Page 61 of Fated to the Alpha

Yeah, as long as they were together, and she still wanted him, Shane knew they could get through anything. Let the world throw the worst at them. They were back together and he wasn’t going to let anything, not even a sick wolf, force them apart.

*

“So, what’s the verdict?”

Kimberly watched Shane stand in the middle of the waist-deep creek, his blond hair slicked back. Water droplets glistened across his suntanned skin, catching the early afternoon light in just the right way to make him look bedazzled in the sun. From her vantage point on the shore, she had never seen anything sexier.

He scooped up water and splashed his arms and chest to wash away the remnants of the forest that he collected during his run. “Well,” he began thoughtfully, “the wildlife is a little scarce, but we only traveled one quadrant. There might be more in other parts. Then again, the presence of a human might have skewed things.”

Kimberly had done her best to keep up with Shane, but she couldn’t possibly move as freely and gracefully through the woods as a wolf while running on two human legs. Her footfalls were clumsy, her clothes caught on branches, and twigs and leaves crackled with every step to announce her presence to every animal within a quarter of a mile. He had tried to convince her to shift before their little scouting mission, but Kimberly promised they could try when their real reason for going for a run was out of the way. She didn’t want to bog down his task and make things harder for them both. Her stomach twisted at the thought that soon, he’d try to coax her wolf into a shift. As an alpha, it was possible, but she just wasn’t sure her wolf was game for the challenge.

She wrapped her arms around her bent knees, her fingers pulling at the fabric of her long skirt. “Sorry.”

“It’s all right.” Shane’s gaze swung to the tree line. “The paths are easy. Not too many brambles and underbrush. The canopy is thick, so plenty of shade in the summer. It’s hard to tell how winter will change things, but it’ll probably be fun during the first snowfall.”

She smiled as she imagined Shane in his white and gray wolf form, darting in and out of snowdrifts like a happy pup, his pink tongue lolling over sharp teeth, and his golden eyes sparkling with joy. That was months away, and there was no telling where they would be. Would she be bounding on all fours in fur beside him, or half a country away and somewhere warmer that never saw snow?

Regardless of what he said to her in the hotel room earlier that morning, she still wasn’t sure. Kimberly came to regard hope as a dangerous thing, and she would rather prepare herself for things not to work out than brace for the kind of life she once dreamed of with Shane. He might have assuaged her concerns about her dominance, but there was still the issue of leaving her current pack, and if his pack would be content to let the daughter of a former traitor into their ranks.

“So, it’s good?” she asked.

Shane nodded and cupped his hands beneath the surface of the creek before dumping more water over his head. Her body charged with fresh want, knowing he was completely naked in the creek. If she had a clean change of clothes, she would have run into the creek to join him.

Before she could wonder how quickly she could strip to her skin instead, Shane made his way out of the water and strode onto the grassy bank. Rivers of water streamed down his legs and soaked the ground, leaving a damp path from the creek to his bag near Kimberly.

“Want help drying off?” Kimberly asked, wiggling her brows and forcing her voice to a low, suggestive tone.

She meant it completely in jest, but Shane’s gaze slid toward her and his mouth curled into an intrigued grin. “If you’re offering.”

Torn between seizing the chance and laughing it off, Kimberly took the former option and rushed for his bag. His phone sat on top of a folded bath towel, and she noticed the notification light blinking red.

“You’ve got a message.” She held out his phone to him, a little dejected that their fun would have to wait.

For a minute, he didn’t seem eager to snatch it up and check, but it came alive with an incoming call as soon as it transferred to his palm.

Shane let out a long breath. “I better take it. It’s Paul. Get that towel ready.”

He answered the phone and she tugged out the towel to hold it in her lap as she waited.

“Hey, Paul. Did you try to call earlier?”

Kimberly’s keen, shifter ears allowed her to hear Paul’s side of the conversation.

“A few times and left a few voicemails.” There was a gruff urgency in his words that made her spine straighten with dread.

“Dominic probably tried to call you too,” Paul added. “Are you still out of town?”

That got their attention and Shane’s eyes darted to Kimberly, then away again as his brows furrowed. “Yeah. Sorry, I missed the calls. I was on a run, checking out the territory. What’s going on?”

“Andy was caught stealing. Broke into a gun store late last night. Cole has him locked up.”

All at once, Shane’s countenance sharpened from mild worry to absolute rage. “I can leave now. Any idea why he did it?”

Kimberly could hear the sardonic notes in Paul’s response. “The boy lost his damn marbles. From what Cole told me, he was shouting about some coming danger, and he needed to protect the pack. He’s lucid now. Maybe he was hoping to get off on temporary insanity or something.”

While Kimberly’s thoughts snagged on what kind of danger Andy might have sensed, Shane seemed entirely upset about something else.

“Why the hell did Cole call you instead of me?”