Chapter 9
A week had passed with Shaw sending card after card, bouquet after bouquet, and chocolates galore, but still Robin wouldn’t answer his calls. He even sent over a contract about their business dealings, but she didn’t respond at all to it. He was at a loss as to what to do for the first time.
He and the members of his pack had taken to the road on their bikes to blow off some steam. When they pulled into the same park he’d met her in, he took in a breath of cold air, hoping to catch her scent. But he didn’t.
In frustration, Shaw growled, “Let’s take a walk in the woods.”
Falcon jogged up to walk a step behind his leader. His brown hair and golden eyes set him apart from the rest. All the wolf-shifters were naturally muscular, and all had an air of danger to them. “You’ve been out of it for a solid week, Shaw. What gives?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Shaw snapped at him as he jerked his head to look at his packmate. “And step back a bit. You’re crowding me.”
Falcon knew when to back off and now was the time to give his leader some space, even if he thought the guy needed some help. “Will do, boss.”
The next one to try to see how he could help their leader was the playful one of the bunch. Grey, who had ash blond hair and hazel eyes, came up to one side of him, leaving plenty of space between them. “I cleared out of the Denver office like you told me to, Shaw. I had it all redone the way you said to also. It’s good to go man.”
“You might as well move back in there. She’s not coming anyway,” Shaw muttered.
“She?” Grey asked. “So a she was going to take the office next to yours then? And now she’s not coming anymore. Who is this she, you’re talking about.”
Shaw stopped walking as snow began to fall lightly. He looked up, letting it fall on his face that felt hot with anger. “Not that it matters, but her name is Robin Winters. I offered her the COO position of a guard dog training company, and she turned me down.”
“Shit,” Grey said as he looked back at the rest of the pack who all shrugged. Shaw hadn’t told any of them a thing about the woman. “Is she rich already? Is that why she turned you down?”
“No, she barely has any money. She turned me down because I came onto her. Or my wolf did. Damn! We both did.” Shaw threw his hands up to the sky and howled. Then he settled down a bit and looked down at the snow-covered forest floor. His voice, barely a whisper, “She’s completely human.”
His packmates shook their heads, knowingly. They all knew mating with a human was risky business. You never knew which way it would go. But Rafe wasn’t as sharp as the rest of the pack, and that had him asking his leader a question, “I don’t get what the big deal is here, Shaw. Who cares about some human female anyway? It’s her loss if she won’t give into you.” He blew his long dark bangs out of his face, his dark eyes roaming the woods as his mind went in another direction. “I think I’ll try to catch a rabbit while we’re out here. Some rabbit stew sounds awesome.”
Falcon was the brains of the bunch. He threw a mock punch at Rafe’s arm. “You didn’t hear what he said, did you, Rafe?” His golden eyes looked into Rafe’s. His brown hair blew in wisps around his handsome face as a slight breeze kicked up. “His wolf wants her too. You know how that whole thing can end, right?”
Rafe nodded then stopped nodding. “Wait.” He looked at Shaw with a puzzled expression. “You and your wolf want this human chick?”
Shaw nodded. “Not that it really matters, she wants neither of us. And I have to admit, the girl’s smart not to want anything to do with me. But I can’t get her out of my mind, and neither can my wolf. He keeps talking to me, bugging me to make things right with the girl, win her over, for both of us.”
Falcon shook his head. “You can’t let him control you, Shaw. You know that. A she-wolf will come around someday, and that ol’ wolf of yours will want her and forget about that human. Just you wait and see.”
“Yeah,” Brogan added. His blond hair glistened in the sunlight, his blue eyes shielded by dark glasses from the brightness. “We just need to get a female wolf-shifter so your wolf can have some fun. With him preoccupied with her, you’ll soon forget this human.”
Shaw didn’t think it would be that easy. “I wish something would give me some relief. It’s been too many days in a row with this craving building inside of me. I know where she lives and I’ve caught myself stalking her. How easy it would be for me to slip into her apartment and take her the way I want to.”
Falcon patted him on the back. His background as a lawyer helped him keep the pack members out of any trouble they managed to get into. “No breaking and entering, and definitely no taking a woman against her will, Shaw.”
“I know that!” Shaw barked.
Falcon took a step back, making sure to give Shaw his space. “Just felt you needed reminding of those little things.”
Taking large strides, Shaw began walking deeper into the forest. “I just need to run off some of this aggravation.” He started to run and the others followed.
Shaw took in the smells of the woods. He loved picking up scents. A squirrel was up ahead in a tree, a bird nestled in a nest not far away. Running always took him out of his own head for a while. But he couldn’t run forever. He had to come to some kind of terms with the girl. He had to have her in his life in some way.
Now that he’d really gotten to know her, he couldn’t go on as if she didn’t exist, even though he knew he should do just that. For her sake, he should forget about her.
But Shaw wasn’t the only being housed in his body. There was the wolf too, and that precocious creature wasn’t about to give up. He wanted Robin in a way he’d never wanted anything before. And Shaw knew when the next full moon came around, the wolf would take over and be in charge. When that night came, Shaw would be helpless to keep Robin safe.
Once they were deep in the forest, Shaw stopped and so did the others. He looked to Brogan for help. The shifter was the only one who could put his emotions away and do what he had to do. “Brogan, when the full moon comes again, I’m going to need you to keep my wolf away from the woman. It’ll mean a fight, but I know you’re more capable of handling that than anyone else.”
Brogan knew the fight would be long and arduous. Not a thing he found himself happy about. “Look, Shaw, this human, is she worth it? I mean, really?”
“She is,” Shaw told him as he nodded.
“Then why not try to date her a bit? I’m sure you’ve just come on too strong. You can fix this.” Brogan picked up a ball of snow and tossed it at his leader, hitting his leather jacket, making the snow burst apart. “And the last thing I want to do is get into a dogfight with your wolf. I know you’re worried about how it’ll all turn out. But you have to know that you must work with your wolf. If he’s scented her and found he wants her as his mate—fight it all you want—but you know what’ll happen in the end.” He glanced around at the others. “Sure, a she-wolf makes more sense as you’re a leader and all, but things don’t always work out the way that makes the most sense.”
“I think I could fall in love with this girl, Brogan,” Shaw admitted. “I’m not myself when I’m with her. I’m all rainbows and butterflies. If she fell for me and I did attempt to change her, I don’t know what it would do to me if she didn’t make it through the process. If she dies, I just don’t…”
Grey came up to Shaw’s side, interrupting him, “Hey, don’t think like that. Look, you have to be realistic, Shaw. You want this female human, and your wolf does too. If you don’t take her in your human form, you will in your wolf form. And she’s more likely to be killed if your wolf attempts to change her when he’s got all the control. You know that.”
Shaw nodded. “That’s true.”
Rafe threw a snowball at Shaw’s back, and Shaw spun around and picked up a ball of fluffy white snow, sending it Rafe’s way. Rafe laughed as it hit him in the chest. “Don’t worry, Shaw, we’ve got your back. We’ll help you win this girl over.”
The pack got into a snowball fight and laughed as they all played like children deep inside the forest. Their leader feeling much better about things, now that he understood it really wasn’t in his hands alone anyway.