by Vivian Arend
“Do you like Whistler?” he asked, trying to head the conversation back into neutral territory. His erection eased as they worked, the returning blood flow to his brain making it easier to concentrate. “I have some friends who go skiing there every year, but I haven’t heard much about the community.”
She hesitated for a surprisingly long time before answering. “The mountains are glorious and I enjoy being in a small town again after living in Vancouver. It’s not the Yukon though. There’s something special about the north I’ve missed.”
Tad reached to give her hand a reassuring squeeze. The touch of skin on skin was like grabbing a live wire. Energy flowed between them sending small shocks up his arm. He jerked his fingers away. “Shoot. The static electricity is crazy in here.”
Missy had the strangest expression on her face. She held a hand to Tad. “Try again.”
Tad hesitated and then clasped fingers. This time the energy didn’t snap but it was there, a low buzz of tingles spreading over him.
It felt good.
Too good. Tad pulled away before parts of his anatomy he didn’t want to reawaken heard the alarm ringing through him. “What’s that all about?” he asked in confusion.
Missy shook her head. “I’m not sure. Maybe like you said—static electricity. Some people are better conductors than others.”
“Weird.” Tad turned away to get the next set of boxes. His whole body was hot, and he had the strange desire to pick Missy up and carry her back to his apartment and ravish her until they were both so sated neither of them could move. Well, okay, it wasn’t a completely unexpected emotion since she was pretty easy on the eyes, and he’d always had a huge crush on her. Yet he’d never had an attack of the hormone kind this hard before. It was unsettling, especially when he wanted to impress Missy, not come across like some northern Neanderthal.
Gotta stay calm. Cool.
“How’s your sister?” Missy asked.
Tad leapt at the change in topic. “She’s gone bush this week for a getaway. I was supposed to go with her but had to cancel. Shaun, my business partner, insists she’ll be just fine but I’m still concerned. I know she’s strong but since I found out…” Tad coughed suddenly, frantic to cover up that he had nearly told Missy about being a wolf. He must be tired because he had never slipped like that before.
It was Shaun’s fault for getting him thinking about having sex with a human woman right before the biggest wet dream of his life walked through the door. He glanced at where she sat in the open storage compartment of the plane, her feet dangling in midair. Curls draped over her shoulders, the ugly coverall unable to hide the curves of her petite frame. A shot of lust raced through him. Damn, he couldn’t blame this on Shaun. It was his own body jerking him around. He was horny and a total bastard all on his own.
Missy seemed deep in thought and Tad fought a case of wandering hands. The need to touch her was so bad it made his whole body hurt. Missy gave him one of her shy smiles. “I’m sure Robyn will be fine. She always was extremely independent.”
He hurried to reassure her. “I know, I just like to worry. It comes with the territory.”
They stared at each other.
Missy looked away first, biting her lower lip. Tad shut his mouth tight so the groan that wanted to escape was locked away. Everything about Missy called for him to step forward and—
She grabbed the front of his shirt and tugged until he stood between her legs, their torsos nestled together. Lips, soft and warm, brushed his, that strange electric sensation enveloping his body at the same time. Tad pulled Missy closer and kissed back, nibbling her lips, caressing the curve of her cheek with small touches. He snuck a hand into her curls and cupped her head to direct her mouth to the right angle to enjoy her fully.
She opened her lips and he tasted her for the first time. Sweet and spicy, intoxicating.
Addictive.
His tongue made a tentative dip into her mouth, a brief stroke against hers, then retreated as they explored the newness of the kiss. What he’d imagined as a teenager was nothing like the experience as an adult.
Heat rose between them as his body reacted to Missy’s softness. Tad fought to keep his hands loose around her instead of trapping her against the plane like he wanted to. He forced himself to kiss her instead of feasting on her lips, forced himself to let the sweetness of the experience flow over them like a fine wine.
They separated at the same moment, fingers linked together even as their lips parted. Tad stared into Missy’s eyes and saw his need reflected back.
Sweet mercy, she wanted him too.
Tad leaned forward, ready to recapture her lips when she pressed a hand against his chest.
“We need to finish. The others could be here anytime.”
Deep breath.
Tad nodded. He dropped one final kiss on her mouth, a fleeting brush of lips, the promise of more. Simply touching her made his body ache. There was no way he could deny the attraction between them. It was time he made up his mind, and right now his wolf side was losing the battle. Waiting to find forever with a wolf mate was one choice, but perhaps he could find forever in a different direction.
***
Alone in her hotel room that night Missy paced, unable to sit still with the energy surging through her. The day had turned out nothing like she expected. She still felt Tad’s mouth on hers, the caress of his hands on her body. Never before had she experienced such a strong attraction. The connection with Tad was overpowering, a little frightening and divinely potent. Was it what she wanted?
Was it what she needed?
After fleeing Whistler she had worked days and researched at night until nearly a month later she found a possible solution to her problem.
Wolf hormones.
The genetic differences between werewolves and humans were small but profound. It was the presence of unique chemicals that made possible the physical transformation between forms. Those same compounds caused the incredible bond between wolf couples to occur. The creation of lifetime mates was a blessing, but there was a hidden curse. Male wolves built up an excess supply of the hormones during adolescence.
While wolves and humans could have sex, the chemicals were only released during intimacy with a female wolf. A cousin once told Missy guys jokingly called the situation “double virginity”. No matter how active their sex life with humans, males still had to lose their wolf virginity with a female more powerful than them or the huge amount of hormones released could backfire, creating a pheromone overload.
The female would become hopelessly obsessed with her partner due to nothing more than a chemical chain reaction. A false mate, with the lifetime connection on only one side.
That was how her brother-in-law had hoped to gain control over her. Doug thought compelling Missy into marriage with his inexperienced brother would trap her.
Missy opened the window to let in the cold night air, the room suddenly close and unbearable. She leaned her head against the windowsill, fighting down the shudders that threatened to overtake her as she remembered her wedding night. It wasn’t the sex that had scared her, but she hadn’t been in love and her terror of becoming trapped had made the experience hell. Missy had always considered it a miracle she was a stronger wolf than anyone expected.
And now she discovered an overload would not only have forced a false mate, the destructive chemical reaction would have also eliminated her latent Omega talents.
She resumed pacing, the small space of the hotel room like a cage around her. The solution had been there all the time. Wolf society knew about false mates and had guidelines in the code to help prevent it. They had even developed the ritual of FirstMate once it was discovered that if a male’s first experience was with a wolf who was already mated, the chemicals had no effect.
If she could provide FirstMate to a powerful wolf, it could destroy her talents and she would be free. Doug would have no use for her without intact Omega abilities. Giving up a part of herself t
o avoid being used as a tool seemed an acceptable sacrifice. Even if it meant she would forever love someone who didn’t love her back.
But who should she approach to offer FirstMate? Only strong wolves or mated females with their husband’s approval could offer to act as a guide. In her case it would be assumed as a widow she would be safe from the hormone backlash. If the attempt failed she had decided she would shift into her wolf and disappear from human society forever. The Yukon was a logical safe haven. Her time was running out and if FirstMate didn’t work, going feral seemed the only choice left.
And Tad was in the north. Missy had always remembered him and his face was the first to rush to her mind, perhaps for a good reason. They had only kept their hands off each other during the afternoon’s work because the crew from LRG joined them. Was it possible that she was already reacting to a false mating? Just from a kiss?
Did Tad know he had wolf genes? She couldn’t let him make love to her and then leave him to face a world for which he wasn’t prepared. Because he was a half-blood, having sex with her would trigger his wolf, and by the next full moon he would be able to shift. He needed to be warned, trained, and she wouldn’t be here after their rendezvous. She would either return to Whistler to prove her skills were gone or she would disappear into the wilderness.
Missy forced herself to stop daydreaming about Tad. There were other goals yet to accomplish. Opening her laptop she logged into the first stage of the Whistler-wolf-pack website. Maggie was still online. Her sister’s habitual evening online chat was their prearranged set-up. It gave Missy information she would never be able to access otherwise. When Maggie signed out at nine p.m., Missy entered her sister’s pass code with a false ISP number and snuck into the system while the time clock stayed motionless. Missy took a big breath and blew it out in a slow stream. The records would continue to show her sister’s presence until the mandatory one-hour system shutdown occurred. Missy checked her watch and set to work.
Accessing Doug’s daily email records and his private message box was a piece of cake with her computer skills. She was relieved to see that while her brother-in-law continued to track her, he hadn’t put out a call to make her return before her time was up and there were no plans in place to harass her sister.
Missy snooped around to gather more information on the pack’s illegal activities to use as ammunition to challenge Doug. Perhaps she could leak the information to the authorities and get him arrested by the human system if the wolf council was unable to help. She did a little archive research on Omega wolf characteristics and one hour later, Missy logged out. She was still safe.
For now.
Chapter Four
Tad completed a few more official flight papers. He pulled a beer from the fridge and turned the TV on low in the background as he sat and flipped through a couple of the magazines on the table.
He was wasting time until he could go and pick up Missy for the evening and he knew it. She said she’d be ready by eight and he was fretting and worrying like he was back in high school. Three days he’d been waiting since Saturday, three nights of his mind producing the most erotic of dreams to haunt him. He had a permanent hard-on and every little glimpse of Missy at the work site simply drove his need higher.
A date with Missy, a real actual grown-up date. It was enough to make his worries about getting triggered fade into the background, at least temporarily. The phone rang and his heart leapt. Then he realized it wasn’t his house phone or his cell phone.
Crap. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about his sister. It was Tuesday and Robyn was supposed to check in tonight. Good thing he’d still been home or she would have flipped. He opened the satellite phone to check for a text message. A voice rose from the speaker instead.
Weird. Robyn never spoke out loud. She was deaf. She signed or she wrote notes or she stomped and threw things.
“Hello?” Tad said hesitantly.
“Hi, Tad, this is Keil Lynus. How are you, man?”
“Hey. I’m doing great.” He glanced down at the phone trying to figure out what was strange about this call. Keil was a regular client, a wilderness guide and a great guy who just happened to be a wolf. He was also the one who’d explained about werewolves in the first place when his little brother had screwed up and accidentally shifted in front of Tad. “What’s up? Troubles with TJ? Need help rescuing him?”
“No, TJ doesn’t need any rescuing, we already dug him out.”
“No way, I was joking. Your brother is such an ass.” Something was up. Keil never called him—he emailed his flight requests. Tad killed the sound on the TV and tried to focus.
“I know, he’s a total pain in the butt.” There was a pause for a second before Keil continued, “I do need something.”
Then it sunk in. No one should be using this number except Robyn. Tad’s stomach tightened with anxiety. Damn it, something had happened. “Keil? Why are you calling me on my sister’s sat phone? Is everything all right? Is she there with you or what?”
“She’s fine. In fact Robyn and I are mates, and I was—”
His stomach relaxed but all the blood in his body rushed to his head and made the room spin. OMG. “No bloody way! That’s fantastic. I never dreamed you’d be the one for her.” There were rustling sounds in the background and a couple of claps and slaps. “Is she good with it? How did she find out?”
“Hang on, Tad, she’s getting a little frisky right now. I think she’s worried you’re having a fit or something over there. Want to talk to her?”
“Of course! Just give me a second…”
Talk about astonishing news. This was better than anything he’d ever imagined. His sister had found her mate. Too cool. He typed a message on the keypad.
Congratz sis, Keil is awesome. I’m so happy for u
U know Keil? U know what he is?
Oh yeah, he knew. Ya. Wolf. U work fast sis
The next message took a few seconds to arrive but he already guessed what she was going to say. It was her favourite threat. U are sooooo dead next time I c u Tad
luv U 2 Robyn
Jerk
Well, that seemed to be it for intelligent conversation from Robyn if she’d digressed into single-word insults. The faint sound of a voice reached Tad’s ears and he lifted the receiver back up to respond.
“Keil? You guys as mates? That is so cool. I mean, really.” Tad was slightly shocked. Robyn had been dropped off only four days ago and they were already mates? Hell, that meant she obviously didn’t have his troubles with—he shook his head. There was no way he was going to even think about his sister having sex.
“Well, thanks. It was a surprise but she’s incredible, Tad. Hey, there is a little thing shaking down this weekend if you’d like to join us. Robyn’s first full moon will be on Saturday.”
Tad froze. He’d forgotten that tidbit. Now that Robyn had mated she’d be able to change into a wolf. The first shift always took place in conjuncture with the full moon to help the newbie out. Hot damn, this was exciting news. Then reality dropped like a lead balloon. “I’d love to be there but I can’t shift. You know I haven’t, well, I don’t want to get anyone upset if it’s not kosher for me to attend.”
“Of course you can come! You’re family, even if you aren’t triggered yet.”
“I mean, it’s not like I don’t want it to happen. I can’t seem to, you know.” His face grew hot, even talking about it on the phone with Keil. Full-blood wolves never seemed to understand his hesitancy to embrace FirstMate tradition.
“I know, Tad. It’ll happen sometime, man. Gotta go. Robyn’s making me pay for this call.”
Yeah, right. Like that was an issue. “Umm, didn’t you tell me you had a trust fund as well as the guiding business?”
Keil’s deep voice echoed back across the line. “I know I can afford it, but why would I want to spend more time talking to you when I can be with my mate?”
Tad snickered. That sounded like Keil. “Got it. Honeymoon
. Enjoy and I’ll see you in Haines on Saturday. Give Robyn a kiss from me. Oh, and welcome to the family.”
***
Missy opened the door of her hotel room and flushed to see Tad extending a single yellow rose.
“Tad, how sweet. Thank you.” Missy took the flower. She debated going back into the room to put it in water or leaving with it in her hand. If she went into the room she might haul Tad to the bed and never let him leave. She didn’t think he was quite ready for that yet. Just because she knew he was a wolf didn’t mean he knew he was a wolf.
Damn hormones.
“I’ll go bring the truck around front. It’s snowing a bit,” Tad said, before winking at her and turning away.
Missy dealt with the rose and made her way to the parking lot. Tad drove a four-wheel drive that was a little older and more beat up than hers but just as high to climb into. She giggled as Tad came to help her.
“I swear they should install elevators on these things.”
Tad’s hands stroked her leg as he lifted her in. “Hmmm, that’s a poor idea. I’d miss getting to help the damsel in distress.”
Missy held her breath while Tad trotted around the vehicle and got behind the wheel. Did he have any idea what he did to her body? Any idea how she reacted to every glance, every touch?
She snuck a quick peek at him. He seemed unaware his scent alone drove her wild. She had to be careful not to do something stupid like kiss him again or let on she was anything other than a good friend from long ago.
Who drooled at the thought of seeing him naked. There was definitely some kind of connection between them. Strong. Magnetic.
Tad concentrated on the snow-blown road. “If it’s too bad out we can call tonight off,” Missy offered.