A Love Worth Biting For (3 page)

“I really don’t know what you are talking about. Mary, I gotta get to class. Are you going to walk with me?”

“Nope.” Mary’s sketchpad was filling. A quick glance told me it wasn’t the cash-for-gold guy anymore. It was me and my mate. She had drawn red swirls and lightning zings around us. For a human she was damn receptive. “I’m gonna stay here and watch sign dude after I am done watching you argue-slash-flirt with this sexy beast.”

Jake’s mouth quirked. “You do not have class. I have acquired your schedule, and we need to talk.” He gripped my elbow. It was probably supposed to be intimidating, but as he leaned over and hissed in my ear, my entire body started to hum. “You need to fix this. Whatever you did, turn it off.”

Soon we were a block away from Mary and headed through the small smattering of trees behind the library. Our only company was a few overfed pigeons that hung out to eat discarded chips. They were adding another layer of crap on the building of books. A wet splatter of ick landed a few feet from me, and I remembered to speak.

“I can’t turn it off. I didn’t do anything to turn it on.” I pulled my elbow from his hand and walked away running my hands through my hair. This was why I couldn’t have short hair. I needed something to pull out at times like these. My long wavy auburn strands smacked against my lower back as they slipped from my grip.

“I don’t know much about this, but what I have learned isn’t very promising. There is no spell to break this and no ritual to undo the initial connection. I even asked if we could just wait it out.”

He raised his left brow. I knew it meant he wanted me to continue.

“Far as I can figure, we just need to avoid each other. Making more of a connection, with talk, touch or sex would just bind us together in a more permanent manner. And quite frankly, I can’t be tied to you. My dad was pissed when I brought home a low-ranked gray wolf. I can’t imagine what would happen if I brought you home.” That was a lie. Sex would happen. Lots of dirty, sweaty, awesome sex.

Damn
. Was it too late already?

“Well.” He cleared his throat. The sound rumbled across my skin. The man was smokin’ hot. “You aren’t the only one this is affecting. I have always thought my mother’s DNA was a recessive trait.”

“Werewolf blood is like blue eyes? Vamp beats were? Sounds like a fucked-up Rock-Paper-Scissors game.” I wanted to leave less and less as we shared air space. Bring on the ultimate sexy weapon. Snark.

He closed his eyes and gathered himself before his eyes pinned me in place. “Let me speak. If you can’t be quiet, I promise you, I have something ample to fill your flapping mouth with.”

Pant.

“As I was saying, I was on a date. I could not focus on the woman at all. I went to put my arm around her and not only did I suddenly find this fine specimen infinitely unattractive, but I also could not picture anyone but the busty redhead that had waved to me on the field. I nearly left the woman stranded to come find you.”

Awww.

“But then I came to my senses.”

Never mind.

“But before anything could happen…I…I started to change.” He gripped my shoulders. “I sprouted hair on my hands. I got claws. My heart started beating without my command. I have never had any hint of a change before. I tried to work through it, but it was as if another force overcame me, and I had to get out of there. I was possessed. I held no control when it overtook me.”

“It was your wolf.”

“I told you, I am not a wolf. I am a vampire. I have never shifted. A turning would have occurred by now if I were, would it not?”

I shrugged. “I was turned, not born, so I didn’t shift until I was twenty, but yeah, most natural-born shifters turn around puberty. You’re a mutt, though. Maybe that makes you different.”

“I am not a mutt.” He was getting irritated with me. Good. Maybe he would stop talking about his damn date now.

“You’re a mixed breed. Isn’t that what ‘mutt’ means?”

He still had a grip on my shoulders and backed me into a tree. The rough bark scraped and grabbed at my blousy tank top. His body pressed against mine.
Oh boy
. Rover wanted to play, even if his vamp half didn’t.

Jake’s eyes flashed. He got the mottled golden tone, common in a were close to turning, and his fingers began to elongate and sharpen. His previously silent chest pounded once. Then again. He was moving the magic through his system.

Vampires and werewolves both used magic to ignite the changes to our bodies. The magic flows through our blood. In a wolf, our heart beats faster and we push the magic through. Emotional control is really important for us for that very reason. Vampires don’t have to have a heartbeat, but can control their body functions. The blood that they acquired from humans can be manipulated through their system. Want to heal? Push the blood and magic there. Want longer hair? Push the blood and magic there. I wasn’t quite sure how it worked in a hybrid, but it looked like I was about to get a first-hand education.

Jake inhaled and shook his head to try and clear it. “You smell amazing. Not the point.” He said the last part more to himself than to me. He also didn’t notice the smile I had on my face at that. I was getting to him as much as he was getting to me.

“I did not feed on that woman, because she was not you. Thank goodness we have some donors who keep our Family emergency supply stocked, or I would have starved over the last two days. I can’t go near anyone. This…” He put one hand between our faces. Pointing from my eyes to his. “Won’t let me feed. If we have sex, will I get this under control?”

Sex? Yes, please.

My words came out a bit more breathy than I would have liked. “Yeah, giving the wolf what he wants will calm him down a little, but the control part takes practice. It took me a good three moons before I had enough control to stop shifting at the drop of a steak.”

He smelled good too. I couldn’t stop myself. He was too close. I leaned forward and nuzzled my head under his chin. My body shivered at the contact, and the submission. His hands tensed, and then he growled. Oh gods, that was sexy.

“This other part of me, this wolf, he wants me to take you.” When he stopped fighting his instincts, the wolf let him drop his hands a bit. They felt rough against my bare arms. Jake had so much power to reign in. When he pressed against me, I felt strength over and above any lovers I’d had before. Restless hands tried to grab hold. His fingers slid around the shell of my ears then, like he was trying to hang on to me wherever he could. When he felt his control slip, he reached behind me, and I felt the tree vibrate. The wood crunched like it was made of packing peanuts.

It’s not every day a guy crushes a tree with his bare hands. I opened my mouth to say something, but the feral look in his eyes stole my words. I licked my lips, and he invaded. His tongue dominated. He took. And boy did I want to give.

I had no idea who this guy was, but my wolf knew his. He was mine. I sucked his lip into my mouth as soon as his tongue retreated. I needed something of him inside me. His hips slammed against me. It was painfully obvious he needed something inside me, too. Grunts and little growls trickled down my body as he went for my chin, my neck, my collarbone.

“Jake…we need to stop.” I sunk my hands into his hair. It was so soft compared to the hardness of his face. The description “chiseled” was born from men like him. Sharp cheekbones, dominating jaw—he was perfect.

I fought my head up for air, and for an argument. He took the opportunity to move up my neck again. I felt his teeth scrape my skin, and my eyes crossed. I gripped harder and was finally able to move his head back enough to get his eyes to focus on me.

“I think we need to go see Doc.”

His eyes flashed and his whole body started to shudder.

Crap. Not here
. I looked around. We were alone, but far too close to campus. “Stop, Jake. You can’t shift here. You don’t have the control to work with your wolf. I know we are supposed to stay the hell away from each other, but I have a feeling it would be bad for both our factions if you suddenly turn wolfy and start eating people.”

“Not people. Just you. I want you.” The golden glow overtook his eyes, the silver color in them melted under the wild blaze. His voice had dropped to a ridiculously low tone, and the vibrato that came with it was all wolf.

I had to think fast. I sent the emergency text programmed into my phone. It was a call for help to the doc. It was for me, but I was using it for Jake. I let my wolf gauge the distance.
Doable.
I turned to Jake. He shuddered. His body began to twitch.

He was huge already. I was 5’10” but he had me beat by a few inches vertically. He had me by a few inches everywhere. I couldn’t imagine he would get too much bigger. Damn I wished I had time to ogle him more, but his shirt was starting to tear at the shoulders. The seams were giving up as his broad chest expanded more with each breath.

“You want me.” He grunted it.

This would be sexy were it another person or another circumstance. My body was responding, but my head was still in control. Thank goodness. My wolf gave me that control, so I could save us both.

I ripped my tank open. I wasn’t big on bras. My breasts hung heavy in front of him.

“Come get me, Mutt.”

I ran. He followed. The wind beat against me and trailed my scent back to him. He was fast, but he wasn’t in control, and I took a rough route. He tripped, like I knew he would, and it slowed him enough.

I needed to call and let Doc know what was coming his way, but I knew there was no way the phone would carry my call. The wind would distort it enough that even his ears wouldn’t pick it up. Thank goodness for technology—I could text while doing damn near anything. I didn’t dare look at the phone, but I’m pretty sure I got what needed to be sent out.

Alone. No one else. Just you. Need help.

I felt a tug at my blouse that was billowing behind me like a cape.

Shit.

I had slowed enough for him to get a hold of me. His claws ripped at the material and tore into it. I let my arms fall back and the fabric fluttered behind me and fell to the forest floor.

He turned to watch it fall. I took the opportunity to really distract him. I ran backwards. His eyes attached to my chest, and he followed me with a mission. I heard the growl that came from his mouth. “Mine.”

Oh boy. Was I ever.

And he was going to be pissed about this. We were on a nature preserve the environmental studies students took care of. I knew this place like the back of my hand. My wolf loved to play here. A quick sidestep to the left…and he ran smack into the cement base of the bird-watching platform. He fell back. Out cold.

That was the problem with running and not slowing down. When you hit, you hit hard. Add in the vamp factor, and I had no idea how long he would be out, but I did know that I was now topless with a vampire-wolf hybrid in the forest, and one of us was sporting a massive erection. The voice that rang in my ears next let me know Doc got my text and hadn’t been too far away.

“Well Amber, I can see why you wanted me to come alone. Are you trying to start a war? Trying to kill someone outside of Pack territory is not wise.” Doc stepped off the nearest trail.

He was even bigger than Daddy was. His heavy jeans rasped against the brush, and his hiking boots thudded against the forest floor with purpose. He wasn’t out of breath, but his heart was thudding loudly. He had been pulling from his wolf to make it to me as fast as he did. I had no doubt he had followed my scent. The trail Jake and I had trekked through the woods could have alerted the most inexperienced tracker.

“Not dead.” At least I didn’t think so. “And it might be better to kill him. Because Daddy’s going to beat both of us to death anyway.”

“Why’s that? What did you do?” Doc started moving forward. He poked Jake with a large walking stick. My mate was motionless.

“Didn’t do anything.”
Yet.
“Can you not poke my mate with your stick? Might make a girl angry.”

Doc stopped. The end of his walking stick was still pressing into Jake’s ribs. He turned just his head. Just enough to see me. “Say that again. He’s your what?”

“This scraggly mutt is my mate. I need your help.”

“Fuck.”

“Yup. That sums it up well.”

Chapter Four

Dragging a mammoth, six-foot-plus hybrid through the woods is not something I recommend in surface-of-the-sun temperatures. Being sweaty and topless is much less sexy than one would think. It sure didn’t feel sexy. The only hiccup was when my nipples skated across Jake’s arm as I dragged him. Then other things involving being sweaty and topless would jump into my brain.

It was too bad Jake was unconscious and Doc was with us. Or maybe that was a good thing. Either way, we were able to get Jake to a safe house. It was a small cabin surrounded by nothing. There had been a few Bigfoot sightings in the area from local hunters, but I didn’t think it was likely that Sasquatch and weres and vamps all shared this territory. Then again, I had been wrong before.

“Are you sure you didn’t kill him?” Doc asked.

“Yup.”

Doc poked him again.

I pulled a shirt out of my size bin in the safe house stash and tossed it over my head. Times like this, I envied the bra wearers of the world. My nipples were threatening to bust through my shirt and attack Jake for me if I didn’t do it myself. There was no point in covering the evidence of my arousal. Surely, Doc could smell me from the next block over.

The pheromones poured off me. That’s how I could tell Jake hadn’t gone to the big dog park in the sky. I wouldn’t have nipples of steel if he was gone. I’d have been on the floor bawling like a five-year-old who’d just watched her pony get eaten by a bear.

“So this was what the third degree was about?” Doc walked a restless circle around the small conversation area in front of the natural stone fireplace.

“Yup.” I cocked my head and watched the bundle of trouble fate had thrown at me as Doc continued his checklist of obvious.