by Ann Gimpel
“You’re welcome.”
“I smell food,” Terin said hopefully.
“So do I.” Bron nodded and clasped his hands together in anticipation. “Jed hustled us out of Rocky Mountain House before we could get breakfast.”
“Wouldn’t have been so bad,” Terin grumbled, “except we sort of missed dinner too.”
“For the love of Pete, would you two stand down? When we’re wolves, sometimes we go days without eating.” Jed tossed his hands dismissively into the air. “We’re a pretty grim-looking lot. Let’s put on better faces before we go inside to face our mates.”
Chapter 8
“What a wonderful meal. It was just perfect!” Jed laid his fork down and beamed at Alice and Noreen.
“Smile at her.” Alice hooked a thumb toward Noreen. “She did all the cooking. I just followed her instructions.”
“You have other…attributes, sweetheart.” Jed winked. “So I’ll just keep on smiling at you both.”
“Thanks.” Noreen took a sip of tea she’d made from dried herbs the men had in canisters. “I did the best I could, but I swear if it hadn’t been for all the food you brought with you yesterday, we’d have been in sad shape.” She eyed Les and Karl. “What were the two of you eating? All I found was a couple cans of pork and beans and another of tomatoes.”
Les looked uncomfortable. Karl was suddenly very busy bending to scratch one of his legs.
“The lady asked you a question,” Terin said, amber eyes glittering mischievously. “If you aren’t going to answer her, I will.”
Truth dawned. Noreen bit back a laugh. “Don’t tell me that every time you get hungry, you just turn into wolves and hunt something down.”
“That’s exactly what they do,” Jed said. “Game’s probably plentiful around here, so that strategy makes excellent sense. But that was before you came into their lives.” He skewered Les and Karl with his sharp, blue gaze. “One more reason to move nearer a supply point. Even if you drop fresh game on the porch for Noreen to dress and cook, you can’t expect her to live on meat.”
“I could try.” Noreen felt defensive of her mates. “It’s too late in the year now, but next spring we could plant a vegetable garden, and I could do some canning.” Les gazed at her with such a look of gratitude, it warmed her to her toes. Karl reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
“Okay,” Jed said implacably, “you can spend the cold months nearer town and return here in the spring if that’s what the bunch of you decide.” Apparently he’d made up his mind that Les and Karl’s home site was too primitive for her. Noreen girded herself to argue.
“They could winter with us,” Alice suggested brightly. “That would kill a whole bunch of birds with one stone. Noreen could figure out her shifter magic, and you’d all be close for whatever sort of Armageddon I sense coming.” She smiled disingenuously. “You know, the one you’re not telling me about.”
“You can be a real pill when you don’t like what’s going on.” Bron ruffled her dark hair.
“Like you can’t?” Alice retorted and smoothed her hair back behind her shoulders.
“That might not be a bad idea,” Karl said thoughtfully.
“What?” The conversation had gone so many directions, Noreen was confused.
“Spending the winter in California.” Karl’s mouth twitched into half a smile.
“You’ve got to be kidding.” Les’ eyes widened and he looked nonplussed.
“No. I’m not. There are lots of good reasons,” Karl persisted. Les opened his mouth to argue.
“How about if you hash this out as a family unit, and we’ll check in with you later?” Terin suggested.
Jed nodded. “Good idea. We’ll head back to Red Deer. We’re going to buy another car and a few supplies for my boys, and then we’ll stop back by here tomorrow morning. After the clan gathering tomorrow night, Alice and I are returning to California. Bron and Terin will stay with the troops here and make sure the clan’s all flying the same direction. If they have time before the next gathering, they’ll move west and do the same thing through British Columbia and then swing down the west coast alerting everyone before they come home.”
“Who made that plan?” Alice’s jaw clenched. Sparks flew from her green eyes.
“I know it’s hard to be apart.” Bron leaned toward her and draped an arm around her shoulders. She shook him off.
“Seriously, how could the three of you have decided something so…momentous without even consulting me?”
“We didn’t want to alarm you, sweetheart.” Jed reached for her too. Alice pushed back from the table and scrambled to her feet. Her chair wobbled precariously, but she caught it before it fell over.
With her nascent shifter magic, Noreen felt an energy field flow from Jed’s raised hands. Alice tossed her head. “Stop that. Save your compulsion spells for someone else.”
Suddenly, Les was on one side of Noreen and Karl the other. They guided her upright and out the cabin door. “We need to leave them alone to work this out,” Les murmured low into her ear.
Noreen nodded. “Maybe it will give us a few minutes alone to talk too,” she whispered back and followed the men to a rickety bench leaning against a storage shed about thirty feet from the cabin. A weak autumn sun warmed her as she snuggled between her mates. Breakfast had been good. She’d made a large fruit salad with eggs and toasted cheese sandwiches. Her belly was full, and Noreen decided it was impossible to be annoyed with anyone on such a beautiful day. The first full day of her new life as a shifter mate.
Les turned her face so she met his gaze. “What do you want to do about a place to live?”
Noreen considered it. “Right now, I’m so head-over-heels ga-ga over both of you, I’d probably agree to anything, but living on pork and beans or fresh game would get old really fast. Standup baths in the kitchen would too. And I imagine it gets hella cold here during the winter. The cabin’s not all that weatherproof…” Her voice trailed off.
Les nodded; Karl wove an arm around her before he spoke. “We’re coming to those same conclusions. You’re as much of a surprise to us as we are to you, and it takes time to think these things through. Following Jed to California could work. It would get you away from the Garden of Edeners long enough for them to forget about you. It would also get us out from under one more winter here. And away from the fire threat if it continues to spread. Come spring after the snow melts, we’ll come back here and figure out if we could make this cabin work as our home or if we need to move closer to Red Deer. There’s not much at Rocky Mountain House.”
“If we went to California,” Les blew out a breath and sucked in another, “we’d need to buy a better car. And we’d have to batten this place down for winter so it would still be standing when we came back.”
“Uh, I hate to be any trouble, and I do have a bit of my own money, but I need almost everything,” Noreen cut in. “Clothes, toiletries, underwear, shoes. About all I tucked in my bag were my hair and tooth brushes.”
“That’s easy enough. There are haberdasheries in Red Deer where you can buy whatever you’re missing,” Karl said.
Les shot him a pointed look. “We’ll buy her whatever she needs.”
“I couldn’t let you—”
“You can and you will.” Les laid a finger over her mouth. “We’re your mates. That means we’ll take care of you.”
“He’s right,” Karl said. “Save your money for something frivolous.” He grinned. “I’m sure we’ll find lots of indulgences in California.”
“Won’t I need a passport?” she asked.
Les clapped a hand to his forehead. “We’ll all need them. Ours expired quite a while back.”
“That’s an understatement. When did we get them? 1920?” Karl repositioned himself so she got full benefit of the sun’s warmth.
“Somewhere around then,” Les said, “and they’re only good for five years.”
“Does it take very long?” Noreen asked.
“I don’t think so,” Karl replied. “Last time, we just dropped by the courthouse.”
Les’ brows drew together. “Did you bring any identification?”
Noreen nodded. “I had the presence of mind to do that, so I have my birth certificate and high school graduation diploma. And the papers from the orphanage.”
Something passed between Les and Karl just at the edges of her consciousness. “Are you two talking to each other somehow?”
Les nodded. “Your magic is taking root. Soon we’ll all be able to communicate telepathically.”
She straightened between the men and looked from one to the other. “Well, since I can’t interpret your mental speech quite yet, what were you saying?”
Karl snorted. “You’ll be hell on wheels once you can listen in. We realized we were talking about going to California as if it were a done deal. But we hadn’t actually asked you if it was what you wanted.”
A warm glow began in her belly. It felt good to be cared about. She could get used to it. “I think it would be a grand adventure. I’ve never been outside Alberta, and I’ve always wanted to travel.”
Les brushed his thumb across her lips. “Guess that settles it. We’ll be vagabonds for a while.”
Noreen’s brow furrowed. “I know you love it here, Les. Are you all right with us leaving?”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, I believe I am. My wolf loves it here because it’s easy for him to romp and be wild and free. There wasn’t any reason to corral my animal nature, so I’ve indulged myself for a long time.”
“Me too,” Karl said.
“Then it looks as if we have a plan, at least for the next few months.” Excitement burned through her. Not only did she have two men wanting to attend to her every need, she’d get to see a bit of the world as well.
“Yes, we all agree,” Les murmured. “That’s important. We’re a partnership. It will grow with time as we nurture the love and trust.”
Noreen dropped her gaze. She wanted to ask if they’d shift for her but felt unaccountably shy.
Karl got to his feet and unbuttoned his shirt. Les followed suit and pulled a threadbare sweater he’d put on before breakfast over his head.
“What are you doing?” Noreen glanced about. Surely they weren’t planning to make love out in the open like this when Jed and them could come trooping through the cabin door at any moment.
“You’ll see.” Les’ green eyes sparkled. In moments, he and Karl were naked. The air shimmered around them, taking on a glittery multi-toned hue. When it cleared, two strongly built timber wolves stood before her. Their eyes were the same: Karl’s so dark it was hard to make out the pupils and Les’ green as fine emeralds. Karl’s pelt was nearly black; Les looked more like timber wolves she’d seen in pictures; his fur shaded from black to gray to brown, with splotches of white on his chest.
“Ooooh.” She sank to the ground between them and buried her hands in their coats. They rolled against her and licked any exposed skin they could find. “You’re just beautiful,” she murmured.
“Yes, we are, aren’t we,” sounded in her mind.
“Oh my God, I actually heard you,” she squealed. “Which one of you said that?”
“Me.” The black wolf nosed her with a cold, wet snout.
“Try sending your thoughts to us.” Les’ mind voice was deeper than Karl’s.
“How do I do that?”
“Imagine you’re talking, but keep the words inside your head. We should be able to hear you.”
It took a few tries, but Noreen found the frequency where they could hear her. The wolves gamboled about the clearing while she practiced talking to them, and she marveled at how striking they were. Muscles rolled beneath shiny fur; they were grace incarnate as they leaped and spun in the air.
The house door slammed open. Bron and Terin raced into the yard. “What a grand idea,” Bron cried and stripped off his clothes.
“Bet I can beat you, brother,” Terin shouted.
Noreen just laughed, deep, heartfelt laughter from her belly as Terin and Bron turned into wolves. Bron was dark like Karl, where Terin had a reddish pelt to match his hair.
“Well,” sounded from the porch. “I’ll be damned if I’m the only one still human.” Jed must have dropped his clothes on the porch because a huge, grey and silver timber wolf arced through the air, landing on the others. A snarling, scrapping match ensued, but Noreen could tell they were playing with each other.
Noreen got to her feet and walked to where Alice had settled on the porch steps. “They’re amazing.” She sat next to the other woman.
“They sure are,” Alice concurred. “Sort of takes your breath away.”
“Did you get everything, um, worked out?”
Alice smiled softly. “Yeah. I can be a real bitch, but the guys tolerate me. They know how worried I am about them.”
“We decided to accept your offer of joining you in California—if it’s still okay, that is.”
Alice clapped her hands together. “Splendid. I told Jed it would be the very best thing, but he was certain Les would never leave here. How’d you talk him into it?”
“I didn’t. He and Karl started looking at all the ways they’d gotten used to living, especially through the winters, and decided I’d be miserable.”
Alice’s eyes narrowed. “Would you have been?”
Noreen grinned sheepishly. “Right about now, I’d have agreed to anything, but yeah, I’m sure always being cold—except when we were in bed—and not having a proper bathroom or access to a grocery store would have gotten old really, really fast. Remember a couple hours ago when we were cooking? We would have been out of luck for breakfast if it weren’t for all your groceries.”
“When are you coming? We have a huge house. More than enough room for everyone. It will be grand to have another woman around. You know, I’ve never really had a girlfriend…” Alice’s face reddened and her voice faltered. “Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself here.”
Noreen turned and hugged Alice. “No you’re not. I’ve never had many friends, either. And it’s looking as if the ones from the cult I ran away from weren’t really any kind of friends at all. More like acquaintances.”
Alice bent close to Noreen’s ear. “I haven’t said anything because I didn’t want to hurt the guys’ feelings, but I think one of the reasons it’s been so hard for them to find mates is because being a shifter mate is pretty isolating. It’s not like you can go out for lunch or coffee with your girlfriends and share much of anything about your life.”
Noreen thought about that; it made sense. For women like herself and Alice who were independent and used to being alone, life as a shifter mate fit. But most women relied on a network of others for support. “Maybe we could start sort of like a group of us,” Noreen said tentatively. “There must be lots of shifter mates scattered about, and we could reach them telepathically if we were close enough.”
“Depending on how strong their magic is, we could reach them over some pretty hefty distances,” Alice said. “That’s a really good idea. I tried to suggest something like that to Jed, but he didn’t think it was important.” Her mouth curved into a soft smile. “He believes he can fill all my needs.”
Noreen quirked a brow. “What an opening. I can’t resist. Well, does he?”
Alice laughed. “Between the three of them, I’ve discovered needs I never knew I had before. But it’s not the same as having girlfriends.”
“Since neither of us has had much practice in that regard, maybe we could figure out the girl pal thing together. Once we have it down, we could broaden our circle.”
“I’d like that.” Alice’s green eyes glowed. “Oh, look. The boys are done playing.”
Noreen gazed across the clearing. Five naked men emerged from a glowing mist and trotted to their respective piles of clothing. Jed chugged up the porch steps to find his. “About ready to go, sweetheart?” he asked as he pulled on underwear.
; “Sure.” Alice got to her feet and walked up the few steps to stand next to her mate. “I have wonderful news! They’re joining us in California.”
“Really? Hey, Noreen, I’m impressed. How’d you talk Les into leaving?”
She rolled her eyes. “Alice asked me the same thing. I didn’t talk him into anything. In fact, I don’t think anyone could talk either Les or Karl into something they truly didn’t want to do.”
“Perspicacious of you, my dear.” Jed strode down the steps with Alice on his arm. He patted Noreen’s shoulder as he passed her. “We’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Hey, boss.” Les walked up to them. “Maybe we could caravan back to the States with you. I don’t know how much of a hurry you’re in, but all we need to do is spend a long day in Red Deer getting supplies and passports, and then we’d be ready to go.”
“I think we could do that.” Jed grinned. “It would be fun to have company.”
“Great!” Karl joined the group and thumped Les’ back. “It’s settled then. We’ll drive into Red Deer early tomorrow and meet back with everybody here at the cabin tomorrow night in time for the clan gathering.”
Noreen wrapped her arms around herself to contain her anticipation. Two more days and she’d be on her way to California with her mates. She said a silent prayer of thanks that she’d taken a chance the day before and gotten into Alice and Jed’s car. If she hadn’t been so alone and so desperate, she probably would have turned them down.
Somebody’s watching out for me. I need to follow my instincts more often.
Chapter 9
Jed’s car pulled slowly out of the rutted, dirt driveway. Les turned to Karl. “You looked at the truck lately?”
“Nope. It’s so long since we’ve driven it, the gas has probably separated into water and whatever else is in it.”
“I don’t know much about cars,” Noreen said. “Is that a bad thing?”
Karl nodded. “Yeah, we’d have to drain the tank, strain the gas, and pour it back in. Not that big a deal.”
Les placed an arm around Noreen’s shoulders, drew her close, and kissed her forehead. “Will you be all right for a little while? We need to make sure the truck can get us all the way to Red Deer tomorrow.”