by E A Price
“Oh, what does that mean?”
Carly smiled sheepishly. “Well, I’m physically the weakest of my pack, but I’m connected to all the pack emotionally, I can sense their feelings and help them control them. I can also soothe people who aren’t pack members.”
“No wonder I was ready to let you into my house.”
Rosalee grinned at her and Carly looked a little guilty. “It’s kind of hard to turn it off...”
Rosalee smiled, this girl was so cute she wanted to adopt her. “Hey I’m not complaining. So you’re part of the Grey wolf pack hmmmm? You wouldn’t have come over here at the suggestion of your Alpha would you?”
Another guilty look. Rosalee groaned. “That guy really is a butthole... no offence.”
Carly chuckled. “None taken. He’s your typical Alpha, bullish and headstrong... won’t take no for an answer...”
Rosalee gave another groan. “Oh goody.”
Carly paused and looked at her thoughtfully. “Have you ever had much to do with shifters?”
“Not really, I’ve seen them in the cities where I’ve lived but I’ve never seen them shift.”
“Hmmm, most shifters who live in cities tend be on their own and act more human than animal. Things are a little different in small towns.”
“Oh?” Rosalee was suddenly very interested to hear just about anything that might pertain to a certain sexy wolf man.
“Out here shifters tend to be... freer and more open about their animals, and not exactly... erm shy about...” Carly struggled to find the words.
“About stripping down and letting their beast run wild?”
“Yes.”
Rosalee nibbled on a strawberry. “Did you know Iris?”
Carly paused and thought about her answer carefully. “No, not really. Iris didn’t like the pack, she hated wolves but I don’t know why.” She paused and reached across the table to take Rosalee’s hand. “I’m sure deep down that she was a nice person.” She didn’t think it wise to mention that Iris had been killed because she was threatening Liv, the Beta’s mate’s life.
Rosalee squeezed her hand. “Do you know how Iris died?”
Carly bit her lip. “Kind of, I don’t really know all the details of what happened, just the broad strokes. I think someone from the Sheriff’s office is going to come see you to talk about it.”
Rosalee sighed and looked at the table, where had all the food gone? Had she eaten all of it? She hoped not, although it was pretty tasty. “I’m thinking I should start tidying up the house, sorting out what goes to charity, what I want to keep... if anything.”
Carly brightened. “What can I do?”
“You sure you don’t mind helping?”
“No not at all, I’m happy to.”
*
The two Deputies stood on the Bennett porch awkwardly. They’d been dispatched ostensibly by the Sheriff to inform Rosalee of what had happened to her grandmother. Really the order had come from their Alpha.
Both Jake and Gabe had wondered at the Alpha’s interest in the woman but neither had dared ask, and if the Sheriff knew he was not giving anything away.
Jake fidgeted. “This is a waste of time, anybody could tell her what happened. We have better things to do.”
Gabe raised his eyebrows. “You want me to tell the Alpha that?”
Jake grinned. “Hell no!”
Gabe knocked on the door and waited patiently while Jake grumbled behind him. What was taking her so long?
Finally a young woman with long brown hair came to the door. Gabe flashed her his dazzling smile. “Hello again Rosalee.”
She smiled at the young wolf and despite of himself Jake noticed how attractive she was, although if his Alpha was set on having her there was no way in hell he would admit that to anyone else. “Hi Gabe how’s it going?”
“Can’t complain.” The boy was all easy charm and puppy dog eyes. It was really annoying.
Rosalee looked at Jake enquiringly. Another gorgeous wolf cop. He looked to be about Adam’s age, although he was much leaner. His eyes were startlingly cold and his handsome face was distorted by a scowl.
“This is Deputy Jake Foreman,” Gabe gestured back to Jake who was hovering behind him. “May we come in?”
“Umm, sure, I was just doing a bit of cleaning.” She absently wiped her hands on her shorts and stepped aside. Gabe strode past her and went into the living room, Jake followed behind watching Rosalee attentively.
Rosalee folded her arms and rocked back on her heels. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
Gabe cleared his throat, “we wanted to talk to you about your grandmother...”
He was interrupted by Carly who bustled into the room carrying a clock missing its hands. “Rosalee what do you want to do with this? Oh hi guys.”
Both male wolves nodded at Carly and she shivered a little. Omegas were at the bottom on the food chain both in size and strength, and some wolves were more than happy to remind Omegas of that fact. Carly was given to flinch a little at all her pack mates.
Gabe threw a reassuring smile in Carly’s direction. “So, as I was saying, we wanted to talk to you about your grandmother. How much do you, um, know already?”
Rosalee sat down on the pea green couch and clasped her hands. “Nothing really.”
Gabe took a deep breath and as easily as he could explained how her grandmother Iris had been killing other witches to steal their power, how her partner in crime Emerald had done to same to her when Iris had threatened to kill Emerald’s niece Liv. Then how Emerald had tried to do the same to Liv, after she mated with a wolf, and how the pack had put Emerald down.
Rosalee’s eyes were like saucers. “Wow! That’s pretty awful... I’m kind of glad I didn’t know my grandmother...”
Carly settled next to her on the couch. “I’m really sorry.”
“It’s fine, it’s just a lot to take in.”
Jake cleared his throat, having been silent throughout the tale. “You should really think about amping up your security, make sure the locks on your windows and doors are secure, and perhaps spring for an alarm. No offence to your grandma but I don’t think she ever even locked her door, it’s not a surprise that someone could get in so easily.” He handed her a card. “This is for Jase, he’s a coyote shifter, runs a hardware store in town, he’d have everything you need and for a price he could send someone over to fit everything for you.”
Rosalee nodded her thanks and took the card.
Jake turned to give Carly a withering glare. “Carly, don’t you think you ought to leave Ms Bennett alone? I’m sure she’s had enough of your company for one day. We’ll escort you out.”
Carly’s face turned bright red and she became fixated on the floor in front of her. The annoyance in his voice surprised Rosalee and she glowered at him. Gabe remained as motionless as a statue.
“I beg your pardon? My friend Carly is here as my guest, but please feel free to escort your own furry butt the hell out of here!” Rosalee was almost spitting.
The two Deputies stared at her in surprise. Truth be told she was a little surprised too. Usually she expected people to fight their own battles, the way she did, but something about the little Omega made her feel protective.
Jake’s eyes flashed amber with anger. Gabe squeezed his shoulder and quietly said, “we should go.”
Jake looked hard at him before snorting and stomping out the house. Gabe and Rosalee followed him.
The two wolves stood on the porch awkwardly. Rosalee leaned on the doorframe. “Thanks for stopping by.”
The blinding smile returned to Gabe’s handsome face. “It was nice to see you again Rosalee and remember what we said about home security. You take care now.” He slapped Jake on the back and set off to the patrol car.
Jake hung back; he spoke in hushed tones, “if she’s bothering you...”
“Bothering me? Really? You clearly don’t know her very well.”
His face reddened. “She’s p
art of my pack I know her well enough!”
“You ignorant mutt!” She stamped her foot in annoyance.
He inhaled and exhaled loudly, balling his hands into fists.
“What? You gonna huff and puff and blow my house down?” With that Rosalee slammed the door in his face. She leaned against it and heard him grumble as his loud footsteps retreated.
“You didn’t need to do that.” Rosalee jumped, Carly was as quiet as a mouse.
Rosalee sighed. “Yes I did, he was being rude and no one treats my friends that way.”
Carly smiled with pleasure. “Thank you.”
“But I think I’m just going to give the hardware store a ring, I hate to think who else might be lurking in this town...”
Chapter Four
Adam paced the Sheriff’s office, his movements irritable and jerky. Alec leaned back in his chair watching him with a maddeningly wry smile on his lips. Why had Adam told him that Rosalee was his mate? Alec had become insufferably smug since finding his own mate.
“You told them to come back here straight away after speaking to her?”
Alec nodded.
He stopped pacing, “you think it was wise to send Jake in there? He can be a bit brutal sometimes... you don’t think he’d go overboard with this do you?”
Alec leaned forward and put his elbows onto his desk. “He’s one of my Deputies, he can be subtle when he needs to be, and a sledgehammer when he doesn’t need to be.” Calm. Wise. Reassuring, as always. “Besides I sent Gabe with him, Gabe’s will temper him if need be.”
Adam nodded and threw himself into one of the chairs raking his hands through his hair. He was exhausted. He had spent the night tossing and turning over how to handle his mate. He knew he hadn’t exactly made a good impression. He had growled at her, made sexual innuendos, flirted with another woman and then sent another wolf over to press her for information. Not great.
After trying to sleep for two hours he had finally given in, shifted and ran all the way to her house. He had prowled the outside of her house all night. The thought of her sleeping safely inside giving him some degree of comfort.
His wolf had wanted him to march right in there and demand she recognise him as her mate. The human part of him however was more restrained. He was fairly confident she would be his. He assured himself that it was only a matter of time. So what if he had to wait a few days? They could make up for lost time later.
First, he just had to figure out a way to woo her. He wasn’t exactly sure how he would do that. Usually all he had to do was smile and wink and women practically flocked to him. His mate however was sarcastic and disparaging. His wolf relished the challenge, his human half on the other hand wanted to skip it and get to the sex.
He had to know first though, whether she would be up to the challenges of the female Alpha role. It wasn’t just him she would be taking on, it was the entire pack and the responsibilities that went with that.
They heard loud voices outside the door and a loud knock on the office door was followed by the two Deputies barging in.
“Well?” Demanded Adam without preamble.
Gabe carefully shut the door and cleared his throat. “We spoke to her, told her to amp up her security. She was probably already on the phone to Jase as we were leaving.”
The Alpha growled his impatience at the Deputy, “and the other thing?”
Jake snorted, “the moment I started in on Carly she was all over it calling me a mutt and telling me to get my hairy butt out of her house.” He growled remembering the insults.
Gabe chuckled. ”Yeah, he’d barely even worked his way up to acting like a dick and she was fitting his balls for earrings!”
Jake grumbled whilst the other wolves stifled their laughter. Alec nodded at Adam. It was clear that Rosalee had an affinity to the she-wolf, something that the female Alpha would have. She protected the she-wolf from what she perceived as a threat. Rosalee probably didn’t understand why she did it, but the point is that she did. She was a born female Alpha. The thought made his wolf giddy.
Alec looked to his Alpha. “You want Acksel to set up a patrol to cover the Bennett house?”
Adam’s commanding voice cut through the silence. “No, leave it for now.” Adam would patrol the house himself, he wanted to be near her and didn’t like the idea of another wolf watching his mate.
Gabe coughed and looked at Adam nervously. “Can we ask, what’s the significance of Rosalee Bennett?”
Adam gazed at Gabe for a couple of minutes and the young wolf fidgeted uncomfortably.
Adam’s voice rumbled through the small room. “She’s my mate.”
*
The night had turned cold. Adam was thankful he had shifted into his wolf. He watched the flickering lights coming from the window of his mate’s house.
Since he had arrived he had prowled around the house tracking her movements. After bathing and eating she was now watching TV, it had grown dark and she had not switched any lights on. Perhaps she had fallen asleep.
How close did he dare get to the house? Would it be creepy to sneak in and watch her sleep? Yes definitely, but still...
He pawed the ground and lay down frustrated. Although he had spent the better part of the day watching his mate he had not spoken to her or touched her.
After settling some pack business he had sought his mate. He had finally tracked her down to an outlet mall that stood thirty minutes drive from their town. She was shopping with Carly. Carly had undoubtedly known he was there but purposefully pretended she didn’t.
He had carefully stalked her from shop to shop before following her back to town. She had picked up another pizza from Pizza Moon, carefully avoiding either Hans or Melody who were both there again and staring daggers at one another, and then finally went home. His wolf had huffed at him for being too chicken to approach her and talk to her, but he didn’t want to dive in and come off as a crude jackass... again. Just being near her had been enough to ease his longing. For now.
He breathed deeply taking in her delicious spicy yet sweet scent. He sighed closing his eyes.
A loud scream suddenly pierced the quiet night. Instantly he was on his feet and racing to the house. Fuck, Rosalee was in danger!
Chapter Five
After a long day of cleaning and shopping Rosalee had relaxed on the couch and settled down watching a bad ‘70’s cop movie. It was dire but entertaining enough.
She felt her eyes start to droop and she drifted into sleep. She dreamt of Adam.
She dreamt that he had come to her house. He told her she was beautiful and began peeling the clothes off her skin. He kissed every inch of her body worshipfully until he made his way to her sex. Then he... then he knocked a lamp over....
Rosalee’s eyes snapped open. A dark figure flicked past her. Someone was in her house! Without thinking she screamed as loudly as she could.
She leapt up and groped for the light switch. The black figure disappeared toward the back of the house. She looked round for a weapon. Picking up the broken clock Carly had brought down earlier she readied herself for attack.
A huge crash emanated from the front door and an enormous black wolf erupted into the room snarling and snapping its jaws. She screamed again and hurled the clock at it. Bullseye! Right between the eyes.
The creature howled but ignored her and sprinted in the direction of the intruder.
Rosalee looked around wildly until she found her phone. She called the police and babbled about an intruder and a wolf. She sounded nuts. Dimly she was aware of someone saying they were on their way before hanging up.
Looking around she noticed the broken lamp that had woken her. She tried to slow her breathing. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out...
The enormous wolf casually walked back into the room. She gulped. The air around the wolf shimmered and in place of the wolf stood the man currently pervading her dreams – Adam. If anything him standing there naked with blazing amber eyes was even mor
e imposing than the wild animal.
He rubbed his head. “You know sweetheart that wasn’t very friendly.”
She saw red. “Friendly? Friendly?! I wake up to find some perv in my house and then an enormous wolf crashes through my door, and you complain at me for not being friendly?!” She shrieked at him.
“Well I grant you I am pretty big...” His eyes flicked down and instinctively she looked down as well.
His huge manhood practically waved at her. She gasped and looked away, at the floor at the ceiling anywhere but at him. He chuckled before sobering, remembering what had happened.
“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” He moved towards her and her eyes widened.
“Just stop right there buddy, I’m fine. I heard a noise and woke up. I saw someone run away so I turned on the light, that’s when the wolf... when you arrived and I called the police. Did you manage to catch them?”
He rubbed his face and sighed. “No, they were fast and they didn’t leave a scent, they doused themself in wolfsbane.”
“Do you... do you think it had anything to do with my grandmother? Something she might have done while she was alive...”
He stared at her, his voice was soft with concern, “honestly I don’t know.”
She hugged her arms around herself. Before she could stop him he was in front of her and he enfolded her into a tight hug. He rested his chin on her head and rubbed her back soothingly.
The feel of his strong arms around her was comforting and she relaxed into his body. He felt the tension leave her and he relaxed a little too. But he was still anxious with the knowledge that someone was in her house perhaps trying to do her harm, and despite being close to the house he hadn’t been able to stop them.
She ran her hands up the smooth tight muscles of his back. The feel of his erection pressing tightly into her stomach was electrifying, heat pooled between her legs. She closed her eyes and sighed as she inhaled his masculine scent. He smelled beautiful, like fresh rain. She wondered if he tasted that way too. Perhaps she should just lick his chest, she could tease him and bit one of his nipples....
Her eyes snapped open. No, no, no this was not happening. She wriggled trying to get away from him but he only held on to her tighter. If anything his erection seemed to grow at the friction her struggles caused. It was so big it was almost painful.