by Vivian Arend
Keil choked out a laugh, a brittle, tight sound that made TJ take a cautionary step farther out of reach.
Just in case.
Finally dragging his gaze off the sauna door, his brother gave TJ a soft push on the shoulder toward the cabin. “We’re going to have to write her a note or something to convince her it’s safe to come out.”
“Why don’t we let her stay in there until the morning? She might feel safer venturing out in the daylight,” TJ suggested as he started up the path.
“I’m not leaving her locked in there!”
“Hey, don’t bite my head off. I wasn’t the one streaking in the moonlight. This time. And the only time I did try it, those rotten twins, Rachel and Beth, stole my clothes and I had to climb in the back window of the pack house…” TJ’s voice trickled away to nothing as he realized his brother was still standing by the sauna door. Shaking his head, he called in a singsong voice, “Helloooo. Earth to Keil. Hey, I thought we were going to write a note. What is the matter with you, man? You’re acting like you’ve never seen a woman before, and that’s not true. You have the chicks all over you, all the time. In the pack and out of it. Not that you take advantage of your opportunities like I think you should. Leave her alone. She’ll be fine. It’s not like she’s going to freeze or anything.”
A loud snort followed him. “Look,” Keil said, “I’m not leaving my mate locked in a sauna all night because I was too stupid to figure out how to fix a misunderstanding.”
TJ stopped in midstride. “Your mate?”
Keil sighed, his head turning to the sauna as if drawn to it. “Yup. I think so.”
“Oh shit.”
Robyn peered out the window until the two men left. They disappeared from sight, and candlelight appeared in the windows of the cabin.
Well, that had been just peachy.
Great going. Way to use your brains.
What a stupid, idiotic thing to do—walk outside in the buff without checking around first. She knew better than to assume people wouldn’t show up. She hadn’t even thought about animals, although right now she wished she had wandered into a bear.
This was the kind of accident Tad had warned her about. Why he didn’t like it when she did trips without him or their core group of friends. She was capable of taking care of herself in a survivor-type situation, but adding people to the mix always made it tough. The fact she was deaf kind of guaranteed when meeting new people in the wilderness, something was going to go screwy.
She dropped back on the sauna bench and tried to relax. She was still holding her knife, and twisting the handle in her palm, she rubbed the carvings with her fingertips like a worry stone. Over and over until the familiar sensation calmed her to the point she could begin to see the humour in the situation.
I bet they never expected to get flashed. She poured some of the now-hot water over her skin, cleaning off the sweat and rinsing her hair. She wondered if the men would want the sauna once she was done. She wouldn’t stock the stove, but leave a bed of coals.
Because she had to go back inside the main cabin. It would be monumentally silly to spend the night in the sauna just because she’d had a bit of a shock.
Besides, now they knew she had a big knife.
She toweled off in the sauna then stepped into the annex to get dressed. A piece of white against the window caught her eye, and she lifted a candle to examine it.
So sorry we frightened you. We’re Keil and TJ from Haines, Alaska, and operate the wilderness excursion company Maximum Exposure. We’re members of the Granite Lake pack.
If you’re afraid to come to the cabin, please put two lit candles in the window, and we’ll bring your sleeping gear and food/water to the door, and you can retrieve it when you feel safe. But we promise you’re safe to return.
If you want, approach in wolf.
Robyn read the note with some puzzlement. Well, the first part was nice, but what were they talking about “approach in wolf”?
Must be some kind of backcountry code she hadn’t picked up yet. They were from Haines—maybe it was an American slang. Sometimes the small differences between American and Canadian vocabularies caused weird things to happen.
She hung her wet towel in the sauna, then wrapped her hair in a dry one and faced the door. Squaring her shoulders, she drew a deep breath. She could do this.
Walking toward the cabin, she peered in the window, checking it out before approaching the door. One of the men sat on the edge of the sleeping platform, his face out of sight as he spoke, his hands moving wildly as they swung in big circles.
Great, a waver. All that energy saying nothing.
The other leaned back against the table, his arms supporting him, his gaze roaming the room. Suddenly he looked straight at her out the window. Even though she should be invisible to him, a person in the dark while he was in the light, he’d seen her. He stood a little straighter, and lifting his arms, he crossed them over his heart and dipped his head.
Robyn stopped in shock.
That was the ASL sign for “love”.
Her last straw broke, and she stomped the rest of the way to the cabin and threw open the door. Dropping her things on the bench, she kicked off her boots and marched up to the bastard and started the deaf equivalent of shouting with her hands and body in his personal space.
“You do not insult me like that. Asshole. I accept your apology for the mistake before, but you go too far. You are rude. What does…?” She pulled the paper she’d retrieved from the window and pointed to the line “approach in wolf”. “What does this mean?”
She stepped back and crossed her arms while she waited for his response.
The look on his face was priceless.
Confusion. Complete and utter confusion.
Robyn spun toward the waver as he stood, and she caught the last thing he said. “…using sign language?”
She nodded, bicycling her hands in front of her while mouthing “sign language”.
The larger of the two men made sure she was watching him before he spoke. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand sign language. I think I’ve upset you, and I didn’t mean to. Is there a way we can talk?”
All the bluster drained out of her like sand through a sieve. Typical. She came to get away from the drain of communicating with people, and instead she was going to have to use extra energy.
Oh well, maybe they’d eat a few pieces of her cheesecake and save her the calories.
She held up a hand with a lifted finger—a signal she’d seen many hearing people use to ask for a minute. Going back to the door, she cleaned up her boots before returning to her backpack to tuck away her gear and tidy her hair.
She turned to get a drink and found the man she’d yelled at standing right behind her with a glass in his hand.
“Would you like some water?” He held it toward her.
Robyn touched her fingers to her mouth then opened the hand toward him before accepting the glass. She drained it in one shot, grinning at the funny expression on his face as she returned the glass.
It had been hot in the sauna, and she wasn’t going to be ladylike and sip when she was thirsty.
He smiled back. Dark brown eyes, so dark they were almost black, twinkled at her.
“Would you like some more?”
She nodded and made a circle motion over her chest with her hand.
“Was that ‘please’?” he asked.
Robyn gave him a reluctant smile. She nodded as she settled at the table.
There was something fascinating about the man, and she watched as he went to get her some more water.
She’d placed snow-filled buckets here in the main cabin before her sauna, and the men knew the routine. They had one of the buckets on the side cupboard for cool water, and the other simmering on the stove to melt snow and keep the air moist.
It was impossible to look away from the man’s smoothly flexing muscles as he added more snow to the hot bucket. He was big. One of the bigges
t men she’d ever seen, and perhaps rushing into the cabin and shouting at him hadn’t been the smartest thing to do.
His dark brown hair hung in a braid almost to his hips. Broad shoulders were covered with a dark T-shirt, and a tribal tattoo wrapped around his left arm at the biceps. She was tempted to move closer and examine it, but he returned with her full glass, and she tried to hide the fact she’d been staring by facing the table.
She spotted the notepad and pencil she’d left out earlier. She tapped it and motioned for him to sit beside her.
You talk and I’ll write. You need to make sure I see your face.
“I’m Keil and that’s my brother, TJ.”
Robyn Maxwell from Whitehorse.
“I’m sorry we frightened—”
She interrupted him by waving a hand in the air and writing. It was an accident. I couldn’t hear you and I wasn’t paying attention. Tell TJ I’m sorry I pulled my knife on him.
Keil rotated to face his brother, and a moment later, TJ settled in the chair opposite her and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Robyn,” he said, drawing out his words in an exaggerated manner.
Oh goodie. TJ was an idiot.
She glared then shook his hand hard enough to make him pull back in surprise. She grabbed the pad.
I’m deaf, not stupid. Don’t talk weird for my sake. She flipped the pad around to let him read while she took another drink.
This was the hard way to get to know people. It was much easier when Tad was along, because she could talk to him and he’d pass on messages, and it would end up feeling natural and not this ridiculously slow process.
She sighed and grabbed the pad back.
Keil laid a soft hand on her arm to get her attention, and a curious sensation raced through her.
Heat slid from his hand to her arm, tickling, tingling. She double-checked—it was just his hand, but warmth still radiated, small bursts of electricity racing up her arm and making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.
He gave a slight squeeze to get her attention, and she glanced at his face.
“What pack?”
She pulled back in confusion and shrugged.
“You said you live in Whitehorse. Are you Takhini or Miles Canyon pack?”
Here they went again. What was he talking about?
It was too bad he seemed to be slightly crazy because he was the hottest thing on two legs she’d ever seen. She hoped he was fun crazy and not kill-people-in-the-middle-of-the-night crazy.
It only took a moment to dash down a short note. She tossed the pad toward him as she got up from the table and pulled on her coat.
Robyn took a final quick glance his direction before heading outside for a breath of air. Yup, he was hot. Out of his mind, but very easy on the eyes. Smelt yummy, too.
She ignored the strange throbbing sensation in her limbs and forced herself to walk outside.
AS THE door closed behind her, Keil pulled the pad nearer and read it out loud to TJ.
“Takhini is a hot spring. Miles Canyon is where I canoe. A pack is what I carry my gear in. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m getting ready for bed. The sauna has coals if you want it. I will talk to you tomorrow. Good night.”
“You think she really doesn’t know she’s a werewolf?” TJ asked.
“Why would she have any reason to pretend? I don’t understand. She’s full-blood wolf from what I smell.”
“Me too.”
Keil drummed his fingers on the table. She not only smelt like wolf, but another scent flowed from her that tickled the back of his brain and went straight to his cock.
The scent of his mate. The chemical trail that called his wolf to hers, and would make them mates for life. He was pretty sure she was it, but until he got a taste of her when she was aroused, he couldn’t be positive.
Of course, at the rate they were going, it would be summer before he’d get close enough to actually find out.
Grabbing clean clothes, the brothers made their way to the sauna.
Not even ten seconds after closing the door, Keil realized the sauna was a bad idea. Her scent hung heavy in the air, sweet and spicy, filling his head with thoughts that were better not imagined while sitting naked in a small space with someone who was not her.
“You know, she smells good.”
Keil growled at TJ. “Shut it, pup.”
His brother shrugged. “Well, she does. But she smells good like ‘Hey, Robyn, can you help me with this?’ and not ‘Hey, baby, can you help me? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.’ Know what I mean?”
“Please, spare me the Monty Python imitations.”
TJ flicked some snow at his brother. “I’m trying to tell you something serious and you accuse me of imitating MP? I’m cut to the quick. For serious discussion I imitate political personalities.”
Keil lay back on the bench and attempted to ignore his younger brother. TJ was the most irritating, the most annoying…and one of the most observant people he knew.
Leaning up on one elbow, he opened his eyes and cursed. “Fine. Explain it. What’re you trying to tell me, and use small words. It’s late, and it’s been a hell of a day.”
TJ dropped to the lower bench and grabbed the cedar edging in front of him. “She smells good like I want to trust her and take care of her, and I know she’ll take care of me. She obviously affects you differently.”
“Oh. How is that?”
TJ snorted. “You’ve got wood just from the smell of her, bro. You’ve got it bad, and I bet she’s your mate because you haven’t even given her a proper sniff yet. I knew you were ready to be Alpha!”
Keil let his head flop back on the hard bench. TJ’s leaps of logic were over the top. How he got from the fact Keil had a hard-on that could pound nails to making him Alpha was incredible.
“Enough. Can we let this drop for tonight? The problem will still be there in the morning.”
TJ’s laugh was long and loud, and finally Keil joined in.
“Okay, bad choice of words. Don’t point it out.”
Another howl rose from his brother, and Keil gave up. He grabbed the bucket of cool water and poured it over himself.
Evil thoughts intruded. He raised the other bucket. “Want a rinse?”
When TJ nodded, Keil grinned then poured the contents of the half-snow-filled bucket over his brother’s head.
The icy-cold water streamed down as TJ’s scream echoed in the small space.
Now Keil was ready for bed.
Chapter Three
Keil rolled over for the millionth time.
This was impossible.
He’d slept in a cave surrounded by soaking wet, stinking pack members when they’d gotten caught in a storm. He’d slept in a single hotel room with seven buddies on a road trip, all of them snoring loud enough to shake the walls. Both times he’d gotten more sleep than tonight.
All because of the small female body at the end of the platform.
He gave up pretending and sat up to admire her better. The moonlight pouring in the window showed parts of her and his night vision filled in the rest of the details. She was curled into a half-circle, one leg pulled up, her head resting on a pillow made from her extra clothes. She wasn’t in the sleeping bag, but under it, her body lying on a small soft blanket.
It was warm enough in the cabin she’d shrugged off most of her coverings and his gaze slipped over her. He wished he could touch her with his hands. Her skin tone was paler than his, her brown hair escaping from the ponytail she’d made before crawling into bed. Keil stared, memorizing the curve of her cheek, the dimple just visible at the edge of her mouth. Her eyes closed in sleep had the longest lashes he’d ever seen.
He licked his lips. Looking at her made his mouth water. He was tempted to slide over and take her in his arms, nestle her against his body and—
Shit. He was hard again.
How could she not know about belonging to a pack? As a full-blood wolf, she would have had the abil
ity to shift from human form to wolf starting around adolescence. While the werewolf genes were dormant in most half-breeds, full-blood wolves almost always had their genes triggered while still babies.
Robyn being deaf was unusual, but not a huge issue. He could learn to sign, if that’s what it took. When she was in wolf form, they’d have no problem communicating since wolf speak was ninety percent sign language. As mates, they should be able to speak into each other’s minds anyway.
And if he was going to challenge for Alpha, there was an even greater chance he’d be able to hear her thoughts. One of the perks of heading a pack was a strong mental link to every member. Add that to the mate bond, and they’d be fine.
His mind slipped to pack problems even as his gaze continued to caress her. The current Alpha and Beta were getting too old to be proper leaders. The Granite pack was large and more transient than most with the constant influx of newcomers from the Lower 48.
Every time a wolf got the itch to connect with their inner self, they seemed to make their way north, thinking that the wilds of Alaska would help them find themselves. All they found was life required hard work, no matter where you lived. There was no easy ride anywhere, and perhaps even less here Up North.
Keil had begun to worry as more of their traditions fell away. It wasn’t that he didn’t like progress, but some things were tradition because it was good for the pack. Newcomers brought baggage with them, and a lot of what they were demanding the pack do to keep them comfortable went against everything the Granite pack stood for.
It was time for change. When the old leaders announced they would step aside and let someone younger take over, Keil knew it was his chance. He’d have to slow down on his guiding business, but having a strong pack would be worth it.
But he wasn’t the only wolf with the potential to win the challenge. While another of the newcomers was his equal in strength, Jack’s vision for the future of the pack traveled even further down the road to hell than the one they were currently on.