Vivian Arend - Granite Lake Wolves 2 (7 page)

trying it here. His lack of official status would make it impossible for him to

accomplish anything of value.

Tad stepped back and lifted his hands to talk to Robyn in American Sign

Language, glad to have a way to enjoy a private conversation in the middle of the

crowded room.

“You look amazing,” he told her.

“I feel amazing. Oh, Tad, wait until you can shift. It’s so…” She stopped and

wrinkled her nose at him. “You don’t feel comfortable here. You’re leaving.”

Tad dropped his hands in amazement. She really was a powerful wolf. “I see your

damn Alpha insight is working already.”

Robyn stuck her tongue out him briefly. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m happy for you, sis. Really I am. In fact, this whole evening has helped me

realize it’s time to move on. I need to stop waiting for something to happen to

make me satisfied and go
make
it happen.”

Robyn frowned, her dark eyes staring into his. “Explain. You feel like you’re a

bubble ready to burst.”

Tad sighed. It wasn’t really time for this conversation, but it needed to be said.

She deserved to know he’d finally arrived at a decision. “I don’t want to mess up

your celebration. It’s just I’m not going to worry about trying to trigger my wolf

anymore, okay? Keil explained to you it’s tough for a half-blood like me to get

triggered, and I’ve decided that I’m going to just ignore my wolf side and go make

my human side happy instead.”

A myriad of emotions flickered across Robyn face. Confusion, disbelief, sadness.

Then a hint of amusement. “What if you can have both? What you want as a

human
and
what your wolf needs?”

Tad shook his head. “It’s not possible. You were lucky. You found Keil and you

weren’t even looking for him. It’s better if I just forget the whole wolf thing.”

Robyn stomped her foot. “Bullshit. You can’t ignore your wolf and still be happy.

That’s what was wrong with me before. I knew something was missing, and you

will not believe how big a difference I feel now that my wolf is a complete part of

me. Don’t give up. You really can be happy with yourself and trigger your wolf. I

know it.”

“Making a proclamation as my Alpha?”

She rested her hands on her hips for a second, the gold flecks in her eyes swirling

as she stared at him. Power rolled from her and his spine tingled.
Holy shit, she

was strong.

She raised her hands to sign again. “As both your Alpha and your sister. You’ve

always looked out for me. I haven’t said thank you nearly enough. I love you, and I

want you to be happy. It’s going to work out in the end.”

She punched him in the shoulder and pulled him in for another hug. She held on

to both sides of his head and stared deep into his eyes for a moment. The wolf

within her was beautiful to see, but he wasn’t the type to seize advantage of her

good fortune. He wasn’t going to ride her coattails to get triggered. As much as

the idea there was one special someone out there for him excited him, being with

Missy was not a bad alternative. Partners for life was what he wanted, even if it

meant his wolf remained trapped.

“Tad, hang on.” Erik placed a restraining hand on Tad’s door. “Keil needs to talk

to you before you go.”

Tad was tired, fed up and ready to go home to collapse and dream about Missy.

“Can it wait?”

Erik froze. He turned and raised a brow at Tad.

“Oh shit. Sorry.”
Damn, damn, damn.
He really needed to remember who he was

talking to at times. The whole werewolf code was like some kind of mystical Ten

Commandments, and Tad seemed to constantly break the rules, one way or

another. He relocked his door and fell into step with the giant man.

Erik spoke softly. “You can get away with a lot, being related to Robyn and all, but

it’s not a good idea—”

“I know, I know, the whole ‘Alpha is King’ thing. I have trouble remembering at

times. It doesn’t seem real, maybe because I can’t shift. I guess I’m not a very

good wolf.” Tad had to walk double-quick to keep up with the strides of his new

Beta.

“How can you not remember?” Erik asked. “Don’t you feel like you’ve got to

listen when Keil talks? Or your previous Alpha in Whitehorse?”

Tad shrugged. “I guess. Well, sometimes. Sometimes I just feel annoyed.”

“Annoyed?” Erik sounded strange, like he had swallowed something the wrong

way.

Tad flicked a glance up at him. “Annoyed or even pissed off. Usually when I think

it’s a thing stupid for them to ask. I don’t think Keil’s ordered me to do anything

yet, so I’m not sure, but my Alpha in Whitehorse, heck, I ignored him all the

time.”

Erik was no longer at his side and Tad turned back to look at the man who was

several paces behind making the weirdest face. This night was turning truly

bizarre. “What?” Tad watched as the Beta walked a slow circle around him,

sniffing the air. “Sod off—I hate it when people do that.” Tad forced him away.

Not an easy task since Erik was built like a brick shithouse with reinforced metal

corners.

Erik shook his head slowly. “Keil’s gonna blow a gasket.”

“Tad’s going to pitch a fit if he doesn’t get to go home soon. Stop with the wolfy

mumbo jumbo and let’s go see the Big Cheese.” Tad stormed into the hall, Erik

trailing behind him chuckling.

Keil met them at the front foyer and motioned for his Beta to stand watch.

“You’re making me nervous. Is something wrong?” Tad asked, glancing around

the empty space. He didn’t see any trouble but something was odd about the way

Keil looked at him.

Keil put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and led them to some overstuffed

chairs at the side of the area. “No, you’re fine, Robyn’s fine, all that kind of stuff. I

need to talk to you about something serious before you leave.”

Tad waited.

“It’s kind of a delicate subject with you, and I didn’t think I should mention it in

front of the others.”

Tad waited.

Keil rolled his eyes. “You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?”

Tad grinned at the big man. It was the most entertainment he’d had all night.

Then his smile faded as he got an inkling of the topic at hand. “Oh crap, you’re not

going to tell me someone’s offered me FirstMate, are you?”

Keil frowned. “I thought you’d be pleased. You’ve been waiting forever—”

Tad’s blood started to boil. Enough was enough. “Keil, I don’t want to fuck

someone who’s brown-nosing for you. Forget it.”

“She’s not trying to impress me.”

“Yeah. Right. Let me guess. Is she a skinny blonde with a tan?”

Keil sat back. “Well, I wouldn’t call her skinny, but she is blonde. You know who

offered?”

Tad pulled a sour expression. “She offered herself to me already and I thought I

would lose my dinner. You don’t really think I should accept her, do you? I know

it’s not forever but I do have to look at her for a couple days. And touch her…” He

shivered. The thought of being intimate with the Queen of Sheba turned his

stomach. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Anger flared across Keil’s face. “If this is how picky you are, no wonder you’ve

never been triggered. I thought we finally found a solution you’d be pleased

with.” Keil picked up one of the cushions from the couch and smacked it with his

fist. He raised his dark eyes to glare at Tad.

He glared back until he remembered this was both his new Alpha and his new

brother-in-law. Tad sighed and lowered his gaze. “I don’t think I’m being picky.”

“Who are you waiting for, Miss Wolf Canada?” Keil demanded.

Tad gaped at him.
No way.
“Is there such a thing?”

“Arghhh!” Keil threw the pillow at him.

Tad held up his hands, trying to calm Keil down. “Look, I’m not trying to be

difficult.”

“Well, you’re managing to piss me off and you’re going to get me in shit with my

mate. Robyn was so excited at the possibility you’d get triggered soon.”

Like that was going to change Tad’s mind about the whole thing. “I’m not fucking

someone for Robyn’s sake.”

“It’s just FirstMate. Get over it.”

Tad shook his head.

Keil crossed his arms over his chest. “Then
you
get to explain yourself to Robyn

because she thought you’d be thrilled. She said Missy was one of the—”

“What?” Tad leapt forward in his seat.
Who did Keil say?
“Wait a second, rewind.

Who are we talking about here? Did you say Missy?”

“Damn right. Gorgeous woman like that offers you—”

“She’s a wolf?” Holy crap, Missy offered FirstMate? Sweet, beautiful, sexy-as-all-get-out Missy who turned him inside out with longing? His heart pounded harder

and suddenly it was difficult to breath.

Keil pinched the bridge of his nose. “Shit, are you never going to learn how to

pick up a scent? Yes, Missy is a wolf. She came by yesterday to tell me she was in

the area. As the nearest pack, it’s a courtesy thing to check in. She caught the

whole hullabaloo about me and Robyn taking over leadership, and you not being

triggered, and she said she’d be delighted to offer you FirstMate. Seems she’s had

a soft spot for you since high school. Since you aren’t interested and the mere

thought of touching her causes your face to turn green I guess I should just—”

“Will you slow down?” Tad hopped from his chair and began to pace. His nerves

jangled for a second then relaxed as a faint trail of hope began to build. But why

had Missy not mentioned anything? “I didn’t know she was a wolf. We went on a

date the other day and she never said a word to me.”

“She wasn’t sure you knew about your wolf genes until she met Robyn.” Keil

looked puzzled. “Just who did you think I was suggesting?”

Missy wanted to have sex with him. Tad fought down the images that flared in

his mind to concentrate on answering Keil. “I thought you were talking about the

chick with the shimmery pink highlights in her hair.”

Keil laughed and shook his head. “Okay, now your reaction makes sense. So now

that we’re talking the same language, what do you think? Missy’s a widow, so

your little issue about not doing the deed with a married woman is a moot point.

Plus she’s excessively easy on the eyes. Not that I would notice, being totally

enamored by your sister and all.”

Tad snorted. “I think the expression is ‘married, not dead’. Missy is flipping

gorgeous and you know it. Robyn would say the same.”

“So…”

“Man, this still seems so forced and weird. Like a prearranged trip to the local

brothel.” He’d learned to be a lot more open about discussing sex over the past

two years, but the upfront and in-your-face wolf method still made him squirm.

Fine, he and Missy would do FirstMate. Now he didn’t want to talk about it

anymore.

Keil smirked. “I think you can get over that little problem. From what Missy told

me you seemed interested enough in her the other day, so get together and—”

“Shit, she told you what we did?”
And was Robyn in the room to hear it?
That’s all

he needed, his sister knowing he was a sex fiend.

Damn, Robyn already knew Missy had offered. That was the point of her whole

mysterious conversation about getting what both his human and wolf sides

wanted. He couldn’t stop the heat that rose to his face.

“No, but you’ve got me curious. You want to tell me what you did that’s got you

going from zero-to-sixty in three seconds flat? I’ve never seen a guy react like that

before.”

“Shut up, Keil.” His new brother-in-law’s hearty laugh rang out and Tad gave him

a sheepish grin. “Yeah, I’m interested. Only, let me set the pace, please. I’ll be

working with her for the next while, and I don’t think it’s good if we hit the sack

and have at it.” As much as he’d like to.

Holy smoke, Missy was a wolf. She’d offered FirstMate. They were going to have

sex. He’d been waiting for years to find someone to trigger him, and now it wasn’t

only going to happen, it was going to happen with Missy.

Wow. High school dreams could come true.

Tad made a final check of the aircraft instruments and tucked away the flight

plan and weather reports. There were only eight hours of daylight to play with

and they needed to head out soon.

The meteorologist, Missy’s working partner in the project, detained them. Tad

had flown the man for hours the day before and discovered Dan was anal when it

came to details. Today he not only fussed with last-minute changes, he wasn’t

feeling well, disappearing every ten minutes on a bathroom run.

“Missy, can we get started and at least put the first of the relays into place?” Tad

suggested, chomping at the bit to get moving. “Then we can contact Dan and let

him do his thing with the base unit at camp. It’s going to require at least twenty

minutes to get to the first drop spot before you can even turn anything on to start

linking the receivers.”

It was the first time he’d seen Missy since he and Keil spoke on Saturday. She

looked breathtaking as usual, but he imagined there was a little something extra

in her smile when she responded to him. Heat flared between them, and he

forced himself to turn away before he did something too wolfish—like pounce on

her in public.