The second place he came to was a hectic, brightly-lit house. He could hear people shouting all the way from the sidewalk. They must be having a party. There were so many humans in there that his nose was temporarily confused. He identified at least three very young females, and two older females. But there was no hint of werewolf.
The third house was occupied by a single old lady, the fourth by a human couple, and the fifth by four young men, who ate a lot of takeaway pizza.
“Damnit!” Chase yelled into the confines of the car. It was starting to look like those bozos at the Federation had given him crappy information. He’d been so excited when he’d got his hands on those addresses, and now it was coming to nothing. He slammed his fist down on the steering wheel. And where was Brad? A bolt of panic shot through Chase’s chest that Brad might somehow have managed to get ahead of him. What if he’s actually been out all day, sniffing every single house in the town? The thought sent Chase off down the road with a squealing of rubber.
He came to the final address on the list. It was a cottage, well looked-after, with a red door and lots of flowers outside. Chase opened the window. He thought he caught a whiff of something, but he couldn’t be sure. He climbed out of the car. He could see people moving behind the curtains, so he crept along the pathway. Just as he reached the porch, it hit him. It wasn’t very strong, probably because she hadn’t fully turned yet, but there was a werewolf-to-be in there! He took a deep snort and let the delicious scent fill his nostrils. It was the scent of a female in her early twenties, and ripe for mating. His nose seemed to have a direct link to his cock, as he felt himself growing hard. His mind filled with images of the girl, as he’d imagined her. He calmed himself down and took another sniff. His nostrils identified two other females – a mother, and a young girl, not yet ready for mating – and a male – her father. Checking that there was no-one near the window, who might catch a glimpse of him, he slunk right up to the front door. It had a spyhole! He put his eye to it. Humans only see a dot of an image from the reverse of a spyhole, too small to interpret, but wolves don’t suffer that limitation. Chase could see inside the house – the hallway, the stairs, and a door leading off to the left.
Voices came closer to the door, and suddenly, the door leading off from the hallway was yanked open, and a girl hurtled into the hall. She was yelling something like, “I’m going! I don’t care what you say!” But it was lost to Chase. He was transfixed by her looks. She was stunning. Her body was full of lush curves, like the undulating hills of his hometown. She had real breasts and an ass, unlike the skinny-bodied were-females in his pack. He longed to sink his teeth into her opulent flesh, free those buxom breasts from her bra, and suck on her nipples. Blood rushed to his ears. Her face was beautiful as well, with lovely soft eyes, and a deep pink rose of a mouth. He imagined how that mouth would feel on his while he was buried deep inside her. His cock surged again. The sight of her was almost more than he could cope with. Here was his fated mate, the destiny he had created for himself that one day, so long ago. She was the girl his father had spoken of, almost every day of his life, reminding him of the prize that awaited him.
There was a sound behind him, near the gate. In the tenth of a second it took him to whip around, Brad was on his back. His wolf let out a snarl, but it was too late. Brad had totally caught him by surprise, and he fell to the ground. Brad threw himself on top of him, and landed a punch in his face. Chase’s wolf growled. It was poised, just beneath his skin, on the point of shifting.
“Stop it, you moron!” he hissed at Brad. “I’m not going to be able to control my wolf if you carry on!” Brad glared down at him, with a wildness in his eyes that Chase had never seen before. His wolf retreated a smidgen. At last, Brad pulled himself off Chase and stood up, brushing himself down.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Chase said in a low voice.
“I don’t want you turning up and mucking things up for me!” Brad said.
“Me mucking things up for you? It’s the fucking opposite, you retard! She’s mine. My fated mate. My destiny. All mine, and not yours!” Chase’s voice had become louder, and, as he reached the end of his proclamation, the door swung open, and a man’s head popped out.
“Can I help you?” he asked with a frown. He was in his mid-forties, and healthy-looking, with a tanned, weather-beaten face, and large, calloused hands. Chase and Brad stared at him, dumbstruck.
“I was wondering if I could have a word with your daughter, the elder one?” Chase said at last, flashing the man his most charming grin. Brad’s wolf sniggered as he noticed that Chase had a few lumps of earth clinging to his jacket.
“Who are you?” the man asked, his suspicion not dropping an inch.
“We’re friends from college,” Chase continued.
“She doesn’t go to college, and you obviously don’t even know her name!” the man said. He emerged from the house, shutting the door tight behind him. “You’d better tell me what your business is here, or you’re going to be very sorry that you ever set foot on my property!” he hissed. Adrenaline surged through Brad’s body. It was now or never.
“We’re very sorry to have turned up unannounced, sir,” he said. “We just weren’t sure of the correct address. We’re from Gila, and we would just like the opportunity to get to know your daughter.” Recognition, fear, and fury flashed across the man’s face, all at the same time. He drew himself up to his full height.
“I know who you are!” he boomed. “And I don’t want you animals around my daughter!” Chase and Brad recoiled at being referred to in such derogatory terms, but kept silent. The man pinched the bridge of his nose, and took a long, shaky breath. “God knows I’ve done everything in my power to protect her from you. It’s cost my family so much over the years, changing our names, hiding away from our relatives, leaving behind everything we knew in Gila. But you’ve found us anyway!” His voice cracked, and he seemed on the point of breaking down. He stared at them in turn. “How on earth did you find us here?”
“We have a national network that assists us with this kind of thing,” Chase said, unusually gently. Brad cast a glance at him, and saw that he was equally shaken by the man’s evident pain.
“Sir, your daughter needs our help,” Brad began. “We know she’s begun the process that will soon culminate in a full shift into her wolf form. Being around her own kind will ease her distress in this difficult time.”
“She is not your kind!” The man bellowed, his shoulders flexing and his hands bunching into fists. “She is one of us! Part of our family! I don’t know which one of you sank your filthy teeth into her and almost killed her in the process, but I’m telling you this: biting her does not make her your own!” His voice had become so loud that it echoed up and down the quiet street. Brad and Chase’s wolves whined at the insults being leveled at them. They were unused to being described with anything other than glowing praise.
Just then the door opened. The girl poked her head out. Brad and Chase both inhaled sharply. She was even prettier than the image that had been flitting through Brad’s mind for the past few hours. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes were flashing.
“Dad, what’s going – ” she started to say, then she caught sight of the two of them over her father’s shoulder. Her lips pursed as she looked at Brad. “You again!” she said. Chase flashed him a furious glance, but Brad ignored it. “My dad’s told me the whole story.”
“And?” Brad said.
“And nothing!” Her father yelled, pushing his face right up into Brad’s. Brad’s wolf could’ve snapped his neck with a single bite, but he backed away, showing the man due respect, as the father of his future mate. “Get the hell out of this town! We’ll take care of our daughter, whatever happens. And if I ever see you here again, I’ll have you shot, and your secrets exposed to the whole world!” Chase and Brad shuddered. If the man made good on his threat, the lives of all the werewolves in the US, as they knew them, would be over. Their wolves whimpe
red, tails dropping between their legs. They turned, in unison, and left without a word.
*
“Well, that went well,” Brad said, stretching his feet out in front of him. Chase had grudgingly given him a ride, too beaten by the recent events to be hostile. Chase grunted, non-committally.
They passed the rest of the journey in a dejected silence, but, as they turned into the hotel grounds, a recollection pinged in Chase’s brain.
“How on earth did you find her before me?” he demanded. “I had the information from the Federation!” Brad shrugged.
“I just got lucky, following my nose, I guess,” he said. Chase turned to him.
“But her scent wasn’t even that strong. She hasn’t shifted yet. You would’ve had to go in the garden of each and every house – wait a minute!” He paused, taking a deep snort, which flared his nostrils. Suddenly, he leaned over and clamped his arm around Brad’s neck, getting him in a choke-hold. As Brad’s arms went up to fend him off, Chase started rooting in his pockets.
“Got it!” he yelled, plunging his hand into Brad’s breast pocket and pulling the scrap of red fabric out. Brad snatched at it, while coughing and gasping for breath, but Chase held it at arm’s length. It was redolent with the girl’s sweet, warm scent.
“You fucking asshole! You had this the whole time and didn’t tell me!” Brad got out of the car and slammed the door shut, rubbing his neck.
“Why the hell would I, you prick!” he bellowed. “You don’t deserve a girl like that. Her father’s right: you are a fucking animal!” Before Chase could think up a reply, Brad turned on his heel and stomped over to his cabin.
*
Aspen lay awake for a long time. This had been by far the weirdest day of her entire life. Her head felt like it was bursting with all the things she’d heard. She’d called in sick from her part time job in a restaurant, too overwhelmed to cope with working that night. And there had been a final shock at the end of the day – there was not just one strange man wanting her attention, but two! Her father had refused to tell her anything about them, but she had gathered that they were both werewolves. The thought that beings who were not fully human had been there, right on her doorstep, made her shiver, mostly with fear, but also with a hint of something else. The second guy was just as good-looking as the first one. He had golden hair, and skin almost exactly the same shade, and he had these crazy-intense, pale green eyes. He seemed harder than Brad though. She picked up a hint of something deliciously uncompromising in the angle of his jaw. He was the kind of guy who’d laugh at her, or give her an are you kidding me? kind of smirk if she was caught looking in his direction. But he’d been staring at her in a very similar way to the first. She could’ve sworn his eyes widened when they focused on her, the pupil flooding the iris, changing the color to deep emerald. She’d looked from one man, to the other, to the other. Each of them was breathtaking, but together, she felt like she was watching Mr Universe. They had an otherworldly perfection. Were all werewolves as hot as them? And what exactly were they doing on her doorstep? Brad said he wanted to help her, and her father said they wanted to kidnap her, and drag her back to their werewolf lair. All she knew was that she needed some answers.
At that moment, a searing pain tore through her body. It was happening again. Her limbs were electrified with a violent current, and her joints snapped and crunched. As she lay on her back, whimpering in terror, her skin tightened all over, as if her body was trying to burst out of it. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, her skin started itching and burning. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, and didn’t dare to look at her flesh. She was turning into a wolf, she knew it now. Her body was trying to shift. But it wouldn’t happen. It was stuck. As the pain grew more intense, she stopped trying to hold it back, and began to encourage the change instead. Anything to stop that terrible stretching and burning. At that moment, a growl burst out of her mouth. She shrieked. How the hell had that come out of her? She sounded like a wild animal. An image of a wolf flashed acid-white in her brain. It was there, inside her.
“Come on,” she muttered. It seemed to be pawing at her insides, trying to find a way out, as if she’d become a hollow vessel that was trapping it. It yipped and yowled, and her skin got tighter and tighter. But it wouldn’t come.
The pain vanished as dramatically as it had arrived. Aspen lay on her back panting. She was drenched in sweat. Weakly, she sat up, opened the curtains and pulled the window all the way up. She stuck her head out, grateful for the feeling of the cool breeze on her face and chest, and stared at the moon. It was a huge, perfect round, pure white and iridescent.
Funny how the two guys found me just as my pains had begun, she thought. She needed to go and speak to them. Maybe they could give her some advice, help her to understand what she was going through. But what if they kidnapped her, and took her away from her family forever? That’s bullshit! Dad’s such a paranoid freak, she told herself. Girls like me don’t get kidnapped. They get ignored and abandoned, and have to go to prom by themselves, because no-one wants to be their date. Kidnapping a fat girl like her? Please!
As she stared at the moon, it seemed to be smiling at her, embracing her with its warmth and benevolence. She shook her head. Ok, enough crazy-ass ideas for one night. Tomorrow, I’ll go see the guys, but now: sleep.
Chapter Six
Chase stumbled out of his cabin in only his underpants, rubbing his eyes. He’d just woken from the deepest sleep he’d had for a long time. The night before, he’d run in the woods for a long time, under the full moon. He was getting to like the local forest. It was nothing like Gila – small, too wet for his liking, and lacking the rush that came from navigating the territories of other werewolves – but there were plenty of small animals, unprepared to be hunted by wolves. He’d had a hearty dinner and saved enough for breakfast too. He’d shift soon so that he could eat them, but, for now, he was enjoying the feeling of the light, sweet breeze on his bare skin.
He glanced at Brad’s cabin, and saw him there, sitting on his doorstep with a cup of coffee, in an unbuttoned lumberjack shirt and shorts. He looked self-satisfied, as usual. He couldn’t believe Brad had been hoarding that little piece of cloth for all those years! Maybe his parents had kept it safe for him, knowing it was going to come in handy one day. Typical! My parents hadn’t even troubled to tell me that I had a rival, assuming that brute force would win the day, while Brad’s had taken good care of him, and done what they could to ease him on his way through life. Chase’s lip curled in disgust as he continued to stare at Brad. He knew part of his meanness towards him was jealousy. Brad was so goddamn perfect. And he was a nice guy. He wasn’t aggressive for no reason. Brad stood up and went inside, whistling, and apparently oblivious to Chase’s presence. Chase’s wolf gave a low growl of frustration. Brad didn’t even have the decency to seem offended by last night’s events.
Ten minutes later, Chase began to walk back indoors too, but a flash of color near the entrance to the hotel caught his eye. It was the girl! His wolf’s eye picked out a red plaid skirt, heavy boots and a midnight-blue satin shirt, laced down the front. He could just make out her scent – sweetly human, but with a spicy, musky hint of her true nature. He listened carefully. Brad was in the shower, singing out of tune. A broad grin spread across Chase’s face. He slipped inside his cabin, and watched through the window. He’d step out casually and speak to her before she had time to knock on Brad’s door.
As she came closer, he could make out the sexy bounce of her cleavage as she walked. He wondered if her breasts were as round and creamy as they looked, and he longed to cup them, feel the soft flesh overflowing his hands. He was aching to get his hands on the round globes of her ass too. She looked like the perfect package – buxom, with lovely, bounteous thighs and round, curvy hips. He’d like to take her from behind, sinking his claws into those hips.
Christ, I’ve already got a boner! At least I’ve got a moment until she reaches Brad’s door – Oh, shit! She�
�s heading for my door instead. He moved away from the window, and, a moment later, there was a purposeful double-rap at the door. Chase stood by the door, thinking of the skinniest, boniest were-female in his pack, and savagely slapping at his erection until it subsided. Phew, that should do it! He muttered to himself. He fixed his megawatt smile – the one that had were-females and women alike falling at his feet – on his face, and unlatched the door. But, just as he pulled it open, the girl went to knock again, and she stumbled into Chase, her fist connecting with his solar plexus.
“Oof!” Chase groaned, the breath rushing out of him.
“Shit! What have I done to you? I’m so sorry! I just didn’t see the door opening. God, I’m such a klutz!” the girl said breathlessly. Chase leaned forward and dragged some air into his lungs.
“I’m fine, seriously,” he said, straightening up again, and resisting the urge to rub his stomach. “But – wooh – that was a hell of a punch you gave me!”
“I’m really sorry,” the girl said, looking miserable. “I used to box when I was younger, and I guess I forgot that I didn’t need to apply those techniques when I was knocking on people’s doors! You must think I’m an idiot.”
“No, not at all,” Chase said, and he gave her a genuine smile, free from his usual flirtatious intent. “I think you’re pretty kick-ass actually,” he said, surprising himself as much as her. She raised a sardonic eyebrow, and his wolf tucked its tail between its legs. “Sorry if that was a weird thing to say.”
Once Bitten Twice Smitten: BBW Werewolf Shifter Menage Romance Page 5
