Howl (Winter Pass Wolves Book 1) (2 page)

She heard a soft, chuffing sound. Penny opened her eyes, surprised that they’d been closed. Above her, she saw a glorious black dog. No, not a dog. It was at least four feet tall, its fur sleek and dark against the snow. And its eyes, the brightest spring green… they seemed to glow.

The wolf looked down at her, seeming concerned. It made Penny’s lips twitch, wondering what kind of allegories her snow-drunk brain was making up now. Then she closed her eyes with a sigh, drifting off.

H
arlan Craig was having
a bad day. No, actually a bad week. Or was it a bad year?

What did you call it when you were hauling ass through a thick layer of snow, carrying an unconscious woman, and trying not to get shot? Or shot a second time, to be specific.

The wound on Harlan’s arm was nothing major, but it did hurt like a bitch. Not quite as bad as shifting, all those bones breaking and reforming from human to wolf, but… still.

A thunderous crack rang through the woods, echoing in the freezing air. Harlan slammed his back against a tree, panting for breath and trying to determine the direction of the shooter. 4 o’clock, he was pretty sure.

Harlan closed his eyes for a second, listening intently. Even with his heightened senses, he couldn’t hear anyone moving around. The hunters must be heading away from the main lodge, no doubt fanning out to cover more ground.

Please, please let them be doing that
behind
Harlan, not ahead where his cabin lay. A single glance down showed that the girl’s lips were white with cold, and there wasn’t a damn thing Harlan could do about it out here in the open. He needed blankets and hot water bottles and… fuck, soup? Thoughts banged around in his brain like panicked, trapped birds, desperate to find somewhere to land.

Harlan waited one more beat before springing forward again. Thankfully, the woods were silent as he sprinted toward his cabin at full speed. In the back of his mind, Harlan couldn’t help but think that his boot camp instructors would be proud. Military drills had prepared him for exactly an event like this, though no one could have foreseen the need for it back here in the States.

On top of the guys in the woods, hunting Harlan and his friends, on top of getting shot, now there was the girl.

Like Harlan’s life wasn’t hard enough.

Like he hadn’t literally been through hell and back fighting in Afghanistan and Syria.

Like he hadn’t then been bitten and turned into a fucking werewolf by one of his best friends. Enslaved to the moon’s whims, at times no longer the master of his own fucking body.

Like he hadn’t consequently been stuck out here with his two nearly-insane best friends, the only other werewolves he knew. With no other company to speak of for a year straight, nothing to do but slowly repair the ski lodge and grounds and try not to fight with Chase and Paxton over who of the three of them was the most at fault for all of it.

Nope. That wasn’t enough. On top of all that,
she
had to arrive on the scene, fall right into his lap. Sexy little redhead with big blue eyes and heart-stopping freckles, stumbling right into a live firefight between Harlan, Paxton, and the Hunters, almost getting shot.

Getting Harlan shot, actually.

He grimaced at the pain in his shoulder as he shifted the slight woman in his arms. He’d taken a little buck shot and flying bark in the upper arm, some ricochet from a nearby tree. He was bleeding freely now, and the girl’s face was perilously close to getting bloody.

He focused on the pain as he booked it back to his cabin, trusting Pax to draw the Hunters off in a merry chase across the most rugged parts of Winter Pass. It was hard country out here; if the wolves were lucky, it might actually kill a few of the Hunters, give their prey some peace.

Yes. Better to focus on death and gore, what Harlan knew best. Anything was better than looking at the girl, feeling the way his pulse raced, listening to his wolf bristle and whine at the sight of her.

Ours
, his wolf seemed to say.

No fucking way
, was Harlan’s response. No matter how hot she was, he couldn’t even consider bringing a woman into the shit show that was his life at the moment. That was a whole world of bullshit he didn’t need, no matter how cold the nights got up here at Winter Pass…

Harlan made it to the door of his cabin, heart in his throat. When he swung open the door, his stomach dropped. A tall, dark-outfitted figure stood in the middle of the cabin’s simple living room, waiting.

When Paxton turned to face him, Harlan groaned.

“What the fuck, Pax. Aren’t you supposed to be leading the hunters around by their noses?” Harlan said, stamping his feet to shake off some of the snow clinging to his legs and boots.

He stepped over and laid the girl out on the couch, then stripped off his damp coat.

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping me? Yet you’re here, with a female. And here I thought I was the ladies’ man of the Triad,” Pax said, arching a brow. The Triad was a reference to the nickname Chase had drunkenly come up with for their group once they’d been through basic training together and somehow ended up in the same unit.

“Is that what they’re calling man whores these days?” Harlan asked, moving to unzip the girl’s coat.

“Getting right to it, then?” Pax grunted. A joke, but the teasing implication made Harlan growl.

“She’s hypothermic, asshole. I need to get her dry and warm. Make yourself useful, go get some blankets from the closet in my bedroom.”

Harlan went back to work. He freed her from her jacket, surprised when a canvas bag fell out of her jacket. He picked it up and set it aside, then got her coat off her. She didn’t so much as twitch as he moved her limbs around.

He touched her shirt and pants, finding them icy and wet. He frowned, realizing that he needed to strip her down all the way. A quiet, unwelcome voice told him that he needed to preserve her privacy as much as possible.

She was so small, so frail lying there. Harlan wasn’t about to take advantage, and he wasn’t going to let Pax get an eyeful either. But how?

Drawing a thick fleece blanket off the couch, Harlan half-covered her body, managing to shield her freezing, naked body from his gaze. It was awkward, made doubly so when Pax returned and watched Harlan work. Harlan could almost hear Pax smirking over his shoulder, laughing at his ridiculous attempt at valor.

Even worse, now that her clothes were off, the scent of honeyed apples was rolling off her skin, filling the air in the cabin, invading Harlan’s senses. What the hell kind of shampoo or soap made a woman smell that good?

“Give me the damn blankets,” Harlan said, holding out a hand.

Pax handed them over without a word. Harlan spent a couple of minutes working one under her body without touching her too much, then swaddled the rest of them around her until she looked like a fleece and wool burrito. Everything was covered except a little of her face, enough to breathe with ease.

“This is easily the worst decision you’ve ever made,” Pax commented when Harlan stood to survey his work. “I mean, other than coming to Winter Pass in the first place.”

Harlan shot him a look.

“I remember you being the one who thought we needed to come here and check on Chase, make sure he hadn’t gone off the deep end,” Harlan said. It was an old argument, half a joke and half an accusation.

“Speaking of Chase…” Pax crossed his arms and looked down at the sleeping girl. “He’s going to lose his shit when he finds out you have a girl here.”

“I know.”

“He made a pretty big deal out of being the alpha wolf, and commanding us not to let any humans come here.”

“I know.”

“And yet… here she is anyway,” Pax said, giving Harlan a long look. “This is basically what he meant, in a nutshell.”

“Fuck, Pax. I know! What was I supposed to do, let the hunters catch her? Leave her to freeze to death in the snow?” Harlan gritted out. He scrubbed his fingers through his short, dark hair, knowing there was no real answer to his questions forthcoming.

“Just saying that Chase is going to be pissed if he finds out. Not to mention that the full moon is coming, and unless you want to hunt and turn your new friend into a werewolf, you’ll do what Chase says. Avoid her and every other human. It’s the only sure way to keep from doing what he did to us.”

“I’m surprised you even care what Chase will think. You guys aren’t exactly on talking terms, last time I checked. Haven’t been in almost… what, ten months?”

Paxton regarded Harlan for a long moment, then shrugged. Harlan kicked off his boots and peeled off his wet socks, fighting to keep from clawing off his pants and shirt. His wolf desperately wanted to get much, much closer to the pretty redhead in his care, so bad he felt like his skin was crawling.

“I’m telling you because I think
you
care,” Pax clarified. “And I also said if. If he finds out. As in… I will do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

A tiny knot of tension eased in Harlan’s stomach.

“Yeah?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the girl.

“Help the only person I both see regularly and can stand be around? Yeah, man,” Pax said, sounding offended. “I’ll take one for the team and go start some shit with Chase, keep him away for the night. You have to get her out of here first thing in the morning, though.”

“That’s your solution?” Harlan asked, a smile tugging at his lips. “Picking a fight with Chase?”

“It’ll be believable,” Pax said with a shrug. “I mean it, though, about getting her out of here. This is a bad, bad idea, H.”

“I couldn’t just… I don’t know how to say it,” Harlan said, turning away from the girl and pacing to the window. “My wolf is like… obsessed with her. I think if I’d tried to walk away, he would have taken over and dragged her back here on his own. He won’t shut the hell up, either. He’s been rattling the cage for the past hour, trying to get me to…”

Harlan trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence. Paxton cleared his throat, a strange look on his face.

“Like that weird
mate
bullshit we saw on TV?”

Pax referred to a popular news show’s coverage of supposed information about werewolves, from diet to appearance to how they found and kept so called
mates
. Pheromones, love at first sight, inescapable attraction, that kind of thing. Half of the stuff on the show had been way off base, so there was no reason to think that the mates thing was accurate. Pax was probably kidding, but the idea gave Harlan a chill.

“You’re overthinking it,” Pax said, cutting into Harlan’s rising panic. He clapped a hand on Harlan’s shoulder and made for the door. “In any case, all the better reason for you to get rid of her ASAP. Tomorrow morning, man. I mean it.”

“Yeah,” Harlan said, nodding. “Of course.”

Pax shot him a dubious look as he left. To his shame, Harlan felt a moment of relief when he shut the door on his friend.

Turning, he stared at the woman on the couch. Maybe if he got lucky, she’d sleep all the way till sunrise and then be out the door before they had to interact.

His wolf growled at the thought of her leaving, hating anything except the idea of Harlan taking the girl straight to his bed. Kissing her full, pouty lips, squeezing the perfect breasts he’d carefully avoided while undressing her. Sinking deep into her heat, watching her eyes blaze with passion as he made her call his name…

Harlan gave himself a shake. He needed space. Man and wolf were both obsessing about a woman they didn’t even know. They didn’t know her name, didn’t know what color her eyes would be when she woke.

She was a stranger. Hell, for all he knew, she had arrived with the hunters and gotten separated from them somehow. Or worse, she was some kind of bait to soften the wolves up and lead them out into the open.

Harlan went over to the couch and gathered her in his arms. Holding his breath to keep her delectable scent at bay, he carried her into his bedroom and laid her on the bed. Unable to help himself, he tucked her under the covers, just to be absolutely sure that she’d warm up on her own.

As opposed to with his help… naked… in a fashion featuring a lot of very aerobic sex…

Snarling at himself, Harlan left the bedroom, shutting the door tight. Grabbing a beer from the fridge, he settled himself in his armchair, the only other piece of furniture that didn’t smell like
her
.

Snatching up his battered copy of Master and Commander, Harlan sipped his beer and pretended to focus on the book, though his mind wandered from the page again and again.

Morning simply could not come soon enough.

H
eart pounding
. Breath ragged. Leaves and branches whipping at her bare skin as she raced through the forest. Sultry moonlight filtering down through the trees, the scent of dark, rich soil filling the air.

Behind her, a man. A glance back shows him to be tall and broad, all rippling tanned muscle, dark hair and glowing green eyes. He grins as he chases her, challenges her.

Penny surged forward, arms pumping, feet flying, heart filled with indescribable joy.

She won’t win.

Can’t. Not against him.

Still, the chase… the chase is everything.

Just as she spots the edge of the forest, where the trees will break and she’ll be free, strong arms band around her waist. Warm lips find her neck as he slows her down, stops her in her tracks.

A soft bite, just in that place at her nape, the spot that makes her weak in the knees. Hands cup her breasts, and she feels his long, thick cock pressing against her lower back.

Penny shivered. He was going to take her, possess her, brand her with his body…

P
enny blinked and squirmed
. She was way, way too warm. Sweating. Also weighed down with a ton of blankets. She squinted up at the ceiling. This wasn’t Amber’s lilac living room… the walls here were stark white.

The blankets weren’t her favorite comforter, either. These were fleece and wool, and they didn’t smell like her floral-scented detergent. They smelled like fresh pine needles with a little musk, like… like
man
should smell.

Penny shot up, looking around. Where the hell was she? The room was just white walls and wood floors, very simple. The decor was bare bones, nothing but the bed and a side table stacked high with thick novels.
The Sun Also Rises
caught her eye.

Whoever lived here, apparently they liked Hemingway. She screwed up her face as she climbed out of the strange bed, staring around. When the last blanket fell away, Penny was shocked to find that she was completely naked underneath.

She wobbled on her feet, her muscles cramping and protesting the abuse they’d suffered. She was bombarded with a sudden burst of memory, of leaving her car and trudging up toward the Winter Pass ski lodge.

Was that where she was now? This room seemed much too small, but maybe she was on the second floor. There was no window in the room, so it was impossible to tell.

Snatching up one of the fleece blankets, she wrapped it around herself like a towel. Then she spotted a chair in the corner, behind the door. Her wet clothes hung there, drying… underwear, bra, and all. They were still damp in places, meaning she hadn’t been knocked out for too long.

An oversized blue t-shirt and a pair of gray thermal longjohns were sitting on the seat in a neat stack, apparently meant for her. A bright spot in the midst of a very unhappy moment in the life of Penny Marie Harding.

Penny had never dressed so fast in her whole life. The whole time she was getting the clothes on, she was also trying her hardest not to imagine how they’d come
off
.

Someone had undressed her. The realization gave her a chill. She padded to the bedroom door and forced herself to open it, stepping into the hall and closing the door behind herself before she could lose her nerve.

She was clearly in one of the small rental cabins, not the main lodge as Penny had first thought. To her left was a small bathroom, which was her first stop. When she emerged, the hallway led out into a small front room, a kitchenette and table across from a sofa and a recliner.

And
him
.

He stood at the window, his tight white t-shirt and jeans silhouetting him against the darkness outside. Before he even turned around, Penny knew what he’d look like.

After all, she’d just seen him… in her all-too-real, all-too-sexy dream.

“Shit,” escaped from her mouth as he turned to face her.

He was gorgeous. Six and a half feet tall, pure muscle, lean and thick in just the right places. Short dark hair, a few days’ worth of stubble on his face, and the most eerie, piercing green eyes Penny had ever seen. Blazing bright with every bit as much intensity as her dream had foretold. And his mouth… he had the fullest, sexiest, most bitable lips in the universe, hands down. Just looking at his mouth sent half a dozen great uses for those lips into Penny’s brain like a bolt of lighting.

Damn
. Harlan was so hot, he might as well be on fire.

Penny’s legs went out from under her, and she let it happen. Better to be on the floor than to face the level of shame she felt right now at the way her body was responding to this
complete stranger
.

“Whoa now,” he said, striding over to her.

Penny went beet red as he picked her up and moved her to the couch, as easily as if she were a rag doll.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. This close, his musky pine scent overwhelmed her, making her breasts tighten, the place between her thighs warming unbearably.

He released her and crouched down in front of her, tipping her chin up with a finger. Penny was too embarrassed to form words, angry at her betraying hormones. She never responded to men like this, not even when she and Steve had first started dating.

Penny was
frigid
. All her life, except right this moment, the worst possible time.

“Did I hit my head?” she asked, raising her hand to feel the back of her skull. She was honestly suspicious that she might have a concussion. It would explain her… symptoms.

“I don’t know,” the man admitted, looking concerned. He shifted to kneel before her, reaching out a hand, then pulling it back. It was a little funny, because Penny got the idea that he wasn’t used to any kind of uncertainty in his life. He licked his lips, which sent another flare of desire through her body, then spoke again. “What’s your name?”

“Penny.” That was all she had. Her mouth was dry, her tongue in knots. Basically she was trying not to stare at him like a total moron.

“I’m Harlan.” He paused, then stood and moved back, crossing his arms. “What are you doing at Winter Pass, Penny?”

“I… I got stuck in the storm. I was just looking for somewhere to wait it out, and I remembered that the lodge was here,” Penny said, nibbling her lower lip. She was leaving out substantial chunks of the story, but he didn’t know that.

“Winter Pass has been closed for six years,” he told her, his eyes hard. Accusing, almost.

“Uhhh… I know. It was my only choice. I didn’t even know if I’d make it to the lodge,” Penny admitted with a shrug.

“You didn’t make it to the lodge,” Harlan said, looking almost amused.

“Not with people shooting at me,” Penny said, remembering the gun fight. “Why were people shooting at me?”

“You didn’t know them?”

Penny crinkled her nose.

“I don’t usually hang out with people who fire guns at me, no,” she said.

Harlan seemed to accept that, and his face softened a little.

“They were poachers, looking for some endangered species we have around here,” he explained.

“What… like deer or something?” Penny asked, confused. Growing up in the same town, she couldn’t remember there being a long list of endangered animals, or poachers for that matter.

“Wolves,” Harlan said. He arched a brow, as if daring her to disagree.

“Oh,” was Penny’s only response. “Are they still… out there?”

“They left when the sun went down. It’s too cold to hunt. They’ll be back tomorrow morning, though. Which is why you need to leave as soon as the sun’s up.”

A tiny bit of Penny’s pride withered. True, she was trespassing, and she didn’t exactly want to be here. But the way he said she had to leave, like it was personal… that rubbed her the wrong way.

“Fine,” she replied, rubbing her hands over her arms. The muscle tremors had moved up to her arms, and her body trembled unpleasantly.

She caught half a mumbled curse on Harlan’s lips as he turned and went to the bedroom, then came back with some of the blankets Penny had left behind.

“You need to stay warm. You were unconscious when I found you, your body’s had a lot of stress.” Harland thrust the blankets at her, and Penny took them without a word of protest. She didn’t feel cold, but she didn’t want to argue with him, either. Grumpy though he may be, he had probably saved her life.

Harlan went over to the kitchenette and set a kettle on the tiny stove. To her surprise, he returned with two steaming cups of Orange Pekoe tea.

“No sugar,” he said, claiming the chair across from Penny.

“It’s okay. I don’t much like it,” she said, sipping the tea gratefully. A long moment passed, the silence heavy, before Penny spoke again. “So… if the lodge is closed, why are you here?”

Harlan set his cup down, and Penny could see him weighing what he should tell her.

“I know the owner,” was his eventual answer.

“The Harbin kid?” Penny asked, surprised.

Harlan gave a low chuckle.

“Chase? That
kid
is thirty four years old and has at least an inch and twenty pounds on me,” Harlan said.

“Chase! Man, I could not remember his name for anything,” Penny sighed.

Harlan went tense again. It was odd; he wasn’t that expressive, nor did he gesture much, but Penny found him absurdly easy to read. Something about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“You know him?” Harlan asked.

“I mean… he’s a few years older than me. We went to the same school, but we don’t know each other know each other. Not more than anyone in a small town,” she rushed to explain, to ease his obvious discomfort.

Not that Penny should care.

“Ah.” Harlan glanced away, leaving Penny to wonder what he was so worried about.

“Let me guess,” she said, something clicking into place. “I remember Chase going into the Marines. That must be how you guys know each other.”

Harlan’s brow hunched, and he gave her a slow nod.

“We served together for a long time, yeah.”

Penny needed to say something, start talking. Any conversation was a good thing at this point, distracting her, keeping her from staring at Harlan. Every time she stared too long and Harlan caught her, he shifted in his seat, looking ready to jump up and run out of the cabin. He alternated between seeming disgusted by her presence and staring back at her, like he hadn’t seen another human in a thousand years.

“Where were you stationed?” Penny asked. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

“Where wasn’t I stationed?” Harlan said. “Germany. Aruba. Afghanistan. Syria. Kuwait, for a minute.”

“Oh. Uh, cool,” Penny said, feeling lame.

“What do you do?” he asked, leaning back and crossing his arms. Penny tried desperately not to ogle his sexy, tanned forearms. She dropped her gaze to her lap.

“I’m an art teacher. Or I was.”

“Past tense?”

Penny’s face began to flame again, but she wasn’t one to skirt around the truth of what had happened.

“I got fired. My ex was sleeping with the headmistress of my school, and when I caught them together, she fired me. The same day he kicked me out of our apartment.”

A growl rumbled through Harlan’s chest, and Penny looked at him with surprise.

“Some loser cheated on
you
?” he asked. His eyes blazed bright, and for a half second Penny wondered if he might be teasing her in the cruelest way. But no, he was serious. Offended, angry, and confused on her behalf, for some unknown reason.

“Well, he was sort of…” Penny pursed her lips and twined her fingers in her lap, trying to find the right words.

“A worthless prick?” Harlan suggested.

Penny laughed, then nodded.

“Yeah. He—”

“I don’t need the details. Forget about him,” Harlan said, shifting again in his seat. The movement drew Penny’s attention to his upper arm, where a few spots of red were spreading across his white t-shirt.

“Harlan, I think you’re bleeding,” she said, hand flying to her throat.

He looked down at his shoulder, then hefted a sigh.

“It’s fine,” he said. “Now that you’re up, I’ll just grab another shirt from my bedroom.”

“It is not fine!” Penny said with a gasp. “You didn’t say you got shot!”

The idea of him sitting here chatting with her while having a wound made her angry.

“It’s nothing,” Harlan said, but Penny was already on her feet.

“Do you have a first aid kit?” she demanded to know.

Harlan gave her a measuring glance, then rolled his eyes.

“In the medicine cabinet,” he said.

Penny retrieved it and came back, putting on her best
take no prisoners
expression.

“Take off your shirt,” she ordered, giving him what she hoped was a steely glare.

A flare of humor lit his face, followed by more eye rolling.

“Fine,” he said, rising and pulling his shirt off, every muscle in his torso rippling as he moved.

Penny’s dry mouth and shaky legs returned, and she had to rip her eyes away from his obscenely flat, defined abs.

“Couch,” she said, pointing. Her cheeks and neck were red and hot with a mixture of hunger and ire. Thankfully Harlan dropped onto the couch, his eyes roaming up and down Penny’s body from head to toe.

It struck Penny that Harlan might actually be interested in her, not repulsed. It seemed insane, someone like him looking at plain little Penny, mousier than ever in her borrowed pajamas. But the look on his face was hunger, unmistakable hunger.

“Penny,” Harlan said. There was a dangerous edge to his voice, and it shook Penny to her core.

In that moment, she knew that if she really, really wanted it… wanted a hot, hard, single night’s fling, she could probably have it. With
him
.

No no no no.
She’d just been dumped, she a sad little wounded bird. Getting horizontal with Harlan, no matter how incredibly hot he was, would not solve her problems. Probably.

“Penny…” he said again.

Penny jumped, dumping the first aid kit on the couch.

“Right! Sorry!” she squeaked, killing a bit of the tension. She busied herself opening some bandages and tubes of ointment, then hesitated.