countryside werewolf

That was how far this piece of s**t was going to go? Daniel looked him up and down, measuring the worth of the Catii family's heir. They were nearly the same age, Matthew Catii only several months older, but he was shorter and skinnier, Heether family had always been well-built, but comparing their physical gifts was just a sad affair. Matthew Catii should keep to himself instead of stirring snakes' nests. He wasn't...constructed for confrontation. Especially not with Daniel, who was being steadily tested past his limits. He was one breath away from snapping. "No, thank you," he said. "Beth is not a barg to get to yon. You should leave. Now." "Don't be ridiculous. I'm offering more than information, I'm offering help. Moon Goddess knows you need it -" Daniel shifted. He was alshreds as muscles bulged, fur bristled, and his wolf emerged, teeth bared in a ready snarl before he even finished transforming. Matt shifted too in immediate answer, but it was pure reaction, his transformation rushed and unbalanced like drawers tumbling out of a tipped dresser. Even when he landed on all four feet andonly too well. He could smell it, too, the cloying fear rising from Matt's fur. You're under my roof. Not yours. He let a long growl ripple through the air. Now leave. Matthew backed away, still in his wolf form. And to his credit, he had the balls to say one last thing. Find me once you change your mind, he said. The offer is on the table. And he turned and fled. * * * "Beth." Daniel knocked on her door again, harder this time. "Beth, open the door." "Give me a minute." Why? What was she doing? He leaned in just in time for the sound of a drawer sliding shut to seep through the door, then another. What? Was she pa She wouldn't. uldn't just leave like this. Not because that festering ball of mangey fur and dull teeth had said he wanted to take her away from the Heether pack's territory to somewhere safer. He wrapped his hand around the doorknob, pulse pounding. "Open the door, Beth!" he demanded, and insteam knock, he nearly splintered the wood in his haste. "Beth!" "I said give me a minute!" Like hell. He turned and placed his shoulder before the door, ready to ram through. She was not going to fall for Matthew Catii's tricks. How could she? A heartbeat before he slammed open her door, it opened on its own, revealing a harried Beth standing in the doorway with her clothes rumpled. A frown curved her mouth as she pup at him. "What is it?" she exclaimed. "What is so important that you have to break down my door!" He stared. "Were you packing?" "What do you mean, packing!" She pointed at the thrown over the foot of the bed. "I was going to take a shower and you decided the house was burning down. What is it!" ...She had been grabbing clothes out of her dresser so she could open the door. She must have already stripped out of the ones she had been wearing, ready to.. Daniel swallowed, suddenly uncertain. But he couldn't stand here forever. He had come here for a reason, and he was going to see it through. "Why is Matthew Catii so obsessed with you?" he asked. "Were you with him before you married Warren?" ger gleamed in her eyes, even though it was plain she was trying to keep calm and hide it. "I don't know where that came from, but wherever you found it, put it back." Her eyes flashed. "I don't have time for slugs like him, and I hope neither do you." ...Except if that were true, why was she so angry? It was obvious that she had some personal grudge against him, but the closest she and someone like that man should ever have been was through coincidental acquaintance and the occasional crossing of each other's paths nks to their fathers, and nothing more. Instead, she was behaving like- "You were with him before," he said flatly. "You left him, and now he's chasing you, trying to get you back. How long were you with him? Did you leave him before the wedding? Was that why you were so opposed to it for weeks and then suddenly changed your mind?" He sard, crowding her back through the doorway. She tried to resist, eyes still glittering with growing fury, but no one's strength could match his. And right now, he felt more powerful, more wrathful than he ever had before. No, it wasn't wrath. It was - something. Something he didn't care to put a name to right now. He slammed the door behind himself hardesary, gaze still locked with hers. "This is the second time he's tried something like this, just that I know of," he growled. "That night when I saw you two in your father's house, he grabbed you. What was his intention then?" "The same as always," she snorted. "To always get his to him, everyone is just a prize or a tool. Or a hindrance." "'The same as always'? So you do know him. Well." She caught her mistake too late; he had seen right through her. She opened her mouth, and he could hear the correction forming on her tongue already, but hee cave, waiting for the snow to fall, he hadn't understood her then either. Why had she been so panicked about Warren, begging him not to leave? And when that had failed, why had she made it so Daniel couldn't go with him? How had she - it was almost as if she had known, and yet no one had believed her fear. But more than that was this secret conflict she had with Matthew Catii. Why was he chasing her so intently when all his life, that one had been boring, somber, barely lifting his head except to parrot the dry things his father said? Why was that man so spirited and uiet self around Beth? And why was it that Daniel failed to control himself just like him, like bursting into his wolf form to threaten the man, or charing into Beth's room to stare her down and demand answers he knew deep down he wasn't owed? He crowded her back again, advancing with such menacing steps that she had no choice but to retreat. "You never told me the truth about the deal you mneed protection. I don't, Beth. You're the one who needs to be protected. And I can do that. I will do that. And I'm also going to get the answers I want from you because you've been hiding too much." There was nowhere else for her to go. She stumbled the last step and fell upon the foot of her bed, sitting clumsily on the edge as he loomed over her. His blood boiled as she remained silent, refusing him. So this was what she was going to do, was it? Be soft and warm one ashing all at once, but then turn around and hide herself from him? Her hands were bunched in the covers by her thighs. Animal instinct made him move, do something, anything - and he leaned down to pin her wrists to the sheets so he could glare at her, nearly nose to nose. She was beautiful. Warren had been happy about his bride being so beautiful, even though he hadn't truly cared before. As long as his arranged wife was a good fit for him and vice versa, he had said he would be pleased. But when they had seen her for the first time at the Rokley estate, dark tresses and blue eyes, angelic - Warren had laughed aloud, saying he had gotten the best marriage match in the Heether family in generations. Daniel agreed. She was beautiful. And frustrating. And impossible. She was his brother's widow, someone he needed to keep at all costs - no, to protect. Because she was family now. That was why. This was his loyalty. To his brother. That was why he was being like this, insane and irrational and yet unable to stop himself. His heart pounded in his chest as he fought down the dark thing rising inside him, until he finally wrenched out the words boiling in his throat. "I'm done with your secrets, Beth," he snarled. "Tell me the truth!" truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth truth