Seer: Reckless Desires (Norseton Wolves Book 8) (3 page)

“And you think I’m gonna
help
you make those decisions?” She plopped her hands onto her hips and gave her head a hard shake. “Well, you’ve got another think coming, bub. In case you’ve forgotten already, I don’t know you. I don’t plan on getting to know you, and I don’t
want
to know you.”

That last part might have been a lie, but she wasn’t going to tell
him
that. When Leo got into certain moods, there was no changing her mind about things, and standing there in the forest staring at Mr. Tall, Dark, and Hotness, she was in a mood, all right.

A very confusing one.

She wasn’t sure if she should jump him or hump him.

And he blinked at her again.

She let out an exasperated breath and held out her arms. “Gimme. Come
on
. A child needs her mama.”

“And in my experience, sometimes a child gets on just fine without her mother, because she has no choice.”

“Are you threatening me, you smug jerk-face?”

“Simply stating an observation. You should know how wolves get on. Children being separated from their mothers before they’re ready isn’t an unusual occurrence, especially for the boys.”

Oh.
Leo thunked her forehead again.
Duh.

He’d been talking about himself, and she’d been so eager to put him in his place that she wasn’t thinking straight.

She held her arms out again.

He didn’t blink at her, at least. He reached for her big backpack and slung it up to his shoulder singlehandedly.

“Get the diaper bag,” he said. “I don’t trust you not to run. I’ll hang onto Kinzy. You can have her back when we get to the truck.”

“Nuh-uh! Where I come from, that’s called a bait-and-switch.”

“You can call it that if you want.” He started walking, and not at a leisurely, come-on-catch-up kind of pace, either. He had to be walking a good fourteen-minute mile, in spite of the foliage and uneven terrain, and all Leo could do was follow him helplessly.

“Damn it. One of these days, someone’ll listen to me,” she muttered.

“Don’t assume that just because you’re not getting your way that the people around you aren’t listening. Trust me.” He squeezed between two tight trees without even skimming the bark. “I’m listening.”

Every time Arnold peeked at his borrowed truck’s rearview mirror, he caught Leonora giving him narrow-eyed looks that might have been ball-withering if her face hadn’t been so sweet. Heart-shaped, with pouty lips and a few freckles across her nose.

If she hadn’t been a lactating werewolf with that “vicious” snarly mama thing going on, he might have described her as happy-go-lucky. Wolf women with young children had a shit-ton of hostility triggers. He couldn’t blame her for being pissed, but hoped she’d feel much better when they arrived at Norseton. She was smart to think he was trying to play her in some way—most wolves encountered in the wild weren’t trustworthy—but he had to be careful, too. She was an unknown entity and, though he’d pieced together a few facts about her, he needed to exercise caution. She’d rely on instincts to keep her baby safe. She’d certainly run with the slightest provocation.

Arnold was doing his damnedest to not give her an opportunity to run—a show of restraint that had the side effect of creating a fun problem for his bladder. They were approaching the Colorado-New Mexico border, and Arnold needed to take a leak. His liquid composition was likely far more coffee than blood plasma, and that wasn’t sustainable in the slightest bit. He had a lot more driving to do before nightfall, but he wanted to arrive in Norseton with his bladder intact and having had no embarrassing accidents.

“We’ll stop for lunch just up ahead,” he said, risking a glance into the mirror.

She wasn’t looking at him, for once. She was fiddling with her shirt in a way that indicated she was about to nurse, so he quickly put his gaze back on the road.

“Go on and eat,” she said. “Take your time. We’ll stay in the truck. Nice truck, by the way. Is it new? Looks new.”

Arnold was pretty sure the truck was new. The vehicle belonged to one of the wolves at Norseton. He hadn’t had time to explain why he’d needed to borrow the vehicle, only that he’d needed to leave immediately. Colt had passed the keys over without a word.

Arnold ignored her second question, and said, “We’re all getting out. We’re going into the rest stop. You go freshen up. Change Kinzy’s diaper. Do what you have to do. Then we’ll grab something to eat and bring the food back to the truck.”

“I bet you’re going to stand outside the stall to make sure I don’t abscond, right? Like I’m some kind of violent offender who needs constant supervision.”

“Well, I don’t know how violent you are, but you certainly need supervision. Leaving your baby unsupervised for eight hours? For God’s sake, woman.”

“I already told you, I—”

He scoffed, effectively silencing her protest, and slung the truck into the lot, pulling up beside a gas pump.

She reached for her door handle with one hand, holding Kinzy awkwardly with her other arm. She hadn’t even fixed her shirt.

“Nope.” He hopped down from the truck and peered into the window she’d let down an inch. “You wait here until after I’ve gotten gas.”

She narrowed her eyes again, which she couldn’t seem to do without crinkling her nose.

So freaking cute
.

He pinched the bridge of his own nose and groaned.

“What if I need to go?” she asked.

“If you really needed to go, I think you would have said something long before I approached this lot. You haven’t kept your mouth shut about any other thing, after all.”

“You’re not a nice person. You know that?”

He scoffed again and twisted off the gas cap. “Lady, you have no idea how nice I am.”

“
Nice
is a relative thing when we’re talking about werewolves.”

Arnold glanced behind him and beyond the truck, scanning to area to ensure that there were no mundanes within earshot. As far as human beings were concerned, werewolves were fables depicted in horror flicks or teen television romances, and wolves generally liked to keep mundanes in the dark about their existence. People hated what they didn’t understand.

He shoved the nozzle into the tank hole and shifted his weight while the gauge counted gallons. The sound of sloshing liquid made him think of his bladder and its precarious state.

Leonora scooted over to the window and leaned her forearm onto the sill. “So, tell me about this place you’re taking me to. Are there phones there? Running water? Police?”

He grunted.

The Norseton Wolves
were
the police in Norseton, in a manner of speaking. They had a few actual cops in town to handle minor municipal stuff, but for the most part, the Vikings who owned the place tended to self-regulate pretty well. The wolves had been hired as security for the higher-ups, and as the pack expanded, so did the community’s built-in law enforcement staff.

“The place we’re headed to is modern enough,” he said after a minute.

The gas pump’s gauge
click, click, clicked
—not moving nearly fast enough, in Arnold’s opinion.

Pressure must be low.

“What’s there?” Leonora asked.

“In Norseton? Everything you could want.”

“That’s perfectly vague.”

“Best I can do.” He hadn’t had much time to explore the place himself. He’d made sure his sister was settling in okay, and he’d left as soon as he’d had his vision.

“Tell me about it,” she said.

“I will.” The gas
finally
stopped trickling. Arnold set the nozzle back into its storage compartment, grabbed the fuel receipt, and twisted the truck’s gas cap back on. “Once we get back to the truck. Come on.” He canted his head toward the gas station.

Leonora sighed, shifted Kinzy to her other arm, and then grabbed the diaper bag.

Once she was out, Arnold took the bag from her and locked the truck door. “I’ll just hold onto that until after I’m done.”

“Oh, give me a freakin’ break, dude. You’re gonna hold a diaper bag as collateral? Of all things?”

He didn’t respond. Just pulled the gas station door open for her and waited for her to walk past him.

He nodded at the bored-looking teenager behind the counter and guided Leonora toward the hall where the restrooms were situated.

He’d been to that particular gas station once or twice before with Petra. Petra, though, had volunteered to be his travel companion. He hadn’t had to worry about her staging escape attempts every time he turned his back. He and Petra had always had the same goals.

“I’ll go first,” he said, pulling on the men’s room door. Then he thought better of closing it. He doubted she was going to run off without her diaper bag—especially since Kinzy’s vital records were inside—but she could tell the clerk she’d been kidnapped. The highway patrol would probably need a good half hour to get to that remote outpost, but all the same, Arnold wanted to avoid having law enforcement on his tail.

“Actually—”

He pulled her into the empty men’s room, baby and all, and locked the door.

“Come
on
, dude!” she whined.

“Stand there for three minutes. You won’t die of exposure, or anything like that.”

He hustled to a stall, unfastening his jeans as he went.

“My child is going to be traumatized by this. Mark my words.”

“Your child isn’t even going to remember this.” He let out a small moan of pleasure as his bladder emptied. “Your child isn’t even three months old yet.”

“You never know what kids’ll remember. I remember crazy stuff from when I was really little.”

“How little?” Talking to a lady while he taking a leak was weird as hell, but apparently, he needed to stop thinking of Leonora as normal. She was falling more and more into the category of “kook” with each passing minute.

She’s got a mouth just like ma. Jeez.

“Like,
really
little,” Leonora said. “Little enough that I wasn’t much taller than my grandma’s knees. I remember grabbing her skirt so I didn’t get lost at a community event.”

“You could have been two or three. Not exactly an infant.”

“Meh.”

“Right.
Meh
.” He tucked his junk away, flushed, and then headed for the sinks.

She gave him a sideways stare as he headed out, as if she’d expected him to emerge uncovered and indecent. “I’m sure I could remember other stuff if I tried,” she muttered.

“Uh-huh.” He scrubbed his hands and then handed her the diaper bag. “There you go. Handle business. I’ll get grub.”

“Aren’t you going to ask me what I want?”

“I get a sneaking suspicion you were going to volunteer that information whether or not I asked.” He unlocked the door, pulled it open a few inches, and checked the hallway for customers.

No one was there.

He nudged her out and turned her toward the ladies room. “Pretty sure there’s a changing table in there if you need one.”

She stopped in front of the door. Shifted her weight. Cringed.

“What?” he asked.

She sighed and held out the baby. “Can you hold her while I…you know.”

“Oh.”

“Normally, I wouldn’t ask. Smart wolves don’t hand their babies over to dudes, whether they know them or not, but given the circumstances, I don’t see where I have a choice.”

“I’m not going to hurt your baby. If I were that kind of wolf, you would have seen evidence of my untrustworthiness already.”

He wasn’t so naive as to think those wolves didn’t really exist. They did. To many male wolves, women and children were just possessions—bartering chips. And sometimes, the children were inconveniences they didn’t want to be bothered with. Male children got sent away. Female children got bartered.

She handed Kinzy over slowly. Other than a short whimper of a complaint, likely about being shuffled between the two adults, Kinzy didn’t seem particularly bothered. Apparently, one pair of arms was just as good as another as far as she was concerned.

Leonora stood staring at him with her hand pressed against the door.

“What?” he asked.

“Held many babies in your life?”

“Not that I can remember.”

“Huh.” She stepped into the restroom.

Arnold stood waiting outside the door for a moment, and then realized he could be using his time more productively. He needed to be getting caffeine into him, for one thing, and he didn’t want to spend another ten minutes dawdling in the store when Leonora was done. He wanted to be back on the road as quickly as possible.

Stepping in front of the drink coolers, he called up to the bored clerk, “Can I just make a pile on the counter? I’d get a basket, but I’ve only got one free hand.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

He grabbed some sodas, cold coffee drinks, and juices. Packs of nuts, jerky, and dried fruit. He was squinting at the display of prepared sandwiches trying to make out the expiration dates when Leonora emerged from the bathroom hall.

“Let me have her.” She held out her arms.

She’d fixed her hair a bit. Her pale ponytail was straighter, and face a bit dewy. She’d likely cleaned up the best she could using the sink.

“I bet you’d love a hot shower,” he said.

“
Excuse
me?”

He slid the case open and pulled out what looked like the newest two sandwiches. “A hot shower. You were tromping through the woods with a baby. I’m sure you’d like a hot shower and a soft bed.”

“Oh. I thought you were trying to tell me I smell.”

“I’m doing all I can not to sniff you on purpose.”

“Because I stink of my mate, right?”

He ground his teeth and gave a slow nod as he straightened up. “Yeah. That’s why.”

Basically a lie. The mate scent was the least of her issues. Her milk scent was driving him to distraction. The fact of the matter, though, was that she was some other wolf’s mate, and her baby was some other wolf’s problem.

He gave Kinzy to her. “Want anything in particular? I’m going to check out.”

“Um.” Leonora scanned around her, then shrugged. “Just water, I guess. Need to stay hydrated.”

“Right.”

Because she’s nursing.

She padded away, cooing at Kinzy as she went, and Arnold backtracked to the drink coolers.

His phone buzzed as he grabbed two water bottles by their necks. He shifted everything to one arm and rooted his phone out of his pocket as he walked to the counter.

“Yeah?” he said after accepting the call.

“Gods, Arnold. Where the hell are you?”

Petra
.

He grunted and set the new items in front of the clerk. “Actually, I’m glad you called. Could you tell A—” He’d been about to say
Alpha
, but the clerk was staring Arnold right in his damn mouth. “Uh.
Adam
. Tell Adam I’m bringing someone back? Clear it with him?”

“I asked you a question.”

“I’m near the border in Colorado.”

“Doing what?”

“I’ll explain when I get back.”

“You had a vision, didn’t you?” His sister’s tone was only
half
accusing, which meant she was probably in a good mood. He’d worried about her when he’d taken off in a rush. She’d been recovering from severe injuries. Normally, he wouldn’t have abandoned her to near-strangers—and especially not in a brand new pack—but his visions didn’t wait. He’d had to act.

“Yeah, I did,” he said. He rooted out his wallet and watched the total price tick higher and higher.

Gonna have to get a job sooner than later.

Petra sighed. “When should we expect you?”

“Trying to get there before nightfall, for obvious reasons.”

“Is the person you’re bringing back aware of your obvious reasons?”

“Yep,” he said.

“Does this person have his or her own obvious reasons?”

“Yep.”

“Gotcha. I’ll tell Adam. Be careful.”

“I always am.” He ended the call and stuffed the phone back into his pocket just as the clerk looked at him expectantly.

Arnold sighed and swiped his debit card.

If his new alpha didn’t place him into a gig soon, he was going to have to dip into his emergency fund—something he tried to avoid doing at all costs. Wolfpacks were fickle things, and Arnold never again wanted to be turned out on his ear without a penny to his name. Next time he got sent away, he’d be prepared. He wouldn’t have to sleep outdoors unless he wanted to, or have to beg strangers for money or food.