by Terry Spear
He dipped his fingers between her legs and plunged one in between her folds. “You are, too.”
“Not just wet,” she whispered, as she rubbed her body against his.
He felt the ripples of climax inside her then, realized that with Anna a little sparring was good for foreplay, and vowed they’d have a room just for that—to keep in great shape and combat-ready—wherever they ended up living.
“I’m ready,” she gasped, breathless, her eyes dark with arousal. “If you are.”
He opened his legs to release her, and she pulled off his boxers. He quickly dispensed with her panties and dragged her under him. He entered her gently at first but quickly picked up the pace. Her heady scent mixed with his, the two of them smelling of the outdoors, of snow and firs and pine, of peach brandy and of her sweet peach-scented shampoo. Their hot, delicious sexy and overactive pheromones had him driving into her over and over again until he muffled her cry with a penetrating kiss. He exploded inside her, having never felt this complete.
He rolled off her and saw the expression on her face. She was one sleepy, well-satisfied she-wolf with a tired smile on her face. He tugged aside the covers. Then he moved her to their side of the bed and curled up beside her, spooning her, pulling the covers over them. He hoped they could solve the murder mystery quickly and painlessly so he and Anna could make some plans for their honeymoon.
* * *
Bjornolf’s cell phone rang the next morning, and he realized the last time he had used it was before he and Anna went after Nathan the night before last.
Before he could throw on some boxers and retrieve the phone from down the hall, he heard Nathan say, “Hi, Hunter. No, it’s me, Nathan. They were making a ruckus in the bedroom for most of the night. It’s quiet in there now, so I think they’re still sleeping. I’ll tell him as soon as he gets up.”
Bjornolf groaned and looked down at Anna. She was smiling up at him.
“I don’t think Hunter had this in mind when he hired us for this job,” Anna whispered, touching Bjornolf’s chest.
A fresh shiver of need rocketed straight to his groin.
Bjornolf leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I’m not too sure about that. I’ll go see what Hunter wants. It’s time to put up the outdoor Christmas lights anyway. You just rest.” After the wild night they’d had, they both needed a daytime nap.
She nodded and closed her eyes.
He took a quick, cold shower, then grabbed a pair of fresh boxers, noting that Anna was tucked under the covers and sound asleep. She looked beautiful, her hair tousled and spread out across the white pillowcases, her face angelic in sleep. His undercover operative. His sexy she-wolf.
He finished dressing and headed for the kitchen to get a cup of hot coffee.
Nathan had laid strings of lights all over the couches, getting them ready to put up outside. Bjornolf smiled at him, glad the kid was ready to help. He noticed Nathan had already had eggnog for breakfast, the filmy glass sitting in the kitchen sink. Bjornolf eyed it for a second.
“I didn’t drink any rum in it. Honest,” Nathan said. “You would have smelled it. That’s the problem with living with wolf chaperones.”
“You’re right.” Bjornolf noticed the coffee percolating, but Nathan hadn’t had any. “You having some?”
Nathan shook his head.
“Thanks for fixing it.” Bjornolf poured himself a mug, then said, “Who called? Hunter?”
Nathan’s face turned a light shade of red. “Uh, yeah. You… heard?”
“Yep. Another disadvantage of having wolf chaperones.”
Nathan nodded. “Or teen wolves who can hear all the noise being made down the hall.”
Bjornolf fought a grin. “We were sparring.”
Nathan’s face fell, then the smile returned. “Yeah, right.” When Bjornolf didn’t confirm Nathan’s suspicions one way or another, he asked pointedly, “You’re mated, right?”
Normally, Bjornolf wouldn’t have said. But this wasn’t a normal situation.
“Yeah, we’re hitched, wolf-style.” Meaning mated, no marriage necessary. It was a done deal for life.
Nathan nodded, trying to look serious, but he couldn’t hide a full-fledged grin.
That worried Bjornolf a bit. He hadn’t considered living with Nathan beyond this mission.
“Okay,” Bjornolf said, not willing to ponder the situation further. “Let me talk to Hunter, and then let’s get those lights up. Open house is tomorrow, and we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”
Bjornolf walked outside into the crisp, cold winter day. He had the phone to his ear as he carried several strands of lights draped over his arm. Nathan had already brought out several more and a ladder, plus plastic hooks to hang the lights to the gutters.
Bjornolf was impressed.
“Is this the right way?” Nathan asked. “I’ve never hung lights up on a house before.”
“That’s it.” Bjornolf heard Hunter’s voice and said, “Bjornolf here. You called?”
“Yeah, you first.”
Bjornolf was watching Nathan as he hung the lights meticulously, making sure the hooks were evenly spaced. The kid was doing a good job, and Bjornolf couldn’t help but be proud of him. His father must have been just as pleased with him.
“I don’t know anything new on the case,” Bjornolf told Hunter.
Nathan looked down at him, all ears.
“That’s not what I meant,” Hunter said.
Bjornolf frowned. “Anna?” he guessed.
“Yeah. Well, what of it?” Hunter sounded growly and protective of his teammate.
Nathan looked like he might be in trouble for having said anything about hearing Anna and Bjornolf last night. Bjornolf raised his brows at Nathan and smiled, reassuring him that he was fine with what Nathan had said to Hunter.
“Sparring practice,” Bjornolf told Hunter.
Nathan grinned and continued hanging more lights.
“Sparring practice,” Hunter said. He didn’t say anything more for a moment.
Bjornolf stepped forward to hand Nathan a new strand of lights. “Yeah.”
“Who won this time?” Hunter finally asked.
“Depends on who’s telling the story.”
Hunter laughed. “I can believe that. How’s Nathan doing?”
“Nathan’s great. He made us coffee. Didn’t drink rum in his eggnog, and he’s hanging Christmas lights on the house. Couldn’t ask for a better kid.”
Nathan’s ears tinged red, but he smiled, and Bjornolf was glad that Nathan heard him praise him. Especially after what had occurred yesterday over the running-to-Portland situation.
“What about the two of you? Can you handle it?”
“He might have to stay at your house at night if he wants to get some sleep,” Bjornolf said.
Nathan quickly shook his head, frowning.
“Forget it. He says no. We’ll get him some earplugs.”
Hunter laughed. Then he got serious again. “Finn discovered that both of the dead men had been working with the DEA. I’m wondering if these agents were investigating someone at the tree farm. What if they learned that the guy was dealing, but before they could report it, the agents were murdered?”
“Or,” Bjornolf said, not liking a different scenario, “what if they couldn’t report it?”
“Meaning the drug dealers were wolves?”
“Yeah. Only they didn’t know you had a pack here and could have helped them out.”
“Sounds like a possibility. It’s not like there’s a map of where lupus garou settlements exist in the States and beyond.”
“What about the Wentworths? Any lead on them?”
“They’ve returned home. Rourke’s headed to their one-and-a-half-million-dollar estate located next to Forest Park in Portland to do an interview on their harrowing adventure. We’re hoping he might learn something.”
“Wentworth?” Nathan asked, climbing down the ladder to move it again.
Bjorn
olf looked up at him as he climbed back up the ladder. “You know a Wentworth?”
“Everton, the guy who owns the tree farm, has a half brother named William Wentworth.”
“He wouldn’t happen to be ‘the Third,’ would he?” Bjornolf asked.
“Uh, yeah. Everton says it in a sarcastic way as if the dude thinks he’s really cool cuz he’s the Third. I don’t think he likes his half brother at all. Not that I’m really surprised. When Everton was off delivering some trees to customers a couple of days ago, William dropped by to see Jessica’s mom, Dottie. He acted really friendly. Gave her a big hug and kissed her.
“They didn’t realize I was in the back of the shop hanging some fresh Christmas wreaths. When he saw me, he quickly moved away from her and gave me a look that could kill. I just figured the guy was being nice to her because they were related—by marriage. But after the look he gave me, I wondered if something more was going on.”
Bjornolf relayed the message to Hunter.
“We’ll check into it,” Hunter said. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, one other thing struck me as odd. When Anna and I were out investigating the tree farm the night before last, a man named Everton caught us and asked for our ID. I just thought it strange that anyone would be on guard duty watching over a tree farm late at night.”
“Everton?” Nathan asked, pausing to hook up the next section of lights.
Bjornolf was getting a bad feeling about this as he studied Nathan’s frown.
Nathan said, “He never guards the place. At night, he’s always watching sports on TV in the basement. I know because I’ve sneaked in to see Jessica and her dad never knew it.”
Chapter 15
What was Everton doing wandering around the tree farm at night if he didn’t normally do so?
“So what happened at the tree farm, exactly?” Nathan asked, sounding alarmed.
Bjornolf told him about the man who had caught Anna trespassing and how she’d used Nathan and his faux watch as an alibi.
“Where were you when Jessica’s father was hassling Anna?” Nathan sounded like he was about to take Bjornolf on for not protecting her.
Bjornolf fought smiling. The kid was cute. “I was there.” Not that Bjornolf had to explain himself to Nathan, but he wanted to. “He asked for an ID and Anna said she wasn’t changing her name to mine.”
Nathan’s eyes widened. “Will she now?”
Bjornolf snorted. “We don’t actually get married on paper.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Nathan hung up another section of lights, then climbed down the ladder to move it again. He climbed back up and then turned to Bjornolf. “When was the first time you had sex with a human girl?”
Hell. Bjornolf stopped unraveling strands of lights and looked up at Nathan. “This isn’t about that Jessica Everton girl, is it?”
Nathan frowned, turned, and continued to hang lights off the house.
Not good. “How old is she?” Bjornolf asked. He hadn’t expected to have these kinds of talks with the kid.
“She’s seventeen. Like me. But we can do it with human girls because as wolves we can’t get them pregnant.”
Bjornolf frowned at him. “Most of the time, no.”
Nathan’s jaw dropped.
“It happens occasionally. Haven’t you ever heard Tessa’s story?”
“She was mated to Hunter before she got pregnant.”
“Her mother was the byproduct of her human grandmother and her werewolf grandfather’s union.”
Nathan stared at Bjornolf for a moment. “Oh.” Then he began hanging the lights again.
“It’s rare, but still risky.”
Nathan turned. “But Tessa wasn’t one of us. Hunter had to bite her.”
“Yes, but that’s not the point, is it? Her mother’s mother became pregnant. That’s the point. Further, we usually have multiple births so all of a sudden you wouldn’t have one child but possibly several.”
Nathan was quiet for a long time. Then he said meekly, as if he was afraid that Bjornolf would tell him that his thoughts on that subject were also urban legend, “We can’t get STDs from humans.”
“You’re right. Still, Jessica’s underage and jailbait.”
Nathan sighed. “You’re not going to tell me about the first time you had sex with a human?”
“You know how long we live, Nathan.” Bjornolf was sure Nathan’s father hadn’t talked to him about his own sex life before he mated Nathan’s mother. He wasn’t sure what the protocol was here. Bjornolf’s father certainly never talked to him about the birds and the bees.
“Yeah, I know once you reach puberty, you age only one in thirty years.”
“So it’s been a very long time.”
Nathan’s eyes widened. “You don’t remember?”
Bjornolf frowned at him. “Of course I remember.”
“Well?”
“She was sixteen.”
“Sixteen? That’s worse than me.”
“You’ve already done it with Jessica?” Bjornolf shouldn’t have sounded so astounded, but he had guessed the kid was trying to sound him out, to see if Bjornolf thought it was acceptable. Before he did it.
Nathan turned and hung another strand of the lights. “I shouldn’t have. I guess. Do you think Anna knows?”
Bjornolf was surprised Nathan would worry about what Anna thought. Then he recalled how she’d lectured him about not getting involved with a human girl. Which made him wonder when Anna had been involved with a human boy for the first time. That thought made his gut clench. It shouldn’t matter what she’d done so long ago, now that she was his.
Bjornolf shook his head. “I don’t know if Anna guessed or not.”
“She didn’t like it that I was seeing Jessica,” Nathan said morosely.
“If we have sex with a wolf-shifter, it’s for life,” Bjornolf warned, thinking that’s maybe why Nathan tore off to see Sarah. “So for years we seek… companionship with humans until we find a worthwhile mate. Don’t go having sex with Sarah unless she’s truly the one you want to be with forever, or you’ll both be stuck with each other for a very long time. No divorce for mated wolves.”
“Which means it’s okay to be with Jessica for now.”
“No,” Anna said, shoving the door open with her hip. She walked across the snow-covered grass, carrying a tray of hot, buttery crescent rolls and mugs of cocoa topped with mounds of whipped cream.
Nathan turned a little red as he eyed her.
“I brought you some breakfast. Not much, just something quick to snack on while you work.”
“You cook?” Nathan said, sounding surprised and at the same time glad as he climbed down the ladder to snatch a roll and a mug of cocoa.
“Don’t ever let Hunter and the SEAL team know. They think a woman should do all the cooking on missions. They tease me about it, but it’s not all bantering. I let them know otherwise.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.” Nathan scarfed down two more rolls.
“Thanks, Anna.” Bjornolf grabbed a couple before Nathan ate them all and helped himself to the other mug of cocoa. He’d fixed cocoa and rolls tons of times for himself before, but something about Anna preparing them made the food and drink taste even better.
“Yeah, thanks,” Nathan managed to say before he took another bite of his roll, concentrating on devouring them.
“Don’t worry,” she said to Nathan in a teasing tone. “I’ll feed you again.” She glanced up at the house, and her expression softened as she spied the lights hanging near the roof. “The lights are nearly done. They look great. I can’t wait to see them tonight when it’s dark.”
“Yeah, it’ll look great,” Nathan said. “We’ll be going inside to work on the tree next. Okay?”
“Sounds good.” Anna smiled at them warmly, then headed back inside. She shut the door.
Nathan stared at the door and calculated when she might be well out of earshot. “I think she heard us talking. I mean, about most of it.
Don’t you?”
“Yeah, I think she did.” Bjornolf could just imagine her questioning him about his encounter with the sixteen-year-old human girl next time they were alone. Or maybe not. She might not want to touch the subject because he was liable to ask her about her past misadventures.
“Jessica’s adopted,” Nathan finally said.
“She’s still human.” Bjornolf was finally getting that Nathan was really hung up on the human girl.
“She…” Nathan paused. “She smells like a wolf.”
Bjornolf didn’t say anything for a moment, trying to process that bit of information, then asked, “What do you mean exactly?”
Nathan shrugged. “She smells like a wolf. Like all of us do—part wolf, part human. I asked if she owned a pet wolf. She laughed at me. Of course she smells more human because her parents hug on her all of the time. Probably because she’s adopted.”
Bjornolf stared hard at the boy, not believing this.
Nathan sighed. “Tessa was the granddaughter of a wolf. Maybe Jessica is also.”
“She can’t shift then. If this is true.”
“She told me she believes in the paranormal. I thought she was hinting that she was a lupus garou but that she was afraid to come out and say so.”
“You didn’t tell her about us, did you?” Bjornolf growled. Not that a human would believe Nathan, but still, they didn’t tell humans what they were. Period. Not unless they had to turn them.
“No. Of course not. Sure, I was hoping she was one of us. But why would humans have adopted and raised her? Why wouldn’t a wolf pack have taken her in?”
Maybe because her parents didn’t belong to a wolf pack. Bjornolf still couldn’t believe it. “Is she from here?”
Nathan shook his head. “She’s from Santa Fe, New Mexico, but she doesn’t know who her parents were. She’s searched, too.”
“So when she said she believed in the paranormal, what did she mean?”
Nathan sighed. “She meant ghosts. I wasn’t going to talk about lupus garous until she did first. When she spoke of ghosts, I couldn’t hide my disappointment. Of course she thought I believed she was crazy for thinking they were real.”
