Scarred Wolf by Charlene Hartnady

10

Jaxon

I’ve spentthe last twenty-four hours getting a lay of the land, and my head is completely focused on planning my next step. Everleigh Moone, aka Miller, is as inconsistent as a March Hare on heroin. She seldom sits still for more than a minute, and I heard her pacing up and down half the night. Not that I was sleeping either; my mind is in overdrive trying to figure out what she’s up to.

My “security specialist” cover has come in handy – aside from being the truth, to an extent – it’s also given me the perfect excuse to tell her almost nothing about myself. Not that there’s been much chance to do that. After my failed attempt at getting a dose of the antidote in her when I arrived, she locked herself in her room. Apart from a brief moment in passing when she went out earlier this morning, we haven’t exchanged more than a couple of words.

“You’re an idiot, Skau,” I tell myself as I remember how close I came to being caught out. I nearly botched the whole thing when I called her into the shower. Rookie mistake – I was too eager to make my move. But it just seemed so perfect. I’d prepped the syringe, and it would have been natural for me to be standing with my toiletry bag. How would she ever know what the real contents were? Until she knocked the whole damn lot out of my hand.

Can one person really be such a fucking klutz? If there was a Clumsy Spice, she’d be it. Thank god I managed to get her out of there before she could get a better look at what was in the bag. I should be grateful for her lack of coordination – it kept her preoccupied.

Yet despite the moments of awkwardness, she still moves with an animal grace I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from. It’s the wolf in her, I know it, and it should make me more wary. But somehow my own wolf keeps prowling around, seeking some sort of connection.

A connection to what? Probably her throat, I tell myself. That would make sense. Deep down, I must be responding to the threat she represents. It’s why I tingle when she’s around. Why contact with her makes my flesh burn.

Her kin killed my mother. She deserves to be put down.

Right now, I know she’s out at the nursing home. The schedule I’ve noted would put her there until early evening, then she’ll probably stop by the gym. There’s no point in following her around. I won’t get an opportunity to deliver the antidote. It makes more sense to hole up in the apartment till she gets back. It’s certainly comfortable enough. After a week in a hotel room, I’m enjoying being in this place. I use the afternoon to file a report to my father, then head out to the store for a few items of food. My allocated shelves are empty, and I don’t plan on borrowing from her…ever. I want nothing from her. I’m back early because I’d rather prepare my meals while she’s not around. I don’t relish the idea of explaining why I prefer my steak raw.

I end the afternoon with a jog around the block to get a better feel for the neighborhood, and I head to my room when I return to take a shower. It took me nearly twenty minutes to figure out how to use the damn thing, but it was worth it. I put the showerhead onto a hard, pulsating setting, letting the water pummel the muscles of my shoulders, before I switch it over to a soft rainfall. I can’t let myself get used to this, nice as it is. For long minutes, I stand beneath the caress of the stream, imagining myself in a gentle forest rain. The animal in me loves the feeling of being in nature and I shut my eyes, rest my palms against the wall and lean my forehead on the cool tiles as I feel the tension ease from me. This has to be one of my most nerve-wracking missions yet – though I can’t understand why. I’m up against a woman, not some street-hardened thug. I breathe out and relax—

Until the door to the bathroom door swings open abruptly and I spin around in time to make eye contact with Everleigh.

“What the fuck?” I bark out, and she shrieks and claps her hands over her mouth. But her gaze is dropping down, and she’s eyeballing the fuck out of me. And my dick is loving every second of it because next thing I know, I can feel myself harden and thicken. I can feel her ogling deep down in my balls.

Fuuuck!

Her pink mouth is hanging open. Her eyes drift to my chest for a moment before dropping back down…down to my dick. There’s a second of silence; it’s as if there’s electricity crackling in the air. Something shifts beneath my skin and my senses tingle at the scent of her. There’s the orange blossoms and cinnamon…and the scent of musk. She’s aroused. Holy fucking shit! I give a low growl at the back of my throat, curl my hands into fists. If I step out of the shower now—

“Oh, my god! Oh shit! I’m so sorry!” She’s backpedaling rapidly, and she’s out the door in a flash. I stare after her for a moment, shaken for some reason. It doesn’t bother me that she’s seen me naked. Back home, it’s as natural as breathing. But here? Not so much. Not after the way she reacted. The way I reacted. This is turning way more complicated than it needs to be.

Although maybe…maybe it’ll give me another chance to get closer…

I step out of the shower and make my way into my room, not bothering to dry off. My skin is still damp when I pull on a pair of jeans. I still have a semi, which I tuck away with a string of curses. I slip a vial of my uncle’s potion into my pocket. It’s time to end this thing right now. I’ll try option two. I’m going to get her to drink the stuff.

“Everleigh,” I call out as I stride through my door. “Evie…”

She’s standing in the living room, hands fluttering in front of her. She’s in sweats, I see the cables of her headphones dangling down her shoulders.

“I’m so…so sorry!” she gasps out, pointing towards her ears. “I didn’t hear the water because of the music, and I just got home from training and I remembered I’d left my…my…my…” She’s babbling, and the words come out in a jumble.

I raise my hand and try to smile reassuringly, but beneath the surface there’s a wolf straining at the leash. She smells so fucking good, and with her blinking up at me wide-eyed like that, it’s like facing a trembling doe in the forest. I have to stop myself from licking my lips. All the better to eat you with, my dear… Except right now, killing her is the furthest thing from my mind.

Focus, Skau!I try to pull myself together but it’s hard. Fuck, everything’s hard right now. I step back in case she catches a glimpse of what’s going on down below, despite the jeans. There’s only so much these pants can do to hold together. Jesus, I feel like a pup.

“It’s fine,” I say soothingly. “Honest mistake.” Really? What the fuck was she doing in my bathroom? I think to myself.

I like her in my bathroom,my wolf snarls quietly.

I need to have a serious talking to the asshole – if only it worked that way. It doesn’t! I do the next best thing and ignore the hell out of him.

“Look, let’s start afresh.” Somehow, I think I’ve said this before. But I’m so conflicted about this woman, I can’t seem to behave with any measure of stability around her. We don’t know if she’s a double alpha yet. And even if Everleigh turns out to be one, she can’t be using her powers on me yet. She hasn’t had her first shift.

I turn to the kitchen, using the reprieve to get my cock under control, and glance over my shoulder as I reach the refrigerator. “I picked up a bottle of wine today. Let’s have a glass. We can toast to being roommates. Chill out a little. Sound good?” I’m searching through her kitchen cupboards to find where she keeps the wine glasses, and she pauses then gives a slow nod. I can see the apprehension in her eyes. I haven’t won her over…yet.

I make a show of opening the bottle, which gives me a chance to tip the contents of the vial into her glass. This has to work, dammit. I’m running out of time. I’ll inject her as well…after she drinks this. I have to be sure. My uncle said that ingesting the stuff wasn’t as good. I need this done right. Then I’ll get my shit and disappear. This Moone will never bother my pack. The danger will be over. Evie can get back to her life as a human. No one needs to die. This will work out!

When I return to her, she’s taken a seat on a white leather sofa overlooking the emerging nightlights of the city skyline. I extend my hand, holding the glass, and she looks up at me. Clumsy Spice is now Timid Spice…Vulnerable Spice…Beautiful Spice…

What the fuck? Give her the glass! Move away! Get it together Skau!

“To fresh starts,” I say, feeling my voice drop an octave. Our eyes lock as she reaches for the wine, half-rising to clink her glass against mine. Those eyes…those impossible eyes… I hear her breath catch, and then her hand jerks awkwardly and our glasses collide. The next thing I know, there’s a shattering sound and wine is splashing against my bare feet on the tiled floor.

Jesus! Are you fucking kidding me?

She gives a tiny cry and looks down in dismay, and I notice that in the confusion she’s managed to cut her palm at the base of her thumb. A jagged gash has opened across the soft flesh and blood is trickling…no, streaming down her wrist and dripping onto the floor.

“Sit still!” I snap and bolt towards the kitchen for some paper towels. She’s motionless on the chair, eyes still wide as she stares down at her hand.

“Why am I so clumsy?” she mutters more to herself. “I can’t seem to do anything right lately.” She sounds upset. I hear it in her voice.

Evie’s talking as if she doesn’t know what she is and what is about to happen to her. Her clumsiness is normal. Although, holy shit, she’s worse than most.

I’m racing back and watch as she lifts her hand to her mouth in a gesture most humans probably learn as kids.

“Stop!” I instruct, and she freezes. “Don’t lick it—”

Wait…why not? “There may be glass inside,” I fumble for some explanation.

Let her lick it…Even if she only gets one drop of the antidote, it might work… I should be injecting her. I should be finishing this.

Instead, I’ve wrapped her hand in a wad of tissue paper, and when I remove it to dab at the wound gently, her skin is clean and dry. Yet, I can feel her pulse throbbing through the pale blue veins beneath the delicate skin of her wrist and as I watch, more blood streams out over my fingertips. Without thinking, I raise my fingers to my lips, taste the iron tang in my mouth.

And in an instant, I’m transported. I sense the surge of my wolf form, the scent of blood in my nostrils. My breath is hot in my lungs, muscles straining for release. The need to possess, to consume…to claim…overwhelms me. I feel power charge through me; mine, hers…ours combined. I’ve never felt anything like it. I bite back a groan, and suck in a sharp shuddering breath. Then I drop her hand like it’s on fire and shove myself away from her.

What the hell just happened to me?

When I look down at her hand, the blood has stopped streaming. The gash that was there a moment ago is closing up, even as I watch it. I have healing self-powers of my own, but I’ve never seen anything like this before. I stare up at her for a second, into those incredible eyes. The taste of her blood is still on my lips.

And I’m totally lost.