Stalk (Hotblooded Book 1)

by Victoria Danann

  She grabbed at the rose-colored scarf wound around her neck and started to yank it away. Then she decided maybe an experiment was in order. She wanted to learn, firsthand, if male werewolves could be aroused visually by a mate or if the I-don’t-care-about-nudity theme was universal. So she decided to play a game and see how long she could stretch out the process of undressing.

  Standing in front of where Nick sat on one end of a halved wine barrel, she began slowly unwinding the scarf. When it was free of her body she bent forward, looped it over his head and wound it around his neck.

  She removed her army green puffy vest holding an exaggerated shoulders-back pose that just happened to simultaneously make her breasts a prominent feature. One by one she removed articles of clothing. When the turtleneck sweater came over her head she pulled out the tie that held her hair and shook it out. She ran her hands over her breasts as they moved lower to grip the hem of the thin, white, long-sleeved tee and pull it free of her pants.

  By the time she was down to bra, camouflage leggings and zippered hiking boots, Nick was breathing heavy. She smiled internally, already having gotten the information she was after. The answer was yes. She had the power to titillate her mate visually.

  After making a show of slowly unzipping the boots and peeling off the leggings, she sauntered over to Nick and straddled him wearing nothing but her underwear and the boots she’d put back on. The lap dance was barely underway before Nick ripped away her bra and snapped the fabric of her panties with a soft growl.

  She laughed softly, having somehow managed to boost her own level of excitement by playing at being a femme fatale. “You animal,” she said.

  He responded by pushing her to a standing position so that he could get his own zipper down. This he did not do slowly. As soon as his engorged and aching cock had sprung free he pulled her back down so that the lap dance graduated to a lap fuck that neither would ever forget.

  In the afterglow of indescribably stupendous, and frantic, copulation, a lifeless Reese was draped over Nick thinking that she was developing a taste for hard and fast. She was also thinking that the day before she would say she’d never had sex outside. Ever. She’d not only broken that seal, but done it twice in one day.

  “That was unexpected,” Nick said. She raised her head to look at him. “In the best possible way. And you didn’t bite me even once.”

  She was in the middle of a happy moan when it turned to a gasp. “Condom! We didn’t use a condom. TWICE!”

  “It’s not a problem,” he said calmly.

  “Not a problem? NOT A PROBLEM!?”

  “If you don’t calm down, the pack will hear you and come running.” It was a warning meant to inform or remind, but Reese took it as a threat.

  “Ugh!” She pushed away and hastily began gathering clothes.

  Nick stood and adjusted his own clothing. “It’s not a problem, Reese. We don’t carry venereal diseases.” He motioned between the two of them so that she’d understand he meant that included her. “And you’re not fertile right now.”

  She stopped. “How do you know that?”

  He smiled and tapped the side of his nose. She made a garbled noise of frustration that left him wondering what kind of answer would have been better. That was before she stomped over and jerked the rose-colored scarf away from his neck.

  “You look ridiculous in my scarf,” she said.

  “If you don’t want me to look like Ken Doll, then don’t dress me up like Ken Doll,” Nick said without missing a beat.

  When she was completely dressed, she got herself a ginger ale from the cooler, twisted off the cap, and flopped into a canvas director’s chair as she was guzzling.

  “Are you mad because you want pups?” He ventured.

  She looked at him like he was certifiable. “Of course not. What an idiotic thing to say. And please don’t ever call my offspring ‘pups’ again. My progeny will be babies. Not puppies!”

  The look on Nick’s face told her that she was acting crazy.

  “I guess I sound irrational.”

  His features softened. “You’re a person who’s gone through a lot of changes in a short time.”

  “Don’t be sweet to me when I’m acting nuts.”

  He chuckled. “Okay. What’d you have in mind? Cat o’ nine tails?”

  “No. Chocolate cake.”

  “Sounds sweet to me.”

  “We don’t have any do we?”

  “I don’t think any of my packmates are into chocolate. So probably not.” He couldn’t stand the look of disappointment on her face. “We can get some tomorrow.”

  “You know what?”

  “What?”

  “Instead of sounding like a baby, I should probably go to sleep. Then, when I wake up tomorrow, I can take your car and go get chocolate.”

  “It’s a good plan. With just a little tweak, it’d be a perfect plan. How about if we go to sleep? Then when we wake up tomorrow, I’ll take you somewhere to get all the chocolate you can eat. And you won’t have to worry about anybody else taking any because I really don’t think my packmates are into it.”

  “Okay. But you don’t have to worry about me wrecking your car. I’m a good driver.”

  “I’m sure you are, Rainman. So long as everything is copacetic.”

  It took a minute for his meaning to become clear.

  “You’re afraid that I’ll have a werewolf incident while behind the wheel. And wreck your beautiful machine.”

  “I’m not worried about you crashing my car, Reese. But I am worried about you not having control over when your wolf makes an appearance. It’s dangerous for you, for humans, and for us.”

  She took in a deep breath and nodded. “We were supposed to practice shifting when I had my clothes off.”

  He smiled. “Yeah. We were. I got distracted.” She started to laugh, but it turned into a yawn. “Come on. It’s been a big day. Sleep with me and dream of chocolate cake.”

  She stripped down to panties and her long-sleeved tee and snuggled under the covers with Nick. But she didn’t dream about chocolate cake. She dreamed about running in four-legged form and how much she learned about the world from being able to smell things she couldn’t smell as human and hear things she couldn’t hear as human. She was wild. She was free. She was falling in love with her wolf.

  Spooned against her back, Nick whispered in her ear. “Have I told you how beautiful you are as wolf?”

  CHAPTER NINE Just a job.

  Reese proved to be not just highly adaptable, but a quick study as well. Within a week she was spending much of her time without clothing. She’d made friends with everyone in the pack. Even Grey began to grudgingly warm to her when she began making suggestions about how to get the hunting / fishing guide business off the ground. She wasn’t sure Grey had the personality for it because part of the job was schmoozing clients, but she thought Ken might be groomed so that he could be the talkative one. Maybe. She did have her doubts.

  Several times a day one of them would shout, “Shift!” in her direction. At first that game made her a laughing stock. Especially with Ken, who would literally fall down on the floor and cackle when she tried to shift instantly and managed to produce only a tail and ears. Or worse, four-legged form with her human face. But with practice she became adept and could shift almost as smoothly as her pack members who were born to it.

  “I need to go back to work,” she told Nick when they were alone in the cottage.

  “Yeah. Me, too.”

  She didn’t miss the fact that he sounded wistful and wondered if he was feeling sentimental about the week they’d spent at the lodge. She thought she’d test her theory.

  “I’m going to miss this,” she said.

  “Yeah. Me, too.”

  At the same time they said, “You know I was thinking…”

  “You first,” Reese offered.

  “I’ve gotten used to having you nearby and I’m not looking forward to being separated for hours at
a time.”

  “Same.”

  “Remember when I said there are plenty of things you could do for L&F?”

  “You want me to work for you?”

  “For the company that belongs to the pack. You don’t have to work for me like taking orders from me. You can run your own projects.”

  “Really?”

  “I wouldn’t joke about something like this.”

  “Are you just worried that there might be a wolf-gone-wild event? Maybe you’re thinking that would be easier to manage in-house?”

  He kept his face studiously blank. “I think you’ve come to an understanding with your wolf. About who’s in charge. That’s the most important thing. Of course, we haven’t tested that…”

  “In the real world.”

  “That’s one way to put it.”

  She sighed.

  “Did you love your job?”

  She laughed and shook her head. “Definitely not. It was a means to paying rent and eating frozen dinners. I just don’t want work to interfere in our relationship. Some couples thrive on working together. Others learn to hate each other.”

  Nick laughed out loud. He sat down next to her on the living room couch and took her hand. “You’re talking about humans. That’s not us. We’re mates. We couldn’t hate each other. That’s an impossibility.” He nuzzled his face into her neck, smiled, and said, “You smell way too good.”

  She giggled in a way that made her wonder if the sound had actually come from her. “I’m not saying no, but I am saying that this shifter thing is a lot to get used to. Let’s not add changing jobs until I have a chance to get comfortable with this.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I’ll table that for now. But you are moving in with me, right?”

  “Moving?” She looked around. “To here?”

  “Well. Yes and no. I’m here two or three nights a week. The rest of the time I’m at my place in town.”

  “You want me to move into the swanky uptown digs?”

  He laughed again. “I hope that means you like the place.”

  “You know I do. It’s even more no-girls-allowed than this place, but of course I like it.”

  He grew serious. “What does no-girls-allowed mean?”

  “That it’s uber masculine. The gray color palette.” She lowered her voice to a mock tone. “I’m a real man. You can tell by the gray, charcoal gray, pale gray, and steely gray appliances.”

  Nick looked taken aback. “Are you saying it’s boring?”

  “Hmmm. I wouldn’t have thought to say that exactly, but now that you mention it. Yes.” He faced forward and looked a little offended. “Don’t you dare pout. It’s just a difference of décor opinion.”

  “I’m not pouting. And. You can do what you want with the place. As long as you don’t make it ‘fabulous’.” He paired a Queer Eye gesture with the word ‘fabulous’ and made her laugh. “Tell Signorelli’s Sorrento Pizza you’re vacating. I can send people to pack everything up and take it to a warehouse where we can run the ionizer for twenty-four hours to remove the pizza smell. Then they’ll bring everything to my place.”

  “Wait. You have a thing that will take pizza scent out of everything?”

  “Yeah. The only thing is, if you have any valuable perfume, you need to grab it first, because the ionizer doesn’t discriminate. All smells go away.”

  “Huh.”

  “You don’t look happy.”

  “I’m just…” She paused to gather thoughts. “I can walk to work now. Your place is miles away and I don’t own a car.”

  “Take mine. I’ll get another.”

  She laughed. “I can’t just take your car, Nick.”

  “Why not? We’re socialist werewolves, remember?”

  She shook her head. “This sounds like an eggs-in-one-basket kind of deal. And that’s scary.” She glanced around. “Eventually my social circle will depend on you. Then if things don’t work out…”

  He scrubbed a hand down his face. “We’re not like humans. Shifters aren’t fickle about mates. We don’t get bored. We don’t get interested in somebody else.” He pulled her hand up and kissed her knuckles. “We mate for life. The whole thing. All of it for as long as it lasts. You’re not going to wake up one day and find yourself wishing you were somewhere without me. I’m not going to decide you are a mistake. Those things aren’t in our future. We have other things to worry about. But not that.”

  She searched his eyes. “Pretty picture. How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

  “Because I’m your mate and I’ll never lie to you.”

  The week was a whirlwind of activity. Reese moved in with Nick with belongings that had no trace of pizza smell.

  On Friday she picked Nick up at noon. She was beginning to feel like things were settling back to an even keel. She couldn’t say ‘normal’ because shifters live permanently outside ‘normal’, but she was feeling like her new life was manageable and… good.

  Nick had talked nonstop about looking forward to letting their wolves loose and Reese found she was just as eager to spend time communing with others of their own kind. The car was already packed with the things she wanted to take for a weekend at the lodge. Her reintroduction to human society had gone really well, meaning that there was no inappropriate shifting or biting or growling. Even though her wolf looked with interest at a loudmouth in the Starbucks line who thought everybody within earshot wanted to hear his Bluetooth conversation.

  Even though she sometimes felt more like a mascot, Reese was an official pack member, which meant she’d been included in the chores roster at the lodge.

  On Sunday afternoon Grey and Ken were cleaning freshly caught fish to be fried in iron skillets for dinner while Mars, Nick, and Reese prepared for their commute back to the city. Between the remote location and the fact that the property was ‘posted’, meaning prominent signs banning trespassers were displayed at frequent distances and particularly at the entrance from the road, the pack didn’t get casual visitors.

  That was why it was so surprising to see an SUV pull up to the base of the final ascent to the lodge and stop.

  Grey and Ken stopped what they were doing to watch a tall guy unfold from a nondescript silver vehicle that could have been produced by any one of twenty car manufacturers. The man wore khaki pants, a red plaid shirt and lace-up boots. As he ambled up the road he noticed that at least two imposing male figures had stopped to watch him with arms crossed in front of them. The visitor offered a casual wave and seemed unfazed by the fact that it was ignored.

  When he drew close enough to be heard, he said, “Afternoon. Name’s R.W. Foley.”

  “You blind?” Grey said. “You had to pass half a dozen ‘No Trespassing signs.”

  “I’m not trespassing, mister. At least I don’t mean to be. I’m just looking for directions. I think I’m lost.”

  Grey’s eyes narrowed. “Ever heard of GPS?”

  “Well, yeah. I heard of it. Piece of crap car doesn’t have it though.”

  Ken narrowed his eyes. “And your phone doesn’t have it either?”

  Foley was nonplussed. “Well, you got me. I guess I’m what you call not tech savvy.”

  By that time the entire pack had come out to take a look and see who had ventured onto the property in spite of the warning signs. Nick and Reese paused while loading backpacks to see what was going on. Foley nodded their way before saying to Grey, “If you could just point me toward the main road, I’ll get out of your hair.”

  While talking to Grey, his skills of observation were on hyperdrive. He was taking in every detail; how many people he saw, the fact that they were all adults between twenty and forty, only one woman. The fact that they were clearly serious about their privacy, which usually meant hiding something.

  Most puzzling, and therefore intriguing, were the myriad footprints left in the dirt all around where he stood. Human feet in boots. Human feet with no shoes. Large canine prints, but no sign of canines.

 
; “I was actually up here looking for a photographer fellow,” Foley said. “Got some great photos of wolves. You seen any wolves?”

  Grey said. “Take a right at the bottom of the hill then two left turns. That’ll take you back to the state road.”

  “Okay then. Have a nice day.”

  The pack stood and watched Foley’s retreating form. No one moved until the car backed away and disappeared from sight.

  “What was that about?” Rapp came up to Grey and Ken.

  “Don’t know.” Ken spat. “But I do know that human’s a liar.”

  Overhearing that, Reese looked at Nick with a questioning expression.

  “It’s not beginning shifter, but it wouldn’t hurt you to know. One of the more useful tools our senses provides is the ability to tell when humans are lying.”

  “How?”

  “Heartrate. If we’re listening for it, we can hear their hearts speed up when they lie.”

  “Wow,” she said. “That’s… cool.”

  Nick wiggled his head. “Can be.” He smiled. “It’s good for business.”

  She grinned. “I’ll bet.” Looking back the way the SUV withdrew from view, she said, “Why would he be lying about wanting directions? Does that worry you?”

  He sighed. “The mention of a photographer is bothersome. I got caught on camera one day. In wolf form.”

  Her brow creased in the middle. “Oh?”

  “Don’t know that it’s related, but it might be.”

  “So you are worried.”

  He shrugged. “Not really. You ready?”

  “Yeah.” She waved. “Bye, everybody!”

  The males found her cute, amusing, and all in all a great addition to the pack. Not that they didn’t already know that there was a void waiting to be filled by feminine energy, but her arrival really underscored what they were missing. They all smiled and waved. Except for Grey who was too surly to do either.

  R.W. Foley, who absolutely knew the way back to the state road, had noted that a couple was preparing to leave. He drove back to the intersection that put him on the highway to town, but didn’t make the turn. Instead he pulled the SUV behind a sign advertising the nearest food and fuel stop and waited.