Snowdonia 1 - Wolf at the Door (7 page)

The actor moved slowly and cautiously away from Jake, speeding up when he reached the door and positively racing to get into his car.

Jake held onto his triumph when Asshole bitched about the piss all over the door handle. He proceeded to curse long and loud, yelled a few colorful insults at Lillian, revved the engine and sped away, skidding over the snow as he went.

She watched silently from the doorway; the only part of her that moved was her hand, curling deeper into Jake’s thick, soft pelt. He thought he could hear her teeth chattering and worried she was suffering from delayed shock. He wanted her inside, by the fire, warm and safe, but she didn’t move. The BMW disappeared from sight and Jake whined to get her attention, nudging her leg with his shoulder.

He wished he dared shift to human form. He’d fetch her a blanket, throw more wood on the dwindling fire, and make her a mug of hot chocolate. As wolf, he had to be content with curling up beside her on the sofa and resting his head in her lap.

She ran her fingers through his fur in an absent fashion and it was an age before she finally spoke. “They say there’s no fool like an old fool and I must be the biggest idiot ever.” Her whisper almost broke him—echoing the depth of despair he felt pouring from her. She rubbed at her eyes. “Our entire relationship was built on lies. I can’t ever do that again. If I can’t trust a man to be one hundred percent honest, I can’t trust him at all. I will always wonder what he isn’t telling me.” She buried her face in his fur. “At least you will never try to fool me, Wolfie.”

Her words chilled him. He was being less than honest here and the longer this deception continued, the harder it would be to reveal the truth.

Chapter 19

After locking all the doors and windows, Lillian grabbed the bottle of Jack Daniels and retired to bed. It was still early, but the temperature had dropped and since she’d forgotten to add wood to the fire, she figured it would be warmest in bed. Wolfie sprawled beside her, on top of the duvet, and kept nudging her to stroke him. Every so often, he gave her hand a lick. She could tell he knew she was upset but right now, she wanted to blot it all out.

Sleep was a long time coming, but eventually she opened her eyes and found herself back in a dream, in Jake’s house. She stood in the doorway, looking into the lounge, staring at the roaring fire that burned in the grate. Well that figured. She felt cold, so her subconscious tried to make her feel warm. Only problem, she felt positively arctic on the inside, and no glorious blaze could reach that.

The room was empty and she drifted over to the mantelpiece to look again at the carved wooden figures. She picked them up one at a time and examined them. For some reason, there were a lot of big dogs—wolves, if she believed Kurt.

“Hey.” A deep and delicious voice murmured in her ear and a pair of familiar hands came to rest on her hips.

Jake.

Lillian allowed herself the luxury of leaning back against him but recognizing that tears were not far away, she pulled free again. Wiping at her eyes with one hand, she picked up the nearest of the dog figurines. “You’ve made lots of dogs?”

“They’re wolves.” He sounded amused. “That’s Sasha you’re holding.” He reached out and touched another. “This is Tammy, his sister, and this little one,” he picked up a cute looking cub, “is Henry.”

She peered at them. Yes, they weren’t all the same. Different faces and expressions, and now she looked carefully, she could make out variations in the size and shape of their ears and muzzles. “They’re so intricate.” She managed to plaster a smile on her face before turning to look at him. “How come you give them all names? Are they based on real wolves?”

She thought there was a hint of mischief in his eyes, but he answered her in a serious tone. “Yes, they are.”

“So do you work in a wildlife park or something?”

“Or something.” His lips twitched. “No, I’m a carpenter when I’m not running wild.”

His eyes darkened and she felt a wash of heat at the thought of the wild things he could get up to. The Jack Daniels had made her head fuzzy. She could swear she saw a predatory gleam in his eyes. She guessed again. “You have wolves as pets?”

“No.” He blew out a long breath. “I need to tell you something, and I want you just to listen, okay?”

Oh God. Her dream lover was going to say he was married. Her unconscious mind was even more masochistic than she’d thought. Jake seemed to be waiting for something. Pushing her fears aside, she nodded.

*

Jake took his Mate’s hand and led her to the rug in front of the fire. “Sit down,
Cariad
.” She complied and he sat with her, their hands still linked. He rubbed a thumb over her fingers and cast around for the best place to start. To his alarm, she yawned—already. He didn’t want her to drift into deep sleep just yet.

“Wolves have a long association with this part of Wales, and there’s a special group of them living right here in Snowdonia.”

She turned slightly and leaned her head on his shoulder. “Special, how?” She yawned again.

“Have you heard of shifters?”

“What, like werewolves? Like in the
Twilight
movies you mean?”

His heart hammered so fiercely he couldn’t believe she didn’t hear it. “Exactly like that.” He held his breath and waited.

There was a long pause. He could almost hear the cogs turning in her brain. “What the hell,” she muttered and then spoke normally. “You know a bunch of werewolves. Is that what you’re telling me?”

This was too easy. He tried to stop himself from sounding excited. “It’s a
Pack
, not a bunch, and they don’t turn into wolves at full moon, but yeah, you get the idea.”

“Oh, right.” She sounded sleepy and he knew he’d have to work fast. “Let me guess, that dog I took in is really a wolf?” She giggled.

“Yes.”

Her laughter stopped. “You as well? You’re a
werewolf
? Oh my.”

“A shifter,” he corrected gently. He had the distinct impression she wasn’t taking this seriously.

“My last lover was a pig, and my current one is a dog.” She chuckled. “Go on then. Show me what you can do.”

Jake stared at her, unable to believe his ears. She wanted to see him shift. The thought made him feel warm inside, and he took a quick breath as he let go of her hand. A second later, he stood before her in wolf form, his heart racing as though he’d run up the mountainside. This was too important to screw up and the thought he might scare her away was excruciating.
Please accept me,
he prayed.

Her eyes opened wide. For a moment, neither of them moved or made a sound. “Wow,” she whispered after Jake felt he’d aged a decade. “You are beautiful.” She stretched out her hand and slid her fingers through his fur. “You really
are
a wolf, that’s so cool.” She gave him a sleepy smile, rubbed her eyes and yawned again, then faded out. She’d fallen into deep sleep.

Chapter 20

It was still dark in the bedroom but Lillian figured it must be morning.
Jesus
. How much Jack Daniels did she knock back last night? Her eyelids were glued together and as for her mouth … it felt as though a small, furry creature had crawled in there and died. She needed to pee, get a drink of water, and find some aspirin—and not necessarily in that order.

She rolled over and stretched out her hand. She expected to find Wolfie lying next to her but instead there was empty space. She patted the duvet but he wasn’t there at all. Perhaps he’d woken her when he jumped off the bed? What a weird dream that had been. Jake morphing into a dog—a
wolf
. Her imagination was on overdrive.

She fought a wave of nausea and sat up, her head spinning. Yet again, somebody was thumping on her door. Please God, not Kurt.
No
. He wouldn’t come back while Wolfie was there.

Bathroom came first. She wasn’t even
thinking
of going to the door until she’d at least splashed some water on her face. The knocking continued. It had now gone past annoying to freaking infuriating, and she couldn’t understand why Wolfie was so quiet.

She called him. He didn’t come.

Lillian pressed a hand to her forehead and stumbled to the porch to peer out through the window. Her heart sank. The yard was full of cars, all with headlights on and directed at her door. The tabloids were gathered, video and still cameras at the ready and she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, who had tipped them off.
Kurt
.

She leaned with her back to the door, her heart racing. How the fuck would she get out of here? They must have blocked her car, as she couldn’t see it. She risked another quick look. What the fuck? Her car was gone and in its place sat a bright red four-wheel drive from the local news station. She’d kill Kurt. Although with her luck, they’d catch it on video and use it as evidence. She called for Wolfie again but he still didn’t appear. A quick search confirmed her fear that he wasn’t in the cottage, even though the doors and windows were all still closed.

She sank to the floor and buried her head in her hands. Her transportation was gone and her dog was missing, and she didn’t dare go outside to look for him. She was truly all alone. As another journalist rapped on the door and shouted her name, she huddled tighter and tried to hold back the tears.

* * * *

Jake cursed every god he could think of and then invented some more. Taking Lillian’s car while she slept had made sense at the time. He figured after all the whiskey she’d drunk, she’d be asleep for hours. Plenty of time for him to drive home, grab some clothes, check in with the Pack, and get back before she woke up. He was glad now that he’d had the forethought to grab some of her clothes rather than driving naked. True he currently wore a pink nightshirt, but it was the largest piece of clothing he could find and it actually covered everything.

Worst-case scenario? To get stopped by the police—or so he thought. He hadn’t considered that he might get a flat tire. From the way the front wheel had buckled, Lillian probably did the damage when she drove off the road the other night, and the tire had been going down slowly since then.

To his frustration, there were no tools in the car and no way fix the flat tire. He slammed the offending tire with his hand. He’d have to run back from here and that would add another hour at least. He was just about to strip and then shift to wolf form when he heard a car engine in the distance. If he could stop the driver and borrow their cell phone, he could call someone in the Pack for help.

He moved to stand by the front of the car and waited. It didn’t take long before the vehicle arrived and his heart leaped. He knew that Subaru; it was Sasha, his cousin. Finally, a stroke of luck in what was shaping up to be a shitty morning. He waved his arms up and down as Sasha approached. His little cousin could be an irritating prick at times but he was heartily glad to see him right now.

Sasha pulled to the side of the road and parked, leaving the engine running and the headlights on. It had started snowing again and thick flakes danced in the light beams.

Jake moved toward the Subaru at the same time as the driver got out.

“Hold it right there, Cuz,” called Sasha and Jake paused. He didn’t have time to mess around especially when the younger man started taking pictures of him on his cell phone. Huh? His cousin was nearly bent double with laughter.

“Fuck, man,” he snorted, “pink is definitely your color.”

Jake sighed. The damn nightshirt.

“I need your help, Sash.” It came out through gritted teeth and set Sasha laughing even more.

“I’ll say,” the other man snorted some more. “I knew you never had any fashion sense, but man …
pink
is so last year.”

“Ha-fucking-ha.” Jake grabbed the younger man by the front of his parka. “Do you have any clothes I could use?”

Sasha wiped his eyes and waved to the back of his car. “Always do, Cuz. Nothing in pink though.”

Really, Jake had heard enough. He found a backpack of spare clothes and rapidly tugged on dark jeans and a black fleece hoodie. There were no shoes. He stalked back to Sasha, currently examining the damaged front wheel. “Give me your boots.”

“What? Just because—”

Jake got right up in his face. “Joke’s over. Give me your fucking boots, Sash, before I turn your miserable pelt into a rug. Got it?”

“Tammy is going to wet herself when she sees this, Cuz.” Sasha pulled off his boots and tossed them to Jake. He watched with a huge grin on his face as Jake stuffed his feet into them.

“I’m taking your car.” This time, his cousin paid attention.

“
My
car? You’re going to leave me with a broken VW while you take my Subaru? I was only joking about the pictures.”

“Take it back to my place. I need to be somewhere.” He plucked the phone out of his cousin’s hand, rapidly deleted the photos, and slapped it back into Sasha’s palm. “Thanks.”

Chapter 21

Lillian wondered how long she would have to wait before the tabloids got bored and left her alone. Sadly, in her experience, that could take days. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the buzz of chatter outside and the repeated attempts to get her to open the door. She thought back to her weird dream, where Yummy-Jake had been talking about werewolves. She needed to make another appointment with her therapist—her imagination was running wild. She frowned as she tried to recall what had happened. There had been the most beautiful rainbow of colors shimmering in front of her, and then Jake had transformed into Wolfie-the-dog. Bizarre didn’t begin to describe it.

She couldn’t sit on the floor much longer; she needed a drink. As she prepared to crawl to the kitchen, to avoid being seen through the windows, she heard a familiar trilling sound. Her cell phone. She must have a signal!

To her disgust, the eleven messages that awaited her were all from the press. Guess what else Kurt had given them? Her private number. Right now, killing him wasn’t going to be enough to satisfy her desire for revenge. She made a rapid call to her security team and then switched off the phone. Her private guards would be here within the hour. Time to shower, dress, and get the hell out of Dodge. She just hoped that Wolfie showed up before she had to leave.