by Anya Nowlan
It had been a whim that had made Argo keep up with Battle, or Branson Hunt as he and most of the other Longbrook wolves remembered him by. It was a hunch that made Argo come to Shifter Grove when he heard Battle had arrived in town. And it had been sheer dumb luck that he’d heard the low howls of the Longbrook wolves around Shifter Grove that night, telling him that shit was going to go down and that Battle couldn’t handle it on his own.
For years, Argo had blamed himself for losing Adam, his twin brother. It was one dumb decision, one harebrained teenage plan that was supposed to lead to greatness for their pack, but had instead cost Argo dearly and the pack even more so. His insides twisted as he remembered that last conversation he had with Adam before everything went to shit. That wild fire in his brother’s eyes that convinced Argo to get up and follow him and Adriana, even though deep down inside, he knew what they were going to do was wrong.
That darkness spread in him again, threatening to reach his throat and choke him. Faintly, he could feel himself shaking a little, the sunny summer day losing its color and the blissful sounds of the forest around him dimming rapidly. It was then that he felt a hand on his shoulder and he let go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Cooper put both hands on his shoulders, gripping them tightly, his fingers digging into the flesh and grounding Argo.
“This is what I’m talking about,” he said in a low voice, close to Argo’s ear. “This is what we talked about. Why I didn’t want to come here. This Rain Man act you pull every time I leave you alone here. I know these areas used to be your home, but we can start over anywhere. You don’t see me running back to Minnesota, hoping to get my ass kicked again and maybe getting mangled by my brother. Why do you have to come back here, where you can’t even look at the damn view without going catatonic and boiling with anger?”
“No one else would stop him,” Argo said.
“Everyone would stop him. You said it yourself. He’s lost it. And he hasn’t been around for a year now. You would have heard otherwise if he had. He’s keeping his distance. From Battle. From you. Why can’t you?”
Argo felt the tightness slowly leaving his chest as Cooper’s strong, warm hands made the tension leave his body like they had before. He relaxed, just a little, but it was enough. Next thing he knew, Cooper’s arms wrapped around his chest and pulled him tight. Cooper rested his chin on Argo’s shoulder and without thinking about it, Argo’s hand clasped over Cooper’s. Human contact. It still felt odd.
“This is my home. I can’t keep running from it,” Argo said, his gaze drifting over the thick woods and foreboding mountains surrounding Shifter Grove.
“I don’t want you to run. I just want you to pick another place and call that home,” Cooper still insisted.
The moment was gone. Argo shook himself from the grip of his Alpha partner, ignoring the slightly hurt look that crossed over Cooper’s features as he did so.
“I’ve made my choice.”
“Don’t be surprised if your home doesn’t choose you back,” Cooper said with a resigned sigh.
“I won’t,” Argo promised.
And he didn’t intend to. If there was one thing he’d learned not to do, it was hope for things to go better than he expected them to.
***
“So, let me get this straight,” Tyler started, throwing glances between Argo and Cooper.
Argo shared a look with Cooper, reflecting Cooper’s mild amusement as they stood straight-backed and heads held high in front of Trey and Tyler Warfang.
“You are a Longbrook. Not just a part of the pack but one of the Longbrooks. Best known for going around and being ten kinds of fucked up.”
Argo inclined his head in agreement, noting that yes, Tyler was right. And he was being very subdued about the whole thing, which Argo appreciated. He didn’t need to be constantly reminded that the once-proud Longbrook name was now the equivalent of shitty decisions and random bouts of insanity.
“And you, are, well, not a Longbrook,” Tyler continued, looking at Cooper. “And the two of you are an Alpha pair, looking to settle down in Shifter Grove. Did I get that right?”
“You did,” Argo said, masking the wry smile that wanted to pull at his lips.
“Can I ask, where’s your pack?”
“Can I ask, where’s yours?” Argo shot back.
That drew a chuckle from both Cooper and Trey, who had been quietly observing the conversation so far.
“The man has a point, brother,” Trey said, rising up from his seat and stepping closer. “I don’t want to get into your business. That’s not the Shifter Grove way. But are you sure this is where you want to be? We haven’t seen Achilles in a while but whenever we do, he stirs up shit.”
That irritation that Argo had fought so hard on the hill in the morning was threatening to rise up again, but Argo swallowed it down. This wasn’t the time.
Achilles had made quite a name for himself after attacking a recent Shifter Grove addition and his girlfriend over past grudges. The werebear had killed Argo’s and Achilles’s brother Adam, Argo’s twin, and had served his time for it. While Achilles had never let it go, Argo had made his peace with it over the years. It was difficult to hate a man who had been tricked into a situation he didn’t deserve to be in and who was simply trying to protect his Alpha.
Still, the memories of that night haunted Argo and he could feel his throat tightening up. He shook his head, as if shaking the thoughts from himself and focusing on the task at hand. Securing a home.
“I’m sure. This is where I need to be,” Argo confirmed, ignoring the apprehensive look Cooper gave him.
“Fair enough,” Taylor said with a sigh, pulling a heavy book closer to him on the table. “Tell me what kind of place you’re looking for.”
“Somewhere as far to the east as you can get me,” Argo said without hesitation.
Another round of questioning looks went through the three other wolves in the room. Cooper shook his head a little.
“You’re really going to be laying it on thick, huh,” Trey commented mildly, leaning against the kitchen island.
They were standing in Trey’s and Tyler’s home, a beautifully built, large cabin that smelled of love and kids and family—all the things Argo wanted and was determined to have, come hell, high water, or rabid wolves.
“Yes,” he said simply.
He knew why they were nervous. There was a delicate balance in the area between Shifter Grove and the old local packs and clans. No one wanted more trouble than they needed and no one wanted to get into it with a pack known for their lack of sane thinking. Though Achilles had not shown himself in a while, Argo was sure he was stalking around somewhere, plotting his revenge, missing one of his ears Argo had torn off.
“Well, we have a big cabin about ten miles from town that might work for you, then. It has three bedrooms and two baths and comes with a pretty big swatch of land. We had a puma inquire about it but we haven’t made a deal with him yet,” Trey said, scratching his chin and looking at the map they had rolled out on the smooth handmade tabletop.
It was dotted with little marks all over, designating houses and cabins and ranches that the Warfang brothers had built in the area. They were getting snatched up faster than ever now, and Argo knew the Warfang brothers were working damn hard to keep up with demand. He’d been doing his research on Shifter Grove for a while.
“I’ll take it,” Argo said with a short nod.
“Whoa there! Don’t you want to go see it first?” Tyler asked, cocking a brow at Argo.
Argo could feel the apprehensive look Cooper was giving him as well, but he knew his Alpha partner would trust his decision. He always did, even if he took it upon himself to list all the potential pitfalls first.
“I know the cabin,” Argo answered, grinning mildly.
“Of course you do,” Tyler noted with a sigh.
They haggled a bit over price, but Argo wasn’t in the mood to squabble and the Warfangs weren’t the kind of men
to needlessly argue over things. It would have been different if Argo and Cooper had been in need, but they were both financially secure and more than capable of buying a home for themselves as they saw fit.
When the two pairs of wolves were shaking hands over the well-made deal, Trey finally asked the question that must have been on everybody’s mind.
“So, what’s the big ol’ house for?”
“For our bride, of course.”
CHAPTER THREE
Claire
“You have officially lost what little sanity you ever claimed to have,” Claire told herself out loud over the mellow tunes of Blake Shelton’s Sangria.
She’d been driving for days now, covering far too much of the great American expanse. In retrospect, flying would have been so much easier, but here she was, stubbornly making her own way as usual. Georgia was nothing but a distant memory at this point, lost somewhere behind far too many mile markers on the highway.
The roads were no longer perfectly flat; hills and dips formed all around her and proud mountains peeked out in the horizon. She wasn’t in the flatlands anymore, and for a moment, Claire tried to blame the twisting of her stomach on the rockier ride, but she knew that was just wishful thinking. She was nervous. Nervous as all hell.
“What do you think you’re going to do there, huh? You don’t even know these men. Men! Not just one man, either,” Claire continued her rambling conversation, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear as she studied road signs and decided to take a left.
Shifter Grove wasn’t far now and the clock was ticking closer and closer to four p.m.—the time she had agreed to meet Argo Longbrook and Cooper Greymane at the Sunrise Diner. She’d kept checking herself out in the rearview mirror, as if that would suddenly wipe away the marks of the long drive and the very obvious nervousness plastered all over her features. At least her hair looked nice, though she wasn’t sure through what kind of magic that had happened.
Claire chewed on her lower lip, trundling down a narrow and winding road toward her destination. She’d had the option of flying, but she’d never driven across the country before. Finally, she’d chosen adventure and she was holding onto it with both hands as long as she could. Her life in Georgia and Greenville seemed like something out of a dream now; her only reality was being on the road and eventually in that little diner she couldn’t even Google because there was barely any information on it.
Her skin prickled up with goose bumps as she saw the first sign pointing toward Shifter Grove. It was carved from solid wood, the letters burned into it, obviously crafted with care and attention. It made her feel good, even if she was nervous as all hell and completely amazed at herself for the decisions she’d made.
On a whim, she had answered what she could only define as a mail-order bride ad on SassyDate about a month ago. It had been a lonely night, one where she had felt the weight of all of her decisions especially clearly. The red wine she’d been steadily ingesting since dinner might have had something to do with things as well, but that was a distasteful detail no one needed to know, most of all herself, right?
She’d seen the ad, featuring two men who were absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, and something had tugged at her heart immediately. She didn’t know if it was the striking, determined look in the eyes of the blond-haired man, Argo, or the soft, approachable gentleness of Cooper, or both of them together, but she’d typed them a message before she knew what hit her.
By the next morning, she’d smoothly forgotten about the whole thing and instead taken a very clear and obvious interest in her hangover. That made the fact that they actually replied to her all the more surprising. Claire grinned through her nervous shudders, thinking about how she’d tried to keep from writing back to them after she got the first note from Cooper. Like a teenager, she’d fussed and worried over whether she was coming off too eager and whether or not they’d like her—just a woman from Georgia, looking for her way.
Her worries had been completely unfounded. Soon enough, she’d found herself chatting freely with both of the men and having Snapchats with them as well. It took Argo no time at all to tell her to meet them in Shifter Grove and even more astoundingly, it had taken Claire just as little time to agree to it. As much as she’d always been careful, always cool and in control, she didn’t want to be anymore.
She wanted to throw caution to the wind and just let life take the wheel. Especially if that meant getting to know two smoking-hot werewolves!
Claire shook her head a little, grinning widely as she passed by the sign telling her that she’d reached Shifter Grove. It had been an arduous drive and getting directions to the town was no easy feat, but here she was. For more than half a mile, she could still see nothing but the thick forest around her. Only then did she reach the main street and signs of civilization.
With a heavy sigh, she pulled up to the Sunrise Diner. She killed the engine and sat in the car for a few more minutes. Suddenly, the weight of the situation landed on her shoulders.
You sold the house. You left the family. You’re out of Georgia, Claire counted to herself, listing all the things she’d done just in the last two weeks. You can do this.
With one last look in the mirror, Claire nodded to herself and confidently stepped out of the car. She thanked her lucky stars that she didn’t immediately stumble and fall.
Between exiting the car and walking to the front door of the diner, Claire already managed to be greeted by a few of the locals and smiled back at them. Her nervous energy was dissipating little by little. Even if this meeting, this date, went horribly, then hadn’t she already had an adventure?
When she stepped into the diner, it took her no time to find the men she was looking for. Argo and Cooper both stood up from the booth near the door and she found herself face to face with them. To say they knocked the breath out of her lungs would have been an understatement. Both of them were absolutely gorgeous. Tall, muscular, ruggedly handsome, and completely dreamy – a word she couldn’t in all seriousness ever use, but in this case it made sense.
Cooper smiled broadly and drew her into an immediate, warm hug.
“I thought you’d never make it here,” he purred into her ear, and Claire’s knees threatened to buckle beneath her.
A voice like that should have never been let out of the bedroom. His body melded against hers and she could feel his hard, carved muscles through the fabric of his V-neck T-shirt, pressing against her soft curves. When he let go of her finally, Claire almost wanted to ask him for another embrace. It was like a drug and she’d happily line up for more.
With her eyes a little hazy, she turned to face Argo. There was an intensity to him that struck her from afar and was all the more obvious the closer she got. While Cooper’s energy was warm, gentle, and almost nurturing, then Argo’s was the polar opposite. There was a darkness to him and an unseen edge that twinkled somewhere behind the blueness of his gaze. But it wasn’t scary for Claire. If anything, it was exciting.
“I’m glad you came,” Argo said softly as he shared a feather-light embrace with Claire, one that left her body screaming for more.
“It was a long drive,” Claire said dumbly, uncharacteristically at a loss for words.
“I can imagine,” Cooper said, chuckling.
He took her by the hand and pulled her into the booth next to him, across from Argo. Claire’s heart was beating so fast she thought it had no option but to jump out of her chest. She knew she wasn’t the woman to keep it in place, not around these two wolves, anyway. Heat pooled between her legs and all of the decisions she had made over the last month came crashing around her, showing her the path that had led to this very moment.
To these men. With the clear and undeniable intention of becoming their bride.
She’d never been quite so scared in her life.
Argo’s gaze kept her mesmerized, sucking her in and keeping her teetering on the edge of her seat. He had an undeniable quality about him that made people want to follow h
im, Claire thought. She had felt it when they’d talked over Snapchat and SassyDate before, but now, in person, it was all the more obvious. He was a leader. Strong, in command, determined to reach his goals.
And from the way his eyes shone right now, Claire had no doubt that she was his current goal.
“So, what happens now?” Cooper asked lightly, slipping his hand into Claire’s lap and squeezing her thigh.
She smiled a little. Human contact. Or, well, shifter contact. It felt good to be touched by a man for a change, even if it made her shake like a leaf all over. She was still in a state of disbelief. At herself, at the situation, at everything. How the hell had she gotten into this?! How had she gone from being ridiculed at a damn gardening competition in Georgia to sitting in the presence of two absolutely stunning men, discussing her future with them? And how the hell had she dared to make these choices that took her here in the first place? Her head spun a little and she gripped the edges of the table to try and force everything to stop roiling around.
Her dizzy spell was cut short by Argo, who reached a hand across the table and took one of her hands in his big, gruff palms. Claire didn’t try to hide the little gasp that rose to her lips at his touch. It sent electric sparks through her. While Cooper calmed and grounded her, Argo made her world jump and stutter. But at least it made her focus on him and forget about the thousand other voices battling for prevalence in her head at the moment.
“Now, we get to know each other. Now, we take some time for ourselves. I know it was a long drive, Claire. And I’m very glad you are here. I feel like I know you as well as I know myself and Cooper, but I think we need to take things slow. For all our sakes. So, for now, how about dinner?”
He smiled a little and Claire swore it made her heart skip a beat. Seeing a sexy smirk on his lips was just about enough to make her melt into a puddle, if Cooper’s hand near her aching sex wasn’t already doing enough to accomplish that goal. She felt a heavy lump in her throat, cutting off her words, but she nodded.