The Wolf Fount (15 page)

“You’re supposed to be on vacation.”

He shrugged. “I was, but since I’m back here, may as well see what’s going on.”

Thane joined them, and Cal smiled. “You’ll stay in charge of her until further notice, unless you have any objections.”

The were-liger shook his head.

“Okay. All of her trainers are going to be men. If she’s dominant enough to terrify Jana, Morgan would make most of the other women here piss their pants, wolves or otherwise. I’ll be on base, in case you need help with her, but I think it’s best I stay out of the way unless absolutely necessary.”

A nod from Thane and Lucas moved down the corridor a few steps to make the call to housekeeping. “The cleaning crew will take care of the mess she made. You just do whatever you think you should and let me know if you have any trouble.”

Cal felt a faint surge of energy from inside the apartment; Morgan had regained human shape. He wondered if she’d come out to confront him while he was passing on the names of her new trainers to Thane, but she didn’t.

For some reason, that bothered him. He couldn’t pinpoint why and stopped himself before throwing out any possibilities. He’d obviously screwed things up enough where she was concerned. It was best to steer clear of her until Morgan was comfortable with all the changes. Even then, Cal thought the less contact between them, the better for them both.

In spite of all the problems, he continued to be strongly attracted to her and Cal wasn’t going to give into that attraction again. It would fade—previous attractions had always dulled with time—more quickly if Morgan and Thane ended up involved.

T
he sounds of activity in the living room roused Morgan, but she stayed in bed. She had more important things to worry about, such as why she’d gone on a destructive rampage, and how the hell she was going to get out of this place.

Once out, she could disappear. It would take most of the money she had left, if not all, but she knew where to find people who could provide her with a new identity. She’d been toying with the idea since leaving California. Staying herself, after stealing from a drug dealer and possibly killing one of his goons, hadn’t been the best idea in the world.

Then again, as long as she was here, Pudgy and his goons wouldn’t be able to get to her. Morgan sighed.
What’s my plan
?

Not having a plan led always led to trouble. Witness the past few days. She preferred to be as prepared as possible. It was the main reason she’d only done real jail time once.
Just my luck, getting a woman judge that time
.

Male judges and lawyers, were easier. Some could be swayed by sob stories; being truthful about her life worked fine from that perspective. Others were susceptible to sexual favors, which she’d scrupulously kept. Some cops were suckers for a damsel in distress, especially if the damsel offered a quick fuck or blow job as payment for not being arrested.

She wrinkled her nose, remembering some of the things she’d done to stay out of jail and promptly dismissed the memories.
Now is what’s important
.

Calhoun was a lost cause. As caring and interested as he’d appeared at first, it was now clear he didn’t give a rat’s ass about her. Morgan silently snarled at the ceiling. She’d like to take him down, but was realistic enough to know it wouldn’t happen. Since she couldn’t, the best thing to do would be to avoid him as much as possible.

Thane... she mulled over thoughts of him for several minutes. His silence was unnerving, but he hadn’t done anything terrible to her. Okay, sure, maybe taking her down to see the crazy, imprisoned Weres could be considered awful, but Morgan thought she understood why he’d done it: to warn her that Calhoun wouldn’t hesitate to throw her down there with them.

A shudder wracked her, and she rolled onto her side to pull the covers up to her chin. It didn’t matter how much she hated Calhoun, ending up down there wasn’t worth it.

Which meant going along to get along, until she could make tracks. She’d heard Calhoun tell Thane he was in charge of her before she’d dozed off. Changing shapes was exhausting.
Is it supposed to be
?

That was one of the many things she didn’t know, and needed to learn.

Fine, I’ll go along for now
. Morgan realized the noises from the living room had stopped. She sat up to stare at the bedroom door.
I need Thane on my side
.

The best way to get a man on her side had always proven to be sex. She doubted this time would be any different.
But I need to be smart about it. Can’t just hop in the sack with him
.

Time to work the damsel in distress bit for all it was worth. With a smile, Morgan left the bed to peek out into the living room. Her target wasn’t in sight, but a clink from the kitchen indicated his whereabouts. About to walk out, she realized she was nude.

She went to the dresser to retrieve panties and a tee. After pulling them on, Morgan went to the kitchen, noting in passing that the destruction she’d caused had been cleared, and new furniture was in place.
These people are rich as fuck
.

Thane was chopping vegetables, but paused as she walked in to look at her.

Morgan dropped her eyes and clasped her hands together. “I’m really sorry about tearing up your living room. It’s not an excuse, but I’m having a hard time with all of this.”

She didn’t even hear him move, startling as his feet appeared in her field of view. Lifting her head, Morgan hoped her expression conveyed the appropriate contriteness while studying his face. Thane held his arms up and out, his head slightly tilted. Offering a hug. Morgan stepped into it, sliding her arms around his sides and hid a smile when she felt him kiss the top of her head.

This is going to be easier than I thought
.

A
week had passed since Cal had seen Morgan. It was time to check on her progress. Care had been taken to ensure she didn’t cross paths with any of the other women—he thought maybe Jana’s appearance and attempt to take charge was what had triggered Morgan’s rampage.

The training areas were on a lower level. Cal found himself impatiently tapping his thigh on the elevator ride down, and forced himself to stop. One of the downsides to being at headquarters was the lack of female company. He didn’t care about fraternization when it came to the others, but as the First, he had to be careful. There was a hierarchy in place, with him at the top, and Cal didn’t trade on that position to scratch his sexual itches within the ranks.

With fewer female Weres than males, encouraging pairings was both necessary and a problem. There just weren’t enough women to go around, leaving a lot of men to do without the companionship of a woman they could be completely honest with. Weres had high sex drives, which was another issue, because it could cause tensions to rise. Fortunately, Were women typically weren’t averse to having multiple “friends with benefits” arrangements, at least not until they’d chosen a mate—and they had all the time they wanted to do that, with plenty of eager men vying to be chosen.

Opening the club had helped, though they needed to get busy opening more near the various field offices spread worldwide. The rules were simple: No forced interactions with humans, no sex without precautions.

A pregnancy meant bringing unknown factors into play, because Weres were extremely possessive when it came to children. They wanted them near, and safe. The tiny twist of extra DNA given by the Guardians had spread fast and far in the early centuries, leaving no reason to pursue a crossbreeding program.

Of course, not all humans were Sleepers. They’d never been able to accurately guesstimate how many were, though Cal knew for a fact not all Sleepers would Awaken. Being nudged into Awakening depended on a number of things and the Founts hadn’t been told what all those triggers were.

Not even all Were-bred children turned out to be Sleepers, but the numbers held true: more boys than girls were born.

The elevator stopped, and Cal grinned, pleased at how neatly he’d avoided thinking about Morgan in particular. He left it with a jaunty step, convinced checking in on her wasn’t going to be a problem. The corridor from the elevator had six doors on either side, and a seventh at its end. Cal headed for Door Number Seven, climbing the steps behind it to an identical corridor located above the other. He peeked in two doors before spotting Morgan onscreen in the next room, and slipped inside.

She was in the middle of a gun training class, learning to load a clip. Cal sat down in a chair, nodding to Brian, the attendant on duty. “How’s she doing?”

“Not bad.” Brian was a slender, short man with an interest in psychology. He was a leopard and had only been in the ranks for a few decades. Cal preferred to promote newer Weres of the other species. Some of the older ones hadn’t forgiven him for killing their Founts, leaving him unable to fully trust them. Newer ones didn’t have that history affecting their dealings with him. “I mean, she doesn’t know much about weapons or anything, but we’re all satisfied with her progress. It’s not exactly slow.”

Onscreen, Morgan finished loading the clip and glanced at Thane, who stood beside her. The were-liger gave her an approving nod and put his hand to the small of her back. Cal fought a frown the gesture caused. “Looks like having Thane in charge of her is working out.”

Brian nodded. “I think it’s good for him, and she appears to have decided he’s a friend. She does get irritated with the others on a regular basis. Morgan doesn’t like being ordered around.”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“What’s interesting is that she’s particularly offended by Lance and Sean.” Brian cast a faint smile at him and Cal let his frown show. Lance and Sean were wolves.

“Any idea why?”

“Yeah. You.”

“Why do I always get the blame?”

Brian shrugged. “You’re the boss. Interested in my theory about it?”

“Go ahead.” Boss or not, Cal encouraged his people to speak openly to him. It bred a familiarity that led to them treating him like one of the guys much of the time, but that was fine. Playing the high and mighty king hadn’t done him any favors in the past.

“You took intent interest in her when she appeared, helped her through Awakening, and uh, controlled her first change.” Brian made his disapproval on the mishandling of that clear with a flat look. “Then you jumped on her for reacting to her new instincts concerning vampires, threw her out, and put her on lock down.”

“Yes, I screwed up. I know that. But why...”

“You’re a wolf and I think she trusted you. Or was beginning to. Not really clear which. But as far as she’s concerned, you betrayed her trust, so she’s not eager to trust other wolves. I’d watch my back around her, boss. Maybe she can’t kill you, but I don’t think she’d hesitate to cause you pain any way possible.”

Cal sighed. “Yeah, already had experience with that. Does she trust Thane?”

“Fully? No idea. But she looks to him for approval, which is good, and she hasn’t blown up at him for any reason.” Brian’s attention wandered back to the screen, and he snorted. “Rick keeps that up, she’s going to kick his ass.”

Rick, her small arms trainer and a lion, was guiding Morgan into proper shooting stance. Standing behind her, he was in physical contact. Cal could see her tensing in reaction and checked to see what Thane was doing. The were-liger’s frown was faint, but present. “Better call down, tell Rick to back off.”

Brian shook his head. “Nope.”

“Why not?”

“I want to see what happens.”

Cal rubbed a hand over his face. “Why?”

“Because...”

Thane moved, placing his hand on Rick’s shoulder. Startled, the other man looked up at him, and then quickly backed away from Morgan. Once Rick was clear, Thane took his place and the two watchers could see Morgan relax as the were-liger positioned her arms a touch higher. Brian grinned. “That’s why. He’s been getting better at reading her, and stepping in before she blows up.”

Watching Morgan inch backward to press against Thane, Cal merely nodded and ignored the silent growl resounding in his mind. He’d hoped Morgan would end up attached to Thane; here was visual proof it could happen. It shouldn’t bother him.

But it did.

“Seriously, Cal, this is proving to be the best therapy for Thane. We don’t know how long he was alone. Sure, he’s formed attachments, especially to you and Sebastian, but I’ve worried about him not having a close attachment to a woman.”

Irked for unexplainable reasons, Cal said, “And you think his forming one to Morgan is good?”

Brian leaned back, turning his chair slightly for a better view of Cal’s face. “Excuse me, weren’t you the one who decided to dump her in Thane’s lap?”

“Yeah. He’s big enough to handle her when she loses it.”
So am I, but that hasn’t worked out well, has it
? Come to think of it, even Thane had taken cover when Morgan went fully ballistic.

“Then why the second thoughts?”

Cal scrambled for a reason that wouldn’t sound like utter bullshit. Most of his half-formed reasons did. “I don’t want her to hurt Thane. Emotionally hurt him.”