Lucy’s unique, distinctly feminine scent wrapped around him like a warm blanket fresh from the dryer. His wolf grumbled at Mason’s restraint in claiming their mate, but he shushed the animal. Rushing things might scare her off. Matings between humans and wolves weren’t completely unheard of, but humans didn’t sense the fated mate connection as strongly as wolves. Once they received the mating bite and transformed, everything was peachy. Until that moment, it was a crapshoot and Mason wasn’t big on gambling.
Of course, everything about the situation was a crapshoot because she’d been bitten by Charlie instead of her mate—him. A bite from him would have bound them forever and her transition from human to wolf would have been painless and spiritual. A human getting bitten by a random werewolf almost always led to death.
His wolf howled its objection and he struggled to quiet the beast once more. It refused to even consider the possibility of losing Lucy. Not now, not ever. The animal told Mason he would do everything in his power to keep their mate alive. Period.
At the moment, Mason only had hope. Hope that Charlie’s underdeveloped powers, and the fact Lucy was fated for Mason, would lead to a happy ending for everyone. They wouldn’t know until her transformation was complete, which left Mason in a heightened state of anxiety. And the phone call he’d received while Lucy had been showering didn’t help matters.
Bonnie had helped Lucy shower and get dressed while Robert and Charlie went hunting for a phantom cat, which left Mason to his own devices. After tidying up the kitchen, he’d wandered from room to room, hoping to pick up bits of information about his mate. He knew her name, her address, and that she had enough backbone to make a fine alpha mate, but that’s where his knowledge ended. So, he’d poked around a little.
It wasn’t as if he’d been snooping. Alphas never snooped. Of course, while he had been not-snooping he’d realized the house wasn’t hers. Photos of her were scattered all over the downstairs level. There was an image of her blowing out eight candles on a big birthday cake that sat in a silver frame on the mantel. Then a collage of a teenage Lucy acting silly with friends that took up most of a wall. Even an adorable shot of her as a baby, lying naked on a fur rug that was hung proudly on the wall leading upstairs. They were cute and allowed him to see into his mate’s past, but they weren’t photos a woman would hang in her own home.
Another hint was the house itself—dated décor and an odor of neglect. Not dirty, just… stale. The home had stood frozen in time—filled yet empty. Why? If she didn’t live in the house on Maple, where did she live? He had so many questions, but he filed them away until the time was right.
Veering sharply left, Mason maneuvered the Jeep onto an even rougher road. He slowed to a normally frustrating crawl, but he was in no hurry to get back to what—or rather who—waited for him at the pack house. He much preferred Lucy’s company, even if she’d barely said a word since clicking her seatbelt into place.
“Doing okay?” he cut his gaze over to her and noticed that the hem of her pretty little sundress had inched up her thighs, giving him a view he would have enjoyed thoroughly if not for a big square of bloody gauze.
She continued staring out the window as she spoke. “I’ve never been out here before.”
“Not many have.” And there was a reason for that. Not that he could tell her… yet.
“Strange,” she hummed. “I’d always thought my parents had taken me camping or hiking over every square inch of this mountain.”
“So, what do you think?” He refused to admit that butterflies took up residence in his stomach. Alphas didn’t worry about anyone’s opinion.
She released a heavy sigh. “It’s beautiful.”
Mason let out the breath he’d been holding, thankful that Lucy loved his pack lands as much as him.
“And those wildflowers! I’ve never seen so many in the forest before.” Lucy cranked down the window to catch a whiff as she turned to smile at him for the first time.
Wonder and joy lit her face, transforming her from merely beautiful to absolutely breathtaking. It certainly was a good thing she liked the place that would soon become her home. Because that was one hundred percent going to happen. She just didn’t know it yet.
“My grandmother planted those before I came along,” Mason explained as he turned onto an even narrower road. “She could never remember which turn to take to get home. My grandfather bitched and moaned about them, but he stopped every week when they were blooming to pick a big bouquet for her.”
“That’s so sweet,” she mused, craning her neck to watch the flowers for a moment longer.
“We Blackwood men have a way with women, as you’ve seen.”
Lucy snorted and barked out a laugh. “Yeah, real smooth.” She took a deep lungful of the fresh mountain air and sighed happily, closing her eyes and resting her head on the doorframe as the sun warmed her face. With a start, she turned to him again. “Does your family own all of this?”
“Yup,” Mason said proudly. “For generations. I’ve lived here all my life and I can honestly say I know every inch of this forest.”
“Well, you are a park ranger.”
He shrugged. “That wouldn’t matter. I knew this mountain long before I joined my father in the Parks Service. He and my grandfather taught my brothers and me everything about caring for our mountain. How the flora and fauna work together to create a healthy ecosystem. We’re just stewards of the forest, and we take that responsibility very seriously.”
“You really love this place, don’t you?” she asked softly, her curious gaze probing his profile.
“More than you can possibly know.”
For now, he added silently.
The gentle moment was interrupted by a child’s shriek and a loud howl. Mason glanced out Lucy’s window to see Danny Spade running as fast as his four-year-old legs could carry him. He screeched again with delight when his father, Colin, bounded out of the underbrush in his wolf form. He nipped at Danny’s bare butt, which made the kid giggle higher and run even faster. Mason smiled, recalling how his father used to chase him and his brothers around the forest in the same way.
“Stop!” Lucy scrambled for the latch to her seatbelt. “Stop the truck!”
Mason instinctively looked around for danger but saw nothing. “What? Why?”
She turned wild eyes on him. “Don’t you see? That rabid dog is going to kill that little boy! Stop the fucking truck!”
Mason braked hard, not because he was worried about Danny but because Lucy already had her door half open. Mason was out and around the truck before she managed to untangle herself from the seatbelt and climb down. He helped her the rest of the way, concerned about how little weight she could put on her leg.
“That’s not a rabid dog. It’s a wolf,” he tried to reassure her, but she pushed him away and crouched down to grab a big rock.
“Jesus! Whatever, I’m not letting it eat that poor baby!”
Mason did his best not to laugh. She was rightfully scared, as any human would be. Still, he couldn’t resist teasing her a little.
“And you’re going to stop it by throwing a rock at it?”
She shot him a dark look and then let the stone fly. It didn’t even come close to hitting the completely oblivious Colin, who was still chasing after his squealing son. She stooped and grabbed another.
“Lucy—”
“First, you’re an asshole. If I can get its attention, it’ll leave the boy alone and come for bigger prey.”
Mason sighed. Part of him was frustrated because he couldn’t tell her the truth, but another part of him was impressed she would sacrifice her own safety for a member of the Blackwood pack. Another sign she would be an outstanding alpha mate, but he wished she’d wait until she was healed to be so amazing.
Lucy’s second rock bounced off the wolf’s head and she shouted at Colin. “Come and get me instead!”
Colin spun, hackles raised along his spine. He dropped his head low and flashed sharp, white teeth in a dangerous snarl.
Great.
Mason stepped forward and only had to say one word. “No.”