by Maddy Barone
Amanda couldn’t truly understand what it would have been like to have a family myth come true. “Was it scary?”
He squeezed her hand. “I guess it must have been. It was scary for me, the first time my wolf pushed his way out.”
She turned her head to look at him. “So the wolf isn’t you? You and the wolf aren’t the same person?”
He chuckled. “No, not at all.”
“What is it like when the wolf comes out?”
His profile was solemn. “Exciting. And…” He trailed off, apparently trying to find the right word. “Natural. I’m used to it now. I don’t know what my life would be like without the wolf. The first few times were scary. The wolf took control. He wanted to run and hunt and eat.” He tilted his face down to smile at her. “That’s what the wolf thinks of. Food, sleep, and protecting his den and pack. He’s not a human. He doesn’t think the way a man does. He’s a wolf, and he cares about the things that all wolves care about.”
“That’s so amazing. Can you talk to him? Like telepathy?”
He blinked. “I don’t know what telepathy is, but I can’t talk to him. I can feel him. Emotions, I mean. He can feel what I’m feeling, but I don’t think he understands all of it. He’s always there, like a shadow inside me.”
She tried to imagine what it would be like to have an alien presence inside her all the time, but couldn’t. “It —or do I mean, he?— must be really important to you.”
“Yeah, he is. Until you, my wolf was probably the most important thing in my life. My family is important to me too, and I love them, but they aren’t inside me. It’s kind of hard to explain. My wolf was the one thing I couldn’t live without. Until you.” He smiled almost bashfully. “Now there are two things I couldn’t live without: the wolf, and you.”
Amanda’s breath caught. For years she’d told herself she wanted a husband who couldn’t live without her. Words were only words, though. Time would have to prove whether he was just talking or if he truly meant it. She lifted a skeptical eyebrow. “Seriously? You’d die without me?”
He looked down at her fingers in his hand. “Seriously? My heart wouldn’t stop beating. My lungs would go on breathing. I know it’s been only a day, but already you are so much a part of my heart and mind that if you don’t accept my mate claim, my life will be empty.” He smiled at her, a crooked smile that showed off that one imperfect tooth. “I almost didn’t admit that. I don’t want you to accept me out of guilt or pity. The wolf doesn’t care why you accept me, only that you do.”
She made herself smile back, pretending her heart wasn’t beating fast. “And he’s the one who picked me?”
“Yeah.” He leaned his head down to brush a kiss over her hair. “The minute I first saw you, when you were getting on the bus, everything became clearer to me. The colors were sharper, the scents were stronger. Usually when the wolf is inside me I barely notice him, but at that minute he felt like he was dragging me closer to you, howling all the way.”
She pushed away from the headboard to kneel facing him. “Can I meet him?”
“Right now?”
“Yes!” She hesitated. “If you don’t mind?”
“I don’t mind.” He climbed off the bed and kicked his moccasins off. He stripped off his clothes with no sign of embarrassment. If nerves weren’t prickling under her skin at the thought of a wild wolf loose in her room she would have enjoyed the show.
The air surrounding the lean brown body shimmered, the way heat rising from hot summer pavement shimmered and distorted the view, and then Sand was gone. In his place stood a wolf. Amanda blinked at it, opened mouthed. Her stomach rotated and she had to grip handfuls of bedding to keep sitting up. Sky had told her last year that he had an inner wolf. She’d believed him, of course. She’d known Sky for seven years, and in that time he’d never lied to her. But seeing it was far different than hearing about it.
The wolf looked at her out of eyes that shone like liquid gold in the dense gray of his fur. A long pink tongue lolled out of the mouth in a sharp toothed canine grin.
“Oh!” Her breath came out in a squeak. “Hello.”
The wolf trotted to her and jumped up on the bed. She scrambled back so fast she hit her head on the headboard. The wolf hung his head and whined, for all the world like a little boy who’d been scolded. It made her feel ridiculously ashamed.
“Sorry. You, uh, kind of scared me there for a minute. Um. Hi.” She swallowed and stared into those alien eyes. “Sand? Are you there? Can you hear me?”
The wolf lay down with his muzzle on his extended front paws, eyes still fixed on her. He didn’t look one bit like Sand. But neither did he look aggressive or angry. She cautiously extended one hand to touch the top of his head. The fur was soft between his ears and coarser on his neck and back. Amanda stroked him with a sense of wonder. He seemed to enjoy it, arching his neck for her to reach a particular spot.
“So you’re the one who picked me for Sand. You’re a big, handsome fellow, aren’t you? Like Sand. I haven’t decided yet whether or not to accept him. He needs to meet my dad. My dad would never tell me who I can or can’t marry, but if my dad doesn’t like Sand, I can’t marry him.” She scratched behind the large pointed ears. “I like Sand. I was a little afraid of you. It’s kind of weird for me, you know? I mean, whoever knew that men could turn into wolves for real? But you wouldn’t hurt me. Would you, sweetie? I guess I should have asked Sand what your name is.”
The shimmer came again, and this time she was so close she felt the change happen. A wave of heat nearly burned her hand, and instead of stroking rough fur she was caressing a bare brown shoulder. She jerked her hand away.
“He doesn’t have a name,” Sand told her. He was lying face down beside her, his cheek pressed to her thigh, his eyes looking up at her the way the wolf’s had. “He’s a wolf.”
“He’s beautiful. I liked him.” She smoothed a finger over his braid where it spilled across her knee. “Could you hear me talk to him?”
“Vaguely, like from a long distance. So, if your dad doesn’t like me I have no chance with you?”
She pulled her finger away. “You could hear me!”
“When do I get to meet your dad?”
She sighed. “That depends on what happens tomorrow at the inquiry.”
They shared her bed that night. Sand tried to sleep on the floor again, but she had a strangely fierce desire to hold him. Surely, the mayor would be kind. The tax Sky and The Limit provided the city was sizable, and the mayor liked Sky. He wouldn’t offend Sky, even to keep his friend Terry Askup happy. And, if worse came to worst, she had enough money to bribe whoever she needed to, or pay whatever fine was posed. She hoarded her earnings so she would have money to pay the marriage tax if she ever found anyone she wanted to marry. But for Sky —and especially for Sand— she would spend every tiny bit of it. How had he become so important to her so quickly? She burrowed her nose into the nape of Sand’s neck and breathed his warmth in.
Chapter 6
Sand woke with the warmth of his mate’s back pressed against his front. His nose was buried in the wealth of her hair, and the scent of it was a comfort, a joy, and a call to arousal all at the same time. Waking with her like this for the rest of their lives was the most wonderful future he could imagine. His hand rested on her soft belly, just below the temptation of her breasts and it was all he could do to not caress her. His imagination supplied a vision of him cupping her soft breast in his hand while she woke and turned on her back with an inviting smile. He would push her tauntingly thin nightdress up past her waist and slide inside her. He always wanted her, but right now, his desire was like fire in dry grass.
The pinch of his jeans over hardening flesh reminded him that last night she’d required him to wear something to bed. She wouldn’t welcome his advances this morning. He shifted to ease the pressure of the buttons on his fly and relaxed against her. At least he had this. If the investigation didn’t go well, at least he’d have t
he sweet memory of lying beside his mate, her body lax and trusting in sleep against his.
The next ten minutes passed with him savoring the scent of her hair and the warmth of her body against his. She woke as he’d imagined, with a sleepy smile as she rolled onto her back beside him. He had to clench a fist and press it into the mattress to keep from caressing her.
“I’ve never done this before,” she murmured in a voice husky with sleep. The edge of her teeth showed in a small smile as she reached he palm to cup his cheek.
“Done what?”
“Wake up with a man.”
That startled him almost enough to not notice the way she smoothed her hand over his cheek. “Never?”
“No, never.”
Pride swelled his chest, mixed with awe. She had been with many men before, but he was the only one she’d slept beside. “Do you like it?”
Her smile was small and tender. “Yeah, I like it.” Her eyes looked closely at his face, obviously thinking of something else now. “You don’t need to shave, do you?”
It wasn’t really a question. “No. I pluck a few hairs sometimes, but I don’t use a razor.”
He hated to let her go, but when she squirmed to get out of bed he made himself lean back out of her way. In the thin cotton nightdress that hid nothing of her beautiful body, she scrambled past him out of bed and went to the door.
“I’m going to brush my teeth and wash my face. I’ll be back in a minute.”
After she left, he lay for another minute on the bed that smelled of her. Last night after they’d lain down in her bed she’d explained that she had more than one mattress. Each business woman had mattress toppers that were changed between appointments, but at the end of the night they slept on their own mattress. He had been surprised and confused, but also vastly relieved and pleased that no man had ever been on this mattress before. Depending on what happened today at the mayor’s office, this might be the only time he lay in this bed.
Amanda was preparing herself for the day; he should do the same. He jumped out of bed and hurried down the stairs and outside to the bunkhouse where he stored his few toiletries. He used the facilities, washed his hands and face, and brushed his teeth, but didn’t waste time doing anything with his hair. It was still in the same braid he had put it in yesterday, rumpled and frayed from sleep. Leaving it a mess, hurried back to Amanda’s room. He tapped lightly, but she didn’t answer so he slipped back inside. The room was empty. She must still be freshening herself. How long did it take her to get ready? The women at the den didn’t take very long.
He was straightening the sheet and blanket on the bed when he heard her walking down the hall to her room. She came in, her hair damp, dressed already in a floaty skirt like the one he had first seen her in and a pale green blouse with puffy sleeves. Her nightdress was over one shoulder, and she carried a suit on a hanger in her hand.
“Look. Here’s the suit Sky sent for you to wear this morning. I think this dark charcoal gray will look good on you.” She lifted a couple of ties. “I think the red will look best for you, but do you like the blue one better?”
A tie too? Sand swallowed his inner growl. “Red is fine. If you like that one best, I’ll wear that one.”
She flipped a smile over her shoulder when she turned to hang the suit up on a hook over her door. “And now I finally get to play with your hair! Sit down.”
The chair she indicated was the frilly fragile-looking one at her vanity. He hesitated, then settled himself on the little seat, hoping it would hold him. “No one has combed my hair for me before, not since I was a baby.”
Her hands were fumbling at the end of his braid, unfastening the strands of hair he used to tie it off. “So, this morning we both get to enjoy something new. Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle.”
Sand’s eyes closed in bliss while his mate carefully unraveled his plait. He had a few mats from sleeping on it, but Amanda was true to her word, and her hands were gentle when she untangled the clumps with her fingers before gliding her comb through the length of his hair. With him sitting in this low chair, it was long enough that she had to kneel to comb the ends.
“I love your hair,” she murmured, smoothing her hand over it in the wake of the comb. “It’s so smooth and shiny.”
A contented smile curved his lips. “Did you know that in the old days, Lakota wives took pride in their husband’s hair? It was their privilege to take care of it.”
“Oh, I see.” She made a sound almost like a giggle. “Just another lure for me to marry you?” She gave a few strands a teasing yank. “It’s 7:40. You better get dressed so you have time for breakfast before you have to leave. Here, put on the undershirt.”
He did, then reluctantly accepted the pressed trousers she handed him. She turned her back so he could slip his jeans off and pull Sky’s borrowed pants on. They were the right length, he supposed, but a little loose in the waist.
“Turn around,” Amanda commanded, and he obediently turned. “Damn,” she sighed. “There is nothing like a male ass in a pair of well tailored trousers.”
Blushing, he rushed to put the coat on. His mate licked her lips when she looked at him. “Mr. Wolfe, you are yummy! But you need to put the shirt and tie on before the jacket.”
He blushed harder and took the coat off. Amanda touched his hand. “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”
He wasn’t sure if it was embarrassment. He felt ridiculous in the scoop necked undershirt that barely covered his nipples, and her blatant admiration of his butt had caused heat to rise in his cheeks. But it raised another kind of heat inside him. The trousers didn’t hide his erection.
“Oh, dear,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t sound sorry.”
“Ouch!” She pretended to shake sting from her fingers. “I am sorry, to have to send you off like that, without giving you relief. If we had more time…”
He groaned a short phrase in Lakota.
Amanda seemed to have decided that going on to the next thing was best. “Here’s the shirt. Shall I help you with the tie?”
Her fingers looping the narrow silk around his throat did nothing to cool his blood. It took every ounce of self-control he possessed to stand still while her breasts brushed over his chest while she tortured the tie into a fancy knot at his throat. She held the coat for him and then stood back to look at him.
“You really are very handsome,” she told him, smoothing a bit of lint from his sleeve.
He scented Sky outside the door even before the knock came. “Thank you,” he told Amanda quietly, before he opened the door.
“Ready to go?” Sky asked.
“He hasn’t eaten yet,” Amanda said quickly.
“I’ll be fine,” Sand shrugged. “Wolves are used to going hungry.”
“You’ll need to be sharp at the mayor’s office,” she argued.
“I’ll be fine,” he said again, but the knowledge that she cared made him smile.
One of her hands squeezed the other hard enough for the knuckles to go white. “You don’t know that. This could be the last time I see you. I mean…”
He brushed a quick kiss over her cheek. “It will be okay, Amanda,” he whispered. “I’ll be back soon.”
He saw the uncertain glance she gave Sky, and the grave smile Sky gave her.
His cousin nodded. “Tim won’t want to disrupt the flow of our taxes,” he said, his tone encouraging. “Kiss your mate good-bye, Sand. We can’t be late.”
Her kiss tasted of suppressed tears. “It will be fine, Amanda.”
She nodded briskly. “Of course it will. I’ll see to that myself, if I have to.”
Sand’s gaze clung to her as he walked down the stairs. She cared for him. He knew she cared for him. The question was how much?
*
Sand didn’t like the look of the mayor’s house. From what he could see above the thick wall that enclosed it, it was more of a stone fortress than a house.
Sky nodded at
the man who came to the gate in the tall, thick wall. “Good morning, Arthur. This is my cousin, Sand Wolfe. We have a meeting with the mayor this morning.”
The man looked them over with no expression. “You’re expected, Mr. Wolfe,” he finally said, and directed two men to open the heavy gate.
It was habit that made Sand automatically catalogue how many guards there were at the gate in the tall stone wall, and how many more were positioned along the wall and in the grounds, and how they were armed. He figured there were at least ten, but probably more, around the back where he couldn’t see, and they all carried heavy batons perfect for cracking skulls, as well as guns and knives. They could be trouble if he and Sky needed to leave in a hurry.
Sky walked confidently over the decorative gravel drive to the house. Out of the corner of his mouth he muttered, “Remember to keep quiet unless you are asked a question. Answer honestly, but do not mention your wolf.”
Sky had already said that several times during the half hour it took to walk here. “I remember.”
“And quit tugging on your tie like that; you’ll ruin the knot.”
Sand lowered his hand to his side, remembering his mate’s hands twisting the length of fabric into a complicated pattern at his throat, and her heady scent so close to his nose. Another guard answered the front door. This one wore a suit, but Sand saw the outline of a gun beneath the coat.
