Snowdonia 1 - Wolf at the Door (6 page)

His expression of pain looked genuine. “Sweetheart.” His voice dropped a tone as he tried to plead with her. “The baby isn’t mine.” He hung his head, and she felt a wave of compassion sweep through her. Soulful brown eyes peeped up at her through his hair. “What was I supposed to say? Hey, my slut of a wife has been cheating on me and got herself knocked up? The father is probably some random drunk from a one-night stand.” His mouth twisted and he ran a hand through his perfectly groomed hair. It fell back into place immediately. “My hands are tied. I can hardly call her a whore to the press when they know about us.”

*

Jake seriously considered shifting back to human form, just to see the expression on Asshole’s face when he punched him on that too-straight nose. Surely, Lillian wasn’t buying this crock of shit? He could smell the lies from here. Or maybe that was just Kurt’s bad taste in cologne. Either way, he’d heard enough. He stood up, stretched his legs, and took a step toward Asshole, drawing a measure of satisfaction at the fear in the man’s eyes.

With his head low, he snapped his teeth together. Asshole shot backward, almost tripping over in his haste. Jake advanced, hackles up, teeth bared. Asshole scrambled some more, bumped into the wood basket and fell to the floor, landing with a bump on his ass. Jake pounced. Asshole squealed. He sounded like a little girl.

“Gethimoffme!” His words ran into one. Jake rested his two front paws on the man’s chest.
Better
. Much better.

“Wolfie!” Lillian didn’t sound impressed with the Asshole and Jake felt proud at how he’d dealt with the situation. Seconds later, her fingers curled into his ruff and she yanked on his fur. “Bad dog! Go and wait in my bedroom.”

What? She was defending the Asshole? Jake took a quick, frustrated breath. There’s no way he would even pretend to bite her. With a final, furious glare at Asshole, Jake allowed himself to be hauled away.

“Not the bedroom, sweetheart,” the actor interrupted. Jake dug his paws into the rug and Lillian hesitated. “I’d feel safer—for you—if he was outside.” She opened her mouth to speak but he continued, his voice rising to swamp her. “I’m only thinking of you. Let him sit outside for a few minutes,” the Asshole cajoled, “it will cool his aggression and give me the chance to talk to you.” Standing again, he brushed at the red Santa robe. “Okay? I’m allergic. Please, Ella.”

What the fuck
? Lillian—his
Mate
—pulled him toward the door and before he could do anything about it, he found himself shoved out onto the porch. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, stroking his muzzle. “It’s only for a few minutes, and then I’ll come and get you. I promise.”

Fury raged through him, and for a moment, a red haze descended over his vision. Allergic, huh? Well he was allergic to fuckwits and it was time he did something about it.

Chapter 16

Jake decided that peeing across the driver’s door of the shining car was good, so in wolf form, he marked his territory with satisfaction. Finding the doors unlocked was even better. Using the car to conceal himself, he shifted to human form and yanked open the passenger door and took a minute to search the interior for anything interesting.

The trunk held a mountain of luggage, including a sleek laptop zipped into a leather case. He made sure to listen for any sound from the cottage and then he fired up the computer. It was not even password-protected. What an idiot. The image on the desktop made him pause: a glamorous blonde sitting on Asshole’s knee. It was clearly a professional picture, but the adoration on the woman’s face was genuine.

Jake felt sick. What had she seen in the Asshole? White-hot jealousy knifed through him and he struggled not to roar.
Mine
, he growled to himself. The thought of his Mate loving another man was bad enough, but this one? He’d cheated on his wife
and
his child. The fuckwit didn’t deserve either. If Jake ever had a child, he would love and protect it with everything he had.

With barely contained fury still pulsing through him, Jake checked the e-mail history and found a series of long conversations between the Asshole and his wife. She pleaded with him to stop playing around, raged about his current affair, then warned that she would be made a fool of no longer, and enclosed an e-mail from her lawyer.
Hang on …
Jake reread the last one to make sure he’d read it properly. Yep. Angelique was divorcing the Asshole—not the other way around. The
fucker
. He couldn’t even tell the truth about that.

There was no Wi-Fi signal here and no way Jake could forward the incriminating mails to his own account. He’d just take the laptop. Stuffing it back into the case, he darted to the log pile at the side of the cottage and hid it there. He wasn’t entirely sure what he’d
do
with it, but that information was too valuable to ignore.

The cold was beginning to bite, and Jake was shivering by now; his balls had shrunk to the size of walnuts, but it would be worth it. He shifted back to wolf and waited on the doorstep.

* * * *

Lillian turned around and leaned on the closed door. The thought of Wolfie freezing outside tore at her. Already she thought of him as her dog. God alone knew how she could keep him.

“I missed you, sweetheart.” Kurt moved to her and pulled her into his arms. “When you ran away … God. I was out of my mind. You didn’t answer my calls, didn’t reply to my texts. You have no idea what went through my mind. All I could think of was getting here.”

Lillian draped her arms loosely across his shoulders. She was yet to be convinced by his remorse. “How did you find me here?”

He eased closer and began to nuzzle the base of her throat. “That ditzy publicist you use, Corinne. She told me.” Lillian held onto her anger. She’d asked Corinne to keep it a secret from everyone.

“You
are
pleased to see me, Ella?” His lips pressed a hot trail up to her chin. She had missed him. She
had
loved him.

He reached her ear and nipped at the lobe. When she whimpered, he slid his hands up her back and pulled her even closer. “Ella,” he breathed. “Let me stay here with you. We can celebrate Christmas by ourselves. You are my present and I want to unwrap you piece by piece.”

Lillian frowned. Why did that sound familiar? Kurt continued. “Christmas with you will be the first Christmas of the rest of my life. We don’t need mistletoe, we don’t need…”

“
Baubles
.” Lillian interrupted. “
We’ll make our own pleasures
.” He fell silent and Lillian glared at him. “Lost your voice? Or should I say, lost your script?” She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “You’re quoting from one of your movies, Kurt. I
have
watched them, you know.”

Chapter 17

Kurt laughed at Lillian’s sharp words and shifted his gaze to look at the floor for a moment. “I was just playing, hoping you’d join in. You didn’t think I was being serious, did you?” A tiny frown creased his smooth forehead and then he kissed the tip of her nose. “You mean too much to me, Angel, to mess you around.” He began to open her robe, his fingers sliding across her bare skin.

Lillian froze. “
Angel
.” He paused and glanced up at her. “You called me
Angel
. Is that what you call Angelique?”

He sighed and lifted his head. “I love you,
Ella
.” He stressed her name. “How many times do I have to tell you, before you believe me?”

Indecision raged. She wanted to believe him. She was fed up with being alone, of being leered at, of crazy fans lusting after her image. All she’d ever wanted was someone to love her. She’d thought Kurt was that special someone, but now, after the way he’d behaved, she wasn’t sure. Even if his story was true, that he’d been trying to stay private, she couldn’t get over the simple fact that he hadn’t trusted her enough. And then he’d lied. He’d
hurt
her. How could she ever trust him again?

The soulful way he watched her was familiar. She’d seen that same expression in his movies a dozen times—usually when he was trying to entice a woman into bed. She opened her mouth to speak but he clamped his lips over hers in a brutal, punishing kiss.

“Sweetheart,” he murmured when he finally released her. “I think I’m dying of the cold and you’re the only thing that will warm me up.” Another quick kiss. “Come and thaw my frozen heart.”

Too little, too late. She had packed her own heart in ice and it would take more than a cheesy movie star to break it free.

*

Jake stretched up and stared through the steam-fogged window.
His
Mate. Kissing the Asshole. Pain sliced through him and he dropped to the ground. He couldn’t watch them. Of all the women in the world, what random twist of fate had brought him here, to her door? He would rather have never met her. Head down, he took a step toward the woods. The wound on his leg would most likely open up on the run back to Pack territory, but he didn’t care. Another step … thoughts of Lillian sparked through him, their crazy dream-sex, the way her soul cried out to him. He swallowed. Even if he never saw her again, he would always want her. She had ruined him for other women.

*

Lillian took a deep breath. “No.”

Kurt’s fingers stilled. “What do you mean …
no
?” He must have thought she was teasing because he gave her a boyish grin and slipped his hand beneath her robe again. Something inside Lillian snapped. She grabbed his wandering hand and tugged it free, before letting go and folding her arms.

“No. I’m not doing this anymore, Kurt. I want you to leave.”

An array of emotions flashed across his face and Lillian wondered if he was deciding which face to show her. The one that emerged was ugly. “I drove hundreds of fucking miles to see you and I’m not heading out in that blizzard again tonight. I left my fucking wife for you, Ella. You aren’t going to throw me out like a piece of trash.”

“If I’d known you were still married, I would never have slept with you.”

He laughed again, but this time it had a cruel edge. “Not getting fussy, are you? Face facts, baby. You’re a two-bit piece of ass, and I’m the best offer you’ll ever get. Stay with me and you’ll have everything you ever wanted. Let me go and you’ll kick yourself.” His hands closed around her upper arms, his fingers digging in. “How much longer have you got? Two years, maybe three, and then someone else will be top of the pile and all you’ll have left is a few CDs. You’ll be lucky to sing karaoke.”

She was too angry to feel scared. “Thanks. For the record, I’m not your baby, your Angel,
or
your sweetheart. Never mind kicking myself, I’m going to be the woman kicking your ass when I tell the press my side of things.”

Kurt’s eyes darkened. His fingers squeezed tighter and he shook her, making her bump against the door. “Don’t even think about it,” he snarled. “Who’s going to believe a slut like you?”

Chapter 18

Jake paused and then looked back over his shoulder. He wasn’t a young pup easily cowed at the first sign of trouble. He was Pack Alpha … and she was his Mate. The cold had obviously shriveled his balls in more ways than one if he was giving up now. His mind made up, he bounded back to the house and charged at the front door, crashing into it. It jerked under his weight, but didn’t open. What the fuck? Had they locked him out? This was Asshole’s doing, he’d put money on it.

The back door burst open when he shoulder charged it, and he skidded on the tiled kitchen floor, his feet scrabbling for grip. The sight that met him pushed his anger to volcanic levels. The Asshole was shaking Lillian like a rag doll. He was so intent on his brutality he hadn’t noticed Jake’s entrance. Lillian had. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She looked afraid, but it was Asshole who should have been scared.

One warning snarl and Jake pounced. He snatched at Asshole’s right arm, burying his teeth in the sleeve of the Santa robe and dragging it back. For a few seconds it was chaos. Asshole screamed, Lillian gave a little cry, and Jake bit the Asshole’s other arm. Hard. He forced the wailing actor to the floor and stood on his back, snarling and with saliva dripping from his mouth. It wouldn’t take much for him to sink his teeth into the man’s throat and finish him completely.

*

Lillian couldn’t speak. She shook from head to toe. It was as though Kurt had set off a chain reaction and now her entire body quivered, but she was not afraid of Wolfie. Wrapping her arms around herself, she stepped forward and peered down at her ex.

“For fuck’s sake, stop him, Ella. I’m bleeding—the bastard tried to rip my arm off.”

Her eyes filled with tears. She’d been in love with this man, and this was how he treated her. Like a whore. A booty call.

“I’ll have it shot. It’s dangerous.” Kurt sounded angry, but when Wolfie growled again, he immediately moaned. “Please, Ella. I’ll do anything. Just get the fucking thing off me.”

She ran her tongue around dry lips. “Anything?” Her voice was hoarse.

“
Yes
.”

“Leave and don’t ever call me or contact me again.”

“Done”

“And if you even
think
about telling anyone that Wolfie is dangerous, I’ll tell the newspapers how you came up here and attacked me.”

He sucked in an unsteady breath and then whimpered when Jake snarled right next to his ear. “Yes! Okay. Get. It.
Off
. Me.”

She moved her hand to Wolfie and sank her fingers into his thick fur. “Come here. He’s going now.”

*

Jake didn’t want to move away from the Asshole. He wanted to rip him into little pieces and feed him to the Pack. In the end, it was the sight of his Mate’s white, shocked face that did the trick. She wanted comfort and he needed to comfort her. He forced himself to calm down, to slow the bloodlust that coursed through his veins, and then he climbed down and moved to stand at his Mate’s feet. She sank to her knees and threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his ruff. He could feel her trembling, hear the way her heart raced, and he wanted to kill the Asshole all over again. One wrong move and all that would be left of the famous actor was a bloody mess on the floor.