Page 25 of Drive me Wild (South Island Shifters)

Nine

DECLAN

Stepping into my kitchen, I’m not surprised to find my brother Zane sitting at my kitchen bench-top with a massive bowl of cereal in front of him and reading something on my tablet.

“Don’t you have your own home to go to?” I ask. He jumps slightly, spilling the spoonful down his shirt.

“Dude was that necessary?” he grumbles.

I chuckle. “Necessary, no. Funny, yeah.”

He grabs a hand towel from a drawer, trying to wipe the milk away, only making it worse.

He looks my way and tosses the hand towel at me. “You’re just getting in? I take it the sex was great.”

“I’m not sharing with you. I take it there wasn’t any trouble while I was gone,” I reply, flicking the jug on to boil water so I can make myself a cup of coffee.

He shakes his head. “Nothing I couldn’t handle. A rogue wolf was wandering around our lands. From the smell of things, it seems he was trying to find someone in particular, but we soon moved it on, and it didn’t return.”

My ears perk up at this statement. There was a rogue wolf on my lands. Guilt washes through me. As the Alpha, I should’ve been here to protect my clan. Instead, I was getting my dick wet. Zane studies me. “What’s wrong?”

“You mention a rogue wolf was on our lands, and this morning when I left Winter’s place, I smelled the scent of a wolf around her driveway and front door. And not a scent I recognise either. I’m going to put more animals on patrol around our perimeter, just to be safe.”

He blinks at me. “So you did finally get it on with Winter, after weeks of pining for her?”

“Of course, you focus on the sex part of my night, and I don’t pine for women. They fall at my feet.”

He snorts. “Not this one.”

“Shut it!”

“You’re awfully grumpy for a man who just got himself some tail. Maybe you should do it again with her. You know, shake off any residual anger and stress.” He waggles his eyebrows.

“You know not all of us are like you. Hump, then dump.”

His eyebrows shoot up, and he stops the spoon in his hand mid-air. “Did you mark her?”

Did I? I have no clue.“I don’t know. And she kicked me out this morning before I could even suggest one more time.”

He bursts out laughing. “Declan Stone kicked out of bed? Wow. I never thought I’d see the day that happened.”

“Get out!” I growl, though my tone is full of laughter. I love my brother, I do, but I want a shower and some peace and quiet right now. The thoughts of Winter being my mate are strong, and the connection I felt with her last night is still coursing through my veins, showing no sign of waning. It doesn’t matter that our intentions were initially to get each other out of our systems in a single night.

“I’m going, but I’m taking the bowl of food with me. If you’re lucky, you’ll get it back.”

“Why were you here in the first place?” I ask.

He shrugs. “I locked myself out of my place and was hungry.”

“In other words, you took my house keys out last night and not yours. I keep telling you not to put them in the same place I do.”

“Want to meet for a whiskey at the restaurant later?” Zane asks.

“Sure. Seven good?” He nods and exits my house. I follow him and lock the garage door, ensuring he can’t sneak back in. Once done, I make my way upstairs towards my bedroom.

Glancing at my bed, I hope someday Winter will be in it.

I enter my bathroom and turn on the shower. My shower is a walk-in one and huge with a monsoon head, and the mixer tap is at the end with the open part. Stripping out of my clothes, I catch the whiff of subtle, sweet perfume as I remove my shirt. It’s a scent I’ll never tire of having fill my nostrils—Winter’s perfume. I make a mental note to ask her if it’s her favourite.

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