• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

There was nothing I could say to that, so I didn’t try.

He looked down at the bed, fingers playing along the edge of the sheet. His voice grew very soft. “My first year in the pack, one of the other new wolves had a human girlfriend. He crushed her pelvis while they were making love.”

My eyes widened. “A little too rough,” I said.

Richard shook his head. He let his hair fall this time, hiding most of his face. “You don’t understand, Anita. Strength is strength. We can pick up small cars and throw them. If you don’t realize your own strength, you can’t control it.” He looked at me suddenly, staring out at me through his hair. It was a gesture that Gabriel had been fond of, as if the hair were comforting or reminded them of fur. “You’re the first nonlycan-thrope I’ve ever had sex with since I became one.”

“I’m flattered, I guess.”

“I was still scared I’d hurt you like my friend had hurt his girlfriend or in a thousand other ways. During sex you lose control. That’s part of the fun. I can never lose control, not completely, unless I’m with another lycanthrope.”

I looked at him. “What are you trying to say, Richard?”

“I’m saying you date both of us. Have sex with both of us. I will hate it, but . . .”

I stared at him. I didn’t like that he didn’t want to finish the sentence. Made me nervous. “What, Richard?”

He brushed his hair back with both hands until his face was clean and tight. “You date both of us, and I’ll keep dating other lycanthropes.”

I just kept staring at him.

“Say something,” he said.

I opened my mouth, closed it, tried again. “You mean you’ll keep having sex with Lucy.”

“Not Lucy, she’s. . . You’ve met her. She could never be lupa of our pack.”

“So you’re going to keep auditioning lupas?”

“I don’t know if I am or not, but I know if you sleep with Jean-Claude, I have the right to sleep with other people.”

I couldn’t exactly argue with him, but I wanted to. “You’re still trying to get me to give up Jean-Claude.”

“No,” he said. “I’m just saying that if you’re not monogamous to me, then why should I be monogamous to you?”

“No reason, I guess. Except. . . I thought we loved each other.”

“We do. I do.” He stood and picked up his jeans from the floor. “But you don’t love me enough to give up Jean-Claude. Why should I love you enough to give up everyone else?”

I stared at him and felt tears begin to fill my eyes. “You bastard.”

He nodded. He slipped into his pants without underwear, zipping carefully. “The real bitch is that I do love you enough to give up everyone else. I just don’t know if I can share you with Jean-Claude. I just don’t know if I can stand the thought of you in his bed. The thought of him being with you like that drives me . . .” He shook his head. “I’m going to take a shower. I’ve still got trolls to study.”

I couldn’t even begin to think about what he’d just said. It was too much all at once. When confused, concentrate on business.

“I need to come with you and talk to the biologists. We need to find out if Franklin Niley is the buyer for the land. The guy who lost his arm last night was afraid of him. It takes someone pretty scary to make a man hesitate when he’s surrounded by werewolves. Your normal real estate types don’t have that kind of juice.”

Richard strode back to the bed. He picked me up around the waist and kissed me. He crushed me against him, like he’d crawl in through my mouth and pull me around him. I was breathless when he sat me back down on the bed.

“I want to touch you, Anita. I want to hold your hand and do silly, goofy grins. I want us to act like people who are in love.”

“We are in love,” I said.

“Then for today, let’s throw all the doubts out. Just be with me the way I’ve always wanted you to be. If I want to touch you today, I don’t want to be afraid not to. I want what happened last night to change things.”

I nodded. “All right.”

“You don’t look sure,” he said.

“I’d love to go around holding your hand, Richard. I’m just realizing that . . . Oh, hell,