by Kele Moon
“I hate you!” Katie drew her legs up and curled into an upright fetal position. “Why couldn’t you just leave us the hell alone? I’m sorry we even told you to come home. You’ve ruined everything!”
“Amber!” Bea froze in the doorway, openly gawking at both sisters. “You’re both bleeding! Should I call 9-1-1?”
“I’m okay,” Amber tried to assure her. “This blood isn’t mine. Katie? Are you hurt?”
“I’ve lost him.” Katie began to sob. “I love him.”
“I should call an ambulance.” Bea appeared horrified as she stepped closer to Amber and helped her to her feet. “You’ve got blood all over you. It’s in your hair and all over your face. He probably just gave you some disease. You’ll need a shot or something.”
“Oh my fucking God,” Katie sniffed. “Merl can’t carry diseases. Just get out of my room and leave me alone!”
Amber wasn’t sure what to do. Katie began to sob again, and Bea looked terrified, confused and ready to burst into tears. “Everything is going to be fine.” She wasn’t sure what else to say, but she tried. “We’ll figure everything out. Nobody’s life is ruined.”
“Come on.” Bea tugged on Amber’s arms. “We need to wash that blood off.”
It was a good plan. Amber nodded and took a few steps.
Then she was struck by a heat flash like nothing she’d ever experienced before, and she froze. Her skin began to tingle too, all over her body. “What the hell? I feel like I’m having an allergic reaction to something.”
“What’s wrong?” Bea sounded alarmed.
“Shit!” Katie stopped crying. “Did you swallow some of his blood?”
Amber met her sister’s tear-filled gaze. “I think so.”
“And he had a hard-on. Fuck! Arguments turn Merl on.” Katie climbed to her feet and wiped her tears, smearing blood on her face from her hands. “Bea, get her into a cold shower. It’s bloodlust. Male wolves can put women into heat if they swallow enough of their blood.”
“What does that mean?” Amber wasn’t sure she wanted to know either.
“You just got dosed with Merl’s hormones. He was horny. Guess what you’re going to be for the next few hours? He sometimes gives me a little of his blood if I’m not really in the mood. It makes for super-hot sex—unless you’ve got an overbearing older sister who decides to stick her nose where it doesn’t belong. Then it’s called justice. He’s never going to take me back.”
Amber held still, trying to take in that information. She felt like she was running a fever now and her skin still tingled. It was actually getting stronger.
Then she stared into Bea’s eyes, worried. Katie had said “male wolves.” Amber hoped her baby sister hadn’t heard that part or just assumed they were talking about real wolves.
She looked back at Katie. “Watch what you say.”
“She knows.” Katie picked up a shirt, wiping her hands on it, then used the material to rub her face.
“Shut up, Katie. You’re going to get us into trouble,” Bea warned.
Katie threw down the shirt. “She knows, too. Werewolves live in Hollow Mountain. Guess who has a history with Alpha Desmon?” Katie pointed at Amber. “It seems she not only left us, but she fucked him over, too. Now get out of my room!”
Bea led Amber into the hallway and to the bathroom. “You shouldn’t have come back here if you’re in trouble with Desmon.” She turned on the shower, adjusting the temperature, and wrung her hands. “He’s really nice, and helps us out even though we’re human, but I wouldn’t want him mad at me.”
“You know him?”
“Yeah. Katie had some guy stalking her, and then she started dating Merl.” She lowered her voice and drew closer. “Desmon gave me his phone number and told me to call him if anyone ever tries to hurt me. He knows I don’t like Merl much. He was also worried that some of the wolves Merl hangs with might notice me, you know? He told me to stay away from them.” Heat crept into her cheeks. “I’ve never had a boyfriend. I enjoy reading a lot and don’t go out much. Katie and I are polar opposites, and I think he noticed, or he can smell it or something.” Her cheeks grew pink, before she changed the subject and asked, “What did you do to make Desmon mad at you?”
Amber began to strip out of her clothes. “We grew up together, and kind of dated as teenagers. Then he broke my heart and I left. I don’t know if you can understand this, but I couldn’t stay here to watch him be with someone else.”
“He was your one true love, wasn’t he? You should see the pain in your eyes right now.”
“It’s because I feel miserable.” Amber climbed over the tub lip and got into the shower. The water was lukewarm, but she couldn’t stop shivering. Desperate to lighten the mood, she joked, “I think that jerk our sister is dating gave me werewolf cooties.”
Bea didn’t laugh. She chewed on her bottom lip, looking worried instead. “I hope you aren’t going to turn into one of them. Do you know how they become werewolves?”
“No. You heard what Katie said. It’s just bloodlust, whatever the hell that means. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Amber tipped her head back. She reached up to scrub at her face, letting the spray run through her long blonde hair, getting all the blood off. One glance down had her wincing. Red water pooled around her feet. The drain in the tub must have a small clog.
“You should come to L.A. with me, Bea. I think you’d love it there. I actually live a few blocks away from a large three-story library. You said you do a lot of reading.” She turned her head to gauge Bea’s reaction.
Her baby sister was gone, the bathroom door left open.
Amber shivered again. It was tempting to turn the hot water up but as she touched her forehead, it felt really hot. “Great. I have a fever.”
Strange hot and cold chills wracked her body as she washed her hair and by the time she turned off the water, her teeth were chattering. She got out of the shower and dried off, then made her way to her old bedroom that had been turned into a guest room. She lay down on the bed and curled into a ball wrapped in a towel. Her breasts ached, her stomach felt as though it was on fire, but she was still freezing.
Goddamn werewolves. I’m going to survive this.
She heard someone enter the room when the floor creaked, and she turned her head. Katie stood next to the bed looking calmer. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Amber whispered, still shivering.
“You look like hell.” Katie sighed, and her shoulders slumped. “Don’t worry, okay? You couldn’t have been exposed to much of Merl’s blood. We’re too far out for any of the other males to smell you, so all you have to do is get through it. He walked out on me once after giving me blood when I pissed him off. He wanted to teach me a lesson. He’s not so bad once you get to know him, but he has a temper. It might feel like you’re going to die, but I promise it’ll pass.” Katie pulled the blanket over Amber, tucking it in. “Give it a night. You’ll be good as new.” She pushed some of Amber’s wet hair back from her face. “Then you should climb into that fancy car of yours and get the hell out of here. Save yourself. Part of me always envied you.”
Amber rolled toward her. “Why?”
“You got out of this shit town and away from our parents. Don’t you think I ever dreamed about that, too? Only about a thousand times. I just couldn’t leave Bea.” Katie stroked more hair back from her face. “I remember how bad you had it. Dad used to hit you and say you were devil spawn. He’s the one who put a wedge between us as sisters. He encouraged us to not get close to you.”
“So, come with me. Let’s try again.”
Katie pulled her hand away and straightened. “No. I heard you in the bathroom. You left because you got your heart broken. I’m staying to keep mine in one piece. Right or wrong, I love Merl.”
“Then, at least let me take Bea with me.”
“She actually loves Hollow Mountain.” Katie shrugged. “If you knew her, you’d know that, Amber. This place reminds her of a fairy tale
. You’d break her heart if you took her away. She’s living in a town with werewolves. She reads all those books that make it seem more magical than it is. In truth, they’re like us, just trying to survive. A few are good, most are assholes, but she doesn’t see it that way. She likes the fantasy, and she definitely won’t want to leave. Making her tell you no would hurt her, and you may think I’m a bitch, but my heart can’t take seeing that after losing mom. I’ll work something out so she’s safe. I always do.”
Amber watched Katie leave the room and head toward her own bedroom. She curled back onto her side and fought tears. Her skin felt cold, but she was burning up inside. Her clit started to throb as if it had a heartbeat.
The timing couldn’t be more fantastic.
Exactly how much shit did life expect her to deal with this week?
Her mother dying, seeing the ex-love of her life, and dealing with sister drama wasn’t enough? Some weird werewolf blood thing had to be added to the list?
“Goddamn werewolves,” she muttered.
4
Desmon ran his fingers over one of his suits but turned away, opening the second closet in his bedroom. He’d gone for a long run, but it hadn’t done anything to calm the wolf inside him. He couldn’t put on a tie when he felt so savage.
His Ams was back.
And she didn’t want anything to do with him.
The look of betrayal in her gray eyes haunted him. He dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and tried to ignore the hurt her expression caused.
Still feeling wild, he decided to look for food since he couldn’t turn to Amber for help with his real hunger. He left his bedroom and walked down the stairs to the kitchen, ignoring everyone he passed in the pack house. He slammed things around as he heated himself up some leftovers.
“Who’s the woman everyone’s talking about from last night?”
Desmon turned off the flames under the pans and dumped his dinner onto a plate. Then he looked at his friend, holding Jazz’s gaze for a long moment before he sighed and admitted, “Amber’s back.”
Jazz stared at him in stunned silence, and then walked over to the fridge and yanked it open. He took out two beers and jerked his head at the table before he finally spoke. “Sit, Des.” He took a seat and twisted off both caps, placing one bottle in front of an empty seat next to him. “The only Amber who would make you lose your shit in front of the pack is your Amber. That’s major. How did she know to find you at The Barn? You’re never there that often. And why’d she pick now to show back up? Did she run into weres and ask about you?”
“She wasn’t there looking for me, and who the hell is going to know about Nightwind outside Northern California? We’re small for a reason,” Desmon recognized he was growling. “Katie Baker was there with Merl. Guess who her older sister is?”
Jazz looked at him with wide eyes. “No fucking way.”
“Same mother, different fathers. I had a chat with Merl late last night, and he filled me in. When I was a pup, I always met Amber in the woods so no one would see us together. I didn’t dare follow her scent back home and risk drawing other weres into her territory. I’d glimpsed her stepfather on and off back then from a distance, but he’d moved out before Katie started dating Merl. I’d have connected them as family otherwise. Why didn’t you know? You were the one who took her home that day. You’ve been to Katie’s place to check on Bea.”
“Amber freaked out pretty bad when I carried her out of our territory and refused to let me take her all the way home. I never knew how to handle crying women, especially not at that age. She was also cursing me out and threatening to kill me if I didn’t let her go. I guess she assumed you giving her to me was real, and that I might try to fuck her. I tried to calm her, tried to explain, but she’d have none of it. I put her down, made her promise to go home, and she ran off. I hung around a bit to make sure she wouldn’t try to double back, but I never saw her again.”
“Fucking Albert. Bastard’s dead and I still can’t stop hating him,” Des rasped. “He fucked up our lives so much.”
“You hate him? Try being me for a day. I thought him being dead might lessen my anger, but nope. If I’d done it, there wouldn’t have been a body left to bury.” Jazz took a sip of his beer, completely unapologetic for the confession.
Desmon looked at him in concern. “I hope you don’t say that to other wolves. I understand, but he was your father, and this is the modern fucking era. We don’t eat wolves we kill. That’s a bit much.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree. I’m still pissed about that grave.” Jazz took another drink of his beer. “Anyway, Katie’s mom is dying, and Amber came back. Makes sense. Now what?”
“I’ll let you know when I figure it out.” Desmon took a seat and set his plate down with a thump. Who the hell was he to give Jazz shit about anything this week? “I take it I’m the talk of the pack? I lost my shit when I realized Merl had her pinned on the floor. I was already pissed that he’d do that a woman. I might have actually killed him if Amber wasn’t lying there watching. I didn’t want her to see me like that.”
“Why are you here and not with her? I know you well, Des. You never got over her.”
“Her mom is dying, and she wants nothing to do with me. What was I supposed to do?”
“Did you tell her that you didn’t fuck Millia? That she was forced into that shit by my father? That the two of you refused to breed him a pup he could raise to be the son he always wanted? ’Cause it sure wasn’t me. He told me I was a huge disappointment all the time. He always made sure I knew.”
“Amber wasn’t exactly in a mood to listen. She just wanted to get the hell away from me, and she made it very clear that we were over before she did.”
“Since when has that stopped you? You’re Desmon Nightwind.” Jazz smiled. “You took over the pack stolen from your father when you were sixteen, and you’ve held it all this time. Nobody else has ever done that before.”
“We did it together, Jazz.”
His best friend’s smile faltered. “I’d move heaven and hell if I thought it would bring Marcy back to me. Your Ams is alive, Des. She’s not lost to you forever. I’d do anything to be in your place right now. I sure as hell wouldn’t be sulking around the pack house. I’d be tracking my mate down to get her back. You could spend the rest of your life with her. I’m never going to have that. I can only hope there’s an afterlife, and Marcy is there waiting for me.”
It broke Desmon’s heart. “I’m so sorry.”
“You didn’t kill Marcy. You took out the bastard who did it.”
“You killed three of Albert’s enforcers by yourself, and you were only sixteen, too.” A part of Desmon did feel sorry about that grave. Albert hadn’t deserved a resting place or a headstone. He had an example to set for the other wolves, but that didn’t help Jazz with the raging, mourning wolf who’d lost his mate before she was even fully his. “You avenged her, Jazz.”
“My father was a piece of shit who made both of us lose our mates because he looked down on humans. He used to call them sheep, remember?” The words sounded bitter on Jazz’s tongue, full of hatred for a dead man. He shook his head and looked back to Desmon. “Eat that burnt shit you just cooked and go after Amber. She’s alive, man. Don’t lose her a second time.”
Desmon’s voice cracked when he admitted, “She hates me.”
“So what? She’s in town. Don’t let her get away. You can remind her why she used to love you. Tell her the truth about Millia. That would probably go a long way.”
“I don’t want to hurt her more, and I know some of our pack isn’t going to easily accept it if I take a human mate. It’s not just about what I want anymore. I took responsibility for everyone and swore to always put their needs first.”
“And you’re doing a fantastic job. Your father held this pack with a mate who used to be human, and the pack was happy. You can, too.”
“Yeah, look how that turned out.”
“My father was alway
s nuts, Des. I know that better than you do. I think he hated humans because your mother chose your dad over him. Albert loved her, if you can call sick obsession ‘love.’ He claimed my mother a week after your parents mated. He wanted everything your father had. It’s why we were born so close in age.
“Nesso Nightwind had the woman Albert wanted, so my dad took a woman many considered even more beautiful than your mom. Your father was talking about having a child, so Albert knocked up my mother with me. It took him years to convince some wolves to help him kill your father. He couldn’t do it on his own. Albert abused and tore this pack apart. You are a great alpha, Des. You’ll be an even better one with the woman you love at your side.”
Desmon’s phone rang, and he dug it out of his back pocket, glanced at the screen, then accepted it.
“What’s wrong, Katie?”
“Mom died.”
“I’m so sorry.” Desmon felt a pain in his chest not just for Amber, but for all three sisters. “I know how hard it is to lose a parent. I’m here to help, just as I would be for one of my own wolves.”
“Speaking of that…Merl came over.”
He tensed. “Are you okay? Did he start any shit?”
“No. I mean, we got into a fight, but that’s normal. Only this time, I hit him a few times.”
“Did he hit you back?”
Des would kill him if he had. He’d warned Merl about that many times. Werewolves were much stronger than humans. Merl’s father had been heavily controlled by Albert, and Merl suffered as a pup much the way Jazz had. They had both been beaten and mentally abused for not measuring up to ridiculous expectations, but Merl hadn’t handled it as well as Jazz. Desmon had tried to salvage him, make him a decent wolf, but he didn’t trust Merl not to majorly fuck up.
“No. Of course not, he never actually hurts me,” Katie cut into his thoughts. “The thing is…Amber doesn’t get how it is with Merl and me. She got involved.”
Desmon stood so fast, his chair crashed to the floor. Rage shot through him. “Did he hurt her?”
