“You guess? This is basically paradise out here.” She stretched her head to the sky, raising a hand to block the sun’s light over her eyes, making her entire countenance beam.
“Yes, it’s beautiful. Happy?” But he wasn’t looking at the forest when he said it.
She grinned, an infectious smile that was far too positive to be affected by his own conflicted feelings, and shuffled her backpack on her shoulders again before heading forward.
“Let me get that for you.” Grayson came up beside her and tugged on the back strap of the camouflage backpack.
She squeaked in a bit of surprise at first, then shrugged the backpack off, allowing him to take. He threw it over one shoulder nonchalantly. The thing was practically weightless compared to the sorts of burdens he’d carried while in the service.
“Promise to not take any of my stuff, though? I’ll need it later.” The tip of her nose was starting to get pink, the first hint of sunburn on it.
“Damn, that’s exactly what I was planning on doing. I guess I have to promise not to if you’re going to let me carry it, though.” Grayson raised an eyebrow, watching her reaction.
April gave an intent nod, looking up at him in mock suspicion.
“Fine, I promise. No harm will come to your stuff when I’m around. Including your granola bars,” he said, the crunchy scent of the stuff wafting from the haphazardly packed backpack.
“Thank you. How very gentlemanly of you.”
“Ha. I’m no gentleman.” Grayson couldn’t keep himself from scoffing at even the idea of it.
“That’s fine by me,” April said cryptically, glancing to the side at nothing in particular. “So I noticed you’ve been looking around, too. You see anything that might help us find our wolves?”
“First off, no, I did not. Second, I’m not looking for wolves. You are.” He was looking for the absence of wolves.
But that distinction seemed fairly pedantic, even to him. He just couldn’t even hint at his intentions of keeping a pack of shape-shifting humans hidden from society. There was too much at stake.
“Unhelpful!” April remarked, poking him in the shoulder, making the skin where her finger touched him feel oddly warm.
“Who said I had to be helpful?” Grayson said. “I’m carrying your backpack and protecting it, aren’t I?”
Her eyes narrowed to slits, but a grin pulled at the corner of her mouth.
It was strange to have a woman like her be so unintimidated by him. Human women usually avoided him completely or, at best, were terribly shy and quiet in his presence.
Granted, he didn’t care if humans were scared of him. In fact, he knew his appearance did little to make people comfortable. Which was why April was all the more puzzling.
“So your tattoos, army or marines?” April asked inquisitively.
“Army for life. Hooah,” Grayson said flatly, his pride in that particular part of his life long dried up after he’d returned to a ghost town with no one to call family and nowhere to call home.
God, that felt like a lifetime ago.
“Ha-ha, that’s the most excited I’ve ever heard you be about anything,” she joked.
“Just wait until you see me around Hunter. That’s when my fun side really comes out.” He grimaced, not sure if he should have mentioned his cougar compatriot.
Thankfully, with or without scruples, Hunter knew when to put a lid on it.
“So you have friends? I think I’d like to meet this guy.”
Grayson growled at the thought, but when April looked up at him in confusion, he pretended to act normal.
If Hunter said anything about April, he’d have to punch him into next Tuesday.
April, sensing his sudden quiet, backtracked. “I’ve known a number of men that served. They usually became forest rangers or state troopers, stuff like that.”
“Interesting,” Grayson said thoughtfully, sensing they were getting closer to her makeshift campsite. Her sense of direction really was something else, for a human. “So why the wolf obsession, honestly?”
April was silent for a moment, just the sound of their footsteps on the soft earth following them as they weaved between towering trunks.
“I just think they’re really something else. They have such a complex social hierarchy, and their behaviors and the range of emotions they express almost border on human. Yet, despite being such fascinating animals, most people fear or hate them. And I guess I just hope to change that. You know what I mean?”
Grayson nodded, caught off guard by her sincerity. They hiked forward a few more minutes in relative silence, when suddenly her SUV and her sad excuse for a tent trailer reappeared into view. There was a tentative tension between them for a moment, and Grayson handed back April’s backpack, a little sad to not have the small connection that even carrying her pack had granted.
“Thanks. For everything, the breakfast, for coming with me.” April brushed a bead of sweat from her forehead as she spoke, the afternoon air warming the forest around them.
“Don’t mention it.” He stood there for a moment, trying to plan his next move, then just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “You doing anything tonight?”
April, who was midway through setting her equipment down on a small foldable table, turned to face him suddenly.
“I… uh,” she stuttered for a second. Her cheeks turned pink. Maybe the heat was getting to her.
Grayson knew it was his responsibility to be keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn’t find wolves. But on the other hand, it was increasingly hard to not pursue his growing curiosity in this wolf-obsessed woman who’d materialized from nowhere into his life.
“I need to do some cataloging, put the data I’ve gathered together so I can plan out tomorrow. Then I was planning on going into town for some food.” She listed off the things with her fingers.
“I know where the best place is,” Grayson asserted. “Want to come to dinner with me?”
April’s expression was unreadable, a mixture of excitement and confusion and suspicion, if that were possible.
“It’s on me,” he offered.
April still paused, considering her options. Grayson shifted his weight from one foot to the other, almost expecting her to decline.
Thankfully, she didn’t.
“Sure, sounds fun,” she said, sounding more like her usually plucky self but still a little caught off guard.
“Pick you up here at six?”
“Six sounds great. I’m not going anywhere.” She laughed at the end, and Grayson chuckled nervously.
Holy shit, did he just ask April out on a date? That wasn’t a part of the plan.
But even though the logical part of him was hammering at the inside of his brain, insisting he reverse the current turn of events, Grayson couldn’t ignore an odd warmth in his chest as they exchanged a few last pleasantries and he headed back to his trailer with a wave.
There was so much more to April than even he had expected. And even if it was just a little dangerous, he couldn’t pass on the opportunity to get to know this woman that made him feel unlike any person—human or shifter—had ever made him feel.
Besides. Danger was a small price to pay to see April’s smile again.
Chapter 6
That evening, Grayson found it hard to accomplish anything other than being preoccupied with seeing April again.
He’d shaved as well as showered. The fact that warm water was scant around here was merely a small nuisance to him compared to how things had often been in the military. He’d put on the cleanest clothes he could muster, a pair of dark-wash jeans that had thankfully been spared years of abuse at Garrett’s jobs and a white, fitted tee with a beat-up leather jacket that he’d somehow forgotten all about in the hullabaloo he’d been thrust into since coming here to Silver Lake.
He took one last look in the cracked mirror that hung in the pathetic excuse of a bathroom in his trailer, feeling his nerves tense uncomfortably, then hea
ded out. His truck rumbled to life, and he made his way toward April’s camp.
The route was more of a wobbly “U” than a direct line, since the forest was particularly dense near April, but by the time he arrived, it was still five minutes before six.
April didn’t seem to notice as he pulled up. She was preoccupied with typing something on a laptop as she sat in a camp chair. It wasn’t until he rolled to a stop that she glanced up with a quick grin and stood, setting the laptop into a bag and tossing it in her trailer before closing and locking the door.
By the time he’d killed the engine and jumped out, she was coming up to him, looking as nervous as he felt inside. It didn’t help that she looked extra gorgeous tonight, with her silky dark-brown hair slung over one shoulder. The blue and green flannel shirt she wore came in at the sides, showing off a mouthwatering figure that flared at her hips and then tapered down her blue jean-clad legs to red sneakers.
“Hey, you’re early!” she exclaimed, eyes lingering on his chest for a moment.
“Is that a bad thing?” He folded his arms, amused by the way her eyes widened ever so slightly at the flex of his muscles, and felt a touch of excitement inside.
No woman had ever made him feel this way. Granted, his experience with women wasn’t particularly extensive, between his military service and constantly traveling with BCW Construction, but everything felt different, new, around April.
“No, it’s not bad at all. I’m just not used to being around punctual people.” Her full lips curled up in an appreciative grin.
“Believe me; I’m the only one for miles.”
“Well then, aren’t I lucky?” She tossed her head slightly to the side, and a stray strand of hair fell apart from the rest.
Grayson wanted to reach forward and straighten it for her, feel it in his hands, then pull her in and—
Focus up, Grayson! The soldier inside called him to attention.
“How about we go eat? I don’t know about you, but I could use a good meal after today’s hike,” Grayson said, trying to act casual even if he felt anything but.
“Sure,” April said with a nod.
She followed close to him as he led her to the passenger door, brushing his side momentarily and making the wolf within wake up.
It had been a long time since it had felt so close to the surface. And it wasn’t the pack making him feel that way.
He opened the door, realizing the extremely lifted truck frame meant that the first step was a good way up, a daunting reach for even some men. April certainly wasn’t as short as, say, Garrett’s mate, but she wasn’t a six-something shifter.
“Need a hand up?”
“I think I got it,” she replied. She made a cute little groan, reaching one hand up to a side handle and jerking herself up and into the passenger seat. Satisfied with herself, April grinned.
“Impressive,” Grayson conceded, then closed the door for her and got in on the other side before starting the truck back up.
The drive into town was fairly quiet, April pointing out wildlife or interesting things that Grayson had never bothered to notice on the way there. By the time they arrived at Wally’s, the sun was already on its way down, welcoming evening’s warm glow.
Most evenings, the last thing Grayson wanted to do was sit in his trailer, waiting for Candace to come barking up the wrong tree or some punk kid to try his patience. So he’d become fairly acquainted with the few restaurants in the area and knew which places were the best to eat at which times of day.
Once they were in and seated, things already felt a little more relaxed between them both. Which mostly meant Grayson found it even more difficult to not watch April’s every movement possessively.
On his recommendation, they both ordered the roast beef as a bored-looking teenager wrote it down and took it to the back for the chef.
“I love this part of the job,” April said, glancing around at old pictures in dusty frames on the walls.
“What do you mean?”
“Just getting to see places like this. Little rundown towns that seem to exist out of time, stores and restaurants that are so far from civilization that you can almost imagine it being the only place on earth.”
“I thought you did your job for the wolves.”
“Well, of course that. But it’s a nice perk, since traveling all over the place is mostly just plain exhausting.” Her piercing green eyes were watching him intently now.
“Agreed,” he said, sitting back and crossing his arms while they waited. The more he looked into those eyes, the more his wolf kept growling a specific, pesky word that wouldn’t leave his mind no matter how hard he tried.
Mate.
“So how does a girl like you get into a career field chasing wild predators?” he asked, trying to distract himself. Just the sound of her voice was its own distraction, though.
“I’m not sure exactly when I knew. Sure, I’d read books on them when I was younger, but I just loved reading in general, as well as animals. It wasn’t until I took an intro zoology course in college that I really got hooked. So I got a degree in that, with a minor in ecology, and found an internship right out of college that got my foot in the door. The rest is history, I guess,” she said, gaze wandering as she recounted pleasant memories.
Grayson wished he could look the way she did when talking about his own past.
“And your family?”
“Pretty normal by all accounts. I mean, my dad still worries I’m going to get devoured by some feral, rabid pack from time to time, but I’ve been doing this long enough that they trust me to know what I’m doing.” Their drinks arrived, and April took a long sip, pausing their conversation while he tried to not creep.
He raised his glass of ice water and threw half of it back, bracing from the ice chunks as they went down his throat, a welcome distraction.
“You know my story now, so what about you? You said you were in the army.” She leaned forward, putting her elbows on the table and looking as curious as a cat.
“Gave them the better part of a decade. Saw a lot of places. Did a lot of things. Not much to say, really.”
“What kinds of places? Anywhere exotic?” The inquisitive discoverer of things showed in the way her green eyes lit up.
“Sorry, it’s probably all still classified,” he said with a shrug. There hadn’t been time to enjoy things during his service, including the places he’d went. And any fond thoughts were buried deep where he kept the memories of the terrible things he’d done in the name of freedom.
“Aw, that’s no fun.” She pouted, looking even cuter when she did that. “What about your family? They still around?”
Just then the food arrived, and the conversation paused as utensils were unsheathed from their napkins and they situated their sides around the main course. But it couldn’t distract the pit in Grayson’s stomach from forming at even the word “family.”
Serving his country as a man had been a cakewalk compared to the horror of being a wolf forcefully separated from his pack.
April took several bites, eyes closing in pleasure as she slowly chewed. Grayson just watched, a mixture of dread and arousal making his appetite flee at full speed.
“Sorry, was a lot hungrier than I expected,” she exclaimed while cutting herself another forkful.
“Please, dig in. You’ve got to keep your strength up,” he said, waving a hand for her to go ahead. “These make great leftovers, too.”
She eagerly ate for a minute more, then sat back with a satisfied smile. “You were saying?”
“Ah, family. Yes,” he said, clenching his teeth. “They’re, uh, they’re no longer with me.” Granted, the truth was much more complex than that.
April froze midway as she lifted a carrot to her mouth with her fork, mouth ajar. The fork went limp in her hand, and she dropped it onto the table, the carrot diving onto the ground.
“Oh shit. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” Horror and sympathy warred in her gaze, and she
looked like she felt she’d just asked him to walk over a landmine.
Grayson waved a hand. “You did nothing wrong. It’s fine.”
But her frown didn’t disappear as quickly as his own feelings about the whole matter had.
“That… that really sucks. I can’t even imagine what that’s like, losing your parents. Do you want to talk about it?”
If Grayson knew they were dead or not, it would be a lot easier to actually grieve their loss. But since they’d been shitty parents anyway, it didn’t much matter to him, dead or alive.
And explaining the whole wolf pack thing was out of the question.
Besides, there was something oddly comforting about seeing April’s reaction to even the barest of information on his part. Just the care, the worry she felt for him, a total stranger, had an odd, warming effect on him. Of course, Hunter and Garrett knew the vague details of what had happened, and they’d been sympathetic. But he hadn’t needed their worry on his part, so they quickly learned to just forget about it.
April really was something else, wasn’t she?
Mate.
This time he forgot to tell his wolf to shut up.
Instinctively, he put a hand over April’s, and he felt her clenched fingers relax slightly.
“No, I’d rather just enjoy the evening with you.” He spoke slowly, trying to be as soft as possible. The last thing he wanted was to make April feel bad about something that wasn’t her fault.
April just watched him, seemingly unsure he would want to move past it all so quickly. But he’d already done so in his heart, so pulling it out in front of her while they were enjoying dinner was completely out of the question.
He managed a half grin, and she finally relaxed completely, nodding to him with a resolute, “Okay.”
Grayson picked up his fork and stabbed a carrot from his plate. “Here, this is for your fallen comrade,” he said, referring to the dropped vegetable from a moment ago.
April smiled bashfully, looking unsure how to respond. But when he persisted, she ate the carrot from off the end of his fork, munching it thoughtfully.
Mine Furever Page 4