Reflections of the Wolf (3 page)

“Tina, if you have a chance, you have to run. Run to the neighbors and have them call 911 and then call the firehouse. The guys there are friends of Devin and Damon’s. They will be able to get me out of here. This man is an enemy of Devin’s and wants to use me to hurt him. I’m so sorry you got caught up in this.” Caroline’s tense whisper brought Tina’s anger back full force.

“Don’t worry so much about me. I’m a survivor, and this punk isn’t going to get an easy ride out of me!” Tina smiled conspiratorially at her friend and fought one hand free from the rope. With one hand undone, she felt a wave of relief course through her body. She didn’t take the chance to move too much yet. She needed both hands and legs to be able to reach the gun before he realized she was loose.

After several minutes Barton came back in the room and muttered something to Caroline before deciding he was done waiting around. He untied her, running his hands all over her body with the clear intention of raping her, and then he suddenly threw her to the floor. He landed on top of her just as Tina was able to release her other hand from the rope. She could hear them struggling, and by Caroline’s cries Tina could guess that Barton was hurting her somehow. It was enough incentive to have Tina ripping her legs out of the ropes faster than she imagined possible. Adrenaline was coursing through her body, making her feel nearly invincible.

She looked over at the coat rack, but the struggling pair blocked her path. She couldn’t reach the gun she kept there without going through them. She caught sight of the bat that Barton had used on Caroline and raced to grab it from the floor. She turned around and swung the bat at him as hard as she could. It hit him broadside across his back, and he roared in anger. Tina almost fell over with the reverberations that went through the bat and her but managed to find her balance before a terrible moan and yelp came from Caroline.

Frozen in horror, she watched in shock as her best friend morphed in front of her eyes from a beautiful human woman to a huge wolf. A half a moment later Barton had transformed himself into an even larger wolf, and the snarling creature was stalking his prey. Caroline’s wolf frame was slightly smaller than Barton’s larger, thicker build and had mahogany-colored fur. His chestnut fur was spotty and dirty, and he was as ugly as a wolf as he was as a man.

Was this why Barton was here? Had he learned that Caroline was…what exactly was she? Lord have mercy, this wasn’t happening right now. Terror screamed through Tina’s brain, but she knew she had to help her friend or this wolf would kill them both. She swung her bat again with all of her momentum, hoping to impact his head this time, but he saw it coming and bit the bat in two before Tina could connect. So like any good best friend, she just jumped in.

She jumped onto his back, sinking her fingernails as deep into his fur as possible, just praying that she was breaking the skin. Before she could wrap herself around him or do any real damage, he arched up and threw her. She hit the wall before she even realized she was no longer on top of him, and the impact brought back the flashing stars to her eyelids. She could hear the sounds of the continuing battle, but she couldn’t differentiate them with the ringing in her ears. The pain in her back sent tears running down her cheeks, and she screamed in fear as several wolves burst into the house.

Two enormous black wolves broke through the front door at the same time as a silvery gray wolf raced through the kitchen door. The snarling and growling was irrationally loud in in her head, and she closed her eyes tightly trying to block it all out. She whimpered, and in another breath she found herself cradled against a naked muscular chest. She was surrounded by his spicy masculine scent she didn’t recognize but found extremely appealing. Gripping his biceps with her fingertips, she whimpered again because she could hear growling and snapping and finally Caroline’s terrorized scream. Her body shook violently as the adrenaline rush overwhelmed her. A sudden eerie silence filled the room. The man holding her nuzzled her ear, and she turned her face into his neck, sharing his embrace. His whispered words were unrecognizable to her traumatized brain, but his gentle strength soothed her. She let her emotions take over her body, crying into his shoulder as he carried her out the front door.

Chapter 2

Finding out that Caroline Trainor, whom she had known for years, was now a werewolf, and was engaged, had blown her mind. Finding out that Caroline was marrying not one, but two half-wolf, half-sexy men had made her jealous as hell. Finding out that all of the sexy men that flooded her property were werewolves had her trembling with nerves and creaming in her panties. Tina couldn’t grasp why the hell that turned her on so much. She had spent the last couple of hours having the situation explained and re-explained to her by Caroline and her two fiancés, but she still wasn’t sure she really got it all.

They were half-human and half-wolf. They were werewolves. Legitimate, moon-loving werewolves. They kept it a secret for obvious reasons. The man that attacked her and Caroline was one as well and had a grudge against Devin. He planned to kill Caroline in order to kill Devin. Apparently wolves go a little bit nuts when their mates die, so if he killed off Caroline, he was pretty much guaranteed Devin would die as a side effect. Barton Diego was his name, and he was dead now, but Tina wasn’t very clear on who killed him or how. Devin explained to her that they called themselves The Gray Pack, and Devin was their leader. They had a permanent group of werewolves that was basically like their family, outside of Kansas City, but they all lived regular human lives and worked human jobs here in town. It was almost too much. She reached down and pinched her own thigh for the tenth time just to see if it was dream, but as it had the previous nine times, the sharp pain made her grimace.

Caroline seemed to be madly in love with the identical twin werewolves and had wept and apologized to them profusely for not trusting them. She agreed to marry them and declared her love for them both the instant she regained consciousness after her fight with Diego, the newly deceased attacker. She had even already made a point to ask Tina to be her maid of honor. Tina had to laugh at that. Only Caroline would be planning her wedding details while a sexy werewolf fireman bandaged her injuries after a near-death experience. Real or not it is a lot to process in one night, she thought to herself.

She watched as the man kneeling in front of her gently bandaged the bite wound on her arm. He was beautiful. He had short black hair, and icy-blue eyes that seemed to see more than she wanted him to. The glint of a gold ring in his eyebrow gave him a dangerous look, but his touch was so soft that she felt safe with him. His gaze seemed to burn her skin when he looked at her, and she was having trouble thinking straight. This was Liam Gray. He was a cousin, and firefighter with Caroline’s men, and she couldn’t shake off the memory of their first interaction by phone. He had flirted with her then, causing her to blush, and it was damned hard to make her blush.

“Thank you, Liam.” she said to him. He paused, and looked up meeting her eyes.

“You’re welcome. Are you in pain?” he asked. His voice was a deep baritone that rumbled through her, causing her insides to quiver.

“No. Just shaken up a bit. Not every day a girl participates in an epic wolf battle.” She laughed and stretched her back muscles, trying to ease the ache there. The heat that flared in his eyes as he watched her sinuous moves made her nipples ache. She swallowed hard and squeezed her thighs together.

“We don’t usually allow humans to see us in wolf form, but I guess this falls under collateral damage,” he said, shaking his head and looking back to where he was taping the gauze to her arm.

“Collateral damage? Hmm, just what every woman wants to be. Well thanks for the Band-Aid, but I think I need to go over and check on Caroline.” She pulled away from him, trying to stand. Her legs shook, and her stomach tumbled. She put her hand to her forehead, trying to calm the nausea the sudden movement caused.

“Caroline is fine. She is with her mates now, and they will take very good care of her. You need to rest for a little while. Please, let me take care of you,” he said, putting one hand lightly on her hip while he tipped her chin up with the other, forcing her to look at him.

“I can take care of me without help, hotshot. Thanks. I need to go back in the house and clean up the mess. There was blood and guts everywhere. I think I need to take an aspirin, too.” She didn’t pull away from him even though her words were dismissive. She had never felt herself respond like this to a man. Not even her now-deceased fiancé had turned her on just by touching her.

“It is already taken care of. My cousins finished cleaning it up while I was checking your head and back for injuries. I don’t want you to go back in there right now. You will come and stay with me tonight. That way I can take care of you. I need to watch you to make sure you don’t have a concussion.” His tone was determined, and she blanched.

“Huh? Wait a second. I appreciate that someone else cleaned up because I don’t have a lick of energy left, but that doesn’t mean I will just do whatever you want. I’m not about to sleep in a stranger’s house out of some strange urge you have to take care of me. Besides, I’m a nurse, so I know the signs of a concussion. If I thought I had one I would have gone to the hospital.” She crossed her arms in front of her and leaned back to glare into his eyes. His gaze narrowed at her obvious challenge, and he growled softly. She wondered for just a moment if she should be scared of him. She had just seen him as a wolf not an hour ago, and God knows what he could do to her if she pissed him off.

“I know, but after the emotional scare you had this evening I think it is best that you stay with someone, and the only one with the right to be that close to you is me,” he said.

“You? Why do you think you have any right to be close to me?” She was stunned and pissed. The trickle of fear in her belly was now more apprehensive and anxious than scared. This man was sexy as hell, and his dominant words were making her wet. She was so horny. But I’ll be damned if I will just roll over and play the easy fuck for him, she thought to herself.

“Because you are my mate.” he replied, and she felt all of the blood drain form her face, just before the ground came rushing toward her.

* * * *

“She’s okay, Liam. She’s just exhausted and overwhelmed. Give her some breathing room.” Tina could hear another man’s voice talking to Liam, but she couldn’t seem to make her eyes open to see who it was.

“Why did she pass out then?” Liam’s voice was annoyed, and she thought she heard him growl a bit. Damn, that was sexy.

“Who knows why women faint? What were you guys talking about?” A third masculine voice spoke.

“Shit.” Liam muttered. “I told her she was my mate. I didn’t mean to scare her.”

Tina could just imagine the look on Liam’s face right now. She understood that Caroline believed in this whole mating thing, and that was fine for her life, but Tina wasn’t interested in a serious relationship. She had lived through her share of heartache when it came to men, and the pain just wasn’t worth it anymore.

She took a deep breath and forced her eyes open a crack. Instantly Liam and two other men were leaning over her. What the hell did they feed these men? They were enormous and gorgeous!

“Oh my God, I’ve died and gone to single women’s heaven,” she said, moaning and then blushing when the two new men laughed, and Liam frowned. “Who are you guys?”

“Hey, Sweet Tina, nice and easy now. How are you feeling?” Liam’s eyes held compassion, concern, and a glimmer of apprehension. A gentle tug of desire shot through her body at his soft endearment. He helped her sit up, scooting to sit behind her to brace her back against his chest. She was now between his outstretched thighs with her head tucked just under his chin and his arms around her protectively.

“Like a werewolf beat the shit out of me,” she grumbled, and all three men laughed. She felt Liam relax against her a little bit. He rested his hands on her flat tummy, and his thumbs rubbed tiny circle patterns through the T-shirt she wore. She could feel sparks shoot across her skin, and she grimaced in her mind. Her body sure wanted a relationship with him.

“Good. I was afraid you were just going to say fine or something silly like that.” His amusement rippled through her, making her smile.

“Hi, Tina. I’m Rafe Whetstone. This is my brother Ryley.” He indicated the beautiful godlike creature standing next to him. “We were quite impressed with your show of bravery in there, but you better take it easy for a bit. If your back gets worse, Liam will get you to the doctor. You hit that wall really hard when he threw you. And now with you passing out on us like that, it makes me wonder about your head. Is it hurting?” Rafe looked like a Viking warrior with golden-blond hair that was a little shaggy and electric-blue eyes that seemed to assess her in one lazy sweep. She shivered at the look of interest heating his gaze and instinctively pressed backward into Liam. His arms tightened around her possessively.

“Yes, but I took a baseball bat to the back of it a few hours ago, so it’s to be expected. I think my head hurts more now because it’s trying to process all of this…umm…this werewolf love story my best friend is apparently living.” She rubbed her temples trying to ease the ache. Liam’s strong hand moved to the base of her neck and started massaging the tension away. She groaned softly, and Ryley laughed loudly.