by A. J. Downey
“White.” She had taken her seat at the table again, arms crossed protectively over her and I could almost see worry radiating off of her like a cloud. I could smell it, actually, her anxiety perfuming the air with a sharp, almost bitter, tang.
“Chloe? Look at me?” I pleaded and she reluctantly met my eyes. “You aren’t hurt. You aren’t in danger of becoming like me, if that’s what you’re worried about.” I pulled the cork from the bottle and poured her a generous glass which I set in front of her. Her shoulders dropped and she looked so torn. I poured myself a glass and turned, my back against the counter and my arms crossed over my chest, glass dangling from my fingers.
“One thing you have to understand about wolf-kind is that it’s almost like dealing with a split personality.”
She arched an eyebrow at me in the middle of taking a sip of her wine. She swallowed and set the glass down. “So you’re saying that you’re crazy?” she asked, cautiously and I sighed and shook my head.
“No, nothing like that. Nothing quite that simple. I’m human, right?” She arched an eyebrow again and pursed her lips thoughtfully, I could see the struggle on her face, the hurt, the fear that she would hurt me; it made me smile. I made the concession for her, “Okay, human-ish. My point is that I have thoughts… feelings and desires as a man. I like art, I like food and cooking. I enjoy music and reading and I have hobbies.
“But I’m also part animal,” I said soberly, “And animals operate largely on instinct. It’s something passed down from generation to generation. Each animal instinctively knows things without having to be told or shown how to do them. Birds, for example. Birds know to fly south for the winter and bears, bears know when it’s time to hibernate. Wolves know things too. The wolf inside me, the wolf that is a part of me, knows things about the world around me and the people that I meet that I, as a man, don’t consciously know or even understand.”
“Okay, so you’ve got a hyperactive sixth sense.”
“So to speak, yes.” I took a deep breath and then a large gulp of my wine. “One of those things the wolf looks for in people, is potential for a mate, that’s what the bite is about.”
She looked even more confused. “So, what? You bite every girl you sleep with?”
I shook my head, my still damp hair flopping into my eyes until I brushed it irritably away. “No, that’s not what I mean. Sex is one thing. I’m human, humans have sex. It’s one of the things we greatly enjoy as a species. And humans also get jealous, and territorial, like wolves do. Especially about their boyfriend or their girlfriend.”
“So what are you trying to get at?”
I sighed again and ran my hands through my hair. There was nothing for it but to say it flat out. “The wolf in me recognizes something in you. Strength, character, will, something and he feels that you would make a good mate for me. That’s what the bite is. If I break the skin, if I leave a scar, that’s the equivalent of asking for your hand, hell, of taking you to Vegas and sealing the deal. It marks you, telling others of my kind that you’re my mate. And wolves mate for life.”
Chapter 12
Chloe
I opened my mouth and closed it, opened it again, drew breath to speak then closed it again. William held my gaze across the short expanse between us as he leaned against the counter. His deep brown eyes with their gorgeous amber sparks were dim with almost sorrow. I bit my lips together and looked away because I couldn’t stand to see that look in his eyes. Here he was, telling me the truth, knowing how overwhelming it would be, how frightening, but telling it anyways. Because I’d begged him to never lie to me, no matter how bad it got.
Holy. Shit.
“I… I don’t really know what to say to that,” I told him and when I looked, his head was turned, eyes trained intently at the top of the steps leading down to his work shop.
“Shhh,” he set down his wine glass.
“Wow, okay, I’m sorry you just told me some really heavy shit, I’m just trying to process…”
“Chloe it’s not you, now hush! Someone is coming,” he said. I straightened and moved to stand up but he waved me back down into my seat.
“Is it the twins?” I asked fearfully. I really didn’t want to deal with those assholes again.
“William?” a deep voice beckoned from downstairs. William’s shoulders dropped, the tension easing out of the muscles in his back.
“Yeah, we’re up here Markus!” William called down the stairs.
A man, who appeared to be in his mid-forties, military style haircut going gray at the temples, appeared at the top of the stairs. He wore a green flannel shirt, white crewneck tee peeking out at the collar, tucked into dark blue jeans. A brown belt with a leather-man tool case on it, along with a matching pair of laced up work boots completed his look.
He filled out his clothing nicely, for his age, with plenty of muscle, and he looked me over just as I was looking over him when a feminine voice piped up behind him, “It smells like sex up here.”
“Oh, that’s just fucking great,” I muttered and felt my face take off flaming to match my damned hair. How could they smell it with the bedroom so damn far away and behind a closed door? William laughed which just pissed me off more. I gave him a tight-lipped smile and flipped him off, that just made him laugh harder.
The military man raised an eyebrow at our exchange and stepped aside to let four others come up the stairs.
“You sleeping with the enemy now, Son?” he asked William, but he was clearly sizing me up. There was no hostility in his tone, he just struck me as one of those kind of guys who spoke what was on his mind and fuck whoever got offended. That it was their problem and not his. I suddenly felt way underdressed in just William’s tee under the man’s scrutiny but I would be damned if I would let this guy’s sizing me up get the better of me. I ignored him and turned my attention to the rest of the crew that’d followed him up the stairs.
There were two women and two more men. One woman looked like a librarian of all things. Prim, pressed slacks, and a floral blouse with a light blue cardigan sweater over it. She even had on the little old lady slip on shoes to complete the look. She wasn’t old, maybe early fifties with short, graying hair styled in a cute pixie cut. She wore gold earrings and a gold crucifix necklace, a wedding set on her left hand. Everything about her screamed ‘good Christian woman’ right down to the disapproving glare she had fixed on me.
“What?” I asked her softly taken aback a little by her intense stare. Where the other guy was curious, she was downright hostile. She growled at me, like a full on growl that would come out of a dog, well, wolf. Like human vocal chords shouldn’t be capable of making that sound.
Military man Markus and William stood their ground, unphased by the display. But the others? They all shifted on their feet, nervousness flickering in their eyes, across their faces, like lightning over the city. I stared at her, taking my cue from William and didn’t let the display phase me. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t though. My heart picked up pace and my mouth went a little dry.
“Sharon!” Military man barked, “Calm your shit, woman.”
The librarian lady’s growling ceased as if by a flick of a switch. It just stopped, gone, and the uneasy silence that rushed in to take its place was damned uncomfortable. I got to my feet, slowly and William held out his hand to me. I took it and he towed me in front of him and put his arms around me.
I got the distinct feeling from the surprised and incredulous looks on their faces that he was calmly staring them down over my head. The librarian lady, Sharon, scoffed, making a rude, disgusted sound and looked away from us and I sighed inwardly.
“Nice to meet you too,” I murmured and William’s hold on me tightened.
“Chloe,” he said calmly, an edge of warning to his voice, but I was done. I had nothing else I could say. It struck me then. Came down on me like a ton of bricks, and fuck what these people thought of it but tears sprang to my eyes. I forced them down. Didn’t let them sp
ill over but… Shit.
I very highly doubted I would ever be able to go home. My father, like his daughter, wasn’t exactly the forgiving sort. But, neither were these people. Even if I did find that I maybe was starting to fall in love with William, this, this is what we would get. Disgusted looks. Rude noises and people turning away.
“It’s not my fault my dad’s been running around my whole life acting like some racist hillbilly piece of shit,” I said quietly and I shrugged gently out of William’s embrace. Five sets of curious eyes and one sorrowful one followed me as I stepped up to the Military Man, Markus. I stuck out my hand.
“Chloe, Chloe Young,” I introduced myself.
“Markus,” he said, taking my hand in his much larger, much warmer one. “Markus Lance, I’m Arbiter of the Pacific North West Pack,” he said.
“I’m a… I mean, I was a law student. Now I guess I’m just a Hunter’s daughter.” I sighed, “Sorry,” I added for Sharon’s benefit. Her brow crushed down in confusion as she looked me over. She wasn’t giving an inch, but it wasn’t like I knew her story, so who was I to judge? I was just going to leave all that up to her. I didn’t have the energy.
I shook the hands of the rest behind Markus. There was Brent, who looked like he was seventeen and belonged behind the counter of a record store. Then there was Dave, who was wearing a mechanic’s grease stained shirt. He looked to be in his late twenties with his deep brown hair under a baseball cap. Finally there was Nora. Nora was a Goth girl and Brent’s fraternal twin sister. I raised an eyebrow at William at that and he just smiled like a sphinx.
“It’s nice to meet you all,” I said after all the introductions had been made. Well, except for Sharon, but I wasn’t about to say that out loud. I went back to William who placed his hands on my shoulders, kneading between them gently which did nothing to dissipate my nerves.
“Really William? A Hunter?” Sharon asked after a protracted silence. The others with her turned and the looks weren’t all entirely friendly.
“A Hunter’s daughter,” William snapped. “Who had no idea what her father really was or what he did.”
“How about we all just have a sit and let William explain? How does that sound?” Markus said and it was probably the most reasonable suggestion made thus far, except for it wasn’t exactly a suggestion. Not the way he said it. Nope, no and no. Though he spoke the words the tone he used made me want to snap to attention and be the first person with their ass planted in a seat, listening attentively.
I let William guide me to the large living room with a couch and some recliners, easily able to seat a dozen comfortably. He dropped down onto one end of the couch and pulled me into his lap. I went gratefully, folding myself against him. He wrapped one arm around my waist, the other he settled across the tops of my thighs, palming the outside of my right one, squeezing gently, a reassuring touch. I soaked in his warmth and resisted the urge to kiss him.
I felt calmer, when he held me like this. It felt like, in such a short time, William had become my only constant, my only shelter while the whole world went topsy-turvy around me. He spoke and the people around us listened. Expressions went from curious, to somber, to outraged, to grim.
“She’s The Hangman’s daughter. Do you honestly expect anyone to believe her?” Sharon asked disgusted after he finished explaining how I got my dad to cop to killing their Alpha. I perked up slightly when she called him the Hangman. What was that about? Now obviously wasn’t the time to ask but I made a mental note to grill William about it later.
“Do you?” I asked her, meeting her light hazel eyes with my own.
She huffed out a sigh, “Yes,” she growled as if it was the most painful thing she had ever been forced to admit. “I don’t smell any lie coming off of you. I always knew that Romulus and Remus were power hungry, but patricide? I never thought they would go that far.”
“Trouble is proving it. Chloe’s word isn’t going to be enough.” Markus rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “There’s a lot of support for Romulus becoming Alpha, Boy. He’s strong, he has his brother for Beta and Lucinda–” Nora scoffed and turned her head to the side, staring out the window into the dark.
“That power hungry cunt,” she said bitterly.
Okay. No love lost there, obviously. Sharon looked Nora over and nodded her agreement with the assessment.
“That may be, but I don’t see any other female Pack member challenging her for Alpha Bitch,” Markus remarked dryly. William pulled me down to him, placing his lips against my temple, he closed his eyes and breathed me in for a moment, pressing a kiss to the side of my head before letting me straighten again.
Everyone present stared at him with gross fascination which made me blush hotly. I mean, they were really staring, like we’d just done a new and interesting trick.
“Pack meets tomorrow. Unofficial like, the full moon ain’t until two weeks from now. Best shot you have at swaying them for the Full Moon Council is then. After that it’s up to the Pack as a whole.”
“I don’t like this,” I whispered and searched William’s face.
“Don’t have to like it, Darlin’. This is just how it is,” Markus remarked. I nodded silently. I mean, what could I say? This was William’s world, and while I’d been forced to leave mine behind, there was no telling where my future was going to lie, not now. I certainly didn’t have a place here.
“Any idea who else might still be in my camp?” William was asking, but my eyes were skating across the mistrustful looks that were being cast in my direction.
Markus was in the middle of speaking when I suddenly got to my feet and William let me, slightly surprised by my leaving his embrace. “Excuse me please,” I said politely, “I have a lot to think about.” I left them to their wolf-kind political machinations and slipped through the door and into the Library.
I didn’t know where else to go. Behind me I heard Nora hissing quietly, probably to Brent, “William doesn’t let anyone in there.”
“Don’t exaggerate,” William chided her and their voices faded to a muted background noise as I climbed the stairs to the tower. “No wonder he’s in such good shape,” I muttered. “These stairs’ll kill yah if you don’t get stronger.”
I climbed up on the bed and hugged a pillow to my chest and stared off into space. From the foot of the bed, half way between me and the far wall stood a large telescope pointing up at the blank, windowless ceiling. I looked around for a moment but I didn’t see any windows of a size that would make a telescope useful up here when my eye landed on a length of chain hanging from the ceiling. It was a pull system. The chain ran around a wheel set into the floor and up to the ceiling above. A tug on one side of the chain revealed nothing so I pulled on the other and gasped as a crack appeared in the roof. I pulled again, and kept pulling, hand over hand as the roof slid back almost silently on a hidden track until it was a wide opened door, revealing the night sky in all its brilliance. The true purpose of the tower finally becoming clear.
It was an observatory.
With the roof opened up, the air coming in was a bit chilled so I sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped myself in a blanket, unwilling to close off the view yet. I thought about a lot of things. My dad, William, his Pack, my life up to this point, and what would happen after tomorrow… still, what hit me hardest, I mean literally right between the eyes was the fact that the only thing left out of all that damn thinking to make me tear up, to make me want to sob like a little girl, was the thought of leaving William.
My tears did spill over then, hot and salty slick down my face and though I didn’t make a sound, William was there, kneeling by the bed, his warm gaze so full of tenderness pinning mine in place. Cool moonlight washed over us, drenching everything in a liquid silver radiance. He sighed and raked his hands through his hair, holding it back from his face, to the back of his neck. He bowed his head, pulling on his neck with his hands to ease the tension there as he huffed out a frustrated sigh. I reached out and cupped the
side of his face with my hand and he looked up.
“Just make me forget for a little while… I’m so tired and I don’t want to think about anything but you. Fuck those people. Fuck your brothers, and my father, and this whole screwed up mess, just for a couple of hours,” I said and sniffed.
William closed his eyes and pressed his palm to the back of my hand. He turned his head, pressing his lips into my palm, breathing me in and nodded as if he had made some kind of decision. He pressed a kiss to my palm again, once, twice, and drew back to look at me.
“Okay, Sugar. I can do that,” he said, voice gentle yet low and intense. He stood and discarded his jeans, the moonlight causing deep shadows to play across the lines of his body. I set the pillow aside and he gripped the hem of his tee, whisking it off over my head, leaving us both completely naked.
“Lay on your stomach,” he commanded softly and I was so tired, I didn’t argue. I lay on my stomach and William straddled the backs of my thighs. He pressed his palms into my back and applied gentle pressure until the bones popped quietly into place and the muscles gave a delicious little stretch that had me sighing out, groaning in relief. The heat of his body against mine and the cool breeze blowing across our flesh created a sensational counterpoint that put my body into a relaxed and floating state of euphoria.
“I’m so sorry, Chloe…”
“I don’t want to talk about it, William,” I said and winced at how sharp it sounded, “Please, it will be there tomorrow. I just want this, right here and now, with you. Just you, just me, no more visitors or guests. Can I please just have that?” I asked and I hated how I sounded like I was begging.
“They’re gone, Sugar,” he bent over me and planted a gentle kiss to the back of my shoulder, “It’s just you and me.”
I closed my eyes and relaxed under the heat of his body against mine, protected, safe in his embrace. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted and I knew it. William did too I think. He massaged my back until I was limp and almost drowsing beneath him before he nudged my legs apart with one knee.
