by Sabrina York
He stood. “Don’t worry. I didn’t think about food either.” Winking at her, he moved toward the door, picking up his pants as he went. He stared through the peephole, certain he could handle anyone on the other side. Not that he anticipated any kind of trouble on his one-night stand. Still, years of practice made him cautious.
A lone man wearing a hotel uniform remained next to a mobile tray of food in front of the door. He wasn’t as tall or as heavy as Jack. Whoever the stranger turned out to be, his scent said that he had no DNA in him but the human kind. “Yes?”
“Room service.”
Jack drummed his fingers on the door. “We didn’t order any. I think you’ve got the wrong room.”
“This is a gift from management. Wine, cheese, and chocolate.”
The man had an unnaturally squeaky voice that sounded put-on. Jack turned back to his female. “Stand by the bathroom.”
“Do you think something is wrong?” She stood up, still holding the covers over her chest.
“Probably not. Just bear with me. Okay?”
She nodded and he liked that she’d taken direction so well. He opened the door halfway.
“Sir? I need you to get out of the way so I can come in with the food.”
He took a deep breath. Something seemed off with this man’s scent. He tasted…metallic.
Wolves were simpler. He could always tell their intentions.
He widened the door but didn’t move out of the man’s way. Gloria’s terrified gasp told him he’d made a mistake.
“Jacob.” His mate sobbed. “How did you….”
The metallic-smelling Jacob sneered. “How did I find you, you slut? I put a little GPS tracking device in your purse. I knew eventually I would get you alone. Get to wring your neck and feel the life leave your body.”
Jack had heard enough. He darted, grabbing Jacob’s neck. “You will not speak to her like that. Are we clear?” Jacob’s feet left the floor then he landed in a heap when Jack dropped him. “Now, here is what is going to happen.” Leaning over him, he smelled the garlic Jacob must have just eaten. “You are going to leave this woman and her child alone. You are going to pretend you never knew them. Ever.”
“Yeah?” The man’s bloodshot eyes stared at him without the terror he would have expected from someone who had been manhandled the way he had. “You think you’re going to be the one to stop me?” He pulled out a gun and pointed it at his terrified mate across the room. “You sure?”
Jack lunged forward, taking the bullet meant for Gloria. It burned as it entered his body and he bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood. His mate screamed with an earth shattering wail. He wished he had time to comfort her—he’d been shot before and knew what would happen next—and didn’t want Gloria to see it.
His shift moved upon him.
Gloria shook so hard didn’t think she’d ever stop. Jacob shot Jack! Oh God, poor Jack. No one could survive a shot in the chest like that. She’d only just met him and already she cared about him so much. Maybe there could have been a future with him. Jacob will kill me and go after Katie. No, no, no….
She blinked. Jack…was changing before her eyes. Amazingly, he rose from the floor and Jacob scrambled backward, his attention focused back on the other man. Jack’s nose elongated and his bones altered shape. She took a deep breath. What…?
She thought her heart might explode. What the hell is happening? She moved against the bathroom door and blinked rapidly. He couldn’t. Except somehow he was. Her mind tried to process what was happening to him. Fur appeared and covered his skin. Jack…he’d become some kind of an animal. A canine. She gasped. A wolf. Everything moved slowly around her, like time had changed and she couldn’t catch it.
Jacob bellowed like a baby, pissing himself. He turned as though wanting to flee out the door and Jack growled a warning, his wolf ears flat against his head.
No, Jacob won’t get away this time. Not from her nor from the wolf who had been, just moments earlier, only a really hot man who wanted to see her again.
She ran for the door, throwing all her weight against it. Her elbow cracked against the hard steel and throbbed. Jack growled again, but at her that time. He motioned with his chin toward the bathroom. Clearly, he wanted her back where she’d been. His black coat stood at attention. She didn’t know much about canines, but his posture meant business.
Her legs froze beneath her. Her wolf-date moved placing his body in front of her until Jacob couldn’t see her. A terrible thought dawned in her mind. Her ex-husband still had his gun.
She’d no more had the realization when the wolf lunged and bit Jacob’s arm. Blood squirted from the wound and the gun flew. Without thinking, she dove for it.
Even after all the time she’d spent running for her life with Katie, she’d never held a real weapon. The baseball bat she kept in her front seat probably didn’t count as an actual offensive device. The weight of the gun surprised her. Why did the women on TV always seem so adept at this? A pathetic sob escaped her. She’d never been violent. She would kill for Katie, but she also wanted to shoot Jacob to save Jack-the-wolf even though she was so terrified she doubted she could aim straight.
The wolf flipped Jacob onto his back. Her ex took one glance at his bloodied arm and passed out.
Her lover gave a disgusted snort before he got off the man who had terrorized her for years. Jack turned his attention to her. She knew that gaze—he’d had it many times during their lovemaking—she had his full attention. Her wolf walked toward her and she swallowed, expecting to feel terror.
Except she didn’t.
Then, just as he’d become a werewolf, he shifted back into his glorious naked form, the pants he’d worn long gone, turned to scraps of fabric on the carpet.
He placed his hands out as though wanting to pacify a terrified animal. “Please put the gun down, sweetheart, so we can talk. I’m not a danger to you. Not ever. Please.”
God, she’d forgotten she’d been holding the weapon. “Um….” Turning slightly, she placed the gun onto the floor.
“Good.” He raised his eyebrows. “That’s good. Now, please listen to me. I know this has to be a shock….”
Without a thought, she threw herself into his arms. He stumbled back a step although she knew he could carry her like she weighed nothing.
“You’ve been shot.” She touched his chest. “Where is the wound? Where is it? I saw it!” She had to sound hysterical, but how could she be anything otherwise?
“I’m okay now. The shift removed the bullet. I’ve been shot before. It’s not pleasant but it isn’t going to kill me not when I can….”
She grabbed his shoulders. “You’ve been shot before?”
“Yes. That’s not really important right now.”
The room swam in front of her eyes. “I beg to differ.”
“Gloria.” He sat her on the bed. “We need to talk about what happened. I know that. But first I need to know what you want me to do with him. He can go away, honey. Forever. You never need see him again.”
She stared at the man on the floor. Katie looked nothing like her father. She couldn’t even remember him. But could Gloria tell her lover to let Jacob die? She wanted to except—oh, God—what kind of person would that make her?
“Tell you what. Why don’t we let my Alpha decide his punishment, shall we?”
He walked across the room to retrieve his cell phone. “I’ll just text Luke. I’m sure he already knows what has happened here. He’s cued into all of us, so the second I got violent, he probably peered through my eyes to see what occurred….”
“He can see through your eyes? And what is an Alpha? I don’t understand.”
He actually grimaced. “I shouldn’t have said that just yet. You have enough to deal with. I’ll explain later.” He finished sending his text and stepped over Jacob, grabbing the man’s arm as he went. “Give me the bed sheet, please.”
In a few seconds, he’d tied Jacob to the bed. “He will not, unfortunately, bleed t
o death. So we’ll just keep him tied here until Luke comes.”
“They’ll have to board the plane.”
He rubbed his nose. “They won’t. They’re wolves. It’ll be faster if they travel by foot.”
“Do you suppose security is on its way here?” She viewed the state of the room and her tied up ex-husband. It wasn’t in any kind of shape to be examined….
“If anyone heard, they’d be here already. This is a pretty private floor. I don’t even know if the other rooms are occupied.” He sniffed the air. “I’m not scenting anyone now. But, there are a ton of aromas around because of the transient nature of a hotel, which can make it hard to tell from a distance what’s current and what isn’t.”
She guessed that made sense, although not being a werewolf herself, she had nothing to base his statements on. “Why do I suspect that you know what Luke will do with him?”
He scratched his chin. “I have a pretty good idea of what Luke will do to a man who terrorized a woman and child for years. A woman and child who the man should have cherished. A woman and child who are mine.”
Her mouth dried at his words. “Jack….”
He moved fast, kneeling on the floor in front of her. “I knew the second I scented you that you were my mate. Everything inside of me claimed you. I know you’re a human lady, not a shifter, and it works differently for you. Know this: I’m going to love you every second that you live and for the rest of eternity. This is it for me.”
Her throat clogged with emotion at his words. “Jack…”
“Let me finish, please. I’m only half-werewolf. My father mated a human like you. I’ve always known my mate would be a human. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s why I’m so different from the other shifters.”
She couldn’t help but reach out to touch his brown hair. “Different?”
“I feel things very acutely. For the most part, werewolves aren’t that invested in their emotions except with their mates and children. But I’ve always really felt things for everyone around me. Pretty much, I keep that to myself. The others don’t know. I knew that I needed a human to love me so she could understand that I experienced the same kinds of emotions she did. Sometimes I even get teared up at sappy movies. I think I know when I filled out the form that you would be here and that you would be mine.”
He’d asked her not to speak until he finished. Had he completed what he wanted to say?
He cleared his throat. “I can smell your fear. I get it. You can get to know me and then you can come to accept this and, maybe, it doesn’t have to be that big a part of our life. I can—”
“No!” She covered his mouth with her fingers. “Can I speak now?”
He nodded.
“I felt shocked. To say otherwise would be a lie. But all I can think is that you’re my oboroten and you just brought me in from the cold. I think—oh God this sounds silly—that I’ve been waiting for you, believing even when I shouldn’t.”
His mouth met hers seconds after the words left her mouth. She closed her eyes and let him warm the cold in her soul.
She opened her eyes slowly, staring into his dark depths. He said humans were different from wolves, that they didn’t fall for their mate immediately. That should be the case, but maybe the fact that she’d fallen for a wolf meant she got to experience mating as well—the sudden, unbelievable need to be with the other person always.
“When Luke gets here, we’ll take care of everything. This isn’t the first mess we’ve handled. It won’t be the last. One way or another, you won’t see Jacob again. Then I want to go get your daughter. Okay? I want her to meet me, to feel good with me. After that, however long it takes for her to feel comfortable, I want you to come home. With me.”
She kissed his nose, pushing her forehead against his like he had done several times with her. He sighed and it had been the right thing to do. “Okay. Sounds good.”
She couldn’t wait to see Katie again. Her daughter would fall head over heels in love with him. Just like her mother had.
***
She opened her eyes, her neck stiff. How could she have fallen asleep over the fabric books again? It happened every afternoon. She glanced at her clock. Yep. Four PM, just like the day before and the day before that. Who’d have thought she would be the type of woman to nap on weekdays? Hell, who would have thought she could be the type of woman to nap at all?
Jack thought her body insisted on the naps because of the level of exhaustion it had endured for years. Maybe his assessment was accurate. If only she could convince her eyes to shut while she lay in the bed or on the couch instead of on top of her work.
Katie’s giggle reached her across the house, and she rose to go see what they were doing. Jack lay on the floor, Katie on top of his back. It appeared they’d just finished one of his famous ‘wolf’ rides where he stayed in human form and pretended to be a wolf so she could ride on his back. She’d tried to tell him that the game really called for horses but he’d scoffed at that. In any case, Katie loved the attention.
“What’s going on in here?”
They both turned at her voice. Jack would have known she’d stood there thanks to his amazing sense of smell, but he’d let her be undisturbed for a moment. He always did amazing things like that.
Katie leapt off his back. “Dad just played wolf-ride for a whole hour.”
“An hour? You’re going to exhaust yourself.”
Her husband—or mate, as he preferred—grinned. “I will not.” He stood, stretching out his arms. “We were letting mommy nap.”
He scooped Katie in his arms then came over and embraced them both. “Happy?”
“Ridiculously.” She closed her eyes and inhaled the moment. “Thank God I filled out that 1Night Stand website form.”
“If you hadn’t, I would have come and found you anyway. No way were my girls not coming home with me.”
She believed him. Jack got what he wanted.
~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
As a teenager, Rebecca Royce would hide in her room to read her favorite romance novels when she was supposed to be doing her homework. She hopes, these days, that her parents think it was well worth it.
Rebecca is the mother of three adorable boys and is fortunate to be married to her best friend. They live in northern New Jersey and try not to freeze too badly during the winter months.
She's in love with science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal and tries to use all of these elements in her writing. She's been told she's a little bloodthirsty so she hopes that when you read her work you'll enjoy the action packed ride that always ends in romance. Rebecca loves to write series because she loves to see characters develop over time and it always makes her happy to see her favorite characters make guest appearances in other books.
In Rebecca Royce's world anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect that it will.
You can visit Rebecca at:
www.rebeccaroyce.com
Ravished Before Sunrise
A 1Night Stand Story
By
Lia Davis
Chapter One
Emalee’s pulse raced as she drummed her fingers on her desk and searched the website. A giddiness she hadn’t known since senior prom ran through her. The site claimed unlimited possibilities, a chance for adventure. Could they mean it? Because she’d already seen things beyond what humans deemed possible. Hell, her whole existence was unimaginable.
Her life had taken a lonesome turn when a friend she hadn’t seen since high school noted how much younger than the rest of her classmates she looked. Her long-lasting youth had become a liability. Drawing too much attention to her unusual gift wouldn’t prove wise. In some cases, it could get her killed. With no alternative, she’d closed the door on her life among humans and moved into the local witch coven, where everyone was different.
“What will you do?” Her best friend since preschool, a coven member in good standing, sat next to her for moral support and encouragement
. Ema didn’t need much encouragement. The second Beth had mentioned a one-night stand, she’d been hooked. And Madame Eve’s dating service would save her from dying of boredom, at least for one night.
But could she go through with it? A wicked smile tugged at her lips and her inner voice said, “Hell, yeah.” Human strangers gave her a sense of safety. They knew nothing about her past or her unusual abilities.
“Just one night?” Ema nibbled on her bottom lip and bounced her legs under the desk.
“Yes. You never have to see him again, unless you want to.” Beth waggled her eyebrows.
Ema laughed and waved her friend away. “Maybe, but I won’t hold my breath.” Especially after her date found out about her weirdness.
“I’ve heard Madame Eve has a pretty good track record.”
Beth shifted closer to view the monitor. She smelled of rosemary and sage from her monthly cleansing ritual. Ema breathed in the scent of home and family and wiped her clammy palms on her jeans. What would she request?
Looking around her office for inspiration, her gaze stopped at the floor to ceiling bookshelf and she knew. Acting out a fantasy from one of her beloved paranormal romance novels would help her break from her everyday life. Oh, yes.
She would dress in leather and become a huntress of the night. The idea of stalking a vampire, catching him, and having her wicked way with him added to her anticipation. And the possibility of her vamp capturing and ravishing her woke a desire she’d thought had packed up and left. A hard body pressed against her, skin on skin, rendering her incapable of gaining control…. She suppressed a shiver and laughed.
“I know that look.” Beth nudged her with an elbow. “Are you going vamp hunting?”
Ema nodded. The agency wouldn’t set her up with a real vampire, so there would be no danger. He would be another role player, but she’d have fun anyway.
“You can make special requests. Be as descriptive as you like. Nothing’s 100 percent, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.” Her BFF turned cheerleader clapped her hands, making Ema jump at the unexpected sound.
