C3 Tempting mystery

The gangly young man didn't act like Wolf King , always afraid of his own shadow. At least he had stopped stuttering when he started working for Mary , his patience giving him the confidence to overcome it. Our resident mechanic, whom I had known since she was a baby, might be unusual in that she was a human born of wolf fur, but she knew how to live among us. And she knew how to deal with young teenagers who also struggled to do so.

As Alpha, every wolf and every human under my protection mattered. We were all working together to make life work in Woods Creek, and the news of a stranger appearing out of nowhere put me on the defensive.

"Okay," I finally said, running a hand through my short, sandy hair. It had lightened a bit in the sun during a recent business trip south. On the way back, I had attended the meeting, spent a few days with the alliance, and then had returned home to find this.

I leaned back in the cozy chair I had ordered for my office. It had been a week since I had placed a special order. Nila , from the furniture store, had ordered it from the catalog. I was relieved and grateful that they had not only delivered it to me, but also prepared it for me to use.

The fact that things were delivered to a warehouse several miles away, accessed by a back road, and a place where some of the townspeople came and went to pick up deliveries, made staying off the radar that much easier. And while I was good at carpentry, I needed a chair made to be comfortable due to the number of hours I was spending lately in the office when I wasn't traveling around the county. But that wasn't Mark's fault . That I was tired and annoyed wasn't his fault either. "Go make the rounds and tell everyone to be on their toes. I want you to spread the word that I'm still out of town and plan to be back tomorrow."

"Everyone knows you're back already," Mark said , confused.

"I know, Mark . But I want them to act like I'm not back yet. The stranger is probably someone who needs help, and if that's the case, me being here or not won't mean anything. Tell Mary to delay whoever the hell it is and get me the details of the woman's license plate and her name, her description, anything you can."

"Yes, sir... Paul," she added quickly.

"And tell people to be nice. Act nice. We'll get more out of her with honey than with vinegar."

Mark smiled, "Okay. I'm going now." She hesitated. "Do you think she's a threat to us?"

"No. But a lot of people don't get lost that far down the road. And hardly anyone gets lost far enough to find our creek."

"So we're being cautious?"

"Yes, we are. For your sake and ours."

Mark said nothing more, waving goodbye as he hurried out the door to carry out my orders.

Thoughtfully, I looked at my floor-to-ceiling constructed window overlooking the forest that bordered the city. That's why I chose this building for the main offices and where people could come to hold meetings if the town hall was in use.

Both I and my wolf thrived in nature, and when we couldn't be among it, contemplating the dense evergreens was a comforting temporary respite.

I waited for Mary's information. Once I got the information, I had several threads to pull. I had contacts. And I would have the background on this supposedly needy woman in less than twenty-four hours. Even less time if her license plate gave me what I wanted. From the license plate, I could get her registration. From there, I would get her name. From his name, my contacts and my money could get me a lot more.

It paid to be on guard. I had learned that the hard way during my many years of existence. I may only appear to be in my early thirties, but wolfskins live a long time. And ever since I moved the pack across the borders to create Woods Creek, I had protected the town and its inhabitants against any threat. And especially any threat related to Scott Smith . I always kept an eye on the cursed one, fully aware that he had tried to hunt us down over the years.

Scott's whereabouts hadn't changed much since he invested in his casino, a building he had erected from nothing and dared to call Spring Season , our old pack name. But aside from the criminal activities he'd dipped his fingers into, Scott was keeping it small: usury aside and pouring most of his profits into his pretentious mansion and his giggling vixens aside. He moved in the right circles and had the politicians in his pocket, controlled some local business owners with fear and paid dishonest wolves to work for him, getting the more vicious ones to do his dirty work. Wolves and mercenaries like Vinicius Hall.

At the thought of Vinicius, I rubbed my chest, irritated by the pain that settled there. Old memories returned, and I embraced them, needing the reminder of the road that brought me here. But thinking of my former friend would bring me no peace. Not after what I had done. And not when he was still sitting in my enemy's pocket.

However, I hadn't heard anything through my connections. Nothing to alert me that Scott was at it again. I was just being paranoid. I was tired from the trip and the late nights talking with Harry and the others. He had needed us and we had joined him. We had also had our usual meeting during the day, so business had gone on. I just needed some sleep. And maybe a quick fuck. That always relieved me and my wolf.

Then Kearny came to mind . The pretty blonde I had dated a few times. We slept together a few more times. But my heart wasn't in it. I hadn't felt the magic of mate with her either. Sometimes it took a while, but I doubted it would come with Kearny . She came from Kira's herd, located not far from mine, and she met my needs. However, her whining had increased, asking "where are we going?" every time we slept together. I had backed off a bit, hoping he would get the message. But she didn't, even when I had practically explained it to her, we were sex buddies and nothing more.

Sex buddies. I choked back a laugh. The title sounded damned childish. But how else could I put it? We fucked. We had fun. We got along well and had some things in common. One night I confessed to him that I didn't think he was my partner. I had earned a few scratches for my trouble, but nothing stopped Kearny for long. At least, not as far as my balls were concerned.