by Marie Mason
As he walked around the porch, he realized referring to his house as a cabin in the woods was a misnomer. He knew it was larger than most houses in the city, but he loved it. He’d had it designed to his own specifications, hoping one day he’d be able to use it on a regular basis as a vacation get-away with all of his family. Maybe this year he could convince his mother to have Christmas here. He knew his nieces and nephew would love it. Especially if it snowed like this.
Maybe then, everyone would realize how serious he was about finding a mate.
Coming to the end of the porch, he frowned, realizing he hadn’t found anything that could have been making the noise. No loose shutters, railings, renegade tree branches. When he reached the back deck, he stood for a moment, enjoying the view there as well. This large deck over looked a small clearing. Right on the edge was the start of the forest which now sported snow covered trees.
This was why he’d wanted to build a house here. The peace. The quiet. The beauty of the wild.
Just then, his wolf went wild, setting up a howl inside him. Logan started, never having heard quite that sound from his animal.
What was wrong? He looked around then moved toward the steps leading down the back of the house, his wolf guiding him. He cut through the snow as fast as he could as he made his way around the other side of the house, urgency eating away at him. He strode around the back of the house onto the additional parking pad. Nothing there. Turning the corner, he was surprised to see the back garage door open and light spilling out of the doorway.
What the hell?
He knew Morgan would never have left the door open. He remembered the tracks in the snow and realized he had an intruder. Cautiously, he went inside the garage and cursed again. The garage held a late model compact car. He knew immediately the car didn’t belong to anyone in his family. It was too old of a model. It might have belonged to someone in the pack, but he doubted anyone would open his door and come on in. Besides, how did they get the garage door open? Putting his hand on the hood, he realized his intruder had arrived not long ago since the engine was still warm.
He went back through the outside door, determined to find out what the hell was going on. Four steps from the garage door, his foot hit a solid lump on the ground.
“Damn it.” He was glad his sister wasn’t here tonight. She was always telling Hunter he needed to clean up his language around the children.
The contact with the unknown object hadn’t hurt but what the hell was it? Bending down on one knee, he brushed the snow away from what appeared to be a bundle of clothing. As he did, he realized it wasn’t something his caretaker had accidently left out in the snow. It was a body. Please don’t let it be a dead body he thought as he hurried to remove the rest of the snow. Flipping the person over onto their back, he was stunned to discover it was a woman. He pressed his hand on her chest to assure himself she was breathing. She was.
But what the fuck was a woman doing out in this storm? And more importantly, what was she doing at his house?
The layer of snow on top of her indicated that she’d been laying here for at least twenty-minutes, maybe more. He didn’t have time to sort out exactly what had happened. He needed to get her inside and warmed up.
Plus, his wolf was going bat-shit crazy.
He picked her up out of the snow and lifted her into his arms. The large, puffy coat she wore prevented him from guessing her true shape. She probably weighed more than the average female, but that didn’t bother him. He liked women of all shapes and sizes. And he absolutely loved a woman with real curves.
He grinned at himself. At least he wouldn’t be lonely this weekend. The storm had apparently left him a gift on its way through.
If she wasn’t badly hurt. His wolf snapped at the thought of the woman being hurt.
What’s got your tail in a knot? he asked his animal. That earned him a snarl and a deep, feral growl. Powering through the snow that had built up at the side of the house, he made his way back to the open garage door. At least the woman had had enough sense to keep it propped open. He hurried in out of the snow that had started falling harder since he’d gotten out of his car.
Once inside the garage, he kicked away the stick she’d used to prop the door open and the metal door slammed closed behind them. He hurried to the door leading to the house, cursing again when he remembered he’d left his keys in the front door.
“Fuck it,” he murmured. He turned the knob until it gave way under his strength and opened.
He managed to keep the woman in his arms as he slapped his hand against the switch in the kitchen, flooding the room with light. Sitting her down on one of the bar stools that surrounded the large island, he kept her steady between his legs. His hands were cold so it took him two tries to undo the zipper of her coat. When he did he got the shock of his fucking life as her scent perfumed the air.
Mate!
Now he knew why his wolf was acting wild and untamed.
The woman he’d found in the snow was his mate.
CHAPTER TWO
Well, hell’s bell. He stood there for a moment cradling her between his legs, stunned. With gentle hands, he supported her neck and pushed the hair back from her face. He needed to see what she looked like. As he did, he realized she was unconscious because of the knot on the side of her head near her temple. It wasn’t bloody, for which he was grateful. If his wolf smelled her blood, he wasn’t sure what would happen. Logan was more than upset that she’d hit her head hard enough to knock herself out.
My God, he thought, what would have happened to her if he hadn’t come up to the cabin this weekend? And gotten here exactly when he did. It didn’t bear thinking.
Keeping her upright, he bent at the waist to remove her shoes and socks. He smiled at the thin black socks with hearts on them. They were cute, but he’d have to see that she wore something more substantial in this kind of weather. Next, he managed to get her out of her coat without jostling her too much. He was a little worried that she hadn’t started to stir yet except for a few sounds and sighs. How hard had she hit her head? Or maybe she’d been out in the snow longer than he’d thought.
Taking just enough time to toe his boots off, he picked her up and carried her to the master bedroom. He laid her on the end of the bed so he could call his mother, who was a retired nurse. As he laid her down, she mumbled something but he couldn’t catch it. He took it as a good sign that she turned over on her side by herself. She curled her legs up toward her torso, no doubt trying to keep warm. He flipped the blanket lying on the bench seat at the end of the bed on top of her before grabbing the phone.
Just as he would have if one of his nieces or his nephew had been lying there, he stood by the side of the bed, watching just in case she moved and started to roll off the edge. His mother answered on the second ring.
“Hello.”
He was man enough to admit that the sound of his mother’s voice calmed him. She’d been the center, the rock of their family for so long, that his wolf took solace in her presence.
“Hi, Mom. I’ve got a little situation here I need your advice on.”
There was silence on the end of the line for a moment. No doubt she was motioning for his father to come on the line as well. Just because he was asking for his mother’s help now, didn’t mean he made a habit of it, so he supposed this call would come as somewhat of a shock to both his parents.
“What’s wrong, dear.” Her words held the same reassurance it had when he was a teenaged wolf who’d ended up in jail for fighting or drinking while underage. Or both. No repercussions. At least not until he’d sobered up.
“I’m at my cabin and I’ve stumbled upon—”
His father snorted. “Only you and Hunter would call that house a cabin.”
Even though Logan’s father, and his grandfather for that matter, had done much to see to the success of the McCall pack, it had been Logan and Jarod that had taken the pack to the next level of wealth and prosperity.
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nbsp; He didn’t get angry at his father’s sarcasm. He heard the hint of pride in his voice. He also heard the hint of sadness in his father’s voice when he spoke of Hunter. They’d had a major falling out years ago when Hunter had refused to become part of McCall Holdings and follow in the old man’s footsteps. What his father didn’t know was that Hunter was on his way through Chicago this weekend to see his parents. Logan hoped the snow didn’t interfere with those plans. It was time his father and brother got over their hot headedness and pride. If for no one else’s sake than for Alice McCall.
“Hush, now, let the boy speak. What wrong, Logan? Are you hurt?”
“No, Mom. But someone else is.” Before she could get too worried, he hurried to fill her in on the details. “I found a woman in the snow outside the cabin. It appears she hit her head, but she hasn’t woken up yet. Not even when I brought her inside.”
“How long ago was that?”
Logan didn’t need to look at a clock. He’d been in the presence of his mate for almost fifteen minutes.
“And you say she hasn’t said anything yet?”
“She mumbled a little when I took her clothes off.”
“Logan!”
He rolled his eyes at her reprimand. “I took her coat off. But I am going have to take the rest off to get her warm, Mother. You know that.”
“Okay, okay. Just be a gentleman about it.”
Another snort from his father and Logan was regretting calling his parents
“Get her in a tub of warm water or in the shower. If that doesn’t wake her up some, you might need to try and get her to a hospital. She should at least start mumbling if you stick her under hot water. Do you know how long she was outside in the cold?”
“No. Maybe a half-hour before I found her. Maybe more.” Her car had still been warm when he’d touched the hood. He knew he mother was more worried about hypothermia than the concussion at this point, so was he.
“Thanks, Mom. I’m going to warm her up now. I’ll call you later and let you know what’s going on.” Of the three McCall brothers, Logan was more of a homebody, which was really ironic considering Logan’s reputation as a killer playboy.
He put down the phone before his mother could ask the next question Logan knew was on her mind.
Yes, this woman he’d found in the snow was his mate, but he didn’t want to share that information with anyone else just yet. Hell, he didn’t even know her name.
He debated his best course of action. Even if she did start to wake up, there was no way he was going to let her get in the shower or tub by herself. And, he really did need to warm her up. She hadn’t even begun to shiver yet. That was what worried him the most.
Jogging to the bathroom, he set the thermostat on the shower to a steamy seventy-five degrees and went back to the bedroom. The shower wouldn’t come on until the water had heated to the desired temperature. At times like this, he was grateful he’d spared no expense for the cabin. The last thing he wanted to do was dump her in a cold shower and chill her even more.
He thought about running a bath, but he certainly didn’t trust himself to have her ass pressed against his cock when he’d have to climb in behind her to keep her head above water. It was going to be torture enough to have her curves pressed against him as he held her under the warm spray of water.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he returned to the bedroom and he saw she hadn’t rolled off the bed. She had moved, so that was a good sign as well. Once undressed, he pulled the cover from her. She offered a little resistance that made him feel a whole lot better about her condition. She seemed to be waking up. Reaching beneath the large, oversized sweatshirt she wore, he found the fastener of her jeans and pulled them from her hips. He smiled at the pink and gray kittens covering the white cotton of her panties. Cute and cuddly. Definitely not the feelings the underwear was inspiring in him. His cock hung at half-mast down his thigh. A natural and inevitable reaction from being so close to his mate.
He could hear his mother’s voice in his head—something no grown man wants to hear when they’re undressing a beautiful woman—telling him to be respectful. For a brief moment he considered leaving on her underwear, knowing, if she did gain consciousness, it would be easier to explain what was happening if he didn’t strip her completely naked. But he didn’t. He couldn’t put her to bed with wet underwear. He tried not to think of the added bonus of seeing her perfect curves. That was just ungentlemanly.
Gently lifting her to a sitting position, he realized there was really no way to pull the shirt over her head and not chance hurting her. With a shrug of his shoulder and a silent promise to buy her as many oversized sweatshirts that she wanted, he flicked out a claw and cut through the fabric. In seconds it was off her body, leaving her dressed in her kitten decorated panties and white utilitarian bra.
With a deep breath he flicked open her bra and cut the straps so that it fell away from her body. He quickly adverted his eyes from the creamy, white mounds. He caught a glimpse of brownish tips and thick nipples. It took considerable control not to bend his head and take her in his mouth right then. But he couldn’t. Could he? His wolf pushed him to do just that—taste their mate.
His claws still out, he slit the sides of her panties and pulled them away.
“Fuck,” he whispered to himself when her pussy was revealed to him. The curls protecting her femininity were neatly trimmed and he’d bet his last dollar that if he spread her legs, he’d find the rest of her pussy bare and baby soft. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Clenching his fists at his sides, his claws digging into the palms of his hand, he strove for control. He now sported a full-blown hard-on and his wolf was trying to tear its way past his control for dominance.
He bent and lifted her, loving the weight of her in his arms. “Okay, sweetheart, time for a shower.”
The shower enclosure had filled with steam and he stepped inside making sure the water hit him first. He’d only been guessing at the temperature. Realizing it was too hot, he lowered her feet to the floor so he could free one hand. A couple of quick adjustments and it was time to warm up his mate. His thoughts immediately went to the many ways—and positions—he could use to warm her.
His shower was fitted with six showerheads and could easily fit four good-sized adult male shifters inside the spacious interior. He eased her gently under the warm spray, gradually turning her until the water was falling down on her back. Within minutes, her body was shivering and he sent up a prayer of thanks. He rubbed his hands up and down her back, stopping just short of the curve of her hips, mindful of his mother’s reprimands in his head.
Oh, how he wanted to take advantage of this moment. Show her the pleasure he could bring her.
He rubbed along her arms, her thighs, anywhere he could touch her while still keeping her snug against him. As predicted, his cock stayed a firm ridge of want between them. Pain laced the chuckle he gave when she snuggled closer. “That’s it, baby. Let me get you warm.”
Her hair was already wet so he squirted some shampoo in his palm and gently washed the thick mane falling halfway down her back. Tilting her head, he rinsed it, put in conditioner and rinsed it again. He had enough experience with combing out his nieces’ hair to know you needed to use conditioner on hair that long.
He placed an arm firmly around her middle as he turned her to face the spray from the showerhead. Again, he rubbed her wherever he could reach. Down her sides, her legs. Her front. Wherever it was appropriate. For now.
As he bent down to rub down her legs, she started to cough.
“Shit.” He’d moved her too far under the spray and some of the water had went down her throat. He was drowning his mate in a shower. He turned her around as he pulled her out of the stream. Smoothing the hair from her face, he asked. “Are you okay?”
She raised one of her small hands and covered her mouth as she continued to cough. She blinked rapidly. “I think so.”
“Good.” He reached out and turned off
the water. “It’s time to get out.”
“Get out? Of where? Are we swimming?”
“Not hardly, babe.” He chuckled again and lifted her up into his arms. Damn, he really could get use to picking her up and carrying her wherever she needed to go. “What’s your name?”
“Katie,” she answered promptly, and then her brow wrinkled in confusion. “And who are you?”
“Your knight in shining armor?”
He put her on her feet and wrapped the towel around her while grabbing another one. He wrapped it around his waist and took a third to sponge up the water from her hair.
“This is some first class resort,” she mumbled as she tried to help him dry her hair. “I don’t remember asking for swimming lessons though. I’m not even sure if I knew there was an indoor pool.”
Logan couldn’t stifle his laugh this time. “We didn’t go swimming. I’m just trying to dry you off before we go to bed.”
That popped her eyes open wide. “I get to go to bed with you? What about Brad?”
Logan went very still. “Who the hell is Brad?”
Katie continued to rub her hair with the towel. “My boyfriend.”
Her shoulders drooped as if she remembered something unpleasant. “Or he was. Isn’t he here?”
Shit, Logan thought. Was some foolish man out in the snowstorm? As much as he’d like to leave the bastard outside to freeze to death, he knew he never could.
Logan took her by the shoulders and led her over to the small bench next to the vanity. “Katie, I need you to concentrate for me. Did you drive here with Brad?” It hurt him just to say the other man’s name.
“I…I…I don’t know.” Her voice shook with concern.
“Sssh, it’s okay.” He brushed the hair back from her face, taking care not to touch the bruised flesh at her temple. “Just close your eyes and concentrate. When you got out of your car, before you fell down, was anyone with you?”
She sat before him, her eyes closed as he’d asked and a deep frown line between her brows. “No. Brad didn’t come with me. I came here by myself.”