With a grunt, he nodded.
“I was thinking I could go up there tomorrow and start working on the electrical, and Patrick could take a few of the wolves up with him and start marking the area. If one of them is pack…”
“The marking will give them the idea. Good thinking, Garrett. Tell you brother what’s going on, even if you’re not ready to tell everyone about your mate.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
* * *
The projection on my ceiling read 2:13 a.m.
I had no idea why I was staring at the ceiling at such a time. I blinked and considered it, ready to go back to sleep.
My cell phone let out a shrill tone. Groping for the unit, I found it and pulled it to my ear, having to work really hard to actually slide the phone to answer.
“Hrrr?”
Not a very well formed hello, but the person on the other end didn’t seem to care.
“Garrett? I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to wake you, but I don’t know what to do…”
“Jessica?”
“Yes.”
“What’s…” I swallowed, trying to find all of my voice. “What’s going on, Jess? I don’t—”
“The coyotes are so close. The fireweed only backs them off for a few minutes. I picked a ton after you left, but we’re using so much we’re running out. They won’t go away. I don’t want to shoot them…”
“How close?” Desperately still trying to wake, that was a question I knew I had to ask.
“One peed on the front door. I think there’s one by the deck in the back.”
Too close. Way too close. The proximity of the exiles to my mate raised my hackles. I needed to be there, now.
“I’m on my way. I’m bringing some friends. Keep the door closed and locked, turn on the light, and keep tossing the fireweed on the flames. Got it?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
I barely heard her thanks as I ended the call, climbing out of the bed. I threw on whatever clothes I could find and raced down the hall to the front door. I ran across the lawns to where my brother lived and burst through the door.
He was not asleep.
He was not alone.
He was, most assuredly, not dressed.
“Knock! Damn it, Garrett!” He scrambled to cover his ass, and the ass of the woman he was with.
“We have to go.” Spying his clothes on the floor, I grabbed them and threw them at him. “Come on.”
“I am otherwise occupied.”
“The coyotes are at their door.”
In a lightning move, Patrick was off the couch and slipping on the boxers. “At the door?”
“One of them pissed on it.”
“Too far, man.”
“Patrick, what about me?” As she fluttered her lashes at my brother, she dropped the sheet he’d tossed over her.
I could certainly see why she was there. She had some very large, pert…assets.
“Gotta go. You can stay if you like, but I don’t know when I’m going to be back.” Patrick yanked the sheet back up.
“You’re going to leave me here all hot, wet, and bothered?”
“Molly. Stay or go, I don’t care, but Garrett needs my help.”
If I hadn’t been made of the stuff of Alphas, I would have withered under the look she gave me at that moment. Instead, I used the Alpha genes I had and growled at her. “Stay or go, Molly Gorsky, but you will not keep my brother from helping me.”
She shrank back like a wounded dog, and I could hear the beginnings of a whimper. Before that could go any further, Patrick was dressed and we were heading out the door.
Once we were in the truck to pick up a few more of the wolves, I had to rib Patrick.
“Molly Gorsky? Really?”
“Yeah, really. Really drunk and really horny and really willing. So stick it up your ass. I’m still, by the way, mostly drunk.”
“Great.”
“What the hell is going on?” Patrick punctuated the question with a yelp of triumph, finally getting the seat belt to click closed.
“I don’t know. She called me and said the damn mutts are up against the house, pissing on the door. That’s all I know, aside from how terrified she sounded.”
“You sure she’s your mate?”
“Don’t start.”
“Not starting. Honest question. How do you know?”
I glanced at him as we pulled up to Daniel and Helena’s house. “Everything they’ve ever told you about meeting them? Dead accurate.”
Chapter Four
“I can’t believe you bought a gun,” Addi hissed at me.
“I didn’t buy it. Delia did, and I was hoping not to show you. Ever. But when they were clamoring around last night I felt like we needed one. Zanna knows what she’s doing with it, and I can at least look threatening.”
“And you called your fuck buddy to help us?”
“Addi! I am not going to argue with you about this!”
“I can’t believe you slept with the electrician,” Brandy said. “We were only gone for four hours.”
I was getting mad now. “There was no sleeping. And, you’re lucky we felt like being decent and not just fucking our way through the house.”
“Shut. Up,” Zanna barked from the other window. “I’m glad we have the gun. I’m glad you finally got laid, and I’m glad you called him. Now all of you. Just shut up.”
All of our jaws snapped shut and the sounds of the coyotes outside—yipping, yapping, and territorial howls—filled the room again.
I was only able to handle the muffled cacophony for a moment.
“Guys…”
“Don’t talk,” Zanna said. “You called your boy toy. Now hush and let’s just keep an eye on these sons of bitches. I don’t want to use—”
She was severely cut off by a howl at the back door. Very close to the back door. Right up against it, in fact. It hadn’t even occurred to me that they could get to the generator back there. These mangy mutts were ballsy.
“I think they’re rabid,” Brandy whispered.
“I think you’re right,” I said. Everyone turned and stared at me. “What? I think she’s right. This is not how animals behave.”
Addi nailed Delia in the side with her elbow and pointed out the window. “Look at that one.”
They stared, and a second after, Delia stepped back from the window. “Holy shit, he looks like…”
“The guy we saw at the bar. The one who tried to pick you up.”
“When did you go to the bar?” My voice rose in pitch as my anger got the better of me.
“Lunch time. We figured we might as well eat while we were in town.”
“You didn’t bring me anything back?”
Delia’s wicked glance bounced across the room at me. “You had sausage.”
I raised my middle finger for her answer.
Delia ignored me and told the story. “We stopped at the bar, and there was a guy there, a group of them. They tried to pick us all up. It wasn’t comfortable or fun, and the one guy who was after me, specifically, had that stripe in his hair, on the side.”
“So you think that the creepy dude who tried to pick you up this afternoon from the bar is also a coyote?” Brandy shook her head and looked back out the window. “You’ve been reading too many paranormal books. Try a contemporary fiction.”
“Contemporary fiction is boring,” Delia said. “I have my own problems. I don’t need to read about someone else’s. I like paranormal, so screw off.”
“Okay, can we all be quiet?” Zanna threw her patented I’m going to kill you look over her shoulder. “Just hush. How long is it going to take your boy toy to get here?”
“I didn’t ask,” I snapped. “I didn’t think to ask. He said he lived down the hill.”
“At the bottom of the road, or like two mountains over?” Addi asked.
“I. Do not. Fucking. Know.”
There was a flash of lights through the trees and a moment later, we all watched a
s the white van that declared ‘Timberwolf Electrical’ cleared the last line of trees.
“There you go, there’s your answer.”
The coyotes all froze where they were when the lights from the van swept over them. Shuffling and snuffling a bit, they looked like they were waiting for someone to climb out to make a decision about leaving.
A new howl pierced the cool night air.
The long, slow crescendo of a wolf rose from the far side of the vehicle.
A moment later, a dozen more wolves answered, filling the dark with an ominous, frightening chorus of wild animals.
“I’m currently afraid I’m going to shit myself,” Zanna whispered.
“Wolves, now?” Addi’s whisper was terrified.
As the chorus continued the coyotes yipped and danced and started to back off the house. The doors to the passenger cabin of the van popped open and two figures appeared—one clearly Garrett, and the other probably his brother by the way they were the built the same.
The coyotes reacted almost violently once the two of them strode out away from the van toward the front door.
As soon as the last coyote jumped from the porch, Garrett and his brother started climbing the stairs. I unbolted the door and pulled it open.
His big arms folded me into his embrace, and how oddly attached and comforted I felt at that. His hug gave me a sense of security and protection I hadn’t ever felt in my life.
“Hello, ladies.” The words rumbled in his chest. “Good to see you all again. This is my brother, Patrick. Patrick, these are our new neighbors. Jessica, Addison, Madeline, Suzanne, and Brandy.”
Zanna was trying to pull Patrick out of the way. “Come on, come on, there are coyotes and wolves out there now!”
Patrick grinned. “Don’t sweat the wolves. They won’t hurt you. I saw one or two on the way up. They’re part of the local pack.”
“You know the wolves?” I could hear the shock in my own voice.
“Of course.”
“Do you know these coyotes?” Addi asked.
“We do, unfortunately,” Patrick answered. “That’s why you’re going to come back to our compound for the night and we’ll have everyone up here tomorrow, cleaning, repairing, and securing the property. Pack a bag, ladies. Come on down the St. Terese-Mendenhall compound.”
“Just leave the place.” Just the tone of Brandy’s voice told us all how she didn’t like that idea.
“Just for tonight.” Garrett smiled at me.
“But, this is my place. I shouldn’t be scared away by some mangy mutts. I need to stay and defend—”
There was a bark and sharp growl from beyond the trees, and all of us jerked back from the door.
“I’ll get my bag,” Brandy said, scurrying off.
I was left alone in the door with Garrett and Patrick, and he still hadn’t let me go from his arms.
I rather liked it.
“You okay? You sounded terrified.”
“I was.” I nodded. “I should grab a bag too. I don’t want to be caught without my pants.”
“I’d like to catch you without your pants.”
Patrick’s eye roll was almost audible. I couldn’t help laughing and backing away from Garrett just a little to give him a hint that I had to grab my stuff.
He let me go reluctantly and I ran to the bedroom to put a small bag together. Toiletries, clothes, shoes. All the important things. Before I could finish, Brandy poked her head in.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Girl. Come on. You screwed the guy once yesterday and now he’s playing Galahad?”
“The cabin is about to be overrun by wholly frightening and aggressive coyotes. We don’t really have a choice. I think we’ll be just fine. Are you afraid of what we might come back to, or what we’re riding into?”
“What’s scaring me is how at ease you are with him. And how at ease I am as well. I don’t trust guys, you know that. Garrett is different, and I feel no threat from him. That scares me.”
I pulled the bag up to my shoulder. “Let’s just go with it, Bran. The coyotes backed off when they showed. I’m just going to be happy with that and get out of here for the night.”
Brandy looked around the room. “I don’t know why I trust him.”
“Come on. Don’t think too much about it. Let’s just go get some sleep and shower and we’ll start work on the place in the morning. Fair?”
With a whoosh of breath, she nodded. “Fine. Okay. I could so use a good shower. And a good night’s sleep where I wasn’t watching the window all night with rabid coyotes scratching.”
“I love Alaska so far. How about you?”
Brandy couldn’t stop laughing.
* * *
I was impressed.
Set up more as a little town than primitive campground like the name implied, St. Terese-Mendenhall Compound had all different kinds of houses and cabins. Cars, plows, golf carts, boats, and even some plane parts, littered the front yards and backyards.
We pulled up to a little cabin with no lights on. It was small, but neat, and made of full logs with a very thick wall to keep out the cold.
Patrick hopped out and walked to the door. It swung open a moment later, and a man who looked like the silver fox version of both Patrick and Garrett stood there. I watched as a moment later they walked to the side of the van and pulled the door open.
Garrett took care of introductions. “Zanna, Brandy, this is my father, Martin. You’ll be staying with him and my mother, Olga, tonight.”
“Hello, ladies.” Even his voice was handsome. He offered a hand and Zanna took it, lifting herself out of the van. Brandy followed and Patrick pulled the bags out of the back.
Martin took both and motioned them to the house, waving us off. Garrett waited for his brother to climb back in, and we rolled along to another neat little cabin about half a mile away. He pulled into the driveway and shut the van off.
“Addi, Delia, you’ll crash with Patrick. I live across the street, so Jess will be with me over there. Get some good sleep. I won’t wake anyone until after ten because I think we’re in agreement that we all need sleep.”
Wait. When had we decided it was a good idea to leave me alone with the hot guy?
Addi and Delia climbed out and followed Patrick down the walk to his house, and Garrett pulled the van into the parking spot on his front lawn set up for that purpose.
Before I could do more than just pop the handle, Garrett was there, opening the door for me and offering a hand to help me out. I took it and hopped down, noticing he’d already grabbed my bag.
The house was… unexpected. I didn’t know what exactly I was expecting, but it wasn’t a yellow and white affair with a small herb garden just inside a white picket fence. Or, that’s what color I thought it was at two in the morning.
The front porch was more an unheated room with windows all the way around, and a door in the center. It looked like something that had been built in the 1920s, with two arched stained glass pieces over each set of windows. The windows were all cracked open to let in the summer air, and there was a set of wicker furniture on one side and wood pile on the other.
Garrett locked the porch door behind us and used a key to get into the rest of the house.
It was cozy, but from the layout, it was deceptive. The house was no tiny bungalow. This was big.
His living room was plain. Maple floors, an area rug that matched simple gray cloth furniture. There was a fireplace on the outer wall, with windows on either side. The television was in the corner, and the couch was angled so the fireplace and the entertainment could be easily seen.
Motioning me deeper into the house, we were in a nice size kitchen, with a galley area for cooking and breakfast nook with a table for six.
At the back was a set of stairs, and Garrett disappeared with my bag up those. I hurried after him.
“I’m afraid I only have one air mattress, so
you can take my bed,” Garrett said. “Five bedrooms up here, but I…”
There was something sad in his voice at that moment. I didn’t know what it was, but my heart hurt for him. And I had just met him.
Clearing his throat, he pushed the door to his bedroom open. “Here you go. You can sleep here, safe. I’ll be across the hall—”
My hand landed on his arm of its own volition. “Stay. This is your bed.”
Shaking his head, he held me in place. “I’m not comfortable with a guest sleeping on an air mattress.”
I tipped my head and looked at him from under my eyelashes.
He took my meaning right away and I saw his throat bob as he swallowed. “Jess…”
I stepped into him. The hell with it. I missed sharing a bed with someone. “We’ve already had sex. You’ve seen me naked. I don’t want to put you out of your own bed.”
He rubbed the nape of his neck—it was adorable how befuddled he was. “Jess…”
“We’re both exhausted. Just, sleep here. Air mattresses are no fun. I know.”
Chapter Five
Sweet Moses in a reed basket, how was I supposed to sleep next to my mate without making a move on her?
Though, she was right. We were both exhausted. It was way later than two in the morning, and there was a lot on the agenda tomorrow.
Today.
Whatever.
I tried one more time to pull the door closed, but she wasn’t having it. Finally, I hung my head and nodded. “Fair enough. I do prefer the bed.”
My wolf pranced. The little asshole. I wanted to put a leash on him—this was sleep. We had to sleep.
Satisfied with me, Jess picked up her bag and headed for the en suite and whistled low when she pushed the door open.
My wolf preened this time, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at him.
Though I did feel a little of the same pride. I had just updated a lot of the house. It had been twenty-five years, again, since I had and it needed it. The downstairs was just rewired, but the kitchen and bathrooms I had gutted and started over.
I’d built the house so long ago that I remembered how to do the Charleston and was glad I had not lost everything in the Crash of 1929. Updating it was the only thing I could do without a mate.
Taming Alaska Page 4