Ellie’s stomach did a nauseating flip at the thought of them leaving. “I haven’t really seen either of you in weeks.”
“I know. I’m sorry, this is shitty timing. Why don’t you stay here and rest up. You’ve had such a long semester, I know you’re tired.” He caressed her wet hair.
Suddenly Ellie couldn’t stop the tears from spilling out of her eyes.
Kyle’s eyes went wide. “What’s the matter?”
“Do you not want me with you?” she asked him in a rush.
“Why wouldn’t we want you with us?”
“I’m not a shifter.” Though the three of them hadn’t been together for very long, Ellie couldn’t help but notice how Kyle and Jake seemed to go out of their way to keep her away from other shifters. She had begun to wonder if they were embarrassed about having a human for a mate.
“Oh, hon. No, I just thought you could avoid all the drama and a long drive. That’s all.” He folded his arms around her and she leaned her head into the curve of his. “I wanted you to get some rest.”
She shook her head. “I miss you guys. Even if this is a shitty road trip, I want to go with you. We’re mates, right?”
“All right, if you really want to come with us you’ll have to be ready fast. We’re going to have to get going pretty quickly.”
Relieved, she let out the breath she had been holding. “I’ll get dressed.”
Kyle nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Ellie wasn’t sure why it calmed her so much to go with them. Or more accurately, that Kyle wasn’t going to shut her out of anything having to do with other shifters. She really could use the downtime of a day or two of sleep, and she certainly didn’t relish the prospect of spending more time with Taggert. However, the prospect of being an outsider yet again to the shifter part of their lives…that was worse.
When they’d mated last summer, her greatest fear had been that the werewolf aspect of her lovers would force her to change everything about her life. Now, she had to almost laugh at how she wanted them to include her in their lives, even the werewolf weirdness.
For better or for worse, she loved them with every cell in her body. Right now, though, she felt that nagging fear settling in the pit of her stomach. What if the three of them really weren’t compatible? What if shifters and humans really just weren’t compatible?
~* * *~
Once Ellie was more presentable she went into the kitchen to help clean up the mess from all the food preparation. The broad-shouldered werewolf on the couch watched her with a smirk and she tried to ignore him. “Small little thing like you…how do you keep these two—”
Kyle growled. “Taggert, that’s enough. I’ll gag you if I have to.”
“Spoilsport.”
“If you’re going to talk, tell us something useful like where you stashed the body.”
Jake grunted. “No use. He passed out again.”
“Is he going to be all right?” Ellie asked.
“Yeah, he’ll be fine. He’s just hurting now.”
Jake and Kyle had both cleaned up and pulled on their shirts. Ellie wiped down the counter. “The kitchen’s pretty good. I guess.” Jake and Kyle were pretty fantastic at making kitchen messes; Ellie was better at cleaning them up.
“All right. Why don’t we get Precious here out to the car and warm it up and then we’ll get going.” Kyle helped the larger man up, wrapping the now bloodstained throw blanket around Taggert.
“I’ll pack up some road food. We don’t have a whole lot to eat. Chocolate, yes. Food, no.” Ellie tried to give Jake a smile but it felt a little forced. He smiled back before hoisting Taggert’s arm over his shoulders.
“Don’t worry, sweet. We’ll definitely be getting back to the chocolate.”
“For fuck’s sake, we know you three are going to be bonking each other, can we just get going? The sweetness is making my wound hurt. By the Great Hunter, you three are ridiculous.”
“Shut up, Taggert.”
Ellie finished packing up some lunch meat when Jake came back into the house, rubbing his hands together. “It’s cold enough to freeze a werewolf’s tit so you’ll want to bundle up.”
“Do you all really say that?”
“No, I just thought it would make you smile. I’m sorry this got fouled up.” Jake took over packing up food while Ellie put on another sweater and her coat and began winding her scarf. She laughed when she saw him dropping some of the chocolate-covered strawberries into the cooler pack. “Will we need those on the road?”
“Well, no reason you shouldn’t get to enjoy them.”
“You two are very sweet. I can’t wait until you see my Valentine’s Day present for you both.” She handed Jake his coat.
“I don’t think I can take hearing about it right now. I still want you.”
“Let’s just get this road trip over with quickly.” Her breath hitched at the look he gave her.
Jake opened the back door and settled in awkwardly with Taggert and the small cooler. “What, you’re not going to let the pretty one back here with me?”
“No.” Jake and Kyle said at the same time. Ellie tucked herself into the front seat.
“Kyle, I brought your coat.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. I’m all right for now.”
“Yes, everyone’s warm enough. Can I vomit now?”
Ellie heard a thump and a muffled whimper and smothered a laugh.
“Let’s get this over with.” Kyle put the car in reverse and backed out of the apartment parking lot.
“I’ll call the clanholding and let them know we’re coming.”
Even as tense as she was, Ellie was exhausted enough to drop right to sleep.
~* * *~
The car stopped and she woke, stretching. “Where are we?” she asked. They were pulling into a gas station.
“Madison. We’ll be there soon.”
“How’s Taggert?”
“Hopefully still passed out,” Kyle grunted.
Jake checked Taggert’s pulse. “He’s in a healing sleep. The best thing for him, really. Most of us can heal from significant physical trauma with enough time and rest.”
“Should we have waited?” Ellie asked.
Jake shook his head. “Getting him to our shaman will help him heal faster. And he has important business at the clanholding.”
“Really, you don’t need to worry about Taggert,” Kyle said. “He was only in danger if he got stuck out in the snow.”
Ellie took the opportunity to use the gas station bathroom. When she returned to the car, Kyle was still pumping gas. She yawned and stretched again. “You sure you’re not cold?”
Kyle laughed and took her hands in his. His own were hot to the touch. “I’m warm enough. Seeing you, smelling you…it’s enough to keep me at a slow boil.” He leaned in toward her, kissing her softly, then pinning her against the car.
The gas pump clicked and Kyle pulled back, sighing in regret. “Soon. Go on back into the car before you freeze.”
“Good idea.” She was both turned on but shivering with the cold.
Jake returned to the car as well, giving Ellie a soft smile before he checked Taggert again. Kyle sat down and shut the door and Taggert woke up.
“How are you feeling?” Jake asked him.
“Better. I think I finally stopped bleeding all over your car.” Taggert sniffed and growled. “Dammit, will you two stop arousing that girl? Open a window or something.”
Ellie flushed, burying her face in Kyle’s coat so she wouldn’t say anything offensive to her mates’ friend. But oh did she want to.
Kyle let out a rumbling growl. “Taggert, if I hadn’t taken a vow—”
“Oh, chill out.”
“We’re almost there,” Jake murmured.
Thank the gods, Ellie thought.
CHAPTER FOUR
Ellie jiggled her leg, then realized how nervous she was as they drove down the long gravel road. She’d never been to any
of the werewolf clanholdings. She hadn’t met many werewolves at all, for that matter. After she, Jake, and Kyle had mated, and Moira had scared off the Hagalaz wolves that were attacking Kyle with her powerful magic. Later, the three of them had met with Jake’s and Kyle’s parents for dinner in Bloomington. Instead of meeting at the clanholding they’d gathered at a restaurant. Her two lovers had both suggested she didn’t need to get thrown right into the full werewolf culture right away.
When the three of them had initially mated, she had been afraid what it would mean for her to be bound to the shifters. They had both assured her over and over that being mated to two werewolves wouldn’t mean she had to change her life, and she could still get her Ph.D. in astrophysics.
Moira was a priestess, a powerful mage, and managed the SpiralStone retreat center. She had invited one of the Uruz shamans to SpiralStone so Ellie could get a slower introduction to all of it. Ellie was grateful to Moira for bringing Cassia to her, as the shaman had told her that hormonal birth control pills weren’t necessarily effective for mated shifters, something about the mating magic. Cassia had given her an enchanted bracelet instead. Ellie’s inner scientist would have been more dubious if she hadn’t seen the magic of Kyle and Jake shifting, or Moira calling down a storm.
Ellie was also grateful the Uruz shaman was a woman. She’d have had a difficult time discussing those things with a man.
She looked up and, in the morning light through the snow, she saw the outline of a large house, and then other structures beyond. Some were smaller houses, others were cabins in the treeline of the forest past the barn. Kyle parked the car in the gravel lot past the house and Ellie saw two wolves run past them toward the house. She imagined the wolves would have heard them coming and sniffed them out before allowing them into the inner sanctum.
Though it was snowing, several people came out of the main house to the car. Kyle stepped out of the vehicle and she heard him exchange words with the people approaching. The back doors of the car were opened and Taggert was helped out by the greeting party.
Jake opened Ellie’s door and threaded his arm through hers. “Let’s get you inside. There will be breakfast.”
Inside the house there was a huge dining room and kitchen similar in some ways to the SpiralStone retreat center. The buffet table held large catering pans full of eggs and bacon. Taggert was carried down the hall further into the house. Ellie sighed in relief, hoping the other wolves weren’t jackasses like Taggert. She breathed in the scent of the food and her stomach rumbled. “The food smells fantastic.”
“This is how we learned to cook for big groups,” Kyle said, placing his hand at her back. “Come on, let’s eat.”
“Yes, please join us. You’ve had a long drive. I’m Felicia, it’s nice to finally meet you.” A tall, wiry woman with reddish-brown hair dressed in a gray flannel shirt and blue jeans thrust out her hand and Ellie shook it
“Nice to meet you too.”
“This must be Ellie.” A blond man larger than Taggert approached her.
She felt Jake and Kyle tense on either side of her but they didn’t bar his way. She took his hand when he offered it. “I’m Matthew, the Alpha of this clanholding.”
“Pleased to meet you, Matthew.”
The door opened behind again and a woman came in out of the cold, pulling off her hat and shaking snow out of her curly blonde hair. Ellie recognized Cassia, the shaman.
“Hi Ellie, Kyle, Jake. Thank you for bringing Taggert here. Where is he?”
“They’ve just brought him in. I’ll take you to him.” Matthew gestured toward the hallway.
“I’ll catch up with you later, Ellie. Jake, Kyle.” Cassia nodded at them all then hurried after Matthew.
“Let’s get you some breakfast.” Felicia approached the three of them with plates. All of the sudden there were too many people crowded around her but Ellie tried to suck it up and smiled. Ellie noticed that Felicia seemed to look older than any of the other shifters she’d met so far. She appeared to be in her late thirties or early forties, but Ellie knew that shifters often aged differently from humans.
Jake took Ellie’s coat and found her a corner of the table where she wouldn’t be surrounded by others. Trust Jake to notice; Kyle was more of an extrovert and didn’t understand getting overwhelmed by too many people. The three of them dug into their food. Ellie was consistently boggled by how much food Jake and Kyle managed to put away, but even she was hungry after the road trip.
Matthew returned after a few moments and sat at the head of the table. “Taggert is still unconscious. Can you tell me anything about what happened?”
Kyle grunted. “He has been mostly passed out since he collapsed on our doorstep. He said he was tracking a Hagalaz and he killed him but that’s how he got injured.”
“Aye. And?”
“He told us the Hagalaz mercenaries got caught up in something and a bunch of them were killed. They had hired out to a Fae lord,” Jake said. “He overheard things at a meeting between the Hagalaz and another. He heard that the Hagalaz wolves after Kyle died in a battle.”
Matthew’s eyebrows lifted. “Well, that’s good news for all three of you then.”
“Had you guys heard anything about this Hagalaz fight?” Jake asked.
“Cassia received a request for assistance from a wereleopard shaman but she was busy here. Sarah was in a hard labor.”
“What did the Hagalaz get themselves into?” Kyle shook his head.
Felicia folded her arms, scowling. “Some of them will do anything for money.”
“It puts us all at risk,” Matthew said with some vehemence.
“So do some of their breeding practices.” Felicia stood to bring another tray of food to the table. Ellie saw her forehead was furrowed in a frown. “If they keep kidnapping people it’s going to eventually get noticed.”
“If there weren’t already so few of us, I’d say we purge the lot of them.” Matthew let out a growl.
A shocked gasp slipped out of Ellie.
One of the werewolves further down the large table snickered. “I think we’re shocking her,” he said.
Felicia gave her a sort of vicious grin. “Maybe your mate wasn’t quite ready for us, Kyle.”
Jake stood. “Maybe the reason we’ve kept away from you is because you guys are assholes to humans.”
Felicia snarled. “You can only play human so long, Jake. And the three of you are already practically betraying the pack.” Then Felicia gave Ellie a scathing look. Ellie wondered what pack dynamics Jake and Kyle hadn’t told her about, but she decided to bite her tongue for the moment.
Jake pulled Ellie with him toward the sink. Kyle followed them and they washed their dishes. Kyle was shaking mad, his teeth gritted. Jake turned to face the shifters. “We should probably be on our way. It’s a long drive back.”
Matthew stood as well. “You can’t go now. We have to discuss this issue with Taggert.”
“What’s to discuss?” Kyle asked, and Ellie could feel under her skin that his temper was beginning to fray.
“Well, there’s a dead Hagalaz in your city and we don’t know where. Did you think to ask him about the body so someone could go do cleanup?”
Jake nodded. “He was in and out of consciousness. He said his wrecked car and the body were hidden.”
“I can tell you where it is now,” Taggert said, slowly limping into the room. Cassia stood at his side and helped him to the nearest chair.
“Taggert. I’m glad to see you are well. Felicia, will you get him a plate?”
“Of course.” The taller woman brushed past Ellie, and Ellie wondered again what she had done to offend her.
“He’ll need several days to heal yet, but the worst is past.” Ellie noticed Cassia looked a little haggard; the healing seemed to have taken something out of her.
“Sit,” Matthew held a chair for her.
“Any chance a wolf could get some food? Those strawberries didn’t take much of the edge off
.”
“You ate the strawberries?” Jake gaped at Taggert.
“What?” Taggert asked, a breakfast sausage already in his mouth.
“What’s this?” Matthew asked, confused.
“The love birds had a romantic weekend planned. They packed some chocolate covered strawberries in the cooler. Apparently those were off limits.” Taggert went back to cleaning the plate he’d been given.
Jake shook his head. “Never mind. Look, if we’re needed to talk about pack issues fine, but Ellie needs a place to rest.”
“Of course.” Matthew took a look at a diagram on the wall. Ellie realized it must be a rendering of the property, though she didn’t understand all the symbols. “We set aside the cabin on the north treeline for you. Just across the parking lot, with the red door.”
“I saw it. I’ll take her over.” Jake handed their plates to Kyle. “I’ll be right back.”
Jake grabbed her coat and helped her into it, then took her hand and guided her out the door. She sighed in relief.
“I’m sorry Taggert is so rude.”
“Is it because I’m human?”
“In part. He’s also just rude. But yes, a lot of werewolves don’t like human mates.”
“Why?”
“We live in fear of discovery. Plus, humans dilute the bloodline.”
“That’s why Kyle sometimes has trouble shifting.”
“His grandmother was human. All of us have human blood, but the more we bring human blood in, the more we seem to get shifters with difficulty.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Well, the problem is, there are so few of us. We can’t all find mates from within the werewolf packs.”
“Is that what they meant about Hagalaz? Their breeding practices?”
“The Hagalaz more actively discriminate against humans, as you know. Kara can’t really live amongst her own pack because of her mate David.”
“Kara, Kyle’s ex lover? The reason the Hagalaz hate Kyle in the first place?”
“Yeah. What David told you was true—he is able to be whatever he wants to be and live his life, but what it meant for Kara was she had to leave the pack. If she hadn’t, the Hagalaz would have forced abuses on her mate. And they seem to blame Kyle for her leaving, even though she already lived on their fringes or he’d never have even been with her in the first place.”
Werewolves and Chocolate Page 3
