Season of the Wolf (BBW Holiday Romance)

by Mason, Marie

  SEASON OF THE WOLF

  Copyright 2013 by

  MARIE MASON

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  ABOUT THIS BOOK

  The curvy woman stepping off the red, two-engine plane wasn't just a Christmas guest, she was his fated mate...

  Wolf shifter, Jason Dupree had returned to his hometown of Winter, Montana, to take the position as head enforcer of his pack and sheriff for the small mountain town. Snow was not his favorite thing. When his sister asks him to pick up her Christmas visitor while the white stuff is falling, he is not a happy wolf. The woman is working on her Ph.D, in of all things, the sexual habits of wolf shifters. In ordinary circumstances, Jason would have been delighted to help her with her research. But, he's suffered injuries that almost proved fatal, even for a wolf.

  Priscilla Johnson had never had a satisfying sexual encounter and didn’t believe in the instant attraction wolf shifters purported to feel for their chosen mate. Ever since an unexplained encounter with a pack of wolves when she was younger, she'd felt drawn to the beautiful animal. When she discovered that shifters do exist, and that they, too, mated for life, she had the perfect subject for her doctoral thesis.

  Caught in a snowstorm, Jason must use all his shifter strength to keep them both alive. While taking refuge in a small cabin, he must convince the disbelieving woman that fated mates do exist and that she now belongs to him—heart, body, and soul.

  What better way convince her than to let her experience the sexual appetite of a wolf shifter when he finds his true mate.

  SEASON OF THE WOLF

  “I’m not a damn snow leopard, Sis. I hate the snow, remember?”

  “Yeah, I remember, but you’ve picked a hell of a time to realize that big brother.”

  Jason cursed beneath his breath. The forecast for the next several days was snow and more snow. In fact, there was a damn blizzard advisory for Winter, Montana, until Christmas Eve.

  Jason’s older sister, Marie, sounded frustrated as hell and who could blame her? He was whining like a little lost pup. Damn it, man, he muttered to himself. Get your shit together. He didn’t know what it was, but lately he’d felt uncomfortable even in his own skin. Disconnected from his wolf.

  “I’m not going, Marie, and that’s final. Send someone else. Someone from the search and rescue team. That’s who you’re going to need in this damn weather.” He wasn’t some damn Saint Bernard to be sent out with a flask of rum tied around his neck to find anyone stupid enough to travel in a blizzard.

  “Please, Jason. This is important to me. She’s my friend.”

  “Hah,” he snorted. “If she was such a good friend, then why don’t you pick her up from the airport?” Not that the drafty metal building next to the one runway just outside of town could be called an airport.

  “Because I have two children under the age of two and my husband is out of town, you jackass.” His sister growled, letting her inner wolf come out.

  He grinned. He liked nothing better than to get his sister riled. He really didn’t know why he was being such a jackass. Even his wolf was giving him a hard time at his refusal to go to the airport, pacing inside him like a caged animal. He’d never had this separation from his animal. Usually they worked together in perfect harmony, enjoying life to the fullest. They liked sports; they loved to hunt. And they loved to fuck. What more could a male shifter want out of life?

  Mate.

  The word floated across his mind and his animal whined. Damn the fuck. He did not want a mate. Not now. Not ever. He was fine being a lone wolf.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll do it. Tell me what time her flight gets in.”

  “Two o’clock. Thanks, bro, you’re the best.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just remember that the next time I ask you for a favor.”

  Jason hung up the phone and picked up his hat. Sitting the broad brimmed hat on top of his head, he turned to his dispatcher, Wanda. Jason Dupree was the sheriff in the small town of Winter. The sheriff’s department consisted of himself, Wanda, an older female who was human, and one deputy, Ben Cantor. A wet-behind-the-ears wolf shifter the alpha wanted trained in enforcement. Jason had to admit the kid had potential, but was nowhere ready to strike out on his own.

  Jason had been the pack’s enforcer for over three decades. Three decades of change. The pack was more unified than ever thanks to the alpha, but shifters were still shifters. Hardnosed and hardassed which required a heavy hand of justice at times.

  “Wanda, I’m going to the airport. Call Ben if you have any problems.”

  He didn’t anticipate any problems so felt comfortable with the order. The weather was awful, virtually insuring not many–wolves or humans–were venturing out to cause trouble. Plus, it was only two days to Christmas. Even in a shifter community, the season usually brought with it goodwill and peace toward your fellow man. Unless of course a male shifter was sniffing around someone’s mate, or potential mate. Then all bets were off. Even the easiest going of shifters turned violent when it came to the business of mating.

  Another reason why Jason wanted no part of it. A mate made a man lose all sense.

  The airport wasn’t very far away, twenty miles as the crow flew, but more like forty according to the GPS. Shrugging into his thick jacket, he turned, and caught his first glimpse of the mounting snow. He’d holed up in his office all morning and hadn’t realized the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Hell, now he did feel like a damn jackass for even suggesting his sister get out in such weather with his two small nieces. Male shifters were protective of the females. Some would say overly protective, but you couldn’t fight nature.

  The department’s SUV sat on the nearly abandoned street. As he’d anticipated, nothing much was stirring in the late winter afternoon. He had a several more hours of daylight, plenty of time to pick up the woman, deposit her with his sister, and make it back to his cabin before dark. He needed a run tonight. Maybe that would take away the edginess and settle down his damn wolf.

  He opened the driver’s side door and cranked the engine before cleaning away the snow. Even though he had grown up in the small town, he really didn’t like the snow. He used every excuse there was to go away during the winter months. But now he was stuck, having agreed to take over the position of sheriff when the human who had been elected retired. Winter, Montana, wouldn’t be in existence except for the shifters who had settled here long ago. The area had slowly filled with humans but even after a hundred years, the wolves still tried to keep themselves apart.

  How in the hell had he allowed his alpha to talk him into returning to Winter he’d never know. Oh wait, he did remember. It was the near fatal wounds he’d received when trying to take down a rouge from another pack. The wolf had terrorized the members of Jason’s pack. That had been his last mistake.

  Jason had spent five months tracking the bastard and had only managed to catch him because the wolf had gone completely insane and stayed in his wolf form more and more each day. That hadn’t made him less of a menace. In fact, it had escalated the need to find him. If a hunter had brought him down as a wolf, he would have shifted back to human when he died. It was difficult to explain how a wolf suddenly turned into a human. Shifters tended to allow humans to believe in their cute little fairy tales, covering up incidents that might lead to discovery as quickly and cleanly as possible.

  The ice had melted from the windshield by the time he got the vehicle free
of snow. He didn’t bother to call his sister and ask for a description of the woman he’d be meeting. The small airfield only accommodated twin-engine planes so the passenger list would be small. If anyone else even arrived at the same time. He had an idea no one else would be foolish enough to visit Winter in the dead of winter.

  Priscilla Johnson tried not to scream as the small engine plane hit another pocket of turbulence. The pilot’s chuckle came over the heavy set of headphones he’d handed her prior to take off.

  “Don’t worry, missy. I’ve flown in worse.” He grinned at her revealing a perfect set of white teeth. No one should have such perfect teeth, especially not someone of his age and unhealthy habits. She should be grateful he even had teeth, fake or otherwise, considering the bulge of the tobacco he had nestled in the side of his jaw like a major league baseball player.

  “When?” she asked sarcastically. “When you took over for Santa Claus one year?” She wasn’t really afraid of flying, more like she was afraid of dying. Outside the little prop plane’s windshield the sky was a solid blanket of snow. Where was Rudolph when you needed him?

  He gave a full-bellied laugh just like the jolly old man from up north. The sound over the headphones made her winch.

  “No reindeer here. Too many wolves.” He laughed again.

  She shivered. She had a love-hate relationship with wolves. They were magnificent creatures but they scared the crap out of her. Her father had taken her on a camping trip when she was younger in the high Nevada mountains. She had been lost for a few hours and the only living thing she’d seen was a pack of wolves, who she could have sworn trailed her the entire time. She’d thought for sure she’d be eaten alive before her father found her.

  But, they had also fascinated her even at that early age. The pack had females and small cubs with it and the males had interacted with them as lovingly as any father figure had. And with her most recent discovery…well, she was even more fascinated with wolves than ever before.

  The pilot lowered the nose of the plane sharply and this time she couldn’t prevent the small scream of terror that rose in the back of her throat.

  Jason gratefully took the cup of black coffee the controller at the airport handed him. The airport consisted of a long and narrow asphalt runway, a beat-up metal building, and a cloth awning sporting more holes than a golf course. The small building made him claustrophobic so he nodded his thanks to the man behind the desk and went outside to wait for the plane to land. The cold, bitter wind cut right through him even with his jacket.

  Damn, it was cold and he knew of only two ways to stay warm. Either running in wolf form or fucking a beautiful woman in front of a fireplace. Since he’d grown up with most of the female wolves in Winter—and probably fucked all of them at one time or another during his teens—he had no desire to start a relationship with any of them, even as friends-with-benefits. To do so would reveal his scars and his weakness. Oh, he wasn’t vain enough to worry about his appearance, but the wounds proved he’d been weak, barely surviving the fight with the rouge. His wolf’s ego had suffered.

  He’d gotten the rouge but at great personal cost. He’d spent months with a healer and been forced to endure more painful shifts than he’d ever care to remember just trying to stay alive. The damage from the fight had been extensive and too much for the healing powers of his wolf to overcome without leaving some telling scars behind.

  He took another sip of coffee and heard the drone of a plane’s engine above the howl of the wind. “About bloody time,” he muttered. He needed to get the woman to his sister’s and leave as quickly as possible before getting roped into anymore favors. It was almost Christmas and he knew his sister’s to-do list was long and complicated. No wonder his brother-in-law had used the pretext of a conference to run away like a damn cowardly cat shifter.

  He wasn’t cold-hearted enough not to enjoy the Christmas season, but for the last few years it had become increasingly difficult to feel the joy. He seemed to be surrounded by happily married shifters who were on their way to starting their own family traditions.

  Jason had no desire to mate and have a houseful of pups. To do so would mean stripping down, both literally and figuratively for a woman. He was sure his pack buddies would laugh themselves silly if they knew he was unwilling to allow a female to see him naked. He’d only been back in Winter for six months and had managed, barely, to avoid shifting in front of anyone. He figured if he had to shift unexpectedly while on duty, he’ just have to buy another damn uniform cause it wasn’t coming off beforehand.

  The sound of the engine grew louder. He couldn’t see the plane through all the snow and hoped to God the pilot could land the plane safely in this weather. He tossed way his Styrofoam cup as the little red plane taxied to a stop a hundred yards away. The door opened and the first thing he saw at the top of the small flight of stairs was a denim-clad butt backing out of the plane. He almost swallowed his tongue at the sight of the full, heart-shaped derriere. Perfection. His wolf, the horny bastard, immediately got a hard-on. That told him it was definitely time to find a willing female even if he had fuck her with his jeans around his ankles.

  It was past time Jason Dupree got laid.

  The small figure made it to the bottom of the steps and pulled the heavy parka down, blocking his view of the mouthwatering curves. The pilot exited next and the two spoke for a few minutes before the man nodded his head and opened the cargo compartment. He handed the woman a green duffle bag before taking off in the direction of the small hanger adjunct to the control building. Jason debated leaving the shelter of the awning to help her with her bag, but decided there was no point in being overly friendly. He had no idea how long the woman intended to stay with his sister, but he had no desire to pull holiday entertainment duty while she was here.

  His sister had apparently made fast friends with the woman during an on-line class they’d taken together with a small university in Nevada. The woman was doing her doctoral research on the mating habits of shifters, wolves in particular. How the hell she’d found out about shifters in the first place and then gotten his alpha to allow her to interview members of the pack was beyond him. While shifters were not unknown to the human world, they were shrouded in secrecy and they liked it that way.

  He watched her cross the tarmac. Even beneath her heavy coat he could see the sexy sway of her hips.

  Oh yeah, baby, his wolf growled. I can show you some mating habits.

  Jason’s gut clenched. He was so going to a bar tonight and find the first available willing female to show him some ass. He definably needed to be laid.

  Something pulled him forward. He turned up the collar of his coat and made his way toward the plane. “Is this all you have?” He shouted to be heard above the whine of the wind. It had picked up considerably. A sudden gust pushed at the woman and Jason had to grab her before she went down.

  “Thanks.”

  He couldn’t tell if she smiled at his action or grimaced against the cold. He took her elbow firmly in his hand and guided her to the SUV he’d parked near the metal building. Opening the passenger door, he pushed her inside with little finesse. It was too damn cold to be polite. Opening the back door, he slung the duffle bag in the floor before rounding the back and climbing in behind the wheel.

  Once inside, away from the howling wind, the silence was startling. He wasted no time starting the engine and cranking up the heat. His wolf started to pace and Jason put it down to the decreased visibility and mounting snow. It would be tough going making it to Winter before complete darkness. The sky was already overcast and gloomy thanks to the heavy cloud cover.

  She sat quietly in her seat as he pulled out onto the highway. Luckily, it was almost a straight shot to Winter until the last couple of miles. Then they faced a curvy mountain road with some wicked twists and turns.

  “Would it be okay if I took off my coat? It’s getting a little warm in here.” He realized he’d been driving several minutes without saying a wor
d. Or feeling awkward. There was something comforting about her presence. In fact, his wolf was almost languid, resting peaceful inside him. An odd contrast to how he’d been acting lately.

  Jason really hadn’t noticed the cold. That was one of the many nice things about being a shifter, his wolf kept his temperature evenly regulated. Oh, he still complained about the snow and the cold because they were definitely not two of his favorite things. The woman was bundled-up like a polar bear, no doubt starting to swelter now that she was out of the cold wind. He reached out to turn down the heat. “Sure.”

  He watched from the corner of his eyes as she started to remove her many layers of outerwear. The first thing to go was her knitted cap. He smiled when the dark strands of her hair stood on end with static electricity. Next came the matching scarf that she’d wound around her throat. No wonder she was hot. She had to remove her safety belt to unzip her parka and he frowned, a flash of fear for her safety buzzing through him. Strange.

  As she leaned forward to shrug out of her jacket the warm air from the heater blew across her throat.

  “Hell no,” he cursed. “Oh, hell no.” The SUV swerved as he lost control of the vehicle for a moment.

  She gasped and clung to the dashboard, half in, half-out of the coat. “What, what happened?” Her eyes were wide with fear.

  Jason’s hands tightened on the steering wheel until the skin over his knuckles turned paper thin. “Nothing. Just an icy patch,” he muttered. Sweat broke out on his forehead when the importance of what had just happened hit him square between the eyes.

  This woman was his mate.

  The cold and the heavy coat had managed to conceal her scent from him until now.

  Both his cock and his wolf jerked to attention as she wiggled the rest of the way out of her coat. Her curves were still concealed behind heavy clothing, but he didn’t need any imagination to know how sweet they were going to be. No wonder his wolf had gone ape wild at the airport. The beast must have recognized the woman on some primal level as his mate even without scenting her.