Gabrielle Demonico (11 page)

“
Okay. Thank you.” She said.

Ben quickly gathered up his belongings, switched off the lights in his office and the pai
r headed towards the exit. Ellie immediately expected awkwardness between them but she detected nothing but calm from him as they walked side-by-side.

He opened the front door for her, then came out behind her and turned to lock the door. As she waited, sh
e noticed it was a moonlit night. She thought of the pack and how many of them would be out on the hunt. It was something that she knew now was never going to happen for her and she smiled sadly in acceptance of the fact. As they walked towards the parking lot, Ben turned towards her and said, “Ellie, I hope that what happened between us doesn’t mean you won’t be coming back.”

“
Of course not, Ben. I love coming to the gym.” She said. As far as she knew, it was the first time in her life she’d used the words
gym
and
love
in the same sentence.

He quickly replied, “
Good, I was worried that it upset you so much that you wouldn’t be.”

She stopped, turned to face him and said, “
No, not at all. It’s just that it’s a long story. I’ll explain everything to you at some point but trust me when I tell you that it has nothing to do with you.”

“
Then
who
does it have do with Ellie?” a voice said angrily from behind them.

Lukas.

The pair turned back to see him standing there. Every bit the physical equal of Ben, Lukas stood with fists clenched and eyes ablaze with rage.

“
Ellie, I
told you
to stay away from him.” He scolded.

“
And, I
told you
to leave me alone Lukas. What the hell are you doing here anyway?” she demanded.

“
I’m here to get what belongs to
me.
” he replied flatly.

“
Belongs to you? No, no.
No Lukas
. I don’t
belong
to you. You’ve made that perfectly clear.” She replied.

“
Ellie, I’m telling you. You need to be with the pack. You are just confused. We can work this out.” He said.

“
No!” she thundered back.

He moved quickly towards them in an apparent attempt to snatch her. But, almost as quickly Ben moved between her and the would-be kidnapper.

“Hey buddy. Didn’t you hear the lady? She doesn’t want anything to do with you.” He said firmly.

Lukas froze and sa
id, “Hey, step aside man. Don’t make me hurt you because I
will.
”

“
No Lukas! You know that isn’t allowed!” she screamed.

“
Quiet
, Ellie!” he shot back.

He then looked Ben squarely in the eye and warned, “
This is your last chance. Either step aside or I will
make you
step aside.”

Apparently unimpressed, Ben looked at Lukas and said, “
Do your worst. Do you think you frighten me,
dog
?”

“
What the
fuck
did you just call me?” Lukas growled.

There was no greater disrespect that could have been uttered. Whether he
’d intended it or not, that comment by Ben had pushed Lukas right to the edge. Ellie knew that unless she acted quickly, Lukas would shift and then there was no telling what would happen.

But as she attempted to get around Ben and satisfy Lukas
’ demands, he grabbed her with a force that she’d only experienced at the hands of a wolf. Without turning back towards her, he leaned in towards Lukas and growled, “You heard me.
Dog.
”

Lukas flew into a rage and within seconds had shifted.

“Lukas! No!” Ellie cried out.

But to her disbelief, Ben remained firm and unaffected by Lukas
’ transformation. His wolf form paced and snarled before them and she knew it was just a matter of time before he dispatched with her human shield.

“
Come on you son of a bitch.” Ben chided.

L
ukas did one more half turn and then leaned back on his haunches. But, no sooner had he readied himself to leap towards Ben than a blinding flash of golden fur crossed their line of sight. It crashed into Lukas with terrible force and slammed him into a nearby car and buckled the door in the process. Lukas howled upon impact.

“
Lukas!” she screamed. Ben held steady.

As the dust settled, she shook her head in disbelief at what she saw. A lion equal to the size of Lukas had knocked him completely unconscious i
n the collision. She was too stunned to be confused or even feel fear. That is, until the beast turned its attention back toward them and began to move in their direction.

“
Ben!” she cried out. But just as she screamed in fear the big cat transformed before her eyes into none other than Ben’s brother, Jason.

“
What the…
” she said in disbelief.

“
Brother!” Ben said with a chuckle, “What took you so long?”

“
Sorry about that.” Jason replied with a quick wink.

The pair hugged for a moment and then turned their at
tention back towards Lukas who’d begun to stir back to awareness on the pavement. The blow had caused him to return to his human form but his anger was still right at the surface.

He shook his head and said, “
I warned you about
them
Ellie.”

She was in a st
ate of total bewilderment. “Lukas… I… I had no idea. I didn’t know what they were. I didn’t even know that their kind existed!” she exclaimed.

“
That’s why you need the guidance of the pack Ellie. Now obviously, I’m outnumbered here so I can’t force you to come with me. But, if you come now, you won’t be shunned. If you choose to stay, I cannot make any promises. This is your future Ellie so consider your answer carefully.”

Ellie could simply not believe what was happening. Worse yet, Lukas
’ demands to make any sort of rational decision was beyond her at the moment. Still, the wounds from him were still fresh enough for her know that she couldn’t go with him. He could be right about the shunning but there was the possibility that he could be wrong as well. It was certainly no secret within the pack as to how he’d treated her. She’d have to rely on the mercy of the pack alpha, Lukas’ uncle, Marlon.

As for the lion brothers…
she didn’t even know where to begin.

“
Well?” Lukas growled.

She stiffen
ed her spine and in an instant made her mind up. “
No
, Lukas. I’m not going to be intimidated by you. You are at least partially to blame in all of this. Now, respect me as your pack mate and go.”

“
Fine…” he huffed. As he got up and started to leave he turned back toward her and said, “‘I’m sorry that it has come to this Ellie.”

“
So am I but it was your choice.” She said.

“
You are making a big mistake being with them…” he said as his voice trailed off. He headed back towards his car and within moments, he tore out of the parking lot.

***

The brothers remained calm in the midst of the chaos unfolding around them. As Lukas’ car disappeared from view, she turned to the both of them and said, “Thank you both very much. I appreciate what you did.”

“
Don’t mention it Ellie. We, uhhm, need to apologize to you as well. It probably wasn’t fair to you that we surprised you with our lions.” Jason said.

“
No, it’s fine. It was just…
surprising
. I had no idea that you were anything but human.” The truth was that it was exhilarating to her. The raw power of Jason in his lion form had stunned her. She’d never known anything capable of handling a wolf like that, especially one as powerful as Lukas.

“
Ellie, I don’t mean to pry but what did he mean when he said that you were making a big mistake being with us?” Ben asked.

Shit…
the text messages. She’d completely forgotten about lying to Lukas.

“
Oh, I… I don’t know what that was all about. Maybe he just supposed something was going on.” She said unconvincingly.

The brothers just lo
oked at her, stone faced.

Ellie
hated
lying to them. She really didn’t want to start things off like this, especially with Ben. In light of the fact that they weren’t human after all, she hoped that the kiss hadn’t been one-sided in its meaning.

Great Elli
e. Way to go.

After a few more seconds she blurted out, “
Okay, I’m sorry. I lied. I told Lukas that I was dating one of the trainers at my gym. In hindsight I realize it was a terrible decision on my part. The last thing I wanted was to get either of you wonderful men caught up in my stupid drama with Lukas. It’s just such a long story. Anyway, I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”

Jason spoke up and said, “
Ellie, thank you for your honesty. It means everything to us. And, of course we can forgive you. It’s really not a big deal…”

Ben interrupted and said, “
Now, hold on a sec bro. I think I might be bit
ticked off
after all. The question is what is the lovely Ellie going to do to make it up to us?”

Ellie blushed.

“Make it up to you?” she replied and then groaned, “I, uhmm… what do you mean exactly?”

The fact was that even in the middle of all the chaos her mind still yearned to consume Ben
’s lips again. Worse yet, she now found herself wondering if his brother had the same deft touch and skill Ben had demonstrated. Suddenly, she could imagine them both upon her, limbs and lips intertwined. They would squeeze her curves in a sexual stranglehold like a pair of mystic serpents.

Jason turned to Ben and replied, “
Excellent
idea. I think the least that she could do would be to allow you to escort her home…”

Ben continued Jason
’s train of thought and said, “And once there, invite me in for a glass of wine?”

Jason agreed and replied, “
Sounds
totally
reasonable. In fact, I would say that would be the
bare minimum
under the circumstances.”

Ben answered, “
Agreed.”

The pair turned back towards a slack jawed Ellie and looked at her expectantly. This was unfamiliar territory for her. She
’d never been the one that men pursued and now, in the space of a few hours, two of the hottest men she’d ever laid eyes on couldn’t get enough of her.

But at the same time she knew it was still incredibly risky. It was likely that Lukas had already spilled the beans about her fictitious involvement with the brothers. It wouldn
’t be long before she’d have to answer for it.

Even though she was only half shifter, she was bound by her nature to remain with the pack for life once she
’d been claimed. But, she hadn’t been - at least not yet and Lukas knew it. But, for once in her life, Ellie just wanted to take a chance. The fates seemed to be telling her that this was the moment she’d waited for and so she jumped on it.

“
Okay.” She said.

Ben raised an eyebrow of suspicion and asked, “
Really?”

“
Yes.” She answered firmly.

“
Alright… great!” Ben said with excitement.

Jason hugged Ellie goodbye and she thanked him once more for coming to her defense. A few minutes later, she was in her car and driving out of the gym parking lot with Ben close behind.

It was a bit of a drive back to her apartment so she took the opportunity to call Avery. Even though she was still pissed at her friend, there were much bigger issues to discuss.

“
Hello?” Avery answered.

“
Avery!” Ellie gasped. “You are not going to believe what has happened to me since you ditched me. Which, by the way, I am still pissed at you over.”

She laughed and said, “
It was for your own good, Ellie. What’s going on?”

Ellie looked in her rear view mirror quickly and replied, “
Shit! I don’t even know where to start…”

“
Now I really want to hear this,
just start
!” Avery said eagerly.

“
Okay, well, first was Lukas. I decided that you were right.” Ellie said.

“
About what?” asked Avery.

“
About needing to end
whatever it was
I was doing with him.”