Werewolf Cove (Escape! 13)

Werewolf Cove
Marteeka Karland
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2007 Marteeka Karland
An Authorized Excerpt

Isabella's groan echoed when she entered her apartment. "That son of a bitch." The apartment was empty. Nothing remained. The one room, one bath apartment was as bare as the day she'd rented it two weeks before. Even the cat was gone.

She'd moved out of her boyfriend's home and into this tiny apartment because after three years, she was still the "girlfriend." He hadn't liked her leaving, and she'd just bet he was the one responsible for this.

If she'd had a chair, she'd have collapsed. After a twelve-hour shift in the ER, all she wanted to do was rest a few minutes before leaving for the airport. The end of this shift marked the beginning of a two-week vacation. She'd been looking forward to the exclusive resort on Maui she'd saved an entire year to be able to pay for on her own. It would have been her three-year anniversary present to her now-ex-boyfriend, but she'd decided to go by herself. She needed the vacation. She probably should stay and deal with all this, but if she did, she'd lose her deposit. Thank God she'd already put her suitcase in her car.

This was the perfect end to a perfect day. Her little mishap with her ex-boyfriend, Dr. Connor Anderson, hadn't helped.

She shivered. That "little mishap" would have curled her toes if she hadn't had an eighteen-gauge needle stuck through her thumb. OK, so it had still curled her toes. He was fifteen years her senior, and she'd always had the feeling he was hiding something dark and forbidding, but he was easily the sexiest man she'd ever seen. She'd jammed that stupid needle into her thumb because she'd been watching his ass instead of the flush she was drawing.

She'd stood there a few seconds, unable to believe what she'd done. Then her vision started going black around the edges, she got lightheaded, and her knees gave way. She would have fallen to the floor if he hadn't caught her. She hadn't known what to say, and she'd actually wanted to cry. The pain from the needle wasn't nearly as bad as the pain in her heart. Still, she'd be damned if she'd shed a single tear over him. He didn't want her for a wife, and she deserved better.

But something happened later that night that made her think maybe he was hurting as much as she.

The paramedics who brought their patients to the ER usually hit on her. She'd always turned them down, and it had grown into a game. This time, when Jose made one of his usual comments, Connor growled -- literally. His six and a half foot frame, all solid, bulky muscle, was enough to make the shorter man back up a couple of steps, but not enough to make him keep his mouth shut.

"You better quit that growling, doc. People are gonna think you're a dog."

The paramedic chuckled, but Connor hadn't seemed to recognize the attempt at humor. Instead, he replied in a deadly, low voice, "That's exactly what I am, ambulance driver. And my bite is definitely worse than my bark."

It wasn't the exchange that was memorable, though calling a medic an "ambulance driver" was amusing. What settled in her belly and made her cunt throb in anticipation was the territorial way he had defended her. It was like he was staking his claim. Letting every other male in the vicinity know she belonged to him. Isabella had no doubt this was a man who'd be the aggressive lover she craved. This was totally different from the man who'd said he was afraid to be too aggressive in bed because he didn't want to hurt her.

She wasn't into anything extreme. She just wanted a lover to sweep her off her feet and fuck her until they were both sated and sleepy. Unless she missed her guess, the man growling in her defense wanted to do exactly that.

Oh, well. She'd think about him later. Two weeks should give her plenty of time. Her life could wait. She wanted it to wait. Right now, she had a flight to catch.