Chapter 8 Ch 8

I had just reached the lobby and was headed for the hotel doors when a clawed hand snagged my waist. As I choked on stolen air, he hauled me off the ground. My body brushed against his hard chest. Basileus breathed heavily down onto me. The warmth of it could have easily been mistaken for fire.

Rather than squirm or scream, I just looked away and fought the frightened tears in my eyes. Some of the wolves passing through the lobby stopped to stare. Basileus snapped his jaws and they dispersed. Huffing, he bent down to sniff my hair. I tensed.

Slowly I was placed back onto my feet. Even though I was relatively tall for a woman, I felt tiny in his arms. Basileus' claws lightly traced their way from my waist to my back as he pulled away. Goosebumps broke out along my skin. What the hell?

I shivered when he turned me around. It would have been easier if I knew the shiver had been from fear, but it wasn't. The heat pouring into my face and down to the apex of my legs proved otherwise. His blue eyes seemed to glow more intensely as he knelt down. There were still traces of blood on his muzzle.

Gasping, I leaned back when his face neared mine. He was essentially the Big Bad Wolf who was determined to eat me. All I needed was a red hood. Who knew that shit was a true story?

"What's going on?" asked Lee.

Basileus turned to face her but blocked me from her view with his hulking mass of fur. A slew of French poured from his mouth so quickly I didn't hear a word. Lee replied more calmly before I heard her approach. Sighing, Basileus edged an inch or two away from me to allow her in.

"What happened?" she asked. "I told you not to leave." She didn't sound disappointed, though. Just curious.

Shifting between my feet, I said, "You said not to wander too far. And I . . . I found the basement. Basileus came out of the dungeons looking creepy as hell, so I ran. He chased me."

"But you don't seem scared of him at the moment."

"Well, I am. He's got blood on his face!"

She tapped her nose. "We can all smell your arousal, Anna. You're not scared—you're turned on."

My face cranked the heat on full blast until I thought rays of Hell would shoot through my pores. Smell my arousal? What the actual fuck?

"Anyway," she continued nonchalantly, "you shouldn't go to the basement. It was hard enough to get Nathan down there. The other wolves might think you're still loyal to him and Peter if they catch you sneaking around."

"So Nathan's not dead?"

Shrugging, Lee nodded. "Not yet, anyway. We're getting info from him."

"By Basileus chomping him into bits?"

"Uh, no. He just came back from a hunt. That blood isn't Nathan's."

The tension in my body slightly melted. I glanced warily at Basileus. His eyes were locked on me, on my every move and breath. It was completely nerve-wracking.

"He's responding to you as a male wolf would to a female in heat," Lee noticed.

That didn't sound good. All I knew was that heat in girl dogs made boy dogs want to hump them. The image of a remotely similar situation between Basileus and I came to mind and I gasped before even considering penetration. I blocked the idea immediately.

"Maybe you are experiencing some kind of heat." Lee drummed her fingers against her pointed chin. "Are you sure there's no wolf in you? None of your parents or grandparents?"

"I mean, I never even knew you people existed before the geno—before Basileus started this thing," I said. "So no. Not that I know of."

"How else could you be going through the heat?"

"Maybe she isn't," suggested an unfamiliar female voice.

We all turned to acknowledge the speaker, who happened to be a thin woman in her fifties or sixties with white hair. She seemed youthful in spite of the wrinkles around her eyes and forehead.

"Angelica," Lee greeted. Her entire demeanor lifted. She liked this person, so I instantly liked her as well. "This is Anna."

The woman shook the hand I extended. "How nice to meet you personally. I've heard all about you."

Before I could ask what she'd heard, Lee added, "She's the oracle I was telling you about."

"Oh. The one who gave you the gift of tongues?"

"A fast learner," the oracle remarked with a grin. "She's just like you, Lee. I can tell."

"Really?" she asked.

I didn't know whether to be offended or not, but they both looked me over.

"A tall brunette version of you." Angelica shrugged. "Anyway, I'm glad you found us, Anna. Lee has been putting up with everything basically by herself. I knew someone was going to come along soon, but I'm glad it's you. Basileus has been very confused."

"I don't know if I'd say confused . . ." Lee trailed off.

"He doesn't act like it, but he is. The world is nothing like he left it. Then there's the second-hand bond he shares with you, Lee. That's new. And now"—Angelica's crystal blue eyes appraised me as she beamed—" he has a love interest. He's never been interested in affection before."

We all stared at each other for a moment. I slowly raised my hand. Angelica raised a brow and nodded.

"If I'm not in heat," I asked, "what the hell is happening to me?"

"Perhaps you are simply ovulating," she told me with a brief look at Basileus. He was still standing there, staring at me, like some big creepy oaf. "When was your last period?"

I felt myself flush again. My mind strained to recall the last time I had been concerned with menstruation, which obviously meant it had been a while. "I guess about a week before this all happened. Three weeks. So I could be ovulating."

"It seems more likely that your human body is releasing hormones due to that rather than you having any wolf in you."

"No one's ever been like this around me when I ovulate, though."

"Well, I would hope not. No human can consciously notice your hormones. Lycans seem to be especially sensitive to them and other bodily odors just because they're powerful creatures. Besides, there was no mating bond to ensure reproduction continued. Nature had to make another way. So Basileus will always be able to pick up on the hormones your body secretes, especially in relation to your reproduction cycle."

Taking a deep breath, I touched my head. What a lucky girl I am.

"Will this weird phase he's in be over when she's done ovulating?" Lee queried.

"Most likely." Angelica placed her hands together and touched the tips of her fingers to her lips. "Now, you mentioned something about the gift of tongues, Anna?"

"I—yes. I did," I admitted sheepishly. "We just talked about it briefly. Lee told me it sapped your energy."

The older woman sighed and more or less shrugged. "I have been struggling to gather energy from the earth since then. It doesn't mean I can't give the gift to you, though."

"You told me just days ago that you might lose consciousness if you try to outsource your energy," Lee protested.

"Well, it's possible. Probable. But this is important. She needs to be able to communicate with Basileus."

"But—"

"No buts. If you want to see Matt again, your only hope is to convince Anna to make Basileus shift. And she can't do that if she can't talk to him."

That silenced Lee.

"I'm sorry," I piped up. "I'm supposed to make Basileus shift?" No one ever mentioned anything of the sort to me.

"It's not something you need to worry about now, child," Angelica assured me. "First, we need to fix the language barrier. We can deal with the rest later."