Mellizo Wolves (17 page)

“I’m not following you, sir.”

“You will. Just be ready.”

“When this event happens, what am I supposed to do?”

“You just watch until Victoria makes her move—then no
matter what, don’t let her out of your sight. There are people beyond our walls
waiting to catch her and lock her up. You must protect her from them, and
herself.”

Rick could scarcely breathe. He walked out on the terrace
to look at the innocent-looking moon they claimed was a trigger to disaster. He
took in a few gulps of air.

At the sounds of howls behind him, he turned. Hugh,
Victoria, and Valerie were moaning and writhing on their pads. They seemed to
be in terrible pain. He glanced at Lamont. “Isn’t there something we can do?”

“Just keep your eyes on Victoria. When she gets through
this, she may try to take off. Be ready.”

Rick had never felt more helpless in his life. Victoria was
sweating and the muscles throughout her body seemed to be jumping. She
convulsed and writhed upon the exercise pad. Long claws sprung from her
fingertips. She howled mournfully and raked her fingers through a wild,
thickening, onyx mane. Her almond-shaped eyes glittered with savage intensity.
The tears in her fierce gaze sent an arrow right to his heart. He took a step
to go to her.

“Don’t,” Damon said. “See those incisors? While in pain,
she’s likely to bite you.”

Dark hair was appearing all over her body. Good God, these
people were werewolves! What the hell had he gotten himself into?

“There are two kinds of werewolves, Rick,” Damon said, as
though talking about breeds of dogs. “Those who embrace wolf tendencies of
their free will and those like my girls and Hugh who inherited the condition
and are merely victims of their birth.”

Rick watched as the three suffering creatures stripped off
their clothes with wild abandon. And, Lord help him, Lamont had told him not to
take his eyes off of Victoria. He felt guilty staring at her—and totally
enchanted. She had the figure of an Amazon goddess, fierce-looking ivory fangs,
and glittering gold claws. Fire flooded Rick’s veins and he felt himself swell
and grow hard.

Suddenly, the girls rose and rushed to the terrace.

“Grab them,” Damon shouted as they girls ran past the group
and leapt over the railing. Hugh, now a huge black wolf, followed them. “Why
are you just standing there, Rick? Don’t let Victoria out of your sight.”

Hell, he had no chance of catching Victoria on foot. And if
he jumped off the terrace, he’d break his fool neck. He raced downstairs,
grabbed his helmet from the cycle bars, and yanked it on. Once he lowered the
helmet shield, he roared his Harley to life and headed in the direction he’d
last seen the girls.

Am I insane? I’m chasing three werewolves for crap’s sake.

* * *
*

Eager for fun and games, Kat headed to the door of the
classy-looking apartment. She straightened her tight black dress and rang the
bell. She was late and the moon was already big and round in the sky. She and
the brainy doctor were supposed to watch the sunset from his terrace together.
Well, he’d just have to forgive her. Things happened. The guy who was supposed
to pick Deeto up for their bachelor party got into a fender-bender and was
late. And she didn’t dare leave until Deeto was safely on his way. Maybe the
universe was trying to tell her something. She remembered Angela’s words.
Just
be careful, Kat. Something about Lazar gives me the creeps.

Well, the creeps wasn’t what he gave her. His slow,
appraising glances almost set her panties on fire. She’d never felt quite this
way before, apprehensive, maybe a little fearful, and excited at the same time.

Finally, he opened the door wearing a scanty bathing suit
that left nothing to her imagination. His chest glistened with moisture.

“Looks like you’ve been swimming,” she said, feeling inept.

“Just exercising, but I love the water.” He grinned. “I’d
about given up on you.” His deep voice sounded seductive and pained.

She glanced past him to the lone candle burning inside.
“I’m sorry I’m late. Due to circumstances at home, I couldn’t call. And once on
the road, I still couldn’t call because I signed a contract with Oprah that I
wouldn’t use my cell while driving. So I decided to just get here as quickly as
I could.” She forced a smile and said, “Forgive me?”

“In that slinky, black-sequined dress? A man would have to
be blind and passionless not to forgive you anything and everything.”

She handed him the picnic basket with her old standby
Lasagna and a loaf of French bread still hot from the bakery ovens. The aroma
rose up and she’d forgotten until then that she’d skipped lunch. “You said
you’d provide the wine and dessert.”

He placed the basket inside on a table and then drew her
into the semi-darkened apartment and into his arms. “Honey, I’m ready, willing,
and able to provide anything your heart desires.”

“Kinda lame,” she said, laughing. “I expected better from a
brainy guy.”

“You want Shakespeare?” he asked. “I can do that.”

“Never mind. Hokey is okay.”

She caught the faint scent of whisky on his breath.

He looked at her neck, then bent and kissed it. His lips
were hot and he nibbled at her suddenly flaming skin. His bare abs flexed
against her as he pressed his throbbing maleness against her. “Did you find the
twins well?” he murmured.

“Twins? Oh, sure, they’re fine. I didn’t stay at the
mansion long.”

She felt dampness between her legs. Oh, crap. This
conversation was insane considering how he was setting her on fire. She heard
the faint whisper of her zipper.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmured as her dress slipped to the
floor, leaving her in her lacy black bra and panties. He bent and kissed her
breasts.

She stroked his bulging biceps, feeling ridiculous and
tempted, for the first time in her life, to slow things down. He nimbly unhooked
her bra. She looked up into his eyes. “You still remind me of someone. And it
bothers the hell out of me.”

He chuckled and nibbled at her neck again. “Perhaps we knew
each other in past lives. Although, I doubt I’d ever forget you.” He shoved her
against the wall and put her hands up over her head. Then he began kissing her
until she was wild with wanting him.

The lone candle on the coffee table flickered and went out.
He lifted her into his arms and headed through the darkness as though he could
see. He lowered her to a bed, pounced on her. Then he took her so violently
that it felt like rape.

The moon moved from behind a cloud and fell on Lazar’s
face. In the shifting shadows, his open mouth and sharp fangs triggered a
terrifying image of the night years ago when the werewolf crashed through her
bedroom window, intent on tearing out her throat. That night, she had a
guardian werewolf to save her. Tonight, she had no one.

* * *
*

Straddling his Harley, Rick poured on the speed, his eyes
scanning the bushes for any sign of Victoria. Damn it. She seemed to have
blended with the night. The wind whistled around him. For the first time in his
life, he feared he might be in over his head. Then he saw her ahead on a
boulder, howling at the moon. He exhaled in relief. Perhaps she’d believed that
by slipping through the dark shadows and tangled bushes, she’d shaken him off
of her tail. Thank God she was wrong. He slowed and cut the engine. Now what?

Even as half woman and half Amazon wolf, she was the most beautiful
creature he’d ever seen.
Okay, enough lusting over the forbidden.
His
job was to protect her against her enemies and herself. And from him. He got
off the bike and grabbed a rope from the storage compartment. Night sounds of
crickets and distant howls sent prickles up his arms. He formed a loop in the
rope and let the lasso fly. It dropped over her head and shoulders. He pulled
it tight about her waist and as he ran toward her, she fought the taut line
with everything wild within her.

She snapped into the air, raised the hackles around her
neck and shoulders, then splayed her ears sideways to emphasize her increasing
defiance. She issued a low, throaty growl. Her game of establishing superiority
was a wolf routine he knew well from Indian Joe’s stories. She was trying to
give the impression of increased size and dominant power. Unfortunately, she
could win. With her sensitive ears and superior eyesight, she was holding all
the cards.

Based upon the fierce way she was thrashing about on the
rope, he doubted he could hold her long. Either the rope would snap or she’d
wriggle loose. He spoke soothingly like Indian Joe had taught him to do when
dealing with animals. When he reached Victoria, he inhaled her lupine
pheromones to establish a psychic link with the wolf part of her. “It’s all
right,” he said. “I’m here to take you home.”

She tilted her head and looked at him with turbulent brown
eyes. She opened her mouth, curled her lips, and growled. Her incisors looked
deadly. Joe had taught him that the wolf was an intelligent, shy animal that
avoided interaction with humans. He saw nothing shy in her aggressive behavior.
Werewolves apparently were a more ferocious species than regular lupines. He
wondered if the other two wolves were close by, waiting to pounce on him.

* * *
*

Victoria had no fear of Rick, but she wasn’t ready to be
dragged home on a leash like a naughty pup. She sucked in his seductive male
scent mingled with something woodsy and wild along with the tangy scents of
scrub brush and moon poppies. She tugged on the line, eager to bathe in the
heat of the full moon. Its power could not be denied and no biker with a lasso
could deprive her of this glorious freedom. She howled, leapt from the rock,
and ran through the bushes, enjoying the damp earth beneath her paws as she
dragged him along.
Leave me free to embrace the night and drink in the feral
sensations
.

He clung to the rope, hand over hand, getting closer and
slowing her. She inhaled his male scent again and remembered clinging to his
bare torso, feeling his heat, his power. Fiery lust rose in her so quickly it
stole her breath away. Suddenly, she no longer wanted to escape her pursuer—she
wanted him. Her wolf soul craved sex, and right or wrong in her parents’ eyes,
she wanted him now. Undoubtedly, Dad had proclaimed her off limits to her
protector. That could heighten the excitement. Imagine, after she turned on the
heat, the fun of testing this mere man’s willpower. Her charms had worked on
the weak-livered hunter, but would they work on a man of integrity? Was she
capable of being a great temptress, one that even a man like Rick couldn’t
resist?

She grabbed a handful of moon poppies, jammed them in her
mouth and devoured them. Then she started her lupine reversing technique of mind
over matter. She’d have a better chance of seducing Rick if she were more
womanly and less lupine. She concentrated, counted backwards, and processed
each step in reverse as she had with the hunter. When she felt no change, she
concentrated harder.

Time was running out. She leapt up on a table-boulder and
lay on her back, exposing her breasts, stomach, and pubic area to the glow of
the moon, undulating, writhing, and looking vulnerable, willing. He approached
slowly. She heard his breathing accelerate. With satisfaction, she inhaled his
pheromones of lustful excitement.

“I know what you’re doing, Victoria, and it won’t work.”
His voice was low, and the guttural rumble told her he could barely contain his
lustful rage. When he reached for her elbow, she slid off the boulder and into
his arms. She locked her limbs around his shoulders and began nibbling on his
neck and kissing him while rhythmically rubbing her nude body back and forth
against his torso and the hot swell of passion in his jeans. “Stop that,” he
growled, and pushed her away while wiping blood from his mouth with the back of
his hand where she’d nicked him with her incisors.

She backed away four steps, dropped on all fours, and
slinked toward him as she had done with the gullible hunter. Rick leapt forward
onto her, taking her by surprise. Hey, now he was getting to it. The weight and
heat of him as he rolled with her brought new waves of desire. She reveled in
the coolness of the hilly grasses beneath her flaming skin and his muscles
flexing against her bare belly. And his heat was—oh God, so hot, so
overpowering.

He struggled, getting her in position, and she was ready to
lose her virginity to this handsome biker. When he twisted her arm behind her
back and pulled her to her feet, she felt like he’d thrown ice water on her
sizzling skin.

“That’s enough, Victoria. We’re going home. And get this
straight—as long I work for your Dad, this isn’t going to happen.”

Hmmm,
she thought,
that
means I’ll just have to get you fired.

He maneuvered through the rough terrain slowly, forcing her
to run behind the bike like an animal. Suddenly, she caught the scent of sweaty
men—then her feral eyes detected the shapes of humans. It was the hunters! She
couldn’t let Rick ride right into a trap and leave their freedom to chance. She
ran and leapt onto the back of the bike, wrapped her limbs around his middle,
and growled at him to hit the gas. Startled, he swerved and almost hit a barren
grape vine. Then, as though he heard the approaching danger, he took off like
white lightning toward the mansion.