One Crazy Wolf

by Eliza Gayle

  Well, kinda.

  There was still the matter of Galen, her brother. He’d reported in from this territory not long ago and was likely still here somewhere. After she rested a bit, she’d suss him out and figure out if he planned to stand with her or against her over her plan to permanently relocate to America.

  “Can I get you something?”

  One of the largest non-dragon shifters she’d ever seen stopped in front of her and placed his hands atop the bar from the rear.

  Her nostrils flared. A bear.

  She’d not heard anything about bear shifters settling in this area yet. Although admittedly she hadn’t paid much attention to the place they called ‘The Dragon’ in many years. In fact, she had not paid a whole lot of attention to any of America since her parents’ deaths.

  “Yeah. A Guinness?” It was framed as a question because she had no idea if they carried her usual. This was a tiny village and she imagined their resources could be limited. She made a mental note to find out where she’d have to go to find all of her favorite essentials.

  “Sure. We may be in the middle of nowhere, but we’ve got taste. Bottle okay?”

  She nodded and bit her lip. Her desire to bite his head off flared, but if she wanted to acclimate to the area and potentially stay a while, then she needed to keep the barkeep in her good graces. She’d gone through town first and as far as she’d seen this would be the only place to get a cold drink when she needed it.

  Unless of course she planned to hide up on the mountain in solitude.

  She frowned at that idea. There wasn’t anything about her own company that made her think sitting still and hiding out would ever suit her. Although security here would be her sole responsibility for now and she expected that would take up all of her time. There was a lot of ground to cover and a lot to learn about the locals.

  Starting with a bear who served up drinks in a bar.

  A moment later he returned with a napkin and the familiar black bottle he popped open in front of her. As the stout’s deep, rich scent of yeast and barley hit her nose, she breathed deep. It was like a quick reminder of home that seemed to settle the animal inside her. Although she should be just as freaking exhausted after their trip.

  “You passing through?” the bear asked, not at all subtle.

  Kenzie grabbed her drink and downed a generous swallow as she contemplated both the man and his question. He was obviously fishing.

  She took her time setting down the bottle and taking a breath before she answered. “Maybe. Maybe not. Got an old family place near here.”

  She eyed him warily waiting to see if that nugget meant anything to him. Most shifters, especially in small towns seemed to know everything about everything that went on around them. Likely, if what she said were the whole truth then this man would certainly know or know of her family.

  Instead, he simply walked away as if what she said meant absolutely nothing to him. An odd reaction for sure. She chalked it up to the bear in him. They were generally calm and uninterested until they were riled up. Maybe this one was a loner. Although bartenders weren’t usually the loner type. They were the listening type. She’d learned long ago that if you wanted to know something you went to the man behind the bar because chances were he’d heard everything and then some.

  She shrugged his strange response off and turned her attention to her beverage. If they carried Guinness then maybe there were other elements of the old dragon ways of this area that hadn’t been completely lost. Not that she remembered them exactly either. It had been a very long time since her da had told her bedtime stories about the reign of dragons in the Americas.

  And she definitely didn’t remember him ever telling her why they left. Maybe it was the damn heat. She placed the beer bottle against her warm neck and reveled in that bit of cooling touch. God, what she wouldn’t give for a dark underground room and the best damned air conditioning system money could buy. She already missed her place in Scotland. What with all its modern conveniences and ideal placement underneath the base of the mountain.

  Some of her brothers were fine to live their lives in a house the size of a castle at the top of the mountain, but not her. She was definitely a night person, always avoiding the heat and light of the sun. She looked out one of the windows at the side of the building and stared at the mountain looming not far away.

  There she knew she’d find some sort of respite. Their family home may be in a dire state of disrepair according to Galen, but she’d bet her left tit that she had an ancestor or two that craved the dark same as her. Not all dragons were drawn to the light.

  Tonight she would find a place to rest and then tomorrow she would investigate the mountain. She needed a good place to hide and soon. When Galen found her, she didn’t expect he would be all that happy to see her. Although hopefully he would understand their predicament.

  All of her brothers were extremely loyal to “the family” and while Galen might have been a bit wilder than the rest, even he managed to sow his oats under the guise of useful duty to the family. Hence his coming to North Carolina to resettle the shifter population.

  Rumors on their side of the water ran rampant and apparently, things were getting out of control here and it was only a matter of time before the humans tried to intervene. Only a dragon population could curb that outcome. As head of security it should have been her job to scout the area and make preparations for the family, not her brother.

  She grimaced. That was before.

  Going into heat after years of nothing had suddenly curtailed her options. Her brothers might be forward thinkers in most aspects of life, but not in this one. Females, once able to bear dragon kin, had but one sole duty to fulfill.

  She wrinkled up her nose and tried not to sneer. By now her brothers would have found her empty quarters and they’d begin hunting for her. They had no real reason to believe she would come to where Galen was since he too would likely pressure her to fulfill her duty. Hopefully that bought her some extra time.

  One brother she could handle. Four, or worse, all five at once—no freaking way.

  There was a lot more to the story than they knew. This situation had placed her in more peril than anyone had guessed. While her family might think they could negotiate and manipulate the situation, her spies told her differently. The fact that a royal female was now fertile could easily start a feud—if not a war.

  It was in all their best interests that she leave before the word spread any further than their tiny kingdom.

  Here in America she believed they could establish dominance once again quite quickly. Of course, there were still safety issues to consider— exactly why she was needed. The rest of the family just needed to shut up, get on board and let her do her job.

  The air shifted around the room and without turning her head to look, she guessed that her mystery shifter was on the move. She hadn’t forgotten his scrutiny, but she had moved on to another topic in her head. Multitasking was one of her better skills.

  Along with fighting.

  The few women blessed with a dragon were all powerful women. It’s one of the reasons the men had to fight for the right to be their lovers and potential mates. Women of their kind could stand no weakness, the main reason they never took well to humans. Male and female dragons often shared that sentiment, but especially the women.

  Almost silently someone took the seat next to hers. Talk about an air shift. His presence did more than move the air. It sucked it clean from the bar and her lungs. In fact, it took every ounce of her concentration to make them function again. Slowly in through the nose and out through the mouth she chanted in her head until breathing again became second nature.

  She had no idea what was going on, but she didn’t like it. Feeling off balance NEVER happened to her. Which only made her more curious about the man now sitting so close without her permission.

  “A little far from home, aren’t you?”

  Her head jerked sideways at his question as sh
e finally turned to get her first close-up look at the wolf that dared to sit next to her. And yes, she was one hundred percent certain this man was a wolf and obviously some sort of Alpha for him to have this kind of pull over her. There simply could be no other explanation.

  Right?

  RIGHT?!

  Kenzie purposefully took the time to peruse the man before she met his eyes. Because she had a feeling once there, she would forget to look away. So she started from the bottom and worked her way up. Well-worn black leather boots adorned his feet. Motorcycle boots if she guessed correctly. She filed that tidbit away for later as she would definitely want to know more about that.

  Then the legs. Clean, worn denim hugged powerful legs that were larger than she expected. She might have lingered a little longer than necessary on his massive thighs. But it couldn’t be helped. She liked power and a man’s legs could tell her a lot. His were thick with muscle and yet still lean. She’d bet he could move fast given the proper motivation.

  Moving on, she spied a definite bulge at the crotch, but she skimmed over that quicker than shit as well.

  Not the place a woman in her current state wanted to linger for long. Not if she wanted to keep her sanity anyway. She would ignore the tightening of her core that clamored for attention and keep moving.

  A simple navy t-shirt covered his torso but didn’t actually hide the broad chest beneath it. Of course, that didn’t stop her imagination from running wild as she imagined the six-pack abs underneath and possibly a light sprinkling of downy soft hair that would match the blondish-brown hair on his head. He was lighter than most men she liked to look at, but that didn’t seem to matter in this case. He still managed to pull off handsome and rugged at the same time and she liked it.

  Speaking of…

  She finally lifted her head to see beyond the top curve of his shirt. No hair peeking out there by the way. So maybe not as hairy as she expected from a wolf.

  His Adam’s apple bobbed and that was enough to keep her moving rather than linger on why. Oh boy. Up close and personal like this she could see he had a strong square jaw with a cleft in the middle. But it was the full lips that had her swallowing thickly. They were a dusky shade of pink that merely enhanced their appearance. Those were kissing lips if she’d ever seen them. That they were twisted in a kind of sardonic smile only made them more appealing.

  Unfortunately, kissing made her think of other things and she was in no position to go there. Especially not with him. However, did that stop her from imagining the feel of his lips against hers? Or the feel of his hand on the back of her neck as he held her firmly in his embrace?

  Kenzie sighed. Her lack of experience when it came to full blown sex did not mean she was immune to certain thoughts or experiences. On more than one occasion she had kissed a man and liked it. Hell, she’d kissed another female and liked that too.

  This was so stupid. She had to get her thoughts under control and stop thinking of or looking at his lips. She wasn’t going to kiss a wolf. It might be time for more than kissing, but that could only occur with a worthy male she selected after lots of consideration, not a stranger.

  That thought still didn’t put a halt to her perusal. She skimmed up his perfectly proportioned nose before finally meeting his piercing blue gaze. They weren’t just any color of blue either. Ice blue. The ice to her flame. Polar opposite and exactly the kind of thing that pulled at both her and the dragon inside of her.

  Speaking of which. She felt her blood stirring as her heart began beating faster.

  “Like what you see?” he asked.

  She lifted her shoulders as if it meant absolutely nothing. Unashamed that she’d taken him in as slowly as she did. If he thought that would make her blush or shy away, he couldn’t be more wrong. Sex or no, she was absolutely not a wilting flower. If life had taught her nothing else, she had learned that she had the power to take whatever she wanted as long as she was willing to do whatever it took to get it. And she usually did.

  “Acceptable,” she replied.

  His snort of laughter made her press her lips together to keep from smiling.

  “Good thing I have strong self esteem or I might be wounded.” He held his hand over his heart as if to mock an injury.

  “If you were that easily offended then you would not be worth my time.” And that was the cold hard truth.

  His laughter continued and she decided she rather liked that low, rough rumble emanating from his chest. Especially the way it vibrated across her skin. It perked up the dragon even more too.

  Easy girl. Don’t get ahead of yourself. He is not for us.

  Although she imagined how easy it would be to go home with this one if she wanted, but it would take far more convincing before she took that path. Even if there was a pull in that direction. There was also the fact one of her brothers would likely hurt him if they got wind.

  First things first. She still had the matter of her wayward brother to deal with and he may or may not be so happy to see her. Especially if he’d heard from the family. Throwing a wolf into the mix now could easily be the last straw.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” he started. “I do like a woman with confidence, but don’t you think it’s a little bit dangerous for you to be in here right now? You know. In your uhh—condition.”

  Kenzie felt the blood drain from her face. What had he just said? No. He could not. She shook her head trying to get her thoughts clear. There was no way he meant what she thought he meant. It just wasn’t possible. Only another dragon would know and this man, while beautiful and intriguing, was certainly no dragon.

  But he was trouble. She felt that clear to her bones and that was about the last thing she needed right now. There was a good chance this mating heat thing could start a war if word got out. If her plan to come here and hide failed, then any kind of distraction could get them all killed.

  She needed to focus.

  “I have no idea what you mean. Just because I’m different from the rest of you doesn’t make me have a “condition”. Besides, I’m just passing through so you don’t have to get your panties in a twist. I’ll be out of this bar and out of your hair in no time.”

  That might have been a lie, one too easily told. But this was not the time to tell anything else to a stranger…

  Chapter Three

  Simon bit back a snarl. This woman’s sharp little tongue made him surprisingly indecisive. As in he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to throw her out of the bar or take her back to his place and fuck. Although if he was honest, the latter would probably win out if he let it.

  He was currently in the middle of a long dry spell and this woman pulled at him like no one else in a very long time. Scratch that. Like no one ever, which unsettled him to say the least. Dragon or not, he wanted her.

  Not that he was one of those snobs who made up so much of their clans. He saw no problem with interspecies dating, fucking, or mating. To each his own and all that bullshit. Just because he spent all of his free time trying to solve a procreation problem, didn’t mean he shared other’s hang-ups. As the only full-fledged doctor in this territory, he actually had a lot bigger issues to worry about.

  Shifters might heal quickly when all the conditions were just right, but there were more and more cases coming up where the conditions were fucked up and they needed his help.

  “I’m not talking about what you are. It took me less than two minutes to figure that out, sweetheart. It’s the other that concerns me.”

  Her back went ramrod straight and that gave him pause. Why would a shifter detecting her mating cycle be anything unexpected? Every shifter possessed superior senses, especially scent. It gave them serious advantages when there were many things that could not be hidden because of it. Such as emotions, being able to tell whether you were dealing with a shifter or not and what kind, and like in this case, when a female hit the peak of her reproductive cycle.

  “The other? I think you need to explain what the hell you are talk
ing about before I assume the worst and take offense,” she hissed. “Especially since I don’t think you or anyone else in this bar is going to like me when I’m offended. In fact, consider your words wisely because this structure will not contain me if things go too far.” She took another swig of her beer and he tried not to focus on her hands gripping the glass or the subtle shift of her throat as she swallowed. Both of those were too dangerous for his peace of mind.

  Simon lifted his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, relax. I’m not trying to offend you, but you are the one in a bar full of shifters giving off pheromones like nobody’s business. Eventually one of them is going to try and take you up on what you’re offering. As the one who ends up having to patch people up when things get ugly, I was just trying to prevent a little bloodshed if you aren’t looking for trouble.”

  Her eyes widened and her head jerked back in obvious surprise. What the hell that was supposed to mean, he didn’t know. He was generally pretty good at social cues between men and women, but this woman was throwing him off.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, seriously.”

  “You don’t smell like a dragon,” she hissed. “No one in here does. So how the hell are you getting anything off of me, wolf?” She sneered over the word wolf and he wanted to laugh. Someone seemed a little big for her britches. What a shock. Guess the rumors about them were true.

  Not that he had encountered many, but still. Let’s just say their reputations preceded them.

  “All shifters have the same superior sense of smell, honey. Maybe some a little better than others, but still. Something that potent is kind of hard to miss.”

  Her lips parted and she bared her teeth at him along with another hiss. If this wasn’t such a serious matter he would have laughed out loud. As it was he was thinking he needed to get her out of here before she started any trouble. The men were a little hard to read with her messing with his head, but he could feel the air shifting the longer she sat there.