Scent of His Woman

by Rebecca Royce

  “I have to go get it. I have to operate. I know we can’t take him there. I’ll bring in the healers. We’ll have to take it out. They can…do that wolf thing where they keep him alive. I’ll get it out. Then we’ll force the shift, somehow.”

  Mags winced. The alpha could force a shift on anyone. Who was going to force a shift on Drew? Her head hurt, but she refused to give in to the pain.

  “If he tries to shift before I do it, and he’s not coherent, we’ll be in worst case scenario.”

  Betty’s hands shook as she spoke. “Do it, Bastian. We have no choice. No more fear. Do it.”

  Mags held her sister steady. “This ends today. He’s coming back to you.”

  If she sounded more confident than she felt, she didn’t think her sister was in any position to scent it.

  ***

  “They’re operating.” Gee swore before he sat on the step. Clay didn’t imagine he’d ever see the bear sweat again like the way he did then.

  All thoughts of finding the gun aside, he sat down next to the older man. They weren’t friends, hardly knew each other. Yet sometimes men had to sit together outside closed doors and wait for news together.

  “I really hate people.” Clay cleared his throat. “I never thought to be so entwined in anyone’s business but my own. Not since I dropped out of life. In a million years, I couldn’t have imagined a wolf pack.”

  Gee laughed, throwing back his head. “You and me both. You have no idea.”

  Hector leaned against a tree, staring out in the distance. Clay had no interest in probing his thoughts. They all wanted Drew to live.

  Ryker came out of the woods and took a seat next to Gee on the other side. The man was silent. What was Drew and Ryker’s relationship when they weren’t in dire straits? Did they get along?

  “Do the people who have to know this is happening know?” Gee addressed his question to Ryker. The enforcer nodded. If this was his book, Clay would care who the people who needed to know were. As it was, if Mags was okay, then that was good enough. He hoped she was. Behind closed doors and secluded with Betty in the room adjoining the one where the healers worked on Drew, she might as well have been states away from him.

  “I remember years ago, before Magnum, before there was Ryker here, before any of the folks who still live here today were around, we used to have this tradition. Whenever a pack member was sick or needed something, we would all gather outside their homes and wait together. This reminds me of that time.”

  Clay shook his head. “While I appreciate the sentiment, I think I’d want to throw up if a bunch of people sat outside my cabin.”

  “You might as well get used to it. You’re pack now. Ask Ryker. No matter how far away you stick yourself, they show up.”

  “Well…Drew does,” Ryker answered quietly.

  Clay’s head spun. He was pack? What the hell did that mean?

  ***

  The bullet was out. Mags could hear the healers discussing it inside the room. They needed Drew not to shift when everything in him, having been shot and now cut into, would want to make the change. He had to hold off until Bastian was done.

  Mags could feel Drew around her. He was angry and he’d had enough. She looked at Betty. Why didn’t her sister know it, too?

  The omega wolf knew things the others didn’t. Drew was her alpha and, outside of her mate, he was the most important figure around her wolf.

  Mags stood and, without a word so she couldn’t be stopped, rushed into the surgery room. Three heads popped up.

  “Mags….” Bastian spoke her name before she knelt on the floor, but she ignored him. He didn’t get in her way; she wouldn’t get in his.

  “Listen to me, Drew. I can feel you want to shift. I’m sure everyone in this room can. Not yet. They’re not done. The bullet is out but they haven’t finished their job. I can’t imagine your pain, your frustration. Hear my wolf talking to yours. Not yet. Feel me holding your hand. You are not alone. The whole pack would be in the room with us tonight if they could be. My sister never takes a breath where she doesn’t wish she could hear your voice calling her name. Hold on. Do it for me.”

  Mags kept talking. Over and over. Nonsense, really. Her wolf pressed against Drew’s in the strange omega way she’d never been able to explain to a non-omega wolf. Hold on, Drew. We can do this together.

  ***

  The door swung open and Bastian, the human doctor, exited. He leaned against the side of the house. “He’s fine. He made it through. Shifted. He’s out cold again. He’s going to live. Slow recovery.” Then he sat abruptly. “I really didn’t want to kill the alpha.”

  Gee jolted to his feet. “I’ll pass the word.”

  The bear was off, shifting mid-run, and before Clay could turn, Ryker was in the house.

  Bastian took a loud, deep breath. “Mags kept him calm. I don’t think I could have gotten the final stitch in if she hadn’t been there. She’s one strong omega wolf.”

  Clayton didn’t know what that meant but he got to his feet. If Mags had been involved, he needed to see for himself she was okay. He got into the room and scanned for her quickly. She leaned against the wall, extending her hand for him to come to her in the sweet, unapologetic way she always did. He reached her and squeezed her tight.

  “I heard you saved him.”

  She shook her head. “Bastian saved him. I did very little.”

  “Modesty doesn’t become you.”

  Her cheeks pinkened, and he knew she’d be okay. Whatever service she performed hadn’t exhausted her.

  “Drew,” Ryker spoke softly. “Do you know who shot you?”

  “Hey.” Bastian plowed back into the room. “He needs to sleep.”

  Clayton had to give the doctor credit. Telling Ryker to back off couldn’t be easy. For his part, Drew remained asleep, his face passive, the pain from earlier lacking on his profile. This was sleep, it wasn’t a coma.

  “He shifted for a minute into his wolf, looked right at me, shifted back, and then he just fell right asleep. He didn’t say anything.” Betty’s shoulders sagged. “I really want to hear his voice.”

  “I know you’re all used to wolves healing fast. Everyone is going to have to be patient.” Bastian’s tone held tolerance, but a firm statement his patient was not to be bothered. “Drew should have died. A couple of times now. Let’s let the alpha sleep. Come on. Everyone but Betty out.”

  Clay held onto Mags’s hand knowing he couldn’t have the conversation he needed to have without his mate present. Not after the way she’d reacted the day before.

  Ryker met him outside. “It’s not over. Not until he can tell us.”

  “If he can tell you.” Clayton hated being the constant bearer of bad news. “I’m not an expert, and I don’t know wolves, but a lot of victims can’t initially tell you what happened to them. Later, some get their memory back. Some never do.”

  “He’s the alpha.”

  Clayton didn’t know exactly what it meant, but Ryker’s response signified something important to him, and the way Mags nodded, it must to his woman, too.

  “We’re not done,” Ryker spoke again and nodded toward Mags. “If you can.”

  “Oh no.” Mags growled, not seeming particularly like a person afraid of Ryker. “He is not bait.”

  “Maybe not alone.” Ryker stayed very still. “Maybe together.”

  Clayton couldn’t growl, but he could make himself very understood. “Not Mags. No.”

  His woman whirled on him. “How is it okay for you to be bait and not for me to be?”

  Because the world would spin off its axis if anything happened to her. “It just is.” He didn’t have to explain more than that. How could he?

  “If you’re doing this, I’m doing it with you so I can keep you safe. End of story. Otherwise you’re going to have to sit back and not be a hero. Let someone else take a risk you have no business taking.”

  Ryker stepped a
way into the woods. “I’ll give you a minute,” he called over his shoulder.

  The gesture was nice but Clay figured any wolf who wanted to hear them could easily. “Listen.” He really did need to explain himself. “I started this so I could bring you home. Catch a lunatic and get you home to my cabin. I’m starting to see…that’s probably not an option. We woke up this morning in an apartment covered in blood. You kept the alpha alive. You weren’t living in Sioux Falls because you didn’t want to be here, you were there because you had to be protected from a madman and then you were intimidated to come back.”

  She pressed her head against his chest. “I would go to your cabin with you and never look back.”

  “I know you would.” Because she had the biggest heart in the world. “You love me.”

  Mags’s shoulders sagged, and he wrapped her arms around his waist. “I do.”

  “I’m in love with you. The sweet girl who so consumed me I drove an hour and half into town to have coffee with her and the vital, strong woman who is also a wolf shifter. You just saved the alpha. You need to be here and even past Drew getting back on his feet. I can write anywhere. We’ll just have to figure out the Wi-Fi situation.”

  She gasped. “But, Clayton. Your cabin?”

  “Was what I needed. That’s changed. All I need is you.” He ran his hands over her face to enjoy the feel of her. “If this is our home, it needs to be safe. I want to get the fucker.”

  “I do, too.” He could see the steel in her eyes. “I am going with you. We do it together. When it’s over…you leave the running around to Ryker and Drew and you go back to writing about violence instead of living it. I don’t want a dark life for us. If we stay here, and I will admit the idea makes me feel warm inside, then we do it our way.”

  Could he live with bringing her into danger? “Mags….”

  She interrupted. “What makes you think I’m safe not helping you? I could stand in Betty’s house and get gunned down. I could get whacked by the hunters trying to get onto our land. This is our home. Let’s help together.”

  It was hard to argue when she made such valid points. “All right. If Ryker or I tell you to run, you run.”

  She shook her head. “I’m a shifter woman. I don’t run.”

  Dammit. “Okay, Ryker. We’re on our way.”

  What was he going to do with his lady who wouldn’t promise not to fight? He gripped her hand and walked toward the woods where he knew Ryker would be waiting. Clayton squeezed their fingers. Well, other than more than occasionally paddling her ass until she shattered from the pleasure, he was just going to have to do a good job of keeping her safe and loving the hell out of her.

  Yeah…his detective was getting a lady. He’d be so much better for it.

  ***

  He watched the cabin from a distance. She was alone inside. Saja. His ultimate prize. The kill who would end the Black Hills Wolves forever. Ryker had left her alone, thinking she was safe. He could smell the safeguards in place everywhere. A lesser wolf would step on the wrong step and be dead before he realized he’d set off the protection device.

  Fortunately, he knew better.

  He shuddered. Something was wrong. His mate’s face crossed in front of his eyes. So like Saja, from her intelligence to her dark hair. He could understand why Ryker loved his woman so much. He had adored his the same way.

  “You don’t want to do this.” His mate’s voice in his head. “It’ll be too late. Please, not again. Not again, my love. Step back. You don’t need to do this.”

  He cried out inside even as he remained perfectly still where he stood. She shouldn’t be here with him. She never had been before—all the other women, the kills, the tribute, the warning, the power. Why had she come now? He hadn’t heard her voice in so long, he could hardly breathe from it.

  “Step back,” she begged him. “Leave her alone.”

  He darted backward. Somehow he had to make sense of this, to put his mate back where she belonged in his memories.

  Saja would be his. The ultimate prize. The destruction of Ryker. The end of them all.

  ***

  I hope you liked my Black Hills Murder story. I had the best time writing it, and I love Mags and Clayton. I hope you did too. Don’t miss the conclusion of our quartet. Make sure to check out Scent of Madness by Heather Long where all your questions will be answered.

  Best

  Rebecca Royce

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  Wolf’s Holiday by Rebecca Royce

  Chapter One

  The bar buzzed with the sounds of laughter and romance. His pack laughed, joked, and propositioned each other. He sat back and soaked in the happy. So many days, the rebuilding of Los Lobos didn’t have moments with anything other than pain and anguish. No good decisions, only bad choices, and trying to figure out which bad scenario was best.

  When he’d killed his father, it had become his honor to lead the fine Wolves he called family. Drew pushed the thought away. Magnum had no place in the gathering in Gee’s bar. In the corner, a burst of high-pitched squeals sounded, drawing his attention. His mate, B, and four other women were giggling. He really didn’t want to know about what. Females could keep their secrets; the male population benefited from not asking too many questions.

  He looked up as the chair across from his pulled back and Ryker, his Enforcer, settled in. The other man clunked his drink down with a grunt and didn’t make another sound to indicate his arrival. Drew had initiated these get-togethers at the bar with Ryker about three months prior. Once a week, they sat and had a state of the pack discussion.

  Or at least that was how Drew got him to show up. Ryker wasn’t what anyone would call chatty. Truth was, Drew was determined to forge some kind of real, lasting friendship with his Enforcer. In a pack where they both shouldered the burdens of leadership, they needed each other.

  At least a decade with the humans had taught him, they were stronger together. He wasn’t certain if Ryker would agree.

  But the Enforcer showed up. Every week. On time.

  “Get your usual?” Drew motioned toward the beer. Gee didn’t have a great deal of choice at the bar, their need to keep Los Lobos all but completely off the grid meant he didn’t do business with microbreweries or anyone who delivered fancy liquors.

  Yet, he kept Drew’s favorite whisky in stock.

  Ryker nodded toward the unopened bottle. No one save Gee opened his drinks; everyone else knew to serve him a sealed bottle. “I don’t know that I have a usual.”

  “You do.”

  The other man didn’t argue, which didn’t mean he agreed with Drew’s statement. It simply meant he was done talking on the subject.

  “Do you smell that?” Drew motioned his hand in the air.

  Ryker raised a dark, severe eyebrow. “Smell what exactly?”

  “That smell in the air. It’s happiness.” He grinned. “This is the way a happy, relatively functioning pack scents.”

  The Enforcer leaned back in his chair, popped the lid from the bottle, then took a deep pull from his beer. “They’re certainly loud tonight.”

  “I’ve been thinking of what you suggested about the holiday celebration and the pack run.”

  “Saja’s suggestion.”

  Drew nodded. “Right.”

  Ryker gave his human mate credit for most innovative ideas. Drew liked Saja and he was more than happy to give the woman her due. “I talked it over with B. We think it’s a great idea—let’s face it, you and I are not decorating trees or lighting candles. If the others want to do it, I say have a go
od time..”

  The other man gave a brief nod. “Is there anything else?”

  “You seem tense.” Ryker’s usually solid shoulders seemed hiked even farther than usual.

  “We had ten returns this month. That’s a lot. Not everyone who has come back can immediately be trusted. And you keep letting them, letting them blood oath.” Not a criticism—Ryker didn’t critique him—but maybe a quiet suggestion lurked within his statement.

  “Which makes your job harder.” Drew nodded. He valued the older wolf’s opinion even when it utterly disagreed with his own. The pack might be shocked by how much he relied on Ryker’s cynicism and experience or maybe they wouldn’t. It didn’t matter—the Enforcer never lied or sugarcoated anything. “We invited everyone back, told them the pack was reforming. This was their home. It can be again, if that’s what they want.”

  He had a deeper belief in the goodness of his wolves than Ryker did. Then again, who knew how much fucked-up stuff Ryker had seen under Magnum that Drew didn’t even know about? If Ryker distrusted, it was with plenty of pack history to back him up.

  “Is there anything else?” When the Enforcer was done with a conversation, he was finished.

  “Actually, there is.” Drew let the whisky burn down the back of his throat. “I want you to know I’m grateful. This happiness tonight, the way the pack is gelling. That’s thanks to you. I want you to know I see what you’re doing, how you take care of our safety so I can bring us back to life.”

  The other man stood. “Saja is waiting.”

  “Right.” Drew set down his drink. Apparently, the man couldn’t take a compliment. “See you next week.”

  With a fast, smooth step and a nod to Gee, Ryker walked away. Drew watched his exit with a heavy heart. He’d not had friends for ten years because he had to keep himself separate from the humans; he couldn’t get too close. Since his return, he was Alpha. A solitary position. And although B kept him loved and busy, he would have liked a buddy to talk things over with on occasion. Like what to get B for Christmas. One week away. He’d asked him a couple of times, and Ryker’s answer remained the same. Get her something she likes. Not. Helpful.