Hybrid: First Rare Wolf (Rare Wolves Book 1) Page 3

  “Were you the last one born?” I hated calling an animal a runt, since it seemed so demeaning to them. The last pup born typically was the smallest, according to studies. Lexi looked at me, her little puppy expression serious and shook her head. Again.

  I laughed. “No? You weren’t? Well, little girl, you are perfect, in my mind. I am glad you were not the last born.”

  I finished up the measurements and marked them down. “Would you like a treat?” I held out a piece of beef jerky.

  The wolf pup sniffed it and then delicately took the dried meat from my fingers. She then waited for me to drop her back down on the ground.

  I raised an eyebrow, then picked up the pup and carried her out to the enclosure. I watched as the pup shuffled over to its siblings, dropping the piece of jerky into their food bowl before snuggling in between her brother and sister.

  I frowned. That was… very unusual for a wolf. I wondered if I was anthropomorphizing the pups. They were not human. They were predators, wolves, and they didn’t act like humans. Typically. And yet…

  This situation traumatized these babies. And appeared to be grieving the loss of their parents. They were not eating or drinking – which meant they were not thriving. This was not good. I went back into the house, turning on my computer to look for suggestions for what I could do next.

  After several hours of researching, I only had one partial idea. I yawned, realizing the similarities between what the pups were going through and what I had felt when my husband had died. I had stopped eating while I grieved. I still had problems sleeping. Until everything caught up with me and I would crash for ten or more hours.

  Opening the French doors, I went out onto the deck and sat in one of the large rattan chairs, pulling up my feet. The warm evening meant the pups were lying on their blankets outside of their den. I exhaled before reentering the house to collect another set of blankets and a sleeping bag.

  Placing the sleeping bag on the deck near the pups, I first covered the sleeping pups with another blanket. I sat down and looked at them, wondering again how best to help them. Yawning, I took off my shoes and wiggled into the bag, folding up another blanket to use as a pillow. Tonight, the nanny would sleep with the kids.

  Waking up, I felt the chilly air on my face. It took me a few minutes to remember that I had fallen asleep outside with the pups. On the hard wood floor of the deck.

  Looking towards them, I only saw two of them. Where was the small one, Lexi?

  I jerked upright, frantically looking around. A small squeak sounded near my hips, inside the bag. I raised the top fabric of the bag and saw the tiny pup peering up at me from the warmth of it.

  “Looks like you had a visitor.”

  I whipped my head around, my breath catching in my chest. Shane stood a few feet away, the sun behind his head so I couldn’t see his face.

  “Yes, I guess.” I stuttered, pushing a hand through my hair, which had unraveled from its braid during the night. I groaned.

  Lexi crawled out of the bag and went over to nose her siblings.

  “She looks happier.” Shane frowned, his tone bewildered.

  “How does a wolf pup look happier?” I wondered out loud. I clapped a hand over my mouth and then yawned in the next moment.

  Shane squatted down, allowing me to see his face better. He grinned.

  “She is interacting with her siblings today.” He tilted his head towards the puppies. I watched as Lexi walked around, sniffing Betta and Soren, both who remained lying on their sides. After several minutes of poking them with her nose, she sighed, stepped between them and laid down. The other two shifted, moving closer to her, and all three closed their eyes.

  Shane looked back at me. “Think you can entice them to eat?” He held out a fresh bowl of diced meat.

  I shrugged. Only one way to tell.

  Taking a piece, I shimmied out of the bag and knelt beside the pile of puppies. With the piece in my fingers, I whispered, “Lexi!”

  Lexi opened one eye. I held out the piece of meat near the pup’s nose. Lexi’s nostrils flared, but she didn’t move for a few moments. Then she bit down on the piece of meat.

  Afraid the pup would do the same as what she had done with the jerky, I waited, holding my breath. This time, though, Lexi chewed the small piece of meat and swallowed.

  “Good girl, Lexi!” I turned towards Shane, grinning, but he pushed the bowl closer to my hand. I sat crossed legged and fed Lexi a couple more pieces of meat.

  When I tried to feed Betta or Soren, though, neither took the meat, even though both sniffed at it. Lexi then started to lick their faces, her breath meaty smelling. Waiting a few more minutes and then I offered another piece to Betta. Betta took it, eating it in a few bites, but refused to take any more. Soren wouldn’t even take one piece.

  “It’s progress.” Shane replied softly. “None of them had eaten solid food up to now. You encouraged Lexi to eat a little and Betta to eat one bite. Perhaps they will eat more later.”

  Except they started trembling, rolling over onto their backs, whimpers being squeezed from their little bodies.

  “Shane! What is happening?” I looked up at him, my eyes wide with fright.

  “Go into the house and call Max, Holden!”

  I turned and fled.

  Shane

  “Go call Max!” I yelled at Holden. I could hear the pups voices, not on the Pack bonds, but almost like it was a parallel path in my mind.

  Lexi kept repeating No Shift! Bad man! Over and over, her will to remain a wolf pup slipping over her form.

  Betta and Soren kept to a refrain of No shift! Not Safe! But I could feel another’s influence there. A memory that the pups were holding onto. It almost felt like my brother, their father and Alpha.

  The pieces came together in my mind. Lycanthrope pups were born in their human form, but these three had been wolf pups both in the lab and since then. First shifts rarely happened until the pups reached puberty, but they had shifted early. I wondered if it was my brother’s influence, to keep them safe. Since the pups could handle much more in their wolf’s form than they could as a little kid.

  I reached down my Pack bond to Max, explaining my theory to him. He agreed, but also realized we needed to keep Holden away while the pups worked for control. She was not aware of our world. He promised to keep her on the phone.

  I shifted my body to hide the pups from her as much as I could. I reached out and cast my net for the pups. I knew I had Alpha capabilities. There was a possibility I could bring them into a Pack bond with me, particularly since they had been in one with my brother.

  I kept feeling the strands slip away as I reached for them, trying to give the pups some of my resolve to stay as wolves. I could tell they feared shifting, of becoming human. I extended again, reaching out with my mind…

  Suddenly, the bonds snapped into place. I felt the pups fear as it poured into me. I closed down my other Pack bonds, not wanting Baron’s Pack to feel their anxiousness. These pups did not belong to Baron. These bonds were separate from those, consisting only of them and me.

  I poured love and strength into them, striving to calm them down, to ease whatever horror that had forced them into a shift. One by one, the pups relaxed, keeping their wolf form. They fell into a deep sleep as Holden ran back outside.

  I wiped a hand over my face, trying to hide the sweat that had been pouring down it just moments before. I sat on my heels and breathed in, turning my face to the sun that was just rising over the horizon.

  “How are they? Max is on his way.” Holden slid to a stop beside me, staring at the sleeping pups.

  I turned to look at her. “They’re okay. They got through this, Holden. They are just sleeping now.”

  She nodded, her hands running over the pups’ fur. “Poor babies.” Her voice was soft.

  I could feel their minds turn towards her, especially Lexi’s. Holden represented safety for them. She wasn’t lycanthrope. She wasn’t part of the lab. She was
just pure love to them. I could see them tentatively reaching out to her, as if they could include her in their Pack bonds. I shook my head, smiling. Holden was human, she couldn’t be Pack. But I wouldn’t stop them from trying. They needed what she represented.

  “What is it?” She had caught my little smile.

  “Nothing. Just… it is so ironic that we have had this success — Lexi sleeping with you and eating from your hand. Betta eating one bite. And then they go backwards.” I couldn’t tell her about the Pack bond they had established with me. Even if it was a step forward. And surprising.

  We heard a motorcycle roar into the driveway and then Max flew out of the house to us. “How are they?”

  I looked up at him. “Quiet for now.”

  Touching on our private connection, I added, I think I created a bond of some type with them. Soren, Lexi, Betta and I. I can see Lexi reaching out to Holden, but she doesn’t realize that Holden is human and cannot be Pack.

  Max nodded, his face thoughtful, before he started examining the three, trying not to disturb their sleep.

  Finally, he sat back and looked at us. “You are right. They seem to be okay now. I will give them a more thorough exam later on when they are awake, though.”

  I nodded, my mind touching on the new created Pack bonds I had with them. Even if I hadn’t wanted to be an Alpha, I guess I was. At least for now.

  Chapter 4

  Holden

  Waking up with three small wolf puppies snuggling against me in my sleeping bag the next morning wasn’t surprising. But it was hot. After the scare with them the previous night, it was an easy decision for me to sleep out here again to watch over them. I fell asleep soon after Lexi had crawled into my sleeping bag.

  All three pups were in the bag with me when I awoke the next morning. Lexi had tucked herself up under my chin, but there was another pup near my feet acting as a foot-warmer, and the third was curled up near the small of my back. Toasty wouldn’t even come close to what I was feeling. Sweat was pooling between my breasts and dotting my skin.

  None of this mattered, though. I really had to go pee.

  I didn’t want to disturb them, if I could even figure out how to get out of the bag without kicking one of them, but I needed to go. It was then that Lexi pushed her hind feet into my bladder. Decision made! I now was hoping I would make it in time.

  Pushing the pup gently away, I slithered out of the bag and then sprinted for the bathroom. I didn’t even notice the coolness of the floor nor of the early morning air until I had completed my mission. Fall was coming since the temperature seemed to have fallen about ten degrees during the night.

  Stepping back into the living room, I teetered between returning to the warm sleeping bag, which meant cuddling more with the pups, or staying up and getting ready for the day.

  “Coffee?”

  I whirled around, my hand on my chest, gasping.

  Shane stood in the kitchen, looking like he had been up for hours already. His silver hair was only a little bit messy, and his eyes shone in the dim light. Jeans that fit his ass perfectly, and a T-shirt that might have been a size too small completed his look.

  I inhaled sharply and then blushed. Taking deep breaths, I centered my thoughts and feelings, trying to ignore how yummy the man looked. Even at this ungodly hour of the morning. I raised a hand to self-consciously brush a few strands of hair away. Darn. I looked like I had been… well, sleeping with puppies. I sighed and gave it up. They didn’t hire me for my looks.

  “Please.”

  I guess I was staying in the house now. A quick glance down reassured me that the shorts and tank top I had slept in were decent enough. When was the last time I had shaved my legs? I couldn’t remember and just hoped no one could see the hairs that covered them.

  As Shane moved out from around the kitchen island, I watched him. It was easy to watch his muscles move in those tight jeans. Delicious.

  Darn. I hope I wasn’t drooling.

  He cleared his throat once, a grin crossing his face.

  I coughed, blushing, letting my eyes travel down to his bare feet. I frowned. When had he gotten here? He looked… awake. And yet, it was only six in the morning.

  Damn morning people!

  “When did you get here?” I blurted out. And then blushed again. “Sorry. I just meant that you weren’t here last night when I went to bed. Yet, here you are, barefoot and…”

  My voice trailed off as I stared at his feet.

  “I doubt I am pregnant.”

  His chuckle was low and caused something deep inside me to flutter. He handed me a mug of coffee. I stared down at it. He had made it just how I liked it — with lots of cream and sugar. How did he know? I glanced up, startled.

  He moved past me towards the couch that faced the French doors. I slowly followed him and sat, realizing that this positioning allowed us to monitor the pups from the comfort of the house.

  “N-n-no. I didn’t mean that…”

  I floundered and then gave up, taking a small sip of coffee. My eyes rolled up in my head. Gods! This man made the best morning coffee!

  “I know.” He turned his smile to look out onto the deck. “I arrived this morning. You were outside, sleeping with the pups.”

  I didn’t answer but continued to sip my coffee, enjoying the warmth of the mug in my hands. I pulled my feet up under me and leaned against the arm rest, watching both the man and the pups beyond him.

  The pups had remained in my sleeping bag after I had left, snuggling closer together inside of it. I hoped they had enough air in there, but I suspected they wanted to stay in the warmth.

  Shane turned to look down on me, his silvery eyes amused. “Thank you. I can’t believe I had forgotten that wolf pups need to cuddle and sleep together like that. They looked like they enjoyed sleeping with you.”

  I blushed again, pushing my hair behind my ears. “Thanks. It wasn’t a problem. I wanted to be close in case they had another seizure. Besides, I realized that they enjoyed cuddling the other night when Lexi came and slept with me.”

  I frowned, realizing I had finished the whole mug of deliciousness. I debated if I should have another cup.

  No. I should feed the pups first.

  Making my way back to the kitchen, I placed my mug on the counter. Opening the refrigerator door, I stared inside. It was full of bowls of diced meat for the pups. Pulling out one large bowl, I opened the lid and sniffed. Grimacing, I placed that one in the sink and pulled out another. Giving it the sniff test, I closed the frig door and moved towards the French doors again.

  Shane leaned up against the wall next to the doors to the deck, just watching, his face expressionless.

  I moved past him, stepping onto the deck. He followed me but stopped right outside the door while I continued over to the den.

  Sitting crossed legged, I lifted a corner of the sleeping bag and peered inside. Yep, three pups cuddling together. Lexi opened one eye to stare at me.

  “Lexi! Good morning, girl! Want some breakfast?” I kept my voice soft as I opened the container and took out a small piece of meat, presenting it to the pup. “Come out here if you want this. I don’t want to get our bed dirty.”

  The small pup studied me. Just when I thought she wouldn’t move, she carefully rose and took the three steps to leave the confines of the sleeping bag. She lifted the meat from my hand and ate it , a pensive look on her little face. I grabbed another piece and presented it to her. Instead of the pup taking this one, she turned around and yipped at her siblings, who were still lying asleep in the bag.

  Betta raised her head, her little nostrils flaring. She rambled out and took the piece, gobbling it down before moving closer to me, trying to stick her nose into the bowl to get more. I placed the bowl in front of her and let the pup eat from it. Betta shoved her head into it and started to gobble down the meat.

  Soren watched for a moment. Lexi moved back to him before poking him with her nose. He snorted and then stood, joining Bett
a at the bowl. He looked like he didn’t want to eat, but was soon gobbling as fast as his sister.

  “Lexi, you need to eat.” I scolded her. Why did she make sure the other two had first dibs on the meat?

  Another bowl slid around my side. “Fresh. For the princess.” Shane’s voice was soft.

  I pushed it closer to the pup, and she gave me a canine grin. Before eating, though, she moved towards me to lick my hand, in thanks. She then buried her head in the bowl, making up for missed meals.

  “Again, thank you, Holden.” Shane’s voice rang with awe.

  I shook my head. “Seriously, I did nothing. Just slept with the pups.”

  He was squatting behind me, his body warm against my back, his thighs on either side of me. A small shiver traveled down my back.

  “We didn’t think to sleep with them, that a night together might help to relieve their feelings of abandonment. But you did.”

  I thought about that. Shane knew a lot about wolves, it appeared. I wondered how he had gained this knowledge. I started to ask him about it, when Lexi moved to my lap and looked up at me. Her small body moved in close and her head rubbed up against my shirt.

  Her face was clean, having eaten like the princess she was. The other two pups were not as neat and were cleaning themselves after having eaten their whole bowl.

  Shane reached around us and grabbed the half-eaten second bowl. “Let me take this in for later. The pups will sleep for a few hours given all the food they had consumed.”

  He stood, and I missed his warmth. But I dismissed that as I continued to cuddle with Lexi, the young pup squirming around to get comfortable. The other two came over and leaned up against my legs, and soon all three were asleep.

  Damn. I wondered if I could get up without disturbing them. I didn’t want to sit here in shorts, given it was a little cool out here. I longed for a hot shower.