Could I Be A Werewolf? [BOOK 2]

"You're either coming or I'm leaving without you."

I glared at Bane as I stomped around the car, opened the passenger side, and got in. He set a hand on the steering wheel and turned to me. "Are you going to be like this the whole way?"

I tightened my lips until they hurt. I was still wicked pissed about him being such an a-hole yesterday, and a part of me was still thinking about what I'd said to Samantha about villains and heroes. At the time, my words hadn't really sunk in, but now they had. And I was back to square one with Bane. I didn't trust him.

Surprise, surprise.

I heard his seat belt unbuckle, and before I knew it I was pitched backwards, Bane was on top of me, and his tongue was down my throat. I didn't try to fight because while my husband might have his bad points, kissing wasn't one of them.

I sucked in air through my nose as he devoured my lips, ran his tongue over my teeth, and tried to suck out my soul through my mouth. I gave myself up to it and took everything Bane was giving me. Man, did I want him. Screw being out in public in the afternoon, my hiccups with his personality, and that the guy was as territorial as a caveman. Samantha and the others must be blind if they thought Bane adapted to anything. Nope, things molded to him; I molded to him.

I spread my thighs, reached up, and suddenly he was gone and I was tonguing air. He was still leaning over me, his eyes brown with only the slightest tinge of red. "Better?"

I blinked the desire out of my eyes. What? Was sex supposed to be my stress reliever? I growled, reached up, and dragged him back down to my mouth. I kissed him back with just as much ferocity and heat as he used. I rubbed my body up against his, ran my nails across his back, and all but fucked his mouth. Then, with about as much notice as he'd given me, I pulled back.

I smiled up at him, batted my eyes and licked my swollen lips. "Better?"

Bane was breathing hard, though his heart wasn't beating against my chest. I wondered for a second if I'd ever heard it beat. But I didn't really care. I felt something hard pressing against my thigh, and I knew his trouser snake needed some oxygen. Too bad that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

His voice was a low purr next to my ear. "Don't be so sure of that, habibiti. Play with fire and you get burned."

I was about to retort with something that would have probably put me flat on my back with my legs in the air and Bane driving himself into me like the rapture was about to happen, when someone knocked on our window. We both looked over to see a valet blushing from the roots of his sandy-brown hair all the way down his neck. "Excuse me."

"We're busy," Bane growled.

I punched him lightly in the shoulder. The valet didn't look much older than twenty and I was not about to scare the kid. "Get off me."

Bane gave me a look that said, "One way or another your legs were going to be on my shoulders by day's end." I looked down at his crotch, licked my lips, and gave him my reply.

"I hate to interrupt, but..." Casper whispered in my head. I blushed too. Had I just broadcast my thoughts to him and, God forbid, Luther?

"Yes, you did," Luther responded, in a sort of bored tone. I groaned, adjusted my seat back up, and buckled myself in.

"Talking to Luther?" Bane asked as he put the car in drive. "Or Casper?"

I looked out the window at the bridge we were passing. "Both." I turned my head to him and sighed dramatically. "Apparently I was thinking pretty, uh, loud when we were... you know."

"Modesty doesn't suit you, Peaches," Bane said evenly as we picked up speed.

I ignored him and stared out the window. Then I whipped my head back to him. "Hey! You distracted me."

He blew out a sigh and scratched his head. I forced myself into his mind. Didn't think she would notice.

His eyes snapped to me and his hands clenched on the wheel. "Did you just read my mind?"

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Doesn't feel so good, does it?"

"What I do and what you do are two very different—"

I snorted. "Well, aren't you the pot calling the kettle black?" Bane had said that to me once. He'd been in cat form, and I'd been wandering my university campus waiting to become a horror flick victim.

I watched his lips quirk. "Touché."

We didn't speak for awhile after that, and thankfully no vampire decided to take up residence in my head. It bothered me that they could just pop in and out whenever they pleased while I had to concentrate just to read a few thoughts.

"It comes with age and practice," Bane said, interrupting my inner monologue.

I continued to look out our window. We were passing through the countryside now, far away from the city. It only occurred to me then that I should probably ask where we were going.

"Canaan Valley in West Virginia." Bane didn't even bat an eye at reading my thoughts. If he wasn't going to stop then I wasn't either.

"Why?"

"You want to see if you're a werewolf, so we're going to see an alpha about a new pack member."

I turned to him and practically bounced up and down. "You mean, we're going to see, like, real werewolves?"

Bane raised an eyebrow. "Why are you surprised? You've, like, seen real vampires."

I ignored the jab and stared at him. "So you think I'm a werewolf, too?"

He shook his head but kept his eyes on the road. "No, but I think they might have answers. The Pheehan Pack is one of the biggest on the east coast, and it has some of the oldest weres. Maybe they know something."

Oh. That was pretty cool. "Is your sister going to meet us there?" No one had talked about Xena—I mean, Zeno—for awhile, and I wondered why that was. She'd been all the rage yesterday, and now she wasn't even a blip on the map.

Bane's expression shuttered, and his hands tighten around the steering wheel. "Not if I can help it."

Okay. I got a sense that Bane and his sister weren't on the best terms, so I decided to let it rest. I might be nosy, but I also knew when to let sleeping dogs lie. Or was it lay. Whatever, they stayed asleep.

"Casper, Luther, and Samantha are following us, right?" I assumed they were, but I had to make sure. I didn't know much—okay, anything—about werewolves. What if the movies were right? Not that I'm basing anything about the supernatural on them anymore, but I needed somewhere to start. Wolves could be very territorial and vicious. What if they smelled a vampire and tried to attack us? Or what if I found my long lost mate, and Bane and the guy got into it.

"That will never happen, habibiti." His voice was deadly calm. "I have said it before, but I will say it again. You are mine. You are my wife. You are my woman. You. Are. Mine."

Yeesh, talk about territorial. "Sure you're not a werewolf, Bane?"

He turned and flashed me a bit of fang. "Positive."

A little shiver raced through me. Sometimes Bane made me think I'd drawn the bad end of the stick, and other times... hmm, other times that just wasn't the case at all. I snapped my thoughts back to safe things, knowing that Casper and Luther could hear me. I was going to need to figure out how to block them from my mind one of these days.

The rest of the drive was spent, more or less, in silence. We stopped once for a potty break for Samantha and me. I also got a couple cinnamon buns, burgers, and a large cup of coffee. I blamed the fact that I was voraciously hungry ninety percent of the time on being a werewolf. I just hoped that I'd developed some kind of werewolf metabolism so I wasn't gaining weight. I'd hate to see the scale after all this food.

It was only about two hours later that we were in Canaan Valley, winding our way up a mountain side, when I saw signs for a ski resort and I very nearly plotzed. I freaking loved ski resorts. I didn't actually like skiing because I had a deathly fear of heights, but I liked the homey atmosphere that most ski lodges had in spades.

"Plotzed? What does that mean?" Bane asked, steering hand over hand as he twisted the car this way and that. I was still in crash position and all my muscles burned. The trip to Canaan had been relatively traffic free, and Bane had taken that to mean the racetrack was his. A road was not a race track, and two cops had pulled us over to explain that to Bane.

The vampire had just used his powers of persuasion, or whatever vampires had in their voice and eyes to make people do what they wanted, and then we were off again. No ticket, no warning, nothing. Luther and Casper were just as bad; those guys had kept pace with us the entire time.

"It means, uh..." Oh crap, I didn't exactly know what plotzed meant, even though I used it pretty frequently. I reached for my back pocket to pull out my phone and Urban Dictionary the hell out of that word when I felt emptiness. How hadn't I noticed it before? It was so obvious.

I didn't have a phone. I hadn't had a phone for the last six days. I started to freak out a little. How many calls had I missed? What about my email? Oh God, I didn't have my computer either. I suddenly couldn't think about anything but the 126 gigs of data on the little silver piece of technology, my full inbox, and all the social media updates I was missing.

Something hit my lap and I looked down. It was a black smartphone. I turned to Bane, wonder and gratefulness shining in my eyes. "Thank you," I whispered like he'd just given me the Holy Grail.

Yeah, I was addicted to my phone. Yes, it was a stupid addiction, but there was something about the mini light box that left me itchy and craving without it. I picked up Bane's phone and suddenly I could think again, and the reality of how stupid my freakout had been hit me.

I was dead. No one would email me, and if someone did, I couldn't respond anyway. I couldn't be on social media anymore, either, and who would call me? Telemarketers and my debt collectors, but that was it. I handed the phone back to Bane, or rather reached over and stuffed it into his pocket.

I felt his hand on my thigh, a gentle pressure. "I'm sorry."

I knew he wasn't just talking about the phone, but everything that small piece of technology represented. "I miss her." The words slipped out before I could stop them.

My mom. He knew who I was talking about. I missed her and my dad. It wasn't like I really missed my old life. I didn't. I just missed some of the things in it. Like my friends, who I hadn't even spared a real thought about. What were Marcy, Nancy, or Sara doing? Were they drinking to my death, getting wasted to numb the pain? That's what we'd done when our friend Bridget's dad died. He was a nice guy, but then some doctors had found prostate cancer and nine months later he was dead. We'd gotten drunk with Bridget after the funeral, cried and wailed like banshees, and a couple weeks later she'd moved away.

I missed those memories; memories I'd tried to suppress. I craved feeling my dad's lips on my cheek when he reached down to kiss me. I wished that I could braid my mom's hair while she sat in front of me as we talked, watched Gilmore Girls, and she played on her phone all at once. I missed my cat Coco, who was more like a sibling because he knew not to be in my room, but he went in my room anyway. That cat knew better!

I just missed it all.

Bane grabbed my hand and pulled it to his mouth for a light kiss. His lips brushed my knuckles, warm lips, warm flesh, but unbeating heart. It didn't really make sense; but then again, none of this really did anyway. "You have me now, Peaches. I might want to throttle you sometimes, but I'll never leave you."

"Why?" I croaked, face turned away from him. Was he just after my special powers like everyone else? Did he know something about me that I didn't? Was this all a game to him? I wanted to know Bane, wanted to have at least one person that I could count on. This whole mental flip-flopping I kept doing with him was draining.

His voice was both hard and soft, serious but compassionate. "I won't lie to you. At the beginning, you were an interesting distraction, and that hasn't changed to a very large degree. But I would never have married you if that were all you were, habibiti. It might not be what you want to hear, but it's the best I've got."

Snow was falling, my ears were clogged, and I was choking back tears. I linked my fingers with Bane's and nodded. I couldn't speak, didn't trust myself to do that. At least he'd been honest. That was one point for Bane, but there was still a lot against him.

I tried not to think about that. I had enough to worry about.

Chapter Four: I'm Not About That Life

It was only another fifteen minutes before we arrived at the werewolf pack, or rather a cave that Bane said the pack lived in. I shivered as snow fell down and the sky darkened then turned overcast. It wasn't even four in the afternoon, and I was on top of a mountain, or close to it, with a vampire unpacking what looked like overnight bags.

"I don't do hiking," I forced out between chattering teeth. I'd never been an outdoors fan. There were bugs and crazy weather conditions. I wasn't about that life. Indoors near a fridge, curled up and watching Animal Planet, was as close as I got to outdoors.

"Well, you're doing it today," Bane responded. He'd changed into a heavy black coat, knee-high hiking boots, and a blue striped hat. He'd dressed me in a bright pink coat, the same knee-high boots, and a striped red cap. I hated to admit it, but the guy had good taste. And yeah, I considered pink for me good taste.

I turned and looked at Casper and the gang. Everyone was dressed in similar fashion. Was I the only one who hadn't known we were going hiking on a snowy mountain and venturing into some bat-infested cave?

"Yup," Casper chimed in as he slung a duffle bag over his shoulder.

I whirled around and waved a shaking finger at the bunch. "Y-you all s-suck."

Contrary to what most people said about white people, we—well, I didn't like the cold. I was a heater girl through and through. I'd hated Vermont in the winter, but then again, when it had come wintertime, my mom and dad had packed us up and taken a trip down to Disney World. Maybe that was why I hated the cold; I'd never really had a chance to experience it.

"Well, here's your chance." Casper grinned as he came closer to me and winked.

But I didn't relent. "Can't you just call them and have someone come out? Then we can go get something to eat at that ski lodge I saw on the way up. Nice hot chocolate, maybe a few cookies, and..."

"Let's head out!" Bane shouted to everyone.

I didn't have a choice. It was either freezing in the middle of nowhere with no car because stupid Bane took the keys, or follow them. Even though I couldn't see the black fur/fuzz, I knew it was there. I sighed, pulled up my big girl pants, and trailed after the three vampires and the witch.

We started off slow, but I guessed that was more for my benefit than anything else. I refused to be carried like Luther carried Samantha. The teen-looking vampire just scooped her up, vaulted thirty feet in the air, and then set them down a ways from the entrance of the cave on much softer and leveler ground. I refused to do the same because, one, I hated falling in every and any form (which was why I avoided roller coasters like the plague), and two, see number one.

I slipped, and Bane's arm wrapped around my waist. I puffed out a breath. "I'm fine." I screamed the last bit, because I was suddenly flying in the air and then crashing back down. My stomach rolled, everything clenched, and I wanted to puke.

Casper was beside us. I pushed away from Bane and almost stumbled, but whatever I was standing in felt like quicksand. I struggled and looked down but all I could see was darkness. Bane had flown/jumped us far into the cave. I could barely even see the opening anymore. "What is this stuff?"

"Bat feces," Luther said matter-of-factly.

I just barely swallowed my scream. But on swallowing that scream, I also took a deep breath in and actually gagged. Oh yeah, that was shit alright. I pinched my nose. "We need to get out of here. I can't..." I gagged.

Bane sighed and wrapped his arm around me again; then we were jumping high. I closed my eyes tight and held onto him like a baby koala. I didn't care that I might get poop on him, as long as I stayed attached A few more jumps and the air cleared, the cold wasn't as biting, and we were falling.

I screamed. Full blown, there's-a-man-with-an-axe-behind-me screamed. Bane hit the ground with a thud, and it reverberated through us. I shook for a good few minutes.

I couldn't help what I did next, even though I tried. I threw up. All that delicious, fattening food came rushing up and out my throat. I thought it was going to be acid so I could spit it at Bane, but I turned my head away and saw chunks flying. Instead of letting me go, however, the dreadful man stroked my hair away from my face and whispered that it was okay. I wanted to be angry at him, but he was being gentle. Damn his hide.

When I finally stopped, I blinked away tears and looked around. We were in a meadow or something. It was grassy with yellow flowers everywhere. But the weirdest thing was the big ass mansion about three hundred or so feet from us. There were mini houses around it, little log cabins or something.

My eyes narrowed as I python-slow turned and faced Bane. "Is that a fucking helipad?"

He shielded his eyes from the sun and looked at the mansion. "I believe itis."

I balled my fist and stepped away from my mess. "Do you mean to tell me we could have just taken a helicopter here, instead of jumping and falling?" My pitch was so high at the end, it hurt my ears.

I saw Bane wince. I smiled, all teeth. "I 'ope that 'urt, ya blime fecker." My cockney accent was back and better than ever. I totally sounded wicked pissed and British. Thank you, BBC America.

"No, luv." Luther came up to us with Samantha by his side. "You still sound like a Yank."

Samantha pulled a pack of gum from her pocket and handed it to me. I accepted it gracefully, and took two pieces. I chewed the first and tried to get all of the junk out of my mouth, and then I spit it out and popped in the next one. "You're British? You don't sound like it at all."

He shrugged, and I noticed some of that red was back in his eyes. I wondered how long vamps could go without eating. I felt like every time I saw them their eyes were either red, going red, or clear. Couldn't they just keep it one color?

"Only if we eat constantly," Casper chipped in as he came up behind me. "When we use our powers, we use our energy, and we get energy from the blood we ingest."

Oh. That made a lot of sense, actually. My stomach growled when I was hungry, his eyes turned red when he was hungry. Twisted, but that reasoning worked. I looked at Bane and noticed that his eyes also had red bleeding into them.

"And we couldn't have used a helicopter, Georgia," Samantha said softly, laying a hand on my arm. "This is the Pheehan Pack's territory. We have to follow their rules, and one of those rules is that vampires come through the caves."

"Why?" The caves were disgusting. I wouldn't have gone through there by choice. I'd been dragged.

The answer dawned on me. "It's a test, right? See how badly someone wants to see the pack, and how far they're willing to go?"

Samantha inclined her head. Supernatural beings and their stupid tests. I whipped my head around to Luther, sidetracked yet again. "You did not steal your name from the British show Luther, did you?"

The kid smiled and wrapped an arm around Samantha's waist, pulling her back to him. I waited for him to answer, but the kid just kept smiling at me. I so wanted to read his mind, but I couldn't concentrate. I had bat poop on me, my jacket was starting to get warm, I had just thrown up, and there was a mansion within walking distance that I was sure had some sort of hot water. Finding out where Luther got his name was the least of my worries.