by R. J. Blain
“Forgive her, Frank. Richard puts up with her shit, that’s all.”
Jessica grinned. “Frank does, too.”
I did. It took a hell of a woman to stand up to Fenerec. I wondered if Al had any idea of how lucky of a man he was. Then again, I was a hell of a lucky man, too—I had Vivian.
Five days after crashing Richard’s sled, Vivian called the cabin. Jessica answered, but after a few moments, her eyes widened, and she held the phone out to me. “Trouble.”
I grabbed the receiver. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Richard,” my mate announced.
I winced. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s convinced you’re dying in a ditch somewhere.”
“I will be once he gets his hands on me,” I muttered.
“Coward.”
“Is he all right?”
“He won’t eat, he’s paced a hole in the lodge, and he keeps cuddling with me and Kelly. I swear, Frank. He’s driving us all insane. He’s running a fever, and he bit Alex twice.”
I felt my brows rise. “He bit his brother?”
“Twice.”
“Why did Richard bite Alex?”
“This is all your fault,” my mate wailed.
I sighed. Why couldn’t Canada’s strongest Alpha survive a week without me? I wasn’t even that dominant of a Fenerec; there were plenty in the pack far stronger than me. “Why me?”
“You put up with his shit.”
I groaned and slumped over the counter. “How bad is his fever?”
“Bad enough. Alex took Richard’s keys and gave them to Tully. Come on, Frank. You’ve gotta come out of hiding. Richard’s going to lose his shit, and Simon can’t deal with him.”
I grimaced at the thought of Simon, our pack’s Third, trying to contain Richard.
While the young Fenerec was a strong enough dominant and growing stronger each day, he was no match for Richard. To make matters worse, the pack wouldn’t back Simon.
They didn’t trust such a young wolf, and I couldn’t blame them. If Richard lost control, I’d have to haul ass to Yellowknife and deal with him. “You’ll have to bring him here.”
“This is going to be good,” Jessica whispered.
I shushed the woman with a wave of my hand. When Vivian didn’t respond, I asked, “Vivian?”
“I’m not leaving Kelly in Yellowknife with Simon rutting.”
I scratched my scalp while I thought through my options. “Bring her along for the ride. Tell her we’re giving her an early Christmas present, and tell Richard you’ll feel safer with him around. That’ll get him into the truck. If you’re okay with it, I’ll have Jessica pick out a sled for Kelly, then you’ll have an excuse to bring the trailer down.”
Vivian sighed. “Date a Fenerec, Mom said. There’s no one as loyal as a Fenerec male, Mom said. Mom neglected to tell me Fenerec males are insane! Damn it, Frank. Just call Richard before the poor man has a seizure. I’m not driving to Alberta until you talk to him.”
My mate hung up on me, and I stared at the handset. “Does that mean I’m buying Kelly a sled or not?”
Jessica laughed. “Trust me on this one, Frank. Buy a sled for your wife, too, or you’ll have hell to pay.”
“Next time, I’m telling Richard he can’t send my mate and puppy out of province without me. This is all his fault.”
Jessica rubbed my back and kissed my cheek. “You’re an idiot, but you’re a sweet idiot.”
It took me two hours to work up the nerve to call Richard’s cell. Al and Jessica had gone to their dealership to pick up sleds for my mate and puppy, leaving me alone in the cabin. On the third ring, my Alpha answered, “Murphy.”
Why had I called him? Since it was too late to hang up, I sighed and replied, “It’s Frank.”
There was a long moment of silence, and I began to worry Vivian had been serious about Richard being at risk of having a seizure. “Richard?”
“I could swear you’re calling from Jessica’s cabin. Jessica’s cabin is in a different province. Why are you calling me from a different province, Frank? You’re supposed to be in Yellowknife. Yellowknife is in the Northwest Territories, not in Alberta. Why are you in Alberta?” My Alpha growled, and my wolf whined in my head at the sound of Richard’s displeasure.
“The house felt empty.”
“Your mate and puppy are here waiting for you. You could have come to my house. No, instead, you took off without telling anyone where you were going.” Richard took several deep breaths. “What happened?”
Lying to Richard was a good way to get my ass kicked, but he couldn’t smell the change in my scent from Yellowknife, so I said, “Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
A wise wolf recognized a lost fight, and I hadn’t survived so long by being stupid, especially not around Richard when he was upset. “I’m buying sleds for Vivian and Kelly.”
“You took my sled and disappeared for a week to buy sleds for your mate and puppy.” I imaged Richard with his cell tucked between his shoulder and ear with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Something like that,” I evaded.
“Frank.”
“Yes?”
“You’re a terrible liar. What happened?”
I sighed and mumbled, “I crashed your sled.”
“Excuse me? I don’t think I quite heard you.”
“I crashed your sled.”
“I must be sicker than I thought. I could swear I just heard you say you crashed my sled. There is no way you would do something so stupid.”
“Through a tree.”
“Through—wait, what?”
Swallowing, I shifted my weight from foot to foot and said, “I crashed your sled through a tree.”
Richard growled. “If you even think of moving from that spot, I’m going to beat you within an inch of your life, Frank. Don’t go anywhere. I’m coming.”
My Alpha hung up, and I returned the phone to its cradle with a grimace.
In the twelve hours it took Vivian to drive Richard to Slave Lake, I managed to annoy Al and Jessica with my pacing so much they banned me to the couch. When Jessica pulled out her hunting rifle, I took shelter—and a nap—under one of her crochet blankets.
I woke to the rumble of a truck engine and tires crunching over snow in the driveway. I whined and burrowed under one of the throw pillows.
“That’s just pathetic, Frank.” Jessica sighed, got up, and reached the front door before anyone had a chance to knock. “Come on in, folks. Your stray is hiding on my couch.”
I felt Richard’s presence before I heard the patter of feet on hardwood floor. So close, I had no hope of blocking the sense of him approaching with the energy of a thunderstorm.
“Frank,” my Alpha snarled. The growls warned me of trouble in time to prepare for Richard’s assault. The other Fenerec hit the couch hard.
I scrambled from beneath the blanket and made it halfway over the arm of the couch before my Alpha crashed into me. I heard his teeth clack together in his effort to latch onto my neck. Maybe I deserved the rebuke, but my wolf hated when we were bitten by anyone other than Vivian.
My mate was somewhere nearby; I could smell her sweet cinnamon. My puppy was close, too, and the need to defend my bitch and puppy surged. Snarling, I twisted around, braced my knee against Richard’s chest, and shoved as hard as I could.
I sometimes forgot how much smaller my Alpha was—or how strong I could be. Richard hit the end of the couch, bounced, and smacked to the floor. My wolf’s instinct to chase after prey drove me into pursuing the smaller Fenerec to the floor. I landed on top of him, snapping my teeth in acceptance of his challenge.
Whenever I scuffled with Richard, I always forgot he never viewed his small size as a disadvantage. Where most would find it a weakness, my Alpha always managed to use his physique to his advantage. His first bite caught my arm.
His second hit my throat, and the stabbing pain of Richard’s rebuke lanced through me. He held firm,
teeth digging into my neck until I whined my defeat.
“You crashed my sled,” Richard growled, and his deep voice was hoarse from pain. I sniffed, sifting through the smells in the air; in the scuffle, Richard had managed to cut me several times, and I had repaid the favor in kind.
Richard’s nose bled, bent from where I’d somehow broken it in the kerfuffle, although I had no memory of hitting my Alpha in the face. It was his right wrist, however, that caught my attention. He cradled it, his hand limp. Despite my efforts to block the pack bonds, with him so close, I couldn’t ignore the heat I recognized as my Alpha’s pain. “Richard?”
“Ouch,” my Alpha complained, lifting his left hand to his nose. “You broke my nose.”
“Are you two done?” my mate asked, leaning over the back of the couch.
She consumed my wolf’s attention, and I voiced a single, low growl to warn Richard my mate belonged to me.
Maybe Richard had injured his wrist, but there was nothing wrong with his feet, and he kicked the breath out of me and knocked me over. “What did you do to my sled, Frank?”
I groaned and lurched upright. “Shouldn’t you be more worried about your wrist than your sled? Did you break your wrist?”
“Nothing shifting won’t fix.”
“He whined the entire trip,” my daughter reported. “You’re mean, Dad.”
Great, my puppy was siding with Richard. Muttering a few curses under my breath, I got up, grabbed Richard by his elbow, and hauled him to his feet. “Sorry. I should have called.”
“Damned straight you should have called.”
I put my hand to the back of Richard’s forehead. Heat radiated from my Alpha, and I sighed. “It wasn’t that bad.”
My words were a mistake. Richard launched into a tirade, and as the guilty party, I stood still, kept my mouth shut, and listened to how my Alpha had been convinced I had been dying in a ditch somewhere, just like Vivian had told me.
Jessica saved me from Richard’s scolding by browbeating my Alpha into setting his nose so his perfection wouldn’t be forever marred. The woman’s descriptions triggered a fit of laughter from my puppy and mate. I groaned.
There was only one person present stupid enough to inflict pain on an Alpha Fenerec: me. Richard’s fever worked to my advantage. While he growled, he didn’t fight me when I set the break and taped it, and he only snarled a little when I trapped his wrist in a brace to keep it stable until he had a chance to shift to his wolf.
“Show me my sled,” Richard demanded.
Jessica pulled out her cell phone and winked at me.
Groaning, I got to my feet, lowered my eyes, and pointed in the direction of the garage.
“March,” my Alpha growled.
Vivian chuckled, came around the couch, and rewarded me with a kiss. “This is going to be good. You’re all right?”
“I’m fine. Don’t even have a headache anymore.”
“Concussion. It’s healed fine. We made sure we fed him whenever he got growly and kept everything nice and quiet for him,” Al reported from the garage door. “Sled’s this way, Richard.”
As was proper, I tailed Richard while Jessica hurried ahead to get into position so she could take the best pictures possible. I wanted to tuck my mate under my arm, but until I saw how Richard reacted, I kept between them, every muscle in my body tense.
Richard made it three steps into the garage before he noticed what was left of his sled. He made a choked, strangled noise, and before I could catch him, he dropped to the concrete.
Jessica howled her laughter, doubling over from the strength of her mirth. “He fainted. He really fainted.”
My puppy came up behind me, worming her way to my side. I wrapped my arm around her, made a contented noise in my throat, and kissed the top of her head.
“Dad, what did you do?”
“Crashed it through a tree.”
“Wow. There isn’t much of it left, is there? Is it really okay to leave Mr. Murphy like that?”
“He’ll be fine. He’s not that easy to get rid of. Consider this a lesson on why you should be careful when driving a snowmobile.” I gave my puppy a squeeze, picked her up by her waist, and deposited her on the other side of Richard. “I spy with my little eye something pink registered to a young lady named Kelly. If you even think about crashing it, I’m returning it.”
My daughter’s eyes widened, and she twisted around, scanning the garage and its many sleds until she spotted the pink Polaris Jessica had talked me into buying. “No way.” With an ear-piercing squeal, my daughter scrambled across the garage and flung herself onto the sled’s seat.
“You really got her a snowmobile,” my mate mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yours is the blue one parked next to hers.”
While my mate didn’t squeal or run, she did abandon me to check out the sky-blue sled parked next to Kelly’s. Satisfied my mate and puppy would be kept occupied for at least a few minutes, I turned my attention to Richard, nudging him with my toe until he groaned. “Are you dead?”
“Yes.”
“Walk it off. I replaced your sled. It’s even better than the old one.”
Richard sat up, rubbing at his head. “Damn it, Frank. I don’t care about the sled. You could have gotten yourself killed.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“Damn straight you’re sorry.” Richard pointed at the wreckage of his sled. “Don’t do that again.”
I crouched beside my Alpha and pressed the back of my hand to his forehead. Richard felt warmer than he had before. While Fenerec didn’t catch colds, we did contract an assortment of other illnesses, including fevers.
“Vivian and Kelly will want to try out their new sleds. Why don’t I take you home? You can give your new sled a test drive from the lodge to your place.”
“I gave it some really nice decals and added some custom artwork to it,” Jessica said, joining me at Richard’s side. “Frank even helped me and Al install some of the modifications. I’m sure he would’ve called sooner, but I forced him into slavery since he broke your sled. I installed a surprise or two for you, too. You’ll like it. This one even has the extended seat like you wanted. I special ordered it for you.”
Richard scowled. “He still should have called me.”
For a Normal, Jessica was brave, and she patted Richard’s head. “Yes, he should have. Why don’t you come into the cabin? I’ll warm you up some soup, and you can whi—tell me all about Frank’s heinous behavior while he gets your brand-new sled loaded up for the ride back to Yellowknife.”
While Richard wobbled, he managed to get to his feet without help. Jessica herded him into her cabin, waiting until he disappeared inside before whispering in my ear, “I’ll spike his soup with wolfsbane and keep him amused until you’re ready to leave.”
“And Kelly called me mean.”
“That’s what the bastard gets for bleeding all over my carpet and breaking my coffee table.” Jessica kissed my cheek and skipped into her home, whistling a merry tune.
I gave the wreckage of Richard’s sled a kick. When it fell apart, I burst into laughter. Leaving it, I went to watch over my mate and puppy while Al sang the praises of their new sleds.
Four
Pedro: Scent of a Wolf
From the Witch & Wolf world
Underneath the nose-singeing stench of my goddaughter’s perfume, I detected the scent of a wolf, and he wasn’t her father. Something about the male’s scent seemed familiar. For a long moment, I stared at Desmond’s precious daughter while she wrestled a duffle bag across the lobby of my apartment complex.
“Cariña, whatever are you doing? Did I miss a bag from your flight?” I worried; I’d heard of her being kidnapped with the Silvered Wolf and knew of her mother’s concerns about trauma.
Nicolina squeaked and dropped the bag. It thunked to the floor with a metallic clang. “Pedro!”
Crossing the lobby, I grabbed the bag by its strap and hauled
it over my shoulder. The familiar bite of motor oil and grease hit my nose. “Car parts, Cariña? Have you robbed my shop?”
I wouldn’t put it past her. Ever since she’d been born, she’d been causing someone trouble. “You did return to classes today, did you not?”
Her chin went up, and a stubborn glint lit her brown eyes. “I bought them.”
“You worry me.”
Waving my concerns away with a delicate little hand, she replied, “I’m getting revenge on someone.”
“With car parts?” Visions of accidents flashed through my head, and I chilled at the memory of the plane crash she’d already endured. “I worry more now.”
Desmond’s daughter shot me a glare and headed for her apartment. When we arrived, she gestured me inside, locking the door behind us. My worry grew to anxiety. “Cariña?”
“Swear you won’t tell anyone.”
If I allowed her to go unchecked, her father would skin me for my pelt long before I found a mate. Once again, I scented the subtle hint of a male on my goddaughter. Who had met her standards, which were so high even her father wept and despaired she would never find a wolf she deemed worthy of her attention? “I swear.”
“I bought a car.”
Another vision of a crash played through my head, full of flames and resulting in the demise of my cariña’s victim. “I don’t understand how this becomes revenge.”
“He likes cars a lot, so I bought an old one I thought he’d like.”
She waited, staring at me with wide, hopeful eyes. Should I explain to her revenge was a negative thing? When she didn’t continue, I sighed and prayed Desmond would not hunt me down and kill me for teaching my goddaughter the nuances of vengeance. “That does not make for a very good revenge if he will like it.”
With a smile that terrified me, she pointed at her bag. “I’m going to send it to him in pieces. The guy I bought it from told me which parts I could clean on my own, and he’s preparing the delicate parts for me. The wires, I guess—or whatever else goes in those cars. Once it’s dismantled, I’ll have it delivered over the course of a few days. No labels, just a photograph of what it should look like if he can put it back together again.”