Forbidden Attraction (13 page)

Heidi’s heart swelled in spite of every hair on the back of her neck standing at attention. She hated feeling trapped. There wasn’t even a window in the small bathroom to allow her a quick escape if needed. And true to her breed, the urge to change into her fur and run as fast as she could hit her hard.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Something crashed and Heidi jumped.

It sounded like a fist hitting a wall and even through the closed door, the spicy smell of outrage made her want to sneeze. “I just spent the past few hours dealing with another dead werewolf, and you’re giving me more headaches with that
lunewulf
bitch. Her pack will be hunting her down. Don’t you care about your own pack?”

Heidi grabbed the doorknob, ready to storm out there and tell that werewolf just what she thought. If he didn’t know his own littermate well enough to see the amount of loyalty that ran thick through his blood, she had no problem setting him straight.

Nicolo’s integrity smelled stronger in him than in any werewolf she’d known.

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Forbidden Attraction

She had been staring at a black bathrobe hanging on a nail on the door and suddenly focused on it. Grabbing it, she let the towel she had around her drop to the floor and quickly put the robe on.

“You know damned good and well what I think of this pack,” Nicolo growled. “But if you need a reminder, it’s just you and me right now, little brother. I have no problem knocking some sense into you.”

The growl that followed chilled her blood. Shit. The two werewolves would destroy their den fighting because of her. She raced out of the bathroom and stormed into the living room. Both Nicolo and Dimitri faced each other, their hands fisted at their sides and their black hair tousled while both growled under their breaths.

“Don’t,” she yelled, then stopped quickly at the intimidating size of the two of them. So large and dark and both turning their attention and anger toward her, she stopped in her tracks, holding her hands out but then clutching the robe when it parted and almost exposed her. “Please don’t fight because of me,” she said in a quieter tone, fighting to sound calm.

“I can fucking smell your mark on her.” Dimitri turned his back on his littermate, pacing the length of the small living room. “What the hell were you thinking? Are you going to return her to her pack like that?”

“Damned straight I am. I’m taking her to her den and I plan on seeing her again.”

Dimitri turned around, ignoring her and staring hard at his littermate. “Her pack very well could be killing our kind. Are you suddenly so blind that you can’t see how this will escalate things?”

“We have dead
lunewulfs
too.” Even though she knew Nicolo wouldn’t let Dimitri lay a claw on her, she still edged toward him. Dimitri was a big werewolf, and at the moment he looked deadly and pissed. “I don’t think our pack is attacking yours, not when we have dead pack members also. I told you that two of our pack members were killed when they ran into barbed wire that wasn’t supposed to be there. They were killed just like you said your pack members died.”

Dimitri ignored her comment and stormed past Nicolo into the kitchen. Nicolo looked down at her, reaching for her and then stroking the robe she wore. His heated gaze melted the fear she hadn’t realized had her shaking. Placing his hand on her back, he walked her into the kitchen.

Dimitri scowled at the plates on the table. “I sure hope you know how to get this fucking smell out of our den. This is your pack leader’s den, Nicolo. This stench can’t be smelled here.”

“Dimitri, you’ll do well to stand above the prejudice between our pack and hers.

They aren’t going anywhere and you are the one who will make us stronger by showing the
lunewulfs
that you’ll work with them and not against them.”

“That would be damned convenient for you, wouldn’t it?” Dimitri barked, almost knocking the refrigerator over when he yanked open the door.

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Heidi pulled the bathrobe tightly around her, thinking it might be best if she disappeared and got dressed.

“It would be convenient for the pack.” Nicolo deserved credit for displaying such calm strength against Dimitri’s harsh temper. “Show them you don’t want any werewolves dying, that their dead matter to you as much as ours.”

“One of our new arrivals is dead,” Dimitri grumbled as she left the room to find her clothing. His baritone was easily heard from the other room. “A lone werewolf who had headed over the mountain by himself apparently searching out the area to find a place for his den. I hadn’t had a chance to meet him yet.”

Heidi found her clothes in the small apartment-sized dryer and clutched the warm clothing to her chest, feeling his pain. Too many times since she’d left Canada and the comfort of so many
lunewulfs
around her, she’d encountered foul play and untimely deaths from those who didn’t want them around.

“I’m really sorry,” she mumbled, as she stood in the kitchen doorway, smelling the mixed emotions coming from the two powerful werewolves.

Dimitri pulled out a bottle of beer and ripped the cap off with his teeth. He spit it onto the table, where it landed on the plate that Nicolo had served her steak from.

Dimitri turned and scowled at her. He looked so much like Nicolo except that a hard edge in his features hindered his good looks. Dimitri had a lot of anger inside him and she couldn’t help but wonder if it all stemmed from the deaths of werewolves in his pack or if something seeded deeper inside him had put a permanent snarl on his face.

“You can’t keep her here tonight. I won’t have her pack coming after me.”

“Don’t worry.” Nicolo nodded to her. “Go get dressed. Let me speak to Dimitri alone for a minute.”

Their quiet baritones tickled her ears when she left them alone in the kitchen and closed herself in Nicolo’s room to change into her clothes. The smell of anger didn’t fade, but at least they didn’t yell at each other any longer. She got dressed but then sat on Nicolo’s bed. Dimitri told the truth. She couldn’t spend another night here. Her pack would come after her. Knowing more lives could end because she’d found a werewolf who she shouldn’t be with tore at her like a sharp knife.

“Heidi?” Nicolo asked from the other side of the door.

He respected her privacy, not entering before she consented. Again he offered her glimpses into his nature, showing her a werewolf who took honor and integrity to levels most werewolves didn’t have.

“Yes,” she answered, then cleared her throat when her voice cracked. “I’m dressed.”

Nicolo pushed open the door, but then closed it behind him. She hadn’t turned on the light, and he didn’t either. His dark features made him a shadow as he approached her. So tall, with broad shoulders and a body to die for, his black hair looked shiny even in the dark room. Never in her life had she laid eyes on a sexier werewolf.

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Forbidden Attraction

She stood, her legs suddenly shaky, and inhaled his determined scent. It changed when he reached for her, turning muskier. She loved how his lust smelled on him. But there was something else—compassion maybe, a bit of sadness and definitely possessiveness. He stroked her damp hair, then tilted her head and brushed his lips over hers.

“Seeing each other will piss off a lot of werewolves,” he whispered into her mouth.

“It won’t be the first time I’ve pissed off a werewolf or two.” She ran her hands up his arms, memorizing the feel of him. His muscles twitched under her fingers, and she slowed her movement, loving how strong and ripped his body felt under her palms.

“I will see you again, and soon.”

“You better.” She went up on tiptoe, her heart aching while she prayed he meant it.

“Once I take you to your den, your pack leader will put you under continuous watch.”

She stretched against him, her arms wrapped around his neck, and stared into his convinced expression. “You’re probably right.”

“I know I am. I would.” He cupped her ass with his hands, holding her to him.

“You will behave and do anything your pack asks of you. And you will not lie about anything that has happened between us.”

It amazed her that he instructed her to do exactly what she’d already planned on doing. “What has happened between us?” she asked, needing to hear his thoughts.

Nicolo didn’t answer her immediately. His expression softened and she watched the wrinkles between his eyebrows fade. A strand of black hair fell over his forehead, and she noticed a small streak of silver—a sign of a seasoned warrior. It hit her at that moment that she didn’t know how old Nicolo was. A small thing, but nonetheless proof of how little they knew about each other. What they had right now was physical, but he appealed to her enough that she would fight to learn more about him.

“We’ve learned that we want to spend more time together,” he said slowly. “And if there is any truth in the traditions of our kind, we were meant to be together.”

“You can’t read my thoughts, can you?” she asked, half teasing but needing to know right now if he possessed any of the powers his breed was feared for.

He shook his head, squeezing her ass and pushing his hips into her. His cock wasn’t hard, but it stretched between them, letting her know he would fuck her again soon.

“I don’t have any of the gift.” Outside the room, a cupboard drawer slammed closed, but Nicolo didn’t flinch. He kept his hold on her, as if she were the only being he focused on. “Does our gift bother you?”

“Bother me? No. It has me curious, which is what I told your littermate, Erin. She didn’t want to talk about it and I told her that attitude keeps Malta werewolves feared and shunned.”

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Lorie O’Clare

Nicolo nodded as if this were something he already knew. “It causes conflict between us too. But it is something we deal with. And the anger and confusion you and I will experience is something we will deal with too.”

“Nicolo?”

“Yes?” he whispered, and rubbed his thumb over her cheek.

Such a gentle act out of a deadly werewolf. Her heart skipped a beat. “How old are you?”

He blinked, obviously not expecting the question. “I’m thirty-six.”

“I’m twenty-nine,” she offered, even though he didn’t ask. He didn’t see her need to know personal things about him. “Where were you whelped?”

“On Malta,” he answered, frowning now.

“I was whelped in Prince George up in Canada.” She studied his face, noticing fine hairline wrinkles on either side of his eyes. He was seven years older than she was—not that it mattered, but she liked knowing it about him. “Were you always the oldest?”

He nodded, cocking his head slightly. “What is this about?”

She blushed suddenly, even though she didn’t think her questions were silly.

Nicolo didn’t get it though. “I guess I want to know everything about you,” she confessed.

He gave her a crooked grin, shaking his head slightly. “I hate vegetables and my favorite position is having you on top.”

“We haven’t even tried every position. How can you say that for sure?” she teased.

“We will try all of them, but I know now that I love watching your face while you ride my cock.”

Just thinking of the different ways they could fuck had her sensitive pussy throbbing again.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked, changing the subject. When she simply stared at him, he raised one hand, cupping her chin. “We will be accepted for who we are, but it’ll take time. Do you understand?”

“I know that werewolves are set in their ways, stubborn to a fault when it comes to accepting something different.”

Nicolo nodded. “I will fight for you, my sweet bitch. Not to destroy our packs, but to gain their respect and their acceptance of you and me.”

“And I will fight for you,” she told him, ignoring the worry that tightened her gut.

Dimitri didn’t say anything to either one of them when Nicolo led her out of his den into the night. Cold night air attacked Heidi’s still-damp hair, but Nicolo held her close.

“When we get into Valle, more than likely I’ll need to tow your car. You’ll stay in the truck while I load it.” Nicolo pulled her door open for her and then shut her into the cab that smelled strongly of male werewolves.

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Forbidden Attraction

“Where are you going?” she asked, but Nicolo disappeared around the side of his cabin and came back carrying a heavy-looking metal item.

She couldn’t help herself and allowed the change to pump through her veins just enough to adjust her eyesight. Whatever Nicolo carried, it looked heavy as hell. Muscles bulged in his arms and he gritted his teeth, using every bit of his strength to load the equipment into the back of the truck.

She forced her heart to quit pumping so hard when he finally climbed into the cab next to her.

“Just gathering the equipment I need for your car,” he offered and then gunned the engine to life.

When they reached Valle, werewolves were out and about, enjoying the star-filled sky and brisk night air. Her car looked cold and frost-covered when they pulled into the full parking lot. Werewolves came and went from the busy bar and grill, but none of them gave Nicolo and her much attention other than curious glances and sniffing the air as they walked by. Malta werewolves were obviously tolerated by the American werewolves, and Heidi remained in the truck where her scent and appearance weren’t as noticeable.

What had
lunewulfs
done to be so hated? She studied Nicolo and thought about what she’d seen while at his pack. The Malta werewolves didn’t even have a town.

Granted, they hadn’t been here long, but their roads were primitive and dens simple.

Obviously the American werewolves didn’t judge them for their material possessions, so it must be something else. She could only assume it was their powers, or gift as Nicolo called it. Malta werewolves were feared and therefore accepted.
Lunewulfs
weren’t feared and so were barely tolerated. What a fucked up world they lived in.

Nicolo’s warmth filled the cab when he hopped back in after securing her car to the back of the truck.