them was torture. He broke off their kiss, sat with her still straddling him, and whipped off his shirt. Her
eyes bulged for a second before she reached down to caress his abdomen, the fleeting strokes tormenting
him even as he savoured his mate finally, finally touching his skin again.
“Please take off your shirt.” His voice cracked, he needed this so much. He closed his eyes against the
disappointment of her saying no, then the rustle of fabric hit his ears. When he looked again, she still wore
her bra, but the creamy smoothness of the rest of her skin more than made up for that small disappointment.
He touched her reverently, stroking from her hips up the gentle indent of her waist until he covered the
swells of her lace-covered breasts. She sucked in a gasp as he rubbed his thumbs in small circles over her
nipples, the tips beading to tight points that stabbed his flesh through the fabric. “You’re beautiful.”
He ignored the driving urge to roll her over and take her, and instead slipped his hands back around
her torso so their lips met again.
They kissed leisurely, exploring each other’s mouths and necks, tongues stroking, teeth nibbling. Erik
wasn’t sure how long they sat there and frankly, he didn’t give a damn. He’d waited his whole life for her,
and they were finally doing what his wolf had been howling at him to do for days. Although the beast was
going to be sorely disappointed when they didn’t go all the way.
Maggie’s breathing grew more rapid and she squirmed against him, her mound rubbing his groin like
a firebrand. When he finally couldn’t take it anymore, he grabbed her by the ass and adjusted her until he
was happy. He ground them together again and again, and she moaned in his ear. Damn, he was going to
come right like this if he didn’t watch it.
So he lifted her and undid her belt.
She slapped at his hands. “What are you doing?”
“Take off your pants.”
“Erik, we can’t—”
He was on fire with a desperate need. “We’re not having sex but I need to touch you. Take them off,
now.” She hesitated for just a second, then unzipped and dropped both her panties and her shorts, stepping
out of the legs where they bunched around her ankles. She stood there, bare-naked except for her bra, with
her pussy right in front of him and he had no power to resist.
He clutched her ass and buried his face between her legs. She cried out softly but he was too busy to
warn her to stay quiet. Her sweet scent drew him, and he separated the curls covering her with his tongue
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Vivian Arend
and licked the length of her slit. Oh Lord, she tasted good. Her flavour raced through him and drugged his
senses. He pressed his tongue into her pussy as far as it would go, lapping at the cream coating her passage.
She rocked against his mouth, opening her legs wider, her fingers clutching his head. The arm he’d
wrapped around her ensured she stayed right where he could reach and delve into her body. She made the
most delicious noises, and he stopped to take a deep breath and enjoy the sensation of holding her
intimately.
“More,” she demanded.
“Yes.” He slipped a finger into her depths and suckled her clit with his mouth.
“Yessss…” Her hiss of agreement trailed off into the contented rumble of a wolf being petted and he
smiled. He knew how to wake her wolf. When Maggie was ready, they would call her up together. For
now, he wanted to bring his mate pleasure and concentrated all his attention on her. He teased the lips of
her pussy with his fingers, circling the tender folds, before again plunging one, then two fingers in and out
of her sheath. Running his tongue around the swollen bud of her clit, he flicked it repetitively with the
hardened tip of his tongue.
A trembling started in her thighs, her knees shook and he lapped harder. He supported her with one
hand as she cried out with her orgasm, a howling keen of delight that echoed into the still-bright sky. He
dragged his fingers from her body with reluctance, the sticky moisture covering his hand calling like an
aphrodisiac. He held her hips, giving her time to recover. The hands clasping his head softened their death
grip as she caressed his short hair. He closed his eyes and planted a kiss on the tender skin in the crease of
her thigh. Her scent filled every cell of his body and stopping now was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
A gentle tap on his cheek brought his attention to her bright eyes filled with passion and gratitude.
“That was amazing.”
“For us both.”
She giggled. “I guess this proves I really am a wolf at heart. Damn, I can’t even feel embarrassed
everyone within a five-mile radius knows I just climaxed.”
They laughed together as Erik pulled up her undies and helped her with her shorts. Their hands
brushed and bumped and tangled as he took advantage of every touch he could sneak in.
She dropped back onto his lap, her arms draped around his neck. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” It had been. Her gaze dropped to his crotch and the obvious swell remaining behind
the fabric. “Yes, I still want you.”
Maggie nibbled on her lower lip. “Not yet. I’m sorry, that sounds so selfish of me, but I’m not ready.”
“But soon?”
She hesitated. “Maybe.”
His heart leapt. Maybe was way up from no. “I can live with maybe.”
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Wolf Games
He kissed her one last time, just to drive himself insane, then led her to the tent. Morning would come
soon enough.
47
“We’ve got a problem.”
Maggie groaned as she sat up from where she’d sprawled on the side of the trail. The past two hours
had been sheer hell as they slogged their way to the top of the Golden Stairs and over the Chilkoot Pass.
She hadn’t hiked so much vertical ascent since she was a teenager, and every muscle screamed in protest.
“What’s wrong, Jared?”
“Did TJ lose a page of the puzzle when he was goofing off last night?” Jared frowned as he flipped
through pages. Erik reached out and Jared handed them over. Maggie watched in concern as Erik examined
the set. Jared growled in frustration. “If King Klutz—”
“That’s enough.” Erik cut in sternly and Jared had the grace to look sheepish. “There’s nothing
missing. What’s the issue?”
“There are no additional clues for the last few spaces,” Jared pointed out. “There are also no landmark
clues. Three completely blank columns—it’s like we’re going in blind and have to find a needle in a
haystack.” Maggie crawled closer to look over Erik’s shoulder at the papers. She leaned against his strong
back, the warmth of his body drawing her like a magnet. The whole day she’d forced herself to stay away
from him but now gave in to the need to recharge her batteries with a brief touch. He glanced at her and
winked, and she blushed. Their sexual attraction was normal for wolves, but her continued denial of their
mating and his patient response confused her. She felt like a broken fan, running hot then cold.
“I noticed the first day. We’ll figure it out tonight.” Erik handed the papers back to Jared. The young
man stared in shock.
“How can we fill in the missing answers without clues or landmarks? Why didn’t you say something
earlier?”
Erik shrugged. “There was no use in panicking. The challenge must be solvable, so I decided we’d
figure it as we went along.”
Jared shook his head. “You really are too cool and collected at times, aren’t you?”
A muffled howl rose from up the trail and they turned to see TJ racing back. His loping gait tore up
the rocky terrain as he returned to drop a rock at their feet. Erik picked it up, running a hand over TJ’s head.
“Well done. I wasn’t looking forward to hunting for this answer.”
“Where was it?”
Wolf Games
He pointed to the mountain spine extending another mile off to their left, the razor edge jagged
against the skyline. “The puzzle clue was
Cutting you off
and the map shows the location to be along the far
ridge. I sent TJ ahead in the hopes the answer would be something obvious, and save the rest of us the trip.”
Maggie swallowed hard. Imagining having to hike the ragged rocks to the spire made her even more
grateful for TJ’s wolf. “I would never have made that.”
“What symbol do I add?” Jared asked.
Erik handed the rock over to Maggie and she turned it over carefully. “There’s nothing carved on it.”
Her stomach fell. Were they going to have to do the dangerous climb after all?
“Don’t worry, this is what we need. It’s not always simple like having the answer written on the
surface. Remember the answer to the sixth clue involved a math formula.” Erik nudged her arm. “What
kind of rock is it?”
TJ pawed at her feet and she knelt to scratch behind his ears as she stared at the stone chip. “You
wouldn’t have brought it unless you thought it was the answer, so I’ll assume it wasn’t in a normal setting.”
She wrinkled her nose. “It sparkles, so I’ll guess it’s fool’s gold. There’s got to be a lot in these parts.”
Erik laughed. “Remind me never to go panning with you. You’d miss out on a bonanza.”
She gaped at him. “It’s real gold?”
“Yup, and that’s not the usual location to find a nugget. Gold is rarely found loose like this, and never
up that high. Someone had to have planted it there.”
Maggie rotated the chunk again. “Still doesn’t look like much to me.”
Jared added a few notes with a flourish. “One piece of gold.” He glanced up, worry back on his face.
“There’s only three more clues before we run out and hit the blank section of the puzzle.”
“Then we’ll stop for the night.” Erik rose and held out a hand to Maggie to assist her up. She took it
gratefully. “That’s the last of the big uphill. From here on it’s rolling trail until we start down to Bennett
Lake. The next clue is
Reflections
and the coordinates look like it should be by a water source, so let’s get
moving. The day will be done before we know it.”
He held up her backpack and Maggie crawled under the shoulder straps reluctantly. He brushed his
hands over her body as he helped tighten the snaps and buckles, and her skin tingled.
“Stop it,” she whispered. Great, now she was going to be hiking with sore feet, tired muscles and an
aching need in her belly.
Erik chuckled. “I’m just trying to be helpful.”
She elbowed him.
“But it doesn’t mean anything.” TJ scratched his head.
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Vivian Arend
“It has to.” Jared paced back and forth and Maggie rubbed her temples. They’d set up camp two hours
ago, had dinner and then the puzzle began to drive them all nuts.
“They are totally unrelated words. It’s gibberish, no matter which way we read them.”
Maggie stared at the papers at her feet. It was true. There was no logic in any of the words and
symbols they’d found. “We’ve tried rearranging the words. We’ve taken the first letter, the last letter.
We’ve…”
“…tried everything.” Jared glanced over at Erik. “What if we don’t figure this out? Can we finish
without the last six clues?”
Erik nodded slowly. “We just need to get to the Bennett Lake check-in by three. That’s not a problem
at all. Only in previous Games, the final challenge used information gathered from all the rest of the events.
Five years ago the team in fourth spot came from behind to win because none of the leaders had all the
clues.”
Maggie sighed. She’d felt so useless this whole challenge. Unlike TJ who had more than pulled his
weight, all she’d done was ensure they hiked slower than usual. Usually she was good at logic puzzles. She
picked up the clues and shuffled through them again. Something caught her eye.
“Erik, what are these notes?”
He sat next to her and she soaked in his presence. “Those? I kept track of where we found the answer.
I figured everything might help in the end.”
Her heart raced. “What if the clues weren’t just to help us find the location, but we have to use them
twice?”
Jared plopped down across from them, hope shining on his face. “How do you use a clue twice?”
Maggie laid out the paper and pointed. “We found the answer to number eleven by looking in the
reflection of the pool at the base of the waterfall, right?”
“There was the Greek symbol omega. We wrote it down. It means nothing.”
She nodded. “But when you look at your reflection it comes out backwards.” She wanted to jump up
and down. This was the right track, she was sure of it.
Erik brushed her arm. “But the symbol for omega is the same whether you draw it backward or
forward.”
Maggie laughed. “But what if you think of it as the back of the alphabet? Omega is the last letter of
the Greek alphabet. What’s at the other end?”
TJ shot up his arm before lowering it slowly. “Sorry, too many years of school training. Alpha is the
Greek A.”
“Right.” Maggie started a new paper. She deliberately drew the symbol for alpha. “And here…we
wrote down
gold
. But the clue said
Cutting you off
. The chemical formula for gold is Au. If we cut off the
U we get an A.”
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Wolf Games
The next thirty minutes passed in a blur as they struggled through the rest of the puzzle, discovering