Right Wolf, Right Time

Chapter Ten

“If you try to tell me what to do one more time, I’m going to rip your goddamn head off,” Monty growled into Rafe Sheridan’s ugly face. He was the last person he wanted to see out at Whitefish, where he’d hoped for some privacy for a change. “I know she’s fucking feral. Why do you think I’ve been trying to catch her, asshole?”

Burke sighed. “Sorry, Rafe. He’s a little touchy about Sophie.”

Monty spun on his heel and glared at his pride leader. “And I sure as shit don’t need you talking for me. What?” he snapped at Ty, Grady, Dean and Joel, who just had to be involved to show pride solidarity. “And what the hell are you guys doing here? I’m working.”

They didn’t have a client booked for a week, and everyone knew it.

“I still say you should just grab her by the tail and haul her pretty butt back to the ranch.” Dean’s oh-so-helpful comments weren’t helping.

“She’s breeding. You don’t do that to a female who’s carrying,” Grady chided. “Drug her with something nontoxic to the kid, then drag her back.”

“That’s brilliant.” Axel snorted. “You are such an idiot. He’s mated?” he asked of the gathered crowd.

“Believe it.” Burke shrugged. “But I don’t think she loves him for his brain.”

Grady looked wounded. “Hey.”

“Who the hell invited you?” Monty barked at Axel. He hadn’t asked for this interference—from anyone. Hell, his pride was making it worse. For two months, his mate—his pregnant mate—had been avoiding not only him, but everyone. From not turning wolf to fully embracing her animal side, Sophie had taken to living in the mountains up at Glacier National Park, a wolf twenty-four seven.

“I invited myself.” Axel sniffed, the huge-ass wolf appearing both annoyed and offended at the same time. “I like Sophie. She dug your ass out of trouble, let me tell you. And she’s an expert shot with that rifle of hers.”

“True.” Rafe smiled. “She’s more than worthy to be an alpha’s mate. I don’t care whose pup she carries. We’re claiming her.”

Everyone paused.

“What?” Dean asked. “Who’s we?”

“Me and Axel. With so few she-wolves to mate, we’re making a new policy. Two males for every female. So far, the females seem to like it.” Rafe shrugged.

Monty couldn’t trust himself to speak.

Burke started laughing, and Joel, damn his huge ass, joined him.

“That’s rich. Two men to one woman.” Joel shook his head. “You wolves constantly amuse me.”

“You mean amaze you,” Axel interjected.

“No, I mean amuse.”

Axel glared at the bear, who didn’t bat an eye. They stood at roughly the same height, each super large and loaded with testosterone. Joel was easygoing, but get him riled and watch out.

“She’s not mating anyone,” Monty exploded. “Sophie has a mate. Me!”

“Then claim her, dumbass.” Rafe glared at him with disgust. “What the hell are you waiting for? She thinks you hate her.”

“What?” He blinked. After she’d come home, she wouldn’t talk to him or look at him. She’d moved out of his cabin and refused to see him, so he’d thought the worst.

His fear and inaction had led to her injuries. If he hadn’t been so damned scared of Ted Norris and hunted the man down to begin with, none of this would have happened. He rubbed his neck, at the latest scar that would refuse to heal, courtesy of the screws Norris’s thugs had dug into his neck to keep the collar on during his incarceration.

Rafe sighed, and Monty dropped his hand, hoping he hadn’t been so obvious.

But Christ, he felt so guilty for failing his mate. She’d had her wrist broken and she’d been shot. That she’d kept the baby—his baby—spoke to her inner strength, not his. He didn’t believe she’d wanted to lie about her relationship to her uncle, and in retrospect understood her need to distance herself from that family. But the lies still hurt.

“Guys, give me a minute with the dumbass, would you?” Rafe said to the others.

Burke met his gaze and nodded. “Come on.” The pride slowly filed out.

“You too.” Rafe nodded at Axel. “And leave the bear alone.”

“Hell. You’re no fun, Rafe.”

“Yeah, yeah. Keep the big ears away, would you? I know they’re going to try to listen at the door.”

“Fuck. Fine,” Axel snarled and left. Outside, his voice could be heard nagging the other Ac-taw to move along.

Rafe sighed again.

“You should have that asthma taken care of.”

“Monty, give it a rest. Your mate needs you. She’s scared and hurt. She’s all alone.”

“What the hell do you know about it?” Monty paced, feeling the walls of his last sanctuary closing in on him. To say his nightmares had been off the charts lately due to being locked up at the Folly was an understatement. Apart from his mate, his wolf was going nuts.

“I know what it was like for you with Norris,” Rafe said quietly. “My brother spent some time there, and everyone used to talk about Demon, the wolf that got away. Sophie had a hard time too. You need to talk to her about it.”

“She won’t talk to me.”

“Make her,” Rafe growled. “Why are you really not going after her? Don’t you want her anymore?”

“I fucking love her. Okay?” Monty ran his hands through his hair. “But I put her in that danger. Norris was after me. She nearly died.” He felt shaky and uneven. His wolf didn’t know where to go, what to do. He only knew his mate didn’t want him, and it hurt so bad, he wanted to lie down and die.

He hadn’t felt Rafe move, and then the bastard was just there, putting his arms around him. He struggled, not ready to be touched again, not after all he’d done to his mate. “Easy, Monty. It’s okay. Just relax.” The soothing lull of the alpha’s power washed over him in a crushing wave of calm that had him relaxing for the first time in weeks. “Sophie loves you, and she needs you. Let go of your pride and find her before some other wolf snaps her up. No, not me.” He hugged Monty harder to stifle his elbows. Rafe chuckled. “I have a few female wolves looking after the ferals in the mountains. I keep track. Sophie’s still pack, and I’m still her alpha. I could be yours too,” he offered.

Monty didn’t know. He loved Burke and the guys. Sophie’s best friends lived on the ranch. But Burke hadn’t affected him like this, calming him. Rafe had some weird mojo Monty wasn’t sure he liked.

“It’s up to you. The offer’s there. Just…don’t tell Axel if you decide not to join. He’s already a pain in my ass,” Rafe muttered.

Monty laughed, and Rafe let him go.

Then Monty warned, “You say one word about that hug, I’ll deny it.”

The horror on Rafe’s face told him the secret would remain between them.

“Good.” When Rafe just looked at him, he swore. “Well, shit.”

“Well what?” Rafe waited.

“I want to see her, more than anything. But I don’t think she wants to see me.” And it hurt.

“You need to talk to her, man. Fear is keeping you apart. Fear of rejection. I get it. But it’s her fear you need to work on. Look at what it’s done to her wolf.”

Monty knew. Poor Sophie had spent so long repressing herself. After being reminded of Ted and his family again, he could only imagine what her life had been like growing up.

“Fine. I’ll go see her.”

Rafe pulled out a slip of paper with coordinates and slapped it against Monty’s chest. “Her den. But you didn’t get that from me, and you know nothing about my eyes in the forest. Then again, any tracker worth his salt could find her up there.” Rafe’s eyes narrowed.

“I know where she is. I just… I’ll go see her. Okay?”

Now eager, Monty wanted nothing more than to escape the office and run to his mate on four feet.

“Good. Go.”

Monty headed for the door. “I am. And stop telling me what to do.”

Rafe groaned. “Right. You’re never joining the order. I get it.”

Monty flashed him a grin and left. He had a mate to win.

It took him a few days to figure out how best to get her to talk to him. She hunkered down in that cave, and anytime he or anyone else ventured close, she lost it, snarling and snapping those teeth as if she meant to kill. Her eyes glowed like beacons from hell. He liked the thought of his pretty wolf so lethal.

He left her a set of earrings she ignored.

He tried a book, a painting and a few of his lady magazines. Still nothing.

Then, using his head, he retrieved a pretty red scarf from his truck, all soft and fuzzy to the touch. He waited for a few hours, thinking she’d reject it too, when she tiptoed out of her cave. She smelled him on it, obviously, but she took it into her den anyway.

Encouraged, he spent the next few days leaving her treats. A dead squirrel, a few packs of steak, because hell, he wanted her to eat right. But he refrained from rabbits, conscious of what her uncle had once done.

She took his offerings, and he watched from afar as she came out of the den to claim them. Her wolf was so pretty. Soft and gray, like her eyes, but patterned to blend in with the snow and dark trees all around them. The weather in the mountains reminded him that winter would reach them all too soon. October had already neared its end. Time passed too quickly for recriminations and what-ifs.

God, in just another seven months, he’d have a kid.

The wooing shit was great, but he had little patience for it. The next time he left her something, he waited close by, downwind. When she trotted out to grab it, he slid inside the den and hid, away from her neat little bed of blankets and his scarf. It felt much warmer, and safer, and he could see why she liked it in here.

She trotted in with a pack of chicken he hadn’t removed from the Styrofoam. When she saw him, she froze.

She looked so damn cute, her teeth wrapped around the meat, her thick fur bristling with warning. But those eyes, they looked bright and sad.

He shifted back, wanting to tell her out loud how he felt. “I’m sorry. And I love you.”

She didn’t move.

He shivered, no longer covered in fur, but he didn’t want to spook her. “I was an idiot for not coming sooner. But I was hurt you didn’t tell me about Ted.”

She blinked at him and dropped the food. But she didn’t leave, and she didn’t speak.

He continued, “But more than anything, I was mad at myself, because all of this was my fault.”

Sophie sat on her haunches and watched him, and he smelled their shared grief.

“I want to hug you, to hold you. I should have gone after Norris a long time ago.” He didn’t want to, but he needed to tell her the truth. “I was afraid,” he said softly, not meeting her gaze. “He messed me up. A lot. And I didn’t ever want to see him again. Then when I ran into him with Dean and Stacey, I felt that terror, and I shook with it. I was weak, and because of that weakness, you were almost killed.” God, it hurt to say. The shame nearly overwhelmed him.

And then he felt her nose against his shoulder, and she licked him. She was so close he couldn’t help but hug her, praying she could forgive him when he still couldn’t forgive himself.

“God, Sophie. He killed and hurt so many people I cared for. When I saw him with you, when he did that to your wrist, I wanted to kill him. And then you put yourself between him and me. You taunted him.” He grabbed her by the ruff of her neck and stared into her eyes, furious his were welling with tears. “He shot you.” Monty rubbed her belly, where the bullet had passed through, conscious his child now sat somewhere inside her there. “My mate. The one person I’d swore I’d never let come to harm. And he nearly killed you while I stood by. Helpless.”

A bright light sparkled, and he felt her fur recede as warmth trickled over his fingers. Then smooth flesh was under his hands, and he hugged her tight.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She kept apologizing while she sobbed and held on to him like her life depended on it. “It was all my fault. He was looking for me. He wanted to hurt me, and he got to you through me.”

“Honey, no.” Monty forced her to pull back. Her hair looked a little longer, her eyes impossibly gray. “You grew up with that bastard, but none of it was your fault. He killed your parents. Not you.” He understood what Rafe had been talking about when he noted her deep grief that continued to grow. “Hell, Sophie. You’re not that dumb.”

She blinked at him through tears. “What?”

“You can’t possibly think you’re the reason Ted Norris went apeshit? He killed your parents, his own kids, and more Ac-taw than I want to think about. The guy refused his wolf. You know what that can do to a person.”

She tentatively nodded. “My wolf used to make me so angry growing up. But Uncle—Ted—would force me to bury it. To be sweet and nice. A coward,” she whispered. More tears poured down her cheeks. “I could have saved your friends. Even you. But I didn’t.”

“So you knew I was down there, under that barn of his he used to brag about?”

“Well, no, but I—”

“And did you laugh and enjoy the pit fights? Did you name me Demon? Did you tell him when I tried to escape the first time?”

“N-no. Of course not. I would have—”

“You would have died. Your uncle was a psychopath. He enjoyed killing. And I guarantee, if I hadn’t ripped his throat out,” he said, enjoying the remembrance, “he would have killed you, me and anyone else he could get his hands on. He was made wrong, Sophie. And that’s not on you or me or anyone but him.”

“But I’m his niece. What if I’m wrong too?” She sounded so forlorn.

He started laughing.

“It’s not funny.” She finally looked angry with him.

“You’re a drama queen! I knew it. Had to be something wrong with you. You cook like a dream, actually like me and you’re into porn. You have the sweetest body I’ve ever seen, and you’re nice. So there we go. You’re melodramatic. But that’s okay. I can handle that.”

She just stared at him before a slow smile worked over her lips. She snickered, then laughed harder, her tears drying up, and thank God, because she killed him when she cried.

“Sophie, I love you. I miss you every second you’re not with me. And if I have to listen to the pride telling me what to do and how I went wrong anymore, I’m going to lose my mind and murder them all in their sleep. Even Rachel.”

“Rachel too, huh?”

“Burke’s mate is pretty and may seem nice, but she’s almost wolf-like when she gets the notion in her head a woman’s been mistreated.”

“But you—”

“Let pride and my own issues keep us apart. You’re not to blame for any of it. No,” he forestalled her objection. “I get why you didn’t tell me about Dickhead being your uncle. I really do.”

“O-okay.” She grew quiet, and he grabbed a blanket from her pile and wrapped it around them to still his chattering teeth.

“What now? I can see you’re thinking, and it can’t be good.”

She tried to smile but failed. “Where will we go?”

“Um, I was thinking of expanding the cabin, now that we’ll have another mouth to feed.” He rubbed her belly, still in awe of the life they’d created.

“But people know. I can’t go back there.”

“To the pride?”

She glared. “You know what I’m talking about. To Cougar Falls.”

“Again with delusions of grandeur. I hate to break it to you, but only a few wolves heard what you and Ted talked about before I killed him. With my bare paws and teeth, I might remind you.”

“Quit bragging.” But he’d gotten her to smile for a second time.

“Honey, you helped bring down one of the biggest Hunter’s Follies in years. You’re a celebrity. And this scary feral mystique you have going is attracting all kind of wolf attention we don’t want. Did you know Rafe is instituting some foolish threesome thing with the order? Imagine one girl and two guys trying to live like a unit.” He scoffed.

“Hmm. Really?” She seemed lighter now.

“No way. Uh-uh. You’re mine and only mine. I’m not sharing you with another guy.”

“How about just his cock?”

She threw him with the frank talk, and the sly woman knew it. Especially because he continued to grow thicker and longer beneath her curvy little derriere.

“Sophie,” he growled. “So are you coming back with me or what? Because if not, move over. This den is big enough for both of us and a little one.”

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and nuzzled his nose. “I love you so much. Are you sure, Monty?”

“Sure about what?” he muttered, positioning her hips over him so he could better…appreciate…her curves.

“About me. Us. Living in town as a couple.” She paused, toying with his hair, and he had to fight not to howl and shove into her in one hot push.

“Sophie, I claimed you. You’re mine. I love you, and the whole town loves you. Ben at the grocery store is beside himself missing you. The bears don’t know what to do with you not helping them out at the store, and the wolves are tired of driving by and not being able to ogle the sexiest she-wolf in town. Put me out of my misery and marry me already.” He reached for his jeans and swore. “Shit. I forgot your necklace—you know, the one you left behind at my place?” He’d thought he’d died a thousand times that day, seeing her rejection up close in that pendant left on his dresser.

“I didn’t want to give it back.” Her big gray eyes seemed so sad. “But I didn’t think you wanted me wearing it.”

“You thought wrong.” Period. End of discussion.

Her slow smile lit up his world. “Really?”

“Hell yeah. Are you deaf, woman? I said you’re mine. And that’s final.”

He moved her over him and let her slide down his erection, gratified at how hot and wet she was.

“Monty,” she sighed and sank over him. “Oh, I missed you. You have no idea how much.”

“I’ve been replaying your favorite movies at home, over and over, imaging the many ways I’d discipline you when you came home. So yeah, I know.”

She laughed, then groaned when he controlled her hips, making her ride him. “It’s not just sex, you big bad wolf. I miss your humor and how sexy you are when you come. Okay, that’s the sex.” She kissed him, lingering over his lips and teasing his tongue. “But I miss so much more. Your strength, your scent. How happy you make me just by being you.”

“Shit, baby. You’re gonna make me cry. And a guy should never cry when he’s making love.” He pumped harder and reached between them.

The moment he grazed her clit, she came, squeezing him tight and shattering his less than stellar control.

“Fuck, Sophie,” he moaned and filled her, the scent of them layering over each other again. Finally. He let it last, kissing her and loving her all over again. Slower, faster, whatever she wanted, so long as she came with him. He wanted nothing between them but love, acceptance and truth. As they shared their joy, their animal spirits entwined, never to be parted again.

After their second explosive climax, he kissed her while they relaxed. He sucked at her breasts, wondering how big they’d grow during her pregnancy.

“Have I told you yet how excited I am about our kid?”

“Our kid. Sounds tough. Good thing he’s a boy.”

He paused and leaned up to look at her. “A boy?”

“Wow, Monty. I didn’t know your voice could get that high.” She winked at him.

He wrapped her hair around his finger, taken with her softness. “A boy. You’re sure?”

“My wolf is.” She brought him close for another kiss. “And she thinks you’re super sexy.”

He grinned. “Yeah? Well, she’s right. I am.” His lips lost the smile, but he felt his wild wolf staring at her with joy. “I’ll make a good father, Sophie. I swear, I’ll provide for you and the boy. Always.”

“And the girl? She’ll come next, right?”

He kissed her. “Only if you promise to get to MacKneely and Her Kneeling Ways, Volume Four. She’s got some great stuff where she deep-throats without gagging. You can do it, I just know you can.”

“Pervert.” She pinched his nipple. “But we have to go back to town for that.”

“Back to our pride.” He ran his hands through her hair, envisioning her before a fire, her hair spread out underneath her like a silken pillow. “Everyone misses you. I love you. And I can’t live without you. Please come back with me.”

“So no living with the Gray Wolf Order?”

“Can you see me living under Rafe’s command?”

She sighed. “No. But I do like him. As a man, not my man. See the difference? I like Axel too, even though he hit me—”

“He what?” Monty started to rise but she grabbed onto him.

Instead of slowing him down, he stood with her attached to him like a magnet.

“Wow. You’re strong.”

“That bastard hit you?”

“Your eyes are starting to grow a little wild. It was barely a tap, and he did it because Rafe told him to.”

“What?”

She swore. “Damn. Look, they were trying to keep me safe in Cougar Falls, away from my uncle. But I wanted to rescue you. Can’t you understand the reasoning behind it?”

“Well, yeah. I guess.” He rubbed her back and held her tight. “But I’m still going to punch Axel for it. When he least suspects it.” Man, he couldn’t wait to feed that snow-white wolf his fist.

“Okay then.”

“Yeah.”

“Right.”

“So…” He started to stir against her again. Two long months without his mate had been difficult to handle. Sexually, he’d been beyond miserable.

“I guess we have to get back to the pride, then.”

“We do.” He swallowed hard when her hand curled around his cock.

She smiled and eased her legs down. Then she slowly knelt before him and cupped his balls. “Volume Four, hmm?”

“Oh yeah.” He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes when her mouth moved over him. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

She left him long enough to answer, “Yes. And we’re running together right after I demonstrate Volume Four.”

“I love your wolf, so beautiful and wild.” He paused, enrapt in her clever hands and tongue and hoping she wouldn’t freak out about this. “You know, we still haven’t mated as wolves.” He sensed her wolf’s ears perk.

She stopped sucking again. Unfortunately. “As wolves?”

He gently nudged her aside and shifted, then waited for her to do the same. Her gray eyes blinked at him and she cocked her head. “As wolves.”

He wagged his tail. “Hell, yeah. Baby, just you wait.”

She didn’t have long. And she didn’t have long again before they reached his truck. Monty was her wolf, her mate. And he intended to love her as much as he inhumanly, and humanly, could.

He hugged her after they’d changed back to their human forms and dressed. In the truck, he smiled at her and flipped on the heater. They turned toward town, toward home. “You know, Soph. When the right wolf comes calling, the smart wolf says yes.”

She grabbed his hand and held it to her heart.

“And you, my love, are nothing less than brilliant.”