The Witch, the Wolf and the Snowstorm: (Book 6, Grey Wolf Pack Romance Novellas) (4 page)

“I want you Miss
Kayleigh, I want you to be mine.  Come live with me and I’ll give your uncle his lease back.”

“What are you talking about?”  She asked hesitantly
before flashing to outrage.  “Are you trying to buy me with my uncle’s land?”

Don took a step into the stable, her chest heaved expectantly. 
“I’ve been waitin’ for you to come of age for six years now, I won’t wait another minute.  I must have you.”

He rushed forward and took her in his
arms, he crushed her curvy body to his.

“I can’t I’m promised to another.”  She whimpered, ignoring her betraying body that heated up at his nearness.

Don laughed nastily.  “That foolish boy won’t be botherin’ us again.  I gave him some money and a train ticket to New York and he couldn’t get outta here fast enough.  Little darlin’, he didn’t even think twice about you.”

Kayleigh
gasped in shock, but quickly fury stole over her.  “You paid him to leave me alone?  You are trying to buy me!  I am not one of your cheap hussies Mr Cross.”  She wriggled in his grasp to no avail as he roughly pulled her against him.

His lips curled.  “You’re jealous of the other women you’ve seen me with.”  He said smugly.

Her cheeks reddened.  “No... no...”  She stammered.

He traced her cheek with a calloused
thumb, the roughness against her smooth skin gave her goosebumps.  “You don’t have to be jealous, I only want you.  I’ve only ever wanted you.”

He pushed his lips to hers in a devouring kiss,
eagerly he invaded her mouth and she surrendered to the exquisite feelings he gave her.

He pulled away, a look of self-satisfaction on his rugged face.  She looked at him, still drunk from his all encompassing kiss.

“All you have to do is say the word, and your uncle can have the lease back and I can kiss you like that every day of your life.”

“This is all so sudden...”  She whispered, curling her fingers into his shirt.

He pushed her backwards until she hit the wall, without ceremony he pulled her body up his until their groins were pressed together.  She wrapped her arms and legs round him, fearful he my drop her.

“There is
nothin’ sudden about this, I’ve been dyin’ to do this for so many years.  I can’t contain myself anymore.  Say you’re mine!”  He demanded hoarsely.

She bit her lip, her mind desperately tried to hold out, but her body was already lost in a sea of pleasure.  “I’m yours!”  She cried.

He smiled lustfully before kissing her passionately.  Slowly he dragged her down to the ground, arranging her on the soft hay.  He kneeled between her legs and hastily fumbled with his trousers.  She looked at him curiously and was amazed when she saw his enormous manhood spring free.  She knew what it was, but had never seen one before.  She was astonished at the size, and marvelled at how it would fit inside her.

He watched her through hooded eyes, pleased at her reaction.  Smoothly he pushed her dress up her legs so it bunched at her waist.
  He tore away her underwear and was rewarded with the beautiful sight of her mound, it was dusted by a few golden curls and he could already see her juices glistening.  She was already wet for him.

Carefully he climbed over her
.  He was delighted when she keenly folded her arms and legs round him, clutching him to her.  Jolts of pleasure swept through her as he pushed his throbbing member to her entrance, she felt a delicious burn at his touch.

“I love you
Miss Kayleigh.”  He breathed into her hair.

“I... I... oh lord I love you too
Don!”

She screamed in ecstasy as he pushed inside her and she felt herself explode.

“Oh Don!” 

*

Kayleigh snapped her eyes open as her body shuddered in orgasm.  She panted heavily as the aftershocks raced through her soft body.  She was lying in bed shaking from head to toe having come whilst dreaming of Don.  She was clasping her romance novel to her chest.

That was the most intense orgasm she’d ever had! 
Uh oh, Greg! 
She whipped her head round to look at him, holding her breath.  He was sleeping peacefully. 
Thank god! 
Explaining that was not something she relished.

She peeled the book away from her and placed it on the bedside table.  She
’d fell asleep reading it, she’d just got to the scene where the heroine was cornered in the stable by the sexy older Texan... then she fell asleep and her imagination took over, inserting herself and Don in the scene.

Well that was hardly her fault was it?
 
She was reading a book about a young woman who falls for an older Texan man, of course she was going to picture the only man in town who fit that description. 
That was normal right? 
It’s not as though she loved him or anything, she just... she just...

She
sat up shaking her head.  She’d done nothing wrong.  Dreaming of another man was not illegal.  She bet Greg sometimes dreamed of other women too.  There was nothing wrong with having a healthy interest in sex.  It wasn’t like she was going to march over to Don and beg him to ravish her. 
How could she?  He was miles away.

That wasn’t the point!

She groaned rubbing her eyes.  She still felt hot and shaky, the best thing for her was a cold shower.  A quick shower, then back to bed. 
And
hopefully some dreamless sleep
. 

*

Don snapped his eyes open. 
Fuck he’d come in his sleep! 
He hadn’t done that since he was horny 14 year old and he had been dreamy of his Italian teacher.  Damn the woman had been fine, not as fine as Kayleigh but still... 
Fuck!

He’d been dreaming of
Kayleigh and gotten over excited, hence his
unfortunate
accident.  He couldn’t believe it, he had only ever dreamed of Melinda.  And he had stopped dreaming of her five years ago.

Not to mention how weird the dream had been.  Normally sex dreams were just that, all about sex!  But in this dream for some reason he was a wealthy cattle rancher, trying to seduce his tenant’s innocent niece,
Kayleigh, into marrying him.

He was surprised at himself.  He’d never really had that much of an imagination!  The whole scenario was kind of trite, like a cheap romance.
 
Definitely not something he was into. 

Although he wasn’t really that surprised to be dreaming of
Kayleigh.  He’d been thinking of her every waking, and apparently sleeping, moment since they met.  There was something inherent about her that appealed to him. 
Not to mention his wolf
.  The beast was more animated than it had been in years.  Why wouldn’t it be?  Kayleigh was young, gorgeous and charming. 
What wasn’t there to like?

If
Kayleigh were single he’d consider seducing her, just to work her out of his system.  To hell with the age difference, sex was just sex no matter how old you were.  But Kayleigh was engaged, so she was off-limits.

He checked his watch.  2am
.  He thanked the lord that at least he had his own tent.  Coming in his sleep was one thing, having to explain it to Mal or Felicity would have been tortuous.

Quickly he divested himself of his boxers and shoved them into his backpack. 
He would shift and go for a run, and then bathe himself in the creek a mile from there.  The water would be freezing, but at least that would appease his already growing erection
.  He had to stop thinking of Kayleigh so badly.

Quietly he stepped outside the tent and listened to the sounds of his pack mates even breathing, and deafening
snores in Mal’s case.  Satisfied he stretched and swiftly shifted.

He sniffed the air for signs of potential predators. 
All clear.  He began trotting away, speeding up to a run. 

Images of
Kayleigh swam in his head spurring him on.  If he could just run a bit faster maybe he could get away from them. 
Fat chance!  She was in his head and she was there to stay...

Chapter Four

2
nd
December

Kayleigh
yawned widely, letting out a loud moan.

Terri stared at her before giggling. 
“Yeesh!  For a second there I thought I was going to get sucked into that yawn!”

The two of them were sat at the circular desk in the library
waiting for 1pm so they could go for lunch.

Kayleigh
smiled wryly.  “Sorry I haven’t been getting much sleep recently.”

“Oh?”  Terri arched an eyebrow and smirked. 

Kayleigh rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.  “Settle down girl!  We’re not all sex mad like you.”  She was trying to be teasing, covering up her own envy.  Greg hadn’t touched her once in the last two weeks,
not even for a kiss...

Terri frowned.  “I wouldn’t say I was sex mad, it’s just that since I got pregnant sex seems to
always
be on my mind.”  Terri was just over three months pregnant, and her libido seemed to be rising every day.
  She had been pretty restless and fidgety since her mate went out of town, thankfully he was due back tomorrow.  The sooner he came back the better for everyone
.

Kayleigh
snorted indelicately.  “No you’re right, thinking about sex all the time is the complete opposite of being sex mad.”

Terri sighed. 
“Oh ha ha!  So why haven’t you been sleeping?  Is everything alright with Greg?”

Kayleigh
pursed her lips. 
Everything was fine... wasn’t it?
  Although she had barely seen Greg since the night he proposed.  He had been working long hours.  He worked as a mechanic at the local garage, one of his colleagues was on his honeymoon and they were pretty busy.  By the time he came home, usually after going out for a drink with his friends, she was asleep. 
Should she be worried by how little time they were spending together?

Her sleep was currently being invaded by bad dreams.  Well
not actually bad dreams, they were pretty damn spectacular dreams!  When she wasn’t dreaming about her mysterious wolf playfully chasing her through the snow, dreams which she was truly enjoying now, she was fantasising of Don in a number of erotic romance scenarios. 
She was starting to love the doctor/nurse scenario just as much as the cattle rancher, or the one where he’s a farm hand...

Inevitably she got so worked up
that she orgasmed on the spot or was so turned out that she had to dig out her vibrator.  That reminded her she needed more batteries. 
Lots more batteries...

The dreams made her feel horribly guilty
, so she had tried to stave off going to sleep as much as possible.  Her thinking was that if she was exhausted she would fall into a deep sleep and wouldn’t dream at all.  So far it had only succeeded in making her tired during the day.

“
Everything’s fine,” she reassured Terri.  “I’ve just been having visions during the night... they’re kind of draining.”

Terri rubbed her arm.  “Just let me know if you
need any time off, I can always get Mrs Martin to cover for a few shifts.”

“
Ughhh!  That woman!  She’s a nightmare!”

Kayleigh
took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, they’d felt too tired for contacts that morning and Kayleigh hadn’t really cared what she looked like that day.  It wasn’t like she was trying to dress to impress anyone. 
After all Don was out of town...

No, stop that girl!  You do not want to impress him!
  You are engaged to Greg, you love Greg.  Kayleigh stamped her foot a little more vehemently than intended. 
Terri probably thought it was just about Mrs Martin.

“I know she can be... difficult.
  But she does work for free, and she does the job.”  Terri tried to convince both Kayleigh and herself. 

Kayleigh
pouted.  “The woman is poison, she doesn’t care who her gossip hurts.”

“I’ll admit I don’t like the way she treats my Mal.”  It was no secret that Mrs Martin hated Mal for destroying her car and a beloved apple tree when he was a kid.  “But she’s not outwardly mean... usually.  Besides she told me she was thinking of moving to Florida to live with her sister, she may not be with us for much longer.”

“We can only hope...”  Muttered Kayleigh as the woman herself swept into the library.

Mrs Martin had agreed to cover the library whilst the two of them enjoyed a lunch together.  It wasn’t often that they did spend much time together outside of work
.  Terri’s mate Mal took up just about all of her time.

Terri greeted Mrs Martin
and, after a kick from Terri, Kayleigh murmured a hello.  The two women started gathering their purses and coats.

Mrs Martin gave them an unpleasant smile.  “So Terri, is young Mal still out of town?”
  Terri replied that he was.  “Well you’re a braver woman that I would be.”

Nobody said
anything, the two younger women knew better then to react to her bait.

Unperturbed Mrs Martin continued.  “After all,
a young boy like him... who knows what he might get up to alone for the week.  Boys will be boys...”

She watched Terri carefully for a reaction, but Terri looked at blankly.  “Thank you for filling in for us,” said Terri smoothly, “we’ll be over at the
Honeypot Diner, call if you need us.”

Mrs Martin’s smile twitched.  She was onto a loser if she thought she could cause friction in Terri and
Mal’s relationship,
Mal was absolutely besotted with his mate
.

“Of course dear
.”  Her eyes suddenly gleamed.  “Oh you two will never guess who I saw in town earlier.”

Nobody tried to guess so she
plowed on regardless.  “Sharron Ealy... say wasn’t she going steady with Greg before you?  Didn’t she run off with Greg’s best friend?  I heard he was heartbroken... and then he took up with you straight afterwards...”

“
Well see you later Mrs Martin.”  Said Terri loudly, linking her arm in Kayleighs, dragging her away.

“I thought you said she wasn’t outwardly mean...”
  Whispered Kayleigh sourly as they rushed out the door.

“I’m sorry.”  Terri offered lamely.

“Don’t be, not your fault the woman’s such a cow!”

Should she be worried about Sharron though? 
Yes Sharron had cheated on Greg with a close friend of his for about a month before running off with said friend, but Greg had loved her to bits.  If she wanted Greg back he would probably go to her, even though she didn’t deserve him...

Although based on
Kayleigh’s own nocturnal activities she didn’t feel overly judgemental. 
Kayleigh was fantasising about cheating on Greg too.  Maybe she wasn’t good enough for him either... 

They pushed open the door
of the Diner.  Melanie waved them over.

When they were settled Melanie leaned forward.  “I hope you guys don’t mind I invited
Carly to join us.”

Carly
was the Omega of the wolf pack.  Physically she was the weakest and smallest member, but she was connected to the pack members emotions and if pushed could manipulate emotions.  She was powerful in her own right.

Both of the other two women said of course not.  Melanie smiled.  “Thanks
guys, she just had a major bust-up with her boyfriend Bryce, she’s feeling a little delicate.”

Kayleigh
looked up from her menu.  “God that guy is so obnoxious!  I ran into him in the grocery store yesterday and he actually hit on me!  He could see I was wearing an engagement ring and he knows I’m living with Greg but he actually tried it on.  And do you know what he said?  He said, ‘are you tired?  Because you’ve been running around in my mind all day!’”

“
Euwww that’s so cheesy!”  Cried Melanie.

“Could have been worse,” chipped in Terri, “when I first move here he asked me ‘did you ever realize screw rhymes with me and you?’  I’m still trying to forget that!”

Kayleigh chuckled.  “God that is worse!  Shit!  Here comes Carly hush up!”

The
little Omega joined them, her face looked pale and her eyes red rimmed.  She insisted she was fine.

A new waitress sashayed over to them. 
Kayleigh guessed they were about the same age but the waitress was lithe and full of energy.  She looked like the type of girl who climbed mountains, ran marathons and went horseback riding all before a healthy breakfast. 
Kayleigh looked like the creature from the black lagoon each morning when she woke up...

“Hey
Kira!”  Said Carly, her face lighting up.  “Kayleigh this is Kira Norton, she just moved here to join the pack.”

Ahhh
a wolf shifter, that would explain why she was so healthy looking.  She had luminous mocha skin and tight corkscrew dark curls pulled back from her face with a blue headband.  Kayleigh noticed with envy that Kira wasn’t wearing any make-up, she naturally glowed. 
Lucky shifters...

“Hey
Kayleigh nice to meet you.”  Kira beamed at her.

“You
too, how long you been in town?” 
She seemed really familiar...

Kira
shrugged.  “Just a couple of days, the female Alpha managed to find me a job straight away... she can be very persistent.”

As fellow members of the pack, Melanie, Terri and
Carly all nodded in understanding.  A female Alpha was by nature pushy and domineering, Rosalee fit the bill. 

The four women ordered
and Kira bounced away.

“How do I know her?” 
Whispered Kayleigh.

“She’s the wolf that was tracking down Emerald.  Emerald killed her boyfriend.” 
Replied Carly.

Of course.
  A couple of months ago it was discovered that the leader of the witches circle had been killing other witches and sucking the life force out of them.  Kira had been instrumental in bringing her down.

Wanting to change the subject
Kayleigh looked at Melanie mischievously.  “So how did you manage to get away from Hans to spend lunch with us?  You didn’t leave him tied up at home did you?”

Melanie grinned.  “Sadly no, he’s actually in Darlington at the moment.  He’s got this friend called Cain, a bear shifter, who’s a cage fighter
.  Cain’s got a fight coming up this week so Hans’ helping him train.”

Carly
and Terri murmured polite interest whilst Kayleigh snickered.  “Wow, I had no idea that Hans had a friend.  I’m amazed.”

Melanie stuck out her tongue.  “I’ll have you know he has more than one. 
Including Cain he has six.”

Kayleigh
raised an eyebrow.  “Including you, his brother Acksel, his mother and Carly?”

Melanie let out a long breath a little defeated.  “Yes.”

“You know Hans can consider both me and Mal friends too, we both like him.”  Said Terri, honestly she had no idea how Mal felt about Hans. 
He probably felt fear, but Terri wanted Melanie to feel better.

“So who’s the sixth?” 
Asked Carly.  She herself had always been friends with Hans ever since she was a little girl, mostly because she had a calming influence on the angry wolf. 
He could never stay mad at her.

Kira
brought over their drinks.  Melanie took a long sip before answering.  “Don Cross the pack tracker.”

Kayleigh
almost choked.  Soda started reaming out of her nose.  Terri held a napkin to her nose whilst Melanie watched her curiously. 
God even the mention of the man’s name turned her into a wreck.

“Sorry,” wheezed
Kayleigh beating her chest.  “Went down the wrong way.”

“That figures.”  Said
Carly, and on seeing Kayleigh’s frown added, “I meant about Don and Hans, not about you choking.  Don’s not exactly big on talking about himself, and Hans doesn’t like talking period.  I can see them two getting along.”

Kayleigh
perked up.  “Oh?  Why doesn’t Don like talking about himself?”  She asked in what she hoped was a dispassionate manner.

Carly
shrugged.  “Something to do with his old pack.  I don’t know, he joined the pack when I was 7.  I think the only person who knew was the old Alpha Gideon, I doubt even Adam knows.”

Kayleigh
, with extreme care, took a swig of her soda.  She had about a dozen questions she wanted to ask about Don, but she had to be careful.  She didn’t want to seem too eager, it might seem weird for her to be asking about him. 
Alright it was a little weird... but her curiosity about the man was piqued.

“You know,” she began conversationally, “it’s kind of weird that I’ve never seen Don in town before.”

“Don prefers his own company.”  Said Carly.

Terri nodded. 
“Mmmm, Mal said that Don lives at the furthest northern point of the pack’s land, where the woods are really dense.  It’s really hard to get a car up there, most just give up and have walk the mile to his cabin from the nearest road.”