Hunting Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #3

by Harper, J. K.

  Lost at first, understanding dawned on Caleb as Rielle watched his face, her own as fearful as a rabbit cornered by a hawk. “Whoa,” he said. “Wait. You're a virgin?”

  Rielle's nod came quickly, as though she was afraid he was about to burst out laughing or something.

  “Wow,” was all he could come up with as his brain suddenly filled with images of Rielle, shy and naked, waiting for him to touch her for the first time ever, waiting for him to show her how incredible it could be. His wolf thought fiercely, Mine! Protect her.

  “I know this is just a kiss, but I thought I should tell you,” she said, her voice still tiny. But did she sound a little hopeful, too? “In case we ever do anything more.” Caleb's heart stuttered in his chest as he imagined doing a hell of a lot more with Rielle. “Not that—I mean, I'm not trying to be presumptuous—I mean—”

  “Shh,” he said, drawing his finger across her soft, soft lips. “It's okay. Come here.”

  He pulled her close so he could seal his lips over hers again. This was Rielle he was kissing! He still couldn't figure out how he'd never really seen her before, but right now he didn't care. All he cared about was the slide of her silken tongue against his, her pliant lips opening with warmth and trust, the sweet honey taste of her in his mouth. She relaxed beneath his kiss, just as he meant her to. His head still swam with the knowledge she was a virgin. No way could he screw this up with her. He had to take it carefully, gently. But this cemented the deal as far as he was concerned. No other guy would ever touch Rielle. His wolf growled in agreement as he claimed her mouth, tender yet unyielding, until he felt her breathing quicken along with the eagerness of her kiss. Finally, he gently pulled back.

  The moment held them in some sort of glow, one that had Caleb thinking about exploring every square inch of Rielle's slender little body and holding her close and never letting anyone else even look at her ever again, let alone touch her. Mine, he/his wolf thought. Yeah. As long as he didn't mess it all up again. She was so little and delicate, so soft and gentle. All he knew about was fighting and defending. She was right. He did like to steamroll over everyone in his way. He would have to take it really, really slowly with her. She was too damn amazing. He couldn't screw it up.

  Of course, he managed to majorly screw it all up in a heartbeat just by letting his mouth blurt out words nobody had sanctioned, least of all himself.

  “Where the hell did you learn to kiss like that, Ree? Have you been taking lessons or something? Because I never thought you would be able to kiss a guy like you just did.”

  “What?” Rielle snapped her head and body back away from him so fast he accidentally pulled her hair where his hand had still been tangled up in it. She yelped in genuine pain.

  He flinched, then of course made things only worse by trying to smooth her head where he'd apparently yanked out a few strands by the root. Unfortunately, she was turning her head to the side at the same moment as she looked down to watch her stumbling steps. He ended up smacking her skull. Kind of hard.

  Rielle uttered a curse word that echoed through the trees surrounding them. As soon as she said it she looked as shocked as he felt. He'd never have thought such a dirty word could fall out of her sweet lips.

  Standing there in her pretty dress, her stunned expression slowly changed to hurt to as angry as he'd ever seen her. Worse, she seemed—disappointed. Glaring at him, those soft lips that moments before had been pretty much feasting on his tightened into a frown deadly enough to turn a wolf to stone.

  “You—you,” she stuttered out. “I knew you would mess this up.” Tears hovered behind her words, choking up her voice. “I knew it. You used me to feel better after getting so angry about the rogues—”

  “What? Ree, that's not—”

  “Yes, you did!” Her ragged voice busted out in the tiny clearing, making him snap his own mouth shut. “I'm not someone you can use and then just walk away from, like I'm some sort of Japanese comfort woman.”

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind.” With an angry swipe, she grabbed her bra and panties and started off for the den. “Just never mind, Caleb.”

  He went after her, head spinning from massive amounts of confusion as well as serious irritation at his own stupid self. She whirled around so suddenly he almost ran into her.

  “Do not follow me. I can find my own way.” A telltale shine in her eyes matched her thick voice. With that, she spun back around on her heel and marched toward the den.

  Furious at himself for making her cry, for being a total dumbass idiot with her right after those mind-blowing kisses, he waited until she was just barely in sight before trailing her back. His wolf lay with head on paws in his mind, the pure picture of sorrow and self-annoyance.

  Apparently, he was never going to learn.

  Chapter 6

  The door opened again, ushering in sultry summer air and a gaggle of teen girls and their mothers, all of whom immediately began browsing the racks with the excited squeals of a pack of treasure hunters who'd just stumbled across the motherlode.

  Rielle had brightened with anticipation, then sighed when she saw they were just regular customers. She glanced toward the closing door, which revealed no one else entering or even walking past the storefront.

  “Are you waiting for someone to come in?”

  The friendly, curious voice came from behind Rielle. She turned, shaking her head as she began to busy herself with straightening some paperwork on the shelf beneath the cash register. “No. Just looking.”

  Lily Bardou cocked her head at Rielle and raised an eyebrow. Her fiery hair was caught in a low ponytail, and she wore a very pretty sky-blue dress Rielle had picked out for her before they came into town. As one of Rielle's escorts for the day, Lily had actually been eager to come to the shop and see what Rielle did. She especially liked the part about dressing girly, since she usually tended to be clad in jeans. Ree had been surprised, as she'd chalked up Lily's style to tough-although-still-cute cowgirl who didn't want to appear overly feminine and therefore maybe not as strong as a Guardian should be. But when Lily had almost shyly asked what she should wear that day, and could she actually help Rielle out in the store a bit because she was curious what it was like, Rielle had felt an unexpected wash of pleasure that someone from her Pack actually showed an interest in her life outside.

  Her other Pack escort was across the street in the coffeeshop, probably chatting up the baristas before putting the moves on them, then asking them where they'd learned to kiss like that.

  Rielle felt an instant's sheer vexation combined with her body's traitorous longing as she pictured Caleb squished into one of the cutesy little chairs at the Steaming Bean, smiling that heartbreaker smile at every female who walked in as he avoided working on the report Alpha had instructed him to write up while he spent the day guarding Rielle. His big fingers would probably fumble a bit on the keyboard, mis-clicking and creating all sorts of typos before he gave up to ogle every pretty girl who walked in and imagine what sort of skills she had in the sack.

  Rielle's wolf growled, fairly close to the surface. Mine, she thought with a ferocious intent that had been present ever since the run with Caleb last week. Not theirs. Mine. Rielle felt a bolt of jealousy as she pictured some adorable young thing leaning over Caleb as she put his coffee on his table, deliberately brushing her boobs across his arm as she flashed him a come hither look while she set down the creamer.

  “Rielle?”

  “Hmm?” Rielle focused on Lily again, who was staring at her with a puzzled expression now.

  “Did you hear anything I just said?” Amusement hovered under Lily's words. “You were looking right at me but I have the distinct impression your mind was far, far away.”

  Rielle felt color creep into her face. What was with being around Caleb's family members while imagining him? She couldn't admit to Lily she was contemplating both smacking and kissing the girl's brother. Because despite how clumsily he'd treated her that day in the woo
ds, what a total doofus he'd been, she couldn't stop thinking about him. Those blue eyes that seemed able to look right into her heart, those arms that held her so well in a sheltering circle, those amazing lips that had set her veins on fire when he'd kissed her.... Nope. Not something she was mentioning to his sister anytime soon.

  “Sorry. I'm a little distracted, I guess,” she finally settled on.

  Lily narrowed her leaf-green eyes. “Would your distraction have anything to do with that dear half-wit brother of mine across the street right now?”

  Rielle felt surprise clearly banner across her face.

  Lily laughed. “Oh, for crying out loud. He really did it again, didn't he? I told him to go slow with you.”

  “What? He talked to you about me?” Despite her lingering irritation with the big ox they were discussing, Rielle couldn't help but feel a leap of hope that he'd mentioned her to someone else.

  Lily nodded, flame-colored ponytail bouncing on her shoulder. “He certainly did. He needed a few pointers on how to behave during his date with you a couple weeks ago.”

  “Oh,” was all Rielle could come up with in response.

  “But apparently he managed to mess it up?” Lily twisted her lips as Rielle hesitatingly nodded. “Oh, little brother of mine.” She shook her head. “Ree, he is one of the awesomest guys I know. Even if he is my brother. He just hasn't had much interest in looking at women with the same sort of—focused passion, I guess you'd call it, that he puts into his fighting. He's an amazing Guardian, and he takes it very seriously.”

  “Oh, I know that!” Rielle instantly defended him. “He's probably the best fighter in the Pack, isn't he? He's so strong, and so sure on his feet. Well, unless he's stepping on my feet,” she added with a frown. “He seems to do that a lot.”

  Another burst of laughter snorted out of Lily. “That's definitely my sibling you're talking about. Could he take any wolf in the world during a cage-fighting death match? Sure. But being graceful and suave around a girl he actually likes? Not so much. I can see that going south fast.” Despite the censorious words, Lily's voice held enormous affection. Rielle immediately understood Lily probably took her big sister role as seriously as Caleb took his Guardian role.

  “Rielle.” Lily's tone became solemn. “Look. He'd kill me for talking to you about this, but I think you're pretty cool.” Lily smiled at Rielle, who tentatively smiled back. “So you deserve to hear this. Caleb really likes you. He just doesn't know how to treat women the way they should be treated. He's such a guy's guy, and you're pretty feminine. I think he's half afraid of breaking you.”

  “He almost has, a few times.”

  They both laughed.

  Lily went on, “Now, I don't know exactly what's going on between you two, and I don't really want details.” She wrinkled her nose. “He's still my brother. But anyone with half an eye could tell there's tension between you both lately. I'm guessing something went kinda wrong. Which I'm sure was his fault,” she added in a very dry tone.

  “Um,” Rielle ventured, somewhat nonplussed.

  Lily waved a hand at her in a “please don't say anything more” gesture. She went on, “I will let you in on a little secret, though.”

  Rielle raised her eyebrows and leaned very slightly toward the other wolf, who leaned right back.

  Keeping her voice low as she glanced quickly toward the customers admiring a new shipment of gauzy, colorful scarves, Lily said, “Like any guy, he's a total chicken about admitting his real feelings. I can tell just by the way he's been acting that he likes you more than he knows what to do with. Unless I push him to actually talk to you, he'll probably just hunt Luke down and beat him to death instead. That would be way easier than admitting he has some feelings for you,” she ended, face crinkled into a frown. “Caleb knows how to fight, and he searches it out every chance he gets.”

  Rielle pictured Caleb punching Luke as he roared with furious glee, blood spraying from the other wolf's face. To her surprise, the image didn't horrify her as much as it once might have. Even so, it didn't mean she remotely wanted him to defy direct orders and take out his anger on the former rogue. Violence wasn't the answer. Deep down, her wolf made a simple, shrugging observation: Predator. As am I. Rielle put that interesting thought away for the moment. She could only concentrate on one thing at a time.

  “What he doesn't know, however, is how to to talk. How to communicate with anything besides his fists. But you can make him talk.” Lily's voice had dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.

  “How?” Rielle whispered back, intrigued despite her nagging feeling she should still make Caleb wait and wonder if he'd blown every chance he'd ever had with her. Since, after all, he practically had. Although she still wasn't sure exactly how the chance had been offered in the first place. In fact, her mind was still in a whirling loop of delight, fear, and excitement that he'd kissed her at all.

  In the week—okay, eight days and fourteen hours, to be exact—that had passed, she'd had a chance to examine more closely what had happened that day in the woods. Caleb had kissed her. She'd kissed him back. It was amazing. Mind-blowing. Exciting beyond anything she'd ever imagined possible, and her imagination was pretty detailed. She'd allowed her usual fantasies of the perfect wedding, of the perfect guy, to overwhelm her just as Caleb's kiss had. She'd been imagining suave, sophisticated moves from him. Then he'd gone and made that dumb, hurtful comment, not to mention somehow smacking her in the head, and it brought reality crashing back down on her. He wasn't a sophisticated, suave gentleman. He was Caleb Bardou, a rough and tumble guy who might be good-looking—okay, who might be the most outrageously male, gorgeous guy she'd ever seen, even if she hadn't seriously noticed it until recently—but had a significant foot-in-mouth disease.

  When she'd taken even more time to think about it, which happened almost every night as she tossed and turned in her bed in a room at the den, very aware that Caleb slept in his small house nearby on the property, she had to admit that was Caleb. And even if it was nowhere near gentlemanly, it was part of him. What Lily was telling her right now made sense. He'd been covering up his own nervousness. Because apparently he liked her, too.

  The thought made her tingle and flush again. A whole lot.

  “Go on, then.” Lily said.

  Rielle blinked at her.

  Patiently, Lily said, “Go over to the coffeehouse, sit down next to him, and tell him he's taking you out again. As a do-over.” With a satisfied smile, Lily leaned back again.

  Rielle blinked. “That's it?”

  Lily laughed and shook her head. “Trust me. All we females have to do is show up. After that, men usually putty in our hands no matter what.”

  Rielle knew the sudden softness and glow on Lily's face had everything to do with her mate, Kieran. She sighed. One day, she would love to have that sort of glow herself.

  Was that even possible with a huge, toe-smashing, foot-in-mouth, barbarian wolf who could kiss her into a state of pure mindless longing?

  Yes. Her wolf's voice echoed through every cell as she projected an image of the kiss that had about knocked Rielle to her knees. A shiver launched its way down her spine and up again, leaving pleasant little tingles in its wake.

  Somewhat bolstered by her wolf's confidence, she straightened up and took a deep breath. “Okay. You win. I'm going over there. But if he laughs at me, he may have to call you for backup when I take a swipe at him.”

  Lily's answering chuckle followed her out the door.

  ~

  Caleb drummed his fingers on his leg for about the twenty-seventh time in the last hour. It took three times as much caffeine to jack up a wolf as a human. Since he was on his fifth cup of black coffee laced with a triple shot of espresso, he was about ready to jump over the moon.

  “Refill?”

  The barista popped up at his elbow, the one who kept coming to his table with her offer despite the fact customers were supposed to go up to the counter and pay for refills. Caleb somehow
managed to keep his voice short of barking when he said, “No, thanks. I think I'm set for about a week now.”

  “You sure can put it away!” she chirped, giving him an inviting smile again.

  His wolf yawned.

  “Yeah,” he said. Pointedly, he turned back to the screen of his tablet.

  “Okay, I'll check on you again in a while!”

  She bounced off. He hmphed under his breath, wondering what the heck she didn't get about his refusal of more damn coffee. Were women always this dense?

  His wolf sent an image of Rielle in wolf form, padding toward him with determination in her gaze. Okay, so, no. Rielle was anything but dense. She might be one of the smartest wolves he knew. In fact, he'd been thinking about asking her for a bit of help on this stupid report he had to rewrite—again—because it was about to kill him from some serious boredom. Of course, she seemed to be not quite talking to him at the moment. Well, she was polite to him, because that's who she was. But man, had he screwed up the other day. She hadn't seemed to have forgiven that just yet. Which was his fault. As usual.

  Maybe asking her for help on this report would break the ice between them a little. He wrote reports all the time of course, like every Guardian. But apparently his latest was “too intense in its negative descriptions of the rogue wolves and does not accurately reflect what the Black Mesa Pack wants to leave in the historic record.”

  So he'd called some child-killing rogue bastards just that—child-killing rogue bastards. In fact, the words stared up at him from the screen right now. Kind of taunting, actually, like they were daring him to tone them down to something Alpha would find acceptable.

  “You wrote that in a report?”

  Rielle's musical voice coming over his shoulder made him lurch in surprise, knocking a pen off the table and cascading a coffee-splotched drift of white napkins down as well.

  “Sorry!”

  He turned around with the intention of glaring at her. But she was standing there in that form-hugging silky white top, the one that outlined her breasts so perfectly, and that dark pink little skirt that kind of swirled around her thighs like it was dancing. Instead, all he really wanted to do was stroke her. Everywhere. When he'd first met her in the morning to escort her to her job, it had taken just about all his strength to not grab her and kiss her till they were both gasping for air. Because, yeah. She looked so gorgeous in that top and skirt he could pretty much eat her up.