Big Bad Wolf Chapter 2

Big Bad Wolf Chapter 2

Prepared To Champion

Javier

“Javier, this is Isabell Drakos. Isabell Drakos, meet Javier MacGuire. Luke sent him to meet us and take us to him.”

Isabell smiled shyly up at him and lowered her lashes. Javier drew in his breath as he shook her hand.

Is that what the old books meant when they suggested that a woman who lowered her lashes was into a man? He sure as hell wanted it to mean that.

He was seriously into her. Javier wanted to know everything there was to know about Isabell Drakos.

The woman was enchanting. Touching her soft skin and taking her small hand in his caused his heart rate to increase. No one had ever made him feel like that, and she wasn’t... doing... anything!

“Shall we get going? Luke and Eli are preparing dinner for us,” Javier suggested, but he was having trouble taking his eyes away from Isabell.

She made him confused somehow. He was no longer sure what he was supposed to be doing.

How did a man get confused about being confused? It was an insanity.

His direwolf pushed close to the surface, clawing at him to get close to her and breathe her scent in deep. She would think he was insane or dishonorable if he didn’t get control of himself.

He needed to put space between himself and Isabell. The way she was affecting him was wrong. Something about her made him nervous.

Too many emotions were at war within him, and all of them centered on her.

He had to get a hold of himself, or he would get lost in the woman. Javier shook his head. He had to drive. It was ridiculous. He barely knew her name. How had he gotten into that situation?

He didn’t understand it. Isabell Drakos felt like the smallest, most helpless, and dangerous woman on the planet. It made no sense. Yet he would have sworn on a stack of Bibles it was true.

They got all the luggage in the truck. Javier was glad it wouldn’t rain. Fox and Artie sat in the backseat together, leaving Isabell to ride in the front with him.

So much for getting some space. The breathing room didn’t happen. Clean wood smoke from the campfire tickled his nose, drawing him in under whatever spell she seemed to weave over him.

They made small talk on the way to Tyler. No one wanted to discuss the reason for the meeting. It was better if they discussed it all together. So he learned she was an artist.

She learned he was a business partner in a resort retreat. That he had only become that a few hours earlier didn’t matter. Impressing Isabell mattered. Talking with her felt easy.

Javier made Isabell laugh twice, and she was smiling at him when they pulled into Eli’s driveway. She was less shy, and she seemed better than when they met.

Javier enjoyed listening to her soft laugh. It matched her shy reserve. He memorized her.

She seemed shy and quiet, but Javier felt she had quiet strength beneath that exterior. Isabell whispered and withdrew from the conversation unless Javier directly questioned her. He wanted to hear her speak, though, so he kept engaging her as they drove along.

He caught her appraising him, studying his profile as he drove. Twice while they cruised towards Tyler, he felt her eyes on him. He didn’t embarrass her. Javier hoped she didn’t find him lacking.

He wondered again about what happened to her. Artie and Fox rested during the long ride. They were tired from traveling and running.

They stepped down from the truck and met Eli and Luke on the front porch of Eli’s house. Luke and Fox grasped forearms, and Artie and Luke hugged sideways. Luke introduced Eli, and Fox introduced Artie and Isabell. Eli invited everyone into the house.

Javier followed Isabell into the house. He watched her move. She was lithe and moved carefully as her attention wandered over Eli’s home.

She spied Eli’s puzzle-art as they passed the living room and smiled at it. Isabell approved of Eli’s quirky interior design.

Eli led everyone into the dining room off of the kitchen. She’d always been a kitchen person. It was her favorite room in the house.

Eli stepped into the kitchen to check on the food. Everyone sat around the table, and Javier leaned against the door frame between the dining room and living room.

His eyes were still on Isabell. Everything about her drew him to her.

“We have a few minutes before dinner is ready. Why don’t you tell us what’s going on, and why you’re seeking refuge, Fox?” Luke looked at his friend, hoping to read something on his face.

“What happened?” Javier chimed in, still more concerned with Isabell than the rest of the tale.

Fox cleared his throat. “I think Isabell should tell her story first, and Artie and I’ll fill in the details she doesn’t have.”

Isabell looked frightened. She looked at Fox, then at Javier. She didn’t seem especially suited to the spotlight. Was she seeking allies and protection?

Javier couldn’t read her intent, yet his attention remained riveted on her. She had protection. He would see to it, personally.

“Do I need to show them?” she whispered to Fox. Her fear was clear. What was she afraid of?

Show them what? What secrets did the tiny frightened girl possess? Javier wondered again how she’d gotten mixed up in whatever Elliot was up to.

Once again, the growl threatened to escape when he remembered the heavy makeup covering the bruises on her face. She might be dangerous, but someone had still hurt her.

“Secrets here won’t work, Isabell. If you’re serious about asking these people for their help, they deserve to know what they’re facing. You best show them.”

Fox spoke to her in a gentle, yet commanding, tone. He acted like a kind uncle. Javier wasn’t buying that act.

The longer he was in Fox’s company, the more he felt the depth of the man’s power and aura. Fox was no one’s kind uncle. He was too powerful for that.

Fox was something far different from what his appearance led one to believe. The librarian was a better look for him, but still wrong. Fox was a different puzzle.

Isabell looked around the table and nodded when her eyes landed on Javier. She seemed to make her mind up and draw courage from looking at him.

If it was the courage she needed, he would loan her a ton, even if he had to manufacture it from a lie.

She stood and walked to the bathroom down the hall. Isabell stepped in and left the door ajar.

“What’s this about, Fox?” Luke eyed his old friend with suspicion.

“You’ll see,” Artie spoke up as Eli took a seat next to Luke.

The bathroom door opened, and the largest bird of prey Javier had ever seen stepped into the hallway. It crept into the dining room with its wings lifted for balance. Its sharp, curved talons scrabbled over the tile floor. Deadly dangerous magic came with it.

Reddish-brown eyes looked up at him over a long red, curved serrated beak. Its feathers were black except for its scarlet head feathers. The wings, neck, and tail feathers were red-edged. Reddish bird legs and talons stepped over the tiles of Eli’s dining room floor.

Ice cold blue flames licked over the talons and beak. Tendrils of smoke trickled from the nasal opening on the beak as it breathed.

It smelled of clean wood smoke from a campfire, Isabell. She was Little Red Riding Hood!

Javier was dumbstruck. His gaze locked with hers. She dipped her head to him. It was the animal in her recognizing him as alpha. The exotic beauty was a phoenix out of legend and magnificent.

Beautiful wasn’t an adequate description. Javier gawked and didn’t even try to hide it. Isabell stared right back at him, taking in his reaction.

He smiled at the phoenix. When Luke growled, the spell broke.

Javier shifted into his more powerful direwolf form and moved to shield the phoenix from his alpha. That was the end of his clothes.

He snarled at Luke with his head low. His lips pulled back, and all of his teeth were visible as saliva dripped from his oversized fangs. He wasn’t challenging his alpha. Javier was protecting a woman from the challenge inherent in Luke’s growl.

He would defend her. Javier was prepared to champion her cause because he could feel her weakness.

Thank you for your support! Welcome to the dream… Sincerely, -OK

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