by Sadie Hart
He said it like a man too used to control. Bree titled her head back to look at him, her lips parted with a protest, but the look in his eyes stopped her. Heat blazed in the wolf-gold embers of his eyes. Burning and bright, and he closed those last few inches between them, the warmth of his body finally soothing away the cold that lingered in hers. His head bent and Bree’s breath caught her throat.
He’d kissed her out there and she’d let him because it hadn’t been anything at all. Just a soft comfort, something she’d needed.
But right here and now, it would be something different. It’d mean a hell of a lot more.
“Hunter,” she said softly.
His brows furrowed. “You change so fast.”
She didn’t know what he meant by that, but he’d pulled away, falling to sit on her couch before tugging her down beside him. He tucked her under his arm, but as much as Bree knew she should argue, she couldn’t. He was so damn warm and she couldn’t seem to escape the shivers wracking through her. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest.
They sat there in silence for a moment, his fingers trailing a circle against her wrist.
“What do you mean I ‘change so fast’?”
His fingers paused for a second, and then resumed their gentle caress.
“One moment you’re raw strength, ready to take on the world. The next you’re vulnerable, scared. Outside, you were shaking but you were in control. You had fear on a leash. In here?” His head turned and she could feel his breath against her cheek. “With just me, all that uncertainty seems to pour back into you.”
Bree swallowed. Surprised. She pressed her hand against his chest to pull away but Hunter tightened his hold, refusing to let her go. “Hunter,” she said again, and his name was becoming a soft litany on her lips.
“Breanne,” he answered, just as softly and she laughed, relaxing. Fine, she’d give the big, bad wolf his cuddle. She felt him relax the moment she did and smiled. Apparently he needed to be held just as much as she did. She stroked her fingers over the warm flannel of his shirt.
“You said you smelled him and came to check on me. What were you doing outside in the first place?”
“Hunting. The pack ate all my food. Again.”
The way he said it, dry with humor, made her smile. He didn’t care at all. He liked having them close. She tilted her head up to tell him just that when her gaze met his. His eyes were dark, honeyed, and none of the heat from early had banked at all. Fire still burned in the dark amber depths.
A shiver burst through her again and Hunter pulled her close, tugging the blanket tighter around her.
“You should have at least worn a coat. You’re freezing,” he said and his voice was rough, gravelly. “Tell me what happened.”
She lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. “I got out of the shower—”
Bree paused for a second, replaying the night. The trees tapping against the glass, the pain her memories always brought with them when they surfaced, the sudden slap of a hand against her bedroom window. A chill stole through her and she went numb. What if he’d been there the whole time, watching her?
“Bree?”
The familiar nickname sounded strange on his lips. She hadn’t heard someone call her that in a long a time. Not since she’d left Shifter Town Enforcement, left her home, holed up here. Bree turned her face into his chest and inhaled the rich scent of his cologne.
“I don’t know how long he was there.” She grimaced at the thought. He could have been watching her the entire time in the bathroom. Her jaw tightened. “I heard a few noises on the bathroom window, didn’t see a thing though. I assumed it was just the wind in the trees. So I went to the bedroom to get ready for bed. I leaned over to fetch my slippers out from under the bad when I heard something large hit the window pane. It was his hand. Taunting.”
Hunter gave a quiet growl. One that rumbled through his chest and it left his eyes wolf-bright in the dimness of her house.
Bree laid a hand against his cheek. “My dog had been trying to warn me for a few seconds before that, but it’s been a long time since I let the ridgeback in me out to romp.”
She gave him a little half-smile, trying to soothe the wild beast that seemed to pace in his eyes. His wolf wanting out. He’d been out hunting tonight, as a wolf, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d shifted and let her dog-half have a good run. The Rhodesian ridgeback that had once been such an integral part of her—the reason she’d become a Hound in the first place, just like her mother—was now nothing but a faded memory.
One, she realized as she looked Hunter’s wolf in the eye, that she missed dearly.
Tomorrow, she promised herself.
She was tired of living a shadow of a life. Tired of paying for her dead husband’s sins, tired of blaming herself because she hadn’t seen the monster growing inside him when no one else had either.
Hunter ran a thumb over her lips. “I’m sorry.”
She smiled against his touch. “For what? Caring?”
“How long?” he asked, his voice whisper-soft. “How long since you’ve shifted?”
“Before Caesar—” The words died in her throat. She barely knew the man she sat next to and that story wasn’t one she was ready to share.
But Hunter seemed to know. He nodded. “Because you blame yourself?”
She started to say something snarky, or brush it off, but every time she opened her mouth the words just wouldn’t come. Finally, Bree just tilted her head in a slight nod. Looking Hunter in the eye, it was hard to forget they’d just met. Something in his gaze told her he understood.
“Yeah. Why didn’t I see what he’d become? After Ari—” Her voice shattered on her daughter’s name and she pulled away, rising to a stand, putting distance between Hunter and herself. But he followed her and grabbed her hand, holding her to him, and that strength was enough to let her continue on. “After Arianna’s death, I just assumed he was grieving. That we were both withdrawn, that there was nothing wrong.”
“How old was she? Your daughter?”
“Five. She was just a baby still. She was killed by a rogue lion-shifter.”
“I’m sorry.” Hunter squeezed her hand in his.
“After that, both Caesar and I needed time to heal. We both buried ourselves in the job. I ran the pack from the office; he was the acting alpha in the field. We were one of the best Enforcement packs out there.” She tilted her head back, blinking back tears. “I just wish I’d seen the signs.”
Hunter stepped into her, the heat from his body wrapping around hers. He let go of her hands to cup the side of her face and tilt her head until she was looking straight at him, tears in her eyes and all. “There might not have been any. But even if there were, Breanne, you were grieving for your daughter. No one blames you.”
“No? Everyone blames me. The friends and families of his victims. Enforcement. I was his superior. I was supposed to see shit like that.”
“He attacked his partner didn’t he? And she was as close to him as anyone else in the field with him. She didn’t see the signs either.”
Lennox. Bree would never stop regretting, but Lennox at least had managed to save herself.
She didn’t even know she was crying until Hunter swiped a tear from her cheek. “Is that why you haven’t called Enforcement? You’re worried about what they think of you? Between the vandalism and the phone calls, anyone else would have. I would have.”
“I know what they think of me.” She was the widow of a rogue-Hound, too blind to see one of their own go bad before it was flashed across the news. In Enforcement, that was the unthinkable. The ultimate betrayal. “I just want to disappear.”
At least, that’s what she had wanted when she’d first come to White Pine. Now, standing in Hunter’s arms, she wasn’t so sure that’s what she really wanted anymore.
He leaned in and grazed a kiss against her lips. “I don’t want you to disappear.”
“It’s n
ot up to you.” But she leaned in and kissed him, letting her actions say what she couldn’t bring herself to voice. That maybe, just maybe, she didn’t want to disappear either. “I think my visitor is done for the night and I’m ready to get some sleep. You should—”
“Stay.” One corner of his mouth hitched up. “I’ll sleep on the couch. But ex-Hound with a gun or not, I’m staying. I’m not leaving you here alone tonight.”
Bree nodded. She didn’t want to argue. Something about Hunter made her feel safe, made her want more out of life than solitary confinement. “You don’t have to stay on the couch.”
He winked. “Yeah I do. Now go get some sleep. I think the throw pillows and afghan out here are enough for me.”
“Hunter...”
“Night, Bree.”
He nudged her out of the living room and turned away, but not before she saw the flash of longing in his eyes. He wanted more, and they were both adults here...
But he didn’t move toward the couch. Instead he stalked toward the large bay window in her living room and stood there staring out into the darkness. Watching. Her protector.
Bree smiled and strode back into the room to grab her gun. Hunter turned, a slight frown creasing his face until he saw her pick up her weapon. “I’m not a complete damsel in distress. Get some sleep, wolf. I think we can have each other’s backs tonight.”
Gun in hand, she headed toward her bedroom, but as she reached the threshold she heard Hunter’s soft chuckle in the darkness, then the creak of the couch as he settled in for the night. She smiled.
Chapter Five
The shrill blare of the phone jarred him out of sleep. Again. Hunter groaned and laid his arm across his eyes, as if that could blot out the sound. It rang again and this time he rolled off the couch with a snarl and stalked across the living room. Snatching the phone off the side table he clicked it on.
Quiet breathing greeted his ears.
“Stop calling,” Hunter snapped out, his spine rigid. He’d barely gotten any sleep at all with this bastard calling constantly all night. If Breanne dealt with this every night...
It was a wonder she didn’t have dark circles under her eyes.
The breathing hitched on the phone, probably surprise, but Hunter didn’t stop there. “And if I catch you on pack lands again you’ll be a dead wolf before Enforcement ever knows we had a rogue problem.”
The phone clicked off and Hunter tossed it back to the table, fully ready to collapse on the couch, when he caught sight of Bree standing in the walkway. The same baggy pants and loose, white tee, her hair rumpled with sleep. She looked...soft. Breathtaking.
And he stood there frozen, drooling like a thirteen-year-old boy after his first crush.
She gave him a gentle smile as she leaned against the wall. She crossed her arms over her chest. He couldn’t help but wonder if she knew that pushed her breasts up, making them look plump, ripe for the taking.
“You don’t look like you slept at all,” she said, voice soft.
“I didn’t.” He jerked his hand toward the phone and then glanced at her. “You look like you slept fine.”
“That’s why I leave the phone out here. I don’t have to hear it. Should have thought about that last night, I’d have turned it off...” She let the words trail away and Hunter stared at her, dumbfounded.
“Does he call like this every night?”
Bree shrugged. “Not really sure. Like I said, after the first few, I left it out here. Those first few nights it varied. One call, then six, then two. Figured it was a bunch of kids thinking they could spook an old lady.”
She wasn’t old, and by the way her lips twitched when she said it, he knew she was teasing. Making light of a situation that should never have existed. She’d thought it was a bunch of teens from his pack trying to torment an ex-Hound out of pack land. She’d given them slack where Hunter never would have.
But still, if the bastard calling was the same one that had lurked outside her house last night, it wasn’t a kid prank calling. No, he was old enough to know better and he’d just taken the harassment to a whole new level. Now, he was dangerous. Very dangerous.
“You should call Enforcement.”
Bree arched an eyebrow. “Would you like some tea?”
Stubborn. But fine. He’d let her believe he was letting it go. The moment he left here, he’d call in someone to watch her house and then he’d drive his ass down to the local Shifter Town Enforcement office and report the rogue-slash-stalker himself. Hunter put on a fake smile. “I’d love some.”
“And yet I get the feeling you’d rather strangle me.” She gestured for him to follow as she strode for the kitchen.
As stubborn as she was, strangling was still the last thing on his mind. Hunter watched her hips sway as she moved around her kitchen. He leaned back against the counters, his elbows braced on the faux-granite behind him. Still, probably best to change the subject. “It’s almost Christmas and you don’t have a single decoration. Why?”
Not a tree, a light, a Christmas card....
Pain fluttered across her gaze and she looked away, instantly making him regret the question. “Arianna,” he said softly, knowing the moment her daughter’s name left his lips that he was right.
Holidays, birthdays, they had to be the hardest for her. So full of memories of a child she no longer had. A family she no longer had.
A ghost of a smile touched her lips and when Bree turned back to him he could see the tears misted in her eyes. “Yes. This time of year only makes me miss them...her...more.”
“You’re allowed to miss him.”
Her smile took a wry twist as she cocked her head at him. “Well that’s good, to know what I’m allowed to feel.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Bree softened. “I know. But you’re right, I try and talk myself out of missing Caesar, but the man I married, loved, had a beautiful daughter with—he wasn’t the same man that did those horrible things.”
“And that’s the man you miss. I get that.” Hunter glanced around her kitchen. “You don’t even have pictures up. Does not having any reminders at all help?”
“Sometimes. Most times I don’t think anything helps. Isn’t your pack missing you, yet?”
He winced. “Sorry. Being too nosy?”
“A little.”
Hunter crossed the distance between them and Bree didn’t back down. She’d opened to him, relaxed. The calm tilt of her head, the playful watch of her eyes, it all told him how comfortable she was becoming with his presence. A far cry from the woman who’d seemed so at a loss for kindness when he’d offered to clean her garage for her.
He reached out and swept aside a lock ruby-red hair. “You can’t blame me for being curious.”
“Oh I could.” There was an edge in her voice that told him far more than the words she said. Most likely people in the past had been curious for all the wrong reasons.
But they weren’t Hunter.
“I don’t care about your past husband, Breanne. I’m interested in you. The lone ex-Hound who placed herself smack-dab in the middle of wolf territory.”
“In my defense, I was looking for a house away from—” The words died and she lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “Everything. White Pine seemed like a such a small, quiet place.”
“A place to disappear,” he said, echoing her words from yesterday.
Bree nodded. “Yes.”
Hunter stepped closer, feeling the warmth from her body. When she took a deep breath her breasts brushed his chest. All he had to do was tilt his head, lean in a little, and he could take her lips in another kiss. “Are you going to leave now that somebody’s found you?”
Her lips twitched. “No. I don’t scare that easily.” Bree poked him in the chest. “Besides, I’m armed.”
“Not right now, you’re not.” Hunter slid his arm around her waist and tugged her until the last few inches between them were gone. Her body flush against his. A shiver danced th
rough her and he wanted to swoop down and steal her lips in a kiss more than he’d wanted anything.
“You hardly scare me,” she whispered, a smile trailing across her lips. She almost seemed surprised by that little revelation and it made him grin.
Hunter leaned down, breathing in the soft cinnamon scent that was Bree. His lips hovered over hers, so close, and then he heard the familiar chime of his phone. His pocket buzzed. Bree arched her eyebrows, mirth written all over her face.
“Saved by the phone,” he muttered and let her go, ignoring the soft chuckle she gave as he dug his phone out of his pocket. It was a pack ring tone. “This better be good.”
Bree patted his chest and headed for the stove. As he watched her sashay across the kitchen he didn’t think there was any reason good enough for interrupting this.
“Boss. Think we got trouble out here.” His second in command said over the phone.
Damn. “What kind of trouble?”
“The kind with Hounds.”
He saw Bree’s head tilt. Her added canine-senses would easily let her overhear the conversation, and he saw the slight perk in her interest before she quickly dashed it and carried on about her business. Hunter let out a sigh. Right now, the pack needed him more than Bree did.
“On my way.”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “You can take my car.”
Hunter shook his head. “I’ll run.”
He closed the distance between them in three quick strides. “Watch yourself.”
“I was saving myself long before nosy wolves came around.” She tossed him a teasing smile. “Watch yourself, Hunter. Who knows, maybe having a wolf nosing around might not be so bad.”
She lifted her shoulders in a small half-shrug.
Hunter grinned. He sure as heck hoped so. He could get used to sticking around here himself. The moment the winter wind slammed into him and the snow crunched under his boots, he called the wolf out under his skin and let the wild magic that let him shift wrap him in fur.
With a sharp yip of goodbye, Hunter sprang across the wintry ground toward home.