Wolf Games

Chapter 5

The wind picked up as they left the natural harbor of Haines behind, cruising on the three-hour ferry ride to Skagway. Erik leaned on the railing and watched Maggie out of the corner of his eye. She sat by herself, away from where the rest of the group traveling to the Games lounged, laughing and goofing off.

He’d been busy the past two days. Not so busy he couldn’t have made time for her. Hell, all he wanted to do was spend time with her, but she’d asked for space to prepare herself for the contest. He’d given it to her.

Now he wondered if it had been the right choice. The sweet kisses she’d bestowed on him had revved his motor and made him long for her to join him full-time—in his bed and in his life. Now she stayed back. Separating herself from him and holding to her fear like a coat of armor.

Funny how quickly his perspective changed. Until last week the most important thing in his life had been his position as Beta to the pack, and his friendships with Keil and Tad. His job? It had always been an extension of being there for people. He’d long ago dealt with his demons and life had been floating along just fine.

Until Maggie.

For a small package she was a bundle of trouble. She ran hot and then cold, and both sides drove him nuts. Not only did the mate connection draw him to her, but he was used to protecting the weak. When she looked around, like she did now, with fear filling her pretty blue eyes, he could barely hold himself back from grabbing her and attempting to erase all her sadness.

Then she’d flip and get all tough and powerful, and that side was mighty attractive too. Both of them were strong wolves, and the temptation to see how strong she could be teased him. Sex between them was going to rock, if they could get past her freezing up every time he walked near.

The pack members wandered down the deck, leaving a clear path between Maggie and him. Pleasure filled him as she rose and made her way across the space, seeking him out. He opened his jacket to offer her protection from the wind. She wavered, her eyes dilating as she licked her lips. His body hardened.

She stepped back a pace and shook her head. “Don’t do that. Not now. I’m barely managing to hold it together.”

He shrugged. “Just thought I could warm you a bit.”

She stuck her hands in her pockets and stared up at the sky. “We need to talk about this whole situation. How are we supposed to deal with the contests? I can’t shift and I don’t really want to be around all these wolves.”

“It won’t be as bad when we start the competition. Usually they have staggered starts for events, depending on what they are. You’ll have only myself, Jared and TJ around.”

She lowered her head and he caught his breath. The blue orbs were filled with tears. “I don’t want to do this. Not any of it. I wish I could just go home.”

Screw being patient. Erik stepped forward and gathered her in his arms. He held her, rubbing her back and trying to get the tight knots in her shoulders to relax. Whatever burden she carried was driving him crazy.

“I know you don’t want me to say this, but sweetheart, you are home.”

Maggie pushed herself away until she could look into his eyes. “I’m scared.”

“I see that. But you’re also very strong. You’re also not alone. I’ll do what I can to help you. Unfortunately, whatever it is you fear, we’ll have to deal with eventually. The issue of your wolf, I’ll worry about. Trust me.”

“Trust you? Right.” She paced away, her arms folded over her chest. She glared at him. “This mate thing really sucks, you know? Because as much as I want to just go hide, I can’t help but want to be with you and it’s part of what scares me.”

Erik frowned. “Why would being with me scare you?”

Maggie hesitated.

Ah shit. “Is it because I’m so big?”

She dropped her gaze.

Great. Another instance of being judged at first glance. He hadn’t expected it from his mate and it hurt more than he thought it would. He turned away to face the water. The demons were buried deep, but obviously not as completely gone as he’d imagined. Her opinion mattered a great deal.

A soft touch on his sleeve caught his attention. He looked down into her gentle face. “It’s not your size. To tell the truth, I’m kinda…attracted to how big you are.” She blushed and he coughed lightly. Oh yeah. She rushed on. “What I’m scared about is you going all wolfie on me and being overprotective. I don’t need it. I can take care of myself.”

He shrugged. “I won’t go all he-man on you.”

“Oh yeah? You can control the wolf so well you won’t hurt anyone who touches me?” She walked away from him, leaning her back on the sidewall of the passenger compartment.

This conversation grew more confusing by the second. “What are you talking about?”

“I saw it. In the Whistler pack, there was an incident. Tell me it wouldn’t infuriate you if I…hugged someone. Or kissed them.”

Holy shit. Missy had told them a few stories about her time in her old pack, but there were obviously more issues than he’d been aware of. He crossed to her side and knelt to take her hands in his, warming them between his palms. “I wouldn’t like it, but I can behave responsibly. I don’t think my reaction would be any wilder than a typical human man. I do have control. I’ve worked hard at it.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Really. Being the biggest guy around means there’s always someone who wants to prove how tough they are by taking me on. I don’t agree with violence as a first resort.”

She stared at him for a long time, a curious expression in her eyes. A crowd of noisy tourists poured onto the deck and her gaze narrowed, her face growing red. What the hell was going on in her devious mind?

Maggie walked slowly toward the crowd, glancing over her shoulder as if making sure he watched. She tapped one of the young men in the group on the shoulder and smiled sweetly at him before saying something. The man shrugged.

She looked over her shoulder again, then grabbed the stranger. The whole group started talking loudly as she planted a huge kiss on his lips before releasing him and strolling back to where Erik stood.

He checked his blood pressure. He checked his temper. Both seemed normal, and the taunting look in her eyes did nothing but fill him with amusement. Okay, that was interesting. His wolf even snickered a little, seeing the humor in what she’d attempted to do. Contentment rolled over him. He really did have this under control.

Now he just had to deal with her underestimating him.

He lifted her chin with his finger so their eyes could meet. “Just what do you think that proved?” She chewed on her lower lip, a crease marring the space between her eyes. He hadn’t reacted as she’d expected. “Should I go hit him? Fine.”

“Erik, wait. I’m…” She grasped his hand. He patted her fingers gently before letting her hand fall away. He wandered over to the confused gathering, his amusement growing by the second. The men were speaking in Russian, and he understood their words with ease.

“What was that all about, Dmitri?”

“I don’t know, but I think I like American girls.”

Erik held out his hand and spoke to them in their own language. “Hello. My name is Erik Costanov. I’m sorry, my wife was teasing you. Are you enjoying your holiday in Alaska?”

He chatted with them for a while, the young men telling about the sights they’d seen on their cruise through the Inside Passage. He gave them a few recommendations for restaurants to try in Skagway and Anchorage. With enthusiastic pats on the back and lots of laughter, Erik said goodbye and returned to where Maggie sat on the stairs. She wiggled her nose and scooted over to make room for him beside her. They sat silently for a while. She turned her red face toward him.

“I didn’t know you could speak Russian.”

“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.” Her scent rose and tickled his nose, and he took a deep breath, storing it for later. He could hardly wait to be able to sleep with her in his arms.

She spoke softly. “You just don’t look like the type.”

“Appearances can be deceiving. For example, you don’t look like the type to get jealous easily, but I bet if I did what you just did, your wolf wouldn’t like it very much.”

She jerked upright and a faint growl escaped from her lips. Hmm, his suspicions were correct. Her wolf was there, just hiding. He’d have to think about how he could convince her to trust him so they could lure the creature back to the surface. After seven years, this could get rough.

Maggie nodded deliberately then a mischievous expression crossed her face. “Well maybe, maybe not. Tell you what, you go ahead and kiss that guy and we’ll see what happens.”

He laughed along with her. It was enough of a win for this time. Another of her defenses had fallen away, and when she leaned willingly into his side, his world grew a little warmer.

Maggie picked up the pack and fiddled with the straps, adjusting them again. There was nothing wrong with the backpack. The whole situation gave her the heebie jeebies.

“Are you nearly ready to go?”

She squealed and dropped the pack. How in the hell he managed to sneak up on her when he was so huge, Maggie could not understand. She nodded, grabbing at his hand to stop him from turning away. “I’m worried about passing out. What if I have a reaction while I’m on the hike and—”

“There are medical crews providing help if anyone gets hurt. You know that. This isn’t a war game where we expect you to die in the field.” He rubbed a circle on her palm with his thumb and a flash of heat ran up her spine. “You haven’t had any troubles since the night of the banquet, have you?”

Maggie thought for a minute. He was right. Her last dizzy spell had been back in Whitehorse. The last couple of days while she’d been at her sister’s, getting ready for the Games, she’d felt fine. Felt the most energized and healthy she’d been for years.

“I feel…” The expression in his eyes sucked the truth from her lips. “I feel great.”

He winked at her. “Wonder if it has something to do with being with other wolves. Like your sister suggested?”

Oh shit, no way. She looked around his bulk at the other teams standing in groups, waiting to begin the first event. The teams from Whitehorse and Denmark were already underway. The Tombstone pack stood at the line ready for their turn in the staggered start.

“I just don’t want to make trouble for the team. I’ve brought my pills along in case, but I’m not going to be able to do this hike very quickly. I hope I don’t disappoint you.”

He crossed his arms for a moment, leaning his torso away from her. It was impossible to not admire the bulk of his arms, his biceps bulging his T-shirt. “It’s not a race for speed. We have to solve puzzles as we go along. I expect you will be able to keep up just fine, and you’re going to be a big help in contributing to us winning this event.”

He spoke with such confidence her fears faded a little.

Erik motioned to the others. “Come on, team, let’s take another look at the instructions. We have thirty minutes still until our start.”

They gathered around, backs to the trees at the edge of the clearing. Before them the Dyea flats stretched to meet the ocean. The early-afternoon air was warm with the promise of heating up nicely. Erik spread out the map at their feet and traced the route they would follow. She was happy to see that once they started hiking, they’d be in the trees for the first third of the hike.

“Three days is the maximum time allotted to complete the thirty-three miles to Bennett Lake. That’s a good solid hike, but it’s not a race pace. We’ll be going faster than the original Gold Rushers, but we don’t have to carry as much gear. However, we not only have to reach the checkpoint in time, we have a series of clues to find. Some of them will be used later in the Games challenges.”

“What if we can’t find them all?” TJ asked.

“Missing one or two, we have a chance. Missing more will make the final challenge tough to win. So this isn’t a sprint. We’ll camp out for two nights and I really don’t care if we see other teams passing us.” He winked at Maggie. “It’s not a race, although some of the other teams will try to convince you it is. This is a setup for later events. All we have to do is finish.”

He pulled out the puzzle instructions, spreading them on the ground next to the map. Jared leaned a little too close and Maggie drew away, backing into the safety of Erik’s side. He casually shifted his position, tucking her against his body and she relaxed. Why did he have to feel so good?

She looked down at the strange maps. Contour lines, altitude markers, not much else. “They’re not giving GPS waypoints, are they?”

He shook his head. “We have to do this the old-fashioned way with only compasses and our noses. For this challenge, one of the team travels in wolf. They can shift back at night, but while on the trail and searching for clues, they have to be in their animal form.”

Maggie’s throat closed tight and she found it hard to breath. One of them was going to turn into a wolf. She had to be around a wolf.

She was going to die.

Without saying a word, Erik rubbed her back, a slow soothing motion. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the feel of his hand instead of thinking about the gnawing fear in her belly.

TJ cursed as his foot caught the edge of the paper and it ripped. “Damn it, sorry. Look, I’d like to volunteer to be the one who stays in wolf.” He wrapped his long arms around his legs like he was trying to stop from touching anything near him. “I know I’ve got a bad reputation, but I am capable of pulling my own weight, especially if you keep me in my wolf form for most of the Games. It’s just my human form that sucks rocks when it comes to coordination.”

For the first time Maggie examined him more closely. He was as dark as his brother, the Alpha, but nowhere near as bulky. Long limbs, square jaw. TJ wasn’t a bad-looking fellow, he just never seemed to be in the right place at the right time. There was a dark-coloured stain on his shirt where she’d seen someone bump into him and dump their ketchup-covered fries all over him.

Erik nodded. “I hoped you’d volunteer for the position, but not because I plan to keep you in wolf the whole time. You have an awesome sense of smell, and we need it for this challenge.” TJ grinned, his limbs jerking in enthusiasm. Erik pulled the map out of range in the nick of time and laughed. “You’re getting better. You’ve still got a little growing up to do, that’s all.”

The pleased expression in TJ’s eyes made Maggie forget some of her own fears. Over the past couple of days every other time someone mentioned TJ’s name, he had been called a klutz, whether he was standing there or not. Suddenly she felt indignant for him. What kind of crap was that?

“You just don’t want to carry a pack.” Jared poked TJ in the side and the two of them fell to the ground to wrestle like puppies for a minute. A tug on her sleeve caught her attention and she followed Erik off to the side a few steps.

“I’m going to get TJ to change now. You okay?”

How did he know? “I…have to be, don’t I?”

He stepped closer and spoke softly, for her ears only. “You think I haven’t noticed you’ve tensed every time one of the other teams had a member shift? I didn’t think it was because you were embarrassed by their nudity.”

“Well, there was that one guy…”

“Hush.” He kissed her nose, and she went all soft and melty inside. Three days on the trail with him. It was going to be heaven and hell. Oh no, they would be camping out. How was she supposed to avoid him in the evening? Avoid giving in to the attraction between them that grew by the minute? It was one thing to say she wanted to hold off on becoming mates, it was another to stick to her guns.

TJ stripped off his clothes and folded them neatly, slipping everything into one of the three packs waiting nearby. Maggie admired his muscular body. He might have two left feet in human form, but it was a pretty nice package of clumsy altogether. A low grumble from her left distracted her and she turned to see Erik staring, one brow raised. “You seen enough? Or do you want him to pirouette for you?”

No way. “Are you jealous?”

“Yes.” The warmth he’d started earlier grew into raging heat. “I want you to be looking at me like that, not at TJ. I want to see admiration in your eyes for me—for your mate. It doesn’t mean I’m going to go Rambo on his ass, but I’d appreciate if you’d stop drooling in front of me.”

Maggie stepped into his body space and wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him as close as she could.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Her instant need to comfort him puzzled her. Being in his arms satisfied something deep inside. Made her wolf rumble, low and needy. He stroked one hand down her back, the fingers of his other hand running though her hair. He held her for a minute, their heartbeats slowly synchronizing, and it felt so damn good she almost forgot where they were.

“It’s okay. Apology accepted. He’s a good-looking kid and an even better-looking wolf. You ready to meet him?”

She froze. TJ had shifted. Had Erik deliberately distracted her? Knotting her fingers in his shirt, she glanced over her shoulder. TJ sat on his haunches, his tongue lolling to the side as he panted in the heat of the noontime sun. His silver-grey fur shone, his eyes were bright and his nose twitched as he sniffed the air.

She reminded herself again—it was TJ. They were in public. Erik was nearby. “He is a goo…good…looking wolf…isn’t he?”

She could do this. Only she wasn’t doing it alone. She grabbed Erik, tugging him with her as she approached. She held out her hand, palm open like a person would with a strange dog.

“What the hell?” Jared muttered.

“Let her be,” Erik ordered. He squatted to the side and ran his free hand over TJ’s flank. She was squeezing the blood out of his other hand. TJ tilted his head to the side, confused, before sniffing her palm. His wet nose brushed her skin and goose bumps rose all over her body. He licked her fingers, then plopped on his belly at her feet.

And rolled over.

Her wolf howled with delight, fighting to take control, fighting to break free. A wave of dizziness rushed her. Erik’s grip tightened and he moved to support her. “Okay?”

Wilderness. Starlit skies. Cool mountain water. The wind in her fur. Maggie ached for all the things she’d missed for so long. Again her wolf bumped the surface, making her blood sing, making the knot in her belly loosen a little more. She shook off Erik’s supporting arms and reached for TJ, touching his chest, running her fingers along the stiffer fur of his muzzle. She took a deep breath and soaked in the scent of a wolf giving her obeisance. It felt good. Oh so very good.

“Granite Lake. You’re up in ten minutes. You can take your place at the starting line.” The Games Marshal passed them quietly, headed back to the officials’ area.

TJ scrambled to his paws. Erik smiled at her as he helped her up. He kept hold of her hands. “Are we ready?”

He wasn’t talking about the event. Maggie squared her shoulders and let the joy inside her shine out a little as she nodded. For the first time in years she felt like there really was hope.