Wolf Bite (7 page)

Enough.
Blowing out a breath, she held up her hands in surrender.
Enough.
Most of her day had been spent chasing her mental tail around in circles trying to find an excuse for Mason’s choice or at least an explanation that didn’t make her feel cheap, used, or over the top needy. She was an adult. Adults had one-night stands. They had wild monkey—
wolf,
her snotty mental voice corrected—sex and they went on with their lives.

After putting her laundry away and changing into comfy pajamas, she headed for the kitchen intent on putting her earlier plan into action. No work, no studying, and—please, God—no more angst. Snickering at the ridiculous transition in her thoughts, she was wholly unprepared for the sudden wrench of the door handle snapping.

Shit!
She’d forgotten to lock the deadbolt.

The door swung inward and allowed all six-feet plus and two hundred pounds of Mason to storm into the apartment, pushing a heady wave of masculine power in front of him. Though he carried a big white bag in one hand, he wore a forbidding expression.

“Where is he?” Nothing human looked at her from his eyes.

Frozen, she suddenly developed a very keen understanding of the phrase ‘deer in headlights’ and why the animal didn’t move. Mason loomed a scant inch away when she found her voice again. “I’m sorry. Where is who?”

“Someone else has been in here. More than one.” And boy didn’t he sound pissed. He cocked his head to the side and his nostrils flared. All the while, his wolf eyes remained fixed on her.

For a split second, she fumbled around for a hurried explanation. The only strangers who’d been in her apartment were the delivery men. They’d left less than an hour before so their scent would be strongest. Of course Mason was upset to discover—
Of course he was upset? What?
Between one moment and the next, her fear and shock bottomed out and rebounded in fury.

She didn’t owe him anything resembling an explanation. “Excuse me?”

“Who. Was. Here?”

Folding her arms, she ignored her rabbiting heart and settled for glaring at him. Sure, he could smell the delivery guys—hell, she could smell them. However, with his enhanced hearing, he had to know they weren’t there. So, she simply waited. Mason stood close enough, she could feel the heat radiating off his skin. Like the night before, he’d dressed in a T-shirt and jeans. Both hugged his physique, one she’d become intimately aware of in the last twenty-four hours.

Her silence finally had an effect, because he blinked twice and his eyes looked human once more. “Lexi?”

“Hmmm.” Bypassing him, she went to the front door to check the handle. The outside knob had been crushed.
Well, there went my security deposit. How the hell do I explain this to the building super?
 

“That didn’t answer my question.” He was right behind her.

Good.
She didn’t plan on answering, either. Testing the knob from the inside, she sighed. It wouldn’t even turn.
Fantastic
. The metal plate on the door jamb appeared to be missing, too. Yeah, no way she could hide the damage. The elevator dinged and she pushed her door closed. No sense drawing attention to the damage and maybe the deadbolt would still work.

Mason’s breath teased the back of her neck while she watched Beth Finley usher her children—five and seven—in front of her toward her apartment down the hall. All three were laughing and playing. It made her heart hurt, but soon the hall was empty and she went back to looking at the door.

How hard can it be to go buy a new door handle and install it?
 

“I’ll fix it.” He tugged the door from her grasp and closed it. “It’ll only take a few minutes.” With a flip of the deadbolt, he secured it and leaned in close, boxing her up against the door. A furnace at her back would be cooler. “Who was here? Last night, there were no scents of men in your apartment and now there are two?”

“Technically three.” Tired, she didn’t want a fight, but giving into him was becoming an annoying habit. One that could only end in tears.

“Three?” At his perplexed note, she turned and tilted her head to look at him.

“Seriously?”

Another blink before his faint smile. “Me.”

“Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” She didn’t bother hiding her sarcasm.

His brows drew together in a fierce scowl, then released as he sighed. “You’re snapping at me because I left this morning.”

“Oh and the crowd goes wild. Two for two, big boy. Now, you’re on the wrong side of the door.” She didn’t touch him, though she longed to shove him away. One, she couldn’t move him and, two, she was just as likely to rip his shirt off as push him. This close he smelled good, too good.

“I brought dinner.” He went from angry and demanding to coaxing. “Pad Thai, your favorite.”

“When I was fourteen,” she lied. Drowning in his nearness, she was desperate for some distance. “Back. Off.”

“You also used to be better at not lying to me.” Consternated, he surprised the hell out of her by actually backing away a few paces and holding up the bag.

“Ten years—ten
years
—I went without seeing you. Yesterday, you crashed back into my life. Now, you keep breaking things. Give me one good reason why I should take your food?” Aside from the fact it smelled delicious. “Give me one reason why you shouldn’t get your ass on the other side of my door and not come back?”

This time, she didn’t look away from him, meeting him stare for stare and to hell with the consequences. What was he going to do? Turn wolf on her? The muscles in her legs quivered and her tummy flip-flopped. Gradually, his frown vanished entirely and he looked—wounded.

Fuck.

“Please, Lexi. Have dinner with me. I know you’re hungry,” he said, then paused. With an exaggerated care, he dipped his chin—and she blinked, startled.

Did I just win a dominance game?
 

Sure, he let her win, but still… “Fine,” she said, determined not to show how shaken his choice left her. “We can eat, but then you’re leaving. No sleepovers for you. I already broke my wallet buying a new bed and having it express delivered.”

Pushing away from the door, she led the way to the kitchen, but not before he said, “Deliverymen,” and smiled. He followed her, all happy and relaxed again.

“Yes, deliverymen.” She rolled her eyes and reached into the cabinet to fetch plates. “You shattered my headboard…ripped all of my pillows and the mattress.”

“I’m—sorry?” But the laughter behind the word didn’t sound remotely apologetic.

“No, you’re not.” She scowled, because,
really.
After four freaking fabulous orgasms, she hadn’t really minded buying a new bed.

Still smiling, he trailed after her to the table. Better than the sofa or chair or—any other surface. How sturdy was her table anyway? The classic oak piece had a center leg that curled out in four directions at the base. Probably not as sturdy as her former bed. One look at Mason’s face told her he entertained similar thoughts.

Flattening her palms on the tabletop, she tried to ignore the sensual ache spreading through her midsection. “Let’s compromise.”

“About?”

“Pretend last night didn’t happen. We’re just two old friends getting together and having dinner. We can catch up and do all the things we didn’t do last night.” They’d ridden an adrenaline high and, coupled with the shock of being reunited, of course they’d made bad decisions.

“I’ll agree to all of it except pretending last night didn’t happen.” He pulled out a chair for her. When she didn’t sit right away, he gave her a sidelong look. “Lexi, we can fight over every little thing and the food can get cold or we can sit and eat. Which would you prefer?”

“I hate it when you’re reasonable.” Whirling, she headed back into the kitchen. “I want wine if we’re going to walk down memory lane.” Opening the fridge, she pulled out a beer for him. “I also got this while I was out today.” A microbrewery made lager, similar to the kind they’d all drunk a few weeks before his parents died.

“You planned on me coming back?” Surprise laced his question. He left the bag on the table and walked toward her slowly.

“Hoped,” she admitted, to herself as much as to him. “I didn’t want to wait ten years to see you again.” That possibility made her heart hurt.

“Lexi,” he cupped her face. “I can’t stay forever.”

Somehow, she’d known that. “I’m not asking for forever.”

“Liar.” His playfulness vanished and he looked so damn sad.

“I’m not. I can want something and not ask for it. Hell, we don’t even know each other anymore.” She drew away from his touch and offered him a lager. “Let’s eat and fix that.”

When he accepted the drink and withdrew to the table, she tried not to read anything into his actions. Fetching the red wine, a corkscrew and a wine glass, she followed him. She wanted to make the most of the time they had together.

At least Mason had come back.
That’s something, right?
 

He should never have come back. Lexi sat opposite him, looking absolutely fuckable in green cotton pajama bottoms and a tank top. Unlike the night before, she’d pulled back her hair into a tight ponytail, which emphasized her bone structure.

Every single time she took a sip from her wine glass, he focused on her mouth. Maybe he should stare at his food.

“So, you do construction?” They were the first words she’d said since agreeing to eat with him. They’d served the food, he’d opened her wine then his lager and they ate and drank in silence.

Hell, silent dining with Lexi was better than any other meal he’d consumed in the last few years. “It’s hard physical labor. I’m good at it.” He shrugged, then found himself adding, “The work keeps me mobile and I like the freedom of moving on once a project is finished.”

“You said you were part the crew on this building.” Though it wasn’t a question, he nodded. “Are you on a project now?”

“I’m in between jobs at the moment.” He didn’t want to mislead her. “What about you? You never told me why you were here.”

“Yes, I did. I told you I wanted a different life.” She speared a piece of shrimp on her fork.

Maybe he needed to approach from another angle. “Define
different life
.”

She licked her lips, stirred the noodles and he thought she might continue with her earlier refusal to answer, but she only sighed. “I need a whole lot more wine if you want me to tell you.”

What had been so bad that she had needed to leave? Alexis hadn’t always gotten along with her year mates, but they were pack. Pack fought then made up. They looked after each other. Obliging her request for more wine, he refilled the glass and studied her. She did an excellent job of avoiding his gaze.

“Fine.” She pushed her plate away. Since she’d eaten over half of what he’d piled onto it, he let it go. “I wanted a human life.”

A
human
life? “You didn’t like living in Willow Bend?”

Lexi shrugged and picked up her wine glass, downing half of it before answering. “I’ve never understood the wolf politics. Never liked them. I hate when some stranger walks in a room and suddenly everyone defers to them. It doesn’t matter that the rest of us have been there all along. Hated it when people disappeared and no one explained why. They all seemed to
know
, but not me.” Scraping her teeth over her lower lip, she shrugged. “It used to be me and my mom. She was human, too. We made a game out of wolf politics, and it was funny.”

The loneliness in her voice tugged at him. “Ryan bit her.” He’d still been in Willow Bend when Tiffany embraced her change. The pack threw a grand party the night after she shifted for the first time and ran with them.

Alexis had been sad that night, too.

“I don’t begrudge her choice, Mason, but she changed. All those little annoying things weren’t so annoying to her anymore. She deferred to others, and some deferred to her. Ryan was thrilled—over the moon, really.” More emptiness, and tears glimmered in her eyes, but before he could react to it, she blinked them away. “Really, I don’t. She and Ryan are really happy, and if you’d ever known my other dad…suffice to say I’m glad Mom found someone who can love her.”

But the change, and later the birth of Kyle, left her even more isolated. When he’d still been in Willow Bend, he’d gone out of his way to cheer her up, to look after her so she wouldn’t be so…

Mason put his lager down. “I left you.”

Pushing her chair back, she rose and started gathering the plates. “It’s late and you should probably head home.” The speedy shift in her mood left him staring after her.

Intrigued, he cleaned up the food cartons and followed her. “If you feel like an outsider, Ryan would be allowed to bite you.” Even the mere suggestion of the idea filled him with a pensive kind of violence, but he ignored his wolf’s immediate rejection. Ryan was her father…
not competition.
Pack law regarding human conversion allowed true mates to bite their partner, provided the partner consented. Human children of previous relationships were allowed to make a similar choice at maturity.

“Don’t store the food,” she said. “I hate reheated Thai. It’s not like pizza.” Switching topics declared her disinterest in answering his earlier statement. It also aroused the hunter in him—who had made her feel like an outsider in the pack? Why would Ryan have allowed it to continue?

Willow Bend had a human population, whole human families that were loyal to the Alpha. Some were children of previous relationships whose human parent mated into the pack and others were simply the descendants of sworn friendships. Either way… Alexis thumped him and he realized he’d blocked her from leaving the kitchen.

“Move or help, but pick one.” The acerbic order amused him.
Bossy.
Alexis might claim to not to understand pack politics…

“Have you ever noticed you have no trouble giving me orders?” He put words to action and returned to the table, clearing the remains of their meal. After passing the dishes to her, he disposed of the remaining cartons. Instead of rinsing out her wine glass, however, he poured her another.