Tuesday Teaser 3/6/18 Gina’s Wolf Part 6

Ack!! I’m sorry this is so late. Two books that’ I’ve been dying to read came out today and I got sucked in so deep I forgot to post the teaser. Sorry!

The move has kept me very busy, so I haven’t written lately. In fact, last night was the first writing I’ve done in more than two weeks. This isn’t very long, but at least I’ve added a few hundred more words to the file. Off to bed now!

Gina stifled a laugh. “OK. Cole.  Are you the wolf? Or is the wolf you? It’s kind of confusing.”

He thought about how to explain it to her. “The wolf and I are two different people. In the Lakota Wolf Clan many boys are born with the spirit of a wolf within them. When the boy hits puberty, the wolf sort of wakes up. He forces the boy to let him out, and then the spirit wolf because a real wolf and the boy is a spirit inside the wolf. The boy has to learn to control the wolf. If he can’t control the wolf, he can’t force the wolf to go back to being a spirit. Then the boy isn’t human anymore. Do you understand?”

She gently shook her head. “Not really.”

He wasn’t surprised. Lots of women who mated wolves didn’t completely comprehend something they had never experienced. “Let’s not worry about that now.” He had no memory of the past week. The wolf had been in control and it chilled him how close he had come to losing himself to the wolf. “I’ll try to explain more when you are warm and rested. Look, the farm house is less than a mile ahead of us.”

“Oh, hurry.”

He ran. With his wolf’s speed, it took only a few minutes to arrive at the fence that circled the yard around the house. The wind his pace created caused his mate to turn her face into his throat. Her breath on his skin was the most wonderful sensation he had ever experienced. Tenderness flooded him, followed swiftly by a fierce desire to protect her. If she hadn’t been in desperate need of more warmth than he could provide, he would have run with her in his arms for hours.

As soon as Cole stopped at the fence, a pack of dogs tore out of two sheds, howling an alert that strangers were approaching. The fence was made of wood and wire, obviously more to keep the farm animals in than to keep intruders out. Although he wanted to leap the fence and rush his mate to the warmth of the kitchen, Cole stood with Gina in his arms waiting for the farmer to make an appearance. Better to wait than have Gina shot.

The farmer came out of the barn in less than ten seconds. His gray-streaked brown hair and lined face made Cole estimate his age to be around sixty. As expected, he held a shotgun at the ready and shielded himself half behind the barn door. Cole approved the farmer’s caution.

“Who is it?” he shouted over the dogs’ barking. “What do you want?”

“I’m Cole Wolfe,” he shouted back. “My wife is freezing. Please, can I bring her inside to get warm?”

The farmer didn’t answer immediately. After a pause, he said, “She’s freezing? You’re buck naked, boy, and it ain’t August, you know.”

Cole considered making up a story about thieves who had stolen his clothes but discarded the idea. Gina’s arm was tight around his neck, so he focused on what was important. “That doesn’t matter. Please, let her in. I can stay out here if it would make you feel better.”

There was another long pause before the farmer stepped away from the door and approached them. He stopped a wary distance away. Cole noted the shotgun wasn’t aimed at them but it would take only a tiny move to lift the barrel in their direction. His eyes matched the gray streaks in his hair as he looked them over thoroughly. Cole found himself tensing when the stranger looked at his mate. His wolf didn’t like another man looking at their mate. The chattering of Gina’s teeth seemed to decide the man.

“You folks better come in.” He gestured with the shotgun toward the house. “You go on to the door at the left. Stop there. I’ll follow you until then, but I’ll go in first to let my wife know you’re guests.”

Cole waited for the man to open the gate and step back, shotgun held casually ready, before walking through and following the path through the snow to the house. The man might be overreacting. Gina was clearly no threat, and he was obviously not hiding any weapons, but he respected a man who took his wife’s safety seriously. He obediently paused below the three shallow steps leading to the door and let the man slip past him. The farmer closed the door, but Cole could hear him speaking inside, explaining to his wife that they had odd visitors and one of them needed pants to be decent enough to come into her kitchen. Cole glanced down at himself, but his mate blocked the view of his nakedness. He hauled her closer to his warmth.

“Soon,” he told her softly. “Soon you’ll be warm.”

“Can’t wait,” she said. “You can put me down now.”

He held her tighter. “No, not yet.”

The door swung open. The scent of frying ham poured out of the warm house. The farmer stood there, a wad of blue fabric in one hand. He held the fabric out to Cole. “You get dressed before you come in. I’ll take your wife.”

A snarl burst from Cole’s throat. The man stepped back, revealing a woman. She resolutely kept her eyes on his face. Her expression went from coolly polite to shocked. She clapped her hand over her mouth.

“John,” she said quickly, “don’t touch her.” She turned appealing eyes to Cole. “We won’t take your mate away from you. Please put her down here in the mudroom and put the jeans on.”

Her husband gave her a suspicious look. “You know him?”

“No, but I know who he is. What he is.” She gave Cole a smile. “I’m Nikki from the Plane Women’s House.”