Wild Love (Wilding Pack Wolves 2) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (21 page)

He truly couldn’t ask for anything more.

Emily felt like a fish in a fishbowl… only she was surrounded by a pack of astonished and disbelieving wolves. Noah had explained that they were mated now—
truly
mated, since she was now a wolf—and it was going over like ticking hand grenade.

His sister, Piper, was the first to speak. “You turned her into a
wolf.”
There couldn’t be any more skepticism in her voice. “Using your magical powers as a witch.”

She looked to Daniel, their brother, but he was staring in wide-eyed horror at Noah. Emily was pretty sure he’d already figured out all the implications, including that Daniel and Piper could both be part-witch as well.

“Well, he’s certainly got street cred as a witch,” Owen said, wryly. He was hanging out at the edge of the great room, next to the front door. Noah had his arm around Emily—he pulled her closer as the silence fell even heavier around them. The three River brothers were gathered along with several others from their pack. Mama River stood by the kitchen door, quietly observing, but not saying anything.

No one was saying anything.

Jaxson spoke up next. “Well, my mate is a half-witch. Maybe the two of you can start a club.” He gave Noah a small smile and a nod, and Emily supposed that should be enough—he
was
the alpha of the Riverwise pack where Noah worked, after all.

“That works for me,” Jared announced. “Hey, Mama, what’s for lunch?” He sauntered toward the kitchen, and that seemed to finally break the tension.

Jace strode forward and clasped hands with Noah. His eyes twinkled as he glanced at Emily. “I can’t wait to see this wolf of yours, Ms. Jones. Later, maybe. After the honeymoon.” He smirked, shook Noah’s hand again, then strode after his older brother, Jared, to the kitchen.

Jaxson was busy ushering people out of the great room as well, saying, “Show’s over, folks. Move along.”

It was a relief, but Piper was still staring at her like she was some kind of creature that crawled out of the black lagoon, and Daniel was staring off into space. Owen stayed by the door, silent, watching and apparently waiting for Daniel to come out of his fugue.

“Maybe I should…?” Emily gestured up the stairs. She was more than willing to leave them alone to discuss their family matters.

“No,” Noah said softly. “You’re my family now.”

That made her glow from the very center of her being. She stayed tucked under his arm.

Daniel still looked dazed. “What does this mean?” he asked. Emily wasn’t sure who it was directed at, but she wasn’t about to offer up an explanation.

“I don’t understand all of it,” Noah said quietly, so their voices wouldn’t carry over the noise of the still-retreating shifter crowd. “All I know is that Dad was an asshole, so it’s not hard to guess that his bio-dad was as well. But we make our own paths, man. I’m not going to be like either one of them.”

“Well, of course, you’re not,” Piper said, irritation plain on her face. “You’re my kid brother, which means you clearly have awesome stamped in your DNA.” She waved vaguely at Noah’s body. “Whatever that DNA is these days.”

“Thanks a lot.” But Noah was grinning again, and that washed relief through Emily.

“So, at any moment, I could turn into a witch.” Daniel’s hundred-yard stare had finally come back to the safehouse… and it was drilling into his brother.

Noah rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, I don’t know. You were only in the cages for what, a day? Did they inject anything important into you? Any serums?” Emily knew Daniel had been captured briefly in his attempts to rescue Cassie, one of his cousins in the sprawling Wilding family packs. Cassie was just a kid, younger sister of Terra Wilding, the Seattle artist.

Daniel frowned. “I wouldn’t know. I was unconscious most of the time. But it was short—a few hours at most.” He looked visibly freaked out.

“Then you’re probably fine.” Noah shrugged. “Whatever happens, however it turns out, it doesn’t matter. We’re still family. We're still pack We’re in this together.”

Daniel blinked and stared at the floor for a few moments. When he finally looked up, he looked straight into Noah’s eyes. “I’ve been a pretty shitty brother, haven’t I?”

Emily could see the emotion flash across Noah’s face. “No. No way. You’ve always been there when I needed you.”

Daniel reached out, and Emily ducked out just in time not to get caught in the manly hug between them. She had to blink back her tears, but Piper was letting them just drop down her face.

She turned to Emily. “Hormones. I’m allowed to cry.” Then she joined Daniel and Noah, hugging both her brothers at once.

Emily grinned but stepped back and let them have their space. And wiped at the tears threatening the corners of her eyes.

Owen was nodding and grinning by the door. “Hey,” he said softly to her. “Welcome to the wolfing world.” He looked amused with himself. “I’ve never had occasion to say that before.”

“I’m still getting used to it myself.” But she smiled wide at him.

Was she really part of this world now? This loose association of shifters and family and friends and pack? She would feel lost, except… in the strangest of ways, it felt like coming home. Her own family had never been there for her, not when she really needed it. She’d always been a
lone wolf
in a human sort of way. And now, all of sudden, she was mated and accepted in a world she had only fantasized about.

Definitely
the best day of her life.

Daniel, Piper, and Noah finally broke apart their hug with teary faces, mostly on Piper, and embarrassed looks, mostly on Daniel.

“So, what’s our status with this damn threat against WildLove?” Noah asked. He was directing it at Owen as well. Emily figured he and Daniel must have been working with the rest of Riverwise to straighten out the mess they’d left behind—with the WildLove office blown up and nothing but ash left of their best lead on the hate group.

“Well, we’ve still got that first bomber locked up in a cottage out back,” Owen said. “With the second bomber turned to ash, and WildLove down for the count, at least for the moment, I’d say we lie low for a while. See what happens.”

“I made a backup, you know,” Emily piped up.

They all turned to her. She shrugged. “I’m a programmer, what do you expect? We could get back online pretty quickly with WildLove if we need to hunt down more bad guys.”

Noah grinned. “Why does it not surprise me that you’re not scared off by any of this?”

She tucked her hand around his muscular arm. “I just don’t want any more shifters to get hurt.”

“She’s right,” Daniel said. “We still don’t know if these guys were working with the Wolf Hunter or not. They could have just been vigilantes. Independents.”

Emily frowned. “Maybe this guy, the one who’s ash now, actually
was
the Wolf Hunter.”

Noah pulled her closer. “Why do you think that?”

“Well, he had a mask,” she said. “And he
was
making a video of his plan to, well, kill me.”

“You don’t have to talk about this, Em.” Noah’s face was a picture of concern.

“It’s fine,” she said, waving it away. “My point is that he sure acted like he was part of something bigger. Like he had major plans for that database of shifters he wanted from WildLove.”

“So, maybe you just killed our bad guy?” Piper asked Noah.

“That sure would be nice,” Owen said. “Won’t know until all this madness blows over, though.”

“So we lay low,” Noah said. “Just like you suggested.”

“I’ll work with Marjorie on resurrecting WildLove,” Emily said. “If I know her, she’s already spooling up investors to renovate the building. But we won’t go live until we’re sure the threat is contained.”

Noah gave her a nod and a squeeze. “In the meantime, maybe we can work on that honeymoon.”

“Honeymoon?” she asked, giving him the side-eye. “Don’t you need to be married to have one of those?”

His eyes glittered. “I thought you would never ask.”

Her mouth dropped open. Then Noah smirked and dropped to one knee. “Emily Jones, I don’t have a ring, but if you don’t marry me, I’m probably going to break down and cry in front of all my family. And Owen.”

Her mouth wasn’t working. It just flopped open and closed like a dying fish. Finally, she managed, “You’re kidding.”

“Not even a little bit.” Noah smiled up at her, waiting.

Piper leaned in close to her. “It’s part of that
forever
mating thing, honey. Just go with it.”

“I… um… yes?” Emily said, still flustered.

“Yes?” Noah asked, eyebrow raised.

“Yes,” she said, more definitively. “I will definitely marry you. Sometime. In the future. When I get over my shock and have my mouth functioning again.”

Noah popped up from the floor. “Deal! Now, let’s see if that mouth works.” Then he kissed her in front of all of them, and she completely forgot to be flustered. Owen clapped his hands, applauding them behind her, and she was pretty sure Piper and Daniel were ribbing their brother in some way, but she didn’t care about any of that. All she knew was that her magical dream had just gotten even better.

A knock at the door interrupted their make-out fest in the great room, just as everyone was starting to wander away.

“No, please, continue!” Owen said sarcastically to them, waving his hands with effusive encouragement. “Allow me to get it.”

He opened the door. Outside stood a large man in a uniform. A
police
uniform.

All the hairs on Emily’s arms rose at once.

“Is there a Terra Wilding on the premises?” the officer asked. Emily peered at his Seattle Police Department badge and the embroidered name on his shirt pocket.
Officer Grant.
He was tall and broad, taking up most of the door frame, and his eyes were chiseled blue. His long, dark hair was tied back at his neck, and it was almost the same color of midnight black as his uniform.

Noah stepped forward. “What’s this about, officer?”

“I was told Terra Wilding was residing here at the moment?” Officer Grant’s expression was stone cold.

“Told by
whom?”
Daniel asked, stepping up to join Owen and Noah at the door. The tension rocketed through the roof. It was the three shifter men against one human police officer, and if it were Emily on the receiving end of those hostile stares, she’d be quaking in her sneakers.

Officer Grant seemed unfazed. “By the recent video released this morning. By someone who calls himself the Wolf Hunter—ring any bells?” He calmly looked each one of them in the eye. “This address was listed as her current residence. Given the bombing at the WildLove building downtown, this matter has been bumped in priority.”

“Bumped in priority?” Noah scowled at him, and Emily could guess what was going through his mind. The police were no friends of shifters. Up until now, there had been all kinds of death threats against wolves, experiments conducted by the government, hate videos and demonstrations… and the police had pretty much looked the other way. All along, shifters were considered part of the criminal underground, not regular citizens that should be protected. More often than not, going into police custody just ended up with shifters being fingerprinted for future identification in the crimes they might commit.

Officer Grant’s rock-hard expression gave no impression that any of that had changed. “Yes, sir, the bombing must have pissed off someone important. Because you shifter lot just got bumped up to our number one priority.” He paused. “And I’ve been assigned to Terra Wilding’s case.”

Want more Wilding Pack?

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WILD HEAT (Wilding Pack Wolves 3)

He's a hot cop. 

She's a wild artist. 

Making art was never so dangerously SEXY.

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