The Reluctant Wolf (Book 1 Cloverleah Pack) (18 page)

“So you and Damien, ha?”

“He asked, I said no, he stayed a good friend until I left.”

“His pack would have protected you, if you had been with him.”

“There was no connection because he wasn’t you. I can’t let you go beating heads over everyone who might have thought they were interested in me before I met you.  You are the only one who has touched me, okay.”

“How many?”  But Kane smiled as he spoke so Shawn would know he wasn’t really mad.

“Seriously?”  Shawn smiled and raised his eyebrow.  Then he thought for a minute and said, “Fine, if you want to know, enough to keep you busy breaking heads for at least a year - maybe longer.”

“Shit better hope Griff can keep up with the work in the shop when this is all over.  Looks like I have to stake my claim on you halfway across the United States.”

“Don’t forget Canada.”

Chapter Twenty Three

The party, that had sprung up after the pack and friends had learned Kane and Shawn’s plans was in full swing, when Shawn noticed Claude pulling Troy aside for a private chat.  Moments later he saw Troy looking really agitated and then he ran from the room, disappearing out into the night.  Scowling at Claude, who just shrugged at him, Shawn noticed that Kane was busy with his Mom and brother. Not wanting to disturb him Shawn slipped out into the night to look for Troy.

Once outside and clear of the house Shawn sent out his senses.  Damn the man had shifted and headed into the trees, Kane would be furious if he thought one of them had taken off without telling anyone.  Without a second thought Shawn was stripped and shifted in seconds, his huge white wolf gleaming under the moon.  Sprinting he took off after Troy’s scent.

Ten minutes later he heard the sound of whimpering off to his left.  Troy and he was upset.  Shawn shifted complete with clothes and walked carefully into a small clearing.  Troy back in human form was curled up against a tree clutching a piece of paper…and crying. Shawn didn’t say anything, but just went over and sat by the man, leaning back against the same tree.  He put a comforting hand on Troy’s shoulder and let the man cry.

It was a good fifteen minutes before Troy could
sit up and speak and his question surprised Shawn.

“How do you cope with it?  How do you deal with the whole mating thing?  The lack of choice in the whole Fates thing?”

Shawn thought back to what Shaman Paulo had told him earlier that day when he had asked the same thing about Kane and his right to chose.

“It is a choice, Troy.  It’s just if you meet your mate and then one of you walks away then both of you will be really unhappy for the rest of your life.  But you always have that choice to walk away.  Why, have you met your mate?”

“No, not yet.  But Claude told me just before that one of the Master Dom’s at his club smelt my wolf scent on one of those hunters we sent over there.  He is sure he is my mate, apparently got into a right tizzy about it.”

“So is he one of the men who came with Claude today?  I didn’t notice anyone paying you too much attention.”

“No.”  Troy’s voice was low and tinged with sadness.

“What happened
, Troy?”

“He was deployed this morning.  Apparently he is some Black Ops person.   Claude didn’t tell me where he was going; only that he wouldn’t be back for three months.  He asked Claude to give me this.” Troy thrust a piece of paper at Shawn, who struggled to read it in the moonlight.  Eventually he flicked his hand and the small blue orb that appeared was enough to read by.

I know we are mates and I am so sorry I can’t be with you right now.  But duty calls and I can’t ignore it as much as I would like to.  I will see you in three months, I promise. Please wait for me and be careful.

Anton
Sage

[email protected]

Shawn looked at Troy.  “He promised he would come back, that has to mean something.”

“It’s not that.  I believe what he says in his note.  His scent on the paper drove my wolf crazy as soon as I smelt it. But what happens if he comes back and I don’t want him?”

“I can’t think why you wouldn’t.  The Fates are pretty good at setting you up with the one person in existence who is perfect for you.  You don’t know him yet, that’s all.”

“But I know enough.  He is a Master Dom.  He is a Black Ops soldier.  I don’t do the whole D/s scene at all
so how are we matched with that?  And he is a soldier.  Someone who has to fly off at a moment’s notice to do shit he won’t even be able to talk to me about and gone for long periods of time.  How is any of that supposed to work for a mechanic in a custom car and bike shop?”  Troy was getting really agitated now and Shawn draped his arm over Troy’s shoulder while he thought about his answer.  He knew he had to make it a good one.

“Okay, let’s break things down here a minute.  First
, the D/s scene.  You don’t know that this is Anton’s life choice.  He might be like me and just be doing it for whatever reason.  I didn’t ever want a sub for a mate, or another Master for that matter.  I was just doing a job.  You can’t write him off for that without knowing what it is he is actually looking for.  That wouldn’t be fair to either of you would it?”

Troy had calmed down a bit and his look of trust on his face spurred Shawn to continue.

“Then there is his job.  Again, we don’t know what type of soldier he is but that is not overly important.  If he is in the Black Ops then we know that he is smart, obviously good at what he does and he is also honorable enough to leave even when he had the possibility of meeting you today.  That shows incredible strength of character.  They are all good qualities in a mate.”

Troy nodded his head.  “I just wish I could have met him before he went.  Then at least I would know what I am in for when he comes back.”

“Troy my friend, if he had come today and seen you I promise you there is no way he would have left you to go overseas.  He wouldn’t have been able to do it and I do know when he does see you he will love you absolutely exactly the way you are.”

“Yeah, so I get to worry about some faceless wonder for three months and I don’t even know a thing about him.  That’s just awesome, not.” Well at least he wasn’t crying anymore.
  In fact he was positively snarling.

“Haven’t you ever been to Claude’s club?”

“Only a couple of times.  It’s Scott that likes to go there, not me.  I only go to keep him company until he finds someone to fuck him.”  Troy thought a minute.  “I don’t remember any Anton there and I guess I would have smelt him if we had been at the club at the same time.”

“Could you ask Scott about him, perhaps?”

“Oh, God no.  What if I find out Scott’s already been with him, or…” Now Troy was looking worried.  “What if he actually means Scott and not me?”

“Nope that is not possible.  You and Scott have totally different wolf scents and there is no way Anton would have confused
you for his mate especially if Scott goes there quite a bit.  It is definitely you that Anton is interested in.”

“But I don’t do that well with guys in a relationship thing.  I don’t know how to flirt, and I don’t do a lot of interesting things so I don’t have anything to talk about.  I am the quiet ordinary one, Scott is the one with all the personality.”

“Come on Troy.  I know I don’t know you that well yet, but I do know you are a whizz with mechanics and computers.  You are clever and you know how to defuse a difficult situation.  You may be quiet, but then so am I and it is not a bad thing.  Quiet people notice more and when they do talk they have something worth saying.  There are a lot of men who would really appreciate that, honestly.  You are also loyal to your pack and you didn’t judge me regardless of how different I have proven to be.  Those are all really good qualities to have and any man would be proud for you to be his mate.  Anton is a lucky guy.”

Troy grinned at Shawn.  “For a quiet guy, you are good at this you know.”

“Good at what?”

“Talking.”
  Troy thought again for a minute and then sighed. “God it is going to be a long three months.  I know so little about him and I don’t even know who I will be worrying about.”

Shawn waved the piece of paper under Troy’s nose.  “He put his email address on here, so you can contact him.  I bet he would love to hear from you and the email would be a great way for you two to get to know each other over the next three months.
  You have his last name so I am sure you can do a bit of computer witchery to see what else you can find out about him.”  He thought for a moment and then said, “Do you want to see what he looks like?”

Troy’s eyebrows shot up and a smile lit his face. “Can you do that?  Really?”

“I am fairly sure I can. Let me concentrate on his scent for a moment.”  Shawn sniffed at the paper and then closed his eyes for a moment.  As he opened them again a blue sphere appeared on his hands and Troy shuffled closer to get a better look.

The man, Anton, was in some type of an aircraft carrier.  As Troy looked he could see his potential mate had a
lean hard face.  He had high cheek bones, piercing eyes, a long straight nose and a full mouth set in a stern expression.  From what Troy could see Anton was a blond, like him, although he didn’t have a lot of hair, given the military cut and all.   He had broad shoulders and strong arms under his black outfit.  Yep he was drool-worthy all right.

Shawn and Troy watched in silence for a moment.  They saw Anton look around as if he was worried someone might be watching him. Then he fished around in a pocket on his shirt and took out a small plastic bag that appeared to have a handkerchief in it.  He carefully pulled it out and sniffed hard before putting the cloth back in the bag and shoving it back in his pocket.  He rested his head back and Troy watched all of the tension lines in Anton’s face disappear and he had a half smile on his face.
When he looked like that he was totally beautiful.

“He’s taken your scent with him. What a totally romantic thing to do.” Shawn’s voice was hushed
and Troy blushed.

“Guess he does want me after all, and we haven’t even met.”

Shawn let him watch his mate for a few minutes more and then coughed to get Troy’s attention.

“I really hate to drag you back into the here and now, but Kane’s coming and he is not too happy with us.” He said when Troy looked up.

“Yeah,” Troy took one last look and indicated Shawn could close his hands.  “Is he pissed?”

“He’s been yelling in my head for the past ten minutes but he will get over it.  Here.”  Shawn clapped his fingers together and when he opened them again he had a small photo of Anton, in his relaxed pose
that he handed to Troy.  Troy went to look for where to put it, and realized he was naked from the shift.

“I will zap you back to your room with the photo okay.  Time to put your computer skills to good use I think.”  Shawn smiled and raised his hand.

“Shouldn’t I stay and explain to Kane, I don’t want you to get in to trouble.”

“No, it’s fine.  You can’t get into to much trouble with your mate.  I will explain to Kane what is going on, but I won’t say anything to anyone else.  Okay?
  Oh and can you let everyone else know that Kane and I are fine, but we might be a while.”

“
Yeah. Thanks Shawn, you are the best.”  Troy was still smiling as Shawn flicked his fingers and he disappeared from view.   Shawn closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them when Kane’s big black wolf came into view. Hmm his mate’s wolf was truly magnificent - all dark and muscled and huge.  Yes, even when he was snarling as he was now, he was still really lovely to look at.

Shawn just looked at him with his own half smile on his face.  He didn’t look away from Kane, nor did he submit.  He just sat there
as the wolf came right up to him, standing over Shawn, growling menacingly in his ear.   Shawn reached up and scratched the wolf on the chest and then petted his head but the snarling wouldn’t stop.  Shawn dropped his hand away.

“Okay Kane, my love, shift and tell me what is bothering you.  Is it that you couldn’t find me or Troy and you were worried?  Or is it that you thought I had gone off with Troy and you were jealous?  Are you angry because you know Troy was here with me, naked and yes I had my arm on his shoulder
, which you of course can smell?  Come on shift and tell me and get it out of your system.”

The big wolf snarled at him again and
gnashed his teeth in the air by Shawn’s ear. Shawn didn’t even flinch. Then Kane backed off and seconds later he was sitting in front of Shawn, the look on his face indicating that he was still really angry.

“Fucking all of it
pisses me off.” Kane’s loud rant had started. “I am so pissed at you I could hit you.  I am sitting there at the house having fun one minute and the next minute I realize you and Troy have gone.  I could tell that you had shifted and run off into the trees.  I have been screaming in your head for the last ten minutes and you didn’t answer and then just as I get here you zap a very naked and happy Troy back to the house.  You have obviously been touching him because I can smell him on you. What am I meant to think?”