Wolf or Love

Duda’s re-entry brought him out of his thoughts.

“You have the phone?”

His Beta nodded.

“The message is right there.”

Gary spluttered.

“What do you mean the message is there? I didn’t send him any message, dammit.”

“Well it’s right there in your Sent box,” said Ray.

Gary snatched the phone, read the message and his face reddened.

“Then someone else must have sent it. I didn’t.

Why would I? Why would anyone even lie to you about Hudson wanting to talk to you?”

“Maybe you wanted Gio out of the way so you had a chance to snatch Danica. You would have known that he would feel her panic and help her…

unless he was far enough away that he wouldn’t reach her in time. Just what were you planning to do with her? Or to her?”

“I didn’t send that message!”

“If my dad says he didn’t do it, then he didn’t do it,” said Max as he stood beside him, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m not disputing that someone tried to pull you away from Danica,” he told Gio. “But whoever it was used my dad’s phone, most likely to implicate him and shift the blame. It wasn’t him.”

Danica groaned. “I can’t deal with all this yelling.”

“Come on, baby.” Gio rose with her in his arms and carried her out of the room, through the tunnels and into their bedroom. He placed her gently on the bed and lay down next to her.

“Now do you believe me?” She sighed when he didn’t answer.

“I don’t care what you say, someone grabbed me. If you don’t want to face the fact that someone in your pack – the people you’ve grown up with – could do that, then I can understand that. I really can. But it doesn’t change that I’m right. Like it or not, you have someone in your pack who would willingly hurt your mate, because I’m not lying.”

Angry with himself for hurting her, he stroked a hand through her hair.

“Hey I never thought you were lying, baby. Not that. Just that maybe you tripped.”

“Oh I tripped. With help.”

Okay so there was being possessive, there was being crazily possessive, and there was this: being a total shit head. Danica groaned and slapped her hands over her face. All she wanted was to go shopping with Lucy. It wasn’t like she was planning to go shopping on a whole other continent or that she would be walking around naked the entire time. Gio, however, was totally

opposed to the idea of her going without him.

When attempting to bully her into taking him along hadn’t worked, he had switched to trying to manipulate her with a little reverse psychology.

When that failed he introduced some seriously good bribes. As she had still refused, he was now trying his hand at emotional blackmail. Releasing her face she looked at her mate who sat at the kitchen table wearing a kicked puppy expression. “For God’s sake, Gio, I’ll only be gone a few hours. I’m pretty sure you’ll cope without me.”

“Yeah, but I like being with you.”

That should have sounded corny or pathetic, but it had managed to sound sweet and cutely protective. Oh he was so good at this. She had

learned over the past few weeks that although Gio was mostly hard and antisocial, when he really wanted something he was more than capable of a

little charm. He had a way of focusing totally on her in a manner that she would have expected to freak her out, but instead it made her feel adored and safe. What made it better for Danica was that he was completely unashamed of how much he liked having her near him all the time. He didn’t hold back except in a sexual sense in front of other people. Maybe that was why they didn’t make fun of him for it. Maybe his complete conviction that it was normal, reasonable, and his right to act that way rubbed off on others so that

they too saw it as natural and expected. They didn’t even poke fun at him when he agreed to let Danica take him places he otherwise would never have bothered his ass with like the beach, the cinema, the bowling alley and even an ice-ring.

“You can be with me as much as you want when I get back.”

“Why is it you’re so set on me not going?”

Because it was his birthday in a few days and she wanted to get him a decent gift as a surprise, but he didn’t have to know that. Just as he didn’t have to know that they were all planning a surprise party or he would probably hide. According to Duda, Gio didn’t like to celebrate his birthday something about him not liking that kind of attention. Well that was just tough shit, it was time for him to stop being so serious.

“You already know that it was Lucy who organized the trip. How can I justify taking you along when she won’t even let Richard come along? Besides, you hate shopping.”

“No I don’t.”

“It’s not like we’re only visiting one store. There’s going to be a lot of browsing around shoe stores and boutiques and going bag hunting in the

mall. You wouldn’t last five minutes in that jungle.”

“Hey, I wear clothes, I’ve seen women’s clothes, I’m pretty sure I could cope in a mall.”

“Gio, let me cast your mind back to the time when as a punishment for being a bastard I took you to Victoria’s Secret and tried on a load of lingerie

for you but then never bought any.” His pained expression made her smile.

“You remember how you were sweating and huffing and puffing and asking how long before we could go home?”

“That was because you’d just made me watch you model all kinds of kinky shit, got me hard as a rock, and then expected me to walk without

being in agony.”

“No, Gio, that was before we even got into the store. You’re not cut out for this sort of thing. Leave it to the experts.”

Taking her by the wrist, Gio pulled her onto his lap to straddle him. It probably wasn’t a good idea since that position sparked off some really dirty

thoughts and quickly his cock began to harden. Then again, when was it ever limp when Danica was around? The fact that she soon wouldn’t be around even if it would only be for a few hours was enough to cause his surge of lust to wane and to perturb his wolf. When she was there he was content and relaxed in a way he had never

been before. She made him laugh and gave him a feeling of being anchored, of having perfect balance. When she wasn’t there he missed her and didn’t think about much but her anyway, so he didn’t see the logic in her not being with him. It was really that simple to him. Of course he was aware of just how possessive and greedy he was

being, but he also knew that Danica would never let him steamroll her. If she thought he was taking it too far, she would let him know about it in a way

that would make him seriously hesitate doing it in future. Brushing his lips against hers, he asked, “Is it really so bad that I just want to spend time with

you?”

“That’s not going to work, Gio. Especially since I know that this isn’t only about you wanting the pleasure of my company.”Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

“Okay, I’ll rephrase. Is it really so bad that I just want to spend time with you and have you in my sight at all times?”

Danica sighed. As they were mates with an incomplete bond, no it wasn’t bad, it was normal. For wolves that hadn’t completely bonded, the

possessiveness and protectiveness hit extreme levels because there was a lingering insecurity for both of them. Had it only been that, Danica could have easily waved away his behavior. The problem was she knew from their connection that he wasn’t dishing out bullshit. He did like being with her, he did want to spend time her…and now he was kissing her neck.

“Gio -”

“Is it really that bad?” he prodded gently.

“No, but -”

“Is it really so awful that I like having you close so I can reach out and touch you whenever I want? Play with your hair, feel your skin, taste your lips, inhale your scent. Is it really so awful?” He briefly paused kissing her neck to lick over his mark.

“Not awful,” she replied breathlessly, shuddering, “but -”

“It makes perfect sense for me to come and – ow! Son of a bitch!”

Regaining her mental composure, Danica jumped to her feet, frowning down at her mate who was rubbing the sensitive tip of his ear where she had

bit him hard. “That was for trying to manipulate me again.”

As Lucy and Richard entered and took in her frown and Gio’s face creased in pain, Lucy arched a brow. “Have we walked in on a domestic argument?”

“Gio’s just sulking because I’m not taking him shopping.”

Richard scratched his nape. “You know what I don’t get? How women can spend the majority of their lives in shopping malls but still say they have

nothing to wear.”

Lucy snorted. “You know what I don’t get? How men can spend the majority of their lives playing sports where they’re being trampled on and

listening to noisy mobs yet they’re put off by shopping when it’s no different.” Both males tilted their heads, conceding that.

“At least let me give you some -”

Holding up her hand, she said, “No, Gio, I have my own money.”

He curled an arm around her waist and drew her close. “But I know you don’t want to touch that fund.”

Combing her fingers through his hair, she smiled. “Back then I didn’t.

Things were different then. Our mating was only about a deal.” She adored him for being so sensitive about it.