The Wolf on the Hill (2 page)

He reached around to stroke her clit, his digits nudging deep inside to mirror every fill of his cock. Sparks flashed behind her closed eyelids and her breathing grew ragged until she could hold back no more. She came with a cry that echoed through the forest, followed quickly with Grey’s howl of release.

Once they had exorcised every residual tremor, they collapsed into a panting, sweaty heap.

“That was just…”

“Animal?” Mia offered, her head still spinning from the intense orgasm.

He laughed and rolled over so they were face to face. The golden stubble lining his tanned jaw made him ruggedly handsome, a deadly combination with the soulful green eyes staring back at her. That puppy dog look could be enough for a woman to fall for him, even without first-hand knowledge of his sexual prowess.

“I was gonna say amazing but yeah, animal works too.”

The rain reminded her that this was no dream. As the droplets of reality splashed on her exposed skin, Mia became all too aware of her nakedness and the wanton open air display. Self-awareness swept in quickly for someone who found even wearing a bikini in public traumatic, so she covered her modesty as best she could with two hands.

She didn’t know the protocol for making a gracious exit after a quick bunk-up, especially when she was still starkers. He didn’t strike her as the type for flowery words anyway, so she kept it short and to the point. “Thanks, but I…er, have to go.”

He lay back and watched as she scrabbled to her feet. “That’s it? No cuddles?”

“I’m sure you won’t shed any tears over it.” They’d both got what they’d wanted so she saw no need to pretend it had been anything more than a physical release. Mia, however, was left with tumultuous emotions not so easily dealt with. Another moment of madness had thrown her carefully ordered world into chaos and made her question who exactly she was, and why she denied herself these flashes of happiness.

Mia shifted back into her wolf, and, with one last lingering look at her playmate lying magnificently naked on a bed of leaves, she ran towards the woods. Back to the life she was supposed to lead.

* * * *

The stale stench of cigarettes and alcohol assaulted Caleb’s nostrils on opening the door. The smell of home.

A tentative step took him into the dark hallway and onto the wooden floor, tacky beneath his boots. The air was still, heavy with neglect and abuse, and it took every ounce of courage for him not to turn around and walk straight back out.

Instead, he carried on into the living room and opened the window to invite a blast of cool autumnal wind to sweep through the gloom. Something crunched underfoot and he knelt to inspect the damage. Glass. Beer bottles to be exact, littering the floor along with cigarette packets and food remnants. He turned up his nose, even though he should’ve expected it. Every stray wolf that happened along always used this place as an unofficial pack house. His father welcomed everyone with open arms. Except his own son, of course.

Ironic now that, as next of kin, Caleb had inherited this very house where his father had made his life a living hell. Viewing the destruction around him, Caleb wondered what chaos had reigned in his eleven-year absence. The yellowing paper on the walls, once decorated with pretty spring flowers, now featured slogans and expletives daubed in bright red paint. The old brown sofa was slashed open, stuffing ripped from its guts and strewn around the floor, and there was an empty space in the corner where the television had once sat.

A niggling thought crawled inside his head and a quick look around the rest of the house confirmed his suspicions. Every room revealed new devastation and vandalism. With doors hanging from their hinges, drawers ransacked and every electrical appliance ripped from the walls, this was more than the aftermath of a pack party.

He booted a discarded beer can across the floor. “Fuck!”

Too many ghosts had held Caleb back from taking occupancy earlier and now his plans were royally screwed. So much for a quick sale.

“Hello? Is there someone in there?” a deep voice bellowed from the hall.

Shit! He had forgotten to lock the door behind him, but he suspected that burglars didn’t announce themselves before they robbed you blind. Besides, there was nothing left to take.

Caleb didn’t answer but edged his way cautiously along the wall to peer around the corner. A dark figure loomed large but Caleb Jackson didn’t back down from a fight, even with an opponent built like the side of a house. His wolf growled a warning, low and deep.

“Caleb? Is that you? It’s me, Rory.”

It took a moment for the name to register, but he recognised the would-be intruder the minute he stepped into the small shaft of light escaping through the door. Rory Blake, high school hero, all round good guy and the constant reminder of everything Caleb had lacked when they were growing up. A real blast from the past, and his past was the very thing he wanted to avoid.

“What brings you here, Rory?”

“I saw the bike outside and I know the house has laid empty since your father died.” He shrugged his broad shoulders.

The fact that he gave a shit irked Caleb all the more. “Pity the neighbourhood watch wasn’t more vigilant before now.”

Rory peered behind him to survey the debris. “You know how remote these hills are. If I’d known…”

“What business is it of yours anyway?” Caleb’s last nerve snapped at having Golden Boy witness the pitiful legacy left to him by his father. He wouldn’t be surprised if the whole thing turned out to be a set-up by the old bastard in a last stab at humiliating him. After running away from the abusive home at the age of sixteen, the discovery of the inheritance had been bittersweet. Now, it was just plain bitter.

“I’m a police officer.” Rory’s words were spoken with pride but also a hint of irritation. A burglary on his doorstep probably didn’t sit well with PC Perfect.

“So you’re the law round these here parts?” It figured. “I’m sure you’re a real credit to the police service of Northern Ireland.” Caleb didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm in his exaggerated drawl. He and authority did not make for good bedfellows.

Rory’s eyes narrowed, his wolf shining through for a brief moment. “I’m also the alpha now.”

Another non-surprise, but at least Rory deserved the respect shown to the pack leader, unlike Caleb’s father.

He opened his arms wide in an act of submission. “Hey, I’ve got no problem with that. I’m not about to challenge you. As soon as I get this place on the market, I’m outta here. Though I guess it’s gonna take longer than I thought now.”

And cost him every penny he had to put it right.

“I can ask around, see if anyone saw who did this and dust for prints.” Rory remained professional but Caleb knew it was a waste of time.

“Forget it. They’ve had months to fence whatever they took and there have been more people through here than the Europa bus station. I’ll get it put to rights as soon as I can and move on.”

Rory nodded, the plan obviously to his liking as well.

“Rory, I’m freezing sitting out in that car. Can we go yet?” A female voice breached the male stronghold, followed by a familiar face. Only hours earlier he’d chased her stunning white wolf form through the nearby woods. Her face paled as she recognised him and Caleb’s inner wolf howled in appreciation at being reunited with its mate.

His human couldn’t complain either. Slim, slight and blonde, she was every man’s fantasy. Although he preferred her naked instead of the jeans and jumper cover-all she wore now.

“Caleb, you remember my sister Mia?”

Holy shit!
He’d just fucked Rory Blake’s little sister six ways to Sunday!

“Yes, I think I recognise her.” He swept his eyes over her body, remembering how responsive she had been to his touch.

“Caleb?” Large blue eyes blinked at him in fear. As if he would rat her out to her brother and run the risk of having his balls handed to him on a plate for his trouble.

“I told you to wait in the car.” Rory let his cool demeanour slide to scold his baby sister but Caleb was too caught up in this latest revelation to crow over it.

“Maybe I’m sick of being told what to do.” Mia pursed her pretty pink lips, reminding him of the pigtailed nuisance that used to follow him around like a shadow when they were kids. He never did understand her fascination with him, figuring that the pampered princess got her kicks watching a guy fail at life on a daily basis. Well, now she’d had her bit of rough and he’d got to enjoy the sweet revenge of watching embarrassment stain her cheeks.

Rory glanced at both of them in turn and scowled. “It’s late. I have to get Mia home. I’ll round up some help tomorrow but in the meantime you can stay at mine.”

“No!” Caleb and Mia chorused together.

“Thanks, but I don’t think your folks would appreciate a house guest at such short notice.” Caleb could imagine the mighty Blakes’ reaction to him revving up to the estate and messing up their perfectly manicured driveway.

“I’ve got my own place now and you can’t stay here without heat.” Rory wrapped his knuckles on one of the radiators hanging from the wall. “I owe you for not keeping a closer eye on the place.”

Caleb mulled the offer over. He was pretty sure his wolf would save him from the cold and he was used to kipping on sofas, or roaming the woods in his animal guise. The thought of being in Saint Rory’s debt didn’t sit well with him either. Then again, the expression of horror on Mia’s face was proving irresistible to his bad boy tendencies.

“Well, if you insist.” The sadistic streak running in his veins made him accept. The change in her, from the rampant sexual dynamo who’d had her legs slung over his shoulders so he could fuck her that much harder, to this diffident replica, didn’t sit easily with him. If she thought she could treat him like a lesser mortal now just because he’d dared to enter her cosseted kingdom, she could think again.

He gave them his cheesiest grin and decided he may as well have a little fun while being forced to confront his past.

Chapter Two

“I didn’t know we served ice cream floats in here.” Naomi cocked an eyebrow at Mia across the bar.

She frowned. Of course they didn’t serve kiddie drinks in this hard liquor pub. Mia shut off the pump and lifted the pint of beer. Only then did she understand the jibe.

“Oh. Sorry.” The foamy head half filled the pint glass. The customers who frequented The Wild Dog would surely have lynched her if she’d tried to serve it to them.

Under her boss’s watchful eye Mia corrected her mistake and served a full pint of golden lager to a relieved regular.

Naomi’s features softened into a smile. “You seem distracted this morning.”

“Just something on my mind.”
Or someone
. Mia turned her attention back to retrieving the glasses from the dishwasher, trying not to linger on thoughts of reckless carnal acts or sexy bad boys. It didn’t work. Even now she swore she could smell his heady, earthy scent, reminding her of his naked body pressed tightly to hers. The glass she was holding slipped from her fingers and smashed to smithereens on the tiled floor as her daydream claimed her attention.

“Shit!”

Naomi sighed and fetched a dustpan and brush to clean up the mess. “Do you want to share this mind-melting problem before you put me out of business?”

“It’s fine.”
Damn Caleb Jackson!
She didn’t get flustered and she sure as hell didn’t let her personal problems affect her in public. She blamed him completely for her total work fail. Until yesterday, the last time she’d set eyes on him he’d been a scruffy teenager on the receiving end of a beating from his father. Now her sympathy for Caleb Jackson was definitely being overshadowed by thoughts of a more risqué nature.

Thankfully, the lunchtime crowd began to filter in and Naomi dropped the inquisition to play hostess.

“Hey, sis.” Somewhere among the crowd, Rory had managed to slip in unnoticed. Her brother possessed that annoying knack of showing up when she least wanted to talk.

He stretched across the bar to reach for a menu, though Mia didn’t know why he bothered.

“I’ll have the soup of the day and a coffee,” he ordered, like he didn’t have the same thing every day.

He pretended to study the menu but Mia saw the sly glimpses he snatched at Naomi. She grinned. Her macho big brother still hadn’t worked up the courage to ask the attractive brunette out after two years of pining for her, but Mia knew better than to interfere. Naomi kept her private life closely guarded. No one knew anything of her background, save for the fact that she had turned up in town, heavily pregnant, and with enough money to buy the pub outright. Anyone who questioned her about her past was quickly dispatched with a flea in their ear, and Mia’s problems were great enough without adding her boss’s wrath to the mix.

“So, um, did your new lodger settle in okay?” She turned her back to pour a black coffee so Rory couldn’t read her as easily as she read him.

“Yeah. I’m thinking of getting a work party together to help him sort his place out. You in?”

She almost suffered third degree coffee burns at the idea of working alongside Caleb. Caught up in the euphoria of her liberation as a wolf, she’d willingly gone into his arms, unaware that her actions would come back to haunt her so close to home. Mr Jackson certainly couldn’t provide the security her parents expected from a suitor. She would do well to forget him altogether.

“In what?” Naomi walked in on the end of their conversation to place a bowl of steaming hot tomato and basil soup in front of Rory. “Are you two planning a bank job or something?” The smiles exchanged between her brother and her boss left Mia out in the cold, yearning for a share of the warmth emanating between them.

“The old Jackson place on the hill was vandalised. I’m looking for volunteers to help fix it up.” Rory’s face, so full of hope, concentrated on Naomi’s response.

“I will if Mia will.” Naomi threw her under the bus. There was no way Mia could say no now and refuse the big eejit some quality time with the love of his life.