by Lynn Marie
“Good morning, Michael,” his mother broke the silence with a pointed cough.
Like that had been enough to snap him out of it, Michael blinked a couple of times and acknowledged his mother. He greeted her with a light squeeze on her shoulders, but his eyes remained locked on Evelyn’s.
She shivered.
“Michael,” Marge said, her tone chiding, “shouldn’t you be working? Trip called twice this morning, looking for you.”
“Just dropping by on my way to lunch.” He retained his hold on her and she looked fragile in his arms. Evelyn wondered if it was the same when she stood next to him. His mother, a sizeable woman at nearly six feet was dwarfed by his enormity.
“Hi, Michael,” she added, forcing herself to meet his eye.
“Hi, Evelyn.”
There was a pregnant pause and Marge chuckled again, the low, now-familiar noise startling Evelyn. “I stopped in to satisfy my curiosity. And for some muffins.”
That snapped her out of it. “Let me go grab them for you.”
Marge waved her off. “They’re cooling. Bring them later.”
“Didn’t you have somewhere to be, Mom?” Michael asked her, winking almost indiscernibly.
“You kids,” she scoffed playfully, leaning up on tip-toes to kiss her son’s cheek. “Well, no one ever accused me of not realizing when I’m a third wheel. Have some stuff to do at the store, anyway. Have fun.”
He smiled down at her, an easy grin that bespoke his love for her. Evelyn felt like she was intruding on a private moment, almost. Or maybe it was that her perception of macho-guys was that they would never let someone else see a moment like this. And if she were really honest, Michael’s treatment of his mother endeared him to her in a way nothing else could have.
If it were just a pure, physical attraction, maybe she’d be able to handle it. While she didn’t usually do casual sex, it was certainly easier to handle being with someone if she didn’t have to wonder how messily things could end.
And right now, she couldn’t think of anything but being with him.
“Evelyn,” he said. It wasn’t a greeting—there was so much desire in his voice—but it wasn’t a plea, either. It was an order. To do what, she couldn’t be sure, but she had an idea.
“Hi,” she whispered again. She leaned forward and angled her head slightly up. If he were going to kiss her, she would be ready.
But he didn’t. Instead, he reached out and wound one of her blonde curls around his finger, giving it a gentle tug. “I want to see you tonight.”
Tonight? So soon? Geez, she was still sore from last night. But that delicious heat licked the inside of her belly and a picture of his naked body filled her mind. How was it possible to want someone like this? She wasn’t a teenager, mooning over her first love. She’d had sex before, but it had never been like it was with Michael. Being with him had been so much more. More intense, more satisfying.
She shook her head again. I must control my hormones. She had to at least try to set some boundaries.
“Tomorrow night,” she countered. “I’ll cook you dinner. I live upstairs.”
He shook his head. “Tonight,” he repeated firmly. She wondered why he was pressing the issue. “Unless you’ve got other plans…”
Was this his way of checking if she was seeing anyone else? She decided to concede. “All right. Tonight.”
“Good. It’s settled. And now, I just can’t resist…” he murmured, half-smiling as he leaned down over her, boxing her into the counter with an arm on either side. He hovered just above her lips.
She nearly huffed in frustrated anticipation. Kiss me, damn it!
“I’ll be here at seven,” he promised, leaving no more than the briefest kiss on her lips.
“What the hell was that?” she asked, laughing when she heard the annoyance in her tone.
“Teasing. Always leave ‘em wanting more.” He winked and then he was gone.
She wanted to scream at him as she watched him walk out the door. One thing was for sure—she definitely wanted more.
Chapter 5
A bonded wolf. A fucking bonded wolf. To a human. What were the chances?
Michael ran a hand through his hair in exasperation as he stared at himself in the mirror. He was ready for his date and he looked damn good, he knew… so why was he suddenly second-guessing himself and rummaging through his drawers for a better shirt?
Because he was a fucking bonded wolf.
It had hit him like a ton of bricks. All there was, was her. He’d known it instantly and with perfect clarity. He’d been so shocked by the intensity of the emotion and the certainty with which he knew it to be so. It was all he could do to stand there in her store and stare at her like some big, dumb oaf.
Now, he wasn’t sure exactly how this bonding thing happened. No one really was positive; apparently it was different for everyone. Sometimes, the bond was slow—something that developed over time—like love, only more intense. For his parents, it had been bonded-at-first-sight. Some wolves needed to meet in their wolf-form, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen with Evelyn. And he hadn’t been hit with this feeling at first sight, though he had found her scent oddly intoxicating. It had drawn him in.
Maybe it had been the sex that bonded them. Yeah, that made sense. Especially since he’d been gripped with such an urge to bite her and mark her as his. That was definitely the act of a mated wolf.
He leaned on his dresser with locked elbows, staring at his reflection. He wasn’t sure how to feel about this new development. He’d had to restrain himself all day from showing up unannounced for a quickie in the kitchen. He ached to see her, to be around her and touch her whenever he wanted.
He’d never been a particular fan of the concept of bonding. His father had explained it to him when he was a boy, and he hadn’t been any more receptive to the idea back then. It just felt like a cop-out, somehow, and a little insulting; almost like the universe was saying that he wouldn’t be any good at picking his own mate anyway.
Not that it mattered now. Because like it or not, he’d bonded with Evelyn.
But how did it work? She wasn’t a wolf so he had no idea what would go down from her point of view, but he imagined she would feel a similar draw to him. Not a problem—he could deal with a little wining and dining. He liked the chase, because it led to the kill. Instinctively he knew that the sooner they had sex again, the sooner the bond would be cemented for both of them.
No, he was way more worried about that unavoidable moment where he had to tell her about everything. No sane, human woman with her feet firmly on the ground would willingly accept that her boyfriend could change into a wolf at will (and sometimes accidentally).
Humans didn’t believe in magic, and the shifter community preferred it that way. That’s why they’d moved west and created their own towns out of self-preservation. After all, it had been the humans that had gleefully wiped out the wolf population in the Americas. Sure, some humans lived in Pottsville, but if they noticed that most of the town disappeared on the full moon, they kept it to themselves.
Would she freak? Would she come around to the idea? He just didn’t know her well enough to be able to predict her reactions.
He doubted the universe could be so cruel as to force a mate on him who couldn’t handle a little out of the ordinary… Ok, a lot out of the ordinary. But she’d have to get used to the idea.
Michael’s wolf would never let go now that he’d tasted her. He’d be jealous, possessive, protective, and insatiable. Hopefully an independent woman like Evelyn wouldn’t equate his primal urges with chauvinism. Hopefully she’d find it charming, or at the very least endearing.
For now, they had their insane physical connection. She’d acknowledged the unusual heat between them, even if she didn’t know why. It really should have set off warning bells in his head at the time—that the extent of the attraction between them wasn’t necessarily normal—but he’d been too caught up in the moment. And if
she was anywhere near as hard up as he seemed to be every minute of the day, then she was probably confused as hell about what was going on with her sex drive. At least he knew why he couldn’t stop thinking about her scent or the feel of her legs wrapped around him or the sight of her pussy stretching to take him in…
Suddenly, the shirt he was wearing was too hot. He whipped it off and ran his hand over the bulge in his pants, adjusting it so it wouldn’t be as prevalent. He checked his watch, threw on a different shirt and grabbed the keys to his truck. Time to go.
Living outside the main area of the city, Michael didn’t have to contend with most of the small town bullshit—gossiping and griping about neighbors—except at town meetings. As the unofficial leader of the town, he got to run the meetings but didn’t have any authority to actually get things done. He wouldn’t get that power until he was town foreman, and he wouldn’t be town foreman until the end of his trial period.
Only five moons left.
He had to wonder, though, if five moons would really be enough. If he survived the probationary year he’d be leader in name, but Alpha meant nothing without a pack behind you. It would probably take the people in the town a little while longer to come around.
And to further complicate things, Evelyn was human. What, exactly, would the council make of that? Human-wolf matings weren’t unheard of, but a lot of Elders were blood snobs, and he couldn’t recall any Blackwood Alpha ever diluting the line.
Oh well. One problem at a time.
Michael eased his truck to the side of the road a few stores down from the bakery. He could feel the eyes of Mrs. Kennedy, Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Wilson, even before he saw them huddled outside of Wilson’s Grocer as its namesake locked up for the evening. Each had a paperback copy of the same book, but he was too far to see the title under her arm. Book club night in the back room of the grocery, then. Idly, he wondered how much wine Mrs. Wilson hoarded in the back room for that purpose.
As he got out of the driver’s side, he waved in their direction. “Fine night, Ladies,” he called out in greeting.
“What are you doing in town this late, Michael Blackwood?” Mrs. Morley called back, hand on hip.
“Having dinner.”
The ladies exchanged knowing looks. “Who with?” Mrs. Kennedy asked pointedly.
“Miss Evelyn Montgomery. Maybe you’ve met her; she bought the bakery.”
There was a loud harrumph and Michael thought he heard, “poor Wendy.” “Running around with strange women on a Thursday evening…”
What business was it of theirs what he did with his evening? But he tipped his invisible hat. “Oh, she’s not so strange,” he winked and Mrs. Kennedy pursed her lips against a smile.
“She’s a stranger,” Mrs. Morley protested.
“So were you when you moved here as a girl,” he pointed out. Mrs. Morley was one of the few imports, albeit forty years ago. She and her husband were from a neighboring pack.
“But she’s…” Mrs. Morley cut herself off and met Mrs. Wilson’s eyes. Mrs. Kennedy, the only human among them, missed the exchange, as she was meant to.
Michael nodded. “Have a nice evening, Ladies.”
Mrs. Wilson harrumphed disdainfully again. “Hold on, there, young man. We heard you were making plans for the old barn outside of town.”
“I’d like to turn it into a community center.”
The women looked amongst themselves again and there was a great synchronized, patronizing headshake. Michael felt like an upbraided child. What the hell had he done wrong now? “It’s a piece of this town’s history,” Mrs. Morley protested.
“It’s run down,” he retorted. “A community center would be great for this town. I’ll put it to a vote, of course—”
“And who’s going to pay for it?”
He faltered. “Well, the Blackwoods could, of course—”
Mrs. Wilson intervened imperiously. “That’s your problem right there, Son.”
“I’m sorry, I must have misunderstood something.”
She pursed her lips. “We’re a town.”
What, was she giving him some sort of vocabulary lesson? “I’m aware,” he replied dryly.
Her eyes narrowed at his tone. “You may be aware, but you don’t understand what it means. Ever since you were a boy, you never understood. Crashing cars and running wild.”
“I’ve grown up since then.”
She raised a drawn-on brow. “We’ll see.”
Michael sighed. “I’m just trying to help. I’m trying to leave things better than I found them.”
Mrs. Kennedy hmphed, but it was Mrs. Williams who knocked him down again. “How come you’re the one that gets to decide what’s better and what’s worse? You went to some fancy school and thought you could come back and change everything that makes this town our home? Well I won’t stand for it, Michael Blackwood. You expected to slide right into his place after your father died and get the same respect without earning it. It won’t be that easy.”
And with that, the conversation was over. The three of them huddled together and walked the opposite way down the street, leaving Michael all but scratching his head. What had she meant? Of course he knew what it meant that Pottsville was a town. He’d dedicated his damn life to this town.
It bothered him to admit to himself that she’d been right about his expectations after his father died.
Of course he’d expected to be Alpha. It was in his blood. He’d watched his father fight to protect his pack and his home, always assuming he’d be doing it one day. And no one else in this town was in a better position to protect it from the 21st century dangers that a small town faced—namely, big business buying up and developing the land—than a local construction company. The Council of Elders had too much wisdom and not enough insight. Times changed and the dangers that threatened the pack weren’t the type you could challenge in a fight to the death.
He shook it off. Mrs. Wilson always managed to put him in a bad mood. He shook his head to clear her from his mind and turned. He spotted Evelyn, backlit in the window on the top floor of her shop, just above her new sign that read Evelyn’s Bakery. She smiled at him and waved.
As he waved back, he wondered just how much she’d seen. She leaned out the open window, and then he started wondering just how much she’d heard. Her shirt fell, giving him a perfect view of her breasts.
“Come on up. The stairs are around back and the door’s open.”
It was like his dick responded to the sound of her voice, twitching in response. It was volunteering to “come on up.” He took the stairs two at a time, pausing in her doorway to knock. The door was ajar, though, so he just pushed at it. It swung silently on its hinges, giving way to a small, standard apartment. The living room and kitchen were open and separated by an island designed to fit two, and there was a short hallway leading back to her bedroom and bathroom.
Her back was to the door and she was humming lightly to herself as she stirred an amazing-smelling sauce on the stove. He allowed himself a few seconds to stand back and appreciate the view as she bent over to grab a towel she dropped.
Blonde hair curled around her head in big spirals and came down to just brush her shoulders. It looked wild, but soft at the same time. As she leaned her head to the side to wipe sweat from her forehead, he stared at the elegant line of her neck and the creamy skin marred only by the pink outline of his mating bite.
The swells of her breasts through her tee shirt showed that they were large, but firm and high. The flare of her hips set off her smaller waist and gave her an hourglass shape. She looked… soft. It excited him. It was exactly what he liked about a female body. Men were all hardness and angles—he liked the thought of holding onto something supple and velvety and rounded. Like her hips, as he drove his cock into her slick heat…
Need coiled around his gut and squeezed hard.
He opened his mouth to greet her, but her phone started ringing loudly on the counter next to her. His curios
ity got the better of him, so he leaned against the doorway to listen for a minute.
“Hey, Sis. Listen, I can’t chat right now… Oh, the cards said that, did they?” her voice was laced with sarcasm and he found himself grinning. He hadn’t thought to ask if she had any siblings. “Well thanks for letting me know. Yeah, I’ve got to go now. He’ll be here any minute… And my other line is buzzing so… Love you too, Dana. Bye.”
Without checking the ID, she tapped the screen and said, “Hello?” Then, she went completely rigid. She muttered a string of curses to herself and switched her phone to the other ear. “Oh… it’s you,” she said in a low voice. “Al, I can’t… I’m just not ready to talk to you, okay? Stop calling.” With that, she hung up.
Michael’s eyebrows shot up as his bonded-mate instincts kicked into hyper-drive. Who the fuck was Al? Why was he calling Evelyn, when she clearly didn’t want to talk to him? Was he an ex-boyfriend who wanted to get back together?
He hadn’t been in a particularly good mood since Mrs. Wilson had taken a nice chunk from his ego with her claws, but this was icing on the cake.
He took a step into the apartment and a board creaked under his weight. Evelyn whirled and pasted a smile on her face, but she was pale. That call had really bothered her. He wanted to ask, but didn’t want to overstep. In his mind, they were soul mates that could share everything, but in her mind they were nearly strangers.
As his wolf bristled about some unknown threat to his mate, Michael struggled to keep his more instinctual side in check.
“Hey there, handsome. Right on time.”
He smiled, feeling that it probably looked a little forced. It took all he had not to ask her about that call—to demand the man’s name so he could find him and deliver a “warning” the asshole wouldn’t soon forget—but he managed. His wolf was not a creature of reason, it was all instinct and raw emotion. The truth was, he didn’t know the story, and wouldn’t until she felt comfortable enough to tell him.
“You look great.”
She looked down at her jeans and smiled ruefully. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”