Wild Love (Wilding Pack Wolves 2) - New Adult Paranormal Romance

by Alisa Woods

  Then suddenly they were moving. “Where are we going?” she asked, although it quickly became apparent they were heading toward the back of his apartment.

  “I’d love to say I’m taking you to bed for more sex,” he said with a smirk, “but you need to rest.” He kicked open the bedroom door, crossed the room, and carefully laid her on the bed.

  For a moment, she was afraid he might leave her there, alone, but then he climbed over her, tugging back the blankets and rearranging the pillows. It wasn’t a large bed—really meant for one—but he tucked her into his chest, spooning her from behind as he pulled the blankets up to cover her quickly-cooling skin. It was all so gentle and thoughtful and sweet, it pricked tears to her eyes. She was glad she was turned away from him so he wouldn’t see.

  “Are you comfortable?” he asked.

  She murmured her yes, and his hands found a home on her body, carefully holding her like she was something breakable and precious. A tear slowly slid down her cheek; she didn’t brush it away, for fear of letting him know it was there.

  “Rest, sweet Emily,” he whispered in her ear.

  So she closed her eyes and did.

  Noah noticed something was missing even before he opened his eyes.

  Emily.

  His eyes popped open as his hands found the cold sheets next to him. He stilled, listening for her in the bathroom or outside his bedroom in the apartment… nothing.

  Had she left already? He was surprised how much that thought instantly chilled him, almost as much as the empty space her small body had occupied in his bed. Maybe she was just being quiet. He practically launched himself out of the bed, searching the bathroom and kitchen and living room, but his apartment just wasn’t that big. And Emily definitely wasn’t in it.

  The chill in his chest trickled into his stomach and made it clench. Her words from before, when they first met, hurtled back to him: I just wanted one night. That’s all. That was all it was supposed to be from the beginning. And he understood why, now that she’d told him what had happened with her uncle. Maybe she’d gotten what she wanted from Noah—a hot night of sex—and now she was gone.

  He shook his head as if to fling that thought away. That didn’t make sense, not the way they were together last night. They hadn’t simply fucked… they’d made love. He knew the difference—but maybe she didn’t. Maybe this crazy feeling he had that he was falling in love with her… maybe that was just him. Or worse—maybe last night had triggered some kind of flashback and she’d fled.

  His heart sank with that thought.

  He was still naked from their lovemaking, but when he scrambled to find his pants, it wasn’t because he was bothering with clothes—he wanted his phone. Just as he found her number in his recent calls, he saw there was a message from her.

  Took a taxi back to the office. New idea re:tracking bad guys. Call you soon.

  His pounding heart settled a little as he read her text, but it still left him feeling empty. Back to the office. Back to the bad guys. No mention of the time they’d spent together.

  Noah rubbed his face with his free hand. Was he really this wrapped up in this girl? Couldn’t he just be casual about it, the way she was? But the tight knot in his stomach answered that for him: no. It hadn’t really been casual for him from that first moment she stepped through the motel door all trembling and brave, trying to do something to change her life. To heal herself from wounds he didn’t even know she had. Not from the minute she softly petted his wolf form or declared she would catch the bad guys targeting shifters even though she was human herself.

  No, it had all been a fast downhill slide into loving Emily Jones after that.

  And it wasn’t “WildLove”—a fast hookup—but the real kind.

  He wasn’t about to screw that up or let her slip away.

  Noah texted quickly. Missed you when I woke up. Call me. Then he grabbed his clothes and headed for the shower. While the water washed away all traces of their lovemaking from the night before, he thought through what this hard-ache feeling inside him truly meant.

  He was a white wolf—whatever that truly was—and he was falling in love with a human.

  He knew what his brother, Daniel, would say about that—forget her and move on. But Daniel didn’t know what Noah was… and in some ways, he didn’t really know, either. What it meant or what he was capable of. By the time he finished his shower, he had hoped Emily would have called or at least texted back: nothing. While he was waiting for that to happen, he needed to get his head straight about who he was and what he was doing with her… before he got in any deeper.

  And for that, he knew just who he needed to talk to: Owen Harding.

  Owen was mated to Noah’s cousin, Nova Wilding, but more importantly, he’d been transformed into a white wolf by the experiments, just like Noah. Only Noah was pretty sure Owen wasn’t a secret male witch as well. Maybe. That was a conversation he was overdue in having, especially given the Texan was older than Noah, mated now, and probably considering pups as well. In short, he might be able to help Noah sort out this mess that he was.

  Noah sent a quick text to his brother, Daniel, saying he wouldn’t be returning to the safehouse this morning—it appeared they had no more leads on the bomber from last night anyway—then he texted Owen to see if he could swing by Wylderide. Owen had given up his job with Riverwise security to be alpha of the pack there, as well as help run the company, so it was a good bet he was in the office this morning.

  Bingo. Sure, Owen texted back. Always got time for ya’ll.

  Be there in twenty, Noah replied, then grabbed his keys and headed out.

  A quick drive across town, and Noah was cruising into the Wylderide office on the twenty-fourth floor of a gleaming high-rise in downtown Seattle. He gathered a few nods on the way in—Noah had helped rescue their CEO, so the pack was pretty friendly to Riverwise these days—but he didn’t stop, heading straight to Owen’s office. It was empty, so he swung into Nova’s next door.

  Nova and Owen were both at her desk, gathered around her screen, holding hands while they discussed something. They were pretty damn cute together. You could practically see the mating bond between them, something that Noah would never have, not fully, no matter what he decided to do with Emily.

  Nova noticed him first. “Hey, cuz!” she said brightly, waving him in.

  “Where’s the fire?” Owen asked with that Southern drawl he has. “You sure got here fast.”

  “Can I borrow your mate for a few minutes?” he asked Nova. To Owen, he said, “It’s not an emergency or anything.” Although his bunched-up stomach wanted to disagree with that.

  Owen frowned but rose up from his chair. “Nova just barely tolerates me poking into the business anyway.”

  “That’s not true!” she protested.

  “True enough that you can spare me for a bit.” Owen gave her a small smile.

  “Well, all right,” Nova said, making a show of shooing him out. “But only because it’s Noah. And get back here when you’re done! I want to finalize these game specs before we let the designers loose on them.”

  “Hold on… who’s alpha around here, again?” Owen said with a smirk, but he was already at the door with Noah.

  Nova mock-scowled at him. “You’re alpha when I say you are.”

  “Guess I’ll have to come back and prove you wrong.” Owen’s smirk was loaded with all kinds of promises Noah really didn’t need to see.

  Nova’s eyes flashed in return.

  “Come on, guys,” Noah complained. “Give a bachelor wolf a break. I do not need to know what you’re doing in this office when the door’s closed.”

  Owen just chuckled and clapped a hand on Noah’s shoulder, ushering him out of the room. Once they were inside Owen’s office with the door closed behind them, the older wolf’s face grew more serious. “I hear you guys are having it rough with the WildLove bomber,” he said. “Glad to see you’re in one piece.”

  “White wolves
are hard to kill,” Noah said, jumping right into it.

  Owen’s eyebrows lifted. “Is that right?”

  Noah nodded. Owen had to know his own white wolf had amazing healing properties—Noah had witnessed it first hand when Owen had come back practically from the dead.

  “So this is about the experiments, then,” Owen said gravely. “Did they give you the freakish claws as well?”

  Noah shifted just his hands and let his claws come out, revealing the foot-long knives that he knew Owen possessed as well.

  Owen whistled. “Between that and the extreme healing, it almost makes the year I was in the cages worthwhile.” He folded his arms and leaned back against his desk.

  “Yeah, well, I’d still prefer it hadn’t happened.” Noah grimaced. “Plus, there’s more. At least, there’s more to this for me. I think. That’s what I came to ask you about. Have you had any other… abilities… that came with being a white wolf?”

  Owen’s eyes narrowed. “How do you mean?”

  “Any magical abilities that maybe go beyond the standard blood magic for shifters?” Noah swallowed. He’d never told anyone about this part. About what he could do.

  “Can’t say as I have,” Owen said carefully. “Although I haven’t exactly pushed it, if you know what I mean.”

  “I do.” Noah had spent considerable time getting his beast under control after he was released from the cages. He watched Owen go through it as well. And it wasn’t like Noah was eager to push his white wolf to its limits… it had just sort of happened. “But you aren’t the only white wolf I know.”

  Owen frowned. “Well, there’s Grace Krepky.”

  Noah nodded. She was mated to Jared River, one of the three brothers who ran Riverwise. These days, she was running for Congress, one of the events that had tipped the hate group into high gear and had them targeting the Wilding and River packs, and now expanding their sights even further to other wolves through WildLove.

  “But apparently Grace has been a white wolf all her life,” Noah said. “I hear she has the rapid healing, but not the claws. Then there’s you and me, turned into white wolves by the experiments with the complete set—healing and claws both. But there’s someone else. Someone in my family.”

  “Daniel?” Owen asked, both eyebrows hiked up again.

  “Not as far as I know.” Then again, Noah hadn’t told his brother about his white wolf, either, so maybe they both had secrets. “But maybe. Turns out the secret Wilding family shame is that one of our grandfathers was a white wolf.”

  “Shame?” Owen gave him a skeptical look. “Doesn’t seem like the kind of thing to be ashamed of, necessarily.”

  “Well, that’s the thing.” Noah gritted his teeth but just forced it out. “Turns out my white wolf grandfather wasn’t really a wolf at all. More of a male witch.”

  Owen straightened and unfolded his arms. “You don’t say.”

  “Yeah, and now…” Noah grimaced.

  “Now you think you’re following in the old man’s steps.” Owen rubbed his face. “Shit, Noah, how does that even work?”

  Noah lifted his hands. “I don’t know. That’s the problem.”

  Owen scowled. “You never did tell me what happened in Afghanistan. And I’m not buying that story about your medical discharge being for PTSD. I’ve seen grunts that have it. You don’t.”

  Noah shook his head. “No, I just convinced the psych staff that I needed out. Considering the experiments, they didn’t argue.”

  “So, what really brought you back home?”

  “I just couldn’t take the risk of being there anymore.” Noah took a breath and rushed out the story. “I was on patrol, clearing out bad guys from a part of the city that’d already taken artillery. Going door-to-door. It was completely emptied out, but you know, we have to make sure. So we split up to cover more ground, and I was on my own when I stumbled on a pack of them. Five altogether. They jumped me, shot the hell out of me, and if it weren’t for the superhealing, that would have been it. Instead… I killed every last one of them.”

  Owen was listening to him intently. “So you fought back when you should have been dead. That doesn’t make you a witch, Noah.”

  “No, but turning them all into piles of ash does.”

  Owen’s eyes went wide. “Well… that’s something.”

  “Yeah. The strange thing is that I didn’t even touch them. I just somehow felt where they were and… lashed out.”

  “Could you do it again?” Owen was looking at him with a mix of horror and fascination.

  “Haven’t exactly wanted to try.” Noah rubbed both hands on his temples. “Look, I can’t tell anyone about this. I mean, I was a wolf, for fuck’s sake. I grew up a wolf. Even now, my beast form is definitely a white wolf. I just… have these other abilities…”

  “But they only showed up after the cages?” Owen asked.

  “All of it was after the experiments. They triggered something inside me. That’s why I was wondering if you’ve had anything happen, anything that might make you suspect…”

  But Owen was already shaking his head. “No, nothing like that. My white wolf is powerful, don’t get me wrong, but he’s all wolf.” He peered at Noah. “Sounds like you’re some kind of hybrid—witch and wolf—although I’ll be damned if I even know what that means.”

  Noah nodded, shoulders dropping. He was afraid that’s exactly what it was.

  “I’m no fan of witches in general, but there are a few good ones out there,” Owen said quietly. “This doesn’t have to be something you’re ashamed of. You are who you are, Noah. And from where I stand, what you are is a wolf I’d have at my back any day of the week.”

  Noah gave him a wry smile. “Thanks. But it’s more complicated than that. There’s this girl, Emily…”

  Owen smirked. “They do tend to complicate things.”

  “Yeah, well, this one isn’t even a wolf.” Noah sighed. “And I think I’m falling for her.”

  The smile fled from Owen’s face. “Well, that’s a different story.”

  “She loves wolves. She thinks I’m a wolf. Which I am.” Noah sighed. “Who am I kidding? I don’t know what the hell I am.”

  Owen eased away from the desk and took a couple steps toward him. “Look, you helped me see my way straight to fighting for Nova,” he said, his hand landing on Noah’s shoulder. “So I’m going to return the favor. If this girl is the one, don’t let the fact that she’s human and you’re… whatever you are… stop you. If I’ve learned one thing about finding the mate you’re supposed to be with, it’s that it’s rarely convenient. But it’s always worth the trouble. Always.”

  Noah frowned. Those were the words he wanted to hear, but at the same time, this was a completely unknown thing. It would have been complicated enough, if he were merely a wolf—the mating would be one-sided, but at least it had been done before. This thing of crossing a half-wolf-half-witch-whatever-the-hell-he-was with a human?

  “What about pups? Or kids?” Noah asked. “I’m not even sure what to call them.”

  Owen smiled. “Cross that road when you get there, my friend.”

  Noah swallowed. “Right.” He pulled his phone from his pocket. Still no text from Emily. “Look, I should let you get back to your mate for whatever sex date you have planned for her office.”

  Owen’s smile grew into a smirk. “And you need to go after that girl—the one you don’t think will have you.”

  Noah gave a small huff of a laugh, but Owen was dead-on. Emily loved wolves, but what would she think if she knew the truth about him?

  All he knew was that he was already missing her like a piece of him had marched out of his body and walked away. But he could play it cool, just check in on her at her office, see where she was with this whole thing between them last night. Maybe she was just looking for a one-night thing. Maybe that’s all she needed from him to heal her past.

  He’d simply be cool about it and find out.

  Right.

&nb
sp; He hurried so fast to the elevator, he almost forgot to wave goodbye to Owen.

  Emily drummed her nails on the counter as she waited for the Keurig to brew her coffee.

  She’d cleared out early and left Noah sleeping, curled up cutely in his bed. Eyes closed, face peaceful. Shock of brown hair all mussed from their lovemaking. It had been hard to wrench herself out of his warm embrace, much less manage to sneak out without waking him, but it was better this way. Easier for him to make the clean break she knew was coming. One-time, no attachments. Back to work like it hadn’t happened. It would be easier for both of them.

  At least, that’s what she kept telling herself all the way in to the office.

  She’d sent a text so he wouldn’t worry. Not that he would worry. Not that he would wake up with the pleasantly-sore feeling she had between her legs with every small movement of her body that reminded her of the passion-filled night they’d shared. No, he would probably just wake up, see the text, and go about his day. Maybe head back to Riverwise. Possibly call her later. Only she said she’d call him. But it was too soon, so she couldn’t. He wasn’t up yet. But she wanted to. Just to hear his voice.

  God, she was a mess with this.

  The Keurig finally finished spitting out her coffee, so she grabbed her Coffee Is My Boyfriend mug and inhaled the steam like it was the answer to all her problems. The irony wasn’t lost on her that she’d run away from the amazing man she’d slept with—both literally and figuratively—only to return to her normal routine where coffee was the most stimulating thing in her life.

  I’m not running away, she told herself. I’m giving Noah room to leave.

  As she strode back to her desk, the ache between her legs wasn’t buying any of that bullshit. Her body had barely been able to handle Noah’s expert lovemaking, but it was already ready for more, soreness notwithstanding. And her heart already had a Noah-shaped hole in it. It was only her mind that knew running back to Noah Wilding’s bed would be nothing but heartbreak for all of them.

  She would always treasure the night they had together… and she would just have to stuff the part of her that wanted more than one night in a drawer somewhere and throw away the key.