Charmed by the Werewolf (20 page)

“Sophia, get away from him. Now!
” His nose itched, but he managed to stave off the shift.
Not yet
. Braeden’s hands fell away from her when Xavier snarled.

“Xavier!
” Her eyes wide and shimmering with tears, she ran across the office. She threw herself into his arms, apparently oblivious to his precarious grip on sanity. “Let’s get out of here.”

He took one look at her torn and rumpled clothing then thrust her behind him. The two thugs he’d managed to waylay scrambled over the remains of the door, pistols drawn.
He ignored them. His fight was with the attorney. “Just as soon as I do this.”

With a snarl worthy of a much bigger animal, Xavier sprang across the carpet and crashed into Braeden. “I’ll kill you for touching her.
” He kicked out at the man only to have the attorney duck away.

“The pleasures were mutually given, Leighton.
” The smug smile irritated Xavier further.

“Bastard. I’ll kill you for that comment.
” Xavier’s fist connected soundly with the dragon’s jaw. Braeden stumbled to his knees. “Get up. This is only the beginning.” He curled his fingers into tight fists then jumped back as Braeden lunged.

“Just so you know, her protests were very weak. She knows a real man when she sees him.
” Braeden’s right hook caught Xavier on his chin while his left connected solidly in the werewolf’s abdomen.

Pain exploded behind
his eyes as Braeden’s next punch caught him on the side of his head. “Once I kill you, I’ll make it a point to have someone retrieve your soul so I can kill you a second time, just for my own amusement.” He jumped on the attorney, grunting when the man went down like a brick wall. Xavier grinned as Braeden struggled to take a deep breath, the wind knocked from him. Xavier pressed heavily on the dragon’s chest. “This is for Sophia.” At close range, the punch found its mark solidly into Braeden’s jaw.

“Get off.
” Braeden spit out a mouthful of blood before throwing Xavier over his head.

He
landed in a heap. Springing to his feet, he head-butted the other man. They went crashing into a bookshelf. Heavy reference volumes fell to the floor around the two combatants.

From one side, Sophia let loose words of encouragement. “Get him again, Xavier. Clean his clock.
”

In that brief moment of distraction, Braeden planted a heavy kick into Xavier’s gut. The werewolf doubled over in pain, resigned when the giant minions restrained his arms. He threw an agonized glance at the single cause of his distress. “Run.
”

“What about you?
” She inched toward the splinted door, her gaze trained on him.

“Dammit, woman, just go!
” Pain shot through his body as one of his captors kicked him in the ribs. He heard one crack. A glance at Braeden showed the dragon mopping his mouth with a handkerchief spotted with dark red blood. As if in slow motion, Xavier strained against his restraints. Braeden withdrew a revolver from an inner pocket of his suit and pointed it at Sophia’s heart, hatred in his eyes.

“Take them both down to the basement until I can decide what to do with them.
”

Pain.

Xavier concentrated on it so he wouldn’t have to talk to Sophia. They were in a dark, dank basement room in seemingly normal commercial office building in the heart of downtown. A damn prison. Why? Because his impossibly stubborn mate couldn’t listen to orders. She went and ticked off a fucking dragon. A dragon!

Even in his wolf form, he couldn’t hope to best such a being. Xavier strained at the chained manacles that encircled his wrists, growled low in his throat when they stuck fast to the wall.

“Hell, what’s the point?
” He struggled again then collapsed against the cold stone wall, exhausted and angry.

“Getting mad won’t help.
”

The irritation in her voice didn’t sooth him. “I
’m not in the mood for any more of your sarcastic comments.” He didn’t look at her, afraid if he did, he either yell or say something he’d regret later. He thought again of her torn shirt, her mussed hair, and her swollen lip. Anger shook his body, jarring the broken rib, forced him to stay still. “What were you thinking? He could have murdered you or worse.”

“Worse?
” Sophia’s bitter laugh rang off the stone floor. “Unless you’ve suddenly been transported back to Regency England, there’s nothing worse than death.”

“You
’re splitting hairs.”

Her cell phone shrilled from her purse. Sophia stretched
, but her chains wouldn’t reach that far. Eventually, the phone went silent. “Any suggestions on how to get out of here?”

“Oh, plenty. These chains ooze brain stimulation.
” He had to know exactly what transpired between her and the dragon. Like being unable to look away from a car wreck, he needed to know if she’d been intimate with another man. The thought caused the angry red haze to drop before his eyes once more. “What about this? Maybe you should call Braeden down here so you can kiss him again.” Xavier tugged at the chains. “From the state of your clothing it appears you and the attorney had a pretty cozy time after they escorted me out.”

“You don’t understand.
” The words were small in the darkness. “I didn’t have a choice.” The weak light from the naked light bulb at the far end of the room cast distorted shadows over the floor, obscuring her face even to his enhanced senses.

Xavier snorted, hardened his heart against her. “There is always a choice. Every day, every hour, people are forced to make choices in their life. And you
’re right, I don’t understand. You’re my woman, Sophia. Mine. What do you not get about that?”

“I saw…I read
… Just forget it. How do we escape from here?”

Not good enough
. “Have sex again with the esteemed Mr. Hollister in exchange for our freedom. I hope you enjoyed it because after this stop, I’m taking you away, maybe to one of the other Realms, with only me for company. I’m sure that’ll be a huge party for both of us. Not to mention a gigantic letdown for you, huh?” Would he forever be linked to a woman he despised? What was the protocol for breaking a mate bond?

“I didn’t have sex with him, Xavier. You should know me better than that.
”

A wall of hope crashed over him to dissipate some of the red haze. “How? You seem to excel at manipulating men, myself included.
”

“I’ll admit I’ve used my femininity to get my way a time or two, but I’ve never manipulated you. I
’d never do that. What I feel for you is…never mind.”

“Why should I believe you? You flirted with the kid at the golf course, put the moves on the attorney, tried to seduce me, and the jury’s still out on Sterling.
” He frowned when she turned away from him on her side of their prison. “Who else, Sophia?”

“No one.
” Her defeated sigh bounced off the concrete. “You’ll have to trust me.”

“Trust you?
” Xavier’s bark of laughter contained no joy. “Did you trust me when I explained my relationship with Hannah?”

“That was different.
”

“Was it?
” He leaned back against the cement block wall and closed his eyes. His ribs ached and a headache raged in his temple. A niggling seed of doubt grew amidst the pain. Why did they spend most of their time together arguing? “Forget it. The trust between us is tainted. You’ve betrayed our sacred bond. Forgiveness won’t come so easily.” He pressed a fist to his chest as pain a thousand times stronger than the physical pulsed there.

What the hell?

He stole a glance at Sophia. Her downcast face and trembling lower lip nearly did him in. He didn’t even react with lust as her shirt slid down over her thighs as she folded her legs to her chest. Instead, Xavier focused inward. Was his anger and disappointment a simple matter that she’d allegedly slept with someone else, but wouldn’t bed him, or did it stem from something greater? He yanked at the chain on his ankle. Surely, he couldn’t have developed such deep feelings for her in a short span of time. Wouldn’t a man know it if he were in love, didn’t the simple fact that they were mates imply those feelings? If so, did he want her to love him out of obligation because she was his mate?

He hated the endless circle of his tortured thoughts, but they marched relentlessly onward.

The empty well in his chest flared to life, threatened to swallow his heart, take his soul. Did he love her? Xavier stared at Sophia again. He’d committed every feature, every line and wrinkle in her face to memory, knew each inflection of her laugh, looked forward to her smile. Did that mean he loved her or was he simply aware of her because she belonged to him? Did his insane possessiveness of this one woman stem from a by-product of the mating process or did his emotions run deeper?

Damn.

The scrape of her chains against the floor jarred him out of his thoughts. Close and cloying, the darkness seemed to press in on him. How was she dealing with their present circumstances? He remembered her panic in the supply closet. Sniffing the air, his heart plummeted as he smelled her fear and…despair and self-loathing. Two fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Sophia?
”
Damn
. He’d made her hate herself.
God, what slime I am.

“There was a reason I acted like that with Braeden. He’s representing someone who is suing Mona’s family. I wanted to find out what he knew. I tried to seduce him because it was the only way I thought he
’d give it to me—the information, not what you’ll think. Mona’s too clueless to take care of herself.”

“It’s a very flimsy excuse for your behavior.
” This time, he tempered his anger to listen with an open mind. He at least owed her that. “What happened?”

“At first, it was only a game. After a kiss or two, I suddenly couldn’t think of anything but you. I…wished you’d swoop in and rescue me. No matter what he did, my mind always went back to you.
” She wiped away another couple of tears and sniffed. “When I attempted to push Braeden away, he got mad and tried to take me by force.”

“I
’ll kill him, make no mistake.” Xavier yanked at his bonds and let loose a low, rumbling growl when they didn’t budge. “You’re mine, Sophia.”

“I know, all right? You’ve told me three hundred times.
”

“I would gladly remind you another three hundred until you believe me.
”

“I do believe you.
” The ringing of her cell phone broke the silence. “If you’d like to continue your quest without me I’ll understand.”

He grinned, the slow, steady smile of a man who’s just found something valuable.
She believes me. Hell, she believes
in
me.
He changed positions and flexed his wrists in the shackles. “You’re a study of contrasts. You want to have the courage of a thousand warriors, but you lack the confidence to carry it off. I understand the motivation behind your actions this afternoon.” He paused, considering his next words. “Mona’s under your care and you want to help her. What I don’t understand is why you chose that particular way to convince Braeden?”

“It just felt…powerful.
” She hesitated. Doubt played over her face. “I don’t like to manipulate men. It’s not something I’ve ever done until…” She frowned and wiped at the moisture on her cheek. “…I met you. You drive me crazy. Sometimes I want to yank your curls right out of your head. You push me to my limits, beyond what I’m capable or comfortable doing. It’s…empowering.”

“I was the catalyst that opened your eyes to the self-imposed prison you insisted on living within, but it was your abhorrence for confinement that prompted your own flight.
” His chest swelled at her praise. “You’d have come to the same conclusion without me, eventually.”

“No. If you hadn’t bounded into my life, I’d still be toiling for Sterling with no hope, no future, and no happiness. I’d be alone, unwanted.
” She audibly swallowed. “At least with you, I know you’ll keep trying to get me into bed because we’re mates. That’s a start, I guess, and other relationships have had much less to work with. I’ll take what I can get.”

“Sophia.
” Xavier’s heart constricted at the resigned tone in her voice. He wanted her, but not if she didn’t return those feelings and definitely not just because they were fated to be together. He reeled from the implication. Only yesterday, he would have been content to have a strictly physical relationship simply on the foundation of their mated status. Now? “It’s not like that at all.” He closed his eyes and banged the back of his head against the wall. Now, he wanted it all, her mind, body, and soul.
Her love.

Anything less was unacceptable. He vowed to do everything in his power to convince her they belonged together for an eternity. Xavier yanked at his chains, grunting as he exerted his full strength.

“What are you doing?”

“I intend to transform into a wolf and would advise you to look away if you are squeamish or afraid.
” He pulled one last time at his shackles and met her watery gaze. “It’s time to see what you have been afraid to acknowledge these last few days.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.
”

“The decision
isn’t under your control.” He chuckled and the soft sound seemed to be absorbed into the concrete walls. “Shut your eyes.” He let loose a loud howl.

*****

The lone and meager light bulb popped, plunging the small room into total darkness. Sophia panicked before her eyes adjusted to the obscurity and the soft green glow from the EXIT sign above the door. “Xavier?” Her voice was a whisper as she frantically squinted through the gloom to locate the werewolf.

No answer.

The hair on her arms stood at attention. The climate of the chamber shifted. No longer just a damp, dim prison, the air hummed with electricity and pent-up rage. Her breath caught as his body came into her line of vision, his curls disheveled and stark against the darkness. Wreathed in shadows, he knelt on the floor; his only sounds a curious mixture of groans and cries of pain. He strained at his bonds. The chains rattled against the concrete. “Xavier?”

“For the love of all that’s holy, woman, please
don’t talk anymore! Transforming is hard enough without your interference.”

A cry of torment ripped from his throat, a high-pitched whine that ended in a growl.
She scrabbled over the floor to huddle against the wall. Her heart beat frantically at the frenzied intensity of the sound.

Bathed in the eerie green glow Xavier stood, and for one terrifying moment, his silhouette hovered between the light and shadows, only a man. Then his hands clawed at his face as he gasped for breath. He fell to his knees, his bones cracking and popping from the act of his metamorphosis.

Sophia bit down hard on her knuckles to keep from screaming when he arched his back and howled. A fluffy tail curled against the faint light. It was a low, mournful sound and uncanny enough to cause sweat to beat on her forehead.

She covered her eyes with dirty hands. “Please stop.
” She pressed her forehead to the cool cement blocks and fought down the revulsion that built in her throat. Even against the back of her eyelids, she could see fur sprout from his skin as if it were grass. She saw the flash of white teeth in the dim light and the yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. Those images were superimposed on her mind’s eye. Despite all she had done to postpone this moment, it had occurred in spite of her best defense.

Beyond any doubt, she now had concrete proof that Xavier was indeed a werewolf. The knowledge shook
her to her very soul. It was only a matter of time now before she’d be compelled to take him to Sterling, no matter their tentative relationship.

Shivering, she raised her head. Silence filled every available space in the small room, broken only by the unrelenting drip drop of a water leak and her ragged breathing. No other living presence existed. When the green light flickered and faded, Sophia freaked out. “Xavier?
” The word came out as more of a croak than an inquiry. She licked her dry lips. Claustrophobia ratcheted around her brain until she wanted to gnaw her arms from her body in an effort to escape. “Are you still here?”