Asking For Trouble (7 page)

The wolf clamped his jaws around the man’s wrist, making him
scream in agony. The gun clattered to the concrete and she had the presence of
mind to reach for it. Natalie scooped up the pistol and held it in her hand,
pointed directly at the gunman. The solid weight of the weapon was reassuring
in her hand, though she had no experience with firearms.

Stunned disbelief kept her crouching on the ground as the
wolf dragged the shooter a few feet from her. Slowly, the animal released his
grip and backed away from his prey. When the former gunman moved to sit up, the
wolf lunged forward, growling menacingly. Instantly, the man froze again, his
eyes never leaving the wolf.

“That’s right, don’t move,” said Natalie, keeping the gun on
him as she got to her feet. The man didn’t even look at her or the weapon. His
gaze stayed on the wolf as it backed away to the side of the car. As she walked
closer, to discourage the man from trying to run away, she saw a pile of
clothing on the ground by the wheel. It took a half-second to register they
were the garments Orion had worn all day. Even as the realization dawned, the
wolf was shifting back to her lover. An unintelligible sound was all she could
manage at the sight of his nude body.

“I can explain,” he said, before his gaze switched to their
would-be assassin. “Don’t move an inch.” Orion looked at her again. “Keep the
gun on him, Natalie. I have to change before the police arrive.” He knelt to
lift his clothes, rifling through the pocket of the torn trousers and emerging
with a cell phone. In seconds, he had dialed the police and summoned them.

Natalie kept the gun pointed at the man on the ground,
though her attention stayed on Orion, aside from an occasional glance at their
prisoner. He seemed unable to look away either as Orion went to the small trunk
of the car and pulled out a bag. Transfixed, still not able to believe what she
had seen, she watched him remove a pair of slacks and a white shirt from the
bag. He dressed quickly and stashed the torn clothes in the duffel before
putting it back into the trunk.

Without thought, she recoiled when he came to stand beside
her. Her chest tightened when she saw him flinch at her reaction. It pained her
to hurt him, but she wasn’t in the frame of mind to reassure him. Reassure him
of what, exactly? How was she supposed to react? There were no such things as
werewolves. Everyone knew that. So, what had she just witnessed?

Orion took the gun from her and she managed not to wince
when he touched her. “I know you have questions, Natalie.”

“Yeah. Questions.” About a million of them, if she could
organize her thoughts long enough to ask them.

“You’ve probably figured it out already, but I’m a
werewolf.”

She might have laughed hysterically if the gunman hadn’t
chosen that moment to do it for her. He started laughing, but soon broke down
into sobs, punctuated with barely understandable prayers for deliverance.
Relief radiated from him when the sounds of sirens reached them, coming ever
closer.

Orion looked at her, his gaze studying her intently. “It’s a
lot to digest, but please give me a chance to talk to you.” He jerked his head
in the direction of the first patrol car pulling into their level of the
parking garage. “Don’t run off after we’re through with the police, please. And
don’t say anything about…my abilities…to them. I beg you. If they believed you,
the knowledge would put a lot of people in danger. If they don’t believe
you—and they probably won’t—it won’t go well for you.” He must have seen her
eyes widen at those words. “I meant with the police. That wasn’t a threat. I’m
not going to hurt you.”

Natalie wanted to believe him. It seemed impossible that he
would ever harm her, but the man she had fallen in love with could
transform
into a wolf
at will. How was she ever supposed to accept that, or feel safe
with him again?

Detective Strand was the third on the scene and he nodded at
Natalie but went directly to Orion. As they shook hands, she realized they knew
each other. Last night hadn’t been their first meeting. His reaction to the
gunman’s insistence that Orion was a werewolf supported her supposition.

“Yes, I’m sure he is.” The detective sounded bored. “I’ll be
sure to make a note of it.” Only a subtle glance at Orion betrayed that he knew
the man was being truthful. Natalie wondered if anyone else had seen the
exchange. “I have to say, this is the most original approach I’ve yet seen to
set up for a psych defense. Did the werewolves tell you to rob and murder Hal
Coleman too?”

The arrestee’s assertions of Orion’s wolfish talents clearly
amused the two officers handcuffing him. As they hauled him off toward a
waiting car he continued to babble about the wolf and they traded grins and
jokes at the man’s expense. Natalie might have felt sorry for the gunman if he
hadn’t been intent on killing her just a few minutes ago.

She stood stiffly when the detective drew her and Orion off
to the side for statements. Fear of ridicule kept her from confirming the
shooter’s allegations. That, and she owed Orion something for his protection.
He had saved her life, even as he had complicated the hell out of every aspect
of it. Natalie remained silent as Orion gave an abbreviated, slightly altered
recount of overpowering the three men. The other two were in ambulances headed
to the hospital. Booking at police headquarters upon release from medical care
awaited them. Her suspicions that the detective was one of Orion’s kind grew
stronger when he never questioned anything or asked for her version of events.

When he presented a form for her to sign, she did so without
protest. Natalie managed to stand stiffly as the detective lightly touched her
forearm. “You have nothing to fear anymore, Ms. Bell.”

She slanted a look at Orion peripherally. “Don’t I?” Without
awaiting a response, she turned and walked away from them.

Chapter Six

No one called her back and she kept walking. Her mind wasn’t
on anything except putting distance between herself and Orion. Automatically,
her feet led her in the direction of home. She was less than a block away when
lights appeared behind her, followed by the screech of brakes. It took no
deductive reasoning to figure out Orion was following her. Even before his hand
fell on her shoulder, she knew he was there. Her body recognized the proximity
of his and responded, though she tried desperately to quell the physical
reaction to his touch.

“Natalie, please? I need to talk to you.”

She shook her head, shrugging off his hand. “I can’t. This
is too much to deal with.” Natalie expected him to protest or try to stop her
again, but he didn’t. She turned her head to look at him, surprised by his lack
of resistance. The defeat in his stance tugged at her heart and her eyes burned
with unexpected tears. “You’re just going to let me go?”

His expression revealed he was as confused by her words as
she was. “I can’t make you stay. I can’t force you to accept my…differences.”

Natalie sucked her lower lip between her teeth, torn between
the need for space to process what had happened and the need for answers. “This
is difficult to comprehend.”

“I know.” He took a step back. “I’m going home. I would like
you to come with me so we can talk, but if you don’t want to, I will have to
live with that.”

“Well, I do need to get Lucy and my things.” Hesitantly,
Natalie walked to the passenger door, making sure not to brush against him.
Orion was equally careful not to touch her and she was slightly miffed at his
fatalistic attitude when she should have been appreciating his respect for her
requested space. She slid into the seat of the car, sitting stiffly.

“Jason wanted me to tell you that you’ll need to come in
sometime tomorrow to do a lineup and identify the men who attacked you. You’ll
also need to confirm they are the ones you saw shoot that man.” He sounded
remote. “After that, you’ll only be bothered again if there is a trial. Jason
expects they will all plead out, unless Connors—the leader—does cop an insanity
plea.” At the stoplight, he turned his head to look at her. “We both know he
isn’t crazy.”

“No, I guess not.” She smoothed her skirt, picking off
invisible lint to avoid his eyes. “I infer Jason is Detective Strand?”

“Yeah.” The light changed and he looked straight ahead
again, accelerating as traffic flowed.

“Is he one of you…people?”

“We’re quite human,” he said with a trace of impatience
evident in his tone. “To answer your question, yes, Jason is a member of the
Sundown Pack.”

She blinked. “There’s a pack of you?”

Orion maneuvered onto the freeway before answering.
“Hundreds of packs, actually. Hell, maybe thousands. It’s not like we’re all in
a network, or have some werewolf UN.”

“How many w-werewolves are there?” Natalie almost pronounced
the word without stuttering. Her tongue was reluctant to accept the word,
though her mind was already wrapping around and absorbing the news of their
existence.

“In my pack? Or in the world?”

Natalie shrugged.

Orion kept his attention focused on traffic, though he was
clearly focused on their discussion. “I don’t know how many there are in the
word. It’s not a disease with a statistic. I can’t say X percent of the
population carry the gene. I don’t know.” He paused to change lanes before
continuing. “Maybe no one knows. All I know about is the Sundown Pack. We have
more than five hundred members, though only about three hundred live full-time
on the island.”

“Island? What island?” Her mind conjured a wildly
inappropriate image of a hairy wolf-man sprawled on a chaise lounge, wearing a
miniscule thong and drinking margaritas on a tropical beach.

“We own an island in the San Juan chain, out in the Strait
of Juan de Fuca. It’s our sanctuary.”

She frowned. “Why do you need a sanctuary? Couldn’t you deal
with any human who threatened you?”

He glanced away from traffic long enough to give her a look
that made her feel small. “I suppose we could kill any human who challenged our
right to exist, but we aren’t cold-blooded murderers. Nor do we want a war,
fearful of extinction. We are stronger than humans, but
you people
outnumber us. You would win.” His mouth twisted, as though he had tasted
something unpleasant, and he fell silent.

Natalie had other questions to ask but held her tongue.
Clearly, she had offended him, and it was best to marshal her thoughts before
the discourse continued. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. She
still loved Orion, without a doubt. If only she could be so certain of sharing
a future with him as she was of how she felt, there wouldn’t be an icy ball in
the pit of her stomach right then.

Neither spoke until Orion had parked his car in the garage
at his home and led her inside. Lucy came to greet them and Natalie was able to
postpone the coming discussion a few minutes longer by letting her out to do
her business. Once the dog finished, she had no other reason to avoid facing
Orion, except that she was frightened. What she might learn scared her, but
even more than that was finding out something so earth-shattering that she
wouldn’t be able to stay with him. Part of her was so tempted to beg him not to
say any more, to try to pretend she had never discovered her lover was a
werewolf. Since neither of them could live that way, she had to face up to
everything.

Natalie sat in a beige lounge chair that drew her in and
conformed to her frame. Orion didn’t bother to sit. He just paced in front of
the fire. “How did this happen to you? Were you bitten?”

He paused to look at her. “No. I was born a werewolf. It
isn’t something you catch. I’m not infected with a disease, as I said. It’s a
genetic difference. I couldn’t turn someone into a werewolf any more than a
human could bite a dog and make it human.”

She swallowed hard. If she stayed with Orion, any children
they had would face the same type of existence. It was daunting to bring a
child into such a situation. “So, your offspring would be werewolves?” she
asked to confirm her fears.

“Yeah. It’s a dominant trait. Very few hybrid children don’t
have some kind of wolf characteristics.” Orion resumed pacing. “I might as well
tell you upfront that I am not willing to have a relationship if not having
kids is one of the stipulations. Much as I love you, Natalie, I can’t imagine a
life without children. Even if I could, it isn’t possible. As Beta of the
Sundown Pack, my line must continue. Stability is a cornerstone of any pack. A
change in leadership is disruptive for every member.”

Her head spun. “Leadership? What do you mean? You’re king of
the werewolves or something?”

Orion managed a small smile, though it seemed painful to
allow himself any amusement. “No. The leader is the Alpha, and mine happens to
be Jared Sundown. I’m his Beta, which means I’m his second-in-command. If
something happens to him, I would take his place, unless he was deposed. In
that case, my family is in danger too. Traditionally, my children would be
potential mates for his, though I don’t think Alyra will let that archaic
practice continue.”

The influx of information made her head ache more than the blow
from that man Connors. Later, she would ask more about pack dynamics, members
and the like. Right now, she needed only the most critical information. “What
does that all mean to you?”

Finally, Orion stopped pacing to sit on the couch cushion
nearest her. “Eventually, I’ll have to return to Evergreen Island and assume my
responsibilities. I always knew that, so I have taken the chance to live a life
away from the island for the past fifteen years. I still go home from time to
time, but I wanted to be something other than the pack’s Beta while I still
could.” He shrugged. “I’m ready to go home, and it won’t be long before I do.”