Finding Their Mate [Wolf Pack Mates 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  Kyan was so careful to stay well back he didn’t see which yard she entered, but at least her car was off the street. He parked his motorcycle at the top of the road, making sure it and his panniers were securely locked. Thank all the fates the panniers were metal. He was certain fabric or leather ones would be slit open and the contents stolen in no time at all in this neighborhood.

  He stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and slouched down the sidewalk, trying not to obviously look into every yard. No one was on any of the porches, or in their yards, but most houses had a couple of cars in the driveway. Kyan heaved a sigh of relief when he saw her car. It was parked in front of a bungalow beside a house. He slowed his pace and watched as a light came on in the bungalow. Okay, she lived in there then, not in the house. Or else she was visiting there. It was the kind of place a family might house an elderly parent, so perhaps she was just checking on her aged grandmother or something.

  Kyan walked all the way to the end of the road, then crossed to the opposite sidewalk. He took his fleece jacket off and pulled the baseball cap out of the pocket, setting it on his head, with the visor tilted over his face as a bit of a disguise. He held the jacket on the arm away from the road, hoping if Bianca looked out the window she wouldn’t notice it. Then he walked back. Nothing had changed.

  He was almost certain she’d turned the light on in the bungalow. But that might mean she was there to cook Grannie’s supper, or visit with her a while. He couldn’t keep walking up and down and it was still daylight, so if he stood watching he really would get arrested. He’d have to go away and come back after dark. Dammit, this was harder than it looked in the movies. He knew her address, yes, but basically, he still knew nothing.

  Kyan walked back to his bike, put his fleece jacket on again, and drove around until he found a mall. He stopped at the take-out restaurant and got himself a burger and fries, plus an ice tea, then he walked around the mall for what seemed like an eternity until it was dark. Finally he decided enough time had passed and he could make his way back to where Bianca lived.

  At the mall he put the denim jacket on under the fleece jacket. He drove into Bianca’s road from the other end this time, leaving his bike there and locking the fleece jacket into his panniers. Baseball cap pulled down over his face, he walked to her house, stopping on the opposite side of the road, and standing against a shrub where he’d be less visible, as he watched carefully.

  It was hopeless. He couldn’t see or hear anything. He really needed to send a complaint to the movie people. When they did this on TV the good guy always found out whatever he wanted to know. Kyan had a good look around in every direction, standing perfectly still, using his enhanced wolf senses to smell and listen for anything unusual. Nothing. Walking quietly, he crossed the road and kept to the grass instead of stepping on the driveway.

  First he went down the side between the main house and the fence. Some of the drapes had been pulled shut carelessly, leaving gaps he could see through. But all he saw was furniture. No people. He stopped and listened hard before he went into the backyard. The last thing he needed was a guard dog taking a chunk out of his leg. But there was no sound of an animal, and no scent of one either. As silently as possible, Kyan crossed the backyard. The kitchen blind had not been closed and there was a middle-aged man leaning back in an armchair watching the ball game. There was no sign of anyone else and he was a lot older than Bianca, although possibly not old enough to be her father unless he’d married very young.

  The plates had been cleared off the table, so Kyan couldn’t tell how many people had eaten, but when he stepped up very close to the window and could see the sink, there was just one plate and one cup in it. Hoping he hadn’t left footprints in the dirt, Kyan scuffed the area where he’d been standing with one toe, then walked softly across to the bungalow.

  There were only two windows to the bungalow and both had blankets nailed across them. Cursing his luck, Kyan rested an ear against the clapboard and was rewarded with the soft sound of music on low. Shaking his head at the depths to which he was sinking, Kyan opened the lid of her trash can. Of course, the trash was neatly tied up in bags. Kyan pulled the top bag out and untied it. Grimacing, he tried to look through it by moving items around from the outside of the bag, through the plastic, without touching anything. Orange and banana skins, a couple apple cores, an empty yogurt tub, coffee grounds. As certain as he could be that this was not grannie’s house but Bianca’s, Kyan tied up the trash bag again, replaced it in the trash can, and cautiously left the property.

  But it wasn’t until he was a couple miles down the road that his heart stopped pounding. “I’ll never believe in the movies again. James Bond, eat your heart out!”

  Step one was successfully completed. Tomorrow he’d talk to Aragon and likely by tomorrow night they’d have Bianca in their bed. Easy peasy.

  * * * *

  Aragon wouldn’t go so far as to say his day had been wasted at the craft fair, but it had definitely been a very long day. He’d had the privilege of watching Bianca, of course, and that was pure joy. She was always sweet and helpful, even when he could tell people were asking stupid questions. He also got to see how delighted so many people were with her work. As for those big paper ball things she’d made, they attracted a lot of attention and one lady wanted her to make sixteen of them in various shades of pink for her daughter’s sweet sixteen party. Bianca was really happy about that.

  But when he’d offered to buy her coffee, popcorn, a hot dog, even cotton candy, from the vendors outside, she’d resolutely shaken her head and drank a sip of water and eaten her apple for lunch. He was starving and she had to be hungry, too. He guessed she didn’t want to leave her table in case she missed a sale, and he also guessed she didn’t want to risk getting grease or ketchup on her craftwork. But hell, it was a long, hard day for her.

  He was standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall when Kyan tapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s talk,” said Kyan.

  Aragon glanced at Bianca but she was busy making some paper thing, so he followed Kyan outside. Actually, she was always busy. She never just sat there. She was either talking to customers or making things the whole time.

  Kyan led them right over to the far side of the schoolyard, away from the people sitting at the picnic tables and the lines at the vendors. Away even from the vacant parking spaces where some new customers might arrive any moment.

  Aragon wondered if Kyan was going to tell him to stay away from Bianca. That he’d seen her first. That was true. Kyan had found her first. But Aragon didn’t think he could leave her alone. She called to his soul in a way no person ever had before. He wanted her desperately, yet he knew almost nothing about her. He wouldn’t give her up for anyone, but he would share her. With so few suitable females, sharing was a fact of life these days.

  At the edge of the property Kyan stopped and turned around. They stood almost toe to toe so they could look at each other.

  “I know you want Bianca and I want her, too. The Supreme has said both sharing and mating humans is allowed, and of course, Jasper has already done this as have several others. I propose we ask Bianca to mate with us both. Tonight.”

  “Tonight? But we haven’t dated her or learned anything about her. At least I haven’t. Have you?”

  “I followed her home last night and she isn’t living with a partner. But I haven’t dated her. I don’t think we can take the time to do that type of thing. Weeks and months of going dancing and to movies. Long before we finish the standard way of doing things other wolves—or men—will have stepped in and stolen her from us. We need to act fast, decisively. Today.”

  It wasn’t the way Aragon would have done it. But what did he know about women? Nothing. So he nodded. “But we still need to date her tonight. Ask her out to eat at least. All she has eaten all day here is an apple. She has to be starving. I know I am, and I ate a couple hot dogs.”

  “You’re right. Asking her over a meal will be better. And sh
e can choose where we go to eat which means it’ll be something she likes. Her trash mostly had fruit peelings in it. Not real food.”

  “What? You looked in her trash?” Aragon could hardly believe what he was hearing. Could Kyan really have done that?

  “I was trying to see if the bungalow was her grandmother’s house or hers.”

  “She has a grandmother?”

  “I don’t know. But the bungalow was one of those places grandparents often live in.”

  Aragon was beginning to think he’d walked into this conversation halfway through, when he knew he’d been there at the start. But he really didn’t understanding everything. “Perhaps you’d better start again and tell me about what happened. I’m confused.”

  Kyan sighed and looked a little embarrassed. “I followed her home last night to learn a bit more about her. She lives in a bungalow in the yard of a regular house. I didn’t know whether it was her house or if she was visiting someone there, like a grandparent for instance. Later I walked around, but she has blankets covering her windows so I looked in her trash. It was mostly fruit and vegetable peels.”

  “Okay. So at the end of the craft market today we invite her out to dinner. She chooses the place and we romance her and learn more about her.”

  “Exactly. Then we take her home to my place, fuck her brains out and ask her to mate with us.”

  Aragon wasn’t sure that would work. “What if she won’t go home with us?”

  “She will if we do the meal part right. She has to see how much we want her and how important it is to get her to commit to us before other men start chasing after her.”

  “But will it be safe to take her onto the pack lands. Might it be better to go to a hotel?”

  Kyan nodded. “That’s a better idea. We can book somewhere really nice. Something that will be more romantic than just going back to my house.”

  Aragon watched as Kyan scrolled through his cell phone until they decided on a hotel in town that overlooked the river. “She’s an artist, so seeing all the city lights should be something she’ll like,” said Aragon.

  They planned some more about how the night would go and who’d do what. “As long as she has three or four orgasms she should be happy,” said Kyan.

  But Aragon wondered if that would be enough to make her say yes. He was very much aware of how little he knew about women, but he had a gut feeling the process was a bit more complicated than they were making it. He hoped Kyan’s desperate desire for the woman wasn’t overruling his judgment. It was very obvious how passionately Kyan wanted to be with Bianca. He felt the same. But he worried they were moving too fast.

  Together they helped her wheel her two suitcases back to her car. Then they stood one on each side of her and Kyan said, “We hope you’ll agree to come to dinner with us tonight. You choose the place and we’ll go there. Wherever you’d like. We just want to be with you.”

  Bianca popped her trunk and lifted the roll-on suitcases inside. “No.”

  “Please reconsider. Please let us be with you and get to know you over a meal,” begged Aragon. He was aware of how pathetic he sounded, begging her like this, but he wanted her so much he couldn’t bear it if she refused them right from the get-go.

  Bianca climbed into her car and buckled up her seat belt. “No.”

  “Why not? You can choose where we go, what we eat, what we do,” asked Kyan.

  Bianca turned her engine on. “Because you’re both wolves and I’m a red fox. There can never be anything between us.” She gunned the engine, slammed her car door closed, and pulled out of the parking lot.

  “You know about us?” Kyan asked to the dust of her departing tires.

  “You’re what?” added Aragon, feeling as if she’d just run him over.

  Chapter Two

  Kyan turned to Aragon. “She’s a red fox?”

  “That’s what she said. It explains why she’d guessed we were wolves. But why didn’t we know that?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. Why is she so sure we can’t get to know each other just because she’s a red fox? Foxes are part of the dog family, the same as wolves are. We’re practically cousins.” Kyan had been so sure they’d get her into their bed tonight and be able to show her just how much they worshipped her. How happy they’d make her if she’d just give them the opportunity to know her better. Now she’d left them staring at the dust of her departure and he was so confused he didn’t know what to do anymore. I’m a paramedic. I’m supposed to be calm and knowledgeable in a crisis. But they didn’t teach us how to deal with something like this at school.

  “We need to find out why she thinks foxes and wolves don’t get along. Then we go back to her and explain that for us it’ll work. But I also think we need a crash course on how to woo a woman. We can’t afford to get it that badly wrong next time. She might not ever give us a third chance.”

  Kyan smiled. He knew what to do now. “It won’t be just us. Most of the wolves don’t know enough about women. Let’s go tell Taige, Eve, and Ginnie they need to put together an introductory course for wolves on Women 101. You and I can be the first graduates. And then next week, we’ll talk to Bianca again and get it right.”

  “Do you really think we can do it in a week?”

  “Of course we can. How hard can it be? Come on.” Kyan led the way back to the schoolhouse. Taige, Eve, and Ginnie were likely still packing everything away. They’d stay and help, then ask their questions.

  Kyan was sure that with the help of the three human women he and Aragon would learn how to get and keep Bianca’s attention. Once she talked to them properly she would learn her fears that wolves and foxes were enemies was mistaken, and then they’d be back on track to form a relationship. A deep, ongoing relationship that would lead to a mating.

  Kyan had never been so attracted to a woman before. He couldn’t get her beauty and her undoubted talent out of his mind. And now he knew she didn’t already have a partner, he saw no real problem with learning how to breach her defenses and get her to let him and Aragon into her life. Likely someone had fed her a string of lies. As soon as he could show her the true facts their problems would disappear and the stunning redhead would be his. Well, his and Aragon’s.

  Jett and Morgan, Eve’s mates, were carrying the picnic tables and benches back inside from the schoolyard and stacking them in the foyer until next weekend. Kyan said hi but kept walking, Aragon right behind him. Cornelian and Ginnie were moving the tables Bianca had used back into the shipping room. Kyan stuck his head into that room, but there was no sign of the other two women so he stopped in the hallway and knocked on the open door of their apartment. He could clearly see them both there, but it felt rude, somehow, to walk into someone’s home without being invited.

  Taige turned and smiled at them. “Hi, Kyan. Hi Aragon. Were you looking for me or Eve?”

  “Actually we were hoping to speak to all three of you women. To explain some things to us about human females.”

  “You rushed Bianca and she refused to date you?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” answered Aragon.

  “But we were thinking with the mating party coming up, there’d be a lot of other wolves, just like us, who don’t know much about women and might approach them incorrectly. Maybe you three could plan a sort of Women 101 class for male wolves to attend before the party. We’re willing to be the guinea pigs and trial it for you.”

  “Hmm. The logistics of that would be horrendous. I suppose we could make it like the very first session of the party and compulsory to attend, but I don’t know. That doesn’t seem very fair,” answered Taige.

  “Online,” said Ginnie entering the apartment with Cornelian right behind her.

  “Huh?”

  “We could set up a brief seminar online. Every male wishing to attend the party has to watch the seminar and answer a set of questions as part of his registration. We already know there’ll be identity checks and suchlike to ensure only genuine men who t
ruly want to mate will be there. This event is not for one-night stands and quick hookups. It’s for people who genuinely want to get married,” said Ginnie.

  “You could do a similar seminar with questions for the females, too. Showing them some of the differences from what they know about living with a pack,” added Cornelian.

  “Good idea. That’s something we really should do as part of the pre-registration process. But that doesn’t explain why Aragon and Kyan are here right now. What happened with Bianca?” asked Eve.

  Pain and embarrassment ripped through Kyan. He wasn’t sure which was worse. The pain of Bianca’s rejection, or the humiliation of having to discuss it with the leaders of his pack. He steadied himself to reply. Making the same mistake twice was not an intelligent move. He’d gotten it wrong once. Now was the time to learn how to set everything right before Bianca refused to speak to him at all.

  “Aragon and I asked Bianca to go out to dinner with us tonight. We said she could choose where we went. We just wanted her company. She said no. A very definite and firm no. Then she said she knew we were wolves and that she was a red fox and foxes and wolves were incompatible. But that’s crazy. We’re all part of the dog family. She’s like some kind of cousin to us.”

  “I have no sister and my mother died when I was young. I don’t know much about women. I was less than useless and unable to help Kyan at all,” added Aragon.

  “Let’s all sit down and do this in comfort,” said Ginnie, waving her arm toward some chairs stacked over by the wall. Eve filled the coffee pot and turned it on then got out some cups and mugs, putting them on the table as the men brought extra chairs over to the table.

  It was a small table, much too small for eight people to fit at comfortably, but it was really just a framework for them to sit around in a group, and somewhere to place the cups when the coffee was made.