A Mutt in Disguise (4 page)

"Is
everything all right, my dear?" Mary asked.

"Yes, fine. I
was about to show him where the showers are. So if you’ll follow me..."

She weaved her way
through the throng of people, out into the corridor, and up the steep stairs
leading up to the second floor. She didn't need to look over her shoulder to
know that he was following her, so aware was she of his presence. The wooden
stairs creaked under her feet, yet he didn't make a sound despite his much
heavier frame, his footfalls as light and graceful as a predator's. She stopped
at the top of the stairs and watched his silent approach. Again she was struck
by the contradiction between his appearance and his commanding presence. A
presence that had her leaning towards him, even as her nose protested at the
noxious fumes coming off his clothing.

She stepped to the
side as he came close and gestured toward the door to the shower units.
"Showers are in there. I'll see whether I can find you something fresh to
wear. Mary just had a new batch of donated clothes in."

She risked a peek
at his face and promptly wished she hadn't. The quiet intensity with which he
was studying her did strange things to her equilibrium. She leaned against the
wall for some support and breathed a sigh of relief when he smiled, turned, and
walked through the open door towards the showers all lined up against the
wall.
 
He shrugged out of his jacket as
he went, and even though she knew he would see her staring if he turned around,
she couldn't quite get her feet to move. He discarded the jacket on the floor
and toed out of the sorry excuse for shoes he was wearing. The muscles in his
back bunched and moved as he made short work of his trousers, and
Anja
barely suppressed a gasp. He wasn't wearing any
underwear, and he had the most perfect male ass she'd ever had the good fortune
to ogle. And
Anja
was no stranger to ogling. The
internet was a wonderful thing, after all.

He was surprisingly
clean under the clothes. She heard him whistle as he turned the water on and
stepped under the stream. Rivulets of dirt created an intricate pattern on his
broad back as the filth washed out of his hair and ran down his torso, over the
slim hips, trim ass, and powerful thighs, then down toward the tiled flooring
of the wet room. He reached for one of the shower gels stacked along the wall
and proceeded to lather up his hair. When he turned around
Anja
prepared herself to flee, but his eyes were closed, and she stood frozen to the
spot, unable to tear her gaze away as he soaped up his body. She followed the
movement of his hands with her eyes, and bit her lip when he reached his cock.
Thick and long, it hung semi-erect between his legs and hardened under his
ministrations.

Groaning, he
cupped his shaft. He spread his legs and started pumping in earnest, putting
one hand against the wall for support. Faster and faster that hand moved, and
Anja
rubbed her thighs together at the answering ache in
her pussy. Who'd have thought that watching a man jack himself off would be
such a turn-on? His face contorted as though in pain, his balls drew up, and
his thighs shook, until finally with a roar of completion he shot his load into
the streaming water and sagged back against the wall.

And still, she
couldn't bring herself to move. Now that he was washed free of the grime, she
could admire the powerful angles of his face. His shoulder-length hair stuck to
his skin, and his full lips, partially hidden by his goatee, opened in a fanged
smile. A smile she had seen countless times in his other form.

The room spun, and
this time
Anja
couldn't hide her gasp when he opened
his eyes and he stared straight at her. Mutt's golden eyes glowed, and the
man's growl traveled across the distance separating them, as he grabbed a towel
and stalked toward her.

Chapter Four

Ethan smiled
grimly and allowed more of his wolf to show as he approached the trembling
woman in his sights. She stood frozen to the spot. It wasn't fear coming off
her, however, but arousal. The air was heavy with her scent, and he had no
doubt that she was wet. He'd sensed her confusion and unwilling arousal aimed
at the disheveled him the minute he'd touched her, and no matter how obnoxious
his behavior, that hadn't changed. She couldn't understand why she reacted to
him, but her body did, and his wolf rejoiced.

Ethan hadn’t had
to act very much to be obnoxious. His wolf's reaction and the connection he
felt to her in his human form had taken his breath away. It had taken all of
his self-control to not simply grab her, crush her to him, and storm off with
her slung over his shoulder like some sort of caveman. Was this the mate
connection his father had always droned on about—this inexplicable pull to one
female to the exclusion of all else? Ethan had always scoffed at that part of
his heritage, even as one by one his old pack mates had mated and settled down
until he was the only one left. He'd left the pack as soon as he'd left school,
wanting to make his own way in the world, but he'd kept in touch with them all.
Or rather they had with him. He'd refused to take on the role of Alpha when his
father had passed on. His cousin could do the job just as well as, if not
better than he. Ethan had chosen to live amongst the humans. He used their
females as he saw fit, when he needed to scratch an itch, and had thought
himself safe from any mating call.

Until he met
Anja
, that is. He couldn't deny what his wolf had known
from the minute he'd seen her. Why her, and why now, he had no idea. All he did
know was that he needed to taste her or die trying. The fact that she'd stayed
to watch him shower had been such a turn-on, he'd had no problem taking himself
in hand and he'd reached completion in record time. All it had taken was
imagining her lips wrapped around his cock, her small hands caressing his
balls, to have him surge and roar his completion. Her increased scent and rapid
heartbeat had told him she was as aroused as he was by what she'd witnessed.

He wrapped the
towel around his middle, mindful of the fact that anyone could come up those
stairs, and stopped just in front of her. Her breathing sped up and her eyes
widened, but she stood her ground. She put a hand on his chest to stop him from
coming closer and shook her head in denial. His skin heated where her hand
branded him like a hot poker, and his wolf almost rolled over in submission.

When she finally
spoke, her voice was a mere whisper, barely audible over the murmur of voices
coming from below, as someone opened a door. "How? Why? You can't
be."

He cupped her chin
to make her look at him, and her eyes focused on his fangs. Heat rose in her
cheeks, and again he had to strain to hear her whispered words.

"It wasn't a
dream, was it?"

He shook his head,
but before he could reassure her, Mary's heavy footsteps on the stairs forced
him to retract his wolf.

"
Anja
, you still up here? I brought you some clothes that
should fit the tall fellow. These were my late husband's, and he was rather
more portly than him, but they should be long enough and oh—"

Mary stopped
abruptly at the top of the stairs, taking in the scene.
Anja
gasped, and shook her head.

“
I’ve
got to get away from here.” She muttered the words and fled past an
astonished-looking Mary.

Ethan's gut
clenched, and his wolf whined. He forced the animal to stand down. He was as
anxious as his wolf to make sure
Anja
was all right,
but he could hardly go chasing after her with just a towel wrapped around his
middle, and shifting was out of the question. Mary pursed her lips and handed
him the bundle of clothes.

"Seems I've
interrupted something here. Now, listen,
matey
,
Anja
doesn't need another man messing her around." She
put her hand up to silence him when he would have interrupted her. "No,
let me finish. She's like a daughter to me, and all I want is for her to be
happy. She's done so much around here, and she deserves some happiness."

She paused and ran
an assessing glance over his body that made him smile. "I've seen the way
she looks at you, the connection you've shared with her from the first time she
dragged you in here. I wasn't sure what you were at first, but I figured it out
when you went for his lordship like that, and then seeing her reaction when you
walked in. I recognize the look of a wolf who's chosen his mate." She
gestured to the clothes he was holding with a sad smile. "There is a
reason why those are tall enough for you. My husband was a shifter, and if you
can bring
Anja
an ounce of the happiness my wolf
brought me, then you have my blessing. Hurt her, and I'll have your pelt to
decorate my living room. Do we understand each other?"

Ethan's wolf
growled, but the man's smile deepened. He bowed his head in acknowledgement,
and Mary smirked.

"I told her
under all that grime you'd be a looker." She gave his body another visual
once-over and then made her way back down the stairs.

Ethan couldn't
help it. He laughed out loud. His life had just gotten all sorts of
complicated.

****

Anja
clutched Mary's
present like a shield in front of her. It had been four days since she had fled
from the shelter as though the hounds of hell were after her. Four days during
which she'd had plenty of time to sort through her feelings and berate herself
for her foolishness. What the hell was wrong with her anyway? First, she picked
the useless Declan, and then a man who turned into an animal and bayed at the
moon? At least she hadn't slept with him. Surely that dream didn't count? If
only her wayward body would get the message. She relived that damn dream every
time she closed her eyes. She was tired, irritable, and so damn horny no amount
of dates with her little pink friend seemed to be able to cure them. And to
make matters worse, she could smell him, still. She'd aired her flat out until
she'd been in danger of catching frostbite, and she'd lost count of how many
times she'd washed and changed the sheets, and still, a whiff of his
intoxicating scent remained. It was enough to drive a girl to drink.

The daily phone
calls she'd had with Mary were also not helping. The elderly woman did nothing
but sing his praises. It was Ethan this, and Ethan that. You'd have thought the
sun shone out of his ass, cute as it was, the way Mary was going on about all
the handiwork he'd done around the place. At least it seemed as though the open
day had been a success. They'd received several smaller donations, and a pledge
from Montagu Enterprises. Mary's voice on the phone had been suspiciously tight
when she'd told
Anja
about that, and
Anja
had known she couldn't hide away any longer. Her business
acumen would be needed for the scheduled meetings with the representative of
the elusive billionaire's company.

She pushed open
the heavy door to the shelter and stopped short at the sight that greeted her.
Mary had said Ethan had worked his magic, but this was something else. Not only
had the place been repainted, giving it a much fresher look, but Christmas
decorations were everywhere. A six-foot Christmas tree stood in one corner, and
the smell of pine filled the air, mixed in with the spicy undertones of mulled
wine. Christmas carols were playing in the background, and some of the regulars
were engaged in a competitive game of cards. There was an air of hope about the
place, and
Anja's
heart lightened with every step she
took farther into the building. She tracked Mary down in her office, just as
she came off the phone with a big smile.

"Hi,
Anja
! We just got another donation. This is so
exciting." Mary drew her in for a hug. "So glad to see you back here,
my dear. I've been worried about you."

Anja
returned the hug
and held on to the other woman a little longer than was strictly necessary.
"I just had to sort some things out in my head, that's all."

Mary nodded and
beckoned for her to sit down. "And can I assume that you have sorted them?
As you're here?"

Mary's wise eyes
assessed her, and
Anja
slid into the chair, grateful
for the support under her bum, as an all-too-familiar scent enveloped her. Her
heart fluttered in her chest, and she clenched her hands around the arm
supports of the chair to stop herself from showing her reaction. She didn't
need to see Mary's eyes shift behind her to know that Ethan had just walked
into the room. All the air seemed to have been sucked out of the little office,
and the fine hairs on her body stood on end.

"That's the
banister fixed, too, Mary. Unless you have anything else for me to do, I think
we're all set." Ethan's deep, gravelly voice wrapped itself around
Anja's
senses, and she had to remind herself to keep
breathing.

"Thank you,
Ethan, but you've done more than enough. Have you thought any more about where
you're going to spend Christmas Day? I have found a home for all our regulars,
barring you. You're welcome to join my little group of course, but maybe you
have other plans?"

She smiled and
nodded towards
Anja
. Surely she wasn't expecting her
to offer him a bed for the night.
Anja
almost
hyperventilated at the mere thought. The shelter always shut down for Christmas
Day, to enable all the volunteers to spend the day with their families. The
regulars spent the day with a member of the local community. The church had an
"invite a needy person for Christmas dinner" scheme, and Mary herself
offered her home to the ones who didn't have anywhere else to go for the day.
The shelter itself would reopen at 10:00 P.M. for those who needed a bed, but
no staff would be in attendance until the following day.

It was an
arrangement that worked well, and
Anja
had
volunteered to take someone with her to her parents' house for Christmas
dinner—much to Declan's disgust when she made that announcement—but there was
no way that could be Ethan. No fucking way. Her heart would never survive it.

"I'll be
fine. Don't worry about me, Mary." He moved into
Anja's
line of vision, and against her better judgment she allowed her gaze to roam over
his frame. In clean if ill-fitting clothes, he looked devastatingly handsome.
The jeans covered his long legs, and despite the baggy fit, they could not
disguise the impressive physique underneath. Besides, thanks to her watching
him in the shower and her subsequent daydreams, she knew exactly what he was
hiding underneath the denim and the ridiculous-looking Christmas sweater. A
reindeer with a huge red bobbly nose would have looked farcical on anyone less
masculine, but on him it seemed to emphasize that masculinity.

He smiled at her
when she finally raised her eyes to his face, his voice a low soothing caress
to her frayed nerves. "Hi,
Anja
."

"Hi, Ethan is
it, or should I call you Mutt?" She couldn’t quite keep the hurt out of
her voice, and his eyes narrowed.

"Either one
will do, as long as you're talking to me, sweetheart."

"I'm not your
sweetheart!"
Anja's
voice rose in indignation,
and Mary cleared her throat.

"I'm going to
give you two some space to talk this over."

"I don't need
space to talk anything over."
Anja
shot out of
her chair and handed the present she'd all but forgotten about to a frowning
Mary. "I came to give you your present and to reassure you that I'll be
attending that meeting with Montagu Enterprises. I've had some ideas on how we
can improve this place and set up some more help for those that want a
permanent arrangement out of the homeless state."

"That's
great. I knew you would, my dear." Mary patted her arm and smiled.
"There was no need for a present. You've given me so much already. You're
the daughter I never had, you know that, and for that reason alone, stay and
hear what Ethan has got to say."

"No, you
don't understand. He's not who you think he is. He's a—"
Damn it!
How
did you explain to someone that the man standing next to you was in fact
capable of turning into a dog/wolf or whatever he was without sounding like a
complete and utter lunatic? Clearly Mary thought a lot of him, and he
had
done wonders with the place. They'd been lacking a strong, capable pair of male
arms for far too long, but that didn't mean she would just forget about the
fact that he'd lied to her, and used her body and... Heat rose in her cheeks as
her dream once again came back to her in Technicolor detail.

"He's a what,
Anja
?" Mary asked, and the man standing close
enough to
Anja
for his body heat to warm her tensed.
Hah, so he didn't like being exposed then,
did
he
?
Well, she didn't like being made a fool of
either.

"He's a ... a
... liar. That's what he is, Mary." The words tumbled out in a rush, and
Anja
couldn't look at the other woman. Mary's laugh caught
her completely off-guard.