by Diane Leyne
“Tell me you didn’t feel it.” Nick’s voice was soft, but he wasn’t backing down. “Tell me you didn’t take one look, one sniff and not know that she was the one we’ve been waiting for.”
“I’m not going to lie. I felt something.” That was the understatement of all understatements. “But she’s human. She can’t be mate to five wolves. No human woman would be able to deal with the sexual demands of five wolves. Think about it. It is not possible.”
His words rang hollow even to him. He’d do anything to make her his, theirs.
“But the mating bite…” suggested Eddie, but his voice trailed off.
“You know that would be wrong.” Gabe gently rubbed his brother’s shoulder. “We can’t take away her free will. Only if she comes to us on her own and chooses to be our mate, only then can we seal it with the mating bite.”
“You are right, of course. I knew it when I said the words, but I want her so badly.”
“We all do. And I, for one, am not giving up.” Andy was the baby of the family by about fifteen minutes, but sometimes he was the feistiest. “I’m going to see her at Lupo’s on Saturday, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make her fall in love with me, and I suggest you do the same. Gabe here is conceding defeat without even trying. I say we all take turns courting her, wooing her, and making her see just how good things could be with us.”
“Are you saying that each of the five of us court her separately?” asked Nick.
“Separately or in teams so we get her used to the idea of being shared. But I think we also have to decide what to do if she only connects with one or two of us. She’s human. Maybe she won’t want us all. Is it an all-or-nothing proposition, or do the ones she doesn’t chose stand aside? Of course, this presumes she chooses any of us.”
Nick spoke up again. “I’m with Andy. I say that we don’t give up without having even fought the first battle. Maybe lose the war and the girl. Maybe only a few of us are winners and the rest have to accept this, but I’m not giving up without even trying.”
“But she’s human!” interjected Gabe yet again.
“Are you sure?” asked Nick.
“What?”
“Are you sure she’s one hundred percent human? I didn’t smell any wolf on her, but the fact that she’s mate to the five of us…Surely she’s got some of the blood in her for her to bring out that feeling in all of us.”
“Regardless. The odds of her accepting five mates is highly unlikely.”
“It’s not like you to give up before you even start.”
“Fine. If all of you want to try to win her over, I won’t stand in your way. And if she chooses you all, I won’t stand in your way.”
“What about you? You don’t want her?”
“You didn’t see how she looks at me. She doesn’t like me at all. It’s probably better that I keep my distance so I don’t hurt your chances.”
“Gabe, this isn’t like you. I can’t believe I’m the one telling you this, but here it is. ‘If at first you don’t success, try, try again.’ Jeez, didn’t you learn anything in nursery school, or are you too old to remember?” taunted Andy. “You’ve never given up on anything or anyone in your life. Why start now? And if it doesn’t work out, at least you won’t be sitting in your rocking chair in fifty years fretting about not even trying.”
Bart, who had been quiet until that point, stood up and walked over to his brother. “Damn it, Gabe. You want her. I know you do. There’s no way that the four of us are seething with lust and the need to mate her and you are immune. Admit it, you have it just as bad as the rest of us, but you’re too proud to admit it. You are afraid to show vulnerability, and you are afraid of being rejected. Well, damn it. Get in the game, man.” He was agitated and pacing back and forth, the words tumbling out. Bart was the quiet one, but when he got like this, they all listened, even Gabe.
“This is war and war is a series of battles. We may not win them all, but as long as we ultimately are victorious, then it was worth every pain and setback and even embarrassing rejection. We can win her over. I’m convinced of it. But you are our alpha. Without you, this isn’t going to work. I know you, Gabe. You want her, too. I don’t know if you are fooling yourself or if you are afraid to try and get rejected, but you have to get in the game. I didn’t think you were a coward, Gabe, but that’s what you are acting like now. Of course it is going to be hard to convince a woman that she’s mate not one or two but five shape-shifting wolves. Of course it’s not going to be easy, but nothing worthwhile was ever easy. Now either wolf up or we’re all going to kick your ass.”
Gabe sat back in his chair, looking up at his brother with respect. Then he looked at the anxious faces of his other brothers.
“Bart, everything you say is true. I am a coward. When I look at her, heart wants to burst and my cock stands at attention. I wanted her so badly at the store I almost came in my pants like a horny teenager, which is why I went straight to my office. And I don’t know what I’d do if we got close and then she left me. But I know that I can’t think like that. I’m an alpha, damn it. And she’s our mate.” He looked at his brothers, at the hope rising in their faces.
“I’m going to go out for a run and clear my head and give some thought to how to capture our mate. I may just swing by the Daniels place to just see how she’s doing. Don’t wait up for me.”
He strode past his surprised brothers and out onto the porch. He knew they’d be up for hours talking and debating how best to proceed. But he was a man of action. He’s spent ten years in the military, much of it in the Special Forces. He would wage a campaign on Miss Samantha Anderson, and she would theirs before she knew what hit her.
But to do that, he would have to play dirty. He stripped down to bare skin and carefully folded his clothing on the table on the back porch. Then he shifted into wolf-dog form. Gabriel the man might not be able to snoop around her home or get close to her, but Gabriel the wolf-dog could without her knowledge. Maybe he could even get inside. He’d find out all her secrets until he knew exactly how to woo her. She wasn’t totally immune to him. He’d felt her response and smelled her arousal. Damn that delivery truck.
* * * *
Samantha finished her unpacking and made a light dinner. Now she was sitting outside enjoying the warm summer evening. It really was a beautiful part of the world. She loved the green of the forest and the glimpse of the mountains in the distance. She could hear the call of the wolves in the background. She didn’t think any of them was a McAllister, but she wasn’t sure how she knew.
It was so different than Florida. Even if she didn’t end up staying in Harmony, there were probably hundreds of similar towns in the state. Maybe she’d stay in the Northwest when her summer in Harmony was up. She looked up at the sky. The stars and moon were beautiful up here. It wasn’t a full moon yet, but probably would be by the weekend.
She was sitting on one of the kitchen chairs making notes on her tablet when she first saw the movement in the distance. She wasn’t sure what it was at first, but then she caught the scent of wolf. And it wasn’t just any wolf. It was a shape-shifter wolf. She sniffed again. It was Gabe. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did and she wasn’t sure whether she should be amused, annoyed, or angry. Well, time will tell.
But just what was he up to? Was he trying to scare her away or just get close for some crazy reason? Was he just going to stay in the distance and spy on her? She smiled to herself. He didn’t know that she had wolf blood and could scent him. She went back to working on her tablet, pretending she didn’t know he was there, waiting for him to make a move.
It took a while, but eventually he was close enough for her to see him. She’d seen her brothers in wolf form a couple of times when they were kids, but not in years. She could see a little of the resemblance. None of them looked like pure wolf. Maybe it was the human side or maybe it was just the wolf bloodline, but they looked more like wolf-dogs, less threatening then pure wolf, but stil
l large and potentially dangerous to one who didn’t know. In wolf form, he was bigger than the biggest German shepherd dog she’d ever seen, lean with jet-black fur the same color as his hair. He had the same blue eyes as he did as a human, but they were even more startling in this form.
She could see him approach her tentatively. She decided to pretend nervousness but then try to lure him close.
“Hey, doggie. Who do you belong to? It’s kind of late for you to be out, isn’t it? Is your owner around here somewhere? Did you run away?” she asked in the type of crooning voice people used with dogs.
She watched him hesitate, playing at being the shy homeless wolf-dog.
“I’m Sam. Who are you?” she asked. “Do you have a collar? Maybe if you come a little closer I can see who you belong to and call them to come get you. They are probably worried about you, running off late at night like this.”
He wagged his tail just a bit as he stood and stared at her. Then he moved just a big closer. Then a bit more. Finally he was about twenty feet from the porch. He sat down and looked at her and her tablet. She had to hold back a smile. He really was so transparent. He’d come here to snoop. She bet if she left the tablet alone she’d come back to find him trying to check it out.
“Have you just come to visit? You can come closer if you like.” She thought for a moment. “Are you hungry? Don’t go away.”
She hurried into the kitchen. What did she have in the kitchen that didn’t have to be cooked other than cookies and ice cream? She’d just loaded up on staples but cooking took time.
She looked in the fridge. Bless Ginger. There were two roast beef sandwiches. She unwrapped one and put it on the plate. She made sure she made lots of noise walking back out, giving him time to shift back if he’d switched to human form to peak at her tablet.
Sure enough, when she came up, he was up on the porch and her iPad had been moved slightly. She probably wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t been looking for it. She smiled to herself.
“Are you hungry? Want a sandwich?”
She put the plate on the floor and watched him approach it reluctantly. If he was pretending to be some kind of homeless dog, then he should be starving. It was almost ten. It was highly likely he’d already had dinner and wasn’t terribly hungry, but he had to eat her offering as a part of the charade.
Maybe she’d buy some dog food when she went to town. Serve him right if she forced him to eat kibble if he came snooping again.
Carefully he started on the sandwich. She wondered if he ever ate in wolf form. He seemed to find it puzzling. Most dogs would just dig in, but he was trying too carefully, like he was hung up on human manners. Maybe she should cut it up next time?
When he was finally finished, she reached out and patted him. She encouraged him to come closer to her, and she scratched him on the top of his head and then under his chin. He looked up at her, and she saw the startling blue eyes. She ran her hands around his neck as if looking for a collar and found none as expected.
“Poor puppy. Are you homeless? Just a wild dog with no one to call master? No one to take care of you?” she crooned. He moved closer to her, shoving between her legs and putting his head on her knee. She pulled him close, leaning down to kiss him on the nose.
“Now what am I going to call you? It’s late and I’m not feeling terribly creative, so I’ll just call you Fido for now. Do you like that, Fido?”
She held his head in her hands and looked at him. “Fido.”
He pulled away, edging down the steps. “Don’t like it, eh? Well, I’ll think of something better when I’ve had more sleep. If you come back tomorrow night, I’ll have some more dinner for you. Would you like that?”
He looked at her and barked once before running off into the night.
She watched him go and then went back to her iPad. She smiled when she touched the screen and it came back to life. That was not where she’d been when she put it down. She’d been making notes for her novel, and now it was at her file directory.
She wondered what he was hoping to find. Hopefully he’d be back again tomorrow. She’d make sure there were interesting files for him to find.
Chapter Six
Rather than drive into town again, Sam drove to Westville. She’d remembered seeing a Walmart near there, and she didn’t want what she bought being reported back to Gabe McAllister. She picked up a bag of dog food, the good stuff, and a collar, leash, a food bowl, and a water bowl. Then she picked up some dog shampoo and a few doggie toys. She was going to enjoy every minute of this.
When she got home, she also looked up vets in Harmony. As she suspected, there was, and it was a member of the original families, a Doctor Lena Windsor. It made sense that a pack of wolves had at least one member who was a vet, just in case.
She smiled to herself. Depending upon just how far Gabe wanted to take this little game, she now had a few surprises in store for him.
* * * *
Samantha spent the rest of the day writing. She already had a fairly good outline of what she wanted to write. She’d been refining it in her head on the long drive to Harmony, and now she wanted to get it all written down. She’d done a lot of nonfiction writing relating to her job, but this was her first serious attempt at fiction. It was going to be a romantic suspense thriller.
She was halfway through her outline when she realized that her blond-haired, green-eyed hero had morphed into a black-haired, blue-eyed one. Damn that man for getting under her skin like that. Damn all the brothers in fact.
She checked the clock. It was almost seven. She’d been writing without a break since lunch. She stood up and stretched. Maybe tomorrow morning she’d check out Bodies in Harmony. She really did need to get to a gym. She needed the workout. She’d go in Wednesday morning and check the place out.
She smiled. If she was completely honest with herself, it might be nice to spend time with them one-on-one or even two-on-one. The ones who ran the gym were the youngest, so maybe they were her best bet. She found herself attracted to them, but being younger, maybe they’d be more manageable, a term that she was pretty sure would never be applied to Gabe.
She made herself some pasta. She was just putting it on her plate when she heard the scratching on the screen door. She looked up and smiled. It was Fido.
“Just a minute, Fido. I’ll let you in.”
She walked to the door and opened it. He slid in and then sat at her feet expectantly. She rubbed his head and then went to the cupboard to take out the dog bowls. She filled one with water and the other with kibble and placed them beside the counter.
He looked up at her, his glance quizzical. And then he looked over at her dinner.
“Sorry, pooch. That’s human food. You need to eat your kibble. It’s good for you. It’ll make your coat nice and shiny, and it’s good for your teeth, too. Dig in.”
She sat down and started on her pasta. It was fettuccini in Alfredo sauce with chicken, peas, and broccoli. She could see the reluctance in “Fido’s” posture, but he dug in and started eating. By the time she was finished, he was over beside her again, his head on her knee.
“Did you eat all your dinner?” She looked over at the empty bowl. “Good boy. Let’s go into the living room. I have a treat for you.” She lead him into the living room and over to the couch. She sat down and he hopped up and curled up beside her, his muzzle on her knee again.
She reached down beside the couch and picked up the package of doggie treats. “Just like real bacon” said the package. She opened it and took a couple out.
“Here you go, boy, for being such a good doggie and eating all of your dinner.” She fed him three of them and watched him force them down. Then he settled back down beside her.
She turned on the television. Ginger had been kind enough to set up her cable. Normally, she hated most “chick flicks,” but tonight wasn’t about her. So she turned on the Jennifer Lopez film festival on the one of the cable channels and settled in to enjoy the show.
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br /> Fido lasted about an hour before heading out to the door and barking for her to let him out. She got up and went over to the door.
“So, Fido. Do you think maybe I should get the dog door fixed? Would you like that? Are you going to keep coming around if I do?” she leaned down and gave him a pat on the head. “Maybe I’ll ask those nice McAllister boys if they can do it when they deliver the rest of my furniture tomorrow?”
As if he could understand her, and Samantha knew damned well he could, “Fido” sat up and barked happily. Of course he wanted a working dog door. Then he could come and go as he pleased and snoop all he liked.
* * * *
Gabe could smell her dinner. Fettuccini. Damn. He looked down at the dry kibble in his bowl. Tentatively he took one into his mouth and crunched down on it. It was hard and tasteless. He couldn’t believe she expected him to eat this crap. He took a deep breath. She didn’t know he was a wolf-dog shifter. She thought he was a dog and she was feeding him something dogs liked. Maybe he’d just crunch on it a bit and pretend to eat?
But then he looked over and saw her approving glance and suddenly he realized that he wanted her approval. And an idea. He could do this. He would eat this disgusting kibble and then he would go beg at the table. He’d seen real dogs to it. He’d make puppy-dog eyes at her, literally, and she’d feed him off her plate and he’d get some of that great smelling fettuccini.
So he decided to crunch through his dinner quickly. It really wasn’t too bad if he swallowed quickly and didn’t let it linger in his mouth. And he had the bowl of water, but in the end, he took his time as she began to talk to him. At first, she mentioned her old dog Murphy, who she missed. And then she talked about her old job in Florida and the book she planned to write. He realized that she was lonely and a bit afraid living alone in a strange town, outside town. She was a city girl, and she liked having some company, even if it was just a dog.