IceHuntersMate (2 page)

“Thanks for carrying my kill to my truck. And we definitely
can meet here and at that time. Why don’t I give you my cell phone number in
case you can’t make it. And I’ll take yours as well.” Eryn shrugged off her
backpack and undid it. She fished around inside until she found her phone.

Wachei took his out of the inside pocket of his leather
jacket. “Sounds good. What’s your number?”

Eryn rattled it off, then watched Wachei as he attempted to
add it to his cell’s address book. He ended up cursing at it in a language she
didn’t understand. At least that was what she thought he was doing, given the
tone he used and how he scowled.

After what looked to be a third try, Eryn bit back a
chuckle. “Ah, Wachei, would you like me to help you with that?”

He looked at her and gave her a crooked grin. “That would be
great. I haven’t had this phone for very long, actually it’s my first one, and
I still haven’t been able to figure out how to do much with it except make
calls.”

Eryn smiled as she took his cell once he held it out to her.
She looked down at it to see it was one of the top-of-the-line smartphones.
“These can take a bit of getting used to, especially for a beginner. Mine is
sort of similar so I should have no trouble.”

She stuck her phone in her jacket pocket, then proceeded to
add her number to Wachei’s cell. While she was at it, she found his before she
took hers out and entered him in her contacts list. Finished, she handed him
back his phone.

“All done,” she said. “And I now have your number as well.”

Wachei shook his head as he returned it to his jacket
pocket. “You made it look easy. Maybe tomorrow while I’m showing you how to use
a bow and arrow you should teach me how to use my phone.”

She chuckled. “I can do that. It will be a sort of
trade-off. That way both of us will get something out of our time spent
together.”

“I know I will.”

The way Wachei stared at her had Eryn’s blood pumping a
little faster. Her gaze was drawn to his lips as she wondered what they would
feel like on hers, or skimming along her body as he kissed her in the most
intimate of places. She even found herself leaning closer, wishing he’d do everything
she was thinking about.

Maybe she stared a little too long, or Wachei took the
expression she must have had on her face as an invitation because he leaned in
as well and closed the distance between their lips. The kiss started off nice
and gentle, but once she opened her mouth and allowed him entrance, it heated
up pretty fast.

Wachei’s arms came around her waist and pulled her up
against his body. Eryn held on to his shoulders and couldn’t keep back a small
moan when she felt the hard length of his cock pressed along her stomach. His
tongue dueled with hers, ramping up the desire that already coursed through
her. Eryn lost herself to the sensations that rose to take her over. All that
mattered was being in Wachei’s arms as he kissed her senseless.

When he lifted his head, breaking the contact with her
mouth, she shoved her fingers into his long hair and forced him back to her
lips. He made a noise that bordered on an animalistic growl before he kissed
her once again. Eryn rubbed against his erection, her pussy aching to have it
plunging deep inside her.

Wachei pulled away for a second time after only a minute. He
let her go and took a step back. Eryn saw he was breathing just as hard as she.
He had his eyes closed, and from his expression, he seemed to be fighting for
control.

It then hit Eryn how close she’d come to losing control
herself. If Wachei had wanted to strip her naked and take her on the grass, she
wouldn’t have stopped him. A small part of her actually wished he still would.
Her pussy was wet, and she was so turned-on she’d probably need a cold shower
once she got home to cool her overheated body and libido.

After a few seconds, Wachei opened his eyes and his gaze met
hers. “I think you’d better leave before I do something neither one of us is
ready for,” he said in a voice that sounded strained.

Eryn nodded. “Yeah, I think that would be best. I sort of
lost it there for a bit.”

“As did I, though it wasn’t a bad thing.”

She couldn’t agree more, but this wasn’t the time or place
to pursue the arousal that flared between them. She’d only just met Wachei.
Rushing into sex wasn’t her normal mode of operation when it came to dating. If
she slept with a guy, it was because she wanted a relationship. She’d never had
a one-night stand in her life.

Eryn took a deep breath and licked her lips, still able to
taste Wachei on her tongue. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then. Give me a call
before you get here so I can meet you.”

“I will.” Wachei gave her another heated look before he
said, “See you later, Eryn.”

She walked to the driver’s door of the pickup and unlocked
it. Once she was behind the steering wheel, she started the engine, put the
truck in drive and slowly drove away. She had a feeling she’d be dreaming about
Wachei when she slept tonight. Nice erotic ones that would leave her aching and
wanting in the morning.

Wachei watched Eryn’s pickup truck drive across the grass
that separated it from the back road. Once she was completely out of sight, he
had a quick look to make sure no one else was around. He shifted to his dire
wolf form and took off at a run. He needed to burn off some of the excess
desire that still coursed through him.

He’d found his mate and she was everything he’d hoped she’d
be. Wachei even liked the fact she could stand up for herself. He chuckled
inside as he remembered how she’d gotten the jump on him and knocked him onto
his ass when he hadn’t listened to her. He would be able to always count on
Eryn setting him in his place if he needed it. His mother had been a lot like
Eryn, had kept his father in line. She’d been a strong woman and had fiercely
loved her husband. Wachei had always wanted what his parents had with the woman
he chose to eventually share his life with. Now, thanks to the shaman, he’d
found her in this new world he’d awakened to ten months earlier.

The unfamiliar sensation of the mating urge riding him was
more than welcome. Wachei had it under control, except for that brief moment
when he’d had Eryn in his arms and kissed her for the first time. The scent of
her arousal and the taste of her on his tongue had been a bit overwhelming in a
good way. He would just have to watch himself when he held her again. He could
give her pleasure, but making love to her fully was out of the question until
she learned what he truly was and accepted him as her mate.

Pushing himself to greater speed, Wachei raced to the trees
he’d have to work his way through to the other side. Once he did he’d shift
again and call Cassidy to come and pick him up. His hunting trip had ended
without him making a kill, but he’d found something even better so it hadn’t
been a complete waste of time.

Tomorrow he’d work on becoming closer to Eryn, learning all
there was to know about her. Then as the days went by, and he saw more of her,
he’d wait until she was ready for him to claim her as his mate.

Chapter Two

Wachei watched Cassidy pull her older-model crossover to the
side of the road as he stepped onto the graveled shoulder. Edensaw sat in the
front passenger seat. Once Wachei climbed into the backseat and shut the door,
his alpha turned to look at him.

“Didn’t you make a kill?” Edensaw asked.

He shook his head. “No. I ended up being the one taken by a
hunter, though it wasn’t on purpose.” Wachei opened his jacket and lifted his
t-shirt to show the wound Eryn’s bullet had left behind.

Cassidy sucked in a breath. “What happened?”

“I had singled out a caribou to take down, but before I
could, another hunter had the same one in her sights. She fired and I happened
to be in the way. I was in my wolf form, but I don’t think she saw me.”

“A ‘she’, huh?”

Wachei smiled. “Yes, and her name is Eryn. I’m going to see
her again tomorrow.”

“You asked her out on a date?”

“I guess you could call it that. I’m going to meet her where
I hunted and teach her how to shoot a bow and arrow.”

Cassidy looked at her mate, then back at Wachei. “Is it just
a date with a woman you found attractive, or is she something more than that?”

“Oh, she’s something more, all right. Besides shooting me,
Eryn set off my mating urge. I found my mate.”

Edensaw smiled. “This could be a good sign that the others
will soon find theirs as well. The shaman said we’d find the women meant for us
after our long sleep. I found Cassidy, and now you’ve met your Eryn.”

“I take it she’s mortal,” Cassidy said.

“Yes.”

“Did you tell her about you being a werewolf?”

“No. I didn’t want to frighten her away. She’d already had
been leery of me when she found me standing over her kill, waiting for her to
approach. Plus, I was afraid she’d shoot me again since she was carrying a
rifle.”

Cassidy laughed. “Yeah, you probably did the right thing. I
know when Edensaw and the rest of you all shifted for the first time in front
of me to prove you were telling the truth about being werewolves, it scared me.
Used to shooting things, Eryn might have tried to put some lead into you.”

“One bullet wound was enough for me.”

“Let’s go back and tell the others,” Edensaw said. Both he
and Cassidy turned around in their seats, and Cassidy pulled onto the road.

Wachei watched the scenery go by through the side window.
Eryn wasn’t going to be very far from his mind for the rest of the day. He
yearned to be with her again, but he had to take it slow. Considering her
personality, if he pushed things too fast, she was liable to balk and have
nothing to do with him again. And that was the last thing he wanted to happen.

Once they arrived at their house, Wachei got out of the car.
He looked at their five-bedroom home. When Cassidy had first found them in the
ice cave, she’d been living in a one-bedroom apartment here in Juneau. After
finding out the stones the shaman had given to him and each of his wolf
brothers were actually pieces of gold, diamond, jade, amethyst, garnet and
rhodonite, and worth a lot in this modern world, they had sold them. Now they
had a place that fit them all with enough treed land for them to go wolf and
take a run whenever they wanted.

They’d just stepped into the house when a feminine shout of
outrage sounded from the living room. It was followed by a “Ketah, knock it the
hell off” in an irritated tone.

Wachei looked at Cassidy and Edensaw. “Lindsey must be
here.” Lindsey was the daughter of the local pack leader, and descended from
Ketah. Their wolf brother considered the younger woman his granddaughter and
treated her as such, much to Lindsey’s dismay.

Cassidy chuckled. “How can you tell? Today’s her birthday,
remember? We’re going to have a little celebration here for her with Brice and
Marta. Lindsey drove herself here. Her parents will arrive later. She doesn’t
know it, but they went to pick up the present they want to give her today. Her
big party will be on the weekend with the rest of their pack.”

Wachei followed his alpha and his mate to the living room
where everyone else was. First thing he noticed was Ketah trying to corner
Lindsey. The others were laughing as they watched.

“Ketah, quit being a pain in my ass,” Lindsey said as she
held up her hands to hold him off.

“Come on, Lindsey. You won’t let me give you birthday spanks
so you can at least allow me to give you birthday kisses. Twenty of them, one
for every year you’ve been alive.”

“It’s bad enough I have to put up with you squeezing the
crap out of me every time you say goodbye, but you are not giving me twenty
kisses. I don’t want old-man slobber on me.”

“I may be over ten thousand years old but I’m far from an
old man, and you know it. Your grandfather is just as virile as any werewolf
your age.”

Lindsey pretended to stick her finger down her throat and
made sick-to-her-stomach noises. “God, I did not need to know that. And I’m not
calling you grandfather so knock it off referring to yourself as such.”

Taking pity on Lindsey, Wachei interrupted. “If you’re done
harassing Lindsey, I have some news.”

Ketah turned and left Lindsey where she stood and came over
to him. Wachei noticed he also had everyone else’s attention. “And what is this
news?” Ketah asked.

“I met my mate today.”

The others stood and walked over to congratulate him. “Did
you tell her the truth about you?” Durlach asked.

“No.” Wachei went on to give the same explanation as he had
to Cassidy and Edensaw.

As he spoke with the others, Wachei noticed Lindsey had
shifted to her wolf form and was in the middle of sneaking up behind Ketah. So
far his wolf brother acted as if he didn’t know Lindsey was there. Wachei
decided not to let on that he watched her, wanting to see what she was up to.

He didn’t have too long a wait. Lindsey continued to inch
forward, then once she was close enough, she lunged at Ketah and bit him right
on the ass. The look on his wolf brother’s face was comical. Ketah let out a
yelp midsentence and spun around to face Lindsey.

“You did
not
just bite me in the butt,” Ketah said as
he rubbed the offended area.

Since Lindsey couldn’t communicate telepathically while she
was a wolf as he and his brothers could, she quickly shifted to her human form.
“I think it would be obvious that I did.”

“So it’s going to be like that, little girl? Maybe I should
give you those twenty birthday spanks after all.”

Ketah took a step toward Lindsey. She let out a little
shriek then raced out of the room with Ketah on her tail. Wachei chuckled along
with the others. Nowadays, it was a close call as to who would end up catching
whom. Lindsey had gotten faster over the months since they’d met her, and she also
had come up with inventive ways to elude Ketah.

The doorbell rang and Cassidy went to answer it. A little
later, she walked back into the room with Brice and Marta behind her.

“I hear they’re at it again,” Marta said with a shake of her
head.

“Of course,” Cassidy replied, smiling. “I don’t think Ketah
will ever get tired of trying to drive Lindsey nuts. It seems to be his
favorite pastime.”

“So did you catch anything?” Brice asked Wachei.

Before Wachei could answer, Capac said, “He ended up being
the prey and not the hunter. He found his mate after she shot him.”

That led to some good-natured male ribbing from Brice, and
of course Capac, Durlach, Kajakti and Edensaw had to join in on. Wachei didn’t
think his wolf brothers would ever let him live this one down.

Once Lindsey and Ketah returned to the living room, and
everyone else was finished giving Wachei advice on how he should tell Eryn what
he truly was, they all sat and gave Lindsey her birthday gifts.

She liked the MP3 player they gave her, which of course
Cassidy had picked out since Wachei and his wolf brothers were still learning
about modern-day technology. Last was the present from Lindsey’s parents.

She unwrapped the large slim box to reveal a laptop
computer. Lindsey smiled at Brice and Marta. “Thanks, Mom and Dad. It’s
perfect. Now I no longer have to fight with the old, slow one.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie,” Marta said. “It should be a lot
faster. Cassidy gave us her expert advice on which one would be best.”

Ketah got up and sat on the empty spot on the couch next to
Lindsey. “Let’s turn it on and see what it does,” he said.

Wachei watched Ketah as he and Lindsey started up the
laptop. Out of all of them, Ketah had embraced this new world better. He’d had
Cassidy show him how to use her computer and the internet. He was even having
her teach him how to drive in the hopes of being able to take his driver’s test
soon. Thanks to Brice’s ability to get them all fake identification, it would
be possible.

As they ate pizza and then birthday cake for dessert, Eryn
was never far from Wachei’s thoughts. He kept thinking how once she became his
mate she’d be joining in on get-togethers just like this one. And she would be
living here with him, sharing his room, along with his bed. He could picture
her lying in it with her long, dark-brown hair spread across one of the pillows
as he made love to her.

He quickly pulled his mind away from mental images like
that. Already he sported a hard-on from his rampant thoughts. His mating urge
had him raring to go, full of desire for his mate at any given time. Edensaw
had been lucky. He hadn’t had to be away from Cassidy while he went through the
urge. Not being with Eryn seemed to make Wachei’s need for her increase.

At least he’d been able to hold her and kiss her before
she’d left him. The remembered taste of her lips heated his blood even more,
but Wachei held that memory close. Hopefully, he’d be able to make more just
like that tomorrow when he saw Eryn again.

* * * * *

Eryn pulled her pickup truck into the drive of her older
brother’s place. Noah usually helped her dress her kills. And since he’d known
she’d gone hunting that day, he had expected her to show up once she was done.

She parked in front of the detached garage and turned off
the truck’s engine. Eryn inwardly groaned at the sight of her other brother’s
SUV in the spot next to her. Carson was the worst of her brothers to drive her
up the wall. He thought it was his personal mission to do everything in his
power to bug the hell out of her. He sometimes treated her as if she were still
a teenager instead of a grown woman of thirty. She thought
he
acted more
like a teen, even though he was two years her senior. Noah was four years older
than her and could be just as infantile when Carson egged him on.

Even though her brothers could drive her mad, Eryn loved
them to pieces. And she knew they loved her just the same. They might pick on
her, but if anyone else besides them tried to do it they were quick to defend
her. A school bully had found that out the hard way when they’d been growing
up.

Psyching herself up to be bugged, Eryn got out of the truck,
walked to the front door of house and rang the doorbell. Noah’s wife, Heidi,
answered.

“Hey, Eryn,” Heidi said as she pulled the door open wider
and backed up for Eryn to come inside. “Noah figured you’d be around soon. He’s
in the basement with Carson.”

“Thanks. I guess I’ll go brave the man cave down there.”

Heidi chuckled. “It’s not totally all men. Crystal is with
them.”

Crystal was Noah and Heidi’s four-year-old daughter. Even at
that young age, she was already a girly girl, unlike Eryn. And Crystal had her
father and uncle firmly wrapped around her little finger. Noah and Carson were
hopeless when it came to resisting her.

Eryn left Heidi and walked over to the stairs that led to
the basement. Going down them, she heard Crystal’s high voice. “No, Daddy. Not
like that. You’re making her look ugly.”

Eryn put her hand over her mouth to stifle the laugh that
bubbled out of her. So much for Noah’s man cave. Crystal’s new thing was
playing Barbies, which included changing the dolls’ outfits and even styling
their hair. Since her niece had more than one, Eryn figured her brothers had
been suckered into playing.

She reached the last step and couldn’t hold back her
laughter any longer. Her big, muscular six-foot brothers sat on the floor
cross-legged as Crystal directed them on the proper way to dress a Barbie. They
also each had a sparkly plastic tiara on their heads, which matched the one her
niece wore.

Eryn couldn’t resist. It was time to get a little payback.
“Don’t all three of you look like pretty princesses? Maybe I should take a
picture of you with my phone. I’m sure some of your buddies would love to see
you like this, Noah and Carson.”

Carson tore the tiara off his head and scowled. “Don’t you
dare, Eryn.”

She pretended to ignore him and reached into her jacket
pocket where she’d put her cell after adding Wachei’s number to her contact
list. Once she pulled it out, she said, “Hold still and give me a big smile.”

“Take a picture of me, Auntie Eryn,” Crystal said
enthusiastically.

Eryn held up her phone, and Noah and Carson jumped out of
the way a few seconds before she took the picture. She ended up with a great
shot of her niece, smiling with a bunch of Barbies on the floor next to her.
Her father and uncle were nowhere in sight.

“Jesus, Eryn,” Noah said. “I don’t need you posting pictures
of me looking like this on the internet for my friends to see.”

Her brother might have sounded tough but he failed miserably
while wearing a tiara. Eryn chuckled. “Don’t worry, princess. You and Carson
aren’t in the picture.”

As if he’d just remembered what he wore, Noah pulled off the
tiara and threw it on the floor next to the Barbies. Crystal glared up at him.
“Daddy, if you break that you have to buy me another one.”