How to Tame a Werewolf: Seven Brides for Seven Shifters, Book 3 (9 page)

Rue would’ve laughed except that mother was dragging her into the mouth of the wolf’s den.

* * * * *

While the rest of Somerfield Villa’s interior design flaunted old world Italian style with touches of North African art—Rue speculated Mr. Amon and Ms. Cora were Egyptian jackals, which explained the art—Ian’s room had a completely different vibe.

A plush fabric, neither khaki nor gray but a mushroom color somewhere in between, covered his low platform bed. The padded headboard continued all the way up to the ceiling and was flanked by a pair of end tables in the same fabric but with wood tops and matching wood drawers in a lustrous reddish tone. Above the end tables rose a column of floating bookshelves on either side. The shelves were so full of books Rue thought they’d tip over any second. And the room’s accent wall gave off a Tribeca feeling in textured chocolate browns, truly accentuating the décor and the color palette.

Moving toward the bed Rue ran her fingers across the faux fur throw someone had draped over the lower half of the mattress, and it took self-control not to dive into the pale blue Egyptian cotton sheets.

An “ahem” sounded behind her. She spun around to see Ian had followed her. Not so much followed as joined her in his bedroom.
And so it begins
, Rue thought. She had begged Cora to put her in another room, on the other side of the villa preferably. But the Somerfield matron insisted Rue and Ian be together since they were clearly mates and it wasn’t like they hadn’t already been intimate. Rue caught herself wishing they had been intimate and sighed. If Ian were her mate she’d throw him on his bed and ride him until she came for the first time with another person and not due to her own ministrations. Afterwards, she’d have to get away from him but only because mating represented a very real danger of falling in love.

“You’re not my mate,” Ian said. His arms crossed over his hard chest belligerently.

“You’re not mine either,” Rue retorted, her hackles on the rise. The skin around his eyes crinkled. “What are you almost smiling at?”

He released his aggressive stance and dropped into one of the armchairs that formed the sitting area in front of the fireplace in his room. Rue inclined her head at him. The wealthy truly lived well. What normal person had a sitting area with a couple of chairs and a couch in their bedroom?

Once he’d made himself comfortable, Ian answered her. “You either have to go along with being my future mate or tell the truth and lose the job.” His legs landed on the table and crossed at the ankles. “And we both know you’re allergic to the truth,” he said. “Kitty is stuck up a tree of her own making.”

Rue sniffed. “You basically lied when you pretended not to be you. Now you’re stuck in this situation too.” She joined him in the sitting area, perching on the arm of a chair and drawing her legs up under her. Ian’s amber gaze followed the line of her legs to where they disappeared under her skirt.

His brows scrunched together in an expression she couldn’t read. “I’m not stuck,” he said. “I could always out you.”

She wasn’t in the mood for his teasing. She’d gotten so close to having the job and a bungalow of her own with very few complications from her wacky plans. Now she had to literally live with a man who made butterflies of hot liquid arousal flutter in her belly. This situation wasn’t going to end well. “Then why don’t you go ahead and out me?” she asked.

“Because I want to watch you squirm.” His answer shot back at her quickly and with a savagely smug glare. “It’s going to be a fun harvest this year. I have so many hard labor winemaking jobs for you to learn by doing them.” He sat up leaning towards her with his elbows resting on both knees. “That reminds me. Where’s my bottle of 1993 Reserve?”

Now she’d have a turn at messing with him.
Yippee,
Rue thought with cold calm. “I hid it,” she said, shrugging.

He inclined his head left then right. When he spoke, the words had that feral edge she’d come to recognize as the wolf raising its head. “Why?”

She looked away. Ian’s wild side both scared and turned her on. Mostly it turned her on and that’s what scared her. His wolfen side was absolutely seductive.

“Originally I hid it to keep it safe
for
you. But that was when I thought you were my magic man,” she said, faking indifference. “Now I’m hiding it to keep it safe
from
you, Ian Somers.”

The wolf’s eyes began to burn, Ian’s typically amber gaze now aflame. “It’s mine.”

She scratched the tip of her nose. “Not technically. Our deal clearly stated you’d get the bottle if you went to that party and made the wine lovers in Muuyaw think I was Ian Somers’s apprentice. That’s not what happened.”

He growled, moving to the balls of his feet so he could pounce.

Heat dampened the juncture of Rue’s thighs. What she’d said wasn’t fair. She knew that. And she didn’t mean it. She just wanted to rile him up so she could see more of her magnificently wild magic man.

“You play games you can’t win.” The savagery in his voice sent delicious chills up her spine. But now she had him caught as much as he had her because they both had their reasons to continue the ruse.

Ian moved so quickly Rue only had time to squeak before his fangs snapped closed the length of an eyelash from the tip of her nose. She batted him away.

“You’re such a jerk. And here I was all happy to—” She realized her mouth was about to get her into trouble. Why did she always talk too much? Needing some space she spun off the edge of the chair to go to the balcony. Ian grabbed her arm and spun her back before she could take a step.

“Happy to what?” he snarled.

She braced both hands on his chest and pushed. “Get off.”

He didn’t flinch. She jerked away, hissing at him. He pulled her back, growling deep in his chest. They tussled, struggling back and forth until he lifted her by the waist and pinned her to the wall by the balcony doors. “Say it,” he demanded, with the wolf in his eyes.

Fine. She’d give in, but only once. “I was happy to see you. Okay? Now get off!” She pushed him again but it had as much effect as the first time.

Ian didn’t move, didn’t speak. He’d gotten so close they breathed the same air. Rue couldn’t tell where the rabbit pace of her heartbeat ended and his began. So she looked down at how the stony grip of his arm, locked tightly around her waist, slammed their abdomens together. Not only his pulse but also the long hard heat of his erection pressed into her.

Slowly, her gaze traveled up his chest, following the chiseled cords of his throat, up over the scar she loved, past that plump lower lip she perpetually wanted to nip and up to his eyes. The eyes propelled her breathing into overdrive. The color in his irises had gone cosmic blue starry skies with a sunburst of amber at the center. With a chuckle of pure wolfen wildness Ian lowered his head to hers and took her mouth.

Rue melted. His flame was too hot to withstand so she didn’t try. Wrestling her mouth away she stared into his eyes before nipping and scraping her teeth across his bottom lip. Ian rumbled, the sound vibrating in his chest, teasing her nipples with sweet sensation. She gasped, throwing her head back as Ian fisted a handful of her curls and pulled backwards to expose her throat. He devoured her, his teeth taking her flesh in sharp love bites that tugged on her clitoris and made her tremble beneath him.

“Ian,” she moaned. He didn’t answer but lifted her right leg and wrapped it around his hips. The sharp edge of the wall bit into her back but she didn’t care because Ian pumped his erection hard against her core, his hips undulating into her body again and again. One of her arms shot overhead to brace herself against the corner of the wall bracketing the balcony doors. It took everything in her to ride out the pumping of his body without coming apart.

Mouth still voracious on her neck, he deftly found the snap crotch of her teddy. Wrenching the silken fabric to one side, he plunged two thick fingers into her waiting wetness. Her arm jerked around his neck as her mouth dropped open in a throaty “ahh” from the pleasure so shattering she forgot to breathe. Ian rammed his tongue into her open mouth as the heel of his palm rotated into her sensitized flesh and his fingers dove in and out of her.

A wave of sensation shuddered through her entire body. Rue came against Ian’s skilled hand and melted into him as aftershocks of pleasure claimed her.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Someone pounded on the bedroom door until it shook. “Ian!” a man’s voice said, “It’s me, Dillon. Come on out. The pack is here to see you.”

Chapter Twelve

It took Ian a few minutes to clean up and straighten his clothes. He stepped out into the hall and Dillon tackled him in a spine-cracking hug, lifting him off his feet. “It’s been too long,” his friend said. “Don’t let it happen again.”

“Done,” Ian said, patting Dillon on the back. He’d missed talking things out with Dillon over the last couple of years. Since their kindergarten playground days, the copper-haired wolf had served as his advisor. Back then, they decided when to push someone off the swings and where to hide afterward to avoid punishment. When they grew up, Dillon became his second-in-command and counseled him on pack matters. They made a strong team. But beyond those things Dillon was his closest friend. The man who could easily double for Prince Harry deserved better than a brother who’d disappeared without much more than a few words.

Unlike the new Ian, Dillon didn’t hold grudges. Knowing this made the reunion sweeter. They gave each other a second set of one-armed hugs, pounding the hell out of each other’s backs to keep from showing the depths of their emotions.

Dillon looked past Ian at the closed bedroom door. “Where’s your future mate?”

Ian glanced at the door as well. “She’s tired. She can meet the pack another day.”

“This isn’t social,” Dillon said, holding Ian’s gaze with serious intent. Dillon’s silence told Ian what he needed to know. The pack had called a council, probably because he’d come home and had yet to check in. Dillon laid a hand on Ian’s shoulder. “It’s pack business and you’re going to need all the votes you can get. Go grab your mate and meet us on the patio terraces.”

With a curt nod Ian watched his friend lope down the hall. If votes were needed, tonight’s meeting of the council would indeed be serious. His mother had warned him his life in LuPines hadn’t frozen in time waiting for him to pick it back up. Ian didn’t mind working to regain his life but he hoped hard work and contrition would be enough.

Rue hadn’t wanted to come but Ian convinced her. It would look suspicious if she didn’t join them for a council when his mother had so happily announced to the LuPines grapevine that he’d brought the cat shifter who would be his alpha female home.

Kitty gasped when he lead her through the unbroken line of glass doors at the back of the villa and onto the series of patio terraces of different sizes and heights. Each patio led down to several small pools and water features. “It’s gorgeous,” Rue had said.

Ian couldn’t argue. His great grandfather had designed the terraces and done the landscaping. Each patio featured various arrangements of seating or lounging chairs. Some had fire pits at their centers, while others were surrounded in perennials. Each season one set of plants slumbered and a new set, made for that particular time of year, sprang up. Ian had loved to ensconce himself in one of the botanical sections, drink his wine, and reflect on the free nights he had when he led the pack.

His wolves waited for them on the last and largest of the terraces. Rue stumbled and grabbed his arm when she caught sight of the thirty or so wolves. “You have a huge pack,” she whispered.

“This isn’t the whole pack, Kitty. Only the leaders with the right to vote.”

He started forward, eager to see the people he’d missed. Rue tugged the sleeve of his sweater and he stopped. “What am I supposed to do?”

He took both her hands in his. “The only thing you have to fear is when I take my revenge on you.” He waggled his eyebrows and she laughed.

“You’re out of your mind,” she murmured.

He chuffed. “I’m serious. You don’t have anything to be afraid of. Just stay by my side.”

“I can do that,” she said.

Her words took hold of him in a way he couldn’t explain, as though some new sense of peace blossomed within his chest. “Can you?” he asked. “Stay by my side, I mean?”

Her lower lip trembled and he shook himself out of the sudden need to hear her say yes. Grabbing her hand, he gently pulled her along behind him to go meet the pack.

When Ian reached his usual seat, Garrett had already taken it. However, someone, probably Dillon had pulled up a second chair so the two seats occupied the space traditionally reserved for the alpha. Ian didn’t balk at Garrett’s position. He’d asked the Wolfman of ancient bloodlines to watch over his pack while he was gone. Despite their rivalry, Garrett had honored his request. In gratitude, Ian offered the Wolfman a gesture of thanks. Garrett clasped forearms with him.

“I was happy to do it,” Garrett said. “You and your pack made a difference in Nox’s life. I owed you for saving my family and training my son to be the wolfen he is.”

The occasions when Ian and Garrett spoke in a non-growly, non-contentious manner were rare. Three years ago Ian had met Garrett’s son, Nox, and had been angered by the boy’s lack of training to control his wolf.

Garrett had his reasons for holding back on the boy’s wolfen education and they were good ones. The entire Westlake family, outside of Nox and Garrett, had been stalked and murdered by a bored big game hunter who saw them as a challenge. From that day on Garrett had seen packs as deadly. He’d wanted nothing to do with them, until Nox asked to join Ian’s pack and the LuPines wolves had changed Garrett’s mind. The fact Nox no longer went furry when he sneezed was a triumph. As was the fact Garrett had returned the favor by protecting the pack in Ian’s absence.

Those memories led to others. The day Garrett had crashed Ian’s wedding and married Ian’s fiancée lodged itself in his chest. He told himself he should be over it, but something about loving a woman for twenty years; building your hopes and dreams around the life you’d have together; imagining your children’s eyes, and finding happiness in those things, clung to a man. It hurt, and Ian couldn’t pretend it didn’t. Perhaps it always would pain him even when he eventually did “get over it”.

Ian dropped the bigger wolf’s forearm but kept his expression civil as he searched the gathering for Lennox, Garrett’s wife and Ian’s former love.

She should’ve been sitting in the space next to Garrett. Instead, he found her hazel eyes and caramel curls five places over from her husband’s. What the hell? The moment their eyes met Lennox jumped up and ran to him, throwing herself into his arms. He hugged her tight, finding comfort in her peachy scent and bouncing hair. They must’ve held on to each other for too long because both Garrett and Rue cleared their throats.

Rue mumbled, “I’m standing right here.”

Lennox let him go but remained close.

“Meet Rue,” Ian said. “Rue, this is Lennox.” He stalled on giving either woman a title. He didn’t know why.

Lennox gave Rue a delighted smile. “I’m glad to meet you, Rue!”

Rue nodded and smiled faintly.

Understanding of the not quite warm reception shadowed Lennox’s eyes. “I’m so glad Garrett finally found you, Ian. I…please forgive me. You’re important to me and I handled things all wrong.” She paused and her next words were hard won. “I didn’t know how to love properly. Because of it I hurt you and now I might’ve lost Garrett too.” She patted his chest. “I’m so sorry.”

Ian looked down at her, feeling the wolf inside him. Although he remembered how much he’d loved her, something had changed. He adored her still, so much so she’d felt like sunshine in his arms. But he no longer felt the need to crush her with kisses or to carry her off somewhere to mark and mate her. As much as he cared for her she brought back such a sudden onslaught of bad memories he had to take a step back.

Not wanting her to believe he couldn’t forgive her, he shushed her next words and said, “You’re still one of the best friends I have. But it’s going to take time for me to stop seeing that day at the altar when I look at you.”

This time Lennox stepped away. She sucked her lips into a firm line but nodded. “I understand, Ian,” she said. On a glance at Garrett, she finished. “I’ll make it up to both of you.”

Lennox took a few more steps backward before she turned and resumed her seat. Garrett watched her go with an expression so devoid of the usual love he bore for Lennox it sent a chill down Ian’s spine. What had happened between them?

Dillon, who sat on the other side of the chair he’d arranged for Rue, stood to call the council to order. Ian stopped him. He looked down at Rue. She wore a closed expression and sat with her arms wrapped around herself, as though she needed a hug. Kitty looked so alone and out of place. Ian decided that for as long as their ruse lasted she’d know what it felt like to have a pack. “Before we start the council I’d like to introduce everyone to Rue, my future mate.”

Ian expected smiles and congratulations, even a few hugs, and he received them. He just didn’t get as many as he’d anticipated. A few of the council members sat quietly in anger at him, even as they welcomed Rue.

He should’ve anticipated this. As much as he felt abandoned by Lennox, who wasn’t wolfen or shifter, it made sense his pack felt the same about his disappearance.

Gayle, an older female who had served as his father’s second, stood with her wine glass raised. “It’s good to meet you, Rue. And it’s good to see Ian has found the one for him.”

Many others joined in the toast. Rue’s cheeks reddened and dimpled.

Gayle shook her long auburn ponytail, streaked with gray at the temples, to call for silence. “How about you two lighten the mood and tell us how you met and when you fell?”

Wolfish laughter greeted the request. Rue gulped. And Ian, perverse bastard that he’d become, grinned at the thought of watching her squirm.

“We met at a spot called Cinna Mum’s Diner and Drive-in. Rue saw me through the window and she wanted my body bad.” He flexed the well-defined muscles he’d acquired in the wild. “I think she drooled a little on first sight.”

Ian glanced at Rue and noticed Dillon had given her some wine. He snatched the glass away so fast she did a double take. The Malbec had barely touched her lips. Shaking a finger at her, Ian warned, “Nah uh, Kitty.” She gave him an I-will-murder-you-in-your-sleep glare.

When the members of the council looked askance, Ian explained. “My pretty little kitty can’t hold her alcohol. Two glasses of this,” he drank the wine, “and we’ll be chasing her naked ass all over LuPines.”

Rue made a rude noise; a blush flushed her red-brown skin with bronze. So pretty.

“I will punch you in the neck,” she said, breaking him out of his infatuation with her radiant skin. Then realizing a bunch of wolves surrounded her (along with a couple of jackals who’d wisely remained in the house) Rue gave everyone a sheepish grin. “Sorry, wolves. No threat intended.”

Dillon said, “Nope, no threat. Sounded like a promise to me.”

The LuPines wolves snickered or tossed each other knowing glances. “They’re so in love,” Gayle whispered to her mate. Then louder she said, “Tell us your side of the story, Rue.”

Rue grabbed the glass out of Ian’s grasp and drained the remaining wine, roughly a third of a glass. Ian made a mental note to monitor her drinking. While shifters didn’t have inhibitions about nudity, Ian really didn’t want his straight male or lesbian pack mates staring at that amazing ass of hers.

With a triumphant grin, Rue turned to face Gayle. “He sat down at my table, uninvited.” Rue put her hands on her shapely hips. “Then he eats my butter pecan cinnamon rolls and turns his nose up at my wine.”

“That wasn’t wine,” Ian said dryly. “That was a well-aged Kool-Aid.”

The gathering erupted in an uproar of amusement. Rue giggled and a smirk lifted the corner of Ian’s mouth. The two of them held each other’s gazes before she gave him the human equivalent of a tail flounce and finished berating him.

“He’s an annoying bastard who stalked me down and followed me home. It was like having a stray cat. Except I like stray cats.” She threw her hands in the air. Dillon announced her the champion, while a few others hummed the Rocky theme song.

Rue blushed under all the attention and her own antics but Ian knew she felt welcomed. When she looked to him, as though asking what next, he pointed to the seat beside him. She sat and he absentmindedly reached out to stroke the tiniest curls that escaped her upswept ponytail at her nape. She didn’t push him away. Instead she purred. He liked that. Liked it a lot.

“Yep, that’s our Ian,” Gayle said. “He’s the ultimate stalker.” Sounds of agreement came from all around.

Faye, Ian’s former third who’d been quiet, spoke up. “It’s true,” she said, her expression a cross between fondness and hurt. “My mama found him waiting in our pantry one morning. He’d been in there all night waiting for someone to pounce on.” Somebody yelled out they remembered that. “Thing was,” Faye continued, “she’d been baking his birthday cake and wanted to hide if from us kids. That silly boy bounced his cake right out of my mama’s hands. It splatted all over the floor and her feet. Plus, he scared her so bad she tossed him into the next state.” A hint of a smile teased Faye’s impassable expression. Ian knew he’d have to make amends with her for leaving the pack quickly in order to heal their relationship.

“That cub stopped hiding in pantries after that,” Gayle chuckled.

“Yeah, he did,” Faye said. “But he never stopped stalking people. That’s the trouble that’s brought us here today.”

Those words killed the mood. In the silence that followed Dillon called the council into order.

“This meeting of the LuPines Wolfen Council has been called to settle a concern. We have both an interim pack guardian and a returning pack alpha who hasn’t been in residence for over twenty-four moons.” Dillon’s gaze swept over the gathering. “Since no single territory benefits from a confusion of leadership, and our pack cannot be held by two, we must choose who will lead us from this day.”

When the murmurs quieted, Dillon continued. “First I ask you, Ian Orion Somers, do you intend to resume your place as alpha?”

Ian nodded. “I realize it will take time to regain my equilibrium as pack leader, but it was never my intent to step down.”

Dillon assessed Ian for a few moments. Seeming satisfied he turned to Garrett. “Anderson Garrett Westlake, you have served us well as our interim alpha. So well that many would like you to remain.”