Vivian Arend - Wolf Line

Chad’s jaw flapped open. “Really? I mean, really?”

Tessa shook a finger at him. “You’re a great coordinator, Chad. You just need to lay off the private vendettas with crew members.”

Chad glanced sheepishly at Jared. “Sorry about that.”

Jared lifted his mug. “Totally forgotten.”

Keri fidgeted at his side. “Tessa, you never said a word to me about not wanting to run the cruise ship next time out. What’s up?”

“You were a little distracted.” Tessa’s wide grin was echoed in the expressions facing them.

Yeah, they’d been a trifle distracted, although who could blame them? Even sitting there he was aching to run off with Keri again, find somewhere private and not surface for days. This mating thing—totally disruptive in more ways than he’d expected.

“Spill, girlfriend.”

Tessa wiped chocolate from her lips. “I can’t stand the ocean. I was borderline seasick the entire trip, and the only thing keeping me sane was the chocolate. If I don’t want to be a three-hundred-pound cougar, I need to find a dry-land place to manage. The ship was fun, and I know I did a good job, but Tony is welcome to it if he wants the job. I’m moving on to something that suits me better.”

Keri laughed. “Now the chocolate makes sense. But…good for you. Yes, you need to do what’s going to make you happy. I’m still proud of you.”

Tessa smiled, and Jared relaxed.

If Tessa wasn’t working the ship anymore, then perhaps Keri would be open to a little suggestion he had of his own.

He twisted her toward him and leaned their foreheads together. He spoke softly, just for her ears as the noise of happy voices rumbled around them. “You sad you don’t have a job anymore?”

She shook her head. “Unemployed—at least they didn’t drop me off in Greenland.”

He wasn’t quite sure what that meant. “So are you free to do something special with me? Like maybe find a nice artsy job here in the North?”

“I’m yours.”

The words were simple, but there was lightness in her eyes, a kind of a joy and brightness heating up quickly to something that made his body catch fire.

“I’m so glad to hear that.”

He ignored everyone around them. Ignored the fact his Alpha was staring and had a ton of unanswered questions. Ignored everything but his need to connect with his mate, because right then there was nothing on his to-do list higher than “kiss Keri senseless”.

So he did.

Vivian Arend has hiked, biked, skied and paddled her way around North America, and is working on Europe and the more southern continents. Throughout all her wanderings, stories have been planted, now ready to burst out in vivid colour. Light-hearted paranormal escapades, red-hot contemporaries—the genres are as varied as the experiences that inspired them.

Between times of living with no running water, she tries to keep up with her husband—the instigator of most of the wilderness adventures.

She loves to hear from readers: vivarend@gmail.com. You can also drop by www.vivianarend.com for more information on what is coming next.