Arctic Winds (6 page)

Closing his eyes and breathing deeply, Jason managed to get control of himself. He stalked over to the counter in time to hear Jack, the wolf, ask Samantha what she was doing that night.

“She has plans,” Jason stated with finality, dropping a hand on Jack’s shoulder.

“
She
can speak for herself.” Samantha declared. Jason glanced over at her, noticing the frustrated expression on her face. She’d better not have been thinking she was going to go out with this guy. “But Jason is right. I have plans tonight. Sorry, Jack. It was nice to make your acquaintance though.”

“No worries, sweetheart.” Jason growled again as Jack winked at her before quickly exiting the store.

Samantha looked up at him and laughed. “Relax, Jason. I wouldn’t have accepted his offer.

I don’t believe in starting one thing until I finish with another.”

“You’re mine,” Jason growled, surprising himself with his forcefulness. He watched her eyes widen before narrowing on him warily. “For right now,” he quickly added, not wanting to rock the boat, yet needing to make it clear she was not to see other people. “You’re mine for now.” Her eyes remained narrowed on him, but she eventually nodded.

“As I said, as long as we keep dating, I’m not dating anyone else. One overbearing man at a time is plenty for me, thank you very much.”

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Jason managed to pull his wolf back from the ledge it had almost jumped over. “Okay. What are you in the mood to eat for dinner?”

“Jason, I have plans.”

He opened his eyes and stared at her. She had only claimed to have plans to get rid of Jack, right? He continued to stare at her until she fidgeted.

“What?” she asked indignantly.

“You have plans with me.”

“I do? I don’t remember making plans with you.” She scrunched up her nose and tilted her head to the side, her unfocused gaze going over his shoulder as if puzzling something out. “I think I would’ve remembered that.”

“I sent you flowers,” Jason reminded her, pointing to the roses sitting on the counter behind her. “Didn’t you read the card?”

“Yes.” She still looked confused. “It didn’t say anything about tonight, though. Unless I missed something on the back…”

“It didn’t have anything on the back!” Jason growled. “I thought it would’ve been clear I wanted to see you tonight.” Truth be told, he hadn’t considered she’d have plans. He just assumed they would have dinner. He hadn’t considered his pack would’ve already honed in on her or that she would actually accept any advances.

“Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t understand. Can we reschedule?” Reschedule?

“Who the hell are you going out with tonight?” Jason demanded, his voice rumbling around the words. He silently made a mental list of all the eligible bachelors in town and wondered whom he was going to have to kill.

“Laurie.”

“What about Laurie?”

“I have plans with Laurie. She invited me over to her place for a girl’s night.” Jason stared as her words slowly penetrated the red haze of anger he’d built at the thought of Samantha with another man.

“Laurie doesn’t have girl’s nights. Laurie doesn’t like girls,” Jason said as Laurie ambled over to them. He always did have rotten timing.

“I do, too, like girls! I just didn’t care for any of the bimbos my brothers called girlfriends, present company excluded, so they never thought I liked girls. Jason, picking up some coffee after work?”

“No,” Jason gritted out between his clenched jaw. “I came to pick Samantha up for dinner.”

“Oh. But Samantha has plans with me tonight,” Laurie said. Jason growled again. “I guess you’ll be heading out.” Laurie sent Jason a huge mocking smile, aggravating him as only a sister could. “Have a nice night, Jason.” And like that, he was dismissed. Jason turned to Samantha, who was glancing between Laurie and him warily.

“Tomorrow night. Dinner.” It wasn’t a question. He didn’t have the patience for questions now. As happy as he was Samantha was going out with Laurie and not somebody he’d have to kill if they touched her, he wanted Samantha to himself.

“Since you asked nicely, tomorrow would be fine.” Samantha smiled sweetly at him, draining away his anger, if not his frustration.

He leaned in and kissed her hard on the mouth before glaring at Laurie. “Take care of her.”

“We’re just going back to my house for pizza and margaritas. How much trouble can we possibly get into there?”

Famous last words coming from his sister.

“Unbelievable,” Jason angrily whispered, yet again. He looked at the wolf sitting in the front seat next to him. “I told you to take care of her!”

Jason glanced in the rearview mirror at the wet arctic fox. Unconscious, she was spread out over the entire backseat of his car. She looked a bit like a big rat with her white fur plastered against her skin. “What, exactly, made you think skinny dipping in the very public park fountain was a good idea?”

The wolf looked at him with her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth. As he stopped at a red light, she put front paws on his thigh and licked his face.

“Ugh, stop,” he exclaimed, wiping his face and pushing her back onto the passenger seat.

“You’re already getting my car wet, do you need to get me wet, too?” A goofy wolf grin and soft chuffing was his only answer.

“Unbelievable,” he breathed out softly to himself.

He’d been unable to sleep, his mind drifting to thoughts of Samantha and conjuring all the things he wanted to do with her, for her and to her. Eventually, he decided to take a drive, hoping it would clear his head.

He’d been driving past the park when he smelled them. He knew Laurie too well, and suspected she was doing something he wouldn’t approve of. Deciding to investigate, he’d followed his nose until he came upon them dancing in the fountain, naked. Laurie noticed him immediately and shifted into her wolf form. He heard the cracks of her joints, signifying her shift, but wasn’t paying attention. All his focus was on Samantha as she continued dancing. She hadn’t noticed him or Laurie’s sudden transformation. Bathed only in moonlight, she was gorgeous and for a moment all he could do was bask in her creamy white complexion and stare at her small breasts as they gently swayed with her movements. Her body was lean and perfectly proportioned, with slight curves in all the right places. The moonlight glorified her skin as if it had found a perfect canvas to paint on. The thought of her stunning figure out in the open for anyone to see was infuriating.

Taking a quick look around, he was relieved to find the park deserted.

Samantha didn’t stop dancing until Laurie, in wolf form, rubbed up against her leg. She looked at Laurie in confusion for a moment before glancing around and spotting him. Yelping, she quickly shifted into a small and adorable white fox.

As soon as Samantha had fully shifted, she immediately scrambled from the water, but by that time she was thoroughly soaked. She looked at him shyly with those soft brown eyes, water dripping down her face, and he had absolutely melted. The tension he felt at finding them exposed drifted away. It was as if there was a switch buried deep inside him only Samantha could reach.

Sighing in resignation, Jason had picked up their discarded clothes and ushered them into his car. Laurie had always been a bit of a wild child, which was one of the reasons the brothers hadn’t brought her into their software developing business; well, that and her complete inability to program. Laurie had always preferred the comfort of paper books to computers. He couldn’t believe Samantha had gotten pulled into Laurie’s scheme. Had the smell of tequila not infused their very beings, he might not have believed it at all. But “tequila” and “common sense” weren’t often used in the same sentence.

He pulled into Laurie’s driveway and got out of the car. As he grabbed her clothes and went to unlock her door, Laurie looked over at the backseat and barked questioningly.

“There’s no way I’m leaving her with you after that stunt. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her.” She threw him another goofy wolf grin. He opened her front door and waited for her to enter before tossing her clothes in after her, hitting her square on the head.

* * * *

Suddenly wide awake, Samantha clutched the blanket around herself as she got out of the bed. She looked around nervously, but couldn’t find her clothes anywhere. Quickly evaluating her choices, she started nimbly sneaking out of the room, keeping low to the ground hoping to avoid detection. She found herself in a living room. A door across from her looked like it led outside.

She made it to the door and put her hand on the knob when a voice startled her from behind.

“Don’t even think of exiting this house before you get dressed.” Samantha straightened and turned to face Jason, oddly comforted once she heard the rich tones of his voice. As soon as he spoke, her muscles instantly relaxed and the need to flee vanished.

She knew she was safe in his presence. He was standing at the top of the staircase fully dressed and looking good enough to eat.

“Are you going to say anything or just stand there and stare?”

“Where am I? And why am I, uh, naked?”

He stared at her for a moment, then asked, “How much of last night do you remember?” Samantha thought back to the previous night. Everything was a blur. “I went to Laurie’s house. We made margaritas.”

“Do you remember the park?”

“The town park?” she asked. At his nod, she racked her brain but couldn’t remember anything happening at the park. “No, I don’t. Did we go there?”

“You went swimming.”

“There’s a pool at the park?”

“No. In the fountain. I found you and Laurie skinny dipping.” Samantha struggled to remember as she stared at him in horror.

“You’re cute when you’re a fox, by the way. Even when you’re soaking wet.”

“Oh.” A sense of relief flooded through her. “You mean, we shifted and played in the fountain.”

“No. I mean you went skinny dipping. The shifting came after I found you. And, to answer your first question, this is my house. I brought you back here after I took Laurie home.” Oh dear God. Now that he mentioned it, snippets of memories from the previous night were coming back to her. She groaned and dropped her head into the hand not holding up the sheet.

She heard him moving down the stairs toward her but couldn’t bring herself to look until she felt him touch her.

He gently swept a lock of hair behind her ear and she looked up to find him staring at her tenderly. “Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure I was the only one who saw you.” He grinned down at her with a devilish look on his face. “And I didn’t see anything I won’t see—” His hand came up and rubbed her arm. “touch—” He lowered his head and rubbed his lips at the spot where her neck met her shoulder. “and taste, eventually.”

As he continued to nuzzle her neck, she felt herself melting into his embrace. He nipped his teeth lightly, causing her to moan before gently licking the ache away. Samantha fisted her hand in his hair and tried to pull him closer.

“Mmm, you taste delicious. I could eat you for breakfast.” He nibbled a trail up the side of her neck until his breath fell against her ear. “But I’m guessing you’re going to need some real food to soak up all that alcohol. Why don’t you go upstairs and take a shower, and I’ll whip us up some pancakes.”

Groaning, Samantha tried to pull him closer, her body denying his plan to leave. Chuckling softly, he gently pushed her away.

“No, no, little heart. We can continue this later tonight.” Jason leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on her nose. Samantha looked up at him and could do nothing but nod.

Samantha stared at the menu in awe. Surely Jason couldn’t mean for them to eat here.

Everything listed cost a fortune!

“The pasta is great.” Jason smiled at Samantha from behind his menu. “Although Carmella’s doesn’t have much on their menu that
isn’t
great.” Smiling faintly, Samantha glanced back at the menu. “Anything strike your fancy yet?” Jason asked.

“Uh…” Geez, even the salads were almost twenty dollars! She’d never been to a restaurant like this before. She looked down at her simple dress, one of the few she owned, and felt completely out of place. Samantha sighed and returned her attention to the menu. It looked like she was having salad tonight. She glanced back at Jason to see him looking at her peculiarly. Uh-oh, did she say that out loud?

“Samantha, don’t worry about the price. You can have a salad or a steak if you want. It’s my treat.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful, it’s just…” Samantha trailed off as she realized Jason was looking at her with an almost angry gleam in his eyes.

“Samantha, I’m serious. I want you to get whatever you want. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t want to. Besides, tonight is a special night and I wanted to celebrate.”

“Oh? What are we celebrating?”

“You’re coming back to my place tonight, right?” His smile turned wolfish, and his eyes positively gleamed in the candlelight. Blushing lightly, she jerkily nodded once. After this morning, there was no question what tonight held for either of them.

“Well then, we’re celebrating us and our first night together. The first of many, I hope.” The waitress chose that moment to come over. Jason ordered a glass of red wine and looked questioningly at her. Samantha thought briefly about drinking water after the events of the night before, but she decided she might need the liquid courage since they were going to go back to his place. She wanted this with all her heart, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous. She was terrified she’d do something wrong and things would end before they began.

“I’ll have a glass of the pinot noir please.” The waitress seemed to snarl at Samantha before disappearing.
What the hell?
Samantha puzzled over it for a minute before shrugging it off. Surely she had imagined it. She’d been in this town less than a week and didn’t think she’d done anything to anger the pack.