Rogue Alpha: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 1) (3 page)

Cam smiled. “Never seen a black wolf either, Laura.
Not in western Michigan. Look, if you say it was a wolf, it was a wolf. You
sure there isn’t the slightest slim chance Flood was right?”

My blood boiled. Cam saw the anger cross my face. He
put his hands up in surrender and scooted his chair back. “All right. All
right. Black wolf. No question. Got it.”

I curled my hand into a fist, shook at him and
tapped his nose. “Good. Don’t make me have to bust you up.”

Cam smiled and gestured to the poop specimen I’d
left sitting on the table. “You get the fun job. Sift through that bad boy and
see if you can find anything interesting Bambi might have eaten.”

“Gross.”

“Remember,” Cam started. I sighed and raised a brow
at him. Then I finished his sentence with him.

“Poop is life.”

Chapter Three

The wolf surrounded me. His hot breath skittered
across the back of my neck. His golden eyes hovered above me, just out of
reach. My feet tangled in the bedsheets, holding me back when he turned and
beckoned me to follow. I reached forward, wanting to touch him again. My heart
pounded. His thick fur, both coarse and silky, tickled my fingertips. But, he
was just out of reach.

My spine turned liquid as his howl rose in the
darkness. It filled me from the inside out, raising the hair on the back of my
neck, washing over me with heat and power. I wanted to run beside him. I wanted
to bury my face in the downy fur of his neck, feel the coiled power of the
muscles that formed his haunches just before he leaped away from me into the
darkness.

Then, the world exploded in sound and light.

“Mallory!”

Down was up. I clawed at the ground. I must have
tried to get out of bed, but tangled in the sheets, I landed on the ground.

Professor Flood pounded on the screen door once,
then came inside. Panic filled my heart as I tried to get free of the sheets. I
wore nothing but a black lace bra and matching panties. A thin sheen of sweat
coated my skin as I struggled to cover myself before Flood stepped around the
bed.

“Wait!” I finally got my leg out of the sheet and
tried to pull it up to cover me.

But Flood stood at the foot of the bed. He turned
his back to me, but not before I saw his eyes blaze with naked lust as he raked
them over me.

“Can you wait outside?” I shouted.

“Uh. I’m sorry. Jesus. I’m really sorry. You were
shouting. I thought you were hurt.”

“What? No. I’m fine. I was sleeping.”

“Hmm.” Flood straightened his shoulders. He didn’t
turn back around as I pulled the sheets around me and stood up. But, he didn’t
leave the room either. “Well, you sleep loud then, I guess.”

“Please, just wait outside. What time is it?”

“What? Oh. It’s just after nine. You’re late. You
were supposed to meet me down at the mess hall. You’re coming with me into town
remember?”

Shit. Right. Why the hell hadn’t my alarm gone off?
I reached for my phone. The damn thing had dislodged from the charging dock. It
was dead.

“Can you give me fifteen minutes?” I said, feeling a
little embarrassed. On the other hand, Flood still hadn’t done the decent thing
and gotten the hell out of my room.

“Sure,” he said. He finally started walking toward
the door. “But hurry up. It’s Sunday. The Fleegers close the store up by eleven
thirty so they can make the noon mass on time. It’s a thirty-minute drive. We
needed to be on the road twenty minutes ago.”

“I’ll just be a second,” I yelled as Professor Flood
stepped out of my cabin and let the door close behind him.

“Shit. Shit. Shit!” I had just one pair of clean
jeans and a t-shirt left. We went to the laundromat in town on Monday nights. I
pulled on my clothes as fast as I could, wrapped my hair in a topknot and
grabbed a toothbrush. I didn’t know whether to be angrier with myself for
oversleeping, or with Flood for invading my personal space in a huge way. For
the moment, I’d settle for just getting the hell down to the mess hall and
salvaging what I could of the morning.

As I stepped out into the sunlight, a shiver ran
through me, strong enough to take my breath away for an instant. I turned, but
not fast enough. A streak of black moved in my peripheral vision. But, there
was nothing there. Just rustling tree branches, waving in the breeze.

I pressed my thumbs against my eyes to clear away
the cobwebs clouding my thoughts. Flood had torn me out of a deep sleep and
some intense dream. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone or
something watched me through that tree line.

“Boo!”

I jumped.

“Son of a bitch!”

Cam jumped out from behind my cabin. He held a piece
of cold pizza in his hand on a napkin.

“Why didn’t you come get me?” I asked. “Flood’s on a
war path. My damn phone died in the middle of the night. It never went off.”

Cam shrugged. “Sorry. I got up early and did some
work in the lab. But, here’s a peace offering. He won’t wait for you to get
breakfast. Better get your ass moving.”

I took the pizza from Cam just as Flood laid on the
Jeep’s horn. It was time to go.

“Don’t forget popcorn,” Cam called out as I bounded
down the cabin steps and headed for the Jeep. “The kind we make over the
campfire!”

I raised two fingers above my head and waved at Cam.
Then, I hopped into the Jeep, shoving pizza down my head as quickly as I could.

A good ten minutes went by before either of us said
anything. I couldn’t tell if Flood was angry for having been delayed or still
feeling a little awkward for staring at me in my underwear. I couldn’t decide
if I was angrier at him for that or awkward for being late. Finally, Flood
spoke first.

“Yeah. Um. I’m sorry about that back there. I really
did think something happened to you. You were, um, screaming, Laura. Like you
were hurt. You sure you’re okay?”

Color warmed my cheeks. “Oh. It’s okay.” A part of
me wanted to kick myself for letting him off the hook. Except, I’d been
dreaming about the wolf when he burst in. I didn’t remember screaming, but I
remembered the whole thing was pretty intense. Maybe I
did
scream.

“I’m kind of used to not getting a lot of privacy
back home,” I said. “Big family. Five brothers. Three sisters.”

Flood let out a whistle. “Wow. I mean, seriously.
Wow. Nine children? I didn’t think people did that anymore.”

I nodded. “Old school Catholic parents.”

“Where are you in all of that?”

“Smack in the middle. I’ve got a pair of brothers
and sisters above me, a pair below.”

“Ah. Well, that explains why you were so eager to
hightail it out of there this summer.”

I laughed. He wasn’t wrong. I loved my family, but
the decision to live on campus at G.L.U. had been one of the best I’d ever
made. It was the first time I’d ever had a bathroom to myself. To me, dorm life
actually brought peace and quiet. When the opportunity to join Flood’s team
this summer came along, it seemed like heaven. Until the last twenty-four
hours, it pretty much had been. Now though, something filled me with unease.

I pressed my forehead against the window as the
trees flew by. We were deep in the Huron-Manistee National Forest miles away
from anything resembling civilization, and I kind of loved it.

“Where’s home?”

“Green Bluff, California.”

“Well, that’s a long way from home. How’d you end up
at Great Lakes U?” Flood asked.

I shrugged. “Ah. That’s an easy one. They offered me
a full ride. I did well on my S.A.Ts. G.L.U. was the farthest from home willing
to pay for me. So, here I am.”

“Good choice. When’s the last time you went back?”

I shrugged. “Not since Christmas.” It wasn’t that I
didn’t miss my family. I did. But being away gave me freedom from the chaos
large families bring. I loved my time on my own.

“Well, I for one am damn glad you decided to give us
a try. You’re talented, Laura. Gifted even. You have a drive and aptitude I
don’t often see in girls your age.”

I bristled a little at the word “girl,” but decided
to let it slide this time. He was trying to give me a compliment, and I
appreciated it.

“I mean it. You could go very far in this field if
that’s what you’re truly interested in. You know the biology graduate program
at G.L.U. is very competitive. Very competitive. We only let in a handful of
students each year. How long before you get your bachelor’s?”

I bit my lip. This early in the semester, I hadn’t
even dreamed of approaching Professor Flood for a recommendation. Most graduate
program students went on to their dream jobs after finishing. “Uh. I need about
fifty more credits. So, a year and a half if I push it.”

Flood smiled as he pulled into the parking lot of
Fleeger’s General Store. “Well, push it, Laura. You know, we’ve got a full day
planned, but I’d like to talk to you about this a little later. How about at
dinner?”

My mouth went dry. Flood reached over and rested his
arm across my seat back. He dipped his head and flashed me the smile that made
the front row girls swoon. It made me uncomfortable on every level. He reached
up with his other hand and brushed a hair out of my eyes. His was close enough
for me to feel his breath against my ear.

“We should get in there,” I said. “It’s almost ten
thirty. You said the Fleegers need to close up for mass. Are you ready,
Professor Flood?”

He picked a piece of lint off my shoulder. “It’s
Byron. When we’re out here. Just Byron. When we’re on campus, different story.
But, we’ve got a lot of weeks out here in the wilderness to be so formal.”

“Sure.” I reached for the door and stumbled a little
getting out of the car. Flood’s soft laughter followed me as I walked up the
wooden stairs into the store. My pulse quickened as I reached for the door. My
palms sweated and the air around me seemed to thicken. I reached for the door
with shaky fingers. Flood’s shadow fell over me as he followed me up the
stairs. I didn’t want him to touch me again. The implications of his tone of
voice, his gestures, were unmistakable.

“Wait up, Laura,” he said, his rich tenor prickling
along my spine. “Let me at least be a gentleman and get the door for you.”

His put his hand on my back and reached around me
for the door handle. Before he could open it though, the door flew inward.
Flood’s fingers flexed where he held them to my back and I looked up to face a
mountain.

“She looks capable of handling doorknobs all by
herself.” The mountain had a voice. A deep, rich, baritone. My eyes started at
his chest. He wore a black t-shirt stretched taut over hard muscles. I followed
those muscles up until I met his eyes as they flashed gold fire. Hair black as
midnight long enough to just graze his shoulders. High, strong cheekbones over
rough, dark stubble. Perfect, pale, full lips set into a hard line as he stared
down Byron Flood over my shoulder. He filled the doorway with his broad
shoulders, muscled thighs thick as tree trunks wrapped in denim. Worn, black
motorcycle boots that looked solid enough to kick through a wall.

He had a fresh cut above his left eye. It made a
jagged line like a lightning bolt through the dark, thatch of his brow.
Instinct or insanity made me reach up and hover my finger over the wound. He
flinched, drew back. My fingers froze in midair for just a moment before I
dropped my hand to my side.

“That’s a nasty cut,” I said. “You should ice that.”

He gave me a half smile that sent heat zinging
through me. Shit. I was acting just like one of Flood’s front row girls. One
muscle-bound biker type gives me a wink and I go all gushy inside.

“Thanks for the tip,” he said. His eyes went back to
Flood and he took a step back to let me in through the door. When Flood tried
to follow, he puffed his chest out and a did a little man-spreading that made
Flood brush against his shoulder as he passed.

“You hassling my customers Mr. Devane?” A high
pitched male voice came from the back of the store.

Mr. Devane. It didn’t suit him. He should be Mr.
Tank. Mr. Rock. Devane sounded civilized. Refined. This man seemed wild and raw
like he belonged to the woods around us.

“You tell me. You feeling hassled?” Devane looked at
me, his eyes seared straight through me then he flicked them to Flood behind
me, his implication clear.

“I’m good,” I answered. It was true and not true.
But, as I stood just a few feet from this man, I had a sense that every
question, every gesture he made was part of some kind of threat assessment. He
stood with his body angled toward the door, his legs slightly parted as if he
were ready for a fight. His eyes scanned the room from me to Flood then back to
the door.

But, whoever he was, I needed him to know I could
handle myself. I don’t know why that was so important, but it was. “Are you
feeling hassled Professor Flood?” I emphasized the word Professor. The man was
in serious need of a reminder of boundaries. Might as well start there.

His mouth set into a grim line, and his face had
drained of color. “Let’s just get what we need and get out of here. You’ve set
us behind schedule enough.”

I’ve what now? Flood was seething rage. He brushed
fully past Devane and grabbed a basket from the wall, gripping it so hard he
bent the handle. He moved to the other end of the store and away from Devane
and me.

“Didn’t mean to upset him,” Devane said. “Seems a
little touchy.”

“We’re here for research,” I said stupidly.

Devane raised his uninjured eyebrow. I looked in
front of me. I happened to be standing in front of the first aid supplies and
over-the-counter medicine. I grabbed a bottle of iodine and gauze and thrust it
into Devane’s hand. My skin flared hot where he touched me, sending a sensation
like a shock wave through me.