A knock on the door made her jump as she pounded away at the keys on her laptop. Her graduate program was mostly online at this point, and as long as she stayed ahead of her weekly assignments, her studies shouldn’t suffer too much with this new arrangement.
Emery stood up and walked to the front door. Opening it, she found Jai standing on her porch.
“Hey,” he said with a nod and walked past her into the living room. Well, okay.
“How’s your foot?” He asked, motioning to her leg. Emery ditched the crutches her second day in Boulder and although she still moved a little slowly on it today, her ankle was on its way to being mended completely in the next 24 hours or so.
“Good,” she said tentatively. What an odd way to start a conversation.
“That’s good,” Jai said with an evil-looking grin. “After lunch, come out to the barn for training with the rest of the sentinels.”
Emery’s face dropped.
“Excuse me?”
Jai didn’t stick around to argue and turned on his heels as he exited her cabin.
“Beta’s orders,” he tossed over his shoulder. “Sorry.”
What the hell?
***
Part of Emery wanted to rebel and tell Sage he could take his orders for her to train and shove them up his wolfy butt.
The other part of Emery, however, was thrilled that the sexy Beta had thought of her at all after not seeing much of him over the past few days. He’d been busy with pack business, Sienna had told her, and had even driven out to Denver the night before when an ally pack had sent word they’d seen signs of some bear den responsible for kidnapping a packmate of theirs.
“Kodiaks,” Sienna said without bothering to hide her disgust. “They tried establishing a sex trade ring in Vegas a couple months back and we managed to get in their way and foul things up for them after they took Liesel.”
The story wasn’t a pretty one. When Sienna, then unknown to Brody, had agreed to help Sage look for the missing Boulder Pack member, she’d thrown herself into the fire and had become a target, too.
For the Boulder Pack, that particular story had a happy ending and Liesel had been returned—but, as Sienna had warned, it had made the pack a few dangerous enemies that weren’t likely forgetting the wolves’ interference.
“Seems we’ve all got trouble,” Emery had said quietly and Sienna agreed wholeheartedly.
“Amen, sister.”
The sun was high in the sky as Emery left the relative comfort and anonymity of her cabin and limped her way toward the direction of the huge barn the pack had refurbished into a gym and sparring ring.
She heard the sounds of combat the closer she got—bodies hitting hard surfaces, grunts of pain and straining, and she slowed even more.
Emery freely admitted that she’d never been the most athletic of creatures and had relied on her quick brain and father-given street smarts to get through life. The thought of allowing someone to try to hurt her in the name of fun and learning was just ludicrous.
She was just about to formulate some logical-sounded excuse when Sage emerged from the side of the barn and spotted her. Emery hesitated and stopped walking, wondering if he’d even care if she walked away. Or if it would hurt her feelings if it didn’t bother him at all.
What the hell? Where’d that come from?
Scowling, Emery cast a glance over her shoulder back toward her cabin wondering if it was too late.
“Don’t even think about it,” Sage said as he stalked toward her.
Emery rolled her eyes at the Beta but was more than a little unnerved at how easily he’d read her intentions. She’d have to be more guarded around him, apparently.
Sage practically dragged her into the training room, pulling her along as they went.
“When did you get so grabby?” She growled as they rounded the corner into the main room with the boxing ring in it.
“The moment I knew you were going to try to worm your way out of this.”
She opened her mouth to complain, but closed it again when she took in the room full of hot, sweaty, and shirtless sentinels.
Holy shit, BatWolf.
Doing her best not to let her jaw drop open, Emery felt her cheeks redden immediately and she turned her back on them, facing the door she’d just walked through. Nudity in the shifter world wasn’t a big deal—most shifters get over any sort of stage fright when they first learn to shift in their teens or they’d run out of clothing quickly. But Emery’s old pack was never one for group runs or hanging out together much until Samuel had taken over, and by then, her window for being comfortable either naked or around naked dudes had slammed shut.
In the shifter world, Emery was pretty much a prude.
Beside her, she heard Sage’s low rumble of laughter.
“They’re shirtless, Emery,” he teased. “Not naked.”
She tried a humorless laugh, but it fell short in her throat. She’d never spent a ton of time around shirtless men that looked like they could be underwear models. Well, she’d never really spent a ton of time around shirtless men in general.
Sage’s laugh stopped short as he took her by her shoulders and spun her towards him, searching her face.
“You’ve never seen a naked man before, have you?”
Emery assumed he was teasing her and tried to pull free of him before he took the joke further, but he held fast. Searching her eyes for the truth.
“Yeah,” she said slowly. “Tons of ‘em. Loads of naked men, Sage. Why do you ask?”
“Try not to stare too hard, okay,” Sage’s voice was teasing, but there was a darker look in his eyes. Almost possessive. Was it a warning of some sort?
“Guys,” he said to the sentinels who’d turned to face them. “This is Emery. Some of you have met her already, some of you haven’t. She’s a guest of the pack for the next couple months. It’s a long story, but the crux of it is that she needs to know how to defend herself and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have a clue where to start.”
Sage put his big hand on the back of her shoulder and Emery felt the heat through her t-shirt immediately. He pushed her forward again, and if she hadn’t been so wrapped up in the sensation, she would object to the way he was manhandling her again.
They stopped in front of the boxing ring, but instead of getting in there with Dane and a red-haired man with a goatee, Sage steered her over the Jai.
“You remember Jai?” Emery did everything she could to keep her eyes on Jai’s face and not to let them travel south to what she could only imagine was another well-muscled, battle-hardened body. She gave a tight nod and proceeded to look anywhere but Jai. Sage continued.
“He’s your first teacher,” he said. “He’s a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and we’re going to start out with some basic ground work and grappling.”
She gave Jai a weak smile but was grateful and relieved when the sentinel mercifully put a shirt on.
Turns out he was a very patient teacher. And Emery, turned out, was a lousy student when it came to grappling.
An hour into her lessons, she was nearly in tears and Sage called time. Doing her best to be gracious to Jai for wasting his time on her, Emery wanted nothing more than to disappear back to her cabin and work on her weekly assignments in peace.
Sage walked her back, despite Emery assuring him she knew the way.
“It’ll get easier,” he said, obviously trying to make her feel better about it all.
“I was a limp noodle.”
He let out a bark of laughter.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” he replied. “Have you ever done anything like that? Ever played sports or competed in anything non-academic? Throwing perfectly aimed right crosses at total strangers not included, of course.”
He was teasing her for the two punches she’d launched at him when she was trying to escape. A bit of a blush heated her cheeks and she looked down.
Emery shook her head. She’d always had amazing grades, had a
quick wit, and plenty of common sense street knowledge thanks to her dad, but physical pursuits and sports had never been her thing. As she’d so clearly displayed to Sage the day she dropped out her window and snapped her ankle.
“It’s to be expected. I just think you need a basic understanding of how to react as the smaller person if you’re ever attacked,” he said as they approached the large creek that wound through the property. Their cabins were on the other side of the water—it took a small wooden footbridge to get across. “I’m not expecting you to go to the UFC and win gold. I just think you need to be ready for whatever might be thrown your way.”
She managed a small nod. It made sense, really. But all the logic in the world didn’t make the bruises on her back or her sore joints feel any better.
“What are you up to for the rest of the afternoon?” The small talk was making her nervous. She’d hardly seen Sage the first 72 hours since she arrived. Why was he suddenly so interested in her learning to fight and what she had planned the rest of the day?
“School,” she said simply. “You?”
He gave a nonchalant shrug.
“Pack stuff.”
Sage didn’t elaborate and she didn’t press.
“See you at dinner, then?” He stopped at her porch as she began up the steps.
“Sure,” she said with a lame wave. Ugh. Emery really hated how goofy Sage made her feel.
What the hell was wrong with her?
Chapter Five
Sage
“Don’t be an idiot.”
Sienna was up his ass again. Third time in three days, actually. And with Brody somewhere else on the property at the moment, there was no one to save him from his twin’s meddling.
“You’re out of your mind,” he retorted with a dramatic eyeroll. “Your hormones are out of whack, that’s all.”
Sienna threw a piece of lettuce at him, which he batted out of the air.
“There’s something serious between you two,” she persisted and Sage just shook his head. She’d claimed the same thing that first day she arrived, when he’d come back to the lodge after showing her to her new cabin.
Sienna swore she “felt these things” and that there was something serious in the works for Sage and Emery.
First, Sage didn’t do “serious” at this point in his life. He had his role as Beta to keep him plenty busy. Second, she was only here temporarily. They’d both be stupid to start some sort of fling knowing she would be heading back to the Tahoe pack as soon as her father was released.
But Sienna wouldn’t let up.
“It’s not just a fling, either,” she continued. “It’s serious, Sage. I swear I’m not just making it up. The air changed the moment you two walked in together and it happens every time you’re together—whether you notice it or not.”
Crazy talk. But Sienna kept on.
“Notice how even Dane doesn’t hit on her at dinner?”
The blonde sentinel hit on anything with tits, actually, but Sage hadn’t really been paying attention.
“Maybe she’s not his type,” but the words fell flat even as he said them. Emery was every man’s type, if he was being totally honest. From that fall of dark hair to the electric blue eyes to the gorgeous dash of freckles, she was stunning and from the way she carried herself, she was the last person to think so.
Sienna just snorted at Sage’s words.
“Please don’t foul this up, Sage,” she pressed. “I know being Beta is really important to you, but true mates are incredibly rare and special. Just keep your mind open.”
He let out a long sigh.
“Okay.”
Nope.
Emery Wilkins was just another female shifter in a sea of female shifters in the end and no matter what his sister said, she wasn’t the one, the true mate Fate had sent just for him.
Those sorts of fairytales happened for people like Sienna and Brody. He was more interested in life here in the real world, where bear shifters had sworn vengeance against his pack and an ego maniac mob boss from Nevada was most likely seeking revenge on a wholly unprepared woman who preferred studying whatever sort of insane math she was getting her Master’s in than much else. Even ogling his half-naked sentinels earlier in the day.
He hadn’t missed her nervous reaction or the way the blush crept up her cheek. Gods above, but it had sent a warm zing of electricity right through him. He knew it right away before she even tried to cover up her embarrassment with a hasty denial.
Emery Wilkins most likely had little to zero experience with men. If Sage were to guess, and it got him hard just thinking about it, his little Brainiac shifter was more than likely still a virgin.
The very thought had his mouth watering. Untouched. Untapped. The possibilities with a woman like that were endless.
Sage had to physically adjust himself with the current line of thinking he’d found himself in and thankfully, Sienna hadn’t noticed.
No, Sage had to get his pretty little virgin out of his mind before the thought of her naked beneath him drove him to do something rash—like seduce the hell out of her and make those fantasies a reality.
***
“It’s a terrible idea.”
The Alpha was being pissy again. This time, Sienna wanted to go shopping for a few hours and wanted to take Emery and a couple of the girls from the pack along. The other girls, Lily and Bailey, already had plans.
“It’s a great idea,” Sienna persisted. “You can’t keep me cooped up here. I’ll go crazy if I don’t do at least one normal girl thing today.”
“It’s dangerous,” Brody argued, obviously not wanting to back down. “Sage and I have a meeting with Greyson and Pax and can’t go with you.”
It was true, their closest allies and neighbors, the Canyon Pack, had a couple things they wanted to talk about—the Kodiaks being chief among them. The Canyon Alpha, Grayson, and his Beta, Pax, had scheduled this meeting weeks ago.
Sage and Brody couldn’t miss it or they’d risk losing the constant support the Canyon shifters always showed.
Sienna didn’t seem to give a crap, actually.
“Send Dane and Jai, then,” she said with a lift of her brows. “I’m going. Emery’s going. End of story.”
It took another half hour before Dane and Jai had been read a list of rules, procedures, and strategies to employ should the slightest thing look out of place and put the Alpha female (and pack heir apparent) in jeopardy.
Brody was cautious, to be sure, but Jai was one of the toughest bastards Sage had ever met. And Dane, while not as good at fighting as Jai, would put his life on the line for Sienna without hesitation.
“They’re in good hands, Brody,” Sage said as they pulled out of pack lands on their way to meet up with the Canyon shifters. Caleb was driving them and behind their SUV, Jai was driving a similar vehicle with Dane, Sienna, and Emery.
At the highway, Caleb turned right and Jai pulled out to go left. At that moment, the tension in his Alpha ratcheted up and just got worse every passing second. Sage knew without Brody telling him that he regretted not canceling the meeting and escorting his mate himself.
Sage knew better than to use meaningless platitudes to try to cheer his Alpha up. As Beta, it was now his job to keep Brody focused and get out of the meeting with their goals met in the shortest amount of time possible. Sage knew his old friend—he and his wolf wouldn’t be settled until Brody had Sienna in the same room with him again.
***
The Canyon wolves were well meaning, but Grayson, their Alpha, could talk. And talk.
Sage was usually the patient one, but sitting at La Hacienda over endless plates of Mexican food and idle talk that seemed to go on for hours, even he was fidgety and ready to head back to pack lands. Nobody’s phones had rung while they ate and had their discussion, despite Brody and Sage checking multiple times, so at least that was good.
Sage believed in cases like this, no news was good news.
Finally, the two
Alphas said their goodbyes. The meeting had been fruitful enough—Brody shared the Denver movements of the Kodiaks and Greyson, who was also a county sheriff, said he’d keep specific deputies on “bear patrol.”
That seemed to calm Brody quite a bit and he even cracked a joke about Pax’s mohawk when they got in the car.
“Dude really oughta reconsidered that haircut,” he laughed. “His head looks like some misshapen potato.”
They rode in relative silence for the first part of the drive but Sage frowned when his phone chirped. He looked and didn’t see a message. Beside him, Brody’s phone made a similar sound.
“What the hell was that?”
Sage inspected his phone further and realized something he’d missed earlier, a lead weight sinking to the pit of his stomach.
Without either he nor Brody realizing it, they’d just spent two hours with their cellphones out of service. They must have been just out of reach from the nearest tower. Sage tried not to think too much of it.
Everything was probably okay. Maybe…
The thought was cut off by a rapid-fire succession of missed call alerts and text messages flooding his phone. Brody’s phone started making the same noises and he heard a feral growl coming from deep in the Alpha’s chest.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
He hit Jai’s number and held his breath. When the sentinel didn’t answer and his call went to voicemail, he tried Dane’s number, getting the same result.
Sage tried to calm his breathing, even if just to keep Brody from losing his shit. The Alpha was trying to dial the sentinels also and from the rapid rise and fall of his chest, he was losing control quickly.
Sage’s phone rang. Glancing at the screen, a flood of relief went through him when he saw Dane’s name.
It was short-lived, though.
“What’s going on?” Sage said by way of greeting.
Dane’s reply turned Sage’s blood cold and his Alpha’s eyes feral.
“Kodiaks,” Dane said, his voice shaking. “They found us. Jai’s beat up pretty bad and we can’t find the women.”
Beta's Destiny (Rocky Mountain Shifters Book 2) Page 3
