2. Dom
2
DOM
I remember the first time I saw her.
“Kira will be late, as usual, but the macaroni salad she brings will more than make up for it,” Aaron says with his head under the hood of his Ford Mustang.
I nod, not particularly interested in meeting anyone’s little sister.
I’m standing at the front of Aaron’s garage, while he works on his car as we wait for his sister to arrive for the impromptu BBQ he decided to have this late Saturday afternoon.
As I lift my Bud to my lips, a dark green sedan makes its way up the road. Peonies. Not the artificial kind that comes from a bottle. This isn’t perfume. This is real. Fresh. Sweet, lush and so potent, it has my wolf sitting up, seeking more of that tantalizing scent.
It gets stronger.
I forget about my beer, forget Aaron is talking to me. I can’t function until I know exactly where that scent is coming from. It sinks into me, makes it impossible to focus on anything else.
The dark green sedan.
My eyes narrow on it as the driver flings open the car door. A man steps out. He’s in light green khaki. A sheriff’s uniform. No hat, just the uniform. He’s blond, blue eyed, with the looks that women go crazy over.
My attention moves on, my wolf disappointed.
Then the passenger side door swings open and all my wolf wants to do is wallow in the delicious scent flooding my senses.
A woman’s wavy, strawberry-blonde hair pops up, and as she rounds the car, she’s cradling a glass bowl of macaroni salad against her belly.
Her legs stretch out forever in a long, dark blue denim skirt, and a white blouse with tiny pink flowers cradle small but perfectly formed breasts. Freckles cover every patch of creamy, fair skin, and I want to kiss every single one of them, starting with the one beside her mouth. Her figure is lush, her hips curved, and her eyes are the most incredible dark blue I’ve ever seen.
A heart-stopping smile stretches her pink rosebud lips when she makes eye contact with me. The scent of her is like coming home. She’s human, but she’s something else. Something impossible.
A bond clicks into place.
Mate.
“This is my little sister, Kira.” Aaron steps up beside me, as the blond man slips his arm around her waist. “And her husband, Bryce.”
Her husband.
When she grips the bowl tighter with her right arm and offers me her left, I spot the gold wedding band I missed before. “Hi, Dom.”
My mate.
A lifetime of wishing and hoping to find her. But I don’t just meet her, I meet her husband.
Nearly 10 at night, backlit by harsh lights from her car, and face lined with exhaustion, Kira is still the most beautiful woman I’ve seen in my life.
“Kira.” I nod, like my wolf isn’t snarling at me to drag her to the ground, close my teeth in the junction of her shoulder and neck and put my mark on her so every man and shifter knows she’s mine.
But something has caught my attention. Something different from the last time I saw her. She is missing the gold band on her wedding finger.
She clears her throat, fingers tensing on her open car door. “I was in the area and thought I would stop by.”
I should respond, but I can’t stop staring at her left hand.
Does that mean what I think it means, or is it just wishful thinking?
She must spot where I’m looking for her to drop her hand and say sheepishly, “Uh, it’s probably not a good wife thing to do to misplace your wedding ring, is it?”
She’s smiling, but I’m not getting the whole truth here. Maybe not even a sliver of it.
“Right.”
The silence extends and her smile slowly fades. “If this isn’t a good time, I can?—”
“Dom.” The front door slams open behind me, yet I still don’t take my eyes off Kira as Galen, my alpha, and the leader of Pack Hunt, joins me on the porch. “I thought I heard voices. You lost?”
Kira hesitates, as the bitter tang of fear clouds her sweet floral scent.
She doesn’t know Galen. It’s night, and she’s in a remote farmhouse in an equally remote part of town, coming face to face with a 6’4 heavily muscled guy whose every word sounds like an order. Because it is. Alphas like to give orders, and none more so than Galen.
“This is Kira.” I keep my voice light, casual. Not like I have my mate in front of me and my wolf isn’t howling and howling at me to claim her. I hunt for the right way to introduce them because there’s no saying mate in front of her without her getting in her car and speeding away. “An acquaintance. Kira, Galen is a friend.”
The silence stretches out even longer.
I feel Galen’s stare bore into my back. “Well, did she want to come inside? It’s brisk out here.”
We look at each other, Kira and I.
She thinks I hate her, and I’ve done nothing to make her think otherwise. She was friendly then, warm and happy to speak to her older brother’s newest friend in town. Now her gaze is wary.
When I say nothing, she retreats a step. “It’s okay. I’m not?—”
“ Stay .” She jumps at my bark, and I force myself to calm down.
Relax. No desperate signs you want her to stay. Just… calm.
I tell myself I can be the same calm Dom who held Pack Hunt together when Galen nearly got himself killed. But I look at Kira, and I’m not sure if I know how to be calm around her.
I drag my eyes off her, darting a rapid glance at the open front door where Galen is eyeing me curiously as footsteps head this way.
“Is everything okay out here?” Sierra stops beside Galen, her mate. Her gray eyes bounce from me to Kira and back again.
I should have known she would want to find out what was going on out here.
“Fine.” I nod toward Kira’s dark blue Toyota. “Do you have any bags you need carrying in?”
I hold my breath as I wait for her response. The bigger the bag, the more chance she’ll stay. A weekend bag suggests a day or two. If I can get a peek in her trunk and find a suitcase…
“No. I’m only going to be here for the night.” She pauses. “I mean, unless you?—”
“It’s fine.” My voice is sharper than I intended, frustrated because I am still getting the sense she’s lying to me and I don’t know why she would. Just that it’s pissing me off.
I feel Galen’s stare intensify. His attention doesn’t surprise me. It’s not often I lose my cool.
Kira hesitates beside her car. “Look, if you don’t want me to stay, I can find a hotel for the night. It’s no big deal.”
I hold my arm out. “Come on. I’ll show you the spare room.”
After a long moment, she leans into her car and cuts the engine, emerging with just her car keys. No bag, no cell phone, nothing but her keys.
My eyes slide to the car as I frown. She’s in a long black denim skirt, white tennis shoes, and a thin, long-sleeve gray T-shirt. The sort of outfit might be okay in summer in Missouri. We’re in upstate New York, and nights are brisk. Where is her coat or even a sweater?
She slams the door shut and walks toward me. “Thanks for this. I’ll be out of your hair first thing tomorrow.”
I nod, saying nothing as I lead her into the house, a large seven bedroom farmhouse we restored from a crumbling down building into a home.
Galen is blank-faced as I pass him, and Sierra looks confused. Probably because there is no spare room for Kira to stay in. Just the couch in the den that folds out into a bed.
I don’t head for the den. My mate is not sleeping on a couch.
Conscious Kira is a couple of steps behind me, I lead the way up the stairs, grateful it’s late and I don’t have to introduce her to my packmates. We went on a long pack run earlier, which wiped everyone out. Breakfast tomorrow will be interesting.
I’d have been in bed already, but no matter how tired I am, or how exhausting a day has been, I can’t go to bed until I’ve sat on the porch for an hour or two.
Just in case. I never told anyone why I did it or who I was waiting for.
Her. Kira.
On the second floor of our farmhouse, I push one of the closed doors open, holding it for her to enter.
I don’t need to hold it open, but I do need to have her closer to me.
After the barest hesitation, she walks past me and into the bedroom. Her left arm brushes my chest as the scent of her fills my lungs.
Her eyes fly to me and widen before she subtly retreats. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you.”
“It’s okay. The doorway is narrow,” I say, wishing it was narrower.
For one long moment, we hold each other’s gaze. Then she looks away, her cheeks pink as she examines the room with gray drapes, neatly made up bed, and dresser along one wall.
The spot between her shoulder and neck captures my focus. My gums ache with the need to sweep her hair aside, pin her to the nearest wall and bite .
“… putting you out?”
I study her expectant face as I deduce what few words I missed. “This room is yours for however long you need or want it. You’re not putting anyone out.”
She clears her throat. “I always thought you hated me, back in Missouri.”
“I never hated you, Kira,” I say softly.
“Oh.”
Conscious that it’s late, and she’s probably been on the road long enough to need rest, I back up a step and point my chin at a closed hallway door opposite.
“There’s a bathroom across the hall that you can use. You can find a clean towel behind the door, and a spare toothbrush and other stuff you might need under the sink. It’s late and everyone is asleep now, so you won’t have to worry about bumping into anyone.”
We usually keep spares on hand for when Galen’s sister, Eden, and her mate, Luka, visit from Colorado and forget something. We’ve rarely had to dig into that stuff, but it’s good to have just in case.
“ Everyone ?” Her brow lifts as she scratches the back of her bare right arm.
Again, my gaze snags on her naked ring finger. The skin is paler there, a sign she took the ring off recently.
“The people who live here,” I explain. When her eyes narrow, I pretend not to notice her curiosity, retreating before she can ask me about them. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
She nods. “Thanks.”
I close the door and hold still, listening to her moving around and hoping she doesn’t go through the dresser.
I told her this was a spare room. It’s not. It’s mine, and the second she opens any of those drawers, she’ll know it. For the first time, and maybe the only time, I have my mate in my bed.
Now to get her to stay.