Wolves for the Bears: Book 5, Grey Wolf Pack Romance Novellas (3 page)

Adam howled into the sky and the pack members followed suit.
  Music began to blare and pack members dispersed.

Mac found herself
surrounded by numerous wolves all wishing to welcome her home personally.  She was hugging Carly the Omega of the pack when she noticed Adam going to talk to Andy, who had been hovering in the background.

Her brother had always been the biggest and the baddest of the pack
, much larger than the average wolf, she marvelled that even he was dwarfed by Andy.  Yet, despite his size Andy seemed so docile and sweet. 

Adam stuck out
his hand and shook Andy’s massive paw.  “Thanks man, I owe you.  I wanted to make sure the party was all set up, we had a few hiccups otherwise I would have gone.”  Adam seemed keen to reassure the bear shifter that he hadn’t dismissed his sister so lightly.  From Adam’s tone Andy guessed that Adam was pretty damn protective of his baby sister.

Andy looked at the Alpha bashfully.  “No, it was my pleasure.” 
Oh by the way your precious sister is my mate, I’ve been desperately fighting my arousal for her the whole way home, you should be thankful I didn’t just jump her in my truck...

Andy clamped
his mouth shut, his bear would love nothing more for him to say that out loud.  No way was he giving in.  He didn’t really fancy starting a fight with his mate’s brother.  He knew Adam was pretty fierce, but if incensed about his mate there was no telling what Andy might do.  Best to keep things civilised.

Mac watched as a young wolf called Felicity sauntered over to Andy, she was a year older than herself.  Felicity placed a hand on Andy’s arm.  Mac
’s beast snarled and she had an overwhelming urge to run over and rub herself all over him and mark him with her scent.  She hugged Kim the wolf in front of her a little more forcefully than necessary. 
Thankfully Kim was built like an Amazon warrior
.

Felicity gave Andy a hopeful grin.  “You know you’re welcome to join the party, right?”  She looked to her Alpha for confirmation who nodded.  “You and your wife, is Esther free this evening?”

Andy’s bear roared at the unfamiliar female’s touch.  It angered him to have another she-wolf touch him, he hadn’t even felt his own she-wolf’s touch yet. 
That thought just angered him more.

He sh
rugged her arm away casually,
as if his bear hadn’t been about to rip the woman away from him
.  “Sorry I can’t stay... some other time maybe.”

Felicity looked a little disappointed
but echoed the same sentiment.

He needed to get out of there, needed to get away from his mate and drown his lustful thoughts in a cold shower. 
Pronto
.

He said his goodbyes and moved back to his truck, wavering as to whether he should say goodbye to Mac or not.

He saw her talking in earnest to a young male wolf about her own age.  He’d been into Bar Luna a few times, his name was Luke. 

Luke seemed pleased to see her, Mac on the other hand looked uncertain and uncomfortable.  Andy was about to go over when Mac hugged Luke.  Luke clamped his arms round her and looked
pleased at the turn of events.

The bear growled his disapproval, urging Andy to bound over there and rip the male away from his mate.
  No, he couldn’t.  She didn’t really belong to him.
Yet..
.

His fangs and claws lengthened and a few wolves walking past him stared in shock before giving him a wide berth.  He was growling lowly.

He needed to get out of there.  He jumped in his truck and sped away, not allowing himself to look back.

Mac saw him go, she’d been tracking his movements since they arrived.  She couldn’t help herself.  He tore out of there like he was on fire.

Probably desperate to get home to his wife she thought sullenly.  Welcome fucking home.

*

Andy ducked under the frame and shut the front door quietly.  His head was pounding from the roars and growls being levelled at him by his bear.  The animal couldn’t comprehend why he had chosen to leave his mate at the party, whey they weren’t already together, why they hadn’t already started the bonding process...

The man however was a little more reticent.  He couldn’t just jump on his mate.  For one thing, he was married and he doubted his wife Esther would be too happy with him doing that.  Nor would the Alpha.  Or the Beta.  Or his boss and pack mate Kim.  Or his cousin Dylan who worked for the Alpha.  Or Dylan’s wife Charlie who was Esther’s boss... 
Yeah there was a long list of people who’d want his balls for trophies if he tried anything stupid.

Given
his mate’s mood on the drive home he doubted his advances would be particularly welcome.  He doubted she was the kind of person who would want to get involved with a married bear.  Maybe she was even sad that her true mate was a bear and not a wolf like her.  His beast snarled at the thought, furious at even the suggestion that he was not good enough for her. 
The bear had an abundance of confidence not entirely shared by the man.

All he wanted to do was to get to his room and take a nice long cool shower.  Get rid of the heat flooding his body that her nearness had caused. 
He was practically on fire
.

He crept quietly past the living room and kitchen.  Not an easy task for someone as tall and bulky as him.  Impossible in fact given the
excellent hearing of the she-bear he lived with.

“Andy
, that you?”  Esther poked her head out of the kitchen.

Esther was
attractive.  He’d always thought so, ever since they were kids.  Growing up she’d been the most beautiful in the clan, much to the consternation of the other females.  She was just a couple of years younger than him and now age 28 she was stunning.  She was just an inch short of six feet tall, with long chestnut hair and hazel eyes.  Her pale skin and rosy complexion radiated health and beauty.  Like all she-bears she could never be described as skinny, she was well-built but still feminine and graceful.

He’d had a crush on her when he was a teenager, every young bear in the clan had a crush on Esther at one time or another. 
But that was a long time ago...

His thoughts turned to Mac.  No Delilah. 
Why would anyone called Delilah prefer to be called Mac?
  It was mindboggling. 
Delilah
.  The pretty name just rolled off the tongue.

He remembered her mysterious smile, her enriching scent, her long willowy limbs... 
His animal groaned contentedly.  His arousal was starting to become unbearable. 
Un-bear-able, damnit he hated that word.

Esther sniffed the air and raised her eyebrows.
  His arousal surely wasn’t a new scent to her.  Although smelling it once again was probably a surprise.  She’d ribbed him mercifully when he was a teenager going out on dates, back then he hadn’t been able to control his desire... up until meeting Mac he’d learned how to keep it pretty well contained over the past eleven years.  Now, all bets were off, his beast did not want to be
contained
.

“You okay?”  She asked frowning.

He exhaled deeply, trying to pull himself together.  “Sure.”  He sniffed the air, chicken pot pie, one of his favourites.  “Something smells good.” 
Although not half as good as Mac smells.

“Yeah, it might be a little singed though, I’ve been keeping it in the warming oven.  I thought you’d be home earlier.”

“Jeez, I’m sorry, I should have called.”  He looked at her shamefacedly.

She smiled kindly. 
“It’s not a problem sweetie, I don’t want you to feel like you have to report your every move to me.  Come on I’ll dish up.”

She
glided back into the kitchen and Andy followed, packing himself into a kitchen chair.  It was a cramped little room, especially when Andy was in it but Esther loved it.  She said the yellow paint always cheered her up.  Esther fell in love with the little cottage the first time she saw it. 
Andy not so much.

Esther loved the white picket fence and gorgeous front gard
en.  She loved the red door with the coloured glass panels and the black slate roof.  She said it was quaint.  Andy just thought it was small.  Too small for two largish bear shifters, yet he hadn’t the heart to say no. 
He never liked to let people down.
  So half-heartedly, he had agreed to live there.

Esther placed an enormous plate in front of him containing a huge portion of pot pie, some corn, green beans and homemade chunky fries.
  He grabbed a glass of water.  Easy to do when he was sat down, all he had to do was lean back and he could reach both the glasses and the tap.  There wasn’t much he couldn’t actually reach from his sitting position.  It really was that small.

Eagerly they ate their meals
.  Bears had enormous appetites and very fast metabolisms.  Most bear shifters he knew ate between five and six meals a day.

“So how come you were late anyway?”
  Asked Esther pleasantly.

“Adam asked me to do him a favour
, he ummm, wanted me to pick up his sister.” 
My mate...

She rolled her eyes.  “You know you can always say no, he’s not your Alpha.  Don’t let him take advantage of your good nature.”

He shrugged.  If he hadn’t agreed to do the favour for Adam he wouldn’t have met Mac... well honestly it probably would have just delayed the meeting to another time.  It was probably easier this way, no prying eyes...

“Adam just needed someone to collect her while they got her coming home party ready.” 
He cleared his throat.  “You know we were invited to the party too if you wanted to go...”  He half hoped she wanted to go so he could get another glance at his mate, another whiff of her intoxicating scent.

Man and bear were already pining for her.

Her expression clouded.  “I know, I just don’t really feel like it tonight.”

“No me neither.”  He said, trying to mean it.
  He forced a smile on his face.  “Let’s have a movie night.”

She brightened
.  “Sounds good.  Let’s do the dishes first and then you pick the movie I’ll make the popcorn.”

He agreed and they quickly washed and dried before settling down to watch ‘Some Like it Hot’ with a bowl of sweet popcorn.

He forced himself to watch the TV, laughing mechanically at the funny parts.  He’d seen it a million times, he could anticipate when he needed to laugh.  In truth his thoughts were dominated by Mac,  He wondered what she was doing at the party. 
Probably hanging out with her friend Luke...

After the movie ended he stood up stretching and yawning.  “Well I think I’m gonna turn in.”

“Mmmm, I think I’ll go relax and have a bath before bed.”

Locking the door and turning the lights off they both climbed the stairs.  At the top he turned to her
and tweaked her ponytail.  “Night Ess.”

She kissed his cheek.  “Good night sweetie.”

They parted and went to their respective rooms.  Another reason Esther loved the house was that it had two equal size bedrooms, both en suite. 

Andy lay on his bed, the frame groaning under his size.  He closed his eyes but all he could see was Mac.  His beast
yearned for her.

His erection was painfully hard.  His hand travelled south to try and relieve himself.  He grunted, this might go better in a cold shower.

Hauling himself up he moved to the bathroom. 
It was going to be a long night.

Chapter Three

14
th
August

Mac adjusted the gun at her hip.  She’d officially been a Sheriff’s Deputy for ten days now.  True most of those days had been spent attending seminars and training sessions, and she hadn’t actually been out on a call yet but she was still a Deputy.

She just couldn’t get used to carrying a gun.  She was no stranger to guns.  As a child her father had taught her how to shoot, he had insisted.

Most shifters eschewed weapons, preferring their own claws.  Her father was kind of paranoid though and wanted both his children to be able to protect themselves no matter what.  Her father had also hoarded food, blankets, gas, candles... as it turns out he was a secret survivalist.  They’d found it all after he died.  He had thought that one day the country would be thrown into anarchy and he wanted to be prepared.

It had surprised her to find all the stuff but not as much as it really should have.  After her mother died her father had gone a little...
cuckoo
.  And he wasn’t the most stable man before she died either.

But losing your true mate can be harrowing for a shifter, a death sentence to some of them.  She felt a sharp twinge. 
She’d lost her mate, would she go crazy too?

No, technically she hadn’t lost him.  She’d never had him.  She was too chicken to even admit to him that he was her mate. 
Too afraid of the inevitable rejection. 

She hadn’t seen Andy since the day she met him.  Numerous times other wolves had asked her to get a drink with them in Bar Luna but she always begged off.  She daren’t risk running into him
. 

She didn’t know what to say to him. 
I’m your mate, your my mate, please leave your wife and be with me? 
Her wolf could get on board with that idea.  Mac however balked at the idea of laying her heart on the line.  If she never told him she was his mate he could never reject her.  It was that simple...

Carrie the surly
station receptionist came in and gave her a note with an address on.  “Here, we have a call.”

Mac took the note and stood up to put her jacket on, “what’s it for?”

Carrie shrugged and pouted at her.  “I didn’t get that part of the message... guess you’ll find out when you get there.”  Carrie smirked and left.

Mac had only met Carrie ten days ago and already Carrie was trying her best to undermine her.
  From what Adam had told her, Carrie wanted to mate with Alec the Sheriff and pack Beta. 
That was the last thing that Alec wanted.
So when Carrie saw Alec being nice and welcoming to Mac, Carrie immediately hated her and saw her as a threat.  Which was ridiculous, Alec was like a second brother to her.  She doubted Carrie would listen to reason though.

Gabe another Sherriff’s Deputy was at the station too.  He smiled at her and stood up to put his own jacket on.  “Come on, we’ll both go.”

She sighed relieved.  She didn’t like to admit it but she was just a teensy bit nervous about how to handle things.  The seminars had been fine, but they weren’t the same as actually being out there and actually doing the job.

Gabe went over and picked up a set of keys for a patrol car.  “You wanna drive?”

She nodded eagerly and he threw the keys to her.  She was thankful it was Gabe going with her.  Jake the other wolf Deputy was kind of serious, and wouldn’t be understanding if she fucked up. 
Which she feared she would somehow...

The other Deputy
Mark had just moved away to San Francisco as his girlfriend got a new job there.  Alec was looking for a replacement.  Mac had met a few of the candidates and was hopeful that he would hire a young bobcat shifter called Deanna Hardison.  She seemed the most competent, and Mac would like for there to be another female Deputy.

As they drove Gabe cut his eyes to her.  “So how’s it going so far?”

She grinned.  “Ask me again after my first call out?”

“Where we going anyway?”

Mac fumbled and passed him the note Carrie had given him.  Gabe began snickering.

“What?  What is it?”

He slapped his hand over his mouth as his face started to turn red.  “Nothing... it’s nothing... you’ll see...”  He spluttered.

He turned to look out the window, but his shoulders still shook.
  She cast him curious glances. 
Huh
.

Mac pulled up in front of the given address.  It was a quaint little street filled with adorable little cottages, white picket fences and flawless flower beds.  If she had to guess she’d say that the street was just about filled with senior citizens.

“It looks so peaceful here.”  Mac furrowed her brow.  “So what is it?  What’s so funny?”

Gabe cocked an eyebrow at her.  “It is peaceful here... mostly.  It just has one little problem... oh!  Here it comes!”  Gabe inclined his head to her side of the car.

Curious she turned her head to look out her window. 
Oh fucking hell!

She came face to... ummm face... with an enormous limp penis with the biggest set of testicles she had ever seen. 
Seriously they were like low hanging fruit!

Mac started
and jumped backwards as far as her seatbelt would allow.  Gabe openly guffawed.

The elderly man attached to the...
ummm
goods,
rubbed them against her window. 
Ugh she wanted to vomit!

“What the hell!”

Gabe was almost crying with laughter.  “That’s 79 year old Winston Jones...” 
More guffaws.
  “Once in a while he gets naked and wanders round the neighbourhood...” 
Even more guffaws
.  “One of his neighbours calls us, we pick him up, he spends a night in jail and then we do it all again the next time.”

Mac looked at Gabe, desperately trying not to look back at the penis.  “Is he sick?  Alzheimer’s?”

“Nah, he was kind of hippy when he was younger, used to live in a nudist colony.  Although we reckon he took a lot of LSD in younger days.  We think that and the fact that he just really loves his body makes him want to erm
give the boys an airing
once in a while.”

Ma
c looked at her window out of the corner of her eye. 
He was still there
.  “And the reason he is currently trying to make sweet love to the patrol car is...?”

Gabe grinned.  “He’s not keen on cops.  He was a hippy, he used to go to sit-ins and protests, he was arrested over a dozen times.  He likes to piss us off.”

“It’s working.”  She said sourly.  “You know, I’ll admit my experience of naked men is... kind of limited, but are those testicles... normal?”

Gabe chuckled.  “No, definitely no.  They’re a hell of a lot bigger than normal, Winston’s actually pretty proud of that.”

“Yeah, I can sure see why he would be...”

“So...?”

Mac breathed a sigh of relief when Winston finally moved away from her window.  Instead he moved to sit on the hood of the car, smooshing his naked butt all over it.  He turned his head back to them, a look of triumph on his face.  “So what?”

“So... go get him.”

Mac blinked at him a few times.  “You want me to go arrest that gross naked old guy?”

“Yep, right of passage for all rookie
s.  Besides we all take turns, and you’re up.  And FYI he’s a bull shifter.”

Crap!  Double crap!
 
“A bull shifter?!  I had no idea there was one in Rose...” 
They were notorious for being hard bastards!

Mac inhaled and exhaled deeply.  Courage little wolf, he’s just an old man, it’s no big deal.  You see naked men all the time. 
You never usually have to tackle them though...

Gingerly she stepped out the car and shut the door.  She fingered her handcuffs as she slowly moved towards the front of the car.  Winston was still sat on the hood.

“Hi Winston.” 
Try not to spook him.

He looked at her, mischief written all over his face.  “Hello dear... I don’t think I’ve ever been arrested by you before.”

Mac inched towards him.  “No, I’m new.  My name’s Mac, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Ahhh, the Alpha’s sister.  It’s nice to meet you too
little wolf.  I’ve never been arrested by a
female
cop, I’m looking forward to this.”

“Well that makes one of us.  Any chance you’ll just get in the back of my car without a struggle?”

Winston chortled throatily.  “No.”

He stood up and began strolling up the street with a speed and gait that belied his age. 
Damn he was fast!  Her wolf started prancing around, the idea of any kind of chase thrilled her.

Mac ran to the back of the car and pulled out a blanket and chased after him.  Thankfully he was in no hurry, much to the consternation of the other house owners he kept bending down to pick flowers out of gardens. 
They could live with losing the flowers, it was just the hideous sight of him bending down that bothered them.
 

A few house owners had already retreated from their gardens to the inside of their house. 
Although Winston did this on a regular basis it wasn’t really something they could get used to.

Mac strode after him purposefully.  She was going to wrap him up and then cuff him. 
Easy peasy
.

Except he saw her coming and started running.  He was a bull,
so even at 79 he was fast.  Mac sped up to catch him.  She almost had him but he dodged her.  He flitted all over the street with her flailing after him.

Gabe had gotten out of the car and was leaning against it
,
the
non-penis daubed side,
watching them with interest
.

“You could help you know!”  She yelled at him.

“You look like you’ve got it under control.”  He called back gleefully.

She groaned as the old man once again wriggled out of his grasp.
  She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, and her wolf was yapping like a puppy. 
No time for that now, she had a naked old guy to wrangle.

Every time he got away it only made her more determined to catch him.
 
She would not be defeated by an old bull shifter!

She feinted right so he moved left and so did she.  She had him.  She smothered the blanket over him and they toppled to the ground
with her on top of him

Yes, success!
 
Winston giggled beneath her as she slapped the cuffs on him.  She was panting heavily,
jeez the bull was fit!

Gabe whooped behind her, he was clapping as he came up to give her a hand.
  “Well done!  My first time took twice as long.  You’re a natural rookie!”

Gabe took one of his arms and helped haul Winston to his feet.
  Mac clutched the blanket to it, wrapping it around him like a toga.

Gabe beamed at her.  “You did good!” 

“You sure did!”  Agreed Winston.

The two of them laughed and started chatting as they walked to the patrol car.  Mac shook her head.

That’s when she saw him.  He was watching her. 
Andy
.

He was stood on the doorstep of a small cottage. 
Fuck he must live there
.  Stood next to him was the most stunning woman she had ever seen.  She was taller than her, curvier than her and much more beautiful. 
Double fuck that must be his wife.

How long had they been watching her make a complete ass out of herself?  She must have looked like an idiot prancing around, chasing the naked dude.

Andy was staring at her with a look she couldn’t decipher. 
Probably embarrassment at having such a nitwit for a mate.

His wife started walking towards her a huge smile on her round face.
  Andy half-heartedly tried to grab her.

“Hi!”  She called.  “You must be Mac.”

Mac nodded weakly.

“I’m Esther, it’s nice to meet you.”
  Esther gave her a dazzling smile.

Mac hated her already.
  “Yeah you too” she mumbled.

Andy came over and joined them, not looking Mac in the eye.

“I was just telling Andy that hands down that was the best Winston tackle we’ve seen so far.  None of the other Deputies thought to use a blanket, they just spent ages chasing him up and down the road.  None of them wanted to be the one to grab him!”  Esther told her gleefully.  “Right Andy?”

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. 
He was already agitated at seeing him mate again.  He hadn’t seen her since the day he met her.  That was thirteen days ago. 
Thirteen long fucking days.

Now, when he finally does get to see her again she’s jostling with another man.  Another
naked
man.  His mind told him that the man in question was a crazy old coot, but his beast was livid and roaring at him.  His bear had been hounding him mercilessly for the past thirteen days, he hadn’t been able to understand why their mate was being kept at arms length. 
The bear just wanted to be with her.