One #3
“We know you’re a lone wolf without a pack,” Fletcher Beauden said gruffly, taking a step toward me.
He didn’t sound mean, and the move wasn’t threatening, not yet, but he was being clear.
“We’ve been here a couple weeks already getting the lay of the land.
But so you know, we have ten families along with fifteen unmated wolves we’re bringing here, and when we have our hunts once a month, we would like to be able to run freely. ”
I nodded, looking at Mr. Wentworth. “You’re the most powerful, but you let them both speak while you stay silent. Why is that?”
He took a breath before he spoke. “As Fletcher said, we’ve been here for a bit, looking at the land, watching you, observing your beautiful establishment here, and we like everything we’ve seen.”
“Didn’t answer my question at all, Mr. Wentworth.”
He exhaled sharply. “Please, call me Justin.”
“Okay.”
“I’m the son of the alpha, Abel Swann, but I don’t like to announce that, so I go by my mother’s maiden name unless we’re at the coetus.”
At the what? “Coitus?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“No, not—”
“It’s just not a good word,” Mr. Beauden informed Justin. “No offense, and I know it’s correct, but it’s not good. You should say gathering, or hunt, either of those work. But the other is really just terrible.”
“He’s not wrong,” Mr. Cunningham told Justin, and then turned back to me. “At a gathering, when our alpha invites several, or just one other pack to hunt with us? That’s when Justin uses his given name so everyone is clear that he’s the son of the alpha.”
“Ah. Thank you for the clarification, Mr. Cunningham.”
“Just Reggie, please. God, Mr. Cunningham is my father.”
“Same,” Mr. Beauden told me. “Fletcher, okay? Or just Fletch works too.”
“Okay,” I agreed, because formality was a pain.
“He lets us do the talking and uses Wentworth because he doesn’t want people throwing themselves at him,” Reggie said. “I mean, I wouldn’t want that either.”
“Could you not overshare?” Justin snapped, sounding utterly horrified.
“You don’t wanna find a mate?” I asked him.
“No, see, I do want a—”
“They basically try an’ jump him,” Reggie answered me.
“People learn you’re next in line to be alpha, and every pack suddenly has a single daughter or son that he just has to meet, who’d be the perfect mate, and it gets to be a bit of a free-for-all.
I mean, everyone wants to be the mate of the alpha. ”
When he said the words, the three of them looked at me, waiting.
“Of course,” I said, not wanting to be rude.
“Seems like all we did when we lived in the city was keep people off him, yanno?”
I didn’t, but it was certainly plausible. Mating was a very important part of being a wolf and something most packs placed a lot of importance on.
“Women, men,” Fletcher continued. “I mean, Merritt, they all want to roll around in Justin’s scent when he lets loose with the pheromones. Even humans can be influenced by them at times, though they have no idea what they’re reacting to.”
“Like Desmond Laramie,” I said, because suddenly it all made sense. “Did you charm him, Mr. Wentworth?”
“I might have, but again, it’s Justin.”
“Those pheromones of his are powerful,” Fletcher let me know.
I was certain they probably were, and he smelled amazing, but the longer I stood there with him, the clearer it became that the amazing scent did not, in fact, originate with him.
He must have bumped someone or brushed up against someone, and I wanted to ask who, but it wasn’t my place.
Plus, all my senses were firing, my interest throbbing under my skin, and that, truly, was a temptation I didn’t need.
I was a protector of the land, of women and children—that alone was what I had devoted my life to. I lived now, for no other purpose.
“He’s very popular,” Reggie assured me.
It was like they were both his hype men.
“Excuse me,” Justin said quickly, “I ordered a latte and need to go grab it.”
Once he was gone, I realized that both Reggie and Fletcher were staring at me. “I missed something,” I rushed out.
“I said that Justin was very popular,” Reggie repeated.
“Oh, yes, so you said.”
“You don’t think he would be?”
“I’m certain I have no idea.”
They were staring at me again, looking at me oddly.
“Gentlemen?”
“You’re not drawn to him?” Fletcher asked carefully, studying me, which was odd.
“Is this a wolf thing?” I asked, crossing my arms, squinting at them.
“You don’t feel anything being in his presence?” Reggie asked.
“No.”
Fletcher glanced at Reggie. “He must have decided against it.”
I wasn’t following the conversation at all, but that was fine.
Justin returned, complimented my barista, and only then noticed that none of us were speaking. “What’s happening?”
“Nothing,” Fletcher answered quickly.
“Might we have a word with you outside?” Justin asked after taking a large gulp of his latte. “We would appreciate it.”
“Course,” I agreed, and the three of them walked out ahead of me, passing under the thick arch to first the parking lot, and then to the sidewalk I’d put in myself, paved in granite setts, then to an area with a small wrought-iron bench in front of an ammonite wall that rose fifty feet up.
As The Bower was three stories high, it spanned from the ground to the roof.
Many people had taken pictures of it over the years, as the ammonites were set in opal and sparkled in the sun.
“Quickly, if I may,” Justin said, gesturing at the wall, “this is stunning.”
“Thank you.”
“How did you pay for this? It must have cost a fortune, and from everything we’ve seen, you, sir, are not a millionaire.”
“My family did it a long time ago,” I informed him.
“Your family?”
I nodded.
“When?”
“Over several generations,” I lied smoothly.
Justin narrowed his eyes as he regarded me. “You know, we looked at your deed with the county, to your own land as well as the one for the land here at The Bower, and everything has simply run through your line. In fact, both land parcels belonged to your family before the town was established.”
“That’s right.”
“Justin, why do we care about—”
“Just wait,” he ordered Fletcher, and his eyes flashed gold for a moment, which made both men instantly quiet. “This building is old, but it’s made of limestone. Not sandstone, not shale, but limestone, which is much harder to come by.”
“Yes.” I agreed, because there was no argument to be made.
“You have bur oaks on three sides, and at the front are two Rocky Mountain junipers that are somehow growing together over the entrance.”
“Yes. Is there a question in there?”
“All those trees, as a rule, don’t even grow in this region,” he said, casting me a suspicious look.
“That’s true. Several of my ancestors brought them back as saplings from their travels. Do you have an interest in dendrology?”
“Not really, I’m just a fan of how the trees have been specifically planted. I mean, I can’t imagine that even in the winter months, with large accumulations of snow, there’s much out here or in the courtyard.”
He would be correct. “We still get a skip now and then.”
“Skip?”
“A dusting, you know.”
“I have to tell you,” Fletcher said, “I can’t wait to bring my mother and my aunts. It’s like an oasis. The windows looking into the courtyard from three sides are really beautiful.”
“Thank you, that’s very kind.”
“It is, yes,” Justin said. “But how is that collection of trees, and all these different—you have slate on the sides toward that stream in the back, and I know basalt when I see it, and—”
“Are you a geologist?” I grinned.
His breath caught, and then he exhaled slowly. “Those are more hobbies. I’m a lawyer and oversee the legal aspects of the pack’s business dealings. The Swann Group buys and sells property all over the country. I’m excellent at getting what I want in negotiations.”
“I’m sure you are.” What else was I supposed to say to that? And now he was looking at me like it was my turn to say something. “Your father named his business after himself?”
“It was actually my great-grandfather.” He chuckled, taking a step closer to me. “He was the one with the inflated ego.”
I nodded. “So your father…?”
“Abel Swann.”
“He’s not a third?”
“No. That was my uncle, Anson Swann the Third, the firstborn, who passed.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“That’s all right, it was ages ago. After he died, my father took over the company, and steered the business in a very profitable direction, as well as growing our pack.”