by Kate Douglas
Trak nodded. Damn, he was so tired, and not feeling at all like a leader.
“Look, man, you’re toast. Do you need help getting to the bathroom? Anything to eat or drink?”
“No. I’m fine. Go hang out with your mates. I’m sure they’re curious, probably want to know how we can be in the same room and not be trying to kill each other.”
Cain snorted. “Shit, Trak. I hadn’t thought of that. If you want to keep bitching at me for everything, it’s okay. Otherwise we might really mess with their heads.”
He didn’t even try to hide his smile. “Get outta here. I need my rest.”
“That’s better. You sound a lot more like the bastard we all know and love.”
Trak flipped him off, middle finger high.
Cain flipped him back. Still, when he left the room, he left the door partly open in case his alpha needed help during the night.
CHAPTER 12
Wednesday morning
Elle rolled over and came nose to nose with Tuck—Tuck the man, not the wolf. “Good morning. Are you serious?”
“ ’Bout what?” He nuzzled her throat.
“Oh, about waking up like this for many years to come?” He’d said it again last night, that she was his and he wasn’t letting her go. She had news for him—she wasn’t letting him go, either.
“Hell, yes.” He gave her that sexy grin she loved. “Good assistants are hard to find.”
“And that’s all I am to you?” She tried sending a look that should have told him how mortally offended she was, but she couldn’t pull it off. She loved him way too much.
“You are so much more, Elle Marcel of the burgundy hair. You have become the air I breathe and the sustenance I need. I love you. I don’t need you to leave me for a week to prove that. I don’t want to spend another night without you for as long as we both shall live.”
“Works for me, Tuck. You’re the one I’ve been hoping for all my life. I’m not going anywhere.”
Thursday morning
Meg was so nervous Thursday morning she could barely button her blouse. She was bringing Zach home today. Well, not home home, but home to Feral Passions. His mind had begun to clear up yesterday, and he’d been mostly back to normal by last night. He wasn’t hurting too badly, and he was anxious to get out of the hospital.
Trak had teased her, said he was putting a couple of chairs on the deck at the lodge so he and Zach could oversee the activities. For whatever reason, she was nervous about Zachary and Traker Jakes getting to know each other. In the back of her mind was the memory of that kiss.
The one that hadn’t done a thing for her. But she was bringing Zach to her little cabin, and he hadn’t kissed her since he’d awakened. Not once. Which meant she’d probably been right and the reason he’d driven all that way was to tell her it was over.
She needed to hear him say it before she’d really believe it, but she figured she wouldn’t be at all surprised when he did. She’d play it cool, and she’d survive. Of course, that meant she’d have to find a new job, and she loved that office.
She loved her boss a whole lot more. She looked at the sparkling diamond on her left hand and wondered if she should just take it off now, except she couldn’t. She really, really wanted to be wrong.
She heard a light tap on her door. “Come in. I’m decent.”
Brad opened the door. “Well, damn. You’re no fun.” He gave her a quick appraisal. “You look really nice. Do you mind going a little early so I can pick up some groceries? I’m out of a couple of things, and with an extra mouth to feed, I need to make sure I impress your guy with the amazing food here.”
“The food is amazing. It’s been the best part of our visit. Well, for me, at least. This has been a really odd week.” She grabbed her handbag and a light sweater. “Are we taking the truck?”
“No, the van’s a lot more comfortable. And Cherry’s going with us.”
“Good. I’m glad.” Actually, she was relieved. Cherry already felt like a good friend. She might be able to figure out what was going on with Zach.
It felt weird to have regular clothes on, after three days in a hospital gown, but Zach was more than ready to get out of this place. One of the paramedics had gone over to the wrecking yard and recovered his backpack from his trashed car, so at least he had his own clothes, though not many extras.
He really hadn’t thought this trip out very well, and he still felt out of sync, as if he couldn’t connect with Meggie at all. She seemed so sad when she was here with him, and he wasn’t sure why. She hadn’t kissed him, or hugged him, or acted like she was glad he was here, but the hospital wasn’t a good place to figure that out. He wanted to be sure he was thinking clearly if they had stuff to work through.
“Zach! You’re dressed!”
“Hey, Meggie.” Damn but he loved her. She was incredible, an island of calm in the storm that was his life. He took a deep breath, forced himself to settle down. “Yeah, they found my backpack with a change of clothes. I was worried I might have to run around town in a hospital gown.” She stood there, looking so awkward, his Meggie who was always so self-assured. What the fuck was wrong? He held his arms out. “I’m not broken. Don’t I get a kiss?”
She wrapped her arms around him and held on as if she wasn’t ever going to let go. “Meggie? You’re trembling. What’s wrong?” He kissed her and then leaned back and looked into her expressive gray eyes. Right now, he saw more confusion than anything.
“I’ve been so worried, Zach. Look, let’s get out of here. Brad and Cherry, a couple from the lodge, are waiting out in the parking lot for us. Is there anything you need to do or sign or anything like that?”
“All taken care of. I’ll just let them know you’re here.” He turned carefully and grabbed his beat-up old backpack, one he’d had since college. “I feel kind of silly now, but I packed at three in the morning and left before four. Didn’t even throw in a razor.” He rubbed his jaw. “The nurse shaved my face yesterday.” He raised an eyebrow. “It was actually kind of nice. Think that’s something you’d be interested in doing once we’re married?”
She laughed and gave him a flirty, dirty look. “Depends. What do I get in return?”
“I’m sure you’ll think of something appropriate.” He was afraid if he got started with suggestions, he’d scare her off. She’d been way too careful around him since his wreck.
They stopped by the reception desk, and he made sure they had all his contact info, and then he met Brad and Cherry in the parking lot. Good-looking guy, a really awesome woman, both of them friendly and outgoing.
They were on the road and headed out within a couple of minutes.
“Zach?” Brad glanced over his shoulder. “Anything we can do about your car? Can it be fixed?”
He laughed at that one. “God, I hope not. It’s trashed. One of the paramedics stopped by this morning with pictures that he transferred to my phone. Said he was impressed I’m still alive, but the airbags and seat belt did their jobs.”
Meggie grabbed his hand. She held on to it all the way out to the resort.
Manny hunted Jules down right after breakfast. He’d told her to wear her hiking clothes, and she looked great in olive-green rip-stop cargo pants and a black fitted tank top. She’d stuck a safari hat on her head, had a lightweight jacket tied around her waist, and wore sturdy hiking boots.
She looked stunning, and he told her so.
“So. What’s your nefarious plan, Mr. Vicario? Why am I dressed like someone out of an REI catalogue?”
She gave him a slant-eyed look, and he laughed. In less than five days, he’d learned her moods, her looks, her wicked sense of humor. The places she liked for him to touch. The places she wanted to touch, and thinking of her touch on those places had him uncomfortably straining the faded jeans he’d decided to wear. “Today, my dear, Drew and I are taking you on a hike. We’re showing you some of our favorite places, ones not on the guest map. More private.”
He wag
gled his eyebrows and leered. She punched his shoulder. “Where’s Drew? I’m not going anywhere private unless he’s along, too.”
“I’m right here. Sorry.” Drew leaned close and kissed Jules. “Thanks for standing up for me. Trak asked me to move a couple of chairs for him.”
Manny cocked an eyebrow. “What’s going on? Trak’s supposed to be recuperating.”
“He is. He’s doing great, but Meg’s on her way back from the hospital with her guy, and Trak’s now got a couple of Adirondack chairs positioned on the deck so he and Zach can oversee the guests while the two of them recuperate in comfort close to the bar. His words, not mine.”
Jules laughed at that. “I’m almost sorry to miss that, but I’d rather go with you two.”
Manny wrapped an arm around her shoulders like she was one of the guys. “And why is that?”
“Because I’m on vacation, and you two are the entertainment. Now, where are we going?”
Drew slapped a hand over his heart. “She wounds me.”
Frowning, Jules looped her arm through his. “How so?”
“You’re treating us like sex toys. I’m insulted.”
Jules rolled her eyes. “C’mon, big guy. Get over it. Manny, let’s move it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He glanced at Drew. “Remember, my friend. Boyfriends come and go, but a good dildo lasts forever.”
“As long as you don’t forget to replace the batteries.” Grumbling dramatically, Drew took Jules’s other arm, and they were off.
This had been a strange, magical, sometimes heartrending crazy week, and Jules had never been happier in her life. Tomorrow would be their last day, since they had to leave early Saturday to get all the way back home to Portland. She refused to see this brief romance with creatures who shouldn’t even exist as anything beyond a chance to experience a fantasy out of time, a utopian interlude that would have to carry her through the rest of her life. She knew she would never find anyone like Manny and Drew again—two men she’d discovered were beautiful both inside and out.
Manny was a forester who kept the animals on the preserve safe. That’s why he’d been out patrolling with Trak when the alpha was shot, but it was an important job, a dangerous one as well, that he said he absolutely loved. He was funny and sweet and sometimes so charming he took her breath. She could love him so easily.
Drew was a bartender at Growl and a lot of the time acted as Manny’s foil. They played off each other with the ease of longtime friends—and, as she’d discovered, lovers.
Elle was serious about staying on with her veterinarian. All the girls knew she’d always wanted to be a vet, that she had that amazing affinity with animals and her own magical ability to heal them. For whatever reason, it was way too easy to see Elle as a fierce and powerful female wolf. She’d had them all laughing at breakfast, joking about finally deserving the name way too many men had pinned on her: bitch.
“How ya doin’, Jules?” Manny draped his arm over her shoulders. They’d been walking single file along a narrow section of trail that skirted a rushing creek, but they’d hit a wide spot. Manny was quick to take advantage of it.
“Doing great. It’s amazing out here.” It was, with the craggy mountains and thick stands of evergreens crawling up the steep slopes, the creek they followed through small meadows filled with wildflowers even this late in the summer. The afternoon had turned warm, and the air was filled with birdsong. “I’ve never been in country like this, though I see the mountains from Portland all the time. I’ve just never gone to see them up close. I envy you, living here.”
“Do you?” Drew wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on top of her head. “Wouldn’t you get bored?”
“You’re kidding, right?” She turned and kissed his chin, something she would never have done to a man just a week ago. “I’ve always wanted to write, but could never afford the time off to do it. I quit my job when I realized what a scumbag my boss was—he’s the one I was dating until I discovered I was exclusive but he wasn’t—and I actually started a book, knowing I couldn’t start job hunting until after this trip. It’s been planned for months. Luckily I had some savings, but I realized I liked staying home and writing.”
“What do you write?” Manny slipped an arm around her.
She loved being sandwiched between two killer men. She was positive she could use it in a story at some point. “Don’t laugh. I’m writing a romance.”
“Why would I laugh?” Manny leaned away from her, frowning.
“People who haven’t read them make fun of the books, call them bodice rippers. They forget the main tenet of a romance other than the romance is that it has to have a happy ending. Yes, they can have graphic sex and sometimes silly stories, but I dare you to read a good romance and walk away from it feeling sad.”
Manny took her hand and led her away from the trail, over to a grassy spot beside a huge incense cedar. Drew pulled a blanket out of his backpack and spread it on the ground. “Time for a break. Sit.”
She sat with a guy on either side. It wasn’t awkward at all. It felt right.
“So, any chance Manny and I might turn up in one of your books?” Drew tapped the end of her nose and made her laugh.
“Believe me, gentlemen, whenever I have to write about a sexy hero, you two will be foremost in my mind. I’m going to miss you so much when I leave here. I’m hoping that writing about you will be a way to keep you close.”
“Ya know,” Manny said, “when we first built Feral Passions and opened the doors last spring, we had a rule that if any of the guys met a woman he loved enough to keep, he had to wait until at least a week after she’d gone home to find her and see if she still felt the same about him as he did about her. But that was with women who didn’t know what we were, what we were offering. So far, only Brad and Cain and Wils and Ronan have met women they could see themselves spending a lifetime with. Of course, after they followed the girls to San Francisco, they discovered that Cherry had figured out our secret.”
“She said it was eye color that tipped her off.”
“That’s right,” Drew said. “That night, when Manny and I came to your room, you called us by name. You were right. How?”
“I don’t know. I was asleep. I’d been dreaming about Manny.” She glanced at him and smiled. “Very good dreams, by the way. In my dream, he was a wolf, and when you both showed up as wolves, I knew who you were. No reason. I just recognized you in the wolves, somehow.”
Drew took her hand, played with her fingers. “Freaked us out. We had no idea how you knew.”
“Sorry. Neither did I. I still don’t.”
“Jules, Drew and I wondered how you felt about us. Could you see a future with a couple of guys who tend to go furry on occasion? Maybe spend some time on the furry side yourself? Occasionally howling at the moon?”
“What?” She looked from Manny to Drew and back at Manny.
Manny ran his fingers through her hair. Pulled her close for a kiss. “I can see a lifetime of kissing you, making love to you. I can’t imagine growing tired of you.” He raised his head. “Or this guy. You see how it works with Cherry and the guys. That’s what we’re asking for. With you.”
“But you need to know everything,” Drew said. “We finally convinced Trak that you should know the truth before you really think about it. If you agree, we’d both need to bite you. Not bad, just enough to break the skin, but you’d go to sleep, and when you woke, you’d be able to shift.”
“If you agree,” Manny added, “you will only have sons, not daughters. Werewolf males are born, the females are made, but you’ll live far beyond your normal life span.”
This was amazing. Crazy. She’d have to be nuts … not to. “How far beyond?”
“Well, how old do Drew and I look?”
She shrugged. “Low to midthirties.”
Drew grinned. “I’m the kid here. I was born in 1911. This old fart was born in 1897.”
“Holy. Shit.” Sh
e stared at the two of them. Manny was born in the nineteenth century! “Manny, you’re almost a hundred and twenty years old!”
“And he doesn’t look a day past a hundred.” Drew snickered.
Manny mussed his hair and in a shaking voice said, “Be kind to your elders, sonny.”
“I’ve been thinking of this week as an impossible slice out of time I never want to give up. You’re offering me the fantasy for the rest of my life. I’d be crazy to say no.”
Drew took one hand, Manny the other.
“We still have to give you a week away,” Drew said.
“Time to think it through,” Manny added. “Time to think us through. Drew and I have been off-and-on partners for years, never as committed as Cain and Brad. I asked him this week if he loved me enough to be my partner, even if you weren’t part of it.”
“And I said yes, because I’ve loved Manny for years, but I told him it would be a lot more fun if you were part of the mix.”
“I want that,” Jules said. She meant it with all her heart. “I want both of you.”
Dar was the only one by the pool Thursday afternoon. Everyone had found someplace to be—Jules with her guys, Elle and Tuck checking on a mare near town having a tough labor, and Meg with Trak and Zachary.
Lawz had gone into town to check on the sheriff’s case against the poachers. They’d arrested all three guys Tuesday night and found a huge freezer filled with frozen game on Wednesday, most likely from the preserve, though at this point there was no way to prove it. No matter, it had been taken out of season, and Trak was paying to have DNA tests done against the carcasses found within the fence line to see if they could make a match. No wolves had been killed, but the men had been charged with attempted murder, poaching, trespassing, and because they all had prior prison records, felons in possession of firearms.
The sheriff assured Lawz they’d be spending a long time behind bars.
Dar picked up the book she’d been reading. Brad had come out and refreshed her margarita, and she honestly couldn’t remember feeling this relaxed. She realized that this was the first time she’d actually been alone since the drive down last Sunday. The weird thing was, she didn’t miss the girls, her closest friends ever. She missed Lawz. He’d spent the night in her bed, just as he had every night since she’d arrived. He’d been a wolf that first night, but the man was addictive. More than addictive—she wasn’t sure she could walk away without a broken heart.