Shadows of the Ancients (4 page)

“Seriously?” I questioned.

He leaned in, so close to my ear I could feel his breath as he whispered, “seriously.” His voice had a strange accent that I was unfamiliar with. Between the accent, his breath tickling my neck and ear, and the superbly, manly, spicy, woodsy scent emanating from him, I was having a hard time controlling my breathing. This was not normal, even for werewolves. I felt completely drawn to him, and power drunk. I hadn’t felt this heady since my awakening when all my heightened senses kicked in at once. He was still there, by my ear, and I simply could not move. My damn feet were traitors. I couldn’t convince them there might be danger, and we had to go now. Hell, I was having a hard time convincing my brain of that, especially when he leaned even further in, putting his nose right against my neck, just behind my ear. He inhaled deeply, and as he did, his arm snaked around my waist, pulling me into him. My stupid damn hands didn’t listen to me either. One of them immediately tried to slip around to his back to pull us even closer together, while the other went straight to those luscious pecks that were at chin level for me now.

The low growl that slipped from somewhere in the back of his throat made my knees go week in the most literal sense. Thankfully, his grasp didn’t fail me, because I would have hit the floor hard had he not held me steady. Not to mention the slightly embarrassing whimper that came from my own body in response to his growl. That’s all the approval he needed apparently, because from there his lips trailed little kisses up my ear, and back down my neck, all the while he rubbed his face across my skin, scenting me. Shit, he was scenting me. Alarm bells were ringing like a motherfucker in my head, but my body would not respond. Actually, my fingers were kneading themselves into the muscles of his back and chest. Oh, God, Ashley had been right, I was ready for him to take me right here, and I didn’t even care who was watching.

That growl came again, louder this time. I was sure people standing near us had to notice by now. Not only were we both erupting with growl laden moans, but we had to look like we were full on making out by now. In fact, his left hand was heading due south towards my ass, while his other one had threaded through my hair and pulled me closer as he continued to mark me with his scent.

Another man slipped up behind him, whispered one word in his ear, and pointed to the back of the bar. The new guy looked me up and down once, huffing into the air, and then stalked off. The man, whose arms were suddenly disentangling from my body, had a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. “I will find you again soon, little wolf.” The deep timbre of his voice melted me a little bit further, and as his hand finally left my body, and he turned to leave, I stumbled. I fucking stumbled. Completely thrown off balance. I never stumbled.

Ashley was suddenly beside me, grabbing my elbow, and pulling me at a quick pace over to our table. “Holy fucking hell, Jess, what was that?”

“Oh my God, I don’t even know what just happened.”

“That shit looked serious. Hell, I was about to climax just watching the two of you, and you were both fully clothed.”

“Ash, seriously… it wasn’t…”

“Oh, the hell it wasn’t! Crap, I didn’t even order the drinks, because I was so wrapped up in what was going down with the two of you, in front of everyone!” A smile grew on Ashley’s face and her eyes lit up as she continued. “Well, since you’ve already claimed that one, maybe you can still hook me up with his dead sexy friend.”

“Who?”

“What do you mean who? The other God in the room. You know, the one who took lover boy away from you.”

“Oh, I didn’t really see him.” I was still in a bit of a daze, and I was trying to come out of it. I also needed a big drink, and probably the world’s coldest shower right about now.

“Yeah, no kidding, because you were too busy trying to implant yourself into the other dude. So, what’s his name anyway?”

“No clue,” I said, still dazed. I managed to get up and walk a few paces away to snag the waitresses arm. I may have done it a little harder than necessary since she winced. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to grab you so hard.”

“Yeah, whatever,” she responded. “Can I help you?” She looked pointedly at her arm, in specific where my hand was still clasped around it.

“Shit, sorry.” I dropped my hand to my side. We need 3 rounds of Irish car bombs for the two of us.” The waitress looked back and forth between Ashley and I, like it would be impossible for us to drink that much, but she ended up shrugging her shoulders and wandered off to the bar to place my order.

I went back to my table, where Ashley was currently being groped by the tall guy from earlier in the night. I knew Ash was drunk and horny so I just ignored it. I knew her limits, and if she hit them I would take care of the guy. What was his name? Adrian, I think. I plopped my ass down on my stool and Adrian’s buddy came over and stood beside me. I guess he was expecting the same attention Ash was now giving his buddy.

“So, who was that dude you were all over out on the dance floor? Was that your boyfriend, or are you just that friendly with any guy that doesn’t move out of your way?”

I felt the ripple of energy before I saw him, and I knew he was coming for this little asshole. It didn’t matter. He’d be too late. I hauled off and punched the fuck out of Adrian’s friend’s face. I heard the crack of bone as his nose broke when my hand made contact. Then I heard that otherworldly laughter coming from my mystery man. I smiled up at him, and he tipped his fingers up to his head, bending forward with a bow, as if he were tipping his hat – had he been wearing one – and bowing at the same time. Oh, but he was sexy. It took a moment to register that Ashley was tugging on my arm.

“Come on slugger, we need to get you out of here. Jesus, when I said we’d find some trouble tonight, I was thinking sexcapades, not bar room brawl.” That laughter echoed out behind me again, trailing off as he walked towards the back room of the bar again. We were intercepted by our waitress who was brining all six Irish car bombs to us.

“Hey, you ordered these, you need to pay for them before you leave.” I pointed over to the bar, and she turned to head in that direction. I threw down a wad of cash for her, dropped the shots into each of the glasses of beer, and then one after another I started chugging them. A roar from the crowd blew up behind us, as the guys close enough to see what I was doing started chanting, “Chug! Chug! Chug” For about two minutes I felt like I was in a bad frat house movie. Then the bouncer was making his way over to us, with a bloody nosed guy that was going to need some serious plastic surgery to fix his face.

I grabbed Ash’s hand and weaved through the crowd with her in tow, avoiding the bouncer, and hitting the front door at a near run. Ash was breathless as we hit the street, and I was exhilarated.

“Holy shit, that was insane!” I yelled.

“Yeah, no kidding.” She eyed me funnily, “also, I can’t believe you just sucked down four out of six Irish car bombs and you’re still on your feet.”

“Mmhmm, but I really have to pee now, though.” I staggered a little as we started walking away from the club. Normally, I would play designated driver, but it would take a little while to burn off all the alcohol I just consumed, so we were going to have to hoof it back to Ashley’s apartment. We were only a few blocks away, giggling and stumbling a little as Ashley joked about how bad-ass I was when I broke the guy’s nose.

“Why did you do it anyway? I missed that part.”

“I know you did, because you had your tongue stuffed down his friend’s throat. He basically asked me if I was a whore. He asked if he had to get in my way to get the same treatment my mystery man got on the dance floor.”

“No fucking way? I’m so glad you punched him, then. I might not be getting any now, but it’s totally justified.”

We were both laughing when I felt power ripple across my skin. I turned, almost expecting my mystery man to be making another appearance, but to my surprise it wasn’t him. Ashley stopped and spun around a moment later, trying to see what caught my attention. “Oh, hey!” She said, and then quieter to me she added, “that’s your friend’s buddy that you were too busy to notice earlier.”

“What?” I looked from her to the man who was oozing power in front of me. “Oh… okay, gotcha.”

He watched us for a moment like a complete creeper, and then spoke up in a booming deep voice, even though he was only talking slightly above a whisper. “You need to understand, this is just an experiment. Don’t go falling in love, planning mating parties, and pups. Do you understand?”

I felt my own eyes grow wide as the man before me punctuated his statement with a bit of a menacing growl for good measure. “What the fuck?” Ashley spewed out.

He looked her up and down, almost appreciatively for a moment, then turned back to me. “Do your friend a favor, and either make her one of us or ditch her. She’s in dangerous territory now that the Ancients have moved in.”

“Wait, What?” My brain felt all kinds of fuzzy, and I knew I was missing something really important, but I drank a truck load of alcohol before leaving the bar and it was affecting me in a serious way. He was gone before I could get anything else out.

“What the hell was that all about?” Ash asked as we turned back around and marched off in the direction of her apartment.

“Who the hell knows? This has been one strange freaking night.”

“You can say that again!”

“This has been one strange freaking night!” Giggles erupted from me.

“Ha! Smartass!” She threw my arm over her shoulder to help me balance a little better, and we walked on. “Now, I see what you have to go through all the time when you take me out.”

“Not all the time,” I laughed, “sometimes you actually get lucky and I have some random dude there to help me carry you home!”

“We can’t all be virtuous virgins, like you, hon!” She winked at me. I felt another ripple of power blow over me. It was there and gone again in an instant.

By the time we got back to Ashley’s apartment, I was mostly sobered up, and beyond tired. I crashed on the couch as Ashley made her way to her bedroom to sleep. I hadn’t been resting well since I came into my full power. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe, unmated females always felt unsettled or something. Not many stayed mate free after the age of 20. Those that did, well, there was usually something wrong with them. It wasn’t that I didn’t have prospects. I was paired with Zach, I just didn’t want him. I knew he was wrong for me, more importantly my wolf knew it too. Actually, there was no one within my pack I felt right about. I had blossomed a little later than other females. I was already 21 and just completed my final transition two months ago.

I stopped thinking about Zach and everything else that went on that day. Instead, a stranger’s face was now clouding my mind. His scent lingered all over me, and it was intoxicating still. I knew I’d be in trouble when my family smelled it tomorrow, but I’d deal with it then. Tonight, I reveled in it. I rolled on the couch, marking his scent all over it as I twisted and turned, and then I finally passed out into a blissful sleep wrapped in the scent of a stranger. Mom told me to find a challenge, I wonder how she’d take the fact that I actually did.

CONSEQUENCES

“Are you sure you want to go home smelling like that? I mean, even I can smell his musk on you.” Ashley sniffed my shoulder, on the side where my mystery man had snuggled in and made himself at home with my neck. “Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t turn him away. Hell, I’m half ass tempted to roll around with you for smelling like that.”

I laughed at Ashley then, at least she was making things lighter than they were really were. In less than an hour, when I returned home, everything was going to be ramped up a notch or 200. “Admit it, you want my body!” I joked.

“Damn straight I do. You smell like the promise of damn good sex.” I gasped at her, “Jesus, listen to me, I’m not even a werewolf. Your family is going to flip the fuck out!”

“Don’t suppose you want to come with me?” I asked sheepishly. It was a cowardly thing to do, but if I could be cowardly with anyone, it was Ashley.

“Um, no hon! That’s one thing I do not want to be in the middle of. No offense, but if I decide to let one of you turn me later on, like you did Jack… that’s one thing. To get accidently turned in the middle of a family drama – nope, I’m good right here.”

“I don’t blame you.” My cell phone beeped in my pocket again. I took it out and looked, sighing as I read the message. “Well, there’s really no more delaying. She’s pissed about something. Zach probably threw a hissy fit after I left yesterday. If he thinks I’m going anywhere with him today after what he did, he’s lost his damn mind! Too bad he doesn’t understand that me not falling under his power grip means that I am alpha to him.”

She stifled a laugh, “yeah, I don’t think he can see past his own arrogance on this one.”

“Okay, well, come give me a hug.” I threw my arms out dramatically, “you never know, I may never see you again after this blow up.”

“Or…. Maybe they’ll just kick you out of the pack, and you can come be my roomy!”

“Ah, the wishful thinking…” I said, trying to look wistful, even though the thought of being kicked out of the pack sent chills all the way to my bones. If I were ever excommunicated, I would be cut off, from the pack, my parents, everything and everyone. I would be a lone wolf. It was dangerous enough for males to be lone wolves, for a female it was unheard of. They would be claimed by the first male who held enough power to snare them. Sometimes, the werewolf world could be brutal. I wasn’t naïve enough to disregard that fact.

“I’m not sure I want to hug you when you’re smelling all like that, but um, good luck!”

“Yeah, I’m gonna need it!”

It took 45 minutes, and a sea of honking, irate drivers later, for me to get home. I was going beyond slow, in no hurry to greet my fate. My cell had gone off four more times before I pulled into our driveway. I was sure they were all my mom, and I was just planning on telling her there was traffic, and it’s not safe to text and drive.