Kayla Gabriel - Winter Lodge Wolves Complete Boxed Set

“Speaking of Chase…” Pax crossed his arms and looked down at the sleeping girl. “He’s going to lose his shit when he finds out you have a girl here.”

“I know.”

“He made a pretty big deal out of being the alpha wolf, and commanding us not to let any humans come here.”

“I know.”

“And yet… here she is anyway,” Pax said, giving Harlan a long look. “This is basically what he meant, in a nutshell.”

“Fuck, Pax. I know! What was I supposed to do, let the hunters catch her? Leave her to freeze to death in the snow?” Harlan gritted out. He scrubbed his fingers through his short, dark hair, knowing there was no real answer to his questions forthcoming.

“Just saying that Chase is going to be pissed if he finds out. Not to mention that the full moon is coming, and unless you want to hunt and turn your new friend into a werewolf, you’ll do what Chase says. Avoid her and every other human. It’s the only sure way to keep from doing what he did to us.”

“I’m surprised you even care what Chase will think. You guys aren’t exactly on talking terms, last time I checked. Haven’t been in almost… what, ten months?”

Paxton regarded Harlan for a long moment, then shrugged. Harlan kicked off his boots and peeled off his wet socks, fighting to keep from clawing off his pants and shirt. His wolf desperately wanted to get much, much closer to the pretty redhead in his care, so bad he felt like his skin was crawling.

“I’m telling you because I think you care,” Pax clarified. “And I also said if. If he finds out. As in… I will do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

A tiny knot of tension eased in Harlan’s stomach.

“Yeah?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the girl.

“Help the only person I both see regularly and can stand be around? Yeah, man,” Pax said, sounding offended. “I’ll take one for the team and go start some shit with Chase, keep him away for the night. You have to get her out of here first thing in the morning, though.”

“That’s your solution?” Harlan asked, a smile tugging at his lips. “Picking a fight with Chase?”

“It’ll be believable,” Pax said with a shrug. “I mean it, though, about getting her out of here. This is a bad, bad idea, H.”

“I couldn’t just… I don’t know how to say it,” Harlan said, turning away from the girl and pacing to the window. “My wolf is like… obsessed with her. I think if I’d tried to walk away, he would have taken over and dragged her back here on his own. He won’t shut the hell up, either. He’s been rattling the cage for the past hour, trying to get me to…”

Harlan trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence. Paxton cleared his throat, a strange look on his face.

“Like that weird mate bullshit we saw on TV?”

Pax referred to a popular news show’s coverage of supposed information about werewolves, from diet to appearance to how they found and kept so called mates . Pheromones, love at first sight, inescapable attraction, that kind of thing. Half of the stuff on the show had been way off base, so there was no reason to think that the mates thing was accurate. Pax was probably kidding, but the idea gave Harlan a chill.

“You’re overthinking it,” Pax said, cutting into Harlan’s rising panic. He clapped a hand on Harlan’s shoulder and made for the door. “In any case, all the better reason for you to get rid of her ASAP. Tomorrow morning, man. I mean it.”

“Yeah,” Harlan said, nodding. “Of course.”

Pax shot him a dubious look as he left. To his shame, Harlan felt a moment of relief when he shut the door on his friend.

Turning, he stared at the woman on the couch. Maybe if he got lucky, she’d sleep all the way till sunrise and then be out the door before they had to interact.

His wolf growled at the thought of her leaving, hating anything except the idea of Harlan taking the girl straight to his bed. Kissing her full, pouty lips, squeezing the perfect breasts he’d carefully avoided while undressing her. Sinking deep into her heat, watching her eyes blaze with passion as he made her call his name…

Harlan gave himself a shake. He needed space. Man and wolf were both obsessing about a woman they didn’t even know. They didn’t know her name, didn’t know what color her eyes would be when she woke.

She was a stranger. Hell, for all he knew, she had arrived with the hunters and gotten separated from them somehow. Or worse, she was some kind of bait to soften the wolves up and lead them out into the open.

Harlan went over to the couch and gathered her in his arms. Holding his breath to keep her delectable scent at bay, he carried her into his bedroom and laid her on the bed. Unable to help himself, he tucked her under the covers, just to be absolutely sure that she’d warm up on her own.

As opposed to with his help… naked… in a fashion featuring a lot of very aerobic sex…

Snarling at himself, Harlan left the bedroom, shutting the door tight. Grabbing a beer from the fridge, he settled himself in his armchair, the only other piece of furniture that didn’t smell like her .

Snatching up his battered copy of Master and Commander, Harlan sipped his beer and pretended to focus on the book, though his mind wandered from the page again and again.

Morning simply could not come soon enough.

Heart pounding. Breath ragged. Leaves and branches whipping at her bare skin as she raced through the forest. Sultry moonlight filtering down through the trees, the scent of dark, rich soil filling the air.

Behind her, a man. A glance back shows him to be tall and broad, all rippling tanned muscle, dark hair and glowing green eyes. He grins as he chases her, challenges her.

Penny surged forward, arms pumping, feet flying, heart filled with indescribable joy.

She won’t win.

Can’t. Not against him.

Still, the chase… the chase is everything.

Just as she spots the edge of the forest, where the trees will break and she’ll be free, strong arms band around her waist. Warm lips find her neck as he slows her down, stops her in her tracks.

A soft bite, just in that place at her nape, the spot that makes her weak in the knees. Hands cup her breasts, and she feels his long, thick cock pressing against her lower back.

Penny shivered. He was going to take her, possess her, brand her with his body…

Penny blinked and squirmed. She was way, way too warm. Sweating. Also weighed down with a ton of blankets. She squinted up at the ceiling. This wasn’t Amber’s lilac living room… the walls here were stark white.

The blankets weren’t her favorite comforter, either. These were fleece and wool, and they didn’t smell like her floral-scented detergent. They smelled like fresh pine needles with a little musk, like… like man should smell.

Penny shot up, looking around. Where the hell was she? The room was just white walls and wood floors, very simple. The decor was bare bones, nothing but the bed and a side table stacked high with thick novels. The Sun Also Rises caught her eye.

Whoever lived here, apparently they liked Hemingway. She screwed up her face as she climbed out of the strange bed, staring around. When the last blanket fell away, Penny was shocked to find that she was completely naked underneath.

She wobbled on her feet, her muscles cramping and protesting the abuse they’d suffered. She was bombarded with a sudden burst of memory, of leaving her car and trudging up toward the Winter Pass ski lodge.

Was that where she was now? This room seemed much too small, but maybe she was on the second floor. There was no window in the room, so it was impossible to tell.