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  Hell, he’d kiss her all over, starting with the little sweet spot on her neck that made her writhe and press her breasts against him. Then down her belly, to her soft, luscious thighs…

  She gently pulled away. “I have to get back or Uncle Rob will worry. My pack’s inside.”

  Pack. She belonged to her people. Jake dropped his hands. “Sure.”

  As he watched her open the door and step back into the noisy bar, he felt kicked in the stomach. And wished he’d stayed at home, alone, instead of trying to fit in where he did not belong.

  Sitting at the horseshoe-shaped counter before a bank of wide-screen televisions, Molly sipped her wine and nibbled on pulled pork. She lacked appetite lately. When Uncle Rob asked her about it, she blamed it on her full figure. A girl had to lose weight to look trim.

  No matter that it was a lie. She liked her rich curves. She just wished Luke Silvern didn’t like them as much.

  Sitting beside her, Uncle Rob pulled at his longneck, seemingly watching the NASCAR race. She knew he was surveying the crowded restaurant. All good, because Robert owned fifty percent of the business. It helped supplement the pack when times were lean.

  The back door opened and Jake entered. Thumbs hooked into his belt loops, he paid no attention to them, but headed for his seat.

  Her heart gave a painful tug. She couldn’t pay attention to Jake anymore. Not since a week ago when all hell had broken loose. She picked at her food, her stomach churning. Everything tasted like cardboard.

  Hair on her nape saluted the air as she felt a ripple of tension. Robert straightened and a very low growl rumbled in his throat as the front doors opened to admit Luke and William Silvern. Her heart raced. Luke’s dad had never visited the bar before, respecting the fact it was Robert’s territory.

  “What the hell are they doing here?” Robert muttered.

  As they sat at the bar, William saw Robert. Both alphas glared at each other. Molly’s stomach churned. Please, not here.

  When her uncle started to slide off his stool, she beamed and waved furiously at Luke. “Hi Luke!”

  Robert went still and Luke’s father glanced at his son. Luke gave her a wide smile and ambled over to her.

  “Molly. We came here, hoping to see you.”

  In jeans too tight for his paunch, Western boots so new they squeaked and a checked shirt, he looked like a parody of a cowboy. With his shock of red hair and dazzling white teeth, Luke wasn’t bad looking. He just wasn’t her type.

  She avoided looking across the bar at Jake, the man who was her type. Molly felt William Silvern and her uncle studying every move she made.

  Her father abandoned the seat next to her, and went to sit in Luke’s vacant seat. A very clear move. Luke gave a respectful nod to Robert, who nodded back.

  After Luke ordered, she made small talk about the weather, the flood of tourists and how crowded the restaurants were. Then he slid his hand over hers.

  “Molly, have you thought about my father’s deadline?”

  Oh yes, have thought about it a lot. In my nightmares. “A girl needs time to make up her mind, Luke.”

  He looked around and then leaned forward. “Maybe you need a little persuasion.”

  His kiss was brusque and quick, and caught her off guard. Molly tried not to shudder as his greasy lips slid over hers. Kissing Luke felt like kissing a slice of cold, wet liver. He did nothing for her sexually. With Jake though, oh with Jake, it felt like fire licking between her legs.

  Smiling to erase the tension, she pulled out of his embrace. “Luke. We’re in public.”

  But the kiss had served a purpose. No more male posturing. One male from Luke’s pack even began talking with her father. It seemed as if Luke’s kiss had quieted tensions between the two rival packs. Molly swallowed bitter disappointment. If she needed any proof that mating with Luke would bring peace at last, here it was.

  Never mind Jake Anderson and how he heated her blood. Pack came first.

  Always.

  Chapter 3

  A week after the bar incident, Molly felt the pressure of duty occupying her thoughts. She tried to act interested as she walked with her parents through the five-bedroom house Luke wanted to bring her into as his bride.

  “And once we’re mated, you’ll keep house until the children come along. So it’s important for you to see where you’ll be living,” Luke told her. “I know you like tinkering with plants, and there’s room out back for a small garden.”

  A domesticated wolf. Terrific. Tinkering with plants? Molly resisted the urge to laugh and gave a brief nod, hiding her thoughts. Forget the fact she had a Bachelor of Science degree in botany, and had helped Uncle Robert grow a new hybrid species of plants, and could manage all of her uncle’s business accounts.

  Luke and his father saw her as a commodity. Her union with the Silvern heir would finally seal the peace between the Silvern and the Keynes packs.

  This was no life for a werewolf. She wanted love. Mutual affection at least. Not a male who thought of her as a decoration for his home during the day, and someone to satisfy his sexual needs at night.

  But her pack needed this peace accord. They couldn’t afford a war with the larger Silvern pack. A shudder ran through her as she remembered the images from her childhood of burned fields and death.

  Robert had saved her when she was seven, and dying from the curse affecting their pack. He’d sliced open his wrist and given her life’s blood, the more powerful blood of an alpha Lupine.

  And after they’d lost so much family, Robert made her his sole heir to take over the business and the pack when he passed on. He’d funded her tuition at the University of Florida.

  I owe everything to Uncle Robert. He’s sacrificed so much for all of us.

  Outside, the grayish sky hinted of the encroaching sunrise. The smell of new carpeting, fresh paint and appliances made her ill. Or maybe it was the male showing her around.

  “And this kitchen has a real granite countertop. Father insisted on the best when he constructed the house for me and my future mate.”

  Luke lived in luxury with servants to wait upon him. His father became wealthy after buying land and selling to developers.

  Robert remained true to the land. He refused to sell any pack land to greedy developers who saw South Florida as a place to build a concrete jungle.

  Like her uncle, Molly preferred the real Florida jungle, the tangle of low-lying palmetto scrub and the thicket of towering slash pines. It hurt her heart to see the pristine wilderness destroyed to make room for development.

  Luke paused before the final room and then swept a low bow. “The master bedroom.”

  As her parents wandered down the hallway to inspect the guest bedroom Luke planned to “eventually” make into a nursery, Molly suppressed a giant yawn. She’d rather be out among the fields back home, inspecting the tomato crop for insects and working the earth beneath the hot Florida sun.

  Luke gave a pointed look to the king-sized bed against the wall, covered with a gold and brown quilt. “I plan to spend much time in here with you, Molly. I want you to get pregnant as soon as possible. My sire wants me to father an heir so he can rest assured the future is secured in our pack.”

  My sire. Not the affectionate “dad” like she used.

  Looking at the neatly made bed, she felt nausea churn in her stomach as she thought of Luke on top of her, grinding away much the same way he ground away in his jerky moves at the Saturday night dances. No love. No pleasure from the act, just a grim mating and triumph once he’d impregnated her and secured his pack’s future.

  She’d become a breeder and lose all self worth. Molly gave a little sigh. This was the only way to protect her people. If only the truce negotiated by Jake Anderson had lasted.

  Molly’s thoughts drifted to Jake. Unlike with Luke, sex with Jake would be amazing.

  Closing her eyes, she imagined herself naked in this bed with Jake, heat filling his brown eyes as he moved atop her, his strong
, muscled body sliding over hers. Not Luke with his shock of red hair, his paunch rubbing against her soft abdomen, but Jake’s firm six-pack as he braced himself above her and then she parted her legs for him as he nudged his shaft inside her…

  “So you feel it as well, Molly? I can scent your arousal.”

  Flushing, she opened her eyes. Luke thought he had turned her on. Right. The Silvern male could never make her body heat with desire like Jake.

  But Jake was a loner who embraced solitude. And she was a pack Lupine and had her duty.

  They went outside. Humid air wrapped around her like a blanket as the sun’s rays peeked over the horizon. Rows of huge houses belonging to Luke’s pack marched up and down the street in boring unison.

  In the driveway, her parents beamed with pride and satisfaction. She knew their thoughts. Their daughter was the pack’s salvation.

  Molly didn’t feel like a savior. She felt trapped.

  Robert Keynes and William Silvern waited by their vehicles. She was glad to see they weren’t at each other’s throats again.

  William was shorter than her uncle, more slender, and a pureblood red wolf shifter. Like his son, he had the strawberry blond hair of red wolf shifters, and prided himself on the purity of his bloodlines.

  Her pack was mixed blood. Molly was one of the few true redheads in her uncle’s pack.

  Her uncle silently regarded her. You okay? He asked with his eyes.

  Molly nodded. The males had grown more restless, arrogant and itching for a fight in the past month. Just like Luke. Luke had been arrogant before, but always polite. Then last week, he’d hit her after she’d called him “carrot top.” He hadn’t liked the affectionate nickname.

  The black eye had healed quickly. She’d nearly called off everything, but had overheard her parents quietly talking about how her union with Luke would save the pack.

  So she said nothing. Luke apologized, but beneath the surface, she sensed his impatience simmering. She’d kept her mouth shut for the remaining time she had to decide on their match.

  Everyone looked at Molly. Her stomach churned. If she rejected Luke, there would never be peace. Luke’s pack was larger, stronger. All it would take was a few of them jumping Robert as he went into town, and sinking a knife into his back

  She thought of Connie, her older sister, who could have mated Luke instead. But Connie had died in the ravaging curse that infected their pack. She thought of Jake, his sexy body and how he’d made her blood run hot, and felt a dream vanish like mist beneath the hot Florida sun.

  “Molly?” William asked. “Is the house acceptable to you as a future den?”

  Den. Like in den mother. Dear goddess Danu, that’s what she would become, losing her very identity. Behind her, her father gave a gentle nudge. Molly swallowed, pasted on a small smile.

  “The house is acceptable,” Molly said, officially approving of the home.

  Sighs of relief followed, except from Luke. The arrogant braggart expected her to like it, just as he expected her to agree to everything he said. Maybe he’d change after they were mated. Maybe he wouldn’t be such a callous jerk.

  Maybe it would snow in South Florida.

  She gave William Silvern a pointed look. “Now will you shake on the deal with my uncle to keep the peace until the deadline you gave me?”

  The two alphas shook hands. To seal the tentative truce between their two packs, they would now run as wolves. The only neutral territory in the region remained the park.

  As they climbed into their vehicles, the hollow ache in her chest vanished, replaced by anticipation. Molly loved running in the park.

  Loved having the chance to see Jake again, too, even if she must now admire him from afar.

  They drove to the park’s picnic grounds by the river. No campers were hiking this time of day, and Jake had closed the trail for their run.

  After walking for a mile, the group shifted. Molly reveled in the warm sunshine. Shifting brought such joy. Sensations exploded in her, the smell of pine needles, the cackle of a crow several yards away, and the feel of the wind ruffling her red fur.

  Robert, with his alpha markings of white on his black muzzle, shook his powerful body. He lifted his nose to the wind, and followed the hiking trail Jake had cut through the brush.

  Her parents, Luke and Luke’s father followed, Molly lagging behind. She needed solitude. She wanted to howl with anguish of binding herself to an arrogant mate who did not love her. But the wolf understood pack and loyalty to the alpha.

  Her stomach churned with anxiety as she loped behind the others, wishing she could race far, far away and never return. And then what? Become a lone wolf like Jake? Never have the comfort of pack, of her own kind? Always forced to try to fit into the world of Skins?

  After several minutes, Robert stopped and the others did the same.

  The sound of an ATV grumbled in the distance. The group shifted back and clothed themselves by magick. Robert held up a hand and glanced at William.

  “Jake Anderson’s approaching. I don’t know why. I already obtained permission from him for us to run here.”

  Luke shook his dark head. “What the hell do we need his permission for? This is our park.”

  It wasn’t the Silvern territory and he knew it. What a jerk.

  “Quiet, son,” William admonished. “Jake is the caretaker and we respect his boundaries.”

  They stood by a cluster of saw palmetto and waited.

  The ATV stopped and Jake climbed off. Molly’s heart pounded hard. In his ball cap, gray uniform shirt, olive drab trousers and scuffed work boots, Jake took her breath away. Leanly muscled and taller than most males, he had an angular face, a firm chin and warm brown eyes. He kept his light brown hair cut short, and it suited him.

  He nodded at William, Robert. “Sirs.”

  Molly liked his show of respect. Jake didn’t belong to either pack, but always treated the alphas with utmost courtesy. He nodded at her parents, barely glanced at Luke. Then he smiled at her, a warm grin that made her insides knot with pleasure.

  “Hi, Molly.”

  Luke stepped in front of Molly. “What do you want, Anderson?”

  Jake ignored him and turned to Robert and William. “There’s a deer with a fawn about a thousand yards north of your position. If you’re going to keep running, shift your track south.”

  The two alphas nodded, but Luke laughed. “Deer? I’m in the mood for venison.”

  Contempt filled Jake’s gaze. He pushed back his ball cap. “These deer are under my protection. You know the rules, Silvern. No mama deer with young is targeted as prey.”

  “Not my rules.” Luke studied his fingernails.

  “They’re mine and while you’re running in this park, you’ll follow them.”

  Growling, Luke held up his hands and claws emerged from his fingertips.

  “Don’t even try it.” Jake held up a hand. Sharp claws sprang and then he bared his fangs at the alpha’s son.

  A foot shorter than Jake, and with more fat than muscle, Luke didn’t stand a chance against the other Lupine. Paling, Luke drew back a little. The sour stench of his fear filled the air. Molly silently cheered. About time someone put him in his place.

  Resuming his normal appearance, Jake spoke to Robert. “Sir, I need to talk with you about that controlled burn scheduled for tomorrow. Can you come back with me when you’re finished?”

  Robert glanced at William. “We’ve finished our run. I’ll go now. I’ll meet you at the picnic tables.”

  The other alpha nodded. “Let’s walk back in Skin.”

  Robert and Jake climbed onto the ATV and took off. Molly felt a wistful longing as she stared at the departing ATV, wishing she were sitting beside Jake, and they were driving away…

  To where? Pack was everything to Lupines. And Jake had no pack.

  As their group started back, Luke tugged at her arm to halt her. “We’ll meet you at the picnic grounds,” he told her parents and his father.
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  Dread filled her. Dear goddess, she hoped Luke wouldn’t want to go all primal male and force her to mate with him here.

  But instead, he kicked at a pine tree. “Damn cocky lone wolf thinks he can order me around,” Luke grumbled. “This is our park, and we can do as we please.”

  “He’s protecting the wildlife, Luke. It’s his job.”

  Luke seized her arm, his grip painful. “Stop defending him.”

  “I’m not, just pointing out the obvious. If you don’t like the fact that this is his park, why don’t you take him in a Challenge?”

  The suggestion made blood drain from his chubby face. He was scared of Jake, she realized. Like a bully faced with a bigger threat, Luke didn’t want to tussle with the stronger male.

  “You think I need to prove I’m stronger?” he snarled. “Prove I’m a worthy male?”

  Luke squeezed her arm until she wanted to gasp with pain. His gaze turned dark and cold. Suddenly afraid she forced a smile. “I’m just teasing. Of course you don’t have to prove yourself. You’re the alpha’s son. Let’s go back and join the others.”

  He released her and shifted into wolf. He loped over to a tall pine tree and lifted his leg.

  Molly cringed. Such rudeness.

  Leaving Luke to mark several more trees—dear goddess, she tired of male posturing!—she ran back to the picnic grounds, cutting through the scrub and using a smaller, hidden trail Jake had told her about.

  Leaving behind her parents, alpha, and future mate.

  Jake sat on a table, staring at his cupped palms. Her alpha was not in sight. As she drew near, he looked up and she saw what he held.

  A small bromeliad. Moss sprouting from the air plant had turned black.

  Molly climbed onto the picnic table. “What happened to it?”

  “I don’t know.” He set down the plant. “Found a few more like that. All of them with this odd blackness on the roots. They’re dying.”

  “Fungus?”

  “No. Something else. Sienna, Gabriel’s mate, went through the park and cleaned all the fungus. Haven’t had any diseased plants since.”