by Julia Talbot
Pack Mentality 3: Big Bad Wolf
Julia Talbot
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2007 Julia Talbot
Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
ISBN: 978-1-59596-677-3
Formats Available:
HTML, Adobe PDF,
MobiPocket, Microsoft Reader
Publisher:
Changeling Press LLC
PO Box 1046
Martinsburg, WV 25402-1046
www.ChangelingPress.com
Editor: Connie Alberts
Cover Artist: Fabiano Fabris
This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.
Pack Mentality 3: Big Bad Wolf
Julia Talbot
Steve has lost his roommate and his house, and figures life can’t get any more strange. At least until the alpha of his local werewolf pack takes more than a passing interest in him. Then Steve decides that things can go weird, and hot, in a hurry.
Kamen loves the day-to-day business of running his pack, but he’s lonely and bored, and Steve smells like the perfect mate. Danger strikes fast when the two of them get together, when the pack turns on Kamen, challenging his alpha status, and his love for Steve. Is Kamen enough of a big, bad wolf to keep them safe?
Chapter 1
Kamen hated weddings. Oh, it wasn’t that he minded seeing members of his pack hook up and get hitched. Hell, he loved that. Even when Colin, the groom, was marrying someone that might bring all manner of weirdness to the bloodline. It gave him a real feeling of pride, of accomplishment, when a pack mate under his protection found happiness.
What Kamen hated was the business suit and glad-handing part of it. Made him feel like Marlon Brando in the old Godfather movies, with people barraging him with questions and favors that needed filling. That and the waiting. Wait for the ceremony to start. Wait for the bride and groom to get done with the pictures. Wait for the speeches.
Waiting bored him. So Kamen indulged himself with his favorite activity. Hunting.
Nothing stirred a wolf’s blood like the hunt, and while this was far more civilized than most of the places he let the wolf out, there was plenty to stalk. Including the best man.
He’d seen Steve before. Of course he had. He knew every member of his pack, at least on sight. They’d never really spent any time together though, and somehow Steve… smelled different now. There was an undertone of pure panic which kicked Kamen’s hunting senses into overdrive, but there was also this aura of curiosity. Steve was looking at certain people with a whole new expression. One that told Kamen the man had figured out the whole sex thing. Or at least that Steve was beginning to get a clue.
Which meant he was fresh game.
Slipping through the crowd, Kamen headed over to the buffet where Steve stood, picking at some little canapés made with goat cheese and lamb.
“So, what do you think, Steve?”
Steve jumped, big brown eyes going wide, staring at him like he was a snake that had just struck. “Uh. Kamen! Hey.”
Irresistible. Poor Steve looked like he was gonna faint, like he was completely freaked out by the idea of talking to the pack alpha. It made Kamen want to bite him, throat, belly and privates…
“Hey. Enjoying the party?” Knowing Steve would respond properly, Kamen stuck his hand out to shake.
Steve automatically took his hand, his scent intensifying, sweat springing up on his upper lip.
“Well, uh, sure,” Steve said after clearing his throat. “Col is my buddy. I’m happy for him.”
“Are you? I thought you weren’t fond of Myra.”
A nervous laugh burst out, and Steve tried to take his hand back. “Oh, she’s okay. We just had a misunderstanding back in the day, is all. She makes Col happy, so who am I to argue?”
“Who indeed?” Squeezing once, Kamen let Steve go, smiling into those nervous eyes. “Come have a drink with me.”
“What, now? I, uh, I have a speech here soon.”
“Then after.” Kamen let his hand fall heavily on Steve’s shoulder. “I insist.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, I’ll see you after then.”
Score. Kamen nodded. “You just bet you will, Steve. Count on it.”
* * *
Steve wasn’t sure that Kamen had ever spoken to him before.
He wasn’t sure he ever wanted Kamen to talk to him again either. Of course, it looked like he was having drinks with Kamen after the wedding. Maybe he could duck out on that and claim some sort of wedding responsibility.
“Hey, man. I wanted to thank you for not making an obscene speech.”
Steve summoned a grin for Colin. “Yeah, well. I tried.” He’d made it PG with just a congratulations, hoo yeah.
“You did great. Myra really thought it was great of you, considering.”
“She’s still sore, huh?” The whole Myra marrying his roommate and kicking him out, but giving him her apartment thing was just… weird.
“Not so much sore as wary.” Colin’s blue eyes twinkled, that smile making him chuckle.
“Well, maybe she’ll forgive me now.”
“Maybe. Was that you talking to Kamen?” Colin asked, jerking his head toward the big guy who stood speaking with Myra, handing over an envelope.
“More like he was talking to me.” Steve lowered his voice. “He wants to have drinks with me.”
Colin’s blond eyebrows went up. “He swings both ways, you know.”
“Oh, shut up! I don’t. So there’s no reason to tell me that.”
“Uh-huh.” Winking, Colin snagged a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and handed it to him. “Breathe. I’m going to go rescue my bride. And don’t be so sure you wouldn’t like it. You need to leave your options open.”
“Fuck you, man,” he said, knowing it was feeble, but unable to come up with anything else.
“That’s the one thing you probably won’t do, buddy,” Colin returned, clapping him on the back before heading off.
Steve sighed. Okay, so the whole thing with Myra had made him question his life. Having a woman turn into you on the full moon and then offer to let you… do yourself, was pretty freaky. Really. Myra could turn into anything on the full moon, and when they’d been dating she had turned into him, and they’d had sex. That didn’t make him gay though. It just made him the victim of a freaky accident. Right?
The bride and groom left not long after that, having achieved bouquet throwing and cake cutting and shit, and Steve decided to make a break for it. Surely Kamen wouldn’t really miss him, and if it got him in trouble, so be it.
He almost made it. Kamen caught him by the back door, making him feel like a rabbit caught by, well, a wolf.
“Are you running away from me, Steve?” Kamen asked, oh so casually, blocking his path.
“No. I was just making sure the caterers got off okay.” That wasn’t really a lie, as he had just seen the catering van leave.
Kamen was really tall. Looming even.
Pretty too, with all that brown-black hair and those blue eyes.
No. Not pretty. Men weren’t pretty, or sexy, or even smell-goody.
“Oh, good.” One big, square hand landed on his shoulder. “I would hate to t
hink you’d refuse me a drink. As a pack member, I mean.”
Steve groaned inwardly. Damn. Kamen would pull the whole pack thing out, using the hierarchy of the wolf to force him to smile and shake his head.
“Of course not. So, where to?” he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“I know a great place. Come on.” That hand slid down his arm to cup his elbow, and damned if it didn’t send tingles all the way down right along with it. Made his nipples go hard too, which was just ridiculous.
They went out the back door just like he’d planned, but Kamen steered him toward a big pick-up instead of his little Jeep, opening the door for him and everything.
“I’m not a girl, you know,” he blurted, baffled by the effect this man had on him, and by everything else he was feeling. Hot-no-yes-eek.
Kamen gave him a look, sort of duh mixed with amusement. “I’m well aware of that. That’s not gonna stop me from hunting your ass.”
His mouth dropped open, the truck door closed, and Kamen came around to the driver’s side, sliding smoothly into the seat and starting the engine.
“My ass. You. I’m not… that way.”
A loud snort echoed through the cab. “What does that mean? You don’t have to be one way or the other, you know.”
How many times had he heard that since Jenny had gotten together with Sasha and Liam, and Liam and Sasha had gotten together too? The whole pack was divided on it, and then you added in Colin marrying a chick who wasn’t a wolf, but was something for sure and it made for strange days.
“Aren’t you supposed to be preserving the bloodline?” he asked, leaning so he wasn’t tossed around the truck when Kamen took a corner on two wheels.
“No, I’m supposed to keep the pack safe. Personally, I think we have to diversify or die out.” Winking over at him, Kamen took another sharp curve, heading out of town, which was not taking them to a bar.
“So why me?”
“Because you smell good.”
Okay, in wolf speak that was a completely reasonable answer. Come to think of it, Kamen smelled good too. Like pine and wolf and sunshine…
Jesus, he was pondering what Kamen smelled like. Had he lost his mind? “I still don’t get it.”
“You don’t have to. You just have to have that drink with me.”
“But…”
“But nothing. Hush.” They pulled up outside of a pair of gates that had wolves stamped into the iron, stylized and fierce.
“This is your place, huh?” Steve asked, figuring he already knew the answer.
“Yeah. Don’t worry. I won’t jump you until you ask me to.”
“Then I won’t have to worry about it.”
“Uh-huh.” The gates swung open, and damned if they weren’t met by a pack of Mexican gray wolves. “You got a permit for them?”
“What?” Kamen stared over at him for a split second. “Oh. No. I kind of keep the county out of my life.”
Sure. He’d bet an alpha had someone on the payroll who dealt with bribes or something. Not that the pack was like the mafia or anything, but people who had power always abused it, right?
God, he had run on of the brain. The mouth too. “Right. I bet you do. Sorry, I’m a little nervous.”
“I know. I can smell it.”
Oh, God. Kamen kept smelling him. What did that mean? Did that mean he needed better deodorant? Did it mean he was… nope. Not thinking about springing a boner. No. Nonono.
They pulled up in front of a surprisingly small house, just one of those log homes that was low and lean with a wraparound porch that went around back. Not flashy at all. Surprising.
“You’re staring.”
“Huh?” Steve glanced over to find he wasn’t the only one staring.
“At the house. Something wrong?”
“I just expected a mansion, is all.”
Kamen grinned, all big bad wolf, teeth bared. “Well, you should see my hot tub. Come on, have that drink with me.”
The inside was even more rustic, exposed beams and knotty furniture strewn around. Very manly. There were a lot of pillows and shit on the floor too and every one of them smelled like wolf.
“I bring injured and sick pack mates here,” Kamen explained, seeing his baffled look. “And a lot of others too, for various reasons.”
“Oh.” It had never occurred to him what all an alpha might have to do. He never knew how many packs there were in his area.
“Whiskey? Beer?”
“Beer, please.” Steve knew if he drank whiskey he’d get stupid.
“Sure.” The kitchen was spic and span. A man could eat off the floor. Steve chuckled. Maybe wolves did eat off the floor.
He got a beer and Kamen poured a whiskey, holding a beer in the other hand. “Cheers, honey.”
Choking on his beer, Steve whirled around to stare at Kamen. “I’m not your honey.”
“You sure? Come on and sit down. I have a proposition for you.”
A proposition. Oh, shit. Steve took another long pull on his beer, his feet feeling like lead while he followed Kamen over to the long, low leather couch. He flopped ungracefully, just staring, unable to help the hard, rough pounding of his blood in his veins.
“So what are you suggesting?” he finally asked, licking amazingly dry lips.
“I’m suggesting that you spend the night. Just tonight. If you hate it, you can go, and we never see each other again outside of pack events. You like it? We do it over and over again.” That smile held all the confidence in the world, and a healthy dose of need too.
“I… I dunno, man. I mean. That thing with Myra was an isolated incident.”
“No, I think that thing with Myra freaked you out because of who she looked like when she was doing you.” One dark eyebrow went up. “Yes, I heard about that. I think you’ll like it better with me.”
Like it better? If he did, he was doomed. That was what had scared him so much about having Myra, the weirdest shapeshifter in the world, turn into a man. Into him. He had loved the feel of rough male hands and a hard male cock.
He wasn’t supposed to be that way.
Steve figured he was supposed to find a nice girl and start making with the litters.
“You look like a rabbit in a snare, or a deer caught in the headlights.”
He jumped when Kamen’s hand fell on his knee.
“I’m just not sure I can take you up on it,” he said after clearing his throat three times.
“Okay, we’ll take it even slower than that.” That big body moved, muscles shifting fluidly, Kamen scooting closer to him on the couch. “We’ll start with something less than all night.”
“Like… like what?” Was that his voice? All squeaky and shit?
“Like a hand job.” Big, callused fingers landed on his fly, squeezing him through the cloth, and Steve went spring in no time. No time at all. His cock rose under that touch, pushing up against his zipper like it had a mind of its very own, and that tiny little brain wanted to meet Kamen first hand. Kamen’s hand first hand.
Steve laughed out loud, the sound quavering like crazy.
“What’s so funny?” Kamen asked, his voice a low growl that made the hair on Steve’s neck stand up.
“I… you. Me. This whole weird thing.”
“Is it so strange? Look at Liam and Sasha.”
“No, thanks. They’re so hot for each other and Jenny they might just drop and do it anywhere.” Sasha and Liam had both taken the same girl, and each other, in this strange threesome and Steve couldn’t imagine how it worked. Well, aside from the fact that Sasha was the most alpha guy Steve had ever met until Kamen.
“There’s something to be said for that kind of need.” Working at his button and zipper, Kamen fished Steve’s cock out of his underwear, that rough hand closing around him, stroking up and down.
“Uh. Huh?” How was he supposed to follow the conversation when his eyes were rolling back in his head and his hips were pumping right up to get his prick more of t
hat attention?
“I said I like a little need.” Kamen bent, whispering the last word against Steve’s throat before biting right down on the skin there, hard enough to leave a bruise.
“Oh, God. Oh. Oh, oh, oh.” He was gonna explode. Kamen smelled so good, so hot and male, making his mouth water. And that hand. Women’s hands were just too delicate, too tentative. No, this was what he needed.
“That’s it, babe. Just like that. Come on. Let me show you how good it can be.”
“Okay. Show me.” Steve always gave in too easily. He knew it. This time he just couldn’t help it. Kamen’s touch felt too damned good.
“Oh, honey. You won’t regret it.” Tugging, thumb working the underside of his cock, Kamen gave him more pressure.
Hell, it almost hurt but not quite.
Steve arched up, getting more of the touch, his balls drawing up like little stones. He was gonna blow, like really soon, and he was just helpless to stop it. Kamen was really, really good at this. Pleasure slid up his spine, bursting in his brain, and Steve shot all over Kamen’s hand and wrist. Shit, he hadn’t come so fast since high school.
“Perfect. Fucking beautiful. Just right.” Stroking gently now, Kamen calmed him, praised him, just like he was a pup. Like he was a fragile little thing.
Which he so wasn’t.
“Stay with me tonight,” Kamen said, all commanding and alpha-like.
Steve dragged his blurry eyes up to meet Kamen’s shockingly blue ones, letting a deep breath swell his chest. “No.”
Chapter 2
Steve had told him no.
No one told him no. Kamen didn’t consider himself a rabid asshole or anything, but he was the pack alpha. He’d fought to get there, had beaten all comers and he knew he could command.
The little shit had still told him no.
He had to admire that.
Turning back into his driveway, Kamen pondered how lost Steve had looked on the drive home. Poor guy. Steve had those amazing puppy eyes, the love me-love me eyes that Kamen couldn’t resist.
