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He had never quite managed to forget the night they had spent together. The way her flesh had felt against his own still marked his soul as though she had scarred his skin with her touch.
He still woke from dreams with her moans of pleasure ringing in his ears. But the way she had just looked at him in the driveway told him all he needed to know. She wouldn't have appreciated his call. And she likely wouldn't appreciate his knocking on the door now.
"Not everyone needs a new conquest every night to feel good, Lew," Jake said, deciding it was best to begin unpacking a few boxes before taking any more out of the truck. Besides, he was desperate to keep himself busy. If he didn't, his mind might wander. His wolf was already clawing at his insides after the sight of Melody. Clearly, he believed they had some unfinished business. But for now, Jake was in charge, and he had more important things to be dealing with than chasing she-wolves. "I have to get this place set up for Sally."
"I know, I know," Lewis grumbled. "Big daddy wolf has so much responsibility, but when does daddy get to go out and play like mommy does?"
Jake winced. The reminder of what his ex-wife had done made him feel sick.
"Enough, Lewis! Either help me out or fuck off!" he snapped, turning on his friend with his fangs bared. Though he knew that his friend was only trying to help in his own way, it definitely wasn't working.
Lucky for him, he and Lewis had been friends since childhood, and the other werewolf knew well how testy he could be. "Fine, whatever. I'll do what I've got to do to help, but once this place is finally set up, I don't want to hear any more excuses!”
“Once this place is set up I’ll have Sally to—" Jake started to point out, but Lewis cut him off.
"No more excuses! Stuck-up neighbors or no, we are going to get you happy again, my friend!" Lewis insisted, clapping Jake on the shoulder.
A mixture of odd sensations filled Jake at the mention of Melody. And again, he had to remind himself,not everyone is friendly with their neighbors.
Chapter 2 - Melody
Even the smell of the undead wasn't enough to distract Melody from what had happened that morning. After a month of keeping her head down, avoiding the pack wherever possible, she never expected to find Jake freaking Silverdale moving into the house next door.
Lewis's behavior that morning had been exactly what she would expect. He had acted like she was new to Silverdale, as though she was just another woman for him to try and fail to seduce, like he didn't even recognize her as a member of the pack. Of course, how could she really blame him? She kept herself so outside of the pack community that she was surprised several members hadn't tried to chase her off as a trespasser yet.
But the fact that Jake had simply let him climb on over the fence to go after her made her feel quite ill indeed. Had their night together meant so little to him that he didn't mind another wolf moving in on his territory?
I'm not his territory!Melody reminded herself harshly as she scrubbed the living hell out of the latest toilet she had to clean. After a week of trying to find another nanny gig, she had eventually landed another job, cleaning. She was desperate. With her options becoming more and more severely limited she had decided to do just about anything to stop from having to crawl on her hands and knees before the Silverdale alpha. She had already taken enough of their charity. Even if that meant working housekeeping for a fang-toothed vampire.
Though she had always had a stellar work ethic and could set her mind to do just about anything to keep her head above the water, today she just couldn't keep her head in the game. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was Jake staring back at her over the fence. The more she tried to push the memory away, the more she was plagued by others.
It had been nearly three weeks since Melody had bitten the bullet and decided she would be the one to make the first move. After having not heard from Jake after their night together, and with some stubborn encouragement from her friend Tara, she had plucked up the courage to give him a call. Maybe she should have given Tara his name, maybe that would have made a difference and stopped her from making a fool of herself.
No sooner had she gotten home from dinner with Max and Tara than she called Jake, only to find that his phone was answered by a woman. Not only that, but she had sounded like one exceptionally pissed off woman, wondering why some she-wolf was calling her man's phone.
After that, Melody had deleted his number and planned never to see him again, even if that meant closing her eyes at mandatory pack meetings and ignoring him at pack occasions.
The more time passed, the more of a mess her life seemed to become.
And when she sensed her three-week employer hovering in the doorway behind her, she was almost certain that it was about to get worse.
"Melody, are you almost done?" the vampiress, with her half-British, half-American, high-class twitter, asked.
"Almost there, Camilla," Melody said. "I just have this toilet to finish up."
"When you're done, could you meet me in the kitchen, please?" Camilla asked, her pitch high. "I need a word."
"Of course."
Melody clenched her jaw, almost certain she knew what was coming. She had heard that tone enough over the last year to know what it meant. And it was never good news.
Having given the toilet one final going-over, Melody washed her hands and tried not to look at herself in the mirror. Her life in Mario's pack had been hard, and yet she was almost certain she had gotten more sleep back then. Now, all she did at night was lie awake worrying whether she would have enough money to make ends meet.
And though she had scraped every coin she could together over the last three weeks of working for Camilla, the sensation in her gut told her it wasn't going to be enough.
With a deep sigh, she headed out of the toilet, down the stairs and into the kitchen to find the woman sitting at the dining table with a wine glass in front of her. The stench coming from the glass told Melody it wasn't wine at all, and it made her nose wrinkle.
As a werewolf, she loved to get her fangs into bloody meat, but drinking it out of a glass was one step too far.
