First Shift (The Wolves of Rock Falls Book 1)

by AJ Skelly

  Footsteps approached then, so further conversation would have to wait.

  Cade clapped me on the back. “You may get her after all.”

  I hoped so, but I wasn’t holding my breath.

  ****

  We ran as a pack that night, Meg beside me. The wind was cold, almost biting. It was glorious. We covered about twenty miles, running wild, free, uninhibited. Once we were back at the cabin, people slowly dispersed. I was still antsy. Wolf was still keyed up about the kiss and even the long run in the wild wasn’t enough to completely calm him.

  Based on how I felt about Megan, the more tired I was, the better. I’d have less energy to act on my desires.

  Chapter 32

  Megan

  “I’ve still got some energy to get out. I’m going to go for another run. Two legs this time.” Sam grinned. “Wanna come?” We were standing right inside the cabin door after the last pack member had gone.

  Neither of us had said a word about our kiss that afternoon, and I really wanted some alone time to process it. Besides, I was beat after such an emotional day and then my time as a wolf.

  “No, I’m pretty tired. I think I’m going to go grab a shower and then maybe read for a bit.” I smiled up at him, so he’d know it wasn’t a rejection. Even if I did plan on doing more over-analyzing than reading.

  “Okay.” He smiled back and touched the small of my back briefly. “I’ll probably be about a half hour or so. You okay for that long?”

  “Of course. I think even my wolf is worn out after today.” I willed myself to keep from blushing.

  With another smile he was out the door. I grabbed my pajamas and sports bra and headed to the bathroom.

  The hot water never felt better than it did beating down on my recently exercised muscles. I was lightly pinked by the time I shut off the water and got out. I had just finished wrapping the towel around my head when there was a knock at the door.

  “Just a minute!” I called. I grabbed my purple robe from the bed, but then threw it over the back of a chair when Tammy’s face peeked through the window.

  “Hey, Tammy,” I said as I opened the door. She brushed past me into the kitchen. “What’s up?”

  “Is Sam here?”

  “No. He went for another run. Is everything okay?”

  She whirled on me, her black hair fanning around her head.

  “No, everything is not okay. Do you plan on staying a wolf?” She bit the words out.

  “Um, no,” I stammered, taken aback by her question and her attitude.

  She ran both her hands through her short hair making the tufts spike up even more.

  “Then what are you doing kissing him?” she thundered.

  I blinked. Was wanting to kiss Sam such a bad thing?

  “You’re his mate,” she continued without a breath as I tried to catch up and process.

  Mate?

  “Do you have any idea how much you’re screwing with his head? Bad enough biting you was an accident—but then to find out you’re his mate? For life! That’s the way wolves do things. We aren’t fickle like humans. Like you. You have been given the ultimate gift, and you’re trashing it! But before you reject perfection, you’re going to make this a thousand times harder for Sam by kissing him? You ungrateful idiot! You keep making the mate bond stronger with no thought of what it’s going to do to him when you leave on two legs! It’ll be all fine, well, and good for you on your happy little human way, but Sam will never be the same after you leave! For sure, he’ll never be able to forget you. You selfish son of a—”

  “Did you say mate?” I interrupted her, my heart a cold lump in my chest. The fight suddenly left her and her face paled. We were silent for a long minute.

  “You really didn’t know,” she whispered. She was white as a sheet, and I thought she might be sick.

  Without another word, she bolted for the door.

  “Tammy, wait! Come back!” But she was gone.

  Mate. The word rolled over and over in my mind. I needed to know exactly what that meant. With my head in a jumble, I put the kettle on and made myself a cup of tea. I was sitting at the table with my hands wrapped around the steaming mug when Sam came back through the door ten minutes later.

  He took one look at me, and his muscles tensed. “What’s wrong?”

  I took a breath and plunged in. “Sam, am I your…mate?”

  His face immediately became an unreadable mask.

  “Why would you ask that?”

  “Tammy was here.”

  His face fell, and he dragged a hand through his sweat-dampened hair. “Yeah. Okay. Let me get a quick shower.”

  I watched him as he grabbed his stuff and went to the bathroom. Though his movements were quick, he moved stiffly like an old man. I busied myself and made Sam a cup of hot chocolate with a big marshmallow on top the way I knew he liked it.

  The shower shut off, and minutes later Sam emerged wearing a light blue T-shirt and his loose-fitting gray pajama bottoms. His hair was darkened by the water and stuck out a little where he’d run the towel over it. Even in a tee and PJ bottoms, he could have been a model on the cover of any number of magazines. Why did he have to be so gorgeous?

  He sat in the chair opposite my forgotten mug of tea. He sighed. I put the mug of hot chocolate in front of him, and he grabbed my hand.

  “Thanks.” His eyes met mine briefly as he released my hand. The chair squeaked as I sat down across from him so we could talk face to face.

  “So. I’m your mate?” I ventured.

  “Yes.” The tension in my belly coiled tighter at his admission. I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but it sounded very permanent, and Sam’s reluctance to talk about it made me nervous. Strangely, the wolf inside me was quiet.

  Sam took another deep breath and then turned the full force of his blue eyes on me. I bit the inside of my lip.

  “It’s not a bad thing,” he started. “It’s a good thing. Really. Totally normal, though this sort of mate bond is somewhat rare. It’s just a thing I didn’t want you to have to deal with on top of everything else. What did Tammy say?”

  “Not a lot, actually. I think she thought I knew. Something about being your mate and that kissing you at the theater made things a lot harder for you—a lot worse.” Mortified, I felt tears pricking my eyes. “I’m sorry. I, I had no idea. I didn’t mean to make anything more difficult.”

  He reached across the table and gripped both my hands in his.

  “Meg, none of this is your fault. There’s nothing for you to feel guilty about. As for kissing me, you can do that anytime you want.” He smiled. It was a sad smile, but a smile that reached his eyes. I felt the tension in my belly uncoil a fraction of an inch.

  “What exactly does it mean in the wolf world—that I’m your mate? Are you…my mate? How does that work if I stay human? Or if I stay wolf?”

  “Well, it’s a little complicated with the human-wolf factors, but I’ll try to explain everything. Firstly, yes. You are my mate. When I bit you, I felt a little bit of tingling, but when you phased that first time, I knew you were my mate.” It was a happy memory for him. His smile stretched across his face.

  “Why didn’t I feel anything? Besides the shift, I mean.”

  “This is the complicated part. When you phased, you should have felt it, too. But because I was human when I bit you, there’s still a chance your body will fight off my toxins. That’s the best guess I’ve got for it. Your wolf probably thinks of me as her mate, but obviously the human part of you doesn’t. If you stay human, any of those lingering wolf feelings will fade.” His eyes grew sad. “So no. I’m not your mate. If I were, you’d know.” I felt myself blush as I thought about how my wolf responded to Sam. How much she wanted him sometimes. I cleared my throat.

  “Tammy said that kissing you made the mate bond stronger, and that it was making things harder for you.”

  His thumbs rubbed over my knuckles. He still held my hands, and I found myself wanting him t
o wrap his arms around all of me.

  “Tammy has a big mouth, but she was at least partly right. Any physical contact you initiate with me strengthens my bond to you. When you kissed me, the mate bond definitely intensified. Don’t look so worried.” I was biting my lip again. His expression turned sheepish. “Although that was why I jumped up so fast. I didn’t expect…I mean, I knew kissing you would be amazing. Believe me, I’ve thought a lot about it; I just underestimated how amazing.”

  My cheeks bloomed with color, and Sam chuckled.

  “You’re not so bad yourself,” I mumbled, my face flushing even darker.

  “I hear practice makes perfect.” He winked. I smiled, embarrassed but flattered, then sobered.

  “Tammy said I was messing with your head. Leading you on is the last thing I want to do.” I bit the inside of my cheek as I remembered how I kissed him at the theater. “I…we agreed this would only be for show…” I drifted off then cleared my throat. “I mean, I still want to be human.” Wolf snorted at me, and I swallowed hard.

  He was thoughtful for a minute and let go one of my hands to take a drink of his hot chocolate.

  “Unless you stay wolf, this is going to suck for me one way or the other. I’m not saying that to make you feel bad. I’m just trying to get it all out there. But I think I’d rather enjoy my time with you, however long or short that might be, and however much you’re comfortable with, instead of trying to deny this. What I feel for you. Obviously, you feel at least a little something, too.”

  We were quiet a minute, staring into each other’s eyes—searching.

  “What do you feel, Sam?” I whispered.

  His answering smile was gentle. “I fell for you a long time before my wolf did.”

  My mouth made a silent O, but he moved on without waiting for me to respond. I couldn’t decide if I was relieved about that or not. I had no idea what I actually felt for Sam Wolfe.

  “Do you understand what a mate bond is?”

  I shook my head.

  “Wolf pairs—mates—form mate bonds. They’re deep and practically unbreakable. Sometimes, they’re instant like my connection to you. That kind is somewhat rare and usually pretty celebrated in the wolf world. Sometimes, they’re forged over time. Wolves in the wild mate for life, and werewolves do, too. There’s the occasional Casanova wolf, which is exactly what it sounds like, and there are those who don’t pair off. But among those that pair, they mate for life. That was one of the reasons my dad was so angry with me—aside from the fact that biting you was a major offense—biting you also made you mine. Up until the last century, that’s how mates staked their claims. With a solid bite. Biting is a big deal for a werewolf. Aside from that, I’m the Beta in the pack. It’s my job to become Alpha one day. Having a bitten mate with no prior knowledge, no blood ties, or established bloodlines makes things more complicated. A wolf’s dominance over other wolves in the pack is determined by the strength of their blood. My biting you also ruined Dad’s plan to have me mated off with someone more of his choosing—probably another pack Alpha’s daughter to ensure our bloodline stays strong. If you stay human, it’s still another complication. I won’t ever be able to bond completely with anyone else. I won’t ever feel the same about anyone as I feel about you.”

  “But he’s the Alpha. Couldn’t he order you to bite me as a wolf and make me part of the pack officially?” I wasn’t gunning to be a permanent wolf, but I was curious.

  Sam’s face got blotchy red spots on it.

  “He did. Not to bite you again, but to make you stay a wolf.”

  I took in his red cheeks and felt a curl of unease in the pit of my stomach.

  “Then why am I still human?”

  “Because I refused. I’m Beta.” He heaved a sigh. “I told him if he forced me to…keep you a wolf, that I’d defy him and fight him for Alpha right then. It was the only way I knew how to ensure that you still had a choice if the toxins don’t change you permanently.”

  He’d defied his own father for me. And Mr. Wolfe was one scary Alpha. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but at the moment, I was thankful to still have a chance to be fully human.

  “Wouldn’t biting me have been so much easier?” I was grateful he hadn’t but confused why he hadn’t.

  He was silent, and I noticed the tips of his ears getting red.

  “It wasn’t about biting me again, was it?”

  He shook his head.

  “Then what?”

  “Sex, Megan.”

  My eyes bugged out of their sockets. “I beg your pardon?”

  “Once a pair mates—literally—the bond is solidified in every possible way. If we were to sleep together before waiting for the next full moon, it would ensure that you stayed a wolf. My dad thought that was the best possible outcome. He wanted me to seduce you and make myself irresistible to you.” He ran his hand over his hair again. “But you are not the sort of girl that is easily seduced or who crawls into bed with every guy you date. And I’m not that guy.” His gaze fell to the table, not meeting my eyes. “I…it means something in the wolf world. That’s something you only share with your mate. It’s not something you do to manipulate a person. Anyway, I don’t exactly have experience seducing women.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that. He certainly kissed like he had plenty of experience.

  “Are you a virgin?” The words erupted from my mouth before I could stop them. Red flooded my cheeks. His head came up, and he nodded slowly. A tendril of heat slid through me. Something else unexpected that Sam and I had in common. I felt a smile tip the corner of my mouth. For whatever reason, that knowledge made me glad. It was something else that set Sam apart. Most guys I knew were all about getting into bed with anything that had boobs and a pulse.

  “Are you?”

  I nodded back, and he let out a relieved breath. “That’s hot.”

  Wolf puffed out her chest. “I was raised by grandparents from a different era. I always wanted to be like my grandma, saving that for my wedding night.” I blushed darker, confessing all this to Sam. Neither one of us knew what to say after that. There was an awkward pause where we both consulted the mugs in front of us. My wheels were turning, and I snagged on one piece of information. My mug thumped down onto the table as the information took root.

  “That’s why your dad insisted on this marriage agreement, isn’t it? It’s not necessarily a wolf-human thing, or a safety issue, it’s because he wanted us to have sex.” I was still working through the details, anger, confusion, and growing clarity steaming through me like a kettle working up to a boil.

  “Yeah.” His hand ruffled over his hair again.

  “But why force us into marriage? People have unmarried sex all the time. Not that I plan to, but still.”

  “I’m eighteen,” he said simply. It dawned fully on me then.

  “I’m seventeen. I’m not legal.”

  “You nailed it. Dad the Alpha lawyer. He likes everything neat and tidy. In our great state of Delaware, I could be sent to jail for statutory rape if we slept together. If for whatever reason we did—” He cleared his throat. “—and something went wrong or whatever, this way Dad has legal grounds to protect me and by proxy, the rest of the pack.” His cheeks reddened. “It keeps the pack safe from outside scrutiny.”

  “And Grandpa knew. He had to sign off on everything because I’m still a minor, and he’s my legal guardian. That little toad!”

  “Easy. Yes, he and Rev talked it over a long time that first night while you were asleep. But I wouldn’t be too hard on him. It was a hard decision for him to make. In the end, he only did it for your safety, and because, as you said, he’s from a different era and our current living arrangements aren’t something he’d approve of without our being married. If something did happen to him before the next full moon, you’d be legally bound to the pack—to me—and he knew that we would take care of you no matter what.”

  I harrumphed, thoroughly irritated with Grandpa for havin
g done this behind my back. I took a long drink of my now-cool tea and huffed a breath out through my nose.

  “I’m glad you told me, Sam.”

  He nodded and a piece of his damp blond hair flopped across his forehead.

  “Me, too. But where does this leave us, Meg?”

  “I don’t know. I…I still want to stay human. Is pretending to date going to work? I don’t want to make this more difficult for you than it already is.”

  He snorted. “I think that ship has sailed. If I were a regular guy without fangs and fur, would you date me?”

  “Yes,” I answered without hesitation. Seriously. I might even consider dating him knowing he was a werewolf.

  “If we were two regular people dating, which, for all intents and purposes, we are, if you’re still okay with it, would you kiss me?”

  I nodded, a smile tugging at one corner of my mouth despite myself.

  “You could prove it,” he said with a wink. He tugged my hand. I got up and stood in front of him. He pulled me down onto his lap, and I squeaked in surprise. He’d never been so forward. His hands draped my waist loosely. Unsure what do to with my hands, I laid them across his shoulders, our faces only a few inches apart.

  “Really, Meg. I don’t want you to walk on pins and needles around me. I think that would be worse than avoiding you altogether.” His brow creased, his blue eyes deep and intense, mouth turned down at the corners.

  I let my eyes rove over his face. His expression changed, watching me as I raked my gaze over his features. His thumb rubbed once against the soft cotton covering my bottom rib, my skin practically igniting beneath my tank top. I knew he needed my reassurance, wanted it tangibly. I wasn’t sure what I was willing to give, but I wanted him to know that he meant something to me, even if I didn’t know what that was yet.

  “Okay,” I whispered. Slowly and carefully I lowered my face and grazed my lips across his. His arms tightened around my waist, and his chest heaved as I pulled my head back.

  “Okay,” he whispered back. “Meg, is it all right if I kiss you every so often? You know, not just to calm your wolf? Like, we actually are sort of dating?”