Chapter 8

Dragging a humongous wolf from the parking garage to my apartment building took a Herculean effort, and while I hoped that someone would walk by and volunteer to help, the only person I passed was a Mage who gave me the evil eye before getting in his Porsche.

Not everyone liked Shifters.

And as it so happened, not everyone liked pinheads who drove sports cars either.

Tak wouldn't wake up—probably for the best. His wolf weighed a ton, but not nearly as much as his human counterpart. I could never have dragged Tak to the apartment all by myself.

Once the elevator reached our floor, I grabbed his hind legs and pulled him down the hall. Sweat beaded on my brow and behind my neck.

"Why did you have to be the biggest wolf in all the land? What do they feed you guys up in Oklahoma? Buffalo?" Tak was a mighty wolf, and my legs were about to buckle from the whole affair. "Don't you dare make me regret this."

"You need help?" a man called out.

I glanced over my shoulder at Nash, the pizza delivery guy and also a hero in the making.

He set down his red thermal bag and jogged over. "Is this Melody?"

My eyes settled on the red sauce stain on his white shirt. "Don't trouble yourself. You have food to deliver," I said, out of breath.

He lifted the hind legs and took over. "A little hair never hurt anyone."

"Thanks." I wiped my forehead and stole a second to catch my breath.

When we reached my apartment, he set the wolf down while I unlocked the door and switched on the light.

"Right there is fine." I stepped aside to let Nash drag the wolf inside.

Nash could have easily lifted Tak's wolf, but I sensed his trepidation. A person took risks when handling a wounded Shifter in animal form, and surely Nash had sensed Tak's alpha power. Nash had never disclosed what his animal was, nor had we ever asked. We ordered pizza or lasagna at least twice a week since the shop was on the same street as ours. Nash was our regular delivery guy, and by the muscles on his arms, he must have delivered a lot of large orders.

I set down my purse and frowned at the blood streaks on the wood floor leading out to the hall.

Nash returned to the doorway. "I'm guessing by the big willy that this isn't your purple-haired friend."

"No, it's not Mel. It's someone my brother knows."

"That's a relief. Hold on." Nash turned down the hall, and I hurried to the kitchen to wash my hands and get a drink of water. "I'll just leave this here," he said.

Grabbing a dish towel, I turned around to see what he was doing. Nash stepped over the wolf and presented me with a box of pizza.

"No, really," I insisted. "I can't take someone else's dinner."

"It's not a real order, so you're in luck." He set the box on the island and patted it. "We don't have online ordering or deal with credit cards, so we get a lot of pranksters ordering pizza for strangers. Kids think it's funny. Sometimes the person being pranked feels guilty and pays me anyhow, but the asshole down the hall slammed the door in my face. It's all yours if you don't mind olives. I know how you guys like pizza, and this one is super tasty. It's the thick crust with garlic sauce."

I opened a drawer to pay him.

"Don't even try," he said, strutting into the living room. Nash flipped his red baseball cap backward, which hid his curly blond hair.

"Thanks, Nash. I owe you."

I ran an empty glass underneath the tap. While I quenched my thirst, I wondered what I should do about Tak.

Nash looked around the apartment. "I only ever see this place from the doorway. Is this a corner unit?"

I rounded the island with a damp dish towel in my hand. "Yes. We got lucky. The best part is all the light we get since we have windows on two different walls." I knelt to wipe up the blood. "Corner units aren't easy to come by, and the layout feels more spacious than the other apartments."

"So you have windows in the rooms?" he asked, pointing at the hall.

"Yes. It's just a two bedroom, but you'd be shocked how high the rent is."

"Sweet. I practically live in a dungeon with only two windows." He hopped left to right and averted his eyes. "Mind if I use your bathroom real quick? Usually I pull over at a gas station or McDonald's. I wouldn't normally ask, but I don't think I can hold it any—"

"Go right ahead," I said, saving him the embarrassment. "It's the last door at the end of the hall."

Nash hurried around the corner and slammed the door.

After cleaning up all the blood in the outside hall, I crawled into the living room and soaked up the rest. What in the world had Tak's wolf been doing beneath my car in his condition? Had he lost control and shifted on the street? Maybe his wolf had escaped the motel and somehow remembered my store. Or maybe Tak opened his big mouth and pissed off a local. He must have crawled beneath the car to protect himself since injured animals in the open are vulnerable. I could have accidentally backed over him. I shuddered at the thought of it.

I sat there for a moment and wondered if I should call Melody. It would either ruin their trip or make them worry needlessly, and this gathering was important to both families. I could only imagine the bountiful meals and conversations uniting both sides. It was tough missing out on all that fun, but I'd promised Melody that I'd go up with them next time.

When I stood up, Nash emerged with a more relaxed look on his face.

He brushed his wet hands over his T-shirt, his eyes soaking in the spacious apartment windows. "Would you mind putting in a good word for me with the landlord? I've been waiting for something to come up in this building. It's close to my job, and I like that it has garage parking. The place where I'm staying now doesn't even have covered parking. My car got pummeled in the last hailstorm. Man, I'd love a corner unit."

"I'll put in a word, but I can't promise anything. The manager's a tough guy to deal with."

Nash stepped around the wolf and into the hall. "If I were you, I'd lock him in the bathroom. He's not lucid, and if he wakes up and gets confused, he'll attack you. Maybe you should let Lakota decide what to do with him."

I stared down at the wolf, realizing the danger. "Lakota's not here, so I'll probably shut him up like you suggested. His family can come get him if he doesn't shift back."

"You do that." Nash glanced at his watch. "I better run before my orders get cold. Take a load off and eat that pizza while it's still hot. You look beat. I don't usually give away my food, so don't tell anyone. If word gets back to my boss, he'll fire me."

"Thanks again for the help," I said. "I really appreciate it. See you next time." I locked the door and then backed up against it.

Tak's wolf was a handsome blend. His ebony coat had grey patches, but I'd never seen anything more striking than his face. It reminded me of his human one, with the left side grey and the other half black. Had he tattooed his face to match the division in his wolf's features?

I knelt down and wiped the dried blood from his temple, but his fur was too dense for me to examine his injuries. Nash was right. Leaving Tak's wolf in an open room in this condition created a potentially deadly situation, so I carefully dragged him down the hall and into my bedroom. Mel's room was out of the question. I'd never forgive myself if Tak's wolf tore up any of her designs.

No sense in lifting him onto the bed; I'd barely gotten him out of the car without breaking my back. Too much solid muscle for me to attempt such a feat.

What an impressive creature, I thought.

I retrieved an old blanket from the closet and spread it out on the floor. Tucking one edge beneath his back, I held his hind legs and twisted his body toward the blanket, doing the same with his front legs until he rolled over on top of it.

"There," I breathed, collapsing on the floor. My arms and back were as sore as the dickens. I pinched one of the fat pads on his paw. "You need to wake up and shift. I can't have a wolf in my house."

When he didn't respond, I decided on another tactic. It didn't seem right to keep pinching and prodding him, so I crawled up behind the wolf and ran my fingers up his soft belly. Sometimes alphas responded to the sound of a woman's voice, and I hoped he was lucid enough to hear me. My face brushed against his soft fur until my lips reached his pointy ears.

"Are you awake in there, alpha male? Shift."

His wolf eloquently transformed to a human so fast that I didn't have time to move away. I lay against his back, my arm wrapped around him, fingers splayed across his strong chest. My lips were touching the shell of his ear, my body pressed tight against his.

Tak remained unconscious, so I breathed a sigh of relief and sat up. Checking to see if his skull fracture had healed, I touched his temple and pushed all around his head. His eyes didn't flutter once. Moonlight poured through the window, and up close, the details of his tattoo came to life. It didn't mark his nose, but the sharp design began along his left jaw and went from his chin to his hairline, some of it crossing over his eyelid. I traced my finger over the lines, following the patterns before stroking his thick eyebrows, which arched in the center. Some men's eyebrows went straight across or sat heavy on their eyelids, but not Tak's. It gave him a mischievous look even when sleeping.

He wasn't so scary in this tranquil state.

When his eye blinked open and he seized my wrist, I shrank back in surprise. Tak's grip was iron, but I managed to twist my hand free and scamper away. My heart thudded against my ribs as my back met the wall, and I drew up my knees. I knew better than to trust strangers—especially wolves.

He turned over until his shoulder blades touched the floor, leg bent and concealing his manhood. Tak blinked in confusion at me, then let his gaze travel up to the ceiling. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?"

He touched his crown, his eyes dulled from the trauma. "Did you slap me on the ass?"

"Did you break my store window?"

Tak reached up for my bed and crawled onto it. I swallowed hard, trying to avert my eyes from his backside, and he had a spectacular one. When he collapsed facedown on my green bedspread, I thought about how all his man bits were rubbing against my favorite blanket. It was too late to worry about such silly things, so I collected the one from the floor and used it to cover him up.

"My head," he groaned into the pillow. Then he turned his head to face the window.

"You need to shift again. I can't really assess if you have brain damage or not."

"Were you petting me a minute ago?"

I felt the heat of embarrassment rise in my cheeks. "I'm locking you in here until morning. Then you have to leave." I neared the door and peered over my shoulder at him. "And don't touch anything."

Tak wearily raised his arm and touched the windowsill.

Once in the hall, I shut the door and leaned my back against it. Groans filled the quiet space, but they were the sounds of a man in pain. I didn't like that sound coming from my bedroom, as if it might somehow soak into the walls and live here forever. He could have asked me for an aspirin, but everything about Tak struck me as stubborn. Shifting to heal required a lot of energy, so hopefully he'd be zonked out for the rest of the night. My mind drifted back to that secret moment when I'd held him—what it felt like to have someone that strong in my arms. A secret part of me wondered if that was what life was like for mated couples.

Lakota would kill me if he knew what I was up to, but he'd have to stand in line behind my father, who would probably kill the wolf first. No matter.

What's done is done.

A few minutes later, I grabbed two slices of pizza and devoured them. Hauling a wolf around by the hind legs had given me a voracious appetite. I could have eaten more, but my eyelids grew heavy as if weights were pulling them down. The Tak dilemma would have to wait until morning. I still had the store to worry about. The last thing I remembered was grabbing my phone and collapsing on the couch, my thoughts drifting to the wolf in my bed.

* * *

Tak struggledto open his eyes, but his lashes were stuck together. He rubbed his face against a soft pillow and drew in a deep breath, instantly growing hard. Hope's scent was all around him. In the sheets, on the blanket that covered him, and all over the pillowcase. He lay there for a minute just soaking it all in.

Soaking her in.

How the hell had she managed to carry him all the way up to her apartment alone? She must have had muscles like a horse. The thought made him grin as he rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.

On top of all that, she had brought him into her bedroom.

Not the hall, not the doorstep, and definitely not the bathroom.

The idea of it nestled in his head and made his wolf stir. The innocuous gesture had layers upon layers of meaning. Women in his tribe didn't bring strange men to their beds, nor did they cozy up behind them while they were in wolf form. And they certainly didn't pet them while doing it. Those acts were reserved for lovers. Was he remembering correctly? Surely Hope wouldn't have been caressing his cheek on the tattooed side of his face. It must have been a nice dream. After all, he'd sustained a near-fatal head injury last night, and he'd be lucky if he could remember how to tie his shoes.

Tak sat up and wiped the sleep from his eyes.

"Shit," he muttered, realizing he didn't have any clothes to change into.

He rubbed his temple, checking for scars. Though the wound had healed, phantom pains still shuddered through him. His bones creaked and muscles ached when he stood up and stretched. Glaring at her closet, he decided not to rummage through her personal things in search of men's clothing. By the looks of her modest room, Tak didn't sense that another male shared her space.

That pleased him more than it should have.

He walked to the foot of the bed and marveled over the fine craftsmanship of her desk. Someone had put a lot of love into carving that piece, and it was almost as magnificent as the jewelry that filled the shelves and hung from hooks.

Yet as beautiful as they were, all of those trinkets paled in comparison to the squash blossom necklace he'd seen on display in her store. Any man in his tribe would be honored to own something that impressive. Tak regretted thinking he could own it for only one hundred dollars. She must have been insulted. He'd just never seen jewelry marked so high, but maybe she priced important pieces as a test to make sure that only the right person made her an offer—one who deserved to wear it.

Curious how long he'd been asleep, Tak peered into the hall for signs of life. A house this quiet didn't seem right. He lived in a big tribe, and people were always running about doing chores and visiting with packmates. Tak awoke each morning to the sound of birds chirping through open windows, women singing, and children laughing. How could anyone live in a tomb such as this?

Tak silently moved into the living room and spotted Hope curled up on the pink sofa against the left wall. He stood there for a moment and admired her, his fingertips reaching for her silken tresses. Women in his tribe wore theirs braided, so seeing Hope's loose locks tempted him to touch her hair. She looked peaceful lying there with her knees drawn up. Had it been chilly, he would have found a blanket to cover her up.

He glanced down at his naked body and decided to put distance between them in case she opened her eyes. No sense in giving the woman a start with his endowments.

The living room didn't seem at all her style. He still couldn't get over the pink sofa. Tak stopped in front of a short divider wall and admired the houseplants sitting on top. Someone loved and cared for them. Not a single dead leaf, and the dirt was moist to the touch. A suncatcher in the kitchen window caught his attention, the green and yellow bird spraying colors onto the kitchen island. He circled around the wall and gripped the back of a barstool. Hand-stitched pot holders hung from the side of the fridge, and on the freezer door, a wolf magnet pinned a photograph of Hope and Melody in front of their store, big smiles on their faces. The homemade flour and sugar canisters on the counter made him wonder if she'd bought them or someone in her family had made them. There were more crafts in the kitchen, and he instantly liked this room.

Curious, he opened two folding doors to the right of the fridge and peered inside a laundry room. There weren't any clothes, only a folded-up quilt on the dryer and a large piece of fabric draped over a hook. He pulled it free, and when he shook out the thin material—uncertain what it was used for—he decided to wrap it around his waist and tie a knot.

Tak found a bag of thick rubber bands and put one between his teeth while he meticulously braided his hair in the back. He'd done it a million times and could make a perfectly straight braid even in the dark. He had to wrap the band around the end a dozen times, and though it probably wouldn't hold all day, it would suffice. Tying it back wasn't just for the convenience of getting his hair out of his face. It was a symbolic link to his people. His tribe had many traditions, one of them being that both men and women braided their hair in a single braid. The only exception was his father, who wore two. Walking around with unbound hair was like not wearing pants.

He rubbed his chest and then stretched out his arms. The thought of eggs made his stomach growl. Tak opened the fridge and frowned.

No eggs.

"Figures," he muttered.

The one thing in the whole world that would have completely satisfied his craving. Not just any craving, but the food craving all Shifters had after a shift. It had been hours, but the taste for eggs still lingered. He'd never had this problem before since they raised their own chickens. Tak pulled out a package of bacon and shoved away thoughts of scrambled eggs, sunny-side up, poached, over easy, boiled, and even raw.

A casserole would be even better,he thought.

Tak turned around and pressed his back against the fridge, staring across the apartment at the slumbering woman. He should have left town yesterday, but his wolf wouldn't allow it. No matter what resentment he harbored toward Lakota, it had nothing to do with his sister. Hope was just a stranger, but a sense of duty and responsibility came over him—a desire to guard this woman as if she were precious gold. But those feelings conflicted with a voice in his head that reminded him Hope wasn't his concern. Women like her didn't need men like him.

But maybe she could use a blanket.