He licked a particularly sensitive spot where her shoulder and neck joined. “I’ll bite you right here and mark you so that every other wolf that meets you knows you’re mine.”
Okay, the whole idea of biting should scare the crap out of her, but somewhere deep inside her were werewolf instincts that had flared to life since she’d met Louis and his pack. A part of her wanted to bare her neck and offer it to him.
He cupped her breasts and rubbed the mounds through her dress. “I want to make you mine, chère, but only if it’s what you want. You have to be sure.” He used his thumbs to circle her nipples. “Once you give yourself to me, there’s no going back. The mating mark and the connection are permanent.”
“I don’t know what to do,” she blurted out. Part of her wanted to take what he was offering—a home, a place to belong and love. Another part of her was scared out of her mind. It was safer being alone.
Louis’s breath was warm against her face as he sighed. “I know, Gray. I’m trying my best not to rush you.”
He wrapped his arms around her and cradled her against his chest with her head pillowed on his shoulder. She knew they wouldn’t be making love, not now. Disappointment filled her along with a sense of wonder that he wasn’t using their physical compatibility to push her toward mating.
“You confuse me.” She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
“I know.”
They fell silent then, both of them lost in their own thoughts. The sexual heat eventually faded somewhat but never truly disappeared. In its place was a sense of contentment, a sense of—dare she say it?—home.
She stayed where she was until her legs began to cramp. When she groaned and started to shift position, Louis quickly lifted her until she was sideways on his lap. “I’ve been sitting on my legs for too long.”
Louis began to rub her thighs and calves, his strokes sure and strong. He used just enough pressure to get the blood pumping once again. In such a short time, she’d grown to love having his hands on her. She pressed her hands against his bare chest. His skin was always warm, the muscles beneath strong.
He stood and carefully placed her back in her chair. “It’s time for me to patrol again.”
Gray knew it wasn’t quite that time but nodded. She needed to think. Although she was beginning to believe no amount of time was going to make this decision any easier.
Louis strode to the end of the deck. He stopped and kicked off his sneakers and shucked his jeans.
“What are you doing?” she asked even though she knew what was about to happen.
“Being who I really am.”
She’d seen him as both man and wolf, had watched him shift before, but it still made her breath catch in her throat and her entire body tremble, not with fear, but with anticipation.
His features began to blur. His jaw elongated and his forehead flattened. Fur pushed out through his skin. His limbs contorted and changed as he fell forward onto all fours. The man was gone and the wolf remained. Only his eyes were the same. Those soulful brown eyes that rocked her very soul.
“Louis.” She stood and went to him. He stood still as a statue. She sensed he didn’t want to frighten her. She wasn’t scared at all. “You’re magnificent.” She held out her hand and he dipped his head, encouraging her to touch him.
He took a step closer and butted his head against her chest, making her laugh. It was a low, breathy sound, but it was a laugh. “Have patience with me.” He raised his furry head and licked her chin. Tears pricked her eyes and she hugged him close.
He didn’t get impatient or pull away. He waited until she released him to take a step back. “Be careful.” A sense of foreboding shook her to her core. “Maybe you shouldn’t go out there. Maybe you should stay here.” If he was with her, she could protect him.
That thought shook her to her very core. She was already head over heels in love with Louis. Holding a part of herself back was not going to keep her from getting hurt if something happened to him. Leaving him would only make her hurt and guarantee she wouldn’t be happy. Staying meant she could be happy even though she’d always worry about being hurt down the road.
Better to take the happiness than to embrace the heartache.
“Louis.”
The wolf shook his head and jerked it to the left. Sure enough, a big black wolf with blue eyes was standing there watching them. Gator. She’d recognize his barely contained energy and his eyes anywhere. Plus, he smelled the same as he always did. She might be a half-breed, but she still had the preternatural senses of a werewolf.
Gray threw her arms around his broad neck and hugged Louis. “Be careful. We’ll talk more later,” she whispered. She knew Gator could hear her, but it just made it seem more like it was between only the two of them.
He nuzzled his furry head against her face and neck and then lightly nipped her shoulder, a reminder of what he wanted to do to her during the mating process. She stepped back and rubbed the spot as Louis whirled and joined his friend. The two of them disappeared from sight.
Gray didn’t have to turn around to know Jacque was behind her. She’d heard the back door open and, even if she hadn’t heard him, a powerful wave of energy always seemed to precede him.
“You should come inside now.” It wasn’t an order, not exactly. More like a very insistent suggestion.
“Is it safe for him to be out there in his wolf form?” That was a worry since Louis hadn’t done it earlier in the day. None of the men had shifted if they were going to be on patrol and away from the houses.
“Oui,” Jacque told her. “The darkness is our domain. If there are any hunters out there, they won’t see him unless he wants them too. And his senses are sharper as a wolf.”
She watched the area where Louis had disappeared, willing him to return. “I don’t feel good about this.” She turned to Jacque, no longer quite as intimidated as she’d first been when she’d met him.
He frowned and she took a step back. Okay, maybe she’d revise that. Jacque was very scary when he frowned.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “I don’t know.” She glanced at the trees again and then back at the alpha of the pack. “Something just feels off.” She couldn’t quite explain what was bothering her.
Jacque pulled his phone out of his back pocket and dialed a number. Armand answered it on the first ring. Gray didn’t even try to pretend she wasn’t eavesdropping.
“Oui,” Armand answered.
“Anything out there I should know about?” Jacque asked.
“It’s quiet. Maybe too quiet. I told Gator to be careful.”
“Stay alert,” Jacque warned him. “And make sure Cole is on alert.”
“You expecting something?”
“Maybe.”
“Should we gather the women together?” Armand asked.
Jacque tilted his head to one side and breathed deeply. Gwen stepped out, wearing a cotton camisole and boy shorts. “What’s going on?”
He pulled the phone away from his mouth. “Gray is uneasy.”
Gwen padded over to her. “What’s wrong?”
She was beginning to wish she’d kept her mouth shut. Only she couldn’t shake the ominous feeling pressing down on her. “I don’t know. Something just doesn’t feel right.”
Gwen turned back to her mate. “Have everyone come over here. Better safe than sorry.”
Jacque closed the phone. “Already done. Armand will get the others up and they’ll be here soon.”
Gray couldn’t quite wrap her head around what had just happened. They hadn’t dismissed her feeling or ignored it. No, they’d accepted it as truth and acted on it. Only her grandmother had ever done that.
Gwen hustled inside. “I’m going to get dressed,” she said as she went. “Then I’ll put coffee on.”
<
br /> That left Gray alone on the porch with Jacque. “Why?” she asked.
He shrugged his massive shoulders. “You’re one of us. Even though you haven’t committed to Louis yet, I know you want to.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
Jacque placed his big hands on the railing and peered out into the night. “Because I see the way you look at him.”
He didn’t look at her, but that didn’t lessen the force of his words. “Louis loves you.”
“I know.”
Jacque turned around and faced her once again. The intensity of his gaze almost making her look away, but she held her ground. “My brother is an amazing man, Gray Everson. I don’t think you understand just how special he is.”
“Then tell me.” She wanted to know what Jacque had to say about him.
“We were raised to compete against one another.” He raked his fingers through his hair. She’d seen Louis make the exact gesture many times and recognized what it signified—frustration.
“Hell,” Jacque continued, “we were raised to hate one another.”
Louis had told her something similar. Her heart ached for both men. “Your mother taught you different.”
Jacque’s gaze narrowed. “So Louis has told you of our past?”
“Some of it.” She suspected there was so much more he would never tell her. Some hurts went too deep. She understood that.
“Instead of hating me, Louis stood by my side against our father. He left everything behind to be here with me and to protect this pack. He’s given everything and asked for nothing in return.”
“I know he’s special.” Her quiet words calmed Jacque and some of his intensity bled away, leaving a rock-solid determination that made her heart ache. The two brothers were alike in so many ways.
“He wants you, Gray. It’s not a passing fancy for him. This is as real and as solid as it gets. He’d die for you.”
She nodded and looked away. She knew that.
“You’ve already proved you’d die for him too. So what are you waiting for?”
She jerked her head back to stare at Jacque. God, he was right.
“You risked your life for him before you even knew him.” The alpha continued to ruthlessly destroy the remaining walls around her heart. “You wouldn’t be sleeping with him if you didn’t have feelings for him. And you wouldn’t have stayed, wouldn’t be worried if you didn’t love him.”
Jacque closed the distance between them. He closed his arms around her and gave her a hug. “Don’t wait too long to tell him.”
Gray nodded. “I won’t,” she promised.
Jacque gave her a solemn nod and turned her toward the house. “We should go inside. The others are almost here.”
Gray didn’t need any more urging. She ducked inside and hurried to the bedroom she now shared with Louis. Shadow must have sensed her distress, either that or he was curious about all the sudden activity, because he was right behind her.
She sat on the edge of the bed and buried her face in her hands. The dog nudged her until she looked up. “What am I going to do?” Her life as she knew it was irrevocably altered. Now that she’d admitted it, she wasn’t quite as upset as she’d thought she’d be.
“I need to get changed,” she told Shadow. If trouble was coming, she didn’t want to face it in a dress. She quickly pulled on the jeans and tank top she’d worn earlier in the day.
The others had arrived. She could hear their voices coming from the kitchen. She caught the dog’s head in her hands and peered into his eyes. “You like it here, don’t you?”
Shadow thumped his tail.
“Yeah, me too.” She went to the door and opened it. “Let’s join the others.”
* * * * *
“Get the men into position,” Pierre LaForge ordered Jean Paul. The younger man nodded and he, along with the rest of the pack Pierre had brought with him, faded into the surrounding forest. He’d already told them what he wanted and trusted Jean Paul to see it done. With Jean Paul and his brother and a dozen men, Pierre figured there were more than enough of them to destroy his sons’ small pack.
He’d join them later. Right now, he wanted to go for a solo run over the land his sons had settled on. And if he ran into one of them patrolling, it would only make the odds more in his favor once he’d disposed of them.
Pierre stripped off his clothes and tossed them into the bed of his truck. He raised his arms and embraced his wolf. The animal leapt to the fore, ready and eager to run.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Louis had split away from Gator several miles back. He’d covered most of the west side of the property and was now heading closer to home. He wondered how Gray was doing and hoped she was getting some rest. He planned to wake her when he got home. His body ached for her.
He padded to a stop and listened to the forest. It wouldn’t do to get careless, not with so much on the line. The safety of Gray and all the women depended on how well he and the other males did their jobs. The animals and insects had plenty to share if one knew how to listen.
The air was still and quiet. Heavy. He slowly turned in a circle. A brook bubbled off to his left, the thin ribbon of water down to a trickle after the long, hot summer. The air was thick with the sweet scent of flowers and pine.
There were no animals about. That made Louis wary. The owls and raccoons and other nocturnal animals were used to the pack and gave them a wide berth, but they were usually out and about. That meant there was another predator out here.
Could be a normal four-legged one like a bear or cougar, but Louis didn’t think so. It would be too much of a coincidence. Those large predators usually stayed away from their land out of respect for the pack.
Louis shifted and moved into the shadow of a tall oak tree. He rested his hand on the trunk and listened. He remained motionless for what seemed like hours. His heart rate was steady, his breathing even, almost nonexistent. He knew how to blend in with his environment.
He was just about to shift back and head home when he caught the faintest sound of something brushing against the leaves of a bush. The light swoosh made him freeze in place. He cast his gaze to the left and waited.
Whatever or whoever was out there was wily and stealthy.
Louis crept forward, moving steadily downwind. He needed to know who the intruder was. Keeping his senses on alert, he carefully set his foot down on the mossy ground. Silently, he moved into position. The breeze was light and warm but it cooled his heated flesh. Better, it brought all the smells from upwind back to him.
He paused by another tall tree and crouched down to listen. Louis no longer thought it was an animal out there. A bear would still be rambling through the woods and a cougar would have made some sound he could hear.
Louis shifted into his wolf form, embracing his wilder side. He let the animal’s instincts take over and quickly darted to a nearby rock.
He gazed through the darkness, easily picking out shapes and images. He could see quite well through the thick veil of night. He sniffed and stilled when he caught a very familiar scent. It took all his willpower not to growl and give away his position.
He drew the scent into his lungs once again to be sure, but there was no denying the facts. His former alpha was out here and that could only mean one thing—an attack on the pack was imminent.
Louis trusted Gator and the others to be aware. Right now, he had to deal with the biggest threat of all. If he killed Pierre LaForge, the rest of his pack might scatter.
It was a hard thing for a man to contemplate killing his own father, but Pierre wouldn’t leave them in peace, had attacked them time and time again. They’d wanted to live and let live, but not their sire. There was no changing his mind once he’d set it, and Louis knew he wouldn’t hesitate to kill him or any of the other members of the pack.
His cou
sin had already faced a similar trial. Armand had killed his father months before. Now it was Louis’s turn. Funny how things turned out. Jacque had been so sure he’d be the one to face their father. Louis had always known deep in his soul that he would be the one to fight him.
He walked boldly forward. There was no real clearing around, which would make it harder and much more dangerous to fight another wolf, but there was no other choice. Louis couldn’t allow Pierre to get closer to their homes, to the women, to Gray.
Louis was fighting for more than his pack, his brother, his family. He was fighting for his mate, his everything. He cleared his head of all thoughts but the coming challenge.
He stepped out from between two trees and studied the wolf before him. Pierre’s back was turned, but not for long. Sensing something behind him, Pierre spun around and faced his son.
Pierre growled and pawed the ground, making a show of aggression. Louis simply stood there and watched him. He understood the value of silence, of conserving every ounce of energy he had for the coming fight.
His father shifted. Louis was surprised by that move and cast his senses out to make sure they were alone. He couldn’t smell or hear any other wolf. What was his father doing?
Pierre glared at him, but Louis wasn’t shifting. That took energy he wasn’t willing to expend.
As expected, his father sneered at him. “Too weak to shift back and forth too many times, are you?” Pierre stood tall and proud, still a good-looking man, in spite of his many sins. Louis wondered, not for the first time, what kind of leader his father might have been if he’d turned all his energy into productive avenues instead of killing and fighting. He’d never know. His father was content being what he was, and Louis would never change either. That left them at an impasse.
“I’m going to kill your brother,” Pierre announced. “I can’t let his rebellion go unpunished. The pack has to know they cannot leave without repercussions.”
Once again, Louis swallowed back his growl of anger and stayed silent.
Wolf on the Hunt Page 24
