Wolf and Soul (The Alaska Princesses Trilogy, Book 3) (26 page)

She lived on.

And Tu knew in her truest heart, and also because Grady told her all the time, this was all that truly mattered. She snuggled her nose into his chest and settled in for a good night sleep in the arms of the wolf she’d loved from the start—

Grady abruptly pulled out of her, his eyes going to a spot beyond her shoulder. She sat up, too, turning toward the floor-to-ceiling window with its view of their kingdom town and the mountain that sat just beyond its yellow cedar and stone houses. But she saw nothing save a few lights of wolves, who like them, still hadn’t gone to sleep after ringing in the New Year. However, more lights came flickering on, like something had disturbed the residents in the darkened houses. Maybe the same thing that had her beta king’s eyes fixed out the window.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him, searching the landscape for anything amiss. “What did you see?”

“A flash on the mountain,” he answered. “I think the Alaska time gate went off!”

E
VERY STATE HAD TEMPORAL GATES
,
portals that could throw wolves across space and time, either in banishment or to find their fated mates. This was how each state decided where to place their kingdom towns. And a few of the larger states, like Texas and California, had two. Tu’s father once told her the California time gates had dozens of wolves coming through them each year, but the Alaska time gate went off very rarely. Only three times during Tikaani’s reign, and only once in Tu’s own lifetime. She hadn’t expected it to go off ever again. According to Alisha, the North American Lupine Council had put a lot of effort into stamping out fated mate spells.

So when the Alaska time gate flashed that evening, Tu wasn’t surprised to find Rafe, Alisha, Mag, Janelle, and her parents already gathered in the living room when she and Grady came running downstairs.

But before she could say anything, a voice behind her said, “Uncle Tikaani, I saw a flash of light on the mountain.”

Tu looked up to see their cousin, Tiara, coming down the stairs. Tiara was the Princess of Detroit, and her name was pronounced like the jeweled ornamental band all princesses wore when representing their crown. She was the daughter of Wilma’s oldest brother, Wilton. But she wasn’t wearing a tiara now, and she wasn’t at the Alaska kingdom house on state business.

Tiara had unexpectedly shown up out of the blue on Christmas day to attend a party she’d been happily welcomed at, but not invited to. Tu didn’t mind. Tiara was only a few years younger than she, and they’d always gotten along despite the fact that Tiara hadn’t been raised nearly as well as Tu and her sisters—or maybe because of it. There was something about their Detroit cousin’s around-the-way flavor that Tu really liked.

But dark things were simmering in Queen Wilma’s eyes whenever she looked at the girl. And the Alaska Beta, Wilma’s other brother, Wilford, had come down to the house a couple of times to pull Tiara outside for conversations that included a lot of pointing at the ground on his part and a lot of head shaking on hers. So even though Tiara put on a happy face most of the time she’d been here, Tu could tell something was bothering her cousin, and she’d been waiting to get her alone for a minute to see if she could be of any help.

However, whatever family drama was brewing seemed far from Tiara’s mind now as she asked, “What the hell was that?” Her eyes then went to Grady. “And why are you wearing handcuffs?”

Now everyone turned to look at a sheepish Grady and Queen Wilma, her lips pursed in annoyance, said, “You two better not have broken another one of my head boards!”

“But Mama, was it breaking another one of your headboards?” Tu asked. “Or creating a new holiday tradition?”

Wilma opened her mouth for what Tu assumed would be a less-than-amused response, but Alisha cut in saying, “Who cares about Tu’s and Grady’s BDSM sex life? The time gate’s gone off for only the third time in Daddy’s reign! Let’s go check it out!””

As it turned out, Tiara had never even seen the Michigan state gate go off. Hadn’t even known it flashed a bright light when it did. Alisha filled her in on the history of the time gates in general as they all walked up the mountain to greet whoever had come through space and time to get to their kingdom town.

King Tikaani, Rafe, Mag, and Grady were leading the expedition with their tranq guns out. They all assumed the new arrival would be a she-wolf come to seek her fated mate, but Rafe had run into a few banished wolves at the Colorado time gate
and
a Viking who’d proceeded to claim his ex-fiancée, Chloe, as his own. So he wasn’t take any chances.

Grady stopped about a half mile from the gate. He sniffed the air. Tu stopped, too, picking up a very distinct scent.

“Someone’s coming,” she told the others. “And he smells…” she struggled for a description, “like the triplets. Like they’re from the same place.”

The whole group looked at Alisha. And Rafe cursed, “Not another goddamn Viking! I thought we were through with them.”

Then they all fell silent as the sound of someone coming through the dark woods filled up the night. The four male wolves raised their guns, waiting quietly for whoever was coming toward them to emerge through the trees.

But as it turned out, there was no need for guns.

A tall, light-skinned black man with long, red dreadlocks staggered out of the woods. He was completely naked, so Tu not only saw his impressive junk, but also the lean muscle cording the entire length of his body. It was obvious from the moment she saw him that he wasn’t a threat, because there was also a wicked-looking arrow lodged in the were’s chest, just above his heart. Someone had missed, but not by much, and the werewolf seemed to be walking toward them through sheer force of will. Tu doubted he had the strength to make it all the way to where they stood, much less attack them.

Tu sniffed again. “Yeah, definitely a Viking,” she told the rest of the group. “Alisha, do you know him?”

Alisha sniffed, frowning with confusion.

“He smells like Chloe’s son. The youngest one… but I’ve never seen him out of wolf form, so I can’t be sure.” She cocked her head to the side and asked, “Olafr? Is that you?”

This brought the wolf’s head up. “Aunt Lisha…?” Then he mumbled something in Old Norse and crumpled into the snow like a paper bag.

A moment of stunned silence passed as the small group stared at the fallen Viking.

And then Tu looked up and said, “Seriously guys, we need our own reality show. We’d make SO much money!”

STAY TUNED… THE STORY CONTINUES WITH

THE VIKING WOLVES TRILOGY in 2015!

If you liked this story, check out the other books in the 50 Loving State series:

THE OWNER OF HIS HEART

HER RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE

HER VIKING WOLF

THE WILD ONE

HER PERFECT GIFT

HIS ONE AND ONLY

WOLF AND PUNISHMENT (The Alaska Princesses Trilogy, Book 1)

WOLF AND PREJUDICE (The Alaska Princesses Trilogy, Book 2)

Theodora Taylor reads, writes, and reviews in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When not reading, writing, or reviewing, she enjoys going to the movies, daydreaming, and attending dinner parties thrown by others with her wonderful husband. Feel free to contact her at
[email protected]
, and if you love IR romance as much as she does, check out her review blog at
irbookreviews.com