Shadow Wolf: A Shifter Romance (Arctic Brotherhood, Book 2) Page 6

  He reached Konrad’s quarters and walked in without knocking. There was no one there. The guy had very few possessions and he was a neat freak. Taking a perverse pleasure in messing up Konrad’s neatly folded clothes, Samson found a T-shirt that just about fitted him, even if it was stretched like a second skin across his chest and biceps. Further rummaging unearthed a pair of running shorts. Once he was dressed, Samson grimaced. He must look like his clothes had shrunk in the dryer and there was no way he was going to find shoes to fit. Spontaneity definitely had its drawbacks.

  He made his way to the cave Valetta occupied and sorted through her clothes, selecting jeans and a sweater. Underwear. He drew a deep breath and let it go with a slight groan. Seriously? Was he actually getting turned on all over again just thinking about her underwear? Grabbing a handful of lace-trimmed items and a pair of sneakers, he made his way back outside. Why the hell wasn’t there anyone around?

  He saw Pavel coming from the direction of the waterfall. “Where is everyone?”

  Pavel, clearly having forgotten their last encounter, shrugged.

  With an exasperated sigh, Samson placed Valetta’s clothes on a rock. Striding over to Pavel, he grabbed a handful of the younger man’s shirt and lifted him off the ground by it. “I asked you a question. And who the fuck do you think you’re looking at?”

  Pavel’s eyes dropped obediently to the ground. “I don’t know where they are. Konrad called a meeting and most of the pack rode off straight after it. Only me and Axel were left. He’s gone to get water.”

  “What was the meeting about?”

  “I don’t know. I wasn’t invited.”

  Samson lowered him to the ground. “Why not?”

  Pavel kept his eyes down. The kid was learning. “Axel and me were the last recruits.”

  Samson spared a thought for Valetta hiding naked in the bushes waiting for him to return. She wouldn’t be happy at the delay, but he sensed this was important. They hadn’t been able to get any information out of the Guardians, but what Pavel had just said offered a tiny insight into what was going on. Samson would take tiny over none any day. “Okay, I need you to go back a few steps. Who recruited you? When and why?”

  The knife seemed to come from nowhere, but it hit its target with unerring accuracy. Pavel gazed at Samson with a look of almost comical surprise on his face, before crumpling in a heap at his feet. The dagger was neatly embedded in the young werewolf’s chest. Straight through the heart. Whoever had thrown it had a steady hand and nerves of steel. Samson swung around, his keen eyes searching for the unknown assailant.

  There was no one in sight.

  Chapter Five

  “So someone threw a knife and killed Pavel, but you didn’t see who it was?” Having struggled into her clothing behind a bush, Valetta emerged to face Samson. “How did that person know what he was saying to you?”

  Samson regarded her in surprise. Was she really missing the point here? “That’s not the most important question.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Valetta, Pavel was an Arctic werewolf.”

  She faced him with her hands on her hips, a touch of impatience in her manner. “And?” Her face wore the defiant, So what? expression with which he was becoming familiar.

  “Arctic werewolves can only be killed by the light of the midnight sun.”

  “Oh.” Her slightly belligerent stance subsided. “I knew that.”

  You didn’t. Samson stopped short of calling her a liar. You didn’t know that fundamental piece of information about Arctic werewolves. What the hell had Hendrik been thinking of? Supposedly he didn’t know his daughter was Shadow Born, so why hadn’t he told her the basics about the pack in which she’d been brought up?

  “This whole thing just gets weirder.” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

  “What do you want to do now?” Bemused by her own lack of werewolf basics, Valetta seemed to have forgotten that she was in charge, a fact that suited Samson’s mood.

  “Let’s get back. I want to find out where Konrad has been. What was this meeting he called, and where did they all take off to after it?”

  They walked back to the compound in silence, each wrapped in their own thoughts. When they got there, everything appeared normal. Konrad was leaning on the rock at the cave entrance in his usual place, while the younger Guardians were hanging out in groups talking, smoking, drinking, or tending to their bikes. Just your typical everyday werewolf motorcycle gang activities.

  Samson strode up to Konrad. “Where did you go?”

  Konrad frowned. “When?”

  “Just now.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” There was no expression behind those too-light eyes. “I’ve been right here the whole day.”

  “You lying bastard.” Samson stepped right into the other man’s space, his face only inches from Konrad’s. Konrad didn’t flinch. Samson decided the other man wasn’t capable of flinching. “I came back here to get these clothes—your clothes—and there was no one here.”

  Konrad held his stare. “They’re not my clothes and, like I said, we were all here. Right, guys?” he called across to the nearest group and received a chorus of affirmative replies in response.

  Samson flung himself furiously away from Konrad. Whatever game Konrad was playing here, it was all part of the bigger picture. He could rip the other guy into tiny pieces for these lies, but it wouldn’t help him unpick what was really going on. With an effort, he kept his temper under control. The Guardians were testing him to the limits. His brotherhood comrades would never believe it when he told them how restrained he had been.

  “Where did you put Pavel’s body?” Konrad blinked at him as if he were talking in a foreign language. Samson pointed to the spot where Pavel had fallen after the knife hit him in the chest. “Pavel was killed right there, not half an hour ago. Where have you moved his body to?”

  Konrad looked at Valetta. “Is he okay?” he drawled, jerking his head in Samson’s direction.

  “Answer Samson’s questions, Konrad. If Pavel is dead, this is important.” Valetta’s cold tone conveyed her dislike of the man.

  “Pavel isn’t dead. While you were out of camp, he took off. Decided he wanted out. I figured it wasn’t worth trying to keep the kid here if he wanted to go. He said he didn’t like the new regime.” Konrad shot another meaningful look in Samson’s direction.

  Fuck control. Samson erupted with rage, hurling himself toward the other man. He was brought to an abrupt halt when Valetta stepped between them. Her eyes flashed a loud, clear warning. Let me deal with this.

  Samson wanted to overrule her, push her aside, tell her to butt out, remind her about pack superiority. We might both be alphas, but I’m the male. As a female, she would have to back down and respect his superiority. Bu there was no way he was going to do any of those things in front of Konrad. So, with a huge effort, he halted his lunge and forced his anger back down to a simmer. It wasn’t easy. His heart rate remained elevated, his nerves on high alert. He kept his eyes locked on Konrad’s. You are mine, and when the time comes, you will die slowly and painfully. The other man seemed coolly unaware of the message.

  Although Valetta spoke directly to Konrad, she raised her voice enough for the rest of the pack to hear her words. “You relinquished your place as leader to me, Konrad. I’m in charge here.”

  Konrad nodded. “I’ve never denied it.”

  “Good.” Valetta stepped alongside Samson, taking his hand. “Just so we’re clear. Samson is my mate. That gives him joint status with me. We are both your leaders.”

  “We’re mates? When did that happen and why don’t I remember?” Samson leaned against the door of Valetta’s cave, his eyes alight with amusement. “I’m sure I would have noticed something as momentous as that.”

  “Don’t get any big ideas.” Even though this space was small, he managed to fill it completely with his presence.

  Blatantly ignoring the ins
truction, he moved closer, running a finger down her cheek. “You’ve seen me in my natural state, Valetta. You know just how big my ideas can get.”

  “Stop it.” She caught hold of his hand before he could repeat the action. “We don’t have time for flirting.”

  “You’ve obviously never flirted. If you had, you’d know it’s a two-way thing.” Samson sighed. “I had a feeling this was too good to be true. Let me guess. I’m your mate in name only?”

  “Right first time. We’ll be mates of convenience.” Valetta sat down on the narrow bed and Samson joined her. Her whole body slumped in defeat. “I need your help.”

  It cost a lot for her to say those words and she was grateful when he didn’t make a big deal of it. Instead he nodded. “You know you have it.”

  “I can’t understand any of this.” Weariness threatened to overwhelm her. “And I don’t know what to do next.”

  “I know what I need to do next.” Valetta directed a look of inquiry his way. “I have to get out of these shorts before they do me some permanent damage.”

  “I don’t think there will be anything else here to fit you.”

  “That’s why I need to go home and pick up some clothes. I also want to pay a visit to a friend. If anyone can tell us more about the Shadow Born, it will be Dan Lowell.” She sensed him pausing before he said the next words. “I also think you should check in with your father.”

  Valetta shook her head. “No, I don’t want to worry him.”

  Samson caught hold of her hands. “Hendrik is already worried. He’s going out of his mind. But I believe he holds the key to all this. He knew your mother better than anyone. We have to find out what he knows.”

  “You mean we should tell him what she was? What I am?” Valetta felt the hard knot of tension in her belly, the corresponding lump filling her throat.

  “Valetta, he loves you more than anything in the world. Telling him you’re Shadow Born isn’t going to change that.” Samson ducked his head so he could look at her face. “It didn’t change how I see you, did it?”

  She lifted her head. “How do you see me?”

  His expression tightened as though he was waging an internal battle. “Right now?” Did she want to hear this? Since she’d asked the question, she supposed she should see it through. She nodded. “As someone who is talking instead of walking.”

  Valetta gasped, but before she could respond with a caustic answer, Samson had caught hold of her hand and was propelling her at a fast pace out of the cave system. “The gang members will wonder where we’ve gone.”

  “Fuck ’em. We’re supposed to be in charge around here, although we both know that’s some freakish pretense thought up by God-knows-who for some unspecified reason. So let the bastards wonder.”

  “When you put it like that . . .”

  Samson gestured at the lights strung along the rocky walls with one hand. “What is with this setup? This looks like a professional job. What sort of motorcycle gang employs its own electrical contractor?”

  “The Guardian sort. The sort that makes no sense. This was all in place when I got here.”

  Samson cast another look around and Valetta knew what he was thinking. She looked with him at the caves divided into cells for sleeping and the large central cavern. As they stepped outside, her keen eyes took in the bikes lined up under the protective shelter of the trees, the nearby river providing the Guardians with fresh water. Samson said the words they were both thinking.

  “Someone has been planning this for a very long time.”

  “So they could kill me and my father?” Valetta’s brow wrinkled. “Isn’t it all rather elaborate? God knows I don’t want either of us dead, but wouldn’t it just have been easier to hire a hit man to shoot us?”

  Samson didn’t answer. Instead he led her to the bikes, selecting the largest and most powerful. Valetta resisted the impulse to utter the joke that rose to her lips. You know what they say. Big bike, small dick. She’d seen Samson’s dick and, while she had no frame of reference, it hadn’t looked small. She almost laughed out loud. It had looked . . . an unexpected shudder wracked her body as she searched for the words. Enormous. Magnificent. Potent. Beautiful. That last one took her by surprise, reminding her of her reaction when she had seen Samson’s naked body. She had wanted to reach out and touch that glorious, throbbing evidence of his arousal. To stroke her hand down its length and see if it really was as iron-hard as it looked. To run her fingers around the bulging rim. She had experienced an overwhelming desire to flick out her tongue and taste . . .

  “Valetta?”

  Samson was seated on the bike, obviously waiting for her to join him. Blushing, she roused herself from the erotic, ill-timed, and highly inappropriate fantasy that had seized her and hopped up behind him, sliding her arms around his waist.

  Samson’s apartment was not what Valetta had expected. All she knew about his human role was that he worked as a security guard. She’d never given his salary any thought, but she had always assumed he wasn’t highly paid and had pictured him living in a low-rent studio apartment. This newly built riverside block, close to the Fairbanks airport, was the height of modern luxury. Samson’s penthouse apartment occupied the entire upper floor and was all glass and chrome, the huge windows providing a spectacular view across the surrounding area.

  “Make yourself at home while I take a shower and grab some clothes.”

  Valetta wandered into the immaculately clean kitchen and attempted to figure out a coffeemaker that looked like something designed for exploring the darkest reaches of outer space. One thing was for sure, Samson Lee was no ordinary security guard.

  When he emerged sometime later, Samson was clad in just jeans with a white towel slung around his neck. He grinned appreciatively when she held out a cup of coffee.

  “Most werewolves I know don’t like coffee, but I’ve grown used to it over the years. I guess my human need for caffeine won that battle.”

  Valetta raised her own cup to her lips, using the gesture to mask the fact that the sight of him had abruptly robbed her of the power of speech. All Arctic werewolves look the same, she told herself firmly. It didn’t work. Samson was the most striking man she had ever seen. And all that rippling muscle, that coiled strength, the sight of that chest and abdomen with their perfectly symmetrical, temptingly ridged muscles just melted her insides. She’d told him she wasn’t ready to mate. Now she needed to give her own body the same message.

  Valetta decided to try for normality. “This place is amazing.” Her voice worked. A little husky, but she didn’t think it betrayed her. Didn’t hint at her wild fantasies about closing the space between them and running her tongue ever so slowly along each of those ridges of muscle in his abdomen.

  “I like it, although I don’t get to spend that much time here.” Valetta raised an inquiring eyebrow. Was Samson trying to tell her something about his private life? Maybe warning her not to get too close? “My job is very demanding,” he explained.

  “I don’t know anything about your work.”

  “I run an international company providing private security services. We work all over the world.”

  Valetta waved a hand, indicating the luxurious apartment with its minimalist, designer furnishings. “It must pay well.”

  “It does, but it doesn’t give me any leisure time.” Samson finished his coffee. “I’ll get dressed.”

  Oh, please don’t. Valetta gripped her coffee cup hard with the effort of forcing herself not to say those words out loud.

  When he returned, Samson was wearing a pristine white T-shirt and boots and carrying a gym bag. Holding this up, he grinned at Valetta. “Spare clothes. I’ve learned the hard way that going undercover with the Guardians takes its toll on the wardrobe. I’ve called ahead to let Lowell know we’re on our way.”

  “Who is he?” she asked as they made their way back to the bike.

  “Lowell is a fellow member of the brotherhood. He knows more than any man alive
about werewolf legends.” Samson grinned. “I’ll apologize in advance.”

  “Why?”

  “This could be a long night. Once Lowell gets started on a subject that interests him, we may never shut him up.”

  Lowell lived in a large, rambling mansion close to the environmental research facility where he worked. He answered the door with a book in his hand and, after a brief greeting and an absentminded smile in Valetta’s direction, returned to flipping the pages.

  “Sorry, but I know there’s a reference to the Shadow Born in this volume somewhere.”

  Samson directed a grin at Valetta, before leading her through to the kitchen. “While you’re reading, can we eat? I’m famished.”

  “You’re always famished.” Lowell said the words automatically, without lifting his eyes from the page he was reading. “Help yourself.”

  Samson opened the fridge and drew out a pack of raw caribou meat. Taking down a filleting knife from the rack over the stove, he cut the meat into thin strips before gesturing to Valetta to join him. They quickly devoured the bloody meat, washing it down with sips of bottled water. Nothing would ever taste as good as hunting and killing his own prey, but at least a meal like this was better than eating human food. He shuddered slightly at the memory of cooked meat and canteen meals.

  Although Lowell was an academic, a fierce environmentalist in his day job, and a werewolf historian in his spare time, he was also a full-fledged member of the Brotherhood of the Midnight Sun. A powerful Arctic werewolf, only slightly shorter than Samson, he was muscular, strong-featured, and had all the traits of an alpha. Luckily, the brotherhood alphas had a unique bond. It meant they could come together without fighting for dominance. It was particularly useful on this occasion, Samson decided with a wry smile, since there was a gorgeous alpha female in the vicinity. It meant he and Lowell could remain civilized and not put on a display for which of them would claim Valetta. His lips curled slightly, his inner wolf rising to the surface. Like there was any question about that. If there was any claiming to be done, there would be only one winner. He shook himself out of wolf mode. She wasn’t up for grabs and he wasn’t in the market for a mate. Maybe regular reminders of those two things would be useful.