Wolf Rock Shifters Books 1-5: Five BBW Paranormal Romance Standalone Novels (39 page)

C
ecile entered
her father’s chalet within an hour. Susannah, the woman who’d been her nanny all through her childhood, greeted her. She was a shifter herself; a puma who’d all but raised Cecile and her younger sister, Estée. Their father had kept her on through the years to take care of the house, which really meant taking care of his daughters as he moved further and further away from the girls. Cecile credited Susannah with everything good in her own personality, and blamed her father for anything that was wrong with her.

“Well, howdy, sunshine. How was your morning?” the puma shifter asked as she put down the load of laundry that she was carrying. Before Cecile could reply, Susannah smiled and said, “It was good. I see that.”

The nanny had always had a knack for spotting any subtle changes in Cecile’s demeanour. It was her gift; almost as though she were reading the young woman’s mind. There was hardly even a point in telling her anything because she could usually guess what was up.

“You’re right about that. It
was
good,” she replied with deliberate coyness.

“You’ve met a man,” said Susannah, poking at Cecile’s side as she used to do when they were younger, as though to tickle her.

“I don’t know how you do that, Sue, but yeah, I met a man.”

“And he’s gorrrr-geous, isn’t he? A shifter too, by the looks of things.”

Cecile looked down at her body as though to check and see if she had the words “I met a lion shifter who makes me mad with horniness” scrawled on her clothing.

“He’s not bad.”

“Not bad! You, my dear, are taken with him. I know you are. And you’re wondering if he wants you. I can’t say, of course. Still, don’t you forget to groom your mango before you see him again.”

“Susannah!” laughed Cecile. “Dirty girl.”

“I may be dirty, but you’d best not be. You show up with your tiger lily all tidied for the nice boy and I bet he’ll eat you up like a ripe papaya.”

“What would my father say if he heard you talking like this?”

“He’d most likely keel over from a heart attack. But this isn’t about him. So what is he? A wolf? Lots of those around here.”

“A lion.”

“Mmmm, a lion. Oh my. You know what they say about lions.”

“What’s that?”

“Once you go lion, you never walk without crutches again.”

“Is that your way of saying they’re well-endowed?” Cecile thought about what she’d already seen between Nash’s legs. If his member pre-arousal was anything to go by, yes indeed. Lions were impressively gifted. For a moment her mind wandered to what it might look like when fully engorged. Between her legs, a pang of soft pain shot through her nerve endings.

“Just speakin’ from my own experience,” continued Susannah. “When I was young I knew a lion. His parts were
majestic,
if you know what I’m sayin’. King of the jungle and the locker room, I tell you.”

“You’re awful.”

“And you’re awful horny. Good luck with it, sweetie.”

“Thanks, darlin’. We’ll see what happens.”

Cecile left Susannah to her chores and wandered into the dining room, where she found her father sitting at the sprawling dining table, which was large enough for fourteen people, reading a newspaper.

“Where have you been?” he asked.

“I told you yesterday, dad. I went horseback riding.”

Her father put the paper down on the table then laid his palms flat. His face was stern and serious for a moment and then softened.

“Of course,” he said. “I completely forgot that you were to go out this morning. And how was it?”

“It was beautiful. Until we saw an animal attack a calf,” she said. “In the distance. A wolf. We think it was a shifter.”

“Well, that’s ridiculous. Shifters don’t do those sorts of things.”

“Don’t they?” Cecile approached her father now, studying his face for signs of weakness. “Don’t you recall that happening years ago, in Riverside?”

“Now that you mention it, I suppose it does sound familiar. Yes. There was that string of attacks back home. Still, that was a fluke. Some madman on a power trip.”

“The police thought it was more than a madman,” said Cecile. “If I remember correctly, they thought it was someone trying pretty hard to convince everyone that they should be frightened of shifters. He was looking to find a way to extract money from them. And they suspected that he wasn’t working alone.”

“Stuff and nonsense. It was one man and I believe they caught him, just as they’ll do here.”

“If you say so, dad,” Cecile said, willing to surrender for the moment to her father’s unrelenting stubbornness, and hoping that in fact he had nothing to do with any of it. “All right. By the way, I intend to go riding again. I may even make a weekly habit of it.”

Her father picked up the paper again and began to read. “That’s nice, dear,” he said.

“There’s a young man on the ranch. A lion shifter called Nash. I think I might ask him out.” She thought for a moment before adding, “No. More than that, I think he may be my mate.”

Again, the paper went down. Conrad Malcolm’s face took on an expression of sadness which he seemed immediately to correct into something approaching rage.

“Who is he?”

“He’s the son of the couple who own the ranch. He’s just finished a university degree.”

“I don’t care if he has a PhD in astrophysics. You’re not going to be dating some rancher’s son. I raised you better than that.”

“Yes, that’s right. You raised me to be a snob and to hate anyone who doesn’t have money growing out of their armpits.”

“I don’t want to hear any more about it. If you want to ride, so be it. But no dating.”

“No, of course not. Because I’m only twenty-three and can’t make up my own mind.”

“Cecile, my patience is wearing thin. You know the consequences if you defy me.”

“I’m not entirely sure I do, dad. But I’ll keep that in mind.”

With that, she turned and left the room.

N
ash drove
to the wolf pack’s cabin that afternoon, determined to find his way to the bottom of the attack. He’d met the alpha, Tristan, a few times, and knew him to be a good, fair and honest man. He was also immensely strong and his pack generally didn’t mess with him.

When Nash arrived, he found the place all but deserted, though.

The wolf pack’s residence was one of the few locations in Wolf Rock that never seemed to change. It had started out as a large log cabin and had remained exactly that; an organic, integral part of the surrounding woods. Even its occupants seldom changed; the alpha and his mate lived there and other pack members came and went according to need and duty. Most had a house or apartment in the town, but all were vigilant and ready to defend the pack and the town’s residents when needed. At least, that was Nash’s experience with them.

He wandered in through the unlocked front door. Only a few men milled about, cooking and tidying up. No one seemed pressed for time or to have a care in the world.

“Hi,” Nash said as he slowly made his way into the cabin. A man was lounging on the couch.

“Hey.”

“I’m Nash. I’ve come from the Richardson ranch. Do you know where Tristan is?”

“He and Nikki are having problems with the baby; it looks like it’ll be premature. So they’re off in the city for a few weeks. They’ve left Dascha in charge. That, it turns out, wasn’t such a great idea.”

“Why not?”

The man leaned forwards in order to speak quietly. “He’s having some problems with a woman. Another shifter. She’s rejecting him and it’s making him a little nuts. To say he’s preoccupied would be the greatest understatement in history.”

“Oh, Jesus.”

“Yeah, it’s not pretty. The pack’s a little scattered at the moment. But I’ll call him down for you.”

“Okay,” said Nash.

“Dascha!” yelled the young man. “Someone’s looking for ya.”

A tall, well-built man began to head down the stairs towards the living room. His forehead was beaded with sweat and he looked pallid and ill. Nash had seen this before; it was the result of incompatible attraction. Dascha’s body would be telling him he’d found his mate, but for whatever reason she wasn’t seeing it. It was enough to make a young male shifter lose his mind. The only cure was generally time or to have the woman come around, but either way, Dascha would suffer in the meanwhile.

“What can I do for you?” said the man, wiping the sweat from his brow.

“My name’s Nathaniel—Nash. I was out on a ride this morning when a wolf—a shifter—attacked a calf in front of me.”

“Oh yeah? That seems unlikely,” said Dascha. “He can’t have been from around here.”

“He was grey with the typical blue eyes,” said Nash. “Other than that he ran off too fast for me to notice any distinguishing features.”

“Well, I don’t know him. There are grey wolves around, of course, but our guys wouldn’t do that. Never.” Dascha steadied himself by placing a hand on the wooden bannister at the base of the stairs.

“Are you sure? So you’re saying he came from another territory?”

“I’m saying he had to have done, because our pack doesn’t kill livestock.” The substitute alpha advanced now, looming in front of Nash in a manner that would have intimidated anyone but a lion shifter. The look in his eyes was that of a lunatic, and out of the corner of his own eye Nash saw the man on the couch rise as though to stop his temporary leader doing any serious damage.

The door opened behind them and a female voice said, “What’s going on here?”

Nash turned to see a redheaded young woman standing in the doorway. She had the eyes of a shifter, though not a wolf. And her curves only confirmed it.

“This guy says a wolf attacked a calf,” said Dascha, his voice hoarse as new sweat beaded on his forehead. “He thinks it was one of us.”

The woman stood for a moment, examining Nash.

“I see. You didn’t see his human form?” she asked.

“No.”

“Okay. Well, it probably wasn’t one of us. I’m sure Dascha’s told you that we don’t go in for that sort of thing. By the way, I’m Zoe.” She extended a hand towards Nash, deliberately pulling him away from the temporary alpha.

“Nash.” He shook her hand firmly.

“Nice to meet you, Nash.”

“You too. Are you a part of the pack? You don’t look…” He stopped himself, worried that he’d say something offensive. This was a habit that he was trying to break. It was a slow process.

“I’m sort of an adopted member, but I’m not a wolf. I check in a lot, especially with Nikki and Tristan out of town. I promised to keep an eye on things, if you know what I mean.”

“Ah, okay. Well, I guess I’ll be going. If you hear anything, would you let me know? I’m at the Richardson ranch.”

“Sure,” said Zoe. “Here, listen, I’ll walk you out.”

As she closed the door behind them, Zoe said, “A friend of mine has seen your wolf.”

“What? Where?” Nash asked, attempting to keep his voice down.

“Kyla, a member of the wolf pack. She has visions. Sometimes she sees things that are happening before they happen, that sort of thing. Anyhow, she saw your grey wolf—yes, she said he was grey—in her mind’s eye.”

“And do you know who he is?”

“I don’t. He’s not a member of the pack. But that doesn’t mean the guys here don’t know anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dascha is power-hungry. He’s always wanted to be the alpha. It’s possible—I’m not saying that it’s probable—that he’s in on the game. We’ll keep an eye on him. But whatever happens, I suspect this isn’t the last we’ve seen of this wolf, and I’m a little worried that things are going to get complicated. Unfortunately, Nikki picked a hell of a time to give birth.”

“What can I do to help?” asked Nash.

“Keep an eye out. Give me your cell phone,” Zoe said.

He handed it to her and she dialled her number. “Save that, and use it. If you find out anything, let me know. If there’s some kind of corruption in the pack I want to avoid letting them in on everything. It’s dangerous, and we need to only talk to people we trust.”

“Okay, I got it,” said Nash. He trusted this woman, though he wasn’t sure why. She seemed somehow to be more concerned with the welfare of the pack than Dascha did, whether because of his sexual preoccupation or something else.

T
hat evening
, Nash’s father received a phone call from the ranch next door. When he finished the conversation, he sat down with Nash and his mother, a concerned look on his face.

“It seems that someone came by Frank’s ranch house today,” he said. “They told him they could protect him from harm and further attacks. For a fee.”

“But that’s extortion!” said Mrs. Richardson.

“Yes, it is. It doesn’t sit well with me. It’s like all of a sudden the mafia has come to Wolf Rock.”

“Who is it who came by? Was it a shifter?” asked Nash.

“Yes. A sort of weedy little man, he said. Not a powerful one, at least not physically. But he had a sort of a brute with him, I suppose to intimidate anyone they came across.”

“So he doesn’t know what their animal forms were?”

“No. But they weren’t wolves, at least he didn’t think so. It’s possible that they genuinely want to offer security. But what I’d like to know is, how did they know about the wolf attack? It’s not exactly common knowledge.”

“No idea,” said Nash. “I went to the wolves’ cabin today but none of them seemed to be aware of it, and they’re all convinced it wasn’t a member of their pack.”

“That’s all well and good,” said Mrs. Richardson, “but what are people like us supposed to do? What if they come for the horses?”

“If they do that, mom, I’ll protect us,” said Nash. “Don’t forget, we’re lions.”

“I know. But I haven’t fought anything since I was young. Neither has your father.”

“Well, I’ll look after the place. Don’t you worry. I’m pretty good at fighting, in case you don’t remember.”

“Yes, Nash, so every administrator at your college has let us know again and again. Well, this is the one time I wouldn’t mind if that temper of yours flared up like a case of herpes.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, mom. And maybe pick a different analogy.”