Hunger of the Heart (Wolves of Ravenwillow Book 1) (5 page)

Shaking the thoughts away, Eric forced his mind to a more productive subject. There would be time to worry about his mating status; but now wasn’t the time. Turning to look at Damon, Eric gestured toward the open doorway with his hand.

“Let’s head to my office and I’ll show you the blue prints that we’ve drawn up for your house before we head out.”

Damon nodded. “I hope you made the bedroom extra large.” He teased. “I need my space.”

“For what? You’re large ego and blow up dolls?” Chris commented from behind as they headed down the sunlight filled hall.

Scoffing, Damon turned to look at Chris as he continued walking. “I’ll have you know I graduated from blow up dolls a long time ago.”

The combined teasing words and friendly laughter echoed behind Eric as he made his way to his office. He couldn’t help the returning feel of a strange restlessness within his wolf all of a sudden. His beast was on edge. As one would feel as if they were being hunted or watched, neither of which Eric cared for.

Cautiously, Eric allowed his gaze to wonder around the wide open lobby area of the lodge as they moved toward his work office. Sitting with a lazy posture was his second beta; Jason. His eyes briefly lifted once Eric exited out of the long hallway, only to drift away and back at the motorcycle magazine he was glancing through. On the far side of the room was Myra; he dismissed her seeking gaze within the second he’d spotted her.

Something had put his wolf on edge and had left his skin crawling to the point of madness. But what was it?

“That’s stupid.” Travis grumbled, lifting his eyes from his game boy for the first time in the past hour.

Letting her head lull against the back of the soft chair she sat in, Rebecca closed the thick story book around her thumb, effectively holding her place within the many pages. For the past half an hour she’d done what she did every night, after getting the energetic twin in their separate beds one of the twins chose a book for their nightly bedtime story.

Emma shot a glare across from her side of the room to her disagreeable twin. “Shut up, Travis.”

Turning her attention back to Rebecca, Emma clutched her stuffed orange and black striped tiger closer to the soft material of her purple Barbie nightgown. “What happened next, Becca?” her voice filled with innocent wonder.

“Maybe that’s enough for tonight.” Rebecca began to extract her thumb from the book, but was stopped by the sound of Emma’s cry of denial.

“No! I wanna hear more! Come on, Becca; you promised.” She cried out with a pout.

Rebecca winced when her gaze collided with Emma’s beseeching dark brown eyes. The same big eyed, pleading look a small puppy gave. Emma always knew how to guilt her into anything. Glancing down at her wrist watch, she affirmed it was well past eight-thirty, within the time the twins should already be asleep.

“It’s time for you to go to bed, Emma. We’ll read some more on Tuesday.”

Closing the book, Rebecca rose from her comfortable seat, replacing the book on the tall white bookshelf beside bedroom door. Tonight had been Emma’s turn to choose which book would be read; unsurprisingly she’d chosen “Beauty and the Beast, The Madame Le Prince de Beaumont version”. The very same book that Rebecca had given Emma as a gift, when she’d made the highest grade in her kindergarten class.

Turning around she made her way to Emma’s bed, where she still sat up clutching at her stuffed tiger, idly rubbing one of the orange ears. Sitting down on the edge of Emma’s flowered comforter, Rebecca reached for the small lamp that set in the large space between Emma and Travis’s twin beds. Turning the small switch and with a small click the bedroom smothering the bedroom in moonlit darkness. Almost immediately a small crescent moon shaped nightlight on the bookshelf began to glow in the shadowy room.

“Why can’t we read more tomorrow?” Emma asked grudgingly, when Rebecca stood, pulling aside the thick comforter, Emma obediently crawled under it.

“Because tomorrow you guys are going to your Grandma’s and Monday night it’s Travis’s turn to pick the book we’ll read.”

Emma crunched up her face in disagreement. “He only likes video games.”

Smiling gently, Rebecca nodded her head in agreement. “That reminds me.” Walking across the room, Rebecca could clearly see Travis in the dimly lit room, the lit up screen of his game boy illuminated his small face. He still sat on top of his navy colored comforter; his blue eyes flickered back and forth across the screen of his black game boy. Coming to stop near his bed, her hands closed over the game boy, pulling it out of his two small clutching hands.

Travis made a hopeless grab for the game boy. “Hey! Give it back!”

Turning the game boy off, she folded the screen down. “Go to sleep.”

“I was almost to level twelve!”

“Well, Zeda can wait until tomorrow.”

“It’s Zelda.” Travis grumbled with a pout.

Her unflinching gaze settled over his stubborn one. A look no doubt he inherited from his even more stubborn father. “Go to sleep Travis.”

Giving her a pouting look, like his twin he crawled beneath his comforter and settled against the soft matching pillow. Laying the game boy down on top of the bookshelf, her eyes slowly swept over the twins bed one last time. Somehow both of Eric’s children always seemed to fall asleep the second their heads hit the pillow. Travis had lain down with his back toward her, no doubt put out with the confiscation of his video game. Emma snuggled on her side; in her sleep she continually rubbed the side of her face against her pillow in effort to get comfortable. Her stuffed tiger still clutched to her small body.

Deep in her heart, she knew that she wouldn’t always be needed for Emma and Travis. But in the past few months they both had found a way to weasel through her armor and into her heart. How would she walk away from them afterwards? No doubt Emma and Travis could tell she wasn’t a shifter like them, but they had done nothing but treat her like a member of the family.

Quietly closing the door behind her as she left, Rebecca slowly made her way down the short hall way and down the maroon carpeted stairs. Her eyes drifted over the collection of framed baby photos and other pictures that documented Emma and Travis’s memories. She spotted several photos of the twins with Sarah, their grandmother. But there was only one picture with Eric. It was her favorite picture out of them all, because it was the only photo of them that she’d taken.

Taken last month at the park, the photo showed Eric lounging on a blanket with Emma and Travis crawling over him in a mock of a wrestling match. Eric’s handsome face glowed with happiness as his large arms wrapped around the two wiggling children. They really made a happy family. A family, Rebecca knew she’d never be a part of.

With her family gone, Rebecca found herself constantly marveling at the beauty of many family photos wherever she worked. But never had she stared at a picture of her employer the way she did now. She didn’t understand the strange pull she felt towards him. It wasn’t as if Eric even liked her. Several times she’d caught Eric looking at her, but it wasn’t soon after meeting her gaze that he found an excuse to leave the room. No doubt; he found humans to be unattractive and beneath him. Maybe if she’d been a shifter…

Rebecca immediately shook off the thought before her idle brain could complete it. Eric was her boss and he would remain so if she valued her job and life. He would never see past her weak human form and she couldn’t look past the vicious beast that she knew lurked beneath the surface.

After straightening up the slightly cluttered living room, she found herself near the end of her nightly chore list. Standing in front of the double sink, her hands moved quickly across the soiled dishes. When one dish was spotless, she deposited it in the other sink, filled with clear, rinse water. From there she plucked it out and laid it gently on the wooden dish rack beside the sink.

              Finally finished, she grabbed a dish towel and dried her hands. Turning to the dish rack, she began putting the newly cleaned dishes where they belonged. Setting the last of the dishes away, her ears picked up the sound of several male voices coming from the porch.

Giving the clean kitchen one final look over, she headed to the laundry room located by the staircase. Taking the last load out of the dryer, she focused on ignoring the conversation that became louder as Eric and his visitors entered through the kitchen. Not wanting to interrupt or be introduced to anyone in her rumpled appearance, Rebecca stayed in the laundry room as she sorted and folded the last load of the night.

The sound of heavy footsteps nearing the dimly lit room made her heart begin to race. She prayed they were just heading into the living room to watch some TV and had no intention of coming near her. When the footsteps seemed to draw closer, she felt her heart race more.

Looking down at the polished red washier, Rebecca winced at her blurry reflection. Her high ponytail was crooked and many strands of her hair fell tangled around her face and her blue t-shirt was dirty and damp from dish water. She didn’t want to meet Eric’s colleges like this! Her only hope was that she could finish folding the clothes and put them away quickly, then slip out before being seen.

“There you are.” Gasping in surprise, Rebecca closed her eyes, holding a hand over her racing heart as Eric’s tall frame suddenly filled the doorway. “Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t.” Dropping her hand from her wet chest, she roughly shoved her tangled strands of hair behind her ears. “I’m just finishing up and then I’m out of here.” Gently setting the three piles of folded clothes in the square basket, she tried to slip past him; but he refused to move from his position in the doorway.

“That can wait a second.”

Reaching out he tried to gentlemanly extract the tan weaved basket from her delicate arms. Rebecca repositioned the basket on her opposite hip, away from him, her eyes flashing challengingly at him. Moving toward her, Eric tried once again to take the basket from her and once again she stepped aside, evading him.

Glaring down at her, he held out his hands. “Give me the damn basket.”

“No. I want to put these where they need to go so I can go home. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Before Rebecca could walk around him, his hand shot around her, snagging the basket from her grip. Ignoring her sound of frustration, he dropped the basket carelessly on top of the washier.

Grasping a hold of her wrist, he tugged her out of the laundry room, causing her to stumble behind him. “Come, I want to meet some people.”

Futilely, she tried to reclaim her hand. “Eric, you can’t introduce me to your colleges with me looking like this.”

“Why the hell not?” coming to an abrupt halt, he turned to face her, His hand still shackling her wrist.

“Look at me. My clothes are wet and dirty, my hair is messed up—”

Raising a skeptic brow, Eric scoffed. “So what? It’s not as if they’d be interested in you anyway.”

Finally fed up with being treated like a dog being led by a leach, Rebecca jerked her hand from his grasp. Shocked that she was able to pull from his hold, Eric turned to watch her quietly. Raising her chin, definitely at him, her hand reached up to shove her fall dark hair from her face.

“Fine, I’ll meet your friends. But next time, I expect to be asked nicely and in advanced. Furthermore; you may be my boss, Eric; but that doesn’t give you the right to drag me around like a dog.” By the time she finished railing at him she was panting for breathe. Eric’s surprised face turned to his normal stern one.

His forehead rippled with a deep frown and his full lips tensed in a hard line. Not bothering to answer her he continued the rest of the way across the living room and into the kitchen. Given no other choice, Rebecca followed him, all the while doing her best to straighten her appearance as the sound of male voices grew louder.

“Where’d you disappear to Alpha?” shooting a warning glance at Jason’s question, Eric flicked his eyes toward Rebecca. Silently cautioning everyone to watch what they said around the human in the room.

Walking past the three watchful wolves in the room, Eric headed to the fridge, while calling over his shoulder. “Everyone this is Rebecca. She looks after the house and my children.” Reaching into the fridge he withdrew a chilled bottle of water. Walking back to the group, he stood next to Rebecca and began introducing each male before her.

“This is Jason; he’s my… assistant of sorts.” He explained hesitantly. Rebecca’s gaze shifted to look up at Eric’s as he quickly averted his gaze. Through his cool exterior she could see that Eric was on edge with his pack members; or at least that’s what she assumed they were, around her. Perhaps he was concerned that one may say something to endanger their secret in front of her. Regardless what the reason for his strange demeanor, she had to play along.

As Jason stepped forward, offering his hand in greeting, Rebecca couldn’t help but stare at his handsome face. His nearly black hair fell to his shoulders, pulled back tightly in a meager ponytail. She wasn’t surprised to see his eyes mirroring the same richness of his hair color. With his dark olive skin color and his almond shaped eyes, she would guess that he had strong Native American Indian heritage in his family somewhere.

He smiled warmly down at her as his large hand cupped her smaller one. “So you’re the elusive Rebecca? Eric talks about you all the time.”

Rolling her eyes gently pulled her hand away from Jason’s gentle grasp. “I’m sure it wasn’t all good things. I have a habit of irritating people to the point of insanity.”

Letting out a rumbling laugh, Jason’s lips curved into a soft smile. “I doubt that.”

* ~ * ~ *

Clearing his throat loudly, Eric’s hard eyes bore into Jason’s, giving a clear warning for him to back away from the small human. Nodding his head at Eric in acknowledgement, Jason turned and settled down one of the kitchen table chairs.

Only after making one introduction, Eric was seeing that introducing Rebecca to his Beta’s and Damon was the worst mistake he’d ever made. His eye flashing over all their expressions made it clear. Every one of them watched Rebecca with a look of hunger and longing. How dare they look at her that way! He should kick them all out now, including Rebecca! How dare she look so tempting, so…something! Somehow he couldn’t fight the growl that rumbled deep in his chest, the feeling of protectiveness that flooded all his senses.

Mine…Only mine…
the thought came from deep down, from his wolf.

Shock rocked him, nearly causing him to crust the plastic water bottle in his hand. There it was again, the invasive sound of his wolf’s thoughts. How was that possible? A shifter’s inner beast only fully emerged like that when a true mate was near. This confused him, causing his gaze to focus on Rebecca’s. Growing impatient with the nonsense of his own thoughts he quickly finished introducing the last two, barely patiently waiting wolves before him.