Animal Instinct Page 7

  Maybe it is pure chemistry. She felt her body begin to respond to his scent. She’d never felt anything like it. He hadn’t even touched her in a sexual way, and yet her pussy was already wet and quivering.

  As she finished dicing the tomatoes, she forced herself to think about something else. Sure, he was hot, but right now, she had bigger issues to worry about, like being a werewolf herself. She had about a million questions about it, so in order to help herself think about anything other than how sexy Luke was, she decided to think about what questions she wanted to ask first.

  When they sat down at the table thirty minutes later, she was ready with her first one.

  “Okay,” she said as she poured dressing on her salad. “So how did you become a werewolf? Were you out hiking like I was and got attacked?”

  He picked up the peppermill. “Not exactly. I’m a genetic werewolf.”

  Her brow furrowed. “A genetic werewolf? You mean that you were born a werewolf?”

  “Yes,” he said as he ground some pepper on his steak. When he was finished, he held it out to her, then set it down on the table when she shook her head. “I was born with the gene, but I didn’t actually become a were until I was sixteen. It was sort of a hormone thing.”

  Heidi lifted her glass and took a sip of soda. “A genetic werewolf. I didn’t even know such a thing was possible. Then again,” she added dryly, “up until a couple of days ago, I didn’t know any werewolves existed.”

  Luke chuckled. “Don’t feel bad. There aren’t many people who do know we exist.”

  She considered that as she speared a piece of steak with her fork. “So, are there a lot of werewolves around? Besides your parents, I mean. And the one who attacked me, of course.”

  “Actually, only my father is a werewolf. My mother isn’t,” he corrected. “And my brother is one.”

  “What does your mother think about it?”

  He glanced down at his plate. “That’s kind of complicated. She freaked out when she learned about it. Of course, my father never told her that he was a werewolf until it was obvious that my brother and I had the gene. That only made it worse.”

  “What did she say when he told her?”

  Luke picked up his beer and took a long swallow. “I’m not really sure. Hunter and I weren’t there when my father told her, and by the time we got home, she had already packed up her things and left.”

  Heidi looked at him in astonishment. “She just left without saying goodbye to you?”

  He shrugged. “I can’t really blame her. It’s not every day you find out that your husband and children are werewolves. My father probably should have told her before they got married, but admitting you’re a werewolf isn’t something you do on a first date. I always understood why she left, but my brother really took it hard.”

  She nodded, but couldn’t help thinking that maybe it had bothered Luke more than he was letting on. He had only been a kid, after all. It had to have been tough. But she understood defense mechanisms when she saw them, so she didn’t call him on it. “Is your brother younger or older than you?”

  “We’re twins, actually.”

  There is another guy as gorgeous as Luke out there? There really is something to that whole hot Alaskan guy thing.“Does he live in Anchorage , too?”

  Luke shook his head. “No. He and his wife, Eliza, live up in Fairbanks .”

  Heidi picked up her glass to regard Luke over the rim. “Does she know he’s a werewolf?”

  Luke’s mouth quirked. “It kind of came out a little while after they met.”

  “She must be okay with it.”

  “She is,” he said, then went on to explain how Hunter and Eliza had met, and how she had been bitten by a rogue werewolf that had already attacked and killed two other people in Fairbanks .

  Heidi listened in amazement, pleased that the story had had a happy ending for the couple. “If werewolves are going around attacking people right and left, I can’t believe more people aren’t aware they exist.”

  “That’s the thing,” Luke said. “Werewolves don’t usually go around attacking people. That one Hunter and Eliza encountered in Fairbanks was out for revenge.”

  “What about the one that attacked me?” she asked, unable to suppress a little shiver at the memory. “I wasn’t doing anything but taking pictures.”

  He frowned. “I have to admit, that’s got me stumped. I’m not sure what made him go after you. I tried to track him, but after I chased him off, he went back to whatever he was driving and got out of there quick. I’m assuming he stumbled upon you and felt threatened for some reason, then hightailed it out of the area as soon as he’d realized what he’d done.”

  Heidi looked across the table at him. “That reminds me. I was too freaked out that day to thank you for what you did. It was very brave to go up against him like that.”

  Luke flushed beneath his tan at the compliment. “Anyone would have done the same,” he said with a shrug.

  She wasn’t so sure about that, but she didn’t argue. “You said that you tracked him. Did you have to turn into a wolf to do it, or did you just sniff around as a person?”

  He chuckled. “As a person. Our sense of smell is obviously much better when we’re in wolf form, but even in human form, it’s good enough to do most tracking.”

  She considered that for a moment. “Okay, I suppose I understand that. Let me go in a different direction now, then. When you’re a wolf, what happens to the human part of you?”

  His brow furrowed. “You mean our physical selves or our personalities?”

  “Our personalities. I mean, do you remember that you’re a person?”

  “Of course,” he told her. “Everything I know and feel is still there when I’m a wolf. I might look like an animal, but I’m still just a person underneath all that fur.”

  She thought about that. In all honesty, that was the part she was most concerned about, that she would be some type of wild animal. “So, you could understand what I was saying when I was talking to you in the living room before.”

  He grinned. “Why do you think I gave you such a funny look when you told me to turn around in a circle three times?”

  She gave him a sheepish look, her face coloring. “I suppose that was a little silly. Especially since I could really already tell it was you.”

  Luke leaned forward in his chair. “Oh really? What convinced you?”

  “Your eyes,” she said softly. “They’re that same beautiful golden color even when you’re a wolf.”

  He lifted a brow, the corner of his mouth edging up. “Beautiful, huh? I never had anyone tell me that. Thank you.”

  Heidi couldn’t believe no one had ever told him that before. She blushed even deeper and hastily reached for her glass to cover her embarrassment. From the way her pulse was fluttering, it was like she was a teenager on a first date. She needed to steer the conversation in a decidedly less intimate direction. Fast.

  “So,” she said after she had taken a sip of Mountain Dew. “What’s it like when you turn into a wolf? I mean, does it hurt?”

  Luke shook his head. “Not once you get used to it. The first time can be a little scary, though, because it’s so different. And because your natural instinct will be to fight what’s happening. But I can be there with you and help you through your first time. If you want me to, I mean.”

  She hesitated, remembering that he’d been naked when he had turned into a wolf in the bedroom before. While she was comfortable with her body, she wasn’t sure if she would be okay with taking her clothes off in front of a guy she’d just met, even if she had already slept with him in her dreams. Still, she didn’t really want to go through her first time alone. What if she panicked and something went wrong?

  “You don’t have to decide now,” he said when she continued to hesitate. “Your first change won’t be until the night of the full moon and that isn’t for a couple of days, so we have a little while to figure out how you want to handle it.”
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  Her brow furrowed. “Wait a minute. There isn’t a full moon now, so how were you able to change? Not to mention the guy who attacked me.”

  “The first change is brought on by the full moon. Something to do with it affecting our hormone levels. But as you get more comfortable with being a werewolf, you’ll be able to control it. Given time, you’ll be able to change at will.”

  “How long will that take?” she asked. “To control it, I mean.”

  He shrugged. “It’s different for everyone. It took me a couple of weeks, but it took my brother almost twice that. My father said that he’d heard stories about it taking some people a lot longer to completely control it.”

  At her frown, Luke lifted a brow. “It’s nothing to be concerned about. I’m sure you’ll pick it up quickly.”

  “It’s not that,” she said. “It’s just that I had planned on leaving next week to go home.”

  It was his turn to frown. “Home? You don’t live in Anchorage ?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m from Denver . I was just up here for the summer, doing some painting. Everyone is expecting me back next week.”

  “Oh,” he said. Had she imagined it, or was that a trace of disappointment she heard in his voice? “I don’t know why, but I just naturally thought you were a local, too. Well, that’s going to make things a little more…complicated then.”

  Heidi chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully. She’d already stayed several extra weeks already anyway, so what were a couple of more days? “My apartment is paid up through the end of the month, so I suppose I could stay for a little while longer,” she said. “I’ll just tell everyone that I had a sudden burst of inspiration and decided to stay and do more painting.”

  Luke let out a breath, visibly relieved. “Good. I didn’t want to pressure you or anything, but it’ll be a lot easier for you if I’m there to help you learn to control your werewolf side.”

  She skewered the last remaining piece of steak and dipped it in some sauce. “Does it need to be controlled?”

  He shook his head. “Not really. Like I said, you’re still the same person, but you’ll have different abilities and instincts now. You’ll need to understand them.”

  She frowned as she remembered how she had reacted the other night when those two guys had tried to molest her outside the diner. “I know you said that werewolves don’t just go around attacking people, but does being a werewolf mean that I’ll be more prone to violence?”

  He thought a moment before answering. “Not really. Being a werewolf is a lot about chemistry and hormones. Sometimes, if a were hasn’t changed in a long time, they can get a little moody. On edge, I guess you could say. But it doesn’t mean you’re going to go out and attack someone for the hell of it. Other than that, you’re no more prone to violence than you would be if you weren’t a werewolf.”

  “Good.” Heidi sighed with relief. After the way she had broken that guy’s arm, she’d been worried about that. It was nice to know she wasn’t going to be more violent. That being said, though, she would still have to remember that she was a lot stronger than she used to be. She could hurt someone even if she didn’t intend to.

  They talked for a while longer after they finished eating, mostly about what it was like for him to grow up as a werewolf. When Luke got up to clear the table, Heidi insisted on helping him.

  “That was a fantastic dinner,” she said, glancing at him as she put the bottle of salad dressing back in the fridge. “I don’t usually eat steak, and when I do, I don’t usually eat that much.” She closed the door and turned to face him. “Am I eating so much now because I’m a werewolf?”

  He glanced up from loading the dishwasher. “It’s one of the side effects. Your body needs the extra calories to prepare for your first change.”

  Heidi walked over to stand at the other side of the dishwasher, leaning one hip against the counter. “That makes sense, I suppose,” she said. “All these extra calories aren’t going to go to my hips or anything, are they?”

  Luke’s gold eyes caressed her slender figure as he closed the dishwasher. “No. Now that you’re a werewolf, your metabolism is higher than it used to be, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

  Her pulse quickened under his heated gaze. She gave him a smile. “Whew, that’s a relief. Well, in that case, do you have any ice cream?”

  He chuckled. “Actually, I think I’m out. But I might have cookies.”

  She considered the offer, but then shook her head. “That’s okay. I was kind of in the mood for ice cream.” She glanced at her watch and was surprised to see how late it was. The time had just flown by. “It’s really late. I should probably be getting home anyway.”

  Luke nodded, but she could see the disappointment on his face. “I’ll walk you out.”

  Almost wishing she didn’t have to go, Heidi picked up her purse. Once outside, she stopped beside her car and turned to him wanting to tell him how grateful she was for what he was doing for her. “I’m sorry I was such a pain the other day,” she said. “I really do appreciate your help.”

  He smiled. “No problem. And you really weren’t that much of a pain.”

  As she stood there looking up at him, Heidi found her gaze drawn to his lips. God, he has a beautiful mouth. It was wide and sensuous, and she wondered what it would feel like on hers. Suddenly, Luke stepped closer, and Heidi had the craziest notion that he was going to kiss her. Breathless at the idea, she parted her lips in anticipation, but then realizing what she was doing, she cleared her throat and took a step back. What was she doing? They had only just met, after all, and if he were going to help her, it would probably be better if they didn’t confuse the issue by throwing sex into the mix. Because if they kissed, they were definitely going to end up in bed.

  When he only leaned forward and opened her car door, however, she felt like an idiot. Thank God, she hadn’t closed her eyes and pursed her lips. That would have been beyond embarrassing.

  “We should probably get together again before the full moon,” he said, obviously clueless about what she’d been thinking. “So that I can tell you what kinds of things to expect the first time you change, I mean.”

  His voice sounded a little different than it had before. Had he felt the sparks between them, too? Realizing he was still waiting for an answer, she nodded her head. “That’s probably a good idea.”

  Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a small, spiral-bound sketchbook and a pencil, and wrote down her cell phone number and the address of the apartment where she was staying.

  As she handed the piece of paper to him, their hands touched, and she almost let out a moan of pleasure at how good his skin felt against hers. She had an overwhelming urge to run her hand up his muscular arm to touch more of him. But once again, she managed to control herself. She better get out of there, or she was going to end up doing something really foolish. Like throwing herself at him right there in the driveway.

  “I’ll call you,” he said.

  God, how could three simple words sound so sexy?

  Heidi nodded and got in the car, then closed the door. As she started it and began to back down the driveway, she congratulated herself on showing such self-control. But as she looked back at Luke still standing there looking so damn sexy, she couldn’t help mentally kicking herself for being so reserved at the same time. She didn’t meet guys like Luke McCall every day—actually, she’d never met a guy like him—and yet here she was more worried about not complicating things when all she really wanted to do was say screw the complications and jump his bones.

  Chapter 5

  Heidi let herself into her apartment half an hour later. Dammit, she should have kissed him. Heck, she should have pushed him up against the car and kissed him until her legs were too weak to hold her up. She was a modern, independent, Cosmo girl, after all, and Luke McCall was one smokin’ hot guy. Why couldn’t she have her cake and eat it too? So what if having sex with him complicated things a little bit? They
were both adults; they could handle complicated.

  She had the feeling that Luke would be as hot in bed as he was out of it. Just the thought of his naked body entwined with hers had her panting for breath. Not to mention made her pussy quiver. She imagined his strong hands roaming over her bare skin, finding all her secret places. And that wonderful mouth of his, too. He would kiss and nibble everywhere—her neck, her nipples, her inner thighs, her…

  She swallowed hard and threw her purse on the couch. Her overwhelming desire to sleep with him surprised her a little. She’d just met Luke and she hadn’t ever responded to a man like this. She was usually pretty conservative when it came to jumping into bed with a guy. She didn’t have a three-date rule or anything, but she usually tended to go out with a guy and get to know him first before sleeping with him. Then again, she’d never known a guy as hot as Luke, either. Or maybe it was the whole werewolf thing he had going on. Maybe she was more attracted to him because of it. Maybe he was putting off some type of “jump-me” pheromones.

  Oh well. It wasn’t like she could drive back to his house and rouse him out of bed demanding sex. If she were a guy, she’d just take a cold shower. Since she wasn’t, though, she’d grab a pint of Haagen Dazs and curl up in bed with it.

  But, to her annoyance, when she opened the freezer a few minutes later, she discovered that she had already eaten all the ice cream. “Damn,” she muttered, slamming the door. No sex and no ice cream. She hoped the batteries in her vibrator were still good.

  Frustrated, she undressed and got ready for bed. She was just pulling on a pair of cotton shorts and a cami when the doorbell rang. Her brow furrowed. Who the heck could that be at this hour? She would be amazed that Sukie would be stopping by at this time of night to show her a painting, but since the girl only lived a few doors down, Heidi supposed her parents might allow her to run over for a minute. If they even knew. They were likely already asleep.

  Heidi ran her hand through her long hair as she went to answer the door. Considering it was so late, she probably should have looked through the peephole to see who it was first, but instead she pulled the door open without thinking, only to blink in surprise to see Luke standing there.