Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply (13 page)

“You dance very well for never having done so,” he said, trying to get his rampant need for her under control and his thoughts back to the issue at hand. “I wanted to ask you a question. I know you don't want me to stay with you and offer your pack protection, but Susan asked me to stay at her place. I wanted to ask if this is all right with you.”

“No, it's not all right. She's an unmated wolf who lives alone.” Even though Pepper sounded annoyed with him, she didn't pull away, continuing to slow dance with him nice and close, her breasts pressed against his chest, her thighs moving sensuously against his.

“We're not going to do anything. It's strictly a place to sleep in case you have any trouble. I'd be a stone's throw away instead of four hours away.” Not that Eric wanted to stay with Susan. He knew some would speculate about their relationship. That he had rescued her. That he might be taking this further with her. When he was interested in Pepper. “If I'm going to watch out for you and your pack, it would be better if I were staying in the same area—close by.” He slid his hands down her back, wanting to slide them underneath her shirt and feel her silky skin beneath his fingertips, but not with all the onlookers here today.

Her voice was breathy when she said, “I suppose if I say no—”

“Which you already did.” He smiled, hoping she'd concede that having him stay with her was the best option available, his hands still stroking her into submission.

“Susan will insist you stay there.”

“I don't want to cause any problems for you, Susan, or your pack. I just want to be here in case something happens. I wouldn't be able to sleep a wink if I returned home. So I might as well be where I may be needed. If you're afraid I'll ruin Susan's reputation, I can stay with a couple, if any will put me up, or I can even run as a wolf. Which I'll probably be doing for some of the night anyway. And then I can sleep out here.”

Hell, if he could, he'd guard her body all day and all night.

“Don't you have park duties?”

“I'll take leave for a couple of days after this latest incident, per Darien's order. He doesn't want me in the park for the time being while Waldron is looking to cause trouble for me. Of course, if I stay with you, it won't cause any speculation about us because everyone will know how alpha you are and that I'd be on my best behavior.” Not that he wanted to be on his best behavior. He was already fully aroused. She had to feel what she was doing to him too, but he didn't want to let her go for anything.

She cracked a smile. “You can run as a wolf. I have a nice enclosed patio you can stay on and a wolf door. That way you can be the perfect guard wolf.”

He grinned at her.
Hot damn!
“Ms. Grayling, you have a deal.”

She smiled back but in a devious way, and then to his delight, she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. Dancing with her was like dancing with the goddess of his dreams. He thoroughly enjoyed this soft side of her. He swore that Mervin, Silver Town's barber who played music at every Silver Town event, was extending the song a bit. He'd have to thank Mervin later. Thankfully, Pepper didn't seem to notice, or she didn't mind.

“So who really wanted you to ask me first about staying with Susan? You or her?” Pepper asked, tilting her head up to look at him, her brown eyes soft and warm and aroused, her dark brows raised slightly.

“I did. But don't be mad at Susan. She was just worried about the pack.”

“That's all right. I won't give her too big of a lecture.”

“Wish me luck? In case I run into any trolls in the night?”

“Hmm,” she said, sounding as though she wasn't sure what he had in mind, but she wasn't pulling away from him.

He leaned down and kissed her softly as a thank-you for the best dance he'd ever had. And he was thanking his lucky stars when she kissed him harder, but before he could match her enthusiasm, she pulled away. “I've got to tell everyone you're prowling the area as a wolf, so they won't worry if they see a stray wolf roaming around our homes in the middle of night.”

He wanted to groan when she pulled away, yet he knew this wasn't the time or place. But he wasn't giving up on her for anything. “I'll let Darien know I'm staying the night too.”

“On my back patio.”

Eric chuckled. “I wasn't going to give him details, but I will.”

“For Lelandi's sake.”

Eric frowned. He didn't want Pepper believing he was eager to make a mating, even if he was certainly considering it. But that was the whole point in going slow with Pepper—so he wouldn't appear too willing and upset the proverbial apple cart. “What did Lelandi say to you?”

“Just that you're not looking for a mate, but I know something about psychology, and I know a matchmaker's ploy when I hear one.”

He laughed. “As long as she's not saying I'm looking to settle down.”

“Why not?”

“Let's just leave it at I've been unlucky in love.” Which had nothing to do with his interest in Pepper and everything to do with not wanting to bare his soul to her about his past, not when he'd never told anyone but Sarandon. Though his father had known everything about it too.

But he figured it sounded good as a reason for not settling down, if she was worried about his intentions.

After Eric and Pepper concluded the dance, some of the kids in Eric's pack asked him to play a game of tag with them, and as soon as he left Pepper, Susan joined her. “So, did he ask about staying with me?” Susan raised her brows and smiled, to Pepper's annoyance.

“I can't believe you'd offer when I said no,” Pepper chastised her. “He's staying at my place, and he's going to check out the woods as a wolf some of the night. You're a single she-wolf. What would people think if he'd stayed with you?”

Susan was still smiling like a kid who had gotten the best toy ever. “Hey, there wasn't going to be any hanky-panky. The way he danced with you? Close? I can just imagine how turned on he was when you danced with him like that. Not like with me. He left lots of space between us. He's the perfect gentleman with anyone he's not interested in
that
way. And you might have noticed, if you were watching us dance—”

“I wasn't.”

“Well, he didn't kiss
me
. I would have slapped his face had he done so, mind you.”

Pepper shook her head. “No, you wouldn't have.”

“I would have! If you'd been watching.”

Pepper laughed. “You're still my favorite cousin.”

“Your
only
cousin. You're not really going to send him out on his own to look for Waldron or his men, are you?”

“If I thought I needed Eric, I would have asked him to stay. I hadn't intended to have him or anyone else patrolling the woods for trouble. He just said he'd do it.”

“Did he tell you which places they set fire to?”

“No. Which?”

“The jailhouse, the Silver Town Tow Truck Service, and Eric's house.”

Pepper stared at Susan in disbelief. “Ohmigod. I can't believe it. Doesn't he want to see how bad it is? And take care of things there?”

“Apparently, he thinks our safety is more important.”

Pepper was shocked that Eric had been so calm and seemed so unaffected about what had happened to his house. “But what if his staying here escalates the situation with Waldron?” Before Susan could answer, Pepper continued, “I can't believe it. He shouldn't be here. He needs to take care of matters at home. He must feel awful about it. Angry too.”

Susan sighed. “If I were him, I'd feel that way. Which says a lot about his character, don't you think?”

“I wonder how bad it is.” Pepper envisioned how his den had looked, with its butternut leather couches and plaid chairs. The dining room with its heavy wooden table and chairs. The view of the woods from the den window. It was a lovely house, and it suited him. She couldn't imagine anyone setting fire to it. She hoped they had stopped the fire in time and his place hadn't sustained too much damage.

She watched Eric playing tag with a bunch of the kids now, as if nothing bad had happened. He got a call on his phone, and rather than step out of the game, he continued to chase after kids while several tried to grab the tag at his belt.

“I wonder if his pack is telling him how bad the house is damaged,” Pepper said. “Maybe one of the other members of his pack can stay here instead, if it makes him feel better about us being protected, so he can go home to check on his place.”

Eric lost his tag to an older teen, then grabbed a smaller child on his team and carried him on his shoulders.

“Hey, no fair,” some of the older kids shouted, laughing, and took chase after him again.

“He's smaller than you,” Eric said. “He needs a boost.”

“He's
really
good with kids,” Susan said.

Pepper had to agree. From seeing him with the Boy Scouts and playing games with the children here, she could tell he had a natural ability to play well with them—any age too. Not just the more grown-up teens. Just the fact that they had asked him to play, when they'd only asked one other adult to do so, showed how much they liked involving him.

Some of the adults were starting to pack up their stuff, and Pepper realized she had felt safe with all the Silver pack members being here. But once families began to leave, she did feel better that Eric was staying, though she didn't want to admit it to him or anyone else.

“I'm going to help clean up,” Susan said before walking off.

When they finished the game of tag and one of the moms handed out chocolate bars to each of the players, Eric got two for being the best sport. He smiled, thanking the mom, then stalked toward Pepper, still smiling.

When he reached her, she offered her most serious look. “That was cheating.”

“What? Giving Robby a boost? He needed a little help.” Eric gave her a devil of a smile and one of his candy bars.

“That was sweet of you.” Then she folded her arms. “I just heard about your house. Why didn't you tell me?”

“Half my pack is taking care of it for me. They said I'd just be in the way.”

Pepper didn't believe it.

“Why do you think I wanted to stay here?”

“That's not the reason. How bad is the fire damage?”

He sighed. “It'll take a couple of months to rebuild the damaged parts. I'll stay with Sarandon while the work is being done.”

“You don't seem to be too upset with it.”

“Oh, I am. Believe me. But there's nothing to be done about it right this instant. I just want to make sure Waldron doesn't do something like that to your homes. Or the forest. I wouldn't put that past him if he thinks he's lost the chance to be with you and wants to take revenge and then leave the area. Maybe that's what he did at his last location. Do you know where they're staying now?”

“No. I don't know if they're renting or have bought, or where they are staying exactly.”

“Next time we catch sight of any of them, we'll follow them if we can. Trevor tried to follow the Fairhaven boys home, but they ended up going to a pizza place and another five places after that—video game archive, the park finally—and then hiked around for a couple of hours. Trevor couldn't stay with them the rest of the day and night and finally returned to Silver Town.”

“What about learning the boys' home address when they were incarcerated?”

“All they had was the Idaho one. They hadn't updated their driver's licenses yet.”

She thought maybe she or some of her people could track down Waldron's residence if they chanced to see any of his pack members. “I can't believe anyone would do that to your home and the other places. Are you sure you don't want someone else to stay with me while you go home and check out your place?”

“Are you kidding?”

She smiled at the inference. “All right. Well, if you're ready to go home, I'm ready.” She said good night as everyone began loading the cars with games and food and kids. Then she led Eric to her back deck off the one-story house with views of the forest in all directions.

Eric was glad he'd been able to convince Pepper to allow him to stay with her, and not just because he wanted to protect her and her pack. He hoped this would help pave the way for a courtship. Before he'd met her, he couldn't imagine feeling about a woman the way he did about Pepper. Yet in the two weeks that he'd had to wait for the packs to gather for the festivities, he'd dreamed about kissing her, about getting to know her, about her getting to know him in return. And he had every intention of showing her he could give her some space, while at the same time letting her know how interested he truly was in her.

Once Eric had felt better, he and several other Silver pack members had tried to track down the wolves growing marijuana. They hadn't had any success yet. Eric had voiced his concern to Darien and Lelandi that the rogue wolves no doubt knew wolves had found their growing patches, and the rogues would now be wearing hunter's scents, making it impossible for another wolf to trace them. None of the Silver pack wolves had found any more sites where the plants were growing. But as many acres as there were, that didn't mean there weren't more.

Although they'd smelled the strong odor of the cannabis from a distance, he and the others hadn't found any of the trash that humans created in running illegal marijuana farms either. The wolves were sneakier. They probably assumed that if scent hounds were used to pick up their scents, they would find only wolves in the area. But now with wolves tracking them down? Whoever they were, they had to be angry Eric and his people were “stealing” their stash.

He just wished they could catch the culprits. He'd been on the lookout, scent-wise, while he was at the gathering, trying to learn if any of Pepper's wolves had been at any of the marijuana sites. He hadn't noticed any here, which relieved him. The wolf who had been at the campsite had probably been there after the pack left.

It was time to mention the situation to Pepper so she could ensure her people were careful if they visited the park and ran into the rogue wolves. “I wanted to talk to you about something I've been investigating off duty.”

She frowned at him. “Sounds ominous.”

“It's dangerous—for anyone who might run across the wolves. I discovered some were growing marijuana patches in hard-to-reach places.”

Her eyes widened and her mouth gaped a bit. Then she frowned. “Not my wolves.”

“No. I've smelled several wolves at the locations, but none match your wolves' scents.”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. “Wait, you thought they were some of mine?”

He swore if she'd been wearing her wolf coat, she would have growled and snapped her wickedly beautiful teeth at him.

“I smelled a wolf that had carried the scent of marijuana through your campsite. But since Waldron had been through there too, it might have been one of the men in his pack. Still, I have no hard evidence his pack is involved.”

“Except we don't know if he has a job.” Her lips parted and then she frowned again. “Ohmigod. This is really serious business. What if he wanted my land to grow the pot on?”

“I wondered the same thing. But I wanted to let you know in case any of your people encounter wolves that could be involved. I don't want anyone in your pack to get hurt.”

“Maybe I should try to see Waldron and learn what I can.”

Now Eric frowned at her. “No way.”

She let out her breath. “All right. My people aren't involved in this, just for your information if you have any doubt. But thanks for telling me. I'll warn them.”

He thought that went over well, considering he
had been
trying to determine if any of her people were involved. When her deck and stone patio came into view, what really got his attention was the hot tub built into the deck and the sun now setting, its pink-and-purple coloring reflecting in the blue water.

“Nice,” he said, thinking he'd like to add something like that to his place. “Must be great when you want to unwind.”

“It is. And it's fun to sit out here when the snow is piled up around it.”

He could just imagine how enjoyable that would be—especially if he got to join Pepper in the tub. “With the remodeling I'm going to have to do, I'll have to check into getting something like this.”

“Feel free to use it while you're here tonight.”

“I'm here to protect and serve.”

“When you want to take a break. Just don't swim in it as a wolf.”

“No fur allowed in the hot tub. Gotcha.”

She smiled, took him inside the house, and showed him the spare bedroom and bathroom. She had said he was supposed to be sleeping on the enclosed porch. He didn't comment, glad she had changed her mind about that.

“Did you need anything? Spare toothbrush, toothpaste?”

“I always carry an overnight bag with me in my truck in case of emergencies. I'll just grab it and go for a patrol.”

She looked a little surprised, but he meant what he said. His business here was to protect her and her pack.

“Let me know when you're ready to go. I'll join you.”

“All right.” It was her forest, her territory, but he didn't even want to think what would happen if they ran into some of Waldron's wolves in the area.

After he had stripped and shifted in the guest room, he found her waiting for him outside his door in her wolf form—her face framed with black and brown guard hairs, her muzzle ivory, a dark saddle on her back, and golden fur on her legs and chest. Beautiful.

She had the most intense look of any she-wolf he'd ever met. If he hadn't been just as alpha as her, he believed he would have found her gaze intimidating.

He smiled, showing off his wolf canines, wanting her to know just how much he liked what he saw, and that he wasn't intimidated in the least.

She cocked her head to the side a little, as if trying to read his behavior. He couldn't help the way he saw her, and he wanted to show his attraction. He could tell himself he wasn't interested in her, but it wouldn't be true. It had nothing to do with her running a pack. And all to do with what he saw in her. Someone who genuinely cared about her people and others, about the natural habitat and its survival, about taking charge without being brutish. She had a quiet strength that made her all the more appealing. She didn't appear to be a wolf to challenge either. He wondered if her mate had appreciated her for it. He must have. She didn't seem to be the kind of wolf who would just mate with any wolf.

But it made him wonder what her mate had been like. How different Eric and her mate were, besides that he had been a beta. Eric realized he'd never thought in such terms before—wondering if a she-wolf would like him as well or better than another wolf.

In the case of his lost mate, he hadn't had any competition. But he had found himself comparing her to Pepper. His mate had been loving and vivacious, daring and fun to be with. A beta. She hadn't had a care in the world. Not like Pepper did. And that made her seem so much more serious, circumspect. Even when the packs were playing together, she watched everyone. If he hadn't commented about her lack of skills at playing volleyball and how he could help her, and if he hadn't taken her hand and led her in the dance, he knew she wouldn't have joined him. He was grateful she had.