Once Bitten Twice Smitten: BBW Werewolf Shifter Menage Romance by Ariana Hawkes Page B

grudgingly given him a ride, too beaten by the recent events to be hostile. Chase grunted, non-committally.
    They passed the rest of the journey in a dejected silence, but, as they turned into the hotel grounds, a recollection pinged in Chase’s brain.
    “How on earth did you find her before me?” he demanded. “I had the information from the Federation!” Brad shrugged.
    “I just got lucky, following my nose, I guess,” he said. Chase turned to him.
    “But her scent wasn’t even that strong. She hasn’t shifted yet. You would’ve had to go in the garden of each and every house – wait a minute!” He paused, taking a deep snort, which flared his nostrils. Suddenly, he leaned over and clamped his arm around Brad’s neck, getting him in a choke-hold. As Brad’s arms went up to fend him off, Chase started rooting in his pockets.
    “Got it!” he yelled, plunging his hand into Brad’s breast pocket and pulling the scrap of red fabric out. Brad snatched at it, while coughing and gasping for breath, but Chase held it at arm’s length. It was redolent with the girl’s sweet, warm scent.
    “You fucking asshole! You had this the whole time and didn’t tell me!” Brad got out of the car and slammed the door shut, rubbing his neck.
    “Why the hell would I, you prick!” he bellowed. “You don’t deserve a girl like that. Her father’s right: you are a fucking animal!” Before Chase could think up a reply, Brad turned on his heel and stomped over to his cabin.
    *
    Aspen lay awake for a long time. This had been by far the weirdest day of her entire life. Her head felt like it was bursting with all the things she’d heard. She’d called in sick from her part time job in a restaurant, too overwhelmed to cope with working that night. And there had been a final shock at the end of the day – there was not just one strange man wanting her attention, but two! Her father had refused to tell her anything about them, but she had gathered that they were both werewolves. The thought that beings who were not fully human had been there, right on her doorstep, made her shiver, mostly with fear, but also with a hint of something else. The second guy was just as good-looking as the first one. He had golden hair, and skin almost exactly the same shade, and he had these crazy-intense, pale green eyes. He seemed harder than Brad though. She picked up a hint of something deliciously uncompromising in the angle of his jaw. He was the kind of guy who’d laugh at her, or give her an are you kidding me? kind of smirk if she was caught looking in his direction. But he’d been staring at her in a very similar way to the first. She could’ve sworn his eyes widened when they focused on her, the pupil flooding the iris, changing the color to deep emerald. She’d looked from one man, to the other, to the other. Each of them was breathtaking, but together, she felt like she was watching Mr Universe. They had an otherworldly perfection. Were all werewolves as hot as them? And what exactly were they doing on her doorstep? Brad said he wanted to help her, and her father said they wanted to kidnap her, and drag her back to their werewolf lair. All she knew was that she needed some answers.
    At that moment, a searing pain tore through her body. It was happening again. Her limbs were electrified with a violent current, and her joints snapped and crunched. As she lay on her back, whimpering in terror, her skin tightened all over, as if her body was trying to burst out of it. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, her skin started itching and burning. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, and didn’t dare to look at her flesh. She was turning into a wolf, she knew it now. Her body was trying to shift. But it wouldn’t happen. It was stuck. As the pain grew more intense, she stopped trying to hold it back, and began to encourage the change instead. Anything to stop that terrible stretching and burning. At that moment, a growl burst out of her