by Alisa Woods
Zoe frowned, but the mayor already knew Grace was a white wolf—everyone did. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise if there were more of them. And, of course, Grace knew about Zoe’s white wolf, but she couldn’t imagine Grace was going to out her now, not without warning.
“My guess is they’re practicing out back.” Zoe would much rather have Grace come up to her room and discussed their research, rather than face Skylar and the others after the incident from earlier in the week. Not to mention Troy would probably be there. “Just come see me when you’re done, Grace.”
She frowned and shook her head. “Come with us, Zoe! You too, Mama River. I’m planning to put on quite a show. And besides, I hear Skylar is here—and I’d like to train with her as well. After all that, Zoe, we can talk business.”
“Okay.” This was not what Zoe preferred, but she didn’t want to make a scene in front of the mayor. She followed as Grace led the mayor out the front door. Mama River tagged along.
Outside, sure enough, Skylar and the others—Kaden, Noah, Owen, Daniel, and Troy—were in the field, practicing. Troy did a double take when he saw her, then whispered something to Daniel, who turned away from whatever command he was about to give the others. They had caught them in between rounds of tossing fireballs around or whatever they were doing for practice these days. Zoe avoided the hard stare that was coming from Troy, keeping her eyes on the ground in front of her or glancing at Grace, her arm still linked with the mayor’s.
Mama River hung back a little, then leaned in to whisper to Zoe, “Go on. He looks like he wants you to say hello.”
Zoe worked hard not to glower. She knew Mama River had a thing for finding everyone their true mates, and she didn’t want to talk back to the kind woman who was giving her a place to hide and do her work, such as it was.
She forced herself to look up and meet Troy’s insistent, but careful, gaze. “Hey,” she said. Jesus Lord, how lame was that?
“Hey,” he said in return. Thankfully, he stopped staring at her and sent a pinched look to the mayor and Grace, no doubt wondering what was going on.
The others had stopped their banter and gathered to meet them at the edge of the field.
Grace cleared her throat. “I hope you don’t mind us interrupting your practice,” she announced to all of them. “But I’ve been telling the mayor about your dream team here.”
Daniel was frowning, and Skylar came to stand by his side. The other men—Owen and Kaden and Noah—were likewise suspicious, holding back and folding their arms over their chests. Troy sent a look to her with his eyebrows raised.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, Grace?” Daniel asked, clearly expressing the thoughts of everyone, including Zoe. She hoped like hell everyone would keep quiet about her being a white wolf. It suddenly didn’t seem impossible that Grace might spill that.
“I’m sorry, Daniel,” Grace said. “I probably should’ve checked with you first. But I heard you guys were progressing with your skills, and I figured the mayor should know. It’s the best way to make sure you don’t get in trouble if you actually do have a chance to go after the Wolf Hunter.”
Daniel was still frowning, but he nodded, then tilted his head to the mayor. “What does he know?” He flicked a quick look to Zoe, and her stomach clenched.
“The mayor, of course, knows that I am a white wolf,” Grace said. “But I figured that a demonstration would be the best way to show him the rest.”
Daniel nodded and turned back to his team, ushering them further out into the field, away from the mayor, and notably not including Zoe in this supposed Dream Team. She sighed with relief, and even Troy coming to stand next to her didn’t put her on edge as much as it would have.
“All right folks,” Troy said to her, Mama River, Grace, and the mayor. “If we’re going to have a demonstration, I’d feel a lot more comfortable if ya’ll took about ten steps back.” He herded them to the edge of the field, a good twenty or thirty yards distant from where Daniel and Skylar and the rest had settled in the middle.
The mayor stood with his hands clasped in front of him and an expectant smile on his face. Grace stood to one side of him with Mama River on the other. Troy took Zoe by the elbow and tugged her back a little from the three of them.
Great.
He leaned in to whisper in her ear, “You okay?”
She nodded. Just having his touch on her arm and his voice in her ear sprung her wolf up to the surface again, hungering for him. The fact that he was asking if she was all right as if the four days of distance hadn’t happened or simply weren’t important, just drew her in even more. He had every right to be angry, pushing her away just as much as she had pushed him. She wouldn’t even blame him if he spilled her secret now that all the white wolves were about to be revealed to the mayor. But he wasn’t doing any of those things. Which, of course, made her heart squeeze. Even if her wolf hadn’t been panting after him, Zoe simply liked this kind, gentle, sexy man.
Out in the field, Skylar was conjuring up a ball of blue energy—it floated above her hand, and Zoe could hear it crackle even across the field. Skylar bounced the ball lightly as if it were a volleyball and not a twisting, shimmering thing made out of pure magical energy. She tossed it to Owen, who easily caught it and then passed it on to Noah, who batted it away, returning it to Kaden, who then completed the circle by looping it around his back and sending it back to Skylar. They were getting a lot better at handling their magic, even from the few times Zoe had seen them practice. She snuck a look at the mayor—his face had gone slack with surprise.
Grace was grinning at his shocked expression as if this were her plan all along. Mama River looked impressed, but not terribly surprised. Then again, she had given them permission to scorch a good part of her property with magic.
“They’re… they are… using magic.” The mayor’s words held a little tremble in them.
Grace slipped her hand around his forearm again. “I knew you’d be surprised.” She was still grinning. “But they’re all white wolves like me. Except Skylar of course—she’s a witch. And Daniel hasn’t expressed his white wolf yet, but we’re still hopeful.”
“Yet?” The mayor gave her a slightly horrified look. Then he gestured to the wolves and their fiery blue plaything. “Can you do this, Grace? This… magic?”
Grace grinned even wider. “Not yet. But I’m going to train with Skylar. She’s been working with Daniel as well.”
The mayor went back to watching the practice with his mouth hanging open. As if on cue, Skylar encouraged Daniel to take a turn with the bouncing ball of magical energy. He just shook his head and held his hands up, taking a step back. She planted a hand on her hip and cocked it out, showing her frustration in body language. Then she caught the blue ball of energy and clapped to make it disappear. She shouted something to Owen, and he waved his hands in front of him with a precise motion that looked like some kind of martial art—slowly, a blue shield formed around him, just like the one Zoe had produced in the fire at the lab.
She glanced at Troy, and he gave her a small smile and a nod. “I told them about the shield. They’re getting pretty good at it.”
Owen and Kaden started doing the same thing, generating their own shields. Skylar had sidled up to Daniel, holding his hands and speaking with him. He shook his head, once, twice… then tipped his head back, like he was finally giving in to her demands.
He stepped back a couple of paces, then started making the same motions as the other three. Skylar was grinning ear to ear and shouting encouragement. Daniel closed his eyes, still making the motions with his hands, and it wasn’t hard for Zoe to imagine what he was doing—he was summoning his wolf. Which, as far as she knew, was still a normal wolf, not a white wolf. But maybe this would bring out his magical inner beast.
Just as Zoe was convinced it wouldn’t work, a very light blue shimmer appeared around Daniel. His eyes popped open, and he shot a surprised look to Skylar. She clapped her hands and grinned.
He kept going, circling faster and faster, his shield gaining strength and becoming more solid. But then… it grew.
Troy’s eyes were wide with amazement. They both watched in awe as Daniel grew his shield from a small bubble that encased his body out to something that surrounded all of them on the field. It was easily twenty yards in diameter. Zoe had never tried anything like it, and she could only imagine how much power and energy Daniel must have inside his now-blossoming white wolf in order to generate such a thing.
Finally, he stopped his hand motions. The blue energy sprung back to his body almost like it was on a rubber band—and the impact of it knocked Daniel to the ground.
Zoe gasped, and a hand flew to her mouth. “Is he okay?” she asked Troy, but he was likewise shocked and on the edge of running out to help Daniel. But Skylar was already there, kneeling at Daniel’s side. Before anyone could get too concerned, Daniel struggled up to sitting in the grass and waved. Skylar didn’t even let him stand up before she threw her arms around him and gave him a hug.
Troy chuckled next to Zoe.
She gave him a quizzical look.
He waggled his eyebrows at her. “Daniel and Skylar have been practicing… privately.”
Ah—so all that sexual tension she’d been seeing between the two of them wasn’t just her imagination. Daniel climbed to his feet, but Skylar was staying close, leaning against his chest and peering up into his eyes, whispering something that was just for them.
There was definitely something up with those two.
The others in the field—Owen and Noah and Kaden—suddenly shifted into white wolves and dashed off into the forest, leaving Daniel and Skylar in the field alone.
“That could be you,” Troy whispered in her ear. She didn’t know if he meant performing the magic or ending up in the arms of a hot wolf afterward. Either one was starting to sound good. And maybe Troy was right—maybe the Dream Team, now that Daniel had tapped into his inner white wolf, could actually be the way to combat the Wolf Hunter.
Especially if she joined in.
Maybe she would never find the cure for being a white wolf… and if that were true, she could do a lot worse than find herself in the arms of Troy Hartman.
She looked up to find his green eyes examining her, waiting for a response. “Troy, I—”
But she was cut off by a high-pitched voice filled with concern. “Robert, what’s wrong?” Grace gasped.
The mayor had stumbled back from both her and Mama River. The two women had frowns etched on their faces, but that was nothing compared to the horror that contorted the mayor’s expression.
All he said was, “No. Not all of them.” Then he turned and strode—practically ran— toward the parking lot, not even heading back to the house, but sprinting for his car as if he were escaping a bank robbery.
Zoe couldn’t understand it at all. “Grace?”
She was shaking her head. “I don’t know—he just freaked out. I didn’t think… I mean, he knows I’m a white wolf. He knows about the witches in the city. I don’t understand.”
She looked to Mama River, but the older woman seemed baffled as well. She raised her hands in a half shrug. “It’s a lot to take in, Grace. Go after him. Find out what’s disturbing him.”
Grace took off, and Zoe was about to go after her, but Troy’s hand on her elbow stopped her. “You can let them handle it, Zoe,” he said, searching her eyes.
He was still looking for an answer from her, the one she’d been cut off from giving when the mayor freaked out. And she had been about to say that he was right—maybe she didn’t need to deny her white wolf. Maybe it didn’t have to be a curse. But the mayor’s reaction was proof she’d been right all along. It was easy to think, up here in the mountains, surrounded by friends and family and other white wolves performing magic, that somehow it was all normal. Just another special ability among special abilities.
But that wasn’t true.
There was a reason why people feared witches. And wolves. And a creature that was an unstable combination of both of those magical beasts… not to mention her lack of control before… there was good reason to be afraid of that.
The mayor’s reaction showed what any normal person would think—that magical white wolves were something completely different and freakish.
She cleared her throat, then finally said to Troy, “I have to go.” She had to get away from him and the temptation of thinking all this was normal, but she also needed to go after Grace and make sure all of their plans hadn’t just crashed down around them.
Because the mayor knew about Agent Smith’s database. And now he knew about the white wolves. To have any chance of finding a cure for herself, much less the superhealing Grace wanted for the humans, Zoe couldn’t afford for someone as powerful as the mayor to shut them down. Or try to.
She chased after Grace, but by the time she caught up to her at the edge of the parking lot, the mayor was already in his car, driving away.
“This is not good,” Zoe said. “What’s making him run like this?”
“I don’t know.” Grace slowly shook her head, staring after the mayor. “But the election is right around the corner. I can’t afford for the mayor to suddenly decide he’s our enemy.”
Zoe nodded—exactly what she was thinking.
Grace spoke through gritted teeth. “I’m going after him. I’ll borrow a car from Daniel or something.” She gave Zoe a pointed stare. “Please tell me you’re getting close with that super serum for superhealing. It would be a total game changer, Zo.”
She grimaced. “I’ll head right back to my room and get busy on that.”
Grace nodded and ran off back toward the field, no doubt to get a car from Daniel.
Troy’s stare reached Zoe from his spot at the edge of the field—he hadn’t moved since she’d left him standing there.
She turned her back on him and marched with determination back to the house.
Troy watched Zoe turn her back on him… again.
Dammit.
She’d been on the verge of letting her guard down—he was sure of it. He could read those dark blue eyes like they were a book telling him all her thoughts and desires. They were so expressive, along with the rest of her pretty face. They showed her heart way more than she seemed to realize. And what he saw was someone in so much conflict, so much pain, that he was in a constant struggle himself not to just wrap his arms around her and kiss away her troubles.
Instead, he held back. And she turned away again.
There was only so much rejection he could stand before he started questioning his sanity.
Troy growled his frustration and deliberately turned his back on her even though she was long gone. She was probably running off to her room to bury herself in her data and her pursuit of something... not him, that was for sure.
Back in the field, Skylar and Daniel had disappeared. The white wolves—Kaden and Noah and Owen—had long since run off into the forest. Grace was huddled with Mama River, negotiating a vehicle out of her. Troy had spent nearly a week at the River pack estate, and if there was one thing he’d figured out about Mama River, it was that the woman would give Grace the shirt off her back. A car was no problem; they were just figuring out which one would be free for the rest of the day.
Troy was about to offer up his own car, but before he could say anything, the two women turned and hurried toward the parking lot, leaving him all alone in the field. He almost called out to them… but the truth was he could use some alone time. Or maybe what he needed was pack time. Ever since he’d been running and training with this small team of extremely powerful wolves, Troy felt like he’d found a home. Not a place so much, but a brotherhood. And if the woman he wanted didn’t want him… well, a brotherhood seemed like a good place to turn. The white wolves were all mated, but that was recent news. They would still remember what it felt like to be a wretched single wolf.
He could probably count on a bucket of pity.
Or maybe g
etting the self-pity kicked out of him.
Either would be good.
Troy trotted to the edge of the forest, which had been burned back by the same training that had charred away a good chunk of the field. He shifted, leaving his clothes in a lump of ferns, and bounded into it. The scent of the pine trees enveloped him, and the loamy earth gave slightly under the pounding of his paws. He didn’t know where the white wolves had gone, but with all the runs they’d taken, he knew the forest pretty well. He’d stumble on them eventually.
As he leaped over fallen logs and tramped through the mossy underbrush, he quickly found the run wasn’t doing the trick—his thoughts kept drifting back to Zoe. His mind had been churning all week, going back and forth about trying again with her. Half the time, he kept his distance, but several times, he’d nearly knocked on her door before turning in for the night. Through it all, his wolf had been howling up a storm… and now, with his wolf loose in the forest, the yearning for her was even stronger.
Fuck.
Why was he so obsessed with her? He’d had beautiful women before. He was a firefighter and an EMT—women were practically on call. Not that he ever mixed it up with patients, but his crew was a randy bunch. They had women coming and going, practically an entire fan club, and the fact that Troy was a shifter didn’t put any of them off. If anything, it was the opposite. With shifters in the news all the time, bedding a male shifter had become a sort of exotic treat for a certain class of women in Seattle. The popularity of that app, WildLove, was proof that the market of human females looking for a hot time with male wolves was very robust. He’d never used it, but finding a bedmate had never been a problem for him.
But they’d all been human.
In fact, his contact with wolves had been pretty limited. There just weren’t that many of them, at least not in the suburbs where Troy was stationed. Or if they were, they kept a low profile, with all the rampant hatemongering. And even before that, it hadn’t exactly been fashionable to come out as a wolf.
