Wild Game (Wilding Pack Wolves 1) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (9 page)

Nova scowled. “I’m glad the Colonel is under arrest for his part in what happened to you. And the other wolves. That was some terrible business. But Jace’s mate, Piper, and her brothers are decent people. I think. I don’t really know them too well.”

“So which brother is Terra’s father?” Owen was trying to get this whole Wilding family tree solid in his mind, but it was a lot to track.

“Terra’s father is Donnie Wilding. She’s got a brother Trent, and you know about her little sister, Cassie, the one who was kidnapped. Terra’s a little crazy‌—‌she’s an artist‌—‌but it’s not like we’re enemies. We even had her shoot some concept pictures for
Domination
. She does urban photography, and we were looking for a future-urban cityscape kind of look.”

Owen nodded‌—‌maybe this Terra cousin would be a way to convince Nova she needed to stay at the safehouse. “Maybe you and Terra can catch up while I talked to Jace about some business.” The business was
her,
but he wasn’t going to say that.

Nova scowled at him. “Just don’t take too long. I’ve got a lot of prep for the tournament, still.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He smiled, a genuine one for the first time since the morning. At least they were talking again, instead of the constant, stony silence.

They were finally pulling up to the ranch. The parking lot was filled with cars, as it had been ever since Owen made this his new home. After Jace had sprung him, there was no way in hell he was going back to the Army, but he didn’t have money or a place to stay, either. Like many of the liberated shifters, Mama River had been kind enough to take him in. He’d just need to grab a few things, talk with Jace about the sticky situation with Nova, and get her back to her apartment, if that’s the way it was going to be. If he were lucky, her cousin would talk her into staying. Owen had played all his cards with that.

After they parked and strode in the front door‌—‌the place was huge, so knocking was usually pointless‌—‌Owen brought Nova to the oversized kitchen. A frantic bustle was underway, getting ready for the dinner hour for the hordes. Owen gave a small wave to Mama River, who was ordering people about.

“Don’t let those potatoes cook too long,” she said to one of the shifters manning the stovetop. Then she quickly ushered them into the adjoining dining room.

She brushed her long, gray hair back over her shoulder, then gave Nova a look-over that made heat rush to Owen’s face. She turned back to him. “Owen Harding, so this is what’s been keeping you busy.”

He didn’t want her jumping to conclusions‌—‌even if they were the correct conclusions‌—‌so he rushed out, “Just doing my duty, ma’am.”

Mama River hiked up her eyebrows but kept the smile. “Well, that’s unfortunate. And excuse my manners, Nova Wilding. Welcome to my home! I was just hopeful that our Owen had found a mate. I’ve had a run of luck on that lately.”

Owen smiled, but it was a bit forced. Mama Wilding could put some southern ladies to shame with her full-court press to find mates for every young wolf under her roof. “Finding a mate isn’t exactly on my radar right now, Mama River. But I do need to talk to Jace about the business of keeping our Wilding pack friends safe.”

She tipped her head toward the kitchen. “Last I saw, he was out back, instructing some of our new guests on tending the horses.”

“If it’s not too much trouble, could you look after Nova for a bit? I hear her cousin’s staying at the estate?”

Nova gave him a slightly wide-eyed look. “Maybe I should come with you.”

Mama River looked between the two of them and came to his rescue. “Actually, Nova, I could use your help. Terra’s got her eyes set on redecorating her room. Maybe you can help me convince her that’s unnecessary.” Mrs. River took Nova by the elbow and steered her away from the kitchen.

Nova threw a scowl back over her shoulder, and Owen couldn’t help the wide grin that broke across his face. If there were someone used to wrangling Wildings, it had to be the matriarch of the River pack. Owen hustled through the kitchen, waving hello to the familiar faces and heading out back. Sure enough, he found Jace with several shifters gathered around him, handing out instructions on the proper care of the stables. Owen had done plenty of ranching back home, but he’d much rather put his Army skills to use at Riverwise.

He expected to wait off to the side until Jace was done, but as soon as Jace caught sight of him, he waved off the others and gestured for Owen to walk with him.

As soon as they were out of hearing distance, heading for the mountains out the back of the River family estate, Jace spoke up. “How’s it going at Wylderide? You guys have had a hell of a couple days.”

Owen nodded, solemnly. “Nova’s shook up bad and twice as stubborn now as she was to begin with.”

Jace smirked. “That sounds familiar.” They were passing the cabins at the end of the stables, and Piper waved from inside where she was hanging curtains.

Owen lifted his chin as they passed, then waited a moment more, so she wouldn’t hear. “You married one of them,” Owen said, quietly. “Is there ever any talking some sense into them?”

Jace gave him an appraising look. “I guess that depends on what kind of sense you’re talking them into.” He narrowed his eyes. “Did you finally manage to get her up here?”

“Only to pick up some of my stuff so I can stay over at her apartment keeping watch on her.”

Both of Jace’s eyebrows lifted. “How close of a watch are we keeping?”

Owen bit his lip and studied the dirt for a while. This was what he wanted to ask, but he wasn’t quite sure how to do the asking.

Jace huffed a short laugh. “I see.”

Owen’s face heated. “I wasn’t
trying
to… I didn’t intend…” He shook his head. “It’s complicated.”

“Tell me about it.” Jace smirked. “Let’s just say, with a Wilding female involved, I’m not exactly surprised things happened that you didn’t
intend
.”

“Yeah, well, now it’s a right mess, and I’m not sure what to make of it. I’m no good as a mate, not anymore. And she’s going to have to take one soon.”

Jace frowned. “What the hell are you talking about, no good as a mate?”

Owen stopped their walk with a hand on Jace’s shoulder. “I told you what happened in those cages. They did things to me, man. I don’t even know what… I don’t know what I
am
anymore. I haven’t shifted since…” He winced and stared back at the dirt again. “Look, that’s just not going to work. But every minute I’m around her, I just sink in deeper, you know what I mean?”

Jace’s frown was pained. “I’m sorry, Owen. I didn’t realize… Look, I don’t know what’s going on with the two of you, but I know this‌—‌loving a Wilding female isn’t easy, but it’s the best damn thing you’ll ever do. Even if it’s just for a short while.”

Owen nodded. “That’s what I thought. But if you want to assign someone else as her bodyguard…”

Jace cocked an eyebrow. “Seriously? You’d be okay with that?”

Owen snorted. “Hell, no. But you’re the boss man.”

Jace put his hand on Owen’s shoulder. “This boss man says, if she’s calling to your wolf, you need to listen to that. And there’s no one I’d rather have guarding our at-risk shifters than someone who actually gives a damn about that person. Just tell me your feelings aren’t going to comprise doing your job.”

“No, sir.” Owen knew that much.

“Well, then, we don’t have a problem, do we?” Something behind Owen’s shoulder caught Jace’s eye.

Owen twisted around. Daniel Wilding was jogging up to them. He was Piper’s brother, and he’d been an instrumental part of putting his father, Colonel Astor Wilding, behind bars. Now that Owen knew where the Wilding family had come from, it made a bit more sense how the Colonel could be flat-evil, even when his offspring were decent folks.

“Hey, man,” Daniel said to Owen. “I thought you were down in the city, watching over Wylderide.”

“Just here for a change of clothes.”

Daniel cocked an eyebrow at him, but let it go and turned to Jace. “All right, I think I’ve got Terra convinced to stay at the safehouse for a while. At least a week, then she’s got a gallery showing for her art in the city. Do you think we can get some kind of detail to cover that, or should I be trying to strong-arm her out of the art show?”

“Has she seen the latest video?” Jace asked.

Daniel nodded. “She had a complete meltdown. I think that’s what finally put her over the edge and got her up here.”

Owen had couldn’t help but be proud of Nova for holding it together in the face of that. Her stubbornness was making him crazy, but
damn
if that girl wasn’t tough as nails. Which only made him want her more…. while, at the same time, making him want to kidnap her and force her to stay at the River estate where she would be safe.

He was such a mess with this.

“Have you guys had any luck tracking down this Wolf Hunter?” Owen asked them both.

“Nothing yet,” Jace answered with a tight press of his lips. “We’re working it. The FBI’s on it as well. Although, I swear, those guys don’t seem to have half the tools we do at Riverwise for investigations of this sort.” He shook his head in disgust. “Or they’re just not taking it seriously. Hard to say. Most likely, shifters are still on their own with this. Per usual.”

Owen expected as much. The hate group was outspoken about their fear and loathing when it came to shifters‌, but many in the human population felt the same way, they just didn’t say so in polite company.

“Some things never change,” Daniel added ruefully.

Jace nodded. “In the meantime, keep your guard up. Daniel, we should be able to handle covering the gallery opening. We’ve got more volunteer shifters coming in every day to help, and Jared’s running some training exercises to get them up to speed on security protocols.”

“I could use some of that back up for this tournament Nova is determined to attend.” Owen still didn’t like it, but he’d given up trying to talk her out of it.

“When is that?” Jace asked.

“In a couple days,” Owen said. “I can give you some idea of manpower once I scout out the place.”

“All right,” Jace said. “We should be able to cover that, too‌—‌just let me know what you need.”

“What we need is to have every Wilding up here at the safehouse,” Owen grumbled.

Jace and Daniel just chuckled.

“If you can manage that, I’m putting you up for peacemaker of the year,” Daniel said, then started jogging back to the house.

“Anything else you need?” Jace asked. He was throwing glances back to his cabin where his mate was no doubt waiting for him. Dinner was near, and the sun was starting to go down.

His time was up.

“No, I’m good.” Owen left Jace to his mate and headed back to the main house. It wouldn’t take any time to gather up his things‌—‌he hadn’t collected up much in the way of possessions since he’d been liberated. He’d been living in a cage for a year; after that, a man’s needs were pretty minimal.

But now he was basically moving in with Nova Wilding‌—‌and he had no idea how that could possibly work for any length of time. Either they’d drive each other insane… or they’d end up in bed together.

And his head told him neither was any good for his heart.

Nova was inside a deep, dark cave filled with glittering, moving lights.

It was actually a small theater not far from Wylderide. The lights had been turned down for the exhibition tournament with only spotlights on the teams up front and rotating beams splashing across the audience splayed before them. It created a sense of dynamic motion, even though the teams were stationary in front of their oversized screens, competition-level mice, and high-end keyboards. Wylderide’s sponsorship logo was stamped across the fronts of their jerseys, along with their team names‌—‌
BitShredders
and
ChillRoid
‌—‌and player names on the back.

A large screen over each team broadcast the gameplay, adding a futuristic touch to the rock-show like environment.
Domination: Afterpulse’s
post-apocalyptic cityscape was overlaid with all the high-tech weaponry lists, stats for each player, their life and cash levels, and kill scores in the game. The crowd was remarkably reserved, but Nova saw more than one smartphone user snapping pictures of the not-yet-released gameplay map, as well as gamers scribbling notes.
BitShredders
and
ChillRoid
were the top players on the original version of
Domination,
and they’d all been given the new game ahead of time, so they’d have some decent strategies to put on display for the fans. With the release to the public in just a few days, the teams were here for the chance to show off, win some prize money, and take a shot at the trophy… and it looked like the audience was eating it up.

The tournament itself was going great‌—‌it was the tension between her and Owen that had her stiff-backed and off to the side of the stage. The past two days had been nothing but tension and glares each time he looked her way… or she looked his. She couldn’t decide which of them was checking the other out more.

Right now, Owen was on the opposite side of the stage from her, directing security over his earbud and mic. He hadn’t forgiven her for not hiding out in the mountains at the River pack estate, but that didn’t stop him from watching over her 24/7, both at work and at her apartment, where he’d settled in with a small gym bag worth of belongings. Each of the last two nights, he’d escorted her home and silently taken the couch for his bed.