Desired by Wolves [Call of the Wolf 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (2 page)

She hugged Ginger, who asked, “You okay to drive?”

“Yeah, I’ve been nursing the same beer all night. I’ll be fine.”

* * * *

Ginger was doubtful, but let her go. After the door closed behind her, Ginger turned to Penelope, “She says she’s over him, but that’s such an obvious lie.”

“I know. And I know that I have a big mouth, but I thought the fact that she was out on a full moon night meant she was finally moving on.”

“Me, too. But I guess her desire to see the outcome of Samantha versus the McAllister brothers overrode her usual aversion to full moon outings.”

Before she could say more, the James brothers approached their table carrying soft drinks and more nachos.

“Where’d Lena go? We brought her a Diet Sprite. It’s her favorite.”

“She had to go check on a patient. Then she’s heading home. Sorry, guys.” Ginger looked at the handsome brothers. They’d been sitting with Lena when she, Penelope, and Samantha had arrived. They owned the place, so they couldn’t hang around her all night, but they’d come by regularly either singularly or together throughout the night. And now that they realized that Lena had left without even a good-bye, they were obviously unhappy, but they were also innkeepers, and with a struggle, they cleared their expressions and smiled. It was only because Ginger knew them really well that she realized that their smiles didn’t quite reach their eyes.

“Let us know if you need anything else, ladies, anything at all.” Joe’s tone was jovial but forced as he put the drinks down and walked away, his brother trailing after him still holding the nachos. Penelope started to make a grab for them, but Ginger held her arm.

“Let them go. You can see how they are hurting right now. They love her, but she keeps them at a distance during the full moon.” She watched them walk past all of their patrons, not responding to greetings, and go back to their private office.

* * * *

“Damn it, Joe.” Will sat down on the couch in their office and bent over, his head in his hands. “I thought the fact that she was here on a full moon night meant something.”

“Me, too.” Joe’s tone was as bleak as Will’s own as he sat on the chair in front of the desk, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. “She never goes out on a full moon night, ever. And she never lets us come to her either. But she was here in Lupo’s, and I thought it was significant, but I guess she was just here for Samantha.”

“Yeah, she tried to tell us that when she first arrived. And she was quick to shoo us away from her table when Sam, Ginger, and Pen arrived, but I don’t know how much longer I can take this half relationship. I want a commitment. Sure the three of us have hot sex frequently as long as it isn’t a full moon, but that’s not enough anymore. I want marriage and a family.”

“Me, too.” Joe chuckled. “I may be turning into a woman, but I don’t want to just be used for sex anymore. We’ve been more than patient. She’s thirty-one. We’re thirty-one. None of us are getting any younger. If she won’t commit to being mated to us, then we need to move on.”

“Easier said than done. You know it’s in the blood. Deep inside, we know she’s our mate and she knows we are her mates. It’s not like she’s been seeing other men or other wolves, except, of course, as patients. And she’s free with her body when she’s with us, although that doesn’t happen as often as I’d like. She just won’t commit emotionally. She still holds part of herself separate.”

Joe and his brother looked up when the man sitting behind the desk chuckled. It was a sound without much real mirth in it. He looked a lot like them. He was tall with the same green eyes and dark hair as Will and Joe, but where their hair was shaggy and unkempt, his was militarily short and it was shot through with gray at the temples. He was older than them, too, only by four years, but he had the eyes of a man who had seen too much that made his seem much older than his years.

“Alex,” Will snapped. “You caused all this. If you had just let us mate her properly back when she was willing, we wouldn’t have this problem.” Will’s tone was accusatory.

“The three of you were barely twenty-one. I was twenty-five and shipping overseas for god knows how long, and there was no certainty I was ever going to come back. I made the right decision. Should I make a recording and play it for you whenever you try to go over this old ground yet again?” Alex’s tone was hard and flat. He’d had this discussion with his brothers and himself many times, and he wasn’t going to budge from his position. He couldn’t budge from that position. It was hard enough as it was not being with his mate, but if he admitted that he made a mistake all those years ago, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to deal with the knowledge, so he deliberately refused to consider the possibility. He
couldn’t
consider the possibility.

“As it was, I didn’t come back in quite the same condition as I was when I left.” His hand went to his left leg automatically. The damage to his hip and the leg muscle was extensive. They told him he was lucky to walk again, but he wasn’t sure that it was luck, more like a punishment, to make him half the man he was and unable to either do the job he loved or be with the woman he also loved.

“Is
that
why you refuse to see her and just lurk in the dark like the goddamned Phantom of the Opera?”

Alex could hear the irritation in Will's voice.

“You think I should be wearing a mask, little brother? I thought women liked scars?”

“Nah. You’re no uglier than you were when you left. But you have been back for a week and never leave the house in human form.” Will's voice was now more worried than irritated.

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, but only because you thought Lena wouldn’t be here.” Joe wasn't letting Alex off the hook.

“You told me she never went anywhere on a full moon night.” His eyes narrowed. “Was that a lie to get me here? Did you think that if I saw her again, I’d suddenly change my mind and rush out and sweep her off her feet?” He laughed again with no mirth in his tone. “You know, if I tried that, I’d end up flat on my ass. The crippled veteran making a fool of himself over a woman who would probably spit in his face.”

* * * *

“No,” Joe sighed. “We just wanted to get you out of the house. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw her. We did get to talk to her a bit before her friends arrived, and she told us about Sam and Gabe.” He repeated the story to Alex and was gratified to see him laugh, really laugh out loud. His big brother didn’t laugh or even smile much since he came back.

“She really walked him on a leash?”

“And took him to the vet’s to be neutered,” Will added dryly. “Luckily Lena recognized him, so he’s intact.”

“Lena told me that Samantha is actually Arthur Daniels’s granddaughter, so she knew about the wolf-dog-shifter thing before she came here. Gabe didn’t know she knew and spied on her while shifted. The trip to the vet and the walk around town on a leash were just her way to teaching him a lesson.” Joe grinned. “I’d have loved to have seen her walking Gabe through the town square.”

“I’d have paid to see that.” Alex chuckled, but then his face grew grave again. He shifted uncomfortably in the hard chair behind the desk. He turned the computer off and stood carefully. “I’m heading home. I’ll see you later.”

He turned and limped out, not waiting for their reply and using the back entrance to the employee parking lot to avoid running into anyone he knew. Joe and Will looked at each other and then at his retreating back.

“God damn it.” Joe was pissed. “I didn’t know that Lena would be here tonight. I was hoping he would go out and have a drink in the bar. He probably knows half the people out there, and they’d have been lining up to buy him a drink. He’s been home for a week and hasn’t been out of the house before tonight. He doesn’t go anywhere and won’t see anyone. Of course, they’d all be peppering him with questions, like why he has been home a week and not been out and about, but it would be his own damned fault for hiding from everyone. Will, what the hell happened to him over there. He’s not the same man anymore.”

“Hell, Joe. You think I didn’t notice that. Seriously, he puts on a good macho show, but haven’t you noticed how he jumps at the slightest sound? The other day, I yelled at him for taking the last piece of cake, and he actually cowered for a moment.

“I thought tonight was a step forward. This is the first night he’s even come to Lupo’s, and you know he loved this place. He worked so hard to help us get it up and running.”

“Yeah, which is why I was so shocked when he just left without a word, just left that stupid fucking note. And as devastated as we were, what about poor Lena? I don’t think she’s ever let herself trust a man since. I’ve never scented another man on her.”

“Yeah, that morning was a huge trauma for all of us. She just shut down completely, and then she a few weeks later she was gone and it was like we lost her too. Even after she graduated, she only came home for short visits. I didn’t think she would ever come back to live in Harmony.”

“You knew she’s always planned on taking over her father’s vet practice.”

“Plans change.” Joe’s tone was flat, but Will continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted.

“So I always figured she’d eventually return permanently and she finally did two years ago. I have to admit that I always thought we’d just wait them both out, but I was starting to worry that I was wrong. I figured that there was no way Alex was going to be a lifer. One tour to honor granddad’s service and that would be it. I got that, I did, but we and Lena were just starting university and wouldn’t be around much anyway, so I didn’t really think much of it.

“But then he just kept reenlisting. If he hadn’t been so badly injured…”

“But he was and he’s back and she’s back, and it is up to us to get them back together so the four of us can finally be mated and live happily ever after, even if we have to tie them up and lock them in a room together to get them talking again. Or, maybe knock them unconscious and perform the ceremony while they are out cold.”

“Don’t you think that’s kind of extreme, Will? Surely we can just drug them. Lena’s a vet. She’s got something in her medical bag that we could use.”

The two brothers burst out laughing as they came up with more and more outlandish plans to force the two stubborn vets to let go of their pride and do what the four of them should have done years ago.

“All kidding aside, Will. We have to do something. Tonight is the first night of this full moon cycle. There’s no way we can get everything settled before the third night of this cycle, but I want us all to be mated on the next full moon. I
need
that. If those two don’t make up in the next four weeks, I vote for drastic action on our part. Agreed?”

“We’ve waited a decade, and I’m not willing to wait any longer either. Agreed.”

The brothers solemnly shook hands, and then Joe went over to the calendar on his desk and flipped to the date of the next full moon. He circled it in red. They had just over four weeks.

Lena drove slowly. She’d been truthful about having only a single beer, but she was distracted by other things. That weird feeling she’d had a Lupo’s. She hadn’t told her friends that it wasn’t the first time. It had started almost a week ago. It almost felt like someone was watching her. She could almost feel the eyes on her, but there was never anyone around when she looked.

She headed to her office before going home. She had an injured puppy she wanted to check on. One of her vet techs had stayed late with the little guy and promised to call her if he had any problems, and she had another volunteer who was going to stop by early to check on him, but she wanted to see for herself. He was a little mongrel dog, not even a year old, that some idiot passing through the area had dumped. He’d been half-starved when she’d found him and had a broken leg, but he was such a plucky little guy. He’d licked her hand, and she’d lost her heart.

She pulled up outside her office. It was in downtown Harmony just off the main square. It took her only a minute to see that he was resting comfortably. She had treated lots of animals and loved them all, but little Otis was special. A few of her volunteers had already inquired about adopting him, but she’d pretty much decided to keep him.

He was sleeping in his pen when she entered, but he immediately awakened and tried to struggle to his feet when he saw her. The bulky bandages impeded him, but it didn’t stop him from trying. She hoped his leg healed. She’d operated and put in a couple of screws. Initially she’d been worried that she might have to amputate, but he seemed to be healing. He’d probably always have a limp, but he definitely didn’t seem to be in any pain.

He looked up at her and then looked around as if checking to see if she’d brought anyone with her. She carefully picked him up. He was around fifteen pounds, but should be five pounds heavier. She could feel his ribs through his patchy fur, but already he’d put on half a pound and she could feel the hair beginning to re-grow. She cuddled him close and checked on his leg. The paw sticking out of the bandages was warm, and he responded to her touch. Gangrene had been a real possibility, but it seemed like they’d dodged that bullet. It might be weeks before they knew if the bone knit properly, but the life-or-death risk was over.