“Of course you don’t. You don’t know anything about anything, I’m sure, exactly the way your father probably wanted.”
“I’m not sure what it is you think we did, but whatever it is, it has to be imagined on your part. My father never broke any laws.”
Vic entwined his fingers again and again, and stared at her. Seriously?
She obviously believed that. That doe-eyed expression and wan complexion hinted to her being stunned, but he didn’t understand how she could possibly be. A woman of twenty-nine wouldn’t have been so clueless about her pack’s modus operandi. Vic’s little pack never made itself out to be anything but what it was—a group of unwanted losers who made their money doing dirty work. More often than not, they were on the right moral footing, even if they weren’t on the right side of the law. Ashley’s pack, though—there was no way to ignore what its leaders did. Too many people went missing, too many assets mishandled…too many wolves out in the streets, being turned away with empty hearts and empty pockets.
His father probably had his reasons for not telling Vic that Ashley was from their old pack before he’d run the checks. They’d been expelled along with all the other Eurasian wolves that had found safety in the group for so long. Maybe Pop had hoped—like Vic—that Ashley would go to Anton, Darius, or Colt, and the Carbones could pretend they didn’t know nothing about nothing.
Funny how the Fates work.
“Let’s just get this out of the way, shall we?” he asked. Might as well get it over with. Once mates showed up in response to a call, they rarely left, and if she was going to play dumb, he’d humor her.
“The bite, you mean.”
“Yep.”
She pushed the mug farther back on the overturned milk crate he used as a makeshift coffee table and fisted the hem of her T-shirt.
He shoved away from the counter and made his way slowly out of the kitchen and through the living room.
Her breathing sped, and cheeks glowed red as he approached. She may have finished the tea, but his wolf sense of smell said her adrenaline level was through the roof. She might have been still and feigned calmness, but he could read her fear—her tentativeness.
He wasn’t sure what she was expecting from him, but pissed though he was, he’d never hurt her. He might hurt her feelings, but that was to be expected given the Carbones’ history with the Madeira-led wolfpack.
He grated his back molars as he stared at her. The dark, glossy hair swept over one shoulder, the full, pouty lips currently pressed into a tight line, the curious grey eyes that held a glint of terror.
He might have been suspicious of her, but she was afraid of him. Hell of a way to start a relationship, but it was the hand they were dealt. He’d wanted a mate, and had agreed it was time for them to put out the call, but after the life he’d had, he’d really hoping for a mate he didn’t have to work so hard to get along with. Ashley was the worst possible scenario.
He let his incisors extend into his mouth, and before she had a chance to flinch, lifted her shirt and sank his teeth into the unmarred flesh over her high, taut breast.
And then he drew back, pressing her hand to her shirt hem for her to hold it out of the way of the blood.
He passed his tongue over his teeth as they receded into his gums and watched her expression shift from pain to curiosity to…
Nope. Not sticking around for that.
He strode to the patio door and slid it open. “If you feel like you’re going to shift tonight, come on out. Make sure you take off your clothes when it starts, or I’ll have to cut them off you to get you out of the tangle.”
“Don’t feel like you have to do me any favors.”
“I’m not. Don’t worry.” He closed the screen door. Bare minimum was the way he was going to do it. He’d keep her confused wolf-self from flinging herself into any canyons, but beyond that, she was on her own.
He started around the path to his parents’ house. Obviously, they needed to have a family meeting.
CHAPTER THREE
Ashley didn’t remember much about what had happened after Vic bit her besides the fact that she’d been incredibly horny and things were kind of hazy. The horniness wasn’t surprising. She couldn’t have lived to be twenty-nine without knowing at least from hearsay what happened after a female wolf took her mate’s bite. Given the hormone surge activated by her mate’s enzymes, it wasn’t unheard of that she’d want to do her part in marking him, too. Her sex would mix up his scent just as his bite had done to hers.
But, he’d bounced. He’d left the house like he had fire in his pants and didn’t come back, as far as she could remember.
She must have shifted sometime after he bit her, but she couldn’t remember it. She’d woken up nude, curled into fetal position at the back door, and Vic had been in the kitchen—dressed, shaved, and staring at her through the glass as he sipped his coffee.
She’d stomped to the shower, and as she scrubbed the desert dust out of her hair, she cursed him up, down, and sideways.
“Fucking savage.” She tossed a twig from her hair over the shower curtain. “I could have stayed back east and endured this crap. What the hell is wrong with me? I should have walked away the moment he looked at me like garbage. Daddy would have found way to get me home. Daddy would have—”
She stopped scrubbing and let her gaze fix on the gray water swirling around the shower drain.
Vic had said awful things about her father. He’d accused him of being dirty—of treating his wolves badly. Why would he think that? Or rather, what had he learned during his so-called background checks? Her father had done his fair best to keep Ashley out of the loop on pretty much all wolfpack concerns. She wasn’t exactly sheltered, but in hindsight, there was no specific thing about the pack’s business she could speak intelligently on.
She resumed her scrubbing and turned to let the hot water strike her sore back. Evidently, as a wolf, she’d used muscles she didn’t even know she’d had.
“Could it be possible an outsider would know more about my pack than I do?”
If they had a reputation, she wanted to know about it. She wanted to know what people knew about her—the information she’d been shielded from.
She gave her hair one last rinse and nudged the water handle to the off position.
She’d never been a coward—or at least she liked to tell herself she wasn’t one. If there was something going on back at home, she’d find out what it was and make judgments for herself. She could certainly set aside her affection for her father to use rational judgment and common sense. She would have bet that some of the biggest monsters in history were kind to their daughters.
“Where are my suitcases?” She pulled her towel a bit tighter around her chest and held her head up high as she faced Vic in the kitchen.
He eyed her up and down and warmed his hands around his coffee mug. He gave her no words.
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Unbelievable. “I’m sure you saw it all last night when I was writhing around out on the patio with no clothes on. Thanks so much of bringing me indoors and out of the elements, jackass.”
He shrugged. “Best you get acclimated to it. There will probably be a lot of evenings when you find yourself naked and outdoors.”
“Not if I can help it.”
“Well, you’d better get that wolf of yours reined in, then, because last night, you were all over the place, sweetie. Me and my cousin chased you across half the damn canyon, and let me tell you, the canyon isn’t so close to here.”
“Sorry for the inconvenience.” Asshole.
“Your suitcases are in the guest bedroom. First door on the left, down the hall.”
She turned on her heel and growled.
“The ceremonies are in half an hour. I guess you’ll need your birth certificate and photo identification.”
“I’m surprised you still want to go through with it, given that you obviously despise me.” She padded just inside th
e door of the guest room until she found the light switch, and swatted it on. “Jerk.”
“Does that make you feel better?”
“What, calling you a jerk?” She laid the largest of her suitcases on its bottom and popped the latches. She’d tried to pack everything important into those bags and had fretted through both flight legs that she’d left things she’d intended to bring back in her apartment. Her father could have her things packed up and shipped, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to contact him just yet. She needed some time to figure out what was what.
“Yes. Calling me names when you think I’m not in earshot. Your hearing will improve, supposedly. I don’t hold out any hope that anything else about you will.”
“What is your fucking problem?” She rooted through the suitcase corner and found clean underwear…which made her wonder where the ones she’d had on the night before were.
“I’m hoping you won’t be a problem, but I’ve always been a realist.”
“Why did you even request a mate if you planned to be an insufferable shit to her?”
“I didn’t plan on being an insufferable shit, believe it or not.”
“Sure.” She stood, let the towel fall, and flicked her wet hair over her shoulder.
Scowling, he ran his hand over the droplets on his face.
Ha.
She stepped into her panties and grabbed a maxi dress from the suitcase. “I don’t need supervision. Go finish your coffee.”
“I think you do need supervision. Can’t trust what kind of trouble a Madeira will get herself into when she thinks no one is looking.” He backed into the hallway and bobbed his eyebrows. “But, hey. I’ll give you some space to tie your own noose.”
He walked away, and she stood there seething, and twisting her ninety-dollar dress into a wrinkled mess.
What does he mean about Madeiras and trouble? “Hey! Come back here and finish the discussion. If you’re going to talk shit, go ahead and spew it all at once. You’ll feel better when you get it all out.”
She waited. Again, he made no response.
“Ugh!”
She stepped aggressively into her dress, and dropped to her knees to dig a pair of sandals out of her suitcase. Then she remembered what she was dressing up for—a wedding. She was about to marry that asshole.
Her second manic laugh in two days burst through her lips, and she gave her head a shake. “This is what wolves do. Oh my god, this is what we do.”
Mates stayed together, in spite of their incompatibility, because they couldn’t extricate their scents from each other. Reeking of some other wolf was a huge turnoff. Besides that, everyone knew that mated pairs tended to behave more like business partners than devoted lovers. No one really married for love. If she wanted love, she couldn’t look to a wolf to get it.
She drew in a long, bracing breath and wrung the top of her toiletry bag in her hands. “I’m gonna have to marry him anyway. Fuck.”
She couldn’t go home. If she went home, her father would have no choice but to pair her off with someone the day she arrived, and she wouldn’t have the luxury of being choosy. She had another man’s bite.
We could probably postpone the wedding…
At least, perhaps, until they’d worked out their enmity between each other, but it seemed pointless to her. She had a little money to live on her own for a while if she needed it, but when that was gone, there would be no replenishment unless she called her father. She couldn’t let her father know what why she needed it. There’d be questions, and she already had too many of her own already.
She pulled herself up using the dresser’s edge and let out a breath. “I’m so screwed.” Yet, she didn’t even understand what the contention was, and Vic didn’t seem particularly forthcoming about sharing.
In thirty minutes, she was going to become Ashley Carbone, and the wife of a wolf who probably wouldn’t even spit on her if she was on fire and there was no other water around.
She tossed the makeup into her suitcase and pushed her hair back from her face. “Why bother?”
He didn’t give a shit, so neither would she. And if he as going to give her hell, she’d do the same. She was used to getting what she wanted.
She just wasn’t so sure what it was she should be wanting, but she’d figure it out soon. Hopefully before she shapeshifted again for the evening and woke up the next day alone, wondering which way was up.
CHAPTER FOUR
Ashley would likely look back and remember the most amusing part of her wedding being her new mother-in-law scolding Vic about his inability to dress himself properly for the event. Leather and denim did not make much of a suit, but damned if he didn’t look fine in it. He was tall and broad, and just oozed sex appeal, even with his seemingly permanent scowl.
Gods forbid that he smile.
The second most memorable thing would likely end up being Vic going off to confer in hushed tones with his father while new brides Ashley, Lisa, and Stephanie huddled in the Town Square gazebo ogling each other’s rings. Ashley’s rings were nice enough. Better than she had expected, actually, given her and Vic’s coolness toward each other, but they weren’t distracting enough to keep her from wondering what Vic and Alpha were discussing, and whether it concerned her specifically.
The redhead, Stephanie, gave Ashley’s shoulder a little squeeze. When Ashley turned her attention to her, the other woman pointed across the square to Main Street. “We’re going to explore. Let the guys entertain themselves for a while. We need to get our bearings in this place.”
“Right. Sure.” Ashley cut her gaze back to the Carbone men, who were now casting inscrutable looks toward her.
She’d never been the paranoid sort, but old dogs learned new tricks all the time.
Mrs. Carbone swooped into the gazebo, snapped her camera’s lens cap on, and looked at each woman in turn. “I’m gonna go see what happened to Christina and Anton. You got my number if you need anything?”
The three new brides all pulled cell phones from their purses and waited for Mrs. Carbone to relay the number.
As Ashley, Lisa, and Stephanie started for the business district, Ashley took a look back. The Carbone men had dispersed, along with the other two wolf men, and were nowhere to be found—just that quickly.
“Efficient,” she muttered.
“That’s not a bad thing,” Lisa said. “Trust me. It’s better that they get moving than to stand around shooting the shit all day, whether it’s their day off or not.”
“What do they even do for a living? Mrs. Carbone wouldn’t say.”
“I have no idea,” Stephanie said. “Darius isn’t much of a talker.”
“I think they provide security to the people who run this place,” Lisa said.
The women waited at the corner for the light to change and watched a few higher-end vehicles pass in front of them.
Ashley grunted in appreciation. Norseton wasn’t very big, but the residents seemed to be well heeled, at least. The best she could tell, the oldest buildings in the community were around a hundred years old, and the newer structures were built in concentric rings around them like most smartly planned cities. It expanded outward, rather than new buildings popping up here and there and sprawl happening unfettered.
The wolf housing was situated about an eight-minute walk from the center of downtown, but that seemed practical. Packs needed room to run, and while Ashley’s pack had been pretty urban, they had access to undeveloped areas whenever they had to shift for the full moon.
Norseton seemed to be an ideal place for a pack that had some wolves who had to shift, and some who shifted by choice. Mrs. Carbone said the wolves and Norseton fell into the latter group, and that had floored Ashley. She’d known such wolves existed, but couldn’t remember ever having encountered any personally. Her father had always spoken of them with suspicion, and now she was in their lair—married to one.
They crossed the street, and Ashley pointed to the coffee shop. “Can we start the
re? I need caffeine to be able to make sense of my lot in life. I didn’t have time this morning.”
Lisa snorted. “Your lot in life seems pretty simple to me. You’re a full-fledged werewolf married to the pack alpha’s son.”
“Put that way, it sounds like a fairytale.” If only it were.
The three women stepped into the shop and got into a line that was nearly out the door. It wasn’t quite nine o’clock, so half the community was probably still waiting to get its caffeine fix.
“From where I’m standing, you’re pretty lucky.” Stephanie bent and peered into the glass case containing bagels and pastries. Ashley had to admit they looked pretty good. The Afótama clan may have lived in the middle of nowhere, but they obviously took their breakfast carbs seriously.
“How so?”
“Well, you not only get a mate, but also in-laws. The rest of us are completely lacking in the family department here.”
“Some of us might say that’s a good thing,” Stephanie muttered and pointed out a lemon Danish to the clerk.
Ashley twirled some of her hair around her fingers and let her gaze flit between the crullers and the cinnamon rolls. “I happen to like the family I had back at home.”
“Me, too,” Lisa said. “My parents are the sweetest wolves you’ll ever meet.”
“Sweet?” Stephanie scoffed and turned to the clerk again. “Can I get a really big black coffee? Thanks.”
They all moved a bit closer to the register.
“They’re not typical wolves, that’s for sure,” Lisa said. “But neither are pure. That probably has something to do with it. They’re probably a lot less inbred than some others in the pack.”
Ashley cringed, and put in her order for a dry cappuccino. She’d heard the whispers and jokes about her pack and how insular it was. She’d always thought there wasn’t much they could do about that. If they wanted wolf children, they had to take wolf mates.
“There you are.” At the sound of the newcomer’s voice, they all turned to find Mrs. Carbone in the shop’s doorway with mate number four, Christina, under her wing. She gave the timid, smaller woman a squeeze around her shoulders. “I figured you’d start here and make your way around, but I caught your scents. That verified it for me. I’m going to show you all what’s what around here. Need clothes? Groceries? Voter registration? I’ll show you everything.”
Scion (Norseton Wolves Book 4) Page 2
