by Vivian Arend
He grinned. “I like you in that position. Can think of all kinds of things to do to them pretty breasts.”
Her face heated, and she was ready to pull her knife and teach him some manners.
Chase leaned one arm against the wall behind her head and dipped his head so he could speak right next to her ear. “You should look in the mirror to see how beautiful you are when you’re riled up. Makes me want to tie you to my bed and do all sorts of things to you.”
Instinctively she looked around the room for a mirror. That’s when she noticed the window was open, and there were faces peering in at them.
The temptation to growl was huge. No wonder he was acting like an ass. He was putting on a bit of a show for the boys. Although, after their time out on the hillside, and this morning, if he didn’t think they were going to be sleeping together for real seemed odd.
There had to be something else on his mind. Something else he wasn’t telling her.
Again.
Damn Alpha shifters.
“I’m so going to do…things…to you later, as well,” she threatened sweetly.
He winked, obviously happy she’d finally got the message. At some point she would write him a scathing note, or it might be simpler to just rip his head off, but for now, he was Alpha and she’d play along.
And try to ignore the tingling in her breasts he’d initiated with a single touch.
Delton had put on a full spread of food, and Chase was more than ready to dive in. His shoulder throbbed terribly, but the relief of still being in charge—ha!—of his own place at least let him relax enough to consume the first plate of food with barely a pause for breath.
It was two in the damn afternoon, he’d hiked for kilometers, gotten manhandled most wonderfully by an incredible woman and faced down a group of unpredictable outcast shifters.
He reached for the bowl of noodles and took a second helping.
There were three others at the table with him and Shelley. Delton, who was probably there by right of being found house-sitting when the others arrived, since the old-timer wasn’t usually much for politics. Frank, whose shifted form was an enormous grizzly, sat to his right, easing away from the table and leaning back his chair. The wolverine Mark was on his second helping as well, his gaze constantly darting around the room. Those two, Frank and Mark, were about the closest thing to rational men that could be found in the bush.
It was clear there was no dire emergency. Not with the way they’d all sat down to feed instead of getting to business when he and Shelley emerged from their room.
And if he didn’t stop thinking things like that, he was going to be in huge trouble.
His room. His cabin.
He glanced up to see her looking his way as her tongue flicked out to lap up a spot of gravy at the corner of her mouth.
His woman flashed through his brain, damn it all. They stared at each other, and his body responded.
Enough. Distraction was needed before he kicked them all out and took her again and again, on every piece of furniture in his cabin, just so when she went back to civilization he’d have memories of her left to drive himself crazy.
“Why the gathering, boys?”
“Rumors. Dreams.” Frank leaned forward and the legs of his chair landed with a thump. “There’s a few men gone missing, and people are getting spooked.”
Mark nodded. “Clancy’s crew showed up at my place with their hats in hand. Wanted an introduction to you. Said they figured if the rumors were true you’d be the best one to take care of them.”
Jeez. “On account of rumors?”
Mark screwed up his face. “I ain’t going to apologize. I didn’t know what else to do, and if you say it’s all a piece of crock I’ll kick them off your land myself. And stand still while you kick my ass.”
“We thought hard before gathering, Silver.” Frank shrugged with a deceptive slowness that probably had deceived a fool or two.
Chase was no fool. But hell— “I don’t know what to say. It’s bad enough to have to deal with a flood or a mine collapse. Fires or ice storms. Real solid disasters a man can sink his teeth into.”
Mark rushed on. “There’s something real out there, Silver. The natural wolves are howling with it. There’s a shaking in the wild that don’t feel right.”
“But dreams?”
Delton cleared his throat. “That there one is my fault.”
Oh double hell. “You, old man?”
He tilted his head. “Weren’t what I planned, but it’s the truth. I’ll tell you later.”
“Tell me now.” Chase dragged a hand through his hair then pointed at the front door. “There’s a shitload of men setting up camp on my lawn for God knows how long, and you want to wait to tell me what visions you’ve seen. Looking for the right ambience or what?”
Delton glanced toward Shelley. “You brought a guest.”
“She’s just fine to hear whatever you’ve got to share.”
“Don’t want to spook nobody if I don’t have to.”
Oh.
Chase must have been partly asleep because he finally clued in on what Delton was saying. If shifters who weren’t scared of shit, all were cowering in fear on his lawn, maybe he’d better hear the details before sharing with Shelley.
She pulled back her plate. “Um, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll go…get my things together for tomorrow’s trip. Delton, thank you for the wonderful meal.”
Four pairs of eyes watched her duck into the backroom.
“She can still hear us, you know,” Mark pointed out.
“Not if I escort her to the lake to take a walk,” Frank offered.
The fur on the back of Chase’s neck stood up at the suggestion. Which was both really uncomfortable and shocking since he was still mostly in human form. Mostly, except for a wild swatch of fur that had instantly sprouted at Frank’s suggestion. Along with a wickedly sharp set of cougar incisors.
And claws.
Ah, hell. Partially shifting portions of his anatomy when he wanted to was convenient. This? Not so much.
Fortunately him going wild in only bits and pieces didn’t freak out his friends. Frank held up his hands slow and reassuringly. “She’s your woman. I know. Trust me. I’ll keep her safe. Let her take a peek around. You get caught up and figure out what the hell we’re gonna do.”
Chase breathed out slowly and wondered exactly how much more insane this situation could get. He willed his animal parts into obedience, made the change back to full human and settled into his chair.
Shelley going off with the big bear shifter made his temper rise and every protective bone in his body ache…but it wasn’t a bad idea. Only he was going to learn from her little flash of fire in the bedroom. “If she’s okay with it, I am.”
Frank nodded.
“Shell,” he called as he rose to his feet and marched across the room to meet her as she rejoined them in the living room. “I need to talk to the boys and…”
“You don’t want me to hear.” She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Fine, yes, I’d love to go for a walk with Frank.”
He didn’t think about it, just did. Leaned forward and kissed her briefly.
It surprised them both, but her hesitant smile in response was a lot friendlier than she’d been a moment before.
“I’ll tell you what’s up as soon as I can.”
“No worries.” She stepped to Frank’s side. “Oh, wait. Chase, if anyone tries to pull a fast one on me, what’s the limit? Death? Dismemberment?”
She’d gotten her knife out and against Frank’s groin faster than any of them could react.
Hell of a woman.
Frank chucked, deep and low, staring down with amazing unconcern at the woman holding a very sharp blade to his gonads. “I like her, Silver. She fits in just fine.”
Shelley retracted her blade carefully and grinned at the towering bear. “Thank you, sir. Now you said something about a walk?”
Chase watched them go. There was a ton of
details he needed to discover, but there was one truth that Frank was perfectly correct about.
Shelley fit in just fine, and that was a dangerous thing for them all.
Chapter Thirteen
She wasn’t some stupid little female to be tucked off to the side and protected, but in light of the men’s hesitancy to talk freely in front of her, Shelley had decided that her best course of action was to play along and head outdoors.
Chase would get her caught up later, but in the meantime she would take the opportunity to examine what she could of the area and the men. She grabbed her medical kit and hauled it with her because she was fairly certain that most of the outcasts hadn’t seen a doctor in years.
The crowd was far more silent than any pack gathering she’d ever attended. Muted conversations only, some men sitting side by side with only the occasional word passing between them.
“You want to walk away from the men or through them?” Frank asked.
“Through.” It was the best way to find out what was happening. She glanced up at the big man as he moved at her side, protective yet giving her enough space she didn’t feel threatened. Probably simple, direct questions were the best way to get the information she wanted. “How many days ago did you arrive?”
“Four. Most of the men showed up the day after that, and they’ve been trickling in since.”
A quick head count showed there could be close to thirty in the area. “You think more are coming?”
“Depends.”
“On what?” One of the shifters was in wolf, rubbing his paw over his muzzle in a repetitive motion as if he was in pain. She pointed his way. “I want to check him.”
“Sure. Just don’t try to pet him.”
“I’m a wolf who can’t shift, I’m not an idiot,” Shelley muttered under her breath.
Frank chuckled. “Tobias doesn’t shift out of his wolf too often. Let me make sure he’s got some brains operating today.”
He called out the man’s name, and the wolf lifted his head for a moment from where he’d been worrying at it.
“You up for a visitor, wolf? She’s the Alpha’s woman, so you be nice.”
Shelley stared ahead and ignored that Alpha’s woman comment, because that was what she was for the moment, for all intents and purposes. She was honest enough to admit hearing the words caused some interesting sensations inside.
Tobias twisted to face her as she squatted by his side.
“You having troubles? Muzzle? Or your teeth? I’m a…doctor.” It still felt weird to say that as a profession, even though it was true according to shifter rules.
Aged gums and worn molars came into view as he opened his jaw wide. The source of his pain was clear—a broken tooth partly lodged in the swollen flesh of his gum line. The wolf was old enough that even shifting wouldn’t fix this kind of deterioration anymore.
“Hell, man,” Frank whistled. “That’s got to hurt. You want the lady to take it out for you?”
Tobias looked her up and down then sniffed, long and low. Shelley held her hidden blade at the ready. Just because she was the Alpha’s woman didn’t mean that old prejudices weren’t liable to pop up. If a group of wolves back in the relative civilization of Whitehorse had found her unsavoury and suitable to be attacked without warning, how much more danger was she in at this moment? If he made any rapid move, she was prepared.
The wolf rolled and opened his mouth, a position of servitude and surrender.
Shelley was so shocked she didn’t move for a moment. Just took it in, the sight of another wolf submitting to her, the lowest of the low.
It was hard to breathe.
Frank grunted behind her. “You need anything? I can hold him.”
She shook herself into action. “No, I should be good.”
This was different from a lab setting and someone’s pet retriever. Shelley grabbed the small pair of needle-nose pliers she had in her bag, rested the wolf’s head in her lap and with a couple experienced moves had the offending piece of tooth out.
She resisted patting his flank like she normally would have soothed a visitor to her clinic. He rolled away to allow her to stand.
Frank grunted again. “That was simple.”
“It would have worked loose eventually. Tobias nearly had it out,” Shelley explained. She faced the wolf and bowed politely. “You’re welcome, though.”
Tobias dipped his head in response before wandering off in the opposite direction. Shelley watched him for a moment before joining her bear escort on the trail that circled the small mountain lake. They walked just far enough they could look back toward the cabin and the tents without having to dodge strangers. From here the setting looked even lonelier, the low swell and fall of the Patterson Mountain Range around them creating an impressive backdrop behind the cabin. Not the ragged towering mountains of farther to the west, where the Tombstones and Ogilvie ranges thrust skyward. Here the land rose and fell constantly, but over a large flatter plateau.
It meant the land around them felt endless. Nothing to close them in, to contain them. If she could shift, she could turn toward the north and run until she hit the Arctic Ocean.
This was so vast a land her worries and concerns shrank to things of lesser consequence. If she could tame this land? Survive here?
She could do anything.
“You want to walk a little longer?” Frank asked.
She laughed. “How long you think the guys need to talk before we head in?”
He snorted. “A walk to the point and back should do it.”
The path was wide enough she didn’t have to trail behind him, remaining at his side instead. “You never answered my question, about why more men would show up.”
“Hoped you’d forget, but you aren’t the stupid kind now, are you?”
“I hope not.” A touch crazy, perhaps, as she looked around her and considered exactly what she’d jumped into without thinking. “Is it serious? You really worried?”
“Hell, yeah.”
“Yet you deal with the unknown all the time. It’s dangerous living out here.”
“We can face just about anything if it makes sense. Men gone missing? Don’t sit right.”
“Could they have just left the north?”
Frank wandered to the edge of the woods where there was a fallen tree. He arranged himself on the smooth section where the bark had slipped off.
“Maybe. Even the loners usually tell someone they’re cutting out.” He stared at her. “You’re not a typical wolf. You seem different.”
She shook her head. “Can’t turn furry. There’s something wrong with my shifter, and the wolf’s never come to the surface.”
“Hell of a thing,” he offered with a sympathetic headshake. “Bears don’t have that trouble, you know. We’re bears, no half-blood, no full. You got bear, you got bear. No needing to be triggered like you wolves, mother’s milk or otherwise.”
She’d never gotten a chance to talk to a bear shifter like this before. The bits and pieces she’d been taught by her mentor regarding bear shifters had tweaked her curiosity, but knowing how to patch someone up didn’t require total knowledge of the species’ secrets. This was a golden opportunity to learn more.
She dug for the most important tidbits. “Really? Doesn’t matter how much blood, you can always shift?”
He wavered for a moment. “Always got the ability to shift. Whether they do or not is up to the person. You’ve got to talk your animal side to the surface then convince them it’s okay to come out. Not everyone does. Not everyone wants to.”
She couldn’t believe that. “No way. Why would someone not want to shift?”
“Family lives in the city, wants to leave behind the wilderness. I don’t know, but it happens. Also means there’s none of this worry about leaving behind babies with a mixed family. You know, if a man gets someone pregnant, there’s no ‘surprise-you-can-turn-furry’ when the kid becomes a teen. Can’t shift unless you decide to, and you sure can’
t decide to if you don’t know you’re a bear.”
Shelley thought for a moment. “Your family units are different. You don’t mate for life.”
“We do, if we choose. It’s not usually the bear side doing the bossing about like your wolves do.”
“That seems so strange to me,” Shelley admitted. “All I’ve ever heard and known about is the mating for life of the wolf.”
And she’d always been devastated by that knowledge because she really didn’t see any happily ever after in her future.
Frank shook his finger at her, his big thick beefy digit in her face. “Now you’re going and letting your prejudices show. Wolves take life mates based on their wolf side, and make their human sides catch up. Bears use their human brains along with the attraction the animal side feels. Cats are the same way. Hell, most of the shifter breeds I know use their brains more than some mate-mate-mate thing. Sorry, wolves are the whacked-out fools of the shifter kingdom.”
“Some would say they’re the only ones that have it right.”
“Because that my mate makes wolves all so accepting all the time?” Frank poked at a still-open wound, and Shelley cringed. “Yeah, that’s what I figured.”
He rose to the full height of his six-foot, seven-foot whatever.
“You ever have a girl, Frank? Or a family?” Maybe it was a dangerous topic, but she wanted to know.
He looked her over for a moment. “Yeah. Had a girl. She passed away and I came out here. Didn’t like to stay where there were too many reminders of her.”
Shelley laid her hand on his arm. It wasn’t sympathy; it was just a touch of understanding. “I have so many bad memories of Whitehorse. But I’m being stupid and running right back to the same place. There’s a saying about that. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.”
“It’s also brave.”
She shrugged. “I don’t feel brave.”
Frank gestured her down the path back toward the cabin. Obviously figured they’d given enough time for the serious business to be discussed. “You got family there?”
“My older half-sister. She’s human.”