Healing the Wolf (BBW Paranormal Romance) (Luna Junction) (2 page)

I hugged my boy in return as little Seth issued a squeal of delight and ran pell-mell at our legs, clutching us with abandon. The laughter of my sons was music. 

“Hey,” I smiled
, with a sudden idea.  “Who wants to take a trip to Flagstaff today?” 

Chapter Two

Once all four boys were awake, fed and lurching around in a knot of wrestling madness, I took the luxury of retreating to the bathroom.  The tub was small and narrow but I loved it.  For years I’d begged for something more comfortable than the boxy shower stall where the water burst across your skin like a thousand needle pricks.  It was during my long labor with Andrew, our third son, when Talon quietly installed the tub.  In typical Talon fashion, he had never said a word about it.  He only grunted when I radiantly expressed my gratitude. 

I let the water cascade over my fingers as I knelt beside the rapidly filling basin.
  It was lucky that a lack of hot water didn’t trouble werewolves because in winter the temperature reached only lukewarm at best.  I peeled off my nightshirt and lowered myself into the heavenly depths.  The boys howled like wild things in the next room but I was hopeful they would keep each other occupied for a good fifteen minutes.  I piled my long hair onto a loose knot on top of my head and closed my eyes, remembering. 

***

My father had warned me to watch my mouth.  The Ivanovs weren’t like the Chevaliers, he said.  I thought about that a lot as we threaded a long path through a good portion of North America. 

Albert Chevalier had insisted on escorting his daughters the whole way himself.  He had only listened to the odd suggestion from the distant
Ivanovs of Luna Junction as a courtesy.  But soon he found himself considering it carefully.  The Chevaliers were a loving extended clan who had lived for generations on the banks of the northern Saskatchewan River but time and civilization had whittled away many of the other shifter families.  Young alphas who were not kin were increasingly tough to come by and there were eight of us daughters to mate off. 

Still, my father would never have agreed to the arrangement if I hadn’t approved.  The truth was I’d been itching to get out of
rural Saskatchewan ever since my first childhood visit to Calgary.  I’d looked upon the glittering metropolis with awe.  If men could build such places, my young mind thought, they couldn’t be all bad. Men, my sisters and I secretly agreed, ruled the world. But when I was thirteen my cousin, Celeste, had run off with a human.  She returned to Claw Creek Landing a year later; bruised, disheveled, and with a half human child at her breast.  After that, the memory of Celeste’s desolate face was enough to warn the rest of us girls away from risky mating.

Albert Chevalier was determined to keep th
e ancient blood wolf line intact. When my father came to me one day with the picture of a pair of young werewolves from Arizona, I stared at the larger of the two. 

His clothing was drab and his hair tousled.  He didn’t smile into the camera, but the stern glare of his eyes burned through me, as i
f I were already his chosen one.

“Yes,” I answered
decisively, handing the picture to my sister, Amy. 

My father eyed me.  “His name is Talon Ivanov.  He is the oldest son and future alpha
to the Ivanov family of Luna Junction, Arizona.” 

I shru
gged.  “I already said yes.”  True, it was my ticket to the wider world, but after one glance I would have agreed to go anywhere I could find the hulking Talon Ivanov. 

Albert Chevalier seemed surprised, though relieved.  A
my would always do as she was bid, but I was another story and he knew that well enough.  My mother had died birthing my youngest sister.  I was named for her and was always said to be every bit as spirited as the young female who had enticed the powerful Chevalier alpha decades earlier.

My father cleared his throat.  “
Sheree,” he said sternly.  “It’s not like you can change your mind.” 

I glanced at the picture again and saw my mate.  Talon Ivanov.  His very name made me shudde
r.  I wondered what he would think when he saw me.  I had my mother’s clear-eyed face but I was tall and my body was anything but delicate.  The Chevalier women tended to be large boned good breeders with wide hips.  My sister and I were no exceptions.

“I won’t change my mind,” I told him. 

I had been relieved to find Arizona was not all fabled sharp cacti and sand.  If I squinted, the northern woods which surrounded Luna Junction looked similar to home. 

The
Ivanovs all awaited us in the center of town as my father stopped the truck which had carried us from Canada.  And by all, I mean all.  My eyes blurred at first as I saw dozens of heads topped with variously hued red hair.  There was a simmering, restless quality to the lot of them, as if they would any second tear their clothes from their skin and shift into beastly form.

Amy hung back a bit but I jumped from the truck, my eyes hungrily searching.  For him.  A barefoot female came forward, her lovely green eyes appraising me.  She smiled and I knew she was Kate Ivanov, the family alpha, and the mother of my intended mate. 

She took my hand.  “Sheree,” she said.  “We are pleased you are here.”  She motioned to the throng of gaping Ivanovs and from their midst he appeared. 

I swear I couldn’t breathe for a second as those fierce eyes took in every inch of my body.  I stood tall, feeling self-consciously large in the presence of all those lithe Ivanov females, but when his eyes reached mine I saw something there.  Approval.  And desire. 

Meanwhile, Amy had timidly emerged from the truck and in a moment her smiling mate, Anton, offered her his arm.  They gazed at one another and blushed. 

My father quietly unloaded our belonging
s.  Kate Ivanov nodded at him.  “Stay the night, Chevalier.  We can offer you food and a pallet.”

But my father shook his head.  “No, Kate.  I’ve been gone several days already.”  He sighed as he removed the last of the bags.  Amy turned from her mate, tears already in her eyes, and embraced our father.  He stroked her long hair.  “Goodbye, sweet girl.”  The he walked her back to where Anton waited and turned to me. 

I swallowed, feeling the weight of dozens of Ivanov eyes.  “Goodbye, Daddy.”

He clea
red his throat, glancing around.  A few curious residents of Luna Junction had come quietly onto the scene.  I had known there were five extended werewolf families which populated the town but I couldn’t recall the details. My head buzzed with the fever of being within a few feet of Talon Ivanov.  He still mutely watched me and had yet to say anything. 

Albert Chevalier opened his arms and I ran into them.  I’d been determined not to cry but as I heard my father’s sad sigh the tears came anyway.  “I’ll miss you,
Sheree.”

The touch on my arm
was as sudden as it was electric.  I turned my head and faced the intent stare of Talon Ivanov.  There was meaning behind the way he gripped my shoulder.  It was possession.  I was his already.  He looked at my father. “She will be safe here.” 

My father nodded.  “I know.”  He tipped my chin up
and stared deeply into my eyes.  “Be happy too, Sheree.”  And then he was gone, leaving me alone with my mate. With Talon. 

Kate Ivanov clapped her hands decisively.  “You girls must be hungry.  My daughters have prepared a meal back at the house.”  She raised a perfect eyebrow.  “Do you take your meat bloody?” 

Amy’s eyes were wide.  Chevaliers had been in the habit of cooking their meals since they had arrived in Canada.  Albert always said bloody meat was of the old country, an old time.  My poor sister looked terrified by this sinewy wraith of a mother-in-law.  I cleared my throat. 

“We prefer a little heat on our meal.  If you don’t mind.”

She laughed, not unkindly.  “Of course.  To each blood wolf his own.” 

Silently several of the Ivanov men had stepped forth and were loading our bags onto their backs.  Anton gently took Amy’s arm as the rest of the
Ivanovs began moving towards the woods.  Occasionally a few would glance back with curiosity. 

Talon grabbed the largest bag, mine, from one of the men and flung it casually over his shoulder.  He waited while I caught up but made no move to touch me.  I peered over at Anton and Amy as they whispered and giggled.

Words didn’t fail me often but I was wracking my brain for something to say to this burley stranger.  He walked close but looked straight ahead.  I looked up at him, noting that though I was not a small girl by any means, I barely reached his thick shoulder. “Nice weather,” I finally managed. 

Talon frowned.  “Too dry.  Fire risk.” 

“Oh.”  I kept pace with him easily but was getting a bit annoyed at his quick pace.  You’d think a guy would want to exchange a few pleasantries with his new life partner.  I decided to try small talk again.  “So, ah, now that we’re mates and all-“

Talon interrupted me.  “As of this hour we aren’t mated yet,
Sheree.  That will come later.” 

I had to ignore his rudeness because all I heard was the word ‘later’.  ‘Later’ was pre
sumably when he’d peel that dingy clothing away and I’d get a close look at the hard muscles hinted at under the bulging fabric.  I’d eagerly remove my white cotton dress and the lacy panties I’d acquired on a last shopping trip to Calgary.  We’d face each other completely naked and then, and then…

Well, I wasn’t sure. 

But I’d caught enough half glimpses of passionate embraces and heard enough pleasure moans to know that what came next had to be good. 

In fact, during the raucous melee which apparently passed for an Ivanov party, I was
so preoccupied with thoughts of ‘later’ that I found it difficult to eat much.  While Amy and Anton tenderly whispered under a tree, Talon seemed to have forgotten about me.  He stood with a small clot of Ivanov men I hadn’t even been introduced to. 

I sighed.  Perhaps I’d misread the glint in his eyes.
Maybe he was disappointed in me after all.  A pair of very young red haired girls were watching me merrily. 

“You’
re a big lady,” one said and the other giggled.  “But we think your dress is pretty.” 

I stared at the girls
.  They were children, but still seemed old enough to know better than to be so obnoxious.  Then I remembered my father telling me that Ivanovs were a little uncivilized by modern standards.  They were reluctant to send their children to the human schools and kept to themselves as much as possible.  I looked over at my intended mate and mused that perhaps Talon kept his distance because he was shy. 

Slowly I rose from the grassy patch where I’d been sitting and made my way over to him. The oth
er males stopped talking at my approach and Talon turned around.  He seemed surprised to find me right behind him.  Then he cast a quick glance at the sky.  “Right,” he said.  “It’s nearly twilight.  We’ll mate before the moon rises.”

The other men nodded curtly.  I was so shocked by his casual mention of our impending mating that I couldn’t speak.  Talon took me by the elbow and began to lead me deeper into the woods
along a rugged country dirt road.  He snapped his fingers at Anton who looked up in surprise and then gathered Amy into his arms. 

I let myself be pulled along but was beginning to feel a bit ill at ease.  Was he planning to have me right there on the forest floor without so much as ‘Hey, how about it?’ or whatever it was these weird werewolves said to one another before joining bodies?
?

Talon must have sensed my reluc
tance.  He turned and spoke tersely.  “I’ve built a cabin.  It should be comfortable, even by your standards.” 

I craned my neck around.  There was no one else in sight.  “What about my sister?”

He stopped walking and regarded me impatiently.  “Your sister belongs to my brother now.  They have their own home on the other side of these trees.” 

I pulled away from him, annoyed at the way he was yanking me along like a ragdoll.

Talon was exasperated.  “What?”

I crossed my arms.  “This is just all so, I don’t know, primitive I guess.”

His eyes narrowed.  “What were you expecting?”

I sighed.  “Look, I know I’m not the hottest girl this side of the moon, but I’m not nothing.  I mean, you haven’t even kissed me yet.” 

I had scarcely uttered the words when Talon Ivanov grabbed me around the waist and pulled me up.  Our mouths met in a hot fury.  He crushed my body against his as his tongue darted with urgency.  And as we pressed closer together I felt another urgency, harder and lower. 

Then just as abruptly he released me.  “I assume,” he said
archly, “that you don’t want to mate right here.” 

I looked around.  We
were alone, but we were still outdoors by the side of a dirt road.  Not exactly the stuff a girl’s dreams are made of.  “No,” I admitted, although if he had insisted I knew I would have eagerly opened my legs. 

His voice was gruff.  “Follow me, then.” 

My heart pounded as we traveled the last hundred yards to a simple yet handsome cabin.  I breathed, smelling the fresh wood.  The moon was beginning to rise as Talon’s hand went to open the door.  “It’s not finished,” he said.  “But near enough.” 

The door creaked open and I peered in at the sparse interior.  There was no furniture.
  My bags had already been neatly placed in the front room.  I stepped cautiously over the threshold and flipped on a switch.  The light was dim but working.  I stared into what I assumed was the bedroom.  “There’s no bed?”