“I can see Wade has told you next to nothing about werewolves. What has he been doing besides helping with the harvest that he couldn’t find the time to let you know all this?” Taryn felt the flush covering her face as Roxie smiled. “Ah, I see. That would keep him busy. As for werewolf forms, there usually is only the one—the wolf.”
“Usually?”
“I used to think as you do that what the movies portrayed was true. I’m the exception. Being the special girl that I am, I can shift into the half-human half-wolf form. And I’m not ugly.”
“Really? Oh, now you have to show me or I’ll die from the curiosity.”
Roxie put her plate down on the porch next to her and quickly looked around to make sure they were still alone. Satisfied that they were, she went and stood at the bottom of the porch steps. “I’ll do this quick. I tend to make the others nervous when I take on this form.”
Taryn felt her jaw drop open as Roxie’s form shimmered and then blurred as she willed on the change. Once the change was complete, Taryn was amazed at the difference in Roxie. She was much, much taller and looked to be about three times stronger in her human/wolf form. Her head was that of a wolf and her entire body was covered in golden brown fur. Roxie twitched her tail when Taryn stood up to get a better look at her.
“This is amazing. You look as if you could beat the crap out of anyone.”
“I can, and have,” Roxie said in a huskier than normal voice.
“You can talk!”
Roxie nodded her head. “Yes. It’s a little harder to do, but I can manage.”
Just then the screen door opened as Beowulf, Wade, Braedan and Drake walked out onto the porch. Seeing Roxie, Beowulf just shook his head. Taryn had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop from laughing at the way Braedan and Drake were staring at Roxie. From their shocked expressions, she figured this was the first time they had seen Roxie this way, let alone knew she could take on this form.
Braedan was the first one to find his voice. “What … how is this possible?”
Roxie stepped closer to him and pushed his jaw closed with a snap. “If you keep your mouth hanging open like that, you’ll end up eating a bug or something.”
Braedan jumped back in surprise. “She talked.”
Beowulf moved to stand in front of Roxie. “Can you please change back to human form now? I’m really not enjoying seeing my mate being stared at as if she were in some kind of freak show.”
“Spoilsport,” Roxie said under her breath, then she willed herself to change back to her human form.
“Thank you. Now if you are done showing off to Taryn, we came out here to let you both know we’re going to see if we can hunt Lars down. Roxie, I want you to stay with Taryn just in case he shows up at the house. I doubt he will. He’d be a fool to show up knowing how many of our pack is here, but I want to cover all the bases.”
“Fine, I’ll stay. Where are the others?”
“They went out the back way. We’re going to circle around both sides of the winery and meet up at the pine trees. Hopefully we’ll be able to pick up his scent trail and see where the bastard has been coming from.”
Roxie kissed Beowulf’s cheek. “If you run into trouble, howl and I’ll come and kick some werewolf butt. And don’t look at me like that. I’ve already saved your ass once. I can do it again.”
Beowulf rolled his eyes at his mate. “I think we should be fine without your assistance. You and Taryn just stay put.”
Taryn watched in awe as all four men changed into wolf form and loped off in a group. She could tell who each wolf was because their fur matched their hair color in human form. Beowulf, who was the black wolf, was out in the front with Wade right behind him. Her father and Braedan ran alongside him. She realized this was not the first time she had seen Wade in wolf form. She recognized him as the wolf she had seen that first night when he had arrived at The Pines. In some ways, it seemed as if that had happened years ago instead of days ago.
“We might as well head back inside,” Roxie said as she watched the men leave. “Since there isn’t much to do except sit around and wait for them to return, how about we crack open one of your excellent bottles of wine. And now that you’re family, Wulf’s Den will be selling every type of wine you make.”
Taryn was a little surprised to hear Roxie call her a member of her family. “I’m family now? Wade and I haven’t even discussed the idea of getting married.”
Roxie slipped her arm through Taryn’s and started walking her toward the front door. “There will be no discussion of marriage, I can guarantee you. Werewolves don’t usually marry. Once you’re mated, you’re as good as married in their eyes. And to be honest, it’s a heck of a lot more binding. Just the whole missing-your-mate-even-though-it-has-only-been-an-hour thing really shows you how strong the mating bond is.”
Allowing Roxie to walk into the house ahead of her, Taryn thought over her words. Roxie was right. Why bother going through a wedding ceremony when being mated meant so much more? It also gave her another reason to think her mother had most definitely not been a true mate to her father.
* * * *
The men returned a few hours later. Beowulf, Wade, Braedan and Drake headed back to the house after leaving the rest of the men at the bunk house. All four were irritated that they hadn’t been able to flush Lars out from hiding. After he had confronted Drake the evening before, they had all figured he would be back this night as well, considering he had barely managed to get away from Drake during their last encounter. More worried about how Taryn was taking the shock of seeing him change into a wolf, Drake had given up on the chase the moment Lars had crossed the road that ran along the back of Taryn’s property and entered the trees on the opposite side.
As soon as they entered the house, they heard feminine laughter coming from the kitchen. Wade headed in that direction as the others followed behind him. Upon entering the kitchen, he was a little surprised to see how animated Taryn was as she spoke to Roxie. It wasn’t until he saw the empty wine bottles sitting on the kitchen table did he understand why. From the looks of things, Roxie and Taryn had finished off three bottles of wine between them. Being a werewolf, Roxie would hardly being feeling the effect of the wine she had drunk. Alcohol didn’t affect them the same as it did mortals. It would take a lot more than three bottles of wine to make Roxie drunk, but the same couldn’t be said for Taryn. When he came to stand next to Taryn’s chair, she looked up at him and gave him a crocked grin.
“Hi … hi there, good-looking.” Taryn’s words slurred together as she spoke.
Drake, who was now standing next to Wade, chortled as Taryn reached around and pinched Wade in the ass, causing him to jump. “It looks as if my daughter as been enjoying her own wine a little too much. I have yet to taste it, but after our failure tonight, I could use a glass of wine.”
“I’ll go get another bottle.” Taryn tried to stand up, but her legs ended up giving out on her and she thumped back down onto her chair. “Hmm, my legs don’t seem to work right now. You’ll have to get the bottle yourself, Dad. I put another bottle in the fridge after I opened the last one Roxie and I shared.”
Wade turned to look at Drake when the man stiffened beside him. He quickly looked away when he saw the display of emotions running across the man’s face. Taryn calling him Dad had not been missed by Drake.
Bending to Taryn’s level, Drake placed a fatherly kiss on her forehead. “Not to worry, honey, it’s only temporary. I’ll get that bottle of wine.”
After Drake moved away in the direction of the fridge, Wade turned his attention onto Roxie. “Did you decide to get my mate drunk on purpose, or were you not thinking when you let her drink all that wine?”
“Oh, stop being an old fuddy-duddy, Wade. Give the girl a break. She needed to let her hair down, so to speak. She’s been through an awful lot the last couple days. And it’s not as if I forced the wine down her throat.”
Beowulf pulled out the chair next to Roxie and
sat down. “Relax, Wade. Just think how much easier it will be to have your way with her tonight.”
Drake thumped the now open bottle of wine down on the table. “Hello, her father is in the room. I haven’t had time to adjust to the fact that my daughter is old enough to have sex. I don’t need you reminding me that she does.”
When Taryn reached for the newly opened bottle of wine, Wade slapped her hand away. “I think you’ve had more than enough. Time for you to go to bed.” Shooting Drake a quick glance, he added, “Alone, for now.”
Picking Taryn easily up in his arms, he took her upstairs to her bedroom. Taryn had laid her head down on his shoulder so by the time he reached her bedroom she was already asleep. Wade juggled her in his arms as he pulled the covers back on the bed. Gently placing her on it, he stripped off her clothes and tucked her in. He shook his head. Contrary to what Beowulf said, he wouldn’t be making love to Taryn in her present condition. He had the feeling she would be out for the rest of the night. Resigned to the fact that he would only be sleeping next to her tonight, he quietly walked out of the room and went back downstairs to join the others.
Chapter Thirteen
Coming slowly awake, Taryn groaned and grabbed her pounding head. She cracked open an eye and quickly shut it again when the bright morning light made the pounding increase in intensity.
Realizing how bright the sunlight streaming into her room actually was, Taryn cursed under breath and quickly sat up. She regretted the movement a split second later. She pressed both her hands to her temples and looked over at her alarm clock. She cursed again when she saw how late it was. It was then she noticed Wade’s side of the bed was empty.
Calling herself a fool for drinking so much wine the night before, Taryn hurriedly pulled on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved cotton shirt. She only took the time to quickly brush her teeth and splash water on her face before she headed downstairs.
The house was empty. She wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or worried that no one was about. She hadn’t checked the bedrooms on the way down to see if the others were already awake or not.
Pushing open the front screen door, she made a beeline for the vineyard. Much to her relief, all the men were already hard at work harvesting. Drake was the first one to see her approaching. He met her halfway and pulled her close into a hug. She stiffened for a few seconds before she reminded herself that he was her father. She found it hard to think of him as such at times because he really looked no older than she was. Taryn returned the hug, thinking of all the hugs she had missed getting from her father while she was growing up.
After Drake released her, he nodded his head in Wade’s direction. He stood a little away from them. “Someone over there will be happy to see you’re up and mobile. He thought you would be a little bit the worse for wear after all the wine you had last night.”
Taryn smiled sheepishly up at Drake. “That assumption wouldn’t be too far off the mark. I don’t exactly feel real chipper at the moment. I’m happy to see you guys didn’t wait for me to get out of bed before getting to work.”
“That was Wade’s doing. He figured you wouldn’t be able to get out of bed that early and suggested we get started without you.”
Walking over to where Wade stood waiting, Taryn stood on her tip-toes and kissed him soundly. Taryn vaguely heard her father say he would get back to work before leaving them alone. She pressed herself against Wade and wasn’t surprised to find he had an erection. If the harvest hadn’t been in full swing, she wouldn’t have had a second thought about dragging him back to the house and having her way with him.
She kissed him for a few seconds longer before she pulled back. “Thanks for getting the men started this morning.”
“You’re welcome. I’d rather you showed me another way how thankful you are, but I guess I’ll have to settle for hearing the actual words instead.”
Taryn reached between their two bodies, making sure her back blocked what she was doing, as she stroked the bulge in Wade’s pants. “Then I’ll have to make a point to thank you properly later. When we’re alone.”
Wade bit back a groan as Taryn continued to stroke him. “If you don’t stop that, I can’t promise you what Drake’s reaction will be when I drag you to the ground and make love to you right where we’re standing.”
“We can’t have him getting upset, now can we?” Taryn stepped back, putting some space between them. “How did the hunt go last night? The wine got the better of me before I could find out what happened. I’m surprised Roxie didn’t end up in the same condition.”
“It takes a lot of alcohol to get a werewolf drunk. Drinking three bottles of wine would have the same effect as two glasses of wine for you.”
“Now you tell me.” Taryn shook her head. “Great. So only I made an ass of myself by getting stupid drunk.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it, Taryn. Roxie felt you deserved it after all you had been through, and the others agreed. Once we try the spell, you’ll have no problem keeping up with Roxie.”
Taking a quick look around to make sure no one was near, Taryn lowered her voice to a whisper. “Roxie and I had a talk about the spell yesterday. She said she would be more than happy to give us the spell. She also explained about the mark on her wrist and what it meant. She thinks since she can do magic as her grandmother had done, there will be a better chance the spell will work if she’s the one to do it.”
Wade looked down at her thoughtfully, then nodded his head. “She may have something there. So that’s what the two of you were up to outside last evening. Roxie rarely shifts to her half-human, half-wolf form.”
“Then I guess she really must like me. I asked her to show me, so she did. Did she really kick someone’s ass while in that form?”
“She mentioned that, did she? Yeah, she did actually. After Gren had turned Roxie, Beowulf challenged him to a fight. Beowulf, being Beowulf, met Gren alone even though he knew full well Gren wouldn’t abide by the rules and would have others with him. To make a long story short, Beowulf was blind-sided by two of Gren’s men during the fight. We, meaning me, Roxie and Royce, showed up just in time to see it. When it looked as if Beowulf would lose, that was when Roxie shifted to her human/wolf form and basically beat the crap out of Gren and his men. She also used a spell on Gren to keep him in his werewolf form for a day.”
Taryn shook her head. “I can see why you had no worries about leaving only Roxie with me when you went to hunt down Lars. She’s a woman who can look after herself.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of Roxie. We still have no idea what the limitations of her powers are. Royce seems to think she’s capable of a lot more. His mate had kept a lot of her magic hidden from him. He said she was never very comfortable using it around him.”
“I think I like the idea of having a sister-in-law who is ‘special’. I can’t see life around Roxie ever being boring.”
“It never is that. Wait a minute. Did you just call Roxie your sister-in-law?”
“Yes. That was another thing Roxie explained to me yesterday. I understand in your eyes we’re as good as married.”
“At first I assumed you would realize that, but Drake told me otherwise. I had meant to explain that to you myself.”
Taryn softly brushed her finger along Wade’s bottom lip. She sucked in a breath when he opened his mouth and nipped at the tip of her finger. “It doesn’t matter. Though there is one thing I want from you now that I do know.”
“And that would be?” Wade pulled her against him and rocked his hips against her suggestively.
“Get me a damn ring so that at least I can feel like I’m a married woman.” Breaking out of Wade’s embrace, Taryn started walking away. “Now get back to work before I have to resort to getting my whip out.”
Wade chuckled. “You never know, I may like it if you took a whip to me.”
“Into the kinky sex, are you? I’ve never had kinky sex before. Maybe we should try it out s
ometime.”
“There’s another thing Wade should have told you.” Drake’s voice drifted over from the other side of the row of grapevines she was standing near. “Werewolves have exceptional hearing. I can honestly say hearing my daughter wanting to experiment with kinky sex was something I hoped never to have to hear. So can the two of you stick to a topic that won’t make my protective fatherly instincts kick in and want to rip Wade’s head off?”
Taryn blushed. “Sorry, Dad. We’ll try and behave.”
Blowing Wade a kiss, Taryn left the vineyard determined to get some work done and not think about having hot, sweaty sex with Wade.
* * * *
Lars watched Taryn leave the vineyard. He was hidden downwind from the men who were harvesting the grapes. So far none of them had realized he was watching them. He had actually been watching them for days. He was biding his time, waiting for the right time to act.
Once Taryn was out of sight, he focused his attention on Drake. He curled his lip in disgust. It was bad luck that Drake happened to find out his daughter was alive. Lars had gotten a lot of satisfaction knowing Drake had suffered over the loss of his wife and daughter. He had hoped to have the final coup—causing Taryn to lose the winery and claiming it as his own. Since the death of her uncle, he had been working to slowly bring her down financially. He had even gone as far as to pay off the normal crew she hired to help with the harvest, and put out the word that if any other crew worked at her winery they shouldn’t expect to get paid. It had been pitifully easy to sway the mortals to do as he wished.
Now all his well-laid plans had been for naught. Somehow Taryn had managed to align herself with Beowulf and take his brother as her mate. But what bothered Lars the most was the thought of Drake finding happiness now that Taryn was back in his life. Lars decided since he had taken away one woman Drake had loved, it was now time to take away someone else he found just as precious.
Taryn’s Wolf Page 11
