His Perfect Wolf (Mystic Wolves Book 2) (3 page)

She studied the petite
woman who smelled like a wolf. She also smelled like her mate, and sex, which
wasn’t surprising. When Niall had raced through the woods, she vaguely
remembered the trees rush
ing past. However, the man
who stood next to Cora was hard to miss, with his looks very similar to
Niall’s, she knew they were brothers. She didn’t miss the fact Cora wouldn’t
call him her mate. She tried to remember why she knew they were wolves, and if
s
he was one too.

“My head feels like it
was hit by a baseball bat and my arm, not much better,” she answered
truthfully. Now that she was thinking a little clearer, her arm wasn’t
throbbing nearly as much.

“Without taking you to
my clinic to make sure, I ca
n do a cursory exam. Will
that be okay?” Cora asked.

With a nod, she let
the other woman clean her up with the warm water and cloths. She enjoyed
watching the interaction between the couple as Zayn did Cora’s bidding.

Zayn was sent off to
fetch a first aid
kit, leaving her alone with the
woman who acted like a doctor.

“Are you a doctor,
Cora?”

“I’m a veterinarian,
actually. Before you say anything, I’ll have you know that as a vet we go
through years of schooling and have to learn the physiology of not just
one body type, like a human doctor, but many. I mean, do
you know that not many animals share the same internal makeup. For instance—”

Cora’s words were cut
off by Zayn who came in and placed his hand over her mouth.

“Don’t get her started
on all the way
s the animal kingdom is different. We
could be here all week for that lecture.” His blue eyes smiled down into his
mate’s. She felt a pang of jealousy at the obvious affection.

“I just wanted her to
know I was more than qualified to take care of her.” Cora
grabbed the ice pack from Zayn while he set everything
else on the side table.

She held up her good
hand. “I do trust you, and I also believe if you think I need the hospital
you’ll take me there.” She found herself believing her words, even though she
di
dn’t know these people from Adam. Yeah, she
probably should get her head examined.

Cora began swiftly
cleaning the scrapes and scratches, careful of her arm she’d already placed the
ice on and elevated with pillows. By the time she cleaned and checked her
over, a good twenty minutes had passed, and still no sign
of Niall. Her heart didn’t pang from his absence.
Nope.

“Has the swelling
already gone down?” Cora peered down at the arm in question.

Zayn moved closer,
making her feel threatened. She scooted to t
he other
side of the bed, falling off the edge with a resounding thud. The pain of
hitting the hardwood floors on her already injured ass, made her scream as she
reached out with both hands to stop her fall.

An unholy roar shook
the very floor she sat on.

A sense of calm stole
over her.

“What the fuck are you
doing to her?” Niall asked, storming into the room.

She watched the play
of emotions cross the alpha’s face, and she had no doubt Niall was the alpha.
Zayn placed himself in front of his mate, the
stance
protective, yet submissive.

“Niall, we didn’t do
anything. You need to chill, man, before you scare her more.” Zayn tilted his
head, but didn’t look away from Niall.

She processed the new
information she was witnessing, sure that the alpha she’d kno
wn would’ve torn out the lesser wolf’s throat for looking
him in the eye. She sucked in a breath as a memory of a large wolf attacking a
much smaller, weaker wolf, came to mind. The sound must have caught the enraged
man’s attention, because the next thing
she knew he
was beside her. He cleared the bed and landed in a crouch, crowding and
protective, with his blue eyes scanning her for injuries. She held perfectly
still, trying not to anger him with any quick movements. Not that she was up to
any more quick
escapes.

Her left arm ached
from the pressure of holding it at the angle she’d landed on it, but the
thought of moving scared her even more.

“Easy, babe, I’m not
going to hurt you. Let me help you back onto the bed. Will you let me help
you?”

His deep bar
itone voice sent a delicious shiver down her spine. Good
God, almighty, she was not going to get excited by his voice. Wolves could
scent that shit.
Think of anything other than how good he
smells.

Already at eye level,
she couldn’t miss the sparkle in his
gaze, nor the
way his lips tilted up in a grin. Totally busted macking on the hot wolf, who
didn’t know she knew he was a wolf.
Oh the something web we weave.

“Ready?” Niall asked.

She nodded, afraid if
she opened her mouth she’d lick him, or ask him to l
ick
her. Jeezus, she was becoming a right hussy.

“I’m sorry for being a
pain in the ass, if you could just let me call a cab—” Shit, she didn’t even
know her name let alone who she could call, or where she could go.

“Hey,
none of that.
There’s no reason for tears, babe.”

“That’s easy for you
to say. You know your name. I don’t know anything.” She cried, a hiccupping cry
bubbled up before she could stop it.

Burying her face in
his chest, she let go of the tears she’d held at bay, letting
the big man wrap her in his arms and hold her. She’d heard
the doctor and her mate leave, but couldn’t bring herself to lift her head and
face him. Niall was the only thing she wasn’t afraid of in the world at the
moment, even the doctor didn’t give her a
sense of
safety like he did.

A few minutes, maybe
more,
and she finally lifted her head from
his wet T-shirt. His large hand smoothed her hair back from her face, and she
swore he looked sad.

“I’m
sorry,
I got your shirt all wet.” She tried to
put space b
etween them. His grip on the back of her
head tightened for a brief moment.

“Are you feeling
better?” he
asked,
his expression once again passive.

She swallowed the lump
in her throat.
“Yeah…no, not
really.
I feel like I’m lost and I don’t know what to do
or
where to go.” A thought struck her. “Did I have a purse, or phone?”

Niall shook his head.
“Not on you, but maybe it fell out when you took your tumble. I’ll go out
tomorrow and scout the area. I also didn’t find your car keys, so I’ll look for
those too
. I suggest a nice hot bath, and a good
night’s sleep. Everything always looks better in the morning.”

Her stomach rumbled,
reminding her that she needed to eat. Why did she think she hadn’t eaten
anything for a while?

“Why don’t I start you
a bath and whi
le you take a soak, I’ll cook us some
dinner. I usually eat after I close up the bar, so I’m starving too.”

She should protest,
but her gut told her she was safe or as safe as she wanted to be. He didn’t
wait for her to agree, just got up and went through
the
door she assumed was the ensuite. She heard him moving around and then the
unmistakable sound of water running. He walked back out and into another door,
coming out with a shirt and a pair of socks and what looked like sweats.

“These are
clean,
and way
too
big for you, but I figure you’ll want to put something on after your bath. If
you want, I can throw your clothes in the washer if you toss them out here
after you undress. I promise to be a gentleman and not look in on you…unless
you need me or want m
e to.”

His beguiling smile
nearly had her begging him to join her in the bathroom, or the bed. However,
she wasn’t sure if she was that kind of girl or not. For Christ-sake, she
wasn’t even sure if she was a card carrying member of the virgin squad. Surely
, if she was a virgin, she’d be wearing like a bracelet or
something?
White panties?
Help, help, I’ve decided to have sex.
Someone help.
Yeah,
she was pretty sure she hadn’t seen that infomercial.
So, no life-alert bracelet for the virgins.

“Thank you, tha
t’ll be fine.”

“Do you like steak?”
Niall asked.

Her mouth watered at
the mention of raw meat. Oh lord, she was afraid she was going to drool on him
for another reason. At the rate she was going, she would be the worst house
guest, ever. Get host wet with
tears? Check. Wanna
have sex, but not sure if you’re that kinda girl, so you might be a tease?
Check. Drool on host at mention of meat, and not the one between his legs?
Check. She could hear the host calling out her name now. Only she didn’t know
her name
so it would be something like,
and
the winner for worst house guest goes to blahblahblah. Come on down.
She laughed at the absurd thoughts and
then sobered at the worried look on Niall’s face.

“I love steak, I’m
pretty sure. Um, rawish or rare, or however
you’re
having yours will be fine.” She was babbling, but the flood of words couldn’t
be stopped.

“Come on. You take a
bath, and I’ll have
supperish
cooked in no time.”

He was playing with
her. She didn’t think a man had ever played with her before. He hel
ped her stand, making sure she was steady before he
released her.

“Thank you, Niall.
You’re a sweet man.”

Niall’s grin lit up
his face. “I think you’re the second person in this world to ever have called
me that. Here you go.” He handed her the stack of cl
othes.
“Toss your clothes out and I’ll start a load while you bathe.”

With a nod she went
inside the bathroom. The tub was huge. Like built for five or six football
players, which must be why he wasn’t worried about it overflowing. He’d added
some oil to t
he water. The scent of ginger filled the
room. She loved the smell of ginger. The memory gave her pause. She tried to
grab onto it and force more, only to have pain throb in her temple.

Shedding her dirty
clothes, she was shocked to see her left arm was no
longer swollen. Black and blue bruises mottled the entire arm as she eased the
shirt off, exposing the damage, but there were only bruises, no breaks.
Quickly, she removed the rest of her clothes, folding them and placing them in
a pile outside the door.

She decided to get
clean before she inspected the rest of the damage in the mirror, figuring she
had maybe fifteen minutes, twenty tops. On the edge of the huge tub she found
shampoo and conditioner, and she wondered if he had regular overnight female gues
ts. The green-eyed monster reared its head at the thought.
She twisted her hair up and tied it in a knot, praying it didn’t fall into the
oiled water. Looking across at the glass enclosed shower, she could imagine
Niall using it, and she calculated her tim
e.

The warm water felt
delicious as she stepped over the side and sunk into the depths. She could’ve
sat in the warm oily water forever, but she had put a mental clock on, and her
time was ticking. Through the water she could see more bruises covered her l
egs and torso. She wondered why she didn’t hurt from head
to toe. Sufficiently clean and relaxed, she pulled the plug, sighing, wishing
she had an hour to spend in the glorious tub. As she stood, she looked out the
floor to ceiling windows behind her, figu
ring if
there was someone out there they were getting a great view of her sorry looking
ass, which she assumed was just as black and blue as the front of her.

She grabbed one of the
towels Niall had left out for her and wiped her feet, not wanting to fall
on the tile floor before she made her way to the shower to
wash her hair. With the shampoo and conditioner in hand, she stepped inside,
marveling at the amenities his home had. She chose the temperature she wanted
on the display and within seconds his show
er was on
and at the desired temp. Five shower heads began spraying from the walls.
Decadent was the term she’d call his shower, and again, somewhere she wished
she had more time to spend. Untying the knot in her hair she let the overhead
rain shower spout
run over her.