Jeaniene Frost - Under Her Skin

"Hi," I said. God, that sounded stupid, but what else was I supposed to say? Somebody call 911 sounded tempting, but I didn't think it would do any good.

An older woman bustled up to me, smiling. "Welcome, dear! Aren't you pretty? Such beautiful brown hair."

I just wanted to sit, hide, and plot my escape, not exchange pleasantries with Mrs. Butterworth's version of a werewolf.

"Um, thanks."

"Let's set you up over here, it's quieter," she said, leading Daniel and I to a table that only had four other people at it.

"Thanks, Mom," Daniel said.

I stopped so fast, I almost staggered. " Mom? "

A grin edged his mouth. "Everyone has one, after all."

"Quit teasing Marlee, she looks starved," his mother said to Daniel, holding out a chair for me. "We have excellent venison stew tonight. That should help put the color back in your face."

I sat at the table, avoiding eye contact with the other four people, though I did notice one was a female. Daniel sat next to me, that half-smile still on his face.

"Not what you expected again?" he asked.

I glanced around the room once more. People were laughing, eating, and chatting. Sure, I kept getting discreet looks, but no one was licking their chops in a menacing way at me. It all looked terribly…civilized.

"No," I replied, and left it at that. These people might look nice, but they were my kidnappers. My executioners , if I refused to become one of their group. All the table manners in the world couldn't make up for that.

"Daniel," someone at the table said. "Introduce me."

I glanced up, meeting a pair of blue eyes on a smiling face. Black hair hung past his shoulders, untamed and playful, like his expression.

"Finn." There was a hint of a growl in Daniel's voice that hadn't been there before. "This is Marlee. Marlee, my younger brother, Finn."

Again I was surprised at the family connection, though I shouldn't have been. Why wouldn't all of their kind congregate together?

"Hi," I said in the same non-committal tone I'd used before.

"Charmed," Finn replied, grin widening.

"Cut her a break, she's had a bad day," the girl next to him muttered before giving me a sympathetic glance. "I'm Laurel, Daniel's cousin. Sorry about what happened."

"Which part?" I couldn't help but ask .

She sighed. "All of it."

There was no stopping my snort. "Yeah. Me, too."

Daniel cleared his throat. I returned my gaze to the table in front of me, tracing its edge. It'll be another day or so before people even realize something's happened to me . How long after that before Brandy or my parents organize a search, if there is one? How many days will go by before they give me up for dead? How am I supposed to just sit here, surrounded by werewolves , and pretend nothing is wrong?

A tear slid down my cheek. I sucked in my breath, aghast, but that only made it worse. Another one came down. Then another. I bent my head, hoping my hair would hide it, when a warm hand landed on my shoulder.

"Laurel, have the food sent to my cabin," Daniel said, then he scooped me up before I could even protest. We were out of the dining lodge and down the street in the next few heartbeats.

"God, you're so fast," I gasped in astonishment. Fresh tears spurted. How could I ever get away, if he moved this fast and there was a town full of more creatures like him?

"You're going to be okay, Marlee," he said.

No, I wasn't. I was trapped in a strange place surrounded by creatures that weren't supposed to exist. My old life might not have been all champagne and roses, but no one had the right to rip me away from it without my consent. The enormity of what I'd lost between yesterday and today slammed into me. I didn't care anymore that the tears wouldn't stop, or that I started hitting Daniel. My grief was too sharp to worry about embarrassment or consequences.

Wolves were chasing me, biting at my ankles, snarling as they crowded around me, letting out howls that made my blood turn to ice. I ran, twigs stinging me as I darted between the trees, gasping for breath, crying out with each new flash of pain in my legs. They were toying with me. My death was only a matter of time.

The full moon came into view between the trees, illuminating more wolves in my path. I screamed at them, but it came out as a howl. Horrified, I looked down to see that my feet had turned into paws. Fur slithered up my body, replacing my skin. I fell forward, claws shooting out of my fingers…

"NO!"

I woke up screaming the word, flinging the sheets away like they were animals attacking me. It took me a second to orient myself. Wood ceiling, wood walls, an antler chandelier above me. Right. I was in Daniel's cabin. All the better to make sure I couldn't escape.

He sat in the reclining chair on the opposite side of the room, eyes slitted. Watching me. He'd slept in the chair last night. I guess I should appreciate him giving me the bed, but my gratitude was in short supply.

"Another nightmare?" he asked quietly.

I'd had them all night. Either I was getting eaten by wolves, or I was turning into one. Terrifying no matter which way you sliced it.

Daniel stretched. The afghan he'd thrown over himself slipped, revealing that he'd taken off his shirt. Cords of muscles flexed beneath taut, tanned skin.

Despite everything, I looked. I'd never seen such a perfectly muscled body before – at least, one that wasn't on TV advertising gym equipment. Daniel didn't have the bloated look associated with steroid users, but he had a thick, brawny frame that usually spoke of many hours in a gym. Absurdly, the image of a werewolf

bench-pressing flashed in my mind.

I glanced up to find Daniel staring at me. He didn't wink or make a comment, but there was no doubt he knew I'd been staring at his body.

I managed to shrug. "Stockholm syndrome," I said. "The whole 'bonding with your captor' thing. I've already cried in your arms, now I'm checking you out. Just ignore it. Of course, I can't be your first captive, so you're probably used to this."

A faint smile touched his mouth. "You're the first female I've had to quarantine, and none of the men looked at me the way you did."

There was something deeper in his voice with that last sentence. I shivered, both from unease and other things. Yes, Daniel was very attractive with his dark hair, thick brows, full mouth, and piercing hazel eyes – not to mention that body . But this wasn't a first date. This was a hostage situation, and a macabre one at that.

"Don't let it go to your head. I'm scared to death and looking for any form of comfort," I said, regaining control. "Speaking of that, since a certain murderous gray wolf keeps appearing in my nightmares, I need to know. What happened to Gabriel?"

Daniel's face became shuttered. "He's under arrest. If you shift, he dies for infecting you against your will. If you don't turn, Joshua said Gabriel losing his eye was punishment enough. Joshua had liquid silver poured into Gabriel's eye so it wouldn't heal."

Their harshness apparently wasn't limited just to outsiders. I felt mildly sick over what I'd heard, but under the circumstances, pity for Gabriel was beyond me.

"And the others?" Gabriel hadn't been alone.

"They run the gauntlet."

Daniel said it lightly, but I swallowed. "As in, the thing Native Indians used to do with captives, where they line up on both sides and beat the shit out of the person as he tries to dash down the center?"

That hint of wildness was back in Daniel's gaze again, a primal, untamed gleam I'd never seen except in the eyes of an animal. On a full-grown man, it both was mesmerizing and frightening.