Ariel by Donna McDonald

doesn’t want either of you. Your disrespect is no basis for making a female desire you. You two will never learn,” Ryan barked.
     
    Heidi’s eyebrows rose when his brothers lifted their hands in surrender and moved away.
     
    “Stand still and let me do this,” Ryan ordered. Inching carefully closer to the nervous female, he leaned in and put his nose against her neck. She smelled exotic—different—like a werewolf and yet something else too.
     
    When she quivered and whimpered at his sniffing, things stirred below his waist. He wished he dared take a lick and taste her. His loud sigh barely covered her groan of arousal. Next thing he knew, he was fighting not to growl and tell his brothers to get the hell away. His need to protect the woman suddenly kicked in as hard as the rusty clutch did in his pickup when he stomped on it. The whimpering new werewolf was the first female to even make him twitch in three damn years.
     
    “Fine. Tell Matt I’ll do this. Or at least, I’ll try,” he said, his gaze going to Gareth’s instead of Heidi’s. When he heard her whimper of relief, his jeans tightened. He had a lot of time to make up for what he’d missed—surely he could satisfy her during some of it.
     
    “I think we’ll get Celeste to give us a couple rooms at her bed and breakfast. She’ll make sure we aren’t disturbed,” Gareth said calmly, not all surprised by the turn of events. Most mated males grieved long and hard, but eventually got over it. Ryan had grieved more than enough already. Temporary relief was how you got going again. He should know. He’d lost two mates over the last couple hundred years.
     
    Brandi snorted. “Great. It’s not bad enough that I’m a wolf. No—now I’m checking into a sleazy hotel for a couple hours of boinking. This day just keeps getting better and better. The only good thing I can say is that it beats being dead.”
     
    “Are you always so negative about everything?” Gareth asked, studying the frowning female who had held his interest since the moment he’d seen her.
     
    “Yes. It’s called being a realist,” Brandi declared, shaking her head over Gareth’s complaining. Sex should be lots of fun with Mr. Always Calm, she thought. Gareth probably didn’t have an original move in his sexual arsenal. She imagined that a woman probably had to tell him what to do every step of the way. But the idea of getting rid of the fire between her legs overrode her disappointment in the two remaining choices being the hyena brothers who were still snickering about Heidi choosing Ryan. And really—did it matter whose hose she used to put out her fire? Not really. Heidi had already made the best choice of all the males in the room. She supposed she’d take Gareth over either of the remaining hyena brothers.
     
    Brandi heaved out a sigh. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I just want to get this over with.”
     
    Gareth rose and nodded. “Okay. Let’s go then. With luck we’ll be back by the time Matt and Ariel get done helping Reed. I still don’t know what he plans to do with the three of you…or with Reed. I guess Matt is still thinking about the situation.”
     
    ***
     
    The black wolf on the table was still and unmoving. Ariel swallowed hard. She couldn’t let Reed die. She just couldn’t. His blood had created her. Perhaps her blood could save him. It seemed a viable risk to take given all they’d suffered together at Crane’s hands. She didn’t want to deal with this nightmare alone. She needed the creature on the table to help her survive what had happened to her.
     
    She looked at the medic, a native woman with a kind face. “Can you hook up a direct transfusion? I’m one of Reed’s…family members…and his alpha in training. My blood stands the best chance of helping him.”
     
    “He has lost more than we can take from you, Alpha,” the healer said softly.
     
    Ariel shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. I have to