Tempted (Two Marks 1)

Caitlyn wasn’t planning to tag any more wolves. That was good, because she’d have to go out on her own to do it. I wasn’t taking her. Neither was Wade, or anyone else from the pack. But if she went, she’d be punished for breaking one of our rules.

She knew it. Thankfully. I didn’t mind spanking her ass. Fuck, my dick got hard just thinking about how my handprint bloomed on that fair skin. Or the way her soft flesh jiggled from the impact.

“Your boss?” I asked when she’d disconnected the call.

She nodded, looked up at me from Wade’s chair. The blanket was wrapped around her like a cocoon. She was covered up to her bare shoulders.

“He’s a workaholic,” she explained.

“He’s an asshole,” I countered, not mincing words.

Her mouth fell open, then she laughed. “Yeah, he is. But he’s the one who’s sponsoring the paper. It’s his name on the top, so he wants to—”

“What do you mean, his name is on the paper? I don’t see him out here with a bag full of trackers.”

She shook her head. “It’s his name above mine. That’s how these things work.”

I frowned. “That makes no fucking sense.”

“It does if you’re in academia.”

I sighed, ran a hand down my face. What I wanted was for her to toss up her hands—and toss off that blanket—and say she was quitting her research and her job at Granger State. All of it. But we weren’t there yet. She may have let us mark her, but she still hadn’t promised to leave the human world to do her scientific research for the pack instead.

It was probably still too soon for us to even suggest that, but we had Gib breathing down our necks about her research paper. The one she still planned to write.

Dammit.

She stood, but didn’t ditch the blanket. I glared at the damned thing. “I’m not going to tag any more wolves,” she said. “You know that. So I’m going to finish my work. Get it out there.”

I stilled. This was bad. Really bad. Gib was going to lose his shit.

“You sure, sugar?” I asked.

She cocked her head to the side, her dark hair sliding over her bare shoulder. “Of course I’m sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Your research… it’s going to be a problem for the pack.” I didn’t say for us, because I didn’t want to fight with her over this.

“I’ve been working on it for two years.” She frowned, studied me. “Are you saying you don’t want me to publish?”

I dropped my arms, moved closer to her, set my hands on her biceps over the blanket. “I’ve already told you. Any population studies could change their status for hunting. We don’t want attention brought to the wolves.”

“I’m helping,” she snapped.

“You sure about that?” I countered.

“Do you trust me?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

It was as if she’d hit me with a two by four. I dropped my hands, stepped back. “Of course.”

Did I? I’d been worried all this time about her paper putting us in danger. Would I be attracted to a woman who would do that? Would my wolf want to mark someone who was a threat? Would I defend her to Gib if I didn’t trust her?

Fuck, I hadn’t. I’d wanted everything from her. Demanded it, practically. Emotionally, physically. Yet why didn’t I trust her in this? She knew what we were. She knew how we felt. How we’d all be impacted. She’d met others in the pack.

“You don’t,” she said, her voice filled with hurt.

“I—”

Wade ran in. “Gib’s pulled up. Something’s wrong.”

I heard the wheels of his truck, the slide of the tires across the dirt as he hastily stopped.

I’d been too focused on Caitlyn to notice.

Wade was gone, cutting through the house before I turned and chased after him.

Gib hopped from his truck, every line in his body full of fury. Ben flew out the other side. They stalked to the back of his pickup, where Gib dropped the tailgate.

“Another wolf’s been shot,” Gibson snarled.

I ran over, saw the grey wolf with one white paw I’d tranqed last week for Caitlyn. The bloody fur. The lifeless body.

Fuck.

“Oh my God,” Caitlyn said, her hand over her mouth. The blanket was still around her, tears pooling in her eyes. “White Paw.”

Gib turned to her. Glared. “This is the third wolf that’s been shot in the past few months. They’ve all been fucking tagged with your trackers. Every one of them has one thing in common. You.”

20

CAITLYN

Bile rose from my stomach up my throat, making me choke. I shook my head, blinked back the tears as I stared at White Paw. Dead. “No. That can’t be. The trackers are for my eyes only.”

“Wolves are dying. Every one of them has had one of your chips in them,” Gibson snarled. “Explain that.”

I wiped away a tear from my cheek. “I-I can’t. But I had nothing to do with this. You have to believe me.”