Rogue Alpha: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 1) (4 page)

“I think you might have a fever, Mr. Devane,” I
said, my mouth going instantly dry.

“I’m not Mr. Devane. I’m Mal.”

Mal. His name washed over me in ripples. Mal. It
suited him. Bad. Dangerous.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Mal. But that eye of
yours might be infected.” I grabbed a tube of triple antibiotic cream and
shoved that in his hand next.

His posture changed. His shoulders dropped and he
shook with low, rumbling laughter. He took the tube from me and held it up,
shaking it once. “I’ll take that into consideration.”

“How’d you get that cut? It looks bad.” And it did.
A chunk of skin had been torn away just above his eyebrow. When it healed, the
hair likely wouldn’t grow back, so he’d have a permanent line running through
his brow to make him look even more dangerous than he already did.

His face grew serious again. He looked over my
shoulder. I looked back. Flood stood at the checkout counter, his basket heaping
with supplies as he fumbled for his wallet to pay Mr. Fleeger.

“Hunting accident,” Mal said, not taking his eyes
off Flood.

“Hmm. You’d better be more careful next time. Wear
more orange.”

“Thanks for the tip,” Mal said, his voice smooth and
deep.

“Do you know him?” I asked, lowering my voice. He
kept his gaze locked on Flood, watching every move he took through the store.

Mal’s eyes finally flicked back to me. They were
deep set, a golden amber color like scotch whiskey with gold flecks. Beautiful
eyes. Mesmerizing. But familiar. Recognition skittered across my skin, making
the tiny hairs on my arms stand on end.

“Research,
” Mal said the word as if it tasted bad in his mouth.
“What’s he researching?”

I shook the cobwebs from my head. “Chronic Wasting Disease
in the whitetail population around here.”

“Hmm.” He shrugged his shoulders and jerked his
chin, almost scoffing at my answer.

I meant to ask him what he meant by that but didn’t
get the chance. Flood pushed his way down the aisle, his arms laden with three
stuffed grocery bags. I turned and took one from him.

“We need to go,” he said, physically putting himself
between me and Mal Devane. It seemed a risky maneuver. Mal looked like he could
squash him with one fist. Flood was by no means slight. He too was strong, with
sculpted muscles. But his were just that, sculpted. He’d earned them on weight
machines in a gym somewhere. Mal looked like he’d earned his splitting logs or
moving boulders.

Then Flood moved past me and out the door, leaving
me literally holding the bag and alone with Mal Devane.

“You need to watch out for him,” Mal said and it
startled me. I didn’t know this guy. He seemed familiar, sure, but it meant
nothing.

“I know,” I heard myself saying. It was the truth,
after all. I looked back up at him.

Mal reached over me and held the door open. I ducked
under his massive arm and went out on the porch.

“Take care of that cut,” I said, turning back to
him. “It was nice to meet you.”

Mal said nothing. He just focused that laser stare
on me. What happened next, I couldn’t be sure I remembered right later. It was
just a fraction of a second. An instant. But those amber eyes flashed gold,
sending a shock of fire through me.

I didn’t know what it meant. Who he was. But I couldn’t
shake the feeling that I had seen him somewhere before. Or the knowledge that
I’d see him again. Soon.

Chapter Four

When we got back to the outpost, Flood wouldn’t talk
to me. He slammed the car door shut and stormed off to the lab, leaving me alone
to unpack the groceries. Never mind the lack of chivalry, I was kind of glad to
have him out of my hair. I gathered as much as I could and hauled it back to
the mess hall cabin.

After I got that sorted, I headed back to the Jeep
for the second load. Before I got there, I saw Flood standing a few yards away
from the vehicle talking to a man I’d never seen before. This guy was big,
broad, and kind of built like Devane, the man I’d met at the general store.
But, in contrast to Devane’s dark hair, this guy was a ginger. He towered over
Flood and kept his fists curled at his sides, and in a ready stance like he
could snap at any moment.

I don’t know what made me do it, but I ducked behind
the nearest cabin and listened.

“Our deal is for you and your boys. I can’t have you
bringing any more outsiders into the park.”

Flood’s companion gripped Flood’s shoulder hard
enough that I saw him wince. “You don’t need to worry about the terms of our
deal. They are whatever I say they are.”

“Hey, you need
me
, remember? You want the rangers
to leave you alone, you go through me.”

The bigger man’s eyes flashed hot, again, reminding
me a little of Mal Devane’s. The air around me seemed charged as if I were
about to witness something I shouldn’t.

“You’ll deal with the rangers or you’ll deal with
the whole pack of us. You keep thinking you’ve got some kind of bargaining
power over me. You think I couldn’t rip my way through this camp and destroy it
in about five minutes if I wanted to? You’re a convenience, Flood. That’s all.
Now, tell me again who you think you saw out there.”

Flood sighed and ran a hand through his hair,
attempting to flatten his cowlick again. “The black one. The one you said you
were looking for. Big fucker.”

I stopped breathing, straining to hear every word.
The black one. He was talking about the wolf. The wolf he denied even existed.
What else could he have meant?

The man drew his head back and I saw a muscle jump
in his jaw. His eyes narrowed, filling with menace. “You see him again, you
call me right away. Why the fuck am I hearing about this the day after?”

Flood opened and closed his mouth like a fish,
searching for an answer. “Next time I will. Didn’t realize it was that urgent
to you.”

“It’s not your job to worry about what’s important
and what isn’t. It’s your job to tell me what you see. That’s all. Are we
clear?”

Flood nodded. “Yeah. Got it.”

“Good. Every time I have to come down here, it’s a
risk to me and my people. Don’t give me a reason to have to do it again.”

“I-I know. And I told you. I handled it anyway. But,
you gotta promise me he won’t come back here or bring any others. I’ve got a
group of people around here that are trained to look for stuff like that. I
don’t have control over the people from the other school. If word gets out,
they’ll bring dozens more. That’s not good for either of us.”

“You let me worry about that. You just keep up your
end.”

“I am. I will. Nobody’s going to mess with you
around here.”

“Good. Then we’re clear.”

Flood nodded like a bobble head and the guy finally
took his strong hand off his shoulder. He tore off toward the woods with speed
that made him a blur. I blinked my eyes. He moved so fast it didn’t seem human
before he disappeared beyond the tree line, leaving Flood standing there
awkwardly.

Again, I don’t know what compelled me to do it, but
I moved further back behind the cabin, not wanting to be seen. The groceries
could wait. Finally, Flood left and disappeared into his own cabin.

I didn’t seem him again until a few hours later, but
Flood was on edge the rest of the day. He barely spoke to me except to bark
orders. He sent Cameron and me on a hike to collect more samples. We went
deeper into the woods than the day before but found basically nothing. We had
four more fawns with tracking devices but got no signal from any of them today.
It was a bad sign. It meant they weren’t moving.

“What the hell happened between you two today?” Cam
finally asked after Flood got short with me over the walkie for about the sixth
time in an hour.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean why’s he riding you so hard today? He
usually saves that shit for me.”

I squatted in front of a tree, brushing away a group
of matted leaves looking for trail markings. I smoothed a hair out of my face
and shielded my eyes from the sun. Cam stood a few feet away from me. I chewed
my bottom lip debating whether to tell Cam about the red-headed stranger I saw
talking to Flood and how it unsettled him. I decided against it for now, but
there was still something gnawing at me.

“Do I need to worry about him?” I asked. “I mean
really worry about him?”

Cam turned the knob on his walkie to off and shoved
it in the holster he had hooked to his belt. “Meaning?”

“Meaning, does that asshole have a reputation with
female interns I need to know about?”

Cam let out a heavy sigh that pretty much answered
my burning questions.

“Great,” I said, brushing off my knees, I stood.
“Are you serious? Is that the deal with him? Is that why I’m here?”

Cam put his hands out in a defensive posture. “Whoa.
Just whoa. I never said that. I don’t know that. Honest.”

“But you know something or you wouldn’t be acting
like that. Come on, Cam. I need you to be my friend, not my T.A.”

“What’s he said to you?”

My turn to let out a heavy sigh. “Nothing. Nothing
overt anyway. It’s just a vibe. Some boundary issues.” I hesitated to tell him
about Flood coming into my room this morning while I was in my bra and
underwear. I should have. I know this. But, a part of me wanted to believe Flood’s
explanation. I
had
had an intense dream or nightmare. He
might
have heard me screaming. But, his creepy behavior in the car wasn’t something I
misinterpreted. At all.

“He said he wanted to talk to me over dinner about
my prospects in the graduate program.”

Cam’s eyes widened. “And you think that’s a bad
thing? Shit. Laura. That’s exciting. You know how competitive the program is?
Even I didn’t get in on my first try. And I know you know how brilliant I am.”

“Shut it. I’m serious. I need to know what I’m
getting myself into with him. You’ve worked with him for two years. Give me
something. I can handle it if I know what I’m walking into.”

Cam shrugged. He wouldn’t meet my eyes, and that had
big, fat alarm bells ringing in my head.

“Great.” I punched my fist into my thigh and tried
to brush past him on the trail. Cam put a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

“Laura. Just hang on. Look, I’m not going to deny
the guy’s vain. He doesn’t hate the fact that the girls in his class like
looking at him. But, I swear, in the time I’ve worked with him I don’t have any
firsthand knowledge of him stepping over the line with anyone.”

I took a step back. “Wow. You ever think about
becoming a lawyer instead of a biologist?”

Cam smiled, I could see already he was going to try
to deflect me again. “What do you want me to say? I’m telling you what I know.
As far as I
do
know, the guy’s a looker, not a toucher. I’ve never seen
anything inappropriate, and no one has ever told me anything different.”

Ugh. That seemed like a non-answer. “Fine. I
appreciate your loyalty to him and you trying to be straight with me. But can I,
at least, ask you a favor? Will you come with me tonight if he wants to talk to
me over dinner? I’d feel better if I wasn’t alone with the guy anytime soon. Or
maybe, ever.”

Cam
pursed his lips and nodded. “Yeah. I can do that. If it makes you feel
better.”

“It does. It really does. If he tries to ask you to
leave, I’ll tell him I want you in on the conversation too. If he
insists
that you leave, well, that’ll tell me pretty much everything I need to know
too.”

Cam
put an arm around me and turned with me back toward the trail. “Solid
plan. But, you worry too much.”

“You’re a guy. He’s heterosexual. I think my radar
for stuff like this is a little more fine-tuned than yours is.”

“Gotcha. I said I’d hang around if you want me to.
You won’t need it, but I’d be happy to. Now, how about you just focus on being
happy that Flood thinks you merit attention? Seriously, Laura. That’s pretty
awesome news. Don’t sell yourself short. It means you’ve impressed the hell out
of him.”

As we walked out of the woods and back to the
cabins, Cam’s enthusiasm started to rub off on me a little. Getting into the
grad program at G.L.U. had been one of the main reasons I’d chosen them for my
undergrad aside from the scholarship. That and it gave me the first opportunity
of my life to strike out on my own. It was the first time in my almost twenty
years of life I’d ever had peace and quiet. My parents were proud of me and
checked in from time to time, but with a family as big as mine, it’s easy to
get lost in the shuffle. I relished my freedom.

“Any luck?” Flood startled me out of my head as he walked
up the trail to meet us. Cam moved his hand from my shoulder abruptly and
bounded ahead of me a few steps.

“Not really,” Cam answered. “I’m going to check the
equipment again to make sure we don’t just have a bad signal. But, I’m afraid
it’s looking like numbers eight, two, four, and thirteen are off the grid too.”

“Damn. I was really hoping for something positive
today. Well, all data can be good data. It’ll get us a step closer to figuring
out what’s affecting the mortality of this herd.”

The three of us walked to the lab together. Cam went
in first followed by Flood. He held the door open for me and my back stiffened
as I walked by him. But, he just gave me a pleasant smile. Whatever agitation
he’d had throughout the day seemed to have dissipated.

Three of the M.S.U. students were just finishing up.
As soon as we walked in, they made apologies and started to pack their things.

“No rush,” Flood said, his voice chipper. There was
no trace of the shortness he’d directed at me earlier in the day. This Jekyll
and Hyde act was wearing thin. The idea of dinner with him continued to fill me
with a certain amount of dread. I hoped I was wrong or just paranoid about my
concerns. I wanted to believe Cam’s reassurances that Flood was a decent guy
who just liked to look pretty. But, I had five brothers and a cop for a dad.
They gave me a little insight into how the male mind worked sometimes. They
also taught me how to take care of myself and not put up with bullshit. I was
just hoping my ability to do that wouldn’t also jeopardize my career path.

We finished up in the lab in relative silence. At
one point, Cam walked into the cooler to store some samples, leaving Flood and me
more or less alone. At first, he ignored me as he looked at slides under the
microscope. I busied myself cleaning up the steel countertops and throwing away
a few pairs of discarded latex gloves left behind by the other grad students.

“I think I need to have a talk with their
supervising professor,” Flood said as he watched me toss a stack of gloves in
the waste basket.

I shrugged. “Maybe. They do kind of leave a mess
around here.”

“We still on for dinner?”

My heart flipped at the abruptness of his segue.
“Uh. Yeah. Same as always.”

He flashed a full smile. I knew he was used to that
working on girls like me, but I kept my face neutral. “Relax. I won’t bite you.
Seriously, Laura. I’ve got only good things to talk to you about. You should be
proud. Your family should be proud. Do you know how hard it is for me to find
decent interns anymore? I hate to sound like an old fart, but I really am
worried about the millennial generation.”

Cam came back out of the cooler. Flood straightened
and switched off the microscope.

“You guys have everything under control out here?
I’d like to hit the shower before we eat. I swear I need to smell something
other than deer piss for at least ten minutes.”

Flood laughed. “What does it say about me that I’ve
gotten so used to it I barely smell it anymore?”

I gave him a smile and a salute and headed out the
door of the cabin. I passed a few of the Michigan State guys on the way to the
showers and for a minute my heart fell. I was hoping for some solitude and
mostly warm water. Luckily, by the time I got my things from my cabin and
headed down there, the place was empty. I stepped around the back of the cabin.
The pump had to be turned on from the outside. Once it got going, you got maybe
ten minutes of warm water tops. So, I knew I needed to hurry.

I had my back to the woods as I worked the metal
nozzle. It stuck sometimes, so I had to torque it hard with both hands. As I
straightened, something moved in the trees to my right. Heat prickled along my
spine and I stepped closer to the building, pressing my back against it. I
coughed, whistled, and thumped my hand against the wooden logs that made up the
outside wall, trying to make as much noise as possible as I walked back around
to the front of the building.