He headed off into the woods without even breathing heavily. After a moment, she relaxed and snuggled into his strong arms, and rested her head on his shoulder.
Chapter Eight
Valerie shivered and moved closer to the fireplace. Morgan had built a roaring fire in the small cabin, so at least there was that. There was a bearskin rug on the floor, and the cabin was slowly getting warmer. She still wore her overcoat. Morgan had draped his over the small, moth-eaten sofa.
They had plenty of firewood, both in the cabin and in a combination toolshed and woodshed about a hundred feet from the cabin, but not much else.
The cabin only had one room. It felt dim and dark in there, and the windows were dirty and streaked. There was a narrow bed with a black-and-red flannel blanket, and a potbellied stove, which also had a fire blazing in it. There was a cabinet that had a bag of flour, some salt and pepper and other spices in it.
It was going to be a long three days.
"How you hanging in there?" Morgan asked Valerie. He walked over and sat down next to her on the bearskin rug, and put his arm around her shoulders. She managed a smile.
"Honeymoon of my dreams," she said lightly. "So why are all of them circling like vultures, trying to snatch the Alpha position?"
"This is the only shot they've got as long as I'm alive," he said. "Not to brag, but physically, none of them has a chance of winning against me in a death challenge. If I'm disqualified, then they can fight it out amongst themselves. Last wolf standing is the Alpha."
"Again, I do not understand why you waited this long to pick a mate," Valerie said.
"I know," he said sharply. "Believe me, I know. Most of the time I make smart decisions. This was the rare exception."
"Why are they all so eager to take your place anyway?" Valerie wondered. "What's so great about being Alpha?"
"A lot of it is the prestige and power that they perceive as coming with the position," Morgan said. "They don't see the tough decisions and hard work that goes on behind the scenes. Also, while the pack shares in the wealth from Rosemont Resorts, the Alpha is the one who runs the business. It doesn't matter that I built up the business to the success it is now; a new Alpha would be the CEO, and the wrong person could run it into the ground."
He shook his head, frowning. "None of the other potential candidates has what it takes to be Alpha. Hud and CoraBelle are both obsessed with status, with owning more shiny objects than anybody else. Elmira's sons … Festus is too weak to win an Alpha fight. I'm surprised he'd even try, except his mother keeps pushing him into it. Camden is physically very strong but he's immature and a bully. Their leadership would be a disaster for my pack, and for the business as well."
"I understand. Whatever I can do to help ensure that you're not disqualified, let me know." She was silent for a moment. "That thing he said about how if you choose a mate and then the mating fails … does that mean we're stuck in this fake mating?"
He shook his head. "I don't think so. Honoria is right about pack law being out of date. It's possible that I could challenge that with the Council for Shifter Affairs. I'll start looking into it after this weekend."
She felt a sharp stab of sorrow in her chest, and looked away from him, staring at the crackling flames in the fireplace.
"So if you can successfully challenge the law … " She kept her voice casual, with hardly a quaver to it.
"I'd look at the list of candidates who would be suitable for entering a business arrangement kind of mating." He looked at her. "Not you. You deserve to have a real relationship." He hesitated. "Also, you drive me crazy. If I were mated to you, I'd never have a moment's peace."
She snorted. "And, there's the Morgan I know and loathe. For a moment there, you were starting to get all sappy and mushy."
"Sappy and mushy?" he said in mock horror. "Watch yourself, or you'll be hunting your own food this weekend."
She snorted. "I doubt that very much. You wouldn't like me when I'm hungry."
"A Hulk reference. Nice. And who says I like you now?"
She elbowed him hard.
He let out a chuckle.
"I'm going to go out and hunt our dinner," he said.
He walked over to the door and stripped off his clothing. Valerie couldn't stop herself from watching, and admiring his perfect physique. He was so tall he had to stoop to go through the doorway. His butt cheeks were perfectly round, his thighs muscular, his back broad.
He glanced at her and a smile curled his lips.
"Saw you look," he teased.
She felt a blush warming her cheeks. "I've seen better," she said loftily. "Go get my lunch."
He laughed at that, and hurried outside, shutting the door quickly behind him. He'd shift and hunt down her food in wolf form.
She retreated to the couch, half dozing while he was gone. Then she woke with a start.
The wind moaned outside, and the cabin creaked. It felt creepy and eerie being out there by herself. She couldn't believe that hunters came out here for fun. Staying out here was some people's idea of a good time?
The wind howled more loudly, and she thought she saw a dark shape drifting by the window.
Was there something out there? Or someone?
She leaped to her feet and grabbed a poker from the hearth.
Her heart hammered in her chest as she stood by the door, waiting. The door didn't even have a lock on it – probably because there was nothing in the cabin but stacks of firewood and old, beaten-up furniture. Nothing worth stealing.
The door flew open and she let out a shriek and raised the poker high over her head – and then stepped back and lowered it when she saw Morgan walking in with an armful of rabbits.
He glanced at the poker. "Jeez, woman, watch it there. This is the best I could do on short notice. It's not like I can go out and hunt us a pizza."
She replaced the poker and shook her head. "Sorry. Just my mind playing tricks on me. I thought I heard something."
Then he looked at her suspiciously. "Hey. Do I smell granola on your breath?"
She moved away from him. "Maybe," she said. "Maybe I have a box of granola bars in my overcoat pocket."
"Share!" he demanded, holding out his hand.
She shook her head. "Nope. You can hunt your own food. You can even eat raw food."
"So what? I'm a shifter, not a wolf. I like human food."
He grabbed at her bulky overcoat, pulling her playfully toward him, and she gave an undignified squeak of surprise and tried to twist away. He was too strong, and just yanked her closer to his hard body, throwing his arms around her. She could feel the heavy thumping of his heart against her breasts and she wondered if it was from the exertion of the hunt. Her own pulse was thrumming, but for very different reasons. She felt breathless and too warm, and not from the heat radiating from the crackling fire.
She wrestled and struggled for a while, but there was no point. Morgan always gained the upper hand, but was surprisingly gentle for such a large, dominant man, even as he physically overpowered her. He was just so much stronger and faster that however she moved, even pulling against him to try to yank him off-balance, he easily drew her back against him, laughing in a carefree way that seemed completely unlike her buttoned-up boss. She'd never seen him so playful. She loved it.
But she'd be damned if she was going to let him win. Valerie had never let Morgan Rosemont push her around; not since her very first day on the job, when he'd snapped at her for losing an invoice and she'd pointed out that it was in his inbox and given him a thorough dressing-down for his rudeness. She wasn't about to start letting him call the shots now.
She pressed against him, squashing her full breasts against his muscular chest, and wrapped her arms around his neck, lips parted, gazing up into his handsome face. Morgan froze, his gaze searching hers, his grasp on her wrists relaxing just a little. She felt a tight little shiver of excitement thrill through her as she leaned toward him, close enough to feel his warm breath against her lips.
Valerie hooked her leg behind his knee and heaved, pulling him off-balance and tumbling him onto the ground, landing hard, stretched full-length on top of him.
"Ha!" She grinned triumphantly, knowing big, tough Morgan Rosemont had been taken down by a girl – a human girl – and she wasn't going to let him forget it for a very, very long time …