For Life (4 page)

“Heidi!” Nicolo bellowed the second his mouth could form words. “What the hell is going on here?”

Josie led the way into his den, anxious to hear the answer to that question. He stopped as he stared at Maura, who stood in the middle of his living room. She pulled a sweater over her head, and for a moment, he saw her body stretched before him, her arms over her head while she struggled with her clothes. Full, plump breasts with nipples puckered into hard little nubs made his dick hard as a rock.

All thoughts of cold left him, even though there was no fire going in his fireplace and his den wasn’t much warmer than it was outside.

17

Lorie O’Clare

The material slid over her breasts and she tugged on her sweater, offering yet another magnificent view when her nipples almost poked through the knitted wool.

Her gaze went straight to him when he approached her. The silver in her deep blue eyes hadn’t completely faded. Instead of almond-shaped, they were now large and round and full of curiosity. Her mind pulled forward memories of their first meeting when she’d last been in his pack.

“How did you find me?” She had a soft, sensual tone, not quite a whisper but sultry, like the rest of her. Every bit of Maura was made for the bedroom—a perfect little seductress.

“Your thoughts woke me up,” he said simply and then walked over to the box next to his fireplace and started stacking wood for a fire.

“God, Josie. Scare the crap out of her, why don’t you?” Dante growled.

“I don’t lie.”

Moira snapped at him and Dante in her head but then ignored both of them when she turned her attention to the pretty blonde bitch. “Are you okay?” she asked Maura.

“Maura.” The anxiety in Heidi’s soft tone added to the tense energy rushing around the room. “Did it get that bad?”

“I’m not going back,” Maura said quietly. “I can’t.”

Nicolo blew out a deep breath. His littermate, their pack leader, would be pissed as hell to find yet another
lunewulf
bitch in their midst. Dimitri could damn well get over it. Josie forced everyone’s thoughts out of his head and shifted his attention to Maura as he struck a match and ignited the newspaper he’d stuffed under the wood in his fireplace. Flames soared to life.

“No one is going to hurt you.” He told her the one thing that he knew she worried about more than anything. Her own pack created panic and worry inside her, and being in his pack scared her to death. “I want you to know that,” he added, turning around to see her staring at him, giving him an odd and curious look.

“We need to decide what to do with her.” Dante rubbed his chin, staring at the floor as he spoke.

“She’s staying here.” Josie gave the words finality. He knew they’d argue, but he didn’t really care. Unless Maura threw a fit, she wasn’t going anywhere.

He would dwell on the whys of his decision later.

“She can’t stay here,” Heidi cried out, then turned on her mate. “Tell him she can’t stay here.” Before Nicolo could get a word in edgewise, Heidi waved her fingers at Josie. “He’s a single male. Obviously Maura is already in trouble.”

“Do I need to remind you where you spent your time when you first entered our pack?” Josie growled at Heidi.

Nicolo grabbed his mate, shoving her behind him and giving Josie a hard look.

“I am a mated bitch.” Maura didn’t look at any of them, but twisted the bottom strands of her long blonde hair that had tumbled over her shoulder.

18

For Life

Dante and Moira argued using their thoughts, which quickly got on Josie’s nerves.

Right now, all he wanted to focus on was Maura’s thoughts, and they were getting tangled up with everyone else’s in the room.

“I appreciate all of you helping me find Maura.” Josie moved to his door, opening it and letting the cold rush in. “I’ll call you and let you know what she decides to do.”

“You’re going to deal with Dimitri on this one,” Nicolo told him, still holding Heidi at his side.

“I have no problem dealing with him.” Josie had known their pack leader most of his life. Dimitri’s temper hadn’t bothered him when they were pups, and it didn’t faze him now that the werewolf was their pack leader.

“Maura? You can come with us, if you want.” Heidi searched Maura’s face, her worry for her friend obvious from her expression as well as her thoughts.

Josie fought a smile when Heidi worried that he would try to seduce Maura the second they were all gone.

“My reputation can’t be tarnished any worse than it already is,” Maura said quietly, then reached out and touched Heidi’s arm.

Heidi pulled away from Nicolo and the two bitches hugged each other

affectionately. Josie had never blamed Nicolo for fighting so hard for Heidi. She was a pretty bitch, with guts and intelligence. But she didn’t hold a flame to Maura. The young bitch, probably thirty or so if he had to guess, had curves in all the right places—

full breasts, nicely rounded hips and a perfectly shaped ass. Shit. He could grab on to that ass and spread her legs and make her fucking scream.

That does it
.
We
’
re not leaving her with him
, Moira thought with disgust.

Josie swore Dante chuckled in his thoughts.

“Goodbye,” Josie told them, and silently told Moira that if she didn’t like his thoughts she should stay the fuck out of his brain.

Dante growled at him as he headed outside, pushing Moira ahead of him. Josie met the werewolf head-on, staring deep into his hard gaze. There wasn’t a damned thing Dante could say or think that would control Josie’s actions. He let him know as much with that one stare.

“Call if you need anything.” Heidi spotted a pen on the coffee table and quickly jotted her cell phone number on the werewolf directory that their pack had finally gotten organized enough to compile. “That’s Nicolo’s and my cell number.”

“Thanks, and I will.” Maura hugged herself against the cold, but didn’t relax any when Josie shut the door on his pack members and turned to face her.

“What did you mean when you said my thoughts woke you up?” Although she

looked ready to leap out of the way if he stepped toward her, curiosity and definite interest dominated her thoughts.

19

Lorie O’Clare

There was nowhere she could run. He moved in closer, inhaling her scent. “It’s not every day I hear a bitch this far up the mountain,” he told her. “I needed to know that you were all right.”

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah, right. You always make a habit of sleeping in snow-filled caves?”

“If you can read my mind then you know the answer already.”

“I can hear your thoughts, but that doesn’t mean they make sense. And I can’t pull out everything that is in your mind.”

She cocked her head. He’d never seen more intense blue eyes.

If you can read my thoughts
,
then take off your shirt so that I can see if you
’
re as well
-
built a
human as you are a werewolf
.

He grinned broadly at her thoughts, which made her eyes open wide and her lips part in shock. Pulling his shirt over his head, he dropped it to the floor next to him and brushed his hair from his face. Her jaw dropped and she took a step backward as he moved closer.

“I think the last time we met, when I lifted your mate into the air and then dropped him to give him a taste of the humiliation he enjoys dishing out, I made it clear that I don’t do parlor tricks.” He watched her gaze drop from his face to his bare chest and then slowly rise again to stare at him. She snapped her mouth shut but then licked her lips. His cock shifted in his jeans. “Do you like what you see?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m mated.”

“Consider yourself widowed.” He didn’t have all the facts as to why she slept in that cave, but any male who would allow his mate to do such a thing unaccompanied didn’t deserve to live. “It’s just a matter of timing at this point.”

“Don’t risk your life over a bitch you don’t know.”

“Sweet little bitch, there would be no risk involved.”

She raised one eyebrow. It was so perfectly curved. This little
lunewulf
bitch appealed to him as much as she had the first time he’d seen her. What kind of fool would allow her to run like she had?

“You’re mighty sure of yourself.” She studied him for a minute, her thoughts jumping around so much in her head they were hard to follow. Maura was scared and turned on at the same time, making her scent even more enticing “You have that magic that Malta werewolves are despised for, don’t you?”

“It’s not magic. And yes, I do.” He stepped closer, narrowing the distance between them, and reached for a strand of her silky blonde hair. “There’s nothing to be scared of.

I’m not going to do anything that you don’t want.”

He lowered his head, nipping at her lip until she opened to him, and then he devoured her with a savage kiss.

20

For Life

Something inside Maura twisted and swelled. His lips were hot, moist and pressed against hers until she couldn’t breathe. When she sucked in a breath, he parted her lips, dipping into her mouth with his tongue. His hands ran down her arms, then pulled her against him. So much werewolf surrounded her that her instincts went haywire, making it damned hard to think. She felt her fingernails lengthen but couldn’t suck in enough air to calm her insides without drinking in more of his scent.

He pulled all ability to think straight out of her mind. At the same time, so much energy and raw power filled her with life, like she’d never lived before. Like she’d never been kissed before.

“Wait.” She turned her head, pulling her mouth from his.

Josie ran his tongue across her cheek to her ear, breathing heavily into her hair. He scraped his teeth over her earlobe. “Why?” he whispered.

She trembled and tried stabilizing herself by grabbing his arms. Hard muscles twitched against her fingers.

“Because this is wrong.”

Josie straightened. His scent changed so quickly. He grew alert, his body even harder than it was a moment before, which Maura would have thought impossible if she hadn’t been touching him.

“You want to see me, touch me and then tell me this is wrong?” He had such a deep baritone, as well as dark features that complemented his straight black hair.

“I’m a mated bitch.” No matter that she’d been kicked out, the fact still existed. And it really sucked. She couldn’t remember when a better-looking werewolf had held her like this.

“You were kicked out?” he hissed, his dark eyes narrowing on her as he searched her face.

He seemed to grow before her. Realizing her fingers still were wrapped around his biceps, with muscles twitching furiously under her grasp, she let go of him and took a step backward.

“How did you know?”

“I already told you how I know.”

She shook her head. “If you can read minds, then you would also know why this is wrong.”

21

Lorie O’Clare

“I can hear your thoughts. There’s a difference.” He moved closer, pinning her against his wall when she took another step backward. “Do you really wish to honor a mating when he’s sent you packing?”

“No. I don’t want to honor the mating,” she told him, suddenly angry. “But that doesn’t mean that it no longer exists. I
am
a mated bitch.”

He smiled, a slow action that made her blood boil. His teeth were white as ivory against his dark skin. Flames from the fire made his hair shine in parts. His body was as solid as rock, and big—real fucking big. But if he knew her thoughts, he’d hear that she drooled over him in her mind. When his smile broadened, heat rushed over her cheeks and she looked down.

Big mistake. Black curly chest hair sprinkled over such well-defined muscle that she licked her lips before she caught the action.

“I’m flattered,” he growled.

His words vibrated inside her straight to her pussy.

Maura shoved him away, suddenly needing space. Air—any air that didn’t smell completely of him. Somehow she doubted she’d find that in his den. But at least maybe if she didn’t have an eyeful of all that packed muscle she might stop drooling. Every inch of her tingled when he backed up willingly and allowed her to move away from the wall.

But then he grabbed her arm. “You aren’t leaving,” he warned.

“You would keep me prisoner?”

“Hardly. But I would feed you my kill.”

She turned, which was a big mistake. He still held her arm, and his thumb moved over her flesh, bringing the hairs on her skin to full attention. Somehow she worked her gaze past his rippling chest muscles and stared into his very determined expression.

Maura didn’t have to be a mind reader to know he wasn’t asking her a question.

“I’d be honored to eat your kill,” she said quietly, knowing it would be rude to say otherwise. Not to mention she was hungry. Or at least she had been before her stomach had twisted into a ball of weird emotions.

“For now, my den is your den.” He pulled her as he walked toward a doorway that she guessed might lead to his kitchen.

If it led to his bedroom, she was in deep trouble. “I can’t stay here. This is Malta territory.”

Josie turned and grabbed her. He lifted her off the floor with such little effort she was too stunned to fight back. Pete didn’t have half this werewolf’s strength.

“And he doesn’t have half my honor either,” Josie growled, pushing her back

against the wall next to the doorway. He pressed his body against hers—a body like steel that pulsed with confidence.

22

For Life

“You know everything that’s in my head.” She sounded like an idiot. He’d already told her several times that he did. She didn’t like it though. It was unnerving having him finish her thoughts for her.

“No. I hear your thoughts. That doesn’t mean that I know everything you know.”

He leaned in closer. A strand of straight black hair fell over one eyebrow. “But there is one thing I know.”

“What’s that?” She was drowning in his black eyes. Lowering her gaze to the dark shadow that covered his jawline didn’t calm her smoldering brain any. Now she had thoughts of how rough it might feel scraping across her skin.