Free The Wolf's Call (Two-Natured London) by Susanna Shore Page B

self-evident, but it was surprising to discover that
there was more to her feelings than lust.
    Since
her answer clearly mattered to him, she gave it the thought it deserved. “No,
not really,” she said truthfully after a while. His muscles relaxed visibly.
“But I haven’t faced your shifter side yet.” That might change everything. “I’m
more upset because you lied to me.”
    He
grimaced. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I did it. I’m never shy about the truth.”
    Since
she had already put some thought into that, she just nodded. “Feelings have
been running a bit high lately. You couldn’t know that I’m not a bigot.” She
hadn’t known it herself.
    That
made him smile. “I’m fairly sure you’re not,” he said, but she had to shake her
head.
    “I was
raised by humans-only parents. My father is especially strict about it. This is
the first time I’m dealing with someone that I know is a two-natured.” Then,
because she really wanted to know, she turned the tables. “Do you deal with
humans a lot? Date them?”
    She
tried to keep the tone light, as if she wasn’t suggesting anything, but to her
surprise his face turned serious. “I actually try to avoid dating humans.”
    It
wasn’t the answer she had hoped for and her heart sank. “Why?”
    He
raked his hair, aggravated, causing it to stand on its end, searching for an
answer. “Humans don’t make good partners for shifters,” he settled with, but
she got a notion it wasn’t the whole truth.
    “Who
said anything about becoming partners?” she said, but the upset his words
caused seemed to indicate that she was actually willing for something more. She
looked at him from under her lashes to gauge his reaction, but she only met his
unyielding stare. Apparently she wasn’t the only prejudiced here.
    Searching
for a way out of the embarrassing situation, she turned her attention back to
his wounds. “Come, let’s wash this blood off.” She led him to Jack’s bathroom
where the first-aid kit was, not that he needed its contents anymore. She
wetted a facecloth, and even though he could have done the cleaning up himself,
she did it for him. She wiped his side carefully with the cloth until the blood
came off and all that was left were the remains of the puncture marks, already
lightening.
    Fascinated
by his rapid healing, she ran her fingers over the marks. He inhaled sharply,
causing the defined muscles in his abdomen to stand out, and she snatched her
hand away. “Does it hurt?”
    “Not
there, baby.” His voice was deep and gravelly again. She glanced down and saw
his erection straining the front of his jeans, and a warm blush spread all over
her body. Frightened by how easily he could get her going, she fought the
arousal, still hurt that he didn’t consider her worth more than a lay. A slow
smile spread on his face as he watched her struggle. “Scared?”
    The
challenge made her competitive nature come to her aid. “I’m not scared of
anything.” An obvious lie, because she was terrified. She couldn’t afford to
lose her self-control, but he put a constant strain on her willpower like
nothing had before.
    He had
been leaning against the counter around the sink while she cleaned his wounds,
but now he straightened up. His bare chest was only inches from her face and
his wonderful scent invaded all of her, further weakening her resolve. He
flashed a grin that was definitely wolfish, but also very appreciative. “No,
you’re not. Otherwise you wouldn’t have attacked an aggressive male
wolf-shifter armed with only pepper spray.”
    Charly’s
knees gave in under her and she had to take a hold of the counter to keep from
falling, but he was already there. He pulled her against his chest, steadying
her with his strong arms. “I didn’t know they weren’t human,” she said in a
small voice that didn’t sound like her. She had thought they were demonstrators
attacking anyone who didn’t immediately side with