A Billionaire Wolf for Christmas

by Terry Spear

  “I’ve got work to do. I won’t be staying long. I’ve tested maybe seven patients’ blood. If you want me to test yours, I’ll take care of it for you. I know you have a lot of work to do.”

  “You’re no longer a member of this pack,” Ronald said.

  “Some of our blood is aging faster,” Trudy said, angry. “You want to deny our people a cure if Drs. Gray and Denali can discover one? What if they do and they don’t give it to us because you are against having anything to do with wolves from other packs? Our son could have been taken from the mall, and we might not ever have seen him again! It was due to Dr. Denali and his men’s efforts that he was saved. Let them do their work and help us too.”

  “Who says our blood is aging faster?” Ronald asked.

  “Aidan has been studying this for over a year. He’s the expert. If anyone knows what to look for, he does,” Holly said. “If you want to know if your blood has aged faster, just let me check.”

  Ronald gave her a disdainful chuckle. “Now you’re doctoring the records, and then you can get what you wanted all along?”

  “As if I would want to stress anyone out by telling them their longevity has shortened considerably for our kind.”

  “Has yours?”

  “No,” Holly said.

  “Mine has,” Trudy said. “Clifford’s hasn’t. Do you know what that means for us? It means we won’t grow old together. I’ll die way before he does.”

  Another truck pulled up, and a few minutes later, Jared stormed into the clinic. “What the hell? Ronald tells you all to mind your own business, and you’re all here?”

  “Not everyone’s here,” Holly said. “No one would have come if we hadn’t given Trudy the information she deserves to know. There are more than that who are aging faster. Aidan is reviewing the records and making a list of who has longevity issues. He’s only halfway through the records. I wanted to do blood tests before I leave to verify we haven’t made any mistakes.”

  Holly noticed Sally had sneaked a couple into the lab to take blood.

  “Let me see that list,” Ronald said.

  “Right this way.” Aidan led him into the office.

  “I can’t believe you’re leaving your pack behind,” Jared said to Holly, irritated.

  “I’ve mated Aidan. I can’t bring him into the pack. I’m part of his now.”

  “I don’t have any problems,” Ronald said in the office, looking at the list that included the wolves who weren’t aging faster.

  “We need to have a pack gathering and learn what’s different about those who are aging faster and those who aren’t,” Aidan said.

  “Like hell we do,” Ronald said. “You might have discovered a problem with the blood for some. But you’re not taking over the pack.”

  “Nope, have no intention of doing so and no interest. But I do want to solve the longevity issue.”

  Jared headed into the office to see if he had any difficulties and took a relieved breath when he found he didn’t.

  “It could take us decades to learn the truth, or even longer. If we can pin down why some are fine and others are not, we might be able to find a cure, or even learn if you and your brother and the others who are okay might continue to be that way.”

  “Holly and her family are in the clear,” Jared said.

  Holly smiled and ushered the next couple in while the other couple thanked her and left.

  “I don’t see any correlation between the two lists,” Ronald said.

  “Nick told us his and Holly’s family have really old lupus garou roots,” Aidan said, hoping to learn more about Ronald and Jared’s family roots.

  Ronald snorted. “Good luck with that. Not all of us know our family history.”

  “Because your father was from another pack and tried to take over this one,” Aidan said.

  Ronald’s face turned red, and he stalked over to the door and slammed it shut. “Where the hell did you get that idea?”

  As soon as the door slammed closed, it opened again, and four bodyguards rushed into the office, Ted and Mike at the forefront.

  Looking ill at ease, Ronald stepped back away from the men.

  “We’re fine here,” Aidan said to his men. “You can stay, if you like, and we can close the door if Ronald wants some privacy.”

  “Close the damn door,” Ronald growled.

  Ted closed the door.

  “All right. I take it you don’t know anything about your father’s parentage.”

  “My mother’s lupus garou genes went as far back as Nick’s and Holly’s families’,” Ronald said.

  “What about the others on the list who haven’t changed?” Aidan asked.

  “Clifford’s line is old. Trudy’s isn’t. I’ve overheard them teasing each other about it. Some of the ones on the ‘safe’ list aren’t as old as us. Some that have been affected are.”

  Aidan frowned at the news. He hadn’t wanted to hear that. Though he had wondered, because he’d made a cross-reference to lupus garou roots to see if it could have been that with other wolf packs, but he hadn’t been able to make the correlation.

  “It can’t be your environment, not with some changing,” Aidan said. “Unless some have more resistance to change. I still don’t think that’s it.”

  Holly entered the office and shut the door. “What’s going on?”

  “You need to stay here and take care of this,” Ronald said.

  “We’ll stay as long as it takes to do the blood work, and then we’re leaving. I’ll keep in touch with Sally, and if we have to, we can return once a month to check on everyone.” Ronald wasn’t going to push Holly or her family around any longer. “I came in to tell you we could check your blood before you leave.”

  “Ronald doesn’t believe the longevity has anything to do with the older lupus garou roots, based on some of your pack members’ blood tests,” Aidan said. “There’s definitely something going on with your pack. We still need to talk to everyone to see what we can learn.”

  “We should include Nick,” Holly said. “He’s like those of us who haven’t changed. Maybe he’ll have some insight.”

  Ronald stared at the two lists for what seemed like forever, as if weighing how much trouble he would be in with the pack if he didn’t agree to help with this. “I’ll call a meeting for an hour from now at my place, but none of your goons can come.”

  “No,” Holly said, surprising Aidan and everyone there. “If we’re going to figure this out, they’ll be there too. They have just as much at stake here as any of us do. And they’re Aidan’s protection.”

  “We’ll meet in an hour then.” Ronald headed for the door, and Ted opened it for him, being the nice guy that he was.

  Jared said to Holly, “I was serious about being sorry for biting you.”

  “All right, apology accepted.”

  Then Jared headed out after his brother. Rock was still hanging around, and he poked his head in, his black hair windblown, his black brows furrowed. “If you need my help with this, just ask. Gotta go, but Doc’s got my number.” He hurried out after Jared and Ronald.

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes after I help take the rest of the blood samples,” Holly said.

  “Okay, honey. I’m still going through the records. Have you got earlier records for all the wolves?”

  “You mean before I was even a doctor for the pack?”

  “Yeah. Maybe it has something to do with your blood.”

  “They’re not online. They’re in files boxed in a warehouse of records.”

  “We would need only those of your current members, not the ones who have died, to see if there’s anything that would help clear up the mystery.”

  “We can do that. I’ll be right back.” Holly hurried out to take Ronald and his brother’s blood samples, glad Ronald was finally working wi
th them, though she could just imagine the revolt he’d have on his hands if he stuck to his guns and didn’t want to help now that some of his people were affected.

  Clifford asked Holly as she left her office, “What can we do to help?”

  She took him and his mate into one of her exam rooms to speak to them privately. “Aidan had the notion to try a blood transfusion to see if my blood would help to change the person receiving the blood.”

  “Would it?”

  “We don’t know, but he wanted to test out his theory. Our healing genetics may see the transfused blood as alien, or it might recognize the blood is better than the patient’s and replicate it. That’s what we’re hoping, but it’s just experimental. He doesn’t want to test it on anyone else until he knows if it will make a difference or not.”

  “I want to have Clifford’s blood tested on me,” Trudy said.

  “You don’t have the same blood type. But yours is the same as mine. I just gave blood for his bodyguard. We have to wait. We don’t know if it will have any bad effects or if it will even work. You’re not aging as fast as a human. Don’t worry. We’ll get it worked out. I’m sure of it.”

  “Can I give blood in the event you can use it?” Clifford asked.

  “Yes. We can store it for forty days. Longer, if we freeze it. Up to ten years, actually. But our blood replaces cells within two to three weeks.”

  Ronald came out of the room with Sally, who was giving Aidan Ronald’s blood to test. Then she returned to take Jared’s. The high-and-mighty pack leader was finally agreeable to having Sally work with him instead of Holly. Good, because he was going to have to get used to it.

  “I’ll get you set up to donate your blood, Clifford.” Holly did that, and once he was done, she put the blood in the fridge for storage.

  She ended up having ten more people with the longer longevity donate blood. Things were going much better than she’d ever expected.

  Then Ronald stalked out of the clinic, not saying anything to anyone, his expression stormy. “Jared, contact everyone in the pack. We have a meeting in forty-five minutes, no exceptions.”

  Holly smiled and joined Aidan, and he promptly left her chair and gave her a hug.

  He kissed her forehead. “Are we done here?”

  “We sure are. The last of them left a few minutes ago. We have some more coming in tomorrow who couldn’t get away today. They’re unhappy about this issue, of course, but they’re glad you and I are working on it.”

  “There’s no change in the ones who seem to have an immunity,” Aidan said.

  “I asked some of our members to get the stored pack records for those now in the pack, and for Nick, of course. But we have to go to that meeting first.”

  Chapter 28

  They headed over to Ronald’s house, and though Holly’s family considered not coming to the meeting since they were no longer pack members and they didn’t want to see Ronald and Jared, they came to show their support for the rest of the pack.

  Holly set up a computer so Nick could be there too.

  “I’m opening the floor to Drs. Denali and Gray to explain why they wanted to meet with all of you,” Ronald said. “Seems Holly was right in worrying that some of us could have the same issues as others in the rest of the wolf packs that Aidan has located. To that end, we will fully cooperate with the doctors so they can do their research and find a cure.”

  “We’re going to go through all the old records to see if anything stands out for us,” Aidan said. “But we have a few more people to take blood from. We’ll be doing that tomorrow.”

  “Tonight,” Ronald interjected. “That should have been taken care of already.”

  Holly couldn’t believe Ronald’s change of heart. “We’re still trying to determine the reason some are changing and others are not. It may have to do with the last wolf war.”

  * * *

  They didn’t receive any more answers to their questions during the meeting. Afterward, Holly and Aidan and his men returned to the clinic to take the rest of the blood samples. They compared them and found two more who had the changing longevity. She’d hoped they wouldn’t find anyone else with the condition.

  When they went to her place that night, she was exhausted, but not so much so that she couldn’t enjoy loving her wolf mate. “You were wonderful with Ronald and Jared.”

  “Believe me, I wanted to do more than accommodate them. But we’ll be leaving, and everyone else has to deal with them. I wanted to try to keep the peace as much as possible.”

  “Thank you.”

  Ted and Mike were in the kitchen making shrimp pasta and poinsettia mimosas—made of triple sec, cranberry juice, maraschino cherry juice, and topped with tangerine spirals—for dinner when someone rang the doorbell.

  “Expecting anyone?” Aidan asked, going with her to the front door.

  “No. Not unless someone was concerned about their blood work. I’m sure if anyone was, they’d call first.”

  Ted and Mike both quickly joined them in bodyguard mode.

  When they reached the door, she peeked out the peephole and took a deep breath. “Ronald and Rock.”

  She opened the door and folded her arms, not inviting them in. “We’re just starting our dinner. What’s so urgent that you couldn’t have called like you usually do?”

  “I want to speak with Denali,” Ronald said.

  Now that surprised her.

  Ronald said to Aidan, “We want you to join our pack. You’ve mated our doctor, and you’re working on an important cause, which will make you a valuable pack member.”

  She closed her gaping mouth. She couldn’t believe Ronald would come around like this. Then again, he had a stake in this now. Maybe he thought he could benefit from it financially. Or maybe he was worried Aidan wouldn’t provide him with a cure.

  “Thanks, but no thanks. I have a pack of my own that Holly and her family are now part of.” Aidan put his arm around her but then looked down at her as if he remembered that she had a say in this.

  She smiled up at him and frowned at Ronald. “I told you all along that we might be affected by this change, but you wouldn’t believe it. Hopefully, we’ll find the cure, and we will share it with everyone.”

  “As long as you don’t give Holly and her family any more grief over leaving the pack. And if we need Sally to send us blood samples each month to try to help find a solution, you’ll agree she can do it. Your pack members freely gave us permission to use their blood to try to figure this out,” Aidan said.

  “We still plan to go over the health records that could be pertinent to the case tomorrow. Maybe we’ll learn something from that,” Holly said.

  Ronald let out his breath in annoyance. “All right. Have it your way, but you keep me informed.”

  As soon as he and Rock left, Ted and Mike served the food. Holly and Aidan joined them at the table.

  Holly took a sip of her poinsettia mimosa and then a bite of her pasta. “Ohmigod, you guys can’t ever leave us.”

  They chuckled.

  “Everything they fix is great,” Aidan agreed.

  “Except for the burned tilapia that one time,” Ted said. “Mike was supposed to be watching the fish.”

  “Ha,” Mike said. “I was baking the broccoli-and-cheese side dish. You were supposed to be watching the fish.”

  She just laughed, enjoying their company.

  Once they had eaten and the guys said they’d clean up, Aidan wrapped his arm around her shoulders and escorted her to their bedroom. He shut the door and pulled her into his arms and lowered his head to kiss her, his fingers combing through her hair, their tongues tangling as she yanked his shirt out of his jeans.

  “Wait.” He released her, yet she didn’t want to stop touching him, feeling his touch on her, until she saw he was yanking aside her comforter. Then he smiled to s
ee the red sheets and pillowcases. “Hot.”

  “For Christmas.”

  “And hot.” He hurried to remove her sweater and smiled at her red lace bra, his gaze turning dark and interested. “Really hot.”

  “For Christmas.” Smiling at him, she ran her hands up his shirt and tweaked his nipples with a light touch. He was really hot—and making her blood sizzle already. His touch and his rough voice made her panties wet.

  He molded his hands to her lace-covered breasts and brushed his lips across hers. His breath was warm and mimosa sweet. She closed her eyes and gave in to the feel of his hands sliding her bra down, freeing her breasts from the lace. Leaning down, he licked her nipples and she clung to his shoulders, ready to collapse on the bed, losing herself in the feel of his hot, wet tongue circling each nipple. She groaned. She swore he could practically make her come just by doing that.

  He paused to tackle her belt and jeans, but when he pulled them down her hips, he had to stop and remove her boots. He scooped her up—and she nearly squealed at the unexpected action—then set her on the bed and slid off her boots, socks, and jeans. “Red lace panties. Hot.”

  She chuckled. “For—”

  “Me.”

  She laughed.

  He made short work of his own clothes, all except his boxer briefs, and she admired his cock as it stretched at the black fabric to be free. She wanted to pull his briefs down to free his cock, but he moved her farther onto the bed and nudged her legs apart to center himself on her.

  His stiff cock rubbed against her mound as he moved his body against hers, his mouth pressing kisses over her exposed breasts and nipples. She arched against him, encouraging and loving the friction between them. Their pulses were racing, the pheromones heady, the adrenaline rushing through their blood.

  He kissed her belly and moved to nuzzle her mound with his cheek, and she wanted the rest of their clothes off now! She ran her fingers through his hair, arching her back to bump his cheek, and he moved off her to slide her panties down, then unsnapped her bra.

  Before she could sit up to pull off his boxer briefs, he was yanking them down and tossing them to the floor, his cock springing free. “Now that’s hot,” she said, eyeing his impressive erection.