Roan's Fall
Roxie's Protectors -1
by
Marisa Chenery
To Devin Govaere, my editor, from whom I have learned so much. You help make my books shine.
Chapter One
Roan pulled open the glass front entrance door and stood on the threshold. He scanned the large open-concept space. He so did not want to be here. However long he had to be here would be pure torture. If given a choice, he would rather face down a hundred armed men in battle than go inside this place.
“Well? Are you going to stand there all day or what? You’re going to make me late for my hair appointment.” Roxie gave him a hard shove from behind. Reluctantly, Roan stepped into the hair salon and moved aside so Roxie could enter after him. He tried not to take many deep breaths. The smell of perm solution, hair dyes and other such chemicals assaulted his sensitive werewolf nose. Considering Roxie was a werewolf too, Roan had no idea how she could stand the harsh smells. If they bothered her, she showed no signs of it. She walked up to the front desk and gave her name to the girl who sat behind it.
Roxie crossed back over to him and led him to one of the unoccupied pansy-assed looking straight backed chairs that lined the wall. Roan sat down slowly expecting the chair to break once he settled his full weight on it. The spindly wood legs didn’t look as if they were made to support a man of his size. Being six foot nine and weighing over two hundred and sixty pounds, he was by no means a lightweight. As he planted his ass on the seat and leaned back against the backrest, the chair groaned ominously, but it held together.
Roan looked over at Roxie who had taken the empty chair next to his. She shook her head and sighed. “If you’re this uncomfortable you should have let me come alone like I wanted to in the first place.”
He scowled at her. “It’s my duty to protect you.”
And Roan took his duty seriously. Roxie was special. She was the foretold one, the one who now ruled over all the werewolf packs. For hundreds of years, Roan, along with his brothers and sister-in-arms, had trained to be the foretold one’s protectors. Even though Roxie thought she could take care of herself, Roan and the rest of Roxie’s protectors weren’t prepared to leave her unguarded. Even if it meant that he had to sit inside a mortal hair salon while the fumes from perm solution slowly burned the inside of his nose.
Roxie scowled back at him. “Since I’m stuck with you, would you at least loosen up a bit? People are staring. You look as if you’re ready to kill the next person who looks at you the wrong way.”
Roan did a quick scan of the room. Roxie was right. All eyes, all female, were turned their way. Some of the mortal females looked as if they were ready to run away if he so much as said boo, while a few gave him looks that said they liked what they saw. The chair creaked as he shifted his weight and turned back to Roxie. “What’s the holdup?”
“Ansley is finishing up with another client then it’ll be my turn.”
“I thought you had an appointment.”
“I do. Sometimes Ansley gets a little bit behind. I don’t mind waiting.”
“Well, I do. The faster I can get the hell out of here the better.”
Roxie eyed him. “I’m guessing you’ve never been to a hair salon before.”
Roan snorted. “This will be my first and only time.”
“Then where do you get your hair cut?” Roxie looked pointedly at his shoulderlength hair.
“Saskia cuts it for me.” Saskia who was his sister-in-arms and his leader tended to take care of things like haircuts and such.
Before Roxie could say anything more, the girl from the front desk came around it and called her name. “Roxie? Ansley is ready for you now. If you want to follow me back we’ll get your hair washed.”
Roan would have followed Roxie, but she shoved him back down on his chair and shook her head. “Park it, buddy. I’ll be perfectly fine. You’ll be able to keep an eye on me from here.”
He watched Roxie follow the girl to one of the sinks at the very back of the room where another woman stood waiting for her. Roan figured the other woman had to be Ansley, Roxie’s hairdresser. He let his gaze run over her. From what he could see of her from this distance, Roan thought her pretty enough. Her looks didn’t compare to a female werewolf’s, their race was known for their extreme good looks, but her looks appealed to him nonetheless. She wore her straight, brown hair down past her shoulders. He couldn’t see the color of her eyes since she stood in profile as she motioned Roxie to sit down on the chair in front of the sink.
Roan spent the next half hour bored out of his mind while he watched Ansley cut Roxie’s hair. The two women chatted away, sometimes laughing over something one of them had said. At one point, both women turned their heads to look directly at him. Roan crossed his arms over his chest and stared back. He gave Ansley a cursory glance before he focused on Roxie. There was something about her smile that said she had to be up to something.
He soon found out he hadn’t been too far off on his thinking. Once Ansley finished with Roxie’s hair, Roxie signaled for Roan to come over to where she sat. Feeling as if he’d made a mistake by volunteering to be the one to take Roxie here today, he stood up and walked to the back of the salon. Prepared for just about anything when it came to Roxie, Roan wasn’t at all prepared when he caught the first faint whiff of Ansley’s scent. Feeling as if he’d just been punched in the gut, he filtered her scent out from the many others in the building the closer he came.
He barely managed to hold back a growl of need as he drew even with the women. His eyes locked on Ansley—his mate. Even though the harsh chemical smells that hung in the air burned the inside of his nose, Roan couldn’t stop himself from dragging in great gulps of Ansley’s scent. His cock went instantly rock hard inside his jeans. He looked Ansley up and down. She really was a small thing. She couldn’t be any taller than fivefoot-three. Her hazel eyes locked with his light blue ones. Her lips parted slightly. She craned her neck to look up at him. Roan fought the urge to yank her to him and see if her lips were as kissable as they looked.
“Well, well. Isn’t this interesting?” Roxie said with a chuckle. Roan dragged his gaze off Ansley and turned to Roxie. “What?”
“I think you just got more than you bargained for by tagging along with me.” Roxie wrapped her arm around Ansley’s shoulders. “Ansley, this is my friend Roan Haver. Roan, Ansley ended up having her next client cancel at the last minute. She has kindly agreed to let you take that opening.”
He shook his head. Even though he spoke to Roxie, Roan kept his gaze on Ansley. “I don’t need my hair cut.”
“It’s my treat,” Roxie said. “You can trust Ansley. She won’t shave you bald.”
Ansley chuckled. “God, no. It would be a shame to cut off all that great looking hair. I promise to be gentle.”
With a curt nod, Roan followed Ansley to one of the sinks. He knew he was in trouble, but he walked to his doom anyway. With the mating urge already riding him hard, he knew when Ansley laid hands on him it would be three times worse. He would have a hard enough time trying to hide the hard-on he sported, but it would take all of his self-control to hide what he truly was from Ansley. If he didn’t watch it, he’d be growling while his eyes mutedly glowed with arousal. Seeing how Ansley was mortal, Roan didn’t think she even knew werewolves existed. He found himself stuck in a catch twenty-two situation. He wanted Ansley to touch him even though he knew if she did he could very well lose control. Reluctantly, he sat down on the chair and pushed back until the back of his neck hit the sink. As Ansley leaned in to turn on the water Roan knew he was a goner.