Great. In a way, she’d thought she was off the hook with the police. How in the world was she to explain what had happened at the motel? One minute she was human and the next a wolf?
“All right,” Tom agreed, then let Alicia into the backseat of the vehicle. “I’m Tom Silver. The big gray wolf behind you is Jake, my older brother by five minutes. And from what Darien said, the two of you are already well acquainted. Darien is our eldest brother and our pack leader and runs Silver Town. Jake and I are sub-leaders, and Peter Jorgenson is the sheriff for the town.” Tom gave her a broad smile, his eyes sparkling with humor. “Welcome to the pack.”
***
Jake sat next to Alicia in the backseat of Peter’s vehicle, his feelings raw and mixed. He was relieved as hell she was safe and in his custody. And he was glad to know the woman he’d been sharing nocturnal pleasures with was a gray lupus garou and that if his family history was correct, she was meant to be his mate.
But this business about the thugs she’d gotten involved with could be a real problem. And the fact she had to be newly turned was also a dilemma. Who had turned her, and where was he now? Had he mated with her, and if so, was he still alive? Because if he was, Jake could not claim her for his own. That made him wonder if the wolf who had turned her had taught her what she needed to know as one of their kind.
And had the wolf turned her against her will?
He was certain that if he hadn’t pinned her down and kept her that way, she would have run off. Until she realized who he was. But she was newly turned, and he was sure the whole werewolf business was too unreal for her to swallow yet. She was probably just as stunned to learn he was a werewolf, as were his brother and Peter.
At least for now, she seemed resigned to her fate. He had half a notion of shifting to reassure her that it was truly him. To speak with her. To learn all he could about her.
She sat staring out the window, avoiding looking at him, he thought. Or maybe she just wanted to see where they were going. But he assumed she was upset.
He couldn’t quit watching her, the way she sat so rigidly, so tense, her ears twitching back and forth, as she took deep breaths to sample the air. She was smelling the smells, memorizing them, cataloging them. Just as he had memorized her fragrance as a wolf. He would know her scent anywhere now and even the paw-pad trail she’d left behind as they’d made their way to the vehicle. If she ever ran as a wolf, he’d find her without any difficulty.
Tom said to Alicia, “Either Lelandi can loan you some of her clothes, or one of the other women can.”
Hell, Jake wanted to talk to her, and he couldn’t do it as a wolf. He shifted, and as soon as he did, she whipped her head around, eyes large and brown and endearing. He gave her a dark smile and pulled on his jeans.
She glanced at Tom. Jake frowned. She hadn’t thought her dream lover had been Tom, had she? They did look a hell of a lot alike, except Jake’s face had rougher angles, and his hair and eyes were darker.
She looked back at Jake, her gaze taking all of him in, and she swallowed hard.
“Tom, when we get to town, stop at the lingerie store.” Jake smiled at Alicia. He had every intention of taking care of her every need.
“Silk and Lace Delights?” Tom’s voice sounded surprised. “She won’t be open this late.”
“I’ll call ahead. And we can drop by the all-night discount store after that.”
“Do you know her size? As a wolf, she appears taller than Lelandi. But she’s not as big as some of our female wolves. Maybe Silva’s height?” Tom asked.
From what he’d seen of Alicia, and that was every inch of her delectable body, he figured her to be Silva’s height when Silva wasn’t wearing high heels to make herself appear taller like the other grays while she waitressed at the Silver Town Tavern. Silva was just as buxom but taller than Lelandi, since Lelandi was a red wolf and Silva a gray. Yeah, he imagined Alicia and Silva were about the same build.
Jake thought about the logistics of the situation further. He wanted to get to know his soon-to-be mate unaccompanied. His grandfather’s house would be the ideal setting. Isolated. Away from family so they could really be alone.
“After we shop, you can drop us off at Granddad’s old place.”
“Darien expects me to bring her back to his house,” Tom said, again sounding surprised.
Jake didn’t care for that scenario in the least. Everyone would get involved in his business with Alicia when he needed the time alone with her.
“Want me to call and—”
“No.” Jake jerked on his shirt. Then he grabbed his cell phone from his pants pocket and called Darien. When his older brother answered, Jake said, “We’re making a couple of clothing stops because Alicia has no clothes to change into. After that, we’re staying out at the old homestead.”
Silence. Jake knew Darien didn’t approve.
Darien finally said quietly, “She’s unmated?”“She’s not mated.” He sure as hell hoped not anyway.
Tom looked up at the rearview mirror. At least Jake didn’t think she could be, considering the way she’d made love to him in the dreams.
“Not pregnant either?” Darien asked.
Jake glanced at Alicia. “No, she’s not pregnant.” At least he guessed she wasn’t.
“Bring her to the house,” Darien said finally.
Not once had Jake ever gone against Darien’s rulings. He might disagree and tell his brother what he felt in private or just with his immediate family present, but not once had Jake openly gone against Darien’s decisions. This time he had to clamp down on his words before he spoke them.
Darien waited for Jake to acknowledge his order, knowing that with every second of delay Jake was showing how displeased he was.
“We’re dream mated,” Jake finally said, reminding his brother that Alicia and he were meant to be together and nothing would stop that from happening.
Tom’s gaze shot over the back of the front seat from Alicia to Jake, then to the road again.
Darien laughed over the phone. Alicia’s ears perked up.
Hell, Jake didn’t need this. He would have hung up on his older brother if Darien hadn’t finally said, “Bring her home, Jake. We need to learn what’s going on with her.”
That’s when Jake came to his senses, somewhat. Thugs had tried to kill her. If they attempted to follow her here, the pack would need to know about it so they could deal with the threat effectively.
“We’ll welcome her to the pack right,” Darien added.
The pack. She wouldn’t just be Jake’s mate but an important member of the pack. And Darien sounded serious. As if he believed Jake had found his mate. But why laugh about it initially? Because Jake had been so obstinate about not believing in such a thing.
He settled back against the seat. “All right. We’ll come home.”
But he was not resigned to making this a family affair.
***
Feeling a ton of emotions—frazzled, relieved that she was safe for the moment, unsure of herself—Alicia lay down on the seat, having heard Jake’s brother tell him to bring her to his home. And Jake was fighting the order. But she could tell by the way Jake’s body had lost some of its tension that he was giving in. Reluctantly, but nonetheless, he had capitulated. In a way, she wished she and Jake could have been alone. She’d have a better chance at stealing away from them then.
She hadn’t a clue about what would happen when she met the others in the pack, having never been around other werewolves. And she’d never even considered that werewolves lived in packs. Loners, yes. Like Ferdinand and whoever bit him first. Or just some abnormal aberration—a rabid wolf that had bitten a human and infected him, and no others existed.
But her thoughts kept straying to what Jake had looked like after he’d shifted—in the flesh, totally naked. No longer a dream, but the very hard, virile muscled man she’d felt and stroked and loved when they’d first been together. And then she reminded herself how he’d known she was a werewolf—Ferdinand had to have told him.
Then she wondered why Jake’s brother asked if she was pregnant. Mary. At the gallery. Oh, God, poor Jake. Mary must have called him and told him Alicia had fainted at the gallery. And he thought…
She glanced back at him. He was watching her. Then he took a deep breath and ran his hand over her back in a loving caress. It felt good. He felt good. She wanted so badly to share their nighttime fantasies for real again. Damn her soul for falling for him.
She laid her head down on the seat and closed her eyes as he continued to stroke her back. The wickedly sexual part of her wanted to go with him to his grandfather’s house and make wild passionate love to him.
But she considered what Jake and his brother had discussed. The mate issue didn’t make any sense. Must be a werewolf term for sex with another of their kind. So why did he assume she hadn’t been with anyone else? That she hadn’t mated? If Ferdinand had lived long enough, she was certain he would have had sex with her—against her will. But thankfully, he hadn’t.
Then she saw a sign announcing they’d arrived in Silver Town, and she felt self-conscious. Up until now, she’d been living on her own, putting up with this werewolf stuff the best she could in secret, until she’d bitten one thug’s arm and momentarily scared the other witless. But now to be around a whole pack of werewolves when she was so clueless made her feel vulnerable and anxious.
When Tom parked, she quickly sat up and stared at the store’s large glass windows. A gold-and-pink-lettered sign perched on top proclaimed the store to be Silk and Lace Delights.
Her eyes widened. She’d envisioned a plain, old shop full of the usual—flannel nightgowns for winter, long satin nightgowns for summer, shorter versions, and pajamas. Instead, fiery red corsets, fringed hot-pink bras and thongs, fishnet camisoles and G-string panties, and an iridescent sequin-draped camisole were displayed on headless mannequins in the big windows.
Jake couldn’t be serious. Not that she planned to wear other women’s undergarments or that she wished to go without—even though sometimes it seemed she might have to when she was in one of her panic-stricken states and needed to strip before she shifted—but what was he thinking?