Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
It was Cain’s youngest uncle, Sam, who had taught Ally how to cook. And how to hotwire a car and escape zip ties. Cain’s uncles, all four still unmated . . . well, they hadn’t really known what to do with a little girl. Their version of raising her had been to teach her “important life skills.”
By the time she was eleven, she knew how to drive, how to skin animals, how to pick a lock, and how to brew beer. She could also reel off the military alphabet and speak Russian, Spanish, Italian, German, and Mandarin. Surprisingly enough, most of it had come in handy at some point.
Once her beef stir-fry was done, Ally took her meal outside and settled on the porch step that overlooked the lake. At total contrast to her morning meal, the atmosphere was calm and peaceful, with only the sounds of the forest to break up the silence.
After a few minutes, there was rustling in the grass. She couldn’t help frowning at the sight of a large gray wolf cautiously approaching, nostrils flaring. Taking in his scent, she realized it was Bracken. Stopping a few feet away, his eyes glued to her plate, he licked his lips.
She rolled her eyes. “Typical male.” She flung him a chunk of beef. “Now go.” He did, but only moments later another gray wolf appeared, this one broader. Jesse, her senses told her. She grumbled, “You’re all the same.” She threw him a chunk of meat, and he snapped his jaws around it before running off. That was when a third wolf appeared; he was a mix of brown and gray. Zander. “Do you guys have no shame?” With a growl, she threw him a piece of beef too. “No more. Go.”
Done with her lunch, she went inside to fetch the plate of cookies she’d baked. It was as she resettled on the step that the three wolves reappeared, side by side. “Oh, for God’s sake.”
When Derren arrived at the main lodge for lunch, he was surprised to find no sign of Ally. He’d figured she’d accompany Shaya there after the tour. When he was halfway through his lunch and she still hadn’t appeared, he was about to call her cell. But then Shaya suddenly spoke.
“Ally’s not coming.”
Confused, Derren echoed, “She’s not coming?”
“She said she probably won’t spend much time over here.”
Bracken stopped with his glass halfway to his mouth. “Why?”
“Because you’re all so cold and mean that it physically hurts to be around you.” Shaya shot them all disappointed looks.
Swallowing hard, Bracken looked kind of guilty. “It hurts her?”
“Negative emotions cause Seers pain,” explained Shaya.
“Wow.” Jesse blinked. “I didn’t know that.”
“It’s for the best that she sticks to the guest lodge,” said Kathy, refilling Zander’s glass. “Something wrong with your food?” She glanced at Bracken and Jesse. “You two haven’t eaten much either.”
Scratching the back of his neck, Bracken admitted, “We might have binged on beef and cookies before we got here.”
“Ally makes these giant chocolate chip cookies and, good God, they almost brought tears to my eyes.” Jesse’s groan was close to orgasmic.
Zander nodded slowly, smiling almost dreamily. “They were really good.”
“The beef was cooked to perfection,” proclaimed Bracken, a faraway look in his eyes.
“So she’s handy in the kitchen, is she?” asked Kathy sharply.
Wide-eyed, Bracken spluttered. “Of course she’s not as good as you.” Kathy just huffed. The moment the woman had turned around, he mouthed, “Ally’s cooking is way better.”
“I heard that, Bracken!”
He gaped at Kathy’s back. “I didn’t say anything!”
Eli chuckled. “Mom has eyes in the front, back, and sides of her head.”
Shaya looked at Nick, who was feeding Willow some kind of disgusting mush that she shockingly appeared to be enjoying. “Don’t you care that your attitude put Ally in pain?”
Nick glanced at her sideways. “I didn’t know it would hurt her, but I can’t help how I feel.”
“She healed our daughter. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
“Yeah, it does. And I’m grateful, Shay. But one little deed isn’t going to change how I feel about Seers.”
Leaving the Alpha pair to dispute the matter while the rest of the pack offered their opinions here and there, Derren finished his meal and headed for Ally’s lodge. Just to check on her, he told himself. It had nothing to do with the fact that his wolf was hounding him to go to her. Nothing to do with the fact that Derren himself wanted to see her . . . just because.
When his knock on the front door went unanswered, he rounded the lodge and found her lounging in the hammock listening to her iPod. Tuning everything out? Her scent twined around him, making his cock twitch to life.
Turning off the music, she asked, “Everything okay?”
Since her T-shirt had ridden up a little, flashing him a view of the swirly tattoo on her navel—no, it wasn’t okay at all. He found himself wanting to trace it with his tongue. “Shaya told me you plan to hole up here.”