Wolf or Love

He entered the room. And stopped dead in his tracks. Across the room was Danica balancing on one of the dining chairs as she used a feather duster to tackle non-existent cobwebs. But it wasn’t Danica. Danica was life and fire and sensuality and adorable sarcasm. She was not quiet or expressionless or withdrawn or robotic.

Most of the pack, even Lindy, were gathered in the room on the sofa facing the T. V., but all eyes were fixed on Danica. And all, even Lindy, appeared concerned. So concerned that they only spared him a brief glance before turning their attention back to her. Slowly he covered the space between them until he was beside the chair she was balanced on. She didn’t look at him. But she wasn’t ignoring him, he quickly realized. She was simply elsewhere in her mind. “Danica?” he said softly. “Danica baby…you okay?” She double-blinked as if snapping out of a daze and then peered down at him. “Everything okay?” he asked again, really not liking the vacant look on her face. Danica nodded. “Fine.” Why, of all the times, did he want to speak to her now – now when the last person she needed to be around was him? The answer instantly came to her: Because someone had sent for him – if they

hadn’t, he wouldn’t have bothered with her. She went back to her dusting and Gio realized he had just been dismissed. “Come on, baby, come down from there.” No response. “I think we can safely say there isn’t a speck of dust left up there.” Nothing. Not even a sarcastic comment. His wolf was pacing again, not liking that she was obviously hurting. “How about you get down and we’ll go get a cup of coffee.”

Danica wanted to hit him. Why was he talking to her like she was an insane person having an episode? A better question would be why won’t he

just leave? And, as it happened, there was actually plenty of dust up here.

“Danica, how -”

“Don’t you have something to do in your office?”

Gio winced. He deserved that, he knew he did. “I’m not moving from this spot until you tell me what’s wrong, baby,” he told her gently.

“Good,” she said as she hopped down from the chair. “That means you’ll be a long way away from me because I’m about to leave the room.”

She picked up the chair and carried it through the tunnel toward the kitchen, deliberately ignoring Gio who was trailing behind her. Chris wasn’t far

behind him. She returned the chair to the dining table and put the duster back in the cupboard before going to the sink to wash her hands. Noticing there were a few mugs and dishes on the counter, she stacked them into the sink and filled it with hot soapy water.

“What is it, baby? Tell me what’s wrong.”

That was now the fourth time he had called her ‘baby’. Cheeky bastard. If he thought he could block out her existence but then expect her to still

confide in him he was seriously mistaken. Danica would have told him that, but she didn’t want to argue with him, she just wanted him to go back to his hidey hole and leave her to grieve her mother in peace. Danica knew that her method of grieving wasn’t normal, that shutting off from the world around you while your body went on autopilot and you disappeared in your thoughts and memories was not good. It was the same state she had slipped into when her mom and Zan were in the accident. Although she had eventually dug her way out of it, she always tended to retreat whenever it was the anniversary of their death or either of their birthdays. It was just how she coped. The only way she could cope without screaming. But having Gio around her , someone who frustrated and annoyed the hell out of her and had her wolf all messed up, was threatening the stability of her seemingly indifferent state. All that frustration and annoyance that she had been shoving aside was at risk of bursting out of her. If that happened, she would break. She couldn’t afford to do that.

“Come on, leave those and come sit with me.”

Ignoring him in the hope that he would go away, Danica continued scrubbing the dishes.

“Danica, you can’t tell me you’re not upset about something.”

Realising he was closer now, she warned in a low voice, “Back off, Gio.”

“Back off?”

“Yes.”

“You want me to back off?” It was one thing when Gio assumed she just didn’t want to talk about whatever it was that was bugging her, but it was

another thing altogether for her to want to freeze him out. “Yes, I want you to leave me alone. It shouldn’t be too hard. You do it easily enough any other time.”

“Is that what this is about? You’re mad at me for not spending time with you?”

A short humorless laugh escaped her. “Yes because the world revolves around you.”

“Then what is it?”

“Like I said, just back off.”

“I won’t back off. Not until you tell me what’s wrong.”

Deep breaths, she told herself. And those deep breaths actually worked. The tension didn’t leave her body, but it eased a little. Until hands wrapped

around her middle as a large body pressed against her back and, making it even worse, he whispered into her ear ‘What’s wrong, baby?’

There was that word again! Something inside her snapped. Abruptly she spun, splashing water everywhere. Shocked, Gio jumped back out of the

way. “Didn’t I tell you to back off? I’m pretty sure that’s what I said.”

He held his hands up in a calming gesture. “Danica!”

“Just stay away from me. That’s all I’m asking you to do. It’s something you do every single fucking day so why on this one day that I really need a little alone time am I suddenly of interest to you?!”

“I just want to know what’s wrong.”

“Well that’s tough shit, psycho boy, because I don’t want to talk to you!” Seeing that people were starting to gather was only making her worse.

She suddenly felt like a cornered animal, like everyone was taking up her breathing space. Growling, she wiped her hands on the hand towel and then stalked toward the door. The crowd quickly parted, apparently not daring to intervene.

“Where’re you going?”

“Away from you!”

Gio jogged down the tunnel after her. “Oh no, you don’t get to shut me out like this. You’re my mate.”

She pivoted on the spot. “No, I’m not.”

“What did you just say?” he asked softly but in a very dangerous tone.

“We don’t count as mates if you only act like it when it suits you. But, hey, don’t get me wrong – if putting on act for other people is as far as it goes

for you, then that’s fine. But don’t you dare throw that ‘you’re my mate’ shit at me when I won’t do what you want!”

He knew she was right, but the denial was automatic. “You are my mate, Danica.”

“For God’s sake, Danica, will you stop walking away from me.” Gio honestly wasn’t sure what happened…He’d reached out and placed his hand

on her shoulder and then next thing he knew he was flat on his back on the ground and Danica was snarling down at him. Damn the woman knew some good moves.

“Back. Off,” she growled. She looked up at the others who were slowly edging toward them, their expressions unsure. “All of you back off! I want to

be alone!” Then she was striding out the main door, down the mountain, across the small open field and into the forest. Many times she had gone on a leisurely walk or a run through here with

Chris, but never had she gone as far as she intended to go today. Plenty of times she had heard the sound of the river in the distance, had known it was there and known that one day she would really need to go there for some alone time.

The Water Kids – that was what her mom and Zan’s mom had called. them. Some kids liked fields, some kids liked swing parks, and she and Zan had liked rivers. No, they’d loved rivers. Loved the sounds, loved the surrounding wildlife, loved paddling in the shallow water and balancing on old tree branches that crossed the expanse of the river. There was something calming about them, she thought. Right now, she needed to calm the hell down.