The less Angela knows about anything, the better, she agreed.
Aye. Then he spotted it, a small shelter under the overhanging branches of a giant evergreen. The branches had caught the bulk of the snow, which meant the area under them had gathered only a few inches. Let’s rest over here. There’s shelter from the wind.
And shelter from prying eyes? But she followed him, ducking under the branches as he did.
That little problem I had before we shifted hasn’t entirely disappeared. He walked in a tight circle, trampling the snow a little more.
I didn’t expect it would. As I recall, it was more than a little problem. It looked like a rather large problem to me.
That’s nice of you to say. He faced her and stretched his front legs in a playful bow. I’m hoping for your assistance in taking care of that problem. He suspected that Were sex would fall right in with her plans. She’d want him to reacquaint himself with that, too.
As it happened, he was willing to fall in with her plans. He had a strong urge to do so, in fact. One could even say he had a compelling urge that made him circle her as he drew in her musky scent.
But being Kate, she wasn’t going to make this easy for him. She bounded to the edge of the snowy enclosure. Why should I?
Because you want it as much as I do.
Maybe I do and maybe I don’t. She pranced to the other side of the clearing, flaunting herself. Maybe I’m too tired after that long run.
Tired? You were barely panting. I’m the one who should be ready to drop.
Poor Duncan. You need to go back inside and recover.
Not yet. He edged closer.
She danced away.
You’re going to make me work for this, aren’t you?
Have you forgotten? It’s more fun that way.
He circled her again as his blood ran hotter. She was right. It was more fun this way. He feinted left and she leaped right, whirling to put herself out of position.
With a low growl, he stalked her, and she backed up, eyes glowing in the faint light from the ski slope that filtered through the branches.
Come and get me, big boy.
I can’t believe you said that.
Always wanted to.
I will get you. It’s only a matter of time. He dashed to the right and then whirled back, startling her. With a lightning move he didn’t know he had, he mounted her in one swift lunge. Now.
I let you catch me.
Liar. He thrust deep and she shuddered with pleasure. Maybe she had let him catch her, after all. And then all thought disappeared as he lost himself in a wild surge of primitive lust. Needs that hadn’t driven him in years consumed him now.
He took her again and again and again. Her soft whimper inflamed him even more, and he thrust harder until he felt her close around him, felt her spasms of release. At last he poured himself into her with a ferocity that left him panting.
He’d forgotten. Oh, yes, he’d forgotten. But he would never forget again. And the truth shattered all his carefully laid plans. This was how male and female Weres were meant to connect, and he’d been fooling himself to think he could live without it.
Chapter 14
Sniffer Update: @newshound—Two wolves, one blond as morning, one black as night, glimpsed running ski slope after hours. Guess who? #hankypanky
Kate didn’t use her telepathic powers as she rode up in the elevator with Duncan, and neither did he. She didn’t need to read his mind to know what he was thinking. He’d immersed himself in the experience, and so had she. And he’d loved it, which created a problem for him. She knew that, too.
But he wasn’t the only one with a problem. She’d achieved her goal of reminding him of his Wereness and the joys that sprang from that. She’d also reminded herself of her own Wereness and how little she’d been celebrating that recently. Maybe that would explain why this experience with Duncan had been so incredible.
That would be nice, because otherwise she might have to face the fact that he was the best thing she’d come across in her entire life. If that turned out to be true, they’d created quite a dilemma for themselves. The leader of the Howlers couldn’t very well be sweet on the leader of the Woofers and vice versa.
Once back in her suite, they stretched out in the same spot behind the sofa where they’d shifted earlier. Their wolf bodies glowed with blue fire as they slowly transformed again. They lay there, not moving, not touching. But their gazes met. And held.
At last Duncan took a breath that came from deep in his chest and shook his entire body. “Thank you, lass.”
“I’m not sure that you should thank me.”
“I should.” His mouth curved in a soft smile. “We’re in a hell of a spot, you and I, but I can’t bring myself to regret a minute of my time with you.”
“Nor I with you.”
He reached out and took her hand. “We’re a couple of smart Weres, aren’t we?”
“I used to think I was. But I might have outsmarted myself.”
“Aye. I know the feeling.” He brushed her palm with his thumb. “But I also know our personal complications have to take a backseat to that mission statement. Howard’s counting on us.”
“Yes, he is.”
Duncan raised her hand to his lips and kissed each of her fingers in turn. “So let’s do that job, and then…we’ll talk.” He placed a final kiss against her palm.
She shivered, in reaction to both his kisses and the prospect of what they would say to each other once they’d set aside their public duties. Would they agree to give up this special connection, or find a way to continue it? She had no answers and she doubted that he did, either.
“Time to get dressed.” Rising to his feet, he helped her up, too. “I have no chance of concentrating with you looking all rosy and well loved. Makes me want to do it again.”
“I know. Me, too.” Holding both of his hands, she stood on tiptoe to give him one gentle kiss. “And thank you for loving me so well.” Then she squeezed his hands and let go.
Gathering her clothes, she turned away and quickly put them on. She didn’t glance over at him as they both dressed, much as she would have liked to. She heard the rustling of denim as he put on his jeans, and ignored the mental image that brought up. They had a job to do, and time was running out.
“I’ve had a thought about this mission statement,” he said.
She shoved both arms into the sleeves of her sweatshirt and popped it over her head. “What’s that?”
“We’ve both approached it with our own agendas.” He pulled on his sweatshirt, too, and looked at her. “What if we each put those aside? Let’s think of what we would write if we weren’t trying to insert our personal philosophy into it.”
“You mean lay down our weapons?”
“Aye, something like that.”
“But our constituents are counting on us to defend our respective positions in this mission statement.” Kate thought of Heidi, Jake, and especially Sally with her stealth support.
“I know, but the entire Were world isn’t divided into Woofers and Howlers, much as it seems that way right now. What about the ones who want to drop the secrecy but still think Weres should only mate with Weres? What about those who want to keep the secrecy but allow Were-human mating under special circumstances? Don’t we owe them a mission statement they can be happy with, too?”
She thought about that. “You have a point. Let me put on some more coffee to wake us up.” She walked over to the kitchen, where the bare soles of her feet met cool tile. Even the smell of the coffee beans as she ground them helped her focus. She dumped the ground coffee in the basket, filled the reservoir with water, and turned on the switch.
“Got anything sweet to go with it?”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
“I wasn’t trying to be cute. I’m looking for cookies, cake, pie….”
“Brownies?”
“That’d be perfect, lass.”
She dug around in the refrigerator and came up with a tin of brownies she kept on hand for long nights at the computer. She was ridiculously pleased by his happy smile as she opened the tin and set it on the counter where he could reach it. She liked seeing that smile.
He reached for a brownie and rebooted his laptop. “Let’s take a look at each of our mission statements again. There have to be core elements that aren’t weighed down by our agendas.” He gazed at the screen. “So here’s how you start out, nice and neutral—To support the werewolf culture worldwide. I’m okay with starting that way.”
“Obviously I am, since I wrote it.”
Walking around the end of the counter, she stood beside his stool and looked at the two statements, his above hers.
“Then let’s take that part and start over.” He copied her opening words down below. “What else is important?”
“Individuals,” she said. “How about, and the interests of each individual?”
He glanced over at her. “That’s bloody brilliant. It leaves room for Weres to choose their own path instead of dictating one. I’m going to move the placement of worldwide. So we have—To support the werewolf culture and the interests of each individual worldwide.”
“Throughout the world. I like that better than worldwide. The coffee’s done. I’ll get us each a cup.” When she returned, he’d typed in the change and was looking at the statement. He held out his hand and she put the cup into it. He sipped his coffee without taking his eyes from the screen.
“What comes next?” She snagged a brownie from the tin and took a bite.
“I’m not sure anything comes next.” He looked over at her. “I think that might be it.”
She read the sentence aloud. “To support the werewolf culture and the interests of each individual throughout the world. It’s very simple. Is it too simple?” She fought the urge to try and insert some of her other wording. But then he’d want to insert his.
“It’s not too simple. That’s the beauty of it. It allows for protection if that’s needed, and for change if that’s needed. Everything this organization decides to do can be held up against this statement. Does it support the werewolf culture and the interests of each individual throughout the world? If it does, great. If it doesn’t, then back to the drawing board.”
She drank her coffee and studied the wording. “After all this, can it be so easy?”
“It can once we each stop trying to push our particular program.”
“I wonder if the Woofers and Howlers will be disappointed in it.”
He shook his head. “They can’t be. As I said, it leaves the door open for more protection and isolation, or for more openness and change. But it addresses the most important consideration, to support the culture and each other. Nobody can argue against that.”
She laughed. “Oh, I’m sure someone will.”
“Maybe not if we sell it right. You and I don’t have to give up campaigning for what we believe. In fact, we can campaign even harder to try to prove that our particular belief system fits the mission statement.”
“Howard doesn’t want the Howlers and Woofers to be divisive forces.”
Duncan took another brownie. “That’s where you and I come in. We tell our followers that we support the mission statement, which we came up with together, and we intend to hold all our actions, Woofers’ and Howlers’ alike, up to that yardstick. If the debate gets too negative, then it won’t support the werewolf culture or the individuals in it, right?”
She smiled. “Right. You really are smart, Woofer.”
“Not so smart.” He looked into her eyes. “I still haven’t any idea what we’re going to do about us.”
She glanced at the time showing in the bottom right of his screen. “I don’t have a long-term solution, but I have a short-term one.”
Heat flickered in his gray eyes. “Is that so?”
“We finished before dawn.” She walked back around the counter and turned off the coffeepot. “And between the night we’ve had and the coffee I just drank, I’m too wired to sleep.”
“I like where this is going.”
She chuckled. “I was pretty sure you would. Don’t forget to save that document before you come to bed.” With that, she winked at him and began flicking off the lights. They’d worked hard and they’d worked well. They deserved a reward.
Despite the anticipation zinging through his system, Duncan carefully saved their mission statement in a new document. Then he even went to his briefcase, took out a flash drive, and backed it up. All of that was probably unnecessary, and the wording should stay in his head, anyway, but he wanted to be sure nothing got lost in the shuffle.
Light from her bedroom beckoned him, and he pulled off his sweatshirt as he walked toward it. “We don’t have the authority to release the mission statement yet, but I’m going to write a quick blog before I go down to the conference in the morning to say I support it and the work we did tonight.” He expected some response, and got none. “Kate? Would you rather I didn’t? If so, then…” The rest of his sentence went unsaid as he stood in the doorway and stared.
She sat propped up against a bank of pillows, totally nak*d and totally engrossed in his book. He stood there a moment so he could etch the scene in his memory. He might need to take it out later to lift his spirits on some cold gray day in Glenbarra.
Surely no reader of his book had ever looked as sexy and lovely as this while turning the pages. She caught her lower lip between her teeth, and then she chuckled and turned the page. He’d made her laugh. That was worth more than fifty rave reviews on the Internet.
She didn’t even agree with him, and yet she’d laughed at something he’d written. Because she’d just begun the book, she must be reading his description of the first time he had to use a condom because he was hav**g s*x with a human female and she quite rightly insisted on it.