CHAPTER EIGHT

 

 

I walked all the way to the barn where the meeting was supposed to happen, but no one was there. I pulled out my phone, only to realize I didn't have Axel's number. How could I not have his number?

I paced in front of the barn for twenty minutes, but no one showed. What the hell was going on? Had I misunderstood the time or the location of the meeting? I was annoyed with myself and with Axel, so I marched my ass back through town to Axel's house. I banged on the door for a full two minutes, but there was no sound from inside. Annoyance shifted to worry at that point, and I marched around back and through the woods to the gym/studio. There were no sounds coming from there, but I barged in anyway, only to find it empty, too. What the hell? Completely out of ideas of where to find Axel, I decided to take it out on the punching bag. I punched and kicked, working out my worry, both that something had happened to Axel and that he'd deliberately misled me for some reason, until I started to enjoy myself. I enjoyed myself so much, I forget to pull back on my punches and punched the bag right off the hook. It flew across the warehouse and knocked over a stack of rusted metal on the far side. Huh, guess that explained the three extra punching bags lined up along the wall. I considered lugging the thing back over and hanging it up, but decided against it. It was the least Axel deserved for not being where he said he'd be and making me worry.

With nothing better to do, I got into my weight-lifting routine. I'd always loved lifting, because it was a constant challenge. If I could do too many reps, I just added weight and, boom, challenge. It helped that I had a mesomorph-style body and built muscle pretty quickly and easily. Now that I was a werewolf, I could lift three times what I'd been able to lift before. I felt like superwoman.

I was doing Smith squats, facing an exterior window, when I saw Axel walking toward the warehouse. I paused mid-rep, ignoring the screaming of my quads, and watched him. His shoulders were slumped, his steps dragging. His mouth was pinched in a tight line, his expression dark and weary. I'd spent a lot of time thinking about Axel and my reaction to him, but I hadn't spent a lot of time thinking about what it took to do Axel's job, what stress he must experience being responsible for the entire pack, being the one they looked to for everything they needed.

He'd been so good to me, so protective, even before he knew me at all. Who took care of him? Who did he talk to when he needed to vent or just forget the pressure for a while? All my earlier annoyance and worry was forgotten as it occurred to me that I wanted to be that person for him. I wanted to make him smile and ease his stress and be there for him when no one else was. I wanted to be a help to him, not the girlfriend who didn't know how she felt about him, not the friend who pressured him to get physical when he wanted more. It wasn't fair to him for me to ask him for anything until I was sure, absolutely positive that I was one hundred percent in it with him. I needed to be the girlfriend capable of standing on her own two feet, capable of supporting myself and him. I would not be just another burden to him.

He paused and looked back toward the house, like he'd heard something, his whole body tense. Did he ever relax? Was he ever not on guard?

He turned back to the warehouse and I finished my reps as he walked in the door. His expression lightened when he saw me, his mouth turning up, his shoulders going back, his steps becoming lighter and quicker. He was by my side in an instant, his arms tight around me, and I could have cried for how good it felt. “There you are,” he said. “I got worried when you weren't at Lucinda's.”

“I came here looking for you,” I said. “I was worried about you.”

He grimaced. “Shit. I forgot to let you know the meeting was canceled.”

I stepped back and got under the bar, using my shoulders to lift it and drop down into another squat. I was happy to see him, but I didn't need to screw up my workout. “Why don't I have your phone number?”

He paused. “You don't?”

I shook my head, the squats making it impossible to speak.

He looked around, spotted my phone on a weight bench near the door, and headed that way. He tapped the screen for several moments and set it back down. “Now you have it.”

I finished my set and walked over to him. “Why was the meeting canceled?”

He rolled his shoulders, the tension returning to his expression. “There was a fight at one of the outlying homesteads. Clarissa and I had to head out and break it up.”

“A fight? I thought we were all pacifists here.”

A bit of the tension left his face, but I didn't get a smile from him. “That's the idea, but living in a small town, seeing the same people day in and day out, tensions can run high. This fight was two families feuding over a hill.”

“A hill?”

He nodded. “One family loves to ski in the winter and they want to build a lift to make the hill more accessible. The other family hates skiing and they want to use the hill for sledding.”

I stared at him. “Couldn't the lift be used for both?”

He sat on the bench, grabbed my waist, and pulled me into his lap. I could have complained, since he'd said he'd keep things platonic until I asked him for more, but I was happy there in his lap and didn't want to change anything. “That's what I suggested, but they said the sleds would ruin the snow and get in the way, so it needed to be zoned as a ski-only hill.”

“Seems like an idiotic argument.”

Axel nodded, his nose brushing my neck. He caressed my side from hipbone to ribs, making it hard for me to focus on the conversation. “It is,” he said. “I think there's something else going on, but they weren't interested in mediation or discussing anything reasonably. For now, none of them are allowed to use the hill for anything. If they can't work it out, I'm letting the teens build another zip line there.”

“The teens build the zip lines?”

He lifted his head, his brow crinkled in confusion. “Sure.”

“Don't you think adults should be involved? Make sure everything is built safely?”

“Herbert checks them over during the build and at the end. It's a good way to keep the teens busy.”

He brushed my hair out of my face, just as the music flipped over to a rock ballad. I've never understood the point of rock ballads. If I wanted to listen to a ballad I'd step into an elevator somewhere. When I listened to rock, I expected to get rock. It was the sort of song I'd usually skip, but staring into Axel's eyes, his hand on my cheek, it felt like the perfect background music. And, yes, I was fully aware I was as cheesy as the characters on Lucinda's favorite soap. I just didn't care.

I leaned in and Axel didn't lean away. It started as a tender kiss, a sort of tentative kiss, that exploded with heat and passion. I knew I should be thinking about this, probably talking about this with Axel, so I pulled back a moment. “Okay?” I asked.

“Hell, yes,” he said.

I should have just accepted that and kept going, but he'd put up the boundary and I felt I should respect it. “But I thought we were just being friends until I came to you and asked for more.”

“We'll be friends tomorrow.”

And that was enough for me. I spun and straddled him, kissing his lips and his chin and his neck. I kissed every part of him I could reach and then started pawing at his shirt, needing to get to his skin. He gripped my waist, put me on my feet, and stood with me. He pulled off my shirt and then got me naked faster than I'd ever managed to get myself naked.

“Let's use the equipment in here for some fun,” he said, a wicked glint in his eyes. “Go over and put your hands on the bar you were just squatting. I walked back over to the smith machine, bent at the waist and put my hands on the bar. I wasn't sure that's what he'd intended, but I was happy to give him a show. Behind me he swore. “You are the sexiest fucking thing I've ever seen. “

I looked back over my shoulder to see him standing about three feet behind me. He was shirt-less and his pants were unbuttoned and unzipped, revealing the flat plane of his abdomen leading down to the goods. He removed some plates from the smith machine and lay them next to my feet. He helped me to step up onto the plates, making me a bit taller, putting me right where he needed me.

He gripped my hips and drove into me in one hard thrust. I was more than ready for him and it felt so good I thought the top of my head might fly off with the pleasure. It felt like it had been weeks instead of a day since I'd felt him inside me. He paused for just a moment and I tried to jerk my hips back, to get some movement, some friction, but he tsked and gripped my hips harder.

“Axel, please.” I needed to move, I needed to feel I was in control.

“Trust me,” he said. “Keep your hands on the bar and trust me to give you what you need.”

I was getting closer to trusting him, and I knew he knew exactly how to give me what I needed. “Okay.”

He sighed, like I'd removed one of those burdens he carried, and pulled out of me slow. He pumped in and out, holding my hips in place, and it felt so good, but I needed more. I pulled one hand from the bar to touch myself, to get the extra friction I needed, but he stopped mid-thrust. “Hand back on that bar,” he said, his voice a husky growl. He wasn't using his alpha voice. If he had, I would have fought his order. Instead, I put my hand back on the bar and lost myself to the motion and the feel of him, the sounds our flesh made, the feel of his fingers digging into my hips, the moans we both made.

Finally, he touched me in that magic spot. He was rougher than I would have been, but it was just what I needed in that moment. I exploded, screaming his name with the pleasure. He followed and collapsed over my back, breathing heavy. “Stay with me tonight?” he asked, once he'd caught his breath.

“Okay,” I said. “But just tonight and only because I want sex.”

His face was against my neck so I could feel his smile. Which was dumb. Why was he smiling about that? “Of course.”

“Axel?” Clarissa's voice carried through the door. Before I could look over, I heard her footsteps on the concrete floor. “Oh, shit. Sorry. I'll come back later.”

By the time we'd both stood, she was gone. Axel didn't even put on clothes. He picked me up and carried me inside. He took me straight upstairs to his bed. “What if Clarissa needed something?”

“If it was important, she would have told me before she left.”

He laid me down on the bed and dropped to his knees. He spread my legs wide, enjoying the view for just a moment before he dove in and feasted. I forgot about Clarissa and the valley pack and Axel's burdens. I forgot my own damn name.

 

***

 

I woke up in Axel's bed alone. I could hear his welding tools from the warehouse, so I took my time getting out of bed and putting yesterday's clothes back on. I made coffee for both of us and carried it out to the warehouse, but Axel didn't look up from his work. He was shirtless, sweatpants hanging low on his lean hips, his damp skin flexing and tightening over his firm muscles as he worked. It was a sight to behold and I couldn't resist grabbing my phone from the bench where I'd left it the day before and filming him in action.

I got about ten minutes of video, zooming in on my particular areas of interest as much as on his work, before he looked up and noticed me there. He grinned when he saw me and put down his tools. He took off his face shield and walked lazily over to me, his gaze scanning my body as though he was ready to go again, even though we'd been up most of the night. “Thanks, sweetheart.” He picked up the coffee mug I'd brought out for him and lifted it to his lips. Damn, his lips. I needed to leave before I climbed all over him and forgot that I needed to be making my own way, not spending every moment of every day in bed with him.

“I need to get home,” I said. “Has yesterday's meeting been rescheduled?”

He smirked like he knew why I was in such a hurry to leave. “It's this afternoon. Same time, same place.”

I nodded and left. I walked back to Lucinda's, taking my time and enjoying the sunny, warm morning. I'd taken my mug with me and I sipped coffee as I walked. I stopped at the diner, which was much less busy that morning, though the menu offerings were the same, and had a quick breakfast. By the time I got back to Lucinda's, I was feeling relaxed and pretty darn good about everything.

Lucinda was seated on her couch, scowling at me. Several other women, including Lara, were seated around the room, not scowling at me. “Good morning,” I said.

Lucinda grunted. “It would have been better if I hadn't been up all night worrying about you.”

“I'm…sorry,” I said. “I didn't realize you would expect me back. I just…” They didn't need to know I'd been with Axel. “I got busy and lost track of time.”

“Busy with Axel,” one of the women said. “Didn't you hear, Luce? Clarissa walked in on the two of them getting it on in the middle of the gym.”

Lucinda's scowl deepened as I made a mental note to kick Clarissa's big-mouthed ass. “Sounds exceedingly unsanitary to me,” Lucinda said. “Do you know how many germs live on publicly used gym equipment?”

“Don't really want to know,” I said. I looked around at the women. Since all the seats were taken, I sat on the coffee table. “I'm Julie. I know Lara and Lucinda, I don't think I've met the rest of you.” A couple of them looked familiar, but we hadn't been officially introduced.

“I'm Betsy,” said a woman with curly red hair. “That's Millie and Clara. Lucinda invited us over so you could teach us how to fight.”

I studied the women. They were all lean and fit, probably because they could shift into wolves and run for miles and miles through the woods.

“I'd love to train you,” I said. “I'd like to offer training to everyone in town. Maybe you all could help me decide how much to charge.”

“Charge?” Lucinda asked. “You can't charge pack members for services.”

“I paid for my meal at the diner today,” I said. “Why can't I charge for training?”

“The diner charges you for the cost of the food, that's it.”

“How does anyone make money in this town?” I asked.

“We don't,” Betsy said. “That's the problem.”

Lucinda glared at Betty like she could melt her with her eyes. “We all have a role in the pack and jobs to help sustain the pack. We sell goods and services to outsiders, and the money we make is shared.”

Okay, I could see that. Maybe I could make training videos for YouTube and make some money that way. “What do you do for money?”

Lucinda crinkled her nose and pursed her lips. “I blog and write dark erotic romance.”

Huh, Lucinda was just chock-full of surprises. “Wow. I'd love to read your stuff.”

“Not today,” she said. “Today, you'll train us.”

It's not like I had anything better to do. “Sure,” I said. “Would one of you mind filming the training session?”

“I'll do it,” Millie said. She was tall and had smooth brown skin, big brown eyes, and thick brown hair. She was so pretty I'd probably assume she was a model or an actress if we were in LA. “I film the yoga videos.”

“Yoga videos?”

She nodded. “Zane is our local yogi. He sells yoga videos.”

“Cool. So, you know how to film with a phone?”

She shrugged. “I could, but I've got a better camera at home. Want me to grab it?”

“That would be awesome.”

She hurried out of the house and was back just as we were getting started in Lucinda's back yard. “That was fast,” I said.

“I live next door.”

I trained each of the women in turn, just getting them started on basics and taking them through some good body weight exercises for almost two hours. Afterward, they all headed out, Millie promising to edit the video and get it to me in a couple days. I felt good. I had a purpose and I'd soon have an income, hopefully, and I wouldn't need to rely on Axel. I wouldn't be another burden on him and I'd know I'd have a way out if things ever got bad between us.

I was considering heading over to his place and bringing him lunch, but Lucinda had other ideas.

“You should shower,” she said. I had my head in the refrigerator, looking for something to eat. She'd said I couldn't eat her food, but considering I'd just trained all her friends, it seemed fair.

I stood and turned. I was getting used to Lucinda's bluntness. “I will. I just need something to eat first.”

“You shower, I'll make lunch,” she said. “We've got a meeting with the Aspens Whiten wolves in two hours.”

I take it back, there was no getting used to Lucinda. “A meeting? I thought you didn't know anyone there.”

“I asked around. Turns out one of my exes is still with the pack. He's a big fan of yours, so I set up a double date for us with him and Alpha.”

“Alpha? Are you shitting me?”

She crinkled her nose again. “Why would I shit you? Alpha is a player and he's disgusting, but I thought you'd like to meet him. Just don't touch him, if any werewolf is capable of catching an STD, it's him.” She shuddered.

I hadn't officially met Alpha, but I was sure I'd rather not spend more time with him than necessary. Even so, if anyone had useful information, it would be him. “Okay, then,” I said. “I'll go shower.”

 

***

 

“Is this a joke?” I asked. Lucinda had driven us down the mountain to a town in the valley, Aspens Whiten, that wasn't much bigger than Mule Creek, though it did have paved streets and a chain supermarket. Lucinda had parked in front of a large brick building that looked more like an upscale frat house than a residential home. Mostly because of the keg on the front walk and the bras hanging from a large oak in the front yard.

“Unfortunately, no,” she said. “This is Alpha's home. He and ten other members of the pack live here. My ex lives across the street with the rest of the pack.” I turned and looked across the street to see a ramshackle duplex with peeling paint and a broken front window.

“Wow,” I said. “I can't imagine why they'd want to leave all this behind.”

She scowled. “They'd destroy our pack town. It'd be idiotic for us to hand over Mule Creek to them just because they can't keep their dicks in their pants or avoid the vampires.”

She got out of the car and started up the walk to the brick house. I followed, careful to pick my way along the sidewalk and not step in the piles of…I really didn't want to think about what it might be.

Lucinda knocked on the door. We waited about three minutes before Lucinda lost patience and pounded the door with both fists until Alpha finally pulled the door open. Lucinda plastered on a smile, straightened her maxi dress, and pushed back her shoulders. Alpha was shirt-less, his round beer belly on full display. Up close he looked even less healthy. “Can I help you?” he asked, his confusion obvious.

Lucinda sighed heavily. “I'm Lucinda. Marley set up a double date for you, him, me, and Julie Jacobs.”

She stepped to the side and gave me a small push forward. I stuck out my hand, not really wanting to touch the man, but knowing I ought to make a good impression. He took my hand, but he didn't shake it, he caressed it with his thumb as he looked me over, leering. “I bet you fuck like a freight train.”

I jerked my hand from his and stuck it in my pocket to stop myself from punching him in the nose. Not because he didn't deserve to be punched but because I didn't want to get anywhere near his blood. “Touch me again and I'll break every one of your fingers.” Fuck making a good impression.

He grinned like I'd complimented him. He stepped aside and gestured for us to come in. “Welcome to the pack house,” he said. “Marley is around here somewhere.” He leered at Lucinda. “He got lucky last night, and I think she's still here. Try not to take it personally.”

Lucinda rolled her eyes, but managed not to tell Alpha to go fuck himself. I was impressed. “Why don't you put on some clothes and we'll wait for both of you in your office?”

He hesitated, his eyes narrowed. “You know, I never could get a straight answer out of Marley about why you wanted this double date. He was so excited about meeting Julie Jacobs, I don't think he asked. I'm not as blinded by fame as he is.”

“Right,” Lucinda said. “I was going to wait until we were all together, but I might as well tell you now. The truth is, I'm unhappy with Axel as pack leader. He's nowhere near as much fun as you are and you can't expect Julie Jacobs, a world-renowned fighter, to want to stay in a pack with a bunch of pacifists.”

He watched her lips while she spoke. Not like he was lusting after her, but like he was having trouble understanding the words coming out of her mouth. By the time she was finished, though, he seemed to have gotten it. His chest was puffed out and his smile was wide. “Axel isn't as much fun as us? That's what I've been saying since day one. I don't know why anyone stays in his boring-ass pack.”

Lucinda widened her eyes and actually smiled. “So true. You've got a way of hitting the truth right on the head.”

“I'll just go get dressed and rustle up Marley. You two can wait in my office.”

As soon as he was out of earshot, Lucinda shuddered. “You should wash your hands, like now.”

She pointed out a door just down the hall.

I washed my hands, turning the water up as hot as I could stand it. I was drying them when Lucinda screeched at me to hurry my ass up. I ran out of the bathroom to see her racing for the front door, a long, carved stick in her hand. I sprinted after her, but Alpha barreled into me and knocked me to the ground. “You aren't going anywhere,” he said, his breath reeking of stale beer.

“Get off me,” I said, using my alpha voice.

His eyes widened, but he rolled off me and stood. I sprang to my feet and stared him down. “Get on your knees.”

He did so. “What the fuck are you?” he asked.

“Don't move and don't try to follow us.”

“I am so going to kick your ass when I find you,” he said. “You're going to regret this.”

He shouted some more stuff, but I didn't hear it because I was already out the door and racing for the car. Lucinda had the engine running. I grabbed the door handle and leapt in as she pulled away from the curb.

“What the hell is going on?”

Lucinda's smile threatened to crack her cheeks and she was practically bouncing in her seat. “I got the spirit stick back. They are such a bunch of idiots, they had it displayed in Alpha's office for everyone to see.”

I stared at the side of her face, disbelieving. “They know we're in Axel's pack and they just let us go in the office where Axel's spirit stick is on display?”

“Alpha is perpetually drunk, he probably forgot where he left it.”

“Why didn't you tell me what you were doing?” I asked. “I thought we were just there to investigate.”

“I didn't expect the spirit stick to be so easy to get.” She glanced over at me. “I figured you'd seen enough to understand what we're dealing with.”

“They hardly seem like a threat. I don't get what everyone's so worried about.”

“If they decide to fight us, they'll probably shape up a bit,” she said. “But Marley told me the vamps promised to help them if they attacked us.”

I stared at her. “Seriously? Why didn't you tell me that before?”

“It was irrelevant to our meeting today.”

I rolled my eyes, because it totally was relevant. “Does Axel know this?”

She chewed her lip. “I haven't told him, yet. It could be drunken idiocy from Marley, because it doesn't make sense. The vamps want the pack to stay in the valley, why would they help them attack us?”

I shrugged, because I had no idea. “How dangerous are the vampires?”

She glanced over at me again. “I don't know much about them, but I wouldn't want to fight them.”

I chewed on that for a bit, but I wouldn't be able to do anything with it until I had more information. “Do you know what the deal is with Alpha? Why is he so sick?” Axel had told me his theory, but Lucinda might know more.

“I don't know. He should be able to shift and heal regularly…Unless…No, if a vampire was feeding on him, they could use their blood to heal him.”

“Unless they have no interest in healing him,” I said, pondering the idea. “The sicker he is, the less likely he'd be to interfere with their plans to use his pack as their feed bag.”

She nodded, thinking. “If that's the case, why do the vampires want our pack territory? They'd be closer to the sun and farther from humans to feed on…” She shook her head. “It just doesn't make any sense.”