Tempted (Two Marks 1)

It was hard not to get swept up into his project. The temptation was strong. But I had my own research. Sequencing DNA—human or otherwise—wasn’t my specialty. I didn’t go that in-depth with my wolf testing.

Then again, I’d love to see what he was doing. “May I look at the maps you have now?”

Cord flashed me a smile, then looked at his computer. “I’d appreciate that. I’ll print it out.” He hit a few buttons, and papers began to emerge from the printer.

I leaned forward to take them from him. This would be fun.

15

WADE

It took me over an hour to get the server at the distillery back online, which nearly killed me. I couldn’t wait to collect Caitlyn from Cord’s office.

Even though connecting the two of them was a genius idea, my wolf hated leaving her alone with him. Not just him, but any male. Not that I didn’t trust Cord. I totally did. But our mate wasn’t marked yet, which meant I couldn’t stand leaving her at all, much less with Cord, who was young, good-looking, and accomplished. I wanted to throttle the guy just for doing us this favor. The way Landry had paced while I’d worked showed he felt the same way.

Thankfully, when Landry had called Cord to connect him with Caitlyn, he’d explained the situation. Who she was, what she was. And what she wasn’t: marked. How we’d hoped to divert our mate’s focus from her research to his. I sure as hell hoped he could spark her interest in a different way, to study wolves where the findings wouldn’t be shared with the world. Claiming Caitlyn was priority one, but that required us to somehow convince her we could make this work, because it was more than taking her together. It was both of us marking her skin with our teeth.

Even if she had our marks, the pack would never accept her if she kept up with her current research. She couldn’t do both: accept us and expose us.

Besides, neither Landry nor I were too keen on her living and working fifty miles away. Keen? Wrong word. It wasn’t happening. Our mate was going to sleep between us every night.

We had to get her to move to West Springs, and work out how to keep that brilliant mind of hers busy so she still felt fulfilled with her career. We didn’t just need our mate. We needed to ensure her happiness.

We pulled in front of Cord’s practice and jumped out as if my truck was on fire. What we found definitely put my mind at ease and hastened our step. Caitlyn’s face was lit up and animated as she pointed at a paper on Cord’s desk that the two of them were both looking at.

“Glad to see you two found something to discuss,” Landry said.

Their heads popped up at his voice.

Caitlyn looked between us and smiled. Yeah, that made my wolf fucking happy.

“Cord’s research is really interesting,” she said, rising from her chair. “Did you solve your crisis at the distillery? I would like to see it sometime, by the way.”

“Wade solved the crisis,” Landry said, looping an arm around Caitlyn’s back and pulling her up against him. He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. “And yes, we’ll show you the distillery. Later.”

“Give me some of that,” I complained, and Caitlyn laughed as Landry released her and gave her a little nudge in my direction.

Fuck, she felt good in my arms. Her scent was like a drug, and I was instantly soothed. I took my time with the kiss. Angled my lips over hers and tasted her once. Twice. On the third time, I used a little tongue. I settled in long enough that Cord cleared his throat to let me know it was getting awkward for him.

I released her reluctantly. “Hungry, sugar? We could hit the West Springs Diner. They make a mean buffalo burger.”

“It is delicious,” Landry agreed.

“Sounds great.” She looked to Cord. “Want to join us?”

Cord glanced between me and Landry. “I think your mates want you all to themselves. Another time.”

I was relieved to hear him decline. The doctor was right. I was territorial and possessive of my mate. I gave him a nod as thanks.

No matter my unfounded jealousy, it seemed Caitlyn was far more relaxed than when we’d left her. Time with Cord had done her good. Talking science had put her back in her element. Or Cord had fielded her questions more effectively than Landry and I had last night. If there was anyone who could speak about marking and mating and scent-matches, it was Cord. The icing on the cake would be if Caitlyn could get interested enough in Cord’s research to want to join him, and leave her wolf-dog research behind.

Landry took one of Caitlyn’s hands and I took the other, and we led her down the street toward the diner, which was owned by a shifter family and was sort of the hub of all social activity in West Springs—human and shifter alike.