Page 12 of Vicious Wolf Mate

I want to wrestle.

“Okay. You don’t want to turn around? Fine,” I add. “What do you call a werewolf who can’t decide what to wear?” I ask. I don’t wait for either Mace or Jax to answer. I know they won’t answer. “A what-to-wear-wolf.”

Mace answers finally by turning around.

What I see next is absolutely worth pushing buttons to behold with one’s eyes firsthand. The pull towards him is something I am not going to be able to ignore much more.

I want to rush up to him and run my fingers through his fur. His beautiful fur and that burning muscular skeleton beneath. At some point I sure hope to be allowed to. It’s not my fault. Way down inside we burn and we need.

“Don’t get too lost,” Jax says, destroying my muscle and fur fugue state. “Gnash. We need to talk about that. Getting Gnash back. I want Gnash back right now.”

“I know where he is,” I answer, turning back around to face Jax. “He’s going to be in the Wilder building. The Wilder building’s on the other side of the canyon.”

“How come I never heard of it?” asks Jax.

Probably because your elevator often skips a floor or two, I want to say to Jax as an answer, but my internal editor is on the job.

“The Wilder building is similar to a special OPS building, more like the main OPS building,” I tell Jax. “The building you two kidnapped me from was more of a day-to-day operation.”

“Yeah right!” Mace scoffs from behind me.

I turn around to snap back an answer at Mace, and there he is back in his man form.

Sweet heaven on earth!

That lean and mean body that held me up against the wall. Pronounced shoulders and arms, coiled springs of strength holding me against the wall. His midsection is flat and grooved in a way that suggests inexhaustible stamina and core strength. I want him to press me into the wall a thousand times more. I want us to hold each other and squeeze. I want our passion and angst pushed out by pushing and pulling at each other. I want to give him what’s inside of me through affection, aggressive affection.

Before I can record much mental footage, Mace is covering himself, and Jax tosses Mace a pair of pants from his back pocket.

These lupines are good at this routine of tossing each other's spare pants and always having spare pants on hand.

It is so interesting. They always have pants. Pants specialized for rolling up tight and being carried in a back pocket. A perfect solution for what happens after shifting on the fly.

“Thanks,” Mace says to Jax. Then Mace looks directly at me and smirks. “Can I have some privacy please?” Mace adds.

“Of course,” I answer. I turn to face Jax again. “Don’t flatter yourself too much,” I say to Mace as I turn. “I didn’t see anything special or out of the ordinary.” I know I am being a brat when I add this last one, so I try to lighten the air a bit with another cheesy werewolf joke. “What do you call a werewolf escapologist?” I ask.

Neither hairball says anything. I did not think they would, and I do not give them any time to say anything. “Hairy Houdini!” I answer.

Darn Mace is all business. As soon as I am fully back to facing Jax, and my hirsute punchline has fallen flat, Mace lobs a cold answer. “The other side of the canyon won’t work,” Mace tells me.

“Why won’t it work?” I ask.

“You know why,” says Mace. “That’s Sand Rock’s territory.”

I wait a moment. Not a pause for effect, just want him to have a moment to walk back what he just said, if not to me, at least walk it back in his own mind. I know they want their friend back. I know they will try to get their friend back, insurmountable odds or not.

“Look, tough guy, tough shit,” I say to both of them. “Do you want your friend back or not?”

9

MACE

“Terrible,” I grumble to myself. This is a terrible idea. Walking directly into Sand Rock territory is the last thing any of us should be doing. As leader of the Big Sky Clan, I know better. Yet, here we are.

I walk behind Jax and Mckenna, with Jax in the lead position, and our captive Mckenna in the middle. She wanted to be out in front, but with the Sand Rock Clan possibly waiting behind every rock, it’s better to keep her safely in the middle. If we have to be here, we might as well be smart about it.

We dohaveto do this. Gnash has been taken. My loyalty to him outweighs everything else. I’m getting him back.

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