Hunting Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #3 (20 page)

“He
is
going to be an alpha,” she said gently. She only pointed it out to remind him there were rules in place. Even Caleb couldn't defy his own Alpha. At least, she didn't think he would.

She could feel the aggravation rolling through him like a living thing. His muscles coiled and bunched beneath her hands. Even though she didn't fear Caleb and never would, no matter how extreme his anger might get, she did feel apprehensive about what he might do. She knew his temper could be volatile at best. With what they had just shared—the thought of which sent a shivering flush through her even now—he had another justification to let his stewing anger boil over.

Even more worrisome, Caleb did not answer her. He simply took a deep breath, then started to kiss her again, with a fierce possession that instantly shot a bolt of liquid desire straight between her legs. After that, she forgot everything else except the presence of the man who had helped her finally free her wolf.

Chapter 11

Caleb couldn't seem to get rid of his smile. Every time he thought of Ree, which was only about two thousand times a day, a goofy grin slid across his face. The pillowy softness of her lips, that sweet hollow at the base of her throat, the breathy gasps she made when she was coming.... Oh, yeah. He'd pleased the hell out of his woman. No wonder he was grinning like a stupid fool.

The second time he'd taken her, it had been just that—taking. Firm, decisive, although still gentle and ready for her to call the shots if she signaled in any way she was nervous. But her responsiveness to his advances surprised him yet turned him on so much he'd been a total stud the whole night. Not that he really felt like a stud when it was Rielle. Something about her made the act deeper, more meaningful. The way she'd come, screaming so hard he thought she might damage her throat, had washed him with awe that
he
had done that to her. Then the way she looked at him right after had made him feel funny inside. Sort of soft and gooey.

She is mine.
His wolf's flat out declaration matched the feeling deep in Caleb's every bone. Rielle was his, and he wanted to let everyone know. Well, maybe not exactly everyone quite yet. For the past few days, he'd managed to avoid his brothers. They'd know in a heartbeat and never stop teasing him. Especially Rafe. He'd just give that knowing look and nod like Caleb had finally figured it all out.

Maybe he had. He knew one thing for sure: he'd never felt more certain about something in his whole life than that he and Rielle belonged together. That she was his mate. His wolf growled in assent.

His cell vibrated in his pocket. He fished it out and scanned the message. To his surprise, it was his human poker buddy, Mason.

Hey man. Some really sketchy guys have been asking around town about you n your fam. Pretty rough trade. You okay? Let me know if I need to kick some ass for you

Caleb snorted at the thought of Mason offering to kick ass for a pack of wolf shifters. Even so, it was damn decent of him to watch his back. Mason might be just a casual acquaintance, but Caleb had always sensed he was a stand up sort of guy.

His cell buzzed again.

They said Licas sends his regards. Who the hell names their kid Licas? Poor guy

The goofy smile scattered from Caleb's face in a nanosecond. With a bone-snapping speed, his wolf clawed at his mind, rage tumbling close to out-of-control. His vision blurred, his hands clenched so hard he almost felt real claws sprouting from them, and his entire body stiffened with the urge to shift so he could maim, rend, kill.

Kill,
his wolf snarled.
Must protect mate.
A vision of Rielle, fragile and untrained as a warrior, filled his head.
Traitor.
He flashed a mental image of Luke's wolf covered in blood, roaring as he leapt toward Caleb.

Some alpha-in-training Luke had turned out to be. The asshole must have planned this from the very beginning. He meant to infiltrate the Black Mesa Pack, take them down with his false promises, with the way he played up to Alpha's needs to expand the Pack and create buffer packs nearby.

“Bastard!” Caleb heaved the word out into his empty kitchen, his half-eaten, now forgotten snack sitting on the countertop. He followed that with a stream of curse words his mother would have grounded him for back when he was a kid.

He shot back a text.

When? Now? Where are they?

Centuries went by before Mason responded.

Just talked to them. Lied like a mofo n said your a lameass poker player so I don't keep in touch. Srsly man you need help?

Despite the snarling beast inside him ready to be unleashed, Caleb huffed out a breath of laughter. There always had been a reason he liked Mason. The guy was not only straight up, he was funnier than shit.

Another vibration.

They just left 5 min ago. I can round up the guides n we can drown em if you want. Don't tell my boss

This time, Caleb let his lip curl up in what was probably a pretty scary version of a smile. Mason worked as a rafting guide down the Animas River in the summer. Caleb had met a few of his fellow guides during some long poker nights. They were all crazy and wild when they were off the river, completely focused and serious when they were at work, and of course would never really drown anyone. Even so, the thought of that traitor rogue soaking wet and spitting angry was an image Caleb could indulge in with grim satisfaction.

Thanks for the offer. Its cool, I got this. You can't lose your job anyway you need that tiny pay so I can take it all in the next game

Caleb was already moving when Mason's text buzzed in.

Ha. Anyway call if you need a hand. They looked super sketch

Yeah. Because they were. And now Caleb knew exactly where to find them.

Trying to sound casual, he shot off a quick text to Ree. Thinking of her sweet little body and what it had done to him last night—and this morning—nearly gave him pause. She was in the main den. Showering. Then returning to him, clean and and still luscious.

Must protect Rielle.
His wolf reared up in defiance of the Alpha's orders, of his own common sense.
Must protect all Pack.

Stabbing his fingers at the screen, he sent off a second text to someone else.

Without a backward look, Caleb headed out to the woods. Once he was barely out of sight, he yanked off his clothes and left them dropped on the ground. He'd get to town much faster as a wolf, not to mention he'd be seen leaving by himself if he took his car. There was no sense in going after the bastard rogue wolf here at the den. Caleb's brothers would stop him, not to mention he would not be able to defy the Alpha in that close of a proximity. But going to town to find those rogues sniffing after him and his Pack was another thing entirely. He might be defying orders. But to end this crap once and for all it was worth it. Damned if he'd let those mangy dogs rule his Pack's life anymore.

He dug his paws into the dirt and launched himself toward downtown Durango, fueled by the thought of blood and vengeance. When an image of Rielle's soft, troubled face popped into his mind, he gritted his jaw despite his longing and barreled on. She'd understand. She'd have to.

~

Rielle pushed opened the door to the dining room and looked inside again. Still empty, the afternoon shadows bathed its walls while the rich sunlight filtered in here and there through the branches of the huge pine just outside the main window.

She frowned. This was her second sweep of the den, and still she came up empty. She'd even used her heightened senses this time, trying to sniff for Caleb's scent. His scent was here, yes. Of course his scent was here, he lived in one of the houses on the property and his scent lingered all over the place. Even the traces of it, with its woodsy undertones and the overall masculine appeal of it, made her feel deliciously light-headed for a second.

Her wolf sent a deeply satisfied image of Caleb pleasuring her over and over last night. Rielle felt the pink creep into her face even as she smiled at the image. It had been playful, intense, gentle, firm, and frankly earth-shattering. He'd kept her up till the early morning hours, then they'd slept until dawn. Until he'd woken her out of a dead sleep with another wrenching orgasm, his skilled lips playing on her as if he'd done it all his life.

When she woke up again shortly before noon, he'd been propped up on an elbow, looking down at her with something close to awe in his expression.

“Ree,” he'd said in that rumble of his, the one that would now probably make her tingle and blush every day for the rest of her life. “You hungry? Because I'm starving. Been up all night, working pretty hard to make you happy.”

The tease in his voice startled her. Her big, strong, rough wolf could be silly and gentle with her. She'd smiled at him, knowing full well it was a totally goofy smile. But she just couldn't seem to help it.

He'd fixed her a simple but actually really good breakfast in his little kitchen. Seeing her face at the first bite, he'd said, “Hey. I'm a honed fighting machine. Have to keep it well fueled. Besides,” he added sheepishly, “the women in my family made sure all us clueless guys could cook. Said it was a life skill that would save us while we were still single, then help us move on from bachelorhood to actually getting dates.”

“Then I guess I was too easy, since you're only cooking for me now. I should have waited longer to give it up,” Rielle said in her most prim voice. She managed to keep a straight face while Caleb gawked at her for a moment, nonplussed, before she dissolved into laughter and shook her fork at him. “Gotcha!”

Apparently, she could tease and be relaxed around him as well.

She finally returned to her little room in the main den to shower and change, leaving her big, bad wolf with a promise to be back soon. So where on earth was the silly guy? She could smell his scent here in the den's dining room, too, but it was from a few days ago. She wondered if he'd come to the den looking for her, and she'd just missed him on his way back to his place.

“What are you doing here?”

She jumped at the deep voice, having been caught up in her single-minded focus on Caleb. Turning around, she took a step back from the unreadable expression on the face of the usually aloof, even disdainful wolf who filled the doorway between her and the hall.

“Are you looking for someone?” he asked her, eyes narrowing a bit.

For some reason, Rielle's pulse sped up and her suddenly wary wolf leapt to the front of her being as Luke Rawlins took a step inside the kitchen toward her.

~

As the buildings of town began to appear from behind the juniper and pinyon trees Caleb loped behind, he slowed his pace. The primitive rage still stirred in there, hot and oily, but his carefully measured thoughts remained cool and focused. This was what he did best: plan, attack, fight, win. Anger fueled his strength, but calculation won the battle. Sometimes his anger overpowered everything, but not right now. Everything he'd ever read in old Kurt's library about the art of war told him rage had to be tempered in order for it to be effective.

He'd see how effective it was when those rogues felt the brunt of it.

Staying in the scant cover of the trees was fairly easy. The brutal midday sun fried him in his thick coat, but it also meant no humans walked or ran the trails that criss-crossed the hillsides just above town. Though part of him wanted to ignore all protocol completely and simply storm the town, the part that had been trained since birth to hide the existence of shifters from the human world kept his movements stealthy. Not to mention some idiot with a gun was highly likely to shoot first at a giant wolf loping the city streets, then only later gawk at the body of an animal appearing where none were supposed to roam.

Slipping from patchy little tree to patchy little tree, he came as close as he dared to the outskirts of town. Housed ranged up the hillside, stopping abruptly just outside the boundaries of a sprawling park that consisted mostly of running trails. Anyone who possibly caught a glimpse of his hide here would think he was a coyote. Maybe the biggest coyote they'd ever seen, but their minds wouldn't let them believe it was a wolf.

The main advantage of this park was that it lay just west of the company headquarters Mason worked at. Rogue scent would drift to him eventually. Sitting beneath the largest pinyon pine he could find, Caleb sniffed the heavy summer air. Each direction yielded a medley of smells that competed and clashed with one another. He sat long minutes, scenting and sniffing, searching for the particular scents of strange wolves.

There! He snapped his jaws toward the direction he caught the stink. Rogues. Two of them, still near Mason's office. After another moment of sniffing, Caleb got up and shook himself. There was no wind at the moment. But they were looking for him. His scent would carry down to them as they ranged around a little more.

He always liked it when the prey ran straight to him.

~

Rielle swallowed against her startled reaction.

“I'm looking for Caleb,” she said in a steady voice. “Have you seen him?”

Luke filled the doorway with more than just his body, although it was large and strong. His very presence walked into a room ahead of him. Rielle had sensed, the moment she first met him, that he was alpha material. She'd also been slightly put off by his arrogance and the slide of something hidden and lethal in his eyes. At the same time, though, she recognized a wounded soul. Something or someone had badly hurt Luke Rawlins in his lifetime. Most likely it had been someone from his unhealthy home pack.

Rielle was always compassionate to the wounded. Even if they didn't want her compassion.

Luke regarded her with what seemed like suspicion for another moment before he shook his head. “Not since yesterday. But I don't go out of my way to run into Caleb. That would end up causing him more grief than necessary.”

Despite her innate tenderness, Rielle's back got ruffled.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked, laying a cool look on him.