by Celia Kyle
“Are you alone? No one can hear us?”
“Yup. Now spill.”
“God, I can’t wait to see you! Okay, so he’s a member of a different pack. If you can believe this shit—”
“Whoa! Did I just hear the S-word spill from your sweet virginal lips?”
Chloe chuckled. “Let me tell you, these lips are far from virginal these days. Anyway, Ezekiel kind of… I won’t sugarcoat it. Zeke kidnapped Drew.”
Val remained quiet, remembering Zeke’s explanation, which was severely lacking in detail.
“Drew’s a healer—like a doctor for werewolves. Really smart and caring. He’s a bit of an expert on what had put Mom into a coma for all these years, and he actually managed to wake her up for a few minutes before she eventually passed.”
“Zeke told me she died,” Val said, her heart aching for her friend as she lay down on the bed, followed closely by Fang, who nestled her head on Val’s tummy. Chloe had often spoken about her mom with profound love and sadness. “I’m so sorry, Chlo.”
“Thanks, but as strange as it sounds, it was a good thing. It had dragged on for so long, I know it was a relief for her. For us as well, if I’m honest.”
“That makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is why this Drew guy stuck around to help at all. Why didn’t he bolt at the first opportunity?”
“Me.” Chloe’s tone brightened. “That’s how it usually works with fated mates. You meet each other and you just… know. Like a part of you is missing whenever they leave the room. I know it sounds crazy.”
“No,” Val said, her heart aching for some reason she couldn’t quite put her finger on. “It sounds romantic, actually.”
“Oh god, is it ever!” Chloe sighed wistfully.
Valerie’s stomach twisted in knots over Chloe’s description of fated mates. She certainly felt a connection with Zeke, but nothing nearly as strong as what Chloe had described. Besides, Val was human, as he liked to point out. Nothing real could happen between them. Not that she wanted more from him than a quickie—maybe two. She had other things to think about, such as when she could return to her job without raising red flags with her superiors.
“I’m really happy for you, Chloe.” And she really meant it. If anyone on this great, big, swirling rock deserved it, Chloe Soren did.
“Thanks! I can’t believe you drove all the way to Tremble to find me. Can you stay for a few extra days? We’ll be driving through on our way to the Blackwood pack in a couple of days. We want to say hi to everyone.”
Val frowned at her ceiling. “Why? After how they treated you growing up?”
“What can I say? I’ve moved past it, with the help of Drew, of course. Besides, things are different now that Zeke’s in charge. After our father passed, Zeke managed to adjust the pack’s attitude toward me. That’s how it is in wolf packs. We follow the direction and example of our alpha.”
Valerie thought about it for a moment. “Makes sense. Sounds like the military, actually. Follow orders, and don’t ask why.”
The bitter grudge Val had been holding onto for her friend’s sake eased. If Chloe was willing to forgive and forget, surely Val could do the same.
“Okay, I’ll wait here for you then,” Val said, sitting up. She’d planned on dumping all of her problems on Chloe, but she couldn’t do that to her friend on her honeymoon. That would just be rude. Besides, Chloe would only worry, and she deserved to have some fun on the last few days of her trip.
“I can’t wait! Oh, by the way, you haven’t mentioned—”
“That you broke some sacred wolfy law by telling me about what you really are? No. You know me better than that.”
Chloe laughed. “I know, but I had to ask. Be sure to tell Zeke to treat you like an honored guest or he’ll have to answer to me.”
“Will do,” Val said, smiling at her friend’s bravado. “Love you!”
“Love you more!”
The line went dead, and Val stared at the black screen with a mix of joy and sadness. She missed her friend and couldn’t wait to catch up with her in person. Chloe was the only person in the world who really got Val and loved her anyway.
“Come on, Fang,” she said, heading back downstairs to return Zeke’s phone.
As soon as she walked into the kitchen, he thrust a picnic basket into her arms—the same one Trina had been packing. Val frowned at the basket, then at Zeke, then at Trina, then back to the basket.
“What’s this?”
“What’s it look like? We’re going on a picnic.”
Val could not have been more confused if he’d said they were taking a rocket ship to the moon to pick up some cheese.
Trina smiled. “You need to see what we’re fighting for.”
Before Val could react, Zeke stooped and picked her up easily, as if it was no big deal. She tensed briefly, her instincts telling her to fight him off, but the warmth of his chest and the faint scent of cedar lulled her into relaxing against him.
Still clutching the picnic basket, she stared up at him as he carried her through the house to his waiting SUV. A vein throbbed in his neck, and somehow she knew it was because they were so close, skin on skin. The contact between their bodies drove her mad with yearning, something she never thought was even a thing, much less would happen to her.
It was intense and hot and almost overwhelming, but… not how Chloe described it. She wanted him more than any man she’d ever met, but she was pretty sure she could walk away without feeling as if she’d lost a limb. Which only confirmed what she already knew—they weren’t fated mates.
Chapter Ten
Thirty minutes later, Zeke pulled into the wide spot off the side of the road that acted as a sort of secret entrance to Wolf Woods. The main entrance was a mile or two farther down the road, but that was more public, more human. As soon as the SUV came to a halt, he hopped out to race around the front of the car to Val’s side. This time, he even vaulted over the hood to get there faster, but all it accomplished was getting him smacked in the knees when she swung the door open and stepped out with a smug look on her face.
“Oh, c’mon,” Zeke groused.
“You’re playing a losing game, my friend,” Val said with a grin as she pulled the basket from the back seat.
Zeke snatched it from her triumphantly. “They say chivalry is dead because it’s in your crosshairs.” She seemed to like that a little too much for his taste.
As they hiked into the clearing Zeke had scouted the night before, he surreptitiously sniffed the air for the lone wolf who’d been hanging around. All he got was the scent of the trees and flowers and grass—no non-Soren wolf had passed this way recently. Hopefully, that was a sign the bold bastard had moved on.
Zeke pushed through the last stand of shrubbery and held it back for Val. She gasped as soon as she entered the clearing and got a full view. He couldn’t have asked for a better day. The sun bathed the entire meadow in warm light, illuminating the grass like glittering jade. The tree line looked like a painting by a master and the low clouds skimming along the horizon acted as a beautiful frame. The temperature was gorgeous, especially since Georgia’s famed humidity had apparently taken a sick day. Almost like a cherry on top of a verdant sundae, a red cardinal flitted around overhead.
“Wow,” Val breathed, as if she couldn’t find any other word to express her appreciation for the beauty before them. Zeke couldn’t argue with that.
“I grew up with this,” he told her with some pride. “The woods are showing off for you today, it seems. But even when it’s hot and humid, or even worse, pouring down rain, I can always come here when I need to center myself.”
Her smile sent tingles throughout his body. “I love nature too. Sometimes it’s the only way to disconnect from all the bullshit, you know? I learned that pretty fast in the Army.”
“I hope you learned how to eat too,” he said with a chuckle as he set the basket down in the very center of the meadow. “Trina packed enough for everyone in the Army
—past, present, and future.”
Val laughed as she helped him spread out the blanket Trina had tucked on top of the food. “I’m not shy when it comes to food.”
Together they unpacked the basket, each item more mouthwatering than the last. It was exactly the kind of picnic you’d expect to have in a small Georgia town—fried chicken, collard greens seasoned with bacon, fried okra, and of course still-warm biscuits as big as his fist, with small tubs of butter and apple jam in which to drown them.
“You all really know how to treat a lady in these parts,” Val said, her eyes taking in the spread as she licked her lips in a way that made him turn away. Popping a boner over a drumstick probably wouldn’t be appreciated.
“Or is it y’all?” she quipped with a wink.
Zeke chuckled and started filling their plates. “I think y’all slips in more and more with every biscuit you put away.”
“Hope you’re ready to hear it a lot then,” she said, snatching a biscuit and taking a big bite out of it.
She wasn’t kidding. For every bite he took, Val took two. Had the Army been starving her? The woman ate like a wolf! Only once she leaned back on her elbows and sighed with satisfaction did he notice the two beers buried at the bottom of the basket. He popped them and handed her one.
“Shall we toast?” he asked with a grin.
She returned the grin, setting his belly on fire with its brilliance. “To telling politicians to sit on an ice pick!”
“I’ll drink to that.”
Who knew sharing a meal with a human could be so much fun? Zeke knew a lot of humans in Tremble, and for the most part, they were…fine. A few—such as Mayor Calhoun—were assholes, but most were just… fine. Val was so far beyond “fine,” he wasn’t sure how to classify her. As he watched her lick jam off her finger, it came to him.
Exquisite.
The afternoon’s light breeze wrapped her exquisite scent around him like a cocoon he never wanted to escape from. He adjusted the way he sat to conceal the effect she had on him, but as lunch went on, he became less concerned about that. He wanted her and she made no effort to hide her attraction to him. His damnable wolf wanted to throw her back and claim her right there on the red-checked blanket, despite Zeke telling the beast how ridiculous the idea was.
“So how do you like the military?” he sought a subject that wouldn’t be rife with the possibility of innuendo.
“Mmm,” she moaned as she caught a dribble of butter running down the side of her hand with her tongue. “I love it.”
His body reacted instantly to the sight of her licking her own hand, but his brain tried to stay on track. “Really? Personally, I’ve never understood the appeal, aside from serving your country, of course.”
“It’s not for everyone,” she admitted. “I’m always amused when teenage boys discover they don’t actually like having orders barked at them.”
“Who’da thunk it,” he laughed. “If I’m being honest, you don’t seem like the type who does either.”
“Want to know a secret?” she asked, leaning in conspiratorially. “Nobody does. But it’s part of the hierarchy. Everyone in the Army knows exactly who’s above them and who’s below them. That makes the whole thing work like a well-oiled machine. Well, mostly. It’s still a bureaucracy, but it works for me.”
“I can appreciate that.” Wolf packs worked in a similar way. They just didn’t fly overseas to trade gunfire with people. Not that he could tell her that.
“I thrive with the solidarity of the Army too,” she continued. “It’s a great big, sometimes dysfunctional, family. The best part, for me, is that we know we all have each other’s backs. For the most part.”
Zeke’s eyebrow shot up. “Oh?”
Val shrugged as she studied the label on her beer. “Oh, you know. It’s still mostly a white boys’ club and I don’t tick either of those boxes. A white boy screws up and he blends in with the crowd. A dark-skinned woman messes up, and she’s got nowhere to hide. I learned that pretty quickly and worked twice as hard as most of my counterparts. I’m not saying it’s like the bad old days, but I stand out, draw more attention.”
“I’ll say you do,” Zeke said, his gaze skimming the length of her body in appreciation. When he reached her mouth again, she was smirking.
“Damn right. By that standard, you wouldn’t do half-bad in the Army yourself.” She followed his lead and scanned the length of him, her gaze lingering on the prominent bulge in his jeans, which only made things worse.
“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.