Wolf Sings

Chapter 2

Spinning around TJ saw a naked woman, metal buckets flying from her hands as she bounced off him and fell backward. He reached to catch her before she could hit the snow and spoke calmly as she struggled frantically in his arms.

“Whoa now, settle down. I’m sorry I surprised you.”

She continued to twist and scramble, one hand reaching down toward her boots. He wanted to release her but was afraid with how much she squirmed she would hurt herself. A sharp jab in the ribs made him gasp and loosen his grip. Another blow landed closer to his groin and his hands grew looser still.

“TJ, let her go, she’s freaking out,” Keil called from a short distance away and distracted, TJ dropped her. Suddenly he swore.

“What the… Damn it, put that away, you little hellion. I told you I’m not going to hurt you.” He stepped back from where the woman crouched, a fixed-blade hunting knife extended between them as she scurried backward toward the safety of the sauna house. She slammed the door shut and they heard her dragging something heavy in front of it.

“What is going on? Hey, lady, we’re not going to hurt you. We’re just—”

“Stop.” Keil joined him at the door. “There’s something happening here that isn’t normal. We surprised her but something else is wrong.” He lifted his hand to touch the door, leaned forward and sniffed a couple of times, concern drawing his face tight.

TJ stopped as well and sniffed the air. “Oh shit, she’s a wolf. Try and get away from pack for a few days and look what happens. It’s like a conspiracy. Do ya think that someone out there has a spy camera keeping track of us when we leave Haines? That would be kinda cool if it was a hot group, you know, like the KGB, FBI, CSI, SEALs and all those letter guys. But not the SPCA or PETA. It would be scary having them on our ass.”

TJ shuffled up to where his brother concentrated on scenting the air. He watched Keil lean his forehead against the door and close his eyes while continuing to draw long, slow breaths. Moving closer TJ sniffed again, hard. What was making Keil act so weird? He was like a kid in a candy store. Mr. In Charge, Super Wilderness Man, always totally with it and in control, sniffing like a dog after a long-buried bone.

Something was up, but for the life of him TJ couldn’t figure out what. He shrugged and turned away, hitting his brother’s arm as he moved, letting a wicked chuckle escape. “Of course, she was rather sweet. Think she’d be interested in—”

A violent push sent TJ flying backward into the snow.

“Hey, watch it!” TJ sat up in the waist-deep snow and brushed off his hands. A low menacing growl made him pause from his fussing. Glancing up he saw that Keil had begun to stalk toward him, eyes dark, teeth showing. The hair on the back of TJ’s neck stood up, and he scrambled backward through the thick snow trying to keep a safe distance away.

“Damn it, what is wrong with you? I was joking around.”

Keil paused. He dropped his head, and TJ watched his brother’s body shake as he took some calming breaths. Long heartbeats later Keil’s hand reached to help pull TJ to his feet. They stared at each other before Keil turned back toward the sauna.

“Ummm, Keil, what’s up? You look a little grey around the edges and that’s not like you. I mean, there’s a chick here. It won’t be the quiet getaway we planned, but it’s not like we ran into an Elvis-impersonator reunion. She’s not going to be any trouble.”

Keil choked out a laugh, a brittle, tight sound that made TJ take a cautionary step farther out of reach.

Just in case.

Finally dragging his gaze off the sauna door, Keil gave TJ a soft push on the shoulder toward the cabin. “We’re going to have to write her a note or something to convince her it’s safe to come out.”

“Why don’t we let her stay in there until the morning? She might feel safer venturing out in the daylight,” TJ suggested as he started up the path.

“I’m not leaving her locked in there!”

“Hey, don’t bite my head off, bro. I wasn’t the one streaking in the moonlight. This time. And the only time I did try it those rotten twins, Rachel and Beth, stole my clothes and I had to climb in the back window of the pack house…” TJ’s voice trickled away to nothing as he realized that Keil was still standing by the door. Shaking his head, he called in a singsong voice, “Helloooo. Earth to Keil. Hey, I thought we were going to write a note. What is the matter with you, man? You’re acting like you’ve never seen a woman before and that’s not true. You have the chicks all over you, all the time. In the pack and out of it. Not that you take advantage of your opportunities like I think you should. Leave her alone. She’ll be fine. It’s not like she’s going to freeze or anything.”

A loud snort followed him. “Look,” Keil said, “I’m not leaving my mate locked in a sauna all night because I was too stupid to figure out how to fix a misunderstanding.”

TJ stopped in midstride. “Your mate?”

Keil sighed, his head turning to the sauna as if drawn to it. “Yup. I think so.”

“Oh shit.”

Robyn watched as the two men disappeared from sight and candlelight appeared in the windows of the cabin.

Well, that had been just peachy. Great going, Robyn. Way to use your brains. What a stupid, idiotic thing to do, walk outside in the buff without checking around first. She knew better than to assume people wouldn’t show up. She hadn’t even thought about animals, although right now she wished she had wandered up against a bear.

This was the kind of accident Tad had warned her about. Why he didn’t like it when she did trips without him or their core group of friends. She was capable of taking care of herself in a survivor-type situation, but adding people to the mix always made it tough. The fact she was deaf kind of guaranteed that when meeting new people in the wilderness something was going to go screwy.

She dropped back on the sauna bench and tried to relax. She was still holding her knife, and twisting the handle in her palm, she rubbed the carvings with her fingertips like a worry stone. The familiar sensation calmed her to the point that she could begin to see the humour in the situation.

I bet they never expected to get flashed, she thought as she poured some of the now-hot water over her skin, cleaning off the sweat and rinsing down her hair. She wondered if the men would want the sauna once she was done. She wouldn’t stock the stove, but leave a bed of coals.

Because she had to go back inside. It would be monumentally silly to spend the night in here just because she’d had a bit of a shock.

Besides, now they knew she had a big knife.

She toweled off in the sauna then dressed in the annex. A piece of white against the window caught her eye, and she lifted a candle up to examine it.

We apologize for frightening you. We are Keil and TJ from Haines, Alaska, and operate the wilderness excursion company Maximum Exposure. We are members of the Granite Lake pack. If you are afraid to come to the cabin, please put two candles in the window, and we will bring your sleeping gear and food/water to the door and you can retrieve it when you feel safe. But we promise you are safe to return. If you want, approach in wolf.

Robyn read the note with some puzzlement. Well, the first part was nice but what were they talking about “approach in wolf”? It must be some kind of backcountry code she hadn’t picked up yet. They were from Haines, maybe it was an American slang. Sometimes the small differences between American and Canadian vocabularies caused weird things to happen.

Hanging her wet towel in the sauna, Robyn wrapped her hair in a dry one and faced the door. Squaring her shoulders she drew a deep breath. She could do this.

Walking toward the cabin she peered in the window, checking it out before approaching the door. One of the men sat on the edge of the sleeping platform, his face out of sight as he spoke, his hands wild as they swung in big circles.

Great, a waver. All that energy saying nothing.

The other leaned back against the table, his arms supporting him, his gaze roaming around the room. Suddenly his eyes stopped and looked straight at her out the window. Even though she should be invisible to him, a person in the dark while he was in the light, he’d seen her. He stood a little straighter and lifting up his arms, he crossed them over his heart and dipped his head.

Robyn stopped in shock.

That was the ASL sign for “love”.

Robyn’s last straw broke and she stomped the rest of the way up to the cabin and threw open the door. Dropping her things on the bench, she kicked off her boots and marched up to him and started the deaf equivalent of shouting with her hands and body in his personal space.

“You do not insult me like that. Asshole. I accept your apology for the mistake before, but you go too far. You are rude. What does…?” She pulled the paper she’d retrieved from the window and pointed to the line “approach in wolf”. “What does this mean?” She stepped back and crossed her arms while she waited for his response.

The look on his face was priceless.

Confusion, complete and utter confusion.

Robyn spun toward the waver as he stood and she caught the last thing he said. “…using sign language?” She nodded, bicycling her hands in front of her while mouthing “sign language”.

The larger of the two men made sure she was watching him before he spoke. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand sign language. I think I’ve upset you and I didn’t mean to. Is there a way we can talk?”

All the bluster drained out of Robyn like sand through a sieve. Typical. She came to get away from the drain of communicating with people and instead she was going to have to use extra energy.

Oh well, maybe they’d eat a few pieces of her cheesecake and save her the calories.

She held up a hand with a lifted finger, a signal she’d seen many hearing people use to ask for a minute. Going back to the door, she cleaned up her boots and went to her backpack, tucking away her gear and tidying up her hair. She turned to get a drink and found the man she’d yelled at standing with a glass in his hand.

“Would you like some water?” He offered it to her and she touched her fingers to her mouth then opened the hand toward him before accepting the glass. She drained it in one shot. Robyn grinned at the funny expression on his face as she returned the glass. It had been hot in the sauna, and she wasn’t going to be ladylike and sip when she was thirsty.

He smiled back at her. Dark brown eyes, so dark they were almost black, twinkled at her.

“Would you like some more?”

She nodded and made a circle motion over her chest with her hand.

“Was that ‘please’?” he asked.

Robyn gave him a reluctant smile. She nodded and sat at the table. There was something fascinating about the man, and she watched as he went to get her some more water. She’d placed snow-filled buckets here in the main cabin before her sauna, and the men knew the routine. They had one of the buckets on the side cupboard for cool water, and the other simmering on the stove to melt snow and keep the air moist.

She let her eyes wander over him as he added more snow to the hot bucket. He was big. One of the biggest men she’d ever seen, and perhaps rushing into the cabin and shouting at him hadn’t been the smartest thing to do.

His dark brown hair hung in a braid almost to his hips. Broad shoulders covered with a dark T-shirt, he had a tribal tattoo that wrapped around his left arm at the biceps. She was tempted to move closer and examine it, but he returned with her full glass and she tried to hide the fact she’d been staring at him with a quick shift to face the table. She spotted the notepad and pencil she’d left out earlier. She tapped it and motioned for him to sit beside her.

You talk and I’ll write. You need to make sure I see your face.

“I’m Keil and that’s my brother, TJ.”

Robyn Maxwell from Whitehorse.

“I’m sorry we frightened—”

Robyn interrupted him by waving a hand in the air and starting to write. It was an accident. I couldn’t hear you and I wasn’t paying attention. Tell TJ I’m sorry I pulled my knife on him.

Keil rotated around to face his brother. Robyn watched as TJ drew up a chair opposite her and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Robyn,” he said drawing out his words in an exaggerated manner.

Oh goodie. TJ was an idiot. Robyn glared at him and shook his hand hard enough to make him pull back in surprise. She grabbed the pad.

I’m deaf, not stupid. Don’t talk weird for my sake. She flipped the pad around to let him read it while she took another drink.

This was the hard way to get to know people. It was much easier when Tad was along, because she could talk to him and he’d pass on messages and it would end up feeling natural and not this ridiculous slow process. She sighed and grabbed the pad back. Keil laid a soft hand on her arm to get her attention and a curious sensation raced through her body.

Heat slid from his hand to her arm, tickling, tingling. What was that all about? She looked down at his hand and felt the warmth still radiating, small bursts of electricity racing up her arm and making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. He gave a slight squeeze to get her attention and she glanced up at his face.

“What pack?”

She pulled back in confusion and shrugged.

“Robyn, you said you live in Whitehorse. Are you Takini or Miles Canyon pack?”

Here it was again. What was he talking about? It was too bad he seemed to be slightly crazy because he was the hottest thing on two legs she’d ever seen.

She hoped he was fun crazy and not kill-people-in-the-middle-of-the-night crazy. Writing a short note she tossed the pad toward him as she got up from the table. Putting on her coat, she took a final quick glance his direction before heading outside for a breath of air.

Yup, he was hot. Out of his mind, but very easy on the eyes. Smelt yummy too. She ignored the strange throbbing sensation in her limbs and forced herself to walk outside.

As the door closed behind her, Keil pulled the pad nearer and read it out loud to TJ.

“Takini is a hot spring. Miles Canyon is where I canoe. A pack is what I carry my gear in. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m getting ready for bed. The sauna has coals if you want it. I will talk to you tomorrow. Good night.”

“You think she really doesn’t know she’s a werewolf?” TJ asked.

“Why would she have any reason to pretend? I don’t understand. She’s full-blood wolf from what I smell.”

“Me too.”

Keil drummed his fingers on the table. She not only smelt like wolf, but another scent flowed from her that tickled the back of his brain and went straight to his cock.

The scent of his mate. The chemical trail that called his wolf to hers and would make them mates for life. He was pretty sure she was it, but until he got a taste of her skin when she was aroused he couldn’t be positive.

Of course at the rate they were going, it would be summer before he’d get close enough to actually find out.

Grabbing clean clothes, the brothers made their way to the sauna. Thirty seconds after closing the door, Keil realized the sauna was a bad idea. Robyn’s scent hung heavy in the closed space, sweet and spicy, filling his head with thoughts that were better not imagined while sitting naked in a small space with his brother.

“You know, she smells good.”

Keil growled at TJ. “Shut it, pup.”

“Well, she does. But, Keil, she smells good like ‘Hey, Robyn, can you help me with this?’ and not ‘Hey, baby, can you help me? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.’ Know what I mean?”

“Please, spare me the Monty Python imitations.”

TJ flicked some snow at his brother. “I’m trying to tell you something serious and you accuse me of imitating MP? I’m cut to the quick. For serious discussion I imitate political personalities. You know that.”

Keil lay back on the bench and tried to ignore his younger brother. TJ was the most irritating, the most annoying…and the most observant person he knew. Leaning up on one elbow, he opened his eyes and cursed.

“Fine. Explain it. What are you trying to tell me and use small words. It’s late and it’s been a hell of a day.”

TJ dropped to the lower bench and grabbed the cedar edging in front of him. “She smells good like I want to trust her and take care of her and I know she’ll take care of me. She obviously affects you differently.”

“Oh. How is that?”

TJ snorted as he pointed. “You’ve got wood from the smell of her left in a sauna, bro. You’ve got it bad and I bet she is your mate because you haven’t even given her a proper sniff yet. I knew you were ready to be Alpha!”

Keil let his head flop back on the hard bench. TJ’s leaps of logic were over the top. How he got from the fact Keil had a hard-on that could pound nails to making him Alpha was incredible.

“TJ, enough. Can we let this drop for tonight? The problem will still be there in the morning.”

TJ’s laugh was long and loud, and finally Keil joined in.

“Okay, bad choice of words. Don’t point it out.” Another howl went up from TJ and Keil gave up. He picked up the bucket of cool water and poured it over himself. He raised the other bucket.

“Want a rinse?”

When TJ nodded, Keil gave an evil grin and poured the contents of the half-snow-filled bucket over his brother’s head. The icy-cold water streamed down and TJ’s scream echoed in the small space.

Now Keil was ready for bed.