Alpha Blood Box Set(38)

I sweetly smiled at him and grabbed his hand. “And you’ll look all wet.” I yanked hard toward me, and in his precarious footing he slipped and tumbled into the drink. Unfortunately, his crash wasn’t beside me, but on top of me. I got dunked again, and our arms and legs flailed in the water, each trying to free ourselves from the grasp of the frigid creek.

After a few wild moments Luke managed to find his footing and dragged us both from the creek. We were soaked and I with my arms crossed stood shivering on the bank. “T-that’ll t-teach y-you to l-laugh at m-me,” I stuttered.

Luke bared the cold much better as he stood there letting his clothes drip on the path. We could have made a new creek with how much water dripped off us. “I think that’s enough practice tonight,” he announced.

“Or for the next year,” I grumbled. I shuffled down the path toward the house, but yelped when I was swept up into a pair of strong, wet arms.

Luke grinned down at me with that evil twinkle in his eyes. “The faster we get back the faster we can get out of these clothes,” he told me.

“And the faster we can get into some dry ones,” I finished.

He grinned. “Who said anything about getting back into clothes?”

I smiled and leaned my head against his chest while he shot off down the trail toward home. It was nice having my own private handler, especially in the bedroom. “Be careful not to run into a tree, Jeeves,” I teased.

Luke chuckled. “I’ll try, but I have been meaning to get a crew in here to clean up some of these overgrown trees,” he returned.

I rolled my eyes and snuggled his shirt. “I’m sure you’ll do fine.”





2





Luke raced along the woodland path, and we soon burst out of the trees and onto the well-manicured back lawn of the elegant house that I now called home. Our adventures at Sanctuary were a not-so-distant memory of four weeks past, but those had been a, usually, wonderful four weeks. Lots of sleeping in after rowdy nights of love-making followed by delicious meals cooked by Alistair, Luke’s manservant. He made a mean plate of scrambled eggs and toast that I wolfed down every morning and sometimes in the evenings.

The sweet life was interrupted occasionally by Luke’s insistence on my werewolf training. To be honest I didn’t need much training. I just had a few problems with transforming that ended up with partial changes, my nose couldn’t follow a track to save my life, and on occasion during my speed practice I ran into one or five trees. All right, so I needed a lot of training, but I was trying and slowly improving. It was a good thing werewolves lived a long time because I was going to need all those centuries to get good at being one.

Anyway, Luke sprinted across the lawn and we met Alistair at the back door. Above us the sun cast its last rays and was replaced with the darkness of night. Luke set me down, and by this time I was a mass of quivering flesh and chattering teeth. The corners of Alistair’s mouth twitched and beneath his stoic exterior I detected a hint of humor. When I first came into Luke’s life Alistair hadn’t approved of me, but now we were at least chummy. He’d torture me and I’d try to torture him, but it was hard to tease someone as impassive as a statue. “Problems?” Alistair asked us.

“Just a few, but could you make some cocoa for Becky?” Luke asked his servant.

“Very well, sir,” Alistair replied. He bowed and left to attend to the new duties.

“Let’s get you upstairs and out of those things,” Luke told me. He led me inside the house and along the hardwood floors upstairs to our shared bedroom. No more white room for me, I’d upgraded to the master suite with the master included in the package deal. Speaking of packages, I was looking forward to watching Luke strip off his wet clothes and show off his wet, strong muscles. It made me wet just thinking about it. Well, wetter than I already was.

We slipped into the bedroom, and I hurriedly slipped out of my clinging clothes. Luke watched me from a few yards off with the patience of a saint and the intentions of an incubus. His eyes heated up every part of my body that was revealed to him which was most every part of me as I pulled off my damp shirt and pants. All that remained was my bra, underwear, and soggy socks, all of which were white and very much transparent. I paused in my undressing and glared at him. “Aren’t you going to join me?” I scolded him.

He shrugged and grinned. “I was just enjoying the show,” he replied.

I crossed my arms and tapped my foot on the floor. “This isn’t a spectator’s sport. We’re both supposed to be participating,” I argued.

Luke stepped over to me and wrapped his arms around me so he could pin my nearly naked body against his damp clothes. His chilled lips captured mine in a deep, lustful kiss that took my breath away along with the chill in my bones. He broke our pleasurable contact and grinned down at my red cheeks. “I have just the sport we can play, but you have to take off all your clothes,” he teased. The Beast inside me yipped for joy, and the human part of me was squealing like a fangirl. I was fully prepared to take him up on his offer and strip, but something interrupted our fun time.

That something was a blast from a horn. The noise came from the woods in back of the house. Luke let me go and rushed out of the room, leaving me flustered and mostly naked. I grabbed his favorite bathrobe and hurried after him, but fell behind. His speed was a lot better than mine, and by the time I made it to the back door Alistair and he were far out on the lawn near the edge of the forest. I was in time to see a large gray wolf burst from the trees with two smaller ones close behind.

Alistair and Luke rushed the pursuers who, seeing the tables turned on them and they now being the pursued, turned tail and ran back into the woods. Luke looked like wanted to run after them, but Alistair grabbed his shoulder and stopped him before he dove into the trees. Alistair nodded over his shoulder at the gray wolf who had collapsed on the lawn. The pair hurried over to it, and I rushed out barefoot to them.

Luke knelt by the side of the wolf who lay on the ground panting heavily with its eyes closed. He lay a hand on the thick matting of fur on the wolf’s side, and cringed when his fingers dipped into a thick, red liquid. The poor beast was injured and bleeding. Luke leaned forward and looked the creature in the face. “Zeke? Zeke, can you hear me?”

“Zeke?” I repeated. That name was the same for the guy who lived in a hut in the woods and watched over the house.

The wolf’s eyes fluttered open and it groaned. Luke smiled grimly and looked him over. “Can you change back or do we have to carry you like this?”

The wolf growled, then closed its eyes again and ground its teeth together. I stepped back when its body began to change. The fur slipped into pale skin and the sharp claws became short, bony fingers. I slipped off my bathrobe and covered their wrinkled old body. The long snout pulled back into the gruff old face of Zeke the grounds keeper who grimaced in pain. “Damn that hurt,” he growled. I could see why. There was a long, deep gash along his side that coated his rags and the ground with blood.

“Alistair, help me get him inside,” Luke commanded. Alistair and Luke each took a side and hefted him into their arms. They were as careful as possible, but Zeke still winced and glared at them.

“Watch what yer doing,” he growled.

“What we’re doing is saving your life,” Alistair shot back.

“That’s enough, both of you,” Luke scolded. I followed after them into the back hall and to the living room where they lay Zeke on the couch. Luke took another look at the wound, and the rest of Zeke’s body. “Any internals?” he asked the old man.

Zeke should his head. “Nothing but my pride for them sneaking up on me.”

“It’s not hard to wonder why. I couldn’t smell a single scent from them,” Luke commented. “If Alistair wouldn’t have stopped me from going into the woods I might have been another victim of their sneak attack. Where’d you pick them up?”

“Along the creek. Heard ‘em splashing through the water, but they smelled me before I could hide myself. Got a few licks in, but two against an old man isn’t much of a fight. I thought I’d get some help here and ran along, but they caught me on the side,” Zeke explained to us.

“And nearly caught you on the lawn,” Luke replied. He turned to Alistair. “Bandages and antiseptics.” Alistair nodded and left to fetch the supplies.

I stepped up beside Luke and tried not to look at the horrible gash. “Is he going to be all right?” I whispered to him.

Zeke overheard me and scoffed at my question. “Ah’ll be just fine, just gonna need some time to rest up.”

I smiled. “Let me guess, just a day?” I asked him.

Zeke grinned. “About that long.”

I turned to Luke and sighed. “Is anyone you know not a werewolf?” I wondered.

Not many,” he admitted.

“Enough blabbing about me, it ain’t natural for them guys not to have a scent,” Zeke grumbled.

“No, and it puts us at a disadvantage,” Luke agreed.

“How are we supposed to fight against something even werewolves can’t sense sneaking up on them?” I asked the pair.