A Mating of Convenience

by Elyce de Reefe

  Nina felt her mouth tighten but decided not to press the issue. She wasn’t sure what the normal temperature was for a wolf anyway. And since Boaz had confiscated her phone, she had no way to look it up.

  “Fine. Why don’t you tell me what it is you needed my equipment for, then.” She might as well use the time to get as much information as possible.

  Those light green eyes sharpened, and his features lost their boyish charm, hardening into a shrewd, assessing expression. “You haven’t been accepted.” He paused, and Nina felt her stomach constrict. That did not sound good. “So, technically, I can’t discuss that with you. But you’ve been doing similar research. Why don’t you tell me about that and we can see where we might have common ground.”

  Nina wanted to kick herself. She should have been trying to figure out some strategy. If this knowledge was forbidden, how much could she really admit? But she couldn’t fake ignorance. They had her data. Probably. She glanced at her computer sitting in one corner. Definitely. But was he talking about her fertility studies or the research she’d been doing for Marten?

  “Boaz said you might have questions for me about the sickness?”

  Dean nodded slowly. “What do you know about the Sickness?”

  She shrugged, going for nonchalant. “Nothing. I hadn’t even heard of it until Boaz mentioned it. Pretty generic title for an illness.”

  Dean studied her, watching her face intently as he spoke. “My kind is immune to most diseases.”

  She resisted the urge to bite her lip. She didn’t need him to know exactly how nervous she was. What she needed was to forge some trust with this man. Convince him she was no threat; that she had no intention of causing problems. She needed everyone to let down their guard. So she could escape.

  If only she’d gotten that text out yesterday. She’d started a message to her boss, Simon. Not generally her favorite person, but she couldn’t just disappear. She’d been trying to construct a text to convince him to get the police involved. Not something Simon would do under normal circumstances. But the last thing she wanted was to get caught in the crossfire while a bunch of untrained thugs tried to storm the place.

  Nina had a strong feeling this was a job for trained hostage negotiators. Maybe then she’d have a chance. Or maybe they would just kill her at the first sign of trouble. But Boaz had confiscated her phone before she could finish, so probably she’d never know. Fortunately, she had managed to delay handing it over long enough for her screen saver to come on. Her phone was locked. He hadn’t seen the text. Or the one she’d succeeded in sending to her sister.

  She sighed and glanced around the lab. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to get her hands on the equipment in case she was stuck here for a while. She needed to continue her research. Her sister was counting on that.

  “This wouldn’t have anything to do with the rare genetic disorder Marten Shaleback asked me to research, would it?”

  “It might.” Dean hadn’t moved. He was still watching her with that same intensity.

  She took a deep breath and forged ahead. “He brought me blood samples of individuals who had contracted the disease, and then samples of healthy individuals of the same genetic subset.” She glanced at the computer in one corner of the lab. Her computer, which she thought had perished in the first lab fire. “You have my files?”

  “I do.”

  “Let me show you.”

  “Please do, Dr. Evans.”

  “Call me Nina,” she said. She needed to establish rapport. This was a first step. And really it would be nice to discuss the findings with someone. He recognized the value of the equipment. It was just possible he would be able to discuss her work knowledgeably.

  Four hours later, they sat on the patio eating a late lunch. Dean’s demeanor had thawed considerably, and Nina found both his knowledge and enthusiasm impressive. She found herself discussing her research with every bit as much excitement as Dean. It was nice to have a colleague to bounce ideas off—someone who could actually understand what she was talking about. She hadn’t had that in a long time. Maybe she was blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Dean certainly didn’t act like some kind of crazy monster. Marten had been very secretive about his heritage too. Maybe it was a cultural thing.

  And then they point a gun at you and tell you “you know too much,” like some kind of B-grade horror film?

  She was still trying to reconcile the two thoughts as they cleared the remains of their meal and headed back inside.

  “What made you think of the environmental factor?” Dean asked as he slipped a slide into her microscope. “That was an avenue I hadn’t considered before.”

  “Marten portrayed the illness as a genetic disease,” she answered. That should be safe enough to admit. Right? “That’s what got me looking at the genetics. And I was already working with gene switches for my fertility research, so I just thought, what kind of factors could influence a gene switch? The first one that occurred to me was environmental.”

  “But you hadn’t established that it is a gene switch. You haven’t even pinned it down to the affected genes.”

  “No, but I was getting—” closer, she was going to say, but Dean was gone. One minute he’d been peering through the oculars of the microscope, and the next he was racing down the length of the trailer to the small room in the back. Nina hesitated, and then followed more slowly. Dean leaned against the doorframe to what she assumed must be the bedroom. She heard Dean mention her name and paused again, wondering what he was saying.

  And then his deep voice called out. “Dr. Evans, come and meet Aster. My mate.”

  His mate? Dear Lord, were these people delusional? Did he really think he was… No. She wasn’t going there. There had to be another explanation.

  Put your game face on, Nina. Whatever happens, just act like everything is completely normal. You need to lull them into submission. Err… make that, out of suspicion.

  But she swallowed as she forced herself to approach, afraid to even speculate on what she would see on the other side of that doorway. Dean had stepped inside and was talking. Nina took in a relieved breath when she heard a female voice answering. At least they weren’t taking this whole wolf thing too far.

  Or… were they? A sudden chill raced down her spine. What if it was true?

  She’d know in just a matter of minutes. Nina hesitated just outside the door, reluctant to interrupt. Reluctant to find out. There was a short break in the conversation, and Nina steeled herself and stepped into the room. A young woman lay in the bed, her delicate, oval face so pale it was almost white against her long dark hair.

  “Hi, I’m Nina,” she said, her stomach clenching. Act natural. Act natural. “How are you feeling?” She even managed a small, polite smile.

  “Weak as a day-old kitten, but I’ll recover.” For some reason, the woman was grinning at her.

  Nina pushed past Dean and tried to shoo him out of the room. “I should check your bandages,” she said to Aster. The real Aster, Nina presumed. “It’s been over a day,” she added, playing along. Dear God, had they injured this poor woman to mimic the gunshot wounds of the wolf? She turned to Dean. “Why don’t you get Aster some water?” We’ll be done here in a minute.”

  The man made a face of protest, but she’d used her best “I mean business” voice, and he turned and dutifully headed through the door.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  “Take your time,” Nina called. “I’ll let you know when we’re done.” She needed to see those wounds. If there even were wounds.

  Aster smiled up at her. “I have a feeling you and I are going to get along just fine, Dr. Evans.”

  Nina felt a little pang. “Nina. Please, call me Nina.”

  “Nina,” Aster agreed.

  “May I?” Nina set the bag of medical supplies on the bedside table and pulled back the covers. Aster was obviously very ill, or in a tremendous amount of pain, and was doing a damn good job of ignoring it. Under other cir
cumstances, she was pretty sure they would get along just fine. For now, she would do what she could to ease the other woman’s suffering.

  Nina pulled on gloves and peeled back the white gauze bandage placed approximately where the wound had been on the wolf’s chest.

  She went a little lightheaded at what she saw underneath. A familiar row of neat black stitches crossed angry, reddened flesh. The wound was nowhere near as raw as it should have been after only a day, but there was no denying the truth. Those were her stitches. She would recognize them anywhere. Or maybe she should say, on anyone.

  The implication that she had been trying to deny all this time slammed into her with the force of a wrecking ball. She was surrounded by—had been abducted by—a pack of werewolves.

  Her knees felt weak. She wasn’t so sure she could carry this off. Somewhere in the back of her mind, an old silly song kept repeating its catchy little phrase.

  “They’re gonna put me in the movies…

  and all I gotta do is act naturally.”

  She took a deep breath and tried to quiet her mind. She had to get out of here.

  Chapter 4

  Boaz headed down the wooded path toward the back yard. The day was grey and cloudy, which pretty much matched his mood. It had taken him almost an hour—the entire time Nina had been in the bathroom this morning—to unlock her phone. And what he found made his gut tighten. If she’d managed to send that message—

  He rubbed his face. He didn’t want to think about what could have happened. The most likely scenario was her dead along with much of the pack. The unmated males would stay to fight. Hold off the police so the mated pairs could try to escape. Lucas would have been forced to decide who should go with them and help protect their flight. But it wouldn’t have been Lucas. As their Alpha, he would stay. And it wouldn’t be Boaz. Since he had placed Nina under his protection, he was responsible for her actions. And any trouble she brought to the pack.

  No, Boaz would be with Lucas and the rest of the contingent left to fight. And die. Because no one could be taken alive. They would sacrifice themselves for the pack. It was the way of the People. And as far as he knew, it hadn’t happened in many centuries.

  He marched grimly across the yard to the practice facility set up in one of the four-car garages. It hadn’t happened. That was the main thing. And she hadn’t called 911 herself because Dean would have heard it—heard those tell-tale tones as she typed the numbers into her phone—and confiscated it. She only managed to type in the texts because she was supposed to be looking up medical information on the internet. And Dean had been distracted.

  But he still wasn’t looking forward to telling Lucas about this. And he had to. He needed Lucas to accept them into the pack, which would make him Boaz’s official Alpha. Because no way was he taking Nina back to Mont-Tremblant. And Marten.

  A sudden blast of jealousy hit him at the thought of the rival Alpha. Nina had spent time with that dog-brain. Boaz gritted his teeth, pausing by the side of the makeshift gym to pull himself together. There was no use wondering about the two of them. He’d never caught a hint of Marten’s scent on her.

  He blew out a long, slow breath. No. When the time came, Marten had gone for the other human. The one who worked with Nina. He pulled in another calming breath and let his fists unclench. But he still felt wound tighter than a coiled spring. At least there was over an hour of the training session left. He could release some of this pent-up energy sparring and pounding the heavy bag before he had to face his soon-to-be Alpha. And try to figure out how to handle this near-disaster.

  He stepped around the side of the garage and through the open bay doors. Mats covered one half of the space, with the other given over to workout equipment. Lucas was sparring with his older brother Aaron, while Jesse and his younger brother, Eli, were working on kicks down the middle.

  Eli held the pad, constantly moving, while Jesse followed, kicking the target in quick, staccato bursts. It was almost like a dance. A roundhouse followed by a spinning back kick and then a reverse kick. He looked almost elegant executing the tricky reverse kick, lightly hopping forward on his back foot and kicking out with his front. It was a particularly effective attack, since an opponent was used to watching the back leg for the threat.

  Gage and his youngest brother, Zeke, practiced the new Jiu jitsu joint locks Dean had showed them along with young Jeff.

  Boaz received nods of acknowledgement, but no one broke their concentration as he crossed the gym to one of the heavy bags. The way he was feeling, he needed to pound on that thing with some serious kickboxing combinations before he’d be fit for actually working with a partner. Too bad no one was available to hold the bag, but you couldn’t have everything. He’d just have to add the swing-back into his calculations.

  It was a full fifteen minutes before his mind cleared enough that he could turn back and face the rest of the gym. Aaron noticed and broke off with Lucas to come over to him. His expression was knowing.

  “Need a good spar, little brother?” Boaz felt his lips twitch at the dig. Aaron was three years older than Boaz, but also half an inch shorter. And when they were younger, Boaz had never let him forget it.

  “Sure,” he said. “I could use someone to knock around right now.”

  “I bet.” Aaron smirked. “Smells like you didn’t even get close to her.”

  “She’s a frightened human,” Boaz gritted out. Aaron had been mated for all of two weeks. Suddenly he considered himself an expert?

  “I know.” Aaron’s smile widened. He jabbed toward Boaz’s midsection and then his neck in quick succession as Boaz rocked back. “My little brother is all grown up.”

  Boaz rolled his eyes and counter-attacked automatically. He was forty-one. He’d been grown for a while now. He used a jab, jab, hook combination followed by a roundhouse to the knee, all of which Aaron blocked or avoided, but it was enough to shut him up. They sparred in satisfying silence for the next ten minutes. It was good to fall into the rhythm of the fight. He and Aaron were well matched. They’d done this countless times over the years.

  Almost an hour later, Boaz wiped sweat from his face with his damp tee-shirt. Zeke and Jeff were wiping down the mats and Eli handed out chilled water from the fridge in the back. He took a water from his brother and swung his gaze to Lucas, who stood in the open bay doorway gazing toward the house. Boaz felt his mouth tighten. He couldn’t put this off any longer.

  “Lucas,” he said, pausing as he walked through the open bay, “we have to talk.”

  Lucas regarded him silently for a moment. “Dr. Evans?”

  “Yes.”

  He nodded. “Fine. Talk.”

  Boaz glanced back at the gym and the men still milling around. He indicated the side yard that led to the footbridge over to the meadow with his chin. “Can we walk?” He did not want an audience for this conversation.

  Lucas gave him a quick, assessing glance. “Lead the way.”

  Boaz waited until they had made it all the way around the house and were halfway to the bridge before he spoke. He pulled out the phone and clicked on the offending text. He tried not to glance at it, but that didn’t help. The content was embedded in his brain.

  Simon, I need your help. I’ve been kidnapped by the people who’ve been attacking our labs. We need the police on this. They should be able to track my cell phone. These people are armed and dangerous. Don’t try to handle

  The text cut off abruptly. But she had been very close to sending it. Handing the phone to Lucas, he did his best to keep his voice even. “I confiscated her phone before she could send this. So that’s not a problem.”

  He gave Lucas a moment to read the text, but not too much time to absorb all of its implications. “She sent a text to her sister though. Check the last message sent.”

  Boaz watched intently as Lucas brought up the text.

  Hey Eva. Just wanted to let you know I’m going to be out of pocket for a while. Taking a little vacation and might not hav
e cell service for a while. Didn’t want you to worry.

  Boaz knew the text reply by heart but read it over Lucas’s shoulder anyway as he paused just before the footbridge over the Rabbit River.

  That’s great Nina. You deserve a break. You work too hard. Nobody can say you aren’t the best sister in the world! Let me know when you get back. XOXO

  Thinking about Nina having a sister—having a whole life that he didn’t know about—gave him a funny felling.

  Lucas met Boaz’s gaze with a hard look. “If she had gotten that text out—”

  “Then this would be a very different conversation. But she didn’t.”

  Lucas rubbed the back of his neck. “I knew she was trouble.”

  “She saved Aster.”

  “Even so.” He started across the bridge, still scrolling through the contents of the phone. “This Simon. He’s the one who ran the labs. Simon Mercov. Dean said that was his name. Look,” he said, pointing to her call log. “She got a call from Marten around eleven the night we hit the labs. And then she called this Simon immediately afterwards.”

  Boaz nodded, having noted that fact himself. They reached the other side of the bridge and headed out into the meadow. The grass was only about a foot and a half tall right now, but by the middle of summer it would be up to his waist. Fun to jump through in wolf form. Perfect for ambushing your brothers… Or picnics. He pictured Nina spread out on a blanket, sunlight playing over the pale skin of her delicate curves. The tall grass would shield her from prying eyes—

  “What do you think the chances are that she gave Simon the heads up we were coming?” Lucas’s words jerked him back to the present.

  Focus.

  “Marten must have had someone watching the territory,” Lucas continued. “When we all left like that… Well, it wouldn’t take a genius to put all the pieces together.”

  Boaz grunted and shoved his hands in his pockets. That thought had occurred to him. How else would she have known they were coming? How else would the labs have known to add security?