Hunting Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #3

by Harper, J. K.

Rielle sighed for about the thousandth time that morning as she paced.

  “You're wearing a hole in the rug,” came an unruffled observation from behind her.

  “Sorry.” The Alpha's mate was perhaps the nicest, most serene wolf Rielle had ever met. She felt immediately guilty for treading in her heels over the gorgeous maroon and dark gold Persian rug. She'd been about to leave the den for High Couture earlier—accompanied by two other Pack members, which felt so much like being babysat—when Otsana Bardou had asked if there was any way possible she could call in sick today and help her out instead. Naturally, Rielle could hardly say no to the Alpha's mate. But she did stay dressed up. Today, she needed armor against a world abruptly gone crazy. Clothes were armor.

  Clothes are for hiding. The thought drifted from her wolf in immediate rebuttal. Rielle stopped abruptly.

  What did that mean?

  Wolves do not hide behind clothes. This time, the thought was not only clear, it seemed a strange combination of sad yet also firm. Almost frustrated. Yes, her wolf whispered. The thought sank lower, drifting away, but it had one more whammy. Frustrated.

  Rielle felt flames in her cheeks. Her wolf was frustrated with her. Maybe even hated her. Which was ridiculous, because she was her wolf. And she didn't hate herself. Did she? She'd been pushing her wolf down for months. Staying in town. Mingling almost solely with humans. Biting the inside of her cheek, she had to admit that seemed to show dislike, if not actual hatred.

  Frustration with herself, though? That was probably spot on.

  An image of Caleb popped into her mind. Tall, built, those eyes filled with strength and passion and the confidence that he had the ability to do anything he wanted. Such as, kiss her. Which might be interesting. Not that she'd been thinking about him kissing her. Because kissing would lead to other things. Things that she might not have, um, much experience with. And beside, this was Caleb she was thinking about! Caleb the caveman. She had no interested in kissing a caveman. Right?

  “Rielle?” The voice came from directly behind her. Despite herself, Rielle squeaked and jumped, heart pounding. Spinning around, she found the soft green eyes of the Alpha's mate regarding her with some apology, but mostly a keen observation.

  “Oh, I didn't mean to frighten you.” Otsana reached out a hand to quickly soothe along Rielle's arm, in that unconscious way all wolves had of tactile reassurance. “You were so deep in thought you didn't hear me asking you a question.”

  “I—what were you asking me?” Rielle felt another blush start to wash over her face. This was Caleb's mother. Caleb, about whom she'd just been imagining what it might be like to kiss.

  Thank god wolves couldn't read thoughts.

  “Actually, I wondered what had you so preoccupied.” Otsana's gaze sharpened even more. Maybe the Alpha's mate could read minds after all. No, that was silly. Rielle had never read of such a thing.

  “Uh....” Her mind felt blank. “I, um....”

  To her utter surprise, Otsana began to chuckle. Her calm, lovely face became open and expansive as she let the chuckle burgeon into a full laugh. Clearly, she wasn't laughing at Rielle—Otsana Bardou was kind and compassionate, the one all the Pack members went to when they had problems or fears—but it still made Rielle feel uncomfortably pinned to the spot. She didn't like being the center of anyone's attention.

  “Oh, come sit with me for a minute.” Otsana gestured toward a plush leather couch under a large window, then tugged at Rielle's arm. “You've been distracted all morning. I'm sorry I asked you to give up a day of freedom from here, but it was important for more reasons than you know.”

  As they settled into the couch's soft umber cushions, Rielle awarded the savvy older wolf a speculative look. “I have a feeling there's an abundance of situations and concepts I know nothing about when it comes to the running of this Pack,” she said. “Trust me, I don't really want to know.” She gave a small shake of her head. “After everything I've ever read about our Pack history, I don't want any more information about current issues until at least a few decades after the fact. Sometimes I think I know too much as it is.”

  “There's a reason you were chosen to be the Pack's historian,” Otsana said with a balletic shrug. “You are trustworthy, loyal, highly intelligent, and genuinely interested in both history as well as how that history plays into contemporary times.” She smiled at Rielle. “We know only as much as we are capable of understanding at any given moment. Don't fret so much, child. You are doing quite well in that regard.”

  Otsana tilted her head to the side as she contemplated the younger wolf, and Rielle was struck by how much Lily Bardou, Caleb's sister, resembled their mother. Otsana's hair was more chestnut-brown than Lily's remarkable red-gold locks, but their faces were similar enough to look like sisters. Rielle didn't know Lily very well, but she'd always liked the strong-willed Guardian. She liked Otsana, as well. The Alpha's mate had listened to Rielle's complaints about her overly protective parents more than once while she'd been growing up and straining against their worry-driven confines.

  What exactly they'd always worried about had been beyond her, back then. Now she understood it had been because she was their only cub, and they'd lost several before her mother had been able to carry her to term. They fretted so much about her safety they sometimes threatened to smother her with their style of love, especially her mother. She loved her mom, of course...but she'd always sort of wished Otsana had been able to impart some of her trust in children to Rielle's mother.

  Otsana glanced down at Rielle's foot, which tapped nervously on the carpet. She hadn't even realized she was doing it.

  “Tell me what's worrying you,” the Alpha's mate said. “You will probably feel much better if you speak about it.” The genuinely caring tone of her voice encouraged sharing. This was a safe place, and Rielle knew it.

  The words tumbled out of Rielle's mouth fast and furious before she could stop them. “I—I'm not sure what there is to tell. But—it's driving me crazy, I know that much! Actually, what I need is to run!” She forcibly stopped herself, shocked at her own outburst. “Oh!”

  Should enjoy running. Her wolf rumbled deep within, pacing just like Rielle had been. Need to run.

  Otsana smiled as Rielle looked at her, one hand now clapped over her errant mouth.

  Speak more, her wolf urged. She knows.

  “Oh, my god,” Rielle whispered from behind her fingers. She took her hand away as her eyes widened. “I think my wolf is talking through me.”

  Otsana picked up Rielle's hand and rubbed it gently with her own. Rielle could feel a ripple of calmness wash over her. She knew the older wolf was sending energy to her through the Pack bond.

  “Yes,” Otsana said simply. All traces of laughter had left her face, but kindness still played over her pretty features. “Your wolf is talking through you because you've been repressing her. Haven't you?”

  Utterly no judgment came with that statement. Just pure understanding. Maybe, too, a bit of rueful acknowledgement? No, Rielle had to be making that part up. Otsana Bardou didn't repress her own wolf, that much was certain.

  Her throat tightened, the sure sign of her nervousness. Wordless, she tipped her head in a tiny nod.

  Yes. She held her own wolf captive inside her, like the coward she was.

  Never a coward, her wolf instantly thought. Only afraid of what is unknown. There is a difference.

  To her absolute horror, Rielle felt a prickling behind her eyes. She refused to cry.

  One tear slipped down her face. Then another.

  Dammit.

  ~

  Maybe a half foot short of his taunting target, Caleb ate dirt. Hard. Growling and snapping, he tried to take a chunk out of Rafe's hide from where his brother had body checked him onto the ground.

  “He knows who they are!”

  “Be still! Fool,” Rafe added, his granite-like bark meant to be obeyed.

  Despite the blinding rage, Caleb responded to Rafe's command. His
brother had had that Alpha-in-training demeanor his entire life. He'd always given off an air of quiet authority and had the ability to influence other wolves by sheer hierarchy ranking. His will wasn't as binding as that of the actual Alpha, but it was close.

  Caleb lay mostly still on the ground, body trembling from the desire to rip and maim and tear. He knew he would have stopped just short of actually touching the rogue. His father's word still held. But for a second there, he couldn't stop himself from the lunge itself. Hot blood dripping from his mouth....

  No killing. Rafe will make him tell us what he knows, his human whispered. Even so, agitation and barely restrained rage underscored the words.

  He growled.

  “Caleb,” Rafe said. “Enough. I want to take down one particular rogue myself,” he said in grim tones. Caleb knew his brother was thinking of the large speckled wolf who had threatened Sara. “But there is a proper way to do this. We adhere to Pack law. Always.”

  Tense silence held the wolves as Caleb struggled to control himself. The steel-grey rogue didn't move, either, although a defensive snarl still curled his lips back over his sharp teeth in pure instinctual reaction.

  Caleb let the scents of the mountain fill his nose. Tender grass shoots, the sweetness of wildflowers, a patch of blackberries not far off. Pines gave off their earthy scent touched with a hint of what humans called vanilla. The rough stink of a bear danced on the edges of the light breeze before being whirled away on the currents.

  And stabbed through all that were the fading scents of three rogues who had killed a young wolf pack member, thereby bringing their own death sentences down on themselves.

  Caleb growled again. Rafe shook him by the nape of his neck, jaws lightly closed on the fur there.

  “Trying.” Caleb spat out the word, keeping himself motionless beneath his brother's weight. “Make him talk.”

  Rafe whuffed out a rush of air and released his hold on Caleb's neck. Very carefully, he backed off maybe an inch. “Don't be stupid,” he said.

  Caleb jerked his head in a nod.

  “Okay, Luke,” Rafe said, swinging his large golden head toward the rogue. “You do know exactly to whom at least some of these scents belong, don't you?”

  Luke's mouth still curled up in disdain, but he managed a curt dip of his own head.

  Rafe sighed. “Let's hear it. You can't be an Alpha without protecting all wolves in the nearby packs by sharing your knowledge. And you still truly want to be Alpha of your own pack, correct? Sanctioned by the council?”

  A brief hesitation. Tate sat on his haunches, mindful of Rafe's authority but staring at Luke with an air that suggested he, too, might be interested in a fight. Caleb smiled grimly to himself as he watched the rogue bastard's body language very closely. It seemed the rogue battled with himself over something. Ultimately, though, his preference was clear.

  “That is what I have fought for my entire life. Yes.” The rogue's voice came out in part growl, part whine of tremendous frustration and still a bit of sorrow. “They are all from my old pack. One scent belongs to one of the three who attacked you and Sara earlier this year.”

  Rafe's eyes seemed to darken at this. Caleb remembered his brother's anguish after the attack, upset he'd been so unfocused and left Sara so vulnerable. If anything like that ever happened to Rielle...

  Why do I keep thinking about Rielle? his human muttered.

  Caleb whuffed. Because she is mine. He ignored his human's incomprehensible retort and directed his attention back to the rogue.

  “And one of them is....”

  “Is what?” Rafe urged as the rogue trailed off.

  Another unhappy small whine escaped Luke, although the snarl still roughed his lips. Caleb forced his breathing to keep steady as they all waited for the answer in the clear mountain air.

  “One of them is my brother.”

  ~

  “I can't believe I'm crying. I don't even know why I'm crying. No, I do know. What is happening?” Rielle gasped out the last words between the sobs threatening to erupt at full volume.

  Otsana continued to stroke her hand with the seemingly absent-minded attention of a mother to a distressed cub, but Rielle saw the thoughtful look on the other wolf's face.

  “Just let it come out,” Otsana said. She smiled at Rielle. “This is natural.”

  Confused, Rielle nodded as her throat seized up again around the hiccuping sobs she tried to keep in. Deep inside, her wolf whined. Darn it. Her eyes were probably getting all swollen. Good thing Caleb wasn't in here to see her looking like an out-of-control idiot who cried over—what?

  “I'll bet you didn't think me asking you to help me with some research would be so dramatic, now did you?” Otsana's voice teased very gently.

  Rielle shook her head, still not trusting what would come out if she spoke again. Otsana had asked her for help looking up some very old, arcane medical information in the library's archives. Despite her initial disappointment at not being able to go into town, Rielle could still enjoy being in the comforting presence of books. Her adoration of the written word always confounded her fashionista human acquaintances in town, while her adoration of pretty, feminine clothing was looked down on by those female wolves in the pack who preferred to dress with more blatant sexiness than sweet sensuality. Caleb, though, didn't seem to remotely mind how she dressed. In fact, he seemed quite appreciative.

  Feels good with him, her wolf murmured. She sent an image of two wolves rubbing against one another, herself and a large male wolf who looked suspiciously like Caleb. Need him.

  “What?” The word burst out of Rielle, startling her. She looked quickly at Otsana. “I—my wolf is thinking things I'm not. Well, not really. Well, maybe. Somewhat. On occasion.” From closed-off throat to gushing idiocy. Wonderful. “What is going on with me?” she said in what could only be described as a plaintive wail.

  The smile still held Otsana's face in an open, encouraging expression. The words that followed, though, were direct.

  “My dear girl. Has this been happening much recently? Your wolf and you not being quite on the same page.”

  Rielle dropped her eyes and studied the backs of her hands.

  “You matured a little late, I recall.” Otsana's voice soothed, despite the words making Rielle want to disappear into a dark hidey-hole. “Always the reader, always designing clothes, always under your mother's watchful eye. That one worried herself into knots over her only cub while you grew up.” Otsana sighed as if with past regret, then briskly shook her head. “You weren't terribly interested in running after the same thing the rest of the Pack females your age were. Boys, boys, and more boys. You were quiet, you enjoyed your studies, you were far more interested in Pack history than discussing the Pack's current crop of eligible males.”

  Rielle couldn't even nod. This was mortifying. Although strangely relieving as well. It felt like she was at confession, having some great burden taken off her shoulders.

  Pausing, the Alpha's mate chuckled somewhat ruefully. “Your parents were overprotective, to be sure. I'm sure your mother could see how pretty you were, especially since you loved to dress up. I think she felt calmed that you were more intrigued by how dress patterns fit on you than ostentatiously showing off how they looked on you. Rielle, you turned many a young wolf's head when you hit your teens.”

  “I did?” Rielle finally found her voice, although her surprise level remained the same.

  Otsana smiled at her again. “You were never self-absorbed when you were younger. Still aren't, which is a trait that will serve you well throughout your lifetime. However,” she went on more briskly. “You're well a grown woman now, and more importantly, you're a grown wolf. One I haven't seen out on a run for a long time. One I haven't seen in wolf form for a long time.”

  Her wolf whined in agreement. Run. Rielle sensed something she didn't want to hear was about to be laid out in the harsh light of reality.

  Otsana reached out a gentle finger and tipped u
p Rielle's head so she was forced to look into those understanding green eyes. She knew exactly what was coming and felt the irrational desire to leap to her feet and flee the suddenly pressing room. Her wolf pushed up closer to the surface, conversely wanting to hear whatever was about to be spoken. Rielle felt strangely torn in two.

  “Rielle, you need to mate. You never have, am I correct?”

  “Oh, my god.” She closed her eyes. This was beyond humiliating. A fiery wash heated her cheeks, her nose, her forehead, her entire face. In fact, it seemed her entire body flamed with embarrassment. This was definitely not a conversation her own mother had ever had with her. Even though Rielle knew every single word of it was true.

  “Being a virgin isn't the end of the world.” Otsana's voice was still soothing.

  “Please feel free to kill me right now,” Rielle whispered. “Although I might die right here on the spot before you have to do it.”

  Otsana tapped Rielle's hand, causing the younger wolf to open her eyes again. Otsana's face was filled with the sort of compassion Rielle had learned from her. Tears welled up again despite her suddenly savage attempt to keep them back.

  “Rielle, it's nothing to be frightened of. It's part of being a wolf. And your wolf needs you to mate.”

  Yes, her wolf whispered. She sent a sensation of abandon and pleasure and pure delight in a sensual moment pouring through Rielle's head. The welter of confusion gripping her entire body threatened to make her explode in a scatter of crazed, howling escape.

  “That's why she's speaking through you. She needs you to release her. You need to release you.” Otsana's voice turned grave and her eyes sharpened their gaze on Rielle. “I know you love spending time in the human world. I know you love your job in town. But you are Pack, Rielle.” Her tone sharpened more, although not with anger. With the intensity of conviction. “You are a member of this family. As such, you owe it to not only yourself but to us to live as completely and fully as a wolf shifter does.”

  Rielle nodded. “I know. I know. But, it's just all so—so....”