Wolf Signs (3 page)

Keil rotated around to face his brother. Robyn watched as TJ drew up a chair opposite her and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Robyn,” he said

drawing out his words in an exaggerated manner.

Oh goodie. TJ was an idiot. Robyn glared at him and shook his hand hard enough to make him pul back in surprise. She grabbed the pad.

I’m deaf, not stupid. Don’t talk weird for my sake.
She flipped the pad around to let him read it while she took another drink.

This was the hard way to get to know people. It was much easier when Tad was along, because she could talk to him and he’d pass on messages and it

would end up feeling natural and not this ridiculous slow process. She sighed and grabbed the pad back. Keil laid a soft hand on her arm to get her

attention and a curious sensation raced through her body.

Heat slid from his hand to her arm, tickling, tingling. What was that al about? She looked down at his hand and felt the warmth stil radiating, smal bursts

of electricity racing up her arm and making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. He gave a slight squeeze to get her attention and she glanced up at

his face.

“What pack?”

She pul ed back in confusion and shrugged.

“Robyn, you said you live in Whitehorse. Are you Takini or Miles Canyon pack?”

Here it was again. What was he talking about? It was too bad he seemed to be slightly crazy because he was the hottest thing on two legs she’d ever

seen.

She hoped he was fun crazy and not kil -people-in-the-middle-of-the-night crazy. Writing a short note she tossed the pad toward him as she got up from

the table. Putting on her coat, she took a final quick glance his direction before heading outside for a breath of air.

Yup, he was hot. Out of his mind, but very easy on the eyes. Smelt yummy too. She ignored the strange throbbing sensation in her limbs and forced herself

to walk outside.

As the door closed behind her, Keil pul ed the pad nearer and read it out loud to TJ.

“
Takini is a hot spring. Miles Canyon is where I canoe. A pack is what I carry my gear in. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m getting ready for

bed. The sauna has coals if you want it. I will talk to you tomorrow. Good night.
”

“You think she real y doesn’t know she’s a werewolf?” TJ asked.

“Why would she have any reason to pretend? I don’t understand. She’s ful -blood wolf from what I smel .”

“Me too.”

Keil drummed his fingers on the table. She not only smelt like wolf, but another scent flowed from her that tickled the back of his brain and went straight to

his cock.

The scent of his mate. The chemical trail that cal ed his wolf to hers and would make them mates for life. He was pretty sure she was it, but until he got a

taste of her skin when she was aroused he couldn’t be positive.

Of course at the rate they were going, it would be summer before he’d get close enough to actual y find out.

Grabbing clean clothes, the brothers made their way to the sauna. Thirty seconds after closing the door, Keil realized the sauna was a bad idea. Robyn’s

scent hung heavy in the closed space, sweet and spicy, fil ing his head with thoughts that were better not imagined while sitting naked in a smal space

with his brother.

“You know, she smel s good.”

Keil growled at TJ. “Shut it, pup.”

“Wel , she does. But, Keil, she smel s good like ‘Hey, Robyn, can you help me with this?’ and not ‘Hey, baby, can you help me? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.’

Know what I mean?”

“Please, spare me the Monty Python imitations.”

TJ flicked some snow at his brother. “I’m trying to tel you something serious and you accuse me of imitating MP? I’m cut to the quick. For serious

discussion I imitate political personalities. You know that.”

Keil lay back on the bench and tried to ignore his younger brother. TJ was the most irritating, the most annoying…and the most observant person he knew.

Leaning up on one elbow, he opened his eyes and cursed.

“Fine. Explain it. What are you trying to tel me and use smal words. It’s late and it’s been a hel of a day.”

TJ dropped to the lower bench and grabbed the cedar edging in front of him. “She smel s good like I want to trust her and take care of her and I know

she’l take care of me. She obviously affects you differently.”

“Oh. How is that?”

TJ snorted as he pointed. “You’ve got wood from the smel of her left in a sauna, bro. You’ve got it bad and I bet she is your mate because you haven’t

even given her a proper sniff yet. I knew you were ready to be Alpha!”

Keil let his head flop back on the hard bench. TJ’s leaps of logic were over the top. How he got from the fact Keil had a hard-on that could pound nails to

making him Alpha was incredible.

“TJ, enough. Can we let this drop for tonight? The problem wil stil be there in the morning.”

TJ’s laugh was long and loud, and final y Keil joined in.

“Okay, bad choice of words. Don’t point it out.” Another howl went up from TJ and Keil gave up. He picked up the bucket of cool water and poured it over

himself. He raised the other bucket.

“Want a rinse?”

When TJ nodded, Keil gave an evil grin and poured the contents of the half-snow-fil ed bucket over his brother’s head. The icy-cold water streamed down

and TJ’s scream echoed in the smal space.

Now Keil was ready for bed.

Keil rol ed over for the mil ionth time.

This was impossible.

He’d slept in a cave surrounded by soaking wet, stinking pack members when they’d gotten caught in a storm. He’d slept in a single hotel room with

seven buddies on a road trip, al of them snoring loud enough to shake the wal s. Both times he’d gotten more sleep than tonight.

Al because of the smal female body at the end of the platform.

He gave up pretending and sat up to admire her better. The moonlight pouring in the window showed parts of her and his night vision fil ed in the rest of

the details. She was curled into a half-circle, one leg pul ed up, her head resting on a pil ow made from her extra clothes. She wasn’t in the sleeping bag

but under it, her body lying on a smal soft blanket.

It was warm enough in the cabin that she’d shrugged off most of her coverings and his gaze slipped over her. He wished he could touch her with his

hands. Her skin tone was lighter than his, her light brown hair escaping from the ponytail she’d made before crawling into bed. Keil stared, memorizing

the curve of her cheek, the dimple just visible at the edge of her mouth. Her eyes closed in peace had the longest lashes he’d ever seen.

He licked his lips. Looking at her made his mouth water. He was tempted to slide over and take her in his arms, nestle her against his body and—

Shit. He was hard again.

How could she not know about belonging to a pack? As a ful -blood wolf, she would have had the ability to shift from human form to wolf starting around

adolescence. While the werewolf genes were dormant in most half-breeds, ful -blood wolves almost always had their genes triggered while stil babies.

Robyn being deaf was unusual, but not a huge issue to him. He could learn to sign, if that’s what it took. When she was in wolf form, they’d have no

problem communicating since wolf was ninety percent sign language. As mates, they should be able to speak into each other’s minds anyway.

And if he was going to chal enge for Alpha, there was an even greater chance he’d be able to hear her thoughts. One of the perks of heading a pack was

a strong mental link to every member of the pack. Add that to the mate bond and they’d be fine.

His mind slipped to pack problems even as his gaze continued to caress her body. The current Alpha and Beta were getting too old to be proper leaders.

The Granite pack was large and more transient than most with the constant influx of newcomers from the Lower 48.

Every time a wolf got the itch to connect with their inner self, they seemed to make their way north, thinking that the wilds of Alaska would help them find

themselves. Al they found was that life required hard work, no matter were you lived. There was no easy ride anywhere, and perhaps even less here Up

North.

Keil had begun to worry as more of their traditions fel away. It wasn’t that he didn’t like progress, but some things were tradition because it was good for

the pack. Newcomers brought baggage with them, and a lot of what they were demanding the pack do to keep them comfortable went against everything

the Granite pack stood for.

It was time for change. When the old leaders announced they would step aside and let someone younger take over, Keil knew it was his chance. He would

have to slow down on his guiding business but having a strong pack would be worth it.

But he wasn’t the only wolf with the potential to win the chal enge. Another of the newcomers was Keil’s equal in strength, but Jack’s vision for the future of

the pack traveled even further down the road to hel than the one they were on.

Keil groaned and rol ed on his back. Finding his mate right now was going to make things difficult, to say the least. But was he sad he’d found her? Hel ,

no. Some wolves went their whole lives without discovering their mate. So he had a few issues to resolve.

Before next weekend. No rush.

A soft noise made him turn. Robyn was awake, pushed up on one elbow rubbing her hand over the side of her face and ear as if in pain. He scrambled

closer, cautious not to frighten her, trying to be sure she saw him approach.

He mouthed the words to avoid waking TJ. “Are you okay?”

Tears were wel ing up in her eyes as she shook her head. She tried to sit and with little effort he lifted her, pul ing her into his arms. He ended up rubbing

his hand over the side of her head while he rocked her gently back and forth. She was tense at first but slowly she relaxed, and his heart leapt. Keil wasn’t

sure what was going on, but she felt too marvelous pressed up against him to think it through. His fingers continued to smooth over her hair and cheek, the

feel of her against him wonderful and right. Her skin was soft under his fingers, the warmth of her torso wrapping around him like a blanket.

And when Robyn turned her head in his hand and caressed it, he thought his heart would burst. He couldn’t resist. Stil cupping her face, he lowered his

lips toward hers, brushing gently with a closed mouth, just to feel the friction of them coming together.

It was like a shock of electricity raced through her. She’d woken to the painful buzzing in her ear that was a sporadic occurrence over the years. It only

seemed to happen when she camped with strangers, and she’d learned to deal with it by rubbing, hard, on the soft spot below her ear. But today at Keil’s

gentle touch, the pain receded, and a wonderful warmth built throughout her body like she’d never before experienced. As his lips touched hers something

clicked within her and al she could think about was feeling him everywhere.

Oh, lordy, she wanted to be naked with him.

That was real y, real y not her.

She’d reached twenty-six years old with limited sexual experience. Whether it was because Tad was overprotective or because her deafness made her

too unattractive to warrant more exploration, she’d never worried about it too much. She had read erotic stories over the years, and she knew how to

climax, but she’d never had any desire to try much of anything with anyone.

Tad said she was saving herself for the “right man”.

Her parents had told her that when it was time, she’d know.

After al these years she’d figured that the Timex took a licking somewhere along the line and busted, because no one had real y turned her crank.

Until now.

This stranger made her mouth water, and she hadn’t had a real taste of him yet. She opened her lips a crack, to see what he’d do and his eager tongue

slipped past to trace the edge of her teeth.

Damn, he tasted good.

A sudden rush of scent fil ed her head and made it spin. Tingles raced down over her body coming to land between her legs. She reached out a hand to

see if something was pushing on her crotch, but nothing was there except the internal pressure that made her want to squirm.

Keil’s hand slipped around to the back of her neck, drawing her closer and shifting her mouth to a different angle as he continued to kiss her. She pressed

into him, enjoying the pleasurable sensations flowing through her. Yet even as she kissed back she wondered what she was doing. Why she wasn’t pul ing

her knife on him and getting him to back off?

He lifted her around to lie on top of his body as his tongue worked its magic on her mouth. His heart beat under her hands, the long, hard length of his

body warm against her torso and limbs.

And she realized the long, hard length of something else nestled between her legs. Oh. My. Word. She pushed up with her hands on his hard chest to

stare into his dark brown eyes, uncertain what to do. She felt safe, even if this had to be the most insane thing she’d done in her life.

“Are you feeling better?” Keil mouthed as he traced a finger over the ear she’d been clutching moments earlier. Robyn nodded. “Let’s get some more

sleep. We’l talk this through in the morning, okay?”

She nodded, lowering her mouth to give him one more gentle kiss, before crawling off his body to rearrange her sleeping space. Any concern over her

strange reaction to him was washed away by the quick relief of her earache.

She’d just straightened the bottom blanket when Keil’s soft touch on her arm made her pause. His eyes were bewitching as he stared at her, silent for a

moment.

“Please, can I hold you?”

Robyn swal owed hard. Oh man, did she want him to hold her. She nodded before ducking her chin down to avoid his eyes. He shifted his mattress closer,