Amanda's Wolves

by Becca Jameson

  Sawyer took a long draw on the bottle and closed his eyes as Trace made yet another reference to Sawyer and Logan’s unknown mate. “Maybe she’s some other type of shifter, and she’s going to come bounding out of the woods in tiger form or something.”

  Logan faked a laugh. “Ha ha. Funny. I think if there were other shifters, we’d know it by now. Our ancestors have been running through the forest all over this planet for several centuries.”

  “Totally kidding,” Trace added. “But I am curious. It isn’t normal for two parts of the three to go very many hours without meeting the last piece of the puzzle. You met each other yesterday. I would have thought by tonight you’d be sequestered off somewhere not coming up for air.”

  Sawyer cringed. He still hadn’t wrapped his head around fucking someone with another naked man in the room, let alone a man who would also have his dick inside their woman. It was crude, but he was beyond uncomfortable. He lowered himself onto one of the fancy wooden porch chairs and leaned back.

  Logan did the same next to him. “Sorry we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. It was uncalled for. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

  “Nah. You were right. It was inconsiderate of me to draw up plans and start building before we met, especially since I knew with relative certainty who you would be to me. Don’t worry. Nothing’s set in stone. I haven’t poured any concrete.”

  “The plans looked awesome, by the way. You seem to know what you’re doing. I’m sure it’s perfect.” He turned to the side and held out a hand. “Truce.”

  Sawyer took his firm grip and shook. “Truce.”

  “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m crawling out of my skin.”

  “That’s about how I would describe it.”

  “We have to find her.”

  “Yes,” Sawyer agreed. “And soon.”

  “You think we should go back out tonight? Maybe hit a club or something?”

  “No. I think we’ve both had a few beers, and we don’t need to be driving. Tomorrow’s Saturday. Unless there’s a fire, I’m free. You?”

  “Yep.”

  “Let’s meet on my property—our property—go over the plans, and head into Cambridge or Sojourn for supplies.”

  “You think it’s that simple? You think we’ll run into her by chance if we head out together?” Logan looked doubtful.

  “I think that’s exactly what will happen. And I’d even go so far as to bet she’s Native.”

  Logan grinned. “Why? Because I’m white and you’re fifty-fifty?”

  “Exactly. Seems like a trend. I mean between the two of us, we aren’t upholding the ratio.” He chuckled and took another swig of his beer, relaxing as they continued to banter.

  Logan lifted his gaze. “You’ve thought this through.”

  “Not really.” Sawyer shrugged. “Just an observation. If Fate is enjoying this little game, I’m betting part of Her big plan involves mixing the races.”

  “You think?”

  “Don’t you?”

  Logan shrugged. “I guess it’s pretty obvious.”

  “What brought you to Cambridge?”

  Small talk. Sawyer figured it was essential if they were going to spend their lives together. “Work.”

  “Why couldn’t you get a job in Spokane?”

  “Not a lot of need for hotshots there.”

  “I thought you were a fireman.”

  “Better than that.” Sawyer turned his head when Mimi stepped outside. She smiled warmly and whispered something to Trace.

  Trace grabbed Keegan by the arm and dragged him into the house.

  Just when Sawyer thought things couldn’t get any weirder…

  He watched his grandmother warily as she approached. She knew things. She had her entire life. And she was rarely wrong.

  ∙•∙

  “Mimi…” Logan began. “What’s going on?”

  The woman took a seat on the porch swing across from them. She gave a small push and took a breath. “Don’t get up, but I thought it might help if I warned you.”

  “Warned us of what?” Logan asked, sitting straighter, his skin crawling.

  Mimi had a sixth sense he was well aware of.

  Suddenly her face changed, and she stared at Logan, her foot hitting the ground to stop the swing from moving. The look she’d had when she first came out had been one of ambivalence. In an instant it changed to shock. “What happened?” She directed the question at Logan.

  “When?”

  She shook her head as if to clear it and then glared at him again, her eyes narrowing. “I don’t know. You tell me?”

  He stiffened, remembering his jaunt through the woods yesterday, before he’d met Sawyer, before he’d found out from his sister that he was destined to mate with a man he’d never met and a woman neither of them knew. He swallowed. “The spirit you mean?”

  Sawyer flinched at his side. “Pardon? You saw one?”

  Mimi nodded. “What did you see?”

  “I went for a run yesterday in the middle of the day.” He pointed at Sawyer. “To get this Hamilton guy out of my head and clear my mind before I met him.” He hoped his voice held the teasing lilt he intended.

  “And,” Mimi prodded.

  “And I came upon some loggers north of here on the edge of the rez. Something felt off. I think they’ve been there too long. I don’t know what they were supposed to clear, but it looked like a lot.”

  “And?” Mimi asked, her brow furrowing further.

  “And I think I saw one of your spirit thingies.” It still unnerved him she’d picked up on this just by walking out onto the porch. Why hadn’t she realized it earlier during dinner? Granted, he hadn’t gotten this close to her while they were eating. He’d been at the other end of the long table they occupied.

  “What did it look like?”

  “Black smoke. It gathered into itself and hovered in the middle of the worksite. It didn’t get any closer to me or show any sign it knew I was there, but it remained for longer than I could go without blinking.”

  “Did anyone else see it?”

  “That’s the strange part. It appeared that not a soul working the site noticed a thing. Of course no one at the site was a shifter.”

  Sawyer leaned in closer to Mimi at Logan’s side. “What does it mean?”

  Mimi shook her head. “No way to tell. But I’m not surprised. This happens every time one of you enters the mating phase.”

  “You think it has something to do with our mating?” Logan asked.

  Mimi shook her head again. “Not precisely. I think it’s the other way around. I think Nature arranges for the next group of you to mate when She needs your services again.”

  “What?” Sawyer proclaimed. “You really believe that?”

  “Yes. You’re the fourth siblings from both families to discover you’re mates. It has happened four times. I should have thought of this earlier.”

  “I still don’t see what it means to me,” Logan said. He fisted his hand on his thigh until his nails dug into his skin through the denim. The last thing he wanted was to become some sort of crime-solving guru in the midst of the insanity that was his current existence. Not only did he need to deal with the man next to him, but between the two of them, they had to forge ahead and find the woman destined to spend her life with them.

  The task was monumental, it seemed, and Logan didn’t want to add strange spirit sightings to the mix. “Maybe it was a coincidence, and it won’t happen again.”

  “Don’t bet on it, but I don’t think you need to stress over it yet, either. Your top priority right now is claiming your mate and sealing your fate. The spirit will show itself again when the time is right.” Mimi nodded as though she’d solved the entire mystery of the universe with that one vague statement.

  “Is this what you came out here to talk about?” Logan asked. Her face had exuded something entirely different when she first sat on the swing. It wasn’t until she looked Logan in the eye that she c
hanged tactics.

  “No.” She took a few deep breaths and then continued. “There’s no way to soften this, so I’m just going to say it.”

  “Say what?” Sawyer asked.

  Logan knew Sawyer’s grandmother had powers. Sawyer hadn’t spent much time with her, but Logan was well aware Sawyer’s mother, Joyce, would have filled him in on everything. Surely the man next to him wasn’t shocked by the strange revelations of his grandmother.

  “She’s inside.”

  “What?” Sawyer jumped to his feet.

  Logan grabbed his sleeve and yanked him back down into the chair. He could feel his mate’s blood pressure rising the second his fingers landed on his skin. If Mimi had more to say, they needed to heed her advice.

  “I didn’t think anyone was here except the babysitter.” Sawyer’s voice rose.

  Logan grabbed his arm tighter to encourage him to get a grip. “Listen to Mimi. I know she’s your grandmother, not mine, but I also know she’s intuitive. Never ignore her thoughts.” He for one would never doubt her after what she’d revealed about knowing he’d seen the spirit. He hadn’t told a soul yet.

  Sawyer licked his lips and nodded. He still looked like he was about to jump out of his skin, but Logan couldn’t blame him for that. He felt the same way.

  “That’s right,” Mimi continued, totally calm, her hands folded in her lap.

  Sawyer groaned.

  Hell, Logan did too. “How old is she?” He pictured some sixteen-year-old girl they were going to have to wait several years to claim.

  Mimi chuckled softly. “She’s a grown woman. Don’t worry. You aren’t robbing a cradle. I’d say she’s about twenty-five. The original babysitter got sick.”

  Logan fought to catch his breath. It suddenly seemed as though it had been knocked out of him. “How do you know?”

  Mimi smiled almost condescendingly. If he hadn’t known her as well as he did, he would assume she was talking down to them. “I know.”

  Of course she did. He had no idea why he questioned her. Probably because he hadn’t scented the woman inside yet. “Who else knows?”

  “Probably everyone by now. Laurie’s keeping Amanda occupied in the kitchen, introducing her to the family and trying to make her feel comfortable.”

  “Does anyone besides Laurie know her?”

  “Laurie barely knows her. She’s the sister of one of Laurie’s friends in Cambridge. They’ve only met a few times. She just moved here a month ago.”

  “Same time as me…” Sawyer added.

  “Please tell me she’s a shifter,” Logan hedged.

  Mimi shook her head. “Sorry, no. She’s Caucasian and seems rather green in general. She’s adorable and sweet.”

  So, not even Native American. Huh, Logan thought. “I assume she knows nothing about wolf shifters, right?”

  “Correct.”

  He moaned and set his forehead in his hands. What the hell was Fate thinking putting him through this challenge? White? Human? And completely ignorant of their species?

  Jesus.

  “Are you sure?” Sawyer asked.

  Mimi nodded. “I thought it would help if I came out here and gave you the heads up so you could prepare yourselves. Being blindsided is always tough.”

  “Isn’t everyone blindsided, Mimi?” Logan asked.

  “Yes. But you got lucky. You have me.” She grinned again.

  Logan swore he could hear both his and Sawyer’s hearts beating while they stared at Mimi, both of them undoubtedly wondering what to do next.

  “Your call,” Mimi finally said, as if she’d read their minds.

  Hell, Logan could feel the tendrils of Sawyer’s thoughts reaching into his head. Normally shifters only communicated telepathically in wolf form. Mates were the exception. Once they finished claiming Amanda, the three of them would enjoy a connection that extended to their human form.

  Occasionally Logan had heard of two of the mates beginning to form such a bond even before meeting the third.

  Sawyer stood and paced the porch behind his chair, running his fingers through his hair. “Human?”

  Mimi nodded.

  “What are we supposed to do? Go in there and woo her until she agrees to go home with us?”

  “And where would that be?” Logan asked, twisting around to face his mate. “Your tiny trailer or the condo I share with my sister, Sharon?”

  “Shit.”

  Logan turned back toward Mimi. “Do you suppose if we don’t face her tonight, we can stall this process? I mean, it won’t hurt if we never scented her as if we hadn’t crossed paths yet, right?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never come across a scenario like this, but I wouldn’t delay. It’s unnatural. If I hadn’t intervened, you would have met her when she came outside to go home. Besides, the spirits didn’t randomly make a connection with you yesterday. They don’t like to be ignored. If you’ve already spotted one, it’s time to make haste.”

  Logan took a deep breath and turned to face Sawyer. “She’s right. We gain nothing by putting this off. I doubt we’d be able to sleep.”

  Sawyer nodded. He rubbed his hands on his jeans and stopped pacing. “Let’s do it.”

  Mimi got up from her seat. “I’ll send Laurie out with her.”

  Chapter Six

  Amanda had a firm grip on the bottle of water Laurie had given her. She’d only taken a few sips and held the lid in her other hand, squeezing it so tight the indentation of the circle of plastic was starting to hurt.

  She had no idea why she was so on edge. Maybe she was tired, or perhaps it was simply stressful standing in a room with so many strangers. Most of whom were hunky men.

  That had to be it. Half a dozen of the sexiest men she’d ever seen filled the great room. Too bad all of them seemed to be in committed relationships with half as many women.

  Three of them were like triplets who had come to her seemingly one at a time in the middle of the night to caress her skin until it burned in her dreams.

  The craziest part was they were all taken. Why would some strange force of nature send her visions of an Adonis who was in love with another woman?

  She almost giggled at the thought that it was unfair of three women to hog six perfect male specimens while Amanda herself hadn’t had a boyfriend in over a year. Hell, she’d only had three boyfriends in her life, all of whom she’d dated in college and kept a complete secret from her parents.

  Her world in Oklahoma had been severely stifled by her parents. In addition, the town she grew up in was small. Nearly every eligible male in a twenty mile radius had married their high school sweetheart several years ago or moved as far away from Nowheresville as they could. She didn’t blame them. It had taken her seven more years to get out of that small town. She’d spent those seven years commuting to college twenty miles away.

  And look how far that had gotten her. She’d barely left her sister’s apartment since arriving. She needed to fix that and fast. If even one tenth of the men living in and around Cambridge were as sexy as this representation, she needed to get out more.

  Laurie’s grandma strolled into the kitchen and smiled warmly. She didn’t say anything, but Amanda felt like she and Laurie communicated anyway.

  Laurie righted herself from where she leaned against the island. “Let’s go outside. There are a few more people you haven’t met.”

  “Okay.” The suggestion of getting out of this testosterone-filled space sounded wonderful. What she should do was go home and get some sleep. But she was too intrigued by this group of people to make her escape. And besides, everyone was so warm and friendly she felt like she sort of belonged. Nearly everyone in the house had introduced themselves and made her feel welcome.

  What did she have to go home to, anyway? Her sister would either be asleep or still hanging out with Jaz. Amanda needed to get a life.

  Maybe there were more brothers outside, and she would get lucky enough eventually to find one who was single.

 
; Hell, maybe she’d get lucky enough to find two. She shook the absurd idea from her mind as she followed Laurie to the porch.

  Laurie spoke quickly when they exited, introducing two men almost before Amanda had a chance to step into their line of sight. “Amanda, this is my brother Sawyer, and this is Logan Masters.”

  Amanda stopped breathing. She stood rooted to her spot for several seconds, blinking as if she were seeing an apparition.

  Her eyes darted back and forth between them before settling on Logan. Logan Masters. The fourth brother. Single, if she recalled correctly, and yet another replica.

  But what was more shocking was the other man. Sawyer. Laurie’s brother. He was taller and larger than Logan, which was saying something.

  He was also the second man who starred in her dreams.

  The bottle of water she held slipped through her fingers and hit the porch with a resounding thud in the silence. Droplets flew into the air, but she didn’t glance down to acknowledge the accident.

  No one did.

  Both men stood perfectly still, staring at her as though they were completely aware of her dreams.

  Which is totally insane and not possible…

  Laurie cleared her throat. “Okay, then, how about everyone sit down.” She pulled on Amanda’s arm.

  Amanda forced her feet to inch forward under Laurie’s guidance until she found herself lowering into the porch swing next to Laurie.

  Thank God, because if she’d tried to support herself upright for much longer, she would have fainted, or at least her knees would have buckled.

  Laurie was still the only person to have spoken, and she did so again. “Logan. Sawyer. Sit.” Her voice was soft but commanding.

  Without taking their gazes off Amanda, they rounded to the two chairs across from her and took their seats.

  Amanda blinked several times, trying to decide if she was awake. Maybe she had fallen asleep babysitting and was still inside on the couch and no one had come home yet. Yes. That had to be it. In which case, it would be best if she didn’t disturb the dream and let it play itself out.