Forbidden Attraction (20 page)

Instead of attacking, Nicolo grabbed the
lunewulf
, holding him off the ground so they scowled at each other eye to eye. In spite of the struggle, Nicolo had strength on his side. He gave the
lunewulf
a hard shake, ignoring the snarls and closeness of the others who’d surrounded him.

The bastard’s words sank in slowly, then hit his gut with a painful thud. “How do you know Heidi is missing? How long has she been gone?”

“The female’s disappearance is news to us,” Josie told him. “We can make a mess of this meadow and kill a few werewolves today, or you can call your dogs off and we’ll help you search for her.”

Calling any werewolf a dog was the lowest of insults. One of the
lunewulfs
who was in his fur lunged at Josie, teeth bared and claws extended.

Josie roared, the sound echoing through the meadow, and punched the
lunewulf
in the chest. The jerk went flying backward a good dozen feet, rolling head over heels while the others watched, stunned. Josie had been pushed too far and the gift ignited inside him. He turned on the others, his teeth extended and his straight black hair longer and wild-looking. He jumped toward them, his arms extended, and suddenly all of them flew backward, rolling in the snow as if some incredible wind had attacked them and blown them off their paws.

This would get worse before it got better. Nicolo’s brain raced. Her pack couldn’t find Heidi. They thought he’d taken her. She’d disappeared.

“I don’t have time to destroy a bunch of
lunewulfs
,” he growled and threw the
lunewulf
he held to the ground, unable to send him flying the way Josie had the others 103

Lorie O’Clare

but still satisfied. “I had no fucking clue that Heidi was missing. But now that I know, I’m going to find her. Get in my way and you’ll die.”

The
lunewulf
scurried to his feet, but hesitated. Maybe he’d finally bothered to inhale and had learned that Nicolo didn’t lie.

Nicolo ignored the rest of their pack, who’d managed to come to their paws but stood waiting, more than likely deciding attacking might not be to their advantage. He turned, marching across the meadow toward his truck. Josie could follow or play in the meadow for the rest of the damned day for all he cared. All that mattered at the moment was figuring out when she’d last been seen and taking it from there. And for that, he needed to pay her pack leader a visit.

104

Forbidden Attraction

“Are you okay?” Heidi stretched in the cave that barely offered enough room for her to stand and then quickly reached for her clothes.

The sun was bright along the entrance of the stone walls, but it was still cold as hell.

She watched Maura blink and then focus one silver eye on her. Her friend remained in her fur, lifting her head and sniffing the air.

“I think it’s midday or so, but I haven’t been outside yet.” Every muscle in her body screamed from sleeping on cold rock all night. “You can sleep if you want and I’ll go outside and see what’s in the air. I’m sure they know we’re gone by now.”

She finished dressing quickly, dying to simply run to the Malta werewolf pack.

Maura was with her now though, and until she knew the bitch was okay, they would have to stay put.

She slipped her coat over her sweater and then slid between the rocks that had blocked the cold night wind while they slept. She licked her lips and felt how dry they were while she worked to swallow the foul taste out of her mouth. What she wouldn’t do for a hot cup of coffee and a shower. For now, they would both have to settle for freezing spring water and raw fish. Her stomach growled at the thought of fresh meat.

Once Maura was up, they’d go hunting. But first, she needed to know they were safe.

Her lungs filled with the scent of pine and the small rodents that scurried around rocks, detecting her scent at the same time that she noticed theirs.

“What’s it like out there?” Maura asked from behind her.

“I don’t smell any werewolves.”

“You know they’ll be combing the mountain for us.”

Or charging into the Malta pack demanding her return. That had been the only thought that had made her hesitate when Maura suggested they run together.

“I wonder if Nicolo knows yet,” she mused out loud.

They’d left during the night, waiting until the pack had headed out on a run and then going in the opposite direction. They’d headed south, away from both their mountain and the Malta werewolves’ mountain.

“I bet if Pete knows, he hasn’t told anyone.” Maura appeared behind her, digging her hands into her coat pocket.

Heidi turned on the narrow passage and stared at her friend. “Your eye looks better.”

105

Lorie O’Clare

Maura lowered her head and her long blonde hair fell around her face, partially covering it. “He’s an asshole. I’m not going back to him, Heidi. Even if they find us. Bob can’t make me stay with the jerk.”

“Seriously, there is hardly any bruising left today.” Heidi stared at the pale green discoloration under Maura’s eye when the bitch looked at her.

Her blood boiled thinking that any
lunewulf
would strike Maura. She’d attack Pete herself if given the chance. And simply because he returned to their den before Maura made it back from Heidi’s. The asshole needed his throat ripped out.

“You don’t lie very well,” Maura said, smiling. She pushed her way past Heidi and stared down the mountain at the rocks and cliffs below them. “It’s so beautiful and peaceful here.”

“It would be better with a hot pot of coffee.”

Maura snorted. “Don’t even mention that.”

“I smell water over that way. And it seems, if I remember right, we ran close to a waterfall last night. Let’s change and see if we can’t catch breakfast.”

“All I remember about last night was following your ass.” Maura climbed up onto a rock and squatted, her blonde hair falling down her back while she rested her elbows on her knees. “How far would you say we are from our pack?”

Heidi pointed at the mountain range spread out before them. The view was breathtaking, and if it weren’t for the seriousness of their actions—running from their pack, defying the orders of their pack leader and disappearing without telling anyone—

Heidi would swear she’d found the most peaceful spot on earth. If only she hadn’t brought the trauma going on in her life along with her in her mind.

“I’d hate to guess how many miles. But that mountain there is ours, and the mountain over there belongs to the Malta pack. Cuchara would be over there, and then Valle on the other side of that mountain.” She pointed as she spoke. “We ran for a few hours, but we did a lot of climbing and working our way around rocks and cliffs.”

“If I hadn’t been half blind, it would have been kind of fun. Kind of like the old days.” Maura turned to look down at her. “We had some good times, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, we sure did.” Running without direction didn’t appeal to her like it once had though. She had somewhere she wanted to run now and someone she wanted to run to. An uncomfortable ache wrapped around her heart when she imagined how outraged Nicolo might be if news reached him that she’d run. “Let’s hunt up some breakfast.”

Maura jumped off the rock and joined her in the small cave they’d sniffed out the night before. Any rodents or small creatures that might have considered the place home had quickly disappeared when the two deadly female predators appeared.

Heidi moved to the far corner of the small area—the entire cave just a bit larger than her bathroom—and quickly stripped back out of her clothes. Maura did the same, and the two of them rolled their clothes and then wrapped their coats around them.

106

Forbidden Attraction

Her heart picked up speed quickly while she shivered uncontrollably and closed her eyes, allowing the change to take over and bring her warmth. The smells of the cave grew richer, the sounds outside more acute. Her bones popped and stretched as her muscles changed shape. Heidi dropped to all fours, savoring every moment of the change that made her so much more than human.

Instinct kicked in hard and fast and finding food suddenly became paramount on her list of things to do. She followed Maura out of the cave, jumping over rocks and leaping down the mountain much faster and easier than either of them could have done on two feet.

Where she’d only been able to guess where water ran down the mountain while standing outside the cave, now she easily smelled and heard the rushing sounds of it tumbling over rocks. Eager to bathe and catch breakfast, the two of them wasted no time running toward the sound.

Maura’s happiness as she pranced through the shallow pool of fresh mountain water lifted Heidi’s mood. It had been quite a while since she’d seen the carefree side of her friend. When they had been younger, Maura had been known for her wild side—a family trait that ran thick among the DeBeaux females. A bitch without much of a den, Maura had survived by moving from pack to pack until she’d met Heidi in a pack in Prince George up in Canada. Heidi viewed those days as another lifetime and had no regrets that they were gone. But watching Maura lap at the water, dive after fish and bark at her playfully made Heidi feel better about agreeing to escape the suppression the two of them experienced in their current pack.

Sated and stuffed from the fish they’d caught, Heidi stretched out on cool, uncut grass and relaxed in the sunlight, letting her coat dry. Maura rolled around next to her, grunting and growling while she kicked her legs up in the air and panted like a happy idiot. If her vocal chords had allowed it, she would have laughed out loud at how ridiculous Maura looked.

Instead, she closed her eyes, instantly seeing Nicolo in her mind. His powerful presence, whether in his fur or skin, warmed her quickly. He was a werewolf of strong convictions, and she worried he would regret taking her in her fur when he learned that she’d bolted. She didn’t want him to see her as too wild. Because really, she wasn’t.

Settling down, having a den to call home and smelling love and happiness every time she entered it sounded so damned good her heart ached for it. And she ached for Nicolo.

She’d planned on calling and telling him as much yesterday after Maura left her den. But then Bob had shown up, deciding she needed to come to his den for dinner.

Telling him no would only have made her predicament worse. Even though the last thing she wanted to do was spend time with his den and watch him and his mate cuddle while their clubs played at their feet, she’d agreed to come over. Her cell phone had rung twice while she’d been there. Both times, Bob had taken the phone from her, frowned at the number and ended the call without answering it. She’d been pissed as hell when he’d told her he would return the phone to her the next day and had decided 107

Lorie O’Clare

it would be best to change her number. Maura had shown up after she’d returned to her den, crying and insisting she was going to run. Heidi couldn’t let her run by herself.

Had Nicolo been those two calls? Bob would have let her answer if he’d thought the calls harmless. She had to believe he’d tried to call her. But what would Nicolo think when she hadn’t answered?

Her stomach churned, the fish suddenly not setting as well as they had a few minutes ago. The hatred her pack had for Malta werewolves wouldn’t end overnight.

But the feelings she had for Nicolo seemed to grow stronger the longer they were apart.

She had to believe Nicolo knew she wanted him. If she thought otherwise, she’d be sick to her stomach. And without her strength, she’d never see him again.

Maura growled and Heidi opened her eyes. Her friend lay on her stomach, her ears alert and her body tense. Heidi rolled over, quickly sniffing the air. She immediately smelled what had put Maura on alert.

Humans.

The smell of them drifted toward the two bitches. Heidi jumped to her feet, sniffing the air while taking in their mountainous surroundings. Maura stood slowly, tense and keeping her body low to the ground. Sunlight glistened off her damp coat, giving her a shiny white look. With snow on the ground, they were naturally camouflaged. And it was impossible to say what humans would be doing out this way. Neither of them would attack unless provoked, but with humans, it was best to just stay out of their way.

The humans’ voices tickled her ears, growing louder as they got closer. The urge to run, to find shelter and watch from a safe distance took over. Heidi moved first, knowing Maura would follow, and headed for the rocks. With any luck, they would be back at their cave and out of sight without ever being noticed.

The voices got louder.

“I don’t know why we’re doing this. The last thing I want to put over my mantle is the head of a werewolf.”

One of them laughed but another cursed.

“You’ll get your fucking bear. But I know what I saw. If we can take a few of them out, then we’ll be doing the town a service. The nasty mutants just need to go back to where they came from.”

“I’ve never seen one before when they are monsters—only when they look like us.

They are sneaky when they look like humans—hard to pick out.”

“Not really. They got two colors, all black or all white. And I hear their eyes glow unnatural-like when they are humans. If you put out raw meat, it makes their teeth grow. They can’t help themselves. But they are worse than a pack of dogs when they are animals. You know they’ll steal all of your sheep if we don’t wipe them out of the mountains.”

“I’d put the head of one of them over my fireplace.”

108

Forbidden Attraction

That comment brought a round of laughter, but Heidi wasn’t smiling. If the humans had spotted werewolves, then there were more in the area than just her and Maura. Not to mention, she’d heard enough of their bullshit.

She broke into a run, reaching the nearest cliff and jumping onto it with Maura right behind her. With any luck, they’d be halfway up the mountain and out of sight of the dimwitted humans within minutes.

When she leapt to the next rock, another smell hit her. And it hit her strong.