Werewolves of New York: Nathaniel Read Free Page B

immediately exchanged glances around him. He rose up. “Look, I’m tired. I’m going to bed.” He downed the scotch and laid the glass on the elegant coffee table. As he passed Eli, he received a supportive swat on the shoulder. It was much needed, especially with Dontae looking at him like he’d never been more disappointed in anyone.
    Darik called to his back, “We’ll know more tomorrow.”
    “Yeah.”
    Walking down the short hallway to his room, he heard Darik say, not quietly enough, “What the hell was that about the woman thing?”
    Dontae agreed, “Exactly.”
    But Eli assured them, “Don’t worry. Nathaniel’s too smart to let a woman get under his skin. He just likes to play hero. We all do.”
    Nathaniel closed his bedroom door knowing there was more to it than that. He’d felt something when he’d locked eyes with the brunette who was clearly having a bad night in the club. His wolf had caught sight of the base of her panties peeking out when she’d bent over, and then the full back of them as her dress slid all the way to her waist, but when she’d corrected it and turned around, something hit him. First, she was adorable with her hair all a mess and she unaware of it. Second, those eyes of hers, he felt like he’d looked into them before. Something snapped inside of him like he’d found something. And when she’d held his stare that feeling only got worse.
    He’d left to escape it. He’d run, but then found himself telling his driver to go home for the night, to take a cab and leave the sedan with him so that he could secretly follow her home and find out where she lived, unencumbered with having to explain why he was stalking someone. But then she’d taken her drunk friend home instead and had naively walked home. There were no cabs downtown at that time of night. She should have known it was dangerous, and called someone. He’d considered offering her a lift, but that would have looked too obvious. She would have known he’d stalked her, and that couldn’t happen. So, distracted he’d stared down at the keys trying to will himself to turn the car on and go. He blocked everything out since he was trying to force himself to do something he didn’t want to. When he’d looked up, she was gone with the sounds of a struggle arresting his heightened aural senses. Swearing at himself for not paying attention, he’d rushed to save her, and when he’d gotten his teeth into the guy’s neck, the sight of his near-flaccid penis hanging out of his dirty jeans incensed him. The idea that this vial human being was about to hurt her and not only that but take what was his, he couldn’t stop himself from killing the sonofabitch.
    Lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, he heard Darik and Dontae go home. A few moments later, a knock came on his door.
    “Come in.”
    Eli walked into the dark room and didn’t bother to switch on the lamp. They could both see easily in the dark, and from the look on his face what he was about to say didn’t need more light on it. He stood by the wall with the sixty-inch flat screen T.V. set and asked, “You wanna tell me what happened, now that they’re gone?”
    Nathaniel rose up on his elbows and looked at his best friend. “For a minute I thought you wanted to have a sleep over.”
    Eli grinned, “Who says I don’t?” but the smile stopped at his brown eyes, now glowing in the darkness. Here he didn’t have to hide his supernatural qualities as they did out in public.
    “When was the last time you killed someone?”
    Eli stared at him. “Never have. I thought you knew that.” They’d been friends for eleven years, since they were eighteen, but they’d never talked about this subject.
    “No.” He sat all the way up, his shoulders heavy. “I didn’t.”
    “What about you?” Eli asked.
    “Never mind.”
    Eli nodded, rubbing his closely shaved head as he glanced out the window at the New York skyline before meeting Nathaniel’s waiting gaze.