Tempted (Two Marks 1)

He stopped the truck and looked at me over the hood. “I know where that animal is,” he said grimly. “It will take a while to get there.”

“This is my priority,” I said, looking him in the eye. “I’ll stay as long as it takes.”

John grunted and drove down a dirt road. After almost an hour of driving in silence, he said, “Your mates… you said you’re not speaking? Was it over these trackers?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I shut him down. We might be allies in saving Comet and the other wolves, but we weren’t BFFs.

“No, no, of course you don’t,” he replied. “It’s none of my business. I’m grateful to you for coming to me with the information on Hollaroy and the trackers.”

My fingers tangled in my lap; the pain of the falling out I’d had with my mates was still raw. Focusing on saving Comet would keep my mind off of them, if John didn’t bring it up. I really didn’t want to discuss any of this with a total stranger, even if he was a shifter and understood marking and mating better than I.

He cleared his throat. “Your mates must be frantic to be apart from you. I’m not sure if you understand how much a wolf requires his mate.”

Ugh, couldn’t he just stop?

I licked my lips, turned on the bench seat, and faced him. “Please. I’m not going to discuss this with you.”

“Okay, okay.” He lifted his fingers from the steering wheel so his hand made the stop gesture. “I just hope you’ll give them a chance to repair things between you three. For their sake, and for the good of the pack. I can see how much you care about wolves. You’ll be an enormous asset to West Springs.”

I blinked away the burning behind my eyelids. I had no plans to live in West Springs. I had a job I loved in Granger. But even as those defensive thoughts attacked the idea, I knew they weren’t true.

I loved wolves, not Granger State. My paper would get my name out there, but all the research was tainted now. Knowing what Dr. Andrews had done, how the wolves had been killed, there was no sense of accomplishment. Sure, I’d tweaked what I’d planned to write, but still… nothing seemed the same now. Even worse, I was able to look back and clearly see I’d never quite felt like I fit anywhere until I met Wade and Landry. Until I came here.

My parents’ teaching job offer had been presented from a place of love. The position itself would have been worthy, getting kids into science and hopefully loving it as much as I did. But it wasn’t me. Now I knew why.

John parked his truck on the side of the dirt road. We were in the middle of a thick pine forest, the land sloping steeply. He got out, looked around as if he was taking stock of his surroundings. “From here, we’ll have to hike.”

I looked about, and tried to see it from his perspective, which I couldn’t. It was just woods to me. “Okay.” Even though I knew they were in there, I double-checked my backpack for the tranq gun and equipment required to remove the tracker, then followed John along an unmarked path.

Twenty minutes later, I was starting to fear he was leading me in circles when he went still, listening. The crackle of twigs and soft footfalls running quickly reached my ears. I drew in a breath to scream at what appeared from the forest.

Two giant wolves leaped right toward us.

“It’s all right.” John gripped my shoulder, and the truth hit me.

These were my wolves.

My mates.

My heart had been pounding out of fear, but that slipped away. Now, my heart was pounding because Wade and Landry were here. Before my eyes, they shifted, then stood.

Naked.

My ovaries jumped for joy at the sight of them. Big, brawny, virile. And very hard. Their dicks were thick and long and bobbing toward me.

Their gazes were dark and eating me up. They clenched their fingers into fists as if keeping from grabbing me.

Grab me! Grab me!

“Randolph, thanks for cluing us in on how to find our mate.”

John tipped his hat to Landry and Wade.

“Sugar, we fucked up,” Wade began, taking a step toward me.

John held up his hand. “If you’re going to make up while your junk’s hanging out, tell me now.”

Wade stopped, and looked to John. I couldn’t help but laugh. Wade and Landry didn’t seem to care that they were naked. They didn’t have a modest bone in either of their bodies. They shouldn’t because they were… incredible.

John turned to me, seemingly trying to look anywhere but at his pack mates. “Give me the supplies. I’ll find the wolf and remove the tag.” He tipped his chin down, and gave me a pointed look. “Your job now is to put these two out of their misery.”