jugs
of milk. She took a peek in the side-by-side freezer and found at least half a
cow stored in there. Werewolves ate a lot of meat, apparently.
She refilled Jack’s cup
and closed the refrigerator door. Turning to head back to the dining room, she
faced the wall of glass that separated the kitchen from the dark garden.
On the far side of the
glass stood an enormous naked man with shaggy blond hair, his body ripped with
muscle. His iridescent yellow eyes stared right at her, and he pressed his body
against the window. He leered at her and wiggled his hips lewdly.
She screamed and backed
away, clutching the sippy cup to her chest like a shield.
* * *
At her scream, Dash leaped
to his feet, his chair crashing to the ground behind him. He ran toward the
kitchen, prepared to kill.
Annie stood on the far
side of the room, backed up against the kitchen bench, her open mouth moving
wordlessly. He followed her gaze. Gaelan, the bastard, rubbing himself against
the window glass.
The prick didn’t even have
the decency to stop when Dash came in. He lifted a hand to wave at him, and
grinned, obscenely.
Dash took three long
strides to the outside door, opened it, and was at Gaelan’s side in a moment.
“I ought to beat the shit
out of you for this,” he said.
“You could try,” the blond
giant said, turning to envelop him in a bear hug. “She’s hot. Doesn’t look like
one of yours. Can I have her?”
“She’s human,” Dash said
tersely.
“Never stopped me before,”
Gaelan said, continuing to leer at Annie.
“Stop looking at her, or
I’m going to have to kill you,” Dash said, fighting to keep his wolf in check. He
said it in a light tone, but his intent lay beneath, hard and deadly, like a
promise.
“All right, bro.” Gaelan
gave Annie a broad smile and turned to Dash, cuffing him lightly on the
shoulder. “You better not be keeping a human concubine. The Russians won’t be
happy with you.”
They’re
not going to be happy with me, anyway. Dash had been working damn hard not to think about that.
“Come inside. You must be
freezing.” Dash gave Gaelan a slap on the back and followed him in to the
kitchen.
“Gaelan, this is Annie. Annie,
my old friend, Gaelan. He’s originally from the Norse pack, but he’s one of us,
now.”
“Nice to meet you,” the
blond said, and stepped forward, as if to give her a hug. Annie scooted to one
side, gave Gaelan a little wave, and folded her arms. Her face was stiff.
“What’s the— Oh. G,
mind if I lend you a pair of track pants?”
“You don’t think your
little human appreciates me?” Gaelan roared with laughter. “Little lady, others
would pay to see this body. I can tell you haven’t spent much time around Dash
or you’d know he’s naked more often than I am.”
Dash gave him a shove. “You
know where my room is, brother.”
The giant sauntered off toward the living
room, giving one last shake of his ass and a grin over his shoulder as he
retreated.
“Brother?” Annie asked,
sinking back against the kitchen counter.
The others hailed Gaelan in
the dining room. Dash hoped Daisy would take his nudity more in her stride than
Annie had. He didn’t hear any shrieking, just a giggle from Jack.
“Foster brother. And my
best friend,” he answered. “I don’t know why he’s here. I wasn’t expecting him,
thought we’d see him up at the ranch.”
“Does he always walk
around naked?” Her cheeks glowed pink, and she still held the sippy cup in
front of her like a talisman.
He deferred answering the
question, because the answer was yes, as
often as he could . “We don’t worry too much about clothes, to be honest. When
there are humans around, sure.”
Her eyes got very round. “Is
everyone up at the ranch going to be naked?”
“There’ll be a decent
amount of nudity. Is that going to be a problem?”
She set the sippy cup down
and folded her arms tightly across her chest, but her
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