Hunting Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #3

by Harper, J. K.

  One look at his face as soon as she loosed those tiny, mean barbs, and she wanted to crawl into the deepest, darkest, nastiest pit on earth, where she obviously belonged.

  ~

  Caleb knew every single thought in his brain ticked over his face in a nanosecond. He was a hell of a card player, but he'd never once been able to maintain a poker face around cute little Rielle Amoux. Something about her always made him feel sort of...exposed. It sure was a good thing he hardly ever saw her. She never came to the den. For a shifter, Ree didn't seem to want to hang out with her own kind all that much.

  Right now, that suited him fine. From her widened eyes and paling face, he was pretty sure she wanted to stuff her own words back into her mouth. Whatever. They were just words. The only thing that could really hurt were claws, jaws, and lethal paws. His private mantra boosted him back to a level where he thought he could speak without something in his voice betraying him. Growling in assent, his wolf lashed an irate tail.

  There was a note of confusion in there as well, though. Caleb thought he sensed searching. His wolf searching for Rielle's wolf? But she was right there. Ignoring his wolf's doubt, he plunged forward like he usually did. Keep it light, and slightly off point so as to confuse the enemy.

  Rielle is not enemy, his wolf thought. She is Pack.

  Caleb ignored that and shook himself. Smile, bluff, repeat. It always worked.

  “No hard feelings, Rielle, okay?” He worked hard to keep his voice bland. “I know your store is special to you.”

  Despite the upset still written all over her, she wrinkled her brow a little. Good. She was confused at his swift, tactical change of attitude.

  “I just meant that with the rogues showing up and attacking Black Mesa Wolves”—he could feel the thundercloud darken his face as he thought of his own brother, almost killed by the rogues now twiddling their useless thumbs in the holding cells in the den's basement—“we've got a lot to worry about. And if you're focused so much on your store, you might not be paying attention to rogues who want to drag you off for who knows what reasons. That's all I was trying to say.”

  She was kind of adorable when she was alarmed. It set off his protective instincts so strongly he had to shove his wolf down. Even so, he knew that wild edge lit up his eyes. Besides, that was wrong to think that way. Right? He didn't want her to be alarmed so he could feel protective about her. He didn't want her to be—anything.

  His wolf whined.

  Now he was confusing not only Rielle, but himself. Time to pull out the big guns and get this conversation back on track. Despite being a honed fighting machine, Caleb knew a thing or two about the ladies: When in doubt, grovel.

  “Or, you know.” He grinned his best grin at her, the one that usually made girls smile. “Thinking about your store all the time means you wouldn't be paying attention to big doofuses who run you over right in the middle of the sidewalk.”

  Bingo. A shadow of a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. It was small, but he'd take it.

  “I'm sorry,” she began. He cut her off with a casual wave of his hand. He noticed he was barely inches away from her. Was that really good spicy-sweet smell coming from her?

  Yes, pig, he thought at himself. It's her shampoo. Never notice a sweet-smelling girl before?

  Pig? His wolf gave a long-suffering growl.

  Caleb gave Rielle a long look. Run a girl over, really see her for the first time ever. Huh. Her wavy dark hair curled and bounced around her cheeks, cascaded down her neck, swung just above her—breasts. Not that he was looking at a packmate's breasts. Although his non-look assured him they were perky, not too big but not tiny, either. And it wasn't like he hadn't seen her naked before. Every shifter in the pack had no worries about nudity around one another. Shifting demanded shedding clothes, and it was something they'd all done since cubs. But still. Rielle had breasts. He'd never really thought about them before. Now, he had to force his eyes to stay focused on her face.

  She wore a little dress thing, all soft and wafty, in a pretty light orange color that set off her skin really well. Guess she did know a thing or two about clothes. And those heels—how girls could attempt to wear high heels, let alone stand around at work all day in them, was beyond him. But they did make her legs look long and really feminine.

  His wolf snorted a small whuffle. Rielle is nice. Small, like a little snack. Maybe she's tasty, too.

  Caleb thought hard about poker while he tried to shut up the wolfish laughter from what his sister, Lily, would call his barbarian brain. Whoa. Redirect! he sternly warned himself.

  “You're right,” he went on in a casual but apologetic tone. Those dainty eyebrows over Rielle's soft russet eyes rose again at his admission. “I was thinking about something else and not watching where I was going.”

  She shifted on her feet, and his gaze dropped for just an instant to her hips. Rielle really was pretty. He'd always known that, of course, he wasn't a total idiot. But she was really pretty tonight. He usually didn't think about it. Something was special tonight, though.

  Realization dawned.

  “Oh, shit,” he said. She winced a bit at the word. Right. Rielle was sort of prim. He'd forgotten that. Fine, add must watch language around Rielle to his huge list of things to remember on a daily basis. “I mean, damn. Sorry. You have a date, right? That's why you're dressed like that.”

  Rielle's pretty pink lips opened, then closed, then opened again. Fascinated despite his best intentions, Caleb stared at the plush, soft things. Whoa. Clearly, he hadn't been getting out enough lately, what with training to thump rogue ass and all. Girls were always around, and he usually found them easy enough to call in, enjoy, then set loose.

  But he usually didn't spend this much time admiring their gorgeous, luscious lips.

  Or wondering what those particular lips might feel like as they touched his body.

  ~

  Rielle's heart rabbited in her chest. Caleb thought she had a date? Reflexively, she looked down at her outfit. Fairly typical for a day in the store, it was a dress from a new designer who'd sent it special to Rielle as an enticement to carry her line. It was a cute dress, but she wore clothes like this every day.

  Oh. But she didn't see Caleb every day. Right. Because he was never in town, and he certainly never came into her store. Obviously, he didn't have a girlfriend for whom he needed to buy gifts.

  For some reason, the thought of Caleb having a girlfriend made her flush a bit. Well, if he did have a girlfriend, she would pity the poor woman who had to put up with his ways. Not like she was one to talk. Dating wasn't something Rielle did. Like, ever. But she wanted to. Really, really wanted to. Sometimes she forgot how much she wanted that. Right now, being reminded of her dateless status really stung.

  “I don't have a date.” Which was such a brilliant way to tell him she had no life. She kept her voice slightly cool. “This is how I dress for work. If customers see me wearing the clothes we carry in the store, it helps sell them. Simple advertising.”

  Caleb's wolf still lurked in his eyes. She'd seen it flash there earlier—probably when she'd insulted him with that horrible comment about his diction. She still could hardly believe she'd said that. Rielle was never mean or rude. Her parents had always emphasized good manners, and in general she didn't have the stomach for cruelty.

  It was probably just Caleb's natural barbarian nature that brought it out in her. Case in point, she was thinking about him in unflattering terms. He was a little barbaric, though, with those huge muscles and that little scar on his chin. He must have gotten raked hard in the face by a claw, then not shifted soon or often enough right afterward to let it heal over. In fact, he probably did it on purpose, so he'd have that bad boy look forever to remind others how tough he was.

  Even so, she had to admit seeing the fire of his wolf light his eyes was a little—interestingly intense.

  Kind. Her wolf's word drifted through her mind, shocking her a bit. She'd been ignoring her wol
f for so long now she'd nearly forgotten what it felt like to have that side of her rise up. Odder still, her wolf thought Caleb was kind?

  Rielle shook her head. Caleb stood there, simply looking at her.

  “Why are you staring at me?” she asked. Her throat felt a little tight, which meant she was flustered. Language was something Rielle had down pat, what with her love of reading and her position as the Pack's historian. Despite that, whenever she felt put on the spot, her throat seized up a bit, as if words lodged in there, trapped.

  Caleb grinned. It lifted his face from warrior-tough to genuinely open and almost inviting. The barest hint of crinkles surrounded his blue eyes, and he looked suddenly relaxed.

  “Because you were staring at me, shaking your head.” That bass voice rumbled into her ears. “I was trying to figure you out, but I thought I'd better keep my mouth shut this time. Safer option.”

  Rielle let out an apologetic breath. “I'm not usually rude—” she began. He cut her off again with the slightest movement of his head and a “mm-mm” sound. He'd forgiven her and moved on already.

  “So, Ree.”

  That smile really changed his whole demeanor, made him seem much more approachable, somehow. She smiled back at him, softening a bit.

  “Can I walk you somewhere?” he said. “Since you don't have a date, are you just heading home?”

  What? She blinked. It wasn't like her life was so pathetic and boring. Well, fine. Caleb Bardou might be one good-looking wolf, and he had been trying to smooth over her tactless gaffe earlier, but clearly he was still a big dumb ox.

  “I may not have a date,” she said, voice rigid, “and yes, I'm going home, but for your information that's exactly where I want to be. There's nothing wrong with that!”

  She shoved past his imposing, ox-like bulk—and why did he have to smell so good, all sort of woodsy-sweaty and manly, and why did that even smell good to her, really?—and clicked down the sidewalk. Heels were fun to wear, but they lacked a bit in the angry-stamping-away department.

  “Ree! What the hell!”

  Caleb caught up to her in about a quarter of a stride and planted himself in front of her. The blue eyes were darker, edgier, and had no traces left of the laughter. Ah, yes. Caleb the fighter, in full pugnacious mode.

  “Excuse me. I'm trying to go to my very dull home, but there's a rather large guy blocking my way. Could you please move?”

  She glared up at him. It was a good thing she hardly ever saw him. Since every encounter seemed to go like this, Caleb was likely to tip her right over the edge into an apparently more crass, graceless self.

  Thundercloud face back, arms waving around, he leaned down to her as he spoke. “I did not say your house was boring! Or dull! I just offered to walk you home because of the very reasons I said about two minutes earlier. It's not as safe out here anymore. You shouldn't be walking around alone, anyway. Alpha should put a stop to it.”

  Rielle's wolf pushed at her mind a bit, startling her even more. A faint whine tinged with an even fainter growl whispered through the edges of her mind before dissipating.

  “Alpha has no problems with me living in town.” Why did Caleb have to be so darn big? “I'm not the only one who does, and I got his permission to do so, anyway. Until and unless he says I can't walk around alone any longer, I'm going to keep doing it. I'm not totally helpless, Caleb.”

  It was almost fascinating, the way she could practically see the steam coming out of his ears. He really needed to get a handle on his anger.

  “Well, for shit's sake, Rielle.” She flinched the tiniest bit at his phrasing, which he caught. His eyes narrowed at her a bit. “If you're so big and bad, fine. You just flounce on home in those heels and that cute, fluffy little dress you have on all by yourself.”

  “My dress isn't fluffy! These are chiffon panels, they float—”

  Caleb actually groaned and dropped his face into his palms for a moment, effectively halting her outraged words.

  “You know what, Ree?” he said to his hands. “I was trying to be a gentleman. Which I admit my sister says I suck at. But I tried.”

  Caleb lifted his head and looked at her again. His expression hovered between slightly disgusted and long-suffering. Rielle caught her lip between her teeth, which immediately drew his eyes to her mouth for a split second. She almost missed it.

  “You just go ahead and float on home in your chiffon panels, then.”

  What a big—doofus. Rielle felt her mouth open a bit, but her throat tightened up. Darn it.

  “I've got other things to take care of. Good night, Rielle. Have a nice evening.”

  With that, Caleb turned on one foot in a graceful move she instinctively recognized as a predator's, and strode across the street. He turned down the next one and disappeared.

  She stood on the sidewalk for a moment longer, feeling confused and oddly alone.

  “Well,” she finally said, more to her own jumble of thoughts than anyone else. Okay, then. She and her dress would just float on home. The streets were perfectly safe, and she could take care of herself.

  Rielle headed home, paying no attention to anything other than the irritated thoughts churning around in her mind.

  ~

  Caleb kept to the shadows, silent and unseen as he followed Rielle until she made it safely to her door. He waited until his sensitive hearing caught the sound of the door lock tumblers snicking into place before he turned and slowly headed back into town. She hadn't even realized he was following her. No self-protective instincts in her. She could be jumped by any old rogue walking around town.

  Always keep Pack safe, his wolf insisted. Always.

  Caleb rubbed his head, which felt somewhat jarred by the events of the last ten or so minutes. Of course he had to keep Pack members safe. That was the only reason he'd followed the damned annoying little wolf home, to make sure she'd get there in one piece.

  Yeah. That had to be the only reason.

  Chapter 2

  “Oh, this one is absolutely divine on you!”

  The gaggle of cooing, giggling young women crowded around the bride-to-be, who looked absolutely stunning in a soft yellow reception dress Rielle had hand picked for her to try on. The girl's face shone with a positively rapturous glow.

  Rielle sighed to herself, though she kept her professional smile firmly plastered on her face. She loved the way High Peaks Couture made dreams come true for so many people. She felt very confident about herself every time she wore flattering clothes, so she understood firsthand the power of good clothes to improve self-esteem. Bringing a smile to someone else's face and a little uplift to their day was one of the job perks for her.

  Yet every time a wedding party came in to find dresses for the reception, or the mother-in-law, or the honeymoon, Rielle let her imagination get carried away by the excitement and emotion surrounding the event. Getting married was high on her list of life goals. She didn't talk about it much, though. In the shifter world, being mated was seen as the pinnacle. The more human tradition of marriage, while still followed by many shifters, was usually considered more as icing on the cake than being really important.

  Even so, instead of mating, she dreamed of marriage. Starting with a huge, beautiful wedding to her perfect, amazing, wonderful husband.

  Whomever he might be. She sure hadn't met any candidates yet. At all. Ever.

  “I think I'll take this one.” The girl's face beamed at Rielle as she twirled around in her dress. “I love it! My fiancé will, too.”

  “Of course. Let me wrap it. It really is perfect for you!” Rielle said, offering a genuine smile.

  While she rang up the wedding purchases at the register, an image of Caleb popped into her head. She frowned and immediately felt slightly agitated. Why on earth he had to run into her—literally—last night was a mystery. Then he just went and proved again what a bumbling guy he was. He was so clueless. Sure, he'd tried to be nice for a second, but then he tripped over his own feet again.
/>
  How he managed to have women panting after him was sheer mystery, she thought with a suddenly savage frown. She tried to forget how sexy he had looked. How big he was. How good he'd smelled.

  An image of Caleb's wolf popped into her mind: big, strong, handsome, protective, ready to fight. A tendril of longing leapt through her, almost making her gasp. It almost felt like her wolf was stirring. Her wild side, the part of her that made her want to do irrational things like howl at the full moon, run in the woods with her pack, kiss a big, brawny guy who was all muscle and no brains. It just felt so—uncontrolled.

  With effort, she thrust away the disturbing thoughts. Semi-smiling again, she focused her gaze on the delicate dress as she carefully packaged it into a pretty store bag.

  Caleb was a manly man. A guy's guy. The kind who always appealed to women who didn't care if the guy they went for was a Neanderthal. The women who craved that sort of guy. That, however, was definitely not Rielle's style. She wanted a smart, academic, courteous guy who knew how to live a calm, rational life. After all, she was like that. Like attracted like, which had always made sense to her.

  Very deep down, her wolf let out a tiny whine. Insistent despite its faraway presence. The sound tapped at Rielle's heart. The urge to get out on a run in wolf form made her jittery, as it had been for a few months now. Running as a wolf was so...wild, though. Shivering, she pushed away the images of racing through miles of open space, accompanied by a huge male wolf.

  The unsettled feelings stayed with her as she finished wrapping up. Keeping her cheerful smile on, she thanked the customers for coming in, told them about the elegant discount card she'd slipped into the bags for their next time in, and waved as they bustled out the door in a whirlwind of smiles and laughter, with the bride-to-be at the center of it all.

  The place felt suddenly dim when all that cheerfulness left.