Wolf Detective

by Candace Ayers

  The man beneath her choked out a laugh. "This is really how you're going to play this ?

  "I'm not playing," Kira said. "I do want to be with you. More than anything. To the point that I can hardly concentrate sometimes !"

  "You think you're the only one?" Donovan muttered mutinously .

  "I'm just saying that the two of us together makes sense," she reasoned. "Right here, and right now. You can protect me by marking me as yours, and vice versa. I mean it, Sawyer. I want this. And if that's not enough, you saw how terribly I study when I'm thinking about you. You're supposed to be making my education easier, not harder ."

  "God, don't even say that word." The hands on her hips pushed her lower, and Kira could feel how rigid his erection was beneath the sheets. It felt like there was hardly anything left between them keeping them apart. She wondered if he slept naked .

  Only one way to find out .

  18

  "K ira," he moaned as she slipped beneath the covers .

  "Yes?" she asked innocently. His temperature had spiked the moment he saw her standing naked in his doorway, and now that he could feel the coolness of her bare flesh sliding against his own, he thought he was going to lose his mind. Having her so enticingly close, especially when his hormones screamed that she was a viable mate, was testing his last modicum of control. Donovan moaned as she lowered her mouth to nip at his neck, one hand coming up to clutch her as he wrestled the bedside drawer open. His fingers groped blindly until they finally found what he was looking for, and he withdrew the condom just as Kira's head vanished beneath the covers .

  "All right, you she-wolf, as long as we're— Christ !"

  A deep throb of warmth in his abdomen and a thrill at the edge of his senses cut him off as he felt his manhood encased in a taut, damp paradise. He felt Kira's tongue, always so sharp with comebacks, slide luxuriantly along his shaft as she tasted him for the first time. Donovan's hands shot beneath the covers to grip her by the roots of her hair, and he felt it when she hummed a laugh deep in her throat. She began to bob her head up and down, and each movement thrust him back into enveloping warmth of her mouth .

  Donovan groaned and shuddered as he relaxed back into the pillow. To think Kira Bentley, his student, was the one doing this to him—it made his cock twitch involuntarily, and he felt her fingers encircle the base of his shaft in an effort to hold it still. Donovan groaned again as she sucked him harder than he had ever been in his life. He needed her, now, while there was still no release in sight—at the rate she was going, he might surprise them both by bringing their foreplay to a sudden unwanted conclusion .

  Donovan seized her shoulders and yanked her back up above the covers, crushing her mouth against his even as he flipped her over and pinned her beneath him. He tore open the plastic wrapped, never breaking contact with Kira Bentley as his hands worked swiftly to prepare himself. Once he was satisfied that they were both protected, a powerful stroke of his fingers between her legs urged her open, and he positioned himself above her .

  She was slick with wanting, and he glided into her easily. Their slow, explosive cries rang out in harmony as Donovan allowed himself to sink fully into her. Kira arched beneath him in a display of sheer animal ecstasy, her legs winding around his thrusting waist as their pelvises slapped together, again and again. His fever got the better of him, and Donovan didn't go slow; she didn't ask him to. She rode the fervent, bucking rhythm of his hips, and raised herself up each time to meet him. Nature, and their overpowering feelings for each other, took them over completely in the darkness of his bedroom, where nothing was forbidden between them any longer. He claimed her exactly as she requested, and she gave herself to him with his name and his alone moaned on her lips .

  He would give Kira Bentley this much—she was certainly louder in the bedroom than she had ever been in class .

  19

  I t was quite a sight that greeted them when Professor Donovan drove her back to campus the next morning .

  Kira was grinning like the cat that ate the canary and barely paying attention to their surroundings. Last night they had consummated their secret, and she was feeling good. They still didn't have a plan for how to track down the rogue werewolf, but it seemed certain that their adversary would rear his head sooner or later .

  It turned out to be a lot sooner than either of them was expecting .

  "What the hell?" Donovan's question roused Kira from her thoughts, and she craned her head to look out the passenger window. As they drove by her dormitory, she noticed two police vehicles parked near the entrance, and several uniformed officers wrestling a man out the front door. Shannon trailed behind them .

  "Oh my God." Kira met Donovan's eyes, before fumbling for her seatbelt. Donovan threw the car into park and they both spilled out of the vehicle. Kira had just made it to Shannon's side when the struggling man's eyes locked onto her .

  It was Dr. Kilman. Dr. Kilman of the English department. For a moment, his gaze flashed tawny yellow, and Kira was at last treated to a look at the wolf hiding within. She stood her ground, glaring him down as she wrapped an arm around Shannon's shoulders. Professor Donovan likewise wrapped an arm around hers .

  "You were supposed to be mated to me!" Kilman exploded. "Why do you think I sired you in the first place ?"

  Kira cast a look at Donovan, and watched as his gray eyes widened incredulously at the revelation. She had been right—Donovan hadn't been the one to curse her .

  "Ugh!" Shannon darted Kira a sympathetic and appropriately grossed-out look. It took the latter a moment to process just how creepy Dr. Kilman's comments would sound to the uninitiated. The police officer tasked with his arrest thrust the professor's head under the hood of his car, and Dr. Kilman vanished from sight. The back door of the cop car slammed closed on him .

  "Can you believe it, Kira? I saw him hanging around our dorm room on my way back from breakfast, and I tried to call you… only when I called you, that creep pulled your cell phone out of his pocket!" Shannon pointed at the car and shuddered. Kira broke away from Donovan only long enough to squeeze her friend .

  "Holy crap, Shannon, I don't think you know how much I owe you one," she said gravely .

  "Ma'am, I believe these are yours." Another officer approached as Kira extracted herself from their hug. He held out a plastic evidence bag; inside, Kira could see her missing wallet and phone. "We're taking him down to the station now, but I'm going to need you to stay and answer a few questions ."

  Kira shot Donovan a look. "I guess I'm going to be late to English class again today, professor ."

  "No excuses, Bentley." Sawyer Donovan smiled broadly, and Kira could see all of the guilt that had been weighing on him for the entirety of their acquaintance was long gone. She smiled back in response, so full of elation that she couldn't even attempt to hide it. She was completely oblivious to anyone who might be observing their exchange .

  "Detention?" she guessed over her shoulder as she was led away by the police officer. Sawyer Donovan watched her depart, hands retired affably in his pockets. She knew he would stay as long as she needed him to see this thing through .

  "You got it," he said. "I'll look forward to seeing you again after class today . Kira ."

  Epilogue

  Four Years Later

  "W ait up, professor !"

  Sawyer Donovan paused in his stride, and turned to glance over his shoulder in feigned disinterest. Kira Bentley, his student teacher, loped towards him. Her rollicking blond hair was tied up in a ponytail, and it swept the back of her neck as she jogged; she wore dark, thick-framed glasses that only appeared to magnify her warm, gorgeous eyes, while serving the dual purpose limiting her vision to acceptable human levels. His former student looked older and wiser, and ten times lovelier
than he could have ever believed. Despite seeing her daily basis, Donovan still sometimes felt like he was getting the wind knocked out of him for the first time .

  Not that she needed to know that. Any endearments he conceived, he kept to himself, until he could tell them to her in the privacy of the woods or in the apartment they shared off-campus. Now, Professor Donovan shook out his shirt sleeve and glanced at the face of the watch she had given him for their first anniversary. They didn't have a date officially set for when they had started dating—as with most things, they counted in full moons .

  "You're late," he observed. Kira stopped beside him, and stood a little too closely as she pretended to scrutinize the hands of his watch. When she dipped her head, he was treated to the perfume of her hair, and a low growl of desire rose in his throat. While their situation—that is to say, their forbidden relationship—had certainly changed since her graduation, having her for his student teacher had ushered in a new set of all-too-familiar problems. With Kilman gone, there was no one who knew the true nature of their relationship… although he thought that Shannon Drieling, Kira's former roommate, probably suspected. They both thought it best to continue to keep their secret under wraps, at least for now. Some days were more trying than others .

  "If I'm late, what does that make you?" Kira's eyes flickered upward to fix him from beneath the frame of her glasses .

  "Fashionably late," Donovan answered easily. They were outside his old classroom, the classroom they now shared. Donovan pulled the door open for her, and Kira offered him a poised, polite smile as she entered first .

  It was the start of their first semester teaching together, and with the advent of the school year came a fresh batch of students. As Kira made her way to the table set up beside his desk, Donovan set his briefcase down and crossed to the board to write their names. Kira was already dividing a pile of syllabuses to pass around .

  "Welcome to English One-oh-One," he stated. The greeting was automatic by this point. He looped his name in big, bold letters on the whiteboard. "I am Professor Donovan, and this is my sidekick, Miss Bentley." He knew without turning back around that Kira would pull a face at that. She hated being referred to as the 'sidekick' or 'assistant' in their duo, but he would continue to milk the terminology for as long as she taught beneath him. If she wanted to get even with him later, well… Donovan certainly wouldn't mind being the one occupying a position beneath her for a change .

  "Would someone mind cracking a window?" He was certain it wasn't just the ferventness of his imagination that was making the room warm. One eager-eyed student toward the back complied, and quickly turned to work the window crank. A cool summer breeze blew in, fluttering Kira's papers, and carrying with it a familiar scent that froze them both momentarily to a spot .

  Kira straightened, and Donovan's gaze snapped upward over the rim of his glasses. Sitting beside the eager student was a fellow freshman, a boy—or at least, Donovan assumed he was a boy. The second student had his hood drawn so far down that his face could hardly be seen, and was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses that succeeded in hiding the remainder of his features. He was slumped forward across his desk, as if hoping his poor posture would help him escape detection… but there was no escaping the wild musk that the breeze carried with it, nor any of the other all-too-familiar symptoms .

  Donovan looked at Kira .

  Kira looked at Donovan .

  "This semester is about to get a lot more interesting," he muttered below his breath .

  THE END

  Claimed by the New Alpha

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Curvy Eva Haywood, a brainy Harvard Business School student, has come back home to the sleepy town of Beaver Creek in Yukon. Rather than follow her peers to high-flying jobs in the big city, Eva returns to her hometown to help her father run his diner, but just for the summer. After all, she’s lucky enough to have a high-powered fiancé back in the city awaiting her return .

  * * *

  “If he doesn’t set your heart on fire, then leave him before you’re dying on the inside and flirting with the gardener .”

  Why can’t Eva get those words out of her head ?

  The truth is, there’s only one man that has ever set Eva’s heart on fire. Ever since she was little, Eva has silently worshiped a local resident, Sebastian (Seb) Waverly. He and his father run a small lumber business. But sexy Sebastian is a brooding wild card, spurning most of the women who regularly throw themselves in his path. There’s no way he’d fall for a curvy girl like her. In fact, he has never muttered more than a few words to Eva .

  No. No hearts afire for Eva. Her place is back in the city in a “pleasant” relationship with her “nice” fiancé .

  * * *

  Unknown to all but himself, Seb is head over heels in love with Eva and always has been. But, he firmly believes she’s too good for a man like him. So, even though he’s noticed her for as long as he can remember, he only ever watches from afar. Now that she’s back, though, maybe, just maybe, he can finally gather the courage to talk to the one and only woman who renders him tongue tied and speechless when comes anywhere near her .

  Everything changes, though, one crisp, clear evening when Seb is attacked by a wolf. Although he manages to kill the wolf, he suffers a bite in the struggle. When he awakens the next morning, Seb learns that those old tales, the ones he grew up with and has since scoffed, the ones of humans shifting forms to become wolves, are all true. And, now that he has killed the alpha of a shifter pack, tradition dictates he must lead the pack as its new alpha .

  His first task as new alpha? Paying his respects to the slain alpha’s daughter – Eva .

  * * *

  Can Eva ever forgive the only man who has ever set her heart on fire ?

  How can Sebastian ever be able to win the hand of the only woman his heart has ever truly belonged to ?

  1

  E va gave the already gleaming counter-top another wipe. Today had been slower than most, despite the warm weather, and she once again questioned her decision to spend the summer cocooned quietly away within the sleepy town of Beaver Creek. She had exchanged a highly-prized internship at one of the best trading firms in the city for a summer replacing coffee filters and folding napkins in her father’s diner, where she had worked every summer for as long as she could remember .

  “That’s a big sigh, what’s up?” Her co-worker, Leslie-Anne, a perky blonde who had the accolade of being voted ‘Miss Beaver Creek’ three years running in the local beauty pageant, interrupted her thoughts .

  “I’m good, it’s just felt a bit slow today, that’s all.” She replied .

  “Every day’s slow round here – you know that. Missing big-shot city living?” Leslie-Anne winked at her, and Eva smiled back. Eva knew it took a lot for Leslie to make light of her career and study opportunities. She would have killed to get out of this town, and could never understand why Eva came back every summer .

  “You got a man out there?” Leslie-Anne asked .

  “Well. Yeah, kind of. He’s sweet…” Eva faltered, and Leslie-Anne burst out laughing .

  “Oh, honey, if that’s all you can say about the man then forget it. If he doesn’t set your heart on fire, then leave him before you’re dying on the inside and flirting with the gardener .”

  Eva managed a weak smile in return. She knew Jimmy was a good catch, he had graduated top of his class and was already set up with a position at a hedge-fund company in Manhattan. He was a good man too, kind and generous – which was something of a rarity in that world. Strange then, when she was about to embark on an exciting new chapter in her life, she still couldn’t ignore the deep, almost primal, call to the empty wilderness of Beaver Creek. Whilst people like Leslie-Anne hated the place, Eva felt like the Creek ran through her veins; the unique scent of birch trees, rich earth and sunshine was more alluring to her than any perfume .

  L eslie-Anne sud
denly became a flurry of activity, applying another layer of bubble-gum coloured gloss to her pouting lips, and fluffing up her hair in the reflection of the chrome fridge. Eva heard the sound of a beaten-up truck pull into the forecourt and rumble to a stop. She felt a flutter of anticipation as she hastily smoothed down her apron and re-tucked her shirt. Leslie-Anne swept past her to the hostess stand. Picking up a set of menus she quickly adjusted her uniform on her cute, slender, petite frame. That’s why I’ll never have a hope in hell, thought Eva. As if on cue, Sebastian Waverly walked through the door .

  I n that moment, the day’s sun gave its last glare as it fell behind Yukon’s White Mountain range, bathing the diner in hazy red light. Sebastian’s figure seemed to dwarf everything else in the cosy diner, making the place feel at once too small, but also irrelevant, as Eva felt her world fall away. He was tall and permanently sun-kissed from his lumbering job, his tightly muscled frame was evident through a well-worn shirt and sawdust-coated denim jeans that clung to his hips. Shadowed by the setting sun, his face appeared darker than usual: his eyes almost black. They were complemented by equally dark stubble that covered an arrogantly set jawline. His hair was the only soft aspect of his appearance, worn slightly long, so that it curled gently at the nape of his neck. Looking past Leslie-Anne, he turned his gaze toward Eva, his lazy stare jolting her out of her trance. Mortified to be caught looking she blushed fiercely and cast her eyes downward, keeping them trained on the linoleum floor as Leslie-Anne escorted Sebastian and his father, who Eva had barely noticed, to a booth in her section .