Page 20 of Twisted Howlidays

Calder pulled her into his arms. “I couldn’t believe the fates had sent me a human female for a mate, but they did.

“How is that even possible? Was your wolf dormant in you or something?” Kendra had never heard of such a thing. Not that she had been around many wolves, but her parents surely would have told her that wolves could turn humans into shifters if it was possible.

“How is any of this possible? How do we shift? How do we find our mates? You can give credit to the Gods and the Fates,” Calder said.

* * *

Ryan pried the twisted legs of the camera tripod free from the debris and tossed them aside.

“Damn. It’s mostly junk. If only I can find her camera.”

“To hell with her camera! We were so close to claiming her! What are you doing up here? Go finish what we started!”

“Are you kidding? I need to rebuild trust with her. It means starting from scratch. It’s going to take more than just an apology to win her back.”

With a final flurry of digging, he spotted the strap of Kendra’s camera bag barely visible under the snow-covered timbers. “Yes!” He placed Kendra’s other items in the bag, including one of the trail cameras he had salvaged.

Shifting into his wolf, he held the bag in his mouth, ran down the mountain. Back at his truck, he once again assumed his human form and considered his next move.

“I just know she will leave now. I just need to see her one more time. If I can find the right words, maybe I can salvage this mess.”

With a quick turn of the key, the truck roared to life. The radio crackled out a winter storm warning that advised of blizzard conditions for high elevations, and that all roads on the mountain passes were closed until further notice.

“Good news! She’s trapped here with us! Go claim her!”

“Chill. Yes, the storm bought us some more time. But that doesn’t mean we can bust her door down. It just gives me more time to straighten things out.”

By the time Ryan reached Kendra’s cottage, the sun had just disappeared in the heavy clouds. He knocked and waited to no avail. With a quick glance into Daisy and Calder’s kitchen window, he spotted her talking to Daisy.

The last thing he wanted to do was to bring Daisy and Calder into the matter. What if they told her how they’d worked with Willow to basically set her up to meet him? It would only make things worse.

Setting the camera back in front of the door, Ryan reluctantly returned to his truck and headed home. His wolf begged him to turn around and go back to their mate, but Ryan refused to give in to his animal instincts. He knew Kendra needed space. He would respect her wishes and give her the space she needed for now. After all, he was the one who had fucked up. Big time. He had to find a way to fix this cluster fuck. If he’d only listened to Gavin and Bailey, none of this would have ever happened.

Nope. He had to do things the hard way. Always.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Kendra stepped onto the porch and immediately stumbled over the small duffle bag.

“Oh my God! He found my camera bag!”

Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure anyone within earshot could hear it. Quickly scanning her surroundings, she prayed she wouldn’t see him. But at the same time, she wished he would be there with her. Picking up the bag, she took one last look around before closing the door.

Removing the camera, she turned it in her hands and examined it to check it for damage. It looked good on the outside. Maybe a bit banged up, but no worse for the wear. Connecting it to her laptop, she uploaded the photos she had taken. Despite the fact that she had learned the grizzlies were shifters who had participated in the scam, she had to admit the pictures turned out amazingly well.

Switching out her camera for the trail camera, she uploaded the files. Her jaw dropped the second the photos appeared on the screen.

There was Ryan, standing there, stark naked. And he was smiling! Proudly! He’d spotted the camera that day. And gave her a great series of photos of his sculpted body and his huge, nearly erect cock.

“Damn him! He was posing for me the whole time,” she laughed out loud.

The images instantly flooded her mind with memories of their night together. It was too much to bear, and she slammed the laptop’s lid shut.

“According to Daisy, I need to think things over. Why is this all on me anyway?”

“Maybe if you weren’t so bullheaded and stubborn, none of this would be an issue, and we would be with our mate!”

“I am not bullheaded, whatever that meant. And enough about this mate crap.”

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