Far From Innocent by Lorie O'Clare Page B

shaved to his scalp, gave him a rough look. Tattoos on both biceps added to the picture.
    Although she’d heard rumors that his name wasn’t really Bernie, it suited the American mutt nicely.
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    “The lunewulfs have everyone’s claws sticking out.” Josie had to lean in to Dimitri to share this bit of information due to the noise surrounding them.
    “Let’s check it out.” Dimitri glanced behind him, catching her attention and then looking at Nicolo. “Why don’t you two get us a pitcher and a booth?”
    “Ollie’s over there.” Nicolo pointed to the bar where the American pack leader stood. “Come on, Erin. We’ll grab a couple pitchers and see what’s going on.”
    Josie tried swatting her rear, but she dodged his efforts. Electricity sparkled against her skin and for a moment, she slid backward. Fire instantly burned inside her as anger mounted. She spun to face Josie the second he released her from his invisible grip.
    “Keep your hands and your gift off me,” she hissed, pushing against his rock-hard chest.
    Her efforts seemed to amuse him. He grabbed her arm, almost lifting her off her feet, and pulled her closer so their faces were inches apart.
    “Seems to me your den approves of me more than they do Juan Anthony,” he whispered loud enough for her to hear over the noise surrounding them.
    “You coming?” Dimitri asked, scowling at him and proving Josie a liar.
    “I don’t give a rat’s ass what my den thinks. Don’t touch me again.” She shrugged out of his grip.
    Josie turned from her, showing enough confidence that anyone around them would have thought she’d just agreed to suck his cock around back. She glared and made sure at least Nicolo saw that she didn’t like Josie’s treatment of her.
    Nicolo patted her head. Erin hated how he treated her like a small cub whose fits he endured politely. She grabbed his wrist. It didn’t get her the look of surprise she wanted.
    “How would you like it if I had the power to continually match you with bitches you didn’t care for?” she whispered into his ear.
    “I might get laid more than I do now,” he teased.
    “Very funny.” She punched his chest and he swatted at her, his look turning playful only for a moment before something grabbed his attention behind her.
    She turned to see who sobered his expression and smelled Juan the same moment she saw him. He looked ferocious standing next to Dante, neither of them smiling.
    “You sure don’t seem upset to be with your den now,” Juan scowled.
    His frown added to his fierceness, and if she stared at him another moment, he’d smell the nervousness that fought to swarm inside her. Sucking in a breath, filling her lungs with his powerful scent, she stepped into him. Before he reacted, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips.
    “Do I taste good?” she whispered.
    Her knees almost went out on her when he growled. And it didn’t bother her a bit when he grabbed her wrists and pinned her hands between them. Nicolo let out a 48
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    hissing sound and wrapped his hand around her arm, attempting to pull her out of Juan’s grip.
    “Dante,” Ollie said over the music when he joined them. He quickly lowered his voice. “I hear your pack plans a challenge in a couple weeks to determine who will be leader.”
    “Yup.” Dante stood as tall as the large, balding pack leader, his paler skin making him almost look more like an American werewolf than Juan and her littermates. “Any word of the lunewulfs tonight?”
    She almost drooled at how Juan’s features made all other werewolves around him dim in comparison.
    “Nothing official. I’m thinking about taking a day trip over to their neck of the woods in the next day or so and paying their pack leader a visit.” Ollie spoke to Dante as if he were their leader. “Might not hurt if you came along.”
    “If we hold them off a couple weeks, it would go better for us. The Malta