by Cara Adams
“You know our names and why we’re here. May I ask your name?” Magnus rested a hand on the menu the maître d’ had left on the table.
Once again she blushed as adorably as she’d done in the parking lot. “I’m sorry. We used to wear name tags in the library but the pins kept breaking so we don’t anymore, but I still assume everyone knows my name. It’s Flynn.”
Flynn. The name resonated through his body. It was a good name. Sturdy, capable, yet feminine. Just like her.
When the server appeared asking for their drink orders she chose water, which he found an interesting choice, but for her meal she picked the chicken and prawn dish. “With vegetables or salad, ma’am?”
Magnus watched her face as she was obviously weighing up her choices. Finally she said, “The hot vegetables, please.” Again it made him keen to know more about her. Choosing water to drink here in Germany, the home of beer, made him wonder if she disliked alcohol, or was on a strict diet. But if she’d been watching her weight surely she’d have chosen a salad. He liked that she was a person of layers, not easy to understand at first glance, and looked forward to unraveling her layers and learning all about her.
Once the server left she looked at Magnus and Kiril and asked, “How long will your friends be staying in Stuttgart?”
It was Kiril who replied, “Maybe a week, but there’s a group of them, and they want to all stay together.”
Magnus wondered if that would make her ask more questions. The next logical question was to ask why they were coming and it’d be interesting to see how Kiril managed to answer that.
Instead Kiril did a smarter thing by asking Flynn, “What made you decide to be a librarian, Flynn?”
She grinned at them both then said, “There are days when I ask myself that exact same question. After studying at university and taking my degree in Library and Information Science, I now find myself in a job that pays less than many people without a degree earn. But I guess the real answer is that I’ve always loved books and being surrounded by them makes me feel at peace.”
That was an interesting answer. Why would she want peace? She looked to be about their age, close to thirty. Usually only old people wanted peace. Younger people wanted excitement, travel, money, fun.
“Is your home one of those places where every wall is covered by floor-to-ceiling bookshelves?” asked Magnus. He tried to make his tone of voice teasing instead of intrusive, but everything she said just made him want to learn more about her.
This time she laughed and her pale blue eyes danced behind her eyeglasses. “No, I’m more modern than that. I have thousands of digital books on my external hard drive though. And my father told everyone the only reason we moved from the country to come live in Stuttgart was because I’d read every book in the local library.”
“And had you?” asked Kiril.
“Oh yes. Long before I was old enough for an adult borrowing card I’d exhausted the children’s section, and the librarian there used to ignore me as long as I was quiet, so I’d read the adult books in one of the study cubicles every night from the time school let out until the library closed. Finally my dad took pity on me and gave me his library card so I could borrow the adult books and read them at home.”
Their meals arrived and they were quiet at first, as they tasted their food, then Flynn looked at him and said, “What about you, Magnus. What is your passion?”
It was interesting she’d asked him about his passion, not his work. “Kiril and I have been learning all about the construction industry, working on building sites, learning the various trades. We’ve been here for two years building up our skills. Our home is very old and constantly in need of maintenance, so we want to be able to do as many things ourselves as possible.”
“That sounds very sensible. You’re lucky you could spend two years learning, although I guess learning by doing is always the best way.”
“It’s certainly opened our eyes to the need for planning and doing construction in stages with everything being done in the correct order,” said Kiril.
“That’s a standing joke where I live,” said Flynn. “The city authority comes along and fixes the pothole in the sidewalk, and then a week later the water authority digs up the sidewalk to mend the pipe that caused the sidewalk to break. Then we wait months for the city workers to come back and fix the sidewalk again.”
“Yes. That’s about how it happens everywhere,” said Magnus. He’d eaten every bit of his meal but he couldn’t even remember what he’d ordered, far less what it had tasted like. All his thoughts were on the woman who sat between them. This quiet, yet obviously complicated woman who he desperately wanted to know better. The problem was he had no idea how to go about it.
During business hours he and Kiril had several houses for rent to check out. On the one hand the Alpha wanted them all to stay together. Yet on the other hand, they’d be safer if they were more dispersed in different suburbs. But he could see the Alpha’s thinking that together they could watch out for each other. So he and Kiril were looking for a large house with four or five bedrooms, and the rest of the men could sleep on the living room floor. Not that he’d be saying anything like that to the realtor. He would just say it was a few friends sharing the house.
Flynn would be at work during the day anyway so how could they get to know her? He didn’t want to take her house hunting. The Alpha certainly wouldn’t approve of her knowing too much about them until they were sure she was their mate. And likely she wouldn’t want to eat with them every night. Ugh. This was so hard.
After they’d drunk their coffee he and Kiril walked her out to the parking lot. “Thank you so much for spending time with us,” said Kiril.
“I enjoyed myself. Thank you both for inviting me.”
“Tomorrow evening, would you like to go to a movie or is there something else you’d like to do?” he asked her.
She looked at him for so long he was sure she’d say no, but finally she said, “Sometimes I go to the national park and sit on a rock and watch the sunset. We could meet in the parking lot and walk the trail together if you’d like.”
“I would. I’d like that very much,” he said.
“It sounds like a good way to spend the evening. What time should we be there?” asked Kiril.
“I finish at seven again tomorrow, so we’d need to go straight away. Be there seven twenty perhaps?”
“We’ll be there,” said Magnus. He meant it, too. If she wanted to walk, they’d walk. There was no question about that. It was interesting she’d chosen hiking over a movie though. She was a fascinating woman that was for sure.
* * * *
Kiril had very much felt the weight of responsibility when the Alpha had told him and Magnus to return to Germany. They had to find a good place to stay for those of their pack coming to the inauguration of the Alpha of Germany as the Supreme Alpha of Europe.
Of course, it made good sense as he and Kiril had lived here for two years, but the Alpha could have given the task to a number of others from their pack. Jairus, for example, who’d been the Alpha’s messenger all over Europe. Or Brody and Roman, who’d only recently returned from Vienna where they’d both been studying. But the task had been given to him and Magnus, and he was determined to do his very best to find them a safe, comfortable, and inconspicuous place to stay.
With both of them driving, they probably could have made the journey in one very long day of perhaps sixteen hours, or maybe seventeen with a few stops. But they’d decided to spend the night in Austria and arrive fresh with plenty of daylight still to find their way around town. The information bureau not having any brochures had given them a surprise, but the worker there had sent them to the library, where Magnus had gotten the information they needed. And met Flynn, which was even better.
One of their major problems was not wanting to tell a realtor exactly what they wanted, so they collected lists of addresses of houses available by looking at the advertising, then drove around lo
oking at the houses from the outside themselves, without contacting a realtor until they had a shortlist. That way they could eliminate properties that would be very difficult to defend or that were in dead-end streets where they could be blocked in.
When the Alpha had traveled to Vienna for the previous Supreme’s memorial service, people had tried to follow him. This time, his safety should not be as big an issue as the new Supreme had been decided. However, Kiril and Magnus were very aware that their Alpha didn’t like anyone knowing too much about him or their pack, so security was a huge consideration.
But by midafternoon, they’d found three houses that had potential. They all had four or more bedrooms, two bathrooms, were not in cul-de-sacs or dead-end roads, and didn’t appear to have too many external doors to require too many people on guard all the time. The final decision would depend on which ones were most suitable on the inside of course.
He and Magnus made appointments with the realtor to view them tomorrow, then returned to their hotel with enough time to spare that they could shower and change before needing to leave for their date with Flynn. A date. Kiril was truly intrigued that her choice of activity had been a walk to see the sunset. Either the sunsets, or perhaps the scenery, in the national park must be outstanding. Or maybe it was just that she was outstanding. Kiril wondered if she’d like to hike up their mountain and look at their sunrises and sunsets. It wasn’t something he’d done himself very often, but if it was what she’d like to do, he was more than willing to go with her.
Just finding their woman was amazing. In two years of looking all around Germany they’d seen a lot of pretty, intelligent, interesting girls, but not one who called to them as being their woman the way Flynn did. Of course she might not be prepared to take on two men, and there was no way they’d tell her they were werewolf shape-shifters yet. But so far he was feeling hopeful.
Kiril hadn’t packed his hiking boots. It hadn’t occurred to him he’d need them in a major city like Stuttgart, but he had a pair of comfortable athletic shoes, so he hoped they’d be okay. When Magnus pulled athletic shoes out of his duffel bag, Kiril laughed. “Snap! It’s amazing how much we think alike sometimes.”
“Yeah, I can be too stuck in my rut sometimes. I knew we were bringing the SUV and I could pack as much stuff as I wanted, and I still didn’t bring my boots. Some days I’m dead stupid.”
“Oh, well, if it turns out Flynn wants to go hiking a lot we can always go shopping and buy new boots,” Kiril said.
“I wonder what she does like. It’s scary. She’s so perfect. Everything she says and does entrances me. I’m almost afraid she’s too good to be true,” said Magnus.
“There’s so much I want to talk to her about, so many things I’d like to know about her. I hope she can talk as well as walk this evening, so I can find out more about her.” Kiril wondered how fit Flynn was. She was curvy, which was how he liked a woman. He hated stick-thin women. They were too annoying to take anywhere there was food. They refused to eat and then if he was hungry they told him how many calories were in every item until he wanted to put a slice of cake in their mouths to shut them up.
But Flynn had eaten a meal. And she had eaten it, not just pushed bits of it around on her plate. Admittedly she’d only drunk water, but she’d eaten her dinner and hadn’t rushed off to the ladies’ room to puke it all up again as he knew some women did. To him, that was really off-putting. His thoughts were if a woman didn’t want to eat she shouldn’t accept a dinner invitation. Anyway, that was all old news. Flynn had shared a meal with them and now she’d suggested a hike and he could hardly wait to see her and talk to her again.
He wondered if she’d wear another long skirt like she had yesterday. Or would she be in pants this time to make walking easier. Perhaps the library had a staff dress code and women weren’t allowed to wear trousers. Although surely not, these days. She might simply prefer skirts to pants. Or it might be the only skirt she owned and he’d just happened to meet her the day she was wearing it. There were so many things he wanted to learn about her, so many ways he wanted to connect with her. Most of all he needed to know, was she their mate? Was she The One?
Chapter Two
Flynn had surprised herself when she’d suggested going to the park. Of course she wouldn’t see her wonderful wolves. Magnus and Kiril would be talking to her and their noise would keep the wolves away. Not that she’d seen them herself since that very first time no matter how silently she’d walked or how long she’d waited. But each time she went, she walked and waited with anticipation, hoping she’d see them.
And that was the problem, of course. When the men had asked her to suggest what she’d like to do, she hadn’t been able to think of anything quickly enough to suggest it. Because basically she didn’t do anything. She saw her friends from time to time, she came to the national park every now and then, but other than that, she went to work and she went home again. At home she cleaned her tiny apartment, read erotic romance novels, and imagined two men making love to her, but not until after they’d tied her up and paddled her ass and she’d had an orgasm.
The only difference was, since she’d met Kiril and Magnus, the men in her imagination looked just like them. Oh well, she could imagine whatever she wanted to. No one else need ever know.
After work she popped open Oscar’s trunk, slipped off the low-heeled back pumps she’d been wearing all day, and took out her athletic shoes. She slid her feet into them, closed the trunk, then opened her driver’s door and sat sideways in the seat to lace them up. People walking in the national park often had real hiking boots but she always stayed on the trail so had long ago decided she didn’t need the expense of real boots. Despite Library and Information Science being a university degree course, librarians weren’t actually paid very highly. It didn’t matter because she only had herself to support and her needs were simple, but it did mean she tended to be cautious about her spending instead of buying things she might only use occasionally.
Besides, she truly did love books. Working in a library had been her childhood dream, and how many people could actually say they’d fulfilled their childhood dream? Contentment was far more important than money.
Flynn turned around and tucked her feet under the steering wheel, locked her door, and started her engine. Now came what she’d been waiting for all day. Her meeting with Magnus and Kiril. As she thought that, she realized that always in the past she’d have put the hope of seeing the wolves again first. Well, maybe she would see them. Even if it was only in the distance it’d be truly special. Seeing Kiril and Magnus up close would be even better of course. She giggled at her naughty thoughts and headed for the national park.
It wasn’t far. Oscar was no longer reliable enough for her to drive long distances. She was afraid he’d break down and she wouldn’t be able to afford to get him fixed. In fact, now that she thought about it, she hadn’t even been all the way in to Stuttgart in many months. Flynn shrugged. Her life was here in this small community now anyway.
She saw the blue SUV as soon as she turned into the parking lot at the national park, and was very tempted to park beside it, but she decided to park over the other side, near the start of the hiking trail she planned to take. Flynn thought that proved what a creature of habit she was, but she’d get plenty of exercise walking the trail. She didn’t need the extra couple of hundred feet crossing the parking lot twice as well.
She’d put her purse in the trunk with her shoes back at the library, so she stepped out of Oscar and locked the door, then slipped her keys into the pocket of her skirt, where she always kept her cell phone. Not that she’d remembered to turn it on this evening yet, but she had it if she needed it. She tipped her head up to the sky and breathed deeply. It was beautiful here. Quiet, peaceful, calm, serene. Just what she needed to put her spirits on an even keel, ready to face whatever curve balls life might throw her way.
Magnus and Kiril strode across the parking lot toward her, both of them big men, but
walking in a purposeful yet relaxed manner, as if they could maintain that pace all day. “Do you go hiking often?” she asked as they stopped beside her.
“We don’t belong to a hiking club or anything like that,” said Kiril.
“But we both enjoy hiking. We were born in the mountains,” added Magnus.
“This is the trail that leads to the lookout.” She headed for the path she always followed. The one where she’d seen the wolves.
“What about you, Flynn? Do you belong to a hiking club?” asked Kiril.
“No. I come here if I want to go hiking and I always stay on the trails so being alone is not a problem.” Then she wondered if that sounded like she had no friends. “My friends tend to be people who love to read books and most of them are more indoor-type people,” she added.
“Are you an indoor person as well as an outdoor person?” asked Magnus.
“I suppose I’m spoiled. With electronic books I can read anywhere, and if I don’t want to read the book I was reading before, I can have several books on my phone and read an old favorite instead. So in that way I can read wherever I am. Indoors or out. But I hate snow and cold and wet. I’m an indoor person in the middle of winter.”
While they were talking, Flynn was leading the men up the trail. To watch the sunset meant moving fairly quickly to ensure they were up at the lookout before darkness fell. She knew the trail well and walking it in the dark was not a problem for her, but it was best the men went up while there was still light so they had a bit of a feel for the area before having to make the return trip in the dark. Neither of them seemed to be carrying a flashlight, although a cell phone would work as a light source if they needed one she supposed.
Besides, the sunsets were really pretty up here. The light just sort of gradually disappeared behind the hills, paling, fading, but so very gradually as the colors leached out of the sky. Then, just when it seemed to be dark, the light of the moon and stars would begin to show, so it was never pitch-black, more a friendly kind of darkness, not the least bit frightening.