Real Men Snarl_Real Men Shift

by Celia Kyle

The old woman let her gaze slide down the length of his body and back up again. “Of course, had I known he was going to look like that, I might have let him.”

  “Tessa!” Ally’s blushed turned her face a bright pink and even the tops of her ears reddened.

  Kade couldn’t decide if he should act amused or scandalized. Instead he settled on flirting with his alpha’s grandmother-in-law and gave Tessa a slow wink that had the older woman giggling like a young girl.

  “So, what’s the plan, Stan?” Tessa said, still grinning at Kade. “I’m not in a hurry, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let you interrupt me once I get to the good part.” Tessa waved the paperback in his direction. “Based on the number of times the heroine has sighed breathlessly, I’d say you have a chapter before the hero grips her with a passion unrivaled.”

  “I just need to pack my things and then we can go.” Ally strode to the front door, hand resting on the old knob.

  Tessa blinked up at her. “I thought you were staying?”

  Ally glanced away, cheeks still pink, and he scented Ally’s lie before it left her lips. “I changed my mind.” She shrugged. “I miss Lucy.”

  A truth and yet a lie in one. Kade kept his mouth shut and let his mate have the lie.

  “Hmm.” Tessa let her gaze slide from Ally to Kade and then offered him a sly wink. “The more the merrier.” She snapped her book closed. “Better get a move on, then.”

  Kade had taken advantage of Ally’s distraction, closing the distance between them and pausing at the top of the steps. When it looked like Tessa was rising from her chair, he finished his walk to the front door.

  He crowded Ally, bodies nearly touching, but not quite. Less than an inch separated them, but he still sensed her heat, the delicious warmth that stretched out for him. He reached past her and placed his hand atop hers, both of them grasping the knob.

  Which earned him a fierce glare. “And what do you think you’re doing?”

  “Helping.” He grinned. He couldn’t help it. She was gorgeous all flushed—cheeks pink and eyes sparking with anger.

  Ally jerked back. “Uh… No. Not so much.”

  “Why not? Afraid I’ll paw through your unmentionables?” Kade couldn’t help but tease her. He waggled his eyebrows and was pretty sure he caught the hint of a smile before she rolled her eyes and huffed at him.

  “Among other things,” she grumbled.

  Kade shrugged. “The more hands on deck, the sooner we can get out of here. You tell me where to go and I’ll do as I’m told.”

  Ally sighed and slipped her hand off the knob, giving him control so he could open the door. She slipped through the doorway as soon as she could and strode to a stack of empty boxes. She grabbed a couple and tossed them in his direction. “Do you promise to behave?”

  “Fine, as long as you promise to behave.”

  Kade grinned but stayed silent. Hell no, he wasn’t making that kind of promise. A wolf behave himself while he was so close to his mate?

  Though that really wasn’t the whole reason he kept his lips sealed. She led him up the stairs, her full ass bouncing with every step, and he nearly swallowed his tongue at the sight. His teeth ached, fangs threatening to burst free, so he could nibble that plump ass. His cock hardened with the thought and he struggled against the soul deep need to pull her close.

  That struggle grew even more difficult when they reached the top of the stairs and turned right… into her bedroom. Her sweet scent surrounded him, wrapping him in a blanket of utter calm and raging desire. The buttercream walls were a soft, soothing tone, the hue matched by the quilt that lay draped across the bed. A bright sprinkling of raspberry pink was interspersed with the soft yellow, making him think of a dessert he’d love to consume.

  The rest of her room was mostly bare. A handful of built-in shelves lined the walls and where he would have expected cutesy knick-knacks and mementos, he found only a dozen books—nothing else. On the bedside table there was a single picture frame.

  He glanced around the sparsely decorated room. “This shouldn’t take too long.”

  Ally strode to the closet and hauled a duffle bag out, swinging it to thump onto the bed. “I like to live simply.”

  Kade suspected there was nothing “simple” about Ally’s life, but kept his mouth shut.

  “Can you pack up the books while I grab some of Lucy’s things?” She looked to him then, their gazes clashing, and he finally had a moment to truly look at her. A smile graced her lips, but tension lingered around her eyes. Her hands trembled, shaking so badly that she nearly dropped the box she held.

  He reached out and gently took the cardboard from her hands.

  “Of course, I can.” He agreed to her request even as his body screamed not to let her out of sight.

  He listened as she left him in her room, not moving until he heard her reach the other. Then he focused on his own task. The first stack of books snared his attention:

  Wolves in North America

  Howl: The History of Wolves and Their Migration Patterns

  Taming the Beasts: A Year with the Wolves of Wyoming

  Each had worn covers, multiple dog-eared pages, and even sticky notes poking out from random spots. Clearly Ally had read these books more than once, but Kade couldn’t understand why. Did she have a thing for natural wolves? Surely, she wasn’t studying them thinking it somehow translated to werewolf behavior.

  Was she?

  No, he shook his head. No natural-born werewolf would think such a thing.

  Which brought him to another thought about werewolves. Where the hell was her pack? Lone wolves generally went feral without the support of a pack.

  He was torn. On one hand, she wasn’t feral by any means, though she did have a bit of grouch in her. That made him think she might have a pack near and yet her ever-ready go bag showed the lengths she would go to maintain her independence. His mate was a mystery, one he wanted to unravel. Soon. Learning her story was a bond-deep, driving need. A puzzle he needed to solve. Sometimes the best way to do that was to simply ask.

  The creak of a floorboard let her know she was on her way back. She said nothing, simply went about packing up an array of creams and lotions from the top of her chest of drawers.

  “So…” Kade kept one eye on her as he packed the remaining books, “you never mentioned the name of your pack.”

  Ally froze in place, eyes widening slightly, and she dropped the small vial in her hand. It slammed against the hardwood floor and shattered, filling the room with an overpowering smell of perfume. One that obliterated the most tempting flavor he had ever smelled—her natural scent.

  “Shit,” she muttered and dragged her gaze away from him. “I need to clean that up.”

  Dammit, he’d spooked her with a simple question. He sighed and let her scurry from the room. He didn’t challenge her sudden retreat. He’d seen the wide-eyed fear in her expression after he’d asked the question. She’d panicked—terror overriding all else.

  He did his best to ignore the pungent scent that filled the room and instead focused on adding things to his half-full box. A photo of Lucy and Ally, a pair of pink bunny slippers tucked under the bed, an Atlanta Falcons baseball hat. Moving to the dresser, he found the first drawer filled with every delicate thing he wanted to see but didn’t dare touch. Not yet, anyway.

  Lacy panties of every shape, size and color were scattered about the drawer. He couldn’t help but imagine Ally wearing them and nothing else. Her body bared to him as he craved. His wolf rushed forward, pushed and prodding him. Not to be freed, but to do exactly as his mind desired. To do as Tessa suggested and let those bits of lace and silk slide through his fingers.

  Kade shook his head. Digging through her panties wouldn’t be right, but he couldn’t let himself stand there staring at them much longer. He only had so much control.

  He slammed the drawer shut just as Ally hurried into the room, paper towels in one hand and a spray bottle in the other. She made it two steps into
the room before freezing in place and giving him a narrow-eyed stare.

  “What are you doing?” A soft pink teased the apples of her cheeks.

  Kade leaned against the dresser and quirked an eyebrow. “You’ve got some interesting things in there. One was particularly long and buzzy.”

  She snorted. “Liar. That’s in my bedside table—”

  Soft pink turned into an alarming shade of red with her confession and he couldn’t help but let his mind wander. Couldn’t help but imagine her naked and spread out before him, that toy buried between her thighs…

  “I…” Ally wrenched her attention away and dropped to her knees beside the fragrant puddle, using paper towels to soak up the worst of the mess.

  Kade went to her, kneeling at her side and carefully gathering the thin shards of glass. “Just so you know, once you accept that we’re mates, you’ll never have to use your little friend again. Though I wouldn’t mind watching you.”

  Ally scrubbed the wood so hard he thought she might rub the countless years of sealer away until she reached bare wood.

  “You also need to know that I know better than to touch anything without permission. I learned that lesson long ago. I’m a wolf that likes to eat.”

  In more ways than one, but he pulled his mind away from the gutter.

  Ally jerked back and glared at him again. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Kade couldn’t help the grin that pulled at the corner of his lips or suppress the laughter that managed to escape. “Miss Rose, I think your mind might be in the gutter.” He shook his head. “When I was just a pup, I got so bored one day that I went looking for something to do. Mason had just finished a diorama about the Wild West for school and left it on the dining room table in the middle of the pack house to let the glue dry.” His smirk turned into a true grin, the memory bringing that smile to his face.

  “Those little plastic cowboys and horses looked like fun, so I took them into the woods and pretended I was an outlaw.” He squirted more cleaner and she silently wiped it away. She wouldn’t look him in the eye, but he sensed she was listening. “I broke half of them and lost the rest in the forest. Now my father was my dad, but also the alpha of the pack, and he held us to a higher standard than other pups. We were the future for the pack. He taught me a very painful lesson about touching other people’s belongings without asking.”

  Ally finally turned wide, worried eyes on him, lower lip trembling, and whispered when she spoke. “What happened?”

  Kade shook his head ruefully. “I didn’t get dessert for a month. Mom was one hell of a baker, too. She made cakes for everyone in the pack. I probably missed out on a dozen different birthday cakes.”

  Ally stared at him, eyes wide with surprise.

  “What?” He furrowed his brow.

  “That’s it? That’s all your father did to punish you?”

  “That’s not enough? Let me tell you, there isn’t a worse punishment for a pup with a sweet tooth as big as mine.”

  She looked doubtful. “Seriously?”

  It was his turn to frown. What kind of pack had she come from?

  “How else would he have punished a pup? It’s not like pups are beaten. Only sentries take physical punishment, and that’s only because it’s part of their training. When a sentry makes a mistake, his error can affect more than just him. It can affect the whole pack. You know better than anyone that wolves naturally want to please their alpha. Normally it doesn’t take much to keep the little ones in line. Except when they’re really, really bored, apparently,” he drawled.

  He chuckled softly to himself while Ally… Ally’s expression became distant and unfocused, face growing pale while she lost herself in what he guessed were some dark thoughts. She obviously didn’t believe a pup wouldn’t be beaten for succumbing to the temptation of toys sitting right in front of him. If she thought that, no wonder she kept her distance from other wolves.

  His beast snarled. It demanded they prove to her that he hadn’t lied, but Kade reached out with a calming touch. He mentally stroked his beast’s fur, fingers sinking into its coat. Now wasn’t the time to push. Once they made it to Ashtown, he’d spend every minute of every day proving to her that whatever she’d experienced wasn’t how a pack worked. At least, not in the Blackwood pack.

  Chapter Seven

  “Ally, are you coming?” Kade called from downstairs, his too-sexy, rumbling voice wrapping around her, teasing her.

  Ally growled and gritted her teeth, fighting her wolf’s demand she hurry and get close to him already. She jammed the last few toiletries into her duffle and strode from the bathroom. Frustration rode her hard, her inner animal twitchy and snarling at all the scents in the house.

  She’d spent the last two days surrounded by burly Blackwood werewolves, the males bustling around the house as they packed up the remainder of Tessa’s forty years of memories. Sure, Tessa had handled the smaller things before the wolves arrived, but when the new guys showed, she’d put to them to work with the heavy lifting. Then she’d sat back and watched, occasionally fanning herself.

  Ally had caught Tessa flicking off the air conditioner more than once. The older woman hoped the heat would become too much for the men and they’d be forced to rip off their shirts. Ally had just sighed and turned the A/C back on. She’d heard Kade order the males to keep their hands to themselves and clothes on their bodies when around Ally. They’d end up passing out from heat stroke if Tessa kept playing games with the temperature.

  “Ally…” Another shout from Kade and Ally rolled her eyes.

  “I’m coming, I’m coming,” she grumbled. He was the one who delayed their departure and now he was rushing her?

  She’d been hoping to leave Pepper the day they’d met, but the moment Tessa discovered Ally was coming along, plans changed. Tessa decided she needed all of her furniture. Not for herself, but for Ally’s new place in Ashtown.

  Ally didn’t have the heart to tell her that she wasn’t sure how long she’d stick around.

  But her demand had meant waiting for vans and movers. Not just any movers, either. Nah, more Blackwood werewolves showed up on Tessa’s front porch.

  Their presence left her feeling more exposed than ever. More vulnerable despite Kade’s promise to protect her and care for her. On the other hand, she hadn’t caught even a hint of Brian’s scent since Kade arrived. She was grateful for that at least.

  One thing she wasn’t grateful for was how her wolf reacted to Kade. The horny beast exerted just enough control to somehow trick Ally into walking into whatever room he happened to be in. On one particularly steamy afternoon—one on which Tessa had conveniently turned off the AC—he’d whipped off his shirt, exposing his rippled abs, thick biceps and rock-solid pecs. Her wolf had surged, almost snatching control. Ally had managed to cling to her humanity by a thread. The ass had known exactly how he’d affected her too. As she’d turned to scurry out, she’d spied Kade’s wide grin.

  To his credit, he hadn’t mentioned anything about being mates again. That didn’t stop the idea from constantly filling her mind, though. All it would take was one hint of his laughter reaching her ears and then she’d find herself fantasizing about snuggling into those burly arms, being held and loved and protected…

  And held down while Brian… Why was it that her fantasies always turned into nightmares? After all these years, why did Brian still have such control over her?

  Ally skipped down the last few stairs and met Kade’s gaze, his teasing grin forcing her to respond in kind.

  “It’s about time,” he teased.

  “Ha ha, very funny,” she drawled blandly even though her lips twitched. She brushed past him, her arm skimming his, and that woodsy essence caressed her. “Are you sure your guys can be trusted with Tessa’s stuff? I have no idea where she’s going to put it all, but God help the man who breaks a single Hummel.”

  “I’ve put the fear of the Alpha into them,” he followed her outside. “I rem
inded them that Tessa is the Alpha Mate’s grandmother, and if Gam-Gam ain’t happy, Lucy won’t be happy, which means Mason will be downright pissed off. If that doesn’t scare them, nothing will.”

  Ally nodded and headed for her Focus. Tessa sat in the passenger seat, unfolding a huge map of Georgia. The old woman had yet to master the joys of smartphones. The car was packed with junk—almost all of it Tessa and Lucy’s—as was Kade’s SUV.

  “Hey Tessa,” Kade called, “are you sure you don’t want to drive yourself? It’s only a couple of hours.”

  Ally shot him a dark glare. The male was impossible. He’d been angling to ride with Ally back to Ashtown, but thankfully that was impossible. Tessa hadn’t driven a car in over a decade and her license had expired long ago. They’d already decided Kade would follow the Focus, but of course he just had to try again. If he wasn’t so annoying, Ally might have found his tenacity was charming.

  “Only if you want me to end up dead in a ditch somewhere,” Tessa muttered. She was too distracted by trying to figure out where Pepper was on the map. Apparently even Triple-A thought it was too small to put on there.

  Kade winked at Ally. “Can’t blame a guy for trying!”

  Her wolf growled and then whimpered, clawing at her to follow the big male. It not only wanted to jump in Kade’s SUV, but also wanted to find out if the backseat was roomy enough for them both. Ally tried to remind it that, even if she did find him kind of cute—okay, hot—it was better to keep their distance. The more they were together, the easier she laughed and the safer she felt. Safe enough to relax a little, but that sure as hell wasn’t smart. Brian would take advantage of any weakness or lapse. Her life depended on remaining hyper-vigilant.

  Unfortunately, Kade’s easy smile had a way of making her feel tingly all over. The tingles always started in her tummy, then radiated out in every direction—especially down. When his shoulder brushed against her back as he passed behind her to head to his SUV, Ally’s vision went topsy-turvy, and her feet tangled up on each other.

  One second she was walking toward her car, the next she was airborne and headed for an epic face-plant. Instead of a mouthful of broken teeth, her body was encircled by warm skin and solid muscle, cradling and protecting her. Somehow, he’d caught her before she hit the ground, and now he carried her in his arms like a hero in a fairy tale.