Howl Always Love You: You've Got To Be Shifting Me, #2

By Mandy Rosko

Steve Delany is ready to get out of the hospital after being mauled by the werewolves. There's just one very delicious nurse he can't take his mind off of. She makes him want to stick around, despite the creature inside him desperate to get out.

Denise Summers has been up close and personal with shifters before, and she has the scars to prove it. Steven makes her blood run hot, his body calls to her in ways she shouldn't allow. In ways she needs to ignore but can't.

One night is all she needs to get the sexy male out of her system. Then she can go on ignoring him and get back to her life as a nurse. Of course, going on one date with a newly turned werewolf wouldn't be as simple as she wanted it to be, because Denise is a conduit whose blood calls out to other shifters to claim, and a few might have something to say about her giving herself to Steven.

The universe hates her like that.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mandy Rosko
• Release date: Sep 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386015482

Mandy Rosko

USA Today Bestselling and award winning author Mandy Rosko loves writing paranormal romances with werewolves, dragons and people with special powers. She is the author of the Things in the Night Series, Night and Day, and the Dangerous Creatures Series. She does M/F, M/M, a touch of medieval under her other pen name, Rizzo Rosko, and pretty much anything else she's in the mood to write (which makes things confusing for readers since that means she's too much of a flake to stick to any one brand). Favorite authors right now are anyone who writes dangerous and tortured heroes ;) If you want to keep up to date on the sexy guys in my hot new releases, then sign up for my Newsletter and receive a free copy of The Vampire's Curse: http://mandyrosko.com/contact.html And on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MandyRoskoRomance Things in the Night Series: The Vampire's Curse The Legend of the Werewolf The Shepard's Agony The Dragon and the Wolf (A prequel novella) Night and Day Series: Night and Day The Calm Before The Storm All Hell Breaking Loose Book Four Coming Soon! Dangerous Creatures: Burns Like Fire A Shock To Your System As Cold As Ice Coming December 8th 2015

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

If Steve Delany didn’t get the hell out of this hospital in the next two minutes, he might have his first crazy wolf-induced casualty on his hands.

Blood. Not the kind that came from a scalpel either.

Well, his claws might be sharp enough that there wasn’t much of a difference, but the clean instruments the doctors in this hospital used wouldn’t be quite the same as anything that popped out from beneath his fingernails.

And Steve’s fingers itched.

He bounced in his hospital bed practically enough that it vibrated around him. Come on. Come on. He was good to go. He just had to wait for whatever the hell it was that needed to get done. Some official shit that would cost him money, but he had to keep it together.

Being excited to get the hell out of the hospital, a place he definitely didn’t want to be, and needing to get out because he thought he would lose what little control he had over this new thing that was inside him, were two entirely different things.

His clothes were back on, shoes laced, jacket around his shoulders, wallet and other odds and ends in place.

Now he just had to wait.

Wait.

Steve clenched his hands into fists on his knees and shut his eyes.

He could damn well hear and smell almost everything.

Every squeaking footstep from a kid’s sneakers along the tiled floor. The sound of a single baby crying somewhere that someone needed to take care of in a hurry, but no one seemed to be getting to. The rattle and hum of the air conditioning drove him insane, and then there was the doctor who had to click his damned pen four times, every time, before he signed anything.

The smells were worse. So much worse. Despite what people claimed, he could make out more than the bleach and cleaner fluid along the walls and in the sheets. The only reason why Steve didn’t open his mouth was because he didn’t want to eat whatever it was that was in the air.

The creature that had taken up residence on the inside of his head whined and circled. It scratched at the underside of his skull, desperate to get out.

No one knew. Not the staff in the hospital. Not even Victor. If they knew he was barely keeping a leash on this thing, they might keep him longer. Worse, put him in a locked room until he had a better handle on it.

He didn’t care about the rules. He was getting out of here today. No more waiting.

But, fuck, why was it that in the minutes before he was going to be discharged and finally allowed to get out of here, that the damned animal suddenly developed sharper claws? The headache was starting to kill.

Someone vomited not too long ago in the bathroom. He was pretty sure they had made it to the toilet because Steve also heard the toilet flushing.

Wonderful. The acidic scent clung to the air, blending in with the scent of lavender air freshener, giving him a strange blend of floral smelling puke every time someone opened the door.

He knew where that bathroom was. It was all the way down the hall. Should have been far out of reach of his nose, but apparently it was part and parcel of being a shifter.

Steve didn’t much blame the creatures who had done this to him anymore. His attack seemed a little more reasonable now that he knew what it was like to have to live with this kind of suffering.

He itched. He couldn’t even explain why. It was nothing he could scratch. His wounds were gone. Mostly. All that was left of the slashes left behind by wolf teeth and filthy claws were the faintest of red marks along his arms and legs.

The doctors had said he was lucky. They’d said there was no permanent damage, that not all wolf shifters healed, especially not the new ones.

Steve had only been attacked and shredded five days ago. It was two days ago when he’d felt ready to get the hell out of here. He suspected the staff only kept him for this long because they weren’t used to this sort of recovery time and didn’t want to risk getting sued if something happened to go wrong.

Of course, Steve wouldn’t have minded it if he got to see her a couple more times.

Even in scrubs and with those tired eyes, she was the most gorgeous woman he’d ever met.

He imagined he hadn’t looked so great the first time she’d seen him. All covered in blood and all, but he was right as rain fairly quickly. Quick enough to notice the slight widening of her eyes when she saw him sitting up in bed on day two of his stay.

Her scent. God, her scent. The only good thing he smelled about this place.

She smelled like oranges. Nothing perfume-y either. He was pretty sure that wasn’t allowed in a hospital. No, this was natural. Made him think she liked to eat them, maybe kept a basket of them in her kitchen somewhere.

He liked the scent. It worked well with her, and he’d enjoyed watching her cheeks darken as he flirted shamelessly with her.

Then asked for her number.

Then dreamed about her face. What she would look like with her hair down…

The creature inside his head seemed to like that.

Steve just wished he’d gotten her name.

Victor accused the medication of making him overly confident, like an asshole. Uh, no. Steve was just amazing, knew what he wanted, and wasn’t afraid to ask for it.

Of course, she hadn’t come around since then. It had been a male nurse after that, which made him think he’d either come on too hard when he’d called her gorgeous, or she was strictly a no flirting with patients sort of person.

Fair enough, all the more reason for him to want to get discharged as fast as possible. As soon as he got out of here, he wouldn’t be a patient, he wouldn’t have to smell that horrible scent that clung to this place. He’d get a new phone since his cracked to shit after the attack, and then he could find the sons of bitches who did this to him.

He had shit to do.

Finally, Steve heard soft footsteps heading his way. His spine instinctively stiffened. The jittering in his legs worsened.

This was it. This had to be it! He wasn’t going to walk by again, he wasn’t!

He didn’t. The male nurse stopped in his doorway, clipboard in hand and professional, tired smile on his face.

Mr. Delany?

As if he needed to ask. Steve was already on his feet, trying not to give off the impression that he’d been waiting for this for the last ten thousand years. That’s me. All set. Ready to go.

Do you need any time to—

Nope. Going. He pushed passed the nurse, power walking to get out of here. He’d come back and ask about that nurse when his head wasn’t getting ready to explode. When he wasn’t sweating over the idea of attacking someone.

He wanted to save that instinct for the shit heads that deserved it.

He headed to the front desk. Steve already knew where it was. He was glad Victor wasn’t there to meet him. The man was an awesome friend and he’d offered to pick Steve up, but no. Steve wasn’t in the mood for his friend falling all over himself to give Steve the royal treatment after what happened.

Steve was going to make the man repay him in beers, not in guilt favors.

He signed away his life, not looking forward to when his insurance company would call him to reveal they didn’t cover werewolf attacks, even though his policy specifically stated that it did.

Fun stuff.

Time to get the hell—

Stop. Oranges. He smelled the oranges again.

She was close. Where was she? Steve turned his head this way and that, searching out the woman he needed most in the entire world, straining his ears for the potential sound of her voice.

Is everything all right?

Yeah, great. Steve waved off the nurse. It wasn’t him Steve was interested in, though the guy was nice to look at.

There was one person he was interested, however, and she was…

Finally. She rounded the corner, head down in some papers, pink scrubs on with little bright yellow flowers on it that honestly looked amazing on her.

She walked right up to the front desk, rubbing her forehead, not noticing Steve standing there at all.

Hey, Denise, those for me?

Denise. That was her name. He finally had it.

Yeah, she replied, handing over the papers.

Steve’s stupid heart started to pound. He should probably blink. Or look away. Something to show he wasn’t a complete creep, but he couldn’t.

She noticed. To be fair, how could she not notice when his laser beam was drilling a hole into the middle of her head?

She slowly turned her head, and when her eyes were on him, Steve suddenly moved, turning about face in a nervous rush. Totally not a natural movement, but fuck. He’d just been caught staring at the woman who had been avoiding him, and it was her job to care for the patients here.

He had to go. The thing inside him was whining again, growling, making claws marks on the inside of his cranium as if it had been buried alive and was trying desperately to get the hell out.

He couldn’t go yet!

Steve turned again, smiling, ready to say anything.

Except of course she wasn’t looking at him anymore. She was speaking with the receptionist.

He turned to go for the door.

Don’t leave!

He turned again, then immediately moved to the wall where a painting hung, pretending to be interested in it.

What the fuck was wrong with him? He knew he wasn’t a weirdo. He could see someone he wanted standing right there, and so what if she rejected him? Sure, it didn’t happen all that often, and it had never devastated him on those few occasions.

Was it because she’d already basically told him to fuck off by ignoring him? By not coming around? All right, fine. That still shouldn’t make this so hard.

She looked his way! He could see it in the quick glance to and away from him. As though she didn’t want him to be aware she’d snuck a peek.

She could sneak as many peeks at him as she wanted.

Will you give me one second? she said. The woman at the front desk nodded, and Steve felt something clench uncomfortably within him when Denise approached.

He hadn’t felt this kind of fear since those wolves surrounded him and started turning him into shredded pork with their claws. Now he knew what it was like to be one of those guys who got turned down a lot, and he suddenly sympathized with them a lot more.

Then Denise was standing in front of him, and as she smiled, all that clenching in his gut melted away to nothing. Hey there.

He smiled back. Hi.

Are you waiting for me?

Kind of. He scratched at the back of his head, feeling stupid and wishing he’d had the chance to trim his beard. Steve knew he looked all right, but unless Denise was into the scruffy types, now was probably not the greatest time to be trying to catch a date.

I was just hoping to catch you alone for a bit. I haven’t seen you in a couple of days.

There were other patients.

Words like that were meant to let a man down gently, but it was the way she smiled, and the spark in her dark eyes, that told him, maybe, she liked knowing Steve had been looking forward to seeing her.

Makes sense. You’re a nurse, I bet you’re busy. Don’t want to get distracted from work.

Or have patients hitting on me.

Shit.

No matter how cute they are.

Now they were getting somewhere.

Great, well, since I’m not a patient anymore, officially released from prison today and everything, I was thinking at some point I could come by and pick you up for dinner? Or just coffee.

He would be totally all right with just a coffee with her.

That smile on her mouth melted a little. I also don’t date werewolves. It’s nothing personal.

CHAPTER 2

He hid it well. The disappointment. It flickered, clearly there, but then it was gone, as though her words hadn’t affected him at all.

Right, well, I might not be a wolf either. I haven’t shifted yet.

She smirked a little. You had grey fur coming out of your torn up flesh even the day you were brought in. If you’re unsure about your shifter status, there’s a few numbers I can give you. Denise turned back to the front desk, aware that Steven Delany, the patient, followed the five feet over there.

Well, to be fair, I could just be a squirrel. Or a rabbit. Recessive shifter genes. That wouldn’t be so scary now, would it?

Denise clamped her lips together. She could hold back a laugh, but not a smile. If there was here was one thing she did enjoy about persistent guys, it was when they turned funny for her attention.

Not that she’d had much of that in recent years.

Of course, the rabbit remark might not be so far off. All guys were horny little rabbits when it came down to it, and this guy definitely wanted her.

And he was cute. And well-built. Denise had seen what he’d looked like, cut up and bloody, as well as on the mend with his shirt open. He could be a model with an abdomen like that. It was the sort of chest she didn’t get to appreciate enough of in real life, and he wanted her.

Could there really be much harm in just letting him take what he wanted? She would get what she wanted out of it as well, then she could get her focus back on work.

Ever since she’d seen Steven’s chest, only on the second day he was here, mostly healed and so utterly good looking… It was a distraction she didn’t need in the work place. That was why she’d asked Greg to take over for her with Delany.

She grabbed the pamphlets. There were a lot of them. They yellowed slightly with age. Despite the shifter population around here, there weren’t too many incidents like Delany’s, and for those rare occasions, the patients were often too stubborn to take the material, so it didn’t need replacing all that often.

Delany, it seemed, was going to be one of those stubborn men. He took the pamphlets, but he didn’t look at them. He kept looking at her. Looking into her eyes, as though seeing something within her that made her whole body sound an alarm and put her on high alert. Not the bad kind of high alert either. Not the kind that came with prepping patients for being airlifted out for special care.

This was almost winning the lottery kind of alert.

What was this?

One dinner date. I’ll have you home by ten p.m. and everything.

You’ll be a perfect gentleman, will you?

Greg called for her from down the hall. Denise, can I get your help with something?

She glanced back at him, then at the handsome wolf shifter in front of her who had just enough confidence to be cute about it, and maybe not enough sense.

Perfect gentleman. He bounced from heel to toe, already aware he was getting what he wanted.

Because of course Denise needed to give it to him. He didn’t need to know that she needed something from him, however. She could handle herself now. She wasn’t fourteen anymore, and if he did try anything, she would be ready.

Though, from the look in his eyes, Denise was pretty sure he was going to be good on his promise.

Which meant she would have to make him break it when she was ready for it.

All right. You can pick out the restaurant. I’m good with anything. I’ll meet you there tomorrow night.

I can pick you up.

Denise shook her head. Not happening. I’ll meet you there.

Denise?

Almost done, she called. I need to get back to work.

Right. I’ll see you tomorrow.

He turned to go so fast with that dumb smile on his face that Denise had to reach out and grab him by the sleeve of his jacket to yank him back.

Mistake. Huge mistake. She meant to grab only at his sleeve, but because the universe hated her, Denise’s fingers clamped around his hand instead. The skin to skin contact was heated to the point of discomfort. A bolt of lightning shot through her hand, up her arm, and into Denise’s chest. That feeling rushed lower. She yanked her hand away from Steven’s before it had the chance to make it to its target.

She stared at him. What was that?

He blinked, his hand still stretched out as though she was holding onto it, as though he was waiting for something from her.

What was…what?

No way. He felt that, too. He had to have.

Some sort of shifter power? The shifter community, the wolves in particular, were said to be incredibly sexual, their instincts driving them to find their mates, to procreate and have as many children as possible. Hell, it was mostly the wolves that came in and depleted the free condoms that were donated and supplied to the residents of this town.

And yet Steven looked at her as though he didn’t entirely understand what had just happened. His cheeks darkened, his long lashes coming to rest at half mast, and his nostrils flared.

Oh yes. He knew what was up.

Denise!

Greg was fast losing his patience.

And Denise made up her mind.

Give me your hand.

He did as she commanded, holding it out for her.

Denise took her spare pen from her pocket and wrote her number onto his palm. That tingling shock of pleasure returned, but at least now that she was prepared for it, she could handle it. This is my number. You’re going to need it if you want to tell me where we’re going to dinner.

He nodded. Denise noted the way his Adam’s apple worked in a hard swallow.

Right. Definitely. I guess I need that.

She put away her pen. Yes, you do. Denise eyed him from top to bottom. How a man like this could still