Animal Instinct Read online

  The girl looked just as startled to see Luke as the were had, but there was relief in her frightened blue eyes, too, and he tried to give her a reassuring look as he put himself between her and the huge beast. Pulling a knife from the sheath on his belt, Luke crouched down and let out a low growl of warning.

  The werewolf regarded him in confusion for a moment, but then recognition shone in his light hazel eyes and he returned the growl with one of his own. The beast had picked up his scent. The were’s gaze dropped to the knife, and Luke tightened his grip on the handle. In human form, Luke couldn’t match the were in quickness, but he was still stronger than an ordinary man. And the long, hunting knife that Luke held could do some serious damage to the were. But even with Luke’s strength and the knife, the werewolf still had the edge. The only question was, did the were know that? Luke would just have to bluff and find out.

  Luke’s gaze locked on the other werewolf. He bared his teeth and let out another growl, this one deeper and more menacing. The beast eyed him warily for a moment, but from the change in the were’s stance, Luke knew he had won.

  With a look that could only be described as hatred, the werewolf turned and bounded off into the trees.

  Though Luke wanted to check on the girl, he waited until the were had completely disappeared into the forest before he turned to her. Some of her long, blond hair had come loose from its ponytail, and he had to fight the urge to reach out and brush it back from her tear-stained face. Despite the hand she had pressed to it, blood bubbled from the bite wound on her thigh and ran down her bare leg. When he’d first realized that the were had bitten her, he hadn’t wanted to let himself consider what it meant. But now that the girl was out of danger, there was no avoiding the subject. She was going to be a werewolf now, and he didn’t have a clue how to tell her. One thing he did know for sure, though, he had to get her out of there.

  Shoving his knife back into its sheath, Luke took off the button-up shirt he was wearing over his T-shirt and crouching down beside her, pressed it to the bite on her thigh. The wound was pretty savage; the were had bitten her two or three times. Of course, the lacerations would close up before he even got her back to the parking area, but at least the shirt would hide them from her view. Even if the wounds themselves weren’t fatal, he still had to be worried about the girl going into shock. The shirt should help with that. He wrapped the sleeves of the shirt tightly around her thigh and tied them securely.

  Putting one arm around her, he slid the other beneath her legs and gently picked her up. “It’s okay,” he said as he got to his feet. “You’re safe now.”

  She didn’t reply, but simply rested her head against his chest and cried quietly in relief as he started down the trail.

  Chapter 2

  Heidi still couldn’t quite believe that she was alive, but the intense, burning pain in her leg assured her that she was. When that wolf had sunk his teeth into her thigh, she’d been sure he was going to tear her to pieces. She had beaten at the animal with her fists as hard as she could, a move which had apparently surprised the wolf enough to get him to release her and back away. But from the way he had eyed her afterward, she knew she had only gained a momentary respite. As she had braced herself to fight him again, her rescuer had shown up out of nowhere and thrown himself between her and the beast. She had never seen anyone so brave. Standing up to a huge wolf with nothing but a small knife in his hand, had been insane. Unbelievably, it had worked, though, and the animal had run off.

  Despite the pain that was throbbing through her entire leg, she knew how lucky she was. If the man carrying her hadn’t gotten there when he did… She tightened her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his chest, forcing herself not to think about it. The T-shirt he wore was soft beneath her cheek, and she closed her eyes as she breathed in his masculine scent. He had gotten there in time, and that was all that mattered.

  When she opened her eyes again, she was shocked to see that they were already in the parking area. Oh God, had she passed out? It seemed like only a few minutes since she’d gotten attacked and it should have taken at least an hour to get back to the car. He had been moving a lot faster than she ever could have on the trails, but it was still hard to believe that they were there already. Okay, so she must have passed out. That was no surprise, though, not with the pain she was in. But then her brow furrowed as she abruptly realized that her leg was no longer throbbing nearly as badly. In fact, it barely hurt at all. That is a bad sign, isn’t it? Maybe she was going into shock. Or worse, bleeding to death.

  Panicking at that thought, Heidi lifted her head from the man’s chest to tell him that he’d better hurry and get her to a hospital when he surprised her by setting her down on her feet. She stood leaning against him, thinking that he had set her down so he could open the door to whatever it was he drove and get her inside. When he merely stood there gently holding onto her upper arms, she looked up at him in confusion. Maybe he had parked at the Eagle River entrance to the trail and didn’t have his car there.

  “M-my car is over that way,” she said, gesturing with her head. “We can take mine to the hospital if yours isn’t parked here.”

  But the man made no move to pick her up in his arms again, or even ask for her keys. “I know you’re going to think I’m crazy when I tell you this, especially after what just happened, but you’re not going to need to go to the hospital.”

  His voice was deep and velvety, and at any other time, she would have thought it sounded sexy as hell, but right then all Heidi could do was stare up at him in amazement. “What are you talking about?” she demanded. “Of course, I have to go to the hospital. I’m bleeding to death!”

  “Actually,” he said. “You’re not.”

  Her brow furrowed. What kind of idiot is he? “Yes, I am!” she snapped. “Look at my leg.”

  As she spoke, she took away the shirt he had given her so that he could see for himself, but when she looked down at her leg, all she could do was stare. He was right. She wasn’t bleeding anymore. She gently rubbed the shirt over the bite marks, bracing herself for pain that never came. As she wiped the blood away, she gasped. Where the skin had been ragged and raw from the wolf’s bite just minutes earlier, it was now jagged, pink scar tissue that looked days old.

  She lifted her head to find her rescuer regarding her with the most unusual gold eyes. How had she not noticed the color before? Because she’d been too busy thinking about other things, like bleeding to death. She shook her head. “I…I don’t understand. I’m confused. I must be in shock,” she said. “I was just bitten by a wolf. How can I already have a scar?”

  “Because you weren’t bitten by an ordinary wolf.”

  She frowned at him. “What the heck does that mean?”

  He was silent for a moment, as if he were trying to think of what he wanted to say. Finally, he ran his hand through his dark hair and let out a sigh. “Look, I know this is going to sound bizarre,” he said, “but you were bitten by a werewolf.”

  Heidi stared at him incredulously. A werewolf? She must be hallucinating or something from all the blood she’d lost because there was no way she could have heard him right. “A what?”

  “A werewolf,” he said again.

  Heidi blinked. Okay, so she wasn’t hallucinating. He was just a raving lunatic. Which was really hard to believe, considering he looked so normal. Not to mention disappointing, since he was so dang gorgeous. She took a step back, then another, her hands out in front of her. “Listen, I don’t know what you’re on, but—”

  He scowled. “I’m not on anything,” he said, taking a step toward her. “If you’d just give me a chance to explain—”

  “I think you’ve explained yourself quite enough,” Heidi told him. She quickly glanced over her shoulder, then at him before she began backing toward her car. “Look, I’m really grateful for what you did back there, but I need to get to the hospital.”

  Her rescuer followed. “Okay, if you insist on going to th
e hospital, I’ll take you,” he said. “But at least listen to what I have to say first.”

  Right. Like she was going to go anywhere with him. She dug into the pocket of her khaki shorts for her car keys and pressed the unlock button on the keyless entry, wondering if she should hit the panic button, too. But who would hear it all the way out there?

  “That’s okay,” she said as she opened the door. “I can drive myself.”

  Heidi was half afraid that he would insist, and she was relieved when he nodded. “Okay,” he said. “But take my card.”

  She stood there watching him as he reached into his back pocket for his wallet, wondering why she didn’t just get in her car and leave. He took a business card from his wallet and held it out to her.

  “Take it,” he said.

  She did, but only because she thought he might get upset, or even worse, follow her to the hospital if she didn’t.

  “You’ve been bitten by a werewolf,” he continued, “which means you’re going to become one, too, and when your body starts changing, you’re going to need my help.”

  Does he even know how crazy he sounds? Probably not, or he wouldn’t be saying such bizarre things.“I have to go,” she said, turning back to her car.

  He caught her arm, his expression earnest. “There’s a full moon in a few days,” he told her. “You’ll need to call me before that.”

  Right. Like she was ever going to call him. Shaking her head, Heidi got in the car and closed the door. Tossing the card on the seat beside her, she stuck the key in the ignition and started the engine. Afraid that he would try to stop her again, she quickly put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking space. As she sped out of the lot, she glanced in the rearview mirror. Her rescuer was still standing where she had left him. God, what a psycho. She was going to have to report him to the cops for sure.

  Since the closest hospital in the area was in Anchorage , she had to drive all the way back to the city to get medical attention. She only hoped she didn’t have to wait long to see a doctor when she got there.

  To Heidi’s relief, however, the moment she told the nurse at the desk that she had been attacked and bitten by a wolf, she was immediately rushed to a room. When the elderly doctor came in to examine her, though, the man took one look at the rapidly healing scar on her thigh and eyed her like she was insane.

  “When did you say you were attacked?” he asked.

  “I don’t know exactly,” she said. “An hour ago maybe?”

  He frowned and adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses on his nose. “I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here, but this scar is at least two weeks old, Ms. Gibson.”

  “No, it isn’t!” she protested. “I mean, I know it looks like that, but I swear to you, I just got bitten.”

  The man folded his arms and regarded her with a thoughtful expression. “Are you on any medication?”

  Heidi’s face colored. “No! Look, I was hiking up in Chugach State Park this afternoon and from out of nowhere, this huge wolf attacked me. I don’t know why the bite healed up as fast as it did, but by the time the guy who rescued me carried me down to the parking area, the bleeding had stopped and the wound closed up.”

  “This man you say rescued you. Did he bring you here? I’d like to talk to him.”

  She shook her head. “No. He…I told him that I could drive myself.”

  The doctor sighed. “I don’t doubt that you were attacked by an animal, Ms. Gibson. I just don’t think it happened this afternoon. Now, it’s possible you’re still having some post-traumatic stress from the attack, making you feel like you’re going through the episode over and over again. I’m going to prescribe some sedatives and have the nurse give you the name of a good therapist.”

  Heidi stared at him aghast. “I don’t need sedatives and I certainly don’t need a psychiatrist! What I need is a rabies shot!”

  He gave her a placating smile. “I’m sure you think you do. But why don’t we wait until you talk to the therapist, hmm? How does that sound?”

  The doctor didn’t believe her. Then again, why should he? If she were him, she wasn’t sure she’d believe it herself. While her clothes were dirty from the tumble she’d taken when the wolf had jumped her, she had wiped off most of the blood from her leg with her rescuer’s shirt long before she had gotten there. What was left didn’t look much different than the dirt smudges. There wasn’t any blood on her T-shirt or shorts, and the scar on her thigh clearly looked too old for the attack to have happened that afternoon. Maybe she should go out to her car and get the shirt with the blood all over it. Then again, maybe that wasn’t a good idea. Considering how the old doctor was looking at her, he might think she should be committed for psychiatric evaluation for keeping an old, bloody shirt.

  Heidi didn’t hang around and wait for the nurse to give her the name of a therapist, but left the hospital as soon as the doctor walked out. When she got in her car, though, she didn’t pull out of the parking lot right away, but sat there for a moment, trying to piece together what had happened up at Chugach State Park . As she replayed the wolf attack in her head, she traced the light pink scar on her thigh with her finger and couldn’t suppress a little shiver. Was she going crazy? Had she somehow made the whole thing up? No, obviously she hadn’t. She had a scar to prove it. But how had it healed so quickly?

  Maybe she had just been confused about how serious the attack had been. Maybe the wolf hadn’t actually bitten her at all. Maybe he’d just scraped her skin with his teeth. That would explain why she didn’t have an open wound.

  That theory didn’t explain all the blood, though. Her brow furrowed as she tried to think of something that made sense. Maybe the wolf was older than she had thought. Maybe his teeth were bad and his gums had started to bleed when he had tried to bite her. That would explain all the blood; it had been his, not hers.

  Then why had the guy who’d come to her rescue made up that crazy story about werewolves? That was the easy part to explain. Because he was a complete nut job. He was so far off his rocker that he probably thought Bigfoot was real, too.

  Happy to have a reasonable explanation for everything that had happened, Heidi started the car and pulled out onto the main road. Between having to fend off Ryan at the ranger station, that wolf up in the state park, the psycho guy who had thought she’d been bitten by a werewolf, and a doctor who thought she was crazy, she was exhausted. She would be glad to get back to her apartment.

  She had stayed at a hotel for the first few days after arriving in Anchorage . But after realizing she wanted to stay longer, she had decided to rent a small, furnished one-bedroom apartment instead. Not only was it a better deal financially, but it also gave her a lot more space to work on her paintings without having to worry about the maids disturbing her stuff when they came in to clean.

  Halfway to her apartment, Heidi groaned as she abruptly remembered that she had left her pack up in the state park. And her digital camera was in it, too. Dammit. Well, there was no way she was going back up there tonight. She wondered if she should call the ranger station at Girdwood and ask if someone could pick it up for her, but then decided against it. That would only mean she would have to explain why she had left it up there in the first place. On top of that, Ryan would probably volunteer to be the one to go get it for her, and she really didn’t feel like dealing with him tonight. She would just get it tomorrow. If it wasn’t there, she would check out the lost-and-found bin at the ranger station.

  When she got to her apartment, Heidi decided that the first thing she needed was a hot shower. But on the way to the bedroom, her growling stomach made her take a quick detour into the kitchen to take out one of the Healthy Choice Café Steamers that were in the freezer and put it in the microwave to cook. As the aroma from the chicken and roasted red pepper sauce wafted through the partially open bathroom door a few minutes later, she found herself quickly rinsing off the soap so she could hurry back into the kitchen and eat.

  After drying
off, Heidi slipped into a short terrycloth robe, then went back into the combination kitchen/living room. Taking her dinner out of the microwave, she mixed the sauce with the chicken and broccoli, then added a little parmesan cheese before grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. Walking over to the couch, she sat down and turned on the television.

  She had just finished eating when someone knocked on the door. Licking the last of the sauce off the fork, she set her plate down on the coffee table, then lowered the sound on the television before going to answer the door. Grasping the knob, she took a quick look through the peephole and smiled when she saw Sukie Teeland, her thirteen-year-old neighbor, standing there.

  Heidi opened the door. “Hey, Sukie, come on in.”

  Half-Inuit, half-Irish, Sukie was a pretty, petite girl with long, black hair, big dark eyes, and a smattering of freckles across her nose. “I saw your car, so I wanted to come over and show you what I painted today,” she said as she walked in. “You weren’t eating dinner, were you?”

  Heidi shook her head. “I just finished. You want something to drink?”

  Sukie grinned. “Do you have any Frappuccinos?”

  Heidi laughed as she walked over to the fridge. She should have guessed. Sukie was just as crazy about the Starbucks drinks as she was. “I think I just might.” She took a bottle out of the fridge and handed it to the younger girl, then grabbed one for herself. “So, what did you paint?”

  The younger girl flipped open the watercolor pad that Heidi had given her until she came to the page she wanted. “It’s just a bunch of spruce trees,” she said as she opened the bottle. “But I think I’m getting better at them.”

  Heidi pulled the pad closer so that she could look at the neat rows of trees Sukie had painted. Heidi had been teaching the young girl watercolor painting since she had first moved into the apartment. The girl was outgoing, enthusiastic, and eager to learn. She was talented, too. This was Sukie’s first attempt at painting spruce trees without Heidi there to direct her, and she had done very well. Better than Heidi had been able to do at her age.