FireWolf
Driving through a blizzard angry is stupid, Hailey.
An elemental sold to the highest bidder finds love and death chasing her and she is tired of running.
Hailey has been ignored by her grandfather and his pack until it suits him to sell her to the highest bidder. On the run from her new owner, Hailey hides at Café Nowhere where dark and light collide.
Choosing
the heat of an alpha over the cold embrace of eternity, Hailey has to fight with everything in her, even if her fire wolf looks funny.
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Fire Wolf
Copyright © 2013
Viola Grace
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Café Nowhere
Fire Wolf
By
Viola Grace
Driving
through a blizzard angry is stupid, Hailey.
She took her foot off the gas and her car stopped fishtailing immediately. Sometimes you had to talk to yourself to see sense.
Her grip on the steering wheel was so tight she had to make her hands relax. As soon as her body was calm, her mind flew into uproar again. Her damned grandfather
sold her!
To the highest bidder, no less. She hadn’t stayed to see who won the auction, but had used her father’s talent to get herself into her car and away from the insanity.
She still couldn’t believe it. Her mother had begged her to go to the gathering when her grandfather had lowered himself to ask her to a wolf pack event. He had disowned his daughter for marrying outside the clan, but seemed to be unbending for her daughter.
If only they had known then that he was planning to sell the last of his bloodline to anyone willing to pay, they would have told him to shove his invitation up his furry tail.
“Moronic son of a bitch.” Hailey muttered, then laughed at her phrasing. He had even had the gall to sedate her for the auction. That was the thing that made her want to burn his whole place down.
He had led her into the ballroom and shown her to the men gathered there. Two had struck her as being intent on having her. One was a pale, beautiful man with silky black hair and eyes that froze her soul. The other was all warm brown colors from his tanned skin to his dark hair and friendly brown eyes. Those eyes hadn’t been friendly when they looked at her though, they had been intent.
The chalky man was looking at her like a bug, an elegant bug to be sure, but a bug nonetheless. Mr. Brown was far more interested in her body than a stranger had any right to be. It had both warmed her and triggered her instinct to run. That instinct was not a good thing in a room full of wolves and other predators, but the adrenaline did start her other talent burning through the sedative that she had been given.
While the bidding got underway, she had simply floated lightly to the door and away from the room full of wolves. Only the gazes of Mr. Pasty and Mr. Brown followed her and neither of them said a word. They merely kept bidding as her price climbed higher and higher.
As soon as she got to the doorway, she slid through and
then
started to run. The guards had not been prepared for her hands to flame as she grabbed them and shoved, but finding her car keys in her pocket required that she calm down enough to not melt them. In her rear view mirror, she had seen the doors open and men spill out into the yard like ants from a disturbed anthill.
Hah! Sell her, would they? They would have to catch her first and she had horsepower versus their wolf power. A final bit of fury accidentally escaped and she melted the tires of the cars in the driveway. Whoopsie.
Hailey chose the mountain pass as the fastest way home. She had called her mother and let her in on her grandfather’s diabolical plan. Mom had been furious and she had promised to wait until Hailey was at their place before telling her dad. Andrew McMaster would be enraged and it would take his daughter being safe in front of him to keep him calm.
The mountains ended up being a foolish choice. Her car was slowed with the heavy snow and the visibility was almost nil.
As she slowed to turn a corner, she could swear that she saw a wolf out of the corner of her eye. Larger than a wolf had any right to be he was running beside her car. That was distracting enough, but when what looked like a black eagle darted toward her windshield, she lost control of her vehicle and the next thing she knew, she was wiping a bleeding nose and fighting free of the deflated air bag.
She unbuckled her belt, thankful that she had instinctively buckled up. Good habits saved lives. The front of her car was buried in snow, she would be able to melt it out, but if there was loose dirt under the front wheels, she would create mud. It would be better to call Triple A.
Hailey dug her cell out and looked at it in despair. She had used the last of her battery to call her mother and forgotten to put it on the charger, again. “Shit.”
Out of the snow, the wolf loomed in front of her. The eyes gave him away.
“Hello, Mr. Brown.”
He looked confused, but whined and knelt beside her. Even crouched, his back was almost as tall as her head. He rubbed her with this muzzle and his ears flicked. He wanted her on his back.
“That’s quite the turn of positions, but since I am in the category of eventually freezing, why not?”
The quizzical noise he made was cute.
“Normally guys are trying to get me on my back.” She must have been giddy with fire, fury and shock. Normally she would not have been so chipper to see someone who had just been in a bidding war for her body. But then again, this was definitely not normal.
She had to climb onto her car to get on his back, but once he stood up, she nestled in as snugly as she could. Her hands gripped the ruff around his neck, her belly was flat against his spine and her legs were bent to touch his haunches. Her position was instinctive, but it was a good instinct. As he began to run through the blizzard, she rocked with him, her body warm against his fur and her face protected by his ruff. If she hadn’t been a moron and left her jacket at her grandfather’s home, she might not have taken him up on his non-verbal offer.
His fur was silky soft, not wiry as she had thought it would be and so warm she almost fell asleep. The rocking rhythm of his stride was soporific. Her clenched hands held her in place, but she was not going to be able to hold on forever.
Hailey’s head was pounding furiously, her mind was getting a bit fuzzy as she looked up and saw a building perched on the side of the road. It was a little odd because she could have sworn that when she drove on that road coming in, there had been a sheer cliff face in that spot.
Her ride slowed to a jagged trot and brought her right to the door. The signage proclaimed it
Café Nowhere
but it looked warm and welcoming. The glass door pushed open and a woman with a nametag proclaiming her to be Cathy, looked up at Hailey where she clung to the wolf.
“Come in, poor thing. You must be frozen.”
Her words spurred Hailey to unclench her hands and slide off her fuzzy mount. As soon as she was off his back, a very naked Mr. Brown was at her side.
“Excuse me, Cathy, but is there a chance that there is a change of clothing nearby? I seem to have misplaced my pants.” He shooed Hailey into the empty café.
“I’ll find something.” Cathy scampered off, leaving Hailey with her mystery rescuer.
Hailey took a position in the center booth with a view to the snowstorm out the window. Mr. Brown slid in across from her.
“You know, I don’t envy you standing up after sitting naked on vinyl.” It was as good a conversation starter as any.
“Hailey McMaster.”
It was said on a growl, but growls weren’t that warm. The erection he had been sporting was now hidden by the Formica tabletop and she was grateful for the coverage. It was damned distracting to have that thick rod waving at her in the snow.
“That’s my name, what’s yours?”
“Hector Anderson, lone Alpha in association with the Morning Claw Clan.”
She fidgeted a little, but nodded in acknowledgement of his name. “So, who won the bidding after I left? I was sorry to go, but I left some muffins in the oven and just remembered I needed to shave my legs.”
He twitched his lips and was about to answer her when a tall blond man stood next to their booth and handed them menus.
“Hello, I am Adam and today our special is hot wings and nachos.”
“That sounds wonderful, Adam, and I was just wondering, how many naked werewolves frequent your establishment? You and Cathy both seem awfully calm.”
“It isn’t the strangest thing we have seen, miss.” His lips twitched a little, as if he had forgotten how to smile.
Cathy returned with a pair of jeans and some loafers.
“Here we are. Just about your size as well.” She handed them to Hector and smiled at Hailey. “Has Adam taken your order?”
“Yes. Two sets of the special and two cokes and glasses of water.” Hailey smiled and nodded at the wolf who was half-dressed. “He can order his own food.”
Cathy raised her eyebrows, but Adam took the order, and the same for Hector announced in his harsh growl.
“Robert, we have four orders of the special,” Cathy called it at the same time Adam spun the written order into the kitchen.
Adam pulled the cokes while Cathy got the water. They moved like a well-oiled machine. It was obvious that they had done this a few thousand times.
As soon as Hector finished zipping up the new jeans and stepping into the loafers, he was back in his seat across from her.
“Xavier was the last bidder before he noticed you were gone. It was he who sounded the alarm before he sprouted wings to follow you.” Hector drank the water with a grateful gulp.
Hailey couldn’t help but watch a drop of water escape his mouth to trickle down the strong column of his throat. She was suddenly thirsty and wanted to follow that drop with her tongue as it passed down through his chest hair to rest on his left nipple.
To cover the sudden dryness in her mouth, she took a huge gulp of ice water, choking on the ice cube that tried to make it through with the water. Her head pounded as she coughed and spluttered, a warm hand started to rub circles on her back and she relaxed under the persistent touch.
“Here. Her nose is bleeding.” Cathy’s voice stopped near the table and a hand pressed the cool cloth to her nose as soon as she finished releasing the water she inhaled. When the hands tilted her head back, she was looking into Hector’s deep brown eyes. The cloth was applied and the warm coppery flow stopped after a few minutes.
“What happened?” A darker man who must be Robert, arrived carrying two plates with Adam bringing the other two. Cathy was cleaning up the water Hailey had spilled.
“Hailey ended up in the ditch and her air bag must have hit her just right.” Hector checked and cleaned the trail of blood that led down her face. He was very competent with the way he got the blood off her skin, his gentle touch had her mind spinning down improper paths.
