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No, I wouldn’t, but the picture you’ve painted isn’t helping.
She laughed but said nothing more. For that, he was grateful.
By the time they reached the eastern end of the compound and was walking up the stairs to the large, outdoor patio, he could smell the fires and the meat on the grill.
As his stomach rumbled, he lifted his nose to catch every varied scent of the charring meat and burning wood. He’d always enjoyed the outdoors, though in his previous life he’d had his telescope mounted in a meadow somewhere on the Plains. As an alter wolf, he had dreams of the White Mountains of Arizona, shifting and running free.
He’d build a campfire and race around it as some of the wolves were doing now.
“It’s beautiful,” Natalie murmured.
He glanced at her to catch her sightline. She, too, was watching the wolves around the fire. The next second, he saw her iridescent wolf leave her body or her spirit or however it worked, to join in the fun.
He doubted any of the other wolves could see Natalie’s wolf, but he could, and he loved it.
He squeezed her hand for about the tenth time and she responded with an answering pressure. No one paid their hand-holding any attention. Pack life had few secrets when it came to who was sleeping with whom. By now, his romantic, even his sexual involvement with Natalie would be well known.
Besides, even if he’d felt uncomfortable, he wasn’t sure he could have released her hand if he’d wanted to. Though he’d marked Natalie, there were far too many powerful beta wolves around, with a hungry eye, for him to do anything but keep Natalie pinned to his side.
He had no real claim on her, not yet and maybe not for the long haul. But tonight, she was his.
The second security shift headed out to relieve the first shift. They were cheered by the rest of the pack.
Grant felt a measure of pride in seeing them go then in witnessing the others return to help themselves to steak, potato salad and beer.
Somebody got up a howl and pretty soon the whole pack was crying into the night. He couldn’t help but join them and watched as Natalie’s wolf threw back her head and let loose as well.
He released her hand only to slide his arm around her waist. She leaned her head against his chest. He swore nothing had ever felt better in his life than having her close to him as he howled at the stars.
He made sure Natalie’s steak was cooked a little better than the blood-rare he preferred. A couple of new pack members waited on them. They brought cutlery and bottles of beer. Natalie ate quietly, but her right hand found his thigh often. She kept squeezing the inside of his leg and his leathers kept shrinking. He wanted her touch, her lips, her body.
The need kept mounting like a call within his soul.
After an hour had passed and his stomach was full, after he’d shifted twice and joined Natalie’s wolf by racing around the fire, after he’d howled about dozen more times, he coaxed Natalie away from the crowd.
I have to be alone with you. Now.
Thank God, she responded. I’m in agony.
He led her down two flights to his room but found one of the female wolves blocking his way. She smiled, though. “We’ve moved you to a suite we’ve had prepared for you for the last two years. Kryder never knew about it.”
He was stunned. “I had no idea and I thought I knew everything that went on around here.”
“It was Ryan’s idea. Only a handful of us knew. He said we should keep it quiet, that it might be best. If you’ll follow me.”
Grant had been all over the compound dozens of time. When he arrived at his new domicile, he understood and could only laugh.
It was the door he’d wondered about earlier which had a sign on it that said ‘Supplies’.
The wolf opened the door then stood aside. “We didn’t think you would want Kryder’s former quarters.”
“No. I wouldn’t.” He felt his jaw stiffen. Kryder had tortured and raped women, as well as a few men, in his lavish suite of rooms. Grant wasn’t sure what he would do with the rooms though his first inclination was to brick up the entrance and never let anyone use it again. He wasn’t even certain that a witch’s spell could cleanse away the evil that had been done in there.
He was grateful Ryan had had the foresight to set aside a completely different room for him.
Natalie walked in and said, “It’s exactly what I thought your quarters would be.”
As soon as he saw what the wolves had accomplished, in secret, he was completely bowled over. The original block walls had disappeared, and the space had been expanded to an enormous suite. The walls were now made of a variety of stones, from smooth river rock, to slabs of polished granite, to one section of massive boulders that formed a pillar around which a stone path had been laid. There was the usual furniture, couches, chairs, tables and lamps. Mostly, it was a wolf’s place.
