Longing for Wolves (Shifter Country Wolves Book 5) by Roxie Noir Page A

walking?” Sam asked her, teasing.
    Annika looked at the truck, and then burst out laughing.
    “Oh, God,” she said, between peals. “I wasn’t even thinking. I’m sorry.”
    “It’s fine,” he said. “You can drive the truck. We’ll meet you there?”
    “You don’t really have to walk,” she said. “I can call someone for a ride, it’s fine.”
    “It’s a good night for a run,” Sam said. “If you don’t mind taking our clothes back with you.”
    Finally, the lightbulb went on over Annika’s head.
    “Sure,” she said, but Sam was already taking his shirt off.
    “They’re kinda damp,” he said. “Sorry.”
    Annika clicked her flashlight off, and then Sam was taking his clothes off in the dim light of the moon. Calder shrugged and took his shirt off as well, tossing it to the bewildered girl.
    He had the overwhelming urge to grab Sam and kiss him, see if that didn’t work for her, but he controlled himself. Just as he went to take off his boxers she turned around, shading her eyes.
    “See you guys soon?” she asked.
    Calder shifted, then licked her elbow. Annika squealed, then laughed.

Chapter Eleven

    Annika
    Annika’s brain felt like a jumble as she drove home carefully, trying not to jostle the cake in the passenger seat too much.
    Her main thought was just fuck, fuck, fuck , over and over again. It was occasionally interspersed with the image of Calder and Sam, in the dark, shirts sticking wetly to them.
    Or, better, the two of them stripping down in the alley. Every so often she glanced at the pile of damp clothes on the floor of the passenger side. Somehow, it seemed rude to think about them naked when they’d just basically saved her ass.
    She pulled into the driveway of her house, parked carefully, and propped her front door open so she could take the cake in, intensely thankful that she’d put her old chest freezer in her kitchen when she’d bought a new one for the bakery.
    After three trips into the kitchen, she came back out her front door and almost screamed.
    There were two giant wolves, just sitting in her driveway.
    Then she laughed, the adrenaline still in her veins.
    “Jeez, you scared me,” she said. Then she stopped. “You’re Calder and Sam, right?”
    One of them rolled over onto its back, showing his belly. The other looked at the first a little disdainfully.
    “Your clothes are in the car,” she said. “I’ve got a couple more trips with icing roses.”
    She took another layer in, put it in the chest freezer, and walked back out to see them pulling on their shirts.
    Annika was slightly disappointed that she hadn’t been a little faster.
    “What else?” Sam asked, and Annika pointed to the three remaining boxes in the cab of the truck. They carried them in, and then Annika leaned against the counter in her kitchen. She felt totally wrung out, her hands still a little shaky.
    “Thanks for helping,” she said. “If you guys hadn’t been there, I probably would have just set everything on fire and walked away.”
    “It’s good we were there, because that’s a terrible plan,” Calder said solemnly.
    “It never would have caught with the burst pipe,” added Sam.
    “True,” she said, and sighed. Then she shook herself, just a little, and remembered her manners.
    “I’ve got some experimental cupcakes,” she said. “You guys want one?”
    “Of course we want cupcakes,” Calder said.
    Annika went to the table and opened a box, pulling out three cupcakes.
    “What makes them experimental?” Sam asked. “They just look like chocolate.”
    “They’re a little weird inside,” said Annika, already undoing the wrapper of one. “You’re not allergic to peanuts, right?”
    “Nope,” said Calder, taking a huge bite and getting chocolate frosting on his face. “Hey, peanut butter,” he said, his mouth full.
    “I told you,” Annika said, nibbling at the edge of hers. She was so wound up that she wasn’t even hungry, despite usually being her own