Wolf's Desire (11 page)

Since he began the career, his clientele had normally been low profile and high risk—like her. He’d lost count of the nu
mber of people he’d killed after his third year in the profession. With fifteen years under his belt, she could only imagine how the numbers stacked up.

Aiden rolled to a stop in front of a metal mailbox perched atop dozens of stones piled high to hold it erect.
He got out to retrieve his mail, got back inside, and flipped through some envelopes.

Suddenly feeling out of place in such a strange, secluded space with
a man that was still half a mystery to her, she peered out through the windshield at the surroundings. From the angle where he parked, she could only see the roof of the home. The wooden gates were already open, flanked by a grouping of blue hydrangea plants. Thick ivy vines covered the top of the fence lining the property, and trailing up along the trees.

An uneasy feeling washed over her, and she suddenly realized why she’d chosen to remain at the est
ate after all that time. She got homesick. There was no other explanation for the queasy feeling settling low in her belly.

Aiden threw
the stack of envelopes and circulars on the dashboard, placed a hand on her thigh, and squeezed gently. She looked at him and he regarded her with a sympathetic smile.

“Don’t be afraid to embrace change,” he said. “
It’s integral to the process of growing up and discovering ourselves.”

She smiled, and squeezed his hand back. He was right. How many times had she promised herself that she would begin to live her own life and follow her own dreams?

Aiden pulled up into the yard. There was no driveway, just grass and pebbles. And those darned ivy vines were growing everywhere.

“
This is where you live?”

“For now,” he said.

The first thing she noticed about the old ranch style home was the porch—and the man moving around on it. “There’s a man standing on your porch.”

“His name is Blake. I told him to meet me here.” He parked the truck and then came around to help her down. “
He’s a very good friend of mine, and my cousin.”

Before she could open her mouth to inquire any further, Blake came to join them. He and Aiden exchanged some sort of handshake and a nod.

“Miss Keira Ellis,” Blake said, and held out his hand. His voice was a deep smooth baritone. “My name is Blake.”

He could only have received her name from a couple sources. The newspapers or Aiden Price himself.
It dawned on her that while she was sleeping last night or early this morning, Aiden had been busy. But what was more important: the job protecting her or the relics they’d found back at the estate?

“Nice to meet you, Blake.”
Kiera accepted his hand, surprised at the firm squeeze he gave.

“Where’s your truck?”
Aiden asked.

“I came by foot.” They locked gazes again. “It was the most discreet way.”

She noted the same myriad of colors in Blake’s eyes that she’d first seen in Aiden’s. He was equally built, if not bulkier, and nearly a head taller than Aiden. Blake examined her with the same fire in his gaze as Aiden, but it felt different. It was more of a warning look. Yet, he was attractive, and everything about him screamed proceed with caution. Had she met either Aiden or Blake maybe five years earlier, she would have turned and ran for dear life. In every way, they fit the descriptions and mannerisms of the bachelors in her hometown she’d avoided like the plague to save herself from a broken heart.

But just like the waitress back at the diner, she was captivated by Aiden. She’d lost her sanity somewhere along the way allowing Aiden to touch her body in the most intimate of places.
And she didn’t even know what he was…only that he called her mate.

“You…um, you don’t look alike,” she m
umbled her thoughts aloud before she could stop herself.

Blake laughed. It was a friendly laugh that put her at ease just a bit. “Aside from the fact that I look better
…much better…I was also adopted. We were raised like brothers, yet I was faster, smarter, better in bed, and as you can see, the darker one.”

Blake’s skin tone was a smooth brown, almost like a latte. It reminded her of her father’s complexion, but Blake’s skin was more youthful, flawless, with muscles that rippled beneath.

She looked back and forth from Blake to Aiden. The men exuded an unnatural amount of sexual appeal. It was almost unsettling, and made her uncomfortable as the only woman alone with two men in their prime. “I didn’t mean it that way. You both look…handsome.”

Blake’s lips spread into a slow smile as he exchanged knowing looks with Aiden.

Oh, God.
Keira’s face grew heated when she realized her mistake.

Aiden punched Blake playfully in the gut.
“Mine.”

“Doesn’t look that way.”
Blake punched him back in the shoulder.

They scuffled a
bit like only brothers would. She’d never had a sibling, but while she was growing up, she’d always wondering how much fun it would be to have someone around her that she could talk to about anything.

Her embarrassment subsided as she watched them, appreciating this side of Aiden. More than half of the time, he was always serious. His cousin, Blake, seemed to bring out a softer side in Aiden she hadn’t noticed before.

Blake must have caught him one good time, because Aiden grabbed at his side and held up his other palm. “Enough.” He gave Blake a death stare. It took seconds for Keira to realize that despite his rapid recovery in the van the night before, he was still very much in pain from the bullet wounds at his side.

Blake’s expression turned quickly, becoming just as deadly as Aiden’s “I need fucking names. Three on one?
They
resorted to some dirty tactics.”

They.
Blake spoke as if he knew exactly who’d attacked them.

“Enough for n
ow.” Aiden took her hand and led her toward the house. “We’ve been on the road a while. We both need food and a little rest.”

Blake held out
his hand as they passed. “Keys?”

Aiden threw him a set of keys and Blake caught it mid-air.

“By the way,” Blake yelled out from behind them. “Happy retirement.”

“It has definitely been an adventure so far.”

Keira had just exited the bath adjoining the bedroom when she heard the front door of the ranch open and then close. After dinner, both men had gone outside each with a beer in hand. She’d learned that they hadn’t seen each other in months, so she figured they had some catching up to do. She took a shower to soothe her and pass the time, but the questions continued to spiral through her head.

She presumed Blake had left as the home was
silent except for the sounds of Aiden moving about the den area.

P
ulling her damp hair up on top of her head, she secured it with bobby pins. After grabbing a novel from her suitcase, she curled up on the large chair next to the window. A lamp sitting on a shelf was already turned on, but the glow from the full moon provided just enough light for reading.

Dinner had comprised of delivered pizza
. They both swore up and down that they were lousy cooks. She had every reason to believe them after discovering boxes and boxes of corn flakes in his pantry and not much else.

Aiden and Blake
were different. Not like others. There was no doubt about that. Perhaps it was premonition or just plain superstition. They avoided the conversation she’d been eager for them to have. The one they’d probably had outside while she was in the shower and out of earshot. What did they really know about these relics? What connections did they have to the Ellis’ and the men who nearly killed them?

T
he name
Devin
had come up throughout the conversation. They spoke highly of him, but not much at all about who he actually was. In just a few days, they planned to visit this man, and apparently, he knew more about the relics found back at the estate than they did. Other than that bit of information, the men had remained reserved.

Aiden shuffled
around in the den for a while longer, and then his footsteps were more noticeable as he neared the bedroom. When he came inside the room and closed the door, she pretended to be engrossed in her novel.

“You can still walk away right now,” he said so softly that if she had been
preoccupied with reading, she probably wouldn’t have caught it. “I would lead you somewhere safe, but I wanted you to know that it’s still an option.”

It wasn’t the option she planned to choose.

She closed the book, set it aside, and looked up. “For hours we’ve been dancing around the truth, or rather you’ve been holding it from me. How am to trust you if you can’t give me the information I need to make the right decision? I am tempted to walk away, Aiden, but it won’t be because I’ve given up. It will be because I no longer trust you.”

Aiden tore his gaze away from her, bowing his head. In that moment, she knew she had struck a chord. He was withholding fro
m her, and he was embarrassed because of it.

“If I knew who you were before…” His voice trailed off and he ran his fingers through his hair. “I wasn’t prepared for this.”

“How would you have prepared for this?” she asked.

He was silent, biting at his bottom lip and contemplating his answer. After a while, she figured nothing could have prepared him.

Aiden came to stand next to her and leaned against the window frame. “Where do you want me to start?”

“S
tart from the beginning.”

“The beginning of what?”

“Start with yourself.” She locked gazes with him, her heart beating wildly in anticipation. “What are you?”

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“My name is Aiden Marshal Price. I am a bodyguard. Have been all my life. My biological parents are Marshal and Annette Price. Their union was unusual, so to speak, and thus my mother’s family didn’t approve of Marshal. When I was born, they placed me in the care of my uncle, Connell, who raised me with his adopted son, Blake. I am Caedmon. The spirit runs through me from my mother’s bloodline. I am man. I am wolf. And I shift between the two.”

Blood pounded in her ears as his declaration echoed in her head.
He was wolf?
“What?”

“Think back to the night I was shot. What did you see?”

“You…you healed quickly. You should have been dead.” She shook her head. “And your teeth are different. They were longer. How can you be both an animal and a man?”

“
We are different from homo sapiens and canis lupis because of the powers and heightened abilities that we possess. These gifts are passed down only through the Caedmon bloodline. There is a second branch of us known as
Other
. They are humans with the same abilities, just condensed. And they cannot shape shift.”

“Shape shift?”

“Take the form of both man and wolf at will.”

“So, you’re an animal?” she asked.

“Yes. On the night in the van, had I not allowed my wolf to take over I probably would have died from the blood loss. It is forbidden to reveal our true form or powers to humans.”

“Is that why you couldn’t go to the hospital?”

He nodded. “While unconscious, I can’t really control what my body does. The human doctors wouldn’t have understood. So, if I was going to live, I had to regenerate.”

She remembered seeing all the blood on the floor of the van where t
he bullets had fallen out. “How do you regenerate?”

“My powers are strongest w
hile in wolf form, and the wolf wanted to ensure swift recovery and minimal pain.” He ground his teeth, as if recalling the discomfort. “We were in a great deal of pain, but I didn’t want to scare you. Luckily, the extent of the injury didn’t require me to shift entirely. The wolf and I battle for complete dominance, but we both know that in order to protect our specie we must live among the humans and primarily in that form.”

It all sounded like something from the history or science channel. Some secret society or cult whose existence had just been discovered. “Your existence is a secret to all humans then?”

“Over the decades, there have been instances where we’ve revealed ourselves only to humans we trust. Our specie is undocumented, but we aren’t entirely a secret to your government. We’re not publicly known and we do not wish to be.”

She uncurled her legs and joined him near the window. He stiffened when she touched his face, then his posture relaxed again when she moved closer. “Does it hurt?”

“Does what hurt?”

“When you shift…doesn’t everything…change?”

“The first dozen or so times, it does, but then your body gets used to it.”

“You have to embrace the change,” she said, remembering what he’d told her in the van.

He smiled. “Yes. It’s integral to the growing process.”