Real Men Bite (Soren Pack | Paranormal Werewolf Interracial Romance) (Real Men Shift Book 4)

by Celia Kyle

  But it wasn’t a frustration for her. Truth be told, the miles-high wall of aggravation crumbled to a pile of dust as she rubbed Fang’s belly. The dog’s pink tongue curled and lolled out of her small mouth as she happily squirmed under Val’s hand, drawing a laugh from her. It seemed impossible that such a tiny dog could brighten her day and ease the tension that built inside her.

  “Thanks for coming on this bizarre ride with me,” she whispered to Fang, just as a knock sounded on the door.

  Zeke eased his head around the door as if he expected to have a shoe thrown at him. Val’s smile at Fang’s antics still lingered on her lips, and relief washed over his handsome features as he ventured into the room.

  He’d better be happy, she thought rather smugly. The guy had no clue how close he’d been to receiving the same painful treatment his pal Newman had suffered. Reminding herself to be civil, she met his gaze without an ounce of rancor.

  “Thought you might like a ride to town,” he said, sitting on the bed and reaching out to join in the fun of rubbing down Fang. “Maybe check out of the Lupine Inn?”

  This time when the rage tried to take hold, she tamped it down. It wanted to be outraged that he knew where she was staying, but her rational mind reminded her there weren’t too many hotels in Tremble, and Lupine Inn happened to be closest to The Lair. Or maybe someone had told him. Does it really matter? she asked her ragey self. As it turned out, not in the slightest.

  “Sure, that would be nice, actually.” She returned her attention to Fang, who panted like she was in heaven from all the attention. Glancing back up at Zeke from under her lashes, she added, “Thanks.”

  His gaze lingered on her mouth before he cleared his throat and pushed off the doorway. Val kissed Fang’s head to hide her smile over his interest in her lips. No sense encouraging that kind of behavior.

  None at all.

  “Mama’s running out for a quick errand,” she murmured into Fang’s impossibly soft ear. “Be a good girl while I’m gone.”

  Fang wiggled around until she sat upright, gazing up at her mistress with such devotion it nearly brought tears to Val’s eyes. No one had ever loved her as much as Fang. Except maybe Chloe. The dog gave a soft, sweet “boof” that sounded halfway between a bark and a grunt. Then she turned four circles on the bed and lay down with her head resting on her paws, looking as dejected as a dog ever did.

  “Poor thing thinks I’m abandoning her every time I’m out of sight,” she explained as she joined Zeke at the door. Giving him a preemptive glare, she wagged a finger in his face. “That mangy mutt you have skulking around here better not come sniffing around my little princess. Got it?”

  She caught the first glimpse of a scowl on his face before she pushed past him, chomping down on her lips to keep herself from laughing. He wouldn’t call her on it. He couldn’t. Not without accidentally-on-purpose revealing the beastly truth about all of the so-called dogs in the area. Her secret knowledge gave her the advantage over him, some leverage, in case she needed it.

  Not that she expected trouble from him. He seemed like a good guy, if a little bossy and overprotective. A prerequisite for any good military officer and, no doubt, every werewolf alpha. But despite all of that, she actually kind of enjoyed Zeke’s company. Of course, her body certainly enjoyed being close to him, despite her opinion on the matter. More than that, she enjoyed their talks—even the ones full of fire.

  At least he wasn’t a wimp. Most men who showed an initial interest in her backed away pretty fast once they realized she was more of a man than them. Not Zeke. He didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by her. Annoyed, yes. Intimidated, no. It sure was fun fucking with him though.

  Actually fucking him would be a hell of a lot more fun… She shook the thought away as she followed him to his SUV. The attraction between them was almost palpable, but nothing could happen between them. Forget that he was a wolf. He was Chloe’s brother. No way would she risk her friendship with her bestie over some guy. On top of that, Val still wasn’t happy about how Chloe’s family had treated her after the accident. Zeke had only been a kid when it happened, but even if he wasn’t part of the problem, he obviously hadn’t been part of the solution. At the end of the day, Valerie was loyal to Chloe, not her obnoxiously attractive brother.

  A half-hour later, Val walked out of the Lupine Inn to find Zeke holding open the passenger’s door of his SUV, a cocky grin plastered on his cocky face. Rolling her eyes at his old-fashioned manners, she tossed her backpack and Burberry in the footwell and climbed in. Only he didn’t close the door. Shooting him a curious glance, Val was surprised to find him frowning at her in what looked like confusion.

  “What?” she asked, looking down to see if she had dried egg on her shirt or something. Nothing, all clean.

  “Where’s the rest of it?”

  She blinked up at him, the sun catching fire in the coppery undertones of his hair. “Rest of what?”

  “Your bags. Did you leave them at the front desk? I’ve got plenty of room.”

  Right. Guys were used to women who take tons of junk with them when they traveled. Sometimes Valerie forgot she wasn’t very “normal.”

  “That’s it.” She nodded at her backpack, tucked between her feet. “That’s my entire life right there. In a backpack.”

  He said nothing, just stared at the pack as if it had personally offended him. He slowly closed the door and crossed to the driver’s side. When he slid into his seat, it seemed he was desperately trying not to stare at her sad, lonely backpack.

  “I know. It’s not much,” Val said with an exasperated sigh. “I don’t have much stuff. Pretty much been on the go since I graduated college. The Army keeps me moving a lot. I rarely stay in one town for more than a few months at a time, so it doesn’t make sense to accumulate stuff I don’t need.”

  He shot her an amused look. “But designer handbags are a necessity?”

  Val chuckled. “No, they’re my guilty pleasure. But even when I buy a new one, my old one gets listed on Poshmark lickety split. I like to travel light.”

  “Like that guy… in those books… Tom Cruise played him…”

  “Oh god, do you mean Jack Reacher? Don’t even get me started.”

  His deep laugh sent tickles skittering across her skin. “Really? That bad?”

  Val shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong, he tells a compelling story,” she conceded, “but let’s just say I have a hard time suspending disbelief when I try to read them.”

  “That’s just your military service talking.”

  “Damn straight! Funny thing is, I have no problem in losing myself in a steamy romance about sexy blue barbarians rescuing human women who’ve crash-landed on their ice planet.”

  His laugh turned into a roar, booming through the cab and heating up her cheeks at his appreciation of her joke. Not a joke, actually, but it must have sounded pretty funny.

  They fell into an easy silence as they drove along the small road into town before Zeke gave her a curious sideways glance.

  “Don’t you ever dream of settling down somewhere? You know, just hang around in one place for the rest of your life and become part of the community? I don’t know, buy some damn furniture or join a book club or something?”

  Val narrowed her eyes and studied him for a long moment. It almost sounded as if he was hinting at something. Something she didn’t want to think about. And even if she did, the furball was delusional if he thought that something might include him.

  “Look,” she said, shifting in her seat to face him. “You’ve always belonged to a community. I get that. I honestly wish I’d had that growing up, but I didn’t. The closest I’ve ever come is the Army. I stopped daydreaming about anything more a long time ago.”

  “You stopped dreaming?”

  Val didn’t like his pitying tone. “Some of us don’t have the luxury,” she bit out.

  He shot her a doubting glance but said nothing. Val stared out the window at all the ridiculousl
y cute business names. The quaint downtown looked straight out of an old Christmas movie. Was the menu at the Canine Cafe also filled with bad wolf puns? A better question would be, would it be so bad to stay long enough to find out? Before she could answer, they sped past The Wolf’s Lair Bar & Grille—with an ‘e.’

  “Hey, stop! My Jeep’s in the back.” Zeke stared straight ahead as if he hadn’t heard her. “Zeke, turn around. I need my Jeep.”

  A frown creased his brow. “Why?”

  “Why?” Val couldn’t believe her ears. “Um, because I’m leaving. That’s why.”

  “Why?”

  Again? The guy was either obtuse or a controlling jerk. Val had a feeling it was both.

  “Because I came to this godforsaken backwater to see Chloe. Chloe’s not here, if you hadn’t noticed. No reason for me to stick around.”

  Zeke’s frown grew deeper and darker. A muscle in his jaw tensed and released, tensed and released. He still wouldn’t look her in the eye. “You can’t.”

  This was turning into a bad nightmare. It wasn’t that she feared for her safety, but he was acting a bit like a lunatic.

  “Why the hell can’t I?”

  He pressed his lips together before finally blurting, “Because!”

  If she didn’t know any better, she might have thought Zeke seemed a little panicked, like he was desperate to keep her from leaving. But that made no sense. He didn’t even like humans!

  Forcing herself to take several slow, deep breaths to calm herself down, Val watched him carefully. He sat tensely behind the wheel, but nothing about his demeanor suggested he would try to hurt her—“try” being the operative word. But for some reason, he wanted her to stick around.

  “‘Because I said so’ wasn’t a good enough answer when I was a kid, Zeke. It sure as hell isn’t acceptable now that I’m a grown-up. Try again.”

  “Because,” he started again and then gave his head a shake of irritation. “Because… you’ll miss her. You’ll miss Chloe.”

  “What the hell are you talking about? You said she moved.”

  “I did, but… uh, she’s coming back.”

  This made no sense, but Val couldn’t hold back her excitement at the idea of seeing her friend again. “From her honeymoon?”

  Zeke nodded, perhaps a little more vigorously than the conversation warranted. “Yeah, yeah. Exactly. She and Drew are dropping by on their way home in a few days. If you leave now, you’ll miss her here and there. Might as well stick around, if you’re so dead set on seeing her.”

  She could smell the desperate fib, but she wanted to see Chloe so much that she decided to believe him. Or at least pretend to in an effort to save his fragile male ego. He undoubtedly felt proud of his masterful lying skills.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that before?” she asked. “That changes everything. But in that case, I need to go check back into my room.”

  Now that’s how it’s done, son.

  “No!” he blurted and then shot her a furtive, almost sheepish look. “I just mean that any friend of Chloe’s is a friend of mine. You can stay at the pack— Um, at my house.”

  Val had to turn away to keep him from seeing she’d caught his slip-up. The powers that be might have been interested in how poorly he kept their wolfy secret, not that she’d ever rat him out. Regardless, sleeping in “his” house sounded a thousand times better than trying to get some rest under the mirthful gaze of a furry Michael J. Fox movie poster.

  “Okay,” she finally said, “but I still want to get my Jeep.”

  Zeke grinned at her as he pulled into an empty parking spot in front of a slightly run-down, but still-grand brick building. CITY HALL was etched into the facade.

  “I’ll be right back, and then we’ll go get your Jeep,” he said as he hopped out. As she reached for the handle, he paused just before shutting his own door. “You stay here. This won’t take long. I just have to rip some guy a new asshole.”

  Val watched him hurry across the street, her blood boiling that he dared to give her an order like he was her superior or something. Whatever was going on, it promised to be juicy and entertaining, and she’d be damned if she was going to sit in the car like a good little girl. Besides, it’d been almost twelve hours since she’d ripped anyone a new asshole. She was itching for a fix, even if it was just to watch.

  Chapter Eight

  Good lord, the woman couldn’t take an order to save her life. How the hell had she not only survived in the Army, but actually thrived? Ignoring her, Zeke had to admit a part of him would have been disappointed if she hadn’t followed him into City Hall. A bigger part was irritated by her disobedience. That was always the trouble with humans—they defied orders at every turn.

  Just like Mayor Bertrand Calhoun.

  The rat bastard mayor had maintained a tenuous agreement with the Soren family for years to leave Wolf Woods undeveloped. As one of the few humans in Tremble who knew the true nature of the Soren pack, Calhoun should have had some damn respect. Apparently not even the implicit threat of werewolves living amongst the human residents of Tremble was enough to keep him in line. Time to turn the threat from implicit to explicit.

  “Asshole,” Zeke growled under his breath as he stormed into Calhoun’s outer office.

  Calhoun’s secretary, a plump, middle-aged woman with a bad dye job, looked up from her computer screen as Zeke stomped in. Having dealt with him before, her eyes widened in apprehension. He had to give it to her though—she was dedicated to her job.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Soren,” she started, her voice spiking in pitch as her anxiety increased. “Mayor Calhoun is in a meeting at the moment and can’t be disturbed. Can I take a message?”

  Slick, but not slick enough.

  Without slowing his gait—or glancing over his shoulder as Valerie followed him into the office—he snapped, “He should have thought about that before disturbing me, Marsha.”

  Marsha leapt from her chair and tried to stand in his way as he made a beeline for Calhoun’s private office door.

  “Mr. Soren, I’m afraid I have to insist—”

  Zeke stopped inches in front of the woman and scowled down at her. “Marsha, I know for a fact you’re not paid enough to keep me off his doorstep. Why don’t you do us both a favor and take an early lunch?”

  He allowed his upper lip to curl back just a touch, showing off his slightly lengthened fangs. Marsha’s eyes grew as wide as hubcaps and she wisely stepped out of Zeke’s path in a hurry.

  “Bertrand!” Zeke roared as he slammed open the doors leading to the mayor’s inner sanctum.

  He planted himself in the center of the room, fists jammed onto his hips and fire blazing in his eyes. Doing his best to ignore Val slipping in before the doors bounced closed, he focused on the scene before him.

  Calhoun sat behind his desk, a paunchy man at the tail-end of middle age, with jowls and beady eyes that looked up at Zeke with some measure of surprise. His stubby fingers held a fancy fountain pen over some official-looking papers that sent a chill down Zeke’s spine.

  The man sitting across from Calhoun couldn’t have been any different from the mayor, in his bespoke suit and hundred-dollar haircut. Tall, thin and haughty as hell, he lifted a curious eyebrow at Zeke but gave no other indication that the sight of a very burly, very angry man storming into the office was out of the norm. Judging by the guy’s demeanor, maybe it wasn’t.

  “What the filthy fuck is going on here?” Zeke barked as he slammed his hands down on the desk and glowered at Calhoun.

  The mayor shot a worried glance at the other man and then found his balls. He set his flabby jaw and gave Zeke an equally dark look before forcing a smile in the direction of his guest.

  “Dick, would you mind giving me a minute to have a word with my—” he let his smarmy gaze settle on Zeke again “—constituent?”

  The dick in the chair sat perfectly still for several beats, as if considering whether he’d comply, but then stood slowly to give Zeke ti
me to give him space as he brushed imaginary lint off his suit. Despite Zeke’s aggressive posture and superior size, Dick simply smirked and sauntered out as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

  His calmness in the face of Zeke’s anger only spiked the alpha’s rage-o-meter. What was it with everyone defying him lately? Maybe he needed to hit the gym more. Or maybe he’d simply rip Calhoun’s head from his shoulders. That would get the message across. Plus, it would feel so good.

  As soon as the door clicked shut, Calhoun turned his quickly reddening face toward Zeke. “I’ve put up with too many of your family’s shenanigans over the years, Soren, but who the hell do you think you are, barging into my office like that while I’m in the middle of a meeting. The man is on the cusp of turning this town into something really special! Your father—”

  “My father,” Zeke interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest and letting his biceps bulge just enough to show Calhoun exactly what he was up against, “would be pretty damn interested in knowing what’s going through your head. Don’t stand there and play dumb, Bertrand. Wolf Woods has always been off limits to developers, and now this? Was my father even in the ground before you started plotting to sell off our land?”

  Calhoun matched Zeke’s angry stance, though with much less effect. “First of all, it’s not your land. It’s public land, and the man standing in my lobby has been offering obscene amounts of money for that useless swath of overgrown forest for years. Second, I know my arrangement with Boyd better than you, and if you would have taken a single one of my calls over the last few months, I would have filled you in.”

  Red flags flapped frantically in Zeke’s brain. “What the hell are you talking about? What arrangement?”

  Calhoun huffed out a disbelieving snort. “I guess it was too much to hope that Boyd gave you the long and short of it before he died.” He shot a wary glance at Val, and then gave Zeke a questioning look.