by Sadie Hart
“So every time you go to sleep, you’re going to change into this wolf and go feed this...thing?”
This time, the wolf roused enough that when it growled, the sound rumbled past Bay’s lips. Every woman at the table went still. He let out a small, shaky laugh. “No. Sorry. Yesterday, after Eden left I decided I was going to find a way to control this. I didn’t know what was going on when I went to bed, and fuck, but I refuse to be a killer or a monster without my consent. So after some finagling I managed to shift willingly.”
“So you think you can control it?” Kennedy leaned against the table.
“I don’t know, not one hundred percent yet. But my wolf and I, we seemed to have come to a few understandings.” He glanced pointedly at Ro. “We won’t be feeding her anymore. And that’s why he snarled at you.”
He pointed at the phone where Eden kept the pictures of the troll’s footprints. “The thing that left those, she made it last night. After she’d fed from her wolves, she turned to a tree, and she created that. Though, I get the feeling that she woke the creature rather than made it from scratch. He seemed to know her and he seemed old. Had a name but I don’t remember it. He was definitely dangerous.”
“Yeah. And he scared my dogs to death. Though I have a feeling he could karate chop my house easily. He ripped up trees like they were nothing.”
The table grew silent at that, the women all staring at the phone as if the troll would crawl off the touch screen and start demolishing the room. Bay didn’t blame them. And how the hell did you fight something like that? Stop it? Now that it was free, did they even stand a chance?
“How many wolves are there? The ones like you?” Kennedy bit her lip.
He didn’t know, but with the wolf’s memories, he pictured the group, tried to get a good count. “Six, I think. Maybe seven. They’re all white so they look identical. Including me.”
“And they’re as big as bears,” Ro said. She shook her head. “A troll that uproots trees, bear-sized wolves that feed some demon-sounding woman-slash-vampire in the forest. The Grimm brothers didn’t even write fairy tales like this shit.”
“Still, that’s how I showed up naked on her front lawn in this weather.”
That made the three women laugh. Ro flicked an approving glance his way, the lightning-fast once-over clearly teasing. “And she just said you were cute. A bit of an understatement in your current state of undress.”
Eden blushed at that, but obviously refusing to be goaded she braced her arms over her chest and looked him dead in the eye. “I said when you weren’t puking you were cute.” A wicked grin stole over her lips. “Now that I’ve seen you naked I might have to reevaluate.”
Suddenly Bay was reminded that he sat in a room full of three women wrapped in nothing more than a blanket. One of whom in particular made his blood boil and lit every nerve ending in his body on fire. His cock twitched as he met the crystal blue of her eyes, a sudden spark of awareness lighting him ablaze. He grinned, predatory, knowing damn well she wouldn’t miss the flare of heat in his eyes. “You do that.”
His voice had dipped into a husky rumbling of a growl and Eden blushed, drawing a laugh from both of her friends. “Why don’t we get you home?” The red on her cheeks deepened. “Get you into something decent.”
Get her somewhere private. Bay wanted his lips on hers again, her body writhing against his as she burrowed her hands under the blanket to find his skin again. He wanted privacy. With one off-handed remark, she’d managed to wake the sleeping coil of lust inside him, like a dragon shaking off slumber it burned with the need to claim her.
Not a dragon, he realized. Wolf.
Ours. He recognized that flash of possession from yesterday, felt the stirrings of a need he’d had before, but hadn’t really recognized. As a man he’d wanted a woman to spend his life with, but he had never been in much of a hurry. Hell, he’d never found the right one. Eden had been the first one in a long time to stir any long lasting interest from him, but it was more than that now.
She’d become his beacon in this storm. His lifeline drawing him in from the shatters of the sea. And now, too, there was the wolf’s urging for a mate. For someone to protect, a pack, someone to share a life with. And Eden called to the wolf in him, just as she called to the man. Bay swallowed. Fuck. Even if it made him a monster, something not quite human, he couldn’t shake the feelings aside.
He wanted her. Wanted to bury himself so deep inside her that the evil in the forest couldn’t find him, but more than that, he wanted to leave his scent stamped along every inch of her skin. Mark her so that none of the other wolves could find her and steal her away. His hand fisted tighter in the blanket and he shifted uncomfortably on the hard kitchen chair, his cock suddenly hard and prodding insistently at his belly.
“Home sounds good to me.” His voice came out hoarse, strained.
He said goodbye to her friends and moved for the door, trying to hide straining bulge of his arousal. The cool bite of the winter air did little to dampen the urge clawing through him. He leaned against the rail of her porch and stared out at the woods, thinking of anything and everything to ease the painful tightness in his balls. Then Eden stepped outside with him and his restraint crumbled away. Catching her hip in one hand he tugged her up against him.
Satisfaction soared through him as her eyes widened in surprise as her hips touched his, the warm press of her body against his cock. She fit him perfectly. Her thighs cupping his. He found her lips in a soft kiss, the muscles in his neck bulging as he struggled for control. This would be a gentle kiss, a soft one. Claiming her quietly. No matter what his wolf wanted. He refused to rush this.
Except, Eden had other ideas. Her lips slipped open and she welcomed him inside, even as she stretched up on tip-toes and met him fully, her tongue sliding against his. With one soft mewl from her, he gave up the fight. His mouth turned rougher, more insistent, but she yielded underneath him, all soft flesh and quiet, urging sounds. When she pulled back, it was with a hand braced against his bare chest, her fingertips toying over the soft strands of hair.
“You sure know how to turn a girl’s brain to mush,” she said softly.
Bay’s arm slid around her waist, rubbing her against him and she shivered, her hand giving a small spasm against his chest. The cold should have made him wilt, should have shut off the desire racing through him as fast as flipping a switch. Instead, it didn’t affect him at all.
Maybe it was his wolf. Maybe the animal kept him warmer when it was just beneath the surface. Definitely a perk to the whole fiasco.
Bay angled his head, his mouth finding the curve of her neck and that sweet, tender spot behind her ear. He nipped at it, wanting nothing more than to leave his mark upon her skin. Bay held back, settling for nuzzling against her instead. He loved the way her body quivered against his when he kissed it. “I should stop. You should make me stop.”
Because he didn’t have the restraint to pull away on his own now.
He tried to think of how long he’d known her, counting out the days, but time didn’t matter at the moment. He needed her, more than he’d ever needed anything in his life. To make him feel human again. To make him whole again, even if before her he hadn’t known he was lacking.
Eden tilted her head up, studying his face. “Are you asking me to stop you here, or when we get to your place?”
Bay swallowed. The unspoken offer in her voice making it impossible for him to breathe, and before he could even think of how to answer that, she stretched up to kiss him again. Just a ghostly feathering of her lips against his. A whisper of a promise at what was to come. “I’m stopping you now.” She jingled her car keys as she pulled away. Her eyes skimmed down his body and back up. “When we get to your place, then it’s your turn.”
She turned and strode toward her truck, her hips swaying, her parka giving him only the occasional glimpse of her rump. She didn’t pause, didn’t so much as glance back his way. Bay shoved off porch and followed her. He could have s
tood there all day trying to gather control, but nothing would have stopped him when he got home. So there was no point in wasting the time.
Not with a promise like that hanging between them.
Chapter Nine
Anticipation leapt through Bay as they pulled up in front of his house, the sloped driveway curving to a stop in front of his shop. A hungry sound roused deep inside him as a shiver skated down his spine. He’d hoped the ride would cool the heated desire coursing through him, give him time to pull back. Think. He barely knew Eden, barely knew what he was any more. Now wasn’t the time to go hopping into the sack.
But reason refused to touchdown in his brain. Instead instinct, lust, something more swirled through him, dragging him up into its tempest and Bay was helpless to refuse. Above anything else, he needed her tonight. Needed to make her his as deeply as he was already hers. Powerless to stop himself he said the only thing he could think of, the only reason he was sure no one else would ever be enough for him, not now. It had to be her.
“You saw me,” he said, his voice hoarse. As a monster, but he couldn’t get the words to come out.
Eden looked at him, one hand still lingering on the steering wheel. She cocked her head to the side to look at him, and let the silence stretch and linger between them, a living, breathing entity that seemed to eat at the empty space in the car. It made him want to reach for her and drag her over the console and onto his lap, just so he could slam his lips down over hers again.
“While you were upchucking your breakfast the other day? Or while you were going from man to wolf?”
“Eden.” She knew what he meant. But he didn’t want to say it. He couldn’t bring the words past his lips if it meant they might stop her from following him inside. Bay wasn’t nearly strong enough for that. His hand fisted against his thigh to keep himself from grabbing her.
What he didn’t expect was for her to reach for him.
Her fingers skimmed over his jaw, a delicate touch that lit little flickers of fire under his skin. Bay leaned his head into her hand, a tremble raking through him. He wanted her. Not just beneath him for a night, but he wanted the woman who’d spent her morning laughing with him in the kitchen, the woman who’d stood ready to fight him in defense of her dog—and in the end, he wanted the woman who’d seen him shift from beast to man and had accepted him anyway.
It was a kind of acceptance he couldn’t even begin to understand and he was tired of trying. Bay wrapped a hand around her wrist, holding her palm to his cheek. Eden smiled. A soft, joyous curve of her lips that highlighted the warmth in her eyes.
“I heard your side of the story, remember? What you can do is impossible, something a person only hears of in myths and weird romance novels.” Her brows furrowed, creating a little crease on her forehead. “But I don’t think you’re a monster. Maybe the first day, before you had control. But tonight, you and your wolf had all the chance in the world and you didn’t hurt Smuggler or me.”
She gave him a teasing, crooked smile. “So are you going to invite me in or not?”
His heart gave a violent kick in his chest. Possession snaked through him, a feral desire that filled him. His grip tightened on her wrist.
“Yes,” he growled, and let her go.
He slid out of the truck, snow crunching under of his boots as the first blast of wind struck him. He tilted his head back and inhaled, the movement almost casual, as if he did it every day. But the moment he sucked in a breath he realized the action was more wolf than man. They’d blended. In one willing shift, they’d already started to blur together—two spirits, two creatures becoming one.
And it felt right.
Then the scent hit him and a roar clawed up his throat. Wolves. He could smell the fur, and more than that, the rank, bitter stench of urine. Bay spun in the snow, his shoulders tense, and he twisted his gaze from tree to tree, scouring the edges of his yard and the forest shadows beyond. The wolf in him rose until it was just under his skin, and Bay could feel the prickle down his back, like hackles lifting to attention under his skin.
When the growl finally broke from him it was a quiet sound that threaded through his chest, vibrating through the whole length of his body, and it pierced the air in a dark, ominous sound. Warning. He felt the beast inside him move to take control, to shift them again until they could stand on four feet with teeth and fangs to protect what was theirs. It took every ounce of Bay’s control to hold his wolf back and to keep himself human, but he couldn’t erase his wolf’s anger.
This was his house. His territory. And yet, the others had come here and marked it as their own. His wolf hated the encroachment every bit as much as Bay did. The other wolves had no business here and they sure as hell had no right to piss on his porch as if it were theirs. Bay took a tense step towards the woods.
He wouldn’t tolerate their trespassing on his home, let alone marking it like belligerent dogs. Mine. The thought screamed through him and he swayed under the force of it, his body locked and ready for a fight.
“Bay?” Eden’s voice lifted in a soft question and with one word she drew him back to her. His wolf calmed a little under his skin and pulled back, leaving Bay room to breathe. He drew in a rough breath and tried for control.
It came in slow, broken fragments. The tightness in his chest eased, the territorial urge to roar and howl slowly ebbed away, his muscles—one by one—began to loosen again. He heard her take a step towards him and the last of the raging twist of emotions slipped away. She was his lodestone, his map back to humanity, and Bay let her pull him back.
Reason finally touched him then. Only an idiot would go tromping through the snow after a pack of werewolves. One against six? It was laughable. Moronic. Then he turned and saw her. Her eyebrows were raised in silent question as she leaned against the truck, waiting. Patient, but he didn’t miss the sardonic humor in her eyes. She probably thought he was trying to work up the control to send her home. He almost grinned, even through the lingering shards of anger.
He opened his mouth to explain when a tree snapped behind him, bark and wood splintering. Bare branches slammed into the snow, crackling under the impact, and Bay spun. Morrigan’s troll lumbered out of the forest, its hulking shoulders heaving as it stared down at him, black eyes gaping. Long, spindly limbs that looked like they’d have no strength at all suddenly spread wide as the troll leaned forward and roared.
The wolf leapt under Bay’s skin at the invitation for a fight. In a heartbeat, all that fury came roaring back, heating through his blood like fire on gasoline. It blazed through him, higher this time, hotter. Mine.
Bay launched himself over the snow, the blanket around his shoulders falling to the barren ground behind him, but the cold air barely touched his pale skin. One second he was running forward, bare feet burning against the cold snow, and the next he’d landed in front of the troll, the massive size of his wolf now standing between the threat and Eden.
“Your master wants a word with you, little wolf.” The troll reached for him, stick-like fingers stretching out to snag at his ruff, but Bay twisted out of reach. His head snapped back and his teeth clicked over air, mere inches from the troll’s hand. It was the only warning this bastard was going to get.
Get out. The desire radiated through him, poured through every vein in his body, and it rattled out of him on a threatening snarl. The troll grunted, obviously not impressed with Bay’s show of teeth.
“Forgot how much fight you have in you. Stupid, stupid creature.” Then the troll yanked back his hand and swung. The long, icy fingers slashed through the air, whistling with the speed of the attack.
Bay reacted without thinking. His body spun, diving towards the troll instead of away. Pearl-white teeth closed over the sensitive skin of the monster’s inner elbow, slicing cleanly through flesh until it found the coppery tang of blood. Then he was gone, dancing away over the snow, watching as drops of red splattered against the ground at the troll’s feet. Bay pinned his ears back and wait
ed.
But this time when the troll attacked, it wasn’t at him. The huge beast lunged towards Eden and her truck. She let out a startled yelp, scrambling to get the truck between her and the troll, but Bay rammed himself into the monster’s mid-section, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Snow billowed up in a flurry of white. In seconds they were both back on their feet, watching each other.
The first glint of respect flickered in the troll’s eyes. Bay flashed his teeth in a very impolite doggie-grin. His lips pressed forward until just his canines and incisors showed as he growled. Dominant, his body language declared with every tense, choppy step. Alpha. His tail curled over his back. This place, her, they are all mine.
And though the troll didn’t know it yet, Bay was about to show him. No one came to his place and tried to take what was his.
He heard a distinct click behind him and the troll’s head jerked in the direction of the truck. A surprised laugh boomed from him. “Little girl that won’t—”
The words were swallowed by the sudden crack of a gun going off. The troll staggered backwards and Bay leapt, hurtling his white body into the air. He crashed into the troll’s chest and sent them both toppling to the ground once more. This time, he didn’t leap away. His teeth snagged in the thick flesh of the monster’s chest, ripping until he found blood and bone, white shot through the red. He clawed upward, seeking the throat, when a hand wrapped around the back of his neck and flung him aside, slamming into the ground as if he were nothing more than an over-sized ragdoll.
His jaws snapped shut with an audible click at the impact, his breath racing out of his lungs. A whimper slid out of him, just as claws raked through his side, and Bay screamed out, yelping. He twisted, his teeth latching onto the troll’s arm. The gun popped again, a dull sound that was nearly lost in the sounds of the thrashing fight. Bay’s heart pounded in his ears, but the troll only grunted under the bullet’s impact.
Bay ripped into skin, not caring where he hit in his struggle to get free. Finally, the troll roared and let him go. He leapt aside, ignoring the spear of pain that lanced through his midsection, burning through his skin like a hot iron thrust straight through to the bone. Gasping, Bay whirled back for the troll.
