For Life (2 page)

She worked all afternoon, preparing the venison just the way Pete liked it, and baked potatoes until the outsides were crisp. He whistled when he entered their den, his scent smelling of happiness and not a care in the world. It wasn’t fair that she couldn’t share those same relaxed emotions. Wiping her hands on her jeans, she glanced quickly around her modern-looking kitchen, noting the wiped-down counters, the waxed linoleum floors and the dust-free blinds that she’d already closed over the windows. There was nothing for Pete to bitch about—she hoped.

“Supper is almost ready,” she called, then pulled out two plates and set them on the table.

“Well, since I didn’t get breakfast, I didn’t get a chance to eat until midday.” Pete appeared in the doorway. “I can’t say that I’m hungry. Not to mention being called by our pack leader after you paid him a visit didn’t help my mood much.”

The faint smell of another bitch lingered on his clothing. He didn’t smell like sex, like he usually did. Maybe he’d whined so much to his girlfriend that she wouldn’t put out for him today. But his last sentence and his hardened expression as he stood there glaring at her made her forget all about the girlfriend.

“You could have called and let me know.” She looked at the meat she’d just pulled out of the oven. “I wouldn’t have worked so hard to make this for you.”

She intentionally didn’t mention anything about talking to Bob. Obviously he sided with Pete on this and had called him to let him know his bitch had come to complain.

So much for relying on her pack for any help.

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Lorie O’Clare

“You don’t work hard to do anything for me.” Pete crossed his arms, his blue eyes turning pale and icy cold. “You sure do work hard when you go whining to our pack leader about how terrible our personal life is though. I can’t believe you did that.

You’ve dishonored me and our den. How do you think that makes me look?”

“What the hell am I supposed to do, Pete?” She was sick and tired of him looking at her like she had some kind of disease. “You spend more time with that bitch across town than you do with me.”

“Oh!” He threw his arms up in the air. “You are so insane. I worked my ass off today for us, for our den. Then I come home and listen to you complain all night long. I should be the one howling like a pup to Bob, not you. But I tell you, there is no greater humiliation than having him call me while I’m at work and asking me to come talk to him.”

Maura turned the oven and stove off. The conversation would get worse from

here—she smelled it coming on. “What did you say to each other?”

“You thought you could spread your little lies through his den and no one would comment on the smell?”

“I didn’t lie to him. And this bruise on my face didn’t come from me being clumsy.”

Pete shook his head as he studied her face. “You used to wear makeup. If you tried taking care of yourself once in a while, that wouldn’t even show. Some might think you display my marks on you like a trophy or something. But no, you howl to me, and when I don’t listen, you go and howl to our pack leader. Where is the love you’re supposed to have for me?”

“Pete, you beat me and cheat on me. I should be asking if you love me.”

“I adore you.” He shook his head, putting on a good show of acting like he didn’t understand why she’d make such accusations.

“You have a hell of a way of showing it.”

“Oh. I’m about to show you, all right.” He reached for her and Maura jumped

backward, instinct kicking in quick and hard. Her blood boiled, the urge to change, to protect herself from a dangerous enemy taking over with a vengeance.

Pete laughed, lunging forward and grabbing her arm, then yanking hard enough to almost pull it out of its socket. Maura howled, digging her heels into the floor as he dragged her toward the front door of their den.

“What in the hell are you doing?” she asked when he opened the door and a rush of cold night air attacked her.

“I’ve had it, Maura. Absolutely had it.” He hadn’t taken his coat off. As he dragged her across the front yard to the car, she noticed it was still running. Panic attacked her and she fought harder. Pete had a plan, and it didn’t smell good at all. He twisted her arm, pulling her to him and covering her mouth before she could cry out. “You will not make a scene in front of our den. In fact, you’re never going to dishonor this den again.”

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For Life

“Pete. Don’t do this.” He pushed her inside the car and jumped in, hitting the automatic lock, then peeled out of the driveway. Maura reached for the door handle but he overpowered her, grabbing her wrists and pushing them painfully into her legs. Pete drove dangerously fast over the snow-cleared roads. Already he’d left their pack and his headlights cast beams of light over the twisting highway as he drove into the mountains. The car swerved hard around a curve, almost flying off the road. Maura screamed and he yanked her forward. She slid down before she hit her head on the dashboard.

“Like I said, Bob smelled your lies. They were so fucking obvious. He worried you were being unfaithful and that maybe I should spend more time at my den, keep an eye on you, work to keep you from disgracing me. How fucking humiliating!” he hissed, twisting her wrists.

Her skin stretched against bone and burned as he held her hands tightly together.

“He didn’t say that. I don’t believe you.”

“Oh believe me, little bitch. Believe me. The Wagner den is solid and strong. You were nothing—a bitch with no den, no history, nothing to offer me. But I fell in love. In spite of how my den warned me, how the pack warned me, I wanted you enough to believe we could make it work. And you’ve betrayed me.”

Tears burned her eyes. Pete was absolutely insane. And there was no reasoning with insanity. Worst yet, she didn’t smell any lies on him. If he truly believed what he said, she didn’t stand a chance. That or he was such a damned good liar that he could keep them from stinking. She was inclined to believe the latter, but either way, his words smelled of danger, outrage—and it scared the hell out of her.

“What are you going to do?” That was all she wanted to know.

“The only thing I can do. Save face with my pack, with my den, and get rid of you.”

“What do you mean get rid of me?” She quit fighting his grip. It only made her wrists hurt more. Relaxing, she listened to the engine strain as Pete took them higher into the mountains. Where the hell were they going?

“You’re a disgrace to my den, to the pack. Bob will be sympathetic when he hears you’ve run off again, left me for your lover.” His voice was so calm—too damned calm.

He let go of her, putting both hands on the steering wheel when they took a sharp curve. “It was obvious all along when your bitch friend ran off with that Malta werewolf that you were spreading your legs for them too. The pity will be rank for a while, but Bob will end the mating, shunning you as he did that other bitch.”

Maura almost fell headfirst into the dash when he angled the car around a sharp curve of the mountain road. She braced herself, fighting the change that begged to surface.

“You know there’s no one else. I’ve been completely loyal to you.” Her teeth pressed against her lips, lengthening as she spoke.

His outrageous comments sent a flood of emotions through her. Too many to keep in check and keep the change at bay.

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Lorie O’Clare

“Yeah right. That’s why you stunk up our pack leader’s den with your lies. Even his poor pup was still complaining of the stench when I arrived. How often do I have to cover for you?”

“Cover for me?” Memories of the many lies she
had
told to protect Pete when he’d beaten her surfaced with a vengeance. “Pete, cut the crap.”

He pulled the car to a stop, letting it idle for a moment while she quickly situated herself on the seat next to him. His eyes glowed the most intense blue. Once she actually thought him attractive. Now he simply looked pathetic and smelled even worse. She swore intense satisfaction made his face glow. It turned her stomach, a mixture of fear and trepidation making her scoot back against the passenger door.

“I am cutting the crap—cutting it out of my life. Get out, Maura.”

She looked outside at the darkness that spread around them. “Here? Where the hell are we?”

“Outside our territory. That is, outside my territory.” He stared at her for barely a minute before sighing loudly and grabbing her arm. Shoving the car into park, he yanked her out through his side. “I’m not joking. Your little game is over, bitch. I’m done with you.”

He almost tossed her into the snow. She stumbled but regained her footing quickly.

Pete jumped back into the car and shoved it into drive, fishtailing on the snow-packed highway as he sped off.

The first thought that entered her mind was that he’d have to come back. He would have to turn around in order to get back to their pack. But then it hit her. She was free.

Freezing. Outside in the dark and the cold with no food or coat, she barely noticed her body shiver. She stared up and down the quiet, abandoned-looking highway, not sure whether to laugh out loud or stomp her feet in anger. He would disgrace her before their pack, spreading lies that she had no doubt he’d get their entire pack to believe, probably not making one little falsehood stink.

She stood in the narrow tire track on the highway where their car had smashed down the snow. Shedding out of her clothes quickly, she fought the frigid night air as her teeth instantly started chattering. It took longer to get out of her boots with her hands shaking.

This had to be a godsend. She forced herself to look at it that way as she tied her clothes around her neck while her fingers could still manage the simple act. Already the change demanded freedom. She would freeze to death without her coat, but her thick hide and warm fur that begged to pop free from her skin and protect her from the elements would keep her warm.

Her vision changed, turning the blackness around her to different shades of gray.

Suddenly all the smells surrounding her were easy to detect. Carbon monoxide from the car, a nearby waterfall, the freshness of untouched snow.

And as her bones popped and stretched, the sweet pain attacked her and she

embraced it. Howling at the black sky above her, she dropped to all fours, no longer 10

For Life

feeling the cold or the unbearable weight on her shoulders that she’d held on to for over six months now.

No matter all the lies that Pete would share with her pack, she believed him in this.

Believed that he’d kicked her out and that she was free. Turning, she bounded away from the highway, heading in the opposite direction of her pack, although for the life of her, she had no idea where she would go.

11

Lorie O’Clare

Josie Balzon stood on the edge of the mountain, sniffing the air while he searched for the thoughts that he’d heard earlier. They didn’t make any sense, but if he’d learned anything in his thirty-six years, it was that he could trust the gift. It led him, pulled him toward the edge of their pack. A cold morning breeze swept over his long black coat, but he barely felt it.

Talk to me again
,
little bitch
. Where the fuck was she? He knew what he had heard, and he wanted to hear it again.

Taking a morning run like he usually did helped him hear the pack, see into their minds and find trouble before it found him. Since moving into the Rocky Mountains, he also searched for conspiracies, for anything that would slow the evolution of their growing pack. Because nothing would take away the territory the Malta werewolves finally could call their own.

Talk to me
. He searched the valley below him, the mounds of drifting snow, the sparkling branches that hung heavily with icicles and the pale gray sky that went on forever past the surrounding mountains. Everything was still—and cold. And a bitch shouldn’t be out here by herself.

But she was. He had heard her thoughts when he headed up the mountain. She

whispered them in his mind as if she stood right next to him. And in spite of their sultry, beckoning tone, the underlying urgency made it clear that she didn’t know where she was or what she was doing here.

Her mind called out to him and then went silent. Frustration hardened every

muscle inside him.

Josie leapt off the side of the cliff, pushing with his hind legs, and for a moment while he was airborne, he experienced unleashed power. He inhaled deeply, catching the frozen air and filling his lungs with it. He hit the ground hard, running a few yards and then slowing, maintaining his balance on the snow and ice. Everything around him was still, white with a fresh blanket of snow. Snow that reached up to his shoulders in the deeper drifts soaked his long black coat, but he didn’t give a rat’s ass. His hide was thick enough to keep out the cold, and the snow didn’t deter him from searching the area and listening with his mind.

Squinting against the glare surrounding him, he took in the large clearing.

Mountains reached for the sky on either side of him. This land was fucking beautiful—

dangerous and so incredibly untamed, but gorgeous. Malta werewolves thought

themselves cursed when they’d first arrived in this territory. After five years of being scattered around the world, fleeing from Malta when their pack had been burned by 12

For Life

other packs who feared and hated them, they had become suspicious and leery of anyone offering them anything.

But Josie saw this land as a blessing. They were united as a pack, given the opportunity to grow and once again be strong and powerful. Most of them would have to acclimate to the climate, but he fucking loved it here.

He turned, glancing up at the cliff he’d just jumped from. Shit. Thoughts screamed at him from another one of his packmates—an all-too-familiar and annoying male growl that he could live without hearing today. Fucking Dante. He had sniffed out Josie’s actions, pried into his mind and turned into a damn drama king, calling out reinforcements to stalk Josie, chase him down and howl at him for doing something he hadn’t even done yet.