Wolf's Promise

by Elyce de Reefe

  Aaron watched the delicate movement of her throat as Lyla swallowed and looked away.

  “I see.” Her scent roiled with anxiety, bordering on panic.

  Not good. He’d been hoping…

  He took his foot off the brake and continued down the road. Lyla continued to gaze out the window.

  “And would any… moon person do?”

  Aaron gritted his teeth. This was where she was supposed to take back all that “we don’t suit” bullshit. He sucked in a deep breath. “Well… I guess. So long as the bond takes—”

  “The bond?”

  “The bond is what protects you.”

  Lyla finally looked at him, and Aaron tried not to hold his breath. “What happens if I don’t… find someone?”

  “Lyla, I’m taking you to my pack house. You are under my protection. You will be safe there. I promise.” He cleared his throat. “I know you—” No, don’t say that, shit-for-brains. Don’t remind her she thinks you’re an idiot.

  Aaron sucked in a deep breath and let it out.

  “I will keep you safe until you do.”

  “Until I… find a mate?” Her voice squeaked and panic was even more prominent in her scent.

  “I promise.”

  Aaron forced his face to remain impassive. Maybe she didn’t think he was a candidate for that, but he’d change her mind. And if he couldn’t— he pushed that thought aside. He couldn’t think about her with someone else.

  He turned Lyla’s car onto the long wooded driveway of that led to the pack house, feeling sick. Thank the Maiden Jesse wasn’t home.

  Chapter 8

  Lyla looked up from her contemplation of the trees outside the passenger window, blinking rapidly. A large white colonial rose up out of nowhere, gleaming in the early morning light. Set in a small clearing, surrounded by a picture-perfect lawn, it felt like its own little world.

  “This is the pack house? It’s nice. What does that mean exactly, anyway? Does the whole pack live here?”

  “That’s right. Well, most of us. My Alpha, Lucas and his brother, Gage. Mari… and Jesse. And me. We all live in this house. Cray and Elizabeth have their own place down that driveway.” He indicated a second driveway splitting off to the right. “They’re mated.”

  Several outbuildings bracketed the property, and Aaron turned her car into the first one they reached, a giant six-car garage.

  The door to the house opened and a tall man with longish dark hair just brushing his shoulders stepped out. With that coloring and those cheekbones, he was obviously at least part Native American. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, a woman followed him. He whipped around and growled something at her, attempting to push her back in the door.

  “Get out of my way, you stupid-hairy-Neanderthal— Aaron! Aaron,” she called, peering out from behind his bulk. “Are you all right?”

  The man glanced around at them, and the woman took the opportunity to shove him bodily out of her way. “Cray said you were hurt.”

  The woman strode toward them like she was on a mission, the man hot on her heels. She wasn’t tall, exactly; probably a little shorter than Lyla’s five-nine, but her upright posture and no-nonsense attitude gave her incredible presence. This was no shrinking violet, and she was headed straight for Lyla. Lyla shrank back instinctively, but the woman thrust out her hand.

  “You must be Lyla. I’m Elizabeth.” She gave Lyla a quick, firm shake and then gestured with her thumb over her shoulder. “That’s Cray. Welcome to Rabbit River.”

  “Elizabeth. You can’t welcome her to the pack,” Cray growled.

  She whirled around. “I didn’t. I welcomed her to the— place.” She gestured around. “The house. Oh, never mind.” She turned back. “Aaron, answer me. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Elizabeth.”

  “Yeah, you look fine.” She shot Lyla a tight, annoyed smile. “Here, Lyla, let’s get you guys inside. So Cro-Magnon man here can relax.” She rolled her eyes in Cray’s direction. “Do you have any bags?” She reached past Lyla and opened the back door, pulling her bag from the back seat. Cray stepped up and took it from her.

  “Oh, you don’t need your hands free to fight off the bad guys?” Elizabeth hissed the words at him through her teeth. Apparently, she and Aaron had interrupted a major fight. Cray grimaced but didn’t respond.

  Aaron cleared his throat. “Elizabeth,” he called.

  She glanced at him, and her mouth tightened. Then she put on a fake, sweet smile. “Yes, Aaron, what can I do for you?”

  “You don’t happen to have anything ready to eat, do you? I’m starving.” Aaron looked gray. He stood with his forearms braced on top of the car. Elizabeth huffed out a breath and then her expression softened.

  “Of course, Aaron. Come in the house.” She turned to Lyla—who had been just standing there frozen to the spot, watching this whole scene play out—and tucked an arm in hers.

  “Come on, Lyla, the guys don’t really want us outside—” She turned and directed her words right at Cray, who was hovering next to them. He tightened his lips but again held his tongue. Elizabeth gave him an almost imperceptible head jerk toward Aaron, and then pulled Lyla toward the house.

  “So, Lyla,” Elizabeth began. Lyla tried to turn and check on Aaron, but Elizabeth gave a little jerk on her arm and Lyla’s gaze shot to her in reflex. “Don’t look,” she mouthed silently. “So, Cray tells me you live here locally. Have you lived in the area long?”

  “Oh. No.” Lyla murmured, wondering what this was all about. “I moved up about a year ago.” She fought the urge to turn and check on Aaron. She tilted her head slightly, hoping for a peripheral view, but Elizabeth gave another sharp tug on her arm.

  Lyla shot her a what-the-fuck look. Elizabeth gave a slight shake of her head. Lyla felt a little like Lot’s wife, but she wasn’t stupid. Elizabeth didn’t want her to look back. Fine.

  They entered what seemed to be a very well-appointed mud room, with hooks for jackets and a bench with cubbies under it for shoes and boots. A washer and dryer and a long folding table lined the opposite wall. Nice. The far door opened on a short hallway with a closed door almost directly across from them and three more doors down the hall to the right. But they turned left, and wow. Talk about nice.

  The space opened up into a large great room with cathedral ceilings, and a huge stone fireplace directly opposite them. Along the left side was a gorgeous state-of-the-art kitchen. On the right was what she assumed must be the front door, bracketed by large windows looking out on a covered front porch and the valley below.

  Lyla moved farther into the room to get a better look out the windows. The view was breathtaking. A pristine river valley spread out before them, its lush green meadow gleaming against the darker tones of the evergreens surrounding it.

  “Wow.”

  “I know, right?” Elizabeth grinned at her. “Mari,” she called, “come meet Lyla!” She drew Lyla toward the kitchen.

  “Are you hungry? Let me get something started for Aaron. He looks like he’s about to fall over.” She lowered her voice. “I was hoping that if you didn’t look, he’d let Cray help him in.”

  Lyla sat at a stool on the kitchen island while Elizabeth bustled around the kitchen. “Well, I wouldn’t say no to some coffee, and maybe a piece of toast.”

  “Oh, I’m sure we can do better than that. Good, here’s Mari.” Elizabeth grinned wickedly at a very pretty, petite young blond woman emerging from the hall they’d just exited. “Mari, come meet Aaron’s girl friend.”

  Lyla felt a little twist of guilt at that introduction, but she wasn’t sure what to say. And then the moment was lost as Cray and Aaron came in, and the women went to work getting food together.

  Fifteen minutes later, they were all seated at a large table in the corner, eating eggs, ham steak, toast, and a truly excellent zucchini bread. Elizabeth hadn’t skimped either, scrambling more than a dozen eggs into a large skillet— and she and Cray had eaten alr
eady.

  The three of them had worked together getting the meal ready, Mari and Elizabeth moving with easily familiarity, leaving Lyla feeling awkward and out of place. She didn’t know where anything was and didn’t know what to do. Elizabeth took pity on her and set her to making coffee and putting the frozen zucchini bread into the oven to heat. At least she could do that. And set the table. Nice to know she had some skills to fall back on.

  Aaron had spent the time on the phone and in hushed discussion with Cray. Mari seemed tense and worried. From certain comments Elizabeth, who Lyla judged to be around her own age, had made, she seemed protective of the younger woman.

  Aaron finally pushed back from the table after literally shoveling food down his throat. He must have eaten at least eight or ten eggs by himself. Lyla had eaten maybe one and some toast, along with a piece of that delicious zucchini bread. She didn’t think Mari had eaten more than one egg either. Elizabeth stuck to coffee, but Cray seemed willing to finish off anything that might go to waste. At least Aaron seemed to be getting his color back.

  “Okay, Aaron. Spill.” Elizabeth leaned forward, intent. “And don’t give me that, “don’t worry, we’ll handle it” macho bullshit either.” She put air quotes around the words and did a pretty terrible impersonation of Aaron’s voice, which made him smile.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.” He shot Cray a look, grimaced, and turned back to Elizabeth. “I caught three members of the Mont-Tremblant pack outside Lyla’s house early this morning, intent on abducting her and bringing her back to their Alpha. As a mate.”

  “Good God, that’s—”

  “Archaic. I know. That kind of thing went out of style back in the Middle Ages. But— things are getting… well, things are pretty unsettled right now among the People. That’s why Lucas left his old pack. You know Marten, their new Alpha—” he broke off, shot a glance at Mari, made a little face, and continued, “he killed Gavin, Lucas’s father. And then his mother.”

  Mari stood abruptly, her chair crashing over. “What?”

  Cray seemed to be torn between attempting to shoot daggers at Aaron with his eyes and soothing Mari. He got up and righted her chair, then gently ushered her back into it with soft words. But Aaron was focused on Elizabeth. And Lyla.

  “That’s why we need to keep Lyla here. She’s not safe out there.”

  “Right. Of course. She can stay as long as she needs.” Elizabeth gave Lyla’s hand a little pat, then winced. “Um… I mean… What did Lucas say?”

  Cray remained hovering over Mari, lightly rubbing her back and glaring at Aaron. And growling low in his throat, which she didn’t think he was aware of. It didn’t seem to be helping Mari relax. Interesting dynamics here.

  “Lucas has accepted my claim.”

  “Oh, well then.” Elizabeth smiled brightly at Lyla. “That’s settled.” She glanced over at Cray and Mari and rolled her eyes. “Cray, stop that. You’re making her nervous.” She made shooing motions with her hand. “Go sit down.” She slipped her arm around the smaller woman, who was sitting next to her. “Mari, we’ll talk about this in a minute, okay? I’m sure Lucas has a plan for this.” She turned back to Aaron. “So what’s the plan?”

  “They’re on their way back now. They should be here in about five hours. There’s no reason to think Marten, or any of his flunkies, know about us. They were focused exclusively on Lyla here.” He met her gaze for the first time since they’d started eating, and Lyla felt a jolt. Did he know something? Suspect? Then he glanced back at Elizabeth and then Cray. “As long as she stays put, there should be no problem.”

  “But you said they would track me.” From across the table, Mari made a little choking sound. Aaron grimaced.

  “Well, maybe it would be best if you stayed inside. And keep the windows closed.”

  Lyla felt her stomach flutter. That didn’t sound good.

  Cray stood up. “Everyone is staying inside. We have working perimeter alarms, and nothing has shown on them so far. We’ll just hunker down here until the rest of the pack gets back. No problem.” He patted Mari awkwardly on the shoulder. She flinched slightly. “Don’t worry, Mari. Everything’s going to be fine.

  “Aaron,” he said, in a completely different tone, “can I see you for a minute?” The two men stood and headed toward the hall. They opened the door there and went down what appeared to be stairs to the basement. There was moment of silence as the three women sat around the table, looking at each other.

  Then Elizabeth rubbed her hands together. “Well. That was special. Come on, let’s get you settled in, Lyla. They’ll hash it out.” She slipped an arm around Mari again. “Cray’s just very protective of Mari here.” The two women shared a sad smile.

  Elizabeth gave Mari a look. “Come to think of it—they all are. You slut, you,” she said, rocking the younger woman slightly with her arm. They both laughed. “It will be fine, Mari. I didn’t know the thing about Lucas’s parents either. You know how they are.”

  Mari took a deep, shuddering breath. “I know. Sometimes I just— forget. They all had lives before we met them.”

  Elizabeth grinned. “Yeah, but they weren’t anywhere near as good as they are now.” The two shared a smile, but Lyla could tell Elizabeth wasn’t really as light-hearted as she was trying to seem.

  “So, Lyla, tell us everything. Where did you meet? Our Aaron is a handsome bugger, isn’t he? And sweet too. Did he just sweep you off your feet?”

  Lyla had to smile. She had a feeling she was going to like these women. A lot. But first she needed to clear up one little thing. “Um. Can I ask you what might be a rude question? Are you guys—” She took a deep breath and just said it. “Human?”

  That cracked them up. But it was nice to confirm she wasn’t the only one.

  They were upstairs in what Elizabeth called her old room a little while later when Cray’s bellow rang through the house.

  “Elizabeth!”

  Lyla jumped, but neither of the other women seemed the slightest bit disturbed.

  “Up here, Cray.”

  Pounding footsteps on the stairs had Elizabeth and Mari smirking at each other. Lyla hadn’t quite figured that out when Cray burst through the door. Elizabeth wiped the smirk off her face, giving Cray a remarkably innocent look.

  “Yes?”

  He glanced around once, inhaling deeply, then seemed to relax.

  “Nothing,” he grumbled, backing out the door and closing it quietly.

  Elizabeth actually giggled, and Mari shook her head at her. “You are evil. You should not enjoy that so much.”

  “I know. I really shouldn’t.” Elizabeth didn’t look one bit repentant though. She turned to Lyla and gave a helpless little shrug. “He gets nervous if he doesn’t know exactly where I am. Especially now. He’s been like this since he got off the phone with Aaron this morning. This thing with the other pack has him really rattled.”

  She turned to Mari, giving her big eyes. “I should not be enjoying this. Really.” Her eyes got wider. “This is serious.”

  The two women dissolved into helpless giggles. Okay. These girls were definitely a little silly. But fun. And so welcoming. Lyla had never felt so instantly accepted. It was like being included in an exclusive club—human female verses male werewolf. Or Moon People, as they liked to be called.

  “If you really want to get them going, call them werewolves,” Elizabeth had said. “Works every time.”

  “Why is that?” Lyla wanted to know, but the other women just shrugged.

  “I get the impression it’s derogatory,” Elizabeth offered, but that was it. There had to be more to it. Aaron had acted like it was two separate things, but how could that be?

  They spent an enjoyable morning discussing how it was that each woman came to be involved with the pack, and Lyla’s story, as wild as it was, wasn’t even the craziest. Lyla couldn’t imagine what it had been like for Mari to wake up in a strange house after being beaten half to death, and find herself with these guys�
��complete strangers—who insisted she stay, so they could keep her safe.

  And Elizabeth, innocently walking through the woods, only to find herself surrounded by wolves that suddenly turned into men—naked men—let’s not forget that part, who then informed her that she was coming with them. Whether she wanted to, or not.

  At least Lyla had known Aaron a little before she found out what he was. She hadn’t had any fear that he might hurt her. As long as he never discovers I’m a witch, anyway.

  A cold little draft skated up her spine. She shivered. What would happen if they did find out? She tried not to envision the reaction of a pack of wolves discovering they had an enemy in their midst. It was not a pretty picture.

  Instead she chatted with the women, getting to know them and helping them put together lunch. It was later, when they were getting dinner started, that she let slip she’d fed Aaron Lean Cuisine when he’d asked for food. The poor man must have been wishing like hell he’d been right here in this kitchen. The two women just stared at her for a moment. “Lean Cuisine?” Elizabeth looked at Mari for a pregnant second, and then they erupted into laughter.

  Mari was slapping her leg and Elizabeth wiped tears from her eyes. “What did he say?” The words were almost a wail. “Oh, God, I wish I had seen his expression when you whipped that out. Can you imagine, Mari?” More laughter. Lyla had to admit, it was funny in hindsight.

  Cray spent most of the day in the basement, where they had some type of security monitoring system. Aaron had been sent to bed right after breakfast, so for Lyla, it was a little like being thrown into the deep end of the pool. Sink or swim time.

  Chapter 9

  Since it had been on the back of her mind the whole day, she thought she should have been more prepared when it happened. But she wasn’t. A silver SUV squealing to a stop in the back announced the arrival of the rest of the pack. Everyone seemed to enter the house through the mudroom, which was right next to the kitchen. Lyla heard the door open and several pairs of feet clomping through the room next door.