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Rook’s smile has me blushing again, even though my relationship with Wulf is completely innocent. “It’s not what you think,” I say. “There’s nothing going on between Wulf and me. He’s my boss at the club.”
“Youwork at Underworld?”
His surprise, though understandable and expected, is still insulting. “Yes. I just started last week. Terrance took me in as clan and thought my working there would be safe for me because he and Wulf could keep an eye on me.”
“Ah.” Rook’s smile turns to one of understanding. “You’rethathuman.”
I roll my eyes. “Yes. I’m that one. And I’m not dating your brother. I just work with him.”
“But he offered to train you. He brought you to the compound. He’s never done that for anyone before.Ican’t even get him to come home.”
I try to hold my poker face. Wulf hadn’t told me that. Now I feel bad. Not enough to stop training, unless he asks me to. But I do feel a little guilty making him come home if he really hates it so much. I shrug. “He probably just feels bad that I was attacked on his watch last night.” I point out the bruises around my neck and watch, with mild satisfaction, as Rook’s eyes widen. “I was pretty shaken up after being strangled over the bar, so Wulf offered to teach me a little self-defense. That’s it. Nothing else is going on.” I smirk when he frowns. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Me too,” Rook says. “My baby brother could really use a good woman to make him settle down.”
“Ha!” I doubt that’s going to happen any time soon.
Rook startles at my laugh, but then chuckles. He understands his brother better than I do. He’s wishful thinking, and he knows it. He decides to change the subject instead of arguing the point any further. “So you were attacked over the bar last night? How’d that happen?”
We reach the end of my laps, and I look around for Wulf again. He’s still talking to his alpha now, but the conversation looks more relaxed. Both men are watching me still, but this time their focus isn’t just on me. It’s on Rook and me together. They both seem curious about Rook’s interest in me. I realize, now, that Wulf is giving his brother and me space, and I barely suppress a groan. Geez. Bunch of meddling busybodies!
“Nora?”
I turn my attention back to Rook and try to remember his question… Oh, the attack, right. “Yeah, it was just this stupid winter faerie. He grabbed me when I poured him a drink last night. I got a little colorful with my rejection. Guess I pissed him off, because he snapped and tried to strangle me.”
Rook’s eyes narrow, and a faint glow begins to shine from them. “Does that happen often?” His voice lowers and gets all growly like his brother’s does when he’s pissed. “Guys trying to grab you when you pour them drinks?”
“Often enough. Hence the reason I jumped at the self-defense lessons.”
The noise that escapes Rook next is a flat-out werewolf growl. No other way to describe it. “Whoa, dude. Relax.”
Rook blinks and shakes his head, as if startled he’d almost wolfed out right in front of me. “Sorry.”
“It’s all good. I just don’t need to witness my first werewolf shift right now.”
That reclaims his attention, and he smiles at me. “You haven’t seen a wolf shift before?”
“No. I was raised in the human world. I knew about the underworld, but no one was sharing their secrets with me, if you know what I mean. So really, I’m a newbie to all of it.”
“Oh. Well, allow me to give you a tour of the compound and explain a little more about my kind after I show you a few moves.”
He wants to teach me about werewolves? I won’t say no to that. “Yeah, sure. I’d like that. I might be allowed to be part of the underworld now, but so far most of the underworlders I’ve met have been close-lipped about everything.”
“Habit,” Rook says, stripping off his hoodie to reveal the most muscled body I’ve ever seen. The thin material of his black tank top does nothing to hide his ripped body. It’s hard not to drool. “Most underworlders are really wary around humans, even the ones who know about our world—which there aren’t many of. Wolves are different. We blend better.”
Honey, I’ve got news for you. In no way would you blend in a human crowd, I think as I try to tear my gaze from his amazing body. I may not date, but just because I don’t want to get involved with guys doesn’t mean I don’t notice them. Rook is impossible to not notice.
“All right,” he says, moving to stand directly in front of me. “How did this guy grab you?”
Forcing myself to get my hormones under control, I grip my wrist where the faerie jerk grabbed my arm the night before. There are a few bruises there, too. Rook’s jaw clenches when he sees them, but he doesn’t growl again. He reaches for my other wrist and says, “Okay, there are a couple of ways you can escape this grip, even if you’re not as strong as your opponent.”
For the next half hour, Rook takes me through a handful of different moves to break a hold. Skin-to-skin contact is unavoidable. At first, I worry because I don’t know Rook, but he keeps his thoughts pretty focused on training me. He thinks I’m gorgeous, but my beauty worries him. I’m too vulnerable to be so stunning, so he dives headfirst into teaching me to protect myself from predators.
Wulf never once interrupts us. When we’re finished, and Rook asks again if he can give me a tour of the compound, Wulf sits down at a weight machine and waves me off. “Go look around. I’ll wait here until you’re done.” The man has his shirt off now and is all sweaty. I guess hotness isn’t the only thing to run in the Winters family. Muscles do, too. Hotdamn.
The first stop on the “tour” happens to be the alpha’s office. I’m not really surprised, but I don’t feel prepared to meet the pack alpha, either.
Alpha Toth is a large, formidable-looking man, though, again, I get the feeling both Rook and Wulf are more dominant than he is. I’m not sure how I can tell; I just know. That puts me at ease a little as the bulky, dark-haired, dark-eyed werewolf stands up and comes around his large desk to greet me. “Miss Jacobs, I’m Alpha Peter Toth. Welcome to the Huron River pack compound. It’s wonderful to meet you.”
