Loribelle Hunt - Once Bitten

Caleb pulled out, drove into town, stopped first at the new sushi place, and then went on to the fast-food joint. He pulled out her cell phone while he waited in the drive-through line, scrolling through until he found his father's number. It was answered on the first ring, but not by his father.

“Liza, why the hell haven't you checked in?” Her father sounded more exasperated than upset.

“Hey, Henry. Where's my dad?” He was too pissed to bother with pleasantries.

There was a long pause while the phone changed hands and probably went on speaker.

“Caleb?”

“Yeah.”

“Where's Liza?” Henry again, sounding suspicious. Caleb rolled his eyes.

“She's fine. Sleeping. What I want to know is why the fuck y'all sent her here? An unknown witch in lupine territory? That's suicide.”

The idea of what could have happened if someone had discovered her made his blood run cold. Damn it. Had they thought of her safety at all?

Henry snorted. “Liza can take care of herself.”

“Something you'd know if you bothered to keep in touch,” his father grumbled.

With a nod, he accepted bags from a clerk at the window and pulled into a parking spot.

“I'm in touch now. What's wrong?”

“She didn't say anything?”

He growled. It took a couple minutes of struggling to regain control before he was calm enough to answer. They simply waited him out.

“She didn't say anything.”

There was another longer pause and he heard his father's sigh. “I'm ready to retire. It's time for you to come home.”

He snorted. Yeah right. He wasn't buying that for a minute. “Fine. Keep your reasons to yourself. But I'm keeping Liza, and this time I won't tolerate any interference.” It was hard to ignore Henry's barked laughter while he put the car in reverse and got on the road going back to his cabin. To her.

“Good luck with that, son.” His father's amusement was clear, like he knew something Caleb didn't. Like he didn't think Caleb could keep her. He ground his teeth together.

“I don't need luck,” he said through clenched teeth. “She's mine. She always has been.”

“Hell, I know that boy. 'Bout damned time you figured it out.” He stared at the phone a moment before flipping it closed, refusing to answer when they called back. Shit. What the fuck was he supposed to do now? He didn't want to take her back there, but he'd heard something in his dad's voice. Fatigue maybe. He should have kept in better touch. Should know what was going on in his pack.

He'd left, sure, but he'd always intended to go back and take his place. He'd hoped to have worked Liza out of his system first. That definitely wasn't going to happen. The decision was mostly made, but first he needed information and she, as paladin, was the most logical source to obtain it from.

He grinned as he drove up the cabin's drive and parked. She was his mate and he would soon be her alpha. She wouldn't be able to deny him anything. Her body, her strength, her knowledge. Her heart and soul. They were far from that level of acceptance, but he sure as hell looked forward to the hunt.

Chapter Six

Zach was back at the cabin in record time. He didn't want Liza to wake alone. Not that he expected her to be happy finding him there instead of Caleb. And not that it mattered. He and Caleb would discuss it later after he recovered from the shock of this situation.

Zach should have known by Caleb's overreaction back at the bar what Liza meant to him, but it wasn't until he saw Caleb mark her that it all made sense. She didn't just belong to Caleb.

She also belonged to Zach. He wouldn't be happy sharing a mate with anyone else.

Hearing her stir in the bedroom, he sighed and entered the kitchen. He didn't know what brought her to them now, but he was sure the rest of the night would call for coffee. He started a fresh pot and waited for her to come out.

She'd dressed, and again he was hit by that same sense of unreality as when he'd first seen her. Her raven hair was pulled into a ponytail and with no makeup on she looked impossibly young and feminine. Until his gaze drifted down. The woman was all dangerous curves. That was his first thought when he saw her. It wasn't until he saw her naked, saw her sleekly muscled body that he realized how accurate an assessment that was.

He scowled. She certainly looked competent, but he wasn't real keen on his mate, his human mate, being a high-ranking soldier much less paladin. Standing in the doorway she went very still and he made an effort to school any emotion from his face. Relaxing marginally, she entered the room and helped herself to a cup of coffee but kept at a distance from him.

“Where's Caleb?”

“He went to get food. And I brought your car. Ready to tell us why you're here, sweetheart?”

She frowned. “It doesn't have anything to do with you.”

“Hmm.” Letting the heat show in his eyes, he approached her slowly and was relieved to see she felt it too. She froze, gasped when he stretched out a hand to stroke the mark Caleb had left on her neck. Soon enough she'd have a matching one. “We'll have to agree to disagree about that. For now.”

His words snapped her from the spell and she moved away. It was an easy, casual step but her back was stiff. He wanted to put his hands on her and rub away the tension, and he got the feeling she would reject the offer. But why? He thought it was more than loyalty to Caleb.

He searched for a way to put her at ease, but realized he knew almost nothing about her.

After pouring a cup of coffee, he sat at the table and gestured for her to take the chair next to him. He repressed a smile when with a suspicious look she sat at the opposite side of the table.

Okay, you got her sitting. Now what?

He needed to get to know her on his own, without going through Caleb. So what did he know? She had a past with Caleb. She was a soldier. And a witch in a werewolf pack. Unheard of.

“Do you know the story of how we became enemies?”

She smiled. “The Little Red Riding Hood story? Of course.”

“Tell me.”

“Don't you already know it?” she teased, one eyebrow cocked. He'd seen her tease Caleb, but this time that carefree smile was for him. He thought his heart might burst from his chest.

“Maybe your version is different.”

She laughed. “Zach, I grew up in a werewolf pack. It's the same.” Her first test. He wondered if she'd lie to him. “Didn't you ever have contact with your own kind?”

Ah, he'd finally ignited her temper. Her eyes literally flashed—a brilliant silver—

reminding him she may be only half wolf but she was definitely all witch. “I see my mother almost every day. As for the others…” She hesitated so long that he didn't expect her to answer.

When she did, her eyes were sad. He'd do damned near anything to get rid of that look. “I saw my mother's family a couple of times when I was a child.” She was silent a long time, and while he watched, it was like she donned a mask. Hiding the hurts from the past. Hiding from him. He'd do something about that. Later.

“Tell me your story, Liza,” he said softly, somehow keeping himself from reaching for her to offer the comfort he knew she wasn't ready to accept yet. It was a way to distract her, to wipe that forlorn look from her face. She recovered quickly, sending him a quick grin that hit him right in the groin.

“Why not? Once upon a time… You sure you want to hear this?”

“Of course.” He had to know how she would teach it to their pups. Gods, was he really thinking that far ahead?

“Okay. Once upon a time, there was a girl called Little Red Riding Hood. Except she wasn't really a girl. She wasn't a woman either. She was at that in-between stage. Young enough to still be charmed by childhood, yet old enough to yearn for adulthood.” So far, their stories matched.