The Wolf Who Loved Her (3 page)

“You have a nasty bump.”

He walked to the fridge, took out a cold pack of peas, and returned to place the pack on her bump.

“How does that feel?”

“Fine,” she replied, a shrewd look on her face. “What’s your name?”

“Ian.”

“
Ian
...you’re the one from last night, right?”

“Correct.”

“Now that we’re done with the freaking introductions, what is going on here?”

He sat on the edge of the bed. “How do I explain,” he said more to himself than her, still befuddled by the kiss.

Joni sat up higher, tugging the sheet along with her, trying to get her bearings. A part of her already knew what he was going to say. Hadn’t she read stories about werewolves and shape shifters her entire life in her old antique books? Books that had been passed down to her from ancestors that were rumored to be powerful witches. The stories had always rung true to her. Now everything seemed to fit.

“Let me guess. You’re a werewolf?”

He met her gaze and rose. “Yes.”

She stared at his intimidating frame. He dripped elemental power, this man. He looked exactly like the wolf from the alley except in human form, from his curly black hair to his mesmerizing green eyes. Her gaze slid down his body, slowly, taking everything in. In the alley, he’d been naked, but now he was dressed in a dark shirt and jeans and, dammit to hell, he still looked like sex on a stick. Studying his big frame, she felt feverish, swollen and delicate, as though her entire body was on fire. Desperately, she willed her flesh to cooperate.

She would not lose her cool in front of this man—er—werewolf.

“Werewolves are only supposed to morph during full moons,” she responded, trying to stabilize her libido.

“That’s a myth.”

“Werewolves are supposed to be ruthless monsters, supposed to have no human instincts.”

“Another myth.”

“Werewolves are supposed to be afraid of the sunlight.”

“That’s vampires, babe.”

Clenching her jaws, she rolled her eyes, determined to see this through. “Werewolves are supposed to be humungous creatures with claw-like hands that stand on two feet like humans.”

His eyebrow arched. “Who says?”

“The movies.”

He doubled over, laughing, hugging his stomach.

“Hey! Cut it out, I’m trying to make a point here.”

“Which is?”

“Which is that you can’t be what you say you are.”

“Then how do you explain what happened in the passage, Joni? How do you explain my shift?”

Stumped, she bit her lower lip and eyed him carefully. “Alright,” she huffed, “so you’re a werewolf. Why were you buck naked in the alley?”

“I undress before I shift.”

Her mouth formed a silent
Oh
. “You’re not going to shift right now are you?”

“No.”

“Good.” A vivid memory flashed in her mind. “Is that man really dead?”

“Yes. Terrance is gone. I got rid of the body.”

“Terrance? You
knew
that jerk?”

“We were enemies.”

“He destroyed my shop!”

“I saw. I suppose it was to get back at me for beating the shit out of him the other night. More than likely, he followed me to your shop last night and decided to enact his revenge on you. I deeply apologize.”

Joni connected the dots. “So,
he
gave you that shiner?”

“Correct.”

Always the pacifist, she glared at him. “Well, did you have to kill him?”

Charge silence hung in the air. She squirmed. If his expression was any indication, he wasn’t too happy about the question. Minutes of silence passed. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. “Yes. I
had
to kill him. I’d kill any perp who dare lay hands on you.”

She swallowed. If he’d meant to be reassuring, he’d missed the mark.

“You couldn’t have just kicked him in the nut-sac or something?”

“Sweetheart, Terrance did not have the strength to shift just now because he was a werebabe. If he was older, he would have shifted and killed you on the spot. No doubt about it. I did what I did to save your life.”

Grudgingly, she offered her gratitude. “Well, thanks, then.”

“You’re welcome. See, I intend to look after you from now on.”

“I can take care of myself!”

“There may be others.”

“Others?”

“Terrance’s groupies. Two in particular. Thugs really. They’ll know of my involvement. Terrance may have told them about you before the attack. We can’t risk it. These thugs are unpredictable. They’re no werebabes. They can shift at will.”

“But I didn’t do anything to them!”

“It doesn’t matter, sweetheart. These wolves play nasty. They have a bloodlust for revenge—no respect for alphas like me. They’re dangerous rogues.”

Fear gripped her. “But I’m fine, really. They don’t know me.”

“Trust me,” he said softly. “No one will harm what’s mine.”

“Yours?”

“Yes, mine.”

“Look,” she started, wrapping her sheets around her frame, remembering how rude he’d been the first time they met. He was delusional if he thought she was going to let him walk over her just because he had a pretty face, just because he’d saved her from a drug-addict-werewolf-man-thing from hell. She rose from the bed. “I don’t do well with phrases like
mine
and
yours
. I belong to no one. I appreciate you saving my life and all, but I have a store to run, so if you’d excuse me, I’m going downstairs to clean up.”

“You can’t. Not after what you’ve just endured.”

“Look, mister, this is my store, and right now it needs some serious loving.” She eyed him down, reverting to her
I ain’t gonna take no shit
business woman
attitude. “You are not going to go all Tarzan on me, fella, understand? Now move.”

She tried to sidetrack him, but he grabbed her wrists, holding her still. “The others may be back. I know you’ve had a stressful day, but you must heed my warning.”

Stress
, she thought. The man didn’t know the half of it. Gently, he pulled her closer, his earthy scent rocking her senses, his green eyes flashing bright. At the feel of the big cock in his jeans, a shiver slid down her spine. He was so beautiful. So hard and lean and masculine. As if to prove it, he grinded the large flesh against her and wrapped his arms around her lower back. She clutched his biceps, and inwardly moaned. Her sex felt as heavy and deep as a drum. An arrogant grin enlivened his face. Joni stared. It was the first time she’d seen him smile and the brilliance of it almost did her in.

“You’re mine to look after now.”

“No,” she murmured, fighting in his grasp, fighting what seemed to be the inevitable—this man’s control over her body, over what frightened her the most—her heart.

Chapter Four

After calling a few pack members to watch over Joni, Ian found himself running through the woods behind his large estate house. When he reached the edge of the clearing, he shifted into his wolf form and took off towards the trees. The area was closed off to outsiders so he had plenty of room to test the field.

Before long, his pack members were running behind him, all in their wolf forms. He grinned at the sight. There was nothing more exhilarating than running on his land with his family close on his tail on a bright Wisconsin afternoon. When he arrived at the boulders, he shifted into his human form, comfortable in his nude state. They did the same. Slowly, he looked at his pack. Some were related to him by blood, but most were loners who’d joined up throughout the years. He didn’t blame them. As one of oldest packs in the Midwest area, the McNeals were a fiercely loyal bunch. Known to protect their own to the death. He loved them all.

He met their gazes and told them about Joni and the thugs.

“What do we care of this human?” asked Garth, one of his toughest enforcers. “She is of no importance to us.”

“She is of importance to me.”

“But you barely know this woman,” replied another. “Who’s to say that she won’t reveal our identity to the world?”

“She won’t. She’s made a pledge. She respects our kind.” A low warning entered his voice. “You all must trust me.”

“Why not bring her here to protect?”

He growled. “She refuses to leave her blasted shop.”

A rumble of laughter erupted in the circle. Ian sucked in a patient breath, already knowing the perpetuator.

“Don’t tell us our great Alpha has finally found a mate. A human one at that.”

Ian eyed Zachary, the wolf who loved to tease. Tousles of silver hair danced around the man’s face.

“Never mind that.”

“Come on, Ianlick, give us all of the raunchy details.”

“Zachary.”
Sending the man a pointed stare, he shifted his attention back to the group. “Garth, form a search party. I want those lunatics found. Soon. The rest of you will keep an eye on Joni.” He gave them directions to her place.

Sabrina, his blood sister, suddenly stepped into the clearing. “Is it true? Is she your mate?”

“The hell if I know, Brina!”

His pack laughed at his reaction. He wanted to ring every one of their bloody necks.

“Could it be possible?”

“Ian, with a human?”

“Thought he’d get with that cute weregirl from Chicago.”

“The one with the Jersey hair?”

“No way!”

Ian snarled dangerously. Even as head of his advertising company, where most of them worked, they still sought to tease him to no end. Usually he didn’t mind, but Joni’s recent attack made him edgier than normal.

“Cease your talk,” he whispered, eyes flashing bright. “I am tired of listening to it. This woman needs our protection and we are going to give it to her.”

They lowered their heads in submission. “Of course, Alpha, we were just having a laugh.”

“You push me too far.”

“We apologize, Alpha.”

“Don’t do it again—not in this case.”

They all nodded solemnly. Reassured that his pack understood the gravity of the situation, he shifted into his wolf form and raced back to the house, Joni on his mind.

****

Days later, Joni peered at Ian through her bookstore window. He stood in the parking lot across the street, next to a sleek black convertible, watching her. He’d been guarding her shop for five days now, non-stop. After the incident, he’d hire a cleaning company to help her tidy the store, had ordered new books for her store online. He’d even installed top of the line security cameras and double pad-locked doors, even though she told him she wasn’t going to be able to pay him back. Arms crossed, she rolled her eyes. He was the kind of man who didn’t take no for an answer.

When Trichelle stopped by a few days ago in the middle of the night, he’d scared her half to death, lurking in the shadows like the boogeyman. Trichelle had been so stunned that she’d excused herself only to call later for details.

“Girl, what’s with the bodyguard?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Well, you better get up on that because that man is fine.”

“It’s not like that.” Joni had contemplated whether she should tell Trichelle the full story, but decided against it. Her friend didn’t handle conflict well. Telling her that werewolves existed would be an open invitation to the loony bin. “He’s just helping me out with the store right now.”

Trichelle humphed. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

Joni chuckled. “It’s the truth.”

“Mmmhmm.”

“Look, girl, I gotta go.”

“Yeah, I know where you
gotta go
. Just remember to wear some silky underwear when ya’ll finally do it. Not those tired ass granny panties you love!”

“Bye, Trichelle!”

Thinking about her friend, Joni glared at Ian through the windowpane. Decked out in brown slacks and a matching jacket, he looked as handsome as always, with sexy wind-blown hair. A small grin curved his lips as she met his gaze. She stuck out her tongue, wanting to bait him in some small insignificant way. He winked. Feeling foolish, she returned to the front register and seriously contemplated throwing a book at his head.

A part of her wanted to march over there to tell him to cut the private eye act, but another part, a stronger part, knew that wouldn’t be wise. After all, the alley incident
had
freaked her out, and she
did
feel safe around Ian. Plus, whenever he left, her body did weird things. Like throb with need—everywhere. Just the other night, she’d woken up feeling more horny than she’d ever felt in all of her twenty five years. Her handy vibrator, Big Mike, couldn’t even do the job. It was all
his
fault. Ian. Her werewolf bodyguard. She couldn’t fathom being separated from him for more than an hour; fuck, she grew nauseous at the mere thought. What was wrong with her?

Over and over again, she replayed waking up with his lips on her mouth. What would it feel like to wake up to his cock inside of her? To have sex with the beast within? Her stomach muscles clenched at the thought.

Shaken, she focused on decluttering her front desk just as a dark haired woman entered the store.

“You must be Joni.”

“Have we met?”

“No, but you know my brother Ian. I’m Sabrina McNeal.”

“Oh, hi.” She shook the woman’s outstretched hand and tried to prevent her smile from faltering. “Nice to meet you.”

“I just came to welcome you to the family, Joni.”

“What?”

The woman smiled.

“Look, I don’t know what he’s told you, but it’s not like that. He helped me get out of a jam, and for that I’m thankful, but that is all that’s between us.
Really.
We don’t even like each other. He’s rude, bossy, and pigheaded. There’s nothing going on.”

She clamped down on her lips, wishing she didn’t blather on when she was nervous.

Sabrina just smirked. “Word of advice, when it’s time for a werewolf’s mating rites, give in. Holding back will only prolong the pain—for the both of you.”

Mating rites?
Joni held her breath. Something told her that she wasn’t going to like what she was about to hear.

“My brother is beginning the first stage of mating, and you’re the only one who will be able to satisfy his demands.”