Cold Mercy (Northern Wolves)

by Sadie Hart

  “Hey!” she screamed, hoping to startle the wolf into not eating her puppy, when two things happened at once: The chain tore loose from the latch and the wolf...changed.

  Eden swallowed back a cry as she stumbled backwards, dragging the chain through the snow. Fur faded into bare, pale skin and ripcord, lean muscles. His brown hair was tousled and for a moment he crouched there naked, as if unable to move, then his body gave a violent shake and he tilted his head up. Bay.

  Her breath caught at the panic fleeting through those green eyes. “Don’t scream. Please.”

  Eden’s hand tightened over the chain and she kept blinking, as if waiting for things to roll back in time. Men didn’t change into wolves or visa-versa. But wolves also weren’t the size of bears and things like that creature last night didn’t exist.

  “I’m going nuts.”

  Bay gave a hoarse laugh. “So am I.”

  He braced a hand on one knee and Eden jerked her head up. The naked part finally registering over the holy-hell-he-was-just-a-wolf part. A blush crept up her cheeks. “We should probably get you inside and into some clothes.” Not that she had clothes that would fit him. “Or wrapped in a blanket.”

  “That’d be nice.” He gave a pained grunt and she jerked her eyes back to him, only to see his legs trembling as he forced himself to a stand. Smug went to jump on him and Eden leapt, catching the pup neatly by the collar, but suddenly she was staring up at his chest, all those firm muscles, sleek with sweat.

  She swallowed a little roughly. Heat seemed to pour off of him and she wanted to step closer and lean in. And wow, she was totally way too close. Eden pulled back, half dragging Smuggler around to her other side. Bay took a step, the muscles in his thighs bunching, and his breath hitched a little. He pressed a hand to his stomach.

  “You don’t look so well.” Then realization dawned and her eyes widened, her brain still half torn between naked-hottie and werewolf. “Was that why you were sick that day?”

  “Kind of.” Bay shook his head and took another step, all the while looking ready to drop, and Eden sidled up next to him.

  “Arm around me,” she said and he complied. Instantly she felt the heated line of his body pressed against hers. His skin was hot to the touch, clammy, and steaming with fever. And still he felt incredible.

  Together she helped him hobble to the house, fully aware of every press of his body against hers. She let Smuggler go and the pup circled them, but thankfully didn’t try and jump on Bay again. By the time they got to the stairs Bay seemed to be getting stronger. His skin no longer burned under her touch. She reached for the door when she saw the light in the living room on.

  “Umm.” She glanced back at him, butt-ass-naked and felt her cheeks flush. “I kind of have company over. Friends.”

  Her gaze landed on his dick and she felt her face go hotter. Bay leaned against the rail, wincing a little as his skin touched the snow. Eden nearly groaned. She hadn’t meant he had to stay outside. “No. You can still go in. I was just warning you.”

  Eden reached for his arm to pull him inside and found his skin cool to the touch. Dry. Smooth. Her hand slid up his arm and she glanced up, his eyes snaring hers. “You look better,” she whispered, her heart picking up speed. Much better. His face didn’t have that sallow, exhausted look to it anymore either.

  “I feel better. Though it’s a bit chilly out here now.” One corner of his lips hitched up in a smile.

  She was an idiot. She started to pull her hand away and reach for the door again when he caught her wrist. Bay blew out a long, slow breath as his eyes closed, as if he was warring with something. When he looked at her again, something flickered in those green depths, but he didn’t say anything. Just let her go.

  “Let’s get you inside.” She opened the door and saw Rowan at the table, a cup of coffee already braced between her hands. Eden smiled. “Morning Ro, close your eyes.”

  Then she reached behind her and dragged Bay in, amazed that her friend complied, though there was definitely an air of amusement with Ro’s compliance. Eden darted over to her room and snagged a blanket off the bed, only to rush back and hand it to Bay. He took it, but she swept her gaze over him one last time, drawing another half-smile from him in the process.

  “Eden,” Rowan said, curiosity and impatience stamped in her voice and Bay nodded.

  “I’m good,” he murmured.

  “You can open them, but you might as well wake Dee. This will be rough enough to explain once.” Rowan’s eyes jerked open and Eden watched the way she raked her gaze down Bay. Her friend opened her mouth, closed it, glanced between the two of them, and then strode for the guest bed room.

  “Kennedy Harper, get your ass out of bed now.”

  Eden listened to the scuffle coming from the room, several dogs giving startled barks, but she ignored them all. She gestured to the table, suddenly unsure of herself. This was her house, but there was something oddly disconcerting about having a gorgeously naked man in her front room.

  A gorgeously naked werewolf. She wasn’t sure if it was the naked part or the werewolf part that disturbed her more.

  She blinked. Her life was messed up.

  “Eden,” Bay started and her name seemed to catch on his tongue. He swallowed, watching her for a moment. Intensity blazed under the rich green of his eyes, scorching with heat, and Eden felt her breath catch.

  He gave a rough growl and stepped closer, his free hand finding the back of her neck as he tugged her closer. His fingers threaded through her hair as he tilted her face up. “I just—” He broke off the words with a shake of his head. “Shit. I’m sorry.”

  Then he bent his head and took her mouth in a soft, sensual caress that lit every nerve in her body on fire. Bay shifted and suddenly she could feel every hard inch of his body pressed against hers as he deepened the kiss, a slow, tantalizing dance that deepened, hardened, gradually becoming more and more consuming. With every stroke of his tongue, the heated burn of thighs against hers, the wildfire inside her swept higher.

  Eden’s hands found the blanket wrapped round his shoulders and she pushed her way underneath to touch his skin, finding the warmth of his chest underneath. He shuddered, a low growl rumbling out of him, and his head slanted, his kiss becoming stronger. With one kiss he opened something primal inside her, a hunger that blossomed and grew until she was curled against him, his skin bare under her touch.

  Bay drew back first, his breathing ragged and Eden leaned into him, her head resting on his chest. She couldn’t believe he’d apologized for that. “Sorry?” Her lips twitched in a hint of a smile. He gave a low strangled sound, his hand massaging over the back of her neck, and Eden found herself moving to accept his kiss again.

  After all, a kiss like that had nothing to be sorry for.

  Chapter Eight

  Her lips melted under his, soft and supple, and Bay groaned into this kiss. He needed this. More than he’d ever imagined. Holding her, with the lean press of her body against his, her nipples poking against his chest, the laughing hint of her voice before she’d kissed him again—it made him feel human. Grounded him.

  She brought him back to reality and wrapped him in his humanity until he felt normal again, sane again. More than that though, he craved her. One look at her had broken his world wide open. One look into the ice-blue of her eyes that morning and there’d been no denying what had happened. That his nightmares were a reality.

  Now, she was the one thing on this earth that kept calling him back. Yesterday, the moment he’d shifted, he’d run here first. Only the wolf’s hunger roaring in his belly had driven him away. And after the other wolves had hunted him into the ground, the only place he’d wanted to go had been here. Ours, the wolf had said yesterday while they had watched her with those kids and Bay tensed at the memory. He’d never been a possessive man.

  Then again, he’d never had a woman before that he’d wanted to keep.

  Staring down into her shimmering blue eyes and he wanted h
er. Wanted to kiss her again. Instead, he drew in a long, ragged breath and let her go, only to tug the blanket tighter around his body. A nice man probably would have asked her for that kiss instead of simply taking. They wouldn’t have plundered in, fully intent on conquering, but damn, he didn’t feel at all guilty now.

  Nor did she look particularly pissed.

  The wolf in him hummed with delight.

  She was theirs. Covered in Bay’s scent—the spicy tang of his cologne, the wild scent of fur—all of it just a breath away as he inhaled, memorizing this moment. Eden stretched her hand out over his chest, her palm burning into his skin with the still sizzling remnants of their attraction and she leaned in to take his bottom lip between her teeth in a teasing nibble.

  “I’m not sorry,” she said as she pulled away. This time his wolf rumbled his approval, a deep vibration that rattled up his chest and she grinned. “Are you?”

  “Not anymore.” Bay’s eyebrows dipped as he studied her. “I’ve been wanting to do that for—” He shook his head and blew out a breath. “A while.

  “Whoa,” a feminine voice said and Bay found his attention veering back to the hall and the woman now standing in the door, wavering, right until another one bumped into her from behind.

  “Damn, Ro, move. You woke me up, the least you could do is clear the way to the coffee maker.” Then the second woman’s eyes landed on the pair of them and her eyebrows skyrocketed. “Oh.”

  She lifted a hand and waved. Eden leaned her head against Bay’s chest, but not before he saw red streak across her cheeks. “Still not sorry,” she murmured, “though I’m beginning to regret your lack of clothes.”

  He laughed, the rough sound surprising him as his tension drained away. After last night? Being naked in her house save for a blanket wasn’t even on his radar for ‘weird’.

  Eden took a deep breath, then turned to address her friends. “Guys, this is Bay Hollister.”

  The woman in front—the one Eden has called Ro—leaned into the arch, her arms folded over her chest. “I’m still wondering why he showed up naked.”

  She’d have looked formidable, if not for the smile that kept twitching at the edge of her lips as she no doubt fought off a bout of laughter. But it was the brunette behind her that was truly comical. Her gaze jerked between them and Ro, her eyes suddenly saucer-huge as her mouth fell open. “He what?!”

  “Long story. I only wanted to tell it once.” Then Eden frowned and glanced up at him. “Hell. I think I’m missing most of it.”

  So was he. Unease churned in his gut. He didn’t know who the woman in the forest was, what she really wanted, or what she’d done. He only had guesses and speculations on his part. But he was going to fix this, somehow turn everything to right again. Bay leaned against the table and looked at Eden’s friends. He could see the bonds stretched between them, their friendship and trust so plainly evident that it was unmistakable.

  Somehow, he knew they’d believe her. Without question. Fuck, what it wouldn’t be nice to have someone with such unshakable faith in him? Lord knew he doubted himself enough. He tilted his head, gesturing towards the chairs around the table. “Have a seat. I’ll do my best.”

  He gave them time to fetch a mug of coffee, the brunette, Kennedy, bringing him a cup as well. He sucked in a slow breath. How to even begin? From the beginning he supposed. The beginning of what he knew, at least. He glanced at Eden, his eyes meeting hers. “About a year ago I took a drive through Mercy Pass. It was early winter and the roads aren’t passable at the best of times, but they seemed fine enough and I was in a hurry to get home.”

  “They weren’t.” She said it so matter-of-factly he smiled. As a travel guide for that area, she’d have known that. Been able to guess it far better than him.

  “No. They weren’t. I lost control of the car around a particularly slick spot, wrapped it around a tree, and yeah. There was a lot of blood, which surprised the EMTs when they got there because for the most part, I was mostly healed. Just a few cuts and bruises.”

  Kennedy shrugged. “Some wounds bleed a lot without needing to be deep. Scalp wounds especially.” When he glanced at her, her cheeks colored. “The local veterinarian.”

  “Ah.” He nodded. “Yeah well, I’m guessing that’s what they wrote it off as then. By the time I woke up, that was all old news. You see, I’d been konked pretty good on the head when I crashed—at least that was my going theory for the past year, it’s up for grabs now—I had the standard dying vision. Guardian angel saving my life, that kind of thing.”

  “Take it your theory was busted?” Ro asked and he nodded. Thoroughly smashed, he thought.

  “I dreamed a woman with black hair and black eyes saved me.” Though the eyes should have been a clue. They chilled him now. There’d never been any warmth, never been any kindness. Demon eyes. “I figured I’d dreamed up one of the EMTs. But after the crash I started having nightmares. In the beginning I couldn’t remember anything. Just splashes of blood and I’d wake up trembling and running for the trashcans. As time went on they worsened. I dreamt I was a monster,” he looked to Eden, “a wolf.”

  His thumb slid over the edge of his mug. “I saw a therapist, tried talking it out, but when that proved to be a crock I drugged myself up as much as possible to get through the nights. I still had the nightmares, started sleepwalking, sleep eating. I was a mess. Then spring rolled around and the dreams finally went away. The shrink said I must have finally been getting over the trauma of the crash.”

  “Near death experiences could—” The cute little vet said, but Bay shook his head.

  “They started up again with the first snow this year. I didn’t actually connect the timeline until more recently but now I’m wondering if the snowfall has anything to do with it. All I know right now is that I wasn’t just dreaming.”

  “He’s the wolf I saw,” Eden said, her voice quiet. She’d leaned back in her chair and looked at her friends, not a hint of joking in her eyes. Bay glanced between the other two women, saw the momentary flash of surprise, the natural flicker of skepticism and disbelief.

  Then Ro glanced at the door. “Shit. You sure?”

  “I saw him.” The words came out strangled, raw. “Smug went crawling up to him as that huge wolf and I was fumbling for a weapon and then, yeah. He was human and naked and had definitely been furry a few minutes before.”

  “I’d thought I was just having crazy ass dreams. I never remembered much of them, but uh, when Eden brought me her sled and I saw her, the pup, and heard her story—I knew. I’d done it, except that meant every night I went to sleep I was doing something impossible. I was becoming a monster.”

  “And the thing you saw yesterday?” Kennedy asked. “The footprints I saw.”

  Eden shrugged, then dug out her phone and showed him a picture. The footprints were huge, looked like Bigfoot’s cousin on steroids, but Bay remembered the troll. Shivered as the images of the tree morphing into it raced through his mind. “Troll. At least that’s what I thought it looked like.” The wolf rumbled unhappily in the back of his mind. Enemy. Bay couldn’t help but agree. That thing had been as evil as the bitch who made it. “The woman in my dying vision? She’s real.”

  He made a gesture at the phone. “I don’t know what she is or what she wants, but apparently when my car crashed, I woke her. She saved me. I think I was hurt a hell of a lot worse than I was by the time the EMTs showed up. And she did this to me.”

  “Turned you into a werewolf?” Even as Eden said it, it sounded impossible. Laughable. Hell, she hadn’t even been able to completely remove the sarcasm from her voice and she’d watched him shift.

  “Wow,” Ro said, echoing his thoughts. “I don’t think that’ll ever sound sane.”

  A nervous giggle passed between the women and Bay slumped back against his chair, amazed that they believed him at all, but more than that, he envied the friends Eden had. His father had been a callous dick who’d left his mother and his mother had always bee
n too busy for a son she hadn’t wanted. He’d never been good at making friends, between being a geek as a kid and socially awkward as a man. So he’d just withdrawn into his work.

  “I think she made another one the other night. I don’t know for sure. God, I thought for sure she’d killed him and I couldn’t stop her. The wolf,” he paused, his head titled. He could feel the animal under his skin. Willingly shifting, getting to know each other and sharing each other’s bodies had helped blend them together. The wolf was a part of him now. “The wolves are hers. When the changes happen, the man half isn’t informed. I wouldn’t have ever figured it out if Eden hadn’t showed up on my doorstep and even then, hell.”

  He still almost hadn’t believed it.

  “You weren’t sick because you had the stomach flu.” Her mouth slanted, a hint of amusement and sympathy warring in her eyes and he laughed.

  “Hell no. I was sick because I’d just figured out my dreams were real and all that blood might have been a stack of bodies I hadn’t realized.”

  Ro’s eyes narrowed on him. “Were they?”

  “No. Deer mostly. A few rabbits. Like I said, the wolves belong to the woman in the forest. Morrigan. Though God, how I know her name I don’t know. She gets energy from our nightly hunts, feeds off the wolves like a vampire. But if all of her other wolves are human—and I think they are—they don’t know it. You have two separate entities suddenly sharing a body and no one knows it. Like multiple personalities, the wolves come out at night, the humans have really weird dreams they can’t remember. To the wolves, she’s boss. They don’t question her.”