Terry Spear’s Wolf Bundle (86 page)

Hunter bolted to the back door and tried the doorknob. Locked. He pounded hard enough he figured he’d break the door down.

“Coming!” Meara yelled.

He released the breath he had been holding. Everything sounded fine. But when Meara let him in, he sensed the tension in the air. Meara was the only one of the three women who hid her fear well. Cara reeked of it and he figured it had to do with the fact Ashton was still missing. Tessa stared at Hunter as if he had sprouted devil’s horns, her back rigid against the dining room chair.

Ashton’s disappearance was probably the reason why all of them were so fearful. Unless something else was wrong, like Tessa had seen Ashton change into the wolf.

“Have you seen Ashton?” Cara asked, her voice wobbly.

“He’s coming.” At least he hoped he was. Despite being angry over Ashton’s actions, Hunter still felt responsible for him.

Rourke patted the snow off his gloves. “I’ll take a look to see how far behind us he was.”

Hunter nodded and Rourke exited the house, seized Ashton’s clothes from the patio, and headed for the woods.

Cara grabbed her coat and gloves. “I’ll go with him.” She slammed the door shut behind her.

Meara looked like she wanted to search for Ashton also, but it wasn’t in her nature. She was more the wait-and-see kind of woman. Except in Hunter’s case when he disappeared. He figured she knew he would go after her “friends” when he discovered her missing and wanted to stop him from killing them. They were lucky Hunter didn’t find them with her still.

Then he wondered if something else was going on with Tessa. “We didn’t find anything incriminating, I’m sorry to say, that would automatically clear your brother of the crime, Tessa.”

Her shoulders slumped and her jaw tightened.

He drew close and ran his hand over her arm, the muscle tensing. “We’ll keep looking. I need to speak to Michael. When the weather clears up, I’ll see him.”

Her teeth were so tightly clenched, he assumed she was fighting tears. “Tessa, maybe we could—”

“No!” she snapped.

Meara grabbed her coat and gloves. “Maybe you could fix Hunter some cocoa? Warm him up a bit? I’ll see what’s happening with the others.” She threw on her coat and hat and bolted outside.

Hunter stared after his sister. What the hell was up? Meara didn’t want him to make anything of a relationship with Tessa, yet her actions were tantamount to proving otherwise. She wouldn’t have cared about Ashton’s welfare when the others were handling it.

Hunter crouched next to Tessa, lowered himself to her level so he wouldn’t appear so imposing like a wolf who lay down before one who was standing—a nonthreatening posture.

She wouldn’t look at him, but toyed with the full mug of cocoa, cold now.

“Tessa, I know you’re disappointed that we couldn’t find evidence to support your brother’s case of innocence, but I’ve only begun to look into Bethany’s murder.”

Still, she refused to look at him. He wouldn’t press the issue.

“When Ashton returns, will you take a nap with me?”

Her gaze shot up and he sensed her fear—the look in her eyes, the smell of it on her skin, the hint of perspiration on her brow, the tension in every muscle returning. He reached for her hand, but she pulled away from him.
She remained seated as if the chair and table shielded her from his getting too close.

“What’s wrong? Is it something other than Michael’s situation that distresses you? My sister? Did she upset you in some way? She can be pretty unconventional at times.”

Tessa choked on a laugh. “Unconventional.” But the way she said the word was bitter, not with humor.

“Yes,” Hunter said softly. He reached for her hand again and this time she didn’t avoid him, but she didn’t respond with tenderness either as if he had captured her, the reluctant victim, and held her hostage. “Tell me what’s wrong. Did Cara upset you? Or did Ashton’s actions worry you when he left the three of you alone?”

“I can shoot, Hunter. You know that already.” Her eyes flashed annoyance.

Something else then.
“Yes, you’re a damned good shot.”

“Yes.” She looked like she wanted to say something more, but clammed up.

He rubbed his thumb over her hand, wanting to set her at ease, but she didn’t relax. “So what’s wrong? I promise I’m not going anywhere until I discover who murdered Michael’s girlfriend.”

The back door opened and Meara entered first. “You didn’t say how bad the storm was getting. Jeesh, the winds must be topping one hundred miles per hour.”

Cara and Ashton both entered after that, Ashton’s arm around her shoulders, neither of them looking very happy. “Sorry,” Ashton said to Hunter, slouching as if he thought he was about to be whipped.

“I’ll have a word with you later.” Hunter would not
accept this kind of insubordination, not when it endangered others’ lives.

Rourke closed the door behind him. “That shed’s about ready to—”

A grinding metal sound and then a scrunching noise and a bang followed. Everyone went to the window to see what happened.

“Hell, there goes the shed,” Rourke said. “We saw several trees uprooted when we located Ashton and if this weather keeps up, we’re bound to lose the—”

The kitchen light flickered and died.

“Electricity,” Rourke finished.

“The beach will be flooded so we can’t get any more firewood,” Hunter said.

“Makes for good snuggling weather.” Cara tugged at Ashton’s arm. “Right?”

“We’ve got enough firewood for a couple of days, if we conserve,” Ashton said.

Hunter turned to speak to Tessa about the candles and flashlights for when it got dark, but she had left the dining room.

“What happened while we were gone?” Hunter asked his sister.

She shrugged. “Ashton left. Tessa wrote a list of suspects. We had cocoa. That’s about it.”

He didn’t think that was all of it. “Where’s the list?”

“Living room. Coffee table, I think.”

Hunter headed into the living room and grabbed up the piece of paper. “As soon as the weather clears, I want every one of these men checked out. In the meantime, Ashton, Rourke, see if you can salvage anything from the shed before everything blows away.”

“Will do.” They headed out the back door.

Meara looked guilty as hell. Cara did, too, although he didn’t know her that well, but in the short time he had been with her, he hadn’t seen her so nervous—the way she avoided looking at him and chewed her bottom lip instead of challenging him like she usually did. Ashton was back safe and sound. So what was the problem? The storm?

“What’s the matter, Meara?”

“Nothing. I thought you were going to take a nap with Tessa.” She motioned to the kitchen. “I’m going to clean the cocoa mugs.”

“I’ll help you.” Cara vamoosed to the kitchen.

A strange noise sounded in Tessa’s bedroom. He listened, trying to discern what it was. A grating sound? A window opening?

He raced down the hall and grabbed Tessa’s doorknob.
Locked.

His blood chilled. “Tessa! Open up!”

No response, but the wind was blowing into the room, papers fluttering, curtains flapping, the frigid air seeping under the bottom edge of the door. “Tessa!”

Turning, he saw Meara watching him, wringing her hands. He didn’t even
want
to know why at this point. He made a dead run for the front door and threw it wide open.

Tessa struggled with the key in her car door lock. His heart beat out of bounds, the thrill of the chase deeply ingrained in him.

She wasn’t leaving him. Not unless he chose for her to do so.

He glanced at the key. Not making any headway on the lock. Frozen?

He stalked toward her, his footfall crunching on the glazed snow. She glanced up at him, held herself rigid, testing him with an icy gaze, but she shivered and looked like a rabbit caught in a trap. He gave her credit for not running away.

“Let’s go inside and discuss this, Tessa.”

“Like two human beings?” she asked, her eyes narrowed.

He couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips, but then he frowned at her. “If you stay out here, you’re going to catch pneumonia.”

“But
you
won’t?”

“We can discuss this inside,
now
.”

Her brows knit together, and she stormed past him. Meara and Cara watched from the front entrance, but quickly moved out of Tessa’s path. Hunter gave Meara a look that meant he would have a word with her later. Cara closed and locked the door behind him. Ashton and Rourke came inside from the back way.

“Not much worth saving at this point.” Ashton shook snow off his parka.

Everyone was glowering at Ashton, except for Tessa. Trembling, she knelt before the fire, her hands spread over the flames.

Hunter crouched beside her. “Ask me what you will.”

She glanced at the others and then focused on Hunter. “You have two options as far as taking care of me. Make me one of you, or kill me.”

H
UNTER
SUSPECTED
THE
WORST
—
THAT
A
SHTON
HAD
shapeshifted in plain view of Tessa and now he was faced with a new dilemma.

Rourke swore under his breath.

Hunter clenched and unclenched his hands.
Damn Ashton.
“Ashton, the window’s open in the master bedroom. The door is locked. Go around the front and climb in, shut the window, and unlock the door, why don’t you?”

“I’ll go with him,” Rourke hastily said.

When the men left, Hunter pulled off one of Tessa’s cold wet gloves and then the other.

Meara said, “I’ll make lunch.”

“I’ll help her,” Cara quickly added, and the two disappeared into the kitchen.

“Tessa, what did you see?” Hunter’s gut clenched with concern for what she was feeling.

If he could undo the last few days in a heartbeat to save her from what now had to be done, he would. He couldn’t believe Ashton had caused so much trouble. No wonder changing humans wasn’t a good policy.

Tessa swallowed hard and stared at the fire while Hunter rubbed her cold fingers. “Ashton was acting crazy, pacing all over the place, and then he went outside and stripped off his clothes in the snow. I thought he was rabid, and I was afraid he would hurt Cara. Instead
he…he changed. Transformed into a wolf. Cara wasn’t surprised. Your sister told me nothing had happened. And if neither of them was shocked, it meant they were whatever he was also. And you, too.”

Wanting her, despite everything—her cousin, his own feelings about changing a human, the fact she had a brother, which would cause even more problems—Hunter unbuttoned her coat, knowing now he had no choice but to explain his world. “I’m sorry.”

“That you have to terminate me now? I won’t tell anyone.” Her eyes glistened with tears. “How could I? They’d lock me away.”

He let out his breath, unsure how to approach the problem. He didn’t want to upset her any further, but he couldn’t be dishonest with her at this point. “Letting you go, isn’t one of our options.” Their laws had kept them alive and their secret intact for this long, he wasn’t about to break one of the most important rules they lived by.

She blinked away tears and looked back at the fire. “Will you at least help my brother get his release?”

Her tearfulness cut straight through to his soul. “Changing you was the other choice.”
Or giving her up to Devlyn Greystoke.

“Your sister said it wasn’t an option for you.”

He shook his head. Leave it up to his sister to be truthful at the most inopportune times.

Tessa’s bedroom door opened, and Rourke stomped back down the hall. “What else did you need done?”

Ashton slinked in behind him.

“Rourke, why don’t you take a nap in the guest room? Ashton, you take one in Michael’s room. We’ll need some sleep so we can pull guard duty tonight.”

Rourke cast a sympathetic look Tessa’s way and gave Hunter a hard look. Then he and Ashton headed down the hall.

“If I turned you…” Hunter said.

“I don’t want to be crazy like Ashton.”

“You’ll be the same person you are now even after the change. Maybe he was already a little crazy.” Hunter stroked Tessa’s hand. “There are benefits for being what we are.”

“What exactly
are
you?”

“Shapeshifters.
Lupus garous
. Werewolves. We normally don’t associate much with humans, and we don’t normally change them.”

Tessa’s eyes were so big, Hunter knew telling her the facts of life wasn’t going to be any easier than it had been when he told the guys.

“You can’t have been born this way.”

“Yes, we’re born this way. Normally, it’s much easier to stay with our kind since we’ve grown up this way. Teaching a newly turned human can be a real trial. Both Rourke and Ashton have already made innumerable mistakes. If I could, I’d take them to my home and keep them there, isolated from humans until they more thoroughly understood how dangerous it is for us to let down our guard.”

“Dangerous?”

“Yes. Can you imagine if people knew of our existence, what would happen? DNA testing, for one, to learn why we heal so quickly, how we can shapeshift, what makes us age so slowly.”

“You…you don’t have the life span of a human?”

“No. Although we can die.” He pulled off her coat. She looked so petite sitting there, he again wondered if
she could handle being his mate. “Think on it, Tessa. I won’t pressure you into making a decision.”

She snorted. “Death or life as a werewolf. No pressure. Right.” She took a ragged breath and stared at the floor. “You wanted to take a nap.”

And the fact she wouldn’t look at him made him worry she was intending on trying to slip out while everyone was napping. “With you.”

She looked so damned vulnerable, he didn’t want to push her into accepting any of this until she could handle it. What was he supposed to do? Letting her know their secrets, but allowing her to live on her own as a human was not an option. But killing her wasn’t either.

He ran his hands through her silky hair, wanting to bury his face in the sweet peach-scented strands. “In part, you and your brother are already one of us, if it helps any. It seems Jeremiah Cramer, your great- grandfather, was Seth Greystoke, a friend of my great-grandfather’s. One of his great grandsons still lives. Which creates another situation. Maybe the solution, or not. Once Devlyn Greystoke learns of your existence, I’d be willing to bet, he’ll want you to join his pack.”

Tessa looked so distraught, Hunter took her hand and kissed it, and he noted how small her fingers were compared to his, just like the rest of her—petite, delicate, not tall like his sister or Cara, which meant she’d be a small wolf when she shapeshifted, and most likely unable to deal with the heftier grays if one of them tried her. But touching her turned his body into a torrent of need—the desire to claim her overcoming any rational judgment.

Trying to get his mind off what Tessa’s sweet body did to his, he considered the matter of turning her
further. He didn’t object to making her one of their own for the same reason Leidolf did because of his roots, even though he and Meara were of royal lineage also, but having offspring who were not, didn’t matter to him. Turning a reluctant woman did. But if she had wolf roots already and she was willing…

“You have a choice, Tessa.” As much as he hated to admit it.

“You mean to go with some stranger?” She sounded slightly hysterical, her eyes wide, scared. “I can’t leave. My brother—”

“As the last of his kin, I’m certain Devlyn would want to do whatever he could to help free your brother.”

Although Hunter had every intention of freeing her brother himself, somehow.

Tessa’s expression changed subtly—almost as though she thought family might be more of a help than he would be. And the notion irked him.
He
was her savior, no one else.

But then she squeezed Hunter’s hand and his groin tightened. “What about you?”

Hell, he wanted her, but in reality, since Devlyn was a pack leader and her kin, by their laws, he should decide her future. Hunter chided himself. That was one law he wasn’t willing to abide by—not when it came to Tessa’s fate.

She bit her lip, her hands nervously rubbing her jeans. “What, Hunter? If it pertains to me…”

“Hell, Tessa.” He tugged her from the floor and pulled her toward her bedroom. “If I was being perfectly honest with you, I’d tell you it’s out of my hands. That according to our laws, your cousin would decide what would happen to you and your brother.”

She slumped a little. “But…? ” She looked up at him with a mixture of emotions—hope, worry, insecurity.

“I don’t want to give up control.” Well, a hell lot more than that. He didn’t want to give her up, period.

Her lips twitched up slightly.

“Yeah, well, it’s a natural curse when you’re an alpha pack leader. Give no quarter.”

“But…? ”

“If I make you mine to prevent the other grays from having you, Devlyn might choose to fight me because of it—if I didn’t get his permission first. All packs have female shortages. He may want to give you to one of his own sub pack leaders.”

Not that Hunter wanted that, but alpha leaders didn’t mate betas. Both an alpha male and female ran the pack. If Tessa wasn’t alpha enough, she would never survive as his mate. Devlyn could pair her off with a subleader or a beta. If Tessa stayed with Hunter, there wasn’t any way he was giving her to anyone else and that could put her in harm’s way. He couldn’t do that. But he didn’t have the heart to tell her she might not be able to be an alpha’s mate.

He took her into the room and shut the door.

She folded her arms and glowered at him. “Right, damn it. Like some guy I don’t even know can come here and tell me who I have to marry.”

“Mate. We don’t marry.”

Her brows rose.

“I have a lot more to tell you about us before you really know what you’re getting into.” Although he wasn’t sure how much to reveal all at once.

For a moment, she looked annoyed, and he figured it had to do with not saying he’d fight for her. He had
no qualms about fighting Devlyn for her, but the fact of the matter still remained he had to do what was right for Tessa’s safety.

But then Tessa began unbuttoning her blouse. He recognized that devious look in her eyes that meant she was up to something. Get him so worked up he didn’t want to give her up, perhaps. He didn’t want to give her to anyone, but if it meant keeping her safe, he’d…well, he’d have to do what was right for her.

Hesitating, he didn’t want to give her the wrong message. She gave him a wickedly sinful smile in response and
that
decided it. Talk about having no willpower when it came to the red-haired goddess.

She ran her fingers down Hunter’s chest with a provocative stroke of her long nails and reached for his waistband. “What happened to your pack? Are they the ones Leidolf said were in Portland?”

What pack? Hell, his other head was thinking for him now.

He yanked her shirt down to her elbows, leaned over, and kissed her soft throat, his voice husky when he replied, “They weren’t happy about losing their homes in California to the forest fire. They thought living in a city would be a nice change. But we’re not urban wolves. Leidolf’s pack is established in Portland. He has every right to defend his territory against encroachers.”

“Hmm,” she murmured, lifting her chin as he ran his mouth lower, trailing kisses over her collarbone, down to the top edge of the lacy bra covering the swell of her breasts.

Despite not looking to see where her fingers roamed, she dipped them inside his sweatpants and a shiver of need stole through him.

Lower
, he silently pleaded, wanting her to stroke the itch she’d created. And she touched him, smiling when his arousal jumped in her hand.

Unable to restrain the urge to rip off her clothes and have his way with her, he reached down and attempted to unbuckle her belt, vowing she’d wear sweats like him from now on, less to remove and lots quicker.

She chuckled as he fumbled with the belt, and he growled. Somehow, despite his lust-soaked brain, he was able to remove Tessa’s clothes without destroying them, baring all that luscious skin, her pert breasts, the nipples already peaked, but screened by her silky mane of red hair. She trembled in the frigid room, and Hunter scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed.

“Then you’ll have to go to Portland and bring them back.”

Bring who back?
Hell, all he cared about was Tessa at the moment. And he sure was rethinking the Devlyn situation, cousin or no, alpha leader problems notwithstanding. “I can’t leave you behind while I deal with my pack.”

He set her on the bed, then climbed onto the mattress and pulled the covers over them to keep the chill out. Trailing a finger around his nipples, she tortured his body, caressing with featherlight touches. “Why does the stalker want me for real?”

Jeez, she had to ask? Everything about her was sexier than sin—just to look at, to touch, to taste, to smell her special scent. But beyond that? She drugged him with her easygoing manner, her innocence, yet her strength to right wrong, to persist when everything told her the situation was futile, to risk her life to protect him.
What more could a
lupus garou
ask for in a mate?

He gave a ragged sigh, hating that she’d garnered others’ interest as well. “Your pheromones, looks, actions. You caught his attention, but he’s cautious in taking you because he’s a beta.”

He kissed her lips, possessively, craving every inch of her, to hold, to protect, to keep her for his own forever.

“Ahh, betas, of course. Your sister and Cara are alphas, aren’t they?”

He groaned inwardly. Some part of his brain realized it was important for her to talk about this, but he sure as hell wanted to get on with what his other brain felt was important. “Yeah.”

“And Rourke and Ashton?” Her fingers slid over Hunter’s arm, her gaze focused on the way his muscle tensed.

“Betas.”

“What would I be?” Her eyes shifted to his, and he could see the concern there.

Hunter took a deep breath. “All that I want in a woman.”

Her jaw tightened, her green eyes spearing him with a determined look. “I’m an alpha,” she said, with great conviction. When he smiled, she pinched his pebbled nipple with a gentle squeeze. “You don’t think so?”

He nuzzled her face, wanting to make love, but wanting to clear the air between them first. “Sometimes you’re definitely an alpha.” He couldn’t lie to her and say she was always one, because he wasn’t sure how she’d fare among the alpha of his kind, but he hated the way her brows pinched together, when he wanted to reassure her instead.

“A beta’s not good, is it?”

He cleared his throat. Without betas, a
lupus garou
pack would constantly be in turmoil, alphas butting
heads, what a mess. “Betas in a pack are fine. Alphas must lead the pack though.”

“So if I were a beta and you turned me, I’d be stuck with someone like Rourke?”