Inside Keil refused to talk. Instead he made her up a plate of food and sat beside her while he ate his own meal. The lump in her throat settled, aided by the fact that sitting in close proximity to Keil made her mouth water and she had to swallow twice as often as usual.
TJ spoke while he ate, which made for confusing moments as Robyn misread most of what he said. He was telling her all about their pack and how they spent time together in human form as well as in wolf. At one point she was sure that he said something about mooning people down main-street Haines, but that had to have been the extra large piece of sandwich he’d shoved in his mouth.
Breakfast finished, Robyn had to admit she felt a bit better. Having an emotional breakdown on an empty stomach was too much. Keil grabbed her dishes and kissed her softly on the cheek. “We’ll wash up, you write. Tell me what’s got you worried.”
His dark eyes stayed on her until she nodded, then he turned away and got to work. He and TJ goofed off with the dishtowels and soap bubbles while they cleaned up the dishes and tidied the sleeping bags. Robyn sipped at her coffee as she watched, the love between the brothers clear.
She forced herself to pull the pad closer and write. When she finished she found Keil staring at her from where he sat waiting on the edge of the sleeping platform. His gaze ran over her body and he wasn’t trying to hide the look of desire on his face. Their eyes met, and the shock of connection thrilled through her.
The wolf thing. It had to be something to do with animal attraction that was making her want to roll all over the floor with the man. Preferably naked. She licked her lips involuntarily, and the answering flash in Keil’s eyes heated her blood to near boiling.
Damn, it was time to stop with the coffee and break out the ice water.
Keil tapped the space next to him and held out a hand for the notepad. “Come here, Robyn, sit by me while I read.” She glanced over at TJ who was sprawled in a chair in front of the stove, making notes in the cabin’s journal, before she took a step toward Keil. “He’s going to let us talk this out alone.”
Robyn sat, highly aware of the feel of his thigh touching hers as he shifted his body to wrap an arm around her torso and snuggle her tightly to his side. If she looked up she could still see his lips move.
In fact his lips were close enough to kiss if she leaned forward a tiny bit.
She whipped her head back to safety, examining the notepad and the message she’d written.
I was told that my mother and father were hunting caribou along the Dempster Highway when there was an accident at their hunting camp. Someone’s gun went off and the bullet killed my father instantly and wounded my mother sending her into shock. The others at the camp managed to get her to the hospital at Dawson City where I arrived almost two months early. When my mother died right after my delivery I was adopted. All I have from my parents is my boot knife.
I guess that’s why I never got “triggered”? I can’t turn into a wolf.
I wish I could. I bet it’s amazing.
She glanced up to see if he’d finished reading. He smiled down tenderly. “It’s going to be all right. I’ll explain a couple things first to help you understand.”
He ripped off the top sheet of the notepad to a clean page. She watched over his arm as he divided the page in three parts and drew a circle in each part. In the top circle he wrote Full-blood, in the bottom he wrote Half-blood. He left the middle one empty. He adjusted them both to sit comfortably on the platform and face her better.
“Short biology lesson, Robyn. Full-blood werewolf, both Mom and Dad have the genes. Pass the dormant gene to baby. Baby triggered with hormones in milk, can turn to wolf around puberty.” He lowered the notepad for a moment. “And if you think that teenage humans are moody, wait until you see an angst-ridden fifteen-year-old wolf. Very scary.”
She snorted at him, and he winked and continued.
“Half-blood, only one parent has wolf genes. They’re still passed on to the baby, dormant, but for some reason even milk from a werewolf mom won’t trigger them. The hormones have to come from something else.” Robyn watched as Keil wrote milk across from the top circle. He paused before writing sex across from the bottom circle.
“Half-blood wolves can get triggered by having sex with a full-blood. The hormones released during unprotected sex work fast, and since wolves can’t get STDs, it’s both effective and safe. There’s a little added complication for males because of something called ‘FirstMate’, but females don’t have to worry about it.” He stopped and Robyn swallowed hard.
Well. That was a bit of a surprise.
One circle left to fill in. She watched as he wrote her name in the empty space.
Oh shit. She knew where this was going.
She grabbed the pen and flipped over the page, crawling away from him on the platform to write. She might have the hots for the man. No way was he going to use a biology lesson to get into her pants.
You want to have sex with me?
The flash of hot desire in his eyes answered the question faster than his mouth could.
“Hang on, Robyn. There’s one more thing I need to explain. And that’s all I’m doing, explaining. You get to make any decisions you want based on what I tell you. Trust me.”
Robyn hesitated and then insistently shook the notepad at him. If he didn’t ’fess up she was going to hit him.
“Hell, yes, I want to make love with you. But that’s because you’re my mate.”
Robyn’s fingers were awkward as she scrambled to respond. Convenient. Maybe I should ask TJ if he wants to fuck me too.
Keil burst with a roar that she felt down to her bones. “No one else is going to fuck you, especially not TJ!”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw TJ fly backward off his chair to land in a puddle on the floor. “Holy crap, Keil, what are you telling her?”
TJ must not have liked how Keil answered because he cowered lower on the floor. “Well, hurry it up, listening to one side of your conversation is scaring me to death.”
Robyn considered for a moment and held up her hand to Keil. She snuck over to TJ and wrote him a note. Even if they’d rehearsed this, she didn’t think TJ was fast enough to try and pull one over on her. He’d be forced to tell her the truth.
Keil says he’s my mate. What does that mean and how can I tell if it’s true?
“Hey, bro, she’s asking me about you.”
Robyn stepped back toward the sleeping platform keeping her eyes firmly on TJ.
“Of course I won’t touch her. First, promise you won’t hurt me.”
TJ crawled off the ground. He wrinkled up his face and gazed upward as he rubbed a finger over his lips, as if trying to remember something. Shortly he nodded to himself and turned to face both Robyn and Keil.
“Okey dokey. Mates are like getting married, only better for five reasons.” He held up a hand and lifted a finger with each comment he made. “First, mates have similar interests and tastes. Second, the chemical attraction between mates makes it impossible to miss knowing they are ‘the one’. Third, sex between mates is super hot and stays that way for their entire lives. Fourth, mates are connected deeper than physically, there’s a mental and emotional connection too. And finally, mates never, ever fool around on each other.” TJ looked at Keil who stood with his mouth dropped open in amazement. “Pretty good, hey, Keil? Tony and I wrote that up for the pack chicks when they wanted to do a wolf version of a Cosmo ‘Find Your Perfect Mate’ quiz.”
TJ grabbed Robyn by the hand and pulled her with him as he went to stand next to Keil. “How you can tell it’s true is easy. Remember, bro, you said you wouldn’t hurt me. Robyn, give me a kiss.”