Black Mesa Wolves Complete Series Boxset Bks 1-7

by J. K Harper

  And that's because this whole thing is confusing to her, his human murmured. And me.

  Yes. Jace knew that. Caitlin desired him as much as he desired her. It seemed to confound her. He knew she didn't want the pups picking up on any of it, which was part of why she started to let them go off with Jace on their own. Even so, it bothered him. He felt he had a mission to protect these pups no matter what. To play with them, teach them, enjoy every moment in their silly, energetic little presences as he could. He genuinely wanted those things.

  But even more so, he desperately wanted to be with Caitlin.

  Ah, that's one of the problems, his human said in a dark tone. She does have pups. They're always going to come first. That will always be how it is. And what about my new position here? Distractions are something I can't afford at this point.

  As was common when his human began thinking, Jace felt briefly torn. Yes, being a Guardian for the Black Mesa Wolf Pack was an enormous honor. An opportunity he refused to underestimate or throw away. Chances like this one would not come again.

  But these were his pups. Because she was his mate, which made them his pups. How could he neglect them for the sake of his role in the pack?

  It was confusing indeed. Ignoring his human yammering on with words such as duty, obligation, no distractions, Jace looked at the two adorable little creatures now sitting neatly at his feet, small tails curled around their front paws as they watched him with unwavering attention, awaiting his next words.

  Jace reached over and very gently cuffed Briana on top of her head with his chin. "I know you didn't mean it. This is just part of how you learn. Next time, you'll know to hold in your sneeze. Yes?"

  Briana nodded so vigorously even her tail bounced. Liam nodded along with her, apparently forgetting both the scuffle as well as the fact that he hadn't been the one to sneeze. Must be a twin thing.

  A brief sadness from Jace's human floated across his mind. An old memory of having packmates who weren't siblings, but almost as close. And then losing them. Jace huffed a tiny agreement, then tipped his nose into the air to catch any scents. They were still on the pack property, and perfectly safe. Technically, he wasn't on patrol today, but it was second nature to check for any danger regardless. Especially when he had pups with him.

  Especially when he had his pups with him.

  His human made another noise at that, but it wasn't quite as argumentative as it had been. Caitlin and the pups had been here for over a week now. Jace still longed to see Caitlin in her wolf form, but she steadfastly held out against that. In fact, she and Jace been doing that funny little dance around one another while in their human forms. They avoided one another, yet they longed to be together at the same time.

  Jace hmphed to himself again. She was his mate. She had to be with him. There was no other question about the matter.

  Oh, there are lots of questions, his human said. Many questions, and I don't know how to answer them.

  No need for questions, Jace immediately thought back. His human always overanalyzed. Mate is everything.

  On that decisive note, Jace said to the twins, "Time to go back to the den now." Before what he quickly had found out would be a predictable chorus of sweet protests at his order, he added with a playful lash of his tail, "Last one there is bunny rabbit for the day. Go!"

  Yipping with glee, the pups tore off through the woods, veering around fragrant pines and the slim white trunks of aspens as they raced and tumbled back toward the den. Jace had figured out that offering the pups any kind of encouragement when a potential meltdown was in the works generally seem to divert pup drama. He came up with the daily game: bunny rabbit versus jackrabbit. Every day, he somehow managed to get the twins to race from one point to another, whether it be the den to the back grounds of the property, or a lookout point at the far reaches of pack property to a secret little cave that he showed them one day. Whoever was the slowest that day was the bunny rabbit, and would end up as a snack. Whoever was the fastest was the jackrabbit, and got away for the day.

  It was absolutely ridiculous, and he never would play such a game where other wolves could overhear. But the pups loved it. Therefore, Jace did it. He'd seen the pure truth of one thing during the past week. The thing he kept trying to get his human to understand. Playing with the pups felt as natural as breathing. He was meant to do this. Now all he had to convince Caitlin. And his silly human, who thought too much for his own good.

  Ignoring the dark murmurs of his human drifting through his head, Jace leapt down the hill, racing through the beautiful spring day through the forest that was his home, chasing after his pups.

  7

  Caitlin reached her arms up luxuriously over her head, arching her back away from the couch in a long stretch. "Ah, that feels so good. I was sitting at the computer much too long today."

  Lily, seated at the other end of the couch, lifted a glass filled with red wine in a little toast toward Caitlin. Caitlin clinked hers with Lily's. The pups were already asleep in the room next to hers, just down the hall. This was another chance for some girl talk and simple relaxation, sans interruptions from her darling offspring.

  "I don't know how you do it," Lily said, taking a sip. They were seated in the living room, which was actually an enormous, gorgeous sitting room in the pack den. "I have to admit that if I had a sedentary job, I would go insane. So would my wolf." Lily's eyes glowed just little bit as she said that. Her wolf must be looking out of them in agreement.

  "Oh, I definitely get enough exercise.” Caitlin chuckled. “My wolf demands that. But I have to balance everything carefully. The twins make it relatively easy. They love to play, we go on runs at home all the time. I'm glad they're getting as much exercise as usual while we're here."

  She thought of the wolf who was keeping her children so well entertained during their stay here. Yet again, she felt that little flush rise to her skin. Oh, for heaven's sake. Lately, every time she thought of the man, she blushed like an idiot.

  Mate, her wolf whispered in her mind, teasing note in her voice. Mate means blush. Must mate with mate.

  Caitlin snorted. Her wolf side didn't often pay much attention to the nuances of being human, such as blushing in the presence of a man who every day was making her knees knock and her thoughts become more and more dirty. The wolf side of shifters was far more primal, and accepting of certain facts in life.

  Such as sex.

  Lily's eyebrows raised. She regarded Caitlin over the rim of her glass another sip of wine. “I know what you're thinking,” she teased. “You can't hide it from me anymore.”

  Before she could go on, Jace himself walked into the room.

  Caitlin's breath caught in her throat. He wore gray sweatpants, a black T-shirt, and sported both the damp hair and clean scent that said he'd just come out of the shower. In a ridiculously hormonal daze, she figured he'd been working out in the den's gym. The rest of her thoughts scrambled at the sight of him striding in, clearly heading for the sideboard to pour himself a nightcap. He drew up short when he caught sight of Lily and Caitlin sitting on the couch, both of them staring at him. Caitlin knew she had to look especially idiotic, because her mouth was hanging open. Well, really, what else was she supposed to do? Being as every single muscle he had flexed beneath the clothes he wore, and that he looked nothing short of a hot, sexy wolf with some pent-up emotion going on beneath the surface lending a rough edginess to his mere presence, she couldn't help it. Caitlin felt her mouth dry and her nipples tighten.

  Mate, her wolf thought. Mate with mate.

  For a long beat nobody said a word, until Lily broke the silence. Placing her wine glass down on the table, she stood up, shot a quick look at Caitlin, and said, "Well, it's past my bedtime. You two have fun." She quickly left the room, giving Jace a playful, light punch on his shoulders as she passed him. But he was so involved in staring right back at Caitlin he didn't even respond.

  After another long, almost awkward silence, during which Cait
lin's wolf leapt through her mind in unbridled excitement, Jace finally said, "Hi."

  His voice came out low. Dark. Insanely panty-wetting.

  For heaven's sake.

  "Hi," Caitlin returned in a bright voice. Great. If this was going to be the extent of their conversation, they clearly were off to a rip-roaring start.

  Jace padded the rest of the way over to the sideboard and pulled out one of the thick, crystal decanters. Quickly and efficiently finding the appropriate bottles, he set about making himself a drink. "Do you want another glass of wine?" he asked, not looking at her.

  Caitlin nodded before remembering he couldn't see her. "That would be lovely." Her voice somehow was steady.

  She stared at him transfixed as he walked over to the couch, carrying his drink and the wine bottle Lily had left over there. He kept eye contact with Caitlin as he approached. Without once looking down, he gently set his drink on the table, opened the wine, reached for her glass, and poured. Caitlin didn't break the eye contact either, not even to stare down at the wine that she was sure should be splashing onto the table instead.

  "Just tell me when," he said, still sounding utterly conversational.

  Startled out of their little staring contest, she looked down at her glass and quickly said, "When."

  He stopped pouring, handing her glass to her. She took it, noting that not a single drop had spilled anywhere. Looking back up at him in some amazement, she asked, "How on earth did you do that?"

  He shrugged as he corked the wine bottle, set it down, then settled himself on the far end of the couch. "Just a trick I learned in my travels."

  The casual, almost formal note stayed in his voice. But the richness of his voice, the overwhelming clean scent of his body, just his presence—all those things threatened to make Caitlin light-headed.

  Her panties definitely were wet.

  She tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach and her wolf whirling around her head with a tizzy of interest and demands. Doing her best to not shiver at the tension sparking between the two of them, she asked, "Where did you go?"

  He glanced at her with those intense eyes of his, taking a sip of the amber liquid in his glass. "Go?"

  "On your travels. Before you came back here. The pups keep telling me that you've seen a lot of 'neat' places and done a lot of 'cool' things." She smiled as she remembered their enthusiasm each time they told her stories about their time spent with Jace.

  A quick, indulgent smile flashed across his face. Was he thinking of her pups right now? Yes, her wolf insisted. Mate. Loves pups.

  Caitlin forced her face to remain expressionless she waited, not really expecting him to respond. But he did.

  "All over the world, actually," he said. He ran his hand over his head for a second, lightly rubbing his temples as if he might have a slight headache. "Started out pretty easy. I went down to Mexico first and spent maybe a year in the jungles and on the beaches. From there, I just kept heading south through Central America, South America.” He smiled at an old memory. “There are all sorts of cool shifters down there. Those packs are a lot more wild than the ones up here. Not that many wolves, either."

  "Really?" She was genuinely interested. "I've met a couple of the bear clan and big cat shifters around here, but you know we all don't mix very much.” She shrugged. Different shifter types tended to keep to themselves. At least, the Black Mesa Pack did. “What kinds did you meet in South America?"

  Jace seemed to relax more as he kept talking. "Mostly leopards, jaguars, cougars. Even a few ocelot shifters.” He grinned, shaking his head a bit. “The cultural differences are really cool. I learned a lot."

  "Such as all your fancy moves that the twins love talking about so much." She sipped her wine as she watched him. Heaven help her, she was having a really hard time keeping her eyes off of his broad chest.

  "Yes," he said quietly, looking away. "I did. Fancy moves, and a different way of looking at life. I needed it. I was a mess when I went down there."

  She hadn't expected him to open up to her like this. Cautiously, as if she were stalking a deer that would bound away the second it scented her, she said, "What do you mean?"

  Jace glanced back and caught her studying his abs. She jerked her eyes back up to his, feeling the flush rise from her collarbones up her neck and all across her face, even to the tips of her ears. A slow, knowing smile slowly lifted one corner of his mouth. The electricity between them smoothed and dissolved into a long, liquid moment. Caitlin felt it throughout her body, washing through her in the unmistakable sensation of arousal.

  Another silence held them before he replied. "I was an angry kid. I lost my parents when I was really young, and it was brutal."

  Caitlin almost held her breath waiting for him to go on.

  "The Black Mesa Pack took me in. Alpha himself and his mate took me into their own family. Back then, though, I couldn't appreciate what they were doing for me. Sure, I had a best friend, and we got into lots of trouble together," he laughed a little bit, "mostly because I was always looking for trouble. But I never felt like I fit in, and I was just—angry all the time.”

  Another pause. Caitlin kept perfectly still, waiting for him to continue.

  “When I was fifteen,” he finally said, his deep voice quietly filling the room and pulsing through her body, “I took off. I left without telling anyone where I was going. But Alpha managed to track me down when I was somewhere in the jungles of Mexico." He shook his head in respectful admiration. "Alpha has contacts all over the world. I really had no idea what I was throwing away when I left. One of the strongest packs in the country, one of the smartest, most fair alphas in the country to learn from, a stable life. And what did I do?"

  Caitlin heard just the slightest touch of censure in his voice. But it was old, as if it was a battle he'd long ago fought. Still remembered, but only slightly.

  "I almost threw it all away.” The deep voice still rolled through her, brushing against her nerve endings. Lighting little fires along her skin, and it was just his voice. “He knew I was acting out, so of course he didn't cast me from the pack. He had alphas from Mexico all the way down to the tip of South America keeping an eye on me. I didn't know that at the time, course.” Jace snorted and took another small sip of his drink. “I would've run away from everyone and not gone near another shifter for a year if I'd known. He kept an eye on me, let me grow up and become the man I needed to be on my own, and then one day when I was ready, he called me."

  "He called you himself?” She smiled, feeling ridiculously pleased with Jace. “He offered you a job as a Guardian. He knew you were ready."

  "Yes. I was gone for thirteen years, Caitlin.” Jace regarded her with those eyes, deep and wild with something her wolf insisted she get closer to. Another shiver rippled down her skin.

  “Thirteen years it took me to figure out a lot of stuff,” he went on. “And to find the mentor I needed. Alpha understood he couldn't be that mentor for me. He cared about me, but he had to focus on the pack. And I need to find a mentor who didn't have a pack to worry about. Someone who could solely focus on one lost, angry, sad little wolf pup. My mentor was a lone wolf.” Jace laughed a bit. “It was the perfect match."

  "A lone wolf?" Caitlin asked. She set down her wine glass on the table. Her hands had started trembling under the weight of Jace's gaze, his presence, and she didn't want to slosh her wine. Or let him know that she was trembling from the undercurrent of aroused nerves racing back and forth between them. "I can't believe one took you under his wing."

  Lone wolves made a conscious decision to live without packs, but still retain some basic tenets of their protections. They weren't anti-pack by any means, unlike rogue wolves. However, lone wolves tended to want to be on their own in general. Most of them had few friends in the shifter world, let alone mates.

  Caitlin abruptly wondered how much Jace had decided to take after his mentor.

  Jace nodded. "I learned his story over the years. He'd bee
n pretty lost, just like me. But he saw something in me that he was never able to make for himself. A chance. The chance to actually go and give back. Besides," and now Jace very carefully, very gently set his own drink down on the table beside Caitlin's, "he also told me that he knew that I was not meant to be a lone wolf. That I was not meant to be alone at all. He said I was meant to be mated. I was meant one day to have a family."

  The air between them was so charged that Caitlin wondered if her hairs would begin to stand up on end. She knew her wolf was glowing out of her eyes. Her entire body was a wild combination of liquid desire and crackling energy. It felt crazy and unfathomable.

  It felt completely perfect.

  "I didn't like hearing that,” Jace went on, still capturing her with his eyes. “It scared the hell out of me. But I came back here." His eyes seemed to turn even darker with what she recognized was a desire that matched her own. "I came back here, and not two weeks after I start my new life here but I meet my mate. And her pups.”

  The only sound Caitlin could hear in the silence after those words was her own heart hammering against her chest.

  “And guess what?” Jace's voice, slow and molten, wrapped around her. “Despite myself, I really like all three of them."

  Caitlin wasn't sure if she was still breathing. She had no idea how to respond. Despite the mate bonds tying her to this wolf she'd just met, the mate bonds that truly did make her feel comfortable in his presence, at this very moment she couldn't read him at all.