by Multiple
She whipped her head back toward the entrance as panic surged like fire through her body, her chest tightened and her breath came in ragged gasps. Inside The Haven, a tall, dark-haired man with broad shoulders walked past.
“Help me,” she shouted to get the dark-haired man’s attention. His eyes widened and he changed direction quickly coming to her side.
“Ivy.” The attacker’s arm snaked around her waist even as his hand on her shoulder clamped tight around her mouth. She screamed through his fingers as he hauled her back through the door way. Memories rushed back from last night. Fear of the change joined her panic, and she thrashed against his hold.
The man from inside the center grabbed her arms. She latched onto his shirt and helped tear herself away from her attacker. The man from the center shoved her behind him.
Ivy breathed a sigh of relief when the new man’s body was firmly placed in the doorway between her and the attacker.
Thank God all males were protective of the females of their kindit was an unspoken law, pack or not.
Ivy could see the attacker now. It was the security guard from the concert. He was in street clothes, but his face was scrunched up and beet-red with anger. His nose was slightly swollen and both eyes had black circles under them. So, she had broken his nose last night. Good.
She took a step back as her protector grabbed hold of the open door and braced his other hand on the doorframe, effectively blocking the attacker from her.
“You need to leave, now, or I’m calling the police,” said her protector.
Now that she saw her attacker in the light of day, she recognized him.
She studied his face and committed it to memory. Square jaw, dark eyes, crew cut. He was a grown up version of MarkChad’s best friend from high school. Her breath caught and her insides burned as she tried to drag air into her lungs.
“Mark?” The last time she had seen him he’d been thinner, not so muscled up, and his hair had been long and shaggy.
“Come out here, Ivy, we have unfinished business.” He shifted on his feet trying to find a way around her protector.
“Go away, Mark, leave me alone.” Her knees shook, but she forced herself to step back as her heart thudded in her chest. How had Mark found her? She had put several hundred miles between her and Mark “the crazy Werewolf” to make sure he couldn’t find her. All he had ever wanted was vengeance for Chad’s death, and he wouldn’t leave her alone until he had his satisfaction. Ivy knew that from experience, he had made her life a living hell before she’d moved away. Supposedly, Chad had been under the protection of the Werewolf pack in her home town.
“Ivy!” Mark tried to push his way past the man in the doorway.
The protector grabbed Mark’s wrist and pushed him away from the door. The dark-haired man stood immobile in front of her and had a good four inches on Mark, not to mention shoulders that filled the doorway.
She remembered Mark’s hands crawling over her skin in the alley and bruising the soft tissue of her stomach. His voice had been filled with such hate that it had made her stomach roll. He had seemed very angry and determined last night. And now, Mark had a wild look in his eyes as his face reddened. How long had he been following her?
“This is your last warning. Leave.” Her protector’s shoulders were stiff and anger radiated from him in waves.
“He was like a brother to me, you bitch!” Mark spit at her as he stepped away from her dark-haired man. “This isn’t finished!” A strange look almost like fear crossed Mark’s features as he glanced at her protector before he stormed away. The man shut the door.
Ivy’s stomach cramped like it was caught in a vice and was being mercilessly tightened. Acid burned the back of her throat making her swallow the vile taste before it erupted onto her shoes. She wrapped her arms around herself in attempt to find a balance in the turmoil that rolled around inside her head like a thunderstorm. Blood pounded in her ears, her heart raced and cold sweat chilled her to the bone.
Ivy’s hand was at her throat pressed tight to her closing windpipe, her head turned from side to side in disbelief, the word “No” repeated over and over in her head like a broken record.
Mark had found her.
Since she moved away from the pack years ago she was vulnerable to his revenge. The deep ache of knots inside her gut as she contemplated her pack reminded her that they wouldn’t help her now. The room tightened around her slowly getting smaller as her head spun with a dizziness that made her gaze bounce everywhere at once. Tears fell in hot sheets from her eyes and her world slowly dropped piece by small piece out of her vision. Everything narrowed down to a tunnel with a dark face at the end of it.
“Hey, are you okay?” She barely heard the words her protector asked her as black clouded her vision and her body became light as a feather.
~~~
There was a gentle tap on Ivy’s cheek that made her eyes flutter slightly, pulling her from the calm blackness that had enveloped her.
“There you are, that’s it, wake up, sunshine.” A deep male voice rumbled against her ear.
She opened her eyes wide as she realized she was cuddled on a strange man’s lap, her ear against his chest and his arm curled around her shoulder, his fingers dangerously close to her breast.
The afternoon light glinted off his dusky golden skin. His dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail and his white muscle shirt was a sharp contrast to his hair and skin. Ivy’s eyes traveled over his strong clean-shaven jaw and up over a nose that seemed to have seen it’s share of the hard side of a fist. Her gaze locked onto his pale cerulean eyes framed with dark rich lashes.
Sudden warmth bloomed in her abdomen and made a beeline to the apex of her thighs. Ivy basked in the hot streak along with the giddiness that accompanied it which made her breasts tingle. She inhaled a huge breath to steady herself, taking in a smell of pure male musk, sweat and sunshine. As her nipples tightened into hard little pebbles inside her sports bra, she took a chance and peeked up at her protector through her now lowered lashes.
“Hi.” Blood heated her cheeks even as she said it, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away from his.
“Hi. You okay?” His slow grin revealed a row of neat white teeth, the canines slightly longer than most people’s, and, for a second, she wondered what it would feel like to have him sink his teeth into any part of her anatomy. Cool fingers grazed over her skin as she replied.
“Yeah, fine.” Her response came out on a dreamy whisper. Her heart thudded now because of the close proximity to this very attractive male.
“Well, you’re safe now.” His hand ran a slow path up and down her arm, slowly lingering as if he could touch her forever. “I’m Edge.”
“Oh my God.” Ivy licked her lower lip in a slow caress that had his eyes following the entire movement.
What were the odds?
“I’m Ivy, Ian’s sister.” Edge’s eyes went wide, with what Ivy assumed was surprise, then, he smiled slow and sultry. That smile radiated warmth that played over her skin like a gentle caress, and she released a giggle. This was the kind of luck she had. What a way to meet the guy. She couldn’t complain, at least she was in his lap, and his hand was stroking her goose-bumped skin. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too.” Edge shifted Ivy softly onto the floor and stood up. He held his hand out and she took it. His callused palm slid over her small hand, and she shivered with excitement. Edge pulled her to standing mere inches from his body. Ivy tried not to purr and rub herself against him and all that sun-drenched golden skin. She hadn’t been this hot in a long time. Desire just rolled through her body causing several erogenous zones to throb with her pulse.
“Have you called the police about him?”
“Hmm?” She stared at him for a minute dumbfounded. What was he talking about, the police? About who? Duh! Ivy wanted to slap herself in the forehead when she realized what he was talking about. The whole situation came
racing back into her brain, taking away the bold warmth that had encased her body in need. “No. Humans. I can’t call them.”
“What about your Alpha? Surely he’d help you. I remember Ian mentioning your pack.” Edge rubbed his thumb lightly across the back of her smaller hand. Heat laced up her arm and seemed to be making a direct path to her belly. She could worship Edge in a heartbeat and forget Mark even existed. Mark who?
Ivy rolled her answer around inside her head. She couldn’t tell him she’d been kicked out of her pack. A voice in her head grumbled about Chad still affecting her life, but she made up a quick excuse as she finally remembered to answer. “I don’t want to bother him, and they’re a few hours away. I have my brother if I need help.”
Even though her Alpha didn’t blame her for Chad’s death, but it had caused problems for her pack. Those problems had finally taken hold as resentment towards Ivy.
She dropped her gaze. Why did the whole world have to suddenly erupt into chaos? Mark wouldn’t stop until he had taken his revenge on her. That was one of the reasons she and Ian had moved away from the packto hide from Mark.
She should have known he’d find her, Mark was relentless.
“Well, you guys live here now and you’re not alone. If you need anything, just ask.” Edge’s gaze was open and honest. The truth of his statement was like a ringing bell that dinged all the way to her bones. Maybe her intuition worked on people besides her brother.
“Thanks. I, uh, I was going to go for a run.” Ivy stared at their entwined hands. For some reason, the contact made her feel very safe, like he wouldn’t allow anything happen to her.
“You want some company?”
“Sure.” Ivy glanced back up into his face. He wanted to run with her? How cool would it be to have someone to run with? She was free when she ran, but to have someone to share that freedom with was a big thing to her. By the time Ivy was old enough to run with the pack, the night with Chad had happened, and she had never been invited. She had only ever run with Ian. Pack mates often ran or hunted as a group, being together gave them all a sense of community and belonging.
Ivy hadn’t run with anyone in a long time. She didn’t belong anywhere anymorenot in her family or even in her pack.
Edge’s offer to run with her meant a lot.
He released her hand, slowly slipping his fingers from hers and motioned toward the hall. “Shall we?”
Chapter Three
Edge watched Ivy as she walked in front of him.
A male knew his mate from the minute he saw her, and Ivy was his. His heart expanded inside his chest at the revelation. His soul brimmed with elation that he had always hoped to experience, but had doubted would ever happen.
Ivy was tiny and perfectly shaped with a pixie-like face and delicate nose slightly turned up at the end. She had hair a darker shade of blond than Ian’s, and she had it pulled back into a severe ponytail. Ivy’s eyes had been a warm chocolate as they gazed into his when she had woken from her five-minute sleep. Her black running shorts hung low on her hips, and he remembered how the white T-shirt was stretched tight across her full breasts.
Ivy’s hips swayed and the muscles of her gently bronzed legs tightened and loosened with each step. Just the sight of her caused his blood to rush through his veins, waking his tiger, which reared its head at the sight.
Ian hadn’t told him how hot his sister was.
Ivy turned into the doorway that led through the locker room to the indoor track.
Her scent wafted behind her, filled with the warmth from the sun on her skin. Edge wondered what it would be like to pull out the band holding her hair and bury his face in her short, blond waves taking in that scent. Would it feel like soft fur as it caressed his cheek?
When she stopped at the opposite door, he nearly ran into her, so lost in his thoughts as he was.
Ivy turned and glanced up at him with gorgeous big brown eyes.
“Did you want to change?” He motioned to the locker room.
“No, I’m good.”
“No, I mean, did you want to change?” Edge tried more emphasis, maybe she hadn’t understood the first time.
“Oh, um, no.”
“Suit yourself.” He turned back into the locker room stripping his white shirt over his head.
He disappeared around the corner and opened his locker where he placed his clothes. Edge was so comfortable with his tiger form, he found it easy to slip into it with nothing more than a thought. He groaned as a gentle pain washed through his legs and out his hands and feet. His muscles shivered then shortened and he fell onto all fours, claws extended. Edge shook his coat and head as the warmth of the change flooded his senses. He soaked up the joy his tiger form brought to his soul.
Ivy stood with her mouth gaped open as Edge emerged from the locker room. She must have been surprised to see his white tiger form. Being a white Were-tiger was rare, as a matter of fact, Edge had never personally met another white Were-tiger. Ivy quickly closed her mouth and looked away.
Edge slowly stalked toward her. She stood back holding the door for him, and he purposely leaned into her to brush her bare legs as he passed her.
He itched as he fought the urge to lean against her legs and invite her fingers to graze through his coat.
Ivy shivered as he brushed past her, he could smell the musky scent of her rolling off her body in waves. A growl sounded inside her throat, and Edge chuckled inside his head at the thought of her holding back her tiger form.
Edge waited for her on the track as she stretched, his eyes tracking her every movement, his mind cataloging every twitch of her muscles. The way her calf tightened as she pulled her other leg up toward her butt. Sinew in her arms hardened and softened as she raised them high above her head. He received a glimpse of her creamy stomach when she twisted to the side. The view of her body made him long to see more of her bare flesh.
He didn’t understand why she hadn’t wanted to change form. She was a tiger, after all.
Most of their people used The Haven as a sanctuary and, at any time of day, different varieties of big cats could be found roaming the common rooms of the center. They had a huge outdoor pool area, one for cats and one for use in human form, the indoor and outdoor tracks, several recreation areas set up for cat and human form alike, not to mention the obstacle courses and field areas. Living in the city, most Were-cats used The Haven as a place to relax, it seemed kind of weird to see someone not want to indulge their cat.
Edge wondered why he had never seen Ivy here before. He and Ian had gotten to know each other really well in the last few years, and, although Ian spoke highly of Ivy, Edge had never run into her. Maybe she was just really good at keeping a low profile.
When she finally finished stretching, he stood and padded along the track. His paws made the soft powder of the dirt track kick up in little puffs as he walked. The small particles tickled his sensitive nose, and he sneezed. Edge heard her soft footfalls behind him, and he allowed her set the pace while he ranged just in front of her.
He would not have been able to tolerate her running in front of him. That would seem too much like she was trying to escape from him, and he was afraid his instincts to catch her would kick in.
They made the first lap, and he heard her stop. He glanced back over his shoulder to see her take off her shoes and socks, then her T-shirt. Ivy was left in a dark sports bra and her running shorts.
Edge growled low in his throat as his gaze ate up all that bared flesh. He wondered what her skin would taste like. Was it salty or sweet? Would her skin be as smooth and delicate as silk if his fingers glided over it? Ivy was truly beautiful as she walked toward him. All he could think about was running his tongue over every inch of her warm skin.
“What?” She passed by him like a gentle breeze, her scent drifting on the air like midnight rain.
She ran slowly at first, and he stayed behind to watch her taut butt jiggle as she built speed. H
e stayed about five feet back, even though he knew he shouldn’t. Even now his blood began to burn with the thrill of the chase. Edge couldn’t help himself, he wanted to watch the muscles in her legs contract, and see the sheen of sweat build on her body from exertion.
When they rounded the track again, his instincts grabbed him by the throat and shook him hard demanding he chase her down and show her his dominance. Edge roared, and his paws itched against the ground wanting to propel him faster around the track.
His body ached. Edge’s muscles burned as he held them in check, the blood made a musical thud in his ears as he fought not to charge her and drop her to the ground. He shot past her in a burst of speed rather than tackle her. Edge didn’t want to scare Ivy. He wanted her to enjoy this time with him after what had happened in the lobby.
Edge heard her behind himher heart thrummed in her chest, her breath panted in and out as her bare feet drummed against the dirt track.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw the determination in her eyes. Ivy was chasing him now, he slowed to let her catch up.
She pulled ahead again, and he let her go for a little while, staying in a slow lope to pace her.
Ivy’s muscles contracted and loosened as her feet pounded on the dirt ahead of him. Her skin appeared to glow soft and silky smooth under the indoor lights that simulated sunshine. Edge had always been one to appreciate a woman’s body, and Ivy’s creamy skin tempted him to run his fingers all over that exposed flesh. Edge burst past her and roared in playful challenge.
She growled in response and raced after him. His insides hummed with pleasure as she took up the chase. His body tightened with a slow need that rose inside the pit of his stomach.
Edge ran from her, he slowed until she almost caught him, then sped up and listened to her growl in frustration as she dug her feet in. He did it hoping the aggressive actions would call her cat’s instincts to catch him.
