Page 4 of Shadow Wolf
The vampires both chuckled.Fuck. She was distracting me… and the way she stared up at me wasn’t helping the situation. I placed a hand over my junk, willing my cock to behave. I could scent her. All shifters could scent emotions. It was very helpful when meeting humans; I could tell how they felt. This girl, she was scared… but not of me. But she was also turned on, or had been… I could scent arousal on her. Maybe she hooked up with a college douche like Aaron before I got here. But then he left her… with no pants? And alone. My panther growled at the thought. He wanted to kill this male who had left her here.
But when I scented her again, I couldn’t smell another male. That was… confusing.
I looked away from her and cocked my head to the waiting vamps. Fuck, I wish I didn’t have to do this tonight. An already shit night just got worse. Or better? Depending on which way this was going to go.
“This isn’t your territory. You have been warned before, Seamus.”
The fucker laughed for a moment, his fangs descending as he cocked his head my way.
“Ah, wee pussy. Ye the one she was calling for? We were jus’ trying to help the lass find her pussy. An’ we seem tae found him.” He might be old, but he never quite lost the Scottish accent when he moved here over a hundred years ago. He was old, and my Shadow had been having run-ins with him for over a hundred years. I seemed to have run-ins with him more frequently than most. I guess it was the shady shit we both got ourselves into.
I gritted my teeth as I stepped forward and reached my hand out to the girl’s shoulder. Her tee had slipped down a little, exposing more of her neck. I couldn’t help myself. I slid my pinkie finger over to touch her bare skin. Her skin was smooth like I imagined it would be, and I could feel the pulsing of her vein as her heart raced. She was cold though; the night air was too cold for a human to be out wearing only a tee. She shivered under my touch.
A sound had my eyes flicking over to the other vamp with Seamus. I didn’t know who he was, I had never seen him before or seen any other vamp with Seamus before. He wore a long black coat with a red scarf. His face was almost hidden from me.
Fuck, I knew what I had to say to get these vamps to leave. They wouldn’t want to bring the wrath of the Shadow down on their asses. Not that killing me would do that, my Shadow wouldn’t care if I was dead, but these vampires didn’t know that. This was the only way to get out of this situation alive and without exposing our true forms to the human.
“She’s mine, and you know what happens to those who fuck with what is ours.”
I watched as the other vamp took a step back and shook his head. He turned on his heel and was walking away at a speed humans wouldn’t question. He knew the rules and abided by them at least. Seamus, on the other hand, we had a history. Every time we met, it was a song and dance. I swear, the guy loved to fuck with me as a pastime. Like, he had so much time to kill that he messed with me whenever we bumped into each other.
“Frankie.” Seamus tipped an imaginary hat as he backed up. My panther paced within me. I glowered at him.
“Fucker,” I hissed so low the girl wouldn’t hear. But I knew Seamus would. I heard his chuckle as he turned and left.
Chapter3
Clare
Ihad no idea what was going on.Territory? Mine?I had never met this guy before. The men who scared me left, and now I was left here shaking, my heart racing so hard it felt like it would break free of my chest.
I only just remembered I was now alone… with a naked guy. A veryhotnaked guy.
His hand was still on me. When he touched my skin before, I felt… safe. That he wasn’t going to hurt me, that he only wanted to help me. I didn’t know why I felt that way with a stranger, I just did. I wanted to question why he was naked when it was so cold out, but then, I was practically naked too. Maybe we both were having a bad night.
“Hey,” he whispered softly. I tensed up. I didn’t know what to say to him after he said I washisto those men. What did he mean by that? His warm hand left my shoulder and I felt him move away from me, giving me some space. The cold air swept over me, and I shivered again, hugging into myself. This wasn’t happening. This was just a bad dream.
“I won’t hurt you. You’re safe now.”
I inhaled a shaky breath as I slowly spun around from where I was still crouching and looked up. The guy was now zipping the fly on his jeans. Where did they come from and why wasn’t he wearing them before? His hand froze when he saw me staring.
For some reason, I believed him when he said he wouldn't hurt me. Not intentionally, at least. He had saved me from the scary men… Of all the times I let my guard down and did something reckless, I got the one bad thing that your parents warned you about.
I could really see him now. His hair was shaved short, and he had a large tattoo across his chest and one arm was covered in tattoos also. All black, no color. But what stood out the most was the tattoo on his throat. I didn’t think people really got those, like not in real life. Models and rockstars, yes, but not college guys in Colorado. It was of a skull wearing a crown and roses surrounding it. I didn't think I would find tattoos such a turn on… but I did.
My eyes drifted down. His olive complexion almost glowed in the moonlight. It showed off his abs. He must work out a lot to have such a defined muscle tone. He was incredibly attractive… and thinking back to before when I saw hiswholebody, this guy was every college girl’s dream. I had heard all about how the girls here liked their guys ripped and with a big dick. And he had all of that.
His head cocked to the side, the corner of his lip rising as he gave me a smirk. Oh shit. He knew I was checking him out. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. He was one of those guys that would eventually end up in Vicki’s bed. She never seemed to have a problem finding the good-looking ones, that was for sure. But then, she was beautiful, outgoing, and fun, so it made sense why they were all drawn to her.
“Thank you,” I quickly blurted out as I reached for my phone. I stood up and instantly regretted it when his gaze dropped to my bare legs. I felt naked. I looked down, gripped the hem of the tee, and pulled it lower.
He shifted on his bare feet. My eyes flashed up to see his now peering into mine. Warm chocolate with a hint of gold flecks. I internally groaned at how everything about him was so beautiful.
Where the hell did this amazing guy come from, and why was he looking at me like that? I wasn’t anything special, not like Vicki. I was small… like, everywhere. I didn’t have much in the way of breasts, my hips didn’t flare, and my ass was nonexistent. I wasn’t like those Instagram models everyone seemed to think were perfect. I was a “bean pole.” That was how my mother described me to her friends.
“Shit, you must be cold.” He reached his hand out in astay heregesture, before turning around and racing behind the bush. I watched as he returned, gripping a dark hoodie.
“Here, have my hoodie.” I didn’t even think as he pushed it to my hand. I took it from him.
