The Wolf's Concubine

by Erin St. Charles

  Lola winced. Who would do something so cruel?

  “No wonder he pinged my prey instinct at the diner,” she said.

  “Stay away from him,” he warned, his fingers tightening on hers. “I’ve already had a word with him to stay away from you, and I reminded him of our pack law.”

  Lola frowned at him, puzzled.

  “No matter who you are in the pack, you do not fuck with another man’s mate.”

  She was surprised at the harsh tone in his voice. The muscle in his jaw twitched again. She felt a shiver travel over her skin at his words. She was his mate...at least, that’s what everyone else thought. She wondered what the consequence of going after someone’s mate was, but she was afraid to know the answer.

  “Sounds serious,” she said hesitantly.

  “It is,” he said in a tight voice. He cleared his throat and continued in a calmer tone. “Anyway, Bubba is a natural alpha. Maybe even someone who could be pack alpha someday. Dameron, our alpha, was forced to choose between Bubba and his own son. Bubba’s parents had died years earlier. The two of us were raised here as brothers after my parents took him in. In order to keep the peace, Dameron banished Bubba.”

  Her eyebrows rose in disbelief. “Wow,” she said, in a hushed tone. It seemed like a harsh punishment for an underaged kid, even a wolf shifter with alpha tendencies.

  “Yeah,” Phelan shrugged. “He was fourteen when it happened. He went into foster care.”

  “Wow. That’s terrible,” Lola said, thinking about her own experiences in the foster care system.

  “Bubba was always a handful due to his alpha tendencies. Most males in our line are dominants.”

  Lola looked at him critically. There was no doubt in her mind that Phelan was also prone to dominant alpha tendencies.

  “Can Bubba ever come back?”

  “He can, as long as he stays outside the city limits, official pack territory. They annexed the land around the cabin, so he couldn’t stay with my family after his banishment. But even if he could’ve stayed with us, he couldn’t attend school in Perdition any longer.”

  The story hung in the air between them, dampening the flirtatious mood.

  “Have you thought about moving back?” she asked, interested in the answer, even as she realized it had nothing to do with her.

  He shrugged again. “I’d like to, but not with Dennis as police chief.”

  Lola thought about this revelation for a few quiet moments, then said, “Small town life would be a big adjustment after all these years.”

  “Not really,” he said. “Wolves crave open spaces. You don’t see many of us in the city.”

  He looked at her, his eyes intense and very focused when he asked her the next question. “Have you ever considered living in a small town?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head vehemently. “How would I fit in in a town like Perdition?”

  He lifted her hand again to press his lips into her knuckles.

  “You’d fit in just fine,” he said, giving her an affectionate smile. “It would be a nice change of pace from the big city. Could be you’d have a chance to really put down some roots. Make some friends. Have a family. Perdition was a great place to grow up.”

  Lola thought about going shopping with friends in town, going out for drinks with her hypothetical girlfriends, lazy Saturday mornings spent in bed with Phelan, then at the Last Chance Café having pancakes and drinking coffee. It could never happen, but it was a sweet fantasy.

  As they drove into town, Lola took in the familiar streets. It was more subdued after dark, but a few storefronts were still open. Phelan gave her a brief history of the town as they headed for Saint Ailbe’s.

  The parish had been built by the Irish and Bohemian shifters who settled Perdition in the 1870s, and had been gradually expanded in the intervening centuries to serve the shifter communities throughout McClennan county. The church and grounds now sprawled over several acres of limestone buildings and naturalized meadows several miles outside of Perdition. It was the site of graduations, weddings, funerals, Quinceañeras, and once a year, Perdition’s homecoming celebrations.

  They parked on the large open field surrounding the church’s event hall, which was already crowded with cars of all types and colors. The meadow grasses felt soft under her sneakered feet, and the air smelled crisp with the first hints of fall, which always came late in Texas. They passed a large willow tree alight with thousands of fireflies. She had never seen so many in one place, so late in the season. Some hovered around her and Phelan, illuminating their faces with their yellow-green glow.

  “Wow,” she said, grinning and squeezing Phelan’s hand.

  “Yeah,” he agreed, the intensity of his eyes on her tempered by tenderness. “We seem to attract them in the area.”

  They purchased tickets, bought hot dogs, and strolled the carnival fairway which had been strung with fairy lights. The scents of buttered popcorn, cotton candy, and fried food, as well as the earthy scent of cut grass filled her nostrils. Her time in Perdition was limited, and she resolved to make the most of it.

  Phelan’s mood registered strongly with her, and she found herself going along with the sense of optimism that seemed to bubble in his heart. She was finding it harder to be cynical as she strolled the carnival grounds hand-in-hand with her fake fiancé. She allowed herself to be caught up in the moment, basking in the love she knew was an illusion. Getting back to Dallas, her old life, her old dreams, could wait for now. Tonight, she was going to gorge on greasy food, play games, and go on rides with the handsome man holding her hand.

  Chapter 25

  Lola’s answer to Phelan’s question, “What do you want to do first?” was to drag him to the bumper car line.

  When it was their turn to board the bumper cars, she made a sprint for what she considered to be the snazziest car: a hot pink number with bright red and yellow flames flowing from the nose of the vehicle. When she looked around for Phelan, she saw him a few yards away boarding a midnight blue car covered in scuff marks. She smiled and waved, and he waved back. When he was seated, his knees jutted up awkwardly, his legs were so long.

  A loud buzzer sounded, alerting the bumper car drivers to the beginning of their session. All signs of affability evaporated from Phelan's face, and he became a demon behind the wheel, weaving in and out of the bumper car traffic to ram a car being driven by another tall blond man. The other man was also knees-to-ears crammed into the bumper car. Phelan had a demonic grin plastered across his face as he rammed the other man’s car. No doubt fueled by testosterone, the two men repeatedly rammed one another. Lola wasn't sure what to make of the spectacle, but she saw a woman she recognized from the pharmacy.

  It looked like Auntie. Lola stopped dodging and weaving the other drivers to get a glimpse of the woman who had earlier that day been pawing her fake fiancé.

  As she got closer, though, she realized it wasn’t Auntie, but her confoundingly young niece, Jasmine. Lola took her foot off the accelerator, waiting for the other woman to turn her head so she could wave at her, when her own car was rammed hard enough to make her teeth clatter together.

  Her head swiveled to find the source of the moving violation. Her bewildered gaze met Phelan’s laughing one. He grinned at her like a jack-o-lantern, fingers flexing over the steering wheel of his car. She narrowed her eyes at him and tried to turn her vehicle around, only to be repeatedly bumped, forcefully, by her maniac fake fiancé. This sparked her scrappy fighting spirit. She floored her accelerator, circled as quickly as she could, and zipped by Phelan. She cut the wheel again just as she was about to clear his car and someone else viciously rammed him. Satisfaction swept over her when Phelan’s head snapped back.

  His eyes went wide with surprise. He cocked his head at her, then held up a finger and wagged it at her in a chiding hand gesture. She gave him an exaggerated shrug, then again floored her accelerator to leave him eating her dust. She turned and gave him her best shit-eating grin as sh
e sped away.

  Lola turned around in time to see Jasmine's own shit-eating grin as she rammed Lola’s car hard enough that it rocked slightly on its springs. Lola gasped in surprise and zoomed away, dodging through the ungainly maneuvers of the other drivers. How the hell had Jasmine snuck up on her so quickly?

  She was at one end of the bumper-car enclosure when she turned around to see who was behind her. She saw both Phelan and Jasmine bearing down on her. Lola felt a mild panic as her sparkly pink car chose that moment to stall. She pressed the accelerator frantically to no avail. Her car was dead. Both Phelan and Jasmine seemed to sense this new development, and they each moved in for the kill.

  Lola braced for impact, hands firmly, but not rigidly, on the steering wheel. She had to admit that the sight of her big, bad, wolf speeding at her was kind of hot. In another context, the look in his eyes would be hot enough to get her going. She tried the accelerator again and the car moved a few shuddery inches forward, then stalled again.

  When she felt a semi-forceful bump at her rear, she swung her head around to see who it was, expecting Phelan, because he had been closer. Her eyes widened in surprise to find the man who had earlier been the object of Phelan's vehicular assaults. He continued to bump her from behind, firm enough to move her but gentle enough to avoid whiplash.

  She kept pushing on her pedal, hoping the car would magically come back to life. The soft bumps moved her car several inches, but both Phelan and Jasmine were almost at her. The little bumps appeared to have a salutary effect on her hot pink car since pressing the accelerator produced independent movement, allowing her to evade her pursuers at the last moment.

  She again floored it and was grinning ear to ear when Phelan and Jasmine, unable to slow their forward momentum, both slammed into the far wall of the bumper car enclosure and simultaneously stalled out.

  Lola turned her car around sharply and swung past her mystery ally, holding her open palm up for a high five from her new buddy.

  The buzzer rang again, signaling the end of the session. Her car slowed to a halt as the power was cut. She jumped out and moved with the crowd out of the ring. She didn’t have to turn around to know Phelan followed her, hot on her heels.

  Outside of the bumper enclosure, Phelan caught up with her. She laughed so hard she had a stomach cramp and tears in her eyes. She and Phelan were met by Jasmine and her boyfriend AJ, her mysterious blond savior. AJ and Phelan had been high school classmates.

  "Baby, this is AJ. We had English together in the tenth grade," Phelan said. She couldn't help the warm feelings that came from hearing him call her "baby." Phelan had a seductive Southern accent that made him sound as if he were saying "BAY-bee."

  AJ had Jasmine tucked into his side, she clung to him like a koala hugging a eucalyptus tree and gazed at him with eyes so lovestruck Lola half expected to see a shower of cartoon hearts sprouting up between them.

  AJ held out a hand to shake Lola's, and she felt Phelan tense imperceptibly at her side.

  "Thanks for the assist!" she said brightly. "Between Jasmine and my fiancé here, I was sure I would be toast."

  "Don't mention it,” AJ said. “The way this meathead took after me, I figured you needed the help." Lola smiled at the other man, struck by his easy manner, as well as his driving skills.

  AJ squeezed his girlfriend's hip, pulling her closer to him. "Why were you after her, anyway?"

  "No reason. We met earlier and I was having fun,” said Jasmine with a shrug.

  “And why were you after me, mister?” Lola gave Phelan a teasing glance.

  “I thought it was time to show you who was in charge,” he said in a challenging tone as he raised an eyebrow at her.

  She thought of him saying something similar earlier, when she was measuring him for t-shirts and ‘accidentally’ brushed his groin with her hand. The memory made her blush so hard her ears burned. He pulled her into his body, her back to his front, and his scent enveloped her.

  “Oh, I thought it’s the sort of thing men did to their women when they aren’t all that interested in getting laid,” was Jasmine’s saucy contribution to the conversation.

  As Phelan made a choking noise and AJ’s eyes went wide, Lola couldn’t help but laugh. Lola decided she liked this woman.

  “I think that’s a pretty accurate assessment,” Lola said, turning her head to give Phelan an impudent grin. She nudged him with her elbow. “What do you say? You wanna get laid later?”

  Heat flared in his blue eyes as she felt his cock perked up in his jeans.

  I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’ she thought to herself, feeling her body warm all over.

  “Woman, have you no filter?” AJ asked, giving his girlfriend a stern look. He tapped her lips with his forefinger. “I think I can find better uses for that mouth of yours.”

  Phelan shifted his feet, the action having the effect of subtly pushing himself into Lola’s ass. The feeling of his rock-hard erection pressed against her made all the spit in her mouth dry up. He gave her a protective, sensual squeeze, and she was ready to faint. He leaned in to whisper in her ear.

  "Where do we go next?"

  She shivered at the sensation of his lips brushing her ear and swooned against him. He licked the shell of her ear and bit it lightly, and her whole body shuddered, every nerve ending on alert.

  "What do you recommend?" Her question came out in a throaty voice she barely recognized.

  Her mouth was dry and her lips tingled as she answered his question. Her earlier resolution to have carnal knowledge of this man tonight now gave her pause. She told herself it would be a temporary fling, but for the first time, she considered what might happen when the immediate threat was over. If she had this man for this short time, would it be enough for her? Would it be enough for him...and what if it wasn't?

  "What are you in the mood for?" he countered.

  Hard and demanding, then tender and slow. With lots of hair pulling, swearing and maybe a little spanking, she thought.

  “More rides?” she said.

  "Tilt-a-whirl," he said, turning both of them to the ride in question. She saw a brightly-lit sign announce the ride and she studied the contraption. It looked like giant balls cut in half and perched on pedestals, attached to a large, mechanical floor that moved as the ride turned in circles. She had no idea what the ride did, but it sure did look like fun.

  Lola disengaged, grabbed Phelan’s hand, and dragged him in the direction of the ride.

  AJ and Jasmine trailed behind them at a slower pace, hand-in-hand, arriving at the back of the line to board the Tilt-a-Whirl. As they waited for their turn, they chatted with the other couple about the events of homecoming weekend.

  The following evening, there was a pack run. AJ had a job shooting a wedding in Dallas, and Jasmine was hosting a get together at AJ's house for all the non-runners. Lola accepted Jasmine’s invitation to attend.

  "We'll be drinking margaritas and making homecoming mums," said Jasmine, her dark eyes twinkling in the glow of the fairy lights.

  Lola frowned. “What are mums?” she asked, confused.

  Jasmine grinned. “It’s a homecoming tradition in which teen boys made elaborate corsages for their homecoming. In return, the girls decorate garters for their dates.” She took out her smartphone and held it up for Lola to see.

  The women huddled around the tiny screen, peering at the images. Instead of a small wrist corsage that would be a more typical gift for a homecoming dance, these creations were three feet long with fake flowers the size of dinner plates. Ribbons, ruffles and adornments of all kinds such as charm bracelets, small stuffed animals, and so forth, covered them.

  Lola's brow scrunched even more at the gaudy mums.

  "I don't understand...why would they do anything like this?"

  Phelan draped an arm over Lola’s shoulders. "Baby, everything is bigger in Texas."

  Again, with the BAY-bee...

  "Look at this one," she said, turning the smartphone so Phela
n could see it. "This mum is longer than the girl’s dress."

  "I hear you, girl," said Jasmine, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm from Ohio. We had normal wrist corsages. But maybe it'll make more sense after we've had a few margaritas,” she chuckled, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

  "While I'm out of town, I expect you not to engage in horseplay, nor have the police at my house." AJ folded his arms over his chest and gave his girlfriend another stern look.

  "What would the police do anyway? You're talking about Dennis after all,” said Phelan.

  "Still no love lost between you and Dennis, huh?" AJ raised an eyebrow at Phelan.

  At the mention of the officer, Phelan scowled. Given what he’d told her in the truck, Lola couldn’t blame him.

  "That was in high school. Ancient history," said Phelan with a dismissive tone.

  “Well, at least you don’t live here and have to deal with him all the time,” AJ said. “Probably good, too. Given the fights you two used to get into. Mostly over girls, wasn’t it?”

  Lola pulled back and looked at Phelan.

  “What fights? What girls?” she demanded. She was working up a head of steam, wanting to know more of what her fake fiancé got up to in high school.

  “What happens in high school, stays in high school,” he said, grinning and deflecting her questions. He steered her up the steps to the ride. “Come on, baby, time for me to rock your world.”

  His suggestive words made her train of thought change directions from the actions of the past, to the gutter of the present. She glanced at his hard-on, tightly contained in his jeans.

  They could rock each other’s worlds.

  Chapter 26

  There was nothing better than being second in command in a small town like Perdition as far as Dennis Lauder was concerned. It was mostly uneventful, which suited him fine. The worst of it involved breaking up bar fights, and on evenings like this, babysitting the town drunk.

  He liked the lack of drama in his job and was irritated by the presence of Phelan Cermak, who had left town as a younger man, years ago and had only returned a few times. Now Phelan was back with his mate in tow, and Dennis didn’t like that. Not one bit. Pack members bringing their new mates to town might signal a change in lifestyle. Phelan might even be thinking of moving back to Perdition. Maybe even going after Dennis’s job.