Wolf Line: Northern Lights Edition (Granite Lake Wolves Book 5)

by Vivian Arend

  A slight commotion from the right drew her attention. Eden from housekeeping marched up to Jared then whispered loud enough that her voice, though not the specific words, could be heard from where Keri stood in the line.

  Eden grabbed the railing of the cart and tugged it toward her. Jared laid a hand on the basket section and stopped her motion. That was when Keri spotted the neat Eden label on the upper edge of the basket and a horrible, terrible, yet wonderful thought hit her.

  Jared gave up fighting, his hands lifted in the air, and Eden turned and flounced off, her cleaning cart in white-knuckle possession.

  The little lad who was reloading the bubbles reached the end of the row and turned, giving a quick thumbs-up before racing back to Jared’s side.

  Keri rudely forced her way past the few shifters waiting in front of her. “Excuse me, sorry, emergency.”

  And with an extra burst of speed, she timed her leap to hit the lane first, her gaze locked on Eden as the woman scurried toward the maintenance-staff-only door, her cart clutched in front of her. Keri balanced as if on a skateboard, twirling in a full 360-degree circle as she fought to keep her balance. A loud roar of approval rose behind her. The wall of the inner cabin shot past her as she bore down on her target. They connected smartly, Eden’s feet flying out from under her, and the cart tipping hard enough it landed with a bounce.

  Mops flew one way, brooms and buckets another.

  And over it all, a fine layer of earrings, necklaces and other shiny baubles came to rest on top of her and Eden.

  Chapter Twelve

  He’d come full circle. Jared leaned back in the comfy couch, looking around the familiar coffee shop with something close to wonder rippling through him. Across the table, his Alpha lowered a tray filled with coffees and goodies. Jared still couldn’t smell the damn stuff, but now it didn’t matter in the least, because he had his mate at his side, her feet tucked under his thigh as she curled up tight against him.

  “You two know how to make a splash.” Keil dropped his bulk into a chair before passing a mug to Keri. “I thought I’d heard of everything, but this is…” He seemed to search for a proper word.

  “Entertaining?” Jared supplied hopefully.

  Keil snorted. “Better than having to haul your ass out of the slammer. You’re a far more complicated guy than I ever imagined, Jared.”

  Across the table, Tessa leaned in and snagged a chocolate éclair, sinking her teeth into the soft surface and groaning happily. She swallowed quickly before pointing the half-eaten goodie at her best friend.

  “You still need to explain what made you take out Eden like that.”

  Keri squirmed upward. “You know we’d talked about how maybe Chad was setting Jared up? But I couldn’t figure out any reason for him to try to mess up the cruise. I mean, I knew he wanted your brother back in charge, but Tony isn’t stupid, and while Chad isn’t the brightest flashlight on the block, even he had to know ruining the ship’s reputation wouldn’t be the way to keep his friend happy.”

  Keil listened intently then wrinkled his nose. “So, there was no setup?”

  Tessa licked her fingertips clean even as she shook her head. “There was a setup. Eden’s been trying to get Chad’s attention for the past three cruises, at least. My brother and I heard him talk about her, but he’s always had someone else he was involved with.”

  “Including, he thought, Keri for the start of this trip,” Jared teased.

  “Well…yeah.” His mate flushed nicely. Then her gaze narrowed. “You’re one to talk, Mr. Running away from my lover’s brothers. You gonna give me grief? Forget it.”

  Jared backpedaled. She had a point. “Go on, tell us the final bit.”

  Tessa shrugged. “Eden confessed. She knew if things went missing the two areas most likely to be accused of the thefts would be housekeeping or maintenance—the only groups with easy access to private quarters. She figured if she was sleeping with Chad, he’d be less likely to want to accuse her. After he’d complained about how much he disliked Jared, it was an easy step to drop some of her ill-gotten goods in a direction that made him look guilty. But, Keri, you slammed into her out of the blue. Spill…why?”

  Keri snuggled against Jared’s side. “Honest? There was this art heist we learned about in school. The cleaning staff at one of the big museums were replacing priceless artwork with forgeries and rolling out the real art under the guards’ noses unnoticed in their carts. When Eden got in such a snit over Jared grabbing her private cleaning cart, I wondered if there was something in there she didn’t want found.”

  Tessa raised a brow. “So, like a total guess on your part is what you’re saying.”

  Keri nodded. “Yeah, pretty much.”

  Tessa flashed her two thumbs up. “You rock as a troubleshooter.”

  Wild satisfaction rolled over Jared. Keri had saved their butts, because facts or not, it wouldn’t have been easy to explain to his parents what had gone down on the ship.

  They visited for a bit, everyone talking at the same time—easy conversation among people who honestly liked each other. Keri’s hand rested in his, and he rubbed her fingers lightly, his mind racing as he considered what was the best thing for them to do next. They really did have a world of options open.

  “Ahem.”

  Jared jerked to his feet. “Chad?”

  The man’s usual bluster was missing as he clutched his hat in his hands and avoided eye contact. He sighed wearily, then noticed Keil, his eyes widening before he dipped his head politely. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll give you a call—”

  “Wait.” Jared wasn’t sure why, but he pulled the chair from the table behind them and offered it. “Sit. You want a coffee?”

  Chad paused then joined them. He looked across to Tessa and let loose another one of those sighs. “No coffee, but I do owe you an apology, Tessa, and since I was rude in front of others, I should apologize in front of them. I had no idea Eden would do something so bizarre. I would never have jeopardized the cruise. I hope you believe me.”

  Tessa nodded slowly but didn’t speak.

  “You did a great job. I hope you enjoy running the ship for a long time to come.” He rose to his feet and nodded, obviously ready to take his leave.

  “Thank you for that,” Tessa said. “Only I think I’m going to leave the ship to Tony from now on. I’ll be sure to recommend he hire you on again.”

  Chad’s jaw flapped open. “Really? I mean, really?”

  Tessa shook a finger at him. “You’re a great coordinator, Chad. You just need to lay off the private vendettas with crew members.”

  Chad glanced sheepishly at Jared. “Sorry about that.”

  Jared lifted his mug. “Totally forgotten.”

  Keri fidgeted at his side. “Tessa, you never said a word about not wanting to run the cruise ship next time out. What’s up?”

  “You were a little distracted.” Tessa’s wide grin was echoed in the expressions facing them.

  Yeah, they’d been a trifle distracted, although who could blame them? Even sitting there Jared was aching to run off with Keri again, find somewhere private and not surface for days.

  This mating thing—totally disruptive in more ways than he’d expected.

  “Spill, girlfriend.”

  Tessa wiped chocolate from her lips. “I can’t stand the ocean. I was borderline seasick the entire trip, and the only thing keeping me sane was the chocolate. If I don’t want to be a three-hundred-pound cougar, I need to find a dry-land place to manage. The ship was fun, and I know I did a good job, but Tony is welcome to take the job back. I’m moving on to something that suits me better.”

  Keri laughed. “Now the chocolate makes sense. But…good for you. Yes, you need to do what’s going to make you happy. I’m still proud of you.”

  Tessa smiled, and Jared relaxed.

  If Tessa wasn’t working the ship anymore, then perhaps Keri would be open to a little suggestion he had of his own.

&
nbsp; He twisted her toward him and leaned their foreheads together. He spoke softly, just for her ears as the noise of happy voices rumbled around them. “Sad you don’t have a job anymore?”

  She shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m unemployed—at least they didn’t drop me off in Greenland.”

  He wasn’t quite sure what that meant. “Does this mean you’re free to do something special with me? Like maybe find a nice artsy job here in the North?”

  “I’m yours.”

  The words were simple, but there was lightness in her eyes, a kind of a joy and brightness heating up quickly to something that made his body catch fire. “I’m glad to hear that.”

  He ignored everyone around them. Ignored the fact his Alpha was staring and had a ton of unanswered questions. Ignored everything but his need to connect with his mate, because right then there was nothing on his to-do list higher than “kiss Keri senseless”.

  So he did.

  Bonus Scene

  New York City, three weeks later

  Keri took a big breath and fought to keep her grin from getting even wider.

  The past week had been like something out of a fairytale. She'd been whisked away by her mate to New York. Not just her, but her parents as well, and they’d attended all sorts of meet the family events. Including a wolfish ceremony that had been one step shy of a wedding, but more than formal enough to make her and her downhome, down-to-earth parents shake in their boots for a little while.

  All that money. All that power—

  Or at least they'd been nervous until they’d actually gotten together with Jared’s family, at which point Keri had finally understood her mate’s charm and good-nature must've been fifty percent genetics and fifty percent upbringing.

  If there was a more relaxed, born-with-a-silver-spoon-in-their-mouths family, Keri couldn't imagine. Even now, at this very moment, her mother and father were off with the Gillilands, gallivanting somewhere through Central Park.

  Or so Jared had just announced.

  Keri glanced in the mirror to look over her shoulder at him a little more thoroughly, tempted to shake her head to see if what she'd heard rattled around in there. "Let me get this straight. My parents and your parents are strolling around Central Park. In their wolf forms."

  Jared nodded. "It’s a guarded group, of course, but my dad managed to set something up with bylaws and a tour company, so the only thing they have to be comfortable with is humans taking pictures of them, thinking they’re visiting wolf packs from Yellowstone." He grinned "You will not believe how much fun my dad has telling his shifter clients stories after spending a day in the park."

  She returned to dragging a brush through her hair. The visit to New York was not at all what she’d expected. She was pleased to discover she was not only enjoying her mate's family, but most of all, her mate.

  Inside, her wolf rumbled in agreement. Like him. And wolf is sexy.

  Which was to the point, and true.

  "So, if our moms and dads are currently gallivanting around a green space, what are we getting ready for?" She thought over the activities they’d enjoyed the past week. "Do your sisters want to take us somewhere? I like them, by the way. You have very nice sisters."

  Jared folded his arms abruptly, but he looked far too content to be truly annoyed, even though his words came out teasingly. "Jilly and Julie most definitely want to spend more time with you, but I don't think I'm going to allow it. Not until I've found some ammunition to stop them from telling you more stories about my misspent youth. How am I supposed to be your hero when you know I got stuck in a clown suit when I was twelve?"

  Keri held up her hands. "Hey, don't look at me. You're the one who was precocious enough to shift that young. Also, clown suit? Don't you dare think about using that as a Halloween costume ever again."

  A hint of mischief lit his eyes. "You don't like clowns?"

  "No sane person likes clowns," she retorted. She rose to her feet and approached him threateningly.

  Obviously not nearly as threateningly as she’d intended because the first thing he did when she came within reach was grab her by the lapels of her bathrobe and pull her in for a long, luscious kiss. One that had her toes curling and her body pounding like one big pulse.

  Quite sometime later they separated, going in different directions by all of three inches, which was just enough room for her to catch her breath. "You keep doing that, and we’re going to miss whatever it is we’re supposed to attend."

  “We can't have that, because we are the guests of honour." He reached behind him and pulled something from his back pocket. "Speaking of which, most notable guest of honour, this is for you."

  Keri took the box from him, a slight hesitation before she spoke. "Jared, I know you're rich and all, but I love you. You don't need to keep buying me trinkets."

  Trinkets that cost more than the rent on her apartment. The apartment she didn’t need anymore because they’d gotten a place together. Two places, for heaven’s sake. One in New York near his family, and one in Haines so they could officially stay with the Granite Lake pack.

  He pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I love you too, but I'm not buying you trinkets because I'm worried about that. I'm giving you things because I just can't resist. But in this case, it's not my fault. This is a gift from the head of the Scottish wolf packs. Oh, and in a neat twist, this is also partly from one of the local families here in New York. Friends of my parents—their son and his best friend have something to do with the design, and I want to see what you think.”

  His comment intrigued her, and she lifted off the box lid, fully expecting to be blinded by the shimmer of diamonds or other precious jewels.

  What she found instead was something a lot more rugged yet still equally beautiful. “Oh, my. This is amazing.”

  She pulled the unique item from the box and laid it in her palm, running her fingers over the braided cord that formed the bulk of the bracelet. Thin strands of copper wove through the cord, creating a mosaic of subtle beauty while still somehow being soft as silk.

  Jared pulled it gently from her fingers and wrapped it around her wrist, doing up the clasp. “I take it that’s approval?”

  Keri stretched out her arm and twisted her wrist to allow the light to bounce off the thin strands of copper. “I do love the jewelry your family makes, but this looks functional as well as pretty.” She glanced up at him. “Does it have more than one use?”

  He shook his finger at her as he was grinning. “I knew you would catch on quickly. Yes. It’s a line of jewelry suitable for shifters to wear in the wilderness. Not only does it have the same funky magic that the jewelry my family makes has, so it adjusts in size when you shift, all the items in this line can be unraveled. The bracelet gives you enough high test cord to create a lean-to.”

  “And the copper? Are we installing electricity in teeny little houses for creatures in the wilderness?”

  “We could if we wanted to,” he teased, reaching past her onto the dresser for a box she hadn’t noticed. “And this one, if you can believe it, unravels into a hammock.”

  She pulled the lid off the second box far more eagerly, sucking in a breath at the beautiful necklace revealed. This time the copper radiated into a flaring sun, the cording braided far more intricately, but still skin-tantalizingly soft. “It would be a crime to destroy something this beautiful, because I would never be able to re-weave it.”

  “Here’s the kicker. If you ever decide to use it, all you do after is return the cording to a central mailbox for recycling, and they’ll send you a brand-new one.”

  “That is incredible, and makes absolutely no sense.” She lifted her hair away from her neck so he could drape the necklace in place and fasten it. “How could that possibly be financially viable?”

  Jared seemed a little distracted, pressing his lips against her neck and lingering there, teasing with his lips and tongue. “The fellow investing in the production line thinks the high initial cost means it�
�s worthwhile, and hey, who am I to argue with a fellow billionaire about how he spends his money?”

  Keri twisted in Jared’s arms, playing her fingertips over his shoulders. “I had no idea wolf billionaires were a diamond a dozen here in New York, or I would have made a trip far sooner.”

  “Jim’s a bear billionaire,” Jared corrected her. “And you know, it really doesn’t matter how many billionaires there are walking the streets—you’ve already got the only one you need.”

  She slid in against him, natural as breathing, pressing their lips together and answering his comment in a very thorough and enjoyable manner.

  Before she knew it, one thing led to another, which meant they were a little late out to the gathering. Keri was a little more rumpled than she’d planned on, but pacing at Jared’s side with her fingers linked in his, she wasn’t about to worry.

  Guests of honour were allowed to look rumpled.

  His sisters waved from the opposite side of the garden area, jumping up and down to get her attention.

  “I don’t suppose I can convince you to behave this time,” Jared mumbled as they came closer to where two young ladies stood visiting with a distinguished-looking elderly gentleman.

  “I promise I will be as demure and quiet as anyone in your family.”

  His snort of amusement was enough to let her know he knew exactly what she’d just said.

  They were instantly surrounded, the senior shifter holding out his hand to Keri first, clasping her hand and lifting it so he could press a kiss to her knuckles. “And there they be. ‘Tis a good thing for an old man’s heart to see two young pups so in love.”

  Jared offered an introduction. “Keri, I’d like you to meet Sir William McGregor, of the McGregor clan of Scotland. He’s the one who gave you the gifts today. Sir William, my mate, Keri Gilliland. Or soon to be Gilliland.”

  It was definitely a sign she’d been breathing rarefied air all week, because other than the quick shot thrilling through her, she managed to smile and dip her head politely instead of falling over in a faint. “The gifts are marvelous, and thank you. But I think meeting you is even more exciting.”