by Piper Fox
Bitten by Her Mate
An Ironhaven Pack Romance
Piper Fox
Contents
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Sweet as Pie
Sour, not Sweet
Kisses and Claws
A Bite to Remember
Epilogue
Also by Piper Fox
About the Author
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Sweet as Pie
“Paul, quit stealing my cupcakes, or I’m not going to have enough inventory for the market!” Nichole swatted at her brother with a spatula, speckling his jeans with chocolate spots from the fresh cookies she’d just pulled out of the oven. “If you ever want me to stop driving your truck every weekend, you can’t eat all my product before I even make it to Bellemare for the farmer’s market.”
“I don’t like you going there. Aren’t there enough people here in Ironhaven who could buy your sweets?” Paul sat at the kitchen table, licking the last of the frosting off his fingers. “I don’t like you heading into other wolf pack territory alone.”
“I have nothing against the town or the wolves of Bellemare. And unless you want to set up a farmer’s market here or get me the space I need to sell my pastries in a real storefront, you’re going to have to deal.” Nichole started boxing up the already cooled pastries, mentally arranging each box in the back of the truck for safest transport. She knew she would have to one day get her own van, something big enough that she could make deliveries and look like a professional baker. But first, she needed a shop.
And for that, she needed to sell as many cookies and pies as she could.
“I just don’t trust them. And you know Dom doesn’t either.”
Nichole just barely managed to stop him from stealing another pastry. “Dominick can shove it if he thinks he’s telling me how to do anything. Just because his pack has issues with the town doesn’t mean we have to. Their curse didn’t do anything to us humans.”
“But they killed people we knew. Friends. Neighbors. You can’t just overlook that.”
Nichole rolled her eyes. She’d heard the same arguments from Dominick so often, she could repeat them in her sleep. But she wasn’t a wolf, and even with Merrick mated to a human, she didn’t dare hold out hope for a wolf of her own.
Not when the only one she could imagine biting her wanted nothing to do with her.
“Why don’t you clear out so I can finish up and make it to the market on time? I don’t want to end up in a shitty stall, just because my brother wouldn’t stop eating my treats.” She handed him a box. “You know I always save the defective ones for you.”
“They still taste the same.” Paul swapped his truck keys for the pastries, and grinned. “Be safe. I don’t want to have to recruit Dom to watch over you, just because you insist on going to three counties to sell your baked goods.”
Nichole waited for Paul to leave before she rolled her eyes and cursed at his back. The last thing she needed was an overbearing wolf looming over her.
Just as she was carrying the last of her boxes out to the truck, a couple of guys she didn’t recognize were leaning against the side.
“Got something sweet for me?” One pushed off the truck and grinned. “I always thought the thick girls, the ones who clearly know what a good cake tastes like, make the sweetest.” He looked Nichole up and down, his eyes lingering on her breasts.
“You can buy them at the market in Bellemare.” She pushed past him, nudging him with her hip. “If you don’t mind, I’m already running late.”
The second grabbed one of the cartons from the top of Nichole’s container and grinned. “What kind of hospitality is that? I think we should help ourselves to a few, just for her rudeness. Don’t you, Sean?”
“Damn right, Luka. Why make us wait until Bellemare, when clearly all the best treats are right here?”
Sean reached for another carton but was pulled back so quickly it was almost as if someone had affixed a line around his collar and reeled him away.
“I believe the lady said you could buy them at the market.” Nichole knew that gravelly, growl of a voice all too well.
“Damn it, Dominick, I don’t need your help. Did Paul send you? God, I’m going to kick his ass.” Nichole shoved the container of pastry boxes into the truck bed and spun around to stare down the wolf.
Or rather, stare up. The man towered over her average five foot seven. She was sure he cleared at least an additional twelve inches over her.
Dominick snarled, his teeth bared. “Leave. Now.”
Sean and Luka scampered off, but not before they both grabbed a couple more boxes.
“I had it under control.” Nichole crossed her arms and stamped her foot. “I don’t need you sniffing around.” Heat burned her cheeks as she tried to assess the damage.
“Like hell you did. I’m coming with you today.” He closed the space between them, pressing her back up against the side of the truck with his hands on either side of her hips. “You don’t know who those guys were.”
Nichole tried to ignore the intensity in Dominick’s brown eyes, the heat there, the wolf just under the surface. She tried to ignore the way his scruffy dark blond beard was just the right length, well-kept but still rugged. And the way his body felt, pressed against her. “It doesn’t matter who they were. I have somewhere to be, and I don’t need some damned wolf keeping me from my booth.”
“I’m not keeping you, but I’m not letting you go alone.” He pushed away from the truck and got into the driver’s seat. “You want to go to Bellemare, you let me take you.”
Nichole knew there was no way she could make the wolf move—no amount of force or coercion would make Dominick leave her alone. Even his own Alpha didn’t go up against Dominick in brute force. But it didn’t make her any happier as she walked over to the passenger side and got in. “You’re a stubborn beast, you know that?” She buckled her seatbelt and then crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re not going to be welcome in Bellemare.”
“You let me deal with the wolves. You just sell those sweets of yours.” Dominick looked over and smirked as he started the car, an almost flirty look in his eye.
If only Nichole thought she could believe it. Dominick was stricter about pack law than just about any wolf she’d ever met. There was no way he’d even look at a human, let alone flirt with one. He might as well have been Paul, for as much as he looked at her with anything but brotherly affection.
She stewed all the way to Bellemare, silently cursing the wall of a man in the driver’s seat.
Dominick refused to stand back and let her unload. He wouldn’t even let her set up on her own. Every time she tried to get something done, Dominick was already in her space, in her way.
She wanted to yell at him, to tell him get lost, but it was hard to deny that despite is brusque attitude and his barbaric size, he was meticulously careful as he arranged her pastries on the booth.
It would’ve been sweet if it were asked for or even needed.
“Don’t you have some deputy duties to take care of? Surely you don’t just have an entire Saturday free to babysit me at the farmer’s market.” She shifted a few things around to make room for prices and samples. “It’s not like someone’s going to drag me off to t
he woods. I’m not one of your wolves.”
“And thank the Gods for it.” He paced behind the booth, constantly moving, as if he couldn’t stop, couldn’t sit idly. “But that doesn’t mean Bellemare is safe for a woman like you.”
Nichole snarled. “A woman like me? What the hell is that supposed to mean?” She jerked around to glare at him. “I’ve sold my pastries here for months, without any incident. It’s just a farmer’s market.”
Dominick let out a growl, and the couple nearing the booth turned and moved back into the crowd. “You’re soft. Sweet. Like one of your pastries. You shouldn’t be out here alone, without someone to keep a wolf from sinking his teeth into you.”
Soft. Great. Just what every woman wanted to hear.
“You’re scaring off my customers. Would you just sit down?” She jabbed her finger at the lowered tailgate on the truck. “This was such a terrible idea.”
Dominick snarled again as he stopped walking but didn’t make any move to sit. “If I’m scaring off wolves, then I’m more than happy to be standing.”
The man was infuriating. Nichole couldn’t let him distract her from the business at hand as she tried her best to ignore the muscular wall looming over her shoulder every time someone walked up to the table.
Finally, she gave him a dozen chocolate chip cookies just to distract him long enough to make a couple of sales.
The day dragged slowly, and the longer she stood there, trying to sell her baked goods, the angrier she got at Dominick. He wasn’t just scaring off wolves. People who bought from her every week, people who raved about her cupcakes and her pies, were avoiding the table like she’d decided to serve everything with a side of maggot ice cream.
And the person enjoying her pastries the most was Dominick. It seemed like the wolf had the metabolism of ten men, to be able to put away that many treats in one sitting. And somehow, he still managed to look like he was carved from marble, with a chisel wielded by the gods.
“Hey, Nicki, how’s business? I swear, your table’s usually empty by this time on a Saturday.” Angela, one of Nichole’s friends at the market, walked up, her eyes focused on Dominick. “And who’s your friend?”
Nichole watched as Dominick’s nose noticeably twitched. He was smelling her.
“This Neanderthal isn’t my friend. He’s my brother’s best friend, and a real jerk. Trust me, you want nothing to do with him.” She sighed and pointed at Dominick. “Watch the table, would you? I’m going to get a smoothie with Angela.”
“No, you’re not.” Dominick’s hand reached out and caught her arm so quickly, Nichole flinched. “You’re not going anywhere I can’t see you.”
Nichole gestured at the smoothie booth across the aisle. “Will you see me if I’m over there?”
Dominick scowled, but let go of her arm. “Ten minutes. Or I’m throwing you over my shoulder and dragging you back here.”
Angela smirked as she said loud enough for half the market to hear, “You can throw me over your shoulder any time!”
Nichole wasn’t sure how well Dominick could hear, or if he’d actually try to give her privacy, so she dropped her voice down low as she said, “I need to get the hell out of here.”
“Why? Because of the barbarian lumberjack back there? I would climb him like a tree.”
“Trust me, he wouldn’t be interested. He has a very specific type, and not one that either of us fit into.”
“Oh, God, why are all the hot ones gay?” Angela’s face fell into a pout, but Nichole couldn’t help but laugh.
Just the idea of Dominick trying to flirt with another guy was too hard to picture, even though it might’ve made the constant sense of rejection a little softer. “No, he’s not gay. But you can flirt ‘til you’re blue in the face, and he won’t even look at you.”
“Sounds like you speak from personal experience.”
“Something like that.”
A familiar loud bark made Nichole cringe before she even turned back to look. “Just buy the damn cookies.”
“I think that’s my cue to get back to my booth. Before Dominick decides to choke people with my baked goods, and I lose a spot at this market forever.”
Angela laughed. “Good luck.”
As Nichole stomped back to her booth without getting a smoothie at all, she was about ready to sprout teeth and claws, just to deal with the alpha male bullshit her unwelcome help was providing.
Sour, not Sweet
As the farmer’s market started shutting down for the afternoon, Nichole wouldn’t even look at Dom.
The stench of the Bellemare pack all over the area made Dom’s wolf stir-crazy, pacing just under the surface, ready to attack at the first sign of teeth or claws. He loaded the containers back into Paul’s truck, careful to grab anything heavy before Nichole could get her hands on it.
He didn’t like the idea of her straining herself or putting in this much effort for a dream that he could make a reality in a heartbeat, if he thought she’d let him.
But Nichole had always been stubborn, too stubborn for her own good, and he doubted she’d accept it even if the Gods themselves bestowed it on her. She always had to do things her way, which usually meant the hard way.
She set his wolf on edge, just her presence, and her scent that no amount of cake or pie could cover up, made him itchy. There was something about Nichole that he’d always tried to ignore, but seeing her in a lacy, heart covered apron, in those leggings that hugged every curve of her wide ass and hips, and a tank top that dropped just a little too low for his liking, made his wolf want to howl for a whole different reason.
Nichole was without a doubt the temptress of his dreams.
Or, at least, she would’ve been, if it weren’t for the fact that she was human.
It was too easy to imagine licking frosting off those full, heavy breasts, or spanking that round, curvy ass as he fucked her from behind.
If only she had been born a wolf, Dom would’ve let himself kiss her years ago. At least that way he’d know, one way or the other, if she was destined to be his mate.
Things were even more complicated when he added Paul into the mix.
When word got around about Merrick and Sierra, one of the first things Paul said to Dom was that he hoped no wolf would try to claim Nichole.
Really, Dom didn’t want that for her either. Even if things were starting to change in Ironhaven, they still didn’t know what it meant. There were wolves in the pack who didn’t like that Merrick had mated a human. And it wasn’t like one pack would change the mind of all the other wolves in the area.
The last thing Dom wanted was to see was Nichole hurt, because of her connection to the pack.
As soon as the truck was loaded and they were back on the road to Ironhaven, Dom dared a glance at the curvy baker in the passenger seat. From the way her lips were pulled tight in a line and her eyes wouldn’t look toward him, he would’ve known she was mad, even if he couldn’t scent it on her.
Nichole ran hotter than the oven she used to bake cookies in.
But she waited until they’d past back into Ironhaven territory before saying, “What the fuck were you thinking today? God, Dominick, you were so far out of line, I can’t even…” She shook her head. “When we get back to my house, I don’t ever want to see you again. Do you have any idea what you cost me?”
“You can sell your stuff around town tomorrow. I’ll get the whole pack to buy your treats.”
“It’s not about the money! My reputation, my standing in that community, everything I’ve worked for could be ruined, just because a big dumb wolf decided to loom over me all day.” She cursed under her breath. “Why couldn’t you just sit at the truck, let me do my thing? I wasn’t in any danger. Fucking hell, Dominick, this is my life you’re fucking with.”
“You shouldn’t be going to Bellemare anyway. Those damned wolves have no business sniffing around your goods. Gods, Nichole, did you see the way they were leering at you? Practically salivating at
the thought.”
“I bake things, you imbecile! I want them to drool over my pastries. I want them to buy them, so I can stop driving all over the fucking state. So people will come to me for my treats.”
Dom let out half a growl before saying, “You want a shop that badly, let me and Paul help you. We can get you the space.”
Nichole threw her hands up, almost smacking Dom in the face. “You never listen to me. It’s not about the damn money. It’s about building this on my own. It’s my dream, and I’m going to get it on my own.”
He bit back a chuckle as he pulled into her driveway. “No one gets their dreams without help, Nic. It’s not like I’d be able to help in the bakery, but I could help you get the doors open.”
She shoved open the truck door and hopped out, looking back in to scowl at Dom. “If I needed your help, I’d ask for it. I’ve been doing just fine without you, and I’ll open my shop without you and your wolf pack making this town bend to your will.”
Dom shut off the truck and followed her to the bed. “I wasn’t saying it as a wolf. I was saying as a friend. I just want to see your dreams come true. And I’ve been meaning to do some renovations on the hotel on Main Street. We could build your bakery right in, on the ground level.”
Nichole shook her head and propped her hands on her hips as she looked up at Dom. “I don’t want charity, Dominick.”
Dom smiled and reached for one of the containers, pulling it closer to the tailgate. “It’s not charity. It would be a business venture. Something that could be mutually beneficial.” He waggled his eyebrows at her as his thoughts shifted to something less professional. With her so close, her scent of irritation and anger mixed with something else, something that could only be described as passion. Heat.
