The Witch, the Wolf and the Snowstorm: (Book 6, Grey Wolf Pack Romance Novellas) (2 page)

Chapter Two

26
th
November

Kayleigh
Lewicki yawned and slurped down another cup of coffee.  She hadn’t been sleeping well ever since Greg proposed.  She wished she could say it was because of her own excitement, or because they had been enjoying some very energetic bedroom romps.  But no, it was due to her dreams.

Every night she had a dream
where a grey wolf with black furred paws and ears was chasing her through the woods.  Just as she was starting to get away it started snowing, which quickly turned into a blizzard.  The snow became so deep she could barely walk, and eventually exhausted and freezing she collapsed.  The wolf caught up with her and then... she woke up.

Every night was the same.
  The chase, the cold - it all felt so real.  She would wake up tired and shivering. 
It was totally annoying
.

A soft giggle reached her ears and she
sighed. Her boss Terri Tanner was currently being lavished with attention by her mate and wolf shifter Mal Tanner.

Kayleigh
was working her shift at the library, and desperately trying not to openly eyeball the canoodling couple.  Wolf shifters were incredibly possessive over their mates, but they were also unbelievably attentive too.  She could see why her friends Terri and Melanie had wanted to mate with them. 
What she wouldn’t give for a little bit of that attention
.

Mal was going away for
a week to do some training with the pack’s tracker Don Cross.  You would think by the way he was clutching at Terri that he was going away from a year.  She heard a few whispered ‘I’ll miss you’, and ‘I’m counting to the seconds until you return’. 
She tried to drone them out.
The way Mal looked at Terri was the look of a man who had been told that there was no chocolate left in the world and then had been given a huge plate if brownies.  It made Kayleigh cold with jealousy and warm with longing. She wanted a man to look at her in the same way.
Hungry with desire and love
.  Like she was the last cheesecake on earth...

She suspected that she
might actually just be hungry.

Growing up as a witch she had been taught to be wary of wolves, there was contention between their
two species. Wolves feared witches magic, witches feared wolves brute strength.  It was odd that witches didn't share the same contention with other shifters, but then wolves were by far the most stubborn of all the shifters. And witches were dangerously dismissive.

Growing up her mother had told her dozens of horror stories regarding wolves. Her wariness had
only worsened when she moved to Rose last year.  However,  she was steadily coming round. She saw the wonderful relationships her friends had with their mates, and she herself had become friends with the gentlest wolf of the pack, Carly the Omega, so she knew that her old prejudices were ill founded.

Despite
her unease Kayleigh always ensured that she was outwardly friendly and bubbly to everyone.  She smiled at Terri and Mal, who were now kissing.  It was actually kind of making her hot. 
Could she drag Greg out of work early?

“Ahem.”  She j
umped in her seat as someone cleared their throat.  Her head snapped away from Terri and Mal.

“I’m sorry can I...”  She stopped short.

She gasped at the sight before her.  The most ruggedly handsome man,
no wolf
, she had ever seen was currently leaning casually on the desk.  His square jaw was covered in black stubble and his blue eyes twinkled as he winked at her.  She shivered pleasurably as she noticed he was wearing a black stetson. 
Hello cowboy!

“Sorry to disturb you ma’am.”  He drawled.

His sexy accent sent tingles right through her body straight to her sex. 
God he really was from Texas!

“I just came
by to pick up lover boy over there.”  He inclined his head in Mal’s direction.

He smiled at her and she realised she must have been
gaping at him, mouth open like a damn fish. 
Say something... say anything, it doesn’t matter what! 
“I work at the library...” 
Okay so it matters a little. 

“Huh?”  He frowned at her.

God she must look like a total idiot.  “I ummmm... I’m Kayleigh... Lewicki.” 
Well done, you managed to tell him your name, cue sarcastic clapping.

“Nice to meet you Miss
Kayleigh Lewicki I’m...”

“Don Cross...”  She said dreamily.  “I know... I mean I know you b
y reputation... and I guessed by the fact that you said you were here to pick up Mal...” 
That’s it, all men love a babbling fool
.

There was no way
she was managing to impress him. 
Wait, why would she need to impress him?

He chuckled throatily. 
“Ten outta ten on the deduction skills Miss Kayleigh Lewicki.”

“Just call me
Columbo.”  She giggled inanely.  “I mean no don’t, I just meant that.... I mean I love that show... I always catch it on rerun...” 
Perhaps she could pretend she was an escaped mental patient
.

“
Yeah?  Me too, one of my favourites.”

“Oh!”  She smiled beatifically.  She felt the heat rise to her
cheeks, she hoped he didn’t notice her blushing so furiously.

She felt his eyes raking over her
body, he must have liked what he saw because he grinned at her and let out a small growl.  Her whole body warmed at the idea that he liked her body,
she wondered what he would like to do to it...

She looked at him sideways.  He actually looked kind of familiar... maybe they had met before, or maybe she had just seen him around
town.  She had a niggling feeling that wasn’t it though.

She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Mrs
Martin approaching the desk.  She was a part-time library volunteer and the nosiest, most obnoxious woman in town.

“Hello
Kayleigh dear.”  Mrs Martin gave Kayleigh a sickly sweet fake smile, and Don a disapproving glare.

Don raised a
n eyebrow at Kayleigh who rolled her eyes.  He chuckled quietly. 
Their own little secret joke, that felt nice.

“I just wanted to offer my congratulations.”

“Hmmm?  What for?”  Kayleigh was too busy eyeing up Don to really pay attention.

Mrs Martin scoffed.  “Your engagement of course, I heard Greg proposed.”

Kayleigh’s eyes widened and she snapped back to Mrs Martin. 
That was really something that she ought to remember... 
Instinctively she rubbed her thumb over the back of the engagement ring. 

Kayleigh
was flustered.  “Oh yes of course, yes he did... we’re... we’re getting married.”

“I’m sure you’ll both be very happy, I hope you have a long and
joyful marriage.”  Said Mrs Martin in a syrupy voice, the hardness of her eyes made Kayleigh doubted she really hoped that
.  Happy marriages didn’t make very good gossip.

Kayleigh
turned back to Don a little shamefaced.  Why she didn’t know, she hadn’t done anything wrong.  It’s not like she had even flirted with him,
her mouths inability to connect to her brain made sure of that
.

Don wasn’
t smiling anymore.  “Congratulations.”  Was it her imagination or did he say that a little stiffly? 

Kayleigh
laughed nervously.  “Ummm thanks.  So, Mal was telling me that you’re spending the week camping.” 

“Kind of
, we’ll be honing his tracking and hunting skills.”

“
Ooooh that sounds like fun
.”  In all honestly spending the week in a tiny tent with Don did sound appealing...

He stared at her. 
Maybe he thought she was being sarcastic
.  Seconds ago he was all smiles and easygoing charm, now he was being a little standoffish.

“If you ladies will excuse me I must be on my way.”  He tipped his hat to them.  If Mrs Martin wasn’t there she truly would have swooned.

Don strode over to Mal and Terri. Kayleigh couldn’t help but notice, mostly because she was gawping at him like a lovestruck teenager, that he had a really sexy walk.  She’d never considered a walk sexy before, but damn!  His long muscled legs had a laid-back swagger and god his ass was perfect. 

She wondered if she could get him to walk back over here just to send him away again.  She shook her head,
what the hell was she thinking?
  Alright so he looked delicious, and was smoking hot, that didn’t make it okay for her to openly leer at him. 
Did it?  No, of course not!
  She had a fiancée, she should be looking at him.  Her fiancée had no qualms about looking at other women though... it’s not like she was doing anything wrong... not really.

After a few impatient words from Don Mal finally let go of Terri, and with one last puppy dog look that sent Terri into a fit of giggles he was out the door.  Don followed behind
.  Noting Kayleigh watching him he tipped his hat again.  Double s
woon
.

She wondered if Don had a mate already...
no bad girl!
  It didn’t matter as she already had a fiancée. 
A fiancée!
  Still a little harmless daydreaming can’t hurt,
can it?

*

Don glanced in the rearview mirror in exasperation.  They’d only been on the road for an hour and already Mal was snoring.  Not quietly snoring either, he sounded like a damn donkey with a head cold.  He felt a new respect for Mal’s mate having to sleep next to him every night.

T
hat thought gave him a twinge.  Mal was only 19 years old and already he had met his mate, they had bonded and they were expecting a pup. It threw into relief his own failure in that area of his life.

Felicity the other new Enforcer he was taking to train
grunted, rolled up the magazine she was reading and twisting back in her seat swiftly thunked Mal on the nose.  Mal howled awake and they started arguing. 
Loudly
.

Don groaned.  He liked nothing more than hunting and tracking. 
Alone
.  Spending a week in the middle of nowhere with two immature, hormonal, squabbling wolves was not a thrilling prospect.  But as the pack’s tracker it was his responsibility to teach others.  His Alpha Adam and the Chief Enforcer Acksel insisted that all Enforcers receive advanced training in hunting and tracking.

Normally he just shrugged and got on with it.  He was generally pretty even-tempered, but today he was on his last nerve, and not in the mood to put up with any of their crap.

“Enough!”  Roared Don.

The two younger wolves immediately hushed.  Don quickly
veered to the side of the road and slammed on the breaks.  They all shot forward in their seats and were thrown backwards with resounding thuds.

He gripped the steering wheel tightly.  “
Felicity get in the back seat.”  He ground out. 

She went red but quickly complied.  Mal moved over to give her some room.  They cast each other inquisitive glances.

“You two behave like kids again and I’m turnin’ round and tellin’ Adam and Acksel that you ain’t fit to be Enforcers.  Understood?!” 

They were wide eyed and a little dumbstruck, but on noting the murderous look on Don’s face they quickly mumbled that they did.

After a couple of deep breaths he started driving again.  He was being an asshole and he didn’t give a fuck. 
He was having a bad day
.

It was that damn little wit
ch’s fault.  His beast bellowed at him furiously for that.  Don flinched a little, it had been a hell of a long time since he had been out of synch with his wolf.  It was a little jarring.

He knew there were some shifters who were never genuinely at peace with the beast within.
 
Hans
Lucas sprung to mind
.  However he and his wolf since their very first shift had pretty much always been in harmony. 
Not an easy feat
.  But now they had found something to disagree on,
Kayleigh Lewicki
.

From the moment she turned her luscious smile in his direction he had been hard. 
Painfully hard
.  It had been over twenty years since he’d had such a visceral reaction to a woman. 
Not since Melinda
.

It scared the fucking hell out of him.

Just looking at her made his damn wolf pant like a dog in heat.  His heart had sped up and heat had washed through his entire body. 
Not forgetting the almighty bulge in the front of his jeans
.