by T. L. Reeve
“Gotta be careful with that shit,” Mackenzie groused. “Riley’s done it a couple times, too.”
Aurora winced. “Ouch. Anyway...” She glanced at the stove clock. “It’s almost nine. Abby should have been in bed an hour ago, but they’re having so much fun.”
Mackenzie glanced into the living room. “They are. I’ll help you get her ready.”
“Thanks,” Aurora replied. “I’ve had a good time tonight. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Mackenzie nodded. “We did, too.”
Mackenzie stood at the door and watched as Aurora and Abby drove away. Her scent still clung to everything in the house. It drove him insane. The idea she belonged to someone else, tore at his wolf. With the way he was feeling, he couldn’t stay inside. He needed to clear his head and hopefully, clear Aurora’s scent from his senses. However, he did leave the door open to keep an eye on everything. He glanced over at his children who were shutting down for the evening. When the games were put up and the television was off, Riley entered in the kitchen and loaded the remainder of the dishes into the dishwasher. After she was finished emptying the sink, she kissed his cheek and headed up to her room.
Liam followed shortly after.
He didn’t know how long he stood there, staring out at the night sky, willing the riotous emotions to quiet down, but when he was sure he’d settled down some, he stepped back inside and proceeded to lock up the house. In the last few days, his life had slowly begun to spin out of control. Add in Aurora and Abby, and he worried he was going feral. Fear clogged his throat. What if he already was? It would more fully explain the lost time. He had to tell Kalkin. Mackenzie trusted his brother and knew he would have to put Mackenzie down if it got out of control. Riley and Liam would go to Royce and Charisma, and he’d finally be at peace.
Mackenzie headed to his room. His body felt heavy, and his mind still swirled with so many unanswered questions. He pulled his clothes from his body and fell face-first into bed. Maybe a few hours of sleep would help him gain some perspective.
Or, at least, he hoped it would.
Chapter Four
Aurora let out a weary sigh as she began to wash the last of the dishes she’d left to soak before heading to Mackenzie’s house for dinner. The night had gone well for her and Abby. Her niece loved Riley and liked Liam; of course it might take him a while to warm up to Abby. She chattered longer than was usual for the little girl, making it hard to get her into bed. Mackenzie on the other hand, she worried about him. He was so alone. She saw his despair in his eyes and felt it down to her bones as well. He’d been through a lot in a short time.
Blowing a wayward strand of hair out of her face, Aurora worried about his memory loss. He didn’t remember being a wolf, or licking her, or...or biting her. The lock of hair floated back into its original place and got caught in her eyelashes. She grasped the end and tucked it behind her ear while scrubbing the batter from the bowl. For whatever reason, the plug for the sink didn’t hold the water and it left the utensils caked in the mixture. Just something else to bring up when I pay the rent.
The pie pan she’d brought home from dinner would have to soak. The cooked apples, sugar and cinnamon were stuck on the metal pan like glue, didn’t that figure? After wiping down the countertops with a concoction of lemon oil and a few other things that were safe to handle around Abby, Aurora pulled the trash bag out of the can and tied it up. She hated going out this late at night, without any kind of protection, but she worried about the apple peels and remaining pieces of sugar would cause all kinds of ants to invade the house. Bad enough when her upstairs neighbor didn’t take theirs out, she got fruit flies.
Aurora shuddered in revulsion.
The one thing she detested living there as opposed to living in Washington, was the number of bugs hiding in every nook and cranny. At least in Washington, the cold weather kept the creepy crawlies at bay. Arizona teemed with a variety of six and eight-legged creatures along with scorpions or those dang gila monsters. The damn lizards scared the shit out of her. The fact they were venomous did nothing to endure them to her, either.
She slipped on her shoes then opened the front door to step outside. The night air was cool, not nippy cold like it was back in Ellensburg. She glanced out at the bin area to make sure it was clear before closing the door behind her and heading down the stairs. Because of the late hour, she’d been mindful of the other residents in the small apartment complex, Aurora made her way to the dumpsters located at the back of the lot, in a fenced-off area. Funny how they didn’t seem so far away from the building during the day, but at night, with little to no light illuminating the area, it felt like forever before she was lifting the lid and tossing her trash in.
As the lid came down with a soft thud, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Her skin tingled, and her body vibrated with the distinct sensation of being watched. Aurora licked her bottom lip as she did a quick scan of the area. She strained to hear any noise coming from behind her while also glancing down at the ground for shadows. When she came up empty, she blew out a breath and chided herself for being so paranoid. Got yourself worked up for nothing.
Nevertheless, a prickle of awareness sparked to life once more as she stepped out of the bin area. Now, with the light in front of her, the area was temporarily awash in the glow of the bright safety light, illuminating the parking area. She shielded her eyes then grimaced when the stench of rancid trash hit her nose. Ugh, so gross.
Instead of sticking around to see if someone would magically pop out of the shadows, she double-timed it to the staircase leading to the second floor. As she hit the third step, a stick snapped in the distance, and she tensed, ready to run if need be. She glanced over her shoulder, desperate to calm her erratic emotional state, but she couldn’t see it—whatever it was out there, watching her.
“Who’s there?” When no one answered, she called out again. “I’m warning you, I have a gun. I will shoot you and then call 9-1-1. This is a stand your ground state. I wouldn’t mess with me, buddy.”
Silence greeted her.
It was unnerving. Her heart hammered. Her hands trembled. Whatever lurked in the shadows was still there. She could feel it with every fiber of her being, watching her... Waiting for her to make the wrong move, and then bam, it’d pounce. Aurora scrambled up the stairs as if the devil himself was at her heels. When she reached the landing, she stopped, sure she’d made it to safety. She pulled her keys from her pocket and positioned them between her fingers to use as a weapon just in case. If whoever chased her was ready to fight, well, she’d get down, too. He, she, or it, might inflict its damage, but she’d make sure she did her own, too, to make it easy to find the suspect.
A whimpered whine came from behind her, and she stilled. She’d heard that noise before. Aurora glanced over her shoulder as a shadowy four-legged creature stepped out into the dim light. She let out a sigh of relief then laughed. It was a harmless dog.
No, scratch that, it wasn’t a dog.
It was a big fucking wolf, one Aurora knew by sight, even after only seeing this particular wolf one time. Mackenzie’s wolf sat on the black asphalt of the parking light, watching her. His tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth, and his eyes were a bright, clear shade of blue. He yipped at her again in greeting while he continued to watch her. What was she supposed to do? Did she go inside and hide, or did she go back down the stairs and say hello? Would it encourage him to keep coming back? Did she want him slinking around like a Peeping Tom?
Deep down, this man, this lone wolf called to the deep recesses of her soul. Even knowing who it was, Aurora was smart enough to remain where she was. His family wasn’t around to protect her, and from the conversations, she’d overheard, Mackenzie could be unpredictable. Hell, the man didn’t even have any memory of what he’d done to her during the Halloween party.
Who was she kidding?
Mackenzie’s actions the night of the party hadn’t scared her one damn bit. If
she wanted to be truthful with herself, he’d turned her on. Big time. Days later, she remained achy and needy. Her clit throbbed at odd times, like right then and there. Aurora’s panties dampened, and the ache became a persistent pulse of energy building within her. However, she couldn’t admit any of it at the moment, especially with the wolf continuing to watch her.
Urgh! He needed to go. If he stayed any longer, Aurora knew she’d be tempted to go back down the stairs. The only thing preventing that was her sleeping niece. If Abby woke, she’d be looking for her, Aurora couldn’t be found outside frolicking in the woods with the shifter. Even though that’s what she wanted to do.
It sucked always having to be the responsible one.
Aurora placed her hands on the old, battered wood railing and leaned over to whisper to the wolf below, knowing full well he’d hear her. “Go home, Mac, it’s late.”
Instead of leaving, Mackenzie laid down, his big head resting between his big paws. His long, pink tongue licked slowly at the bare patch of skin on his leg. Images of him using that tongue on her sex, had Aurora moaning in need. The wolf stopped mid-lick and cocked his head to the side while he watched her. His eyes were filled with hope and arousal.
Aurora squared her shoulders. Whatever he had planned couldn’t happen. Not there. Not outside. Not now. Abby’s bedroom window was close to where she stood. She didn’t need the little girl waking up, coming to find her, and seeing Mackenzie. The little girl would talk incessantly about the late visit. She closed her eyes to steady herself then said, “Mac, please, just go home.”
Mackenzie didn’t leave. If she thought the damn wolf had a rational bone in his body at the moment, she’d been sorely mistaken. He lifted his hind leg and began licking himself. Of course, only his wolf would think cleaning his balls at a time like this would be perfectly normal.
She snorted.
“Stop that.” Her cheeks flushed, not from embarrassment, but from desire. She’d gotten a glimpse of Kalkin Raferty’s private area the night of the party, and had wondered, not for the first time, if his older brother was packing the same-sized equipment as her boss.
Mackenzie stopped, one of his ears was raised and the other went down almost as if he used them for radar. He appeared contrite, and she fought back a smile before trudging back down the stairs and over where Mackenzie sat in the parking lot.
“Why are you even here?”
Mackenzie met her near the stairs, stopping inches away from her feet.
“You know you’re not even going to remember any of this, right?” She reached out to him. “You sure as hell don’t remember nipping me.”
He didn’t reply, instead, he nuzzled her palm.
“You’re such a pretty wolf,” Aurora cooed.
Mackenzie preened and pushed insistently at her lap.
“Hey,” she grumbled. “None of that now, Mac. Knock it off.”
Aurora used her hands to push his massive head away. He was determined, and within seconds, he’d pushed her thighs apart and as embarrassing as it was for her to admit, was smelling her sex through her jeans. Again, it shouldn’t have turned her on. Yet, it did. A lot. “Yeah, like this is completely normal. I can’t even meet a man under normal circumstances.” She frowned, knowing full well the wolf understood her.
He groaned long and deep between her legs. The vibrations caused Aurora’s core to clench in need. The second he left, she was going to her bedroom and using the little vibrator she’d bought a couple of years ago when she’d resigned herself to being alone. She may be single, but she sometimes had needs, just like any other woman. Although, it rarely happened. However, when it did, the pink plastic toy adequately took care of those needs. That is, until the party.
In fact, for the longest time, Aurora considered herself to be an asexual. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, she just didn’t have the same desires as others did. Didn’t find people, men or women, sexually attractive? Sure, it could have had something to do with Abby and being in and out of hospitals for months on end. Or the sheer amount of energy it took to raise her niece which left her drained and blah. Now, after meeting Mackenzie, she wondered if maybe she’d been wrong. Was she sexually confused? Lost? Alone? If she ever voiced it, would she be shunned or worse, laughed at?
The wolf twirled around, facing away from her in a blink of an eye, drawing her attention back to him. The hair on his scruff stood on end. He’d heard something or someone before she had. She’d been so lost in thought, she hadn’t been mindful of her surroundings. A low, warning growl filled the wolf’s chest, and he bared his teeth in warning.
Aurora instinctively knew he’d rip anyone who came near to shreds if they weren’t friendly, and had she been on the other end of his wrath, she’d have peed her pants.
A bright light shone directly into her eyes, and she threw up her arm to block the beam. “Aurora? You okay?” A gruff voice she swore she recognized came from a few feet in front of her. “We got a couple calls about a large wolf in the vicinity.”
“Logan?” She shielded her eyes again and grimaced at the smell, still unable to see much of anything other than the outline of a man. If it was Logan, like she assumed, she’d only worked with him on a couple shifts while she’d been in training. From what she’d seen and heard of him, he was a nice man
“Shit.” The bright light clicked off.
She blinked, and it took her eyes a second to adjust. “It is you.”
“Sorry, Aurora.”
“No worries,” she replied.
Logan’s gaze dropped to the wolf at her feet. His brows scrunched up as he took in the large animal. “Who the fuck is that?”
The wolf growled, and Aurora had to fight back a giggle at the deputy’s slip from a professional police officer to an everyday man. Seemed her wolf was an overly protective bastard, and Aurora didn’t care. It felt good to be protected for a change, instead of always being the protector.
“Just a poor lost puppy looking for some scraps,” she lied, shrugging off his question.
Logan snorted. “That’s not a fuckin’ puppy, Aurora. That’s a full-grown wolf! I don’t recognize him.” The deputy reached for the mic attached to his shoulder and started to speak into it.
“It’s fine, Logan. Honest. He’s harmless.” Considering her boss was the head Raferty and brother to the wolf at her feet, she didn’t want to cause any issues for Mackenzie. The poor man already had enough on his plate.
Logan stopped speaking into his shoulder. “Do you know him?”
“He’s not unfamiliar to me,” she admitted. “He’s just visiting, and I wasn’t in any distress.” Aurora made sure to use the lingo she’d been picking up at the department during her training, hoping it would ease whatever worry the deputy may have.
“He’s a shifter,” Logan stated, as if she hadn’t realized.
Aurora nodded while making sure to keep her lips firmly zipped. She also wondered if Logan was a shifter, too. She knew the man had shown up with a woman named Sage to the party, but they’d left when the kids had gone to Danielle’s house for movies and the others had gone for their run. She’d have to ask Keeley if there was some sort of shifter etiquette about asking if someone was one or not. She knew the town was heavily populated with a variety of shifters, but there was still a strong human presence in Window Rock, too. And, in all honesty, she couldn’t tell who was human and who was a shifter.
“Abby okay?” Logan made another attempt to move closer to her, and Mackenzie was having none of it. He let loose with another growl of warning. Logan frowned at the wolf and raised both hands in surrender while stopping mid-stride.
Mackenzie sat down once more, keeping his back to her, watching the other man.
Aurora smiled at the deputy.
Logan had met Abby just the other day when Aurora had to hand in the last of her hiring paperwork the other day. Logan had generously given the little girl one of his two chocolate chip cookies he’d purchased at the bakery. He now had a
fan for life with her niece.
“She’s asleep.” Aurora stood and brushed the dirt from the steps off of her butt. “An example I need to follow since tomorrow is officially my first shift.”
“I’m sure we’ll be talking again later. I’m on the night shift a couple more days this week.”
Aurora nodded, aware the other man had no intention of leaving until the wolf did. She ran her fingers through the coarse hair of the animal’s back, then leaned forward to whisper in his ear. “If you want him to leave, you gotta go also, handsome.”
The wolf turned his head and his long, pink tongue ran across her cheek before he trotted off, back into the woods. Aurora felt the loss of the wolf’s presence, and if it wasn’t for the fact that Abby was asleep, Aurora knew she’d be half tempted to follow him. “Goodnight, Logan. I’ll see you, tomor—er rather, I’ll catch you on the late shift.”
She headed back up the stairs without waiting for Logan’s response. Aurora pushed open her door and stepped over the threshold. She didn’t have to turn around to know the man was still there, waiting for her to close the door behind her. Aurora couldn’t fault him, he was, after all, protecting the town and its residents. Just like she protected Mackenzie’s secret.
Wait. What? Where did that idea come from? Protect Mackenzie? Not likely. He’d scoff at the idea of her trying to do anything to keep his secret from getting out.
Aurora locked the door behind her and went straight for the sink. Not only did her hands smell like rotting garbage, but she also had wolf on her and, though it cut through the yuck, it also made her yearn for things she couldn’t have. After washing her hands twice, she shut off all but one light in the kitchen. Abby sometimes went searching for a drink in the middle of the night, and they’d both learned the hard way, walking half asleep in the dark was a hazard to their health.
