Losing Myself in You (2 page)

He could smell her even before she entered his home. Her scent was heavy, alluring, and sensual, with the faintest hint of vanilla embedded into her own feminine musk. It was almost as though she was drawing him to her, by the
way of smell rather than sight.

Oddly enough, Marcus Sterling did not appear
to be upset at the fact that people –
humans
– were trespassing in his home. Though he had always been quite protective of his territory and his pack, he wasn't too worried about what may or may not happen concerning these… people. He didn't see them as any sort of threat. If anything, he saw them as obnoxious flies he couldn't quite get rid of, but would, sooner or later.

It was her that he was interested in. He clenched his jaw as her scent
stimulated his senses, and for a moment, he closed his eyes, allowing himself to momentarily succumb to her wiles. He had never felt that way about any other woman he had come in contact with, and he had yet to even see her face.

Not yet, at least.

He cocked his head to the side as his hazel eyes looked down at the wooden floor beneath his booted feet. He could literally follow their transparent presence with his eyes. Currently, they were in the mansion's built-in basement. This was where the pack kept anyone going through the change – a painful process, but necessary nonetheless. It was one of the most comfortable rooms in the mansion, furnished with lush accessories, stocked with food, and nurses available at every hour.

Marcus Sterling
had a ruthless reputation – he had to be, as the Alpha male of his pack.  That didn’t mean, however, that he was entirely made of steel. Family was incredibly important to werewolves, and even more so to Marcus himself. If somebody had chosen a mate that needed to go through the change, he wanted them to be as comfortable as possible. As of yet, no vampire polluted the pure wolf genes, and Marcus was thankful for that. But he had no problems with humans deciding to become one of them; he thought they were naïve, of course, but if the Elders approved of them, then it wasn't exactly in his power to refuse their presence.

But, he, himself, was destined to be with
a wolf.  As Alpha, he was responsible for keeping his bloodline pure.  That meant no breeding with humans, no changing humans to be werewolves, and certainly no vampires. At least, that was what
tradition stated, and every Alpha before him did not go against tradition. He hadn't exactly found the woman he wanted to settle down and breed with, but he wasn't too worried. In fact, he honestly didn't want to feel such pressures when it concerned the opposite sex. He was sure she was out there somewhere, and when he found her, he would worry about it
then.

Now, he had other things to take care of, such as the people trying to break into his home. Burglars were rare because everyone in Somerset knew who lived at this particular mansion, which meant everyone knew not to fuck with Marcus's property.
Either these people were ignorant, or they were there for a purpose. Regardless, he had to put a stop to it before things got out of hand.

At that moment, a knock snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Enter," he commanded.

A familiar young woman, Abigail
Bowmen, walked through the door. Fear was clearly written in her dark brown eyes as she regarded Marcus quite intently.

"Intruders," she said in a voice just above a whisper.
"In the basement."

Marcus nodded cryptically. "I know," he told her. His voice was firm, his face, impassive. "Have Ryan and Brandon get them. But, Abigail, make it clear that they are not to be harmed. Not until I see them for myself.
Have them wait for my command."

She nodded in understanding before disappearing
behind the door and shutting it behind her.

Now all he had to do was
wait.

It didn't take long for someone to report that all the trespassers had been captured, and were currently being held in the ballroom of the mansion. Marcus took his time before he left his room, slipping on his favorite leather jacket and stomping out a cigar he had been smoking. With every step he took, her scent got stronger.

He had no idea who this woman was, and yet he had to see her. He was intoxicated by her fragrance, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"NDS," a teenage wolf said as Marcus came in contact with the ballroom doors.

"Is everyone alright?" Even though the question itself seemed compassionate, it was firm, as was everything Marcus said or asked. Rare was it to ever detect some other kind of emotion in his low voice.

"Yes," the teenager replied breathlessly. It didn't look as though he had participated in their capture, but had gotten caught up in the excitement of it all. "But she put up quite a fight."

This caused Marcus to pause and raise a brow.

She?

Marcus swallowed and cleared his thoughts before opening the doors and walking through them into the grand ball room. There were four people in total who were all being held by a member of his clan, but she was the only one he was interested in. It was quite obvious they were from NDS; their traditional black jumpsuits said enough. But what, exactly, were they doing here?

"What do you want?" he asked in a gravelly voice, his hazel eyes fixed firmly on the young woman.

Surprisingly enough, she matched his gaze with a stare of her own, and from the corner of his eyes he could see her jaw pop, as though she was refraining from saying something.

"We have a warrant for your arrest," one of the other men answered in a feeble voice that the speaker mistook as strong.

"Oh?" This seemed to amuse Marcus, and as a result, he cocked his right brow and the corners of his lips twitched up. "And what is it, exactly, you’re accusing me of?”

"Emb
ezzling," another man – this one with his blonde hair pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, responded,
more confidently than the last speaker
.

This caused Marcus to tilt his head back and bark out
in
laughter. How rich, that these humans thought he would waste his efforts and talents on something such as embezzling.

"Let us go," the third man demanded, clearly unafraid of his current predicament. "Let us go this instant! Do you realize you're just hurting yourself by keeping us imprisoned here? New charges will be brought against you and
the members of your clan!"

"Enough," Marcus
snapped, throwing a
dangerous gaze at Ponytail who had spoken. "I do not intend to keep you here, human. In fact, I fully intend to let you go." A dark smile touched his lips, and he glanced over at Ryan, his second in command while Gerard was away. "Bring them upstairs, to the yard."

"Here's the game," Marcus said as he paced in front of his captives. "I'm going to give
each of you a two minute head start. If the four of you
can escape without one of us capturing you, you're free to go, but you must reach the edge of the property in time. If you don't… well, I can't always control my pack, and they may not be able to control themselves." He paused and looked directly into the young woman's eyes. Even with the threat of death hanging in the air, she still managed to put on an indifferent face. This fact amused him.

"Ready?" He glanced at the others before falling behind the prisoners. "Go!"

They all took off, and the three awaiting werewolves growled with impatience. Marcus glanced over at them. "Don't touch the red head," he growled as he tensed his body, preparing to spring. "She's
mine
."

When two minutes were up, the wolves sprang into action. Everyone but Marcus immediately transformed into a wolf.
Even without transforming into his Other Self, his senses were sharp, and it didn’t take long for him to catch up to his intended target. Without warning, he pounced on her, his hands firmly gripping her waist, causing her to forcefully fall on her back with him on top of her.

If anything, the desire was purely sexual, and as with vampires and humans,
it clouded his rationale. Without thinking, he leaned towards her and sank his canines into her neck. Unlike vampires, werewolves didn't need to feed on blood to stay alive. However, like vampires, they marked what was theirs. And at that moment, Marcus wanted nothing more than her.

He watched emotions touch her ice blue eyes – shock, hatred, and then – Nothing.  Marcus shook his head and stumbled off, leaving her to be found by some member of her team.  He stumbled off, still unsure what he did and what the repercussions of his action would be.

He could still smell her, even though she was gone.  And he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

The feeling was odd for Marcus Sterling
, and he wasn't quite sure if he liked it or not. Hell, he didn't even know the woman's name. But then again, it didn't seem to matter. He still had a vivid picture of her in his mind.

She had too many curves to be called petite, but she appeared only to be five foot four, maybe five foot five on a good day. She had fiery hair that
appeared darker in the shadows, but the vibrant red color still managed to shine through. Her eyes were an ice blue color. Her nose was long and petite, but fit her face. Her lips were full and looked particularly soft.

She hadn't been afraid of him, or at least, pretended not to be. It was an interesting way of acting around him, and he wasn't sure if he
should admire her for her bravery or if he should laugh at it because of how transparent it was.

She was fast, too. In all honesty, he hadn't expected her to get to the point of where she was in the forest so quickly. She had to be in shape. Then, considering her job,
that level of physical fitness was probably a requirement.

Currently, he
was standing in his bedroom, staring out the dark window. One hand was on his hip while his hazel eyes were narrowed in unparalleled focus. He could see through the darkness even though it was pitch black, as if he was still looking for her. But he knew better. She was long gone.

Marcus couldn't explain, for the life of him, just why he
had leaned forward and bit her neck. It wasn't as though he had lost control of himself in any way.
After all, he was still in his human form when he ran after her. He had control over his body, his mind, and his actions. A choice had been made.  Instincts were followed. And with his body towering over hers, his arm wrapped around her waist, he had had her trapped beneath him, and something told him to bite her neck.

Similar to
vampires, a bite was somewhat like a physical mark resembling a connection of sorts. It left a permanent mark, which was probably why he had done it, a mark to symbolize that the woman was his. A very small crescent-moon shaped scar would be there for the rest of her life, however long that may be, and as a result, the whole world would know the she now belonged to him. It was almost a warning to other suitors to back the fuck off or they would have to deal with him.

Marcus
had never been very possessive when it came to the opposite sex, but then again, he never felt any reason to. Even though he didn't know her, the mere thought of anyone touching what was his caused him to scowl dangerously as a low growl rumbled within the bowels of his throat.

He hadn't changed her, but once his lips
were on her neck and his teeth had touched her flesh, it took everything in him not to do so. How he had wanted to. The surging feeling of regret crashed upon him, his thoughts a whirlwind of doubt.  No matter how much he wanted to, his fight against his will prevailed.  Marcus had never been one for the whole suitor-dating thing. If he wanted something, he took it. He rarely ever asked for permission, and he didn't like waiting for something to come to him.

Wh
at if she never came back to me?

The thought c
aught him by surprise.  It rang in his ears and caused his whole body to tense, as though he was preparing to leap out and attack an enemy.

It was a ridiculous thought. He didn't even
know
this woman, let alone love her. What did it matter if he never saw her again? What did it matter if she didn't come back? However, even he knew that the whole possession thing was unexplainable and completely irrational. The human concept of love at first sight was the werewolf basis of mating, and werewolves always mated for life. It was pretty black and white, actually.  No thought went into a mate selection; it was either there or it wasn’t.  All it took was one look at their mate, and they were smitten for life.

T
hing is, Marcus never thought it would happen to him.

Of course he believed in the concept. He had seen many of his friends, both male and female, connect with their partner. And he had seen it happen between wolves and humans before.

It had just taken a while. And Marcus had never been patient.

Maybe he was just wasting his time. Especially since this particular woman worked for the NDS and
they only met because she had been trying to arrest him. She was his natural enemy, wasn't she? So why was he so drawn to her? Why had he chosen her?

It's not something you can choose
, a voice that sounded suspiciously like his late mother reminded him.
It just happens
.

Before he could think any
more on the matter, a soft knock distracted him. He closed his eyes for a short moment and turned to face the door. He was suddenly tired, wanting nothing more than to crawl underneath the covers of his California-king sized bed and sleep for the next few days. But as leader of his pack, he just couldn't disappear.

"Yeah, come in," he said in his usual gruff voice and crossed his arms over his chest.

He was surprised when Julianne entered, and tilted his head slowly to the side as he studied her. Shouldn't she be sleeping right now?

"Hey," she said, offering him a warm smile. "I just came to check up on you. Everyone heard what happened. Two out of the four managed to get away. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Marcus told her curtly.

In all honesty, he didn't particularly want to deal with Julianne right now; he wanted to be left alone with his thoughts. It was nothing personal against her either. Everyone knew that Julianne was
probably the most alluring woman in the pack. What was interesting though, was the fact that she was still single as well.

Julianne
Coiff stood at five foot eight with long, straight raven colored hair that tumbled down her back. Her eyes were a cool, dark blue that seemed to penetrate anything and everything she looked at. Her lips were a natural apple-red color, causing a striking contrast against her smooth, alabaster skin. She held some remarkable curves, but she had a narrower waist. Another remarkable feature she had was her knowledge of fashion that allowed her to enhance what she had and hide what she didn’t, which were her rather narrow hips.

It was a common trait in every male wolf to check out a potential mate's hips. They resembled sensuality, and also, round hips unconsciously told a male that they could carry children.

However, Julianne was quite talented in the art of seduction. She was a grown woman and knew that the unattached had carnal needs, just as she did. But currently, she had set her sights on Marcus Sterling as a potential life mate.

Marcus wasn't stupid and knew when somebody wanted him, but he had never been too thoroughly interested. And even though it was a fact that Julianne
Coiff was beautiful, he wasn't interested in what she had to offer, both sexually and emotionally. In fact, if he had to put his type into latent terms, he preferred more of the girl-next-door woman; she looked sweet and acted as such, but behind closed doors, she was anything but.

And the one thing Julianne was not (besides ugly of course) was the girl next door.

And that was okay. But it wasn't for Marcus.

"I'm fine," he
told her again before breathing out of his nose.  He arched his right brow. "And the others?"

"They're cleaning up what's left," she told him, still standing in the doorframe. She looked at him with those burning eyes of hers, but for the most part, Marcus looked unaffected.

"Good," he said. He had never been one for words unless he felt the subject was worth talking about. "So I'll see you in the morning, then." It wasn't a polite question, but rather a flat statement.

Julianne couldn't keep the disappointment off of her face if she tried, but she quickly slipped back on her mask of indifference.

"Of course," she murmured, and just like that, Marcus was once again left alone with his thoughts.