by T. S. Joyce
Lacy grinned brightly. “Guess who just walked in?”
“Mr. Danvers?” He was a bit of a hypochondriac and came in most days with some imaginary ailment. Yesterday, he’d been convinced he was filled with bot flies, which didn’t even live in Alaska.
Lacy giggled and shook her head. Shoving her hands in the pockets of her purple scrubs, she twitched her blond ponytail off her shoulder and leaned against the hallway wall. “Someone tall, dark, and sexy as fuck just asked for you up front. I think Janice will have to be admitted for exploding ovaries after this. You should go save her.”
Kate laughed at the mental picture of Janice sitting at the front, trying to check Dalton in while flirting shamelessly. She was on the north end of sixty, but she was proof that age was just a number.
“So this is the second time he’s come in here in a week,” Lacy said conversationally. “And you’ve been smiling to yourself a lot.”
“He makes me happy.”
“Good. I approve of any man who gets you living again.”
Kate let off a shocked sound. “I have been living.”
“You’ve been working and throwing yourself into caring for everyone but yourself. It’s good to see you back to your old self.” Lacy winked and pushed off the wall.
Kate stared after her as she disappeared into the only occupied room at the moment, her sneakers squeaking loudly across the tile floors. Huh. Over the last week, she’d felt the changes in herself. The opening up, the laughing, the feeling comfortable in her own skin again, but Lacy was right. She’d found a bit of her old self again.
With an absent smile, Kate made her way to the front entrance and stifled a laugh as she saw Janice leaned against the counter, outside of her station, hand on Dalton’s bicep, petting his muscles like a cat. Dear goodness, she was incorrigible. Dalton looked up and gave Kate a good humored help-me look before he returned his attention to Janice’s open affection and responded to something she’d said.
He held a bouquet of red tulips at his side as he leaned on one elbow against the sterile, white counter, one ankle crossed over the other and looking every bit the epitome of confident male. Sexy Dalton. That’s what she called him in her head.
Dr. Vega strode by and grabbed her arm, leading her to the mouth of an empty room.
“Ow,” she whispered, yanking her arm from his grip, but he only held on tighter. “Let me go.”
“What is he doing here?” Dr. Vega’s hair looked even thinner today, stringy almost, and his complexion was pallid. His brow trickled with a drop of sweat, and his eyes were bloodshot, his pupils dilated.
“He’s my…” She gritted her teeth. Dr. Vega would have to get used to Dalton because sometimes he would be picking her up from shifts, like tonight. “He’s mine.”
“I’d get your hands off her if you want to keep them,” Dalton said blandly.
He was standing on the other side of the hall, just a few feet away. He had appeared without a sound, and behind her thick glasses, Janice looked utterly baffled that Dalton wasn’t still under her outstretched hand, accepting her petting.
Dalton’s posture was relaxed and his voice calm, but the gold fire in his eyes scared her on behalf of Dr. Vega. The doctor let her go with a small shove. He gave a cruel laugh and dragged his glare from Dalton to Kate. “He’s yours?” His voice turned to ice as he leaned toward her and whispered, “You have no idea what you’re doing. No idea who he is.”
“You’re wrong. I know him. I don’t know you.” And she was beginning to think she never had.
Dr. Vega turned with an empty half-smile on his lips for Dalton. “Mind the woods at night, Dawson. Alaska isn’t safe for monsters anymore.” He turned and sauntered off, leaving Kate rubbing her arm where he’d grabbed her and wondering what the hell had just happened.
“He’s mad,” Dalton murmured.
“I’ll say.”
“Not angry-mad, Kate.” Dalton gave her a significant look and lowered his voice. “He smells like McCall madness without the wolf.”
Fear snaked up her spine, lifting the fine hairs on her body.
“Are you almost finished with your shift?” he asked, lifting her sleeve to look at where she’d been rubbing the soreness. A soft growl rattled his throat as he saw the red marks from Dr. Vega’s grip.
“Yeah,” she murmured. “Slow day, only one patient right now, and I’ve already transferred her to Lacy. Let’s get out of here.” With every second she stood here, the uneasy feeling grew deep within her gut.
“You should report him, Kate. He shouldn’t treat you like that. Shouldn’t hurt you.”
“Dalton,” she whispered, “you heard what he called you.” Monster. “I’m not going to battle with Dr. Vega until I figure out what he knows. He could have all of Galena armed with pitchforks if he feels pushed into it. You’re mine to protect, too.”
Dalton gave one last long, hard look down the hallway Dr. Vega had disappeared, then nodded once. Scrubbing his hand down his face, he sighed, then took her hand and placed it gently in the crook of his elbow until they reached the front. While Kate grabbed her purse from behind the counter and shrugged into her jacket, Dalton smiled politely and said his farewell to Janice.
Outside, the sun shone brightly, warming her cheeks, and apparently warming everything else because the snow was already half melted, and the rich scent of defrosted earth hit her nose. Mud-season was coming. As much as she looked forward to warm weather, she dreaded how swampy everything would become as the abundance of snow melted into the Alaskan countryside.
Without a word, Dalton lifted her by the waist over a river of runoff water streaming downhill beside the curb. Deep trouble lingered in his eyes as he opened the door of his truck for her.
“Sooo, that was weird,” she said when he was settled behind the wheel.
“That man isn’t right. And I sure as fuck don’t like him mishandling you like that. Has he ever done that before?”
“Never. He saw you, and I guess it set him off. Dalton, you and your pack need to be more careful. The McCalls raised suspicions in this town with their erratic behavior. Miller did, especially. I thought the rumors would go away since he’s been gone so long, but I’ve heard things before. Whisperings about Link.”
“Saying what?”
“That he isn’t natural. That he isn’t human. It’s a small town with long, dark winters and nothing better to do than tell ghost stories. And the people here love their lore. This town is half Alaska Native, Dalton. You understand, right? You’re Ute. Your people have stories, too.”
Dalton heaved an irritated breath and muttered, “Shit.”
“Language,” she teased half-heartedly.
“Oh, right. Holy shit.”
She rolled her eyes, and her face stretched with a grin. “I like those flowers. Did you buy them for Janice?”
“For you, of course,” he said, handing them to her. Lowering his voice, he murmured, “That woman is a freak. Do you know what a Passion Pretzel is?”
Kate sniffed the flowers too hard and coughed. “It’s a sex position, right?”
“Yeah. She told me all about it and then invited me over for dinner. She called today Aphrodisiac Tuesday.”
Kate cracked up, doubling over her laughter. “I think Janice is one of my favorite people in the world.”
“She’s very educational.”
“You want to try the Passion Pretzel, don’t you?”
“Hell yeah, I do, but we can’t just now. I have a question. Well, some news and a question. And now a few concerns,” he said, voice darkening as he stared at the front of the medical clinic.
“Let me worry about Vega. It’s date night, and I want you to touch my butt and buy me guacamole.”
Dalton pulled out of the parking space and muttered, “Woman, you keep talking like that and you’ll find yourself thoroughly fucked in the back of my truck before we even get home.”
She liked the way he’d said home. Wiggling into a mo
re comfortable position against the seat, she gave a private smile and waved to Hardware Jack, who was closing up his shop for the day. Dalton had spent every night at her apartment for a week, and she was not only well-rested, but also utterly satisfied in the diddle department. “What’s your news? Is it good?”
Dalton’s lips pursed into a thin line. “I have to go back to Kodiak. I have a repeat party, a few bachelors who come up here for fishing, and they’ve asked for me again. Chance, Jenner, and my boss have been covering for me with my April First shit, but I have to get back to work.” He gave her a pleading look. “It feels important to get back.”
“Away from me?”
“No, for you. I make good money, but it’s dependent on me guiding trips. Usually I take all of April off, but the kind of fishing trip I’m being hired for is my bread and butter.”
“Do you need money?” she asked, remembering that she’d never paid him for sleeping over. Though, now that she thought about it, it felt a little prostitute-ish to pay him for what they were doing at nights to get her tired.
As if he could read her tumbling thoughts, he said, “I don’t want your money. Never did. I want to be able to provide for you, though.”
“Well, I don’t need your money either, ridiculous man. I need you, and I thought I had a couple more weeks before you went back to work. Oh, good grief, I sound so selfish right now. You’ve never asked me to take a day off work, and here I am, asking you to turn down a good tour. I’m sorry.”
“Tiny, beautiful human, don’t you ever apologize for wanting to spend time with me. I’d be worried if you were indifferent to me being around or leaving. I did that before with Shelby.” Dalton slid his hand over the top of her leg and cast a glance from the road in front of them to her and back. “I like you being sore about me going. And as for me wanting to provide for you, I’m not talking about paying the bills on your apartment, and I’ll never ask you to quit working. I know you love your job, and I like that you’re independent. I just mean, if you want to breed huskies for the Iditarod someday, well…I plan on being a part of that, and if we’re both saving up, we can get you there faster.”
“Dalton,” she whispered in shock. “I was scared you were going to leave for Kodiak and not come back.”
He flashed her a dimple-bearing smile and shook his head. “You don’t see it yet, but you will.”
“See what?”
“That I’m completely yours. I hate thinking about being away from you, but I’ve already talked to Tobias and Ian Silver. They’re both bush pilots, and they said they can fly me back and forth on my time off. And it’ll give them consistent income, too, between their deliveries.”
“I can get all three of my shifts grouped together. I know I can. Lacy and the other nurses have offered to help me do that before so I could take some time off for myself. I could come visit you at Silver Summit, too. This could work,” she said hopefully, because the thought of being separated for long jaunts of time was excruciating.
“It will work. Jenner owns half of Silver Summit Outfitters, and he is a guide there, too. His mate, Lena, lives in a cabin on Ian’s homestead, just forty-five minutes from here, and they see each other often. They make it work. And in dark winter, the weather gets too bad to do tours, so we close down the lodge and get a few months off. I’m still in this, Kate.”
Her stomach fluttered with happiness as the layer of worry about them working in different parts of Alaska slid from her shoulders. She’d been afraid of talking about the future with Dalton, but instead of running like the other men in her life had, he’d solved the problems she’d imagined. He was a good leader and a capable man who seemed to know just what he wanted. She loved how direct he was. Loved that after he’d let her in, told her about the family he’d lost and confirmed he was a werewolf, he’d been completely open with her over the last week. Sure, he was still hurting because of April First. She’d met him on the anniversary of his daughter’s passing, and he’d been reeling. She didn’t blame him for panicking at the beginning. She understood how hard it was to open a heart that had been stripped bare, put it in someone else’s hands, and give them the power to inflict pain again.
Each day, she saw more and more of the man he was outside of April, and somewhere along the way, she’d fallen hopelessly in love with him. And despite the oncoming physical distance that would hover between them, he was still here, telling her without an ounce of hesitation that she was still his, still worthy, still worth the effort of planning a life together.
She loved that he hadn’t expected her to quit nursing, pack up, and move out to Kodiak to wait for him to come back from guide excursions. She liked that he empowered her to chase her dreams. He didn’t build up walls to keep her safe and still like others had done. Instead, he offered his strength and stood back to back with her against the world.
“You said you had concerns,” she said.
“Well yeah, Vega makes me nervous. I know you can handle yourself, but damn, my wolf is clawing at my skin to go back there and fix the problem so I won’t worry about you being safe when I’m out in the bush.”
“I feel like the human half of you will come up with a better solution than ripping Dr. Vega’s throat out on my behalf,” she said dryly.
“I already have.”
Of course, he had. Dalton wasn’t wishy-washy with his decisions like she was, and he saw solutions where she didn’t see any. Dr. Vega would live, but only because the human side of Dalton was strong in his logic. Miller had been missing that. He hadn’t the impulse control Dalton had. Or the sanity.
Dr. Vega worried her, but perhaps he would back off whatever judgements he held when her mate was out of town and far out of his reach. Dalton would be safe, so as hard as it would be to spend a single night away from him, the distance would be worth it.
Dalton turned up the volume on Galena’s radio station. A boy-band song filled the cab, and he nodded his head to the hard-hitting beat. “Aw, here we go. You ready?” He belted out a long, loud, off-key note to the song, instantly B-slapping any thoughts of Dr. Vega right out of her head.
Dalton was actually an incredible singer with a strong, steady baritone voice that made her swoon when he was humming to himself in her kitchen or in the shower, but this was their game. The How Bad Can We Sing game. She let off a giggle and swayed her arms while wiggling her hips, waiting for her part. And when the chorus came, she adopted a pirate voice and sang in an off-tune harmony with Dalton.
By the end of the song, they were gasping for air between laughs and horrible singing, and she had to wipe tears from the corners of her eyes.
Gosh, she adored him.
She grinned at him as he took a solo. She’d never in her life felt so comfortable around someone.
On the other side of him, through the open window, blobs of snow were falling from evergreen branches, and the woods outside of town had grown thick and wild. Dalton turned left on a muddy road out in the middle of nowhere.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
“To a cabin in the woods so we can play Erotic Red Riding Hood and the Big Badass Wolf.”
“Dalton, in that story, the wolf plots to eat Red Riding Hood.”
He turned a wicked grin on her and slid his hand farther up her thigh. “My wolf plots the same.”
She parted her lips to call him a “ridiculous man,” but he slipped his hand into the elastic waist of her scrubs and then under her panties until he cupped her sex. His middle finger brushed her clit, and she rolled her hips and relaxed against the seat. Pressing her palm over his hand to show him the pace she wanted, she let off a soft sigh and closed her eyes. She loved this, loved his touch. She would never tire of how he made her feel.
Dalton’s breath became more uneven with every stroke of his finger, and when he had her soaking wet, he slammed on the brakes and threw the truck into park. With a feral snarl, he leaned over and kissed her, hard. As soon as he pushed his tongue past her lips, he sl
id two fingers inside of her. She pulled his hand harder against her sex, hips moving to meet him stroke for stroke. Orgasm exploded through her, pulsing quick and deep. When he’d drawn every aftershock from her sensitive body, she pulled his hand out of her panties and pushed his chest back against his seat. After shoving the console up and out of the way, she forced his tight, thermal sweater over his head to feel his skin.
She unsnapped the button of his jeans as he sat there with his palms up, like he still didn’t understand how he wasn’t finger-banging her anymore. The rip of the zipper was loud in the cab of his truck, and she shoved his pants down, unsheathing his long, thick erection.
“What are you—uuuuh,” he groaned as she slid her mouth over the head of his cock.
He melted against the seat and rocked gently, his fingers entwining in her hair as she bobbed up and down, careful to keep her teeth from his skin while keeping pressure on him with her tongue and lips.
When she angled her head, his hips jerked. Too deep, so she gripped his base and slowed the pace. Dalton growled again and slammed his head back against the headrest. His powerful legs tensed every time she slid her mouth down his shaft, and now his hand was getting tighter in her hair. She loved this—loved him trying to maintain control but losing it inch by inch. She was causing that sexy, wild sound in his throat. It was because of her that he was thrusting into her mouth now, unable to help himself. The reason he gripped the steering wheel so tightly she could hear the creak of it over her head was because he was getting off on what she was doing. Big, masculine, powerful beast of a man, but he was turned on by her taking control, by her touch.
His erection was hard between her lips, his head swollen. The tip tasted salty, and he pushed her mouth onto him faster. “Fuck yes, harder,” he gritted out, abs flexing against her cheek with every heaving breath he took. “Kate, I’m going to…fuck.” His hips rolled smoothly faster and faster. “Kate, I can’t stop. I’m gonna come. Get off now unless you want—uuuh!”