Snow Wolf: Wolves of Willow Bend (Book 9) (9 page)

“Of course,” she said, proud of that the quiver in her voice had finally gone away. “I am a Hunter of Willow Bend.” Well, she’d been a journeyman Hunter, but close enough. “I go where my Alpha sends me.”

“And he sent you to me.”

Yes, he had.
“Not to split hairs, but he sent me to your pack to make sure you were still ruling it, to inform you of the trouble we’ve had with the Russians, and to encourage you to contact him.”

“Well, you have done two of the three.”

True
. “Which means I can leave soon.”

“Not until you are successful with all your tasks.” Something had changed in his tone and attitude, but she couldn’t quite track it. “Very well, the lights dimmed because we are in the night cycle.”

A chime sounded, soft as though a breeze brushed by, and she glanced around.

“That will be our supper.” Diesel rose, all gracious host despite the wild element which clung to him. “Stay seated, Dove. I’ll fetch it then we can see to answering your other questions.”

There it was again, that damn nickname. What other questions had she asked him? Closing her eyes, she listened to the quiet whoosh of the door opening and the faint murmur of his voice thanking another wolf. At least when he wasn’t sitting next to her, she could take a deep breath. What was she doing with him?

The cushion dipped, and she opened her eyes to find him watching her. A large tray sat on the foot of their sofa, but she barely spared it a half-glance before his gaze arrested hers once more.

“Will you be my guest for supper, Dove?”

For supper or as his supper? Unfortunately, Ranae didn’t know which answer would trouble her more.

T
he gray-green
of her eyes sharpened, and the last of the gold of her wolf vanished once more. The kiss exhilarated him in a way Diesel hadn’t been in years. Still, when she’d pulled away, he allowed it. He wanted her to come to him in passion, not terror. The sweet scent of her desire surrounded him. No matter how she struggled to contain her reaction, it was a decadent perfume.

Oddly, knowing he affected her gave him all the patience in the world. Of course, watching her try to talk about anything else also amused him. Frankly, he enjoyed the sound of her voice. A strange observation for a man who didn’t like most sounds anymore; his hearing had grown so sensitive in the last few decades. It was why he hated cell phones and most forms of technology. The constant buzz scraped over his nerves.

Even knowing she had a cell phone in her back pocket didn’t disturb him. The faint buzz of it receiving a message scraped over his senses. When she didn’t reach for it, he couldn’t help smiling. The ache in his cheeks, so unused to the constant need to stretch, appealed to him on another level.

“I will join you,” she hedged. “If you call me by my name.”

“You don’t like Dove?” Reaching for the first plate, he took the pressure off of her. Montana had sent them elk steaks and fresh steamed vegetables along with two loaves of fresh baked bread. If his nose wasn’t wrong, there was apple pie in there as well. He had a weakness for the treat, one very few knew about. Of course Montana knew. If he’d ever felt even a spark of interest for her, he’d have pursued his assistant many, many moons before. As it was, she was more a younger sister, though she treated him like she was his elder rather than over fifty years his junior.

Dove pulled her legs into a crisscross as she accepted the plate. He took her glass, so she didn’t have to move to set it down, and added it to the tray before he retrieved the cutlery his assistant included inside of linen napkins. It amused him that she’d gone to so much trouble.

Candles also sat on the tray. While he could light them, he had no intention to turn down the lights in the chamber. Not after Dove’s very visceral reaction. When she trusted him enough, he would find out why the lack of light frightened her and then kill whatever had given her such terror. No wolf with her strength should ever cower or bay as she had done.

Only after retrieving his own plate did he notice Dove’s utter stillness. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re growling.” The observation startled him, yet she was correct.

Silencing the rumble in his chest, he inclined his head. “My apologies, Dove. I was not growling that you don’t like the name.”

“It’s not that I don’t like it, but… I have a name. It’s Ranae.”

“Yes, but to me you are a dove.” He set the plate on his lap after mirroring her position. When was the last time he sat down to a dinner with anyone and was more interested in the conversation than the food? Most of the time, he hunted his own meal and ate where none could see him. Others, when necessary, he spent with the people who needed contact with him.

Instead of eating, however, she gaped at him. “I remind you of some delicate fucking bird?”

Laughter replaced the growl in his chest, and he chuckled. “Doves are far from delicate and, while I’m sure they engage in their own antics, I’ve never thought of them as fucking birds.”

Her shock turned to rage. Anger put fire in her eyes, and his wolf stretched. Yes, this they preferred far more to her cringing. His shoulders still carried the sting of her claws, and he’d strut everywhere to show them off until they faded.
Strut?
Fresh amusement rolled through him. When was the last time he strutted anywhere?

The clack of her teeth coming together almost caused him to laugh again, though he suspected she’d stab him with the knife rather than the elk steak. “I’m not a damn bird,” she muttered, before stuffing a bite into her mouth.

“Doves are beautiful, graceful birds. Though they seem small and fragile, they fly at incredible speeds. They are monogamous in their pairings, they work together to raise their young and they prefer daylight to the night. They range across many different climates, their migrations taking them thousands of miles.” He sliced off a cut of his meat. “They are far from delicate in their strength, their determination, or their beauty.” They also relied on the male to make a showy gesture during courtship.

He needed to learn more about his dove before he would know what gesture she would appreciate.

Ranae chewed three more bites slowly and deliberately while she wrestled with her temper. Someone had taught her that anger was a bad thing or at least they’d put a chokehold on it. His dove shouldn’t be so afraid to show herself. He debated his next move when she said, “I suppose that’s a decent description, I’m just not sure you should be giving me so much insider information about your pack.”

“Why?” He knew the answer. It irritated him, but he would hear it from her.

“Because I belong to Willow Bend.” Better the pack, than if she’d said… “To Mason.
He
is my Alpha, and I am here on his mission.”

Maybe Diesel should have killed Mason when he had the chance. “So you have said.” He kept his voice calm. Decades of practice made him an expert at burying his emotions. Ranae was the most unique of prey. “Your family must be exceptionally talented for it to be central to so many alliances.”

She speared one of the potato slices on her fork then frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Your brother is Mason’s second, is he not?”
Yes, little Dove, follow the seeds where I plant them.

“A.J., yes.” Her demeanor softened at the mention of her brother. “He’s the oldest of the three brothers.”

“Triplets?” It didn’t matter what he knew, it mattered only what she shared with him, what vision she gave him into her world.

“Oh yeah, identical and all older than me.” She sighed as only a younger sibling could. “They were perfectly impossible most of the time but, even when I want to strangle them, I’d have no others at my back.”

Yet.
He’d prove to her soon enough that the only wolf she needed to guard her back was him. For now, he continued to spread the seeds toward the destination he wanted her to go. “What makes A.J. more remarkable than the others?”

“How do you know he is?” Sibling scorn mingled with pride in her challenge, but she ate another bite and he passed her one of the decanters of water that came with the meal.

“He, not the other two, is Mason’s second, so that means there is more to him than to them.” An Alpha chose his second for any number of reasons. Montana sufficed in that position for him because she handled most of the day-to-day management issues he wanted nothing to do with.

“True. Ty doesn’t want to lead, not really, and Linc’s more of a follower. He likes to make stuff happen and to protect…well, they all like to protect. It’s one of those annoying male wolf traits.” Had he not been watching for it, he would have missed the side eye she gave him. So, she didn’t want to be protected.

Too bad
.

Still, it was an insight. She had to be capable of protecting herself or Mason wouldn’t have sent her, Julian or no Julian.

“So A.J. is the eldest.” It wasn’t a doubt. If the triplets measured near equal in dominance, other factors would come into play.

“Yes.” A shadow crossed over her face and he frowned at the way the corners of her mouth dipped down. “And it’s more than that.”

His instinct was to order her to tell him what was wrong, but she didn’t respond well to those, and he was intruding on the personal matter of her family. “Will you tell me what more there is to it?”

“It’s not like it’s a secret.” Who did she attempt to convince—him or herself? “A.J. spent several years in prison.”

While it might not have been a secret, Diesel hadn’t known about it.

“Long story short, all three were off on a weekend to get away and roam, A.J. and Linc wanted Ty to feel better. He’d been—he’d been in a bad place for a while.” Her mouth tightened. “Ty’s mate chose to leave Willow Bend, followed another man to Sutter Butte.”

Some wounds sting deeper than others
, but he said nothing.

“Anyway, Ty had been very depressed and A.J. and Linc wanted to make it better. What’s better than a good roam?” The smile she sent him didn’t touch her eyes. “While they were out, they came across a woman being assaulted. My brothers would never stand for something like that.”

Nor would he, but he merely nodded. No good male would allow a woman or child—or anyone weaker, for that matter—to be hurt in their presence.

“They rescued her, but a human was killed in the process, and the police came upon the scene too swiftly for them to vanish.”

Diesel frowned. The southern packs had more local encroachment from the humans than he did, but from time to time his younglings got into trouble.

“Our Alpha at the time, Toman…he ordered A.J. to face the human judgment, and we were not allowed to visit him or see him at all.” Sadness echoed in her voice. “It broke my mother’s heart, but it was worse for Linc and Ty. They were only ever half themselves. Even their laughter was more hollow and their smiles… They weren’t real smiles, does that make sense?”

“Yes.” He understood the mourning well. The brothers had faded some without their third…as had the rest of the family. Toman Carlyle should have given up his hold on Willow Bend long before Mason killed him. No Alpha worth his salt would allow his wolves to be so damaged.

“Well, A.J. spent six long years in prison, alone and unable to shift. Then Mason took over the pack and Vivian—the woman they saved—she found evidence that could get A.J.s judgment thrown out. He was able to come home, and he was…lean, and hollowed out, as though he’d been ground to what was just the essence of him.”

Ranae finished off the last of her elk steak, but continued to nibble on her vegetables. When she held out her hand, he would pass her the water then take it away when she was done.

“Your family healed when he came home?” He had to know, was that where her fear of the dark came from? The sense of abandonment?

“You could say that. Turned out Vivian was A.J.’s mate…now they are together, and he is Mason’s second. They’re two wolves determined to make sure no one is left behind. Vivian is pregnant with their first child, too.” Simple joy lifted some of her sadness. “Claire came home, and she and Ty worked things out. Then Linc mated Serafina.”

“You don’t like their mates?”

“No,” she said with a quick shake of her head. “It’s nothing like that at all. Truly. I think Vivian is amazing. She’s smart, level-headed, and a game designer. My brothers think she hung the moon. She makes A.J. deliriously happy. Serafina’s cool, strong, and confident.”

“But your brother is still far away.”

“Yeah.” She touched his arm, the first time she’d actively sought contact with him of her own volition that didn’t involve violence. It was a light contact, the gentlest of squeezes. “I am thrilled that he’s happy, but I miss him. Now, Ty? He and Claire, his mate, are away too.”

“You don’t like Claire?” Of the three, she gave less warmth to that name.

“No and yes.” She grimaced, squeezed his arm again, then released him. He missed the contact immediately, but she was eating so he left it alone.
For now.
“I hated Claire for a long time, because she really hurt Ty when she left. If you ever met him, of the three, I think Ty is the easiest going and the most gentle. He has a great heart, and he cares with everything that’s in him. Claire left him, broke his heart, and went off to live in another pack. I know things weren’t perfect there, and I know she came back and they found a way to heal—together. I’m happy for them.”

“But…you haven’t forgiven her for hurting your family, your brother and, by extension, yourself and your other siblings.”

Ranae bit her lip, it was the most innocent and hesitant gesture he’d seen her perform. “That’s part of it.”

Understanding dawned, and it was his turn to touch her. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “If she hadn’t left Ty, your brothers might not have gone on the journey that ended with A.J. in prison.”

His little Dove lowered her head and, for a moment, he caught the flash of tears on her eyelashes. Thankfully, they did not fall. If she began to truly cry, it would shatter him, and he’d say to hell with patience and claim her then and there.

“It’s stupid,” she admitted. “If A.J. hadn’t gone, he might never have met Vivian, or worse, what happened to Vivian could have gotten her killed.” Her care for the other woman spoke volumes. “But, at the same time…”