Two #4
“If that would be okay.”
I coughed softly. “That would be great.”
“At the moment, my brother and I, we’re in one of the cabins here on the property, but eventually I’m going to build a house for the two of us on the corner of the pack land, close to you. It’s prettier the farther up the hill you go.”
“Have you been on my land?”
“Yeah,” he husked, and I saw him swallow, releasing my wrist to move a piece of hair out of my eyes. “That area with all the birch trees is beautiful. I swear, though, with how dense it is, you could lose an elephant in there.”
I smiled at him. “Yes, you could.”
“Maybe we can take a hike together and you could show me around.”
“I would love to do that.”
“Good,” he said, almost under his breath.
It was my turn to say something. “You must enjoy spending time with your family.”
“My family?”
Shit. “I mean, living on the same land as your aunt and uncle, and your cousin.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry. I thought you meant Evan. I should’ve followed that, but you’re shorting out my brain just a bit.”
I was? He was the one turning me into an idiot.
“I’m back,” Justin announced, as though there should have been fanfare, slipping around the other side of me. “Now, Merritt, please do tell me what kind of—”
“It’s interesting,” Cole murmured, slipping a hand around the back of my neck, easing me closer to him. “What you said to Narah about your land being under a spell. Most people might be frightened by that.”
I cleared my throat. “My ancestors found it comforting, and so do I.”
“I would too.” His hand slipped down to the slope of my back. “This sweater is really thin. If you’re cold, I can run to my place and grab you a jacket.”
“Thank you, but I’m fine.”
“My brother was pretty freaked out when the rest of the guys with him just flopped down in the grass once they crossed the border of your land.”
“I’m sorry about that.” I cleared my throat again, trying to get my voice to work properly. “But I did warn Justin, Reggie, and Fletcher that hunting on my land wasn’t permitted.”
“Evan’s fine now that he understands what happened,” Cole assured me. “I think he was relieved, actually. He’s not a hunter.”
“And you are?”
“What’s happening right now?” Justin muttered.
“Oh no.” Cole grinned at me, his eyes glinting. “Hunting’s not something I have any interest in.”
“No thrill of the chase for you?”
“That is not what I said,” he replied, and his voice got low and silky. “Chasing something, catching a prize, keeping it…that interests me.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Justin rushed out, grabbing Cole’s bicep, wrenching him away from me, yanking him around to face him. “I told you about him. I said I was interested in seeing him and spending time with him and—”
“Watch yourself,” Cole warned him, grabbing hold of Justin’s wrist and peeling his fingers off his arm before shoving him a couple feet back. “You know better than that. You don’t put your hands on me. Ever.”
“Is that right?” Justin asked, baiting him, glaring at Cole.
“You know it is.” Cole’s voice was flat as he held his cousin’s stare.
After a moment, Justin glanced away.
“I’m sorry about that.” Cole smiled at me. “I would never mean to embarrass you.”
But it wasn’t embarrassing, and his display of dominance over Justin made my pulse quicken.
At heart, I was a primal creature, and the challenge, though small, added to the bigger picture of who Cole was.
And he was not subordinate to Justin, that was crystal clear, no matter where Justin stood in the hierarchy of the pack.
My breath caught, and I was probably blushing, which, horribly, happened on occasion, even as old as I was. No doubt my pupils were dilated too as I stared at something I wanted.
“Huh.” Cole gave me a grin that told me he was enjoying my reaction to him. “Your scent changed, did you know?”
Now I was embarrassed, and suddenly the floor had all my interest.
“Stop. Look at me.”
But there was no way.
“Mere,” he husked, and my shortened name sounded the best it ever had. “Now.”
My eyes met his, and he held my gaze.
“I can feel this down deep, you understand?”
I did, because I felt the same way. I’d been attracted to other men before, of course, but this felt strange. Different, and more. There was a pull under my skin that I wanted to surrender to, so I nodded in reply.
“Now,” Cole began, his attention back on his cousin, “so you know, I don’t just want to see Merritt occasionally or spend a bit of time with him. I want something much more. And if you were aware of your beast, you’d know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Justin frowned, clearly confused.
“Also, for the record—you talk a lot, Justin, but you let yourself get distracted by questions and things that don’t matter when you shouldn’t.”
“The hell is that supposed to mean?”
“If you want something, you act. Just because you’re the alpha’s son doesn’t mean we all defer to you.”
“You’re not allowed to go near anything of mine.”
“I promise you, Merritt Baker is not yours. Not at all.”
“Are you serious?”
Not wanting to stand there like an idiot while they talked about me as though I wasn’t there, I took my plate, grabbed a napkin, and left them to return to Narah.
“What was that about?” she asked when I took a seat beside her. “Things look a bit tense between my son and my nephew.”
“I have no idea.”
Her brows furrowed. “I so wish, as cousins, they were closer, but with the way the succession went, I suspect it can’t be helped.”
I nodded, and was about to ask what she meant when she spoke again.
“Oh, Merritt, excuse me a moment, won’t you?” She got up to go speak to someone across the room.
Once she was gone, I noticed the woman sitting on my right, and when I smiled at her, she leaned close.
“I just love your restaurant. I’ve been several times.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that.”
“I’m Narah’s sister, Oonagh. I’m visiting from Santa Monica for the winter.”
“I would think you’d want to winter there and come here in the summer.”
“I know, but I miss the seasons.”
I shot her a look like she was nuts, and she laughed.
“Why’re you really here?” I asked.
“Abel has a number of visits with other packs planned, and my sister is hoping to find me a mate.”
“Do you want a mate?”
“I don’t know, and what a refreshing question. You’re not a wolf, are you?”
“No, ma’am, I’m not.”
“I figured not, as you don’t have all of our same obsession with mating.”
“They just always want to expand the pack.”
“I know, and it’s smothering. My brother is an alpha, and he’s the same way.”
“Does he want you mated as well?”
“Oh yes, but as his and his mate’s matchmaking efforts have not been well received, he’s at least leaving it up to nature. I mean, I’m not going to have children at this point. I’m too old and—”
“You’re not too old if you want to be a mother, ma’am, but that’s your choice, no one else’s.”
“Well, it’s lovely that you think like that, and please call me Oonagh.”
I nodded.
“So, do you want to know?”
“Know what?”
“What the issue was with the succession?”
“I would very much like to know.”
She leaned even closer to me. “Well, Cole, who you just met and who Justin can’t stand, his father, Anson, was alpha of this pack, but when he was killed, Cole was too young to lead, so Abel stepped up.”
“He wasn’t given the title of regent or steward?”
“Oh, I’ve only ever heard steward used, but no. Abel pronounced himself alpha, and then, after a time, named his and Narah’s son, Justin, as successor.”
“How can he do that?”
“Because by that time, Cole wasn’t going to say anything about it.”
“And why is that?”
“It had been years, and you know, after a time, it takes a challenge to undo whatever an alpha has put in place.”
“Yes, but Abel wasn’t really the alpha.”
“But again, by then, he’d held the title for more than two decades.”
“So Cole and Evan lost their father and their birthright?”
“Yes,” she said firmly, then shook her head. “I probably shouldn’t have told you all of that.”
“It’s okay.”
“I wonder why I did?”
It happened because of what I was. No one kept secrets from me. It wasn’t possible. “I’m easy to talk to.”
“You certainly are. And you have such lovely warm green eyes.”
I ignored the compliment. “What happened to Cole and Evan’s mother?”
“She died giving birth to Evan.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s a sad story.”
“Makes sense why Cole wouldn’t be crazy about Justin.”
“It does, and why he constantly tries to take what Justin wants,” she added.
“What does Cole try and take?” Narah asked, retaking her seat on the other side of me. “Oonagh? What have you been saying to my new friend?”
“Nothing.”
“Well, that part is true, Mere. Cole tends to go after all sorts of things that interest Justin.”
I grinned at her. “Neither you, nor your sister, are subtle.”
Oonagh snorted out a laugh. “Me? What did I say?”
I shot her a look.
“All right,” she muttered, then turned to Narah. “This one’s onto us, mate of the alpha.”
“You need to hush,” Narah groused, then looked back at me.
“You’re funny,” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. That was clumsily played, I agree.”
I just tilted my head and waited.
“As a mother, with how much he’s spoken of you, I would like you to date my son, not my nephew.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about it because I’m not dating anyone.”
“Why not?”
I sighed heavily. “Love is exhausting.”
She snorted out a laugh just as her husband joined us, taking a seat beside her. He couldn’t help smiling.
“That was a good sound,” he told her.
She smacked his arm, and his smile lit his face. Truly, it was nice seeing a couple who were clearly very much smitten with one another.
“Merritt was just saying that love is exhausting.”
“Oh God, it is,” he agreed, leaning forward so he could see me. “You could not be more correct, my friend.”
“See?” I said to Narah.
Turning, she smacked her husband’s arm again. “He’s far too young to be so jaded, and your son has a bit of a crush, sir, so don’t do that.”