by Wood, Vivian
A big cloud of Garrett’s scent hit her nostrils, coming from inside the cave. Something else, too… meat? Had Garrett been cooking up here or something?
Puzzled, Kiley tore herself away from the view and headed deeper into the cave. The tunnel was wide and deep, sloping down as it led her into the darkness. She didn’t go far before the floor leveled out beneath her paws.
She stopped and let her eyes adjust for a moment, taking in a broad, low chamber. The path continued on the other side, but Garrett’s scent was thick here. This was an important spot.
A soft squeak sounded from the left side of the chamber, and Kiley startled. She padded forward on hesitant feet, sniffing and moving slow. When she was almost touching the wall, she saw that there was actually a little outcrop of stone, hiding a smaller chamber.
The squeak sounded again, and then another, and Kiley was too curious to contain herself. She stuck her head into the small chamber and stopped dead.
Four wolf pups stared up at her, wide-eyed. They all stood around half a deer’s carcass, a fresh, beautiful kill. Kiley’s jaw dropped; it was clear that she had no idea what she was getting into. Where there were pups, there were usually mama wolves—
The growl from behind her made her leap into the small chamber, terror ruling her movements and scattering the pups from their meal. The second she’d gotten herself turned around, she saw Garrett’s big head poke into the chamber.
He growled at her again, making the pups even more scared. Three of them were literally shaking with fear, though the fourth and largest seemed to be gathering himself for some sort of attack. Against Garrett or herself, Kiley didn’t know.
Kiley moved away from the deer and dropped to her belly, giving the pups a submissive pose to prove that she was no threat. She glared at Garrett, trying to show him that he should do the same, or at least back off.
Garrett disappeared, though she could hear him stalking the outer chamber. After a full minute of her submissive position, the pups seemed to lose interest, returning to their meal. They hardly took notice of Kiley when she finally rose and crawled out of the space, leaving them to it.
Garrett had shifted, and Kiley watched him closely as she did the same. The second her lips were back in place, she rounded on him, but he beat her to it.
“What are you doing here?” he hissed, reaching out and grabbing her by the arm. He pulled her close, giving her a soft shake.
“Garrett!” she cried, trying to pull from his grip.
“Will you be quiet?” he growled, pulling her out of the chamber and back towards the cave’s entrance.
“Can we sit?” she asked suddenly, sinking down. “I ran the whole way here, wore myself out.”
Garrett sat down beside her, never releasing his grip. As if she’d bolt or something. Where would she go?
It had started to rain outside, the cool wetness making the floor slick against her human feet. The chilly rain kept them a few feet from the entrance, their naked skin no protection. The thought of naked skin drew Kiley’s gaze over Garrett’s body, all his sculpted glory laid bare before her. His calloused palm on her skin did things to her, even in the face of his anger…
“Kiley?” Garrett asked, giving her another shake.
“What?” she asked, flushing as she looked up at him. Luckily enough, Garrett seemed too irritated to notice that she’d been blatantly checking him out.
“What in the hell are you doing here?” he cried, losing what little patience he’d ever had.
“I could ask you the same thing. Are you trying to get yourself attacked by some overprotective little female?” she asked, gesturing toward the pups.
“There is no mama wolf. She was shot by a rancher on the next property over.”
“Cattle ranchers are still shooting wolves out here?” Kiley asked, taken aback.
“He’s not even a cattle rancher. He’s just a guy with a piece of ranch land. Or was, I guess.”
Kiley’s heart leapt into her throat at the way Garrett said the last bit.
“You didn’t— Garrett, you didn’t kill him, did you?” Kiley asked.
“Hell no. Bought his land, is all. I didn’t want any more wolves killed around here, so I made sure I have all the land surrounding this mountain.”
Kiley paused, uncertain.
“I know you make good money, Garrett, but you don’t make that kind of money,” she said.
“My brother does. I convinced him that we need a wolf sanctuary out here, for wolves of all kinds.”
“And the pups?”
“Followed their mama’s scent up the mountain, found them in a little thicket. Half starved, just like she was. I know the mountain pretty well, so I knew they’d be safe here. I’ve been bringing them food.”
Kiley was quiet for several long beats. He was too much, too good. Her heart was melting into a thousand pieces, and she wanted nothing more than to climb into Garrett’s lap and kiss him senseless. There was just the little part about him still being angry to deal with.
“Garrett,” she said at last.
“What, Kiley?” he said, heaving a sigh.
“I love you, is all,” she admitted.
Garrett froze. Kiley brought her hand up to where his lay on her arm, lacing her fingers through his. After a few seconds, he tried to shake her off.
“Don’t say things you don’t mean,” he said, scowling.
“I mean every word of it. There’s never been any doubt, for me. It was never lack of love making up my mind. You know that, don’t you?”
Garrett’s eyes narrowed as he looked away, looking out the cave’s entrance as if searching for answers.
“You chose someone else,” he said, shaking his head.
“No. I never chose anyone else, because I never had a choice. The second I met you, there was no other for me.”
“You left with him.”
“But I never stopped searching for a way out. If it came down to it, I would have left him the day of the mating ceremony. Going through with the ceremony, with that man…”
She shuddered.
“No, I could never have done it. And I think inside, Brad was proud enough that he wouldn’t have let me. He was looking for a way out, too, or he wouldn’t have eloped with my sister.”
At that Garrett’s lips quirked up, though he tried to hide it.
“Oh, you think that’s funny, huh?” she asked, tugging at his hand.
Garrett turned to look at her, the frost in his ice-blue eyes beginning to melt.
“You mean what you said?” he asked. The boyish, hopeful tone of his words made her tear up a little.
“Oh, Garrett. You’re stubborn, and you think you know everything, and you never listen worth a damn. But you save wolf pups. And you know the name of every wildflower I’ve ever shown you. And you waited for me, even when I told you not to. How could I not love you?” she asked, wiping at the tears that started to stream down her face.
Garrett reached out and grabbed her by the arms, pulling Kiley onto his lap. She gasped aloud at the feeling of his warm skin against her own, at the teasing drag of hair on his chest and arms over her sensitive flesh. He positioned her so that she straddled his lap, their mouths crashing together as she pressed her breasts to his broad chest.
Twin moans escaped each of them as Garrett dragged her hips down, pressing them together intimately. When the damp lips of her sex settled against the rigid length of his erection, Kiley sighed and arched her back, grinding against him.
Garrett’s hands shaped her breasts, squeezing hard for a moment before slipping down to cup her ass. He gripped each cheek as he thrust up against her, grunting at the wet slide of flesh against flesh.
“Kiley—” he grumbled. She read him without effort, knew that he needed her in that moment.
“Now,” she whispered, reaching down between them to grasp his ever-growing hardness. She rose to press the thick head of his cock against her wet entrance, releasing a sultry moan as she slo
wly impaled herself.
Garrett hissed as she took his entire length in small motions, rising and pressing down until he filled her completely. Kiley moved his hands up to her hips and arched her back, leaning away from him as she pumped her hips.
“God, yes!” she cried. Garrett’s cock stretched her wide, the blunt head hitting a spot deep inside her each time she rocked against him. She leaned back just a bit more, letting Garrett support her as she fucked him hard, her breasts bouncing in his face as she moved.
Heat washed through Kiley’s body, rippling up from her sex, tightening her breasts. She rode Garrett in a hard, steady rhythm, feeling tension gathering in his body, feeling his grip tighten at her waist as he started to lose control.
Garrett growled, the low rumble in his chest permeating the air as he thrust up and slammed Kiley’s body down onto his own. The satisfying slap of flesh against flesh soon lost its steady rhythm as Kiley felt her body tighten around Garrett’s cock, her orgasm drawing near.
“Mine,” Garrett uttered, the word sounding like a curse. “You’re mine. My mate.”
Garrett suddenly leaned forward and sunk his teeth into the side of her breast. Pleasure and pain burst through her veins and suddenly she exploded all around her mate, shouting as her body shook and spasmed.
Garrett slammed her down one final time, making her hot sex clench around his cock as he cried out and and started to come. Kiley could feel every inch of him, feel his cock twitch and pulse deep within her as he bellowed his release.
Kiley rode him to completion, wringing every last drop of pleasure from both their bodies before she collapsed, draping herself against Garrett’s big frame as he leaned back against the stone wall and held her close. For several long minutes they simply rested like that, Kiley listening to Garrett’s breathing as they both slowly drifted back to earth.
When she finally moved out of his lap, Garrett sighed and gave her a long look.
“What now?” he asked, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from her face.
“Now?” she asked, her voice teasing. “Now, I think we have some wolf pups to rescue. They’d do much better in the house with us, don’t you think?”
The look of pleasure on Garrett’s face nearly stole her breath.
“Is that right?” Garrett asked, a big smile warming his features.
Kiley leaned in and gave him a long kiss before replying.
“That’s right, mate.”
With that she stood and headed for the wolf pups, knowing that Garrett would follow wherever she led.
Fated For The Wolf
Chapter Thirty
August
Elijah Buchanan stared down at his best friend’s brand new mate, trying to decide whether to scowl or laugh at her antics. Kiley was a wee thing, her head coming only to his shoulder, but you’d never know she was the smaller one by the way she was scolding him just now. She crossed her arms and flipped her long, dark curls over her shoulder as she gave an exasperated sigh and shook her head.
“You are being entirely too rough with him,” she said. She stepped between Elijah and the him in question, an eight week old wolf pup. Kiley and Garrett had saved a litter of wild wolf pups recently, and they were fostering them for another couple of months until the pups were old enough to roam free on the brand new Montana wildlife preserve Garrett and his brother Lucas had created.
Elijah had just finished a mission at the security firm he co-owned with Garrett. Now he was spending a couple of well-earned weeks off at Garrett and Kiley’s rambling Montana farmhouse, located smack in the middle of their new wolf sanctuary. Elijah had followed Kiley outside to the property’s newly-resurrected barn, intending to help her feed the pups, but he’d ended up tussling with the most rambunctious of the bunch while Kiley did all the work.
“He’s the one doin’ all the biting!” Elijah protested, climbing to his feet and dusting himself off. He chuckled at the look on Kiley’s face. She hadn’t quite grasped his words, and for good reason. His Scottish accent was thick as tar, and sometimes Americans had trouble understanding him when he didn’t take care to enunciate each word.
“It’s his fault,” Elijah clarified, slowing his words down to make sure Kiley got his meaning.
The pup proved Elijah’s point in the next second, pouncing on Elijah’s foot and giving the toe of his thick leather boot a playful nip. Elijah gave a teasing growl and the pup jumped back, scampering behind Kiley for protection. When the pup peeped out from behind Kiley’s legs, Elijah laughed. He crouched again and beckoned to the pup, who ran over and pushed his head under one of Elijah’s hands, hind leg thumping when Elijah scratched him behind the ears.
Kiley’s face softened into a smile as watched them.
“You’d make a good dad, you know?” she said, looking thoughtful.
Elijah’s stomach dropped at her words, and he disengaged from the wolf pup.
“Been hearin’ that a lot of late,” he said, rolling his shoulders in an attempt to ward off the tension that now built there.
He could hear his father’s voice now, accent thicker even than Elijah’s own.
Ye’ll give me a babe before the year’s out, or ye’ll get nothin’. No’ a penny, no legacy whatsoever. Ye’ll no’ keep the name Buchanan, I swear it.
Adam Buchanan had dropped that bomb on Elijah three days prior, and since then Elijah had been hard-pressed to think of anything else. He was only thirty four, true, but he was the only heir of the Buchanan line of Alphas. In Adam’s mind, Elijah had been wiling away the years until it was time for him to produce a strong group of heirs and return to Scotland and reclaim his birthright.
Or something like that. Elijah had stopped listening after about five minutes of Adam’s belligerent ranting and raving about blood lines and heritage and duty. Only when Adam had said the words an’ my fortune, an Castle Buchanan… had Elijah snapped to attention once more. Apparently if Elijah didn’t produce an heir, and soon, the castle that had been home to countless generations of Buchanan wolves would be forfeit to a distant and little-loved cousin.
Elijah didn’t give a whit about the money or his father’s disapproval, but the castle couldn’t be passed to some mere cousin.
“Earth to Elijah,” Kiley said, waving a hand in front of his face.
She pointed to the pup at his feet, but it was too late. Elijah looked down just in time to feel a warm, wet sensation against his ankle as the tiny wolf cocked a leg and pissed.
“Damnation!” he shouted, jumping back.
“He must like you,” Kiley cackled, picking up the now-spent pup and returning him to the barn before closing the door.
She turned and headed back toward the house, Elijah spewing a stream of inventive curses as he followed her. His eye was drawn to a flicker of movement on the horizon, something coming their way and moving fast. He squinted, identifying the blur as a figure on horseback.
Kiley stopped in the yard of her two-story white farmhouse. Eyeing the approaching rider, Kiley perched herself on the wraparound porch’s broad whitewashed wood steps.
“Someone you know?” Elijah asked, leaning against the porch railing but remaining on his feet. Garrett had driven into town for the morning, and Elijah felt it was his job to watch after Kiley in his friend’s absence, no matter how feisty she was.
“Yeah, a friend,” Kiley replied. In the next moment, she turned her bright emerald gaze on Elijah, considering. He wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but her stare was intent enough to make him fidget and clear his throat.
He turned his gaze to the figure, noting the big leopard Appaloosa he rode, a very fine horse. The rider drew closer, and Elijah realized that it was actually not a man, but a woman. A stunning woman, at that. She slowed as she approached, giving him time to drink her in.
She wore her wheat-colored blonde hair shoulder-length, with a thick fringe of bangs that shaped wide but delicate features. Luminous, toffee-brown eyes rimmed with dark lashes, high cheekbones flu
shed with the exertion of riding, and lush lips that curved up to reveal a brilliant smile. She wore dark jeans, an oversized blue plaid shirt, the long sleeves pushed up at the elbows, and well-worn leather cowboy boots.
“Kiley!” she called out as she slowed the horse to a walk, stopping ten yards from the porch.
“Ivy, hey,” Kiley said, flapping a hand in greeting. Kiley stayed put, and Elijah realized that she was trying not to spook the other woman’s horse. Horses didn’t do well around strange werewolves, in general. His gaze flickered up to the woman. Even from here, even over the strong scent of horse and ligament, he could smell her, could tell she was one of their kind.
She smelled damned good, in fact.
“Everything okay?” the woman asked, giving Elijah a sharp once-over.
“Oh, yeah,” Kiley said with a laugh. “Ivy, this is Elijah Buchanan. He’s Garrett’s friend and business partner. He’s spending some vacation time with us. Elijah, this is Ivy Sullivan. We’ve known each other for a long time, but she just bought one of the adjoining ranches. She’s going to let us use it as an extension of the wolf sanctuary.”
“How’dya do?” Elijah said, cocking his head. It felt strange to be so low to the ground and so far away during an introduction. He could tell just from looking at Ivy that she was even smaller than Kiley, probably more than a foot shorter than his own 6’4 stature. She had a small, finely made shape, though her breasts were enticingly large no matter how she tried to hide them beneath her too-large work shirt.
Ivy flushed under his gaze, her tongue darting out over her lips before she spoke.
“I should— I should be going,” she said, breaking his gaze by turning her face from him and regarding Kiley instead.
“Don’t you think you should be staying?” Kiley asked. Ivy blushed even harder, her face going from pink to red. Clearly there was a hidden subtext in Kiley’s words, but Elijah couldn’t work it out.
“I’ll come back some other time,” Ivy said, gracefully turning the horse away as she spoke.
“Ivy, you really should come inside,” Kiley scolded her. Elijah raised a brow, but the two women ignored him.
