Dark Wolf: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 2) Read online

  “How’d you get him all the way back up that hill by yourself?” Lloyd asked as he rang up my order.

  I opened my mouth to answer him, but something stopped me. I can’t explain it, but somehow, I wanted to keep Luke Tully all to myself. It was silly, of course. Surely, if I knew he’d taken residence in that old cabin east of Miskwaa Creek, everyone did. Still, I felt this strange sense of protectiveness over him. Luke wanted to be left alone. He’d helped me yesterday, and so I probably owed him that much. And yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about him all alone up that hill. Grandpa’s house was the closest neighbor he had for miles, and Oodena wasn’t the most welcoming town if you didn’t already have family here.

  I picked up my grocery bags as Lloyd held out my change. Verna, Lloyd’s wife, came out of the back carrying a homemade apple pie. Every afternoon, she slid a fresh one into a display case next to the register. The things were usually gone within the hour. The heavenly scent of fresh baked apples and cinnamon hit my nostrils. My mouth started to water.

  “You know,” I said, waving off the ten dollar bill Lloyd held and pointing to the pie, “Why don’t you box that up for me too?”

  Lloyd’s smile widened, and Verna slid the pie into a white baker’s box and handed it to me. I gave them a smile back, winked, and headed out the front door. I put the groceries in the back of Grandpa’s Jeep and drove halfway back up the hill.

  I parked at the foot of the trail heading east across the creek. The ATV could navigate the trail, but the Jeep was too big. Luke’s cabin was less than two miles away, and the sky was clear and bright. I’d be back down the trail in less than an hour. I tapped my fingers lightly on the top of the baker’s box I’d rested on the passenger seat. Bringing him the pie was the neighborly thing to do even if he hadn’t helped me out yesterday.

  I scooped the box under my arm and left the Jeep. My footsteps crunched in the snow as I made my way up the trail. About halfway there, I thought I heard a rhythmic thwack. My heartbeat quickened. It was probably Luke, chopping firewood. I hurried my step, pushing dead branches out of the way.

  My legs started to ache as the trail grew steeper. Sweat poured down the back of my neck and frigid air stabbed my lungs. But, the cabin was only another hundred yards or so past the next rise. I took a few more steps and the thwacking noise abruptly stopped.

  Something moved in the trees behind me. Three black birds took flight from the barren branches of a tall maple ahead of me. The skin prickled along my spine and I knew I wasn’t alone.

  Slowly, I turned to my right. Two pairs of shining eyes peered at me from about ten yards away. I froze, my heart pounding wildly in my chest. The eyes belonged to a large, gray wolf. He took slow, deliberate steps, swinging his head low as he approached. He pawed the ground and sniffed the air, but didn’t look aggressive. Curious, maybe. I should have been scared. Terrified, even. And yet, as the regal creature stepped into the clearing I found something so familiar about his shining, green eyes. They shone bright, surrounded by dark markings. He held his bushy tail high, his back arched. He let out a chuff, then a whine that sent a shiver through me.

  I took a step toward it even though some rational part of my brain said I should run straight back down the hill. I couldn’t remember what you’re supposed to do when encountering a wolf. Stand your ground? Run?

  I never got a chance to decide. The wolf saw something behind me and raised his head. He let out a plaintive howl that sent a shockwave straight up my spine and curled my toes. Then, he took off fast as lightning and disappeared. A hand came down hard on my shoulder, startling me so I slipped on a patch of ice straight off my feet.

  Chapter Four

  The pie box flew out of my hand and landed upside down in front of me. When I reached for it, a figure loomed before me in shadow, blocking out the sun. He reached down, extending his hand to me. I shielded my eyes and looked up at him.

  “Beau?”

  Beau Karrow, favorite great-something-or-other grandson of one of the Nine Families stood before me and gave me a crooked grin. He helped me to my feet and straightened his shoulders, rising to his full height. Not as tall as Luke. I don’t know what made me think of that just then. But, Beau was just as imposing in his own right.

  “Tamryn, what the hell are you doing out here by yourself?”

  I dusted off my jeans and lifted the lid of the baker’s box. The pie was lopsided now, but still edible. The warm aroma wafted to Beau’s nose and his dark eyes brightened. For the second time today, I had the instinct to lie to protect Luke Tully.

  “I came out to check my grandpa’s snares.”

  Beau looked dubious. “And you figured rabbits can’t resist Verna Crow’s fresh baked apple pie?”

  “Who can?” I tried to joke it off but Beau wasn’t stupid. Thickheaded and occasionally brutish, but not stupid.

  “Come on. Let me walk you back down the hill. It’s not safe out here.” Beau looked back in the direction the wolf had come. If he’d seen it, he gave no indication. Beau curled his fingers around my upper arm and started walking in the opposite direction. He held me so tight I might have bruised if it weren’t for the thick layer of down in my coat.

  I tried to jerk away. “Stop it. Jesus, Beau. I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself.” The instant I said it, I regretted it. Too much. Too bitchy. Now Beau might start asking me more questions about what I was doing out here.

  Beau stopped, turned, and took a step forward so he stood just inches away from me. I had to crane my neck to keep eye contact. Beau’s breath came hot in my face, his nostrils flared. Something dark flashed in his eyes as he studied me. His eyes held questions I didn’t want to answer. I was none of his business. But, his gaze held something even more dangerous than curiosity. I recognized it, but a second later than I should have.

  Beau’s eyes grew even darker and he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. He pushed against me so hard he had me backed against a tree. His tongue was urgent, insistent as he probed the corners of my mouth and held me pinned against the rough tree bark. I pressed my palm against his chest and pushed back as hard as I could. But, he was too strong. Too determined. It was no more effective than if I’d tried to push against the tree itself. His gun belt pressed against me. Warning bells went off in my head. Rising panic made my blood run cold.

  I bit down hard on Beau’s bottom lip until I tasted blood. Finally, he tore himself away from me, swearing as he pressed his fingers against the gash I’d opened in his lip.

  “What the fuck, Tamryn?” He spat the blood out and looked at me with wild eyes.

  “What the fuck’s with you?” I snapped. Beau’s eyes widened and anger simmered beneath. I realized he truly was shocked that I’d done anything less than swoon and spread my legs the instant he showed interest.

  “You know,” he said as he wiped blood on his sleeve. “You might want to think about showing me a little more appreciation. I came up here to make sure you weren’t getting yourself into trouble. Lloyd told me you came out here alone yesterday. You’re not used to Michigan winters anymore, Tamryn. You could get hurt. I was trying to look out for you. There aren’t many other people in this town who’d bother. Don’t you get that yet?”

  “What?”

  Beau stepped forward. He plastered a smile back on his face as he reached out and fingered a lock of my hair. “I think it’s pretty,” he said raising my hair to his nose and sniffing it. He closed his eyes and inhaled the scent when he opened them again, they sparked with the same lust he’d shown just before he kissed me.

  “Like fire,” he went on. “It suits you. I’m sorry if I came on a little strong just now. But, at least it’s out in the open now. We don’t have to pretend.”

  What, I wanted to say? The fact that you’re a douche? I kept my lips clamped shut against the sarcasm though. I still didn’t like the way Beau was looking at me. He had six inches and probably sixty pounds on me, and I didn’t think Verna’s apple pie would make much
of a weapon if things took an even darker turn.

  The wolf howled in the distance, raising the hair on the back of my neck. Beau’s eyes widened for just a fraction of a second, but that was the only sign of acknowledgment he gave to the creature.

  Beau ran a hand through his dark hair and softened his expression, keeping that fake smile in place. “We can do this right. Let me take you out. How about tonight?”

  Beau finally took a step back and gave me room to breathe. I pushed myself off the tree and started walking down the trail. He fell in step beside me. I resisted the urge to run. I wanted to put as much distance between us as possible. He clearly wasn’t going to let that happen. Three times he tried to get me to take his hand. Each time I quickened my step and kept on walking.

  “Not a good idea,” I finally said, when we’d come far enough down the trail I didn’t think he’d figure out where I’d been going. I chanced a glance back up the hill toward Luke’s cabin. It wasn’t visible from this far, but again, I had the instinct to keep Beau or anyone else away from it. Right now, it didn’t feel like Beau was inclined to just let me go on my way. Still, with each step I took away from Luke’s cabin, I felt a strange pull on my heart. I wanted to see Luke. I needed to see him and I couldn’t understand it.

  “Look,” I turned to Beau as we reached the clearing where I’d parked the Jeep. I opened the passenger side door and slid the pie back inside on the seat. Then, I turned to Beau. Once again, he’d closed the distance between us and invaded my personal space so I had my back pressed against the car door. “You’re a nice guy. But, I hardly know you.”

  “That’s why I’m going to take you out.”

  Going to take me out? Like I had no choice in the matter? It occurred to me that Beau Karrow truly couldn’t conceive of the idea that any girl would be immune to his charms. That made him dangerous. I went for the more direct approach.

  “Beau. I’m not into you like that. Don’t take it personally. I’m aware there are probably dozens of girls in this town obsessively checking their phones to see if you’ve texted.”

  He smiled. “You’ve got that right.”

  “Great. So we understand each other. Ask one of them out.”

  Something registered on Beau’s face. His lips curled in amusement, then darkness settled in his eyes. He put his hands flat on the window, caging me against the car door. “I’ll give you some time. You were away from Oodena for a long time. I get that. It’s a different world here. But pretty soon, you’re going to have to realize you won’t be getting a better offer. I’m from one of the Nine Families. You think you are too, but your blood isn’t pure like ours is. People around here won’t forget that. Maybe they could if you didn’t look like you do. They’re nice to you, probably. They feel sorry for you because you can’t help how you were born. But, you’ll never belong here. Pity is the best you’ll get. Being with me could change all of that for you. You think I haven’t talked to your grandfather about this? Ask him sometime when he’s having a good day.”

  Rage boiled inside of me. Racist prick. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Screw it. Tact was out the window. “It’s the twenty-first century, asshole, and this is the United States. My blood’s as pure as every other citizen’s. O positive in case you were wondering. The town’s not the problem and neither am I. You are. Apparently along with the backwards hick that raised you. So, it’s not me. It’s just you, Beau.”

  I pushed him hard and he wasn’t expecting it. He took a step back and it was just enough to let me duck and get out from underneath his arm. I ran to the other side of the Jeep, got in and revved the engine. I had half a mind to run his bigoted ass over. He spread his hands wide in a gesture of surrender but leered at me just the same.

  “I’ll wait, Tamryn. But not for long. You go talk to your grandfather if you can find a few minutes when he’s still on the planet. I told you. He understands. Maybe he can drill some sense into you.”

  My blood ran cold as Beau stepped around the front of the car and leaned down to peer at me through the driver’s side window. I stared straight ahead, thinking through what could happen if I ran over his fucking foot. Finally, I settled for flipping him off.

  Beau laughed but smacked the side of the window hard enough to make me jump. “I mean it. Talk to the old man. Soon. Maybe it’s time for you to hear it.”

  I couldn’t help it. I should have just driven off. But, Beau pushed some button in me that made my better judgment fly right out of that damn car window. I rolled it down a few inches and looked at him.

  “Grandpa isn’t like you. Don’t you ever talk about him like he is.” The minute I said it, it felt hollow. The reality was, I didn’t know what my grandfather was like. Not the real man. And Beau had been right about one other thing. I’d been away from Oodena for most of my life even though it hadn’t been my choice.

  “You’ve been warned, Tamryn. If he isn’t brave enough to do it, I am. I told you I’d wait, but not forever.”

  “Uh, thanks for the cryptic warning, Beau. I’ll put that right up there with black cats and the number thirteen.” I put the car in gear and started to pull away. Beau followed along, keeping his hands flat against the window.

  “Ask him, Tamryn. Make him tell you why he sent you away. Then you won’t be so quick to blow me off. Then, you’ll beg me to stay with you.”

  I hit the brakes and rolled down the window a little more. “You are screwed up in the head. Deeply. What the hell are you even talking about?”

  He leaned even closer. I had a fantasy of sliding the window up and smashing his damn face in it. He spoke his next words in a hushed whisper filled with menace. “I said ask your grandfather. Make him tell you the truth once and for all about what happens to the women in your family when they don’t do what they’re told.”

  I don’t remember what else Beau said. I barely remember pulling away. A red cloud of rage enveloped me as I slammed on the gas and headed back up the hill toward home.

  Chapter Five

  I didn’t speak to my grandfather that night. He was fast asleep when I came back from town and didn’t wake until nearly noon the next day. If he had been awake, I’m not sure I would have said anything to him about what happened between Beau and me in the middle of the woods.

  Beau hurt me. Not physically. Nuts as he was, I wasn’t sure he was capable of doing that. I didn’t plan to test my theory. But, he hurt me in another way that was maybe even deeper. What did he think he knew about the women in my family? What did he think my grandfather was keeping from me?

  While my grandfather slept soundly, I tossed and turned. Twice in the night, I swore I heard that wolf’s plaintive howl. In that dream space, between waking and deep sleep, I thought I felt him watching me, his breath blowing hot against my cheek.

  The women of your family. What happens to the women of your family when they don’t do what they’re told?

  Beau’s words haunted my dreams as much as the gray wolf’s eyes did. I woke in a cold sweat. My window framed the full moon high and bright. His cryptic warning hovered in the air around me, as if it had a physical presence like misted fog.

  The women of your family.

  I rose and went to the window. The air seemed sticky and hot like a late August day, and I had the sense maybe even that was part of a dream. I didn’t feel the frigid January air blow in as I raised the window and stepped outside. Later, I would wonder if I sleep-walked. It would be the only thing that made sense as I put one foot in front of the other and walked behind the house to the edge of the property. Down the hill toward the barren rose garden my grandmother supposedly used to keep.

  The women of your family.

  I should have been cold. Some logical part of my brain told me this. My bare feet crunched against the newly fallen snow as I made my way down the hill and through the garden. My long white cotton nightgown flapped in the breeze behind me. Why wasn’t I shivering?

  With no conscious thought of where I was goin
g, I reached the small clearing behind the gardens just at the edge of the woods. Two flat marble headstones jutted out of the ground. One for Jessica Redbird, my grandmother. The other for Elizabeth “Liddy” Redbird, my mother.

  The women of my family. This is what happens to the women of my family.

  My heart thundered inside my chest. Sweat poured from my temples although I knew that too made no sense. Movement caught my eyes through the trees.

  My gray wolf stood in profile with the rising moon behind him. Then, he turned to face me; his eyes cut through the darkness, flashing green. When he howled, it warmed my blood, sending familiar heat through me. He howled again and it brought me to my knees. Then, he turned to the east and darted off down the hill.

  Go back, something told me. And yet, every cell in my body compelled me to follow. I couldn’t go back. Not ever again. The wind rose, howling in sync with the wolf. I ran toward him. Somehow, I knew exactly where to go.

  Thick branches tore at my hair and ripped the bottom of my cotton gown. I kept running. The wolf had gotten far ahead of me. I couldn’t see him anymore. Still, I knew where to go. My heart lurched as I got closer. I had no idea what I’d find, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except for finding the wolf. Or at least, seeing him one more time.

  It might have taken me an hour to get to him. It might have taken only seconds. If I had turned back at that moment, some part of me might have even explained the whole thing away as nothing more than a fevered dream. But, the instant I stepped into the clearing and saw the cabin in front of me, I knew it was no dream. And I knew that nothing would ever be the same again.

  The cold finally touched me, tearing through my thin gown and stealing the breath from my lungs. My whole body ached from it. But that’s not what finally brought me to my knees.

  Luke stood in the doorway to the cabin. Bathed in blue light, he almost didn’t look real. He materialized like some ethereal creature made of sculpted marble and moonlight. Sweat glistened off his naked chest. He stepped forward. The muscles of his powerful thighs bunched and rolled as he took one step toward me, then another. I marveled at the size of his manhood as it swung free with each step he took. I should have been afraid. I know this. But, when he came to me, all I wanted was to get closer to him. Though I shivered from the frigid air, he radiated heat as he came to me and folded me against him. Solid strength and heat enveloped me.