He pulled Cassidy closer until their bodies almost touched. Edensaw looked into her eyes. “Me and my wolf brothers need your help to adjust to this new world we have awoken to.”
“Wolf brothers?”
“Yes. Ketah, Wachei, Kajakti, Durlach and Capac.” He pointed to each man as he said their names. “We are as much wolf as man.”
“Okaay,” she said. “That really doesn’t make you sound delusional. So even though you can speak perfect English, I’m supposed to believe you are truly what I thought you first were—hunters from the last ice age. And instead of being frozen for thousands of years, you were only asleep.”
Edensaw nodded. “Yes.”
“Not that I believe you, but how is that possible?”
“Our tale is a long one. You take us to your home and I’ll explain it all.” Cassidy gave him a glare that said she wasn’t too happy with his request.
“I don’t live here. I’m camping.”
He wasn’t sure what this “camping” was, but it had to be a place where Cassidy had shelter. “Then take us there.”
“Why should I? For all I know you could be a bunch of weirdos and will murder me.”
Edensaw scowled. “Have any of us done anything to give you reason to believe we would hurt you? You have to believe me, Cassidy. We are what I say we are. As your mate, I would give my life for yours. And as I am the alpha in our pack, the others would do everything to protect you because of what you mean to me.”
Cassidy shook her head. “Pack? You make it sound as if you’re a bunch of werewolves or something like in the movies. They always seem to run around in packs.”
“That is what we are—the first werewolves.”
His mate snorted. “Yeah, right. There is no such thing. Now I know you guys are really are a few bricks short of a load.”
Edensaw didn’t understand the last part Cassidy said, but from her tone of voice he figured it wasn’t a compliment. He was obviously getting nowhere using the track he was on so he decided to change tactics. He pulled her closer once again and took her lips with his. At first, she didn’t respond, but he soon coaxed a reaction out of her. She let out a soft moan as she kissed him back. A brush of his tongue had her opening her mouth for him. He took full advantage and tasted her, his need for her increasing with each sweep.
With reluctance, he pulled away and looked at Cassidy. He breathed in the scent of her arousal, which made his cock twitch. Her eyes were closed, but she blinked them open. She sucked in a sharp breath. Edensaw knew what she saw. His had to have taken on a muted light. He’d let all the desire he had for her rise to the surface as he’d kissed her. He and his wolf brothers had learned a short time after the shaman had turned them that the glowing only occurred when they were very aroused or angry.
“Y-your eyes,” Cassidy stammered.
“You caused that,” he said in a voice gruff with desire. “Now will you take us to your camping?”
“And if I don’t?”
“We’ll just follow you. You won’t be able to elude us. We can move faster than you and we’ll be able to track you from the scent trail you’ll leave behind.”
Cassidy swallowed. “So in other words, it doesn’t matter if I say no.”
He reached out and ran the backs of his fingers along her cheek. Her skin was soft to the touch. “We mean you no harm, Cassidy. And if you are worried about having to provide food for us, we’ll go hunting to bring back some meat.”
“No hunting,” she said. “There’s enough food for all of us at the campsite. For today, at least.” Cassidy let out a sigh. “Fine. I’ll take you with me, even though I’m not sure why I should be agreeing to this.” She looked at each of them. “I don’t know what I’ll say if we happen to run across other people. Every one of you stands out like a sore thumb with the furs and leather.”
Edensaw gave Cassidy another kiss before he released her wrist and turned to his wolf brothers. He heard Cassidy say under breath, “I must be pretty hard up if two kisses are enough to let a hunk convince me to take him and his buddies with me.”
He bit back a smile at his mate’s hushed words, then spoke to the others. “Don’t leave anything behind. There can’t be any trace of us having been here.”
Edensaw gathered up the furs of his pallet and his weapons as his wolf brothers did the same. Once they were finished, they all turned to Cassidy. He gave her an expectant look.
“Okay,” she said. “Follow me. I think all of you should be able to fit through the hole I made, but it might be a tight squeeze.”
Cassidy walked over to the opposite wall of ice and managed to get herself through the opening headfirst. Edensaw went next. His first attempt proved the passage wasn’t wide enough, even though his mate thought it was. It didn’t take him long to fix that with his spear. After that, each of the others followed until they all stood inside the ice cave.
Edensaw could see the sunlight at the opening and headed straight for it. He heard his wolf brothers following him. Out in the open, he lifted his face to the sun and took a deep breath. He was free, able to roam the land of his people once again.
Cassidy walked past him. “We’d better get going. It’s a bit of a trek to where I’m parked. And whatever you do, if we see anyone, don’t talk to them.”
He then watched her set out across the ice. Edensaw motioned to his wolf brothers and they all followed after his mate into a world they didn’t know too much about.
Chapter Two
Cassidy felt Edensaw’s gaze on her back as she led the way along the glacier. After the two kisses he’d laid on her back in the cave, she was ultra-aware of his presence. Her body still felt strung tight, her libido yet to settle down. For a crazy guy, Edensaw knew how to kiss. His lips against hers were enough to have her pussy wet and aching to be filled.
She thought over everything he’d told her about him and his “wolf brothers”. There was no way they could be ice age hunters, nor could they be werewolves. That last thing was too ludicrous to give credence to.
Even though she thought Edensaw and the others were a little squirrelly, Cassidy had ended up agreeing to take them to her campsite. The only reason she could come up with as to why she’d done it was how attracted she was to Edensaw. It was stupid, but there it was, anyway. She was known for doing dumb things, why should she stop now?
She looked over her shoulder at the men. They’d each taken off their fur robes and made a bundle with the furs of their pallets in one arm. They had their bows and quivers of arrows slung onto their backs while they held on to their spear with their other hand, using it as a walking stick with the sharp stone tip in the air. Once again she was struck by how much they looked like ancient native hunters and how their weapons appeared to be the real thing.
Cassidy must have done something right that day, because they made it all the way to her car without coming across anyone else. Only in the parking lot did another car pull up and park. Once the people got out, they gave them a strange look but continued on their way to the glacier without saying anything about the men’s strange apparel.
After taking off the crampons from her hiking boots, Cassidy dried them with a rag and placed them in the back of her crossover. The men stood in a group close to her and watched. Once she closed the hatch of the car, they continued to stare at her.
“Aren’t you guys going to get in?” she asked.
The men looked at each other, then back at her. Wachei spoke. “Get in what?”
“The car. How else do you expect me to drive you to my campsite?”
“We’re supposed to climb inside this beast?” Capac asked as he poked the crossover with the head of his spear.
“Hey, watch where you’re sticking that thing,” Cassidy said. “I know it’s not brand new, by any means, but it’s the only vehicle I have. It doesn’t need any more scratches than it already has. And it’s not a beast. It’s not that big.”
“I’m not sure I want to get inside it,” Durlach said. “What if we become trapped and it decides not to let us go?”
Cassidy sighed in frustration. “Come on, guys. Aren’t you taking this playacting thing a little too far? All of you have been in a car before.”
Ketah looked at Edensaw. “Your mate thinks we aren’t what you told her we are.”
“I guess we’ll just have to show her once we get to her camping,” Edensaw said in reply.
Fed up with being talked about as if she weren’t standing right in front of them, Cassidy threw up her hands. “I’m getting in the car. I’ll open one of the doors. If you want to come with me you have to get in. One of you will have to sit up front with me. If you don’t, well, no matter how fast you say you can run, there is no way you’ll be able to keep up with a car. I’ll just leave you behind.”
She pushed past the men, who turned and followed her. Cassidy opened the back door on her side before she got behind the steering wheel and closed herself inside the crossover. She turned her head to watch the men through the side window. They were huddled together, talking in that other language they had used before. That didn’t last very long, though.
Ketah was the first one to take a tentative step toward the open door. He poked his head inside and took a look around before climbing in. Cassidy turned in her seat to watch as he took his time to sit.
Once he did, he smiled at her. “I have not sat on something as comfortable as this before.” He looked out the open door. “It’s all right, my wolf brothers. This is not something that is alive.”
Cassidy rolled her eyes. “Of course it isn’t alive. It’s a car, an inanimate object. It’s only used for transportation. Now are the rest of you getting in?”
She thought they’d know enough to divvy themselves up for seating arrangements, but that didn’t seem to be the case when they all tried to pile into the middle row. It was like watching a bunch of clowns crowding into the tiny car at a circus. Only Cassidy didn’t find this funny. She found she was getting more exasperated the longer they kept up this act of not being from the modern world.
“Oh my god,” she said.
Their antics had Ketah pushed so far over the passenger side his cheek was pressed up against the window and he looked as if he were having a hard time breathing. This had gone on for long enough.
Cassidy pushed open her door and got out. “Would you please stop,” she said in a loud voice to draw their attention. “Everyone get out right now. I’ll show you where you have to sit. If I don’t, we’ll never leave this damn parking lot.”
Taking over, she yanked everyone but Ketah out and away from the car door. She heard him take a deep breath once he no longer had the others pushing him. She flipped the seat closest to the door up and then grabbed Capac and shoved him inside. After he sat, she said, “Seatbelt.” When that garnered no look of understanding, she tugged it across Capac and snapped it together.
She had to repeat this five more times with Wachei and Capac in the back, Ketah, Durlach and Kajakti in the middle row and Edensaw up front with her in the passenger seat. The men didn’t look too impressed about being strapped in, but Cassidy didn’t care. She wasn’t going to get a ticket because they wouldn’t wear a seatbelt.
Now finally ready to leave, she got behind the wheel once more and started the car. She backed out of the parking spot, then drove out of the lot. Cassidy glanced at Edensaw and peered at the others through the rearview mirror. They appeared nervous. It wasn’t until she hit the speed limit on the highway did they start to lose it.
Each man growled like the wolves they claimed they were. Edensaw had a death grip on the armrest attached to his door. Wachei pulled at his seatbelt, trying to free himself as he snarled and growled. That just started the others doing the same, except for Kajakti. He brandished his spear, smacking the others sitting in the same row as him with it as he tried to aim for the roof.
“Kajakti, don’t you dare stab that spear into my car,” Cassidy shouted over the racket. “You do and I’ll leave you at the side of the highway.” Her loud outburst caused them to freeze and grow silent. “Now that I have all of your attention, just sit there, be quiet and don’t do anything. We’re almost at the campsite.”
Cassidy turned her full attention back onto the road. Christ, it was like driving with six kids in the car. She’d never been so happy to see the entrance to the recreation site in her life. She definitely couldn’t see her ever taking the men on a long road trip. They’d drive her around the bend.
She pulled up to her campsite, stopped and parked. Cassidy turned the key to shut off the engine and got out of the crossover. Not hearing any other car doors open, she looked back and saw the men sat there, not making any attempt to undo their seatbelts. She waved at them to get out but they just gave her a blank look.
Cassidy clenched her teeth to stop from saying something rather rude and unbuckled each man and helped them out of the car. By the time she was done she was sweating and felt as if she needed a nap. If she’d known they would be this much work, she probably would have seriously reconsidered leaving their asses out on the glacier.
“So this is your camping?” Edensaw asked once the men followed her to the middle of the site.
“Yes, but it isn’t called camping. It’s not a thing but what we call it when you sleep out in a tent. It’s a campsite. And that is my tent.” She pointed to the six-man one she always used since she liked to have a lot of space. Obviously, with six large men sitting in it, it wouldn’t seem that big anymore.
“Then it’s time we give you the proof that we’re telling the truth.”
Not sure exactly what they were going to do, and feeling as if she didn’t want any of the other campers seeing, Cassidy motioned for the men to follow her inside her tent. She unzipped the flap and ducked through the opening.
As she’d suspected, after the men piled in behind her, they took up the majority of the space. They dumped what they carried onto the tent’s floor and sat on each of their piled furs. Cassidy remained standing and looked down at them one at a time.
“All right,” she said. “Show me this proof, then you can be on your way.” She was pretty sure it would be nothing and they’d have to fess up to it all being make believe.
Edensaw looked at the others, and in a silent signal, they all stood as one. Each man turned his gaze on Cassidy. That’s when their bodies blurred and shimmered, shifting into the form of a wolf.
Cassidy looked at the six black wolves that stood where the men had once been. And they weren’t like the normal wolves that lived today in the Alaskan wilderness. They were all at least five feet in length. Their legs were a bit shorter and sturdier than the native gray wolf’s, and their heads were larger and broader. And taking a closer look at the teeth of one who had his muzzle slightly open, she saw they were slightly bigger as well. To her, they looked like ice age dire wolves who’d become extinct ten thousand years ago. She found her legs no longer worked. They were locked, her feet frozen to the spot. A scream rose inside her but her throat felt so constricted she couldn’t get it out. A trickle of fear ran down her spine and she breathed at a fast pace, unable to bring it under control.
See, my mate, we are werewolves. The very first werewolves.
She heard Edensaw’s voice clear as a bell inside her mind. Cassidy knew she didn’t make that up. She looked at the wolf who was Edensaw. “Did you just speak to me telepathically?” she asked in a shaky tone.
If that means if I’m putting my words inside your mind then the answer is yes.
Cassidy had kept her gaze locked on Edensaw’s wolf muzzle the whole time he “spoke” to her. It didn’t move at all. Her freak-out meter went off the charts. Her body broke out in a cold sweat.
“This is not possible,” she said, wanting to step closer to the tent’s zippered opening. “Werewolves aren’t supposed to exist, and especially not telepathic ones.” She had to be in some kind of altered state. Maybe she’d fallen while out on the glacier and had hit her head, and unbeknownst to her, she was in a coma, lying on the ice somewhere.
It is possible, Cassidy. You are seeing the proof with your own eyes. And you are not still out on the glacier.
The urge to run caused her body to shake but her goddamn legs refused to work. “Stop reading my mind.” Her voice shook as much as the rest of her did.
Capac the wolf raised his head and sniffed the air.
I can smell her fear, Edensaw. It’s very great. She will run. I don’t understand how she can’t know about werewolves. They live as the mortals do.
They must hide what they truly are
, Edensaw answered.
“There are other werewolves around?” Cassidy asked with a shout.
I can see why they would
, Wachei added.
Look how Cassidy has reacted to what we are.
As the wolves continued to discuss how she handled the news of what they truly were, Cassidy tested her legs. Finally, they had unlocked, but were in real danger of collapsing under her. If she was going to make her bid to escape, it had to be now while the others were busy “talking” as if she weren’t there. Again. Though this time she wasn’t thinking it was a bad thing.
Her gaze darting from one to the other, Cassidy took small steps backward, not wanting to draw their attention. She reached behind her and held her breath as her fingertips came in contact with the material of the tent. Giving one last look at the wolves that now stood in a group facing each other, she spun around and went for the zipper. She had it halfway unzipped when a large hand landed on her shoulder and turned her around.
Seeing Edensaw, now back in his human form, standing so close, touching her, was too much for Cassidy to take. She opened her mouth and the bottled-up scream spilled out of her. That lasted only a few seconds before Edensaw clapped his other hand across her mouth, stifling the sound.
“I will not hurt you, Cassidy. There is no reason to fear us,” he said in a calm tone. “We just wanted you to see we spoke the truth.”
Her legs gave out on her as she ran out of screams and her escape was foiled. Edensaw was quick to catch her and lift her into his arms. He carried her over to his pile of furs and sat with her on his lap. The others crowded around them, still in their wolf forms. That just made Cassidy even more anxious.
As if he sensed how she felt, Edensaw said, “Shift, my wolf brothers. You’re making my mate very nervous. We’ll have to wait until she is more comfortable with us in that form to go wolf around her.”
The wolves’ bodies blurred and shimmered before becoming men once more. They sat near her and Edensaw, forming a loose circle. Each man gave her a worried look. Cassidy took a deep breath as she tried to slow her rapidly beating heart and fast breathing. She did not need to pass out. She had to calm down enough to sort out everything she’d seen.