by Wood, Vivian
“I don’t know,” the man admitted, looking concerned. He shifted to kneel before her, reaching out a hand, then pulling it back. It was a little funny, because Penny got the idea that he wasn’t used to any kind of uncertainty in his life. He licked his lips, which sent another flare of desire through her body, then spoke again. “What’s your name?”
“Penny.” That was all she had. Her mouth was dry, her tongue in knots. Basically she was trying not to stare at him like a total moron.
“I’m Harlan.” He paused, then stood and moved back, crossing his arms. “What are you doing at Winter Pass, Penny?”
“I… I got stuck in the storm. I was just looking for somewhere to wait it out, and I remembered that the lodge was here,” Penny said, nibbling her lower lip. She was leaving out substantial chunks of the story, but he didn’t know that.
“Winter Pass has been closed for six years,” he told her, his eyes hard. Accusing, almost.
“Uhhh… I know. It was my only choice. I didn’t even know if I’d make it to the lodge,” Penny admitted with a shrug.
“You didn’t make it to the lodge,” Harlan said, looking almost amused.
“Not with people shooting at me,” Penny said, remembering the gun fight. “Why were people shooting at me?”
“You didn’t know them?”
Penny crinkled her nose.
“I don’t usually hang out with people who fire guns at me, no,” she said.
Harlan seemed to accept that, and his face softened a little.
“They were poachers, looking for some endangered species we have around here,” he explained.
“What… like deer or something?” Penny asked, confused. Growing up in the same town, she couldn’t remember there being a long list of endangered animals, or poachers for that matter.
“Wolves,” Harlan said. He arched a brow, as if daring her to disagree.
“Oh,” was Penny’s only response. “Are they still… out there?”
“They left when the sun went down. It’s too cold to hunt. They’ll be back tomorrow morning, though. Which is why you need to leave as soon as the sun’s up.”
A tiny bit of Penny’s pride withered. True, she was trespassing, and she didn’t exactly want to be here. But the way he said she had to leave, like it was personal… that rubbed her the wrong way.
“Fine,” she replied, rubbing her hands over her arms. The muscle tremors had moved up to her arms, and her body trembled unpleasantly.
She caught half a mumbled curse on Harlan’s lips as he turned and went to the bedroom, then came back with some of the blankets Penny had left behind.
“You need to stay warm. You were unconscious when I found you, your body’s had a lot of stress.” Harland thrust the blankets at her, and Penny took them without a word of protest. She didn’t feel cold, but she didn’t want to argue with him, either. Grumpy though he may be, he had probably saved her life.
Harlan went over to the kitchenette and set a kettle on the tiny stove. To her surprise, he returned with two steaming cups of Orange Pekoe tea.
“No sugar,” he said, claiming the chair across from Penny.
“It’s okay. I don’t much like it,” she said, sipping the tea gratefully. A long moment passed, the silence heavy, before Penny spoke again. “So… if the lodge is closed, why are you here?”
Harlan set his cup down, and Penny could see him weighing what he should tell her.
“I know the owner,” was his eventual answer.
“The Harbin kid?” Penny asked, surprised.
Harlan gave a low chuckle.
“Chase? That kid is thirty four years old and has at least an inch and twenty pounds on me,” Harlan said.
“Chase! Man, I could not remember his name for anything,” Penny sighed.
Harlan went tense again. It was odd; he wasn’t that expressive, nor did he gesture much, but Penny found him absurdly easy to read. Something about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“You know him?” Harlan asked.
“I mean… he’s a few years older than me. We went to the same school, but we don’t know each other know each other. Not more than anyone in a small town,” she rushed to explain, to ease his obvious discomfort.
Not that Penny should care.
“Ah.” Harlan glanced away, leaving Penny to wonder what he was so worried about.
“Let me guess,” she said, something clicking into place. “I remember Chase going into the Marines. That must be how you guys know each other.”
Harlan’s brow hunched, and he gave her a slow nod.
“We served together for a long time, yeah.”
Penny needed to say something, start talking. Any conversation was a good thing at this point, distracting her, keeping her from staring at Harlan. Every time she stared too long and Harlan caught her, he shifted in his seat, looking ready to jump up and run out of the cabin. He alternated between seeming disgusted by her presence and staring back at her, like he hadn’t seen another human in a thousand years.
“Where were you stationed?” Penny asked. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”
“Where wasn’t I stationed?” Harlan said. “Germany. Aruba. Afghanistan. Syria. Kuwait, for a minute.”
“Oh. Uh, cool,” Penny said, feeling lame.
“What do you do?” he asked, leaning back and crossing his arms. Penny tried desperately not to ogle his sexy, tanned forearms. She dropped her gaze to her lap.
“I’m an art teacher. Or I was.”
“Past tense?”
Penny’s face began to flame again, but she wasn’t one to skirt around the truth of what had happened.
“I got fired. My ex was sleeping with the headmistress of my school, and when I caught them together, she fired me. The same day he kicked me out of our apartment.”
A growl rumbled through Harlan’s chest, and Penny looked at him with surprise.
“Some loser cheated on you?” he asked. His eyes blazed bright, and for a half second Penny wondered if he might be teasing her in the cruelest way. But no, he was serious. Offended, angry, and confused on her behalf, for some unknown reason.
“Well, he was sort of…” Penny pursed her lips and twined her fingers in her lap, trying to find the right words.
“A worthless prick?” Harlan suggested.
Penny laughed, then nodded.
“Yeah. He—”
“I don’t need the details. Forget about him,” Harlan said, shifting again in his seat. The movement drew Penny’s attention to his upper arm, where a few spots of red were spreading across his white t-shirt.
“Harlan, I think you’re bleeding,” she said, hand flying to her throat.
He looked down at his shoulder, then hefted a sigh.
“It’s fine,” he said. “Now that you’re up, I’ll just grab another shirt from my bedroom.”
“It is not fine!” Penny said with a gasp. “You didn’t say you got shot!”
The idea of him sitting here chatting with her while having a wound made her angry.
“It’s nothing,” Harlan said, but Penny was already on her feet.
“Do you have a first aid kit?” she demanded to know.
Harlan gave her a measuring glance, then rolled his eyes.
“In the medicine cabinet,” he said.
Penny retrieved it and came back, putting on her best take no prisoners expression.
“Take off your shirt,” she ordered, giving him what she hoped was a steely glare.
A flare of humor lit his face, followed by more eye rolling.
“Fine,” he said, rising and pulling his shirt off, every muscle in his torso rippling as he moved.
Penny’s dry mouth and shaky legs returned, and she had to rip her eyes away from his obscenely flat, defined abs.
“Couch,” she said, pointing. Her cheeks and neck were red and hot with a mixture of hunger and ire. Thankfully Harlan dropped onto the couch, his eyes roaming up and down Penny’s body from
head to toe.
It struck Penny that Harlan might actually be interested in her, not repulsed. It seemed insane, someone like him looking at plain little Penny, mousier than ever in her borrowed pajamas. But the look on his face was hunger, unmistakable hunger.
“Penny,” Harlan said. There was a dangerous edge to his voice, and it shook Penny to her core.
In that moment, she knew that if she really, really wanted it… wanted a hot, hard, single night’s fling, she could probably have it. With him.
No no no no. She’d just been dumped, she a sad little wounded bird. Getting horizontal with Harlan, no matter how incredibly hot he was, would not solve her problems. Probably.
“Penny…” he said again.
Penny jumped, dumping the first aid kit on the couch.
“Right! Sorry!” she squeaked, killing a bit of the tension. She busied herself opening some bandages and tubes of ointment, then hesitated.
She’d managed to forget that she was actually going to have to touch him. Crap.
Kneeling next to Harlan on the couch, Penny blew out a breath and leaned over to examine his shoulder. It was a bunch of tiny, deep cuts, not the gnarly wound she’d expected.
“It was just flying tree bark,” Harlan said, his magnificent chest rising and falling as he spoke.
“You were right. It isn’t that bad,” Penny said, gently probing one of the cuts with a finger tip.
Harlan didn’t flinch, though one of his pecs tightened.
“Told you,” he ground out, looking away toward the door again. Ignoring the potential awkwardness that might spring up between them any minute now.
“Alright. I’ll be quick.” Penny spread a little antiseptic gel over each of the cuts, trying to focus on her work. Her eyes strayed over his shoulder to his back, where black swirling tendrils announced a large tattoo of some kind. She peeked, and saw that it was a very simple rendering of a wolf howling at the moon. “Pretty serious about saving the wolves, aren’t you?”
Harlan grunted and shifted, not meeting her gaze or acknowledging her question. Penny grabbed some gauze and medical tape, then started covering his cuts. Her gaze trailed down his front side this time, dipping lower and lower.
Her curiosity earned her an eyeful, making her fumble and get tape stuck to her fingers. She jerked her gaze away from his crotch, but not before she saw the thick, long outline of his cock pressed up next to his fly, running all the way up to the waist of his pants.
Holy cheese and crackers, Batman.
Not only was Harlan packing some serious heat, he was hard as a rock right now. Penny bit her lip to stifle a laugh as she realized that all his staring off in the distance and shifting in his seat hadn’t been because he disliked her.
No, it was quite the opposite.
For the barest second, Penny almost convinced herself to lean over and cup his thick erection, just see how it felt against her palm. Or kiss his sinful, proud lips, maybe…
Harlan cleared his throat, and Penny realized that she was staring at his mouth, a blank expression on her face.
“Maybe you should head back to bed,” he suggested.
Penny’s mouth opened, her tongue darting out to lick her lips.
“—and get some sleep. You look, uh… worn out,” Harlan finished.
“I—” Penny faltered, her momentary confidence fading. “Uh, right.”
“I’ll clean this stuff up,” Harlan said, clearing his throat again. He was looking anywhere but at Penny, and making her more confused than ever. He might be hard for her, but he didn’t seem very happy about it.
“Alright,” she said, shoulders drooping. Maybe this whole thing was in her head after all, just exhaustion combined with some leftover breakup blues.
“You need help getting there?” he prompted.
“Uh, no,” Penny said, abashed. “I got it.”
“I’ll wake you up at sunrise,” Harlan said, plucking a few bandage wrappers from the couch, staring a hole into the first aid kit.
“Great. Sure.”
Penny lurched to her feet and propelled herself forward, glancing back as she hit the hallway. Harlan was definitely looking at her now, those green eyes of his practically glowing as he watched her walk away. His lips twisted when their gazes caught, but Penny didn’t stop moving.
She scooted straight into the bedroom and closed the door, then climbed onto the bed and sprawled out on her back.
What in the hell was happening between them?
Penny squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for sleep, though it didn’t come for a long, long time.
Chapter Four
Harlan stepped back into the cabin, a growl rumbling in his throat. The whole world was coated in several fresh feet of snow atop the previously collected drifts, and it was almost as high as Harlan’s waist in some places. He’d made it as far as the main lodge before giving up and turning back.
The sun would warm the world and tamp a little of the snow down by late morning, but until then there was no point in waking Penny up. No car was going anywhere anytime soon, probably not for a couple of days.
Harlan shook of the snow and stripped off his jacket and boots, wracking his brain for a new plan. Last night, he hadn’t thought much farther than get her the hell out of Dodge, but the icy light of morning was proving him a fool.
A snow mobile could get her away from Winter Pass, but where would she go? It could only take her a couple of miles safely, and there wasn’t anything close by that would be a reliable, warm shelter. If Harlan sent her out into the world like that, she’d be in serious trouble again once night fell.
Something, anything…
But no. He had nothing. Penny was stuck here with a bunch of strange men, all of whom happened to be werewolves, and at least one of was way too interested in her every movement. If interest was conveyed in the sense of having a constant hard-on anytime they had to so much as breathe the same air…
If only Harlan was a normal human guy. Even being a fucked up former soldier with PTSD, he’d find a way to pursue his pretty redheaded companion. He sure as shit wouldn’t be standing here staring forlornly at the bedroom door, longing for some attention.
He’d have Penny pinned to the bed, fucking her brains out, ruining her for other men.
Another soft growl slipped from his throat. Harlan needed to get her out of his head, start thinking about how he was going to keep himself from turning her. He didn’t have to glance at the calendar to know that tonight was the first night of the full moon. The moon ruled the wolf, the wolf ruled the man, and therefore the man always knew the calendar by heart.
Moving over to the stove to boil some water for coffee, Harlan turned over different ideas in his head. None of them worked, except maybe…
What if Penny stayed here, or up in the main lodge? Harlan and Paxton could lead Chase as far away as possible. If they left soon, went far enough… when their wolves took over, they might be more interested in hunting animals than backtracking to find Penny.
Harlan sighed. As far as plans went, it wasn’t the best thing he’d ever come up with, but it was all he had. If Harlan led the Triad due east, the opposite direction from town, they’d probably lead the hunters away, too.
“Hey.”
Harlan jerked out of his thoughts, turning to find Penny standing a few feet behind him. She wore her own clothes this time, a nice red plaid shirt and jeans that clung to her curves just right, making Harlan’s mouth water a little. Her wavy red hair was pulled into a braid, fastened at the end with a few threads that looked like they’d come from some part of her shirt.
Her heart-shaped face, big brown eyes, and freckle-covered nose were just overkill. If she kept looking at him like that, all innocent and tempting, Harlan was going to tackle her to the ground and rip her clothes off.
He turned back to the stove and took the kettle off, pouring the water over a filter and some grounds he’d set up earlier, which drained into a large glass container. The coffee
’s fragrance bloomed under his nose, comforting him, washing away Penny’s intrusive scent for a few moments.
“Coffee?” he asked after a minute, not turning to look.
“You got cream?”
Harlan turned to find Penny staring out the window at the fresh snowfall.
“Yeah.”
He fixed her a cup and left it on the counter with the cream, taking his own cup and retreating to his armchair. He couldn’t afford a repeat of yesterday’s little scene on the couch, better to sit where Penny couldn’t join him.
“Thanks,” Penny said, taking her cup and sitting on the couch across from him. “So… there’s even more snow today, looks like.”
“Yep.”
“I hate to say this, Harlan, but I think you might be stuck with me for a couple of days,” Penny said. A blush rose in her cheeks after a moment, making Harlan wonder what she was thinking. She was too far away for him to scent her, but yesterday her desire for him had been plain enough. Resisting her pheromones in the air was one of the hardest things Harlan had ever done.
Hell, if she hadn’t just been through a terrible ordeal and almost froze to death in the woods, Harlan wouldn’t have even tried.
“You’re going up to the main lodge tonight, actually,” Harlan said, squirming in his seat, trying to disguise his body’s response to her presence. “I’m the one who’s leaving.”
“What? Why?” Penny’s brow creased. “You’re going to leave me here with a bunch of crazy hunters?”
“I admit, it’s not ideal,” Harlan said. An understatement. “I’m going to lead them off into the wilderness, away from town. That’s why I’m leaving. I already stocked the main lodge and set up a couple of the rooms in the event of the cabin generators going down, so you’ll have plenty of firewood and food. Wifi, even, as long as the power doesn’t go out.”
Penny’s incredulous expression made Harlan’s lips lift at the corners.
“You guys have internet out here?”
“We’re loners, not cavemen,” Harlan said.
“Man, I wish I’d brought my laptop from my car,” Penny sighed. “I don’t know what I’d even look at, though. My Facebook is all weddings and babies, which I find depressing. And there aren’t any good job postings for art teachers in the middle of the school year, which is even sadder.”
