Awakened By The Wolf

“It’s not my place to discuss your family’s matters. Talk to your parents.”

“Cassidy, what the hell is going on?” Worry threaded through the irritation in his voice.

Cassie decided if she said the words superfast, the effect would be like ripping off a Band-Aid. A sting at first, and then the worst would be over.

For her, anyway.

She drew two steady breaths and blurted, “Yourgrandmotherhadaheartattacklastnight.”

Brice simply stared, squinty-eyed and pensive as if he hadn’t heard her at all. Cassie huffed, gathering the gumption to say it again. This time, a little more slowly.

“Your grandmother had a heart attack last night.”

Chapter 4 (#uc3bf57b6-9594-5302-9547-4c5212104a78)

Brice slumped, his mouth fell open and he appeared to have stopped breathing. He was a tall, tall man, and from the way he swayed, he looked ready to topple.

“I’m too late?” His words were barely audible in the silent woods.

“No.” Afraid he would drop from shock, Cassie stood on her toes and tapped his face. “She isn’t dead. Okay?”

Though he stared at her through large, unblinking eyes, his trembling hand found hers. He held her palm to his cheek, pressed his nose against her wrist and inhaled shallow breaths until his composure returned.

She ignored the ridiculous notion that he drew comfort from her touch. Maybe the cherry-scented body wash she used smelled like his girlfriend’s fragrance. Although Cassie imagined the women Brice dated would be able to afford a more luxurious and expensive brand than the dollar store variety she used.

“How is she?” Brice’s jagged voice squeezed her heart. His distress over his grandmother’s health sounded as genuine as Cassie’s concern.

A kind, decent woman, Margaret Walker had hired Cassie to clean her house before Cassie was old enough to apply for a real job. And when family services threatened to put her in foster care after Imogene got sick, Margaret helped Cassie file emancipated minor papers. She’d also encouraged Cassie not to give up on her education no matter how bad things got—and for a while, things got pretty darn bad.

“She’s in serious condition, as far as I know. The nurses wouldn’t tell me anything else or let me visit her.” Cassie swallowed the residual sting of being turned away because she wasn’t family.

“I need to see her. Now.” Brice squatted at Cassie’s feet and went wolf.

The transformation took less than a second, which didn’t give Cassie enough time not to look. Her brain did a mental loop-the-loop. “Don’t do that in front of me.” She held her head to stop the spinning. “It’s freaky.”

The wolf’s ears flattened. Although Brice’s au naturel appearance unnerved her, Cassie preferred his nudity to this scowling, four-footed fur ball.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” She pointed up the road. “Go.”

Crinkling his nose, the wolf pulled his thin lips back in a peevish snort.

“Good boy?” She thumped his head. “Don’t roll your eyes at me. How am I supposed to know what you want? I’ve never owned a dog. Hey, stop that!” She swatted his cold nose away from the back of her knee.

His yips grew impatient. After a few nudges and some wolf drool from Brice tugging on the hem of her nightshirt, Cassie understood he wouldn’t run ahead and leave her behind.

She jogged toward the cabin. Brice loped beside her without touching his right hind leg to the ground.

Surreal didn’t begin to describe the situation. Of all the things she might have expected of Margaret Walker’s grandson, being a wolfman wasn’t one of them.

A very sexy wolfman, sans the wolfy part.

A girlish giddiness bubbled through her body and caused complete loss of coordination in her limbs. She tripped on the porch steps.

Brice, the man, curled strong fingers around her arm.

“I can manage.” Cassie shook him off and scurried into the cabin to turn on the lights.

“Fine.” Brice shaded his eyes behind his hand. “I need a shower.” He brushed past her.

“Fine.” Cassie locked the door, then spun around and knocked full frontal into him. After the way he’d cast her aside in the woods, she should have been disgusted by the contact. Instead, her nerve endings jumped with excitement, and her body begged and screamed to cozy into him.

Ignoring her sensible brain’s command to move away, Cassie steadfastly stared straight into his eyes. From across the bedroom, Brice’s irises had appeared almost teal. Had she been close enough to realize that his left eye was a vivid shade of dark blue and his right one was a bright green, she would’ve recognized him by his reputation of mismatched eyes.

And missed all that delicious touching and tackling and more touching.

She couldn’t wait to do it again.

“Stop!” Oops, she hadn’t meant to say that aloud.

“I can’t show up at the hospital naked.” He dipped his stern face within inches of hers. His mismatched gaze bore into her as if willing Cassie to say something, but her mind filled with two thoughts: how striking his eyes were and how much she wanted to rub her body against him like a frisky cat.

Being a wolf, he probably didn’t like cats. Except maybe to eat them.

Cassie’s sex clenched and her thoughts ran amok with visions of his soft whiskers against her inner thighs and the pressure of his masculine lips against her folds, sliding his moist, firm tongue along her slit, sucking her nub and thrusting into her wet heat until she came undone.

Just because she didn’t have actual sexual experience with a man didn’t mean she hadn’t fantasized, and she’d have been a liar to say she didn’t want fantasy to turn into reality. Right here, right now.

He wanted it, too, if the mammoth size of his erection heating her stomach was any indication.

He doesn’t want you, specifically. Like all men, he just wants sex. Doesn’t matter with whom.

“Clothes,” Brice growled.

“I, um.” The swirls of hairs on his chest teased the palm Cassie pressed against his torso. Her hand itched to stroke every inch of his body, and she wondered if his penis would feel as velvety as it looked.

Focus!

“Your grandmother never wanted to throw out your stuff. Everything is where you left it.” Cassie tugged down the dirty hem of the baseball shirt. “Mostly.”

“Grab me a pair of jeans and a shirt.” Brice left her standing, breathless and out of sorts, in the middle of the foyer.

Cassie resisted a retort about not being his maid. By the time she thought of it, the shower was running. Barging into the bathroom to make the grand announcement was probably a bad idea.

She headed into the kitchen for a broom. A bloodied nose and bruised balls were bad enough. She didn’t want Brice to cut his feet on broken glass.

She flipped on the kitchen light and stared, slack-jawed.

Oh, no.