Could I Be A Werewolf? [BOOK 2]

"Can we move it? I want to get in, get changed, and get something to fill my stomach back up." Now that I could see the place, I was jonesing to get there. But before I could even take one step, a pack of wolves came charging out of nowhere at us. I gawked at the sleek animals. They were at least twice the size of normal wolves. I hate to say it, given how unreliable movies and books have been for me, but these things seriously looked exactly like I imagined werewolves.

Of course, fear and panic shot through me a second later. I could deal with dogs, pet them on occasion, but become one? Na-uah. Not in this lifetime. What was I thinking? Werewolf. Why couldn't I be, like, a were-pony? I liked ponies.

I was reverting back to my six year-old ways, but Bane snapped me out of it. "Peaches!" His voice was in my head again, and for once I wasn't annoyed by it. "Ground rules."

I mentally snorted and physically rolled my eyes. "Yeah, 'cause that worked so well last time."

I watched his eyes flicker at me. "Well, at least listen to this one. Kneel."

The wolves were almost near us, but I was a tad bit more focused on Bane. "Kneel? Do I look like a girl who gets on her knees? Don't answer that."

"It's a wolf thing." I watched Bane actually get down on one knee, but he wasn't facing me. "I can't help you out with this, habibiti, and I can't force you. Kneel or they'll consider you a threat."

I felt my knees give out as if my body was saying, "Screw you. I ain't dyin' today."

I watched the wolves close in around us, circle, and then tighten until I smelled dog breath. Yeah, okay, I was freaked out. Even more than I had been at the vampire party. At least vampires looked like humans, but werewolves? Whoever said that you could see humanity in something's eyes obviously had never looked in a werewolf's. Guess what? They looked like wolf eyes.

I tried not to freak out. Couldn't animals smell fear? I must've reeked of it, like I'd taken a bath in Eau de scared-for-my-life, all the rage in Peaches's head and brought to you by the verb "fuck" and the pronoun "me."

I was talking to myself in third person again. I really needed to stop that.

I watched a black and grey wolf break away from the pack and come towards us. I thanked my lucky stars that I'd gone to the bathroom at that rest stop, because I was pretty sure otherwise I would have peed myself. Would peeing make me less appetizing? Maybe it would. I tried really hard to pee myself.

All three vampires were suddenly in my mind screaming the same thing: "Do not pee yourself!"

Luckily for them, I couldn't.

The wolf sniffed everyone and then came to me, singling me out. Bane was still on his knee, head lowered, but he followed the large wolf's trail. The wolf regarded me curiously. How did one greet a werewolf? I wasn't sure. I had no clue what the proper etiquette was, so I fell back on my many years of Animal Planet watching.

I held out my hand, palm up, and forced myself to stop shaking. "There's a good boy," I whispered/cooed.

The wolf looked at that hand, then up to me, then back to my hand. He opened his mouth and snapped at me. I snatched my hand back so quick it pounded into my chest and sent me back a step.

"Man, screw this," I whispered vehemently as I turned and crawled away as fast as I could.

Let Bane and his little group get eaten by wolves, I wasn't an idiot. I'd take bat poop over getting eaten by a pack of werewolves every day of the week. I'd even take a bat pooping on my face over that.

I felt a slight breeze and then heard deep, male laughter. I looked over my shoulder briefly as I crawled away, but my neck got stuck, I tripped and ate some dirt and flowers. Stupid Peaches and stupid sexy werewolf man.

I wiped away the mess from my face and then turned to look at the naked giant in front of me. Bane was hands down hot, but this man? Uh-uh, he was the Devil incarnate. Tanned muscles, wavy hair, hazel eyes. If I was going to tempt people to sin, I'd make sure I looked like this guy.

He smiled at me and I swear I had a mini heart attack. Catch me, I'm going to swoon.

"Peaches," Bane growled warningly in my mind. He didn't make a move toward me, so I let my thoughts linger a second longer on Mr. Sin Incarnate before I snapped back to myself.

I pushed my hair out of my face and glared up at the man. Desire was still burning a hole through my panties, but anger and fear were burning a hole through my gut. Or was that just hunger? Damn, I was still starving.

"Who are you?" I demanded. First words, last words. Here lies Peaches the unknown girl. She was last seen sassing a werewolf who has rippling abs and a long, thick—

Bane was in front of me, his hand tight on my chin, tilting my head up. His eyes were even redder now. "Think it." Was there a word worse than angry? I'm pretty sure there was. Bane was about nine notches above that word. "I dare you."

I dared me, too, but before we could have another fight, the naked werewolf laughed again. God, even his laugh was toes-curling-sexy. Bane's eyes narrowed at me, but he turned his head to look at the man and gave the barest of nods. "Alpha."

The man extended a hand and helped Bane up, and as if by magic the entire pack backed up and suddenly shifted into humans. The vampires also got up, and it was like all the tension evaporated.

Bane and the alpha did one of those manly, back-thumping hugs, and then the alpha pulled back and slapped Bane on the shoulder, but his eyes were focused on me. "She smells like the woods and...sex." He looked back at Bane, and I swear I saw his eyes flash silver. "What have you brought for me, my old friend?"

Chapter Five: Stop Looking At Me Like You Want To Eat—Oh, It's the Other Eat

I stared at the naked men around me. Only naked men. The alpha was by far the hottest, but these guys could hold their own. Bane tugged me up sharply, and his eyes said: Think one more word about the wolves here and I will strip you down and mark you like a bitch. And he said he wasn't a werewolf, uh-huh.

"Lorenzo, this is my wife. Peaches, this is Alpha Lorenzo of the Pheehan Pack," Bane said formally. I didn't put out my hand again, but the man didn't seem to mind it.

"Your wife?" He raised a sardonic brow. "I see congrats are in order. Though I'm a little hurt I wasn't invited to the wedding."

"It was spur of the moment."

Pfft. You could say that again.

The alpha turned his gaze once more to me. I gave him a tight smile and tried my damnedest to look at everything but the naked men around me, because Bane never gave idle threats. The alpha eyed me up and down once again as if trying to see the secrets I held. If he found 'em, he should let me know 'em.

Luther and Samantha stepped forward and politely shook the alpha's hand with Casper right behind them. Casper and the alpha did another of those manly hugs, speaking in a rapid fire of Spanish.

"It's not Spanish, it's Catalan," Luther said in my head. The vampire hadn't been in my thoughts much, and it surprised me that he would pop in now.

"Can the werewolves read my mind?" I asked, just to make sure they couldn't all hear the things that Bane would never allow me to do.

"No, they don't have that ability. Neither do any other creatures except vampires and—"

"Me." I already knew that.

"But vampires can only read human minds, and only what's on the surface."

My eyebrows shot up. That was news to me. But Bane had been picking thoughts out of my head at random, hadn't he? I tried to think back, but I could only remember him saying stuff I'd already thought, like he was repeating information from a radio talk show. Had he ever dived deeper into my mind?

I sighed mentally. How the hell was I supposed to find that out, anyway? I reached up and scratched at my head, my frustration showing. I had all these powers and no clue how to use them. It was like someone had given me a briefcase full of money and then abandoned me on an island.

Think, think, think. I was going to give myself an aneurysm with all this thinking I was doing, because I swear it didn't lead to me doing anything. Oh, that's it! Thinking worked about as well as ... I can't think of a metaphor, but whatever. I was a doer, through and through. I needed to stop thinking, and just react.

So, that's what I did. I focused hard on Luther and torpedoed myself into his mind. Then suddenly I wasn't standing in a meadow surrounded by werewolves but crouched on top of a hill above a battlefield, and I was... bleeding? Wait, could vampires bleed? I mean, I'd seen Ariel bleed, but that was from me spitting acid at her. I'd never really seen a vamp get like a paper cut—granted, I'd only been with these vampires for, oh, six days. Didn't they heal quick?

Scenes from Karen Marie Moning's Fever series came back to me in spades. And then I was suddenly thrust from Luther's mind, the same way Jericho Barrons had thrust Mac from his mind. I didn't tumble, like in KMM's book, but one minute I was seeing blood and the next every single person was looking at me.

My eyes moved around wildly and locked onto Luther's. There was a mix of rage and worry in his almost red eyes. Man, did the dude need to eat. I opened my mouth to speak, and blood spurted from my lips. Pain seized my side, and I grabbed myself only to feel something wet and warm soaking through my jacket. Bane was on me in a second, ripping away my coat and shirt. He hissed.

"What? What is it?" I cried, freaking out.

"You're bleeding," Alpha Pheehan said as he came over and crouched down next to me.

"Luther!" Samantha cried, and everyone's head whipped to them.

"I'm fine," Luther soothed his wife, and I heard crunching sounds. Then suddenly the teen-looking vamp was over me, eyes full on red. "That hurt, Peaches."

What hurt? "I don't know what you're talking about." I seriously didn't. So, I wasn't one of Moning's characters; I could cross fairy off my list and put werewolf right back up at the top.

Luther didn't speak out loud. "You seem to have the ability to meld with a person's past self, but in doing so you take on whatever happened to them and also have that person feel it again."

Huh?

"She's fine, everyone." Luther smiled to the wolves surrounding us, but Bane didn't look the least convinced.

Luther turned back to me and nodded his head at the place I'd been bleeding. I felt it, but there was no more warm sticky blood or brutal pain.

"Peaches." Bane was in my head, but I couldn't hear him. I was flippin' shit and close to losing my mind.

I couldn't deal with this, not here, anyway. My stomach was on fire, I still smelled like throw up, and now I had blood all over me. "Samantha," I called out. Luther, Bane, the alpha, and all his werewolves were crowding me in, and the level of testosterone was suffocating me.

The wolves let the witch pass, and she was by my side, helping me up, in a second. Bane wanted to help too, but I waved him off. I was not a damsel.

I leaned on Samantha for a moment, collecting myself. A second later I smiled and stood up straight. I shed my icky coat and strode past the alpha and all his wolves. No one followed me for a second, so I turned and looked over my shoulder.

"You just going to stand there or you going to haul ass?"

Peaches: she can shove anything she doesn't want to deal with to the deep, dark recesses of her mind. Yay!

The tension left Bane's face and he turned to the alpha. "Did I mention she's special?"

Hey! He better have meant that in a nice way. The alpha gave Bane a sidelong glance. "Don't you mean rare?"

"You better not think about eating me," I shouted over my shoulder as I kept walking. A bunch of wolves ran past me, some stopping to sniff in the direction of the mansion. A werewolf said rare and I thought of steak. He did try to bite me.

"Don't worry, Peaches," Pheehan said my name like it was a dessert, which it sort of was, but whatever. "I like my meat like I like my women: raw."

I tripped and fell flat on my face. Great, just great.

Chapter Six: I Know You Want Me, You Know I Wanna Kill Ya!

Contrary to the line the Alpha delivered that had me falling flat on my face, the guy was a nice dude and a family man. I was in desperate need of a shower and something to eat, so the initial introductions were short.

The minute I stepped in the door, all the women, girls, and young boys hanging out in the foyer paused and took deep breaths in. None of them approached me, so I stood there for a second before the Alpha and his posse strolled in like they owned the place. Which they sort of did, but it was a really arrogant swagger.

"Thea, come here for a second," Lorenzo—yeah, I was sick of calling him "alpha"—called out.

A woman who looked similar to me in body type stepped out of the hoard of people, passed the alpha, and stretched out her hand to me. "Thea Pheehan. Lorenzo and I are alphas of the pack."

I nodded my head and shook her hand. "Peaches." I liked the woman, she had balls. She sort of reminded me of a more well-rounded me. Did that make sense? Like, I knew I was rough around the edges—boy, did I know that one.

My dad had always loved that I had no problem getting dirty, stepping into fights, and chopping my hair off because it was annoying me. Don't get me wrong, I still loved three-inch pumps, makeup, and jewelry, but I cared a little bit less about those things if they got in my way.

A warm arm slid around my waist. I didn't have to look to know it was Bane. "Thea, you look beautiful."

The woman laughed softly while Lorenzo growled at Bane and wrapped an arm around his mate. It was like looking into a mirror, except her hair was strawberry blonde, she had freckles around her cheeks, and her husband was a Spanish alpha werewolf not an Egyptian vampire king like mine. Still, close enough.

"I hate to be rude, but I have vomit, blood, and bat crap all over me. Can I please use your shower?" I begged. I must have looked rough, because Thea didn't even hesitate to clear out the space and show us up to our room.

"You'll be in the same place, Bane. I'll send one of the girls up to feed you." Thea waved her hands as she spoke, and it reminded me of my mom.

Finally, what she said sank in. "Isn't werewolf blood poisonous to vampires or something? Aren't you guys supposed to be enemies?"

Thea paused at a thick oak door and frowned at me. "Why would you think that?"

I opened my mouth, but Bane spoke for me. "She watches too many movies." He looked at me and I could see he was wicked pissed. About what? I should be the angry one. Wait, I was still angry.

I gave him my best frosty look, which I'm pretty sure just made me look tired.

"Um..." Thea waved her hands, feeling the tension. "I'll leave you two now."

I opened the door and walked through it. Bane followed and slammed it behind him. "We need to talk."

I whirled on him and pointed a finger. "No, you need to listen." I gestured to myself, waving my arms up and down. "See this? This could have all been avoided if you'd just listened to me, trusted me, told me anything."

"You think I don't tell you things?" he growled, coming to stand close to me. "Is that why you keep thinking this marriage is temporary?"

I blanched. "When have I ever said that? Hold up, never!"

"You don't have to say it. I can read your mind."

"Yeah," I snorted. "How's that working out for you?"

His jaw clenched. My fists did the same. "You control everything, Bane. Everything. Since the moment you found me, I've just been a fun little distraction. A long-lost puppy that you had to constantly coddle and reprimand." I took a step toward him. "Guess what? That's not who I am. I'm not the type to be bullied, and if you keep shoving me, Bane..." I raised my hands and pushed him. He stumbled back, surprised. "I'll push right back."

He had me by the throat in a second, fangs out, eyes red as blood. I dared him with my eyes to do it, to hit me, bite me. It'd be the last thing he ever did. Yeah, maybe I was being dramatic and not handling it in the best way, but he wasn't any better. He'd had years to perfect dealing with humans, or human-like creatures anyway, and he was shit-tastic at it.

His eyes bored into mine, but instead of attacking me he turned my head this way and that, carefully watching my eye. I batted at his hands. "What are you doing?"

Bane looked at me carefully, and I watched his fangs retract. "What are you feeling right now, habibiti?"

Well, that was a stupid question. "I feel like I want to rip your head off."

His lips quirked. "Want to put a color to that emotion?"

I rolled my eyes. "I don't know. Red-hot rage."

He released my chin, grabbed my hands and towed me to the bathroom. "Hey! Let go! We're still fighting. I'm still mad at you. No shower sex!"

He laughed and continued to drag me. "It's funny that that's your first thought." Bane thrust me in front of the mirror. "Look."

I stared at my reflection. I really did look like death warmed over, but then a bright, red glow caught my eyes. Sweet baby Jesus, my eyes were glowing red. And not like vampire red that was sort of dark, but like neon red! What. The. Serious. Fuck.

"Looks like it's time for us to make that list."

I stared at my eyes and nodded slowly. "Just let me grab a shower and something to eat."

He pulled his shirt over his head and I watched his muscles bulge and flex in the mirror. "I'm still mad at you." Did my voice sound a touch breathless? I needed to work on that.

"And I still want to rip your throat out, but what's new?"

I smiled at him in the mirror as I pulled off the shirt he'd torn. I shimmied out of the gross pants and boots. Six days and we already knew each other's patterns; that was weird. "As long as you understand that I'll still be mad after we have sex, I'm fine with it."

His hand was at the back of my neck, bending me over the sink. My panties were gone in the next breath, and something hot and hard was between my legs. "Fine by me."

Chapter Seven: Twenty Question, and Ain't None of Them Right

It was a good while before Bane and I came downstairs, and when we did I was walking funny. "Well, that explains why it took you so long," Casper chuckled in a corner armchair that looked stuffy and uncomfortable.

I glared at him and flipped him the bird as I gingerly walked into the Alpha's study and collapsed on the couch right in front of the food. My eyes went wide when I saw five different trays of decadent, yummy things. "Is this all for me?" I asked, like a kid in a candy store, looking up at Lorenzo and Thea sitting across from us.

There was a baby in Thea's arms, sleeping comfortably, and a smile on the alpha's face. "It was for you, Samantha, and me to share. But if you're that hungry..."

I took that as an invitation to chow down, and I began to inhale the food. I didn't pause when Bane told me to "slow down" or when Lorenzo said "I can see why she thinks she's a wolf." Fifteen minutes later, all five plates were clean, and I was stuffed.

"Where did you put all that?" Casper asked.

I turned to him. He wasn't making a joke, either. I turned back to the trays. Yeah, maybe they had been big, but I'd also thrown up a few hours ago and had wild sex in the bathroom. Excuse me if I was famished.

"So, Alpha Lorenzo—can I call you Lorenzo?" He inclined his head regally. What was it with vamps, weres, and witches thinking they were royalty? Ariel, Bane, Samantha ... hell, every single one I'd met had done the same thing.