The Legend of the Werewolf (19 page)

She stiffened in his arms and then
abruptly relaxed. Mike wanted to kick himself.

Why did he just do that? Anne probably
thought he was reacting to the crowd to make themselves appear as a
true couple. She must have been so sure of it that she didn't
bother to look up at him at all. Truthfully, he'd gone ahead and
done it for no reason. It just happened. A moth to a
flame.

And here he was believing that Stockholm
syndrome only happened to women.

At least the attention of the crowd was
focused on Fanny. That way, no one would look at his face and point
out how red he'd gone.

Fanny kept giving orders as if she,
herself, were pack master. "So we'll go and calmly explain to
Gordon why this can't be done," she said, finishing her
lecture.

Every head in the group nodded before
turning to walk down the dirt road that connected Mike's borrowed
cottage with Gordon's home.

Anne tugged his hand and he was dragged
along with them. Damn, getting Anne out of this marriage was
proving to be faster than drive-thru.

He squeezed her hand, getting her
attention as his voice dropped to a breezy whisper so the large
group of weres with super hearing couldn’t listen in.

“What about your Westley?”

He sensed her emotions take a bad swan
dive. “We’ll have to speak for him later.”

Mike wanted to ask the people what
would happen to Westley right now. He wanted this done and over
with. He had to trust that Anne knew the nature of werewolves, knew
the nature of her pack, better than he did.

If he seemed too eager then it would be
obvious that this entire thing was set up.

Gordon must’ve seen them coming through
one of the many high windows of his house. He stood on his porch,
waiting like a king on high, looking down at them before they made
it to him.

His pale eyes scanned the pack before they
landed on Anne, arm in arm with Mike. He scowled at
them.

Mike scowled back and held Anne
tighter.

"Calm down," Anne whispered. Had she not
been standing so close, he never would have heard her.

The scowl melted from Gordon's face,
replaced with cool suspicion. "May I ask why you are all gathered
on my front lawn like this?"

Those cold eyes landed on Anne. “I’d
hate to think this mob was your doing, Antoinette.”

“It’s not her fault,” Fanny stepped
forward, instantly marking herself as leader. Mike raised an eye at
her constant need to be in center of everything.

Mike’s new best friend.

"Gordon, we have important news that
voids Anne's marriage to your son."

Mike studied Gordon's reaction. The old
man’s face didn't twitch a muscle, his brows didn’t crease, and his
mouth didn’t pull down at the corners.

Mike still caught the deep spark in his
voice and the flash in his eyes as he turned them back to Anne and
Mike. "What?"

Anne flinched under the stare.
Mike returned the cold stare, a silent
fuck you
inside it.

The man knew they were lying, they
concocted this plan knowing he would know. Getting him to call off
Anne's wedding would only work so long as they both stayed strong.
Without a doubt, freeing Anne from that obligation was the most
important thing for him to get done.

Fanny half turned and pointed her whole
arm at them. "They've bonded."

Gordon's fingers tightened against the
rail where he clasped it. This time his face did give away hints of
his rage. Mostly in the way his face swelled with red rage. "I want
proof."

Every back stiffened and every murmur
halted as the entire pack stared at their leader in awe.

Mike gently elbowed Anne. She leaned her
head up so that her ear would be closer to his mouth. Damn if he
didn't want to kiss her again right now, run his tongue along the
shell of that delicate little lobe.

More important things to be
done. Cut it out, already
. "Looks like you were right," he said.

She smirked. "Of course I was
right."

It happened again where he knew what
she was thinking without the benefit of reading her thoughts. She
was congratulating herself on the fantastic guess that Gordon would
want proof when they were obviously lying to him.

Not that he hadn't seen it coming, Anne
just happened to be the first to point it out.

Fanny sputtered, Zeke put a hand on her
shoulder. "You want proof?"

Gordon shrugged. The air around him turned
calm as he spoke as though merely asking to see Mike’s DVD
collection. "I said it, didn't I? Come on up here, you two. If
you're bonded then I want to make sure of this for
myself."

Gordon waved them up and he and Anne
walked with ease towards the wooden steps of the porch, holding
hands as they went.

The pack continued to murmur amongst
themselves, creating a backdrop of noise that made Mike feel as if
he was walking to his execution.

This was another thing that he hadn't been
prepared for. This wasn’t something that he could just read and
study in a book, the expectation to believe when someone was bonded
without proof.

Or was Gordon's demanding of proof only
shocking to them because of who they thought Mike was? Accusing an
almost-god of being a liar would be a big thing to
anyone.

Usually the one interrogating
suspects, Mike knew when he was being interrogated, studied by
someone who searched for the flaw in his story as Gordon did
now.
He tried
to keep every thought, every movement calm and precise in case
Gordon happened to hear his heartbeat and pulsing blood.

He just hoped Anne was right when she
said Gordon would only ask for proof of their mental
bond.

If the man asked Mike to provide bed
sheets with virgin blood on them then Mike was calling
bullshit.

Gordon folded his arms, drawing up as much
height as he could, yet still remaining an inch shorter than Mike.
"This is going to be fairly simple. If the two of you are bonded,
then, regardless of your wolfless status, Mr. Carter, you should be
connected with Anne in the same way that we all are. You should
have the ability to read her thoughts, but to a more … intimate
level, I suppose you can say."

How much more intimate could it get?
He’d been kicked out of his family because they thought it was too
personal as it was.

Face calm and confident, Mike said, “Well,
we shouldn’t waste time then.”

Gordon nodded. “I agree.” He motioned
with his fingers for Anne to come forward.

She moved without hesitating. Her
booted feet made no sound on the wooden deck. She stopped when she
stood beside Mike, close enough that he could feel her body heat.
Gordon leaned in, close enough to kiss her if he wanted.

Mike tensed. His arms itching to toss the
old man away. Instead of touching his mouth to hers, Gordon’s lips
moved to her ear, whispering something.

Stupid
. Mike thought, his shoulders
de-icing. He and Anne weren't together, there was no reason for him
to feel anything that resembled jealousy even if the situation did
call for Anne to receive a kiss from someone else.

Someone who happened to be older,
uglier, and creepy as all Hell.

Gordon leaned away, smug satisfaction
twisting his face. "Alright, Mr. Carter, what did I just tell
her?"

He looked into Anne's eyes. She kept
them wide and unblinking, just as he’d told her to do. The eyes
weren’t just windows into the soul.

As long as she kept those pretty eyes of
hers wide open, she was offering him a clearer view of what was
going on inside her head.

Mike frowned, struggling to see or
hear. He’d known this was going to happen.

Annie could force her eyes wide and stare
at him all night, didn’t change the fact that she was a werewolf
and he’d have trouble seeing. Her thoughts were misty, like he
stepped into a steamy sauna and decided to sit down and read a
book.

Anne’s words finally came. They sounded
like she was shouting from far away. Thoughts tended to echo, but
he still made out the quick, ghostly sound that was the voice
inside her head.

Then Mike got it and his mouth dropped.
Anne didn't keep her eyes wide just for Mike’s sake. Shock had
taken hold of her face, stiffened her body, and panicked her
thoughts.

"You told her that she and I should get
married today."

The smug satisfaction slid from
Gordon's face like water. Mike would have laughed had the situation
been different.

The man ordered them to get married
because they were bonded. Counting on the fact that they weren't
and hoping they’d make fools of themselves in front of the pack,
who all cheered and clapped to celebrate the upcoming
nuptials.

Mike tried to peer into Anne’s head again.
Her eyes were cast down at her feet so he had trouble hearing her.
Though, he didn’t need to hear words to know she was in a screaming
panic inside her mind.

"It's true." The tortured words
whispered from Gordon's mouth. Mike half expected him to take back
the command to become husband and wife, but instead he stepped away
from them before facing Anne. "I supposed your wedding to my son is
off. Congratulations. I'll make some calls."

Mike couldn’t believe it. “Just like
that?”

Gordon nodded, his eyes still blank
from shock. “Just like that.”

For all the trouble the man had given him,
Mike expected for him to put up more of a fight.

Anne looked up at Gordon but said nothing
in response, continuing to remain silent as he stepped back inside
his house and quietly shut the door.

Mike’s eyes twitched. His hands
clenched in anger and panic.

Goddamn it. They were just supposed to
come here, get Mike away from this ranch and Anne out of a
marriage. Not tie her into another marriage, with him no less,
thereby keeping Mike trapped here.

This was not how this was supposed to
go down.

Did werewolves believe in divorce? Last
time he checked they didn't, but that was only because they tended
to marry the people they'd bonded to. Mike wasn't actually bonded
with Anne, so maybe he could get away with it.

Or they could just stay
married.

He shook away the thought. Of all the
ridiculous things to be thinking about.

Of course they’d get a divorce. He sure
as Hell was no werewolf and he wasn't tied to this pack. So what
did he care what these people thought?

He’d still phone his partner in
Griffon, then he would leave. It would just have to be delayed a
bit longer.

He wanted to convey his thoughts to
Anne, who still seemed to be in a twisted Wonderland with the way
she stared at her feet.

“Anne,” Mike stepped forward, his hands
out to touch her.

“
Sorry, honey, you’ll have to
give her to us first,” Fanny said, cutting in front of
him.

He hadn’t even heard her running up the
steps of the deck in those heels of hers. She grabbed the still
comatose Anne around her shoulders and led her down into the sea of
awaiting females.

Their hands reached to Anne as if they
thought her touch could heal the sick and dying. Everyone wanted to
pull her into embraces filled with cheeky kisses and
congratulations.

Some eyes wistfully went to Mike. Envy
was still present in the crowd.

They wouldn’t be envious if
they knew I was faking this
.

Anne put up no struggle as she was led
away by the women.

Shit! He had to stay with her. Mike jumped
down the wooden stairs two at a time. When his boots kicked up a
cloud of dust at the bottom, his arm was grabbed, Werewolf strength
yanking him to a halt.

Damn. The women left with Anne, but the
men hadn’t gone anywhere. Congratulations were thrown at him from
all angles, his back slapped, and hand grabbed and pumped more
times than he could count.

Jesus, could the idea of the first
werewolf be such a big deal that these men didn’t notice when some
of their own wives ogled him? He guessed so since he sensed no
aggression of jealousy among any of the males.

The only man in the crowd who didn't
come forward to offer congratulations was Anne’s grandfather,
Bill.

Mike caught sight of him, just standing
outside the group of men who circled around Mike. His arms were
crossed, stance defensive and eyes narrowed before he stormed off,
housecoat swirling in the air behind him.

TEN

Anne couldn't believe she was married. It
took only a few hours to get the marriage license and then they
were in front of a priest who had some time to kill and bang!
Married. She didn’t even change her clothes.