The Werewolf Wears Prada (Entangled Covet) (San Francisco Wolf Pack) (14 page)

“You bit me,” she whispered, remembering his tongue on her skin. “You freaking bit me. Right here. I can still feel where your teeth went in.”

“I had to.” His voice turned soft. “I didn’t have any other option.”

“You could’ve let me die.”

He raised his chin in defiance. “That wasn’t an option.”

“Sure it was.” She sucked in a short breath, and pushed out, “You said I would’ve died if you didn’t bite me a second time. You didn’t have to. You could’ve left me.”

“I couldn’t let you go.” His dark eyes blazed with agony. “Not so soon after I’d found you. You can blame me if that makes this easier for you.”

As her thoughts jumbled into an incomprehensible mess, Melina sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and bit softly. She became hyperaware that the only thing standing between their naked bodies was a fuzzy blanket and a terrycloth towel. She suppressed the urge to toss the blanket on the bed and follow it down.

“You said you found me.” Her heart thudded against her ribcage. “I don’t know how you remember it, but you didn’t. I was hired to interview you last year, and hired again this year.”

He grabbed her by the wrist, and held it against his heart. His touch lit something in her hand, and buzzed into her chest. Her heart sped.

“I can hear your heart race when I touch you,” he whispered, the subtle parting of his lips capturing her in a trance. “That only happens when a werewolf meets his match. In our race, we call that a Luminary bond. You’re meant for me, Melina. No matter how we decide to live from this moment on, we’re connected.”

“Connected?”

“Fated mates.”

“This is too much,” she rasped out, struggling for air. Damn, her chest was tight. “Werewolves, fated mates, rogue wolves, Chewbacca hair. I don’t know if I can wrap my head around it.”

“I know,” he breathed. “It’s a lot to take in, but if you trust me, I can walk you through it.”

She shook her head, but her heart beat ‘yes’. “That’s just it, Hayden. I don’t know if I can trust you at all. You said you found me. That our touch proves we’re meant to be. If our connection is so
intense
, where were you at that stupid awards show last year?”

“I had to touch you to know for sure. Our kiss in my office dispelled any doubt I had.” He paused, brushing his thumb over the back of her hand. “On the night of the awards show, the rogues showed their dissent toward turned wolves. In order to squash any problems, my father asked that I take a born wolf from our pack to the event.”

“But you took two women.”

His lips quirked. “Go big or go home.”

“So, if you had your way, you would’ve taken me?”

“If I had my way, Melina,” he said, his voice rich and smooth as honey, “I’d take you every single day and twice on Sundays.”

She went damp at the words.

“But you have to know, right from the start,” he said, “that I don’t have any intention of completing the Luminary bond with you.”

Daggers to the heart.

She dismissed the gut-clench reaction. Was Hayden even what she wanted? And why was she thinking about him and their connection when she had much bigger issues to wrap her head around?

It was as if she couldn’t resist him. Even if she was going to turn into a big ole hairy dog.

Maybe she’d be cute and dainty like Minnie…

God, she was stupid. This whole thing was too much.

“Our connection will draw us together like magnets,” Hayden went on, “but only so far. We have to keep distance from one another.”

He was totally breaking up with her, before they’d even started anything.

“Here comes the cold shoulder again. This time I’m ready for it.” She ripped her hand from his and rubbed the spot on her hand where it’d warmed. “Let me guess. It’s you, not me?”

She’d kissed a ton of frogs in her quest for the ultimate fairy tale, and each of them had used different, worn-out break-up lines.

“I’m the Alpha of the pack. Or, I will be,” he corrected, digging into the closet. He yanked out a pair of dark-washed jeans and stepped into them. “As Alpha, I’ll have a major target on my back to any wolf who wants to challenge my authority. Add the fact that I’m a turned wolf in the middle of a rogue uprising, and I might as well paint a target on your back, too. I won’t let that happen.”

The world
whooshed
in and out.

“You’re talking too fast, and it’s too much.” She waved her hand in front of her face, wishing away the stars still shimmying around in her line of sight. “I’m barely keeping my hormones under control here, and now this Luminary talk? I don’t get it. I don’t know if I want to.”

“I’m going to be Alpha, Melina. I’m going to rule. If someone has a bone to pick with me—”

“Clever wording.” She couldn’t help but joke through her cloud of confusion.

He sighed, kinking his neck to the side in that irritated way he’d perfected so well. “If someone wants to hurt me, they’ll go for my mate first. I won’t—I can’t—do that to you.”

Not only had she fallen for the most eligible bachelor of the year, she’d fallen for a werewolf. The
Alpha
.

She rubbed circles over her temples. Shouldn’t she be worried about donning a coat of stinky wolf hair and growing fangs? Why were her thoughts preoccupied on Hayden turning her away?

“I don’t know what’s happening.” Her heart gave a sickening thud. “I’m not thinking straight.”

“I’ve been where you are, so I know the back and forth you’re having with yourself. But inside, you know the truth about what’s happening to you, and what needs to happen between us. You can feel it, right?”

Yeah, she could.

Despite her best efforts, she’d totally, hopelessly fallen in love with Hayden. She’d loved him from the start, she realized. The hard and true beat of her heart warned that she always would.

Surprisingly, after everything she’d learned the last twenty-four hours,
that
was what scared her the most.

Chapter Twenty

Sitting on the beach behind Hayden’s house, Melina dug her toes into the sand and stared at the lineup of waves on the horizon. Slivers of moonlight illuminated the water as it churned and tumbled, rolling closer to shore. Cool sand and tiny pebbles smooshed between her toes, reminding her of summer days when her parents used to take her to Baker Beach on the very edge of the city. She’d always cherished those memories…

Taking a deep breath, Melina drew her knees against her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

She heard Hayden’s footsteps striking over the sand before she spotted him. It seemed as if everything had changed in such a short amount of time. Her ears had become painfully sensitive, her sense of smell had heightened, and her lust for Hayden had become insatiable.

“You’ve been out here for an hour,” he said, sitting beside her in the sand. He handed her a steaming mug of coffee—dark and bold, judging from the aroma. “I tried to give you some space, but the wind’s picking up. Thought you might want something to warm you up.”

She’d been cold earlier, but now, with her body running hot, the crisp air felt good. It was a reminder that she was alive, that she could feel something real and normal. The wind whirled, stirring loose pebbles over the beach. Hayden’s enticing scent—spicy, crisp, and male—hit her nostrils, and made her go weak. She took a sip and breathed in deep when the sugar and vanilla cream hit her tongue.

“Stay out here much longer and you’ll see the sun rise,” he said, drinking from his own mug.

Without answering, Melina stared out over the waves, to where the dark blue ocean met the sky. It was probably three o’clock, a couple hours until daybreak. Although her body felt raw and worn, and her mind was drained beyond words, she couldn’t sleep.

A new sun would bring a new world. A whole new reality and strange adjustments.

She wasn’t ready to face any of it.

If only the dark could stay, even a little bit longer.

“Anything you want to talk about?” he asked, his voice a sexy rasp.

They’d gone ’round and ’round about the details of her transition. She was scared, but there wasn’t anything she could do other than take it one day at a time. Hell, she was taking it one hour,
one minute
, at a time. Hayden had promised he’d be with her through it all, to help guide her through it. She believed him, easing some of the fears wracking through her.

But her heart still ached over one thing he’d glazed over.

“The Luminary bond,” she said.

He nodded slowly, kicking his legs out in front of him. “It’s the non-shifting equivalent of soul mates. It’s the idea that there’s one person out there for everyone.”

“And you’re it for me, huh?”

He chuckled. “Well you don’t have to sound so miserable about it.”

“No, it’s not that…”

“Then what?”

She couldn’t look at him, so she kept her gaze trained on the crashing waves in front of her. “You said our connection will grow, but only so far. You said you won’t complete the bond with me, which means we’ll never be together, right?”

“Right.” He tipped back his mug and stared out over the horizon.

Prince Charming was sitting right beside her, but once again, he didn’t want her. Not in the same way. When she thought of the future, she envisioned marriage and children, a home and career. She dreamed of having it all. Tied with a big ole red bow. But now she’d have to find someone else, and Hayden had ruined her. She’d constantly compare everyone to him, and they’d fall short. It was almost as if Hayden was asking her to choose—her heart over her dreams.

Cinderella managed to get her fairy tale. That
bitch.

“If you’re the one I’m supposed to be with,” she said, stroking her mug, “how could I ever be happy with anyone else?”

“I don’t want you to be with anyone else.” Hayden spoke so harshly, it was nearly a growl. “I need you…” His words drifted.

He’d been about to say more. Melina could feel it. She could almost say the words herself. They were right on the tip of her tongue. And then they were gone.

“You think it’s too dangerous for an Alpha to have a mate?” she probed. “Not us, specifically, but hypothetically speaking?”

Tipping back his mug, Hayden finished his coffee and then exhaled heavily. As if the weight of the world sat on his broad, muscular shoulders. “Under certain circumstances, yes. In the city right now, there’s dissension from those who believe turned wolves are less worthy than born wolves.”

“And they don’t want you to rule?”

“Judging from what happened to you this weekend, they’ll do anything to keep me from taking over the pack.”

“Has it always been this way?” Her throat tightened. “I mean, when the rogues were in your pack, did you know they didn’t want you to step up after your father died?”

“If any of my packmates had a problem with it, they must’ve kept it on lockdown. My father was always protective of me, so that might’ve been why. There were a few who voiced their prejudice from time to time, but I brushed them off. We all did. I never thought they’d separate from the pack and kill their own.” He stared at the mug in his grasp. “They were never going to let me rule. I see that now, but I should’ve known it from the start.”

Melina bit her lip as Hayden’s partying and reckless behavior came to mind. She’d never studied psychology or anything, but if Hayden felt unworthy of the legacy his father left behind, he might be inclined to sabotage the whole thing. Probably easier to swallow the fact that he didn’t become the leader from his own making, rather than not being good enough from within.

“Angus and Cara were amazing partners, in everything.” Hayden looked to the sky, as if reading his next words in the stars. “They were perfect for one another, a power couple who garnered respect from everyone they met. But when Cara died, Angus lost it. He wandered the streets every night. He didn’t eat well, and lost a ton of weight. Sometimes I’d talk to him, and I might as well have been talking to a blank slate. He wasn’t the same man.”

“I can imagine losing his wife was a harsh blow. Especially if they’d been together hundreds of years.”

“No, you don’t understand,” he said, turning his entire body toward her. Moonlight danced over the hard lines of his face. “It wasn’t losing Cara that made my father a living, breathing ghost. It was
loving
her. He cared for her so deeply that he lost himself. He was too involved, his heart too intertwined with hers. He loved her so much that he couldn’t live without her.”

The truth rumbled through her.

Hayden wasn’t a womanizing playboy; he was simply afraid to love.

“So the natural alternative is to not love at all,” she thought aloud.

“Better than having my heart ripped in half.” He nodded. “I don’t ever want to end up the way my father did at the end. No one should have to suffer that way.”

Loneliness trickled into her heart, cold and agonizing, though something inside her warned the feeling wasn’t coming from her at all. She’d somehow picked it up from him. His guard had been up from the moment she met him, she realized. It was the same wall he showed to the world instead of letting people in to see him for who he really was. The generous, caring Oz behind the curtain.

The
werewolf
behind the curtain.

No wonder he’d been content for the media to print stories of his partying. If they focused on the trivial parts of his life, they wouldn’t dig deeper and look into the most secret part of him.

She’d misread him. Terribly.

Her heart snapped in two. “Do you think Angus would give up any of the moments he shared with his wife?”

“Hell no.”

She paused, choosing her words carefully. “If he could go back, do you think he’d choose not to complete the Luminary bond thingy with her?”

“No, he wouldn’t,” he whispered. “And I know where you’re going with this. Angus and Cara were born werewolves. They didn’t have to overcome half of the obstacles that are in my way. The reason you’re writing an article to improve my image isn’t for a promotion. It’s to show the pack that I’ve changed, that I can take the role of Alpha seriously. Not only do I have to prove my worth to the media, I have to prove to the voting council, the pack, and—”

“Yourself?”

He stared, and clamped his mouth shut. “I was going to say friends, but I guess you’re right. There are things I need to prove to myself, too.”

They sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity as waves slammed against the beach in the distance.

“How does a couple complete the Luminary bond?” Melina asked, determined to break through a few more of Hayden’s walls. “Is it like a marriage ceremony?”

“Luminaries declare their undying love for one another during sex. There are words each recite—vows, I guess you could say—and that’s it. It’s rumored to be magical and soul-shattering, but I haven’t done it so I can’t say. After the bond, the couple is stronger and faster in wolf form, and they live longer.”

“I remember you mentioning that.” She shivered as she imagined going through the bond with the powerful man sitting next to her.

“Are you cold?” he asked, rubbing his hand up her arm. “Here.”

As she protested, he shrugged out of his coat and draped it over her shoulders. It was warm and soft inside, and smelled like
him
. Tantalizingly masculine. She breathed in deep and let the spicy scent permeate every corner of her body.

“Even if I wanted to,” he said softly, “I wouldn’t want to put you in that position. An Alpha’s mate is always on point, and always in the spotlight. And until the rogues are taken down, you’ll be my Achilles heel, so to speak.”

“Why live in fear that way?” She faced him, boldness streaking through her. “Why not take them down quickly and prove that you can rule better than any born wolf in the pack?”

He looked at her as though she’d sprouted three heads.

“What?” She smoothed her fly-aways. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You could take on the world, couldn’t you?” He tightened the coat around her shoulders and cinched it closed below her neck. “I wish it was as easy as you seem to think it is. Problem is, we’ve been on the rogues’ trail for a year, and can’t seem to get anywhere. We hone in on a location, and they move before we can get there. If information leaks that someone is turning rogue, they disappear before we can question them. They’re agile, have a seemingly endless supply of funds, and no moral compass. Not a good combination in an enemy force.”

Didn’t appear to be all that difficult from the outside looking in.

“Sounds like it’s someone on the inside,” she said simply. “Someone who knows your plan so it seems like they’re one step ahead, but really they just know what you’re going to do so they can prepare.”

His dark eyes shadowed over as the wheels began to turn. “You’re brilliant.” Without warning, his hands cupped her cheeks. “You’re also the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.” His worshipful gaze studied the features of her face. “I don’t know where to kiss you first.”

Her stomach flipped, but before she could respond, he planted the sweetest of kisses on the tip of her nose. Tilting her head down, he kissed her forehead, and then angled her face so that he could kiss her cheek.

Her eyes fluttered closed and her heart clenched, waiting, waiting, not-so-patiently waiting for his mouth to close over hers.

“If things were different,” he whispered against her mouth. “I’d make you mine, right here on the sand.”

She was still catching her breath when his lips found hers in the dark.