Present
Gwen glanced up at the pines trees surrounding her as she adjusted the volume on her MP3 player. “Cómo estás? How are you?” she repeated, trying to mimic the native-Spanish-speaker’s voice.
Jezebel trudged beside her, tongue lolling despite the chill in the air. Clearly, both of them needed more exercise. With twenty-seven acres to explore at their new home, they’d have plenty of opportunities.
Getting healthy and learning a foreign language topped Gwen’s new list of goals. On her first morning in Talbot, she planned to kill two birds with one stone.
“Estoy bien, gracias,” Gwen enunciated. “I am fine, thank you.”
She was concentrating on getting the “r” in gracias right when all hell broke loose and suddenly she wasn’t bien at all. By the time Gwen noticed the cougar, it was upon them, squaring off with Jezebel.
In an instant, an afternoon stroll in the forest had turned into a nightmare. The cat was huge and he seemed plenty pissed off. Once the initial shock wore off, Gwen was pissed too. The cougar took a swipe at Jezebel, sending the dog flying.
Instinct and adrenaline kicked in and Gwen charged the big cat, waving her arms and screaming. “Get the fuck away from my dog!”
When the cat spun around to face her, Gwen stared into his face and in that instant it seemed that there was intelligence behind his amber eyes. The animal was huge and sinewy muscles flexed under the thick fur. Gwen’s stomach knotted and she immediately regretted her impulsive act of bravery.
Gwen jogged backward and her boot lodged between two rocks. She lost her balance and fell, dashing her head against the hard, frosty earth. Pain exploded in her skull and when she opened her eyes, tiny dots of light danced in her field of vision. Stunned, she groped blindly for something to arm herself with.
All these years I worried about eating refined sugar and avoiding antibiotics in my chicken and I’m going to die in a mountain lion attack? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!
Jezebel had scrabbled to her feet and charged the cat. She was barking madly despite the bloody claw marks staining the fur around her neck. The cat turned as if readying to strike again when another set of barks and the shouts of a man issued from the woods.
Gwen blinked away the fog and saw a black Lab rush into the clearing, followed closely by a hunter. The man pointed his shotgun toward the sky and fired off a warning shot. The cougar snarled and bolted into the underbrush.
Struggling up on her elbows, Gwen touched the back of her head and felt the goose egg that had already puffed up under her scalp. She brought her hand to her face and was surprised to find that it wasn’t covered with blood.
The hunter strode into Gwen’s field of vision, glanced at her, then at Jezebel. He locked eyes with the golden retriever for a moment, and the dog quieted and flopped down on her uninjured side. The Lab stood beside his master’s knee and let out a single bark.
“The cougar is gone, Bob. Go lie down now,” the man instructed and his pet dutifully complied.
The stranger slid a leather pack from his shoulders and knelt next to the Jezebel, presumably deciding that the dog was in worse shape than the woman. He rummaged through the pouch, pulled out some first-aid supplies, then began tending to the golden’s wounds. He kept his attention on his work as he spoke. “Lady, are you nuts? What are you doing out here alone anyway? And why are you off the trail?”
“I was…it was… I was trying to… Is my dog going to be okay?”
The man glanced up. “She’s going to need stitches, but it could have been much worse. I’ll just—” he stopped mid-sentence and craned his neck to the left and right, as if trying to take in all angles of Gwen’s head. He slowly shook his head and huffed, “Are those earphones?”
She yanked on the dangling cord and it took her a moment to realize that her MP3 player was no longer attached. She shoved the tangle of white wire into her coat pocket. “Ear buds,” she said quietly.
“Sorry?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.
She cleared her throat, “They’re ear buds. They fit inside your ears. Earphones sit on the outside. I was listening to my Spanish language course.” She grinned sheepishly and shrugged. “You know? Multi-tasking.”
The man looked Gwen over, top of head to tip of toes. “Oh. You’re one of those.”
She’d been slapping the dirt from her skinned palms and froze mid-clap. “One of those? One of what?”
“Well, I’m looking at a girl sitting in the dirt with brand new three-hundred-dollar hiking boots—the blisters are killing you, right?”
She squinted, searching her mind for the right words to fire back, but he continued.
“Let’s see, the jacket must have run about the same as the boots and I’d bet my left nut that if I searched every last one of those eighty-seven pockets I wouldn’t find an emergency match, a bandage, a compass or even a granola bar.”
Gwen dug into her right breast pocket and triumphantly held up a foil-wrapped granola bar.
“Don’t tell me—fat-free, right? Yeah, limiting your fat intake is always a great idea when you’re roaming around in the woods. And speaking of fat intake, it looks as if that dog of yours is about to have a heart attack. I’m guessing that you and the barrel with four legs don’t take too many nature hikes.”
She glanced over at Jezebel, who was lying on her side, still panting.
The man continued, “And finally, there are the earphones—sorry, ear buds. Who in the hell comes out to one of the most beautiful spots on the planet on one of the most perfect days imaginable—sun shining, breeze blowing, birds chirping and river singing—then shoves those things in her ears and blocks it all out just so she’ll know how to say “Where’s the can?” the next time she goes to Puerto Vallarta?”
Gwen thought briefly about correcting him. She was, in fact, hoping to go to Ixtapa. Instead, she held her tongue and narrowed her eyes—daring him to finish his thought.
“I’ll tell you who—a spoiled little yuppie. Thinks she can throw her imported water bottles into the recycling bin, pay four times too much for something stamped organic, whip out her gold card and buy some overpriced clothes off the Internet, then bam, she’s ready to take on the great outdoors.”
“First of all, I don’t think anyone’s used the word ‘yuppie’ since 1992 and secondly, I’m not some tourist. I spent every single summer here when I was a kid and I used to know these woods like the back of my hand.” She paused to point through a clump of pine trees, “My grandpa taught me how to fish in that river over there.”
The man jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the opposite direction, “River’s that way.”
“Whatever!”
“If you would have been paying attention to your surroundings instead having those things jammed in your ears you might have heard the cougar and your dog wouldn’t be injured. Do you have any idea how much worse this could have been?”
She could feel the angry tears burning in her eyes. The man looked away briefly and she couldn’t tell if it was out of pity, embarrassment or disgust. He wrapped gauze over Jezebel’s neck wound, looping it between her front legs. She whined when he lifted her shoulder. “Shh,” he soothed, and the dog settled again.
“Let’s get her back to my place. I’ll help you up,” the man said, standing and holding out his hand.
“I’ve got it,” Gwen hissed.
He dropped his arm to his side. “Suit yourself.”
He snatched up the leather bag and slung it over his shoulder.
“And another thing,” Gwen said to his back, mustering up her best self-righteous tone, “I don’t appreciate you toting your gun around here. This is private property, you know?”
“Yes. You’re right. This is private property. My private property. I assume you’re John Chaney’s granddaughter.”
She nodded.
“Which would mean that your private property is about three hundred yards that way.” He pointed to a spot over her left shoulder, squeezing one eye shut as if he were aiming for a target. “And it’s a rifle, by the way.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s a rifle, not a gun, and if I hadn’t fired a warning shot over that big kitty cat’s head your dog would have been shredded and you probably wouldn’t be bitching at me now,” he said.
“What are you—some kind of professional mountain man?”
He smirked and reached up and ran his hand through his copper-colored hair. “In a manner of speaking.”
Gwen sized him up. He was tall, handsome, and he knew it. She planted her hands, palms down, popped her feet underneath her hips and stood quickly. A blinding white flash of pain raced from her left ankle to her brain, and as quickly as she’d been up, she was back in the dirt. The adrenaline had ebbed from her bloodstream, leaving her brain free to register both the confrontation with the cougar and the pain from the resulting twisted ankle. A wave of nausea rolled over her and she began to quake.
“Let me have a look,” he said and crouched beside her. He unlaced her boot and grasped the heel. “Deep breath,” he said and gently removed it.
Gwen sucked in air through her clenched teeth and wondered if her foot had come off with the boot.
“Sorry,” he whispered. He gently walked his fingers up and down both sides of her foot and ankle and instructed her to try to point and flex.
“Are you a doctor?” she asked.
“Veterinarian,” he answered, still prodding at her throbbing ankle, “I don’t think it’s broken. But you can’t walk on it. Let me run back and get the golf cart.”
Fear twisted in Gwen’s belly and must have shown in her eyes. The man pointed through the trees. “See that green roof? That’s my clinic. I’ll be back in five minutes and Bob will stay with you. Won’t you, Bob?” The Lab barked in response then flopped down in the dirt at Gwen’s hip.
While she stroked the dog’s silky black head, a thousand thoughts and images screamed through her mind, churned up further by the pain from her ankle. She saw with shocking clarity the image of the cougar streaking out of the underbrush and squaring off with Jezebel. The trembling intensified until Gwen’s teeth chattered. She could hear her pulse whoosh-whooshing in her ears. The pain started to fade and her head felt as if it had detached from her body and was floating away on a balloon string.
I’m going into shock. She heard her own, surprisingly calm voice offer this explanation in her mind. The man must have realized it too, because she heard him mutter, “Oh, shit,” as he hurried back to her side.
Wrapping his arm around Gwen’s shoulders, he laid her back on the ground and yanked off his jacket, rolled it up and slid it under her feet. She suddenly remembered her sixth-grade health teacher, Mrs. Brewer, and her little first aid rhyme, If the face is red, raise the head. If the face is pale, raise the tail.
The veterinarian leaned in close to her face. He smelled like cedar and orange peels. “Listen…” it must have dawned on him that they hadn’t exchanged names.
“Gwen,” she said through chattering teeth.
“Gwen. You’re going to be okay. You’ve been through a big deal. We’re just going to get you calmed down and we’ll take a closer look at that ankle. Okay?”
The setting sun splashed golden light across the man’s profile. Gwen scanned the angular nose and the wavy hair framing his tanned skin and hazel eyes. She could make out the line of an impossibly square jaw under his razor stubble. Her muddled mind tried to grasp at a faraway glimmer of recognition. I know this guy.
“Gwen? Okay?”
His voice seemed so familiar. Gwen almost had it, but before the thought could fully form, she noticed that the outer edges of the world were beginning to turn inky black. Her ears were ringing and the field of vision was getting ever narrower. I’m going to pass out, was the last clear thought she had.
Within an hour of returning from L.A., Alex’s cell phone had been chirping with incoming texts. The new human consort had arrived in Talbot the night before and the entire pack was buzzing with the news. It was strictly against policy to broadcast pack business, and all the texts were coded. They referenced a “new deputy in town” and speculated when they’d get to meet her.
Introducing Gwen Chaney to the pack would be up to their alpha, not Alex. Sergei explained to him that these things had to be handled carefully. Passing the mantle usually only happened once in a generation and the incoming human consort had no idea what he or she was in for. Sergei would determine how and when Gwen would be told.
Alex had planned to do a little hunting in the morning, then introduce himself in the afternoon. His visit would just be one neighbor welcoming another. He hadn’t counted on Gwen wandering cluelessly through the woods, putting herself in harm’s way.
Yet, there she was, passed out on the ground after facing off with the big cat. Alex tried to concentrate on first aid as he knelt beside her.
There wasn’t much of a family resemblance, but there was no doubt that Gwen was John Chaney’s granddaughter. She definitely has his courage, Alex thought. She hadn’t cried or freaked out during the cougar attack. When Alex had arrived on the scene she was waving her arms and screaming at the big cat to get the fuck off her dog.
This woman was no damsel in distress. Still, he wondered if she would be able to pick up where her grandfather had left off. The Chaney family business was not for the squeamish. He doubted if she had any idea what John had meant to the pack, let alone the expectations that she would step into his very specialized role.
He glanced down at the unconscious human-consort-elect. Fainting had been an automatic response to pain and adrenaline, not a sign of weakness. She was only out for a few seconds, but that was plenty of time for Alex to take inventory. Long, dark hair, pale skin, full mouth—pretty, he thought. The photos he’d seen of her hadn’t done her justice. Even under her puffy winter coat he could easily make out her lush curves. The thought of what those big breasts and full hips would feel like under his hands made his cock jerk to life. But it was the scent of her that distracted him the most.
In the years since his change Alex had been drawn to dozens of women because he could smell their arousal, but he’d never experienced anything like this. Before he was within ten yards of her, the scent had triggered something deep in his core. And the bravery she’d shown during the attack was so impressive—so unlike the behavior of the vacuous, high-maintenance women he’d been spending his time with—it only multiplied her allure.
He wanted her desperately and the sudden depth of his possessiveness was confusing. And yet, there was a kind of certainness in his instant connection to her that somehow calmed him. The agitation he’d felt in L.A. seemed to flow out of him and was replaced with single-minded focus.
Mine.
Leaning so close that his lips nearly brushed her throat, he breathed her in. A low moan rumbled from his chest and when she began to stir, he forced himself to pull away.
Easy. Don’t frighten her.
She stared up at him for a long moment as if trying to read his thoughts. He was relieved that she couldn’t. As soon as he was convinced that she wouldn’t pass out again, he fetched the golf cart and helped her up. He scooped up the injured dog and laid it on the padded back seat, then drove them back to his property.
Alex was glad that he’d kept the tiny clinic open, even though he had little energy to devote to his practice these days. The Dog Talker ate up most of his time. Still, he kept the place stocked with basic supplies to vaccinate and treat the pack’s pets.
Gwen had insisted on hobbling up the clinic steps herself rather than allowing him to carry her. She’d also insisted on being in the procedure room while he’d worked on her dog. He’d set her on a rolling stool and told her to stay out of the way and not touch anything. Her ankle could wait until the golden had been patched up.
At least she’d accepted the painkiller he’d offered. Laying the dog on the stainless-steel table, he glanced over at Gwen and saw that she was fighting to keep her eyes open.
“How’s the ankle?” he asked
Gwen grinned, “Feels great.”
Her speech was slow and she sounded a bit spacey. Alex had never dosed a human before, but he felt confident that the he’d given her a safe amount.
“How’s Jezebel?” she slurred.
“You named your dog Jezebel?”
“You named yours Bob,” she said, drawing out the last word to two syllables.
Alex chuckled. “Fair enough. And Jezebel is going to be fine. I had to sedate her so I can stitch her up, and we’ll have to keep her overnight, but she’ll be good as new before you know it.”
Gwen stuck out her lower lip in an exaggerated pout. “Overnight?”
“It’ll be fine. I called my tech. She’ll come in tonight and keep an eye on her.”
Alex knotted the last stitch, bandaged the wound and carried the golden retriever to a recovery kennel. When he returned, Gwen was scooting around the OR on the rolling stool. “Having fun?” he asked.
“I’m dying of thirst,” she said and licked her lips.
“It’s the medication,” Alex explained, trying to pry his gaze away from her mouth.
He brought her a glass of water, wheeled her into the exam room and asked her to get up on the table.
“Oh, are we going to play doctor, Doctor?” she asked, then giggled at her own joke.
He felt the ache in his groin and struggled to keep his cool. “I’m just going to X-ray your ankle, Gwen.”
Fighting to stay focused, Alex dragged the portable digital-imaging machine across the room and helped her onto the examination table. The instant he touched her, he felt a surge of energy pass between them. He wasn’t sure if she’d felt it too, but when he looked up at her, she smiled and ran her tongue over those luscious lips again. He wanted to crush his mouth against hers. His own lips tingled at the thought and he realized he hadn’t wanted to kiss a woman since his change.
The sound of his heartbeat thundered in his ears and below it he could hear hers race as well. His gaze rested on the side of her neck and he was mesmerized by the rhythmic pulse of her carotid artery. Gwen’s milky-white skin seemed to redden as everything in Alex’s vision took on an odd rosy hue. He hadn’t experienced this phenomenon since the night of his first change.
What the fuck?
The pounding of their hearts was almost deafening and saliva rushed into Alex’s mouth as the scent of her grew stronger. Lust consumed him and in an instant he could imagine exactly what he would to do to her as if it were actually happening. He would push her back on the cold, hard stainless steel and climb atop her warm, soft body. He would kiss her hard and explore her mouth with his tongue. Alex suppressed a moan when he thought of how she would taste.
Her buttons would clatter across the exam room tiles when he ripped open her shirt and tore off her bra. Those big breasts would feel hot and heavy in his hands and he would pinch the nipples into hard beads before sucking each one into his mouth. She would arch into him when he yanked down her jeans and fingered her sweet-smelling pussy. Then he would taste her.
He would kiss a path down her body, over her soft belly, and tease her plump thighs before plunging his tongue into her wet canal. Lapping at the delicious juice and sucking on her hard little clit while pumping his fingers into her would make her moan and buck. And when she had come, he would pull out his stiff cock, lubricate it with her cream and push inside her. He would knead her breasts as he thrust and when he was buried to the hilt, he would swivel his hips to massage her bud and wouldn’t stop until she came again. Alex could almost feel the sensation of her tight pussy clamping down around him and could imagine how her orgasm would feed his. He would…
“Everything all right, Doc?”
The sound of Gwen’s voice broke through his fantasy and Alex shook his head to clear away the image of her naked body. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I was just trying to figure out the best way to do the X-rays,” he lied. “Most of my patients have four legs, not two.”
Glancing up at Gwen, he noticed her forehead wrinkle. He wasn’t sure if she’d bought it, but thought the effects of the pain killer had worked in his favor. Moving to the end of the table, Alex gingerly positioned her leg. Up close, the scent of her was almost more than he could take. He worked quickly, snapping a series of views, and turned the monitor so Gwen could see it. “Well, it’s not broken. I’ll bandage you up and once that pill wears off you should be able to manage the pain with over-the-counter medicine. Any questions?”
“Yeah, what’s your name?”
“Alex. Anything else?”
“Have you got anything to eat? I’m starving.”
Yes, she was definitely John’s granddaughter.