Savage Moon: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 4) Read online

  We laid Alec down on the bed as carefully as we could, but we still ended up plopping him hard enough that he bounced a little.

  “Fuck,” he shouted, and it lifted my heart. If he was with it enough to swear, he was getting better.

  “Sit with him, honey,” Pat said. “I’ll get some clean towels, bandages, and iodine. He’s going to be fine.”

  I smoothed Alec’s hair away from his forehead, trailing my fingers through the white patch. Leaning down, I whispered against his temple. “You hear that? You’re going to be fine. At least, you better be, or I’m going to kill you myself.”

  The bed shook as Alec tried to laugh. He brought a hand up and cupped my face. “Sorry,” he said, coughing from the effort. “Didn’t realize they’d winged me that bad.”

  Pat had a cane chair against the wall. I pulled it next to Alec’s side and sat down. I leaned down to kiss him, aiming for his forehead. But, he pulled me closer and brought my lips down to his. Heat flooded through me. I threaded my fingers through his hair and felt his skin warm. Even in his weakened state, Alec’s eyes flashed with lust and wild heat. It sent an echoing warmth through me, making me shudder.

  “We did it,” he whispered. “You’re going to be safe now, Olivia. I promise.”

  Tears sprang into my eyes. “Shh. I don’t care about that right now. I swear to God I don’t. I just want you better. You scared the shit out of me, Alec. Don’t ever do that again.”

  He smiled wide, and a devilish twinkle came into his eyes. “What, this? Nothing but a little scratch, baby.”

  I wanted to slap the smirk off of his face. “Joke all you want, but there’s more blood in that kayak than there is left in you. Why didn’t you say something?”

  Alec tried to sit up, but the effort of it made the color drain from his face again. He settled back down against the pillow. “I’m going to be fine. You were raised by bears. You’ve gotta know by now it takes a hell of lot more than something like this to do real damage. Plus, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is getting you away from Kane. And we did. You’re never going back there. Not while there’s breath left in my body.”

  All mischief left his eyes. Alec took my hand and brought it to his lips. His look grew tender, full of an emotion I was too afraid to name. Not yet. I felt it too, coursing through my veins and making my heart beat faster. His words drowned out every fear or doubt I’d had in the last few days. As I sat beside Alec, under Pat’s roof, with Kane far away for now, my head felt clearer than it had in months. And my heart beat strong with the truth.

  Alec. My Alec. He was mine and I was his. I didn’t know what it meant or what battles we’d have to fight because of it. But right now it didn’t matter. It only mattered that we were together and he would live.

  He slid his hand over the nape of my neck, covering Kane’s mark. It throbbed faintly, but didn’t pull me toward something I feared. Now, the pull came from my heart and brought me right to Alec. I kissed him and he kissed back. Alec’s heart beat stronger. My fingers trailed over his chest. The wounds my father gave him had all but healed. The torn flesh at his side seemed to knit right before my eyes. As he kissed me deep, he seemed to draw strength from it.

  Two halves of a whole. Stronger together than we were apart.

  I wanted so many things in that moment. Alec’s body. His soul. His love. But, those were moments we could save for another day. For now, the kiss was enough. And it took something out of Alec, too. By the time we broke, he’d settled back on the bed. His chest heaved with his thunderous snores.

  I smiled and smoothed the hair back from his forehead again. “You sure you aren’t part bear, my love?”

  Movement startled me from the corner of my eye. I sat up. Pat leaned against the doorframe and shot me a wry smile. “Well, I guess that answers one of my questions. Probably best to let him sleep it off. Come on. Let’s get you settled into a room of your own. Looks like you could use some rest yourself. I’ll leave you alone to do that. After that, honey, you’ve got a lot of things to explain.”

  I tucked a dark hair behind my ear and nodded. I turned back to Alec and kissed him one last time. Pat Bonner would give me sanctuary, but from the look on her face and the set of her shoulders, I knew it wouldn’t come for free.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Wolves heal as fast as bears, it seems. And thank God for it. Alec slept for two days straight, but when he woke, the ugly gash along his side closed, leaving nothing behind except for two thin, marbled lines across his right hip. The gashes on his chest scarred worse, and I wondered if that was a bear thing. But he was safe and whole save for a few more dents.

  Harold seemed particularly relieved to know Alec’s strength came back. They shared something special between them. Harold’s sightless eyes glistened as Alec took his first steps out of the bed. But, he quickly stiffened and pointed to his own battle scars and called Alec a pussy for even wincing. It got a hearty laugh out of Alec and the two men looped arms and headed down to the barn.

  “I just need a little air,” Alec said as he passed me in the hall and kissed me. “Will you be okay up here by yourself while Harold and I catch up on old times?”

  I hadn’t left Alec’s side in two days, preferring a pallet on the floor next to him rather than a bed of my own. When I got too far away from him, I thought I could feel the faint echo of Kane’s pulse. But Alec drowned all of that out. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who needed time and space to heal.

  “She won’t be by herself,” Pat came out of the kitchen and pulled an apron over her head. She tossed me a kitchen towel as she reached back and tied the strings around her waist. “How are you with a rolling pin? Pot pie tonight, and we make our own crust around here.”

  I caught the towel and smiled. My heart tripped in my chest. Though Pat’s eyes were kind, I had a feeling she wanted something more from me than my baking skills. I’d avoided the talk she wanted to have, but knew it was long past time. She had questions. But, so did I.

  “Go on. But be careful,” I called to Alec and Harold. But they were already out the back door.

  Pat’s kitchen was a wonder of hanging copper pots and counter space. She put me to work with the rolling pin, flattening a large wad of gooey dough for her pie crust. She stirred the vegetables in a huge stock pot on the stove that looked big enough to climb in. I kneaded the dough after she showed me how, her small, plump hands a blur of motion and flour dust. Then, I set to work, rolling back and forth, muscling the dough into shape.

  “Good for your back,” she said, wiping a spot of powder from her nose with her shoulder.

  “Kneading dough? Feels more like a workout.”

  “The rolling pin. Have your man do that to you after a long work day. Heaven.”

  I laughed. “Never thought of that. I’ll have to try it sometime.”

  “Good. Just wash the pin when you’re done.” She shot me a wink and dipped her ladle back into the pot.

  “You settling in okay, honey?”

  I froze mid-roll and then slid up on the wooden stool near the counter. I set the rolling pin down and wiped my hands on the apron Pat loaned me.

  “Thank you,” I said. “I’ve been here for three days. Barged in on your home. And you took me in. You’ve made me feel like I belong here. Or at least like you don’t mind having me. And I know that’s got to maybe complicate things for you.”

  Pat smoothed her hands down her own apron and sat on a stool opposite me. She had kind eyes and deep creases in her face. She had to be somebody’s badass grandma, and it occurred to me just then that I wished she were mine. It was just a flash of thought, but it left an ache in my heart for the family I did have.

  “Well, Alec told me a little bit about the fix you’re in, but I did want to hear it from you. That said, I figure a lot of it’s none of my damn business and you’ve been through a lot. So, we’ve got time to get to know each other first. Maybe not a lot, but some.”

  I nodded. “I ap
preciate that. But, I’m thinking me hiding out under your roof makes it a little more than your damn business.”

  She set her hands on her knees and pulled a loose thread from her flower patterned skirt. “And what’s Alec told you about me?”

  I shrugged. “He said you could offer us sanctuary. And that I could trust you.”

  “And what do you think?”

  “I want to. And being here, it’s the first time I’ve been able to catch my breath in a very long time.”

  “You know, what Kane did. If you don’t mind me bringing it up. Alec told me that part of the story. Marking you without your permission, that’s not how Wild Lake wolves operate. Between that and your background, I’m surprised you let Alec near you.”

  “My background?” I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Alec telling Pat or anyone about my family if that’s what he’d done. It was no secret, but like Pat said, I had a lot of reason to mistrust.

  “Alec only told me about your problems with Kane. The rest I figured out by myself. It wasn’t hard the second I took one look at you.”

  I reared back. Pat’s cool, green eyes seemed to see right through me. But her face was soft and earnest and she reached across the counter and laid a gentle hand over mine. “You’re Caleb’s daughter.”

  “You know him?”

  She smiled. “Well of course, honey. I’ve lived in Wild Lake my whole life too. So that’s over half a century longer than you have. I’ve known the bear Lords forever. I even went to school with Caleb’s father, your grandpa Nate.”

  I blinked hard and swallowed past a lump in my throat. “I never knew him. Or any of my family besides my father and brother.”

  “Well, of course you didn’t. They passed on before you were born. Caleb’s lost so much in his life. He doesn’t think he’s strong, but he is. You know, you remind me so much of her.”

  I didn’t want to ask. I was afraid the answer might hurt too much. But, when I looked up, Pat smiled at me and made me feel safe. “You knew my mother?”

  She nodded. I’d seen the fierce side of Pat Bonner when she hauled my wounded wolf out of that kayak. She’d taken me in without hesitation, knowing Kane’s fury might rain down on her at any time now. But now, I saw her soft side in her twinkling eyes and warm smile.

  “Sure, honey.” Her voice was a gentle whisper. “I knew Sarah. She even worked for us for a little while. She was good with the horses and taught some of the kids around here how to ride. She had friends among the wolves here. Hell, she even dated one of them. It wasn’t serious. And she wasn’t more than sixteen. Broke his heart, though. But, the minute she laid eyes on Caleb, that was the end of that.”

  “Fated mates,” I whispered.

  Pat nodded.

  “I never knew her. She died when . . . She died having me.”

  Pat squeezed my hand. “What all do you know about Sarah, honey? What did your father tell you?”

  I shook my head. “He never talks about her. I think it hurts him too much. I’ve never even seen a picture of her. I don’t even know what she looked like.”

  Pat let out a sigh and her eyes grew heavy. “Honey, you don’t need a picture to know what Sarah looked like. You just need a mirror.”

  My heart thundered in my chest, and a single tear fell down my cheek. Pat put a hand on the counter and pushed herself up. She went to a roll top desk in the hallway and rummaged through an old cigar box. She took something out of it and clutched it to her breast.

  I couldn’t breathe. Pat came back and sat on the stool opposite me and held out her hand. In it, she had a photograph. With shaking fingers, I took it from her. The face in the picture looked just like my own.

  My mother.

  Her dark, straight hair hung almost to her waist and blew back a little at the temples from the wind. With her hands on her tanned thighs she leaned forward. Something off camera made her brown eyes shine and she laughed, showing a row of blinding white teeth. She wore a red t-shirt tucked into cutoff denim shorts. She was vibrant, young, alive. And Pat was right. She looked exactly like me. So much so it startled me and made my heart pound. To the left of the frame a young man sat in the grass watching her with wonder making his own dark eyes shine.

  My father.

  He looked happy, with his own head thrown back in laughter. It shook me to my core that I’d never seen him like this. Young. Handsome. Relaxed. He never smiled.

  “They were sure something,” Pat said. “She smoothed his rough edges. He made her feel safe. You know, she’d lost her own mother when she was little too. Car accident, I think.”

  “I didn’t know that.” I held the picture close to my heart, as if I could connect to her more somehow that way.

  “You keep that.”

  “Thank you.” I swallowed hard.

  “She knew you were a girl. And she named you before you were born. Did you know that?”

  I shook my head. This hurt. It stung. It got hard to breathe, but I wanted to hear more. Needed to hear it.

  “Sarah was special. She wasn’t a shifter. But I think she always knew she was destined to live among them. It was natural for her. She reminded me a little bit of me. I’ve always been drawn to them too. Mated with two of them back in my day. Not at the same time, mind you. Although that’s allowed, you know. And oh, boy, I bet that can be fun.”

  She shot me a wink, and for a second I thought she was kidding. I blushed as a dark passion rose within me. But, that wasn’t a life for me. Still, a secret part of me envied the woman who could.

  “My son is a wolf shifter. Luke. He’s off on his own now, but he’s always close by. When I was about your age, my father made a pact with the wolves. We owed them my brother’s life. He was wounded in the pack wars long ago, but the Wild Lake wolves saved him. Ever since then, my home has been a sanctuary for all the packs that live in Michigan. That’s why you’re safe here, for now. I’m sad to say they’ve needed neutral ground like this. A place they can come to settle their disputes and put their territorial nature aside at least as long as it takes to work their shit out.”

  “Has Kane . . . does he know I’m here?”

  Pat shrugged. “I expect he’ll figure it out pretty soon if he hasn’t already.”

  I shuddered and Pat came to me. She put a motherly arm around my shoulder. “I said you’re safe here. And you are. Kane can’t just march in here and drag you off by your hair. Not unless he wants all the Wild Lake packs coming down on his head. It’s pack law.”

  “Pack law. I’ve had my fill of pack law. Alec says Kane’s got a claim on me because of it. You know how much that sickens me?”

  “I know, honey. But what about the claim you have?”

  I put my hand over hers on my shoulder and looked up at her. Pat came around in front of me and sat back down on her stool.

  “You mean Alec?”

  She nodded.

  “He wants to mark me. I told him no.”

  “Well, I know that had to tear you up. But you stick to your guns. You’ve had enough shifters trying to tell you what to do without asking you.”

  “Oh, he asked me. He swore he’d never do it unless I was sure it’s what I wanted.”

  “Good.”

  “But he said if he does it, he could break Kane’s hold over me.”

  She nodded again. “Yes indeed. But there’s a price to that.”

  “He’ll have to kill him. And he’ll have to go through Kane’s pack to do it. Which would be suicide. He can’t defeat six on his own.”

  “That’s the gist of it, yes.”

  “Can’t the rest of the wolves help him though? Even the odds?”

  Pat raised a brow and blew out a breath that made a wiry strand of her hair flap. “Taking out another Alpha is tricky business. You kill him, you’ve got the rest of his pack on your ass. Cut off one head and another rises to take its place. Unless you become the head. Kill the Alpha, make the rest of the pack submit. Only a natur
al Alpha can do that.”

  “And Alec’s not an Alpha.” It seemed incongruous to say it. My Alec. Big. Strong. Virile. Everything about him screamed Alpha to me. And yet, Bas was his Alpha.

  Pat shrugged. “That’s a bigger conversation. Pack politics are complicated.”

  “God. It’s so much easier with bears.”

  “Is it? Maybe so. Maybe not. Things are sure stirred up around here, that’s plain. Bears’ll keep to themselves until someone crosses one of their own. The minute they band together, there’s hell to pay. Luckily, they’ve stayed out of wolf business. At least, until now they have.”

  I swallowed hard. What she really meant was until I came along. My fault. I couldn’t help thinking it. If only I hadn’t been so headstrong and foolish. If only I’d listened to my father and stayed far away from Kane.

  Pat put one hand on her hip and tapped the picture of my mother I’d left on the table.

  “Sarah had something, you know. Not a shifter. But she had a little bit of something special. Her own magic. I don’t know. Maybe she was part witch or gypsy. Something. She was a seer.”

  “A seer?”

  Pat nodded. “She knew things. Like she knew about you. That she had a daughter coming.”

  “Oh, that could have been a lucky guess. I mean, fifty-fifty odds and all.”

  “No. Not that. I mean she knew she wasn’t going to be around for you.”

  My heart went still for a moment, then hammered in my chest so hard I saw stars.

  “I don’t want to upset you, honey. But it’s time. Sarah wanted you to know when you got old enough. I think she knew I’d be the one to tell you. There was a time she felt like a daughter to me. I never had one of my own.”

  “Tell me what?” I still couldn’t breathe. The words felt like acid in my mouth.

  “To follow your heart when the time came. Because Sarah understood how hard it was going to be for Caleb. Losing her, of course. But losing you next. Or at least, she knew that’s how he’d see it. Honey, your mother knew you were bound to the wolves. Er . . . well . . . one wolf anyway. She tried to make Caleb understand, but he wouldn’t hear it. She wanted him to be prepared when the time came because she wouldn’t be here for you.”