“Come on.” Antonio chuckled, probably smelling her attraction. “Let’s go set the table.”
She nodded absentmindedly, her eyes locked on that toned ass in those black jeans as James walked back into the kitchen. She followed Antonio quietly as he grabbed plates and silverware, then walked her to the dining room table.
“Jay is pretty good looking,” he whispered to her, leaning over her shoulder as she put a plate down in front of her. “You should hit on him. He needs a good night. He’ll relax again.”
“I-uh.” Abigail turned to him and nearly jumped at how close he was. His face had to be an inch from hers. Those damn jade green eyes were twinkling. She adored them, and she also wanted to pluck them from his damn head. He knew how to use them.
“Or me,” he growled softly. “I don’t need to relax, but I’m not against the idea.”
“That’s definitely not my job,” she said quickly, taking a step away from him. “I know you wolves are free with your bodies, but this doe quite likes to keep hers to herself, and yours away from it.”
“A pity,” he growled a little more, louder this time, his lips turning to a grin. They were full lips and thanks to him, she now had all sorts of thoughts about how soft they might be.
“He’s a tease.” Thomas laughed as he walked over and put down a bowl of green beans. “Ignore him. He’d fuck a tree if it was sentient enough to say yes.”
“Good to know he likes wood, too,” she mumbled.
This caused Thomas to howl in laughter and Antonio to sputter. Even James was cracking up in the kitchen.
“Oh, shit,” James giggled, and Abigail threw a look at him. “I love you, Abby. I’m sorry. That was wonderful. I’ll never be cranky with you again if you keep lines coming like that. Oh God.” He was wiping his eyes and braced himself on the countertop.
Antonio was still sputtering. “That’s not funny,” Antonio whimpered. “I like ladies.”
“Sure,” Thomas snorted.
“I’m glad not to be alone in my attraction to…” She thought about it. She wasn’t good at this. “Hard, long objects.”
“Oh fuck!” James cackled. She threw another look at him, watching him sink to the floor, his face red from exertion. “I can’t breathe, Thomas! Help!”
“Look here, pretty doe,” Antonio growled, stalking close to her again. “Why don’t I just prove wood isn’t my thing…” He gave her a toothy grin and Abigail started walking backwards again. “But I know how to use it.”
“No, I’m quite okay, thank you,” she said, now nervous at the predatory look he was giving her.
It didn’t just make her nervous. It made her hot. She hadn’t felt so wanted by just a look before in her life. His eyes locked onto hers and he continued to stalk her. Her heart rate accelerated as she bumped into a chair.
No one was laughing anymore. She didn’t spare a glance to them as she hit a wall. The wall, though, made her feel more trapped than she had been, and fear shot through her.
When Antonio got closer, Thomas’ voice cut in. “Leave her.” Thomas was sharp, all Alpha. “Don’t freak her out, dickhead.” Thomas growled after that.
Antonio immediately backed off, looking apologetic. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “You bring out something…”
“Predatory?” she offered. She knew. She was a damn doe. They were her natural predators, and once the chase was initiated, it was probably hard for both parties to stop being what they were.
“Yeah,” he whispered.
“I should go,” she mumbled.
“You don’t have to,” Antonio sounded guilty and awful, but she ignored it. “Pretty doe.” She stepped around him to grab her bag. “Abby. Abigail.” At her full name, she turned to him. “I won’t do it again, I’m sorry. I’ve never hung out with a prey before.”
“I’m going to go,” she said, stronger. “It’s not just you. I know I freak a little easier with wolves. One thing to be in a clinical environment, it’s another to try anything else.”
Like every doe, when confronted with wild wolves, she bolted.
8
Antonio
“I didn’t mean to,” Tony mumbled, looking down at his hands. “We aren’t that scary, are we?” He looked over to Thomas, who shrugged. “I know she was spooked by the cougar in the woods, but here? In our house? We aren’t threatening, are we?”
Tony liked the doe, he really did. He just wanted to get a bit playful, flirt with her. She was pretty enough that he wanted more than that. He wanted things he shouldn’t have wanted with the little doctor. She had the shiniest, straightest brown hair he’d ever seen, and her eyes seemed too big when she was shocked or surprised - the definition of a deer in headlights.
And beautiful. He called her a pretty doe, but she was gorgeous, in that girl next door kind of way, and in the woods, he’d gotten a real hippie vibe from her. Skinny, small perky breasts she’d tried to hide, the flare of her hips marking her body as womanly and mature. Her sense of smell wasn’t good enough to pick up him being attracted to her, but he’d picked up all of her feelings. She had the hots for him and she ran.
She also had the hots for Thomas and James. If she were a female wolf, she would have invited them all to bed. Instead, she bolted out the door and left.
“To her, we are, Tony,” Jay grunted. “She’s cool though. I think we can get her to loosen up.”
Tony smiled at his friend. Jay had been off recently, not that anyone could blame him, but Tony took it as a good sign that he was talking about loosening up the doe.
“Why do you want to?” his Alpha asked, sitting down at the table, looking annoyed. “You just chased her off, Antonio.”
“Well, the Pride have their thing and I’m not sure we’ll find the best of friends in the mansion. They have too much shit going on with them,” James sighed. “And I want more friends.”
He was struck by that and kept watching James. He looked sad, a bit lost. The gruffness he’d been giving off to the Pack and the doe was just another cover to a deep sadness that Tony could relate to.
“I miss them, too,” Thomas sighed. “I miss them, too,” he repeated softer.
“We haven’t done a memorial service for them yet and…” James took a deep breath. “There’s a box we need to open.”
Tony winced. There was. Sitting in the back bedroom was a box the SSTF had sent them the day before. They had given over pictures of their old Packmates, the ones they lost. Without Chris, since that fucker had gone off to get into more trouble, Thomas had to deal with it all. The box held what was recovered of their Packmates…like Lochlan. The SSTF said they had found all of them.
Five strong wolves, reduced to a single box.
Tony sank into a chair as James brought the rest of the food to the table.
“After dinner, we’ll go out and dig some holes,” Thomas whispered, pushing his food around with his fork. Tony was doing the exact same thing. “Light a bonfire. Send them on.”
“The moment the sun goes down,” James growled. “Then we move on, once they are at rest.”
“Then we move on,” Thomas agreed.
Tony swallowed the lump in his throat. Was it going to be that easy? They could say it until they were bluer in the face than Thomas’ eyes, but it couldn’t be that easy.
Tony was sure as hell going to try to make it that easy.
It was three hours later when Tony grabbed the box in the back bedroom and took it out to the back porch. Thomas drove his truck around and parked so Tony could load it up. James was already in the passenger seat.
Once in the back, he slapped the top of the truck; it got moving.
They had been focused only on politics for the last few days since they moved out of the mansion. Thomas was constantly on the phone with the Colorado Pack Alpha, in a battle over their autonomy. It needed to get settled, and fast. Tony didn’t like the idea of them needing to hide under the Pride if Colorado’s wolf Alpha decided he didn’t want them there. Sure, the Prid
e would back them up, since this was their town, but it was weak as hell.
They were also slowly getting their things back from South Dakota. The new female Alpha over there just wanted them out of her damn way. She shipped their vehicles first but wouldn’t release the furniture until she replaced it fully with her own. They did get their clothes, though. She had been nice enough to box up most of their things and hide them, wondering if any of them would come back.
Thomas took them nearly a mile from the house and Tony just breathed in the cold night air for the entire ride. It was November in Colorado and chilly as fuck, but he was fine with it. South Dakota was pretty cold too.
When the truck pulled to a stop, Tony threw out the three shovels he had. This wasn’t a proper burial, but it was the best they could do. None of their inner circle had wives or kids, so this was it, just brothers burying brothers.
“We’ll mark where we put them, right?” Tony asked, looking at their Alpha as he began making the first hole.
“Yes,” Thomas answered softly. “I’ll order some proper plaques as well. We’ll come out and install them and this will be their final resting spot, marked for all of time.”
“Good,” Tony sighed. He jumped down and started on the second hole while James did the third.
Their brothers had died in wolf form, and now would always be in wolf form. This meant the holes didn’t need to be the same shape or size. They shoveled for what seemed like hours as the moon climbed above them. Tony, even in the bitter cold, took off his shirt as he began to sweat from exertion.
“Are we done?” Thomas called out from the last burial spot.
Tony looked up and down the line. Five holes. Five wolves.
Nine in. Four out.
Five holes.
He closed his eyes as he nodded.
They had done this to themselves. The only reason James and Tony were lucky enough to be alive was because they weren’t chosen for hunts. Only Thomas had earned his own freedom. Then him and a damn feline saved all their asses. Not that Riley was a bad kid, but she was a damn kid. Twenty-four and all of tiny.
Tony looked at the holes and reminded himself that after this, he was going to live his life again without it hanging on him. They were going to buy that damn bar and have a ball. Maybe he would pick up the guitar again.
“Let’s open the box,” Thomas sighed, walking past him. Tony nodded slowly as Thomas pulled it out of the back of the truck. He set it down gently and Tony stood next to James as Thomas pried the top off the wood crate.
The SSTF had wrapped the pelts carefully. Tony knew they must have had shifters do it. Thomas pulled the first one out and unwrapped it. A near-white coat. Dillan.
Together they walked to the first hole and Thomas placed it down, laying it flat so the coat could all be seen.
Together they walked back, and Thomas pulled out the second pelt. A reddish coat. Fuck. Tony held back tears. Lochlan had always been a good man.
The process repeated.
A dark coat, similar to Jay - an oaky brown. Samson.
A grey and tan coat similar to his own. James.
A medium gray coat, like one would think of when they thought gray wolf. Heath.
With all their pelts in their graves, Thomas began to bury Dillan. James went to Lochlan and Tony set himself to Samson. When Tony was done, he moved to Heath since Thomas had beaten him to James.
At the end, they were all quiet. James began building the bonfire. Thomas grabbed lawn chairs from the truck. Tony just watched the moon. Firelight began to dance, and he felt a cold beer get forced into his hand.
“Come on,” Thomas whispered. “Let’s say goodbye.”
Tony chugged the beer in a few large swallows. In the fire and moonlight, they stripped. Once Tony was bare, he shifted into wolf form. Their brothers died as wolves, so they would be honored as wolves.
Thomas threw his head back and began the howl. The song. The sorrow.
James was second, his own howl more melodious than most.
Tony entered third, letting the howl take it away.
Samson was being rolled away at dawn. Brother number three to face the hunt. They all knew that their previous brothers hadn’t made it. Antonio had hope that maybe small, quick Samson could. He’d hoped and hoped. He and the remaining Pack mates howled, as they had for the entire day and night. As they did for Lochlan and James. They were tased for it, but still they howled.
They would howl for Heath only a few short days later.
They howled until the dawn was nearly coming.
Tony howled until his heart didn’t hurt anymore.
The sun came over the horizon. A new day. The dead were at rest, their day and night on the earth over. They were in the past, and now it was on to the future; time for the Pack to live on in their honor.
Tony needed to call on all of his strength to put his pain in the ground next to the guys and move forward. He wasn’t going to disrespect the guys they’d lost by being broken and refusing to move forward.
They all made sure to put pants back on, to protect from the cold. Protect the important bits, anyways. He collapsed into a seat and grinned at Thomas. It was done.
“Lochlan was madly in love with Chris,” he told his Alpha. Thomas had always been the Alpha to Tony. Chris was a shit figurehead who didn’t even respect his living or his fallen. Chris would have been there if he did and he’d fucking bounced because he wanted to throw a tantrum over losing his Pack.
“I figured,” Thomas chuckled. “He’s the one I’ll miss the most.”
“Same,” James sighed. “Sorry for being a shit recently.”
“We’ve been hurting,” Thomas reminded him. Tony nodded. “Now we’re going to step forward. I’ll get plaques ordered tomorrow, and we can come out and put them in together once we get them. Then we’ll buy a bar and settle down. How’s that?”
“I like that idea. No more massive Pack politics, no more damn hunters. I like that a lot. And some other things…” James mumbled. “Abby is something to like.”
“Yeah,” Tony moaned happily at the thought of her. There was something new to think about. Something in their new future that hadn’t been a part of their old lives, now buried. “She’s fucking pretty, Thomas.”
“She’s quite something,” their Alpha agreed.
“Quite something?” he gasped. Thomas was not going to write this pretty thing off. “No, she’s fucking pretty. Gorgeous. Her hair gets all windswept, and her eyes get all wide when she’s attracted to something.”
“Damn, Tony,” James chuckled. “Tell us how you really feel. Wax fucking poetic over there. Tell us, do her eyes shine like the night sky?”
“I think someone has a crush and he’s only seen her three times,” Thomas laughed, looking away from Tony to James. He glared at them both.
“I know you both think she’s attractive too,” he growled. “Don’t deny it. James, you were comfortable enough to be a shit around her, even though you only do that with people you trust. You normally give the world the best you and let us see the crap because we won’t hold it against you.”
“I’ll concede that,” James muttered into his beer. “You’re right. She’s pretty. Had a good time out in the woods with her. It felt nice to play hero.”
“Wasn’t playing to her,” Thomas said. “She was legitimately in danger. We need to not hold it over her head.”
“Did you tell her she should come here?” Tony asked. It had been something they discussed as they walked her back to her car. They wanted her out in their woods more, under their close eye. She deserved to get out and be her animal, prey or not.
“She said she would think about it,” Thomas told him, taking a swig of his beer.
He nodded. Good. If she was coming over often, he had a chance to woo her. He wanted to see how wide those eyes could get, wanted to run his fingers through her hair. Wanted to feel her tremble with release, like she trembled when he ran a hand over her as a doe.
And Tony readjusted his damn dick at that, wishing he hadn’t put the damn jeans back on.
Thomas started laughing. “Antonio?”
“You said we wouldn’t eat her.” Tony groaned. “But fuck, Thomas, it’s all I’ve wanted to do since I laid eyes on her.”
James spit out his mouthful of beer and cursed as some seemed to go out his nose too. Tony didn’t feel guilty at all. He wanted her in and around his mouth, which watered a bit at the idea.
“She’s not going to be around for long,” Thomas chuckled. “She’s here because Brenton is paying her to be here. She’s probably going to turn it into a short vacation. I’m not sure she’s looking for a quick lay with someone she’s supposed to be helping.”
“Who said it would be quick? And that she wouldn’t be helping me?” Tony asked, grinning. He gave a quick eyebrow wiggle, which had James laughing again.
“Damn it.” Thomas snickered into his hand. “Stop that. Be serious, Antonio. She’s not here for that.”
“If she offers, then can I get in on that?” Tony hoped he said yes, because he had delicious fantasies he wanted to live out. All of them had to do with how her hair would fall in the grass and the sounds that would come out her mouth.
“Fucking horndog,” James laughed.
“Yes,” Thomas gave up. “Yes, if she’s willing to give you what you want, without you hounding her like a fucking animal, then you can have your good time.”
“I promise not to make it too good,” Tony chuckled with a wink. “She might still want you when I’m done.”
“Fucking. Horn. Dog.” James reiterated. “But thanks. I’m not sure how down she’ll be for that, but it’s worth a thought.”
Tony just grinned. They were wolves. Sharing lovers or shit like that was just something they did. Fuck who went to bed with you that night - maybe they’ll keep your interest, maybe they won’t. Maybe they want you and another guy. Maybe the guy wanted two females and those two females were down for that, ready for him to prove if he was capable.
Prey to the Heart (Wolves of Wild Junction Book 1) Page 9