Solstice Heat (9 page)

“What are you doing?” she asked, more than a bit nervous.

“Helping you relax.” He took her legs and pulled, making her fall backward onto the bed. He trailed a finger up and down her legs.

She knew what he was going to do, and his little touches were doing nothing but torturing her into jumping and shivering in anticipation. Then she felt his teeth on her. There was a sharp, scraping pain followed by the soothing caress of his tongue. He bit up one leg and down the other.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on not shattering right there. Her body was still humming from earlier, so she had no clue how long she would be able to hold out.

He used his tongue to trace the sensitive skin covering her clit, and she grabbed the sheets. “Jason, please.”

He dipped through her wet crease and stroked her tiny bud. She was so sensitive that she almost screamed at the first touch. But after a few more swipes, she was riding a cresting wave and ready to come. She was almost there; all she needed was a little more.

Something must have tipped him off about her upcoming orgasm. He pushed two fingers inside her and sucked her clit into his mouth at the same time. Fire started deep in her belly and worked its way up and out to every cell in her body. She released the sheets and let the fire burn straight through her.

When she could suck in a breath and concentrate enough to open her eyes, he was gone.

“Are you hungry?” he called from outside the bedroom.

She was starving. But food wasn’t number one on her list, and that scared her. His relaxation technique had done nothing but make her want to jump into bed with him again. Her need to be with him was going beyond the need to quench that fire smoldering inside her. She actually liked being touched by him. And touching him. The man in that chair was vulnerable, approachable, and so drop-dead delicious in bed that she couldn’t imagine…
Stop. Stop right there
. She was not about to do this. He wasn’t her type. And she wasn’t his. Wasn’t that what had started this whole mess in the first place? No more thoughts about him, the future, or anything else that led down that forbidden path. Right now she needed to live day to day. Concentrate on surviving.

When she walked out of the bedroom, he was nowhere to be found. The smell of toast pulled her into the kitchen, where he whizzed around, popping something into the oven.

“What’s for lunch?” she asked, putting on a cheery face—one that probably didn’t fool either of them.

“A precooked roast Donovan picked up.” He looked over his shoulder at her. His phone rang, and whatever else he was going to say died on his lips. He opened the phone and put it up to his ear. “What’s up, Donovan?”

“I just left Dane’s house. It looks like Toni is headed your way. I think Dane’s trying to get info on Gio. Be careful. A lot of the pack is about to go into heat.” Donovan’s voice was as clear as if she had been on the phone with him. How the hell was she hearing that? She doubted Jason’s cell phone could broadcast that loud. And it wasn’t as if she had been specifically trying to listen in.

“Thanks,” Jason said then shut the phone.

“Who’s Toni?” It could be a guy. It could. But hadn’t Jason said only the females went into heat?

“Huh?” He looked at her as if she’d grown another head.

“Don’t know how, but I heard your entire conversation. Who’s Toni, and why is she headed this way?” He blushed, and suddenly she was on high alert. It was a simple question. He held her gaze for several seconds, long enough for her to know she wouldn’t like his answer.

“Toni is Dane’s sister and one of the stronger females in the pack.” He turned his head away from her as he said the words. “She’ll be here in about fifteen minutes with the way she drives. Stay in my bedroom. No need to give Dane more information than he already has.”

“Hold on. His men have already seen me, so what difference does it make if I meet this Toni?” She felt her wolf rising to the surface. The primal need to fight burned through her. She wasn’t a meek little mouse. She never hid from a challenge. Not before this change and she had no plans on doing it now.

“A dominant female can spot another one. Her wolf will come out, and knowing her, she will either test you with a fight in human form, or she’ll transform into her wolf and try to tear you to pieces.” He looked directly at her. “Either way, if I help you, you’ll be seen as weak. I prefer to wait till after your change, so you will be on somewhat fairer footing.”

“How can it be fair? She’s been a wolf for how long? And I’ve been a half wolf for what…a few days?” She shook her head at his logic.

“When you shift, the wolf inside will know what to do. It’s not like being born; you don’t have to be taught everything. Some things are instinctual. If you’re dominant, you’ll fight. If you’re submissive, you’ll submit.” He didn’t smile, didn’t offer her comfort.

“Basically I hide so this bitch coming to visit doesn’t try to tear me a new one. Gotcha.” Even as she said the words, her wolf cried out for her not to do it. To stand strong and fight. But what if she was a submissive? She didn’t want to bow down to another woman with him watching. Then again, she didn’t want to get her ass kicked in front of him either.

As she heard the car pulling up, she walked into his bedroom, fighting her wolf the entire way. She left the door cracked enough that she could see into the living-room area.

She held her breath as the doorbell rang; and he wheeled over to the door. She didn’t know what to expect but sure wasn’t prepared for the icy blonde who stepped through the doorway. She was impeccable. Her hair was perfect, although Gio knew the wind was blowing pretty hard, from the gush of cold air that followed her in.

“Hello, Jason.” She slipped off black gloves, then her coat.

Surely she wasn’t going to be there long enough to need to take that stuff off. Gio had no intention of staying hidden for longer than was absolutely necessary.

“Toni, what can I do for you?” He sounded too welcoming for Gio’s taste.

“Dane says you caused a shift. That you were actually healing.” She sounded surprised.

Gio saw her big, encouraging smile and felt her wolf growl. She didn’t hear it; she felt it like a vibration through her skin.

“What? You came to see for yourself? Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t change on command. I guess you’ll just have to take his word for it.” Something about his surly voice made Gio shift her gaze from Toni to him. Why did the woman’s concern make him so aggravated? Something wasn’t right.

Gio sniffed the air. She smelled something that made her want to walk out and rip every strand of hair out of the blonde bimbo’s head.

“Don’t be like that, Jason. Even our doctors said you wouldn’t heal. That you’d never shift again. If anyone had ever hinted that you would be able to shift and run—”

“Then what? You wouldn’t have called off the engagement? You wouldn’t have told everyone what the doctors said? You wouldn’t have threatened every female who showed me the least bit of sympathy?” The anger and resentment in his voice were strong enough that Gio felt them like a backlash. She watched Toni snap back as if she’d been slapped.

They’d been engaged? And the bitch had called it off after the accident? He’d failed to mention those two things when he’d convinced her to hide from his ex. For once she was in total agreement with her wolf when she opened the door and strode through.

“It wasn’t like that. I didn’t tell them to do anything. They did it out of respect for me. For us. For what we had.”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it. You don’t control all the women of the pack. And the ones I trust aren’t afraid of you—”

“You got that shit right,” Gio said, taking the few steps to fully enter the room. She wasn’t sure Jason trusted her, but Little Ms. Perfectly Proportioned Blondie didn’t need to know that.

“This is the human you converted?” Toni said in a tone that didn’t hold a second of surprise. She let out a little laugh, then glanced at Jason. “Was she the best you could do?”

“From where I’m standing, his taste has actually improved.” Gio cocked her head to the side. “Something about that accident must have knocked him around enough to see you for the soulless bitch you are.”

Toni sucked in a breath as her gaze swung back to Gio. The first thing Gio noticed was her fiercely blue eyes. The second was the way the muscles in her legs tightened. She sprang and pounced.

Gio ducked, tucked, and rolled out of the way. She crouched and watched the woman slam into the wall. The woman shook her head and growled.

“Yeah. That growling? Not doing a damn thing for me.” Gio watched the other woman. Her muscles bunched again. Her legs bent slightly and the muscles in her arms tightened as if getting ready. She was going to try to ram her. Gio didn’t know how she knew it, but if her wolf believed it, so did she. Toni shifted, then burst forward.

Gio waited until she was close, then jumped. Toni couldn’t stop fast enough to prevent herself from running into the wall. This time there was a definite
crack.

“Bitch,” she screamed.

“No, honey, you must have me confused with you.” Gio stood and backed away from the woman when her wolf screamed at her to run forward and squeeze the life from her creamy throat. “That sounded like a bone snapping. I would get that looked at. I mean, if it doesn’t heal exactly right, you could be deformed.”

“Just wait. This isn’t over.” Toni cradled one arm while she used the wall to help her stand up. She ran toward the door, never taking her eyes off Gio and not getting too close to her either.

A very silent Jason sat near the door, holding her coat and gloves. She snatched them from him as she barreled out of the door. He slammed it after her.

“Why couldn’t you stay in the room like I told you?” he demanded.

The euphoria of victory slowly drained out of her, leaving behind a definite sense of betrayal. “Well, gee, that was kind of hard when your ex walked through that door looking like she wanted to eat you up.”

“You’re exaggerating. She hasn’t voluntarily touched me since she broke off the engagement.” He laughed. But it wasn’t a funny ha-ha laugh; it was more the ironic kind of laugh you did when the information wasn’t something you were proud to share.

“What? You wanted her to come in here and fall all over you? Take you back.” Her wolf howled inside her head at the thought. “She was just feeling you out. I could hear the bullshit from your room.”

“No, I didn’t—don’t want her. She was about to admit why she was here before you stepped outside and decided to ruin everything. Now she’ll run back to Dane and tell him about you.”

“What’s she going to say? You picked a fat black bitch that could kick her ass?”

“No. That I have a woman strong enough to mate with. That’s why he sent her—to determine how strong you were. Now he knows, and he’ll plan for it. Not to mention she’s going to go around and tell the entire pack how you broke her arm for no reason. And that’s if we’re lucky. She could say that I broke her arm.”

“You know what? Don’t turn this on me. You should have told me she was your ex. That you were engaged.” She felt her throat close and tried to swallow. Her skin tightened below her right ear, and pain shot along her throat. Her chest filled with pain as she pulled in a breath. “I don’t know if you hid me because you were ashamed of me or because you wanted her back. Either way I wasn’t good enough for you.”

“Gio!”

“No. You don’t get to say anything. You’ve made my life a living hell, telling me if I made the wrong move, I was going to die.” She swallowed hard. “And I trusted you. I listened to you. I had sex with you. At no time did I treat you as less than your worth just because you’re in a wheelchair. But the first chance you got to do me that same courtesy, you hid me away. And you pretended it was to keep me safe? Don’t lie to yourself.”

“I did do it to keep you safe. If she had believed you were too weak to come out here and challenge her, it would have bought us a few more days.”

“Are you sure about that? Are you sure it wouldn’t have just made Dane bolder? If I were weak, I wouldn’t have posed much of a threat. You don’t know what would have happened.” She turned and walked to the guest bedroom. If she had to chain herself to the bed, she would. There was no way she was going to sleep with him again. Not tonight. Not ever. For the second time that day, her wolf agreed. Before she closed the door, she said in a very quiet voice that did nothing to hide the tears she refused to shed, “I’m trying to figure out if you’re hiding here for the good of the pack, or because you’re scared to even try.”