InsatiableNeed by Rosalie Stanton Page A

shoe.
    “I think you threw it somewhere over here,” Raegan said, not
meeting Zeth’s imploring gaze, waving at a pile of what she assumed were dirty
clothes. “I… It’s all kind of blurry, you know?”
    Damn shoe. She’d found her pants, which were torn on one
side, her panties, or what was left of them, and her blouse had been balled in
a wad beside her bra, both of which were completely useless. She’d have to wrap
the torn fabric around herself and hope no one saw her between the hobble to
her car and the walk of shame to her apartment door.
    Though in truth, she didn’t need her shoe. She was stalling,
trying to take Zeth’s temperature regarding…well, anything. His feelings. His
mood. Whatever happened to be going through his head, she wanted to know. But
Zeth apparently didn’t feel like sharing. She couldn’t blame him, but likewise
couldn’t help herself from babbling. Needing to hear his voice, his thoughts. Needing
to hear anything.
    “I mean, we weren’t ourselves,” she prattled on, plucking up
random pieces of clothing and tossing them every which direction. “The
spell…we, ahh… That really wasn’t what I expected. It was…umm… I guess. It
kinda…”
    Sucks.
    No words. She had no words for the look on Zeth’s face when
she felt brave enough to glance in his direction, remained stoic. He wouldn’t
speak, and she couldn’t blame him. Not when she chickened out in a big old way.
For a few hours, a few blissful hours, she’d forgotten everything about being
who she was.
    Zeth loves you.
    The knowledge made her blood rush, but not nearly as much as
the knowledge that she had been so close to saying the words back. To
admitting… What? If she loved a werewolf, the same sort of creature that had
butchered her best friend, what did that say about her? What did it say for her
if she could just forget everything she’d been through?
    God, everything hurt. Promises she’d made him, made herself,
swarmed around her head, teasing her, mocking her, shoving her toward him when
her first instinct screamed to bolt out the door. The heat of the moment
differed entirely from the weight of reality. Everything she’d felt still
seemed real to her, and she feared if she stayed too long she’d wind up leaping
into Zeth’s arms and demanding he take the world away.
    But she couldn’t do that. The spell no longer influenced
her. She’d reverted to form, a woman of her own making again, and one that
didn’t get involved with werewolves.
    No matter how involved she already was.
    “Need my shoe,” she murmured again. And she finally spotted
it, tossed into a far corner. “Oh.”
    “You promised,” Zeth said roughly.
    Raegan froze, every muscle in her body wrought with tension.
“I…”
    “You promised me.”
    “I know.” The words left her lips before she could stop
them. And why not? The truth seemed the best bet in these situations.
    “You’re running now. Don’t think I don’t see it.” She
glanced up again just as he looked away, rolling his eyes. He hadn’t bothered
putting on more than his jeans, which did little to help her resolve. His
smooth, sculptured chest could tempt a nun. “You’re running scared.”
    “Of course I am.”
    Zeth’s jaw tightened, and the hurt on his face nearly did
her in. “Raegan…”
    “Do you have any idea what happened here?”
    “Do you? ” he fired back. “I was here the entire time.
The entire fucking time. You can’t hide from me.”
    “I’m not trying to hide.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “I just…” Raegan sighed heavily and shook her head, doing
her best to conceal how hard she trembled. “Things change, don’t they?”
    “Yeah,” Zeth agreed. “And they don’t change back. Nothing
goes back to being the way it was.”
    He looked up then, and Raegan held his gaze as long as she
could before the storm brewing in his eyes became too heavy to bear. She sighed
and turned her attention back to her shoe, hating the conflict wringing