Half Truths (A Helheim Wolf Pack Tale) (33 page)

‘Indi? How are
you feeling?’ Rhett asked, dropping to his knees beside her.

‘Fine. I feel
fine,’ she replied. Indi looked up to see how Natalie was doing. Laithe was
glowering at Indi; clenching and unclenching his fists. His wolf was staring
out and looking like he wanted to kill her.

‘You’re not
feeling sick?’ Rhett asked, taking her hand and squeezing it. Indi shook her
head—perhaps a little too vigorously—because black stars appeared in her
vision. She blinked, but they didn’t go away. Her world starting spinning,
fuzzing out to black before coming back in blaring colour a few seconds later.

‘Indi? Indi?
Talk to me!’ Rhett yelled. His face came into view in front of her. Her stomach
churned, her throat burning with bile. ‘She’s going to vomit,’ Rhett said.
‘Grab that bin.’ Indi’s body began twitching uncontrollably. Her arms and legs
went into spasm over and over again.

The bin had been
thrust into her hands as she doubled over and vomited the blood she’d just
taken straight out again. Someone’s hand was on her forehead. ‘She’s cold
again,’ they said. She managed to open her eyes to find a pair of acid-green
eyes staring down at her. ‘We can’t move her until the worst of the convulsions
are done.’

She didn’t know
how long she was sick for, only that when exhaustion finally took her, she’d
wished it was death instead.

Vaile sat at his desk, pretending
to be looking over a report, checking it for errors. Larissa was packing up for
the day, finally shutting down her computer and pulling on the coat she had
hanging on the back of her chair. Every time she moved, all he could smell were
roses. He ground his teeth when his cock reacted to the scent, his mind
skipping back to the night he’d finally lost the battle with his self-control
and made love to her.

‘I’ll see you
tomorrow, Vaile,’ she said softly, still not looking at him. She’d been
avoiding his gaze for most of the day and it was slowly driving him crazy.

‘Grey?’ he
asked. She turned around, but kept her eyes on the ground. The words he wanted
to say to her were stuck now. ‘See you tomorrow,’ he finally managed to choke
out. Why was he suddenly being such a fucking pussy? She frowned, turned and
left the office.

‘You fucking
idiot!’ he hiss whispered under his breath. He was ruining the one good thing
he had going in his life. At least she wanted to work with him still. That had
to be something.

He sat there for
another half an hour, staring at a report that had been written hours ago. ‘Go
home, Wolfe. You’re done for the day,’ his boss said over the partitions. Vaile
glanced around. He was officially the last one in the office now.

‘Soon. I’ve just
got to finish writing this,’ he grunted, training his eyes back to Larissa’s
seat. All the talk about mates that morning had started him thinking again. He
wanted Larissa. He wanted her as his mate, but there was only one way of
finding out whether she wanted him too. She had to know the truth about him. If
she ran—well then, it wasn’t going to work out exactly as he’d planned. But if
she stayed … if she stayed, they could be together. His heart squeezed in his
chest. Was he really going to do this?

Before he could
rethink it, he grabbed his holster and car keys. He took off at a jog, going
down the stairs and past security. He pushed out of central command and into
the freezing night air. Pushing the fob on his key ring, he unlocked the car
and got in. Checking his rear view mirror quickly, he saw his eyes were
ice-blue. He blinked the colour away and started the car.

Vaile drove on
autopilot to Larissa’s place. The same punk-ass kid doorman was standing just
inside the lobby when Vaile pulled up and parked in the visitor’s spot out
front. The kid’s fear radiated from his body instantly when he saw Vaile, and
after closing the door, he pretended to be busy with something else. Vaile
strode to the door of the stairs to the right of the elevators and pushed
through.

When he finally
reached the fourth floor, he felt ready for what he was about to do. He was
taking a gamble, but he knew Larissa would choose him.  He knocked on her door,
having to wait only a few minutes before she answered in an oversized men’s
Oxford, a pair of tiny, cotton boxer shorts and thick, woolly socks. When she
saw him, a blush crept up her neck, colouring her cheeks.

She played
nervously with the tails of the shirt. ‘Vaile. What … err … what are you doing
here? There hasn’t been another murder, has there?’ she blinked up at him.

‘No.’ That was
all he said because that was all he could think to say. He was getting
distracted by how great she looked. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He loved
it when a woman wore a man’s clothes to relax in. There was only one problem
with this picture: she wasn’t wearing clothes that belonged to him.

She frowned a
little. ‘Well, what is it then?’

He cleared his
throat. ‘May I come in?’

Her eyes widened
in surprise before she nodded slowly, moving out of the doorway. Vaile stalked
into her apartment, looking around. She was in the middle of cooking dinner—a
microwave meal by the smell of it. ‘I’m sorry for disturbing your evening,’ he
said, scanning her apartment—for what, he didn’t know. Perhaps he was only
torturing himself by looking for evidence that she’d moved on from him already.

‘It’s not a
problem.’ Her answer was terse, guarded. Vaile turned around to look at her.
She was still standing near the door, not wanting to get any closer to him. He
realised then that she didn’t want him there. She was frowning down at the
plush carpet, clawing her toes into it as if to keep herself from getting
angry.

‘I’m sorry. I’ll
go,’ he said, disappointed that he’d ruined his chances with her. ‘I shouldn’t
have come back here,’ he added, taking a few steps towards her and the door she
was guarding.

‘No. Vaile,
stay. I’m just …’ She paused, gathering her thoughts. ‘I’m just not sure what
you want from me.’ She looked up at him this time—not straight in the eye with
her head held high, but from under her long, blonde lashes.

His thoughts
instantly zeroed in on one thing and one thing only: sex. What he wanted was to
be inside her again. That shirt she was wearing was painfully see-through. He
could see the pink blush of her nipples standing erect, and he wanted to tear
it from her body and take her on the floor right then and there.

‘I wanted to
apologise for leaving you … last time. I didn’t mean to. It’s just that I—.’ He
stopped. He didn’t know how to finish that thought. He cleared his throat
again, finding it suddenly thick. ‘I’m sorry.’

She nodded. ‘I
know you regret sleeping with me. We’re partners. We shouldn’t have taken it
past professional, but we did, and I think we need to figure out a way that we
can handle this like mature adults.’

Vaile was stunned.
‘I don’t regret what we did together, Larissa.’ His voice was rough. ‘After I
left, I wanted to come back in here and beg for your forgiveness.’

The tension she
had in her shoulders since he’d arrived suddenly eased, and she sagged against
the door, clutching the top of her shirt together. ‘Why did you leave then?’
she asked in a small voice.

‘Because there
are things about me Larissa that are scary, and I don’t want to scare you.’

Defiantly, she
tilted her chin up. ‘I can take it.’

This was it.
This was the time for the truth. Vaile sucked in a deep breath. ‘Can you come
and sit down for me, please?’ Larissa nodded, peeling her back off the door and
sitting down on the couch. ‘Stay there. I’ll be back in about five minutes,
okay?’

‘Ah, sure, but
where are you going?’

His pulse was
hammering in his ears. ‘You’re just going to have to trust me. Do you trust me,
Larissa?’ he asked, crouching down in front of her and taking her hand. He
looked into her green eyes, hoping that he was doing the right thing.

‘All my life,’
she replied softly, seriously. Vaile’s heart was pounding harder than ever
before. He’d never revealed himself to a human before. When he’d spoken to
Laithe about it that morning before Indi’s feeding, his advice to him was to
make sure there was love between the both of them. If it was true love, the
human would just accept it. Vaile knew that he was in love with Larissa, but he
was taking a risk because he didn’t know whether she loved him back. Things
could go very badly, very quickly.

‘I’m going to
borrow your bedroom. Please don’t come in—even if you hear some strange noises.
Okay?’ He looked at her seriously, trying to convey just how vital that was.
Sneaking up on a werewolf mid-shift was never a good thing.

‘Okay,’ she
said, settling back into the couch. Even though he wanted to kiss her pink,
soft mouth, Vaile got up from his crouch and went into the bedroom—making sure
to leave the door open just a crack so he could get out.

He kicked off
his shoes and took off his black pants, folding them neatly on the bed. Next
was his button-down Oxford and holster. Leaving his underwear on the top of the
pile, he got down onto all fours, and called on the Change. Calm washed over
his body, sending a tingle of pins and needles all over his arms and legs. His
Change had become such a part of him that he hardly had to think about doing it
anymore.

The only part
that still hurt was when his coat came in. Searing pain rolled over his back as
the follicles pushed through his skin. Aware that Larissa was just in the other
room he swallowed the howl that was threatening to leak out from between his
tightly-pressed lips. Panting, the pain finally stopped and he shook out his
platinum-blond coat. On his way to the door, he caught his reflection in the
Cheval mirror in the corner of the room.

Vaile was a huge
wolf, towering nearly five feet high. There was only one wolf taller than him
in the pack, and that was his alpha. His shoulders and neck were large and
muscular like those of a pit bull, but his hind quarters were a little leaner.
His fur would look white in the snow, but with the lighting in the apartment,
he looked more tanned.

He nosed his way
from Larissa’s bedroom, wishing he could give her a little more warning. He
whined, and she sat up off the couch quickly. She couldn’t see him yet—not over
the high back of the overstuffed sofa—so he crept slowly, keeping his eyes and
body low. He reached the end of his cover; just one step away from the big
reveal. All he had to do was take one more step.

Larissa gasped,
bringing her feet up onto the couch like she’d just seen a mouse instead of a
three hundred pound wolf in her apartment. He could hear her heart pounding
against her ribs, the smell of her fear drawing his wolf’s natural instincts
closer to the surface. He pushed them back down, keeping a tighter hold on
himself.

‘Vaile?’ she
eventually asked. Vaile blinked at her, careful not to make any sudden
movements to scare her away. Larissa put her feet back down, her heart rate
dropping back to a more normal rhythm again. ‘Vaile, is that you?’ she asked
unsteadily.

This time he
nodded, just moving his head up and down once. She paled a little. And here it
comes; the screaming, the running, the call to animal control. Larissa licked
her lips, let out a deep breath before she stood up, and came towards him
slowly. He watched her from the corner of his eye. Her hand was
outstretched—reaching for him.

He leaned into
her hand when she stopped a few inches away from him, pushing his head into her
open palm. Her fingers instantly sunk into his thick winter coat on his neck,
bunching it gently in her fists. Her hands moved down his body, gliding over
his withers and to his back. She stopped there; her hands trailing down his
flank. He had never been touched by a human like this. In fact, he had never
even let a pack mate touch him like this. He was surprised by how much he
enjoyed it. Or maybe it was just because she was touching him.

‘How is this
possible?’ she asked eventually. She’d spent the last five minutes just running
her hands along his coat, studying him. Vaile whined at her, mouthing words
that only came out as small barks. He would have to shift back to explain it to
her. He stood up carefully, and Larissa rose too. He turned to go back into her
bedroom, but she followed. He stopped, shook his head, and turned back.

Reversing the
Change was much easier and faster. Only a few moments had passed before he
emerged from the room with his pants done up quickly and carrying his
shirt—leaving his chest bare.

He looked at
Larissa expecting something different from what he had received in his other
skin. Humans always had a hard time putting two and two together. Their brains
just couldn’t work it out. So he wasn’t ready for what happened next. She stood
up from the couch slowly, making her way over to him in a matter of steps, and
threw herself at him.

She wrapped her
arms around his waist and squeezed him to her. All he could smell was her skin,
her hair … her. Dropping the shirt, he wrapped his arms around her back,
holding her back just as tightly. He suddenly smelt tears. He pulled Larissa
away from his chest to find her crying. With his thumb, he wiped them away
softly.

‘Why are you
crying?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know,’
she admitted with a smile. ‘They’re not sad tears though,’ she added.

He frowned. ‘I
just turned into a wolf, Larissa. I kind of expected screaming and running
away. Hell, I wouldn’t have been surprised if you’d pulled your gun on me.’

She wiped her
hand under her nose, sniffing. ‘Somehow, I guess I’ve always known there was
something special about you, Vaile.’

He led her
towards the sofa still waiting for the hysterics bomb to finally detonate. She
was being
too
okay with everything that she’d just seen. ‘What do you
mean?’