A Cat's Tale (11 page)

He
did not turn his head and kept his threatened eye closed. Jared’s heart rate
remained slow and steady; she could not scent a hint of fear. He wasn’t afraid
of her at all.

“I’m
an Alpha wolf; you’re a cat,” he said. “You don’t like being told what to do;
issuing orders is what I’m accustomed to. I didn’t want to make you feel more
threatened.”

“Where
is your pack now?”

He
flashed his teeth in a wolf smile. “By now, they’ve noticed I’m missing. The
pack is probably somewhere between here and Virginia, shredding everything in
their path. See, there was a degree of urgency to getting out of there on my
own. Being rescued would’ve been damn embarrassing.”

“I
see.” Her laugh emerged as a bitter sound. Her claws retracted and his eyelid
twitched beneath her fingertip. She stroked the silky lashes.

Josie
couldn’t stand to gouge one of those beautiful eyes. She reached for his throat
instead and settled all of her claws against vital points, considering…It was
so much more appropriate. She could bite him but she doubted her mouth could
damage his thick neck.

“When
did you decide to play Russian roulette with my life?” she demanded. “Seven
days ago?”

He
turned his head and looked up at her. “Tonight, when Carl told me about the
vampires who would accompany him and that he wanted out,” Jared replied. His
answer had the ring of honesty.

“I
knew then I had a chance to get you out, so I improvised. If they thought you
were dead then there was no reason to lock the cell behind me. The wound was
severe but not lethal. I know how to bite without striking a major artery.”

She
sucked in a sharp breath and tightened her grip on his throat. “You trust your
judgment that fucking much that you’d risk my life?”

Jared
met her eyes and never blinked or wavered. “Yes.”

Her
confidence faltered. Tears resurged along with doubt and fear and desire. She
despised her weakness and his strength.
Damn it! Damn him!
She needed
something more than this wolf’s unshakeable confidence in his own judgment and
ability.

“There’s
more, isn’t there?” she asked, furious with him again. She allowed the tips of
her claws to pierce his throat opening eight pinpricks, each shedding a single
drop of blood. Abruptly, the werewolf’s entire body tensed as he took her
threat seriously this time.

He
shook his head once. “There’s only this,” he said. He braced and waited to see
if she’d rip out his throat.

“This…this…What
is this?” Her claws sank deeper and he flinched, sucking down a hard breath.
Beneath her hands, his pulse raced. Still he waited, and finally, she
understood.

This
was dominance and submission.
He was a wolf; he was Alpha. And he had rolled onto his back, offering his
eyes, his throat, and his
life
to an unpredictable Siamese cat. Josie
had seen what submission to Evangeline had cost him—how it made him feel. He
had endured the vampire’s blood rape for Josie’s sake.

Her
breath exhaled in a whoosh and she removed her claws from his throat, settling
her palms against his bare chest. Josephine did not surrender her position
astride him. “I betrayed you twice; you got me once bad,” she said. “Can we be
even now?”

The
tension bled out of Jared’s body. “I forgave you days ago. Can you forgive me?”

“Maybe,”
she said. She had already forgiven him but had no intention of telling him
that. He could suffer for a while first. He had it coming.

“Josie,”
he scolded. Those topaz eyes allowed no evasion.

“I
need for you to be sorry! Not right.”

His
head tilted forward. “I’m so damn sorry I hurt you, Josie, I don’t have the
words.”

She
blinked back tears. “Fine, I forgive you.”

He
smiled. “Can you trust me again?”

“I
don’t know,” she said. She glanced to where the cars were parked. “Were you
going to leave me?”

“No.
I was going to call my pack, regroup, get some new clothes, and then find you,”
Jared said. “I figured I’d give you some time to cool off and then try to
apologize. To explain.”

“You
were walking away,” Josephine said, choking on grief and uncertainty. “I
thought you were leaving me.”

“Josie.”
He met her gaze. “I wouldn’t leave you like that. You matter too much to me.”

“Honest?”
Josephine marshaled a smile. She despised her own whininess, the part of her
still living inside a cage.

“Honest.”
He grinned. “Besides, walking off was just a ruse to draw you out. I was
getting tired of sitting there.”

“Oh!”
She smacked him on the chest. “Don’t pretend for a second that I’m predictable.”

“Not
for a second.” His smile turned to laughter, and she joined him, laughing until
she gasped for air. Their humor was short-lived but she breathed easier
afterward.

“What
next?” Josephine asked.

“How
are you feeling?”

The
question took more courage to pose than Josie possessed. The reality of life
outside of a cage wasn’t something she’d fully grasped or considered just yet.
She searched her heart and found both fear and hope for the future…with him.

“I’m
frightened.” She felt uncertain and fragile. The world was a huge scary place
after three years in captivity. Jared, a complete stranger and a werewolf she’d
known for a week, represented her only link to the outside world. “I don’t have
anywhere to go.”

“I
don’t want you coming with me because you have no other options. That’s just
another cage,” he said. “I’ll take you wherever you want, help you get settled.
Or I can give you money if you want to go on your own.”

His
offer hurt more than she’d have thought possible. Either he wanted to be rid of
her or he believed she couldn’t stand him. Her emotions were battered, and her
body exhausted. She could not expend any more energy on these games.

The
werecat’s shoulders slumped and she crossed her arms, sliding backward and off
Jared. “Whatever you want,” she said. “I can take care of myself.”

He
sat up. Rough arms halted her retreat and hauled her back. Jared placed Josie
on his lap and wrapped his arms around her, creating a cage and a sanctuary. “If
it’s up to me then I’m keeping you. Josie Cat, you’ve turned my whole world
upside down in just a week and I very much want you to stay,” he said, pure
male in his assertion of his rights.

Josie
stiffened her spine and her resolve. “I want more than to be some werewolf’s
fuck toy,” she told him, narrowing her blue eyes. “As if it’s a step up from
being a vampire’s blood donor.”

His
hands framed her face and did something he hadn’t done in their week together:
he kissed her. His lips were full and firm. Her wolf kissed with his heart and
his soul, transforming it into a simple act of honesty. Desperate to believe it
was real, Josie grasped at his chest with her hands, kneading the solid muscle
of his pecs.

Jared
broke contact and nuzzled the side of her face, still more wolf than man. His
gaze reflected a powerful, scary devotion. “Josie, you’re so much more to me
than that.”

Josephine
already understood that Jared put more stock in actions than words, but it also
created uncertainty. She needed to believe it could be real.

“No
more secrets? No more lies?” Josephine asked.

Jared
hesitated to answer and the look on his face set off alarms. “Oh no,” she
moaned, fighting down a tide of panic. “What else? What aren’t you telling me
now?”

Jared
exhaled, slow and hard, so his nostrils flared. “I don’t want to scare you
away.”

Josephine
opened her mouth but before she made a reply, a tsunami of energy engulfed her,
the same as she’d experienced before but a thousand times more powerful. The
air crackled, causing her fur to rise, her skin to tingle, and her entire body
to vibrate.

She
fell against Jared’s chest, gasping for air. A connection opened between them.
The metaphysical link gave her a window straight into his heart. She
knew
him—his unshakeable self-confidence, his sense of honor and fair play, his
protectiveness and playfulness, and even his wicked humor and horniness.

“What
is that?” Josephine demanded.

“That’s
the mate bond,” Jared explained. “Wolves mate for life. It’s your guarantee
that I could never act against you or harm you in any way.”

She
trembled and stared at him with great rounded eyes. “How did this happen?”

His
lips twisted in a sardonic smile. “I’m not sure. At some point along the way,
my wolf chose you. By the time I figured out what had happened, we’d already
had sex and sealed the bond.”

He
stared at her with that uncanny perception, no doubt reading her fear and
apprehension. “You don’t have to be afraid, Josie. You can walk away any time
you want. You’re not a wolf.”

“What
about you?” Josephine asked. “What happens to you if I leave?”

His
mouth set in a grim line; his eyes were sorrowful. “If you leave, I’m screwed.
Wolves mate for life. There will never be anyone else who can replace you in my
heart or in my bed.”

The
truth of his words resonated through the connection. Feeling ill, Josephine
looked away and then back at him. She bit her lower lip. “I don’t want you to
be bound to me, Jared. You’ve already lost enough of your freedom because of
me.”

The
tension around his eyes eased. “The mate bond is a choice made of free will,
Josie. I chose to tie myself to you, even if I wasn’t consciously aware of doing
so at the time.”

Her
eyes brimmed with tears. She refused to blink and shed them. “Will you let me
go?”

His
vast hurt and disappointment reached her through their empathic bond. “Yes,”
Jared said, and he meant it.

“Josie,
I’d love for you to stay with me, because I believe together we have something
real, something worth fighting for. But more than that, I want for you to be
free. If that means you want a job or to drive or to fly, then I’ll do whatever
I can to help you. Even if it means letting you go.”

She
stiffened in disbelief, and then turned into him, safe within his arms. Josie
thrust her face against her wolf’s neck, nipping at his throat with sharp
teeth.
Her
great big badass werewolf. A purr of pleasure erupted from
her chest.

“Okay,
then,” she said, “I guess being a werewolf’s fuck toy isn’t so bad.”
She
loved him.
She couldn’t say it yet. Maybe she didn’t need to thanks to an
unshakeable bond and unlimited trust. Besides, she was sure that he knew.

Her
wolf threw back his head and roared with laughter. Then he climbed to his feet
and gathered her in his arms, carrying her…wherever. So long as they wound up
there together.

Also
Available

The Vampire’s Madam

by

L. Rosario

Not
only is Janna Cutting scorned by Victorian Society for her Indian blood but
also because she owns one of the city’s most profitable brothels. As madam she
possesses wealth and independence and still she longs for one thing, the
mysterious Hugh de Troyes. Yet, week after week, he treats her as nothing more
than the proprietor of Keya House.

Fueled
by jealousy, Janna decides to play voyeur during the handsome Frenchman’s
visit. What she witnesses leaves her aroused beyond endurance and privy to the
knowledge that Hugh is far from satisfied. He deserves a woman willing to see
to all his needs, a woman willing to bleed. Janna is that woman, but failing to
convince Hugh might leave her with a wound far greater than any his fangs could
inflict.

Thank you for purchasing

this Wild Rose Press publication.

For other wonderful stories of erotic romance,

please visit our on-line bookstore at

www.thewilderroses.com
.

For questions or more information

contact us at

[email protected].

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

www.thewilderroses.com