Drew made a face, eyes on the play of sunlight dappling the water. “A couple of hours past dawn? Are you insane? Noon is when rational people wake up.”
Laughing, she leaned lightly against him as he moved his hand over her leg in a lazy caress. “How do you function when you’re on night watch or the early shift?”
“I function fine. I just prefer to lie in bed if at all possible.”
“You sure you’re a wolf?” she teased. “You sound like a big ole lazy cat to me.”
He grumbled low in his throat. “I’d throw you in the pool for that, but I’m feeling too mellow after the way you worked me over last night.”
“You’re not the one with bruises on your back.”
An unrepentant smile. “You don’t have any—I checked already.” Rising when she made as if to push him into the water, he slid his hands under her tee to cup her naked bottom. “Hey, Indy?”
Surprised by his oddly solemn tone, she looked up. “What is it?”
“How come you’re avoiding touching me?”
She glanced down at her hands to see that she’d clenched them into fists again. Groaning, she pressed her forehead against his chest. “I’m sorry.” He didn’t deserve this.
A kiss on her temple, strong hands petting the globes they’d palmed. “Have you had enough after only one night?”
She almost fell for that mournful voice—but the fiend’s eyes were dancing when she looked up. “Very funny.”
He squeezed the flesh he’d been stroking. “Freak-out, huh? I told you, I kinda expected it.”
Wrapping her arms around him, she nodded. “I’m not used to being this . . .”
He dipped his head, met her gaze. “Does it help if I tell you I’m already a junkie? And that I intend to indulge as much as possible—and then do it some more? I can tie you to the bed if you like, so you can’t touch.”
Her wolf swiped a paw at him at the outrageous teasing. “I think it’s you who needs to be tied up,” she muttered darkly, but his complete ease with the hunger between them did go a long way toward making her more comfortable with the depth of her own need. “Come here.”
“For what?” he asked, suspicion in every syllable.
Her wolf laughed. “For a good-morning kiss—I’ve decided to let you live.”
His eyes gleamed. “Excellent idea.” He’d slid down to his knees and pulled her sex to the voracious demand of his mouth before she could do more than gasp in a breath. Clenching her hand in his hair, she went to pull him back up . . . but then he did something with his tongue that made her toes curl, and she found herself spreading her legs to give him better access.
A pleased rumble against her, followed by pleasure upon pleasure.
Later, after he’d teased her to the point that she’d been driven to threats of murder, they took a dip and ate.
“Since we’re both up at this ridiculous hour anyway,” Drew grumbled afterward, “do you want to hike up to Wolf Point?”
Wolf Point, so named by the first wolves who’d settled in this region, offered a breathtaking view across the lakes that dotted the area. On a day like this, the sky up there would be an excruciating blue, the sun’s rays bright and harsh. Her skin tingled in sensory pleasure. “Yes, let’s.”
“Take our packs so we can camp up there?”
At her nod, he began to roll up the sleeping bags while she turned off and packed the laz-fire. “We should go back to the den tomorrow,” she said as they finished.
“Yeah.” Drew’s gaze was serious. “We left Hawke short-handed. You think we should head back now?”
Mentally reviewing who was in the den and able to fill in, she shook her head. “I have my cell—he’d have called if he needed us.” She wanted more time to explore this unexpected bond between her and Drew. Because there’d be no hiding it when they returned to the den, not with the intimacies they’d shared—and would continue to share. Wolf noses would sniff it out in about one second flat.
“Do you want to hide it?” Drew asked without warning.
Hearing the absolute neutrality of his voice, her spine went stiff. “What?”
“This. Us.”
It startled her that he’d guessed the direction of her thoughts, but her answer was immediate. “No.” She was unsure and confused, but she was no coward—not now that she’d made the decision to dance with him. More, she was proud of the male she’d chosen. Whatever happened, he was hers, and other women would do well to keep their paws off him. “I’ll give you one phone call to warn your harem you’re now off-limits.”
A surprised expression . . . that segued into pleased arrogance. “No one’ll dare come near me now that you’ve made a claim.” A pause. “You’re worried about the nosey parkers?”
“Maybe they’ll have worked it out of their system with Riley and Mercy,” she said in a burst of hope. “We’re two wolves—no big deal.”
Drew snorted, leaning over to pat her ass with casual proprietariness. “You’re so cute when you’re deluding yourself.” Easily dodging her responding punch on the arm, he grabbed her pack and handed it to her. “They’ll have a field day—the lieutenant who can drop a man in his tracks with nothing but the ice in her gaze, and . . .
Snorting, Indigo put her arms through the straps of her pack. “I’ve known you forever, and I still don’t understand that thing you do.”
A questioning look as he went to pick up his own pack.
“Making people think you’re harmless.” She clicked the support straps across her hips. “You didn’t answer my question, Mr. Harmless.”
“It’s a gift.” Pack on, he walked over to click the second support strap above the UC Berkeley emblem on her sweatshirt as she did the same for him.
“Thanks, Indy.” A casual comment, but right then, the blue of his eyes hit her in the heart.
He could hurt her. Really hurt her. And they’d barely taken the first step into this unexpected relationship. “You’re welcome,” she said, fighting the wolf’s wariness with the memory of how he’d teased her earlier by the stream.
Her wolf froze at the realization, and she had to consciously kick herself into gear as Drew turned to lead the way out of camp. She’d never have allowed him to care for her if he’d tried to do it straight out, but she’d been fooled by his playfulness into missing the protective drive beneath.
You’d think she’d know better by now, she thought with an inward shake of her head, but he continued to surprise her with that quicksilver mind. If she was being honest, his keen intelligence was one of the most attractive things about him—even if it did mean he had a way of catching her off guard. The thought made her frown, consider something else. “Drew?”
When he looked over, she said, “Is it because you’re the pack’s tracker? That you make such an effort to appear harmless?” It was a question she’d never thought to ask before—because he was so very good at making people forget what he was.
Drew’s hand tangled with her own, his expression solemn. “I didn’t really think about it consciously when I was growing up,” he said, “but as an adult, yeah, that’s part of it. I’m wolf—I need to be a full part of the pack.”
And, she understood, he couldn’t be that if everyone was afraid of him.
Nodding, she let it go at that—this relationship was too new to push him to share such an intensely private aspect of himself. But Drew squeezed her hand. “It’s okay, Indy. I don’t mind talking about it. Hawke and Riley make me do it on a regular basis.”
“They do?” She blinked.
“Uh-huh.” A grin. “I think they want to make sure I’m not going to crack under the pressure.”
It was then, looking into those amused eyes, that she realized the incredible depth of strength inside him. “It must be beyond hard to know that you could be called upon to track and execute a packmate at any time.”
He didn’t deny it. “The thing is, I was born with this uncanny ability to track my packmates, better than even Hawke’s—so it was obvious what role I was meant to play in the pack. I had to either learn to deal with it or, once I
