Mountain Wolf

by Amber Ella Monroe

  He breathed in and out steadily and then looked around the room to make sure no one was witnessing his meltdown.

  “Have you ever been propositioned like that…for sex?” she asked.

  Garrett caught a glimpse of the small smile that momentarily crossed her lips. Her eyes were filled with innocence, but asking him about his sex life was anything but innocent. He cleared his throat and prayed to God that his dick wouldn’t burst through the fly of his pants and reveal just how turned on he was.

  “Do you really want the answer to that question, sweetheart?”

  “I could see women asking a man like you.” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “You know what? I’m being rude. I talk to a lot of shifters like you at the tavern, but not like this.”

  “It’s not rude at all. In fact, it’s perfectly normal to be curious about what you don’t know and what you haven’t yet experienced.”

  “My dad was married to Melisandra and she’s a shifter and they never talked of imprinting and all that stuff,” she said. “When wolves find their true mates, wouldn’t that be like imprinting times ten? I couldn’t imagine walking around wanting to have sex all the time.”

  “Pretty much, but it’s not like that all the time. Over time, true mates have managed to control their urges when they’re not together. The difference is that true mates carry each other’s birthmarks. All shifters have them, but not all humans do.”

  “I don’t have a birthmark or at least I’ve never seen one on me anywhere.”

  His gaze swept over her flawless skin and he imagined for a moment what she would look like naked and writhing beneath him. Why did he suddenly feel the blinding need to fuck and imprint on a woman? He’d held those urges in for so long, only succumbing when he and the wolf inside of him had built up too much aggression, usually right after a job was completed. Autumn brought out the side of him that wanted to imprint because of a wolf’s need for companionship and natural mating urges. His wolf was sending out pheromones all over the place. Even the couple of shifters sitting and eating inside the small deli were beginning to take note.

  “Have you ever mated like that with anyone that could have been your true mate?”

  “No.”

  “Then you’re single? No girlfriend or anything?” she asked, as a heated blush spread across her cheeks. “Sorry, that’s not of my business.”

  “No, it’s fine and yes, I’m single. I never really stay put long enough to get involved with any woman on a long-term basis.”

  “So you have sex with them once and then leave them…aroused for several days?”

  He chuckled. “You’re persistent, aren’t you? Actually, yes…I’m not the type to stick around because of my profession.”

  “Well, at least you’re honest,” she said.

  “I’m honest when it matters the most.” He winked. “I don’t go around telling all women that I’m a shifter and that if they have sex with me, they’ll have the urge to fuck me day and night for days afterward.”

  “Okay,” she said, and then pressed her lips together cautiously. “But that would probably be icing on the cake for some women.”

  “Yeah, it probably would be, but I doubt they’d want a wolf outlaw,” he replied. “And quite frankly, I don’t know if I ever want to put any woman through the commitment and stress that my job requires. Being away from home most of the time. That sort of stuff. I don’t want to hurt anyone again.”

  “Again?”

  Garrett shifted in his seat, realizing how easy it was to talk to Autumn, even with the dozens of questions she’d asked him so far. He didn’t know whether he should see this as an advantage or disadvantage. He was more propelled to tell her the truth about himself than any other woman he’d met before. It was strange. Her signature scent of nutmeg and cinnamon continued to fuck with his reasoning and his judgment. And that scared the shit out of him. He had an important job to do with a deadline, but all he could think about was getting Autumn to safety.

  “I had a long term relationship before.”

  “What happened?”

  “I put my work before her. I admit it now, but I couldn’t before. She wanted to settle down. She wanted me to give up my lifestyle, along with my profession, because it was too stressful for her. I met her when I was twenty-one and we spent a year and a half together while I trained to become an Enforcer for my Pack. At the time, dozens of shifters were in competition for only a handful of Enforcer positions. Needless to say, I didn’t take the Enforcer job I was offered. Neither did my brothers. We made a pact with each other that we’d defend from the outside of our Pack versus the inside. I joined them with one universal mission of seeking justice for all shifters, whether it involved humans conspiring against us or our own kind threatening our existence and going against our customs. We were, and are still, known as wolf outlaws to those humans that know about us. We’re also mistaken for lone wolves most of the time.”

  “When you say that you’re protecting your own kind from threats to your existence and going against customs, do you mean like what Simon's doing?”

  “Yes.”

  “Melisandra used to say the same thing about Simon. She stopped going to the pack meetings a long time ago when Simon became the Beta.”

  “His actions ignore the rules that have been in place to protect us. He’s being accused of murdering his Alpha. That’s the same thing as a vice president conspiring to murder the president. It’s just not done. If we fail to govern ourselves, others will step in and try to take that privilege from us. Based on history, humans with power have been known to strip our rights from us under the assumption that we’re all wild animals and uncontrollable.”

  “You know what I think? I think you’re one of a kind and that you’re brave for doing something for your Pack that not everyone can or will do,” she said, her eyes lighting up with compassion. “To risk your happiness for something like this takes a whole lot of courage.”

  He smiled. “I’m happy doing it, so I’m not risking too much.”

  “Just your time and your life…your love life,” she replied.

  He nodded. “Yeah, something like that.”

  “Was she your true mate?”

  “Who? Donna?”

  “Donna?” she inquired. “Was that her name?”

  “She wasn’t. And if she were, there would’ve been nothing, not even my choice of job that could’ve prevented us from being together. It’s different for true mates. It’s like we’re preprogrammed for this special person that completes us. Dane says it feels like she’s your other half. You can’t live without her. Nothing will stop you from being with this person. The fucked up part about it is that true mates are also hard to find. There’s no guarantee that we’ll ever find one in our lifetime. Maybe one in fifty of us ever finds our true mates.”

  “Wow. So what happens if you don’t find your true mate?”

  “We go on with our lives. You can be with someone even if they aren’t your true mate and you can also love them just as fiercely.”

  “Like Melisandra and my dad.” Her gaze dropped to the table. “When I first met her I was skeptical about her intentions. She spent so much time with my dad while he was supposed to be grieving our mother, but she also helped him get through a tough time.”

  “We all need someone like that in our lives,” he said, meeting her gaze.

  “Yes, we do.”

  “We should get back on the road. A driver will meet us near the county line. He’ll take you to see Johnston, the family lawyer. I’ll stay here and follow the lead you gave me about Simon. You can stay at my lodge in Aspen Valley while you get things straightened out. I don’t think you should return to Cross City until everything is settled. I mean, really settled.”

  “You’re right,” she said. “I don’t want to be in the same city with Simon anymore. The sooner he’s gone, the sooner I can revamp the tavern.”

  Chapter 11

  Autumn had been scared
as heck the first time her dad had taken her riding on his motorcycle. At the time, she was barely a preteen. In his lifetime, he’d had a total of three riding accidents that put him in the hospital and gave everyone a good scare. Well, everyone except for him. Despite the incidents, he rode the motorcycle to work nearly every day. To this day, she was still cautious about bikes—and the bad boys who rode them. While riding with Garrett, her arms wrapped around his waist and her chest pressed against his back, she felt secure. But she hadn't let her guards down completely. She still worried about whether she'd truly be free and clear of Simon and that stupid arranged mating deal. Every day there was a setback, but as soon as she thought she was doomed to give a year of her life to Simon, something happened in her favor that gave her more time to fight the issue. She knew her luck was running out, but she was never the type of woman to give up easily.

  Simon had already demonstrated that he was far more dangerous than she had first realized. His threats and hurried attempts to mate on his terms, only proved that she'd have to take extra precautions. Especially if getting the tavern back meant living in the same town with him. Maybe luck was on her side yet again with Garrett’s new plan. Or maybe not.

  She sighed and condensation fogged the helmet visor.

  Garrett turned his head slightly. "You okay?" he asked, projecting his voice above the furious flow of the wind.

  She nodded.

  "We're almost there."

  She was ready to meet his lawyer, but she wasn't ready to leave Garrett. Not just yet. They had only just met and she wanted to learn more about him and about his life as a wolf shifter. If all that he said was true about his intentions to remain a bachelor because of his profession, she wasn't sure how receptive he'd be to the idea of ever seeing her again. He'd said it himself—he never stuck around long enough for any long-term relationship to develop.

  They rode another fifteen minutes before she began to recognize her surroundings. The lake they were approaching flowed between three neighboring counties. When she was younger, her family used to come out here almost monthly to go fishing or swimming. That was before times got rough before mom died in that car accident, and before things went south with the tavern.

  Garrett slowed down a bit and snatched off his helmet. He turned off of the main highway down a long winding road and looked off into the distance.

  “There,” he said, lifting a chin in the direction of a white sedan parked near the side of the road. “Our driver is here.”

  He rolled to a complete stop next to the car, cut the engine, and helped her off the bike. She pulled her own helmet off and gave it back to him.

  “Whew. Finally. You’re a good driver and all, but others on the road…not so much,” she joked.

  He grinned. “Yeah, you’ve gotta look out for the folks who should’ve never been granted a driver’s license.”

  He knocked on the tinted windows of the sedan and then glanced around nervously. The driver had yet to reveal himself.

  “So, where’s the driver?” she asked.

  Garrett frowned. “He’s supposed to be here.” He sniffed at the air and a look of dread swept over his face. He leaned down and retrieved a handgun from the inside his boot.

  “You were carrying a gun?” she shrieked. It was the first time she’d seen someone, up, close, and personal—clutching one the way he did.

  “Something’s not right,” he said. “Stay close to me.”

  They circled around the car. When they reached the front, she spotted red smears on the hood and the headlamps. Blood. There wasn’t a lot of it. But still…

  “Oh God.”

  “Dammit,” Garrett exclaimed.

  A dead man lay on the ground in the tall unkempt grass. It appeared that he’d succumbed to his wound—a shot to the chest. His hands looked ice cold, gray, and rigid as he clutched his chest near the point of entry.

  Autumn screamed. A blood-curdling scream that rung out across the field. She doubled over in panic and hurled dry air. She tasted the remnants of her breakfast, but nothing came up.

  Garrett knelt next to the man and took his pulse. “He’s been dead a while.”

  “Who would do this? Was that the lawyer?”

  “No. Jack was his driver.” He rose swiftly with the gun still gripped in his hands. “We’ve gotta get out of here. I think we’ve been compromised.”

  Not even a split second later, a distant sound caught in Autumn’s ears. The deep rumbling of an engine grew louder as it advanced in their direction. A black pickup truck burst out from the wooded area and across the tall fields of grass and came barreling right at them.

  Her mouth went dry. Her chest tightened and heart slammed repeatedly against her breastbone. She swung her attention to Garrett, hoping that he had an explanation for this. Any kind of explanation. She saw a different Garrett than the man that had saved her. His eyes had turned dark, almost black. His lips were pulled taut. The uneasiness on his face changed to a look of horror.

  “Garrett…what’s going on?” she asked.

  He grabbed her arm and began backing her up in the direction of the motorcycle. “We’ve got company. Bad company. Stay back behind the car and I’ll handle this.” He fished another small handgun from under his shirt and shoved it into her palm. “If anyone or anything comes at you, shoot ‘em.”

  “Oh God.” She trembled, nearly dropping the gun.

  She did as he said, rushing back to the edge of the highway. She slipped behind the white sedan, the gun shaking in her hand.

  Dust billowed up and carried on the wind toward her. Her mouth was already dry as heck and her lungs were burning from exertion. The dust stinging her eyes only made it worst.

  The black pickup truck came to an abrupt halt just five feet in front of Garrett. Two men jumped out. One of them was holding a gun. The second man reached into the backseat and pulled out a hostage who had been blindfolded and had his hands tied behind his back.

  Autumn shielded her eyes from the blazing hot sun with her hand and almost couldn’t believe her luck when she spotted Simon out in the field, shoving the hostage forward.

  Oh, my God. This was all her fault. The driver had died because of her. Someone else was in trouble because of her.

  “Well, well, well…” Simon drawled.

  “Let Edward go. He did nothing wrong.” Garrett growled.

  “Oh, really now?” Simon replied. “Because I know a couple of women back at Mina’s strip joint who beg to differ. He’s a rough one, bruising and manhandling the goods and all that. I take great pride in making sure my broads are presentable, so I can’t have him biting them.”

  “Dammit, Edward,” Garrett said, between clenched teeth.

  “Get out of here, Garrett. Don’t try to save me. Just go,” Edward told him.

  Simon's driver clipped Edward across the face with his gun. The impact of the hit sent spit and blood spewing across the ground.

  “We told you not to talk,” Simon said. “You’ve done enough of that.”

  “What did you tell them, Edward?” Garrett demanded.

  Edward spat blood on the ground. “I—”

  Simon retrieved a small knife from his front pocket and shoved the sharp blade in Edward’s shoulder. Edward hollered in pain and then snapped his mouth shut.

  “He didn’t have to tell us anything.” Simon threw a small object on the ground in front of Garrett. A cell phone. “It took us a couple hours to break the encryption and decode his messages.”

  “You’re Simon, aren’t you?” Garrett inquired. “I’m going to put a bullet in your head if anything happens to him.”

  Simon's driver lifted the gun, targeting Garrett’s chest.

  “I beg to differ,” Simon said. “You have something that I’ve already laid claim to.” His gaze lifted then traveled the short distance to where Autumn was hiding behind the sedan.

  Shit.

  “Bullshit. She doesn’t belong to you.” Garrett moved forward toward his intend
ed target—Simon. “Leave her out of this.”

  “She’s been promised to me. I have the papers to prove it.”

  “Fuck your papers. She’s mine.”

  Simon took a step back. “Not so fast. You can’t claim her. There’s already an existing claim on her. I don’t know how it’s done down in the backcountry where you live, but around these parts, the first to claim a bitch gets the bitch.”

  “Do you think I give a fuck about your claim?” Garrett replied.

  “I’m here to give you a choice. You can take this low-life can’t keep his dick in his pants mutt back with you and get the hell out of this town or you can attempt to steal what I want and I’ll kill him.”

  “No deal.”

  “A member of your Pack is already lying dead on the ground. Don’t think I won’t have Charlie here put another bullet in both of you. Killing you would be my pleasure, and it’ll definitely serve as a message to your Alpha that you can’t just come running up in our territory uninvited. I’m not as generous as the last Alpha.”

  “I take it that you’re aware of the accusations about you concerning the last Alpha,” Garrett pondered.

  “Hmmm, yes, I’m aware that members of my own Pack are trying to implicate me, but each incident has been dealt with swiftly. Anyone who has a problem with me can get out or die. The doors are open for them to leave.”

  “For them to leave and for you to claim the Alpha position…is that your plan?”

  “Haven’t I made my intentions clear enough? I want what’s mine and what I deserve according to the laws of ascension. If you take this bitch over the border, you know very well what that entails, don’t know?” He didn’t give Garrett a chance to respond. “You don’t come onto my territory and cherry-pick what you want.”

  “Nothing’s stopping me from ending you right now,” Garrett snarled. “I’d be in my best interests to do so.” He raised the gun.