Forbidden Attraction (18 page)

“No one chased Nicolo anywhere.” She scowled at her ceiling, already seeing her pack would view Nicolo as some terrible beast who’d wronged one of their bitches. The gross distortion of the truth put a foul taste in her mouth. “Please set the pack straight and let everyone know I wanted to be with him. And I still do,” she added quickly.

“Heidi, you’re insane. He’s a Malta werewolf. You know they’re all mutated and dangerous.”

“No. I don’t know that. They are a pack just like us—just a different breed. Have you ever hung out with one of them?”

“Hell no. And you’d do well to not let anyone hear you talk like that. I heard Bob considered finding you a mate. Do you really want to be known as the bitch who set our pack back a century or so because of your crazy behavior?”

“Tamara, go to hell. There’s nothing wrong with Nicolo. But there is something wrong with a pack that judges a werewolf without even sniffing him out.” She punched the button to end the call and tossed her cell phone onto her couch next to her, glaring at it.

Someone walked over the snow in her front yard, and Heidi jumped up, quickly zipping and buttoning her jeans.

“One word out of anyone,” she hissed, heading over to her door and flinging it open. “What?” she yelled, and then saw who it was.

Maura DeBeaux stomped her boots on the porch and raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at Heidi. “Hello to you too.”

“Wow. Maura. How are you?” Heidi pushed her screen door open, trying to remember if Bob had forbidden her visitors. As if she cared. She wouldn’t be imprisoned in her own pack. “Come on in.”

“Sounds like all the fun happens while I’m trapped in my den.” Maura sniffed the air when she walked past Heidi. She entered the room, turning slowly, and then made a show of walking around Heidi, inhaling loudly and then exhaling while humming softly. “Well, you don’t look the worse for wear.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You smell like you’ve just come from an orgy though.” Maura was probably the only bitch in her pack who wouldn’t judge Heidi.

She hesitated though. It hadn’t dawned on her how desperately she wanted to talk to someone about Nicolo. But now, staring at Maura’s amused yet concerned expression made it tempting to unload on her lifelong friend.

“Seems I remember you smelling this way a time or two,” Heidi teased, needing to keep the air smelling light for at least a few minutes.

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Maura raised a shoulder and let it fall lazily. She walked farther into Heidi’s den, still looking so pretty even though they were no longer wildly chasing werewolves without a care to their reputations.

“We did have some good runs back in the day, didn’t we?” Maura plopped down on the couch where Heidi had been lying and stretched her slender arms along the back of it. “I haven’t thought about those days in a long time.”

“How have you been doing?” Heidi never saw Maura anymore since she’d mated with Pete Wagner a few months ago. “Damn. I still think of you as a DeBeaux. You’re Maura Wagner now.”

“Yeah.” There was no happiness in Maura’s tone. “Mating isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. But I didn’t come here to talk about me. I heard all the bitches howling and figured it was worth sneaking out of the den to make sure you were okay.”

Heidi sat next to Maura. Her packmate was as beautiful as she’d always been, yet the glow in her soft blue eyes had faded. The color in her face was a result of carefully applied makeup. Her long, straight blonde hair fell over one shoulder and past her breasts, almost reaching her waist. Maura pursed her lips and returned Heidi’s scrutinizing stare.

“Tell me what happened,” Maura whispered.

Heidi ached to know what had changed Maura’s scent from being so tangy with happiness to almost smelling stale. Not even her perfume hid Maura’s obvious unhappiness. Whatever had happened, Heidi saw that Maura didn’t want to talk about it. Maybe unloading her problems would help Maura forget her own troubles for a few minutes—whatever they were.

“A little over a week ago, I met a Malta werewolf. Maura, he’s so large and dark and powerful. Everything I’ve always dreamed of finding in a werewolf.”

“Except that he’s a Malta werewolf.” Maura didn’t condemn like Tamara had.

Instead, she almost smelled sympathetic.

“I’ve been with him twice now, and I’m going nuts to see him again.” There. She’d said the most obvious, and it felt damned good admitting it out loud.

Maura nodded. “Then go find him. Don’t settle for anyone but the best. You deserve it, Heidi.”

“No lectures on him being the wrong breed?” Already some of the pain lifted from Heidi’s heart. Going and finding Nicolo was easier said than done at this point though.

Maura shrugged. “Pete is a
lunewulf
and he cheats on me and is never at our den.”

Heidi couldn’t believe it. “Why would any male cheat on you?”

Maura grinned but then shifted on the couch, turning to face Heidi. “Pete seemed to be everything a mate should be. He had the great den, came from money and appeared perfect to everyone.”

Heidi remembered thinking that Pete was far from gorgeous, but she gave Maura credit for deciding to settle down and take a mate who smelled so perfect.

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“Everyone in the pack offered their blessing.” Maura leaned forward and grabbed Heidi’s hands. “Don’t you see? I did what everyone wanted me to do, and look where it got me. I never know when Pete will be at our den, and if I’m not there when he does come sniffing around, I get yelled at. He wants the perfect little bitch, the perfect den and his perfect little girlfriends on the side.”

“Want me to rip his throat out for you?” Heidi offered, outraged that anyone would treat Maura like that. The bitch was the best out there and should be honored and cherished, not shit on.

“I’ve thought about doing it a time or two myself,” Maura agreed. “But I’ve already gone to Bob and asked to be let out of the mating.”

“You’re kidding!” Heidi’s mouth fell open. Werewolves didn’t divorce. Mating lasted for life. If Maura asked to be free of the mating, basically she asked for Pete’s life.

“Well, you can come stay with me if you like.”

Maura looked around the den. “Maybe I should do that. That would show Pete that I’m done putting up with his crap.” She squeezed Heidi’s hands. “When I heard all the gossip being howled on the streets, I ran over here as quickly as I could. Heidi.

Whatever you do, don’t settle for any male who isn’t perfect for you. Don’t do anything just because the pack feels it’s best for you. Please don’t end up like I have.”

Heidi would be damned if she’d cry again. She jumped up, turning her back on Maura and quickly wiped her eyes.

“What are you going to do?” Maura asked quietly, as if some
lunewulf
might be sniffing around outside and overhear them.

“I want to be with him,” Heidi said, turning and smelling her own determination as she smiled at Maura.

Her friend looked happy for the first time since she’d arrived at Heidi’s den. “Then go get him.”

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“You smell it too?”

“I more than smell them.” Josie squinted at Nicolo. “Humans have combed this side of the mountain recently. Their rage, fear, excitement to destroy…all of it clings to the tree limbs, the ground and in the air.”

Nicolo blew out a breath, creating a cloud in front of his face. He stared up the snow-covered mountain. “This barbed wire stretches along the entire side here, all the way to that group of trees down by the clearing.”

He ran his gloved hand over the twisted wire—a death trap if it were nighttime and a werewolf raced up or down this mountain.

Josie grabbed the barbed wire where it had been wrapped around a tree trunk and tore into the bark. He ripped it free, growling his frustration while putting on the muscle to pull off the task.

“So if humans put up this barbed wire, we now need to find out why.”

“They hate our guts?” Nicolo said, chuckling dryly.

“Safe conclusion.” Josie held on to the wire and started walking the distance to where it was wrapped around the next tree. He worked to coil it into a circle, stopping to sniff the air a few times while Nicolo followed him. “I hear these same traps were found over in
lunewulf
territory,” he said after they’d trekked half the distance over the snow-packed ground.

“Yup.” Nicolo didn’t like Josie climbing around in his mind and knew the werewolf would use his gift if Nicolo didn’t offer a more thorough answer. “Heidi speculated that humans might be laying these traps to cause a war between Malta werewolves and
lunewulfs
.”

“Sounds like she’s a smart bitch. If we attacked each other, quite a few werewolves would die. I’m sure the humans would love that.”

“That isn’t going to happen.” Nicolo grabbed some of the barbed wire since it was now a fairly large bundle and helped Josie keep it wrapped as they reached the next clump of trees.

“If we’re going to bridge the gap between our breeds, it might be smart to contact their pack and see if they have found out anything more about these traps.” Josie watched Nicolo rip the barbed wire from the tree and then met his gaze.

Nicolo studied the werewolf. They’d known each other since they were cubs, and sometimes Josie still had that roguish grin that gave the impression he was up to no good. The bitches loved it, but Nicolo saw it for what it was. Josie had a plan.

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“Their pack leader told me I’d be killed on sight if I entered their territory again.”

And after two days, those parting words from Bob, their pack leader, had about eaten him alive.

“Ah. So you’re afraid to go over there and talk to him about this.” Josie’s idiotic grin didn’t fade.

Nicolo growled. “The
lunewulf
doesn’t scare me any more than your lame attempt at manipulating me.”

“So we head over there and talk to him?”

“I’ll drive.”

“Should we tell Dimitri first?”

“You can call him if you want.” Nicolo knew Josie wouldn’t call Dimitri. Josie loved a good challenge as much as the next werewolf.

For Nicolo, it was more than a challenge. He’d tried calling Heidi yesterday, and then first thing when he’d gotten up today. She hadn’t answered her cell phone either time. And he wouldn’t accept that she didn’t want to talk to him. More than likely, her pack leader had put a very short leash on her. Just picturing Heidi confined and caged bothered him. Her spirit wouldn’t do well under such conditions, and she didn’t deserve that kind of punishment.

More than once, he’d pondered if he’d done the right thing in taking her so many times the other day. His body screamed for more, and he’d run around with a semihard cock since he’d left her.

Walking away from her had been the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life. But leaving her at her den had also been a smart move. He needed time to clear his head and breathe air that didn’t have her scent clinging to it. Two days had passed since he’d seen her, and he still swore he smelled her on him. Tradition had it that when two werewolves truly mated, their scent remained on each other for life. He’d known many happy dens in his life where the bitch and male didn’t carry each other’s scent. Not all traditions held truth. But nonetheless, as he started the truck and spun the tires over the ice and snow, he swore he inhaled her deep into his lungs.

“I can’t say that I blame you for howling for the bitch.” Josie broke the silence but didn’t look at Nicolo as they headed down the highway toward
lunewulf
territory.

“Get the fuck out of my head,” Nicolo snarled.

Josie laughed. “I’m not in your head. A mutt could tell she’s on your mind. I can smell it. She’s a hot little bitch. I’m just saying I don’t blame you for wanting her.”

“She’s mine.” Nicolo glared at Josie.

“And I’d say you belong to her too.” Josie held up his hands, making a show of mock surrender. “Her scent is all over you. She’s marked you big time, my friend.”

Well at least he wasn’t imagining that he inhaled her scent with every breath.

“We’ve created hell for ourselves,” he confessed, then immediately wondered why he bothered sharing his thoughts with Josie. Although he knew the werewolf wouldn’t 97

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condemn him for his honesty. “And I’m afraid it’s going even worse for her. I’ve called her twice and no answer.”

“You think she’s been locked up?”

“Or worse.” He wouldn’t accept that her pack leader meant what he said about finding her a mate. If he had meant it though, whatever
lunewulf
he chose would be a dead male when Nicolo found him. “I’ll be able to think straight once I know she’s okay.”

“She’s fine, man. I’m sure of it.”

Nicolo frowned, having to ask. “How the hell do you know she’s fine? I mean, fuck it. I don’t sniff into your personal business. Whatever level of the gift you have is your own thing. But you aren’t going to tell me she’s fine and not say how you know.”

Josie didn’t look offended. He smelled like he always did, but he didn’t look at Nicolo when he spoke. “Your bitch is a bit on the wild side, but she was happy. It’s obvious she’s been well cared for in her pack. You returned her there, and I’m sure she would have thrown a fit if she didn’t feel safe or wanted.”

Nicolo tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Josie hadn’t answered his question.

He cracked the window a bit and slowed on the curve of the highway, inhaling the cold air outside and sniffing to see if anyone might be nearby.

“Something’s not right,” he said. “Or she would have answered my calls.”

“Look over that way.” Josie pointed out his side of the truck.

Nicolo frowned at the men walking along a valley at the edge of the mountain.

“Think they’re
lunewulf?
”

“Pull over and let’s see what they’re up to.” Josie gave him a quick look. “Unless you’re scared. We aren’t in our territory anymore.”

Nicolo glared at Josie, pulling the truck off onto the narrow side of the road. The two of them got out and jumped the metal railing that would prove a feeble attempt to keep any car from tumbling down the side of the mountain if it drove off the road.