Lone Wolf (6 page)

He pictured his sweet Delany being fucked by his brothers, with their cocks in her pussy, ass, and mouth. His own shaft strained at his jeans again. Part of him was turned on by this image. They’d done it before, when they were younger, with girls who were happy to be passed around among the hottest men in Bozeman, to have many attentive lovers instead of one.

But Leif didn’t want that anymore. It didn’t begin to repair the sorrow that engulfed his heart. In fact, it made it worse. He wanted Delany to himself. His brothers could find their own mate to share. He would support them in that. They just couldn’t have Delany.

“Wy says he’s invited her for dinner. What do you think she’d like to eat?”

“She’s not coming for dinner,” Leif snapped.

He heard a long exhale from Silas. “Are you sure that’s what you want Leif? You used to like it.”

This got Leif a little bit. He had liked it. That connection with his brothers. Seeing a woman in the throes of ecstasy in the way that having multiple lovers with no shortage of hard cocks and willing fingers and tongues could generate. Life at Seven Winds Ranch. He had liked it. A long time ago. But things were different now. Completely different.

“I know. But not anymore, Si. I want a woman to myself. You four will meet someone—the right person—and then we can all be happy.”

“Wyatt says he’s pretty sure Delany is the one.”

“Wyatt doesn’t even know Delany. She’s mine,” Leif barked.

“Why don’t you let her choose, Leif?” Silas said quietly.

Because
, Leif thought miserably,
she doesn’t even know I’m a wolf shifter.
What if he did let Delany choose and she chose having five gorgeous mates instead of just him? It wouldn’t be a surprising choice. Silas would make sumptuous meals, James would listen to her, Brett would keep her laughing, and Wyatt would be her protector. Leif closed his eyes. He missed those parts of his brothers too.

He pressed end on the call without saying goodbye. Then he removed his clothes and shifted into his silvery wolf form. Wig, who’d been milling around the kitchen, dropped into an automatic crouch at the sight of a more dominant canine.

The front door was still ajar and Leif took off out into the world of smell and sun. He would run for a few miles, maybe take down a rabbit or two. Then he would drive into town, find Delany at her office, bring her back to the ranch, and hope to convince her to stay forever.

He ran farther and longer than he intended and by the time he’d dispatched two rabbits and climbed Raven Ridge, the shadows of afternoon had lengthened. He showered quickly then hopped in his pickup and sped into town.

Celeste regarded him dubiously over her horn-rimmed glasses. It was possible he’d slept with her daughter once when he’d just returned from Afghanistan, when he was in his dark and drunk days, trying to forget. He was sure he’d shown Sabrina a good time. He just might have forgotten to call her the next day.

“Is Dr. Nichols in?” he said.

“Do you have an appointment?” she asked, flipping through something on her computer screen.

“No. I was just hoping to talk to her about the eagle we rescued yesterday.” He gave Celeste his most charming grin, the one that worked on ninety percent of red-blooded women.

Unfortunately, Celeste was in the other ten percent. She gave him a little frown. “Dr. Nichols has left for the day. You’ll have to call tomorrow.”

“Can you just give me her cell phone number?”

Celeste’s frown turned into more of a scowl. “I don’t give out the personal numbers of our staff. This is a veterinary office, not a dating service,” she replied, casting him with a squinty-eyed look. “You’re not the first person in here today asking for it. Come to think of it, the other man looked an awful lot like you.”

Leif felt a sharp turn in his heart. An awful lot like him? That had to be Wyatt. He’d driven all this way to try to find Delany? Leif stumbled outside, his heart pounding. He had to find Delany before Wyatt did. Before Wyatt told her everything.

He looked left and right down the busy main street of Raven Ridge. It wasn’t a big town, but he had no idea where Delany lived or hung out.

He started by driving around all of the apartment blocks in town, looking for the Subaru. Then he went through the parking lot of the grocery store, pharmacy, and post office. What would she do after work? If she was anything like him, which he suspected she was, she would walk Buddy.

He drove into the parking lot of the river walk park in a cloud of dust. Sure enough, there was the Subaru. Leif relief vaporized. Wyatt’s black pickup was parked right next to the Subaru.

Leif swung into a space and set out along the river trail at a half jog. It wasn’t long before he spotted Delany ahead of him, walking next to the towering form of his brother. She looked so impossibly tiny next to him. Was that how she looked with him? She was still wearing Rachel’s clothes that he’d laid out for her. The turquoise of the shirt made Delany’s red hair pop, and Leif found himself aching to touch her again.

Wyatt’s dog Tipsy, an Australian cattle dog, frolicked in the grass with Buddy. Wyatt and Delany appeared to be talking intently and Leif felt his heart squeeze painfully in his chest.

He approached cautiously. He didn’t have a dog with him. There was no reason for him to be out here. It would be evident that he’d basically scoured the town, looking for Delany.

Delany glanced over her shoulder when she heard his footsteps. She stopped and regarded him in surprise, but then her features hardened. Wyatt had told her.

Wyatt stopped as well, and they both watched him as he approached.

“Hey,” he said, at a complete loss for words.

“Hi,” Delany replied, her voice short.

“What are you doing here, Wyatt?” Leif’s voice was sharp and challenging and he’d already clenched his fists.

Wyatt shrugged in an innocent way. “I had to deliver a pair of horses to the Walmsleys. I brought Tipsy along for the ride and decided to bring her to the park here for a quick stroll before I head back. You all right, Leif? You’re looking a little tense.”

“Can I talk to Delany, alone?” Leif said.

Wyatt shrugged again, but Delany put her hands on her hips, her eyes snapping. “No thank you, Leif. So you can tell me more lies?”

Leif almost took a step backwards, so intense was the anger on her face.

“What has my brother told you?”

“About all the women, the drinking… a different woman every night? I knew you were a player, but I didn’t think it was that bad. Is that why you had women’s clothes and shampoo?”

Leif shook his head. “No. Those things are Rachel’s. Our sister. She comes to stay sometimes. She’s at college right now.” He tried to clear his head. “Look when I got back from Afghanistan, I was pretty messed up for a while. There were some women, and some drinking. But not anymore.” He paused. How much had Wyatt told her?

“Wyatt said you left the women notes in the morning when you wanted to give them the brush off. Then you’d take off for the day, leaving them to drive the woman home. Kind of like you did with me. I guess I’m not that special.”

Leif flicked his eyes to Wyatt. This was all true. He wondered if his brother had mentioned that they would often drive the woman home a few days later after they’d all had their way with her, consensually of course. His brothers would never harm a woman.

Leaving Delany the note this morning had been different though. It had been a different kind of note. He’d wanted her to make herself at home, to come back to him, to know how much the previous night had meant to him.

So Wyatt hadn’t told Delany that they were all shifters? Why? He scrutinized Wyatt and saw his slight lean in Delany’s direction, the dazed look on his brother’s face.

Wyatt
was
taken with Delany.

He hadn’t told her yet because he wanted the chance to seduce her himself.

“Are you going to say anything?” Delany said. Tears had gathered in her eyes, and Wyatt automatically placed his hand in the small of her back. Rage welled up in Leif’s gut, and it was all he could do not to launch a punch at his brother. But they were almost twins. They would be perfectly matched.

He looked back at Delany, with her wide green eyes, and wild red curls. He decided to go for the truth.

“You are special, Delany. I’m falling for you. I think I’m in love with you. I did some things when I got back from Afghanistan that I’m not proud of. I was in a dark place, but that’s not who I am.” He swept on despite the fact that her mouth had fallen open. “And that’s not all. We’re shifters. Wolf shifters. And sometimes wolf shifters share a mate among them. But I don’t want that. I want you all to myself. I want to be your husband, and your mate, and show you all the world has to offer. I wasn’t sure yesterday, but I’m sure now. I want to dance with you under the stars on every butte in Montana. But my brothers aren’t respecting my choice. They want me to share you. That’s why Wyatt is here.”

The point between Delany’s eyebrows creased, and she took a step to the side, away from Wyatt.

“Is that true?” she said to Wyatt.

His brother’s face looked anguished, and Leif felt bad that he was insisting on going his own way once again.

“It is true,” Wyatt said. “But this isn’t just Leif’s choice. Sharing a mate is the way of our people, and my brothers and I have so much to offer. Silas cooks like a dream. You’ll want for nothing, and we’ll adore you. We’ll even support your career.”

“Share me? Adore me? Support my career. You just met me,” Delany snapped. “Your choice. Your ways? What about my choice? You don’t know anything about me. Stay away from me, both of you.”

She shot a look of fury at Leif, scooted past him in the direction of her car, and marched away, calling for Buddy as she went.

“Well, that went well,” Wyatt said as soon as she was out of earshot.

Leif gritted his teeth. “Wy, just stay out of my life. Stay out of Raven Ridge, and stay away from Delany. I mean it.”

He ventured after Delany, but he could tell by the set of her back and the stormy looks she threw over her shoulder that she had no interest in talking to him.

He would wait then, and try to approach her in a day or two when she’d cooled down a bit. If she cooled down a bit.

Delany’s mind was in turmoil and she fought back tears. Shifters. One mate for five brothers. She couldn’t even imagine, although she had to admit that she’d felt a momentary frisson of desire at the prospect of sleeping with both Wyatt and Leif. She knew some women were into that with wolf shifters, but not her. And five of them? That was too many.

Leif stayed well behind her as she made her way to her car, and she turned to glare at him over her shoulder.

He thought he was in love with her?

That was what he’d said. But it didn’t make sense. He couldn’t possibly love her after one night. She’d heard that shifters knew that they loved someone long before humans did. That they knew instinctually. Of course, she’d been thinking that she was in love with Leif this morning. But she’d been thinking that in the afterglow of sex, which had been magical. Delany felt a fluttering in her pussy as she remembered his body, his hardness, and the way he’d made her feel. But she had just been being silly. It was too soon for them to be in love, and why hadn’t he told her he was a shifter? And what about all the other women he’d slept with? Had he told them he loved them too?

Resolutely she jumped in her Subaru with Buddy, put her foot on the gas, and peeled out of the parking lot. It wasn’t until she was several miles away, safely on route to her apartment, that she let the tears come.

The week seemed to drag on for an eternity, and Delany felt like she was sleepwalking through it. Even Barry commented on her mood. She saw all her patients and treated them carefully and proficiently. But the world had become alarmingly grey. She couldn’t get her mind off Leif. She wanted him. But he’d lied to her, or not told her some critical details of his life. And he had four brothers who expected her to sleep with them too.

Sometimes after work she thought she glimpsed his red pickup driving past the clinic, but if it was Leif, he stayed well away.

Leif called on Saturday morning. “Don’t hang up,” he said. “Celeste barred me from coming by the clinic. I finally convinced Barry to give me your number. I had to sleep out on his lawn to make him realize that I was serious. He turned the sprinklers on me at five in the morning.”

Delany laughed despite herself, a strange relief flooding over her at the sound of his voice.

“I’m sorry for everything,” he said. “One date, Delany. Tonight. Let’s start over. Just give me one night to convince you to trust me and give me another chance. We can pretend that we just met. No more lies, I promise. No sex. Let’s just get to know each other. We can talk about sex, but no sex until you decide you want to be with me. If at the end of the date tonight, you want to see me again, I’ll take you out next Saturday too. But if you don’t, just tell me, and I’ll never bug you or sleep on Barry’s lawn again.”

Delany closed her eyes. She steeled her heart to say no, but she could already feel Leif’s arms around her. “Okay,” she said. “One date.”

“Wear a dress,” he said. “I promise I won’t take advantage of you.”

What if I want you to take advantage of me
, she thought, the memory of skin and fucking flitting through her mind. But no. Brothers, lies, women. She had to keep him at arm’s length. One date. She would go out on one date, and hopefully find something terribly unappealing about him. Then maybe she could get Leif Pierce out of her system.

“We might be late. Buddy can stay at the farm with my dogs,” Leif said. “Andy will look after him.”

He approached her from behind as she stood outside the veterinary clinic in her scarlet dress, and she felt the heat from his body and his lips close to her ear before she saw him.

“You look magnificent,” he said. His voice was low and resonant. She whirled and found herself standing inches from him, her heart already pounding. He wore a fine-cut grey suit, his white shirt once again unbuttoned, revealing the curve of his perfect pecs. He smelled of soap and manliness, and his eyes were almost mesmerizing.