Overcome (7 page)

Colton shrugged. “We’re part wolves. The shifting process somehow heals most injuries. Sometimes illnesses, too, but we don’t get sick often.”

“Must be nice. Took me four weeks and several more of therapy to get over my broken ankle two years ago.”

Colton’s eyes took on a strange glowy hue, and he literally growled. “Why did you have a broken ankle?”

“Relax, Albatross. Skiing accident. Me and skis don’t play well together. I always end up on the injured side of the game.”

“You really shouldn’t call him that. He’s our alpha.” Sherry’s lip had curled in the corner, and if looks could kill…

Anna sighed. “You’re right. He caught me at a bad moment yesterday, and I couldn’t remember his name and that’s what came out.” She turned from Sherry to Colton, who was grinning, the jerk. “
Not
a pet name.”

“What can I get for you?” Sherry’s growl caused Anna to jump.

Colton really needed to look into Sherry’s infatuation with him. Anna was sure her eyeballs were about to be clawed out by the petite waitress.

Colton raised a brow, waiting for Anna to order first. She’d do anything to get Sherry to quit looking at her as if she’d rather tear her to shreds than serve her.

“Two Maid-Rites with mustard and pickle, please.” She saw no use in trying to eat like a rabbit in front of him. If he didn’t approve of her choice in food, he could stuff it where the sun don’t shine.

“Mustard and pickle, huh?”

“It’s Maid-Rite. If it isn’t mustard and pickle, then it’s not
Maid-Rite
. Get it?”

Marc put both hands up. “Hey, I agree. I just pegged you for a cheese smotherer.”

“Ew.”

He chuckled before answering the waitress. “Same for me, Sherry.”

Without bothering to write it down, Sherry turned with a sniff and walked off, leaving Anna wondering who’d pissed in her cornflakes that morning.

“Well. I didn’t win any points with her.”

“She’ll live.”

“She totally has a crush on you,” Anna mentioned again. “Might need to wipe the slobber off your side of the table.”

Colton threw his head back and laughed before growing serious. “She knows the score, and any feelings she may have toward me, she knows won’t be reciprocated.”

Anna crossed her arms on the table and leaned forward to sip from her Coke. The fizz sliding down her throat made her moan. Some places just served better Coke than others. And fountain definitely beat canned, hands down. “How does she know that? Girls crush on boys all the time. Get their little hearts stomped on every day.”

“She knows because if she were my mate, I would have already taken her. And kept her.” His voice dropped an octave. Became more seductive. Made her shiver. “Our kind knows instinctively who our other half is. Or in mine and Marc’s case, our third. If you weren’t human, we wouldn’t have to woo you. We’d take you to bed and make you ours, no questions asked.”

Fascinating. “And if the female doesn’t want you as a mate?”

Colton snorted. “Never heard of it happening. Our females feel the tug the same as our males. The only difference for us is you’re human.”

Anna made a noncommittal noise and flicked at a piece of lint on her shoulder. Suddenly Colton leaned forward.

“Do we frighten you?”

“What? No. Pfft. No.” She waved him off. Truth was she wasn’t scared. Which, ironically, scared her. Scared the ever-lovin’ bejeezus out of her because when she should be sprinting and screaming away from them, she couldn’t stop thinking about them and what they’d said and how they made her feel. And goddamn it, she’d just gotten out of a shitty relationship with a man she’d fallen hard for. Look where that’d gotten her.

“Alright, I’ll be honest with you. I’m not scared of
you
but of what you could do to
me.
”

Colton slumped back in his seat, a stunned expression on his face. “You think we’d hurt you?” He seemed so taken aback by the thought she nearly laughed.

“Not physically.” How she knew this, she wasn’t sure. “But emotionally, yes. You have immense potential for causing me severe pain. And trust me, I’m not ready for more pain in the relationship department.”

He swallowed. Appeared to be gulping down vomit as if he’d rather rip off his own arm than do anything to hurt her in any way, shape, or form. Which endeared him to her another notch.

She sucked in a breath. “This is neither here nor there because I don’t have time to play footsies with you two. I have to f—”

“So you do find us attractive.” He grinned and her insides squirmed, but she pressed on.

“I have to find an apartment so I can keep this job I’ve worked so hard to get.”

He grabbed her hand, spread her fingers, and speared his through them. “You don’t have to find an apartment.”

“I d—”

His fingers on her lips cut her off. “Hear me out. You don’t have to find an apartment because you can stay with us. You know better than anyone there’s plenty of space at the house. You can even have a separate room, if you must.”

“Gee. Thanks.”

“Trust me, having you there would go a long way in allowing us to show you how much you mean to us. It’s gonna be a lot harder if I keep having to follow you around and steal moments like this one.”

“You followed me?”

“Well, sorta. I saw you driving in and took my chance. Marc’ll probably kill me when he smells you on me, but hey, we need to have a good tussle.”

“You mean he’ll fight you because you had lunch with me?” Appalled, Anna took her hand back and covered her mouth.

Colton, the scoundrel, smiled again. “Nah. It’ll make him jealous as hell, though. ’Course, he’ll be spending every day near your presence at school, so if I get to steal this lunch, I will.”

Oh, yeah. That’s right. She’d be working with one of them. Seeing him day in and day out. Wilting under the pressure of his advances.

And ending right back where she currently found herself. Alone.

“No.” She resolutely shook her head. “I can’t. I have to find my own place.” This time she shushed him when he started to interrupt. “If things go further between us, then we’ll talk about residences later. Happy?”

The frown he gave her reminded her of a three-year-old who hadn’t gotten his way. “No. But if this is what it takes to get you into our bed, I’ll go along with it.”

She blushed and stared into her lap. Peter had never been this forward with her. His finger came under her chin and lifted it.

“Not for long, mind you. There’s only so long a male wolf can wait for his mate, Anna.”

The heat in his eyes led to an unfamiliar sensation between her legs. One she wasn’t sure she’d ever really felt. Not even in the beginning when she’d been smitten with Peter.

“And please, God, don’t tell us to stay away. It’s not possible and not going to happen. You’ll have to get used to us being around. Neither one of us will be able to stand by and not touch or talk to you, knowing who you are to us.”

Anna’s heart thumped in her chest. “Okay.” The whispered acquiescence shocked even her.

As did Colton when he stretched across the table and gently put his lips on hers. The sweetness nearly did her in. She felt the ache in her throat signaling tears and begged them not to fall.

She needn’t have begged. Sherry did an awesome job of cutting through the tension by plunking the plates with their paper-wrapped loose meat sandwiches on the table with a low growl.

This house is yours, baby. Come take a leap with us.

Anna nearly cried the second she stepped out her door and spied the huge arrangement of flowers gracing her stoop. The rest of yesterday’s meal had been eaten in a queer sort of silence, both of them doing their damndest not to laugh while their chaperone glared daggers at them. It kept Colton in line at least and kept him from not only touching her again—though she could tell it was clearly hard for him—but kissing her too.

If she were being one hundred percent honest with herself, she’d wanted him to kiss her again. Badly. And that pissed her off. She shouldn’t be wanting anyone after the way her last relationship had ended in complete disaster. She
should
be using this time to her advantage. Living it up, going through men…

Eh, who was she kidding? She wasn’t built for that kind of life. Since her childhood, all she’d ever envisioned was being married and raising her two-point-five kids in a cute little house with a fence and a dog.

With a sigh, Anna bent and scooped up the fragrant mass of mixed flowers. She was no gardener, so she didn’t know all of the types, but there were several. Roses, tulips, carnations…a bunch of things that probably shouldn’t go together but somehow worked. She set the vase on the table inside the door and headed out for another day of hell.

Surely things would go better today. She was going to venture farther out. It didn’t make her happy, but then, this was her being selfish. She’d been so looking forward to the few minute drive to and from work, and now she was facing at least a thirty-minute trek one way.

She prayed this one last lead would pan out so she wouldn’t have to leave town. While exiting the diner yesterday, she’d seen a dingy old ad for a garage apartment for rent. Anna had decided during the predawn hours—when she hadn’t been able to sleep for the lustful images of two certain men—that she could do a garage apartment until something else came along. Provided, of course, the ad was still good. This was questionable since the paper seemed nearly as old as the diner itself. It would be her first stop of the day. Once she had scratched it off her list, then farther out she’d go.

Her phone rang as she was exiting her car where she’d parked in front of a pretty shabby, run-down, two-story house that at one time, in its heyday, had probably been a very respectable mansion. Instead of getting out, she answered her phone while spying the garage behind it and just off to the side. It too seemed a little suspect.

“Hello?”

“Anna. I don’t have great news for you. I’m sorry.”

Great. Any conversation starting with I’m sorry was never a good thing. “What?”

“Peter seems to have disappeared. He’s changed his number and so has Vanessa.”

“Who?”

“Vanessa. Peter’s girlfriend?”

“Oh.” Candy Apple. Anna had never taken the time to learn her real name. Matter of fact, it peeved her to know it now. She’d never think of her as anything other than the hooker-red shade of lipstick she wore.

“Anyway, I contacted his employer, discovered he’s been away on business since Friday evening and won’t be back for several more weeks. They, of course, refuse to give me a way to get in touch with him without a warrant. I did speak to his attorney, who assured me he would talk to Peter. He wasn’t aware of the house being sold, either. So for right now, we’re stuck.”

“I have nowhere to live, James.”

“There’s nothing in your complex?”

“No. My complex is only six apartments, and since I gave up my lease when Peter gave me the keys to the house last week, there’s nothing. The manager already gave mine away. I have until Saturday to be out.”

“I’m really sorry this is happening, Anna.”

“It’s not your fault.” She was sure he’d hear her complete dejection, but there was no way to keep it out of her tone. Besides, it really wasn’t his fault. “I’m looking now. And expanding my search to nearby towns. I really can’t move back to Kansas City. It’s too far since I took the teaching job here.” At least that part of her life remained stable. Peter couldn’t take her work from her.

But then she never would have thought he could take the house, either, and he had.

“Do your best and I’ll put out some feelers from this end. Oh, and I’m also working on the stolen car deal. I’ve put in a request to talk to the officer who took the report. He’s off duty until tomorrow, so I’ll have to wait to get the details straight from his mouth. The officer I spoke to today said the claim came from a couple. It could be a case of the tag being put in the system wrong. I have a strong suspicion that’s what happened.”

Well that was good news at least. She guessed. Sort of.

“Thank you, James.” She’d needed all the help she could get.

“One last thing. I did some checking on the men living in your house. They’re the alphas of the local shifter pack there.”

“Yes. They mentioned that.” She wouldn’t tell her lawyer the other things they’d mentioned. Like wanting to eat her or keep her. Forever. “They offered to let me stay there.”

“They did?” Surprise colored James’s response.

“Yes. I think they felt bad.”
Has nothing to do with them wanting to lay you bare and share their DNA with you.
“Anyway, I can’t imagine living A: with strangers, and B: being surrounded by what I can’t have.” Although she told herself it was the latter that would hurt more than the strangers, who made her heart beat faster and certain parts of her body come to life. Namely her clit and nipples.

“I guess as a last resort, though…” James let the thought trail off.

“As a last ditch effort, I’ll think about it.” As in, on Friday night if she hadn’t found anything, she’d offer herself on a silver platter.

“Good luck today, Anna. I’ll keep trying to find Peter and you continue to let me know how things are going.”

“I will. Thanks again.”

She disconnected after the perfunctory good-byes and Anna glanced at the dilapidated old house once more.

Determined not to let the fact Peter was now MIA piss her off any further, Anna steeled her spine and dragged herself out of the car. Nothing would stop her from finding a place.

Except the man standing before her. She so hadn’t counted on the garage apartment belonging to someone like this.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she muttered, and then pasted on a fake smile.

Anna swallowed, trying ever so desperately not to inhale the stench of stale beer, cigar, rotted food, animals, and rampant decay that wafted from the house behind him and choked out, “I’m here…to see the apartment.” She ended up blurting it rather rudely because she couldn’t think of any other excuse on the planet to get her off the front porch.