My breath catches, and I’m stuck, staring into his grey eyes. He’s beautiful. Like a dream.
I’ve had dreams about a wolf like this who arrived to save me. A hero. A rescuer. Someone who can take me away.
Why now?
Why when I have nothing left?
I look down at the broken jar of pickles and swallow hard.
“Not dogs,” I say softly. “Oh, seriously, fuck this day.”
I sit there with my eyes closed, ignoring them for a couple of minutes, and then I slam my head back on the island. I thump it three times, and when I open my eyes, the silver is too close, sniffing my hair.
I jerk back and put half the room between us.
“Okay. Okay. So, this isn’t going to be for a day. This is…crap. Okay, focus, Casey.” I look up and meet the brown’s eyes. He hasn’t taken his gaze off me; I can feel his stare like a heavy weight. “You can shift if you can. There are beds down the hall. Food is in the kitchen. I’ll go back into town and get you more tomorrow. There are clothes in the wardrobes that might fit. We can talk tomorrow when I can…think clearly.”
I get to my feet, turn around, and stumble, back and back. The man is huge, all muscle with long silver hair that’s shaved on one side. His eyes are the same grey colour as the wolf. He’s wearing an old pair of jeans and a black singlet.
“What’s your name?” His voice is a delicious rasp that fills me with panic.
“Casey.”
“Casey,” he tastes the sounds of my name, somehow making it sound indecent. “I’m Wrath.”
I swallow hard. “Wrath.”
He looks me up and down, real slow, making it feel like a physical caress. I’m stunned and lost in it. So, his words take a moment to penetrate.
“Congratulations on becoming the new owner of five adorable, ruin-your-fucking-life shifters. Hope you’re ready because this war has only just started.”
Beautiful…but an asshole just like every other wolf I’ve ever met.
Casey
I glare up atWrath, refusing to step back, refusing to back down. Aggression is what he’s offered, so aggression is what I’m going to have to give.
“Listen to me,” I hiss and then take a deep breath and force calm. Responding to shifters in a way I’d like to might get me killed. They are, after all, alphas. Their aggressive tendencies are much more trigger-happy than mine, and they have the ability to rip me apart with their bare hands. I need out of this house and away from this enclosed powder keg. “This is my home, and I don’t want this. I had no idea what I was agreeing to, but if we work together, we can get this,” I wave the cuff in his face, “off. And the five of you can trot off to terrorise someone else.”
My heart is beating so hard, and there are pretty white spots in my vision. Don’t pass out, please don’t pass out.
“You think it’s that easy?” The voice is like silk and sin.
My mouth waters, and my knees wobble slightly as I turn.
A man with very tanned skin and glowing golden eyes stares at me. Jet black hair sits perfectly in layers on his head. I don’t even know why I notice that, but I do. His cheekbones are high and angular. And he’s as gorgeous as Wrath but in a completely different way. Wrath is unspeakably beautiful; this man, this shifter in front of me, is the sexiest person I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Not fair.
“This is my pack brother Riot,” Wrath whispers with a laugh. “He bites.”
Riot smiles, revealing perfect white teeth. “Mmm, sometimes it’s enjoyable, too.” He pauses dramatically, his eyes flicking down my person, leaving me feeling like a grubby child. “For me.”
I cannot spend a day with them in my house. There’s no way I’m going to survive this.
My eyes flicker to the doorway where another man stands. The brown isn’t brown on his human form; it’s a shade darker than gold, mixed with bronze. His hair has gold and copper threads in it, and even though I can’t sense any menace from him, he’s the one that makes my heart skip a beat.
This shifter is the pack leader. The wolf who will keep the others in line, the one who will try to force me to obey. The one who will hurt me.
