Chapter 3

Keil rolled over for the millionth time.

This was impossible.

He’d slept in a cave surrounded by soaking wet, stinking pack members when they’d gotten caught in a storm. He’d slept in a single hotel room with seven buddies on a road trip, all of them snoring loud enough to shake the walls. Both times he’d gotten more sleep than tonight.

All because of the small female body at the end of the platform.

He gave up pretending and sat up to admire her better. The moonlight pouring in the window showed parts of her and his night vision filled in the rest of the details. She was curled into a half-circle, one leg pulled up, her head resting on a pillow made from her extra clothes. She wasn’t in the sleeping bag but under it, her body lying on a small soft blanket.

It was warm enough in the cabin that she’d shrugged off most of her coverings and his gaze slipped over her. He wished he could touch her with his hands. Her skin tone was lighter than his, her light brown hair escaping from the ponytail she’d made before crawling into bed. Keil stared, memorizing the curve of her cheek, the dimple just visible at the edge of her mouth. Her eyes closed in peace had the longest lashes he’d ever seen.

He licked his lips. Looking at her made his mouth water. He was tempted to slide over and take her in his arms, nestle her against his body and—

Shit. He was hard again.

How could she not know about belonging to a pack? As a full-blood wolf, she would have had the ability to shift from human form to wolf starting around adolescence. While the werewolf genes were dormant in most half-breeds, full-blood wolves almost always had their genes triggered while still babies.

Robyn being deaf was unusual, but not a huge issue to him. He could learn to sign, if that’s what it took. When she was in wolf form, they’d have no problem communicating since wolf was ninety percent sign language. As mates, they should be able to speak into each other’s minds anyway.

And if he was going to challenge for Alpha, there was an even greater chance he’d be able to hear her thoughts. One of the perks of heading a pack was a strong mental link to every member of the pack. Add that to the mate bond and they’d be fine.

His mind slipped to pack problems even as his gaze continued to caress her body. The current Alpha and Beta were getting too old to be proper leaders. The Granite pack was large and more transient than most with the constant influx of newcomers from the Lower 48.

Every time a wolf got the itch to connect with their inner self, they seemed to make their way north, thinking that the wilds of Alaska would help them find themselves. All they found was that life required hard work, no matter were you lived. There was no easy ride anywhere, and perhaps even less here Up North.

Keil had begun to worry as more of their traditions fell away. It wasn’t that he didn’t like progress, but some things were tradition because it was good for the pack. Newcomers brought baggage with them, and a lot of what they were demanding the pack do to keep them comfortable went against everything the Granite pack stood for.

It was time for change. When the old leaders announced they would step aside and let someone younger take over, Keil knew it was his chance. He would have to slow down on his guiding business but having a strong pack would be worth it.

But he wasn’t the only wolf with the potential to win the challenge. Another of the newcomers was Keil’s equal in strength, but Jack’s vision for the future of the pack traveled even further down the road to hell than the one they were on.

Keil groaned and rolled on his back. Finding his mate right now was going to make things difficult, to say the least. But was he sad he’d found her? Hell, no. Some wolves went their whole lives without discovering their mate. So he had a few issues to resolve.

Before next weekend. No rush.

A soft noise made him turn. Robyn was awake, pushed up on one elbow rubbing her hand over the side of her face and ear as if in pain. He scrambled closer, cautious not to frighten her, trying to be sure she saw him approach.

He mouthed the words to avoid waking TJ. “Are you okay?”

Tears were welling up in her eyes as she shook her head. She tried to sit and with little effort he lifted her, pulling her into his arms. He ended up rubbing his hand over the side of her head while he rocked her gently back and forth. She was tense at first but slowly she relaxed, and his heart leapt. Keil wasn’t sure what was going on, but she felt too marvelous pressed up against him to think it through. His fingers continued to smooth over her hair and cheek, the feel of her against him wonderful and right. Her skin was soft under his fingers, the warmth of her torso wrapping around him like a blanket.

And when Robyn turned her head in his hand and caressed it, he thought his heart would burst. He couldn’t resist. Still cupping her face, he lowered his lips toward hers, brushing gently with a closed mouth, just to feel the friction of them coming together.

It was like a shock of electricity raced through her. She’d woken to the painful buzzing in her ear that was a sporadic occurrence over the years. It only seemed to happen when she camped with strangers, and she’d learned to deal with it by rubbing, hard, on the soft spot below her ear. But today at Keil’s gentle touch, the pain receded, and a wonderful warmth built throughout her body like she’d never before experienced. As his lips touched hers something clicked within her and all she could think about was feeling him everywhere.

Oh, lordy, she wanted to be naked with him.

That was really, really not her.

She’d reached twenty-six years old with limited sexual experience. Whether it was because Tad was overprotective or because her deafness made her too unattractive to warrant more exploration, she’d never worried about it too much. She had read erotic stories over the years, and she knew how to climax, but she’d never had any desire to try much of anything with anyone.

Tad said she was saving herself for the “right man”.

Her parents had told her that when it was time, she’d know.

After all these years she’d figured that the Timex took a licking somewhere along the line and busted, because no one had really turned her crank.

Until now.

This stranger made her mouth water, and she hadn’t had a real taste of him yet. She opened her lips a crack, to see what he’d do and his eager tongue slipped past to trace the edge of her teeth.

Damn, he tasted good.

A sudden rush of scent filled her head and made it spin. Tingles raced down over her body coming to land between her legs. She reached out a hand to see if something was pushing on her crotch, but nothing was there except the internal pressure that made her want to squirm.

Keil’s hand slipped around to the back of her neck, drawing her closer and shifting her mouth to a different angle as he continued to kiss her. She pressed into him, enjoying the pleasurable sensations flowing through her. Yet even as she kissed back she wondered what she was doing. Why she wasn’t pulling her knife on him and getting him to back off?

He lifted her around to lie on top of his body as his tongue worked its magic on her mouth. His heart beat under her hands, the long, hard length of his body warm against her torso and limbs.

And she realized the long, hard length of something else nestled between her legs. Oh. My. Word. She pushed up with her hands on his hard chest to stare into his dark brown eyes, uncertain what to do. She felt safe, even if this had to be the most insane thing she’d done in her life.

“Are you feeling better?” Keil mouthed as he traced a finger over the ear she’d been clutching moments earlier. Robyn nodded. “Let’s get some more sleep. We’ll talk this through in the morning, okay?”

She nodded, lowering her mouth to give him one more gentle kiss, before crawling off his body to rearrange her sleeping space. Any concern over her strange reaction to him was washed away by the quick relief of her earache.

She’d just straightened the bottom blanket when Keil’s soft touch on her arm made her pause. His eyes were bewitching as he stared at her, silent for a moment.

“Please, can I hold you?”

Robyn swallowed hard. Oh man, did she want him to hold her. She nodded before ducking her chin down to avoid his eyes. He shifted his mattress closer, pulled her sleeping bag under them before wrapping an arm around her waist and drawing her back tight to his torso. Up against his warm and solid body. He pulled his sleeping bag over the two of them, nestled her head on his arm and wrapped his legs around hers, pinning her in place.

It was the most incredible feeling, safe and secure.

This was insane. She didn’t know this man from Adam and here she was wrapped up like a jellyroll with him. His fingers slipped along her arm to link fingers with hers as he rested their joined hands touching her belly.

Yup, totally insane.

Robyn closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Clattering pots and pans woke Keil in the morning and he groaned. There were times that being deaf would be a blessing. Or at least make him stop wanting to kill his brother. Wrapped up together in Robyn’s warmth, he wasn’t ready yet to get out of bed.

They had shifted while asleep and he was flat on his back with Robyn’s head resting on his chest. Her hands clutched at him while one of her legs had slipped over his belly, the inside of her thigh pressing down on his morning hard-on. It was heaven and hell to feel the weight of her against him.

“So, I take it you’ve had an interesting night. It is obvious I sleep like a log. Want me to make coffee or do you want me to go ski for a few hours?” TJ’s grinning face peered down at them, his eyes tracing over Robyn where she clung to his brother’s body.

“Stop leering at her. Nothing happened. Yes, make coffee and stop being such a shit.” Keil tried to speak softly but Robyn woke, reacting to the lifting of his chest. “TJ, go get breakfast. I don’t want her to be any more embarrassed than she needs to be.”

“What’s to be embarrassed about? She’s your mate. You could do the horizontal bop in front of the pack and no one would be embarrassed. Except Keith. He’d be embarrassed because he thinks he’s got the biggest dick in the pack and if you…”

TJ’s voice faded away as he dug into their food supplies for the coffee.

Keil sent up a prayer that Robyn wouldn’t freak out when she found herself in his arms. He didn’t want to move backward in their relationship. He sensed that today was going to be a big day. A day of big revelations. A day of—

“Ahhh.” Keil slammed his mouth shut and reached down to grab Robyn’s wrist. She’d slipped her leg off his cock when she started to wake, which was sad but understandable. But then she’d followed it by running her fingers over the hard length of him and finished by cupping his balls.

“You okay, Keil?” TJ wandered back with a worried expression on his face.

“Just fine. Um, leg cramp. Get the coffee.”

“Yes, master. Right away, master.”

Keil looked at Robyn who smiled at him, a mischievous glint in her eyes that he hadn’t seen the day before.

She mouthed the words back to him, “Leg cramp,” and squeezed. Her face was flushed but she was still smiling, and when she leaned up to kiss him, he thought he must have died and gone to heaven.

Whatever was happening, please don’t let it stop.

Unfortunately after brushing her lips over his she pushed herself up, trailing her fingers over his torso in a maddening way before slipping from under the sleeping bag to go dress in her corner.

As he forced himself to ignore her, Keil watched TJ get out three cups and put on a big pan of ham steaks. A clothed Robyn came back into his line of vision and his brother stopped her.

“Good morning, Robyn. How do you say that in sign?”

Robyn paused. She flipped him a thumbs up, and placing her left hand by her right elbow, she lifted her right hand in an arc.

TJ copied her. “Oh, cool, like the sun rising. Hey, Keil, look,” and TJ signed good morning to him.

A chuckle from Robyn made them both turn and regard her with amazement.

“You can laugh?” TJ asked.

Her smile fell away and Keil swore inside. She wrote a fast note and disappeared out the door. He checked to make sure she was just headed for the outhouse before reading the message.

I’m deaf, not mute. Lost hearing as a child. Virus. I have an ugly voice. Two sugars, please.

TJ gave a soft whistle. “Man, oh man, is she going to be a handful. I’m glad she’s your mate and not mine. Did you two fuck—?”

Keil hit him. Not hard enough to do permanent damage but hard enough to make his eyes register the shock of it. After picking himself up off the floor, TJ carefully exposed his neck to his brother.

“You will use that brain of yours to remember to be polite when you speak to and of my mate. Understood?” Keil drawled the words as he poured the coffee and prepared Robyn’s cup for her. “Even though it’s none of your damn business if you were thinking straight you’d already know the answer. Use your bloody nose. No, we have not mated yet. Yet for some insane reason she let me kiss her and hold her, and while I’m pleased to report that yes, she’s officially my mate, I have no idea why she doesn’t seem to know a thing about wolves.”

He sat at the table. “So I don’t want you making any stupid remarks until we figure this out. Got it?”

TJ shrugged. “I’ll behave. I figure it might be kinda freaky to be told something like ‘Hey, didn’t you know you’re a werewolf and, oh, by the way, you’re my mate. Oh, and there’s going to be a challenge to the death next weekend for the leadership of our pack and I’m one of the headliners for the match.’ I think telling it all upfront might be the easiest way.” He turned back and flipped the ham. “Besides, there’s nowhere for her to run while we’re here. Gives you two time to work it out.”

For the second time in as many days, the door behind them slammed open and Robyn charged in, her face red and her eyes blazing. She glared back forth between the two of them, her nostrils flaring slightly.

For not knowing she was a wolf, she had the evil-eye thing down pretty good, Keil thought as a shiver ran down his spine. He watched TJ struggle to keep his feet.

She surprised them by speaking. Her voice was gravelly and harsh but very powerful. Keil had heard a few Alphas over the years and she ranked up there with the best of them.

“Who is my mate?”

Like a flash TJ pointed to Keil. “Crap, has she got my number. I hope she doesn’t tell me to go jump off a bridge or something because I—”

Robyn stormed up and grabbed the pad of paper. Keil read over her shoulder as she wrote.

If you don’t want to be overheard don’t talk where a lip reader can see you.

Werewolf?

Mate.

Challenge. To death.

What the HELL are you talking about?

She pulled away from the table but stopped to add, Where is my coffee? And it had better be strong.

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