Wolf Sings

Chapter 4

It took three hours, two pads of paper and fourteen fried ham-and-egg sandwiches. Keil thought that on the whole it went pretty well, especially since he’d managed to not skin TJ alive during the interrogation.

Robyn stood stiff and angry at first, looking ready to throw her coffee cup at them if they made one wrong move.

“Come, sit down and we’ll explain everything.” Keil pulled back a chair for her and she sat warily, shifting to keep both of them in her sight.

“Sorry, bro, guess my mouth got us both in trouble this time.” TJ lightly touched Keil’s arm in apology. A sudden rumble of the floorboards made them both swing to look at Robyn as she stomped her feet and glared at them. She pointed to the chairs and wrote rapidly, breaking the pencil lead as she underlined her final word.

I will talk this out with you. Sit down and don’t you dare speak again when I can’t see you. Ass.

Keil held out a reassuring hand and sat, motioning for TJ to join them. “I understand. We’ll answer your questions. What do you want to know?”

Robyn found another pencil and opened to a new page. Don’t think because I went a little crazy last night and let you touch me you can jerk me around this morning. You’re insane, right? Escaped from some home?

“No, Robyn, it’s true. We’re able to turn into wolves.”

Prove it. She leaned back in her chair and stared at them mockingly.

The two men exchanged glances.

What? You need a full moon?

Both men dropped their heads into their hands for a moment. Bloody fairy tales. Finally Keil looked up to see Robyn’s very confused expression.

“No. We don’t need a full moon. We also don’t bite people to turn them into werewolves. You either have the genes or you don’t. Sorry, that’s one of those tall tales that drives us crazy. We’ll have to, umm, take off our clothes to change.” Keil watched Robyn’s face turn white. A blush rose to colour her cheeks and her eyes brightened with the mischief he’d seen earlier in the morning. Good, maybe this wouldn’t take too much damage control.

She flipped the pad across the table. A private strip show? Goodie. Even if you don’t turn into anything the morning isn’t a complete write-off.

Keil laughed and turned to TJ.

“You should be the one, Keil, she’s gonna see you naked the most often.”

Keil glared at his brother.

“What? You still having problems with that boner? Man, now I really think you should shift. It would serve you right for hauling me along on your retreat instead of letting me go hang out at Klondyke Kate’s with the rest of the pack.”

“TJ.”

“All right, don’t get your fur in a knot. I’ll shift, but you keep an eye on her. If she signs anything that looks like ‘cute doggy’ or ‘sweet fluffy wuffy’, I want to learn them to insult the boys at the next pack meeting.”

Robyn raised her eyebrow.

“Stop it with the Spock look, Robyn, that seriously freaks me out. I keep expecting to see you grow pointy ears and hear you announce, ‘But this is not logical.’” TJ continued rambling as he dropped his clothes and stood naked in the middle of the cabin. He waggled his eyebrows at her and she blushed.

“Get on with it before I apply the Vulcan death grip to you, little brother.” Keil spoke through clenched teeth.

TJ shimmered and there were two images overlapping each other, another shimmer and there was a large silver grey wolf sitting on its haunches in front of them. Robyn tensed. Keil watched her rise from the chair, eyes wide with wonder. She stood for the longest time and simply stared, her breathing rapid, face flushed. He was ready to take her arm to reassure her when she dropped to her knees and reached out in slow motion to brush the fur on TJ’s head and neck.

After a few strokes of her hand, TJ rolled over to his back and tilted his neck up. A surge of pleasure raced through Keil’s veins at the sight. His brother, while not always the sharpest knife in the drawer, was a physically strong wolf. TJ didn’t give instant obeisance to just anyone. Another indicator that the woman kneeling by Keil’s feet was going to be a powerful addition in his life.

TJ shifted back and Robyn was caught stroking her hand down his naked chest.

“Damn!” Robyn shouted and shot away from TJ, backing into the door.

“Oops, sorry, Robyn. You were tickling me something fierce. Boy, am I glad you didn’t say ‘shit’ or some other swear word like that. With how strong your voice is I’d have been in a hell of a mess,” TJ muttered quietly to himself as he pulled on his clothes.

Keil watched as Robyn closed her eyes for a moment and drew a shaky breath. Hell, could TJ do anything without screwing it up?

Keil refilled her coffee cup and waited for her to open her eyes. He patted the seat next to him. He wanted to pat his lap and have her crawl into it like last night. Actually, he wanted to strip her down and crawl into her, but that was going to take a little more time and patience on his part.

Hell, he hated being patient.

Her head was spinning, her heart beat a million times a minute and somewhere along the line she must have fallen down a rabbit hole.

Tad was never going to believe this. She was having trouble believing it and she’d seen TJ change, she’d touched his wolf form. It wasn’t an illusion.

Unless there’d been something in her coffee. She gave it a cautious sniff. Smelt like normal Midnight Sun brew. She glanced up to see Keil’s gorgeous eyes watching her. A shiver raced down her spine and heat flared in her belly.

Damn, he was potent.

She grabbed the notepad and sat for a bit thinking what to write. She twisted her face up, tapped the pencil a few times while biting her lip. Finally she went for honest.

Well. I’ll admit it. That was pretty cool.

Keil smiled at her and she melted some more. Between his smile and the expression in his eyes, moisture was pooling in her mouth. And farther south.

She took a quick sip of her coffee and dragged her eyes away from his.

So what makes you think I’m a wolf? I’ve never turned into anything.

“You smell like wolf.” TJ leaned forward in his chair and sniffed in her direction. “Yup. I can’t explain it better than that. I can’t have you sniff a human and then sniff a wolf ’cause, we’re all wolves here. But when we go back to civilization, we can show you. Well, even there it’s tough to explain to someone that you need to sniff them but don’t want to say why. Trust us. You’re a wolf.”

Keil nodded in agreement and Robyn shifted in her chair to stare out the window. A tidal wave of emotions swept over her. The ability to turn into a wolf. Who wouldn’t want to be able to do that? It was the stuff of fairy tales and escape literature everywhere.

It also called to something deep inside her that had felt cooped up and trapped for many years. While she enjoyed her job at the bakery, and she loved her brother, she was never completely happy unless she was somewhere out in nature—skiing or hiking or canoeing.

Maybe this was the reason.

Robyn pushed the notepad at TJ. How come I’ve never turned furry?

TJ wrinkled up his nose and considered for a minute. “Keil? Ideas?”

Keil’s hand stroked down her arm and she bit back a moan. Oh man, that felt good. Her skin itched to be touched, and as much as she needed to find answers, she needed to jump Keil more. The attraction that had begun last night, causing her to lose all sense and sleep in the man’s arms, it seemed to be growing.

Concentrate. She needed to concentrate on the cool idea that she might actually be able to turn into a wolf.

“Robyn,” Keil said. “Full-blood wolves like us are born with the genes to be able to shift, but they’re turned off in newborns until triggered. Kind of like they’re dormant. For some reason your genes must have never been switched on.”

A trigger?

Keil nodded. “Yeah. It’s a hormone and newborns get it from their mom’s milk.”

Robyn’s stomach fell. It more than fell, it leapt off the edge of Mount Logan and plummeted into the depths of the nearest crevasse.

The possibility that she was a magical being had excited her. Seeing TJ change had woken something inside her, full of joy and freedom, and a deep happiness she’d been missing all her life. Now it was slipping out of her reach and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She pushed away from the table and grabbed her coat, fighting back the tears as she rushed outside. She saw Keil rise to his feet, but she ignored his outstretched hand.

Damn, it wasn’t fair.

She managed to get her coat done up before the tears fell. She stood gazing over the lake, arms wrapped tightly around her torso as her eyes welled up and overflowed. The bright sunshine around her did nothing to lighten the spot of darkness she felt at the loss of something she’d wanted. Something she hadn’t realized she’d wanted so much.

Robyn felt him approaching. Gentle arms slipped around her torso and pulled her back into his body, supporting her. Holding her loose enough she could escape if she wanted, but close enough to let her feel his concern.

Another sob escaped before she could stop it, and Keil turned her and gathered her up against him like she was a child. She wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her face in his coat and let the misery release.

Her heart hurt.

Slowly, feeling his strength, feeling the comfort he offered, the pain eased. Keil’s hand ran over her hair, and she remembered him touching her like that last night. He must think she was some kind of emotional yo-yo, running hot then cold. She took a deep breath and sniffed hard, pulling away from his embrace.

Keil reached a hand to cup her face. He wiped away a tear with his thumb. “I’m not sure what’s wrong, but I think I’ve guessed a bit. Did something happen to your mom when you were born?”

Robyn nodded. She patted her pockets searching for tissue when Keil handed her a clean hankie. It took a minute to get herself back together, Keil politely ignoring her runny nose and wet face until she felt presentable.

She flicked glances up at him as he stood waiting for her. He gazed over the lake, his strong body like a pillar of granite. What was it about this man that fascinated her? He turned to see if she was ready and held a hand to her. Robyn grasped his warm fingers, enjoying the tingling sensation that raced up her arm as he wrapped his hand around hers and led her back into the cabin.

Inside Keil refused to talk. Instead he made her up a plate of food and sat beside her while he ate his own meal. The lump in her throat settled, aided by the fact that sitting in close proximity to Keil made her mouth water and she had to swallow twice as often as usual.

TJ spoke while he ate, which made for confusing moments as Robyn misread most of what he said. He was telling her all about their pack and how they spent time together in human form as well as in wolf. At one point she was sure that he said something about mooning people down main-street Haines, but that had to have been the extra large piece of sandwich he’d shoved in his mouth.

Breakfast finished, Robyn had to admit she felt a bit better. Having an emotional breakdown on an empty stomach was too much. Keil grabbed her dishes and kissed her softly on the cheek. “We’ll wash up, you write. Tell me what’s got you worried.”

His dark eyes stayed on her until she nodded, then he turned away and got to work. He and TJ goofed off with the dishtowels and soap bubbles while they cleaned up the dishes and tidied the sleeping bags. Robyn sipped at her coffee as she watched, the love between the brothers clear.

She forced herself to pull the pad closer and write. When she finished she found Keil staring at her from where he sat waiting on the edge of the sleeping platform. His gaze ran over her body and he wasn’t trying to hide the look of desire on his face. Their eyes met, and the shock of connection thrilled through her.

The wolf thing. It had to be something to do with animal attraction that was making her want to roll all over the floor with the man. Preferably naked. She licked her lips involuntarily, and the answering flash in Keil’s eyes heated her blood to near boiling.

Damn, it was time to stop with the coffee and break out the ice water.

Keil tapped the space next to him and held out a hand for the notepad. “Come here, Robyn, sit by me while I read.” She glanced over at TJ who was sprawled in a chair in front of the stove, making notes in the cabin’s journal, before she took a step toward Keil. “He’s going to let us talk this out alone.”

Robyn sat, highly aware of the feel of his thigh touching hers as he shifted his body to wrap an arm around her torso and snuggle her tightly to his side. If she looked up she could still see his lips move.

In fact his lips were close enough to kiss if she leaned forward a tiny bit.

She whipped her head back to safety, examining the notepad and the message she’d written.

I was told that my mother and father were hunting caribou along the Dempster Highway when there was an accident at their hunting camp. Someone’s gun went off and the bullet killed my father instantly and wounded my mother sending her into shock. The others at the camp managed to get her to the hospital at Dawson City where I arrived almost two months early. When my mother died right after my delivery I was adopted. All I have from my parents is my boot knife.

I guess that’s why I never got “triggered”? I can’t turn into a wolf.

I wish I could. I bet it’s amazing.

She glanced up to see if he’d finished reading. He smiled down tenderly. “It’s going to be all right. I’ll explain a couple things first to help you understand.”

He ripped off the top sheet of the notepad to a clean page. She watched over his arm as he divided the page in three parts and drew a circle in each part. In the top circle he wrote Full-blood, in the bottom he wrote Half-blood. He left the middle one empty. He adjusted them both to sit comfortably on the platform and face her better.

“Short biology lesson, Robyn. Full-blood werewolf, both Mom and Dad have the genes. Pass the dormant gene to baby. Baby triggered with hormones in milk, can turn to wolf around puberty.” He lowered the notepad for a moment. “And if you think that teenage humans are moody, wait until you see an angst-ridden fifteen-year-old wolf. Very scary.”

She snorted at him, and he winked and continued.

“Half-blood, only one parent has wolf genes. They’re still passed on to the baby, dormant, but for some reason even milk from a werewolf mom won’t trigger them. The hormones have to come from something else.” Robyn watched as Keil wrote milk across from the top circle. He paused before writing sex across from the bottom circle.

“Half-blood wolves can get triggered by having sex with a full-blood. The hormones released during unprotected sex work fast, and since wolves can’t get STDs, it’s both effective and safe. There’s a little added complication for males because of something called ‘FirstMate’, but females don’t have to worry about it.” He stopped and Robyn swallowed hard.

Well. That was a bit of a surprise.

One circle left to fill in. She watched as he wrote her name in the empty space.

Oh shit. She knew where this was going.

She grabbed the pen and flipped over the page, crawling away from him on the platform to write. She might have the hots for the man. No way was he going to use a biology lesson to get into her pants.

You want to have sex with me?

The flash of hot desire in his eyes answered the question faster than his mouth could.

“Hang on, Robyn. There’s one more thing I need to explain. And that’s all I’m doing, explaining. You get to make any decisions you want based on what I tell you. Trust me.”

Robyn hesitated and then insistently shook the notepad at him. If he didn’t ’fess up she was going to hit him.

“Hell, yes, I want to make love with you. But that’s because you’re my mate.”

Robyn’s fingers were awkward as she scrambled to respond. Convenient. Maybe I should ask TJ if he wants to fuck me too.

Keil burst with a roar that she felt down to her bones. “No one else is going to fuck you, especially not TJ!”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw TJ fly backward off his chair to land in a puddle on the floor. “Holy crap, Keil, what are you telling her?”

TJ must not have liked how Keil answered because he cowered lower on the floor. “Well, hurry it up, listening to one side of your conversation is scaring me to death.”

Robyn considered for a moment and held up her hand to Keil. She snuck over to TJ and wrote him a note. Even if they’d rehearsed this, she didn’t think TJ was fast enough to try and pull one over on her. He’d be forced to tell her the truth.

Keil says he’s my mate. What does that mean and how can I tell if it’s true?

“Hey, bro, she’s asking me about you.”

Robyn stepped back toward the sleeping platform keeping her eyes firmly on TJ.

“Of course I won’t touch her. First, promise you won’t hurt me.”

TJ crawled off the ground. He wrinkled up his face and gazed upward as he rubbed a finger over his lips, as if trying to remember something. Shortly he nodded to himself and turned to face both Robyn and Keil.

“Okey dokey. Mates are like getting married, only better for five reasons.” He held up a hand and lifted a finger with each comment he made. “First, mates have similar interests and tastes. Second, the chemical attraction between mates makes it impossible to miss knowing they are ‘the one’. Third, sex between mates is super hot and stays that way for their entire lives. Fourth, mates are connected deeper than physically, there’s a mental and emotional connection too. And finally, mates never, ever fool around on each other.” TJ looked at Keil who stood with his mouth dropped open in amazement. “Pretty good, hey, Keil? Tony and I wrote that up for the pack chicks when they wanted to do a wolf version of a Cosmo ‘Find Your Perfect Mate’ quiz.”

TJ grabbed Robyn by the hand and pulled her with him as he went to stand next to Keil. “How you can tell it’s true is easy. Remember, bro, you said you wouldn’t hurt me. Robyn, give me a kiss.”

“TJ.”

“Just on the cheek! Check out my scent and how it makes you feel. Then kiss Keil. That’ll explain better than words.” He turned his face to the side, keeping a wary eye on his brother.

Robyn bit her lip. She didn’t need to do this “test” of TJ’s, she knew what he was saying already. She knew she was sexually attracted to Keil. Completely and utterly attracted.

But doing the test meant she could kiss Keil again.

She leaned toward TJ and took a long breath in through her nose. Nothing but the smell of dish soap and the slightly earthy scent of a male missing his morning shower. She touched his cheek with her lips and felt like she did when she kissed Tad.

Connected, like family. No fireworks.

She shifted her weight and stared up into Keil’s beautiful eyes. She started to take a deep breath but stopped quickly. His scent filled her. She could taste him, feel him slip down into her lungs and throughout her whole body. He smelt like the air of a starlit night, and dark-chocolate fondue and raw, passionate sex. Unable to stop herself, she ignored his offered cheek and grasped him by the hair, pulling him down to her reach so she could clasp their mouths together. As Keil reacted, their tongues tangling together, Robyn acknowledged that she’d never felt anything like the satisfaction she experienced at every contact with the big man in front of her.

Well, it seemed she was getting hitched.