by Silver James
She pushed her glasses up to the bridge of her nose and blinked at him. “Just say it.”
“I’m not human. Not entirely.” The words burst from his mouth.
Lauren stared at him, one brow lowered, head tilted in puzzlement. “Not human? That’s…just silly. If you want to get rid of me—”
“I don’t,” he growled, but took a step away from her as he watched goosebumps form on her skin. “That’s the problem.” He rubbed his chest, over his heart. “What I’m about to tell you is top secret, Lauren. So much so that people have died for knowing our secret.”
She was confused but she caught the “our.” She regulated her breathing and clutched the blanket to keep her hands from shaking. He watched her intently and for just a second, she thought she’d seen a flicker of red deep in his eyes. When he didn’t continue, she nodded in encouragement said, “So, what do you mean by not entirely human?”
“I carry an extra gene. The scientific name for it is Lupi versi pellis.”
“What does that mean exactly?”
“It means that I can change into a wolf.”
Chapter 18
Lauren laughed. Hysterically. And not in the deep, belly laugh kind of hysterical. She was pretty sure her head looked like an internet meme—the top of her skull lifting as purple glitter exploded out. Her side hurt from the laughter and lack of air, and as she calmed enough to take a breath, she realized Tait had retreated across the room and was now standing at the front door. She sobered and flashed him another confused look.
“You weren’t joking?” She pushed off the couch. Her adrenaline spiked again and she wondered if she needed to fight or run.
“No, Lauren. I’m not joking. I’m a Wolf. That’s with a capital W.”
“So, like a werewolf or something?” She rolled her eyes, a gesture she never gave into. “What? You got bitten and turn furry on the full moon?”
“No, not like a werewolf. They were created by Hollywood, probably by people who glimpsed one of us. We’re shifters. We don’t depend on the moon. There’s no magic. No one really knows how we came to be, beyond a mutated gene on the Y chromosome. We have a dual nature. I carry a wolf inside me. When I change, he takes over my body.”
A giggle—still a bit too hysterical for her peace of mind—burbled out. She clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle it. What had happened to the stoic, down-to-earth, sane man she’d started falling in love with?
“There’s more.” Tait kept his eyes on the floor, unable to meet the emotions he was sure he’d find in her expression. He forged ahead, not giving her time to respond. “Like wild wolves, Wolves mate for life. We call it being moonstruck. If a Wolf finds his mate, he claims her. Like I claimed you. Only I didn’t tell you. Didn’t ask. I just…”
Lauren’s mouth gaped so wide she couldn’t close it. This was…crazy. Just…nuts. How had he claimed her? Her hand automatically moved to her shoulder, to the muscle that connected it to her neck and rubbed. The spot was still tender. From when he’d bitten her. He’d bitten her! “You’re crazy. Bug fucking nuts.” She scrambled off the couch and backed away though he made no move toward her. He wouldn’t even look at her.
She watched in dismayed horror as he toed off his boots. As he reached over his head with one hand, snagged the back of his shirt and jerked the tee up and off. He dropped it on the floor as his other hand reached for his belt buckle. Lauren pressed her hands over her mouth to stifle the whimper gnawing at her throat.
Tait unbuckled his belt, popped the buttons on his cargo pants, then pushed them and his briefs down over his hips before kicking them off. Once he was naked, he raised his head and his gaze clashed with Lauren’s. He’d been breathing through his mouth to avoid the panicked scents pouring from her. His wolf was frantically clawing at him, unable to understand why their mate was terrified. He reached for the shift, surrendering the man so the wolf could take over.
She stared, horrified, as Tait dropped to his hands and knees. His body contorted, joints popping and bones scraping, skin stretching, muscles tearing. His ears elongated, as did his face, his jaw reforming into a muzzle. Hands and feet grew claws, reshaped into paws. A tail. He had a freaking tail that was covered in fur, fur that spread over his entire body. Tawny gold fur tipped in black, his face and eyes covered by cream fur that matched the fur on his legs. He was huge. And fierce. And wild. And she was scared out of her skin.
Lauren’s mouth was already open, the scream crouching somewhere around her tonsils. The wolf shook out his fur and whined softly, head lowered as he watched her. With Tait’s eyes. She gasped, swallowing the scream, but the wolf whirled, pawed at the door—which opened—and then he was gone, swallowed by the night.
****
Tait stopped midway to the stream, nose lifted to the wind. Deer. Elk. Cattle and buffalo. Horses. Jackrabbit. The faint whiff of a wolfdog. A fur brother who almost died protecting their mate. The wolf growled. The man despaired. Both his halves recognized her terrified panic—by the expression on her face, the way her muscles locked up, and the stench those emotions emitted.
We should hunt.
Yes. The man could hide within the wolf, lose himself in tracking prey, in chasing it down, in blooding it. He wanted the taste of blood in his mouth again. He’d shifted to wolf in that compound, had hunted down every man who carried Lauren’s scent, and savaged them with teeth and claws. Returning to human form, he’d stood with the others watching while explosions and then flames consumed their enemies. He and Mac took down the man called Karl together, Mac confiscating electronics and a flash drive. The war against Black Root would continue.
We hunt. The wolf was insistent.
Yes, they would hunt. Without Chewy. Without their mate. He would trail different prey far into the wild lands to put distance between them. If he stayed closed enough to smell her, to touch her, he wouldn’t let her go. And then he’d be no better than those Black Root bastards. He couldn’t keep her prisoner. Couldn’t hurt her. Not like that.
At some point, he’d contact Mac. Ask the big Wolf to keep an eye on Lauren, even though the thought made both man and wolf snarl. Their mate had to be safe. He couldn’t keep her that way from a distance. And if he was close, he wouldn’t be able to stay away.
A cloud drifted across the face of moon and Tait followed the moon shadow, fading into the darkness. Lone wolf. He’d always been one. Understood now that he always would be.
****
Lauren stared at the open door, fists clenched, chest banded tight by fear. Spots danced in front of her eyes and she sucked in air, suddenly aware she’d stopped breathing. She didn’t have words big enough to describe what had just happened. Tait McCord, a big, sexy hunk of man whose bed she had shared, turned into a freaking wolf! With four huge paws. Big, sharp teeth. Ears. Fur. A freaking tail!
She sank onto the arm of the couch. Bending at the waist, she put her head between her knees and concentrated on breathing. A naked man changed into a wolf. Right in front of her. She hadn’t been drugged. This wasn’t some bizarre reality TV stunt. This. Was. Real.
Truly panicked now, she jumped to her feet and fled to the guest room. Her clothes, what few she had, were there. She found a duffel bag in the closet and stuffed clothes, shoes, boots, whatever was lying around she could grab. Out in the main room, she looked for her purse, remembered it had burned up in Tait’s truck. She noticed the keys to the rental car sitting on the kitchen island. Her breath hitched. Tait. He’d had those keys in his pocket. He’d taken them out when he went to make her coffee. Knowing he was going to freak her right the hell out. Knowing that she’d run. He’d left them there for her to find so she could run that much easier.
She dashed away the tears rolling down her cheeks with the back of her free hand. Lauren had to get out of here. Get somewhere else, some place where men didn’t turn furry, didn’t howl at the moon, didn’t…make innocent women fall in love with them.
Lauren closed the front door, took two ste
ps across the porch and stopped. Would Tait be able to get back inside? Retracing her steps, she opened the door just a crack, then jogged down the steps to the car. She tossed the duffel in and climbed into the driver’s seat. She was halfway to the main road when it occurred to her that Tait only had to shift back into human to get into his house. Logic. She had none at the moment.
Headlights from a vehicle bounced along the rutted road ahead of her. Someone was coming? She panicked again before she recognized the vehicle. It had been at Hank’s ranch. Driven by Mac McIntire and his commandos. She slowed, then stopped completely and put the transmission into park. A few moments later, the burly SUV did the same thing, its lights cutting off. That was a considerate thing to do, so she followed suit. Lauren waited, doors locked.
Hannah climbed down from the front passenger seat. Her instincts had been dead on, as they usually were in a situation such as this. She tapped on the sedan’s window and made a twirling motion with her hand, encouraging Lauren to roll down the window. “We need to talk.”
Lauren shook her head. “That’s the second time I’ve heard that tonight. I didn’t like what was said the first time. I don’t think I’m going to like it this time either.”
“Probably not. Still, we need to talk.”
“No. You have no idea what I just—”
“Tait’s a Wolf.”
Mouth snapping shut, Lauren stared at the other woman. She finally found her voice. “How do you know that?”
“Like I said, we need to talk. C’mon out and we’ll take a little walk.” Hannah backed away from the door, holding her hands palm out about shoulder level. “I don’t bite.”
This was against Lauren’s better judgment, but her curiosity got the best of her. She slid out of the car, keeping the door open as an escape hatch. She tucked her arms around her stomach and raised her chin. “We can talk right here. Say whatever you’re going to say.”
Hannah braced, feet apart, hands on her hips. “Do you love him?”
That was certainly not what Lauren expected to hear. “What?”
“You heard me. Tait. Do you love him?”
“He’s…he turned…he…”
Leaning closer to Lauren, Hannah glared. “I know what Tait is, Lauren. He’s a Wolf. He gets furry. He protects people, including you.”
“How do you know this?” Lauren’s voice was barely a whisper but Hannah heard her.
“Because I’ve been married to a Wolf for years. Because my son is a Wolf. Because all those men who came to rescue you are. Well, except for the Brotherhood Protectors. Which is why Mac sent them away with you.”
Lauren’s knees gave out and she squatted in the dirt. “Those files. The ones that didn’t get shredded. I thought…” She looked up, her expression bleak, and Hannah met her gaze with compassion. Clearing her throat, she continued. “Science fiction. Or a what-if scenario that a bunch of drunk scientists conjured up. But it’s real? People who can…” She had to clear her throat again. “People can totally turn into animals?”
“Yes and no. Not people. Men. It’s a DNA thing, attached to the Y chromosome. Women can carry a recessive gene but they can’t shift. And they don’t turn into animals, they turn into wolves.” Hannah hunkered down, butt to heels, knees to chest. “There’s something else you need to know about Wolves, Lauren.”
Gulping, Lauren screwed her eyes shut, opened them, and nodded. She was braced for whatever Hannah might say.
“Wolves mate for life. When they find the one woman who completes them, they’ll move heaven and earth to keep her safe. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Did she? Lauren closed her eyes again. Mine, Tait had said. Claiming her. And then he’d let her go because she freaked out. And was terrified of him.
A wolf howled, far in the distance. Lauren’s heart clenched at the sound as a sense of abject loneliness surrounded her. A car door opened, then more, and she heard the rustling of clothing. What was happening?
“Hannah?” A low voice called softly in the dark. “Tonight is not the time for a lone wolf to run alone.”
“No, it’s not,” Hannah agreed.
Lauren heard weird sounds—wet and popping, far too similar to what she’d heard when Tait changed—and her stomach roiled. Hand to mouth, she tried not to listen, nor did she want to see the sleek, furred bodies pad into view. One, a huge black wolf, stopped long enough to lick Hannah’s cheek and then the whole pack of them ran off into the dark.
“I was lucky,” Hannah said, after the howls of the pack echoed into silence. “I knew what they were before Mac and I ever met.”
For the next hour, Hannah recounted her story. And those of other mates to these phenomenal men who called themselves Wolves. For an hour after that, Lauren alternately cried and worried, speaking in halting sentences as she voiced her fears, only to have them allayed by the older woman. Mostly.
Things fell into place, though, during that conversation. Why Tait could see in the dark. Why he sniffed her. His remarkable recovery from the gunshot wound. The moon had set though stars still danced across the wide sky when Hannah said goodbye.
Now, Lauren sat on the top step of the front porch at Tait’s house, watching the sun rise. “Red sky at morning,” she murmured. The men—all but Tait—had returned, shifted, dressed and they left with Hannah, the one named Nate driving the rental sedan. She’d insisted they take the car. She didn’t know how long she’d have to wait for Tait to return, and if the car was sitting there, she’d be too tempted to run away again. Each man, after he’d changed and dressed, came to her and offered encouragement but it was Mac, big and burly and gruff with tattoos and power rolling off him like a thunderstorm building in the mountains, who dropped to one knee beside her and took her hand.
“He will love and protect you no matter what you decide, Lauren. Forever. That’s the way we’re wired. Once we claim our true mate, we can’t do anything else. If you walk away, he’ll respect your decision.” He didn’t add that he might have to come back to Montana at some point in the future to put a rogue wolf out his misery. He didn’t have to. Lauren saw the knowledge written on his face.
So here she sat. Waiting, as the sun flexed gentle fingers in the clouds while it climbed over the edge of the earth. Movement down in the pasture caught her attention. The cattle had climbed to their feet and were moving beyond the few buffalo who all faced the east. Wary. On guard. Predator, their actions said. And there was only one predator she knew of in this area. She didn’t move as the tawny wolf emerged from the grass. He was magnificent as he froze, muzzle lifted, silhouetted against the light of dawn.
“Come home, Tait,” Lauren whispered. “Come home to me.”
The wolf pricked his ears and padded forward, leaving the man to sort through a flood of emotions. She was still here. She hadn’t left. Or she had but came back. Came back to him. He approached her cautiously, afraid of spooking her. He stopped at the base of the steps.
“You’re beautiful,” Lauren breathed. “Can I touch you?”
Could she? Oh, hell yeah! The wolf wanted to leap on her and wrestle her to the ground, licking and nuzzling like Chewy had done. The man reigned in the animal’s enthusiasm and with deliberate steps, climbed up to the porch. He sank to his haunches beside her.
Lauren buried her fingers in his fur as she gazed into his eyes, recognizing the man in them. “I guess I’m going to have to become a dog person, huh?”
He laughed, which came out as chuffing growl. Licking her cheek once, he shook, loosening her hands. Then he backed up and shifted.
Wanting to look away but knowing she had to watch, Lauren kept her eyes glued on the wolf morphing into a man beside her. She flinched, unable to stop the reaction. It hurt him, this changing forms. A lot. And she hated that for him.
“Lauren?” Tait sounded so unsure and she flinched again. He jerked away at her response.
“No.” Her voice was pleading as she reached for him. “It’s painful for you. I…”
She inhaled deeply and squiggled her nose to alleviate the burn of tears threatening to fall. “I’m here, Tait. I’m not leaving.”
The ache in his chest eased and his gut unclenched. He opened his arms and she fell into them. Then he was kissing her and she was laughing and crying and so was he. He had a mate and she wanted to stay.
“I love you,” he murmured into her hair.
“You better.” She hiccupped and clung to him, her face buried against his chest. “Because I love you more than the whole wide world.”
Man and wolf both settled in their skins. They were home.
Epilogue
The phone rang. And rang. And rang. Tait growled and almost hurled the offending electronic device across the room. Then he read the caller ID.
“What?” he snapped.
“Good morning to you too, sunshine.”
“What do you want, Hank?”
“I have a job for you.”
“No.”
“No?”
“I didn’t make that clear? I’ll try again. Not only no, but hell no.”
“Not like you to turn down an assignment. What’s up?”
Besides his morning wood? “I’m on my fucking honeymoon. Go away.” Tait was still growling as he cut off the call to the sound of Hank’s laughter.
“Honeymoon?” a sleepy voice asked from beneath the mound of covers. “We aren’t married.”
“We will be.”
Lauren smiled at the face peering down at her. “Oh. Okay.”
She looked well-loved and sated with her hair mussed, eyes soft and dreamy, lips swollen. Tait gathered her into his arms, kissing first her mouth, then her neck, then…she squirmed and groaned softly as his hands and tongue claimed her breasts. He growled, the sound echoed as a recovering Chewy heaved out of his bed and padded out of the bedroom with a huff.
Biting back a giggle, Lauren pressed against the man who had claimed her heart and soul. She could get used to waking up like this every morning for the rest of her life.