Ariel (8 page)

She was feeling very mellow toward Matt this morning. He had held her all night just like she’d asked him to. No human man had ever shown her such consideration.

“I knew his mother. Matthew is a lot more like her, than he is his father. He rules with precision and logic, but can be very physical when he needs to be. He likes his peace and quiet. His pack honors that for the most part. The young ones have to be taught lessons sometimes.”

“Was he always as nice as he is now?” Ariel asked.

Nanuka Gray Wolf shrugged, but smiled at the wistfulness in the young alpha’s voice.

“Matthew was always nice to me. His father and I mated one year after Matthew’s real mother died. It was considered disrespectful by some, but Matthew whipped anyone who criticized me or his father. Because of his acceptance of me, I supported his campaign to be the Gray Wolf alpha. Most alphas are born to the role, but not all alphas can rule well. Matthew is exceptional. My natural child with his father simply adores him. I’m sure you met Eva at the medical center.”

“Yes, I did. Eva is amazing too. There’s a lot to like about Matt,” Ariel said, nodding as she spoke. “I will always be grateful to him for helping us, and to Eva for helping save Reed.”

“Ah…you speak of the Great Black Wolf Alpha. Is it true he turned you and your friends into werewolves only a few days ago?”

Ariel snorted. “Not willingly…and not the way everyone seems to think. I can’t discuss what happened until I speak with Reed first. As I told Matt, it’s as much his story to tell as mine.”

“You’re very loyal to a man who has changed your life so much,” Nanuka declared.

Ariel snorted and shook her head. “Reed didn’t change my life. Reed saved it. The men—the humans—who changed my life are both dead.”

Nanuka narrowed her eyes and nodded at the unspoken pride in her tone. “They were your first blood?”

“Yes—and I have no regrets. They deserved to die. Reed was locked in a cage and dying. Brandi tried to stop them, which is how she ended up trapped. Heidi’s story is very different, but changing wasn’t a choice for any of us. Don’t ask me to tell you more, Nanuka. Matt deserves to hear first.”

Nanuka bowed her head. “Forgive me, Ariel. I can see your alpha side rises up when provoked. You’re so pleasant to talk to, I forgot to be properly respectful.”

Matt cleared his throat to announce his entry. He knew well that Nanuka had heard him eavesdropping. He hoped she wouldn’t rat him out. It took all the effort he possessed not to walk over and chastise Ariel for getting out of his bed without letting him know she was leaving it.

His gaze bounced between the women.

“Why so testy this morning, Matthew? I thought you preferred waking up alone. In fact, the whole village thinks the same thing. Your father sent me here and Ariel heard me prowling in the kitchen. She came to protect your home while you slept. She tells me you two are…
good friends
.”

Matt gave his stepmother—or stepwerewolf whatever—his back.

Ariel covered her mouth when Nanuka winked at her and watched Matt wordlessly get a cup out of the cupboard. He said nothing in reply to her speech until he’d poured a cup of black coffee. When Matt brought the pot over and poured her a refill without asking, Ariel bit her lip to keep from laughing at his puny show of control over her. Oddly, she found it charming rather than annoying after he’d held her all night, but she could see the charm might wear thin fast if he did such things all the time.

“You should have woken me if you heard a noise you didn’t recognize.”

Ariel snorted at the comment and lifted her coffee for a sip. “I was already up using the downstairs bathroom so I wouldn’t wake you. I figured out it was a friend, or you’d have had blood and guts all over the kitchen floor by now. It’s not like I attacked her on sight, Matt. I introduced myself and she introduced herself. It was all very civilized. Just like the way you fold your clothing before you toss them into the dirty clothes hamper.”

Matt narrowed his gaze. “Did you just insult me?”

“No. I called you civilized—definitely not the same thing as an insult,” Ariel declared, the laugh breaking free.

Before she could blink, calm Matt was gone and a fiercer one had hold of her head. He leaned her back and attacked her mouth ruthlessly while she fought for breath. He gentled only before he raised his head.

“Still think I’m civilized?” When she blinked in surprise, Matt made himself let go and walk back to his coffee.

He wanted to order Nanuka to leave and order Ariel back to his bed.

Neither were good ideas. And one would never work. The young alpha female would die trying to kill him before she let him have that kind of control over her. Ariel probably only restrained herself now because Nanuka was present.

Searching her gaze for signs of anger, all he saw was irritated knowledge. Now he was sure she was being polite for his sake.
Damn it. He had screwed up.

Setting down his coffee, Matt gripped the counter and took three deep, calming breaths.

“I’m sorry, Ariel. I shouldn’t have done that. You do not owe me any control over your actions.”

“Damn right, I don’t.”

Ariel felt more than saw Nanuka’s head swinging in her direction in surprise. She calmly lifted her coffee cup and took another drink. It pleased her to find she wasn’t shaking. Should she have been pissed over his show of power? Probably. But she wasn’t in that sort of mood this morning. She looked his way and rolled her eyes where he could see.

“Matt, we’re friends. Get over yourself. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings with my teasing about your OCD habits. It’s just hard not to make fun of someone who’s such a neat freak.”

His blazing gaze raised to hers. “We are more than friends. We’re. . .”

He stopped cold.
What the hell had he been going to say? They weren’t more than friends. They were barely friends.

“I think I’ll leave you two alphas alone to work this out.”

Nanuka slid from her seat and walked around the counter to hug a now glaring Ariel. Matt’s declaration had been a bit premature.

“It was very nice to meet you, Ariel. While you’re staying here, I’ll make sure I call before stopping by. Blood and guts make a nasty mess on wood floors. I should know. I’ve cleaned up my fair share in my life. Matthew, I’ll tell your father you said hello and are doing fine. He heard Reed was back and wondered what it meant. He sent me by to check on you.”

The door closing with a quiet snick echoed everywhere in a house as solemn as Matt normally was.

Ariel chuckled. “No wonder you don’t bring women here. I wouldn’t either. Nanuka neglected to tell you how hard she’d pumped me for information before you showed up. She’d asked me the ‘so how did you meet Matt’ question in about ten different ways. I had to growl to shut her up. She’s isn’t an alpha, is she?”

Matt burst out laughing. He’d expected a fierce fight. He’d expected a demand for a better apology. Maybe he and Ariel were really friends. At least she had a decent sense of humor. He silently gave her more points.

“No. Nanuka is not an alpha. She’s a busybody, even if a loving one. She was my father’s consort after my mother died. Later, he made her his mate. My mother wasn’t an alpha either. Alphas rarely mate other alphas. There’s too much clashing over control. But the males in my family always choose strong women to stand with them. Alphas almost never choose doormats. Such pairings do not work.”

“Sounds like natural-born werewolves don’t have much of a sense of humor, if they can’t share a bit of control now and again,” Ariel said, draining her cup. “I’m starved. Nanuka offered to cook, but I didn’t want her to get too cozy.”

“Why?” Matt asked, suspicious still because Ariel hadn’t once blasted him with anger over kissing her.

Ariel sighed. “I feel the fire coming back. I think Eva’s potion worked a little too well at getting my blood pumping normally again.”

Matt gripped the counter tighter. He had to feed her first. It was the right thing to do. She hadn’t eaten since she’d found him.

“Cold cereal and fruit, or hot food?” he asked, the words barely leaving his dry throat.

“The fastest thing you can put in front of me, so cereal is fine. If you have any raw bacon, I’ll take that too. Don’t bother to cook it. It will take too long and the smell would torture me.”

“How about smokehouse cured ham?” Matt asked.

“I’d let you kiss me again any way you want to for any kind of ham,” Ariel declared, closing her eyes and shivering at the thought. “I can’t believe I woke up starved, cold, and naked just yesterday morning. This morning is ten times better.”

Matt carried cereal, bowls, and spoons to her. He got out the milk and the whole plate of ham he’d sliced off the bone himself. Her sigh was his undoing. He felt like the worst of asses and he owed her a sincere apology.

“I’m sorry I kissed you that way in front of Nanuka. She’ll tell my father and he’ll be over here checking you out next.”

Ariel shrugged as she lifted a slice of ham, rolled it between two fingers, and chomped into the meat happily. Food had never tasted so good.

“I’m not worried about explaining myself to your father. This ham is wonderful.”

“It looks it,” Matt said, choking on the words as he listened to her humming as she ate.

Ariel saw his eyes on her food. “You’re not expecting me to share my ham, are you?”

Matt walked around the table. “It would be an exercise in self-control for you to share your food with me, especially when the urge is so strong not to do so.”

Ariel swallowed and had to fight not to push him away. “This is another one of those pesky alpha problems you warned me about, isn’t it?”

Matt ran a hand down her hair and nodded. “Yes. Give me a little taste, Alpha Ariel. There’s plenty more. You won’t go hungry in my house. I promise.”

Ariel felt the wolf inside her whimper in rebellion. “You’re scaring my wolf, Matt.”

“She’s just worried about starving. I would never let that happen to her. Now give me a bite of what you have left and you can have a whole fresh piece all your own.”

Ariel had to shake the fury from her gaze as she lifted her hand to his mouth. “If you bite me instead of the ham, you’re going to have the fight you expected over kissing me earlier. Make sure you behave, Matt. I’m not joking.”

Laughing, he bit off a small bite of the food she offered and chewed. “Nice work.” Reaching out to the platter, he rolled a thin slice of the ham as he’d seen her do. He offered it to her to eat.

“If you bite me, I’m tossing you over my shoulder and carting you upstairs to show you my real alpha side. The aggressive kiss earlier was just the edge of it. There’s a lot more where that came from.”

He held the ham to her mouth. Snickering, Ariel bit off a chunk. Matt smiled and ate the rest as she ate the rest of hers.

“Hunger can be used as a weakness against a werewolf. Reed has probably gone several weeks without food before. He’s learned to hold his hunger at bay, but it’s not an easy thing to do for a werewolf, especially for an alpha.”

At the memory of Reed, her food lost all its flavor. “I don’t even really know Reed and yet I can’t stand the thought of what he’s suffered. I don’t even feel this way about my real family who probably thinks I’m dead.”

“You can always reappear and tell your family some version of the truth,” Matt said softly, lifting the forgotten food in her hand to her mouth. “Eat your ham. Eva will feed Reed, whether in human or wolf form. He will never go hungry in my pack. You can release that concern.”

Ariel battled back tears. She hadn’t cried a drop since the last fight she’d had with her ex-husband. Bet he wouldn’t find her so boring anymore. She sighed when arms came around her—strong supportive arms.

“I’m sorry for crying on you. My emotions are catching up with me. I haven’t cried about anything in a long time.”

Matt hugged tighter, then finally had to let go before he changed his mind about letting her eat.

“Eat your cereal and ham. Afterwards, we’ll go find Reed and check on your pack. Quentin is watching the office for me until we get this sorted out. Gareth is protecting your beta and watching over Heidi.”

Ariel sniffed, her tears drying. “Quentin is the leering guy you pushed out the door?”

Matt chuckled. “You don’t miss much, do you? Did you say you used to be a cop or something?”

“No. That’s the woman you keep calling my beta. Brandi was the cop… or something… she hasn’t really said. I was…guess still am…a scientist. And I haven’t forgotten anything about that side of me.”

Matt lifted a brow as he took the chair across from hers. “A scientist? What kind of scientist?”

“Bio-Molecular Genetics. My specialty is DNA mapping. My claim to fame in the scientific community is that I discovered some unique strands in certain people’s DNA and postulated their purpose. What most people don’t know is I did all my research on myself because I couldn’t get funding to use test subjects. Turns out, I had the very strand I was investigating.”