by Celia Kyle
“Are you kidding?” he said with a chortle. “I’d get my ass kicked out within a week for fighting with a commanding officer I didn’t respect.”
“What if I was your CO? Think you could pick a fight with me and win?” Her eyes narrowed and she flashed him a challenging smile.
“No need. I know you can handle yourself.”
“Good save,” she chuckled as she rolled on her back and stared up at the sky.
“I’m just saying it’s important for leaders to be selected on merit. That’s how my family does it. Weak leaders don’t last long.”
His thoughts jumped to how he’d kidnapped his sister’s mate. He’d been so excited at the idea Drew could cure their mother, he’d listened to his advisors and done the unthinkable. He’d let his emotions and grief get the better of him, and he’d regretted it every day since. He was just lucky the Blackwood alpha hadn’t rained hellfire down on the Soren pack over the incident. It was an embarrassing lesson to learn—one he hoped would help him become a better alpha in the long run.
“Sounds a lot like the Army, honestly,” she said wistfully. “I like that kind of structure, which is why I’m going to re-up my contract as soon as my leave is over.”
It was Zeke’s turn to focus on his beer bottle for once. Why her intention to go back to the Army should make him so upset eluded him, but it was there nonetheless. Thankfully she changed the subject.
“So, you think your dad was a good leader, huh?”
“He got things done, I’ll give him that. I won’t lie and say he was a saint, but I think he did the best he could. Until he couldn’t.” He took a much-needed swig from his beer.
“What happened?” she asked quietly.
“Cancer. It’s a real bastard of a disease, you know? Not easy watching a big, powerful guy like him go so quickly. I guess that was something of a blessing, at least.”
“And then to lose your mom so soon after…” she prompted gently.
“Chloe too. It’s been…”
He paused, unsure if he should continue. He never dared let his guard down with anyone else in his pack, but Val was so easy to talk to. Aw hell, she was leaving town as soon as she saw Chloe, much to his wolf’s dismay, so why the hell not?
“It’s been a tough transition, going from having a whole family—even if Mom wasn’t really there—to having none. Not to mention taking over Dad’s business and stepping into his shoes as the leader of our community.”
“I’m so sorry, Zeke,” Val said, sitting up and reaching out to touch his arm sympathetically.
“Thanks. But at least we got to say our goodbyes to Mom, which was a miracle in itself.”
Val grimaced. “I think I’ve said my last goodbye to my mom too, though not for the same reason. She was always a drunk, but she also always stood up for me when people were jerks. I tell you, when I stopped by on my way here, I felt as if I’d walked into the trailer of a stranger. She cared more about her piece of shit boyfriend than Fang or me, the two souls in this world she’d been entrusted to protect.”
“Fang’s got you to protect her now.”
“For life,” she said, her voice tight with emotion.
Zeke reached for the hand that had just given him comfort. Her sad eyes met his and they sat like that for long enough that Zeke lost track of time. He’d never met anyone else who felt the same sense of aloneness in the world. It was a heavy burden, and merely knowing she carried it as well somehow made his load lighter.
But Val did so with grace and strength, and without the help of anyone. A lot of people would have followed in the footsteps of their parents, but Val wanted more from her life and had made it happen. She was no delicate flower that needed to be protected at all times. She could handle herself better than most warriors and wolves he’d ever met. So strange, so different than how he’d been raised to view the world. Val knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t afraid to take it. He liked that about her.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” she said, her gaze scanning the serene beauty of the spot before locking on to him.
Her thumb stroked the back of his hand, sending his wolf into a frenzy. Once again, it demanded Zeke throw her back on the blanket and show her just how happy he was to be there with her, but still he held back. He didn’t want to scare her—mostly for her sake, but he’d seen what she’d done to Newman. A black eye given to him by a tiny human woman wasn’t a good look on an alpha.
“My pleasure,” he finally choked out, every nerve in his body vibrating with desire for her.
The very air he breathed felt thick with tension. Even Val’s dark eyes dilated, and her breath came in quick bursts, as her thumb continued to skim tiny, erotic circles on his hand, burning his flesh with her touch. He knew she was giving him the all-clear, but he sat frozen, confused by his attraction and affection for this human before him. After a lifetime of holding humans in contempt, he couldn’t wrap his head around what he was feeling.
For a human.
Who took what she wanted without apology.
True to her nature, Val growled in frustration. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Then she launched herself into his arms.
Chapter Eleven
Valerie moaned against Zeke’s mouth, her breaths coming hot and heavy as his big, calloused hands roved up and down her body. Finally! After an eternity of waiting for him to make the first move, she finally bit the bullet and he responded exactly as she’d hoped.
A big, manly man like Zeke could easily have felt threatened by her aggression, but he seemed to appreciate it. A lot! His desire shot out of his fingertips and throughout her body with his every touch. When his hands gripped her hips, his tongue dipped into her mouth and she moaned again, eager for so much more but willing to wait.
Their tongues danced for a moment and then battled for dominance, both too stubborn to cede control. God, it was fun! Tangled up together and rolling around on the soft green grass while dapples of light flickered through the trees like a disco ball. The canopy overhead reminded her of a cathedral ceiling, some forest version of the Sistine Chapel, the colors so vivid and bright. It felt as though they were wrapped up in the soft trappings of an elaborate, beautiful dream. Val was half-afraid she might suddenly wake up from it and find herself alone again. That would seriously suck.
Val rocked her hips in tandem with the shallow thrusts Zeke pressed against her shapely form, both of them writhing in each other’s arms with arousal building steam in the tight space between them. Zeke tore away from her lips to kiss a trail down along her jawline and down to the side of her neck. His hot breath against the shell of her ear made her shudder with delight, goosebumps popping up along her arms. Heat grew between her thighs until it was a blazing bonfire, tingling and making her slick in anticipation. Damn, she hadn’t been this turned on since…ever!
Zeke wedged a thigh between her legs, and she ground against him, gasping as his teeth gently grazed her throat. One hand skimmed up her tummy to cup her breast, her nipple stiffening to a diamond point under her shirt. The other hand pressed against her lower back, holding her tightly against him. Spirals of red-hot need shot down through her body, making her feel as though she were being lit up from within. All that pent-up fury and frustration that had been keeping her tense for weeks, possibly even months, flowed out of her, transformed and channeled into lust.
Still, there was a niggling question in the back of her mind that wouldn’t allow her to fully relax in Zeke’s embrace. How does a werewolf have sex? Could he make love as a human or did he have to shift into his wolf form. If it was the latter, Valerie knew without a doubt she’d have to tap out and decline. No matter how attracted she was to the guy while human, there was no way in hell she was going to get down and dirty with a dog.
Then, as if some invisible switch had been flicked, Zeke pulled away and froze, something akin to alarm on his flushed face. For a brief moment, Val blinked up at him, completely confused. Then her training kicked
in. She’d seen that look on countless faces of soldiers she’d served with in the past. They’d probably seen the same expression on her face when she sensed something wasn’t quite right. Possibly danger, possibly not.
Zeke heard or sensed something that was beyond her capabilities of detection. As a wolf, his senses had to be sharper than hers, so she lay completely still and quiet, waiting for him to either react to a threat or continue making out with her.
It didn’t take long for her to hear the faint sound of something running through the underbrush, heading in their direction. Whoever or whatever it was, it was moving fast and frantically. Without a word, she rolled off Zeke and leapt to her feet, switching from sex mode to fight mode instinctively.
Zeke followed suit, his eyes focused hard on the woods. A low, terrifying growl ripped from his throat and his brown eyes flashed a coppery color that hadn’t been there before.
“Don’t move,” he snarled before bolting toward the tree line.
Val watched in shock as he disappeared into the woods. “Oh, hell no!”
Before she could even think about it, she was hot on his tail—maybe literally. She’d be damned if she was going to sit around waiting for the big bad wolf to grace her with his presence.
When she finally caught sight of him again, she was a little relieved to see he was still a human. Until he shot a glare at her over his shoulder. So, what if he was pissed she’d followed him. She wasn’t about to let him face whatever was hurtling through the trees alone.
Using her training, she kept tabs on where she was in relation to the meadow as she ran. She ran as straight of a line as possible, continually checking the position of the sun and making note of fallen trees and other landmarks. The Army had honed her sense of direction to a fine point, probably as good as Zeke’s. It was a perfectly tuned compass in her head. She’d been dropped into countless unfamiliar locations many times, and she’d never become lost. She wasn’t going to start now.
Before long, two distinct sounds crashed through the forest. One farther away than the other but catching up fast. A second someone or something was chasing the first someone or something. As it turned out, the first something was actually a someone.
A man wearing khaki clothing and a bright orange safety vest burst out of a particularly dense patch of shrubbery and collided head-on with Zeke. He bounced off Zeke’s tight, muscular frame like a rubber ball and fell with a crunch onto the forest floor. He scrambled hastily to his feet, barely reaching Zeke’s chin, and looked back toward the sound of whatever was chasing him. Then his panicked gaze found Zeke.
“Run! Wolf!” His voice cracked with terror as he pushed past Zeke and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
He’d barely made ten feet of ground before a large, tawny wolf bounded out of the trees and skidded to a stop. Foam flecked the wolf’s mouth and its upper lip pulled back in a feral snarl, sending chills of fear skittering across Val’s skin. The beast was absolutely enormous, like nothing she’d ever encountered before. She’d only seen Chloe’s wolf once, when she’d wanted to prove to Val that she wasn’t a delusional lunatic. Just the day before, she’d practically ridden Zeke’s wolf, but this was something else entirely. The wolf standing before them bristled and hung his head low in an obvious threat. It wasn’t as large as Zeke’s wolf, but it was angry and looked ready to kill.
Val prided herself on not scaring easily, but when Zeke stepped between the wolf and the man, her heart nearly leapt out of her chest. She rushed to stand by his side, presenting a united front. He didn’t dare take his eyes off the wolf, but he reached an arm out and pushed her behind him.
“For once in your life, do as I say,” he growled fiercely, a fine layer of fur coating his arms.
For once in her life, she did.
She backed up to stand next to the stranger, who cowered away from the wolf, but didn’t run. Even he knew it was pointless. The wolf would catch him before he took two steps. This was the fatal moment—either they all would die, or…not.
“You don’t belong here, friend,” Zeke said to the wolf as if he were chatting with another human, confirming her suspicions the wolf was actually a shifter. Of course, the man in khakis looked at Zeke like he was insane, but he stayed put nonetheless.
“We both know you don’t, so why don’t you go on your way. You may pass through these woods, but you can’t live here. And you most certainly can’t attack random humans. I don’t know where you’re from, but that doesn’t fly around here.”
The wolf’s furious hazel eyes sought out the man, clearly searching for a way to bypass Zeke so he could rip off the human’s head, but Zeke moved to block his view.
“Enough!”
The man squeaked as his body jerked in surprise and fear. The wolf stared at Zeke for a long moment, probably sizing him up. Then he ducked his head low in an obvious show of submission, turned around and slinked back into the brush.
“Holy cow!” the khaki guy gasped, giving a low whistle of awe. “How the hell did you do that, man? You some kind of wolf whisperer or something?”
“Or something,” Zeke agreed quietly, never allowing his gaze to waver from the spot where the wolf disappeared. Then he abruptly turned toward the man. “What are you doing out here in the middle of the woods anyway? It’s not hunting season.”
The man was too flustered to track the conversation. “I came out with all my gear… but fuck it. Damn, I thought all that wolf stuff around town was just some touristy schtick. You know, like that alien bullshit out in Roswell. I had no idea there were really wolves out here. Jesus…” He raked a hand through his dark hair.
Fucking idiot! “You’re joking, right? Didn’t the name Wolf Woods give you a clue?”
He didn’t even have the wherewithal to look embarrassed. “Can you guys give me a ride back to my work site?”
Zeke rolled his eyes and sighed. “Sure, come on.”
Conversation was scant as they trudged through the woods, but Zeke kept shooting glances in Val’s direction. She ignored them all the way to Zeke’s SUV. He’d naturally think she would question his talking to a wolf like it could understand him, and now she had to figure out a way to brush it under the rug without ratting out Chloe.
“Thank god,” the guy breathed as soon as Zeke pulled out onto the main road. “That monster jumped out of nowhere. I thought I was a goner for sure. I like my job and all, but not enough to risk my life. I’m a surveyor for chrissakes, not an animal trainer!”
Zeke finally stopped looking at Val and trained his eyes on the rearview mirror to get a better look at their passenger. “Surveyor?”
“Yeah, I work for McNish Development. I was supposed to survey the woods, but Dick McNish can kiss my Irish ass if he thinks I’m going back out there again!”
Val could feel Zeke tensing, and she glanced over to see his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles had turned white. Considering how he felt about the guy’s boss, she wouldn’t be surprised if he shifted and tore the poor chump from limb to limb.
“There they are,” the man said, pointing at a crew working to erect a big sign. “Those are my guys. You can drop me here.”
He was out of the SUV almost before it stopped, calling out a quick thanks as he sprinted toward the relative safety of his buddies. Zeke continued to grip the steering wheel like it was the throat of his most hated enemy—at that moment, Val guessed it was either Mayor Calhoun or the suit who’d been in his office, a certain dick named McNish.
His anger almost thickened the air in the cab of the SUV, and as the workmen pushed the sign upright and began bracing it, a vein in Zeke’s temple started to throb. His jaw clenched and it looked as if his head might pop off at any second. Val had been too busy watching him to pay much attention to the sign itself, but she finally took a good look and muttered the only thing she could think of to say.
“Oh shit.”
Chapter Twelve
Zeke’s jaw cracked as he ground h
is teeth together. He was tempted to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, but it wouldn’t change what he was seeing. A red-hot fury balled up in the pit of his stomach, despite the sign’s happy colors and cheery font.
Wolf Woods Condominiums! Coming soon!
The idea someone might want to develop Wolf Woods had never crossed Zeke’s apparently naive mind. Not even in his darkest moments over the last year had he entertained the idea. Surely, Tremble’s residents—keen to milk every penny from the werewolf chasers who flocked there—wouldn’t stand for one of their main attractions being turned into crappy condos.
When he spotted the McNish Development logo in one corner of the sign, a fine layer of fur sprouted on his arms. The beast inside demanded to be released so it could slaughter every single one of the workers standing around admiring their handiwork. The low rumble he thought was the engine turned out to be a growl emanating from his very core. If he didn’t rein in his wolf, things were going to get ugly, but the rage had built to the point of no return.
Just as he felt his canines elongating, something soft and cool came in contact with his forearm, cutting through the haze of his blinding fury. He snapped his blazing gaze to his right to see Val watching him. She squeezed his arm gently, acting like a balm to his soul.
“Be smart,” she warned quietly, almost as if she knew what he’d been about to do.
No way. Her inscrutable expression, just what one would expect from a combat soldier, suggested she understood the gravity of the situation, but nothing more. Any sane human would be terrified if they thought the person sitting next to them was a werewolf, and Val was clearly not frightened. For some reason he couldn’t explain, this saddened him slightly. It seemed wrong to continue hiding his true nature from her, but rules were rules.
With a grunt, Zeke released the wheel and leaned his head back against the headrest. Much to his relief, Val kept her hand on his arm, even stroking his quickly receding fur a bit. Each movement of her fingers eased his anger, just a little, until he felt fully in control of himself.
