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  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  She wanted so badly to tell him what had happened between she and Alder, but she didn’t know how he would react. Either he’d be really pissed at his brother and start a fight, or he’d side with Alder and tell her that what he’d done was justified. One way would cause needless conflict, and the other would just upset her more, so she opted for redirection.

  Taking him by the wrist, she put his hand to her cheek. “I love you.”

  His hands moved down to beneath her arms. Lifting her up, he claimed her lips in a slow, sensuous kiss. His rough hands moved up and down the curve of her waist, but he made no move to grab her breasts, or to bring their hips closer together so that she could feel his erection. Paradoxically, his lack of initiative made her want him more.

  Mouth moving to her jaw, and then to her neck, Hale inhaled deeply, and then groaned.

  “Fuck, you smell good.”

  “I do?” Taylor asked, a little unnerved.

  He nipped at her delicate skin. “You always smell good.”

  His mouth closed around her skin and he began to suck and tease her with his teeth.

  “Don’t mark me.”

  It was a half-hearted protest. Her knees had already grown weak, and she’d closed the gap between their bodies, rubbing her pelvis against his. He was stiff and ready for her, as she knew that he would be.

  “You’re my mate,” he muttered against her neck. “I’ll mark you as much as I damn well please.”

  Now, she really wanted him. Whining, she smacked his shoulder.

  “The pups will be back soon.”

  “I can tell them to beat it,” Hale said, his hand going down to grasp her rear. “Holly can watch them.”

  It was so damn tempting, and any other time it would have sounded like the best idea ever.

  “We can’t,” she moaned. “Shan is coming soon.”

  The growl in Hale’s throat was not playful. “Fuck him.” He drew back from her neck. “I don’t want him here. And they don’t need to see Belle. She’s not their pup, she’s ours.”

  Smiling, Taylor ran her thumb along his jaw. “You’ve never called Belle or Henry ‘ours’ before.”

  Her mate rolled his shoulders and looked away. “I meant that she belongs to the pack.”

  Taylor leaned forward and rested her head against his chest. “Let Shan and Kalla visit. If you don’t put up a fuss, then tonight you and I will go away together, just the two of us.”

  The ensuing silence told her that her offer was being thoroughly considered.

  After a moment, he asked, “No Alder?”

  At the moment, Taylor didn’t think she’d let Alder touch her again for at least a week.

  “No Alder.”

  Another pause, and then he said, “I don’t know, Taylor. I really don’t want that asshole around my territory. It’s bad enough that he’s in the valley.”

  Taylor started to protest that Shan wasn’t a bad guy, but stalled her tongue. She’d tried that numerous times already, and she doubted she’d get through to Hale. At this point, the only thing that was going to change his opinion was if the two of them got to know one another better.

  Instead, she said, “Just do this for me, and I’ll not only spend the night with you, but I’ll have a surprise for you.”

  She looked up in time to see him cock his brow. “What sort of surprise?”

  Taylor knew at once that she had him. Just like Shadow, Hale couldn’t resist the temptation of the unknown.

  “I’m not even going to give you a hint,” she said, tapping his nose. “But I think it will make you very happy.”

  God, I hope so.

  Chapter Eight

  Shan held up Taylor’s notebook, his lips slanted with a grin. “With this, I think we’ll be able to break ground within the week. You’ve saved us a lot of time, Taylor.”

  Hale had been keeping it together for most of the evening, but he still flinched each time Shan used Taylor’s name. Though she didn’t know him well enough to say for certain, Taylor had the sneaking suspicion that Shan recognized this and was purposely screwing with Hale.

  She couldn’t blame Shan. Predictably, Hale had been a complete douchebag since Shan had arrived, though to his credit he hadn’t been outright hostile towards the other alpha. He had, however, taken every opportunity to insert himself between Taylor and Shan, to the point that he had literally wedged himself between them in the middle of their conversation.

  The sun had set a while ago. Save for a few of the scouts, nearly all of Halcyon had gathered in Taylor’s yard around a massive bonfire. The air was thick with the scents of roasting meat; venison, pheasant, and hare. Shan had supplied the venison, arriving hours ago with Kalla at his side and a freshly killed stag in his jaws.

  After some initial awkwardness, mostly caused by Hale’s silent, looming presence, they’d settled in to converse while the Halcyon wolves stripped the carcass and prepared it for cooking. The conversation was light. They spoke mostly of Belle, though Taylor managed to ramble about all of her children to some extent. Belle must have had some sort of innate memory of Kalla, because the usually standoffish pup had taken quickly to Kalla and the pair had ben inseparable all evening. Even now, they sat near the porch, away from the others and in their wolf forms, taking turns cleaning one another.

  Taylor sat near to the fire with Holly to her left and Hale to her right. Alder sat across from them, and acted as a neutral presence throughout the evening. Like Hale, he was garbed in white wolfskins and looked stupidly handsome, even though Taylor loathed to admit it. He’d barely looked her way all night, which she should have been fine with, but she wasn’t.

  “That’s great to hear,” Taylor said, having to lean forward to speak around her mate. “I’m really excited to get started.”

  “We’ll need to discuss the logistics,” Shan said, turning his attention to Alder. “Seeing as how there is less to hunt in Whiteriver territory, it makes sense that we employ the Whiteriver wolves in managing the crops.”

  Alder asked, “And am I correct in assuming that you’ll want to leave some of your own wolves here as well?”

  “Actually, only one,” Shan said. “Kalla has an aptitude for growing. If you can host her until harvest season, she can get Taylor acquainted with how to manage the fields.”

  “Taylor?” Hale said, finally breaking his silence.

  Ha, Taylor mentally added.

  Hale went on, “What the hell does Taylor have to do with this?”

  Taylor fisted her hands on reflex.

  “I assumed it was her intention to manage the fields,” Shan said, his brows lifting. “If that isn’t the case, then I can provide—“

  “No,” Taylor and Alder said in unison.

  She shared a look with Alder, who gave her the barest of smiles.

  Alder said, “Taylor would be perfect for the role.”

  In that moment, the lion’s share of her anger towards Alder melted away. But while her chest warmed with gratitude, her other mate bristled beside her. Hale said nothing, but he, too, shared a look with Alder, and it was scornful. In spite of this, Taylor wasn’t worried that Hale would contradict Alder, at least, not in front of Shan. Later, she would have to smooth things over with Hale in private.

  Directing his attention back to Taylor, he asked, “Are you familiar with the Whiteriver wolves?”

  She shook her head. “Not really, no. I’ve only met a few of them in passing.”

  “Tomorrow, I can introduce you to the ones that have volunteered to work the fields.”

  Alder said, “Karin should come as well. She’s one of my betas and a former member of Whiteriver.”

  “Excellent,” said Shan.

  “Exactly how long do you plan on staying here?” Hale asked.

  “No more than two weeks,” Shan said. “I only want to be certain that the seeds have germinated before I leave.”

  Hale didn’t respond, and Taylor was pretty s
ure it was because he didn’t know the meaning of ‘germinated.’

  Taylor asked, “So, why here? I mean, don’t you have your own territory you could be growing things in?”

  Shan said, “Of course. My territory is north of here. We’ve already been doing this for a few years now. We have an entire town built around agriculture.”

  Taylor’s brow furrowed. “A town? Like, with houses and stores?”

  “Yes.”

  Her jaw dropped. She grabbed Hale’s hand, cast him a quick, pleading look, and asked Shan, “Can I visit it?”

  By some miracle, Hale kept his mouth shut.

  Wisely, Shan responded, “Perhaps in the future, if your mates wish to come as well.” Tilting his head, he added, “In the meantime, if there are any modern amenities that you need, just let Kalla know. We have alliances with several human towns. There is very little that we can’t acquire.”

  “I’ll make a list,” she blurted her head spinning.

  The first thing that popped into her mind was toothpaste. Her last tube had run out over two years ago, and since then she’d been using the same toothbrush and brushing with bitter baking soda. Though she had mint leaves and had done a great deal of experimenting, she’d yet to figure out a way to make the toothpaste even slightly palatable.

  Razors were another thing she sorely missed. Early on, she would go through the painstaking process of shaving with a sharped blade, but she never managed to do it without cutting herself. Her mates didn’t seem to mind body hair in the way that a human male might, so she’d grown lax in her efforts over the years. The prospect of being fully shaven from her armpits to the ends of her legs had her fidgeting with excitement.

  As she continued creating her mental list, she occasionally picked up on threads in the conversation. Holly had gotten up and moved to sit next to Shan, and was now grilling him on the details of his plan.

  “Why are you doing all of this?” Holly asked. “What’s your motivation?”

  Shan said, “I want to move our kind into the future. It’s the 21st century. Humans have been to the moon. They have devices that can connect them to each other and to a vast repository of knowledge in an instant, and it fits in their pockets. Yet our kind is still living in caves. If we can be freed from the burden of having to hunt, having to struggle to survive, then we can be free to explore intellectual pursuits. This is precisely how humans moved from living off the land to mastering it.”

  “I get it,” Holly said. “But why you, personally?”

  Shan shrugged. “Because I can.”

  Holly looked him up and down, her gaze lingering on his chest. “Hm. You have a mate?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  Shan leaned down to whisper something into Holly’s ear. As she listened, Holly’s lips flattened and a blush spread over her cheeks. Taylor leaned closer, trying to listen in on what was being said, but Hale put the heel of his palm to her forehead and pushed her back.

  “Haven’t we stayed here long enough?” he asked irritably.

  Taylor said, “We’ve only just eaten dinner.”

  He smoothed her bangs and leaned in closer. “I want my surprise.”

  Laughing, Taylor tried to push him back. “Later.”

  Her mate wouldn’t budge. “Now.”

  “Where are you going?” Alder asked.

  Taylor turned to look at him, taking in his expression. Though he appeared outwardly neutral, she knew that neither of her mates enjoyed being left out. Alder was a bit more patient, though she suspected it was more out of necessity because Hale was fond of absconding with Taylor.

  In the afternoon, when she’d told Hale that they could go away together, she’d still been seriously pissed at Alder. Now that she wasn’t so angry, she felt a little guilty. Not about going away with Hale, but rather that she had planned to tell Hale about the baby. It felt wrong to tell him before she told Alder.

  With that in mind, she said, “We were going to go for a walk. Do you want to come with us?”

  If looks could kill, Hale would have murdered her on the spot. Taylor remembered her promise then, that it would be just the two of them, and struggled to find a way to explain herself.

  “I—um, just for a walk, and then—”

  Alder came to her rescue. “Don’t worry. I should stay here and continue to be a good host. You go.”

  Hale was already lifting Taylor up into his arms.

  She gave an awkward goodbye to Shan over Hale’s shoulders, and then tried to spy each of her pups among the crowd. Belle was still playing with Kalla, and Henry had joined them. Fawn was in her human form and having her hair braided by Cammie. Shadow was moving from group to group, snagging meat from his distracted pack mates.

  Taylor promised herself that she wouldn’t worry about them tonight. They were with their pack and with Alder, and they would be safe.

  Putting her arms around Hale’s shoulders, she pressed a kiss to his neck, and then another just beneath his ear. After receiving an appreciative growl, she settled her head on his shoulder.

  “I don’t like the way he looks at you,” Hale said.

  They had just entered the forest, and were far enough away that they wouldn’t have been heard over the cacophony of voices.

  “Shan?” she said. “What are you talking about? He doesn’t look at me any differently than anyone else.”

  At least, she was pretty sure that he didn’t. He was a lot nicer to her than he was to the others in her pack, but Taylor figured that was because she was one of the few people who didn’t treat him like an invader.

  “He wants you,” Hale insisted.

  “Oh, please.”

  “Why else does he want you helping him with this stupid fucking gardening shit?”

  Taylor groan. “Hale, I am not going to begin to address that question.”

  Abruptly, he released her, and Taylor had to grip his shoulders to keep from falling onto her ass. Taking her by the hips, he eased her onto the ground and then stepped forward, backing her against a tree.

  “I don’t care what the fuck he is, Taylor. If he ever touches you, I’m going to kill him.”

  Biting back a smile, she tapped the side of his head. “You’re such a brute.”

  All at once, he seemed to switch gears, his grim expression giving way to a sultry smile.

  “I want my surprise.”

  Taylor ran a finger down the center of his chest. “Not here, and not yet.”

  Hale frowned. “Then, where?”

  She tapped her chin pensively. “Hm. How about in the den, in your bed?”

  Chapter Nine

  In an effort to avoid his entries and any unwelcome distractions, Hale brought Taylor in through the side entrance of the den, where the only passageway led directly to his room. A waterfall blocked off most of the entrance, but Hale was careful to slip behind it without getting Taylor wet. Usually, he didn’t bother and would deliberately get her wet. It was an excellent way to ensure that she’d want to strip naked, something he always took full advantage of.

  Tonight, he didn’t need to resort to such tactics. It would be just the two of them. Hale was thrilled.

  Sneaking into the den reminded him of the early days, when he would sometimes abscond with Taylor behind Alder's back. Back then, she’d been so new and foreign to him, and his attraction to her had come with an edge of resentment. Ever since the night he’d found her in his bed, everything else in his life had become small and insignificant. A female that he didn’t know, didn’t trust, and that didn’t know him, had become the only thing that mattered in his world.

  Once inside the den, he stopped so that Taylor could climb from his back. Typically, when he shifted to his human form, Hale felt uncomfortably repressed and tense for the first few moments. Tonight, he eased into his human form, his body feeling invigorated. His claws were still retracting as he gripped Taylor’s hips and brought them to his, his mouth closing over hers. In his zeal, he was carel
ess with his fangs, and Taylor jerked back from him a second before he tasted her blood on his lips. He braced himself for her to berate him, but she licked the nick and gave him only a gentle admonishment.

  “Slow down,” she said, putting her hands to his bare chest. “You’re going to have me all night.”

  Needing to feel closer to her, Hale rubbed the side of his face against her soft cheek. “I know. But right now, I need to be inside of you.”

  He lowered himself to her neck, carefully drawing his fangs across the delicate skin. She often complained when he teased her neck with his canines, but Hale knew that it was the surest and quickest way to turn her on. As much as she might bitch, Taylor liked her mating with an ounce of danger. Her concern had merit. While Hale would never—could never—truly harm her, it was easy for him to get carried away. In the heat of mating, he had left marks on Taylor that were far from playful.

  “I know what my surprise is,” he muttered against her neck.

  “I really don’t think you do.”

  Her fingers were knotted in his hair. Whenever he went too far, she always pulled at his hair. She believed that it gave her some measure of control over him, and Hale had yet to reveal otherwise.

  “You’re going to suck my—“

  “No!” she protested. “I mean, I can, but that’s not the surprise.”

  “Then what is it?” he asked, his hands sliding down the sides of her body.

  Taylor exhaled a soft moan.

  “You’ll have to wait,” she breathed. “Until later tonight.”

  Hale growled his acknowledgement. His curiosity was no match for the throbbing need between his thighs. Gripping her hips, he lifted his mate up so that her pelvis aligned with his.

  “Wait,” she said, tightening her grip on his hair. Hale was about to growl again, but then his mate said, “Did you want me to, you know, go down on you?”

  Hale’s mind briefly stalled. They almost never did that. It was probably his own fault. Whenever the opportunity to have sex with Taylor presented itself, Hale’s instincts drove him to bury himself between her legs as quickly as possible. In his frenzy, he often forgot that there were other options. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d taken him into her mouth. Usually, that was something she only did when Hale and Alder took her at the same time. It was a means for her to keep one male occupied while the other was taking her from behind. They almost never did it like that when it was only the two of them.