The girl in front of Luke is about six years old and grinning from ear to ear. She has every book in the series about a group of children who go on improbable adventures, and always manage to outwit the PG villains.
Her younger brother is completely engrossed in a book about elephants, staring at each picture with wide attentive eyes. His shirt has a picture of an elephant and he’s carrying a toy one too. Luke is willing to bet the book will end up dog-eared from endless re-tellings by the time the year is out.
He can always tell the books that have been loved when they come into the store. He always wonders what sad event has made them turn up for sale instead of living on their owner’s bookshelf or beside their bed where they’re supposed to be. He always takes particular joy in selling those on and finding them another loving home.
He finishes ringing up the family’s purchases and wishes them a good vacation. The girl waves at him as they leave, the boy is far too engrossed in his books to pay Luke any attention. His mother has to steer him round the stacks of books and out of the door while he turns the pages of his favorite new elephant story.
With the customers gone, Luke’s thoughts turn frustratingly again to Rowland. Yes, he’s attractive, but so what? A lot of men are attractive. Luke isn’t planning to have sex with all of them. He’d never have time for anything else. Besides, while he has nothing against betas, they just aren’t what he is really interested in.
Luke tries not to dwell on it too often, but what he really wants is a family of his own. For one reason or another, he just hasn’t met the right person.
It’s not that he hasn’t tried. Admittedly, he’s never tried a mating run but the idea of permanently claiming some poor omega who might only be saying yes because of heat-addled horniness fills Luke with horror.
He’s tried other methods. He spent years on endless different dating apps where he met some lovely people, and some awful ones. He’s even let Jax set him up, but he’s not yet met anyone he can imagine spending the rest of his life with.
And Rowland, gorgeous as he is, isn’t that person. He smells wrong for one thing. He isn’t an omega. He is probably a spy, and a bad one at that.
Luke sighs. It’s nice of Jax to try and set him up, but he wishes he wouldn’t. It’s awkward at best, and trouble at worst.
He goes to check on Rowland two hours before closing and is surprised to see how much progress the man has made. The stock room hasn’t looked this organized in years.
Rowland shrugs when Luke mentions it. “I can work slower if you like. You got anything else for me to do?”
That Luke does. With the summit coming up, he’s been neglecting the store and while he’s got a few people he can call in to cover for an hour or so, the tasks are starting to mount up. With the stock room looking this good, there’s plenty more that he can divert a willing pair of hands to. “I’ll draw up a list.”
To Luke’s surprise, Rowland finishes everything on it by the end of the day, and when Luke pays him out of the register, he feels a bit guilty that he hasn’t offered him more money.
“You done with the register, or can you still put some purchases through?” Rowland asks.
Luke is almost finished tallying up, but it won’t make much of a difference at this point. He shrugs.
Rowland disappears into the shelves, then comes back with three books in the same fantasy series. The books have been out a while, but Luke has seen the expression on his face a thousand times. This is a man who has found written treasure.
He rings them up, giving Rowland a hefty staff discount.
“I’ve got some errands to run,” Luke says. “Then I’m driving back up to the packhouse if you want a lift.”
“Sure, that’d be awesome. I’ve got some things to do too.”
The errands are boring things – grocery shopping, sending a parcel back via the post office – and Luke’s half-tempted to follow Rowland to see where he goes, but there’s no point putting the wind up the man just yet. There’ll be plenty of time for that later.
Rowland is sitting on the sidewalk outside the store when Luke gets back, his nose buried in one of the books Luke sold him, and seemingly completely unaware of anything outside of the fantasy world in his head.
Snowflakes are settling in his dark hair and on the curve of his shoulders. It’s still light and drifting down in slow lazy flakes, but the sky promises more of it, and soon. There’s something about the man that keeps grabbing Luke’s attention. He can understand why Jax wants to set them up. In other circumstances, Rowland would be exactly Luke’s type.
Luke stands and watches him until the man finally senses eyes on him and looks up.
They make their way to the back of the bookstore, and when Rowland climbs back into the truck, Luke is struck again by Rowland’s disconcerting non-scent.
The newcomer had seemed a lot more at ease during the afternoon, and Luke is beginning to think he’s been wrong about him. Again. He’s getting a headache with all the mental ping pong.
It can’t hurt to keep an eye on him a bit longer though, and Luke can do with the help while he’s preoccupied with the Fosters. “If you’re sticking around a few more days, I can find more work for you in the store.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Rowland replies. He’s got a pretty voice to go with the pretty face. It’s deep and sounds as if he should be sitting in a smoky bar somewhere with a guitar. It’s a good thing he’s not an omega, because Luke would be utterly smitten.
Maybe he is. Maybe that non-scent is down to bad blockers. Maybe...
“You a fan, then?” Luke asks, nodding at the books, and trying to find a subject that doesn’t make him think about how gorgeous Rowland is.
“Yeah, my Dad loved them. He always used to buy the latest soon as it came out. I haven’t read any of them since...” Rowland hesitates and Luke guesses that whatever is going to come out of his mouth next is going to be a lie. “...since I left home.”
Luke glances at him, and asks casually, “You not been back then?”
“No.”
Whatever shutter Rowland had let up has shot back down. Of course, there’s still the getting drunk option to try get him to talk.
“I was going to head down to the Grand Hotel for a couple later this eve,” he says. “You’re welcome to join me.”
“Thanks, but I think I’ll stay in and read,” Rowland replies, tapping the books.
“Let me know if you change your mind.”
“Sure.”
Luke gives him a sly glance. “Any plans to go out running?”
Rowland startles, but recovers quickly, then looks thoughtful. “I might. I always liked going out in the snow. Especially after being indoors all day. It clears my head.”
And there’s that gap in the shutters again. It sounds like a genuine answer.
“Yeah, me too.” Luke permits himself a small smile, and when he glances at Rowland, he sees the other man is smiling too.
CAL
white tablets and white snow
Cal rides back up to the packhouse with Luke, aware of the light crinkle of plastic in the pocket of his jeans: the result of a successful excursion to an alley round the back of the Grand Hotel Bar where he’d pocketed a small packet of white tablets that look and smell like the real thing. It makes the tight knot in the pit of his stomach relax for the first time in days.
Luke disappears somewhere the moment the truck is parked, so Cal makes his way through the mostly empty common room towards the guest tower.
He still hasn’t been able to get a handle on the delicious-smelling alpha. One moment, Luke’s stiff and suspicious and the next he’s relaxed and showing Cal a grin that makes Cal want to fall forward and lick a line across soft lips.
Cal is doing his best not to think about that, although he’d found it increasingly hard as the day went on.
Luke had also offered him more work on the way back up to the packhouse. It was genuine work too, not just make-work so he
can keep an eye on Cal. Then, to top it all off, Cal got to go home with three new novels in the Sea Rose series. The day couldn’t have been more perfect.
Go home. One night in a place and suddenly it’s home. The thought doesn’t come as a surprise.
Growing up, Cal was always nagging at Dad to stay in one place. He wanted a home and a regular school and have friends that stayed around for more than a couple of months. But in the end, Dad always moved on. His father made a point of never staying anywhere more than six months in a row. Cal hated it.
He always daydreamed about owning his own little house somewhere: a place filled with books, and his own stuff.
Every piece of furniture would be carefully selected to fit Cal’s tastes. There’d be no hastily bought garage sale items that would do for the month.
Now, Cal knows his father was right. Dad had been an omega like him. Cal didn’t know the circumstances around his birth or who had sired him, but he’d thought he understood what Dad thought of packs and why they steered clear of them.
Cal had always thought Dad was overreacting. Now he wishes he’d paid more attention.
He takes the stack of books up the windy, narrow little stairs, and places them on the desk in his room. Then he heads for the bathroom, and with sense of relief, takes the first of his new blockers immediately with a swallow of cold water from the faucet.
He follows that by stripping down and washing the only set of clothes he has in the little sink. He places them over the little radiator so they’ll be dry by morning. Finally, he showers.
The world is starting to feel stable again after the previous day’s panic-stricken flight, and he’s starting to think clearly again.
It seems sensible to take the extra work at the bookstore. The day off his blockers doesn’t seem to have made any difference, and it’ll be good to build up his savings a little before he moves on.
Reed won’t be able to work out he’s here either. Even if he had picked up Cal’s presence in Cedar Falls, Cal hadn’t even known where he was going until he was on the bus.
He’s also not going to say no to staying close to such delicious alpha scent too. Cal’s not expecting anything to happen, and Luke thinks he’s a beta anyway, but there’s no reason he can’t appreciate it while it lasts.
He told Luke he was going to read but the man is going to be out at the Grand Hotel and it’s still early. Cal has time to get a good run in before bed.
There’s no one else in the tower, and with his clothes still wet, he has no choice but to sneak downstairs naked. It’s probably perfectly safe, but he feels exposed anyway.
He does check there’s no one outside first before climbing out of the window and landing in the soft snow. The cold bites into his shins immediately.
Cal doesn’t wait. He shifts. The wolf doesn’t mind the snow around his paws. He’s too busy drinking in the scents of the forest and listening out for creatures in the undergrowth.
Cal pads out to the fence and bounds over easily. He hasn’t spent much time around other wolves, and certainly not around packs but he knows he’s big for a wolf and for an omega.
Reed hadn’t liked that much. He’d preferred his omegas to be smaller and more submissive. Cal learned to be the latter. He couldn’t do much about the former.
Cal hadn’t had much time to explore the night before, but he’d managed to get an idea of the lay of the land. There seems to be nothing above the packhouse but national park. No cabins and no hikers, although the reason for the latter is probably the cold. There are likely plenty around in summer.
He’s also found out that the town does mating runs in summer. Dad and he had always steered clear from mating run towns in the warmer months: too many hormone-fueled alphas about.
But now, under the dark winter sky and soft-falling snow, they’re nowhere to be seen.
Away from the oak-lined main roads, the forest is filled with firs and pine. It also has a lot of rocky outcroppings that Cal could stand and howl on if he were so inclined.
He scents deer and rabbits, and briefly, while high up above the packhouse, the long-ago leavings of a mountain lion.
He climbs higher up the mountain, snuffling as he goes and taking the simple joy of chasing the occasional bird who dares alight anywhere nearby. There are still a few intrepid mice about, although most are starting to dig into their hibernation holes for the coming cold spell. He leaves them alone. They can be fun to chase, but he doesn’t want to wake them up just for his pleasure. Unlike some other wolves, he’s never been a big fan of eating warm just-dead raw meat.
He’s been out for around an hour when he scents Luke on the wind. This time, he doesn’t panic, although he does hesitate. He’d said he was going to be reading, but then Luke had said he was going to be at the bar.
It’s only been a day, but Cal thinks the man might be genuinely nice. You get the occasional alpha who’s like that, although they’re rare. That’s what Dad had said, anyway.
Luke feels like the rare good one. Cal makes a decision. He doesn’t run. Instead, he sits back on his launches and lets Luke come to him if he wants to.
A moment later, the alpha comes into view. He’s a magnificent looking wolf. The blond hair has turned to white-gold, and he’s huge. Luke pads into the clearing on muscular legs, and watches Cal with golden eyes. Cal feels no threat emanating from him. Instead the big wolf seems almost amused.
Cal scratches his ear with his leg, his eyes on Luke’s, then makes another impulse decision.
He runs.
LUKE
cold river water and bright green eyes
Rowland runs. Luke knows an invitation when he sees one. That odd non-scent isn’t fearful or angry. It seems happy, and the wolf is more than happy to play along.
Luke pretends to be surprised, but only so he can give the smaller wolf a head start. It’ll be less fun if he catches him straight away. Besides, Luke knows these woods like the back of his paw. Rowland has had far less time to familiarize himself with them.
When he thinks the new guy has enough of a start, Luke stretches, warming his muscles. Then he howls, long and loud.
I’m coming for you.
There’s an answering howl in the wind, defiant and much further away than Luke expects.
Luke leaps, putting the power into his hind legs, and races towards the howl, following Rowland’s scent through the snow.
He can hear him too, although only just right at the edge of his senses, and only because Rowland is making no attempt at all to be quiet.
By the sounds of it, the smaller wolf is going for full power and not bothering to try being stealthy. He’s breaking twigs and crashing through bushes. Mice and birds scurry and flap to get away.
Luke grins to himself. They can probably hear him down at the packhouse with that racket. He hopes the poor fellow never has to run for real, because he’ll have no chance.
Luke races towards the frozen river, stopping only long enough to check he’s still following the scent correctly and Rowland hasn’t tried to do anything sneaky.
He has.
Rowland’s crossed the river, then doubled back. Luke doubts it’s intended to hold him for long, but it does award Rowland a little more time, which is likely the intention.
Luke keeps running. Now, the crashing sounds aren’t just on the edge of his hearing. They’re close. He’s coming up to a clearing in the trees, surrounded by thick brush and bushes. He wonders if Rowland had come across it the night before. It’s a good place for an ambush.
Just as the thought strikes, Rowland pounces from the left, landing hard on Luke’s back. The force of it pushes the bigger wolf to the ground, but only for a moment.
Nah, can’t keep me down.
Luke shakes him off easily and goes in for his own attack. Rowland dodges. He’s quick, Luke thinks. It’s clever. Luke is the more powerful, but Rowland has the advantage in agility. If he can keep it up, he’ll manage to wear the bigger wolf down.
&n
bsp; Or perhaps not. Rowland is panting like mad, his tongue lolling and making him look like he’s laughing. His green eyes blaze with pleasure.
They circle each other, Luke making the occasional false lunge until he finally makes a real one. To his surprise, it works, and he pins Rowland down, gripping his neck in soft jaws until the smaller wolf submits and bares his belly.
Luke lets go and sits back on his haunches watching as Rowland rolls back onto his paws and catches his breath. They take a break to get water, Luke showing the smaller wolf where the ice on the river is thin enough to break through.
Rowland drinks his fill and then sits back, staring at Luke with those bright emerald eyes. And then he is gone, crashing through the undergrowth like the devil himself is after him.
Luke grins inwardly and gives in to the chase.
CAL
milkshakes and cheap deodorant
By day six, Luke has given him keys and is leaving him alone in the store with the cash register to ring up customer purchases. Either he trusts Cal a lot more, or he isn’t bothered to lose a day’s takings if he’s proved wrong.
They talk, mostly about books, and Cal finds that Luke has a dry sense of humor that makes him even more attractive which is annoying.
Jax pops in each day around lunch to chat, and Cal finds he’s taking a genuine liking to the other omega and is sorry that he’s not going to be able to stick around. Jax feels like someone he could end up having a lifelong friendship with.
He doesn’t tell Jax either of those things. His little stash of cash is growing nicely – enough that he’s splashed out on a second set of clothing and beginning to think that it might be worth staying here long enough to build it up a bit further.
He also listens to Jax complain about his brothers. Luke is too nerdy and seriously needs to get a boyfriend. Gregor needs to shave off that ridiculous beard, and Adam needs to start participating in pack life since he is the leader for goodness sake.
Winterstoke Wolves Collection : An MM Mpreg Shifter Romance Bundle Page 4
