by Delta James
“What do you mean... other than us or this girl up in Maine?”
“Yes, over in Europe. Catherine says that a couple of girls showed up at their vineyard right outside Florence claiming they’d been abused by a pack of males and a masked woman had set them free.”
“Did she wear a cape too?” laughed Roz.
“That was my initial hit, but Catherine insists it’s true. Ashley, the midwife/nurse practitioner in Catherine’s pack confirmed the abuse. There has also been a report here and there of kidnapped women showing up at packs who are part of our little circle. The first few talked about a woman in a mask and then they all shut up. Whoever she is, she doesn’t want anyone to come looking for her.”
“How is DeMedici taking that... a rogue female putting herself in danger?”
“Better than when it was Catherine, but he doesn’t like it. Neither does Dylan. And Dylan doesn’t like that there’s not a lot more chatter about her. They can’t get a read on who she is or where she’s working out of.”
“Sounds like our kind of girl. Any chance Catherine can find something out?”
“She’s trying,” said Skylar quietly, “but Marco is still pissed about the whole Netherlands incident.”
“I don’t know how you handled it, but Oliver was snarly for a week... and I was up with Mason Daniels and his pack.”
“What was that like? You know his mate was once at Bae Diogel.”
“Dani? I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to her but she seemed a lot like you. She did ask that I give you her regards and remind you that the two of you said you’d get together for a girls’ weekend at some point. As for Daniels, he’s a bit of a stick in the mud, but I renewed my friendship with the mate to his beta, Alisha. She got turned in an attack made on his household so she’s wolf now. We met and became friendly when we were both on our own before she was turned. We had a couple of nice long talks. All and all, I think you, Catherine, and Maddie had way more fun.”
“Perhaps, but you didn’t end up with a welted backside.”
“Wanna bet?”
Skylar laughed. “Jesus, Roz, what did you do?”
“As I said, Daniels is a bit too old-fashioned for my liking and Oliver didn’t think I was very respectful.”
“Were you?”
“Oh, hell, no! I might have made a better case for myself if I hadn’t been fending off several male members of their pack with my knife when Oliver got there.”
“You are incorrigible.”
“I know,” Roz sighed. “It’s part of my charm.”
“I think for now we keep quiet about all of it.”
“I agree. Any word from Catherine about her sister?”
“None. She’s trying to focus on being happy about the baby, but I know it eats at her.”
“Understandable.”
The two friends agreed to keep in closer touch before disconnecting. Roz hoped if and when this all came out she would be able to bring Oliver around to understanding why she’d kept silent.
* * *
Ava felt better having talked to Bess. The older woman was kind and reminded her in some ways of Bethan. There was the same kind of resilient gentleness. And like Bethan she believed in the way their society was structured. Perhaps they believed because they were older or because they weren’t alphas. She sighed. In some ways she wondered if it wouldn’t have been easier to just accept and submit if she hadn’t been born to lead. She had to admit that looking back, the women in her pack seemed happy and thrived within the pack system. She shook her head. It wasn’t for her.
She walked by her computer as it alerted her she had an incoming message. Sitting down, she opened it to be surprised by an acceptance on her bid for the job with the State of Maine. It was an easy job for good money.
So far, money had not been an issue. After her expenses to get her out of Wales and from Kansas City to Maine, she had not had to touch her nest egg and had been able to start making investments again to keep it growing.
Ava filled out the completion paperwork and accepted the offer from the State. She got a standard reply form acknowledging receipt and assigning her a game warden with whom to work... Declan Collins!
* * *
Declan smiled all the way back to the house. If she’d seen the acceptance of her bid for the wildlife study, she ought to be fit to be tied. Elizabeth was smart. It wouldn’t take much for her to figure out he’d engineered her getting the job.
It hadn’t been hard. His supervisor, Tom Walker, had asked him about a bid coming from his home address. Declan had explained the tech was renting his carriage house. He then offered to be the liaison as it would be so easy for them to work together as they were already in close proximity to one another. Tom had agreed that there was an efficiency of time and money in that arrangement, and with Declan’s endorsement of the bidder and the fact that she had submitted a very competitive bid, he had awarded her the contract.
Now that he had her tied at least to the area, he needed to figure out just how to go about moving their relationship from landlord/tenant and colleagues on a project to lovers. Declan shook his head. No, not just lovers, but a committed couple. It surprised him that he was so drawn to Elizabeth within such a short time span. There was something about her that seemed to call to him. He shook his head as he realized for him a life with Elizabeth wasn’t an if, but rather a when... and he had yet to have more than two brief conversations with her.
Declan had to admit it was more than just wanting to make love to her or have her face down over his knee while he spanked her. He wanted so much more. He wanted to be her protector even though she seemed to have little need for anyone to provide that. He wanted to be her partner in crime so to speak and in love. He wanted her up at the house and in his bed on a permanent basis.
* * *
So he thought he’d maneuver her into being reliant on him for her income. She’d show him. The contract was a nice paycheck but not nearly that of some of her other clients. Ava intended to do an excellent job. Her own sense of pride in her work ensured that, but she also knew that steady government gigs would mean no worries about an ongoing stream of income.
Ava began to go over the information and data that was provided for the wildlife study. She would, of course, have to interact with Declan. She had to admit there were worse things in life. She found him very attractive for a human. It was a shame he was also her landlord. But then again she had only paid for six months. Her original plan had been to move to a new location every six months or so... staying under the radar and out of the pack system.
When Bess had confirmed there was no real pack in the immediate vicinity, Ava had felt more secure in her surroundings. However, renting a place from a game warden might not be her best idea.
Ava did all of the preliminary work she could do on the data collection. She then sent her preliminary file to Declan in an email, asking that he review her work done thus far and let her know his thoughts.
Ava was feeling restless. The storm had stirred her up inside. She desperately wanted to shift and longed to run along the cliffs here at the estate and down along the beach. However, with Declan due back some time later today she didn’t dare risk it. But there was nothing stopping her going back down on the beach as a human. Grabbing a heavy sweater, she pulled it over her head and pulled her hair back. She left the warmth of her cottage and headed back down to the beach.
She made her way carefully down the path. The storm was now at its peak and the ocean’s waves crashed on the rocks and the sand with wild abandon. Ava stood out on the sand with her arms stretched open wide and her face lifted to the storm. It took everything in her not to howl with the elemental power that it was to be a wolf.
* * *
Declan checked his email and read Elizabeth’s note. Smiling to himself, he dashed off a note in response. He let her know that he felt her raw data and the small insights she had extrapolated were on point, but that he felt a face-to-face meeting
to go over both the data and the conclusions she had drawn strictly on that data might be augmented if combined with his own in-field observations. If she thought she was going to brush him off, she had another thought coming. He wandered into the kitchen and found Bess standing at the back door looking toward the beach.
“Wild and wicked storm out there,” he said.
“Yes,” she nodded. “But apparently not bad enough to keep our tenant off the beach.”
Declan strode forward and spotted Elizabeth embracing the storm. “The fool. She could catch a nasty chill or worse,” he said in an angry tone.
Bess smiled. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you get so aggravated at a tenant before.”
“We haven’t had one who stood on the open beach and let the rain and waves beat the crap out of her. Jesus... is she walking down into the waves? Doesn’t she know they could sweep in and knock her off her feet? Shit!”
Declan grabbed a jacket and sprinted out into the storm. Having grown up on this craggy cliff, he easily negotiated his way to the beach even with the wind and rain trying to make his progress difficult.
“Elizabeth!” he shouted as he got to the beach. There was no response. “Elizabeth!”
He ran toward her. Remembering her reaction the last time he’d come upon her, he called again. This time she turned and looked at him. The look in her eyes was feral and primitive.
“What are you doing out here in the storm?” he asked as he approached her.
“Reveling in it,” she said seductively. “And you?”
“I came to take you back inside. You could catch your death of cold out here exposed like this.”
Elizabeth looked down at her clothing.
“Exposed?” she laughed. “Hardly. If I was exposed at the very least I’d have my tits showing.”
Declan was taken aback by her confrontational demeanor. He stood for a moment and then decided. If she wanted to be prickly or pick a fight with him, he was going to stand his ground. She may as well learn from the get-go who was going to be the top dog in their relationship. He shook his head and tried not to laugh. He really had to get a grip. They had yet to spend any time together and he was already feeling as though she was his and would answer to him. Something deep within her touched something just as deep within him.
“Much as I wouldn’t mind seeing you that way, I think we need to wait for a sunny day. Come along now, we need to get out of this weather.”
He extended his hand, clearly expecting her to take it. Instead Elizabeth laughed and in a single move removed her sweater and the t-shirt underneath it. Declan could only stare as she reached down and unfastened the front closure of the bra she was wearing, pulled it off, and threw all of it at him.
She opened her arms wide again and spun around on the sand. The rain had picked up and was now pelting her skin; it didn’t seem to even faze her. She had no modesty and continued to dance half naked in the raging tempest. While he was certainly enjoying watching her breasts sway with her beaded nipples taunting him, he knew he needed to get her out of the storm, dried off and warmed.
Declan shook his head to try to clear his thoughts. He could feel his cock hardening. What he really wanted was to pull her into his arms and take her back to the carriage house. Then he wanted to warm her by fondling her luscious curves and suckling her. His mind’s eye quickly envisioned stripping her of her leggings, tipping her over his knee, and spanking her beautiful bottom before he put her on her back, parted her thighs, and claimed her as his.
Where had that thought come from? He’d seen beautiful women before in various stages of undress. There was something about Elizabeth that made him feel primeval. It was almost as though he was standing before some creature conjured by the storm and his most primal desires. He wanted her and she knew it. What he wasn’t sure she understood was that she wanted him too and once he claimed her, he had no intention of letting her go.
He saw her smile triumphantly at him. “See something you like, Declan?”
No doubt about it... Elizabeth knew exactly what she was doing and was enjoying his discomfort.
He nodded his head. “Most definitely. You are quite beautiful, but then I think you know that.” He threw her sweater at her; she threw it back.
“I’m fine just the way I am.”
“Are you?” he said. “And here I was thinking you had too many clothes on for my liking.”
“Do I?” she asked in a husky tone of voice.
Declan nodded. “And if you don’t put the sweater back on, I’m going to think you want me to take you up to the carriage house, help you out of those wet things and into bed.”
“Planning to join me there?”
Again he nodded. “If not today then at some point in the future.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Declan. I decide who, when, where, and how I fuck. Right now the storm has turned my libido up on high and I’d much prefer to use a strong, well-made cock to a vibrator. If you don’t mind being ridden hard for the rest of the evening, you’re welcome to join me.”
She lifted her breasts as if in offering to him before spinning around and making a run for the national forest land that abutted the estate, her laughter trailing behind her. Declan gathered her things and gave chase.
Chapter Eight
Ava ran, trying to increase her lead. If she could get far enough, she would strip and shift. Declan had yet to make the forest. She would be better able to hear him when he did... or perhaps he wasn’t chasing her after all. Perhaps he too felt she wasn’t worth the effort. She was starting to slow her stride when she heard him enter the woods.
Her heart soared at the sound. He had given chase. The question was did she want him to catch her? And why did that prospect fill her with joy?
Once again, she increased her stride and made her way behind a large rock outcropping. Quickly she shed her remaining clothes and shifted into her wolfen form. Freedom! She sprang back out into the woods and howled. Had she been human she would have laughed at Declan’s pained expression.
“Elizabeth!” he called.
Unless Ava was wrong, he sounded quite concerned.
“Elizabeth! Where are you?”
Ava ran, giving him a wide berth as she hunkered close to the ground in order to watch him.
“Elizabeth!” he shouted.
Declan was no longer running. Ava could see he’d begun to track her. She hadn’t counted on that. Ava realized she was going to have to shift back and confront him. Unfortunately, she now realized he had all of her clothes as he stooped down to pick up the last of them from where she had stripped.
“God damn it, Elizabeth,” he muttered under his breath.
She howled again, causing him to startle and spin toward her. Ava sprinted back toward the beach. She may as well get in a good run. She gloried in the freedom her wolfen form gave her. She could lose herself in just feeling instead of having to think. As she ran along the beach, she ran in and out of the crashing waves, biting and snapping at them in the pure joy of being in the elements and being able to embrace them.
Ava ran the entire length of the cove’s beach and then turned to run back along the cliff side before bounding up the path to her cottage. She looked around quickly before shifting back into her human form. She stood for a moment, glorious in her nudity, and inhaled the salt air deeply.
She scented him before she heard and sensed his presence. She felt him more keenly than anyone ever before. Not even Griffin had had this strong of an effect on her. But it wasn’t Declan’s presence that reached past her, flung open the door, and ushered her inside with a sharp slap to her backside. It was the man himself... in the flesh.
Ava stumbled forward, but Declan caught her by the arm as he stepped into the cottage and closed the door behind them.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he demanded.
Ava found herself unable to speak for a moment. His very being threatened to overwhelm her. She was uncertain what she shou
ld do. Then her aggressive nature sprang to the forefront. How dare he speak to her that way?
“I was thinking I wanted to dance in the rain until you showed up all nervous Nancy. Then I offered to fuck you, but that didn’t seem to be what you wanted so I went for a run,” she said, trying to cover her momentary lapse of composure.
“Naked? Do you often run naked in the woods?”
“Why? Would you like to join me... or did you just want to watch? You seem good at watching. Was that the problem with my offer? You don’t really want to fuck, you just want to watch?”
Ava watched his emotions play across his face. She knew she was treading on dangerous ground, but didn’t care. No, that was wrong, she did care perhaps more than she wanted to. But that was insane... she barely knew the man. And yet ...
Declan made a low, rumbling noise from deep in his chest. The feel of it slammed into her with the same energy and power with which the storm-tossed waves were pounding on the rocks outside. She tried to take a step back, but Declan’s hold on her arm prevented her from putting any distance between them.
No, this couldn’t be. The call of a fated mated had always been described as feeling as though wildfire was running through one’s veins. Ava hadn’t wanted to believe in a fated mate as she didn’t believe she had one... that she was worthy of one. That was one of the reasons she tried so hard to forge a relationship with Griffin.
She could feel the electricity rushing through every system in her body. But this wasn’t possible. Declan was human. He didn’t even know how to growl. Could he even form a knot and if he could, would he know what to do with it? There was nothing right about any of this. She didn’t even like him. She could never be meant to be with a mere human. She belonged with an alpha wolf. Maybe Ioan had been right. Perhaps her destiny lay as mistress to a pack outside of Calon Onest.
Declan rumbled at her again and gave her a little shake. Again, much to her dismay, Ava could feel the sound racing throughout her whole being.
