Allister, J. Rose - Disowned Cowboys [Lone Wolves of Shay Falls] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (30 page)

The contact broke and Solomon turned away. His wolves fell into line and followed, except for Jack, who picked up the pack’s scattered garments and carried them along. David rose on all fours and brought up the rear, but stopped to gaze at Aimee with his new yellow eyes. The moment lasted as long as Solomon’s had with Kyle, and she had the odd feeling he was saying goodbye.

Then he turned and trotted off behind the pack.

“David,” she whispered. But he was already gone.

“I’m sorry,” Dillon said, coming over to put an arm around her. He was shirtless and barefoot, and his pants were zipped but still unsnapped.

Her heart thudded as she stared into the empty tunnel. “What about his job? His life?”

“He’ll be okay,” Kyle said, buckling his belt.

She scowled at him. “Will he? Neither of you seemed particularly happy with your situation.”

Kyle strode over and knelt in front of her. “Not always. But humans aren’t immune to hard times, either. Just because you get a raw deal don’t mean you can’t turn it around for good.” He tenderly brushed back a strand of her hair. “I did.”

“One of us should go move her car before the rangers have it hauled off,” Dillon said.

Her car. Aimee had totally forgotten that such mundane matters even existed.

“I’ll check on it,” Kyle said. “I’m gonna have to go grab my things and bring back the key to that collar, anyway.” He sighed. “You realize they most likely towed the car by now.”

Dillon nodded. “Probably.”

She crossed her arms. “Guess I’m stuck up here, unless I can ride a wolf home piggyback.”

Kyle shot her a wry grin. “I was thinkin’ more along the lines of drivin’ you back in my truck.”

Dillon arched a brow. “You have a truck? You never mentioned that.”

He shrugged. “I have a lot of things.”

“But you never mentioned it.”

“That’s because what matters most to me is right here.” He turned on his heel and snugged on his hat.

She rubbed at her neck, which was chafing from the heavy collar. “You two can stay the night at my place, unless you’re in a rush to get back to this dusty old cave.”

“Oh, you and I ain’t quite finished with this dusty old cave yet,” Dillon said, grabbing a hold of the chain. “Or this collar. We’ll discuss it while he’s gone.”

Kyle chuckled as he loped off with a sexy cowboy walk. “In that case, I’ll make it quick.”

Chapter Eleven

The next morning, Aimee’s hand paused on the doorknob of Anders Investments. She found herself reluctant to twist the knob and find the door locked. David’s car wasn’t in the tiny parking lot, which was an ominous sign. Not that she’d really expected him to be there. His life had just been turned completely upside down. Dillon said he not only had to leave ranch work, but he hadn’t been able to hold down any job because of battling his nature—and he had been turned six years before. Still, she hadn’t been able to stop herself from getting up at the usual time to shower, dress, and come to work.

Hesitation turned to fear, and she was about to release the knob without turning it when the door yanked open, almost pulling her off balance.

“David!” she said, her hand flying up to her throat. “You scared me to death.”

Although his expression bore no hostility, he seemed more imposing somehow while staring down at her with his new eyes. The same pale, glossy browns she’d known sparkled with gold highlights in the early morning sun. “How come you’re out here?” he asked.

She shot him a guilty grin. “I wasn’t sure you had showed up for work. Your car isn’t outside.”

“I got a lift from Adam this morning. He was heading down the mountain anyway.”

Her brow rose. “Wasn’t he the one you shot?”

“He’s right as rain now. And over it. Jack’s still busting my nuts over it, though.”

She cocked her head. “How’d you even know I was standing out here?”

“I picked up your scent.”

Her eyes widened. “You can smell me through a closed door?” A stab of alarm hit, and she took a step back. “Wait, I don’t still smell like…?” she trailed off, afraid to say the rest.

The smile he gave her was warm, genuine, and pure David. “Like every aphrodisiac on the planet mated together and made a love child? No. You smell like Aimee.”

Relief flooded her. “I didn’t realize wolves could smell things through closed doors,” she said.

“My senses are heightened unbelievably. But in all honesty, that also includes my ears. I heard the truck pull up.” He nodded to the four-wheel monster Kyle loaned her for the morning. “Car got towed after all, huh?”

She nodded. “We’re swinging by the impound lot later to spring it.”

“I’m surprised Kyle and Dillon let you come here.” He stepped aside and gestured her in. “You look dressed for work, if I’m not mistaken.”

Her eyes wandered over him as she followed him inside. He wore a mocha-colored dress shirt she didn’t recognize and his dark brown trousers. “So do you, if I’m not mistaken.”

She frowned when her gaze dropped to his shiny Italian loafers. His slacks, which were always meticulously tailored to hit just across the tops of his shoes, now hung above them. Her eyes rose up as she trailed him into his office, past his shoulders and higher than she remembered having to look to find the top of his head. “Are you taller?”

He turned when he got to the front of his desk and leaned against it. “A side effect of last night. My bones and ligaments stretched a little. My muscles were augmented during the transformation, too. I had to dig out an old shirt that was too big, but none of my slacks are long enough. I’ll have to conduct all my meetings from behind the desk until I can get out to go shopping.”

She stayed just inside his doorway and crossed her arms tightly. “You seem to be taking this quite well, all things considered.”

David shrugged, and she noticed that his shoulders did seem broader. “I can’t say yesterday ranked as my favorite day ever, but it’s done now.”

She hesitated. “I wasn’t sure you’d want me here after what I did.”

“You weren’t the one who bit me.”

“It’s my fault that you got bitten. You went there after me.”

“You didn’t make me follow you. One of the reasons yesterday is not my best day is because of my animal behavior toward you—and not all of it happened after I was bitten.”

She threw her arms up and stalked forward. “You couldn’t help it. It was my ridiculous scent. I’m the sole reason you went up there.” She averted her eyes to stare at the gray carpet. “And I betrayed you.”

He ran a hand through his brown hair, which hung loose over his forehead rather than tamed back like usual. “You were never mine to betray. I know that now. You couldn’t stop that bond any more than I could. Any more than Solomon could.”

She shook her head sadly. “That doesn’t change the fact that I strung you along. If I’d have just admitted the truth to myself and given that ring back sooner, you wouldn’t have wound up in that cave. I’m so very, very sorry, David.”

He pushed himself away from the desk and moved forward. He seemed to tower over her now, even though the difference in his height was only perhaps an inch or two. “Is that why you came here? So I’ll help you beat yourself up about how guilty you feel?” She blinked, taken aback. “If you would have handed me back that ring and told me it was over, it wouldn’t have changed a damn thing. I’d still have followed you up there and tried to change your mind.”

“But…”

“Aimee,” he said, silencing her protest by taking her hands in his. His skin was hotter than Kyle or Dillon’s, and she wondered if he would always be warmer or whether it was a residual effect of the change that would wear off with time. “We could stand here and chicken-or-egg this all day, but it doesn’t matter anymore. Weres believe that those who are turned, by accident or design, become shifters by fate. Fate holds a lot of things in balance for were society, because otherwise the superior advantages we have could upset the natural order of things. I was meant for this. You were just the instrument that drew me to my appointment with fate.”

Her eyes searched his. “That sure doesn’t sound like the ‘I’m a practical guy’ boss who took me hiking a few days ago. You sound like one of them.”

He gave her a tiny smile. “I am one of them.”

They stared at each other for a moment. “What’s it like?” she whispered.

His smile held secret depths she’d never seen there before. “The first shift was a hellish nightmare I won’t even try to describe to you. But being claimed by the pack…” He trailed off for a moment, his eyes staring into space. “Well, you experienced what that was like yourself last night.”

“Yes, but I’m not supernatural now.”

“You are, in your own way,” he said. “Were mates are human, but more than just human.”

She wondered how he knew something like that when she didn’t.

Her eyes took another tour of his larger physique. “Do you feel different? When you’re not shifted, I mean.”

“‘Different’ doesn’t quite begin to cover it. I’m bigger and stronger. My senses and reflexes are sharper, and the wheels in my head whir a bit faster. And there’s the whole nigh-invulnerable thing, with rare exceptions. Don’t feel sorry for me, Aimee. I sure as hell wouldn’t have chosen this, but it definitely has advantages.”

“You’re stuck living in a pack now, though. Solomon’s pack.” She made a face as the name slipped out. “You have to do what he says.”

The corner of his mouth twisted upward. “Solomon’s not so bad, really. He’s just very territorial about protecting his own—and has a chip on his shoulder the size of Manhattan where Blaise is concerned.”

“You mean his bark’s worse than his bite?” He shot her a mock glare, and she grinned. “Sorry. Bad canine humor.” Her smile faded. “Are you sorry that you wound up in a different pack from mine?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yes. But in the long run, I know it was—”

“Fate?” she interrupted.

He nodded. “From the story I understand on Kyle, he’s a good man and was a loyal wolf until
fate
put him between a rock and a hard place. But I’m not sure I was meant to be under the command of a renegade cowpoke. You know I served in the military before college. Solomon’s more my speed.”

“How’d you get so knowledgeable about all these werewolf semantics after just one night? Dillon and Kyle explained things to me all weekend, and I still feel like I have no idea what’s what in that world.”

He chuckled. “Another werewolf advantage. A certain amount of genetic memory gets transferred from the one who bites you. Jack isn’t that old a werewolf himself, but he knows all the basics.” He tapped his forehead. “Now, I do, too.”

“That’s handy.”

Conversation lapsed, and awkward tension seemed to thicken the air around her. She reached into her skirt pocket and held the contents up to him. “I believe this belongs to you.”

His mouth settled into a straight line as he glanced down at the ring glittering between them. With a brief hesitation, he took it from her and dropped it into his palm. “Thank you.”

Her pulse jumped a bit as she gave him a wan smile. “Maybe someday it will go to the real mate who’s fated for you.”

He curled his fist around the ring for a moment and then dropped it into his shirt pocket. “I think it will go back to the jeweler, and a new one will replace it when the time comes. The commitment this one symbolized wasn’t nearly what a mate bond truly represents. Not by a mile.”