The Librarian and the Wolf: (6 page)

Mal
felt a cold stab in his heart.

"Who
m may I ask am I speaking to?”

"I'm her boyfriend, don't you ever fucking call this number again
! Or I will come find you and teach you a fucking lesson about messing with other men’s women, got it?"

The line went dead. Mal gripped the phone
so tightly the screen cracked.  He dropped it back on the desk.

He noticed
Damian was staring at him open mouthed. Mal growled at him. Damian walked away a look of disgust in his face.

Mal felt his teeth lengthen, claws shot out of his fingers.
 
God he was shifting right then and there.
  He couldn’t face her like this.  He ran out of the library, rushing towards the woods, almost knocking a few people over in the process. 
Damn Mrs Martin got everywhere.

He threw off his clothes as soon as he hit the tree line and he shimmered into his beast, tearing through the trees. 
Trying to run from his anger.  He hadn’t lost control of his shift like that since he was 14.  He shuddered and kept running, the thought of Terri with another man spurring him on.

Chapter Five

Terri was peeved.
  She’d come back to the front desk to find that someone had cracked the screen on her phone.  Who would do that and not even stop to apologise?  The phone still kind of worked but a corner of the screen was fuzzy. 
Some people really were unbelievable.

She jabbed at her computer crossly.
  She had also noted that there were no new phone calls or texts from Mal.  But of course that wasn’t what annoyed her.  No it was definitely all about the phone. 
Definitely
.

Terri had spent the morning restacking the library shelves.  All things considered she had been feeling pretty calm.

After another long and productive shower with Mal that morning she had insisted he go to work.  He was concerned about the incident the previous night and had wanted to stay with her but she had waved away his worries.  After five orgasms she felt so tranquil that the building could fall down around her and she wouldn’t be bothered.

She had easily convinced herself that it had been a teenage prank and had almost convinced him too.  While she had slept that morning Mal had already painted her door once and promised to return and give it another coat.

She had come downstairs to find a bunch of carnations on her kitchen table.  She was a little surprised that Mal had not brought them upstairs to her.  He was kind of like a puppy, always wanting approval, yet he had not wanted to see her reaction to them.  The thought was nice though.

The card said ‘hope you appreciate
d the sentiment last night’.  That was even odder.  Did he mean when he introduced her to his parents?  The card and flowers just seemed like such an ‘un-Mal’ thing to do.  Not that she was complaining.  Although she would have preferred lilies, carnations always feel like gravestone flowers to her.

Perhaps she should just call
Mal.  Instead of crying over the fact that he doesn’t call her why doesn’t she just call him?

She picked up her phone and it rang in her hand. 
Uh oh
.  The ringtone was Wagner ‘Ride of the Valkyries’, in other words it was her sister.  Terri clicked answer.

“What did you say to Gary?”
 
No hello, no how are you, just straight to business thought Terri sourly.

“Who?”

“Dr Gary!  Aaron’s partner you were supposed to be going on a date with.”  Terri could her sister’s tiny foot tapping impatiently.

“I never actually said I would...”

Jessica harrumphed.  “One minute he’s all keen to meet you, so I gave him your phone number, and the next he’s all jittery and says he’s changed his mind.”

“I have no idea what his problem is and I don’t care. 
And stop giving out my number to random men without my permission!”  Terri said firmly.

Jessica was silent for a couple of seconds.  “I’m sorry Terri,” she said in her small pouty voice.  The voice that got her a BMW when she was 16, the voice that got her an off campus apartment when she was 18, the voice that got her a honeymoon in Paris.

Terri groaned.  “It’s fine.  I’m just not interested in Gary, I’m sorry.”

Jessica sighed.  “Well... it’s his loss.  Anyway, I really rang you to ask if you and mother could babysit for us tonight.  It’s Hilda’s night off and Aaron and I have tickets for the theatre.  Mother already said yes.”

As annoying as Jessica was Terri did love her little nieces.  Her mother would be next to no help, not having actually had much to do with her own children growing up, but still at least she could point out what Terri was doing wrong.

“Sure, I’d be happy to.
  I have to go I have a customer.”

Jessica told her to come by for 6.30pm and hung up.

With a little apprehension Terri turned her attention to Darcy, the beautiful young puma shifter. 
And Mal’s ex-girlfriend.

Darcy looked at the woman in front of her in some distaste.  What did Mal see in her?  She was old, short and fat.  And she worked in a library.  The woman was
boring
.

All Darcy knew was that after a year of dating Mal she had been ready for them to take the next step and get married.  They both had steady jobs
, they could afford to rent somewhere in town until they saved enough to buy a house.  Of course Mal would have to move off pack land, she couldn’t live surrounded by wolves, but that was no big deal.  Why he would want to remain as part of the pack was a mystery to her anyway, why should he take orders from an Alpha?

But when she’d brought up their future Mal had turned cold.  All right
, so sleeping with his best friend hadn’t been the smartest thing but she needed to make Mal jealous and make him see how much he cared for her.  It would have worked too if it hadn’t been for this damn librarian.

The cow must have
seduced him.  Stupid Mal, it must have boosted his ego for a woman like her to chase after him.  How could he not see that the woman was embarrassing him and herself?  She had tried to reason with Mal to no avail, so now she was going to make the librarian see sense.

Terri gulped.  “Can I help you?”

Darcy smiled at her coldly.  “I just wanted to offer you some friendly advice.  What you’re doing is embarrassing.”

Terri stared at her confusedly.  “What are you talking about?”

“With Mal, it’s
embarrassing
.”  Darcy licked her lips.  “He’s too young for you, and the way you’re throwing yourself at him is
pathetic
.”

Terri’s eyes went wide.
  Darcy continued maliciously.  “Mal’s still young, he ought to be with someone his own age, and you... you ought to be with someone
your
age.  It’s a bit sad that you’re clinging to him.  He’s only with you for sex you know.  He’s not going to chain himself to someone like you for the rest of his life.”

Terri wanted to cry.  “I... you... you don’t...”

“People laugh when they see you together, you don’t match.”  Darcy laughed scathingly.  “Do you want people to think that he’s dating you out of pity?  Or for a bet?  You should stop now while you still have a bit of dignity.  Mal’s just with you while he’s on a break from me, we’re going to get together again eventually whether you’re on the scene or not...”

Terri snapped.
 
Mal was hers.  Darcy couldn’t have him
.  “You’re just jealous!” 

“Jealous? 
Of you?!”  Blood rushed to the puma’s face.

Terri tried to be calm
but her heart was beating a mile a minute.  “Look, I’m sorry that Mal doesn’t want to be with you anymore but that’s not really my fault.”

“You’re wrong!”  Darcy screeched.  Everyone in the library looked round at them.
  All three of them.  “He loves me and we’re going to get married, he’s only with you because I slept with Casey!  He’s just trying to get back at me.”

“Wow,
you really are deluded...”

Darcy
quick as a flash slapped Terri.  Terri froze in shock and Damian rushed forward to restrain Darcy.

“That’s enough.”  He said in a low gruff voice.

Darcy bared her fangs at him and dug her claws into his arm.  He didn’t flinch. Blood seeped from the wounds on his arm but he didn’t move a muscle. She sniffed him. 
Fuck
.  He was a puma like her.  She was too wrapped up in dealing with the man-stealing bitch that she hadn’t noticed another puma. 

His grip
tightened and he forcibly moved her to the front door.  She whimpered.  His voice was muted and he growled at her.  “You are banned.  Never come back here.”

He let go and resolutely stood still until she stumbled through the door.

Melody James, a witch who worked at Pizza Moon, came over to check that Terri was okay.

“I’m fine.” 
Mumbled Terri, gingerly touching her burning cheek.

Damian returned to the desk his handsome face
plastered with rage.  “I’m sorry Terri I...”

She shook her head.
  “It’s fine, I’m just going to the bathroom...”

Melody took her arm and led her there.  Terri had tried to shoo her away but her legs were slightly shaky and in the end she was grateful
for the support.

Melody bathed her cheek and told her it would be red for a couple of hours but
would fade.  Melody didn’t comment on what had happened, or ask any questions.  Terri was thankful for the witch’s discretion.  Melody didn’t blink at the violence displayed by Darcy or Damian, Terri worried that the introverted witch was accustomed to it.

Terri put
her hand on Melody’s arm.  “Thank you.”

Melody shrugged.  “It’
s nothing.”  She went to leave before reluctantly turning back.  “Mal’s a good guy.”  She shrugged again and left.

Terri leaned back against the tiles and closed her eyes.
  Her mind replaying everything that Darcy said.  Darcy had voiced all the doubts and worries that Terri had felt.  Out loud they seemed even worse.

Would Mal really
be with her to make his young girlfriend jealous?  Everything she knew about Mal screamed no.  Yes he was young and immature, but he was also warm and likeable.  The idea that he could be anything like Darcy made her feel ill. 
Oh stomach not now
.  She groaned as she felt her stomach churning yet again.

There was a knock at the door.  “You okay?” 
Asked Damian.

“
I’m fine, I’ll be out in a minute.”

She heard a sigh
closely followed by retreating footsteps.

She pushed all thoughts of Mal and Darcy out of her mind.
  Just a couple more hours of work then she would spend the evening with her nieces.  She’d be too worn out running after them to actually worry.  In the meantime she would just throw herself into work.

*

The last two hours had dragged by.  Terri was convinced that every person who came into the library was looking at her oddly.  She practically ran out of there.

Stopping short in front of
her car she could tell that something was wrong.  She looked at it closely trying to figure out what the problem was.  It hit her. 
Her tyres.
  They had been slashed.  The car was leaning to the side.

She walked aro
und the car slowly.  Only the tyres on the left hand side had been ruined but she didn’t have two spares.  It was now useless. 

Darcy
.  It had to have been her.  She was angry and violent when Damian had thrown her out.  It wasn’t such a big leap for the puma to have done this.

She considered marching over to the Sheriff’s station and reporting what had happened, but a wave of nausea overtook her.  She sat in her car and felt tears rolling down her cheeks.

If she reported it she would have to explain what happened in the library, tell them what Darcy had said.  No, she didn’t want that.  She didn’t want this to be even worse than it already way.

She had thought about ta
lking to Mal face to face, telling him about what Darcy had said.  But no, she was too upset she couldn’t face him tonight. 

When they parted that morning they had made
tentative plans to see each other that night but nothing definite.  She tapped a message into her phone and pressed send.  She told him she couldn’t do anything that night and left it at that.

She half hoped that he would reply and beg to see her tonight.  Prove how much
he really wanted her.  After fifteen minutes that hope died.

She sighed dejectedly and called the auto shop.

Chapter Six

Terri
spent an enjoyable evening chasing after her four very energetic and very naughty nieces.  And she managed to avoid all of her mother’s attempts to draw her into conversation about men, in particular why she refused to go on a date with
Dr Gary
.

Thankfully Aaron had agreed to pick her up and take her home without asking too many questions.  She said car trouble and left it at that.

She had paid an exorbitant fee to have her tyres fixed and her car delivered to her door by the time she got home that night.  It would be almost like it never happened. 
Almost
.

When it came to saying good night
Jessica and Aaron had looked at her with concern. 
A first for Jessica
.  They had told her she looked pale but also glowing somehow.  Aaron asked her is her breasts were tender.  She almost slapped him for his rudeness.  Then he asked her how long it had been since her last period and she became nervous.

Since the accident her periods had been a little erratic, coming anywhere between
two and six weeks apart.  She met Mal about six weeks ago and her last period definitely came before that.  Jessica looked at her with a knowing smirk.  Aaron carefully suggested she come see him in his office for a test, he told her to call him anytime.

Terri hemmed and hawed saying she would think about it.  Jessica tried to press her but Aaron
growing impatient to get Terri home so he could go to bed and sleep, his only respite from his wife and kids, swept her into his car as quickly as possible.

The drive home was never-ending
.  The idea that she might be pregnant troubled her.  Her mind whirled at the thought and her body was restless and hot. 
So damn hot
.  Sweat prickled over her skin.  Her clothes were tight and itchy.  She forced herself to breathe normally, not wanting to worry her brother-in-law.

Aaron chatted amiably apparently oblivious to her
twitchy mood.  His inability to chart women’s moods would explain a lot about Jessica’s constant displeasure at her husband, although Terri suspected that in Jessica’s case it was more likely a conscious choice to ignore them.

Aaron
was prematurely middle aged, with small wire rim glasses and thinning hair.  He was about five feet seven inches with stooping shoulders and an air of defeat that perhaps came naturally from having four, soon to be five, children and being married to someone as self centred as Jessica. 

Terri had briefly dated him before Jessica swooped in and decided he was the man of her
dreams, or rather that he had the wallet of her dreams.  The man had dropped Terri as quick as a flash to be with the demure Jessica.  It had rankled for a while before she admitted to herself that she never would have married Aaron.  She certainly never felt any passion for him and now all she felt was sympathy. 

Her small dark cottage appeared and she almost
cried with relief.  She wanted to wrap herself in the safety and comfort of her home.  She would lock the doors and pretend the outside world didn’t exist, at least for tonight.  She clutched her door key in readiness to escape inside.

He parked the car and started to get out
to open her door.  He was always a gentleman.
Jessica insisted on it
.  She jumped out before he had even shut his own door.

“Thanks for the ride
Aaron.”  She turned to move away.

“Terri?  You’ll think about what I said?  I meant it call anytime.”

They started as Mal loomed out the shadows by the side of her house, a murderous look on his face.  “What the fuck is going on here?”  He demanded furiously.

“Terri who is this man?”
  Squeaked Aaron.

Mal growled menacingly in Aaron’s direction
.  “I said what the fuck is going on here?” 

How dare Mal
speak to her that way?  How dare he spy on her?
  She glared at Mal but pointedly spoke to Aaron.  “Ignore him Aaron, I’ll think about what you said, but you really ought to be getting back.”

Aa
ron wavered staring nervously between her and Mal.  “Terri are you sure? I can stay if you want.”

She was impatient to get rid of
him, she had to force herself to be polite.  “I’m sure, please go home Aaron I’ll call you soon.”

He nodded and as fast as he could
got in the car and drove off.

“Go away.”  She said to
Mal coldly.  She opened the door and tried to shut it behind her but he forced his shoulder against it and ducked inside slamming it.

“Who the fuck was
he?”

Usually she would have just told him, but she was infuriated by his behaviour
. Both her body and mind were in a state of heated agitation.  She couldn’t think or act straight.  She wouldn’t give in and roll over for him.

“None of your fucking business!”
  She ran up the stairs to her bedroom trying to get to the toilet.  She would lock herself in away from him and take a cool shower.  Something to cool the heat tearing through her veins. 
No such luck.

He raced after her catching her in her bedroom
.  He grabbed her and pushed her against the wall, one hand on either side of her head.

“Did you fuck him?  Did you let him touch you?  If you did
I will fucking murder him!”

H
is controlling attitude riled her.  “What right do you have to be jealous?  We have great sex together, that’s all.”

He sneered at her. 
“Is that all I am to you?  Just a great fuck?”

“
Oh don’t look so high and mighty, before the other day you never once even bothered to spend the whole night with me.  You just always ran out in the middle of the night.”

He tensed. 
“I start work early, you know that, I thought our relationship...”

She scoffed. 
“You come round at night for sex and then leave when it’s over, what kind of relationship is that?  You’ve never actually asked me out on a date...”

He ground his jaw in frustration. 
“I’ve asked you to come out with me lots of times...”

“No you’ve asked me to join you and your friends at the bar so that I can buy you drinks because you’re too young
to buy your own!”

He shook his head in irritation
. 
Did she honestly think he was just using her to buy alcohol?!
  “That’s not how it is at all...”

“You’ve never asked me to
go out to dinner or a movie, you’ve never come round to see me just to check if I’m okay, you don’t call me to talk. You went away for a week and didn’t even bother to text me once to say you were okay or ask how I was doing.  Does any of that sound like two people starting a relationship?  No, all you want is sex, stop pretending otherwise!”

She panted slightly from her rant, her cheeks were red and she sh
ook slightly.  Shame was written all over his face, he looked at the floor.

“At least you managed flowers
today...”

His eyes snapped to attention.  “What are you talking about?”

She ignored him.  “I think you should leave.”

H
e dropped his arms and held her hands.  His jaw ticked with the effort of maintaining his temper.  His wolf snarled at him to stop this, to claim her, to make her submissive to him.  “Look, I’ve never had a real girlfriend... I... I don’t... really know how to act.  But I want us to be together... I love you.”

She pulled her hands away
shaken by his proclamation, and disturbed by the way heat had immediately pooled between her legs. 
Fuck, she was turned on by what he said
.  “We shouldn’t be together. We don’t go together.  Look at us!  People laugh when they see us together.”

“Who
the fuck laughs?”

“Everybody!
  We don’t match, the sooner you see that the better.”

His face was thunderous. 
“I get it.  I’m not good enough for you. I’m sorry I didn’t go to college.  I’m sorry my family aren’t rich and successful like yours.  I’m sorry my
daddy
isn’t a doctor.”

She gasped. 
“How dare you!  I would never think that.  How dare you turn this back on me!  I have to put up with your
girlfriend
coming to my workplace and tearing strips off me and you have the nerve to claim that I have the problem?!”

“What do you mean
? You’re my girlfriend!”

“Not according to the blonde puma Darcy...
she... she...”  Terri wanted to tell him every vicious thing Darcy had said but couldn’t bring herself to do it.  It had been embarrassing enough hearing them, saying them would be torturous.

Her eyes welled with tears
. 
Oh god his mate was in pain. 
His wolf snarled at him to find Darcy and hurt her for the pain she had clearly caused.  He moved to hug her but she batted him away.

Now he pitied
the sad old woman,
great
.  She had to find a way to get rid of him, to make him hate her so that he could move on and find someone new.  She had to do it before she admitted she loved him too.  She had to do it before she jumped him and demanded he take her.  She was so upset and angry and yet she could feel the lust in her rising, she was almost feverish with need.

“Darcy said I was
making a fool of myself by chasing after you, and you know what?  She’s right.  You’re just a boy, and I’m a grown woman.  I need to be with a man.”

He laughed hollowly. 
“A man huh?”  He grabbed her hand and rubbed it against the massive bulge in the front of his trousers.  “Not man enough for little miss perfect?”

She tried to pull away but he wouldn’t let go. 
“You’re disgusting!”

His voice was bitter. 
“Well I am just a boy after all, what do you expect?  I bet you wouldn’t get this from that fancy ass fucker who brought you home.”

“Fuck you!”

“That the best you can come up with?”  His erection grew under her hand and he violently kissed her, his tongue remorselessly invading every corner of her mouth.

She felt her nipples harden
to painful points and she desperately wanted him to take her, to relieve the overpowering need in her. 
What was wrong with her?

She pulled away from him. 
“Fuck me.”

He didn’t hesitate
.  He tore the dress and underwear from her body while she fumbled with his clothes.  He knocked her hands away and threw her on the bed.  He stripped and began crawling over her like a predator, his taut muscles quivering as he struggled to control his inner wolf.

Her arousal was so strong
it was unbearable.  He needed to touch and feel every inch of her.  He needed to kiss, lick, taste her.  He needed to be inside her.

He ripped her legs apart and
dipped his head.  Without preamble he plunged his tongue into her channel and she cried out.  She was so wet and ready for him, honey oozed from her. 

She was so turned on he barely even had to touch her before she felt the burst of release.
  She clutched her fingers into the covers and screamed.  He licked and lapped at her holding her firmly whilst she writhed beneath him, the orgasm relentlessly rolling through her body.

When she finally began to settle
he withdrew and kissed his way up her body.  Nibbling her hip bone, tonguing her navel.  She sobbed as he nipped at her tender breasts.  When he reached her mouth he gave her a punishing kiss.  There was no warmth only pure need.

He pulled away and looked at her, his eyes dark and stormy
, already burning amber.  His face a fusion of anger and desire. 

He pulled her legs up and rested them over his shoulders. 
He guided his shaft to her entrance and shoved himself inside hard, not stopping until he almost hit her womb.  She screamed at the sudden size of him.

He began
pistoning in and out wildly.  Over and over he rubbed her sweet spot, his enormous shaft scraping her inner walls.  She felt every vein and every inch of him throbbing inside her. His fingers dug into her thighs painfully, sending jolts directly to her womb.  Flesh slapped against flesh, the sound was like thunder.  She cried at how intensely she was being taken, the fever within reaching boiling point.  The heat within her needed to explode, it needed to be let out.  She needed her release so badly.

Every thrust was punctuated by a guttural grunt. 
He usually spoke to her, called her baby, told her how beautiful she was. 
Not this time
. 

He leaned further over her, pushing her legs to her chest. 
He leaned his hands down on the bed, the springs groaning beneath him.  She panicked, his wolf claws had extended.