City Wolf 3
Copyright © August 2009, Tressie Lockwood
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious or used fictitiously. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter One
Stacy gripped her glass of white wine between two fingers and the thumb of one hand while crossing her body with her arm and bracing the other hand under her elbow. She resisted slumping against the wall and revealing to one and all how bored she was. Bored? Yeah right. She was lonely, and her feelings were hurt that none of the guys at Zandrea’s party had looked her way beyond a glance of appreciation before turning back to their conversations with each other. If she didn’t know better, she would have suspected the assholes were gay, but there were other women there beyond her two best friends, and those women had more than one of the guys pushing up on them, trying to get some play. Then here she was, in the corner, alone.
For real, she’d been shocked out of her mind to learn what Zandrea and Nita’s boyfriends were wolf shape-shifters. That had bad sci-fi movie written all over it, but it would explain some of the crazy ass stuff that had happened since they had all been dating. Zandrea had told her it was against the rules for humans to know about them, but since Stacy was her girl, she couldn’t bear lying to her any more.
So, Zandrea had invited her to her party, but warned her that the place would be jam-packed with other wolf shifters. She had neglected to say every one of them, even the damn women, were physical perfection. Stacy had never considered herself an anecdote. In fact, she thought she was very pretty, with a good body, but she had anger issues and a real attitude problem. Every one of her ex-boyfriends had said the same thing—along with her mother, her teachers when she was still in school, and her boss.
She searched the overcrowded room, straining to pick up bits of conversation around her, admiring the dark suits on some of the guys, and the casual slacks with open collared shirts on the others. Zandrea’s house was sweet too. Zandrea had called the room they were in, the party room. The thing looked like it was twice the size of Stacy’s entire apartment, and the fireplace, the artwork on the walls, and the furniture just screamed money.
Were they all rich too? Damn!
She felt a frown steal over her face, and as hard as she tried to erase it and give off vibes of being available, she couldn’t do it. Could they sense what she was feeling, that she had hang-ups with men, that she fought like hell to keep them away from her heart? From the little Zandrea had told her, she was pretty sure the shifters couldn’t read her mind, but they did have a keen sense of smell. And real wolves, or the all-animal variety, could sense what a person was feeling by smell. Or was that only when it came to fear?
Hell, they were men, right? Most of them didn’t want anything permanent. She didn’t either. All she wanted was a little fun, maybe a bed partner for a few months. That wasn’t too much to ask. She moved her glass to the side of her body and glanced down at herself. Her dress was smokin’ if she did say so herself. The second she’d tried it on, she’d known the dress clung to her body in all the right ways.
With lycra in the deep blue material, it stretched nice over her boobs and hung low enough to show off some cleavage. The length barely reached a half foot past her ass, and she’d caught several of the men sucking in a breath and nudging their friends when they’d spotted her. She had thought the usual look of ‘come and get you some’ thrown over her shoulder would bring at least one of them to her, but nope. Nothing. What the hell was her problem?
Miserable, she gulped down the last of her wine and then headed over to a server to snag another glass. Maybe if she loosened up enough, she could just walk up on one of the men and take what she wanted.
With her second glass half gone, she surveyed the crowd. One man in particular had been catching her eye all night. He was tall, like they all were, maybe six four or five. His shoulders were so broad, she could see herself either hanging onto them while he worked her, or with her legs slung over them while he... She forced the thought from her mind. First she had to get tall, dark, and sexy-as-hell to look her way.
Feeling her usual boldness returning, she glided in his direction, weaving through the other people in the room, but never taking her eyes off him. He stood in a crowd of his buddies, a drink in his hand and a smile on full lips she wanted to lick and then kiss until her own were numb. His midnight blue eyes sparkled like he was happy with life and everything in it. She wanted them on her, to change that look from simple happiness to all out lust. Damn, she was horny.
She drew closer. He gestured to his friend, shook his head, and then reached up to push back a lock of hair that had fallen on his forehead. Her fingernails tore into her palm. Don’t worry, baby. I’m going to fix that for you soon, she told him silently.
At last she was in front of him, cutting him off from his friends. She let her breasts brush his chest and tilted her head back to look up at him. His eyes shifted from her face to her boobs, lingered there a while, and then moved back to her face. He grinned.
“Hey,” she said, in no hurry to explain herself. After all, her body was saying everything it needed to, and the growing bulge between them was a good answer.
“Hey,” he responded.
“Kiss me,” she demanded.
One of his dark eyebrows rose. He didn’t move, and the smile didn’t lessen either. In fact, his eyes seemed to indicate he was laughing at her. All of a sudden, Stacy felt like an idiot. He was going to push her away and talk about her with his friends. But she was always bold. She’d lived her life that way, and she couldn’t back down now that she’d come so far.
“Well?” she asked him.
He shrugged. “What the hell.”
She had just enough time to wonder what was up with that, like he didn’t want to but was humoring her, before his mouth descended on hers. She thought he would give her a soft peck, and it would be over, but somewhere she heard a tinkle of breaking glass, and his arms came up around her. He gripped her waist and lifted her up to his body then ran a hand down over her ass. Stacy clung to him. She had to because when he thrust his tongue between her lips and moaned in greedy hunger, it was all she could do not to fall on the floor from all the strength leaving her body.
She’d had a comb in her hair with jewels on it, to hold back her long hair. He threaded his fingers into her hair and pushed the comb away. Stacy ran her hands into his hair as well, loving the silky feel of it sliding between her fingers. She’d never kissed a white man, and damn if she didn’t know what she’d been missing.
The man broke the kiss and ran his mouth down her throat, sucking at her skin and licking her until she shook from head to toe. When he moved to her shoulder and had pushed back the thin strip of material there holding her dress up, someone shouted, “whoa,” and yanked him away from Stacy.
Shrill whistles filled the room, and several of the men clapped. Embarrassment stole over her, but she was still on fire. She’d made a connection. Now all she had to do was get this guy’s number, and they could finish this in private. Turning her attention away from those looking on, she glanced at the man and smiled. �
��I’m Stacy.”
He grinned in return. She picked up on his easygoing attitude and liked that about him. “I know. Zandrea and Nita’s human friend.”
Relief flooded her. So he knew what he was getting into, and he knew she was aware of them as well. “Yeah. So you want to go somewhere and...uh...talk?” She smirked at the crowd. “Away from nosey folk?”
He shook his head, and she blinked.
“Huh?”
His smile widened, and he leaned out to whisper in her ear, although she knew from what Zandrea told her, all of them had over the top hearing ability. “Stick with your own kind. I’m not interested.”
And with that, his arrogant ass, spun on his heel and walked away, leaving her in the middle of the floor looking like a fool.
Chapter Two
Nash had learned a long time ago that keeping a smile on his face and a joke on his tongue would keep everyone from knowing what was truly on his mind. He was hardly ever, if ever, in a bad mood, and never rude. Well, not much. But just now, he’d told that human woman he wasn’t interested, that she should stick to her own kind. He’d felt it like it was a punch to his own gut when her feelings were hurt. Yet, like him, she didn’t show it. Anger blazed in her eyes a moment before he turned away. He suspected if he had stayed there another second, she would have told him off with the scathing tongue Lucas had told him she had.
Oh he knew her all right. He’d been right there with all the other guys staring at that sizzling body of hers when she walked in. Every one of them had enjoyed the view, but none of them would go after it because she was human. Least of all him. Lucas had lost his position as Alpha of their pack, and Nash had just gained the position. He was not going to let some chocolate goddess that made him want to rip off her dress and lick her from head to toe, jeopardize that. No way. Not for sex, that was sure.
He cared deeply about the pack. He enjoyed the position as leader. That wasn’t going to change any time soon. He would fight to the death to protect his people, and he’d only left the city to come here to Zandrea and Brant’s party because he’d missed his friends. They were family, and their lives had gone in separate directions. A rare visit had been in order, so he had accepted the invitation. Who the hell knew Stacy would make him weak with one amazing kiss? Wasn’t going to happen a second time.
The elders were calling for him to choose a mate. A woman of his own would keep him out of trouble to some extent as well as satisfy his needs. But when he chose her, she would be wolf. Period. Not a human like Brant and Lucas had chosen. Hell no. Too much trouble.
In the farthest corner away from her, he nursed a drink and kept his eyes on those he was conversing with, pretending that her scent wasn’t in his nostrils and the memory of her lips under his wasn’t replaying over and over in his mind.
Lucas slapped him on the shoulder, looking like a contented, mated shifter with a new baby boy at home in his nursery and another one on the way. “Hey, what was that about, Nash? Thought you weren’t going down that road.”
Nash laughed. “Are you nuts, boss? No way. I have no interest in a human woman.”
“Didn’t look that way to me.” Lucas winked. “And drop the boss stuff. You’re Alpha now, remember? I’m just a lowly grunt, following my Alpha now.”
They both glanced over to Brant standing with his arm around his wife. Brant had always longed for the position, and since they had hooked up with a younger pack who didn’t have a leader, the man had become unbearable with the pups looking up to him like he was a god.
“How’s that going for you?” Nash asked.
Lucas rolled his eyes. “I’ve told Nita to convince Zandrea to let herself get pregnant again. We could all use the break. If his head gets any bigger, it will pop. Or I might have to challenge him just to knock him down a peg. I’m still his big brother.”
Nash laughed. “By what a couple months? Give him a break. Let him have his fun. He’ll sober after while. The pups will mature and realize he’s just Brant.”
“Better be soon,” Lucas growled. “Whatever, I’m content at least at home. Nita’s having another baby. Did I tell you that?”
“Only three hundred times.”
Lucas punched him. “Time for you to get your mate. Maybe you should consider Stacy. She’s not bad to look at, and from the kiss, it looked like you two were ready to go at it. In fact if I hadn’t yanked you off her, you would have bitten her. You know that’s the first step in mating.”
Nash waved his hand. “Get real, bud. I’m not taking a human. Forget it. And unlike you and Brant, I will not be driven half crazy in the middle of lust and bite a woman by mistake. When I take my mate—who will be a shifter by the way—I will bite her fully in my right mind having made the conscious decision to do it.”
“That’s what they all say.”
Nash kept his smile in place and forced his eyes not to shift to their darker state. That way he wouldn’t give even the slightest sign of Lucas’ words irritating the hell out of him. What he wanted to do was grit his teeth and bust something up just to take the edge off his anger. His body might want her. Okay, he admitted that. She was a beautiful woman, and he’d be lying if he said he’d never wondered what it would be like to fuck a black woman. All guys thought about it. But he was not the asshole that used women just to fulfill a fantasy. He was better off leaving it as just that—a fantasy.
Whistles rose around the crowded room, and Nash sniffed the air. His wavering smile widened. He knew that scent anywhere. Laila, female shifter to rival all of their females. He’d met her once back in his city, when Lucas was still Alpha. That had been years ago, and at the time, he’d thought she was more interested in his buddy. But Lucas hadn’t recovered his heart from Gloria at the time, so he barely acknowledged Laila’s existence.
Nash threaded through the crowd, trying to get past the horny wolves with their tongues hanging out of their heads looking at Laila. He spotted her near the door, her willowy figure encased in a blinding red dress that was so sheer and so form fitting, she should be naked. He found himself growing hard. Laila knew what she was doing. The woman was giving off pheromones by the bucketfuls, and every unmated male in the room was responding to the call, including him.
With an extra forceful elbow to his nearest rival, he drew up in front of her. “Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in,” he said with a grin.
She wrinkled a pert nose and pouted up at him, her short, dark curls dancing about her head when she shivered. “Cat? Don’t be gross, Nash. This is a party.”
He chuckled and stepped closer, pretending to search the area around her. “Where’s your mate? Surely you didn’t come all the way here alone?” Her territory was sixty miles away from his, which would make it eighty miles from the city Brant and Lucas now lived in with their mates and children.
She waved a delicate hand. Nash had felt she was insanely beautiful but a little too thin. He had always figured she’d been around humans too long and engaged in constant dieting. The last time he’d met her she hadn’t eaten anything other than salads and fruit. The mere thought of a meatless diet made him want to mimic her shiver from earlier.
“I dragged a friend of mine down here. He’s parking the car. But we’re not mates.” She rested her hand on his chest and locked her gaze with his. “I heard you were promoted. Congratulations.”
“Forget it, fellas,” someone called out. “You know what that means. She’s Nash’s mate now. Laila always did want to land an Alpha.”
Laila let out a low growl in the direction the comments had come from. “Shut your mouth! You don’t know me.”
The unafraid shifters whimpered like puppies and then laughed. Nash wrapped an arm around Laila’s thin shoulders. “Don’t worry about those losers. They’re just jealous. Come and tell me what you’ve been up to.”
While Laila curved her lovely body to his side, they strolled across the room to a sofa. For no apparent reason, Nash’s gaze drifted in the direction he had last
seen Stacy. A man who was clearly one of them soon strolled over to her with two drinks in hand and a lecherous smile on his face.
Before he could control his emotions, Nash blurted, “Who the fuck is that?”
Laila raised questioning eyes to his and then glanced in the direction he was looking. “Oh, that’s just Alphons. You’ll love him. He’s all Alpha, but he hasn’t gotten a post yet. Looks like he’s found his next lover. The man’s appetite can’t be stopped. Oh well, let’s talk about us.”
Chapter Three
Stacy slipped into her car and kicked off her heels before turning over the engine and roaring out of Zandrea’s driveway. By the time she had made it to the street, her cell phone was ringing. She dug it out of her bag and read the caller ID. It was Zandrea.
She tapped the answer button on the gadget attached to her ear. “Yes?”
“Okay, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Stacy told her.
“Girl, you know you’re lying. You forget we’ve been friends since they invented the microwave?” Stacy burst out laughing when Zandrea did. Her friend went on. “I know your ass didn’t skip out on me and drive back to town when I invited you to spend the weekend with us, so that means you’re making a midnight run. Is it ice cream or cookies?”
Stacy grumbled. “Both.”
Zandrea sucked her teeth. “Ouch, that bad? Come back, and let me go with you. We can disappear for a couple hours and talk. We can even do like we used to sometimes when none of us could find a man and stay out until the sun comes up. I know the perfect place to do it.”
Shifting gears, Stacy took the next corner driving too fast. Her wheels gave a satisfying screech. “That’s the problem. I made a damn fool of myself with that asshole, Nash. But you can be sure I won’t let it happen again. All those guys in there, and I couldn’t get my hands on one.”
“Are you nuts?” Zandrea tapped the phone on something, and Stacy had to pull the ear piece off to keep from having an eardrum burst. “Girl, you talk about getting your hands on a man? First of all, the way you and Nash were going at it, I thought he was going to rip your dress off right there in the middle of the floor. And trust me, boyfriend was all up in that. Second, that other guy, what was his name? Alphons. Sexy as shit! He looked like he wanted what you were offering too. Nash is stubborn, straight-laced from what Brant tells me. I bet you could have your pick between both of them in no time.”
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