Wild Life Read online

  Addison’s mind ticked over. He couldn’t let her past him to see his friend’s having sex outside. If she was freaked out already about the parties’ various activities, then being so blatantly close to two werewolves sexing each other up was not going to do her anxiety any more favours. Or him. And that would mean no real fun.

  “If you give me a minute, I’m pretty sure I can help you out with your anxiety.” He said holding up a finger and producing his cell phone.

  Now it was Cassidy’s turn to look surprised as both her eyebrows shot up. Addison flipped it open and hit speed dial. “Yeah, get your butt up here.” Addison smiled at Cassidy before closing the phone again. “Give me a minute and my relief will be here and I can assist you in manoeuvring your way through the perils of this party.”

  “But I still can’t go out on the balcony?”

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  “Because there’s a couple out there fucking each other’s brains out.”

  “Oh.” She sounded as shocked as if she’d have walked in on the couple doing it directly. Cassidy closed her mouth and looked around and started to move. “It’s fine I’m just gonna, go back the way I came from.” She said suddenly looking at him nervously and turning to walk back to the stairwell.

  “Damn it.” He muttered to himself. Addison was used to saying what he thought, without restraint. “Cassidy, wait!” Addison called after her looking down the corridor, willing Jules to magically appear to relieve him of his duty to his pack leader. But all he saw was the back, and hips of Cassidy swishing rhythmically from side to side as her fine ass lifted with each step. “Be still my heart” Addison muttered to himself, hypnotized by her movement.

  Cassidy didn’t wait, she didn’t look back, she just descended the stairs rather quickly. Addison hesitated and started walking towards the stairwell and hesitated again and glanced behind him, back at the empty hallway on the second floor and at the closed balcony door. He pulled out his phone and pressed speed dial.

  “So help me, if you do not get up here in the next five seconds, I am going to tear you a new one Julian!” Addison growled down the phone at Jules before disconnecting the call as Jules started to ramble back at him.

  Addison looked around the hallway again and back at the still closed double glass doors to the balcony and made a split decision. Hastily taking to the stairway, and descending back down into the midst of the chaotic party downstairs.

  The room was rather large and like most rooms in the mansion, capacity packed with bodies, bumping, grinding, dancing, swaying, chatting, and generally moving in there. The air was filled with smoke, alcohol, perfume, dry ice, and body odours as well as sweat, and scents laced with fur.

  Addison stood at the bottom of the stairwell and looked around the room, his eyes scanning the sea of party goers. There were too many to see Cassidy directly. But he closed his eyes and mentally imagined Cassidy in his mind and as he did so, the wolf within him stirred. Circling around and around impatiently as her scent flooded his senses.

  Cassidy smelt like sunflowers in an open field. Addison opened his eyes and looked about the room again, through the eyes of a werewolf. He’d partially shape-shifted them in his altered state of remembering the woman he’d gotten off to a weird start with.

  The only woman who had even remotely captured his attention at the party. His eyes saw in black, white and grey and they were more focussed than his human eyes as he looked for his prey.

  “Oh, hot.” Came the drunken slur of a nearby blonde as she latched onto Addison, throwing her arms around his neck quickly. “Wolf boy, fuck me like that with those eyes.” She said kissing his jaw as Addison quickly disentangled her from him and shoved her roughly into the nearest wall. Causing the blonde to break out into laughter. “Oh yeah, I like it rough!” she called out to him, as Addison blinked back to his human eyes and walked away, through the crowd. Relaying solely on his scent tracking skills to find out which way Cassidy had gone.

  He lifted his nose to the air and focused on the faint hint of sunflowers, being drowned in all the other obnoxious smells emanating through throughout the mansion’s main room. He turned right and headed towards the front of the mansion. She was leaving, he thought as the scent got stronger, with less odours to sort his senses through, as the front of the mansion appeared less crowded and almost vacant by comparison.

  “No, she can’t be leaving.” He muttered breaking into a small jog and walking out the front door hastily and swinging his head around to look around widely. “Damn it, no.” He pushed past other patrons in the doorway and took the front steps of the mansion’s residence quickly and walked down onto the driveway that was packed with cars through out it.

  He sniffed the clearer night air again and picked up the scent of sunflowers easily and looked through the cars and started to move. Spotting a head passing a car, closest to the start of the driveway entrance to the mansion’s grounds. Addison began to jog manoeuvring around the cars towards her.

  Cassidy glanced behind at the sound of crunching gravel and stilled when she saw the balcony bouncer moving towards her.

  “What now?” She asked tiredly. “Going tell me I can’t leave?”

  Addison chuckled as he came to a stop beside her. “Not without saying goodbye to me.”

  “Goodbye Zac.” Cassidy said flippantly turning back around and taking a step.

  “And at least giving me a chance to give you my number if you won’t give me one for where I can get a hold of you.”

  Cassidy stilled and looked over her shoulder at him, her brown hair swinging out and around as she did so. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah, remember I’m many things but being a kidder isn’t one of them.” Addison said pulling out his phone. “Got a phone?” He asked as Cassidy slowly turned around and pulled out her cell phone. She handed it over to him and watched as Addison started punching in his phone number into her contacts list.

  “There.” He said with a big smile handing her phone back over to her. “I put it under Zac Harrington for you.”

  Cassidy looked at the phone and back up at Addison. “Okay,” She said cautiously with a small smile and took his phone off him and proceeded to add her name to his cell phones address book.

  “There.” She said handing it back to him.

  “What’d you put it under?” He asked wanting to delay their inevitable good-bye.

  “How many Cassidy’s are in your phone?”

  “Only the one.” Addison replied smiling “Now.”

  She broke into a big smile back at him and shook her head. “Have a great night Zac Addison Harrington.” She said starting to back away from him.

  “So you’re not staying?” He asked walking after her, even as she continued to walk backwards talking to him.

  “No. I have no idea where my friends are and I don’t know anyone in there, so I’m going to head off.”

  “But now you know me.” Addison smiled as she stopped. “I can guide you through the party wilderness.”

  “Man, you are persistent.” Cassidy smiled, holding her clutch purse in her hands together.

  “Of course I am, it’s in my nature.” Addison replied back at her. “Can’t give up something I don’t want to give up.”

  Cassidy raised an eyebrow. “Spoken like a real alpha male. You must be so used to getting what you want from any woman you want, hey Addison?” Cassidy threw back at him. She could just see women throwing themselves at the guy. He was handsome and cheeky as hell. Very charismatic.

  “Well, honestly, truth be told, most of the time, yes.” Addison frowned, not liking that she’d taken to calling him by the same name as everyone else called him, the name he was known by. It was like the playfulness; the bantering was suddenly over between them. That or she was tired. Maybe both. It was quite late, he supposed, except that he was more used to living his life at night anyway.

  “That must be a rather nice way to go through life, no resistance, no fight
ing, just getting what you want. You must be very lucky.” Cassidy replied. The approaching headlights of a vehicle stopped any further conversation as they both turned to watch the approaching taxi drive up to the entrance of the driveway.

  “My ride. Have a good night.” Cassidy said walking around to the passenger side door of the yellow taxi cab. Addison held up a hand to the taxi and walked over to the passenger side door. Cassidy rolled the window down for him.

  “I thought it was a nice way to go through life too. But it’s not nearly as much fun as meeting someone like you has been. Get home safe. I’ll call you to make sure.” Addison replied pulling himself back from leaning in through the window and kissing her.

  He hadn’t had female companionship for a good two weeks now. Practically a new record for him. Which silently shocked him. He didn’t want to scare her, or step wrongly, anymore than he might have, already with her.

  Cassidy nodded her head and rolled up the window, sitting back in the cab, as the taxi turn around in a circle and slowly drove off. Leaving her to wonder if Zac Harrington was standing in the driveway, watching her leave. She half turned her head to check and thought better of it, looking down at the cell phone in her hands instead, wondering how long it would be before he rang her. If he would ring her.

  “I am so mad, why would a guy that hot be interested in me, what the hell was all that about?” She shook her head and glanced up at the cabbie looking at her through the rear-view mirror. “Private conversation.” She stated before looking back out through the windows at the blackened night around them, just as her cell phone rang and lit up. The name Zac Harrington appearing on screen.

  Cassidy smiled to herself and picked up the call. “Cassidy, it’s Zac. I just wanted to apologise for before.”

  Cassidy frowned and smiled at the same time. Butterflies danced in her stomach. “Why? What for?”

  “The way I spoke to you earlier, it was rude and blunt and not tactful. You’re right I am used to getting a lot of what I want. And I’m as equally used to saying what I think, without much forethought about it. I just hope I didn’t offend you and that if I did, then I apologise for that.”

  “I’m not offended by you.” Cassidy cleared up immediately. “I’m surprised and uncertain, not offended.”

  There was a silence as Addison took her words in, as he stood, still beside the driveway entrance, watching the last of the taxi’s brake lights disappear. “Uncertain, how?”

  “Oh you know, I just, “ Cassidy paused and ran a hand through her hair. “You make me wonder why the hell you want my number. There are plenty of women in there, looking for a good time.” Cassidy said quickly and sighed. “I’m not the easiest woman there tonight. So why peruse me?”

  “Because you’re not the easiest woman.” Addison replied quickly. “And I rather like that.” Silence filled the line as she took in the husky tone of his voice. It was low and sounded like he was aroused.

  Cassidy blinked quickly. Surely she had to be reading into this whole conversation wrong. Guys like Zac Harrington did not go after girls like her. He was so far out of her league it wasn’t even funny.

  “Cassidy.” His voice deepened as it asked for her.

  “Uh, yeah. Kind of thrown.” She stammered out.

  “I find your flustering cute.” Addison smiled to himself, feeling like he was back in control of himself and her, somewhat.

  “Is this cuteness I posses a new attraction you’ve just developed or is a long seeded appeal you measure all your women by?” Cassidy asked relaxing a little again.

  All your women. She sure had him pegged. “New. Because of you.”

  He heard a small gasp and then silence filled the line again. Which caused Addison’s smile to grow. His werewolf was circling around him, feeling very playful. Addison decided he’d had enough he wanted to play. “Cassidy, you still there?”

  “You can’t just say stuff like that or I’m likely to go comatose on you.” She answered him, honestly making him chuckle down the line.

  “Why? Because you can’t handle a compliment or is it the attention?”

  “Both.” Cassidy blurted out quickly.

  “Hmmm, we’ll have to work on that. What are your plans for the rest of the evening?”

  Cassidy smiled to herself. “Zac it’s midnight. There is no more night left.”

  “What are you doing for breakfast?” He asked changing tactics.

  “Eating I suspect.” Cassidy laughed.

  “Really, I can think of a few other things to do at breakfast other than eat.” Addison husked down the line at her as he leaned against the stone archway of the mansion’s driveway entrance.

  “Like?”

  “Oh yeah, I’d like to do them, very much.” Addison smirked knowing he wasn’t answering her the way she had intended him to.

  “You cannot possibly know that, as you don’t even know me.” Cassidy rolled her eyes at herself, wondering if he thought she sounded like a prude. Probably. Ugh.

  “But I’d like to, you up for a breakfast date?” He threw at her suddenly pushing off the driveway wall.

  “Well, I’m up so…”

  “Great, where do you live?” He asked cutting her off quickly.

  Cassidy automatically told him and then wondered if she was insane for doing so. She didn’t know the guy. Hell, she barely knew more than ten people in New York all together. And yet here she was flirting with something dangerous. A stranger coming to her place. The idea of a romance. Well, maybe sex. She wasn’t sure Zac Addison Harrington had romance on the brain that much, considering the party they’d both been at.

  Granted being that sexually charged an atmosphere it was hard to not feel something. “Meet you there in thirty minutes.” Addison said before cutting off the call before Cassidy could back out of their date. Yep, it was time to play. “No more work for this werewolf.”

  2

  Addison knocked on the front door quickly with one hand. He heard the thundering of footsteps, the sound of locks being undone and then the door opened to reveal the woman who had captured his attention and interest for the evening.

  “Wow, you look….great” Addison replied glancing her over as he rested a large brown paper bag against his chest.

  Cassidy frowned at him. “Don’t lie. I’m in a t-shirt and jeans.” She said opening the door further. His eyes took her in again. Her hair was tied back in a simple pony tail, she still wore her make up and was now dressed in a dark grey t-shirt that hung off her left shoulder and dark blue, skin tight jeans.

  “I know. It’s a great look.” He replied trailing his eyes back up to her face and smiling.

  “So my killer little black dress and heels was not the kind of thing to get your pulse racing huh?” She asked turning around and walking back into the house, with him following her lead and watching her magnificent ass trail off in front of him.

  Addison put a fist in his mouth and bit the knuckles quickly before closing the front door and following her towards the kitchen.

  “Oh those shoes were killer, very killer.” He murmured remembering the way her ass moved as she’d all but bolted on him. He placed the large brown bag on the kitchen table as Cassidy stood opposite him, hands on her hips.

  “So I know I should’ve called ahead, found out what you like, if you have any allergies but honestly,” Addison said opening the brown bag. “I didn’t want to give you the chance to cancel out on me. So I decided I would just purchase a wide array of breakfast like items and get lucky enough to cook you one of them.” He said reaching into the bag.

  “You thought I’d chicken out on you?”

  “For sure.” Addison replied pulling out a packet of bacon and holding it up.

  “Hmph. What else you got in there?” Cassidy asked, refusing to admit he was right. If he’d called back, she would’ve found a way to fob him off. Not that logic of course, didn’t say she couldn’t have done that by calling him back herself.

  “We have, tomato
es, mushrooms, eggs,”

  “Making me hungry.” Cassidy murmured peeking over into the bag, only to be shooed away by Addison. “We also have packet of fries, because I couldn’t find any hash browns or figure out how to make them. “ Cassidy laughed.

  “And if a fry up does not suit your tastes, we also have –“He pulled out a container of dry pancake mix. “Just add water,” He said shaking the container around. “And to top them off, there is also, treacle and strawberries.” He laid everything out on the table. “Oh wait, and in case bacon isn’t your thing – bought some chicken fillets, and for drinking purposes – “ He pulled out a bottle of champagne.

  Cassidy smiled and chuckled. “So how’d I do? How far off am I? You’re going to tell me you’re a vegan right?” Addison said screwing up his nose.

  “Ah, you did surprisingly well for a champagne breakfast at one am in the morning.”

  “Any time is a good time for champagne.” Addison admitted removing the foil and wire from the bottle’s top and working on the cork. “Do you have glasses?” He asked, aiming the bottle at a rooftop corner and popping it loudly, sending the cork flying.

  Cassidy squealed slightly and produced two champagne glasses that he promptly filled.

  Cassidy held up her glass to his. “So uh, what are we toasting?”

  “Toasting?”

  “We have to toast, always with the first drink.” She replied watching him think it over.

  “How about, to the wild life? Only wild things like you and me go to pack parties and then have breakfast at one am in the morning after knowing each other for an hour and a half. Not that I’m counting.”

  Cassidy laughed and smiled at him, chinking her glass with his. “The wild life, and you are so cooking that stuff up.” She said pointing at all their goodies on the kitchen table as she pulled out a chair to sit down in.

  “That’s the plan.” Addison stated sipping his champagne and putting the glass back down. “Where to start? What do you feel like?” He asked looking across at her. His werewolf was doing the circling thing again, only now it felt like it was rolling around on its back, looking for attention. A bit like him.