Suzanne's Sexy Shifters [Shy River Pack 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (2 page)

Gideon’s cock hardened instantly, just the thought of his mate dreaming sexy dreams of him making the risk almost seem worth it. Fortunately, the scent of another wolf approaching brought reality crashing down around them before he could contemplate doing something really stupid.

“Go,” he said urgently, pushing Brigden in the direction he needed to run. “Stay away from me, for both our sakes.”

Brigden looked terrified, his head bobbing anxiously as he finally seemed to understand the danger they faced. He ran deeper into the woods, his noisy escape making Gideon cringe. If there was one wolf who needed the protection of the pack, Brigden was it.

“Who was that?” Hensen Bright asked with a disdainful laugh. “Fuck, I can still smell his arousal.”

Gideon forced a laugh from his throat. “I’m not sure. All I saw was some kid running away.” He searched his brain frantically, trying to explain away the lingering scent of both his and Brigden’s arousal. “I think maybe he was beating off over some girlie mags.”

Hensen laughed. “I remember that age,” he said, lifting his nose as if to track Brigden’s escape path. “Maybe I should go see if he’ll lend me a mag or two. It’s been a while.”

“What’s the matter?” Gideon asked, forcing a casual laugh, grateful for the chance to divert Hensen’s attention. “Catherine cut you off again?”

“Don’t go there,” Hensen said with a mock-growl.

“I told you the woman was high maintenance. Sooner or later you’re going to see that.”

“Whatever,” Hensen said, turning back toward the creek where the rest of their training mates were cooling off after another hard session of combat drills. “At least I’m getting some. Unlike you. I heard Cassandra gave you the cold shoulder again.” Gideon fell in beside him, happy to be walking farther away from where Brigden had disappeared into the forest.

“You heard that, huh?” Gideon asked, pretending to be embarrassed by the woman’s apparent rejection. In truth it had been the other way around, but Gideon was happy to accept her version of events if it served his purpose. Protecting Brigden was far more important than trying to avoid having the rest of his friends tease him for chasing the tail of a bitch who didn’t want him.

“Don’t worry, Gideon,” Hensen said in mock sympathy. “Maybe when that kid’s finished, you can borrow his girly magazines, too. It’s probably the only way you’re going to get off for a long time to come.” He laughed at his own stupid joke. “Hell, maybe you should just get yourself a subscription.”

“Maybe I should,” Gideon said with a soft laugh. Because, goddess knew, doomed impossible relationship and all, Gideon didn’t want to be unfaithful to his mate.

Which meant the future held a lot of long, lonely nights.

Suzanne Bailey tried not to cringe when the raucous male laughter cut off as she entered the room. As if working in a male-dominated field wasn’t hard enough, the workplace harassment laws made it a minefield to negotiate.

“Good morning,” she said, trying to inject some confidence into her voice. She nodded in acknowledgement of their mumbled replies, but didn’t stop to talk. She headed directly to the duty roster, checked her assignment, grabbed a two-way radio, and headed back out the door.

She’d been embarrassed when she’d first started the job that the men felt the need to curb their natural behavior around her, and had even tried to encourage the swapping of dirty jokes and other man-orientated pastimes. Unfortunately, all it had done was make them suspicious of her motives. She was ambitious, yes, but not ambitious enough to try and use a sexual harassment claim to get herself a promotion.

Apparently, despite lip service otherwise, they had no intention of believing her.

The raucous laughter began again even before she reached the vehicle assigned to her for the day. Trying to convince herself it wasn’t personal did little to relieve the lonely feeling she often felt these days. It wasn’t just work. It was a whole lot of time spent without actual company. Living close to work and close to nature had seemed like a great idea a couple of years ago, but the reality fell kind of short.

Twenty minutes later she drove carefully along the dirt track checking for both erosion and fallen debris as she went. Her job wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was important. Without proper attention and maintenance the roads to the camping areas would quickly become impassable, trapping current campers in the forest and keeping new ones out.

Suzanne sighed even as she tried to convince herself. Yes, someone had to do it, but it was far from the career move she’d envisioned. She was basically isolated from her workmates thanks to her gender and laws that were supposed to protect her from discrimination, so chances were she’d never do anything more than she was doing now.

Considering her grandiose and perhaps poorly planned career choices, it was a major letdown. Maybe her dream job wasn’t really her dream after all.

* * * *

“Gideon, I need you to report to the alpha at Dry Creek immediately. Your team is already on their way there.”

“Yes, sir,” Gideon replied in a respectful tone and then listened as his alpha hung up the phone. These days Gideon was used to getting security assignments from the alpha, but he usually got a little more notice and a few more details.

Intrigued by the order, Gideon packed quickly, choosing to drive his truck the long way around rather than run in furry form. As much as he loved running as a wolf, it made it very difficult to carry all of his equipment.

He laughed softly to himself when he realized how much technology they relied upon these days—cell phones, computers, GPS. Even most of their surveillance work was electronic. Brigden had warned the pack many years ago that technology would play a big part in their futures. At the time, even Gideon had been skeptical, but Brigden had been proven right.

Just the thought of his mate sent a pang of longing through Gideon’s heart. Over the past three decades he’d watched the awkward young man grow into a significant member of the pack. He was still shunned by many for not being a strong wolf, but he had the alpha’s respect and that was far more important.

Gideon had no idea how long this assignment might last, but being away from Brigden was always both a relief and a curse. His need to stay close to and protect his mate was always tempered by his gratefulness to be able to draw a calming breath, one that didn’t bring his mate’s scent to his nose.

He was looking forward to the assignment, but as always, he hoped it didn’t take him away from his mate for too long.

* * * *

Brigden paced nervously back and forth on the veranda. He knew as a werewolf that such a show of weakness wasn’t a good idea, but just the thought of Donovan Taylor being sent on this six-month-long assignment with him made him want to cry.

Donovan loved Sogarn. They’d been on protection detail just outside of Shy River pack lands for the past forty-four years together, and on the few brief visits Brigden had made to upgrade their surveillance equipment, he’d been convinced the rumors were true.

It was clear to him that the two men were very much in love, but now the alpha was splitting them apart, sending Donovan on a long assignment far away from Sogarn. It made Brigden ache to realize that far from accepting his son’s union to another man, the alpha was actively trying to break them apart. Brigden glanced at his satellite phone again and worried why Donovan was late.

Had he challenged the alpha? Refused the wolf’s orders? Run off with Sogarn?

None of Donovan’s options that Brigden could see would lead to somewhere good. The alpha was a very strong wolf. Challenging the man for leadership would be suicide. Donovan was strong, but he was only about seventy years old and he’d been born a human. There was never a chance he would defeat the older, stronger, and far more experienced alpha.

Refusing the man’s orders would likely lead to banishment, which was probably the preferable outcome. At least if Donovan and Sogarn left the pack, they’d be able to love each other without having to hide it. Of course, living as lone wolves would be dangerous, and with them both having their pack’s unusual purple-hued skin color in humanoid form, blending into human society would not be an option.

Brigden chewed his thumbnail anxiously as he watched the mountain road and prayed that Donovan was just running late. Sadly, the safest option for him and the man he loved would be for Donovan and Sogarn to just do as the alpha ordered.

Brigden almost collapsed with relief when he saw the dust from a vehicle coming up the winding mountain road. He didn’t expect to recognize Donovan’s vehicle, so the familiarity of it was a little disconcerting.

As soon as Gideon Barclay stepped from the four-wheel-drive vehicle, his head swiveled to where Brigden stood watching. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity but was most likely just a glance. They’d managed to stay away from each other all these years, but how the hell were they going to hide that they were mates when they were forced to live under the same roof for half a year?

Gideon nodded an acknowledgement, no more and no less than he would to any other pack member and then headed toward the house where the alpha of the Dry Creek pack resided.

* * * *

It was getting harder and harder to get out of bed every morning. Suzanne was self-aware enough to know that she was suffering a mild form of depression, but a part of her didn’t want to snap out of it. She actually wanted to wallow in her sadness for a while.

Perhaps it was just the natural reaction to the death of a long-held dream. If had become clear in the past few months that she wasn’t likely to attain the lofty goals she’d set for herself. But right at this moment she didn’t even want to think about what she might do to change her future.

She negotiated yet another overgrown mudhole, made a note of the problem in her logbook, and continued on her slow repetitive journey patrolling the park’s driving tracks. It was almost a relief to see a camper running toward her, arms waving madly as she tried to get Suzanne’s attention.

“Oh, thank heavens,” the young woman said between huffed breaths, clinging to the window frame of the four-wheel-drive vehicle as she dragged in oxygen. “Oh, um, you’re a woman. I mean I…um…”

Suzanne waited with an eyebrow raised and could almost imagine what the young perky blonde had been about to say if Suzanne had been one of her good-looking male coworkers.
Please help poor little me, there’s a huge, scary spider sitting in my tent. I need a big, strong man to save me.

What was it about a man in uniform that made women act so stupidly?

But instead of the words she’d been expecting, the woman started to rant about something she’d seen in the woods. Suzanne blinked in bewilderment when the woman finally got to the point.

“Look, I know it sounds weird, but I’m sure I saw a little kid running through the forest. He was about four, maybe five years old.”

Suzanne waited for more, because surely there was more than this lame-ass, cover-her-embarrassment story. This was a family camping area. Of course there were kids running around. The younger woman gave Suzanne an exasperated look and tried again.

“I was about a mile down that walking track,” she said, pointing at one of the easier trails in this area. “There was no one else around.” She rubbed a hand over her face tiredly. “Yes, I know hiking by myself is stupid but my friend and her new boyfriend were making me sick with their moaning and I needed to get away for a little bit.” She took a deep breath, apparently wanting to get this conversation over and done. “Anyway, this kid was naked, laughing, and rolling around in the grass. When I called to him, because, you know, I didn’t see his mom anywhere, he got scared and ran deeper into the forest. I thought maybe someone should know.”

“Thanks,” Suzanne said, reaching for her two-way radio. She quickly checked with base and learned that no children had been reported missing. It was possible that the parents hadn’t even noticed yet. It was still fairly early, and kids had been known to leave a tent without waking their parents. She parked the vehicle near the camping site and then followed the woman to the track where she’d last seen the child.

* * * *

“Good timing,” the alpha of the Dry Creek pack said with a handshake and a welcoming smile. “We’ve had a call from one of the bear clans higher up the mountain. One of the cubs has gone missing and they’ve asked for our help to find him before wild animals or humans find him first.”

“I’m sorry,” Gideon said, concerned now that he’d wasted seven hours driving when he could have run over the mountain in half the time. “I didn’t realize the assignment was urgent.”

The alpha gave him a distracted look but then shook his head. “Sorry, no, your assignment is with the electronic surveillance setup. I’m told you’ll be able to train my wolves how to use it when everything’s in place.” He indicated with his head for Gideon to follow. “The bear cub only went missing an hour or so ago. It’s just helpful to have more paws on the ground.”

“Of course,” Gideon agreed with a nod as he joined the circle of men consulting a roughly drawn map of the area. No wonder this pack needed help with technology. Thanks to Brigden, under the same circumstances the Shy River pack would have been working with satellite maps and GPS locators.