by Vivian Arend
Confusion. Anger. Frustration. He wasn’t sure which emotion was the strongest, not to mention the sheer discomfort of being soaking wet. Evan stared out the window as they pulled away, glancing back toward his beloved hotel and ignoring the noise and questions being tossed his direction. He’d talk once he had more information.
Now? Something was hugely off, and he was damned if he didn’t figure out what, and soon.
A lone figure stood on the sidewalk, watching intently. A slim, feminine form with her arms crossed over her chest. She wore a coat with a hood, so her hair was covered, but for one second they made eye contact, and Evan jerked back at the intense anger reflected there.
What the hell?
Then she gave him the finger, and Evan’s brain fogged over.
After everything he’d had thrown at him that evening, some random stranger on the street was telling him to fuck off? Alrighty then. As if he didn’t have enough to deal with. He eased back onto the car seat and sighed.
It was going to be a long night.
Chapter Two
Amy Ryba stumbled into the kitchen, bleary-eyed and foggy-brained from too little sleep. She grabbed a coffee from the preprogrammed machine, leaning against the counter for vertical support until the first sips of her high-test espresso cleared the cobwebs.
Plenty of time to check what was happening in the world before she headed across the Yukon River to begin her day. She settled onto her overstuffed couch, coffee mug balanced on a book, cereal bowl in her hand, then clicked on the news. National updates. Weather reports. She was spoon deep into a big bowl of Cocoa Puffs by the time they hit the good stuff.
“In Whitehorse-area news, local businessman Evan Stone spent the night at the RCMP station before being released on bail this morning while they investigate further charges.”
The blond behind the microphone wore a typical reporter expression of “this is serious, serious business”, his good looks saving him from crossing the line from mysteriously intense to comical. Amy waited until the bitter end of the news bite, the words of the report fading into the background as she fixated on watching Evan walk down the steps from the station more rumpled than usual. His clothes were creased as if they’d dried on him after a good solid soaking.
Damn him for looking so attractive in spite of a night behind bars. A layer of dark scruff covered his jaw, and between that, his dark hair and handsome eyes, he could have been strutting along some movie-debut red carpet instead of escaping incarceration.
After a year spent spying on the man, Amy knew him far too intimately. What she’d discovered lined up well with the information she’d pulled from hidden files. He was cocky. Arrogant. Above the rules.
She wouldn’t deny he was eye-catching, but evil lived in the hearts of good-looking men as well as ugly ones.
Amy piled her things into her backpack and slung it over her shoulders. She jogged the trail behind her house that led inconspicuously into town. Taking precautions against a direct route to and from home was second nature—the instinct to hide her presence built into every move.
But once she’d reached the outskirts of the park she slowed. Found a bench at the edge of the trees and waited.
Calm. At peace. Her early-morning time spent in the quiet green space was another ritual that had unexpectedly entered her life during the past year, but one she had learned to enjoy. A brief moment of regrouping before heading into the demands of her day. She put aside the rushed thoughts triggered by the morning news. Lifted her face to the sunshine and closed her eyes to breathe deeply.
She didn’t make it to the park every morning, but as often as she could, Amy took the time to pause. Most days she was rewarded for her patience.
Ten minutes of silence had passed before she felt a gentle nudge against her knee. She opened her eyes, pleased to see the wolf who had risked coming forward to sit at her feet, his chin resting on her thigh. His body language and actions revealed his trust. Amy leaned forward, stroking a hand over the grizzled white fur on the old wolf’s head.
He stared up, eyes blinking against the harsh sunlight, the undiminished intelligence of the man hidden within the wolf sparkling back at her.
“Good morning. I hope you’ve been well.” Amy petted him, offering respect and comfort at the same time. “I haven’t seen you for nearly a month.”
A wolfish shrug was all she got in response. Matthias stayed there for another five minutes before brushing his warm nose against her palm. He turned and faded into the trees, gone back to wherever it was that retired, partly feral wolf shifters hid during the day.
Amy’s heart ached a little as she rose to her feet and headed to work. The moment of contact had been as much for her as for him. In the middle of everything else that had brought her to Whitehorse, she’d never expected to find a pack of wolves who needed her so badly.
She’d never expected to end up not only wanted, but indispensable.
Slipping through the doors of her computer shop, Bytes Unlimited, was like entering a safe zone. The front-room staff she employed snapped to attention as she moved briskly toward the service desk, past pristine laptop displays and wall racks full of the latest Bluetooth tech.
“Mail’s on your desk.” Tom waved a greeting from behind the counter. “I opened your computer and did the weekly update. The morning member reports from the pack are in. Everyone is fine, although you might want to check with the Lands for a follow-up on their son.”
“And we have one job you need to take a look at,” Caden added, turning from the other counter, his shocking red hair sticking every direction. He made a face. “I admit defeat. I can’t figure out what bugs are mucking up the system.”
Amy nodded. “Not a problem.” She paused, then shared a secretive smile with them. “Thanks for your help on the booby trap last night, guys.”
They’d been surprised by her request the previous day, but eager to help. Now Tom returned her smile, as did Caden, pleased with her praise. “Simple, really. Other than gathering the materials. Did it work the way you hoped?”
“Exactly like I hoped.”
Caden looked nervous for a moment. “Takhini isn’t going to be mad and come gunning for us, are they?”
Amy made soothing sounds as she shook her head. “No. No, of course not.”
“Because it was pretty close to their territory,” Caden muttered before backpedaling. “I mean, not that I’m saying you don’t know what you’re doing, because you do. I’m sure.”
“You’re fine,” Amy promised. “No one knows we set it up. It was just a little…test, of a sort.”
“I don’t like Takhini.” Tom’s expression had gone black.
When she paused to let him finish, he refused to share anything else. Old history, undoubtedly. She stopped to give him a hug, and then one for Caden, aware of how much the brief contact calmed them. A flash of anger hit, quickly suppressed so they wouldn’t notice.
How many times had she walked into a room and felt that longing sensation? The unbearable hunger of lone wolves who craved physical touch from another of their kind. Meanwhile, Evan Stone sat on his high horse in the Takhini pack house and let the more needy wolves in the area rot. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t the way wolves should act.
So she was doing something about it. Her wolf wouldn’t allow anything less.
The door chime went off, and she hurried to get out of the main shop area in case it was a shifter from the Takhini pack.
Secrets had to be maintained, at least for a little longer.
Her second-storey office window faced the Riverside Park on the banks of the majestic Yukon River. Positioning the computer repair shop in one of the prime locations just off downtown Whitehorse had been deliberate, not only from a business point of view. The nearby wooded path allowed her to shift whenever she wanted to escape into the wilderness, even though the
opportunities to get away were rare. Between work, and the pack, and plotting revenge, her calendar was pretty full.
If she was lonely at times, it wasn’t for the first time, nor the last. It also wasn’t without a purpose. As far as she could tell, the members of the Miles Canyon pack who she’d fallen in with deserved far more than they had gotten over the years, and if she had to make sacrifices along the way to make their happiness happen? So be it.
She dove into her work, planning her day. Considering who of her pack she should visit and give a little extra attention to.
Not even five minutes passed before there was a knock on her office door.
“Sam? Someone to see you.”
She glanced up from the debugging program, surprised to discover the handsome reporter from the morning news entering the room.
He held out a hand. “Colin Wheeler. CBC News.”
Amy stood and came around her desk because she was too short to reach his hand from behind it. “Samantha Ryba. Call me Sam. Are you looking for a news story regarding computers?”
“Perhaps.” His fingers slipped into hers, and as he shook her hand firmly, he also dropped his eyes with respect. “More important matters first. I’m new to town, unaffiliated wolf. Wanted to let you know I’ve been transferred to the area. I hope that’s not a problem.”
Amy paused. Considered the best way to deal with his out-of-the-blue announcement. “Well, that’s…unusual.”
She gestured to the chair opposite her desk, and he sat obediently while she found a comfortable perch on her desktop. The position gave her a height advantage, which was stupid, really. She was a hell of a lot stronger than Colin in terms of wolf mojo, she didn’t need to tower over him physically as well.
“Why not announce you’re here to the Takhini pack? They’re the ones controlling Whitehorse.”
“They’re the ones who are noticeable, you mean,” Colin commented.
“What are you suggesting?” Amy crossed her arms, pushing down the gut sensation of uneasiness. Just because she didn’t like surprises didn’t mean Colin had an agenda. “You hiding something, Mr. Wheeler?”
“Not much use if I was—you’re an Alpha wolf and I’m not,” Colin admitted. “You could order me to spill the beans.”
She tested him. Reaching out with the part inside her that was connected to the wolf side of her soul. It wasn’t like extending a hand, but more like sensing with her heart, and what she read gave her another reason to pause.
The man was no weakling when it came to wolf mojo. “Modesty is not a wolf trait. You’re pretty powerful yourself.”
He remained motionless, though, submissive and friendly, and Amy made a decision. Whatever his game, he seemed determined to at least appear innocent and she refused to second-guess herself at every turn.
“You’ve come to me, announced you’re in town for a while. That kind of puts you under my protection, doesn’t it?” Amy picked up a pen from her desktop. Played with it, rolling it through her fingers. “And now that you’ve aligned yourself with me, it would be rude to go all wolfie and ask how you even found out I’m in charge of the other pack here in Whitehorse.”
“And you don’t do rude.” Colin smiled, the expression enhancing his good looks. Made him rather dashing, in fact. “I did my research before being assigned to Whitehorse. Let’s just say I’m not a fan of the loud and showy parts of shifter pack-dom. I might spend time in front of the camera, but I’m a private man. I don’t want to be involved in a noisy pack house with everyone trying to one-up each other all the time, and the rest of the games wolves play. Miles Canyon seems a lot more like the type of pack where I’d fit in. For a while.”
“We call ourselves Canyon, by the way. Simpler.”
“I like simple.” He leaned back and relaxed. A slow sense of “other” drifted from him. Amy watched for a moment, taking in the nonverbal cues as well as the things she could discover from his wolf side.
Colin had secrets he wasn’t sharing—that was crystal clear. But he was right, she didn’t do rude, and unless his secrets impacted the pack, he was welcome to keep them.
What he wasn’t hiding was his attraction. It scented the air, a powerful ego booster mixed with aromatic libido kick-starter.
Male attention of a sexual nature was something Amy had been avoiding, mostly out of necessity since she was too busy with other things. Still, the flat-out physical lust pouring off the reporter turned this into a different kind of conversation again than what she’d expected. “I’m not looking for a lover, Mr. Wheeler,” she announced, adding a little twist of shifter power to make it clear she wasn’t joking.
Colin dipped his chin, pulling away from direct eye contact. “Sorry—didn’t mean to be so forward. I was serious, though. I did some research once I got here, and you…intrigue me.”
“And you find intriguing sexually titillating?”
“Doesn’t everyone?”
Amy muffled her amusement.
“But I’ve received your message, loud and clear, and will keep my hero worship at the distance you require.” Colin stood and took two steps toward the desk. Casually pinning her in place with a hand on either side of her body. He lowered his voice, and his next words came out deep. A verbal caress. “Unless you decide you’d like some up-close and personal worship. In which case, I’ll state again, I’m more than happy to oblige.”
Conflicting urges tore through her. The first told her to grab hold and kiss the man senseless before enjoying an invigorating session of desktop jockey. The second urge demanded she lift a knee and temporarily render him soprano for daring to be so cocky as to flirt after being denied.
Unfortunately, she had to go with door number three. Amy planted a hand on his chest and prepared to push him away. Today she had things to do.
Her wolf nudged her. There was nothing wrong with a little physical satisfaction in a time and place that was more convenient. Amy paused, her fingers softening on his firm chest. It had been a long time since she’d had the pleasure of an attentive wolf in her bed. None of her pack members were the type who enticed her to sexual escapades.
Temptation whispered.
A flash of hope rose in his eyes.
She tapped him with her fingers, allowing her nails to scratch lightly through his pale blue cotton shirt. “What are you doing for lunch on Monday?”
A devastatingly attractive smile shone just for her. “Picking you up and going somewhere?”
Two days from now. With that much warning, she could arrange for a bit of time off. Amy returned his smile. “Go, make mischief in the reporting world. Stop by around ten thirty on Monday, and we’ll see what we feel like for lunch.”
Colin grinned wider as he stepped away, pausing with his hands on the doorframe. “If you change your mind and want to speed things up…”
He flipped her a card, and she caught it in midair, smiling as he vanished down the stairs. She hopped off the desk and returned to her computer-repair task.
Once the job was done, she’d stop for lunch. By then she should safely check in with Evan. See how he’d enjoyed his time behind bars. Find out what his next plans were.
He’d be happy to receive a concerned IM from his “secret mole” in the Canyon pack. It had taken her months to set up that bit of finagling. The woman working as Evan’s assistant had been a tough nut to crack at first, and Amy felt a touch guilty at times for involving the human in her deception. But it had to be done, and now the prep work was proving priceless.
Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she entered the code needed to begin the diagnostic, her subconscious taking care of the details.
Sweet revenge had begun. Her gaze might be focused on the screen in front of her, but her mind was daydreaming about the moment she would look Evan Stone in the eye and see him broken.
Everything was falling into place.
Chapter Three
Everything was falling apart.
Evan had made it home after one of the most uncomfortable nights he’d ever experienced. He changed quickly then returned to the hotel to find the power restored, but an exodus of customers vacating the lobby, and there was nothing he could do to convince them to stay.
The kitchen informed him they would be running a limited menu as half their supplies hadn’t shown up, again. It was the third time in as many shipments the order had been mucked up.
And to top it all off? His Hummer had four flats.
His escalating bad luck was no longer strange, it was freaky. The situation had moved beyond what could be considered coincidence, by any stretch.
It took until noon before things were borderline back to normal. At that point, Evan abandoned the hotel to his subordinates, fed up with just about everything.
He returned to his apartment, where the power had also been restored, accompanied by Justin Cullinan. The least expected of allies, the man was assistant-slash-sometimes-bodyguard-slash-friend to the new husband of Evan’s recently married office assistant. Evan had found the enormous bear shifter waiting for him after he’d gotten bail.
Which, it turned out Justin had posted. And that was just the start of his involvement in Evan’s affairs.
“How the hell did you get power restored to the hotel and my apartment so fast?” Evan slapped the papers he’d been handed against his leg.
Justin folded his arms. Tilted his head. Waited.
Evan cussed under his breath. He was grateful the big bear shifter had stayed in town, and even more pleased the man knew a thing or two about dealing with emergencies.
Still burned his britches to have to fawn over anyone.
“Thank you for getting the power restored,” Evan gritted out. “I have no idea how the mistake in payment history happened.”
“Your lawyer has been alerted, and your accountant. After I called them this morning, they both promised to do some digging. Said they might have some ideas.” Justin eased onto Evan’s sofa and waited.
