A Mutt in Disguise (5 page)

"Like I said,
talk to him. He knows I'll have his pelt if he hurts you." A look of
understanding, agreement, she couldn't be sure which, passed between Mary and
Ethan, and
Anja
had to remind herself to close her
mouth.

"You know
what he is, and you never said?" Tears pricked the backs of her eyes, and
she blinked furiously to not allow them to fall. There was no way she was going
to cry over this.

"I didn't at
first, no, my dear. But I figured it out when he turned up as Ethan. I never
told you this, but my Graham, God rest his soul, he was a shifter like Ethan
here." She smiled at
Anja's
sharp intake of
breath. "So, like I said, talk to him, and give him a chance."

And with that Mary
turned and left them on their own in the office.

****

Ethan was
half-expecting her to storm after Mary, but instead she crossed her arms over
her chest and glared at him. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth, and
Ethan suppressed a groan. His wolf had scented her the minute she had stepped
out of her car. He'd stayed away for as long as he could, but the need to see
her, to reassure himself that she was indeed all right, overrode all reason. He
hadn't expected her to be overjoyed at seeing him. In fact, he had expected
anger, but the barely concealed hurt and open vulnerability he sensed was
enough to make his wolf roll over in submission.

"So, explain
if you dare. Do explain why you didn't feel it necessary to inform me of the
fact that you shift into ... into Mutt and what gave you the right to ...
to—" She went bright red and suddenly seemed to find the floor most
interesting.

His chest
tightened, and a rush of emotion made his next words sound far too husky.
"When was I supposed to have explained it to you,
Anja
?
When you found me, injured and bleeding, and had an argument with Mary to allow
me to stay here, when she was going to call the dog handlers?"

He took a step
closer to her to appease his anxious wolf, and her head swung up so fast he had
to marvel at the fact that she hadn't given herself whiplash. "How would
you have handled me turning into my human self then? Should I have exposed
myself for all to see? Do you think humankind on the whole is ready to accept
the fact that there are shifters in this world? Are you? Or would you have run
away screaming?"

She blanched at
his words and shook her head.

"I was far
better served staying Mutt. Folks trust him, and they open up to him in a way
they never would to the real me. I find the ones that need help the most and
bring them to the shelter. It's what I do."

Her eyes widened
at that statement, and her stance relaxed, marginally at least. "Why? I
mean why do you do that?"

His conscience
screamed at him to tell her the truth, but he couldn't do that yet. He wanted,
needed her acceptance of him on the most basic, primitive level. He needed to
know she wanted
him
,
not
what and who he stood for. He needed to be sure she wasn’t like the others.
That she wasn’t another Louise. After all, she had him fooled at first, too.
His wolf growled his annoyance at his jumbled thought processes, and he pressed
on.

"Why do you
volunteer here? Why are you giving your trust fund to Mary?" he asked,
knowing the answer to that question all too well. It was one of the many
reasons she'd smashed through all his defenses in record time. He refused to
put a label on his feelings. Mating call be fucked, he would not be a slave to
his emotions, unless they were reciprocated.

"Because ...
because I don't need the money and I know it will make a difference here
and..."

He smiled, and she
nodded in understanding.

"Okay, so I
think I get that, but you should have told me when you stayed in my flat. You
shouldn't have done what you did. You took advantage of me."

He took another
step closer and indulged his wolf by taking a deep sniff of her enticing scent.
The fact that she did the same to him without seeming to notice it had his cock
hardening instantly. She jumped at his wolf's growl in response, and he knew
she was looking into his beast's eyes when she looked up at him.

"If I had
taken advantage of you, I'd still have you pinned to that bed with my cock
buried deep inside you and you screaming my name, sweetheart. You wanted me
then, and you want me now. I can smell you,
Anja
. You
can protest all you want, but your body tells me otherwise. Nothing happened
that night that you didn't want to happen."

She shook her head
and backed away from him, her eyes as wide as saucers. His wolf panted in
excitement as he matched her step by step until the wall stopped her. He used
his body to cage her in, and she whimpered her assent when he bent his knees
and ground his erection into her mound. He scanned her face for any sign that
she did not welcome his advances, but found none. Her breathing sped up, her
heartbeat galloped, and she opened her mouth on a shaky exhale. She licked her
lips, and Ethan gave into temptation.

Chapter Five

Anja
was surrounded by
the smell and the feel of Ethan. How they'd gotten from having a conversation
to him pinning her against the wall of Mary's office she had no idea. All she
did know was that she was going to die of want and need if he didn't kiss her.
Her eyes fluttered closed in anticipation of his kiss as his hot breath fanned
across her face. The kiss, when it came, wasn't the forceful invasion she'd
been expecting, but a gentle exploration of warm, soft lips, and tender flicks
of his slightly rough tongue.
 
He growled
his approval when she opened under his tender strokes, and he took the kiss
deeper. Her hands fisted in the soft material of his jumper, and his roamed
down her sides and cupped her ass. He lifted her off the floor, and her arms
came around his shoulders, her legs around his waist without any conscious
effort on her part in her eagerness to get closer to him.

The thick, hard
length of his cock pressed into her groin, and she rubbed herself across it
with shameless abandon to the insistent ache in her pussy. His hands dug into
her ass to hold her still, and his wolf's growl trembled through her.
God,
that had to be the sexiest sound ever. The vibrations darted through every
fiber of her being and pitched her need for this man sky high. She kissed him
back with all the pent-up passion of the last few days, and he slammed her back
into the wall as he took the kiss deeper still and thrust his own hips against
her.
Anja
whimpered her need for him into his mouth
and matched him stroke for bold stroke until they were both breathing heavily,
the combined scent of their arousal heavy in the air around them.

The knock on the
door brought them back to their senses, and Ethan smiled at her frustrated
groan. He released her with a bite to her lower lip and turned around,
adjusting his jeans with another rueful grin just as Mary stepped through the
door.

"I see you
two have made up your differences then." She beamed at the two of them,
and
Anja
wanted the ground to swallow her up. Ethan
issued the most menacing growl she'd heard from him yet, and Mary laughed.

"I would
suggest, however, that you take your wolf home, my dear. Trust me when I say
these walls are far too thin. You don't want to give that motley crew out there
their very own porn show, now do you?"

Mary giggled at
Anja's
embarrassed groan, and she only too gladly hid her
burning face in Ethan's broad chest as he turned her around and pulled her
against him.

"Oh, and in
case I don't get to see you before you leave, have a very Merry Christmas, you
two."

The sound of the
door shutting signaled her departure, and
Anja
breathed a sigh of relief. Ethan's chest shook in silent laughter, and his arms
tightened around her for an instant, before he took a step back and cupped her
chin to make her look at him.

"Are you
okay?" The rich, velvet grumble wrapped itself around her senses while the
devilment in his eyes had her lips twitching in answering amusement, and some
of her embarrassment fled.

"Trust Mary
to point out the obvious. Guess we got a bit carried away there." The
flare of heat in his eyes at her breathy words turned her insides to mush, and
she stood frozen in place, unable to move.

He swiped his
thumb over her lips, and his wolf grumbled again—a low, menacing, possessive
growl that vibrated through her. Instant moisture soaked her panties, and
Ethan's eyes bled back to the glowing color of his wolf form.

"You have no
idea how much I want to get carried away with you,
Anja
.
Will you let me?"

****

The drive over to
Anja's
place completed in tense silence, Ethan took the
keys to her front door from her, after her third failed attempt at inserting
them into the lock. Her hands shook so much, he was surprised her teeth didn't
chatter.

"Here, let
me."

She huffed out a
breath and sagged against him. He dropped a kiss on the rapid pulse in her
neck, and a shudder went through her.

She darted through
the door the minute he swung it open, and he had to smile at the view that
greeted him. Her flat had been transformed into an ode to all things Christmas.
There wasn't a wall or surface left unadorned, and the Christmas tree taking
over the entire far end of her small sitting room was decked out in a myriad of
handmade decorations. Children's scribbled Christmas cards were strung across
the room, and an assortment of chocolates was piled up on the small coffee
table.

"You're a
teacher?" He knew she was, a well-loved one at that, but he asked her
anyway. Anything to replace that terrified look in her eyes. His gut clenched.
The thought that she might be afraid of him sliced through his heart like the
cut of a knife.

She nodded and
wrapped her arms around herself. "Yes. Reception class. They're very
sweet, and ... and ... well, they..." Her voice faltered, and her eyes
grew huge as he took a step towards her.

He could smell her
fear interlaced with the sweet musk of her arousal, and he stopped just short
of touching distance. He smiled at her and ruthlessly clamped down on his
wolf's instincts to brand and claim her as his. Plenty of time for that in the
future, if she let him.

"
Anja
, relax. Nothing is going to happen that you don't want
to. In fact, if you want me to leave right now, I'll leave."

"No, no,
don't leave." The speed of her whispered denial and the way she grabbed
his arm to stop him from turning away had his cock hardening to the point of
pain.

He ground his
teeth together to stop his wolf from growling his impatience. Her small hand
trembled on his arm, and he covered it with his. Affection warred with fierce
animal lust inside him, and he forced himself to unclench his teeth.
Fuck it.
He wanted her so badly. His
skin felt tight and he ached all over, his wolf bursting to be set free. If she
turned him down now, he would explode. But even as he thought that, she leaned
against him and buried her face in his chest again. She inhaled deeply and this
time he couldn't stop his wolf's answering growl.

"I ... I
don't want you to leave, but I'm so confused. I've never felt like this before
with anyone, and I just don't understand why. I don't know you, not really, and
yet ... and yet I feel as though I do." She looked up at him, and the
trust he saw in her eyes finally quieted his anxious wolf. Yes, she was
nervous, confused, aroused, all those things rolled into one, but it was the
connection they shared that won out right now. A connection he couldn't even
explain to himself.

"Why, Ethan?
Why do you smell so damn good that I want to eat you? Is that some sort of
strange shifter thing you use to snare in your females or something?"

His smile
deepened, and she frowned and snatched her hand away.

"'Cause if
that's what this is, then how the hell can I trust what I'm feeling around you
is real and not some mumbo jumbo designed to make me drop my knickers. And stop
smiling at me like that. It's not funny, damn you."

His heart felt
lighter, and he framed her head with his hands. She went very still, and her
eyes searched his face. He put all of his emotions, conflicting as they were,
into his eyes, and whatever she read in his expression seemed to reassure her.
Her hands bunched in his jumper, and his heart went into overdrive. He dipped
his head to taste her, just a whisper of lips on lips, mindful not to scare
her, and she sighed into the kiss. He traced the contours of her mouth with his
tongue, and his cock twitched in excitement when her tongue flicked across his,
daintily at first and then with increased vigor. She arched closer to him,
pressing her breasts into his chest, and he let his hands wander, over her
shoulders, down the indent of her waist, until he cupped the soft globes of her
ass. He lifted her up and took charge of the kiss, still mindful to keep his
wolf reined in, mindful that he owed her an explanation.

He broke the kiss,
and she moaned her frustration, even as heat stained her cheeks and she stepped
away from him again with another groan.

"See what I
mean? Damn it! I want you so badly I hurt."

****

The blood rushed
in her ears, her pussy ached, and her heartbeat galloped. What was it about him
that made her react to the simplest touch with a rush of wet heat between her
thighs? If he hadn't pulled away, she would have let him take her standing up.
Hell, she had been all but ready to have him balls deep inside her in Mary's
office. And since when had she been so vocal about her feelings?

And he, the
blasted man, wolf, dog, whatever the fuck he was, just stood there and smiled
at her again. Oh, he was affected all right. The rigid bulge in his groin and
his rapid breathing were testimony enough, but she sensed that he held himself
in tight control. Here she was falling to pieces and he just bloody stood
there.

"Oh, for
heaven's sake say something. Or fuck me, either or, just do
something."

Ethan laughed, a
big deep belly laugh that shook the floorboards and rumbled through her.
Damn
insufferable man.
She stuck her tongue out at him and pouted.

"What does a
girl have to do to get fucked around here?" She slapped her hand on her
mouth in horror at what had just tumbled out of her mouth, and Ethan sobered.
All traces of teasing gone, he stalked towards her with all the intensity of a
predator stalking his prey. All the breath left her lungs when he grabbed her
around the waist and flung her over his shoulder. The swat to her ass stung,
even as he soothed the hurt away with his hand and chuckled.

 
"Ow! What was
that for?"

He didn't answer,
just smacked her butt cheeks a few more times, each one harder than the one
before, until her ass was on fire. Tingles of sensation spread to her clit, and
she lay panting over his shoulder, so aroused she thought she might come on the
spot if he swatted her again.

A few more
long-legged strides found them in her bedroom, and the world flew by at
dizzying speeds as he flung her on the bed. Before she even stopped bouncing,
he was on top of her, trapping her to the bed with his sheer bulk, pinning her
to the mattress, his wolf's deep growl trembling through her. By rights she
should have been terrified, but God help her, if she got any wetter she would
disgrace herself, and he clearly knew that. He smiled, showing Mutt's teeth,
and sniffed her neck. His scent intensified, and she struggled underneath
him—not to get away, but to get closer.

"Please ...
please." She didn't even know what she was begging for exactly, but he
lifted himself off her slightly. Propped up on his elbows, he studied her, once
again just a man, and her breathing hitched under his silent scrutiny.

When he finally
spoke, his voice was a low, growly whisper, and she clenched her thighs as much
as she could, held immobile as she was, to relieve the ache in her clit.
"Please what, baby?"

He smiled and
lifted one hand into her vision. As she watched in stunned fascination his
nails changed into menacing claws. He traced his clawed index finger along the
side of her jaw, over her lips, and along her throat. That claw traced a trail
of heated awareness over her collarbone until he hooked it into the top of her
jumper. With a wicked smile and a flick of his hand the fabric
ripped
and fell away, exposing her to his hungry gaze.

"Hmmm, black
lace today,
Anja
? I wonder ... do the bottoms
match?"

Goosebumps broke
out over her exposed flesh, and she shivered when he ran that claw over her
breasts. Her nipples tightened and strained against the lace as he circled
each. He dug in and ripped the delicate fabric there, too.

"Beautiful."
He murmured the words into her skin, and she gasped at the first touch of his
rough tongue over the sensitized peaks. He rolled his tongue around her nipple
and bit down slightly. The sharp pain spiraled down towards her pussy, and she
gasped her arousal. He smiled against her belly as he licked a trail of need
over the sensitive skin of her quivering tummy while he used one hand to keep
her arms pinned above her head. The other one kneaded and pinched the
previously neglected nipple. He shifted slightly, and her freed hips bucked off
the bed when he cupped her mound through the fabric of her jeans. He smiled at
her, and her stomach flip-flopped in delicious anticipation. He hooked one of
her legs over his shoulder and lowered his head. He inhaled deeply against her
still-clothed mound, and
Anja
shut her eyes at the
myriad of sensations assaulting her.

"You're so
wet for me, baby, your jeans are stained here. Do you have any idea what a
fucking turn-on that is? I want to do this slow, but heaven help me, I
can't."

The growled words
settled deep inside her core, and she didn’t recognize the needy,
thready
voice coming out of her mouth. "Please, I
don't want
slow
. I want you to fuck me hard. Please,
Ethan, Mutt, whoever you are, I don’t care. I need to come, now, fucking
yesterday. I've never been so turned on in all my life. Please ...
just..."