Protector (Wolves of Winter Creek Book 4)

1. Good twin

Shit. My twin is home.

She’s not supposed to be. With our assignment on pause until the Luna puts us back on duty, Lorelei decided to fill up her free time, volunteering at every in-need community she can find in our city of New Brunswick.

Of course she does. She’s the good twin.

Me? I decided to get a part-time job because a bored Jeannie has a tendency to get in trouble. I needed flexible hours in case my true employee—the Luna herself, and the goddess revered by all wolf shifters—had a reason to call on me. Plus, as one of her guardians, it’s not like we’re in it for the money. Our line, known as the Liptons in this generation, is filthy fucking rich.

When your family dates back to the not-so-mythical founders of an ancient empire, money kind of has a tendency to accumulate.

Not that you would know it by looking at us. That’s on purpose. We live in an average apartment in the downtown of the city, not too far from where Lorelei and I dormed during our years at RU. Lorelei might splurge on a designer purse here or there, but I’m happy in my Target clothes and Walmart sneakers. As a pair of full-blooded wolves living in a mostly human city without any clue that supes are real, it’s better that we don’t stand out if we don’t have to—as best we can, that is.

So I got a job at this coffee shop that’s a couple of blocks from our place.

That’s where I met Cal Reynolds.

A full human male who’s about as old as I look, he would come into the shop every morning to load up on his caffeine for the day. He’s in the Masters program at Rutgers, so a little older than the usual college student we get, and super fucking handsome. I’ve never been picky when it comes to my lovers. If you attract me and my wolf, I’m ready to go.

Cal seemed drawn to me immediately. He even tried to laugh it off when he hit on me, trying to convince me he’s not the sort of guy to ask out a barista on a whim while she was working, but he couldn’t help himself.

If I was any other type of she-wolf, I’d say that was a fated mate bond at work. That sudden attraction, that knowledge that you’re looking at the ‘one’... I know that’s not the case. He’s a human, and my brand of Luna-touched wolf—a guardian instead of a wolf who was blessed by our goddess—doesn’t have a fated mate. How can we? When our life is devoted to serving the Luna, there’s no room for a mate.

But just because there’s not one male out there meant only for me, that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy one I find attractive…

Cal wore me down. I liked the attention, and I agreed to a date. One date.

That was six weeks ago, and I’ve been spending any and all of my free time with him.

Earlier tonight, we caught dinner to celebrate the end of the fall semester. And, well, maybe I really wanted to reward my new boyfriend, because I finally invited him over to my place.

I might’ve given Cal a little taste of what he could expect when we ducked into a side street near my building, making out like a pair of horny teens before I grabbed him by the hand and laughingly dragged him the rest of the way.

He started kissing me again on the elevator ride up, and I was into it—until the little hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

I’ve heard people joke that there’s such a thing as twin telepathy. For twin wolf shifters? It’s not a joke. I don’t even need to use my sniffer to pick up on traces of Lorelei’s scent reaching me from our fourth floor apartment because I can already sense her near.

Crap.

Pulling away from his kiss, I lay my hand on Cal’s chest.

He drops his head, necking me softly. “What’s the matter? Something wrong?”

“It’s just… I forgot that my sister might be home.”

Another kiss against my throat has me thinking it might not be such a terrible thing to ask Lorelei to give me some privacy. She’s used to me kicking her out of our space when I want to get laid. She never, ever complains, either, or judges me for getting my pleasure where I can.

She’s still a virgin. Not for any reason other than she’s never found a guy—or girl—who made her want to have sex for the first time. When we were pups, she held out hope that maybe we would be given a fated mate, but I convinced her years ago not to waste her time.

We’re guardians. We protect. That’s our calling.

Even if I’ve secretly wished to have someone I could share a bond with other than my sister. Luna, I fucking love her. I adore her. Without her good side, who knows where the hell I’d be. But it’s not easy, looking at the mirror-image of you, knowing that you might share the same face, but your twin is still that much better than you.

Of course, that’s why I’ve purposely kept Cal from meeting Lorelei. He knows I have a sister, even if I’ve downplayed the whole ‘twin’ thing, and that’s about it. But it isn’t often that I want something just to be mine, and for as long as this fling with my latest boyfriend lasts, I thought it could be Cal.

And then, because he’s a good guy, too, he lifts his head. “That’s okay. If anything, I’d like to meet her. You make her sound amazing.”

That’s because she is.

Besides, since Lorelei would’ve sensed my return the same time I noticed she was home, it would be a fucked-up thing to do, refusing to introduce the two of them. She knows I’m seeing someone. Even if we haven’t mated yet, Cal’s scent is mingled with mine anytime I come home late from another date. She doesn’t ask, though, because she knows that I’m notoriously tight-lipped about my lovers until I get bored and dump them.

Another reason why I always wished I might be able to form and finalize a mate bond with a male. Once it’s snapped into place, I can’t dump them. A one true mate is a gift from the Luna, the other half of your soul. How could you ever get bored of someone who’s supposed to be perfect for you?

Then again, I’m a twin. Maybe I already have that, just not the way most shifters do…

I take Cal’s hand as the elevator dings, the doors opening to my floor. “We’ve got the second one over here. Come on. I’m sure Lorelei will love to meet you.”

Famous last words. Later on, I’ll remember how flippantly I said them as I turned the knob and pushed in the door to our apartment.

Because the moment I lead my boyfriend inside, Lorelei appears in the front hallway—and goes motionless. Her eyes flicker from brown to silver, a sure sign that she’s experiencing some really strong emotions all of a sudden.

I think I’ve seen Lorelei lose control maybe twice our entire lives. To flash her eyes in front of a full human could lead to a whole ton of pesky questions we don’t want to answer if they’re not in the know, but she’s still flickering like a damaged phone screen.

My first instinct is to protect Lorelei. I tug on Cal’s hand, trying to get his attention so that he’s looking at me and not my sister.

“Babe—”

He shakes me off. Then, as if he can’t help himself, he takes two big steps toward Lorelei.

“You… you’re beautiful.”

What the…

I look from Lorelei to Cal and back again.

Okay. I shouldn’t be jealous. Lorelei is literally a carbon copy of me physically. He calls me gorgeous all the time.

So why does it seem different to hear Cal breathe out that my twin is beautiful?

Lorelei’s lips part. And though she can’t take her eyes off of Cal—and he’s nearly fucking drooling looking at my twin—she mouths one word.

Mate.

I take a few stumbled steps back as the realization of what she said—what that means—slaps me upside the head.

Neither one notices.

Honestly? At this very moment, I think I could walk out of the apartment and it would be ages before Cal and Lorelei realized I was gone.

And that’s exactly what I do.

My heart is thudding against my rib cage. I jab my pointer finger against the ‘down’ button for the elevator; the force of the push coupled with my unsheathed claw cracks it, but it works. Seconds later, I’m going down—then I’m bursting back out onto the sidewalk alone.

Well. No. Not alone.

As always, when I need her, the Luna is there.

My child…

Her thrumming, clear voice pops into my brain. Because I’ve always found it easier to speak out loud to talk to her, I mutter, “Is it true? Did Lorelei just find her fated mate?”

Yes.

I take a sharp left, stopping along the corner. The rough brick bites into the back of the light winter jacket I wear so the humans don’t wonder why I’m walking around in short sleeves at the end of November. I bang the back of my head against the wall, barely noticing it when I send some mortar falling at my feet.

“I thought… I thought we didn’t have one.”

All of my children have a mate. Some must wait to find them. Others are gifted their name, while many choose one on their own. I always thought that was what you were doing with your males. Searching for the right one to be your intended.

Right. Torn between my heart aching at losing Cal and feeling joy for Lorelei that she found forever in the man who was just kissing me… I’m not in the right headspace to think about my goddess knowing about my body count.

So I laugh. A couple walking by pick up their pace as though the crazed brunette hanging on the corner might be a dangerous threat—and they don’t know how right they are.

“I wasn’t,” I say flatly. “Because I never knew he existed.”

I could tell you. For your years of service, if you want his name…

Every wolf knows that the Luna rewards her leaders—the Alphas—with the name of their fated mate when they take over their packs. It’s her way of thanking them for building the individual communities that keep her shifters protected and thriving.

“It’s not Cal,” I mutter, digging my claws in the chipped mortar between the dingy red bricks behind me. “Right?”

Calvin Reynolds is your sister’s true mate?—

“Then I don’t care.”

Jean Louise…

No one calls me ‘Jean Louise’ except for our goddess and maybe Lorelei sometimes. Not even my parents call me by my legal name and they’re the ones who gave it to me. I’ve always been Jeannie so when the Luna pulls out ‘Jean Louise’ like that… I’ve pushed my luck.

But can you blame me?

“It is what it is.” I shake my head, shoving my hair out of my face. “I’m sorry for snapping at you. I didn’t mean it.”

You’re forgiven. I thought you knew… sometimes, when two souls meet, the connection might not be what it seems at the beginning. You were fated to meet Calvin Reynolds for this very moment.

“To play matchmaker for my twin,” I mutter.

It was meant to happen this way. Just like your fate will lead you?—

I shake my head. “It’s okay. It was a shock, but I’m not worried about my fate. Not when I still have Fallon to worry about instead.”

Fallon Witt. Lorelei’s and my assignment. The Luna tasked us with protecting her years ago because she has her own destiny to fulfill. As of the beginning of October, the plan that was put into place long before I was before was set into motion when Fallon left New York to visit a supe town known as Winter Creek.

That’s when Lorelei and I were put on pause. But that’s the thing. Our guardian assignment lasted nine years. The friendship that began when the Luna told my twin and I that we were to watch over her is real. Sure, Lorelei is Fallon’s best friend—good twin—while Fallon likes to refer to me as her ‘frenemy’—bad twin—but that just means we’re both worried about her.

She’s a supe, too, but up until she rolled into Winter Creek, Fallon had no idea. By now, she has to, but we haven’t heard anything from her in weeks besides random updates from our goddess.

I’d give anything to see the look on her face when she discovered she’s not only part witch, part wolf shifter, but that she’s the reincarnation of a halfling who was mauled to death by a wild wolf seventy years ago. That would definitely distract me from the whole ‘my boyfriend is probably banging my sister right about now’...

And just as I have that though, the Luna smiles down on me. I feel it in the way the sliver of the moon over my head makes my normally tanned skin glow softly, and I know that anyone looking at me now would see that my brown eyes are suddenly silver.

If you honestly feel that way, I have an assignment that might help.

“What? Yes. Anything.”

You have two days to set your affairs in order. After that, the train won’t run for another moon.

Train? What?

“You mean to, like, Manhattan?”

Not quite, child…