by Lori King
“I’m just calling to thank you for the flower. It was a sweet gesture.” She swallowed hard at his chuckle.
“No, it wasn’t. It was meant to remind you that I want you, and to turn you on by making you think about me. Did it work?”
She snorted and rolled her eyes at the ceiling. “I appreciate the thought, but—”
“I asked you if you got turned on thinking about me, baby girl.”
She paused, trying to decide how to deal with his arrogance and answer his question. She spoke after a moment. “Look, I’m not sure how we got off on the wrong foot, but I want to clear this up so that there is no confusion.”
“Hmm…what’s that? Confusion about how turned on you’re getting just thinking about my hands and mouth running over your soft, white skin? Or maybe thinking about my fingers running through your gorgeous red hair? Or perhaps—“
“Stop. Yes, you turn me on, Ryley, and you know that. I’m a grown woman. I’m allowed to be attracted to men. However, it doesn’t change this situation. I’m not in a position to date anyone, and you clearly haven’t gotten that through your thick head.”
“That’s because I have no desire to get that through my thick head as you call it. Instead I would rather get my thick head through to you,” he smarted off wickedly, and she gasped.
“Enough. I just called to say thank you, now that I’ve said it I’m hanging up.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone for several minutes.
“Hello?”
“I thought you were hanging up, baby girl?” he said mockingly, and she huffed.
“Are you always like this?”
“Well, I guess you’ll just have to let me take you out, so that you can get to know me and find out for yourself.”
“Ryley, I can’t go out with you—”
“Would you rather stay in?”
Images of Ryley in her home, naked and masculine, assailed her, and she could hear her own breathing increase. “No, I would not.”
“So eight o’clock good?”
“No, Ryley. Even if I wanted to, tomorrow is a school night. I have papers to grade.”
“Good, then we’ll pick you up Friday night at eight. Wear a dress, baby girl, so that I can see those sexy legs again.”
The click in her ear surprised her, as he hung up his end. He was so frustrating. She hadn’t agreed to go out with him, and somehow now they had a date scheduled. As much as she hated to admit it, her anger was tempered by a wave of lust. She wanted to spend time with him, but she had to make him understand that it was just a fling, nothing serious. As she thought back through their conversation, it dawned on her that Ryley had used the word we, when he mentioned picking her up tomorrow. Surely they didn’t intend on dating her simultaneously?
Shifting her attention to the two flowers sitting on the windowsill, she narrowed her gaze into a frown. She wasn’t willing to play games with them, and if they thought that it would be funny to string her along, then they had another think coming.
She snatched her phone back up and dialed Rafe’s phone number. He answered on the second ring with a pleasant “Hey, angel, I was hoping you would call.”
“You listen, and you listen good. I don’t need a man in my life, and I certainly don’t need two of them. I don’t give a damn how sexy Ryley thinks my legs are in a skirt, I am not going out with you two Friday night. Period. Is that clear enough for you, Mr. Whetstone?”
The silence was oppressive as he digested her words, and she realized that he probably wasn’t in on Ryley’s invitation, and had no idea why she was berating him. She had just blown up on an innocent man like a nuclear warhead, and now she felt guilty.
“Oh my God. I’m so sorry, Rafe. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that! But your brother is the most frustratingly stubborn, hardheaded—”
“Egotistical, arrogant, bossy, controlling…I think that’s the bulk of the words usually used to describe him by women. Of course then there are the others: seductive, charming, sweet, generous, kindhearted…but I guess you haven’t seen that side of my brother yet, huh?” There was laughter in Rafe’s tone, but Shandi felt terrible now.
“No, and every time we speak he is sharing the side of him that I can’t stand, but that’s not your fault.”
“You’re right, it’s not, but I’m not going to walk away from you, even if you push. To be honest, neither is Ryley, and just for the record you do have amazing legs. I know he takes some getting used to, but he’ll adjust.”
“Adjust to what?”
“To finding his…well, a sexy woman that he wants to date.”
“Don’t give me that line. I have a brain you know. I’m not stupid enough to think that I’m the only woman in the world your brother has ever found attractive enough to date. He’s probably got more notches in his bedpost than a cat’s scratching post.”
Rafe’s laughter was loud and booming even through the telephone, and Shandi caught herself giggling, too.
“Well, he isn’t a saint, I will agree with you there, but there is something about you, angel. We want to spend more time with you.”
“Together?”
“Yes, I know that probably seems strange, but Ryley and I are extremely close, and we come from a family that believes love doesn’t have to be between just two people, a man and his woman. In fact, my cousins Devin and Damon are getting married to the same woman.”
“What? That’s illegal! How does that even work?” She couldn’t hold back her curiosity.
“Oh it works quite nicely with the right woman, between the right men. Eventually I’m hoping that you will want something like that with the two of us, but we understand you aren’t ready yet. I’m just not sure I totally understand why. Did someone hurt you?”
Shandi sighed. “That’s really none of your business. Look, I’ve been honest with both of you about not wanting a relationship. If all you want is company for a night out, then I’ll go, but please understand that it can’t be more than that.”
“If that’s all that you’re ready to give us, then I guess that’s what we’ll take, angel. Just don’t shut us down. So, did you like your flowers?”
“Oh damn! That was why I called in the first place. I wanted to tell you thank you, but I made the mistake of calling Ryley first, and he just…well, anyways, thank you. The flowers are lovely.”
“I’m glad you liked them. Now I need to go. I’m helping my brother get his new house ready to move into. I’ll see you Friday night, angel.”
Shandi hung up the phone feeling a little bit manipulated and very anxious over her date with the Whetstone brothers. What exactly had she just agreed to, and did he really just tell her that they both wanted to date her?
Chapter 5
“Who was that?” Liam said from behind Rafe, startling him out of his thoughts.
“My mate.”
“Really? So you really did find her?”
Rafe stared blankly at the mural he had been painting on the wall for a moment before responding, “Yeah we did, but she’s not going to go down easy.”
Liam nearly fell over laughing, which only caused Rafe to growl in irritation. “What the fuck is so funny, asshat?”
“You are. You were just telling me a few weeks ago how wonderful finding your mate would be, and now here you are face-to-face with it and scared shitless. Turnabout is fair play, bro,” Liam said with a cocky look that had Rafe flipping him the bird.
“Go away, or I’ll never get this thing done in time for you to show her next weekend,” he snarled at his older brother, as he dipped his brush back into the silver-toned paint he was using. His hands instinctively pressed the drips from the fine bristles, careful to get only the amount of paint necessary.
“Gotcha. I can’t wait to see the almighty fall,” Liam said with a laugh as he walked out of the room, shaking his head.
Rafe sighed heavily. Liam was right. Rafe had spent years envisioning how meeting his mate would happen. H
e had never anticipated the possibility that she might not be a werewolf. Having a human woman who was already hurt from a past relationship only made the whole situation harder. He would have to get to the bottom of her past boyfriend, so that he knew just exactly what he faced with Miss Shandi Martin.
Right now all he knew was that he was going into this date tomorrow night with guns blazing, because his wolf wouldn’t allow him to do any less for her. If they were going to build a future, then they were going to have to start over on the right foot somehow.
“Hey, Rafe?” He heard the voice of his best friend Damon calling from down the hall.
“Yeah, I’m back here!” he responded as he stroked paint over the wall, creating light where there were shadows before. Seeing his vision come to life under his brush was a joy and a passion for him, and he loved sharing it with others who enjoyed it.
After hearing about how much Tina loved the painting he had done of Liam, there was no way that Rafe could have turned down the opportunity to paint a larger version on the wall of her new dance studio. Not that Tina knew about it yet. The woman didn’t even know she was getting a dance studio yet, so the whole thing would be a huge surprise.
For a woman that had lost her first fiancé in a random act of violence when a mugger shot him, Tina was an amazing individual. She was tough as hell on the outside, but sweet as honey to the people she cared about. That’s what made Rafe want to help make her surprise a fantastic one, that and the fact that she had just survived another attempted kidnapping. Her loco coworker Carter Lawrence had gotten it into his head that she wanted a relationship with him, and had unsuccessfully tried to cart her away.
The reality of how close she had come to being hurt or killed had pushed her to finally embrace her mating with Liam wholeheartedly, and claim him so that she could complete her transformation into a werewolf. This morning she had even had a practice session with Cash and Liam on her shifting abilities, and then apparently she went out with Liam and Cash on a quick run down to the lake. Cash said that she was doing awesome in wolf form, and had quickly filled the shoes of Caroline’s Beta Bitch. It was great to see things all sliding into place for once.
Damon waltzed into the room wearing his navy-colored Battalion 1 T-shirt with a pair of khaki carpenter pants and looking like a satisfied pup.
“What’s up with you, man? You look like you just got screwed,” Rafe said playfully.
Damon’s smile said it all, and Rafe groaned. “Jesus. Is the whole world out to give me blue balls?”
“Well, having a mate definitely has its perks, even if she is hormonal, and in Bridezilla phase two,” Damon said with a grimace.
“What the hell is Bridezilla phase two?” Rafe asked.
“Umm…when I left, her, my mom, and Tina were discussing centerpieces for tables, and whether or not the flowers had to match the exact shade of the napkins. If I got asked for my opinion just one more time I was going to lose my mind. Phase one was right after we asked her to marry us, and she freaked out about who was going to be invited to her ménage marriage to two werewolves,” Damon said, dropping to sit on the floor with his back to the wall while he watched Rafe paint.
“So how did a wedding discussion end up getting you laid?”
“I told her that it didn’t matter to me what color the napkins were. Just so long as I was marrying her, my life would be perfect. Apparently she liked that, because she forced me into the kitchen pantry and had her wicked way with me,” Damon said with a heavy sigh.
“Jackass, she did not!” Rafe said in disbelief.
“Oh yeah she did. My mate is horny as hell. She says that being pregnant makes her hormones surge, so occasionally she just gets all wild and spontaneous.”
“Lucky bastard.”
“Yep.”
They both were silent for several minutes as Rafe continued to put the paint on the wall, creating the outline for a large, silver-colored wolf that was reflected in the dark waters of a lake. A full moon hung high in the sky of the mural, and thick woods surrounded the body of water. It was a brief glimpse of Liam in his wolf’s form that few outside of their pack had ever seen. Rafe had no doubt that it would end up being one of his best paintings ever.
“It looks fantastic, Rafe.”
The new voice surprised Rafe causing him to drop his brush onto the plastic-covered floor. He threw an exasperated look over his shoulder at Owen.
“Did you two need something or are you just here for the view?” Rafe said belligerently as he found another brush and dutifully went back to painting.
“Why are you so bitchy today?” Owen asked, narrowing his gaze at Rafe, who shrugged.
“He found his mate,” Damon said with a smirk.
Owen’s eyes snapped open wider. “No shit? Is it that curvy redhead from the bar? Damn, she was hot. Damon, you should have seen her—”
Rafe snarled and spun to pin Owen with his angry glare. “Don’t talk about her like that. You do not get to comment on her curves or her hotness.”
Owen held up both hands as if to plead for mercy. “Got it. I was just surprised. She took off like a bat out of hell right after dancing with Ry, so I figured she wasn’t interested.”
“Well, she says she’s not, but her body says she is,” Rafe said with a heavy sigh.
“Yeah, Caro said she didn’t want Dev and me either, but you see how well she held out. Hell, even prickly Tina finally gave in to Liam,” Damon said, and they all laughed. “Give her time, man. The mating lust will hit her, and then she’ll be in your arms and hot as a firecracker.”
“Do you have to be so crass?” Rafe said with a frown.
“Nope, but if I weren’t, then I wouldn’t be me, and everyone loves me the way I am,” Damon said, rising to his feet.
“Whatever. Look, I need to get back to this. What did you guys want exactly?”
“Cash and I were out on patrol this morning and caught the scent of a rogue wolf near the east boundary of the den,” Owen said. His tone had changed from playful to serious in the blink of an eye.
“What?” Rafe said in shock. It had been years since he had even heard a whisper of a rogue near the den that didn’t seek an audience with the pack Alpha, Devin Gray.
“Yeah, Dev wants everyone on high alert, and we’re going to send out a couple of new pairs to patrol. Noah and Luke say they want more hands-on work, and so do Heath, Tate, and Justin Truehope,” Damon explained.
“Are they ready? I know we’ve all been working with them, training them, but are they really ready for the responsibility? By the age of twenty-four we had all been through the Marines at least. Noah and Luke have no interest in people telling them what to do,” Rafe said in disbelief.
“With all of these matings happening, Devin thinks we’re going to have to start leaning on some of the younger guys to help with things. Luke asked me the other day about taking the test to join on to the Fire Department. I guess he’s been thinking about it for a while,” Owen said with a shrug.
Rafe nodded his agreement. “Okay, well then, I guess that’s a little pressure off of the rest of us. Let me know if you need me to run an extra patrol tonight. Ry and I are both off for the next couple of days, and other than our date tomorrow night, I don’t think we have anything else planned.”
“Thanks, I’ll let Dev know. We’re having a pack meeting tomorrow at noon. Everyone that can be there should be there. I know the commander gave Dev the day off when he told him that he had a family emergency come up,” Damon said.
“Is it just about the rogue?” Rafe asked. Devin Gray taking time off indicated something serious was brewing. “Nope, we need to go over plans for the Diego pack’s visit,” Damon said with an irritated sigh.
Owen chuckled and whacked him on the back. “We’ll be fine, man, stop stressing it. Let’s focus on getting you through your wedding before we start worrying about those pups coming down to play.”
Damon nodded, and both men said their goodbyes, while Raf
e turned back to the mural. There was definitely trouble brewing. Rafe could feel it in his gut. Something odd was coming, and he didn’t think that it had anything to do with his newfound mate, or the Diego Pack visit.
Chapter 6
Rafe watched Ryley chatting with several of their family members after the pack meeting. Devin had just confirmed to the pack that a contingent from the Chicago-based Diego pack was coming to visit for a few weeks, and everyone was scrambling to make plans. The Diego pack was planning an Alpha battle amongst males in the pack that wanted to take over the leadership of the pack, and the Gray pack would be the referees and witnesses of the match.
The Diego wolves had been without an Alpha leader ever since Barton Diego went completely nuts and kidnapped Devin and Damon’s mate, Caroline, along with her best friend Tina. He had threatened them both, and physically abused both women before the pack could rescue them. Barton was killed in the battle, but that’s when Liam and Tina had discovered that they were mates.
Rafe remembered how much Liam struggled with convincing Tina that she even wanted a mate. Living with both of his brothers, Rafe was privy to a lot of their private thoughts. Ryley wasn’t exactly a deep pool of thoughts lately, but Liam had been.
Liam even came to Rafe for advice when he first met Tina. Tina had been pushing Liam away with both hands, and even though there was an explosive attraction between the two, she fought it. Once they all found out that Tina’s reluctance to accept Liam had more to do with the death of a past fiancé than with Liam himself, it made more sense. She actually felt an intense attraction to Liam, she was just afraid of it. According to Liam, the mating bond was nearly instant for him, from the moment he could smell Tina’s unique scent.
It sure sounded like a familiar story to Rafe. The moment he walked around the corner and saw Ryley and Shandi in the school hallway, her scent had flooded his nose. His cock hardened, and his body hummed, and he wanted her desperately. It had taken all of his self-control to keep from shifting into his wolf and claiming her in the hallway.