Most Eligible Wolf, Julie Steimle [important of reading books .TXT] 📗

and Daisy was… lying in my human arms and we were naked as the day were born.”

“You could have just been framed,” Randon interjected.

“No.” Rick earnestly shook his head, his desperation returning. “We definitely did the deed. I can recall…” He colored, thinking on it. His heart sped up.

“Oh.” Randon lifted his head, nodding. “So you got caught up—”

“—in the moment, yeah,” Rick nodded, his face getting hot now. He then shook his head. “But honestly, I don’t know if I got her pregnant then, or later.”

Randon’s eyes widened on Rick, shocked. “You mean you—”

“Yes,” Rick shamefacedly replied, trying to lower his voice. “It is a really long story, but the gist of it is that after that one time, it was nearly impossible to resist her. I mean, I tried. I really did. But this kid Kurt, from the pack, basically described it—I was whipped.”

Randon stared.

“When I tried to hold them accountable for tricking me into mating with Daisy, they had messed with my head and had convinced me that I had already gotten her pregnant. I realize that now, but not in the moment. And my hormones at the time were going crazy. I couldn’t think clearly, if at all.” Rick ran his fingers through his hair. “In fact, if you hadn’t grabbed me and pulled me out just then, if Audry hadn’t been there, I probably would have gone with Daisy anywhere she wanted right now and…” He cringed, struggling as the urge rose in him even then. “I can’t lose control like that again. Dad is right. She is my addiction.”

But then a thought popped into his head—a horrific, awful thought—and Rick rushed to the edge of the wall, looking back at the NYU Green Club booth. The pack was still there, and Audry was looking harried.

“Oh man. Audry.”

“What?” Randon hurried after him.

Pulling back, Rick put a hand over his mouth. He looked to Randon, eyes wide. “Audry. I put her in danger.”

“We’re in a convention center,” Randon waved his hands around, “What could possibly happen? It’s a public place.”

“No,” Rick growled. “Hunters get after me in a place like this all the time. And look at her. Audry is surrounded by the pack.”

“We could always sic a hunter on them,” Randon suggested, thinking.

Rick shot him a dirty look. “No. I swore to protect all wolves. And the people of Wolverton aren’t all that bad. They were just acting in self-preservation. However, Daisy is another matter. She is a seriously jealous creature. I mean, when she heard of any girl I had as friends or liked even a little, she got this look in her eye like she’d kill them. Eve, Jessica, and Selena could easily take Daisy on. But unless Audry has her tranquilizer gun on her, she is no match.”

“Audry has a tranquilizer gun?” Randon nearly laughed. The thought painted funny pictures in his head.

“She’s an animal rescue worker. Of course she does.” Rick peered around the corner again at them. “She shot me with it once.”

Randon did laugh this time.

“Shut it,” Rick snapped with a dirty look. “It was when she was getting that silver bullet out of my leg.” Rick leaned against the wall, thinking. “We have to do something. We have to save her from Daisy.”

Smirking, gazing at Rick, Randon said, “You must really like this Audry.”

“What?” Rick popped up a little, staring at him.

Randon nodded. “I mean you care this much.”

Shaking his head, Rick explained in rising panic, “No. Daisy, as a she-wolf in heat, might claw Audry to death.”

Randon looked skeptical.

“Audry is an innocent,” Rick explained, wishing others would understand this. “She saved my life. I don’t want to screw up hers.” He then pointed toward the booth, “And that shirt with that wolf on it would be like her claiming me as her territory—in the minds of a wolf.”

“You can’t be seri—”

“Entirely serious,” Rick bit back, wishing Randon understood how dangerous this situation really was. As a witch familiar, he did not understand danger. “You only know cat minds. Wolves are different. I’ve heard Audry often refers to the wolf as hers. Jessica tells me so. That wolf is her computer screensaver.”

“The wolf is her screensaver?” Randon almost laughed. He watched Rick with even more mirth, still thinking it was cute that Rick was so concerned about Audry. He really didn’t think that Audry was in that much danger.

“Shut up. She doesn’t know the wolf is me,” Rick bit back. Then sulkily he muttered, “I bug the crap out of her. She thinks I’m some spoiled rich kid.”

Randon shrugged, gazing at Rick with a teasing chuckle. “But she seems to like the wolf.”

Rick blushed, peering back out at the booth. “She likes wildlife. So what? The point is, Daisy is dangerous to her.”

“Fine,” Randon said, deciding now was not the time to rub in that he thought Rick was a little too hyper-focused on Audry for it to be a coincidence. “Then we figure out how to get those wolves out of that booth.”

Rick nodded.

They spent the following time debating over ways to get the Wolverton pack to want to leave that booth, including ordering aconite flowers and having them sent to them as a gift. But Rick nixed that one as these days the convention centers he frequented banned those particular flowers because of his allergies. Then they thought about ordering them a pizza with tons of garlic—only Rick explained to Randon that vegans did not eat cheese and Audry would get angry. While they were trying to find other routes to subtly drive out the Wolverton pack, Tom Brown and Matthew Calamori strode up to them. Tom stood tall in his hoodie, his fair hair and white face making him look almost albino. He had sunglasses on as usual to hide his orange eyes. Matthew was in jeans and tee shirt, looking like an average Italian American.

“There you are,” Matt said, laughing when he saw them practically sequestered in a doorway. “Are you hiding?”

“Not from you,” Rick said, looking about Matthew’s lack of police uniform. He frowned.

“Should we leave?” Matt thumbed over his shoulder, having heard Rick’s disgusted thoughts that Matt did not look more like a cop… because Rick so needed a policeman right then.

“No.” Rick looked to them both. “I need your help.”

Rick’s thoughts spoke volumes. Matt swayed as they rushed at him from Rick like a tidal wave.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down,” Matt said, hand raised. “Use words. I can’t follow all those thoughts.

So, Rick, with a glance to Randon, recounted everything he had just told Randon about the situation with Wolverton and Audry being stuck with them.

Matt was astounded, most especially that Rick had a ‘full-moon wolf fling’ with Daisy and luckily (or unluckily) her pregnancy didn’t last. He remarked, “And you think you are—what is it? moon-bonded with her? Like a spell?”

Rick shook his head. “Randon thinks it is more like a spell. I can’t control myself around Daisy.”

“Who else knows about this?” Matt asked, his eyes raking over Rick.

“The entire Holy Seven,” Tom said, who had been uncommonly silent until now.

Matt stared at him, surprised.

“I found out while on that trip to China,” Tom explained, hands in pockets. “I wasn’t given permission to spill the beans.”

Matt stared at his best buddy more, impressed that Tom was able to keep that secret for so long. “While in China?”

Tom nodded. “Rick was having a hard time keeping his mind off her. Those in the Seven knew about it, but Chen didn’t.”

Matt looked to Rick chidingly. “You didn’t trust us?”

“It was embarrassing,” Rick muttered. “I didn’t even want the Seven to know about it, but Dad told them so they could keep guard and make sure Wolverton didn’t come after me.”

“So your best friend heard about it from your dad?” Matt asked, genuinely appalled.

Rick’s face flushed. “I eventually told Abey myself. I just…”

“Hey,” Tom wrapped his arms around Rick’s head and shook a finger at Matt. “Lay off the poor puppy. Everybody’s got something they are embarrassed about.”

Matt shrugged. But he said, “Alright. So you think it might be a spell?”

“I think it is a spell because it reminded me a lot of what happened to Troy on Valentine’s Day,” Randon said. “That Daisy did have a peculiar odor, which Rick seemed to cue into almost immediately from across the room—just like how when Troy had been ensnared with vampire magic. I mean, Rick just smelled her then ran to find her. I had to hunt for him.”

“You did?” Rick blinked at him as he pushed Tom off him. He couldn’t recall it. He just remembered getting Daisy’s scent and wanted desperately to find her. He would have jumped into her arms and kissed her right then had she not been standing there with one arm around Audry like a hostage. Seeing Audry like that had woken him from Daisy’s spell. Daisy’s jealousy had always kept him on edge. It was like the one off note in a beautifully entrancing orchestra.

“And he acted really weird every time he got close to her,” Randon explained. Then he turned to him and asked, “What were you and she whispering about, by the way?”

Rick stared into space, still smelling Daisy’s scent somehow. He murmured, “I was just asking about her health, you know after her miscarriage.”

“But she was saying stuff to you,” Randon said, nudging him.

Nodding, Rick pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to regain focus. “Yes. She was… trying to get me to go somewhere alone with her. Back to the hotel, or something.”

“Hey,” Tom waved his hand in front of Rick’s face. Then he pinched him, hard.

“OW!” Rick rubbed his bruise. “Tom!”

“Wow, that is some addiction,” Matt murmured. “Maybe it is a spell.”

Tom nodded. “Totally. His imps are wild for him running off with that she-wolf. But how is she luring you in? She’s not here. Not this very spot. But over there. Can you smell her from here?”

Rick nodded, his breathing going heavy. “Yeah. I can.”

Randon stared. “Wow. You said sensitive nose, but man…. That is super sensitive.”

Rick nodded dumbly, feeling glad Tom had pinched him. He had been severely tempted to leave that very second to hunt Daisy down and make out with her. “Daisy always smelled amazing,” Rick murmured. “Good enough to eat, though eating really isn’t what I…”

“…Want to do with her?” Matt raised his eyebrows, finishing that thought, knowing what was on Rick’s mind. 

Rick nodded.

Tom, Matt, and Randon stared at him, watching him. It wasn’t as bad as when the vampire had tried to lure away Troy. Troy had been entirely unresponsive. They couldn’t even get him to walk. He had flopped on the ground and giggled under the influence of the vampire. Troy had also gone a little vampire-like under the spell, with increased strength and knowledge of where he had to go to meet the vampire who wanted to feast on him. Rick was more like under a drug, in and out of control and consciousness. Distracted and severely addicted.

“So, it’s her smell that does it?” Tom asked, thinking.

Rick nodded. “Dad even made me even scrub off her scent with this soap he had for emergencies.”

“You might have to do that now,” Randon murmured, thinking about how Daisy had been stroking his arm and neck.

“Got it,” Tom said. He nodded to the others. “I’ll just make her not smell so nice. We don’t want a repeat over what happened to Troy.” Then Tom started off toward the booth.

Rick followed him urgently. “Save Audry too, ok? Drive the pack from that booth. I don’t want them there harassing her.”

Winking Tom grinned crookedly. “You got it.” And he saluted.