my dazed state of mind. I
stepped back, smiling nervously as my heart raced and my breathing stuttered.
“I’m…shower…yeah.”

Nick looked disappointed
and repentant as he nodded. “Sure.”

After seeking refuge from
the storm of desire that had been percolating in our bedroom, I closed and
leaned against the bathroom door for a minute to catch my breath.
Unfortunately, my blood was still pumping and I craved his hands on me. Again.

That particular train of
thought wasn’t helping my current state of arousal, so I quickly stripped out
of my damp suit and flipped the shower on as cold as I could handle it. The
second the water hit my body, I gasped and the heat beneath my skin began to
wane. When my teeth started chattering and that ember of desire had been mostly
extinguished, I turned the heat up a little and washed my hair and body.

Nick was standing by the
window when I exited the bathroom. Opening my top dresser drawer, I grabbed
some underwear and took it into the closet where I picked out my clothes. “So,”
I called out as I dropped my towel and started dressing. “What’s on the agenda
for tonight?”

“Hmm?” Nick responded.
“Oh, um, Marcus suggested a game of poker to lighten the mood. Everyone’s been
so stressed about these threats, and a night of mindless fun is usually the cure.”

“Rightfully so,” I
interjected.

“Agreed. But he wants us
to unwind a little. Too much stress in this house can only escalate in the
worst way,” he explained, his voice sounding like he was close.

I pulled on a pair of
jeans and a red V-neck sweater before emerging. “So, poker, huh? Sounds fun.”

Nick seemed hesitant to
say whatever was on his mind. “It’s usually only the guys who play,” he finally
spat out.

My eyebrows lifted and I
looked at him a little taken aback. “Oh, really? And the women?”

“Usually bring us
snacks.”

“Huh.”

“And I’m sure they do
other things.”

I nodded, crossing my
arms in front of me. “Uh huh. Like, what? Kitchen things? Sounds a little sexist,
don’t you think?”