MatingCall by BA Tortuga Page A

can’t be happy without you.” He stood, going over to
kiss her gently on the cheek before turning to follow Jordan into the night.
    Her sobs followed him all the way to the truck.

Chapter Eight
     
    Steph showered, ate half a cheesecake—thanking the Goddess
that she had a great metabolism—and cried herself to sleep.
    When she dreamed, she dreamed about Jordan and Shaw running
under the moon, calling to her, howling for her. They were all teeth and fur,
until they weren’t. Then the dreams turned a little late-night cable, with lots
of naked skin and moaning.
    God, she was losing it.
    She woke up twisted in the sheets, drenched in sweat, with
her cell phone ringing madly. “Okay. Okay. I’m up. Just.” She hit the screen,
slid that little bar. “What?”
    “Stephanie? Steph, it’s Wendy. Are you okay?”
    “What? I’m fine. I was sleeping.”
    “You got home okay, no one bothered you?” Wendy
sounded…pissed. A little scared, but gaining on the angry.
    “What’s wrong? Mike was great. The date ended early, but…”
    “Yeah, I fucking guess so. He’s in the hospital.”
    “What? Did he have a car accident?”
    “No. He was attacked. The emergency room folks are saying
wild dogs.” Wendy stopped and Steph could hear the old clock above her bed
ticking. It took maybe ten seconds to figure out what Wendy thought.
    “No.” She shook her head. “They wouldn’t. Wendy, they
wouldn’t.”
    Not her boys.
    “Bullshit. They’re males. They’re like me. They would.”
    “When? When did it happen?” They’d been with her long enough
for Mike to get home, right? Maybe she could prove…
    “Around midnight. He managed to call 911 before he bled to
death, so he lived. Damn it, Steph. Did your boys go after him?”
    “No.” She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did. They’d been
mad, frustrated, but if they were going to bite someone, it would be her. “No,
they stopped and saw me, but I know they wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
    “That’s not good enough. I’m going to see them, and I swear
by the moon, I’ll put them down if they’ve lost it.”
    “That’s not going to happen.” Jordan and Shaw, they wouldn’t
hurt Mike. They wouldn’t.
    Steph hung up her phone without listening to another thing
Wendy said and dialed Jordan. Please answer. Please answer.
    No answer. She tried Shaw next.
    “Steph?”
    “Wendy’s coming for you. Mike, my date last night, he was
attacked. They think it was you. I told her it couldn’t be, but she doesn’t
believe me—”
    “Wait. Slow down, honey. What’s all this?”
    “She just called. She thinks you attacked him, bit him. He’s
hurt bad. You can’t go to jail, Shaw, neither one of you. You’re mine.”
    “Jail? Jordan?”
    There was a clacking and muffled noises, then Jordan was on
the line. “Okay, honey. We didn’t hurt anyone, you know that, right?”
    “I know. I told her!” She was crying now, so overwhelmed and
mad and just… Argh! “I told her, Jordan! You wouldn’t do that!”
    They didn’t have to. She wasn’t interested in Mike and they
knew it.
    “No, baby girl. We wouldn’t. If Wendy is coming, though,
we’re going to clear out until we can find out what happened. You remember that
ski shack we took you to that time?”
    “Uh-huh.” She sniffled, nodded, even though they couldn’t
see her. “You go. Now. Before Wendy finds you.”
    She’d…do a spell to expose the real bad guy. As soon as her
head stopped pounding.
    “Okay. You call the trading post up there if you need us.
That way you don’t have my phone on your calls over and over.”
    “Okay. I’m… Be careful, please?” She loved them.
    “We will.” Jordan’s little growl made her almost smile. “You
too. If it was someone else, not us, who was upset about you going out with
him… Shit. I’ll call Brett.”
    She nodded, crying again. “Tell Shaw…tell him thank you for
answering the phone?”
    “I wasn’t mad at you, baby girl. My phone got lost