“Are you one of them? Did you attack that other wolf?”
Oh shit, he thought, I’m in deep fucking shit—the kind that hits the top of your boots and oozes down inside. He’d already lied once, and he would lie again. “I’m not one of them.” Why didn’t he tell her? What made him hesitate? Rejection, that’s why. This whole alternative world of preternatural beings was new to her.
“Then who were they?” she demanded.
Fear of her rejection fueled his temper. Anger simmered underneath the surface and he struggled to tamp it down, determined not to lose control and end up turning in front of her. The full moon would happen in a few days, his control over his wolf was stretched to the limits. Ethan had mastered keeping himself from turning during anger or sexual release many years ago, but dealing with Kate was out of his norm. He doubted his control of his beast around her.
“How the hell do I know? It could’ve been anybody,” he shouted.
“Don’t you mean any werewolf?” she taunted.
Before he could stop himself, he grabbed her, careful not to squeeze too tight and cause harm. He lifted her off the ground and pulled her against him, ignoring the feel of her soft breasts hitting his chest and the heat of her womanhood pushing up against his erection.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked in a voice not as demanding as he wanted.
Kate didn’t know what was wrong, other than her usual sane life had turned into a dark, paranormal saga. She didn’t want to believe people walked around and looked human but were not. She didn’t want to look at everyone she encountered, on a daily basis, and wonder what they were.
She refused to live her life that way—paranoid and afraid of everyone around her.
With eyes closed she breathed in Ethan’s smell. The anger eating away at her insides slowly seeped out of her pores. His scent caused heat to scorch the inside of her veins. Did she want to throw him out of her life or pull him into her heart and never let him escape? These contradicting emotions confused her.
Kate gazed at Ethan once more. She met his incredible, molten brown eyes. “I’m sorry. I…” Her words were silenced by his warm mouth. His full lips pressed against hers before he plunged his tongue inside and tasted her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clung to him, wanting to feel every inch of his body against hers.
When he gulped air, Kate took advantage. Her tongue thrust inside his generous mouth, and she moaned at her first delicious sample of him.
Ethan cupped the back of her head, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss. He drank her in sip by sip. Soon it wasn’t enough for her. Not nearly enough. Her body wanted him. Her brain couldn’t do anything to stop it.
With her legs still wrapped around his waist she broke the kiss, peeled his jacket off then pulled his T-shirt over his head. When her top joined his shirt on the floor, she went back to kissing him. She rubbed her bare breasts against his and felt his nipples pebble along with hers.
“Oh, my,” she moaned into his mouth. “Lose the pants.”
He put her down and dropped his jeans per her request. She couldn’t help but stare. He was magnificent. He wore nothing beneath his jeans, and nobody she had ever seen, or ever imagined, was that hung. “I…”
Cutting off her words, he scooped her up, carried her to the bedroom and plopped her onto the bed. With one quick move he removed her shorts and panties. Ethan moved on top of Kate and fought his body to slow down. He’d seen her eyes widen when she got a good look at his junk. He knew he was hung bigger than human males—one perk of being a werewolf—and if she panicked, it would be a total mood kill.
Lowering his head, he covered her mouth with his. His tongue delved into every conceivable crevice in her mouth. Burning desire took over, and he slid his lips down her front and found a nipple, firm and succulent. His teeth clamped down on the precious peak, and Kate moaned and bucked up toward him. He repeated the sensual act on her other breast and the vibration of her body connected with his and they trembled as one.
He slid his greedy mouth lower and lower until he found her heat—hot, wet, and willing to accommodate him but not yet, first he needed to taste this part of her, the innermost essence of her body.
“Oh, dear heavens above,” he moaned as he sucked her juices and pushed her thighs wider apart. He couldn’t get enough of her and her elixir of life. Quivers traveled through his body and continued as he plunged his tongue to the very depths of her feminine soul.
“Please, no more, I can’t take it,” she begged. “Oh no, not again,” she cried out as her thighs squeezed his head, her hands gripped his hair, and her body crested once more. He licked up the rewards. When she relaxed, he crawled up her body to smile down into her dreamy and satisfied green eyes tinged with yellow, and his heart stopped. A moment later it took off with lightning speed, and he slid inside her in one deep push. Once cocooned within her, every molecule in his body screamed out he had found his home…his mate.
She met him thrust for thrust, and he rode this incredible woman. This woman who touched his heart and soul in such a short span of time. When he came, he made sure she experienced it with him. A pyrotechnics display worthy of the fourth of July on Boston Harbor exploded around them.
Satiated, he rolled off her and pulled her to him. He held her still trembling body within his strong arms and never wanted to let her go. Fuck, I’m so screwed. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he asked. He’d almost forgotten to hold back his strength. She caused him to forget everything except the feel of their bodies joined.
“Mmm, not really.” She shifted, and her hand played with his chest hair causing him to rise again. “I might be a tad sore. You are…ummm…all I can think of is humongous.”
The panic he experienced moments ago forgotten as laughter shook his entire body. Then she joined him and both their bodies vibrated with delight. Ethan couldn’t remember ever letting go and laughing that way before. Although his life had been full of gloom, there had been times he experienced carefree fun. Fighting hadn’t always consumed his life. For the first hundred years or so, he had lived for the moment—hunting, drinking, and carousing at will. Of course, he had been born with certain privileges, wealth being one of them. During the early years, those with money did nothing but play, and play he had.
“Thank you,” he said as he placed a kiss on her cheek.
She leaned up and smiled at him. “For what?”
“For making me laugh,” he answered.
“You like to laugh, huh?” She rolled on top of him, straddling his hips and tickling him. He rolled his body from side-to-side, unable to contain the laughter.
“Stop. I give,” he choked out.
She ignored his pleas and continued. His strength diminished, and he couldn’t stop her. Reality hit him. Oh fuck. No.
“Kate, stop!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs. But his voice changed, the words sounded like an animal.
Ethan stopped the change mid-turn, which looked worse. Instead of appearing as a complete man or complete wolf, he transformed into a half-man/half-beast. His secret was out in the worst possible way.
Chapter Six
Ethan locked eyes with Kate and his insides screamed in silent misery. The horror plastered across her face reminded him of the female lead in a slasher movie right before she meets her maker. She scrambled off the bed and booked it out of the room. How the fuck had that happen? He resembled a hormonal teenager all over again, changing whenever he experienced an orgasm—only worse. He’d been laughing because she tickled him.
He closed his eyes and willed his body to change back. He flinched as he breathed through the agony of the change. Ethan was used to it, but the torturous pain existed, nonetheless.
Ethan burst into the living room, too mortified to look in Kate’s direction. He dressed and hightailed it out of there without so much as a backwards glance. Since when are you such a coward?
Kate crouched on the sofa, her arms hugged her knees, and she shi
vered from the cold—or was it from what happened to Ethan. She tried to say something to him, but her voice refused to cooperate. She stared at him as he dressed and left the apartment without saying a word or glancing her way. Her fingers combed through her mussed hair, and she tried to make sense of all the jumbled emotions bombarding her at once.
Reaching for her phone she called Deanna, her best friend since their first day at Mass Art. They paired up as roommates for the duration of their four years and even for the two Kate spent at BU. Now they lived apart but were still as close as ever. The only person she would think of confiding in was Deanna. But what could she say? Hey, you won’t believe this, but Gray is a werewolf. And you won’t believe this even more—I just experienced the most ultimate sex of my life with another one named Ethan. And it gets better. Right afterwards, he turned.
When it went to voicemail Kate hung up. “Thank God,” she groaned aloud. She didn’t want to talk to anyone—not even her best friend.
Moments later she stumbled into the bathroom and took a long, hot shower. She hoped to loosen her aching muscles and soothe her bruised heart. Why had Ethan lied to her? Did he think she couldn’t handle that side of him? Her head rested on the wall, her lungs burned, and her tears mixed with the hot water sliding down her body.
Everything about Ethan screamed to her inner core. When she was around him, he seemed like a natural extension of herself. Her heart throbbed with knowledge from his heart. When she breathed his woodsy scent, she smelled the safety and security of home. When in his arms, nothing else existed. He encompassed her whole being and if she couldn’t handle this side of him, she would be losing a part of herself—a part she couldn’t live without. Because how did one live with an eviscerated heart?
She turned the shower off, wrapped herself in a towel, and scurried for her ringing phone. One glance at the screen had her heart skipping a beat. Gray’s name stared back at her. Great—the one person she never wanted to see or speak to again. She waited until New Voicemail flashed across her screen, then she opened it and listened to the masculine voice.
“Hello sweetheart, it’s me. I know it’s the middle of the night, but I didn’t want you to forget our date tomorrow night. I’ll meet you at Deanna’s. A bunch of us are going to grab a bite to eat then hit a club to dance. I hope you’re still up to it. See you at seven. Miss you.”
She whipped the phone across the room, ignoring the loud thud it made when it connected with the wall. Tears burst from her eyes. “Miss me? What a crock of shit, you low-life asshole! You animal of the lowest level—you tried to eat me…Oh shit.” She sprinted to the bathroom and flipped the seat just as her supper made an encore appearance. Mind and body exhausted, the last thing she remembered was curling up in the fetal position on the bathroom rug with a large towel as her blanket.
After Ethan left Kate’s apartment, he rode his Harley aimlessly throughout the dark, desolate streets of Boston until he found himself on Colin’s doorstep. Colin lived as “Mr. Corporate Attorney” in the human world and his second-in-command in the shape-shifting world.
Several pack leaders in the New England area criticized Ethan’s running of his pack. They believed pack members should treat alpha leaders as kings. The dominant wolves directly under their command should be treated as princes and princesses by the submissive wolves.
Ethan understood the need for this chain of command. Those under him needed to respect him and do what he demanded without question. They did. The submissive members of his pack had always done what he asked of them without question. Ethan wondered if they feared him. He figured some did. He was not a monster by nature, but if pushed he could be one. After all, he was part animal.
When his pack encountered a precarious situation, they did as he stated without question. But he preferred being treated like a leader, not a king. Humans at times made mistakes, and they were after all part human, so he kept an open-door policy for that reason. Anyone who had a problem with how the pack ran could discuss it with him in private.
As long as no one from his pack challenged his leadership, all ran smoothly. If anyone challenged him, he would protect himself and his right to rule until death. He’d done it before, and he’d do it again. Under the right circumstances, he could be fearless and deadly. What leader wasn’t?
Ethan’s pack was also different because it contained two alpha wolves. Colin could lead his own pack but chose not to.
“Come on, Colin. Answer the door.” Ethan hit the buzzer repeatedly until a grouchy voice boomed from the speaker.
“This damn well better be good, Ethan, or I’ll rip your heart out and feed it to our enemies.”
If anyone else beneath him spoke to him that way, he would have to kill them slowly and painfully. He and Colin had been together forever. They were more like brothers than friends. Ethan had no reason to question his respect or loyalty.
Ethan took the stairs two at a time and greeted his half-dressed friend at the door. “Quit your glaring and let me in.”
As Colin opened the door wide, Ethan understood his reluctance to welcome him in. Hot, naked, twin lady werewolves, Victoria and Vanessa, lounged on the huge sectional sofa.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I need to speak to my second, in private.” Ethan dragged Colin into the bedroom with him and shut the door.
Colin lounged on the end of the bed, a smirk on his face. A face the ladies deemed almost too pretty to be male.
“I smell sex,” he drawled. “And it isn’t because I partook in it. We were just getting revved up. Give.”
Ethan stared him down. “Sex is nothing new. What’s the big deal?”
His friend burst out laughing. “Not sex with humans. Don’t think I can’t tell the difference between human and our kind of p…”
Ethan cut him off. “So, I had sex with this Katie I told you about. No big deal.”
Colin leaped off the bed and got up in his grill. He closed his eyes and sniffed. “I smell a hell of a lot more than sex.”
“You need not tell me,” Ethan grumbled.
Once again, Colin laughed. “Oh yeah, I do. Let me see.” He breathed deeply. “I smell sex and fear. And that’s just for starters. I get this strange feeling you care deeply for this Katie. And my mind screams out you changed before her eyes. What the fuck?”
A loud growl escaped Ethan, and he paced the room like a caged animal. “I don’t know. It wasn’t during sex. It came afterwards when she tickled me. I couldn’t stop laughing and I lost control.” He clawed his fingers through his unruly hair. “You should have seen the horror on her face. I left without saying a word. Man, I feel like the lowest scum on the earth.”
“Well, you know what they say about our kind.” Colin grinned. “Oh wait. That would be blood-sucking vampires.”
“Cut the shit, man,” Ethan bellowed. “I came here to feel better. I want you to tell me it’s happened to you.”
Colin shook his head. “Never with a human. With one of our kind you can let the control slip and change, and it’s no big deal, but never with a human.”
“What do I do?”
“Be honest. You said yourself Troy wants her to learn our ways and take her place as your mate. You created the perfect intro.”
“Fuck.”
Colin opened the door and raised an eyebrow. “Precisely what’s on my mind, now time for you to go before my ladies find pleasure amongst themselves and don’t need me anymore.”
Once home, Ethan crashed in bed nude and didn’t wake until mid-afternoon. After rolling over, he grabbed his cell from the nightstand and made the one call he dreaded but couldn’t avoid. He caught the silence of the phone being answered and a long deep sigh but nothing else.
“Listen, Kate. It’s me. Don’t hang up. Two things. I’m sorry I lied to you. There’s a lot to explain but not on the phone. Tonight, after your date with Gray, we’ll talk.”
“Talk now,” Kate demanded.
“No.”
“I don’t need
you, you know,” she snapped.
“Okay, if you say so. But remember, Gray will kill you. Maybe not tonight, maybe not tomorrow night, but soon.” He winced at his choice of words. He didn’t want to frighten her. Just make her aware of the dangerous situation.
“I wish I never went to you with what I believed to be a simple yes or no question. Leave me the hell alone.”
Ethan stared at the quiet phone and said, “So not going to happen.”
Chapter Seven
A dozen butterflies took flight in Kate’s stomach. Their delicate wings caused an internal vibration equivalent to a seven-point-five earthquake as she drove to Deanna’s house. She parked her car on the street and walked up the solar-lit path to the front door. Before knocking she took a deep breath, hoping to settle her nerves. With an unsteady hand she tapped her knuckles three times on the door. The sound of Lady Gaga blaring on the stereo competed with loud voices. She wondered how many people Deanna had invited.
She knocked several more times. Finally, she gave up and turned the doorknob. She pushed the door open and yelled, “Hello, Deanna. It’s me!” When Kate stepped inside the foyer, she turned right. The large great room was filled with at least a dozen people. Christ, she was so not up to this.
Deanna spotted her, crossed the crowded room, and hugged her. “Hey, you’re late.” She pulled back and smiled. “You look terrific. I love those jeans on you. Come, I have some guys I want you to meet. They’re friends with my brother, Steven, in town for the weekend. Steven told them to look me up, and they did.”
She paused and leaned in close. “Two of them are just like Steven—free spirited and into black. But don’t be fooled by the other one. He’s as moody as they come. They’re all hot beyond belief. If Gray’s a ‘no-show’ you can have one, but I have dibs on Lucas.”
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