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Margot climbed out of her little SUV, her mind resolutely on making it into her cabin where she could collapse and rest her feet after her long shift at the bakery. Her new manager was seriously amazing and Margot hadn't needed to work quite so long today, but she was also avoiding a certain newcomer to the Rock Creek Clan.
Bryce Marks.
After talking to him during dinner last night, she'd become certain of one extremely disturbing fact: it was definitely him who had spoken to her in her dreams. And he'd done it again last night. She hadn't even tried resisting him—she hadn't wanted to. She'd pinched her nipples, fingered herself, and rubbed her clit until she came. It was only afterward that she'd thought to wonder whether she was having these dreams alone, or whether he knew what was happening.
Even now, her face turned to flames at the very idea.
But it was impossible, right? Right?
Of course it was impossible.
She glanced around the Ring of Fire. From this angle, she could see her cabin and a couple of others. Bryce's porch was out of sight. Nobody seemed to be around, which was unusual, but not alarming. She was grateful for the lack of people. She could take her flushed face straight into her living room and hide it in her softest throw pillow. Better yet, straight to her kitchen where she'd open her freezer and stick her head inside for a minute to cool.
Quickly, she moved past the fire pit, eyes on her blue door and the little violets next to her path. Something caught on her ankle and she started to fall. She caught herself on a lawn chair and saw that it was the foot of another chair that had grabbed her.
"Stupid thing," she muttered, righting it.
"Margot, wait," a low voice called. A deliciously sinful, sexy, commanding voice that immediately caused arousal to gather between her legs.
"Fuck," she whispered, stopping in her tracks. The urge to flee was strong, but she couldn't make herself move. He'd asked her to wait.
Why, oh why did that voice have to have such power over her? Was it because she'd already become accustomed to obeying him in her dreams?
She turned around, ready to demand answers from him, ask him how he had gotten into her dreams, and find out why he was messing with her. But the sight of him striding toward her and wearing only a pair of jeans made her stop.
His body was a work of art. She was used to eye candy, having lived among shifters for so long; their fast metabolism and need for physical exercise made them all naturally fit and muscular. But Bryce—hot damn. He was buff like Nolan, but without all the tattoos. She had nothing against tattoos, and even had a purple and pink cupcake tattooed on her hip. But there was something to be said for all those unmarred muscles, at the play of shadow and light against them, the way they bunched and flexed as Bryce came toward her.
Margot's mouth watered, and whatever words she'd been gathering in her mind evaporated.
He stopped just a foot away. Close enough that she could see the individual hairs on his chest and smell the foresty scent of him. Grassy, loamy, with a hint of wintergreen. She inhaled, trying to be subtle about it.
"You have some flour—right there," he said, reaching out.
His fingertips brushed the lower edge of her jaw. The contact sizzled through her like butter in a frying pan, and she fought the urge to sway toward him and seek more.
Was she the only one who felt this way? Unable to stop herself, she glanced down at his crotch. Nope, if the hardening bulge in his jeans was anything to go by, she was not the only one affected.
He gave a little chuckle, and she closed her eyes in mortification. He'd totally just caught her staring at his boner.
There were a million reasons why she shouldn't be lusting after him. Nolan doesn't like him, she reminded herself. And he'd taken a bunch of cookies before dinner last night. And from the way he'd spoken to her on the phone when she'd called him back in January, he sounded like a flirt. Not only that, he'd gone to the bar with Ian last night. Ian had come into the bakery this morning, his dark brown hair disheveled, wearing the same clothes as last night and smelling of sex.
She sniffed again, this time searching for evidence that Bryce, too, had gotten laid last night.
"Smell anything you like, little fox?" he asked.
"No." The lie came automatically, and she kicked herself for it, because he'd be able to hear the lie, and the truth was yes, she loved everything about his scent, especially the earthiness of it mixed with wintergreen.
He laughed again. Margot looked around the empty Ring of Fire, half wishing for someone to come to her rescue, half wishing she could drag this man into her cabin and re-enact last night's dream.
"What do you want with me?" she asked.
"Everything—"
Nolan's cabin door opened and Bryce broke off, scowling.
Nolan's pale gray gaze took in both Margot and Bryce. "Hey, Margot."
"Hey," Margot said with a relieved smile. To Bryce, she muttered, "See you around."
Grateful for the excuse to escape Bryce, she hurried over to Nolan, practically running up the little path to his cabin. Bryce remained at the fire pit, staring at the ground.
Up on his porch, Nolan sat down in one of the straight-backed chairs he kept there. She'd always liked that about his cabin—even though people usually sat together around the fire pit and Nolan joined them occasionally, most mornings he could be seen sitting on his own little porch, drinking a huge glass of orange juice. And when Margot wasn't working, she joined him here.
Lately, things had been a little different. Ever since she'd called Bryce two months ago, if she was completely honest with herself. Nolan scowled more, and he'd seemed to retreat into himself. He had secrets, and something—or someone—had hurt him. Probably Bryce.
Margot climbed the steps, taking in his tense posture and the way he studiously avoided looking at Bryce. Tentatively, she asked, "How's it going?"
"Fine," he grumbled. He patted the chair next to him. "You?"
Margot fell into the chair, remembering how her feet hurt and her body was sore from so much lifting and mixing and standing around the kitchen. Funny, she hadn't noticed any of those aches while talking to Bryce.
She closed her eyes, but was startled into opening them again when her chair slid toward Nolan's.
"Come here," Nolan said, moving her in front of him. He got to work rubbing her shoulders.
"You should do this professionally," she said as the aches melted away.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Bryce frowning and watching her. He turned toward his cabin, but just then Jameson and Nina's cabin door opened and the alpha stepped outside.
"Bryce," Jameson said, his voice carrying across the Ring of Fire. "Ian said there was an altercation with a snow leopard."
Nolan's hands paused on Margot's shoulders as they both curiously looked on. Margot pulled her chair back so she sat next to Nolan instead of in front of him.
"Yeah," Bryce said. "There was."
Jameson nodded and came down to the fire pit to stand next to Bryce. "I need the details, please, if you have a moment to spare."
The order was so politely and formally worded, Margot was surprised. Jameson wasn't rude to any of the clan members, but this seemed especially formal for him. Then she remembered that Bryce wasn't technically a member of the RCC.
She should have been relieved at the thought—if nothing else than for Nolan's sake. But instead, she felt disappointed. Bryce wasn't permanent.
"No problem," Bryce said easily.
Margot listened while he talked about a fight in the woods that had taken place before he and Ian had reached the Rock Creek territory. They'd been attacked by a bear and a wolf, and a snow leopard had flashed onto the scene out of nowhere. She transformed into a woman and demanded that Ian and Bryce bring her "the witch." When she'd learned they didn't know of a witch and they were rogues, she'd told them to leave before she brought in more fighters.
Margot would’ve bet her favorite mixing bowl that the snow leopard was the same one the clan had encountered in January, one of the Bitterroot Pack. She had some kind of magic that allowed her to appear and disappear at will.
That sounded like a nice skill to have, Margot thought, as Bryce's gaze flicked up to her on the porch. His bluish gray eyes were usually pale, but now they were dark and glittering in a mixture of lust and...rage?
She leaned back in her seat, surprised at the heat in those eyes.
"You okay?" Nolan asked.
She patted his arm absently. "Yeah, I'm fine."
“I think you encountered Rhiannon,” Jameson said. “She’s a snow leopard in the Bitterroot Pack.”
Nice to know Margot and Jameson were thinking the same thing.
Jameson was texting something on his phone, his big fingers moving agilely over the screen. "Just gonna see if Matt's around."
A second later, Jameson shoved his phone in his pocket, and Matt stepped out of his and Erena's cabin, cup of coffee in hand. He leaned against the low railing on their tiny porch and addressed Jameson. "Yeah, there's a witch in Peru."
"Peru?" Jameson asked.
Matt nodded and took a sip of coffee. "Illary, that's her name. Last I heard, Bronson was looking for a translator to talk with her. I think he's trying to recruit her."
"Nobody in the Bitterroots speaks Spanish?" Jameson asked.
"Quechua," Matt said. "She speaks Quechua, not Spanish."
"If she's still in Peru, we can get to her first," Jameson said, almost to himself. "We can't spare anyone, though...."
Bryce had been standing nearby, staring at the woods as if determined not to look at Margot. She kept flicking glances at him, wondering what he was thinking. A chipmunk chittered on one of the log seats near the fire pit, picked up a tiny piece of fruit someone must have dropped at dinner last night, then dove into the shadows again.
Bryce looked up and his gaze crashed into Margot's.
"Jameson?" he said, but he was looking at Margot.
"Yes?" Jameson said.
Bryce's eyes blazed again, a pale gray-blue that looked like the hottest point of a fire. "I'll go to Peru and talk to your witch, under one condition."
Jameson waited. Margot waited. Nolan waited. Matt looked between them all and raised his eyebrows before taking a sip of his coffee.
Bryce continued, "I want to join the clan."