by Renee Rose
I didn’t like the tone of his words.
“I’m done with my tagging. I will write the paper from what I’ve collected.”
“My name is on your paper, Dr. Shriver.”
While I’d done all the work, he was my boss, and sponsoring the work through the grant. He’d be the paper’s headliner, that was how academia worked.
“I’m aware of that.”
“Your grant money, your time at Granger State, is dependent upon the reception this publication receives.”
I sighed, and rubbed my forehead. I was sure my hair was a wild tangle. “I haven’t thought of anything else. My dedication to the wolves is unmatched.”
Especially since I’d spent the night in bed with two of them. Even allowing them to bite and mark me. I wanted to go to see Dr. McCaffrey—Cord—and get my bloodwork done. To analyze the sample compared to before-marking. I wondered if—
“We will see, won’t we?” Dr. Andrews snapped.
“Is there a problem?” I asked. “I’ve done everything by the book. The research is thorough. Extensive.”
“And yet you are in West Springs instead of here at your office, working.”
Landry came into the room. He wore only his jeans, and they weren’t even zipped or buttoned. With bare feet, he was quiet like a cat, not the growly wolf I knew was within him.
He gave me a wink and a sly smile.
I melted. “It’s Sunday morning, Doctor,” I said into the phone, trying to stay focused on my boss and not the deep Adonis V of Landry’s that made me drool.
Landry perked up at my words, leaned against the wall, and crossed his arms over his chest.
“I shall work remotely today and be back on campus tomorrow morning. I assure you, the paper will be finished and published as soon as possible.”
It was the way Landry’s jaw clenched that let me know something was wrong. He wasn’t filling in as alpha for the pack any longer, but he was definitely the dominant one in our relationship.
LANDRY
Wade and I heard her phone ring from the kitchen. We’d been quiet to let our mate sleep after keeping her up most of the night. We didn’t need wolf hearing to know she’d gotten a call, but it had been in our favor to pick up her half of the conversation.
Caitlyn wasn’t planning to tag any more wolves. That was good, because she’d have to go out on her own to do it. I wasn’t taking her. Neither was Wade, or anyone else from the pack. But if she went, she’d be punished for breaking one of our rules.
She knew it. Thankfully. I didn’t mind spanking her ass. Fuck, my dick got hard just thinking about how my handprint bloomed on that fair skin. Or the way her soft flesh jiggled from the impact.
“Your boss?” I asked when she’d disconnected the call.
She nodded, looked up at me from Wade’s chair. The blanket was wrapped around her like a cocoon. She was covered up to her bare shoulders.
“He’s a workaholic,” she explained.
“He’s an asshole,” I countered, not mincing words.
Her mouth fell open, then she laughed. “Yeah, he is. But he’s the one who’s sponsoring the paper. It’s his name on the top, so he wants to—”
“What do you mean, his name is on the paper? I don’t see him out here with a bag full of trackers.”
She shook her head. “It’s his name above mine. That’s how these things work.”
I frowned. “That makes no fucking sense.”
“It does if you’re in academia.”
I sighed, ran a hand down my face. What I wanted was for her to toss up her hands—and toss off that blanket—and say she was quitting her research and her job at Granger State. All of it. But we weren’t there yet. She may have let us mark her, but she still hadn’t promised to leave the human world to do her scientific research for the pack instead.
It was probably still too soon for us to even suggest that, but we had Gib breathing down our necks about her research paper. The one she still planned to write.
Dammit.
She stood, but didn’t ditch the blanket. I glared at the damned thing. “I’m not going to tag any more wolves,” she said. “You know that. So I’m going to finish my work. Get it out there.”
I stilled. This was bad. Really bad. Gib was going to lose his shit.
“You sure, sugar?” I asked.
She cocked her head to the side, her dark hair sliding over her bare shoulder. “Of course I’m sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Your research… it’s going to be a problem for the pack.” I didn’t say for us, because I didn’t want to fight with her over this.
“I’ve been working on it for two years.” She frowned, studied me. “Are you saying you don’t want me to publish?”
I dropped my arms, moved closer to her, set my hands on her biceps over the blanket. “I’ve already told you. Any population studies could change their status for hunting. We don’t want attention brought to the wolves.”
“I’m helping,” she snapped.
“You sure about that?” I countered.
“Do you trust me?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
It was as if she’d hit me with a two by four. I dropped my hands, stepped back. “Of course.”
Did I? I’d been worried all this time about her paper putting us in danger. Would I be attracted to a woman who would do that? Would my wolf want to mark someone who was a threat? Would I defend her to Gib if I didn’t trust her?
Fuck, I hadn’t. I’d wanted everything from her. Demanded it, practically. Emotionally, physically. Yet why didn’t I trust her in this? She knew what we were. She knew how we felt. How we’d all be impacted. She’d met others in the pack.
“You don’t,” she said, her voice filled with hurt.
“I—”
Wade ran in. “Gib’s pulled up. Something’s wrong.”
I heard the wheels of his truck, the slide of the tires across the dirt as he hastily stopped.
I’d been too focused on Caitlyn to notice.
Wade was gone, cutting through the house before I turned and chased after him.
Gib hopped from his truck, every line in his body full of fury. Ben flew out the other side. They stalked to the back of his pickup, where Gib dropped the tailgate.
“Another wolf’s been shot,” Gibson snarled.
I ran over, saw the grey wolf with one white paw I’d tranqed last week for Caitlyn. The bloody fur. The lifeless body.
Fuck.
“Oh my God,” Caitlyn said, her hand over her mouth. The blanket was still around her, tears pooling in her eyes. “White Paw.”
Gib turned to her. Glared. “This is the third wolf that’s been shot in the past few months. They’ve all been fucking tagged with your trackers. Every one of them has one thing in common. You.”
20
CAITLYN
Bile rose from my stomach up my throat, making me choke. I shook my head, blinked back the tears as I stared at White Paw. Dead. “No. That can’t be. The trackers are for my eyes only.”
“Wolves are dying. Every one of them has had one of your chips in them,” Gibson snarled. “Explain that.”
I wiped away a tear from my cheek. “I-I can’t. But I had nothing to do with this. You have to believe me.”
I turned to look at Landry and Wade for their support but they avoided eye contact, staring at the dead wolf instead.
Gibson glanced at Wade, then pointed at him. “I sent you to Granger to resolve this problem three weeks ago. I understand she’s your mate, but obviously you lost sight of the objective here.”
A windstorm whipped up inside my head.
He sent Wade to Granger?
That meant… Wade hadn’t met me by accident at the bar that night. He’d been there to resolve a problem: me.
“Now, hold on.” Wade held up a hand. “I haven’t lost sight. We’ve been keeping tabs on the research and the paper.” His tone was angry, as if he was defending me, but he was guilty of doing just as
Gibson had said.
My brain stuttered. Oh god.
“Keeping tabs on my research?” I echoed, stumbling back. What the actual fuck? “Here I thought we were falling in love but instead you were handling me. Dealing with a problem. Keeping tabs on it. Like Tab A in Slot B?”
I lashed out, hurt. Turning what we’d done together to be tawdry and dirty. Well, they’d made it that way.
“Sugar—” Wade stretched a cautionary hand to me.
“Don’t.” I shook my head and stepped further away.
“This has gone way too far,” Gibson added, but he was addressing Landry, not me. “You get that research project shut down immediately, and the trackers out of the remaining wolves. No more tagging. Definitely no publication.”
My stomach twisted into a tight knot. They couldn’t shut down my research. It wasn’t up to Gibson or Landry or anyone in West Springs whether I published or not. Had that been their whole purpose in seducing me? To put an end to my work? Or to sabotage it?
I drew myself up, which took a lot, considering I was wearing nothing but a blanket and was staring down four very large men. Ben hadn’t said a word. He didn’t have to. The way he was looking at me, full of disdain, said everything.
“Now, you listen to me—I had nothing to do with those wolves being shot. I’m as horrified as you are, but it has nothing to do with my research. You don’t get to decide how or when or what I publish.”
Gibson and Ben scowled. Wade and Landry looked regretful, but neither of them said a word in my defense. Neither one had my back right now. They were choosing the pack over me.
That was the part that gutted me. I glared at them. “My research would never harm wolves, and if you believe I could do such a thing, then you don’t know me at all.”
“Caitlyn…” Landry said, stepping toward me.
“No.” I held up a hand to keep him back. “Tell me something—was the story about me being your mate even true, or was that just a ploy to halt my research?”
“You’re our mate,” Landry growled, coming toward me again. The look in his gaze changed. So did the color. Still…
Remembering what Shelby said about me actually being in control, I snapped, “Stay back.”
Landry halted.
Well, at least that much was true.
I licked my lips, glanced between Landry and Wade. “We’re done.” The moment I said the words, I felt my heart rip out of my chest.
Not just mine.
Landry turned pale. Wade shook his head, coming toward me.
Three broken hearts.
I believed that much about my supposed mates. Their pain appeared as genuine and gutting as mine. But it changed nothing. They didn’t believe in me or my research. They’d hidden their true agenda from me, which had been to take me offline. I could never forgive them for that.
I turned and marched into the house, letting the screen door bang behind me. Fueled by righteous anger, I went to the bedroom, threw the blanket off, and pulled on my clothes.
I heard the sound of Gibson’s truck start up and drive away, the screen door open, and the heavy footsteps of my mates coming into the cabin.
With shaky hands, I shoved my laptop, power cord, and research notes in my backpack, then did a quick scan of the place to make sure I hadn’t left anything behind. I could do without the awkward exchange of personal items post-breakup.
“Caitlyn,” Landry said as I swept out of the bedroom and through the living room, giving them lots of space.
“We’re done,” I repeated, avoiding their eyes. “I have nothing to say, nor do I want to hear anything from you.” I couldn’t bear to look at them because the pain in my chest was too great. My body ached from their eager and thorough attentions, a reminder of what they’d done that would linger after I left. I marched up to Wade and held my palm out. “Keys.”
He pulled them from his pocket but held them above my open palm, not releasing them. “Listen, can we just talk?” he asked. “It wasn’t like what Gib said. Let me explain. Please, sugar.”
“Keys,” I repeated, tapping my toe on the floor.
“Let her go,” Landry murmured in a defeated tone.
“What?” Wade’s head swung in Landry’s direction incredulously.
“She’s upset and she wants to leave. We can’t stop her.”
“But—”
I took Wade’s distraction as the opportunity to snatch my keys from his fingers. Then I ran.
I ran out of the cabin and straight to my car. Tossed everything in haphazardly, afraid they’d stop me. As I started it up, all the awful images from the last few minutes bombarded my mind in a horrible loop. The bloody wolf—White Paw—dead in the back of Gibson’s truck. The guilt on Wade’s face when he realized he’d been caught. The pain in Landry’s eyes when he’d told Wade to let me go.
I stepped on the gas, as if I could leave it all behind if I just drove fast enough. If I just left West Springs. Of course, I knew it wasn’t true.
The pain in my chest was unbearable. The more distance I put between me and the two males I’d been falling in love with, the worse it got.
WADE
“What have we done?” I tunneled my hands through my hair and turned a slow circle in the cabin. I was lost. Confused. My wolf was snarling and snapping, not understanding what the fuck had just happened.
Landry punched the log wall, smashing his knuckles with the impact and then staring at his hand as if it belonged to someone else.
“This couldn’t be any worse. She thinks we… fuck!” I shouted the last part when I realized that what she thought—that we’d manipulated her to get control of her research—was sort of true. I’d gone to Granger and followed her to the bar to meet her and talk her out of her research. Sure, that had fucking gone sideways. But that had been the original plan. And we hadn’t changed it since.
Landry had taken us on a three-mile hike through the woods just so Caitlyn could think we were helping her look for wolves. We were liars, plain and simple.
“There’s no way she had anything to do with that wolf getting killed,” I said firmly. Maybe I was still shouting, it was hard to be sure with the din in my ears. I was crazed. Wild. “You don’t believe that, do you?”
Landry punched the wall again. The crunch of his bones breaking turned my stomach. They would heal quickly, the pain probably already gone.
“Landry,” I snapped, narrowing my gaze. “You don’t believe it, do you?”
He seemed lost in a stupor, unable to answer.
Our mate was gone. Our marked mate.
She said we were done.
It was all our fault. My fault. I hadn’t been up front about the circumstances of our meeting, and now she believed the whole thing was a manipulation. She questioned whether we were even her true mates! After what we’d done last night, she shouldn’t have had any doubts, but she did.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
How were we going to fix this? What could we possibly do to sort out the horrific situation? Could our mate be responsible for wolves getting shot? No, I’d just said she hadn’t done it. Yet it had happened.
Obviously she hadn’t been the one to pull the trigger. The latest wolf had been killed while we’d been marking our mate, or while she’d been between us in bed all night.
Still, it didn’t look good. In fact, it looked damn bad. But she wasn’t the only one working on the project. She’d told us herself that little fucker Dr. Andrews was part of it, as well. And he’d been the one hounding her about putting more trackers in the wolves. Even just a little while ago, when we’d overheard her phone call.
Gah, I couldn’t think. My wolf was going nuts over Caitlyn’s departure. I stripped off my clothes.
All I could do right now was shift. Shift, and run.
I’d probably have to run all day and night to burn off this much anguish.
Maybe tomorrow I could figure out how we could get our mate back.
L
ANDRY
I didn’t know how long I spent staring at Wade’s wall. My knuckles bled and healed, the bones shattered and reformed at least four times as I stood there abusing the great sturdy log that formed the wall of the cabin.
Our mate was gone.
Our sweet, beautiful, caring mate. The one we’d just claimed. Who’d laid her trust at our feet, and we’d… shit all over it.
Damn it all to hell!
How could we have let things get so fucked up? Fate would not have mated us to a wolf-killer. I simply couldn’t believe that. Unless… it was all just biology, and there was no Fate. In which case, it was a pure coincidence that the female our bodies were attracted to was hunting—
No.
Caitlyn Shriver didn’t kill wolves.
Wade was right. She couldn’t have had any part of this. I hadn’t missed those tears shining in her eyes when she saw the dead wolf. What had she called him—White Paw? I couldn’t miss the reverence with which she’d handled the wolves she’d tagged. She wasn’t marking them for death. I knew she wasn’t.
Which meant… we’d just thrown our sweet mate under the bus. We’d just allowed Gib to condemn her without saying one word in her defense.
Worse, she believed our entire relationship was a manipulation. That we’d only been with her to thwart her research. She thought we’d used sex and even the double marking as a weapon.
Our idiocy may have just cost us our mate. We may have lost her for good.
No.
I couldn’t accept that.
Wade and I would figure out a way to get her back. We’d have to.
Somewhere in the distance, I heard a wolf howl, an eerie sound at this time of day. A forbidden sound. Because it was against pack rules to shift and run during the day when the chances of being seen were greater. When the chances of being hunted were too dangerous.
It was Wade, sending his mournful cry after Caitlyn.
Without hesitation, I stripped off my clothes and shifted to join him. He was my scent-match.
We ran, and mourned together.
