Thankfully, so long as they trusted him to take care of the situation, he knew they would keep away rather than risk blowing their own cover. He just needed time to figure things out, a little peace and quiet for once.
So if one more person bothered him tonight…
“Coffee, sweetie?”
Grayson whirled in the direction of the sound, fists raised, ready to tear apart the intruder on his space.
In front of him, Hunter just stood there, ridiculous leather Stetson still on his head, even indoors. In his hand, he held up a pot of coffee, looking as innocent as a cherub.
“Fuck, Hunter. I hate it when you sneak up on me like that.” Grayson let out a long breath, nerves still on edge after the shitfest with Mattson.
“Aw, thank you,” Hunter said with annoyingly honey-toned words.
“That wasn’t a complement, asshole.”
Grayson always kept stock of who was around him. But as a cat shifter, Hunter was virtually undetectable by scent. So unless Grayson could hear or see the dumbass cougar, Hunter could more or less move around undetected when he wanted to.
Which, thankfully, wasn’t often.
“Sorry, didn’t want to alert the pack that I was in town. I don’t think they like me very much,” he said alongside the sound of coffee pouring into a mug.
“God, I wonder why?” Grayson said, collapsing on his recliner.
To a wolf, everything had a scent. Like a fingerprint they could use to identify every creature, every plant, every place. Which made cats unsettling, because their distinct lack of a scent made even Grayson leery of Hunter at the start.
“You need this.” Hunter handed him a mug full of dark liquid.
Black. Good.
He took a long sip, the roasted, bracing flavor welcoming and familiar.
Damnit, Hunter always made better coffee.
Hunter made himself comfortable on a nearby stool, somehow not bumping his head on things in spite of his stupid hat and the cougar’s sheer height in a trailer that felt too short even for Grayson.
“So how are things?” Hunter crossed one leg over the other casually.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean with the wolf whisperer lady. Do you know if she’s your mate yet?”
Grayson stayed silent.
“Because it seems like you’ve been spending a lot of time with her lately. I mean, aside from the rank smell of wet dog, there’s a whole lot of ‘cute, curvy lady’ scent wafting off you right now.” Hunter motioned with his hand as if drawing an invisible aura around him.
Grayson wanted to punch Hunter. But his hand was preoccupied with coffee for the moment.
“I mean, I haven’t seen her, but she must be quite a dish to attract our resident grumpy wolf’s attentions.”
“It’s not what you think.”
Hunter raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to one side. “How could it not be what I think?”
“You were there the other day. I’m just trying to keep the pack from being discovered.” He set his now-empty mug down. By force of habit, he reached for an untouched block of wood on his left, and unsheathed his knife from his belt, watching as the blade slid over the soft wood effortlessly and shavings fell to the floor.
Hunter scoffed. “I thought that was just a bullshit excuse you used to get them off your back so you could spend time with your mate.”
Grayson paused a moment, then resumed.
“Because in my opinion, mate versus a bunch of mangy, annoying neighbors…” Hunter weighed both invisible things in his hands, then let the scales tip to one side.
“You don’t get it, do you?”
Hunter stood, brushing his legs off. “Maybe I don’t. I’m humble enough to admit that. I do know that what your pack did to you fucked you up real good, though. And I’m worried that trauma’s still following you.
The knife caught on a knot in the wood, and Grayson cursed, chipping at it until the surface was smooth once again.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Hunter folded his arms. “You’ve been super tense ever since you started living out here with the pack. And not the grumpy, usual sort of tense. I mean really stressed out, man. Even Garrett thinks something’s up.”
“Well, Garrett isn’t here, is he?”
“He still cares about you, man. Don’t act like he doesn’t. When he found you, found us, you were a wreck. Sure, you’ve cleaned up after the past couple of years, but you still look like you’re being haunted.”
Grayson ignored the tight ball of nails bunching inside his chest.
“I mean, you sort of told us what happened, but you never really told us, either.” Hunter sounded legitimately worried. But all Grayson could feel was pity. And he hated it.
Hunter just kept going. “I’ll be the first one to say I don’t know squat about wolves and how packs work. Cats just don’t roll like that. But it doesn’t mean I won’t listen, that I won’t hear you out.”
There was a long pause. Outside his trailer, far off, he could hear a badger or something digging around in the earth. The scent of several deer making their way through the forest maybe a mile or two away made him want to go for a run in his wolf form.
“The pack was a lot like this one. Eerily so.”
“Your pack?” Hunter clarified, leaning against the counter.
“Yes. Our resources were running out. My parents could barely feed themselves, let alone their one kid. We were all desperate.”
Hunter thankfully kept his thoughts to himself.
“I wanted to help, somehow. Even if it meant just being one less mouth to feed. And maybe, if I learned more about the human world, I could come back and share what I learned with them. But we had no schools, no education. The military was my only real option.”
“Which, naturally, you ended up being good at, I imagine.”
“Very good. But that didn’t really matter, not much. I saved every dime I had, learned everything I could about anything in my free time. I thought I could be the solution to my pack’s problems.”
“Why would that be your responsibility?”
“It’s just the way you grow up thinking. When you live in the wild, when you live more like a wolf than a human, then it’s just the way the world works. Pack comes first. You live and die for them. Most wolves these days, the ones that grow up in cities to normal families, have forgotten what that feels like. But feral packs still live under that golden rule that I was still living by.”
“Mm-hmm,” Hunter chewed on the idea.
“So yeah, every day, every year, I imagined coming back and getting everyone on their feet. I mean, shit, we didn’t have phones, didn’t have internet, didn’t even have mailing addresses. When you’re a wolf, you don’t care about those things, but in a world full of humans, you just can’t live that way.”
“So what happened when you came back?”
“You know what happened. They were gone. I found a few shallow graves, but it had been years. And nobody told me. My parents, my friends, my alpha, everyone, gone.”
“I can see more why that’s so shitty.”
“I don’t even know if they tried to reach me or not. If they did, I never got it. Probably not, though. When packs fall apart, it usually happens overnight. All it takes is one spark, one insurrection or one last straw with a pack member and everything goes to shit. I just thought I had more time than I did.”
In anger, he slammed his knife into the wood table next to him. The blade went all the way through, sticking at the hilt. Hunter didn’t flinch.
“And here we are now, trying to keep history from repeating itself, I guess,” he said quietly.
“I guess,” Grayson muttered. “I just didn’t think I’d find a human mate, though,” he admitted.
A hint of a smile crept onto Hunter’s face, but he kept his glee to himself.
“So she is your mate?”
“I… I think so. I don’t know.”
/> Hunter came closer, leaning over. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes and been a lot of places, my friend. The one thing I’ve learned is that you can’t let other people keep you from being happy.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Grayson said, annoyed. In a world where he’d existed to serve others, to aid in their survival, considering his own happiness was as foreign as being a wolf without scent.
“I’m serious,” he urged. “If she’s the one, you need to go after her and not look back. To hell with what the pack says.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” Grayson was on his feet now, rage burning inside him, though at what, at whom, he didn’t know. “Didn’t you hear everything I just said? Of course not. What could a stupid cat with no loyalties, no ties to anyone possibly understand about all of this?”
Grayson didn’t even see the punch coming. He just felt fist in his face, then air as Hunter’s blow threw him against the wall. The entire trailer rocked side to side from the impact. Stunned and completely caught off guard, he stayed slumped on the ground, back against the wall.
Hunter, blue eyes burning with more anger than Grayson had ever seen before in the usually calm cougar, kneeled over him.
“You’re not the only person that gets to punch people when they step out of line,” he growled.
Grayson wanted to shove him off, have it out with his friend. But the glint of something feral in Hunter’s gaze gave him the impression that he was not in the mood to be messed around with.
“You have something good going on with this girl. I can see it in your eyes, can smell it on you. And you’re going to fuck it up royally if you keep worrying about the pack.” As Hunter finished, he stood back at his full height, sending him a final glare. Then he stomped to the end of the trailer, opening the door and slamming it behind him before disappearing into the night.
Leaving Grayson behind with nothing but a sore jaw and his own shit to sort out.
Chapter 10
The next day, April wasn’t any less confused about Grayson, but she had other things to worry about.
Like the fact that her car wouldn’t start.
She wiped sweat from her forehead, looking at the engine as she had the hood propped up, but had no idea what was wrong. She knew about wolves and their habitats, not cars.
She had a fleeting idea to call Grayson, but she brushed it away, not really sure where they stood.
They’d gone back to working with only a little awkwardness, and when he’d said good-bye after dropping her off that night, there’d only been a slight twinkle in his eye to suggest anything had actually happened.
She kicked her bumper lightly in frustration because she had no idea where to go from here. She needed to go into town to get supplies, she still hadn’t seen any wolves on camera, and one of her cameras had mysteriously gone missing…
And she couldn’t stop thinking about Grayson, even when she didn’t know what she was to him at all.
She leaned on the front of the car with her eyes closed, trying to summon her strength, when she heard the rumble of a car coming closer.
She looked up to see Grayson’s truck appearing out of thin air as if summoned.
She knew his trailer wasn’t that far from her campsite, but still, it seemed like fabulous timing.
Perhaps they could just not talk about what happened at the spring yesterday. Perhaps they could just treat it like a short loss of control for both of them. Something they needed to forget.
Even if she knew she’d never forget the feel of his lips and hands in a million lifetimes.
She straightened as he walked toward her, carrying his tool belt since he’d obviously seen she was working on her car.
She felt a little bad accepting all this free help from him, but he’d made it clear she didn’t have any choice, and he wouldn’t allow her to even offer to pay.
She flushed as she stepped back, allowing him room to bend over the engine, poking around inside with small grunts.
She admired his ass, his hips with the tool belt around them, and his strong legs as he worked, looking around for whatever was wrong.
When he stood, he had a relieved expression. “It’s just your serpentine belt. It’ll be easy for me to put it back on.”
With that, he leaned forward, beginning to work, and April pulled up a camp chair to keep him company.
Despite what had happened between them the other day, she felt an easy chemistry returning, the friendship they’d been building before they went for a swim in that spring.
“So you’re good at fixing cars, too? Do you do everything?”
He looked over his shoulder with a small smile, and she realized she was getting used to his smiles now. Always subtle but valuable because of their rarity. She could tell he was the kind of guy that kept everything pushed down, rarely showing his feelings to others.
It only made her want to explore him more.
“I worked with armored cavalry guys sometimes. Vehicles, tanks. I like to mess with things. Fix them. I had the time.”
“Did you deploy a lot?”
“As much as they’d let me. Had to save up money for back home.”
She wanted to ask more about that but knew family was a topic better left untouched. He hadn’t specified if his family was dead or just removed from his presence, but she could tell there was very real pain surrounding whatever the situation was.
Which she could understand, especially now that she knew he’d been working hard to save up to come back and help his family out.
“So what’s the plan now?” she asked, breaking the silence.
She heard the clink of a wrench and a small snapping sound, and he stood. “That’s done.” He wiped his hands on his jeans, leaving grease marks and seeming to not care at all. “What do you mean what’s the plan?”
“I mean for your life? I don’t even really know what you do here.”
She picked up her camp chair, and he followed her over to the fire pit, where they both sat facing each other.
“I almost forgot. I brought coffee again,” Grayson said, standing and jogging to his truck, coming back with a drink for each of them.
“Oh, you’re amazing. Just what I needed.” April sipped her coffee gratefully, finally feeling she could wake up. Plus, she felt less nervous now that she and Grayson were talking. It at least meant things were good between them and that nothing had been ruined.
He didn’t seem to have any regrets.
“As for me, I’m here with my construction crew. My boss came out here to build a house, and the land turned out to be contested by the settlement you saw. As a deal, me and my two friends are helping them fix up some things. Then we’ll probably move on.”
“That’s nice of you,” she said. “Fixing things for them for free. I guess it’s kind of a habit for you.”
He scratched the back of his head, looking bashful at any sign of a compliment. “I like helping people. That’s all.”
“So where will you go next?”
His eyes fixed on her. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it.”
Why was he looking at her like that? Like she held the answer to her own question?
Was there truly something between them, or was she simply imagining it?
She brushed a stray wisp of hair behind her ear. “Well, whatever you’re looking for, I hope you find it.”
“Maybe I have,” he said quietly, looking her way.
Did he mean what she thought he did, or…?
Grayson turned away sharply. “I mean, I like the company I’m with, and it’s good work. I’m sure things will work out.”
She straightened, sipping her drink nervously. “Of course. With your job.”
There was silence for a moment, and then Grayson cleared his throat. “Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you.”
“Yes?”
“Yesterday, what we did, are you okay with everything?”
She felt blood rush into her face
, coloring her neck and cheeks, because she hadn’t expected him to be so blunt about it. Not when he’d said nothing the night before.
He scooted his chair closer to her so they were almost nose to nose. “Because if I was out of line, you need to tell me. You seem nervous is all.”
She blinked. Of course she was nervous. Nervous about getting feelings for him when he might just be moving straight on. Nervous about the nearly uncontrollable attraction she felt. Nervous about how he felt about her—or didn’t feel… “It was fine. I just don’t know where we stand now. That’s all.”
His eyes flicked over her face, and then his hand caught her chin gently, pulling her in for a kiss.
His tongue swept in possessively, and his hand kept her jaw trapped as he nipped at her lower lip. Then he slowed the kiss, and it became more romantic, tongues softly entangling, lips breaking apart and reengaging.
After one last, long press of his lips to hers, he pulled back, looking right into her eyes. “Does that answer your question?”
“Yes?” She laughed. “But no! You can’t just keep kissing me like that when I don’t know where we’re going.”
“I… I want to go lots of places with you,” Grayson said softly, in that low growly voice he had. “One place especially, if you’ll come with me tonight.”
She felt her heart swelling as nervousness seemed to tighten her insides. “I… How can I say no to that?”
He growled softly. “I like that.” Then he gently brushed her cheek and stood up. “I’ll be back to pick you up at 7:00. And, April?”
She looked up at him, still frozen from what his kiss had done to her. “Yes?”
“This is a date.”
“Oh, right. Of course.”
“And just so you know, I’m serious about this. I don’t know exactly where we’re going, but I’m not the kind of man who plays around.”
She swallowed as he walked back to his truck, giving a small wave over his shoulder, leaving her alone with his words and wondering where he was going to take her that night.
Mine Furever Page 7