by Bonnie Vanak
Smiling, she ate more stew and pondered his trailer. “You’ve got a nice den here. Simple, homey. Going to light a fire tonight? It’s supposed to be a little chilly.”
She pointed with her spoon at the empty fireplace hearth.
“I never light fires.”
“Why? Not even a campfire? Roast marshmallows? Or hot dogs?”
“I don’t. That’s all you need to know.”
Exhausted, she set down her spoon. She didn’t need this kind of cold shoulder. If they were going to work together, Jake had to communicate.
“You were there at the controlled burn. Do you like working with fire?”
“I had no choice. It’s my job.” His jaw tightened. “I have my duties, just as you have your duty to pack and mating a fool to please everyone else.”
“Jake, my family is everything to me. Don’t mock my priorities just because you don’t agree with them.”
A heavy weight settled on her chest. Same species, from two different worlds. He was packless.
And the need for pack throbbed inside her like a raw toothache.
He looked straight at her. “I’m not mocking you, Molly. I’m furious that you would agree to ruining your life for the sake of everyone else, by mating with a callous bastard who uses you as a punching bag.”
“He’s not like that all the time and I have a spine. I can fight back.”
But she wouldn’t now. Because she was too afraid of the consequences if she did give Luke the black eye he deserved.
“You deserve a male who would love and care for you, a real male who would protect you and cherish you.”
“Someone like you?” she snapped. “A wolf who’s made it clear he wants nothing to do with pack, or having a mate?”
Seeing the brief hurt in his gaze, she wished she could take back her words.
“Right. I’m no good for you, either. I swore to myself when I moved to Florida, I’d never seek a mate.”
But one night with this wolf would be worth more than an eternity with a male who cared nothing for her needs. Jake would be amazing in bed. She sensed it, watching his graceful stride, the way his smooth muscles flexed, the cocky little grin he flashed.
He would make love with his heart, not just his body.
For once, she longed to know real passion. Luke would never show her pleasure. Molly didn’t want to save herself, as if she were a prize on a dusty shelf.
Jake pushed his chair back, cleared the table and began washing the dishes. She sprang up to dry when she heard a car rolling up the gravel driveway.
Molly’s heart dropped to her stomach. Had Robert changed his mind and come for her? Or worse, had Luke discovered her deception?
Jake went to the window and lifted the curtain with the back of one hand. “Hang on. I don’t know who’s out there, but if it’s someone I don’t trust, I won’t let him get to you.”
His protective streak tugged at her heart. As the car door slammed, his shoulders relaxed. “It’s Martin. He’s a firefighter, helps us with the controlled burns. He comes over once in a while, likes to play cards with me and Rodney.”
“Rodney? Another Skin?”
“Squirrel shifter who lives in the woods out back. Annoying chatterbox, but a graceful loser. I totally forgot it was poker night.” Jake dropped the curtain and glanced at her. “You’ll have to shift into wolf. Easier to explain you as the red dog I found in the woods, and brought home to recover.” Jake pointed to the floor. “Change.”
Molly bristled. “Change? I suppose you’ll tell me next to lie down and roll over.”
Heat glittered in his dark gaze. “The only time I’d say that to you, sweetheart, is if you were naked.”
Molly sucked in a breath and shapeshifted into wolf.
Footsteps sounded on the porch. Jake opened the door and greeted the visitor as she sulked near the fireplace. Martin came inside, carrying a six-pack of beer and a deck of cards. Short and stocky, he wore a long-sleeved white baseball shirt and jeans and had freckles on his face.
“Rodney here yet?” Martin set the beer into the refrigerator.
Jake glanced out the window. “Soon enough. He may have had a hot dinner date. Last time we talked, he mentioned seeing someone new. She’s a little squirrely, but just his type.”
Molly grinned a huge wolfish grin. Cute, Jake.
“Glad someone is seeing some action,” Martin muttered. “I haven’t had a hot date in weeks. Too many women I’ve met lately are nuts.”
“Rodney likes the nuts.” Jake winked at her and she buried her head between her paws, wanting to groan at the bad joke.
Martin headed for the bathroom. A brisk rap sounded on the back door. When Jake opened it, a short, dark-haired man stood outside. Catching the scent of wet fur and squirrel, she lifted her head. Shifter. Her nose wrinkled. And something else…dark, crisp and acrid. Like smoke. Odd.
“Came over to lose a few rounds?” Jake asked, stepping aside.
“I came over to tell you, out of respect for our friendship, to keep your paws off my woman.” Rodney bared his teeth.
“What the hell? What woman?”
“My new girlfriend. Stay away from her.”
“Whoa!” Jake held up his hands and spoke in a low voice so that Martin couldn’t hear. With her sensitive Lupine hearing, Molly got every word. “Take it down a notch, Rodney. I have no intentions on your girlfriend. Hell, I’ve never met her. Did you get into those bad imported acorns again?”
“She’s mine.” Rodney fisted his hands. “Stay away from her, Jake.”
The shifter turned and fled down the back steps. Jake stared after him. “Wonder what’s eating him?”
He closed the door and returned to the table as Martin emerged from the bathroom and sat with him. “Rodney’s not joining us tonight. He’s preoccupied with his new lady love. The nutty one.”
“Must be nice.” Martin shook his head. “With all the overtime I’ve put in lately, I don’t even have the chance to find a nut or two.”
The two men began talking about work, the burn and how it had gone out of control for a few insane minutes.
Martin noticed her by the empty fireplace as she rested her head between her paws. “So that’s the dog you risked your life for?”
“Yup.”
“Big. That color fur—”
“She’s a hybrid. Very unique.” Jake walked over to the fireplace and sat on the carpet. Playing “good dog,” she rolled over and presented her belly. Let’s play catch, Jake. I’ll run and you catch me and drag me to your bed. Catch my scent, if you can.
Jake stared at her splayed legs. His nostrils flared. Oh, he’d caught it all right. Veins bulged in his muscled neck. His gaze turned smoldering and dark and his chest heaved in and out. Trying to control it.
Oblivious to the byplay, Martin began shuffling the cards. “I don’t get why you’d risk your life for a dog. Dogs take over your life and they smell.”
Jake’s nostrils flared. “Yeah, they smell pretty damn good.”
She wanted Jake, even if it was only for one night of passion. Needed his strong body covering hers, finally surrendering to the sexual need that tugged them toward each other like a lodestone.
Martin left the table and joined Jake on the sofa. “She is a pretty dog. Aren’t you a good girl?”
No, I want to be bad. Molly writhed against the floor. Real bad.
As Martin reached out to rub her belly, a low growl rumbled from deep in Jake’s throat. He seized the other male’s hand. “Don’t. She bites.”
Only if I were in bed with you, Jake. Oh yeah… Her wolf whined for release. Sex or running.
“You should leave, Martin, since Rodney’s not coming and it’s just the two of us.” Jake ran a hand over his face. “It’s been a bitch of a day.”
The other nodded. “Sure. I would have called, but your cell went to voice mail. Wanted to stop by anyway and check on you, make sure you were okay.” He glanced at Molly. “Risking your life
for a dog. Brave, but foolish. You going to keep her?”
“No.”
Molly whined.
“She seems to like you.”
Molly’s tongue lolled out and Jake fisted his hands as they began to tremble. His body tensed. “Yeah. I know.”
When Martin left, Jake locked the door. She shifted back to Skin and conjured clothing. As Jake turned, he looked distracted, until he saw her pajamas. He raised an eyebrow.
“Flying pigs?”
“During finals, I didn’t think I’d make it through college. I used to tell my girlfriends Alexa and Jessica that I’d graduate when pigs flew. They gave me these as a graduation gift.”
“Cute.” His gaze turned admiring.
“Although my hips and butt are as big as a hog’s.” She touched her backside.
“You’re beautiful,” he said softly. “All curves and softness.”
Molly rolled her eyes. “Soft? Watch it. I can be quite prickly.”
“Right. That red hair of yours…”
At her low growl, he laughed. “You always cheer me up.”
“Good. You need to smile more often.”
Tiny laugh lines fanning from the corner of his eyes faded as he lost the smile. “You’re right. I haven’t smiled much. Seems like the only time I lose my serious side is around you.”
He looked so solemn she wished she could coax back another smile to his face. “What’s wrong?”
Jake ran a hand through his thick hair. “Rodney. Something’s off with him. He’s always so carefree with his lovers. I’ve never seen him this manic. And unreasonable. Could it be the darkness in this park?”
“Maybe. Or just the mating drive.”
“I never met the woman. I didn’t even know he was seeing anyone. And besides, why would I want his lover?”
His gaze softened as he looked at her. “When the only woman I ever see is standing right here in front of me.”
She didn’t know what to say. She wanted him badly, but had to focus on the task at hand. Oh it was going to be torture staying here the next few nights.
He plopped onto the sofa. “I’m going for a run tonight. Need to work out this frustration. Care to join me?”
She wanted to run with him by the river, but in her wolf form, she’d lose all her common sense and inhibitions. Molly stifled a huge yawn. “Guess I’d better go to bed.”
Alone.
His expression turned serious. “You’ll be safe here, Molls. Sleep tight, and tomorrow we’ll explore the park.”
As she headed toward the guest bedroom, she wished they would do more than explore the park. Her wolf howled to explore much more.
Like his naked body.
Jake ran with the moon, paused by the riverbank. He tilted back his head, feeling the familiar solitude. Tonight, solitude had turned into sharp loneliness.
He thought of Karlene, her laughter floating on the breeze, her teasing gestures and how utterly flattered he’d been that she’d chosen him among all the available males in Aiden’s pack. He had not dared to love another since losing his intended mate. Because in failing to keep Karlene safe, he’d caused a near catastrophe.
He’d almost started a war within Aiden’s pack. Garth had wanted to tear his throat out. Others aligned with him, and some took Jake’s side. If he hadn’t left Montana, it would have been war, bloody and vicious. And he refused to do that to Aiden.
You’re better off alone, without anyone to hurt. And now a lovely female slept in his trailer, and he could not touch her.
She belonged to another. Molly had pack. He was a loner.
Fierce male protectiveness surged inside him. While Molly slumbered in his trailer, he would patrol and protect. The ancient Lupine instinct ruled him in wolf skin, even though she would never belong to him.
No matter how much he craved her.
Chapter 7
The next morning, Jake called his boss and requested a leave of absence. He’d built up vacation time, always covering for others during weekends and the holidays the park remained open.
He’d be better off working solo instead of staying with Molly. With her enticing scent and gentle sway of those wide hips, she made his mouth dry and his dick hard.
But the strange dark magick tainting the park took precedence. Whatever had infiltrated the land must be cleansed.
He left the cabin, locking Molly inside as she slept and slipping the key beneath the weights on his workout machine. A gray, sullen sky greeted him. In sweatpants and T-shirt, he started jogging on the small sandy path he’d carved through the scrub and brush.
Lupine senses flaring, he kept jogging. No Skins around this time of day.
Jake continued to run, and then shifted in mid-stride. Wolf senses exploded with power, the sensation always hitting him like a shock of cold water. Everything became razor sharp, his hearing picked up small animals rustling in the undergrowth, and the distant, haunting wail of a train horn, even the murmur of a mother soothing her crying baby in the camping area far from the trail.
But it was his sense of smell he needed right now. Jake stopped, put his nose to the ground. Nothing but ordinary scents, old scat, sand, rotting vegetation. The cycle of life.
Loping along the trail, he kept pausing and sniffing. Everything ordinary. But as he turned and headed for the river, the trail twisted and he caught a very faint and disturbing scent.
Death.
His wolf’s heart beat faster. No, not death, but something dying. Something dying that had been healthy. Jake loped toward the smell, worried when he saw it was near his trailer.
Then he reached it.
In a hollow dug into the sawgrass palmetto laid a raccoon, her babies crowding around her, mewling with concern. Jake recognized the raccoon by her scent. The animal lifted her head and gave a weak hiss of protest at the wolf peering into her safe haven. He shifted back.
Nessie. What did this? Jake suspected the dark magick did.
“Nessie. It’s okay girl.” He hesitated. Rabies? Raccoons were notorious for the disease, but Nessie exhibited no symptoms. Still, a hurt, dying animal might bite.
Damnit. The stench of decay stung his nostrils, and the same odd blackness he’d noticed around the bromeliads and the tree trunks covered Nessie’s paws. As if fire had scorched her paws and stained them.
Nothing natural about this. Whatever killed the air plants was spreading.
Racing back to the trailer in record time, he unlocked the door and went inside. In tight blue jeans and a long-sleeved pink shirt, Molly hovered over the stove, cooking breakfast. Sounds of Beyonce’s “Sweet Dreams” grated from the stereo in the living room. She wriggled her generous hips and danced to the music.
Jake stopped, enchanted. For a moment he forgot about the raccoon and watched. Damn the lady could move. He wondered if she’d move like that in bed, all swaying grace and undulating hips and that very fine ass of hers…
Hello? Earth to Jake’s penis? Wildlife crisis, remember?
The reminder from his other, more logical brain, jerked him into action. Jake rushed past Molly.
“I see you found my iPod,” he called over his shoulder as he headed into his bedroom.
“Your music selection is as eclectic as you are, ranger,” she called back.
The savory aroma of frying bacon made his mouth water, but he had no time for breakfast. Jake went into his closet, found the box he used for injured animals, and filled it with soft cloth. He grabbed thick gloves as well.
Molly followed him. He caught her scent. Apple shampoo, soap and Molly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Dying raccoon. She’s been poisoned. Have to save her, or at least her babies.” Jake straightened. “It’s the same damn thing killing air plants and I suspect it’s causing short fuses in your pack.”
As he carried the bin into the kitchen, she turned off the stove. “Let me help you.”
She followed him out to the truck and climbed inside.
He
drove to the boat launching area by the river, jumped out and grabbed the bin and towels. Molly followed him along the river trail, cutting through the scrub until they reached the den.
Jake set down the bin. Nessie snarled as he picked her up, but she was too weak to fight. After he placed her inside, he and Molly gently picked up the kits and put them with their mother.
“Can we save her, Jake? Or the babies?”
“I don’t know. I’ll do my damnedest.”
When they returned to his trailer, he brought the bin into his living room. Molly crouched by the box, her fingers gripping the edge. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Watch her. I’m going to find answers.” Jake stood and added, “Lock yourself in. If anyone knocks, they can go to hell.”
He jogged to the riverbank and walked the trail. Few tourists were in the park today, with the overcast skies threatening rain showers. Even the river was quiet.
Perfect time to hunt down a particular gator. A canoe in the distance warned a couple of Skins approached, but he had no time to waste.
Jake sat on the riverbank and cupped his hands, bringing them to his mouth. “George! Where are you, you bastard?”
The canoe drew closer and the man paddling in the front yelled. “Lost someone?”
Shit. “Just looking for a gator.”
The woman paled. “There are gators in this river?”
“Lots of them. But they don’t get too mean and bother you until mating season.”
“When’s mating season?” she asked.
Jake smiled and lied. “Now.”
The couple paddled faster. When they were out of sight, he cupped his hands to his face and called again.
A reptilian head surfaced and the gator swam toward the bank. He opened his mouth, showing rows of sharp teeth.
“Very impressive. Get over here. We need to talk.” Jake rubbed his chin. “I need Willow’s help.”
Water thrashed and in seconds, the gator climbed up the bank, reminding Jake of the shifter’s deadly speed. George shifted into Skin.
