Rutledge Werewolves 1: Scent of Passion (16 page)

Sophie grinned, pocketed the gold card and exacted her revenge while stealing the Jeep keys from the hook by the door.

“Oh, I went for a walk alone in the woods last night,” she paused for a split second while Dominic and Samuel uttered cries, their jaws slackening in shock. “I came across a man setting up some sort of wolf or bear trap thing. I got scared and ran, and he caught up to me and explained he was looking for some answers and had decided not to do what he planned after all. Then William came out of nowhere, intending on ‘rescuing’ me, and dragged me back to the house. Did I miss anything?”

Artemais simmered, shaking his head mutely.

“So now I get to go play little woman and spend your money carelessly while you and your
men
get to plot and plan, hmmm? Well sure, I can spend money better than any woman. I’ll be back around lunchtime,
darling
.”

With that she tossed the keys in the air, caught them, snagged her purse, and headed out the back door towards the Jeep. Hearing raised male voices coming from the kitchen, Sophie grinned and started the car. She’d see what sort of shopping the village offered, and afterwards she could relax in a café or something and plot
her
revenge.

Damn him anyway for trying to keep her out of the loop. She had known William found something out, maybe recognized the man from somewhere, but she didn’t know how or when. Never mind, she could ponder it as she had a hot chocolate. Chocolate always made everything better, even if she was supposed to avoid caffeine right now.

Chapter Twenty

Artemais watched Sophie through the kitchen window as she walked toward the Jeep. With her well-worn jeans hugging her curvy ass and the sexy swing in her step, even upset as he felt, he wanted her badly.

Filtering out his brothers’ raised voices, he pondered the complexities of his feelings as she started the Jeep and made a three-point turn that curdled his blood. Wincing at how close she came to the big old elm trees lining the gravel driveway, and then at the rocks that spewed forth under the wheels as she accelerated too hard, Artemais thanked the gods that he wasn’t in the passenger seat next to her, and prayed for her safety on the small dirt roads.

Once he could no longer see her, he turned back to his brothers, all of whom were staring at him like he had recently arrived from an alien planet.

“Since when have women become so damned complicated?” he groused.

Three big, cheesy grins faced him over the table.

“Well, it could have something to do with your mate having a mind of her own, not being like those brainless bimbos you used to hang out with,” Samuel started. “What do you think Dom?”

“Gotta agree with you bro, Soph is a firecracker all right. Bet she’ll put a lovely dent in that credit rating of yours, huh?”

Artemais groaned and sunk his head in to his hands. He was doomed. Between his brothers’ teasing and Sophie’s antics—how could she have gone walking in the woods in the middle of the night?—he knew he would go gray, lose all his hair, and age a century in the next decade. When William added his two cents, he thought he would bring his breakfast back up again.

“Of course, it doesn’t help that you love her to distraction, and she’s pregnant with your baby and has no idea of her own safety.”

“Oh, shit,” Artemais cursed, rushing over to the sink to rinse his face and wrists in cold water as he broke out into a sweat. Even the
thought
of Sophie in danger, of not understanding how precious she and their baby were, brought a cold sweat to his brow and made his stomach clench menacingly.

All three of his brothers surrounded him, hovering like nursemaids. Artemais grabbed control of himself, stood up and went back to his seat.

“Okay, enough of this. Sophie is just going down to the village to spend my money and she’ll be fine. No one there will hurt her—in fact some of the Pack will probably be highly amused at my mark on her. William, what was with this guy in the park last night? What happened?”

Briefly, William explained how he had woken up last night to the creak of floorboards as Sophie had crept out, how she had wandered aimlessly in the forest, breathing in the night air. He described in as much detail as possible the man, whom he had seen long before Sophie had, and the wolf trap he had set. How Roland had paused, then picked up the stick and Sophie had finally seen him, panicked, and run off.

“He called himself Roland Matthews, and said he was born in this area. He didn’t seem to be lying. He smelled of human as well as werewolf—but it seemed as if he hid his wolf side. I’ve never smelt anything like him, I was toying with the idea that he hadn’t changed yet.”

“Matthews…” mused Artemais as his brothers tossed around ideas and suggestions. Knowing his grandfather was out on a solitary hiking expedition, he wondered who would be next best to call for information.

Lifting up the phone, he dialed a well-known number. Clicking his fingers to get the guy’s attention for silence, he greeted the man on the other end of the phone.

“Hey there, Old Tom. Artemais here. How are you doing?”

Waiting a few moments for the older man to list out his grumbles and complaints, Artemais finally got back on track.

“Matthews, Roland being the son, does the name ring any bells? He’s what, Will? Mid-twenties?” waiting for William’s nod, he continued, “Around his mid-twenties, says he grew up here. Any connection to someone in the Pack?”

“
Matthews hmm?
” the old voice on the other end mused. “
Been a while since I’ve heard that name. That pretty young girl, Janine, married a Matthews. They had a young boy, too, if memory serves. I do believe Janine died in the culling. Father and son disappeared soon after. I can check with Mona and see if anything else crops up, as long as she’s having a good day. I wasn’t around that month—off courting the Mrs.
”

“That’s fine. Thanks Old Tom, we can go down to Mona’s today, check on her and see how she is. So it’s likely the son could have the blood, huh?”

“Quite likely, son. He back in town, is he?”

“Seems to be, Tom. Thanks again for the help.”

Exchanging pleasantries, Artemais hung up and filled his brothers in. They talked through their various ideas and solutions. Around eleven, Artemais finally declared it time to do something.

“Let’s go have a chat with him, if for nothing else to press home that traps are not the answer to any of his problems. Sophie has the Jeep, let’s take your truck, William.”

They headed out, still arguing over what to tell young Roland.

Chapter Twenty-One

Sophie took the last bite of her carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate drizzle, and sat back, a satisfied smile on her face and hand over her stomach. She pondered for a moment the wisdom of ordering a second slice, but decided against it when she thought of the waitress’ knowing smirk when she had requested chocolate topping to be drizzled over her slice of cake.

“Ah, expecting Artemais’ baby, huh? You must be the fiancée then.”

Sophie had blinked; trying to understand the huge leap the woman had taken. “What on earth makes you say that?”

The waitress had waved the Gold Card about, clearly excited.

“I thought not even the devil himself could have pried Artemais’ Gold Card out of his dead hands. Calls it his company’s security. I knew you were someone important when you came in with it, but after that strange request, you simply have to be knocked up.”

Sophie had bristled, “I’ll have you know that chocolate topping drizzled over cake is a favorite dessert for me. I’ll also have a hot chocolate with extra whipped cream please.” Looking haughty and as offended as she could—she had never in her life put topping on her cake, it had simply been a whim—Sophie relaxed once the waitress had shrugged and taken her order. Sitting at the window looking out at the main street of the village, Sophie grimaced.

His company’s security?
she worried.

She felt so grateful now that she had calmed down on the short drive down the dirt track. The “village” consisted of a small grocery store, small motel, a library—which wouldn’t open until noon—a few small craft and toy stores, and one women’s clothes store.

Entering it, she had discovered it doubled as a lingerie store and adult bookstore. Buying herself a lacy camisole, Sophie had pored over the sexy lingerie. It had been ages since she had splurged on herself, so she bought some sexy bra and panty sets. Unearthing a pair of blue lacy crotchless panties in the bargain bin, Sophie had been curious.

She had never worn a pair of crotchless panties before, but she assured herself that now was a perfectly good time to start. She had tried them on in the miniscule fitting room, pleased to find they fitted her comfortably. They were a little drafty compared to her ordinary silk and lace panties, but one had to make sacrifices in the name of fashion. Thinking of a few naughty ways to let Artemais find her in these, she had discreetly added them to her basket, and continued searching the back of the store.

Sophie found to her delight a black garter belt with matching suspenders and black lace thigh-highs. Scrounging around, she found a black and red patterned bustier to finish the ensemble. Really into her spending groove, Sophie wandered around, touching and smelling things, until she came across a pair of fur-lined handcuffs.

Remembering the naughty words Dominic had whispered into her ear at dinner last night, she felt herself smirk, wondering if she could possibly get away with restraining Artemais like this.

Having pored through everything the more adult aspect of the shop held, Sophie returned to the simple lingerie again and added three silky thongs just for fun.

Mentally trying to tally her expenditures, Sophie had decided her revenge on Artemais would be almost over before it began. Adding a tube of lavender and rose scented massage oil to the basket on a whim; she walked bravely over to the checkout.

The woman had looked oddly at her for a moment, sniffed discretely, and grinned widely at Artemais’ Gold Card. She had wrapped the lingerie discreetly in thin tissue paper, placed the handcuffs in a smaller bag, and added everything into one shopping bag, with the camisole on top to cover the other purchases.

“Have a wonderful day, Miss,” the sales girl had grinned, winking knowingly.

Now knowing that the sales clerk had probably worked out who she was, Sophie wondered if
everyone
here became a werewolf over the full moon. Knowing it unlikely, Sophie had sipped her chocolate, eating the cream with a spoon, and tried not to think of her home and little apartment.

When the bell above the café door tinkled, she had looked up, curious.

It was Roland. He caught sight of her, smiled shyly, and came over.

“May I join you?” he asked politely.

Nodding, Sophie indicated the seat next to her.

“What can I help you with?” she asked, curious. Sophie could feel Roland’s indecision as he sat down.

“You can accept my apologies, for one. I am so sorry if I scared you last night. I believe I was born here, but my father moved us after my mother abandoned us when I was only three. A couple of months ago…circumstances arose and I decided to come back and try to sort some things out. I guess I’m a little more screwed up by it all than I originally thought. I really am sorry if I upset or scared you.”

Sophie felt her anger at Roland melt. Resting a hand casually on his arm, she reassured him.

“That’s okay, but hurting other animals and people isn’t going to make you feel any better. You need to work out whatever is bugging you, and accept it. Then you can move on and find some happiness.”

Before she could continue, the waitress had bumped into her, dislodging her hand and startling her.

“Would you like to order, sir?” she said briskly and a little rudely. “We have a number of specials on today. The soup will be ready soon. It’s vegetable…”

Sophie tuned out the waitress as she wondered why she had not only cut off their conversation, but literally stood in front of her, totally cutting her out of Roland’s line of sight. She wasn’t annoyed at the waitress’ interference, but she certainly felt confused.

When the door jangled again, cutting into her thoughts, Sophie saw a very angry-looking Artemais storming through the door. She smiled, welcoming the distraction to her thoughts, until he reached her side and wrapped a very strong, very possessive arm around her shoulders, crushing her close to his warm body.

Sophie felt Samuel, William and Dominic flanking Artemais, but squashed into his body as she was, she couldn’t see them, merely feel their heavy presence around her and Artemais.

“Roland.” Artemais growled. “What the hell are you doing here with my woman?”

Sophie felt a moment of panic, and then outrage flooded her.

“Artemais!” she hissed, “Don’t you dare embarrass me. I was simply sitting here drinking hot chocolate and he came in to apologize.”

Roland looked at the four stormy faces, and smiled uncertainly.

“She’s right. I came in for some late brunch, and saw her here. I had already planned on dropping by your place later this afternoon anyway and apologizing, but since I already saw her here…” he trailed off, looking back at the waitress.