Page 55 of Seduced By the Werewolves

I sag into Leon’s arms, but he easily holds me up. He leads me to the truck and Quinn opens the door, setting me in the passenger seat while Jace gets in on the driver’s side.

“My car,” I whimper, because I don’t want to have to come back for it in the morning.

“Leave it,” Leon says. “One of us will get it.”

Quinn buckles my seatbelt and hops into the back of the truck. Soon Leon returns and gets in on the other side, and Jace puts the truck into gear.

I fall back against the seat as we head on down the road, away from my apartment. I don’t know where we’re going, but I don’t care.

I’m so fucked. My job will never be the same again.

Chapter Twenty

Soon the bright lights and strip malls of the city give way to rolling countryside. No one speaks as we trundle down the dark, two-lane road, the way lit only by the truck’s headlights. I catch Leon glance at me out of the corner of his eye, then turns his gaze back to the road.

The truck slows and we turn right, the corner marked only by a huge oak tree. Up ahead I glimpse a small house—a log cabin, really—that looks like it has one, maybe two bedrooms in it. Where are they taking me? Finally I have the sense to be worried.

“Hey.” Leon brushes my knee with his hand. “We’ve got you. Okay?”

Whatever is ahead of us, I know Leon won’t lead me wrong.

The truck stops at the house, and Leon gets out of the driver’s seat. He walks around to my side and opens the door, but before I can get out, he’s lifting me up into his arms.

We don’t head toward the house, like I expected. Instead, Leon starts down a small path around the side of the house, toward the tree cover. I grip his arm, wondering where he’s taking me.

“Shh.” He takes my hand and holds it tight in his. “Our house is just a little farther.”

The path continues through the forest until we reach the base of a hill. There, shockingly, is a big door built into the hillside, with a wooden structure seated around it that seems to be a part of the landscape itself. Leon nods at the door, and Quinn quickly runs to open it for us. Then Leon carries me inside.

I’m too numb to really appreciate where we are. The walls seem to be made of dirt and rock, held up by bare wood beams. There’s a big table on the left with four chairs next to a surprisingly large kitchen. On the right are two couches and a television, a big flat screen which strikes me as odd against the clay wall behind it. There’s a fireplace, too, but it’s not lit.

When we step inside and Jace closes the door behind us, Leon starts assembling logs and tinder in the fireplace. Quinn takes my hand and leads me to one of the couches.

All my thoughts feel sluggish. “He saw us.” I drop my head into my hands, feeling the tears return as I think about his face, that awful grin, the way he cornered me against the wall like he knew that he’d won. “He knows now. And he’s not going to let me forget it.”

Next to me, Jace snarls in a way that’s distinctly animal. “Fucking asshole.”

“I should buy a cobra so I can put it in his bed,” growls Quinn.

I’m too tired to even laugh. Jace wraps his arm around me as the fire crackles to life, and this time, I let him hug me. Now I just feel exhausted, like all the life has been wrung out of me. I don’t even have the energy to worry about tomorrow.

Eventually, I find myself drifting off, the weight of the world crushing me. I hear hushed whispers, and a voice that’s distinctly Eli’s. I want to open my eyes, to apologize to him for today and give him a big hug, but I’m too exhausted.

I feel someone carrying me, and by the scent, I know it’s Leon. There’s a creak as someone opens a door, and then I’m set on what must be a bed, and a pillow is tucked under my head. Then something soft, so soft, lies down next to me.

“Go to sleep,” a deep, husky voice says. I can tell it’s Leon, but different. Changed.

Another body curls up behind me. “We’ve got you, Tiff,” says Jace, low and thick, like he has rocks in his mouth.

And so, I obey and tumble away into the abyss.

My phone alarm startles me awake. I’m surrounded by the softest, warmest fuzzy blankets that have ever existed, and I have to wriggle to get my hand into my back pocket, where my phone is buzzing against my butt.

I hold it up, blinking bleary eyes at the screen. It’s time to get up and go on my run. Or that’s what my brain says until I take in where I am. In front of me is a big wall of white, and it groans as the alarm continues going off. I finally have the sense to silence it when the wall moves.

“Tiff?” It’s Leon’s sleepy voice. My eyes travel up the broad, thick chest that seems to go on for miles, to his neck, to his face.

In his werewolf form, Leon is snow white, with the same blue eyes that he has when he’s human. His snout is long and pointed, with a wet black nose at the end. His lips peel back in what could be either a snarl or a smile when I look up at him, and I choose to believe it’s a smile.

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