Brand of the Pack (2 page)

He stood at her approach, his gaze dipping to her bare hips and chest. A wicked smile spread across his face, and she paused at the top of the stairs. It should’ve felt strange to be vulnerable in front of him again after their time apart, but it didn’t.

Like an oncoming storm, his eyes darkened, and he dropped his head and cleared his throat. His hair, shoulder-length and the color of sand, fell forward, hiding his frown. He was probably reliving her awesome little panic attack she had when he kissed her earlier. “I brought this for you.” He handed her a shirt, and she cast a baleful look at her shredded blouse in the grass.

“I dressed up for you.”

He hadn’t shaved in a while, and the short, blond scruff on his jaw tempted her to touch it. Afraid of the rejection, she stilled her itching fingers.

“I know.” His smile was back on a smaller scale. She’d take what she could get.

She pulled on the oversized T-shirt, made for a Sasquatch-sized man who stood well over six feet tall with wider shoulders. It hung down past her knees like an ill-fitting dress. She probably looked like a twelve-year-old at a slumber party.

Ice cubes clinked against the sides as he handed her the water glass. “Thought you might need this,” he said with a knowing grin.

Heat crept up her neck and she looked away before it reached her cheeks. “Thanks,” she mumbled. “Sorry for—” She waved her hand toward his newly watered forest. “Well, you know.”

His golden eyes narrowed. “I’ve noticed something.”

“That my wolf is disgusting?”

He chuckled deep in his throat, the sound so close it sent a tremble up her back.

“No. I don’t think your wolf ever wanted you to leave me.” He looked over the clearing around the house, his land. His territory. “If she were okay with it, she wouldn’t have pushed for such an immediate show. She couldn’t even wait to mark this place up.”

Swallowing hard, she admitted, “Neither of us wanted to leave. I was just so scared of what we were, I let it consume me.”

He reached out and rested his strong hand against her hip. The cotton of her T-shirt bunched underneath his fingertips, and warmth radiated down her thighs as he ran his thumb in lazy circles over the cloth. Inhaling, her breath turned ragged at the intensity of his gaze.

His voice was so low, it was more vibration than sound. “I remember. I didn’t at first, but now I remember the way I touched you after Montana. The night after I found you.”

Clenching her hands against the shaking, she pursed her lips. If he even knew how many times she’d relived those moments, he’d run. “I didn’t know how to bring it up. I thought it was just Wolf with me that night. I should’ve said something sooner.”

“Hey, I’m not mad.” He stepped closer, his shadow encasing all of her. Fingers splayed, he brushed the top of her leg and leaned forward until his lips brushed her ear. “I’d never be mad at what you let me do to you.”

He gripped the shirt and the first tendrils of panic spread through her, inky and suffocating.

As if he could sense the change, he pulled away. “Come on,” he said with a jerk of his head as if he hadn’t almost seduced her into a lusty coma. “I have something to show you.”

Grey opened the front door to his home and waited with a rakish smile while Morgan tried to remember how to use her legs. One touch and a few naughty words and that man turned her into a noodle.

The interior of the log cabin was a different world. It looked like a Colorado mountain retreat right here in the middle of Texas. To the right was a great room, and on her left were the kitchen, dining room, and living space. Nice and open, just like her wolf preferred.

Despite the large area, there were enough furnishings and home decor that it didn’t seem overstated or cold. The place still smelled new, like sawdust and leather. The ceiling over the entryway was lower than the vaulted one in the great room, and she padded forward and tilted her head up. On the left, wide wooden stairs rose out of the floor and led to an open room above them, surrounded by wooden railings.

“It’s a loft,” he said. “I figured Lana could make a play area up there and have her own space where we could still watch her from the kitchen and living room.”

Lana was her niece and now her ward. She had taken over guardianship of the three-year-old when a werewolf had attacked her sister on a camping trip last year. Grey had been able to save her and Lana, but was too late to protect Marianna, Lana’s mother. The monster had Turned Grey as its last revenge, but human or no, Grey had been wrapped tightly around Lana’s little finger from first sight.

She would love the loft.

Across the great room, a beautifully rustic, curving wooden staircase led to a second floor. Grey’s hand was warm and steady as he pulled her toward it. He started taking them two at a time in his haste, but slowed when she failed to rush. She was too busy looking around, amazed at the home he had built. He waited for her at the top, then led her down the hallway to a bedroom door. After he opened it, he stepped back and stared at her intently.

As she entered, the door creaked open to reveal a fairy princess bedroom. A white canopy bed loomed on the far wall, and a purple cartoon tree and bird drawings graced the wooden walls behind. In addition to the dresser and antique white nightstands beside the bed, there was a child-sized makeup mirror and chair and a toy kitchen perched on a thick white rug in the corner. A large white rocking chair sat next to a full bookshelf.

Sinking into the rocker, she pulled out the first book. She flipped through the worn pages of
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Marissa had been reading it to Lana whenever she got the chance. She ran her finger along the folded corner of the page they had last read. A chandelier hung from the exposed rafters above, casting soft light across the page. There wasn’t a more magical place on earth for Lana to call her own.

Grey watched her with indecipherable golden eyes. “Do you think she will like it?”

“It’s perfect.” She blinked away stinging tears. “But, how did you know we would come back?”

“I didn’t. I just hoped.” He shrugged and looked away as if the emotion swimming in his eyes would be too much to share.

He strode to an open space in the wall between the dresser and the play kitchen and put his hand behind the bulky chest of drawers. It clicked. A thick panel opened up to reveal a secret room. Inside were miniature cushioned chairs and a small television on a wooden stand with a shelf of Lana’s favorite cartoons. Against the wall was a cupboard of art supplies with a small table and chairs nestled beside it.

“I know it seems like too much, but it’s not only for fun. I built this house to be big enough for a pack someday, but I wanted it to be safe, too. I have to be able to protect you guys. This is a safe room. Lana’s scent will saturate this room, but no one will smell her if she is in the secret room. There is a button to open the door on the inside, too, and when the door is closed, it’s impossible to tell there is a secret door there. I even rigged it so if someone knocks on the wall, it sounds the same as the other walls.”

He took her hand and led her out Lana’s door to the room at the end of the hallway. “This is my room, but I want you to sleep here until you are comfortable enough to make it our room. I’ll take one of the guest bedrooms until then.”

The room had a huge king-sized bed with rustic wooden furnishings on top of glistening hardwood floors. Opposite the bed, a fireplace opened up to the bathroom and allowed the fire to be easily seen and felt from a large claw foot bathtub. She walked straight through the room to French doors that led to the huge balcony she had seen from the road. The porch was decorated with dark furniture, and a worn paperback lay on a small table. This must be where Grey spent his evenings.

So big was the space, his deep voice seemed to echo when he spoke. “Marissa’s room and the other two guest rooms are on the other side of the house through the living room.”

“Are they all as big as these?” she asked, overcome with the size of the beautiful home.

Grey laughed and shook his head. “No, they are about half the size of these. They’re furnished, but I didn’t see the point in having three huge unused rooms in the house. We were almost finished building by the time I figured out Marissa would be permanent or I would have made her room bigger. She picked it out and seems to like it enough, though. Even decorated it herself. Well, she told me what she wanted and we fixed it up together,” he corrected.

Marissa was the thirteen-year-old adopted daughter of Dean, the Dallas pack’s alpha, and Rachel, his wife. Marissa would be switching to Grey’s pack to discourage other males from fighting over her. She was much too young to make a decision on a mate, and Grey was frightening enough that no one bothered her around him. Still, it burned a little. Morgan cleared her throat. “I wanted to talk to you about that.”

“Uh oh. Okay, what about?”

“I want her to be in your pack, but I want to be the first one in. I know it sounds silly, but it bothers me that I wouldn’t be the first one. And no, it’s not just my wolf wanting to be your second or anything like that. She doesn’t care. Okay, well maybe she cares a little, but it’s me, too. I know it’s selfish to come in here and ask favors, but I don’t know, I just—I want you to pick me first.”

He grinned. “Really?”

A sheepish nod from her, and he rubbed his chin like he was thinking long and hard about the request. Sinking onto the bed, he pulled her closer with a gentle tug on her giant shirt until she was pressed against the strong planes of his chest. His smile was downright delicious, and when his hands snaked up her shirt to cup her bottom, she hardly flinched. Already, he was wearing off the effects of the Montana pack’s treachery.

“Done,” he said. “You’ll be first. We’ll make it official at the next Full Moon Hunt.”

“Don’t tease me,” she said, half daring to hope.

His voice dipped low. “I’d never tease you with something like that. You just asked to join my pack. You can have anything you want, woman.”

She leaned in and kissed him, a soft stroke against his lips. Easing back, she murmured, “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you so damned much, I thought I’d die of the ache.” With a baffled shake of his head, he ran his hands farther up under the shirt until his hands splayed across her back. “I still can’t believe you’re here, that I’m touching you. That you want me.”

Resting her forehead on his, she whispered. “I always wanted you. From the first moment in the woods when you were still human.” She traced a light finger under his eye, shining bright amber. “I want you even more now.”

Pulling his hands from her back, he grabbed her palm and kissed it. “You sure you want to live here with me?”

She jumped over him, spinning and landing on her back on the plush bed. Spread out like a star, she sighed happily and stared at the spinning ceiling fan. “Grey, I was prepared to live in your crappy apartment. Or under a bridge like a troll. Or even a box would’ve done. Home is where you are.” She propped up on one elbow. “Now, are you going to tell me where you got the money for all of this, or am I just supposed to assume you got mixed up in some illegal hobbies while I was away?”

The mattress sank as he fell beside her. “Ha. It’s not illegal money.” He frowned at the ceiling fan.

Running a finger down his stubbled jaw, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I grew up in a different world. Wealthy. Does that make you think differently of me?”

“No. It bothers me that you thought you couldn’t tell me, though.”

“I don’t know why I didn’t. I just spent a lot of time trying to separate myself from my dad, and when you came along, well, it was just easier to keep that part of my life a secret.”

“Yeah, but now this all feels too good to be true, Greyson. Where did the money come from?”

“My mom. She set up a trust without my father knowing. He would’ve never allowed it. I was supposed to help him run his companies someday, and the trust was my mom’s way of cutting me free. I’ve known about it since she died. My dad was pissed when her will was read, but it was too late for him to do anything about it. She was careful with how her lawyers handled it. Like she knew my dad would look for a loophole. He’ll know that I touched the money now, though, and he’ll come after me to learn his business. He wants nothing more than his companies to stay in our family.”

“What does he do?”

“Banking. He heads up several financial institutions with a lot of money to loan out and a lot of interest coming in. I want no part of it. I never wanted to touch the trust, but when Alexis Turned you, I couldn’t think about anything else. I wanted a way to take care of you and Lana.” He rolled on his side and rested his head on the palm of his hand. “I need a pack under me, Morgan. Do you understand the reasons why?”

“Yes. Wolf needs a job, a big one, to calm him. It’s important and scary, everything that’s happening, but I think it’s what you need to feel more unified with Wolf.” He and his inner animal hadn’t seen eye to eye since he’d been Changed, and now Wolf was a separate voice in Grey’s head. One who encouraged violence and chaos. She traced the knuckles of his hand. “Greyson Crawford, trust fund baby.”

He narrowed his eyes and muttered, “Stop it.”

Grabbing his hand so he wouldn’t roll away, she grinned. “I just never expected this. Why the hell were you living in that dumpy apartment? It smelled like fleas and giardia. You could’ve afforded to buy six thousand air fresheners for that moldy old building.”

“I happened to like that apartment, and I already told you I didn’t want to touch the money unless I had to. Did you like the land?”

Oh, her answer mattered. The look in his eyes said he was hanging on her words. “It was all right.”

“What?”

Laughter peeled from her. “I love it. If you’d Changed, I would’ve stayed a wolf all day just to run every square inch of your territory with you. It’s beautiful, Greyson. Just perfect.”

He ran the pad of his finger down her cheek and opened his mouth to say something, but his cell phone trilled from his back pocket and they both hunched against the shrill noise. He checked the screen and chuckled. “Hello Rachel,” he answered. His eyes lit up with happiness as he flipped onto his back and pulled Morgan into the crook of his arm. “Yep, she’s here. She and Lana will be the first in my new pack. Tell Dean he’s shit out of luck. No silver wolf for the Dallas pack. She’s all mine.”