Animal Attraction (4 page)

MY HEAD WAS NOW CLEAR ENOUGH TO PANIC. I WAS GOD ONLY KNEW where, in the hands of a man whose last name made his interests in silver and moon cycles suspicious to say the least. And he hadn’t hesitated to pour a known poison down my throat.

“It has medicinal uses.” Zach frowned at me. “Foxglove is poisonous, too, unless you have a heart condition. Then digitalis can save your life.”

“Thanks, but I don’t want a botany lecture. I want an antidote.” My voice rose in both pitch and volume. David’s hold on me tightened as if he thought I might be planning to lunge at Zach.

“Easy.” David’s voice was low and gruff behind me. “It helps with the transition, that’s all.”

“Transition?” I practiced deep breathing and tried to calm down. Panic wouldn’t help me. I needed to think. Starting with paying attention to my surroundings.

A look around told me we were still in the solarium. Now that I wasn’t fainting, the room took my breath away. Terra-cotta tile floor, trees and flowers in decorative pots and planters, deep-cushioned chairs and sofas scattered around in the sort of inviting casual arrangement that takes a professional to create.

It was like sitting in a magazine spread. If this was Zach’s house, I’d been right. He did have money. I felt a twist of envy, not so much for his bank account but for this room. It was exactly what I’d want if money were no object.

It was what I’d dreamed of. Last night.

I blinked and turned my head, half-hoping I wouldn’t see blue tiles in a series that showed the phases of the moon making a staggered path along the floor. I did. My heart thudded and my skin prickled in recognition while my brain scrambled for a rational explanation.

One came almost instantly and I clung to it in relief. I probably 
was
 
sitting in a magazine spread. This was the kind of house that got featured in 
Architectural Digest
and 
Better Homes and Gardens
. Some time in the past, I’d seen a picture of this room, and the image had stuck in my head. Zach asking me if I dreamed of them had combined with the odd moon tiles to trigger last night’s episode.

“Do you like it?” Zach asked. “I like to start the day in here.”

I loved it. I coveted it. Out loud I said, “It’s nice. Unusual design on the tile.” Then I waited to see what he’d do with the opening I’d given him.

He didn’t mention the moon motif. Instead, he stood up and extended a hand toward me. “Would you like to see the gardens? You’re dressed for it.”

Sure, why not? I could have a nice tour of the grounds before I keeled over. Except I didn’t feel unwell. I felt like I could run a marathon. Had he lied about giving me wolfsbane?

My jeans, fleece pullover, and cross-trainers were warm enough for the sunny day and comfortable for walking. I put my hand in Zach’s for an answer, and David let me go.

It was an odd feeling, as if I’d been passed between them. Then again, I hadn’t exactly been invited over for lunch. They probably wanted to keep ahold of me in case I decided to bolt for my car. It might be awkward for Zach if I turned up at an emergency room claiming he’d given me a deadly dose.

Zach’s grip was warm and strong. He led me through the solarium to the door that opened out into a garden that looked spectacular even in winter. A fountain decorated with stone figures stood in front of us. We took a gravel path that led around it. Zach’s stride was energetic, and I realized I had no trouble matching him. David kept pace behind us. We passed low benches, arbors, and what looked like an honest-to-God hedge maze, and then there was an open field ahead of us with woods on the far side.

“Want to race?” Zach asked me, challenge gleaming in his amber eyes.

“So the poison can go through my system and kill me faster?”

“I didn’t poison you. Do you feel poisoned?”

“No.” I didn’t want to admit it to either of them, but I hadn’t felt this good all month. Energy sang in my veins and my muscles quivered with the urge to move.

“Run with us.” Zach dropped my hand and waited to see what I’d do. David came up to stand on my other side, so the three of us formed a loose starting line.

I turned to look at David. He wanted me to run; I could see it in his face. He was almost smiling. If I had to describe his stance, I’d call it playfully competitive.

It didn’t add up. They didn’t act like kidnappers or killers. They didn’t feel like a threat, either. That warning instinct that made my skin prickle from their proximity had shifted to a bubbling sense of eagerness to race between them.

“Why did you bring me here?” I asked David.

“You needed help.” He didn’t hesitate over the words, and his eyes met mine without blinking.

“With the transition.” I repeated what he’d said in the solarium. He didn’t answer.

I looked back at Zach. “Why did you say I should’ve expected you? Why did you think I’d know where to go when you told me to come to you?”

“Well, for starters, we sent you a certified letter the day after your twenty-first birthday.” Zach frowned at me. “Somebody signed for it.”

I blinked, thinking back over the past couple of weeks. I’d gotten a lot of mail, most of it thanking me for sending my résumé and promising to keep it on file should another opening come up. Bills. And the stuff that went straight into the trash, sweepstakes and free vacation offers that were anything but.

A real, personal letter would’ve stood out. So it had gotten delivered to the wrong apartment, and that was probably what Michelle’s message was about.

“I haven’t been myself since my birthday,” I said, figuring that was answer enough.

“Oh, you’ve been yourself,” Zach said. “Just more yourself than you’re used to.”

The two of them looked at each other over my head, and I hated the sense that they were on the same page when I didn’t even have the right book.

“Then you weren’t refusing to come,” David said. “I thought you were being stubborn.”

“It would be nice if somebody would just come out and say whatever you have to say. I take it this is about me being adopted?” I prompted.

“Yes.” Zach reached out to touch my cheek. “The short version is, this is your family home. The longer version is that you have a rare genetic condition.”

“Oh. Is that all.” I reeled inwardly. Good news: I might have visiting rights to that gorgeous solarium. Bad news: It meant my genes were plotting against me. “Am I dying?”

“No.” Zach stepped closer, warm reassurance in his touch, concern in his eyes. “No, not at all. It’s just that the condition presents fully in adulthood.”

“‘Presents,’ what the hell does that mean?” I heard the edge of panic in my voice, and didn’t care.

“It means you’re like us.” David reached out to touch me, too, the three of us forming a circuit I could swear an electrical impulse flowed through. Touching them made me feel strong, connected, on the verge of some unknown potential. “Neuri.”

“Werewolves.” I said it out loud and waited for one of them to laugh and tell me I’d been had.

“Yes,” Zach said. “Would you like to race now?”

I thought about my active night episodes I couldn’t remember the next day, my extreme sensitivity to sounds and smells in the past weeks, my roller-coaster metabolism. The allergy to silver I’d discovered on my first and last attempt at piercing. David’s claim that he’d heard me outside my apartment, impossible for human ears.

“I would like you to prove it,” I said.

Zach looked at David, who stepped away from us and started to strip silently. I decided there was no reason not to look if he insisted on showing off, so I watched as he discarded shirt, shoes, and then everything else. He wore boxer briefs and managed to make them look sexy. His chest and shoulders looked more powerful naked, muscles lean and sculpted, his belly hard, and flat, athletic legs. He had the kind of muscle development that came from use, not the kind built in the gym just for show.

He would have kicked my ass in a race.

I looked away when he peeled the briefs down his hips. I didn’t want to embarrass myself. Beside me, Zach stood focused and intent, and it wasn’t because he wanted to compare equipment. Command radiated from him and something else that made my skin prickle.

Naked, David dropped into what looked like a sprinter’s crouch. I had to fight an almost overwhelming urge to join him, as if he was triggering some reflex. I made myself stay upright and kept still with an effort as an alien energy surged through my body, seeking an outlet it didn’t find.

David’s spine rippled. Muscles and tendons stretched, moved, the way my own seemed to want to move. Fur sprouted. And then somehow a huge black wolf looked up at me with David’s gray eyes.

“Jesus.” I staggered and might have fallen over my own feet if Zach hadn’t caught my elbow in a supporting grip. “I frenched that?”

“You what?” Zach pulled me closer, his eyes narrowed.

I shrugged. “He broke into my apartment. We kissed. There was tongue involved.” A lot of tongue. Very involved.

The wolf grinned. He padded toward me and I swear, he was planning on nuzzling my crotch. I blocked his muzzle with a swift raised knee, and the wolf’s jaw dropped in what looked like a silent laugh. He butted my hand, and I wove my fingers into the thick fur at the base of one ear. If seeing was believing, touching made it even more real. He felt warm, soft, alive. Then he took off, powerful legs flying over the field.

Neuri. I shivered and wondered what it felt like. The buried remnant of a dream stirred, and I fell into a flash of memory. 
Running on four feet. Other wolves around me. The joy and sense of rightness in our unity, the sound of the triumphant round we sang together echoing in the night
.

“Am I going to change like that?” I asked Zach, my voice faint. I wondered if the alien impulse I’d fought while David changed was my own wolf trying to get out of a body that didn’t know how to let it.

“Yes. Tomorrow night. But the closer it gets to the full moon, the closer you are to the transition and the worse your symptoms will feel.”

I swallowed and nodded. Suddenly I didn’t feel like running. I wanted to sit down and put my head between my knees. I must’ve looked like I felt, because Zach made a low sound of concern and scooped me up in his arms. I didn’t object.

“You should have more tea.”

I nodded and then tentatively rested my head on his shoulder. I was turning into a werewolf. Drinking wolfsbane couldn’t make things any worse.

I saw the others as Zach carried me back the way we’d come. Men ranging in age from about my own to late thirties, and every one of them eye-catching. It wasn’t just the very attractive way they were put together; it was the way they moved, the ripple of muscle and sinew, the confidence, that indefinable something that made women stare. 
Animal attraction
, I thought, and resisted the urge to laugh.

Some were taller than others; some had dark hair and some were blond. There was even one redhead to match me. He caught my eye and grinned. His eyes crinkled in the corners, like he smiled often. I wondered if we’d both be dark auburn-coated wolves, since David’s hair color matched his wolf pelt.

They fell in behind us, all of them openly curious about me. I noticed none of them looked surprised. So Zach had been telling the truth: They were expecting me.

I waved over Zach’s shoulder, and if I hadn’t already been faint, their reaction would’ve done me in. In perfect unison, they each dropped to one knee, head bowed, one arm folded over each chest to touch a closed fist over the heart.

“Princess.”

The chorus of masculine voices shocked me more than the sight of David sprouting fur. I burrowed into Zach and whispered, “I think you have the wrong girl.”

“No mistake.” Zach continued on without pausing, “We know who you are.”

“Be serious,” I hissed. “There’s like twenty of them and they’re all deluded. If you told them I’m a princess, they’re going to be pissed off when they find out they got on their knees for the wrong person.”

Zach opened the door to the solarium and brought me inside. “There’s only nine. Eleven including my cousin David and myself. The pack isn’t what it used to be, but that’s enough to give you fair choice.”

“Fair choice for what?”

I let Zach settle me onto a fat chair and give me another cup of herbal death. He watched while I drank it. “For a mate,” he said, his expression unreadable.

I burst out laughing.

Zach didn’t crack a smile and my laughter took on a sharp edge. “That’s ridiculous,” I said. “In the first place, I’m not about to get married. I don’t even have a real job yet. In the second place, if I was going to pick a guy to hook up with, who are you to tell me I only get to pick from the eleven of you?”

“Who am I? I’m the pack alpha,” Zach answered. “The acting head, until you choose a different king. And if you think you aren’t in need of a mate yet, wait until tomorrow. You’ll have needs no human male can meet. Without us, you’d suffer.”

Us? Plural?
 
Tension knotted my stomach. “I am starting to get a very bad feeling about this. Please tell me you aren’t planning some kind of orgy.”

Zach sat back, his eyes knowing. “Was kissing David unpleasant?”

“Well, no.” “Unpleasant” was hardly the word I’d use to describe that kiss.