Annie Nicholas: The Beta

He grinned, relief awash on his expression, and took out his cellphone. “Give me your number and I’ll call you to make plans.”

Torn, her heart fluttered in a small flight of frenzy. She wanted to see him again, but knew she could never offer what he deserved. Smiling, she gave him a fake number. Better for him if he never got to know her, but she wanted one more thing before they parted. She stepped closer. “Won’t you kiss me goodbye?”

Returning his phone to his pocket, Rob ran his hands along her arms as he bent forward. The light, chaste brush of lips on hers sparked a craving for more.

As he withdrew, she followed and threw her arms around his neck, closing the distance between their bodies.

His shoulders tensed, but she didn’t release him as she licked his bottom lip, asking to enter. He opened his mouth, getting braver when she moaned and pressed harder against him. Strong arms engulfed her, fingers threading through her hair, as Rob bent into her body.

She wished she could say she didn’t enjoy it, but the fire behind his kiss almost had her ready to pull him into a dark corner and undo those loose jeans of his. Oh, how she’d make him beg to never stop. Running her hands down his back, she took slow pleasure in the lean power under his clothes. Every defined muscle traced a delicious image in her mind. Arousal bloomed between her thighs. She continued down until she grabbed his ass.

This time the moan that tore from her throat came involuntarily. Damn, she wanted him, bad, but she did what she had to and finished the kiss by softly nipping his delectable bottom lip.

His eyes widened, and he touched the spot where she’d bitten him.

“Too much?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I liked it. I’m just surprised that I did.”

Waving with her right hand, she tucked the left one behind her back. “Goodbye, Rob. I’ll talk with you soon.”

He grinned and strutted down the block, turning at the corner.

Releasing the breath she held, she examined the content of her hand. A worn brown leather wallet the size of her palm with the info she needed from Rob to find her mark.

The building blocked Robert’s view of Esther as he turned the corner. His car wasn’t in this direction, but he didn’t want her to witness his jump and heel click. The werewolf blood running in his veins enhanced the excited leap, making it higher than a human’s. He bent his knees to absorb the impact of landing. Tonight, he’d kicked ass and kissed a dark-haired beauty. Her smell still lingered on his hands with the memory of how her thick, mahogany hair felt curled around his fingers.

He couldn’t believe his ears when she asked him for the time. Tall, she had long legs with a nice curve to her hips and breasts, intelligent blue eyes and a personality playful enough to draw him out his shell. She’d taken control of the conversation, no hesitation in asking him to accompany her home or in kissing him. He loved smart, confident women but one had never liked him back.

Grinning like a fool, he jogged to his car, burning off the extra energy her kiss produced. He’d wanted to do so much more with her, like push her against the wall so she could wrap her legs around his hips and allow him to grind against her core. Maybe tomorrow night, he’d get what he fantasized.

Approaching the car, he pulled out the keys. The gas gage was on empty on his way here. He needed to fill the tank, but he couldn’t recall how much cash he’d brought with him. After working for banks and credit card companies for the last few years, he never liked using either, not trusting the system. His right back pocket, where he usually placed his wallet, was empty. Checking the left pocket, his heart sank into his gut as it turned out empty as well. He patted the front ones and only found his cell. Maybe he’d dropped it while wrestling with Talon?

Deep down inside, he knew the truth. Esther.

He was such a fool. Beautiful women didn’t ask geeks like him for a kiss. Grinding his teeth, he pictured her laughing at him as she flipped through his wallet, counting what little cash he carried.

The hole in his gut grew wider. Crap, he didn’t have anything to buy gas and no way to get home but his own two feet. The last thing he wanted to do was call Daedalus or anyone from the pack for a lift. He’d never hear the end of it.

Respect was something you earned, and how would he ever obtain any if he fell for obvious scams?

Clenching his fists, Robert turned around and marched back to where he’d left Esther. His beast stretched inside him, frustrated that he wouldn’t release it. Control over one’s inner monster sounded easy, but the struggle became an hourly routine. Shifters dealt with this all the time, day or night, in sickness or in health. The first rule of the Vasi pack was human dominance over animal instinct, because once the beast started calling the shots the shifter began to forget right versus wrong and listened to the laws of the jungle instead.

Robert crouched by the spot where Esther had stood as she’d kissed him. Sometimes animal instincts came in handy. Her scent left a trail. He wanted his wallet back, and his pride.

Creeping into the nearby alley, he undressed, folded his clothes into a neat pile, and hid them behind a trash can. Naked, he called to his beast and allowed the full change. Pain built in his body as his limbs grew and bone molded into new shapes. He used to scream or howl as he transformed, but after three years of making the shift, he’d learned how to absorb the discomfort. It only took a few seconds, then he saw the world through his beast’s eyes.

As a powerful, efficient killing machine he needed restraint. He took a deep breath, taking in the surrounding scents, then shook to settle his fur. Bi-pedal, he stood over six feet tall, but the elongated arms and increased flexibility meant he could run on all four when needed, topping speeds of forty miles an hour on a flat stretch.

Esther didn’t stand a chance.

Licking his muzzle, he bent low to inhale her delicious scent, not surprised to find it led away from the duplex she claimed was her home. He followed her heady smell farther up the street where she’d crossed and entered another alley. The muscles in his back bunched, wanting to spring into action, to run howling into the night, sending fear in all who dared cross his path. He stopped in the alley and forced a calm over his beast. Nothing good would come from rampaging through this neighborhood. They needed to focus, take their time, and find their prey.

Fury at how the female had manipulated him boiled in his stomach. A growl rose in his throat as he stalked along the narrow alley. Filthy water lay in scattered puddles, and the faint scent of urine almost masked Esther’s trail. He swung his head back and forth in a slow arc, not wanting to miss it.

The alley opened to a quiet street, not far from where he’d met Daedalus. No one should be around to witness a werewolf out for a stroll this late at night. He hoped. Even as a legal citizen, his size and form still freaked people out. Dead was dead when lynched by an illegal mob. Prosecution needed evidence, witnesses, and a compassionate jury to convict for murder. Those things tended to disappear when paranormal beings were the victims. Better to keep a low profile.

Scrambling over the cement, he raced along the sidewalk from shadow to shadow, just like Daedalus taught him. His heart pounded as her scent grew stronger, fresher. Around the corner, he spotted her not fifty yards away, wallet in hand as she rifled through his stuff.

The snarl escaped him before he could control the beast.

The address on Rob’s driver’s license was located in a wealthier part of the city, according to the GPS app on her phone. Esther saved it and rubbed her chest. For some reason, it felt hollow.