Free Bewitching the Werewolf by Caroline Hanson Page A

window, standing in the same spot I had just left. He could have been looking at the view but werewolves were odd. They were obsessed with smells and energy. So it was possible he was drawn to that space simply because I had stood there.
     
    Who knew?
     
    “ Well, Miss Stephens, you’ve met my mother and survived the encounter.”
     
    “ Oh, yes. She’s still trying to charm me. But if things don’t work out I wouldn’t mind an armed escort back to my car.”
     
    He looked back at me, his gaze perusing me from my feet to face in a quick flicker. “Does that work?”
     
    “ What?” Why was my heart beating so fast?
     
    “ Charming you?”
     
    I wanted to giggle or make some odd noise to show how squeamish I was with any flirtatious overture. I knew I was deluding myself, even impotent this guy was way out of my league.
     
    How depressing.
     
    I sat down in a leather chair that faced his massive desk. There were some papers on it, but it was neither a mess nor so clean that I would have had to wonder if he actually worked.
     
    “ Charm works better than shouting,” I said, holding onto the conversation like grim death.
     
    He gave me an odd expression and turned away from the window before sitting down behind the desk. He rubbed his hand across his forehead as though he had a headache and sighed deeply. “I’m sorry. Things have been stressful around here.”
     
    “ Mr. Connor-”
     
    “ Please, call me Zack.”
     
    “ Zack, the file was a little vague as to what the problem is. But I don’t have to be here. If you want me to leave, I can come up with some reason to get your mother’s money back.”
     
    He leaned back in the chair and watched me inscrutably. “First of all, it’s my money. I did hire you. But it was at the Council’s insistence. We are the oldest werewolf pack in America, but we are no longer the most powerful. They think it’s time I took a mate. I’m thirty. I respect that and I’d feel the same way if I was lower in the pecking order. But….” Here he paused, then drummed his fingers against the table nervously.
     
    Crap. I‘d be nervous too if I had to tell someone I couldn’t get it up.
     
    “ The wolf is a part of me and it’s refusing to choose a mate. I know this sounds ridiculous, but it’s not just me that’s the problem. It’s the wolf. We…play and flirt with the females, but when it’s a bonding time, the wolf is not just resistant but refuses. And it’s creating instability in the pack.
     
    “ What’s the worst case scenario?” I asked.
     
    “ The pack dissolving. They wouldn’t have any other choice but to leave. The only way for a wolf to produce offspring is for the alpha to be in a mated pair.”
     
    “ Why?”
     
    “ I thought you were the supernatural expert?” he said, a faint sadness lingering around him, making his aura a little purple. He took this as a personal failure.
     
    “ I’ve only heard rumors. Why pass up the chance to get it straight from the…wolf’s mouth?”
     
    He gave me a wan smile.
     
    “ I subscribe to the theory that it’s related to resources. Just as a human woman won’t ovulate if she’s starving, our females won’t go into heat unless the pack is likely to thrive.”
     
    I nodded and blushed. “Have you ever had intercourse?” I found I was whispering.
     
    Very seriously, brow furrowed, Zack leaned forward, his fingers laced together on the desk as he brought his face closer to mine, “Yes. I’m not impotent. But thanks for whispering.”
     
    “ Thank god for that!” I said, then tried to cover up my totally irrelevant enthusiasm, “That makes it easier to fix…hopefully…I’m sure we’ll get you—” Please, don’t let me say aroused “Uh… up and at ‘em in no time.” I was on the verge of having a hot flash like my Aunt Maurine.
     
    He looked like he was enjoying my discomfort. “Oh, really?”
     
    “ Yes! We’re gonna get a handle on this— fix this,