Ellie
Dodger trailed along beside her as she crossed the walk between the back of her office and her home. She carried a set of Donny’s clothes in her arms. Clothes she hadn’t looked at in years. Clothes she hadn’t smelled or touched. And they still smelled like Donny. Her husband. Her mate.
There had been no one after Donny. No hookups. No dating. She never expected there to be and had never planned to look.
Ellie put her key in the back door and turned the lock. Going through the back, she passed the hall of kennels on her left and went straight ahead into the large open back-room area. Christian was still sitting on the big metal exam table in the center, wrapped in the sheet she’d put over him. He had to be cold by now. Poor guy.
“These should fit. You’re about Donny’s size.” She set the perfectly folded stack on the corner of the table. “If they don’t, I can look for something else.”
Christian’s eyebrows raised. He reached for the pair of folded boxers on top and then tried to bend forward, failing miserably. He winced, dropping the boxers to the floor. “I—I’m not sure—”
“I can help you,” Ellie said, kneeling to pick up the boxers. “But I’m going to need you to turn around and hold on to the table so I can concentrate without looking at that,” she nodded toward the erection the sheet was covering.
“Yeah, sorry about that.” He turned slowly, setting aside the sheet.
“You can’t help it. It’s just magick.” Ellie averted her eyes and threaded his feet through the holes of the boxers. She yanked them all the way up with one swift pull, avoiding the erection she knew was there. He could adjust himself if he was uncomfortable.
She wasn’t going anywhere near that appendage the way her ovaries were dancing. Traitorous hormones. It was like they didn’t care about how she felt. They were just going to do whatever the hell they wanted. She hadn’t noticed this feeling earlier when she’d found him outside. She’d had so much adrenaline pumping through her system. Her only thought had been of healing him.
She’d felt the spark of the mate pull and had ignored it. But she knew how the magick worked. How Fate intervened. It’d already happened to her once. She wouldn’t be able to ignore this forever. Not if he stayed close.
“Jeans next,” she said, yanking them off the table, trying to distract herself. It wasn’t working. All she could smell was Christian.
Tears burned behind her eyes. Would there be a day when she couldn’t remember what Donny smelled like?
“Probably the last thing you wanted to wear were my dead husband’s clothes. But at least they fit. And I’m nervous. Sorry, I’m talking your ear off. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a man naked… not that I’m looking.” She yanked the jeans up, and they caught on something.
Christian sucked a breath between his teeth and she backed away like she’d hurt him. But her eyes went along his hip, around to the open fly, caught just below his raging boner.
“Sorry. You’re going to have to adjust… that… yourself.”
“Right.” He leaned on one hand and reached the other inside his jeans. Ellie couldn’t help watching his hand, even from the side, as he tucked himself inside and zipped up.
The attraction was so strong. Pulling her toward him. Why would Fate do this to her? She’d loved Donny with her whole soul, and she hadn’t realized how bad the blood was between the families until she’d bonded to him.
Then he hadn’t been able to hide it. His dad hated her last name—Travis. Changing it after they’d married hadn’t helped, but she’d loved Donny too much for it to matter. Until the feud had taken the man she loved. Taken everything.
“Thanks for the…clothes…” He seemed so awkward, and Ellie tried to brush off her frustration.
“They’ve just been sitting in my closet.” She turned her eyes down to the pockets of his jeans. He looked so different in the pants than Donny had. Filled them out more. It made her miss him. Couldn’t help that. “I lost him three years ago. Pack feud turned really ugly. He and his dad died the same night. My uncle almost died, too, and in the end retaliation killed him a few nights later.”
“Sounds bad.”
Ellie nodded, holding out her arms to show off the tattoos encircling her wrists. Although he’d probably already seen them. “We were married for three years before he died. And he’s been gone three years now. It was a fated match.”
“Fated match?”
She pushed her arms higher, but there was no recognition on his face.
“So you, what, got a tattoo?”
Ellie stared at his blank features. Didn’t he know what the tattoos meant? Didn’t he know what a Fated match was? Who was this guy?
“Wait. You’re a new wolf, aren’t you?” She backed up another step.
His lips tightened around a hissed breath. “How do you know that?”
“You couldn’t have been raised in a pack and not know what these marks symbolize.”
“No. I didn’t get raised that way.”
“Where are you from, anyway?”
“New Mexico.”
“What are you doing in Durant?” she asked, more curious now than worried. At least if she stayed a few feet away from him, she didn’t have as strong of an urge to launch herself at the poor man. “Did someone from here turn you?”
“No. Quades did that.”
She hissed out a slow breath. Everyone knew the Quades were black-clad-Johnny-Cash-wannabe-asshats bent on taking over the rodeo. The old Quade alpha was a creep. “Still doesn’t explain why you’re in Durant. Or who Kate and Molly are.”
“I have to find Kate.”
“To save Molly?”
His brows pulled together. “How do you know about Molly?”
“You talked a little when you woke up last time.”
He grunted and reached for Donny’s t-shirt, pulling it over his head, covering every delicious inch of his torso. Damn. She wasn’t doing a good job of shaking this attraction. Go to hell, Fate. I’m not doing this. Destroying me once is enough. How could you ever expect me to care for someone again the way I did for Donny?
“Can I ask you something?” he said.
“Sure.”
“You’re human, right, but you know about the packs. Do you know Ryan Travis?”
“Yes. I’m still considered family. Pack. Even though I’m not a wolf myself. They still check up on me. Ryan is my cousin.”
Christian’s head cocked to one side, like Dodger sometimes did. “What’s it like being in a pack?”
“There are pros and cons to every pack, I think. They still fight like regular human idiots most of the time.” She tried to smile. “It was too much for me after I lost Donny. I moved away from my mother-in-law, but I didn’t want to just live with the Trewitts, either. I like it better here on the edge of town. Away from the hub of this area of the pack, but still close enough that they can check on me when they want to.”
“It’s weird to think that this all existed in the world I grew up in…” He shifted uneasily, like something was sticking somewhere in his body.
“Why don’t you sit back down?” she said. “Give that leg a rest.”
He did, though he clearly wasn’t happy with his injury. “I can’t stay here, though,” he said. “I have to get to Durant. My truck. I have to find—”
“I’ll help you find Kate. Don’t worry.” She had to stop herself from reaching for him. “Wherever you need to go. I’ve fixed you up this far. It’s not like I’m going to just let you walk out the door in this condition by yourself.”
“I’ll be able to walk okay in a few hours?”
“Yes, but I can’t let you drive like this. What if you hurt someone accidentally because you can’t hit the brake fast enough? Fate brought you to me. I’m not going to ignore that.”
“Fate?”
“You don’t feel—” Ellie stopped herself. He felt the pull, too. She’d seen the erection. Maybe he just didn’t know what he was feeling. Some people didn’t recognize the mate pull at first. She hadn’t. She only knew what was going on between them because she’d experienced it once already.
Christian shook his head slowly, disbelief outlined clearly on his face.
“It’s okay,” Ellie said. “Let’s get you to where you need to go. We can talk on the way. I can answer questions. I may not be a wolf, but I pretty much know everything there is to know about being Moonbound.” She bent to pick up a pair of boots and a pair of flip-flops she’d set by the table. “What size is your foot? I brought the flip-flops just in case the boots were too small. It’s hard to tell a person’s foot size with a glance.”
“Twelve.”
“These are twelve and a half.” She paused. “Or would you rather the flip-flops?”
He shook his head. “Boots.”
She moved to his feet. Pulling one up at a time. Rolling socks on. Sliding boots on. “Ready to move again?”
“I think so.”
She moved to his side, steeling herself against the rush of lust she knew would come. She slipped his arm around her shoulder again. His warmth cascaded through her. The magick lit up every inch of her skin, burning like a fire that would only be extinguished with a kiss. Shake it off. Now.
They moved slowly across the room toward the door that led out into the lobby behind the front desk. Dodger got there first and shoved open the door with his shoulder. “Thanks, boy. Good boy.”
The shepherd moved ahead as they progressed. Ellie kept Christian moving. It was better for the joint to move naturally while it healed. It would be less stiff.
They came out behind the front desk. A red light flashed on the phone console. She remembered the call she hadn’t picked up during his surgery. “Hey, let me check this really quick before we leave. Someone might have been trying to get a hold of me.”
“Wouldn’t they call your cell?” Christian said.
“I turned it off when I was working on you.”
She punched the button and her Aunt Rosalee started talking. “Ellie. There’s a strange wolf out. He’ll be looking for clothes. He’s also after Ryan’s brand new mate, Kate Quade. Already tried to kidnap her once. So, keep your eyes open and be careful. I left a message on your cell and your house, too. Call me if you see him. Don’t approach him by yourself. He could be dangerous.” The machine beeped turned off.
She slipped out from under his shoulder, and he grabbed the counter. But she couldn’t process what she’d just heard fast enough.
“Ellie…” There was a hint of danger in his voice. He reached for her, but she backed off. She couldn’t touch him. She wanted him when she touched him. Hell, she wanted him when she wasn’t touching him, but at least it was easier to focus without direct contact.
“No. You tell me. Who are you? Really? What the hell is going on?”
“It’s complicated,” he said, releasing a slow sigh, not even trying to defend himself. Rosalee had said he could be dangerous. Ellie didn’t believe that. But something hinky was going on for sure.
What kind of man would try to steal a wolf’s mate? One that wasn’t his Fated match. Which she knew because they had a mate pull. Dammit. What the hell, Fate? What am I supposed to do now?
She could turn Christian in, but what would they do to him? Kill him? She wouldn’t be able to live with that.
Still, she knew in her heart she’d never just hand him over to her pack. But she also couldn’t help him take a woman from her mate. That she couldn’t do.
“Well, un-complicate it. Right now.”