A born fighter. Or one trained in a very nasty pack where underhanded, dirty fighting was the norm.
Rawlins blocked too late. Caleb clipped him hard on the side of his head, sending him spinning away to land on all fours right at the edge where the mat met the hard concrete floor of the shed training gym Caleb had set up behind a friend's business in town. But he sprang up again so quickly, despite slightly swaying on unsteady feet, ready to come at Caleb again, that Caleb was once more impressed.
Damn it all.
Caleb had called Rawlins back to accept his offer after Ree's quiet yet pointed note that a potential client shouldn't be kept waiting too long.
Being a grown up was frigging annoying at times, but it sure was a hell of a lot better than being the idiot of the pack who made stupid mistakes all the time instead. His wolf huffed at that, affronted, but kept his main focus on Rawlins.
“Hold,” he snapped, breathing hard.
Rawlins stopped, taking equally fast, shallow breaths, his cold eyes never once leaving Caleb's. Man, talk about a lone wolf.
“No.” Caleb shook his head. “Don't breathe like that. You'll pass out. Breath in deep but carefully. If you make yourself pass out, you're not gonna win anything.”
This was their third session in as many days. With each one, Caleb had grown more quietly impressed with Rawlins's natural fight talent, as well as the deep-seated knowledge that the man was hiding something. Damn if he knew what, but he was keeping a close eye out for any trickery.
Rawlins finally responded. He'd been mostly silent during the entire session, which unsettled Caleb more than he would ever admit. His wolf had paced and paced all morning in agitation, finally driving Caleb nuts enough that he shoved the wolf to the back of his mind. Yes, he needed the physical skills of a wolf predator while training. But he also needed the thinking skills of a human predator. For that, his wolf needed to simmer down.
His wolf sulked only a little as he was banished to a back corner of Caleb's mind. His eyes, however, still peered out of Caleb's with what he knew was a slight golden glow.
“Perhaps I would win by the element of surprise, were I to pass out during a battle.” Rawlins's voice was a smooth as Caleb's was gravelly, as cultured as Caleb's was forceful and direct.
Caleb paused. Then he narrowed his eyes. “Was that a joke?”
Rawlins didn't crack a smile. “Yes. Couldn't you tell?”
Damn, the guy had a great deadpan.
Sleet slapped the shed door and rattled against the eaves. Caleb breathed in steadily himself. A Colorado winter, with its usual fickleness of cold and sunny one day, cold and blustery the next, was actually the perfect time to train. It gave those restful from forced inactivity a way to blow off steam. And it cooled hot heads.
That was something Caleb had learned a hell of a lot about in recent months. He had to admit, life was little easier when he didn't go off half-cocked. It sure made things easier when it came to Rielle, too. He allowed a single image of her soft lips, sweet smile, and soothing words to flash across his mind before he firmly pushed it away. Focus on the present.
This week, the week between Christmas and New Year's, was also great one for training because there was little traffic in town to distract him or his fighters. The pack was all in holiday celebration mode—Caleb had been on so many joyous pack runs in the moonlight lately it practically was making him forget he was also human—and the rogue wolves who'd been harassing his pack for the past year hadn't been seen or heard from since the fall.
In other words, it was the best time of year to train a fighter. And maybe the best time of year to figure out this particular fighter's hidden agenda. Because Rawlins had to have one. Caleb knew it. No way the guy would turn to Caleb, who'd almost gotten him killed last summer, for help otherwise.
“Huh,” was all he said in reply. “All right. Set up again. From the top. You need a much stronger left hook. Let's work on that for a while.”
“We already worked on it for nearly an hour.” The shed door rattled again from the force of the wind in ragged accompaniment to the former rogue's slightly challenging words.
Rawlins didn't sound too concerned, but Caleb's hackles raised anyway. He forced himself to shrug. “Doesn't matter. Do as I say. You're paying me to train you, right?”
Rawlins nodded. Without warning, he came at Caleb again, who parried with ease. Deep down, though, that tickle of being impressed stirred again. Damn it. Fine. Luke Rawlins was alpha pack leader material through and through, no matter the fact that Caleb still didn't really trust him. He wouldn't give up, and he was deadly serious about learning to fight better.
Caleb guessed that meant the guy's new pack had a quarter of a chance of being a successful pack. Maybe half a chance if the guy was really lucky.
The two wolves fought for another half hour, warming the shed and sweating buckets.
“Not bad, Rawlins,” Caleb gasped out at one point when his opponent finally managed to knock him off his feet, though he leapt up again almost immediately. “You're finally learning without wondering why the hell I'm asking you to do what I'm asking.”
“And you're finally teaching me without wondering what the hell I'm up to,” Rawlins replied in his smooth voice, drawing Caleb up short. Something dark and edgy underlaid the words. Almost like a challenge.
Caleb slowly circled the edge of the mat, keeping Rawlins firmly in his sights. Rawlins did the same. A car door slammed outside. Ree, here to pick him up because his car was in the shop. It must be nearly five. He caught a faint whiff of her scent. His wolf prowled forth from the dark corner. As usual, his protective instincts went into overdrive when she was around, even though she hadn't even made it inside yet.
Driving snow, the nearby river, a myriad of town scents, and Rawlins' own slight tension spilling forth into his biting sweat all played havoc with Caleb's sensitive nose. He usually filtered out smells unless he was specifically hunting, but when his mate was around, ever sense he had was on full alert.
Rawlins was looking at him with something Caleb couldn't figure out. Almost as if he was—assessing his opponent. Sizing him up. And not just because they were training.
Well. There was only so much restraint a wolf could handle.
“Nope,” Caleb said, watching Rawlins closely. “I'm still wondering what the hell this is all about.”
“Penny for my thoughts, then?” Rawlins taunted him with the words, but his voice was totally steady. Calm. Waiting.
Caleb snorted. “More like a plugged nickel in your case.”
He was taken completely off guard when Rawlins busted out a laugh. A genuine laugh. He sensed Rielle quietly come into the shed through the side door, gently stamping off her snow boots on the welcome mat just inside. But she didn't say anything to distract either man.
Well, hell. Rawlins actually looked like a regular guy when he laughed. Almost someone Caleb might want to play poker with someday.
Maybe. If he was feeling particularly adult that day.
Rawlins studied Caleb with a suddenly razor sharp examination, his icy blue eyes taking in every detail and seeming to look into Caleb's bones. Caleb knew that sort of look well. It wasn't that of a fight adversary sizing up the immediate scene. It was that of an alpha sizing up the entire, extended scene. Rawlins was trying to figure him out. His hackles raised just slightly as his wolf pushed through his restraints and bounded to just beneath the surface of his control.
But he did have control.
“People were quite right about you,” Rawlins finally said.
“How's that?” Caleb asked suspiciously.
The wind snapped something outside with a crack and all three wolves started. Caleb instinctively took a step closer to Rielle, even though logically he knew there wasn't any real danger.
“You do have an excellent sense of humor,” Rawlins said, still watching Caleb closely.
That took Caleb by surprise. He sensed Ree's sudden relaxing as she dispelled her breath.
“You are also an excellent trainer. You balance your client's needs with your knowledge of what they must do in order to succeed.”
Caleb's poker face slipped at all this praise. Rawlins noticed and raised an eyebrow. “What? I give commendation where it is due. You also,” he added thoughtfully, “think very well on your feet and do not attack without a plan. I can see how you must have been an excellent Guardian, Caleb.”
It was the first time Caleb's name had passed Rawlins's lips. But the comment before that gnawed at him. He heard Ree's pulse speed up just a bit, and the scent of her sudden spike of worry wafted over to him.
“Well, I sure proved that I can attack without a plan sometimes.” Caleb's voice snapped, although his face was firmly set again. “That would be the reason I'm no longer a Guardian.”
Rawlins's next words slammed Caleb's world right off its axis.
“But you can be one again.”
“What the f—” slipped out before he caught himself. Ree hated it when he swore. But a quick glance revealed her similar shock at the other wolf's words. “What are you saying?”
Rawlins stood a little straighter. His gaze bored into Caleb's, who stared him down right back. Rawlins twisted his lips then and shook his head once, hard. His next words dragged out of him with a hesitance Caleb recognized. It was the reluctance of stating a difficult truth a wolf didn't want to admit, but had to. “I'm saying, there is a pack that needs Guardians. It has none at the moment. It only has me.”
Caleb heard Rielle's quiet intake of breath at the same moment the understanding of Rawlins's words hit him.
“And I'm the pack's Alpha, not a Guardian,” Rawlins went on, his alpha gaze not letting Caleb go. “But you, Caleb Bardou. You are a Guardian, no matter that your current status says you are not.”
Rawlins paused to let the weight of his words sink into the silence that pounded at Caleb's brain, broken only by the irregular screams of the growing storm outside.
“You,” he went on, “can indeed be a Guardian for this pack. For my pack. What I have seen so far is enough. Caleb Bardou,” and his voice suddenly sounded like sheer alpha as he said the ceremonial words, “you are hereby requested to join my new pack as a Guardian, to protect it against all who would bring it harm. As its lead Guardian, in fact.”
Very quietly, he added, “Please. I ask because I genuinely need your help.”
Silence seemed to suck the air out of the room as Caleb stared at the other wolf in total shock.
He had no idea what the hell to say next.
Chapter 4
After Luke's bombshell offer to make Caleb a Guardian, he retreated to let them discuss it.
“But be sure to let me know soon,” he said just before he left, looking at both Rielle and Caleb. He clearly realized her voice would factor into the decision as well. She'd known he was smart from the first moment she met him. “We have a reprieve now. But once the holiday season is done, I'm afraid our time of grace will be ended.”
Caleb drew his brows together, about to launch into questions, but Rielle took the moment to finally speak up. “I understand, Luke,” she said, although she looked at Caleb when she spoke. “I'm sure there will be a lot of questions we can't even think of right now.”
The rest of that evening and the next day had Caleb and Rielle in a firestorm of talks as the winter storm raged outside. They kept to themselves and discussed every possible aspect. At first Caleb had been naturally suspicious.
“He wants me close so he can keep an eye on me. Keep your enemies close and all that.” His eyes darkened to the intensity of the wind-tossed clouds outside.
Patiently, Rielle said, “That's why Alpha is making Luke's pack an adjunct pack, not one with full pack status. He's keeping an eye on Luke himself. Luke doesn't need to keep his eye on anybody.”
“Not unless he's still in cahoots with his old rogue buddies and this is some sort of plot to murder us all in our sleep,” her mate said in dark tones, throwing out little practice jabs as he paced the few rooms in their home.
Even as she internally rolled her eyes at his dramatics, Rielle couldn't help but admiring his fluid grace as he moved across the floor, almost seeming to float as he mimed punching someone out. Caleb moved like he was made from the air itself, yet also filled with strength and control.
“And you, Ree. What do you think? We'd have to move. You,” he paused. His blue eyes were still generally upset. “You'd have to give up your job. I couldn't do that to you.”
He started to go on, but Rielle stopped him by stepping in front of him and forcing him to halt, even though she hated to curtail his graceful movements. “Caleb. It's a store. Yes, I love it”—okay, she loved it like mad and would hate to leave, but really, it was just retail, for crying out loud—“but it's just a store. Besides,” she said as she dropped a kiss on his chin, the closest thing she could reach by standing on her tiptoes, “all packs need a historian. I'd be the historian for this new pack. Actually, that would be pretty neat.”
Caleb stared at her with the look that said he was awed to have her. Rielle blushed a little. Funny thing was, she felt the exact same way about him all the time. “You're incredible, Ree,” he said, leaning down to brush his lips over hers. That of course intensified into a real kiss, and for long moments they stayed wrapped up that way, Rielle feeling her pulse beating all over her body in delicious little sizzles.
Then he stopped so abruptly she was left cold. He pulled back. Though he still stared at her, uncertainty filled his face. She knew he wasn't thinking about her right then.
“Or,” he started before clamping his mouth shut. She watched as a shadow moved across his expression. Caleb might have an excellent poker face in public. But she'd always been able to see his true feelings. He couldn't hide anything from her.
Her wolf whined, concerned, as Caleb kept silent. His thoughts clearly ricocheted everywhere, though, to judge by the contortions his face went through. Rielle kept quiet, though she had a strong hunch she knew what Caleb was about to say. She'd had the same question herself almost as soon as Luke had made his incredible offer.
“Or,” Caleb finally went on, the word dragging from him like a stubborn nail being yanked from a wall, “this is a final test.”
“A test?” Rielle prompted softly when he faltered again. He looked at her, and her heart pretty much wanted to explode with love and fierce protection when she saw the naked need on his face. The sheer vulnerability.
He nodded and pushed a hand through his close-cropped hair. “A test from Alpha. If I agree to be Guardian for—Luke's”—his hesitation was so quick Rielle might have missed it had she not known him so well—“pack, then maybe it means Alpha will think I'm good enough again to be a Black Mesa Guardian.”
Rielle couldn't help the soft sound that escaped her. She knew it must have sounded too close to pity, because Caleb threw her a stripped-down look that about crushed her soul.
Darn it. She sometimes had a habit of not thinking before she spoke. Or, apparently, just made a random noise.
Despite her best efforts, he refused to talk about it again that night, saying only that they'd talked the damn thing to death. They went to bed restless, and although Caleb held her, she felt the distance between them as yawning as the canyon they had overlooked together in a deeply understanding closeness just days before.
When she finally fell asleep, Rielle dreamed about wolves who taunted Caleb about being a Guardian, laughing rogues, and a hidden betrayal that chased her until morning.
* * *
Hazy light pushed in from behind the curtain over the bedroom window as New Year's Eve day dawned. Caleb moaned in his sleep. Rielle smiled at the sound as it woke her from a deep slumber. The wind outside had died down into an immense silence. She knew without looking it was snowing again, muffling sounds and making their little house a cocoon of safety. Her wolf yawned sleepily in her head, picturing a cozy den shared by her and her mate. Soon after they were mate
d, Rielle had given up her rented house in town to move into Caleb's place on the pack property. She had no regrets about it at all.
Her mate turned and flung one arm over her, pulling her to him in unconscious need. She relaxed into it, desperately needing his touch after the chill that had descended over them the night before. He ran a hand down her hip, igniting the slow flare of desire for him that always simmered within her. Snuggling himself into her backside, his growing hardness pressed into her. Rielle caught her breath, feeling completely melt-y and perfectly at home in his strong arms.
“Ree,” he murmured. She could tell by the sound he was still asleep, but it warmed her every inch to know he thought of her even then.
Her mate was one heck of a wolf, and she was darned lucky to have him. No matter what happened next. Still half asleep herself, she felt her skin heat even more. She slipped her hand back and drew it along his muscled thigh, through the light scattering of hairs on his lower leg, then to the heavy warmth between his legs.
Caleb roused, his arms reflexively tightening around her. His voice breathed out her name again, blowing gently onto her hair where his face nestled. She heard the sandpaper tone in his sleepy voice, felt the heat grow beneath her fingers where she gently held him, squeezing and stroking.
“Ree,” Caleb said with a low gasp, coming fully awake.
“Shh,” she whispered back, still gently stroking him. “I've got this, love.”
“Ah, god,” was his only reply as Rielle shifted around to face him.
Caleb's eyes were a smoky blue, regarding her half-lidded as his breath slowly, gently began to speed up. She smiled at him. The languorous heat in her body simmered higher, coiling low in her belly and spreading tendrils throughout the rest of her. The world pinpointed to this moment, their bed, the soft weight of snow falling outside muffling the world and making them the only two living beings in it.
Rielle's wolf curved her neck and ducked her head in approval as Rielle reached forward to capture Caleb's mouth with her own. He kept his eyes open as she kissed him. The intensity in his gaze ratcheted up her pulse and created a throbbing wetness between her legs.
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