Moon Shine (Takhini Wolves) (10 page)

Fuck
.

He wiggled in place in an attempt to ease the pressure on his rapidly increasing arousal. The dire need to convince her to take the next steps with him grew exponentially.

They were nearly back at the highway before she put the tablet to one side and twisted in her seat to face him. “Not all wolves are the same. Not all wolves need the same thing.”

“I don’t need Alpha lessons,” Evan muttered, pulling onto the Alaskan highway between a couple of eighteen wheelers. Yeah, he was being cranky, but he and his cock were still not on speaking terms.

She crossed her arms over her chest and deepened her voice in an uncanny match of his. “I’ll make it right. I swear I will. I swear I’ll find a way to prove I’m worthy to be your mate.”

Okay, that was freaky. “You have that thing that lets you repeat word for word anything you’ve ever heard.”

“Uh-huh. Total auditory recall. Doesn’t work on things I’ve read, but if I hear it, I can repeat it. And that’s
why
I was doing the little Alpha lecture. From things you’ve said, it’s obvious you’re used to Takhini dynamics. Canyon operates differently, and if we’re going to work together, you need to adjust your attitude.”

“Not all wolves are the same. Gotcha. Attitude adjusted.”

She shook her head, concern creasing her brow. She took a deep breath then settled with her body turned away. Closing herself off from him, and Evan gave himself shit. He wished he could back up a few steps and avoid the conflict. What he needed was forward motion, not poking her already sensitive edges.

Evan pulled into the parking lot of the tiny, beat-down truck shop, wondering why on earth she’d picked such a dump to stop at.

Amy spoke softly. “Some of my pack are always around here. Please be careful how you move.”

It was a test. He hadn’t expected that, but in a way the challenge seemed a good thing. It meant she was at least willing to give him a chance.

When Shaun had showed up at the cabin, Evan had thought the fragile peace growing between Amy and himself would be shattered. Seeing her exert her dominance over his Beta had been an awesome surprise. A little early in the game, maybe, but the challenge would have happened eventually. Evan had been impressed.

Now it appeared he needed to do some impressing of his own.

Evan held the door for her, waiting as she stepped past. And…he had to do another mental adjust. The inside of the tiny highway café was sparkling clean, the heavenly scent of coffee and crispy-fried bacon strong enough to overpower even the addictive aroma of his mate. “Mmm. Already my taste buds are cheering, while my arteries cringe in fear.”

Amy gestured forward. “Pick us a spot.”

Three steps forward he froze, one foot damn near suspended in midair. The people seated at the table nearest the door had left so rapidly one of the glasses on the table rocked unsteadily before tipping and spilling the leftover contents over their abandoned plates. Escaping from the room with their eyes averted.

Shit
. He glanced at Amy who pointedly avoided his gaze.

This is a test
, he reminded himself. He had instinctively headed to a place of central attention—a place where his pack mates could find him easily and take comfort in his presence.

Amy’s little hints earlier made him reconsider if perhaps that wasn’t the best choice. He studied the room, checking faces and examining eyes for clues.

Most of the remaining occupants were human. Toward one side of the room, though, a wolf who was about eight years old stared straight at him. Not in fear, but perhaps with a bit of awe.

“How about over there?” Evan asked, the words coming out so quiet he could barely hear himself. Hell if he wanted to freak anyone else into running away.

Amy led him across the room and slid onto the bench next to the boy. “Hi, Dex. How’re things this morning?”

The kid’s jaw hung open as Evan took a seat opposite them, but even as he stared he answered. “Good. Mom says I get a new book today.”

“Nice.” Evan snuck into the conversation. “What’s it about?”

Dexter turned to whisper behind his hand to Amy, the words loud enough everyone in a five-table radius could hear. “He’s with Takhini.”

“He is, but you should still answer him.” Amy picked up the menu and pretended to study it. Her gaze met Evan’s over the top of the paper, a clear warning to tread carefully.

The little guy crawled up on his knees and leaned his elbows on the table. “It’s the final book in the Goligal series. Have you read it? It’s really good. They’re dragons, and they can fly, and they take care of their tree houses, and then there was this fire, and they got moon thieved, and…”

Evan nodded, and continued to nod as information flowed in a nonstop stream for the next five minutes.

“Dexter, I swear someday you’ll wear someone’s ears off telling them about your stories.” The waitress turned to Evan, her smile vanishing between one breath and the next. She backed up toward where Amy and her son sat, protective even as her fear shone out.

“Laney, it’s okay.” Amy laid a soothing hand on the woman’s arm. “He’s with me.”

Laney’s eyes were still panicked, and she licked her lips nervously.

Evan considered ways to ease the tension, but he couldn’t make a rational decision if his life depended on it. Which was stupid, crazy and so unlike him, but for some damn reason, his brain seemed to have frozen between one beat and the next. His mouth might be hanging open, his expression blank for all he knew.

Talking. Maybe talking would be good. “Your son is very smart. He enjoys his books, and I don’t mind listening.”

The woman swallowed hard and nodded, but it was obvious she was very uncomfortable. “The special today…umm. The special…”

“The special would be great. And a coffee, please.”

“Same for me,” Amy ordered. “Cream for both the coffees as well.”

The waitress nodded, then fled.

Dexter’s gaze remained glued on Evan. “Do you like reading?”

“I like that you like to read.”

Good enough for the kid. He went back to drawing something intricate on the pad of paper before him.

Across the table, Amy folded her hands, calmness and serenity pouring from her as she stared at him, her expression unreadable. It was a damn good thing she was calm because that was the last sensation Evan felt. He couldn’t believe how fucked up he was inside.

A meet-and-greet at a café with a woman and her son, and he was tied up in enormous knots as if he were a baby all over again. Evan wanted to slap some sense into himself if nothing else. This wasn’t him. He knew how to deal with people, how to offer assurance and a steady hand to wolves.

But right now he felt totally adrift and lost. Why was Laney so scared? Did the wolves who left at just seeing him think he was some kind of monster?

Stupid, crazy mating urge—it had to be the cause of his emotional chaos that was as unwelcome as it was unexpected.

Amy tilted her head and caught his attention, breathing with deliberate slowness.

Shit. He took the hint and concentrated on relaxing. Three breaths later he did feel better, and he reached across the table to cover her fingers with his own as a thank-you.

Amy tensed.

Dexter stiffened.

Heck, the entire café went deadly quiet, and most of them were humans, for fuck’s sake. There was no reason for anyone to overreact.

“Uh, sweetheart, can you up the positive vibes again?” Evan forced himself to keep looking straight at her instead of swinging to watch his back. He was not about to get into a brawl when she was simply trying to make a point about leadership styles.

Slowly her fingers relaxed in his. “Sorry. You surprised me.”

“Understood.” He swept his thumb over her knuckles. “Looks as if I have a tendency to do that. I hope you get used to it.”

He maintained a grip on her fingers until the coffees arrived. Laney filled their cups as quickly as possible, dropping a bowl of creamers onto the table. But her gaze was focused on their joined hands, and this time when she left, her escape was noticeably slower because she was looking over her shoulder to keep examining the scene.

“You realize my entire pack now knows something is up.” Amy slipped her fingers free to stir her coffee.

“The more alert of my pack probably have heard as well. Well, the ones who are awake. If I know Shaun, he already made some kind of grand proclamation in the pack house.”

“Chicken Little running through the halls screaming the sky is falling? Or maybe warning the dragon-lady is on her way?”

Evan grinned. “Hey, that’s the kind of reputation that impresses my pack.” Although, as he looked around, he had to wonder…

Dexter finished colouring the picture he was working on and handed it to Amy. He pressed a kiss to her cheek before scrambling over her to get to the floor.

He twisted to face Evan. “Be nice.”

“I’m always nice,” Evan insisted.

The kid planted teeny fists on his hips, his expression far too serious for someone that young. “If you make her cry, I’ll get even with you.”

Then he darted off, escaping into the kitchen.

Evan looked into Amy’s face. “You have quite the admirer there.”

“He doesn’t trust a lot of guys. His dad abandoned them before Dexter was born, and the guy Laney was living with until recently made it clear he thought Dex was nothing but a nuisance.” Amy took a sip of coffee, staring into the café. “After she left Mike the first time, he tracked her down, stole her savings and left her with a broken arm and fingers.”

Anger rumbled in Evan’s gut. “What the hell?”

“They were part of the Dawson Creek pack. The Alpha gave the bastard a lecture, and that was that. So she moved south. When they got here, she came to me. I helped her find a job. They live upstairs from the café, and there’s always at least one of the pack around to protect her in case her ex shows up again.”

Evan gave in to a momentary mental fantasy that involved ripping off the bastard’s arm and using the bloody stump to beat some sense into him. “Good. If they need any more help, let me know.”

She tilted her head. “Yeah, you would be good at that part. Providing defense. Only, can you see why she never came to you in the first place?”

Indignation set in fast. “I’m not an ass like the Dawson Alpha. No one gets away with shit like that in my pack.”

Amy shook her head. “If you can’t see it, I can’t explain it.”

Their meals arrived, Laney still moving cautiously, but at least not throwing the food at the table and running.

Evan worked even harder this time to display his usual charming-and-completely-not-scary self. “Thanks. It looks great.”

She dipped her chin briefly.

Amy brushed her hand along the other woman’s arm. “My thanks as well. Will I see you later this week?”

Laney nodded, glancing at Evan before focusing on Amy. “Are you still going to make it?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

The food was good, he was sitting across from his mate, but at the same time Evan wasn’t quite sure what was going on. Somehow in the last while he’d lost all control. It was more than uncomfortable, it was downright frustrating.

A reluctant smile twisted Amy’s expression. She spoke in a whisper. “You did okay.”

The faint praise shouldn’t have thrilled him as much as it did. “I feel like I should get a gold star, or something, for that.”

Her lips twitched harder. “Eat. You’ll need your strength for later.”

“I could misinterpret that so many ways.” He allowed the heat inside to escape in his tone.

Her eyes flashed for a brief second with that incredible passion he craved to indulge in, then faded to sorrow. “Wait and see if you’re still interested in me after talking to your Beta.”

Her warning was sincere, but Evan shook his head firmly. “There’s nothing he can say that can change my mind,” he insisted. “You’re mine, Amy, and I’m not letting you go.”

She looked both pleased and nervous at his comment.

The tug of war between them continued.

Chapter Ten

There weren’t a lot of people awake and moving around the Takhini pack house at this time of the morning. Evan pushed the front door open for her, and Amy boldly marched through the entrance.

“Shaun and the guys should be around somewhere.” Evan followed closely, his body heat a security blanket around her shoulders. “The common area is just to the right.”

She wasn’t sure if she should confess this, but in the interest of total disclosure, it was necessary. “Evan, I already know the layout of the entire place.”

“Amy, Amy, Amy.” He clicked his tongue. “Have you been spying on me?”

“Do I really need to answer that?”

“Spying is the least of what she’s done.” Shaun stood before them, his arms crossed over his chest. He wore a disgusted expression as if he smelled something rotten.

“Hello again, my sparkling ray of sunshine. I’ve missed you so.” Amy patted Shaun on the cheek harder than necessary.

“Yeah? Well, I’m watching you. I’m watching you
closely
.” Shaun did that little pointing thing, aiming two fingers toward his eyes then directing them toward her. “Because you are one dangerous woman.”

“Shaun, back down,” Evan snapped.

“She started it,” Shaun protested.

“I said, back
down
.”

There were a half-dozen wolves in the common area and more trickling into the room, checking her out.

Since Evan didn’t seem to be interested in introducing her, Amy ignored the questioning glances. Instead she turned her focus to the quiet, dark-haired woman tucked into the corner of the room. Her hands were folded in her lap as she perched on the very edge of a couch, as if ready to spring to safety at any moment.

At her side sat an enormous shifter Amy recognized as one of the bears who had remained after conclave had concluded. She nodded politely, but spoke to the woman at his side.

She held out a hand. “Hi. I’m Sa…Amy.” Maybe not using her first name would hold off a few problems for a while.

The dark-haired woman slowly accepted the greeting. “Amanda.”

Mr. Shiny Suit beside her leaned to the left as he extended his hand. “Justin. You have a bit of explaining to do, young lady.”

“Hold that thought,” Amy requested as she lifted a finger in the air. “Amanda, you okay?”

The woman seemed surprised at the question. “Of course, I am.”

Amy stood silently for a moment. “We can talk later if you’d like.”

Amanda got very busy looking nowhere, and Amy knew she’d guessed correctly. From the questioning glances Justin was directing her way, a lot of her work from the past year was about to come to light. That didn’t mean she could ignore a person like Amanda whose body language was all but screaming for comfort.

Offering help was part of who Amy was, and as necessary as breathing.

Evan stepped behind her, his hand settling on her lower back. “Let’s take this to my office.”

Amanda excused herself and vanished into the back of the pack house, but the rest of them ended up crowded into the small room. Her, Evan, Justin and Shaun.

Amy hung back at the door. She didn’t need to be around when the truth came out. “I’ll wait outside while you talk.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” Evan caught her by the waist and pulled her to his side. Already the contact was so familiar she was sad that the coming minutes would tear it away. He tucked her onto the chair next to him.

Amy eyed how far it was to the door in case she needed to make a quick getaway.

Evan folded his arms over his chest. “So. I’m here. What was so damn important you felt the need to break a direct order and track me down?” he demanded of his Beta.

Shaun gestured to Justin. “He’s the guy with the goods.”

Justin handed printed pages to Evan. “These are from the accountant I told you about. He faxed them over this morning.”

Evan shuffled through them, clearly not seeing their importance. “What am I looking at?”

The bear shifter ran a finger down the summary page. “These are the names of the properties and investments you’ve been building up over the past year. This column shows the total value of each.”

A low whistle sounded. “Looks as if I’ve done all right.”

Justin cleared his throat and pointed. “And this column shows how much you own of the investment.”

“What do you mean
how much I own
?” Evan rearranged the pages. “These properties were purchased by myself or the pack. Why do we not own one hundred percent?”

Justin looked straight at Amy. “It appears you had a silent partner. Someone else contributed money toward your investments. In some cases, after making a purchase, you made some of the investments sellable through shares, and your silent partner picked up as much as was available.”

“Here it comes,” Shaun warned, imitating the sound of a bomb plummeting toward the earth.

Evan shook his head. “But these numbers in the final column make no sense. How can I own only forty-eight or forty-nine percent of something?”

Might as well make sure he knew exactly what he was about to hate her for. Amy laid a hand on his thigh. “It means someone else owns a majority of the investment. They have control over it.”

“Bullshit. That wasn’t what my accountant was supposed to do.”

“It was done legally, but very under the radar. I’m not surprised your accountant missed it.” Justin’s expression remained fierce. “Amy’s got it right. Everything listed on that paper, you or the Takhini pack has an interest in, but someone else owns more than you. They are the ones in charge. They have the right to make decisions.”

Evan’s rising anger was apparent to everyone in the room. “Who the hell owns the other half?”

“Half plus a little bit,” Amy explained again. “And that would be me.”

It was a good thing he was sitting down, because Evan didn’t think his legs would hold him. He dragged a hand through his hair and fought to keep from growling.

“How?
Why?
”

Amy took a deep breath. “Do I really need to tell you why?”

Evan stopped in shock. “You planned this? You planned this all along?”

“This is why I came to Whitehorse.”

“Holy crap.” Evan shot to his feet and stomped across the room. Okay, this wasn’t something he wanted aired in public. Not when there was so much at stake. He needed everyone to get out
now
so he could have a heart-to-heart with his mate.

He rotated slowly, working to keep his voice below a roar. “Justin. Shaun. Leave.”

He could tell Shaun wanted to stay. Tough. Fucking. Beans. Evan snapped up an arm to point at the door. His Beta and the bear shifter reluctantly left, Shaun tossing a final warning glare at Amy before he closed the door.

The click echoed in the silent room like a gunshot.

She leaned back in her chair.

“You want to start explaining?” Evan demanded.

“I think you figured most of it out.” She met his gaze without fear. “When I did my research and discovered you were the one responsible for Philip’s death and everything that happened afterward, I was furious. The most logical thing seemed to be to take everything from you, like everything had been taken from me.”

He’d thought being hauled to jail was insane, but this? This was an entirely new dimension of lunacy, never before experienced. Evan took a deep breath. “But you were wrong. And now you’ve potentially not only hurt me, but my pack. How am I supposed to react?”

“Takhini will be fine. Just because I have control doesn’t mean I want to tear anything away from them.”

He struggled to understand. “This was about personally taking me down.”

“Yes. That’s all it was ever about.”

Evan dropped into the chair on the opposite side of the desk from her.

“So now what do we do? You own…” He glanced at the list of assets, resisting the urge to swear because that wouldn’t make the conversation run any smoother. “You own just about everything. The hotel, the bar, the pack house. How the
hell
did you do some of this? I’m no expert, but wouldn’t I have had to put things up for sale?”

She looked sheepish. “You did. You just didn’t realize you had.”

“Dammit, Amy. Did you forge my signature or something? Because that seems like the only way possible.”

Her non-answer was an answer.

“That can’t be legal and stand up in a court of law. There’s no way…”

He fought for control, refusing to shout at her like he really, really wanted to. No matter how fucked up this was, giving her hell for doing it in the first place didn’t change the current reality. He stared at the table and took slow breaths until he was rational enough to speak. “I understand why you started this, but now that you know more about what happened in the past, don’t you think the situation has changed? My question remains, what do we do now?”

Amy stood and walked to the window, her body tension tight. She remained silent for a while before turning to face him. “We join the packs, like the plan was all along.”

“But my plan was for Takhini to take over Canyon. From the looks of things, you’ve already joined the packs, and Canyon owns my ass.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Amy demanded. “The only difference is you’re not the one in charge. Does that make it wrong?”

“Yes,” Evan snapped.

“Because you’re the only one who can lead the joint packs. That’s a rather bold presumption on your part.” She glared at him, ice in the depths of her eyes. “I still say I could lead Takhini, but you could never lead Canyon. Maybe that moment in the restaurant would give you a clue as to why.”

This was getting them nowhere. “Are you really demanding I challenge you on a leadership level? My mate? Because that’s what it sounds like.”

“It’s not a challenge to point out a gap in your logic.” Her words came softer. Slower. “You made a wrong decision, and I’m trying to help you make it right.”

She was attempting to be reasonable, but Evan was so far gone from reasonable, it wasn’t even funny.

“I need some fresh air.” He was going to explode. He jabbed a finger at her. “Stay here.”

Her expression darkened. “
Ha
. I don’t think so. Nice try ordering me around. If you need to burn off some steam, that’s fine, but I’m going back to work. You know where to find me when you’re in control of your emotions.”

A growl burst from his throat.

It was as if there were two of him, and one half wanted to get the hell out of here and run off his frustrations. The other half didn’t want Amy out of his sight, and not only because he had no idea what else she had up her sleeve. “Look, I’m trying hard not to blow my temper, because I don’t want to say something I would regret.”

“Just assume I understand what you’re feeling,” Amy snapped back before softening, her expression growing sorrowful. “I can’t change what I’ve done, but I will tell you this. I’m sorry. I wish I’d found more information before I started.”

“Revenge is always a fucking stupid move.”

She seemed to stop breathing, regret and frustration shooting from her, and that was the final straw. His wolf backhanded him for sniping after she’d apologized. Whatever happened before, they had to move forward, and blaming was certainly not going to get the job done.

Evan crushed her against him, holding her tight to his chest. She remained stiff for the first moment before slipping her arms around his torso and allowing him to offer comfort.

“We’ll get through this as well,” he promised. “Yes, I make assumptions. There’s got to be a middle ground that we can find. Because all the wolves who live in Whitehorse deserve to have strong leadership, and the reassurance they have a pack who cares for them.”

“I want that too,” she whispered.

He slipped his fingers under her chin and lifted her face. “We’re both fiercely independent. Coming together is going to take some work, and we have to learn to trust each other.”

She stared at him silently then nodded. “I’m willing to try. I need to trust you more first.” She laughed ruefully. “But I bet you could say the same thing.”

“I’m in shock, yes.” Evan confessed. She was nestled against him, though, and he couldn’t stop a smile from escaping. “But along with the shock, I’m damn impressed. You kicked some serious butt. I like that.”

The corner of her mouth tipped upward. “You would be happier if it wasn’t your butt I’d been kicking, right?”

“Yeah, but this is still exciting. Who wants to turn down a grand adventure? And damn if we aren’t going to have the best pack in the entire North, with the skills we bring to the table. Whitehorse is going to rule, just like I’d always hoped.”

That inner layer of ice encasing her heart only got colder. While she understood why he was upset, it wasn’t very reassuring that once he did calm down it was all about the packs—joining and leading them. Not a single word about him and her as mates. Learning to trust, yes, definitely. What about learning to love?

You tore everything from him. Don’t expect promises of eternal love and devotion right away.

Don’t expect them ever.

She wanted to snap her teeth at the condemning internal voice. No matter how logical the realization, facts didn’t matter to her heart. She still wanted what she couldn’t have.

Evan continued to stroke her, his strong hands trailing over her back and arms. They were both craving physical contact, but she stared into his dark eyes and fought giving in.

An entirely different observation poked her as she stood within the circle of his arms. Amy examined him closer. “You don’t seem that upset anymore.”

“Anger isn’t worth holding on to.” Evan shrugged, the move making his muscular shoulders that much more apparent. “You had your reasons for what you did, and I have mine. Also, touching you calms me like whoa.”

He stroked her cheek with the back of his knuckles, and suddenly Amy couldn’t breathe. A decision needed to be made, and now. Did she pull away? Or give in to the craving?

His gentle touch on her face created devastating effects. The wolf’s appetite returned, hotter and hungrier than ever, and Amy turned her cheek to rub against him.