by Lisa Daniels
But he knew it was his fault that she was now cradled in his arms, bruised, almost killed. And if it hadn’t been her, then another girl would have suffered the same fate, or worse. He might have lured one out for his father to consume. His father would have urged him to eat, perhaps waving the choicest bits of morsel in front of his sensitive nostrils.
He did not need to do that, anymore. He did not need to kill, ever again. Overwhelmed by emotion, he leaned to kiss her on the forehead with warm lips. “I am truly sorry. I will return you home. I am sorry you had to see… those things.” His words came out feverish, as if he expected her to interrupt and nullify the remorse. His heart beat faster, but for a different reason.
She wrapped her arms around him. Instead of pushing him away and wailing in terror, she just pulled him close, now trembling from delayed shock, or from his kindness. He did not know. But it made him cry as well.
Chapter Five
When he escorted Tia back home later, almost two hours away from the abandoned warehouse, she asked him to stay. She texted Anna to say she was alright – a flurry of messages left on her cellphone displayed Anna’s panic for the unresponsive absence. After the assurance, Anna confessed to Tia that she was seriously considering trying out the lesbian side of things for a while, along with an attached picture of the short-haired woman she had been laughing with earlier on in the club.
The news came delivered in such an ordinary way, so grounded compared to the insane events of just a few hours ago, that Tia just stared at the message for a moment. She wanted to tell her friend what had happened, but she barely believed the words that formed out of her mouth. Who else could accept something like that? Maybe if she got Danny to shift in front of Anna, but somehow, she didn’t see that ending well. The way the werewolves acted indicated a basic, predatory aggression. Not something you could keep on a leash and whip out to show others on a whim.
He has killed. Those were men in skin. When the police find them, it will be all over the news. And only I’ll know. Danny explicitly warned her that other werewolves would recognize the signs of a scuffle amongst their kind. He could not stay – but Tia didn’t want the man with the amber eyes to go. It was hard to explain, but she had received a glimpse into a terrifying new world. She didn’t want to be unceremoniously dumped on the side, just when the reality had come and slapped her in the face for the first time.
Danny Lubanov was danger. He disclosed his full name as he watched her go through her door, before reluctantly coming in at the offer of food. He had told her he belonged to large family of werewolves in Bulgaria, but they were wild and vicious, and cruel towards humans. Danny confessed he often wandered away from his family settlements into human farmsteads or even towns, and he had never seen anything of them to suggest they were the inferior beasts his kind assumed. He had even had friends amongst them, though those friends were long since dead, eradicated from the earth simply because of his influence on them.
He hinted with those words of the reasons for his departing, even as he sat at her dining table, chewing on a ham and cheese sandwich, staring off to her peeling walls with the blank, numb shock of his father dying.
If his father had been the one with the bright yellow eyes, since none of the other men who had forced her along emitted the same colors, then she knew for a fact that behind those eyes lay a mind of loathing and misanthropy. These werewolves were not nice people.
Her life had been a million times better before discovering the existence of a supernatural creature – and with that, the suggestion that the other myths might be landed in fact. If there were werewolves, then there certainly could be vampires, fairies, and other monsters that hid under the bed, fuelling the nightmares of a child.
“I will stay. But one night. One night, and then I go. I can tell you… do not want to be alone.” Danny appeared deeply unhappy with the statement. He obviously wanted to be gone as soon as possible, but something about her kept him near, made him stay.
She was glad.
“I don’t think you want to be alone either,” she said simply. “Or you would have gone.”
This made him stop eating his sandwich. He had turned his blank stare from the wall to finally contact her eyes – and a stab of arousal coursed through her.
Ridiculous, Tia thought. I’ve been used as bait and almost killed, and knocked out twice. I’ve discovered the absolutely astounding and terrifying existence of werewolves. And I’m horny. What in actual fuck is wrong with me?
The werewolf’s eyes fully dilated, going from amber to black. On seconds thought, it’s not just me. But… I’m not exactly sure if he’s the best choice to jump, right now.
She was concussed. That was it. No other explanation. “I’m uh, gonna shower. You can shower after me. But please. Don’t go. Not yet.”
“I will not.” Danny’s eyes followed her all the way to the bedroom, where she gathered up clean nightclothes, and then the bathroom door. She imagined she could still feel those eyes staring through the wood, as she dumped the clothes on the floor and turned on the shower nozzle, waiting for it to heat up. She took off the musty, decrepit clothing Danny had dressed her in, making her realize in vague shock that he had seen her without. Tia used the time in the shower, washing off the grime and fear, taking time to process the events of the night.
Met a good-looking man, check. Discovered he was a werewolf, check. Got kidnapped by four other werewolves, check. Watched one’s throat get ripped out, check. Got knocked out twice, double check. Overall, things could have been worse. She unleashed a hysterical giggle, struggling to process events. When she stepped out of the steaming heat of the shower, she towelled herself down and placed on her flimsy pajamas, noting how her nipples conspicuously stuck out through the fabric.
She wasn’t sure what she wanted from Danny. There was a kind of magnetism about him that stirred the hormones in her system, which got offset by the knowledge of the danger, of the reality she had been exposed to. She couldn’t look into his amber eyes without also imagining the wolf inside.
Stepping out into the minimalistic apartment, where all she had to her name were the basics, and nothing of personal, sentimental possessions on display, she breathed a small sigh of relief to see Danny still hunched up in the chair, having picked apart his food.
He sidled past her into the shower after she handed him a stack of her baggiest clothes, which had belonged to the last boyfriend, who had walked out on her some two years previously. A twinge of arousal slammed her gut. She breathed quickly, reining it under control, but once again saw the flare of his nostrils, the muscles around his high cheekbones quiver.
He smells it. Oh God. He fucking smells it, doesn’t he?
This revelation did nothing to still her nerves, or quell the arousal into nothing. What is wrong with me?
When he came out of the shower five minutes later, she had wriggled into a hoodie as well.
“I understand that you have to go. Do you mind talking to me about… what you are, before you go, though?”
They sat next to each other on the sofa, him with his legs sprawled out, her with knees pulled up to her stomach as she idly played with her hood laces. Her brain ran through a series of images, sometimes recalling the splash of gore, sometimes picturing the idea of that body above hers, and flushing at the realization he had seen her.
“I think is safer for you to not know everything. But I will say basics. I can shift into... the thing you have seen. Is painful to do so. It becomes easier the closer it is to full moon. Though I do not know why.”
“There are lots of you?”
“I do not know. There are enough. And, I’m sorry. You distract.”
“I do?”
Her eyebrow twitched when he averted his gaze, suddenly embarrassed. “You are… turned on. Is making it hard for me to focus. Is not wise for me to stay. I have said this.”
She reached out to grab him with force, trapping his warm, rough palm in hers. “I don’t wan
t to be alone. Not tonight. And I have a feeling that something in you expects to die.”
She suspected quite strongly that if he disappeared now, so soon after his father’s death, after the deaths of the others, she would never see him again – because he would no longer be on this earth. There had been utter defeat in that face. More intense than the cracks on her consciousness, which thankfully had not completely given into madness. A stronger part of her mind shielded from that horror.
“And, uh, yes. I am horny. I can’t really guarantee that I won’t be able to leave you alone,” she confessed.
Tia gasped as the man gave a shudder, squeezed his eyes shut, before pulling her close.
“Forgive me,” he said, before capturing her lips with his own.
Thrills of delight permeated her blood, sending warmth into her stomach. The arousal flared, giving her the equivalent of a massive lady boner, even as his body responded in kind, and she felt the stirring of his erection against her pajamas, through the baggy clothing.
Part of her wanted to immediately pull away. The other wanted to lose itself into the kiss, the shared warmth of their bodies, and she knew he wanted desperately to forget things as well. He wanted to not exist as himself.
With a hoarse groan, clearly smelling her desire, he crushed her deeper into his chest, and their lips transitioned into a battle of tongues, hot and wet, slipping over one another as they tangled together.
It was all ridiculous, really. Crazy, insane. She couldn’t even explain why she felt so turned on, except that she wanted nothing more right now than to devour the man underneath her. She tugged at his clothes, which had only been on for about ten minutes, and he did the same to hers, growling softly when her breasts spilled out, exposed to the living room light.
They tumbled and tossed with each other, kicking out of the rest of their clothes, arousals soaring higher and higher, causing the actions to become frantic, desperate, seeking solace, escape and comfort in the bare skin and heartbeats that interlocked.
She brushed slender fingers over his furred chest, the same color as his iron-gray hair, saw his erection stand to attention. Seeing it made her groan, and she slid herself over it, teasing him, at this moment in time straddling him. In a snarl, he turned them both over in one powerful flip – her legs spread beneath him, and he pushed against and into her entrance in one quick jerk, sliding in with ease.
Those amber eyes bored holes into her as he buried deep inside, before beginning slow thrusts, teeth bared in concentration. Tia gasped, shuddering, waves of pleasure pulsing within, and she wrapped her legs around his hips, giving him more traction. Both their cheeks were flushed, and their bodies burned from the contact.
It was all insane, yet at this moment in time, Tia needed him there, inside her, stabbing into her soul. Something about his scent drove her crazy, clouded her brain like a drug, which accumulated from his proximity. She desired him – a vague thought in her head registered that maybe this was some sort of wolfy pheromones triggering a chemical reaction in her brain – but she also discarded that in favor of ascending with him to that place where orgasms happened.
His chest hairs scratched over her breasts, hardening her nipples further. He plunged his mouth onto hers in quick snatches of lip and tongue, seeking the close contact, the warmth, the intimacy – somehow, the lip contact felt more sacred than their cores slotted together.
When she realized that this felt like so much more than a quick, casual screw, it caused a tight, coiling sensation to bundle in her stomach. Her thighs trembled and twitched, her toes curled as he thrust into her faster, his brow sweating in perspiration as he hit the sweet spot. She arched her back and clawed at his, mouth opening in a long moan of pleasure as the orgasm, built up to the max, now began to ripple through.
It didn’t stop after the normal six to eight seconds, either. It kept going, radiating through her, and every limb shuddered from bliss.
Her inner walls clenched around him, and he hissed, before orgasming mere seconds after her, releasing inside her, shivering along with her.
Boneless, she flopped onto the sofa, eyes fixated on the ceiling light, brain floating from the overdose of endorphins.
She felt him leave her, and drop onto her side, adjusting himself into a comfortable position. His arm draped over her front protectively, and he nuzzled into her neck.
Neither of them bothered to speak, both equally stunned but floating from the rush of unexpected happiness.
Temporary happiness.
“I don’t want you to leave,” Tia said, the conviction of her word clogging her lungs. “At least until we’ve had sex for like a million more times. Because that was something.”
He chuckled into her neck, the first real sound of mirth she had ever heard from him. Amber eyes blinked languidly at her. They made her wonder if she could fall deeply in love. She saw the possibility. She felt it.
“Tempting. You feel as good as you look and smell. I am glad at your persistence in keeping me around.”
“I have been known for persistence, yes. Along with a terrible taste in jokes. Like, check this one out. Hear about the girl who lost her left arm and left leg? She’s ‘alright’ now.”
He furrowed his brow, unimpressed. “I am not sure if saying that straight after we have had sex is best timing.”
“It’s the best time,” Tia disagreed. “Because you’re in a good enough mood to listen to it without wanting to bash my skull in.”
He sighed, and buried his head into her shoulder. “Strange human.”
“You love it.” She nudged him affectionately, before exhaling a sigh. “Maybe it was bad timing for us with the sex.”
He began kissing her neck, touching soft, delicate parts that made her spine ripple in pleasure. “Or maybe we both needed to forget.”
Tia squeezed her eyes shut, heart sinking at the truth. “Yes. We did.” She tilted her face to press foreheads together. “After tonight, will I ever see you again?”
Dilated amber eyes met hers with affection. “I do not know.” His voice shook. “Is not because I do not want to. Is because, I might be dead soon. The Lubanovs – they left me a poisoned legacy. Is hard to run from that kind of background without death meeting you someplace. Not that my father and I didn’t try. It just caught up with him. It is gunning for me.”
The cocktail of warmth, happiness and increased feelings of intimacy dulled with the statement, made her happiness lose some of the shine.
“I hope I will see you again. I’m not sure if I want to lose you so soon. And maybe we both need a lot more forgetting.”
“Yes,” he agreed, a gentle smile caressing his lips. “But you have number. And you have me, and I have you for this night. We may not be doing traveling together so soon, but we can travel in spirit.”
They melded their bodies together, stealing warmth from one another’s skins, doing little else other than to stroke each other’s cheeks, and unflinchingly meet eyes. When Tia finally fell asleep, it was naked and in his arms, under the soft snoring that came from his mouth.
Waking up the next day had her stirring in bed, under warm, fresh sheets, with pajamas back on. He had carried her here and placed her clothes on at some point in the night. The idea of such a tender gesture made her heart jump in slight pain.
She didn’t want to lose the man with the amber eyes so soon. Not when they had barely begun to explore the depths of one another, and not when she had just found out about the mechanisms of an underworld, working hand in hand with the normal realm of humans. She recalled his talk about the countries across the world, and his surprise at her lack of exploration. She remembered the images of Bruges on his phone.
Sunlight burst through her window, dappling over her bedcovers. Her eyes alighted on her cellphone, resting on the bedside table, and she stretched over for it, taking it off standby.
One text message showed. She thumbed it open.
Danny: I do not regret meeting you. Sleep well. Wake
happy. Be good and safe.
She texted him back, feeling an immense pang of inexplicable loss.
I miss you. How strange. I’ve only known you for one night. Yet there is space here for you.
The reply came back a minute later.
Danny: There is space here, too. We will meet again. Be strong.
Tia hugged the phone to her breast. She hoped so. She really did. She had the world to explore after all.
The End
Arina’s Mate
Shifters of the Bulgarian Bloodline
Book 2
Prologue:
Ricten Spirova. Arina remembered the name of the man who’d slaughtered her family. She’d thought the werewolves weren’t so terrible as the locals made out – she even had four friends from some of the surrounding families that used to play with her and the other village children. Luelle, Ordri, Markus and Danny. They were young, curious, and wanted to know what the humans were like, and it was easy for them to be friends, easy to share everything together and live like the children they were supposed to be. Danny and Markus showed off their werewolf forms, though all they could really do was grow claws and sharper teeth, and growl a little bit. They made up games, such as exploring the lakes for rusalkas, or being careful not to talk too loud in the forests, in case the Baba Yaga came, or the vampires tried to suck at their blood.
One day, Ordri stopped coming. She said her family was mad because she wasn’t supposed to play with humans. Then Luelle stopped – she needed to go and marry some Russian werewolf, and burst into tears over it, and made Arina promise to keep writing letters, and Arina did, except the address Luelle was supposed to give never happened, and her poor friend vanished into the bleak wilderness, never to be seen again. Danny and Markus came down to the village one day, wild and frantic, and urged Arina to run away with him. He said the older ones were whipping themselves into a frenzy – they wanted to do bad things to the village, bad things to her father and little brother. They couldn’t do bad things to her mother, who’d been dead for five years.
