Forbidden Attraction

by Lorie O'Clare

  “None. The way the barbed wire was stretched, you wouldn’t have noticed it. It’s the act of a coward though, and that pisses me off more than anything.”

  “It’s much easier for a coward to attack a brave enemy by laying traps.” Ollie finally looked around at the group surrounding the truck. “Back off so the Malta werewolves can head out.”

  The American werewolves backed off, some of them heading back inside the bar and grill since there wouldn’t be a good fight to watch.

  “Keep me posted on anything you sniff out,” Ollie said, not leaving when the rest of his pack headed in out of the cold.

  “Let me know if anyone attacks your pack.” Dimitri stared at the fair-skinned pack leader for a moment. “My gut tells me this won’t be an isolated incident.”

  Ollie frowned, creating wrinkles between his small eyes. “Why would you suggest our pack might be attacked?”

  Several tiny snowflakes blew in the air around them, a few landing in Dimitri’s black hair. Nicolo was wound tight and hadn’t noticed until now how the weather was changing. Suddenly he smelled the storm closing in on them.

  “I’m not saying you will be attacked. Just watch your tails and let me know if you are.” The scent of Dimitri’s anger subsided a bit. More than likely, talking to the older pack leader did him some good, although he’d never admit it. “We could enter lunewulf territory and show them what I’ve just shown you. As if that would do a fucking bit of good. There are days when I pity their hostility toward us, since it keeps them in the dark.”

  “You know talking to the lunewulfs won’t accomplish a damned thing,” Nicolo argued, although he doubted Dimitri intended on trying to carry out such a stunt.

  “Agreed,” Josie interrupted. “The lunewulfs might be responsible for this—it happened close to where their territory begins. Almost too close.”

  “What are you suggesting?” Ollie ran his thick hand over his bald head, frowning while shifting his gaze from one of them to the next.

  “Just that finding a dead werewolf so close to the line dividing our territories would give us damn good reason to confront their pack with our claws extended.”

  Dimitri seemed to pick up on Josie’s line of thinking. “And if we attacked, they would fight back. We’d wipe out quite a few of our pack members before learning the truth as to whether they did this or not.”

  “If someone wanted both of your packs out of here, starting trouble and implying guilt would be a damned good way to eliminate both of you.” Ollie glanced at the flakes falling around them. “I’ll let you know if anything happens in my territory.”

  “Keep your nose close to the ground for a while.” Dimitri reached for his door handle and Ollie nodded a somber goodbye before heading back to the bar.

  Nicolo climbed into the truck and held his gloved hands in front of the heater vent while staring at the snow falling outside. Chills rushed over him, but this time the weather didn’t make him grumpy. Anger pulsed inside him. For once, he’d like to live without knowing the world around them wished them extinct.

  Heidi Lutgard hated holding a grudge toward anyone. Animosity stank worse than anything. But at the moment, holding back any longer seemed impossible.

  “You don’t have new ink cartridges?” She held the empty cartridge for the sales clerk to see.

  “Maybe another store.” The human female dared stare her in the eyes while lying through her teeth.

  Heidi lowered her hand, clenching the cartridge hard enough that it pinched her palm. “You know as well as I do there are no other stores in Cuchara that sell computer supplies,” she hissed.

  The female raised her eyebrow, then crossed her arms over her chest. Her look turned hostile. “Then try another town,” she advised, filling the air between them with the smell of her hatred.

  Heidi pointed behind the human at the cartridges lining the shelves. “I’m not driving an hour out of my way when you have what I need right there.”

  A tall, skinny human, twenty-ish or so, walked up to them. He stood next to Heidi, giving her an unimpressed once-over and then turned a questioning gaze to the female clerk.

  “Is there a problem?”

  “Yes. I need a new ink cartridge and she won’t sell me one.” Heidi held the empty cartridge out so the male human could see it.

  He glanced at it without taking it from her, then walked around the counter, making a show of staring at the cartridges shelved behind the clerk and then shaking his head.

  “Do you have cash?”

  “Your machine won’t run my credit card?”

  “It’s broken.” The female human smiled at her triumphantly.

  Heidi fumed. “Why don’t you put a damned sign on the door saying that you won’t wait on lunewulfs? Then the two of you won’t have to stink up your store with your lies.”

  Both humans’ jaws dropped but the male recovered faster. “We have a right to refuse service to anyone. It’s an American right.” He stuck his long, skinny nose in the air, thrusting his chin out as if he were pledging allegiance with pride. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave, ma’am. Neither one of us makes enough money to have to put up with your hostile attitude.”

  She had half a mind to let her teeth grow, growl and bare her claws just to watch them run in fear. As if that would solve the problem here.

  “Apparently prejudice is a human right too,” she said under her breath, turning and using all the strength she had to walk slowly out of the store.

  “They need to stay on Wulf Peaks.” The female complained loud enough for Heidi to hear.

  She grabbed the door, hesitating for a moment while holding the handle. Did it piss her off more that they wouldn’t wait on her or that they clumped together the two mountains where the lunewulfs and Malta werewolves both had territory?

  Correcting the humans would be more of a waste of time than arguing with them over selling her a cartridge. She yanked the door open, jarring the muscles in her arm so they ached, and stormed outside. Her breath fogged around her face when she exhaled loudly.

  “They aren’t worth your anger,” she mumbled and let the cold air sink into her pores before heading down the sidewalk. It did little to stop the heated outrage swarming inside her.

  The rest of her shopping today was personal. A new pair of jeans, maybe some boots and possibly something sexy would improve her mood. Not that she had anyone to look sexy for anymore. But that wasn’t her fault. Steve had turned into an ass, trying to control her and demand her whereabouts every five seconds. No lunewulf owned her. She didn’t have a collar around her neck.

  “Bath oil,” she decided. “Something smelly to soak in.”

  She’d buy the damned ink cartridge online. Although Bob, her pack leader, would be pissed when he learned he’d have to wait a couple of weeks before he could print anything.

  Climbing into her car, she tossed her purse to the passenger seat and stuck her key in the ignition. She gave it gas and turned the key. Click. She tried again. Nothing.

  “Well hell.” She stared over the steering wheel, wondering what else would go wrong today. The last thing she needed right now was her car breaking down in Cuchara, where no human would give her the time of day.

  She searched through her purse for her cell phone, then scowled when it showed no signal. Maybe the clerks inside the computer store would get a kick out of watching her change before their eyes so she could run back to her pack for help.

  Grabbing hold of the slightly amusing thought, she held on to it so that her temper wouldn’t flare again. She stepped out into the cold, this time feeling it chill her to the bone as she searched up and down the street. Now to find a store willing to let her use a phone.

  Halfway up the block, she glanced inside the large windows of a fabric store. Several older humans browsed, but they didn’t catch her eye. A young bitch standing behind an old lady looked her way when Heidi searched the store.

  She sucked in a breath. Nibbling her lower l
ip, she entered the store, immediately surrounded by the smell of artificial vanilla.

  Nothing bugged her more than appearing hesitant. It was a sign of weakness—something her sire hounded into his entire den when she was still a cub.

  She walked up to the dark-skinned Malta werewolf bitch. “I’m not sure if you remember me,” she whispered, making sure no humans were in earshot before speaking.

  “Of course I do.” The female cocked her head, sniffing the air and giving Heidi an assessing look. “I can’t say that I remember your name though.”

  The older bitch turned around, putting the fabric she examined down on the table. She stared at Heidi while sniffing the air and then covering her heart with her hand, as if realizing what Heidi was proved too much for her.

  “What is this?” she demanded, turning her attention to the younger bitch. “You consort with lunewulfs?”

  “Mom, this is the bitch who helped Erin Anthony when the lunewulfs abducted her,” the female whispered. “You’ve raised me well enough not to judge a werewolf by the color of their fur.” She patted her mother’s shoulder and then stared at Heidi with black eyes that pierced right into her. “You’re in trouble?”

  Heidi’s stomach twisted. The way the female searched Heidi’s eyes, not looking anywhere else, bugged her for some reason. But Heidi needed help. Showing any aggravation right now would look bad. She sucked in a breath, hating how she had to humble herself in front of these two Malta bitches. The fragranced air and pungent odor of stuffed emotions reminded her of how many humans surrounded them.

  She spoke quietly, keeping her attention on the young Malta female in front of her. “My name is Heidi Lutgard and my car won’t start. I don’t have a signal on my cell phone and wondered if either of you had a phone that I could use so I could contact someone in my pack to come help me.”

  “I’m Rosa Anthony and this is my mother, Maria,” the bitch said, her scent friendly in spite of the cutting look her mother quickly gave her.

  “You would get so friendly with a lunewulf?” Maria hissed under her breath. “Do we look like mechanics?”

  “I’ll be right back, Mom. Don’t go anywhere.”

  The older bitch clucked her tongue. “Now I’m on a leash. Don’t take too long. And what are you going to do?”

  Rosa touched her mother’s shoulder. “If her car won’t start, we aren’t leaving her in this town full of humans. Remember, she helped Juan’s mate once.”

  “Don’t be gone long.” Maria turned her back on both of them, dismissing them and focusing on her fabric.

  “Where is your car?” Rosa asked once they were outside on the sidewalk.

  “I really appreciate this.” Heidi pointed up the street. “I’m just half a block up, parked in front of the computer store. Do you have jumper cables? If you do, I’ll be out of your hair in no time.”

  Rosa pulled her own cell out of her purse. Her dark eyes watched the street and her skin was a smooth caramel shade. Thick, long black hair tumbled over her shoulders. She wasn’t much taller than Heidi, which would make her small for a Malta werewolf. But it was her scent, relaxed and comfortable, that made it a bit easier to trust her.

  “We don’t have cables.” She handed the cell phone to Heidi. “Make your call.”

  At that moment, Heidi almost kicked herself when it dawned on her how she judged the two bitches, knowing she wouldn’t have approached them had she spotted them and not had an emergency. Moments ago, she cursed the humans for their prejudice toward her—for their implication that the two mountains next to each other right outside Cuchara were territory for the Malta and the lunewulfs together. She’d thought even less of the humans for their ignorance in thinking that the werewolves were the same. Yet here she stood, reacting the same way toward a breed her kind despised. Obviously not all Malta werewolves lacked integrity like the rumors suggested.

  Rosa searched Heidi’s expression, frowning as if she resented Heidi’s thoughts. Shit. This bitch didn’t have the ability to read minds, did she? Heidi believed a lot of what she heard about Malta werewolves. Many of them had powers to do things other werewolves couldn’t. A previous pack leader had tampered with their race overseas. Malta werewolves weren’t trusted and were considered quite dangerous because of these strange powers. Heidi had heard that they could read minds and make strange things happen. They were a bewitched race.

  Rosa twisted her mouth and chewed her lower lip, looking as if she might say something but instead looked away from Heidi and stared across the street.

  Heidi punched in the number to her parent’s den. No one would be at her own den, an empty house now, which was something she refused to regret.

  No one answered. Grimacing, she ended the call and then punched in Steve’s new number. Again, no one answered. Snow blew around them, flakes getting larger and falling faster while the two of them stood there. Two human males walked past them, giving the two of them a quick once-over that turned Heidi’s stomach. Getting stuck in this town would be bad.

  “You can’t reach anyone?” Rosa scowled at the worsening weather. “If my mother wasn’t with me, I’d give you a ride to your den.”

  Heidi understood. She searched the bitch’s face, stunned at the generous offer. “You can’t do that,” she whispered, shaking her head. “You’re being very kind, but I couldn’t guarantee your safety if you entered my territory.”

  “I might be a female, but I can take care of myself.” When Rosa smiled, her white teeth against her dark skin showed off how pretty she was.

  She took her phone and made a call. Heidi’s ears tickled when the phone rang on the other end.

  “Dimitri?” Rosa asked, focusing on the ground. “This is Rosa and we’re in Cuchara.”

  A few snowflakes fluttered in the air between them. A cold breeze blew Rosa’s hair behind her shoulders and she snuggled into her coat. Heidi did the same, easily smelling the bitch’s emotions change. Her expression didn’t hide her quick frustration, and as if she sensed being analyzed, she turned her back on Heidi, snapping at whoever she spoke to on the phone.

  Heidi fought the urge to simply thank the bitch for her time and take on her predicament without any help. Something told her the werewolf on the other end of the line didn’t like hearing that Rosa had ventured into the human town. If Heidi had a werewolf to answer to, she probably would be getting the same treatment. Which was why she was a single bitch. She hated being yelled at just because she wanted alone time and believed herself to be a grown bitch who could take care of herself and do what the fuck she wanted when she wanted to do it.

  Rosa hung up her phone and shoved it into her pocket. “Some of my pack will come and help you get back to your territory. It will take them about thirty minutes. You might as well stay with us until they get here.”

  More than anything, she wanted to tell the bitch she’d wait in her car. But she could hardly be rude, or defiant, to another female who’d just offered her help. Resigning herself to the fact that she’d have to submit and obey Rosa’s wishes, she nodded.

  “I appreciate the help.”

  A few minutes later, Heidi leaned against the building by her car while the bitch stood with her and her mother sat in her own warm car. When a new truck pulled into the stall, Heidi stared at three large werewolves who climbed out. They were huge—easily over six feet—broad-shouldered and all wearing black leather. That with their dark skin and shiny black hair that flowed straight past their collars made the three werewolves look like some dangerous trio right out of a movie. She gulped, filling her lungs with icy cold air. Never in her life had she seen such deadly and powerful-looking werewolves.

  Chapter Two

  “This is the bitch?” one of them asked in a dangerous sounding baritone.

  Chills rushed over Heidi, and it wasn’t from the cold.

  “She helped save Erin. You remember her, don’t you?” Rosa asked.

  The werewolf’s expression didn’t change. Instead, he glanced a
round them. “Where is her car?”

  “Right here.” Heidi cursed her suddenly wobbly knees when she moved around the large males to her car.

  “Pop the hood.” One of the other werewolves put his hand on her car.

  Heidi did as she was told and then sat in her driver’s seat, turning the key when instructed. After several attempts, it still wouldn’t start. Snowflakes clung to the males’ straight black hair while they leaned over her engine, talking among themselves. She got out of the car, unable to stop herself from getting a better view of their hard-packed bodies.

  One of them looked up, catching her almost drooling over so much forbidden muscle.

  “Where is your mate?” he asked.

  The male next to him gave him a quick glance, which he ignored.

  “I don’t have one.” She stared into black eyes hooded by long, dark lashes.

  Her insides quickened. Damn, he was fucking hot!

  “Your pack allows unmated bitches to travel alone?” He raised an eyebrow, challenging her integrity.

  She put her hands on her hips, daring him to think she’d put out for any werewolf who looked at her the way he did right now.

  “It wasn’t supposed to be that long of an outing.” She let him smell her anger and he straightened, looking for a moment like putting her in her place appealed to him.

  The werewolf next to him also straightened and rubbed his hands together. “My bet is she needs a new battery.”

  “Do you have money for one?” the werewolf who’d just challenged her asked.

  She had the credit card her pack leader had given her to buy the ink cartridge. She’d have to deal with Bob later and agree to pay him back for the unexpected charge.

  “Yes,” she said.

  They pulled her battery out of her car and one of the werewolves quickly issued orders, which no one questioned. Maybe he was their pack leader.

  “Nicolo. Take the lunewulf bitch and find a parts store. Josie and I will stay here with Rosa and Maria.”

  Nicolo nodded, grabbing the battery and heading toward their truck. His legs were long and thick, roped muscle twisting against his jeans. Straight black hair reached the end of his coat collar and the thickness in his shoulders showed how strong he must be. In spite of the cold wind whipping around them, heat poured over her insides.