“Are you okay?” he whispered in her ear. She could see the strain on his face as his
jaw muscles clenched. Was he holding himself back from moving? Did it hurt?
“Yes.” She kissed him gently on the lips. “More please.”
“Gladly.”
He pulled out before thrusting back inside her. She cried out as she lifted her hips
to meet his.
This
was what she needed, what she craved. A true joining with him. These moments, she
could be whole; during this time, she could just be with him and shut out the rest
of the world completely.
It might have lasted only minutes or perhaps hours. She really didn’t know if time
mattered anymore. Their tongues dueled while their bodies joined in a dance she knew
millions of couples had engaged in for more time than she could imagine. Yet it felt
new to her, as if they’d shared something no one else ever had before.
She came suddenly and without warning. One second, she was enjoying the pleasure Kieran
gave to her, and the next, she exploded around him. Stars flashed before her eyes,
colors danced on the ceiling, and her core wept. She cried out his name, her muscles
spasming again and again.
Yes, this was pleasure. This was right. This was…Kieran.
He called out her name, and she heard it dimly as her mind refused to function properly
through her haze of pleasure.
Any time Kieran felt up for sex, she was game.
***
Awareness came back to her slowly. She stared up at the ceiling of Kieran’s frat house
room. He lay next to her, not moving, although she knew he was awake because his eyes
were open, staring up at the ceiling too.
“I think there’s something wrong?”
She pulled his covers up to shield her breasts. What did he mean
wrong
. “Come again?”
“With me. There is something off with me.” He shook his head.
Her heart rate kicked up. Had she hurt him during sex? He was human; she was a werewolf.
Had she been too rough? She had never engaged in savage sex, but then again, she’d
been trying to lose herself in the moment. Maybe she hadn’t held back quite enough.
“Do you need a doctor?”
“No.” He stood up, and she got a good look at his naked ass and the marks she’d made
on his back while he crossed the room to put his boxer shorts. “I need to do a little
family history on myself. Some genealogy, if you will. Figure out if I’ve made a terrible
mistake.”
“You’re not making any sense.” She hated the tears in her voice. “Did I do something
wrong?”
His gaze turned to her, and he stayed silent for a second before he answered. “Why
would you think you had?”
“Because we just did what we did, and you’re acting…different.”
Kieran shook his head. “Did you need to be held or something?”
Well, shit, that would have been nice
. “No, I mean I’m not some sappy girl.” She stood up and grabbed her clothes off the
floor. Lucky for her, he wasn’t a werewolf, so he couldn’t tell her scent changed
with the lie. “Just forget it. Go get your family history or whatever. I’ve got things
to do. Spying on Mellee.”
“Great.” He smiled before he pulled her into his arms. “Come back here, and I’ll make
it worth your while. I have lots of positions I’d love to try with you.”
He was so all over the place.
***
She walked through the dark, keeping to lighted areas as she went. As a werewolf,
she could defend herself, but she kept up her pretenses. Most women stayed alert on
college campuses; even the safe locations could be dangerous in the dark.
The longer she knew Kieran, the less he made sense. Frat boy who hated the Greek life.
Plotter who would take the time to get his fraternity brothers to flirt with her to
pay back Mellee even though it didn’t particularly advance his plan. Hot, caring lover
who became a senseless dope the second they were out of bed. What. The. Fuck.
She stared down at her phone. It was a silly impulse, but she had no one else to ask.
She texted the ROAR hotline again.
Can I trust him?
Not entirely
. Came the reply.
Or at least not yet. Why don’t you ask him? He’ll have to tell if you do. Tell him
you wish to know his true nature. Use those words. Good luck. Not everything is always
clear. The future is fluid. –Hui and Min.
Well, she didn’t know who Hui and Min were, but they’d certainly given her something
to ponder. What did “not yet” mean, and how did she get him to tell her about his
true nature?
Why can’t anything be simple?
Her phone beeped, and she looked at the new message.
The best things in life never are
.
She gasped. How had they known what she thought?
A few minutes later, she arrived at the sorority house. No one would speak to her,
but she had to get some info on Mellee, or Kieran would find her useless. Her stomach
tightened. She dreaded the thought. He should want to have her around.
Focus
. She gritted her teeth. They were two weeks from the full moon. This had to all be
taken care of before then, or she would lose her shit and end up killing Mellee during
the shift.
Alex had never killed anyone. She didn’t need to start.
Three of the sisters stood on the steps of the House. They weren’t the ones who followed
Mellee around.
“Hey.” A tall blonde named Cara stood up. “Alex.”
Alex took a deep breath. She hadn’t been ready for a fight, which was a mistake. She
should always be prepared to go at it. “Hi.”
Two other girls stood up. All three of them had blonde hair. Were there an inordinate
amount of werewolves who were blondes? She’d never thought about it before.
“You’re bracing as if we’re about to attack you.” Cara stepped forward. “We’re not.
I swear. I actually want to apologize to you.”
“You do?” She didn’t trust this, not for a second. This could all be a play, a game
to get her to let them close, and then—
wham
—they’d hit her when she least expected it. She paused. When had she started thinking
exactly the same as Kieran? Other than getting herself to Tide to get into Lambda,
she’d never plotted anything in her life. Now, she saw conspiracy everywhere she looked.
“Mellee doesn’t speak for the whole sisterhood. Personally, I had no idea what your
mother had done. I asked my mom a few nights ago, and she explained it. The way I
see it, if we’re living around humans, then sometimes we’ll behave the same as them.
She needed to make her own decisions about her life. I say, ‘good for her.’”
The other two sisters nodded their heads as if they agreed with Cara’s statement.
“Um. Thanks. I’m not my mother. I only want my chance. I’ve never had pack.” Alex
looked away before she could get emotional. She didn’t smell anything but the sweet
easy scent of truth in the air. It carried with it the faintest aroma of peppermint.
“Right. Well, keep your head up. Mellee is all right. I mean, don’t get me wrong,
she’s a really big fucking bitch, but most of the time her heart is in the right place.
With you, her issues were bound to be a problem.”
Alex’s heart rate kicked up a notch. “Specifically with me?”
The three women looked at one another. There was something unspoken happening, but
Alex didn’t push her luck. Any wrong move and she wouldn’t get the information she
needed. “Sure, well, what happened with her mother.”
Alex walked to the steps and stood directly in front of Cara. “What about her?”
“Well, you’re related. She’s your cousin. And when your mother fled pack, she destroyed
the standing for the entire family. Things are just finally getting back in order.”
Alex’s feet felt as if they had frozen to the ground. “What? I…I….”
Cara’s eyes widened. “You didn’t know?”
“No. My mother didn’t ever talk about her family. The second she left the pack to
be with my father, they disowned her. I have no idea if I have anyone on either side
of my family.”
“Really?” Cara put her hands on her hips. “I don’t think Mellee knows you don’t. I
think she thinks you are aware of your connection to her.”
A sudden thought dawned on Alex. Did Kieran know this? Could he be aware? She pushed
her dilemma away. She’d find out later. She had to gather more information while there
was someone around to give it her.
“Should I tell her I didn’t know? Do you think it would help things?”
Cara sucked in her breath. “Maybe I should tell her. Between stressing about you and
hiding the fact her parents’ marriage is falling apart—they can’t let anyone in the
public eye know—she’s under a great deal of stress.”
She stiffened her spine. Cara had just given her info she could give to Kieran. So
why didn’t she feel wonderful about it? Her stomach turned. This was blackmail; this
was the deal she’d made. He would help her, and she would give him info on Mellee.
Except Mellee was her cousin. Did it matter? Was Alex the kind of person who could
betray family? Could she even consider the horrible woman family?
Mellee certainly didn’t treat Alex with any consideration. Just the opposite, actually.
Alex’s cell phone beeped, and she looked down at it. A message from Kieran waited
for her.
Come back. I want you again
.
Life was always so fucking complicated.
Kieran took a sip of his bitter coffee, and then threw the rest of the java into the
nearest trash receptacle. He hadn’t seen or heard from Alexandra in two days. Enough
was enough. One way or another, she would face him today even if it was to tell him
she wouldn’t be seeing him anymore and planned to renege on their deal.
His jaw ached from the amount of time he’d spent clenching his teeth, and he was well
on his way to having a headache.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she never speaks to us again, considering how you blew
it.”
He’d never get used to hearing his host speak directly to him, but at least he understood
why it happened. When he’d come up to take a body, he hadn’t looked closely enough
at the person he’d chosen. On the surface, Kieran had seemed the perfect selection.
Good looking, rich enough he wasn’t going to leave college with any debt, but not
so wealthy he was ever seen in newspapers. Smart. Good grades. Hard working. The guy
had already positioned himself for future success. All a demon had to do was step
in and alter the path a little to get true success.
But it turned out his body had a lot more happening with it than he’d known. Kieran
was half werewolf. His parents had broken a hundred rules getting together. Half-breeds
were a rare find. If he’d known the man had any werewolf in him at all, he’d have
never looked at him in a million years.
Werewolves didn’t take possession well. They fought back, and the few demons who had
tried to take them over had found what Kieran had discovered for himself—he was in
big trouble.
Neither of them would win the war, and in the end, the host body became a combination
of both the demon and the werewolf. Except this was different. No one had ever possessed
a half-werewolf before, not quite human, not quite werewolf. If Kieran focused all
his energy to the problem, then he would win.
Nothing would stop him from achieving his goals. Not even the previous occupant of
his body’s objections.
“You want to fight? I’m ready.”
Half-werewolf Kieran laughed.
“And when I’ve kicked you out, I’ll go win Alexandra, and all you’ll be able to do
is watch from a distance, trapped back in hell as the pathetic creature you are.”
Kieran ignored his internal problem. He was certainly not prepared to fight his problem
in the middle of the courtyard with a hundred some odd students wandering around.
Not when he had to find Alexandra and figure out what the hell happened.
“You know you only desire her because I do.”
That he had to respond to. “This had nothing to do with you whatsoever. You can take
credit for my mood swings, but not for Alexandra. I found her all on my own.”
He must look crazy talking to himself, and he didn’t really give a shit.
“Ha.”
Kieran finally caught sight of the blonde-haired woman he’d been searching for, and
he stormed across the Common to get to her. No one ignored him and got away with it.
Particularly when he couldn’t get the woman’s taste and smell out of his mind. She’d
invaded his senses and then vanished? Fuck that.
“Why are you avoiding me?”
She jumped and turned around. Her eyes were huge as she stared at him. When she didn’t
speak, he continued. “What’s the matter? Didn’t smell me? It just so happens I stayed
downwind by accident. Wish I could say it was on purpose.”
Alexandra looked left and right. “Kieran, we really can’t talk about this here. I’m
sure you understand why.”
“Okay. I won’t talk about it if you tell me why you’ve been avoiding me.” He put his
hands on his hips and stared down at her. The wind blew at her hair, which made her
look even more ethereal than normal. Shit, he had it bad for her.
“Things have gotten complicated.”
“Should I be insulted? I showed you a good time. You can’t deny it. Is this your MO?
Have incredible sex and then scamper away, a scared little girl? Have an intimacy
problem?”
“Watch it.”
“Kieran.” She spoke through gritted teeth, and her color rose.
How is it possible the flush makes her even more beautiful?
“This isn’t the time.”
“Yes, it is. And you don’t get to dictate to me what I do and don’t talk about. Not
ever.”
“Wow.” She ran a hand through her hair. “You’re in a mood.”
“Don’t avoid my question.”
“Fine. Yes, I was avoiding you, but not because I have some sort of issue. There’s
a lot happening, okay? I found out some things, and I have to deal with them. I needed
some time and space to do it. Forgive me for not realizing you were so needy.”