Werewolf Wedding(54)

“We can’t do this,” I said, putting my hand flat against his chest and pushing softly. “The only thing we have going for us right now is that he thinks he’s got me brainwashed.”

Jake’s mouth hovered an inch from my skin. I felt his breath curl against me, and my nipples puckered in reaction. I felt hot flushes, and then a tingle go up my spine and between my legs. “I gotta go,” I whispered. “As much as I hate this, as much as I don’t want to, it’s the only chance we have. We keep him thinking he’s in charge, and then we spring a trap. What trap, I got no clue.”

A look of revelation went across Jake’s face, like a lightbulb flashing so brightly it exploded. “I have a plan,” he said.

I arched my eyebrows. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Can you convince him to go to your studio and pose for a statue?”

I started giggling. “You sly bastard. You’re thinking what I’m thinking, aren’t you?”

“About the gorillas. Yeah. If I had a statue made, everyone would laugh and think how silly and ironic it was. But him? The only thing more offensive to a pack of wolves than being called dogs is being made to grovel.”

“You’re a genius,” I said. “Or I am, because of the whole gorilla thing. He gets a statue made, and it looks like some idiot playing at being a god. He’ll be shooting himself right in the ass.”

Jake cracked a smile. “Right in the ass. Get outta here. Wait,” he grabbed me, pressing his lips to mine one last time. “Stay safe. He’s stupid, but he’s dangerous. Don’t give him any clue that this is anything other than him being the biggest, baddest, most amazing wolf on the planet, and you just wanting to worship him the way he should be worshipped.”

“See you soon,” I said, stealing one more kiss.

That last one was quick, it wasn’t deep or hot or hungry, but it was the sweetest I’d ever tasted.

And walking away from Jake? The worst pain I’d ever felt.





-17-


“I have to admit, sometimes I impress myself.”





-Delilah


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“What the hell do I need a statue of myself for?” Dane asked.

It had been a few days since my chat with Jake, and my forced mate was taking things in stride. He was comfortable that he was completely in charge, and that I was totally subject to his whims. One night, we were sitting around the lavish mansion watching All in the Family on one of the four local broadcast stations he could pick up, and it struck me as funny that I had somehow become Edith, and my Archie was a less racist, and a werewolf, but he did hate humans.

That one kept me entertained for a while. The things that can keep you going in the face of abject despair can be really odd sometimes, I’ve learned. Another is that we were in an actual mansion, and had to use rabbit ears to pick up a shitty signal on the seventeen inch TV set.

“Seems stupid,” he continued. “I mean, why do I need a big model of myself? I’m right here, baby! Everybody who wants to see Dane Somerset in all his glory can see him right here!”

The fact that His Royal Highness the would-be alpha was sitting around in a tank top and torn sweatpants didn’t seem to affect his ego any. Our whole plan was slightly stupid. Get him to make the statue of himself, which would hopefully convince the rest of the pack how dangerous it would be to have this psycho as an alpha.

It was a long shot, but to be honest, every shot we had was like hitting a bull’s eye at a hundred yards with a non-compound bow. In the snow. With a lot of wind in your face.

Then again, if werewolves took their independence as seriously as Jake seemed to think? Maybe convincing Dane he was the next best thing to Ramses the Great coming back to life and walking the planet would work.

“It’s not that you need it. It’s that you deserve it. Think about all the kings and the pharaohs and the emperors and—”

A smile spread across his lips. This is going to be easier than I thought.

“I get what you’re saying. Great kings, great alpha. But I don’t know if I’m quite ready for this step. I mean, I still do have to actually take control of the pack. It won’t take much effort, except that my obnoxious brother refusing to honor the challenge means I have to fight instead of just moving into the mansion.”

What I wanted to say is that Jake doesn’t need to fight, or move into a mansion, or even posture at all. All he has to do is lead and people listen. I decided that maybe taunting this idiot wasn’t the best idea. Looking back on it, I wondered where the idea for that gorilla analogy came from, but damn if it wasn’t genius.

“How much interaction did you have with the human world?” I asked, seemingly from out of nowhere. I’d slowly been testing my boundaries with Dane. At first he was really prickly and kind of defensive whenever I’d ask anything, but after a couple of days he started opening up and letting me, you know, talk, without permission.

He shrugged. “Not much. Well, aside from the hunting I did when I was away. Have to stay on top of the food chain and all that.”

My stomach turned. Just knowing that he was some kind of half-crazed murderer was bad enough, but when he started talking about how wolves were superior and humans were weak or whatever, it really made me want to put a knife in Dane’s temple instead of pretending to be his loyal and subjugated woman trophy.