Releasing the Wolf (The Rossi Pack Book 1) Page 3

  “I’ll call you tomorrow,” he says out loud.

  I know I’m sporting a puzzled look; I can feel my frown forming. Joey doesn’t seem to feel the need to explain anything further and stays silent. “Okay…” I mutter. “Be careful,” I add, giving him a quick friendly peck on the lips. I stay in the hall watching him go through the door to the stairs, and then turn to find Carter leaning against the door jamb, a strange look plastered on his face.

  “I thought he’d never leave.” Leaning forward, he reaches his hands around my waist and pulls me into his embrace. “Now I’ve got you to myself, what shall we do?” He kisses me as he manoeuvres me into the room, closing the door behind us with a swift kick.

  I pull away to look at him. “What’s got into you?”

  His eyes roam up and down my body. “You, and your sexy body.”

  I look down at the flannelette pyjama's and fluffy slipper socks I’d changed into after the first episode finished, before bursting out in laughter. “I think you need your eyes testing.” I bat at him playfully and walk over to the sofa. I give it a kick and a tug and it pops out into a bed, like magic. Well not really, I’ve just learnt the knack to it. Grabbing my quilt and pillows off the floor I throw them on top and climb up. I glance at Carter who's stood staring at me with a predatory look, and pat the bed next to me. “Are you joining me or do you want to stand there all night? Whichever you choose, can you turn the TV off since you’re right next to it?”

  He’s suddenly next to me having already turned off the TV, my eyes flick to the TV. Had he done that quicker then I thought was humanly possible? I shake my head and berate myself. Don’t be silly.

  It doesn’t take us long to strip each other of those pesky things called clothes. His kisses start to roam from my mouth down my jaw and neck. He licks at a nipple before nipping it between his teeth, making pain and pleasure mingle together. I can’t hold back the moan as I arch my body towards him. His grip on my hip tightens and he suddenly pulls back, releasing me. His mouth keeps working from one breast to the other but oh so gently, as though he’s worried he was being too rough before. In no state to question him about it, I fumble trying to pull him up to bring his body closer to where I want it. “Please Carter,” I beg.

  “Shh, I’m getting there, baby,” he assures me as he leans back onto his knees. I open my mouth to complain about the absence of his body but I hear the tear of foil and know he’ll be back in a second. The thought barely crosses my mind and he’s back leaning over me taking my mouth with his. I gasp into his mouth as I feel him inch his way into me and pause for a moment as he fills me. His gentleness surprises me. He’s not the ferocious Carter I have come to know and love. He’s the guy whose kisses alone can push me to the brink of orgasm.

  I squirm trying to make him move, his stillness is starting to torture me.

  “I’m not going to last long if you keep squirming,” he says sounding strained.

  I still. “I…I need…mo…” The words die on my lips as he starts to move and I suddenly lose myself in his movements and his kisses, getting closer and closer to the precipice with each one until I’m falling and the world around me shatters.

  The world comes back into focus and Carter collapses beside me whilst pulling me over so I’m resting my head on his smooth muscular chest. Unable to stop myself I flick my tongue over his nipple, taking in his musky scent.

  Carter’s arm tightens over my side, stopping my ministrations. “If you don’t want round two, I suggest you stop there.” Having given his warning, he loosens his hold on me and I lift my head enough to look him in the eye.

  Seeing him watch me, I flick my tongue out over his nipple once again. In less than heartbeat he has me in position on top of him ready for that second round he’d just promised.

  Chapter Five

  Frankie

  I wake startled by the sound of a freight train charging through the wall behind my head. I sit up and glance around the room, slowly coming to my senses. It isn’t a freight train coming to mow us down. It’s Carter. Snoring.

  A quick look at my watch tells me it’s barely six in the morning. There is no chance I’ll fall asleep now, especially when you combine the racket Carter is making next to me, and the fact that the sun is up and shining through the cracks between the slats in the blinds. Decision made, I head for the shower.

  I walk back into the room dressed for a hot summer day in a floaty black dress, and listen to Carter’s snoring for two seconds before I decide that I need to get away from that god-awful noise. Grabbing a pen and paper I write Carter a quick note.

  Carter,

  Running a couple of errands. I won’t be long.

  F. x

  I drive my VW kombi-van to the farm, knowing the guys will be needing the van to transport the stock any day now. Figuring I can kill two birds with one stone, I walk through the field to the cemetery. I need some thinking time with my best friend and favourite stray.

  I’m almost halfway across the field when I hear what sounds like a car back firing. The howl of pain that immediately follows tells me it’s not a car. It was Tony’s howl!

  I sprint the rest of the way through the field, screaming in panic. “Tony!”

  Moving purely on instinct, I vault over the fence without even thinking about it. The sound of a whimper coming from the direction of my family’s plot confirms it must be Tony, I’ve never seen another dog around there. It’s our spot.

  Tony’s black shape comes into view, lying on my father’s grave. Crouching down next to him, I immediately feel under his hind leg for a pulse. The steady beat under my fingers eases my concern until I pull my hand away to see that it’s covered in blood. My exhilaration fades in a split second.

  He cracks an eye open to look at me.

  A plan was already forming in my head. “You’re going to be okay, Tony. I’m going to fix you up.”

  He snarls at something over my shoulder, and I spin around, holding my arms out in a bid to block the view of whomever Tony is snarling at.

  A man emerges from the tree line, a rifle in his hand. “I’d step away if I was you, little lady. He looks mighty vicious to me.”

  “You’d look vicious too if you’d just been shot,” I snap back.

  If I had any sense I wouldn’t be yelling at a man who’s pointing a rifle at me. Unfortunately, all I can think about is getting Tony to safety so I can look at his injuries.

  “He’s a wolf. He’s deadly. He needs killing.” He waves the gun. “Now step aside so I can finish the job.”

  Feeling Tony’s menacing growl vibrating through the ground makes me think he’s not helping the situation at all. I need to ease his tension. I turn and smile as I pat his head to comfort him.

  Turning back to the man with the gun, I drop the smile.

  “You will not point that gun anywhere near my dog. I’m taking him home to fix him up.” A growl that would make Tony proud escapes my throat as I point at the man’s rifle. “If I see you or your gun around here again, I’ll stick your gun where the sun don’t shine before I pull the trigger.” Dismissing him, I turn back to Tony and crouch, putting my hands under him I ready myself to carry him. He rolls out of my reach and to his feet with a whimper.

  I watch him wobble for a second before taking a hesitant step towards the fence, followed by another and another. He climbs through the gap as I climb over the fence. Neither of us look back at the man with the gun.

  I glance down at Tony, limping heavily and leaving a nasty trail of blood behind him. Surely he won’t make it on his own steam much longer.

  After what feels like an eternity we reach the porch of the house. Tony enters and I push the door closed behind him before running through to the kitchen. The vet in me takes over. I push the paperwork- mainly bills - off the table, grabbing the empty ceramic fruit bowl and carefully placing it on the top of the fridge freezer. The last thing we need is a broken bowl for Tony to stand on and add to his injuries.

 
; I turn as Tony slowly limps into the room. “Can you jump up here?” I pat the table. He takes a step forward and then stops, staring at me as if he’s hesitating.

  I berate myself out loud. “He’s a freaking dog, Frankie. He doesn’t have a clue what you are saying.” No sooner are the words out of my mouth than he jumps up onto the table just as I’d asked.

  “Good boy, that’s it. Now, let me see the damage.” I gently lift his leg whilst running my other hand along his blood soaked fur, feeling for the wound. It’s close to his femoral artery so I can feel his pulse as I brush over it. Strong and steady. His head snaps around and he gnashes his teeth at me, telling me that I have found the wound. I whip my hand out of the way before he manages to draw blood.

  Trying to look as non-intimidating as possible, I hold my hands up. “I’m sorry. I’ll try and be as gentle as possible, but it’s going to hurt.” I know he’s an animal and won’t understand my words but we have spent a lot of time together so he should know my body language and tone of voice well enough.

  He suddenly starts to spasm before my eyes, like he’s having a seizure of some sort. My mind runs through all the possibilities. Could the blood loss cause a seizure? Low blood pressure could but his pulse felt strong and steady a minute ago.

  Quickly running into the front room, I grab the crocheted blanket off the back of the sofa. I need to warm him up and get the wound sutured immediately. Stepping back into the kitchen, I pause in the doorway stunned at the sight before me.

  Tony is gone and in his place is a naked man covered in blood. The sight of the blood pulls me out of my stupor and I gingerly head for the guy who obviously needs medical attention. It isn’t until he's standing before me that I realise just who Mr Naked is. It’s Joey and Carter’s boss, Jesse.

  I stare at him in stunned silence but I have enough sense to close my mouth. I must look ridiculous; catching flies while he's bleeding to death in front of me. Questions run riot in my head, none of which I manage to ask out loud. What the hell is he doing in my kitchen? Where is Tony?

  Jesse sits up, dangling his legs off the table’s edge. “I thought I might be safer to treat.” His pain is evident in the strain of his voice and the stiffness of his body.

  “Safer to treat? You mean…you’re…you’re…” I lift my eyes to meet his, careful to not let them linger on other parts of his body for too long.

  “A werewolf,” he informs me at the same time as I whisper, “Tony.”

  I don’t need him to confirm it. My answer is in his eyes. His eyes are indigo blue with a thin yellow outer ring - so similar to Tony’s which have a thin indigo ring with a thick yellow outer ring like a flame. No wonder he put his shades on before I could see them yesterday. I would have made the connection instantly – if I believed in werewolves, that is.

  “I’m a vet,” I explain. “I treat animals. It would probably be easier if you were Tony.”

  “No.” He shakes his head gravely. “I can’t control him when I’m this injured. He could hurt you. He almost did, sorry about that.” He lifts his hand towards my face only to drop it back to his side before our skin touches, obviously realising what he was about to do.

  “He won’t hurt me. You won’t hurt me,” I correct myself with a frown.

  He looks at me, as though he can see right into my soul. “I can’t take the risk. The bullet’s silver and that’s not a good thing for someone like me. Once we take that out of the equation, then we’ll see if it’s safe for me to change, okay?” His eyes plead for me to do as he says.

  “Okay,” I reply, throwing the blanket at him. “Here, cover up with that.” I turn and look under the sink for Nonna’s sewing basket and first aid kit, which I find right there on the shelf where it belongs. I place them on the table next to Jesse before turning to take in the room, wondering where I would find any alcohol. Nonna wasn’t a drinker - she’d maybe have a sherry at Christmas but that wouldn’t be any good for Jesse. Joey used to keep something in the freezer for the end of the week when the guys had a drink together. With me and Nonna not here I don’t know if they still do that. I pull the freezer door open, praying that I’ll find something…anything. My prayers are answered; I spot a full litre bottle of vodka, which I grab along with a chilled glass.

  Filling the glass with vodka, I put it aside on the table before handing the bottle to Jesse. “If it doesn’t help with the pain, at least the feel of it burning down your throat might be a distraction,” I joke, trying to ease the tension in the room.

  I wash my hands before leaning in close to the wound, which happens to be rather high up on his thigh. I suddenly blush when I notice how close my head is to his. I clear my throat, mentally berating myself for being unprofessional. Focus dammit. The man is bleeding. My eyes roam over the wound and I take in a deep breath of surprise.

  “What is it? My leg doesn’t feel like it’s going to fall off just yet.” Jesse tries to joke between his short sharp breaths of pain.

  “This is so close to the femoral artery, a millimetre closer and you wouldn’t have made it. Although…” I poke at the wound with my finger. The bleeding seems to have slowed down considerably; it’s now just a trickle. The wound doesn’t even look big enough for a bullet to have entered in the first place. I state as much out loud, “I’m not sure a bullet could have got in this hole. Unless… do you heal quick?”

  “There’s a bullet in there, trust me. We do heal quickly. Hell, I’d be all closed up by now if the bullet wasn’t silver. Damn the person who discovered silver and Werewolves don’t mix,” he bites out.

  The wound is looking okay but he’s getting paler by the second. He feels clammy to the touch and sweat is beading on his forehead. Could silver affect him this badly? I quickly tip out the first aid kit and pull the tweezers out of the pile of crap that first aid kits usually contain. His eyes connect with mine and with a swig of vodka he nods at me.

  Taking that as an invitation I dig in. Unfortunately I mean that quite literally, because he’s healing I have to make the hole bigger and clear away the flesh that has tried to close over the bullet. Jesse lets out a growl, and take it from me a wolf’s growl sounds awfully strange coming out of a man’s throat. Knowing he won’t hurt me, I keep digging and pray I find the bullet soon. No sooner does the thought go through my head than the tweezers hit metal.

  Gotcha!

  I grip the bullet with the tweezers and pull it out in one short sharp tug. Blindly dumping the bullet and tweezers in the sink behind me, I press a gauze pad to the wound. Jesse is still growling, a continuous rumble that makes the table vibrate. I look up to see Tony’s eyes staring down at me, even down to the shape of them. If I thought a growl was strange coming out of a human’s throat, those wolves eyes on Jesse’s face are terrifying.

  “Don’t be scared,” he pleads, placing a hand on top of mine.

  I swallow. “I’m not.”

  His hand tightens on mine. “You’re lying. I can smell your fear.”

  I pull my hand free. “Do you want to have a break for a few minutes? You can change if you want? That might be easier for us both.” I can't stop the nervous rambling spewing from my mouth.

  “Your fear will make the wolf more dangerous, I won’t hurt you while I'm in human form,” he says, I can tell he's trying to sound calm for my sake, but I can still hear the growl behind his words.

  Knowing I need to get this over with as quickly as possible, I thread a needle and pull the gauze off the wound, before pouring the glass of vodka over the area to disinfect it. Jesse tenses and I look up to see him gazing down at me gritting his teeth. The stitches go in quick and easy. It doesn’t take me long to tape a clean gauze pad on top of the wound and finish up by wrapping a bandage over the gauze and around the leg. "All done," I say, patting his knee.

  I clear the table, putting the sewing basket and first aid kit back where they belong. I catch sight of Jesse with a quick sweep of my eyes around the room, looking more like himself. Taking a breath of
relief I break the silence. “Will you be able make it upstairs to the bed?”

  “Thanks for stitching me up but I’ll be going home now.”

  He doesn’t look anywhere near well enough to leave, super healing or not and I tell him as much, “You are not going anywhere! You’re my patient and you need to recoup for at least an hour or two before I’ll even consider letting you out of my sight.”

  Jesse grins and shakes his head. “You’re just like your mother. Giving orders whether you’re more dominant or not, and you’ll still be obeyed every time. What have I gotten myself into?”

  My stomach clenches and my eyes widen. “You knew my mother?” I ask, completely stunned.

  “Your father, too. I guess I have a lot of explaining to do.” He glances around the room. “But before I get started do you have anything I could eat? Preferably meat. Healing takes a lot of energy and fighting the change took more out of me.”

  “There should be some bacon and sausages in the freezer outside. I’ll go get them.” I walk out the back door to Nonna’s chest freezer on the back porch. It would easily fit in the kitchen but she always insisted the she didn’t want the ungodly sight cramping up her kitchen. I open the chest and tap a loose fist against my heart in gratitude to the guys who must still be filling it with the meat cuts as they slaughter and sell the animals. It’s crammed full. Grabbing a couple of steaks and a bundle of bacon rashers, I walk back into the kitchen to find Jesse hobbling around with Gram’s crocheted blanket wrapped around his waist like a sarong. In my absence, he’s managed to set two places at the table and is now scrambling some eggs in a bowl. It would be a nice pleasing sight if he didn’t look as white as a sheet and have a clammy sheen on his face and chest.

  “What are you doing? Sit down.” I order.