by Lauren Dane
Her phone rang. “I need to take this.” She stood and moved outside, not wanting to be rude. Josh followed, holding his plate.
“I don’t want you alone. Take your call.”
She rolled her eyes but answered.
“Michelle? I’m Lark Jaansen, I work with Clan Owen. I just wanted to call and check in with you.”
“I appreciate that. We don’t know much more. It’s definitely mages. I caught their energies at two rest stops and then at a gas station here in Portland. We found a dead body there too.” She went over all the rest with Lark, asking questions here and there, clearly taking notes.
“I have to deal with a disappearance here, so I can’t come down and Gage is on an investigation as well. Normally we’d send someone from our Hunter team but we’re…drowning right now. This is…there’s a lot of horrible stuff going on, I’m sorry to say. But we have some contacts there in Portland and I’d very much like it if you’d get in touch with them. The support will be helpful. And I hate the thought of you being alone in all this. The wolves are helping, which is good. In fact, this witch is mated to a wolf. But we want you to be supported. I know the missing woman is your friend. That has to be hard. And she’s one of ours, as all witches here are. I hate that you have to be on your own.”
Somehow it was this last bit that got to her and pushed the tears she’d been trying too hard to bury to the surface. She didn’t need that. So she wiped a hand over her eyes and ignored Josh, who perked up when she did it.
She cleared her throat. “I appreciate it. I think I may already know who she is. Damon, one of the wolves, has a mate who’s a witch. I got the feeling things were escalating out of control when I last spoke with Gage. I’m sorry. It’s not good for any of us. But I’m a cop, I have the tools. And the wolves are helping me so much as well.”
“Thank you for understanding. Doesn’t make it right, but…well I’m glad you understand. Please do get in contact with the local folks and reach out when and if you need anything. We’ll do everything we can.” She gave Michelle the name and number of the contact before she hung up.
She stared out over the parking lot and tried to get herself under control again. A kindness shouldn’t make her cry, for God’s sake.
“How can I help you?” Josh spoke quietly from where he’d perched to keep an eye on her while she made the call.
She shook her head. “You can’t. I’m fine. I just need a moment.”
He clearly wanted to, but he stayed where he was, which she appreciated more than she could say.
She took a deep breath and tucked her phone into a pocket. “Let’s go back inside. I think the contact Lark just gave me is Damon’s mate.”
He reached out and brushed his thumb over her cheek. “I hate that you’re upset. I know you have reason to be. It’s not that. I just want to make it better.”
She smiled a little and meant it. “That’s enough, really.”
They went back in, and while she finished her breakfast, she found out the contact was indeed Damon’s wife, Gina.
“She said she got a message to call Owen this morning before I left for work. Must have been Lark. You’ll like her. Gina, I mean.” Damon ducked his head on a very sweet smile.
She didn’t know a whole lot about the mate thing. Only that wolves mated for life and had some sort of genetic tie that happened during sex. They seemed protective, but she wasn’t entirely sure if it was that all wolves were protective or if it was specific to mates or what.
“If you’d like the help, I’d like to come out to the scene with you,” Pam offered as they walked out to the car after they’d finished eating.
“Another set of eyes is really welcome, thanks. I know I’m small town and you have your territory.”
Pam waved that away. “I don’t care about that. A missing woman is what’s important here. And that she’s a witch, one of us. You need to hold back with human authorities, and I have to do that from time to time so I can help there too.”
They drove out to the gas station, and Pam led them to the parking lot where the SUV had been seen last.
Josh touched her arm to get her attention. “I’m going to shift. Stay right here and I’ll be at your side. Do you understand? Don’t go anywhere without me.”
She snorted. “You know, I’ve been a cop all these years without a werewolf at my side. I’m not dead yet.”
He frowned. “And I aim to keep it that way.” He slid a hand up her arm, leaving tingles in his wake. “Things are different now. This enemy is…you could be dead and it’s not happening if I have a say and I do.”
Was she going to argue? Oh sure he was being bossy, but he was right. This mage stuff was different. And she wanted to see what he looked like as a wolf.
“Fine. Just keep up.”
He rolled his eyes and then began to get naked. Pam and Damon had headed off on another trail into the rather large park so it was just her and Josh standing in a thick copse of trees.
She really should be looking away. But hot damn. His upper body was hard and muscled and tawny, like he worked outside a lot. But she remembered. Mmm. He’d always had that olive complexion.
But now those wide shoulders were even wider, drawing down a hairy (but not too hairy) chest to a narrow waist.
He put his shirt, shoes and socks into a backpack.
“I’ll carry that for you.” She was so proud that her voice sounded reasonably normal given how much her mouth watered as she stared.
He turned, his hands at his zipper, and no matter how many things she yelled at herself, she could not tear her gaze away from the vee of skin, and hair, exposed as he stopped halfway down.
“Thanks. I appreciate that.”
He didn’t wear underwear. Good Lord above. He unzipped and she kept staring.
“You’re playing with fire,” he said in a low growl.
“Huh?”
He tipped her chin with one finger. “You look at it like that, and I won’t be able to finish unzipping without injuring myself.”
She blushed, the heat on her neck and cheeks enough to make her glance away.
But he was back, closer this time, and without thinking, she slid her palms up the bare (hot, hard, muscled) skin of his chest. “Forget it. I like you looking at me. I was a dumbass for telling you not to.”
He brushed his lips over hers as she wrapped her arms around his body, hands flat against his back.
Wishing things were different.
Wishing they were in her room, or his place, anywhere in private instead of outside with far more important things to do than fuck.
He broke the kiss, stepping back. “Enough of that. For now.” He pulled his pants off, and his cock sprang out, hard and ready and wow. She’d had memories of course, but they were wrapped in a veil of taboo. They’d been young. She hadn’t known anyone else to compare, and he’d grown.
Considerably.
She turned her attention away, securing the pack, tightening the straps.
“Will you be able to communicate when you’re a wolf? I’m sorry if my questions are stupid or offensive.” She lifted her shoulders. “I just don’t know.”
“You’re not stupid. They’re good questions. And you can’t know until you’re told. I want you to ask me anything. If I know the answer, or can get it for you, I will. Do you understand?”
She couldn’t hide the grin at the corners of her mouth. “It’s really hard to concentrate on even a very sweet promise when you’re naked. I’m sorry, you’re just…” She waved a hand at him.
“Just what?”
He was close again, and despite his nakedness, the heat blasted from him, enveloping her.
She swallowed hard, feeling more than a little like prey. “Magnificent. You’re magnificent.”
He reduced her to whispers, so she gave them. She was a lot of things, but a liar wasn’t one of them. There was something between them, something beyond what they’d once had, past the hurt of their parting. To
deny it, to deny what he was there naked, tall, hard and gorgeous and helping her? It would have been cowardly.
His smile was all arrogant male, and it sent a shiver through her. “I’ll properly thank you for that. Later. For now? Yes, my wolf can understand you. He can’t talk, obviously, but just speak and we’ll work it through. He’s bossier than I am, my wolf I mean. He’s going to steer you where he thinks it’s best. Stay close.”
He bent and magick washed over her, warm and soft, sun-dappled bark and pine sap. And in the place of the magnificent man, stood a massive and no less magnificent wolf.
Honey gold fur, intelligent blue-green eyes. His paws were the size of canned hams and he reached above her waist.
Before she could stop herself, she’d stretched a hand to touch and then snatched it back. “Sorry!”
The wolf snorted and pressed his body against hers, butting her with his giant head until she gave in and slid her fingers through soft fur, over his head and down his back. She knew that werewolves were larger than regular wolves, but this was beyond anything she could have imagined. Josh’s wolf was the most amazing thing she’d ever seen.
“You’re beautiful,” she whispered.
He turned, his nose, cold and slightly wet, his eyes gazing into hers. She held him, one palm on either side of that massive head.
Just a look, and she felt it to her toes as something passed between them. He jerked his head then, snorting, and she got the feeling that was his wolf telling her to follow him. So she did as he trotted off.
She hiked for several hours with him leading. He sniffed a lot of stuff. Growled here and there as he changed direction. He made her sit, and she ate a protein bar and drank some water while he disappeared for about twenty minutes. She’d needed the rest but had no idea what he’d done while he’d been gone. Probably ate a rabbit or peed or something.
Though it wouldn’t do for her to think of him as a dog, it still amused her. She checked her messages. No new leads. No new sightings of the SUV either. Nothing. She was thoroughly disheartened by the time he trotted back to where she was.
She stood and shouldered the pack again, and he growled.
“What? Do you need something out of the pack? Water maybe? Food? No, I don’t guess you’d be eating Luna bars as a nine-foot-high wolf beast.”
He continued to examine her, sniffing the air.
“Is there something for me to worry about? God, Josh I feel like I’m in an episode of Lassie. Did Timmy fall down the well?” That did make her laugh but he snorted again.
Then that rush of magick, and he stood up, naked as the day he was born. And still beautiful.
“Lassie?”
“Uh.”
He shook his head with a wry grin. “The pack? Unless you want me to stay naked? Though if hikers came around, they might not think it was so great.”
“Oh!” She handed over the backpack. “Only if they were insane. I mean, there’s water in there.”
“I had some.”
He got dressed quickly.
“What were you growling at me for?”
“You’re upset. My wolf likes it even less than the man does. He wants to carry you off deep in a forest and keep you there until you’re happy.”
Oddly touched, she smiled. “Did you find anything?”
They began to walk, she guessed back to the parking lot.
“I found a trail a few times. But you did your magick, right?”
His wolf had stopped and sniffed, pressing his body into hers a few times. She’d already been using her othersight, and there had been a faint trace of mage magic, but nothing of Allie. She explained that to him.
“Yeah I thought so. I followed it until it died out. I didn’t scent any other witch but you though. Back to your upset.”
“I checked my messages. Nothing new. We’re at a dead end.”
He sighed. “We’ll keep looking. We aren’t giving up, Michelle.”
“I just…I want to help her.”
He stopped and turned to her. “You are. You’re here looking for her every waking moment. You’re doing all you can. Let’s connect with Pam and Damon, see what they’ve found.”
They headed back to the lot after he’d made a call to meet up with the other two.
Damon shook his head when they came out of the woods. “Nothing. We fanned out, checked near the waterways, the paths, everywhere. Nothing.”
She exhaled, disappointed. “Thanks anyway. I appreciate your help more than I can say.”
Josh turned to Damon. “Go back to the office and check in. Let them know I’ll be home if they need me.” Then to Pam. “Appreciate the help. Keep me updated.”
She nodded and said her goodbye to Michelle before she got in her car and drove away with Damon.
He moved to the car and opened her door. Deflated, she slid inside.
He got in, and once they’d gotten back on the road again, he spoke quietly. “Come back to my place for a while at least. Please? There’s nothing to do right now. You’re run down. You need some rest and I’d like to pamper you a little. I’m a good cook. Let me make you dinner.”
“I…” She closed her mouth. What was she arguing for? The longer she spent with him, the more she wanted him. More than that, she didn’t want to be alone. She wanted to be with someone who knew her, all of her, and wanted to be around her anyway. She was too tired to be lonely that night. “Okay.”
He relaxed. “Good.”
Chapter Six
She checked her phone every few minutes until he finally put a hand on hers. “Your phone is on. You’ll hear it if you get a message or a call. My people all know where to reach me too.”
He’d called Damon and his mate, Gina, to come over for a bit. Josh had wanted to hold her. To kiss her and fuck her senseless to wipe the worry off her features for at least a little while. But he forced himself to be patient.
Nina called to report she’d hacked the cameras at the rest stops and that they’d stopped working for fifteen minutes at the first stop and six minutes at the second. Michelle figured it was a spell of some sort, but at least they could work out a rudimentary timeline based on that information.
But it was pretty close to what she’d already figured out, so she took some notes and ended up staring out the window again.
The loneliness seemed to flow from her in waves. He could fix that. Or try anyway. Gina was awesome. Funny, warm and totally accustomed to being surrounded by Others. She was exactly the kind of person who’d extend friendship. And clearly Michelle needed it. He wanted her to understand it was possible to live in a vibrant community of likeminded Others. Sure she couldn’t announce that witches existed to the world, but she didn’t always have to hide it either.
Damon and Gina arrived, and as he’d figured, Gina was warm, holding her hands out to Michelle.
“You’re Michelle. I’m so happy to meet you. I brought cake. I’m sure he’ll make you a lovely dinner, but he won’t have cake and one needs cake.”
“It’s the rules.” Michelle nodded with a smile.
Damon watched his woman, affection clear on his features, before he turned to Josh and thrust bags at him. “She wasn’t kidding. Dips and chips and cake. Oh and beer.”
Josh happily took in the way Gina drew Michelle out, chatting with her about every day things as well as magick and witches.
“Thanks for coming over.” Josh told Damon this as he poured chips into a bowl and Damon opened the dips.
“Gina would have barged in anyway. I filled her in…a little so don’t get that look.” Damon said it low enough that only another wolf would have heard. “It’s not a secret to anyone with eyes, Josh. Looking at a beautiful woman is one thing. Looking at your beautiful woman is another.”
Josh smiled. His. Yeah. “I’m taking things slow. She doesn’t know so keep your mouth shut about it.”
Damon grinned. “I like seeing you this way. All flaily and out of your element.”
“Flaily? I�
�m not flaily.”
“Ha. You are. And it’s good for you.”
Laughing, Michelle looked across the living room to where he stood with Damon in the kitchen. He held up the tray of food and she smiled.
They joined the women, and he settled in next to her on the couch. “Dinner is in the oven.”
“I was just inviting Michelle to our weekly get-togethers. The Owen witches who live down here, that is. They’re usually at our house, so you know they’ll be well guarded by a big, badass grumpy werewolf.”
If Michelle was there, Josh would be there too.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be around. I mean, once I find Allie she’ll need me in Roseburg. I have a job there.”
Gina’s gaze cut to Josh quickly and then back. Did everyone on the planet know Michelle was his mate or what? “I get that. I hope you’ll reconsider maybe settling up here. Once you get Allie back and safe. And in the mean time, you can drive up, right?”
Michelle nodded but her happiness had ebbed a little.
His life was in Portland. But she was to be part of that life. The center of it, of course. He couldn’t protect her if she lived in Roseburg. They needed to talk in-depth about all of this stuff. There was a lot to discuss. She was under a great deal of pressure, and he didn’t want to add to that stress.
So he’d take it baby step by baby step.
Gina and Damon stayed for dinner and cake and left shortly after that. It had been a really good several hours, and Michelle seemed lighter once he’d closed his door.
“I know today’s been a long one. Yesterday and the day before too. Did you know I have a giant soaking tub? It’s a good place to relax a while.”
One corner of her mouth quirked up. “Is that an invitation?”
He moved closer, his body brushing hers. “Do you want it to be?”
She took a deep breath, her eyes closing for long moments before she opened and snagged his gaze again. “I…” She licked her lips and he bent to do the same. She exhaled, and he pulled it into his lungs, heady with desire.
“We’ve known each other a long time, Michelle. That means something to me. More than what we were back in high school. You’re my friend. You can tell me anything. I am here for you, not just for this situation, but afterward too.”