Wild: Devils Point Wolves #1 (Mating Season Collection) (3 page)

"Uh-huh. Give them to me." He held out his hands.

She looked down at the empty glass and bottle of pain medication still gripped in her hands. "I'm fine. Really. I need to take care of Rebel."

"You need to sit down and let me handle this." His voice deepened, his tone clear he would take no more arguing.

"You're bossy," she said.

"It comes with the territory." He took the glass and filled it with water and then shook two aspirin from the bottle. "You first," he demanded.

When she hesitated, he sighed. "Don't worry. We'll take care of Rebel too. She may be a hot head pain in my ass, but I’m still kind of fond of her."

There was something about this situation that seemed off. He was being nice enough to her. Yet she got the feeling of being treated like a child, which resulted in her wanting to refuse his help and ignore the medication and water he offered.
 

With some effort she shook most of those feelings away and took the pills. The fact she wanted to get rid of this growing headache outweighed her desire to send Mr. bossy pants away.

When she handed the glass back to him he refilled it and disappeared through the door. She started to stand. It should be her helping her sister not some stranger. Yet the spots now wavering through her vision and the burning at her wrist had her rethinking her decision to move.
 

"The bite burns doesn't it?"

She jerked at the sound of his voice, surprised he'd crept up on her. "A little," she lied. It actually hurt quite a bit more than a little.

"It's going to get worse before it gets better."

"And you know this because you have experience with a wolf bite?" She didn't care that her skepticism showed. She was in a rinky dink hotel with a too hot to handle mysterious man who made her squirm and her drunk sister after having been attacked by a wolf in the middle of a foggy, deserted road on creep island.
 

No, that didn't sound crazy at all.

"You'd be surprised to know what all I have experience with, little one."

She could just imagine. The man ran a strip club for cripes sake.
 

"I would imagine that in your line of your work there isn't much you haven't seen. But I don’t see you getting a lot of wolves wandering through your doors looking for a cheap thrill."

His right brow lifted and the threat of a real smile lifted the edges of his mouth again. "You'd be surprised what will walk through my doors."

She rolled her eyes. Why did every word out of his mouth have to make him sound like sex on a stick? And why was she still so obsessed with sex around him?

Remembering something he said she almost missed she looked up at him and asked, "Who is we?"

"What?"

"You said we'll take care of Rebel. Who is we?"

"My brother Dante is walking over. He's bringing food and coffee too."

"He didn't have to–"

Damien lifted his hand and brushed the hair that had fallen onto her forehead. "Yeah, he does. You and I can't stay here and someone needs to keep an eye on your sister. So he’s been designated."

She jumped from her perch on the edge of the tub and swayed forward. "I can take care of everything. We don't need babysitters."

Damien hauled her against him until she was steady on her feet. "I'm certain under normal circumstances you could do just about anything you set your mind to. You’ve definitely got a mind of your own. Unfortunately, there is nothing normal about that wolf bite and you and your sister will have to face a new reality after tonight."

His ominous warning raised the hair at the back of her neck and sent a shiver racing along her arms. This was beginning to feel a little stalkerish. "You know I get that you're Rebel's boss and all that, but you're not making any sense. What's the big frigging deal? My sister drank a little–well a lot–more tequila than she should and I'm going to need a series of rabies shots in the morning. Tomorrow's going to suck, but we'll both live."

"You talk too much."

"I do no–" One minute she was delivering him a piece of her mind and the next his lips were covering hers and his warm tongue licking at the edges of her mouth. So many sensations exploded in her head she didn't know what to catalog first. Maybe it was the pillow soft touch of his lips against her own? Or maybe the scent of the outdoors mixed with his cologne. No, it was definitely the scratch of his neatly trimmed facial hair abrading her skin that consumed her. In fact, the sexy rub made her everything well south of her neck tingle.

She was still wrapping her brain around the new sensations when Damien drew back, abandoning the best kiss of her life.

"That's much better."

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

"Because I've been thinking about it for too long. And," he smiled, "It seemed like a good way to get you to shut up and listen."

She sighed. As much as her brain told her to argue and push him away, her body wouldn't allow it. "Fine. I'm listening."

"Not in here. Let’s get you and Rebel settled and then I can explain."

"Fine. But this better be good."

The smile he'd hinted at finally broke free, transforming him into the most gorgeous male creature she'd ever encountered. How was that even possible?

"Don't worry, babe. It's always good."

Chapter Four

Damien heard the approach of his brother before he even got to the door. Wolf hearing came in handy like that. He left Faith to take care of her sister and went outside to talk to him.

He glared at Dante as he approached. "I thought you were watching over her?"

"That woman is a pain in my ass. I tried to get her to listen to reason and she wanted nothing to do with anything I said. She kicked me out of her room and warned me not to come back."

He grabbed the tray of coffee to go cups from Dante and moved a few feet farther from their window. He didn't need to be overheard. "So you just tucked tail and ran instead of handling the situation?"

"Fuck no. I've been across the street at the diner this whole time. I stayed there and made sure she didn't go anywhere without me though. What's with the inquisition anyway? I thought we agreed to give her a few days to get used to the idea of our kind before we laid down any ultimatums."

"That's before her sister showed up and got herself bitten."

Dante's eyes widened. "What? Are you serious? You bit her? I thought you wanted to stay away from her."

Damien glared at him. "I'm not the asshole who did it. Happened out on the bridge a couple of hours ago. She was attacked. The scents unfamiliar."

"You're thinking rogue?"

He nodded.

"Well, shit. Rebel's gonna freak if her sister turns furry on her before she's even had time to adjust."

He shook his head and took a quick swallow of coffee. "She's not going to turn. Without a mating bond it's highly unlikely."

"But not impossible. If she turns, we're going to have to hide. Cause our "employee" is going to come after us with a shotgun."

"We don't have to worry about that tonight. Rebel is so drunk she can barely stand let alone put two and two together no matter what she overhears. And then tomorrow you can remind her who's the boss and make her chill for a while."

Dante laughed. "You're crazy if you think she's going to roll over and play nice just because I tell her to. Why the hell do you think she's driving me nuts?"

"I think your mating season whipped and you'll do anything to get inside her pants."

"Screw you, Damien. You don't have room to talk. You're out here talking to me instead of inside taking care of the woman you want but won't touch. That's fucked dude."

He sipped at his coffee and glared at his brother who glared right back. Unfortunately, they had better things to do than stand out here and measure dicks and Dante wasn't exactly wrong. He did want Faith.
 

He also wanted to kill the rogue wolf who dared to sink teeth in her. Another man's scent on her skin was driving him mad.
 

Dante touched his shoulder, his voice lowering. "It doesn't have to end here you know. She's been bitten without a bond. Even if she turns, she'll still choose her own mate."

He nodded, unwilling to say anything more. In the midst of mating season he wasn't sure he could trust himself with Faith's well being.
 

Not when all he could think about was how she smelled both sweet and exciting. Or how just being next to her set his already pounding heart to racing. She even made him want to spend the night just kissing her. She licked her full red lips earlier and since then he’d been plagued by images of that luscious mouth wrapped around his cock.

But standing outside a motel room debating the situation wasn't going to help either.
 

He headed back to the room, "Let's deal with this shit."

Chapter Five

Faith sighed when she heard the door opening again. Her wish that Damien would leave and let her deal with Rebel on her own had been too much to hope for. Although the fact he walked in carrying a tray of coffee cups helped–a little.

"What are you–?" Her question died on her lips when Damien moved in the room and his brother Dante followed him. Just as tall and broad as Damien, it was no wonder Rebel liked her job. And now she understood why he bothered her so much. It was kind of like how Damien unnerved her. They both oozed testosterone and some kind of male magnetism that was hard to describe. Whatever it was, she imagined neither of these men lacked in female companionship.

"Faith this is Dante. Dante, faith."

"Hey." He smiled and held up two bags in his hands. "Hungry?"

She shrugged and eyeballed the coffee cups instead. "Is one of those for me?"

"Absolutely, take your pick. There’s sugar and creamer in the bag if you need it." Dante stepped forward and offered her the tray. "Damien tells me you've had a rough night."

"Understatement of the year." She sipped gently at the cup, testing the heat level before gulping some of it down.

"Our island's not usually a hotbed of trouble on a Monday night," Dante winked at her. "It seems the rising moon is wreaking all kinds of havoc."

Her eyebrows raised. "If you say so. But I've always found the island to be a bit of an enigma. You may not be that far from the city, but you might as well be a thousand miles away. It's like visiting another culture."

"That's a whole lot of opinion formed from one wolf bite." Damien interjected, his eyebrows drawn together with a look that had annoyance written all over it.

"Speaking of which... I think that's our cue to part ways. I'm going to stay here and keep an eye on Rebel here so you can go with Damien."

She looked between her sleeping sister and this man she barely knew. "Why in the world would I go anywhere but here? I came to your lovely little rock to find out what's going on with my sister and that's what I intend to do."

Damien stepped forward and placed his hands on her shoulders. That firm, strong touch caught her off guard again. She looked up and her gaze collided with his. The usually vivid green hue of his eyes had darkened, making it impossible to read anything. But his intensity heightened and her skin tingled at their connection.

"You're not safe here."

Faith gulped for air. His body this close to hers short circuited her ability to think and form complete sentences without a lot of effort. "Why am I not safe? I don’t understand."

"I'd rather explain that when I'm certain you are secure. We need to leave."

This was crazy. She wasn't going to jump just because he was ridiculously good looking.

Liar.
She’d probably do just about anything if he asked, including lick his entire body.

Her mind might reject her thought shenanigans, but her body certainly didn't. Her skin sizzled from head to toe at the thought of something–anything happening between them.

Talk about inappropriate.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she pointed at Damien, "or him," she hooked her thumb at his equally ridiculously good looking brother, "unless someone gives me a damn good reason. Like an epically good reason."

The two men exchanged knowing glances and her stomach dropped. She had a feeling she wasn't going to like what they were about to say.

"Do it, Damien. You need to quit wasting time. If the rogue is coming for her, it won't take him long to pick up her trail here."

"Who's coming for me?" she asked. "And what on earth for? I'm nobody."

Damien turned back to her and she would swear he managed to turn the intensity up by several notches. "You have never been a nobody, but tonight you became prey. The wolf that bit you wasn't an ordinary wolf. He's a shapeshifter. Part human, part wolf and all predator. I can smell it on you."

Faith took several steps back. Obviously good looking came with a drawback. Crazy.

Greeeaaattt.

"I know it sounds ridiculous and unbelievable, but trust me. What I'm saying is true."