I knew the moment she had arrived. Holden Black. Dr. Holden Black. My wolf sat up and howled.
I studied her. She was leaner than she had been when I had first met her. Almost gaunt. There were lines of grief and sorrow etched on her face now. I didn’t know much about why, just that her husband had died recently. This was how we were able to get her so fast, since she had been on sabbatical.
I hadn’t realized that it was her.
I thought back to when I had first met Holden. We had both been interns in the animal husbandry lab at college. She had worked in the lab because it was a natural addition to her interest in wolves. I had worked there it because it was an easy internship, according to some of my Pack mates that had attended the college before me.
Walking into the room, a young woman sat on the floor, crooning to some lambs she was bottle feeding. The college liked to keep the young lambs in the building as opposed to the barn, to keep them safe. She had a bottle in one hand, and she was talking and laughing softly with one lamb while another bumped her arm. Both had bleated out in panic when they had sensed a predator had entered the room, trying to hide behind her.
They knew a wolf when they saw one.
She had sat there, bits of hay in her red-brown hair, her long braid somewhat unraveled by a lamb having chewed on it. She was sitting cross-legged, and her large gray eyes stared up at me in surprise.
“What…?” She glanced over her shoulder at the two babies cowering behind her.
I snorted, but I didn’t have any desire to hunt them. I tried to push my wolf deep down inside me, but he wouldn’t go. He kept flaring his nose, trying to take in as much of the enticing scent that surrounded her as he could.
I sighed, rolling my eyes at my wolf. This internship wouldn’t work if he wouldn’t obey.
Mate? He inquired.
Why would you even think about that? We are not ready for a mate! I argued back, surprised. Go away! I want this internship!
Mate! He insisted.
I stopped myself from rolling my eyes again. Okay, okay. I will investigate to see if she is our mate. Back off so the animal babies aren’t so afraid of us!
My wolf grumbled but backed away, taking the sense of being a predator with it. The lambs relaxed and stumbled out to fight for the bottle.
“Sorry, I think it might have been a dog I had played with earlier today. The babies probably smelled it and thought it was still with me. Let me wash my hands and wipe down my clothes.” I shrugged cheerily at her, backing away.
I went through the motions of trying to remove the non-existent scent at the sink, before walking over to the pen and thrusting out my hand. “Shane Loren. Intern.”
She looked up at me before gracefully standing. The lambs fought over the bottle she had dropped until she laughed and pulled it from the victor’s mouth. “One moment, Tam.” She scolded.
Her laugh caused my blood to head south to my errant cock. I hoped she didn’t notice it pressing against my zipper with my hand hanging outstretched. I shuffled my feet, turning a little away from her, trying to hide my erection. I hoped it wouldn’t be as much of a problem as my wolf.
Taking my hand, she shook it vigorously. “Holden Black. The other intern.” She dropped it before sitting back down on the floor again to feed the lambs.
“I am surprised they hadn’t reacted like this with me. I had been playing with the wolf pups over there.” She pointed at the cage on the far side of the room. “Well, I had checked on the pups before I decided to feed the lambs.”
I walked over to check on the wolf pups. My wolf peeked up before settling back down again. These were regular gray wolves, not lycanthropes. While it bothered me to see them in a large cage, I could deal, since these two were too young to be released into the wild yet.
“Interesting they have pups.” I murmured.
“I had found them when I was out hiking about a week ago. A hunter had killed the mother and they were crying in their den.” Holden answered absently, somehow hearing my comment.
I turned my head to appraise her. “I am surprised they didn’t bite you.”
Finishing up with the feeding, she stood and stepped over the fence surrounding the lambs.
“I have a way with animals.” She shrugged. “And wolves are my favorite. I am studying to become a wolf biologist so I can help bring back these majestic creatures to North America.”
Both of my eyebrows shot up. “Wolf Biologist? Is that really a thing?”
She bristled, her hands landing on her hips in defiance. “Yes, it is really a thing. We don’t make much, but we make a difference.”
I chuckled. “That sounds like a slogan.”
A confused look crossed her face, before she relaxed into a grin. “It does, doesn’t it? I should have T-shirts made up.”
And with that, I realized that not only was Holden my mate, but she was someone I could like. Perhaps even fall in love with.
“Shane?” Max grabbed my arm.
“Sorry, just had a flashback.”
Max gave me a worried look.
“Not a military type of flashback. One from before I had gone. While I was still in college.”
I shook my head at him and moved away to greet the research biologist we had invited to look at, and hopefully heal, our pups.
Holden was more subdued than she had been when I had known her before. She was also more experienced. She asked the right questions and didn’t just barge in and take control of the situation. It impressed me at how the woman had matured into the person who stood in front of me today. Not that she was a slouch before. No, Holden Black was both intelligent and articulate.
It was obvious she didn’t recognize me, even though she had thrown a puzzled look or two in my direction. I knew I looked very different from when I had known her before, though. I had entered the military with black hair and green eyes but had left it with both changing to silver. Add to that a set of scars, the most visible one running across my chin, and I could hardly recognize myself in a mirror.
I was a different person from the young man who had teased and flirted with her a long time ago.
I sighed. While I had wished she would have remembered me on sight, I was also glad she had not. How could I explain how my hair and eyes had changed so dramatically? Humans may have gotten a streak of gray in their hair, but not more than that. Not have their whole head of hair and their eyes changed to a different color.
I had startled my Pack when I had returned. They knew me on one level, but I had looked so different visually. This had caused a lot of confusion.
Max, though… Max had known.
He had seen this before because he had been a military doctor. He had seen how the killing, bombs, and poisons had impacted lycanthropes even more than it had humans. Yes, we can survive much more than humans could, but it still left its mark on us.
What Max wasn’t aware of was that my wolf had considered this woman my mate, the one I wanted to be with forever. He didn’t know his best friend had fallen head over heels in love with her, returning from the military to find she had moved on and married while I was deployed. He didn’t know that the wolf didn’t care and still wanted her.
I had walked away once, leaving her with her choices. I wasn’t sure I would be strong enough to walk away again.
