Time for the next bit in Sand and Amanda’s story! I’m not doing any self-editing like I usually do, so as always please excuse my typos and other boo-boos. I’m enjoying writing this story. I hope you’re enjoying reading it!

Amanda licked her painted lips while she stared at him. He could count her breaths sliding in and out of her lungs. “I want Sand to court me.”

Sand threw his head back and screamed a howl of victory.

*

Amanda shivered at that feral howl. When Sand tilted his fiercely smiling face back down toward her, she jabbed a finger at him. “Okay, I’m giving you a chance. For tonight, let’s just keep this cool. I want to go downstairs and visit with people. You just keep your distance.”

“Okay,” he said softly, which really contrasted with his expression.

Sky nodded. “And don’t bite anybody,” he said deadpan.

Amanda wasn’t sure he was joking. She went out of her room and down the stairs. When she was spotted by the twenty or so men in the reception rooms a cheer rose. She tilted her head at its usual jaunty angle and gave them a wave. She strode across the room to an empty armchair, Sand looming like grim death behind her. Even without the spiked collar, wearing his worn jeans and rumpled blue chambray shirt instead of black leather, he intimidated the visitors. He stood a step behind her chair and glared with arms folded over his chest. Most of the men learned right away to not flirt with her. The almost sub-vocal growl Sand let out each time one of them tried to touch her clued them in. Only Paul, her second appointment of the night, hadn’t caught on right away.

“Miss Amanda,” he called when he first entered the reception room. “You look gorgeous!”

He hurried through the knots of people, tall and broad in his well fitted tan suit, his thinning brown hair impeccably groomed, his pale face flushed and sweating from the heat in the room. She knew for a dozen previous encounters that his body was fit for a man of forty who spent hours at a desk. He looked for a moment as if he wanted to try to squeeze into the chair beside her, but a glance at Sand apparently changed his mind.

He knelt on the carpet before her. “I had expected to meet you upstairs in your room.”

Habit made her put on an imperious sneer. “If I choose to allow you in my room—”

Sand came around the chair in a blur of blue cotton and black hair to grab Paul by the collar and jerk him up to his feet. “You will never see the inside of her room again,” he said in a chillingly conversational tone.

She could see that instead of frightening Paul, Sand’s domineering warning excited him. His pale blue eyes rolled to Amanda, his face shining with delight. “Are we having a threesome tonight?” he asked breathlessly.

She wondered if Sand even knew what Paul was talking about. “Paul,” she began, but Sand cut her off.

“Amanda is mine,” he snarled.

“Yes, Master,” Paul said in that same breathless voice. “Of course. I’ll be grateful for whatever crumbs you allow me to have.”

Amanda had to laugh at Sand’s confusion. “Paul,” she said kindly, “I’m afraid there’s been a change in my schedule. This is Sand Wolfe. I’ll be spending my time with him exclusively for the next month.”

Paul looked from her to Sand. “But … I am very good at fellatio,” he offered.

“At what?” Sand said, still holding Paul’s collar twisted in his fist.

“Fellatio.” Now Paul’s voice turned slightly condescending. “Giving head. I can suck your cock all the way down my throat while you finger fuck Amanda. Or you can ass fuck me while I fuck Ama—”

Sand’s fist jerked Paul off the floor. The man clawed desperately at his strangling collar. Amanda jumped up but wasn’t sure what to do.

Sand dragged Paul’s ear close to his mouth. “If you ever speak her name again I will kill you.  If I ever see you near her again, I will kill you. You understand me?”

“Yes,” Paul croaked.

“Good.” Sand lowered the other man down to his feet with frighteningly gentle care. “Now get out and don’t come back.”

Paul stumbled when Sand dropped him and hastily pushed his way through the whispering people who were staring at them. Amanda sat back down in the armchair, aware that her fingers were trembling. She drew a calming breath and looked up at Sand. There was a faint flush in his lean cheeks when he turned to look down at her.

“Do you do that?” he asked. “Have two men in bed at the same time?”

For no reason that she could think of, she felt heat rise to her face. “A few times,” she said quietly, stroking the nap of the upholstery.

“Do you like it?”

She paused to consider it. “No, not really. I don’t dislike it either. Really, it doesn’t matter to me one way or another. It’s just part of the job.”

“I can never do that.” Sand dropped to one knee in front of her chair. “My wolf would never accept sharing you with anyone that way.”

“I know.” Maybe she shouldn’t have, but she cupped his face in her hands and leaned forward to kiss him. “I would never share you either.”

He kissed her back, his lips more gentle than she’d expected. He pulled away after only a few moments, though, and stood up to meet Sky, who was approaching with that smooth, unhurried gait of his that ate up the distance far more quickly than it seemed to.

“Sand, you have to stop throwing our guests out.”

Before Sand could snarl a reply Amanda stood quickly. “Considering what Paul said, Sand behaved himself very well.”

One of Sky’s elegant brows rose. “And what did Mr. Harper say?”

“Paul thought a threesome was a good idea, and described who would be doing what to whom.”

Sky’s other brow shot up. Amanda wondered how he did that. “I see,” he said smoothly. “I think you’re right, Mandy. No blood was spilled, no furniture broken. All’s well that ends well. But I believe I will need to send notes out to your usual appointments to inform them you will be unavailable for some time.”

“Forever,” Sand snapped.

“Perhaps. Good night,” Sky said pointedly.

Amanda sighed. “Alright.” She sashayed past Sand. “Coming?”

“Where?” he asked suspiciously.

“To bed, of course.”

This is almost late! But better late than never, right? As always, this is unedited, not proof read, and new! I hope you enjoy it!

     “He’s a —“ She looked at Sky, then turned to stare at Sand. A trickle of fear soured her scent. “You’re a werewolf?”

     “No!”

     Sky shook his head. “Just go with it,” he advised Sand. “It’s easier.”

     His mate’s acrid scent of fear hurt. “I have a wolf, but he wouldn’t hurt you.”

     The fear scent faded into something confused but cautiously curious. “That’s kinda cool. Kinda.”

     “Whether or not you decide to be his mate is your choice. If you don’t want him, I’ll send him back to Kearney.”

     Amanda was staring at him. “I don’t know. I don’t even know him. I just met him an hour ago.”

     Sand’s breath was hot in his chest, hot with urgency and yearning. “We can take time to get to know one another. We can talk, or do whatever you like.”

     “The thing is,” Sky said, leaning forward on the small chair to take her hands, “our wolves are very jealous. If they see another man too close to our mates, they don’t like it.” Corner of his mouth puckered sourly and Sand wondered if he was remembering the man who sat far too close to his mate, Rose, back in Kearney. “So while you decide whether or not you want to accept Sand, you can’t make appointments.”

     “You’re touching me,” she pointed out.

     Sky waved that away. “I’m Pack. His cousin. Pack doesn’t count. So what do you say? Will you give Sand a month to court you? To try to persuade you to be his mate?”

     Sand felt his mate’s gaze burn over him as she examined him carefully. For the first time in his life he wondered if his clothes were good enough. His jeans and blue cotton shirt were clean but rumpled from days in a saddlebag, his moccasins worn. His gaze went to Sky’s stylish suit and shorn hair before he straightened his shoulders proudly. His mate would be accepting or rejecting him, not his clothes or hair.

     Amanda stared at him wordlessly for long minutes. Sand forced himself to not twitch, determined to let her make up her own mind, but it took so long that he finally blurted, “Do you want me to cut my hair? Get other clothes?”

“Don’t you dare cut your hair!” she answered immediately, looking genuinely horrified. “I like your hair. As for clothes…” She trailed off to look him up and down again. “I’d love to see what you look like without them. And,” she added hesitantly. “What does the wolf side of you look like?”

     Relief at being able to keep his hair loosened his shoulders. “I hate wearing these tight clothes,” he said with a smile, reaching to undo the buttons on the shirt.

     “Wait a minute!” Sky said quickly. “There are still two more things for Mandy to know. One, we can’t let our wolves out where anyone can see them. No one can know. You have to promise to never tell anyone.”

     Amanda smelled of confusion. “Okay, I promise. What’s the other thing?”

     “If you have sex with him, you’ve accepted his claim. You’ll be his wife.”

     Her face fell almost ludicrously. “I can’t sleep with him?”

     Sky laughed softly. “Sure you can sleep with him. You just can’t have sex with him.”

     Her face still looked unhappy. “But what if I want to have sex, but don’t want to be his mate?”

     Sand’s heart twisted violently in a knot of such pain that his knees almost hit the floor. Having her would be bliss. Losing her after he’d known the delight of her body would leave him a useless shell around a broken heart.

     “No,” Sky denied. “For wolves, it’s all or nothing. It’s your choice. Do you want to allow him to court you, or should I send him back to Kearney?”

    Amanda licked her painted lips while she stared at him. He could count her breaths sliding in and out of her lungs. “I want Sand to court me.”

    Sand threw his head back and screamed a howl of victory.

Happy Tuesday! Today is going to be a bad trying day for me. My car is going to be towed to the repair shop and I’m terrified to find out what that will cost. The engine is probably ruined because there is some sort of grit in the oil. It could cost $5000. (sob) On a brighter not, Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop is out today and I’m going to sit down and read.

Here is the next little tidbit in Amanda and Sky’s story. For those who receive my newsletter, you will have already read this. Enjoy!

She tapped a glossy red nail against her chin. “You know, that could work. Every dominatrix needs a sub. Wait here a minute while I get a collar to put on you.”

*

“Collar?” he said, but she was already turning away and didn’t see the outrage on his face or the eerie shimmer of gold that filmed his eyes. He roared after her, “Do you think I’m a lap dog?”

He jerked his head around at the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. Sky appeared. Sand inwardly shook his head at the slick city suit and short hair. Well, the short hair wasn’t so weird. The Chief wore his hair short in memory of his white mother’s preferences. But that suit, so perfectly fitted and precisely pressed, was nothing any of the Clan or Pack would have worn. It was too many layers to shed to let their wolves out.

“Hey,” said Sky. He unbuttoned his suit coat to tuck his hands in his pants pockets and leaned a shoulder against the wall. “How’s your first monitor shift going?”

Sand was half distracted by listening to his mate move around in her room. A terrible thought struck him. “You knew!” Suppressing the quick rage was hard. “You knew Amanda was my mate.”

Sky lifted his free shoulder in a light shrug. “She was one of the possibilities.” Now Sky stood straight, the aggression of an Alpha showing in his face. “I’m told you decided to cancel Amanda’s appointments for tonight. Given who she is to you, I can understand that. But you need to understand that Amanda is one of my pack. You don’t give orders about her without consulting me.”

Neither Sand nor his wolf were Alpha, but he immediately bristled. “She’s my mate!” he growled.

“Has she accepted you?” At Sand’s frown, Sky laughed softly. “Of course not. It’s too early for that. Until she does, Amanda is mine. My sister, moron,” Sky added with a snort, sounding suddenly much more like the young wolf Sand remembered. “I have a mate.”

“Has she accepted you?”

Sand regretted his taunt even before he saw the black rage burst in Sky’s blue eyes. Amanda’s door opened and she came out carrying a wide leather collar studded with silver spikes. “I think this one might … Oh, hi, Sky.”

Sand forgot Sky, forgot their argument, forgot everything except how much he wanted his mate. The strip of skin between the tops of her outrageous boots and the hems of her too tight black shorts looked pale and soft. He had to clench his fists to keep from stroking her thighs. He wanted to feel those thighs clamping his hips when he drove inside her. Her lips, painted a false dark red, smiled at Sky, but the smile died. “Are you okay, Sky?”

“Fine.” Sky smiled at her and bent down to give her a hug. It was an appropriate hug for a brother to give a sister, but Sand had to swallow a growl. “Mandy, we need to talk. Do you remember what I showed you about myself two summers ago?”

Sand didn’t think Amanda’s uncertain expression matched her gaudy facial enhancements. “You mean when you turned int… That is, the …” her voice dropped low. “That wolf thing?”

“Yes, that. Let’s step into your room. This is a private conversation.”

Amanda opened the door and led the way into her room. She sat on the bed while Sky pulled out the chair at the vanity and Sand leaned against the wall near the headboard. He inhaled the precious scent of his mate in the room, but there were other scents in the room. Scents of other men that made him half crazy.

Sky crossed one leg clad in silvery blue over the other. “What I’m going to tell you is private. You won’t talk about it to anyone.”

Amanda darted one glance at Sand before nodding at Sky. “Okay.”

“Those of us with wolves can’t be with just any woman. That is, we can, until our wolves choose a mate for us. Yes, the wolf chooses. Once a mate has been found, we can never be with another woman.”

“Yeah,” Amanda said slowly, testing the sharpness of a silver spike on the collar with a fingertip. “I remember you telling me that before. That’s why you never accepted any of our invitations for sex.”

“No man would ever hurt the mate his wolf chose for him,” Sky went on.

“And?” Amanda shot another quick glance at Sand. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because Sand’s wolf has chosen you for his mate.”

Sand was afraid his mate had forgotten how to breathe. She went white, then red. It looked odd with the rouge on her cheeks. He straightened from his lean against the wall, but her head whipped around to stare at him and finally she gulped in air. “Are you shitting me?”

Sand stared, confused by her words. Sky shook his head. “No.”

“He’s a —“ She looked at Sky, then turned to stare at Sand. A trickle of fear soured her scent. “You’re a werewolf?”

Here we go with another segment of Sand and Amanda’s story:

He cut her off, in a tone so raw it made her shiver. “Will you deny me?”

“No.” She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. She’d had perhaps a hundred different men in her bed in the last seven years, and none of them had ever looked at her with such an expression, as if she were infinitely wondrous, utterly precious. “Would you like to go to the Red Rockers concert with me on Saturday?”

“I’ll go anywhere with you,” he murmured.

He dipped his mouth to her collarbone, but she lifted his face to her with a hand under his chin. “Then I need to keep my appointments tonight so I can have Saturday off.”

The sweet expression on his face froze into wrath. “No more appointments,” he snarled. “Never again. You said you wouldn’t deny me.”

Amanda jerked her robe closed and pulled the sash tight. “I’m not denying you,” she pointed out reasonably. “I’m giving you Saturday. Other men made appointments for tonight. I’m booked three weeks out, so they’ve been waiting. It’s not fair to cancel on them at the last minute.”

“No!” he howled. “No man comes before me. You are mine!”

Disbelief dropped her jaw. “Excuse me?”

“I saw you today on the street. I’ve known since that moment that you were mine.”

Amanda exhaled a breath. What a pity. Sand was so handsome, and so damn stupid. “I don’t belong to you, Sand.” She jabbed a finger at the door. “Get out.”

He jerked her hard against him and backed her into the wall, trapping her. “No.”

Her mouth fell open. Was he crazy? All she had to do to get rid of him was call the monitor … Ice slid down her spine. He was the monitor. And right now he looked angry enough to alarm her.

Pain passed swiftly over his face. One finger at a time, he released her arms, and then stepped back. “You’re afraid of me?”

“No,” she lied. Well, it wasn’t a total lie. She was sure someone would come if she screamed.

“You are afraid of me.” Something close to shame was in his voice. “I would never hurt you.”

“Then leave me alone.”

“I can’t.” The words were simple and quiet. He turned his back to her, showing her all that long sleek black hair falling down his back. “You’re the only woman I can ever love.”

Amanda barely restrained an eye roll. Like she hadn’t heard that a thousand times before. “Please leave, Sand. We’ll talk about this tomorrow if you want to. My invitation for Saturday is still open. But if you don’t leave me alone now I’ll never speak to you again.”

An almost invisible shudder went down his spine. After a moment he walked to the door, opened, and left.

Amanda stared at the door. Well, that went easier than she’d expected. A small part of her was almost disappointed he’d given in so easily. Not even a demand for a last kiss!

With a twitch of her shoulder she went to her vanity to re-do her makeup. Her next appointment was still over an hour away, but she could get ready for that, and then go downstairs to mingle until Paul arrived. The makeup she applied was darker and more dramatic, and she took off the erotically prim nightdress and put on the black leather shorts and bustier that showed off her dragon tattoo, then pulled on the thigh high black boots with the five inch needle heels. It took her only a few minutes to release her hair from its feminine arrangements of loops and tease it into a mess. This was Paul’s favorite look. He liked being dominated by his partner, and Amanda knew she did it well.

With a last glance in the mirror, she went to the door to join some of the other girls to mingle and flirt with the guests. She hadn’t gone one step before she saw Sand leaning crossed-armed next to her door. When he saw her, he jerked straight with his eyes springing wide. She gave him a small smile and sashayed to the rail to wave down at the people below. They applauded enthusiastically. Knowing he legs looked a mile long in the boots, she sauntered to the stairs.

Somehow, Sand got there first. “Where are you going?” he demanded in a growl so sexy she shivered.

“To play with the visitors,” she replied.

“Play? Will you kiss them?”

The jealousy would have been cute if he wasn’t so damn scary. “Of course not.”

“Will they try to kiss you?”

“Not if they’re smart.”

He eased up on the scary. “I’ll go with you to be sure no one bothers you.”

She tapped a glossy red nail against her chin. “You know, that could work. Every dominatrix needs a sub. Wait here a minute while I get a collar to put on you.”

“Collar?” he said, but she was already turning away and didn’t see they outrage on his face or the eerie shimmer of gold that distorted his eyes. He roared after her, “Do you think I’m a lap dog?”

What do you think should happen next? Should Amanda spend the night with Sand or should she make him suffer a little first?

His hands weren’t hurting her, not quite, but they were tight around her arms. “Let me go, please.”

He shook his head slowly, sending all that long shiny hair gliding over his shoulders. “No. I want to kiss you.”

 This she knew how to deal with. She feathered her fingers down his cheeks, to stroke through the black waterfall of hair streaming over his shoulders. It was like the most expensive raw silk, textured but sleek under her fingers. “Not tonight, but Saturday is all yours, handsome,” she promised in a whisper.

“Saturday is too far away. Tonight,” he corrected her hoarsely. “I’ve cancelled all your appointments for tonight.”

He pushed her against the wall and leaned his weight into her. His body pressed deliciously against the place that burned for him. “Sand,” she gasped, sounding ridiculously like a virgin. “I don’t think—”

Then his lips smothered her words, turning her voice to a moan, and for a moment she forgot what she didn’t think. It was a long hot minute of dueling tongues before  she managed to draw her mouth from his.

God, he was gorgeous. Amanda couldn’t look at him as sternly as she’d planned. “I don’t think you have the right to do that.” She tried for a kind smile while she wedged her hands against his chest to try to lever a little distance between their bodies. He didn’t move, not a millimeter. “Sand, step back.”

“No.” He pressed his nose to her throat and inhaled deeply. “You smell like heaven. Your scent is sweet and fresh, not choking like some.”

By the end of the night she wouldn’t smell fresh, she reflected ironically. His breath was warm on her throat. The tongue he used to caress her pulse was hot and wet, like the place between her legs. Maybe she could re-schedule her appointments for Saturday night. She didn’t want to, not really. She’d been looking forward to having Saturday night off for weeks so she could go to the concert at the CLC.

Amanda wavered until Sand pulled two inches away, just enough to brush the edge of her robe open. She missed the warmth of his body, but his eyes warmed her nicely as they examined her. The flimsy cotton nightgown hid nothing. His face showed curiosity, and the curiosity turned to something like reverence. His hand was inconceivably gentle when he brushed his fingertips over cotton covering her nipple.

“Sand—”

He cut her off, in a tone so raw it made her shiver. “Will you deny me?”

“No.” She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. She’d had perhaps a hundred different men in her bed, and none of them had ever looked at her with such an expression, as if she were infinitely wondrous, utterly precious. “Would you like to go to the Red Rockers concert with me on Saturday?”

“I’ll go anywhere with you,” he murmured.

He dipped his mouth to her collarbone, but she lifted his face to her with a hand under his chin. “Then I need to keep my appointments tonight so I can have Saturday off.”

The sweet expression on his face froze into wrath. “No more appointments,” he snarled. “Never again. You said you wouldn’t deny me.”

Amanda jerked her robe closed and pulled the sash tight. “I’m not denying you,” she pointed out reasonably. “Other men made appointments for tonight. “I’m booked three weeks out, so they’ve been waiting. It’s not fair to cancel on them at the last minute.”

“No!” he howled. “No man comes before me. You are mine!”

Disbelief dropped her jaw. “Excuse me?”

“I saw you today on the street. I’ve known since that moment that you were mine.”

Amanda exhaled a breath. What a pity. Sand was so handsome, and so damn stupid. “I don’t belong to you, Sand.” She extended a pointing finger to the door. “Get out.”

It’s time for the next tidbit in Sand and Amanda’s story! The first bit is pretty much an info dump. This is how I write my first draft. I just dump a bunch of info that I want the reader to know. On my second draft I go back and do a lot of cutting and rearranging. But you poor readers are getting the raw product here with this. I hope you can enjoy it anyway. 🙂

Snow grabbed the saddlebag to carry into the house before following Paint up the back steps to a kitchen. Sand looked carefully around, noting the strange appliances, as the three of them passed through the kitchen to a narrow hall that led into an office. Three tall windows were set in a rounded wall facing the door, pouring light into the room. A man in a suit and tie sat at the desk, looking down at a stack of papers before him. His dark hair was short, and his hands looked elegant and pampered holding a pen. Who the hell wore a suit to sit at a desk?

The man looked up,  blue eyes narrow under black brows, then he stood. He was as pretty as a girl, Sand thought derisively, before amazement unhinged his jaw.

“Sky?” he yelped.

The man grinned, then, a dimple biting into his cheek beside his mouth. “Sand. I know it’s you by that broken tooth.” The grin deepened. “Breaking that tooth is one of my happiest memories.”

“It’s only chipped,” Sand said with dignity that dissolved under Sky’s fierce embrace. It had been a long time since he’s seen Sky, and he had seemed like some prissy city stranger sitting at the desk. Now, feeling the emotion in that embrace, Sand knew he was still Sky. Changed by his years in Omaha, sure, but still Sky.

Sky released Sand and did the same to Snow, before lightly punching his shoulder. “You! Snow, you are the reason I was on kitchen duty so much. Whose idea was it to sit out in the hall outside the Lupa and the Chief’s room when they made love?”

Snow laughed. “That was a long time ago! We were all just kids back then. Besides, it was Paint’s idea to spy.”

Paint raised his hands. “Oh, no, you can’t blame me for that!”

They all laughed. After a moment Snow sobered, running his gaze from Sky’s glossy black shoes to his gray-blue slacks with their perfect creases to the matching coat, crisp white shirt and navy blue tie. “You cut your hair. You don’t look like yourself. What’s happened to you?”

Sky’s face retained the smile, but somehow it seemed to Sand as if a door had closed. Sky propped one hip on the edge of his desk. “Like you said, it’s been a long time. People grow up. So, are you here to work with me or just visiting? I can always use more muscle to keep the visitors in line.”

“We’re here for a couple of months. We can help you out. But Sand—”

Sand cut him off. “I found my mate, Sky. She’s here in Omaha, somewhere. You have to help me find her!”

Sky stared for a moment, his level brows pulled low. “Of course.” He looked down at his feet, crossing one ankle over the other and apparently examining the shine on his shoe. “You realize, don’t you, that if she is in Omaha she is probably either already married or working in a house?”

That had been the thought circling his mind like a caged beast ever since he’s recognized his mate. He didn’t want his feelings exposed on his face, so he bent his head and joined in the examination of Sky’s shoe.  “I know,” he said softly.

Sky reached a hand to give him a comforting punch in the arm. “But you never know. Maybe her family is well off and they’re able to afford to pay the tax.”

Sand didn’t know anything about rich women. Had she been wearing rich woman’s clothes? “Yeah, maybe.”

Snow dug in the saddlebag. “Before we get into Sand’s mate, here’s the letters from home.”

Sky took them and leafed through them until he came to the one with Rose’s handwriting on the outside. As far as Sand knew, this was the first letter Rose had written to Sky since she’d found out he was running a House in Omaha. Sky’s hand clenched on the envelope so tightly his knuckles shone white, and that invisible door opened just enough to show the edge of raw emotion before slamming shut again. “Thanks.” He set the envelopes casually on the desk behind him. “So, tell me about your mate.”

“She’ s beautiful,” Sand said immediately. “I know every man says that about his mate, but mine truly is. Her hair is long and it shines in the sun. Her skin is very pale.” Words failed him when he remembered her soft, curved body. “She has a painting on her arm and her shoulder.”

“A tattoo,” Snow put in.

Sky nodded, using one finger to scratch his chin. “What was the tattoo of?”

Snow shrugged, looking at Sand. Sand shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. It went from here,” he touched his elbow and drew his fingers up the outside of his arm, over his shoulder to his heart, “and went here. Do you know her, Sky?”

Sky looked at Paint. “Maybe,” he said at last. “I know of a few women who fit that description. We’ll find her, Sand. Not now; it’s late in the afternoon. But we’ll find her, I promise. Why don’t you get them settled in, Paint? I’m going to my room to read my letter. My letters,” he corrected himself.

Sand’s wolf didn’t want to wait even another minute to start the hunt for his mate, but Sand forced him down. His mate was here in Omaha. He would find her. Sky had his letters in his hand, running his thumb over and over the one with Rose’s handwriting on it. Sky must be anxious to read Rose’s words.

“Sure,” Paint said. “I’ll get them beds out back and then show ‘em around.”

Sky got up from his lean on the desk. “I’m glad you’re here,” he told Snow and Sand with fervent honesty. “I’ll see you tomorrow and we’ll start the hunt for your mate.”

Sand watched him go out. “He’s not the same, is he?” he asked Paint in a low voice, knowing how good wolf hearing was.

“No,” Paint agreed. “Come on. I’ll show you the house. We need to keep our voices down. Mostly the ladies nap in the afternoon.”

Sand wanted to ask about the women, but decided to wait. The house was like nothing he’d ever seen before. The Clan mostly roamed all over the Plains in search of good hunting during summer, and lived in either lodges or small plain houses in the Sacred Lands in winter. The den had once been a motel that the Pack had converted to their home. One or two wolves shared a room, but spent most of their time in the rec room or outdoors. The den was comfortable. This house, for all its fancy woodwork and furniture, was not. He followed Paint and Snow through the kitchen into a narrow hall that went to a large room with a long narrow table at it. The dining room was connected to what Paint called a receiving room. Apparently there were two large receiving rooms divided by a staircase, and the hall upstairs was open except for more of the fussy railing from the staircase.

“The ladies’ rooms are on the second floor, and Sky’s suite is on the third floor.” Paint opened the door in a spacious entry area. “There are dorms for the workers in back. You’ll be in the men’s dorm, of course.”

Of course. After they walked around the house and past the stable Sand saw three long single story buildings. “Three? How many men fit in one of those?”

“There are ten bedrooms in each, plus a lounge, kind of like the rec room back home.”

“Sky has thirty men working for him?”

“Nope.” Paint tossed a grin over his shoulder. “Fourteen, with you two here. We’re in the middle dorm. The other two are for the women workers.”

Snow stopped so suddenly that Sand bumped into him. “What? How many ladies does Sky have working in his House?”

Paint stopped and turned around. “There are eight who do the kind of work you’re thinking about. There’s another twenty who do the laundry, cook the food, do the shopping, clean the house and all the rest of that. Do you know how many times the bed sheets have to be changed in one night? That’s a lot of laundry to do every day.”

“I thought all women who didn’t get married had to work in a House here,” Snow protested.

“Yep.” Paint started walking again. “No one said what they sort of work they had to do. Here, in Sky’s House, no woman has to do work they don’t want to.”

A tension he hadn’t even been aware of eased up on Sand’s heart. His mate might not be a prostitute. Not, he hastily assured himself, that it mattered if she were. He would love her no matter what.

§§§§

“So,” said Paint three hours later. “You know what to do?”

Sand shrugged unhappily. “You want me to just stay out here in the hall and listen for a woman’s voice to say ‘monitor’?”

“Yes,” said Paint patiently. “That’s the word the ladies use when their appointment behaves in a way she doesn’t like. If you hear a woman call for a monitor, go right into the room and be sure the man isn’t hurting the lady.”

Sand hadn’t met any of the ladies yet, but already the knowledge that they were members of Sky’s Pack made his hackles rise at the thought of any harm coming to them. He nodded crisply. “Do I kill him?”

“No! The lady will tell you whether the man should be escorted out or given a warning. OK? You don’t have to stand. You can sit here. The appointments will begin arriving in about fifteen minutes. Your shift is three hours long. I’ll relieve you then.”

Sand watched Paint go down the stairs. He looked around the hall with its doors at regular intervals. The second floor was built like an open rectangle. Doors were set at regular intervals along the outside wall, two on each side, with a bathroom in three corners and a linen closet in the fourth. He glanced over the ornate rail that hugged the open edge of the upstairs in a graceful curve and saw the reception rooms below. If necessary he could easily leap over the rail and land. If he needed to get to the opposite side of the upstairs area he could possibly leap it.

At the top of the stairs was a small alcove with two chairs on either side of a small table. He moved over to one of the chairs and gingerly sat. The next three hours were going to be the hardest of his life. He closed his eyes and called up his memory of his beautiful mate. Soon, he assured his wolf, they would find her and claim her.

The door at the far end of the hall opened and Sand sat up straight as a scent came to him. There were a multitude of sickeningly sweet scents crowding his nose, but this one was clean and light. Deep inside, his wolf gave a mighty howl. Sand was so shocked by his wolf that he almost didn’t notice the woman stepping  out of the door. She had walked right up to him before he wrestled his wolf into a semblance of submission.

Her hair, the glossy brown of polished walnut, was looped up and fastened in an intricate style that showed off her soft white throat. Sand’s gaze found the edge of a tattoo and followed it to the neckline of her robe. His mate. His mate was here!

“Well, hello,” she said in a throaty purr, looking him up and down with obvious approval. “You’re the hall monitor for tonight?”

He nodded dumbly, barely able to keep his wolf from screaming his victory, taking in her luscious curves with awed eyes. If he touched her, even a graze as light as air with his little finger, he would seize her and carry her off to .. To where? There was nowhere in this ugly city to take his mate. His fists curled as he fought with his wolf. The wolf didn’t see why they had to take her anywhere. Here was a perfectly good place to claim her.

“You must be one of Sky’s relatives?” she asked.

The seductive shadow of a southern accent in her voice sent a shudder down his spine. He nodded again.

“I knew it.  You’re all so buff and handsome. I’m Miss Amanda. You can call me Amanda.”

“Amanda,” he breathed, leaning a little closer to draw in a lungful of her scent. “I’m Sand.”

She almost knocked him off his feet when she ran the tip of one soft finger down his nose to tap his lower lip. “And you all have such fun names. You’re adorable! I would love to play with your hair sometime. In fact, on my next day off, I’ll give you a freebie.”

She turned to saunter back to her door. Sand’s gaze fixed on her lush, swinging hips, pretending his feet were glued to the floor. She paused and turned back.

“Oh, I forgot what I came out for.  I was going to tell you that my first appointment tonight is Terry Askup. Last time he was here he was given a warning for being too rough. If it happens again, I’d like you to escort him out.”

Sand stared at her closed door with cold goo swimming in his guts. Miss Amanda was his mate. His mate was a business woman. In a few minutes she would be entertaining a man with a history of roughness, and she might ask him to escort her appointment out.

Escort him out? The man would be lucky if his wolf didn’t rip him to pieces.

This was not good.