Ginger's Heart 01: Body Heat [1st draft]

Chapter 03

Chapter 03:

It was times like these that made Ginger wish she knew how to really fight, that tae kwon-karate-judo stuff, it would've helped when Lyssa snatched her arm in an almost crushing grip. She waited impatiently for Ethan to open the front doors and then dragged her into the suddenly menacing school. The only advantage Ginger had when it came to hunting was her size and her weapon. She was tiny, not only short at five-two, but very small boned, and extremely innocent looking, something that thankfully hadn't changed after the transition.

Every sup she'd killed had come to her, either under the pretenses she was easy prey or that she needed help. None of them ever saw the serrated blade she'd managed to steal when Lucca had been ambushed on a run. That blade was a new sort of technology that H.A.S.P had engineered that killed vamps, wolves, and witches. It had five tiny buttons on the side that looked like expensive jewelry. Ginger only knew what three of them did: red button for vamps, gold for wolves, black for witches, and the green and blue buttons where a mystery still. She tried pushing the buttons when she hadn't just stuck a Sup to see what it actually did, but it hadn't worked.

"Easy Lys, don't be so rough," Ethan chided. "She's so little. You don't want to accidentally break her."

Lyssa stopped so suddenly that Ginger ran into her back hard enough to wind herself, but Lyssa simply looked irritated. "Maybe she could work for the Masters and then she could be your little sex slave," Lyssa started, her jaw tightening as she glanced down and pointed. "Or is that erection for me?"

It barely registered what Lyssa was saying, after all Ginger didn't make it a habit of listening to the ramblings of animals, but a few choice words had her eyebrow raised as she glanced up at Ethan. For a werewolf he was rather open with his reactions as he flushed red again. Ginger glanced down and sure enough...

"Lyssa, I only want you. It's just that-she doesn't smell human," he spoke carefully, never taking his eyes off her.

Now she was just plain offended.

"Listen Toto, don't go smelling people, it's impolite," her choice in nickname going unnoticed as the two wolves stared each other down.

Lyssa's glare softened suddenly as she sniffed the air. "You're right. What are you? I've never smelled this before. It smells kind of like a burnt chocolate, only sweeter."

Ethan frowned, shifting his gaze from Ginger then back. "That's not what I smell."

Lyssa raised an eyebrow, her fingernails digging into Gingers arm. "What do you smell?"

He paused before leaning forward. Ginger's entire body stiffened as he pushed his nose into her cheek, the skin on skin contact igniting another rush of lust and at the same time disgust as he inhaled her. When he flipped one of her loosely held pigtailed hair off her shoulder and shoved his face into her neck she couldn't decide if she wanted to throw him down, her secret oath to Lucca be damned, or reach for the blade holstered at her hip. Of course that was under her zipped jacket, how stupid could she be that she zipped it. If he had meant to rip her throat out she'd be dead. No one had time to unzip a jacket to get the weapon, there was no time out.

She was silently reprimanding herself, while trying desperately to ignore the tingling in her breasts as his hand slid along the column of her throat to hold her in place. A deep guttural growl escaped Ethan's lips and his free hand reached forward to clutch Ginger, plastering her to his front, the arm that was still gently clutching her neck the only barrier between them. The contact didn't last long as it was quickly followed by a shove from Lyssa, pushing him off her, and the two wolves were back to staring at each other.

"What does she smell like to you?" a clear accusatory look in her gaze.

He licked his lips cautiously. "Definitely not like a human and...like sex."

Honestly, how was Ginger supposed to respond to that? She was already attracted to this thing, to this animal that she so desperately trying to hate, most of the time she didn't have trouble with it. It wasn't like she knew them. Wanting him was entirely against her will and he was admitting that she smelled like-like that. And then he had the gall to say she wasn't human...wait, now that she thought about, just a few hours ago she'd started tracking a vampire, she would have gotten him too if she hadn't realized she was going to be late. Maybe it was him they were smelling.

"I bet she just got done having it," Lyssa suggested, "with chocolate props."

"I'm human...and a virgin thank you!" Ginger snapped before she could shut her mouth.

She cringed as she felt the heat of embarrassment spread through her, but this time she didn't fail to notice the piqued interest in Ethan's gaze, unfortunately Lyssa saw it too. It nearly took her breath away, the loud pop followed by the searing pain as Lyssa jerked her forward down the drab hallway towards a black door.

"You pulled her arm too hard," Ethan growled. "Let her go, now!"

His tone in the way he spoke to Lyssa changed. Something important had just happened, some type of power play Ginger wasn't aware of. She watched as Lyssa turned, bristling with anger. Her rebellious act lasted a second before the look on Ethan's face darkened and she released Ginger's arm. It happened fast and if her stomach hadn't been rolling with nausea over the pain of her most likely broken arm, she may have been able to figure out what had just happened.

Even with the agony of a broken arm, it didn't take long for her to realize the door they stopped at was the headmistress the school was probably named after. Eve Boudoir, believe it or not, was on the door, engraved in black on a dull wooden door with an old fashioned lion knocker.

Completely ignoring the brass lion, Lyssa pounded on the door. "Eve, we have problem!"

Her first day wasn't going as well as she planned.