by Ellen Lane
Why shouldn’t she be with him?
It would free more space at Anne’s for the injured, and take the pressure off a woman who obviously didn’t want her there. God knew Anne had enough on her plate without having to worry about a stray human. He’d brought her here. Shouldn’t she be his responsibility?
Even so, he hadn’t intended to touch her. Dump her on the couch, show her the spare bedroom and go - that’s what he should have done. Instead, he fucking fed her and made an excuse to stare at her while she fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze.
They must have both lost their minds. That was the only explanation for how she could have been drawn to him. Humans didn’t sense pheromones like their kind did. There was no way she could know what effect she was having on him.
And yet...she tasted like she knew everything.
Sweet, hot, soft...when she clutched at him with those slender fingers and moaned breathily against his mouth, it had taken everything Solomon had not to drag her down the hallway to his bedroom and have his way with her right then and there.
He always told himself that he could keep his animal in check when it counted, but Georgia brought out the worst in him.
Or was it the best?
For the scant moments that she was in his arms, he was able to forget his troubles. Forget that the Elders were pushing for all-out warfare, that his brother had been horribly disfigured, and that he’d lost a precious pup that could never be replaced. In her arms, he wasn’t a failure...he was just a man.
“You’re thinking about her, aren’t you?”
Solomon met Hunter’s single, knowing green eye as he thrust another log upwards into his arms. In lieu of an answer, he merely glared at his brother. “That’s ok, you don’t have to answer me: just listen.”
Solomon hardly wanted to have this discussion now. Not when his pack members could hear every word. “You know what it means when you’re fixated on a woman like that, don’t you? When you can’t get her scent out of your head and she haunts your every waking thought? When you want to see her more than anything else? That’s the mating bond.”
Solomon barely resisted smacking Hunter down from the wall with the immense tree trunk in his arms. When he spoke, it was in a warning growl.
“Don’t speak when you don’t know shit about it, Hunter.”
To their merit, the wolves helping them were doing their best to feign deafness.
“I do know about it. Every man worth his salt respects the mating bond, Solomon. You can’t refuse that shit.”
“And you would know,” Solomon all but hurled the next log at his brother. “Having been mated yourself?”
“Oh, come on.” Somehow, Hunter managed to keep his head on his shoulders. “We’ve all heard about it. How you’re drawn to someone inexplicably - you know that you’re meant to be. I’ve talked to Lucas and Brant - plus our old man was always telling us that if you didn’t heed the call it would drive you fucking crazy-”
“Enough, Hunter.” Solomon tossed his load to the ground with a grunt, his gaze dangerous. In the next instant, he had dragged his brother down from the building platform and back towards his cabin, heedless of the scene they caused. When they were finally inside, he whirled. “The bond doesn’t fucking exist. It’s just a way for hotblooded males to justify chasing after females in heat!”
“But it’s not just about sex,” Hunter fired back, undeterred. “A bond keeps you together for life, Solomon. Not just for a quick fuck.”
“Are you listening to yourself?” Solomon’s retort was bitterly amused. “That’s what we do, Hunter. We fuck - we procreate. It’s why we still exist - though God knows for how much fucking longer when we’re killing each other faster than we can reproduce. The bond makes sense because it creates pups - that’s it.”
That was how he saw it - how it had always been for him. “Even if I did believe in the bond,” He continued brusquely, “She’s human. It doesn’t work for them. And her chances of having a wolf pup are slim to none.”
“Dad would roll over in his grave if he could hear you right now.”
Hunter’s words were enough to stop Solomon’s tirade in its tracks. When he met his brother’s gaze, the intensity of the disgust he found shocked him into silence. “You’re consumed with being the perfect fucking Alpha, but you can’t even have faith in the old ways. The ones that work - the ones that created us. Hell, Solomon, you know the bond has shit all to do with being human. You’re living proof.”
The words were dangerous.
The settlement was far too busy to hear, and Solomon would have sensed any eavesdroppers, but Hunter was pushing some very dangerous buttons. That was twice in a week he’d thrown Solomon’ parentage in his face in an attempt to make a point.
And what a fucking point!
If the Elder’s found out that he’d even touched Georgia, he’d be in deep shit, and Hunter was talking about mating her? One of the most important duties an Alpha carried out was the creation of his progeny. He couldn’t have pups with Georgia. Without that, he could give a shit all what his randy instincts told him.
At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.
“Get back to the wall.”
He was sure, for a moment, that Hunter wouldn’t obey. In fact, he thought his brother might go for his throat, if the way his eyes blazed was any indication. Instead, Hunter merely shook his head slowly in disapproval. With that, he turned on his heel and left Solomon alone with his thoughts.
He needed a break.
It had been a while since Solomon went on a run. The woods were dangerous now, and he always insisted that no one in the pack should travel alone.
But for now, he needed to be alone.
As he ran, he felt his body break. The forest grew brighter, his senses sharper - and he let his animal have him.
Four powerful legs urged him to the edge of his territory, the instinct to protect it driving him. Though their scent was everywhere, he encountered no Dozier wolves - only the carcasses of the animals they’d slaughtered.
Solomon filled his belly with the remains, dragging some to the edge of a nearby cliff to come back for later, before he started back towards the settlement. He couldn’t be away for too long before his worry consumed him.
He smelled her far before he ought to.
About a mile from the outermost cabins, the wind delivered Georgia’s scent to him. Solomon slowed his run to a loping trot as three figures came into view - nearly half a mile away. They were upwind of him, and Solomon had always been the superior Hunter, so he went unnoticed.
“You didn’t have to come.”
The moment Anne shifted back to her human form, she turned to glare daggers at Georgia as she clambered from the back of another wolf who - Natalia. In the days since he’d kissed her, Solomon saw little of Georgia - she seemed to be avoiding him. No small feat, considering that she now shared a cabin with him.
As Natalia had been kind to her, it made sense that she’d gravitate towards the older woman; but since Anne had happened upon Solomon and Georgia entwined in his living room, she’d grown even colder towards their human guest.
“I want to help.” Georgia clutched her makeshift crutch, hobbling after Anne as the naked woman knelt to pluck a few herbs from where they grew in a nest of shrubbery. “I’m a nurse, maybe I could-”
“You could stay in the settlement and out of trouble. Natalia,” Anne’s tone was accusing, “When the Alpha finds out that you brought her out here, you’ll be punished.”
“Are you going to tell him then, Anne?” By now, Natalia had returned to her human form as well. Despite the fact that he was, indeed, livid that she would be so callous with Georgia’s safety, Solomon couldn’t help a small measure of amusement at the blush that bloomed in Georgia’s cheeks as she looked devotedly at the forest floor. “I rather think he has enough on his plate as it is.”
“I didn’t come out here to babysit humans. I have work to do.”
Solomon couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Anne so angry - but she had to be worked to the bone with all the wolves that had been injured recently.
There was a time, he realized, where his gaze might have lingered on Anne’s bare form. But with Georgia at her heels, his focus was completely diverted. The little human was dressed in a pair of baggy jeans and a t-shirt, and Solomon’s gaze still sought the curve of her breasts - that ample shape of her mouth.
“You don’t have to babysit me. Just show me what you need.” When Georgia advanced on the healer, however, Anne turned so fast the human woman stumbled.
“Need? What could I possibly need from a human? Your kind is weak-selfish and stupid.”
Georgia’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at the nude woman. Hurt flashed briefly in her gray gaze before her expression hardened. “Why do you hate humans so much?”
“Humans become Hunters.” Anne barked. “Hunters kill us - just as surely as Ephraim Dozier is killing us now.” Solomon cocked his head in surprise. Anne had never been so vehement in her hatred of humans before. And to suggest that all humans became Hunters...the mindset was almost as bigoted as some humans viewed their kind.
Considering how little she knew of pack structure, the last thing Solomon expected was the recognition in Georgia’s eyes when Anne mentioned Hunters. The human woman opened her mouth as if she meant to say something else, and then closed it. A long, steadying breath escaped her.
“Anne, you’re at war. You need every hand on deck. I know I’m not a shifter, but I’m sure as hell not a Hunter.” She spoke the words with a conviction that made Solomon’s heart swell with pride. “If you want to hate me, hate me later. For now, just show me what you’re picking.”
For a brief moment, Solomon feared Anne might charge her. Even with his speed, he was too far away to intervene if she decided she wanted to deal serious damage. Instead, Anne merely dropped to her knees, thrusting a finger in the direction of an adjacent bush. “Mugwort. There.”
Without a word, Georgia hobbled over to her side, settled herself into a comfortable position, and started pulling the herb herself.
Solomon watched them for perhaps fifteen minutes more before slinking away, careful to stay upwind as he made a wide circle around them.
It hadn’t even been a week and Georgia had transformed from the frightened human he carried back to the settlement. Circumstanced had trapped her in the middle of a life-threatening conflict, among people owed her nothing. She was injured, and she was scared...but she still wanted to help in whatever way she could.
He wanted to kiss her again.
And this time, Solomon didn’t know if he would stop.
**
Georgia was bone tired.
She couldn’t ever remember being this tired after one of her shifts at the hospital - but then again, Beverly would have a cow if she tried to work on a broken ankle.
But this wasn’t the hospital. Georgia was hobbling around a Shifter settlement, doing whatever she could to help them fortify against the Doziers. When she ran into one too many wolves who looked askance at her request to do heavy labor, she’d gone after Anne. Healing, after all, was what Georgia did for a living.
But she hadn’t counted on Anne being so contrary.
Of course, she’d never been under the impression that the woman liked her - Anne had made it abundantly clear from the moment they met that she disapproved of Georgia’s presence in the settlement.
Georgia accepted that, but it was harder to accept that Anne was against her helping when it was clear she was being run ragged. Though Georgia wasn’t staying in the healers’ hut anymore, she knew there were another two rooms to house the injured, and they were both currently full. Accelerated healing, it seemed, couldn’t help much when the body had sustained massive blood loss - or trauma induced by the severity of the wounds.
Anne refused to let her in to help, but Georgia saw enough through the windows. She wasn’t ignorant to the herbs Anne had her gathering either - mugwort, echinacea, feverfew and valerian root - most of these were simply to numb the pain and help the patients sleep.
If Georgia thought Anne disliked her before, since stumbling upon she and Solomon in his cabin, Anne had been fairly monstrous. Of course, she never lost her head in front of other wolves, but Georgia wasn’t sure she could be alone with the healer anymore.
To her, of course, the issue was plain as day: Anne had given her heart to Solomon.
She saw the way the healer looked at him - the way her eyes followed him every time he passed her cabin. She always looked for an opportunity to speak with him - even if it meant being the bearer of bad news, and when Solomon left the settlement, she was on edge - barking at everything and everyone that crossed her path.
Georgia told herself that it was none of her business. Why should she care who Anne liked? They were both shifters, so there was probably a good chance that Solomon and Anne would eventually end up together…
Even if the notion made her sick to her stomach.
Safe under the coverlet in Solomon’s guest bedroom, Georgia groaned, covering her face with her hands.
What the hell was wrong with her? Just because she and Solomon had kissed once didn’t mean that belonged to her. She didn’t belong here - and she’d be leaving just as soon as the conflict with the Doziers cleared up. The kiss had been just that - a single kiss. The fact that he’d left her without a word and hadn’t spoken to her since spoke volumes on how he felt about it.
Yet, here she was, pining for a man she couldn’t have.
She had officially lost her mind. Georgia had no doubt that if she told Everly what she was thinking, her sister would whisk her to the nearest shrink. She’d been in the shifter settlement all of five or six days, and Solomon was constantly on her mind.
She replayed every moment she’d spent with him, from when he’d first saved her on the mountainside to the way he’s grunted good morning at her when she tried to bolt from the cabin that very morning.
Georgia had learned from her last relationship how naive she was when it came to matters of the heart. She had once mistaken infatuation for love and paid dearly for it...but this...this was entirely different than anything she ever felt for Vincent.
Of course, she used to like when Vincent paid attention to her - she sighed when he called her pretty, dressed up for him and always sought his approval. With Solomon, things were different. It was almost as if her body was more aware of him when he wasn’t paying attention to her.
Georgia didn’t have a wolf’s senses, but she always knew when he was nearby. She felt a tingling in her gut - warmth that spread through her until she was sure it showed on her face. She didn’t seek out his approval - Georgia knew she’d never get it. She was a puny human and he was Alpha of a fucking Shifter clan. She was still trying to figure out why he’d kissed her, how the hell could she imagine anything else?
But imagine she did.
Solomon was only a few doors down.
If the way he darted from one corner of the settlement to the other all day was any indication, she was sure he had been asleep for hours.
She wondered what his bedroom looked like - was it just as cozy of the rest of his house? Did the smell of him - that scent she’d grown to crave - permeate the space? If she snuck in while he was out during the day could she surround herself with that scent so she would always remember the most earth-shattering kiss of her life?
As if in response to her unseemly train of thought, the floorboards beyond the bedroom door creaked. Georgia half sat up in bed, raking her hair back from her face. She listened, hard, for a long beat, until the sound came again.
Biting her lip, she glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was close to three in the morning. What was Solomon still doing up?
Georgia hesitated for only a moment before carefully maneuvering herself to the side of the bed. She felt around for a moment until her hand glanced over the branch she’d been using as
a makeshift crutch.
It took her a good five minutes to get herself upright, but once she did, Georgia made her way slowly from her room and down the hall Inexplicably, her heart leaped to her throat, and her palms grew moist.
They hadn’t spoken for days, but it wasn’t like she planned to incite conversation. She just wanted to make sure that he was alright...that was all.
At least, that’s what she told herself.
The living room was dark save for the silvery light of the moon shining in through an open window. Upon initial glance, Georgia thought that she might have been mistaken and that Solomon was in bed. Houses did creak and groan sometimes, and she might have leaped out of bed too fast -
But then she saw him.
Georgia froze in the doorway, staring across the room at a chair before the dark hearth. There was no mistaking the huge shadow slumped there.
Solomon was slumped over himself, his head in his hands between his knees, hair mussed from running his fingers through it. Moonlight gleamed off the taut, intricate web of scar tissue that covered his bare abdomen and disappeared beyond the jeans he wore, and the corded tension of his forearms stood out in sharp relief.
He was the picture of an intimidating warrior.
Of course, Georgia had never doubted that, but she had never really stopped to think about it either. How hard it had to be for Solomon to endure when everything seemed to be against him. He had the livelihood of fifty or so people resting on his shoulders, and he was facing violence that no human in their right mind would intervene in.
He was massive, and he was fierce...but he was also under a shit ton of pressure. A warrior would lash out and rip everything within arm’s length to pieces. But Solomon didn’t. He snapped and snarled and growled, but he held strong.
His people needed him strong.
There was no way she could even attempt to be silent on her injured leg, so Georgia gave up all pretense of stealth and made her way across the room to him as carefully as she could.
Considering the racket she made, she was surprised half the shifters in the settlement didn’t hear her - but Solomon didn’t lift his head. Not even when Georgia stood above him - close enough for the spicy, enticing scent of him to envelop her. Gently, she set her makeshift crutch aside as she stared down at him.
