Chapter Seven
“Let’s go back to the house,” Cliff said to Taylor. “It’s not safe out here for you yet.”
His ominous words echoed in her head as they trudged back through the woods in silence.
When they got back to the house, James shot Cliff a significant glance and murmured, “Please remember what I said. It’s your only chance of success.”
Cliff responded with a wolf-like growl, and James sighed and left as Cliff led Taylor over to an outdoor grouping of a table and wicker chairs with blue-and-white flowered cushions. She sank onto one of the chairs and Cliff sat next in the chair next to her.
“I imagine that you have questions,” he said.
“And apparently you have questions for me as well. I suppose that’s better than being interrogated by your Elders, whatever or whoever an Elder is.”
He looked at her with interest. “You heard us through the door. The shift is already happening.”
“How could I not hear you? You spoke as clear as day.”
“That door is solid oak and we were twenty feet away. So one of your talents is going to be enhanced hearing.” At her confused look, he explained, “Werewolves have enhanced senses, and some of them have more enhanced senses than others. There’s a lot that I need to explain to you.”
“Oh, you think?” she scoffed. “Yes, I might have a question or two. Million.”
He nodded. “I’ll answer all that I can right now. First of all, I need to apologize for how I approached things earlier. I assumed you’d been a werewolf all your life. I didn’t realize that you’d just been turned. Even so, I was rude about it and should have approached the entire issue better.”
“Assuming that I believe you, and that I’m really a werewolf, how did you know?”
“Sense of smell. We can all scent each other. Most werewolves – like Shelley – might not be able to scent you until after you first turn, which will happen at the next full moon. But I come from a particular strain of werewolves called the Dominus strain. We have enhanced senses, and some psychic powers.”
“Psychic powers. Okay.” Her voice was laced with skepticism.
“You saw what James did with Shelley. A lot of our pack members have them. We call werewolves like him Truth-Makers. His wife is a healer; she can pull a wolf or a human back from the brink of death.”
“How could I have become a werewolf?” she protested. “Wouldn’t I have to have been bitten by one? I can assure you, nobody’s bitten me. Not a person, not a dog, not a wolf. Unless the myths are false?”
“No, the myths get some things wrong, but that part’s true. The only way for you to become a werewolf is for our saliva to enter your bloodstream.” Cliff frowned. “Truman mentioned that you told him you had an ex-boyfriend who was a crazy stalker.”
“Yes, but he didn’t bite me.” She thought hard. “I broke up with him before the last full moon. And we never even had sex. We did kiss…”
Cliff let out a growl, and claws shot out of his fingertips, causing Taylor to start.
With a visible effort, he regained control of himself, and his claws retracted. “Even then,” he said, his voice thick with anger, “he would have to have bitten you while kissing you. And if the full moon came and went after that, then he didn’t turn you.”
“If I’d ever handled product samples, would that infect me?”
“No. Otherwise all the products we sell would turn people.”
“Good point.” Then she looked at him skeptically. “What is in the products that you sell?”
He smiled wryly. “You can’t guess? Werewolf blood. Incredibly diluted. The Platinum line is from wolves with the Dominus gene, like me. The Dominus gene makes us stronger, faster, we have enhanced senses, we’re fiercer fighters.” At that he frowned.
“What’s wrong with being fierce?”
“The problem is…I’m afraid I’ll be too much for you. All male wolves are pretty dominant, especially sexually, but with the Dominus gene…when we see what we want, we claim it. Pretty aggressively. Like I did in the forest before. It’s a werewolf thing. It’s part of our animal nature; we’re role playing. We chase the woman, and she’s expected to give us a hard time, make us work for it. But I know that not all humans are into that kind of thing.”
“I didn’t…hate it.” She blushed.
At that, he gave her an amused glance. “I know you didn’t. I can scent arousal. If a wolf with the Dominus gene went after a woman and she genuinely didn’t want him, he’d sense it and back off. Well, most of us would.” His expression darkened again. “We’re up against an Alpha who wouldn’t.”
Then he frowned. “Would you object to letting a female healer examine you from head to toe, so we can see if there’s an obvious spot where you may have been injured or bitten without realizing it? It’s James’ wife, Anita.”
She nodded. “That’s fine. I want to know as much as you do. If what you’re telling me is true, my entire life is about to change. Every full moon, I’ll turn into a werewolf.”
“Well, it’s a little more than that. The week before the full moon you’ll crave red meat, and you’ll be more aggressive and temperamental. On the night of the full moon, you’ll change, and you’d be a danger to any human who came near you. You won’t be in control of yourself. That’s why we have this enormous property, and why it’s so isolated. There are a few major wolf packs scattered across the country. They all own properties like this, and any werewolf who’s traveling near the full moon, or who belongs to a smaller pack, is allowed to come to the larger tracts of land when it’s time for the change.”
“So. The full moon isn’t for about ten days. Can I go home?”
The look on his face was all the answer she needed.
She took a deep breath. “You’re literally telling me that I’m a prisoner here. That makes me very angry. My father was an abusive jerk who tried to control my mother. He locked us up in a room for days.”
“This is different,” Cliff said. “There are a lot of things I have to teach you, for your own safety. And for the safety of my pack, we have to find out who turned you, and how. And…” He took her hand in his. “I want you to stay with me. I want you to be my mate. You’re the one, Taylor. I felt drawn to you the very first time I spoke to you, and I thought I could never have you, so I walled away my longing and desire for you. And now that I know I’ve been so blessed, so lucky, that you’re my True Mate, I don’t ever want to let you go.”
“I’m your…what?”
He looked a little sheepish. “When a wolf meets the woman who’s his destiny, he knows it right away. Some say it’s an old wives’ tale, but now that I’ve met you, I know they’re wrong. I think people who say that have just never met their True Mate.”
“I’m a thief,” she blurted out.
Was she telling him that because she wanted him to throw her out on her butt, or because she wanted him to know everything about her and go into this with his eyes wide open?
She didn’t really know for sure.
“You’re what?” He looked at her in puzzlement.
“I stole the samples. The Platinum pills seem to delay the symptoms of a certain type of blood disorder. I found it out on the dark web, when I was trying to research cures for my friend ‘Chantelle’s blood disorder. It’s not an actual cure, but it keeps the symptoms at bay, at least.”
She thought he’d be furious. Instead he just looked thoughtful. Calculating, even. “So you need the samples to keep your friend alive.”
She yanked her hand away from his, fury bubbling up inside her. “Are you bargaining with my friend’s life to force me to stay here and agree to be your…mate?”
Those beautiful amber eyes bored right into her. “I will never lie to you. Yes, that’s what I’m doing.”
She stood up and took a few steps back, so angry that it took her a few moments to form words. “You are a conniving, manipulative son of a bitch.”
“I am all those things.” He nodded. “Those are necessary characteristics for the leader of a pack. And I want you very badly. You. Nobody else. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you mine.”
Under other circumstances, she would have been incredibly flattered, and touched, by such a romantic declaration. But he was using Chantelle as a pawn in a chess game with life-and-death consequences.
“I’m not a business deal! I’m not some factory equipment you’re buying!” she shouted, flushed with fury.
“I know that.” He stood up and walked towards her, stopping when she took a step back. “You’re Taylor. You’re mine. After the Alpha Trials, you’re going to be my mate.”
She wanted to know what the Alpha Trials were, but she was too angry to ask him any questions right now.
“Fine,” she bit out finally. “But my friend Chantelle gets all the product she needs.”
“Agreed.”
“And by the way, I texted her that I was coming out here to talk to you. I have to call her back, or she’ll worry.”
“You can call her, but I have to listen in on the phone call for now. It won’t always be like this. The last thing I want to do is make you feel like a prisoner; I want you to want to be here. To want to be with me. It’s just until we figure out how you turned in the first place, and get you settled in as a member of the pack.”
“All right. I’m going to call her and tell her that I came out here and you invited me to stay for the weekend, and that everything is fine. And one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“I said that I’d agree to be your mate. However, we’re not going to have sex.”
A look of shock crossed Cliff’s face.
“We aren’t?”
“No, we’re not.”
“But you want me. You want to have sex with me. Why deny yourself?”
“Because I’m furious with you. Because you kidnapped me and are holding me prisoner. Because you’re bargaining with my friend’s life to get what you want. Because one million other reasons that I don’t even feel like explaining to you right now. And if you don’t mind, I would like to return to my prison cell.”
He snorted. “You mean my bedroom?”
“Whatever you want to call it. And I get my own bed.”
* * * * *
Cliff flung himself into a chair and heaved out a frustrated breath. He ran his hand through his hair, leaving it sticking up in lopsided clumps and spikes. What he’d said to her was true. She was his mate, and he’d do anything to persuade her of that. But he would have made sure her friend got the samples she needed anyway. He wasn’t a monster, or at least only in the sense that he sprouted fur and fangs on every full moon; he certainly wasn’t in the business of letting someone die over a few thousand lousy bucks.
The thing was, he couldn’t let Taylor know that. Not yet. He needed to have some leverage over her. He had to be a strong Alpha, now more than ever, and that meant he had a duty to protect the pack. He couldn’t take the chance of her exposing their secret to human society.
He wanted Taylor. He ached to touch her, to hold her. She’d so quickly become the sun around which his world revolved. But he couldn’t trust her with his people’s lives. Not yet. And that made his heart hurt.