Tightly Held [Werewolves of Hanson Mall 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  By the time she drove up in a white SUV, Ethan had almost convinced himself he was certain to fail, to be sent home in disgrace, and never to see her again.

  Fortunately for his peace of mind, she jumped out of the car and smiled at them. “I’m glad you’re on time. Put your things in the trunk and let’s go.”

  She climbed into the backseat, buckled her seat belt, and lifted a pile of papers onto her lap.

  Ethan moved to the driver’s seat while Nolan put his backpack into the trunk and took the passenger side. Confident he knew the way, Ethan drove slowly out of the mall parking lot, familiarizing himself with the steering and braking of the SUV. It didn’t seem to have any unusual quirks, so by the time he reached the interstate he was happy to travel at the speed limit.

  Apart from a few quiet remarks to each other about the route they were taking, he and Nolan remained silent, very aware that Georgia was there to work and they shouldn’t disturb her.

  Eventually he heard her moving around and he glanced in the rearview mirror. She was putting the files of papers into a briefcase. “Thank you for your patience, Nolan and Ethan. It’s a big help being able to get everything organized as we travel. On the way home I’ll be able to start tabulating the results. This pack was one of the very first to agree to be interviewed. They have intermingled with other packs a little, but not as much as I would have expected, seeing they’re only a couple hour’s drive from two other packs. That’s one of the things we should have followed up on after the first interview, but didn’t know to check back then. You’ll be looking for more links to other packs or reasons why they kept away from the neighboring packs.”

  Ethan nodded, not taking his gaze from the road.

  Nolan murmured, “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Call me Georgia, please. We’re colleagues on this project.”

  Ethan nodded again, but he felt diffident about actually doing that in a work situation. In the apartment, sharing a donut, sure. But here she was very much their boss. They were just brand-new beginners at this job. Ethan swallowed hard. What if he made mistakes? What if he forgot to ask important questions or he sounded rude and upset the people he was interviewing? What if he did something wrong inadvertently and brought disgrace on his pack. Oh shit. So many things could go wrong. And he truly wanted only to please her and do everything right.

  * * * *

  Nolan was excited to see this pack and meet the people. Georgia had said the pack didn’t have very many links to other packs, despite not being particularly isolated. All the packs were isolated to some extent, because that’s how they’d settled the land originally, finding an area to call their own and trying to stay relatively unnoticed by the local human population. But these days, with good roads and fast cars, what might have taken a man a week to walk a couple of hundred years ago, now was only a couple of hour’s drive.

  He was looking forward to learning if they had enough females of their own, or very nearly sufficient, or whether theirs was one of the packs gradually disappearing. He was surprised to discover how engaged he was in the project, when he hadn’t even really started work yet. But of course, finding out why there were so few women was vital to the survival of the species as a whole, not just to this pack and his own pack.

  That didn’t mean he wasn’t still scared shitless about making mistakes, doing something wrong, and causing trouble for both Georgia and the project. And, of course, for himself and Ethan. He kept telling himself all he had to do was exactly as Georgia told him, but that didn’t help. Half the time when she was speaking he was focused as much on keeping his libido under control and his cock from breaking the zipper on his jeans, as he was on memorizing her instructions. Well, he’d just have to hope that between him and Ethan they’d get everything done right.

  He and Ethan found the address easily enough, their memorized directions sufficiently clear that they didn’t take any wrong turns.

  Ethan, who was driving, stopped at the gate to the property and Nolan jumped out to open the gate. He stuck his head back inside the car first and asked, “This is the right place, I suppose?”

  “I suppose so. I didn’t come here last time.”

  “Oh. Okay, then.” He opened the gate and waited until Ethan had driven through before closing it and getting back in the car. The fields here were empty, but looked as if animals had grazed on them in the not too distant past. As they drove up what proved to be a long driveway, he saw a row of greenhouses. Ah, that means they’ve diversified into some other crop. He was curious to know which crop that might be, but there was no way he’d actually ask. It wasn’t any of his business.

  The driveway ended up in a large open area with a barn to one side, a vegetable garden out back, and a house opposite the barn. Once Nolan got out of the SUV he saw that behind the vegetable garden was a small lake.

  Georgia climbed out of the car holding a briefcase and a laptop. Quickly, he extended a hand to her. “Let me carry those for you.”

  She smiled and gave them to him, just as an older couple came out of the house.

  “Ms. Edwards? We’re so pleased you’ve come back to talk to our seniors again. They’re thrilled at being interviewed again and are eager to hear how the project is progressing,” said the woman.

  “I’m Joe, and this is Anna-Beth. Welcome to the Cottlesloe pack,” said the man.

  “Thank you, both. These men are Ethan and Nolan, my assistants.”

  “Come, in, come in. Everyone is in the living room. Even though you’re not late, some of them have been here for over an hour, they’re looking forward so much to the next few days,” said Anna-Beth.

  Nolan waited while Joe and Anna-Beth led the way, and then followed Ethan into the house and down a long hallway. The farmhouse was much bigger than he’d thought. It must have a lot of bedrooms judging by all the doors he passed.

  He could hear the noise of a group of people talking, and as soon as Georgia entered the room there was clapping. He and Ethan waited just outside the doorway. The applause was for Georgia and her work on the project, not for them who hadn’t even started work yet.

  Joe, who he assumed was the Alpha of the pack, spoke to the group, welcoming them here and asking everyone to do their best to help Georgia. Nolan figured that was just for show. It was evident the senior citizens were completely ready to do their best.

  Georgia laid her papers and laptop out on the table, explained about tape recording the meeting, and then asked a few questions.

  Nolan had his own notebook out to write down anything he thought might be a lead, although very likely he was wasting his time, as Georgia would get all that information from the tape recording anyway. But he noticed Ethan had done exactly the same thing, which meant it looked official, not like he was an idiot.

  By the time they broke for lunch, Nolan was half-exhausted from concentrating so hard, and half-amazed at everything he’d heard and learned. He had a dozen ideas of what they could do next, and he was sure Georgia would have even more.

  * * * *

  Georgia had a wealth of information. Far more than she’d expected. They’d stayed three days with the Cottlesloe pack, instead of two, to make sure they’d interviewed the people there about all the leads they’d given them. That was wonderful. She was really excited now to dig down into the new data and add it to all their charts.

  Well, mostly Willow and Hawthorne Cunliffe did the cross-referencing of data, but Georgia loved adding new details to her own thoughts and plans.

  She was also impressed with how much information Ethan and Nolan had gathered. They’d proven to be even better at talking to people than the college students she and Wynn had used at first. Possibly because they were older and had a better idea of the past, but possibly just from their own background in a pack with a shortage of females. She didn’t know why but the reason didn’t really matter. The fact was that they’d been very helpful and she was relieved and grateful about that.

  When they arrived back at
the Hanson Mall apartment, she was pleased to see both Cunliffe women and Wynn waiting for them. The first hour was very noisy, as they were all asking questions at once. Wynn went down to the mall and came back with his arms full of boxes of hot noodles and vegetables.

  “It’s just as well I like noodles,” said Georgia. She shook her head at him, but accepted a box of food happily enough. She truly did like noodles, but unlike Wynn, she was aware of the dozen other food outlets in the mall as well as the noodle bar.

  “It’ll take a week to get all this data entered and cross-referenced. You’ve brought us a gold mine of stuff here,” said Hawthorne, fanning out a pile of sheets of paper and petting them.

  “There are two other packs which were interviewed very early in the study that I think we should revisit. I’m just not sure whether to do that now, or to wait a while until we’ve had an opportunity to go through all this new data in more detail,” she said.

  “Go now,” said Willow.

  “You’ll have Ethan and Nolan to help you, so I agree. Go now. The three of us will be plenty to sort through the new data. Any more of us and we’d just be getting in each other’s way. Besides, by the time you get back from the next two places, likely we’ll have this data from the Cottlesloe pack sorted out, and there’ll be more places you need to visit. So it’s a more efficient use of everyone’s time,” said Wynn.

  “You’re right, of course. The other two packs are farther away, but both north of here, so it makes sense to do them both in the same road trip. But how long do you think we should allow? We needed an extra day this time,” she said.

  The conversation went back and forth for a while, until Georgia realized neither Ethan nor Nolan had spoken.

  “Ethan? Nolan? What’s your opinion?”

  “We’re just new here. It’s not our place to make suggestions,” said Ethan.

  “You’ve seen how the interviews work. Seriously, what do you think?” asked Willow.

  Georgia looked at Nolan and Ethan sitting side by side at the table, their empty noodle boxes pushed to the side. They were so good looking it was damn hard at times to concentrate on work. But they’d been a genuine asset to the project. Neither of them had ever complained about anything, and they’d worked as hard as anyone else had done and with none of the angsty drama that the college students had sometimes brought to the assignment.

  “Could you just say to the packs that you won’t know until you start the interviews exactly how many days it’d take so they’d be ready for us if we went to the second pack a day earlier or later?” asked Nolan.

  “You could also wait and see which pack is more enthusiastic about you visiting and go to them first, as they’ll be more likely to welcome you if you need to stay an extra day or two,” added Hawthorne.

  “Good idea.” Georgia smiled. That made sense, and one day more or less shouldn’t really matter too much to a pack unless they were in the middle of some important project.

  “It’s not harvest time is it? That won’t be for a month or more?” she asked.

  “It’s still the growing season,” said Ethan.

  “Besides, these days with all those huge machines, I don’t think most packs need everyone to help with the harvest the way they used to a generation ago,” added Wynn.

  Georgia felt happiness suffuse her. She’d be spending more time with these two exciting men who she was beginning to really appreciate. And not only that, they would, hopefully, come back with a whole lot more information for the family history project. Life was looking mighty fine right now.

  “Tomorrow I’ll contact the packs and make the plans for our next road trip.”

  “That’ll just give you all enough time to do your laundry, before you leave again,” teased Willow.

  Hmm, naked men doing laundry. Now that was an image she could spend a few hours thinking about. Ethan and Nolan were certain to look even better shirtless than they did fully clothed.

  * * * *

  Ethan had tied himself in knots trying to decide whether or not to buy a small carry-on size suitcase. He’d even spent ten minutes peering through the window of the luggage store on the third level of the mall after it had closed. The prices there seemed very reasonable, but he’d finally decided to simply use his old full-size suitcase and offer any excess space to Nolan if he needed it.

  “I was going to try to cram everything into my backpack. Sharing your suitcase would be great, thanks, Ethan.”

  “There’s no need to thank me. My motives aren’t exactly pure.”

  “No, but it’s a win-win situation, so it’s all good.”

  Ethan sat on the side of his bed. “This whole job is a win-win situation. I’m really enjoying meeting people and talking to them. Finding out more about the packs and the links between them. I mean, I know it’s only for a short time, and I realize the next job we might get told to do is scrubbing the bathrooms or something, but I like being here and doing my best to help Georgia.”

  “This family history project is incredibly worthwhile. We’re all damn lucky the Supreme is sponsoring it. He must be a man of vision and courage,” said Nolan.

  “He took our Alpha’s call and helped him personally, so he’s a good man as well. A real role model for all wolves.” Ethan would never aspire to be an Alpha. The stress of the difficult decisions he’d have to make, decisions that would divide the pack unless the men freely chose to follow their Alpha, would tear him apart. He knew their own Alpha had been a bit slow to recognize and address the problems in the pack. But he had done it, was doing it now, and that had to have taken enormous courage.

  “I would never ever want to be Alpha. The responsibilities would cripple me,” he said.

  “We do, however, need to take on the responsibilities of mated men. If Georgia agrees to have us,” said Nolan.

  Ethan grinned and his dick sat up. “But that’s different. We’d be together, able to guide, direct, and strengthen each other. Besides, I love her. I knew when I saw her the day we arrived here that I love her and want her. She’s been so patient with us. I’m sure we must have annoyed her innumerable times, yet she’s never yelled at us.”

  “We should kiss her soon,” said Nolan.

  Ethan’s cock liked that idea, but his heart raced and his palms suddenly grew sweaty with fear. “What if she doesn’t like it? What if it makes her want to go straight back to the mall instead of working with us on the project?”

  “On the last day then. After the second set of interviews are completed. On the way home,” said Nolan.

  “We could keep an eye out for a nice rest area off from the road. Maybe somewhere with a pretty view. A lookout, or scenic site, or something. That’d work.”

  “Tomorrow when we plan the route we’re taking we’ll make some plans for a kiss as well.” Ethan would much rather be making plans to get her into their bed, but first a kiss. Then a date.

  “Oh shit. How are we going to date her?” he asked.

  “I’ve already gotten that one figured.” Nolan had a huge grin on his face.

  “Yes? What?”

  “Remember she said she hadn’t been camping since Girl Scouts but that she wouldn’t mind going in summer?”

  “No. Oh, yes, yes I do. It was back on, like, the very first day.”

  “We’ll take her to our pack lands, borrow a tent, and go way out to a distant corner of the land, build her a campfire, and so on. I know the Alpha will agree because he wants us to be nice to her. If she agrees to mate us he’ll be ecstatic. There’s no way he’d object to us camping there or to letting us use pack equipment.”

  Ethan punched Nolan on the upper arm. “Excellent plan.” Suddenly he felt more confident. He was convinced that together he and Nolan would find where they needed to get to. He knew now he could deal with the interviews. If there were things he didn’t know, he could write them down and ask Georgia when she wasn’t busy. And he had a plan to kiss her and demonstrate his desire to care for her. Then, if that went we
ll, they’d take her on a date. Things were looking mighty fine from where he stood tonight.

  Chapter Three

  To Nolan, it seemed that the pack they visited first on this second trip was very similar to his other experience. The Alpha and his mate welcomed them, and the senior citizens were happy to see them and had thought of things to tell them they’d previously forgotten, as well as answering all their questions. Then new information flooded to them, exciting the entire team.

  One old man explained it well. “Before we knew about the family history project, we tended to think on our own stories and remember them. But once we heard about the genealogy research, it made us think of other stories, ones we might have only heard once or twice at family reunions or weddings and funerals. It made us think hard, and together we’ve remembered people we’d forgotten had existed.”

  But the huge advance was a little rhyme an old lady recited to them.

  When two are in the garden,

  A son will soon make three.

  When three are in the garden

  You’ll be blessed with a family.

  “We’d never really thought about it before,” she said.

  “As soon as Mary remembered it, we realized we’d heard it, too. But not since we were small children,” added a man.