Tempted (Two Marks 1)

“We take her out this morning, steer her clear of any wolves,” he said. “She doesn’t get any more tagged. Between her motivation to see her work through and that boss of hers, she’ll be back next weekend. Your rules will still apply.”

“Meaning she’ll be between us once more.” My dick and my wolf liked that idea.

“Exactly.”

“That only moves this conversation to next weekend. I don’t want to offer up more for her to tag then.”

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath. “I don’t know what the fuck to do. I’m trying to keep my wolf calm about her leaving later to go back to Granger.”

Fuck me. The idea of our mate being fifty miles away where we couldn’t be with her made my body actually ache. It was in our nature to mark our mate, then keep her close. Fuck her. Protect her. Cherish her.

We couldn’t do any of those things if she wasn’t here.

“I don’t know when Gib and Ben will return with their mate, but I can only stall my brother on this long enough. He’s going to lose his shit when he hears what I’ve done, how I’ve helped a human tag wolves. He won’t care if she's our mate.”

“I’m the worst enforcer substitute ever,” Wade grumbled, then sighed. “What can we do today—right now?”

I leaned against a pillar, crossed my arms. “We can’t tell her what we are.”

He gave me a look. “I asked what we can do, not can’t.” Wade shook his head. “Still, you’re right. Now’s definitely not the right time.”

I had no idea when that would be, but it wasn’t now. We had to figure out how to tell her what we were, and not drive her away at the same time. I was going crazy thinking of her returning to Granger.

I didn’t want to go moon mad, which could be a consequence of meeting your mate and not marking her, especially for a wolf of alpha lineage.

“We’ll go back in there and fuck our mate, satisfy our wolves. And her.” I pointed inside the house. “Then attempt to find more wolves for her to tranq and tag, but without success. We’ll take her back to her car at the trailhead, then…” I growled again. “Fuck.”

“I liked the fucking part. The rest sucks.”

At the sound of Caitlyn’s voice, we went quiet and turned toward the house. Even through two closed doors, we could hear her clearly with our wolf abilities. She was on the phone, or talking to herself.

“…two tagged yesterday. I’m hoping for more today and—”

She was quiet for a moment.

“I’m aware my funding is tied to the depth of my data. I’ll tag as many wolves as needed.”

Wade looked to me, jaw clenched.

She wasn’t talking to herself. Most likely that boss of hers. Calling her at dawn on Sunday? Definitely overbearing.

We were in big trouble, because it didn’t seem like there was anything that was going to keep our mate from exposing wolves to the world. Even if her mates were wolves.

CAITLYN

Dr. Andrews annoyed the shit out of me. I was the one up in the wilderness. I was the one approaching wild animals with a tranq gun. I was the one spending my weekends searching.

I hung up on him after yet another call going over the same thing. He wanted as many wolves tagged as possible to have the broadest data points. Like I didn’t know that. Two in one day was pretty amazing. I could spend this week in the lab following them, taking notes. It was a successful weekend, thanks to Landry and Wade.

And that was only from a professional standpoint.

I set my cell back on the dresser then gasped when they appeared in the open doorway. “God, you scared me.”

“You seem upset.” Landry came into the room.

The room with the huge bed where we’d done all kinds of naughty things. I was in Wade’s shirt, which I’d found on the floor. I hadn’t wanted to talk to Dr. Andrews naked, even though he couldn’t see me.

I pointed to my cell. “My boss. Checking in.”

Wade came over to me, tugged me to him, and dropped onto the bed so I stood between his parted knees. “He’s micromanaging the hell out of this project.”

I rolled my eyes as I absently played with the smattering of hair on his bare chest. His broad, well-muscled chest. “No kidding.”

“He bothering you?” Landry asked. The darker tone of the question had me looking up at him.

“Bothering? No. Annoying? Definitely.”

Wade’s fingers went to the buttons of his shirt that I was wearing, slowly opening each one. Oh, my. “We’ve got ways to make you forget about him.”

“When we’re done with you, the last thing you’ll be is annoyed,” Landry added.

He went to the bedside table, opened the drawer. He pulled out a shiny object and a small plastic bottle.