Quest (Shifter Island Book 4) (14 page)

Allison arrived home just as the sun was beginning to dip behind the trees. Luca watched her car make its way up the long driveway, and got out of his chair as she parked in front of the house.

Her car, he’d been pleased to discover, was larger than the rented one, which Russell had helped her deliver to the rental agency’s office at the airport the day before. He thought he might even enjoy riding around in her SUV, provided they didn’t need to go very far on a busy highway.

For now, he was glad to see her climb out of the car with a broad smile on her face. She had some things with her, he noticed: a tote bag stuffed full of papers and books, and a pink cardboard box he thought might have come from a bakery. When she reached him, she set everything down on the chair he’d been sitting on, then embraced him, looking for a kiss.

He was glad to oblige.

When she drew back, her face was flushed a little. That made the wolf come to attention, eager for them to go on inside, to the bedroom.

Wait
, Luca told the animal.

“Did you have a good day?” she asked. “Did Helene and Russell—”

“They brought some people to meet me.” He listed the names for her, and she nodded at each one. “I like them all,” he said. “They seem… good. Strong. They told me some of the history of their pack.”

“They
are
good people,” Allison told him. “They’ve helped me out with all kinds of things.”

She leaned back a little, looking up into his face. She was giving him time, he understood: allowing him to speak without being rushed. He did feel a little rushed, though, because the sweet aroma drifting out of that pink box told him that she’d brought him a treat, something to enjoy after dinner. Or before dinner, if his sweet tooth got the best of him.

“I think…” he said slowly, then cut himself off for a moment. “I think there’s a place for me in this pack.”

“Really?”

He nodded, then tugged her in close again and burrowed his nose into her hair. She hadn’t been gone all that long, but having her with him again was a balm to his soul. He’d needed this all day: her scent, the feel of her in his arms.

“I wasn’t sure,” he told her quietly. “When we were there at the hotel. I started to doubt the gods. I didn’t feel what my brother told me he feels—he said he’s certain that Abby was meant for him. That he never doubted it, not for a minute, in spite of what happened to them. I had doubts. But I think—”

He stopped again, looking past Allison at the mountains, where the colors of the trees and the sky were changing as the sun went down.

“It was too much,” he said. “There, among all those humans. There were no wolves nearby. I felt as if I couldn’t think clearly. I think… I think the bond was there all the time, but there was too much noise. Helene says I couldn’t hear the sound of my heart beating.”

Allison grinned at that. “She’s pretty smart.”

“Do you—”

She cupped his cheek in her hand and stretched up on tiptoe for another kiss. “Yes. I felt the same way. I feel the same way.”

“Humans… try, Allison. You try something out to see if you like it. Clothing. A home. A car. A relationship. Wolves aren’t like that. We do explore relationships, when we’re very young. But if there’s a bond—”

“It’s forever. I know.”

She turned so she could see what he was looking at, and they stood side by side for a minute, watching the changing colors of the mountains, each with an arm looped around the other one’s waist.

Tonight, Luca promised himself, they would come outdoors when the sky was fully dark, and Allison could show him the stars she had spoken about. He had seen the stars, of course—had spent many a night admiring them from his favorite spots on the island—but he was sure that here, with her, they would look completely different.

“Russell has offered to help me send messages to my family,” he said after a while. “When I’m ready.”

“That’s wonderful.”

“I want to tell them that I’m safe. That you and I are together.”

She nodded. “I’ll tell my family the same thing. They’ll probably show up at some point.”

“I would like to meet them. Finally.”

“I’d like to meet your family too.”

Luca pulled in a deep breath. “For now—our family will be here, in the mountains. Helene and Russell and the others. I need to make a home here, so the wolf will be comfortable. It’s yearning for the island as much as I am. Once it’s made its place here, I may be able to go home for a short while.”

“They’re good people, Luca. I think a lot of them came here from somewhere else. It’s easy to settle in here, you know. To think of this as home. It didn’t take me very long at all, and I started out thinking I’d never be able to bear being so far away from my family.” She nestled against him, holding him a little tighter. “We’ll make our own family. And look how far you can roam out here. That’s good, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried. The island is only a few miles long.”

After another couple of minutes she tugged at him, urging him toward the house. She picked up the tote bag and the box on their way past the chair, and he held the door open so she could enter. Then she put everything aside quickly and he carried her into the bedroom.

So good
, he thought as he explored the soft, warm parts of her that he loved the best.

So right.

She’d told him the truth about this place. He could see that already—how close to the heart of the world it was. And this new pack had embraced him quickly, without reservation. Maybe their history had made them willing to do that, to reach out to a stranger and welcome him as one of them. As much as he loved the wolves of his own pack, their isolation had made them suspicious of strangers and all to quick to reject anyone who seemed different.

Humans in particular. They’d done their best to drive Abby away, even though Aaron had said she was his mate, that he had no doubt whatsoever that the bond between them was true.

These wolves, in this new place, had accepted Allison, and Luca himself, without question.

As the day’s light faded away, he explored her slowly and tenderly, kissing, licking, stroking her soft skin with the tips of his fingers. What he had told her was true too: now that the wolf was at ease, he had no doubt that the bond was there. That she was, now and forever, the one the gods had intended for him to find.

When their lovemaking was finished—for now—they would have some dinner. Then they’d go outdoors and look at the stars. Perhaps they would couple again before they went to sleep.

Tomorrow…

She had to return to work, he supposed. But that was all right. She’d come home to him at the end of the day. And he would find work of his own after a week or two; two members of the pack had told him about jobs he could do. Repairing things. Tending animals. Helping with crops.

That would occupy a lot of tomorrows.

She was making a soft sound deep in her throat, a purr of contentment. Back in the city, their lovemaking had been intense; it had felt rushed more often than not, as if they needed to complete it and then move on to the next thing—even if that was more sex. They’d been playful, but hurried.

Here, there seemed to be all the time in the world.

After they had both found their pleasure, they lay back on the bed and listened to the sounds of the mountains. The windows in the bedroom had been open all day, and as they lay there, a cool breeze swept in and brushed against their skin. In its own way, it was like a lover’s touch.

“I know you’ve given up a lot,” Allison said after a while.

“Hmm.”

He didn’t want to agree or disagree. Yes, he’d given up his old life… but he’d found a new one.

A fine new one.

“I’ll help you,” she whispered. “With whatever you need. I know it’ll be hard to adjust.”

Would it? he wondered.

“Maybe not,” he told her, twining his fingers into her hair. “Maybe it won’t be hard at all.”

“Aaron?”

Aaron turned to find his mate standing a few steps away, hesitating a little, as if she didn’t want to disturb his privacy. He smiled at her and held out his hand, beckoning with his fingers. When Abby got close enough, he wrapped her in his arms, pressing her against his body, using her as a barrier between himself and the sea.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“Well enough.”

“That’s not really ‘all right’.”

He tipped her head up with a finger placed under her chin and smiled at her again, hoping to distract her to the point that they could talk about something else. Their new home, maybe. The cabin was in good shape now, fit for a bride—for his precious mate. He’d taken great care to provide everything he thought she might want, and he was anxious to give her a tour.

If only he could convince himself to walk away from the cliffside and its view of the ocean.

“You can’t be sure,” she told him quietly. “You have absolutely no way of being sure that he’ll never come back. People don’t know that themselves. ‘Never say never,’ you know?”

“I feel it.”

“Well. You still can’t be sure.”

No, he couldn’t. But he knew in his heart that his brother had chosen mate over family—and that was as it should be. He would have followed Abby to the ends of the earth rather than break their bond, and he couldn’t help but think that the gods had planned it exactly that way.

“I… would like to know that he’s safe,” he said after a minute. “And that he’s happy.”

“You think he might not be?”

He held her head between his hands and kissed her gently. There was such concern in her eyes, a regret as deep as his own. She and Luca had come to like each other; he was sure of that. They’d spent a fair amount of time talking together, helping each other with small chores and errands. He even suspected that Luca had confided in Abby about his feelings for Allison, and about Katrin, and had asked for her advice.

He didn’t go as far as asking Abby if that was true. If Abby had encouraged Luca to leave…

“He may come back one day,” Abby said.

“He may.”

“Or you could go to him.”

“I have no idea where he is.”

“I found
you
,” Abby reminded him. “And you believe he’s found Allison. You said you were sure of that. Even without a bond, there are a lot of ways to track people down. It happens all the time. People find somebody they haven’t seen for, like, thirty years.”

Aaron winced and closed his eyes for a moment.

“You’d know, wouldn’t you?” Abby asked. “If he was hurt? If anything was wrong? You said you’d sense that.”

“I think I would.”

“Then trust that he’s okay.”

She nestled against him, arms wrapped around his waist, and rested her head on his chest. Having her that close made the wolf begin to stir, to walk in circles inside the walls that held it at bay. For all that it was connected to Luca’s wolf—to all the wolves in the pack—it was far more interested in the wellbeing of its mate.

Which meant that Aaron really ought to walk her back to the cabin and show her what he had done to create the perfect home for the two of them.

A big, warm bed. An ample fireplace. A kitchen well-stocked with everything they would need.

Even a toilet room. Abby had wanted one of those.

“Come,” he told her, reaching down to grasp her hand again. “I have something to show you. Many things.”

They began to walk away from the cliffside, hand in hand.

Aaron looked back only once, a brief glance over his shoulder at that vast expanse of water, thinking of how enormous the world was beyond this island and hoping his brother had found the right part of it—that his brother had found what he was searching for and would be as happy there as Aaron was here.

* * * *

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Shifter Island

Coming in August 2016…

Book Five: Healer

Being the healer of the pack is a very fulfilling life, one that keeps Deborah busy from sunup until late at night. Even though she lost her mate during a terrible winter almost ten years ago, she feels content and loved. Then the gruff and troublesome Jed begins to take special notice of her, and she begins to ask herself if there truly is something missing from her life—if it’s possible to find another mate she loves as deeply as the one she lost.

Coming in September 2016…

Book Six: Dolphin Cove

Choose your mate from among the pack, Ethan has been told all his life. But he can’t help thinking that he’s missing something—that there might be someone like the beautiful Abby in the place she came from, the island called Dolphin Cove. So, against the wishes of his family, he slips away one night and makes his way to that other island. It’s a dangerous place to be for a young wolf who’s not familiar with the ways of human—and it’s also the home of a girl named Tricia, who lures him into a situation he may not be able to escape from.

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Shifter Island
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