To Tempt the Wolf hotw-3

by Terry Spear

  "Hunter! We need to talk!" Meara said. "Now!"

  Hell, what now? Leave it to Meara to ruin a perfectly good morning wake-up.

  He kissed Tessa's lips, gently at first, then building up steam as she wrapped her arms around him, leaning into his arousal. Instantly, he hardened.

  "Hunter!"

  Hunter growled under his breath. "Time for Rourke and me to check out Bethany's place anyway." With reluctance, he kissed Tessa's cheek, then left her warm embrace, dressing as she watched every move he made, licking her lips, purring, a slight smile curving her lips. Vixen.

  "More, later."

  "Promises, promises."

  He gave the siren one last look, then took a deep breath and joined Meara in the hall and scowled at her. Giving him an equally disgruntled look, she motioned to the guest bedroom as he shut Tessa's door. He knew then what this was all about. Meara entered the room and waved at a stack of wolf photos spread out on the desk, the sepia picture of the man he'd thought was Seth taking center stage.

  "What's all this?" She put her hands on her hips.

  "Her brother paints wolves. Did you see his oils in the closet?"

  "This!" she said, lifting Seth's photo. "Explain what an old-time photograph of Seth is doing here."

  But it wasn't that photograph that interested him now, or the concern that she also thought the man pictured was Seth, but another photo lying underneath that caught his eye. Sepia like the other, but this one was of a group of gold miners--their great-grandfather included, and a great uncle, Seth, and some others Hunter didn't know. Although one seemed familiar.

  "Where did you find it?" He studied it more closely, his heartbeat ratcheting up several notches.

  "Buried at the bottom of the drawer underneath all these wolf pictures. So, what's going on? We both know Seth had a mate who died in Colorado and then he left his small son to live with his pack while he went to California because of the Gold Rush. But this woman isn't his mate, and he didn't have another when he died. So who is the woman and infant in the photo? And why does Tessa Anderson have the two photos?"

  Hunter rubbed his chin in thought. "Hell, Tessa thought Seth, by another name--Jeremiah Cramer--was her great-grandfather and the woman, his wife and child."

  Meara's eyes widened and she looked at the photo again and at the one with their great-grandfather in it. "I would say she's mistaken, or that this wasn't Seth, but the one with our great-grandfather proves he was." She stared at Hunter. "She's not a lupus garou and our kind can't produce offspring with a human."

  "My thoughts exactly."

  "So, what if he was fooling around with the human woman after his mate died, and this woman already had a baby?"

  "Possibly, except for the fact that Tessa's as much of a magnet for male lupus garous as you are. Why? There's got to be a reasonable explanation."

  Meara touched the baby in the photo. "She's not one of us."

  "What if for the sake of argument, her grandmother had mixed parents. What if through some freak mistake of nature, her human great-grandmother conceived Seth's child?"

  Meara shook her head as she studied the photo again. "We've never known a case like that in all the years we've lived. Never."

  "So explain the photos, Tessa's fascination with wolves, and their interest in her."

  "What about her brother?"

  "The females have enough males to choose from. If they weren't so picky," he amended, giving his sister a pointed look. "Most lupus garou females wouldn't be interested in a male who had only a small percentage of lupus garou genetics running through his veins, I suspect. But Michael seems to be as drawn to our kind-- well, wolves--as Tessa is."

  "She doesn't have any of our senses. I know because she can't tell what we are."

  "It's just a thought. I don't know how else to explain this."

  Meara's stubborn streak was shining through. "She's not a lupus garou."

  But if Tessa was in part, it would make it a hell of a lot harder for Hunter to leave her as she was. Word would undoubtedly spread about a mixed lupus garou female who didn't have a pack to protect her.

  The back of his neck prickled, and Hunter rubbed it.

  "Okay, Hunter, so if Tessa's grandmother was half lupus garou, who protected her from lupus garou suitors during her lifetime?"

  "Probably none in the area so no one learned about her. Which makes me wonder if the woman was Tessa's maternal or paternal grandmother."

  "Had to be paternal," Meara said. "Otherwise they'd have had another generation of females with the lupus garou pheromones ."

  Hell, did Uncle Basil know about this all along? "Do you have your cell phone?"

  "Why?"

  "I'm wondering why Uncle Basil befriended her, then implied I had to take drastic measures to eliminate her."

  "Did he mean as in mating the woman? Making her one of our own?"

  Hunter swore under his breath. It was one thing for it to be his own idea, but he sure as hell didn't appreciate his uncle setting him up.

  Meara handed him her phone and folded her arms. "I knew he was up to something and that his sudden desire to retire was due to something lots more devious."

  Yeah, Hunter should have known the way his uncle was so eager to leave, something was up.

  When his uncle's answering machine came on, Hunter let out his breath and left a terse message. "What's the true story behind Tessa Anderson? What's her relationship to Seth? Call me soonest."

  Meara raised her brows. "He's not answering?"

  "I got his machine." He handed her the phone.

  She snorted. "You should have been more cryptic. Said you'd run into troubles. Call back. ASAP. Better yet, get your butt back here and explain yourself. Once he sees what you're calling about, he'll undoubtedly let it slide until you resolve it one way or another on your own."

  As if Hunter had any intention of worrying his uncle when there wasn't any need.

  "You can't turn her," Meara finally said, her voice softened.

  "I don't plan to." Yet the more things got out of control with Yoloff and his brothers, the more he was considering just that option.

  The doorbell rang and the master bedroom door opened. Tessa.

  Hell, she'd better not go near the door without his protection. His heart pounding, Hunter bolted out of the guest bedroom and gave her a warning look as she was going in the direction of the door. "I'll get it." He was certain his sister was shaking her head at his overreaction, but he knew it was only a matter of time before the grays tried for Tessa again.

  The doorbell rang once more, and he heard Cara and Ashton stirring in Michael's bedroom.

  Hunter opened the door to find the red lupus garou pack leader of Portland standing on the front porch.

  Meara said under her breath, "Uh-oh."

  His expression dark and menacing, Leidolf barged into the house. "Your people are causing trouble in my city. When I attempted to contact you at home where your pack members said you were living, I got your sister. She gave me this address. I want them out in three days, or I'll take care of the situation myself. And you don't want that to happen if you care anything about them."

  Hunter slanted his sister an irritated look that she would give the red Tessa's address. Meara gave him a half smile.

  Leidolf was bigger than most reds Hunter had seen. Although that amounted to only a couple of dozen over the years. But the man was as tall as Hunter, his chestnut hair tinged red, his eyes a slightly more olive color than Tessa's. But it was the dark brooding look that really defined Leidolf.

  He glanced at Tessa, his eyes widening when he saw her. Surprised to see a human in a house full of lupus garous? Or was he interested in the redhead?

  Irritated that Leidolf had seen Tessa, Hunter moved across the floor to block Leidolf's view of her. "I've got a situation here I need to resolve before I can go to Portland."

  "With the woman?" Leidolf asked, his voice and brows raised.

  "I'm Tessa Anderson, and
you are?" She moved around Hunter to shake Leidolf's hand. She didn't look pleased Leidolf would treat her as some woman when the house was hers, or that Hunter would stand between them.

  But Hunter didn't like that she would get near another alpha male. Where Rourke and Ashton were concerned, they seemed to know their place. Leidolf was an unknown quantity--and an alpha leader.

  "Leidolf Wildhaven." He tilted his nose up and took a deep breath, his eyes darkening as he took her hand and held on longer than necessary, not shaking it, but restraining her.

  For long enough that Hunter's blood heated.

  Hell, if her pheromones were triggering Leidolf's interest--and worse, she seemed intrigued by him also and didn't pull away... "Fascinating." Then Leidolf released her hand and saw the wolf photos on the coffee table. He motioned to them. "Who took these?"

  "I did." Tessa sounded as ready to defend herself as Leidolf's tone was accusing.

  "Let's go outside, Leidolf." Hunter motioned for him to take the lead and shut the door behind them before he gave in to his wolf nature and fought him over Tessa. "Like I said, I have a situation here, and I need to resolve it before I can leave."

  "Concerning the woman? She knows what we are?"

  "No."

  "I smelled at least six different lupus garous in the house, and she doesn't have a clue what's going on?"

  "None. A gray is trying to change her. I need to stop him before it gets that far."

  "The one who's been in the house? The one in the photos? Hell, he's Yoloff and he and his brothers and three more of their pack members are from La Grande. All males. All looking for mates. They came sniffing around Portland, but we don't have any unattached red females, so the grays moved farther west. You're bound to have more trouble with them. I take it you want the woman for yourself?"

  "I don't believe in changing humans."

  "At least that's something we agree on." Leidolf offered an arrogant smile. "Yet two are newly turned, am I right?"

  "Yoloff changed the one and the other was an accident."

  "Ah. I don't blame you about the woman. I'm a royal and mixing our kind with a newly turned lupus garou doesn't appeal."

  A royal? But Leidolf's attentions toward Tessa hinted at more than a little intrigue. Mixing his purer lupus garou line with a human just turned might become an option if the red got desperate enough for a mate.

  "I'd guess she has a red in her family tree because of her hair color and as petite as she is."

  Hunter snorted. "A lupus garou can't impregnate a human."

  "In all of the years I've lived, I've learned one important thing: there are exceptions to nearly every rule."

  Hunter snapped his gaping jaw shut, glanced back at the house, saw Tessa watching him through the picture window, and turned his attention back to Leidolf. In all the years Hunter had lived, he'd never seen a case like that. "You know someone like that?"

  Leidolf motioned to the house. "Right inside. Maybe a couple of generations back. Maybe more. But she's got a lupus garou in her genes somewhere along the line. Got to have if she's chasing down lupus garous like Yoloff, drawn to us, curious, and we're just as attracted to her."

  Hunter glanced back at the house. Tessa's brows lifted.

  "She may not smell like us or have our enhanced wolf abilities, but she triggers your craving, doesn't she? I can see in your expression you don't believe me, but I met one other nearly a hundred years ago. A human female.

  She moved close to where my father's pack lived in Wildhaven. Several of our unmated males fought over her. Finally, a red won her over and that was that. But she had lupus garou pheromones that triggered quite a bit of testosterone between our males before the situation was resolved. A grandfather was the culprit."

  "But the woman didn't interest you."

  Leidolf shrugged. "I told you. I want a lupus garou who's close to being a royal. Why don't you bring the woman to Portland where you can keep an eye on her, and then you can force your pack to return to the coast?"

  Bring her to Portland to watch over her? Or give Leidolf another opportunity to check her out? Only this time in his territory.

  "If I don't resolve this by week's end, I might do that."

  "Good." Leidolf looked back at the house and bowed his head to Tessa. "Too bad she isn't a red lupus garou. I imagine though, you wish she were a gray."

  So Leidolf was interested in her. "She's human, and I intend for her to stay that way. But if she were part lupus garou, she would have gray lineage." Hunter made the comment as pointed as he could. He didn't want one horny red thinking he might claim her.

  Leidolf perked up. "How so?"

  "If it's true she has distant lupus garou lineage, her great-grandfather was probably Seth Greystoke."

  Leidolf's eyes rounded. "The devil gray who beat Alfred's great-grandfather?"

  Hunter frowned. "Who?"

  "Alfred was the previous red pack leader in the Portland area. His great-grandfather was as much of a terror when he was the pack leader in the Oregon territory. Seth had come here with the gold fever. Made a mint. Then after he took down Alfred's great-grandfather, he returned to his home in Colorado. Seth's great-grandson, Devlyn, came here looking for a female red, Bella, and destroyed Alfred three months ago, after Alfred and some of the males in his pack had killed young women in the area."

  "Seth." Hunter shook his head. "We'd heard he had a son."

  "Yes, whose own son fathered three boys. But everyone died in a house fire set by vigilante humans, except for Devlyn. Being punished for disobedience, he was sleeping in a shed that night."

  Hell, if Tessa and her brother were truly Seth's descendants, they were Devlyn's distant cousins. Which could be more of a problem, or Hunter's solution, depending on the way he looked at it. "Never would have figured Seth to oust a leader. He was in California when my great-grandfather met him."

  "Earlier gold fever?"

  "Yeah, guess he never did get over it."

  Leidolf glanced back at Tessa. "I'll get word to Devlyn that he's possibly got a couple of distant relations still living. Never know. He might want to take her back to his pack--for safekeeping. Once others discover she's available, the stream of lusty suitors will never end. You know as well as I, a vulnerable human will soon succumb. As for your people, don't wait too long to get them." Leidolf climbed into his black Hummer, gave a wave, and drove off.

  He'd had every intention of getting rid of Yoloff to protect Tessa, but if Leidolf was right and Seth truly had been her great-grandfather, the trouble would never end. So why not take the easy way out and hand her over to Devlyn? If he truly was family, he'd take care of her. Her brother, too. So why did that make Hunter want to fight to the death for her before anyone took her away?

  His only other option as he could see it was to change her and claim her for his own. But not without her consent. So if he chose that path, how the hell was he going to get it if she knew what they were without using some damn caveman approach? And then there was one other nagging worry--that she might not be alpha enough to be his mate.

  Hunter ground his teeth and headed back inside.

  "What did he say, Hunter?" Meara's brows pinched together in worry.

  "Nothing. Rourke, hurry up and finish eating so we can go."

  Looking sour, Ashton shoved his hands in his pockets. "Can't I be the one to go with you?"

  "You can shoot. Rourke can't. Stay here and protect the women."

  Cara ran her hand over Ashton's arm. "Besides, we can take a nap later since we didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Wouldn't you like that?"

  Ashton threw his coat on and stalked out back.

  "Watch him, Cara. Make sure he stays here when we leave," Hunter warned.

  She smiled. "That I will, Hunter. He's all mine."

  He wasn't so sure. Ashton didn't seem to be taking the change well, unless something else was bothering him. Maybe he didn't like that Rourke seemed to be Hunter's favorite now. But it wasn't that.
It really had all to do with who could use the rifle.

  While Rourke was finishing off a banana, Hunter took Tessa aside, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her mouth, enjoying the warm, soft feel of her. Her tongue flicked against his lips, her arms reaching around his neck, her body screaming she wanted him to take her. And he sure as hell wanted to oblige. Some of it was the need to prove he was more to her liking than Leidolf was, damn him for interfering.

  He took another deep breath of her uniquely heady scent and groaned inwardly. Afraid Leidolf was right in speculating Tessa was in part one of them and with him notifying Devlyn of the situation, Hunter knew he had to take drastic measures one way or another soon. "Don't take a nap without me."

  "Wouldn't be half as satisfying."

  He kissed her again and gave her another warm embrace, not wanting to let her go, but he had to take care of this matter with her brother. "Come on, Rourke.

  Let's get this done."

  She gave Hunter a concerned smile. Afraid for his safety? Or that he wouldn't learn who Bethany's murderer was? She had a lot more than that to worry about.

  He and Rourke headed outside and into the woods, wary of signs of danger in the form of three lupus garous. Although if Leidolf was right, there were six of them he'd eventually have to contend with.

  * * *

  Praying they wouldn't encounter any trouble, Tessa watched Hunter and Rourke until they disappeared into the woods. Cara coaxed Ashton inside. Tessa couldn't understand why he was behaving like a spoiled child.

  Meara cleared her throat. "They'll be all right, Tessa. Let's go back in the house."

  In one respect, Meara acted as though she wanted to keep Tessa safe. But on the other hand, she didn't seem to care for Tessa and Hunter's relationship. Although why it would matter to Meara was a puzzle.

  Leidolf was another mystery, the way he tore into the house, roaring about like he was in charge, when if he'd known Lord Hunter at all he would have realized Hunter was always the one in charge.

  Tessa turned to Meara. "What did Leidolf mean about Hunter's people being in Portland and that they had to leave? Was he talking about more of your relatives? Why does he act like he owns the place? Sounds like he's head of an organized crime ring in the city."