“On the trail by seven please.”
Jared nodded. “I’ll turn in as well. I need to spend some time talking to my eyelids.”
42
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Wolf Games
Erik wondered what the hell was up as Jared gave a direct look at Maggie as he spoke and she laughed.
It took a long time for the boys to crawl into the tent, and organize their sleeping bags with all their goofing off. The grumbles and laughter slowly died away, and Erik relaxed. Finally. Time alone with his mate.
The two of them sat silently, the small noises of the forest at night continuing. Here in the southernmost part of the Yukon, the sky insisted on staying bright, but it wasn’t midnight sun by any means. There was a beautiful pink glow rising from behind the eastern mountain and Erik shuffled back down to rest his head on the log they’d rolled over to sit on.
Maggie looked at him for a long moment before sighing. “It’s no use, is it?”
“What?”
She touched his arm hesitantly and a thrill shot through him. Oh hell-o. He kept his hands behind his head and watched as she wiggled closer, resting her head on his chest. Her short bouncy curls tickled his chin and her breath warmed him. “I can’t deny I’m attracted to you. My wolf likes you too.” She sat up to look into his eyes. “I just can’t…”
“I’m not asking you to. Not yet. You told me to wait, I’m waiting.” Shit, crap and merde, he was waiting.
“Where were you born?”
Erik wondered where the remote was. “That was a quick change of topic.”
She snuggled against him and his wolf preened at the attention. “I just thought maybe if we learned a little more about each other, it would help.”
He nodded slowly. Made sense. Didn’t seem like they were going to be passing the time with any other distracting activities.
“Lavrentiya. Small coastal village on the Bering Strait.”
She paused. “I guess that explains why you speak Russian. When did you come to Alaska?”
He told her about his childhood and moving around until the family finally settled in Sitka. “The rest of my family is still there. I’d love to take you to meet them. When this is all over.”
“All over?”
“The Games.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “That would be…nice. I guess.”
“What about you? I know your family went through some tough times, so let’s not talk about that now. Tell me your favorite colour.”
Maggie snorted. “You’re really not what I expected, you know that?”
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43
Vivian Arend
“Why? Because I want to be able to buy you sexy underwear in your favorite colour?” Her jaw dropped and he grinned. “Damn, you’re fun to tease.” She wiggled her nose and he wondered what was going on behind those beautiful eyes of hers.
He grabbed her hand. He’d done more handholding in the past few days than in his entire life before.
“I was thinking about your fainting issue while we were on the trail. You said it’s a chemical imbalance?”
She nodded. “It only got bad this past year, and obviously I can’t shift to wolf for her to be able to heal me.”
Yeah, that part. He wasn’t even going to try to touch that issue yet. Soon, but not tonight. “I think it has to do with you not shifting and avoiding wolves. We give off so many pheromones, all the time, it helps maintain a delicate balance. Now that you’re around pack, even a few of us, you should feel better.”
Maggie stared at him. “That’s why I came north to rejoin the pack. Missy insisted being around her family would be enough to heal me.” She looked down at where their joint hands rested in his lap. “How did you figure it out? Do you have training in chemistry or something?”
“Nope. PhD in Slavic languages.” She gasped in surprise, her eyes widening and he laughed at her expression. “With a master’s in Classic Literature.”
“But…you work with Keil as a wilderness guide.”
He shrugged. “When he looked into starting the company, he knew his brother would be too young to be a real help for a number of years. I offered to partner with him until TJ is able to take over.”
“But why, if you have all this education…”
Maggie wrinkled her brow and he smoothed the skin on her forehead with his thumb. “He’s my best friend. I’m currently tutoring a half-dozen students online, so I’m still using my skills, but it would have been very selfish to let his dream die when I could help him.”
Her bright eyes examined his face closely, as if she was trying to see if this was some kind of trick to impress her. “You’re a very complicated man, Erik Costanov.”
He shook his head. “I’m as simple as they come. I believe in the golden rule, and I try to live by it.”