Wolfen (21 page)

 
She reddened at the reminder, but as much as she regretted the misunderstanding, she'd already explained it, and she didn't see any point in trying again when he'd jumped to the wrong conclusion to start with and was determined to stick to it.

 
Dakota broke the standoff by pushing past Balin into the bathroom and slamming the door behind him. Balin shoved away from the door, crossed the room to a canvas bag lying on the lower level of a second set of bunks, dropped his towel, and dug through the contents, obviously in search of clean clothes.

 
Danika watched him, mesmerized by the play of rippling muscles at such a simple task, feeling her belly perform a slow shimmy at the memory of their wild coupling. How much of it, though, she wondered, had been pure desire for her and how much inspired by anger? He'd been furious with her when he arrived and more furious when he'd left. Maybe it had never been intended as anything but punishment and she was just a complete idiot for thinking raw passion had inspired it?

 
When was the last time she'd inspired raw passion in any man, she wondered in self-derision?

 
She dragged her gaze from him finally and looked around a little vaguely. Jared and Xavier, she discovered, were watching her, their faces eloquent of brooding violence. She swallowed with an effort, her mouth dry. “I could clean those wounds and bandage them,” she offered.

 
"It's nothing,” Jared growled, his gaze sliding to Balin. After glaring at him for a long moment, however, he transferred his gaze to the far wall.

 
Xavier didn't respond at once. Instead, he simply stared at her as if sorting his thoughts. Abruptly, he got up from the chair he'd been sprawled in. “You can do mine,” he offered. “Why don't I walk you back to your cabin?"

 
Danika looked at him uncertainly, smiled tentatively, and then frowned when the suspicion arose in her that his main focus was getting her alone.

 
"Like fucking hell!” Jared growled, surging to his own feet. “I'll walk her back to her cabin. You don't need any ‘nursing', Xavier, and you damned well know it!"

 
Xavier sent him a resentful glare. “She offered!"

 
Dakota had come out of the bathroom in the meanwhile, now clean and dripping water as Balin had when he'd emerged. “If she needs an escort back to her cabin, I'll walk her,” he snapped. “The bathroom's yours, Jared."

 
"It can wait,” Jared said through gritted teeth. “I'm going to walk Danika back to her place."

 
"Not by yourself!” Dakota said challengingly.

 
"Two minutes,” Xavier said. “That's all it took...."

 
Balin punched him in the face with his fist, laying him out flat on the floor. He didn't make any attempt to get up, merely pushing himself up on his elbows to stare at Balin with a mixture of anger and confusion while he tested his jaw with one hand.

 
It couldn't have been clearer what was going through their minds. Obviously they knew she'd already had sex with both Con and Balin and resented the fact that they hadn't had a ‘turn'. “Why don't all three of you come and we can just take care of your little problem all at once?” she asked sweetly.

 
Dakota and Jared at least had the grace to look uncomfortable. The sarcasm seemed to go right over Xavier's head—but then, to be charitable, she supposed Balin's fist in his face might have rattled his brains a little. “I volunteered first,” he growled, scrambling to his feet at last.

 
Danika glared at him and threw her emergency medical kit at him. Whirling on her heel, she stalked to the door and snatched it open. She paused in the doorway, turning to glare at them. “I don't
need
an escort! Do me a favor ... all of you,” she said, looking at Balin pointedly, “and just stay the hell away from me! If you need your itch scratched, there's plenty of willing kitties in town!"

 
Her fury sustained her all the back to her own cabin. She was so angry, in fact, that it didn't occur to her to even glance around in search of roaming pack members that might present a danger. The realization shook her when she was safely behind her own door again, sending a knee weakening jolt of adrenaline through her. There didn't seem to be any end to the stupid things they made her do!

 
Flicking the overhead light off, she crossed the cabin to her bed and flopped down on the edge of it, dropping her tranq pistol onto the bedside table. She wasn't used to having such turmoil in her life, she thought morosely. It was no wonder she wasn't dealing with it well.

 
The urge to cry assailed her from out of the blue. She sniffed, resisting the urge to give in to it. It might make her feel better to cry her eyes out, but she doubted it.

 
She didn't know why Balin had immediately jumped to the nasty conclusion that she was ‘confused’ about who she was with anyway. She hadn't
been
with Con but the one time. He didn't
know
her! He had no right to jump to the conclusion that she had sex with just any man that came along,
just
because she hadn't tried to fight him off!

 
It was none of his business anyway, she thought angrily. He sure as hell hadn't consulted with her about that damned woman—girl—she'd seen wallowing all over him and she'd be willing to bet, if he hadn't been distracted, he would've been humping her.

 
It was an unpleasant thought that led to an even more unpleasant one—the possibility that he'd had that twenty something year old on his mind when he'd jumped her. Maybe
the slut
had gotten him all worked up and she'd only been the recipient of his earlier frustration when that didn't pan out? Maybe that was even why he'd jumped to that conclusion about her? He'd had that girl on his mind and figured she had Con on her mind?

 
She hadn't envisioned anything this complicated when she'd entertained the idea of a fling. It wasn't
supposed
to be complicated! It was supposed to be a wild adventure, fun for everyone involved and no baggage! She would've thought
they
would certainly see it that way, not be fighting among themselves about it, but there was no dismissing the fact that it had created tension among them.

 
The thought brought her back to her shock over their appearance. Standing after a moment, she mulled that over while she undressed for bed and finally climbed under the covers in her panties and t-shirt.

 
Those wounds weren't from fighting among themselves. They
looked
like they'd been attacked by the wolves—except not nearly as bad as they should have. Granted, they were all big, strong men and could probably fight off an attack, even bare handed, a lot better than she could, but if she was right there were at least fifteen wolves. And wolves usually attacked as a pack.

 
Of course, they weren't in the habit of attacking humans at all, and when they attacked together they usually singled out an individual target, bringing it down together.

 
Regardless, they certainly hadn't bitten and clawed each other and she'd seen definite bite marks and the deep furrows of claws. How had they managed to fight off a pack of wolves without any worse wounds than they'd come away with?

 
* * * *

Dakota caught her completely by surprise. Danika had woken to the sound of the motorcycle engines as the bikers left. She'd assumed they had all gone and answered the knock on her cabin door without any suspicion that she needed to brace herself for an encounter.

 
He studied her almost cautiously for a moment before he held out her medical kit. “I thought I'd return this."

 
Danika took it, studied the box in her hands, wondering if he'd decided to use returning it as an excuse to make peace, or to get what he wanted, or if he was merely returning it because it was the right thing to do. Uncertain of whether she appreciated the sentiments regardless of the motives, she finally looked up at him.

 
He met her gaze searchingly for a long moment and finally looked away, shifting slightly as if preparing to leave. “Anyway, thanks for the loan."

 
Danika cleared her throat. “But you didn't actually use it?"

 
He met her steady gaze for a prolong moment. Finally, his fine etched lips quirked upward a fraction at one corner. “Nope."

 
She debated with herself briefly and finally caught his wrist, tugging at him to draw him inside. “Let me at least look."

 
He allowed her to draw him inside, his eyes gleaming with both amusement and warmth he made no attempt to hide. “If you're sure you want to, but I give you fair warning I won't behave myself."

 
There was a teasing tone to his voice, but she had the feeling he was serious and she still ignored it, leading him to the couch and pushing at him to sit down. “I think you will,” she responded as she settled beside him.

 
He tilted his head. “Why would you think that?"

 
"I think you'll be able to contain yourself,” she said dryly, taking one of his hands in hers and examining his arm. A frown creased her brow when she saw that the scratches she'd noticed the night before were nothing more than red marks now. She released his hand and looked at him, confused. “Let me see that bite wound I noticed on your chest."

 
He looked surprised and suddenly reluctant. “No bites—unless you want to nibble on me."

 
She gave him a look. “Just take off the shirt."

 
"Yes, ma'am!"

 
She stared at his chest as he peeled the t-shirt off, trying to ignore the shimmy in her belly. He had a beautiful chest and torso, well defined with muscles, lightly sprinkled with dark hair. His nipples were pierced, she saw, feeling warmth join the shimmy in her belly. She had a vague memory that both Con and Balin had had theirs pierced, too, although she hadn't spent a lot, or even
any
, time examining them.

 
His skin was smooth and unblemished. There wasn't a sign of a bite beyond red marks where she
thought
she'd seen a deep, ugly bite. The muscle in his pec tensed when she lightly traced the marks with one fingertip. She glanced up and caught her breath at the taut set of his face and the gleam in his eyes.

 
"I did warn you,” he said huskily, catching her hand and drawing her closer. She resisted the pull, looking away when he shifted his hold to her upper arms and drew her closer despite her resistance.

 
"This isn't a good idea,” she said faintly.

 
"For you? Or for me?"

 
She looked at him, planting her palms on his chest to resist his insistent pull. “For either one of us. I don't understand what's going on—I thought I did, but it's not the ... game I thought it was and—I don't want to be the cause of any kind of problems between you and your friends."

 
His face hardened. “We aren't friends."

 
She frowned at him. “But ... you came together. You're part of the same gang, right?"

 
Something flickered in his eyes. After a moment, he seemed to shrug. “In a sense. It's a little more complicated than that."

 
Danika felt a flicker of resentment. “But I wouldn't understand?"

 
His gaze wandered over her face. “You wouldn't want to."

 
She smiled with an effort. “It's some sort of brotherhood you all belong to, then, which makes me an outsider and trouble."

 
Briefly, he looked surprised. He relaxed his hold, allowing her to pull away, but then followed her, pushing her down on the couch and pinning her beneath him. “If I was worried about it, I wouldn't be here,” he murmured, dipping his head to capture her lips. She evaded him, turning her face to one side. Not to be discouraged, he contented himself with nuzzling her ear, the side of her face, and her throat.