Heather passed him and hobbled to the bathroom. She shut the door, leaving him alone in the room. He glanced around her space. It was sparsely furnished, and there was nothing to indicate it was lived in full time by any particular person. The comforter at the foot of the bed was floral. Was Heather a floral kind of girl? He didn’t think so.
This wasn’t her room. It was a guest room. Did she not live in the main house? She didn’t appear to be related to the people who’d come in and out of the room. A bit too formal. Maybe she’d been visiting.
Or maybe she’s one of the women kidnapped by the North American Reserves last month
. Marcus held his breath as he considered the option. It was possible, though he hadn’t seen evidence of any of the others. He hadn’t seen more than three women on the property at any time.
He had to agree with his mother. No way were the Spencers involved in something sinister. He’d been here for hours and no one had yet been anything other than polite and accepting, even though he’d given them no reason whatsoever to trust him.
Heather hobbled back into the room. She opened a drawer and pulled out a few things. She ignored him completely, and then she headed back for the restroom. Seconds later, he heard water running. The shower.
If she hadn’t closed the door entirely, he didn’t believe he would have been able to keep from nosing it open and watching her strip out of her meager clothing and duck under the spray. He licked his chops thinking about it.
In wolf form his ardor was at bay, but barely. If he shifted now, he wouldn’t be able to control himself. He’d never wanted a woman as badly as Heather Peters in his life. And her feisty mannerisms and cocky mouth made him itch to claim her immediately. He couldn’t believe how strong the call to mate could be. Overpowering to the point of insanity.
He panted, staring at the bathroom door. He needed to shift, on a visceral level. He needed to claim this woman almost as bad as he needed his next breath. No, worse. Instead he growled low in his throat as he listened to the water running down the drain, knowing his mate was naked behind the door. Damn Fate and Her wicked, witty self.
Heather returned from the bathroom and rolled her eyes at the wolf still lying on the floor. She decided not to speak to him for a while. See how he liked it. Ignoring him, she left the room, limping toward the kitchen. She felt him on her heels, but she didn’t turn around.
“Heather.” Natalie bustled over to help her, grabbing her arm with one hand and leading her to the kitchen table. “You look much better. Not as pale.”
Heather took a chair and propped her leg up on another. “I feel more alive. I took a shower.” It went without saying since her hair was damp and hanging in long ringlets, completely natural.
The wolf sat at her feet.
“You must be starving.”
“Yes, ma’am. And it smells so good in here.”
“Vegetable soup. I thought it would hit the spot. I know it’s technically too hot outside for soup these days, but when I’m feeling under the weather, I like it anyway.”
“Yes.” She licked her lips. “You’re correct.”
Natalie returned with a bowl, a chunk of fresh-baked bread, and a glass of iced tea. She took a seat next to Heather.
“So…”
Heather shook her head and nodded toward her feet. Hopefully Natalie would get her drift. Maybe if she stopped pandering to the stupid wolf, he would come around.
Or maybe it wasn’t that he didn’t want to shift. Maybe he couldn’t.
Shit
. “Could a wolf spend so much time shifted that they can’t shift back, do you suppose?”
Natalie’s eyelids rose. “I suppose. We were just discussing that possibility in fact. I’ve never known anyone who did, though.” She glanced under the table. “Frankly, I don’t think it’s been too long. He’s a little ragged, but not the way I’d expect him to look if he’d been in this form for years.”
“True.” Heather blew on a bite and sipped it. Heaven. She moaned. The wolf lifted his face. “So he’s just an ass.”
Now he growled.
Natalie smiled. “I wouldn’t go that far. He’s awfully protective. Not leaving your side. He knows.”
“Yeah, he knows all right. Thought he might have a coronary when I got out of bed in my undies.”
Natalie laughed. “Hmm. If that didn’t do it…”
“Maybe he didn’t like what he saw.”
The wolf growled again.
“Okay so not that.”
The men suddenly burst into the room from outside, letting the screen door slam behind them. The wolf sat up on his haunches and eased closer to her leg.
“You’re awake,” Jerome said.
“Yep.”
He glanced at the floor. “And your mate hasn’t shifted yet.”
“Nope.”
The men all took seats at the table, and Natalie went to the stove to bring over the pot of soup.
“Do you know how hot it is out there, Mom?” Scott asked.
“Shut your mouth. This is for Heather. If you don’t want it, make a sandwich.”
Scott lifted his arms. “Sorry. That was rude.”
“Very.” Natalie resumed her spot at the table. She must have already eaten. She hadn’t set a place for herself.
Scott, Jerome, and Jerrod, the youngest Spencer at only twelve, started eating.
“Did Drake go back to his own place for lunch?” Natalie asked them.
“Yeah.” Jerome swallowed his bite. “Said he needed to help Kenzie with the baby. She apparently didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“That poor girl. I’ll go relieve her in a while so she can take a nap.”
“Maybe I’ll go with you,” Heather said.
The wolf perked up at the pronouncement. She’d known he would. In a moment he settled back at her feet. She’d only said it to get a rise out of him. It worked.
It didn’t last long, however. Jerome spoke again. “I’ve been thinking. Do you think it’s possible your wolf has been drugged? That could explain why he hasn’t shifted. He could be held in a suspended state and can’t reach beyond the drugs yet.”
Heather almost fell out of her chair when her wolf jumped to both feet and stared at Jerome. Bingo.
Jerome smiled. “Okay then. That’s a possibility. Perhaps he escaped the Romulus and hasn’t been able to shift yet.”
“Why do you suppose he came here?” Heather wondered if he knew about the ranch and came for a similar reason. Refuge. But that didn’t explain his reluctance to shift.
Heather set her hand on the wolf’s head and wove her fingers into his fur. She hated the idea, but considering how many shifters had fallen under the influence of the Romulus, it wasn’t far-fetched to assume this wolf had been among the victims.
“If he’s been receiving the same drugs as the other members of the Romulus, why isn’t he extraordinarily large and strong?”
The wolf stiffened.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean it as an insult.” She held his head and tipped his jaw up to meet his gaze. “Have you seen those superwolves?”
He blinked at her.
Okay, maybe not
.
Jerome interjected again. “Anything’s possible. Now that we know there’s some genetics involved, it’s possible he didn’t have the right genomes to convert. A simple blood test should tell us if he’s been receiving anything unusual.” Jerome looked at the wolf. “Would you agree to that?”
The wolf stood rigid. He didn’t move for several moments. Finally he nodded subtly.
Heather felt relieved.
Making progress here
. “Do you think you’ll find the same drugs in him I had in me?”
The wolf flinched, baring his teeth.
Heather took his head in her hands. “Relax, big guy. I’m safe now. And you are too. The Spencers are good people. Whatever happened to you in the past, you can trust everyone on this ranch.”
Jerome shook his head. “I doubt we’ll find the same drugs in your wolf. I think the goal of the Romulus must have something to do with making the males stronger and the females weaker.”
The wolf growled.
Jerome chuckled. “He knows things. It’s not a coincidence he’s here.”
Heather gripped his fur tighter. “Maybe he heard about this ranch being used as a refuge for women.”
She couldn’t deduce anything from his reaction to her statement. She’d have to wait for him to shift to get more answers.
When they finished lunch, Jerome went to the barn for several minutes to retrieve supplies. With all the horses they had, they kept a full supply of basic medical equipment. He returned with a syringe and a few vials. He handed them to Heather. “You should do it. You’re the nurse around here, and he’s likely to bite my arm off if I try.”
Heather turned her chair a few inches and lowered her stiff leg to the ground to square up with the black wolf. He didn’t move. He stared at her with wide eyes. “Can I have your paw?” She held out a hand, and he lifted his front leg to her thigh. “Just a blood draw. These guys can send it to a lab and get some answers.” Her fingers shook. Drawing blood from a random stranger or a farm animal was one thing. Inflicting pain, no matter how minor, on her mate was another. Especially without his verbal commitment.
But he didn’t flinch.
Natalie handed her a cotton swab, which Heather used to clean a spot on his front leg. Steadying her arm, she slowly pierced her wolf’s skin and drew out three vials of blood.
She looked him in the eye when she was done. “Okay?”
He stared at her, narrowing his gaze as if to say, “How weak do I look?”
“I think he needs a drink.” At the very least. She’d hoped to lure him into shifting with thirst, but if it was beyond his control, that would be cruel.
Natalie grabbed a dish, filled it with water, and set it by the back door. “Try not to get water all over the floor, big guy. I’m the one who has to mop it.”
The wolf padded across the floor. Heather’s heart ached. What if he couldn’t shift? What would it mean for her life? “I need some air.” Heather lifted herself up and limped toward the door next to her mate.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Natalie asked.
“I’m fine. Getting better by the second. In fact I think I’ll find a nice, quiet, snake-free area and shift again. That should help finish off the healing.” What she really wanted to do was get her mate out of the house. In wolf form he couldn’t possibly be comfortable for such a long time inside.
Heather walked outside into the afternoon heat and immediately thought better of her plan. But her mate had perked up at the idea and lobbed ahead of her, glancing back every few seconds to make sure she was following. “I’m coming, big guy.” She followed him to the tree line and then sat on a stump to remove her clothes. “Turn around. I know I joked about my underwear earlier, but I’m not getting naked in front of a man who hasn’t managed to reciprocate, wolf form or not.”
The wolf sat and faced toward the barn as though he were on guard. In a way he was.
Heather made a pile of her clothes and quickly shifted. She nudged her mate, tucking her nose up under his front paw.
His eyes danced as he turned to her. And then he pounced, flattening her to the ground in submission, belly up. He held her down with one paw.
Fine. Got it. You’re the alpha. You can assert your authority in that area as soon as you shift
. Too bad she had no way to communicate her thoughts with him. The only thing she could do was stay still and let him assert himself. In a strange warped way, she was turned on by his dominance.
Shifters didn’t mate in their wolf form. Their minds were advanced even shifted. It wasn’t something she would ever do. But she was nevertheless attracted to what small portion of his personality she was privy to in his natural form.
He couldn’t talk to her, but he demonstrated his strength and virility anyway.
•●•
Marcus stared down at his gorgeous mate, his heart pounding, his chest heaving. He held her steady for longer than necessary, hoping to ensure she understood he wasn’t some dumb mutt. He was her mate.
Not that he was an ass, but he wasn’t the pushover she may have perceived him to be.
He’d conceded to the bloodwork for several reasons. To do otherwise would have been suspicious. If they happened to find traces of some substance from years ago or even last year, it would only indicate he too was a victim. If not, he would be cleared of any possible ulterior motives the Spencers may suspect of him concerning Heather. Hell, he would be relieved to have the confirmation he was not under the influence of any substance affecting his knowledge that Heather was his true mate.
Now, if he could get her healed and then keep her safe, he’d be one hundred times more relaxed. Shifting could wait. The snake bite had shaved years off his life. Adding the knowledge she’d been drugged made his blood boil.
He’d nearly pounced on her when he’d come inside the house, shoving the Spencers out of the way to make sure she was safe and healing. How on earth he’d thought he could leave her and walk away into the woods, he couldn’t imagine. It hadn’t taken him long to wander back toward the main house, worry eating at his gut.
The Spencers were right about one thing, it had been a while since he’d shifted. And Natalie was astute about his state also. It hadn’t been so long that he was a bedraggled mess. He was matted for sure, but not beyond repair. Nothing a shower and a comb wouldn’t fix.
Marcus released Heather and nudged her to stand. He pawed at her hind leg, hoping to ascertain the level of her discomfort.
Heather picked up the afflicted paw and wiggled it. She nodded as she set it down, and then she took off running into the tree line.
The little imp.
Marcus bounded after her. What if she got bit again? Or fell? Or couldn’t make it back?
Since when do you worry so much about someone else’s safety?
Since I met my mate
.
She didn’t go far before pausing to rest her hind leg. She plopped down in a meadow and lolled in the sun. Marcus glanced around, unsure about the level of their safety. Surely Heather knew what she was doing. He hoped she wasn’t foolish enough to put herself in danger. She hadn’t done anything yet to concern him to that level, but he barely knew her.
And he wasn’t convinced about the safety level of the ranch yet. There were a few members of the North American Reserves milling around at all times, probably remnants of whatever had gone down on the ranch before he’d arrived. NAR could only do so much. They had a few guys staying in one of the cabins on the property, but however many others had been there before, they were gone now.