I stand up and grab a pillow. I’ll use the thin throw blanket in the living room for the night. I wait for her to protest, hesitating at the door for just a moment. I shouldn’t do this to myself. I’ve always had some idealized version of being mated, and this is not at all what I’d been expecting. Still, I can’t help but hope.
“Anderson?” she asks, her voice small and hesitant. I turn my head, but I don’t quite look at her. I can’t. I can live with being mated to her, and maybe, in time, she can learn to have real feelings for me. For now, though, we need space. My heart skips a beat as I wait for her next words. “Close the door?”
I nod and shut the door behind me. Then, I sigh. This is going to be a hell of a time.
Eve
My body is in turmoil. As the night wears on, a shiver runs through me, and nausea roils through my stomach. I rest the back of my trembling hand on my forehead, and the skin burns. A whine drags its way out of my throat, and I shift into my wolf form. The shivering doesn’t go away, but at least I can distance myself from my mind for a little while. Theo is the one who taught me to shift on and off command, her hands steady as she washed the vomit out of the ends of my hair when I got sick for the dozenth time. Now that I can control it, I don’t get sick.
I pace the room, the scent of Anderson’s life here attacking me from every side. Was this a mistake? I hadn’t expected mating to bring forth so many emotions in me, and now I’m not sure what to do with everything inside. When I caught Thompson making eyes at Anderson for an instant, a raw possessiveness raged through me.
I pad over to the window, staring up at the half moon in the sky. A longing for the man asleep in the other room courses through me, and I howl as the pain grows to be too much. I take everything inside me and send it out into the world, and soon, I’m joined by more. I’m not the only wolf in the building right now, and others are feeling just as many things as me. I’ve always thought of myself to be stoic and emotionless. If that’s true, though, how am I hurting so much right now?
From the other room comes a much closer whine, and claws scrape at the door. I stalk over slowly, breathing in my mate’s scent. His body thumps on the floor as he lies down, his snow-white fur peeking under the bottom of the door. I lie down against my side of the door, not quite touching him.
I want to be, though. There may be a thin piece of wood separating us, but it might as well be a thousand miles. Should I have taken him as a mate? In retrospect, it had been a ridiculously selfish decision. One I can’t back out of.
I’m sorry, Anderson, I think. You deserved better than me.
Chapter Eight
Eve
I wear a plain pair of black jeans and a tank top for my so-called “introduction” to the pack. Anderson woke up in a fairly cheery mood, showing up to the bedroom door with breakfast for me. He’d even kissed me on top of my head, stirring up turmoil.
Now, we’re standing in a huge wood-paneled conference room with about ten other wolves that keep looking at me. Apparently we’re supposed to wait for the alpha to show up, and I have to keep bile from rising in my throat at the idea of submitting to Kenneth in any way. A curl has escaped from the tight bun I forced my hair into, and no matter how many times I keep swiping it back past my ear, it ends up in my face.
A door opens at the far side of the room, and Kenneth enters. He looks mostly the same, although his hair is speckled with gray and his skin has fallen to gravity. The short time has not been good for him, considering the lifespan of werewolves. My heart speeds, and I have to cross my arms over my chest and dig my nails into my biceps to keep from leaping across the table and tearing his throat out right here in front of everyone.
Thompson scrambles in behind him, digging files out and setting them in front of his father. Is it just me, or are his hands shaking? I get the strange urge to comfort him, but that’s just ridiculous. I don’t even know him.
“Sit,” Kenneth commands once he’s nice and comfortable in my father’s high-backed leather chair. The leather is cracking with age and misuse, and the metal studs are faded. Anderson and I sit, and I ignore the questioning glances from others at the table.
A young woman sits toward the head of the table, her auburn hair flowing around her shoulders and her freckles standing out in stark contrast against her milky-white skin. Thompson sits beside her, and she places a hand over his while tossing me a nasty glare. Freya has grown a lot since we were kids, but her disdain for me hasn’t changed. I want to put her in her place, but that would be giving away my position immediately. Anderson is low on the pecking order, which means I am, too.
Kenneth looks up at us and folds his hands in front of his mouth. “First of all, It seems that Anderson has taken a mate,” he says, pride swelling in his tone and shocking me. “I always knew that he would find a lovely specimen of a purebred wolf.” His smile is predatory, and I smile back tightly. “We’re very proud of him. Victoria, would you like to introduce yourself?”
I jolt into a standing position, knocking my flimsy wooden chair back so hard that Anderson has grab on to keep it from falling. I shove my hands in my pockets and glance around the table. Freya has an amused smirk on her face, but she keeps looking over to Anderson. The air conditioning turns on with a rumble, and her scent blows toward me. Her scent buries itself into my nostrils just like it had yesterday, and I raise my lip at her. She frowns at the clear threat display.
“I’m Victoria,” I say, keeping my eyes on her. “I was sent to town by my father, the beta of a pack in Texas.” The lies roll off my tongue easily. I practiced my lie the whole drive to town, so I know it backward and forward. “I met Anderson when I arrived, and it just clicked that he’s the one I was supposed to claim.” I raise my chin and stare down my nose at Freya. “I knew in a moment that he was mine.”
Before I can sit, she snarls, leaping out of her chair and trying to climb over the table toward me. Her features become sharp and drawn, and fur and claws sprout from her hands. Thompson has to grab her by the collar of her blazer to drag her back. I sit down and lean back in my chair, crossing my arms and watching this all go down. I know if she were to get too close that I would destroy her, but I shouldn’t kill anyone my first day back.
I have to learn about the pack, see what Kenneth has done since I left. If I take over too soon, the rest will never follow me. “Sit down,” Kenneth barks, his eyes flashing with warning. I don’t miss Thompson’s flinch at the shout. Again, I get that urge to reach out to him. Instead, I cross my ankles together. “Victoria, it’s lovely to meet you. I hope that you and Anderson will bring some fresh new blood to this pack in dire need.” One glance at my belly is all it takes for me to understand his meaning. Of course that misogynist thinks I’m only good for one thing.
Instead of breaking his neck in front of a dozen witnesses, though, I smile and nod. “I hope so, as well.” I will be sickly sweet until the moment comes for me to destroy him. There won’t be an ounce of suspicion on me until then.
“Alright, on to other business. I need everyone to start contributing more. I expect a full sixty percent of your pay from now on to go toward maintenance and care of the building.”
My eyes widen, and the middle-aged woman beside me leans forward. Her hair is tied back in a messy ponytail, and her features sag with exhaustion. With a jolt, I recognize her as Gloria, the woman who used to teach us Spanish and English as kids. “Kenneth,” she says slowly, “everyone is stretched so thin as it is. How can we expect anyone to contribute more than half of their incomes? The building is falling apart, and we’re already struggling to take care of our pups as it is.”
Kenneth’s eyes dart to her, and his features draw back just a hair. It’s subtle, but enough of a warning that she leans away from him, but her shoulders are still tense. “If you don’t want to be a part of the pack, then you’re free to leave,” he growls.
She shakes her head. “It wasn’t like this when David was the alpha.” Despite her submission,
her voice is strong.
Kenneth bolts out of his chair, slamming his hands on the table. Gloria immediately averts her eyes and exposes her neck in submission. He has no right to do that. He’s only in charge because he’s a murderer. I would never deign to treat my pack like this. I fold my hands in my lap to hide the trembling.
Thankfully, the tension eases, and it isn’t long before we’re dismissed. When Kenneth leaves the room, Thompson approaches me, Freya close on his heels. I refrain from curling my lip at her again and focus all my attention on him.
“Victoria,” he says with a nod. Then, he looks at Anderson. “You guys sleep alright?”
Anderson could admit that we slept on opposite sides of a door on the cold hardwood, but instead, he says, “Great!”
Thompson gives a tight smile and then looks back at me. “You said you’re from a pack in Texas. I feel like we’ve met, though. Have you been to the city before?”
I bat my eyelashes and ignore the death glare that the redheaded she-wolf is giving me. If looks could kill, I’d be in a pile of ash on the floor by now. “Never,” I lie, my voice quiet and sultry. “Maybe I just have one of those faces.”
A light smile touches his face, and he leans toward me unconsciously. I take Anderson’s hand in my own and consider a new angle that I hadn’t. Werewolves are most commonly male, so there are rarely enough females to go around. As the true Alpha of the pack, I would be well within my rights to take on more mates, and there’s something delicious about the way Thompson looks at me, his hooded eyes dark and deep like a lake in the middle of winter. I put a light hand on his arm and smile, and his eyes flick to my lips for just an instant.
“I think we should go,” Anderson says, cutting into the interaction. His voice is hard, and his hand takes mine as he drags me toward him possessively. “I was going to take Victoria on a tour of the building.”
Thompson frowns and shakes his head, and Freya places an arm around his. “Let’s go to the Galleria,” she says, her voice pouty as she bats her lashes up at Thompson.
I tilt my head, finally focusing on her. “Isn’t the pack broke?” I ask sweetly. “I’d think that it would be our duty to avoid spending excess money at the mall when mates are struggling to feed their pups.”
Thompson nods and pulls away from her. “You’re right,” he says, his voice surprised. “I have some work to do anyway.” He looks down at Freya, who looks like she’s just been slapped in the face. “I guess I’ll talk to you some other time.”
Her jaw drops open in shock as he walks away. As soon as he’s gone, she looks back at Anderson and me. “What fucking right do you have to come in here and tell me what I can do after taking my man?”
A low rumble builds in my throat, but Anderson squeezes my hand. I will at least attempt to resolve this humanely. “If he was your man, you should have taken him as your mate. It’s not my fault you’re too slow to make a decision.”
She snarls at me again, but this time she doesn’t lose her temper. Instead, she shoves past me and storms away, her overpriced Louboutin heels clacking on the ground as she goes.
“Anderson, a word,” Gloria says when everyone else has left the room. She comes up to us, taller than she looked when submitting to Kenneth. She inspects me, her eyes tracing over my face so much that I want to shrink back and hide.
“Victoria, this is Gloria,” Anderson says, although I obviously know her. “She teaches pups part time.”
I hold my hand out and shake hers, my grip firm. When I try to pull away, though, she holds on and flips my wrist so that she can inspect the underside of my arm. After staring for far too long, she says, “Your father was a good man, Eve. But you need to be careful. Far too many have underestimated Kenneth, and it’s gotten them killed.”
I freeze, my throat going dry. How does she know who I am? I look at my arm, but I don’t have so much as a freckle to identify me there.
“I’m your godmother,” she says with a smirk. “And I placed a spell on you the day you were born so I would always be able to recognize you.” She runs a finger up my arm, and a shiver goes through me. “Be careful. But know that I will stand by you no matter what.”
I swallow the anxiety growing in my throat and nod. She drops my arm and walks off, and the tension in my shoulders eases by a single degree.
How the hell is everything getting so complicated?
Chapter Nine
Anderson
The interaction with Gloria has me rattled. Does anyone else know Eve’s true identity? Instead of walking through the building, I drag her back up to the apartment and bolt the door behind us.
“Anderson, it’s fine,” she says, leaning against the counter casually as if I can’t smell the adrenaline rolling off her.
I shake my head and rush into my bedroom, dragging a duffel bag out of the closet. “No. It’s not.” I start shoving clothes in randomly, my senses on high alert after that meeting. Not only was she recognized, but Eve and Freya almost got into a fight that surely would have ended with one of them being dead. “We’re leaving. Right now.” She approaches me from behind, and my shoulders tense.
“Where would we go?” she asks. Her voice is firm, and I glance back to see her standing in the doorway, her hands loose at her sides. There’s something dangerous about her stance, like she’s ready for anything.
I shake my head. “Anywhere. Maybe back to where you were before you came back. Or somewhere else. We can get an RV and stay on the move.” I’m rambling at this point as my heart speeds up. I don’t know where we’re going to go, but the wolf inside me is demanding that I keep my mate safe. St. Louis is not safe for her.
“Anderson,” she says, and the tone makes me stop and turn to her. Her eyes are hard, and she takes a step toward me. “We are not going anywhere. Didn’t you hear what Kenneth said in that meeting? If something doesn’t change, the pack is going to fall apart. Everything my family built will fall apart.” She drags the ponytail out of her hair and shakes her head. My heart sinks at her words. “I am not leaving. If you’re going, then it has to be without me.”
I grit my teeth. Anger builds hot in my mind, and I stride toward her. She may be tough, but I tower over her, my body thick with muscle. “I could force you to leave. I have to keep you safe.”
A smile comes across her face, but it isn’t one of happiness. It’s dark and menacing, and I know for a fact that I just fucked up. Her entire body tenses up, and she lifts a hand. While I’m preparing to block her swing, she kicks my legs out from under me and then straddles my waist, pinning my arms beside my body. I struggle to escape, but she shifts halfway into her wolf form, her face elongating and her hands turning to claws. She puts a hand to my throat, resting her claws right on my pulse.
She leans over, her lips brushing against my ear. “Let’s get one thing straight,” she whispers. “There is nothing you can force me to do. Got it?”
I give up my struggle and nod. As soon as I submit to her, she climbs off me and helps me to stand. Defeated, I collapse onto the bed before remembering that we still need to set up the other room.
“We need to get you a bed,” I say, exhausted from the events of this morning.
She shakes her head. “That’s ridiculous. We are adults, and even if neither of us wants a romantic relationship, we can at least share a fucking bed.”
I watch her carefully, evaluating her to figure out what her play is. In the under twenty-four hours she’s been here, she’s shown herself to be the same girl I fell for when we were kids. Smart, conniving, and tough. I hold a hand out, palm up, and she walks forward slowly, carefully. When she’s close enough, I take her hand in mine and drag her close. She stumbles forward and falls into me, her knees landing on either side of my hips to straddle me.
“And what if I want some sort of relationship?” I ask, thrusting my hardening cock against her. She closes her eyes and parts her sweet, full lips, tilting her head back.
“As long as we agree for ther
e to be no emotions,” she mumbles, rocking her hips against me slowly while I grip her wrist.
I nod. “Agreed. No feelings.” Then, I tangle a hand in her hair and pull her face down to mash my lips against hers.
Eve
I’ve watched romantic comedies. I’ve read romance novels. When two people agree on an arrangement without feelings, it always turns out that they do, in fact, have feelings for each other.
I’m different, though. I refuse to feel anything. I’m here to avenge my father’s death and reclaim my pack. I may be a rogue right now, an interloper with no powerful allies, but when I take back the throne that’s rightfully mine, I might have time for romance.
I drag Anderson’s shirt off him, scraping my nails down his sculpted chest. He’s hairier than the men I’m used to, a trail of hair running down from his sculpted pecs and into his bulging pants. It spreads out across his chest as well, and I run my hands over his skin where it’s already turning red from my nails.
“How did you grow up to be so fucking sexy?” I ask. He presses his lips against mine once again, and my inner she-wolf shivers in anticipation. He slides a hand up the back of my shirt and unhooks my bra with one swift movement, then pulls it off with my tank top.
My nipples pebble into little points on my dark areolas, and Anderson groans and takes one into his mouth, biting down hard enough that I gasp out from the sweet pain. He tangles his hands in my hair again and pulls down, forcing my head back while I grind on him. We spent half of last night fucking like wild animals, so it doesn’t make sense how horny I am now. It may have something to do with Freya’s reaction to us, but I can’t be certain.
I use my hands to unbutton my jeans, but I can’t remove them while straddling him. Thankfully, he lets me go for a moment, just long enough for me to stand on shaking legs and remove my pants. It’s only been a few moments, but I’m soaked with need.
Rogue Wolf Page 4
