Most Eligible Wolf - Julie Steimle (e novels to read TXT) 📗

French. There were unknowns of course, but it really didn’t make a difference. But he was addicted to Daisy, moon-bonded, and despite sending her off the way he did, his body still craved her. And he knew she was still waiting for him to hunt her down, apologize, and start where they had left off. And Audry, she had no desire to be near him. He disgusted her, from his need to eat meat to the fact that he was of the wealthy class she despised so much. It struck him so hard, Rick started to cry. And he could not stop.

He sat on the bed and covered his face so his friends could not see.

His mind swam over everything again. He realized that Daisy had nearly convinced him to go back to Wolverton with her and live a free wolfish life, simply from her touch and smell. But of course he couldn’t do that. He was not just a wolf. He was a man also.

Unfortunately, being half one kind made life hell for the other. And no sensible full-blooded human female would want a thing like him for a husband. His mother was proof. So was Mrs. Blithe. Besides, his grandmother had been a rare soul—yet she had died because of her choice to marry a werewolf, killed by hunters.

He stared at the list again, feeling so confused. A girl like Audry would not even blink at him. The list of what he wanted was a fantasy he could not get, not if he wanted to be fair to the girl—and he did want to be fair. He didn’t want to do what his father had done to his mother.

He was cursed.

And it was too late besides. The Loup Garou had told him two years ago—he was moon-bonded to Daisy, whether he liked it or not. Maybe he really did only have a chance within a pack of werewolves. Maybe rejecting Daisy had been a bad idea. Perhaps the pack was right. Maybe his father was wrong. It was possible this was why so many werewolves formed into packs and started worshipping the full moon and moon goddesses. They belonged nowhere else in the world.

“Hey,” Matt leaned in, hearing all his sorrows as he sobbed. “Your dad’s not wrong. The pack wanted to control you. She didn’t actually love you, you know. She just wanted to possess you. You would not have been free. I heard her thoughts. I can tell you what she was really thinking, and it wasn’t something you would like.”

Rick lifted his eyes to his friend, sniffling. “I’m sorry. I just….”

Tom stared. His frown deepened and he folded his arms. This was angry-Tom stance. Rick knew it well. “Not everybody has a pack to flee to, you know,” Tom snapped.

Hearing him, Rick shook his head, painfully chuckling. Tom had a very good point. Most ghoulies, like Tom Brown and even Selena, who were also half and half something did not gather together in the same way werewolves did. He was just whining.

…And yet he knew that if he didn’t want to live his life as a blackguard, he had to remain celibate forever or find some way to convince Daisy to leave her pack. She probably would do it in the end—though he knew she did not love him, not really. She’d be a terrible wife. High maintenance. Constantly jealous. They’d probably end up arguing a lot—and the rest of their time together, of course, would be passion. It made him sick, as he felt sorry for his future kids. It was unfair to them.

“Don’t assume the future is set just yet,” Matt whispered still. “I’m not convinced this moon-bonding thing is real.”

“Is he having second thoughts?” Randon asked, his eyes widening. 

“Several,” Matt said with grief on Rick’s behalf. “He’s still addicted to her.”

“Sorry,” Rick moaned, trying to hide his face from shame. It was an impossible urge to ignore.

“Do you want me to drive those wolves from the convention center?” Tom asked, teeth clenched. “If it helps fight the urge to go with them?”

Rick nodded, putting his head back into his hands. “Yeah.”

Matt nodded also, earnestly. Rick’s body was shaking from withdrawals.

Of course Tom could obviously hear Rick’s invisible imps shouting for him to tear out of there and find Daisy so he could leave with her and the Wolverton pack. He wasn’t guessing about it.

Tom walked to a corner of the room to speak in private with those imps that he could see. Apparently, he didn’t want Rick to overhear what he was going to do to those wolves. Tom looked likely to kill as he talked gravely with his tiny invisible relatives. And he had a short argument with those invisible devils, as he often did when they liked the current mischief they were eating up. They were already enjoying the existing chaos, relishing in the fun they would have if Rick went through an elopement with a she-wolf. But instead of arguing with them further, Tom suggested a naughty little task to at least torment those wolves of Wolverton, saying to at least let him have some fun too. He made suggestions of things the imps could tease them with which Tom knew would cause a wolf to get thrown out if they reacted in the way anyone would. Tom knew how to get imps to do things without them realizing they were achieving a higher moral purpose they might actually object to. Imps were highly distracted creatures, not that smart, and they didn’t have a great memory.

They took the bait.

When Tom joined his friends again, he nodded smugly. The imps were on the job.

Rick stared at the floor for some time not saying anything. He wiped his red eyes. He felt ashamed of the way he had acted—the way he had reacted when they had just been trying to save him from Daisy. The fact that he had been so quick to jumping in the sack with Daisy after all he had told them.

Matt, Tom, and Randon shared looks.

“How did you figure out Daisy had found me?” Rick finally looked up to his friends.

Matt and Tom thumbed to Randon, still overly embarrassed that they had just watched Rick break down and sob like a child—right after catching him in the middle of sex with the super-hot she-wolf he was addicted to. The entire thing was mortifying.

Stepping closer, Randon said, “You were out of our sight, first thing. I know you stepped aside in a doorway to talk to your dad, but when I looked I couldn’t find you. So I went all cat and followed your scent.”

Rick nodded. It made sense. He wondered also how good a cat’s sense of smell was.

“When I smelled that she-wolf, I went back for Tom and Matt,” Randon said. “Tom unlocked the door.”

Heaving a sigh, Rick nodded heavily. Then he looked up at his true friends and said, “Thanks.”

Matt smiled, stepping back. “And he means it. Good.”

“So is he free to leave this room?” Tom asked, trying to make sure, as clearly the imps that usually were with them were not there to reveal Rick’s temptations.

Nodding, Matt said to Rick, “Get dressed.”

“And in clean clothes,” Randon insisted, hopping to Rick’s last outfit and pulling them away from him. “Nothing with that girl’s scent on it.”

Rising, Rick agreed. Nothing with her scent on it. It would drive him mad otherwise.

He took out other clothes from his bag and got dressed.

“Now… who are the Loup Garou?” Matt asked once Rick was clothed and in a better mental state, though he was still emotionally wiped out.

Cringing, Rick really had hoped he would have let that go. However, Randon and Tom both waited for the answer.

“A French wolf pack,” Rick reluctantly replied. “I didn’t know about them until I was seventeen. The summer after my junior year, my dad brought me to Paris where they live.”

 “Paris?” Randon murmured, finding it hard to believe a wolf pack could remain unnoticed in such a city.

Matt nodded, listening for more. But Rick was extremely good at controlling his thoughts. He took long pauses to think about what he wanted to say and then spoke when only that thought was in his head. Matt realized that Rick had frequently used this tactic in the past to keep important things secret. And despite his impulsiveness toward Daisy, Rick had immense self-control.

But Rick did not divulge more willingly.

Matt eyed him as he said, “Is it so scandalous—?”

“Yes,” Rick cut him off, meeting his gaze with intense warning, as Matt clearly knew about his half-brothers and sisters whom he was keeping safe. He then with a look to them all, Rick explained, “I have to protect a good number of people in this world.”

“And a number of secrets,” Matt added, narrowing his eyes on him. “You are becoming too much like your dad.”

Rick nodded to him, knowing Matt was picking up details he had not shared with anyone outside his father. “Some secrets are necessary.”

Tom frowned and looked to Randon who did not seem to know the reference Rick was making. Rick’s imps were not tempting him to divulge his secrets, so Tom had no clue what Rick was talking about beyond what he had voiced.

But gazing to Matt, Rick said, “You stumbled on a secret that is precious. I know they will want to know, but I am begging you—not now. And don’t tell until I say you can.” He did not verbally add ‘lives are in the balance’ though he thought it.

Matt got the message, though he was dismayed that Rick didn’t trust his friends enough to tell them whole truth.  

Randon and Tom exchanged disappointed looks.

“Why?” Tom asked Rick. “Why from us? We’re your friends.”

Rick nodded to him specifically. “I know. But you in particular work with a dangerous and compromising business. I can’t let you know. Not until my dad wants to go public. You need to understand. If the CIA knew you were withholding information from them about me, they would be furious. I am protecting you as much as I am protecting others.”

Matt thought on that more. He realized then exactly why Rick wanted him to keep what he knew a secret—even from his best friends.

Tom also thought on that. He thought hard, nodding. “Oh.”

“And you have to protect Matt, also,” Rick said, knowing Matt was now at risk.

“That’s a given,” Tom said with a chuckle, heading to the door. “Angels tell me to protect Matt all the time.”

He then strolled out the door to stand guard. Matt was staring after Tom, as he wasn’t lying, though Rick and Randon took it as a joke.

Important Calls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Eleven

 

 

As they gathered up Rick’s things to check out of the room, since he could no longer stay there with Daisy’s smell all over it, Rick’s phone rang.

“Hello?” Rick answered it, thinking it was his father.

<< Oh good! You answered this time! It’s me Troy. I am a little late, sorry. But uh, I bumped into a friend of yours who wants to talk to you. >>

Rick stiffened. “Hi, Troy…”

His friends perked up. Matt could hear the panic in Ricks thoughts shouting Troy might be surrounded by Wolverton wolves.

<< His name is Kurt Blithe. Do you know him?