by Anna Lowe
He thought of Summer, and his blood rushed. Bears knew the meaning of passion, though, in the things that counted most. Like honor. Like duty. Like love.
He’d serve his clan, and he’d do whatever it took to keep his mate safe. But the question was, could he do both?
Trust me, a voice deep in his mind said. When the time comes, trust me.
He shook his head. There it was again. The voice of fate. He wanted to snort. No way was he trusting anyone but himself.
“You, bear, have been heard,” Thomas said when the room quieted down again. “The alpha of this pack will meet with you tomorrow.” He made a subtle motion toward his own chest.
“Yes.” Dryver scowled. “He will.”
Drew looked over both candidates. Which of them would be dead by morning? Thomas was a wolf in his prime, but the experience of a veteran like Dryver was not to be discounted.
“Tonight,” Dryver said, glaring at Thomas.
“Tonight,” Thomas barked back.
They meant the fight, of course. But when Drew reached his thoughts out to Summer, he had an entirely different meaning in mind.
Tonight, he thought, hoping she might read his thoughts.
Tonight. A faint, hopeful whisper tapped into his mind. Tonight.
Chapter Five
Summer left the meeting by one door, while Drew left by another, and it killed her to see him drive away. It hurt him, too — she could hear his bear’s anguished cry the same way she felt his inner pain.
Tonight. She shot the thought out after him. I’ll find you tonight.
She would have remained standing there for a good hour watching the plume of dust kicked up by his truck rise then slowly fall, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t afford to show any interest in the bear shifter who’d had the courage to enter this den of wolves.
What had brought Drew to Hope Springs? Was something wrong? She longed to voice the questions racing through her mind.
“Goddamn bear, coming up here like that,” Mett grumbled beside her.
She jolted in surprise. Whoops. She’d tuned out of the world for a minute, and that was dangerous. A good thing Mett interpreted her shiver of fear the wrong way.
“Don’t you worry, Summ.” He slithered an arm over her shoulders and drew her close. “I’ll keep you safe.”
It was all she could do not to dig an elbow into his ribs to keep him away. Far away.
Drew will keep me safe, she wanted to say. But shit, Drew was driving away, so the only one keeping her safe was herself. She couldn’t let Mett catch on to her. Not now.
She wrapped her arms around her stomach, trying to create a gap between his body and hers. “Thanks.”
“Anything for you, darlin’.”
Claws itched under her fingernails as her wolf begged for release.
“Anything for my mate,” Mett added, and she froze.
“Mate?”
“Of course, Summ. Don’t you feel it, too?”
All she felt was a churning stomach and a yearning for Drew.
“Just think,” he said.
She tried really, really hard not to think of the horrors being mated to Mett might entail.
“We can make a new start, and we can continue my dad’s work. Carry on the crusade you fought so hard for.”
The only thing that made her more nauseous than the idea of being mated to Mett was the idea that she really had assisted the Blue Bloods’ sick crusade. She hadn’t meant to, yet she had.
A few weeks ago, she would have crumpled in shame at the thought. But she was stronger than that now. Wiser. More determined than ever to set a wrong right.
Tears and regrets wouldn’t change the past. All she could do was prevent the same from happening in the future by staying focused. Which meant keeping an eye on the goings-on in this pack and reporting to her friends at the Blue Moon Saloon. And it meant finding Drew to understand what had brought him to Utah. But how on earth was she going to sneak off unnoticed?
Mett tightened his grip on her arm, as if reading her mind.
“I’m just preoccupied about tonight,” she bluffed. “Who do you think will win?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Mett whispered with a sly smile. “I have a plan.”
All of a sudden, her whole body went on red alert.
“A plan?”
Mett nodded, looking supremely satisfied with himself. “A plan for both of us.”
His eyes shone with a hint of the madness she’d seen in his father at times, and her skin crawled. Still, she forced her body closer to his and ran a finger down his cheek. “What kind of plan?”
He groped her ass and yanked her close enough to feel his growing erection. “Can’t tell anyone, baby. But soon, I will.”
She wanted to shove herself clear and scrub her skin clean, but she forced herself to play along. “Come on, Mett. You can tell me.”
He half whispered, half licked his next words into her ear. “Big secret. Just believe me when I tell you it doesn’t matter which of them wins.”
Her wolf snarled inside, but she kept the beast under control — barely.
So disgusting. How can you put up with this snake? her wolf cried. He reeked of tobacco and pure, unadulterated hate.
She did it because she had to. She had to find out more. What was Mett plotting? What did he mean?
“You can trust me,” she tried, touching his chest.
“Oh, I trust you all right. Don’t worry your pretty little head.”
That line, she’d heard before. And damn it, she hadn’t worried back then. Well, she was worried now. Mett was up to something.
“Now how about you and me—” he started.
“Mett!” one of Gretchen’s hulking sons called over. “You and that she-wolf of yours can screw later. Come and help.”
Her wolf’s snarl grew lower, more dangerous.
“Don’t worry,” Mett whispered, finally letting her go. “You and me can have fun later.”
Sure. Fun. She wanted to slap him, but she forced her reluctant lips into a smile instead. “Can I help?”
What? her wolf screeched.
Better to keep an eye on him, right?
If I’m not sick first, her wolf murmured.
“Sure, Summ. Let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and towed her along.
We just have to stay in spitting distance, she told her wolf. See what he’s up to.
Spitting distance? Don’t tempt me.
She stuck with him for the rest of the afternoon, enduring more of his lecherous grins and touches. For the most part, though, she kept out of range of his wandering hands, which were mostly full as Mett and his cousins collected wood for a huge bonfire.
“For when the alpha is named,” he explained. “Not that it matters much.”
She studied him closely, trying to read his mind. What was he up to?
Beside the bonfire, they cleared space for a fighting arena, complete with rough wooden benches and risers.
“Gonna be a hell of a fight,” one of his cousins said.
“Yeah. Maybe they’ll kill each other,” Mett murmured. “Save us the trouble.”
Her heart raced, and she wondered if she should tell Thomas. But he was as much of an unknown as Mett.
As the sun dropped closer and closer to the horizon, the crowd grew. Wolf shifters she didn’t even recognize showed up, eager to witness the fight. Some of them looked wary, as if they, too, were as concerned about their future as she. They were ordinary shifters, she figured, who wanted to put their pack back on track — an honest track — and move on with their lives. A few younger guns chewed tobacco and chanted their support for one candidate or the other, and those worried her more. They’d follow whatever leader emerged from this mess. But who would that be?
She looked at the building Thomas had disappeared into for the afternoon, then over at the shelter where Dryver and his men waited as the hours ticked past. Finally, her eyes slid over to Mett. He lacked the raw power and brains
of the other two, but he seemed so sure of himself. What ace did he have up his sleeve? He didn’t talk about his plans to anyone else, but every time he looked at her, he winked.
Right on cue, her stomach rolled.
Once they had set everything up, Mett and his cousins started drinking.
“You want one?” he asked, shoving a warm bottle of beer in her hands.
“No thanks,” she managed. “But do you want another?”
He grinned like a man freshly mated to a meek little she-wolf who would be at his beck and call. “Got me a good one, boys,” he called to his cousins.
Try me, her wolf murmured inside.
She served drink after drink, doing her best to get Mett as drunk as she could.
“There’s more back there, baby,” Mett said, waving her toward a building.
Happy for a momentary escape, she entered and looked around. “Oops,” she mumbled, entering a bathroom by mistake. She was halfway out the door when she stopped in her tracks.
Bathroom. Cabinet. Drugs.
She darted inside, grabbed the painkillers she found in the cabinet, and headed out to where the liquor was stored. The hard stuff. With shaking hands, she split open capsules and poured the contents into a bottle of vodka, then shook the bottle on her way out.
“Where have you been?” Mett barked, showing his dark side again.
“Getting you the good stuff. Look.”
The sun had just slipped over the horizon, and the men had placed torches around the fighting ring. Half a dozen men were already circling each other there, vying to be the first to start the show.
“Half an hour to go,” someone murmured.
Mett swiped the bottle from her hand and took a hard swig.
She watched him carefully, edging farther and farther away from the center of action, eyeing everyone around her while trying not to appear suspicious. Fights for an alpha position could take all night, mainly because they were preceded by dozens of lesser fights as men took sides and challenged each other in pairs. Those warm-up fights rarely resulted in death, but they were messy, drawn-out contests between hot-blooded youngsters eager to show off their prowess. More bark than bite for the most part, with contestants fighting in human form before shifting to four feet. One fight would lead to another and another, feeding the crowd’s thirst for blood. It would take hours for things to finally escalate to alpha level. She doubted anyone would miss her in the excitement. The trick would be slipping away in the first place.
Mett looked around for her, stumbled, then took another long swig.
Now? her wolf begged, ready to run for the hills.
She checked the scene one more time. Gretchen was on the far side of the arena, paying Summer no mind. Mett sat down on a hay bale, blinking hard. His cousins were drunk, too, even if they hadn’t ingested any of the spiked stuff.
Let’s go! her wolf urged. Now!
She took one last look around then stepped out of sight behind an outlying building. She moved slowly, using one structure after another for cover, leaving the hubbub behind. Finally, she reached the edge of the settlement and jogged up a path, then ran like she was running for her life.
Drew, her wolf hummed. We get to see Drew!
Her step faltered before she forced herself onward. What if Drew hadn’t been bluffing when he addressed the wolves? What if he had changed his mind about her?
She clenched her jaw and ran on, following a narrow gully that wound northwest. Even if Drew had changed his mind — even if he broke her heart — she had to see him. To share what she’d observed, for starters, and to find out how she might best help whatever mission he had been tasked with.
She stopped, shed her clothes, and hid them behind a rock before shifting to wolf form. And the second she did, instinct took over.
Mate! Must see my mate, her wolf cried as she sniffed the air for any sign of pursuit.
Nothing. No one had seen her go, and no one was following. They were all too busy at the fight, and they’d be busy for hours after with the bonfire and gossip that always followed such landmark events in a pack’s history.
And if anyone did follow her… Her fur bristled, and she bared her long teeth. No one was stopping her tonight.
She splashed across a creek and waded a long way upstream, exiting and reentering the water several times to make sure she couldn’t be tracked. Then she flicked her trail, jogged up a hill, and sniffed.
She couldn’t scent Drew from here — not directly. But every muscle in her body sensed a pull coming from the east, so she ran that way full tilt.
Mate, her wolf huffed as she ran. He was out there. He was waiting for her.
She ran faster and faster, willing him to hear her call. Wait for me, my mate.
Chapter Six
Drew shifted from foot to foot and peered through the darkness. Where was she?
He kicked the ground for the tenth time and paced toward the road, then back up the trail. He’d driven miles from Hope Springs to a tiny state park that seemed as good a place as any for a clandestine meeting. But would Summer even show?
He scratched his ear and told himself not to doubt her. But hell, he had done a pretty good job keeping a poker face at the wolf pack meeting, not to mention making vague enough comments about mixing shifter species that she might have bought into his deceit. But surely Summer would know he was firmly on his cousin’s side. She wouldn’t turn her back on him, would she?
He checked the perimeter again and went back to pacing. The only sound was the crunch of his boots over the dusting of snow on the ground. He sniffed the air to make sure there was no one else around. And why would there be, way up this back road to a remote corner of the park? He’d let himself through a few poorly locked gates on the way in, parked a good mile away, hopped a fence, and hid his tracks carefully. No way was anyone going to interrupt them tonight.
Trust me, the voice in his mind whispered. You are safe here.
Well, he’d be the judge of that. He triple-checked everything until his bear was satisfied.
Safe. His bear nodded. But where is she?
He’d felt the pull to this place. Did Summer, too? There was a hum coming from the ground — almost from the center of the earth. As if Mother Nature had guided him to this special place, eager to facilitate a secret rendezvous.
He checked his watch and then the area yet again. The clearing he stood in held a couple of picnic tables with grills, and none of the ashes were new. The area was officially closed anyway, and most importantly, there was no hint of shifters here.
No, he didn’t have to worry. He was alone.
Don’t want alone, his bear sighed sadly. Want my mate.
That was the problem. There was no hint of Summer, either.
Patience, he barked at his bear, complete hypocrite that he was.
Finally, the bushes at the far side of the clearing rustled, and he spun.
“Summer.”
Her name was about all he could manage when she stepped out of the shadows. It was her. It had to be her. But Jesus, he’d never seen her in wolf form before. And that wolf — Summer — took his breath away.
She was just as beautiful as he expected. Her hair was just as fair as he was used to seeing, which made her lighter than any wolf he’d ever seen. Her eyes were that same chocolate brown, but they were even more intense than usual, and all the more striking with the slightly darker stripe of fur that marked the line of her brow. Her nose was black and shiny, and her nostrils flared, taking in his scent. She held her body exactly as she held her human form: tall and a little stiff, like someone who felt fear but refused to bow to it.
Fear. He was determined to erase that from her life. Someday. Somehow. Yes, it was risky, meeting like this. But not meeting was riskier, because he couldn’t keep his passion for her bottled up any more. This seemed like the only way — getting the need out of his system before sneaking back to the Blue Blood stronghold and caging away his desire again.
His bear rumbled, encouraging her to sniff all she wanted. You’re mine, and I’m yours. Did she feel it, too?
“Summer,” he said, letting his voice break the silence of the forest.
He held his breath, admiring every detail of the wolf. Imprinting them all onto his memory. Her long legs, the glint of starlight in her eyes. The hopeful expression on her face.
“Summer,” he whispered, coaxing her forward.
She licked her wolf lips and flicked her tail back and forth. Slowly, she took a step, and the moonlight shimmered over her coat. Another step, and Drew still hadn’t dared to exhale. He hadn’t even dared to think. He just stood there, lost in her spell.
She was all the way across the clearing, and that seemed much, much too far. But thankfully, she was coming closer, one cautious step at a time. She seemed to be getting taller, too, and at first, he thought it was a trick of the light — that the shimmer around her was her wolf’s body heat wavering in the cold air. Then he realized she was shifting, and he gaped. Shifters didn’t just change forms around anyone. Only around packmates and their most trusted friends.
“Summer,” he whispered in a voice thick with gratitude and wonder.
As she reared up on her hind legs, her human features emerged. She flexed her paws as they elongated into fingers and hands. Her beautiful wolf pelt receded, leaving her skin bare, and she wrapped her arms around herself. Against the cold or because of his stare? Both?
He gulped, unable to drag his eyes away from the sleek lines and creamy skin of Summer, the woman. So stunning, she looked like Venus rising from the ocean. So radiant, she flipped around his sense of seasons and hours. Instead of the cold of winter, he felt the warmth of July, and the space around her practically glowed, as if that was the sun shining down into that clearing instead of the nearly full moon.
Her skin was pale and smooth, her legs long and slender, her nipples tight in the cold. They pointed up slightly, peeking between her fingers, and his lips moved involuntarily. He longed for a taste. He longed to touch the swell of her breasts and the endlessly long legs that stretched to the graceful curve of her hips.
His bear chuffed inside. Mine. Mate.