Wolf Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire 4) (8 page)

She read the letters in order by date. They began formal and heavy handed, but by the third, he wasn’t talking about the weather anymore. He was talking to her like she was right there beside him. He’d detailed his life at each moment in time. What he had trapped, fur prices, meeting Clotilda, setting up his trap line. He told jokes he had heard and told her about friends and funerals. He sketched animals he saw, and sometimes, instead of signing the letters, he would paint Alaskan scenery with drippy black ink at the bottom. And in the last one, Dad told her what had happened between him and Mom. He told her how Mom had withered here. How he didn’t hate her for leaving because he’d always known it was coming. How she cried at nights, and it had broken his heart piece by piece. How he’d wanted to follow, but she forbade him to. She’d told him if she was ever going to love again and have a normal life, she had to forget him. He’d written that Mom had kept their address a secret from him in case he ever forgot the rules, but if he ever found out where Nicole lived, he was going to send these letters and hope they reached her well.

When she closed the lid to the box, emotionally drained but feeling like the empty well she’d carried in her center had finally been filled, she turned to Link with a ready smile for the man who had given her so much.

“Thank you for doing that. I thought you’d left, but you were tracking down Dad’s friends to interview instead, weren’t you?”

Link sat behind her on the floor and pulled her back tight against his chest. “Yeah. You got me fighting again. I wanted to give you something, too.”

“I don’t want to leave anymore. I don’t want to go back to Mission.”

Link bit the lobe of her ear gently and whispered, “Then don’t leave. Stay here.”

“Well, I have to stay, naturally. You gave me conditions, remember?”

“Yeah, but I want to hear it. I want it to be your choice.”

Nicole twisted in his arms and studied those blazing silver eyes she’d grown to adore. She smiled at how nervous he looked. He didn’t need to be. Not with her.

“You got me fighting too, Link. I’m staying.”

Alaska had been kicking up changes in Nicole over the weeks that she’d lived here, and with the decision to stay and give this life her all, she felt like a different person altogether. She looked down at her hands. They weren’t blistered or bleeding anymore. They were calloused and strong. She lifted her gaze to the mirror in the bathroom, and a small smile transformed her face. Proud brown eyes that came from her Yupik lineage, rosy cheeks, and shiny tresses of pitch-colored hair piled high up on her head in a messy bun. She wore mascara, lip moisturizer, and shimmery eye shadow for Link, but she’d stopped covering up the color on her cheek. No longer was she repulsed by it when she looked at her reflection. Instead, she was proud of it.

She only wore the green scarf now to protect her from the chill.

She’d taped the picture of her and Dad grinning at each other with their matching marks onto the side of the mirror to remind her to look for beauty in the little moments. And this life was full of them.

Nicole rinsed her hands under the small trickle of spring water that came through the faucet, then sauntered into the living room and began pulling on layers. Link had taught her so much over the past week of working on this house together, but he had yet to spend an entire night with her, and today, when he came to fix the porch with her, she was going to ask him. No, she didn’t mind splitting time between his cabin and hers, but the two miles that had seemed so minimal before now seemed like a yawning canyon. She spent most evenings with her attention on the woods outside, hoping for a glance of her wolf.

The cabin was undergoing a facelift. Link had decided to expand the porch to wrap around the house and had extended the eaves of the roof to protect it from the weather. Together, they’d repaired the dilapidated chimney, put in a new main beam to replace the last rotted one, stained the exposed rafters inside as well as over the porch, sanded down the water-damaged floorboards and refinished them, and yesterday, Link had brought in an enormous picture window, his signature for each house he rehabilitated. He’d put it in the front of the house, right next to the door, so she had a full and undiluted view of the winter woods outside. He’d even hired an electrician to patch her in to a main electrical line since they were close enough to Galena and she could afford the bill.

She hopped down the splintered porch stairs that would be replaced today and grabbed her new chainsaw from under the ledge of the porch. As she pulled the cord and let the little motor rev and warm up, she was filled with a sudden pride in her abilities out here. Every day she grew more confident in ways she’d never imagined before.

Yesterday, she’d dragged fallen, dried-out logs back to the house with Buck’s old snow machine that Link had got working for her. She had plenty on the woodpile to last her for a couple of weeks, but if bad weather hit and she couldn’t get out onto the land to gather more, she’d be up shit creek. Between her survival books and Link’s infinite well of knowledge, she was fully aware that Alaskan weather wasn’t the most dangerous part of living here. It was being unprepared for the weather that could kill her.

Smoke blasted from the chainsaw as she cut the logs into more manageable pieces, and the sawdust, to her pleasure, came out clean and white. Green logs didn’t burn well, but this was prime fire timber.

Movement caught her attention, and she let the chainsaw idle as she straightened her spine. When she saw Link’s snow machine crest the hill, she turned off the saw and jogged out to meet him. Damn, he was a sight for sore eyes, up on one locked leg, other knee resting in the seat as he maneuvered around the big spruce by the road. But when he cut the engine and dismounted, he didn’t greet her like he usually did. Instead, he shook his head hard and rattled a long, loud growl, his lips curled back over his white teeth.

“Link?”

“Stay back.” His voice dipped and grew gravelly. “She’s going to kill us.”

“What?” Nicole held her hands out helplessly. “I won’t kill you.”

“Not you. The fox. The fox will kill us.”

“Vera? Link, I don’t understand. You said she loves you like her own brother. She won’t hurt you.”

Link leaned forward, hands on his knees and dry-heaved, and when he stood and linked his hands behind his head, she saw his eyes. They were pure white, and blood flowed freely down his nose, dripping from his chin onto the snow.

“Oh, my God.” Nicole approached a step, but he countered and backed away.

Link angled his face in warning, his eyes telling her to stay put. “You don’t want to touch me now, woman. Wolf is hurt.” A feral snarl left him. “Fuck you.”

“What?”

“Not you,” Link choked out, shaking his head again. “That part was for me. I did this.”

She didn’t understand any of this. Didn’t understand the conversation that was going on between Link and Wolf, and she couldn’t comprehend the reason for the gore on Link’s face. His nose didn’t look broken or even swollen.

“Tell me what’s going on, Link. Tell me right now.”

Link spat red in the snow and hooked his hands on his hips. “When you told me to fight, I did. I went and saw Vera. I asked her to try and fix me. Or if she couldn’t fix me, I want her to buy me time. I want more time.”

“With me, or more time to figure out how to fix the curse?”

“Either one. I’ll take anything.”

“And Vera’s medicine is doing this to you?”

Link waited too long to answer. The only sound was the
pit, pat, pit, pat
of crimson staining the ice near the toe of his boot. Finally, he dipped his chin once. “Vera has tried to cure a McCall before.” He strode around her and up the porch stairs to the cabin.

Stunned, she asked in a high pitch, “And?”

“And it didn’t work,” he gritted out over his shoulder as he disappeared inside.

“Wha—?” Nicole followed him in and closed the door gently behind her.

Link stood at the sink washing his face, but even from here, she could hear the constant growl in his throat. The unbalanced sound tore at her heart. He was in pain because she’d pushed him. He was worse now than she’d ever seen him.

“What do you mean it didn’t work?”

Link locked his arms against the counter, staring out the window with his back to her. His voice was hoarse and exhausted when he said, “She had a friend on the island where she used to live. She was banished there to try and fix the problem shifters, and one of them was a McCall. Eustice. My cousin. He tried to be good, like me. Vera can suppress animals, but with McCalls, it’s not just an animal problem.” Link turned and leaned his hip on the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s a problem with the human side, too.”

“So putting Wolf to sleep like she did with the Silvers’ bears won’t fix you?”

Link shook his head, those blindingly white eyes steady on her. “Vera tried to suppress Eustice’s wolf, but with us, it’s different. One bad, unbalanced wolf in a pack can affect the entire dynamic. He can make an entire pack rotten. When she suppressed Eustice’s wolf, the poisonous side of his human half went unchecked, and he got head-sick faster.”

“What happened to him?” she asked in horror.

“He hanged himself.”

Nicole sank down into a chair by the table. It felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. It felt as if an avalanche had settled over her, pinned her body so tightly she couldn’t move to dig herself out. “Oh, Link. I don’t want you to take that medicine anymore. Not at this cost.”

Link pulled out the chair on the opposite side of the table and sat down hard. As he removed his winter hat, she stared in sympathy at his shaking hands.

“Vera is adjusting the serum as we go. She’s trying something different on me. She calls this one the McCall Reset. The idea isn’t to put Wolf to sleep, because I need him. The plan is to curb some of the traits the McCalls get in the final stages of madness, and to repair my fucked up DNA. She needs time to fix me though.” Link worried at a loose string on his discarded gloves and dipped his gaze. “Vera thinks you can save me.”

“How?”

“By being my anchor while go through the cycle of meds. Eustice didn’t have anything to live for. He gave up when it got too hard.” He inhaled deeply and locked eyes with her. “Vera wants to meet you.” Link slammed his hand on the table and snarled, “The fox hurts. You make us feel better.”

Vera stood and padded around the table, then slid over his lap, straddling him. Cupping his cheeks, she lifted Link’s terrifying gaze to hers. “Wolf. I love you.”

The snarl died in Link’s throat, and his eyes went round.

“I don’t want you hurting, but I don’t want you to go mad either. I don’t want Ian to put you down. You’re mine, do you hear me? I don’t think we can do this alone, though. If Link thinks Vera can help, then we have to do this as a team. We’ll do this one day at a time. Don’t look back, don’t look to the future. Just keep your eyes on me.”

Link nodded slowly, then eased forward and kissed her so hard her lips throbbed. Rough mate, but she couldn’t blame him. He was in pain, and she settled something in him. She understood his desperation to hurt less for a little while. Nicole yanked off her gloves and jacket, and Link pushed her sweater over her head as soon as he was able. His lips, hands, and teeth were everywhere, gripping, nibbling, caressing her skin until she was on fire. Link stood and took her with him. A long
riiiip
sounded, and before she could react to him destroying her jeans, he had them shoved down her hips and was spinning her. She gasped as her stomach dipped, and suddenly, she was staring at the woodgrain pattern on the table and feeling the chill of the cold surface against her stomach. The rustle of fabric sounded behind her, and Link gripped her waist. She arched her back and moaned as he slid into her from behind. He wasn’t slow or easy like he usually was, and she loved it. Loved the way he was teetering on the edge of control. Loved the way he couldn’t help himself around her. And that fucking sexy growl in his throat put her closer to orgasm with every slam into her. Gripping gently, his hand was in her hair, arching her back by another inch as she screamed his name and was consumed by an explosive orgasm.

Link’s warm chest brushed her back now as her hips jerked with each stroke. Damn, she was so sensitive to his touch now. As his body tensed and relaxed over her, his teeth grazed her shoulder blade, and she knew what he wanted, what he needed.

“Do it,” she gasped out.
Fast, before I chicken out!

Link slammed into her and went rigid, groaning as warmth shot into her. His teeth sank into her back so hard she was blinded by pleasure and pain. Gritting her teeth and closing her eyes, she swallowed her yelp of pain because this was important. Claiming marks were a big deal. They were a declaration. Link had bonded with her and chosen to fight to stay with her. He’d made the decision to go through unimaginably painful side effects just to get the chance at more time with her, and here he was, in this moment, claiming her. She would bear his mark forever.

Pride, pain, and joy surged through her as he slowed his movement and built the pressure in her middle gently. Her next release came easy with his hands soft on her hips. When he relaxed across her back, his heart pounding against her skin, he did something that felt so right she couldn’t move away if she tried. He began licking her stinging bite-mark. And that soft sound in his throat was back—the satisfied, happy one. The Link who had been bleeding and buckling in on himself outside was gone, and her caring mate was back. The relief she felt was mountainous.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have come at you like that. Are you okay?”

She crossed her arms over the table and settled her chin against them. With a happy smile, she nodded. “Better than okay. You?”

Link sighed a relieved sound. “Well, I bit you so Wolf is practically throwing a fucking party. But yeah. We’re okay. You make things okay. Come here.”

Link slid out of her and turned her in his arms. And when her numb legs gave, he supported her against him. He hugged her tightly and rested his chin on her head as he moved from side to side in a music-less slow dance.

“Link?”

“Mmm?”

“I think you should stay nights here.”

He stopped swaying but didn’t respond, so she rushed onward. “Or if you can’t stomach sleeping in a place that isn’t your den, we can be together at your place. I don’t want to be away from you at night again. I don’t want to be away from you at all.”

Link’s heart rate settled under her cheek. “Vera said I should be with you as much as possible, but I was trying to give you time to be comfortable with this.”

“You think it’s all too fast?”

He chuckled, and the sound warmed her from the inside out. God, she breathed for his laugh.

“Too fast? Maybe for a normal couple with all the time in the world. But for me? No. It feels…painful…when I sleep alone now.” His voice dipped. “Nightmares. Tell her about the nightmares.” Link cleared his throat. “The medicine has some pretty gnarly side effects. I feel better around you.”

“Then you will? You’ll stay with me?”

Link nuzzled his cheek against her temple. “Silly woman, nervous I’ll say no. Can’t you see? Can’t you feel it? I belong to you.”