Wild (30 page)

Tuck shrugged his big shoulders. “Elle knows. Yesterday, when we hiked up to Blackbird? Along the way, she heard a fawn in distress and insisted we stop to check on the sound. I really didn't want to do it, figured if the thing was hurt badly and I had to put it down, it would ruin the week for the women.”

“So what'd you do?” Lawz sipped his coffee, and if Trak knew his brother, this was at least his fifth cup of the morning.

“I didn't do a damned thing. Elle healed it. Said she's got the same gift her grandmother had, and she just knelt down by that little fawn and knew by touch that it had a badly cracked left front radius. That's the one in the lower part of the leg, in front of the ulna. Can't leave an animal like that on its own in the wild, but she blew on it, and the critter relaxed, and then she cupped her hands around it, and I swear I could see light glowing between her hands. That's what she was doing when you got there, Lawz. She'd told me she didn't want anyone to see, but after about twenty or so minutes, she sat back and said it was fine.”

“Was it?” Trak wasn't quite sure where this was leading, but …

“Damned right. Little guy got to his feet with help, but he put weight on it, and the mother came out of the woods to feed him. That's when Elle told me to get back a ways, that the deer could pick up the smell of the wolf on me.”

“Shit. What'd you say?”

“I denied it, of course, but later, we talked, and I asked her why she thought I smelled like a wolf. She said that the wolf in her bed had reminded her of me, and when she hugged the wolf while she was falling asleep, she realized he smelled like me. Then she said that all of them are special in one way or another. Lawz, did you know that Dar can always tell when someone is lying?”

Lawz nodded. “Yep. Found that out the hard way. Tuck's right. Dar knows, too, though I haven't confirmed her suspicions.”

Trak groaned.

Tuck shot a quick grin his way. “Elle asked me not to say anything about her power and promised not to say anything about me turning into a wolf, though she did give me permission to tell you guys about it. I told her I couldn't say anything about the other until I'd talked to…” He paused, sighed, and said, “She interrupted me, said she guessed I meant until I talked to Trak, since she'd already figured you were the pack alpha.”

“What the fuck? But how?” Now that was a first.

“She said she felt it, that there was a sense of leadership about you, and that it was obvious the rest of us deferred to you. I made some quip about it being impossible, and she just said that yeah, about as impossible as her healing cracked bones with her hands.”

Before Trak could come up with a response, Drew and Manny looked at one another and added, “Jules has us figured out, too. She doesn't act like it's any big deal, just that it's who we are. I don't get it. You'd expect most women to get all freaked out, afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.”

“Then they all know. I don't know about Meg, but those girls share everything. She's probably finding out now. Shit.” Trak buried his head in his hands. They'd never imagined anyone figuring them out. Not like this. They'd interacted with humans for years, had dated women, gone to school with them, worked with them, and to date, the only one to have guessed their long-kept secret had been Cherry, who had done it based on eye color.

They'd thought she was merely an anomaly, because she was just so damned smart, but obviously, a lot of women were too damned smart nowadays.

“Okay, next step,” Trak said. “Are any of you hoping to ask any of these women to be your mates?”

“Elle's mine whether she knows it or not.” Tuck laughed at that. “She's absolutely mine. I'm taking her with me on my rounds in town today, see how she likes it. She'd already asked if I needed an assistant, so I know she's ready to move up here if I give the go-ahead.”

“What about you, Lawz? Do you think Dar'd be willing to give up her job in Portland?”

“I don't know. I've dropped hints that I'd like for her to move to the area, see where things take us. I can ask her outright.”

“Okay. You've got time. Give it a couple of days, get to know her better. Manny? Drew? What about you two? Are either of you thinking long term with Jules?”

Manny glanced at Drew. “I have been. Not sure about Drew, and while we've been lovers off and on for years, not sure if he's interested in a role as a co-husband.”

“Actually…” Drew blushed.

Blushed? Trak raised an eyebrow. “Drew?”

He glanced shyly toward Manny and then looked away. Manny stood so fast he knocked his chair back. “C'mon, Drew. We need to talk.”

Without even acknowledging the other guys in the room, Manny grabbed Drew's hand and dragged him out of the bar.

Trak sat back in his chair while Evan righted the one that Manny had knocked over. “Well,” he said. “That was interesting.” He glanced toward the closed door. “My gut tells me that you need to come clean with your women, but impress upon them the importance of secrecy. At this point, that's about the best advice I can offer, but if the four of you, and that's including Manny and Drew, work this out, that leaves just Evan and me in search of women, and we've got three more weeks of guests before we shut down for the season.”

Lawz leaned back in his chair. “What are we gonna do with the place afterward? We've put in a really nice lodge, and we've made a killing on it in just this one year alone.”

“That we have. We'll think of something. It's too nice a facility not to use it.”

A car pulled up in front. Evan walked to the door to see who it was. “Hey, it's Cain and Brad and Cherry. They're back!”

“Thank goodness.” Trak shoved his chair back and stood. “Maybe Cherry'll have some kind of idea on how to get us out of this mess.”

“Or maybe Cain will.”

Tuck winked at Trak, a not-so-subtle reminder to cut Cain some slack.

Trak smiled and nodded. “Reminder understood,” he said as his longtime nemesis walked into the bar.

 

CHAPTER 10

Now that the guys were busy at their meeting, Dar took the lead. “First of all, whatever we discuss here does not go beyond the four of us. Okay?” Once everyone nodded in agreement, she said, “Anyone here not believe in werewolves?”

No one raised their hands, but Meg laughed. “That would explain so much. They're just too blasted perfect. I mean, Trak's just a friend, but if I didn't have Zach, it would be hard to pick which guy I wanted.”

Jules merely shrugged. “Which is probably why I have two.”

“Jules!” Elle had a huge grin on her face. “Okay. So maybe I'm just a bit jealous, though I wouldn't trade Tuck for anyone.”

Dar nodded emphatically. “I called Lawz on the werewolf bit last night, and he didn't deny, but said he had to talk to the guys.”

“Tuck said the same thing. When I asked if that meant he had to talk it over with Trak, he got flustered. He's so cute when he's flustered, big guy like that.”

“'Cause Trak's their alpha, right?” Dar shot a glance at Meg. “Did you know?”

“Not entirely, though I've sensed all along that the wolf sleeping next to me reminded me of Trak. Not sure why. And I've always just assumed he was their boss. No reason. He's not bossy, but…” She grinned. “Guess he just walks the boss walk.”

“They smell the same,” Elle said. “Tuck and his wolf—they both have that fresh forest-cedar scent that I love, like fresh air and mountain breezes.”

Meg turned to Jules. “Why so quiet, Jules?”

Laughing, Jules spread her hands. “Just paying attention. I've got two of them to deal with, remember?”

“Rough job, right?” Dar's dry comment had all of them laughing.

“Have any of you seen them shift?” Meg glanced at each of them.

“No, but I imagine we will.” Dar planted her hands on the table. “Think about the position they're in—they've kept this secret for as long as their kind has existed, and that secret has kept them safe. They've got to be terrified we'll give them away. Can you imagine the nightmare that would cause? News crews and nuts, coming here to the preserve and creating trouble for everyone. Whether they come clean or not, none of us are ever to speak about this to anyone else.”

“You can tell me.”

Meg whipped around in her seat so fast she almost fell out of it. An attractive dark-haired woman in faded cargo pants and an old Stanford sweatshirt stood in the doorway to the dining hall.

“Hi.” She gave them a little wave. “I'm Cherry Dubois. I live here. I just left the guys at Growl.” She laughed. “They're all aflutter, discussing what you know. I told them I'd rather meet you than worry about you.”

“Can you shift, too?” Dar focused on Cherry, and Meg held her breath, waiting to see if Cherry would lie to Dar or tell the truth.

“I can now. But I couldn't when I first got here. May I join you?”

“Please,” Meg said. “We are dying to know what's going on, but we don't want the guys to be afraid we'll tell their secret, and they're not talkin'.”

“Good.” She walked to the bar, poured a cup of coffee, and took the empty chair next to Elle. “Because that would be bad. For all of us. First of all, I started here as a guest of Feral Passions, just the way you have. My sister and her friend and I came here together, and we all met guys. My sister and her girlfriend are bi, and I was just flat-out repressed.” She laughed and took a swallow of her coffee. “By the end of the week, I'd figured out that the two guys I'd fallen for were the same wolves that were sleeping in my bed most nights.”

“How'd you know?” Meg hadn't been all that sure about Trak, though she'd suspected, but she didn't know why.

“I'm a computer nerd. My life is all about algorithms and statistics, and statistically speaking, there were an equal number of green-eyed wolves to men with green eyes, same with brown, and with blue. And one guy has absolutely sparkling, almost turquoise eyes, and so does one of the wolves. But the wolves and guys with matching eyes were never together.”

“That's part of what gave it away for me. I'm Jules, by the way, and I've got two guys sharing my bed, one with blue eyes and one with brown, but the weird part of it is that I knew the first time I saw the wolves that they were the guys, and I didn't even know one of them very well in his human form. Two wolves came to my cabin at bedtime, and I just automatically called them Manny and Drew. I knew they were men, but I don't know how I knew. It was just bizarre.”

“That explains their behavior.” Cherry laughed, but she shook her head when Jules questioned her. “Their tale to tell.”

“I'm Elle, Cherry. How do you handle it? Your guy shifts and races off into the woods to do his wolf thing. How do you deal with waiting for him, knowing what an amazing experience he's having?”

“I go with them.” At least she waited until the collective gasp died down. Smiling, she said, “Werewolves only have male offspring. They don't make their first shift until they're about thirty. They find their mates among the human population after they shift, but wolf law has forced them to keep their existence secret. It used to be until after they fell in love and mated. Then they'd bite their poor, unsuspecting wife and turn her into a wolf.”

“I can only imagine the pillow talk after that little episode.” Dar's comment even had Cherry cracking up.

But Meg stared at Cherry, this absolutely beautiful and obviously brilliant young woman who was saying she was a wolf as well. For whatever reason, shifting had absolutely no appeal at all to Meg. “I think I'd freak,” she said.

But not Elle, Jules, or Dar. They were grinning at one another as if they'd just discovered all the packages under the Christmas tree were theirs.

“That's the only thing I worried about.” Elle grabbed Cherry's hands. “Girl, that is the best news in the world, because I have fallen hard and fast for that big, sexy veterinarian, but all I could think of was how jealous I'd be whenever he went furry and left me home.”

“Won't happen if you and Tuck end up mates.” She squeezed Elle's hands. “Look, the guys are a bit shaken up, to put it bluntly. They're so afraid of their story getting out. If you and Dar and Jules end up staying on as mates, that's not an issue, but I know they're worried about any of you who don't, which I would bet is going to be just you, Meg. Is this a secret you can keep? If word ever gets out, it would put all of us in danger.”

Meg glanced at Dar, Elle, and Jules. “The four of us have been friends since we were five years old. We've held secrets for one another all our lives. There's no way we'd ever talk about something that could jeopardize any of us, much less the people we've met here who are so wonderful. I don't think that's an issue, but I do think we should let the guys lead the way on when they want to say anything. I hadn't really thought how frightening this must be for them.”

“Thank you. Now I'm going to grab my men and my luggage, and we're going to go up to our apartment.” She laughed as she stood. “I'm exhausted. We drove all night when the guys realized you'd figured them out. They sort of flipped a bit. Trak asked us to come home early.”

She yawned and stretched, but Elle stopped her as she turned to leave.

“Cherry? Is it as cool as it sounds? Shifting and running like a wolf?”

“So much cooler than you can possibly imagine. The pine needles beneath your feet, flying down trails faster than you ever imagined moving under your own power. Standing on a mountain peak and howling at the moon? Ya know, it's something I will never grow tired of.”

Smiling, she headed toward the door as two men—equally as good looking as all the others they'd met—walked in loaded down with luggage. Cherry paused and kissed both guys. “Ladies, this bad boy is Cain, and this fella is Brad, and they're mine. You may look but not touch. Boys, meet Meg, Elle, Jules, and Dar. Play nice. I'm going to get my bags.”