Vivian Arend - Granite Lake Wolves 2 (2 page)

mate ripped something from within, and many never recovered. With the genetic

similarities between brothers, and Doug’s strength as an Alpha, the pack would

expect him to take Missy under his protection.

And into his bed.

Only she and Jeff hadn’t been mates. There had been no true connection

between them other than a shared zeal to stay alive under the tyranny of an

Alpha who controlled and conquered as he pleased. Jeff hadn’t survived.

She stiffened her spine, glancing into the common room to see if there was

anyone nearby even watching the discussion that she might turn to for assistance.

No one paid them any attention. A log popped and shifted at her back, a rush of

heat flaring out and she took a deep breath. It was up to her alone.

Missy was desperate to escape, but Doug still held power over her. Still held her

in check with the one thing that guaranteed her cooperation. She needed time to

find a way to get out of this mess. “I’m scheduled to leave the pack for an

extended period of time. My position with the research team has been—”

Doug waved a hand in front of her face. “I know. You’ll be traveling with the

Lauren Group setting up weather stations. I believe the timeframe is four to five

months for the work to be completed, correct?”

Missy swore inside. How could the bastard know the details of a personal

contract she’d signed only days ago? She’d attempted to be extremely careful in

keeping her information secretive, but his fingers were in everything.

“I will expect you by the end of February.” His dark eyes flashed at her. “Don’t

make the mistake of delaying your return, Missy, or there will be consequences

your sister will not enjoy.”

She stood rigid under his glare. “Leave Margaret out of this. She’s attending

university in Vancouver, she’s not a part of this pack anymore.”

Doug shook his head. “No one is truly ever out from the protective watch of the

pack, you should know that. I’m sure Maggie will be just fine as long as you

remember your place in the overall scheme of things.” He leaned close and

brushed his lips against her cheek, whispering in her ear, “Six months, my little

Omega. I’ll give you six months as the code states. Then I’m taking you as mine

and our combined skills will be the making of this pack.” He dismissed her

abruptly, turning away to reclaim his chair, glittering eyes staring into the fire.

The enforcers gathered around Doug again as Missy backed away, eager to leave

the sweltering heat that had nothing to do with the blaze in the fireplace. She

forced herself to walk, not run, head held high. No indication that the devil

himself had just announced she was to be his queen.

There was no way she would willingly join him in hell.

February, Haines Junction, Yukon

Tad leaned against the cold exterior wall as he watched the company helicopter

settle on the runway. Loose snow flew around the large metal-clad building they

used as a hangar for both the chopper and the small bush plane. He waved briefly

at his business partner, Shaun, before hurrying back indoors. There wasn’t much

time left and he had a ton of preparations to complete before the afternoon

flight.

Maxwell’s Silver Hammer had landed a major contract to transport researchers

to and from a camp at the base of Mount Logan. The money was great but the

timing sucked. As he hurried through his checklist his mind wandered, concern for

his sister distracting him. What the
hell
was he thinking, letting a deaf girl head

into the backcountry alone? He was supposed to take care of her, not throw her

to the wolves. He should have refused the contract and gone with her like they

originally planned. He was lost in thought when a solid touch to his shoulder

startled him.

“Holy shit, Shaun, warn a guy will you?” Tad cursed, his heart racing.

“You’re a fucking werewolf. Why the hell can’t you learn to scent another wolf

approaching?” Shaun peeled off his flight jacket and threw it onto one of the

chairs at the side of the shop. His cocky grin did little to relax the knot in Tad’s

stomach.

“Piss off.” So his ability to smell sucked. There were more important things to

worry about as far as he was concerned. “Robyn get away okay? Crap, I can’t

believe I let her go on the trip without me. What if something happens to her?”

Shaun laughed, slapping him on the back roughly. “You’re too damn possessive

about your sister. She’s fine. She’s a great skier and experienced in the bush. Plus

she’s so freaking powerful that being stuck in close quarters with her nearly kills

me.” He paused for a second, flicking a concerned glance at Tad. “You’ve got to

tell her soon. I mean, you’ve known about having werewolf genes for a couple of

years now. She needs to know so she can move on with her life, learn about her

other side. She’s going to be the most gorgeous wolf when she gets her genes

triggered.”

Tad grit his teeth together, his face suddenly hot, muscles tense.
Not this

conversation again.
“Yeah, and I suppose you want the privilege of triggering her,

right?”

Shaun wiggled his eyebrows a few times and grinned. “Well, it wouldn’t be a

chore by any stretch.”

Tad slammed a hand into his friend’s chest, hooked his fingers into his shirt and

lifted him off his feet. Blood pounded in his ears and Tad looked out through a sea

of red. Shaun’s toes dangled off the ground, kicking a few times as Tad held him

high in the air, arm stretched at full length.

“Shit, Tad, I’m kidding around. Put me down.” Shaun wiggled, his face suddenly

gone white.

Fuck.

Tad dropped Shaun to the ground and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Sorry, I’m feeling a little stressed. Between Robyn and the booking and my skin

itching like it’s going to crawl off and walk on its own…”

Shaun moved away cautiously, tugging his clothes straight. “For an untriggered

wolf, you’re too damn strong. I don’t know which is worse, your bark or your bite.

The itching is your wolf trying to get out. You need to get triggered soon because

you and Robyn are both missing a huge part of your lives—”

“Are you her mate?”

“No, but—”

“Then keep your fucking hands off her.”

Shaun backed down, keeping his body language submissive. “Maybe you should

give her the choice. Tell her she’s got werewolf genes and let her decide what to

do about it.”

Tad collapsed into a chair, his body sprawled back in a messy heap. Discovering

werewolves existed had been like crossing into the Twilight Zone. Finding out

both he and his adopted sister had the genes necessary to be able to turn into

wolves had been even more of a surprise. But the rest of the details drove him

insane. “Shit, I’ve started to tell her a dozen times but just thinking about it makes

me sweat. Why the heck does it have to be sex that triggers the gene in adults?

Like I want to tell my sister to go fuck someone. Robyn has enough on her plate

being deaf. She doesn’t need the drama of trying to find a mate as well. Plus I

can’t shift to prove anything until I get triggered myself.”

He closed his eyes and scrubbed at his face in frustration. “You were lucky. My

parents don’t know anything about wolves. My grandpa must have provided the

genes and then died before telling anyone his secret. You were born into a full-blood family and got triggered from your mom’s milk, so it wasn’t like you had a

dire need for sex.”

Shaun snorted. “Not a dire need? Shit, don’t you remember what it’s like to be a

teenager?”

“Horny bastard. And you wonder why I want you to stay away from Robyn,” Tad

complained, his anger slipping away although his frustration remained high.

Shaun didn’t seem to understand how aggravating it was for Tad as a half-blood.

He needed a hormone trigger too, only his would be released the first time he

had sex with a female wolf. Tad liked sex as much as the next guy, but the human

females he’d been with didn’t count. There was one final catch kicking him in the

ass, making it damn near impossible to get triggered.

Bloody wolf hormones.

“Doesn’t it bother you?” Tad asked. “Being out of control of your own destiny?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The wolf. The way being a wolf changes your whole life.” Tad stared into space,

his fingers fidgeting with the arms of his chair.

Shaun scrunched up his face. “Uh, no… I mean, so I can change into a wolf. It’s no

big deal. It’s not like I have uncontrollable urges to howl or shift involuntarily

when the moon is full. My wolf is just a part of who I am. An amazing, completely

honest part of me.”

Tad snorted. “You’ve never been so poetic in your life. Damn it, I’m talking about

the stupid wolf hormones. Don’t try to tell me they don’t dictate your life. They

sure as hell do mine. We can’t even decide who to marry without our wolves

approving.”

His partner laughed as he leaned back on the table. “Mates? You’re worried

about finding a mate again. Tad? Holy crap, you need to get laid.”

“I know that, you asshole.”

Shaun shook his head. “Not just to trigger your genes, brainiac. To relax. Find

yourself a nice human girl and have at it. You haven’t gone out with anyone for

months. You need to let your wolf out to play.” He nabbed a picture off the wall

behind him and waved it at Tad, his grin growing larger by the second. “What

about your dream girl? She’ll be in town soon, won’t she?”

Tad leapt up and snatched the photo away. “Leave Missy out of this. She’s

special.” Shaun rocked his eyebrows up and down, and Tad flipped him the bird as

he replaced the picture, tracing the edge with a finger. “She’s not a wolf, so I

refuse to mess around with her.”

“Holy shit, are you telling me you’ve only fucked women you might marry?”

“No, but…crap! See, this is what I mean. I like Missy. I really like her and always

have. If I wasn’t a wolf I’d be interested in spending time with her to see if

something develops between us. But since my damn wolf decides my partner, I

have no bloody choice in the matter. I don’t think it’s fair to string along a human

woman.”

Tad waved a hand in frustration at Shaun and returned to his preparations. It was

quiet in the hangar, both of them working silently, deep in thought. He did like

Missy. It had been a complete surprise when she’d contacted him by email. Over

the past four months, they’d been corresponding back and forth about life in

general, catching up on the years they’d been apart.

The day she wrote about her husband and his death, Tad had gone for a long run,

pushing himself to the point of exhaustion. He wondered why it pissed him off so

much to discover she’d cared enough for someone else to make a lifetime

commitment with him. Heck, he and Missy had never been lovers. They’d barely

held hands as teenagers back in high school before she’d moved south.

Shaun leaned on the side of the plane next to where Tad was working, his dark

eyes crinkled up with concern. “I’m sorry things haven’t worked out faster for

you. It’ll be worth it in the end, really it will.”

Tad sighed and thumped his partner’s shoulder. Shaun’s heart was in the right

place. “It’s just I’ve tried for two years to follow wolf rules and it’s gotten me

nowhere. As much as I want to be able to shift, I don’t know if I can live like this

much longer. I can’t change my morals to turn wolf.”

Shaun nodded sadly. “I understand. But you’re not going to be really happy until

you get triggered.”

Tad returned to his adjustments. “Yeah, well, in the meantime I’ve got you to piss

me off and help me let off steam.” He stared hard at his friend. “I want forever

someday. I believe in true love and finding my other half. I know it’s romantic shit,

but I still believe in it.”

“Yeah, I hear you, but until you find Ms. Right, I really think you should consider

Ms. Right Now.”

***

Missy took a deep breath, looking around the small airfield with interest while

she let the butterflies settle. Her journey over the past months had led her in a

full circle, returning her to old stomping grounds. She’d grown up in Whitehorse,

lived in the north until she was sixteen. How strange the solution to the horror

hanging over her head might be found here.

She stared at the doors to the shop.

Ten years.

Ten years since she’d seen Tad, one of the most intriguing boys she’d ever met.

He’d been a grade above her in high school and she’d liked him intensely, even

though her father had insisted half-blood Tad be avoided and not informed of his

wolf heritage. Missy had reluctantly followed her father’s rules and never let

herself be alone with Tad. Never accepted any of his hesitant physical advances

beyond public hugs and cuddles during movie marathons. Only participated in

group activities.

Something had always felt missing. She’d longed for more.

Slipping in the door, Missy took in the neat and tidy waiting area, the newspaper

clippings taped to the wall. She moved closer to examine the articles about

Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, providers of “custom sightseeing flights, fishing