Kane snapped. He growled and lunged for Jamie only to be held back by his brothers, Rane and Arden. "Mine," he snarled as he struggled to free himself.
Kane knew he wasn't being rational. Jamie was his brother and Faith's best friend, but it seemed his wolf, and deep down he admitted to himself, he didn't care. The kiss ended when Faith was called inside. She excused herself and left without even looking back.
Jamie turned to him, and his face paled and his eyes widened as the realization seemed to sink in. Jamie screamed, "No, no, no, you can't have her. She can't be your true mate."
Kane surged forward again, and this time he found himself free. He got up in Jamie's face, making sure his alpha wolf showed, and bellowed, "Mine. Don't touch her again. Next time I will kill you, brother or not."
Kane knew he was overreacting, but his wolf had taken over. He followed his nose inside where he found Faith on the phone in her bedroom. She turned to him with a stunned expression as she ended her call. Kane grabbed the phone and threw it on her pillow. He picked a still shocked Faith up, threw her over his shoulder, and took her out the back to avoid being seen. Arriving at his car, he placed her in the passenger seat, telling her "don't move", and then got in and drove away.
Obviously stunned, she didn't say anything until they were on their way. "Dr. Wolfen, take me back to my party, right now," demanded Faith.
Kane knew why she wasn't calling him by his given name, by calling him Dr. Wolfen she was creating space between them and she didn't have to acknowledge how close they had once been.
Frustrated, Kane raked his hand through his hair. "Why? You're close to everyone in my family, all of them heard from you while you were overseas. My parents already treated you like a daughter. God, you used to be my constant shadow when I was home. When you were little I helped you control your gifts. What happened? You just started avoiding me, stopped talking to me. You wouldn't even be in the house when I was there." He shook his head. "That's why my wolf doesn't talk to me anymore, because over four years ago you stopped talking to me. I wondered why, when any information came up about you my wolf would perk up. I should have known, but you're so young. There's a fourteen year age difference between us. I guess that's why I never guessed."
A few minutes later, they arrived at his house. Parking his car in the driveway, Kane grabbed a stunned, opened-mouth Faith-which he felt pretty good about, as it was hard to get anything by her-and carried her inside.
He placed Faith on his bed and stared at her. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. His wet dream had come to life. Faith was still short, it didn't look like she'd grown any since he last saw her, still just barely over five feet. Her brown-red hair was a little bit longer now, waist-length, and at that moment it was everywhere. He brushed some of the wild hair out of her warm, chocolate brown eyes. They were slightly tilted, giving her an exotic look, and they were currently glaring at him, flashing with anger. Faith had satin smooth, olive brown skin, a dainty little nose, a full bottom lip, and a slender neck. Her breasts were easily more than two handfuls-they were huge, round globes, about a large D cup he guessed. His gaze continued down to her flat tummy, and he frowned when he saw the blue belly ring that could just be seen as her dress was now pushed up to just above it. When did she get that? Pushing the thought aside for the moment, he continued his perusal, moving his gaze down her thick, toned thighs, perfect for holding on, and to her black stilettos.
Wow! Faith had really grown up and then some. Crap, no wonder she used to come home from school upset because the girls would pick on her, calling her Barbie and other things, they were jealous. He now knew why the boys wouldn't leave her alone. Faith was smoking hot. Kane shook his head, snapping out of his musing. She was all his now, no more excuses, no more stalling.
* * * *
Faith stared at Kane. God, it sucked. He just got better with age. He was tall-easily six and a half feet-with a dark complexion, thick curly dirty blond hair, and bright ocean blue eyes that captured and saw everything anytime she looked his way. She had avoided those eyes for four years, but right now they stared at her with frightening depth. His high cheekbones completed his perfect face. He even had a straight nose, which thanks to werewolf healing had remained straight despite being broken several times. Lucky werewolves and their advanced healing abilities. His nose did have a slight point, but with his full, lush lips it just made him look better if that was possible. Argh, so unfair. She hated werewolf genes.
How was she going to get over him? Especially when he looked better than any Greek god anyone could ever imagine.
She told herself not to look down, but a quick peek wouldn't hurt, right? Glancing at the end of the bed, she bit the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't sigh at the muscles straining beneath his shirt. Oh God, just as she'd imagined … a six-pack. He was huge but still seemed all in proportion. She told herself not to look any further down, but her eyes wouldn't listen to her. Holy shit, there was a baseball bat in his pants. She gasped and looked up into his beautiful blue eyes.
"Why?" Kane said.
"Why? What?" Faith replied. What was the question again? Arghhh, he was distracting her. She needed to get out of there before she did something stupid, or said something stupid. Kane always made her feel like a love-sick idiot.
Taking a deep breath, Faith used her most authoritative voice, the voice she used when children were not listening and she needed their attention. "Dr. Wolfen, I will say it again, take me home, or I will walk home." Faith knew she should say more, she had so much to say, but every time she spoke nothing she wanted to say came out. It pissed her off. "You have no right to take me!"
He laughed at her-he frigging laughed. "Oh, Faith, yes I do."
He started removing his clothes, ripping off his shirt and pants, revealing his lovely tanned skin, his rippling muscles, and every nook and cranny of his sculptured body. He stood in front of Faith in all his naked glory. He looked even better than she'd imagined he would look without his clothes. She gulped and sat on her hands, because she had a sudden urge to trace every one of his tattoos, and he had quite a few-her favorite were the two flowers that led to a long, thick penis that looked painfully hard. She licked her lips.
Kane shifted to his wolf form. Light shone from him as he seemed to shrink, grow long hair, and filled out into a massive dirty blond wolf.
She muttered under her breath, knowing he would hear it. "How I hate you. You're gorgeous even in your wolf form."
Kane licked her face as he proceeded to rub his fur covered body against her until she gave in, petting and hugging him. After about fifteen minutes of this Kane turned back into a man, a very naked man in Faith's arms.
Faith screeched. "Dr. Wolfen, get off me now."
"What's the difference? It's still me, princess."
Faith smiled at him. "I like you better as a wolf."
Kane stared at her, and she watched his jaw as he ground his teeth and ran his hand over his face. Faith could tell he was getting frustrated because he wasn't getting anywhere with her. "Why?"
"Why do I like you better as a wolf?"
"No, why have you avoided me for the last four years? You stopped talking to me, and any time I did manage to get a glimpse of you, you glared at me with distrustful eyes."
Faith stared at Kane, trying to figure out how to reply. She couldn't tell him that it was because of the incident that had occurred when she was sixteen. He'd come home for the weekend and she'd caught him having sex with one of his girlfriends. Later, said girlfriend had found Faith sitting on her swing in her special place in the woods and proceeded to tell her that she would never have Kane, that she had a silly crush, and she never had a chance of becoming anything to him, because he was an alpha wolf next in line and she was only human.
Faith had been heartbroken, because she knew Kane had seen and heard her when she'd walked in on them. She was also sure he'd seen her further humiliation when the girl had ridiculed her. Faith was aware Kane knew about her crush, but he said nothing, did nothing. He didn't even check to see if she was okay. Her heart was broken, and she was angry. She'd expected better from him. Maybe she had overreacted, but she was only sixteen. He was the man she loved, and she'd hoped that someday he would see her as more than just an annoying kid. She knew that he sensed she was supposed to be something special to him, even if he didn't want to acknowledge it. She didn't seem to be able to get over her anger even though it was years later. It still hurt.