Without A Wolf
A Big Woods Pack Novel
Written by
Cara Roman
Copyright 2017 [Cara Roman] All Rights Reserved.
Chapter 1
Greeted by a dreary gray sky and spindly trees naked of leaves Emma left
work for the day. The weather had been unseasonably warm this week, or so she
was told by everyone who came into the clinic she worked at. Having just moved
to the northern Michigan town it sure felt plenty cold to her. Walking to her car
she pulled my coat closed tighter as the wind kicked up almost knocking her
down. Small piles of dirty slush from the melting snow coated the parking lot
sloshing up onto the tops of her shoes soaking through the hem of her pants.
Everyone always said how beautiful and perfect snow makes everything look, but
what they forget to mention is how downright ugly it is if the weather gets above
freezing for one day. The salt residue from the roads clingling to every available
surface, including her black hatchback, making it look like it was going a little
gray with age. She might have to look into a different car soon if she wanted to
get through the winter in one piece. That thing basically skated everywhere on
the slick roads, thankfully she only lived a few blocks away though. Being right in
town wasn't usually ideal for her, with people crowding around, but she figured the advantage of being able to make it to work no matter the weather skewed the
scales.
Tonight she was going to actually get out of the house. Emma was
actually getting sick of her own company. She had been in town for a month now,
and the only places that she has set foot in were the clinic, the grocery store, and
her rental house. Since it came fully furnished, including pots and pans, she
hadn't even had to venture the 20 minutes north in search of a big box store.
Heading home to change out of the scrubs and find somewhere to eat dinner that
was not at the kitchen counter watching reruns should be a big improvement.
Maybe then some of the other nurses would stop trying to set her up with this
available cousin, or that single neighbor. Thinking to herself that maybe she
should have made up a story about a heartless ex-fiance that left her at the alter
and then nobody would try to foist her off on every unclaimed guy in the town.
Lying came easily, but having the skill and wanting to use it are completely
different. Dad taught her long ago that just because you are able to do something
doesn't mean you have the right to.
The five minute drive home was just long enough to fit in one full song on
the radio, unless there is a commercial playing. She turned into the drive at the
small white house with chipped paint and the scrolled wraught iron front porch
just as the last notes of the country song faded. Thankfully being January meant
Christmas music wasn't clogging every single radio station anymore. The holiday
season lost alot of its magic when you are all alone. Shaking her head reminding
herself not to get negative funk again, since it was a whole year away. Grabbing the mail from the box on the side of the house as she unlocked the door.
Ahhhhh, toasty warm, perks of that programable thermostat the landlord seemed
so proud of. Having the heat kick on 30 minutes before she walked in the door
was quite appreciated in this chilly climate though. All of the mail was addressed
to 'current resident', nothing new since there is nobody to mail letters she
chucked the small stack into the trash bin.
After swapping the blue scrubs for regular clothes, she heads back out.
The last streaks of sunset painting the sky in hues of pink and orange. Emma
headed to the bar just south of the town limit sign, since she was told the other
day from a coworker that the food was pretty good. The inside of Dusty's
Roadhouse was divided into three sections. A row of booths along the back wall
with a half dozen round tables situated in front of them. Along the side opposite
the door was a bar with beer taps and bottles of liquor sitting on the mirrored
shelves behind. The bar itself was one massive slab of wood polished until it
shone with stools in front of it a padded brown leather. The very front of the open
space held a small stage, and dance floor. Not surpsisingly that particular space
was empty of people since it was a weeknight, and only just now 6pm. A
swinging door opened from next to the bar and a small, slim waitress with short
dark hair rushed out carrying a tray full of food for the group of women seated at
one of the booths. The place was about half full, and since there didn't seem to
be any hostess stand she chose one of the small tables toward the corner. The
menu was already on the table, wedged in between the salt and pepper shakers,
so she grabbed it and looking it over had just decided what sounded good when the waitress came over.
"You're a new face! Don't think I have seen you in here before. My name is
Kayla!" The waitress said with a giant smile on fer face holding her hand out to
shake.
"Yep. Just moved here. I'm Emma." She replied shaking her warm hand. The
touch of the waitress' hand zinging up her arm.
Kayla tilted her head to the side, her gaze narrowing the slightest noticing the
sensation in her own arm. Clearly expecting her to elaborate further she said "Its,
ah, nice to meet you, what can I get for you?"
"I've heard everything here is pretty good, how about a burger with mushrooms
and swiss cheese, steak fries and some ranch to dip them, oh and just ice water
to drink please."
"Gotcha. I will go put that in, and be right back with your water." she said her
nostrils flaring a beat before she smiled, but it this time it wasn't quite reaching
her blue eyes.
While Kayla walked away her instincts were screaming. Oh, she knew
what Kayla the waitress was alright, but there was no way she could just walk out
now that she had placed an order, at least not without drawing attention to
herself. Beating herself knowing she shouldn't have shaken Kayla's hand. She
knew better, it had been drilled into her head from birth, but this time she didn't
want to have to be rude damn it. Judging by the reaction she seen the woman couldn't quite gage what was different about her. Most of the time that was the
case, and didn't that sting just as much as always. She knew she felt different to
Kayla, but she couldn't smell the tinge of animal on Emma the way she could on
her. Kayla was a wolf shifter, or as humans usually called them werewolves.
Two men walked in just then waving at Kayla walking over to Emma with
her drink. Both of them were tall, with wide shoulders. Dressed in well worn
jeans, tshirts and heavy work boots, with sharp steel blue eyes. But thats where
the similarities ended. One was clean shaven with dark brown hair so long it
flopped down over his ears. He had a big smile on hi
s face. The other man was
more guarded, his face set in serious lines. His eyes danced at the other man,
but his mouth didn't crack a smile. His dark blonde hair was cut short on the
sides, a little longer on top, and he had it pushed up and off his face. He had a
full beard that just crossed the border from blonde to brown. There were dark
streaks of ink down one arm, and the tattoo on the other arm peeked out of the
short sleeve of his dark gray tshirt. Clearly they were from the same genetic pool,
brothers or at the very least first cousins. Thinking to herself that was one pool
well worth taking a dip in, and judging by the look on the faces of the women in
the booth, Emma wasn't the only one admiring the view.
Kole was still laughing at his own stupid joke as they walked in. "When I
was a kid I was scared of the dark, but now that I am an adult I am scared of the
lights!" He was such a dumbass sometimes. "Do ya get it Kian?' He asked.
"Yeah, I just don't think its funny is all." It was a little funny, but he wasn't about to
laugh at some idiotic joke about his brother's electricity bill.
"You would be in a better mood if you got your dick wet more often."
"This again? Can't we go one damn day without you worrying how much action I
get?"
"Maybe if you got some in the last decade big brother!" Kole boomed out loudly,
and laughing again.
A few heads turned, of course they heard Kole. They sat down on the bar
stools and nodded at the bartender. He was reading an off road magazine. But
he knew they were here for Kayla so he didn't bother coming over to take their
order. The place was only about half full right now, with most of the customers
sitting at the tables to eat. Kayla walked up to the bar "How are my brothers
tonight?" She said at normal volume, then whispering too low for anyone but us
to hear as she grabbed us each a beer "lady at the table alone in the corner, she
feels off."
Swivelling his head to check on her Kole asked "off how?"
"Like a wolf. But I didnt smell anything but human on her, so I could be wrong."
She answered.
Now Kian turned full around to look, and shit, she was a stunner. He
completely forgot why he was looking and took a moment to just drink her in. An absolute 10 on the scale, but you could tell she had no idea. Wavy auburn hair
pulled back from her face twisted back into a clip, there were strands escaping to
frame her face. Oh, what a face it was. High cheek bones with a small straight
nose, a wide mouth with a slightly fuller bottom lip. There was a dusting of light
freckles across the bridge of her nose and over her cheeks. Her eyes were down,
and he couldn't see them through her mascara coated eyelashes as she looked
at her phone. She had on a moss green sweater and dark jeans tucked into
winter boots. Remembering why he was supposed to be looking at he sniffed the
air, not noticing any of the rich smell that their inner animals all had. Shaking his
head at his little sister that he didn't smell anything either.
Kole wiggled his eyebrows suggestively "want me to go introduce myself?"
"NO!" Kian said much louder than he meant to. He just couldn't stomach the
thought of his brother making any moves on her. She looked up at the yell, and
he was immediately caught in her gaze, helpless to look away. Her eyes were
spectacular, seriously one of a kind. Her drivers license catagorized them as
hazel, but that hardly did the color justice. Dark forest green rimmed the outside,
a light golden whiskey color in the center darkening back to green at her pupils.
She blinked breaking the connection and he realized he hadn't been able to
breathe while looking at her. Nobody in all his 30 years had ever affected like
that.
The bell from the kitchen chimed to let Kayla know an order was up, and
she disappeared into the kitchen. Kole was looking at him like he had grown a second head, so he turned back around and took a swig of the beer his sister
had brought over. Keenping his eyes on the beautiful stranger in the mirror. She
looked a little shaken at shared moment too. Kayla walked out with a single plate
on her tray and headed straight over to the beauty.
"Here ya go Emma, burger with mushrooms and swiss, and ranch for your fries.
So, just moved here huh? Are ya looking for work? We have a lazy waitress that
still hasn't made it in tonight even though her shift started an hour ago."
Around a nibble of fry Emma said "Oh, umm, thank you, but no. I work at the
clinic, I'm a nurse."
"Oh, nice! Thats too bad for me though, it would have been nice to replace her.
Enjoy your dinner, and just yell if you need anything." Kayla said the last part as
she was walking off.
Kian could tell that Kayla still couldn't tell what was off about Emma. Either
he was going to have to watch Kole hit on her, or think of some reason to go over
there and size her up by himself. Her voice was lower than he would have
expected, a mellow alto instead of a ringing soprano. Smoky, and seductive, just
the sound of it had his dick at half mast like he was a teenager again getting a
boner if the wind changed directions, instead of a grown man. Son of a bitch, he
thought to himself that woman was going to be trouble!
Chapter 2
The blond man watched Emma as she ate her dinner. The food was just
as great as she had been told, but she couldn't enjoy it with that sexy stranger
eyeing her the whole time. She could feel them on her even without looking up.
He probably thought she didn't notice since he was staring into the mirror instead
of directly at her. Like some cruel joke, there was nothing wrong with her insticts,
and they were screaming at her right now. But Emma knew better to run from a
predator, so she took her time, trying to eat at a normal pace. Checking her
phone like she was playing a game, constantly chanting 'just act normal' inside
her head.
Not surprisinly Kayla hadn't brought the check over. She clearly wanted
Emma to come up to the bar to pay so her brothers could get a closer look. Didn't
that just figure though. Go out one night for dinner and end up stumbling across 3 shifters. Her father always told her that others of their kind wouldn't be accepting
of a shifter without a wolf inside. She had no animal for protection making her too
fragile for their way of life. Hopefully as long as they didn't touch her then the
three siblings would just assume Kayla had gotten an electric shock and nothing
more. Once could be exlained away as a coincidence, but not if it happened
again.
Putting her coat on, and gathering up her purse she head towards the bar,
aiming for the end away from the beefcake brothers. The little smile at her
nickname for them fell once Kayla waved her over though. She was standing
behind the bar in front of her brothers. Left with no other options, Emma changed
direction. The brunette one leaned back past his brother's head and gave her a
big smile as she approached. Oh, he was a charmer, she was sure the ladies all
dropped their panties as soon as he looked in their direction. It didn't escape her
notice that they herded her exactly where they wanted her, right next to the
blonde man,
who was clearly the eldest. He was still taller than her while seated
on the stool making her feel unusually petite.
"Hey! How was everything?" Kayla said bringing her order up on the cash
register's screen behind the bar.
"Good, thank you." Emma said nodding her head.
"These are my brothers, Kole, and Kian."
"I'm Kole the dashingly handsome brother." He said his hand on his chest with a
wicked smirk and wink. "Kian." said with a jerk of his chin, and eyes that had frosted over.
"Nice to meet you." Emma said breathing a tiny sigh of relief neither had shaken
her hand.
"Oh, its mighty slippery out there right now. All that melted snow from eariler
froze and I haven't gotten a chance to sprinkle salt just yet." Kayla said looking
pointedly at her brothers. "Wouldn't want your first time here to end in a spill
outside."
"Oh, I'll be careful, no worries." Emma said backing away.
Without a word Kian stood up following her towards the door. Grabbing the
handle just as Emma was about to reach for it he held the door open for her.
Guiding her through the doorway with a light touch on her back he said "ladies
first."
She felt his touch burn through her heavy winter coat, sweater, and all the
way down into the marrow in her bones. He must be very dominant to give off so
much power with one small touch. Instead of freezing in fear though, her body
was begging to burrow in for more. All the nerve endings in her body felt
shockingly alive, and she was instantly wet between her legs. No, no, no.
Absolutely not! Her hormones weren't in charge of the show, damn traitors
anyway, with considerable effort she stepped away putting much needed
distance between them. He was still standing there just outside of the doors, as
she headed to her car. Emma needed to get away from the way Kian had made
her feel. Hands shaking as she put the key into the ignition starting the little car and put into gear. As she pulled out of the parking lot onto the road she braved a
glance at him in the rearview mirror. She expected him to be staring at her since
she was unashamedly fleeing from him now. But he was gazing at his hand in
shock. Strange. Didn't he know his own power by now?
Kian let off a rumbling growl, he could still feel Emma on his hand. Like he