“I almost feel guilty that it’s just the two of us staying here when I know this is the most sought-after cabin and it’s the prime season for rentals,” Kayla said.

  Though the cabins were used year-round.

  “I reserved it months earlier,” Nate said.

  She smiled and shook her head. “And you kept it secret from me all this time?”

  “Yeah, I even kept it from Nicole until a few weeks ago. I was afraid she’d mention it to Roxie or Blake, and they’d make the mistake of mentioning it to you. I really wanted it to be a surprise for your birthday.”

  “Well, this is fantastic. I’m just glad we could both get away and enjoy it.”

  “Me too.”

  They opened their packs and began digging through them for their bathing suits.

  Nate figured they’d go for a lake swim to cool off, then shower, have lunch, and take it from there. He was so glad she’d wanted to do this with him.

  As soon as they had their swimsuits unpacked, they began stripping out of their street clothes. They’d worked up a sweat just from packing and unpacking the car in the heat, so he knew she wouldn’t want to strip and make love in bed just yet.

  They hurried to take off all their clothes, and then she pulled on her boy-short bottoms and her bikini top. “Last one in is a rotten egg.” She raced for the back door.

  Trying to hurry, Nate lost his balance while pulling on his board shorts so quickly to pursue her. But he thought about Kayla’s comment about putting his wallet in the safe and hurried to lock it up. Then he took off after her, grabbing a couple of beach towels from the linen closet. He knew he’d catch up to her, but she was out of the door in a flash.

  He laughed and bounded out after her and raced to catch her, dropping the beach towels on the sandy beach, then swept her up in his arms before she could step into the water, startling her. She screamed out and laughed.

  “We tied,” he said, carrying her into the lake.

  She just laughed again. He loved her laughter.

  He waded out until they were deep enough in the lake that he was treading water, but he wasn’t letting her go. She was all his for the whole week long, and he was going to enjoy every minute of it. He had every notion of asking her to mate him, and she had to know that’s what this was all about too.

  She seemed to love that he was keeping her close and not releasing her to swim on her own. “It’s going to be a lovely night this evening. A sky-filled with stars. But…I–I might have trouble with shifting nearer the end of our vacation.”

  “I know.” It was something he often thought about. He kissed her on the forehead, just enjoying this time with her. He didn’t want her to worry about having little control over her shifting during the full moon. “I had thought of reserving the cabin for when we had a new moon and no chance of you turning. But I wanted to do this for your birthday. And I wanted to run with you during the week too, which we couldn’t have done during the new moon.” Well, he could have; she just couldn’t have.

  They had never really discussed the business of her not being a royal like him. She and her siblings’ grandfather had been human before he was turned, so they had more humans in their background than Nate had.

  “Speaking of which, it doesn’t bother you that we’re not royals? I know it’s fine with Nicole or she wouldn’t have mated Blake. But…you and I have never really spoken about it.”

  He assumed Kayla had figured he felt the same as his sister. It didn’t matter to him in the least that Kayla wasn’t a royal. “Yeah, I’m fine with it, Kayla. Just like my sister is. I always have been.” In the beginning, Nate and Nicole’s parents had some reservations, knowing that their grandchildren wouldn’t be royals, not for generations for their offspring. But they loved the Wolff siblings just the same—like their own children.

  Kayla ran her fingers down his chest in a tender caress, her gaze lowered. “At least when Gabrielle and Nicole have their babies, they can control their shifting at all times. The babies will only be able to shift when their moms do when they’re young. And since both of them—Nicole and Gabrielle—are royals with fewer human genes, it’s not that big of an issue. But with me, if I have babies and suddenly shift—something I don’t have total control over during the full moon—they would too. It puts the babies and me at a bigger risk.”

  He kissed her cheek. “That’s what’s great about living in a wolf-run town. Everyone looks out for everyone else. I don’t have any issues with it at all and will be there for you and the babies at any time. And my parents will help out whenever we need them to. You don’t have to worry about it.”

  She kissed his chest and looked up at him. “I’m not really comfortable with change.”

  He realized then that they had needed to talk to each other about a few things that they’d never made time for before. He was doubly glad he had brought her here where she felt she could discuss everything openly with him.

  He nodded. He’d suspected Kayla hadn’t liked change. “In the army, I had to move a lot. But I was ready to really settle down once I retired. Have a home, set down roots,” he said.

  “Roxie left the army before she retired, but she doesn’t mind change. It took me awhile to agree with the rest of my siblings to even move from Vermont to Silver Town. There was nothing left for us back there—our parents were gone, and I knew all the benefits to being in a wolf-run town—but I still wasn’t sure of the reception we would get when we moved into another wolf territory. Or how it would be for us dealing with a wolf pack’s leadership. We didn’t have that in Vermont, not in Killington, so we were used to being our own little family pack. I wasn’t sure how it would be for us to run a new ski lodge either. We had managed the one in Vermont as a family forever. And even moving from Vermont to being in Colorado where weather conditions, plants, just everything is different was a big change. At least for me. The rest of the family doesn’t get stressed out like I do about change.”

  “But you are all settled in and happy here now, right?” Nate was worried she felt homesick for Vermont, but everyone she cared about was here. What if she wanted to leave and return home?

  “Oh, absolutely. Sorry. I was just…” She let out her breath. “I was just thinking about… Well, if you and I mated, I would have to move again. I mean, it’s just that I get stressed when I think of things like that. I know it’s silly and I can do it and be happy, but I just wanted you to know that’s the way I am.”

  He smiled. “It’s about moving into my apartment, isn’t it?”

  “I know it’s crazy, but—”

  “No, I totally understand. My dad doesn’t like change at all either, so I’m used to that. Even though my parents wanted to move to Silver Town from Denver because both Nicole and I were settling down here, my dad wasn’t ready to move, to get a new home, to open a new stationery store, to become part of a pack and have pack leaders’ rules to follow, though Lelandi and Darien are great leaders. So in that respect, you and he are a lot alike. I totally understand how you feel. Anyway, what can we do to make this work?” Because no matter what, he knew they were right for each other, and he would do anything to make it worth it for them.

  “Thanks for understanding.”

  He thought for a moment, and then he smiled. “Okay, I got it. We need to find Roxie a mate first. Then she’ll move out and you’ll get the house, and you won’t have to move.”

  Kayla laughed, and her laughter echoed across the lake. She kissed him. “She’ll find a mate herself when she’s good and ready. We might have to wait for years though.”

  “That wouldn’t do. What if we build a home beyond Blake and Nicole’s home? That was always the plan for the next sibling who found a mate and was staying here, right? Then whoever was still single would have the house nearest the lodge.”

  “Are you asking me to mate you?” Kayla sounded surprised.

  He thought Kayla had figured that was why he had brought her out here for a week. “Hell, yeah, and I will do anything to make the transition the easiest for you.”

  “You are asking me to mate you?” she asked again as if she couldn’t believe it.

  He sighed. “Hell, I’m not good at this. Yeah, I love you, Kayla, so much, with all my heart. You are the yin to my yang. I’ve just been waiting to ask you when I thought you would be ready. From the very beginning, I was fascinated with you when I first met you at the lodge. Here you were, so eager to help me with a case of theft at the lodge, and I knew it was because I intrigued you too. I felt a spark of interest in you as soon as I met you. I knew you would change my life forever. I was eager to help you and your family out, sure, but especially because I got to work with you.”

  “Yeah, I felt the same way about you. Like we had this magical connection. Believe me, it takes me awhile to really want to meet someone new—especially a bachelor male wolf—but as soon as I saw you, there was just something about you that drew me to you. I was eager to work with you too when normally I would have been a whole lot more reserved about it. And, knowing the way I am with meeting strangers, my brothers and sister were delighted that you and I seemed to hit it off right from the start.”

  He smiled. “I’m so glad. I adore you.”

  “I love you too. And adore you just as much. You’re so…virile but tender too. I just wish I wasn’t such an introvert.”

  “I’m not an extrovert either.”

  She looked surprised he’d say that. “But you get out all the time, and you’re around people and—”

  “I’m still not an extrovert. We’re great together. We both need the time to chill after seeing tons of people. But when we’re together, we’re so attuned to each other that I just feel comfortable. I don’t know about you, but I just feel good, better, relaxed, and happy around you. I don’t feel like I have to put on any pretenses with you, and you seem relaxed too whenever we’re together. What we have is something really special. Together we’re—”

  She smiled. “Hot.”

  He chuckled. “That’s for sure. Do you want to swim some more laps, return to the cabin, and then see just how hot we can be together?”

  “I sure do.”

  Then he kissed her, and he released her. They swam in the lake some more. The top layers of the water were warmed by the hot sun, but deeper, the water was cool. Still, it felt really nice to cool off, as high as the temperature was. After swimming for about an hour—playing, sitting out, getting in again, clinging to each other, and just floating on the water—they heard people approaching the lake. He wondered if they were wolves or just human hikers who shouldn’t be here. He would be annoyed if they were trespassers when he just wanted to enjoy this time with Kayla.

  Chapter 14

  Nate caught Kayla’s arm and pulled her close, hugging on her, kissing her wet cheek, adoring her, hating the intrusion of the hikers. “We are probably turning into a couple of prunes. Are you ready to return to the cabin?” He was ready to mate her.

  “Are we mating?”

  “Yes! Are you ready?”

  “I sure am.”

  “No problem about the housing situation? If you want, we could use the guest room in your house for the two of us while we build a new home like Blake and Nicole did. Then you won’t have to leave your home until ours is ready for us to move in.”

  “We’ll figure it out.” Kayla took his hand and headed in to shore, and they finally saw the hikers—two men and two women—reach the lake. “Wolves or otherwise?”

  “Not sure. The way the hot breeze is blowing in the direction of the couples, I can’t tell. If they were local wolves, we’d know them for sure. But not if they’re wolves we haven’t met who are just passing through.”

  “Well, if they’re human, then they’re trespassing,” Kayla said.

  “Yeah.”

  “So before we call Peter on them, we need to check to see if they’re wolves. We don’t want to give the sheriff a false alarm.”

  “Agreed. It’s the perfect time to leave the lake, go inside, and shift into our wolves. We’ll go out the front door of the cabin. We can go around and get downwind of them so we can smell them. They won’t even see us.” He grabbed up Kayla’s beach towel on shore and shook it out, then wrapped it around her and kissed her. She kissed him back, but they wanted to learn if the people were wolves or not before they got down to the more pleasurable business at hand. He grabbed up his towel and wrapped himself up in it; then they headed for the cabin and walked inside.

  “We could scare them off as wolves—if they’re not wolves. Otherwise, they’ll just wave at us and be friendly. If they run out of the water screaming, we’ll know they’re human, and we can sic Peter on them,” Kayla said.

  Nate laughed. He really hadn’t expected Kayla’s wolfishness to come to the forefront like that. He’d never seen that wilder side of her. He loved it.

  “Well?”

  “Yeah, let’s do it.” He locked the cabin door, and then they tossed their towels on the back of a couple of kitchen chairs and both of them pulled off their bathing suits and shifted.

  Then as wolves they raced out the front door and headed around to the lake through the woods, first to get downwind of the people to see if they could smell their scents. They were definitely human.

  Kayla licked Nate’s face, and he licked her cheek back. Then he howled, and she stared at him, appearing a little surprised that he did that. She howled then too, and he loved her for it.

  The people who were making out in the lake turned immediately to see the two wolves howling.

  “Holy shit! They’re wolves,” the one guy said.

  “Are you sure?” one of the women asked.

  “Yeah, they are howling like wolves,” the other man said. “Hell, look at them. Those are two bona fide wolves.”

  “Will they swim out to eat us?” the other woman asked, sounding terrified.

  Nate nudged Kayla’s face, she licked his muzzle, and then they both ran off into the woods, hidden from the humans’ sight so they could go in through the front door of the cabin.

  As soon as they were inside, they raced into the bedroom and headed for the windows, shifted, and peered out to see if the people were vacating the premises. The foursome was still in the water, looking in the direction that the wolves had run off.

  “I thought about stealing some of their clothes,” Kayla said. “It would have served them right for trespassing. But then they might not leave the lake.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah. I don’t think they would have chased us down to get their clothes back.”

  “Okay, so do we call Peter and have them charged with trespassing?” Kayla asked. “Or let them believe it’s too dangerous running around here further and they won’t be back?”

  “I’m calling Peter,” Nate said. “The problem is they may be too scared and never leave the water anyway.”

  She laughed. “True.”

  “Hey, it’s me, Nate,” he said to Peter on the phone.

  “Have you got more trespassers?”

  “Yeah, swimming in the lake. We sort of gave the two couples a wolf scare, and they aren’t leaving the water.”

  Peter laughed. He always had a great sense of humor. “Naked?”

  “Yeah. I’m glad I’m not the sheriff.”

  Peter laughed again. “We’ll be there shortly. We don’t want anyone suffering from hypothermia because they’re afraid the wolves are nearby and they stay in the lake for too long.” Then Peter said goodbye.

  “We’re really doing this,” Kayla said to Nate. “I mean, the mating?”

  Nate smiled. “We sure are. Unless you want to change your mind.”

  “No. Way. You’re not getting off the hook that easily.”

  “Hey, you had me hooked from the beginning,” he said.

  “You know, for being a hard-charging Army Ranger, you’re a real softy.”

  “I am, am I?”

  “Yeah.” She rubbed her naked body against his. “Well, this part of you is really hard. But in here”—she placed her hand on his heart—“you’re a real softy where it counts.” She took his hand. “Let’s get a quick shower.”

  About showering first, he wholeheartedly agreed. The lake was filled with melted snow and ice in the spring, but it was warmed up now, and it was better to wash off a bit. He scooped her up and carried her into the bathroom and set her down. She pulled her shampoo and soaps out of her bag.

  He started the shower, and then they both stepped under the heated water, soaping each other up. He loved smelling her fragrant vanilla soap, which was why he didn’t bring his own into the shower this time. He wanted to wrap her scent around him the whole week long.

  Once they’d rinsed off, they dried off, and he heard his phone ringing.

  She groaned.

  “It won’t be about work,” he promised her. “Nicole said if she ran into any trouble, she’d let Darien and Ryan know. She won’t be calling us.”

  “Who then? Peter? Calling about the people in the lake? Okay, we need to know what’s up then.” She peeked through the window blinds, and Nate joined her at the window. They saw Peter holding his phone to his ear, and his deputy CJ Silver standing nearby. Their backs to the people quickly getting dressed lakeside, Peter and CJ were standing some distance away from them to give them some privacy.

  Nate answered the phone.

  Peter said, “Hey, we didn’t want to disturb the two of you, but they’re going to be leaving soon with citations for trespassing.”

  “What did you tell them?”

  “That they will also be charged with indecent exposure. Anyone with kids could come along and witness a bunch of naked adults in the lake.”

  Of course, wolf kids were used to the wolves stripping and shifting, so that was a way of life for them. But humans wouldn’t know that.