Page 7 of Memphis Heat
“Belle, I am so sorry.”
“Are you… knotted?”
Silence.
Belle ducked her head, resting her forehead against his chest but still clinging to him instead of trying to free herself.She didn’t seem distressed.
Then he felt her body start to tremble.If she was crying… “Look at me, Belle,” he commanded, trying to pry her head up.When she refused, Jarod became really alarmed.“Belle?Oh, God, please look at me.”
The second she lifted her face to his, all those protective, tender thoughts flew out the damned window.His mood darkened, and he wanted nothing more than to turn the little vixen over his knee and give her a good spanking.“I don’t see anything so goddamned funny about it.”
Immediately, Belle’s face straightened into a semblance of contrite respect, carefully devoid of all humor.Of course, the effect was ruined when she burst out laughing a second later.She took the sting out of her laughter by wrapping her arms around his neck and holding him to her.Grudgingly, Jarod relaxed, too grateful she wasn’t repulsed or frightened to be really mad.But then, that was his Belle.There wasn’t much that scared her when she decided she wanted something.
And she’d wanted this, he reminded himself.Wanted him.Maybe, just maybe, she loved him, too.Enough to follow him into whatever hell he’d gotten them into this time.
* * *
“Are you sure about this?”Jarod looked about as uncomfortable as Belle had ever seen him.
This werewolf thing had certainly brought out a protective streak a mile wide.It was kinda cute, but damned inconvenient to Belle’s way of thinking.“You want to infiltrate this pack, don’t you?Not like they’re going to send out invitations.”
“But you’ve never even shifted.How do we know it even worked?Maybe my bite can’t turn you.Maybe…”
“You sound like a woman.Quit thinking.Guys don’t think that much in a week.”
“Bite me.”
“That’s my line.”But she leaned in and nipped his chin, anyway.“You’d think the friggin’ FBI Werewolf Task Force would at least have a Handbook for Werewolves.When you’ve changed, how did you do it?What triggered the shift?Other than sex?”
He grinned.“What’s wrong with sex?”
“Nothing, long as you want to fuck me in front of a bunch of strange werewolves.That knotting thing might be kinda inconvenient, though.”She smiled sweetly, loving his look of mixed annoyance and mortification.“It was fun, though.Until the cleaning guy wanted into the closet.”
“Don’t remind me,” he groaned.“Next time, let’s try a bedroom.Mine.”
She had her doubts, but they’d see.“So we know sex works.What else?”
“You?Danger?When those guys were hitting on you in that convenience store last week it was all I could do not to shift and rip their throats out.”
So he had a jealous streak, too.Belle hid her smile.“But you didn’t shift.You controlled it.Interesting.Any idea how?”
He frowned.“Not exactly.I just… held my temper.Pretty much the same way you don’t cold cock some asshole who really deserves it.”
Sounded like he knew more than he thought he did.If they were going to do this, they both needed to figure out exactly what they could and couldn’t do.“And when you did shift?”
“The first time was when I went back to the crime scene, trying to figure out what the hell was happening to me.I smelled blood.My blood.His, too.I could tell them apart.I don’t know how -- and that was making me kinda crazy.”He looked away, like he was ashamed of himself.“All of a sudden, the smells just got to me.So bad I wanted to puke.And next thing you know, I was a wolf.”
She pictured that FBI bra hanging off a wolf’s neck.No.Not a great look.“What happened to your clothes?You know, when you shifted?”
“What?Hell, I don’t know.”
“Well, think about it.Were you standing there with your furry little legs all wrapped up in cop clothes?”
“No!Of course not.They… I had fur.I didn’t think about where my uniform went.I just ran.As far as I could go.”
He was starting to look a tad impatient with the third degree, but Belle pressed on.“OK.So if they weren’t on you, or the ground… when you shifted back were you naked?”
“No.I still had my uniform on.I was just three miles away and out of breath.”
