Animal Instinct Read online

  The woman set a Styrofoam take-out container on the table. “I brought this for whatever you don’t finish.”

  Heidi smiled and thanked the waitress. Reaching for the bottle of ketchup, she poured a generous amount on her fries, then topped the burger with some before cutting it in half. Picking up half, she bit into it with a moan. She’d had some tasty cheeseburgers before, but this one was heavenly.

  As she ate, it occurred to Heidi that the customers in the diner seemed to be talking louder than normal. In fact, she could hear their conversations as clearly as if she were sitting with them. Someone should tell them that it was rude to talk so loud in such a small diner. Didn’t they care that everyone could hear what they were saying? She tried to tune them out, but that was easier said than done. Between the guy in the corner trying to convince the girl he was with to go back to his apartment with him, and the two guys up at the counter calmly discussing how frequently they cheated on their wives, it was sort of difficult not to eavesdrop.

  But then it hit her. The guy in the corner booth trying to get the woman to sleep with him was actually leaning over and whispering. She looked around again. Obviously, no one else could hear them talking but her. What the heck? She’d woken up that afternoon and didn’t need to put in her contacts, and now she could hear someone whispering across a crowded diner. What was happening to her?

  Heidi spent the rest of her meal trying to come up with an answer to that, but couldn’t think of any logical explanation. Of course, it was hard to think when she was being bombarded with a dozen different conversations at once. Finishing her milkshake, she picked up the straw and popped the end in her mouth to lick off the last little bit of ice cream. That was when she heard something that made her frown.

  “I got something for her to wrap those lips around.”

  A snicker met the man’s lewd words and Heidi looked up to find two men watching her from another booth on the other side of the diner. One was heavyset with a full beard that covered half of his face, while the other was tall and lanky. They weren’t talking about her, were they?

  “Oh yeah,” the heavier man agreed in a gruff voice. “Just look at the way she’s licking that straw. I’ve got a boner just watching her.”

  Heidi eyes went wide. Ewwww! They were talking about her. Her face coloring, she hurriedly took the straw out of her mouth and put it back in the glass.

  “Looks like you didn’t need that take-out box after all.”

  Heidi lifted her head to see the gray-haired waitress standing beside the table regarding her with a mix of amazement and admiration. She hadn’t even realized that the woman was there. “What?” she said. “Oh, no I didn’t. I was hungrier than I thought, I guess.”

  She really had intended to take half of the cheeseburger home, but it had tasted so good that before she knew it, she had eaten all of it.

  The waitress laughed. “I guess so. Can I get you something else? We got a fresh apple pie that just came out of the oven.”

  The thought of eating anything else after the huge meal she’d just had probably should have made her feel ill, but Heidi was surprised to find herself actually considering having a piece of pie. Yikes! If she kept eating like this, she wasn’t going to fit in her clothes.

  She gave the older woman a smile. “I’m good, thanks.”

  The waitress tore the top sheet of paper off her order pad and set it down on the table. “Just bring this up to the register whenever you’re done then. Nice waiting on you, hon. Have a good night.”

  As the woman made her way over to another table, Heidi’s gaze strayed to the booth with the two sleazy men again. To her relief, they were gone.

  Picking up the bill, Heidi grabbed her purse from the seat beside her and weaved her way through the tables to the cash register. After paying for her meal, she left the diner and walked across the street to the parking lot where she had left her car. Though the sun had all but disappeared from the sky, she couldn’t help but notice that it didn’t seem dark at all. Even so, she found herself automatically quickening her step just the same.

  As she neared her car, Heidi took the keys from her purse and pressed the unlock button, only to stop and whirl around when she heard the sounds of footsteps behind her. The hair on the back of her neck rose as she recognized the two men from the diner. She didn’t know why, but it just seemed like they were going to be trouble.

  “Now, where’s a pretty girl like you going in such a hurry?” the heavyset man asked.

  Heidi took a nervous step back. Not only was the parking lot on a side street where it wasn’t easily visible, but it was deserted, too. That was a dangerous combination for a woman by herself.

  She tightened her grip on her shoulder bag and took another step back. “I-I have to be getting home. My…my boyfriend’s waiting for me.”

  Heidi had hoped the mention of a boyfriend would deter them, but the men merely exchanged a look and kept walking toward her.

  “Boyfriend, huh?” the lanky one said. “What kind of boyfriend lets a girl like you have dinner at some diner by herself?”

  Heidi swallowed hard. “I-I have to go.”

  Turning, she hurried to her car, only to let out a startled cry when a rough hand on her back shoved her against it. Her heart started to race and she would have screamed except for the grimy hand that slipped over her mouth.

  The heavy man pressed himself against her back, pinning her against the car. His free hand began to roam down her body. “What’s your hurry, darlin’? I know you just ate a lot of meat, but I got some more for you.”

  He smelled of sweat and fish, and the stench was almost enough to make Heidi gag. Oh God, what was she going to do?

  Suddenly, the man squeezed her ass. Instinctively, she shoved herself back from the car and spun around, intent on knocking his hand away. He was so big that she didn’t think it would do much good, but to her surprise, the man went flying backward when her arm connected with his shoulder. He landed on the hard pavement with a thud. Both men looked at her in confusion for a moment before the man on the ground began to push himself into a sitting position. He was clutching his arm, a grimace on his face.

  The second man eyed her coldly. “You like it rough, bitch? That’s good. I like it rough, too.”

  Adrenaline shot through Heidi as the tall, lanky man started toward her. Heart hammering in her chest, she whirled around and grabbed the door handle, yanking it open. Jumping in the car, she locked the door with one hand and stuck the key in the ignition with the other, then sped out of the parking lot as fast as she could, swerving to avoid the lanky man as he tried to jump in front of her.

  Heidi gripped the steering wheel tightly unable to believe what had just happened. She had been really lucky to get away from those creeps. She didn’t even want to think about what they had intended to do to her. She had just been fortunate that the guy had fallen down when she’d surprised him by fighting back.

  She ran a hand through her long hair and glanced in the rearview mirror again, only to let out a groan when she saw the flashing lights of a police car behind her. Hoping he just wanted to go around her, she slowed and pulled over. To her chagrin, he pulled up behind her. Great. With a sigh, she rolled down her window and turned off the car, then waited. A moment later, a uniformed police officer appeared at her side.

  “License and registration,” he said, shining a flashlight in the car.

  Heidi dug in her purse for her wallet, then handed both documents to him. “Was I speeding, Officer?”

  He glanced up from her license to look at her. Tall, with blond hair, he had a neatly kept mustache and serious blue eyes. “No. But you were driving without your lights.”

  Her brow furrowed. “I was?”

  He regarded her silently for a moment before leaning closer. “Have you been drinking tonight, ma’am?”

  “Drinking? No, of course not.” She sighed. “Some guys were bothering me back by the diner and I guess I was in such a hurry to get a
way from them that I must have just forgotten to turn on my lights.”

  His eyes narrowed as he considered her story. After a moment, he gave her a nod and handed her license and registration back. “Okay, I don’t smell any alcohol. Would you like to file a report about those men bothering you at the diner? Did they assault you?”

  She shook her head. “No. It didn’t get that far. I just want to go home.”

  He nodded. “That’s up to you. But remember to turn on your lights.”

  Heidi breathed a sigh of relief as he walked away. Starting the car, she turned on the headlights and slowly eased out onto the road. She had almost told the cop that she hadn’t turned on her lights because it just didn’t seem that dark, but had stopped herself just in time. He really would have thought she had been drinking then. She looked out the car window, wondering if it was so bright because the moon was almost full. But as she gazed up at it, she discovered that the moon was completely covered by clouds. Okay, so it wasn’t the moon.

  By the time she got back to her apartment ten minutes later, her mind was going a hundred miles an hour. First the thing with the contact lenses, then being able to hear every whisper spoken in the diner, and now seeing so good in the dark that she didn’t need to turn on her headlights. This just wasn’t possible. Maybe she was going insane.

  Needing something to occupy herself, she changed into a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top and went to work packing up some of her paintings. However, that kind of work didn’t exactly require all of her attention and it wasn’t long before she was once again thinking about all the strange things that had been happening since she had been attacked by that wolf the other day.

  Tossing the roll of packing tape down on the floor beside the boxes, Heidi got to her feet and walked across her small living room to step out onto the tiny balcony. Putting her hands on the railing, she looked out at the darkened woods behind the apartment building. From where she was standing, she could see the outline of every tree and bush as if it were daytime. She could even see a small animal moving in the undergrowth. She stared at it for a few moments, trying to figure out what it was, before deciding it was a rabbit.

  How was it possible for her to see a small rabbit in the darkened woods from where she was standing? She gazed up at the three-quarter moon that had come free from the cloud cover. She wanted to think it was giving off enough light to allow her to see so well, but she knew that wasn’t it. Her brow furrowed as she suddenly remembered what the gorgeous whacko who had come to her rescue had said. According to him, she would turn into a werewolf when the moon was full. She wrapped her arms around herself and let out a shiver. She had never heard anything so ridiculous in her life. There were no such things as werewolves and she sure as hell wasn’t turning into one!

  Chiding herself for being so impressionable, Heidi forced her attention away from the moon to gaze out at the woods again. It seemed noisier than it had the other nights she had come out onto the balcony. It was like she could hear every sound in the forest. The air was filled with so many smells, too. She inhaled deeply, taking it all in. It was difficult to discern what all of them were as they assaulted her senses. She could identify the smell of the trees, of course, and she decided that another particular smell was probably the rabbit. At least, it sure seemed to be coming from that direction. She was just telling herself how silly it was for her to think she could identify what a rabbit smelled like when she abruptly got a whiff of something that made her frown. Though she couldn’t put a name to the scent, it was disturbingly familiar. She took a step closer to the railing and searched the darkness, but she didn’t see anything. Whatever it was, though, it was making the hair stand up on the back of her neck.

  Suddenly uneasy, Heidi turned and went back inside. Making sure the sliding door was locked, she pulled the drapes closed, then went into the kitchen to make some tea. Though she knew she should probably go back to packing her paintings, she found herself curling up on the couch with her laptop and a fleece throw instead. She just didn’t feel like working any more right now.

  She slowly sipped her tea while she browsed the Internet. After making the rounds of the usual websites and blogs she liked to visit, she went to Google and on impulse, typed in “werewolf,” then clicked on the “search” button. She was a little surprised at how many websites were dedicated to the subject. Apparently, the golden-eyed hunk she had met in Chugach State Park wasn’t the only one obsessed with the fictional beasts.

  Clicking on the first link, Heidi let her gaze run over the website’s homepage. In one corner, it featured a graphic of a frightening-looking werewolf, its hands curled and saliva dripping from its long, white fangs. Though the creature was a little crudely drawn, it was still suitably scary, and she quickly scrolled down the page.

  As it turned out, the website was extremely detailed, covering everything from the history of werewolves to supposedly real-life accounts of actual encounters with them. Whoever ran the site must be a real whack job. Shaking her head in amazement, Heidi clicked the back button on her browser until she came to the Google results page again. She scrolled down the links until she came to one called Diary of a Werewolf . Intrigued despite herself, she clicked on it.

  From the title, Heidi had thought it might be a short story someone had written, and she was surprised to discover that it was an actual diary kept by a man who believed he had been turned into a werewolf. He had come across a huge wolf while out hiking in Canada and had been bitten. Though the wound had burned unbearably at the time, it had magically healed within hours of the attack. At first, he hadn’t known what to make of it, but then he had started experiencing strange things, like improved night vision and superior hearing, as well as an increased appetite and a craving for red meat.

  Heidi stared at the screen. God, that sounded like her. Her hand tightened around the coffee mug. What was she thinking? Werewolves didn’t exist.

  Telling herself to stop being so foolish, Heidi shut her browser and closed her laptop then set it on the coffee table. Grabbing the remote for the TV, she switched it on and settled back against the cushions with the fleece throw again. She channel-surfed, watching bits and pieces of different shows for a while before coming across an old werewolf movie with Oliver Reed. She started to change it, but then stopped herself. Drawn to the subject more than she was willing to admit, she sat watching with rapt attention as the young man fought the curse of being a werewolf while trying to protect the woman he loved.

  Heidi didn’t see how the movie ended because she fell asleep. But in her dreams, the woman turned out to be a werewolf as well, and the two cursed creatures ran off into the forest to live happily ever after.

  Chapter 4

  Heidi had another erotic dream that night, only this time it was even more vivid. She’d been in the forest making love to the gorgeous hunk who had rescued her from the wolf. But instead of being on her hands and knees like in the first dream, in this one, she had been on top, riding him. He was holding onto her hips, guiding her up and down with his strong hands while he gazed up at her with those incredible gold eyes.

  She’d rested her hands against the hard wall of his chest, letting out a moan as she undulated against him. His cock was hot and hard inside her, and she couldn’t seem to get enough of him.

  She leaned forward to kiss him, her tongue doing a sensual little dance with his as she continued to move up and down on him. Taking his lower lip between her teeth, she gently suckled on it. He groaned, the sound low and sexy in her ear, and she gave his lip another tug before kissing her way along his square jaw and down his neck to lightly nip at his shoulder with her teeth. Her lover let out another groan and tightened his grip on her hips, driving himself up into her and urging her to ride him faster. She obeyed, as her orgasm coursed through her body. She buried her face in the curve of his neck and sank her teeth into his shoulder, reveling in the hoarse groans of pleasure coming from her man’s throat.

  Heidi awoke from h
er dream climax to find her hand between her legs, her fingers making little circles on her clit, driving her toward a real orgasm. Her whole body shuddered as wave after wave of pleasure rippled through her. She couldn’t contain the moan that escaped her lips, and she didn’t stop moving her hand until she had wrung every bit of ecstasy from her clit.

  After her orgasm subsided, Heidi lay back on the couch and tried to catch her breath. Dear God. She had never experienced anything like that in her life. The dream had seemed so real. The strange thing was that it felt as if she were still in it. If she closed her eyes, she could feel his hands on her, smell his masculine scent. She closed her eyes and let herself get lost in thoughts of what his body had felt like against hers.

  She couldn’t ever remember wanting a guy this much. If he knocked on her door right now, she wouldn’t be able to keep herself from dragging him inside, throwing him up against the wall, and having her way with him. The image made her pussy spasm, and her face colored hotly. She wasn’t a prude by any means, but this was totally out of character for her. What was it about him that had her acting so wild? Sure, he was tall, dark, and completely gorgeous, but was that enough to give her wet dreams at night? With the dry spell she’d had lately where men were concerned, maybe so.

  A knock sounded on her door, interrupting her thoughts, and Heidi jerked upright on the couch, her pulse fluttering. Oh God, it is him! Don’t be ridiculous. He didn’t even know her name. How could he possibly know where she lived?

  Deciding it was probably just Sukie, Heidi grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned off the television, which she abruptly realized was still on from last night. Getting to her feet, she glanced at her watch and was stunned to see that it was almost four o’clock in the afternoon. She had slept the whole day again. What the heck was wrong with her?

  In the small entryway, she stopped to check her reflection in the mirror, and made a face at herself. She looked like she’d just gotten out of bed. Or spent the better part of the day in it with some hot guy. Shaking her head at the thought, she quickly ran her fingers through her long hair, then straightened her tank top. Satisfied that she no longer looked liked she had just rolled out of bed, she unlocked the door and pulled it open, only to blink in surprise when she saw two Anchorage police officers standing there.