Page 4 of Saved By the Wolf

Without waiting for their response, I escaped out into the hallway, taking a deep breath when the door closed. My thoughts battled with each other. My wolf wanted to find this new girl and hunt her down, but I forced myself to the elevator and pressed the call button. All I needed was to go on a walk. That’s all I needed. My head would clear and—

“Hi.”

I turned to see her standing right behind me, head cocked to one side and eyes looking at me with expectation. I was a goner! I was so deep in my thoughts I didn’t even smell her approach.

“Are you going to go in?” she asked, gesturing behind me.

“What?”

“The elevator,” she said, now pointing to the open door.

A low growl came from my chest, and I instantly wished it hadn’t, because I saw her jump back before she collected herself and walked around me to enter the elevator.

“Are you coming?” she now asked, her back pressed against the far wall. But for all her bravado I could hear a faint tremor in her voice.

Her smell was intoxicating. All I wanted to do was to slam her up against the wall and kiss her like there was no tomorrow.What is wrong with me?Releasing a breath,I told myself to pull it together and walked into the elevator. I stared at the wall, willing myself to just breathe.

“I forgot to introduce myself earlier,” she continued, not phased by my awkward silence. “I’m Jill. You’re Luc, right?”

I grunted, still unable to find my voice. Which made her flinch again.

She recovered by smoothing her hair back and giving me a faint smile. “Glad I remembered correctly; I’m bad with names, but I remember instructions well. I’m taking Miti’s advice and going to grab some earplugs. Heard there was some howling around here at night and other noises. I’m not too worried, but she made a point about it, so I thought I’d get some just in case. So, how long have you lived here?”

Her rambling was kind of cute. My wolf was purring inside at the sound of her voice, and I was clenching my hands to keep myself from touching her. Since the grunt had made things worse, I decided speaking this time. “About two years,” I said shortly.

“Oh, that’s just around the time when you would start getting used to a place or start moving on.”

“Yeah,” I said, just to say something. I had no idea what she was talking about. This elevator ride was the longest I’d ever been on. We might as well have lived on the hundredth floor instead of the fourth.

Thankfully the doors opened to the first floor right then, and I walked out as fast as I could. The walk was going to clear my head. It was also going to get her out of my mind.Yes, everything would be clearer after my walk.

“Nice to meet you,” I heard her say from behind, but I didn’t turn back. I couldn’t. I had to stay focused on the walk.

* * *

Instead of clearing my head, thoughts from my past started drifting into my mind the more I walked, including the many conversations I’d had with Miti about how I had closed myself off from the world and how she was worried about me. A wolf chose a mate for life; there would be no other lovers in our lives. But mine had betrayed me. At first, it took all I could to not run after the woman who had left me, to not chase her down and force her back home with me. But Kit had made it abundantly clear that she had no interest in returning.

I could still see the sneer on Kit’s face as she walked away, hand in hand with her new beau, an alpha from another pack. It was the last time I’d seen her. The image slashed through my heart again, and I nearly collapsed right there. She’d crushed me.

As alpha of my own pack, I was expected to find a mate, a female alpha to claim as my own. Because once I’d claimed one, so could the rest of my packmates. It would be amazing to have cubs running around; evidence that we could continue our line.

My mind wandered back to the new girl, and I mulled over why I felt so strongly about her. Was it possible what I thought was love with Kit really wasn’t? My wolf was nodding his head so hard I thought I’d topple over. No, it couldn’t be. Jill wasn’t a shifter; I could tell that much. Her eyes had gone wide upon seeing us . . . but I’d also seen a craving in them. She wanted me.

I shook my head. My reaction was lust; that was all it was. She was clearly beautiful and so petite that I could imagine her entwined in my arms with her head on my chest.Stop it!This wasn’t going to happen. She was a neighbor, a cute one, but that was it.

I groaned in frustration. The walk was doing me no good. My mind was muddier than before I began.

Jill

“You should comeout with me on Halloween night,” Becca said through the phone.

She had called to see how I was doing after spending a week in my new apartment. It was so good to hear from her. “Oh, that actually sounds fun!”

“Of course, it is! You haven’t been able to go out and let loose in years. We’ll come up with a great costume for you, and what’s even better, your ex won’t be there.”

A spike of dread went up my spine at the mention of Rich, and I froze. Becca continued unawares, “We’re going to have fun, just like old times.”

“Yeah . . . .”