To Catch A Wolf: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Wolf Valley Raiders Book 2) (6 page)

Not the time
, he told himself. Scooting up the bed, he loosened the rope as much as he could and then proceeded to untie the knots. She was right; he could get out of them, which was a good job, because he didn’t exactly want one of his neighbours to wander in and find him tied up naked in bed.

Slow progress, but eventually he untied one hand and pulled the rope back through the bed stand. In no time, he had the other hand free and was out of bed. Almost running out of the door naked, he decided that just in case he had to go knocking on his future in-laws’ house to find his mate, that clothes might be beneficial.

Grabbing his pants, he put them on, while hopping around the room to find his shirt. Pulling it over his head as he went downstairs, he grabbed his boots and sat down quickly on the wooden bench on his porch, before getting to his feet and racing off across the grass, following her scent.

He leaped into the air, shifting into his wolf as he went, and then ran across the meadow, casting a critical eye over his herd. They looked healthy, not affected by last night’s wolf attack, and a quick count told him they were all there. At least her brothers hadn’t returned for any cattle when he was in bed with Bliss. That would have broken his heart, to know that she was keeping him busy in bed while they stole his cattle. He wiped that from his mind; she wasn’t like that. They might be raiders, but it wasn’t a thing Bliss liked. More that she had been forced into it through a promise made on her father’s deathbed.

Hugo could understand that. He was also determined to help Bliss get to the bottom of what happened to her father and do something about it. Maybe her family did have some claim to Wolf Valley. If they did and they could somehow work through it, maybe Bliss would have a quiet life with him to look forward and her brothers could set about kicking Wolf Valley into shape. That’s if the population could come to terms with being led by the men who had been stealing from them for the last few months.

Cresting a hill, he looked down across the valley below. No sign of Bliss. Raising his short snout into the air, he took a big breath; her scent came to him on the breeze. Head lowered, he took off down towards the small stream that cut through the valley. Across the other side and onwards, her scent getting stronger, the urge to be with her more compelling.

Hugo knew he was surely going to meet some resistance from her brothers, but he was determined he wasn’t going home without Bliss. Whatever help she needed he would give it; she belonged to him. He simply had to make Bliss and her brothers understand that.

Bliss stood outside the front door of the house she shared with her brothers. She had been here for five minutes, trying to summon the courage to go in. The reason she was stalling was complicated. For one thing, she hated the idea of going back to the life she had before. It was the life she was living yesterday, only twenty-four hours ago, but a whole lifetime in some ways.

And then there was the feeling that once she stepped through that door, she would give up any chance of ever being with Hugo. And that was something she couldn’t bear. But she had a choice, right? She could go inside, sort out her brothers, and then leave to be with Hugo; the oath she swore for her father would still bind her, but not as strongly. She could work around it or circumvent it, surely.

But what about her brothers? Well they needed to stop this business of stealing what their father said was rightfully theirs—he was wrong and it was time this came to an end. There were other ways to avenge their father, or at least there were other ways of getting to the bottom of why their father was exiled. They needed to go into Wolf Valley and start asking questions.

Lawless Wolf Valley, bad news by anyone’s standards. Yes, simple, just walk in there and say they had come to take over, be the new alpha, or alphas; she couldn’t see how Cole and Riley would ever work out who was the right man for the job.

She shook her head. There was no simple way to end this. But standing here was only going to give her a chill as the early morning air covered her with its cold touch. Shivering, she took a step forward towards the house, and then she heard the mournful call of a wolf in the distance.

Bliss turned, trying to make out where it had come from. Surely, Hugo hadn’t got loose and followed her already, and if he had, would he be stupid enough to announce his arrival to her brothers?

Then the cry went up again, and another wolf answered. Clearer now, she recognised them both. Cole and Riley. Something must be wrong if they were up at this time in the morning. That could only mean one thing: Sol was in trouble. She cursed herself; she had let Sol down when he needed her, abandoned him, and now he was hurt or worse.

Panicking, she turned wolf and made off for where the cries had come from. Only once, did she hear them again. They had moved closer together, one calling the other. In response, Bliss lifted her head in the air and answered. Then she ran towards where her brothers were, blaming herself for everything and knowing this was the end of her dreams. If she had left Sol for one night and something had happened to him, she could never do so again. She would have to live in their ramshackle house forever, knowing that her mate lived so close, but emotionally so far away.

Bliss ran as fast as she could, her lungs burning by the time she reached the place where she was sure her brothers had called from. It was a high peak that led down into a steep gully, but when she reached there, she could hear nothing but silence. She raised her head once more and called, but no wolf replied, instead she heard Cole call, “Here, Bliss.”

She ran down to the tree line, and picked up their scent, following it along a game trail and then down a sharp incline. There she saw Riley and Cole crouched down, looking at the ground. Her heart stopped beating for a moment: Had they found Sol dead on the floor? Were they examining his body?

Shifting into her human form, she went to join them, ready for the worst. But Sol wasn’t there. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“It’s Sol, we were out all night looking for him. There was no sign, and then by chance Riley picked up his scent and followed it here.” Cole looked up at Bliss, concern etching his face.

“But he’s not here.” Bliss frowned, not able to understand what was going on with her brothers.

“Yes, he is. He’s down there.” Riley pointed down at the ground, but Bliss still couldn’t see anything. Only when she moved forward and crouched beside of them, did she understand what had happened.

“Are you sure he’s in there?” she asked, looking down into a crack in the ground, which disappeared into darkness.

“Sol,” Riley called. In response, a pitiful whine came from below them.

“Can’t he change back, and then maybe climb back up?” she asked.

“It’s very narrow and we can’t tell if he’s injured. Maybe he knocked his thick skull on the way down.” Cole peered into the crevice. “I’m wondering if I could climb down and help him.”

“If it’s that narrow, you’ll never fit. I’ll go.” Bliss began to peel off her torn jacket.

“No, Bliss. You know how unpredictable he is, and what if he’s hit his head? He might be more volatile than usual.” Riley put his hand on hers, and made it clear she wasn’t going anywhere, which just compounded Bliss’s guilt.

“It’s my fault. I should have been here for him.” Tears pricked her eyes, but she would not let herself cry. She had to be strong.

“It wouldn’t have mattered, we searched all night for him, he didn’t want to be found,” Cole said, looking up from the ground and searching her face before asking, “Where were you, Bliss? We were worried. We figured you’d gone off in a huff, or were looking for Sol. When we never caught your scent, we were worried.”

She thought back to last night, and how they had driven off and left her. “What the hell were you thinking? You ran off and left me and Sol.”

“We saw Sol run and thought you were behind him. When we lost track of Sol we came back here to the house, thinking that was where you would both head for. We waited for over an hour, then we went out to look for you both. Sol was our main concern, and when Cole heard him way up over the mountain calling as if he was possessed, we headed that way. We couldn’t look for you both.”

“I don’t know what got into him, running off like that,” Cole said.

“Sugar. He ate all of those cupcakes. I knew he was going to be bad, I should have come home…”

“So why didn’t you? It’s not like you to hold a grudge against us. We swear we didn’t realise we had left you behind.” Riley scrutinised her face, and then looked across to Cole, and something passed between them.

“What?” she asked. “What was that look?”

“We had bets that you had found … you know,
the one
.”

“This is not the time to discuss it,” she said, ashamed that they might guess she had been in bed with a man. He wasn’t
any
man though, was he? He was
her
man, her mate.

“OK. Well, we need a plan. If he wasn’t a wolf we might be able to throw a rope down and get him to climb up. As it is, one of us is going to have to go down there. Bliss, you are the last resort,” he said when she opened her mouth to speak. “I know you feel bad. But he is too big and strong when he is a wolf; he is likely to kill you. Or hurt you, and we don’t want two of you stuck down there. No, it has to be me or Riley. He respects us.”

She laughed, “I have no idea why? Neither of you are exactly respectable. Nor do you look after him in any way.”

“But he sees us as his alphas, now Dad isn’t here.” She knew he was right but still hated being so useless.

“First, we are going to need rope. So, Bliss, you stay here and talk to him. We are going to go back to the house and get what we need, then we can try to get him out. OK?” Riley and Cole were on their feet and shifting into their wolves before she had chance to answer.

She nodded as they disappeared into the trees around her, and then she was alone with Sol. Bending down, she began to talk to him, telling him how sorry she was. But he gave no answer.

He could see her, sitting on the ground, looking so sad his heart broke for her. Her brothers had gone, and he wanted to know why they had run off on her again. Had they disowned her for being with him?

Unable to stand not knowing, he took the winding path down from the peak he had used as his vantage point, making sure he stayed downwind so that if her brothers did come back he could remain undetected.

When he drew closer, the breeze blew her scent towards him and he licked his lips, remembering the taste of her. He wanted her so badly, but he didn’t want to make things worse for her, so he knew he had to be careful how he handled the situation.

Now only a hundred feet from Bliss, he stopped, sniffing the air, making sure it was safe. The scent of wolf reached him, but it was mixed with dirt and iron,
iron ore
. He had heard this part of Wolf Valley had narrow shafts that dropped down into the old mines. Now he realised why Bliss was here, staring down at the ground and talking to herself.

Swiftly changing from his wolf, he went forward, calling her name softly. “Bliss. Are you OK? Can I help?”

She turned around and scooted back from him, but then relaxed a little. He could see she had been crying, and his heart ached to hold her.

“You should go. My brothers will be back soon.”

He reached out to her, and she came to him, throwing herself into his arms. “I should have been here,” she sobbed.

“What happened?” he asked, holding her close. “Has something happened to your brother?”

“Yes. Sol’s fallen down into the crevice here.” She pointed to a thin split in the ground, and he loosed her to move forward to look down into the dark. As he did, a wolf leaped up, growling as he lurched for the light.

Pulling himself back, Hugo said, “The area around here was mined extensively generations ago. These cracks in the ground litter this side of the mountain.”

“Is there a shaft? Some way to get down there?” she asked hopefully.

“There are several shafts. But I’ve never been too far into them. When I was a boy, I explored the ones closer to the mouth of the mine. But really, you need someone who knows them well. There is Colin, lives on the edge of Wolf Valley; he knows every inch of the tunnels. If we ask him, he might be able to pinpoint exactly where your brother is. Then we could go underground to rescue him.”

“Will you help us, Hugo?” she asked.

He touched her cheek, wiping the tear away from her face. “You don’t even have to ask. I will always be there for you.”

At that moment, the two wolves appeared from out of the trees, Riley carrying rope around his neck. As soon as they saw Hugo, their hackles rose and they snarled in warning.

“I think you had better introduce me to your brothers,” Hugo said, standing up. But by the look of the two wolves in front of him, they did not like him being so close to their sister. Well, if they thought he was going to back off just because they didn’t like him, they had a tough lesson to learn.

“Stop that right now,” Bliss said, getting to her feet and standing between him and her brothers. “Hugo can help us to save Sol. So you will do him the courtesy of
not
growling at him and change so that you can say hello properly.”

Bliss was fed up of always been the outsider, and she could see that things would never change unless her brothers got over their dislike and mistrust of everyone. Once more, she thought of just how much their father had to answer for.

The two wolves still circled around, but they no longer snarled; instead, they watched Hugo warily, just as he watched them. Bliss took another step forward and they looked at her steadily. She held their gaze, staring them down. She was an equal to her brothers, and she would do whatever it took to make them see they had to behave. It was time they were introduced to her mate. And they had better accept him.