Picking and choosing through the lingerie drawer was both exciting and terrifying. He hadn’t ever seen her in underwear and didn’t know which ones she would want for everyday use. Red it was. He didn’t know anything about comfort, but she’d look hot in red.
Packing toiletries was stressful because he had no idea what a woman needed to get ready. He found a makeup bag and threw it in with her toothbrush, toothpaste, and shower things. If she needed anything else, Rachel would surely let Morgan borrow it. Next, he went into Lana’s room and packed warm clothes, pajamas, socks and shoes. Rachel had already set her up with a toothbrush at the property.
After locking up, he buckled Lana in her car seat and stopped by the bank to talk about the measures needed to start using money from the trust fund account. Whether he decided to tap into it or not, he wanted to know how to access the money. He almost walked out, thinking of his father's reaction, but Lana slipped her tiny hand into his while they stood in line and suddenly his pride didn’t seem so important anymore. Morgan and Lana would need more from him.
When he and Lana arrived at the house, Rachel leaned against the dining room table, eyes puffy and red as if she’d been crying. “Dean has Changed and gone for a run. It was a rough meeting.”
Grey nodded and thanked her, picked Lana up and moved for the stairs to put the sleepy girl down for a nap. The guilt of imposing nagged at him and he turned. “Listen, I’m sorry we’re staying here. I’m sure you’re ready to get us out of your hair, but I can’t leave her.”
Rachel smiled. “I know how it is. It’s the same with Dean. It’s how I knew we were meant to be. And I don’t mind company. That’s the reason we bought this place. Wolves are social creatures, and our pack is extremely close. Rarely a day goes by when we don’t have someone staying over, and if we don’t have visitors, it gets lonely. And I’ll admit, having that sweet baby around has been good for the soul. You’d think we’d all have gone soft, the way those grumpy old wolves are fawning over who gets to play with her. Packs so rarely have children around, and it’s been such a nice change.”
He grinned. “She won’t be any fun to be around tonight unless I get her down for a nap.” He headed upstairs with Lana clinging tightly to his neck. After emptying the bags into a vacant dresser in their room, he lay with her until she fell asleep. He would’ve drifted off too, if he weren’t so curious to hear how the pack meeting went.
When he was sure Lana wouldn’t wake, he slid out of bed and went downstairs. He asked Rachel to keep an ear out for the little girl when she woke. He was being overly cautious, as he would be able to hear her stir from outside. His wolfy hearing seemed to be more in tune to her and Morgan these days but his overprotective instincts were running rampant. In light of Morgan’s attack and his realization they could be taken from him so easily, it would likely never ease.
Swinging lazily on the front porch swing, he waited for Dean to return from the run. When the alpha came up to the porch, clothed and human once again, Grey was smiling at a picture on his phone.
“What’re you looking at?” Dean asked, sat on the porch stairs and he pulled a pair of cotton socks on.
“I’m looking at this picture I took of Morgan and Lana.” He passed the phone to Dean, who looked at the photo and chuckled. The picture had been taken in her front yard and in it, Morgan wore an infectious grin as Lana proudly showed her a grasshopper.
“Landscaping looks nice,” Dean said. “Does she take care of it herself?”
“Yeah, she’s really creative with stuff like that. Like, she can just look at something raw and imagine the end result. The house would be a decent little place if the neighborhood weren’t such a hobo magnet.”
“You should start thinking about getting them out of there. Do you have the means to get them someplace safer? I think now that Morgan is a new wolf, it’ll be extremely hard to keep her in the city. At least until she has more control.”
“It’s something I definitely need to start thinking about. I have the means to do it, but I don’t know how she’ll feel about it. We haven’t been together that long, and now this...” he gestured at the barn. “I don’t know how we’re going to come out of it. The place she lives in now has my fur on end any time I’m over there. The feeling will be magnified, since she’s so new and has Lana to protect. I want to bring it up to her after she’s better, but honestly, I don’t even know where to start looking.”
“I was talking about it with Rachel and we don’t think it would be such a bad idea if you found someplace around here. If we’re serious about trying to help you keep Morgan safe, it makes sense you would be close enough for us to get to your place quickly if you need us. And I think it would be better for Morgan if she had easy access to Rachel and Marissa. This is harder for a girl, and she’s going to need support. Morgan has survived the Change, which is rare, but now the hard part begins. Wade has a large parcel of land a couple properties west of us. We used the same realtor, and I can give you the number if you want it. If you can afford it, you should probably get land to go with the house.”
Grey nodded. It wouldn’t suck to have his own property to run on, either. “You wouldn’t mind having us all in your back pocket? I know things get tense between us sometimes. Are you sure you would want me living near your territory?”
Dean leaned against the porch railing and stared thoughtfully toward the barn. “I guess we’ll see. Two packs in one territory hasn’t been done before, as far as I know. But then again, there’s never been a need for it.”
“All right, I guess I’ll need that number.”
“Alexis is gone,” Dean said unexpectedly. “I sent her to the Denver pack.”
Grey hesitated and chose his words carefully. “Thank you for doing that. I know it must’ve been a hard decision.”
“Did you know I made her?” Dean asked, emotion seeping into his voice. “Before Rachel and I met, I was in a rough place. I was dominant, always wanted to fight, and had trouble with control and no pack under me to keep me grounded. Wade tried to help but I’d pushed him away by then. I was drowning in the guilt of Turning him too. I was up late drinking too much at this crappy bar near my apartment, and when I walked outside, I couldn’t find my car. You’d laugh if you saw how tiny that parking lot was, and me with my super werewolf senses couldn’t find my own damned car.” He smiled vacantly at the porch’s wooden floorboards. “I was about to head back in, convinced it was stolen, when I heard this noise. The sound was so faint I thought I imagined it, but I heard it again. This soft sigh. So I followed the noise and found Alexis in the alley between the buildings. Someone had dumped her body behind a bunch of trashcans, and she was almost gone by the time I got there. I don’t know what they did to her or why, and she would never tell me, but they cut her up pretty badly. I panicked. I was drunk and couldn’t think straight, and I Changed, thinking if I saved this girl it would make up for what I’d done to Wade. So I bit her, and kept myself from killing her. I Changed back, found my car, and took her to my place. Wade was the first in my pack, Alexis, the second. And for all of the crap she’s done, I made her. The choice to send her away—” He shook his head. “I hope you never have to make that decision.”
Chapter 11
It had been nine days since Morgan Changed. It was best if Grey’s visits were limited, and only as Wolf to keep her stress level down until she was in human skin again. He brought food and stayed for a short time each day, but that was the only contact he had with her. Nine days since he’d touched her meant a slow descent into madness.
Marissa was at school, but Rachel hummed softly and off key in the kitchen.
“Would you mind watching Lana for a few hours?” he asked. “I have a meeting and I’m afraid she’ll get bored.”
She pushed the newspaper she’d been reading to the side. “Sure. I’m just hanging around the house today until I pick up Marissa. Leave the car seat in case your meeting runs long, and I’ll take her wi
th me.”
He sat in the chair beside her and tugged at one of the inked pages. “Computer’s faster, if you want the news.”
“True, but there’s something really satisfying about holding paper in your hands. In my day, the newspaper was all you had.”
The dark haired woman didn’t look a day older than thirty, but her actual age was a complete mystery. He knew better than to ask.
“Anything juicy?”
“Not today, thank goodness. I’m looking for unnatural deaths.”
Grey frowned. “You’re looking for man-eater kills?”
“It’s a good habit to keep. Maintaining our secrecy is a full time job. I can only imagine the lengths someone went to covering up the monster that attacked Morgan’s sister and you.”
“What do you do when you find one?”
Rachel’s hazel eyes looked haunted. “If a man-eater kills in our territory, he’s our problem. The pack takes care of him.”
Grey knocked lightly on the table. “Remind me not to get on the pack’s bad side. I’ll be back around two. You need me to pick up anything while I’m out?”
“The answer’s always eggs. We can never have enough eggs.”
He nodded and headed for Lana, who rolled a wooden train he’d carved around the living room. He gave her a squeeze, and headed to his truck to see Eric Brennan, Dean’s realtor, about buying some property.
They were going to take a look at acreage around Dean’s place. It wouldn’t take them long because the three land parcels he was interested in were all nearby and in the same area. That, and Grey knew exactly what he wanted. If none of the properties came close to what he had in mind, he’d simply keep looking.
On the first night Morgan had let him sleep in her bed, they’d talked until the early hours of the morning. She’d told him about family, friends, and what life was like when she’d been a child. The biggest part of that discussion, however, was future plans. Her dream for a log cabin in the woods had stuck with him. She wanted the cabin to be nice and big so when Lana got older, she could bring her family around for holidays. Morgan’s dream for the future had slowly molded into his dream for the present. He wanted, needed, to make her happy. Wolf would never be satisfied if he didn’t, and there was a blooming, innate urge to take care of her and the child. To provide for them. He would withdraw what was needed from the trust fund, and the consequences be damned.
The first property was six hundred fifty acres of flat land. Mesquite trees and the occasional blooming cactus clusters dusted the rich, dark soil. To reach the front gate, he’d have to drive through two other properties, and he wanted land that came straight off the main road. He never wanted to deal with property or trespassing disputes about getting to his own house.
The second property, about six hundred acres, looked more like what he had in mind except it was six properties away from Dean’s place. The miles between them would be too much if he ever needed the pack’s help quickly. Or if they needed help from him in return.
As he and Eric pulled over the cattle guards of the third one, he smiled. This was the one. It had come on the market two weeks before. The property consisted of five hundred acres, and was right off the main road. Once three plots of land, but those had been purchased by one man, who now sold it as one large property to make a sizeable profit. Situated between Wade and Dean’s properties, the land would create a bridge that would give the wolves more consecutive territory to run on. The land was hillier than was common in those parts and even boasted a small mountain. Water and electricity had already been run on it to get to Wade’s property. He’d have to thank him for that later.
“The only problem with this one,” Eric told him, “is it already has interest and an offer on the table. You’d need to make a decision on this one quickly and make a higher offer.”
Grey looked around and nodded. “All right, let’s sign the paperwork. I want this one.”
After he’d finished with the realtor, Grey headed into town, hoping the seller would agree to his offer and toss out the other. He was surprised when Eric called him while he was in the dairy section of the grocery store to tell him the property would be his in two weeks after closing. Everything was falling into place. All he needed was for Morgan to come back.
By the time Grey arrived at the house, it was dinnertime. He grabbed a giant carton of eggs from the passenger seat and jogged around the front of the truck. He froze and snapped his head toward the barn. He sniffed once. Twice. The air told him a hundred things, but one of them said something was different.
“You okay?” Dean asked from the front door, and didn’t look like he’d sensed anything, didn’t feel the electricity in the air beckoning him to the barn.
“I think I need to check on Morgan.”
Dean trotted down the dirt road behind him. Wolf always perked up when he went to see Morgan, but this time howled to Change. A slow simmering panic spurred Grey into a jog.
“You going to Change?” Dean asked.
“Not this time. We’ll peek our heads in, and if she’s okay we’ll leave her alone.” Dean tossed him the keys and by the time they got to the stairs, Grey was running. As he opened the door, the scent of her took him aback. His Morgan.
“I’ll call Wade,” Dean said, glancing around Grey’s shoulder, pulled out a cell phone and rapidly dialed numbers as he left the room.
Morgan sat on a piece of the shredded mattress. Feet resting against two of the bars, she sat elbows on knees, hands clenched and face buried in her forearms. Her dark hair cascaded down her back and shielded her body. She sniffled and looked up with wide, frightened eyes. Her leg was open and bleeding. It had been healing quickly when she’d been in wolf form, but the Change back must have reopened it.
“Grey? What’s happening?” she whispered in a voice thick from crying.
His heart sank. Where would he even begin? How was he supposed to explain it all? Her life was supposed to be so different and it had just taken a hard right down the path of most destruction.
“Morgan,” he said, emotion filling his throat and making it hard to continue. He shook his head and unlocked the cage.
“I’m one of you, now. I can feel it. I can feel her pulling for control, telling me to run.”
“You don’t have to run from me,” he said, meeting stunning gray-violet eyes. “I’d never hurt you.”
Her downturned lips trembled. “I know why they call you the Big Bad Wolf now. The weight of it, of you…it makes me feel like I can’t breathe.”
Every tear streaming down her face was a dagger. He was a monster. Morgan had shielded him from what he was when she’d been human. She hadn’t known any better, had treated him like any other man. Now with the sensitivity of a wolf, she understood what he was.
Grey left to grab a blanket for her from the storage room, and when he returned, tried to stay as far away as possible as he offered it to her. Still, she looked terrified. She didn’t move toward the blanket, so he unfolded it and placed it around her shoulders. Then he backed off and squatting, met her at eye level.
“Thanks,” she whispered, looking at him apologetically. “It hurts too bad to move. Is it always like this?”
“Yeah, the first few times you’re pretty sore afterward until your body adjusts to that kind of pain. You were a wolf for nine days, and if you stay in one form too long, it makes the pain worse. It gets easier if you Change back and forth regularly.”
“A week and a half? Lana—is she okay? Where is she?”
“She’s fine,” Grey said. “Better than fine, but missing you. She’ll be really happy to get to see you again. We didn’t want her seeing you as a wolf yet. Not until you can control yourself better.”
She sat there quietly, a faraway look in her eyes.
“Morgan, I need to put pressure on your leg because it’s still bleeding. Wade lives close. He’s the pack doctor, but until he gets here we need to put something on your leg
to slow it down.”
She nodded stiffly and he raced for the first aid supplies in the storage room. He came in slowly, gauze bandages at the ready. As he got closer, she let out a small whimper.
“I’m so sorry,” she squeaked.
“It’s okay, babe. How many times have I growled at you when I didn’t mean to?”
Wade arrived just as the bleeding slowed. He moved Grey off to the side and she relaxed visibly. He gave her muscle relaxers and a round of antibiotics and stitched her leg where it had opened. Twenty minutes later, she was able to at least move her arms, and Wade handed over a bundle of clothes Grey had packed.
“A hot shower will get some of the stiffness out, too,” Wade said
She looked down at herself and her cheeks flushed. She was naked except for the blanket Grey had brought, and unlike the other wolves, very obviously not okay with public nudity.
It took a long time for her to dress herself and then, with Grey and Wade’s help, get up the stairs in the barn. Grey’s common sense was leached by the desperation of his wolf. His Morgan was injured and another dominant animal had his paws on her. Even if Wade was trying to help, it was more than Wolf could bear.
Morgan tripped at the top of the stairs and leaned heavily toward the scar-faced wolf, and Grey lost it. A snarl ripped from him. Wade released Morgan, put his hands in the air, and backed off. Her eyes were wide and the expression in them, scared.
He couldn’t do it. Couldn’t watch her drag her injured body all the way up the road. He picked her up before she had time to respond and headed for the house, careful not to jostle her sore body, his long gait quick and smooth. She relaxed into him and put her arms around his neck. He didn’t care about the reason, whether that was the most comfortable position or she didn’t have anywhere else to put her arms, but she was touching him. It counted.
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