by Vivian Arend
Was it the loss of her husband that put the darkness into her sparkling personality?
Physically she knocked his knees out from under him. Mentally and emotionally, she tied him in knots. Memories had poured through his brain since the first second he’d recognized her. Memories and longings he’d put aside in his quest to become a wolf.
He had to be careful not to let his physical attraction make him do anything he’d regret. This was one woman he refused to hurt above all others.
“Do you like Whistler?” he asked, trying to head the conversation back into neutral territory. His erection had eased as they worked, the returning blood flow to his brain making it easier to concentrate. “I have some friends who go skiing there every year, but I haven’t heard much about the community.”
She hesitated for a surprisingly long time before answering. “The mountains are glorious, and I enjoy being in a small town again after living in Vancouver. It’s not the Yukon, though. There’s something special about the north I’ve missed.”
Tad reached to give her hand a reassuring squeeze. The touch of skin on skin was like grabbing a live wire. Energy flowed between them, sending small shocks up his arm. He jerked his fingers away. “Shoot. The static electricity is crazy in here.”
Missy had the strangest expression on her face. She held a hand to Tad. “Try again.”
Tad hesitated then clasped fingers. This time the energy didn’t snap, but it was there, a low buzz of tingles spreading over him.
It felt good.
Too good. Tad pulled away before parts of his anatomy he didn’t want to reawaken heard the alarm ringing through him. “What’s that all about?” he asked in confusion.
Missy shook her head. “I’m not sure. Maybe like you said—static electricity. Some people are better conductors than others.”
“Weird.” Tad turned away to get the next set of boxes.
His whole body was hot, and he had the strange desire to pick Missy up and carry her back to his apartment and ravish her until they were both so sated neither of them could move. Well, okay, it wasn’t a completely unexpected emotion since she was pretty easy on the eyes, and he’d always had a huge crush on her. Yet he’d never had an attack of the hormone kind this hard before. It was unsettling, especially when he wanted to impress Missy, not come across like some northern Neanderthal.
Gotta stay calm. Cool.
“How’s your sister?” Missy asked.
Tad leapt at the change in topic. “She’s gone bush this week for a getaway. I was supposed to go with her, but had to cancel. Shaun, my business partner, insists she’ll be just fine, but I’m still concerned. I know she’s strong, but since I found out…” Tad coughed suddenly, frantic to cover up that he had nearly told Missy about being a wolf. He must be tired because he’d never slipped like that before.
It was Shaun’s fault for getting him thinking about having sex with a human woman right before the biggest wet dream of his life walked through the door.
Tad glanced at where she sat in the open storage compartment of the plane, her feet dangling in midair. Curls draped over her shoulders, the ugly coverall unable to hide the curves of her petite frame.
A shot of lust raced through him. Damn, he couldn’t blame this on Shaun. It was his own body jerking him around. He was horny and a total bastard all on his own.
Missy seemed deep in thought, and Tad fought a case of wandering hands. The need to touch her was so bad it made his whole body hurt.
She gave him one of her shy smiles. “I’m sure Robyn will be fine. She always was extremely independent.”
He hurried to reassure her. “I know, I just like to worry. It comes with the territory.”
They stared at each other.
Missy looked away first, biting her lower lip. Tad shut his mouth tight so the groan that wanted to escape was locked away. Everything about Missy called for him to step forward and—
She grabbed the front of his shirt and tugged until he stood between her legs, their torsos nestled together. Lips, soft and warm, brushed his, and that strange electric sensation enveloped his body at the same time.
Tad pulled Missy closer and kissed back, nibbling her lips, caressing the curve of her cheek with small touches. He snuck a hand into her curls and cupped her head to direct her mouth to the right angle to enjoy her fully.
She opened her lips and he tasted her for the first time. Sweet and spicy, intoxicating.
Addictive.
His tongue made a tentative dip into her mouth, a brief stroke against hers, then retreated as they explored the newness of the kiss. What he’d imagined as a teenager was nothing like the experience as an adult.
Heat rose between them as his body reacted to Missy’s softness. Tad fought to keep his hands loose around her instead of trapping her against the plane like he wanted to. He forced himself to kiss her instead of feasting on her lips, forced himself to let the sweetness of the experience flow over them like a fine wine.
They separated at the same moment, fingers linked even as their lips parted. Tad stared into Missy’s eyes and saw his need reflected back.
Sweet mercy, she wanted him too.
Tad leaned forward, ready to recapture her lips when she pressed a hand against his chest.
“We need to finish. The others could be here anytime.”
Deep breath.
Tad nodded. He dropped one final kiss on her mouth, a fleeting brush of lips, the promise of more.
Simply touching her made his body ache. There was no way he could deny the attraction between them. It was time he made up his mind, and right now his wolf side was losing the battle.
Waiting to find forever with a wolf mate was one choice, but perhaps he could find forever in a different direction.
Alone in her hotel room that night Missy paced, unable to sit still with the energy surging through her. The day had turned out nothing like she expected.
She still felt Tad’s mouth on hers, the caress of his hands on her body. Never before had she experienced such a strong attraction. The connection with Tad was overpowering, a little frightening, and divinely potent. It was what she wanted.
Was it what she needed?
After fleeing Whistler, she’d worked during the day and researched every night until nearly a month later she found a possible solution to her problem.
Wolf hormones.
She pulled out the article she’d found stashed in the archives of the shifter reference library—the secret section hidden in the depths of the University of Vancouver Library, and only accessible after a serious bit of fast-talking, a little bit of hacking, and a timely nudge at a wolf librarian from her Omega side.
Missy had felt guilty about that last bit, but it was her life on the line. Cheating and using her skills was a sin she could live with to avoid being sucked into Doug’s schemes.
A Study in Omegas
Because of the rare nature of the Omega wolf, volunteer information gathered from packs around the world has yielded the following information. Check sections 1-12 for specific topics.
…Section 7:2
We have long known that the unique chemicals present in werewolf physiology have a correlation to two specific results.
#1) the physical transformation between forms is made possible.
#2) the compounds cause the life-time mating bond between wolf couples.
Two more results have been quantified over the years.
#3) False mate.
And as it specifically relates to Omegas
#4) a disruption of abilities.
In full blood wolves, already triggered as babies, the peaking of these hormones during adolescence allows their first transformations to wolf. (Effect #1)
In regards to half-blood wolves, though, a strange dichotomy occurs.
Females develop the same hormones which then level out to a baseline between child and adult. Until they have sex with a full-blood, they remain at that untriggered point. Once they hav
e sex with a wolf (chemical exchange) during the next full moon phase, most find they are now fully able to shift and join shifter society.
Male half-blood wolves, however, build up an excess supply of hormones. When they have sex with a full-blood wolf (as needed to be triggered to be able to shift) the hormones are released in large enough quantities to potentially cause a dangerous side effect, 3) a FALSE mating bond on the female’s side.
If the MALE half-blood is of a higher strength than their FEMALE partner, the female experiences all the same effects as if the male were her mate. An emotional, spiritual, and physical connection that is unbreakable.
In layman’s terms, the female falls utterly in love, hopelessly obsessed from nothing more than a chemical chain-reaction.
It is easy to see why many half-blood males end up untriggered and unwelcome in packs. Unless the male is obviously weaker than them, what woman would take a chance on becoming trapped? And how many women are attracted enough to a weaker wolf to have sex with them?
This is why the custom of FirstMate was developed.
Missy paused. That was how her brother-in-law had hoped to gain control over her. Doug thought compelling her into marriage with his inexperienced half-blood brother would end up leaving her a mindless love puddle.
She opened the window to let in the cold night air, the room suddenly close and unbearable. She rested her head against the windowsill, fighting down the shudders that threatened to overtake her as she remembered her wedding night. It wasn’t the sex that had scared her, but she hadn’t been in love, and her terror of becoming trapped had made the experience hell.
Missy had always considered it a miracle she was a stronger wolf than anyone expected.
She took a deep breath and continued to read.
#4) Disruption of abilities in Omegas
While all the skills of individual Omegas have never been categorized, one or two stories have been recorded of an Omega female having FirstMate sex with a half-blood, then discovering her Omega abilities had vanished. Whether the loss was an effect of the hormone overdose, or a FalseMate is not clear, but in both circumstances, the Omega title was clearly removed from the pack records.
Missy resumed pacing, the small space of the hotel room like a cage around her. The solution had been there all the time. If she had sex with an untriggered, half-blood wolf who was more powerful than her, it could destroy her talents, and she would be free. Doug would have no use for her without intact Omega abilities.
Giving up a part of herself to avoid being used as a tool seemed an acceptable sacrifice. Even if it meant she would forever love someone who didn’t love her back.
But who should she approach to offer FirstMate? Only three types of women would ever dare to offer to act as a guide. A very very strong female, or a female who was already mated—which rarely happened, because what male was going to be willing to allow his mate to have sex with anyone else?
Or…someone like her. As a widow, people would assume she would be safe from the hormone backlash.
If the attempt failed she had already decided she would shift into her wolf and disappear from human society forever. The Yukon was a logical safe haven. Her time was running out, and if FirstMate didn’t work, going feral seemed her final option.
And Tad was in the north. Missy had always remembered him, and his face was the first to rush to her mind, perhaps for a good reason. They had only kept their hands off each other during the afternoon’s work because the crew from LRG joined them.
Was it possible that she was already reacting to a false mating? Just from a kiss?
She shook her head. Time to focus. She’d come north, found out Tad was still single, and untriggered. All good things. Now only one real question remained: did Tad know he had wolf genes?
She couldn’t let him make love to her and then leave him to face a world for which he wasn’t prepared. Because he was a half-blood, having sex with her would trigger his wolf, and by the next full moon he would be able to shift.
He needed to be warned and trained, and she wouldn’t be here after their rendezvous. She would either return to Whistler to prove her skills were gone, or she would disappear into the wilderness.
Missy forced herself to stop daydreaming about Tad. There were other goals yet to accomplish.
Opening her laptop, she logged into the first stage of the Whistler-wolf-pack website. Maggie was still online. Her sister’s habitual evening online chat was their prearranged set-up. It gave Missy information she would never be able to access otherwise.
When Maggie signed out at nine p.m., Missy entered her sister’s pass code with a false ISP number and snuck into the system while the time clock stayed motionless. Missy took a big breath and blew it out in a slow stream. The records would continue to show her sister’s presence until the mandatory one-hour system shutdown occurred. The pack was obsessive to track such things.
Missy checked her watch and set to work.
Accessing Doug’s daily email records and his private message box was a piece of cake with her computer skills. She was relieved to see that while her brother-in-law continued to track her, he hadn’t put out a call to make her return before her time was up, and there were no plans in place to harass her sister.
Missy snooped around to gather more information on the pack’s illegal activities to use as ammunition to challenge Doug. Perhaps she could leak the information to the authorities and get him arrested by the human system if the wolf council was unable to help. She did a little more archive research on Omega wolf characteristics, and one hour later, Missy logged out. She was still safe.
For now.
Chapter Three
Tad completed a few more official flight papers. He pulled a beer from the fridge and turned the TV on low in the background as he sat and flipped through a couple of the magazines on the table.
He was wasting time until he could go and pick up Missy for the evening and he knew it. She said she’d be ready by eight, and he was fretting and worrying like he was back in high school. Three days he’d been waiting since Saturday, three nights of his mind producing the most erotic of dreams to haunt him.
He had a permanent hard-on and every little glimpse of Missy at the work site simply drove his need higher.
A date with Missy—a real actual grown-up date. It was enough to make his worries about getting triggered fade into the background, at least temporarily.
The phone rang and his heart leapt. Then he realized it wasn’t his house phone or his cell phone.
Crap. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about his sister. It was Tuesday, and Robyn was supposed to check in tonight. Good thing he’d still been home or she would have flipped.
He opened the satellite phone to check for a text message. A voice rose from the speaker instead.
Weird. Robyn never spoke out loud. She was deaf. She signed, or she wrote notes, or she stomped and threw things.
“Hello?” Tad said hesitantly.
“Hi, Tad, this is Keil Lynus. How are you, man?”
“Hey. I’m doing great.” He glanced down at the phone trying to figure out what was strange about this call. Keil was a regular client, a wilderness guide and a great guy who just happened to be a wolf. He was also the one who’d explained about werewolves in the first place when his little brother had screwed up and accidentally shifted in front of Tad. “What’s up? Troubles with TJ? Need help rescuing him?”
“No, TJ doesn’t need any rescuing, we already dug him out.”
“No way, I was joking. Your brother is such an ass.” Something was up. Keil never called him—he emailed his flight requests. Tad killed the sound on the TV and tried to focus.
“I know, he’s a total pain in the butt.” There was a pause for a second before Keil continued, “I do need something.”
Then it sunk in. No one should be using this number except Robyn. Tad’s stomach tightened with anxiety. Damn it, something had happened. “Keil? Why are you calling me
on my sister’s sat phone? Is everything all right? Is she there with you, or what?”
“She’s fine. In fact Robyn and I are mates, and I was—”
His stomach relaxed, but all the blood in his body rushed to his head and made the room spin. Oh my God. “No bloody way! That’s fantastic. I never dreamed you’d be the one for her.” There were rustling sounds in the background, and a couple of claps and slaps. “Is she good with it? How did she find out?”
“Hang on, Tad, she’s getting a little frisky right now. I think she’s worried you’re having a fit or something over there. Want to talk to her?”
“Of course! Just give me a second…”
Talk about astonishing news. This was better than anything he’d ever imagined. His sister had found her mate. Too cool. He typed a message on the keypad.
Tad: Congratz sis, Keil is awesome. I’m so happy for u
Robyn: U know Keil? U know what he is?
Oh yeah, he knew. Tad: Ya. Wolf. U work fast sis
The next message took a few seconds to arrive but he already guessed what she was going to say. It was her favourite threat.
Robyn: U are so dead next time I c u
Tad: luv U 2
Robyn: Jerk
Well, that seemed to be it for intelligent conversation from Robyn if she’d digressed into single-word insults. The faint sound of a voice reached Tad’s ears, and he lifted the receiver back to his ear to respond.
“Keil? You guys as mates? That is so cool. I mean, really.” Tad was slightly shocked. Robyn had been dropped off only four days ago, and they were already mates? Hell, that meant she obviously didn’t have his troubles with—
He shook his head. There was no way he was going to even think about his sister having sex.
“Well, thanks. It was a surprise, but she’s incredible, Tad. Hey, there’s a little thing shaking down this weekend if you’d like to join us. Robyn’s first full moon will be on Saturday.”