Page 4 of Seduced By the Werewolves

“Then why the hell are you howling?” I interrupt. At the perplexed look on his face, though, my anger flags. He really doesn’t understand why I’m upset.

“Because we can smell you,” another guy says. He has a puka shell necklace hanging from his neck. “And, um... you smell incredible.”

At this, all of them nod at once, as if this is obvious.

For a moment, I don’t know what to say. They can smell me from that distance? Isn’t that worse? I sniff my armpits, and sure, I’m sweaty, but my deodorant is doing its job.

The tall one chuckles. “Not like that,” he says in a placating tone, but now all I can think about is how much I must reek.

I always take a shower after I run, but what if I smell like that in the office, too? Did I eat something I shouldn’t have? Now Mr. Bosley is going to have yet something else to jump on me about.

My breathing speeds up as I look around at their four faces. It’s horrifying that they could pick up my scent that far away. Surely they think I’m disgusting.

“I’m sorry,” says the one who’s remained silent until now. He’s skinnier than the others but just as hot, with low-hanging jeans that show off the sleek muscle winding down from his hip to his groin. “We didn’t mean to offend you, but you really do smell great.”

All of them nod in agreement. This conversation isn’t going how I expected. Here I am, surrounded by four incredibly hot guys who all seem to agree they like the way I smell.

The tall one, who has shockingly blue eyes, takes another tentative step forward. This time, though, I hold my ground. I’m not going to let these assholes intimidate me. But now, faced with someone so big, I’m breathing too fast—much too fast. The world is swimming.

“Are you all right?” he asks, leaning down to look in my face. I can barely bring air into my lungs, and my heart is racing so fast I think it might escape my chest.

“She clearly isn’t,” snaps the skinny guy. He appears at the front of the group and puts a gentle hand on my elbow. “You should sit down.” I shouldn’t be letting this strange man lead me anywhere, but all my focus is on trying to breathe. He guides me to the back of the truck, where the gate to the bed is down. “Here.”

I stumble back until I’m sitting on it, and he doesn’t let go of my hand—which I didn’t even realize he was holding. The other three guys all crowd around me, but the skinny guy waves them off.

“Give her some space,” he growls, and maybe it’s just the haze, but it sounds like a dog’s growl. “She’s having some kind of attack.”

“Asthma?” asks the younger man with the puka shell necklace.

“Heat stroke,” says the short guy in the baseball cap.

“Shut up!” The skinny one rubs the back of my hand with his thumb. “Try to take deep breaths rather than short ones, okay?”

I focus on the words. Deep rather than short. I try to bring the air all the way in, even though my throat is fighting it, and then let it back out again.

“I’m Eli,” the man says as I close my eyes, trying to focus. “And I’m right here, okay?”

Slowly my diaphragm relaxes, and I can almost breathe properly. When I look up, there are four huge, chiseled dudes hovering over me, all of them looking quite worried.

“I’m fine,” I squeak out, pulling my hand away out of the skinny guy’s grip and sliding off the truck bed. First they howled at me, and now I’m having one of those attacks in front of them. Great start to the day so far!

But they’re being so kind to me. No one has made fun of me, or told me to just get it together. Eli’s concerned face makes my heart beat faster again, but for a totally different reason.

I should probably go before anything else happens and I make an idiot of myself. When I get to my feet, the tallest guy lets out a heavy, charged breath.

“Damn,” he murmurs, almost like he’s drugged. “You really do smell good.”

“Leon,” snaps the shorter guy in the baseball cap. “You’re not helping our case.” He looks up at me. “I’m sorry about him. This doof really doesn’t know how to talk to women at all.”

“As if you do,” Leon shoots back.

“Ignore them,” Eli says. “We should have introduced ourselves properly before. We already met.”

He holds out his hand to me a second time in a more formal handshake. Against my better judgment, I reach out and accept it. Eli squeezes my fingers, and his grip is firmer than I expected. His eyes are brown, but heated and intense. Damn. He has a carved face, with broad cheekbones, a square jaw and a significant chin.

Finally, he releases me and gestures at the other two. They both have earnest, eager looks on their faces.

“That one’s Jace.” The short guy with the cap nods politely. “That’s Quinn.” The last one, with the puka necklace, gives me a wide grin. “And you met my idiot big brother, Leon.”

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